November 20, 2025
In this Episode:
Builder, Banker, Hacker, Chief unpacks the stories, decisions, and influences that make people successful leaders. This is episode nineteen of Builder, Banker, Hacker, Chief with Laura Kornhauser, CEO and Co-founder of Stratyfy.
Although it may have started by accident, Laura’s parents launched and ran their own company for years, eventually achieving a successful financial exit. That environment was a proving ground for many of the values Laura would take into her career her own startup.
While earning her undergraduate degree from Princeton, Laura wrote a senior thesis that correctly predicted the housing bubble and crash of 2007/2008. Rather than dwell on any missed opportunity, Laura decided to dive headfirst into investment banking and spent more than a decade at JPMorgan in their derivatives division.
Faced with a challenge to her core value of caring for her co-workers as family, Laura quit JPMorgan, and decided to get her MBA. Eventually she would decide to found Stratyfy with a classmate and tackle the challenge of fundraising while pregnant.
As CEO of Stratyfy, Laura brings an immense depth of experience and competencies to her work, in addition to a deeply empathic approach to work and leadership. Stratyfy is a company where people can do meaningful work without sacrificing what’s most important.
What’s clear is that Laura’s success is not a function of her ability to mask and cater to other people’s expectations. It is a vibrant expression of her uniqueness and drive to capture the excitement and joy that life holds. This episode will give you a tiny glimpse into her world — but that glimpse feels like a burst of sunlight on a cloudy day.