Send us a text

"I'm a huge fruit snacks person. I don't really do much candy anymore, but I love fruit snacks." Jonathan Bateman, secure-software developer and founder of deepfake detection platform Real Recognizes Real AI, on the one childhood food obsession he never outgrew.

In this episode of Founders Fridge, host Heidi Knoblauch talks with Jonathan about building technology that verifies real humans using something AI can't fake: shared memories. They discuss how a Star Trek storyline about changelings inspired his approach to stopping fraud, why the CEO of Ferrari avoided a deepfake scam by asking about a book recommendation, and what it's like to build a startup while finishing dual degrees at RIT.

Jonathan grew up in Colorado as a soccer player with a naturally thin frame, which meant his mom was strict about calories. Three thousand a day. Oatmeal, protein shakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast. Packed lunches with peanut butter and honey sandwiches made with local Colorado honey because he never liked jelly. Chips in the lunch pail. His dad had a serious sweet tooth and would sneak to Walmart every Friday for Twizzlers and Mike and Ikes, a secret candy run his no-sugar mom didn't approve of. Now he's on a jerk chicken kick, experimenting with Caribbean seasoning in his stepmom's air fryer, which he describes as "sorcery." His mornings start with Chobani yogurt, chia seeds, and fresh berries. He eats to live, not the other way around, but he still has the foodie essence in him.

When things go well at Real Recognizes Real AI, he celebrates with Chick-fil-A. When things aren't going well? Rice and beans. For multiple meals straight.

Listen for:

• The Friday candy ritual his dad kept secret from his mom
• Why peanut butter and honey beats peanut butter and jelly
• The air fryer and pressure cooker combo that gets dinner done in minutes
• How his mom is now building her own startup and they eat dinner together at the office

Subscribe to Founders Fridge for more stories about the meals that fuel founders and the rituals that keep them going.

Check out our Substack!

Send us a text

"I ate Count Chocula every day for breakfast. I'm not kidding. Every day. From when I started chewing food until I was twenty-one."

Leanne Linsky, comedian turned entrepreneur and founder of live online comedy platform Plauzzable, on the cereal that defined her childhood and the letter she wrote to General Mills when there weren't enough marshmallows.

In this episode of Founders Fridge, host Heidi Knoblauch talks with Leanne about building a platform that lets comedians perform for live audiences online, going back to school for a master's in innovation mid-pandemic, and why she still needs to eat dinner at five o'clock sharp.

Leanne grew up in the Midwest, forty-five minutes outside Chicago. Meat and potatoes. Green Giant frozen corn, which was the only vegetable she'd touch. Dinner at the kitchen table every night, no TV allowed. She'd hide the vegetables she hated under her plate as if her mom wouldn't notice. Now she's mostly plant-based, her husband does the cooking, and their fridge is stocked with tofu, salsas, and Impossible chicken nuggets. She doesn't follow recipes. If it's not intuitive, why bother? She's a better baker anyway... she used to wake up early in New York, make brownies before work, and bring them to the office. She never ate them herself. She just liked how they made her apartment smell.

When things are going well at Plauzzable, they hit the fish market for scallops and king crab legs. When things aren't? Chips and salsa. Salty, savory, satisfying.

Listen for:

• The Count Chocula story (and the disappointing General Mills coupon)
• Why Leanne gets distracted cooking ("Oh wait, did I have the oven on?")
• The rice cooker Mexican dinner that's become a weeknight staple
• How a move from New York to LA traffic sparked the idea for online comedy

Subscribe to Founders Fridge for more stories about the meals that fuel founders and the rituals that keep them going.

Check out our Substack!

Send us a text

"Food is a pharmacy. If you have premium gas, you're able to get more from your workouts, more gains."

Kamal Singh, cofounder and COO of Halitra, on why he treats food like fuel for startups—and why he won't buy anything if he can't pronounce what's on the label.

In this episode of Founders Fridge, host Heidi Knoblauch sits down with Kamal to talk about building a bootstrapped data company, pivoting from hardware to software, and why cooking has become both his creative outlet and his expression of love.

Kamal's week revolves around the farmer's market. He buys what's fresh, what's seasonal, and then forces himself to figure out what to do with it—because real food doesn't wait three weeks. Radishes and beets? Look up a recipe. Artichokes and leeks? YouTube it. His goal: master two to three dishes from every cuisine he falls in love with. Right now, it's Thai. Massaman curry. Green curry. Fish sauce and galangal and lemongrass—ingredients he never would have touched a year ago. Next up: pho, and the art of building a really good broth.

His wife is finishing med school, and that's reshaped everything about how Kamal thinks about food. He reads labels now. He makes his own salad dressing—avocado, olive oil, lime, salt, pepper, a little maple syrup. He skips the processed stuff. And when he cooks, he watches her face as she eats it. "That's a high," he says. "That's an amazing feeling."

Growing up, his mom did all the cooking—sixty percent Indian, forty percent Western. No turkey at Thanksgiving. Instead, holidays became a masala of cuisines: Indian, Singaporean, Indonesian, Malaysian. "Really good haul," he says. "Not your typical cranberry turkey."

His fridge? Eggs. Vegetables. Protein. Ketchup and Dijon—and that's about it for processed. Water with electrolytes. No seltzer. No mystery ingredients.

Listen for:

• How Halitra pivoted from hardware to software—and bootstrapped to six-figure ARR
• Why Kamal orients his entire week around farmer's market days
• The cuisines he's working to master (and why rendang and Massaman rank among the world's best dishes)
• What it means to cook with love when your partner is deep in med school

Subscribe to Founders Fridge for more stories about the meals that fuel founders and the rituals that keep them going.

Check out our Substack!