Fund/Build/Scale

From Play to Pay: How Soundtrack Uses PQLs to Drive Growth

What turns a free trial user into a paying customer?
For Ola Sars, founder and CEO of Soundtrack, the answer is all about behavior. In this episode, we break down how his team uses product-led growth (PLG) and product-qualified leads (PQLs) to drive conversions. 
You'll hear how playing 100 tracks became a key signal for purchase intent, the tactics Soundtrack deploys to help self-serve customers experience value fast, and what it takes to scale a SaaS business in a market ruled by consumer giants.
If you're building a PLG motion or trying to convert lookie-loos into cash customers, listen in.
RUNTIME 45:20
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(3:11) “ It's 20 years now I've been trying to make a living here in the intersection of audio, music and technology.”
(5:22) How Ola became a member of Beats’ founding team.
(9:37) Why he returned to Stockholm to build Soundtrack instead of remaining stateside.
(13:38) When Ola started to learn about product-led growth.
(15:38) “ It's a $40-50 billion market on an annual basis. And we're kind of the only company going after that market right now.”
(18:54) “ We had this approach that everything had to be done self-serve.”
(20:33) Creating a framework to ID and leverage product-qualfied leads (PQLs).
(26:06) What role will AI play in music distribution and production?
(28:23) The gaps Ola sees in today’s music technology marketplace.
(32:04) Why AI-generated music “ doesn't make any sense.”
(35:03) Ola reflects on several cultural shifts that have made it “much easier now” to build in Europe.
(38:12) Stockholm’s entrepreneurs are “kind of hybrid Americans in a way how we think about business.”
(42:08) The biggest myth Americans believe about starting up in Europe.
(44:09) If you were interviewing for a job with an early-stage startup, what’s one question you’d have to ask the CEO before you could accept an offer?
LINKS
Ola Sars
Soundtrack
B2B music streaming service Soundtrack Your Brand raises $15 million, Tech.eu
​​What is “lagom?”, Study in Sweden
The English term "mid" matches the Swedish term "bland, mellan,” tok-pisin.com
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Thanks for listening!
– Walter.

From ML Engineer to CEO: Brightwave's Mike Conover on Turning Technical Vision into Company Strategy

Mike Conover started his career as a machine learning engineer. Today, he’s the co-founder and CEO of Brightwave, an AI startup helping financial professionals make faster decisions with massive, unstructured data.
In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Mike shares how he made the leap from technical contributor to strategic leader—and the hard lessons he learned along the way.
From translating technical vision into a focused go-to-market strategy, to learning how to coach, hire, and scale intentionally, Mike unpacks the mindset shift required to move from building code to building a company.
We also get into:
How Brightwave validates new product bets in a high-stakes industry
Why founder-market fit is emotional, not just strategic
Mistakes to avoid when hiring your early team
How to create focus loops and feedback channels before feature creep sets in
Why emotional intelligence and execution velocity matter just as much as AI architecture
If you're a technical founder — or thinking about becoming one — this conversation offers an unvarnished look at what it actually takes to scale yourself while scaling your startup.
RUNTIME 55:09
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(1:12) Mike explains how Brightwave works.
(3:49) Where the idea came from.
(7:47) How he connected with co-founder Brandon Kotara.
(10:58) The biggest challenges he faced shifting from an engineering role to founder/CEO.
(14:22) “As a CEO, you have to do a lot of jobs that you have no preparation for.”
(15:07) Working with a coach has been “such a sustaining source of inspiration, but also continuity.”
(18:45) “There's a rap lyric I really like, which is, ‘you can't crush me, I'm dirt.’”
(20:29) Turning “reasonable” feature requests into new products helped Brightwave build customer trust.
(25:30) “ It's unusual,” but co-pilots and POC programs were not part of their early success.
(30:12) Tips for building feedback loops between customers and the product team.
(36:04) Seed to Series A “ was about four months.”
(40:02) “ Most startups are not that defensible.”
(45:54) “A lot of the product-led growth techniques that you might use don't always fit the market especially well.”
(47:45) How to create a self-assessment framework for founder-market fit.
(50:43) “ Brightwave — in its full totality — has material substance in my mind already.”
(53:05) The one question he'd have to ask the CEO before taking a startup job.
LINKS
Mike Conover
Brandon Kotara
Brightwave
Fred Kofman, Conscious Business
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Thanks for listening!
– Walter.

