Best Estefany Gonzalez Podcasts (2024)

1
“Talent has no ZIP code:” Laura González-Estéfani on building startups outside Silicon Valley 45:01

11d ago45:01

45:01

Most of the world’s talent goes untapped. Unrecognized. With that in mind, I interviewed Laura González-Estéfani, founder of Miami-based VC firm TheVentureCity in May 2024. We talked about the potential of global talent and why more investors need to broaden their scope beyond major tech hubs. This episode provides valuable insights for founders wh…

1
How to run a board meeting in 60 minutes 24:58

2d ago24:58

24:58

If you want a healthy relationship, it’s essential to set clear expectations and boundaries from the start. The same holds true for a founder and their board. Despite the power dynamics, CEOs can still create a transparent communication framework that respects everyone’s limited time. In part two of my interview with TigerEye co-founder and CEO Tra…

1
Starting up in stealth: A conversation with TigerEye co-founder/CEO Tracy Young 23:09

3d ago23:09

23:09

In 2011, Tracy Young co-founded PlanGrid, which made software for construction teams. After scaling the company to 450 people and raising $69 million, it was acquired by Autodesk in 2018 for $875 million. That’s a win, but Tracy and her partners didn’t go for the exit because they’d reached the peak of the mountain. They cut the deal because PlanGr…

1
“Cultural fit” is a polite way to say “personal bias” 5:05

14d ago5:05

5:05

Today is my 55th birthday! I was planning to take the day off, but I started thinking about a few people my age who work in tech and have been recently laid off. Unlike workers in their 20s and 30s, they’re facing a very different set of pressures: family, college payments, aging parents, retirement, etc. Most of the ones I know are having a hard t…

1
Shaping the future of work and care: Courtney Leimkuhler + Elana Berkowitz of Springbank 39:53

16d ago39:53

39:53

Based in New York, Elana Berkowitz and Courtney Leimkuhler are co-founders and partners at Springbank, where they focus on sectors that support working women and their families, largely in three key areas: the future of work, the care economy, and household consumer services. Their thesis is driven by growing demand from employers, insurers, and th…

1
Crafting influence: Early-stage PR strategies from Chikodi Chima of Moonshot 37:34

25d ago37:34

37:34

I interviewed Chikodi Chima, founder of Moonshot, a PR firm focused on early-stage startups. The discussion revolves around the art of storytelling, thought leadership, and how PR can exponentially boost brand presence and connect with media, along with prospective customers, employees and investors. Chikodi shares insights from his journey as a fo…

1
From tech worker to tech founder: Lessons from Naveen Rao of Databricks 51:15

1M ago51:15

51:15

In 2014, Naveen Rao left his researcher job at Qualcomm to co-found machine intelligence platform Nervana. About two and a half years later, Nervana sold to Intel for more than $400 million. After a few years at Intel, Naveen became CEO and co-founder of open source startup MosaicML, which helped companies build and train large AI models more effic…

1
Unlocking growth-stage VC: Insights from CapitalG's Jill (Greenberg) Chase and James Luo 53:05

1M ago53:05

53:05

In July 2024, I visited the Ferry Building in San Francisco to sit down with CapitalG partners Jill (Greenberg) Chase and James Luo. As Alphabet’s growth-stage VC fund, CapitalG specializes in backing startups that have found product-market fit and are ready to scale with investments ranging from $50M to $200M. We talked about the key signals that …

1
How Dovetail CEO Benjamin Humphrey scaled an Australian startup to global success 1:03:59

2M ago1:03:59

1:03:59

In this episode, Fund/Build/Scale host Walter Thompson interviews Benjamin Humphrey, CEO and co-founder of Dovetail, a customer insights hub based in Sydney, Australia. They discuss the challenges of hiring for a bootstrapped company, early customer acquisition strategies, and the impact of local networking when starting up far from major tech hubs…

1
Startup PR 101: Essential tips from SISU founder Jenna Birch 43:46

2M ago43:46

43:46

Jenna Birch is the founder of SISU, a PR firm that serves early-stage startups and VCs. She’s also a partner at Kaya Ventures. We talked about how to recognize when it’s time to engage PR services, the importance of a founder’s personal branding and the path that led her from journalism into venture-backed tech. She also shared her methodologies fo…

