POPULARITY
Guest: Blake Scholl, Founder & CEO of Boom Supersonic“Passion and drive trumps knowledge and experience,” says Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl. Long before he was running Boom — which earlier this year successfully tested the world's first privately-developed supersonic jet — he was enabling “the world's most obnoxious spam cannon” at Groupon, or designing a barcode-scanning game for retail shoppers.But eventually, Blake found the courage to be more audacious and do something closer to his lifelong love of aviation. He began educating himself about things he had never thought to learn, and tapping his LinkedIn network to get intros to the smartest people in the industry. “If you imagine yourself on like the day of IPO, 99 percent of what you needed to know to get to that day, you didn't know on day one,” he says. “So, why not take 99 percent to 99.5 percent, and work on the thing you really want to exist, even if you don't know anything about it yet?”Chapters: (01:07) - Blake on Boom's beginnings (01:52) - Breaking the sound barrier (05:23) - Concorde's legacy (09:36) - Navigating regulations (12:08) - Boomless supersonic flight (16:48) - The test flight (20:11) - Day-of nervousness (24:26) - Carrying passengers (26:55) - Cost & wi-fi (30:19) - “No middle seats” (32:35) - Hard tech (36:48) - What if Apple made a plane? (39:08) - Blake's career journey (43:29) - The risk of failure (49:12) - Finding the courage (52:49) - Balancing life with Boom (56:42) - Learning how to build a jet (01:00:20) - The power of LinkedIn (01:02:38) - Y Combinator Demo Day (01:08:24) - Richard Branson (01:11:38) - Dividing yourself (01:14:19) - Being a focused dad (01:20:05) - Exuberance vs. fear (01:24:15) - Hiring slowly (01:27:17) - What “grit” means to Blake Mentioned in this episode: Chuck Yeager, ChatGPT, the Apollo program, Elon Musk, SpaceX and Falcon 1, Boom Overture, Starlink, Boeing, Airbus, iPhone, Jony Ive, Uber, Airbnb, Anduril, United Airlines, American Airlines, Eclipse Aviation, Tesla, Scott Kirby, Mike Leskinen, Inktomi, Yahoo!, Amazon, Pelago, Google Ads, Kima Labs, Barcode Hero, Groupon, iPad, Eric Schmidt, Steve Jobs, Khan Academy, Sam Altman, Loopt, Virgin Atlantic, Paul Graham, Michael Seibel, Ashlee Vance, Bloomberg, Hacker News, Jared Friedman, Sen. Mark Kelly, SV Angel, Ron Conway, Virgin Galactic, Lockheed Martin, Gulfstream, Jeff Bezos, Jeff Holden, and How It's Made.Links:Connect with BlakeTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Keychain, the AI-powered manufacturing platform transforming the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, has announced an additional $5 million investment led by Bright Pixel Capital, the VC arm of the European retail conglomerate Sonae. This latest funding comes as Keychain takes its core search and discovery product out of beta and introduces new platform capabilities. Since November 2023, Keychain has raised $38 million with support from leading venture firms BoxGroup, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and SV Angel as well as other CPG giants General Mills, The Hershey Company, and Schreiber Foods. This latest investment from Bright Pixel not only reinforces Keychain's position as a key player in the CPG manufacturing ecosystem but also signals its readiness to enter the European market. Keychain's AI-powered platform, which enables brands, retailers, and manufacturers to quickly connect with manufacturing partners, is streamlining what has traditionally been a fragmented and time-intensive search and discovery process. The platform boasts a network of 30,000+ manufacturers and 20,000+ brands and retailers and, as of today, is now facilitating over $1 billion in projects each month. Now, with its search and discovery platform officially exiting the beta phase, Keychain is expanding its capabilities with the launch of two new beta products: Keychain packaging and ingredients. These products will allow brands to streamline the process of sourcing packaging materials and ingredient suppliers for their products, empowering them to quickly meet consumer demand for more sustainable and efficient production methods. "Since Keychain launched last year, we've been focused on bringing much-needed transparency to the United States' CPG manufacturing ecosystem," said Oisin Hanrahan, Co-founder and CEO of Keychain. "At the same time, we've been looking into how we can bring our capabilities to other geographies, and the support of Bright Pixel is a huge step in that direction. We're also excited to continue building our depth with new tools that will streamline the ways brands source packaging and ingredients." "We're proud to invest in Keychain at such an exciting moment in their journey," said Manuel Queiroz, Director at Bright Pixel Capital. "Our team is confident in Keychain's ability to modernize the global CPG supply chain and is exactly what the European CPG supply chain needs. We look forward to supporting Keychain as they expand their offerings and into more geographies." Bright Pixel's strategic investment marks a pivotal step in Keychain's evolution and underscores the platform's potential to bring meaningful change to the global manufacturing industry. Keychain is bringing a new era of transparency to the CPG manufacturing ecosystem by cutting out brokers who have historically profited by creating information asymmetry that drives up the costs of goods. In response, Keychain is using AI to eliminate these fees and other unnecessary costs, ultimately lowering the prices consumers see on store shelves. See more stories here.
This week's cover of WSJ Magazine is extremely minimalistic. That's not surprising given that the main story is an in-depth interview with Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple and the king of minimalistic design; Instagram and Threads accounts that track the private jets of celebrities – including Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Kylie Jenner – were suspended on Monday, according to the owner of many such accounts, Florida college student, Jack Sweeney. Links to Instagram/Threads accounts tracking the flights of the former President; Zoom is partnering with Suki, an AI medical note-taking app, to let doctors use an AI scribe that will take notes of their consultations with patients; Earlier this year, Medal, a startup known for its video game clipping features, launched a cross-platform AI assistant called Highlight. Now, the company is spinning off Highlight into a new entity, which has raised $10 million in a funding round. General Catalyst led the funding round with Valor, SV Angel, and Conviction Embed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ron Conway has been close to the center of things for longer than anyone else in Silicon Valley, from the point when he started his career at National Semiconductor in the early 70s to the AI conference he organized last month. He's the embodiment and the transmitter of Silicon Valley culture. He knows all the stories, usually because he was personally involved in them. In this episode we talk about what Silicon Valley was like when it was all about silicon, and how his career at Nat Semi led to working at and then running tech companies, and finally to angel investing.
Jennifer is the founder of the Vegan Women Summit (VWS), a media and events platform of over 60,000 women founders, investors, and advocates. She is the author of the bestselling book The Future of Food is Female, the world's first book focused on women in alternative protein. Jennifer is an Independent Director of Natural Order Acquisition Co, a publicly-traded company focused on sustainable protein. She built her career under Ron Conway, Founder of SV Angel. Jennifer worked as the industry's leading lobbyist for the world's largest tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, and Meta.
Jennifer is the founder of the Vegan Women Summit (VWS), a media and events platform of over 60,000 women founders, investors, and advocates. She is the author of the bestselling book The Future of Food is Female, the world's first book focused on women in alternative protein. Jennifer is an Independent Director of Natural Order Acquisition Co, a publicly-traded company focused on sustainable protein. She built her career under Ron Conway, Founder of SV Angel. Jennifer worked as the industry's leading lobbyist for the world's largest tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, and Meta.
