Founder Real Talk

What happens when we start talking to machines like we talk to each other?In this episode of Notable Perspectives, Chelcie Taylor sits down with Kwindla Hultman Kramer, CEO and co-founder of Daily. A decade-long bet on real-time audio and video infrastructure, Daily quietly built the plumbing that powers telehealth, education, and enterprise communication. Then GPT-4 arrived — and Daily’s infrastructure became the backbone of the voice AI revolution. Their open-source framework Pipecat is now the most widely used toolkit for building production voice agents, from customer support bots to robotics systems. Backed by $60M+ in funding from investors including Renegade Partners and Lachy Groom, Daily sits at the exact intersection of real-time infrastructure and the AI agent explosion.Join us as we explore:The Lightbulb Moment: How GPT-4 turned a video infrastructure company into the backbone of the voice AI revolution — and why Kwindla saw it before everyone else.Healthcare’s Surprise Adoption: Why the most regu

How do we secure and manage a rapidly multiplying swarm of AI agents in an enterprise world?In this episode of Notable Perspectives, Glenn Solomon and Oren Yunger sit down with Slavik Markovich and Rishi Bhargava, co-founders of Descope. Former security innovators behind DeMisto (acquired by Palo Alto Networks), Slavik and Rishi are now tackling one of the most pressing challenges in modern tech: identity, access, and trust in a world where AI agents act autonomously and unpredictably.Join us as we explore:The Chaos Problem: How AI agents multiply risk across enterprise systems, creating backdoors, misconfigurations, and new attack surfaces.Trust at Scale: Building infrastructure and granular controls to keep AI behavior predictable — and keeping enterprises safe in the process.The Identity Revolution: Why managing agent identities, permissions, and audit trails is now critical to surviving the AI explosion.Follow Notable Capital: X: @notablecap LinkedIn: @Notable Capital Visit Our Website: https://www.notabl

How did a career platform become a nearly $1B AI business?In this episode of Notable Perspectives, Jeff Richards sits down with Garrett Lord, the co-founder and CEO of Handshake — the career network connecting 22 million young professionals to every Fortune 500 company and powering 92% of higher education in America. Garrett left Palantir with a contrarian conviction borrowed from Peter Thiel: that access to opportunity shouldn't depend on which school you attended or who your parents knew. A decade later, that conviction has produced something nobody saw coming — an AI business that went from zero to a nearly $1B run rate less than 18 months, built on the counterintuitive principle that matching people to careers demands more human judgment, not less.Join us as we explore:The Zero-to-$500M Sprint: How Handshake's AI business exploded from nothing to a $500M+ run rate in eight months — and what Fortune 500 companies were desperate for that made the opportunity impossible to ignore.Why AI Needs Human

How do we systematically evaluate and improve increasingly autonomous AI systems?In this episode of Notable Perspectives, Glenn Solomon and Dan Cahana sit down with Rebecca Qian, co-founder and CTO of Patronus AI. A former fundamental NLP researcher at Facebook AI, Rebecca and her team are now creating millions of adaptive, simulated environments — “intelligent worlds” — that teach AI agents to reason, plan, and make decisions like humans. Join us as we explore:The Eval Problem: Too few evals on too narrow a slice of reality; benchmark and leaderboard culture has created the wrong incentive.Reality of Simulations: The shift from single-turn classification to agents that reason and decide the way people do. And the stakes if you get it wrong — reward hacking, deception, misalignment.Building the Factory: The insight that general intelligence requires generalizable capabilities — not domain-specific data.Chapters:00:00 — The Eval Problem: Why current AI evaluation methods are fundamentally broken—and what it me

Your website doesn't need to go away — but 90% of its human visitors probably will.In this episode of Notable Perspectives, Chelsea Taylor sits down with Chris Andrew, co-founder and CEO of Scrunch AI. After a decade selling enterprise software to the world's largest banks and insurance companies, Chris spotted a permanent shift in how humans browse, engage, and transact on the web — and built the infrastructure for what comes next.Join us as we explore:The Permanent Shift: AI is already powering over 50% of search in North America. The way people discover brands, products, and information has fundamentally changed — and most companies haven't caught up.Marketing to Agents, Not Just Humans: The martech stack isn't about perfecting the human experience anymore. AI agents are arriving at your website with context and intent, on behalf of a human. If you're not marketing to the agent, you're missing the human.What Scrunch Actually Does: Monitor how AI agents interact with your conte

