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Apply the concept of "Your personal Energy Audit" Adrian mentions here: https://followthegradient.io/p/how-to-protect-mental-health-with-the-energy-audit What happens when the traits that make you win are the same ones that quietly undo you? Most founders learn how to push. Few learn when stopping is the harder, necessary move. Follow the Gradient sits down with Adrian Locher, Managing Partner at Merantix Capital, a multi time founder and early stage investor who has seen the cost of relentless ambition firsthand. After exiting a previous company, Adrian pushed harder than ever, until burnout, depression, and personal loss forced a reset . This conversation explores how high performance actually works over decades, not months, and what founders miss when they treat endurance as a personal flaw rather than a design problem. We talk about: Burning out at the peak of success, not during failure Why founders’ greatest strengths often become their most dangerous liabilities The moment productivity collapses when fear quietly replaces curiosity Separating family time and work to eliminate the constant guilt loop Treating recovery as a non optional phase, not a reward Leading teams by modeling boundaries instead of preaching balance This episode is less about fixing habits and more about examining how founders relate to fear, ambition, and self worth when no playbook applies. It offers a lens for thinking clearly under pressure, before pressure turns personal. Our biggest takeaways, including Adrian’s view on what founders misread about endurance: https://followthegradient.io/p/adrian-locher-podcast-burnout  — Where to find Adrian Locher: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianlocher/  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us:  Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/ — 00:00 Introduction 03:52 Burnout at the peak of founder success 05:26 Ignoring early symptoms until everything stops 12:56 Therapy and structuring life around three buckets 20:09 Building companies as a marathon, not a grind 23:49 Leading through authenticity instead of toughness 28:06 Fear as a hidden driver of overperformance 32:25 Helping yourself before helping the company 33:58 Mentoring founders to avoid the lowest lows 37:48 Redefining success beyond money and status

What happens when Europe stops cheering itself on and starts taking responsibility for the outcome? In this episode of Follow the Gradient, we sit down with Judith Dada, Partner at Visionaries Club, to unpack one of the most uncomfortable conversations in European tech right now. Drawing on her work as an investor, writer, and ecosystem builder, Judith brings a rare mix of conviction and realism to questions many founders quietly avoid. This conversation is not about tactics or trend-chasing. It is about agency, moral responsibility, and what it really means to build companies in Europe at a moment when technology, geopolitics, and personal choices are colliding. We talk about: Why performative Euro-optimism can be just as damaging as constant pessimism The hidden risk of Europe settling for the application layer while conceding models and infrastructure How statistics about Europe obscure the difference between averages and outliers founders could still become What founders miss when they treat Europe like a marketplace instead of something they help build Why AI’s impact feels invisible to most organizations while accelerating at the frontier The personal cost of ambition, from childcare trade-offs to deciding when silence becomes complicity This episode offers a lens, not a manual. It explores how founders make decisions when the stakes are unclear, the odds are uneven, and opting out feels easier than staying in the fight. Our biggest takeaways, including Judith’s view on what founders fundamentally misjudge about responsibility and long-term impact: https://followthegradient.io/p/judith-dada-podcast  — Where to find Judith Dada: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judith-dada/  Visionaries Club: https://visionaries.vc/  Opensource Nanny: https://opensourcenanny.com/  Relativity Collective: https://relativitycollective.com/  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us:  Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/ — 00:00 Introduction 02:30 Why European tech sovereignty suddenly feels urgent 05:39 Why realism and agency must coexist 08:58 Where Europe is too optimistic about AI layers 10:01 Why statistics don’t define Europe’s future 12:22 AI as a civilizational rather than technical shift 15:05 The widening gap between AI frontier and reality 20:12 Choosing hard problems despite low odds 25:29 Realizing no one else is driving the bus 27:56 From leaving Europe to fixing its foundations 30:21 Speaking up when silence feels safer 35:31 Parenting ambitious careers without pretending it’s easy 45:14 Building peer environments that raise ambition 48:37 Rapid fire questions

