Code Story | Startup Podcast for CTOs, CEOs and Technical Founders

Latest Episodes:

S10 Favorite: The Trillion-User Scalability Crisis: Re-Architecting Bitcoin’s Layer 2 for Instant, Enterprise-Grade Global Liquidity with Kevin Hurley, Co-Founder & CTO of Lightspark May 13, 2025

Show notes

Kevin Hurley grew up in a multi-kid house, which is where he got his competitive nature. He used to play 2 on 2 with his Dad and siblings at home. He went to school for electrical engineering, and funny enough, interviewed for a computer science job by accident, effectively stumbling into the trade. Outside of tech, he spends his free time with his fiancé, planning for the wedding, and visiting Manhattan beach for a good walk .

Kevin was part of the team that attempted to launch crypto at Facebook. Although that didn't work out, they realized that the backbone of the system needed to be built on something more common - and something that was lightning fast.

This is the creation story of Lightspark.

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S10 Favorite: From Employee #8 at Stripe to Challenging the Triopoly of AWS, Azure, and GCP: Fixing the Broken Cloud-Native Developer Experience with Anurag Goel, Founder & CEO of Render May 06, 2025

Show notes

Anurag Goel grew up in New Delhi, but moved to Boston after college for his first job. He worked at Stripe, as the 8th employee, before eventually moving on and launching his current venture. Outside of tech, he is married, living in San Francisco. He likes to read science fiction, especially prior to bedtime. He also enjoys eating Thai food on the regular, though he mentioned he could eat pizza every day.

Post leaving Stripe, Anurag decided to work on an ambitious problem, and he started doing this by building a bunch of stuff in many different domains. After noticing a common problem in building out Kubernetes, he decided to start a new business to abstract these problems, and allow builders to focus on the differentiating factors to their solutions.

This is the creation story of Render.

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Hosted by Noah Labhart | Technical Founder & Startup Mentor.

S10 Bonus: Optimizing Remote Workplace Engagement: Replacing Flat Video Grids and Enhancing Virtual Collaboration with Real-Time Spatial Audio Ecosystems with Erik Braund, Founder & CEO of Katmai Tech May 01, 2025

Show notes

Erik Braund was born and raised in Alaska. Growing up, he played competitive hockey and built computers for his Dad's company and eventually others. He grew up with a gameboy, an electric guitar, and a love for Nirvana. He eventually upgraded his setup to a computer - which led him to setup a recording studio. He was internet obsessed from a young age, partially because it was the door to a bigger world outside of Alaska. He played in bands, started a recording studio, which eventually turned into a production company in NYC and LA, delivering AV projects for numerous clients.

Erik was running his production company when COVID hit. Given people weren't doing in person projects, he started consulting and opening up his mind on how to do these types of projects remotely. He started to see a new problem, where video conferencing was not solving high connection, collaborative work.

This is the creation story of Katmai.

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Hosted by Noah Labhart | Technical Founder & Startup Mentor.

S10 E30: The QR Code Data Shift: Connecting Physical Interactions with Digital Marketing Fabrics and Scaling Contactless Engagement with Ravi Pratap Maddimsetty, Co-Founder & CTO of Uniqode Apr 29, 2025

Show notes

Ravi Pratap Maddimsetty lives in Bangalore with his family. Early on, he joined startups where his friends worked, in order to get to know the landscape of how they functioned. He fell in love with the tech, team and early innings of building a business - so much so, that he eventually started his own. He has been an entrepreneur for 15 years - or in the woods, as he says. But outside of tech, he's married with 2 girls. He loves spending time with his family, playing tennis, being outdoors or skiing.

Ten years ago, Ravi was riding the wave of smartphones, tinkering with numerous technological solutions to connect users to their world via their smartphone. After moving through beacons, NFC, GPS and others - they started to think about how they could use the camera, which was on every device, to read QR codes.

This is the creation story of Uniqode.

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Hosted by Noah Labhart | Technical Founder & Startup Mentor.

S10 Bonus: The Continuous Security Framework: Integrating Open-Source DevSecOps Controls into CI/CD Pipelines with Shai Horovitz, Co-Founder & CEO of Jit.io Apr 24, 2025

Show notes

Shai Horovitz grew up on a farm in Israel, 1.5 hours north of Tel Aviv. He was drafted into the army, in a unit that focused on technology - and in 2013, he moved to the states and joined a startup. And - he loved it, eventually leading the team in building the business in Japan. Outside of tech, he loves to travel with his family and 3 kids. He is also a self proclaimed foodie, and enjoys sports - spending 11 years in Boston rooting on the Celtics.

The team at Shai's current venture was attempting to shift left the solving of security issues in production. Now, they are entering into a new era - in building the agentic cybersecurity team of the future. Two years ago, he joined to lead the charge.

This is the creation story of Jit.

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Hosted by Noah Labhart | Technical Founder & Startup Mentor.