In this episode of Notable Perspectives, we sit down with Ofer Smadari, co-founder and CEO of Torq. Cybersecurity is in the midst of a massive transformation, and Torq is setting the pace.Ofer has built and sold a cybersecurity company for over $200 million. But he still had that founder hunger and urge to build — this time even bigger. Cut to today, Torq has recently announced a $140 million Series D and a valuation of over $1 billion. This is the story of what happens when a serial founder refuses to settle.Episode SummaryHear how Torq’s founding team went from a previous exit to building one of the most ambitious platforms in modern cybersecurity. In this episode, we dig into:The Pivot That Built Torq: Why the team shut down their original product and redirected their technology toward cybersecurity automation after realizing adoption wasn’t there.The Alert Fatigue Problem: How security teams are overwhelmed by alerts and why automation is essential to eliminate operational noise and scale security operati

In this episode of Notable Perspectives, Hans Tung and Chelcie Taylor sit down with Tanay Kothari and Sahaj Garg, the founders of Wispr, a company on a mission to make interacting with technology feel as natural as talking to a close friend.They’re the team behind Wispr Flow, a voice operating system built to replace the keyboard. By delivering a "zero-edit” experience, Wispr has closed the decade-long trust gap in voice technology. Users spend half a second between finishing a thought and hitting send, trusting the AI to have captured their intent perfectly without a single edit.We trace the journey of these two Stanford roommates who cycled through 100 ideas before finding the "one." We dive deep into:The Paradigm Shift: Why the keyboard is the ultimate bottleneck for human thought and how Wispr is building the "Universal Interface" to replace it.The Hardware Trap: Why they pivoted from a wearable brain-computer interface to a software-first approach to achieve immediate scale.Trust

Host Glenn Solomon sits down with Elizabeth Weil, founder and Managing Director of Scribble Ventures. Elizabeth shares her remarkable journey from early venture roles to helping scale Twitter from 50 to 3,000 people, building the market development function at Andreessen Horowitz, and ultimately founding Scribble Ventures. She discusses her transition from prolific angel investor (100 companies, 23 unicorns) to managing institutional capital, the breakout success of investments like Whatnot, and her perspective on today's frothy AI market. The conversation explores what makes great founders, common mistakes in the AI era, and the future opportunities Elizabeth is most excited about.Follow Elizabeth Weil:X - @Elizabeth https://x.com/elizabeth LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethweil/ Follow Notable Capital: Find Us On X: https://x.com/notablecap Find Us On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/notablecapital Visit Our Website: https://www.notablecap.com/ Subscribe on Spotify: https://open

Host Glenn Solomon sits down with Flo Crivello, Founder & CEO of Lindy. Flo shares his journey from France to Silicon Valley, reflecting on his experiences at Uber and the pivotal transition from Teamflow to Lindy AI.He explains how Lindy’s no-code AI agents automate business workflows across more than 1,600 apps, and discusses the rapid evolution of AI technology. The conversation dives into the future of AI in business, real-world challenges of AI adoption, and Flo’s advice for other AI founders.Follow Flo Crivello: X - @Altimor LinkedIn - @Flo Crivello Follow Glenn Solomon: X - @glennsolomon LinkedIn - @Glenn Solomon Follow Notable Capital: X: @notablecap LinkedIn: @Notable Capital Visit Our Website: https://www.notablecap.com/ Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/43j3cMkcKIgHuXu1tFHWpz?si=a326d0cd016f47c0 Subscribe on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/notable-perspectives/id1392649094

