Fund/Build/Scale

If you work in tech long enough, there’s a good chance you’ll go through a layoff. Either your own, or one that leaves you wondering whether you’re next.
Shanon Olsen, COO of Henley Leadership, works with executives and organizations navigating growth, disruption, and change. In this episode, we talk about why layoffs should be understood as a cultural breakdown rather than a one-day event, what happens when founders build companies they aren’t prepared to lead, and why CEOs can delegate just about everything — except culture.
I’ve been on both sides of this equation, so I asked Shanon about how to stay committed to your work without making your employer your identity, why it’s important to maintain relationships outside your company, how to assess whether a workplace is recovering after layoffs, and why staying in a job and exploring other possibilities don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
RUNTIME 48:52
 
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(2:05) When does a startup stop being a startup? 
(9:37) If you're not ready to let someone go, you shouldn't be the CEO
(14:57) Why layoffs are a "cultural breakdown" 
(19:56) How should the CEO behave after layoffs? 
(23:50) Building a culture that's resilient enough to weather layoffs
(26:58) How to tell an employee WHY you're laying them off
(32:38) " Identify what's your purpose outside of your position." 
(39:13) How to tell if your company is recovering after layoffs 
(44:23) Should you stay or leave after layoffs?
 
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vbunRx4FZIQ
 
LINKS
Shanon Olsen
Henley Leadership Group
Navigating Layoffs: Understanding the Impact on You and Your Team, Henley Leadership Group
Who Do We Choose To Be, Margaret Wheatley
Dunbar’s Number
Johari Window
Are you building something that’s hard to explain?
That’s often a sign you’re working on something interesting, but it raises the risk that you’re missing out on fundraising, sales, hiring, and media opportunities.
I help early-stage founders sharpen the narrative: what matters, why now, who needs to care, and why they’re the right team to make it happen.
If you’re preparing for a raise, launch, important customer meeting, panel, or hiring push, I can help you pressure-test the story before the stakes get higher.
Visit the Fund/Build/Scale website to learn more, or email fundbuildscale@gmaii.com
👉🏾 Learn more
 
📥 Get the Fund/Build/Scale newsletter on Beehiiv: https://fundbuildscale.beehiiv.com/
 
 
📺 Watch Fund/Build/Scale on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFFH4cs2B1BKatPGs8SFRJw

America is getting older. Tens of millions of people are caring for parents, grandparents and other family members. The problems are everywhere, and many of them are painful, expensive and still poorly served by technology.
That does not mean every care-related startup is a good business, however.
Tatyana Zlotsky, CEO of A Place for Mom, joins me to talk about what founders need to understand before building for older adults and the people who care for them.
We discuss why "seniors" aren't a single customer segment, how to conduct customer research in a market you don't know, and why founders need to distinguish between the person using a product, the person making the decision and the person actually paying for it. 
Tatyana also explains why private-pay and insurance-backed businesses require fundamentally different approaches, and shares the story of a founder who spent more than a year changing course after discovering he'd chosen the wrong customer.
We also dig into AI. Tatyana explains why starting with what the technology can do is backwards, why proprietary customer data can create a meaningful advantage, and why founders should ask whether they're really building something that general-purpose AI can't already provide.
This is a conversation about finding real problems, understanding who you're solving them for, and building businesses around customer needs instead of technology trends.
RUNTIME 38:51
 
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(2:21) Tatyana Zlotsky’s path to A Place for Mom
(4:46) Why senior care remains an underbuilt market
(9:20) The real problems caregivers need solved
(12:36) Why “seniors” aren’t a single customer segment
(16:31) How to do customer research in the care market
(20:35) Why “AI for X” isn’t a business strategy
(24:02) Private pay vs. insurance: deciding who pays
(26:50) What happens when founders choose the wrong business model
(28:59) The senior-care product Tatyana wishes someone would build
(33:24) What makes a care startup worth taking seriously
(36:19) Why families shouldn’t wait for a care crisis
LINKS
Tatyana Zlotsky
A Place For Mom
Oura
Fitbit
Are you building something that’s hard to explain?
That’s often a sign you’re working on something interesting, but it raises the risk that you’re missing out on fundraising, sales, hiring, and media opportunities.
I help early-stage founders sharpen the narrative: what matters, why now, who needs to care, and why they’re the right team to make it happen.
If you’re preparing for a raise, launch, important customer meeting, panel, or hiring push, I can help you pressure-test the story before the stakes get higher.
Visit the Fund/Build/Scale website to learn more, or email fundbuildscale@gmaii.com
👉🏾 Learn more
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If you have a startup idea, how do you know whether you’re onto something—or just really good at convincing yourself?
Pete Martin has spent his career finding out. He’s worked at six cybersecurity startups, most of them in the pre-product, pre-revenue days, with two IPOs along the way. Today, he’s CEO and co-founder of Realm Security.
In this episode, we get tactical about finding the right early adopters, running customer discovery that produces actual signal, recognizing patterns in the feedback, and knowing when someone’s interest is strong enough to ask a question that makes a lot of founders uncomfortable: 
Would you pay for this?
And if you’ve got an idea but aren’t ready to quit your day job, Pete lays out a seven-day experiment you can run to start finding out whether there’s really something there.
RUNTIME 36:19
 
