From Startup to Exit
Welcome to the Startup to Exit podcast where we bring you world-class entrepreneurs and VCs to share their hard-earned success stories and secrets. This podcast has been brought to you by TiE Seattle. TiE is a global non-profit that focuses on fostering entrepreneurship. TiE Seattle offers a range of programs including the GoVertical Startup Creation Weekend, TiE Entrepreneur Institute, and the TiE Seattle Angel Network. We encourage you to become a TiE member so you can gain access to these great programs. To become a member, please visit www.Seattle.tie.org.
From Startup to Exit
Building Category-Defining AI Startups with Yifan Zhang (AI2 Incubator)
We’re excited to feature Yifan Zhang, Managing Director at AI2 Incubator, one of the most successful AI incubators in the world, born out of the Allen Institute for AI and backed by a newly announced $80M Fund III.
Yifan is a 2x founder and CEO, Entrepreneur “50 Most Daring Entrepreneurs” honoree, and Forbes 30 Under 30 alum. Her journey spans building and exiting venture-backed startups, navigating extreme founder adversity, and now helping the next generation of AI founders go from idea to impact.
In this episode of From Startup to Exit, Yifan shares:
- How AI2 Incubator works differently from studios, accelerators, and traditional VCs
- What they look for in founders, and why ideas matter less than resilience and execution
- Why vertical, agentic AI applications are winning right now
- How AI startups are shifting from per-seat SaaS pricing to per-task, outcome-based models
- What it really takes to survive the founder “trough of adversity” and come out stronger
- Why Seattle may be the most underappreciated AI startup hub in the world
This conversation is a must-listen for AI founders, operators, investors, and anyone building in the agentic AI era.
Brought to you by TiE Seattle
Hosts: Shirish Nadkarni and Gowri Shankar
Producers: Minee Verma and Eesha Jain
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@tieseattle567
