Podcasts about Scale Venture Partners

What if the parts of yourself you've been told to hide are actually your greatest leadership advantages? In this episode, Becca Chambers—Chief Marketing Officer at Scale Venture Partners—shares how embracing neurodiversity and authenticity has shaped her journey from tech leader to one of LinkedIn's most influential voices. With ADHD as her superpower, Becca has built award-winning brands, advised fast-growing startups, and reached millions by showing up fully as herself. You'll discover why working with your brain, not against it, is essential for growth, how authenticity builds trust, and why telling your story is your best strategy for advancing your career on your terms.  Tune in to explore how unmasking who you are can help you build a bold, meaningful career while leading with courage and impact. Visit our website where you will find show notes and links to all the resources in this episode, including the best way to get in touch with our special guest. The key moments in this episode are: [00:00] Introduction to Beyond Barriers Podcast [00:27] Understanding Neurodiversity [01:07] Meet Becca Chambers [02:22] The Oxford Comma Debate [04:30] Becca's Career Journey [08:41] Embracing Authenticity [10:54] Building a Personal Brand [19:40] Leadership and Resilience [22:51] Building Confidence and Resilience [24:06] Balancing Perfectionism and Decision Making [25:53] Advocating for Neurodiversity [37:38] The Importance of Networking [41:44] Lightning Round and Final Thoughts

Share your thoughts with us!In the high-stakes world of startups, few roles have evolved more dramatically than that of the CFO. Today's finance leader is expected to move beyond spreadsheets — shaping strategy, influencing product development, and building cross-functional trust. M.G. Thibaut has done all of that and more.In this episode, Eddie Lopez is joined by M.G. Thibaut — former CFO of Strava, DroneDeploy, and Copper, and now the founder of Coterie CFO and Executive-in-Residence at Scale Venture Partners. With roots in investment banking and big tech, M.G. has spent over 16 years helping venture-backed startups grow, scale, and stay agile through every stage.Now, she's focused on building something new. M.G. shares the founding story of Coterie CFO, a community redefining the relationship between finance leaders and the fintech tools they rely on. She also opens up about her advisory work at Scale, the traits of high-performing finance teams, and why she believes today's CFO must be as comfortable with ambiguity as they are with analytics.Topics Include:How M.G. pivoted from investment banking to startupsWhat makes a modern CFO indispensable to a startup's successThe founding vision behind Coterie CFOBuilding trust and transparency with CEOs and teamsThe evolving role of the CFO in a tech-driven worldAnd other topics…M.G. Thibaut is a startup CFO turned venture partner and community builder. She is the founder of Coterie CFO and an Executive-in-Residence at Scale Venture Partners, advising startups and mentoring emerging finance leaders.

Rish Gupta has had a long, winding journey filled with unexpected turns, painful challenges, and exhilarating wins. He has built and exited companies and is currently riding the incredible momentum and hype in the artificial intelligence world of AGIs. Rish's latest company, Spot AI, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Redpoint Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and StepStone Group.

Alexander Niehenke of Scale Venture Partners joins Nick to discuss The Future of AI is Vertical, Why Vertical TAMs are Getting Exponentially Larger, and Lessons from the Sector Giants that Lead to Dominance. In this episode we cover: Historical Reasons for Horizontal SaaS Success Shift Towards Vertical SaaS Solutions Unfair Advantages of Vertical AI Solutions Lessons for Modern Founders Expansion Strategies for Vertical Startups Talent Dilution and Competitive Moats VC Diligence and Founder Evaluation Regulatory Risk and Investment Decisions Motivation and Future of Venture Capital Guest Links: Twitter/X (guest)  Guest's LinkedIn Company's LinkedIn Company's Website The host of The Full Ratchet is Nick Moran of New Stack Ventures, a venture capital firm committed to investing in founders outside of the Bay Area. Want to keep up to date with The Full Ratchet? Follow us on social. You can learn more about New Stack Ventures by visiting our LinkedIn and Twitter. Are you a founder looking for your next investor? Visit our free tool VC-Rank and we'll send a list of potential investors right to your inbox!

We are doing a little rewind to a classic episode from the archives. Andy welcomes Adam Robinson, CEO of Retention.com, Robert Koehler, a go-to-market advisor at Scale Venture Partners, and Craig Rosenberg, Chief Platform Officer at Scale Venture Partners. They begin the conversation with the impact of economic changes on sales models, the importance of sales fundamentals, and innovative approaches to sales and marketing. They argue about  predictable revenue models in the current environment, the role of sales development representatives (SDRs), and the importance of aligning sales efforts with marketing strategies. The group gives insight on leveraging LinkedIn for business growth, the effectiveness of live events, and the need for sales specialization and deep understanding of customer industries.Host Andy Paul is the expert on modern B2B selling and author of three best-selling, award-winning sales books, including his latest Sell Without Selling Out. Visit andypaul.com to subscribe to his newsletter for even more strategies and tips to accelerate your win rate.

It's VC week at the podcast. TLDR: This episode features interviews with Juliette Chevallier from Scale Ventures and Jasmine Singh from Jay Moon Ventures and covers investment trends in robotics, emphasizing the importance of execution risk over technical risk. Juliette Chevallier, Principal, Investments, Scale Venture Partners Juliette Chevallier has a background in autonomous vehicles and robotics, having previously worked at companies like Google Chauffeur (now Waymo) and MIT spinoff Optimus Ride. She joined Scale Venture Partners about 2 years ago to lead their investment thesis on robotics, AI applications, and cybersecurity. Scale Venture Partners' approach focuses on investing at the point of execution risk rather than technical risk, looking for companies with a working product and proven product-market fit. Juliette emphasizes the importance of understanding the customer ROI and business model as key criteria. In her role as a VC, Juliette prefers to have a deep, hands-on involvement with portfolio companies, acting as a strategic sounding board and collaborating closely with founders to work through tough problems. She sees her role as helping founders navigate the operational and go-to-market challenges. Juliette notes a renewed interest in robotics from VCs, though she is cautious about some "wild" valuations and funding rounds, preferring bottoms-up market analysis over top-down figures. Juliette is bullish on the potential of robotics foundation models (RFMs) to drive transformation, emphasizing the need for more multi-modal AI models that integrate vision, action, and communication. She is excited about the possibilities of AI to enhance robotics, but cautions about the risks of AI development burning through funding. Overall, Juliette's approach focuses on de-risking execution and operational challenges for robotics startups, leveraging her deep technical and business expertise to support founders. Learn more at: https://www.scalevp.com/ Jasmeet Singh, founder, JMOON Ventures Jasmeet Singh has a diverse background spanning robotics engineering, founding startups, and investing since 2012. As an investor at J Moon Ventures, he focuses on "physical AI" startups - those combining hardware, electronics, and AI in areas like robotics, IoT, and 3D printing. Jasmeet emphasizes the importance of solving real problems, not just building cool technology. He looks for startups with a strong understanding of the user and business model, noting operational challenges like scaling manufacturing and finding the right business model. Compared to the more risk-averse Canadian market, Jasmeet sees the US as a better environment for robotics fundraising. He advises founders to target large, underserved problems and focus on customer service and support. Some of Jasmeet's investments include Orange Wood Labs, Brisk AI, and Rural Hologram. As he launches J Moon Ventures, he is particularly interested in opportunities in agriculture, construction, medical, and sustainability. Overall, Jasmeet brings a unique perspective as an investor with deep technical expertise and operational experience in robotics. He is focused on backing founders solving real-world problems with innovative hardware-software solutions. Learn more at: https://jmoon.ventures/ – SPONSOR – The show this week is sponsored by FlexQube. Move material with any size, shape, and weight with the FlexQube Navigator AMR, the world's first multi-purpose and non-load carrying robot.The FlexQube Navigator AMR features a standardized coupling interface to connect with an ecosystem of different load carriers depending on the customer's needs.The system also features a safety-rated identification of load carrier footprint to secure a safe and efficient scale-up of different use cases in a factory or warehouse. FlexQube Navigator – robotics that delivers! To learn more about FlexQube's solutions goto: https://www.flexqube.com

