Chapter 01 · Origin · Featured
Why every founder I meet has a richer story than their LinkedIn.
Every founder I met had a richer story than their LinkedIn. The market kept treating bios as identity. I disagreed.
SRSophie Ren
OpenStages
A OpenStages original series
Startup Stories — the moments behind the company.
Long-form founder stories told in their own voice. Each chapter is a founder speaking in their own voice — captured, searchable, and carried forward.
New chapter every Friday6 founders so farAudio + text
The series
Every founder has a chapter.
One story per founder, written in their own voice — so their story gets heard beyond the room.
Investor diary9 min
Chapter 02 · The pivot
From operator to partner: what I look for in the first five minutes.
GZ
Gloria Zhang
DCM Ventures
Field notes7 min
Chapter 03 · Conviction
Why grit still beats GPT — a year inside StartX.
SM
Shannon McClenaghan
StartX
Founder essay11 min
Chapter 04 · Long horizon
Building deep tech on a 10-year clock.
VD
Vandon Duong
DCVC
Hot take8 min
Chapter 05 · Customer pull
Stop listening to VCs. Listen to your first ten customers.
NL
Nick Landolfi
Unusual Ventures
Playbook10 min
Chapter 06 · Network
How community became our distribution moat.
CB
Chris Bradbury
Alumni Ventures
Coming soon
06Crossing the Pacific — building a US-Japan founder bridge.Drafting
07The first 100 users came from a Notion doc.Drafting
08Why we shut down the v1 and started over in 6 weeks.Drafting
Tell your story
Pitch us a chapter — or let what you've already said speak first.
We work with founders whose voices already live in the OpenStages graph. Share what you've said and we'll come to you.