Let sound the summoning bugle and the GrepBeat gong,
Gather ‘round, cozy up, settle in, and read along:
As we take in the waning days of 2025,
I thought a little poem might just keep the year alive —
Preserve the startup stories and podcast episodes,
The interviews with founders and Brooks Malone Downloads,
So I’ve jotted down some rhymes all about the year that was,
As we brought you startup news (per the popup, sans the fuzz);
I’ve chopped it into sections so it’s as readable as can be,
(And no, before you ask, I didn’t use ChatGPT)
So take a moment now before the New Year begins
To journey back, read a bit, and live it all again,
As I remind you with these lines of everything that came to pass
(And what newslettering taught me about B2B SaaS)
~~The Download~~
On The Download this year, Brooks covered CED;
Nine folks who’ve worked there and who they’ve come to be:
Subjects included Andrea Cook and Monica Doss,
A Conductor Capital duo, and the 2ndF boss,
Tracy Harris, Ethan Floyd, and Adam Smith of Wrangle,
And Sawmills’ Winston Bowden, for a marketing angle.
Our thanks to Brooks as always for all that he’s done,
And for more in ’26 (the interviews have begun!)
~~The GrepBeat Podcast~~
If audio’s your style, you might’ve caught the GrepBeat Pod,
Where four shows walked the path the Nooner once hath trod,
For each week’s content recap you could catch the Friday Fix,
And for all events upcoming, you’d hit up the Monday Mix,
But to mine the deeper insights from the content quarries,
You could turn to In The Soup or Kevin Mosley’s Exit Stories;
The latter saw 10 episodes, with the first in live recording:
Purcell’s Palooza session, many felt, was quite rewarding;
Brendan Phelan told us all the Radius8 tale,
Ardis Kadiu covered edtech—and how to grow and scale,
For community-centered tech, the NeedsList duo was on hand,
And Allison Wood joined to tell us how to build a brand;
Jonathan Crook talked about being a self-starter,
John Fogg did two editions to form a legal tips two-parter,
From Aviva Rosman we got a political tech class,
And the season wrapped with Shiv, Founder of How to SaaS.
With In The Soup, your co-hosts Melissa Crosby and Jenn Summe
Kept your Wednesdays from ever growing dull or gloomy;
This most prolific duo in the Ecosystem pod-o-sphere
Ladled up dozens of episodes for all of you to hear;
Indeed the full count this year, all told, numbered 32,
(*Takes in a long, deep breath to recount them all for you*)
The first edition featured Opine and Inbound Revenue
On building stealthy or in public (and which is best for you?),
The second welcomed Windlift’s Rob, and Chip of CivicReach;
On working with the government, there’s plenty they can teach,
Founders from Reify and Zinnia gave presentation tips,
Robin and Allison talked of broken startup founder ‘ships
Sunlight and Raleon shed light on first-time leaders’ main mistakes,
TRAKID and Capwave joined us with strategic funding takes,
Mikaya Thurmond and Kristen Baileys talked startup PR,
A Chattanooga Angel threw in some insights from afar,
Dr. Lovelle and Charlotte Louis spoke on founders’ mental health,
As did Neal Shah of CareYaYa, with Vector Textiles’ Mark Self,
For core CFO functions we spoke with Jared and with Peter,
Charles Douthitt and yours truly sparked your Palooza pump-up meter
Our co-hosts covered Gen AI with Steve Klein and Nathan Snell,
And turned to Grace on founder burnout, alongside Doc Lovelle,
Nathan and Allison talked company culture in early days,
Peter and Jared told us how to handle the hire-a-CFO phase,
Charlotte and Haley told us why RDSW rocks,
Kristen and Rob taught us how to go from Blueprint to Box,
One episode covered climate tech under the administration,
And another touched on metrics for a mission-driven organization,
We learned how to raise funds with an approach that’s capital-light,
And had three founders tell us of the long-sales-cycle plight,
We got a VC breakdown with folks from Blueridge and Black Pearl,
And Neal and Scott took the AI healthcare topic for a whirl,
On picking a co-founder we talked with Lauren and with James,
Jan and Stephanie told us about individual angels’ aims
Scott McQuiggan and David Baxter covered when to use a dev shop,
And in one episode we learned how remote-first founders can stay on top
Kyle and David told us how to pick a revenue model,
And we took a turn off-road with Lauren of Durham’s Tromml
Palooza took it live with he who brought us the Witch of Blair:
Robin Cowie shows us that founders can come from anywhere,
And before year’s end the show featured a group four founders large,
To get their thoughts on this very break and how they all recharge
~~Startup Features~~
And now the startup features one might call our bread and butter,
(I’ll give each one a single line to minimize the clutter)
With Fashivly you’ll get some help curating your own style,
OhSnap will make your mobile games a bit more worth your while,
Deliveri helps businesses with shipments overseas,
While Cotl helps make plans for pets (beyond daycare and fleas),
Explore zoos and museums with QR codes from CheQRboard,
And an app from Valuable will help appraise your Viking hoard,
STEM Plug give kids a hands-on boost with robot-driven learning,
Focus On Words can help authors to maximize their earning,
With Nuream you can have your sheets pull data from your sleep,
And if you face small biz cyber threats, you may be right for KLEAP,
BreakingT has sports apparel based on viral trends,
VRV Athletics turns shared sports interests into friends,
With Auxiom AI you can curate news your way,
And if your shindig needs good vendors, look no further than Our Day;
Previewed gives students a vital boost in career prep,
But if that career’s in eSports, Gamrly’s the clear next step,
Argoneta might just help you live beneath the sea,
School transport looks a great deal smoother thanks to Shuttlebee,
Placeable can use AI to drive modular housing,
And WheelPrice uses AI, too — to streamline car wheel browsing,
