Startups Decoded

Ep#69: The VC Who Got Rejected by YC — Then Built a $300M Company. Rachel ten Brink

Rachel ten Brink spent two decades inside Fortune 500 companies — P&G, Estée Lauder, L’Oréal — before co-founding Scentbird and scaling it past $300M in revenue. She got rejected by YC three times. Today, Scentbird is in their top 2% by revenue. Now she’s a GP at Red Bike Capital, investing in vertical AI, fintech, and digital health. This conversation is about what changes when you’ve been the client, the founder, and the investor — and why that sequence matters more than most people admit. We cover: * Why Fortune 500 experience is an underrated training ground for founders * What enterprise clients actually evaluate before they say yes — and it’s not your product * How Scentbird pivoted three times before hitting product-market fit * The real cost of fundraising too long — and what to do instead * How Red Bike Capital helps founders land their first enterprise clients If you’re building toward your first enterprise deal, thinking about raising, or just want to understand how operators think differently — this one’s worth your time. Listen: Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startups-decoded/id1791857722] || Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/220mqWlx20TABn7wzCPCeu?si=1c6e91af36d34c92] || YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@startups_decoded] Presented by Deel If you’re making your first or fiftieth hire — and doing it across borders — Deel is worth knowing. They’re supporting Startups Decoded this season for good reason. LEARN MORE. [https://www.deel.com/partners/sd/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=partner-sourced&utm_content=SD&utm_place=organic-community] Subscribe now [%%checkout_url%%] Rachel ten Brink [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-ten-brink-a08151/] Rachel ten Brink is General Partner and co-founder of Red Bike Capital, an early-stage VC fund investing in Vertical AI, Fintech, and Health & Wellness. Previously co-founder and CMO/CRO of Scentbird — a YC-backed subscription she scaled to $300M+ in revenue and top 2% of all YC companies — she spent two decades before that building billion-dollar brands at P&G, Estée Lauder, and L’Oréal. Andy Walsh [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwalsh/] 2× exited founder, brand, growth, GTM, and host of Startups Decoded (500,000 downloads + Top 2% globally). The Studio [https://28thandpark.podyx.com/]  Filmed on location at 28th&Park. A content & production studio for New York’s visionary Builders, Investors, Artists, Musicians, & Creators to amplify their voice & share bold stories. Use the code “Decoded” for 25% off your first booking. Access All Areas * Listen: Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startups-decoded/id1791857722] || Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/220mqWlx20TABn7wzCPCeu?si=1c6e91af36d34c92] || YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@startups_decoded] * Subscribe: Substack [https://startupsdecoded.substack.com/] * Connect: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwalsh/] * Web: startupsdecoded.com [http://startupsdecoded.com/] * Socials: TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@startups_decoded] || Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/startups_decoded/] || X [https://x.com/StartupsDecoded] Music Credit “Neptuno” – Phondupe (Album: Onykia)

EP#68: Why We're Lonelier Than Ever, And How to Fix It - Michelle Parsons

We’re more connected than ever. More lonely than ever. Along the way, something broke. Michelle Parsons left ed-tech to build Lora — a platform using astrology as a framework for genuine human connection. The twist? The tech isn’t the point. The vulnerability is. Andy Walsh sat down with Michelle Parsons, co-founder of Lora, to unpack one of the most uncomfortable truths in tech: we built tools for connection and ended up more isolated. Michelle is a product leader (Kayak, Netflix, Spotify) who spent years watching personalization shape content discovery — and started asking why we weren’t applying that thinking to how people find each other. Lora is her answer. Listen: Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startups-decoded/id1791857722] || Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/220mqWlx20TABn7wzCPCeu?si=1c6e91af36d34c92] || YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@startups_decoded] Subscribe now [%%checkout_url%%] Presented by Deel: If you’re at the stage of making your first or second hire — and doing it across borders — Deel is worth knowing about. They’re supporting Startups Decoded this season for good reason. → LEARN MORE [https://startupsdecoded.com/deel] ← What We Cover: * Why social media broke the promise of connection — and why it’s structural * Astrology as an onboarding framework for vulnerability (yes, really) * The difference between shallow engagement and meaningful relationship * How Lora uses personalization to facilitate depth, not just retention * What community impact looks like when you measure connection, not clicks Michelle Parsons [https://www.linkedin.com/in/michcparsons/] A product leader who’s built and scaled at Kayak, Spotify, Netflix, and Hinge — where she served as CPO and tripled both the user base and revenue. Most recently, she co-founded Lex, a queer-first social platform named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies. Now she’s building Lora, a platform for deeper, more authentic human connection. Andy Walsh [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwalsh/] 2× exited founder and host of Startups Decoded (500,000+ downloads + Top 2% globally). Access All Areas. * Listen: Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startups-decoded/id1791857722] || Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/220mqWlx20TABn7wzCPCeu?si=1c6e91af36d34c92] || YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@startups_decoded] * Subscribe: Substack [https://startupsdecoded.substack.com/] * Connect: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwalsh/] * Web: startupsdecoded.com [http://startupsdecoded.com/] * Socials: TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@startups_decoded] || Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/startups_decoded/] || X [https://x.com/StartupsDecoded] The Studio  [https://28thandpark.podyx.com/] Filmed on location at 28th&Park. A content & production studio for New York’s visionary Builders, Investors, Artists, Musicians, & Creators to amplify their voice & share bold stories. Use the code “Decoded” for 25% off your first booking. Music Credit “Neptuno” – Phondupe (Album: Onykia)

