In this episode of Startup Success, we sit down with Ian Bateman, co-founder and CEO of Highscore, a startup on a mission to bring more games to more people—especially long-neglected Mac users—by enabling PC games to work on any device. Ian shares his startup journey—from building a tech startup in college that led to a successful acquisition, to turning his lifelong frustration as a Mac gamer into the inspiration for his current startup, Highscore. With a lean five-person team, a thriving Disco...
Aug 12, 2025•19 min
Most founders say they value customer feedback—but few know how to truly hear it, let alone act on it. On today’s episode, we are excited to welcome serial founder and CEO Eli Portnoy of Backengine.ai, a platform revolutionizing how businesses capture and act on customer feedback. With over $66M in successful exits behind him, Eli shares the lessons only repeated startup journeys can teach—most critically, why leaning into customer feedback isn't optional, it's foundational to a startup's succes...
Jul 29, 2025•27 min
With Q2 in the rearview mirror, we welcome back one of our most popular guests, Steve Lord, COO & Head of Service Delivery at Burkland. Steve joins us for a macro view of the startup and VC ecosystem—and the message is clear: uncertainty still reigns. From geopolitical instability to unpredictable trade policies and inflation, Steve breaks down what founders and investors need to know right now and provides expert tips on how to raise and extend capital in today’s market. We discuss: Why the...
Jul 15, 2025•20 min
We’re thrilled to welcome back Feras Alhlou—seasoned entrepreneur, startup coach, and co-founder of Start Up With Feras—for another insightful episode of Startup Success. In this candid conversation, Feras dives into what it really takes to build and scale a successful startup. He shares hard-earned lessons from his own journey, including how to focus on what matters most during each phase of the startup lifecycle and why founders must learn to delegate! And he offers his take on giving back to ...
Jul 01, 2025•23 min
In this episode, we sit down with Merrill Lutsky, Co-Founder and CEO of Graphite, a breakout startup redefining code review for the AI era. Originally built solely as an internal code review tool, Graphite unexpectedly attracted a huge amount of interest from the developer community, prompting the team to pivot their startup to focus entirely on that tool. Today, Graphite’s AI developer productivity platform is helping engineering teams at companies like Ramp, Figma, and Shopify ship code up to ...
Jun 17, 2025•25 min
If you’re a founder gearing up to raise capital, this episode of Startup Success is your ultimate fundraising playbook. We’re joined by Nathan Beckord, CEO of Foundersuite and Fundingstack, and host of the How I Raised It podcast. Nathan has helped hundreds of startups navigate every stage of the fundraising process—and he’s sharing his top strategies to help you maximize your next raise. We explore the full fundraising journey—from building a strong investor pipeline to closing the round—and zo...
Jun 03, 2025•32 min
What makes a co-founder relationship thrive—or fall apart? In this episode of Startup Success, we’re joined by Tim He, Founder of Cherrytree, a company helping startup co-founders navigate the tricky terrain of working together. Tim draws on his personal experience co-founding a startup with four friends and explains how that journey led him to launch a newsletter and private coaching practice for startup founders. We dive deep into the questions most founders overlook: Should you go into busine...
May 20, 2025•26 min
What makes a startup board really effective? How do you build one that will truly benefit your startup? How do you conduct board meetings that are helpful and not just a quarterly scramble to put together a deck? In this episode of Startup Success, we dive deep into a topic we’ve never explored before: the real role and power of a startup board. Your board can be a game-changer for your startup—if done the right way. Joining us are Matt Blumberg, CEO of Acrolinx, and Mahendra Ramsinghani, the Ma...
May 06, 2025•32 min
In this episode of Startup Success, we welcome Arielle Lechner, Executive Coach and Founder of NewPo, to discuss the crucial role of decision-making and leadership in early-stage startups. Arielle, a mentor for TechStars and former startup operator, shares insights on how founders can move faster, avoid burnout, and create a thriving company culture. We dive into how founders can distinguish between upstream and downstream problems, the power of thinking like a scientist when iterating, and Arie...
Apr 22, 2025•24 min
Finding startup success outside of Silicon Valley is possible – it just requires some ingenuity. We couldn’t think of anyone who knows more about this topic than Rick Turoczy. With three decades of experience supporting founders, Rick Turoczy, GM and Co-founder of PIE (Portland Incubator Experiment), is the ultimate connector and an expert at helping startups turn ideas into reality. In this episode, we sit down with Rick to explore how startups outside of the Bay Area can find support in their ...
