Startups Decoded

Startups Decoded - Presented by Morrison Foerster - mofo.com. Luke Tobin has built seven businesses across hospitality, e-commerce, and agencies. Three exits. One of them: an eight-figure agency sale that started with £100, no funding, and a healthy dose of imposter syndrome. Today, Luke sits at the messy intersection of founders, capital, and exits, backing businesses, fixing broken agency models...

Niluka Kavanagh left Big 4 consulting with a simple question: Can I work for myself, and can I do it from anywhere? That question turned into an experiment, then a business, then ImagineThat, a global club for first-time founders who are trying to build something without losing themselves in the process. We talk about the unsexy realities people don’t plan for: uncertainty, isolation, confidence d...

Women, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ founders still get boxed out of capital, but Katie Dunn has built her angel investing thesis to do the opposite, and she’s doing it with actual reps (29 investments) and serious financial scar tissue (25+ years in banking with $10B financed). Subscribe now In this episode, Katie breaks down what early-stage angels really look for when they say they’re “betting on the fou...

Startup investing used to be gated, exclusive networks, complex diligence, and full-time fund managers. But what if anyone could build a startup portfolio the same way they’d shop online? In this episode, Cheryl Kellond, serial founder and CEO of Play Money, shares how her platform is democratizing early-stage investing by pairing curated deals from new fund managers with an experience that feels...

As AI moves from clever tool to “virtual teammate,” nowhere is the shift more real than in finance. In this episode of Startups Decoded, Invoice Butler founder & CEO Mihir Deo joins Andy Walsh to explore what happens when AI agents start doing the unglamorous work humans have always done—chasing invoices, managing cash flow, and acting like your accounts team. We unpack how Invoice Butler is q...

In this episode, Andy Walsh sits down with Jennifer Lewis, former Founder CEO of queer social app Lex, to unpack the full arc from first fundraise to exit. Jennifer shares what really happens behind the scenes when you’re raising as a queer female founder, how she navigated a co-founder departure mid-fundraise, and why “perfect data rooms” don’t close rounds, relationships, and conviction do. They...

Robert Harary found his first venture deal while in high school detention, and hasn’t looked back since.  Today, he sits at the center of the venture ecosystem as both an investor and founder, with a decade-plus obsession for making access to capital more transparent, efficient, and equitable. Robert is the #2 at Evolution VC Partners, where he’s been part of 300+ Culture Tech investments. He...

Attorney, entrepreneur, and policy leader Ashley D. Bell is building Redemption Bank, a modern Minority Depository Institution designed to give founders something Silicon Valley rarely does: non-dilutive capital that preserves ownership. With experience spanning the SBA , the White House , and co-founding the National Black Bank Foundation with Dr. Bernice A. King (daughter of Dr. Martin Luther Ki...

94 percent of sports-science research excludes female physiology. The result? A $10 billion fitness industry that burns women out, leads to injury, and disrupts hormonal health. Lizzy Palmer, Founder and CEO of SyncN, is changing that. SyncN is the first cycle-aware fitness and nutrition platform that personalizes training and nourishment around women’s hormonal rhythms — used by athletes, creator...

Forget Ivy League. Build Your Own Startup Empire. From Peter Thiel’s Fellowship revolution to building the 1517 Fund, Michael Gibson has made a career out of betting on outsiders.  In this episode, he reveals how Thiel’s philosophy, back people, not pedigrees, shaped his mission to fund dropouts, renegades, and deep-tech builders rewriting the future. We unpack how to spot unconventional tale...

J aclyn Johnson is a powerhouse entrepreneur, investor, and advocate for women in business. By 35, she had already launched and sold two multimillion-dollar companies, including Create & Cultivate, a first-of-its-kind platform for female entrepreneurs that scaled to eight-figure revenue and partnered with Fortune 500 brands like Amazon, Mastercard, and Microsoft. Now, she’s back with Cherub ,...

What if founders could get the right advisor, investor, or board talent exactly when they need it, before they even ask? In this episode, Breen Sullivan (Founder & CEO, The Fourth Effect; longtime startup GC and board leader) lays out how AI is changing founder access: surfacing who you need and when, structuring “fit-for-purpose” advisory and board relationships, and turning connections into...

How integrative care, AI, and behavior design are reshaping health: prevention-first, data you own, and systems busy founders can stick to. Founders are optimizing everything, except their health. Quick fixes don’t scale, and siloed care leaves people guessing. In this episode, Dr. Erik Reis, Co-Founder & Director of Health & Wellness at Nobody Studios and founder of The Neural Connection,...