Maia Benson and Joe Lynch discuss A SaaS Gal in VC Land. Maia is a SaaS gal in VC land and a Managing Director at Forum Ventures where she works with SaaS founders from inception to scale. About Maia Benson Maia Benson is a Managing Director at Forum where she works with SaaS founders from inception to scale. She has spent over 20 years founding, building and scaling award-winning SaaS products for Entrepreneurs and SMBs at places like LexisNexis, Pitney Bowes and most recently at Shopify, where she helped found, launch and scale their Shipping and Fulfillment products from inception to 60%+ merchant adoption and $Bs of transportation spend. About Forum Ventures Forum Ventures is the leading early-stage fund, program and community for B2B SaaS startups. Founded in 2014 as Acceleprise, we're on a mission to make the B2B SaaS journey easier, more accessible and successful for early-stage founders, through pre-seed and seed-stage funding, high touch programming, corporate perks and introductions, and an active SaaS community. Forum For Founders, our pre-seed program, provides founders with $100k in funding and 15 intense weeks of talks, events, mentorship and 1:1 guidance focused on go to market and fundraising. Forum Seed, our seed fund, backs exceptional SaaS startups at the seed-stage both from within and outside of our pre-seed program. With over 250 portfolio companies, Forum founders have gone on to raise from NEA, Andreessen Horowitz, Uncork Capital, 8VC, Founders Fund, Menlo Ventures, Canaan, Bowery Capital, Susa Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, SV Angel, True Ventures and many more. Our private peer community for Innovation executives -- The Innovation Forum -- brings together like-minded intrapreneurs from all backgrounds to share best practices, insights, and advice, and support one another. In addition to our incredible peer community, members get access to industry trend reports, collaborative events, emerging technology, and startup introductions. Key Takeaways: A SaaS Gal in VC Land Forum Ventures is the top choice for early-stage B2B SaaS companies looking for funding. Forum Ventures is different and better for the following reasons: Founder-focused: Their team consists of former SaaS founders, offering deep understanding of the early-stage journey and expertise in GTM, sales, and fundraising. Pre-seed and seed investments: They empower early-stage B2B SaaS companies with pre-seed and seed funding, ranging from $100k to $2 million. High-touch programs: Beyond funding, they provide high-touch programs like "Forum For Founders" (15 weeks of talks, mentorship, and guidance) and a dedicated fundraising track. Thriving community: They foster an active SaaS community with over 450 founders, mentors, and experts, offering connections, support, and valuable insights. Accessibility champions: Committed to diversity and inclusion, they strive to make the B2B SaaS ecosystem more accessible to underrepresented founders. Proven success: With over 250 successful pre-seed and seed investments, their track record speaks for itself. Fractional co-founder approach: They act as a "fractional co-founder" with world-class expertise, helping startups navigate crucial steps like product development, go-to-market strategy, and fundraising. Mission-driven: Driven by a genuine passion for aiding founders, they prioritize their success and strive to make the B2B SaaS journey easier and more impactful. Learn More About A SaaS Gal in VC Maia Benson | LinkedIn Forum Ventures | LinkedIn Forum Ventures | Homepage The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast Check out The Logistics of Logistics on Youtube
Jaemin Jin is the Co-Founder & CPO @ Magic (https://magic.link). Backed by PayPal Ventures, Lightspeed, Social Capital, SV Angel, as well as angels like Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan, Scott Belsky, Ryan Hoover, & more, Magic provides the leading wallet-as-a-service (plus essential NFT capabilities)—enabling all the benefits of web3, and none of the stress, for brands like Mattel, Animoca Brands, Magic Eden, & more. In this episode we chat about how Magic began, what their market is like, the earliest surprises and challenges in building Magic, working with big brands like Macy's or 7-11 (and how to think about solving for their needs), how crypto has changed since his start in the space, his most generalizable advice for crypto founders, & much more.Recorded Tuesday October 17th, 2023.
Alex Bouaziz is the Co-founder and CEO of Deel, a full stack global HR and payroll platform. But the company didn't start that way, and we'll talk through Alex and his co-founder Shuo's journey from zero to one, starting with a product that helped startups hire international employees. Alex and Shuo launched the company one week before YC Demo day in 2019, and have since scaled to 20,000+ customers and raised over $685 million. They're supported by investors like YC, a16z, Spark Capital, Weekend Fund, Coatue, SV Angel, Soma Capital, Quiet Capital, and angels like Lachy Groom, Nat Friedman, Ryan Petersen, Alexis Ohanian, John Zimmer, Dara Khosrowshahi, Rex Salisbury, Justin Mateen, and more. — In this episode, we discuss: • The initial insight around remote work that started Deel in 2019 • How they initially built the wrong solution • Pivoting one week before YC demo day • Listening to customers to build a better product • Growing 20% every month for a year • Being a default optimist • Dealing with the emotional ups and downs of building a startup • Moving at “Deel Speed”, and how the team operates so fast • Deel's remote-first approach and its “WeWork Squads” • His advice to other leaders building remote teams • Why founders shouldn't share too much information with early investors • How Alex's approach to fundraising changed through his Seed to Series D rounds • Why founders should always be selling their product • How picking board members is a form of marriage, and what founders should prioritize when picking them • Why Deel raised a Series A and B in a three month span despite only burning $300k since closing its Seed round • How deep pocketed investors unlock optionality as a company scales • The benefits to taking on lots of angel investors • How Deel prioritized international expansion as it grew • Deel's new Visa / immigration and HR AI products • Two things Alex would do differently if he could start over • The founders he most looks up to — Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/growing-deel-to-300m-arr-in-four Where to find Alex:Twitter: https://twitter.com/BouazizalexLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexbouaziz/ Where to find Turner:Newsletter: https://www.thespl.itTwitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak Production and distribution by: https://www.supermix.io For sponsorship inquiries: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Michael Cardamone, CEO and General Partner at Forum Ventures. Located in New York, NY, USA, Forum Ventures is the leading early-stage fund, program, and community for B2B SaaS startups. Founded in 2014 as Acceleprise, they are on a mission to make the B2B SaaS journey easier, more accessible, and successful for early-stage founders, through pre-seed and seed-stage funding, high-touch programming, corporate perks and introductions, and an active SaaS community. With over 250 portfolio companies, Forum founders have gone on to raise from NEA, Andreessen Horowitz, Uncork Capital, 8VC, Founders Fund, Menlo Ventures, Canaan, Bowery Capital, Susa Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, SV Angel, True Ventures and many more. Michael Cardamone focuses on developing our investment strategy with the mission to make the B2B SaaS journey easier, more accessible, and more successful for early-stage founders. As one of the first 30 employees at Box, as well as leading partnerships at AcedemixDirect, Michael has had direct experience growing SaaS companies from small startups to large-scale enterprises. He is also an angel investor in a dozen companies including a seed investment in Flexport. Michael shares insights about his background in tech, the evolution of Foreign Ventures, and their unique approach to investing in startups. He discusses the challenges of raising pre-seed capital in the current market and outlines the criteria they look for in founders and startups. Michael also explains the differences between Foreign Ventures and other venture funds, emphasizing their hands-on approach and extensive resources. Visit Forum Ventures at , and on . Reach out to Michael at , and on . _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: Check out our other podcasts here: For Investors check out: For Startups check out: For eGuides check out: For upcoming Events, check out For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please , share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of .
20Angel is a series profiling European angel investors with the best Founder NPS. Episode 13 features Marc McCabe, angel investor & solo GP of Nomad Capital, a seed stage fund focused on B2B software and marketplaces. Prior to starting Nomad, Marc worked at Google, SV Angel and was an early employee at Airbnb where he led numerous projects including Airbnb for Business and Samara. Marc has also been an active angel as a Sequoia scout and micro-fund manager, investing in the seed rounds of Intercom, Linear, Deel, OpenSea, Cutr and many more. The format for 20Angel is consistent across show, with questions including: What are some of the non-obvious things they look for when investing in a company? How they work with their Founders? How Founders should approach them? What they think makes a great angel investor? Learnings from their Anti-Portfolio? The show is sponsored by Edda.co, a design-led software that allows you to see, in real time, the true dimension of your investments, and the value and impact they create. Edda Dealflow and Edda Portfolio streamlines the operations of funds, from managing due diligence and deal flow through to supporting portfolio companies. It brings the entire investment process together in one place, supercharging communications with portfolio companies, making investments much easier. To find out more, visit edda.co and request a demo using "Edda20VC".
Jennifer Stojkovic is a General Partner at Joyful Ventures, an early-stage VC fund focused on disrupting the $1.4 trillion meat and dairy industry with sustainable protein. She's also the founder of Vegan Women Summit (VWS), a platform of over 60,000 women professionals in the future of food, and author of the award-winning book, The Future of Food is Female. Prior to her career in food technology, Jennifer built her career in Silicon Valley under Ron Conway, Founder of SV Angel, and worked with the world's largest tech companies including Google, Meta, and Microsoft.
