The Founder to Fortune Podcast

Title: Is the CTO Irrelevant for Early-Stage Startups? Episode Summary: In an era where generative AI can write code instantly and stand up software out of the box, what is the actual role of a technical co-founder? In this episode, we sit down with Vlad Pick, former technical co-founder of Tone Messaging and current Engineering Manager at Attentive, to unpack the massive existential shift happeni...

The “traditional” engineering org chart is a relic of a time when code was the primary bottleneck. For technical founders today, the challenge has shifted from managing human velocity to orchestrating agentic systems and defending product taste . In a recent Founder to Fortune conversation, Clayton Kim , CTO of FlyKitt and professional aerial acrobat, broke down how he transitioned from managing d...

DevTool Founder-mode: Hiring for Grit, Reading Code, and Building Trust Guest: Ajay Tripathy, Former CTO of Stackwatch (exit: IBM) Episode Summary: Is the era of the "coder" coming to an end? Former Kubecost CTO Ajay Tripathy joins the show to discuss why the next generation of founders must pivot from writing code to owning business outcomes. We explore his "grit-first" hiring filter, how to engi...

Episode: Engineering Capital: Investing in Technical Risk Guest: Ashmeet Sidana (Engineering Capital) Host: Vidya Raman — Founder to Fortune Episode overview In this episode, Ashmeet Sidana breaks down what it means to invest in technical risk —the “can this even be built?” kind—and why it creates leverage when founders get it right. We talk about what he looks for in first meetings, how to avoid...

Conflict between co-founders is inevitable. Letting it spiral out of control is optional. In this episode of Founder to Fortune, Vidya Raman sits down with Dr. Matt Jones — licensed psychologist, co-founder coach, and author of The Co-Founder Effect — to explore why the co-founder relationship is the single most under-managed risk in startups . Matt works exclusively with founding teams to improv...

Most first-time founders believe startups fail because of bad ideas, weak technology, or poor timing. In this episode, Tarang Vaish argues that the real failure mode is far less obvious—and far more dangerous: people risk . Drawing from his journey across hardware, data infrastructure, SaaS, and AI, Tarang shares hard-earned lessons on co-founder dynamics, solo founding, risk stacking, and founder...

Episode Summary Most AI conversations start with parameter counts. This one doesn’t. In this episode, we go inside the origin story of smallest.ai , a company built on the contrarian belief that true intelligence can be achieved with compute-constrained, smaller models — especially when the goal is real-time speech intelligence that can run actual workflows in production.  Sudarshan shares how his...

What if your biggest partnership was actually holding you back? Pankaj Dugar , who helped scale Databricks and drove strategy at AI21 Labs , joins Vidya Raman to share why partnerships fail right after the Press Release — and how to build ones that actually sell. This episode breaks down the uncomfortable truths behind partner ecosystems, the role of technical integration, and why “boring is where...

What happens when PMs, designers, and AI all start speaking the same language? In this episode, Vidya Raman sits down with Hailey Nevins (Director of UX Foundations at MongoDB) and Wenbo Wang (founding designer and former Databricks/Cloudera product designer) to explore how vibe coding is collapsing the old boundaries between design, product, and engineering. You’ll hear how GenAI is forcing UX to...

In this engaging conversation, Kady Srinivasan, CMO of You.com shares her journey from software engineering to becoming a marketing leader across various industries. She discusses the importance of defining an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) in B2B marketing, the impact of AI on marketing strategies, and the evolving role of marketers in a fast-paced environment. Kady emphasizes the need for discipli...

Ely Kahn’s career spans government, startups, and now leading product at SentinelOne. From shaping U.S. cybersecurity strategy at the White House to building one of AWS’s early security products to launching SentinelOne’s fastest-growing AI product line, his journey offers a rare vantage point on how security and product innovation intersect. In this episode, we dig into: * How AI is transforming...

* Veteran GTM leader Jim Fisher shares lessons from scaling Cloudera from $50M to $1B ARR and advising today’s fastest-growing startups. * The three golden KPIs that reveal the health of any go-to-market strategy. * Why most founders get ICP wrong —and how to fix it. * The surprising truth: consistency, not revenue , is the real signal your GTM is working. * When to hire a GTM advisor, fractional...

In this episode with Saket Modi, we explore: * How a college dorm-room hacker turned an idea into a global cybersecurity company * The surprising way he landed his first customers (hint: it involved live hacks) * Why he once turned down a multimillion-dollar deal—and why it was the best decision * His unconventional approach to learning (including hiring a PhD tutor just for himself) * The leaders...

