Podcasts about boldstart ventures

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Best podcasts about boldstart ventures

Latest podcast episodes about boldstart ventures

The Data Minute
Backing Founders From Day Zero | Ed Sim (Founding Partner, Boldstart Ventures)

The Data Minute

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2025 51:40


What does it mean to be a “day one partner” for founders—and how does that change in an era of AI-driven acceleration?On this episode of The Data Minute, Peter sits down with Ed Sim, founding partner of Boldstart Ventures and the voice behind “What's Hot

MLOps.community
Future of Software, Agents in the Enterprise, and Inception Stage Company Building // Eliot Durbin // #293

MLOps.community

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2025 54:26


Future of Software, Agents in the Enterprise, and Inception Stage Company Building // MLOps Podcast 293 with Eliot Durbin, General Partner at Boldstart Ventures.Join the Community: https://go.mlops.community/YTJoinIn Get the newsletter: https://go.mlops.community/YTNewsletter // AbstractKey lessons for founders that are thinking about or starting their companies. 15 years of inception stage investing from how data science companies like Yhat went to market in 2013-14 and how that's evolved, to building companies around OSS frameworks like CrewAI; Eliot share's key learnings and questions for founders starting out.// BioEliot is a General Partner @ boldstart ventures since it's founding in 2010. boldstart an inception stage lead investor for technical founders building the next generation of enterprise companies such as Clay, Snyk, BigID, Kustomer, Superhuman, and CrewAI. // Related LinksWebsite: boldstart.vchttps://medium.com/@etdurbin~~~~~~~~ ✌️Connect With Us ✌️ ~~~~~~~Catch all episodes, blogs, newsletters, and more: https://go.mlops.community/TYExploreJoin our slack community [https://go.mlops.community/slack]Follow us on X/Twitter [@mlopscommunity](https://x.com/mlopscommunity) or LinkedIn (https://go.mlops.community/linkedin) Sign up for the next meetup: [https://go.mlops.community/register]MLOps Swag/Merch: [https://shop.mlops.community/]Connect with Demetrios on LinkedIn: /dpbrinkmConnect with Eliot on LinkedIn: /eliotdurbin

Trends with Friends
From Meme Coins to Tariff Wars: Why AI, Crypto, and Markets Are Riding the Volatility Rollercoaster

Trends with Friends

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 26, 2025 71:37


Join Howard Lindzon, Michael Parekh, Phil Pearlman, and special guests Adeniyi Abiodun (Co-Founder of Mysten Labs and Sui) and Shomik Ghosh (Investor at Boldstart Ventures) for a jam-packed episode of Trends with Friends. This week, the crew dives into the wild world of crypto, AI, and global markets. From peak degeneracy in stocks like Tesla, Palantir, and Solana to Sui's rise in Web3 and why cybersecurity is more critical than ever, this episode has it all. Plus, insights on Nvidia's dominance, the next wave of Web3 consumer apps, and the geopolitical risks shaping the economy.

Yet Another Value Podcast
Boldstart Ventures' Shomik Ghosh on Kelly Partners' $KPG.AX unique accounting firm roll-up strategy

Yet Another Value Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 7, 2025 67:07


Shomik Ghosh, Partner at Boldstart Ventures, joins the podcast for the second time to discuss his thesis on Kelly Partners (ASX: KPG / OTCQX: KPGHF), a specialist chartered accounting network established in 2006 to provide a better service to private clients, private businesses & their owners, and families.For more information about Shomik Ghosh and Boldstart Ventures, please visit:https://boldstart.vc/Chapters:[0:00] Introduction + Episode sponsor: Daloopa[2:20] Who is Kelly Partners and why they are so interesting to Shomik[5:31] What is Shomik seeing that the market is missing with Kelly Partners[9:09] $KPG's secret sauce for rolling up accounting firms / incentive risks / back office secret sauce that $KPG can do that PE firm can't[23:36] International expansion / is there enough growth runway of acquisitions[30:27] Why not relist in US from Australia?[37:10] Expanding into other areas outside accounting / AI tail risk[46:49] Management[52:13] Why are they so focused on McDonald's[55:22] Final thoughts[57:26] What does Shomik think would be the cause for the thesis breaking with Kelly Partners / how does Shomik look at fair value here[1:02:24] Quick thoughts on Match GroupToday's sponsor: DaloopaEarnings season is hectic—there's no way around it. But what if you could take back the time you spend on manual model updates? With Daloopa, you can.Daloopa automates your audit and update process, instantly pulling accurate, fundamental data from filings and reports directly into your models. That means no more wasting hours on repetitive tasks. Instead, you can focus on analyzing trends, refining strategies, and staying ahead of the competition.Stop letting manual work slow you down. Set up a free account today by visitingdaloopa.com/YAV and see how Daloopa can transform your workflow.

Scaling DevTools
Ellen Chisa - Partner at Boldstart Ventures

Scaling DevTools

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 5, 2024 38:26


Ellen Chisa is a partner at Boldstart Ventures. Prior to Boldstart, Ellen founded Darklang - a programming language. Before Darklang, Ellen worked in product. What we discussed: Startups should focus on building one SDK and doing it well, rather than trying to build multiple SDKs at once.North Star metricsDeveloper tooling companies can learn from consumer-facing companies in terms of marketing and creating an identity for their product.Being authentic as a founder and actively engaging with the community can help establish a strong brand and attract users. Recognize and leverage your unique strengths and skills.Busy work can be valuableThe importance of segmenting your messageLinks:Ellen's Twitter/X https://x.com/ellenchisa?lang=enBoldstart Ventures https://boldstart.vc/darklang https://darklang.com/

