Off the Record with Aram

About Al MorrisAl is a chief architect and co-founder of Koii network. Koii was born in 2020 to widen the possibilities for the future of Web3. Al loves teaching, which made him start Blockchain Institute Chicago. The main goal of the institute is to help educate the public about the use of blockchain technology.SHOW NOTES: 0:00 | Introduction to Al Morris0:22 | Why Koii?2:42 | What sets Koii apart from other networks4:43 | Crypto -a giant scam?6:33 | Intricacies of remote work11:12 | Strategy to track productivity14:58 | Recurring meetings are time wasters19:18 | Zoom Fatigue a Real Thing21:34 | Satisfaction of making your own food 23:00 | Privacy - 10 years laterQuotes “The reason that we set out to build this one, in particular, is to fix like a really big problem in the world, which is this, this issue of the internet being owned by such a select few.” (20.20) “You could basically wipe an entire section of civilization off the map and within a decade, no one would even remember that it happened. I think there's probably instances that is happening in a lot of places right now around the world where we don't really have those kinds of protections in place.” (26.47) Connect with Al MorrisFollow Al Morris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderdmorrisWebsite: https://www.annalembke.com/ Work with Crowdlinker: https://www.crowdlinker.com/contact 

About Mark RickmeierMark is the CEO at TXI - a product innovation firm. He believes in creating rich employee and customer experiences. But, not everything scales well. Even good intentions don't necessarily scale well. In the pandemic, TXI tried to deliver cooked meals to all members of the team. That didn't scale well. Mark shares lessons he learned about scalability throughout this episode. Besides TXI, Mark founded The Kermit Collective where founders of software companies get together to share how business is going with their competitors in a high-trust environment.  SHOW NOTES:00:05 | Who is Mark Rickmeier?00:57 | What is the ugly side of growth? 02:19 | Focusing on resilience instead of growth 05:16 | What is TXI (product activation firm)? 10:09 | Why would you want to make your competition better? 16:13 | Removing stigmas around your industry through cooperatition OR Revealing your biggest failure to your biggest competitor  19:22 | What to prioritize when scaling SaaS companies22:32 | Making employee growth paths at scale25:40 | Growth, accountability, mentorship at scale (mistakes when scaling SaaS companies) 27:49 | Being transparent with job descriptions and salaries OR What is harming you as you scale?30:13 | Building a community through collaborations OR Spending time in different company culture34:09 | Do things that don't scale: is it good advice? 37:36 | Fireside questions (going bankrupt, walkshops with other leaders, balancing family and business) QUOTES:[01:08] “The ugly side of growth is the unintentional side of growth; sometimes there's this pursuit of growth at all costs or growth just for growth's sake.”  [02:57] “Resilience is what people should be pursuing more than growth”[21:40] “You have to be very intentional about the big things you want to get done because the little stuff will always take up all the room.” Links We Mentioned: The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek: https://simonsinek.com/books/the-infinite-game/ The Kermit Collective: https://kermitcollective.com/ Follow Mark Rickmeierhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/markrickmeier/

Follow Aram Melkoumov on Linkedin for highlight clips and DMs.Ron runs a tight ship at Uplinq and he shares how and why he does so. This interview also explores why growing a startup for the sake of an exit is a bad strategy, why you should want to hold cash in this economy, how to hire people that make a genuine impact in your growth, and the difference between thoughtful scaling and so-called ‘aggressive' scaling.About Ron BenegbiRon is the founder and CEO of Uplinq. He is a 4 time tech founder with 2 exits and one flop. Being an immigrant who moved to Canada as a child with his family in the early 70s, he knows what it's like to start from nothing. As he puts it, he's not cut from the cloth of overspending. He's cut from the cloth of disciplined business operations and fiscal responsibility, and that's how he's currently running Uplinq.SHOW NOTES:00:00 | Who is Ron Benegbi?00:26 | His father getting a loan to start a business04:19 | Giving new business a shot at financing (Uplinq) 06:50 | Serving the underbanked (opportunity size)09:38 | Thoughtful scaling vs. aggressive scaling14:43 | Building a unicorn is a bad purpose16:48 | Should you take money from VCs or bootstrap?18:09 | Why hold on to cash in this market22:52 | Hiring people that 10X your revenue29:39 | Not hiding from failure 35:13 | Favourite thing about his co-founder36:22 | What would you do if your company went bankrupt? 36:52 | Becoming less reactive and more matureQUOTES:[11:50] “We're building a company, but we're trying to build a profitable company. So i'm not here to just raise money, and then, you know, hire 20 people and then burn cash and be in the same place six months from now. So we're here to, you know, build a product, do it right; hire in a very thoughtful programmatic way, but also give ourselves enough of a cash runway; while always having business milestones that we need to hit.”[12:49]  “It's not that I'm not in a rush. Believe me, I have a sense of urgency every moment of the day but that has to be balanced against a thoughtful pragmatic way to build a business.”[19:04] “I'm very very concerned about cash and cash runway. That's the number one reason all small businesses fail, regardless of whether they're VC funded or not intact or not. And especially now with the markets being what they are with the economy turning, we have to hold on to every penny we have until we can't anymore so that's how I look at it.”Connect with Ron Benegbi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronbenegbi/ 

Follow Aram Melkoumov on Linkedin for highlight clips and DMs.How much do you really know about exiting a company? Most people know very little, simply because there's very little out there about the hush-hush world of mergers and acquisitions. That's until today's guests co-wrote their book Exit Right.About Mert Hilmi Iseri Mert is the co-author of Exit Right. He is an Entrepreneur In Residence at MATH Venture Partners and Ex-CEO of SwipeSense. During the episode, he narrates his rollercoaster journey at SwipeSense. It is this very journey, along with the extensive research insights he has acquired about exiting companies solidified his belief that “company performance is CEO performance.” About Mark AchlerMark is the Managing Director at MATH Venture Partners and co-author of Exit Right. Amongst other roles, he is also an Adjunct Lecturer of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management. Mark tells stories of lessons he's learned as a VC that have led him to prioritize empathy and vulnerability when building relationships with his CEOs.Links We Mentioned:Exit Right: How to Sell Your Startup, Maximize Your Return and Build Your Legacy by Mark Achler and Mert Hilmi Iseri: https://www.exitrightbook.com/ Don't Talk To Corp Dev by Paul Graham: http://www.paulgraham.com/corpdev.html SHOW NOTES:00:00 | Who is Mark Achler?00:46 | Who is Mert Hilmi Iseri?01:43 | What's it like writing a book? 05:16 | You don't know enough about selling your company. Here's why.07:19 | 3 reasons why there isn't enough information about mergers and acquisitions08:42 | How to get comfortable with rejection (and how it can be helpful)12:19 | Not viewing pitching as a transaction14:28 | 4 things that make acquisitions work (The FAIR Framework)21:14 | Storytime: What happened when Mert's company was running out of money? 30:40 | Painting a rosy picture to your board: should you do it?33:57 | What entrepreneurs get WRONG about board meetings37:56 | Having an annual exit talk39:57 | What can bury a successful exit?QUOTES:“If you're fundraising, or if you're selling, or if you're fundraising, get ready to get said no to. This job is mostly about how you handle rejection.” [12:07]“A transaction, a sale, isn't a short term I give you something, you give me something. It's the beginning of a long-term relationship.” [18:12]“Most entrepreneurs, especially first-time entrepreneurs, think that a board meeting is reporting. Just giving information. I'm going to give financial information. I'm going to give sales numbers. I'm going to give the pipeline. It's reporting. That's not a great use of time. We can read. We can get those reports and read them ahead of time. The real value of a board meeting is when you have, you know, smart people around the table who are passionate about your business who can, who have scar tissue. We've lived through what you're going through.” [33:57]“We wrote this book about exits, but it turns out that the decisions you make at the beginning of your journey have an outsized impact at the end of your journey.” [39:16]Connect with Our GuestsMert Hilmi Iseri:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/merthiseri/ Mark Achler:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markachler/ 

