Triangle Tweener Talks

In this episode, we unpack how a college capstone project turned into a scalable system for custom-fit 3D-printed bracing, moving from “hours in CAD” to minutes with automated design templates. We get into the origin story, the technology moat, go-to-market evolution, fundraising, and the founder mindset required to stay in the game.

Highlights covered

• How PROTECT3D started with a custom brace for a Duke teammate
• Why “one...

This episode is a big one. There’s a lot of noise right now around AI, venture, and whether SaaS is fundamentally broken. Public markets are re-rating software companies. Seed rounds are shifting. Pricing models are changing. And founders are asking the same question:

“Are we toast?”

Joe Mancini from Front Porch is in a unique position to answer that. His firm sits inside dozens of funds and startups across the Southeast and...

We started the Tweener List in 2015 with the idea of local founders paying it forward to help amplify and support our local startup ecosystem. Based on the popularity of that list and a grassroots effort to innovate a new way to help fund and support local founders, in 2022 we started the Tweener Fund.

That’s good, but it’s not enough. We’re always asking the community of founders we support - what else can we do to help yo...

In this episode of Triangle Tweener Talks, we unpack what it really takes to go from professor to CEO, how InsightFinder built trust in a skeptical enterprise market, and where LLMs help (and don’t) when you’re dealing with machine telemetry data. They also explore multi-agent workflows, “composite AI,” practical enterprise adoption hurdles, and Helen’s advice for students navigating an AI-shaped future.

Highlights cove...

In Part 1 of this conversation on Triangle Tweener Talks, we walked through how David built Offline over 13 years, three companies, multiple pivots, and a subscription model that finally worked.

In Part 2, we shift gears. This episode is about leverage. David breaks down how he went from running a ~34-person team to operating a multi-city business with ~2.5 people, not by cutting corners, but by rebuilding the company aroun...

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. In this episode, we focus on Offline’s origin story and business evolution, not AI (yet).

Highlights from Part 1

• Offline has effectively been three different companies under one brand
• Early versions tried to reinvent Meetup, and failed
• A city-guide app reached ~3M people/month but couldn’t monetize
• Consumer businesses can look successful while quietly breaking
• Subscription was the f...

Part 2 picks up where the origin story ends, and where the real work begins.

Tony breaks down the three phases of Phononic: proving the science, surviving productization, and ultimately finding the market where solid-state cooling wasn’t just better, but mission-critical. It’s a candid look at why deep-tech companies require patience, capital discipline, and brutal focus to survive.

This is the episode for founders navigatin...

In this episode (Part 1), we cover the origin story. 

Tony walks through the decisions, failures, and inflection points that led to Phononic’s founding: leaving the Northeast for graduate school at USC, working on applied energy systems at JPL during the Mars rover era, and learning painful but formative lessons from a university spin-out that didn’t work.

Then comes the moment you can’t script. In the fall of 2008, while th...

In Part 2 of the conversation with Brice Englert, we move from origin story to execution and scale. We cover:

• Pricing without overthinking: how TradePending set pricing before having perfect data
• Sales-first growth: building an outside sales motion that paid for itself quickly
• Scaling with discipline: reaching profitability fast and choosing when to reinvest
• Private equity, from the founder’s seat: rolling equity, staying ...

In this episode (Part 1), Brice shares the early story: how the idea formed, how he got the first version built, what the market told him at the beginning, and what he did to push through the inevitable uncertainty that comes with building from scratch.

This is the origin story and early foundation of TradePending, before the scaling years.

You’ll hear:

• How Brice got started and why he chose automotive as the arena
• What th...

In this special solo episode of Triangle Tweener Talks, Scot goes beyond the two-part Tweener Times report to walk founders through what the data actually means in practice. This episode exists for one reason: to give Triangle founders clearer goalposts, better context, and fewer surprises when they sit down to raise capital.

Tune in to hear:

• How founders can self-service fundraising expectations using real Triangle ...