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(1:51) What does Realm do today, and who's buying it?
(3:28) Finding the right early adopters
(8:01) Where to locate your first potential customers
(12:54) Why customer discovery requires volume
(18:55) How to write outreach that gets a (positive) response
(21:05) When to say no to a potential customer
(23:48) Sell the outcome, not the features
(28:33) A seven-day experiment to test your startup idea
(33:01) When is it time to hire a sales team? 
LINKS
Pete Martin
Realm Security
Are you building something that’s hard to explain?
That’s often a sign you’re working on something interesting, but it raises the risk that you’re missing out on fundraising, sales, hiring, and media opportunities.
I help early-stage founders sharpen the narrative: what matters, why now, who needs to care, and why they’re the right team to make it happen.
If you’re preparing for a raise, launch, important customer meeting, panel, or hiring push, I can help you pressure-test the story before the stakes get higher.
Visit the Fund/Build/Scale website to learn more, or email fundbuildscale@gmaii.com
👉🏾 Learn more
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Peter Wang is co-founder and Chief AI and Innovation Officer at Anaconda, a company he helped start in 2012 after years of working as a software developer and consultant.
In this episode, Peter draws on Anaconda’s early days and the entrepreneurship lessons he shares with scientists and engineers at Cornell to explain what technical people need to learn when they launch a company.
We talk about learning to ask better questions instead of rushing to provide answers, recognizing the limits of what you know, and treating yourself as an investor when deciding whether an idea is worth pursuing.
Peter also explains his approach to customer discovery, why employees are investors too, and how aspiring founders can practice entrepreneurship by building something — however small — that someone will actually pay for.
 
RUNTIME 43:00
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(1:53) Finding the Product by Doing the Work
(10:19) "I'm just sharing my own field notes on what I had to learn."
(14:05) Know the Limits of What You Know
(18:18) Climbing the Ladder of Disbelief 
(23:59) Customer Discovery: Listen, Validate, Explore
(29:02) "Your employees are also investors."
(31:02) " It's really incredibly important that the vision is compelling for people."
(38:39) An Exercise for Entrepreneurship
 
📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GuysuVrGd8Y
LINKS
Peter Wang
Anaconda
Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive,  Harvey Mackay
Are you building something that’s hard to explain?
That’s often a sign you’re working on something interesting, but it raises the risk that you’re missing out on fundraising, sales, hiring, and media opportunities.
I help early-stage founders sharpen the narrative: what matters, why now, who needs to care, and why they’re the right team to make it happen.
If you’re preparing for a raise, launch, important customer meeting, panel, or hiring push, I can help you pressure-test the story before the stakes get higher.
Visit the Fund/Build/Scale website to learn more, or email fundbuildscale@gmaii.com
👉🏾 Learn more
SUBSCRIBE
📥 Get the Fund/Build/Scale newsletter on Beehiiv: https://fundbuildscale.beehiiv.com/
 
📺 Watch Fund/Build/Scale on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFFH4cs2B1BKatPGs8SFRJw

Canvas Prime Co-founder and Managing Director Rebecca Lynn has spent 25 years in venture capital, backing companies including LendingClub, Doximity and Casetext and helping founders navigate more than a dozen exits.
In this conversation, we get into why taking venture capital puts founders on a path toward liquidity, and why an IPO isn't the only outcome worth building toward.
Rebecca explains how founders can develop relationships with potential acquirers years before they're ready to sell, when it makes sense to bring in a banker or strategic advisor, and how Casetext built the relationships that eventually led to its acquisition by Thomson Reuters.
We also talk about why founders should get an offer on paper before trying to improve it, how to negotiate without overplaying your hand, what to watch for with earnouts and other deal terms, and how to make sure employees aren't forgotten when a company gets sold.
 
