With Q2 in the rearview mirror, we welcome back one of our most popular guests, Steve Lord, COO & Head of Service Delivery at Burkland. Steve joins us for a macro view of the startup and VC ecosystem—and the message is clear: uncertainty still reigns.

From geopolitical instability to unpredictable trade policies and inflation, Steve breaks down what founders and investors need to know right now and provides expert tips on how to raise and extend capital in today’s market. 

We discuss:

• Why the Fed has not cut interest rates yet and when that will change
• How global uncertainty is chilling startup investment
• Smart ways to fundraise (hint: SAFE notes)

The episode also includes actionable advice for founders on how to defend your valuation and present a “buttoned-up investment opportunity” that makes it easier for VCs to say yes!

----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn.

🔗 Plus, don’t miss Steve’s blog posts and tools for extending cash runway and strategic planning at burklandassociates.com.

We’re thrilled to welcome back Feras Alhlou—seasoned entrepreneur, startup coach, and co-founder of Start Up With Feras—for another insightful episode of Startup Success.

In this candid conversation, Feras dives into what it really takes to build and scale a successful startup. He shares hard-earned lessons from his own journey, including how to focus on what matters most during each phase of the startup lifecycle and why founders must learn to delegate! And he offers his take on giving back to your team and your community.

We discuss:

• The importance of “outsourcing the headache” 
• Common mistakes founders make when trying to scale
• Why only great things come from networking
• Advice for founders out there who are struggling

Whether you're just starting out or gearing up for a major growth spurt, this episode is packed with wisdom you won’t want to miss.


----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

🔗 Resources & Tools:
Get the Founder Focus Organizer, Feras’s free newsletter, and info on 1:1 coaching at startupwithferas.com

Connect with Feras on LinkedIn or subscribe to his YouTube channel @StartUpWithFeras

💬 Bonus: Feras offers free 20-minute “Ask Feras” sessions for founders who need clarity. No pitches—just help.

In this episode, we sit down with Merrill Lutsky, Co-Founder and CEO of Graphite, a breakout startup redefining code review for the AI era. Originally built solely as an internal code review tool, Graphite unexpectedly attracted a huge amount of interest from the developer community, prompting the team to pivot their startup to focus entirely on that tool.

Today, Graphite’s AI developer productivity platform is helping engineering teams at companies like Ramp, Figma, and Shopify ship code up to 40% faster.

We discuss:

• Graphite’s remarkable user-driven pivot
• How they achieved product-market fit
• The highly responsive and scalable user feedback loop that propels their success
• Pros & cons of using AI in software development 

Startup founders – don’t miss this episode packed with lessons on product-market fit, building for a passionate user base, and driving rapid growth in a competitive space.

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Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

Explore Graphite at graphite.dev and their AI-powered code review agent at diamond.graphite.dev.

If you’re a founder gearing up to raise capital, this episode of Startup Success is your ultimate fundraising playbook. We’re joined by Nathan Beckord, CEO of Foundersuite and Fundingstack, and host of the How I Raised It podcast. Nathan has helped hundreds of startups navigate every stage of the fundraising process—and he’s sharing his top strategies to help you maximize your next raise.

We explore the full fundraising journey—from building a strong investor pipeline to closing the round—and zoom in on how to make your pitch deck truly stand out.

Nathan breaks down:

• How to craft a compelling narrative that sticks with investors
• Strategies to target the right investors (not “spray and pray”)
• Your pitch deck - the essential slides you must include
• And the #1 mistake most founders make when pitching

Whether you’re pitching VCs or prepping for a demo day, this episode is packed with actionable insights and straight talk from a true fundraising expert.

----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

Learn more about Foundersuite at https://www.foundersuite.com and Fundingstack at https://fundingstack.com.

What makes a co-founder relationship thrive—or fall apart? In this episode of Startup Success, we’re joined by Tim He, Founder of Cherrytree, a company helping startup co-founders navigate the tricky terrain of working together. Tim draws on his personal experience co-founding a startup with four friends and explains how that journey led him to launch a newsletter and private coaching practice for startup founders.

We dive deep into the questions most founders overlook: 

• Should you go into business with a close friend
• Do you really need a co-founder agreement
• Why being “too trusting” is often a bigger issue than distrust
• How dividing co-founders into technical and non-technical roles can lead to a power imbalance

Tim challenges common assumptions about trust, communication, and compatibility, offering a fresh take on how to actually work on your co-founder relationship—just like you would a marriage or friendship.

If you’re ready to work on your co-founder relationship, not just your startup, this one’s for you!