1
Navigating the coming Series A crunch with Point72 Ventures' Sri Chandrasekar 42:21

2M ago42:21

42:21

Before Sri Chandrasekar became managing partner at Point72 Ventures, he was a Senior Vice President at In-Q-Tel, the non-profit VC firm that invests in startups on behalf of the CIA and other national intelligence agencies. That work cultivated his interest in AI and ML a decade ago, which led hedge fund Point72 to recruit him to join its then-new …

1
Using an AI co-pilot to kickstart your business with Nicholas Thorne of prehype/Audos 25:39

2M ago25:39

25:39

Nicholas Thorne is a partner at prehype, a venture development firm that helps large companies create startups by acting as an incubator. He's also the founder of Audos, an AI co-pilot designed to assist entrepreneurs in conducting customer interviews, creating slide decks, and potentially investing in their ideas. According to Nicholas, Audos can …

1
Allie Garfinkle of Fortune's “Term Sheet” talks reporting, startups and AI 31:56

2M ago31:56

31:56

I met Fortune Senior Finance Reporter Allie Garfinkle in February 2024 at an event for comms professionals. She had just taken over the Term Sheet daily deals newsletter covering startups, venture capital, M&A, trends and pretty much anything tech-related. When news broke right after our panel that Reddit was filing to go public, she didn’t have a …

1
Lessons for early-stage AI founders from Pryon CEO Igor Jablokov 42:55

2M ago42:55

42:55

Before Igor Jablokov was CEO and founder of Pryon, he worked with Apple on a prototype of Siri. He also founded a speech recognition company that Amazon acquired to develop its Alexa AI and Echo devices. He joined me on the podcast to talk about the evolution and challenges of building AI technologies and companies, different phases of startup grow…

1
TDK Ventures President Nicolas Sauvage on building successful deep tech startups 43:31

2M ago43:31

43:31

If you're building a first-to-market solution using emerging technology that could meaningfully contribute to society and generate a 50x return, TDK Ventures President Nicolas Sauvage wants to hear from you. I invited him on the podcast to learn about TDK Ventures’ approach to corporate VC, which uses backcasting to identify ideal future technologi…

1
Entrepreneurial insights for tech workers + immigrants with Stoovo CEO Hantz Févry 36:23

3M ago36:23

36:23

In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, host Walter Thompson engages in a comprehensive discussion with Hantz Févry, co-founder and CEO of Stoovo, an AI-based geospatial data company. Hantz shares invaluable insights into separating one's identity from their job, the importance of rapid execution in startups, and the journey from working at Google to …

1
Understanding product-led growth with Laura Schaffer, VP of Growth at Amplitude 44:44

3M ago44:44

44:44

Enterprise companies like Salesforce, Oracle and Cisco use sales-led growth to drive revenue and build relationships with potential customers. Early-stage startups can't afford to rely on traditional sales and marketing, which is where product-led growth (PLG) comes in. Instead of creating slick sales collateral and hiring aggressive go-getters, PL…

1
Addressing pain points + exploring early-stage trends with Kevin Weber of Amex Ventures 42:12

3M ago42:12

42:12

In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, I interviewed Amex Ventures Managing Director Kevin Weber about some of the nuances between traditional VC and corporate venture capital. It’s quite a mix: he’s looking for founders who can create value for individual American Express cardholders and the firm itself, so we talked about what types of opportunitie…

1
SnapLogic CTO Jeremiah Stone on overcoming AI adoption barriers 29:43

3M ago29:43

29:43

Everyone's looking for ways to implement AI solutions, but integrating them into existing systems means entering uncharted territory. Despite the hype cycle, a majority of enterprise customers “are spending 70-80% of their capacity maintaining legacy application infrastructure,” said Jeremiah Stone, CTO of SnapLogic. As a result, these companies of…

1
S2 E5: From the ground up: Building startups with Deb Kemper of Golden Seeds Ventures 38:28

4M ago38:28

38:28

Deb Kemper is a managing partner of Golden Seeds Ventures, a firm that focuses on backing early-stage, women-led companies. She joined me on the podcast to share tactics with founders who want to build networks with investors outside of Silicon Valley and discuss some of the challenges facing anyone seeking follow-on funding these days. We also tal…

