Superconnector with Matt Joseph Matt Joseph

In episode 16 of the Superconnector podcast, I interviewed Aakash Shah, the Cofounder and CEO of Wyndly. Shah is a former Product Manager and Engineer at SparkGift (YC W15) and Parsley.
We cover his journey from working at a venture-backed startup to launching one of his own with his cousin, a licensed surgeon. Shah's startup helps people treat allergies by retraining their immune systems.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome
00:58 The Birth of Wyndly
02:05 Navigating the Pandemic
02:43 Family Ties and Business
05:40 Y Combinator Experience
9:53 Scaling Nationwide
13:13 Fundraising Insights
18:25 Building Wyndly's Business
20:34 Challenges and Growth
28:15 Advice for Aspiring Founders


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit superconnector.substack.com

In episode 15 of the Superconnector podcast, Matt Joseph interviews Spencer Cassidy, the Cofounder and CEO of LifeLegacy. Cassidy is a Google alum who sold his first startup Balto (YC W19) to a publicly traded company.
We cover his journey from working at Google for 5 years, to the successful acquisition of his previous startup, Balto, to founding LifeLegacy, an estate planning platform inspired by personal tragedy and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome
00:38 The Genesis of LifeLegacy
04:11 How LifeLegacy gets customers
05:58 Developing strategic partnerships
08:10 Why boostrapping made sense
11:07 Bootstrapping vs Venture Capital
14:48 The personal tragedy behind LifeLegacy
18:20 Raising a family as a founder
20:13 Advice for aspiring founders
22:32 Working at Google vs being a founder
23:20 Lessons from angel investing
27:51 Most rewarding part of being a founder
32:07 Sports, Startups, and the Skills That Translate


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit superconnector.substack.com

In episode 14 of the Superconnector podcast, Matt Joseph covers 10 of the most interesting startups that raised funding from VCs in the last week, focusing on startups in robotics, gaming, cleantech, alternative foods, and education.
Chapters
00:30 The Bot Company: $150m for household robots
02:47 Lucid Bots: $9m for cleaning drones
04:43 mimic: $2.5m for humanoid hands
06:26 Yellow: $5m for 3d modeling for game devs
07:28 Hysata: $111m for green hydrogen electrolyzers
9:31 Li Industries: $36m for EV battery recycling
10:32 Rainmaker: $6.3m for artificial rain clouds
12:38 Electricity Maps: $5.4m for carbon-tracking maps
15:38 Voyage Foods: $52m for allergy-safe alternative foods
17:46 Futura: $15.2m for AI private tutors


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit superconnector.substack.com

In episode 13 of the Superconnector podcast, I cover 8 interesting venture capital deals announced in the last week, focusing on startups in aerospace, food-tech, healthcare, neuroscience, ecommerce, ecommerce, and biotech.
AEROSPACE: Privateer, a space data startup co-founded by Steve Wozniak, and Xona, an alternative GPS system
FOODTECH: Meati Foods, an meat alternative startup using mushrooms
HEALTHCARE: Karius, a blood testing startup focused on immunocompromised patients
NEUROSCIENCE: Neurable, a brain-computer interface that doesn’t require surgery
ECOMMERCE: Nivoda, a B2B marketplace for diamonds
ENERGY: Zanskar, a geothermal energy startup
BIOTECH: Insempra, a startup developing eco-friendly lipids
Chapters
00:00 Welcome
00:20 Privateer: $56.5m for space data
03:24 Meati Foods: $100m for alternative meat using mushrooms
06:17 Karius: $100m for blood testing cancer patients
9:20 Neurable: $13m for a brain-computer interface
12:21 Nivoda: $30m for a B2B diamond marketplace
14:54 Zanskar: $30m for geothermal energy
17:04 Insempra: $20m for eco-friendly lipids
19:39 Xona: $19m for a new GPS system


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit superconnector.substack.com

In this episode of the Superconnector podcast, Matt Joseph presents an in-depth analysis of 7 significant funding rounds in the AI startup sector in the last month, highlighting the industry's shift from experimental to practical applications.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome
00:25 Sequoia Capital: Generative AI in 2 Acts
01:49 xAI: $6b for an OpenAI Competitor
04:26 Perplexity: $250m+ to Challenge Google Search
06:47 Cognition Labs: $175m for an AI Software Engineer
10:48 CoreWeave: $1.1b for AI Cloud Services
14:50 SiMa.ai: $70m for an Edge AI Chip
18:00 Parloa: $66m for German Conversational AI
20:24 OpenAI Startup Fund: $15m for AI Investments


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit superconnector.substack.com

In this episode of the Superconnector podcast, Matt Joseph covers 8 large venture capital deals announced in the last week, focusing on startups in AI, cybersecurity, electric vehicles, real estate, media, and fintech.
AI: Augment, a coding assistant startup backed by Eric Schmidt and rival to GitHub Copilot
CYBERSECURITY: Rubrik, a newly publicly-traded platform focused on disaster recovery and ThreatLocker, a zero trust security platform for MSPs
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Chemix, an AI-powered EV battery maker
REAL ESTATE: Inhabitr, a commercial real estate furnishing platform, and Backflip, a service to help real estate investors flip houses
MEDIA: Beehiiv, a newsletter publishing platform
FINTECH: QI Tech, a banking as a service platform for midsized companies in Brazil
Chapters
00:00 Welcome
00:22 Augment: $252m for AI Coding
04:17 Beehiiv: $33m for Newsletter Publishing
06:45 Inhabitr: $27m for CRE Furnishing
09:10 Backflip: $15m for House Flipping
11:05 Chemix: $20m for EV Batteries
14:21 ThreatLocker: $115m for MSP Cybersecurity
16:11 Rubrik: $752m for Data Recovery
18:27 QI Tech: $50m for Banking in Brazil


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit superconnector.substack.com