FounderCoHo

𝐀 𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 $𝟐𝟎𝟎 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬. 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐬 𝟗 𝐀𝐈 𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐞. "How hard could it be?" 👇 That's the question that defines Alex Yeh — 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 & 𝐂𝐄𝐎 at GMI Cloud. From elementary school entrepreneur to crypto pioneer to AI infrastructure builder, he's turned every challenge into opportunity. In our conversation, Alex shared the origin stories that shaped his founder mindset. Here are three lessons: • 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲. As a 5th grader, Alex ran a bidding marketplace for "Beetle cards." He bundled rare cards with common ones, learned supply and demand in real time, and made $200. • 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐬 (literally). In 2017, a friend mentioned Bitcoin. Alex bought in at ~$4k with zero hesitation. That bet covered his entire 4-year college tuition. His rule: "Once I decide, I just do it. If I commit, I will commit all the way." • 𝐀 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐭. When China shut down Bitcoin mining overnight, Alex's 7-figure investment was at risk. No US data center would help. So he built 3 in 2 years (6 months each), became Arkansas's largest miner, and laid the foundation for his pivot to AI infrastructure. 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲: 9 global AI clusters, 7x growth in one year. If you're a founder or aspiring one, I'm curious: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 "𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞?" 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭? Drop your story in the comments 👇

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 “𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫” 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐩? 👇 Because they optimize for pitching — instead of designing their company for capital strategy and exit readiness from day one. Join us at “𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝” an in-person FounderCoHo session at Stanford. This isn’t theory. It’s battle-tested insight from founders who’ve raised, scaled, and exited — and now help others do the same. 📍 𝐅𝐞𝐛 𝟐𝟑, 𝟔–𝟗 𝐏𝐌 𝐏𝐓 | 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝 🔗 𝐑𝐒𝐕𝐏 (𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐬): https://luma.com/dnzgomnh 💡 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞’𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫: 1️⃣ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 (but rarely say) — the hidden signals that drive conviction beyond decks and metrics. 2️⃣ 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟏 — how fundraising, cap table, and product decisions shape future outcomes. 3️⃣ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 → 𝐌&𝐀 𝐩𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 — how investor conversations quietly become acquisition paths. 🎤 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬: 🚀 Brendan Marshall — Founder & Managing Director at StartX (Stanford), former CEO of Flow (Acquired by Apex Group) 🚀 Derek Z. H. Yan — Author of 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐥 (https://lnkd.in/g574iXG6), Founder & former CTO of Polarr (100M+ devices, acquired by Pixieset), raised $𝟏𝟑.𝟓𝐌 🎙️ Moderated by Jing Conan Wang, Founder of DeepVista AI & FounderCoHo (ex-Google Brain) If you’re preparing to fundraise, scale, or exit, this is where your strategy gets sharpened.

𝐀 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐀𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲. 👇 A fellow founder and I were catching up, and we both admitted something: the start of 2026 has been exhausting. Opus 4.6, GPT-5.2, OpenClaw—it feels like we're drinking from a firehose. Every week there's another launch, another demo, another thing we're supposed to be paying attention to. Then he said something that made me pause: "What if we're asking the wrong question?" We started talking about what actually endures. Not the flashy new releases, but the stuff that's been true for years. He mentioned the 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭— 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐢𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 10 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐢𝐭'𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 10. And that's when it hit me: The AI model that dropped last week might be obsolete by summer. Meanwhile, the customers we're building for and the problems they're solving have existed for decades—and they're not going anywhere. → 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬. Every new tool is just a different way to serve the same fundamental needs. So we're shifting our focus. Instead of scrambling to keep up with every trend, we're asking: Who are we really serving? What do they actually need? It sounds obvious, but when you're in the middle of the noise, it's easy to lose sight of. 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞? 𝐃𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰. 👇 #AI #Startups #CustomerFocus #LindyEffect

𝐇𝐮𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟. Le Cong 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 Phylo 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 $𝟏𝟑.𝟓𝐌 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐦𝐧𝐢 𝐋𝐚𝐛. Biology is complex — and Phylo’s vision of using AI agents to orchestrate databases, tools, models, and experiments in one workspace feels foundational to the next era of biological research. We’re incredibly honored to have interviewed 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠 on the FounderCoHo podcast, where he shared deep insights on his journey — from co-inventing 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐑 tools that enabled human gene editing, to building an AI-native platform designed to rethink how science is done. You can watch the full episodes here: ▶ Part 1: https://lnkd.in/gdQnVdV9 ▶ Part 2: https://lnkd.in/gSg6Hawy