1
S2 E4: VAST Data CEO/founder Renen Hallak: “When we started, AI wasn't a thing.” 21:46

4M ago21:46

21:46

One of the first interviews I did for the podcast was with Renen Hallak, CEO and founder of AI infrastructure company VAST Data. The company launched in 2019, and three years later, it was ranked No. 5 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500™. Today, its customer base includes massive organizations like Disney, Verizon, the US Air Force and the US Depa…

1
S2E3: Felicis' Viviana Faga on early-stage AI brand development and investment tactics 24:21

4M ago24:21

24:21

Viviana Faga is general partner at Felicis, a venture firm that invests in seed to Series B startups in several sectors. Since its founding in 2006, the company has backed breakout companies like Adyen, Canva, Shopify and Runway. Because she’s a former operator with experience in positioning, branding and go-to-market strategy, I asked her to come …

1
S2E2: Capital-efficient growth and discovering diverse talent with Drew Glover of Fiat Ventures 52:08

4M ago52:08

52:08

Fiat Ventures General Partner and co-founder Drew Glover fits the textbook definition of an emerging investor, but we had so much to talk about, the term itself never came up during our interview. Founded in 2022, Fiat Ventures is nearing the end of its $25M Fund One, which has focused on seed-stage fintech startups. “Seed is really the space that'…

1
S2 E1: Inside Intel Ignite with VP & GM Tzahi Weisfeld 41:31

4M ago41:31

41:31

Early-stage deep tech founders working in AI and ML, or sectors like mobility, robotics and semiconductors are generally better off raising funds, seeking mentorship and connecting with potential customers via investors who aren’t expecting rapid growth and expansion. Because corporate VC looks for strategic plays that can accelerate their companie…

1
Fund/Build/Scale season 2: Why I'm doing this podcast (and why you should listen) 1:52

4M ago1:52

1:52

I’m Walter Thompson. After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths I’ve learned: Success in Silicon Valley hinges on connections, hard work and luck. Startups often fail because founders lack fundamental business knowledge. Real, actionable advice comes from those who've actually done it. There’s no…

1
Episode 10 | Two repeat founders share long-term strategies for building sustainable startups 1:16:50

5M ago1:16:50

1:16:50

The average failure rate for a tech startup is 90%. Around one-fifth will flame out in the first year, and the overwhelming majority of the ones that make it past that mark will never be acquired or go public. It’s brutal. It takes years to build a sustainable technology company, and considering how unbalanced the risk/reward ratio is, each founder…

1
Episode 9 | Taking an AI startup from research to reality with Dipanwita Das of Sorcero 47:41

5M ago47:41

47:41

For this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, I interviewed Dipanwita Das, CEO and co-founder of Sorcero, about the journey of taking an AI startup from research to reality. She shared her experience of interviewing more than 300 people to shape Sorcero's product and technical requirements, as well as strategies for aligning customer needs with product dev…

1
Episode 8 | Securiti CEO Rehan Jalil on scaling to $1M ARR (and beyond) 35:26

6M ago35:26

35:26

Going from zero to $1M in annual recurring revenue is worth celebrating, but it’s no guarantee that your startup is on a path to success. How long did it take to reach this milestone? How much did you spend to acquire each customer, and how many have renewed or extended their contracts? When it comes to sales, repeatability equals success. To learn…

1
Episode 7 | Communicating your vision with May Habib (CEO, Writer) and Gaurav Misra (CEO, Captions) 1:00:01

6M ago1:00:01

1:00:01

Successful entrepreneurs must translate their personal visions into something tangible enough to attract employees, investors, and eventually, customers. There are best practices for product management and software pricing, but how do you make yourself persuasive (and authentic) enough to convince someone else to risk their time and money on your i…

