Start. Scale. Exit. by Sintesys

Ivan Galvez
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Start. Scale. Exit. is a podcast for SaaS founders and tech leaders building real products and real companies. Hosted by Ivan Galvez, founder of Sintesys, the show explores how to scale dev teams, speed up software delivery, and build with an exit in mind — all while avoiding the pitfalls of bad hires and offshore misalignment. Powered by Sintesys, helping startups grow with top-tier talent from Latin America.

  1. 09/08/2025

    From Startups to Solar: Scott Wharton on Reinvention, Leadership & Ikigai

    Episode Summary: In this episode of Start. Scale. Exit. Ivan Galvez sits down with Scott Wharton, five-time entrepreneur and current CEO of Tandem PV, to explore a career built at the edge of technology, leadership, and purpose. From betting early on internet voice and video, to scaling Logitech’s video collaboration business from $62 million to more than $1 billion, Scott has consistently shown how to grow companies in both startup and enterprise settings. Now, he’s tackling one of the most urgent challenges of our time: climate change. At Tandem PV, Scott is leading the development of perovskite solar panels, a breakthrough that could make renewable energy more efficient and affordable. Along the way, he shares why adaptability, curiosity, and aligning work with mission are the real drivers of lasting success. 🔑 Key Takeaways: Why early-stage founders must be generalists, and why ignoring sales & marketing is a common mistakeThe shift from hustle to focus: how leadership must evolve as companies scaleWhy hiring for talent and adaptability often beats chasing experienceHow to recognize when it’s time to exit and reinventWhy corporate “safety” is an illusion in an AI-driven worldHow Scott applies ikigai — the Japanese framework for purpose — to guide his career choicesLifelong habits that fuel resilience: daily exercise, reading, and relentless curiosityWhy true job security comes from adaptability and constant reinvention 💡 Golden Nugget: “Success isn’t about titles or exits it’s about aligning what you love, what you’re good at, and what the world needs. That’s where the real energy and impact come from.” Mentioned in the Episode: Tandem PV – Scott’s company developing next-generation solar panel technologyLogitech – Where Scott scaled the video collaboration business to over $1 billionIkigai – Japanese concept of aligning purpose with passion, skill, and need Connect with Scott Wharton: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/scottwhartonWebsite: tandempv.com Listen Now & Subscribe: Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/start-scale-exit-by-sintesys/id1821116362Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/67vlE6A7nyoz7imV97qhqKAmazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ffad99ff-f3b7-4ac5-85e8-b85cde4a1c8d/start-scale-exit-by-sintesys Or find us wherever you get your podcasts. Powered by Sintesys.us Sintesys helps SaaS founders scale their platforms and customer experiences with high-performance development and support.

    50 min

  2. 08/21/2025

    From Battlefield to Boardroom: Anthony Garcia on PTSD, Purepost & the Startup Mission

    Episode Summary: In this episode of Start. Scale. Exit., Ivan Galvez sits down with Anthony Garcia, combat veteran and CEO of Purepost, to unpack the intense journey of transitioning from military service to startup life. With raw honesty, Anthony shares how trauma, perseverance, and a deep desire to serve others led him to build Purepost, a workforce platform helping veterans and civilians translate their skills into meaningful careers. Anthony opens up about battling PTSD, attending Cornell Business School, and the hard lessons learned from failed ventures. From protecting intellectual property to building fast with limited resources, he outlines the key insights that every SaaS founder, especially those from nontraditional paths, should know. 🔑 Key Takeaways: Why dealing with PTSD gave Anthony clarity and urgency in businessThe overlooked struggle veterans face in translating military experience into civilian careersWhat made him walk away from his first startup—and how it shaped PurepostThe “build fast or die slow” philosophy of early-stage SaaS startupsHow Purepost turns military records into job-ready resumes in secondsFundraising lessons: from angel investors to surviving investor ghostingWhy protecting your IP is mission-critical before pitching anythingWhat veterans bring to entrepreneurship that most founders missHow to balance urgency with mental health as a solo founderWhy Anthony believes your mission should be bigger than the product 💡 Golden Nugget: “Speed is a weapon. When you’re small, broke, and bootstrapped, perfect is the enemy. You have to move—because no one’s coming to save you.” Mentioned in the Episode: Purepost.co – Anthony’s company helping translate military skills to civilian careers Cornell University – Where Anthony studied business post-militaryResources for veterans coping with PTSD and transitioning into the workforce Connect with Anthony Garcia: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/anthonyrgarciajr Website: purepost.co Listen Now & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcast Or find us wherever you get your podcasts. Powered by Sintesys.us Sintesys helps SaaS founders scale their platforms and customer experiences with high-performance development and support.