Students Who Sit pairs faculty with student babysitters,
Roam pieces your style together from across outfitters,
IX Studio will help you create and market games,
And you can build financial freedom with the startup “ForOurLastNames,”
And now a little speedbump,
Slow your read; there are many hours in the day,
And there’s more to read,
lots more in fact,
Because I got carried away
Pilots can land planes more safely thanks to Skeeter Enterprises,
Mindr offsets Alzheimer’s risk before a case arises,
Brands can market to your calendar with help from InviteJet,
Linear Detection can minimize a fire threat,
AI can boost investor engagement through the Durham startup Reap,
Neopay can help a small biz make transactions on the cheap,
Meridian’s computer vision improves your putting game,
And CounterForce Health helps appeal denied insurance claims;
Warrant’s AI lends a hand with marketing compliance,
Helian supports efficient review in the lit behind life science,
You can train an athlete’s vision with VR from Ver Coaching,
Focus Cubes will calm your mind when burnout is approaching,
MindRev has an AI platform for driving self-improvement,
And FYTT designs training with data drawn from athletes’ movement,
SWELL Systems puts operations on a single platform,
Afuse connects incoming students — online, before the dorm,
Parents’ scheduling gets easier with Summer Sanity,
Zinnia builds sales connections (using (gasp) humanity),
With Troodie there’s a social side to choosing where you eat,
Elephants helps you keep up with the new people you meet,
Look to HTI if you need a repurposed laptop,
And to Charlotte’s Druid Ag for a data-supported farm crop,
With CareHome Health Solutions you can automate pill dispensation,
Trayecto helps startup workers do more with their compensation
Kids learn to hurdle challenges thanks to The Land Of Can
RevolutionAI helps you make an AI investment plan
Another little speedbump,
Slow your read; there are still more hours in the day,
And there’s more to read,
lots more in fact,
Because I got carried away
Citrus Oncology helps patients treat their side effects,
Capwave gives AI feedback improving founders’ pitch decks,
Skillmaker trains skilled workers with its AI and XR,
And for health communication, we’ve seen Arclet raise the bar,
EVOPod will add AI retail to EV charging stations,
CivicReach is giving voice AI to governments across the nation,
There may be no smarter HVAC monitoring than Intellicair’s,
And you can handle your steed’s health and more with The Horse Concierge;
Tarka doles out AI agents to help go-to-market teams,
Franzy can help you find the fitting franchise of your dreams,
Campy.ai helps parents plan summer camps for kids,
It’s A Go helps AEC companies with federal contract bids,
You can keep your mind healthier with NeuroTech Insights,
And look to BrightView Technologies for advanced display lights,
Churn Assassin helps its clients prevent pending user churn,
Dexit helps post-mortem planning (beyond the grave or urn);
UltiSim keeps working on high-tech digital twins,
And Opine raked in $5 million (we like to cover wins!),
Neighbors can share home services using StreetFair,
Medicporter helps get patients moved from here to there,
Sideline Education has a game-first learning technique
Path Intelligence gives home buyers an interactive virtual peek
With Squadies you can find clean public restrooms on the go,
Carbonix AI has proposal help for CROs
Children gain a voice in research through Durham startup Quest,
APPROVE helps buyers find which lending option’s best,
Bearbull presents stock trading like a fantasy sports game,
Roshi gives kids instructors whose interests are the same
CX gets help from automation thanks to RozieAI,
Bionic Health announced it was acquired by Thrive,
WeGo Golf helps gather data through portable golf games,
The Wall Printer creates wall art — no brushes, tarps, or frames.
One last little speedbump,
Slow your read; there are a few more hours in the day,
And there’s more to read,
Though just a bit at this point,
Now that you’ve come all this way
With Querious, AI is used to streamline legal conversation,
Agenda Keeper simplifies meeting organization,
Salus CM helps social service workers better manage cases,
Beam Dynamics helps entertainment venues cover all their bases,
With DocuLingo, documents in sports are simplified,
You can fit your event with bot texting through Msg2AI;
Just Her Rideshare will help you safely to your destination,
Clara Copilot brings clarity to intelligence operations,
Building project comms can get a boost from BuilderPad,
And Botsi keeps subscription costs from getting all that bad,
Behavior yields real insights with the platform from Hive Science,
Softsellr aides your tech sales through a kind of pack alliance,
Human-centric AI assistants are provided by Caffeine,
Craine Technology Labs envisions AI as avatars on your screen,
With AI-driven search, Majentics helps online brands adjust,
And if your startup needs some no-code dev, Tesslate’s a must,
BuilderComs improves communication in construction,
Atlantic Fish Co.’s pressing on with well-funded fish (ish) production,
Healthcare systems find AI solutions thanks to Vega Health,
Finplanly helps you build financial literacy (and wealth?),
RO-bot helps automotive techs with those pesky waiver claims,
Asobo gives kids learning quests that are made to feel like games,
Brook augments reception with AI that takes the phone,
Auditrol ensures that banks aren’t facing risks alone,
FlashPath improves research through toxicology prediciton,
Essential Personnel removes some public safety system friction,
And last but not least — the poem’s end, at last, is near,
Energy systems gain efficiency with data from Gridseer
After all this we thank you for the listens and the clicks,
As we look ahead and turn the page to 2026;
We’ll keep bringing you podcasts and cover startups far and near,
‘Till then we wish you well, and a Happiest New Year.