Apr 08, 2025•25 min
Join us for a Q1 update! Kicking off 2025, many anticipated a return to the "good old days" of economic optimism, but the reality has been more complex. In this episode of Startup Success, we sit down with Steven Lord, Burkland’s COO, to get a pulse on the startup ecosystem and the broader economic landscape as Q1 comes to a close. We discuss: What’s going on with interest rates? Trends in startup valuations and venture capital The latest on inflation and the declining consumer confidence index ...
Mar 25, 2025•24 min
In this episode of Startup Success, we explore the data privacy considerations that all founders need to address, not ignore, with Katharine Tomko, Partner at First Ascent Ventures. Katharine fully understands all the priorities and stresses founders face, so she lays out a clear roadmap for them with small, actionable steps they can take now that will help them down the road with privacy. With an intriguing background that spans from her first job as a parole officer to the early days of data p...
Mar 11, 2025•24 min
Pricing and packaging can make or break a startup, yet many founders struggle to get it right. In this episode of Startup Success, we sit down with Fynn Glover, Co-Founder and CEO of Schematic, to explore his journey from startup founder to pricing and packaging expert. Fynn shares lessons from his first startup—how a pivot led to an acquisition, the challenges of scaling, and what sparked his fascination with pricing. And we dive into: How to get a deep understanding of your market's willingnes...
Feb 25, 2025•27 min
In this episode of Startup Success, we are joined by Daniel Loreto, founder of Jetify, who dives into his journey from working at tech giants like Google, Twitter, and Airbnb to launching his own startup. Daniel shares how his passion for accelerating software development led to the creation of Jetify and how AI is transforming the way developers bring ideas to life. Highlights: Daniel’s candid advice on raising a successful seed round His careful approach towards scaling and spending money Stra...
Feb 11, 2025•24 min
There is no getting around the power of customer feedback in building a successful startup. In this episode of Startup Success, we sit down with Luke Kim, founder and CEO of Liner, an AI-powered search tool revolutionizing the way researchers, students, and knowledge workers find reliable information. As a child during the dot-com boom, Luke dreamed of one day starting his own company. Right out of college, he turned his dream into reality by founding Liner, which is now one of the top AI search...
Jan 28, 2025•26 min
In this episode of Startup Success , we're joined by Manish Patel, founding partner at Nava Ventures and self-described accidental venture capitalist. Manish shares his fascinating journey into venture capital, including the challenges and rewards of running a Series A-focused fund and his firm’s thesis-driven approach to investing.We discuss: What Manish looks for when investing in Series A startups and founders Advice on preparing for and raising a Series A round The current state of the start...
Jan 14, 2025•29 min
The Trump 2.0 era will reshape the startup landscape. Is your startup prepared for what’s next? In this insight-packed episode of Startup Success, we welcome back one of our favorite guests, Steven Lord, Burkland’s Managing Director of Service Delivery and Chief Learning Officer. Steve dives deep into the state of the startup ecosystem as we close out 2024 and enter a pivotal year. We explore the long-awaited resurgence of venture capital activity, the shifts in valuations, and the much-anticipa...
Dec 31, 2024•27 min
In this episode of Startup Success, we sit down with Surojit Chatterjee, the CEO and founder of Ema, a generative AI platform poised to transform the future of work. With a career spanning high-level roles at Google and Coinbase, Surojit shares his journey from building billion-dollar businesses to creating Ema’s Universal AI Employee, designed to automate tedious tasks and empower employees to focus on high-value work. Surojit explains the concept of AI employees and illustrates Ema’s ability t...
Dec 17, 2024•27 min
In this episode of Startup Success, we dive into the incredible entrepreneurial journey of Russ d’Sa, Co-Founder and CEO of LiveKit, a startup that evolved from a pandemic side project into an open-source development stack that powers real-time AI. The wildly varied use cases for LiveKit’s technology range from voice conversations with ChatGPT to saving lives on 911 emergency calls. It's a fascinating listen that spotlights the broad range of services we use every day that are now powered by AI!...
Dec 03, 2024•29 min
In this episode of Startup Success, host Kate Adams sits down with Vlad Voroninski, CEO and co-founder of Helm.ai, an AI software startup that is developing the world's safest and most advanced autonomous driving systems at scale. Vlad gives us a fascinating look into Helm.ai's innovative approach to addressing previously unsolved problems in the self-driving car space, detailing how his company leverages unsupervised learning and generative AI to create scalable, robust solutions for real-time ...
