Founder Real Talk Notable Capital

In a world where enterprises are moving faster than ever to adopt generative AI solutions, Patronus AI offers solutions to scalably and reliably catch mistakes and evaluate the performance of large language models (LLMs).
In this episode of Founder Real Talk, host Glenn Solomon and guest host Dan Cahana sit down with AI visionaries and Patronus AI co-founders Anand Kannappan and Rebecca Qian to explore their journey from CS students at the University of Chicago to AI leadership roles at Meta and the reasons they felt compelled to start Patronus after recognizing the need for robust evaluation tools following the release of ChatGPT in late 2022.
Anand and Rebecca illuminate the challenges enterprises face in adopting AI and the ways they’ve built Patronus to mitigate challenges like hallucinations and brand alignment. Against the backdrop of rapid AI adoption at large companies, the founders share their vision for creating the enterprise standard for unbiased, independent evaluations.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. AI Visionaries: Anand and Rebecca's extensive experience in AI and machine learning, including their time at Meta and the University of Chicago, laid the foundation for Patronus.
2. Day -1 for AI: The founders see AI adoption as still being in the very early stages, describing it as "Day -1." Large companies are moving faster than ever to adopt AI technologies but face challenges in navigating the rapidly evolving landscape.
3. Solving Critical AI Issues: Patronus addresses the challenges of LLMs, such as hallucinations, unexpected behavior, and brand misalignments, making AI deployment safer and more reliable for enterprises.
4. API-First Approach: Patronus's API-first solution allows for seamless integration into various parts of the tech stack, offering flexibility and scalability for real-time and offline use cases.
5. Enterprise Adoption: The rapid adoption of AI by enterprises, driven by the need for reliability and safety, highlights the importance and urgency of Patronus's solutions.
6. Future of AI: Patronus describes “Scalable oversight" and how humans will learn to supervise increasingly intelligent AI systems

RESOURCES
• Learn more about Notable Capital: www.notablecap.com
• Learn more about Patronus AI: https://www.patronus.ai/

CONNECT
• Connect with Glenn Solomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glennsolomon/
• Follow Glenn Solomon on Twitter: https://x.com/glennsolomon

• Connect with Dan Cahana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dancahana/
• Follow Dan Cahana on Twitter: https://x.com/dan_cahana

• Connect with Anand Kannappan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anandnkannappan/
• Follow Anand Kannappan on Twitter: https://x.com/anandnk24

• Connect with Rebecca Qian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccaqian/
• Follow Rebecca Qian on Twitter: https://x.com/rebeccatqian

Produced by Saschi Productions
Music by Gus Culpo

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro and Introductions
5:00 What does Patronus do?
6:55 What’s been some of the surprises in AI?
10:00 The Patronus Product
12:15 How are customers using Patronus?
15:27 Why is an API-first approach important?
16:45 How did you know this was the right place to focus?
19:40 Large companies of the world are moving faster than ever
26:40 Into the Future: What will you look for to know that AI has been successful?
29:00 How do customers plan to deploy this type of technology?
32:00 AI Predictions
35:00 What motivates the Patronus founders?
36:40 What advice would you give to founders looking to start a company in the AI field?

In this episode of Founder Real Talk, Glenn Solomon welcomes the team from Coder, including CEO Rob Whiteley and technical co-founders Ammar Bandukwala and Kyle Carberry. They discuss Coder’s journey from its inception, the company’s product pivots, and its growth trajectory. Listeners will gain insights into how Coder enables developers to write code directly in the cloud, enhancing productivity and security. They’ll also learn about the strategic decisions behind Coder's open-source approach, the challenges faced, and the recent successful $35 million funding round.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Shift to Cloud Development: Coder allows developers to write code natively in the cloud, improving productivity and security. This shift is akin to moving from old-school word processors to modern office suites.
2. Open Source Evolution: The company pivoted from a consumer-focused SaaS application to an open-source project, resulting in the popular Code Server and later the Coder platform, which supports team-based remote development.
3. Product Market Fit and Customer Adoption: Coder has achieved significant traction with large enterprises and tech companies by providing a product that enhances developer productivity while maintaining security.
4. Strategic Leadership Changes: Bringing in Rob Whiteley as CEO and Josh Epstein as CRO helped Coder focus on large enterprises, leveraging their expertise in go-to-market strategies.
5. Future Growth and Vision: Coder's recent $35 million funding round will support further development and expansion. The company aims to capitalize on opportunities in both the VDI market and the emerging generative AI tools sector.

