Founded & Funded Madrona Ventures

In this episode of Founded & Funded, host Coral Garnick Ducken interviews Madrona Investor Sabrina Wu for the latest Investor Spotlight. These two discuss Sabrina's transition from private equity to venture capital and the learnings that translate to building successful VC-backed startups, Sabrina’s focus on intelligent applications, and the characteristics she looks for in founders — grit, authenticity, and intellectual honesty. Sabrina also shares her approach to engaging with early-stage founders and her interests outside the office. This is a great episode for entrepreneurs interested in working with VCs.
 
(00:00) Introduction
(00:44) Sabrina Wu's Experience at Vector Capital
(02:50) Transition to Venture Capital
(04:26) Focus on Intelligent Applications
(05:32) Aspiring for Intelligence Newsletter
(06:56) Traits of Successful Founders
(09:00) Responding to Cold Emails
(09:53) Recommended Books and Podcasts
(10:47) Interests Outside of Work

Madrona Partner Vivek Ramaswami hosts Dev Rishi and Travis Addair, co-founders of 2023 IA40 Rising Star, Predibase. Predibase is a platform for developers to easily fine-tune and serve any open-source model. They recently released LoRA Land, a collection of 25 highly-performant open-source fine-tuned models, and launched open-source LoRA eXchange, or LoRAX, which allows users to pack hundreds of task-specific models into a single GPU.
In this episode, Dev and Travis share their perspective on what it takes to commercialize open-source projects, how to build a product your customers actually want, and how to differentiate in a very noisy AI infrastructure market. This is a must-listen for anyone building an AI.

Full Transcript: https://www.madrona.com/predibase-ai-open-source-commercialization
Chapters
(00:00) Introduction
(01:29) The Founding Story of Predibase
(04:03) Vision and Evolution of Predibase
(06:23) Predibase's Response to the ChatGPT Hype
(11:26) Commercializing Open-Source Projects
(17:37) Bigger Isn't Always Better - LLMs
(24:10) Challenges and Solutions in AI Infrastructure
(30:47) Predibase's Unique Approach and Future Outlook
(34:11) Over-Hyped vs. Under-Hyped in AI
(38:37) Advice for First-Time Founders

In this episode, Madrona Managing Director Matt McIlwain hosts David Shim, founder and CEO of Read AI. These two have known each other for over two decades, having worked together at Farecast and then Placed, which David founded in 2011. They came together again in 2021, when David started Read AI, which delivers AI solutions that make meetings, emails, and messages more valuable to teams with AI-generated summaries, transcripts, and highlights.
In this episode, David and Matt examine how leveraging emerging technologies, getting engagement from multiple members of your ecosystem in the early days, and learning your way into a business model have been three themes across David's startup journeys. They explore the challenges and success of implementing AI in various categories, the benefits of using AI model cocktails for more accurate and intelligent applications, and where they see the opportunity for founders well beyond productivity AI. It's a great discussion you won't want to miss.
Transcript:  https://www.madrona.com/read-ai-david-shim-efficient-meetings-intelligent-agents
Chapters:     
(00:00) Introduction
(01:51) The Genesis of Read AI: From Concept to Reality
(04:26) Leveraging Emerging Technologies: The Journey of Placed and Read AI
(09:10) The Evolution of Business Models: Learning from the Market
(12:13) Engagement and Distribution: Partnering with Platforms
(14:07) Innovating Meeting Summaries: Read AI’s Shift to Intelligent Recaps
(16:06) The Power of Model Cocktails: Enhancing AI Applications
(18:03) From Zero to Growth: The Momentum of Read AI
(21:06) Read AI: The Future of AI Productivity & Intelligent Agents
(26:12) Exploring Product-Led Growth and Market Expansion
(29:56) Horizontal v. Vertical
(31:46) Gen-native v. Gen-enhanced
(35:45) Importance of Model Cocktails
(35:55) Opportunities for Founders

In this episode of Founded & Funded, Madrona Managing Director Steve Singh and Christal Bemont, CEO of Direct Travel, Madrona's newest portfolio company, delve into the acquisition of Direct Travel and its pivotal role in revolutionizing the $1.4T corporate travel ecosystem, along with  @Spotnana , Troop, and Center.
 
Full Transcript: https://bit.ly/3wxBFuT
 
(00:00) Intro
(01:19) Direct Travel: Transforming Corporate Travel Management
(03:56) The Challenges of Modern Business Travel
(07:43) The Perfect Trip: A Vision for Seamless Travel
(10:06) Spotnana: Building the Next-Generation Travel Platform
(16:27) Integrating Solutions: Center and Troop's Role in the Travel Ecosystem
(20:58) Direct Travel's Strategic Vision and Integration
(25:15) Realizing the Perfect Trip: Timeline and Expectations

In this episode of Founded & Funded, Madrona Investor Paul Goel and Neon Co-founder & CEO Nikita Shamgunov dive into the database market and the importance of creating a killer developer experience while balancing that experience with performance and reliability. Nikita also shares just how bullish he is on AI, his excitement for AI agents like Devin, and advises founders to not wait on an idea they’re passionate about.
 
Full transcript here:


(00:00) Introduction
(00:46) Nikita's Background and the Genesis of Neon
(02:50) The Right Time to Build Neon and Database Market Insights
(05:17) Neon's Differentiation in the Database Market
(08:10) The Importance of Developer Experience
(11:56) Building a Culture of Reliability and Performance
(16:24) Strategic Growth and the Future of Neon
(20:26) AI's Impact on the Future and Neon's Role
(29:08) Intelligent Applications Nikita's Eyeing
(30:53) Challenges and Advice for Founders
 

Investor Sabrina Wu hosts Bobsled Co-founder and CEO Jake Graham for the latest episode of Founded & Funded. Jake is revolutionizing data sharing across platforms, enabling customers to get to analysis faster directly in the platforms where they work. Madrona co-led Bobsled's $17 million series A last year, which put the company at an $87 million valuation.
In this episode, Jake — who had stints at Neo4j, Intel, and Microsoft — provides his perspective on why enabling cross-cloud data sharing is often cumbersome yet so important in the age of AI. He also shares why you can't PLG the enterprise, how to convince customers to adopt new technologies in a post-zero interest rate environment, and what it takes to land and partner with the hyperscalers.
Transcript here: https://www.madrona.com/bobsled-cross-cloud-data-sharing/


(00:00) Introduction
(01:36) Why found a startup?
(03:00) The Genesis of Bobsled: From Inspiration to Reality
(05:26) Understanding Bobsled’s Functionality: Cross-Cloud Data Sharing
(09:48) The Role of Cross-Cloud Data Sharing in the Age of AI
(13:05) Redefining the Modern Data Stack and Its Future
(18:04) Navigating Enterprise Sales and Partnerships in Tech
(23:22) Strategic Partnerships and Navigating the Hyperscaler Landscape
(29:40) Leadership Lessons and Vision for Bobsled