Follow Aram Melkoumov on Linkedin for highlight clips.Highlights:- Building a Minimal sellable product (MSP) and going international- How Jordi deals with the paradigm of large customers and requests for introducing features in the product roadmap - Finding a French version of himself - origin of Jordi's company InbentaAbout Jordi Jordi is the Founder & CEO at Inbenta, an AI and semantic search technology company for e-commerce and customer support.  He graduated from Harvard Business school in 2004, where he specialized in Leading Professional Service Firms. He has been an associate professor at EADA for the past 18 years, and is teaching Strategy and Entrepreneurship to young and older students.

Conversation highlights: - How Jonathan's $60,000 MRR company failed after acquisition process went sideways- Hiring your leadership team as a founder: what to look for - What qualities founders need to have to raise moneyAbout Jonathan Jonathan Graff is the Venture Partner at Celtic House Venture Partners, a Canadian venture capital firm that has collaborated with extraordinary founders and management teams since 1994 to develop technology companies from inception through to exit.A high energy and data-driven leader who has developed wide ranging strategic skills and operational experience as a founder, as a CEO & president, as a board member, and as an investor.Jonathan is a strategic thinker with a passion for helping companies grow, and has led a start-up company's growth to over 500 employees and $85 million in revenue. 

The pandemic has disrupted the workforce twice. Once when it made remote working normal and another time when it empowered workers to be more autonomous and powerful. Scott Absher, the CEO at ShiftPixy talks about what happens now. About Scott Scott Absher is the CEO at ShiftPixy - a company focused on streamlining the gig economy to unleash new potentials for flex workers and the companies who hire them. His interest in the gig economy began with his skepticism toward companies like Uber and Lyft who, in his opinion, provide unreliable sources of income to workers. Today, his skepticism continues as he builds ShiftPixy to demand more. More for gig workers and more for the companies who depend on them.Key Web Links The system for Identifying Motivated Abilities: http://simainternational.com/ Follow Scott Absher: LinkedIn Website: https://shiftpixy.com/ SHOW NOTES0:00 | Who is Scott Absher (ShiftPixy)? 00:27 | What is ShiftPixy (and how it cures toxic turnover)?  10:54 | Three waves of human capital markets disruption.13:00 | The user experience of the gig worker15:24 | Leveraging opportunities in the temporary staffing market. 20:22 | Two unexpected insights about temporary staffing and flexible human capital. 22:08 | How ShiftPixie facilitates the discoverability of part-time staffers. 24:01| The challenge of finding reliable and consistent gig workers (and the shifting balance of power in the workforce)26:55 | What will the workforce look like in 2024? 28:27 | How to discover what your staff members are passionate about (and why you should care about that). 32:59 | The downside to remote work (project drift and disconnected passion). 35:48 | Why ShiftPixie relocated its headquarters from Southern California to MiamiQUOTES“I knew we would have a big opportunity in the temporary staffing industry. That's the other half of the part-time labor population and that is a very old business that has not been technically adapted to the new market. And, in fact, they never had to. They didn't have to use elegant technology to communicate with their clients or with the people that were doing the work for them to make that investment.” - Scott Absher [15:24]“We also learned how dependent the fortune 1000 is on this type of agile or flexible human capital. The fortune 1000 clients kept popping up in our due diligence work and as we're putting things together at the end of the day, we're going to be delighting these types of clients…Walmart, Target, Amazon, FedEx, they all rely on flexible labor.” - Scott [20:41] “Wages are already escalating. It's really funny.  Without legislation, we now have a new national minimum wage of at least $15/hour. We think that's going to settle more at $20.  And that's supply and demand. Right now, the workforce is carrying the balance of power. If you're doing creative work, you hold the power.  If you're doing software development, you hold the power. If you're doing blue-collar labor, you hold the power. And it's going to be reflected in wages but also flexibility.” - Scott [26:20]“What you're going to see is people rethinking work. Starting off with the fundamental question: why do I work? And what do I want to do?”  - Scott [27:19] “When you can link somebody's passion to their occupation, you get Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.” - Scott [32:04]