What happens when Europe stops apologizing for its ambition and starts executing at full speed? Some founders still believe Europe’s biggest constraint is confidence. This conversation challenges that idea head on. Follow the Gradient sits down with Laura Modiano, Head of Startups EMEA at OpenAI, who works daily with founders across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. She brings a rare vantage point from inside OpenAI and from years of supporting companies from first prototype to real scale. This episode is less about hype cycles and more about how ambition, technical depth, and feedback driven execution actually compound over time. Laura reflects on what changes when speed collapses, tools feel like coworkers, and founders are forced to rethink how they learn, unlearn, and decide under uncertainty. We talk about: Why European founders systematically underestimate how fast they can go with today’s AI tooling How collapsing build cycles shift the real bottleneck from ideas to decision quality The execution gap that appears after early traction and why “building small” becomes a hidden ceiling Why technical literacy is no longer optional even for application layer founders How Europe’s fragmented markets quietly train founders to think global from day one What great execution looks like when models evolve faster than product roadmaps Rather than offering a playbook, this episode zooms out on how founders make choices when the ground keeps moving. It’s about taste, timing, and knowing when to ship, when to pause, and when to discard assumptions that once worked but no longer fit. Our biggest takeaways, including Laura’s view on what founders consistently misjudge about speed and scale: https://followthegradient.io/p/laura-modiano-podcast  — Where to find Laura Modiano: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-modiano/  Reach out at: [email protected]  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us:  Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/ — 00:00 Introduction 02:03 Why Europe Produces Globally Competitive Founders 06:07 What Founders Miss About AI Acceleration 08:52 Building Real Companies Beyond Demo Culture 12:09 Why Technical Depth Wins In AI Startups 15:42 What Switzerland Gets Right About Ecosystems 20:01 Deciding Where To Build In Europe 23:01 What Strong Execution Looks Like Today 26:10 Discovering AI Use Cases Beyond Cost Cutting 28:55 Why Unlearning Becomes A Scaling Advantage 31:26 Maintaining Founder Intensity Without Burnout 41:40 Making High Stakes Decisions With Incomplete Data 44:57 Where Startups Should Focus As Models Advance 46:41 False Beliefs Holding European Founders Back

What actually breaks deep tech startups isn’t lack of vision, but running out of patience before reality catches up. Follow the Gradient sits down with Roland Siegwart, Professor of Autonomous Systems at ETH Zurich and one of Europe’s most influential robotics mentors. Over two decades, Roland has helped shape ETH’s spin-out culture and advised companies like Anybotics, BlueBotics, and 7Sense from research to real-world deployment . This conversation explores how deep tech companies are really built when timelines are long, capital is patient but finite, and founders must constantly trade ambition against survival. We talk about: Why abundant early-stage capital can quietly reduce urgency in deep tech startups The hidden cost of the last 10 percent from prototype to market-ready system How early revenue from “unsexy” applications can enable bigger long-term bets Why Europe’s strength in hardware systems also makes scaling slower and harder The role experienced operators play in grounding PhD-driven founding teams When founders must step aside to prevent becoming the company’s bottleneck Rather than offering formulas, this episode examines how founders learn to make irreversible decisions with incomplete information, balancing engineering rigor with the pressure to move before the window closes. Our biggest takeaways, including Roland’s view on where founders most often misjudge deep tech reality: https://followthegradient.io/p/roland-siegwart-podcast  — Where to find Roland Siegwart: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roland-siegwart-85466912/ — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us:  Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/ — 00:00 Introduction  03:51 How Switzerland built a self sustaining robotics ecosystem  05:02 Turning university research into real world companies  07:39 Why Europe struggles to scale deep tech globally  09:46 Funding strategies for long hardware driven timelines  12:16 The painful gap between lab prototypes and products  14:09 Early signals that founders can survive the transition  15:37 Finding a first market with real customer pain  19:00 When pilots turn into scalable robotics businesses  20:47 Bringing business leadership into technical teams  23:24 When founders must step aside to let companies grow  31:49 Navigating dual use and ethical responsibility in robotics

