Startup Success: A Podcast for Founders & Investors

With Q3 behind us, the headlines continue to be pessimistic—but Steve Lord,  Burkland's COO and Head of Knowledge Share, says the story is more complicated and less alarming.

Steve joins us at the close of each quarter for an update on the startup ecosystem. This quarterly episode is another must-listen, providing a much-needed reality check, insights into the current state of the economy, and guidance on what founders need to know about the venture capital landscape as we approach the end of 2025.

We cover:

• The real story behind the Fed’s recent rate cut—and what’s next
• Why the U.S. economy is stronger than headlines suggest
• The lagging impact of interest rates and tariffs
• What founders should NOT do in this fundraising environment
• Smart bets for raising capital right now
• How to adapt your pitch deck to today’s market realities

Don’t buy into the hype that venture is broken. Steve reminds us that this industry is inherently cyclical. What feels like a slowdown today is part of a larger pattern. Founders who recognize macro trends, prepare early for their next raise, and aren’t afraid to communicate with their investors will be best positioned for the upswing ahead.

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Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn!
Learn more about Burkland at burklandassociates.com.

Ivan Montoya is a venture capitalist with a fresh perspective on the typical VC–founder relationship. He and his firm, NuMundo Ventures, take an unusually hands-on approach with pre-seed and seed-stage founders—providing a level of support typically reserved for Series A and B stage startups.

They often form close bonds with founders even before investing, actively helping with fundraising, pitch decks, go-to-market strategy, and everything in between.

On this episode of Startup Success, we explore how Ivan’s trajectory from startup operator to angel investor to VC shaped his approach to backing founders, and how he’s helping the next generation of LatAm entrepreneurs achieve remarkable growth and gain traction in the US.

We discuss:

• How to make your startup stand out at an early stage
• The power of working with the right VC partner
• LatAm’s startup boom and why their ecosystem is ripe for disruption

Whether you’re a founder, investor, or part of the global startup community, this episode takes you inside an emerging tech scene and reveals a new blueprint for the VC-founder relationship.

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Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn!
Learn more about NuMundo Ventures here: https://numundoventures.com/

Materials development touches all startups—driving technological progress and innovation across every industry.  In this episode of Startup Success, host Kate Adams sits down with Joseph Krause, Co-Founder & CEO of Radical AI, a groundbreaking startup that's accelerating the discovery of new materials by using AI to transform the traditionally slow and costly R&D process.

Fresh off a $55M seed raise, Joseph shares his inspiring startup journey and reveals the secret to building a fast-moving, mission-driven team. Joseph’s top advice for founders: build a ridiculous bias to action into everything you do!

Tune in to hear:

• Radical AI’s plan to remove barriers to innovation
• How they deliberately designed a culture that drives them forward
• The payoff of their relentless focus on iteration

This episode is a fascinating listen for any founder as Joseph lays out Radical AI's approach to building a truly revolutionary startup. Plus, if you’re curious about how AI could dramatically change materials development, this interview won't disappoint!

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Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

In this episode, host Kate Adams sits down with Julia Austin—Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, startup advisor, executive coach, and author of After the Idea: What It Really Takes to Create and Scale a Startup. With decades of experience leading teams at Akamai, VMware, and DigitalOcean, Julia brings tactical wisdom and deep empathy to the messy, high-stakes realities of startup life.

Together, they unpack what really happens after the check clears: from managing investor relationships and board dynamics to building operationally sound companies that can scale. Drawing on frameworks from her book and real-world examples, Julia gives founders clear guidance on how to stay in the driver’s seat—even in the face of strong investor opinions.

Highlights include

• How and when to communicate with your investors after the "check clears"
  
  
• Productive ways to disagree with your investors and still build trust
  
  
• Strategies to get the most value out of your board member’s network & expertise
  
  
• The gap most startup books miss—and how After the Idea fills it

Julia also lays out a strong case for why figuring out the “culture and people stuff” is essential to a startup’s survival. 

Whether you’re working towards product market fit, building a team, or navigating early-stage chaos, this is your crash course in leading with intention, not reaction.

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Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 
Purchase your copy of After the Idea here!

In this episode of Startup Success, we sit down with Ian Bateman, co-founder and CEO of Highscore, a startup on a mission to bring more games to more people—especially long-neglected Mac users—by enabling PC games to work on any device.

Ian shares his startup journey—from building a tech startup in college that led to a successful acquisition, to turning his lifelong frustration as a Mac gamer into the inspiration for his current startup, Highscore. With a lean five-person team, a thriving Discord community of users, and a deeply personal connection to the problem they’re solving, Ian offers an honest and energizing look into early-stage startup life.

