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PODCAST

Startups Decoded

Most startup podcasts are built for founders who"ve already figured it out. This one"s for the founder still in the middle of it.Startups Decoded covers the full founder operating system — from idea to Series A. Brand, fundraising, marketing, operations, finance, culture, storytelling. Everything a first-time founder needs to actually run the thing, not just pitch it.Host Andy Walsh has been in it — 4x founder, 2 exits, bootstrapped $10M ARR. He brings in founders and investors who"ve built real

business entrepreneurship

All Episodes

46:03

Ep#69: The VC Who Got Rejected by YC — Then Built a...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/05/18

Rachel ten Brink spent two decades inside Fortune 500 companies — P&G, Estée Lauder, L’Oréal — before co-founding Scentbird and scaling it past $300M in revenue. She got rejected by YC three times. Today, Scentbird is in their top 2% by revenue. Now she’s a GP at Red Bike Capital, investing in vertical AI, fintech, and digital health.This conversation is about what changes when you’ve been the client, the founder, and the investor — and why that sequence matters more than most people admit.We

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47:25

EP#68: Why We're Lonelier Than Ever, And How to Fix...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/05/11

We’re more connected than ever. More lonely than ever. Along the way, something broke.Michelle Parsons left ed-tech to build Lora — a platform using astrology as a framework for genuine human connection.The twist? The tech isn’t the point. The vulnerability is.Andy Walsh sat down with Michelle Parsons, co-founder of Lora, to unpack one of the most uncomfortable truths in tech: we built tools for connection and ended up more isolated.Michelle is a product leader (Kayak, Netflix, Spotify) who spent

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36:24

Ep#67: Stop Renting Attention — Why Founders Need to...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/05/04

Most founders spend years building audiences on platforms they don’t control. Nathan Gwilliam watched a guy go from $96M a year to zero — because Amazon changed its mind. The lesson wasn’t about Amazon. It was about whose land you’re building on.Andy Walsh sat down with Nathan Gwilliam — serial entrepreneur and founder of PodUp — to pull apart one of the most dangerous assumptions founders make: that reach equals ownership.After building Adoption.com into the world’s most visited adoption platform

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45:02

Ep#66:Why Every Founder Is Already a Generalist —...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/04/27

Everyone told Milly her résumé didn’t make sense. She turned that confusion into a global community of 800+ people who felt exactly the same. Turns out, being hard to define is your biggest competitive advantage.Andy Walsh sat down with Milly, founder of Generalist World — a community of 800+ operators, founders, and career-builders who’ve stopped apologising for doing too many things well.This one’s for anyone who’s ever struggled to answer “so, what do you do?” without a paragraph-long

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50:50

Ep#65: The Identity Problem Behind Most Startup...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/04/20

Most founders think branding is about what they look like. Jill Smith says it’s about how you behave, and most brands have no idea who they actually are.Fix that first. Everything else follows!Andy Walsh sat down with Jill Smith, CEO of Iris, one of the US’s most respected integrated brand and demand agencies, to unpack what actually makes a brand stick.This isn’t a conversation about logos or color palettes. It’s about identity, community, and why the brands that win long-term are the ones that

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45:31

#64: She Started a Brand Before She Started a Career...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/04/12

Most founders try to build a company.Sophie de Haën built one by accident.And she did it while she was still in college.Andy Walsh sat down with Sophie de Haën, founder of SDH Paints, to unpack one of the most unconventional founder journeys we’ve seen on Startups Decoded.Sophie didn’t start with a startup idea, a pitch deck, or a plan to raise money. She started painting during COVID and sharing her work online. What began as a creative outlet quickly attracted attention. As her audience grew,

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44:12

#63: Burn the Script — Alicia Teltz on Leaving the...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/04/06

Alicia Teltz didn’t reinvent her life overnight. She made one decision.That step led to losing 84 pounds, leaving a 10-year relationship, walking away from a high-paying corporate career, and starting over. In this episode we unpack what really blocks people from change. Confidence rarely shows up first. Momentum follows action.Alicia shares the reality behind rebuilding your life, the mindset shift that comes with taking control, and why visibility on LinkedIn is less about tactics and more about

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42:24

#62: AI Predicting the Future. What Happens Next?...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/03/30

AI has already changed how we create, search, and automate. The next step is prediction.In this episode, Vanja Josifovski joins Andy Walsh to explore how enterprises can use their own private data to forecast future outcomes, automate decisions, and move from analysis to action. As CEO and Co-Founder of Kumo, Vanja is building predictive intelligence systems that sit on top of enterprise data and help companies improve revenue, reduce fraud, and make faster, better decisions.This conversation

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50:24

#61: VCs Don’t Take Power. Founders Hand It Over....