    53 min

  3. 08/18/2025

    Outbound Engine: Bill Stathopoulos on Scaling B2B Startups, Cold Email Mastery & Building with Purpose

    Episode Summary: In this episode of Start. Scale. Exit., Ivan Galvez sits down with Bill Stathopoulos, CEO of SalesCaptain, Clay London, Club Lead, Top Lemlist Partner, and a go-to expert for building B2B outbound systems that work. Bill shares how he took a startup from just $200/month in revenue to over $1M using cold email, laser-focused ICPs, and scalable outbound frameworks. Together, they dig into the architecture of great outbound: what founders get wrong, how to build campaigns that convert, and why most early-stage companies don’t fail from a lack of effort, but from poor targeting and messaging. Bill also opens up about how childhood Lego-building turned into a lifelong obsession with scalable systems, team building, and long-term thinking. If you’re a founder or GTM leader looking to replace founder-led selling, scale your sales motion, or unlock outbound at a whole new level—this conversation is packed with tactical insight and grounded inspiration. 🔑 Key Takeaways: How Bill scaled a startup from $200 to $1M+ in revenue using outbound onlyWhy great outbound = targeting × messaging × deliverabilityThe mistake most founders make when they send cold emailsHow AI and automation tools like Clay are reshaping outboundThe truth about “done-for-you” outbound—and why frameworks matter more than toolsWhat it takes to scale sales without scaling burnoutThe critical role of early systems in reducing founder dependencyWhy outbound start before your product is even readyThe power of personal purpose in long-term startup buildingHow to build, test, and scale outbound like a product 💡 Golden Nugget: “Outbound isn’t about being louder—it’s about being more precise. You don’t need more leads. You need the right ones, with the right message, at the right time.” Mentioned in the Episode: Website: salescaptain.io/?ref=linkedin LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/billstath Clay – Bill's favorite data enrichment and automation tool Lemlist – Cold email platform of choice for high-performance outbound Listen Now & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcast Or find us wherever you get your podcasts. Powered by Sintesys.us Sintesys helps SaaS founders scale their platforms and customer experiences with high-performance development and support.

    35 min

  4. 08/14/2025

    Circular by Design: Justin Andrews on Building a Marketplace, Scaling Smart, and Making Hardware Profitable

    Episode Summary: In this episode of Start. Scale. Exit., Ivan Galvez sits down with Justin Andrews, Co-Founder and CEO of REUZEit Technologies, to unpack how he turned the complex world of surplus lab equipment into a powerful circular economy platform. What started as a niche resale operation has grown into a scalable SaaS and Hardware as-a-Service (HaaS) model powered by AI and human insight. Justin walks us through the real story of REUZEit from being their first customer to building out the supply side before even touching demand. If you’ve ever wondered how to digitize a service business, bootstrap through chaos, or build a profitable company by fixing your problems, this one’s for you. Together, they explore how circularity isn’t just good for the planet, but great for business when paired with tech, operational depth, and a relentless focus on solving real problems. 🔑 Key Takeaways: Why most marketplace startups fail and how REUZEit beat the oddsThe power of being your first clientWhy automation only works if you’ve lived the manual pain firstHow to grow responsibly without overhiring or chasing hypeThe role of AI in lifecycle management, and why humans still matterWhy SaaS came after the service and why that order saved themHow to productize operations into scalable techWhat sustainable profitability looks like in hardware-heavy industriesLessons from bootstrapping: when to reinvest vs. when to breatheWhy REUZEit is betting big on the circular economy and winning 💡 Golden Nugget: “Circularity isn’t just about sustainability, it’s about extracting full value from every asset. We’re not just moving equipment; we’re moving businesses toward better margins and better habits.” Mentioned in the Episode: reuzeit.com/videos – Explore REUZEit’s lifecycle platform LinkedIn: Justin Andrews – Follow and connect with Justin REUZEit’s Hardware-as-a-Service platform (HaaS) Listen Now & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcast Or find us wherever you get your podcasts. Powered by Sintesys.us Sintesys helps SaaS founders scale their platforms and customer experiences with high-performance development and support.

