Taste & Tactics Transistor (https://transistor.fm) https://feeds.transistor.fm/taste-tactics Taste & Tactics breaks down the real playbooks behind iconic products, told by the people who built them. Each episode goes deep on one bold launch: what sparked the idea, how it reached the right audience, and the moves that made it stick. Hosted by Shriya Nevatia, the show is made for founders, marketers, and brand builders who are sick of vague advice and want practical frameworks. Shriya Nevatia e4ba9cd0-ad86-5e21-8064-cf18aece7779 no [TRAILER] Taste & Tactics - Coming Soon! en Mon, 02 Mar 2026 08:35:48 -0100 Mon, 02 Mar 2026 08:36:17 -0100 https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/taste--tactics https://img.transistorcdn.com/90biwBq_r1YIdQ46lB4msdHDgLlkHwvVYx6rPlfDSvI/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS84YTFi/ZmJhYWRjZmI0NTRi/Y2ZmZDI3YWQzM2Q2/OTM5YS5qcGc.jpg Taste & Tactics https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/taste--tactics episodic Shriya Nevatia Taste & Tactics breaks down the real playbooks behind iconic products, told by the people who built them. Each episode goes deep on one bold launch: what sparked the idea, how it reached the right audience, and the moves that made it stick. Hosted by Shriya Nevatia, the show is made for founders, marketers, and brand builders who are sick of vague advice and want practical frameworks. Taste & Tactics breaks down the real playbooks behind iconic products, told by the people who built them. Shriya Nevatia No No Candice Ammori from Climate Vine: Why Scaling Fast Can Sink Your Business & What Works Instead 14 14 Candice Ammori from Climate Vine: Why Scaling Fast Can Sink Your Business & What Works Instead full f7d7a394-be53-41d4-981f-5cb775c51450 https://share.transistor.fm/s/7923d425 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Candice talks about designing On Deck Climate Tech, building Climate Vine after, running her own referral engine, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Candice Ammori is the founder & CEO of Climate Vine. She made a career transition from a stats grad program and ethics of AI to climate, starting On Deck Climate Tech. She has brought together over 1K people across the climate ecosystem in multiple cohorts; members have raised over $500M+ in venture funding, dozens of companies have emerged, and hundreds of emerging contributors transitioned to the climate innovation space. She maintains deep vertical knowledge as an active investor and advisor to emerging climate tech companies.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:27: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:44: Intro to Candice Ammori, founder and CEO of Climate Vine, where climate professionals connect and accelerate their impact
  • 03:30: How to build your own network in an industry from scratch
  • 05:34: How the On Deck program structure helped Climate Vine
  • 10:21: Moving on from the established ODCT program to founding Climate Vine
  • 15:16: What parts of On Deck did Candice want to change?
  • 17:37: How to get customers for a brand new business without social media self-promotion
  • 25:49: How to create a referral engine to get customers
  • 31:16: Which marketing tactics flopped for Candice
  • 34:25: How to carry out personalization at scale
  • 36:06: How to recruit the best people for your niche program
  • 39:30: What Candice would change if she had to do it all over again
  • 41:46: How personal taste can (and sometimes should!) take over dataΒ 
  • 43:22: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 46:24: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Resources:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Candice:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Candice talks about designing On Deck Climate Tech, building Climate Vine after, running her own referral engine, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Candice Ammori is the founder & CEO of Climate Vine. She made a career transition from a stats grad program and ethics of AI to climate, starting On Deck Climate Tech. She has brought together over 1K people across the climate ecosystem in multiple cohorts; members have raised over $500M+ in venture funding, dozens of companies have emerged, and hundreds of emerging contributors transitioned to the climate innovation space. She maintains deep vertical knowledge as an active investor and advisor to emerging climate tech companies.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:27: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:44: Intro to Candice Ammori, founder and CEO of Climate Vine, where climate professionals connect and accelerate their impact
  • 03:30: How to build your own network in an industry from scratch
  • 05:34: How the On Deck program structure helped Climate Vine
  • 10:21: Moving on from the established ODCT program to founding Climate Vine
  • 15:16: What parts of On Deck did Candice want to change?
  • 17:37: How to get customers for a brand new business without social media self-promotion
  • 25:49: How to create a referral engine to get customers
  • 31:16: Which marketing tactics flopped for Candice
  • 34:25: How to carry out personalization at scale
  • 36:06: How to recruit the best people for your niche program
  • 39:30: What Candice would change if she had to do it all over again
  • 41:46: How personal taste can (and sometimes should!) take over dataΒ 
  • 43:22: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 46:24: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Resources:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Candice:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> Wed, 11 Feb 2026 04:00:00 -0100 Shriya Nevatia Shriya Nevatia 2797 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Candice talks about designing On Deck Climate Tech, building Climate Vine after, running her own referral engine, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Candice Ammori is the founder & CEO of Climate Vine. She made a career transition from a stats grad program and ethics of AI to climate, starting On Deck Climate Tech. She has brought together over 1K people across the climate ecosystem in multiple cohorts; members have raised over $500M+ in venture funding, dozens of companies have emerged, and hundreds of emerging contributors transitioned to the climate innovation space. She maintains deep vertical knowledge as an active investor and advisor to emerging climate tech companies.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:27: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:44: Intro to Candice Ammori, founder and CEO of Climate Vine, where climate professionals connect and accelerate their impact
  • 03:30: How to build your own network in an industry from scratch
  • 05:34: How the On Deck program structure helped Climate Vine
  • 10:21: Moving on from the established ODCT program to founding Climate Vine
  • 15:16: What parts of On Deck did Candice want to change?
  • 17:37: How to get customers for a brand new business without social media self-promotion
  • 25:49: How to create a referral engine to get customers
  • 31:16: Which marketing tactics flopped for Candice
  • 34:25: How to carry out personalization at scale
  • 36:06: How to recruit the best people for your niche program
  • 39:30: What Candice would change if she had to do it all over again
  • 41:46: How personal taste can (and sometimes should!) take over dataΒ 
  • 43:22: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 46:24: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Resources:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Candice:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> No Snigdha Sur from The Juggernaut: Using Founder-Led Socials to Reach 650K+ Followers 13 13 Snigdha Sur from The Juggernaut: Using Founder-Led Socials to Reach 650K+ Followers full 399326b8-a295-4b1b-9e22-a5b44c67a1a5 https://share.transistor.fm/s/ec39f808 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Snigdha talks about creating a brand new media company, being an outsider in tech, and how to utilize your unique founder point of view to create a brand everyone loves!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Snigdha Sur is the founder and CEO at The Juggernaut, a Y Combinator and Precursor Ventures-backed media company telling smart South Asian stories and news. She has worked at McKinsey New York, in Bollywood, in media-focused venture capital/PE, in product/marketing at an Indian video streaming company, and in launch strategy for Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine. She's also also advised BuzzFeed, Quartz, and Scroll.in and graduated from Harvard Business School as a Baker Scholar with an MBA and magna cum laude from Yale College in Economics and South Asian Studies.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:32: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:49: Intro to Snigdha Sur, founder and CEO of The Juggernaut
  • 02:10: Finding the gap when building a media company
  • 08:00: Being a founder with an atypical background
  • 11:40: Entering YC when you don't fit the typical entrepreneur mold
  • 14:51: How to choose your own, unique social media brand
  • 18:57: How Snigdha marketed The Juggernaut on Instagram
  • 22:20: Reel and carousel formatting secrets on Instagram
  • 26:49: 2026 Instagram ins and outs
  • 32:10: Expanding beyond just one social media channel
  • 36:45: How personal taste can (and sometimes should!) take over dataΒ 
  • 39:47: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 42:24: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Snigdha:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Snigdha talks about creating a brand new media company, being an outsider in tech, and how to utilize your unique founder point of view to create a brand everyone loves!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Snigdha Sur is the founder and CEO at The Juggernaut, a Y Combinator and Precursor Ventures-backed media company telling smart South Asian stories and news. She has worked at McKinsey New York, in Bollywood, in media-focused venture capital/PE, in product/marketing at an Indian video streaming company, and in launch strategy for Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine. She's also also advised BuzzFeed, Quartz, and Scroll.in and graduated from Harvard Business School as a Baker Scholar with an MBA and magna cum laude from Yale College in Economics and South Asian Studies.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:32: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:49: Intro to Snigdha Sur, founder and CEO of The Juggernaut
  • 02:10: Finding the gap when building a media company
  • 08:00: Being a founder with an atypical background
  • 11:40: Entering YC when you don't fit the typical entrepreneur mold
  • 14:51: How to choose your own, unique social media brand
  • 18:57: How Snigdha marketed The Juggernaut on Instagram
  • 22:20: Reel and carousel formatting secrets on Instagram
  • 26:49: 2026 Instagram ins and outs
  • 32:10: Expanding beyond just one social media channel
  • 36:45: How personal taste can (and sometimes should!) take over dataΒ 
  • 39:47: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 42:24: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Snigdha:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> Wed, 28 Jan 2026 04:00:00 -0100 Shriya Nevatia Shriya Nevatia 2557 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Snigdha talks about creating a brand new media company, being an outsider in tech, and how to utilize your unique founder point of view to create a brand everyone loves!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Snigdha Sur is the founder and CEO at The Juggernaut, a Y Combinator and Precursor Ventures-backed media company telling smart South Asian stories and news. She has worked at McKinsey New York, in Bollywood, in media-focused venture capital/PE, in product/marketing at an Indian video streaming company, and in launch strategy for Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine. She's also also advised BuzzFeed, Quartz, and Scroll.in and graduated from Harvard Business School as a Baker Scholar with an MBA and magna cum laude from Yale College in Economics and South Asian Studies.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:32: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:49: Intro to Snigdha Sur, founder and CEO of The Juggernaut
  • 02:10: Finding the gap when building a media company
  • 08:00: Being a founder with an atypical background
  • 11:40: Entering YC when you don't fit the typical entrepreneur mold
  • 14:51: How to choose your own, unique social media brand
  • 18:57: How Snigdha marketed The Juggernaut on Instagram
  • 22:20: Reel and carousel formatting secrets on Instagram
  • 26:49: 2026 Instagram ins and outs
  • 32:10: Expanding beyond just one social media channel
  • 36:45: How personal taste can (and sometimes should!) take over dataΒ 
  • 39:47: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 42:24: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Snigdha:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> No Ashwin Cheriyan from Thistle: From Creating a Category to Scaling It to 100K+ Weekly Orders 12 12 Ashwin Cheriyan from Thistle: From Creating a Category to Scaling It to 100K+ Weekly Orders full 8933f57a-4d14-41f7-acbf-13f202b4acce https://share.transistor.fm/s/0fe50f18 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Ashwin talks about creating a category of healthy eating before it existed, telling customers about the tough decision to add meat to their plant-based service, and more!\