Winning attitudes that show up again and again among the most effective entrepreneurs, include:- They are lifelong learners, perpetually curious.- They don't feel the need to be the smartest person in the room.- They're able to listen to feedback, seek out information and learn from others.- They're good at delegating and helping people reach their full potential. -They demonstrate humility and openness.Key Takeaways0:00 | A bit of Jeff's background by way of introduction.0:50 | Jeff decided to convene a panel featuring the stories of seasoned entrepreneurs willing to candidly share the unvarnished lessons they'd learned through trial and error. The concept was an immediate hit that spawned his book, "Lessons from the Edge: Survival Skills for Starting and Growing a Company."3:29 | Through the process of hosting panels and researching his book, Jeff learned that there's a menu of mistakes that entrepreneurs regularly make. Why? Because they're making decisions with limited resources.5:30 | The huge success of his book afforded Jeff the opportunity to travel the world, speaking to various business groups, build his network and broaden his horizons. At this point in time, a sequel is unlikely but there are a lot of great come-back stories among the those he profiled.7:42 | During pandemic Jeff got involved with a number of online groups, including a call that coincidentally included more than a dozen of the entrepreneurs featured in his book. The long-term outcome was pleasantly surprising: They had all experienced noteworthy comebacks.10:30 | When it comes to fast-growth tech company mistakes, among the most common Jeff sees is poorly chosen partnerships. Mismatched value sets, long-term goals, ambitions and expectations are all liabilities. People very often spend more time interviewing prospective employees than they do vetting co-founders.12:47 | How passion and naivete ultimately hobble entrepreneurial ventures.12:59 | Another common mistake? Giving away too much equity. 14:21 | Jeff's recommendations for putting the right guardrails in place around your enterprise:Know who you're getting into bed with. Kick the tires and make sure you share the same work ethic, values, timeline and commitment. Ask the hard questions.Put in place a shareholders' agreement and a conditional framework for vesting (or reverse vesting) to protect against undue loss of equity.17:05 | Asking the hard questions. Jeff looks at business partners very much like a marriage, requiring a similar level of honesty, vision, commitment, trust and communication. Does your prospective partner fight fair? Know how to compromise?20:40 | Valuation is a tricky business. Partnerships aren't necessarily inherently equal. Contributions and value-add can vary significantly and without a clear definition of entitlements over-compensation of one or more partners is a real risk.22:30 | Jeff reflects on the big question – the one he believes is most essential. Why are you doing this? He believes too many entrepreneurs lose sight of a very simple driving purpose for entrepreneurial endeavors: Providing for our families. 25:05 | Life Advice: Per Chapter 5 in “Lessons from the Edge,” Jeff urges entrepreneurs to appreciate the fundamental necessity for balance. Sleep, eat properly, exercise, have a spiritual practice of some sort, have relationships. Because at the end of the day, what's it all for? Money and success don't hold a candle to fulfillment and connection.27:20 | Jeff defines some of the traits common among the most effective and successful entrepreneurs, which include:They are lifelong learners, perpetually curious.They don't feel the need to be the smartest person in the room.They're able to listen to feedback, seek out information and learn from others.They're good at delegating and helping people reach their full potential.They demonstrate humility and openness.31:11 | A few thoughts about hiring technical co-founders, the unique skills and liabilities with regard to team building. MVP roles can be dicey and complicated.34:35 | BATNA: Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. When you go into a negotiation it's essential to have a Plan B, without which the other party has all the bargaining power. Where do you have to go and if there isn't another avenue, your answer is simply: Take the deal. If you do have an alternative, it's time to talk about the options.37:04 | The Art of Negotiation: It's not for everyone. Some people thrive on it but others have to study it with all deliberation and develop a toolkit that may never become particularly familiar or comfortable to execute.37:56 | Jeff shares some parting thoughts about riding – versus fighting – waves. Going with the flow is invariably the easier route. But you also have to stay aware in order to recognize and jump onto that wave. It's about keeping your eye firmly fixed on that horizon.Quotes“It's quite lonely at the top as an entrepreneur.” [2:25]“People very often end up with the wrong (partnerships) and then it's a mess. It makes it hard to run a business, finance a business, sell a business, grow a business … It's a disaster.” [11:41]“Ego is the worst. If you let ego drive you that's destined to fail. I see a lot of that.” [13:54]“If you're founding a company you've got to have that stick-to-itiveness and passion and commitment. And it's tough. It's become glamorized to be an entrepreneur (but) it's not for everybody.” [14:55]“You only call in the lawyers when there's a problem or you're selling or financing. Day-to-day business? At the end it's got to be good faith.” [18:33]“There's a misconception because of technology that you can start a business with nothing. You can't. You do need resources. You need more than a laptop. So you need partners because they bring resources to the table.” [20:02]“It's lonely at the top. You need somebody to talk to, somebody to work on this self-awareness piece because – at the end of the day – are you going to be happy just because you built a company and sold it? Is that the meaning of life?” [24:35]“I've seen guys make tons of dough and go through five wives and they're not happy. I've seen other people who have nothing and are very happy and content. So it's got nothing to do with success and money. I don't think it's co-related.” [26:06]“The guy who is able to get something off the ground is different than the person who can sell it and motivate a team of 200 people … I'm not saying you can't learn it. But who the hell is good at everything?” [29:17]“Negotiating is a whole other skill set. Not everyone is good at negotiating ... It's a skill. It's in your genes. Some people have it and some people don't.” [35:27]“What's the wave here? Decentralization. Gig economy. All these trends – waves – what are they? Let's ride them. That's what I look for and when I look at companies I'm looking through that paradigm.” [40:11]“There's lots of factors to success, but fighting a wave is not one of them!” [40:32]Contact Jeff@LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffdennis/

Approach VCs that have an interest or expertise in your market sector. Create pitch decks that are tight, disciplined and get right to the selling points. Nick shares thoughts about how to ride the entrepreneurial tide without getting lost in a sea of competitors. As a wrap up with take a quick look at what's on the horizon for Differential Ventures and the VC industry overall as we head into a huge period of growth and unknown implications related to big data. Key Takeaways0:00 | Introduction to Nick and background on his transition from sales and marketing to VC, including a return to school for new credentials and redefinition of the role he wanted to play.3:00 | VC is not a good fit for everyone. Investors don't typically have a lot of control, which operators tend not to like. Nick, however, enjoys being a behind the scenes mentor, leveraging his experience to help new ventures.4:52 | Nick can't respond to every inbound pitch or request for a meeting. Thousands of pitch decks come in over the transom, so the team has no choice but to narrow the pool in order to optimize offerings within Differential's areas of focus.6:33 | The Shark Tank Effect. The reality is that if a VC is spending time on your deck, they have some level of familiarity. So get to the meat of the proposal right out of the gate! You aren't making a pitch to a general primetime TV audience.8:50 | You've got about 45 seconds of attention span when you're giving a pitch, so kick off strong. Frontload your high points – What are we doing, why it's important and how this team is uniquely qualified. After that you can go wherever the investor wants to take you. 12:10 | Excel spreadsheets are great, but they can be a red flag. At the early stage, numbers and projections are nice but Nick is somewhat biased towards founders who are scrappy and all about getting out there and figuring out how to get their enterprise launched 13:40 | Nick explains how seed funders assess prospective investments based on metrics very specific to the type of product or service, its founder and team, traction and IP.15:20 | Nick describes what it is that stands out when he's considering a startup venture, its founding team and potential. The reasons people commit to ventures are varied and not always realistic.17:35 | The logos on decks are often misleading. It's critically important to drill down and understand the relationships in this compressed investment environment. There is pressure but you need to work faster – not ease off – on the due diligence. Clarity early on is critically important down the line if/when things go sideways.20:42 | Bootstrapping can be great – if it works out (which is infrequent). Seed funding also isn't always the right fit. Timing and ripeness both influence decisions about the best business model for startups in the process of launching.22:33 | Nick reflects on an example of misjudgment and how he recalibrated a situation in which he recognized that he'd taken on a role that wasn't the right fit. Knowing how – and when – to switch up a strategy is crucial if you don't want to land in a ditch.25:33 | What projects are most exciting on Nick's horizon? Differential is very dialed into AI and machine learning and how it will scale. Use cases, privacy issues, adoption across multiple sectors are all subjects of interest and study. Remote work has been an accelerator. 27:45 | Nick calls out some of the industry leaders (FB and Amazon) in the AI space and what they've pioneered in the use of data science thus far in these early days.Quotes“My passion is around data and AI and machine learning and where it's going to go in the next 20-25 years and having a VC fund with dozens of portfolio companies tackling various parts of that problem.” [4:05]“The shocking, or frustrating, thing for me is sometimes I'll be going through this long deck and losing interest when I get to the end and see, ‘My God! This company has amazing traction' … You really want to get that upfront.” [7:09]“It's interesting when people want to do something creative and are trying to stand out. But we're kind of programmed to interpret data in a very consistent and similar way” [10:30]“Being an entrepreneur and being the founder of a venture capital fund is a crazy thing to do. You really have to understand why somebody is in it and why they're going to stick with it when the inevitable bumpy times come along.” [15:29]“When you go into any relationship it's really important to go through a legal process, a term sheet process. It's uncomfortable but you're hammering out what happens when things don't go right, if things don't go right. It's important to take that time.” [19:18]“If I'm not passionate about something – if I don't really believe in what I'm doing and stand behind the product – I can't sell it. I'm not a good salesperson. In fact, I'm terrible.”  [23:47]“There are some things you just can't fix and you have to be okay with that. It's exponentially more true as an investor than even as an employee.” [24:00]“We like investing in responsible AI and have a healthy expectation on what the limitations of AI and machine learning might be – not that we're opposed to trying things that might break or test those limits, because that's venture capital.” [29:20]Follow Nick Adams: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickadams11Website: https://www.differential.vc/