📺 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5kV4SvM9rBY
RUNTIME 40:51
 
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(2:17) Creating Strategic Options
(8:50) What Taking Venture Capital Really Means
(11:42) Don't Build to Sell; Build Strategically 
(15:18) How Casetext Built Toward an Exit  
(21:39) Where Acquisition Offers Come From 
(27:54) "If it's not on paper, it's not real."
(33:02) Price Isn't the Only Thing That Matters
(35:22) Take Care of Your Employees
(37:32) How to Get M&A Ready
LINKS
Rebecca Lynn, LinkedIn
Canvas Prime
Thomson Reuters Completes Acquisition of Casetext, Inc.
Doximity
Lending Club
Gabi
--------
Are you building something that’s hard to explain?
That’s often a sign you’re working on something interesting, but it raises the risk that you’re missing out on fundraising, sales, hiring, and media opportunities.
I help early-stage founders sharpen the narrative: what matters, why now, who needs to care, and why they’re the right team to make it happen.
If you’re preparing for a raise, launch, important customer meeting, panel, or hiring push, I can help you pressure-test the story before the stakes get higher.
Visit the Fund/Build/Scale website to learn more, or email fundbuildscale@gmaii.com
👉🏾 Learn more
SUBSCRIBE
📥 Get the Fund/Build/Scale newsletter on Beehiiv: https://fundbuildscale.beehiiv.com/
 

Head of Marketing for Observe at Snowflake Shruti Bhat has spent her career helping highly technical companies explain why their products matter, find the customers who need them most, and build go-to-market systems that can actually scale.
In this episode, she talks about how founders identify their real market, recognize genuine product-market fit, hire their first product marketing and GTM leaders, and earn trust across engineering, product, sales, and marketing.
Drawing on three startup exits, including Observe’s acquisition by Snowflake, Shruti explains why demand generation often starts too early, what repeatability looks like in enterprise sales, and why the best GTM leaders know how to unlearn their old playbooks.
This is a practical conversation about turning technical innovation into customer conviction.
RUNTIME 41:29
 
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(2:28)  From Engineering to Product Truth
(7:10)  Finding Observe’s Enterprise Sweet Spot
(16:48)  When Technical Founders Need To Hire A Product Marketer 
(24:57)  Hiring Your First GTM Leader Depends on More Than Stage
(34:27)  How GTM Leaders Build (and Lose) Trust With Technical Teams 
LINKS
Shruti Bhat on LinkedIn
Snowflake
Observe by Snowflake
______
Are you building something that’s hard to explain?
That’s often a sign you’re working on something interesting, but it raises the risk that you’re missing out on fundraising, sales, hiring, and media opportunities.
I help early-stage founders sharpen the narrative: what matters, why now, who needs to care, and why they’re the right team to make it happen.
If you’re preparing for a raise, launch, important customer meeting, panel, or hiring push, I can help you pressure-test the story before the stakes get higher.
Visit the Fund/Build/Scale website to learn more, or email fundbuildscale@gmaii.com
👉🏾 Learn more
SUBSCRIBE
📥 Get the Fund/Build/Scale newsletter on Beehiiv: https://fundbuildscale.beehiiv.com/
 
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📸 Follow Fund/Build/Scale on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/

Tamara Steffens is managing director of Thomson Reuters Ventures, where she invests in early-stage companies building around legal, tax, accounting, and enterprise workflow.
Corporate venture capital can look like a shortcut to customers, distribution, and credibility, but Steffens says founders need to understand what has to be true before strategic money can actually help.
In this conversation, we get into what happens after Thomson Reuters Ventures joins your cap table, how founders can turn a corporate investor into real product or go-to-market leverage, and why inflated TAM slides can work against you.
We also talk about what founders should do before and after the check clears, why some good businesses should avoid venture capital entirely, and why she says every founder should be thinking earlier about exit paths.
 
RUNTIME: 36:14
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(1:53)    An Overview of Thomson Reuters Ventures
(3:57) CVC Expectations: When Strategic Capital Can Actually Help
(7:09) Why Your TAM Needs to Match the Product You Actually Have
(10:04) When Strategic Capital Becomes Product Leverage
(13:13)  What Founders Should Do Before and After the Check Clears
(22:18) How CVC Evaluates Founders When the Market Gets Frothy
(29:05) Building the Relationship Before Series A
(31:30) Why Exit Paths Matter Earlier Than You Think
LINKS
Tamara Steffens
Thomson Reuters Ventures
Thomson Reuters
Fund/Build/Scale Founder Narrative Advisory
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Thanks to AI, you could have an idea for a startup on your way home from work Thursday and finish a rough prototype by Monday morning.
That's great news for founders, but it also raises the bar: if everyone can build a convincing demo, what actually separates a durable company from a clever prototype?
To explore that question in depth, I interviewed Alex Niehenke a partner at Scale Venture Partners since 2012. He invests in early-stage companies tackling complex industries like insurance, wealth management, construction, and logistics.
We discuss why product innovation has to be paired with distribution innovation, how he judges your TAM estimate, how founders create entirely new categories, and what investors are looking for now that building software has never been easier.
RUNTIME 41:43
 