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Ashwin (Ash) is CEO & Co-Founder of Thistle, the tech-enabled organic meal delivery company focused on healthy, plant-based food to address health and climate concerns. Coming from a family of medical doctors, Ash brings a unique perspective to the business, utilizing his leadership to help the modern consumer invest in their own health and that of the planet. Ash and his wife, Shiri, were driven to found Thistle because two of the greatest challenges of our generation – our growing health crisis and the current climate emergency – pointed to a common solution: eating more plants and consuming less meat. Thistle aims to make eating healthy, plant-forward, and planet-friendly meals easy, with irresistible meals delivered directly to your door. He received his B.A. in Economics from Brown University and his JD from the University of Texas School of Law.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:18: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:32: Intro to Ashwin Cheriyan, co-founder and CEO of Thistle
  • 02:43: How to choose the problem you want to solve
  • 07:41: Choosing your audience and users
  • 10:59: Being the first mover in a market, before the audience is ready
  • 14:35: Why all-in-one products are important
  • 16:35: How to roll out product changes and gauge customer needs
  • 18:57: Catering to customers' stated (and unstated!) desires
  • 25:00: Carving out a niche when the market doesn't even exist
  • 29:10: How authenticity in marketing made Thistle's growth trajectory shoot up
  • 33:23: How to make product decisions as a founder
  • 37:47: How personal taste can (and sometimes should!) take over dataΒ 
  • 39:35: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 41:50: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Ashwin:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Ashwin talks about creating a category of healthy eating before it existed, telling customers about the tough decision to add meat to their plant-based service, and more!\


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Ashwin (Ash) is CEO & Co-Founder of Thistle, the tech-enabled organic meal delivery company focused on healthy, plant-based food to address health and climate concerns. Coming from a family of medical doctors, Ash brings a unique perspective to the business, utilizing his leadership to help the modern consumer invest in their own health and that of the planet. Ash and his wife, Shiri, were driven to found Thistle because two of the greatest challenges of our generation – our growing health crisis and the current climate emergency – pointed to a common solution: eating more plants and consuming less meat. Thistle aims to make eating healthy, plant-forward, and planet-friendly meals easy, with irresistible meals delivered directly to your door. He received his B.A. in Economics from Brown University and his JD from the University of Texas School of Law.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:18: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:32: Intro to Ashwin Cheriyan, co-founder and CEO of Thistle
  • 02:43: How to choose the problem you want to solve
  • 07:41: Choosing your audience and users
  • 10:59: Being the first mover in a market, before the audience is ready
  • 14:35: Why all-in-one products are important
  • 16:35: How to roll out product changes and gauge customer needs
  • 18:57: Catering to customers' stated (and unstated!) desires
  • 25:00: Carving out a niche when the market doesn't even exist
  • 29:10: How authenticity in marketing made Thistle's growth trajectory shoot up
  • 33:23: How to make product decisions as a founder
  • 37:47: How personal taste can (and sometimes should!) take over dataΒ 
  • 39:35: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 41:50: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Ashwin:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> Wed, 14 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0100 Shriya Nevatia Shriya Nevatia 2522 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Ashwin talks about creating a category of healthy eating before it existed, telling customers about the tough decision to add meat to their plant-based service, and more!\


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Ashwin (Ash) is CEO & Co-Founder of Thistle, the tech-enabled organic meal delivery company focused on healthy, plant-based food to address health and climate concerns. Coming from a family of medical doctors, Ash brings a unique perspective to the business, utilizing his leadership to help the modern consumer invest in their own health and that of the planet. Ash and his wife, Shiri, were driven to found Thistle because two of the greatest challenges of our generation – our growing health crisis and the current climate emergency – pointed to a common solution: eating more plants and consuming less meat. Thistle aims to make eating healthy, plant-forward, and planet-friendly meals easy, with irresistible meals delivered directly to your door. He received his B.A. in Economics from Brown University and his JD from the University of Texas School of Law.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:18: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:32: Intro to Ashwin Cheriyan, co-founder and CEO of Thistle
  • 02:43: How to choose the problem you want to solve
  • 07:41: Choosing your audience and users
  • 10:59: Being the first mover in a market, before the audience is ready
  • 14:35: Why all-in-one products are important
  • 16:35: How to roll out product changes and gauge customer needs
  • 18:57: Catering to customers' stated (and unstated!) desires
  • 25:00: Carving out a niche when the market doesn't even exist
  • 29:10: How authenticity in marketing made Thistle's growth trajectory shoot up
  • 33:23: How to make product decisions as a founder
  • 37:47: How personal taste can (and sometimes should!) take over dataΒ 
  • 39:35: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 41:50: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Ashwin:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> No Michele Van Ruiten from CAPSULE: How an Intern Program 5x’d Users at CAPSULE 11 11 Michele Van Ruiten from CAPSULE: How an Intern Program 5x’d Users at CAPSULE full 73fecb9a-bfc9-4249-9fa8-9be8f595d6ab https://share.transistor.fm/s/379f8588 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Michele talks about scaling her startup with an intern program, teaching absolute beginners about AI, finding your target market, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Michele Van Ruiten has built AI and personalization systems from 0β†’1 and scaled them through YC, IPOs, and acquisitions over the last decade. She's led product across some of the most innovative consumer platforms β€” Stitch Fix (IPO), The Yes (acquired by Pinterest), and Capsule (YC S22, acquired) β€” always focusing on turning complex AI into simple, engaging user experiences.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:44: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 01:00: Intro to Michele van Ruiten, founder and CEO of CAPSULE, which was Shazam for shopping
  • 02:58: How CAPSULE was acquired
  • 04:54: How Michele built an intern program that actually improved the company's bottom line
  • 06:43: Hiring the best interns in a crowded market
  • 09:39: How to create an excellent internship program
  • 15:33: Teaching beginners about AI
  • 18:24: How to be a manager without being overwhelmed
  • 20:00: Making sure your internship program is moving with the times
  • 22:53: Building community for CAPSULE via the intern network
  • 25:11: How interns change the game
  • 29:30: How an internship program actually contributed to company growth
  • 31:30: What Michele would change about the program
  • 33:30: How personal taste can (and sometimes should!) take over dataΒ 
  • 38:35: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 40:08: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Resources:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Michele:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

Taste & Tactics Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72Xgo0svsNOKkCdWQnaggM

