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.
Andrew Rea, Taxwire
Andrew Rea talks about TaxWire's competitive positioning in the sales tax space, his approach to fundraising materials at pre-seed and seed, and his journey through founder-led sales... including what he'd do differently in hindsight around hiring and process.
Andrew Peterson, Signal Sciences (acq. by Fastly)
Andrew Peterson built Signal Sciences from nothing to $100M ARR and sold it in 2020 — without a deck, without a background in cybersecurity, and without a clear plan. He sits down with Patrick and Somrat to walk through the whole journey: the accidental seed round, the two years of building before launch, the moment they knew they had something real, and what he'd do differently now.
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.
Nick Scavone, Seam AI
Following Seam AI’s acquisition by Clarify, Nicholas Scavone joins Patrick Thompson and Somrat Niyogi to share the founder journey behind the deal.
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.