Ep#67: Stop Renting Attention — Why Founders Need to Own Their Platform. Nathan Gwilliam

Most founders spend years building audiences on platforms they don’t control. Nathan Gwilliam watched a guy go from $96M a year to zero — because Amazon changed its mind. The lesson wasn’t about Amazon. It was about whose land you’re building on. Andy Walsh sat down with Nathan Gwilliam — serial entrepreneur and founder of PodUp — to pull apart one of the most dangerous assumptions founders make: that reach equals ownership. After building Adoption.com into the world’s most visited adoption platform and watching founders lose everything to platform policy shifts, Nathan has spent two decades on one question: what does it actually mean to own your audience? Listen: Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startups-decoded/id1791857722] || Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/220mqWlx20TABn7wzCPCeu?si=1c6e91af36d34c92] || YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@startups_decoded] Subscribe now [%%checkout_url%%] Presented by Deel If you're at the stage of making your first or second hire — and doing it across borders — Deel is worth knowing about. They're supporting Startups Decoded this season for good reason. LEARN MORE. [https://www.deel.com/partners/sd/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=partner-sourced&utm_content=SD&utm_place=organic-community] Insight Most founders think about distribution as a growth problem. Nathan reframes it as an ownership problem. This conversation covers first-party data, passion-based community, and why the next big shift in marketing isn’t AI — it’s credibility. What We Cover * Why third-party platforms are rented land * Toyota’s Five Whys applied to audience and ICP * Passion-based vs. brand-based marketing * First-party data as a strategic asset * The credibility marketing shift replacing ads Nathan Gwilliam [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/] A serial entrepreneur, platform strategist, and founder of PodUp, an AI-powered podcasting platform. Over the past two decades he has built and sold multiple ventures, created Adoption.com, the world’s most visited adoption site, and helped media brands grow audiences into the hundreds of millions. Today, he helps entrepreneurs and business leaders build platforms they own. Andy Walsh  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwalsh/] 2× exited founder and host of Startups Decoded (500,000 downloads + Top 2% globally). Access All Areas. * Listen: Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startups-decoded/id1791857722] || Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/220mqWlx20TABn7wzCPCeu?si=1c6e91af36d34c92] || YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@startups_decoded] * Subscribe: Substack [https://startupsdecoded.substack.com/] * Connect: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwalsh/] * Web: startupsdecoded.com [http://startupsdecoded.com/] * Socials: TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@startups_decoded] || Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/startups_decoded/] || X [https://x.com/StartupsDecoded] The Studio [https://28thandpark.podyx.com/]  Filmed on location at 28th&Park. A content & production studio for New York’s visionary Builders, Investors, Artists, Musicians, & Creators to amplify their voice & share bold stories. Use the code “Decoded” for 25% off your first booking. Music Credit “Neptuno” – Phondupe (Album: Onykia)