In this episode, Dan Cahana sits down with Tony Holdstock-Brown, co-founder and CEO of Inngest.Key Topics Covered:Why simplifying APIs without losing power is the ultimate design challengeHow to filter customer feedback when building broad infrastructure toolsThe future of developer tools in an AI-dominated coding landscapeLessons from Docker's explosive growth and subsequent strugglesBuilding company culture around developer experience obsessionThe shift from traditional workflows to AI agent orchestrationWhether you're building developer tools, working in infrastructure, or just curious about the future of software development, this conversation offers insights from someone who's been at the forefront of multiple waves of developer tool innovation.Where to find Tony Holdstock-Brown: Twitter/X: @itstonyhbLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyhb/Where to find Dan Cahana: Twitter/X: @dan_cahanaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dancahana/Where to find Notable Capital: Twitter/X: @notablec

What happens when AI agents need to navigate the web just like humans do? In this episode, we sit down with Paul Klein, co-founder and CEO of Browserbase, to explore how browsers are becoming the critical infrastructure layer for AI-powered automation. Paul shares his journey from working at companies like Twilio and Mux to founding Browserbase, a platform that provides headless browser infrastructure for developers building AI agents that can interact with any website on the internet.Key Takeaways:Start with a burning problem: Paul emphasizes that startups should be a "means of last resort" — you should only start a company when you have a problem you absolutely must solveThe browser as AI primitive: As AI agents become more prevalent, browsers serve as a critical infrastructure layer for software to interact with websites that weren't designed for programmatic accessDeveloper experience is paramount: Drawing from his time at Twilio, Paul stresses the importance of creating "five-minute d

In this episode of Founder Real Talk, host Glenn Solomon speaks with Edgard Capdevielle, President & CEO and Andrea Carcano, Co-founder & CPO of Nozomi Networks. They dive into the journey of pioneering industrial cybersecurity, discuss their growth from a seed-stage startup to a global leader, and reflect on the innovative techniques that set them apart. From protecting critical infrastructures like the 2024 Paris Olympics to their "Jarvis"-like software framework, this episode unpacks lessons in building a world-class team, maintaining culture, and scaling globally. Edgard and Andrea share their future aspirations and the evolving landscape of cybersecurity.KEY TAKEAWAYSEarly Focus on Mission Over Profit: Nozomi’s origin wasn’t about building a company but solving real-world industrial cybersecurity problems.Strategic Growth in Harsh Markets: Starting in heavy industries like oil, gas, and utilities gave Nozomi credibility and allowed for easier expansion into other verticals.Innovative So

In this episode of Founder Real Talk, Glenn Solomon welcomes back Rich Waldron, CEO of Tray.ai. Rich discusses how the company recently rebranded from their original name, Tray.io to mark their intensified focus on integration and automation with AI. They discuss the challenges organizations face in adopting AI and the need to be fast, flexible, and safe. Rich shares insights on customer feedback, memorable moments in the company's journey, and valuable lessons for founders and IT leaders.KEY TAKEAWAYS:A Rebrand To Support On-Going Growth: After shifting the company from Tray.io to Tray.ai, the team has aligned on a significant pivot towards AI-driven integration.AI Integration Success: For successful AI implementation, it’s crucial for companies to align on data, agility, and security. Composable Tech Stacks: IT leaders should focus on building composable tech stacks to adapt to AI changes.CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction to Tray.ai and Rich Waldron01:26 The Rebranding Journey: From Tray.io to Tray.ai05:02 Ch

In this episode of Founder Real Talk, host Glenn Solomon, Managing Partner at Notable Capital, sits down with LocalStack’s co-founders, Gerta Sheganaku and Waldemar Hummer, to discuss how LocalStack is revolutionizing the developer experience. LocalStack enables developers to emulate cloud environments on their local machines, drastically reducing testing times and costs while accelerating product development.Listen as Gerta and Waldemar share the journey behind LocalStack, from its humble beginnings as an open-source project to its growth into a full-fledged business with over 900 paying customers, including Fortune 100 companies. They dive into the unique challenges of cloud-based development, how LocalStack provides a faster alternative, and why speed in the development cycle—what they call “product velocity”—is crucial for innovation in tech.Glenn also explores why Notable Capital led LocalStack’s Series A funding and what makes LocalStack stand out in the crowded cloud development space.Key Topics Discus