What happens when a veteran CTO jumps into the world of AI-native tools, no-code platforms, and “vibe coding”? In this episode, Michael Raybman—former Hustle Fund CTO and founder whisperer—joins Vidya to break down how building software has been turned on its head. They explore: * Why non-technical founders can go further, faster than ever before * The tools that actually deliver (with a live buil...

What happens when two long-time product and engineering leaders—who once yelled at each other across the office—reunite on a podcast to decode the future of data and AI? In this episode, Vidya Raman hosts Anjan Kundavaram (CPO at Fivetran) and Chandler Hoisington (formerly CPO at EnterpriseDB and AWS exec) for a candid, behind-the-scenes conversation that spans: * Why the Lakehouse architecture is...

What happens when one of the world’s largest asset managers decides to think like a tech company? In this episode, Diwakar Goel, Global Head of Data at BlackRock, pulls back the curtain on how his team is orchestrating one of the most ambitious data transformations in the financial world. From powering global investments with a touchless analytics “green package,” to reimagining operations through...

In this episode, we go inside the minds of two powerhouse CISOs—Rinki Sethi (Upwind, ex-Twitter, Rubrik, Bill.com) and Lucas Moody (Alteryx, ex-Palo Alto Networks)—as they unpack what it really takes to secure an enterprise in today’s world of AI, multi-cloud sprawl, and constant threat exposure. They talk candidly about: * The evolving role of the CISO—from reactive firewalls to boardroom influen...

In this must-listen episode of The Enterprise GTM Podcast , Pavi Ramamurthy , Global CIO and CSO of Blackhawk Network , shares a candid and deeply insightful look into the world of enterprise security, tech innovation, and risk management. From managing massive fraud prevention systems behind the gift cards you see at Target, to navigating startup pitches and the realities of AI adoption—this is a...

In this episode, Diamond Bishop shares his fascinating journey through AI, machine learning, and enterprise software , from working at Microsoft (Cortana), Amazon (Alexa), AWS, and Meta (PyTorch) to founding Augmend , an AI-driven DevOps knowledge assistant , which Datadog later acquired . He dives deep into building AI-powered enterprise products , the challenges of selling into large organizatio...

Imagine walking into a digital store where the AI knows exactly what you want before you do. No more endless scrolling. No more generic recommendations. Just hyper-personalized shopping at lightning speed. In this electrifying episode of The Enterprise GTM Podcast , Vidya Raman sits down with two AI powerhouses: 🔹 Sameer Singh , CTO of Spiffy , a startup rethinking AI-powered shopping assistants...

In this must-listen episode of the Enterprise GTM Podcast , I dive deep with two powerhouse AI experts: 🎙 Manasi Vartak (Chief AI Architect at Cloudera) 🎙 Shreya Shankar (PhD Candidate, UC Berkeley) We discuss the current landscape of GenAI in enterprises. We explore the challenges of productionizing AI applications, the importance of data privacy, and the evolving use cases within large organizat...

In today's episode, we sit down with Jerry Ting to delve into his experience of founding and scaling a startup in the world of AI-powered contract management. Jerry is the Founder and CEO of Evisort, a cutting-edge AI-powered contract management platform transforming how organizations manage, analyze, and automate their legal documents. Jerry's vision has been instrumental in establishing Evisort...

Welcome back to another episode of The Enterprise GTM Podcast. Today we are joined by the Vice President of Enterprise Data and Analytics at Swire Coca-Cola, Bharathi Rajan. In this episode, Bharathi delves into crucial aspects of GTM that founders should pay attention to: 🔹 Know Your Customers and Their KPIs : Understanding what drives your customers is key to offering solutions that truly meet...

Founder-led sales are common in early-stage startups. But, they could be much more effective with a deeper understanding of sales fundamentals. Joining us today is Leslie Venetz, founder of The Sales-Led GTM Agency to discuss how founders can level up their skills and transform their sales. Drawing on her extensive history in B2B sales, which includes over 250,000 cold calls, Leslie covers everyth...

Barry Dauber is the VP of Sales and Business Development at MosaicML (recently acquired by Databricks) which is centered on making generative AI easy to use and widely accessible. Today, Barry joins us to discuss the role of sales, marketing, and business development in early-stage startups with a specific emphasis on MosaicML.  Key Points From This Episode:  * Barry Dauber walks us through the ev...