The Peel
Building boldstart ventures from $1M to $850M with Ed Sim

The Peel

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 20, 2024 105:15


Get Attio, the next generation of CRM: https://bit.ly/AttioThePeel Ed Sim is the Founder of boldstart ventures, which partners with bold founders reinventing the enterprise stack at the inception stage. Ed takes us inside the journey building boldstart, from its first $1m fund in 2010 up to $850m in AUM today. Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (03:48) Evolution of early stage investing(05:11) Inception stage investing (10:32) Backing bold founders reinventing the enterprise stack(11:20) Repeatable ways to build enterprise businesses (12:04) The 5 P's of early stage investing (14:12) Backing Guy Podjarny and Snyk (18:18) Knowing when to follow-on (19:18) The 3 Ch's of a good board member (22:01) How Ed's board role changes over time (24:20) Balancing founder friendly with returns (27:20) How to build customer relationships (30:24) Advice for closing customers (33:47) Creating the Seed category in 2009/10 (37:31) boldstart's $1m Fund 1 (39:00) Why Ed didn't join a large firm in 2012 (39:55) boldstart's $16.5m Fund 2 (40:26) Why LPs passed on the first funds (43:11) Leading rounds in Kustomer, Snyk, BigID, and Blockdaemon in Fund 3 (47:09) Why $112m Fund 4 was the hardest to raise(50:52) Ed's approach to LP fundraising (55:12) Inside Meta's acquisition of Kustomer and sale back to the founders (59:52) Backing Rahul from Superhuman a 2nd time (01:00:52) The different GTM playbooks (01:02:20) Importance of contract size and time to close (01:05:07) Why AI makes security more important (01:06:11) When to switch from founder-led sales(01:07:46) Backing ProtectAI after a conference (01:08:28) Balancing between inbound and outbound sales (01:09:55) Winners and losers in AI (01:15:26) Building the boldstart team (01:25:19) Lessons being an interim CEO (01:27:15) How ZIRP pulled revenue forward (01:29:08) The death of high growth software (01:32:58) Identifying startup opportunities incumbents won't crush (01:35:00) Second order effects of AI (01:36:46) Using "Intuitive TAM" to size new markets (01:38:04) Investing before there's a market map (01:38:57) Balancing family, fitness, and career Referenced: https://boldstart.vc/ Turning Down HBS: https://x.com/edsim/status/1315644287007240193 Ed's tweet on raising Fund 4: https://x.com/edsim/status/1315644287007240193 Second Order Effects of AI: https://www.whatshotit.vc/p/whats-in-enterprise-itvc-379 Death of Hyper Growth: https://x.com/edsim/status/1797613384994623808 Where to find Ed: Twitter: https://twitter.com/edsim LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edsim/ Newsletter: https://www.whatshotit.vc/ Where to find Turner: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak/ Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it/

From Start-Up to Grown-Up
#69, Rahul Vohra, Co-Founder and CEO of Superhuman — How to craft core values, tactics for implementing culture to help you achieve company goals, and the importance of moving quickly

From Start-Up to Grown-Up

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 18, 2024 52:03


Rahul Vohra is the Co-Founder and CEO of Superhuman. He is also a Technical Advisor at Boldstart Ventures, an investor and advisor at Partender, and an investor of sendwithus and Easy Post. He received his bachelor of arts in Computer Science at the University of Cambridge. Rahul shares the lessons he learned from being a serial entrepreneur, how and why he learned to meditate, what he does to build trust with his team, and the pros and cons of being a celebrity founder. Rahul shared so many great insights the first time he was on the show I had to have him back!This time we're taking a deep dive on instilling powerful values and culture within a rapidly growing company. We talked about: ✅ How and why to create values in your company at the start: A step by step practical process you can use immediately.✅ The need to evolve your leadership: As a founder and CEO  you should always be identifying your highest and best use and using that as your guide.✅ The importance of asking hard questions: It can be awkward, but it's essential to be rigorous with yourself and your team as your company grows. Learn more about Superhuman | Websitehttps://www.superhuman.comConnect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/ Website: http://www.alisacohn.com Download her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better) Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from AmazonLove the show? Subscribe, Rate, Review, Like, and Share!

Scale with Strive Podcast
'Advice for Early-Stage Founders' with Ellen Chisa

Scale with Strive Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 26, 2024 35:14


Welcome to the Scale with Strive podcast, the place where you come to listen to some of the world's most influential leaders of the SaaS industry.

The VentureFizz Podcast
Episode 328: Ellen Chisa - Partner, boldstart ventures

The VentureFizz Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2024 49:38


Episode #328 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ellen Chisa, Partner at boldstart ventures. Back in 2016, we wrote a profile about Ellen on VentureFizz when she was leading product management at Lola.com. The profile was part of a series that we called Driven, which I think is a very fitting word to describe Ellen… and ironically, the discussion around considering a role in venture capital actually came up. So, in my opinion, it was only a matter of time. From being part of the winning team in high school for the FIRST Robotics competition, to starting a company in college, to a career path in product management, to leading a company that was developing a new programming language… Ellen has built the perfect core foundation for a successful career as an investor. boldstart is a venture capital firm that is your partner from inception for developer first, infrastructure, & SaaS founders that looking to turn your idea into a category-creating iconic company. The firm's portfolio includes companies like Snyk, Kustomer, BigID, Superhuman and many more. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * A conversation about what makes a great product manager. * Ellen's background including the story off taking some time of to build an EdTech startup with other classmates while in college at the Olin School of Engineering, * Working on early mobile initiatives at Microsoft, then joining Kickstarter as a Product Manager, and what led her to pursue her MBA at Harvard Business School. * Meeting serial entrepreneur, Paul English, and leading product at Lola.com, a travel app. * Developing a new programming language for her startup called Dark with Paul Biggar which allows companies to build software faster, plus what this experience taught her in terms of leading a company and getting adoption with the developer community. * The future of AI developed code. * How she landed in venture capital at boldstart including what she is targeting for investments and what has been her biggest surprise as a VC. * Startup pitch advice. * And so much more.

Experiencing Data with Brian O'Neill
138 - VC Spotlight: The Impact of AI on SAAS and Data/Developer Products in 2024 w/ Ellen Chisa of BoldStart Ventures

Experiencing Data with Brian O'Neill

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 5, 2024 33:05


In this episode of Experiencing Data, I speak with Ellen Chisa, Partner at BoldStart Ventures, about what she's seeing in the venture capital space around AI-driven products and companies—particularly with all the new GenAI capabilities that have emerged in the last year. Ellen and I first met when we were both engaged in travel tech startups in Boston over a decade ago, so it was great to get her current perspective being on the “other side” of products and companies working as a VC.  Ellen draws on her experience in product management and design to discuss how AI could democratize software creation and streamline backend coding, design integration, and analytics. We also delve into her work at Dark and the future prospects for developer tools and SaaS platforms. Given Ellen's background in product management, human-centered design, and now VC, I thought she would have a lot to share—and she did! Highlights/ Skip to: I introduce the show and my guest, Ellen Chisa (00:00) Ellen discusses her transition from product and design to venture capital with BoldStart Ventures. (01:15) Ellen notes a shift from initial AI prototypes to more refined products, focusing on building and testing with minimal data. (03:22) Ellen mentions BoldStart Ventures' focus on early-stage companies providing developer and data tooling for businesses.  (07:00) Ellen discusses what she learned from her time at Dark and Lola about narrowing target user groups for technology products (11:54) Ellen's Insights into the importance of user experience is in product design and the process venture capitalists endure to make sure it meets user needs (15:50) Ellen gives us her take on the impact of AI on creating new opportunities for data tools and engineering solutions, (20:00) Ellen and I explore the future of user interfaces, and how AI tools could enhance UI/UX for end users. (25:28) Closing remarks and the best way to find Ellen on online (32:07) Quotes from Today's Episode “It's a really interesting time in the venture market because on top of the Gen AI wave, we obviously had the macroeconomic shift. And so we've seen a lot of people are saying the companies that come out now are going to be great companies because they're a little bit more capital-constrained from the beginning, typically, and they'll grow more thoughtfully and really be thinking about how do they build an efficient business.”- Ellen Chisa (03: 22)  “We have this big technological shift around AI-enabled companies, and I think one of the things I've seen is, if you think back to a year ago, we saw a lot of early prototyping, and so there were like a couple of use cases that came up again and again.”-Ellen Chisa (3:42) “I don't think I've heard many pitches from founders who consider themselves data scientists first. We definitely get some from ML engineers and people who think about data architecture, for sure..”- Ellen Chisa (05:06)   “I still prefer GUI interfaces to voice or text usually, but I think that might be an uncanny valley sort of thing where if you think of people who didn't have technology growing up, they're more comfortable with the more human interaction, and then you get, like, a chunk of people who are digital natives who prefer it.”- Ellen Chisa (24:51) [Citing some excellent Boston-area restaurants!] “The Arc browser just shipped a bunch of new functionality, where instead of opening a bunch of tabs, you can say, “Open the recipe pages for Oleana and Sarma,” and it just opens both of them, and so it's like multiple search queries at once.” - Ellen Chisa (27:22) “The AI wave of  technology biases towards people who already have products [in the market] and have existing datasets, and so I think everyone [at tech companies] is getting this big, top-down mandate from their executive team, like, ‘Oh, hey, you have to do something with AI now.'”- Ellen Chisa (28:37) “I think it's hard to really grasp what an LLM is until you do a fair amount of experimentation on your own. The experience of asking ChatGPT a simple search question compared to the experience of trying to train it to do something specific for you are quite different experiences. Even beyond that, there's a tool called superwhisper that I like that you can take audio content and end up with transcripts, but you can give it prompts to change your transcripts as you're going. So, you can record something, and it will give you a different output if you say you're recording an email compared to [if] you're recording a journal entry compared to [if] you're recording the transcript for a podcast.”- Ellen Chisa (30:11) Links Boldstart ventures: https://boldstart.vc/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenchisa/ Personal website: https://ellenchisa.com Email: ellen@boldstart.vc 

