Todd Bashor, Founder & Builder at Founder Guide

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Todd Bashor, Founder & Builder at Founder Guide – 1st Mondays Mini Podcast

Posted: August 11, 2026

By Ella Napata

In this episode of the 1st Mondays Mini Podcast, we chat with Todd Bashor, Founder and Builder at Founder Guide. Drawing on a long history of building companies in San Diego with varying degrees of success, Todd shares why he created a systematic tool to help early-stage founders avoid the mistakes he’s made, and why validation, distribution, and community remain as critical as ever in the age of AI.

Quick Summary

Born from real founder experience: Todd has started multiple companies in San Diego and built Founder Guide to help other founders emulate the good parts of his journey while avoiding common pitfalls.
A systematic path from idea to scale: Founder Guide guides early-stage founders through a structured process designed to keep them organized and fill gaps in their skills or knowledge as they grow.
AI makes skipping validation tempting: Todd’s biggest concern is that AI has made building so easy that founders often skip customer validation, building products before confirming there’s real demand.
Distribution can’t be an afterthought: Alongside validation, Todd emphasizes that many founders resist building an audience early, when developing a distribution channel from day one is critical to long-term success.
AI needs structured support, not just enthusiasm: Todd points to a lack of structured guidance around using AI effectively, which led him to start teaching “intro to vibe coding” and deeper workshops for founders.

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Why Todd Built Founder Guide

Todd’s entrepreneurial journey in San Diego spans multiple companies and outcomes, some more successful than others. Rather than let those lessons go to waste, he built FounderGuide as a way to help early-stage founders replicate the good parts of his experience and skip some of the harder lessons. The tool takes founders through a systematic process from idea to being ready to scale, designed to keep them organized and address gaps in their skill set or knowledge about what comes next.

The Most Common Founder Mistake: Skipping Validation

When asked about the challenges he’s trying to help founders avoid, Todd points to one pattern above all: founders convinced they have a great idea who rush to bring it to market. With AI making it easier than ever to build products quickly, that temptation has only grown, often at the expense of talking to real customers and gathering the feedback needed to steer the idea in the right direction. A core part of Founder Guide’s philosophy is helping founders reduce risk by validating their idea as early as possible.

Building an Audience Early

Beyond validation, Todd highlights another common gap: founders who resist putting themselves out there and building an audience. FounderGuide’s philosophy treats distribution as something to develop early in the process, not as an afterthought once the product is built.

Why Todd Shows Up to Events Like 1st Mondays

For Todd, community involvement isn’t tied to any single business goal; it’s personal. He describes working with passionate founders as some of the most fulfilling work of his career, energized by people who aren’t siloed into one role but are all working together to make something happen. That shared sense of purpose is what keeps him coming back to events like 1st Mondays, where he enjoys hearing different founder experiences and philosophies and meeting new people in the community.

AI, Structured Support, and Untapped Resources

Todd sees AI as a major theme for founders today, but notes there’s often a lack of structured support around using it well. In response, he’s started running an “intro to vibe coding” session, with a more in-depth workshop in the works, aimed at helping founders use AI effectively across different parts of their business. He also believes Startup San Diego has an opportunity to raise awareness of the resources already available locally — mentors, experienced founders, and businesses willing to help — calling much of that infrastructure “untapped” in the region.

Connect with Todd

Todd can be reached through founder-guide.com or directly at [email protected], either way is the best way to connect with him.

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