Presentation: From Staff Platform Engineer to a 16z Founder: What I Wish I'd Known

Gonzalo Maldonado explains how technical leaders can translate engineering skills into startup success using his "VC Abstraction Layer Knowledge" (VALK). He shares hard-won lessons on finding product-market fit, structuring pitches like technical docs, avoiding co-founder drama, and evaluating internal platforms as commercial ventures in a post-ZIRP environment.