Founder Real Talk

By Notable Capital

This is Founder Real Talk, where we get real about the challenges that founders and startup executives face, and how they've grown from tough experiences. Hosted by Managing Partner Glenn Solomon.

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FAQs about Founder Real Talk:

How many episodes does Founder Real Talk have?

The podcast currently has 99 episodes available.

Founder Real Talk episodes:

September 27, 2024The Power of the Developer: How Jam Used Community to Scale with CEO Dani Grant
In this episode of Founder Real Talk, Glenn Solomon and Hans Tung welcome the Founder and CEO of Jam, Dani Grant. Jam is helping 150k builders fix bugs faster, trusted by 32 of the Fortune 100. The conversation explores Dani's journey from being a product manager at Cloudflare to founding Jam, the challenges of being a first-time CEO, and the role of AI in shaping the future of software development. They also discuss how to approach developers as a customer and the launch of Dev Starter Pack, a multi-company initiative aimed at supporting aspiring founders by making it easier to get started.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
1. Fostering Efficient Collaboration: Jam accelerates communication between product and engineering teams, drawing inspiration from Dani Grant's experience at Cloudflare, while AI integration is a focus for future tools.
2. Empathy and Community in Leadership: Dani emphasizes empathy in product development, highlights the importance of community in developer-focused companies, and leads by empowering her team while balancing control and trust.
3. How Users Inform the Product Roadmap: How patience and user feedback are critical to reaching product-market-fit and how users can inspire your next great product idea.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction to Jam and Its Impact
02:25 Dani Grant's Journey and the Birth of Jam
05:47 The Dev Starter Pack: A Collaborative Initiative
08:41 AI's Role in Shaping Software Development
10:18 Building a Developer Community
15:54 Challenges of Being a First-Time CEO
19:56 Finding Product-Market Fit
21:36 Leadership Style and Team Dynamics
33:45 Commercialization Plans and Future Directions

RESOURCES
Learn more about Notable Capital: www.notablecap.com
Learn more about Jam: https://jam.dev/

CONNECT
Connect with Glenn Solomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glennsolomon/
Follow Glenn Solomon on Twitter: https://x.com/glennsolomon

Connect with Hans Tung on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hans-tung/
Follow Hans Tung on Twitter: https://x.com/hanstung

Connect with Dani Grant on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danigrant/
Follow Dani Grant on Twitter: https://x.com/thedanigrant

Produced by Saschi Productions
Music by Gus Culpo
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51min
July 16, 2024AI's Trust Architects: The Patronus Approach to LLM-Based Applications and Enterprise Adoption with Anand Kannappan & Rebecca Qian
In a world where enterprises are moving faster than ever to adopt generative AI solutions, Patronus AI offers solutions to scalably and reliably catch mistakes and evaluate the performance of large language models (LLMs).
In this episode of Founder Real Talk, host Glenn Solomon and guest host Dan Cahana sit down with AI visionaries and Patronus AI co-founders Anand Kannappan and Rebecca Qian to explore their journey from CS students at the University of Chicago to AI leadership roles at Meta and the reasons they felt compelled to start Patronus after recognizing the need for robust evaluation tools following the release of ChatGPT in late 2022.
Anand and Rebecca illuminate the challenges enterprises face in adopting AI and the ways they’ve built Patronus to mitigate challenges like hallucinations and brand alignment. Against the backdrop of rapid AI adoption at large companies, the founders share their vision for creating the enterprise standard for unbiased, independent evaluations.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. AI Visionaries: Anand and Rebecca's extensive experience in AI and machine learning, including their time at Meta and the University of Chicago, laid the foundation for Patronus.
2. Day -1 for AI: The founders see AI adoption as still being in the very early stages, describing it as "Day -1." Large companies are moving faster than ever to adopt AI technologies but face challenges in navigating the rapidly evolving landscape.
3. Solving Critical AI Issues: Patronus addresses the challenges of LLMs, such as hallucinations, unexpected behavior, and brand misalignments, making AI deployment safer and more reliable for enterprises.
4. API-First Approach: Patronus's API-first solution allows for seamless integration into various parts of the tech stack, offering flexibility and scalability for real-time and offline use cases.
5. Enterprise Adoption: The rapid adoption of AI by enterprises, driven by the need for reliability and safety, highlights the importance and urgency of Patronus's solutions.
6. Future of AI: Patronus describes “Scalable oversight" and how humans will learn to supervise increasingly intelligent AI systems
RESOURCES
• Learn more about Notable Capital: www.notablecap.com
• Learn more about Patronus AI: https://www.patronus.ai/

