Hosted by Jerel Lim
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DROdio, Chief (Signal from Noise, Inc.)About the dinner
This is a small, highly curated gathering designed for meaningful conversation. Please complete the application thoughtfully to help shape the group and discussion with Deb.
Agenda:
Fireside Chat: Insights and reflections from Deb to kick off the evening
Jeffersonian Dinner: A single, moderated conversation shared by the entire table
Open Exchange: Unstructured time for deeper 1:1 connections and fluid discussion to close the night
Who is this for?
Early-stage founders with traction and revenue, or raised from institutional investors (Seed preferred)
Founders affiliated with Berkeley or Stanford communities or groups
What we will cover?
Signals and metrics that founders overvalue or miss
Common traps when expanding to new markets
Decisions that don't survive Series A
How to build products that acquire and retain users naturally
About Deborah
Deb is the former President and CEO of Ancestry, where she led the 40-year-old company’s product and technological transformation. Prior to joining Ancestry, she created Facebook Marketplace and built its first direct-response ad product. Previously, she led the eBay-PayPal product integration from PayPal and the eBay buyer experience.
Named one of Business Insider's most powerful female engineers and Payment Source's most influential women in payments, Deb also founded Women In Product, a community with over 30,000 members, and serves on the boards of Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering, Intuit, and Poshmark. She is a member of C100 and GoldHouse A100 and was named a 2023 NACD Directorship 100 honoree for outstanding contributions in the boardroom and for visionary corporate governance.
At the core of her success is her ability to see patterns others miss. She can identify the right community, the missing framework, the next strategic move, and connect the dots for powerful outcomes. Deb is the author of Take Back Your Power and currently working on her next book, a guide to transformation.
About DECODE
As a 501(c)3 non-profit, our mission is to help founders in the earliest stages of building a startup.
Since 2008, we have become the largest founder community co-hosted across Berkeley and Stanford.
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About Deel
Deel enables startups to hire, manage, and pay anyone, anywhere in the world. Deel handles payroll, compliance, visas, benefits, IT, and contractor management across 150+ countries, giving you the tools to scale quickly and the flexibility to focus on what matters.
About Cooley
Cooley is a global law firm that works with startups to launch dynamic new ventures and take them forward. Our work often begins prior to a startup’s formation and progresses through the full evolution of the company. Cooley represents 7,000+ innovative, high-growth private company clients, including 30% of US-based unicorns – making Cooley the #1 law firm representing VC-backed companies going public for the last 20 years. With an equal split of investor and company clients, Cooley understands both sides of the table and landscape of current market terms. We also offer unparalleled access to the largest and most influential network of venture capital investors in the world.
AI enables rapid customer discovery and prototype iteration, particularly when companies provide their services through AI interfaces (e.g., MCP servers, token-gated agent access)
Founders can invite existing customers to experiment with new AI-driven ways of accessing their products, unlocking new use cases and personas the company never anticipated
This approach is fast (feasible in days or weeks) and generates valuable product learning at near-zero friction cost
The cost of building software has plummeted due to AI and token subsidies, enabling personalized solutions previously available only at scale
Pre-AI, internationalizing required 11+ million dollars and months of engineering work to translate sites into multiple languages; AI now makes this affordable and fast for smaller markets
International expansion is increasingly accessible to early-stage founders through AI-enabled localization
Referrals and trusted networks remain the highest-value sales channel, particularly in B2B and traditional industries
Face-to-face interactions at conferences, regional events, and direct meetings build the trust required for complex, long-term business relationships
Automated outreach (email campaigns, marketing automation at scale) generates lower-quality leads compared to warm introductions
In sectors where customers can "go away tomorrow," they buy based on trust in the founder/operator, not the company
Early-stage companies should focus on "door-to-door" sales (direct relationship-building at conferences) before scaling to broad marketing campaigns
Brand building matters most for consumer-facing companies and becomes increasingly efficient as a company scales
The transition from relationship-driven sales to marketing-driven demand generation is a critical strategic inflection point; timing varies by industry and customer type
For B2B companies, a "neck to choke" (accountability and clear process) remains valuable; clients want to work with people they can hold responsible, not just AI agents
AI can accelerate the "making" phase (product development and rapid iteration), freeing time for relationship-building and sales
The core skill remains human judgment and understanding of customer needs; AI amplifies speed, not wisdom
Companies should remain intentional about what they automate and what requires human oversight
Different industries have different leverage points for AI: some benefit from automation and speed (fast decision-making environments), while others require deep domain expertise and human presence
Understanding the specific dynamics, tooling, and decision-making speed of your target industry is essential for effective AI positioning
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