Malcolm De Leo is the Co-founder and Chief Business Officer at GraphIQ, an innovation-first platform redefining how enterprises discover and connect with business intelligence. With a PhD in chemistry and a 20+ year career spanning Clorox, Orbital Insight, and Quantified, Malcolm has built a reputation for evangelizing innovation, data-driven transformation, and cultural change inside legacy organizations. In this episode, he shares how GraphIQ was born from repeated market frustration, and why the real unlock in AI isn’t the models—it’s the data.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 – Welcome & Guest Introduction

01:30 – Shifting from Science to Startups

03:00 – Lessons in Culture and Change from Big Companies

03:50 – The Origin Story of GraphIQ

05:00 – The “Aha Moment” Behind GraphIQ

06:50 – What Makes GraphIQ Different

09:45 – Go-To-Market Strategy and Ideal Customers

12:15 – The Forgotten Power of Data in the AI Boom

14:00 – Trust, Transparency & Attribution in AI Tools

15:00 – Happy Accidents & the Realities of Fundraising

18:00 – Balancing Revenue vs. Vision

20:20 – Product-Market Fit Frameworks

22:00 – Designing Culture on Purpose

25:00 – Remote Teams and Scaling Collaboration

26:00 – What VCs and Founders Get Wrong About Enterprise Sales

29:30 – Facing the Founder Mindset Shift

36:30 – The Next Chapter for GraphIQ

37:40 – The Future of Enterprise Intelligence

38:30 – Rapid Fire Round

44:50 – Lessons from Orbital Insight & Building Smarter

47:00 – Closing Thoughts & Where to Find Malcolm

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Chris O'Neill is a seasoned tech executive with over 25 years of leadership experience at companies like Google, Glean, and Xero. As the current CEO of GrowthLoop and a board member at GAF, Chris brings deep expertise in AI, cloud, and go-to-market strategy. With a track record of navigating both wartime turnarounds and scaling peacetime operations, he offers a rare blend of operational rigor and visionary thinking. In this episode, he shares why the concept of “wartime vs. peacetime leadership” is outdated, how to truly identify product-market fit, and why agentic AI is set to revolutionize marketing and enterprise workflows. Chris also unpacks his journey from investor back to operator, what founders get wrong about board dynamics, and his vision for building a compound marketing flywheel at GrowthLoop. In Today’s Episode We Discuss: 00:01 – Welcome & Guest Intro: Chris O’Neill’s journey from Google to GrowthLoop 01:45 – Why "wartime vs. peacetime leadership" is outdated 03:25 – How competition woke up giants like Google and Microsoft 06:00 – What real product-market fit looks like (and how to measure it) 09:50 – Scaling after PMF: Go-to-market strategy as a system 10:45 – Why AI is underhyped and marketing workflows are next 12:40 – The rise of agentic AI and fall of legacy marketing stacks 15:30 – AI doing the work vs. SaaS enabling the work 18:20 – How GrowthLoop bootstrapped from Google to enterprise customers 21:55 – Rebuilding the marketing stack around the data cloud 24:30 – Personalization at scale: recreating the small-town customer experience 26:25 – Replacing soul-sucking tasks with AI-powered teammates 31:20 – Agents on both sides: AI as the new brand-consumer interface 33:15 – The vision for GrowthLoop: compound marketing and 1:1 experiences 38:20 – What great board governance actually looks like 41:20 – Building effective go-to-market systems across geographies 44:30 – Operator vs. investor mindset: lessons from both sides 48:30 – How AI may reshape the venture capital landscape 51:20 – The biggest mistakes in turnarounds, boards, and team building 54:00 – Chris’s book recommendations, tools he's excited about, and what keeps him up at nightSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/ignite-podcastSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ignite-conversations-on-startups-venture-capital-tech/id1709248824Follow Chris O'Neill on X: https://x.com/croneill/Follow Chris O'Neill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/croneill/Follow Team Ignite on X: https://twitter.com/ignitevcFollow Brian on X: https://x.com/brianrbellFollow Brian on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bblinkedin/Visit Our Website: https://www.teamignite.venturesSubscribe to Our Newsletter: https://insights.teamignite.ventures/👂🎧 Watch, listen, and follow on your favorite platform: https://tr.ee/S2ayrbx_fL 🙏 Join the conversation on your favorite social network: https://linktr.ee/theignitepodcast//Our sponsor Byldd⁠ helps non-technical domain-expert founders build and launch tech businesses by providing a complete product team - that's everyone you need from designers to engineers to testers, all the way up to a CTO.We'll ship products while you focus on the other essentials: validation, sales, and distribution. Our portfolio companies have been backed by YC, Google, ERA, and other top-tier investors.Get Started Here: https://tr.ee/bylld