Artificiality
Ed Sim: AI Venture Capital

Artificiality

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 23, 2024 50:28


Few understand how to anticipate major technology shifts in the enterprise better than today's guest, Ed Sim. Ed is a pioneer in the world of venture capital, specifically focusing on enterprise software and infrastructure since 1996. He founded Boldstart in 2010 to invest at the earliest stages of enterprise software companies, growing the firm from $1M to around $375M today. So where does an experienced investor who has seen countless tech waves come and go place his bets in this new AI-first future? That's the key topic we dive into today. While AI forms a core part of our dialogue, Ed emphasizes that he doesn't look at pitches and go “Oh, AI, I need to invest in that.” Rather, he tries to see if founders have identified a real pain point, have a unique approach to solving it, and can clearly articulate how they will provide a significant improvement over status quo. AI is an important component, of course, but it isn't a reason to invest alone. With that framing in mind, Ed shares where he is most excited to invest in light of recent generative AI breakthroughs. Unsurprisingly, AI security ranks high on his list given enterprises' skittishness around adopting any technology that could compromise sensitive data or infrastructure. Ed saw this need early, backing a startup called Protect AI in March 2022 that focuses specifically on monitoring and certifying the security of AI systems. The implications of AI have branched into virtually every sector, but Ed reminds us that as investors and builders, we must stay grounded in solving real problems vs just chasing the shiny new thing. Key Points: Ed Sim started Boldstart Ventures in 2010 to provide early stage funding for enterprise startups, writing smaller checks than typical VC firms. The firm now manages a nearly $200 million main fund and a $175 million opportunity fund. Generative AI is an exciting new technology, but the key is backing founders who are solving real problems for end users in a unique way that is 10x better than current solutions. AI is just the underlying technology. AI security is critical for enterprise adoption. Ed invested early in Protect AI, which helps monitor AI models for security, privacy, and compliance issues. AI security will be key to scale adoption. There are still open questions around data governance with large language models that access sensitive company data. Approaches that check governance policies before providing answers are the safest for now. Factors like inference cost, subscription fatigue, and proving ROI will impact how quickly some of the consumer generative AI applications gain traction. Creative solutions around caching, pricing models, and hybrid human+AI loops can help. There will be opportunities related to embedding expertise into systems to empower junior and senior employees. Tools like GitHub Copilot show potential to augment technical skills. If you enjoy our podcasts, please subscribe and leave a positive rating or comment. Sharing your positive feedback helps us reach more people and connect them with the world's great minds. Subscribe to get Artificiality delivered to your email Learn about our book Make Better Decisions and buy it on Amazon Thanks to Jonathan Coulton for our music

Product Thinking
Episode 143: Harnessing the Power of Wireframes with Ellen Chisa, Partner at boldstart ventures, and Leon Barnard, Education Team Lead at Balsamiq

Product Thinking

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 1, 2023 45:41


In this episode of Product Thinking, product experts Ellen Chisa, Partner at boldstart ventures, and Leon Barnard, Education Team Lead at Balsamiq, join Melissa Perri to discuss the importance of wireframing in product development. They explore the collaborative power of wireframes in product teams, using wireframes as conversation starters, and the benefits of designers having front-end coding knowledge for efficient product outcomes.

Product Rebels
Embracing the Rebel Mindset: From Kickstarter to VC

Product Rebels

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2023 30:07


Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin are joined by Ellen Chisa, Partner at Boldstart Ventures.Ellen reveals her journey from being a Product Rebel at Kickstarter, challenging growth hacking, to becoming a VC investing in enterprise SaaS and developer-first companies.Ellen shares how she evaluates startups with a rebel perspective, recognizing pain points, and fostering authentic product development.

Category Visionaries
Funding the Future: Shomik Ghosh, Partner at Boldstart Ventures

Category Visionaries

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2023 26:58


In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Shomik Gosh, Partner at Boldstart Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in backing founders from before they've even laid down their first line of code, about why being part of a startup journey from the very first step is such a rewarding experience. Providing insights and support for everything from concept creation to preparing a market-ready offering, Boldstart believes in giving every founder with a truly game-changing idea the best possible chance of making their difference. We also spoke about the venture space's focus shifting back to profitability, why pain points should still be the priority when developing a business model, how premature scaling can be a big risk for new businesses, and why, in Shomik's mind, it's always better not to get caught up in the marketplace hype. Topics Discussed: Shomik's career in sales and trading, and why a fascination with the potential of technology pushed him to make the move to the Bay Boldstart's funding legacy and the funds they're preparing for startups old and new in the space The current state of venture investment, and why profitability is starting to take center stage again What gets Shomik so excited about joining founders' journeys, and why he loves to see people bringing new solutions to legacy problems The risks for founders of getting too caught up in market hype, and why it's always preferable to stay focused on real pain points Why rejections are just a part of starting a business, but how real perseverance can really pay off

The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Will LPs Pull Out of Existing Managers, How Will Fund Sizes Change Moving Forward, Is Now The Time to be Aggressive on Secondaries, What is the Discount on Secondaries Today, Who Will Win and Lose in the Next Five Years with Hunter Somerville, Partn

