When Itai Ben-Zaken’s first startup failed in 2018, the former BCG consultant and Wharton MBA spent months trying to understand what he could have done differently during the five years he ran the company.
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Jul 31
Dili raises $21.7M to bring AI compliance to the infrastructure boom; plus Fusion power darling Commonwealth Fusion Systems raises another $1B
Dili's Series A was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Allianz, Rebel Fund, Brick and Mortar Ventures’ Darren Bechtel, and Y Combinator’s Garry Tan. Also, Commonwealth Fusion Systems raised $1 billion as the startup moves toward its first commercial fusion power plan ... Show More
7m 40s
Jul 30
As AI content floods the internet, Pangram raises $9M to detect it
Pangram has raised $9 million to scale its AI detection software. The startup has also released a new AI text detection model, Pangram 4, and an AI image detection model in research preview. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
6m 39s
Jul 29
MCP startup Runlayer accuses Rippling of stealing its product idea; plus, Ozlo’s Sleepbuds 2 build on Bose’s sleep earbud legacy
Runlayer is suing Rippling after Rippling evaluated the startup's MCP gateway product and then opted to build one itself. Also, Ozlo unveiled Sleepbuds 2, an updated version of its original product that tackles key areas of improvement, including battery life, connectivity, and s ... Show More
8m 46s
Sep 2020
#97 Secret Sauce or Snake Oil?
Today's founder had everything going for him: a huge market, loads of experience, and $70k in monthly revenue. But then, everything went wrong. Christopher Hussain's startup, RealKey, is supposed to make the complicated mortgage lending process simpler, but his pitch left our inv ... Show More
25m 55s
Aug 2020
#95 You Asked. Investors Answered. Now What?
In the spring, founders desperate for ideas about how to keep their companies afloat called in to get advice from our investors. Several months later, the economy is still far from recovering, so we called the founders back to see if the investors’ advice was working. Learn more ... Show More
32m 28s
Apr 2017
Recode Decode: Bijan Sabet, general partner, Spark Capital
Spark Capital General Partner Bijan Sabet talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about being a venture capitalist based on the East Coast, and how he became an early investor in companies like Twitter, Tumblr and Cruise. Sabet also discusses why he has become more politically vocal und ... Show More
55m 14s
May 2025
Undoing a $5 Billion Acquisition and Building a Durable Standalone Plaid (with Plaid CEO Zach Perret)
We sit down with Zach Perret, CEO of Plaid, to discuss the remarkable journey of Plaid and the broader fintech landscape over the past several years. Zach takes us blow-by-blow through journey of almost getting acquired by Visa, the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic… ... Show More
59m 7s
Jan 2025
Building A $2 Billion SaaS Company: Lessons From A Two Time Founder
<p>Two-time founder Rujul Zaparde knows a thing or two about resilience and learning from failure. </p><p>After dropping out of college to build FlightCar, he worked as a PM at Airbnb, and later as a visiting partner at YC. </p><p>In 2020, he co-founded Zip, a procurement softwar ... Show More
24m 31s