The D1 Athlete Who Built a $100M Voice AI Company | Will Bodewes, Phonely (YC S24)

Will Bodewes wrote a sticky note to himself on day one of building Phonely: "there are no shortcuts for you, Bodewes." That note sat on his desk every day for 2 years.We talk about building a category before it exists, keeping customers through a 30% failure rate, the SMB-to-enterprise pivot, the cycling LinkedIn post that landed a $16M Series A, and what building a company actually costs in your 20s.For: early-stage founders in B2B SaaS, athletes turned entrepreneurs, founders exploring voice AI, anyone weighing whether to start a company.If this episode helped you, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or follow on Spotify so you never miss an episode. It takes 30 seconds and it's how the next founder finds us.CHAPTERS00:00 - Intro01:18 - The D1 Athlete Grind03:18 - Melbourne Bet04:11 - Why We Win10:14 - Spoke Sound Dies13:37 - First Customers15:46 - 30% Failure Rate19:27 - Y Combinator21:52 - No Shortcuts23:04 - The Cycling Post27:01 - Don't Do ItFOLLOW US⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@FoundersInMotion⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thea.yaps⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@foundersinmotion⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/theango/⁠⁠⁠ABOUT FOUNDERS IN MOTIONThe founder podcast that catches them before they're famous, when the pivot might not work and the real story is still being written.Hosted by Thea Ngo, a Wharton grad, venture capital investor, and (your new favorite?) interrogator