We sat down with Jessica Liew, Founder and CEO of Intriq, ahead of our upcoming Female Founder Event on May 21 in Palo Alto on “Fundraising in Times of AI.”
Jessica Liew’s path into building Intriq was shaped by years spent inside some of the most demanding environments in restructuring, consulting, and private equity. Working across Fortune 500 companies and global investment firms, she operated in spaces where decisions were expected quickly, yet the work required to get there often lagged behind. Across engagements, a consistent pattern emerged. Before any meaningful analysis could begin, teams had to spend significant time gathering, cleaning, and restructuring data. The bottleneck was rarely the thinking itself. It was the effort required to prepare for it. As a result, the most valuable part of the process, understanding what the numbers were actually saying, was often delayed. Jessica saw it repeated across industries, teams, and projects. Over time, it became clear that the inefficiency was structural, not situational. That realization became the starting point for Intriq.
Intriq is an AI platform built for corporate finance and advisory teams, designed to work with large, complex datasets and turn fragmented inputs into clear, structured insight. Its purpose is straightforward: reduce the time spent on preparation and allow teams to focus on decision-making. While building the company, Jessica also raised venture capital funding in a pre-seed round, navigating investor conversations across both the US and Europe. Her experience reflects a practical understanding of how early-stage fundraising unfolds, from building initial momentum to identifying the right investors and managing the process with limited resources.
To bring a more personal lens to her perspective, we invited Jessica to share a few reflections, offering insight into how she approaches building, fundraising, and decision-making today.
Reflections From the Journey
The messy part of building a startup is… keeping momentum even when times get hard
One early mistake I’m glad I made was… taking a leap of faith before being ready
What people assume is easy, but isn’t, is… building a strong team
A belief about startups I’ve changed my mind on is… that the journey gets easier with time
What keeps me going on harder days is… the opportunities we’ve been given and working with our clients
If I started again, I would… build and ship the smallest amount of value fast, without overcomplicating it
The question I’m asking myself most right now is… what will our industry look like in 3 years with AI?
The reality of fundraising in the age of AI is… it’s hard to raise on a solution that is non-defensible — investors can see past it
Join Jessica Liew: Fundraising in Times of AI
Meet Jessica Liew at our upcoming Female Founder Roundtable on “Fundraising in Times of AI” on May 21 at Moon Creative Lab in Palo Alto. She’ll share how fundraising works in practice, common early mistakes, and how to build momentum when things feel uncertain.
🔐 Limited capacity — secure your spot early here.