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Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

Learn more about Cherrytree visit their website at https://cherrytree.beehiiv.com/

What makes a startup board really effective? How do you build one that will truly benefit your startup? How do you conduct board meetings that are helpful and not just a quarterly scramble to put together a deck? 

In this episode of Startup Success, we dive deep into a topic we’ve never explored before: the real role and power of a startup board. Your board can be a game-changer for your startup—if done the right way.

Joining us are Matt Blumberg, CEO of Acrolinx, and Mahendra Ramsinghani, the Managing Director of Secure Octane Investments —two of the co-authors of Startup Boards: A Field Guide to Building and Leading an Effective Board of Directors. Together, sharing the operator and investor perspectives, they give practical advice for startup boards and board meetings that you can use today. 

In this episode, we discuss:

• The purpose of a startup board and its role in your startup’s success
• How to put together your board - selecting and recruiting the right directors, and how to change that mix as you scale
• Effective board meetings - practical advice - ranging from the agenda to slides to seating arrangements -  that will improve your meetings 

Whether you’re building your first board, wanting to optimize the one you have, or are looking to greatly improve your board meetings, this episode is a masterclass in getting it right.🛠️

Grab your copy of Startup Boards for even more insights.

----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

In this episode of Startup Success, we welcome Arielle Lechner, Executive Coach and Founder of NewPo, to discuss the crucial role of decision-making and leadership in early-stage startups. Arielle, a mentor for TechStars and former startup operator, shares insights on how founders can move faster, avoid burnout, and create a thriving company culture.

We dive into how founders can distinguish between upstream and downstream problems, the power of thinking like a scientist when iterating, and Arielle’s Lift and Thrust model for balancing team motivation and momentum.

Tune in to learn how to:

• Stop wasting time on the wrong issues and focus on the upstream problems
• Create a culture that propels your team forward even in difficult times
• Move away from the mindset and assumptions that limit your startup’s potential to scale

Don’t miss this episode packed with actionable takeaways on how to successfully navigate the hard decisions and complex challenges that come with leading a startup.


----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 


To learn more about NewPo visit https://www.newpo.io/

Finding startup success outside of Silicon Valley is possible – it just requires some ingenuity.
We couldn’t think of anyone who knows more about this topic than Rick Turoczy.

With three decades of experience supporting founders, Rick Turoczy, GM and Co-founder of PIE (Portland Incubator Experiment), is the ultimate connector and an expert at helping startups turn ideas into reality. In this episode, we sit down with Rick to explore how startups outside of the Bay Area can find support in their community and he gives us an inside look at the fundraising landscape beyond the Valley.

We discuss:

• Creative fundraising strategies outside of Silicon Valley
• Tactics for leveraging local resources to help scale your startup
• How to pick the right accelerator for your startup
• Why the lack of easily accessible capital combined with the proliferation of AI could be a perfect storm for innovation

If you're a founder looking to find startup success in your own community, this episode is a must-listen!

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Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

To learn more about PIE visit https://www.piepdx.com/

In this episode of Startup Success, we explore the data privacy considerations that all founders need to address, not ignore, with Katharine Tomko, Partner at First Ascent Ventures. Katharine fully understands all the priorities and stresses founders face, so she lays out a clear roadmap for them with small, actionable steps they can take now that will help them down the road with privacy.

With an intriguing background that spans from her first job as a parole officer to the early days of data protection programs at Facebook and now her work in venture capital, Katharine is a true authority on data privacy. She “gets” the mindset of founders and knows what they need to do today around privacy and data collection.

Katharine offers perspective on:

• The big dangers of not prioritizing privacy in the AI era
• Why more is not better when it comes to collecting customer data
• Does data mapping solve privacy?
• What VCs can learn about a founder by how they manage privacy

Founders and VCs – don’t miss this deep dive into a topic that’s becoming non-negotiable in the startup world!

----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

Pricing and packaging can make or break a startup, yet many founders struggle to get it right. In this episode of Startup Success, we sit down with Fynn Glover, Co-Founder and CEO of Schematic, to explore his journey from startup founder to pricing and packaging expert. Fynn shares lessons from his first startup—how a pivot led to an acquisition, the challenges of scaling, and what sparked his fascination with pricing.

And we dive into:

• How to get a deep understanding of your market's willingness to pay
• The big upside of having pricing and packaging that can evolve as fast as your product roadmap
• Why decoupling pricing from the engineering function allows for more creativity around monetization 

Whether you're starting a new venture or scaling a business, this episode offers valuable insights on monetization, customer pricing dynamics, and conquering common pricing challenges!

