He Raised $60 Million To Build An AI-Powered Platform That Helps Organizations Build And Manage Internal Applications More Efficiently

When it comes to building a startup in today’s fast-changing AI landscape, Brad Menezes is living proof that bold pivots, deep conviction, and long-term co-founder trust are the real ingredients for success.

From selling guitar straps in high school to raising $60M for his company Superblocks, Brad’s journey is one of persistence, humility, and hard-won insight into the wave of change in AI. In this exciting interview, he shares the lessons he has learned throughout his entrepreneurial journey.

Listen to the full podcast episode and review the transcript here.

From Toronto to Silicon Valley: A Grit-Fueled Leap

Brad grew up in a suburb of Toronto in a family with a strong IT background. His entrepreneurial spark ignited early, as he sold guitar straps to fellow musicians and experimented with eCommerce. Yet, Silicon Valley always loomed large in his imagination.

With few high-profile entrepreneurs around him, Brad immersed himself in TechCrunch and startup lore, determined to make the leap. He chose mechanical engineering as his degree course, which is similar to a physics major in the applied domain, and delved into problem-solving

In Brad’s opinion, company building is an entirely different domain, but the principles of physics and mechanical engineering are still applicable.

Even today, he simply goes back to his first principles thinking, which helps him cut through the noise and find solutions to automation problems for enterprises.

While in college, Brad noted that all startups were in the software sector, which prompted the decision to get into the industry. But for that to happen, he needed to get from Canada to Silicon Valley. With that objective, he relentlessly cold-emailed companies in the Valley.

Working as an Intern at Yelp

Brad’s breakthrough came when he emailed Yelp, the restaurant reviews site. At the time, the company had just gone to IPO and was looking for a product manager. Although he got an interview, they turned him down for a full-time role since it was early in his career.

But instead of walking away, Brad proposed joining as an intern post-graduation. That bold ask worked. He joined Yelp’s product team and built relationships that would later become foundational, including one with Yelp’s founder, Jeremy Stoppelman.

Brad recalls Jeremy as a product genius who mentored him. Brad had grown up reading about Jeremy and his work at PayPal, and working with him was like a dream come true.

Learning from Failure: The First Startup Attempt

Inspired and equipped with experience in product management, Brad reconnected with his high school physics classmate, and future co-founder, Ran Ma. With Jeremy’s support, they secured backing from Sam Altman and entered Y Combinator in 2015.

Brad and Ran started their first startup, an on-demand healthcare service that delivered nurse practitioners to homes. The business model was similar to Uber’s, and patients could receive urgent nursing assistance with a single button press on their phones.

But despite early momentum, the venture faltered. As Canadian founders without deep U.S. healthcare experience, knowledge about how health insurance works, or industry ties, they lacked the “unfair advantage” needed to scale. There were the critical pieces of running the business.

The failure was painful and humbling. Brad recalls how they were unable to get insurers on board, which meant a very small subset of the population was interested in their service.

Shutting down the company was a business decision on the surface, but it also came with some reasonable emotional turmoil.

Rebuilding with Purpose: From Datadog to Superblocks

Instead of rushing into another venture, Brad and Ran took a strategic pause. They realized they needed software experience. Brad joined Datadog, leading their second product, Application Performance Monitoring. He led the product from zero to $100M in ARR in four years.

Brad learned a great deal from the experience, which was “like a startup inside a startup.” The inspiration for Superblocks came from his interactions with customers who were using Datadog to monitor internal apps.

It struck Brad that, at Datadog, they were monitoring just one small piece of the problem. The bigger problem was that clients had a massive backlog of internal applications that were mission-critical to their business, and they could not buy any software to help them.

The need for a solution became the core idea for Superblocks. Brad began to think about providing Lego-like building blocks for data integration, authentication, permissions, and app development.

Brad could build a low-code app builder on top, describing it as the “other half” of what SaaS had yet to capture. Meanwhile, Ran had joined Confluent. The years spent at leading enterprise software companies gave the duo the insight, experience, and credibility they previously lacked.

This time, Brad and Ran approached the idea cautiously. They discussed the idea at length, trying to disprove it and exploring all the possible scenarios that could lead to its failure. That was the first phase of building Superblocks.