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — Funding the Future. In today's episode, we're speaking with Susan Liu, Partner at Uncork Capital, a seed-stage venture capital firm investing out of a $200 Million fund. Here are the most interesting points from our conversation: Shift to Seed-Stage Investing: Susan transitioned from later-stage investing at Scale Venture Partners to focusing on seed-stage at Uncork Capital, driven by her passion for working with founders at the earliest stages of their journey. State of Enterprise Software: The current enterprise software market is challenging, with traditional SaaS seeing budget constraints. However, AI-driven solutions are gaining traction, often backed by separate AI budgets within enterprises. AI Investment Strategy: While there's a surge in AI startups, Susan emphasizes the importance of founder-market fit and differentiation, as many companies are tackling similar problems in the AI space. Evaluating Early-Stage Startups: Susan looks for a strong founding team with market experience, a large addressable market, and a compelling product wedge when evaluating seed-stage opportunities. Traits of Successful Founders: Founders with deep industry experience, grit, and the ability to learn quickly tend to have a higher success rate, particularly in B2B markets. Advice for Series A: For seed-stage founders preparing for Series A, Susan advises demonstrating strong revenue growth and capital efficiency, as these are key factors that attract investors in the current market.   //   Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.  www.GlobalTalent.co    

Today's guest is a Go to Market thinker & strategist. He has a decade of success driving growth, revenue, and strategic operations for tech companies, including B2B SaaS, martech, and edtech. Introducing Sol Weinreich, the GTM Advisor at Scale Venture Partners. They join Casey today to discuss the role of data in sales and marketing, the importance of communication, and  Incrementality. Connect with Sol:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/solweinreich  Company website: https://www.salesimpact.io  Ways to Tune In:Apple Podcasts:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/0f4497c6-b402-4cad-9018-1e41b7e8f2bb/the-hard-corps-marketing-showSpotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6KdsamnStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-showGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy50cmFuc2lzdG9yLmZtL3RoZS1oYXJkLWNvcnBzLW1hcmtldGluZy1zaG93YouTube: https://youtu.be/_JCsv-xzyd8Hard Corps Marketing is produced and sponsored by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through branded podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/ 

Chris Yin is CEO/Co-Founder of Plume, which he founded in 2024 to redefine how people use and think about RWAs. He is leading the team realizing the vision to simplify how users bring any kind of asset including collectibles and alternative assets in addition to traditional financial instruments onchain. Chris has an accomplished track record as a product lead and investor, with prior positions at Beluga, Scale Venture Partners, and Rainforest QA. In this conversation, we discuss:- RWAs- RWA-Fi- Advantages of tokenizing assets- Biggest challenges in RWA deployment- Plume's unique offerings in the RWA space- Which collectibles and alternative assets that will be most valuable to bring onchain- Alternative assets for retail investors- Crypto evolving to serve institutional partners-RWA based loans and looping- Understanding the crypto product life cycle- Knowing your audiencePlume NetworkWebsite: www.plumenetwork.xyzX: @plumenetworkTelegram: t.me/plumenetwork_communityChris YinX: @chriseyinBlog: www.chrisyin.xyz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This episode is brought to you by PrimeXBT.  PrimeXBT offers a robust trading system for both beginners and professional traders that demand highly reliable market data and performance. Traders of all experience levels can easily design and customize layouts and widgets to best fit their trading style. PrimeXBT is always offering innovative products and professional trading conditions to all customers.   PrimeXBT is running an exclusive promotion for listeners of the podcast. After making your first deposit, 50% of that first deposit will be credited to your account as a bonus that can be used as additional collateral to open positions.  Code: CRYPTONEWS50  This promotion is available for a month after activation. Click the link below:  PrimeXBT x CRYPTONEWS50

The SaaS Mendoza line highlights the slope of the long term growth rate that investors expect and operators should target on a path to IPO. Dave "CAC" Kellogg and Ray "Growth" Rike break down the updated expectations.Veteran software VC, Rory O'Driscoll of Scale Venture Partners proposed a theory to identify the growth rate below which a company may not be on the VC-to-IPO trajectory.In 2018, Rory started with an analysis of SaaS companies at the time of IPO. In 2018, SaaS companies going public had a minimum run rate ARR of $100M and at least a 25% forward growth rate. He then examined growth rates over time and observed that the growth persistence - which represents the rate of growth decay year over year, that public SaaS companies grew at 80-85% of their previous year's growth. This metric is commonly known as "Growth Endurance".Dave and Ray discuss the new reality of the SaaS Mendoza line, with the most recent data in 2023-2024 suggesting that a SaaS company must have at least $400M - $500M" in revenue before they can IPO as evidenced by the recent Klaviyo, OneStream and Rubrik initial pubic offerings.CAC and Growth highlight other common "growth expectation" models including the T2D3 (Triple, Triple, Double, Double Double) and 56789 models. If you are evaluating what it takes for early stage company to attract new investors as your growth on a path to IPO - this conversation is full of great insights and perspective on investor expectations.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Klarity, an accounting startup based in San Francisco, raised $70 million in a Series B funding round led by Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, with additional support from Scale Venture Partners, Tola Capital, Picus Capital, Invus Capital, and Y Combinator. The raised funds will be used to expand Klarity's workforce, tripling it to 390 employees within the year. Klarity employs AI to process data in contracts and internal records, eliminating the need for manual work. This trend of significant funding is also observed in other accounting tech firms like Ageras, FloQast, and DataSnipper, which have also secured substantial investment to automate accounting tasks using AI. AI-driven startups in other sectors, such as legal tech, are also attracting significant investment.Learn more on this news visit us at: https://greyjournal.net/news/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From growing up as a quiet kid in New Jersey and biking across the US in support of affordable housing, to moving west to join Salesforce and eventually becoming a partner at Scale Venture Partners, Jeremy Kaufmann shares his compassion-filled adventure with Bree and Vik while sipping The Dude's drink of choice: A White Russian. If you are building or investing in AI, grab some of your favorite vodka, add cream and Kahula, shake with ice, and settle in for his perspective on where everything is headed. Be sure to stay for his hot takes on introverts, decision making, teamwork in venture capital, and of course, his answers to the Fidelity Five Questions.www.scalevp.comwww.dwavc.comwww.fidelity.comwww.ravixgroup.comwww.greencow.vc