The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2023 51:21


Hunter Somerville is a Partner @ Stepstone, one of the largest secondary buyers, fund investors and players in our ecosystem with over $600BN in capital responsibility and over $100BN AUM. Additionally, Hunter serves on the LP Advisory Boards for Felix Capital, Foundry Group, Imaginary Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Boldstart Ventures, Ludlow Ventures, and more. Prior to StepStone, Hunter was a general partner with Greenspring Associates, a venture capital and growth equity investment firm that merged with StepStone in 2021. Before that, he worked as an associate for Camden Private Capital. In Todays Episode with Hunter Somerville We Discuss: 1. Three Types of Secondaries: What are the three different types of secondaries? What is the current situation with company secondary opportunities today? What is the current landscape for fund secondary opportunities today? What are GP-led restructuring or strip sales? How do they work? 2. LPs Today and Moving Forward Investing in Funds: Will we see a wave of LPs not commit to their existing managers? What is the denominator effect and how does that impact LP deployment into funds? What are the top 3 reasons why LPs will not re-commit to existing managers? Do LPs feel VCs have fairly marked down their venture books in the last 6 months? Does Hunter agree that if you have not returned cash to your LPs when you could have done ijn the last 5 years, then you are most in trouble? Why does Hunter believe we will see more international LPs entering venture than ever before? 3. Liquidity: When Does the Cash Hit: Why was liquidity so bad in 2022? How did that compare to 2021? How does Hunter forecast liquidity environments in 2023? What could drive them? How active were Stepstone in secondary buying over the last few years? Is now the time to be greedy when others are fearful in secondaries? What discount was Hunter seeing both on fund and company side secondaries in 20-22? What is the current level of discount being applied to both company and fund secondaries? 4. AMA with One of the Largest Secondary Buyers: Which LP class will be hurt the most from the last fund cycle? What would Hunter most like to change about the world of venture? What was Hunter's biggest mistake on a company investment? What are the biggest mistakes LPs make when they do direct investing? Why are big-name people entering firms as GPs not always a good sign?

TechCrunch Startups – Spoken Edition
Protect AI lands a $13.5M investment to harden AI projects from attack

TechCrunch Startups – Spoken Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2022 6:34


Seeking to bring greater security to AI systems, Protect AI today raised $13.5 million in a seed-funding round co-led by Acrew Capital and Boldstart Ventures with participation from Knollwood Capital, Pelion Ventures and Aviso Ventures.

TechCrunch Startups – Spoken Edition
Protect AI lands a $13.5M investment to harden AI projects from attack

TechCrunch Startups – Spoken Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2022 6:33


Seeking to bring greater security to AI systems, Protect AI today raised $13.5 million in a seed-funding round co-led by Acrew Capital and Boldstart Ventures with participation from Knollwood Capital, Pelion Ventures and Aviso Ventures.

Tech Sales Insights
Working With Mission-Driven Founders: Tech Sales Insights Moments With Ed Sim

Tech Sales Insights

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2022 15:04


Welcome to another episode of the Tech Sales Insights Podcast! We have a special episode for you today as we bring back some of the best moments from our conversation with Ed Sim, Founder and Managing Partner of boldstart ventures. Tune in as we talk about finding and working with start-ups and helping them reach new heights.  HIGHLIGHTSWorking with founders and identifying their common mistakesSales reps that a company should attractThe right timing of bringing a high-caliber individual to work with technical foundersThe best way to learn about start-ups “When I think about SaaS, I think about the thing that I said a couple of years ago which is that you want to win the hearts and minds of the developer or the end-user before you win the hearts and minds of the enterprise. The whole idea of how you sell and reach these large orgs is changing.” - Ed on how business models have begun to shift towards SaaS Find out more about Ed in the links below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edsim/Twitter: https://twitter.com/edsimWebsite: https://boldstart.vc/ Send in a voice message to us: https://anchor.fm/salescommunity/message This episode of Tech Sales Insights is brought to you by: Sales Community | https://www.salescommunity.com/

BreakOut
05 | Building People Operations in Early Stage Startups - Natalie Ledbetter @ Boldstart Ventures

BreakOut

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 28, 2022 42:59


Gareth Webb brings in Natalie Ledbetter, Head of People and Platform at Boldstart Ventures, seed-stage VC focused on highly technical founder-led businesses. She has 20 years of experience focused on both early-stage and hyper-growth organizations. She works with founders to build and scale people-first companies concentrating on the end-to-end employee experience. In this episode, we discuss Natalie's unique role in building out people ops in early-stage startups, where founders go wrong, how hiring and people needs evolve as companies scale, the rise of the chief of staff role, and more.

Public Key
What Does Crypto VC Funding Look Like In A Bear Market?

Public Key

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2022 28:46


What Does Crypto VC Funding Look Like In A Bear Market? In this episode of Public Key, our host, Ian Andrews (CMO at Chainalysis) is joined by Ed Sim (Founder and Managing Partner, Boldstart Ventures) to discuss what it takes to build companies in an economic downturn, how he finds great founders and what crypto tech gets him excited.  The conversation addresses tokenization versus infrastructure and databases versus blockchain and reviews why Boldstart just raised two new funds to continue to build their crypto portfolio amidst heightened volatility and fear in the current bear market and various outcomes on enterprise blockchain use cases.  Minute-by-minute episode breakdown (2:05) – Boldstart's crypto origin story of partnering with tech founders before company creation and creation of tipping using crypto (4:25)  – Boldstart partners with IBM to review blockchain enterprise use cases and future investment opportunities  (6:40) – The difference between needing a database versus a blockchain  (11:25) – The strategy to investing into the core infrastructure of crypto applications and user experience (15:27) –Raising funds during a volatile or bear market  (18:00) – How investment into crypto is moving away from just projects with tokens to also projects with infrastructure alone  (26:18) –How do you pick crypto founders that are thinking long term sustainable growth to invest in  Related resources Check out more resources provided by Chainalysis that perfectly complement this episode of the Public Key. Blog: The Trades That Triggered UST's Collapse Boldstart Newsletter: Ed Sim's weekly readings and notes on enterprise VC, software, and scaling startups Boldstart Website: The Chainalysis 2022 Crypto Crime Report Boldstart Fund Announcement: Announcing $367M in new Boldstart Venture Capital funds Video: Chainalysis Links New York 2022 (Video Replays)  Speakers on today's episode Ian Andrews * Host * (Chief Marketing Officer, Chainalysis) https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianhandrews Ed Sim (Founder and Managing Partner, Boldstart Ventures) https://twitter.com/edsim This website may contain links to third-party sites that are not under the control of Chainalysis, Inc. or its affiliates (collectively “Chainalysis”). Access to such information does not imply association with, endorsement of, approval of, or recommendation by Chainalysis of the site or its operators, and Chainalysis is not responsible for the products, services, or other content hosted therein. Our podcasts are for informational purposes only, and are not intended to provide legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. Listeners should consult their own advisors before making these types of decisions. Chainalysis has no responsibility or liability for any decision made or any other acts or omissions in connection with your use of this material. Chainalysis does not guarantee or warrant the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, suitability or validity of the information in any particular podcast and will not be responsible for any claim attributable to errors, omissions, or other inaccuracies of any part of such material.  Unless stated otherwise, reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by Chainalysis. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by Chainalysis employees are those of the employees and do not necessarily reflect the views of the company. 