Co-Founder Chemistry: The Foundation of Long-Term Success

Brad credits much of Superblocks’ strength to his co-founder relationship with Ran. What began as academic rivalry in high school turned into a deep, trust-filled partnership. It was formed through a failed startup and strengthened over the years of shared growth.

They complement each other perfectly, with Brad leading product and GTM, and Ran overseeing engineering. “It’s like a marriage,” Brad says. “You’re betting your entire career on one person.”

Although Brad and Ran manage different parts of the company and have varying perspectives and workspaces, they collaborate heavily on the product side. Brad explains that there’s a massive overlap in the key areas, but they trust each other to make calls autonomously.

The Idea That Changed Everything: Embracing the AI Wave

Superblocks is a platform that enables customers to have their engineering, IT, and business teams build mission-critical apps that run their business, essentially mission-critical internal operational apps. The platform charges SaaS fees for creators and builders who utilize AI.

Superblocks also charges a subscription fee for the end users or the consumers of those applications. Initially launched as a low-code platform, Superblocks had to confront a massive market shift with the rise of generative AI.

In the last six months, the app generation companies on the consumer side began to explode. Rather than resist, Brad and Ran leaned in and doubled down on their AI capabilities for their existing product.

Brad explains how they made two fundamental changes. Firstly, they made the underlying representation of a Superblocks app with just raw code, diverting almost the entire engineering team to this aspect. They directed the team to stop working on the old model and transition to the new one.

Secondly, Brad and Ran ensured that it would be a world-class AI app generation tool, enabling anyone to build it–not just developers and highly technical people, but also IT, business teams, and operations teams.

“Clark,” Superblocks’ AI-Native Platform

The duo bet the company on AI, finding a way to get all the benefits of the new wave of AI prompts to the app. They rebuilt the entire backend to enable apps to be represented in code and focused on facilitating prompt-to-app experiences.

This evolution culminated in the launch of “Clark,” Superblocks’ AI-native platform for enterprise app creation. It was a bold move. Customers still wanted features on the older product, but the team committed fully to the new vision.

The result? A successful launch that drew overwhelming attention across social media and tech circles. Brad views it as a critical lesson learned. “Entrepreneurship tests not only your intelligence but also your courage and ability to be bold,” he says.

Why Superblocks Is Different in the Enterprise AI Race

While consumer-facing AI tools are gaining headlines, Brad believes the real untapped potential is in enterprise. But enterprise AI isn’t plug-and-play. It requires integration with sensitive business data, complex permissions, brand-specific design systems, and secure identity management.

Enterprise AI must operate in an environment subject to regulatory restrictions, making it a complex task. The constraints and requirements are entirely different than those in the consumer world.

Furthermore, the system has to be customized to accommodate the specific components and brand of the enterprise. Then again, users logging into the app should be able to log in to the SSO provider, such as Okta, for example.

Superblocks addresses these challenges head-on, enabling teams across engineering, IT, and operations to collaborate on app creation without compromising on compliance or security. Their edge lies in building with enterprise complexity in mind from day one.

Brad reveals that they spend a lot of time getting unique enterprise context and configuration so that the prompts actually deliver an experience that is specific and bespoke to that organization, not just what you get from a consumer app builder.

Fundraising with Conviction: $60M and Counting

Superblocks has raised $60M to date from top-tier VCs like Kleiner Perkins, Green Oak, Spark, and Meritech. For Brad, one of the most critical elements in early-stage fundraising isn’t just the quality of the idea, it’s the reputation you bring to the table.

In the early days of Superblocks and prior, Brad benefited from the credibility he built during his time at companies like Datadog and Yelp. Referrals from mentors like Jeremy Stoppelman opened doors to legendary operators like Aaron Levie and Aneel Bhusri.

Storytelling is everything that Brad Menezes was able to master. The key is capturing the essence of what you are doing in 15 to 20 slides. For a winning deck, consider the pitch deck template created by Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley legend (see it here), which highlights the most critical slides.

Remember to unlock the pitch deck template that founders worldwide are using to raise millions below.

Brad remembers the initial $2M seed round they raised from an angel investor. It was adequate to interview customers and build the first product. Their journey has been about momentum toward a future where everyone can create software for their businesses, safely and securely.

Past experiences played a key role when venture capital firms conducted back-channel references. VCs weren’t just evaluating potential, they were betting on track records. Brad considers himself fortunate to partner with people who are enthusiastic about the company.