CONNECT
• Connect with Glenn Solomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glennsolomon/
• Follow Glenn Solomon on Twitter: https://x.com/glennsolomon

• Connect with Dan Cahana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dancahana/
• Follow Dan Cahana on Twitter: https://x.com/dan_cahana

• Connect with Anand Kannappan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anandnkannappan/
• Follow Anand Kannappan on Twitter: https://x.com/anandnk24

• Connect with Rebecca Qian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccaqian/
• Follow Rebecca Qian on Twitter: https://x.com/rebeccatqian

Produced by Saschi Productions
Music by Gus Culpo

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro and Introductions
5:00 What does Patronus do?
6:55 What’s been some of the surprises in AI?
10:00 The Patronus Product
12:15 How are customers using Patronus?
15:27 Why is an API-first approach important?
16:45 How did you know this was the right place to focus?
19:40 Large companies of the world are moving faster than ever
26:40 Into the Future: What will you look for to know that AI has been successful?
29:00 How do customers plan to deploy this type of technology?
32:00 AI Predictions
35:00 What motivates the Patronus founders?
36:40 What advice would you give to founders looking to start a company in the AI field?
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38min
June 25, 2024Unlocking Developer Productivity: The Coder Journey with CEO Rob Whiteley and Co-founders Ammar Bandukwala & Kyle Carberry
In this episode of Founder Real Talk, Glenn Solomon welcomes the team from Coder, including CEO Rob Whiteley and technical co-founders Ammar Bandukwala and Kyle Carberry. They discuss Coder’s journey from its inception, the company’s product pivots, and its growth trajectory. Listeners will gain insights into how Coder enables developers to write code directly in the cloud, enhancing productivity and security. They’ll also learn about the strategic decisions behind Coder's open-source approach, the challenges faced, and the recent successful $35 million funding round.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Shift to Cloud Development: Coder allows developers to write code natively in the cloud, improving productivity and security. This shift is akin to moving from old-school word processors to modern office suites.
2. Open Source Evolution: The company pivoted from a consumer-focused SaaS application to an open-source project, resulting in the popular Code Server and later the Coder platform, which supports team-based remote development.
3. Product Market Fit and Customer Adoption: Coder has achieved significant traction with large enterprises and tech companies by providing a product that enhances developer productivity while maintaining security.
4. Strategic Leadership Changes: Bringing in Rob Whiteley as CEO and Josh Epstein as CRO helped Coder focus on large enterprises, leveraging their expertise in go-to-market strategies.
5. Future Growth and Vision: Coder's recent $35 million funding round will support further development and expansion. The company aims to capitalize on opportunities in both the VDI market and the emerging generative AI tools sector.
Tune in to hear how Coder's innovative approach is reshaping software development and their plans for the future.

RESOURCES
Learn more about Notable Capital: www.notablecap.com
Learn more about Coder: www.coder.com

CONNECT
Connect with Glenn Solomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glennsolomon/
Follow Glenn Solomon on Twitter: https://x.com/glennsolomon