Nov 19, 2024•26 min
What if the powerful nutritional compounds in breast milk could be harnessed to improve the health of people of all ages? Today, we’re sitting down with Laura Katz, CEO and founder of Helaina, a groundbreaking biotech startup that’s pushing the boundaries of what food can do for health. Helaina’s technology platform replicates functional proteins found in the human body, making them available as new nutrients that enhance immunity, gut health, and cognitive function. Laura shares her fascinating...
Nov 05, 2024•26 min
What if your inspiration for starting a company came from solving a problem you experienced first-hand as an engineer at a tech giant like Uber? In this episode, we welcome Anish Dhar, Co-Founder and CEO of Cortex, to share his incredible journey from an engineer at Uber to founding Cortex, the internal developer portal that addresses a massive gap in engineering processes and recently raised a $60M Series C round. Anish reflects on how he and his co-founders identified a critical pain point tha...
Oct 22, 2024•25 min
For startups, even software startups, figuring out what is worth patenting is one of the most important moves a founder needs to make. That’s where our guest today comes in. Jeff Schox, Founding Partner and Patent Attorney at Schox Patent Group, is a patent expert who’s helped hundreds of very successful startups navigate this rocky terrain. Jeff joins us to give startup founders a basic primer on everything they need to know about patents – an often misunderstood and overlooked area. Right off ...
Oct 08, 2024•32 min
We explore some weighty questions on this episode of Startup Success, including: What would the world look like if half the venture capital dollars were in women-led funds? Is VC funding the golden ticket or just another hurdle for startups? How do we overcome the biggest limiting factor to success – ourselves? Why is the bulk of venture capital still not in the hands of women? Sutian Dong , Partner at Multitudes and a pivotal figure in venture capital, joins us to tackle these topics and to sha...
Sep 24, 2024•27 min
To celebrate the 100th episode of Startup Success, we have two exceptional guests: Peter Reinhardt, CEO and co-founder of Charm Industrial (and the former co-founder/CEO of Segment), and Jeff Burkland, CEO and founder of Burkland. Peter and Jeff take us behind the scenes of Segment, the hugely successful startup that was acquired by Twilio for $3.2 billion in 2020. They recount their time working together at Segment, where Jeff came on board early as the fractional CFO. Jeff and Peter candidly d...
Sep 10, 2024•30 min
In the rapidly evolving world of AI, standing out requires more than just innovation; it demands leadership and a clear vision. Enter Lin Qiao, the driving force behind Fireworks AI, who is redefining the limitations of speed, value and scale in generative AI. With a $52M Series B secured earlier this summer, Fireworks AI has quickly become a major player after launching their public platform just one year ago. Lin, their CEO and Co-Founder, joins us to share the invaluable lessons she’s learned...
Aug 27, 2024•25 min
Amid high interest rates and election uncertainty, navigating the startup landscape has never been more challenging. Fortunately, our special guest, Steve Lord , is here to offer a broader perspective that may help ease your mind. As a member of Burkland’s Leadership Team, Steve serves as Managing Director of Service Delivery and Chief Knowledge Officer. Steve has been in the trenches for a while and his knowledge of the startup and venture capital ecosystem runs deep. He joins us today to discu...
Aug 13, 2024•23 min
In this episode of Startup Success, we welcome Jaclyn Chen , Co-Founder and CEO at Benepass , a platform that solves real-world pain points for both employees and employers in the benefits space. Jacyln dives into her experience working with Y Combinator early on and how she approached fundraising during very different economic climates. And she shares some truly great advice for fellow startup founders! Highlights from our discussion include: Strategies that increase your odds of securing fundi...
Jul 30, 2024•27 min
Dr. Misti Ushio, Managing Partner at Digitalis Ventures, joins us in the studio today. Misti’s entrepreneurial journey took flight with the formation of TARA Biosystems, a groundbreaking startup that developed “heart-on-a-chip” technology. From raising $20 million in venture financing to navigating the complexities of scaling a biotech startup, Misti shares the highs and lows of her journey and discusses how her talent for commercializing cutting-edge research is a perfect fit for her most recen...
Jul 16, 2024•31 min
Our guest today is Stasia Obremskey, Co-Founder and Managing Director at RH Capital, an impact-first venture capital fund that invests in the future of women's health. Stasia provides an in-depth look at the types of innovations RH Capital is passionate about and shares examples of how their portfolio companies are dramatically improving health outcomes, affordability and health equity. Listeners will learn about the potential for outsized returns in this is a large, underserved, rapidly growing...
Jul 02, 2024•22 min