[01:42] Fynn’s First Startup, Pivot, and Acquisition
[05:29] Founding Schematic
[08:00] Challenges and Insights in Pricing and Packaging
[10:00] Schematic's Approach and Early Success
[17:17] Advice for Startup Founders


----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn!

In this episode of Startup Success, we are joined by Daniel Loreto, founder of Jetify, who dives into his journey from working at tech giants like Google, Twitter, and Airbnb to launching his own startup. Daniel shares how his passion for accelerating software development led to the creation of Jetify and how AI is transforming the way developers bring ideas to life.

Highlights:

• Daniel’s candid advice on raising a successful seed round
• His careful approach towards scaling and spending money
• Strategies for creating the right company culture and building a high-performing team
• How AI agents like Jetify’s Test Pilot are revolutionizing the software development lifecycle

This episode is packed with valuable insights on navigating the startup ecosystem, leveraging AI, turning your passion into a business, and more! Tune in now to hear Daniel’s journey and his vision for the future of software development!


----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

There is no getting around the power of customer feedback in building a successful startup.

In this episode of Startup Success, we sit down with Luke Kim, founder and CEO of Liner, an AI-powered search tool revolutionizing the way researchers, students, and knowledge workers find reliable information. As a child during the dot-com boom, Luke dreamed of one day starting his own company. Right out of college, he turned his dream into reality by founding Liner, which is now one of the top AI search tools in the world.

Luke shares his incredible journey and highlights his team’s successful strategy for harnessing the power of customer feedback to build a highly engaged and passionate user base that drives growth organically.

We discuss:

• How his team maintains a close connection to customer pain points and heavily relies on user feedback to drive product development
• Liner’s recent $22M Series B funding and their strategy for scaling globally
• Their quick pivot to AI search within a week of ChatGPT’s API original release

Luke’s insights into building a 100% customer-centric team provide invaluable lessons for startup founders at any stage.

----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn!

In this episode of Startup Success, we're joined by Manish Patel, founding partner at Nava Ventures and self-described accidental venture capitalist. Manish shares his fascinating journey into venture capital, including the challenges and rewards of running a Series A-focused fund and his firm’s thesis-driven approach to investing.We discuss:

• What Manish looks for when investing in Series A startups and founders
• Advice on preparing for and raising a Series A round
• The current state of the startup ecosystem and why Manish is excited about 2025
• Important areas a startup founder should focus on besides the usual benchmark metrics 

This not-to-be-missed episode is packed with actionable advice for startup founders and thought-provoking perspectives on the art and science of venture capital.


Key Moments:
🔹[00:06:05-00:07:42]  Nava Ventures’ Investment Philosophy
🔹[00:07:42-00:09:40]  Their Pain Points Driven Thesis
🔹[00:09:38-00:11:12]  Challenges of Fundraising
🔹[00:11:12-00:12:33]  Evaluating Series A Companies
🔹[00:13:33-00:14:55]  Venture Capital Misconceptions
🔹[00:14:25-00:15:30]  Founder-Investor Relationships
🔹[00:15:30-00:18:24]  Building In-House Capabilities
🔹[00:18:32-00:18:50]  All Revenue is Not Equal 


----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

The Trump 2.0 era will reshape the startup landscape. Is your startup prepared for what’s next?

In this insight-packed episode of Startup Success, we welcome back one of our favorite guests, Steven Lord, Burkland’s Managing Director of Service Delivery and Chief Learning Officer. Steve dives deep into the state of the startup ecosystem as we close out 2024 and enter a pivotal year.

We explore the long-awaited resurgence of venture capital activity, the shifts in valuations, and the much-anticipated reopening of exit pathways like IPOs and M&A deals. Steven shares his thoughts on how the incoming administration will impact startups across all sectors, including AI, energy, fintech, crypto, and SaaS.

We discuss:

• Why now is the time to prepare for a more favorable fundraising environment
• Important tax and regulatory changes founders should have on their radar
• The many reasons Steve is optimistic about the 2025 economy 
• How startups play a critical role in job creation and are essential to economic growth

Whether you're a founder, investor, or startup enthusiast, this episode is packed with actionable advice and forward-looking perspectives to help you navigate 2025 and beyond. Don't miss it!

Key Moments: 
🔹 [00:02:31] Discussion of the recovering economy post-2024 challenges 
🔹 [00:08:16] Regulatory and Policy Impacts
🔹 [00:14:31] Venture Capital Trends
🔹 [00:20:46] The Role of Startups in Job Creation
🔹 [00:26:01] Fundraising Strategies for Startups
🔹 [00:32:41] Advice for Startup Leaders

----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

In this episode of Startup Success, we sit down with Surojit Chatterjee, the CEO and founder of Ema, a generative AI platform poised to transform the future of work. With a career spanning high-level roles at Google and Coinbase, Surojit shares his journey from building billion-dollar businesses to creating Ema’s Universal AI Employee, designed to automate tedious tasks and empower employees to focus on high-value work.

