In this episode of The Room Podcast, we speak with Caitlin Leksana, co-founder and CEO of Fazeshift, a company building AI agents for accounts receivable. Caitlin traces her path from growing up outside Washington, D.C., and studying mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech to water-desalination research, BCG, Harvard Business School, and entrepreneurship. She shares how a classmate became her co-founder, why their first crypto startup failed to find product-market fit, and how they found the conviction to pivot instead of walking away.
Caitlin explains how her own messy invoicing spreadsheet led the team to hundreds of customer-discovery conversations and eventually to Fazeshift. She breaks down what changed when the founders started with a customer problem instead of a product idea, how Y Combinator helped them find momentum, and what she learned about fundraising, hiring, and building with a co-founder.
The conversation also explores vertical AI in finance: why reliable automation starts with connecting messy data across ERPs, banks, inboxes, and industry-specific systems; how Fazeshift combines AI agents, browser workflows, and hands-on deployments; and why enterprise buyers want solutions to concrete problems rather than abstract AI capabilities.
Learn more about Caitlin Leksana on LinkedIn and explore Fazeshift.
(04:12) Where did Caitlin grow up, and how did it shape her worldview?
(05:14) Did Caitlin always think she would become a founder?
(07:01) Meeting her co-founder at Harvard Business School
(09:00) Starting their first company and realizing it was time to pivot
(11:17) How founders know when to stop pushing and change direction
(12:40) Customer discovery and finding the accounts receivable problem
(16:19) Building the MVP and joining Y Combinator
(18:52) Finding Fazeshift’s first investors and navigating fundraising(21:50) Hiring mistakes and lessons from building after the pivot(24:10) How the Y Combinator community supported Fazeshift(29:43) Is Fazeshift a vertical AI company?(30:36) Selling the solution versus selling the AI(31:52) Why accounts receivable needed AI instead of traditional software(34:39) Who buys Fazeshift, and who uses it day to day?(36:54) Fazeshift’s product modules, pricing, and customer experience(39:16) Connecting data across ERPs, banks, inboxes, and customer systems(41:27) How Fazeshift deploys agents into messy enterprise workflows(43:50) Letting customer problems shape the product roadmap(45:07) Rebuilding browser agents as the technology improves(46:08) Partnerships with accounting firms, private equity, and industry software(48:38) How Caitlin’s role is changing as Fazeshift grows(49:47) A woman who has had a profound impact on Caitlin’s life and career