]]> πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Michele talks about scaling her startup with an intern program, teaching absolute beginners about AI, finding your target market, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Michele Van Ruiten has built AI and personalization systems from 0β†’1 and scaled them through YC, IPOs, and acquisitions over the last decade. She's led product across some of the most innovative consumer platforms β€” Stitch Fix (IPO), The Yes (acquired by Pinterest), and Capsule (YC S22, acquired) β€” always focusing on turning complex AI into simple, engaging user experiences.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:44: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 01:00: Intro to Michele van Ruiten, founder and CEO of CAPSULE, which was Shazam for shopping
  • 02:58: How CAPSULE was acquired
  • 04:54: How Michele built an intern program that actually improved the company's bottom line
  • 06:43: Hiring the best interns in a crowded market
  • 09:39: How to create an excellent internship program
  • 15:33: Teaching beginners about AI
  • 18:24: How to be a manager without being overwhelmed
  • 20:00: Making sure your internship program is moving with the times
  • 22:53: Building community for CAPSULE via the intern network
  • 25:11: How interns change the game
  • 29:30: How an internship program actually contributed to company growth
  • 31:30: What Michele would change about the program
  • 33:30: How personal taste can (and sometimes should!) take over dataΒ 
  • 38:35: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 40:08: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Resources:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Michele:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

Taste & Tactics Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72Xgo0svsNOKkCdWQnaggM

]]> Wed, 17 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0100 Shriya Nevatia Shriya Nevatia 2421 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Michele talks about scaling her startup with an intern program, teaching absolute beginners about AI, finding your target market, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Michele Van Ruiten has built AI and personalization systems from 0β†’1 and scaled them through YC, IPOs, and acquisitions over the last decade. She's led product across some of the most innovative consumer platforms β€” Stitch Fix (IPO), The Yes (acquired by Pinterest), and Capsule (YC S22, acquired) β€” always focusing on turning complex AI into simple, engaging user experiences.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:44: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 01:00: Intro to Michele van Ruiten, founder and CEO of CAPSULE, which was Shazam for shopping
  • 02:58: How CAPSULE was acquired
  • 04:54: How Michele built an intern program that actually improved the company's bottom line
  • 06:43: Hiring the best interns in a crowded market
  • 09:39: How to create an excellent internship program
  • 15:33: Teaching beginners about AI
  • 18:24: How to be a manager without being overwhelmed
  • 20:00: Making sure your internship program is moving with the times
  • 22:53: Building community for CAPSULE via the intern network
  • 25:11: How interns change the game
  • 29:30: How an internship program actually contributed to company growth
  • 31:30: What Michele would change about the program
  • 33:30: How personal taste can (and sometimes should!) take over dataΒ 
  • 38:35: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 40:08: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Resources:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Michele:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

Taste & Tactics Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72Xgo0svsNOKkCdWQnaggM

]]> No Aquibur Rahman from Mailmodo (YC S21): Creating a Viral Launch Video With >100K Views for only $50 10 10 Aquibur Rahman from Mailmodo (YC S21): Creating a Viral Launch Video With >100K Views for only $50 full a773b1f8-e8fd-4296-af94-f72fd48113e8 https://share.transistor.fm/s/9038a3be πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Aquibur talks about building agents to make marketers more efficient, how to approach employee-led company marketing, using AI to create a compelling launch video, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Aquibur Rahman is the CEO of Mailmodo (YC S21 & Sequoia Surge), a SaaS platform revolutionizing email marketing with interactive solutions. With a strong background in marketing at ClearTax India and degrees from IIT & IIM, he has positioned Mailmodo as a leader in driving ROI for marketers worldwide.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:49: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 01:05: Intro to Aquibur Rahman, founder and CEO of Mailmodo (YC S21), a SaaS platform revolutionizing email marketing
  • 04:01: Using traction to validate your idea
  • 05:43: Using AI to reduce marketers' load
  • 08:11: How Mailmodo started an employee-led marketing campaign
  • 11:05: How to set up your own employee-led marketing program
  • 12:20: Using AI to create an entire launch campaign
  • 16:52: Prompting advice for the best AI videos
  • 17:57: Advice when building an AI-only launch video
  • 18:46: Product Hunt launch mistakes at Mailmodo
  • 20:26: Building an influencer marketing engine
  • 23:21: Scheduling your influencer campaign for maximum impact
  • 24:48: Choosing the best influencers for your campaign
  • 26:10: What Aquibur would do again when repeating a launch campaign & what he'd avoid
  • 27:30: The best ad platform for SaaS companies
  • 28:39: What's next at Mailmodo
  • 29:54: Will AI ever develop its own unique taste?
  • 32:05: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 33:58: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Aquibur:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Aquibur talks about building agents to make marketers more efficient, how to approach employee-led company marketing, using AI to create a compelling launch video, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Aquibur Rahman is the CEO of Mailmodo (YC S21 & Sequoia Surge), a SaaS platform revolutionizing email marketing with interactive solutions. With a strong background in marketing at ClearTax India and degrees from IIT & IIM, he has positioned Mailmodo as a leader in driving ROI for marketers worldwide.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:49: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 01:05: Intro to Aquibur Rahman, founder and CEO of Mailmodo (YC S21), a SaaS platform revolutionizing email marketing
  • 04:01: Using traction to validate your idea
  • 05:43: Using AI to reduce marketers' load
  • 08:11: How Mailmodo started an employee-led marketing campaign
  • 11:05: How to set up your own employee-led marketing program
  • 12:20: Using AI to create an entire launch campaign
  • 16:52: Prompting advice for the best AI videos
  • 17:57: Advice when building an AI-only launch video
  • 18:46: Product Hunt launch mistakes at Mailmodo
  • 20:26: Building an influencer marketing engine
  • 23:21: Scheduling your influencer campaign for maximum impact
  • 24:48: Choosing the best influencers for your campaign
  • 26:10: What Aquibur would do again when repeating a launch campaign & what he'd avoid
  • 27:30: The best ad platform for SaaS companies
  • 28:39: What's next at Mailmodo
  • 29:54: Will AI ever develop its own unique taste?
  • 32:05: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 33:58: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Aquibur:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> Wed, 10 Dec 2025 05:15:00 -0100 Shriya Nevatia Shriya Nevatia 2051 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Aquibur talks about building agents to make marketers more efficient, how to approach employee-led company marketing, using AI to create a compelling launch video, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Aquibur Rahman is the CEO of Mailmodo (YC S21 & Sequoia Surge), a SaaS platform revolutionizing email marketing with interactive solutions. With a strong background in marketing at ClearTax India and degrees from IIT & IIM, he has positioned Mailmodo as a leader in driving ROI for marketers worldwide.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:49: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 01:05: Intro to Aquibur Rahman, founder and CEO of Mailmodo (YC S21), a SaaS platform revolutionizing email marketing
  • 04:01: Using traction to validate your idea
  • 05:43: Using AI to reduce marketers' load
  • 08:11: How Mailmodo started an employee-led marketing campaign
  • 11:05: How to set up your own employee-led marketing program
  • 12:20: Using AI to create an entire launch campaign
  • 16:52: Prompting advice for the best AI videos
  • 17:57: Advice when building an AI-only launch video
  • 18:46: Product Hunt launch mistakes at Mailmodo
  • 20:26: Building an influencer marketing engine
  • 23:21: Scheduling your influencer campaign for maximum impact
  • 24:48: Choosing the best influencers for your campaign
  • 26:10: What Aquibur would do again when repeating a launch campaign & what he'd avoid
  • 27:30: The best ad platform for SaaS companies
  • 28:39: What's next at Mailmodo
  • 29:54: Will AI ever develop its own unique taste?
  • 32:05: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 33:58: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Aquibur:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> No Gajus Kuizinas from Indy AI by Contra: Finding Hyper-Curated Leads for 1M+ Freelancers 9 9 Gajus Kuizinas from Indy AI by Contra: Finding Hyper-Curated Leads for 1M+ Freelancers full 0db518d2-ade5-4a8c-9843-95ab32f409de https://share.transistor.fm/s/c7ef9e9a πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Gajus talks about creating AI products that are truly useful, how to approach Product Hunt launches to hit #1, learnings from a viral TikTok video, and more.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Gajus is the co-founder and CTO of Contra. His open-source projects receive over 20 million downloads each week and are relied on by Fortune 500 companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM. He has authored more than 200 libraries, earning 30,000+ GitHub stars.