In this episode of Founder Real Talk, Glenn Solomon and Hans Tung welcome the Founder and CEO of Jam, Dani Grant. Jam is helping 150k builders fix bugs faster, trusted by 32 of the Fortune 100. The conversation explores Dani's journey from being a product manager at Cloudflare to founding Jam, the challenges of being a first-time CEO, and the role of AI in shaping the future of software development. They also discuss how to approach developers as a customer and the launch of Dev Starter Pack, a multi-company initiative aimed at supporting aspiring founders by making it easier to get started.KEY TAKEAWAYS:Fostering Efficient Collaboration: Jam accelerates communication between product and engineering teams, drawing inspiration from Dani Grant's experience at Cloudflare, while AI integration is a focus for future tools.Empathy and Community in Leadership: Dani emphasizes empathy in product development, highlights the importance of community in developer-focused companies, and leads by empowering her t

In a world where enterprises are moving faster than ever to adopt generative AI solutions, Patronus AI offers solutions to scalably and reliably catch mistakes and evaluate the performance of large language models (LLMs). In this episode of Founder Real Talk, host Glenn Solomon and guest host Dan Cahana sit down with AI visionaries and Patronus AI co-founders Anand Kannappan and Rebecca Qian to explore their journey from CS students at the University of Chicago to AI leadership roles at Meta and the reasons they felt compelled to start Patronus after recognizing the need for robust evaluation tools following the release of ChatGPT in late 2022.Anand and Rebecca illuminate the challenges enterprises face in adopting AI and the ways they’ve built Patronus to mitigate challenges like hallucinations and brand alignment. Against the backdrop of rapid AI adoption at large companies, the founders share their vision for creating the enterprise standard for unbiased, independent evaluations.KEY TAKEAWAYSAI Visionaries

In this episode of Founder Real Talk, Glenn Solomon welcomes the team from Coder, including CEO Rob Whiteley and technical co-founders Ammar Bandukwala and Kyle Carberry. They discuss Coder’s journey from its inception, the company’s product pivots, and its growth trajectory. Listeners will gain insights into how Coder enables developers to write code directly in the cloud, enhancing productivity and security. They’ll also learn about the strategic decisions behind Coder's open-source approach, the challenges faced, and the recent successful $35 million funding round.KEY TAKEAWAYSShift to Cloud Development: Coder allows developers to write code natively in the cloud, improving productivity and security. This shift is akin to moving from old-school word processors to modern office suites.Open Source Evolution: The company pivoted from a consumer-focused SaaS application to an open-source project, resulting in the popular Code Server and later the Coder platform, which supports team-based remote developmen

Adam Bain is a co-founder and managing partner at 01 Advisors, a venture and advisory firm helping founders go from building a product to building a company. In this episode, Adam highlights the similarities between his storytelling roots as a journalist and how he now backs founders as an investor. Drawing on lessons learned as Twitter’s Chief Operating Officer pre- and post-IPO, Adam also shares how those key traits—intellectual curiosity, hustle, and resilience—shape the way he supports startup founders today.

Arie Zilberstein is the CEO and co-founder of Gem, a startup that’s building a Cloud Detection and Response platform for security operations teams. In this episode, Arie recalls how his experience in the Israel Defense Forces not only shaped his outlook but also introduced him to his future co-founders: CTO Ron Konigsberg and VP of Product Ofir Brukner. Together, they’re changing the way that organizations identify and stop attacks in the cloud.Tune in for Arie’s thoughts on the technology (and psychology) of managing incident response, how Gem is leveraging generative artificial intelligence, why he believes in distributed teams, and more. This episode is co-hosted by Oren Yunger, Managing Partner at GGV Capital.

CEO Tony Holdstock-Brown and CTO Dan Farrelly are the co-founders of Inngest, a startup that’s building a serverless, event-driven workflow platform to help developers create better apps with simpler, more intuitive tools. The duo reflects on the engineering career paths that ultimately led them to meeting in a co-working space in New York City, plus hear what shifts in technology are setting the stage for Inngest, what surprising customer feedback is shaping the platform, and what opportunities lie ahead.This episode is co-hosted by GGV investor Dan Cahana.