Fund/Build/Scale

As African startups mature, the leap from seed to growth brings a new set of challenges — longer fundraising cycles, institutional expectations, governance, and the realities of scaling across fragmented markets.

In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, I sit down with Ngetha Waithaka, partner at Norrsken22, one of the continent’s leading growth-stage funds. We talk about how investors evaluate African startups as they approach Series A and beyond, how founders can tell whether their business is truly venture-scale, and when bootstrapping may be the smarter path.

We also dig into practical issues founders don’t always hear about early enough — institutional readiness, governance, cross-border expansion, and how currency volatility shapes long-term outcomes.

If you’re an African founder preparing for growth capital, or an operator trying to understand what serious investors are actually looking for, this episode offers a clear-eyed look at what it takes to build something durable.

RUNTIME 46:36
 
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(2:13) Ngetha unpacks Norrsken 22’s origin story and thesis

(5:15) Should you bootstrap, or is your idea venture-scale?

(10:30) Before talking to VCs, make sure you can demonstrate “institutional readiness”

(15:05) African founders “have to start very early on the governance journey.”

(20:17) Ngetha works with founders “from all over the map.”

(22:55) Should African founders use Silicon Valley as a success model?

(29:43) A few thoughts on currency fluctuations and international expansion

(37:41) Where is Norrsken 22 looking for opportunities?

(39:09) The difference between building for one market and building for Africa

(44:24) Ngetha’s advice to his younger self: “Success is not a linear journey.”

LINKS
Ngetha Waithake

Norrsken 22

TymeBank

AutoChek

 

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Thanks for listening!

 – Walter

In this episode, I’m joined by Jon Callaghan, co-founder and managing partner at True Ventures, and Julie Bornstein — CEO and co-founder of Daydream, founder of The Yes, and former COO of Stitch Fix — to break down what investors really evaluate in the first 18 months of a company’s life.

Drawing from their shared history as investor and founder, we talk candidly about runway, hiring before certainty exists, conviction versus ego, and how trust between founders and investors gets tested when plans change. 

Julie explains how she approached budgeting and milestones for The Yes as a non-technical founder, while Jon shares how early-stage investors assess learning, decision-making, and leadership long after the pitch meeting ends.

RUNTIME 50:28
 
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(2:43) Jon: “Julie and I met in graduate school.”

(4:24) Julie chose a different VC firm for her first seed round at The Yes

(10:33) How would Jon have assessed The Yes if he didn’t know Julie?

(13:14) Julie: “Runway is your best friend and your biggest gift.”

(14:59) How non-technical founders can sketch out a financial model 

(22:37) Jon: “There’s an immense river of goodness that flows underneath Silicon Valley.”

(25:30) How did True Ventures size up SAM for The Yes?

(29:00) Only work with engineers who understand your problem

(31:25) Some of Jon’s post-check expectations for founders

(41:44) What are some questions founders should ask VCs in their first meeting?

(45:42) One experiment a pre-seed/seed-stage founder can try next week

(48:14) The final question

LINKS

Julie Bornstein

Jon Callaghan

True Ventures

Daydream

Top e-commerce veteran Julie Bornstein unveils Daydream—an AI-powered shopping agent that’s 25 years in the making, Forbes, 6/25/2025

Pinterest to Acquire THE YES, an AI Powered Shopping Platform for Fashion, press release, 6/2/2022

StitchFix

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Thanks for listening!

 

 – Walter

For years, founders have been told to build a defensible moat. But in AI, where platforms, models, and capabilities can shift overnight, that advice is starting to feel outdated.

In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Simular CEO and co-founder Ang Li talks about what it actually means to build a company when the underlying technology won’t sit still.

Rather than evangelizing agents or predicting the future of work, Ang gets unusually candid about fragility, speed, judgment, and how founders should think when technical advantages may be temporary by default.

The conversation digs into small-team execution, founder productivity, decision-making under uncertainty, and the uncomfortable question many AI founders avoid: what if the next platform update eats your product? 

Note: This interview was recorded before Simular closed its $21.5M Series A in December 2025.

RUNTIME 56:44
 

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(1:52)  What is Simular, and how does it work?

(6:11) How Ang and co-founder Jiachen Yang connected

 (9:00) How much time passed between Day Zero and serving their first customer?

(13:54) The moment Ang realized " this is gonna be like something huge."