“𝐈 𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝟑𝟎% 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝟏𝟎𝐱.” 👇 That line hit different coming from Xiaoyin Qu — Founder of 𝐇𝐞𝐲𝐁𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐀𝐈, which raised a $𝟑.𝟓𝐌 seed round led by the 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐀𝐈 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝 with backing from 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐚 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝 and 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐕𝐂, and previously founded Run The World, a virtual events platform that raised a $𝟏𝟎.𝟖𝐌 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐀 co-led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z speedrun) and Founders Fund before being acquired. In this conversation hosted by Jing Conan Wang, the discussion went beyond surface-level startup advice and into the uncomfortable decisions founders rarely talk about especially during rapid scale and sudden contraction. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝟑 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬: 𝟏) 𝐏𝐫𝐞-𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐬 Early revenue even before software exists can flip investor conversations entirely. Traction speaks louder than vision decks. 𝟐) 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 Moving from self-serve to enterprise isn’t a pricing change. It often means rebuilding the product, sales motion, and internal operations from scratch. 𝟑) 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 After scaling fast, cutting back created sharper focus, faster decisions, and higher output even when the emotional cost was real. These lessons come from building through 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐃, raising a $𝟏𝟎.𝟖𝐌 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐀 𝐜𝐨-𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐳 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝, and later rebuilding again in an AI-native world. What’s one hard decision you made as a founder that ultimately made the company stronger? Drop a short answer in the comments 👇

𝐓𝐡𝐞 "𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞" 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐲𝐚𝐫𝐝. 👇 For decades, Spanish captains tried to sail straight from Asia to Mexico. They followed the logical path. They fought the wind. They ran out of water. They died. The Pacific Ocean is filled with the ghosts of sailors who tried to force a route that physics didn't allow. The AI landscape is looking remarkably similar. Founders are trying to "sail East" by building thin wrappers or horizontal SaaS tools, hoping to out-run the next GPT update. They are rowing against a hurricane. In 1565, a friar named Urdaneta survived because he did the opposite. He sailed North—into the freezing unknown—to catch the currents that others ignored. In 2026, "Sailing North" means:  • Abandoning the "User Interface" war.  • Ignoring the "Horizontal SaaS" playbook.  • Building deep, vertical context that no foundation model can replicate. The "obvious" path is closed. The only way home is the Tornaviaje.

Huge congratulations to Anna Goldie and the Ricursive Intelligence team on their $300M Series A at a $4B valuation. Chips really are the fuel for AI — and Ricursive’s vision of closing the recursive loop between AI designing chips and chips powering AI feels foundational to the next era of computing. We’re incredibly honored to have interviewed Anna on the FounderCoHo podcast, where she shared deep insights on her journey and vision for the future. You can watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/eEDpRQ9F Massive respect to Anna Goldie, Azalia Mirhoseini, and the entire Ricursive team. Excited to see what’s next.

She was hacking autonomous cars before ChatGPT existed. Now she’s securing the Agentic future. In 2011, "AI Security" wasn't a hot topic. It was a niche theoretical field. But 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟. Bo Li (𝐂𝐄𝐎 & 𝐂𝐨-𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 of Virtue AI) saw the writing on the wall. Back in 2018, she famously demonstrated how putting a few stickers on a stop sign could trick an autonomous vehicle into thinking it was a "Speed Limit 45" sign. Fast forward to today: The stakes are higher. It’s no longer just about cars misreading signs; it’s about AI Agents having access to your email, your bank, and your database. We sat down with Prof. Li to discuss her journey from a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Professor to raising a $30M Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Prof. Li’s philosophy for founders is simple: "Deep Technology First." Superficial wrappers won't survive, but deep moats built on fundamental research will. Watch the full deep dive into the future of AI Security here. 👇 https://lnkd.in/gSciqR5q

“𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐞.” As 𝐀𝐈 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 into agents—with memory, tools, and autonomy—the attack surface is changing faster than most teams realize. Jailbreaks. Prompt injections. Agent-level exploits. These threats don’t exist in traditional cybersecurity—and humans often can’t even recognize them. In this conversation, 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫 Bo Li, one of the world’s leading researchers in AI security and 𝐂𝐨-𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 & 𝐂𝐄𝐎 of Virtue AI, explains why: • Securing a single model is no longer enough • Red teaming alone doesn’t close the loop • AI needs system-level protection, not point solutions Her framing is simple but powerful: If we have firewalls for cybersecurity, we now need firewalls for AI. 🎬 Full conversation drops tomorrow on our FounderCoHo Youtube Channel If you’re building agents, deploying GenAI, or thinking about AI safety at scale—this is a must-watch.