The Roundtable Series w/ Tiffanie Stanard, Adit Gupta and Tom Falzani Ep 1 | Founding Philly
This episode is sponsored by Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs.
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In this episode of Founding Philly, I sit down with three Philly founders—Tiffanie Stanard, founder and CEO of Stimulus, and Adit Gupta and Tom Falzani, co-founders of Lula Commerce—for a candid conversation on what it takes to build, grow, and scale early-stage startups in Philadelphia.
This episode kicks off the Roundtable Series, a new format of Founding Philly. Same mission, same great topics—now with more perspectives from across industries, all at the same table.
Stimulus is a relationship intelligence platform transforming how enterprises manage procurement and vendor relationships.
Lula Commerce is leading the way in democratizing digital commerce and delivery enablement for convenience stores, empowering them to unlock e-commerce by integrating with back-office systems and enabling seamless online ordering and fulfillment.
The conversation opens with a deep dive into product adoption—how these founders measure it, drive it, and use it to guide the business. Both emphasize the importance of going beyond the initial sale to ensure customers are not just retained, but truly engaged. As Adit puts it, “Just because you make the sale doesn’t mean you have product-market fit.”
They also share valuable lessons they learned along the way—like scaling sales teams too quickly, onboarding mismatched customers, and dealing with downstream churn. One of the biggest takeaways? Avoid scaling sales before nailing your ICP. As Adit notes, “If I could really understand the customer persona and narrow in the ICP quicker, I think it probably could have saved us a year.” Tiffanie adds, “Without having your ICP mapped out, you end up wasting a lot of time and a lot of money.”
Another key theme is the power of customer relationships—how something as simple as a text or Slack message can deepen trust and accelerate feedback. The founders agree: Start building customer relationships on day one. It’s one of the most effective and overlooked growth strategies early on.
The episode also explores how AI is quietly integrated into their platforms—not as a flashy selling point, but as a way to deliver real, practical value. As Tom reflects, “What is the value we're already providing in our product, and how do we take AI to push it even further?”
Tune in to this special roundtable episode to hear these Philly founders are offer practical lessons on product-market fit, customer engagement, and what it really means to scale.
The Roundtable Series is recorded at the Fitler Club, to learn more check out https://fitlerclub.com/.
