Hello everyone and welcome to a special year-end episode of Off To The Valley! I'm your host, Prateek Panda, and before we wrap up the year, we're hitting pause to look back on a season that broke patterns and reminded us why we started.

We revisit game-changing insights, from Peter Loving's essential advice on design to Yang Cheung's strategy of generating revenue pre-product. Hear again why you should "focus on your personal brand" as a new entrepreneur (Nida Ateeq) and why you should always find a network of the kind of people you're trying to become (Arjita Sethi).

And as we head into 2026, Prateek shares an exclusive look at Season 3 where we will dive deep into the stories behind every founder's first $1 Million in ARR - the chase, the chaos, and the clarity.

Thank you for tuning in. Until then, stay curious, and keep chasing the stories that move you!

Are you struggling to hit the $1M ARR mark because your customer growth is constantly offset by high churn? You have a leaky bucket, and that's a problem we're solving today!

I’m joined by the incredible Anika Zubair, a former immigrant to Europe and a global Customer Success leader, to discuss the critical shift founders need to make. We tackle the common misunderstanding that Customer Success is just support, not a revenue engine.

Listen to this episode and learn:

• Why the second you're too busy to have recurring meetings with customers, you need to hire your first CSM.
• How to segment users beyond the early stage and build different CS motions for Enterprise, Mid-Market, and SMB.
• Anika's two quick tips to get better visibility into your retention problem this week.
• The personal journey of moving from California to Europe and how different cultures shape a founder's perspective.

When Hila Lauterbach moved from Israel to the U.S. with a six-week-old baby, she didn’t have an office, a network, or a roadmap. For months, her desk was a restroom at a small restaurant, and from that space, she built teams, launched startups, and led go-to-market strategy for some of the most exciting SaaS companies in tech.

Today, Hila is the Co-Founder of 10XGTM, a consultancy that helps high-growth startups find their voice, scale their revenue, and navigate the fast-changing world of AI and SaaS. She’s also a global advocate for women and immigrant founders through her work with Femigrants, driving awareness and opportunity in an industry where less than 2% of funding reaches female-led startups.

In this episode, Hila opens up about the real story behind the highlight reel, the failures, the reinvention, and the lessons she’s learned while helping companies grow from zero to multimillion-dollar ARR. She also breaks down her 5A GTM framework, explains what most founders get wrong about scaling, and shares how she’s helping redefine what success looks like in Silicon Valley.

It’s raw, inspiring, and packed with practical lessons for founders, leaders, and anyone carving their own path.