Startup Success: A Podcast for Founders & Investors
On Startup Success, we discuss what’s working right now for scaling founders and investors... You’ll hear interviews with founders and investors who have compelling stories to share, new trends, and conversations from thought leaders and experts who have walked the walk. Each episode will dig into a crucial area of startup success: finance, entrepreneurship, fundraising, hiring, marketing, sales, and operations to help your startup or portfolio company scale.
What the 2026 Midterms Mean for Startups and VC
The midterm results are in, and the headlines are loud. But what do they actually mean for startups? Steve Lord, Burkland’s COO and Chief Knowledge Officer, joins us for a special episode to separate the signal from the noise.
Steve looks at what a shift in congressional control could mean for startup valuations, interest rates, and the VC ecosystem. He also explains why the bond market tends to react well to a divided government, and why fears that political headwinds will slow down AI and data centers are overblown.
We discuss:
Why Steve believes the...
Finding Product-Market Fit and Winning Fortune 500 Clients
What does it take to walk away from one of the most exciting companies in the world to start your own? Kate sits down with Doug Tallmadge, co-founder and CEO of Gradial, to talk about his move from SpaceX’s Starlink to building an AI platform used by roughly 20% of the Fortune 500. It’s an honest conversation about knowing when to take the leap, finding product-market fit, and going all in on AI.
=== CHAPTERS ===
01:09 --- The Uncertain Early Days at Starlink
02:13 --- Quitting a Dream Job to Build a Startup
05:44 --- How the Launch of Chat...
Q3 2026 Snapshot: The Startup Ecosystem
In this episode of Startup Success, we sit down with Steve Lord, COO and Chief Knowledge Officer at Burkland, for our quarterly update. Steve and Kate talk about how the recent interest rate hikes will affect startups, what's happening in the funding landscape, and why founders planning a 2027 raise should start those conversations sooner.
One big shift Steve is seeing: the AI sector is starting to broaden, and VCs are becoming more interested in AI-adjacent companies like robotics and AI-driven manufacturing. Startups are also continuing to raise larger rounds earlier, with seed rounds that look like yesterday's Series...
Will AI Replace Salespeople? Why Fast-Growing Startups Are Still Hiring Reps
AI was supposed to replace salespeople. Connor Heggie, Co-Founder and CTO of Unify, is betting on the opposite. He joins us to talk about how AI can make sales reps better, and why the fastest-growing AI companies are still hiring them.
Connor's background is in machine learning, with stops at Helm and Scale AI. A side project on personalized product reviews showed him how AI could pull useful insights from messy, unstructured data, and he saw the connection to B2B sales. Every great sales rep is trying to answer one question: How do I find the people...
How Real-World Experience Helps Founders Spot Market Gaps
Cortney Woodruff, Co-Founder and CEO of Assemble, is bridging the gap between college and industry after living the problem himself. Tune in to hear how founders can stand out beyond traditional networks and pedigrees, why real-world experience helps founders spot what others miss, and what he'd tell any founder who feels like they're starting without a map.
Full show notes and transcript: https://burklandassociates.com/podcasts/how-to-build-a-category-leader-when-no-one-sees-the-problem/
=== CHAPTERS ===
00:18 --- Meet Cortney Woodruff, Founder and Angel Investor
01:03 --- From Jackson, Mississippi to the World's Top Business Schools
02:57 --- How to Seize an Opportunity With...
How to Build a Category Leader When No One Sees the Problem
Kameale Terry set out to fix EV chargers everyone insisted weren't broken. Today, she’s CEO and Co-founder of the startup ChargerHelp, the undisputed category leader in reliability-as-a-service for EV chargers. She joins Kate to share what it takes to scale, her path to a successful Series A, how AI has been instrumental in the company's growth, and her infectious enthusiasm for building!
Full show notes and transcript: https://burklandassociates.com/podcasts/how-to-build-a-category-leader-when-no-one-sees-the-problem/
=== CHAPTERS ===
01:40 — The EV Charger Reliability Issue That Sparked the Idea
02:42 — Why She Took the Leap
03:50 — Evolving the Solution to a Complex...
