She Built & Sold an AI Startup in Under 2 Years for $34M

How do you build and sell an AI startup in under two years?

In this episode of Startup Theatre, Troy Hammond, Serge Van Dam and Adrian Muir sit down with Jessica Venning-Bryan, CEO and Co-founder of Factor, fresh off the company's acquisition by NZX-listed Gentrack.

Jessica shares the incredible journey from identifying a major problem in the global energy industry to building an AI-powered SaaS platform that was acquired in record time. She also opens up about founder relationships, raising capital, leadership, work-life balance, and why your career doesn't have to follow a straight line.

In this episode we cover:

• How Factor was built and acquired by Gentrack
• The fastest startup exits in New Zealand
• Finding billion-dollar problems hiding in plain sight
• Building AI products for the energy sector
• How to prepare your startup for acquisition
• Due diligence lessons every founder should know
• Why founder relationships matter
• Raising venture capital as a female founder
• Leadership, motherhood, and entrepreneurship
• Why careers should be "jungle gyms", not ladders

• Critical thinking, AI, and the future of education
• What Jessica would build next

Whether you're building a startup, investing in technology, leading a team, or dreaming of your first exit, this episode is packed with practical lessons from one of New Zealand's most impressive founders.

🎧 Subscribe for more conversations with founders, investors and operators building the future.

This podcast was brought to you by Oxygen Advisors

Oxygen Advisors is New Zealand's leading outsourced finance partner for startups and high-growth businesses, providing accounting, bookkeeping, tax, CFO, payroll and revenue operations services to help founders scale with confidence. Learn more at www.oxygenadvisors.co.nz.

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