Have you ever wondered why financial operations within the insurance industry are notoriously complex? The intricate processes involved can be overwhelming, from data reconciliation to commission payouts.   In this inaugural episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, host Josh interviews Qiyun Cai, CEO and co-founder of Fintary, a financial operations platform tailored for the insurance industry. Qiyun shares her remarkable journey from technology investing and AI product development to the insurance sector, where she co-founded Amplify, a digital brokerage for life insurance. The challenges of financial operations in insurance, such as data reconciliation and commission payouts, inspired the creation of Fintary in 2023. Fintary focuses on life and health insurance brokerages, offering AI-driven automation to streamline financial processes and drive business outcomes. Qiyun emphasizes the importance of industry-specific solutions, the need for modern tools to attract young talent, and the potential for technology to transform long-standing industry practices.   If you're interested in the intersection of finance and technology, this is a conversation you won't want to miss!   In This Episode: [00:09] Qiyun's background and decision to start Fintary [01:33] Challenges in financial operations in the insurance industry [03:56] Focus and segmentation of customer segments [05:09] Product capabilities and industry-specific workflows [08:38] Use of AI and newer technologies in financial operations [09:03] Product roadmap and comprehensive approach [13:39] Target customer segments and organization size [14:32] Multi-line platform and expansion into different lines of business [15:45] Unique needs and use cases for different insurance lines [17:25] Incorporating technology and product development principles [19:04] Funding and customer agreements for company growth [21:14] Opportunity and challenge in innovating in the life insurance industry [22:27] Go-to-market strategy and product adoption [22:44] Typical entry point and ultimate buyer in organizations [23:33] The product delivering business outcomes [24:53] Evolution of the industry [27:41] Attracting talent to the organization [28:56] Closing remarks and call to action   Notable Quotes [02:45], "I just realized how cumbersome it is to run financial operations in the insurance industry."-Qiyun [06:28] "A lot of these companies have been looking for solutions; it just doesn't solve their end-to-end workflow needs."-Qiyun [21:21] "When we show our product to our customers, people say, 'This is what I've been thinking about, and you've built what would solve my problem.” -Qiyun [25:08]  "When I started in the industry, I realized how it has been around for many years, with organizations running in a very specific manner for quite some time."-Qiyun [26:08]  "Now is the time where there has been a lot of consolidation, and many businesses are going through a phase where they want to professionalize the business."-Qiyun   Our Guest Qiyun Cai is the founder and operator of Fintary, focused on building automation solutions that make a meaningful impact on businesses. Previously, she co-founded Amplify Life Insurance, a digital platform enhancing financial security. She was the first product manager at Spoke, creating an AI-enabled service desk, and an investor at Scale Venture Partners, specializing in B2B enterprise SaaS, IT infrastructure, and mobile technologies. Qiyun excels in combining technology and business innovation.   Resources and Links Josh Hollander https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuarhollander/ https://www.horton-usa.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insurtech-leadership-show/?viewAsMember=true Qiyun Cai https://www.linkedin.com/in/qiyun-cai-b3837315/ https://www.fintary.com/

This Week in Startups is brought to you by… Northwest Registered Agent. Start your business fast and secure with Northwest Registered Agent! In just 10 clicks and 10 minutes, set up your entire business identity—name, address, mail service, phone, email, website, and domain. Everything You Need to Launch Your Business in Minutes! For just $39 plus state fees, Northwest will handle your complete business identity. visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist Wistia - The all-in-one video platform for business, with tools that help you create, manage, and measure the impact of your videos. Try Wistia for free at https://www.wistia.com/startups1 HiddenLayer - Generative AI is revolutionizing industries. HiddenLayer's AI Detection & Response Solution secures your Generative AI & LLMs from malicious attack. Helping you generate more – by enabling seamless & secure Generative AI. Visit https://www.HiddenLayer.com/TWiST to learn more. * Todays show: Rory O'Driscoll joins guest host Mark Suster to discuss: advice for founders with traction but not yet booming (2:33), thirty years of internet cycles and their impact on venture capital (13:25), the approach to big-picture thinking vs. immediate traction and strategizing exits (36:58), and more! * Timestamps: (0:00) Rory O'Driscoll joins guest host Mark Suster. (2:33) Rory's advice for founders with traction but not yet booming. (9:09) Aligning incentives between founders and venture; reminding CEOs to be "selfish.” (10:23) Northwest Registered Agent - For just $39 plus state fees, Northwest will handle your complete business identity. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today. (13:25) Reflections on thirty years of internet cycles and their impact on venture capital. (18:25) Debating AI: Does it favor the incumbents? (20:07) Wistia - Try Wistia for free at https://www.wistia.com/startups (21:35) What Rory and Scale Venture looks for when investing in AI. (26:20) How OpenAI has changed the landscape (29:18) HiddenLayer - HiddenLayer's AI Detection & Response Solution secures your Generative AI & LLMs from malicious attack. Visit https://www.HiddenLayer.com/TWiST to learn more. (30:30) Debating “faux-mentum” vs. long-term sustainability in investments. (34:34) Balancing deep passion and business savvy when evaluating founders. (36:58) Rory's approach to big-picture thinking vs. immediate traction and strategizing exits (44:02) The importance of picking vs. price discipline. (1:00:58) Advice for founders dealing with “busted cap tables.” (1:08:07) Rory's advice for his younger self. * Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp * Check out Scale Venture Partners: https://www.scalevp.com/ * Follow Rory: X: https://x.com/rodriscoll LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roryodriscoll/ * Follow Mark: X: https://twitter.com/msuster LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marksuster/ * Thank you to our partners: (10:23) Northwest Registered Agent - For just $39 plus state fees, Northwest will handle your complete business identity. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today. (20:07) Wistia - Try Wistia for free at https://www.wistia.com/startups (29:18) HiddenLayer - ****HiddenLayer's AI Detection & Response Solution secures your Generative AI & LLMs from malicious attack. Visit https://www.HiddenLayer.com/TWiST to learn more. * Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland * Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis * Follow TWiST: Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups * Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast

 Chris Yin is CEO and Co-founder of Plume Network, the first modular EVM L2 blockchain dedicated for all real-world assets (RWAs). Previously, Chris served as a Principal at Scale Venture Partners, VP Product at RainforestQA, Director of Product at Coupa, and a founder at Xpenser. Chris has also invested as an angel investor in many projects including Retool, Hightouch, BioRender, Certn, Graphite, Alloy, District, and others. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crypto-hipster-podcast/support

Welcome back to another short standout discussion with Andy and a roundtable of sales pros, Adam Robinson, CEO of Retention.com, Robert Koehler, a go-to-market advisor at Scale Venture Partners, and Craig Rosenberg, Chief Platform Officer at Scale Venture Partners. They kick it off with a debate on what win rates can expose about product-market fit, and how strategies to get sellers to reach the "win more than you lose" level. They get into the challenges of not having a standardized method for measuring win rates among companies, and the importance of considering win rates by product and market segment to avoid misleading averages. The group also touches on the need for a repeatable sales model before scaling, strategies for maximizing revenue per unit of time spent by sales teams, and wonder if many sellers and leaders expectations have just gotten too low.Listen to the full episode on Apple and SpotifyHost Andy Paul is the expert on modern B2B selling and author of three best-selling, award-winning sales books, including his latest Sell Without Selling Out. Visit andypaul.com to subscribe to his newsletter for even more strategies and tips to accelerate your win rate.

