What Our Founders Taught Us This Year (And What They Want You to Know)

Friends, thanks for following along over the past year as we shared the wisdom, wit and thoughtful insights from some of the exceptional founders and leaders we get to work with.  As a firm, we absolutely love putting these amazing teams – and their stories – where they belong: front and center.

As 2025 comes to a close, we reflect on a year highlighted by the excitement of AI and the challenges of a turbulent economic and political landscape. Our portfolio companies navigating this dynamic with grit, resilience, creativity and technical skill, showing up with grace and guts – and it paid off in so many ways 

Here are some of the most interesting nuggets, pieces of advice, and actionable tips from those leaders. We hope  you find them useful as we all gear up for a year of opportunity and adventure in 2026. 

Happy holidays!

–Team Costanoa

BE BOLD: DARE TO DREAM

• “Chase problems that actually matter. Regardless if you build something incremental or world-changing, startups are ridiculously hard no matter what – so you might as well GO BIG!” –Ching-Yu Hu, Chief Operating Officer, SGNL

FUNDRAISING, THE SMART WAY

• “The last time StackHawk raised was in 2022, an extremely frothy environment with high valuations. This time, it’s much more about providing concrete proof to prospective investors. 
  
  We focused on demonstrating that (1) we could successfully execute the enterprise motion, and (2) that we used our capital intelligently to achieve some outstanding metrics, which gave us useful proof points. My first lesson is to really dial in on those metrics that will move the needle for you.
  
  Second, I think it’s increasingly critical to make smart bets with your technology and understand how your product fits into an AI-forward landscape. Investors are clear: with the efficiency AI tooling can provide, your ARR per employee should be higher than it’s ever been before. That’s a new hurdle to jump – and they’re watching.” – Joni Klippert, CEO and Co-founder, StackHawk
  
• “Do your homework. Take a good amount of time to validate your assumptions with potential clients and investors. Some investors might have really great general knowledge but lack the specificity to understand the validity of your value prop. Concentrate on building strong relationships with multiple individual investors who know your sector very well.” – Helcio Nobre, CEO and Co-Founder, Tensec

• “Be really thoughtful about which investor you bring on your cap table. Take time to craft and ask the hard questions during back channel calls.” – Ching-Yu Hu, Chief Operating Officer, SGNL
• “Raising our Series A was an interesting process. After 100+ meetings and numerous trips to Silicon Valley, I can tell you most investors were not at all interested in seeing the demo – which surprised me! What they really want are metrics. They want to know if people are buying your product or service and using it. That’s what investors care about – so make sure you can show how you’re clearly meeting a market need in those conversations.” – Andre McGregor, Founder and CEO, ForceMetrics

REASSURANCE: YOU WILL GROW AS A FOUNDER

• “At every step, you learn more and get better. You learn how to be more efficient and disciplined – and what you need to prioritize. I think I’m better at eliminating filler and delegating things others could do just as well or better. Founders need to stay focused on the core – because that’s what helps you better balance out the demands of work and family. As to whether I’m successful, well, you’ll have to ask my wife! 😀” – Helcio Nobre, CEO and Co-Founder, Tensec
  

EMBRACE EVALUATION, ADAPT AS NECESSARY

• “Being a founder and entrepreneur is such a privileged and special role. Your job is to give yourself and your team enough space to find a solution that creates long-lasting value to an industry. Everything is secondary to this. 
  
  I can tell you we made mistakes and pivoted in our fourth year. We should have continually evaluated our product market fit instead of rushing to grow. In hindsight, we should have taken a pause. Perhaps we could have made corrections to our business model in the first few years.” – Ato Kasymov, Co-Founder and CEO, Zentist

ON CULTURE: SEEK AND BUILD WHAT YOU NEED

• “One thing I’ve learned over the course of my career is that the people you work with and the culture you create is everything. I encourage people to find a leadership team that shares the same vision and values that you do. When vision and values align, you can accomplish incredible things together. 
  
  I highly value an environment where team alignment is strong, but open and honest and dialogue is still encouraged. That’s important to me as I’ve gotten to know myself in my “seasoned” era – I ask a lot of questions and I never stay in my box!” – Michelle Denogean, Chief Marketing Officer, Mindtrip.AI

• “We’re hybrid, and I think that flexibility gives our team what they need. For me, in-person time is not about accountability whatsoever. I know our team isn’t loafing when they work from home. It’s about the concentration of energy. You can clearly feel this amazing vibe shift when people are in the office together, working hard and having fun.
  
  We’re upfront about it when we hire so our candidate pool is self-selecting. If they choose to apply, they know this about us and they’re into it too. They’ve opted in with enthusiasm.” – John Doyle, Founder and CEO, Cape

BE VULNERABLE, LEAN ON OTHERS

• “The best thing you can do for yourself is seek the advice of others who have been there before – and really listen to it. Being a founder is lonely. You’re managing a lot: hiring the right team, payroll, concerns about running out of money, building the wrong thing, misjudging product-market fit, misfiring on the voice of the user, misidentifying the decision maker. It’s a long list.
  
  Seeking the advice of others has really helped us get some strategic wins and grow our business from a handful of people to 40 and counting.” – Andre McGregor, Founder and CEO, ForceMetrics
  
• If you’re a founder starting in a new country, it can be challenging to leave behind all the networks you’ve built over the years. I was worried too at first. But remember to embrace your decision to build something new – plus, you’ll be surprised by how fast you can build a strong network if you’re intentional about it and persevere. It’s like going to the gym. You will not see results in the first few months, will you? It’s all about not giving up when you don’t see change right away. It will come. Just don’t quit.” – Ato Kasymov, Co-Founder and CEO, Zentist