歡迎留言告訴我們你對這一集的想法: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl81kivnk00dn01wffhwxdg2s/comments 每日英語跟讀 Ep.K584: Bill Gates Predicts AI's Disruptive Potential on Google Search and Amazon During a recent event on artificial intelligence organized by Goldman Sachs and SV Angel, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates shared his belief that the future of artificial intelligence lies in the development of a personal digital agent capable of performing various tasks for individuals. Gates emphasized that this technology has the potential to significantly alter user behavior, eliminating the need for people to visit search engines, use certain productivity tools, or shop on platforms like Amazon. The first company to successfully create such an AI assistant will have a significant advantage over its competitors, according to Gates. 在最近由高盛集團和SV Angel天使投資公司舉辦的一場人工智慧活動中,微軟聯合創始人比爾蓋茨分享了他的信念,認為人工智慧的未來在於開發一個能夠為個人執行各種任務的個人數位秘書。蓋茨強調這項技術有可能大大改變使用者行為,使人們不再需要使用搜索引擎、使用特定的生產力工具,或在亞馬遜等平台上購物。根據蓋茨的說法,成功創建此類人工智慧助手的第一家公司將在競爭對手中佔有極大優勢。 The envisioned AI personal assistant will possess a deep understanding of users' needs and habits, offering assistance in reading materials that individuals may not have time to explore. Gates expressed these thoughts during the Goldman Sachs and SV Angel event held in San Francisco, focusing on the topic of artificial intelligence. The profound impact of this technology on user behavior cannot be overstated, as it has the potential to revolutionize the way individuals interact with digital platforms and access information. 設想中的人工智慧個人助手將深入理解用戶的需求和習慣,提供協助閱讀個人可能無暇探索的資料。蓋茨在舊金山舉辦的高盛集團和SV Angel天使投資公司的活動中表達了這些想法,重點討論了人工智慧的主題。這項技術對用戶行為的深遠影響不容小覷,因為它有潛力徹底改變個人與數位平台互動和獲取資訊的方式。 Gates believes that the future leading company in artificial intelligence has a 50-50 chance of being either a startup or a tech giant. While Gates expressed hope for Microsoft's involvement in this field, he also acknowledged the impressive work of certain startups, including Inflection.AI, co-founded by former DeepMind executive Mustafa Suleyman. However, Gates emphasized that it will take some time before this powerful AI agent is ready for mainstream use. In the meantime, companies will continue integrating generative AI technologies, such as OpenAI's popular ChatGPT, into their own products. 蓋茨認為,未來人工智慧領域的領先公司有一半的可能性是新創公司,另一半可能是科技巨頭。雖然蓋茨表示希望微軟參與這一領域,但他也承認某些新創公司的作為令人印象深刻,包括由前DeepMind執行長穆斯塔法蘇萊曼(Mustafa Suleyman)共同創立的Inflection.AI。然而,蓋茨強調這款強大的人工智慧助手還需要一些時間才能為主流使用做好準備。與此同時,公司們將繼續將生成式人工智慧技術(如OpenAI受歡迎的ChatGPT)整合到自己的產品中。 Beyond the impact on digital platforms, Gates also discussed how AI can accelerate innovations in the healthcare sector. He expressed optimism that advancements in AI will lead to more advanced drug development, potentially offering solutions for diseases like Alzheimer's. Gates speculated that within the next decade, human trials for new drugs could take place, bringing us closer to finding effective treatments. Furthermore, Gates mentioned the potential impact of generative AI technologies on both white-collar and blue-collar workers. The rise of text-generating AI has the potential to transform the nature of work, while the development of humanoid robots that are cost-effective for companies could affect blue-collar employment. 除了對數位平台的影響之外,蓋茨還討論了人工智慧如何加速醫療領域的創新。他對人工智慧的進步表示樂觀,認為它有望促進更先進的藥物開發,可能為阿茲海默症等疾病找出解決方案。蓋茨推測,在未來的十年內,可能會進行新藥的人體試驗,使我們離找到有效的治療方法更接近。此外,蓋茨還提到生成式人工智慧對藍領和白領階級的潛在影響。生成文本型人工智慧的崛起有可能改變工作的性質,同時對於公司而言,成本效益優於人類員工的人形機器人也可能對藍領就業產生重大影響。 In a light-hearted remark, Gates jokingly commented on the importance of ensuring that these advanced robots do not "get Alzheimer's" as humanity continues to explore and harness the potential of AI in various fields. 蓋茨在輕鬆的談話中開玩笑地提到,在人們利用人工智慧並不斷探索其各個領域的潛力時,重要的是確保這些先進的機器人不會“患上阿茲海默症”。Reference article: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/22/bill-gates-predicts-the-big-winner-in-ai-smart-assistants.html Powered by Firstory Hosting
David is the Head of Samsung Next, the investment group within Samsung Electronics. Prior to his role at Samsung Next, David was a Managing Partner at both Refactor Capital and SV Angel. Follow David on Twitter @davidlee. [0:00] - David's background in law and venture capital [6:54] - Do VCs and executive coaches need experience as founders to succeed? [16:11] - How David's investing strategy has changed over the course of his career [22:26] - SV Angel's innovative approach to funding YC startups with Start Fund [28:04] - Comparing the investing approaches of Samsung Next vs. SV Angel [32:30] - Benefits of having both a beginner's mind and a prepared mind in investing [38:31] - David's current areas of focus at Samsung Next [43:06] - How mobile phones changed the world, and what the metaverse really means --- homeofjake.com
In der Rubrik “Investments & Exits” begrüßen wir heute Enrico Mellis, Principal bei Lakestar. Enrico spricht über die Finanzierungsrunde von Replit. Replit, ein webbasiertes IDE-Startup, hat in einer Series-B-Finanzierungsrunde fast 100 Millionen US-Dollar aufgebracht. Angeführt wurde die Runde von Andreessen Horowitz, mit Beteiligung von Khosla Ventures, Coatue, SV Angel, Y Combinator, Bloomberg Beta, Naval Ravikant, ARK Ventures und Hamilton Helmer. Das Unternehmen entwickelt “Ghostwriter”, ein KI-gestütztes Tool zur Code-Generierung. Es ermöglicht Benutzern, in Echtzeit zusammenzuarbeiten, Projekte zu teilen, Hilfe zu suchen und Tutorials zu nutzen. Replit hat bereits über 22 Millionen Entwickler als Benutzer und plant, die neuen Mittel zur Weiterentwicklung des Kernprodukterlebnisses, zur Erweiterung der Cloud-Dienste und zur Förderung von Innovationen im Bereich KI einzusetzen.Das in San Francisco ansässige Unternehmen wurde 2016 von den Programmierern Amjad Masad, Faris Masad und der Designerin Haya Odeh mitbegründet.
Jennifer Stojkovic is a General Partner at Joyful Ventures, an early-stage VC fund focused on disrupting the $1.4 trillion meat and dairy industry with sustainable protein. She's also the founder of Vegan Women Summit (VWS), a platform of over 60,000 women professionals in the future of food, and author of the award-winning book, The Future of Food is Female. Prior to her career in food technology, Jennifer built her career in Silicon Valley under Ron Conway, Founder of SV Angel, and worked with the world's largest tech companies including Google, Meta, and Microsoft.
In this episode, Jenny and Thansis spend time with Mark McCabe, Founder and Partner of Nomad Capital, a seed-stage fund based out of Dublin, Ireland, investing in companies in the US and Europe. Marc previously worked at Google, SV Angel, and was an early employee of Airbnb before starting his own fund.
