Artisanal Podcast

Andrew Feldman | How Cerebras Built the "Impossible" AI Chip Now Challenging NVIDIA

What happens when you decide to build a revolutionary AI chip that's 56 times larger than anything else in history, years before the world even knows what AI will become? In this episode of the Artisanal Podcast, Andy Price (Founder, Artisanal Ventures & Artisanal Talent) sits down with Andrew Feldman—the co-founder and CEO of Cerebras—to discuss his journey as a "professional David" battling the Goliaths of the tech world. Andrew shares how his upbringing on the Stanford campus, surrounded by Nobel Prize winners, instilled a deep intellectual curiosity where ideas were the currency. He reveals the audacity it took to convince top-tier investors to back a "gigantic atom-splitting, likely-to-fail thing". And he explains how a shared vision and a commitment to engineering methodology allowed his team to solve a problem that had stumped brilliant minds like Gene Amdahl, IBM, and even Elon Musk for decades. A must-listen for entrepreneurs who believe in the power of relentless grinding, big ideas, and building a company fueled by passion and purpose.

Doug Merritt | Lessons from Tech's Toughest Battles & Building Billion-Dollar Empires

What happens when a CEO scales a company to over $2.5 billion in revenue, establishes it as a defining force in enterprise software, and then faces a shocking, unexpected exit? In this episode of the Artisanal Podcast, Andy Price (Founder, Artisanal Ventures & Artisanal Talent) sits down with Doug Merritt — the former CEO of Splunk and current CEO of Aviatrix — to discuss his relentless drive, the "grind factor" that propelled his career, and the pivotal moments that shaped him. Doug shares his candid experiences from early roles at Oracle and SAP to founding Icarian, the challenges of leading Splunk through a monumental cloud transformation, and the profound impact of his abrupt departure. Now at Aviatrix, he’s tackling a new, critical mission: evangelizing a cloud-native security fabric to protect against the escalating threat of data breaches in a wide-open cloud environment. A must-listen for founders, aspiring leaders, and anyone interested in the resilience required to navigate the complexities of enterprise tech, massive market shifts, and unforeseen personal and professional challenges.

Mike Monovoukas | How AcuityMD is Revolutionizing Med-Tech with AI

What happens when a company leverages cutting-edge AI and a deep industry understanding to solve a fundamental problem in bringing life-saving medical technology to patients faster? In this episode of the Artisanal Podcast, Andy Price (Founder, Artisanal Ventures & Artisanal Talent) sits down with Mike Monovoukas — the Founder & CEO of AcuityMD — to talk about their journey creating an AI platform for the med-tech industry, securing funding from top VCs like Benchmark, and navigating the complexities of healthcare. Mike shares how AcuityMD focuses on enabling sales reps with data-driven insights, why transparency and a shared mission are critical to team retention, and his long-term vision for optimizing the entire medical device product lifecycle. A must-listen for founders, investors, and professionals keen on understanding the future of healthcare technology and effective startup leadership.

Greg Schott | Rebuilding MuleSoft, API-Led Growth, & Talent as a Superpower

What happens when a first-time CEO takes over a floundering startup in the middle of a financial crisis — and turns it into a $6.5B exit? In this episode of the Artisanal Podcast, Andy Price (Founder, Artisanal Ventures & Artisanal Talent) sits down with Greg Schott — the former CEO of MuleSoft — to talk about rebuilding from the ground up, architecting culture, and scaling a product-led enterprise business. Greg shares how he went from a mechanical engineering background to enterprise leadership — and how focus, talent obsession, and narrative precision helped transform MuleSoft into a category-defining company. A must-listen for founders navigating the complexities of growth, culture, and product-market fit in enterprise infrastructure. artisanalpodcast.com [https://artisanalpodcast.com/]

Christina Cacioppo | Vanta, No-Drama Leadership, & The Future of Compliance Automation

What happens when a founder quietly builds one of the most trusted companies in enterprise software? In this episode of The Artisanal Podcast, Andy Price (Founder, Artisanal Ventures & Artisanal Talent) sits down with Christina Cacioppo — the dynamic CEO & co-founder of Vanta — to talk about building with calm intensity, scaling with discipline, & creating a category before it had a name. Christina shares her unique path from venture capital to product management to company-building, and explains how focus, trust, and a no-drama culture helped turn Vanta into the leader in security & compliance automation. A must-listen for founders navigating high-stakes leadership, early product-market fit, & the future of enterprise infrastructure. artisanalpodcast.com [https://artisanalpodcast.com/]