Podcast Episodes

The 5-Year Ramp: How Alcatraz Scaled in Enterprise Security

Season 2 Episode 54

What kind of founder spends five years building a product before going to market?

One who's trying to solve a very hard problem.

Vince Gaydarzhiev is the founder of Alcatraz, a deep tech startup that…

Published on 3 months, 4 weeks ago

From Play to Pay: How Soundtrack Uses PQLs to Drive Growth

Season 2 Episode 53

What turns a free trial user into a paying customer?

For Ola Sars, founder and CEO of Soundtrack, the answer is all about behavior. In this episode, we break down how his team uses product-led growth…

Published on 3 months, 4 weeks ago

From ML Engineer to CEO: Brightwave's Mike Conover on Turning Technical Vision into Company Strategy

Season 2 Episode 52

Mike Conover started his career as a machine learning engineer. Today, he’s the co-founder and CEO of Brightwave, an AI startup helping financial professionals make faster decisions with massive, uns…

Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago

What Investors Really Want From AI Founders

Season 2 Episode 51

Igor Taber has sat on both sides of the table: first as a VC at Intel Capital, then as an operator at high-growth AI startup DataRobot. Now, as co-founder of Cortical Ventures, he’s backing the next …

Published on 4 months, 3 weeks ago

The Art of the Waitlist: Siqi Chen on Driving Scarcity, Hype, and Feedback Loops

Season 2 Episode 50

Runway CEO and co-founder Siqi Chen shares how his team used a waitlist not just to build hype, but to engineer smarter growth.

In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Siqi breaks down how Runway strat…

Published on 4 months, 3 weeks ago

PR Advice for Founders in the AI Era

Season 2 Episode 49

Ayelet Noff has spent more than two decades helping startups land meaningful press — but she’s also seen how the game has changed.

In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, the founder of SlicedBrand and…

Published on 5 months ago

The Hard Tech Hustle: Building and Selling Industrial AI

Season 2 Episode 48

Sahitya Senapathy, founder and CEO of Endeavor AI, joins Fund/Build/Scale to talk about launching a solo-founded startup at the intersection of AI and heavy industry.

From building FEMA apps at age …

Published on 5 months ago

Inside a VC’s Playbook for Capital-Intensive Startups

Season 2 Episode 47

Sophie Bakalar, partner at Collaborative Fund, joins Fund/Build/Scale for a candid conversation about early-stage investing in climate tech, consumer AI, and deep tech hardware. She shares how she ev…

Published on 5 months, 1 week ago

Building a Market from Scratch: Generative Music for Enterprise Customers

Season 2 Episode 46

Recorded in July 2024, Aimi founder Edward Balassanian joins Fund/Build/Scale to share how his AI-powered platform creates generative, copyright-safe music for enterprise clients. He explains how cus…

Published on 5 months, 1 week ago

How a Broke College Student Co-founded a VC-Backed Edtech Startup

Season 2 Episode 45

In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Nectir co-founder and CEO Kavitta Ghai shares how she turned her frustration as a college student into a fast-growing, VC-backed edtech startup. Kavitta discusses…

Published on 5 months, 2 weeks ago