Through the Noise
E9: Shomik Ghosh - Investing in Enterprise Software

Through the Noise

Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2022 62:07


Shomik Ghosh is a Principal at Boldstart Ventures, a day one partner for developer first, SaaS, & crypto infrastructure founders backing the likes of Snyk, Blockdaemon, Kustomer, BigID and Superhuman. At Boldstart, Shomik invests in enterprise software with pre-product founders. Prior to Boldstart, Shomik worked as a growth stage investor at Top Tier Capital where he invested in companies like CircleCI, Anaplan, Area 1 Security, and Shape Security. Shomik is also an active angel investor, having invested in Koyfin, Gitpod and Logixboard to name a few. Download the Callin app for iOS and Android to listen to this podcast live, call in, and more! Also available at callin.com

StrictlyVC Download
Assessing the Market Meltdown with VC Ed Sim

StrictlyVC Download

Play Episode Listen Later May 28, 2022 21:53 Very Popular


Connie & Alex go over some of this week's top tech stories and then chat with  Ed Sim of Boldstart Ventures about how the current turmoil in the public markets is affecting the startup world. Music: 1. "Inspired" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3918-inspired)2. "Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5759-blippy-trance)3. "Dream Catcher" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4650-dream-catcher)4. "Pamgaea" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4193-pamgaea)5. "EDM Detection Mode" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3687-edm-detection-mode)License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Console DevTools
Designing dev products, with Ellen Chisa (Boldstart) - S02E09

Console DevTools

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2022 32:45


In this episode we speak to Ellen Chisa, who was previously CEO of Dark, a programming language startup that allowed you to focus on your backend code and forget about frameworks, deployments, and infrastructure. We discuss whether that is the right way to think about coding, where no code or low code fits into the modern development stack, how developers should think about open source and the challenges of building dev tools versus getting developers to actually use them.About Ellen ChisaEllen Chisa is a founder, angel investor, and engineer. She created Dark, a programming language coupled to its editor and infrastructure. Previously, she was the first employee at Lola, combining the best of technology and people for travel planning. Ellen Chisa is currently a Founder in Residence at Boldstart Ventures.Things mentioned:The Self Provisioning Runtime - Shawn WangBret VictorChris GrangerLambdragonFuture of CodingSteve KrouseDarkVisual Studio CodeAzureRed Hat MongoDBElasticLet us know what you think on Twitter:https://twitter.com/consoledotdevhttps://twitter.com/davidmyttonhttps://twitter.com/ellenchisaOr by email: hello@console.devAbout ConsoleConsole is the place developers go to find the best tools. Our weekly newsletter picks out the most interesting tools and new releases. We keep track of everything - dev tools, devops, cloud, and APIs - so you don't have to. Sign up for free at: https://console.devRecorded: 2021-10-12.

Console DevTools
Devtools investing, with Ed Sim (Boldstart) - S02E05

Console DevTools

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2022 30:38


In this episode we speak to Ed Sim, Founder and General Partner of Boldstart, a venture investor specializing in DevTools and software. Ed has invested in developer-focused companies like Snyk, Slim.ai, and Jit Security. We discuss what engineers should think about when working on side projects, when and if they should seek out investors, how to pick the good ones, whether raising money is even needed, and what the role of open source is.About Ed SimEd is the Founder of Boldstart Ventures, a day-one partner and true believer for developer first and SaaS founders. Boldstart is a lead investor and often partners with technical founders at company formation, helping accelerate their path to product market fit.Ed is currently a board member/observer of Snyk, Kustomer, BigID, Blockdaemon, Env0, Dooly, and Cape Privacy. Other notable day-one investments include Superhuman, Security Scorecard, and Front. Ed previously co-founded Dawntreader Ventures where he led first round investments in LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN), GoToMeeting (acq. By Citrix), and Greenplum (acq. EMC/Pivotal). Ed has a BA in Economics from Harvard.Things mentioned:SnykSlim.aiCodeSeeAtomic Jar TestcontainersAkamaiSourceClearNodeRubyGemsDigitalOceanAtlassianTwilioGitLabBitbucketGreenplumEucalyptusCape Privacy Gavin UhmaDropout LabsTensorFlow encryptedMongoDBElasticsearchRed Hat JBossBoldstart.vcWhat's Hot in Enterprise IT/VCLet us know what you think on Twitter:https://twitter.com/consoledotdevhttps://twitter.com/davidmyttonhttps://twitter.com/edsimOr by email: hello@console.devAbout ConsoleConsole is the place developers go to find the best tools. Our weekly newsletter picks out the most interesting tools and new releases. We keep track of everything - dev tools, devops, cloud, and APIs - so you don't have to. Sign up for free at: https://console.devRecorded: 2021-10-15.

Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managers.
Boldstart ventures Ed Sim on starting his career during the dot-com bubble, the opportunity as being a true day one investor, and views on today's VC market compared to past eras

Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managers.

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 14, 2021 60:04


Our guest today is Ed Sim, founder and general partner of boldstart ventures, an NYC-based firm started in 2010 with the focus on being a day-one partner for founders. Boldstart had a modest beginning, with only a $1M fund in 2010, it has since grown to just under $500M in AUM. Some of his first check investments include Snyk, Kustomer, BigID, and Superhuman. Subscribe at ventureunlocked.substack.com

The SaaS News Roundup
JW Player, Tonkean, Firebolt, env0, Sanity, Illumio, Legatics, WINDO, ApnaKlub, Classplus, Gotrade raises funds | Andreessen Horowitz has launched its Crypto Fund III.