Surojit explains the concept of AI employees and illustrates Ema’s ability to learn, adapt, and evolve to tackle complex, repetitive tasks across enterprises.

We discuss:

• The critical safeguards and trust-building features that make Ema a standout in generative AI
• The barriers to enterprise AI adoption and how Ema overcame those hurdles
• How technology like Ema could make it easier for founders to start companies in the future

Tune in to discover the next frontier of automation that’s fueling a more agile and efficient workplace! 


----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn!

In this episode of Startup Success, we dive into the incredible entrepreneurial journey of Russ d’Sa, Co-Founder and CEO of LiveKit, a startup that evolved from a pandemic side project into an open-source development stack that powers real-time AI. The wildly varied use cases for LiveKit’s technology range from voice conversations with ChatGPT to saving lives on 911 emergency calls.

It's a fascinating listen that spotlights the broad range of services we use every day that are now powered by AI!

Russ shares:

• How he and his co-founder navigated unexpected twists, including scaling their open source project that went viral on GitHub and pivoting to a business model they were genuinely passionate about
• Why taking the to time learn what customers really want was essential to LiveKit’s success and the lessons there for other founders
• The lightbulb moment when he realized his team was building “core infrastructure for the future of where computing is going”

A must-listen for aspiring and seasoned founders, Russ shares key lessons he learned along his winding path to startup success. Tune in to learn how LiveKit is revolutionizing real-time communication and empowering developers worldwide.

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Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

In this episode of Startup Success, host Kate Adams sits down with Vlad Voroninski, CEO and co-founder of Helm.ai, an AI software startup that is developing the world's safest and most advanced autonomous driving systems at scale. 

Vlad gives us a fascinating look into Helm.ai's innovative approach to addressing previously unsolved problems in the self-driving car space, detailing how his company leverages unsupervised learning and generative AI to create scalable, robust solutions for real-time autonomous vehicle operations. 

We explore:

• Helm.ai’s bold approach to fundraising that paid off big
• How Vlad's academic background in applied mathematics helped him create technology that is transforming the automotive industry
• How he knew it was the right time to finally launch his own company
• The technology that got them a foot in the door at major automakers and a sneak peek at Helm.ai’s partnership with Honda 

Join us for a deep dive into the challenges and breakthroughs in the autonomous driving field and discover what sets Helm.ai apart from its competitors in this fast-moving space. 


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Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

What if the powerful nutritional compounds in breast milk could be harnessed to improve the health of people of all ages? Today, we’re sitting down with Laura Katz, CEO and founder of Helaina, a groundbreaking biotech startup that’s pushing the boundaries of what food can do for health. Helaina’s technology platform replicates functional proteins found in the human body, making them available as new nutrients that enhance immunity, gut health, and cognitive function.

Laura shares her fascinating journey from a food scientist, who initially didn't even know what a venture capitalist was, to pioneering a new era of nutrition and raising $83 million in funding.

Our conversation touches on:

• Lessons Laura learned from her hard-fought fundraising successes
• The hardest part of being a founder and why it surprised her
• Laura’s methodology for turning her vision into a reality
• The challenges of being a solo founder and starting a company in the biotech space
• The tremendous value of having a mentor and a supportive network

Get ready to be inspired by Laura's incredible story of innovation and persistence as she brings the future of health to life—one protein at a time.

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Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

What if your inspiration for starting a company came from solving a problem you experienced first-hand as an engineer at a tech giant like Uber?  In this episode, we welcome Anish Dhar, Co-Founder and CEO of Cortex, to share his incredible journey from an engineer at Uber to founding Cortex, the internal developer portal that addresses a massive gap in engineering processes and recently raised a $60M Series C round.

Anish reflects on how he and his co-founders identified a critical pain point that they knew countless engineers experienced but no one had tried to solve yet. Being “close to the pain” motivated them and was a huge factor in their startup’s fundraising success.

Our expansive discussion touches on:

• What VCs are looking for at Seed, Series A and beyond
• Anish’s experience applying (and getting rejected the first time) at Y Combinator and how persistence paid off
• Why being close to the pain point your product is trying to solve gives founders an advantage
• The engineering challenges that inspired Cortex

In Anish’s words, starting a company is “truly one of the most gratifying and impactful experiences that you can have. It's painful, but it's worth it!”

Don’t miss Anish's story of innovation, resilience, and building a product that’s transforming the way engineers manage complex systems.

----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn!