Ambition 2.0 From Dorm Rooms to $8 Million in Funding: Life Lessons from the Founders of Phia
Oct 29, 2025
Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, co-founders of Phia and hosts of The Burnouts podcast, share their journey from Stanford classmates to successful entrepreneurs. They reveal how their dorm project turned into an $8 million startup, backed by high-profile investors. The duo discusses the balance of friendship and business, setting 'ground rules' for collaboration. They emphasize the importance of personal branding and share lessons on fundraising, avoiding burnout, and the creative process behind their podcast. Their insights inspire aspiring founders and highlight the power of resilience.
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Packaged Assistant Matches Real Shopping Flow
- Phia packages the shopper's normal flow — reviews, alternatives, resale value, and sizing — into one assistant to save time and money.
- The founders see a gap: women shop daily yet lack a trusted, consolidated shopping tool.
Class Project Turned Company
- Sophia and Phoebe started Phia as a generative AI class project at Stanford and built a Chrome extension to find cheaper secondhand alternatives automatically.
- Their professor funded them with a $250,000 grant and they moved to New York to turn the project into a company.
Dorm Life Built Co-Founder Trust
- Phoebe and Sophia were nervous college roommates who learned communication fast in a small dorm and later turned that bond into a co-founder foundation.
- Living together revealed strengths and weaknesses and laid groundwork for trusting each other under stress.