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(02:58) Overview: Scale Venture Partners
(04:42) What Makes Slow-Moving Markets Attractive?
(06:19) Product Innovation Needs Go-to-Market Innovation
(08:58) Why TAM Is Really a Test of Strategic Thinking
(12:03) At Least Two-Thirds of My Investments Are Category Creation
(15:54) What Founder-Market Fit Means in the AI Era
(21:41) What Makes a Vertical AI Startup Fundable?
(24:52) What Separates a Nice Demo from a Durable Business?
(27:11) Selling Into Hard Markets
(33:03) When Regulation Becomes a Competitive Advantage
(34:52) Founder-Led Go-to-Market Wins Early
(37:01) Why Obsession Still Matters Most
LINKS
Alex Niehenke
Scale Venture Partners
Tessa Lau, CEO/Founder, Dusty Robotics
Deep Tech Without Stealth: Inside Dusty Robotics’ Origin Story, Fund/Build/Scale
Root Insurance
Motive
Shoe Dog, Phil Knight
Building something that’s hard to explain?
That’s often a sign you’re working on something interesting. It can also cost you fundraising, sales, hiring, and media opportunities.
I help early-stage founders sharpen the narrative around what they’re building: what matters, why now, who needs to care, and why they’re the right team to make it happen.
If you’re preparing for a raise, launch, important customer meeting, panel, or hiring push, I can help you pressure-test the story before the stakes get higher.
👉🏾 Learn more
SUBSCRIBE
📥 Get the Fund/Build/Scale newsletter on Beehiiv: https://fundbuildscale.beehiiv.com/
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📺 Watch Fund/Build/Scale on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFFH4cs2B1BKatPGs8SFRJw
 

A lot of founders assume raising venture capital is just part of the process: you have an idea, build a deck, find some investors and start pitching. But what if you don't actually need the money yet?
Elia Wallen is the founder and CEO of Engine, a business travel platform valued at $2 billion. He bootstrapped his first company and resisted raising outside capital for Engine until the business was growing faster than he could support on his own.
In this episode, we talk about why raising too much money too soon can lead founders astray, how to tell the difference between needing capital and craving validation, why early-stage equity may be the most expensive money you'll ever raise, and how to know when your company is actually ready to start talking to investors.
We also get into the risks of letting investors steer a company before product-market fit, why founders should pressure-test how much money they really need, what Elia means by having "conviction with rationale," and why the opportunity should be pulling you forward before you raise.
RUNTIME 35:13
 
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(1:40) What is Engine?
(3:25) Why ignorance can be an advantage
(5:38) Are you raising money for validation?
(8:58) What constraint teaches founders
(10:57) How much money do you actually need?
(17:44)When it actually makes sense to raise
(21:18) How investors can pull you off course 
(26:38) Equity is more expensive than you think
(30:55) How to know when you're ready to raise
LINKS
Elia Wallen
Engine
The Case for Raising Less Money Than You Can, Inc.com
Building something that’s hard to explain?
That’s often a sign you’re working on something interesting. It can also cost you fundraising, sales, hiring, and media opportunities.
I help early-stage founders sharpen the narrative around what they’re building: what matters, why now, who needs to care, and why they’re the right team to make it happen.
If you’re preparing for a raise, launch, important customer meeting, panel, or hiring push, I can help you pressure-test the story before the stakes get higher.
👉🏾 Learn more
SUBSCRIBE
📥 Get the Fund/Build/Scale newsletter on Beehiiv: https://fundbuildscale.beehiiv.com/
📸 Follow Fund/Build/Scale on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/
📺 Watch Fund/Build/Scale on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFFH4cs2B1BKatPGs8SFRJw
 

Most startup fundraising advice focuses on how to get investors interested.
Ryan Ziegler sees the process from the other side of the table.
As a General Partner at Edison Partners, Ryan evaluates startups that have already survived one of the hardest phases of company building: finding customers willing to pay for what they've built. 
By the time founders reach him, the question is no longer whether the idea is interesting. It's whether the business is repeatable.
In this episode, Ryan explains why most startups shouldn't raise money even if they can, how investors separate durable customer demand from vanity metrics, what actually makes a company ready for Series A, and why founder self-awareness may matter more than a perfect pitch deck.
We also discuss customer reference calls, leadership scorecards, founder coachability, and why companies need an operating system before they try to grow.
RUNTIME 45:29
 
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(2:37) How Edison Partners Finds Bootstrapped Companies Ready to Scale
(5:40) Why Most Startups Shouldn't Raise Money (Even If They Can)
(11:39) How Venture Capital Can Create False Signals About Product-Market Fit
(19:49) What Series A Readiness Actually Looks Like
(25:01) The Difference Between Real Customer Demand and Fundraising Theater
(27:35) Founder Transparency, Investor Trust, and Long-Term Partnerships
(33:32) Why Coachability Beats Founder Ego
(35:45) Building an Operating System That Scales Beyond the Founder
(38:21) A Practical Series A Readiness Self-Audit
LINKS
Ryan Ziegler
Edison Partners
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📺 Watch Fund/Build/Scale on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFFH4cs2B1BKatPGs8SFRJw