💸📈 Issue #133: From Failures to Funding - Strategic Moves Founders Should Know
Joe Wadakethalakal shares lessons from leading several multi-million dollar businesses, the psychological demands of entrepreneurship, and his unique journey from India to Indonesia and beyond
💬 Welcome to issue #133 of StoryHouse Review
Good morning & happy Thursday. Excessive VC funding may make headlines, but it isn’t always a blessing for startups. Capital constraints that force prioritization can often be a founder’s best friend…
This week, Claremont alum Joe Wadakethalakal shares lessons from leading multi-million dollar businesses, emphasizing how surviving failures and tough times builds long-term success. He discusses the psychological demands of entrepreneurship, strategies for managing personal risk, and selecting investors aligned with your business goals.
It’s a Claremont world out there. 👇
~ Josh, Miles, Matthew, Pat
👤 Community Spotlight: Joe Wadakethalakal & PvX
Claremont alum Joe Wadakethalakal (PO ‘09) is a serial entrepreneur with a background in corporate finance, media, and technology. He is the current co-founder and CEO of PvX Partners, a funding platform designed to scale consumer apps through innovative financing and actionable market intelligence. Joe previously held leadership roles at Mobile Premier League (MPL), where he played a pivotal role in scaling MPL to one of India's largest mobile gaming operators. He also founded Brilio.net, an Indonesian digital media company, which became a prominent platform for viral content and news.
Recently, PvX Partners announced their $3.8M Seed round co-led by Play Ventures and General Catalyst, with participation from StoryHouse Ventures and other angels and investors. This funding aims to expand their platform, starting with PvX Capital, which provides cohort financing to help gaming and consumer app developers scale rapidly.
Building a successful consumer app is a race against time. Every successful team eventually reaches a turning point—when user acquisition becomes predictable enough to drive scale. But at this point, a critical question arises: What's the best way to fund that growth? Traditionally, founders have had three bad choices—bootstrapping, which slows down momentum; equity financing, which forces them to give up ownership; or traditional debt, which comes with rigid repayment terms that don’t account for performance volatility. We started PvX to change this equation.
In a recent interview, Joe shared his journey, emphasizing how surviving failures and tough times builds long-term success. He covered topics such as the psychological demands of the founder journey, strategies for managing personal risk, evaluating feedback effectively, and choosing investors aligned with business goals.
From Failures to Funding: Strategic Moves Founders Should Know
Challenges and Lessons Learned
I moved back to Indonesia and became a consultant. I was working with a bunch of companies to help them build in Indonesia and I realized that the business wasn’t scalable, so I started to pivot…..
Then I decided to start a publishing company and raised a bit of money for that. It was like a BuzzFeed clone. That was my first sort of real startup experience. That business had so much pull from the audience and we became one of, and still are, one of the largest websites in the country. We were doing 30-40 million monthly uniques and 300 to 400 million page views. It was an insane business, but it taught me very quickly that it’s not about users, it’s about business model.
We can do a whole separate podcast on the economics of publishing, but I realized at that time that if you’re selling your ad impressions programmatically, the system’s sort of rigged. Let’s say I’m making $100K on a million impressions, but when you go from a million to 2 million, you’d think “I should be making $200K”, but no, you’re only making $120K. Suddenly, pricing adjusts so it’s very hard to scale…..
I got very lucky. We had interest from another acquirer. So they acquired us in 2018 and I would say that was a great exit–good outcomes for our shareholders. I think generally it was an amazing learning experience. I was 28 or 29, so it was pretty amazing at that point.
The Importance of Capital in Startups
I do firmly believe that raising too much money is a curse because, basically, what it does is give you an excuse not to prioritize and to do too many things at the same time. The reality is that in the first four or five years of a business, it’s the founders and the management team who are making things happen. Everybody likes to think they’re Elon Musk, that they can do all that, but we’re not. You can only really do one thing really well at a time. But when you only have $3M, you’re like, “Well, we can’t take six bets.” So we have to do the work to figure out what’s the best bet. But when you have $30M, you’re like, “Ehhh.. I’ll do all.” And then you do none of them well enough to win.
I’ve seen overcapitalization destroy companies as well. But I think if you can maintain that balance, then you can create this reflexivism where it’s like you raise more money, that get’s you momentum. Then you actually capitalize on the momentum, then you raise more. Then you can sort of break out and create more momentum, which is very important.
Watch the full interview to hear Joe’s thoughts on fundraising and unlocking strategic growth.👇
📣 Claremont Announcements: Bring a TMP to Your Company – Partner with KGI’s Top Talent
At the core of Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) is their commitment to bridging the gap between academia and industry, and the Team Master’s Project (TMP) is a leading example of this collaboration in action. For over two decades, TMPs have provided companies with innovative solutions while giving students invaluable hands-on experience tackling real-world challenges.
TMPs can span a wide range of industry areas, including:
Strategy & Business Development: Business growth planning, commercialization strategies, and competitive intelligence
Technology Landscaping & Research: Identifying emerging technologies, conducting market analysis, and benchmarking industry trends
Device Engineering & Bioprocessing: Process optimization, manufacturing innovation, and product development
Regulatory Affairs & Clinical Research: Regulatory strategy, compliance frameworks, and clinical trial planning
Operations & Market Analysis: Supply chain efficiencies, benchmarking studies, and forecasting
Why Partner with a TMP?