Previously, Gajus founded Anuary, a movie advertising agency, and co-founded Applaudience, a data startup adopted by major movie studios. He also rebuilt MailOnline's advertising platform, serving 225 million monthly visitors and designed core infrastructure for the UK's largest public Wi-Fi network with Ericsson/Arqiva.Β 


Recognized on Forbes 30 Under 30, Gajus brings proven technical leadership in building and scaling systems used by millions.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:17: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:34: Intro to Gajus Kuizinas, co-founder and CTO at Contra and Indy AI, a professional network for independent workers
  • 03:13: Why it's important to find community as a freelancer
  • 04:03: How Indy AI by Contra is using AI to solve the hardest freelancer problems
  • 08:15: How Indy AI helps both sides of the market: freelancers and employers
  • 09:25: Positioning a new tool without losing sight of your existing brand
  • 11:25: Building viral mechanisms into your product
  • 12:52: Fighting AI slop when building a product that relies on authenticity
  • 13:40: Strategies for launching on Product Hunt
  • 17:33: Crafting the perfect automations for emails and DMs
  • 22:40: What to do on the day of your Product Hunt launch
  • 24:07: Why timing matters when sending emails and DMs
  • 26:00: How to run a TikTok campaign for a B2B tool
  • 32:48: Company-led videos vs employee-led TikToks vs user-generated content
  • 35:48: How to measure success vs vanity metrics
  • 38:45: The go-to-market strategies Gajus is continuing now
  • 40:56: What Indy AI would do again when going to market...and what they'd steer clear of
  • 43:53: When taste outweighs data
  • 47:07: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 49:39: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Gajus:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Gajus talks about creating AI products that are truly useful, how to approach Product Hunt launches to hit #1, learnings from a viral TikTok video, and more.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Gajus is the co-founder and CTO of Contra. His open-source projects receive over 20 million downloads each week and are relied on by Fortune 500 companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM. He has authored more than 200 libraries, earning 30,000+ GitHub stars.


Previously, Gajus founded Anuary, a movie advertising agency, and co-founded Applaudience, a data startup adopted by major movie studios. He also rebuilt MailOnline's advertising platform, serving 225 million monthly visitors and designed core infrastructure for the UK's largest public Wi-Fi network with Ericsson/Arqiva.Β 


Recognized on Forbes 30 Under 30, Gajus brings proven technical leadership in building and scaling systems used by millions.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:17: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:34: Intro to Gajus Kuizinas, co-founder and CTO at Contra and Indy AI, a professional network for independent workers
  • 03:13: Why it's important to find community as a freelancer
  • 04:03: How Indy AI by Contra is using AI to solve the hardest freelancer problems
  • 08:15: How Indy AI helps both sides of the market: freelancers and employers
  • 09:25: Positioning a new tool without losing sight of your existing brand
  • 11:25: Building viral mechanisms into your product
  • 12:52: Fighting AI slop when building a product that relies on authenticity
  • 13:40: Strategies for launching on Product Hunt
  • 17:33: Crafting the perfect automations for emails and DMs
  • 22:40: What to do on the day of your Product Hunt launch
  • 24:07: Why timing matters when sending emails and DMs
  • 26:00: How to run a TikTok campaign for a B2B tool
  • 32:48: Company-led videos vs employee-led TikToks vs user-generated content
  • 35:48: How to measure success vs vanity metrics
  • 38:45: The go-to-market strategies Gajus is continuing now
  • 40:56: What Indy AI would do again when going to market...and what they'd steer clear of
  • 43:53: When taste outweighs data
  • 47:07: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 49:39: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Gajus:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> Wed, 03 Dec 2025 05:15:00 -0100 Shriya Nevatia Shriya Nevatia 2992 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Gajus talks about creating AI products that are truly useful, how to approach Product Hunt launches to hit #1, learnings from a viral TikTok video, and more.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Gajus is the co-founder and CTO of Contra. His open-source projects receive over 20 million downloads each week and are relied on by Fortune 500 companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM. He has authored more than 200 libraries, earning 30,000+ GitHub stars.


Previously, Gajus founded Anuary, a movie advertising agency, and co-founded Applaudience, a data startup adopted by major movie studios. He also rebuilt MailOnline's advertising platform, serving 225 million monthly visitors and designed core infrastructure for the UK's largest public Wi-Fi network with Ericsson/Arqiva.Β 


Recognized on Forbes 30 Under 30, Gajus brings proven technical leadership in building and scaling systems used by millions.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:17: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:34: Intro to Gajus Kuizinas, co-founder and CTO at Contra and Indy AI, a professional network for independent workers
  • 03:13: Why it's important to find community as a freelancer
  • 04:03: How Indy AI by Contra is using AI to solve the hardest freelancer problems
  • 08:15: How Indy AI helps both sides of the market: freelancers and employers
  • 09:25: Positioning a new tool without losing sight of your existing brand
  • 11:25: Building viral mechanisms into your product
  • 12:52: Fighting AI slop when building a product that relies on authenticity
  • 13:40: Strategies for launching on Product Hunt
  • 17:33: Crafting the perfect automations for emails and DMs
  • 22:40: What to do on the day of your Product Hunt launch
  • 24:07: Why timing matters when sending emails and DMs
  • 26:00: How to run a TikTok campaign for a B2B tool
  • 32:48: Company-led videos vs employee-led TikToks vs user-generated content
  • 35:48: How to measure success vs vanity metrics
  • 38:45: The go-to-market strategies Gajus is continuing now
  • 40:56: What Indy AI would do again when going to market...and what they'd steer clear of
  • 43:53: When taste outweighs data
  • 47:07: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 49:39: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Gajus:


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> No Kirk Fernandes from Scout: Reaching $500K in 6 Months Via Event Marketing 8 8 Kirk Fernandes from Scout: Reaching $500K in 6 Months Via Event Marketing full 154adbfe-ee51-4e54-ae30-7c1dccb96a85 https://share.transistor.fm/s/137606bf πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Kirk talks about building revenue through event marketing, treating marketing like a product, creating the best merch, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Kirk Fernandes is the founder of Scout, the recruiting firm that automates hiring for early-stage founders. He was previously the founder of Merit and worked in product leadership at Microsoft, Hightower & VTS. Kirk studied Computer Science at the University of Waterloo.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:38: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:55: Intro to Kirk Fernandes, founder of Scout, the recruiting automation company for early-stage founders
  • 01:54: What makes Scout a next-gen recruiting firm
  • 02:54: How Scout improves on Merit, Kirk's previous startup
  • 04:00: How Scout reaches the top engineering talent who are already flooded with offers
  • 04:46: Kirk's methodologies to reach $500K in revenue in 6 months
  • 06:06: Creating human connection in recruiting
  • 06:53: What does it take to create the best events?
  • 08:32: Creating chemistry amongst guests
  • 08:59: Kirk's top recommended restaurants in SF & NYC
  • 09:33: Structure vs flexibility and flow at events
  • 10:43: How events can have both hard and soft sells
  • 11:31: How soft sells lead to sales conversions
  • 13:24: Different ways to create a sense of community
  • 14:42: How to design merch people actually like
  • 17:05: Offering potential customers a menu of options
  • 20:16: Using tech to help with recruiting
  • 22:16: How to ask for help when you're building out your company
  • 24:34: Creating a community within your customer base
  • 26:08: Previous mistakes Kirk has learned from
  • 27:33: Are events actually efficient for sales?
  • 28:38: Designing marketing like a product
  • 31:05: When taste outweighs data
  • 32:54: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 34:30: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌΒ  Resources:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Kirk:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Kirk talks about building revenue through event marketing, treating marketing like a product, creating the best merch, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Kirk Fernandes is the founder of Scout, the recruiting firm that automates hiring for early-stage founders. He was previously the founder of Merit and worked in product leadership at Microsoft, Hightower & VTS. Kirk studied Computer Science at the University of Waterloo.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:38: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:55: Intro to Kirk Fernandes, founder of Scout, the recruiting automation company for early-stage founders
  • 01:54: What makes Scout a next-gen recruiting firm
  • 02:54: How Scout improves on Merit, Kirk's previous startup
  • 04:00: How Scout reaches the top engineering talent who are already flooded with offers
  • 04:46: Kirk's methodologies to reach $500K in revenue in 6 months
  • 06:06: Creating human connection in recruiting
  • 06:53: What does it take to create the best events?
  • 08:32: Creating chemistry amongst guests
  • 08:59: Kirk's top recommended restaurants in SF & NYC
  • 09:33: Structure vs flexibility and flow at events
  • 10:43: How events can have both hard and soft sells
  • 11:31: How soft sells lead to sales conversions
  • 13:24: Different ways to create a sense of community
  • 14:42: How to design merch people actually like
  • 17:05: Offering potential customers a menu of options
  • 20:16: Using tech to help with recruiting
  • 22:16: How to ask for help when you're building out your company
  • 24:34: Creating a community within your customer base
  • 26:08: Previous mistakes Kirk has learned from
  • 27:33: Are events actually efficient for sales?
  • 28:38: Designing marketing like a product
  • 31:05: When taste outweighs data
  • 32:54: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 34:30: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌΒ  Resources:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Kirk:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> Wed, 19 Nov 2025 05:11:00 -0100 Shriya Nevatia Shriya Nevatia 2082 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Kirk talks about building revenue through event marketing, treating marketing like a product, creating the best merch, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Kirk Fernandes is the founder of Scout, the recruiting firm that automates hiring for early-stage founders. He was previously the founder of Merit and worked in product leadership at Microsoft, Hightower & VTS. Kirk studied Computer Science at the University of Waterloo.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:38: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:55: Intro to Kirk Fernandes, founder of Scout, the recruiting automation company for early-stage founders
  • 01:54: What makes Scout a next-gen recruiting firm
  • 02:54: How Scout improves on Merit, Kirk's previous startup
  • 04:00: How Scout reaches the top engineering talent who are already flooded with offers
  • 04:46: Kirk's methodologies to reach $500K in revenue in 6 months
  • 06:06: Creating human connection in recruiting
  • 06:53: What does it take to create the best events?
  • 08:32: Creating chemistry amongst guests
  • 08:59: Kirk's top recommended restaurants in SF & NYC
  • 09:33: Structure vs flexibility and flow at events
  • 10:43: How events can have both hard and soft sells
  • 11:31: How soft sells lead to sales conversions
  • 13:24: Different ways to create a sense of community
  • 14:42: How to design merch people actually like
  • 17:05: Offering potential customers a menu of options
  • 20:16: Using tech to help with recruiting
  • 22:16: How to ask for help when you're building out your company
  • 24:34: Creating a community within your customer base
  • 26:08: Previous mistakes Kirk has learned from
  • 27:33: Are events actually efficient for sales?
  • 28:38: Designing marketing like a product
  • 31:05: When taste outweighs data
  • 32:54: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 34:30: Outro


