Startup Success: A Podcast for Founders & Investors

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.

If you’re a founder gearing up to raise capital, this episode of Startup Success is your ultimate fundraising playbook. We’re joined by Nathan Beckord, CEO of Foundersuite and Fundingstack, and host of the How I Raised It podcast. Nathan has helped hundreds of startups navigate every stage of the fundraising process—and he’s sharing his top strategies to help you maximize your next raise.

We explore the full fundraising journey—from building a strong investor pipeline to closing the round—and zoom in on how to make your pitch deck truly stand out.

Nathan breaks down:

• How to craft a compelling narrative that sticks with investors
• Strategies to target the right investors (not “spray and pray”)
• Your pitch deck - the essential slides you must include
• And the #1 mistake most founders make when pitching

Whether you’re pitching VCs or prepping for a demo day, this episode is packed with actionable insights and straight talk from a true fundraising expert.

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

Learn more about Foundersuite at https://www.foundersuite.com and Fundingstack at https://fundingstack.com.

What makes a co-founder relationship thrive—or fall apart? In this episode of Startup Success, we’re joined by Tim He, Founder of Cherrytree, a company helping startup co-founders navigate the tricky terrain of working together. Tim draws on his personal experience co-founding a startup with four friends and explains how that journey led him to launch a newsletter and private coaching practice for startup founders.

We dive deep into the questions most founders overlook: 

• Should you go into business with a close friend
• Do you really need a co-founder agreement
• Why being “too trusting” is often a bigger issue than distrust
• How dividing co-founders into technical and non-technical roles can lead to a power imbalance

Tim challenges common assumptions about trust, communication, and compatibility, offering a fresh take on how to actually work on your co-founder relationship—just like you would a marriage or friendship.

If you’re ready to work on your co-founder relationship, not just your startup, this one’s for you!

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

Learn more about Cherrytree visit their website at https://cherrytree.beehiiv.com/

What makes a startup board really effective? How do you build one that will truly benefit your startup? How do you conduct board meetings that are helpful and not just a quarterly scramble to put together a deck? 

In this episode of Startup Success, we dive deep into a topic we’ve never explored before: the real role and power of a startup board. Your board can be a game-changer for your startup—if done the right way.

Joining us are Matt Blumberg, CEO of Acrolinx, and Mahendra Ramsinghani, the Managing Director of Secure Octane Investments —two of the co-authors of Startup Boards: A Field Guide to Building and Leading an Effective Board of Directors. Together, sharing the operator and investor perspectives, they give practical advice for startup boards and board meetings that you can use today. 

In this episode, we discuss:

• The purpose of a startup board and its role in your startup’s success
• How to put together your board - selecting and recruiting the right directors, and how to change that mix as you scale
• Effective board meetings - practical advice - ranging from the agenda to slides to seating arrangements -  that will improve your meetings 

Whether you’re building your first board, wanting to optimize the one you have, or are looking to greatly improve your board meetings, this episode is a masterclass in getting it right.🛠️

Grab your copy of Startup Boards for even more insights.

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

In this episode of Startup Success, we welcome Arielle Lechner, Executive Coach and Founder of NewPo, to discuss the crucial role of decision-making and leadership in early-stage startups. Arielle, a mentor for TechStars and former startup operator, shares insights on how founders can move faster, avoid burnout, and create a thriving company culture.

We dive into how founders can distinguish between upstream and downstream problems, the power of thinking like a scientist when iterating, and Arielle’s Lift and Thrust model for balancing team motivation and momentum.

Tune in to learn how to:

• Stop wasting time on the wrong issues and focus on the upstream problems
• Create a culture that propels your team forward even in difficult times
• Move away from the mindset and assumptions that limit your startup’s potential to scale

Don’t miss this episode packed with actionable takeaways on how to successfully navigate the hard decisions and complex challenges that come with leading a startup.


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


To learn more about NewPo visit https://www.newpo.io/

Finding startup success outside of Silicon Valley is possible – it just requires some ingenuity.
We couldn’t think of anyone who knows more about this topic than Rick Turoczy.

With three decades of experience supporting founders, Rick Turoczy, GM and Co-founder of PIE (Portland Incubator Experiment), is the ultimate connector and an expert at helping startups turn ideas into reality. In this episode, we sit down with Rick to explore how startups outside of the Bay Area can find support in their community and he gives us an inside look at the fundraising landscape beyond the Valley.

We discuss:

• Creative fundraising strategies outside of Silicon Valley
• Tactics for leveraging local resources to help scale your startup
• How to pick the right accelerator for your startup
• Why the lack of easily accessible capital combined with the proliferation of AI could be a perfect storm for innovation

If you're a founder looking to find startup success in your own community, this episode is a must-listen!

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

To learn more about PIE visit https://www.piepdx.com/