Pitch, Build, Scale - Startup Founder Stories in the Age of AI

What happens when a 26-year construction veteran decides to reinvent an entire industry? In this episode of "Pitch, Build, Scale", host Chris Fanchi sits down with Steve Dell’Orto, Founder & CEO of Concntric, to explore how his company became the first AI-powered pre-construction platform, uniting data, workflows, and people into a single, intuitive system. Steve shares what it means...

What if your customer data could think - and show you exactly where revenue is won or lost? In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, host Chris Fanchi sits down with Tim Gosnell, Founder of CommonThread AI, to explore how agentic AI is redefining how RevOps and SaaS companies understand customers. Tim shares the journey from early Atari programming days to building a system that maps every touchpoi...

What if governments and companies could run simulations to test policy, forecast epidemics, or predict product adoption — before making a single decision? In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, host Chris Fanchi sits down with John Cordier, CEO of Epistemix, to explore how digital twins and agent-based simulation are reshaping the way organizations understand human behavior and forecast change. E...

What happens when decades of courtroom tradition meet the power of AI? In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, host Chris Fanchi sits down with Tom Irby, Co-Founder of Skribe.ai, to explore how his company is transforming how testimony is captured, managed, and authenticated in the legal system. After selling his first court reporting business to industry giant Veritext, Tom saw firsthand how outd...

Some interviews are all business - and some interviews take you by surprise. In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, host Chris Fanchi sits down with Jim Weldon, CEO of Prospect Desk, for an unfiltered conversation that spans the entire spectrum - from being ahead of the curve on AI and machine learning to navigating leadership in an increasingly divided world. Jim shares how his team is building...

In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, host Chris Fanchi talks with Christopher Gray, award-winning entrepreneur, Shark Tank alumnus, and CEO of Path — an AI-powered platform transforming how students prepare for college and professional exams. After helping millions earn scholarships with Scholly, Christopher is now tackling educational inequity from another angle: using AI to make test prep and...

AI is rewriting the rules of software development. Joel Garcia believes that if your devs aren’t using AI, they may not be devs for much longer. In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, host Chris Fanchi sits down with Joel Garcia, CEO of Allcode, an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner helping startups and SMBs modernize, migrate, and scale in the cloud. Joel shares how AI is transforming development s...

AI is rewriting the rules of enterprise risk management, but can we trust the systems shaping our decisions? In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, host Chris Fanchi sits down with Lily Yeoh, founder and CEO of C1Risk, a governance, risk, and compliance platform that helps enterprises automate cybersecurity programs using AI. Lily shares her journey from early days in cybersecurity at Texas Instr...

That viral moment your brand missed? It’s probably already costing you. In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, host Chris Fanchi sits down with Chelsie Hall, CEO of ViralMoment, whose company helps brands like Coca-Cola, Disney, and Warner Brothers decode social video before the rest of the world catches on. We explore: - How AI is reshaping social video monitoring and trend detection - Why deepf...

How much more can one person do with AI? For Brett Hollman, the answer is: a lot more. In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, host Chris Fanchi sits down with Brett Hollman, Co-Founder & CEO of Enji and former engineering leader at Amazon and Intuit. Brett shares how he and his wife turned years of marketing consulting experience into an AI-powered platform that helps solopreneurs and small b...

What happens when you take enterprise-level AI innovation and apply it to one of life’s most human experiences - travel? In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, we speak with Robert Coverdale, Founder of Khonsu, about how his platform blends artificial intelligence and local expertise to transform the way people experience cities like New York. Robert shares his journey from flipping a coin betwee...

In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, we sit down with Garret Grajek, CEO of YouAttest, to explore the future of identity governance, automation, and cybersecurity in an AI-driven world. Garret has spent over 30 years shaping enterprise security, holding 13 patents and building solutions at RSA, SecureAuth, and now YouAttest. His perspective is clear: data is the crown jewel, and automation is t...

What happens when a tiny startup with one client grows into a customer-funded, enterprise-ready SaaS platform in healthcare? In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, we sit down with Yossi Abraham, President & CEO of Zappix, to unpack how his team bootstrapped growth in one of the toughest markets: healthcare. Yossi shares insights on: - Overcoming the “pilotitis” problem in AI adoption - Build...

