The Deep End by ODF

Today we’re chatting with Mo El Mahallawy, CTO and co-founder of Shepherd.Shepherd is all in one commercial insurance platform focused on high hazard industries. The company is on an absolute tear and this month they announced a $13.5M series A.Mo and I decided to sit down and record a conversation because the journey of Shepherd will resonate with many potential founders who are try to find those two key missing pieces: who might I start a company with and what might we build together?Right as the world was shutting down due to COVID, Mo joined ODF3 where he met one of his co-founders at Shepherd — Justin Levine. Mo and Justin soon embarked on a journey to determine what they could build together that had potential to solve a real customer problem.After pivoting through several ideas across a variety of sectors, they honed in on an area where one of them had a unique insight — construction insurance.This is an instructive story about how to find co-founders and how to build a great business together. Enjoy!Are you exploring starting a company? We’ve got a program for that!ODF has helped 1k companies like Shepherd (ODF3) find their co-founders, get started and go on to raise over $2B. Applications for our IRL cohorts in San Francisco are now open. Learn more and apply at beondeck.comMo on X/Twitter and his company Shepherd.beondeck.comOn Deck on X/TwitterJulian on X/Twitter and blogPodcast episode archive and show notes

Today’s conversation is rare but vital — we spend much of our time talking about the challenges around shutting down companies. While I spend most of my time writing about how to build towards success, the stark reality is that most companies fail. Shutting down your company is incredibly painful but it’s particularly lonely — you often feel like you have limited support and guidance.That’s why Stevie and I felt it was so important to record this episode. We hope this episode is a resource to every founder in the years ahead that makes the decision that it’s time to move on. It’s packed with personal stories from Stevie, tested tactics, and best practices.We also spend some time talking about startups, identity, and the long arc of ambition. Contrary to what you might expect, I found this to be an inspiring and entertaining conversation — I think you will as well.Are you exploring starting a company? We’ve got a program for that!ODF has helped 1k companies get started and go on to raise over $2B. Applications for our IRL cohorts in San Francisco are now open. Learn more and apply at beondeck.comStevie on X/Twitter and her newsletter Highly Regulatedbeondeck.comOn Deck on X/TwitterJulian on X/Twitter and blogPodcast episode archive and show notes

ODF is thrilled to announce its partnership with Puzzle — all ODF participants and alumni now save hundreds of dollars, To learn more go here.--Are you exploring starting a company? We’ve got a program for that!ODF has helped 1k companies—like Puzzle which was ODF8—get started and go on to raise over $2B. Applications for our IRL cohorts in San Francisco are now open. Learn more and apply at beondeck.compuzzle.ioSasha on X/Twitterbeondeck.comOn Deck on X/TwitterPodcast episode archive and show notesFor this episode of the Deep End, Sasha dropped by On Deck co-founder Julian Weisser's house in SF to talk about why he decided to decade his next decade to building better accounting software for startups.Sasha realized that building Puzzle was essential for startups to have the best chance at thriving in an increasingly complex world. Puzzle puts accounting on autopilot and enables founders to be able to zoom in on any area of their business, model out scenarios, and plan for the future. It also makes the diligence process during finance and acquisitions go smoother.

Are you exploring starting a company? We’ve got a program for that!ODF has helped 1k companies—like Respell which was ODF17—get started and go on to raise over $2B. Applications for our 20th cohort in San Francisco are now . Learn more and apply at beondeck.comrespell.aiMatt on X/Twitterbeondeck.comOn Deck on X/TwitterPodcast episode archive and show notesFor this episode of the Deep End, Matt Rastovac dropped by On Deck co-founder Julian Weisser's house in SF to talk all things AI and his experience as a second-time founder.With his new company Respell, Matt is building AI-powered workflows and agents to assist on tasks enabling individuals and teams can be more effective than ever before. During our conversation Matt shares how he thought through building the first version of Respell, how to educate potential customers about breakthrough technology, and what he’s learned about sales.Prior to Respell, Matt was the co-founder and CTO of Atmos a vertically integrated solution for building a custom home. Matt shares what he learned at his first company, how he’s transitioned into the CEO role at his second one, his unique and compelling method of hiring and evaluating talent, and much more.