How to Stand Out to Investors in an AI-Saturated Market
Medha Agarwal, General Partner at defy.vc, joins Kate to share how founders can stand out to investors in an AI-saturated market, what she looks for before writing a check, why founder-market fit matters, and how AI is reshaping everything from startup defensibility to pricing models. She also offers a look at how devy.vc supports founders well beyond capital.
Full show notes, transcript, and companion article: https://burklandassociates.com/podcasts/how-to-stand-out-to-investors-in-an-ai-saturated-market
==== Chapters ====
01:26 — Medha's Path From Entrepreneur to Venture
02:48 — What Makes defy.vc Different Than Other VC Firms
03:52 — Their Investment Focus
06:49 — More Than a Ch...
Why Investors Say No to Your Pitch Deck (And How to Fix It)
Our 150th episode is a big one. Kate sits down with Carl Fudge, Founder and CEO of Presentation Mode, who's helped startups raise over $1 billion in venture capital. Carl reveals why most pitch decks fall flat, the "why now" argument nearly every founder overlooks, and why logic alone isn’t enough to win investors over. Tune in to hear lessons from years spent helping founders get to “yes.”
Full show notes, transcript, and companion article: https://burklandassociates.com/podcasts/why-investors-say-no-to-your-pitch-deck-and-how-to-fix-it
Chapters
00:00 – Introduction to Carl Fudge & Presentation Mode
01:10 – Carl's Background: Psychology, McKinsey, IDEO & Catching t...
How Do Healthtech Founders Win Over Investors?
Winning over investors as a healthtech founder requires fortitude, relentless pitching, and the ability to tell a hard "no" from a "not right now."
In this episode, Kate sits down with Melissa Hanna, co-founder and CEO of Mahmee, a healthcare platform transforming how families experience pregnancy and postpartum care. Melissa pitched 500 to 1,000 investors before landing backers like Mark Cuban, Serena Williams, and Steve Case, plus a Series A led by Goldman Sachs.
Melissa walks us through how Mahmee built the technology and workforce infrastructure that now has 70 million lives under contract. She also opens up about...
Q2 2026 Snapshot: The Startup Ecosystem
In this episode of Startup Success, we sit down with Steve Lord, COO and Chief Knowledge Officer at Burkland, for our quarterly update. Steve joins us to break down what's happening in the funding landscape, what founders should have on their radar, and where things are headed next.
Steve unpacks a busy Q2 marked by geopolitical volatility, shifting interest rate expectations, and a VC market that may finally be turning a corner. He explains how the stock market impacts VC cycles, and why founders shouldn't panic over a single bad day in the markets. He also makes the...
Selling a Startup, Buying It Back, and Changing How Founders Raise: A Founder's Story
In this episode of Startup Success, we sit down with Jaclyn Johnson, founder of Create & Cultivate and co-founder of the angel investing platform Cherub, for a conversation about scaling a business, navigating an exit, and the future of early-stage investing.
Jaclyn shares how she built Create & Cultivate into a multi-million-dollar, bootstrapped company, why she made the difficult decision to sell, and what prompted her to buy back the company a few years later. She offers an honest look at the tradeoffs of private equity and the factors that can make or break a d...
Lessons From the Front Lines of Building an AI Startup
Ahmed Rashad started his career on an oil rig, taught himself to code, and went on to build and sell a company. After stops at Oracle, MIT, McKinsey, Amazon, and Scale AI, he founded Perle to solve a problem he kept running into: the AI data gap.
Perle builds specialized training data for AI models in fields like medicine and linguistics — the niche areas where general AI struggles.Despite the anxiety around AI, Ahmed believes the upside far outweighs today’s disruption. Faster development doesn't shrink markets; it expands what's possible. In his view, AI isn't replacing human pote...
Beyond the AI Bubble: What Founders Need to Know Now
Jonathan Aberman has seen the startup world from nearly every angle: VC lawyer, investor, business school dean, and innovation policy advisor. Now he's a founder himself, building Hupside, an AI company focused on measuring "original intelligence."
That 360-degree perspective of the startup ecosystem makes his take on the current AI moment especially valuable. The market is noisy. Capital is concentrating. Investors are excited, skeptical, and cautious at the same time. AI tools are making it easier than ever to build, but harder than ever to stand out.