Today Andy highlights a conversation he had with a top notch roundtable of sales veterans including, Adam Robinson, CEO of Retention.com, Robert Koehler, a go-to-market advisor at Scale Venture Partners, and Craig Rosenberg, Chief Platform Officer at Scale Venture Partners. The discussion revolves around the shifting stability in sales pipelines, specifically addressing the shortcomings of the traditional predictable revenue model in software sales. The guests give their own personal examples of the timing involved in scaling sales teams and explore new strategies for demand creation, including leveraging LinkedIn and podcasts. The need for adaptability and innovation in sales techniques has never been more vital.Listen to the full episode on Apple and SpotifyHost Andy Paul is the expert on modern B2B selling and author of three best-selling, award-winning sales books, including his latest Sell Without Selling Out. Visit andypaul.com to subscribe to his newsletter for even more strategies and tips to accelerate your win rate.

Are you ready for the roundtable!?! Today, Andy welcomes Adam Robinson, CEO of Retention.com, Robert Keeler, a go-to-market advisor at Scale Venture Partners, and Craig Rosenberg, Chief Platform Officer at Scale Venture Partners. They begin the conversation with the impact of economic changes on sales models, the importance of sales fundamentals, and innovative approaches to sales and marketing. They argue about  predictable revenue models in the current environment, the role of sales development representatives (SDRs), and the importance of aligning sales efforts with marketing strategies. The group gives insight on leveraging LinkedIn for business growth, the effectiveness of live events, and the need for sales specialization and deep understanding of customer industries.Host Andy Paul is the expert on modern B2B selling and author of three best-selling, award-winning sales books, including his latest Sell Without Selling Out. Visit andypaul.com to subscribe to his newsletter for even more strategies and tips to accelerate your win rate.

This week's guest is Dan O'Connell, Dan serves as Chief Strategy Officer at Dialpad and is also a member of the Board of Directors. Prior to Dialpad, Dan was the CEO and President of TalkIQ, real-time speech recognition and NLP start-up backed by Salesforce Ventures and Scale Venture Partners. He was AdRoll's Vice President of Sales and also spent 8 years at Google where he handled key sales positions. Dan holds an MBA from the University of California Berkeley and a degree in Communications from Santa Clara University. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/uncharted1/support

S3E4: Kate Mitchell, Co-founder, Scale Venture PartnersMoments that Made Her is a podcast where the rare and unique women that hold senior private equity roles share their stories, including the key personal and professional moments that defined their journeys and lessons they learned along the way.Moments that Made Her is a production of the Private Equity Women Investor Network, also known as PEWIN, which is the preeminent organization for senior-level women investment professionals in private equity.PEWIN provides its members with opportunities to network, share ideas, make deep connections with peers, and empower each other to succeed. Our mission is to increase the profile of women in private equity, and members represent institutions with over $3 trillion in assets under management.Moments that Made Her is hosted by Kelly Williams, PEWIN's Founding Chair, and is produced in collaboration with Purple Photo Group.To learn more please visit pewin.org.

Tim Guleri has had a remarkable run at Sierra Ventures since 2001. He has invested in transcendent companies including Sourcefire and MakeMyTrip which both went public. Before that, Tim had a successful career as an entrepreneur and exec at companies like Scopus and Octane which was acquired by Epiphany in 2000.Sierra has one of the strongest future of work and AI portfolios that includes companies like Paro, Krisp, and SupportLogic which acquired Emtropy Labs which was founded by great former guest Harish Batlapenamurthy. In full disclosure, Sierra and I are both investors in ArmorCode.Listen and learn...Why the most successful venture investors were previously entrepreneursTim's thesis for investing in gen AI customer journey company SimulateHow Tim identifies "gen AI whitewashing" when hearing pitchesWhy gen AI is more than just another platform shiftHow gen AI startups can beat Big Tech incumbentsWhy all companies are ultimately "financial products"Sierra's primary data from CIOs: "...they're spending money on use cases that unlock employee productivity"What Tim means by "build horizontally but execute vertically"Which jobs AI will eliminate vs. augmentTim's "one that got away" pitch from his early days at SierraReferences in this episode...According to CNBC, 69% of U.S. adults are uncomfortable with AI that can mimic human thinkingAshu Garg from Foundation Capital on AI and the Future of WorkRory O'Driscoll from Scale Venture Partners on AI and the Future of WorkSierra Ventures

Building a career is a series of choices, outcomes of those choices, and then reacting to those outcomes. Sometimes a small choice can have an outsized return, sometimes the reaction to an outcome can lead you down a new path. In investing we are looking for power-law returns, the small bets that we can return exponential value.Our guest today is an investor who has seen some amazing choices turn into huge returns and even better stories to teach and entertain us. Alexander Niehenke is a Partner at Scale Venture Partners where he specializes in Vertical SaaS investing.And John Ruffolo is back to talk about the news!About Alexander Neihenke:Alex Neihenke is a Partner at Scale Venture Partners since 2017. He has focused on early investments in vertical software markets where incumbents have failed to invest in advanced technology offerings. That thesis has led to investments in Archipelago, Dusty Robotics, Motive formally KeepTruckin, Root Insurance, Scout RFP, Spruce, Proscia, and Proxy. Motive has been one of the fastest growing SaaS companies of all time; Scout RFP was acquired by Workday in late 2019 for $540M; and Root completed its IPO in late 2020.He received his bachelor's from UC Berkeley.In this episode we discuss:(0:00:56) News rundown with John Ruffolo(0:16:27) Alexander's path to becoming an investor(0:18:45) The effect of watching his dad work so hard(0:20:50) Alex's experience working in the banking industry(0:24:31) How the experience at Crosslink Capital shaped his career(0:25:56) His role advising Dollar Shave Club(0:28:08) On investing in friends(0:29:46) Joining Scale Venture Partners in 2013(0:32:17) How he focused on Vertical SaaS(0:35:23) Alex's definition of Vertical SaaS(0:36:20) Misconceptions around Vertical SaaS(0:38:11) Why there's a misunderstanding around TAM(0:40:08) Case studies around misaligned TAM(0:44:04) Lessons from his investment in Root Insurance(0:48:59) How Scale's outlook has evolved over the last few years(0:52:06) Why Alex invested in Ripple Portfolio company Rose Rocket(0:54:30) Rules he lives by when joining a new board(0:57:29) What makes a good board member(1:00:00) Why Alex writes about industries prior to investing in them(1:02:52) Thoughts on the AI investing craze(1:05:47) Using data to analyze massive volumes of startups and their success(1:09:16) What would he be doing if he wasn't an investorFast Favorites:*