OpenAI’s latest “Zapier-killer” headlines were sobering, but Adam Robinson already did the unthinkable: he removed every human from RB2B, a $6M ARR SaaS, for seven days and let AI agents run sales, support, and onboarding, zero intervention. The outcome? Revenue growth held (+4%/mo), 96.6% answer accuracy in sales chats, and 89% support resolution with no customer meltdowns. In this conversation,...

Send us a text How LLMs are rewriting application security: less false positives, faster triage, and real-world founder playbooks. Founders are sprinting on AI—attackers are too. Traditional security tools drown teams in alerts and miss the real threats.  In this episode, Almanax founder & CEO Francesco Piccoli breaks down AI-native application security: how LLMs detect logic bugs legacy...

Send us a text In this episode of Startups Decoded , Andy Walsh talks with Charlie Hills, a global leader in LinkedIn growth strategy. AI is rewriting LinkedIn, and Charlie Hills has the receipts. In 466 days, he went from zero to 100k+ followers and ranked #1 worldwide for LinkedIn Growth. We break down the exact AI-led playbook: repeatable content systems, scroll-stopping visuals, audience targe...

Send us a text Algorithms are wringing creators dry. In this inspiring S2 episode, Linktree co-founder & CCO Nick Humphreys ($167M raised; 70M+ users) lays out the new playbook: AI that amplifies your voice, owning your audience over chasing vanity metrics, and revenue that holds when the feed goes quiet.  If you’re rebuilding your 2025 content stack, start here. Subscribe now Nick Humphr...

Send us a text In the Season 2 opener of Startups Decoded , host Andy Walsh sits down with Mike Jones, General Partner at Science Inc., the venture studio and fund behind household names like Dollar Shave Club, Liquid Death, and PlayVS. With more than $1.3 billion in exits and angel investments including Scopely, GoodReads, and Maker Studios, Mike has seen what separates billion-dollar companies f...

Send us a text In this episode of Startups Decoded , I sit down with Joseph Lee, founder and CEO of Supademo, to talk about the real founder’s journey behind raising capital and the tradeoffs that come with it. Joseph shares how past experiences with over-capitalization shaped the way he thinks about growth today, and why staying true to vision matters more than chasing VC expectations. We dig int...

Send us a text In this episode of Startups Decoded , host Andy Walsh sits down with Malcolm Buick, Partner & Chief Creative Officer at Athletics and a seasoned creative director, to unpack how design drives startup growth.  From his journey through music and branding to building global identities for brands like IBM, Nike, Google Chrome, Major League Soccer, and MoMA, Malcolm explores how...

Send us a text In this episode of Startups Decoded , Andy Walsh sits down with Jay Erickson, Chief Innovation Officer and co-founder of Modus, to explore why most digital strategies are already outdated, and how to fix them. They dive into emergent strategy: a flexible, human-centered approach to navigating today’s breakneck pace of change. Drawing on systems thinking, design, and culture, Jay sha...

Send us a text Summary In this episode of Startups Decoded, host Andy Walsh speaks with Zoya Lehrer, founder of Orgo, about the challenges and opportunities in the startup landscape, particularly in the realm of product development and parenting logistics.  Zoya shares her personal journey from immigrating to the U.S. to launching her business, which aims to streamline the logistics of youth...

Send us a text In this episode of Startups Decoded , Andy Walsh sits down with Adrian Fagerlund, Co-Founder and CRO of Linkby, a performance PR platform connecting advertisers with premium publishers. They explore Adrian’s unconventional path, the evolution of content commerce, and the systems Linkby used to scale globally without breaking. From team building and capital efficiency to culture and...

Send us a text Most startup advice focuses on product, pitch, and traction. But there’s one skill that fuels them all: trusted relationships. In this episode of Startups Decoded , Andy Walsh sits down with David R. Homan, master connector, strategic advisor, and author of Orchestrating Connection , to explore how founders build the kind of trust that drives real outcomes. We cover: How to network...

Send us a text Discover how effective storytelling captivates investors and builds a compelling personal brand.  Join us as we unpack the strategies founders and leaders use to craft narratives that drive investment and inspire action. Whether you're looking to secure funding, attract customers, or refine your startup’s story, this episode is packed with actionable insights to elevate your br...