Startups Decoded ·

2026/03/23

Power in startups is rarely where founders think it is.Itamar Novick, Founder and GP at Recursive Ventures, has worked both sides of the table as a founder, operator, angel, and VC. He’s backed 150+ early-stage companies and helped founders raise over $500M, while also building companies like Life360 and Gigya from the inside.In this conversation, we unpack the real power dynamics between founders and investors. We get into when founders should start thinking about leverage, how power gets handed

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49:57

#59: Raising Smart Capital in 2026 — Discipline, Data...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/03/16

The fundraising hangover is real.Capital returned in 2025, but investors are now far more selective. Traction, revenue clarity, and capital efficiency matter more than vision decks.In this episode, Roei Samuel joins Andy Walsh to share how he raised $23M+ without giving up board seats, and why that decision shaped Connectd’s growth and governance. We unpack how founders retain leverage in a tighter market, where progress must be measurable and every dollar justified.This conversation explores

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45:52

#59: Early-Stage GTM And The Modern Growth Engine...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/03/09

In a world of shifting algorithms and AI noise, winners aren’t the teams with the most tools, but the ones with the best orchestration.Andy Walsh sits down with Brendan Tolleson, CEO of RevPartners and founder of Southbound. Brendan is focused on democratizing Revenue Operations (RevOps), turning it from a B2B luxury into a core growth engine for scaling companies.Aligned with Southbound 2026’s theme, Timeless Principles & Timely Tactics, Brendan explains why 2.7x revenue growth isn’t luck. It’s

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45:06

#58: “Founder” is a status; “CEO” is a skill you’re...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/03/02

Alisa Cohn has spent decades coaching CEOs through the moments that define their leadership: rapid growth, board pressure, and the quiet isolation of the role.Named the #1 Startup Coach in the World by Thinkers50, Alisa has advised leaders at Venmo, Etsy, and Pfizer. In this episode, we explore why reactive management no longer works and how scaling CEOs must move from firefighting to proactive “North Star” planning as complexity increases.This is a grounded, practical conversation about CEO craft,

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42:41

#57: AI Without the Lawsuits - How to Build Without...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/02/23

AI is moving fast, but durable businesses aren’t built on models alone.In this episode of Startups Decoded, Andy Walsh sits down with Frank Paz (Partner, Morrison Foerster) and Craig Alberino (Founder & CEO, LangSmart) to unpack what actually makes an AI company defensible and safe, as it scales.Craig brings the operator’s perspective on turning AI experimentation into governed, measurable systems. Frank provides the legal lens, breaking down what is truly protectable and where founders quietly

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50:06

S2E23: The Diligence Mirror: Truth, Data, and...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/02/16

In this episode, Andy Walsh sits with Dr. Denise Bronner, a scientist-turned-strategist who has spent 15 years bridging the gap between the lab bench and the boardroom. As the founder of Empactful Ventures, Denise deconstructs the high-stakes reality of due diligence, transforming it from a “pop quiz” into a strategic mirror for operational maturity.Subscribe nowThe ConversationAndy and Denise dive into the “hard edge” where complex science meets venture capital. They discuss why founders must stop

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43:36

S2E22: Built, Sold, Burned Out. What Comes After a...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/02/09

Xaver Lehmann built two AI startups, sold one for $60M, and paid the price most founders don’t talk about until it’s too late.Burnout. Identity loss. The quiet crash after the win.In this conversation, we unpack the part of the founder journey that usually gets skipped in pitch decks and podcasts. What actually happens after the exit. Why success can feel emptier than expected. And how building at full speed without designing your life first eventually catches up with you.Xaver shares what he

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46:27

S2E21: Specialists Optimize. Operators Build...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/02/02

Casey Woo has spent over two decades inside the engine room of real companies, scaling startups as a 6x CFO and 2x COO across SaaS, marketplaces, hardware, eCommerce, and beyond.After walking away from a successful career in public markets, Casey chose the harder path: joining early-stage startups, eating glass, and learning how companies actually get built under pressure. Along the way, he founded the Operators Guild, a global community of 1,200+ elite builders, and FOG Ventures, an operator-led

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49:18

S2E20: The Intro Economy: How Trust Moves Deals —...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/01/26

Mike Adams has spent 30 years doing what most founders underestimate and then desperately need. Connecting people. Lead generationFrom HP to Apple to Zoom, and across 1,000+ events, Mike has built his career by understanding how trust, reputation, and introductions actually move deals forward. Now, as the founder of introstars, he’s turning referrals into the ultimate scalable lead-gen paradigm and opening up the intro economy to be measurable, trackable, and valuable.In this conversation, we unpack

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48:31

S2E19: Advice Before Money: The VC Model Founders...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/01/19

Mike Ma doesn’t invest in decks. He invests in people.As Managing Partner and Head Coach at Sidecut Ventures, Mike works with what he calls “coachable superheroes”, early-stage, mission-driven founders tackling real problems in economic mobility, healthcare, climate, and education.In this conversation, we unpack what it actually means to be coachable as a founder, why most advice fails in practice, and how real progress happens when coaching, capital, and execution collide. Mike shares lessons from

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46:30

S2E18: Stop Running Your Startup Like a Hobby. Build...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/01/12

Startups Decoded - Presented by Morrison Foerster - mofo.com.Luke Tobin has built seven businesses across hospitality, e-commerce, and agencies. Three exits. One of them: an eight-figure agency sale that started with £100, no funding, and a healthy dose of imposter syndrome.Today, Luke sits at the messy intersection of founders, capital, and exits, backing businesses, fixing broken agency models, and coaching operators to turn self-doubt into fuel instead of friction.In this episode, we get brutally

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48:56

S2E17: Nervous to Become a Founder? Start Here...

Startups Decoded ·

2026/01/05

Niluka Kavanagh left Big 4 consulting with a simple question: Can I work for myself, and can I do it from anywhere?That question turned into an experiment, then a business, then ImagineThat, a global club for first-time founders who are trying to build something without losing themselves in the process.We talk about the unsexy realities people don’t plan for: uncertainty, isolation, confidence dips, and the weird moment where you realise “being your own boss” can still mean being owned by customers

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