What Investors Really Want From AI Founders

Igor Taber has sat on both sides of the table: first as a VC at Intel Capital, then as an operator at high-growth AI startup DataRobot. Now, as co-founder of Cortical Ventures, he’s backing the next generation of AI-first startups.
In this episode, Igor shares how his operating experience reshaped his investment lens, what most VCs still miss about early-stage execution, and how founders can break through the AI noise to build something that actually lasts.
We also get into:
What it really takes to build conviction at the seed stage
How Cortical Ventures defines “defensibility” in AI
The questions every founder should ask an investor (but usually doesn’t)
Why your biggest advantage may not be your model — it’s your momentum
If you’re building in AI, fundraising, or trying to turn early traction into a long-term advantage, download this episode.
RUNTIME: 39:52
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(1:19) Igor: My investor-operator-investor path was “ a really interesting progression.”
(3:33) Previously, a lot of his opinions were rooted in the “VC echo chamber.”
(6:56) “ You just try to do your best to be a good partner and be helpful.”
(7:43) Why he and co-founder Jeremy Achin started Cortico.
(13:39) What makes an early-stage AI team stand out?
(17:15) When it comes to solo vs. team, “ we haven't seen any like material difference in outcome.”
(18:56) “ I think the biggest company on LinkedIn is called ‘Stealth.’”
(22:17) Why TAM isn’t a major consideration when evaluating new opportunities.
(24:18) His framework for evaluating and validating seed-stage startups.
(26:03) The biggest red flags in founder discovery meetings.
(28:21) Top mistakes founders make in the first year after closing a seed round.
(33:16) How Cortical advises AI founders to build more resilient companies.
(35:55) A few things to keep in mind before quitting a secure job to launch a startup.
(38:07) How to make yourself more investible in 2025.
LINKS
Igor Tabor
Jeremy Achin
Cortical Ventures
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Thanks for listening!
 
– Walter.

The Art of the Waitlist: Siqi Chen on Driving Scarcity, Hype, and Feedback Loops

Runway CEO and co-founder Siqi Chen shares how his team used a waitlist not just to build hype, but to engineer smarter growth.
In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Siqi breaks down how Runway strategically kept customers in a holding pattern to gather feedback, qualify demand, and refine product-market fit.
We also talk about:
How to build trust with early users through transparency
Using scarcity and access control as GTM levers
Why financial planning should be accessible to everyone on the team
What most founders get wrong about burn rate and cash flow
Whether you're in the early stages or prepping for launch, this episode offers a masterclass in thoughtful, tactical go-to-market execution.
RUNTIME 39:46
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(2:49) “ What if somebody worked on a Figma for finance?”
(5:48) “ You have to understand what are the different levers of the machine, and how the machine works.”
(8:50) Why Runway represents a cultural shift in corporate transparency.
(11:51) How much financial literacy should founders try to foster across their organizations? 
(14:48) How much runway should a startup aim for?
(18:39) How Runway’s waitlist fed directly into its GTM strategy.
(21:36) The  ”very simple motivation” behind creating the waitlist.
(24:35) The “negging trick” that makes sales prospects want to buy your product.
(26:37) “ Your early customers join you for very different and specific reasons.”
(28:55) “ Our first website, we didn't even really talk about the product.”
(30:23) After opening up the waitlist, “ nothing really changed — we were doing outbound sales already.”
(34:17) “People who are really motivated by your purpose and mission are willing to give you a lot more leeway.”
(36:42) What the next five years could look like for Runway.
(38:07) The one question Siqi would ask a CEO if he was interviewing at an early-stage startup. 
LINKS
Siqi Chen
Runway
Runway lands $27.5M to streamline financial planning for businesses
As Not Seen on TV, Pete Wells, NYT Restaurant Review, 11/13/12
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Thanks for listening!
 
– Walter.
 

PR Advice for Founders in the AI Era

Ayelet Noff has spent more than two decades helping startups land meaningful press — but she’s also seen how the game has changed.
In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, the founder of SlicedBrand and new PR tech startup Dazzle shares what still works, what doesn’t, and how founders can earn meaningful attention in today’s fractured media landscape.
We get into:
– What makes a pitch actually land with reporters– How to build credibility before you have traction– The biggest mistakes founders make when trying to “get press”– How AI tools are shaping the future of PR
Whether you’re early-stage or scaling, this episode is packed with practical advice for telling your story with clarity and credibility.
RUNTIME 49:49
LINKS
Ayelet Noff
@AyeletNoff (X)
SlicedBrand
Dazzle
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Thanks for listening!
– Walter.

