

Founder's FAQ
ILKER KOKSAL
Founder’s FAQ covers the answers to all the possible questions of a founder in a startup journey—whether revealing lifesaving principles for the startup’s survival path, building A+ teams, creating an evolving machine, setting up a neat culture, or interpreting the true path for the fundraising.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 11, 2026 • 25min
Kash Dhanda | COO at Jupiter
My convo with Kash covered:Unified Global Markets: The end-game vision for 2030 is a world where all global assets trade on a single, unified on-chain market.Invisible Infrastructure: Within a couple of years, using stablecoins will be so seamless that users won't even realize they are on a blockchain.Mainstream DeFi Growth: Deep liquidity and improved UX are finally closing the gap and onboarding the big dogs from Wall Street.On-Chain Asset Access: The walls are coming down, giving traditional investors a frictionless path to trade.Problem-First Product Strategy: Founders must prioritize solving a high-pain problem over obsessing over core technology or early-stage traction.Distribution over Product: While first-timers obsess over features, second-time founders win by focusing on and mastering their distribution channels.Proof of Work Endeavor: Community building is a non-scalable grind that requires manual effort and high-touch interaction, like 1:1 calls with early members.Financial and Social Products: Building in Web3 is a triple-threat; founders have to ship technological, financial, and social products simultaneously to succeed.

Aug 13, 2025 • 28min
Brandon Potts | Partner at Framework Ventures
🚨 New Season Drop: Founder’s FAQ — now on-chain. My convo with Brandon covered:💵 Stablecoins reshaping global finance📜 New laws & their ripple effects on crypto📱 How payment apps plug into stablecoins🔍 Trends shaping consumer products🚀 The next wave of PayFi platforms🤝 Why integrity & drive are non-negotiable for founders

Mar 6, 2024 • 31min
David Haber | General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
David Haber, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, discusses building competitive advantages and top-notch teams in the early days of startups, pattern recognition in founders and markets, and the role of the board in leveraging resources. The podcast focuses on AI's potential in revolutionizing processes in various industries and explores market rates and investment criteria in the Fintech sector.

Feb 22, 2024 • 25min
Nitin Pachisia | Founding Partner at Unshackled Ventures
Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Nitin Pachisia. Nitin is a founding Partner at Unshackled Ventures, a pre-seed stage fund to invest in and support immigrant-founded startups in the US.
In this episode,
1-) Advantages of being an immigrant founder
2-) Core skills of founders to cope with challenges
3-) A good founding team structure
4-) Managing fundraising process
Founder's FAQ is a book for founders, and you can order through the www.foundersfaq.com

Jan 24, 2024 • 23min
Yohei Nakajima | General Partner at Untapped Capital
Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Yohei Nakajima. Yohei is a general partner at Untapped Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the unexpected. Previously, he was a venture partner at Scrum Ventures and director of the pipeline at Techstars.
1-) How to fundraise better
2-) How to value companies
3-) Understanding the hype cycles and understanding customers
4-) How to decide to quit the company
Founder's FAQ is a book for founders, and you can order through the www.foundersfaq.com

Jan 15, 2024 • 27min
Adam Spector | Founder & CEO of Levy
Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Adam Spector. Adam is the founder and CEO of Levy, which is the back-office operations team for world-class startups. Adam is also an angel investor for more than 100 startups.
1-) The Secret Formula for Success
2-) Focus on Distribution
3-) Attracting the Talent
4-) Riding the Wave of a Growing Market
5-) Building Company Culture
Founder's FAQ is a book for founders, and you can order through the www.foundersfaq.com

Jan 9, 2024 • 19min
Sunil Rajaraman | Founder of Hamlet
Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Sunil Rajaraman. Sunil is the founder of Hamlet, which connects communities to where they live by providing tools that give you the advantage of being a well-informed and empowered resident. He is also a scout at Sequoia Capital.
1-) How to find PMF?
2-) GTM with the most basic product
3-) Early team members
4-) Founder led growth
Founder's FAQ is a book for founders, and you can order through the www.foundersfaq.com

Dec 12, 2023 • 23min
Matthew Rastovac | Founder & CEO of Respell
Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Matthew Rastovac. Matt is the founder and CEO of Respell, which is a no-code AI platform.
1-) Learning from Failure
2-) Finding the Product-Market Fit
3-) Navigating Early Go-To-Market Strategy
4-) Building Trust with Investors
5-) The Vision of Respell
Founder's FAQ is a book for founders, and you can order through the www.foundersfaq.com

Jun 21, 2023 • 28min
Raphael Ouzan | Founder & CEO of A.Team
Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Raphael Ouzan. Raphael is a serial entrepreneur and founder & CEO of A.Team. A.Team is a startup that operates as an exclusive network comprising skilled professionals like engineers, project managers, designers, and marketers. These experts collaborate and assemble teams to assist companies in resolving their most significant challenges.
1-) Story of A.Team
2-) How to set up coherence inside teams
3-) Going for the hardest problem to solve
4-) Future of remote working teams
5-) Traction, the name of the game
Founder's FAQ is a book for founders, and you can order through the www.foundersfaq.com

May 26, 2023 • 17min
Andrew Luong | CEO & Co-founder of Doorvest
Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Andrew Luong. Andrew is the CEO & Co-founder of Doorverst, a venture-back platform for owning income-producing real estate. They empower individuals to unlock homeownership, passive income, and equity by simplifying the process of buying and managing an investment property.
In this episode;
1-) Story of Doorvest
2-) Founder <> Product fit
3-) How is it to buy a home at Doorvest
4-) Main challenges in scaling
5-) Setting up the GTM in the early days
Founder's FAQ is a book for founders, and you can order through the www.foundersfaq.com