Follow me on Linkedin for podcast updates, new episodes and highlight clips.Highlights: - A powerful way to connect and network with tech entrepreneurs who deliver daily value- How hire the right people based on your company growth stage- When is a good/right time to bring your first marketer onboardAbout AnujAnuj Adhiya is the author of the book 'Growth Hacking for Dummies'. He mentors startups at Harvard Innovation Labs, Seedstars and The McCarthy(s) Venture Network. Way before that he was a Director of Engagement and Analytics at GrowthHackers working directly with Sean Ellis, the so-called godfather of growth hacking.

Highlights:- Principles and metrics on when to pivot or not (apart from the gut feeling)- How Mike started GrubHub and grew it to IPO- How Mike raised 5 million dollars for his new company FixerAbout MikeMike Evans is an author and Founder of Fixer and GrubHub. Before Fixer, he earned a pile of degrees in MIT, where he also accrued a massive amount of debt. After seeing flaws in the food delivery system, Mike launched GrubHub, which he bootstrapped for two years and was involved in five fundraising rounds, as well as several acquisitions, a merger, and an IPO.Mike's upcoming book called Hangry: A Startup Journey is here: https://mikeevans.com/hangry-intro/

Highlights: - How to prepare your company for an exit- When is the right time to exit your business- If you're being acquired how not to sell your business too low- VC role may not be a good fit to you - reasons whyAbout StephenStephen is a managing partner at Fresco Capital. He was Chief Strategy Officer of Telerik, a leading vendor of developer and team productivity tools which got acquired in 2014. And he's also an avid mountain climber, and leads an annual charity fundraising trek in the Mt. Everest region.

Follow me on Linkedin for similar content and personal updates.Highlights:- 2 moments when Bram was considering walking away from a startup- How to get employees to work on what they really want- 1000 small pivots - what's that and how it works- Don't set long term goalsAbout Bram Bram Warshafsky is the Founder of Shelfgram, a tech start-up that enables brands and retailers with increased in-store visibility and a suite of competitive intelligence tools to find actionable shopper insights, monitor in-store promotions, and spot retail trends before they're trends. Prior to founding Shelfgram, Bram was the VP of Innovation at sgsco where he led a team of engineers applying artificial intelligence to eCommerce and was instrumental in building and commercializing a new SaaS product with Fortune 500 marketing teams. Bram joined sgsco through the acquisition of 5Crowd, a global platform that connects enterprise marketing and sales departments with top freelancers, which he co-founded. Before 5Crowd, he held various roles within brand management and digital marketing at Johnson & Johnson. He has been named Top 30 Under 30 by Marketing Magazine, Young Entrepreneur of the Year by Desjardins Bank and Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year by the Toronto Board of Trade.

Follow me on Linkedin for podcast updates, new episodes and highlight clips.Highlights: - How much mindset matters in running your business- What to look for in a good mentor- How Mike met Bill Campbell - Self-awareness - fundamental block for your successAbout MikeMike Smerklo has worked 100 hour weeks at Lehman Brothers, a job that he hated. Got hired by legendary entrepreneurs Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz as one of the first employees of their new startup, Loudcloud. Started his own company after acquiring a San Francisco startup and grew it into a successful 3,000-person publicly-traded business. He now heads Austin-based firm Next Coast Ventures. 

Follow me on Linkedin for similar content and personal updates. Highlights:  Why you need to start marketing before you build a product At what point do you abandon opportunities? How do you find traction? How to not get destroyed by your business mentally About MikeMike is the CEO and Co-founder of Jetstream and a Facilitator of the Alacrity Academy Digital Marketing Bootcamp. In his current role, Mike works to help companies grow through scalable digital marketing strategies and initiatives and help develop up-and-coming leaders in the digital marketing ecosystem.Prior to Jetstream and Alacrity Canada Mike has worked in Digital Marketing for the past 18 years. During that time he has Co-founded several companies.

Conversation highlights: Jim's philosophy on failing and doing market research How Jim bought Danby Appliances What to look for in hiring Wealth philosophy - you don't need that much money About Jim Estill:Jim is a Canadian technology entrepreneur, executive, and philanthropist. He started his first computer distribution business from the trunk of his car while in university and grew that business to $2 Billion in sales.He invested in, mentored and advised over 150 technology companies including Blackberry.In addition, Jim was the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2019 Ontario winner and has received both the Order of Canada and Order of Ontario.

Parth takes us through his entrepreneurial path and obstacles he had to overcome while building his business.We talk about product market fit, figuring out your company values, scaling and fundraising.Key talking points:- Product market fit - what to look out for- What kind of mindset you need to secure funding and build relationships with investors - What company culture really is and how to define your core values About Parth KhannaParth holds an undergrad degree in neuropsychology, two law degrees, and US patents in AI and NLP-based technology. He was an EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist in 2018 and right now is the CEO of a healthcare and life sciences company called ACTO.Before founding ACTO, Parth worked on training and developing people through founding and serving as President of Creating Legal Acuity in Student Environments (CLAUSE). In 2014, Parth and his roommates from the University of Waterloo had the vision to help people “Act today”.

Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.I'm speaking with technologist, inventor, and entrepreneur Scott Case. Scott is well-known as the founding CTO of Priceline.com. Currently, he is the Co-founder and CEO of Upside.com, where he is reinventing business travel for millions of people each year. He is also the host of Founders Focus, a community of entrepreneurs navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis.

Key talking points:- How Nelio hacked his way into marketing while being on vacation- Key considerations for founders to build their brands on social media - What elements make social posts hyper-successfulAbout Nelio: Nelio has been a growth marketer for nearly a decade, and he has a passion for building edgy brands with digital flair. He is the founder of Urban Monks, a growth marketing agency he started in early 2019, dedicated to building awesome brands and helping entrepreneurs earn their own "Black Belt". Before going down the entrepreneurial route, Nelio was a marketing manager at L'Oreal in Paris, Director of Brand at Careem and Head of Growth at Washmen. He was the first Marketer to join Careem and helped the company scale from Newborn to Unicorn and was recently bought over by Uber. He then replicated a similar success story at Washmen where he helped the company scale from start up to a solid SME.#personalbrand #marketing #linkedinbrand

Foti is an accomplished founder with an extensive background in full stack growth marketing. He has over a decade of experience developing and marketing businesses. In this episode, we're speaking with Foti about getting your product off the ground and growing your startup, as well as the benefits of outsourcing, and why a strong team might not be the right fit for your company. Growth Mentor started in 2018, matching founders, marketers and product managers with vetted growth marketing and start-up mentors. The platform enables new founders to engage in 1-1 video calls and conversations with experienced mentors, to provide them with the skills to grow their companies.

On today's episode of the Off the Record series, our guest is Chief Revenue Officer, Marcus Cauchi.Marcus collaborates with ambitious founders and CEOs of disruptive technology companies in the £10-£50m turnover range to increase revenue quickly and effectively. He is also co-Author of Making Channel Sales Work, founder of Sales: A Force For Good and produces 2 podcasts of his own – ‘Scale Ups & Hypergrowth' and ‘The Inquisitor'.In this episode you'll learn some pro prospecting pointers, how to cultivate the best approach for your sales team, and what it really takes to understand your customers journey.

Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.A New Jersey native and business graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Bethany joined Venture For America after college. She led marketing for start-ups, Filestack and VidGrid before shifting gears to pursue her own entrepreneurial aspirations to co-found Sendspark in 2019.Sendspark is a video messaging platform for businesses to record & send personalized videos to customers. Users can record themselves, their screen, or request videos from others. Businesses are able to use Sendspark for onboarding new users, announcing new features, customer support, and more.

Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Key talking points:- PR stunts and making your brand unforgettable - Advice on building your brand through influence and not audience - Importance of word-of-mouth marketingAbout Saul:Saul Colt is the Founder and Creative Director at The Idea Integration Company. In his career he has been named as one of the iMEDIA 25: Internet Marketing Leaders & Innovators as well as been called one of Canada's best community builders/experiential marketers.He has worked with high-profile companies such as FreshBooks and Xero and the creative mastermind behind many of the edgy marketing campaigns run by Nike, Ebay and Rogers.Saul is also a Professional Speaker and Consultant specializing in Word of Mouth Marketing, Stunt Marketing, Social Media, Customer Experience, Community Building and Business Courage.

Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Key talking points: What you need to be a customer centric organisation  Early adopters vs product market fit  Managing high churn rates  Ways to engage your engineers About Sam:Sam is the Founder of Pavilion (former Revenue Collective) and also hosts the Sales Hacker Podcast. Prior to Revenue Collective, he spent 15 years leading go-to-market teams in the greater New York City area and was  a CRO and SVP Sales at several fast-growing start-ups.He's helped businesses scale revenue anywhere from $0 to just shy of $300M and has been instrumental in the raise of more than $1B in institutional capital across various companies.

Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Lee gives his insight into how you can identify a realistic launch date for your product to avoid overspending on your development.Airborne App is a Sales Engagement application, purpose built for marketing agencies. Users can manage multi-channel sequences via email, phone, and LinkedIn touches. Check out Airborne App here:https://www.airborneapp.io/

Want to see future episode highlights? You can add us on Linkedin here.Key talking points:- How to sell your product to customers on a sales call - Qualities of a good leader and how to be truly great in any role - Running productive one-on-one meetings with your employeesCheck out how Sales assembly works: https://www.salesassembly.com/About Christina:Christina is the President at Sales Assembly with 15+ years of overall sales experience, and 10+ in leadership for B2B Tech companies. She has a proven track record of leading organizations to growth & profitability through creative, strategic, and targeted global and domestic sales. Christina has a genuine passion for building culture, coaching & developing leaders, and producing top-performing sales teams across small to enterprise organizations in various industries. On a daily basis, she is energized by the opportunity to help companies of all sizes scale, at scale.

Want to see future episode highlights? You can add us on Linkedin here.Key talking points:- Swish's career journey as an entrepreneur - How to build your brand and community effectively through social media - Prioritizing what's important as an entrepreneur and managing your timeAbout Swish:Gen Z entrepreneur and venture capitalist Swish Goswami has consulted for Fortune 500 companies such as Google, Western Union and American Express. He has a passion for public speaking and has given multiple TEDx talks. He is even on the list of Canada's Top 20 under 20 and was a UN Youth Ambassador.Now, Swish is the CEO of an audience engagement platform,Trufan, that helps brands generate, segment, and activate first party data where his company has  raised over $4.1M to date (from several NBA players and venture firms).

Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Discover Art's views on the importance of building a strong team of “passionate people”, who can become “true assassins” for your company. We also talk about taking the reins of responsibility as a founder, and what that role actually means. As well as the value in continuously learning and developing your own skills to be the best.The CircleIt platform allows users to send cards, media, and gifts to loved ones across time. Art shares with us the story behind his idea, claiming he owes much of his success to the personal connection he has to his product.You'll learn how to increase trust and minimise risk along your founder's journey in this enlightening interview.About Art and his company:Founder & CEO of CircleIt. A generational platform that gives you the ability to send cards, media and gifts to your loved ones across time. The story behind CircleIt - Growing up, my father always had his camera around him, taking pictures and video at every family gathering. Photos would be developed and videos copied – and gifted to family members near and far. He always felt a tremendous amount of joy watching people's reactions to these special gifts.Over time, he began writing notes, documenting memories and creating handmade cards that he would stash safely away in a large box alongside his treasured family photos and beloved old home movies. My father left behind this box overflowing with photos, stories, cards and gifts for future life events with specific instructions on how and when to share these treasures with his beloved family. He wanted his legacy to live on – and for his family to continue experiencing his love long after he was gone.CircleIt was built to replicate this unique gift. Built for my mother to help carry on his legacy. Built so that others can experience the joy it has given all of us. Built in memory of my father. 

Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Key talking points: How Grant approached fundraising process What Grant was looking for to make his best hires Challenges and failures of building Unstack community What Grant would do if his company went bankrupt About Grant Grant started his entrepreneurial career delivering paper and is the CEO of Unstack his latest startup and the company just at the end of last year announced $3.1M in funding. The company provides a no-code marketing platform that gives marketers and entrepreneurs the fastest way to launch and scale a business.

Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Key talking points: - How Stephen quit his job to start his first company- Wiza could potentially replace zoominfo for B2B companies - why/how- Relevance vs context of your sales/marketing emails- Stephen's views on bootstrapping vs taking capital- Saying no to new shiny opportunities as a CEOAbout Stephen:Stephen used to run an outbound sales agency. Later launched a company called Wiza with his agency's profit. He bootstrapped it to $160,000 MRR in 16 months. Wiza creates email lists for your outbound efforts from LinkedIn.

Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.When starting a company and looking for a co-founder consider these 2 scenarios.I've got an idea, come join me as a “co-founder”, but really more like an employee. It's my business that you happen to come join. Feeling excited? 2. Here's a a huge issue in the industry and this is how I started thinking about solving it.Would you like to join me as a co-founder and figure out how to tackle it? No one wants to work on someone else's idea.It's like you are not a real co-founder. Instead. Start with a problem and you'll build a team around you. Talking points: - Two vs Three co-founders dynamic - how does it work- Why Rachel decided to sell her company, 5Crowd- What founders need to be aware of before selling their business- How Rachel kept herself up through ups and downs of running her businessAbout Rachel:Rachel is the General Manager of Entrepreneur First, a $140M fund that bets on people first, and then coaches them to find their breakthrough ideas. She's been named Top 30 Under 30 by Marketing Magazine, Young Entrepreneur of the Year by Desjardins Bank and Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year by the Toronto Board of Trade.She previously started her company, 5Crowd that crowdsourced advertising engagements from fortune 500 marketing departments.

Before you take off...Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.What investors often don't talk about is how we can help underrepresented founders and particularly women entrepreneurs get a fair chunk of the plate. if entrepreneurs are truly going to be the change agents of the globe then VC industry have to include everyone, not just the very few.Talking points:  Investment philosophy of Nassir's fund - how does it work What do we need to change about current generation VCs and the industry What companies Nassir is the most excited about About Nassir: Nasir is a Founder and Managing Partner at Zeal Capital Partners, an inclusive investment firm. Prior to Zeal, he served as the Associate Director for AT&T's $400 million Aspire Social Investment Fund.He committed to running 51 full marathons in each US state, including DC, in an effort to raise scholarship funding for first-generation college students. 18 races completed so far. 

Jayesh's three rules of a startup.  Don't run out of money Don't run out of money Don't run out of money.  Talking points:- A story about how Jayesh got sued while being acquired by Eventbrite- How to get through ups and downs of running your business - Work/life balance and how find what works for you- World's sexiest tongue scraper - Jayesh's new companyAbout Jayesh: Jayesh Parmar, the former CEO/Cofounder of Picatic, an event management and ticketing platform that was acquired by Eventbrite in 2018. Jayesh was listed as one of the world's top 10 Tech Entrepreneurs Disrupting The Event Industry.A serial entrepreneur with over 2 decades of business experience, public speaking and he is a featured personality in the startup documentary DayJob. He's currently co-founding a DTC e-commerce company with his wife.

Before you take off...Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Talking points: Biggest misconceptions of how to run PR for tech CEOs How CEOs should approach PR if you have a limited number of followers How do you get on inc.com or Forbes What early stage CEOs should start doing PR-wise tomorrow You started a brand new org - start with these PR moves About Nicole: Nicole Rodrigues, founder and CEO of NRPR Group, is a recognized public relations expert, digital and social media marketing pro with 20+ years of experience under her belt. In her tenure, she has developed and successfully executed strategic campaigns for some of the biggest names in business,including Yahoo!, Dolby, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony PlayStation, Hulu, M-GO, Toon Hero, Demand Media, Heal, MOBITV and the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders.Nicole has repeatedly been celebrated as an innovative leader in her industry, most recently as one of PR News' “Top 50 Game Changers in Public Relations.” She was awarded Bulldog Reporter's 2017 Gold “Public Relations Professional of the Year” title, along with recognition from the Stevie Awards as “a top female executive in the public relations industry” and “a Business Role Model of the Year” from Women World Awards for Female Achievers. Nicole is also the author of Beverly Hills Boss, a business and life skills book aimed at helping others, like herself, who dream of leading despite any humble beginnings or obstacles. 

Before you take off...Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Talking points:- A story of a pitch Bruce had on Dragon's Den that wasn't solving a real problem- Biggest lesson to VCs and entrepreneurs on hiring people- Bruce's philosophy on work/life balance- Self-awareness breakthrough Bruce had in his early 20sAbout Bruce: Bruce Croxon made his mark as a digital pioneer by co-founding Lavalife and revolutionizing how people connect. Under his direction, he grew this early tech start-up into the marquee brand in online dating with over two million users. Partner, chairman and CEO, Croxon helped lead the company's growth from four to 600 employees, while achieving revenue of just under $100 million. Since the sale of Lavalife, Bruce has been active as both an investor and advisor in growth stage companies in the technology sector. As an ex Dragon on CBC's Dragons' Den, he added a broad range of businesses and products to his portfolio that tapped into his passion for digital media, health and marketing. Croxon currently helms Round13, a company dedicated to investment in growth stage Canadian tech companies. He also co hosts The Disruptors on BNN and CTV, a weekly show spotlighting Canadian business and believes our entrepreneurs can hold their own with anyone in the world. 

Before you take off...Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Founders, what type of work gives your irreplaceable people energy? It's one thing that is often overlooked. But, it can be a growth loop in itself. Your highest paid people work harder and longer if you give them work they desire. Also, consider this.Does it make sense to give a task nobody likes doing to the most experienced, most highly paid person on the team?So if they burn out and quit you are screwed. Key talking points:- How to build a pitch deck that passes a drunken investor test- Advice to early founders how to structure their pitch deck- Choosing successful revenue stream vs blowing money you invested too quickly- How to keep your irreplaceable people early onAbout Brennan:Brennan is the CEO of a company called SoapBox. He was 2015's Ontario Young Entrepreneur of the Year winner. And two years ago his company switched from being a sales-led organization to a product-led one. SoapBox makes software to give employees a voice. They work with folks like Facebook, Intercom, Netflix, Lyft, and Walmart. 