The Hard Tech Hustle: Building and Selling Industrial AI

Sahitya Senapathy, founder and CEO of Endeavor AI, joins Fund/Build/Scale to talk about launching a solo-founded startup at the intersection of AI and heavy industry.
From building FEMA apps at age 11 to raising $7M before finishing college, Sahitya shares the hard lessons behind the headline.
We dig into:
– Selling AI solutions to manufacturers with no network and no co-founder– What enterprise customers actually care about in early-stage tech– Navigating credibility as a first-time founder in hard tech– Building while still learning — on the floor, in the pitch, as a leader
This is a candid look at what it means to hustle in deep tech without shortcuts or safety nets.
RUNTIME 46:18
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(2:25) How Sahitya’s parents gave him early exposure to manufacturing logistics and culture
(5:42) How working on resilience tech during natural disasters sparked his focus on real-world impact
(8:16) Lessons from Palantir and how the forward-deployed model shaped his customer-first mindset
(9:46) His two-month immersion on the shop floor of a steel factory
(12:05) Why forward deployment contradicts traditional product development models
(15:44) Building a network in legacy industries through conferences, mentorship, and cold outreach
(18:03) How strong references and early pilots drove initial traction
(21:34) “ Starting a company is an extremely hard leap for many people to make. And it just so happened that I almost accumulated all these skills over my life.”
(22:48) Hiring philosophy: high-agency, under-the-radar talent and long-term team-building
(24:39) How he de-risks himself for both investors and potential hires
(28:55) Learning to hire and manage people with more experience than you
(30:20) Why a rejected engineering candidate became Endeavor’s first full-time sales hire
(32:06) The toughest sales objection he’s had to overcome
(34:02) “ You cannot do the forward deploy model without personas.”
(36:11) “ I believe truly at the core that I have unlimited potential, and to that end, there's no point in ever believing that I could be limited by something.”
(38:23) “ The biggest risk you can take is not taking a risk, especially in this day and age.”
(40:43) How to validate your idea before leaving your job or taking a major leap
(44:42) One question he’d ask a CEO before joining an early-stage AI startup
LINKS
Sahitya Senapathy
Endeavor AI
Forward deployment model
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Thanks for listening!
– Walter.

Inside a VC’s Playbook for Capital-Intensive Startups

Sophie Bakalar, partner at Collaborative Fund, joins Fund/Build/Scale for a candid conversation about early-stage investing in climate tech, consumer AI, and deep tech hardware. She shares how she evaluates “green” founders with limited experience, what kind of traction she looks for in pre-revenue companies, and why a passion for solving a real-world problem outweighs having a stacked resume.
We also cover:
Tactical funding strategies for capital-intensive startups
The value of adaptable teams and fractional CFOs
How to avoid overspending before product-market fit
The mindset shifts needed before approaching VCs
This episode is packed with advice for founders navigating long development timelines, technical risk, and early go-to-market strategy — especially if you’re looking to raise money while keeping burn low and momentum high.
RUNTIME 48:59
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(2:24) “Like a lot of people in venture, I have sort of a windy path.”  
(6:47) Inside Collaborative Fund: “We all roll up our sleeves on everything here.”  
(7:55) Which industries and founder profiles Sophie is watching in 2025.  
(10:37) Where consumer AI hardware may be headed.  
(12:03) What her typical work week looks like.  
(15:05) In a people-driven industry, inexperienced founders need to de-risk themselves before doing investor outreach.  
(17:37) “We don't necessarily create a hard line or a clear box around what makes a climate tech investment.”  
(22:43) “There are a few things that investors in climate and energy tech are looking for.”  
(26:23) When it comes to solo founders, “expectations from funders [are] a little bit higher.”  
(28:28) What excites Sophie about working with first-time founders.  
(30:17) The most common reason why a team with a strong idea fails to execute.  
(33:31) Why a founder’s “adaptability quotient” is so critical to their success.  
(36:53) Personalities (and business models) that should avoid venture capital.  
(40:16) “I hope I've managed to retain a good amount of empathy.”  
(42:11) One piece of advice for VCs she returns to frequently.  
(44:37) “The only real seismic changes are going to happen when you start to see more female entrepreneurs build really successful companies.”  
(46:52) The blogger you need to read “before you kick off your fundraise.”  
(47:39) The one question Sophie would have to ask a CEO before accepting an offer from an early-stage startup.
LINKS
Sophie Bakalar
Craig Shapiro
Collaborative Fund
Fred Wilson, AVC archive
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Thanks for listening!
– Walter.

