The Room Podcast
Hosted by Claudia Laurie and Madison McIlwain
About this Show
Welcome to the Room. A series interviewing your favorite tech founders and funders. Our guests were in the room where it happened and they’re sharing their stories.
Latest Episodes
S15E5: Finding Product Market Fit with Fazeshift Co-Founder & CEO Caitlin Leksana
In this episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Caitlin Leksana, co-founder and CEO of Fazeshift, a company building AI agents for accounts receivable. Caitlin traces her path from growing up outside Washington, D.C., and studying mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech to water-desalination re...
S15E4: From Starlink to AI Marketing Agents with Doug Tallmadge, Co-Founder and CEO of Gradial
In this episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Doug Tallmadge, co-founder and CEO of Gradial, a company building AI agents to help enterprise marketing teams execute work across their tools and campaigns. Doug traces his path from growing up in Cincinnati and studying physics at Dartmouth to ...
S15E3: Building the Future of Sleep with Hatch Co-Founder & CEO Ann Crady Weiss
In this episode of The Room Podcast, we sit down with Ann Crady Weiss, co-founder and CEO of Hatch, to trace the path from her Silicon Valley upbringing and early career in law and technology to building one of the most recognizable names in sleep. Ann shares how her family’s connection to Intel ...
S15E2: Secure AI Agents for the Future of Work with NanoCo Co-Founder & CEO, Gavriel Cohen
In this episode of season 15 of The Room Podcast, we speak with Gavriel Cohen, co-founder and CEO of NanoCo and creator of NanoClaw, an open-source framework designed to make powerful AI agents safer and more practical for real-world use.NanoClaw emerged from Gavriel’s own experience using AI age...
S15E1: Building the Infrastructure for Voice AI with Russ d'Sa, Co-Founder and CEO of LiveKit
In this season 15 opener of The Room Podcast, we speak with Russ d'Sa, co-founder and CEO of LiveKit, a platform for building real-time voice, video, and AI agents. LiveKit began as an open-source project for live audio and video. As developers adopted it, the team built cloud infrastructure to h...
Building an Enterprise VC Firm with Jai Das, President and Co-Founder of Sapphire Ventures | Founding the Fund 4
In this bonus episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Jai Das, President, Partner and Co-Founder of Sapphire Ventures, one of the world's leading enterprise venture capital firms backing category-defining B2B software and AI companies. Sapphire Ventures has invested in companies including mond...
Turning Content into Competitive Advantage with Packy McCormick | Founding the Fund 3
In this bonus episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Packy McCormick, founder of Not Boring and Not Boring Capital, an investment firm focused on backing ambitious technology companies tackling large, complex industries. Through his writing, investing, and storytelling, Packy has built one of...
Backing Technical Founders with Amplify Partners Founder Sunil Dhaliwal | Founding the Fund 2
In this episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Sunil Dhaliwal, founder and managing partner of Amplify Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on backing technical founders building infrastructure software, developer tools, cybersecurity, AI, and other foundational technologies....
Investing in Trillion-Dollar Outcomes with Ben Ling of Bling Capital | Founding the Fund 1
In this bonus episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Ben Ling, Founder and General Partner of Bling Capital, an early-stage venture firm that has backed companies including Airtable, Lyft, Square, Palantir, and many others. Before becoming a full-time investor, Ben held leadership roles at Go...
S14E8: From a Shark Tank No to Billion-Dollar Exit with Ring Inventor, Jamie Siminoff
In our season finale episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Jamie Siminoff, inventor of Ring, the smart home security company best known for turning the front door into a connected safety platform. Ring builds video doorbells, cameras, alarms, and neighborhood safety tools that help people mo...
S14E7: Building the AI Layer for Legal Work with Scott Stevenson, Co-Founder and CEO of Spellbook
In this episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Scott Stevenson, CEO and Co-Founder of Spellbook. Spellbook is an AI-powered platform helping lawyers draft and review contracts faster using generative AI directly within their existing workflows. Spellbook enables legal teams to accelerate cont...
S14E6: The End of Waiting for Payday with EarnIn Founder, Ram Palaniappan
In this episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Ram Palaniappan, founder and CEO of Earnin, a fintech company reimagining how people get paid by giving employees access to their earnings in real time rather than waiting for traditional payroll cycles. Earnin is building a new kind of payroll s...
S14E5: Building the Red Bull for Relaxation with Ben Witte, Founder and CEO of Recess
In this episode of The Room Podcast, we sit down with Ben Witte, Founder and CEO of Recess, a consumer wellness brand pioneering a new category of functional beverages designed to help people relax, unwind, and feel better in an increasingly high-stress world. Recess blends ingredients like magne...
S14E4: Why Usage-Based Billing Is Inevitable with Metronome Co-Founder Scott Woody
In this episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Scott Woody, Co-Founder of Metronome, a platform helping companies implement usage-based billing and modernize how they monetize software. Metronome enables businesses to move beyond rigid subscription pricing and instead charge customers based o...
S14E3: Ryan Daniels, Founder & CEO of Crosby, on Legal Services in the Age of AI
In this episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Ryan Daniels, Founder and CEO of Crosby, an AI-first law firm rethinking how legal work gets delivered. Crosby combines AI systems with human legal expertise to provide faster, more transparent, and more scalable legal services, moving away from ...