Uncharted Podcast

In this episode of Uncharted, host Poya shares invaluable insights from his recent keynote at SaaStanak conference in Croatia. Drawing from his personal journey as an immigrant and his experience helping European startups succeed in the US, Poya breaks down the most common pitfalls founders face when expanding internationally. From the importance of founders owning the sales process to building genuine relationships instead of transactional ones, this episode delivers practical advice on how to navigate the American business landscape. Whether you're considering US expansion or simply looking to improve your sales approach, you'll learn why being opinionated matters, how to add value in follow-ups, and why documentation is critical for scaling success. Don't miss these battle-tested strategies from someone who has helped multiple companies achieve their American dream.

Our speaker this week is Jonathan Festejo. He is the CEO and co-founder of Salesbricks, where he is dedicated to making software easier to buy. He leads the company’s vision, strategy, and long-term growth. With firsthand experience in the challenges of selling software in today’s digital world, Jonathan is focused on making software more accessible through simple, click-to-purchase solutions. Before founding Salesbricks, he managed go-to-market operations at several companies backed by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and oversaw more than $2 billion in software sales contracts.

Arthur Bigeard shares his journey from a passion project to a thriving business, turning a side hustle into a full-time venture. He discusses the long-term mindset behind building scalable software, the lessons learned from working at Morgan Stanley, and the strategic decisions that helped shape g.v, a graph database client. Tune in for insights on entrepreneurship, tech evolution, and making the leap into the unknown!About our speaker: Arthur Bigeard is the founder at gdotv, a universal, plug-and-play graph database client to simplify & accelerate the day-to-day tasks of graph database users. He started this project following a 10 years long cyber security career, specialising in Identity & Access Management and cryptographic solutions.

In this episode of The Uncharted Podcast, host Poya Osgouei sits down with Lucas Lovell, VP of Product at Paddle, to discuss his journey from law school to founding a SaaS company and ultimately transitioning into a leadership role at a fast-growing scale-up. Lucas shares insights on navigating the shift from founder to operator, the value of cross-functional relationships, and the importance of customer empathy in product development. He also offers valuable advice for early-career professionals on prioritizing learning and leveraging strengths to create a lasting impact. Tune in for a deep dive into leadership, adaptability, and growth in the tech world!

This week's guest is Ryan Fox-Tyler who is currently building Hypermode, an AI development platform that makes it easy to build intelligent apps and knowledge graphs. Prior, he led product at Astronomer (the data orchestration company) and spent a decade in various roles at Manulife/John Hancock.

In this episode ofUncharted, we explore the power of collaboration in sales and leadership. Our guest shares insights on how a strong partnership mindset—rather than a zero-sum approach—can drive bigger wins, foster trust, and create lasting professional relationships. From splitting deals to scaling success, we discuss the key ingredients that make teamwork thrive and how these lessons apply to leadership, decision-making, and career growth. Tune in for stories of mutual support, business insights, and advice on building relationships that stand the test of time.

Poya Osgouei, the founder of Event Sponsors, shares insights on the evolution of B2B tech events, the art of relationship building, and how to create valuable networking experiences. From his journey starting at Oracle to becoming an events expert, Poya discusses the shift toward niche communities, measuring event ROI, and strategies for meaningful professional connections.

This episode of the Uncharted podcast features Phil Carr, a tech entrepreneur discussing his journey from founding and exiting My PT Hub (a successful B2B2C fitness platform) to his current venture, Upzelo. Phil shares insights about his recent pivot from a SaaS retention product to an e-commerce loyalty platform, discussing the challenges of second-time entrepreneurship, knowing when to pivot, and his perspective on AI's impact on technology. The conversation covers valuable lessons about self-awareness in entrepreneurship, raising capital, and adapting to changing market conditions. This episode is brought to you by Netsuite, learn more at Netsuite.com

In this episode of Uncharted, Poya kicks off 2025 with an insightful conversation with Haroon, CEO of Autoblocks AI, a company pioneering tools to ensure the safe deployment of AI. Haroon shares his journey from being an ML engineer to co-founding Autoblocks, highlighting his passion for building trust in AI systems. The discussion explores the AI industry's rapid evolution, the challenges startups face in standing out, and the strategic importance of solving immediate customer pain points. Tune in to hear Haroon's grounded perspective on navigating the hype around AI, his thoughts on the battle between AI-native startups and industry incumbents, and advice for those entering the space. About our guest: Haroon is the Co-Founder & CEO at Autoblocks AI, one of the first-ever AI evaluation platforms.  He is also the host of the Building With AI podcast, where he interviews & distills best practices from top AI product teams at companies like OpenAI, Intercom, and Retool.  Haroon previously founded one of the top AI literacy nonprofits in the US, AI For Anyone, and is passionate about democratizing knowledge about AI. Brought to you with support from Netsuite. Learn more at Netsuite.com/scale

Today's guest is Firaas Rashid, CEO and Founder of Hook. Hook is the B2B SaaS platform focused on predictable revenue growth from existing customers. Backed by Lightspeed and LocalGlobe, Hook is revolutionising the way companies forecast their revenue growth using product usage and customer data. He is passionate about changing the way Customer Success is run and building the leading workplace for ambitious people who want to be part of a team. Before founding Hook, Firaas was CTO and Head of Customer Success (EMEA) at AppDynamics, scaling from $170m to $550m Annual Recurring Revenue in 2 years. He led a rapid journey of rebuilding Customer Success to focus on data-driven prioritisation and scale. Prior to that he was a Director of IT at Credit Suisse. Beyond his role, Firaas finds joy in travel, exploring new restaurants, and even taking to the skies. This episode is brought to you with support from Oracle Netsuite. Learn more at Netsuite.com/scale