As a food-tech leader, author of The Future of Food is Female, and the founder of the Vegan Women Summit, Jennifer Stojkovic is an amazing woman who continues to push boundaries. She began her career working with renowned Silicon Valley investor and founder of SV Angel, Ron Conway. Following her time there, she entered the food-tech market. Throughout her career she has worked alongside some of tech's most well-known CEOs holding positions at Google, Microsoft and Facebook. In addition, she has also partnered with a number of fast-growing startups such as WeWork, Cruise and Postmates. Jennifer shares her career journey, what she has learned and the experiences she's had along the way, all of which have shaped her into the food industry leader she is today.Today's episode is hosted by Diana Fryc of Retail Voodoo, connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianafryc/KEY TAKEAWAYS-The Vegan Women Summit and its goals-The motivation behind writing her book “The Future of Food is Female”-The lessons and unforgettable experiences from her careerQUOTES"My views changed when I learned how Americans manage to put food on the table. Knowing the situation and wanting to change it motivated me." - Jennifer"Every single community deserves culturally specific food products that are healthier and natural and plant-based and better for them." - Jennifer"We must ensure that more people with more products and ideas that address more issues in more places are financially supported." - JenniferABOUT THE GUESTJennifer Stojkovic Author, Advisor, Founder of Vegan Women SummitLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferstojkovicWebsite: https://www.jenniferstojkovic.comCHAPTERS00:00 | Introduction03:08 | The Vegan Women Summit06:48 | Getting Attention09:53 | Motivation to be a Part of the Movement14:21 | The Future of Food is Female25:52 | Exciting Experiences30:49 | Moments That Stand Out33:14 | On To The Next36:04 | Women To Look Up To37:39 | What's Next For JenniferThis episode is brought to you by Retail Voodoo. A brand consultancy focused on building, growing and revitalizing brands in the food, beverage, health and wellness industries. If you are ready to find a partner that will help your business create a high-impact strategy that gives your brand an advantage, please visit http://retail-voodoo.com/contact to set up a discovery call today.Produced by Heartcast Media.https://www.heartcastmedia.com/
Marc Held and Joe Lynch discuss the Fishtail story. Marc is the Co-founder and CEO of Fishtail, a Boston based fintech company that empowers freight forwarders to finance the movement and procurement of goods – for small and medium businesses (SMBs) around the world. About Marc Held Marc is a serial entrepreneur, specializing in applying advanced artificial intelligence and IoT to the supply chain industry. Prior to Fishtail, he started, funded, and sold multiple companies – creating real value for Fortune 500 customers, investors, and his acquirers. Most recently, his company ODYN (inventory optimization platform for large CPG companies) was acquired by Turvo and his company before that (Weft, maritime intelligence platform – funded by a16z, social + capital, SV Angel, and other tier-1 VCs) was acquired by DMGT-owned Genscape. Prior to his experience in supply chain, Marc was also a product development consultant, specializing in mobile applications and content consumption, and had done early work in the smart personal assistant space. About Fishtail Fishtail is a trade finance automation platform empowering freight forwarders to finance the movement and procurement of goods – for small and medium businesses (SMBs) around the world - either by arranging extended payment terms through the financing of freight or by financing the goods themselves. Specializing in financing Purchase Orders for small businesses in emerging markets, Fishtail solves the $2tn working capital gap in trade finance. Key Takeaways: The Fishtail Story Marc Held is the Co-founder and CEO of Fishtail, a Boston based fintech company that empowers freight forwarders to finance the movement and procurement of goods – for small and medium businesses (SMBs) around the world. In the podcast interview, Joe and Marc discussed Marc's entrepreneurial journey and the founding of Fishtail. Fishtail is venture backed and already servicing and partnering with some of the biggest names in the industry. Complexity behind global supply chains has made it incredibly challenging for financial institutions to fund purchase orders and invoices, internationally, for SMBs on a meaningful scale. The trade finance gap got even wider as a result of COVID and the supply chain disruptions that it caused. Fishtail's data-driven, scalable solution allows for freight forwarders to provide financing to their customers within minutes – either by arranging extended payment terms through the financing of freight, or by financing the goods themselves that these logistics companies are transporting. Incorporating cutting-edge machine learning research, Fishtail's trade finance automation platform turns global supply chain complexities from weakness into strength, extracting meaningful risk signals from the noise in messy supply chain and financial data. Learn More About The Fishtail Story Marc on LinkedIn Fishtail on LinkedIn Fishtail Funding press The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast Check out The Logistics of Logistics on Youtube
If you are like me, then you were a little awkward in college. Here's an example of an interaction I had on campus as I walked from my dorm to class. Pretty college co-ed: “Hey! Do you want a free t-shirt?”Me: Uh! (Awkwardly looks away. Runs in the opposite direction.)Don't hurt me
Today I'm joined by David Lee, Head of Samsung Next, the investment arm of the global electronics maker. Before joining Samsung, David was a Managing Partner at Refactor Capital, and a Managing Partner at SV Angel. In this episode we cover David's experience in venture capital, Samsung Next's investments in companies like Obé Fitness, Aviron, and Terra. We discuss the future of digital and connected health, wearables, and emerging opportunities in Web3. In this episode, you'll learn: Characteristics David looks for in investment prospects David's thoughts on the future of connected healthcare The emerging blockchain opportunities for healthcare in Web3 Links & Resources Obé Fitness Aviron Terra DAYTWO Glooko Headspace Noom Tom Brady: The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance Subscribe to the Fitt Insider newsletter Visit the Fitt Insider jobs board View current Fitt Insider investment and get in touch David Lee's Links Refactor Capital Follow David on Twitter Samsung Next's website Email David
We're psyched to introduce you to Marc McCabe, founder of Nomad Capital and one of the latest and greatest European micro VCs in our opinion. We love Marc and are sure you will too. Marc has done angel investments for more than a decade in consumer tech and has held operating roles at AirBnB and been part of the team at SV Angel as well as a **Sequoia Scout.** He has worked on investments in Stripe, Pinterest, Kaggle, Hipmunk, ElaCarte and many more. Marc has also co-managed a **Y Combinator** focused micro-fund where he invested in 50 companies across 3 funds including **6 Unicorns** and leading their seed investments to be followed by many great funds like **A16Z**, Founder's Fund, Tiger and Spark Capital.With Nomad Capital, Marc focuses on finding SaaS tools built by incredible teams that can help the next generation of companies build better products, faster and more effectively. We hope you will come to love Marc as much as we do. In this episode you'll learn:- What Marc learned at AirBnB and SF Angels and how he applies it in Nomad today - Marc's take on scout models and reflections from having been one for years- All about the thesis behind Nomad Capital and how he as a solo GP executes multiple deals per month- Why Marc doesn't lead rounds with Nomad and what kind of value he as an Operator and hyper connected investor brings to the table
Ron Conway and Topher Conway of SV Angel speak with Upfront managing partner Mark Suster about the firm's investing strategy, learnings from being one of the OG angel investors, as well as the announcement of their first-ever growth fund, SV Angel Growth.
They call him The SuperAngel. The Godfather of Silicon Valley - I think that's a bit unfair since he's not really that old - anyway, I just call him Ron. I've known him for years. Back when he was running a startup (Personal Training Systems) and not just investing in them (he's run SV Angel since Internet 1.0). We had a great chat that covered all of this and much more. Please give a listen, share with a fellow entrepreneur or investor and subscribe: The Look Back with Ron Conway….
David is the head of Samsung NEXT and EVP at Samsung David started as an early employee at Google, then lead SV Angel with Ron Conway, was in the Forbes Midas List, and is now leading Samsung's NEXT fund. We got to discuss with him about his early days, SV Angel, Samsung NEXT, Wearables and Data, investing in startups, company culture and Terra - the API that makes it easy for apps to connect to wearables. The Site ► https://tryterra.co More Podcasts ►https://blog.tryterra.co Twitter ► https://twitter.com/terraapi Linkedin ► https://www.linkedin.com/company/terraapi
How'd you like to build a company with a 90% offer acceptance rate? With near-perfect employee retention? And with 50% of employees comprised of under-represented minorities? Sean Byrnes has done it (and the company doesn't interview candidates… at all) Based in San Francisco, he's Founder & CEO of Outlier, the VC-funded business intelligence company. His customers are large consumer-facing companies with an immense amount of data. Outlier watches all of your business data & lets you know when unexpected things are happening, anywhere in the myriad metrics and dimensions of your data. Outlier plugs into your business data where it lives (e.g. Google Analytics, Adobe Cloud, Salesforce, Stripe, SQL databases) and understands your business cycles, trends and patterns. Clearly, he's onto something. Outlier's investors include: SV Angel, Capital One Growth Ventures, Emergence, First Round Capital, Susa Ventures, Ridge Ventures, In-Q-Tel, and Homebrew Prior, he served as Founder/CEO of Flurry, the mobile analytics company, which was acquired by Yahoo. In this 20-minute conversation, Sean reveals how he puts a Rockstar in every seat (and how he keeps them)
Madeleine is the Co-Founder and CEO of Talentdrop, a talent marketplace that matches talent to your company's needs. She has had years of recruiting experience working at top-named companies such as Snapchat, Facebook, Uber, and Instacart. As a Co-Founder, Madeleine has partnered with many elite firms such as SV Angel and Y Combinator, both startup seed funds. She will discuss how the recruiting model varies across high-profile companies and how Talentdrop plans to compete with those big named powerhouses. Madeleine Nguyen Bio:I'm originally from the SF Bay Area. I went to Georgetown University in DC for undergrad where I played Women's Golf and studied Classics. I then went to law school at Washington University in St. Louis where I became interested in employment law, which led me to explore careers in HR and Talent. I wanted to get into tech so I pursued opportunities in recruiting, starting at a firm (Riviera) then going in house to Instacart, Snapchat, and Uber between 2013-2019. I left to start Talentdrop!Talentdrop is turning recruiting into an open marketplace, where hiring companies post bounties for their open roles and any recruiter or other professional can collect it by referring a successful candidate. Companies get more people working on their hiring problem without having to pay more for it, and now anyone can earn big recruiting bonuses previously limited to a few firms.Professional recruiters can now monetize the excess candidate inventory created from their primary business. This is work they've already done but previously couldn't benefit from. Likewise, candidates won't have to start the vetting process over from scratch again and again since they'll be able to be referred with context and get warm intros into hot hiring companies that can be hard to access. Companies can also share candidates in a more efficient way (for example, Company A has two great product candidates but only one headcount - they can refer the second).Machine learning will help us make better hiring recommendations faster.Make sure to subscribe & review Lady Empire above for the opportunity to be featured!