Scale Venture Partners' Craig Rosenberg joins us on the show to talk about how category design drives demand, how he mentors founders, and a handful of stories from the startup and VC trenches.Craig is the Chief Platform Officer at Scale and long-time friend and collaborator of our co-host, Damp.In this episode, we'll discuss:Category design stories from Scale's portfolio.How Craig teaches young founders category design principles.Is it ever too late or too early to pursue category design?Common Point of View pitfalls.If you want to join a free community of over 500 category designers and join these conversations, you can do so at CategoryThinkers.comConnect with our guest and hosts on LinkedIn:Craig RosenbergMike DamphousseJohn RougeuxPablo Gonzalez

Today we are happy to welcome Ameer Awadiyeh, VP of Investments at AlphaQ Venture Capital, a founder-led VC Fund of Funds. Prior to joining AQVC, Ameer was part of the investment team at Israel-based Vintage Investment Partners, where he developed deep expertise within the global VC fund ecosystem through sourcing, conducting in-depth due diligence, and modeling primary and secondary VC investment opportunities in both established and emerging managers, overseeing the fund of funds pipeline and budget allocation, and establishing a broad network of VCs and VC allocators across the U.S., Europe and Israel.Alph Q has 9 funds and counting, Whitestart Capital, Scale Venture Partners, Abstract Ventures, Nucleus Capital, Signature Ventures, Pale Blue Dot, Maple Capital, Symbol Ventures. AlphaQ is becoming the European gateway to a diversified venture capital fund portfolio via one single stock.

Shahin chats with Craig Rosenberg, Chief Platform Officer at Scale Venture Partners, about the ins and outs of what's working in the enterprise space. The episode covers the following: The state of today's enterprise landscapeThe role of PLG in your go-to-market strategyThe power of events and experiencesContent sharing Craig joined Scale in 2022 to help build and manage their Go-To-Market Platform. The Scale GTM Platform delivers critical expertise to help software companies drive efficient hyper-growth. Prior to joining Scale, Craig was Distinguished Vice President in the Sales Practice for Gartner. While there he advised revenue leaders on their strategic decisions and wrote innovative research on new GTM strategies such as revenue operations and account-based strategy. He joined Gartner in 2019 as part of the acquisition of TOPO where Craig was the co-founder and Chief Analyst. Craig was a Magna Cum Laude graduate of UCLA. When he isn't talking about GTM strategy, he is spending time with his wife and three young boys. Resources mentioned in this episode: The JOLT Effect - Matthew DixonThe Psychopath Test - Jon RonsonC.J Box books _________________ Want to be a part of something great? Fill out the ABM in APAC survey for exclusive tools, insights and a chance at winning a free customised team consultation with xGrowth's experts to help with your ABM strategy. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ABM-APAC-2023 _________________ Hosted & Produced by Shahin Hoda, Allysa Maywald & Alexander Hipwell, from xGrowth. We would love to get your questions, ideas and feedback about Growth Colony, email podcast@xgrowth.com.au

MLOps Coffee Sessions #169 with Barak Turovsky, MLOps at the Age of Generative AI. Thanks to wandb.ai for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new course on evaluating and fine-tuning LLMs wandb.me/genai-mlops.course // Abstract The talk focuses on MLOps aspects of developing, training and serving Generative AI/Large Language models // Bio Barak is an Executive in Residence at Scale Venture Partners, a leading Enterprise venture capital firm. Barak spent 10 years as Head of Product and User Experience for Languages AI and Google Translate teams within the Google AI org, focusing on applying cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies to deliver magical experiences across Google Search, Assistant, Cloud, Chrome, Ads, and other products. Previously, Barak spent 2 years as a product leader within the Google Commerce team. Most recently, Barak served as Chief Product Officer, responsible for product management and engineering at Trax, a leading provider of Computer Vision AI solutions for Retail and Commerce industries. Prior to joining Google in 2011, Barak was Director of Products in Microsoft's Mobile Advertising, Head of Mobile Commerce at PayPal, and Chief Technical Officer at an Israeli start-up. He lived more than 10 years in 3 different countries (Russia, Israel, and the US) and fluently speaks three languages. Barak earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from Tel Aviv University, Israel, and a Master's of Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. // MLOps Jobs board https://mlops.pallet.xyz/jobs // MLOps Swag/Merch https://mlops-community.myshopify.com/ // Related Links Bio and links about Barak's work: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E4Yrmt_Y57oTEYHQQDvt71XzSJ8Ew5WvscAQbHV4K3U/edit Framework for evaluating Generative AI use cases: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/framework-evaluating-generative-ai-use-cases-barak-turovsky/?trackingId=%2BMRxEZ9WTPCNH2JscILTeg%3D%3D The Great A.I. Awakening: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/magazine/the-great-ai-awakening.html --------------- ✌️Connect With Us ✌️ ------------- Join our slack community: https://go.mlops.community/slack Follow us on Twitter: @mlopscommunity Sign up for the next meetup: https://go.mlops.community/register Catch all episodes, blogs, newsletters, and more: https://mlops.community/ Connect with Demetrios on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dpbrinkm/ Connect with Barak on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/baraktur/ Timestamps: [00:00] Barak's preferred coffee [00:23] Barak Turovsky's background [03:10] Please like, share, and subscribe to our MLOps channels! [04:09] Getting into tech [08:39] First wave of AI [12:39] Building a product at a scale and the challenges [15:59] Framework for evaluating Generative AI use cases [24:33] Machine trust adoption [29:13] Wandb's new course [31:10] Focus on achievable use cases for LLMs. [36:36] User feedback [38:23] Disruption of entertainment and customer interactions [46:14] Get new tools or work with your own distribution? [47:57] Importance of data engineers [53:28] ML Engineers Collaborate with Product [56:13] Wrap up

Sam Baker is an investor at Scale Venture Partners, a VC firm that has invested in amazing companies such as HubSpot, DocuSign, Box, Bill.com, Root Insurance, and many more. He was named to Business Insider's list of Rising Stars in Venture Capital. Prior to joining Scale, he was a Growth Manager at Tilt.com that was acquired by Airbnb. Before that, he worked at Box. He began his career at Glouston Capital Partners, an investment firm focused on private equity and venture capital secondaries. In this episode, we cover a range of topics including: - Robotics use cases in the warehouse, what functions can be automated - Why is the focus shifting to platforms - Why is the supply chain industry defined by exception handling and what can be done to address it - Collaboration between humans and machines - Robotics in the construction industry - Robotics in the restaurant industry - Startup trends within AI + robotics Sam's favorite books: - Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time (Author: Howard Schultz) - Hatching Twitter (Author: Nick Bilton) - Endurance (Author: Alfred Lansing) --------Where to find Prateek Joshi: Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com Website: https://prateekj.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