Earlier this week Celine Halioua (ODF2), founder and CEO of Loyal — a dog longevity biotech startup — announced something truly groundbreaking.Loyal (ODF2) has earned what they believe to be the FDA’s first-ever formal acceptance that a drug can be developed and approved for lifespan extension. As Celine says in her announcement; “I started Loyal 4 years ago with the explicit goal to get the first drug FDA approved for lifespan extension itself - no disease, just healthy, longer"..."We can't start selling the drug yet - we need to complete the safety and manufacturing technical sections - but this represents the lions share of the 'existential risk' of both the drug program, and of Loyal AKA - we are doing it!!!”Laura Deming is a longevity biotech investor with an incredible batting average. 5 of 18 startups she’s backed so far have gone public. She was the first investor in Loyal and had this to say:"This just dropped - the most important milestone in the history of longevity biotech. put simply, this is the FDA’s first-ever formal acceptance that a drug can be developed and approved to extend lifespan. the longevity field is evolving quickly. No one I know in the field would have said this was possible 5 years ago. Celine got it done in 4. It’s a massive win for both biotech founders and regulators, in establishing a pathway by which drugs (initially for dogs) can get approved for lifespan"You’re about to listen to an archival interview with Celine just one and a half years into starting Loyal which is now 4 years old. It’s an incredible conversation with interviewer Marshall Kosloff and shows just how much can be accomplished in a few short years.Congrats to Celine and the entire Loyal team on what is truly an unparalleled milestone.Are you exploring starting a company we’ve got a program for that?ODF has helped 1k companies like Loyal which was ODF2 get started and go on to raise over $2B. Applications for our 20th cohort in San Francisco are now . Learn more and apply at beondeck.comloyalfordogs.comCeline's personal websiteCeline on X/Twitterbeondeck.comOn Deck on X/Twitterpodcast episode archive and show notes

Joining me in the deep end is US Navy veteran Mike Slagh — founder of Shift — an organization that has built the most significant bridge between the Department of Defense and the startup ecosystem.Defense Tech is a big deal. We’re just now starting to see it be thought of as a more feasible sector to build startups. Mike might be one of the best people in the world to learn about opportunities to build tech and services that support America and our allies.Before co-founding Shift, Mike felt a calling to serve and joined the United States Naval Academy and was a bomb disposal officer for half a decade.Mike’s first experiences with business go all the way back to when he was a kid helping his grandma Betty run her toy store. As a teenager he became an eBay power seller to generate an additional income stream for their business.In just under 10 days Mike is hosting the Defense Venture Summit, convening founders, operators, over 100 VC funds, and members of the US Military. It’s likely sold out as of publication. But if you are interested feel free to DM Mike on Twitter to see if you can be included.In this episode, Mike and I discuss opportunities in defense tech, a history of the sector, what he’s learned building a premier talent org, hiring veterans, and much more.Are you exploring starting a company we’ve got a program for that.ODF has helped 1k companies get started and go on to raise over $2B.I’m actually recording this podcast intro at our partner Carta’s office as they are hosting us during the 19th cohort of ODF happening right now. The energy is incredible — I’m excited to see what this cohort builds.We’ve just started reviewing applications for our 20th cohort taking place in San Francisco in late January. Learn more and apply at beondeck.comWithout further ado, here’s my conversation with Mike Slagh

Are you exploring starting a company? We’ve got a program for that.ODF has helped 1k companies get started and go on to raise over $2B. Applications for our 19th cohort in San Francisco are due this week. Learn more and apply at beondeck.com--Joining me in the deep end is Max Greenwald — co-founder of Warmly a startup that helps businesses turn warm leads into sales. The company recently announced their series A.I’ve known Max for years and watched the Warmly journey unfold — Max even met his co-founder Alan through ODF.Warmly’s path has not been a straight line. This conversation with Max is candid. He shares the mistakes and lessons learned on the journey towards building a product that customers love.This might be one of the most useful episodes we’ve recorded on the deep end in terms of giving actionable guidance for founders.In this episode, we discuss how to communicate changes in direction to investors and teammates, how to avoid the sunk cost fallacy, how to work with initial design partners, and much more.