We discuss:
What the AI bubble means for...
What Investors Look for in the AI Era
What does it actually take to be investment-ready in today's market? In this episode, Kate sits down with Jim Ferry, Partner at Volition Capital, a growth equity firm known for backing high-growth, founder-owned, capital-efficient businesses.
Jim reveals what he looks for in a founding team, the most common mistakes he sees in pitch decks, and how the bar for raising capital has changed in the age of AI. He also explains how his firm is building AI fluency internally — and why the "defensible moat" question is now front and center in their investment decisions.
We also co...
When It’s Time for Founders to Step Down as CEO
In this episode of Startup Success, host Kate sits down with Tony Jamous, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Oyster, and Hadi Moussa, the company’s newly appointed CEO, for a refreshingly honest conversation on scaling a global company— and knowing when it’s time to bring in new leadership.
Tony shares the personal journey behind one of the hardest decisions any founder can make: stepping aside as CEO, and why putting the mission ahead of ego sets great founders apart. And Hadi explains how he’s approached the transition to ensure a successful handoff.
We discuss:
The...
Why Founders Need “Scalers” on Their Early Teams
Casey Woo, CEO & Founder of Operators Guild and GP & Founder of FOG Ventures, joins us on Startup Success to discuss how scaling a startup has changed and why founders need “horizontal generalists,” or scalers, on their early teams.
After helping scale several high-profile startups, Casey built Operators Guild, a global community for the operators who thrive in early-stage chaos, and later FOG Ventures, its venture capital arm. He’s seen firsthand why this new breed of operator is essential in today’s AI-driven world.Casey breaks down how these operators fuel hypergrowth and why early-stage founders should prioritize hiring t...
Q1 2026 Snapshot: The Startup Ecosystem
What does the startup landscape look like right now—and what to expect in Q2?
In this episode of Startup Success, Steve Lord, Chief Knowledge Officer and COO at Burkland, returns for his quarterly breakdown of the venture capital ecosystem. Together, we unpack what shaped Q1 2026 and why fundraising remains an uphill battle for many founders since it is highly concentrated, with most capital flowing to AI companies from a small group of top VC firms.
Steve explores the latest macro forces—oil prices, AI hype, and interest rates—impacting the market and weighs in on whethe...
The New Startup Go-To-Market Playbook
In this episode of Startup Success, Kate sits down with Marlena Sarunac, co-founder and fractional CMO at The Company Advice, a marketing firm for startups. They help startups clarify their category, sharpen their messaging, and build go-to-market strategies that actually convert.
After leading marketing from Series A to Series B at Particle Health and driving go-to-market across highly technical industries, Marlena now helps founders turn complex products into compelling narratives that resonate with buyers and drive growth. She explains how tighter capital and AI-informed buyers are reshaping startup marketing — and what founders need to do dif...
Venture Debt: The Essential Guide for Founders
In this episode of Startup Success, Kate sits down with Marshall Hawks, author of Venture Debt Deals and a venture lending leader with two decades of experience, including 16 years at Silicon Valley Bank, helping founders fund growth with less dilution.
Drawing on real-world case studies, Marshall breaks down what venture debt really is, why it has become an increasingly important part of startup capital strategies, and how founders can use it to extend runway while minimizing dilution. He also shares a behind-the-scenes look at how lenders evaluate startups, what to expect during due diligence, and the difference between...
Profitability Before Funding: How One Startup Did It
In this episode of Startup Success, Kate sits down with Joseph Rutakangwa, Co-Founder and CEO of Rwazi, a decision AI platform that helps enterprise teams drive growth. Joseph shares his remarkable journey—from growing up in multiple countries and finding his unique niche in global market intelligence, to building Rwazi without outside funding and scaling it into a multi-million-dollar ARR business serving Fortune 500 companies.
Joseph breaks down the real problem enterprises face today: not a lack of data, but an inability to turn fragmented data into clear, actionable decisions. Rwazi’s decision AI and its copilot, Sena, help lead...
A Case Study on How to Build a Mission-Driven Startup
In this episode of Startup Success, Kate talks with Tanya Van Court, Founder and CEO of Goalsetter, an award-winning financial education platform transforming how people learn about money.