What actually determines whether a founder scales or silently stalls? In this episode of Follow the Gradient, we sit down with Lina Chong, Partner at HV Capital, to unpack what she’s learned from being on both sides of the table: building and exiting companies, then backing some of Europe’s most successful scale-ups. It’s a candid conversation about decision-making under uncertainty, founder psychology, and the uncomfortable trade-offs that define real growth. We talk about: Why the best founders make fast, irreversible decisions, even without perfect clarity The dark side of founder identity (and what happens after an exit) When loyalty to early employees becomes a growth constraint, not a virtue How resilient founders respond when capital tightens and markets shift Go-to-market lessons from companies like TravelPerk and Fresha When European founders should go global and why “home market first” is often arbitrary Rather than playbooks, this episode focuses on how great founders think, decide, and adapt when the path forward isn’t obvious. — Our biggest takeaways, including Lina’s perspective on what most founders get wrong when scaling: https://www.followthegradient.io/p/lina-chong-podcast  — Where to find Lina: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linachong/  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us: Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/ Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/ X: https://x.com/followgradient Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/ — 00:00 Introduction 01:43 From Founder to VC 03:05 Experimental Cultures vs Rigid Vision 05:05 The Post-Exit Emotional Crash 07:58 Founder Signals That Predict Scale 11:40 Loyalty vs Scale 14:58 When Caution Kills Growth 16:28 How VCs Form Conviction 21:07 Using Investors for GTM and Fundraising 25:16 European SaaS Go-To-Market 27:30 Global First vs Home Market 32:53 Resilience in Downturns 33:43 Personal Resilience

What do you keep when a year of founder advice contradicts itself? What actually sticks once the playbooks cancel each other out and you are left with your own judgment? Follow the Gradient closes out the year with a reflective episode from hosts Melanie Gabriel and Christian Woese, drawing on dozens of conversations with founders, operators, and investors across Europe . Instead of a guest interview, this episode turns the lens inward, unpacking what truly held up across a full year of building, scaling, and questioning received wisdom. The conversation surfaces how founders actually form convictions when advice is biased, context is messy, and no clean answers exist. It is less about what to do next and more about how to think when certainty is unavailable. We talk about: Why most founder advice is shaped by survival bias and how to tell when it does not apply to your company Thinking internationally from day one without losing focus on a home market that still needs to work Saying no as a growth skill and why focus becomes harder as opportunities increase Introspection as an underrated founder capability that quietly compounds over time Why venture capital is often treated as default advice despite fitting only narrow business models How founders actually protect sanity through routines, relationships, and deliberate reflection This episode resists formulas. It treats building a company as a sequence of judgment calls rather than a checklist, shaped by context, timing, and personal limits more than by frameworks. Our biggest takeaways, including Melanie and Christian’s view on where founders most often mistake confidence for clarity: https://followthegradient.io/p/what-we-learned-from-interviewing-50-plus-guests — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us: Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/  — 00:00 Introduction 01:10 Reflecting on a year of conversations and learning 02:25 Why we started Follow the Gradient 05:34 Our personal paths into entrepreneurship 10:41 Thinking international from day one in Europe 13:38 Why saying no is a growth skill 14:55 Introspection as an underrated founder skill 18:34 When venture capital is the wrong default 20:15 Trusting intuition over generic startup advice 21:55 How founders can work with academia 24:02 Defining success beyond titles and outcomes 28:38 How we convince busy guests to join 31:53 Books and thinkers that shaped our thinking 36:44 Habits that help founders stay sane

What actually makes a startup work when almost every decision you make is probably wrong? Founders often believe success comes from better planning, cleaner structure, or safer timing. Béa Knecht argues the opposite. In this episode of Follow the Gradient, we sit down with Béa Knecht, co founder of Zattoo and one of Europe’s earliest builders of legal live TV streaming. Having founded the company in Silicon Valley and scaled it across Europe through multiple market shocks, Béa brings a rare, hard earned perspective on what actually holds under pressure. This conversation is not about frameworks or growth hacks. It is a deep examination of how founders think, unlearn certainty, and act when reality keeps changing faster than their plans. We talk about: Why European founders must treat internationalization as a day one survival skill, not a later milestone The difference between bravery and speed in decision making, and why waiting is usually just losing quietly How to tell a true must have product from a nice to have, using budget and pain as the only honest signals Why enforcing structure too early can kill the very thinking startups depend on How rapid course correction costs far less than founders imagine, even after public decisions What brutal downscaling taught Béa about leadership, dignity, and keeping a company alive This episode favors judgment over checklists, adaptability over certainty, and clear seeing over confident storytelling in environments where most signals arrive late and incomplete. Our biggest takeaways, including Bea’s view on what founders consistently misunderstand about must have products: https://followthegradient.io/p/bea-knecht-podcast  — Where to find Bea Knecht: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beaknecht/  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us: Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/