    44 min

  5. 08/11/2025

    From Burn to Blueprint: Heather Hall on Building Financial Clarity, Surviving Startup Chaos & Scaling Smart

    Episode Summary: In this episode of Start. Scale. Exit. Ivan Galvez sits down with Heather Hall, Founder & CEO of Sapphire CFO Solutions and a seasoned fintech executive, to unpack what it really takes to build a resilient business, from financial chaos to strategic clarity. Drawing from her unconventional background in anthropology, high-stakes fintech ventures, and her work as a strategic CFO, Heather shares hard-earned insights on what founders get wrong about finance and how to fix it before it’s too late. Together, they dive into the real reasons startups fail (hint: it's not just funding), why financial storytelling matters just as much as metrics, and how founders can move from reactive to intentional when it comes to growth. 🔑 Key Takeaways: Why skipping a basic budget is one of the most expensive mistakes early-stage founders makeHow Heather went from anthropology to Silicon Valley builder to fintech co-founderWhat every startup should track monthly even before generating revenueWhy “cash runway” matters more than revenue in your first yearHow to prepare for fundraising and the investor red flags to avoidThe role of a fractional CFO and when to bring one inHow to avoid premature hiring and financial overreachWhy real financial leadership means visibility, not just spreadsheetsHow to blend empathy and data to scale smarterWhy a mission aligned financial strategy is a founder’s superpower 💡 Golden Nugget: "Startups don’t die because of a lack of funding—they die from a lack of financial clarity. You don’t need a 40-page model. You need to know what you’re spending, what’s working, and what’s not." Mentioned in the Episode: sapphirecfosolutions.com – Heather’s fractional CFO firm for SaaS & tech startups “Cash Is Queen” – Heather’s upcoming workshop series on financial fluency and founder readiness Google Sheets – Still the most underrated startup survival tool Connect with Heather Hall: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/heatherhallcpa Website: https://www.sapphirecfosolutions.com/ Listen Now & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcast Or find us wherever you get your podcasts. Powered by Sintesys.us Sintesys helps SaaS founders scale their platforms and customer experiences with high-performance development and support.

    35 min

  6. 08/07/2025

    From Cloud Chaos to Creative Clarity: Michael Cioni on Reinventing Strada, Recruiting Right & Enduring the Pain of Innovation

    Episode Summary: In this episode of Start. Scale. Exit. Ivan Galvez sits down with Michael Cioni, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and CEO of Strada, to unpack the raw, often unglamorous truths of startup life—and why the best founders aren’t just builders, but storytellers, recruiters, and creative survivors. Michael shares the journey of Strada’s transformation from an AI-powered video enrichment engine to a reimagined, peer-to-peer media platform. When soaring cloud costs threatened the company’s survival, he and his team made the bold decision to pivot toward local-first architecture, anchoring their mission in practicality, performance, and user experience. More than just a founder’s tale, this episode dives deep into the emotional and tactical realities of innovation. Michael explains the difference between “going wide” vs. “going deep,” how creative tools like Keynote outperform whiteboards for long-term thinking, and why the most overlooked founder skill is the ability to make people want to take risks with you. 🔑 Key Takeaways: Why cloud-based workflows broke Strada’s model—and what came nextThe “go wide” vs. “go deep” framework for product developmentWhy hosting public launch events can accelerate internal innovationHow Strada’s team uses Keynote decks to keep ideas evolving over timeThe emotional truth of passion: it’s not ambition—it’s sufferingWhy founder loneliness is real, and what to do about itHow to lead through chaos while protecting both product and peopleThe real difference between building for engineers vs. building for editorsWhy recruitment—not product—is the defining skill of visionary founders 💡 Golden Nugget: “Founders don’t just need to be resilient—they need to be magnetic. If no one wants to suffer alongside you, your idea will die on the vine.” Mentioned in the Episode: Strada – The future of media collaboration Frame.io – Cloud-based video collaboration platform Light Iron – Post-production creative services NAB Show – Strada’s official public debut Keynote – Used by the Strada team as a living whiteboard Connect with Michael Cioni: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/michaelcioni Website: strada.tech Listen Now & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcast Or find us wherever you get your podcasts. Powered by Sintesys.us Sintesys helps SaaS founders scale their platforms and customer experiences with high-performance development and support.