Joseph Ansanelli makes leadership look deceptively easy. Perhaps it's because he's done it more times than most. Or because he brings the humility to know that it's a lifelong journey. Based in SF Bay Area, he's CEO & Co-Founder of Gladly, the company he incubated during his time at Greylock Partners. Joseph is fond of saying “People first. Strategy second.” He believes that one of the keys to effective leadership is ensuring that teams have the right tools to succeed. With his team of 150 employees, Gladly empowers customer service agents with a SaaS platform that turns them into heroes. And he's onto something big… His investors include New Enterprise Associates, GGV Capital, SV Angel, Future Fund, and Glynn Capital Management. Prior, he was Co-Founder & CEO of Connectify which was acquired by Kana, one of the first digital customer service platforms which he helped take public. He was also Co-Founder & CEO of Vontu, the leader in data loss prevention, which was acquired by Symantec. During college, he & a few friends created Trio Development, which was acquired by Apple and their product became Claris Organizer. Joseph serves on the Boards of Directors of Sumo Logic and Trifacta. He also hosts one of my favorite podcasts Radically Personal In this 20-minute conversation, Joseph reveals where he developed his passion for hiring & leading teams. And how he does it every day at Gladly.
Car insurance isn't exciting. Unless you're the Silicon Valley company turning this enormous industry on its head. That's Jerry. Thanks to machine learning, Jerry finds its customers the best, customized quotes from more than 50 insurance carriers in 45 seconds. For free. The typical customer saves $800 a year on car insurance. And now its evolving into a mobile-first car ownership “super app,” aiming to save customers time & money on all their car expenses. I wanted to find out how they're scaling the team. So I tracked down John Spottiswood, Chief Operating Officer of Jerry. John knows how to build a Rockstar team because he's been a part of some of the valley's biggest success stories. He led business development for Lending Club, Earnin, and GoodHire. Led a division of QuinStreet. Even served as President of Match.com Clearly, Jerry is onto something big. The company has raised $130M in VC from: Y Combinator, SV Angel, Bow Capital, FundersClub, Goodwater Capital, Kamerra, Liquid2 Ventures, Oriza Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Park West Asset Management. In this 20-minute conversation, John shares how he's putting a Rockstar in every seat at Jerry.
Open-source framework startup Serverless Stack announced Friday that it raised $1 million in seed funding from a group of investors that includes Greylock Partners, SV Angel and Y Combinator. The company was founded in 2017 by Jay V and Frank Wang in San Francisco, and they were part of Y Combinator's 2021 winter batch. Serverless […]
Open-source framework startup Serverless Stack announced Friday that it raised $1 million in seed funding from a group of investors that includes Greylock Partners, SV Angel and Y Combinator. The company was founded in 2017 by Jay V and Frank Wang in San Francisco, and they were part of Y Combinator's 2021 winter batch. Serverless […]
Zach Sims is the Co-Founder and CEO of Codecademy, the easiest way to learn to code. Since the company started in August of 2011, millions of people have begun learning to program using the site. Codecademy has worked with organizations like The White House, the Government of Colombia, American Express, Rakuten, and more. Zach and his cofounder Ryan Bubinski have grown Codecademy to over 100 employees and have raised nearly $90M in venture capital financing from top tier investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Union Square Ventures, Index Ventures, Yuri Milner, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, SV Angel, Richard Branson, Y Combinator, and more. Prior to founding Codecademy, Zach was a student at Columbia University. He has worked in product and business development/strategy capacities at startups including GroupMe (sold to Skype) and drop.io (sold to Facebook). He also has experience in the venture capital industry with AOL Ventures. Zach and Codecademy have been honored by many publications. TIME Magazine called Codecademy one of the "50 Best Websites of 2012," while TechCrunch awarded Codecademy the "Best Education Startup" Crunchie Award in 2013. Zach has been named to Inc. Magazine's 30 Under 30 list, along with Forbes Magazine's 30 Under 30 list. The City of New York named him a New York City Venture Fellow in 2013. Some of the Topics Covered by Zach Sims in this Episode What Codecademy is doing today and how it got started The issue of active discouragement of learning technical skills What led to early growth and traction of Codecademy Earning over 200,000 users in the first 3 days How Zach views viral loops Raising capital versus running off revenue Creating a movement versus building a product Creating sustainability first and scaling later The timing of launching a paid version of the product Going from the center of attention the the brink of bankruptcy Creating premium educational content Resource allocation between users who are upscaling and career switching Building an engaged community Zach's views on bootcamps How they cater to different types of Codecademy users and learners Codecademy for business How Zach takes care of himself to be at his best Zach's founder support networks Zach's path to and views on entrepreneurship How Zach sees the future of higher education and learning Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
In #127, futurists learn from Marc Baghadjian, Co-Founder and CEO at Lolly, the new Gen-Z dating app combining TikTok and Tinder. As a cross between those two platforms, Lolly asks users to upload short videos to their profiles for potential matches to scroll through in a vertical feed that feels strongly reminiscent of TikTok. So far, Marc and the team have raised over $2M, from investors like Former Ticketmaster CEO John Pleasants, Former Apple CEO John Sculley, SV Angel, So-Fi cofounder Daniel Macklin, Wired Ventures cofounder Jane Metcalfe, former SV Angel General Partner Kevin Carter, Correlation Ventures and Next Coast Ventures. On this podcast, Marc drops some crazy entrepreneurial wisdom and details his plan to build the next great dating app, covering how he secured investors, why he saw a disconnect with Tinder, his advice to othher young entrepreneurs. Don't miss this wild episode with the next big 21-year-old entrepreneur. Subscribe to Our Future Newsletter for career advice and industry insights at https://www.ourfuturehq.com/ Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/ourfuturehq/ Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ourfuturehq
Today we have a guest who is building the infrastructure for a new asset class – sports cards.Leore Avidar is a visionary founder who is building a ground-breaking company, Alt, which is backed by Alexis Ohanian and Seven Seven Six, as well as First Round Capital, Addition, SV Angel, Box Group, and Kevin Durant's Thirty Five Ventures.Alt is on its way to changing how we think about investing. This was such a fun conversation. We talked about: How Leore's experience and excitement for building infrastructure has dovetailed with his passion and love for sports and collecting cards. How he's building the future of the sports card market with Alt by creating the tools and infrastructure enable people to value, trade, and store their investments How cards can be a tool to connect different generations through financial literacy. How culture can become a financial asset. Alt is the culmination of his experiences working on Wall Street as a trader to working on the API economy at Amazon Web Services to making direct mail programmable at Lob. He's building the infrastructure - much like Coinbase has done in crypto - for the world of alternative investments and specifically trading cards. As we've seen the development of market structure in other asset classes like public equities, fixed income, crypto, etc, it will only be a matter of time before we have a similar evolution in the alternatives and collectibles spaces and Leore is right at the forefront of this curve. Card collecting and investing is on a tear - 2020 and early into 2021 saw sales of sports cards at public auction reach all-time highs. Leore has built out an incredible team and vision to build the platform at the epicenter of this market - and he's also built out a fund, Alt Fund, to invest into top cards.He's leveraging his deep background in the space, having invested in sports cards for 5 years and generated returns that best many hedge fund and VC managers over the same time period. And most of all, he's a company builder who combines the best of a visionary founder who sees markets before they develop with the ability to execute and ship product. He's also the founder and CEO of Lob, a highly successful Y Combinator-backed company.Today's podcast felt like we were peering into the future of what financial markets will look like. Thanks Leore for giving a glimpse of what's to come.I hope you enjoy.
