Zero to Traction

About Zero to Traction

The Traction Lab Podcast is a light-hearted, science-based weekly to help first-time founders go from fuzzy idea to real traction with honest insights, tactical experiments, tons of snark, and zero startup BS. zerototraction.substack.com (https://zerototraction.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

JDM and Cameron Law

Category

business · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

27 Mar 2023

Latest episode

16 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

113 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   16 Oct 2026

   Your VC is going to fire you (with Kit Ryan)

   Hey friends 👋 You know the pattern. Four friends start a company, split the equity 25/25/25/25 because talking about it felt awkward, and skip founder vesting because who brings up a prenup on the first date? Fast forward to the first priced round. Two of them are gone, still holding voting stock, and your investors are about to push the dilution onto them. Messy for everyone. This week we’re in person again, with another guest: Kit Ryan, corporate and venture attorney at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman (Pillsbury Law to its friends, no relation to the Doughboy) and an angel investor himself. Kit walks us through the traps founders set for themselves before anyone writes a check—when Stripe Atlas is fine and when it isn’t, why your attorney makes the perfect scapegoat for hard co-founder conversations, and why pasting a term sheet into ChatGPT makes you look less sophisticated. We also get into the d*****s promises founders make to early hires, including one well-meaning bonus clause that could have unwound an entire financing. Yikes. Then Kit gives us a crash course in board control from pre-seed through Series A, and why every VC relationship starts with the ending already written. For frivolous thoughts: Slow Horses is back, Cameron reveals the cavalry origins of dressage, and Kit is training with a 200-pound sandbag for reasons that make total sense once he explains them. Want more Kit? He’s joining us on Zoom for Incorporation & Equity, a workshop on entity choice, vesting and cliffs, IP assignment, and how to have the co-founder equity conversation before it turns into a standoff. He’s also introducing Pillsbury Propel, a free library of incorporation packages and hiring docs built for early-stage companies. Bring your questions (and your handshake-deal cap table). Thursday, October 22 at noon PST. Save your seat here. (https://luma.com/ihjc7nu8) As always, thanks for listening. —Cameron and JDM Timestamps * 00:00 - Introduction * 02:15 - Meet Kit Ryan * 05:30 - Vesting, IP, and the co-founder prenup * 12:45 - Sophisticated founders vs. ChatGPT term sheets * 25:00 - Board control and investor rights * 40:00 - Frivolous Thoughts This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zerototraction.substack.com (https://zerototraction.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   30 Sept 2026

   Shmillip joins the shmow (finally)

   Host Cameron and JDM interview Phillip Mason, founder and CEO of LilyPay, about navigating startup losses and maintaining delusion and grounding.

3. 

   23 Sept 2026

   Bring on the AI co-founders!

   Host Cameron and JDM interview Joshua Thacker, founder of Searcher OS, about building an AI-powered company by deploying agents instead of hiring humans.

Who has been a guest on Zero to Traction

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Phillip Mason
• Joshua Thacker
• Brooke Borseth

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

752

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 57 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

76

Social presence

0

YouTube

66

Engagement

32

Contact Zero to Traction

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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