We explore:

• Highscore’s early pivot that resulted in a win for users and investors 
• The inner workings of their Alpha launch powered by an active user feedback loop
• How complementary co-founders can supercharge a startup
• Ian’s take on the gaming industry

Whether you're a founder, a gamer, or just love a good startup story, this episode will leave you inspired by what’s possible when passion meets product-market fit.

----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 


🔗 Learn more at highscore.com or join the conversation on Discord: discord.gg/highscore
📱 Follow High Score on Twitter/X: @highscore

Most founders say they value customer feedback—but few know how to truly hear it, let alone act on it. 

On today’s episode, we are excited to welcome serial founder and CEO Eli Portnoy of Backengine.ai, a platform revolutionizing how businesses capture and act on customer feedback. With over $66M in successful exits behind him, Eli shares the lessons only repeated startup journeys can teach—most critically, why leaning into customer feedback isn't optional, it's foundational to a startup's success.

Eli walks us through:

• Why your startup’s success hinges on aggregating customer feedback across all channels
• How to drive revenue and prevent churn by staying close to customers’ needs
• Why many startups fail by ignoring negative customer signals
• Critical advice on why CEOs need to meet with customers regularly and assign an owner of customer feedback

Eli doesn't just share important learnings around customer feedback, but also what he has learned founding multiple successful startups.  If you're a founder trying to scale, or find product market fit, without losing sight of your customer, this conversation is your blueprint.

----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

🔗 Learn more at backengine.ai📫 Contact Eli: eli@backengine.ai

With Q2 in the rearview mirror, we welcome back one of our most popular guests, Steve Lord, COO & Head of Service Delivery at Burkland. Steve joins us for a macro view of the startup and VC ecosystem—and the message is clear: uncertainty still reigns.

From geopolitical instability to unpredictable trade policies and inflation, Steve breaks down what founders and investors need to know right now and provides expert tips on how to raise and extend capital in today’s market. 

We discuss:

• Why the Fed has not cut interest rates yet and when that will change
• How global uncertainty is chilling startup investment
• Smart ways to fundraise (hint: SAFE notes)

The episode also includes actionable advice for founders on how to defend your valuation and present a “buttoned-up investment opportunity” that makes it easier for VCs to say yes!

----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn.

🔗 Plus, don’t miss Steve’s blog posts and tools for extending cash runway and strategic planning at burklandassociates.com.

We’re thrilled to welcome back Feras Alhlou—seasoned entrepreneur, startup coach, and co-founder of Start Up With Feras—for another insightful episode of Startup Success.

In this candid conversation, Feras dives into what it really takes to build and scale a successful startup. He shares hard-earned lessons from his own journey, including how to focus on what matters most during each phase of the startup lifecycle and why founders must learn to delegate! And he offers his take on giving back to your team and your community.

We discuss:

• The importance of “outsourcing the headache” 
• Common mistakes founders make when trying to scale
• Why only great things come from networking
• Advice for founders out there who are struggling

Whether you're just starting out or gearing up for a major growth spurt, this episode is packed with wisdom you won’t want to miss.


----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

🔗 Resources & Tools:
Get the Founder Focus Organizer, Feras’s free newsletter, and info on 1:1 coaching at startupwithferas.com

Connect with Feras on LinkedIn or subscribe to his YouTube channel @StartUpWithFeras

💬 Bonus: Feras offers free 20-minute “Ask Feras” sessions for founders who need clarity. No pitches—just help.

In this episode, we sit down with Merrill Lutsky, Co-Founder and CEO of Graphite, a breakout startup redefining code review for the AI era. Originally built solely as an internal code review tool, Graphite unexpectedly attracted a huge amount of interest from the developer community, prompting the team to pivot their startup to focus entirely on that tool.

Today, Graphite’s AI developer productivity platform is helping engineering teams at companies like Ramp, Figma, and Shopify ship code up to 40% faster.

We discuss:

• Graphite’s remarkable user-driven pivot
• How they achieved product-market fit
• The highly responsive and scalable user feedback loop that propels their success
• Pros & cons of using AI in software development 

Startup founders – don’t miss this episode packed with lessons on product-market fit, building for a passionate user base, and driving rapid growth in a competitive space.

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Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here on LinkedIn! 

Explore Graphite at graphite.dev and their AI-powered code review agent at diamond.graphite.dev.