We're joined by Posterous co-founder, former YC partner and current Managing Partner of Initialized Capital Garry Tan to go deep on how YC changed the game for company creation and seed investing, how they thought about building the "cult" of startups, and what lies ahead as the early-stage world continues to globalize and evolve more quickly than ever. Topics Covered (among others): How the recruiting challenge for early-stage startups led to outside-the-box thinking Peter Thiel's “crazy” (but not actually crazy) offer to Garry to join Palantir Leveraging “cult” startup culture into a magnet for specific types of people Y Combinator's path from fringe to mainstream Insight that those same cult recruiting techniques could be applied at a meta-level to recruiting company founders themselves Initial strong reactions to YC, and knowing they were on to something The beginning of “influencer investing” with Paul Graham's essays + Hacker News The blooming of Seed as an asset class alongside and around YC The landmark deal with SV Angel and DST / Yuri Milner to “auto-fund” every YC company starting in 2011 YC scaling from ~10-12 companies per batch to 70-80 and now 200+ per batch Starting Initialized Capital within YC, and then spinning it out into one of the largest independent seed funds Influencer investing and startup evangelism going mainstream The impact of The Social Network movie Exporting the ~”YC message” to the entire world: you can start a startup The power of direct, bi-directional access to people via the internet Links: Paul Graham's Essays: http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html Hackers and Painters: https://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Painters-Big-Ideas-Computer/dp/1449389554/ Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com Garry's (great) YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIBgYfDjtWlbJhg--Z4sOgQ
Jay Desai is the cofounder and CEO of PatientPing which is a health technology company that is building a national network of engaged providers who are sharing information, coordinating care, and working together to get patients healthier faster. The company has raised over $100 million from top tier investors including SV Angel, Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, GV, Eight Roads Ventures, F-Prime Capital, Leerink Transformation Partners, and Transformation Capital to name a few.
Jay Desai is the cofounder and CEO of PatientPing which is a health technology company that is building a national network of engaged providers who are sharing information, coordinating care, and working together to get patients healthier faster. The company has raised over $100 million from top tier investors including SV Angel, Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, GV, Eight Roads Ventures, F-Prime Capital, Leerink Transformation Partners, and Transformation Capital to name a few.
With bitcoin and many traditional markets down on the day, CoinDesk's Markets Daily is back!This episode is sponsored by ErisX, The Stellar Development Foundation and Grayscale Digital Large Cap Investment Fund.Bitcoin Rally Falters as Stocks Drop Ahead of Trump's China SpeechBitcoin's bulls are taking a breather as the traditional markets get the jitters over rising tensions between the U.S. and China.Twetch Gets Suspended From Twitter in Wake of Trump 'Fact-Check' StormThe Twitter account of BSV-based social media platform Twetch was suspended Thursday without warning, said Twetch co-founder Josh Petty.'Passwordless Login' Startup Magic Raises $4M From Naval Ravikant, PlaceholderEthereum startup Magic just raised $4 million from investors like Naval Ravikant, SV Angel, Placeholder and Volt Capital to make passwords less of a pain.US Court Freezes Assets Linked to Alleged $9M ICO ScamA federal court has frozen assets raised from investors in the Meta 1 Coin token sale in this increasingly bizarre ICO story.
How I Raised It - The podcast where we interview startup founders who raised capital.
Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Chris Hicken of 'nuffsaid (www.NuffSaid.com), makers of of a workflow intelligence platform to focus people on the work that matters. In this episode, Chris talks about how and why he "nurtures" investor relationships well in advance of fundraising, 5 key things that entrepreneurs need to convince VCs of, how to build an investor "dream team," what he filters for when choosing investors, thoughts on how COVID19 may alter the funding landscape, and much more. The Company most recently raised $4.3 million of Seed funding from Gradient Ventures, Global Founders Capital and Work Life Ventures. Wasabi Ventures, General Catalyst and SV Angel also participated in the round. This series is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $2 Billion since 2016. Create a free account at www.foundersuite.com.
Tej Singh interviews Brian Bushell, the Co-founder and CEO of by Humankind, a clean-ingredient personal care brand on a mission to combat the global issue of single-use plastic waste. by Humankind has raised $4 million from top VC firms, like BoxGroup, SV Angel, and Lerer Hippeau. Previously, Brian was the Co-founder and CEO of Baked by Melissa, a New York City bakery famous for its bite-size stuffed cupcake.
How I Raised It - The podcast where we interview startup founders who raised capital.
Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Matt Tucker of Koan.co, a software platform that helps manage and report on goals (OKRs) and to turn strategy into action. In this episode, Matt talks about why he bootstrapped the company for seven years before raising capital, the balance between chasing profitability and the largest valuation, when to use an "investor memo" vs. a pitch deck, the definition of a modern SAFE note, and more. The Company most recently raised a $5 million seed round led by Uncork Capital. Spider Capital, Crosslink Capital, Webb Investment Network, Maynard Webb, Scott G. McNealy and SV Angel also participated. This series is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $2 Billion since 2016. Create a free account at www.foundersuite.com.
In this episode, Tej Singh and Adele Li interview Alex Adelman, the Co-founder and CEO of Lolli, a rewards site that gives its users bitcoin for shopping at just under a thousand retail partners like Walmart, Hotels.com, and Macy's. Lolli has raised around $2.25M from Bain Capital Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, SV Angel, FJ Labs, and other top VCs. Interview topics include how Alex's first company, Cosmic, prepared him to play the long-game with VCs, the mentality a young entrepreneur should have when it comes to raising capital, and how Lolli is democratizing bitcoin for the next generation.
In this podcast, Andrew Dudum and Mayra Ceja discuss his recent $100m raise at $1 Billion Pre-money and the best advice he's received from Peter Thiel & Kirsten Green. Andrew is also co-founder and General Partner at Atomic, a venture-builder backed by Peter Thiel, Marc Andreesen and many of the world’s best investors. Andrew attended the Wharton School. San Francisco-based Hims is also backed by Forerunner Ventures, Founders Fund, Redpoint Ventures, SV Angel, 8VC, Maverick Capital and more. Sign up for our newsletter on VentureUnplugged.com and follow Mayra on Twitter @mayraceja007. This podcast is presented by Republic is an investment platform for private companies to raise capital and everyone to invest.
Nathan McCauley is the co-founder and CEO of Anchorage which is a crypto-native digital asset custodian that uses modern security engineering to help institutions safeguard their investments. The company has raised over $50 million from investors such as Blockchain Capital, Khosla Ventures, SV Angel, Andreessen Horowitz, and Polychain to name a few. Prior to this Nathan McCauley was an early employee at Square.
Nathan McCauley is the co-founder and CEO of Anchorage which is a crypto-native digital asset custodian that uses modern security engineering to help institutions safeguard their investments. The company has raised over $50 million from investors such as Blockchain Capital, Khosla Ventures, SV Angel, Andreessen Horowitz, and Polychain to name a few. Prior to this Nathan McCauley was an early employee at Square.
It was a pleasure to speak to Jude Gomila about his company, Golden. Golden is building a smart knowledge base that is easily searchable of topics in the realms of technology and science. Jude has raised money from the likes of a16z, FoundersFund, SV Angel, and tons more where that came from. In this wide-ranging interview, some of the questions I ask Jude are:What is Golden?How did you get into tech?Where did he get the idea for Golden?What is the user experience like on Golden? How do you think about getting all the world’s knowledge onto Golden?How does Golden use AI to help with the efficacy of information?What makes Golden have perfect timing in the markets? How does Golden know what to listen to in the world to document?What does Golden look like in a decade?What problems interest him in the world?What about Golden makes him so excited to work on it every day?What advice does Jude have for aspiring founders?You can learn more about Golden at Golden.com. You can find Jude on Twitter @judegomila. This was one of the coolest interviews i’ve done and I hope you really enjoy it too. Get on the email list at forwardthinking.substack.com
“No one, VC or angel, has invested in more of the top startups than Ron Conway. He knows what happened in every deal in the Valley, half the time because he arranged it.” –Paul Graham on The Ronco Principle SV Angel is a San Francisco-based investment firm that is widely regarded as one of the most successful angel investing firms of all time. Kartik Talwar joined SV Angel in 2014 as an Insight Engineer while studying Astrophysics at the University of Waterloo. At SV Angel, Kartik ultimately built internal tools to track all investments, deals, financing, requests and relationships across 500 investments made and thousands considered ever year. How did they evaluate thousands of the top investment opportunities? How did they invest in the earliest rounds of Google, PayPal, Airbnb, Pinterest, Twitter, SnapChat, Square and other titans? What’s it take to launch a global engineering and education initiative like Hack The North and ETHGlobal? How are great teams and ideas brought to life? What does engineering excellence and the world’s top talent look like in the heart of American tech culture? Kartik Talwar, now a General Partner at A.Capital and Advisor at SV Angel, will walk us through these questions and more in our next Terminal Tech Talk.
Vivek Ravisankar is the CEO and co-founder of HackerRank, a company that is on a mission to match every developer to the right job based on skills, not pedigree. The company has raised $60 million from investors like SV Angel, Khosla Ventures, Battery Ventures, JMI Equity, and ZenShin Capital.
Vivek Ravisankar is the CEO and co-founder of HackerRank, a company that is on a mission to match every developer to the right job based on skills, not pedigree. The company has raised $60 million from investors like SV Angel, Khosla Ventures, Battery Ventures, JMI Equity, and ZenShin Capital.