Oliver Libby is the co-founding Managing Partner of H/L Ventures and City Rock Venture Partners. With nearly two decades of experience backing high-impact, mission-driven startups, he has pioneered a unique venture studio model rooted in daily active engagement. He's also the co-founder and Chair of the Resolution Project, which has helped launch over 1,000 social ventures around the world. In this episode, he offers a deep dive into values-driven investing, the future of venture capital, and the importance of aligning profit with purpose.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 – From Military History to Mission-Driven VC

02:45 – Family Values and a Lifelong Commitment to Impact

05:00 – The H/L Ventures Model: Daily Engagement, Real Value

09:30 – Why Traditional VC Is Broken

14:00 – Profit Meets Purpose: The New Investment Thesis

17:00 – “Controversial” Impact Bets: Defense, Cybersecurity, Law Enforcement

19:10 – AI, Automation, and the Future of Jobs

21:50 – The Rise of the Creator Economy & Entrepreneurial Resilience

26:25 – Sci-Fi, Star Trek, and the Ethics of Abundance

31:57 – Rebuilding the American Dream: Floor and No Ceiling

39:00 – Should VCs Solve Global Problems?

44:00 – Sustainability Through Innovation, Not Austerity

46:42 – Reinventing VC: Specialization, Collaboration, and Platforms

48:30 – The Resolution Project: 1,000 Ventures, $3K at a Time

54:00 – Billion-Dollar Outcomes from Micro Grants

56:13 – Leadership Lessons from the Frontlines of Impact

59:35 – Why Networking Is the Last Unautomated Skill

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/ignite-podcast

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Our sponsor Byldd⁠ helps non-technical domain-expert founders build and launch tech businesses by providing a complete product team - that's everyone you need from designers to engineers to testers, all the way up to a CTO.

We'll ship products while you focus on the other essentials: validation, sales, and distribution. Our portfolio companies have been backed by YC, Google, ERA, and other top-tier investors.

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David Meerman Scott is a marketing strategist, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR, and the originator of the term “newsjacking.” With a career that spans decades and a front-row seat to the evolution of real-time, fan-first marketing, David offers insights into how founders and brands can break through the noise without losing their authenticity. In this episode, he shares how to humanize your marketing, leverage AI with purpose, and turn passion into influence.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 – Intro and guest background

01:29 – Common marketing mistake: product obsession

03:10 – What’s stayed true vs. what’s changed

04:49 – Evolution of The New Rules of Marketing and PR

06:28 – The new rules for modern marketing

08:49 – HubSpot’s early playbook and inbound marketing

12:03 – Benefits of problem-first storytelling

13:59 – Feedback loop between content and product

17:43 – Importance of owning your content real estate

21:00 – Building a proprietary AI engine with your data

23:06 – Humanizing your brand in the age of AI

25:23 – Fandom, neuroscience, and proximity

27:34 – Mirror neurons and personal connection via video

31:10 – Using imagery and human faces in marketing

34:29 – Newsjacking: real-time marketing strategy

39:54 – Case study: Family lawyer grows business through newsjacking

43:06 – How to use AI without losing your voice

44:20 – The Savannah Bananas and fan-first marketing

48:22 – Organic storytelling vs. performance marketing

50:57 – Tools and AI resources for early-stage founders

52:00 – Crafting your first founder narrative

53:41 – The power of sharing personal passion as a founder

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/ignite-podcast

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ignite-conversations-on-startups-venture-capital-tech/id1709248824

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Mala Ramakrishnan is the founder and managing partner of Progressive Ventures. A Stanford-trained computer scientist, she brings over two decades of experience as a technologist, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. With multiple startup exits and a background as head of privacy at WhatsApp, Mala offers rare insight into B2B AI SaaS, privacy, and inclusive investing.