What happens when you scale without chasing ambition, funding, or customers telling you what to build? Some of the most durable companies aren’t designed to grow fast. They’re designed to stay honest. Follow the Gradient sits down with Olivier Gaudin, co-founder and former CEO of SonarSource, the code quality platform used by millions of developers and the majority of the Fortune 100. Built without venture pressure for years and shaped by deep proximity to real developer pain, SonarSource followed a very different scaling path. This conversation unpacks the thinking behind that path, from resisting premature structure to making uncomfortable product calls, and from building culture without managers to deciding when that philosophy finally breaks. We talk about: Why SonarSource refused managers until 200 employees and what finally forced that shiftMeasuring traction through adoption and community pull instead of revenue milestones The risks of listening too closely to paying customers too early How open source shaped trust, distribution, and long-term product direction The moment internal language stopped meaning the same thing across the company Why pushing incomplete features exposed the wrong problem to solve This episode is less about how to scale and more about when not to. It’s a window into decision-making driven by conviction rather than optimization, and how clarity erodes when organizations grow faster than shared understanding. Our biggest takeaways, including Olivier’s view on what founders consistently get wrong about listening to customers: https://followthegradient.io/p/olivier-gaudin-podcast  — Where to find Olivier Gaudin: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliviergaudin/  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us: Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/

What happens when scientific patience collides with startup urgency, and neither side fully survives intact? Follow the Gradient sits down with Andy Yen, co-founder and CEO of Proton, a 500+ person European tech company built around privacy, democracy, and long-term independence. Andy’s path runs from particle physics at CERN to building one of Europe’s most mission-driven scale-ups, and his credibility comes from having lived through both worlds. This conversation explores how values, identity, and pressure shape decisions when the stakes are structural, not just commercial. It is a discussion about speed versus permanence, trust versus convenience, and what founders owe to users, employees, and society when technology becomes power. We talk about: Why scientists underestimate urgency, and why startups die if they inherit that mindset unchanged How crowdfunding 10,000 early users permanently reshaped Proton’s obligations and governance The logic behind placing a fast-growing tech company under control of a nonprofit foundation Why building a platform matters more than features when competing with Big Tech ecosystems How Proton decides when to absorb financial losses rather than compromise on censorship or surveillance Why Europe’s tech problem is demand, not talent, and how public procurement quietly shapes sovereignty This episode is less about tactics and more about how founders reason when every option carries long-term consequences. It traces how conviction hardens under constraint, and how decision-making changes once trust becomes the primary asset you cannot afford to lose. Our biggest takeaways, including Andy’s view on what founders misunderstand about speed, trust, and compromise: https://followthegradient.io/p/andy-yen-podcast  — Where to find Andy Yen: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-yen-03a9676/  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us: Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/

What if the ambition powering your startup is quietly working against you? What if being driven is less about purpose and more about fear you have not named yet? Follow the Gradient sits down with Jonas Muff, founder of AI healthcare company VARA, for a rare conversation about ambition, identity, and the inner cost of building. Jonas is best known for his essay The Curse of Being Driven, written after a personal collapse during a critical fundraising moment that forced him to question what was really motivating his success. This episode is not about productivity or resilience as performance traits. It is an examination of how founders construct self-worth, how fear hides inside ambition, and what changes when you stop confusing motion with meaning. We talk about: Why Jonas’ inability to get out of bed during fundraising was an identity crisis, not burnout How the need to stand out often masks a deeper belief of not being enough The subtle difference between purpose-driven ambition and fear-driven momentum Why overthinking is an attempt to control uncertainty rather than face it How meditation reveals the volume of inner noise instead of silencing it What vulnerability-based leadership looks like in real, uncomfortable decisions Rather than offering tools to optimize yourself, this conversation lingers in the harder territory founders usually avoid. It treats ambition as something to understand, not suppress, and leadership as a byproduct of self-awareness rather than force of will. Our biggest takeaways, including Jonas’s view on what founders consistently misunderstand about ambition and fear: https://followthegradient.io/p/jonas-muff-podcast  — Where to find Jonas Muff: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonas-muff/  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us: Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/