    47 min

  7. 08/04/2025

    From Street Smarts to Smart Hiring: Madhu Basu on Grit, Failure & Reinventing Recruitment with AI

    Episode Summary: In this episode of Start. Scale. Exit., Ivan Galvez sits down with Madhu Basu, founder and CEO of Unnanu, to unpack a powerful journey from humble beginnings in India to building a cutting-edge AI recruiting platform in the U.S. Madhu shares how his early ventures—including a childhood vegetable packing business, taught him resourcefulness, resilience, and the importance of people over paper. Together, they explore how rejection, self-doubt, and industry disillusionment led Madhu to develop a radically new approach to hiring—one that uses AI to uncover not just what candidates have done, but why they’ve done it. Madhu delves into how Unnanu mimics human understanding to eliminate guesswork, bias, and inefficiency from the recruiting process. 🔑 Key Takeaways: Why failing college was a gift and how it taught Madhu to rethink successHow bootstrapping built more discipline than chasing early VC moneyThe symbolism of water, a pen, and money in Madhu’s entrepreneurial mindsetWhy resumes don’t tell the full story and how AI can read between the linesThe hidden bias in traditional hiring pipelines and how Unnanu addresses itHow to lead with purpose while building with precisionWhy hiring is broken—and how trust, data, and design can fix itHow to protect your “why” even when others don’t believe in your visionWhat Madhu learned about business from watching life in motion in IndiaWhy transparency and timing matter more than titles and funding 💡 Golden Nugget: “Failure gave me the clarity that success never could. When you strip everything away, what remains is your why. That’s what you build from.” Mentioned in the Episode: 🌐 Unnanu.com – AI-powered talent platform for modern hiring 🌐 PMCSservices.com – IT & staffing solutions for enterprise clients 🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/madhubasu Listen Now & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcast Or find us wherever you get your podcasts. Powered by Sintesys.us Sintesys helps SaaS founders scale their platforms and customer experiences with high-performance development and support.

    52 min

  8. 07/01/2025

    Business Is a Baby: Chumze Chukwudebeluze on Startup Survival, Scaling Smarter & Staying Sane

    Episode Summary: In this episode of Start. Scale. Exit., Ivan Galvez sits down with Chumze Chukwudebeluze, author of Business as a Baby and startup strategist, to unpack the real—and often painful—truths behind building a company from scratch. Drawing on lived experience, Chumze outlines the essential mindset shifts and team structures entrepreneurs need at every stage of growth—from chaotic beginnings to corporate maturity. Together, they explore why many early-stage founders fail not from bad ideas, but from misaligned hires, overconfidence, and poor timing. Chumze offers his powerful framework for understanding a business like a human lifecycle: baby, toddler, teen, and adult—each stage requiring different leadership styles, team dynamics, and survival strategies. 🔑 Key Takeaways: Why impatience is the biggest killer of baby-stage startupsThe danger of hiring Fortune 500 execs too early—and what kind of team you really needHow to find the right co-founders to complement your skill gapsWhat founders should look for in a technical partner before building a SaaS productWhy process, accountability, and emotional maturity are key in the teen stage of businessThe four stages of business growth—and the single trait that kills companies at each oneWhy every leader needs to ask (and be asked): “Are you OK?”How to lead through crisis without emotionally derailing your teamThe real job of a founder: protecting your vision and your peopleWhy faith, family, and a solid team are Chumze’s ultimate support system 💡 Golden Nugget: “Know the stage your business is in—and don’t act like an adult when your startup is still crawling. Impatience kills more dreams than failure ever will.” Mentioned in the Episode: BusinessasaBaby.com – Chumze’s book & resourcesthechumeffect.com/  – Book consultations and resourcesBusiness as a Baby – Available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobookGiveaway: First 5 LinkedIn commenters get a free copy of the bookSponsor: Sintesys.com – Helping SaaS founders build and scale tech platforms Connect with Chumze Chukwudebeluze: LinkedIn:linkedin.com/in/chumzeWebsite: thechumeffect.com/ Listen Now & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcast Or find us wherever you get your podcasts. Powered by Sintesys.us Sintesys helps SaaS founders scale their platforms and customer experiences with high-performance development and support.

    27 min
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About

Start. Scale. Exit. is a podcast for SaaS founders and tech leaders building real products and real companies. Hosted by Ivan Galvez, founder of Sintesys, the show explores how to scale dev teams, speed up software delivery, and build with an exit in mind — all while avoiding the pitfalls of bad hires and offshore misalignment. Powered by Sintesys, helping startups grow with top-tier talent from Latin America.

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