In this episode, she shares her journey from founding startups in grad school to launching a mission-driven VC fund focused on empowering women and underrepresented founders. Her approach combines deep technical fluency with a bold vision for building a more equitable AI-powered future.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 Launching a startup with $50K and a vision

01:45 Imposter syndrome and the path to technical confidence

03:00 From engineering to product marketing and back

04:15 Exiting two startups and learning through failure

06:00 Leading privacy at WhatsApp and scaling trust

07:10 The founder's obsession: problem over product

08:00 Becoming a VC with purpose and legacy in mind

10:30 Venture capital's power—and its double standards

12:00 Role models, risk aversion, and the wealth gap

14:00 The “three-mile circle” strategy for impact

15:40 Why B2B AI is her investment sweet spot

17:40 What she looks for in early-stage startups

19:00 Product-first investing and founder conversations

20:00 Founders Creative and community-driven deal flow

21:30 Pre-seed is post-launch: the new founder reality

23:00 Access over algorithms in the AI gold rush

24:40 Building privacy into AI from day one

27:30 Automating developer workflows with AI

28:20 Persistence: the underrated founder superpower

29:15 Red flags and non-negotiables in early-stage deals

30:00 Gross margins, credit burn, and financial clarity

31:30 AI-first as the new cloud-first

32:45 A0Dev: democratizing mobile app development

34:00 The AGI era and solo GPs of the future

35:45 Why co-founders matter—and how she chooses them

38:17 End

Subscribe on Spotify:

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Our sponsor Byldd⁠ helps non-technical domain-expert founders build and launch tech businesses by providing a complete product team - that's everyone you need from designers to engineers to testers, all the way up to a CTO.

We'll ship products while you focus on the other essentials: validation, sales, and distribution. Our portfolio companies have been backed by YC, Google, ERA, and other top-tier investors.

Get Started Here: https://tr.ee/bylld

What if the secret to building enduring billion-dollar businesses isn't chasing growth at all costs—but betting on slower, more sustainable scale, even if it means skipping the traditional exit? Jim Curry thinks most of Silicon Valley has it backwards—and he’s proving it, one founder-led company at a time.

Jim Curry is the co-founder of Build Group, a $330M permanent capital firm that invests in long-term, operator-led businesses. Before that, he co-founded OpenStack while at Rackspace and played a pivotal role in scaling one of the earliest cloud pioneers. Now at Build Group, he’s rethinking the VC model itself—with a focus on staying power, not spray-and-pray.

In Today's Episode We Discuss

00:01 Jim Curry’s path from finance to co-founding Build Group

01:00 Lessons from Rackspace and the founding of OpenStack

04:00 Why traditional VCs fail founders in the “middle” of company building

06:45 The problem with forced exits and timing IPOs

08:56 How Build Group’s permanent capital model works

12:02 Why institutional LPs struggle with long-term investing

14:12 Evergreen vs. closed-end fund structures

17:14 Fund mechanics, recycling capital, and tax efficiency

21:00 Ownership strategy, board roles, and check size philosophy

24:36 Avoiding overhyped valuations and focusing on product strength

26:57 Building OpenStack and Rackspace’s cloud missteps

30:53 What Rackspace got wrong—and why they didn’t become AWS

34:03 The value of support over software in cloud hosting

36:41 Traits Jim looks for in long-term, founder-led companies

39:07 Why team-building and product vision matter most

41:03 Operator vs. investor mindset—and the danger of “fixer” thinking

46:18 Go-to-market missteps and sales team scaling advice

49:43 Why LTV:CAC is broken—and better SaaS metrics to use

51:20 How AI is reshaping SaaS—and what Jim’s betting on

53:55 The trouble with agentic AI startups and the value of proprietary data

56:18 Scaling to $10M+ with minimal headcount

57:26 Using AI to transform investment workflows and ICs

01:01:16 Personal AI use cases and GPTs in everyday investing

01:04:03 Closing reflections on staying curious, tinkering, and future fund models

Subscribe on Spotify:

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Our sponsor Byldd⁠ helps non-technical domain-expert founders build and launch tech businesses by providing a complete product team - that's everyone you need from designers to engineers to testers, all the way up to a CTO.

We'll ship products while you focus on the other essentials: validation, sales, and distribution. Our portfolio companies have been backed by YC, Google, ERA, and other top-tier investors.

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Osama Elkady is the co-founder and CEO of Incorta, the only open data delivery platform enabling real-time analysis across all systems of record without complex ETL. With nearly two decades at Oracle—where he led innovations in BI, mobile strategy, and enterprise reporting—Osama holds several patents in data architecture and has helped numerous Fortune 100 companies become real-time enterprises. In this episode, he offers deep insights into unlocking the true power of enterprise data, challenging conventional architectures, and leading through radical innovation.

