Berkeley Startup

In this episode of the Berkeley Startup Podcast, we sit down with Rohan Verma , founder of Arbor Advisory, executive coach, startup advisor, and former LinkedIn and Dropbox exec. With over 15 years of leadership experience in scaling billion-dollar tech products, Rohan shares his remarkable journey from Berkeley undergrad to tech executive, and ultimately, to full-time coach and entrepreneur. Roha...

In this episode, we speak with Lisa Altieri , founder of BrightAction, a SaaS platform designed to empower people and organizations to take meaningful climate action in their daily lives. Lisa shares how her commitment to protecting the planet and advocating for strong climate policies led her to create a tool that bridges the gap between intention and action—helping two-thirds of Americans who wa...

In this insightful episode of Berkeley Startups , Arjun Dev Arora , founder of Format One and Retargeter, joins us to share hard-earned lessons from over 15 years of supporting 500+ startups. A UC Berkeley alum and seasoned operator-turned-advisor, Arjun unpacks the reality behind successful startup journeys—from the grit it takes to build during downturns, to the power of deep customer listening,...

In this episode of Berkeley Startup, Bob Wang , Haas MBA and founder of Tee Up Advisors, a fractional CFO firm supporting entrepreneurs and searchers. Previously, Bob built and sold Legacy Advantage to Deloitte, and served as a CFO and private equity principal—bringing a rare mix of operational and deal-making experience to the table. Bob dives deep into the world of entrepreneurship through acqui...

In this episode of Berkeley Startups , host Aish interviews Chirag Mahapatra, founder of Blaze, a Y Combinator-backed startup that built AI-powered marketing agents on emerging platforms like Discord and Telegram. Chirag shares how he transitioned from working at leading tech companies to co-founding Blaze, which went on to raise over $5 million in funding and was recently acquired. He opens up ab...

In this episode, we sit down with Vishal Kumar , co-founder of Twin Peak Wealth Advisors , a boutique financial advisory firm he launched with his identical twin brother, Tushar. Vishal shares how early life experiences—including the loss of their father and the influence of their entrepreneurial mother—shaped their path into wealth management. He opens up about bootstrapping their business straig...

In this episode, we sit down with Claudia Natasia , CEO and Co-founder of Riley AI, to explore her unexpected journey into entrepreneurship, the power of AI-driven insights, and the challenges of building a startup from the ground up. Despite initially resisting the idea of launching her own company, Claudia found herself inundated with interest for a product she had only presented conceptually—be...

In this episode, we sit down with Pranav Mallampalli , founder of Assembly and a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, where he double-majored in Political Science and Data Science. Pranav takes us through his entrepreneurial journey—from initially wanting to become a lawyer to discovering his passion for building companies. Inspired by early experiences in high school entrepreneurship competitions and...

In this episode of Berkeley Startup, we chatted with Ishan Sharma , a serial entrepreneur and Haas School of Business alum. Ishan shares his journey from childhood inspiration to managing multiple ventures, including Memory Labs, Boxlet, Daily Dropout, and his current company, SellScale.  Drawing from experiences like the Lightspeed Summer Fellowship and roles in consulting, Ishan breaks down key...

In this episode, we sit down with Akilesh Bapu , CEO and co-founder of DeepScribe , the most widely adopted ambient documentation tool used in over a thousand organizations across the U.S. Akilesh takes us through his unconventional journey to entrepreneurship, from coding in middle school to tackling one of healthcare’s most persistent issues: physician burnout due to overwhelming documentation....