In this episode of Unicorn Builders, we're speaking with Jeff Denworth, co-founder of Vast, an AI data platform that has raised an impressive $381 million in funding.

Key topics discussed in this episode:

• Jeff's journey as a "consummate startup guy," having been involved in five startups and working in distributed scalable systems for most of his career.
• The foundational thesis of Vast: to unlock data for the era of AI by building a simpler, more scalable, and more cost-effective data management system than existing solutions.
• The early days of selling Vast's product, focusing on customers with petabytes or exabytes of data and taking the time to deeply understand their needs and challenges.
• The shift in Vast's marketing philosophy from appealing to technical buyers with deep dives into the technology to focusing on customer reference marketing as the company scaled.
• The impact of the ChatGPT launch on Vast's business, accelerating revenue growth and attracting a flood of new AI cloud service providers and venture-backed large language model companies as customers.
• Vast's approach to fundraising, using the capital primarily for marketing purposes while maintaining cash flow positivity and operational autonomy.
• Jeff's advice for founders on choosing investors who bring not just capital but also strategic value and long-term partnership to the table.