Inspired off the award-winning novel “From Startup to Exit“
TiE Seattle Presents
The “From Startup to Exit” Podcast
The Co-Hosts
Shirish Nadkarni
Co-Founder
A serial entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience in creating consumer businesses that have scaled to tens of millions of users worldwide. He was the co-founder of Livemocha, the world’s largest language learning site with 15+ million registered members. Shirish was also the founder of TeamOn Systems, a mobile wireless e-mail pioneer that was acquired by Research in Motion in 2002.
Gowri Shankar
Co-Founder
A serial entrepreneur and strategic advisor with deep roots in mobile and messaging innovation. He helped launch Sprint PCS, led Singlepoint (acquired by Ericsson), and introduced SMS voting for the Olympics and U.S. presidential campaigns. He advises top VCs and serves on the TiE Seattle Board.
Developer Joy through Generative AI. Rajeev Rajan, CTO at Atlassian
In this episode of From Startup to Exit, Rajeev Rajan — Chief Technology Officer at Atlassian — shares his incredible journey from pausing his Ph.D. to join Microsoft as a developer, to leading world-class engineering teams at Meta and now Atlassian. With over two decades of experience at Microsoft, where he helped build the foundational cloud infrastructure for Office 365, Rajeev brings a deep well of technical and leadership insight. He discusses how his early career shaped his leadership style and how the idea of “Developer Joy” has remained a guiding principle through every stage — from Microsoft, to Meta, to Atlassian. Rajeev dives into how Generative AI is transforming Atlassian’s suite of products, enabling smarter collaboration across the enterprise while empowering developers and users alike. As CTO, he now oversees Engineering, IT, Security and Trust, and Engineering Operations, and is leading Atlassian’s ambitious cloud transformation. Whether you’re scaling a startup or leading a mature tech team, this episode is packed with lessons on leadership, innovation, and the future of AI-powered development.
Success exit stories from Chronus and Ally.io, A conversation with serial entrepreneur Vetri Vellore
When Vetri Vellore was given the responsibility to turn around the Systems Management Server business at Microsoft, it was a failing business. In fact, at a business review, Bill Gates famously threw his deck back to him telling him to shut down the business. But Vetri persisted and completely turned it around. Soon Vetri embarked on a remarkable entrepreneurial journey where he successfully started and exited two businesses – Chronus which was a mentoring platform and Ally.io which was a platform for managing OKRs (Obejectives and Key Results). Vetri bootstrapped his first business but raised substantial funding for his second. Listen in to hear the inspiration he got to start both businesses and his thought process behind raising VC funding.
Exclusive Fireside Chat with Sunny Gurpreet Singh, Managing Director at Madrona Ventures
Sunny Gurpreet Singh is an entrepreneur and philanthropist based in Seattle, US. He is the founder of Roundglass, a global Wholistic Wellbeing organization established in 2014. Through his experience in the US healthcare system, Sunny realized the importance of a proactive wellness approach. Roundglass offers the Roundglass Living app, which provides technology-driven solutions, expert-led content, and access to renowned wellbeing coaches and mental health experts. It serves as a tool to assist people in making positive, long-term changes and enhancing their lives.
Microsoft @ 50
Learning about the birth of Microsoft from 6 of its senior executives from 1976
Generative AI
Debating how artificial intelligence is shifting the entrepreneurial space and the type of startups present