Join Jeff Mains in this week's episode of the SaaS Fuel™ Expert Series as he welcomes Sam Baker, Principal at Scale Venture Partners, to talk about everything from the power of face-to-face networking events to the potential of robots in the food services industry.Sam highlights the significance of fostering a robust connection between CEOs, founders, and board members, likening it to the dynamics of a valuable friendship. He also stresses the importance of establishing clear expectations from the outset to ensure fruitful collaboration.Sam Baker drops some serious wisdom on the differences between the investment scenes in Boston and Silicon Valley, as well as the key indicators of success for SaaS and cloud businesses.Key Takeaways00:00:00 SaaS Fuel Podcast: Tips And Strategies For Overwhelmed Tech Founders00:01:02 Tech Week in Silicon Valley: Connecting with Founders and Discovering New Solutions00:04:11 Find Your Perfect Software Solution with Tech Po: Honest Reviews and Latest Editions00:11:48 Exploring the Exciting World of Investment Opportunities: A Conversation with Scale Venture Partners00:16:06 Revolutionizing Warehouses: How Automation is Solving Labor Shortages and Cutting Costs00:17:34 The Rise of Robotic Baristas: Exploring the Future of Coffee-Making Technology00:25:03 Proof of Concept Pitfalls: Why They Don't Always Lead to Long-Term Engagements00:28:28 The Shift from Growth at All Costs: Why Companies are Prioritizing Healthy Cash Spend and Efficiency00:32:01 Insights from a Long-Standing Firm: Navigating the Financial Future and Investment Strategy00:36:11 Behind the Scenes: A Venture Capitalist's Favorite Presentations and the Importance of Meeting the Entire Partnership00:37:29 Why Humility is Key to Building Strong Business Relationships: A Story of Owning Mistakes and Winning Trust00:41:16 The Importance of Trust in Long-Term Business Partnerships: Insights from SaaS Fuel00:42:46 The Power of Partnership: How Taking an Active Role Can Help Build Great Companies00:47:33 The Importance of Setting Communication Expectations with Your Board Members: Insights from a Venture CapitalistTweetable Quotes"Being a successful entrepreneur is not just about making money, it's about creating a business that you're proud of and that makes a positive impact on the world." - Jeff Mains (00:35)"It's an interesting crossroad standing at the intersection of new unknown better and the old familiar choosing the right solution can feel a bit like standing in front of a big vending machine with a mass array of colorful candies." - Jeff Mains 02:11)"This is just a job where the learning curve never plateaus and you know you're always talking to people that are tinkering around with interesting things and our job is to figure out whether or not there's a good investment opportunity there." - Sam Baker (11:59)"It's really been that first or second go-to-market around 95% of the time, and we like where we play." - Sam Baker (35:47)"Setting expectations upfront is a key ingredient." - Sam Baker (47:48)"I always love to have conversations, especially with folks in the audience." - Sam Baker (49:25)SaaS Leadership Lessons1. Humility is key to building strong business relationships: One of the guests shared a story about a leader who owned up to a mistake and made a joke about it in front of the team. This level of humility and transparency can help build trust and strengthen relationships with team members and clients.2. Know your business inside and out: To make the right decisions for your business, it's important to have a deep understanding of your vision, goals, and capabilities. This will help you identify the...

What can CMOs do in 2023 to drive efficiency, increase velocity, and prove value to customers?This episode breaks down two of the most important levers CMOs can pull — well-defined positioning and revenue plays. Join host Rowan Noronha live from #PavilionCMOSummit2023 as he talks product marketing strategies with Kyle Coleman, SVP Marketing, Clari, Meagan Eisenberg, CMO, Lacework, and Sydney Sloan, Executive in Residence, Scale Venture Partners.

Ofir Zuk is the cofounder and CEO of Datagen, a platform that provides synthetic data to train and test AI models. They have raised more than $70M in funding so far with Scale Venture Partners leading their latest round. He was previously the cofounder of Click Frauds and has held engineering roles at Check Point and Squeeck.In this episode, we cover a range of topics including: - The need for synthetic data - Different methods that are used to generate synthetic data - What role does AI play in generating synthetic data - Generative Adversarial Networks - Synthetic data vs simulated data - Measuring the performance of synthetic data - Fidelity vs privacy Ofir's favorite book: The Hard Thing About Hard Things (Author: Ben Horowitz) -------- Where to find Prateek Joshi: Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com Website: http://prateekj.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

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?

Podcast SummaryIn this conversation with Sydney Sloan, Executive-in-Residence at Scale Venture Partners, she talks about ad program sophistication. Today, you'll hear about stage-appropriate sophistication, leveraging technology and tools, some of the most common timing mistakes, and the impacts of reaching certain levels of sophistication.Prior to Scale Venture Partners, Sydney's experience includes as a marketing services event specialist at Nestle SSA, Director of Strategic Customer Marketing & Sales Enablement at Adobe, Senior Director of Customer Experience at Jive Software, CMO at Alfresco, CMO at Salesloft, and Limited Partner at Stage 2 Capital.Episode Outline[05:06] Building sophistication into programs[09:25] Leveraging tools and technology[14:43] Common timing mistakes in adding sophistication[17:48] The impact of reaching levels of sophistication[19:41] Saleloft's motionConnect with SydneyWebsiteLinkedInConnect with Matter MadeMatter MadeLinkedIn (Eli)

Max Abram is an investor at Scale Venture Partners, a VC firm with investments in companies like HubSpot, Box, DocuSign, and more. He was previously at Kayne Anderson's growth equity group. He holds a degree from the University of Pennsylvania where he was a varsity lightweight rower. He is an endurance athlete, which comes in handy in venture. He spends free time reading fiction and exploring his new home base in the SF Bay Area. In this episode, we cover a range of topics including: - Generative AI index - Use cases he's excited by - His learnings as an investor - Trends he's witnessing in the AI market -------- Where to find Prateek Joshi: Newsletter: https://prateekjoshi.substack.com Website: http://prateekj.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-joshi-91047b19 Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekvjoshi 

So much of sales is about solving existing problems. But category creation is about something new entirely. Joining this episode of Demand Gen U is a panel of experts, including Sydney Sloan, Executive in Residence at Scale Venture Partners, Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight, and Mike Volpe, Senior Advisor at Silversmith Capital Partners. Together with Jason Widup, VP of Marketing at Metadata, they break down exactly what category creation is, the different phases of it, and when it's necessary, plus much more.Find out:What category creation isWhen category creation is necessaryThe different phases of category creation0:00 – 4:24 Introduction4:24 – 8:54 How to define category creation8:54 – 15:05 Signs that a company should create a category15:05 – 16:50 The different phases of category creation16:50 – 22:11 Working to a playbook and why analysts are so important22:11 – 27:30 How you can remain the leader after category creation27:30 – 33:11 Potential costs associated with category creation33:11 – 34:18 Outro

