san-francisco
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Varun Vummadi and the year the idea kept changing
He turned down a Stanford PhD offer to build with his college friend. Finding something worth building took longer: a tutor, a model business, and a year of uncomfortable revisions before Giga found its way into customer support.
David Perry and the stories that refuse to stay put
A publicist goes to Italy for three months and comes home with a thriller. For David Perry, the detour belongs to a longer story about ocean liners, television interviews and the history under San Francisco’s feet.
Ant Taylor and the trouble with an empty seat
A sold-out Olympic event with room to spare sent Ant Taylor into ticketing. His journey through Lyte, its shutdown and a new role in AI is a story about the distance between a clever system and a working business.
Kaustuva Das and the work before the headline
At Thermal, Kaustuva Das helps scientists and founders become understood in public. His career offers a view of the preparation, judgment, and relationships behind a story that travels.
Tugce Bulut and the trouble with a tidy answer
A consultant wanted to know how people actually lived. Tugce Bulut built Streetbees to ask them, then started again with Eloquent AI and a different kind of everyday friction.
Ari Malik’s Theory of Being There
At Tesla, Ari Malik saw how much work begins after a loan is made. Building Salient with a school friend, he learned that the shortest route to better software ran through a lender’s office.
Scott Bambacigno’s Long Bet on the Business Behind Bitcoin
Before he became Alphapoint’s CEO, Scott Bambacigno sold enterprise software, built coffee businesses, and took exchange technology on the road. His career follows the patient work of turning a new idea about money into something institutions can use.
Andrew Freeman found his audience at the dinner table
An aspiring actor became a waiter, then a hospitality marketer. Through New York dining rooms and a San Francisco dinner party, Andrew Freeman learned how much can happen when the right people sit down together.
Hoala Greevy and the unexpected return on a free lunch
A software sale in a supermarket parking lot taught Hoala Greevy to pay attention. From Honolulu to San Francisco, the Paubox founder has kept finding his next idea in the same place: a conversation.
Rune Kvist and the weight of a promise
He helped bring Anthropic’s models to market. Now, at the Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company, Rune Kvist is building the audits, standards and insurance that could make AI easier to trust.
Nick Sheth and the work after the big idea
At Gap, Nick Sheth helped make shopping fit the phone in a customer’s hand. At ScaleCreative, he turned his attention to the creative work piling up behind the screen.
Anand Tumuluru and the Arithmetic of Dinner
He built business systems at Flipkart, worked at Uber and opened a restaurant with friends. At Loop AI, Anand Tumuluru is bringing those experiences to a question every delivery order leaves behind: what did the restaurant actually earn?
Ranjan R Reddy and the Trouble With a Perfect Stranger
A college fascination with mobile phones became a career in payments. At Bureau, Ranjan R Reddy is following the question that every payment leaves behind: whom can you trust?
Jaspar Carmichael-Jack and the three words he had to outgrow
Artisan’s co-founder turned “Stop hiring humans” into a sales pitch heard far beyond Silicon Valley. His next act asks a harder question: what should the humans do instead?
Kirti Shenoy and the problem hiding inside payday
A staffing startup sent Kirti Shenoy looking for better payroll software. The search became Zeal - and a career spent untangling what happens between a shift worked and a paycheck received.
Vishal Sankhla and the work between the work
Before Outmarket AI, Vishal Sankhla sold handicrafts, built social analytics software, and led teams at Uber and Meta. His latest company takes aim at the paperwork standing between insurance brokers and their clients.
Tony Scherba and the problem after the prototype
He learned to build apps for musicians, helped Chelsea Handler make an escape button, and co-founded Yeti. Now Tony Scherba is working on what happens after the software works.
Jessica Sturzenegger and the Case for One More Store
Before Amara reached national retailers, Jessica Sturzenegger drove from store to store asking managers to sign a card. Her education in building a food company began with the small, uncomfortable business of asking.
Ben Pham and the life of a brand after goodbye
He helped build Character around the identities companies show the world. With Obello, Ben Pham is working on what happens after the agency hands over the files.
Michael Hughes and the business of second chances
A blackjack-table introduction helped Michael Hughes get LoopUp started. The harder work was keeping it going - and opening the same doors for a new generation of engineers.
Luis Vivas and the business of being ready
Before Luis Vivas owned a printer, he had already promised to deliver the banners. The VIVAS founder has spent the years since turning that early wager into a working method, one wall, van and deadline at a time.
Lynn Pieper Lewis and the questions before the bell
Before founding Gilmartin Group, Lynn Pieper Lewis evaluated companies from Wall Street. Her second act has been helping executives prepare for the questions coming from the other side of the table.
Val Pavliuchenko Wants AI to Show Its Working
The Hosanna founder designs interfaces for technologies that can do more than their users expect. His starting point is unusually personal: he knows the discomfort of handing over control.
Gary Larson and the six-block journey into a school fight
A school-board hearing drew Gary Larson out of his living room and into education advocacy. The founder of Larson Communications has spent the years since helping schools make their case to the public.
Stefanie Roumeliotes and the work before the victory speech
Stefanie G. Roumeliotes built SGR Consulting around the work that gets candidates and causes funded. Her story runs through Greek-American family life, San Francisco politics and a determination to help more women take their place in public life.
Vijay Chattha would like a word. Six, preferably.
Before he helped startups find their voice, Vijay Chattha helped Philadelphia find a night out. The VSC founder, investor and Punjabi funk rapper has been working on the same problem ever since: giving people a reason to pay attention.
Steve McBee’s second theory of power
He built the firm that became Signal Group, then left Washington to change the energy business. Now Steve McBee is asking why an industry with commercial momentum still struggles to organize political power.
Dimitri Dadiomov and the meeting that wouldn’t end
A weekly gathering with yellow-highlighted bank statements helped send Dimitri Dadiomov into business. The Modern Treasury co-founder has spent the years since trying to make money easier to follow - and recently changed his own job to keep building.
JJ Zhuang and the business of giving time back
He helped turn a small email startup into Outlook Mobile, then wrestled with the logistics behind Instacart. Now JJ Zhuang is asking what happens when software becomes easier to build than the ideas behind it.
Ron Young keeps finding the right crew
From an America’s Cup campaign to a social network for marketers, Ron Young has spent his career bringing specialists together. His other regular appointment is a sailing luncheon, where the introductions keep coming.