In this episode, he discusses how Incorta reimagines data access through direct data mapping, why most ETL is outdated, and how simplicity, cloud-native approaches, and smart hiring fuel innovation. His journey from Oracle to founding Incorta is filled with bold decisions, technical breakthroughs, and a relentless focus on business outcomes.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 Osama’s journey from Egypt to Oracle

02:30 Inventing XML Publisher and shaping Oracle’s BI tools

04:45 Why he left Oracle to build Incorta

07:30 The broken state of enterprise data and reliance on Excel

09:30 What is Direct Data Mapping—and why it matters

12:00 Why traditional ETL doesn’t scale in modern systems

14:45 How Incorta enables real-time data access from complex systems

17:30 ETL vs. ELT vs. Incorta’s streamlined approach

20:00 Real-world use cases: Starbucks, Broadcom, and Hormel

25:00 Technical challenges in building a new kind of engine

27:30 Why cloud storage was the unlock for Incorta’s model

30:45 Open standards vs. open source in enterprise data

32:00 Key inflection point: launching Incorta’s cloud-native platform

33:45 GTM strategy—selling outcomes, not tech

36:00 Culture of simplicity: “Think more, code less”

40:10 Building talent pipelines through high-leverage internships

42:30 Leadership lessons on trust, retention, and team dynamics

45:00 The future of data architecture and the rise of lakehouses

50:03 Wrap-up and Osama’s vision for innovation without limits

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Our sponsor Byldd⁠ helps non-technical domain-expert founders build and launch tech businesses by providing a complete product team - that's everyone you need from designers to engineers to testers, all the way up to a CTO.

We'll ship products while you focus on the other essentials: validation, sales, and distribution. Our portfolio companies have been backed by YC, Google, ERA, and other top-tier investors.

Get Started Here: https://tr.ee/bylld

Minha Hwang is a principal applied scientist with a rare blend of technical depth and cross-disciplinary experience—holding dual PhDs in materials science and marketing science. He’s spent his career at the intersection of machine learning, experimentation, and causal inference, helping scale some of the most sophisticated AI evaluation systems in the world. Prior to his current work, Minha helped launch a data science arm within a major consulting firm and served as a business school professor focused on marketing analytics and statistical decision-making.In this episode, Minha shares why false positives are rampant in real-world experiments, how to make A/B testing more sensitive and reliable, and why most machine learning teams overlook the power of causal inference. We also explore the growing importance of reinforcement learning, open-weight models, and how to evaluate AI when traditional metrics fall short.In Today’s Episode We Discuss:00:00 Intro00:40 Minha’s Engineering Roots and PhD at MIT01:55 Jumping from Engineering to Consulting at McKinsey03:15 Why He Went Back for a Second PhD04:35 Transition from Academia to Applied Data Science06:00 Building McKinsey’s Data Science Arm07:30 Moving to Microsoft to Explore Unstructured Data08:40 Making A/B Testing More Sensitive with ML10:00 Why False Positives Are a Massive Problem11:05 How to Validate Experiments Through “Solidification”12:10 The Importance of Proxy and Debugging Metrics13:35 Model Compression and Quantization Explained15:00 Balancing Statistical Rigor with Product Speed16:30 Why Data, Not Model Training, Is the Bottleneck18:00 Causal Inference vs. Machine Learning20:00 Measuring What You Can’t Observe21:15 The Missing Role of Causality in AI Education22:15 Reinforcement Learning and the Data Scarcity Problem23:40 The Rise of Open-Weight Models Like DeepSeek25:00 Can Open Source Overtake Closed Labs?26:15 IP Grey Areas in Foundation Model Training27:35 Multimodal Models and the Future of Robotics29:20 Simulated Environments and Physical AI30:25 AGI, Overfitting, and the Benchmark Illusion32:00 Practical Usefulness over Philosophical Debates33:25 Most Underrated Metrics in A/B Testing34:35 Favorite AI Papers and Experimentation Tools36:30 Measuring Preferences with Discrete Choice Models36:55 OutroSubscribe on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6Ga6v0YUsHotLhjap67uu5Subscribe on Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ignite-conversations-on-startups-venture-capital-tech/id1709248824Follow Brian Bell on X:https://x.com/brianrbell?lang=enFollow Minha Hwang on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/minha-hwang-7440771/Follow Minha Hwang on Twitter:https://x.com/minhahwangVisit Our Website:https://www.teamignite.ventures/👂🎧 Watch, listen, and follow on your favorite platform: https://tr.ee/S2ayrbx_fL 🙏 Join the conversation on your favorite social network: https://linktr.ee/theignitepodcast