Today’s conversation with Mitchell Jones covers what most founders miss: survival comes first. We unpack second-time founder advantages, fundraising psychology, and long-term trust with investors. And we go deep on why AI agents demand a new payments infrastructure.Mitchell Jones is a fintech founder building Lava Payments, a modern payments infrastructure company focused on enabling faster, more flexible capital movement for businesses. Before launching Lava Payments, Mitchell Jones co-founded Lendtable, a fintech platform designed to help employees access capital to participate in employer-sponsored benefit programs.Our podcast is sponsored by Gunderson Dettmer #PoweredByGundersonTimestamps:0:00 Intro1:00 Mitchell Jones’ Background and Founder Journey2:02 What Mitchell Learned From Building Lendtable6:41 The Three Biggest Founder Lessons From His First Startup8:24 The Pros and Cons of Being a Second-Time Founder13:19 Why Mitchell Is Building Lava and Betting on AI Payments18:57 How Lava Helps AI Companies Track Usage and Monetize20:27 Fundraising Advice: How to Think Like a VC25:17 What Really Gets an Investor to Say Yes29:44 Why Founders Should Pitch Believers, Not Convince Skeptics32:01 Why Trust Comes Before the Transaction35:24 Mitchell on AI Applications, AGI, and the Future of Companies41:18 Great Man Theory and the Future of AI44:40 OutroMore on Mitchell:https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchell-jones-333559a2More on Brandon:https://harlem.capital/team/brandon-bryanthttps://www.youtube.com/@Wallstreetpaperhttps://x.com/wallstreetpaperThe Winners Welcome Podcast, by Harlem Capital, brings elite founders and top investors into thoughtful conversations on pushing past possible, sharing the conviction, standards, and lessons behind building generational companies.Harlem Capital is a venture capital firm that backs the next generation of winners. The firm partners with exceptional founders with the irrational motivation to build generational companies. All Winners Welcome.We’d love to hear from you. Share your feedback at [email protected] or DM us @HarlemCapital, and if you’re enjoying the podcast, please subscribe, rate, and review.