Before you take off...Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin hereThere is no book, e-book, MBA that would replace practical experience. I did my degree in entrepreneurship and after graduation launched my first e-commerce startup.  I've learned more in those three years than I did in my whole education life. The only way to be better at your craft is by living through it.Talking points: - How Aram almost lost his company 8 years into the journey- On agencies, micro-management, industry bad rep and hard clients- What drives Aram, his view on the role of the CEO, salaries and shitty daysAbout Aram Aram is a tech serial entrepreneur. He is the CEO and Co-Founder of Crowdinker, a Toronto-based product design and software consultancy that produces world-class design, development, and strategy for mobile, web and other emerging technologies.He's been in the tech space for 12 years, co-founded 3 companies, raised capital, scaled teams to 30+ people, and isn't afraid to roll up his sleeves to help businesses grow. Outside of his day-to-day role, Aram is an avid investor in the technology space as well as an advisor and mentor to dozens of startups through his participation with Acceleprise and Loyal VC.He recently relocated with his family (wife and 3 kids) to Barcelona in Spain to expand Crowdlinker into Europe. He's an avid tennis player, movie buff, and loves travelling. 

Before you take off...Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Main talking points: - What was it like psychologically to go through a $58 million dollar raise- How Lucas manages the company along two other Co-CEOs- What Lucas thinks about the process of going IPO in the future- Mindset of Canadians and Swiss people - similarities & differencesAbout Lucas: Lucas Martinez is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Talent.com, one of the fastest growing employment websites in the world. They recently raised $53 million from CDPQ to accelerate growth and power expansion. With more than 30 million job vacancies in 77 countries, and with 5,556% growth in 5 years, Talent.com recently ranked 14th in Canadian Business magazine's 2019 Growth 500.

Before you take off...Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Episode Description:Choose your investors very very wisely. Biggest check and valuation are not the best guiding principles. Think about it.When you are getting ready to exit your company in 10, 15 years, the 5-10% difference in valuation won't be massively different of how much money you walk away with. But if you take onboard the wrong investor, you can end up with zero. It's much more important to bring investors asking questions like “what is the personality of the people that are investing”, “How am I going to feel when these people call me by surprise every couple of weeks?”Main talking points:  How Dr. Brett has started Maple (getmaple.ca) and built a marketplace  Brett's thoughts on raising money and scaling to a billion dollar “unicorn” type company How do you pick the right investors for your company How Brett's company significantly lowered customer acquisition cost by creating a strong inbound lead generation engine About Dr. Brett:Dr. Brett Belchetz is the CEO and Co-founder of Maple (getmaple.ca), Canada's leading virtual care provider connecting patients and healthcare providers like doctors and therapists for online medical visits in minutes. He's also a practicing physician in Toronto, and a Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute. In addition, Brett's passion for healthcare communication and policy have led him to work as an on-air medical expert for CTV and Global News, as well as a contributor to outlets such as the National Post. Previously, Brett worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Before you take off...Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Episode Description:Admin and operational side of things in a start-up are almost never talked about. But of course, it's nowhere near as thrilling as all these stories in TechCrunch.  Big founders, big exit. Good looking pay check. The realty is that these CEOs got really good at operational efficiency at scale.They got a great team in place. It's not about building a fancy feature.It's about building the right content strategy and onboarding process, drip campaigns/followups. Not glamour, no publicity. And all of it takes time. Even hiring one great person, takes a while. Once you raise that money you are in the weeds and you are doing the work. And you better enjoy doing it day in and day out.Key talking points: Operational and admin side of running a business Main reasons why companies burn through cash and go out of business (what not to do) At what point founders should be raising money How to put together a comprehensive game plan after you have raised cash About Craig:Craig Zingerline is a 6 time founder (4 exits) who has helped dozens of companies scale their growth. He is the Founder of Growth University & Growth Minded, Chief Product Officer @ Sandboxx and was previously Head of Growth at Upside Travel, CEO of Votion, Head of Growth at Red Tricycle, and VP at New Signature.Craig's motivation is to help other professionals learn the growth strategies and tactics needed to scale their companies, and to create a structured and organized way for people to get started with growth, which he practices through Growth University.

Before you take off...Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Episode Description“Don't chase the investor, chase the customer. You'll have a more compelling story to tell”.Key talking points: Why entrepreneurs need to chase a business model and then investment, not the other way around How Vanhack started as a company before becoming a marketplace How Iliya changed his “be a nice guy” mentality About IlyaIlya Brotzky is the CEO and Co-Founder of VanHack. He is building a company that promises the fastest way to hire tech talent. Today, employers can access a community of 200,000+ highly-qualified tech professionals from 100+ countries - the largest such community in the world! He has several articles on Forbes, Betakit & The Globe & Mail, he's very active on Linkedin, with a network of 32,500 followers and raised very little money, around 120k - Ilya Brotzky. Great to have you on - welcome!

Before you take off...Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Episode DescriptionAs a founder, ask yourself - “can I live with these terms?”. Everything comes with the terms and cost and it's the ability to understand what you are willing to bear (and what not) is what matters. Here are the main talking points:  How Nishaant found the right investors for Energy X How to think about capital allocation after you have raised the money What to pay attention to in managing relationships with your VCs How Nishaant approaches taking salaries post-raise About Nishaant:Nishaant is the Co-Founder and CEO of EnergyX, a high growth start-up with offices in Toronto and Halifax, that has successfully raised millions of dollars in financing and posted 100% growth year after year. Prior to founding EnergyX, Nishaant was leading global business development and marketing teams across North America and Europe.

Your next raise doesn't have to depend on your runway. If fact, it's better if it doesn't. Instead, getting to your next milestone is a much stronger reason to structure another round and raise. You can tell the right story and show VCs motivation for raising again. Compare that with “I'm running out of cash, help” narrative when you have 3-4 months of runway.  Here are the main talking points:  How to structure your future financial round When is best time to raise money as a founder How serial entrepreneurs look at valuation & raising money vs first-time founders About Lu:Lu Zhang is the Founder and Managing Partner of Fusion Fund, a renowned Silicon Valley based investor, a serial entrepreneur and a Stanford Engineering alumni. Fusion Fund is active in supporting early-stage entrepreneurs who are looking to build globally disruptive companies using innovative technologies to drive systemic change originating from the U.S market. For the past couple of years, Lu leads the Fusion Fund team funnels exits of multiple portfolios' IPO and M&As.Lu received the title of 2018 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (Davos). She has also garnered other accolades including the Featured Honoree in VC of Forbes 30 Under 30 (2017), Silicon Valley Women of Influence (2018), Town & Country 50 Modern Swans – Entrepreneurship Influencer (2017) and Top 10 All America Chinese Youth (2018). Prior to starting Fusion Fund, Lu was the Founder and CEO of a medical device company focused on non-invasive technology for the early diagnosis of Type II diabetes (acquired in 2012). 