The Gene Simmons of Data Protection - Are You Ready For the GenAI Data Frontier? Apr 23, 2025

Show notes

The Gene Simmons of Data Protection: Protegrity's KISS Method

Today, we are releasing another episode from our series, entitled The Gene Simmons of Data Protection - the KISS Method, brought to you by none other than Protegrity. Protegrity is AI-powered data security for data consumption, offering fine grain data protection solutions, so you can enable your data security, compliance, sharing and analytics.

Episode Title: Are You Ready For the GenAI Data Frontier? Exploring GenAI Security

In this episode, we talk with Anthony Cammarano, CTO & VP of Engineering, as he breaks down and simplifies GenAI for companies struggling in the new frontier. There is a flood of unstructured data pouring into workflows - thanks to GenAI - and traditional security methods aren't prepared to cover this expanded attack surface. The good news is that companies already have what they need to fix this, and it's a simple mindset shift.

Questions

What are some of the most common misconceptions or trends about GenAI, as it relates to data protection and privacy, that organizations face today?
What are the primary business challenges facing the adoption of GenAI today?
How do modern GenAI systems create data security vulnerabilities and what are the potential risks?
What is crucial in the implementation of GenAI-security solutions, and how can it accelerate AI adoption?
Can you provide examples of how attackers are targeting data during its use and the importance of securing this data?
What are some best practices for robust data governance and how can organizations stay ahead in the rapidly evolving GenAI landscape?

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Hosted by Noah Labhart | Technical Founder & Startup Mentor.

S10 E29: The Merchant of Record Shift: Scaling Global SaaS Revenue and Simplifying International Tax Compliance with Lucas Lovell, VP of Engineering at Paddle Apr 22, 2025

Show notes

Lucas Lovell grew up in Adelaide, Australia, before eventually landing where resides now, in London. He studied law, but he eventually decided that he didn't want to become a lawyer. During his time in law school, he and his crew built an app - and he was hooked on the wild ride that tech is. Prior to London, he spent 4 years in Paris, and indeed loves to travel. He also enjoys skiing, and when asked about snowboarding, he said he tried - but eventually reverted back.

Four and a half years ago, Lucas joined a company solving end to end payments, while being the merchant of record. What was missing from the platform was some function around invoicing - which started him on his journey of product creation.

This is Lucas' creation story at Paddle.

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Hosted by Noah Labhart | Technical Founder & Startup Mentor.

S10 Bonus: The De-Googled Workspace Movement: Decentralizing Enterprise Tech with Private, Open-Source Productivity Suites with David Young, Founder & CEO of Federated Computer Apr 17, 2025

Show notes

David Young spent many years in California, but lives in Colorado Springs now. He mentioned that things outside of work are very important to him, as they are the soil from which he brings fruit to bear in his work. He's married and loving living in the Rockies. He and his wife love to ski hike and camp - but most interesting, they are both endurance athletes. They run marathons, bike rides, and triathlons - in fact, David himself has run 10, which includes a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, then a marathon - all in succession. All in one day.

David noticed that that problem with SaaS today is that it's expensive, and adds up as you compile solutions. Right alongside that, open source software is free - but requires more setup and maintenance to keep it up and running. He decided that there must be a better way to purchase software, while getting the best price on a bundle of solutions.

This is the creation story of Federated Computer.

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Hosted by Noah Labhart | Technical Founder & Startup Mentor.

The Gene Simmons of Data Protection – Are Your Systems Smarter Than a Threat Actor? Apr 16, 2025

Show notes

The Gene Simmons of Data Protection: Protegrity's KISS Method

Episode Title: Are You Smarter Than a Threat Actor? Maybe Your Current Methods Are Obsolete

In today's episode, we are talking with Eve Rajca, Senior Solutions Engineer, as she dives into the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity. As threat actors become more sophisticated, its critical to reassess and simplify security strategies. She will explore outdated methods, which can leave your data vulnerable, and discuss the importance of adopting straightforward security methods.

Questions

What are some common signs that an organization's current cybersecurity methods might be outdated?
How have threat actors evolved in their tactics over the past few years?
Can you explain the concept of "security through simplicity" and why it's important?
How can organizations balance the need for robust security with the need for simplicity?
What role does employee training play in maintaining effective data security?

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Hosted by Noah Labhart | Technical Founder & Startup Mentor.

S10 E28: Replacing Legacy LMS Silos and Driving Student Engagement with Institutional Communication Networks with Kavitta Ghai, Co-Founder & CEO of Nectir Apr 15, 2025

Show notes

Kavitta Ghai realized at an early age that she thought different than everyone else. She grew up neurodivergent, with autism and ADHD but was a lucky kid, having parents that helped her see the silver lining in her learning challenges, making sure she had outlets in extracurricular activities. She is a creative person always looking to build something that doesn't exist. In her off time, she enjoys turning off all the tech, learning a new language, and reconnecting with the real, analog world.

Kavitta and her co-founder found themselves frustrated with the classroom in college. For paying such an exorbitant amount of money, they were confused why the educational classroom was so ineffective. It came to a head - to the point, where Kavitta was going to change it or drop out of school.

This is the creation story of Nectir.

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Hosted by Noah Labhart | Technical Founder & Startup Mentor.