Bill Clerico is the co-founder and CEO of WePay which is a leading provider of integrated payments for software platforms. The company raised $75 million from SV Angel, Highland Capital Partners, Ignition Partners, August Capital, and founders of YouTube and PayPal. Ultimately the company was acquired by JPMorgan for a reported $400 million.
Bill Clerico is the co-founder and CEO of WePay which is a leading provider of integrated payments for software platforms. The company raised $75 million from SV Angel, Highland Capital Partners, Ignition Partners, August Capital, and founders of YouTube and PayPal. Ultimately the company was acquired by JPMorgan for a reported $400 million.
Sanjay Dastoor is the co-founder and CEO of Skip which operates shared electric scooters for reliable last-mile transportation. The company has raised so far over $30 million from Accel, Y Combinator, SV Angels, Menlo Ventures, Initialized Capital, and Maven Ventures. Before Skip, Dastoor cofounded Boosted which builds and develops lightweight, wireless, remote-controlled motorized electric longboards. The company raised $70 million from top investors like Khosla Ventures, SV Angel, and iNovia Capital.
Sanjay Dastoor is the co-founder and CEO of Skip which operates shared electric scooters for reliable last-mile transportation. The company has raised so far over $30 million from Accel, Y Combinator, SV Angels, Menlo Ventures, Initialized Capital, and Maven Ventures. Before Skip, Dastoor cofounded Boosted which builds and develops lightweight, wireless, remote-controlled motorized electric longboards. The company raised $70 million from top investors like Khosla Ventures, SV Angel, and iNovia Capital.
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Alex Rodrigues is the Founder & CEO @ Embark, the world's leading developer of self-driving trucks. Embark operates the longest automated freight route in the world. To date, Alex has raised over $47m in funding for Embark from some of my favourites in the form of Pat Grady @ Sequoia, Matt Ocko @ Data Collective, SV Angel and Y Combinator, just to name a few. As for Alex, it started early with his winning a World Robotics Championship while he was in Middle School (the championship was for adults). Post that incredible achievement he dropped out of Waterloo, became a Thiel Fellow, worked as a software engineer @ Nuance Communications, before joining Khan Academy as a software engineer and also teaching robotics @ Khan Lab School. CLICK TO PLAY CLICK TO LISTEN ON ITUNES In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Alex made his way from winning World Robotics Championships while he was in Middle School to founding the leader developer of autonomous trucks in Embark? 2.) Why does Alex believe in the medium to long term, self-driving is still under-hyped? What is the market analysis to support this? How did his meetings with the world's best public markets investors impact his thinking here? How does Alex think about adoption timelines for self-driving? How do investors think about this when investing? 3.) Does Alex believe that when it comes to self-driving vehicles, they will largely be a public utility? What ownership mechanism does Alex expect to see? What are the pros and cons associated with each? How does Alex think about ownership of the data generated through self-driving? How do we balance privacy and public safety? 4.) With such large milestones and proof points in self-driving, how does Alex think about effective goal setting? What are the core KPIs to be driving for? How can they be broken into more meaningful and achievable wins for the team to get around? What is the core challenge to morale maintenance when the challenge is so long term? 5.) Where does Alex see the commonalities in the biggest mistakes that young founders make? What does Alex know now that he wishes he had known at the start? What have been Alex's biggest lessons on hiring the world's best in their respective fields? What have been Alex's biggest takeaways when it comes to successful board management? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Alex’s Fave Book: High Output Management As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
David is co-founder and chairperson of Refactor. Most recently, David was the Managing Partner at SV Angel, which invested in Coinbase, Flatiron Health (acq. by Roche), Chain.com, Blockstack, Doordash, Stripe, Airbnb, Slack, Climate (acq. by Monsanto), Dropbox, and many others during his tenure. Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidlee
Kristo Käärmann is the co-founder and CEO of TransferWise which is a money transfer service allowing private individuals and businesses to send money abroad without hidden charges. The company has raised so far $689 million with a $3.5 billion valuation. Investors include SV Angel, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Kima Ventures, IVP, Sapphire Ventures, IA Ventures, Valar Ventures, or Mosaic Ventures to name a few. Other individual investors include Richard Branson or Max Levchin.
Kristo Käärmann is the co-founder and CEO of TransferWise which is a money transfer service allowing private individuals and businesses to send money abroad without hidden charges. The company has raised so far $689 million with a $3.5 billion valuation. Investors include SV Angel, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Kima Ventures, IVP, Sapphire Ventures, IA Ventures, Valar Ventures, or Mosaic Ventures to name a few. Other individual investors include Richard Branson or Max Levchin.
Andrew Dudum is the co-founder and CEO of Hims & Hers which offers a modern approach to health and wellness by eliminating stigmas and making it easier for people to access care as well as treatment for the conditions that impact their daily lives. The company has raised $200 million from Thrive Capital, Forerunner Ventures, SV Angel, Redpoint, Founders Fund, IVP, Cherubic Ventures, 8VC, Maverick Ventures, and Uphonest Capital. He also co-founded the venture builder Atomic which has raised $600 million from top tier investors such as Peter Thiel. Previously he co-founded Ledforpeace and Ever.com.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Ron Conway is the man. He is THE investor. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb... He was an early backer of all of these companies and the list keeps going. Ron has been an active angel investor since the mid 90s and is the founder of SV Angel. He has invested in hundreds of companies & talked to thousands and thousands of startups in Silicon Valley. Angel and seed investments aren't hiding any secrets from him. ABOUT THE EPISODE: We're in love with what Ron did for the Internet industry. He truly is a rockstar and it was a honour having him talking at The Family for a unique fireside chat with Mathias Pastor, Director at The Family. They talked about which traits of greatness he observed in entrepreneurs, what makes an investment profitable + how he started and what he sees is coming next. *** Learn more about The Family and apply to join us here: thefamily.co Check out the video of the talk here: Ron Conway, the “Godfather of Silicon Valley”
Parker Conrad is the Founder & CEO @ Rippling, the startup that gives you back your time from payroll to employee computers, Rippling makes it unbelievably easy to manage your company’s HR and IT - in one system. To date Parker has raised over $59m in funding from some of the best in the business including Mamoon @ Kleiner Perkins, Garry Tan @ Initialized, Justin Kan, SV Angel and Y Combinator, just to name a few. As for Parker, prior to founding Rippling, he was the Founder & CEO @ Zenefits, the startup he built from $0 to $60m in ARR in just 3 years. Before that he co-founded Sigfig where he grew assets on the platform to over $35Bn across 500k users. In Today’s Episode We Discuss: How Parker made his way into the world of startups and SaaS, came to found Zenefits and what was that a-ha moment for the founding of his most recent company, Rippling? What does Parker do with regards to operational scaling that is unconventional but works? Why does Parker believe it is fundamentally better to wait for as long as possible before hiring customer support? Why should engineers also be doing customer support? Why should your engineers be heavily involved in the customer support hiring process? What are the benefits of this? How can one prevent their customer support team from being a wall of protection for the product and eng team? How can you ensure seamless collaboration and communication flow between product and customer support? Stripe last week recently announced their 5th office would be… “remote”, so how does Parker feel about the building of remote teams? What are the most important things when establishing your first remote team? What do you look for in those hires? What can be done to ensure a greater feeling of community and closeness despite the distance? What have been some of the biggest challenges for Parker in building out the remote team? Parker has been a CEO with 3 different companies now and so how has he seen his style and approach change over the years? What has Parker found the hardest to get good at? When advising founders on fundraising, what advice does he give? How can founders know when is the right time to raise? How should they look to build relationships with investors between raises? 60 Second SaaStr: What does Parker know now that he wishes he had known in the beginning? What one thing would Parker like to change about tech and Silicon Valley? Biggest mentor and what has Parker learned from them? 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 Parker Conrad
