For Starters shares insights about launching a new business from those who’ve done it before so you can learn from what they did right — and wrong. This program is produced by GrepBeat and hosted by Anil Chawla, the founder and former CEO of ArchiveSocial.
In the final episode of season two, Anil chats with Jes Lipson, who is well known for having one of the most successful bootstrapped software exits in the region with his company ShareFile. It was sold to Citrix for $93 million. Not only does he talk about ShareFile, but Jes also shared finding product market fit the second time around for his current venture, Levitate. He talked about crucial lessons and how to manage the transition from bootstrapped to raising money.
In episode nine, Anil sits down with Jenny Maze, the co-founder and COO of Quinsite, a comprehensive healthcare analytics platform based out of Chapel Hill, NC. Jenny began her career in nursing with a passion for caretaking, then later became a stay-at-home mom (calling herself the “CEO of the Maze household). She tells us she is not your typical career-driven business woman. One of her dreams was to have a family. However, she found herself helping her husband build and launch an analytics platform for a billing company from scratch. This soon would become what we know today as Quinsite. Jenny shares their unique journey and her insights into creating a product that meets the needs of your target market.
In this episode, host Anil Chawla sat down with Drew Schiller, the co-founder and CEO of Validic, a leading healthcare data platform that enables seamless access and integration of health data from various sources. Drew shares his journey from ideation to the creation and growth of Validic, providing valuable insights into the challenges and successes that come with building a startup. Anil explored the inspiration behind the company, how Drew and his co-founder identified a gap in the healthcare industry and the steps he took to bring his idea to market.
In episode seven, Anil chatted with Monica Wood, the co-founder & former CEO of Myxx. It's a platform that simplified the home cooking process by automatically turning recipes into the exact ingredients ready to be picked up at your local grocery store. Wood talks creating a unique and valuable opportunity for major brands to market to consumers. Wood also discusses about the common struggles of launching a startup and refining product market fit.
In episode six, Anil chatted with South African native Ricci Wolman, the co-founder and CEO of Written Word Media. It's an online platform that helps more than 35,000 self-published authors market their books. Remember the story of how JK Rolling in the 1990s almost couldn't find a publisher to release her first Harry Potter novel? Fast forward to today, (thanks to the internet and the latest tech) it is now easier than ever to create content and Wolman's company helps authors capture their audience. Find out how Wolman built her success as an entrepreneur starting with her family, launching a few side hustles, and refining her product market fit for Written Word Media.
In episode five, Anil chats with Erkang Zheng, the founder and CEO of JupiterOne. It's a Morrisville-based software startup launched in 2020 which is now valued at over one billion dollars. The platform provides a more comprehensive view of how systems, employees, cloud-based apps and databases are interconnected within today's organization. It helps security practitioners better understand that digital footprint. Tune in to hear career lessons from Zheng, who is a seasoned entrepreneur, and how he gained “unicorn” status in just two years.
In episode four, Anil talks with Rebecca Egger, the co-founder & CEO of Little Otter Health. You'll be able to hear what it's like to be right at the brink of achieving product-market fit and to be able to scale big with Little Otter having already raised $26 million. Rebecca launched the digital platform—which is focused on mental healthcare for children 14 years old and under—at the beginning of the pandemic. Rebecca knows firsthand how one child's mental illness is a family ordeal, so Little Otter's holistic approach involves the entire family rather than just working with a child alone. Hear her interesting story from being diagnosed with ADHD at a young age to launching the company alongside her mother to turning her vision for the platform into reality.
In episode three, Anil chats with Atlanta-based entrepreneur Craig Hyde, who is the founder and former CEO of Rigor. There are quite a few technical challenges behind keeping a large prominent website performing well. Rigor helps customers, such as CNN, Home Depot and Best Buy, monitor what's happening behind the scenes and ensure that they're providing a reliable and responsive online experience. Find out about Craig's fascinating entrepreneurial story and how he found product market fit.
In episode two, Anil is talking with Liza Rodewald, the founder and CEO of Instant Teams, a company that now has over 600 employees and counts some of the world's most prominent organizations, including Amazon and Walmart as customers. Whether you're a startup or a Fortune 500, getting the right talent is never easy. Not only is it hard to recruit, but for certain types of roles like those in customer service and sales, it can be hard to keep them. Instant Teams is tackling this issue by providing access to a unique talent pool: spouses of members of our US military. Being a military spouse herself and a veteran entrepreneur, Liza tells us how hiring military spouses can help address a number of those issues and her journey in launching the company, which includes stepping back from her successful software consultancy.
In the season premiere, Anil is chatting with Kevel (formerly known as Adzerk) Founder & CEO James Avery. You may not have heard of Kevel, but if you've spent any time on the internet after 2010, you've probably experienced its technology through the magic of online ads. The platform allows companies to build an ad server in just a few weeks. With early customers like Stack Overflow, Reddit and Yelp, find out how James turned his experiences running an ad network into a thriving platform that powered some of the internet's most trafficked sites.
On this new season of For Starters, we introduce a new host Anil Chawla, a tech entrepreneur and executive in Triangle. He is best known for launching the no. 1 provider of social media archiving technology, ArchiveSocial. Anil is taking a deep dive into how startups find product market fit, asking successful founders to rewind the clock and tell us how they each took what was just a vision into delighted customers and a scalable business. For Starters Season 2 drops Tuesday, January 17th, 2023.
In the final episode of For Starters Season One, host Robbie Allen asks four successful founders what they would—and wouldn't—do again if starting from scratch.
Host Robbie Allen chats with Anil Chawla (ArchiveSocial) and Jes Lipson (Levitate) about whether early stage businesses should grow through profit or raise money through angels and venture capitalists.
Host Robbie Allen talks with CEO of RevBoss, Eric Boggs, and Founder & President of Saltbox Solutions, Jeff Cooper, about tips and tricks to acquire customers.
Host Robbie Allen talks with startup advising guru, Tom Collopy, about the four fatal founder flaws of customer discovery, and how to fix them.
Host Robbie Allen talks to two of the best-known startup attorneys in the Triangle: Glen Caplan (Robinson, Bradshaw, & Hinson) and Neil Bagchi (Bagchi Law). They dive into how entrepreneurs can make the most out of having an attorney.
Host Robbie Allen tackles the topic of raising funding with Jason Caplain (BCVP) and Alex Krawchick (Klearly).
Developing a compelling origin story about your company can help attract both customers and investors. Host Robbie Allen and his guests discuss how to do just that.
Is it boss to be The Boss? Host Robbie Allen and his guests explore whether being your own boss—rather than an employee—is all it's cracked up to be.
What matters—and what really doesn't—when starting a business? Host Robbie Allen and his guests dispel myths about what you should focus on most when getting your company off the ground.
What makes an entrepreneur? Can anyone be an entrepreneur? Those are the big questions that host Robbie Allen dives into with the help of his three guests in the premiere episode of For Starters
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