Built by Margin
Built by Margin is the podcast at the intersection of risk, numbers, and decision-making for founders, CEOs, and high performers. Hosted by CPA, fractional CFO, and author of the upcoming book Risk Worthy, Laurie Chen, CPA, MBA, the show explores how better decisions create better businesses, stronger leadership, and more meaningful long-term outcomes. From financial strategy and entrepreneurship to intelligent risk-taking and growth, each episode helps you think sharper and build with intention.
Built by Margin
From Coffee to Code: Building an AI Startup That Predicts Customer Churn with Alisha Esmail
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In this episode of Built by Margin, Laurie Chen sits down with Alisha Esmail, founder and CEO of Latch, an AI-native customer retention platform helping founders detect churn before it happens. Alisha shares her unexpected journey from international development and building a coffee company with fully female supply chains and microloans, to launching a tech company focused on customer success and retention. After losing her largest client in her first business, Alisha became obsessed with understanding why customers stay, why they leave, and how founders can build systems that protect recurring revenue.
Laurie and Alisha also explore what it means to build an AI company as a non-technical founder, how AI is changing financial modeling and startup operations, and why early-stage founders need to know their cash runway, burn rate, and customer acquisition metrics. Alisha opens up about leaving a comfortable company to start over, the fear of visibility and rejection, and the importance of founder resilience. Their conversation blends risk, numbers, decision-making, and the mindset required to keep building when the startup journey gets hard.
QUOTES
- "The most successful founder is the one that doesn’t quit." – Alisha Esmail
- "The numbers tell a story… finance is just a tool, like everything else." – Alisha Esmail
- "Risk worthy does not equal reckless. You have to know your numbers in order not to be reckless." – Laurie Chen
Laurie Chen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/
Risk Worthy: https://www.riskworthy.co/
Alisha Esmail
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alishaesmail/
Latch.ai: https://yourlatch.com