1
Fund/Build/Scale mini-episode | From seed stage to Series A with Coalesce CEO Armon Petrossian [Part 2] 21:10

7M ago21:10

21:10

In part two, Armon explained why he initially resisted investor advice to raise a Series A and spoke frankly about the challenges involved with stepping up into a leadership role, which led to some interesting talk about overcoming impostor syndrome, something a lot of us can relate to. Part 2: show Series A investors market opportunities you've al…

1
Fund/Build/Scale mini-episode | From seed stage to Series A with Coalesce CEO Armon Petrossian [Part 1] 20:45

7M ago20:45

20:45

I interviewed Coalesce CEO and co-founder Armon Petrossian in February 2024 to talk about his company's journey from seed stage to Series A. I had no idea he was already working on his next round: just a few weeks after we recorded this interview, Coalesce announced a $50M Series B. To help me prepare, his team shared their slightly redacted Series…

1
Episode 6 | AI compliance and regulation with Laura Bisesto of Nextdoor 29:21

7M ago29:21

29:21

I interviewed Laura Bisesto (global head of policy and privacy at Nextdoor) in January 2024 to get her advice for AI startups that are just starting out. We talked about compliance, how to recognize when you need in-house help, and the overall importance of planning for worst case scenarios. She also had some thoughts for rolling out new AI-powered…

1
Episode 5 | Breaking into enterprise sales with Maria Latushkin (GVP of Technology and Engineering, Albertsons) and Jack Berkowitz (CDO, Securiti) 38:41

7M ago38:41

38:41

For episode 5, I interviewed Maria Latushkin, GVP of Technology and Engineering at Albertsons, the second-largest grocery chain in America, and Jack Berkowitz, Chief Data Officer at Securiti (previously with ADP), to get their insider's perspective on how enterprise-level customers buy software and services from AI startups. The most surprising thi…

1
Episode 4 | Fundraising from both sides of the table with Jorge Torres (CEO/co-founder, MindsDB) and Vijay Reddy (AI Start investor, Mayfield) 39:38

8M ago39:38

39:38

Jorge Torres (CEO, co-founder, MindsDB) and Vijay Reddy (AI Start investor, Mayfield) were the first two people I interviewed for Fund/Build/Scale. We met up at Jorge's office in San Francisco's Mission District on a rainy Friday afternoon in November 2023. We spent time discussing the ins and outs of pitch tactics and investor outreach, but we als…

1
Episode 3 | Tapping into the AI Developer Community with Ozzy Johnson (Director of Solutions Engineering, NVIDIA) 34:54

8M ago34:54

34:54

I wanted to learn more about how inception-stage AI founders can tap into developer ecosystems, so I spoke to Ozzy Johnson, Director of Solutions Engineering for NVIDIA Developer Programs. In his role, he leads a global product team that accelerates its own work by interacting with outside developers who use the company’s technology. Johnson also w…

1
Episode 2 | Digging Your Moat: Customer Discovery + PLG for AI Startups with Rodrigo Liang (CEO/co-founder, SambaNova) 40:51

9M ago40:51

40:51

Idea-stage investors are still excited about AI, but the savvier ones are looking for social proof and tangible takeaways from the customer discovery process. Before they commit, these investors are seeking evidence that the idea/team they’re considering won’t melt like snow in the rain the next time a major player improves their model. With that i…

1
Episode 1 | Building Trust with Your Inception Investor with guest Navin Chaddha (Managing Partner, Mayfield) 46:46

9M ago46:46

46:46

In the first episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Mayfield Managing Partner Navin Chaddha spoke about the need for founders to identify investors they can trust, how to pitch Mayfield's AI Start seed fund, and why he’s specifically looking for inception-stage entrepreneurs who have “half-baked” ideas. Our conversation covered a lot of ground: Navin describ…

1
Welcome to Fund/Build/Scale 1:39

11M ago1:39

1:39

Hi. I’m Walter Thompson. I worked in startups for years before becoming a journalist. Now, I’m launching “Fund/Build/Scale,” a podcast that explains how to create an AI startup when all you have is an idea. If you’re seeking general thought leadership or predictions about AI, this is not the podcast for you. Guests on “Fund/Build/Scale” are sharing…

1
Climate Change 5:40

5+ y ago5:40

5:40

This is discussing about climate change and how humans impact it on the marine system.

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