Startup Lessons and Growth Strategies: Essential Insights for Founders
Building a startup is equal parts discipline, resilience, adaptability, and vision. In this session, we’ll share the bearings we gain as first-time founders — from getting an early product to market, to scaling with discipline, to navigating exits. Together, we’ll explore the lessons that matter most: how to prioritize when everything feels urgent, how to read market signals without getting distracted, and why going deep with the right customer persona is often the fastest path to momentum.
We’ll also look at some of the less obvious but critical pieces — keeping exit options alive from day one, aligning incentives across the org so everyone rows in the same direction, and building strong co-founder dynamics that help us survive the hardest moments.
Finally, we’ll dive into practical strategies: how to de-risk at every stage, assemble a team that can ship a real MVP, validate with customers on the path to product-market fit, and work with the right type of investors at the right stage.
Whether we’re building our first company or our next, this conversation is about frameworks, scars, and stories that help us navigate uncertainty and make sharper decisions along the way.
Opening Remarks @ 9:30am PT
Join us for opening remarks with Dina Wagner, Head of Member Success at Founders Network, to get the latest updates from the Network and opportunities for getting involved.
Keynote Speaker @ 9:40am PT
Surbhi Rathore is the co-founder and CEO of Symbl.ai, a conversational intelligence platform that enables real-time analysis of voice, video, and text. Since launching the company in 2018, she has led Symbl.ai to raise $35 million in funding and scale annual revenue to approximately $3.1 million in 2024. Her leadership culminated in the acquisition of Symbl.ai by Invoca in May 2025.
Prior to co-founding Symbl.ai, Surbhi built a strong foundation in engineering and product development, working across software development teams and enterprise environments in India before relocating to the United States.
Her leadership has been recognized on multiple fronts. In 2024, she was named to Inc. Magazine’s Female Founders 250, honoring women entrepreneurs driving success while also prioritizing mentorship and leadership. She is also an active member of the Forbes Technology Council, where she contributes thought leadership on AI, conversational intelligence, and developer innovation.
Her entrepreneurial journey reflects a commitment to intentional prioritization, pragmatic growth, and preparing for long-term outcomes, with a focus on building strong teams, validating product-market fit, and strategically de-risking businesses at every stage.
Stage-Based Roundtables @ 10:30am PT
Guests Are Welcome!
Please bring a guest! Every member can bring one (1) guest to each event. Each guest must be a full-time tech startup founder so they can bring new perspectives, skillsets, and experience to your chapter.
All guests must be full-time tech startup founders and you can register them directly on this function page. See How to Register a Guest here.
Confidentiality Policy:
All information shared within Founders Network is strictly confidential. We are built on a foundation of trust, and the community takes confidentiality seriously. Investors, members, and staff all share experiences and opinions off the record. In this roundtable forum, we continue to model our fnValues of Reciprocity, Humility, Authenticity and Inclusivity.