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Built Not Born: The Startup Go-To-Market Podcast

Built Not Born: The Startup Go-To-Market Podcast

By: Venture Guides
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Welcome to Built Not Born: The Startup Go-To-Market Podcast—the podcast for early-stage founders and startup leaders who know that great companies aren’t lucky… they’re built through smart execution and a bulletproof go-to-market strategy. Hosted by Sage Nye, Managing Partner at Venture Guides, each episode dives into candid conversations with technical founders, investors, and GTM experts. You’ll get real talk, proven playbooks, and no-fluff advice on how to land your first customers, build a repeatable sales motion, and scale your startup the right way. Forget the hype. This is the go-to resource for founders serious about getting to market, growing revenue, and building companies that last. Ready to scale? Let’s get to work.Copyrights © 2025 All Rights Reserved by Venture Guides Economics Management Management & Leadership Personal Finance
Episodes
  • How Splunk Scaled to a $10B IPO: Tom Schodorf’s GTM Playbook for Founders

    How Splunk Scaled to a $10B IPO: Tom Schodorf’s GTM Playbook for Founders
    Jun 30 2026
    What if the sales strategies that built a $10B IPO could transform your go-to-market engine? In this episode of Built Not Born, host Sage Nye sits down with Tom Schodorf, the sales leader who helped scale Splunk from startup to a $10B IPO, to unpack what actually builds a high-performing go-to-market engine. Tom explains why defining your ICP and aligning company-wide messaging matter far more than aggressive hiring, and how documenting a repeatable sales process creates sustainable growth. He also shares hard-earned lessons about hiring the right support structure around sales teams, avoiding short-term thinking, and building a culture rooted in discipline, coaching, and accountability. From the “unit of one” hiring framework to adapting sales strategies in the AI era, this conversation offers founders and revenue leaders a practical blueprint for scaling without losing focus, clarity, or long-term momentum in increasingly competitive markets today.
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    32 mins
  • Why Most Startups Fail: Founders Don’t Know What They Don’t Know Yet

    Why Most Startups Fail: Founders Don’t Know What They Don’t Know Yet
    May 7 2026
    What if the real edge in building and investing in companies is knowing exactly where your knowledge stops? In this episode of Built Not Born, host Sage Nye sits down with Dave Fachetti, Partner at Venture Guides, to unpack the operator–investor mindset that drives durable outcomes. Drawing on decades of experience, Dave explains why great founders prioritize solving painful, urgent problems before optimizing execution, and how this “efficacy before efficiency” mindset underpins true product-market fit. He introduces his “know what you don’t know” test as a lens for evaluating founders, emphasizing self-awareness, curiosity, and coachability as critical traits. The conversation also explores cap table strategy as a long-term system, the importance of aligning all stakeholders, and why board dysfunction guarantees failure. Dave shares practical frameworks for hiring, leadership, and navigating AI opportunities, while highlighting the balance between conviction and listening. It’s a grounded playbook for founders and investors aiming to build resilient, high-performing companies.
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    35 mins
  • The AI Hacker Era Is Here: Alissa Knight on Rewriting Cybersecurity

    The AI Hacker Era Is Here: Alissa Knight on Rewriting Cybersecurity
    Apr 2 2026
    What happens when a former teenage hacker builds AI that can find security vulnerabilities before attackers do? In this episode of Built Not Born, host Sage Nye speaks with cybersecurity expert, CAIO, Founder, and CEO of Assail, Alissa Knight, about the rapidly evolving intersection of AI and offensive security. Once arrested for hacking as a teenager, Alissa went on to build Ares, a powerful AI model that autonomously discovers vulnerabilities in APIs, mobile apps, and web applications. She explains why the age of adversarial AI means companies must shift from preventing attacks to continuously identifying weaknesses faster than attackers can exploit them. The conversation explores the rise of AI-driven security testing, the emerging “one-person unicorn” founder model, and how startups should think about hiring, fundraising, and defensibility in an AI-first world where directing intelligent systems may matter more than traditional expertise.
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    35 mins
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