Inspired by a personal financial setback and her leadership experience at Nickelodeon, Discovery, and ESPN, Tanya built a mission-driven startup that closes a critical knowledge gap by making financial education engaging, accessible, and relevant.
We discuss:
Unlocking product-market fit by building products with customers at the center
Staying grounded through the highs and lows of startup life
Why healthy dissent...
Venture Capital, Reimagined: A Conversation with Mike Collins
VC pioneer Mike Collins built his firm around his passionate belief that venture capital investing shouldn’t be limited to a select few. In this episode of Startup Success, host Kate sits down with Mike Collins, Founder and CEO of Alumni Ventures, to discuss how one of the most active VC firms in the world is redefining access to venture investing, along with his advice for today’s founders and his perspective on the evolving startup ecosystem.
Alumni Ventures takes a unique approach to venture capital, investing alongside top-tier firms while drawing capital from a network of individual accred...
2026 Outlook: The Startup Ecosystem
We’re kicking off 2026 with a returning favorite: Steve Lord, Burkland's COO and Head of Knowledge Share. He joins us to unpack what really happened in 2025—and what founders should be paying attention to now for 2026.
In this wide-ranging conversation, we dive into the economy, interest rates, inflation, tariffs, market volatility, and venture capital, and what it all means for startups navigating fundraising, hiring, and growth. This episode gives founders must-have guidance on what to expect in 2026 and how to tackle the challenges ahead.
We discuss:
Why Steve predicts a rebound in early-stage fundingInterest rate outl...
How to Build Product-Market Fit Without Sacrificing Culture
From power washing in Kansas to translating 30 languages in real time—Kevin Turpin’s entrepreneurial journey is anything but ordinary.
In this episode of Startup Success, we welcome Kevin Turpin, CEO and founder of Weavix, for an inspiring conversation on the power of solving a problem close to your heart and leading with integrity.
Hear how Kevin and his brothers built Walt, a groundbreaking smart radio that’s saved their clients billions of dollars by empowering workers to communicate and solve problems faster.
We discuss:
Kevin’s philosophy on scaling with trust and why cultu...
Purpose-Led Growth: How this Startup Built Revenue & Social Impact
Where innovation meets purpose—HOPE Hydration is proving that sustainability can be both smart and scalable. In this episode of Startup Success, host Kate sits down with HOPE Hydration co-founders Jorge Richardson and Cristina Gnecco, the visionary team behind smart water refill stations designed to make clean drinking water universally accessible—and free.
HOPE Hydration is pioneering a model where advertising funds sustainability, turning water stations into connected platforms that benefit both cities and brands. The company recently raised a $20M Series A, marking a major step in their mission to bring smart hydration to urban centers worldwide.
...
How to Build High-Performing Teams at Every Stage of Your Startup
(00:00:00) How to Build High-Performing Teams at Every Stage of Your Startup
(00:00:17) Introduction
(00:01:00) Lidiya’s Background
(00:01:44) Focus of Build It Labs
(00:02:54) Three Components of Operations
(00:04:12) The Importance of Getting “People” Right
(00:05:10) Hiring Across Startup Stages
(00:08:00) Early-Stage Hiring Challenges
(00:10:13) Hiring Pitfalls and Structured Interviewing
(00:14:42) Combining Data and Intuition
(00:16:05) Defining Success Up Front
(00:19:18) Tactical Interview Tips
(00:22:29) The Roundtable Decision Process
(00:25:55) Final Words of Wisdom for Founders
In this episode of Startup Success, we sit down with Lidiya Becker, a seasoned operator and founder of Build It Labs, who’s helped...
A Startup Story on How to Manage Rapid Growth
What does it take to build a biotech startup tackling one of the toughest challenges in women’s health? In this episode of Startup Success, we sit down with Oriana Papin-Zoghbi, Founder and CEO of AOA, whose company is pioneering a novel approach to detecting early-stage ovarian cancer.
Oriana shares her journey to founding AOA, the mission-critical lessons she learned from scaling her team too fast, and why she believes “doing the hard things the right way” is the key to long-term success.
She offers candid insights on:
Her incremental approach to fundraising as a first-t...
