Founded & Funded

In this episode of Founded & Funded, Madrona Investor Rolanda Fu is joined by Dedy Kredo, the co-founder and chief product officer of QodoAI — formerly CodiumAI, a 2024 IA40 winner and one of the most exciting AI companies shaping the future of software development. Dedy and his co-founder, Itamar, are entrepreneurs who have spent their careers building for developers, and with Qodo, they're tackling one of the most frustrating problems in software engineering — testing and verifying code.

As AI generates more code, the challenge shifts to ensuring quality, maintaining standards, and managing complexity across the entire software development lifecycle. In this conversation, Dedy and Rolanda discuss how Qodo's agentic architecture and deep code-based understanding are helping enterprises leverage AI speed while ensuring code integrity and governance.

They get into what it takes to build enterprise-ready AI platforms, the strategy behind scaling from a developer-first approach to major enterprise partnerships, and how AI agents might reshape software engineering teams altogether.

Transcript: https://www.madrona.com/engineering-ai-era-qodo-dedy-kredo-on-ai-powered-sdlc

Chapters: (00:00) Introduction (01:12) The Future of AI in Software Development (01:58) Dedy's Journey in Tech (03:02) The Genesis of Qodo (03:53) Qodo's Unique Approach to AI Coding (05:13) Exploring Qodo's Product Features (06:42) Code Review and Verification (08:53) Customizing AI Agents (11:02) Vibe Coding and Code Review (13:27) Developer Love vs. Enterprise Needs (15:33) Enterprise Adoption (17:51) Future of Software Engineering (22:13) Balancing Developer Love and Enterprise Sales (24:05) Advice for Founders

In the latest episode of Founded & Funded, Madrona Partner Vivek Ramaswami sits down with Harley Sugarman, founder and CEO of Anagram, to unpack how one pivot, a flood of cold outreach, and relentless focus on behavior change transformed a niche tool into an enterprise platform serving companies like Disney and Pfizer. From landing enterprise logos off of nothing but wireframes, to outmaneuvering the 800-lb gorilla in a legacy industry — Harley's tactics are a masterclass for any founder trying to stand out in a crowded market.

Transcript: https://www.madrona.com/how-anagram-landed-disney-with-cold-outbound-security-awareness-training

Chapters: (00:00) Introduction (01:53) Harley Sugarman's Background and Journey (03:24) Founding Anagram (04:21) Initial Vision and Pivot (05:50) Challenges and Market Realities (06:54) Customer Feedback and New Direction (09:25) Executing a Startup Pivot (11:31) Cold Outreach Success (14:20) Security Awareness Training that works (18:52) Competing in a Crowded Market (24:48) Enterprise Sales Strategy (27:04) Fundraising Journey (28:54) Choosing the Right Investors (33:32) Advice for Founders (36:33) Future of Security Training

What happens when a scientist becomes a VC? We sat down with Madrona's Joe Horsman to find out. In this episode, Joe shares his journey from late nights in the lab to helping biotech founders bring life-changing science to market.

You'll hear:

• Why Seattle's biotech + AI ecosystem is heating up
• What founders need beyond funding to commercialize world-changing science.
• Why weekend adventures fuel Monday creativity

In this Founded & Funded episode, Madrona Managing Director Soma Somasegar sits down with Charles Lamanna, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, to unpack his journey from startup founder to corporate leader. They dive into what it takes to build a successful AI-transformed organization, how the nature of business applications is evolving, and why AI agents will fundamentally reshape teams, tools, and workflows. From "customer obsession" to "extreme ownership," Charles delivers insight after insight for startup founders and enterprise leaders navigating the age of AI.

They dive into: Why business apps as we know them are dead How AI agents and open standards like MCP and A2A are reshaping software The shift toward generalist teams powered by AI What startups are doing today that enterprises will follow in 3–5 years How to focus deeply on a few high-impact AI projects instead of chasing 100 pilots

Transcript: https://www.madrona.com/the-end-of-biz-apps-ai-agility-and-the-agent-native-enterprise-from-microsoft-cvp-charles-lamanna

Chapters: (00:00) Introduction (01:20) Charles Lamanna's Entrepreneurial Journey (01:39) Customer Obsession and Ownership in Startups (03:54) The Future of Business Applications with AI (05:56) AI-Powered Business Agents (08:22) The Role of AI in Modern Business (11:11) Startups Are the Blueprint for the Future of Work (14:33) Industry-Wide AI Adoption (18:32) Driving AI Transformation in Enterprises (21:51) Maintaining Agility in Large Companies (25:03) Personal Impact of AI on Daily Life (27:55) Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Entrepreneurs often ask: When do I know it's time to scale? Or, how do I lead when I wasn't the original founder?

In this week's Founded & Funded, Madrona Partner Chris Picardo sits down with Eleanor Lightbody, CEO of Luminance, who shares how she took a promising AI product and built a company culture, go-to-market motion, and product strategy that's scaled 6x in just two years. Eleanor's candor and tactical insights on hiring, selling, and navigating founder dynamics make this a must-listen.

Transcript: https://www.madrona.com/building-ai-that-sells-scaling-smarter-with-luminance-ceo-eleanor-lightbody/

Chapters: (00:00) Introduction (01:29) Eleanor's Career Journey (03:22) Joining Luminance and Initial Challenges (05:46) Navigating CEO Role and Company Dynamics (11:01) Transforming Luminance's Growth Trajectory (19:03) Balancing Innovation and Core Product Delivery (24:42) Building a Collaborative Culture (28:44) Challenges and Rewards of Scaling a Company (34:57) Future of AI

Most startups bolt AI onto old products. ⁨@ravennahq⁩ reimagined the entire workflow.