“It's a cardinal rule - you never want someone to buy your product, you want someone to own your product. And why (!) would they want to own your product?”- Jillian ManusMain talking points:  Concept of pausing and why it's something that propels you forward How Jillian structures businesses right now: pause, pivot, propel Jillian's thoughts on mental health and practices that will benefit founders About Jillian:Jillian Manus wrote the third investment check that Uber raised and has now backed a total of about 71 companies. She is an experienced banking and media executive, a technology investor and entrepreneur. She is Managing Partner of an early stage Silicon Valley venture fund, Structure Capital. Structure Capital has invested more than $100 million over the years, focusing on very early stage investing.She has a podcast and it's called The Pitch, produced by Gimlet Media, that is sort of the antithesis of Shark Tank.

As a founder, are you optimizing for greed or fear? Each of use inevitably does one or the other. In the first case, “I want the least dilution so I'm going to fundraise in increments”.The latter is “damn, what if I can't raise again? Let's get as much cash in the bank as a we can”. Here are the main talking points:  why raising the money is not always the answer what are the risks of raising too much capital too early how to make decisions that extend your runway how Troy evaluates each company before investing About Troy:Troy Henikoff is Managing Director of MATH Venture Partners. Additionally, Troy is an active mentor with Techstars. Troy was the Co-founder of Excelerate Labs, which became Techstars Chicago in 2013. He also helps manage the FireStarter Fund, teaches Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business and is on the board of the Chicago-land Entrepreneurial Center. Prior to Techstars Chicago, Troy was the CEO of OneWed.com, the President of Amacai, and co-founder and CEO of SurePayroll.com.Resources mentioned on the show:Troy's investment & startup advice videos on vimeo.

Before you take off...Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.Until you went public and found liquidity, you can't say you're company has been a success. Focus on execution and don't get too confident. Here are the main talking points:  What companies always need to keep an eye on in-between their capital raises What's SeventySix Capital methodology in helping companies they invest in How should you spend the money after the raise About Chad:Chad is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist. He oversees business operations, investments, finance and administration at SeventySix Capital. Chad also runs our internship program, which currently has over 100 alumni to-date. He works with the partners of SeventySix Capital to support them with investor relations, fundraising and company investments. Chad was awarded the 2018 Philadelphia Business Journal's 40 Under 40 and the 2018 Southern New Jersey Business People's 40 Under 40.Prior to SeventySix Capital, Chad worked for the Philadelphia Flyers, Comcast-Spectacor, led a sports accessory startup and interned for the Philadelphia 76ers and The Walt Disney Corporation. He currently sits on the boards of Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, Challah for Hunger, Tribe 12 and is an advisor to New Leaders Council Fellows. Chad is a graduate of James Madison University and received his master's degree from East Stroudsburg University.

All business (and life) success is in cliches (if only they were followed). Time is more valuable than money? Yes, you've heard that one. If you are an early stage founder, before you accept an investment into your company, think about the value of your time. You are committing the next 5-10 years of your life to it.Think about your company as a way to validate progress for yourself first and for investors second.Main talking points:  Why you don't have to over index on “smart money” as a founder How Armando and Gary find the balance between giving away too much of their company and scaling fast How to manage your board effectively and don't give away too much control as a founder About Armando:Co-Founder at Breadcrumbs. Previously co-founder and COO in 6 different tech/non-tech companies. His focus has been: fundraising, operations, team mgmt, biz dev... all in a hypergrowth context. Some numbers: raised $4M funding in aggregate, grew teams to 65 people and beyond, directly managed a $10M P&L. Armando served as a Mentor/Advisor for more than 15 startups.About Gary: Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at Breadcrumbs. Brings over 15 years of experience working with clients and employers in SaaS/Tech, Financial Services, Retail, Pharma and more. Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.

Don't be blindsided to where you spend your early capital as a founder.  Mark Morissette has raised 1 million dollars at Foxquilt. But instead of using their early-stage capital to win the praises of your VCs, they invested money into the backend and data science. It's their core differentiation as a tech company, but they are doing it frugally, with off the shelf components. It looks weird and the code is miles from being perfect, but it's good enough to test and validate. About the guest:Mark Morissette spent 15+ years in leadership roles covering areas like operations, sales & distribution for Canada's premier carriers and fin-tech organizations including, Aviva and Real Matters. Now he is building a company called Foxquilt. Here are the conversation highlights:- How to spend the capital you raise in the early days of your company- What founders should not be spending the money they raise on- How Mark is allocating 1 million dollars he raised at his company: secret sauce vs off the shelf technology/components- What entrepreneurs Mark meets don't do and he wish they didWant to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.

The better your company performs, the longer honeymoon with your VCs lasts. Then the inevitable conflict arises. You deal with it by planning for it. You plan for it before VCs invest. Before a raise you prepare your company for capital injection. You do whatever you need to almost hire people. You have a marketing campaign planned out, ready to go.  Once they money arrive you trigger a series of quick wins. You execute what you have control over: marketing, hiring, product development. If you do it right, you score wins. VCs see you as capable. When a big obstacle shows up (aka COVID lockdown) and you need to pivot there's a much higher chance VCs will agree with you. Because you were executing like crazy. Effective management of VC relationships is about thinking and planning ahead of time and having a series of quick wins so they trust you.About the guest:Henry previously launched Leap Ventures, an entrepreneur-led Venture Capital firm based out of Beirut and Dubai. Has 20 years of experience as a serial entrepreneur focused on internet-related businesses and has particular expertise in relation to algorithmics and computer science. He was the founder of Bizrate.com/Shopzilla, acting as CTO until its sale in 2005 for US$569 million.Here's what you'll hear about in this conversation:- How do you manage relationships with your VC effectively and proactively- Why Henry went back to being a founder after being a successful VC- Advice to founders who will be raising money in the next 6 months- How Silicon Valley investors differ from other countriesWant to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.

Here's what you'll hear more about:- What is the one thing CEO's don't ask Geoff (while raising money) and he wish they did- How not to be taken advantage of when you are raising capital as a CEO- How to make sure you are not raising too much capital and not giving away too much of the -ownership of your own company- How to avoid spending wrong marketing dollars if you are B2C company- Mistakes B2B founders make after raising money and how to avoid itWant to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here.