In this episode of Builders, Matthew sits down with Paul Lee, Co-Founder and CEO of Patlytics, the AI-powered platform that supports the full patent lifecycle. Paul spent years as a venture capitalist before jumping to the other side of the table, and in under two and a half years, he's taken Patlytics from an idea to a company trusted by more than 40% of AmLaw 100 firms.

This episode digs into what it actually took to earn that trust: a "business first, fundraising follows" philosophy, a decade-old friendship with his co-founder that became the company's operating glue, and a hard line on accuracy in a profession where attorneys don't get a second shot.

In this episode, Matthew and Paul discuss:

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Timestamps:

01:03 - Why abandon VC

03:23 - Co-founder relationship

05:57 - Where did the idea for Patlytics come from

09:07 - VC misconceptions about founders

13:00 - How did you win over the trust of attorneys

17:17 - How are you serving two different buyers

20:42 - How the Patlytics product is built

22:07 - Security level

23:40 - Warning for law firms

25:52 - Rapid fire questions

Steffen Wulff Petersen and Ben Dixon are Co-Founders of Sona, the AI-native workforce management platform for frontline enterprises, along with their third Co-Founder, Oli Johnson. Before Sona, the three of them founded Catapult, a gig-economy marketplace for shift-based work in retail and hospitality. 

This episode digs into how Steffen and Ben created an operating system for the world's frontline workforce, why they've built Sona to work across verticals and geographies from day one, and how a decade of shared operational scar tissue shapes the way they run the company today. They also share Sona's recent $45 million raise, and accelerated push into the US market, and share why the frontier labs are unlikely to come after their category directly.

In this episode, Matthew, Steffen, and Ben discuss:

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Episode 1: Jahan Khanna is the Co-Founder and CEO of XBuild, the first AI platform built for construction, helping contractors streamline their estimating process and win more jobs. Jahan is a serial entrepreneur, with XBuild being the third company he’s founded.  First, he built Shepherd Intelligence Systems, then he co-founded Sidecar, one of the original rideshare pioneers, which General Motors acquired in 2016. Prior to starting XBuild, he led product at Uber for nearly 4 years.

This episode digs into Jahan’s experience building an AI product for an industry that runs on clipboards, when he knew it was time to leave Uber and build something new, and how to find and address your customers’ existential needs. 

In this episode, Matthew and Jahan discuss:

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