AI, Risk, and Why Most Startups Don’t Make It
On this episode of Startup Success, Kate sits down with Itamar Novick, Founder and General Partner of Recursive Ventures, who has been named one of Business Insider’s Top 100 Global Seed Investors for five years running.
Unlike many VCs, Itamar brings a unique operator’s perspective, having helped scale Life360 from pre-seed to IPO and been part of multiple major exits. He reflects on what he’s learned from 25 years in the startup ecosystem, from the failures of his first company to his early bet on AI way back in 2012. And while Recursive Ventures is “all in” on AI, Itamar...
Startup Marketing 101: Digital Strategy in the Age of AI
Most founders know they need marketing to build their business—but few know where to start.In this episode of Startup Success, host Kate sits down with Jacqueline Basulto, Founder & CEO of SeedX, a full-service digital marketing agency helping startups scale with clarity and strategy.
Jacqueline shares her path to launching SeedX, and how she’s grown the company to a 65-person team supporting clients across industries. Together, they dive into the fundamentals every founder needs to know about building a strong digital presence.
We cover a lot in a short time, including: How AI and “no-clic...
Q3 Snapshot: The Startup Ecosystem
With Q3 behind us, the headlines continue to be pessimistic—but Steve Lord, Burkland's COO and Head of Knowledge Share, says the story is more complicated and less alarming.
Steve joins us at the close of each quarter for an update on the startup ecosystem. This quarterly episode is another must-listen, providing a much-needed reality check, insights into the current state of the economy, and guidance on what founders need to know about the venture capital landscape as we approach the end of 2025.
We cover:The real story behind the Fed’s recent rate cut—and what’s...
A New Take on the VC-Founder Relationship
Ivan Montoya is a venture capitalist with a fresh perspective on the typical VC–founder relationship. He and his firm, NuMundo Ventures, take an unusually hands-on approach with pre-seed and seed-stage founders—providing a level of support typically reserved for Series A and B stage startups.
They often form close bonds with founders even before investing, actively helping with fundraising, pitch decks, go-to-market strategy, and everything in between.
On this episode of Startup Success, we explore how Ivan’s trajectory from startup operator to angel investor to VC shaped his approach to backing founders, and how he’s h...
Insights for Success from a World-Changing AI Startup
Materials development touches all startups—driving technological progress and innovation across every industry. In this episode of Startup Success, host Kate Adams sits down with Joseph Krause, Co-Founder & CEO of Radical AI, a groundbreaking startup that's accelerating the discovery of new materials by using AI to transform the traditionally slow and costly R&D process.
Fresh off a $55M seed raise, Joseph shares his inspiring startup journey and reveals the secret to building a fast-moving, mission-driven team. Joseph’s top advice for founders: build a ridiculous bias to action into everything you do!
Tune in to hear...
After the Round Closes: How to Leverage Your Investors
In this episode, host Kate Adams sits down with Julia Austin—Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, startup advisor, executive coach, and author of After the Idea: What It Really Takes to Create and Scale a Startup. With decades of experience leading teams at Akamai, VMware, and DigitalOcean, Julia brings tactical wisdom and deep empathy to the messy, high-stakes realities of startup life.
Together, they unpack what really happens after the check clears: from managing investor relationships and board dynamics to building operationally sound companies that can scale. Drawing on frameworks from her book and real-world examples, Julia gi...
When Passion Meets Product-Market Fit
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 Discord community of users, and a deeply personal connection to the problem they’re solving...
Using Customer Feedback to Drive Product Market Fit & Growth
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 success.
Eli walks us through:
Why your st...
Q2 Snapshot: The Startup Ecosystem
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 Fed has not cut interest rates yet and when that will...
What to Stop Doing Today: Real Talk with a Startup Coach
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 your team and your community.
We discuss:
The importance of “outsourcing the headache...
How a User-Driven Pivot Led to Product-Market Fit
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 40% faster.
We discuss:
Graphite’s remarkable user-driven pivotHow they achieved product-market fitThe highly responsive and scal...
Pitch to Deck to Close: Mastering Fundraising
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 zoom in on how to make your pitch deck truly stand out.
Nathan break...
Navigating Co-Founder Dynamics
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 business with a close friendDo you really need a co-founder agreementWhy being “too trusting” is often a bigger issue than dist...