Building a Market from Scratch: Generative Music for Enterprise Customers

Recorded in July 2024, Aimi founder Edward Balassanian joins Fund/Build/Scale to share how his AI-powered platform creates generative, copyright-safe music for enterprise clients. He explains how customer discovery with DJs shaped Aimi’s tech, why compliance is core to their strategy, and why the company downsized after hitting product-market fit — all while inventing a market where AI music solves problems humans can’t.
RUNTIME 30:47
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(4:17) “ I consider myself a platform person. I build operating systems.”
(7:39) “ It's incumbent on a founder in a space like this to be well-versed in not only the art of the music, but the science of the music as well.”
(9:14) “ We see a song as a medium between fans and artists. We're not in the song business.”
(11:03) How Aimi is building a library of licensed content: “We’ve been pretty methodical.”
(14:59) “ We see ourselves as kind of uniquely in the business of music AI for creation, not for imitation.”
(16:46) “ We de-risk the use of music. That's one of the biggest selling points for enterprise customers.”
(18:44) “ Like most tech people, I would say we're always going to be in beta.”
(21:58) Why Aimi raised its $20M Series B in 2021.
(24:01) Downsizing after reaching PMF “ was the best decision that we that we could have made.”
(28:05) “ I think what's really interesting is building platforms, and any platform today is going to have to incorporate AI into it.”
LINKS
Edward Balassanian (Crunchbase)
Aimi
AI-Powered Music Platform Aimi has raised $20 million in a Series B round of funding
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Thanks for listening!
– Walter.

How a Broke College Student Co-founded a VC-Backed Edtech Startup

In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Nectir co-founder and CEO Kavitta Ghai shares how she turned her frustration as a college student into a fast-growing, VC-backed edtech startup. Kavitta discusses the leap from student to founder, how she built an AI-powered tool for classrooms without a technical background, and the tactics that helped her and her co-founder land paying customers early. She also opens up about navigating the venture world as a first-generation founder and reframing risk as a competitive advantage.
RUNTIME 59:59
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(1:57) “ One day we said, ‘what if we stopped complaining and we actually did something about it?’”
(5:57) “ The idea for Nectir initially just sort of fell into my lap.”
(10:29) “ I was a communication major. He was an environmental studies major. We had no technical background at all.”
(12:50) “ To go from a broke college student to being a broke founder really doesn't feel like that big of a difference.”
(14:12) How they landed Nectir’s first customer — UC Santa Barbara.
(20:50) “ We have this philosophy that I call our ‘zones of genius.’”
(23:46) Why customer discovery should “ every single person on the team for as long as you possibly can.”
(27:03) “ When I go back and think about what we did best in that beginning period of time, it was starting with a very basic MVP.”
(30:47) “ It was a huge surprise and it was terrifying when I realized, ‘oh shit, I'm the salesperson.’”
(34:47) Kavitta shares her top recommendation for free founder advice — and one she had to pay for.
(38:43) “ I actually came into building Nectir with zero understanding of what VC funding even was.”
(43:38) “ You have to be willing to ask for what you want and it's the only way to get it.”
(47:24) “ Right this second is the best possible time to start your company.”
(51:50) “ It's not the thought of me sitting on a yacht one day that motivates me.”
(53:09) Nectir’s pilot program with the California Community College system.
(56:49) The one question Kavitta would have to ask a CEO before she’d take a job at their startup.
LINKS
Nectir
Kavitta Ghai
kavitta.com
How to Crash the Silicon Valley Party
California Community Colleges Launches Groundbreaking Pilot with Nectir AI
Paul Graham essays
What is FERPA?, U.S. Dept. of Education
Entrada Ventures
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📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/
 
Thanks for listening!
 
– Walter.

Is AI Compute Broken? Tim Davis on Modular’s $130M Bet

Would you leave a stable, high-paying job at Google to build something that competes with NVIDIA, Intel, and AMD? That’s exactly what Tim Davis, co-founder and president of Modular, did. Since then, his company has raised $130M to reimagine AI compute infrastructure — but are AI startups really desperate for a new compute layer? And what’s it like to build a startup when your biggest competitors are trillion-dollar giants? In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Tim shares his vision for the future of AI compute, why talent is the real key to success, and some of the tough lessons he’s learned from three startups.
RUNTIME 46:27
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(1:26) “We are building a new accelerated execution platform for compute.”
(6:41) “ It will exist all over the place and it already does, but AI will be everywhere that compute is.”
(11:18) “ You only you only have so much time in a week. What is the thing that you're best at?”
(15:13) “ We have decided to start from the hardest part of the software stack.”
(22:44) “For the most talented people in the world, the risk is actually not as great as what you think.”
(30:24) “ Growing up in Australia, my view of the of the United States was very much driven from the media and from Hollywood.”
(33:26) “ I sat in a room for six weeks and just met everyone that I could. And that really was the beginning of a journey to the United States.”
(37:48) “ I still think there's a special place in the Bay Area, and in the United States, there is a different risk appetite.”
(40:41) The one question Tim would have to ask the CEO before he’d take a job at someone else’s early-stage startup.
LINKS
Tim Davis, co-founder, president
timdavis.com
Chris Lattner, co-founder, CEO
Modular
AI startup Modular raises $100 mln in General Catalyst-led funding, 8/24/2023, Reuters 
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Thanks for listening!
– Walter.