In this episode, Sandhya Hegde chats with Julianna Lamb, co-founder and CTO of Stytch. Stytch is a comprehensive tool for identity management. Its auth and fraud prevention capabilities improve both security and user experience. Last valued at $1.0B, the company now works with over 1000 customers.

Join us as we discuss: 

00:00 Preview: early product surprises for the Stytch team

01:53 Introduction to Stytch and identity management

05:15 The founding insight for Stytch

10:27 Validating the idea and Minimum Viable Product

12:27 Choosing a customer segment and MVP

14:33 Surprises and patterns in early customers

17:57 Lessons from Plaid and building a flexible solution

19:46 Approach to developer marketing

22:20 Approach to developer awareness and hiring

26:32 Starting a company in an unusual environment

30:53 Impact of AI on authentication and fraud prevention

34:25 Advice for developers starting a company

Sandhya Hegde is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in modern SaaS companies with a focus on AI. Previously an early executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at sandhya@unusual.vc and 

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Julianna Lamb is the co-founder and CTO of Stytch. 

Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building the next generation of software companies. Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Webflow, Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, and Harness. Learn more about us at https://www.unusual.vc/.