After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths I’ve learned:
1. Success in Silicon Valley hinges on connections, hard work and luck.
2. Startups often fail because founders lack fundamental business knowledge.
3. Real, actionable advice comes from those who’ve actually done it.
There’s no such thing as “founder DNA.” If you’re willing to take on risk and invest years of your life in something that has maybe a 10% chance of paying off — less if you’re a woman or person of color — you can be a startup founder.
Here’s why I founded Fund/Build/Scale:
1. To help founders make fewer mistakes.
2. To share successful strategies that can accelerate your go-to-market journey.
3. To inspire more people to see themselves as potential founders. There’s a lot of overlooked talent out there, and we are missing out.
This podcast is for anyone who’s interested in learning the basic skills required to launch a startup, secure initial funding and transform an idea into a sustainable business.
I’m talking to guests about everything: finding a co-founder, conducting customer discovery, recruiting early employees, developing a PLG strategy, fundraising when you’re outside a major tech hub — all of it.
Interested? Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on all major platforms and follow the podcast on LinkedIn or Substack to get articles, excerpts, transcripts and more.
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After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths I’ve learned:
1. Success in Silicon Valley hinges on connections, hard work and luck.
2. Startups often fail because founders lack fundamental business knowledge.
3. Real, actionable advice comes from those who’ve actually done it.
There’s no such thing as “founder DNA.” If you’re willing to take on risk and invest years of your life in something that has maybe a 10% chance of paying off — less if you’re a woman or person of color — you can be a startup founder.
Here’s why I founded Fund/Build/Scale:
1. To help founders make fewer mistakes.
2. To share successful strategies that can accelerate your go-to-market journey.
3. To inspire more people to see themselves as potential founders. There’s a lot of overlooked talent out there, and we are missing out.
This podcast is for anyone who’s interested in learning the basic skills required to launch a startup, secure initial funding and transform an idea into a sustainable business.
I’m talking to guests about everything: finding a co-founder, conducting customer discovery, recruiting early employees, developing a PLG strategy, fundraising when you’re outside a major tech hub — all of it.
Interested? Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on all major platforms and follow the podcast on LinkedIn or Substack to get articles, excerpts, transcripts and more.
Forget the Spin: Startup Myths That Hold Founders Back
Fund/Build/Scale
43 minutes 43 seconds
2 months ago
Forget the Spin: Startup Myths That Hold Founders Back
Rob Biederman has sat on both sides of the table — first as co-founder and CEO of Catalant Technologies, and now as managing partner at Asymmetric Capital Partners. In this candid conversation, he explains why so much of the conventional wisdom around startups is actually counterproductive.
He breaks down why design partners don’t equal traction, why headcount growth is a vanity metric, and why Silicon Valley should stop romanticizing failure. He also shares how Asymmetric evaluates founders, what investors really care about, and the simple test every startup should use to prove they’re solving a real problem.
If you’re a founder chasing milestones that look good on a pitch deck but don’t move the business forward, this episode of Fund/Build/Scale is a reality check you won’t hear anywhere else.
RUNTIME 43:43
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(2:46) “ We have a probably a couple points of differentiation with the broader market.”
(4:46) “ Our happiest spot is kind of in the two-to-six million range for our first check.”
(5:39) “ We want to get to know people probably a year or two before they're going to found so we can really see what they're about and really understand.”
(7:20) “ I think we'd hire most of our founders as investors at our firm, if we had the chance.”
(10:11) What makes a startup relevant, credible, or just differentiated?
(11:32) An easy framework for self-auditing your startup idea.
(13:09) “ I think our industry kind of worships at the altar of failure a little too much.”
(15:08) “ We don't actually really love backing people directly from really big companies.”
(17:00) Rob explains why design partners are a distraction, not a path to real traction.
(21:23) “ If you're gonna get one career, why not spend it trying to trick the world into doing something differently?”
(24:17) One metric founders love that does not predict success from an investor’s perspective.
(25:08) Inside Asymmetric Capital Partners’ four-step pitch review process.
(27:27) Why the best data rooms are simple: “they have no spin.”
(29:46) Rob describes how his firm’s advisor partner model works.
(31:49) The first step in GTM: “ get to the bottom of why your customer is buying from you.”
(35:18) At the start, tell investors “everything you haven't figured out” so you can start planning.
(38:17) “ If you don't tell your doctor the truth, what can they do for you?”
(41:02) What he would do differently if he were launching a startup today.
LINKS
Rob Biederman
Asymmetric Capital Partners
Asymmetric FAQs
Catalant Technologies
Democratizing Care: Announcing our Investment in Counsel Health
EvolutionIQ Raises $21M Series A To Deliver AI Based Claims Guidance Across The Industry
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Thanks for listening!
– Walter.
Fund/Build/Scale
After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths I’ve learned:
1. Success in Silicon Valley hinges on connections, hard work and luck.
2. Startups often fail because founders lack fundamental business knowledge.
3. Real, actionable advice comes from those who’ve actually done it.
There’s no such thing as “founder DNA.” If you’re willing to take on risk and invest years of your life in something that has maybe a 10% chance of paying off — less if you’re a woman or person of color — you can be a startup founder.
Here’s why I founded Fund/Build/Scale:
1. To help founders make fewer mistakes.
2. To share successful strategies that can accelerate your go-to-market journey.
3. To inspire more people to see themselves as potential founders. There’s a lot of overlooked talent out there, and we are missing out.
This podcast is for anyone who’s interested in learning the basic skills required to launch a startup, secure initial funding and transform an idea into a sustainable business.
I’m talking to guests about everything: finding a co-founder, conducting customer discovery, recruiting early employees, developing a PLG strategy, fundraising when you’re outside a major tech hub — all of it.
Interested? Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on all major platforms and follow the podcast on LinkedIn or Substack to get articles, excerpts, transcripts and more.
