Methodologies for testing customer demand and willingness to pay before building expensive products, including proxy services and minimal viable experiments.
14 episodes
Jim Hasty, founder of Cogle Group, discusses his company's evolution from technology consulting to AI-powered software products. He shares lessons from building Plan Checkers, an AI tool that reduces municipal permit review time from weeks to minutes, and outlines a crawl-walk-run framework for enterprise AI adoption focused on automating emotionally draining tasks rather than chasing adoption metrics.
Steve Walsh, an angel investor and startup advisor, shares lessons from 25 years building multi-billion dollar B2B divisions at Cox and Comcast before transitioning to helping early-stage founders. He discusses common founder mistakes, when to raise capital, the importance of customer validation before building product, and how he filters 6,000 conversations down to 69 investments through rigorous vetting and founder education.
Jennifer Bonnett, a longtime tech entrepreneur and former ecosystem builder at ATDC and Invest Atlanta, discusses her transition back into technology through AI experimentation. She shares lessons from building a search engine in 1997, her current work vibe coding consumer apps with Claude, and her philosophy that CEOs must personally sell for at least the first year before delegating. The conversation explores how AI is lowering barriers to entrepreneurship while emphasizing that founders still need strong networks, customer discovery skills, and the discipline to market early.
Karen Rands, founder of the Compassionate Capitalist Movement, discusses how individuals can build wealth by investing in entrepreneurs through angel investing and equity crowdfunding. She shares her journey from IBM intrapreneur to angel investor advocate, explains revenue-share investment models as alternatives to traditional equity deals, and outlines strategies for building diversified portfolios that generate both financial returns and social impact.
Steve Subar, serial entrepreneur and inventor of MatFresher, discusses his business-model-first approach to building companies. After 30+ years founding and exiting ventures including Open Kernel Labs (acquired by General Dynamics), Subar explains how he validated product-market fit for MatFresher—an automated yoga mat cleaning machine—by manually cleaning mats at studios before building the product. He emphasizes innovating business models alongside technology, the importance of experience over information, and why wisdom beats rapid iteration.
Todd and Virginie demonstrate live how to build a complete marketing plan using AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. They identify lack of clarity as the biggest barrier to AI adoption among executives, design a five-step 'AI Value Blueprint' service offering targeting CMOs, CROs, and COOs in B2B SaaS, and develop persona-specific messaging and automation workflows—all within one hour using conversational AI.
Joe Gruca, newly joined partner at Tech CXO, shares his journey from corporate VP of Sales through founding Higher IQ (an AI-powered interview platform acquired after raising venture capital) to fractional revenue leadership. He discusses navigating the 2008 financial crisis as an accidental entrepreneur, building predictable sales motions for early-stage B2B SaaS companies, and how AI is transforming both sales execution and customer success while the fundamentals of relationship-building remain constant.
Mike Biwer, CEO of Cavalo, discusses how his company helps wholesale distributors optimize profitability through technology that controls pricing and margins at the line-item level. Founded by a distributor who achieved 10x industry-average profits, Cavalo evolved from a Microsoft Dynamics add-on to a multi-platform solution serving the $10 trillion distribution sector, where average pre-tax margins are under 5%.
Katherine O'Day, partner at Atlanta Ventures, discusses her journey from employee number nine at Pardot through two successful acquisitions (ExactTarget, then Salesforce) to becoming an early-stage investor and venture studio operator. She shares lessons on bootstrapping companies, building culture through core values, and why consistent execution over time—like training for an Ironman—matters more than short bursts of effort in entrepreneurship.
Ghazenfer Mansoor, founder of Technology Divers, discusses his journey from Pakistan to building a global software development company. He explains his 'blueprint methodology' for converting napkin sketches into production-ready applications, the challenges of managing distributed teams across continents, and how AI tools are transforming both software development and client operations. Mansoor emphasizes the importance of entrepreneur peer groups and shares insights on mobile app development trends.
Rob Reesor shares his journey from early AI expert systems development at Intellicorp through pioneering e-commerce at Virtual Vineyards to executive technology leadership across multiple private equity-backed companies. He discusses the evolution of software development practices, the challenges of technical debt management, and the critical importance of trust-based leadership in building high-performing engineering teams.
Chris Caparon, co-founder and former CEO of Sephoria Software, shares his 20-year journey building an accounts receivable automation company from a garage startup to a successful exit to private equity. He discusses navigating multiple economic crises, evolving technology platforms, and the relentless customer focus that enabled his bootstrapped company to serve Fortune 500 clients across 110 countries.
David Morczinek, CEO of Airworks, discusses his journey from aerospace engineering at Airbus to founding a geospatial AI company at MIT. He explains how Airworks analyzes aerial data from drones, satellites, and aircraft to automate infrastructure mapping, the pivot from pure AI to AI-plus-services when customers weren't ready for full automation, and navigating multiple funding rounds from seed to private equity while maintaining work-life balance.
Mark Flickinger, partner at BIP Ventures, discusses his journey from mechanical engineering and competitive rowing to venture capital. He explains BIP's platform-heavy approach to supporting portfolio companies, the firm's focus on high-net-worth investors, and strategies for navigating the current venture market. Flickinger emphasizes the importance of board governance, team-based competitive experience, and building sustainable businesses during economic downturns.
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