Four Founders and a Bet on Charlotte

Four Charlotte founders sit down in a startup house and explain who they are, how they got here, and why they're filming it. Episode 0 is the prologue. Before the show has a format or an audience, the four hosts tell their origin stories: corporate years, layoffs, a streetwear brand, Techstars, an air traffic controller exam, and the moves that brought each of them back to Charlotte. Then they explain what Builders of Charlotte is for: showing what it actually looks like to build a company here with today's AI tools, including the pay cuts, the spouses, and the parts the highlight reel leaves out. 00:00 What are we making here? 01:34 Fourteen years in corporate, then Pattern 50 and managed AI 07:12 Why retention is a trust problem, not a discount problem 09:44 Techstars, early AI, and the road to Torta Studios 16:35 From Mexico to Red Ventures, Microsoft, and Meta, then back to Charlotte 28:02 The Philippines, a streetwear brand, the corporate years, and starting StealthX 38:33 Why Builders of Charlotte exists 40:02 The cost at home: pay cuts, spouses, and the highlight reel 44:04 Survivorship bias, betting on Charlotte, and what success looks like Links from the episode: CLT Startup House: https://cltstartuphouse.com/ Claude Code: https://claude.com/product/claude-code Hosts: Drew Burdick, founder of StealthX and CLT Startup House:   / drewhburdick   Charles D'Andrea, founder of Pattern 50:   / charlesdandrea   Colin Thornton, co-founder of Torta Studios:   / colincthornton   Alan Corvalis, co-founder of Torta Studios:   / corvalis   Follow Builders of Charlotte on social media: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2uTS7fn... Instagram:   / buildersofcharlotte   LinkedIn:   / buildersofcharlotte   If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!