Oana Olteanu is a Partner @ SignalFire where she focuses on enterprise software at Seed, Series A and Series B. Prior to joining SignalFire, Oana was at Scale Venture Partners where she invested in applied ML and developer tooling. Oana sourced Scale's investments in Observe.ai, Flatfile, and Proscia. She was part of the deal teams for Honeycomb and AllyO (acquired by HireVue). She also supported existing portfolio companies such as Dialpad, Matillion, and BigID. Prior to Scale, Oana was an AI seed investor at SAP.io, SAP's $35M seed fund, where she sourced the investments in Plum.io, Oto.ai, and Akorda. In Today's Episode with Oana Olteanu We Discuss: 1.) From Tank Driving in Romania to VC's Rising Star: How Oana made her way from driving tanks in Romania to becoming a VC? How did leaving Romania for Germany and then moving to the West Coast impact her mindset? What does Oana know now that she wishes she had known when she entered VC? 2.) How to Assess a VC: The Founders Guide: Pre-investment, how can founders know whether a VC can add value? What are the signs? What three core questions will reveal how much value a VC can add? Post-investment, what can founders do to extract the most value from their VCs? What should the founders ask their investors for help with? What should they do themselves? 3.) The VC Founder Relationship: Oana has the highest founder NPS of any VC I have ever had on 20VC, what does Oana believe makes her founders rate her contribution so highly? What works? What does not? How does Oana give sometimes very hard feedback to founders but retain that relationship of trust and safety at the same time? What mistakes do other VCs make in giving feedback? What does Oana believe are the single biggest misalignment between VCs and founders? 4.) VCs Behaving Badly: 101 What are the single biggest ways Oana sees VCs behaving badly? How does Oana think founders expectations of the product of venture should change? Does Oana believe boards are valuable? What can be done to improve them? Items Mentioned in Today's Episode: Oana's Favourite Book: The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living: Featuring new translations of Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius

Craig Rosenberg has worked with hundreds, if not thousands of B2B SaaS companies as the co-founder of TOPO, Distinguished analyst at Gartner, and now as Chief Platform Officer at Scale Venture Partners.Across Craig's roles, he was able to take an expensive view across each stage of a SaaS company's growth including strategy, people, process, technology, tactics, and over time METRICS!Craig highlighted that the best companies in the world were/are "metrics" driven, and as Craig started to work with larger, enterprise-class companies beyond SaaS being "metrics and data" driven was even more critical to decision-making."End to End" Customer Journey is an often discussed subject, but what is it really? Craig's perspective is most customer journey mapping is too generic and needs to be very focused on how the customer buys starting with using third-party internet activity to marketing interactions to Sales Development to Sales and then ending at "Closed-Won". Going beyond Closed-Won to include customer engagement, retention, and expansion,Going beyond mapping and understanding the entire customer journey including acquisition, retention, and expansion, companies need to "SEGMENT" the metrics by customer cohort, such as SMB vs Mid-Market vs Enterprise. Another view should be based upon "HOW" the prospect/customer came into the customer lifecycle process, such as lead source and/or lead channel.When I asked "who" in a company should map the customer lifecycle, Craig's response was quite pragmatic: "whoever is best at mapping the customer lifecycle in your company". Craig added that Revenue Operations is a perfect organization to take the lead on customer journey mapping, and building a "coalition" across Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success. An important caveat is that without the support and involvement of the CEO it becomes less significant and strategic.Another topic we discussed, was if a company should involve customers in the "journey mapping" process. Craig said of course, but you only need to include a few customers in the process as talking with more than 10 customers will provide diminishing returns.Next, I asked Craig about what metrics are priorities to measure the efficiency of the customer lifecycle across acquisition, retention, and expansion. Craig started with the Four Vital Signs Framework to track in a SaaS company:- Growth- Efficiency- Churn- BurnNext, we discussed if any of the Vital Signs are more important at each stage of a company's evolution. Craig's first recommendation was to instrument and begin capturing metrics for all four vital signs early in the journey. Certain metrics like churn/Customer Retention will become more important as a company grows beyond the first and second renewal cycles, but identifying and instrumenting for metrics should begin earlier than most companies believe are required.No matter what stage of growth your SaaS company is currently in, this discussion with Craig Rosenberg provides many interesting, insightful perspectives on the importance and priority of metrics across the customer lifecycle.

The sales and revenue functions at today's fastest-growing companies act and think differently than their counterparts. Massive amounts of data inputs and greater coordination — and often, integration — with product, marketing and customer success have redefined the anatomy of today's sales leader.    But indicators of sales success represent only part of the broader blueprint for rapid business growth. In this episode, originally broadcast on the Gartner Sales Podcast, Craig Rosenberg, a Distinguished VP Analyst who serves heads of sales and revenue in his role at Gartner, welcomes special guest Dale Chang, an operating partner with Scale Venture Partners, a Silicon Valley VC firm. The two discuss the four vital signs that are critical to understanding growth, efficiency, churn and burn; how the expected growth trajectory for successful businesses has changed dramatically; and the most important skills for the sales leaders of today — and tomorrow.   Dig Deeper   Download: The Chief Sales Officer Quarterly: Actionable Insights for Forward-Thinking Sales Leaders https://gtnr.it/3cvyqK6   Subscribe: The Gartner Sales Podcast https://bit.ly/3RQt7VO

Sam Baker, Principal at Scale Venture Partners, has been a venture capitalist for six years. Before that, he gained operational experience at Box in both an Inside Sales role and in a Strategy and Planning role.Scale's culture has a very quantitative-oriented DNA, including having its own benchmarking organization known as Scale Studio. Benchmarking delivers reality to every Scale portfolio company and aligns the founder and the investor on a metrics-oriented approach to decision making.The first topic we approached was what metrics are most important to a Series A and Series B investor? Sam's initial response was not to rattle off a list of metrics but to discuss the importance of "context" in today's investment environment. As an example, Sam shared that the "maturity" of the company is a primary driver of how best to use metrics.Scale has identified and uses four (4) Vital Signs of SaaS that include: 1) Growth; 2)Efficiency; 3) Churn, and; 4)Burn. A small description of the four vital signs below:Growth - How quickly is revenue growingEfficiency - Quantity of revenue compared to Sales and Marketing spendChurn - Do customers stick around and buy more, OR do they leaveBurn - What is the rate of cash consumption to grow a SaaS companyWhen asked about a benchmarking framework that Scale uses - he first highlighted it depends on who is consuming the benchmarks (which role) and what is the stage and maturity of the company. Scale's benchmarking framework is very extensible to enable an increased aperture on the metrics being utilized. For example, when a company dramatically increases investment in Sales and Marketing, Customer Acquisition Cost efficiency metrics become more important.Next, Sam recommended avoiding benchmarking and metrics overload, which requires a company to identify the most important and most informative metrics to how the company is currently trending and will be trending in the near term. Moreover, be prepared to add or change metrics that are most relevant to the growth stage.Scale has a couple of unique metrics, including Instantaneous Compound Annual Growth Rate (iCAGR). The benefit of iCAGR is it provides a real-time and is most sensitive to growth or shrinkage today, versus being biased by the average effect of quarterly or annually metrics. As an example, if growth is down in the most recent quarter, but the previous three quarters had higher than normal growth it can identify potential risk or new trend in company performance.Another metric that Scale uses is "Growth Persistence" which investors use to measure the rate of growth over time. For example, if a company grows 100% one year, and then 85% in year two and 72% in year three, it would reflect an 85% median growth persistence.How to avoid "metrics overload"? This is especially important in board meetings when the "metrics creep" can often happen. First, make sure everyone knows the company's "North Star" and how each metric directly impacts the North Star. Second, gain agreement up-front with the investors and board members on those metrics that are most important, that they are presented in a manner that is easy to understand and ensure the metrics tie back to the source systems being used.Sam provides a very insightful and instructive perspective on using metrics and benchmarks to inform a SaaS company's growth journey - especially from an investor's perspective, which is so critical in the 2022 investment environment.

