This special year-end episode of In Depth brings together the most revealing moments from our 2025 conversations with founders. Across industries and company stages, founders walked us through how their companies actually got built: where the ideas came from, what nearly broke them, and the decisions that quietly determined everything that followed. Each story is different. But taken together, clear patterns begin to emerge. This is a condensed look at the real work behind turning “imagine if this were different” into something real — and sustaining it long enough to build a generational company.
In this special episode, we revisit:
- The common thread shared by successful founders
- Where the original spark for an idea usually comes from
- The long path to launch
- What it really takes to find out if anyone wants what you’re building
- Momentum ≠ product-market fit
- Knowing when to change direction — even when something’s working
- What it feels like when things finally click
- The tradeoffs behind saying no to customers, features — even revenue
- How founders think about scaling, hiring, and go-to-market
- The one question all founders should ask themselves every morning
Where to find the founders:
- Abhinav Asthana: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhinavasthana/
- Adam Guild: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamharrisonguild/
- Adit Abraham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aditabraham/
- Anil Varanasi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anilcv/
- Ankur Goyal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankrgyl/
- David Cramer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmcramer/
- Gorkem Yurtseven: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gorkemy/
- Immad Akhund: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iakhund/
- Jake Stauch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakestauch/
- Jyoti Bansal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jyotibansal/
- Tomer London: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomerlondon/
- Zack Kanter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zkanter
Where to find Brett:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson
Where to find First Round Capital:
- Website: https://firstround.com/
- First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital
- This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast
Companies:
- Braintrust: https://www.braintrust.dev/
- Fal: https://fal.ai/
- Gusto: https://gusto.com/
- Harness: https://www.harness.io/
- Meter: https://www.meter.com/
- Mercury: https://mercury.com/
- Owner: https://www.owner.com/
- Postman: https://www.postman.com/
- Reducto: https://reducto.ai/
- Sentry: https://sentry.io/
- Serval: https://www.serval.com/
- Stedi: https://www.stedi.com/
Timestamps:
(00:38) Early signs of hustle
(01:01) Where the original spark for an idea usually comes from
(01:58) The long path to launch
(03:00) What it really takes to find out if anyone wants what you’re building
(04:01) Momentum ≠ product-market fit
(04:42) Knowing when to change direction — even when something’s working
(05:23) The tradeoffs behind saying no to customers, features — even revenue
(07:05) What it feels like when things finally click
(08:51) Why hiring and go-to-market become more difficult at scale
(10:23) The one question all founders should ask themselves every morning