The First Pitch
Founders break down the pitch that raised their first round — and the full arc of what happened next.
Hosted by Patrick Thompson and Somrat Niyogi.
Godard Abel, G2
Godard Abel built and sold BigMachines and SteelBrick before founding G2, now the world's largest software marketplace. He revisits the pitch that kicked it off — and the lessons of starting three companies.
Elaine Zelby, Tofu
Elaine Zelby crossed from investing at SignalFire to co-founding Tofu, an AI platform reinventing B2B marketing. She walks Patrick and Somrat through her first pitch — and what the leap from VC to founder really taught her.
Casey Winters, SuperMe
Casey Winters drove growth at Pinterest and Grubhub and led product at Eventbrite before co-founding SuperMe. He breaks down his first pitch with Patrick and Somrat — and how a career in growth shapes the way you sell an idea.
Patrick Thompson, Clarify
In episode 1 of The First Pitch, Patrick Thompson revisits how he pitched the Autonomous CRM — why he started with a memo, not a deck.