πŸ‘‰πŸΌΒ  Resources:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Kirk:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> No Hannah Yang from TheShareWay: From Hackathon Project to the #1 Directory for Product Donors 7 7 Hannah Yang from TheShareWay: From Hackathon Project to the #1 Directory for Product Donors full 1e8348dd-bfc9-455e-a090-e1331a8d9bda https://share.transistor.fm/s/2b68c0dd πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Hannah talks about building a startup from her high school volunteering days, finding the "Goldilocks Zone" for her startup users, the balance between passion and traction when building a startup, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Hannah Yang is the founder and CEO of TheShareWay, the largest directory connecting nonprofits with product donors. The idea began when she was a high school student cold-calling local restaurants for event donations, an experience that later inspired her to build TheShareWay at a hackathon, where her team placed in the top six out of 2,000. Since then, TheShareWay has grown into a trusted platform used by thousands of nonprofits nationwide. Before founding TheShareWay, she studied at UC Berkeley and worked in product and marketing roles.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:42: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 01:02: Intro to Hannah Yang, founder of TheShareWay
  • 02:33: How TheShareWay really started when Hannah was in high school
  • 04:18: How TheShareWay grew past a hackathon project to a startup trusted by thousands of non-profits
  • 05:25: The balance between passion and traction when building a startup
  • 06:07: Creating a growth funnel to reach product-market fit
  • 07:45: Designing a lead-in product for people to discover your product
  • 09:10: How to convince non-profits to trust a tech startup
  • 10:55: Using technology in the non-profit sector
  • 11:28: How Philz Coffee unlocked TheShareWay's growthΒ 
  • 13:41: How to convince businesses to partner with non-profits
  • 16:26: Finding the 'Goldilocks Zone': the perfect customer segment for your startup
  • 18:13: Finding alignment between business & non-profit priorities
  • 19:11: How to navigate a business pivot
  • 22:33: Moving from a free model to monetization
  • 24:22: Experimenting with different monetization strategies
  • 25:53: Growth trajectory of TheShareWay
  • 26:43: Where TheShareWay is planning on growing next
  • 27:56: How to plan your next product features
  • 31:05: What good taste means when building a product
  • 33:32: How to help TheShareWay
  • 34:43: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 36:22: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌΒ  Resources:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Hannah:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Hannah talks about building a startup from her high school volunteering days, finding the "Goldilocks Zone" for her startup users, the balance between passion and traction when building a startup, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Hannah Yang is the founder and CEO of TheShareWay, the largest directory connecting nonprofits with product donors. The idea began when she was a high school student cold-calling local restaurants for event donations, an experience that later inspired her to build TheShareWay at a hackathon, where her team placed in the top six out of 2,000. Since then, TheShareWay has grown into a trusted platform used by thousands of nonprofits nationwide. Before founding TheShareWay, she studied at UC Berkeley and worked in product and marketing roles.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:42: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 01:02: Intro to Hannah Yang, founder of TheShareWay
  • 02:33: How TheShareWay really started when Hannah was in high school
  • 04:18: How TheShareWay grew past a hackathon project to a startup trusted by thousands of non-profits
  • 05:25: The balance between passion and traction when building a startup
  • 06:07: Creating a growth funnel to reach product-market fit
  • 07:45: Designing a lead-in product for people to discover your product
  • 09:10: How to convince non-profits to trust a tech startup
  • 10:55: Using technology in the non-profit sector
  • 11:28: How Philz Coffee unlocked TheShareWay's growthΒ 
  • 13:41: How to convince businesses to partner with non-profits
  • 16:26: Finding the 'Goldilocks Zone': the perfect customer segment for your startup
  • 18:13: Finding alignment between business & non-profit priorities
  • 19:11: How to navigate a business pivot
  • 22:33: Moving from a free model to monetization
  • 24:22: Experimenting with different monetization strategies
  • 25:53: Growth trajectory of TheShareWay
  • 26:43: Where TheShareWay is planning on growing next
  • 27:56: How to plan your next product features
  • 31:05: What good taste means when building a product
  • 33:32: How to help TheShareWay
  • 34:43: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 36:22: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌΒ  Resources:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Hannah:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2025 05:46:00 -0100 Shriya Nevatia Shriya Nevatia 2200 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Hannah talks about building a startup from her high school volunteering days, finding the "Goldilocks Zone" for her startup users, the balance between passion and traction when building a startup, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Hannah Yang is the founder and CEO of TheShareWay, the largest directory connecting nonprofits with product donors. The idea began when she was a high school student cold-calling local restaurants for event donations, an experience that later inspired her to build TheShareWay at a hackathon, where her team placed in the top six out of 2,000. Since then, TheShareWay has grown into a trusted platform used by thousands of nonprofits nationwide. Before founding TheShareWay, she studied at UC Berkeley and worked in product and marketing roles.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:42: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 01:02: Intro to Hannah Yang, founder of TheShareWay
  • 02:33: How TheShareWay really started when Hannah was in high school
  • 04:18: How TheShareWay grew past a hackathon project to a startup trusted by thousands of non-profits
  • 05:25: The balance between passion and traction when building a startup
  • 06:07: Creating a growth funnel to reach product-market fit
  • 07:45: Designing a lead-in product for people to discover your product
  • 09:10: How to convince non-profits to trust a tech startup
  • 10:55: Using technology in the non-profit sector
  • 11:28: How Philz Coffee unlocked TheShareWay's growthΒ 
  • 13:41: How to convince businesses to partner with non-profits
  • 16:26: Finding the 'Goldilocks Zone': the perfect customer segment for your startup
  • 18:13: Finding alignment between business & non-profit priorities
  • 19:11: How to navigate a business pivot
  • 22:33: Moving from a free model to monetization
  • 24:22: Experimenting with different monetization strategies
  • 25:53: Growth trajectory of TheShareWay
  • 26:43: Where TheShareWay is planning on growing next
  • 27:56: How to plan your next product features
  • 31:05: What good taste means when building a product
  • 33:32: How to help TheShareWay
  • 34:43: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 36:22: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌΒ  Resources:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Hannah:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> No Mika Reyes from Parallax: How a $10 Promo Almost Brought Down a Whole Company 6 6 Mika Reyes from Parallax: How a $10 Promo Almost Brought Down a Whole Company full e3e5f50b-b8c9-42b5-b9cc-4e1d3578377a https://share.transistor.fm/s/2e2e6a99 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Mika talks about building consumer trust for her fintech startup, going through a scam during launch, and recovering stronger than ever.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Mika (Featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, HuffPost, and Business Insider) is the exited startup founder of Parallax, a stablecoin fintech that raised ~$5M in venture capital and reached over $100M in transaction volume. Additionally, she has been recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30, the SPC Founder Fellowship, and the Kleiner Perkins Fellowship. She worked in product at LinkedIn and is an active angel investor.Β 


