DealMakers: Entrepreneur | Startups | Venture Capital

Sky Kurtz’s entrepreneurial journey involves grit, transformation, and strategic excellence. His story traces his humble beginnings in Jerome, Arizona, to crafting multi-million-dollar exits in the tech and agribusiness sectors. Sky's latest venture, Pure Harvest Smart Farms, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like IMM Investment, Samarthya Investment Advisors, StartX (US), and Metric Capital Partners.

Fawn Weaver’s journey from Pasadena to founding successful businesses has been anything but traditional. In this interview, she talks at length about an interesting concept–how to approach challenges by ignoring them. Fawn also discusses her journey of building and raising funding for her company and her unique approach toward venture capital, private equity, and growing Uncle Nearest. The company has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Hybridge Capital Management, CB3 Holdings, Mosaic General Partnership, Strand Equity, and Still Capital Partners.

In the startup ecosystem, building a company from the ground up without extensive capital is an impressive feat, as Anand Chandra has demonstrated. But building one in agriculture—a sector with deeply embedded challenges—is a story of grit, vision, and tenacity. Anand's company, Arya Collateral has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Quona Capital, the U.S. International Development Finance Corp, Lightrock, and Stride Ventures.

In the AI industry, where innovation evolves at lightning speed, some founders set the pace by combining a unique cultural perspective with a relentless drive to create groundbreaking technology. Gaurav Misra, founder and CEO of Captions, is one of these visionaries. Captions has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Adobe Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and Jared Leto.

In this insightful conversation, Amir Ben-Efraim takes us on a journey through his remarkable career in cybersecurity, from growing up in Silicon Valley to building and scaling two successful ventures—Altor Networks and Menlo Security. Menlo Security has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Vista Equity Partners, Neuberger Berman, General Catalyst, American Express Ventures, and Ericsson Ventures.

In a world driven by data, it takes a visionary to see beyond the noise and build something truly scalable. Viraj Parekh, co-founder of Astronomer, didn’t have a clear roadmap. His journey from childhood curiosity in technology to becoming a key figure in data orchestration is fascinating. Astronomer has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Venrock, Bain Capital Ventures, Insight Partners, and Sutter Hill Ventures.

In the field of enterprise SaaS, some founders set out with clear roadmaps, while others, like Khadim Batti, blaze new trails through sheer determination, pivots, and a deep-rooted commitment to solving customer pain points. In a recent conversation, Khadim delved into his journey from growing up in Mumbai to scaling his current venture, Whatfix. Whatfix has raised funding worth $270M from top-tier investors like Warburg Pincus, Softbank Vision Fund 2, Dragoneer, Peak XV Partners, and Eight Roads.

In today’s rapidly evolving venture capital landscape, one of the most exciting developments is the rise of investors like Kate McAndrew. Kate, a visionary founder and leader, recently launched Baukunst, a $100M fund. Baukunst has attracted funding from top-tier investors with whom Kate and her co-founders had built long-term relationships.

In the entrepreneurial world, every journey is unique. Alexander Jekowsky’s path from aspiring baseball player to tech entrepreneur was marked by unexpected turns, unrelenting passion, and an affinity for solving unconventional problems. In this riveting interview, he talks about vertical integration, verticalizing in the SaaS industry, and ultimately disrupting an industry many would consider far from glamorous—laundry. His company, Cents, has attracted investment from top-tier investors like Camber Creek, Contrarian Thinking Capital, Derive Ventures Management Company, and FJ Labs.

Adeniyi Abiodun’s career is a tale of foresight, adaptability, and relentless pursuit of innovation, from his early fascination with astrophysics to building large-scale Bitcoin mining operations. Along with his team at Mysten Labs, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer Adeniyi is now launching groundbreaking decentralized protocols. His journey showcases the boldness of a true visionary.