Thomas is a veteran angel investor and board member with 40+ startup deals under his belt—and a front-row seat to what makes early-stage companies thrive or fall apart. He’s also the president of SICTIC, Switzerland’s largest angel network, and someone who’s seen the European startup scene evolve from local coffee chats to global Zoom deals. In this episode we talk about: •⁠ ⁠Why most first-time angels invest too soon—and too big •⁠ ⁠How founders can spot the difference between a project and a real business •⁠ ⁠What makes a healthy cap table at seed (and what absolutely breaks it) •⁠ ⁠How to activate angels after the wire hits—without burning yourself out A conversation about pattern recognition, post-wire dynamics, and the slow art of building trust between founders and funders. For more on early-stage investing and startup strategy, subscribe to our newsletter at followthegradient.io.

What does it take to give young founders permission to be audacious, before they have credentials to hide behind? In this episode of Follow the Gradient, we sit down with Kitty Mayo, CEO of Project Europe, an under 25 founder fund backed by more than 200 of Europe’s leading entrepreneurs. Kitty previously spent five years at Entrepreneur First, working closely with early stage founders at the very start of their careers. The conversation explores how ambition actually forms, why culture often matters more than capital, and what it means to build a founder movement without headquarters, playbooks, or institutional safety nets. We talk about: Why Europe’s biggest constraint on young founders is cultural permission, not access to capital What Kitty looks for in founders that never shows up in pitch decks or metrics How building without an HQ increases surface area and creates stronger founder bonds The hidden cost of chasing venture funding when the ambition is not truly venture scale Why earnest obsession beats fashionable ideas when backing founders under 25 What Europe should borrow from Silicon Valley, and what it needs to consciously reject This episode is less about frameworks and more about how beliefs, environments, and peer groups shape founder behavior long before outcomes are visible. Our biggest takeaways, including Kitty’s view on what European founders consistently underestimate: https://followthegradient.io/p/kitty-mayo-podcast  — Where to find Kitty: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kittymm/  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us: Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/

Elvis Nava is a researcher-turned-founder building Mimic Robotics, a company developing general-purpose robot hands powered by imitation learning. After completing his PhD at ETH Zurich, Elvis realized the only way to scale his research was by turning it into a company. Today, Mimic is pioneering a new kind of robotics—flexible, AI-native, and already proving itself in real-world industrial use cases. In this episode we talk about:•⁠ ⁠Why some research only works outside the lab•⁠ ⁠How to build hardware that adapts—rather than hard-codes—the task•⁠ ⁠What it takes to raise a $16M seed round in Europe•⁠ ⁠How hackathons and ecosystem building accelerate deeptech A conversation about research taste, the myth of perfection, and what happens when you build both the model and the machine.For more behind-the-scenes from Elvis - including takeaways on fundraising and team-building - subscribe to our newsletter at followthegradient.io.

Fabienne Doerig is a former CFO and COO turned advisor, with 15+ years of experience helping companies - from pre-seed startups to public enterprises - scale their finance and ops. She’s led through hypergrowth, driven restructuring, and now helps founders automate the operational backbone of their business using AI. In this episode we talk about:•⁠ ⁠Why clarity, not code, is the first step in automation•⁠ ⁠How to build a 13-week cash forecast that updates daily•⁠ ⁠When to build, buy, or copy automation tools•⁠ ⁠What founders get wrong about scaling their back office A conversation about the hidden power of finance operations, the messy reality of AI adoption, and why the biggest wins often come from the most “boring” use cases. For more insights from Fabienne—including practical examples that didn’t make it into the episode—check out our newsletter at followthegradient.io.

Noa Perry Reifer is the Chief People Officer at Neko Health, where she’s helped scale the team from 100 to over 500 in just five months. Before that, she spent nearly a decade helping build the culture and people systems at On, one of Europe’s most iconic consumer brands. In this episode we talk about: •⁠ ⁠Why culture is the most misunderstood scaling tool •⁠ ⁠How to build orgs that are bold, fast—and still deeply human •⁠ ⁠Why AI-native hiring needs both automation and judgment •⁠ ⁠What founders get wrong about org design in hypergrowth A conversation about leadership in the AI era, building cultural glue across wildly different teams, and how to design companies that don't just move fast—but move with meaning. For more insights from Noa - including examples that didn’t make it into the episode - check out our newsletter at followthegradient.io