(17:21) How he approaches founder-led sales and what he looks for in a GTM hire 

(26:34) Maintaining cohesion when you're leading a distributed team

(32:23) Should you hire a new employee, or build a new agent?

(34:50) Why Ang made talking AI gorillas part of Simular's GTM strategy

(38:20)"If everyone becomes too cautious there, that actually prevents the innovation part."

(43:55) "There's never a moat on anything."

(51:16) The final question

LINKS
Ang Li

Jiachen Yang

Simular

Meet the AI Agent with Multiple Personalities, Wired, 4/16/2025

Simular Raises $21.5M to Build Autonomous Computer Agents, 12/2/2025

What is Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?, IBM

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Thanks for listening!

 – Walter.

When most founders look at markets dominated by Google or Apple, they see a dead end. Ariel Seidman saw an opening.

Before founding Hivemapper, Ariel helped scale Yahoo Maps during a period when search and mapping were rapidly evolving. That experience gave him a front-row seat to how large-scale mapping systems are built — and how technical, capital, and organizational constraints shape the pace of innovation at scale.

In this episode, he breaks down what it really takes to build a startup against giants: why data moats matter more than UI, how to layer products instead of attacking incumbents head-on, and how insider knowledge can become an unfair advantage — if you’re willing to unlearn Big Tech habits that don’t translate to startups.

We also dig into Hivemapper’s decentralized approach to mapping, the role of physical AI and real-world data, the tradeoffs behind crypto incentives, and why the future of maps looks more like a spatial intelligence platform than a navigation app.

If you’re thinking about taking what you’ve learned inside Big Tech and applying it to your own startup, this is a conversation you’ll want to hear.

RUNTIME 46:57
 

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(2:11) What is Hivemapper?

(6:34)  Scaling Yahoo Maps: Lessons from an Early Market Leader 

(9:04) Why Capital and Infrastructure Matter More Than Design

(11:49) From Insider to Founder: Deciding to Build Again

(15:00) Customer Discovery at Scale: Coverage, Accuracy, and the Long Tail

(19:10) Beyond Navigation: Maps as a Spatial Intelligence Platform

(22:46) Big Tech vs. Startups: Some Skills Transfer — and Some Don't

(27:31) Building Against Giants by Building One Layer at a Time

(31:39) Creating a Double Flywheel (and Making it Spin)

(45:10) The Final Question

LINKS

Ariel Seidman

Hivemapper

Beemaps

Hivemapper network blog

Hivemapper Raises $18M From Multicoin Capital to Create the World’s First Decentralized Mapping Network, 4/5/2022

Bee Maps, Powered by Hivemapper, Raises $32 Million to Scale the Next Generation of AI-Powered Mapping, 10/6/2025

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Thanks for listening!

 – Walter.

Odille Sánchez leads the Tech and Scientific-Based Entrepreneurship Center of Excellence at Tecnológico de Monterrey, where she works with hundreds of early-stage founders across Latin America.

In this episode, she explains how mindset, methodology, and community are reshaping what it means to launch a startup in a region where early capital is scarce and institutional support is fragmented.

We also talk about:

Why resource orchestration — not acceleration — is what most founders need

How cultural attitudes toward risk impact founder behavior

What Latin American investors and institutions can learn from each other

Why commercialization is often the missing piece

How to help first-time founders develop a global mindset from day one

Whether you're supporting under-networked founders or trying to build in an emerging market, Odille offers a clear-eyed look at what it really takes to go from scarcity to scale.

 
RUNTIME 37:46
 
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
[2:10]  Mission-Driven Work at Tecnológico de Monterrey

[5:20]  Resource Orchestration, Not Acceleration

[6:45] " We work with a lot of profiles."

[8:47]  Bridging The Cultural Gap Around Risk-Taking

[11:37] A Founder Success Story: Ricardo Baez + Safe Fruit

[14:06] What to Do When You Don’t Have a Network

[17:06] The Disconnect Between Capital and Opportunity

[20:42] How Latin American Founders Can Engage Global Angel Investors

[23:02] The Missing Skillset: Commercialization

[30:08] What Silicon Valley Advice Doesn’t Translate

[34:43] Odille’s Parting Advice for Outsiders

LINKS

Odille Sánchez 

Centro de Prensa dl Tecnológico de Monterrey

Shaping Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ecoystems: An Outcome-based Model

From reflection to intention: Rethinking how we build startups and innovation ecosystems

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Thanks for listening!

 – Walter.