In this episode of Uncharted, Poya kicks off 2025 with an insightful conversation with Haroon, CEO of Autoblocks AI, a company pioneering tools to ensure the safe deployment of AI. Haroon shares his journey from being an ML engineer to co-founding Autoblocks, highlighting his passion for building trust in AI systems. The discussion explores the AI industry's rapid evolution, the challenges startups face in standing out, and the strategic importance of solving immediate customer pain points. Tune in to hear Haroon's grounded perspective on navigating the hype around AI, his thoughts on the battle between AI-native startups and industry incumbents, and advice for those entering the space.

About our guest:

Haroon is the Co-Founder & CEO at Autoblocks AI, one of the first-ever AI evaluation platforms. 

He is also the host of the Building With AI podcast, where he interviews & distills best practices from top AI product teams at companies like OpenAI, Intercom, and Retool. 

Haroon previously founded one of the top AI literacy nonprofits in the US, AI For Anyone, and is passionate about democratizing knowledge about AI.

Today's guest is Firaas Rashid, CEO and Founder of Hook. Hook is the B2B SaaS platform focused on predictable revenue growth from existing customers. Backed by Lightspeed and LocalGlobe, Hook is revolutionising the way companies forecast their revenue growth using product usage and customer data. He is passionate about changing the way Customer Success is run and building the leading workplace for ambitious people who want to be part of a team. Before founding Hook, Firaas was CTO and Head of Customer Success (EMEA) at AppDynamics, scaling from $170m to $550m Annual Recurring Revenue in 2 years. He led a rapid journey of rebuilding Customer Success to focus on data-driven prioritisation and scale. Prior to that he was a Director of IT at Credit Suisse.

Beyond his role, Firaas finds joy in travel, exploring new restaurants, and even taking to the skies.

This episode is brought to you with support from Oracle Netsuite. Learn more at Netsuite.com/scale

This episode of Uncharted, Poya sits down with Dean Shu, founder and CEO of Arphie (⁠https://www.arphie.ai⁠), an AI-driven platform that accelerates RFP and questionnaire responses. Dean shares his journey from software consulting and investing to scaling startups like Scale AI, where he learned the skills that prepared him for entrepreneurship. He discusses how personal pain points and deep market research inspired him to become a founder, as well as shares his approach to founder-led sales, building customer trust, and differentiating in a crowded AI market. Dean emphasizes the importance of choosing the right co-founder, setting realistic expectations, and staying outcome-focused. Tune in for insights on navigating startup challenges and lessons from Dean’s entrepreneurial path.

About our Guest: Dean Shu is the CEO and Co-Founder of Arphie (https://www.arphie.ai), a platform that streamlines the process of responding to tedious requests for proposal (RFPs), security questionnaires, and more. Arphie was born out of his prior experience in responding to these RFPs at Scale AI, where he was the General Manager of a software business unit. 
Prior to Scale AI, Dean invested in B2B software companies at Insight Partners, a $90B fund based in New York, and served as a consultant to tech companies at McKinsey & Company. Dean graduated from Harvard University, where he met his Arphie co-founder Michael Chen. When he's not building Arphie, Dean spends time with his wife and their Samoyed puppy.

This week's episode features Ashley Montgomery, the CEO of Montgomery Entertainment, a boutique event production agency with over 20 years of experience creating unforgettable moments across the globe. Ashley shares her approach to selecting clients, the key ingredients for successful collaborations, and why trust is at the heart of her work.

Ashley's stories inspire and offer valuable lessons in leadership and integrity. Plus, she opens up about her annual 25 Days of Giving initiative, where she’s bringing holiday cheer through community partnerships and exciting giveaways.

Tune in for a conversation filled with actionable insights, heartwarming stories, and the spirit of giving. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, event enthusiast, or just looking for a dose of inspiration, this episode is for you!

Chris Gannon is the Founder of Captivate Talent, a recruiting firm specializing in hiring top-tier go to market talent. In this episode, Chris dives into the importance of culture, importance of healthy decisions and the value of bringing authenticity to business. Genuine, insightful, and refreshingly no-nonsense, Chris is a leader who truly walks the talk.

This episode is brought to you with support from Oracle Netsuite. Learn more at netsuite.com/scale that is NetSuite dot com slash SCALE

This week's guest is Ashley Wilson, the co-founder and COO of Momentum.io. Prior to Momentum, she founded Olivine, a product marketing agency, working with companies like ServiceNow, Aruba, Diligent, and Mercury. Before that, she was an early employee and marketing leader at Sauce Labs. Ashley lives in Argentina, by way of SF, and is the mother of 3 energetic kids.

This week is a special episode as we dive into the five lessons from this year's Uncharted Podcast!

Discover insights that can transform your perspective, boost your growth, and inspire your journey. Tune in for valuable takeaways and reflections that you won't want to miss!

This week's guest is Varun Sharma, CEO and co-founder of Enterpret.

Varun's journey to founding Enterpret began at Amplitude, where, as employee 15, he helped scale product analytics for startups to Fortune 500s. During this time, Varun identified a major gap: product teams knew what was happening with their data but not the why. The solution? Insights were buried in unstructured feedback—messy, inconsistent, and impossible to scale. Today, Varun and his team at Enterpret help companies like Canva, Notion, Vimeo, and Strava turn feedback into actionable insights, empowering teams to drive growth and build products users love.

In this exciting episode we sit down with Taylor, founder of Eden Data, to discuss his incredible pivot from corporate life to entrepreneurship. Taylor shares the bold decision to quit his job just before the pandemic hit, leading him to turn to Upwork. From gamifying client acquisition to navigating the challenges of scaling a bootstrapped startup, Taylor reveals the highs and lows of his journey. Tune in to hear how he built a successful cybersecurity company, all while staying grounded with lessons on growth, community, and the importance of setting your own scoreboard.

About our speaker:

Taylor Hersom is the Founder and CEO of Eden Data, the leading cybersecurity firm from SOC 2 to IPO. The Texas-native Deloitte-veteran has built Eden Data into a team of 30+ ex-Big 4 security advisors with 200+ clients including Zendesk and Kindbody. The firm is the back-to-back winner of Drata’s Partner-of-the-Year award.

This episode is brought to you with support from Netsuite. Learn more at Netsuite.com/scale

About this week's guest: Jeremy is an entrepreneur whose goal is to create products that positively impact people's lives. He caught the startup bug 18 years ago and has been building and growing products ever since. His first startup journey concluded when his team was acquired by Facebook, where he went on to spend nine years in growth and product roles. Now, Jeremy is focused on building Sidebar, a platform with a mission to connect leaders and catalyze their extraordinary success. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with family and friends in the mountains, skiing and trail running, or at the beach, learning how to surf.