Produced by Saschi Productions
Music by Gus Culpo

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction to Coder and its Founders
02:54 Evolution of Coder's Product and Business Model
05:07 The Decision to Build Coder as an Open Source Company
08:14 Building Code Server and Transitioning to Coder
10:23 The Role of Open Source in Coder's Growth
13:16 Justification for Coder in Different Customer Segments
15:20 Bringing in a CEO and Building a Strong Culture
20:43 Building the Go-to-Market Team and Strategy
22:28 Future Opportunities in the Cloud Development Market
26:40 Recent Fundraise and Milestones for Coder
29:20 Critical Milestones and Innovations for Coder
31:30 Rob's Biggest Learning as a First-Time CEO
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37min
February 23, 2024 Adam Bain, Co-founder & Managing Partner at 01 Advisors, on the Power of Storytelling
Adam Bain is a co-founder and managing partner at 01 Advisors, a venture and advisory firm helping founders go from building a product to building a company.
In this episode, Adam highlights the similarities between his storytelling roots as a journalist and how he now backs founders as an investor.
Drawing on lessons learned as Twitter’s Chief Operating Officer pre- and post-IPO, Adam also shares how those key traits—intellectual curiosity, hustle, and resilience—shape the way he supports startup founders today.
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44min
September 27, 2023 Arie Zilberstein, CEO & Co-founder of Gem, on the Technology (and Psychology) Needed to Stop Cloud Attacks
Arie Zilberstein is the CEO and co-founder of Gem, a startup that’s building a Cloud Detection and Response platform for security operations teams. In this episode, Arie recalls how his experience in the Israel Defense Forces not only shaped his outlook but also introduced him to his future co-founders: CTO Ron Konigsberg and VP of Product Ofir Brukner. Together, they’re changing the way that organizations identify and stop attacks in the cloud.
Tune in for Arie’s thoughts on the technology (and psychology) of managing incident response, how Gem is leveraging generative artificial intelligence, why he believes in distributed teams, and more. This episode is co-hosted by Oren Yunger, Managing Partner at GGV Capital.
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21min
July 12, 2023 Tony Holdstock-Brown & Dan Farrelly, Inngest Co-founders, on Embracing Feedback from Early Customers
CEO Tony Holdstock-Brown and CTO Dan Farrelly are the co-founders of Inngest, a startup that’s building a serverless, event-driven workflow platform to help developers create better apps with simpler, more intuitive tools.
The duo reflects on the engineering career paths that ultimately led them to meeting in a co-working space in New York City, plus hear what shifts in technology are setting the stage for Inngest, what surprising customer feedback is shaping the platform, and what opportunities lie ahead.
This episode is co-hosted by GGV investor Dan Cahana.
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30min
May 11, 2023 Nicole Perlroth, Cybersecurity Advisor and Author, on Modern-Day Cybersecurity
Nicole Perlroth is an advisor to the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the bestselling author of the 2021 book This is How They Tell Me The World Ends, a groundbreaking in-depth exploration of the global cyber arms race. Prior to that, she spent a decade as the lead cybersecurity, digital espionage and sabotage reporter at the New York Times. She’s now building her new early-stage venture fund, Silver Buckshot Ventures, which she describes as “a mission fund backing next-generation cybersecurity startups that, together, take out every tool in an attacker’s arsenal.” Fighting cyber crime requires collaboration and multiple approaches. Nicole shares stories of how she fell into the cybersecurity beat, her advisory work with the DOJ, some of the challenges with cybersecurity work, and her thoughts about how Silver Buckshot Ventures can help.
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51min
April 05, 2023 Dani Grant, Co-Founder and CEO of Jam.dev, on Building and Iterating a Sticky Product
Dani Grant is the co-founder and CEO of Jam.dev, a developer tool that allows for faster communication between product and engineering about bugs and fixes. While working at Cloudflare as a product manager, Dani and her eventual co-founder Mohd Irtefa dealt with frustrating debugging experiences first-hand, and came up with a product solution to help developers, engineers, designers and product managers can capture screenshots and development blocks in one click. Today, Jam has captured the hearts of huge clients like Unilever, Staples, T-Mobile, and Dell. Dani shares the importance of tracking user retention, iterating your way to total product market fit, and more.
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36min
March 23, 2023 Idan Tendler, SVP of Application Security at Palo Alto Networks, on Nailing Go-To-Market and Learning From Mistakes
Idan Tendler is the Senior Vice President of Application Security at Palo Alto Networks, as well as the chairman and co-founder of Place-IL, a nonprofit tech initiative. Idan discusses his previous cybersecurity analytics startup, Fortscale (later acquired by RSA Security), and some key lessons he learned from his experience building the company. Before Fortscale, Idan founded Bridgecrew, a company that helps developers better secure their cloud environment. With the goal of to making developers love security—a seemingly impossible task—Bridgecrew built an open-source product called Checkov, which allowed the company to get millions of developers to use their product. Today, Idan is also busy building Place-IL, a non-profit initiative that helps connect immigrants to Israel with job opportunities in the country's tech industry.
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38min
September 27, 2022 Rich Waldron, CEO & Co-Founder of Tray.io, on Delivering Low-Code, Cloud-First Automation at Scale
Rich Waldron is the CEO and co-founder of Tray.io, a company he founded with his two best friends. This is the second time we're talking to Rich on Founder Real Talk, make sure to check out his episode from 2019! Software has been around for a long time, and in many different forms. On the waves of cloud adoption and digital transformation, it's more important than ever for companies to make technology accessible to their employees. Tray.io users in any department can use its automation platform to transform fragmented processes into powerful business outcomes. Rich talks about Tray's latest $40 million Series C extension, product and growth plans, and more.
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24min

FAQs about Founder Real Talk:

How many episodes does Founder Real Talk have?

The podcast currently has 99 episodes available.

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