Joining me in the deep end is Elaine Zelby — co-founder of Tofu (https://www.tofuhq.com/) — a powerful generative AI platform that enables marketing teams to repurpose their content and run more successful campaigns. Tofu recently announced their $5M seed round led by Index Ventures.We’ve known Elaine for years — first as a friend, then as a participant in ODF2, then as an investor in On Deck during her time as a VC at SignalFire. She’s the first person we refer founders to when it comes to marketing, growth or go-to-market.In this episode, Elaine and On Deck co-founder Julian Weisser discuss how to decide what your startup should build first, what to consider when evaluating potential co-founders, how to think about fundraising in 2023, and the current capabilities of generative AI.Are you exploring starting a company? We’ve got a program for that.ODF has helped 1k companies get started and go on to raise over $2B. Applications for our 19th cohort in San Francisco are due this week. Learn more and apply at beondeck.com

On this episode of The Deep End, Julian Weisser – co-founder of On Deck – sits down with Marshall to discuss the latest from a program that has helped launch over 1,000 startups.Applications for the next cohort of On Deck Founders close on Tuesday, October 24th at 23:59 PST. If you’re exploring starting a company and want to figure out what to build and with whom, we’d love to chat.Apply today → beondeck.com 

Joining us in The Deep End today is Amrit Singh. Amrit Singh is the co-founder of Loop Health, the fastest-growing health insurance startup in India. Loop Health has raised over $40M, led by General Catalyst and Elevation Capital. As we delve deeper into the meta-series of longevity, we engage in a captivating conversation with Amrit, exploring how Loop Health incentivizes health for its users. We'll also venture into the exciting frontiers of the longevity movement and the pivotal role health insurance plays in ensuring our well-being for the long term.

Joining us today in The Deep End is Wallace Torres. Wallace is the Co-Founder of WellTheory. WellTheory is an early-stage startup with a pretty powerful mission: combating the autoimmune epidemic through the use of food as medicine, community care, and personalized insights based on health data. During our conversation, we delve into the story behind WellTheory and the positive impact the startup has had on its customers: helping them decrease fatigue, minimize pain interference in their daily lives, and achieve higher overall life satisfaction. We also explore the various models present in the digital health space, take a closer look at WellTheory's recent pivot towards partnerships, explore the importance of community in the digital health space, and reflect on the challenges of implementing and sustaining community spaces effectively.

Joining us today in The Deep End is Viswa Colluru, the CEO & Founder of Enveda Biosciences. Enveda has raised $175M in their quest to translate nature into medicine. Before founding Enveda, Viswa obtained a PhD in cellular and molecular biology, and started his career as a product manager at Recursion Pharmaceuticals. As our first guest in this series focusing on longevity and health, we speak to Viswa on why nature holds the great untapped potential for new drug discovery, why most drugs don’t work in human trials and what role artificial intelligence will play in unlocking biological and chemical data. We hope this conversation will give you a deep insight into nuances of the pharmaceutical industry, what the future holds for drug discovery and his advice for founders interested in this space.

Welcome to a new mini-series of The Deep End! In these mini-series we explore some of the most complex, societal problems facing us at the moment - helping listeners gain a nuanced understanding of a complex topic - and then be inspired and equipped to build, invest or support startups and founders that are aiming to solve these challenges. In the last mini-series, we looked at the meta-problem of access to housing. We looked at the main bottlenecks holding us back from achieving more accessible and affordable housing, and we spoke to the founders creating a new reality in this field. If you missed any of those episodes, head to wherever you find your podcasts and have a listen. For this mini-series, we are focusing on longevity: the pursuit of longer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives. The idea of living longer has captivated human imagination for centuries. While researching longevity, we identified eight bottlenecks holding us back from achieving longer and healthier lives, and we chatted with On Deck community members and founders to explore them.

