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Fundraising
Quotes and lessons on fundraising from 22 founders Charles Cormier interviewed on the Founder Wisdom, CEO Wisdom, and YC Wisdom podcasts.
Quotes across interviews
I got my start working on the human genome project. This was at Washington University in St. Louis, which is one of the two institutions leading the the public effort to do that.
— Dave Messina, Pioneer Fund · episode
Today we can sequence a genome for a 100 bucks in an afternoon.
— Dave Messina, Pioneer Fund · episode
Contour is a YC uh summer 2023 companies. Vampy's in uh New York and yeah, it's a pretty cool company.
— Vamsi Saladi, Contour · episode
We're building an AI customer support platform specifically for financial institutions.
— Vamsi Saladi, Contour · episode
I'm building the most complex go-to-market workflows just through natural language.
— Vihaar Nandigala, OrangeSlice.ai · episode
The first big lessons and kind of things I wish I knew earlier was just how important the sales function is to startups.
— Vihaar Nandigala, OrangeSlice.ai · episode
I kind of quit my professorship and moved back to San Francisco and continue my startup journey and um it has been a fun ride and this is probably the best place in the world to do startup
— Wesley Zheng · episode
as any startup especially in the hardware space um um is is always a more challenging experience because you are not like a SAS company where you have recurring revenue.
— Wesley Zheng · episode
So essentially what we are is the easiest way for you to build a voice agent that answers your phones.
— Will Bodewes, Phonely · episode
When I was when I was 13 years old, my brothers and I spent 72 days kayaking around Lake Superior, which is 1,200 miles.
— Will Bodewes, Phonely · episode
We just raised our series A and we've been really growing out the team, scaling it a lot. Seeing a ton of attraction attraction traction in the market and a lot of adoption.
— Will Bodewes, Phonely · episode
Where a lot of our competitors are building you know, chatbots that talk, we've been able to build that two years ago and now we build AI agents that are optimized better than any other agent.
— Will Bodewes, Phonely · episode
so submit order was the first time i you know was out in silicon valley my my partners and i that started that company we landed a lot of venture capital back in time and uh yeah we were part of the bust as well
— Charles Fry, Code Éxitos · episode
i've often said that my attention span is like in the zero to 100 million revenue range and the reason is i like that i like that zero i like that zero zone because well you don't have much but you have all the freedom to innovate
— Charles Fry, Code Éxitos · episode
I ended up getting into AI because everybody I talked to and lived with was working in it there were tons of marketing and billboards and Tech talks
I really fell in love with one of the six EPO or Technologies he mentioned which is AI so um I got really lucky to end up in the field
I was like, well, I do. No regret. Um and ever since it's just been startups.
— Sharmin Ali · episode
the most important lesson that I learned about myself was that I do not crack under pressure
— Sharmin Ali · episode
at the core of what we do is definitely a very strong network of elite athletes
— Antonio Cacorino, APEX Capital · episode
the strategical value is much more than just uh you know being the face or the brand
— Antonio Cacorino, APEX Capital · episode
the only thing that changed is we put in your own data, your own images. And back in that was in like 2010 and back in those days the images did not look great
— Janus Klok Matthesen, Pixelz · episode
basically we could show them that well the only thing that changed is we put in your own data, your own images. And back in that was in like 2010
— Janus Klok Matthesen, Pixelz · episode
We're the world's first autonomous road-to-rail solution and what we want to do is make rail more accessible.
— Kevin A. Damoa, Glĭd · episode
Everything else is transported via road. You know, on road we share the road with like passenger vehicles and semi-trailers, which makes things extremely dangerous.
— Kevin A. Damoa, Glĭd · episode
FAQ
What was Dave Messina's role in the Human Genome Project?
Dave Messina started his career working on the Human Genome Project at Washington University in St. Louis, which was one of the two leading institutions in the public effort. Later, he pursued a PhD in computational biology and co-founded co-actor genomics with some of his peers from the project.
How has the cost and speed of DNA sequencing changed over time?
The first human genome sequencing cost $3 billion, took many years, and required a massive international effort. Today, a genome can be sequenced for about 100 dollars in a single afternoon due to advancements that have exceeded Moore's Law over the past 20 years.
What is Contour?
Contour is an AI customer support platform built for financial institutions such as banks, credit unions, and B2C fintechs. It offers an omnichannel support solution with a flagship voice product and a co-pilot for human support teams.
What is Vamsi Saladi's role at Contour?
Vamsi Saladi is the CTO and co-founder of Contour. He handles the technical building and engineering side of the company.
What is OrangeSlice.ai?
OrangeSlice.ai is a company building the most complex go-to-market workflows through natural language to make go-to-market easier and more accessible.
Who is the co-founder of OrangeSlice.ai?
Vihaar Nandigala is a co-founder of OrangeSlice.ai alongside his co-founder Kishan.
Who is Wesley Zheng?
Wesley Zheng is a founder, Stanford PhD, and former professor at the National University of Singapore who transitioned into the startup world in San Francisco. He previously founded the drone company Volansi and later started Posh to address energy challenges for commercial and industrial applications.
What was Volansi and what happened to it?
Volansi was Wesley's first company, founded in 2017, which built fixed-wing vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for commercial and defense logistics. After raising about $75 million, securing a $400 million Air Force contract, and growing to about 150 people, the company sold its assets to Sierra Nevada Corporation in 2022.
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