In this episode, Andreas Munk Holm talks with Enis Hulli, General Partner at e2vc, and Gorken Yurtseven, founder and CTO of Fal.ai, to unpack the story behind one of Europe’s fastest-growing AI startups.
Gorken opens up about building a sales motion from scratch as a technical founder, the importance of developer-first products, and how being in San Francisco created viral moments that fueled Fal’s breakout growth. Enis, meanwhile, shares how Fal’s rise is shaping his investment strategy, doubling down on diaspora founders and “blue ocean” markets where Europe’s engineering talent can quietly build global winners.
Here’s what’s covered:
04:50 Deep Dive into Faleye and Generative Media
23:48 Revenue Growth and Market Dynamics
25:30 Strategic Market Positioning
29:10 Sales and Team Management
35:18 Building in San Francisco vs. Europe
47:33 Lessons and Insights for Founders and VCs
Watch it here or add it to your episodes on Apple or Spotify 🎧, with chapters for easy navigation available on the Spotify/Apple episode.
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✍️ Show notes
The Backstory of Fal.ai & Founders' Bond
Fal.ai is a developer-first platform focused on generative media—AI-generated images, videos, and audio. Unlike many companies chasing large language models (LLMs), Fal carved its niche in a growing yet less crowded space. Gorkem Yurtseven, the founder and CTO, teamed up with early backers like A16z and First Round to accelerate growth. What made this story even more personal was that Enis Hulli, a close childhood friend of Gorkem and now a VC at E2VC, also got involved, though not without a struggle.
Despite their friendship, Enis had a tough time getting a significant stake in Fal due to small allocation sizes and some European tax rules that required his fund to own at least 5% to avoid penalties. In the end, Enis did manage to invest, but only after some persistence and compromises. The story shows how even strong personal relationships can collide with the hard math of fundraising and ownership structures.
Fundraising Lessons & Dynamics
Fal’s fundraising strategy was bold and smart. They convinced both First Round and A16z to co-lead their seed round. This move gave them support from one of the best early-stage builders (First Round) and one of the top multi-stage funds (A16z). However, it also meant limited room for smaller funds, making it tricky for others like E2VC to get meaningful allocations. Still, the strategy paid off by keeping the company well-supported at every growth stage.
Their Series B round, $49 million led by A16z, came together fast, thanks to incredible growth metrics. Fal’s revenue was 22X’d over a year, driven by the release of powerful new models and increased enterprise interest. It’s a great example of how solid performance, plus the right market timing, can make even a big round feel effortless.
Developer-Focused Strategy
Fal’s biggest bet is on developers. They believe that enabling developers to build powerful tools on their platform creates a ripple effect of growth and adoption. This focus on being the best backend for AI builders echoes companies like Stripe or Databricks—developer-centric products that grow as others innovate on top of them.
Their marketing strategy mainly involves letting their users spread the word. Devs are proud to share their Fal-powered apps, and the company encourages this kind of visibility. Instead of burning money on traditional marketing, Fal benefits from an organic flywheel: developers post cool demos, others take notice, and momentum keeps building.
Fal’s Position in the AI Tech Stack
Fal operates in a sweet spot between infrastructure and application, and the platform layer helps developers run AI models at scale. Unlike many competitors, it’s laser-focused on media models (image, video, and audio), which allows it to optimize performance, reduce latency, and offer better pricing. Its technology stack beats out many larger players, both on speed and cost.
They’ve built an engine that powers open-source models and supports closed-source ones, with a developer-friendly marketplace layered on top. This gives them a unique position: they’re not trying to replace OpenAI but instead enable builders to tap into top-tier models easily and reliably. The fact that many customers are coming to them organically speaks volumes about their product-market fit.
Why San Francisco + Eastern Europe is Fal’s Secret Sauce
Gorkem strongly believes in the power of being based in San Francisco. According to him, serendipitous run-ins, access to top talent, and proximity to key investors give founders a better chance at success. A chance coffee with Vercel’s CEO in SF helped kick off a key investor introduction that might not have happened elsewhere.
At the same time, Fal’s engineering team includes top talent from Turkey and Eastern Europe. This blend of SF energy and affordable, high-quality global engineering gives Fal an edge. Enis points out that the region is rich in dev talent, and companies built there can survive longer and execute more efficiently, especially when targeting emerging or “blue ocean” markets.
Real-World Growth Tactics & Lessons
From a tactical standpoint, one of Gorkem’s biggest lessons is the power of clarity. Messaging matters; what your company does should be loud, simple, and memorable. Fal doubled down on its focus on media models and wasn’t afraid to repeat that message, which helped set it apart in a noisy AI landscape.
Another key insight was the benefit of founder-led sales in the early stages. With no sales team, the founders learned quickly, closed major deals, and proved their offering. They later brought in a sales advisor to help structure deals better, but the hustle up front made a big difference. Now, they’re building a full sales organization to scale those efforts further.
Lessons Learned With Key Takeaways for Founders & VCs
For Gorkem, there were two standout lessons: splitting rounds between two top-tier VCs can create powerful long-term incentives for follow-on investment. Second, being boldly specific in what you do can help you win in competitive markets. It gives you an identity that customers can trust and rally behind.
On the other hand, Enis walked away with renewed conviction in backing blue ocean opportunities—markets that don’t fully exist yet. He also noted that even strong early revenue doesn’t always mean you’ve hit product-market fit. With Fal, true product-market fit only became obvious after things started taking off. It’s been a story of learning fast, moving faster, and thinking bigger for both founder and investor.
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