What does it take to walk away from one of the most exciting companies in the world to start your own? Kate sits down with Doug Tallmadge, co-founder and CEO of Gradial, to talk about his move from SpaceX’s Starlink to building an AI platform used by roughly 20% of the Fortune 500. It’s an honest conversation about knowing when to take the leap, finding product-market fit, and going all in on AI.

=== CHAPTERS ===
01:09 --- The Uncertain Early Days at Starlink
02:13 --- Quitting a Dream Job to Build a Startup
05:44 --- How the Launch of ChatGPT Sparked Gradial
09:30 --- Finding Product-Market Fit by Choosing One Market
11:17 --- What Gradial Does for Marketing Teams
12:57 --- Winning Fortune 500 Clients
14:45 --- Surprising Early Adopters
15:39 --- How the Founder’s Role Changes as You Scale
17:02 --- Navigating the Rollercoaster of Rapid Growth
18:42 --- Where AI Still Falls Short
22:00 --- Are You Iterating Fast Enough?
22:45 --- Why Doug Is Optimistic About AI
25:03 --- Where to Find Gradial

----Stay connected with our host, Kate Adams, here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateadams22/

🔗 Learn more about Gradial at https://gradial.com/

This episode is produced by:
Brenda Hernández Jaimes: Podcast Producer & Talent Coordinator, Ellas Media
Angela R. Chong: Audio Editor & Post-Production Producer, Amplify Podcasts