When we first met Kevin Coleman and Taylor Halliday, it was clear they weren't just chasing the hype cycle. They were pairing AI-native architecture with deep founder-market fit, and rebuilding how internal ops work — from first principles.

Their new company, Ravenna, is going after a $160B+ market dominated by legacy players. But instead of being intimidated by incumbents, they got focused, making some smart moves that more early-stage teams should consider:

1) Speak with 30+ customers before writing a line of code 2) Define a clear ICP and pain points 3) Build natively for Slack — where support actually happens 4) Prioritize automation, iteration, and real workflow transformation 5) Stayed radically transparent with investors and early customers

At Madrona, we love backing teams that combine ambition with discipline — and Kevin and Taylor are doing just that. In this episode of Founded & Funded, they sit down with Madrona Managing Director Tim Porter and talk through their journey, what they'd do differently the second time around, and how they're building a durable, agentic platform for internal support.

If you're a founder building in AI, SaaS, or ops — this conversation is full of lessons worth hearing.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/4ju2Cml

Chapters: (00:00) Introduction (00:23) Meet the Founders: Taylor Halliday and Kevin Coleman (02:05) The Birth of Ravenna: Identifying the Problem (03:05) The Concept of Enterprise Service Management (04:02) The Journey from Idea to Execution (04:31) Customer Insights and Market Fit (06:42) Building a Next-Generation Platform (10:43) Slack Integration and AI Automation (14:37) Partnering with Slack: A Strategic Move (17:13) Leveraging Slack for Knowledge Management (20:13) Balancing Focus and Vision (21:07) Discovering ITSM: A Hidden Market (21:40) Expanding Beyond IT: The Universal Help Desk (24:30) ServiceNow and the AI Revolution (27:03) Building a Transparent and Collaborative Culture (29:37) Recruiting Top AI Talent (31:59) Navigating Market Realities and Customer Focus (37:59) Advice for Aspiring Founders

In this episode of Founded & Funded, Madrona Managing Director Soma Somasegar sits down with Anoop Gupta, co-founder and CEO of @SeekOut — an AI-first company transforming how organizations discover, hire, and manage talent.

They explore: 1) SeekOut's evolution from LLM-powered workflows to the launch of SeekOut Spot, their agentic AI solution that delivers hires in as little as 3 days. 2) Why "service as software" is the future of recruiting. 3) How founders and talent leaders can reimagine hiring in the age of AI agents. 4) Lessons from building an AI-native company through market shifts. 5) The real business model shift from tools to outcomes.

With customers like Discord, 1Password, HP, and even Madrona itself, SeekOut is redefining what fast, high-quality hiring looks like.

Transcript: https://madrona.com/rise-of-agentic-ai-in-recruiting-seekout-anoop-gupta

Chapters: (00:00) Introduction (01:56) SeekOut Background and AI Evolution (03:55) The Role of Agentic AI in Recruiting (07:59) Business Model and Flexibility (12:59) Recruiting Process and Efficiency (16:49) Navigating Challenges and Product-Market Fit (20:29) Focus on Outcomes not on Hype (22:25) Do you Need a Data Moat? (23:45) Don't build a recruiting org too early (25:50) The biggest hiring mistakes (29:15) Agentic AI for recruiting is here

This bonus episode of Founded & Funded is a follow-up to Madrona Partner Jon Turow's conversation with Douwe Kiela, CEO of Contextual AI and co-inventor of RAG.

In this quick chat, they dive into:

1) Why storytelling—not just GTM—needs to be vertical2) How to build a platform by showing what's possible3) The tension between "doing one thing well" vs. building the whole stack 4) Multimodal content moderation at Meta & what it taught Douwe

This 10-minute post-show chat is a must-listen for founders thinking deeply about where to plant your flag — and when to break the rules.

​Microsoft Chairman & CEO Satya Nadella sat down with Madrona Managing Director Soma Somasegar at Madrona's 2025 Annual Meeting to discuss the key inflection points in his leadership journey, Microsoft's AI strategy, and the massive economic impact AI will have on the world. From redefining company culture to betting big on AI and OpenAI,Satya shares deep insights into Microsoft's transformation — and what's next.

Watch now for leadership lessons, AI predictions, and the future of innovation!

Transcript: https://www.madrona.com/satya-nadella-microsfot-ai-strategy-leadership-culture-computing

Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction (03:34) Satya Nadella's Journey as CEO (09:57) Cultural Transformation at Microsoft (14:03) The Influence of Cricket on Leadership (18:27) The AI Revolution and Microsoft's Role (28:30) The Future of AI and Economic Impact

What does it take to invent a foundational AI paradigm — and then build a company to bring it to the enterprise?

In this episode of Founded & Funded, Madrona Partner Jon Turow sits down with Douwe Kiela, co-founder and CEO of Contextual AI and the co-inventor of RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation). They dive into the origins of RAG, its misunderstood role in the enterprise, and how Contextual is redefining what production-grade AI systems can do. Douwe shares what most companies get wrong about RAG, why chunking shouldn't matter, how to think about hallucinations, and what founders need to know in the era of RAG agents.

Transcript: https://madrona.com/rag-inventor-talks-agents-grounded-ai-and-enterprise-impact

Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction (01:27) The Origin of RAG (04:00) Challenges and Innovations in RAG (09:49) Enterprise Adoption and Use Cases (20:46) Scaling and Innovations at Contextual AI (23:39) The Future of RAG Agents (24:43) Challenges in Enterprise Data (26:34) Building a Research-Driven Company (27:55) The Intersection of Research and Product (32:10) Advice for Founders and AI Companies (38:14) Understanding and Addressing Hallucinations (40:50) Company Building is Harder Than You'd Think (42:00) The Importance of Evaluation in AI (44:14) Concluding Thoughts