Hey everyone, as we gear up for the launch of a new series on longevity next week, we wanted to re-publish this really timeley episode with Eugenia Kuyda, the founder and CEO of Replika, an AI companion company. Our conversation centers around the different use-cases of AI, from task-oriented chatbots to emotionally-supportive AI companionship. We delve into the current state of conversational tech, including how chatbots can become good listeners, and why Replika used a mixture of scripted retrievals and generative AI models for their product. We also discussed the past and future of AI and chatbots. Eugenia explains why task-oriented chatbots like a restaurant booking bot she had worked on previously didn’t catch on in the past, and the future she envisions where you can have an AI co-pilot of your life, like Jarvis from Iron Man, and how this can interact with her conception of the metaverse which she calls the “embodied internet”. This is a great episode for anyone who’s interested in possible futures of how AI can become a part of our lives, not only in helping us do things but in supporting our emotional and social lives. Let's dive in.

Joining us today in the Deep End is Julian Weisser. Julian is the co-founder of On Deck, and a prolific angel investor with over a hundred angel investments including Loyal, Level, Atmos, and more. Every few months, we invite Julian to the podcast to get a sense of what's going on in the world of venture, and this conversation is not different. We look at the growing importance of profitability and revenue generation for investors, as well as the importance of founders aligning their trajectory with investor expectations. We also look at alternative funding models, with Julian discussing Zapier and Bubble’s model of prioritizing revenue and profitability over heavy venture funding. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in understanding the evolving venture capital landscape or thinking about fundraising.

Joining us today in the Deep End is Varun Bhanot. Varun is the co-founder and CEO of Magic AI, a home fitness system that uses AI to give you personalised training on a beautifully designed mirror. Prior to building Magic AI, Varun was the co-founder and CEO of Unhoused, a non-profit that leveraged technology to reduce homelessness. He also participated On Deck Founder’s third cohort. In this conversation, we discuss Varun’s approach to health & longevity. We cover his personal weight loss and gym journey, why European health tech startups have received less attention from the market and what the future holds for longevity companies.

Joining us in The Deep End today is Will Jarvis, co-founder and CEO of Valuebase. Valuebase is building land-centric models to improve property valuations and mass appraisal modeling. Valuebase recently secured $1.6 million in funding, with Sam Altman's Hydrazine leading the round and On Deck participating. Prior to Valuebase, Will served as a Researcher in Residence at On Deck, making today's conversation particularly noteworthy. As we continue our series on housing, we'll discuss the importance of land, Georgism and taxation, navigating the intricate world of ideas, and much more. Let's get started.

Joining us on The Deep End today is Ryan Delk. Ryan is the CEO & Co-Founder of Primer, a startup creating a new education system for children, centered around microschools. Last year, Primer announced that they’ve raised $15M in new capital. Ryan previously worked in Growth + Partnerships at Gumroad, and then joined another marketplace company, Omni, and became COO. In this conversation, we explore where the inspiration for Primer came from, how Primer is overcoming regulatory barriers in the space, and why Ryan believes the best education system is a world-class teacher in as small an environment as possible.

Joining us today in the Deep End is Lauren Self. Lauren is the founder of Roots Homes, a fractional home ownership company, that allows you to build equity in your home while paying rent, which recently raised a $2.2M seed round. In this conversation we explore how Roots is finding the missing middle between renting and buying, helping ensure home-ownership comes with flexibility and how Roots is increasing access to the American dream. ---- View the full series on Housing: https://www.beondeck.com/deep-end/housing

Joining us in The Deep End today for our housing series is Kim-Mai Cutler, a partner at Initialized who invests in proptech, real estate, and climate. Kim's background as a financial markets reporter and early-stage venture startup enthusiast, allowed her to broaden her reporting to include the intersection of the industry and public policy. In 2014, her essay on TechCrunch titled "How Burrowing Owls Lead To Vomiting Anarchists (Or SF’s Housing Crisis Explained)" sparked almost a decade of public advocacy that changed a number of state laws in California around housing and zoning. As our first guest for this housing series, it’s only fitting that we invited Kim to help us understand why housing is a key problem worth solving, what are the implications around the current state of things, and what different bottlenecks founders can work on. We hope this conversation will give you a nuanced understanding of a complex market and practical tactics for building in housing.