The SaaS News Roundup

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 25, 2021 5:50


Andreessen Horowitz has launched its Crypto Fund III, a dedicated $2.2B fund for blockchain startups in their early to late stages. The VC firm has been investing in crypto since 2013 from its dedicated crypto fund. The previous crypto fund, Crypto Fund II, had come out last year.JW Player has raised $100M in a Series E funding round. Last month, this video software and data insights platform acquired live and on-demand video streaming provider Vualto. The proceeds from this fund would be used to accelerate its product innovation and to build its team.Tonkean, a business operation automation startup, has announced its $50 million Series B funding, led by Accel. The company would use its proceeds to scale its hiring process across engineering and go-to-market teams and invest in its no-code orchestration platform for business operations.Firebolt, an Israeli cloud data warehousing platform, raised $127 million in a Series B financing round. According to the company, its SQL-based solution is up to 182 times faster than existing data warehouses and is based on academic research that has yet to be applied. Its clients are already cloud-native, Big Data organizations, so it's not trying to convert them; instead, it's collaborating with those who are already there.California-based env0, a self-service cloud management platform for collaborative remote-run workflow management, has announced its $17 million Series A fundraise, led by Microsoft's Venture Fund – M12. Existing investors, Boldstart Ventures, Grove Ventures, and Crescendo Ventures, participated in the funding round. In a statement to the press, env0 stated that the funds would be used to expand its infrastructure as Code (IaC) platform, accelerate visibility, predictability and governance of cloud deployments. The funding comes amid growing demand for IaC.San Francisco-based Sanity, a structured content platform provider, has announced a $39 million Series B funding, led by ICONIQ Growth. Lead Edge Capital and existing investors – Threshold Ventures, Heavybit Industries, Alliance Venture, and Monochrome Capital- participated in the round.Illumio, a SaaS startup that provides automated cyberattack enforcement, has received $225 million in a Series F round headed by Thoma Bravo. The money will be used to grow the company's field operations and network of channel partners and develop, engineer, and produce new products. Illumio's solution is used by more than 10% of Fortune 100 companies, including Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas SA, and Salesforce, to secure their data centers, networks, and other applications.Legatics, a legal IT firm located in London, has received a USD 4.2 million growth capital investment from Mobeus. Legatics will welcome Joe Krancki, a Mobeus investor, to its board of directors. Mr. Seale launched Legatics in 2015 to revolutionize legal transactions by allowing deal teams to collaborate and close agreements in an interactive online environment. Since its inception, Legatics has been utilized by over 1,500 organizations, with more than half of the world's leading banking and finance law firms purchasing the software.Unicorn India Ventures led a $500,000 seed funding round for WINDO, a social commerce startup. WINDO is an Instagram commerce software company that assists small businesses and solopreneurs leverage consumer migration to Instagram. The Bengaluru-based company wants to be a one-stop-shop for businesses, letting them handle everything from the WINDO app, including centralization.ApnaKlub, a social commerce platform, has announced that it has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A round led by Whiteboard Capital and Blume Ventures. The Bengaluru-based business, founded in 2020 by Harvard Business School alumni Shruti and Manish Kumar. ApanKlub claims to have served 2500+ partners over 4500 pin codes in just seven months. Classplus, a B2B educational technology firm, has secured $65 million in a Series C investment round headed by Tiger Global. Classplus, located in Noida, is a mobile-first SaaS platform that uses an app to make material distribution, payments, communication, and online assessments easier for private coaching schools and their teachers. With over 80% of users originating from Tier-II India, the firm claims that educators' total profitability rises by 2x to 3x after six months of joining the network.  Gotrade, a company that aims to remove cost barriers involved in investing in US stocks, has come out of its stealth mode, raising $7 million in a seed round fund led by LocalGlobe. Social Leverage, Y Combinator, Picus Capital and Raptor Group, participated in the round. Gotrade is now available to users from 150 countries. 

The SaaS News Roundup
Chargebee joins the unicorn club, GripSecurity, DataRailes and Capr Privacy raise funding

The SaaS News Roundup

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2021 3:01


Enterprise software firm Chargebee raises $125 million at a valuation of $1.4 Billion, making it India's newest unicorn, signaling the funding boom underway in India and continuing the wave of software unicorns.The round was co-led by Sapphire Ventures and existing investors Tiger Global, Insight Venture Partners and Steadview Capital. This also makes Chargebee the 11th unicorn to emerge from India in just four months of 2021.Grip Security raises $6 million seed round led by cybersecurity-focused YL Ventures, with participation from CrowdStrike CEO and co-founder George Kurtz and a group of other angel investors with deep roots in the cybersecurity industry. Grip Security currently has about 15 employees and plans to use the new funding to build out its platform with additional capabilities, especially around providing access governance and data governance to applications. The plan is to grow to 20 to 25 employees within the next year.Tel Aviv's developer of financial planning and analysis tools, DataRails raises $18.5 million in a Series A round.The round was Led by Zeev Ventures Fund along with existing investors Vertex Ventures Israel and Innovation Endeavors , alongside undisclosed private investors. To date, the company has raised $28.5 million.Cape Privacy , a startup that allows companies to share sensitive data in a secure and encrypted way raises $20 million in  Series. Evolution Equity Partners led the round with participation from new investors Tiger Global Management, Ridgeline Partners and Downing Lane. Existing investors Boldstart Ventures, Version One Ventures, Haystack, Radical Ventures and a slew of individual investors also participated. The company has now raised approximately $25 million, including a $5 million seed investment.RippleMatch, a career recruiting platform, raises $23.5M funding.The round was led by Invus Opportunities with participation from Renegade Partners and Gaingels along with existing investors G20, Work-Bench, Alleycorp, Bullpen Capital and Accomplice. The company intends to use the funds to continue building out its intelligent hiring platform.

Tech Sales Insights
E19 - Mission-Driven Founders with Ed Sim, Boldstart Ventures

Tech Sales Insights

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2021 41:01


He is the founder of boldstart ventures, a day one partner, and a true believer in developer first and SaaS founders. boldstart is often the first investor working closely with technical founders at company formation. He is currently a board member/observer of Snyk, Kustomer, BigID, Env0, and Cycle. Notable first check investments include Superhuman, Security Scorecard, and Front. He previously co-founded Dawntreader Ventures where he led first-round investments in LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN), GoToMeeting (acq. By Citrix), and Greenplum (Pivotal Software). He has a BA in Economics from Harvard. Join David Nour and Randy Seidl on this episode of the #TechSalesInsights podcast with Ed Sim. Three quick points: Ed will be our guest on a livestream Q&A on Linkedin, Facebook, and YouTube - Wed, 3/3 at 2 PM ET - Join Us We turn the show notes from these podcasts into articles, so check them out on SalesCommunity.Com We have some fabulous guests coming up, such as Jennifer Haas, Andrew Ettinger, CRO at Astronomer, Craig Hinkley, CEO at White Hat Security, Mary Beth Vassallo, VP & GM of North America at NextThink, and Keegan Riley, CRO at SysDig. Stay up to date at SalesCommunity.com/Events Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/salescommunity/message

The Business of Open Source
Hiring a Team for your Technical Startup with Natalie Ledbetter

The Business of Open Source

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2021 37:26


This week, I talked to Natalie Ledbetter, Head of People and Platform at Boldstart Ventures. We talked about how startups can approach team and culture building, including: How to prioritize your hires Common mistakes founders make when building a team Why you should always avoid brilliant jerks, even if they are very brilliant How to divide responsibilities between founders Anticipating growth and setting your team up so that it can scale as easily as possible The difference in skills sets between 'startup people' and employees you would want to hire later on Links: Natalie on LinkedInNatalie on TwitterBoldstart Ventures

StrictlyVC Download
Ed Sim of Boldstart Ventures on the Next Wave of Developer First Startups

StrictlyVC Download

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2021 32:44


Connie & Alex parse through this week's top technology stories and then speak to Ed Sim, founder and managing partner of Boldstart Ventures, about Boldstart's "developer first" focus and strong interest in betting on technical entrepreneurs before a product has even been created.Music: 1. "Inspired" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3918-inspired)2. "Dream Catcher" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4650-dream-catcher)3. "Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5759-blippy-trance)4. "Pamgaea" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4193-pamgaea)5. "EDM Detection Mode" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3687-edm-detection-mode)