“Reputation is everything,” Brad emphasized, underscoring that building trust and excellence in prior roles is often the deciding factor when investors consider writing a check. Superblocks now has Tier 1 VCs, angel investors, and highly successful entrepreneurs on its cap table.

Building a Culture of Courage at Superblocks

At Superblocks, culture isn’t a buzzword; it’s a strategic advantage. Brad described a work environment where the team’s energy is palpable, even on a Monday morning. According to him, the process of building this culture starts with hiring.

Initially, Brad focused heavily on raw intelligence, looking for people who could think on their feet in a rapidly evolving environment. Over time, though, he came to realize that emotional intelligence (EQ) was just as, if not more, important.

“Everything is about teams of people working together,” Brad noted, whether among internal teams or with customers and partners. But perhaps the most critical trait he now looks for is courage.

Early team members, in their own way, are entrepreneurs, betting on a vision and an uncertain future. In the AI-driven world of today, where what you’re building today may look entirely different a year from now, adaptability and boldness are non-negotiable.

Superblocks thrives by hiring individuals who are not only smart and emotionally aware but also brave enough to help shape and evolve the company’s future.

The Vision: Superblocks as the Operating System for Enterprises

When describing a world where Superblocks’ vision is fully realized, Brad paints an exciting picture. In that future, the largest enterprises run their internal operations on Superblocks. It’s a vision that aligns with the current trajectory of AI and enterprise software.

Every employee, from IT to business teams, is empowered to build, maintain, and interact with applications that drive core operations.

These apps are complemented by intelligent AI agents capable of handling tasks autonomously, working in the background while employees focus on strategic tasks.

Brad sees Superblocks as the foundation enabling this transformation, empowering companies to reach their goals more efficiently and with greater flexibility. It’s this sense of purpose and opportunity that fuels his passion every day.

Advice to His Younger Self: Always Make the Bold Move

If Brad could offer one piece of advice to his younger self before launching his first business, it would be this: there’s always another move to make, and that move should be bold. Startups are never linear.

Every founder will face moments of doubt, market shifts, or product challenges. But within those moments lies the opportunity to evolve. Brad refers to companies like NVIDIA, whose trajectory was marked by pivots and reinvention before it became a tech giant.

The same applies to any entrepreneur. “It’s OK to go all in,” he reflects. What matters most is the courage to make big bets, listen to customers, and iterate with conviction.

That mindset, Brad believes, is what enables startups to push through obstacles and continue growing, regardless of what comes next.

Final Thoughts: Courage Over Intelligence

Brad Menezes closes with a powerful insight: Startup success isn’t about intelligence, it’s about courage. The courage to shut down a company. The courage to pivot in the face of a market shift. The courage to bet big when others stay safe.

For Superblocks, the future is AI-native, enterprise-ready, and founder-led by two problem-solvers who’ve walked the hard road and emerged wiser, sharper, and more aligned than ever.

Listen to the full podcast episode to know more, including:

• Brad’s background in mechanical engineering helped him approach complex problems by breaking them down into fundamental components.
• His first attempt at a startup in healthcare failed due to a lack of industry-specific knowledge, but it taught him the importance of domain expertise.
• Unlike consumer tools, enterprise AI demands security, compliance, and deep integration with business systems.
• Recognizing the rise of generative AI, Brad and his team made a decisive pivot, rebuilding Superblocks around code-based, AI-generated apps and launching “Clark,” their AI-native platform.
• Brad’s relationship with co-founder Ran Ma was built on years of shared challenges and mutual respect, which enabled them to navigate high-stakes decisions with clarity and unity.
• Superblocks’ $60M raise was powered by the idea, Brad’s track record at Datadog and Yelp, and strong references from respected mentors like Jeremy Stoppelman.
• Brad believes bold moves, emotional intelligence, and resilience are what ultimately separate great founders from the rest.

SUBSCRIBE ON:

Keep in mind that storytelling is everything in fundraising. In this regard, for a winning pitch deck to help you, take a look at the template created by Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley legend (see it here), which I recently covered. Thiel was the first angel investor in Facebook with a $500K check that turned into more than $1 billion in cash.

Remember to unlock the pitch deck template for free, which founders worldwide are using to raise millions, below.

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More