If you listen back to the first few episodes, you'll hear me ask founders where they think they'll be in twelve months. One year seems like a long time in startupland, but it actually goes by in a flash. Patrick Boyaggi and Mike Tassone, Founders of RateGravity and guests on our first episode ever, discovered just that.

In this inaugural 1-year lookback, we discussed their $2M funding round with Listen Ventures, Accomplice's BOSS Syndicate, and others, examined how other players in the market can interfere with potential deals, analyzed which marketing channels are most effective in a highly competitive environment, and talked about the value of the human touch in a tech-dominated industry. Their online home mortgage platform made major strides in 2017, but there is still a ton of work left to do.

Before we jump into the conversation, I wanted to give you all a little taste of the tech conversations I usually have over beers with Dylan Martin, Tech Writer for Bostinno. Early Stage and our friends at Bostinno are testing 10-minute "InnoSprints" at the top of each episode in February.

This InnoSprint will cover grocery startup Takeoff Technologies, wearable startups Nix and Whoop, student loan benefits startup FutureFuel, and MIT's Intelligence Quest AI initiative. Let Dylan and I know what you think of the new bit @DylandLJMartin and @EarlyStagePod on Twitter.

That's all for now! Enjoy this week's show.