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:30: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:46: Intro to Mika Reyes, founder of Parallax
  • 01:55: Why stablecoin payouts were necessary, especially for people outside the US
  • 02:58: How Parallax's launch nearly spiraled into a scam disaster
  • 03:43: How a promo for new signups went wrong
  • 08:00: Why every fintech needs KYC (Know Your Customer) checks
  • 10:26: Working urgently to solve the scamming problem
  • 14:04: How another hack took place right before launch
  • 15:45: Tracking down the hackers
  • 16:48: Why automation won't replace all manual checks
  • 18:00: Helping people reach the "aha!" moment with your product
  • 20:00: How scams can harm more than just your bank accounts
  • 21:45: Preventing scammers from causing harm
  • 26:55: How cultural nuances impact fraud patterns
  • 29:08: When cash promos work...and when they don't
  • 31:50: When taste overtakes data (and pays off)
  • 35:35: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 37:39: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌΒ  Resources:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Mika:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Mika talks about building consumer trust for her fintech startup, going through a scam during launch, and recovering stronger than ever.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Mika (Featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, HuffPost, and Business Insider) is the exited startup founder of Parallax, a stablecoin fintech that raised ~$5M in venture capital and reached over $100M in transaction volume. Additionally, she has been recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30, the SPC Founder Fellowship, and the Kleiner Perkins Fellowship. She worked in product at LinkedIn and is an active angel investor.Β 


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:30: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:46: Intro to Mika Reyes, founder of Parallax
  • 01:55: Why stablecoin payouts were necessary, especially for people outside the US
  • 02:58: How Parallax's launch nearly spiraled into a scam disaster
  • 03:43: How a promo for new signups went wrong
  • 08:00: Why every fintech needs KYC (Know Your Customer) checks
  • 10:26: Working urgently to solve the scamming problem
  • 14:04: How another hack took place right before launch
  • 15:45: Tracking down the hackers
  • 16:48: Why automation won't replace all manual checks
  • 18:00: Helping people reach the "aha!" moment with your product
  • 20:00: How scams can harm more than just your bank accounts
  • 21:45: Preventing scammers from causing harm
  • 26:55: How cultural nuances impact fraud patterns
  • 29:08: When cash promos work...and when they don't
  • 31:50: When taste overtakes data (and pays off)
  • 35:35: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 37:39: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌΒ  Resources:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Mika:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> Mon, 10 Nov 2025 09:03:49 -0100 Shriya Nevatia Shriya Nevatia 2272 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Mika talks about building consumer trust for her fintech startup, going through a scam during launch, and recovering stronger than ever.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Mika (Featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, HuffPost, and Business Insider) is the exited startup founder of Parallax, a stablecoin fintech that raised ~$5M in venture capital and reached over $100M in transaction volume. Additionally, she has been recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30, the SPC Founder Fellowship, and the Kleiner Perkins Fellowship. She worked in product at LinkedIn and is an active angel investor.Β 


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:30: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:46: Intro to Mika Reyes, founder of Parallax
  • 01:55: Why stablecoin payouts were necessary, especially for people outside the US
  • 02:58: How Parallax's launch nearly spiraled into a scam disaster
  • 03:43: How a promo for new signups went wrong
  • 08:00: Why every fintech needs KYC (Know Your Customer) checks
  • 10:26: Working urgently to solve the scamming problem
  • 14:04: How another hack took place right before launch
  • 15:45: Tracking down the hackers
  • 16:48: Why automation won't replace all manual checks
  • 18:00: Helping people reach the "aha!" moment with your product
  • 20:00: How scams can harm more than just your bank accounts
  • 21:45: Preventing scammers from causing harm
  • 26:55: How cultural nuances impact fraud patterns
  • 29:08: When cash promos work...and when they don't
  • 31:50: When taste overtakes data (and pays off)
  • 35:35: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 37:39: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌΒ  Resources:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Mika:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> No Chris Messina: Inventing the Hashtag & Changing Social Media Forever 5 5 Chris Messina: Inventing the Hashtag & Changing Social Media Forever full 5b2e6294-4474-4378-afcc-2fe7c0473eb6 https://share.transistor.fm/s/293cdaa9 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:
Tune in as Chris unpacks the invention of the hashtag, how it was rejected for being too nerdy, how AI is changing product building, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Chris Messina (Uber, Google, Republic, Molly (YC S18)) has spent a decade working on social technologies, designing products and experiences, working with startups, and changing the world by giving away many of his creations, including the hashtag.Β 

He helped organize the movement that took Mozilla Firefox to its first 100M downloads, popularized the unconference event model to 350+ cities around the world, opened the first dedicated coworking space in San Francisco, and brought the idea of the hashtag to Twitter, changing social media forever and galvanizing social revolutions across the globe.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 01:05: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 01:25: Intro to Chris Messina, founder of the hashtag
  • 02:17: 18 years after the birth of the hashtag: what is Chris Messina up to?
  • 05:27: How AI slop is impacting product building
  • 06:31: The initial concept of the hashtag
  • 09:34: Identity expression vs curation on digital media
  • 10:47: How hashtags reached the wider public
  • 15:25: Why Twitter finally gave in and embraced the hashtag
  • 18:34: Why hashtags are extra valuable on Instagram
  • 20:15: How hashtags represent communities
  • 23:50: How hashtags express our individuality
  • 25:50: How hashtags took over the world, outside of Chris' control
  • 30:56: What's the future of the hashtag in an AI world?
  • 36:07: Privacy protection vs community building, in an age of AI
  • 40:53: What is the definition of taste?
  • 46:27:Β  Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 48:41: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌΒ  Resources:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Chris:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:
Tune in as Chris unpacks the invention of the hashtag, how it was rejected for being too nerdy, how AI is changing product building, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Chris Messina (Uber, Google, Republic, Molly (YC S18)) has spent a decade working on social technologies, designing products and experiences, working with startups, and changing the world by giving away many of his creations, including the hashtag.Β 

He helped organize the movement that took Mozilla Firefox to its first 100M downloads, popularized the unconference event model to 350+ cities around the world, opened the first dedicated coworking space in San Francisco, and brought the idea of the hashtag to Twitter, changing social media forever and galvanizing social revolutions across the globe.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 01:05: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 01:25: Intro to Chris Messina, founder of the hashtag
  • 02:17: 18 years after the birth of the hashtag: what is Chris Messina up to?
  • 05:27: How AI slop is impacting product building
  • 06:31: The initial concept of the hashtag
  • 09:34: Identity expression vs curation on digital media
  • 10:47: How hashtags reached the wider public
  • 15:25: Why Twitter finally gave in and embraced the hashtag
  • 18:34: Why hashtags are extra valuable on Instagram
  • 20:15: How hashtags represent communities
  • 23:50: How hashtags express our individuality
  • 25:50: How hashtags took over the world, outside of Chris' control
  • 30:56: What's the future of the hashtag in an AI world?
  • 36:07: Privacy protection vs community building, in an age of AI
  • 40:53: What is the definition of taste?
  • 46:27:Β  Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 48:41: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌΒ  Resources:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Chris:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> Wed, 29 Oct 2025 05:05:00 -0100 Shriya Nevatia Shriya Nevatia 2936 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:
Tune in as Chris unpacks the invention of the hashtag, how it was rejected for being too nerdy, how AI is changing product building, and more!


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Chris Messina (Uber, Google, Republic, Molly (YC S18)) has spent a decade working on social technologies, designing products and experiences, working with startups, and changing the world by giving away many of his creations, including the hashtag.Β 

He helped organize the movement that took Mozilla Firefox to its first 100M downloads, popularized the unconference event model to 350+ cities around the world, opened the first dedicated coworking space in San Francisco, and brought the idea of the hashtag to Twitter, changing social media forever and galvanizing social revolutions across the globe.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 01:05: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 01:25: Intro to Chris Messina, founder of the hashtag
  • 02:17: 18 years after the birth of the hashtag: what is Chris Messina up to?
  • 05:27: How AI slop is impacting product building
  • 06:31: The initial concept of the hashtag
  • 09:34: Identity expression vs curation on digital media
  • 10:47: How hashtags reached the wider public
  • 15:25: Why Twitter finally gave in and embraced the hashtag
  • 18:34: Why hashtags are extra valuable on Instagram
  • 20:15: How hashtags represent communities
  • 23:50: How hashtags express our individuality
  • 25:50: How hashtags took over the world, outside of Chris' control
  • 30:56: What's the future of the hashtag in an AI world?
  • 36:07: Privacy protection vs community building, in an age of AI
  • 40:53: What is the definition of taste?
  • 46:27:Β  Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 48:41: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌΒ  Resources:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Chris:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> No Ahana Banerjee from Clear (YC W21): The Founder's Path to 3M+ Views 3 3 Ahana Banerjee from Clear (YC W21): The Founder's Path to 3M+ Views full 859996ce-1b52-479d-ba3c-657f8fc66902 https://share.transistor.fm/s/1da62d6f πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:
Tune in as Ahana unpacks what it takes to reach 3M+ social views, why turning that into a creator course for founders didn’t go as planned, and what she learned along the way.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Ahana Banerjee is the founder of Clear (YC W21), a free mobile app that lets users track and share their skincare routines and buy products. Banerjee suffered from cystic acne before launching the app, which uses selfie analysis data to offer cosmetic brands insights into their products' efficiency. Valued at $15 million, Clear has partnered with more than 3,000 brands, has 50,000+ users on the app, and has about $1 million in VC funding.Β 