In this episode, Craig sits down with Dale Chang, Operating Partner with Silicon Valley venture capital firm, Scale Venture Partners. Known as “Scale Dale,” he will share the key elements of the playbook required to drive explosive yet efficient growth.Dale Chang is the Operating Partner at Scale Venture Partners. In his role, Dale is a resource for guidance on evolving go-to-market strategies as well as providing best practices and benchmarks across the portfolio.Previously, Dale was a director at the Alexander Group, a consulting firm specialized in go-to-market strategy. At the Alexander Group, he was the leader of the cloud practice and advised companies including Salesforce, LinkedIn, Box, DocuSign, New Relic, Optimizely and Mixpanel. Prior to his career in consulting, he worked in sales and sales operations roles at startups, including Proofpoint and Jaspersoft.

Mahesh Ram, founder and CEO of Solvvy, set out to "give everyone back time". His company was recently acquired by Zoom to improve customer experiences using conversational AI. Mahesh was inspired by his work using speech recognition to improve business English learning at Global English. Solvvy was founded in 2015 and has raised funding from an exceptional group of investors including previous "AI and the Future of Work" guest Rory O'Driscoll from Scale Venture Partners. Listen and learn...About the three waves of chatbot technologyWhy "more deflection" doesn't need to translate into "lower satisfaction"How Calm uses Solvvy to deliver automated customer serviceWhy AI based on semantic similarity is better than traditional scripted chatbotsWhy "putting the user first" and "not hiding the live agent" is essential for gaining consumer trust in chatbotsHow to address latent bias in data used to train AI modelsWhy bots will never replace live agentsReferences in this episode...Rory O'Driscoll from Scale Venture Partners on AI and the Future of WorkSolvvy acquired by ZoomChandra Khatri from Got It AI on AI and the Future of Work 

Matthew Scullion got an early start in entrepreneurship. Even though he grew up far from Silicon Valley his latest company has raised hundreds of millions from top VCs. Now one of the first unicorn companies from his corner of the world, his venture serves fast-moving small businesses and global corporate giants alike. The venture, Matillion has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Scale Venture Partners, General Atlantic, Sapphire Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Rory and Scott McGrew ponder luck, happiness and the two words you should never say in a VC pitch.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sam shares how his iconic, early-stage enterprise s/w venture fund found itself investing in emerging tech applications like warehouse robotics, drones, etc., outlines why “cognitive applications” will be the next generation of great s/w companies and how those apps are built on top of the current foundation of cloud & SaaS infrastructure, describes how Scale leverages their Mega-Trends Process to identify the upside potential/alpha within emerging technologies, walks us through lessons learned of what does and doesn't work to hit product-market-fit in industrial robotic settings where bits meet atoms (hint: start with doing one high-frequency task associated with a tangible ROI really well!), and finally he discusses how he thinks about early-stage investment syndication within these emerging tech and industrial applications.

Fresh from a summer break, Vik and Bree are back with episode thirteen of DrinksWithAVC, featuring a candid chat with Alex Niehenke from Scale Venture Partners. They explore his eclectic passions from pickling to water polo, his experiences as a German immigrant, and the pivotal role of metrics in driving a company's success. Don't miss the sizzling end where Alex predicts which Companies and Firms will extend their 'Hot Girl Summer' glory and which may brace for a chilly season ahead.Links:www.scalevp.comwww.twitter.com/aniehenke www.eatuglypickle.com (Gifts!)

Julian Rowlands, VP Finance at Spruce I chat with Julian about: His career journey from a History major before going to business school at uChicago to becoming the VP Finance at Spruce. Spruce — what the company does and what it's all about. Structuring and growing the finance function for scale at growth stage company. When Julian joined Spruce, the company was 75 employees. Since then, the company has tripled, growing to 250 folks. As the head of finance, Julian explains how he inherited the finance function and how it has evolved to accommodate this hyper growth. In June of 2021, Spruce raised a $60M Series C round from Bessemer, Scale Venture Partners and Zigg Capital. While Julian was at Xendit, he helped the company raise a $65M Series B round from Accel. Julian shares some of his biggest learnings going through these fundraise processes and imparts advice to folks going through fundraising rounds today. The biggest misconception about the finance function within growth stage tech companies like Spruce. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/backbone/message

Varun Talwar has already raised tens of millions of dollars to empower developers to build more new technology faster and to drive the success of small to enterprise-sized companies. His venture, Tetrate has successfully raised funding from top-tier investors like 8VC, Dell Technologies Capital, Scale Venture Partners, and Sapphire Ventures.

Alex is the co-founder of two tech companies. His first company, Onosys – was a comprehensive, enterprise-level digital ordering platform for restaurant chains. Note that Alex started Onosys in 2008, so he was on the bleeding edge of the digital revolution for restaurants. Onosys raised angel capital from Zapis Capital, a family office that is a great partner to early stage founders, before they sold to Living Social in 2012. Alex's second company was Scout RFP, an innovative e-sourcing solution for companies across all industries, which he started in 2014 With Scout, Alex and his co-founders raised $60M from funds like NEA, Menlo Ventures, and Scale Venture Partners. Scout was acquired by Workday in 2019 for $540M. In this episode, we get into: When he knew he wanted to become an entrepreneur The ambition to drive his own destiny The biggest piece of advice he would give to an entrepreneur How your big idea will be rough before you get it right His unique approach to early market discovery What founders can learn from an interview vs. a survey The moment listening to the customer changed his revenue model Why it is critical to ask customer what they have vs. what they use The benefit of establishing relationships with investors early How to effectively build relationships The importance of being open and honest from the start What investors are looking for in the early days Why co-founders need to have the uncomfortable conversations upfront Why founders shouldn't worry about an exit strategy How and when to bring in strategic investors How to decide which city is the best location to build your business

Susan Liu is a successful venture capital investor with a leading, top-tier VC firm, Scale Venture Partners. She has been recognized as a Forbes 30 under 30 for Venture Capital recipient and has invested in leading technology companies, including Lever, Namely, Textio, TalkIQ, WalkMe, Wrike, and others. Started her career in technology investment banking in San Francisco before moving into a career in venture capital. She is a thoughtful, genuine, and ambitious woman doing impressive things and backing amazing entrepreneurs. In addition to her professional success, she believes her relationships with her family and friends are the most important aspects of life. This episode will cover an exciting array of topics from how Susan grew up without any knowledge of exposure to the business world and how she has risen to where she is today.

Rory and Scott McGrew ponder luck, happiness and the two words you should never say in a VC pitch.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Amit Sharma is the founder and CEO of Narvar, an intelligent customer experience platform that helps commerce companies simplify the everyday lives of consumers. The company has raised $64 million from Accel, Battery, Freestyle Capital, Scale Venture Partners, and Salesforce Ventures. Prior to this Amit was a senior executive at Walmart and Apple.