What if AI agents aren’t just tools... but coworkers? In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, we sit down with Tatyana Mamut, CEO of Wayfound.ai, to explore why the future of work isn’t about clamping down on AI, but learning to manage it with the same dignity, respect, and feedback we give humans. Tatyana shares her journey from anthropology to Amazon, Salesforce, IDEO, and now Wayfound, where sh...

𝗞𝗲𝗻 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝟯𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗲’𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗜-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲. In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, we sit down with Ken Francis, CEO of Actuate, to explore how AI is transforming video surveillance from a cost-heavy, false-alarm-plagued system into a scalable, efficient security solution. Ken shar...

What happens when every regulatory change becomes an innovation opportunity? In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, we sit down with Cody Pittman, CEO of Duett, to explore how his company is reshaping social care technology. Duett helps social workers and care coordinators match seniors and people with disabilities to the right in-home care providers, digitizing a process that was once managed wi...

What happens when a tech innovator with 40+ years in the industry applies AI to help mission-driven organizations work smarter, faster, and at scale? In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, we sit down with Chris Hanson, Co-Founder of The Databank, to explore how a pioneering nonprofit SaaS company evolved from dial-up databases in the ’90s to AI-powered CRM bots today. Chris shares how AI is unlo...

What if the most valuable knowledge in your company isn’t in your documents, but in people’s heads? In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, Yumi Kimura, CEO & Co-Founder of LEAD, shares how her AI-powered platform transforms Fortune 500 companies from siloed and inefficient to connected and collaborative. From building Meitu Japan to tackling the “attention gap” in knowledge management, Yumi’s...

What does it take to build a tech consultancy that thrives for 20+ years while staying small, nimble, and deeply human? In this episode, Emmy award-winning technologist and product strategist Ming Chan shares his journey from being yelled at by Steve Jobs, to launching The1stMovement, to navigating the promise and peril of AI. Ming reveals why he intentionally limits his client base, how he’s kept...

What happens when a surfer-turned-startup-CEO tackles one of the world’s most entrenched supply chain problems? In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, we sit down with Kathleen Egan, CEO of ecomedes, to explore how sustainability, SaaS, and systems thinking converge to reshape how commercial buildings are designed, sourced, and built. Kathleen shares how ecomedes is streamlining the procurement a...

What happens when your AI product isn't the real product? Todd Smith, CEO of TAHO (Formerly Opnbook), shares how a year into building a business intelligence tool for AI usage tracking, his team stumbled into something bigger - a game-changing infrastructure optimization layer that boosts high-performance computing across AI, gaming, crypto, and more. In this episode, Todd walks us through: -...

Forecasting isn’t just about predicting revenue—it’s about changing the future. In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, we sit down with Daren Lauda, CEO of Outset, to break down how most SaaS companies are investing in go-to-market growth with zero clarity on when returns will land. Daren brings decades of enterprise GTM experience (Salesforce, PTC, Fortiv) and is now on a mission to fix revenue...

In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, we sit down with Peter Vasilion, CEO and IT Division Lead at Facet Interactive. Peter shares his journey from tinkering with Pentium 2s in his parents’ warehouse to leading a systems-first consultancy that helps organizations multiply their team’s effectiveness through automation, AI, and enterprise-grade web apps. We dive into: - Why Peter treats AI like an...

How do you scale follow-up without scaling headcount? In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, I talk with Jay Johnson, CEO of Click Loop Digital and creator of Alara, about the critical gap in modern lead generation: follow-up that actually converts. We dig into: - Why AI-powered voice systems like Alara are changing the game for real estate, legal, healthcare, and recruiting - The shift from trad...

What happens when a corporate finance veteran gets tired of error-prone spreadsheets and decides to reimagine how finance teams collaborate? In this episode of Pitch, Build, Scale, we sit down with Sebastian Perez Lawrence, Co-Founder of Rockhopper, to explore how they’re building “GitHub for spreadsheets” - empowering finance teams to streamline reviews, reduce risk, and prepare for the future of...