Tune in to hear how Coder's innovative approach is reshaping software development and their plans for the future.

RESOURCES
• Learn more about Notable Capital: www.notablecap.com
• Learn more about Coder: www.coder.com

CONNECT
• Connect with Glenn Solomon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glennsolomon/
• Follow Glenn Solomon on Twitter: https://x.com/glennsolomon

Produced by Saschi Productions
Music by Gus Culpo

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction to Coder and its Founders
02:54 Evolution of Coder's Product and Business Model
05:07 The Decision to Build Coder as an Open Source Company
08:14 Building Code Server and Transitioning to Coder
10:23 The Role of Open Source in Coder's Growth
13:16 Justification for Coder in Different Customer Segments
15:20 Bringing in a CEO and Building a Strong Culture
20:43 Building the Go-to-Market Team and Strategy
22:28 Future Opportunities in the Cloud Development Market
26:40 Recent Fundraise and Milestones for Coder
29:20 Critical Milestones and Innovations for Coder
31:30 Rob's Biggest Learning as a First-Time CEO

Adam Bain is a co-founder and managing partner at 01 Advisors, a venture and advisory firm helping founders go from building a product to building a company.

In this episode, Adam highlights the similarities between his storytelling roots as a journalist and how he now backs founders as an investor.

Drawing on lessons learned as Twitter’s Chief Operating Officer pre- and post-IPO, Adam also shares how those key traits—intellectual curiosity, hustle, and resilience—shape the way he supports startup founders today.

Arie Zilberstein is the CEO and co-founder of Gem, a startup that’s building a Cloud Detection and Response platform for security operations teams. In this episode, Arie recalls how his experience in the Israel Defense Forces not only shaped his outlook but also introduced him to his future co-founders: CTO Ron Konigsberg and VP of Product Ofir Brukner. Together, they’re changing the way that organizations identify and stop attacks in the cloud.

Tune in for Arie’s thoughts on the technology (and psychology) of managing incident response, how Gem is leveraging generative artificial intelligence, why he believes in distributed teams, and more. This episode is co-hosted by Oren Yunger, Managing Partner at GGV Capital.

CEO Tony Holdstock-Brown and CTO Dan Farrelly are the co-founders of Inngest, a startup that’s building a serverless, event-driven workflow platform to help developers create better apps with simpler, more intuitive tools.

The duo reflects on the engineering career paths that ultimately led them to meeting in a co-working space in New York City, plus hear what shifts in technology are setting the stage for Inngest, what surprising customer feedback is shaping the platform, and what opportunities lie ahead.

This episode is co-hosted by GGV investor Dan Cahana.

Nicole Perlroth is an advisor to the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the bestselling author of the 2021 book This is How They Tell Me The World Ends, a groundbreaking in-depth exploration of the global cyber arms race. Prior to that, she spent a decade as the lead cybersecurity, digital espionage and sabotage reporter at the New York Times. She’s now building her new early-stage venture fund, Silver Buckshot Ventures, which she describes as “a mission fund backing next-generation cybersecurity startups that, together, take out every tool in an attacker’s arsenal.” Fighting cyber crime requires collaboration and multiple approaches. Nicole shares stories of how she fell into the cybersecurity beat, her advisory work with the DOJ, some of the challenges with cybersecurity work, and her thoughts about how Silver Buckshot Ventures can help.