The Business Brew
Shomik Ghosh - A SaaSy Conversation

The Business Brew

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 29, 2021 115:47


The Business Brew is joined by Shomik Ghosh. Mr. Ghosh is a Principal at Boldstart Ventures, a day one, pre-product partner for technical founders with portfolio companies such as Snyk, Kustomer, BigID, Superhuman, Front, and Security Scorecard. His career has spanned everything from fixed income sales & trading to investment banking to venture capital. He specializes in enterprise software for his day job and long-term competitively advantaged businesses in his PA (a lot of which are also enterprise software companies

What Got You There with Sean DeLaney
#219 Ed Sim- Courage, Conviction and Venture Capital with Boldstart Ventures Founder

What Got You There with Sean DeLaney

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2020 61:52


Ed Sim is the founder of Boldstart Ventures, a first check investor for bold founders reinventing the enterprise! Ed loves to work with engineering driven founders with a laser sharp focus on product. On this episode Ed goes over his investing principles, where he developed his tenacious drive and what he sees in the most successful entrepreneurs. This is a masterclass  you won’t want to miss from a 23 year veteran in the venture capital space! Episode Notes Checkout my Newsletter Connect with us! Whatgotyouthere “Uncover your talents. Discover your dream job. Thrive in YOUR culture.” Sign up for Culture Finders today at www.CultureFinders.com MCTco Collagen Protein Bars www.mctco.com 20% off with code “WGYT” https://drinksupercoffee.com/

founders discover courage thrive conviction venture capital ed sim boldstart ventures
Lindzanity with Howard Lindzon
Panic with friends (45) - with Ed Sim of Boldstart Ventures

Lindzanity with Howard Lindzon

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 10, 2020 39:29


Investing lessons from a long time venture capitalist Guest - Ed Sim, Founder and General Partner at Boldstart Ventures howardlindzon.com, boldstart.vc Twitter: @howardlindzon, @edsim, @boldstartvc

HOW TO CEO
How to Raise Your First $10M (with Vivek Saraswat of the Mayfield Fund)

HOW TO CEO

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2019 30:31


In this episode, I’m excited to speak with Vivek Saraswat of the Mayfield Fund. Vivek is a venture investor and experienced product leader in next-generation enterprise application and infrastructure technologies. You’ll definitely want to hear how he answered my question about how to raise your first $10M, his advice for CEOs who want to pitch investors, and much more. You’ll also hear why he spotlighted a few noteworthy investors: Ed Sim of Boldstart Ventures, Leo Polovets of Susa Ventures, Hunter Walk of Hombrew, and Navin Chaddha of Mayfield. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/murray-newlands7/support

DealMakers
Dimitri Sirota On Selling His Business For $200M And Now Raising $100M To Address Concerns With Data Security

DealMakers

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 10, 2019 58:49


Dimitri Sirota is the cofounder and CEO of BigID which develops a software that helps companies have a secure customer data and satisfy privacy regulations. The company has raised so far $96 million from investors such as Bessemer Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Western Technology Investment, Boldstart Ventures, and Deepfork Capital to name a few. Prior to this the founded wo enterprise software companies focused on security (eTunnels) and API management (Layer 7 Technologies), which was sold to CA Technologies in 2013 for $200M.

DealMakers
Dimitri Sirota On Selling His Business For $200M And Now Raising $100M To Address Concerns With Data Security

DealMakers

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 10, 2019 58:49


Dimitri Sirota is the cofounder and CEO of BigID which develops a software that helps companies have a secure customer data and satisfy privacy regulations. The company has raised so far $96 million from investors such as Bessemer Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Western Technology Investment, Boldstart Ventures, and Deepfork Capital to name a few. Prior to this the founded wo enterprise software companies focused on security (eTunnels) and API management (Layer 7 Technologies), which was sold to CA Technologies in 2013 for $200M.

The Daily Crunch – Spoken Edition
Scooters 2.0, Munchery ghosts, and solving contraceptive deserts

The Daily Crunch – Spoken Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 28, 2019 3:43


Hello and welcome back toEquity, TechCrunch's venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week we had the gang back together with our own Connie Loizos at the helm, Kate Clark in the studio as well, Alex on the phone, and Ed Sim from Boldstart Ventures onboard as well. A good crew for a busy week. Now that 2019 is fully underway, the news is back to its usual firehose-pace which means we had a lot to get through.

Equity
Scooters 2.0, Munchery ghosts, and solving contraceptive deserts

Equity

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2019 51:57


Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week we had the gang back together with our own Connie Loizos at the helm, Kate Clark in the studio as well, Alex on the phone, and Ed Sim from Boldstart Ventures onboard as well. A good crew for a busy week.

Equity
Scooters 2.0, Munchery ghosts, and solving contraceptive deserts

Equity

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2019 51:57


Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week we had the gang back together with our own Connie Loizos at the helm, Kate Clark in the studio as well, Alex on the phone, and Ed Sim from Boldstart Ventures onboard as well. A good crew for a busy week.

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors
SaaStr 190: Why SaaS Founders Should Not Sell Their Products in The Early Days, How Founders Can Build Relationships with Enterprise CIOs and The Right Way To Think About Discounting and Pilots with Ed Sim, Founding Partner @ Boldstart Ventures

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2018 31:32


Ed Sim is the Founder & General Partner @ Boldstart Ventures, one of the leading players in early stage SaaS investing. Their MO, to be a first check VC for enterprise founders and they have backed the likes of GoToMeeting (acq by Citrix), LivePerson (IPO, NASDAQ), Divide (acq by Google), Kustomer, Snyk and BigID just to name a few. Ed is also a cofounder of MState, a growth lab for enterprise blockchain in partnership with IBM. Ed is also a board director/observer of Kustomer, Hypr Biometric, Snyk, BigID, Fortress IQ, Wallaroo Labs and Manifold. If that wasn’t enough, Ed is also the writer behind BeyondVC, a must read blog in the world of SaaS. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How Ed made his way into the world of VC from one very meaningful high school lecture that changed his life and career path? What does Ed mean when he says “founders should not sell their product to enterprise in the early days”. Starting from the ground up, what can founders do to begin that relationship building process with enterprise buyers and CIOs? What can a startup do to establish that trust in the mind of large buyers? How much of a role does VC backing provide in comforting enterprise buyers? What would Ed advise founders contemplating the debate of going SMB up to enterprise or enterprise to SMB? What role should product play in this decision-making process? What are the leading indicators in testing the product that founders should observe for and guide their direction? Where does Ed most often see founders make mistakes here?   How does Ed think about discounting? Would he agree with a previous guest that “discounting is now table stakes”? Rather than the financial element, what does Ed believe the founder should really be looking to get from the buyer in terms of commitment? How does Ed approach and assess pilots? To what extent should they be free or paid? What can be done to set the benchmarks for success and ensure closing? Ed’s 60 Second SaaStr What does Ed know now that he wishes he had known in the beginning? Quality or quantity of logos? What would Ed most like to change in the world of SaaS? Read the full transcript on our blog. If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Ed Sim

TechCrunch Startups – Spoken Edition
BigID scores $30 million Series B months after closing A round

TechCrunch Startups – Spoken Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 28, 2018 4:20


BigID announced a big $30 million Series B round today, which comes on the heels of closing their $14M A investment in January. It's been a whirlwind year for the NYC data security startup as GDPR kicked in and companies came calling for their products. The round was led by Scale Venture Partners with participation from previous investors ClearSky Security, Comcast Ventures, Boldstart Ventures, Information Venture Partners and SAP.io.

