The Room Podcast is a leading technology podcast that shares inspiring founding stories from the tech leaders of today to catalyze the founders of tomorrow. Co-hosted by Claudia Laurie (a founder) and Madison McIlwain (a funder), The Room gives listeners an inside look into the early days of your favorite companies and answers your tactical questions about what it takes to build an iconic business.
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Claudia Laurie and Madison McIlwain met in San Francisco in 2018 as they began their careers as product managers in tech, quickly bonding over a shared passion for building products and cultivating community.
In 2020, as they each navigated pivotal career transitions, Claudia leaving big tech to start a company and Madison joining an early-stage venture capital fund, they launched The Room. What began as a way to seek advice from founders and funders during moments of uncertainty became something bigger: a platform to make those candid, career-shaping conversations accessible to everyone.
Since founding the podcast, Madison became a Partner at Defy, where she helped build and lead the firm’s seed-stage investment practice across B2B and consumer technology. She later graduated from Harvard Business School and now serves as Startup and VC Ecosystem Lead at Vercel, working closely with the next generation of high-growth companies.
Claudia went on to co-found Prive, a commerce payments and infrastructure startup that raised over $4.75 million from leading venture firms. In 2025, Prive was acquired by Recurly, backed by Accel-KKR, in a strategic acquisition. Claudia now leads new product bets at Uber.
Together, Claudia and Madison bring the rare perspective of both founder and funder to their conversations with the world’s most inspiring entrepreneurs, pairing operator depth with investor-level pattern recognition.
Currently VC and Startup Ecosystem Lead at Vercel.
Previously Partner of Seed Investments at defy vc.
Forbes 30 under 30 Media 2024
Dartmouth Class of 2018
HBS Class of 2025
Currently Product at Uber and Startup Advisor
Previously Co-founder & Co-CEO of Prive (Acquired by Recurly/Accel-KKR)
Forbes 30 under 30 Media 2024
Harvard Class of 2018
The Room Podcast is proudly partnered with Mercury and Perkins Coie.
Mercury is the fintech ambitious companies use for banking* and all their financial workflows. With a powerful bank account at the center of their operations, companies can make better financial decisions and ensure that every dollar spent aligns with company priorities. That's why over 200K startups choose Mercury to confidently run all their financial operations with the precision, control, and focus they need to operate at their best.*Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC.
Perkins Coie is a leading international law firm that is known for providing high-value, strategic solutions and extraordinary client service on matters vital to our clients’ success. With more than 1,200 lawyers in offices across the United States and Asia, we provide a full array of corporate, commercial litigation, intellectual property and regulatory legal advice to a broad range of clients, including many of the world’s most innovative companies and industry leaders as well as public and not-for-profit organizations.
Learn more at perkinscoie.com.
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