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:25: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:43: Intro to Ahana, Y Combinator founder of Clear
  • 03:05: How Ahana's personal skincare journey helped her grow her company
  • 04:22: Mastering social media for a consumer startup
  • 11:00: Breaking down social media followers by channel
  • 12:29: How to balance new experiments with data-driven posting
  • 17:50: How Ahana's social media growth led her to spin out a whole new product
  • 19:50: Why the same content can't be used across separate platforms
  • 22:55: The impact of social media on Ahana's startup
  • 28:57: Why creating a course matters
  • 30:32: How to tweak your course so it stays relevant
  • 34:54: Creating high-retention strategies for your own course
  • 40:41: What is the definition of taste?
  • 44:50: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 46:56: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Ahana:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:
Tune in as Ahana unpacks what it takes to reach 3M+ social views, why turning that into a creator course for founders didn’t go as planned, and what she learned along the way.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Ahana Banerjee is the founder of Clear (YC W21), a free mobile app that lets users track and share their skincare routines and buy products. Banerjee suffered from cystic acne before launching the app, which uses selfie analysis data to offer cosmetic brands insights into their products' efficiency. Valued at $15 million, Clear has partnered with more than 3,000 brands, has 50,000+ users on the app, and has about $1 million in VC funding.Β 


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:25: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:43: Intro to Ahana, Y Combinator founder of Clear
  • 03:05: How Ahana's personal skincare journey helped her grow her company
  • 04:22: Mastering social media for a consumer startup
  • 11:00: Breaking down social media followers by channel
  • 12:29: How to balance new experiments with data-driven posting
  • 17:50: How Ahana's social media growth led her to spin out a whole new product
  • 19:50: Why the same content can't be used across separate platforms
  • 22:55: The impact of social media on Ahana's startup
  • 28:57: Why creating a course matters
  • 30:32: How to tweak your course so it stays relevant
  • 34:54: Creating high-retention strategies for your own course
  • 40:41: What is the definition of taste?
  • 44:50: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 46:56: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Ahana:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> Wed, 15 Oct 2025 08:15:00 +0000 Shriya Nevatia Shriya Nevatia 2823 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:
Tune in as Ahana unpacks what it takes to reach 3M+ social views, why turning that into a creator course for founders didn’t go as planned, and what she learned along the way.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Ahana Banerjee is the founder of Clear (YC W21), a free mobile app that lets users track and share their skincare routines and buy products. Banerjee suffered from cystic acne before launching the app, which uses selfie analysis data to offer cosmetic brands insights into their products' efficiency. Valued at $15 million, Clear has partnered with more than 3,000 brands, has 50,000+ users on the app, and has about $1 million in VC funding.Β 


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:25: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:43: Intro to Ahana, Y Combinator founder of Clear
  • 03:05: How Ahana's personal skincare journey helped her grow her company
  • 04:22: Mastering social media for a consumer startup
  • 11:00: Breaking down social media followers by channel
  • 12:29: How to balance new experiments with data-driven posting
  • 17:50: How Ahana's social media growth led her to spin out a whole new product
  • 19:50: Why the same content can't be used across separate platforms
  • 22:55: The impact of social media on Ahana's startup
  • 28:57: Why creating a course matters
  • 30:32: How to tweak your course so it stays relevant
  • 34:54: Creating high-retention strategies for your own course
  • 40:41: What is the definition of taste?
  • 44:50: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 46:56: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Ahana:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> No Chino Lex from Modern Electric & Keyring: How to Scale to 7-Figure Revenue with Online Ads 2 2 Chino Lex from Modern Electric & Keyring: How to Scale to 7-Figure Revenue with Online Ads full 4828417c-413b-4ae7-8c96-f56bc4491241 https://share.transistor.fm/s/2ffd2b68 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Chino Lex (YCombinator, On Deck) is a 2x founder with a 7-figure exit, who dropped out of Stanford at 19 to scale a consumer app publisher that reached 10M installs, 7-figure ARR, and then exited. His next startup, a streaming bundle, Keyring, scaled to a 7-figure ARR via performance marketing, but the company failed due to licensing issues. He spent two years venture investing in 20 fintech companies and had a stint on the growth team in the most valuable company of the YC winter 2021 batch.

Β 

Gaining expertise in consumer growth, subscriptions, fintech, and world-class team building prepared him for his current focus: Modern Electric, solving energy inflation for Americans due to AI’s exponential energy demands and the solar industry’s broken promises.Β 

Β 

Chino is a Perplexity AI Fellow and splits time between Austin and San Francisco.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Shriya and Chino discuss how to run video ads for your product and optimize performance, along with some other experiments along the way.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:31: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:48: Intro to Chino
  • 01:55: How Keyring solved the prohibitive streaming services pricing
  • 03:33: Keyring vs buying individual streaming subscriptions
  • 05:05: How to design video ads that convert your specific audience
  • 06:50: How to decide your ad platform
  • 10:15: Using ads to experiment with a product pivot
  • 11:41: Getting into the analytics of your video ads via categorization
  • 13:40: Creating the perfect Facebook ad
  • 16:35: Working with influencers and UGC creators to make videos
  • 17:23: Results from video ads and how to interpret analytics
  • 19:21: Hacks for creating natural, accessible ads
  • 21:05: Prompting with a CTA vs just chatting about the problem - what works better?
  • 23:55: Video ad experiments that failed
  • 27:27: Why advertorials didn't work out
  • 30:03: The impact of online ads for customer acquisition
  • 32:38: Chino's learnings from video ads
  • 35:25: Do digital ads still work?
  • 37:15: When to trust taste & intuition vs. data
  • 42:15: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 44:16: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Chino:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Chino Lex (YCombinator, On Deck) is a 2x founder with a 7-figure exit, who dropped out of Stanford at 19 to scale a consumer app publisher that reached 10M installs, 7-figure ARR, and then exited. His next startup, a streaming bundle, Keyring, scaled to a 7-figure ARR via performance marketing, but the company failed due to licensing issues. He spent two years venture investing in 20 fintech companies and had a stint on the growth team in the most valuable company of the YC winter 2021 batch.

Β 

Gaining expertise in consumer growth, subscriptions, fintech, and world-class team building prepared him for his current focus: Modern Electric, solving energy inflation for Americans due to AI’s exponential energy demands and the solar industry’s broken promises.Β 

Β 

Chino is a Perplexity AI Fellow and splits time between Austin and San Francisco.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Shriya and Chino discuss how to run video ads for your product and optimize performance, along with some other experiments along the way.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:31: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:48: Intro to Chino
  • 01:55: How Keyring solved the prohibitive streaming services pricing
  • 03:33: Keyring vs buying individual streaming subscriptions
  • 05:05: How to design video ads that convert your specific audience
  • 06:50: How to decide your ad platform
  • 10:15: Using ads to experiment with a product pivot
  • 11:41: Getting into the analytics of your video ads via categorization
  • 13:40: Creating the perfect Facebook ad
  • 16:35: Working with influencers and UGC creators to make videos
  • 17:23: Results from video ads and how to interpret analytics
  • 19:21: Hacks for creating natural, accessible ads
  • 21:05: Prompting with a CTA vs just chatting about the problem - what works better?
  • 23:55: Video ad experiments that failed
  • 27:27: Why advertorials didn't work out
  • 30:03: The impact of online ads for customer acquisition
  • 32:38: Chino's learnings from video ads
  • 35:25: Do digital ads still work?
  • 37:15: When to trust taste & intuition vs. data
  • 42:15: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 44:16: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Chino:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2025 16:58:20 +0000 Shriya Nevatia Shriya Nevatia 2670 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:

Chino Lex (YCombinator, On Deck) is a 2x founder with a 7-figure exit, who dropped out of Stanford at 19 to scale a consumer app publisher that reached 10M installs, 7-figure ARR, and then exited. His next startup, a streaming bundle, Keyring, scaled to a 7-figure ARR via performance marketing, but the company failed due to licensing issues. He spent two years venture investing in 20 fintech companies and had a stint on the growth team in the most valuable company of the YC winter 2021 batch.

Β 

Gaining expertise in consumer growth, subscriptions, fintech, and world-class team building prepared him for his current focus: Modern Electric, solving energy inflation for Americans due to AI’s exponential energy demands and the solar industry’s broken promises.Β 

Β 

Chino is a Perplexity AI Fellow and splits time between Austin and San Francisco.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.


πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:

Tune in as Shriya and Chino discuss how to run video ads for your product and optimize performance, along with some other experiments along the way.

Β 

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:31: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:48: Intro to Chino
  • 01:55: How Keyring solved the prohibitive streaming services pricing
  • 03:33: Keyring vs buying individual streaming subscriptions
  • 05:05: How to design video ads that convert your specific audience
  • 06:50: How to decide your ad platform
  • 10:15: Using ads to experiment with a product pivot
  • 11:41: Getting into the analytics of your video ads via categorization
  • 13:40: Creating the perfect Facebook ad
  • 16:35: Working with influencers and UGC creators to make videos
  • 17:23: Results from video ads and how to interpret analytics
  • 19:21: Hacks for creating natural, accessible ads
  • 21:05: Prompting with a CTA vs just chatting about the problem - what works better?
  • 23:55: Video ad experiments that failed
  • 27:27: Why advertorials didn't work out
  • 30:03: The impact of online ads for customer acquisition
  • 32:38: Chino's learnings from video ads
  • 35:25: Do digital ads still work?
  • 37:15: When to trust taste & intuition vs. data
  • 42:15: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 44:16: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Chino:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> No Jaclyn Pascocello from Fabrik: Solving the $460B Loneliness Crisis with IRL Spaces 1 1 Jaclyn Pascocello from Fabrik: Solving the $460B Loneliness Crisis with IRL Spaces full 596d7e56-a12e-4db7-9343-def14fbcdaf6 https://share.transistor.fm/s/859bd11c πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:
Jaclyn Pascocello (ex-Spacious) is the founder of Fabrik, a third space designed to combat loneliness and foster deeper human connection. In less than 2 years, Fabrik has built community-centered spaces across NYC in Tribeca and Dumbo, with 130+ communities and clubs hosted within their centers.

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:
Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:
Tune in as Shriya and Jaclyn discuss how to jumpstart word-of-mouth marketing for your product, pinpoint exactly who your ideal customers are, and how she transformed the concept of coworking spaces by truly helping solve the loneliness crisis

Β 
πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:38: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:55: Intro to Jaclyn, founder of Fabrik
  • 01:33: What makes Fabrik's approach to gathering distinctive from WeWorks
  • 03:05: Coworking spaces vs Fabrik: What's the same and what's different?
  • 05:25: How to build for serendipity, instead of constant productivity
  • 07:00: How Fabrik started
  • 10:22 Fabrik's specific outreach tactics to engage their community
  • 11:16: How social clout matters when building a company
  • 13:05: How Fabrik chose its ideal location for building a community-centered startup
  • 14:52: What learnings from the pilot helped Fabrik expand and thrive in two trendy NYC locations?
  • 17:35: When to target a diverse audience vs when to niche down
  • 19:33: The launch tactics that got people talking about Fabrik
  • 23:15: How Jaclyn's backgrounds in real estate and hospitality built Fabrik to its present
  • 26:15: The tactics Fabrik used to incentivize word-of-mouth virality
  • 29:45: Building multiple streams of revenue and profit as a new startup
  • 31:00: How to build revenue streams when you're building for community
  • 32:15: What old locations taught Jaclyn about building for trendy spots in NYC
  • 35:18: When to trust taste & intuition vs. data
  • 37:00: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 40:18: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Jaclyn:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:
Jaclyn Pascocello (ex-Spacious) is the founder of Fabrik, a third space designed to combat loneliness and foster deeper human connection. In less than 2 years, Fabrik has built community-centered spaces across NYC in Tribeca and Dumbo, with 130+ communities and clubs hosted within their centers.

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:
Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:
Tune in as Shriya and Jaclyn discuss how to jumpstart word-of-mouth marketing for your product, pinpoint exactly who your ideal customers are, and how she transformed the concept of coworking spaces by truly helping solve the loneliness crisis

Β 
πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:38: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:55: Intro to Jaclyn, founder of Fabrik
  • 01:33: What makes Fabrik's approach to gathering distinctive from WeWorks
  • 03:05: Coworking spaces vs Fabrik: What's the same and what's different?
  • 05:25: How to build for serendipity, instead of constant productivity
  • 07:00: How Fabrik started
  • 10:22 Fabrik's specific outreach tactics to engage their community
  • 11:16: How social clout matters when building a company
  • 13:05: How Fabrik chose its ideal location for building a community-centered startup
  • 14:52: What learnings from the pilot helped Fabrik expand and thrive in two trendy NYC locations?
  • 17:35: When to target a diverse audience vs when to niche down
  • 19:33: The launch tactics that got people talking about Fabrik
  • 23:15: How Jaclyn's backgrounds in real estate and hospitality built Fabrik to its present
  • 26:15: The tactics Fabrik used to incentivize word-of-mouth virality
  • 29:45: Building multiple streams of revenue and profit as a new startup
  • 31:00: How to build revenue streams when you're building for community
  • 32:15: What old locations taught Jaclyn about building for trendy spots in NYC
  • 35:18: When to trust taste & intuition vs. data
  • 37:00: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 40:18: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Jaclyn:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> Wed, 01 Oct 2025 13:46:48 +0000 Shriya Nevatia Shriya Nevatia 2429 πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Guest:
Jaclyn Pascocello (ex-Spacious) is the founder of Fabrik, a third space designed to combat loneliness and foster deeper human connection. In less than 2 years, Fabrik has built community-centered spaces across NYC in Tribeca and Dumbo, with 130+ communities and clubs hosted within their centers.

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ About the Host:
Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Description:
Tune in as Shriya and Jaclyn discuss how to jumpstart word-of-mouth marketing for your product, pinpoint exactly who your ideal customers are, and how she transformed the concept of coworking spaces by truly helping solve the loneliness crisis

Β 
πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Timestamps:

  • 00:00: Episode Highlight
  • 00:38: Intro to Taste & Tactics
  • 00:55: Intro to Jaclyn, founder of Fabrik
  • 01:33: What makes Fabrik's approach to gathering distinctive from WeWorks
  • 03:05: Coworking spaces vs Fabrik: What's the same and what's different?
  • 05:25: How to build for serendipity, instead of constant productivity
  • 07:00: How Fabrik started
  • 10:22 Fabrik's specific outreach tactics to engage their community
  • 11:16: How social clout matters when building a company
  • 13:05: How Fabrik chose its ideal location for building a community-centered startup
  • 14:52: What learnings from the pilot helped Fabrik expand and thrive in two trendy NYC locations?
  • 17:35: When to target a diverse audience vs when to niche down
  • 19:33: The launch tactics that got people talking about Fabrik
  • 23:15: How Jaclyn's backgrounds in real estate and hospitality built Fabrik to its present
  • 26:15: The tactics Fabrik used to incentivize word-of-mouth virality
  • 29:45: Building multiple streams of revenue and profit as a new startup
  • 31:00: How to build revenue streams when you're building for community
  • 32:15: What old locations taught Jaclyn about building for trendy spots in NYC
  • 35:18: When to trust taste & intuition vs. data
  • 37:00: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
  • 40:18: Outro

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Jaclyn:

πŸ‘‰πŸΌ Where to find Shriya:

]]> No [TRAILER] Taste & Tactics - Coming Soon! 1 1 [TRAILER] Taste & Tactics - Coming Soon! trailer 6a26c301-bdd6-4b66-a8e8-b1730b6188bf https://share.transistor.fm/s/e1758ade Taste & Tactics breaks down the real playbooks behind iconic products, told by the people who built them.


Each episode goes deep on one bold launch: what sparked the idea, how it reached the right audience, and the moves that made it stick.


Hosted by Shriya Nevatia, the show is made for founders, marketers, and brand builders who are sick of vague advice and want practical frameworks.

]]> Taste & Tactics breaks down the real playbooks behind iconic products, told by the people who built them.


Each episode goes deep on one bold launch: what sparked the idea, how it reached the right audience, and the moves that made it stick.


Hosted by Shriya Nevatia, the show is made for founders, marketers, and brand builders who are sick of vague advice and want practical frameworks.

]]> Thu, 25 Sep 2025 17:37:09 +0000 Shriya Nevatia Shriya Nevatia 44 Taste & Tactics breaks down the real playbooks behind iconic products, told by the people who built them.Each episode goes deep on one bold launch: what sparked the idea, how it reached the right audience, and the moves that made it stick.Hosted by Shriya Nevatia, the show is made for founders, marketers, and brand builders who are sick of vague advice and want practical frameworks. Taste & Tactics breaks down the real playbooks behind iconic products, told by the people who built them.Each episode goes deep on one bold launch: what sparked the idea, how it reached the right audience, and the moves that made it stick.Hosted by Sh No