Patrick Thompson, Clarify

Summary

Introducing The First Pitch — a biweekly show where Patrick Thompson (Co-founder & CEO of Clarify) and Somrat Niyogi (Partner at Recall Capital) interview venture-backed founders about the very first pitch that secured their funding.

In the debut episode, Somrat turns the mic toward his co-host. Patrick shares the unfiltered story of Clarify’s earliest days — why he wrote a memo instead of a pitch deck, how a year embedded with Amplitude’s sales team shaped the product, and the pitch framework he now gives every early-stage founder he advises.

Key takeaways

• Start with the memo, not the deck.
• Patrick spent a year embedded with Amplitude’s sales team before writing a line of code.
• The fundraising questions that tripped him up — and the framework he now gives early-stage founders.