Ep#66:Why Every Founder Is Already a Generalist — Milly Tamati

Everyone told Milly her résumé didn’t make sense. She turned that confusion into a global community of 800+ people who felt exactly the same. Turns out, being hard to define is your biggest competitive advantage. Andy Walsh sat down with Milly, founder of Generalist World — a community of 800+ operators, founders, and career-builders who’ve stopped apologising for doing too many things well. This one’s for anyone who’s ever struggled to answer “so, what do you do?” without a paragraph-long explanation. Milly grew up milking cows on a farm in New Zealand. She was supposed to become a teacher. Instead, she became a tour guide, a wine tour co-founder, a hostel co-owner, a writer for Tourism Japan, a film producer in Canada, and the Director of Miscellaneous at a tech company — before eventually landing on a remote island in Scotland, wondering why she felt like she didn’t fit anywhere. That feeling became a LinkedIn post. That post became a community. That community now spans 800 members, 150,000 social followers, and 60,000 email subscribers — built entirely without a cent of paid marketing. The twist? She started with 300 LinkedIn connections and absolutely no plan. Listen: Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startups-decoded/id1791857722] || Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/220mqWlx20TABn7wzCPCeu?si=1c6e91af36d34c92] || YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@startups_decoded] What We Cover: * Why generalism is a return, not a trend * The “top 10% in three things” framework for positioning yourself * How Milly built Generalist World from a LinkedIn post * Why resumes are becoming obsolete — and what replaces them * The real reason communities are about to have their moment * Why every founder must be willing to sell (yes, even you) * How AI is accelerating the case for breadth over depth Milly Tamati [https://www.linkedin.com/in/milly-tamati/] Milly is a New Zealand-born founder and community builder behind Generalist World, a global network for builders, operators, and curious career generalists. After 15 years as both an early employee and founder across multiple startups, she now helps 100,000+ people design unconventional, interesting careers beyond traditional paths. Andy Walsh [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwalsh/]2× exited founder and host of Startups Decoded (500,000 downloads + Top 2% globally). Access All Areas. Listen: Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startups-decoded/id1791857722] || Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/220mqWlx20TABn7wzCPCeu?si=1c6e91af36d34c92] || YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@startups_decoded] Subscribe: Substack [https://startupsdecoded.substack.com/] Connect: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwalsh/] Web: startupsdecoded.com [http://startupsdecoded.com/] Socials: TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@startups_decoded] || Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/startups_decoded/] || X [https://x.com/StartupsDecoded] Music Credit “Neptuno” – Phondupe (Album: Onykia)  The Studio  [https://28thandpark.podyx.com/] Filmed on location at 28th&Park. A content & production studio for New York’s visionary Builders, Investors, Artists, Musicians, & Creators to amplify their voice & share bold stories. Use the code “Decoded” for 25% off your first booking.

Ep#65: The Identity Problem Behind Most Startup Brands — Jill Smith.

Most founders think branding is about what they look like. Jill Smith says it’s about how you behave, and most brands have no idea who they actually are.  Fix that first. Everything else follows! Andy Walsh sat down with Jill Smith, CEO of Iris, one of the US’s most respected integrated brand and demand agencies, to unpack what actually makes a brand stick. This isn’t a conversation about logos or color palettes. It’s about identity, community, and why the brands that win long-term are the ones that behave like people, including owning their mistakes. Listen: Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startups-decoded/id1791857722] || Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/220mqWlx20TABn7wzCPCeu?si=1c6e91af36d34c92] || YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@startups_decoded] Subscribe now [%%checkout_url%%] Jill Smith [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwalsh/] Jill’s spent her career in two worlds that most people keep separate: the art world and advertising. That unusual path gave her something most agency CEOs don’t have, a real eye for what’s culturally real versus what’s just noise. Her take: the brands that last are the ones that know exactly who they are, and behave accordingly, consistently, even when it’s uncomfortable. Insight This episode sits at the intersection of brand clarity and founder identity, which is exactly where most early-stage founders get stuck. Jill’s framework isn’t theoretical. It’s operational. Know who you are. Know your community. Behave like a person. Own your mistakes before the internet does it for you. What We Cover: * Why “being different” is a dead end — and what being unique actually means * How to find your high-value audience using data, AI, and synthetic personas * The power of micro-communities over mass marketing * What Liquid Death, Elf Beauty, and California Pizza Kitchen get right about brand behavior * How to turn a brand mistake into a 25% sales increase (the mac and cheese story) * The case for long-form content and experience spend in a world drowning in noise Who Should Listen: * First-time founders trying to find their brand footing * Operators building community around an early product * Founders who’ve been told to “build a brand” but have no idea where to start Andy Walsh [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwalsh/] 2× exited founder and host of Startups Decoded (500,000 downloads + Top 2% globally). Access All Areas. * Listen: Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startups-decoded/id1791857722] || Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/220mqWlx20TABn7wzCPCeu?si=1c6e91af36d34c92] || YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@startups_decoded] * Subscribe: Substack [https://startupsdecoded.substack.com/] * Connect: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwalsh/] * Web: startupsdecoded.com [http://startupsdecoded.com/] * Socials: TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@startups_decoded] || Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/startups_decoded/] || X [https://x.com/StartupsDecoded] Music Credit “Neptuno” – Phondupe (Album: Onykia)  The Studio [https://28thandpark.podyx.com/]  Filmed on location at 28th&Park. A content & production studio for New York’s visionary Builders, Investors, Artists, Musicians, & Creators to amplify their voice & share bold stories. Use the code “Decoded” for 25% off your first booking.