The Ignite Podcast
Conversations that
move the field.
Hosted by Brian Bell, Ignite brings founders, investors, and thought leaders together for candid conversations about startups, venture capital, technology, and society.
Sep 1, 2026 · 00:35:44
Ignite VC: The Startup Metrics VCs Actually Care About with Frank Mastronuzzi & Laurel Mintz | Ep293
Fabric VC screens for roughly $40K MRR while deliberately looking beyond the AI deals consuming most of venture’s attention. Laurel Mintz and Frank Mastronuzzi bring unusually deep operational backgrounds to venture investing. Laurel built Elevate into a marketing agency that…
Aug 27, 2026 · 00:49:10
Ignite Psychology: How to Win High-Stakes Negotiations and Close Better Deals with Alex Adamo | Ep292
Alex Adamo says he currently manages or advises on $6.5 billion of negotiations, including deals worth $50 million to $500 million.Alex is the chief negotiator behind The Commercializer, a London-based firm that supports Fortune 500 companies on large commercial negotiations. He…
Aug 24, 2026 · 00:39:25
Ignite Startups: How AI Is Reinventing Lifecycle Marketing with Neha Mittal | Ep291
Neha Mittal says Just AI has driven roughly a 3-4% top-line lift through lifecycle marketing optimization.Mittal is the co-founder and CEO of Just AI, a Team Ignite portfolio company. Before founding it, she built a data team at Twitter from 2-3 people to 100-200 and later…
Aug 20, 2026 · 00:41:29
Ignite Startups: How AI Agents Are Transforming Procurement and Sourcing with Peter Cetale | Ep290
Sourcerer grewmonthly order volume from $300,000 to $1.5 million while surpassing $2 million in annual recurring revenue. Peter Cetale is the co-founder and CEO of Sourcerer, an autonomous execution layer for physicalgoods and global trade. Before Sourcerer, he founded and sold…
Aug 17, 2026 · 00:53:34
Ignite Startups: Bhaskar Sunkara on Reinventing Business Analytics with AI | Ep289
Bhaskar Sunkara helped build AppDynamics from a laptop on a couch to a $3.7 billion Cisco acquisition. Bhaskar Sunkara was employee number one and founding CTO at AppDynamics. Over nearly a decade, he helped turn the company into a category-defining application performance…
Aug 13, 2026 · 00:41:34
Ignite AI: Why the Next Great AI Companies Will Be Technology-First with Emmanuel Vallod | Ep288
Dark Matter Lab can give Berkeley researchers up to $1 million before incorporation, split between capital, compute, legal, and operating resources. Emmanuel Vallod is a partner and head of venture research at Hivemind Capital, where he invests across AI, crypto, payments, and…
Aug 10, 2026 · 00:44:25
Ignite Startups: Taylor Offer on The Relationship Intelligence Platform Changing Go-to-Market | Ep287
Before Atrios existed, Taylor Offer was already making well over six figures a year from warm introductions. Taylor is the founder and CEO of Atrios, an A16Z-backed relationship intelligence platform built to turn warm introductions into a repeatable go-to-market channel. Before…
Aug 3, 2026 · 00:49:45
Ignite Political Economy: The Geopolitical Risks Founders Are Underpricing with Frank Lavin | Ep286
A $300 million Indonesia launch can be reckless when first-year revenue may reach only $5 million. Frank Lavin, a fellow at the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future, served in the Reagan White House and later became U.S. ambassador to Singapore. He also worked on…
Jul 27, 2026 · 00:38:11
Ignite Startups: Passive Sensors, Drone Swarms, and the Future of Air Defense with Deo Arlo | Ep285
Arlo Industries is replacing 100-year-old radar assumptions with a passive sensor mesh built to track small drones in real time. Deo Arlo is the founder and CEO of YC-backed Arlo Industries. Born during violent riots in Indonesia, he later spent six years in Israel, experienced…
Jul 20, 2026 · 00:35:36
Ignite AI: The Future of Voice AI Testing and Self-Improving Agents with Tarush Agarwal | Ep284
A multi-turn prompt attack convinced one of the biggest providers’ voice agents to issue a $150 discount code. Tarush Agarwal is the co-founder and CEO of Cekura.ai, which builds testing and verification infrastructure for voice agents. Before founding Cekura, he studied…
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