Venture Studio
Ep 43 - Ed Sim - Boldstart Ventures (2 of 2)

Venture Studio

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2017 24:37


This week is part 2 of our interview with Ed Sim, founder of Boldstart Ventures, an enterprise seed fund which focuses on infrastructure and SaaS startups. Part 1 is here: https://soundcloud.com/venture-studio/ep-42-ed-sim-boldstart-ventures-1-of-2 All of our shows are available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio. ======= Boldstart.vc Twitter: twitter.com/edsim Newsletter: digest.beyondvc.com From Beyondvc.com: ENTERPRISE TECH IN 2017 http://www.beyondvc.com/2016/12/boldstart-in-2016-enterprise-tech-in-2017.html Episode 24 with Eliot Durbin: https://soundcloud.com/venture-studio/Ep-24-eliot-durbin-boldstart-ventures Episode 32 with Jonathan Lehr of Work-Bench: https://soundcloud.com/venture-studio/ep-32-jon-lehr-work-bench

Venture Studio
Ep 42 - Ed Sim - Boldstart Ventures (1 of 2)

Venture Studio

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 7, 2017 31:17


This week's guest is Ed Sim, founder of Boldstart Ventures, an enterprise seed fund which focuses on infrastructure and SaaS startups. All of our shows are available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio. ======= Boldstart.vc Twitter: https://twitter.com/edsim Blog: Beyondvc.com Newsletter: digest.beyondvc.com Episode 24 with Eliot Durbin: https://soundcloud.com/venture-studio/ep-24-eliot-durbin-boldstart-ventures

Powderkeg - Igniting Startups
#23: Startup Strategies from a 5-Exit Founder and NYC Venture Partner

Powderkeg - Igniting Startups

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 3, 2017 40:27


Knowledge comes with experience, and Jeff Leventhal has 25 years of experience in the tech startup world, including leading five companies from idea to exit and investing in many others. It’s an understatement to say he’s learned a few things on his entrepreneurial journey. Leventhal’s great professional passion has been using technology to facilitate the delivery of professional services. His current iteration on solving this problem is WorkRails, a SaaS solution that helps other software companies sell and deliver their products. He’s also a Partner at BOLDstart Ventures, a “first check” investor for enterprise software founders. Leventhal is great at telling engaging stories, and he transfers much of his wisdom through personal anecdotes. She shares some of his best tales in our interview, providing insights on acting in harmony with your internal wiring, socializing your business ideas and evaluating feedback, and building a team that will impress investors. My thanks go out to Leventhal for letting me pick his brain and giving me with a few good laughs during our conversation. Check out Leventhal's LinkedIn page to learn more about his long and impressive career, and have fun listening to this episode of Powderkeg: Igniting Startups. In this episode with Jeff Leventhal, you’ll learn: -- Why big career decisions often come down to your personal “wiring” -- A cheap, easy way to perform market research -- The six “value creation moments” of a startup -- How to win over VCs with the strength of your team -- High-level tips for socializing your ideas and receiving criticism -- Why New York City is a natural environment for entrepreneurs to flourish Please enjoy! ---- Download show notes and transcripts at www.powderkeg.com This episode of Powder Keg is brought to you by DeveloperTown. If you’re a business leader trying to turn a great idea into a product with traction, this is for you. DeveloperTown works with clients ranging from entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 companies who want to build and launch an app or digital product. They’re able to take the process they use with early stage companies to help big companies move like a startup. So if you have an idea for a web or mobile app, or need help identifying the great ideas within your company, go to developertown.com/powderkeg. Thanks again to everyone who has shared an episode of Powderkeg, subscribed to us on iTunes, or left us a review. It’s the only way we’re going to spread this message and reach new people and we could do it without you. We’re coming out with new episodes every Tuesday, so make sure you subscribe on iTunes or at powderkeg.co/itunes

Venture Studio
Ep 24 - Eliot Durbin - Boldstart Ventures

Venture Studio

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2016 38:11


This week, Eliot Durbin, General Partner at Boldstart Ventures, joins the show. Miss an episode, such as the Dave's classic interview with SoftTech's founder Jeff Clavier that Elliot referenced during this week's show? Check out our entire archive at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher or TuneIn. Remember to subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode and follow us on twitter @venturestudio to stay up to date. In today's episode, Eliot talks about Boldstart's investment themes for this year - Googlization of IT, SaaS 2.0 and Smart Data. In addition, Eliot and Dave also discuss the rise of shadow IT at large enterprises, the market potential in B2B on-demand, and how to tell the difference between a pretty big problem and really big problem.

The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20 VC 092: The Repeatable Playbook of SaaS with Ed Sim, Founding Partner @ BoldStart Ventures

The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 30, 2015 25:52


Ed Sim, Founding Partner @ Boldstart Ventures, Ed truly has had the most astonishing career in early stage SaaS having led first round investments in todays market leaders, LivePerson (now on Nasdaq) and GoToMeeting (acquired by Citrix). Over the 19 years in early stage SaaS he has also helped a number of entrepreneurs scale from seed to market leader with his portfolio companies being acquired by the likes of Google, Linkedin and Salesforce, and I would like to say that all the data and information presented in today's show is provided by the kind folks at Mattermark, check then out at www.mattermark.com In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ed made his way into the wonderful world of venture? 2.) Why did Ed start a seed stage SaaS fund? Where did he see the market opportunity?How was the fundraising process for Ed? Were there any surprises? 3.) How does Ed view the current seed stage funding environment, is there too much money chasing too few deals? 4.) Ed backed cloud companies in 2000. What is different from then vs today’s saas companies? 5.) How do you value early stage SaaS startups, when there are often very few clear metrics at this stage? 6.) What makes a great enterprise founder at seed stage? 7.) How has the seed stage SaaS environment changed over the 19 years of Ed's career? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Ed's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Jason Calacanis: LaunchTicker Ed's Fave iPhone App: Slack As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ed on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here! Have you ever wanted to know who someone is simply from an email address?With Loyalty Bay's Super Users product now you can. Simply input an email address and it will go off and find publicly available profile information i.e. Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter etc for that email address. This is incredibly powerful in building a richer data profile on your users for marketers and business development people alike. Free 30 day Trial. Check out www.loyaltybay.co.uk