Leverage 2,000+ hours of dedicated consulting from talented graduate students at KGI and undergraduates from The Claremont Colleges
Identify high-potential talent for internships and full-time roles
Support KGI and its mission of industry-focused education
Click here to learn more about how TMPs work and the benefits of partnering with KGI. 👇
If you’re interested in discussing how a TMP could benefit your organization, contact Director of Corporate Partnerships Solomon Iyasere (KGI). 📨
💼 Who’s Hiring?: Ultra, Endless Health, & Hamlet
Serial founders and Claremont alumni Jon Miller Schwartz (HMC ‘13), Oliver Ortlieb (HMC ‘12), Max Friefeld (HMC ‘13) are the co-founders of Ultra, a robotics startup that is building intelligent industrial robots for American warehouses and factories. Designed for rapid integration, Ultra's robots leverage teleoperation and autonomy to learn new tasks quickly. Jon, Oliver, and Max are also the previous co-founders of the robotic 3D printing factory Voodoo Manufacturing (acq. by 3D Tech) and online 3D product marketplace Layer By Layer (acq. by MakerBot). Ultra is backed by StoryHouse, Y Combinator, and Pioneer Fund, and they are hiring for several open roles for their founding team:
Claremont grad Cooper Galvin (PO ‘14) is the co-founder and CEO of Endless Health, an Austin-based company that specializes in at-home testing and preventive medicine. Endless Health is transforming preventative care by leveraging cutting-edge health technology and innovative research to improve heart and metabolic health outcomes. Last year, the company raised $4.5M in seed funding from Next Coast Ventures, StoryHouse Ventures, Asset Management Ventures, Antler Elevate, and others. They are seeking two talented Global Public Health Data Analyst Interns to join their team remotely from April 2025 to July 2025.
Global Public Health Data Analyst Interns - these internships focus on the application of data science to critical public health research projects.
Serial Claremont entrepreneur Sunil Rajaraman (CMC ‘01) is the founder of Hamlet, a venture-backed startup that transforms complex government data, like public meetings and agenda documents, into actionable insights. Hamlet’s platform helps government affairs and real estate professionals identify new opportunities, streamline projects, and mitigate political risk. The company is backed by top institutions, including StoryHouse Ventures, Amino Capital, Crosslink Ventures, and others. They are currently hiring for several open positions. If you are passionate about the intersection of business, local government, and AI, check out the openings below:
Check out the other ~2,000 open jobs at 280+ Claremont-affiliated companies here on our Storyboard. Plus, create a profile and enter your preferences to get alerted to new job postings relevant to you, be they the 300+ remote jobs, 100+ internships, or 500+ part-time positions available. We’ve published research that shows that Claremont-founded companies that disproportionately hire Claremont talent outperform — so pay attention, Claremonsters!
If any of these roles catch your eye 👀 , apply and mention StoryHouse Review. Or, if you are an employer looking to hire tip-top Claremont talent, fill out this form to have your jobs featured.
🗣️ Conversations on the Interwebz:
This week’s Claremont financing 💸
Gretel is a synthetic data platform for developers. They are solving the data bottleneck problem for AI scientists, developers, and data scientists by providing them with safe, fast, and easy data access without compromising accuracy or privacy. Nvidia recently acquired the company for nine figures, exceeding their most recent valuation of $320M. Serial Claremont entrepreneur Laszlo Bock (PO) is the co-founder of the company. He is also the co-founder and previous CEO of Humu, which was acquired by Perceptyx in 2023.
BeatBox Beverages is the fastest-selling ready-to-drink cocktail and wine brand in the U.S., with over 10M BeatBoxes sold. They recently received an investment from NBA Legend Shaq to bring an exclusive new product to fans nationwide. Claremont alum Justin Fenchel (PO '06) is the co-founder and CEO of the company.
This week’s top listen 🎧
Claremont grad Nick Friedman (PO ‘04) is the co-founder of College Hunks Hauling Junk, a rapidly growing junk removal and moving service that now makes over $300M in annual sales. Nick was recently on The Money Mondays podcast to share the story of how his company went from a beat-up van to 200+ franchises nationwide. He talks about his passion for leadership, personal development, and building a successful business by focusing on customer service, innovation, and a strong company culture.
Everything else you need to know💡
Claremont alum Gator Halpern (PO ‘12) is the co-founder of Coral Vita, an environmental restoration company focused on revitalizing dying and damaged coral reefs. By growing corals in controlled, land-based facilities, Coral Vita can precisely manage conditions to boost resilience against climate change impacts like warming seas and ocean acidification. Forbes recently featured how the company is bringing marine ecosystems back to life with their reef restoration efforts. They have received major recognition, including The Earthshot Prize in 2021 and a spot on Forbes 30 Under 30.
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🍽️ BTL Snacks:
⛓️ The Missing Link Between AI Agents and APIs….. Last November, Anthropic launched the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open-source standard designed to streamline how AI models interact with APIs. Claremont entrepreneur and StoryHouse portfolio founder Sagar Batchu (HMC ‘15) recently shared his thoughts on MCP as a linking mechanism to the rich ecosystem of LLMs and agentic frameworks. Sagar is the co-founder and CEO of Speakeasy, a developer-first API DevEx platform designed to give developers the tools they need to build quality, reliable APIs.
📡 Space-based Power Beaming Technology….. Star Catcher, co-founded by Claremont grad and COO Bryan Lyandvert (CMC), is building the first space energy grid, the Star Catcher Network, to overcome power limitations in space. The company recently completed a groundbreaking demonstration of its space-based power-beaming technology at EverBank Stadium, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars. This end-to-end ground test validated their core technology, marking a significant step toward deploying an in-space energy grid, eliminating power constraints for satellites.
💸 The Moneyball Moment for Security….. Claremont grad David Huie (HMC ‘11) and Abhishek Dubey talk about how new pieces of technology seem like a turning point in the security industry. They discuss the impact of combining MCPs with VLMs and the transformation it could bring to the vastly untapped $800B security services market, moving from labor-intensive processes to intelligence-driven automation that can handle the cognitive complexity of security decision-making at scale.
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