Special thanks to Hiretual.com our sponsor. Shaker International, a leading provider of predictive talent intelligence and assessment solutions, has merged with Montage, the single solution to engage, interview and hire better candidates, faster. The companies are based in Cleveland and Wisconsin respectively. The new company will help its combined client base, which includes hundreds of leading global brands and 47 of the Fortune 100, transform talent acquisition by embedding predictive intelligence into automated hiring workflows that enable better candidate experiences and smarter hiring decisions for 100% of an organization’s hires. The company will be led by Kurt Heikkinen from Montage as CEO and Brian Stern from Shaker International as President, and a leadership team comprising of executives from both companies. All employees and offices of the two companies are being retained, and the combined company will be co-headquartered in Cleveland, OH and Delafield, WI. “Montage and Shaker International share a common vision and heritage for creating candidate-centric and outcome-driven solutions,” said Shakers Brian Stern. “By joining teams, we’re bringing together world-class expertise in SaaS, AI and predictive analytics to help clients transform talent acquisition operations to more effectively and efficiently meet the needs of their internal business stakeholders.” To learn more about the merger of Shaker International and Montage, please visit: shakermontagemerger.com. -- Bangalore based Instawork has secured $18 million in new funding from new investors, Spark Capital, GV, and Burst Capital, with participation from existing investors Benchmark, Y Combinator, Tuesday Capital, and SV Angel. The new funding will be used to accelerate expansion across the United States. The company is also announcing an expansion into Greater Phoenix. Instawork is now available to all Professionals and Partners across Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, and surrounding areas. Further, they are opening a second U.S. office in Scottsdale with plans to hire dozens of full time employees who will be based out of Scottsdale. The company helps connect hospitality workers to restaurants and hotels. https://recruitingheadlines.com/hospitality-job-market-app-instawork-secures-18-million-in-funding/ SALT LAKE CITY, — HireVue, provider of the most comprehensive AI-driven talent assessment suite and video interviewing solutions, today announced it has delivered more than ten million video interviews to date for our customers. This important milestone in HireVue’s growth comes just 18 months after the company recorded its five millionth interview as an increasing number of companies worldwide seek to hire a diverse pool of the best candidates and to do so objectively and efficiently. Today, HireVue’s more than 700 customers — including Hilton, AdventHealth, Unilever, Under Armour, Delta and JP Morgan Chase — interview approximately 1 million job candidates every 90 days in over 180 countries and in 32 languages. Nearly 40 percent of all HireVue interviews were conducted on mobile devices and nearly 80 percent were completed by candidates outside of regular business hours. “Great talent exists everywhere, but there are often significant barriers standing between potential candidates and employers,” said CEO kevin Parker. “On-demand video interviewing delivers a more dynamic view of the candidate and enables companies to significantly expand the number of candidates considered. This gives more skilled candidates a chance at being discovered and interviewed, as well.” https://recruitingheadlines.com/hirevue-surpasses-ten-million-video-interviews/ WESTON, Mass., May 21, 2019 — Monster, a leader in connecting people and jobs, announced the global launch of its latest innovative solution geared towards allowing candidates and recruiters to see each other more clearly so that they can make better matches—Monster Studios. Monster Studios is a native app that enables talent acquisition, recruitment and HR teams to record, edit and publish video job descriptions from their smartphone in minutes. The addition of video to job postings enables recruiters and hiring managers to powerfully convey the benefits of a job opening, the employer’s personality, and the work environment. For candidates, it provides valuable insight into the role, work environment and business culture. “Video job descriptions bring the workplace culture to life,” said Scott Gutz, Chief Executive Officer, Monster. “We know that candidates, especially on their mobile phones, don’t want to consume information by reading the large blocks of text that make up a traditional job description. Video allows a company to create a more complete view into a job which drives better connections and fit throughout the process. Monster Studios is an important step in transforming the way both sides interact with each other. Creating more honest and transparent conversations and interactions between employers and candidates is critical to making every workplace happier and more productive.” Monster first announced Monster Studios in late 2018. In early 2019, 100 customers in the U.S. and more than 200 customers across Europe participated in a beta program. https://recruitingheadlines.com/monster-announces-global-launch-of-monster-studios/ INDIANAPOLIS—Today, DirectEmployers Association announced its newest professional development and eLearning platform, DE Academy. Recently revealed to Association members at its 2019 Annual Meeting & Conference (DEAM19) in Naples, Florida, DE Academy seeks to elevate professional development for human resources professionals with courses tailored to provide content and top-notch instruction with the flexibility desired by today’s busy practitioners. Courses are available for both Members of the Association and non-members, allowing for expanded eLearning opportunities for all. “DE Academy meets the learner where they are, on their time. We want to promote professional development that improves the learning experience and outcome for all, resulting in real ROI through instruction and application,” commented Jen Bernhardt, VP of Member Engagement. Currently lessons range from Affirmative Action Planning 101 to Disability Etiquette...For more information on DE Academy or to get started on a new learning path, visit https://directemployers.org/academy. Follow Recruiting Headlines on social media: @recheadlines on Twitter Facebook Linkedin
Andrew Romans, based in Silicon Valley, is a successful VC-backed entrepreneur, author of two top-selling books on venture capital, former tech VC and M&A investment banker, cofounder of an angel group and General Partner of both Rubicon Venture Capital & 7BC which is a new fund focused on ai, blockchain, & fintech. In this episode we talk about (1) How he’s raised about $200M in funding as an entrepreneur and how fundraising has changed over the years (2)His relationship with Ron Conway & how things are done at SV Angel (3) Finding the best deal flow (4) Pivoting as an entrepreneur & fund manager music credits: Clouds by MBB | https://soundcloud.com/mbbofficial Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US IMPORTANT NOTICE: This podcast is intended for informational purposes only. The views expressed in this podcast are not, and should not be construed as, investment advice or recommendations. Recipients of this document should do their own due diligence, taking into account their specific financial circumstances, investment objectives and risk tolerance (which are not considered in this podcast) before investing. This podcast is not an offer, nor the solicitation of an offer, to buy or sell any of the assets mentioned herein. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/joelpalathinkal/support
Max Rhodes is the co-founder and CEO of Faire which helps retailers find and buy wholesale merchandise for their stores. The company has raised to date $115 million from investors such as Sequoia Capital, SV Angel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, or DST Global to name a few.
Max Rhodes is the co-founder and CEO of Faire which helps retailers find and buy wholesale merchandise for their stores. The company has raised to date $115 million from investors such as Sequoia Capital, SV Angel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, or DST Global to name a few.
We've got a double dose of exciting news for you, startup fans. First, we're thrilled to announce that investment firms August Capital, SV Angel and Uncork Capital have partnered with us for the 2nd Annual TechCrunch Winter Party at Galvanize on February 8. And second, today we released into the wild another fresh, though limited, batch of tickets. If you haven't snagged a ticket to this Silicon Valley shindig, take heed.
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Andrew Dudum is the Founder & CEO @ Hims, one of the fastest growing consumer brands of our time and the fastest growing men’s health and wellness brand. To date, they have raised over $97m in VC funding from some of the best in the business including Thrive, Founders Fund, Forerunner, IVP, Redpoint and SV Angel just to name a few. Andrew is also Venture Partner at Atomic, a venture-builder backed by Peter Thiel, Marc Andreesen and many of the world’s best investors who recently announced their new $150m fund to start companies solving the world’s problems. Prior to Atomic and Hims, Andrew led Product at TokBox.com, the leader in web-based communication and In 2012 TokBox was acquired by the global telecommunications company Telefonica ($TEF). In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Andrew made his way into the world of startups, came to build a venture builder backed by Thiel and Andreesen before starting the fastest growing men’s health and wellness brand in Hims? 2.) How does Andrew view the world of online and offline marketing in today’s proliferated D2C space? What were the core elements that allowed Hims to achieve such success with their branding? How does Andrew respond to suggestions that there is a lack of free and open distribution due to incumbents paying up for traditional channels making CAC unachievable for startups? How does Andrew look to solve for this? 3.) What does Andrew believe it is that has allowed Hims to execute faster than any other D2C brand in history? How does Andrew distinguish between people and process when considering the scaling at different stages of the business? What are the pros and cons of having such constraints on headcount? When is the right time to pour fuel on the fire? 4.) Hims raised their last round at a $200m valuation in less than a year of operating, how did Andrew evaluate this one? Does this not effectively price Hims out of the majority of M&A? What leads Andrew’s thesis with his suggestion that he thought the valuation was “quite frankly, a great price for investors”? What advice would Andrew have for founders entering the fundraising process? 5.) Andrew is also the co-founder @ Atomic, so what really is a venture builder? How have Atomic built a framework around idea generation? How do Atomic determine which ideas to pursue and which to disregard? How does data and benchmarking play a central role in this process? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Andrew’s Fave Book: Creativity Inc As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Andrew on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Much like how Carta changed how private companies manage their cap tables and 409A valuations, Carta are now doing the same for fund administration. With Carta’s new, modern fund administration software and services, you get a real-time dashboard of your general ledger, can securely share info with your LPs, and issue capital calls–from the same platform, you accept securities and request cap table access. So essentially, Carta simplifies how startups and investors manage equity, fund administration, and valuations. Go to carta.com/20VC to get 10% off.
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Afton Vechery is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Modern Fertility, the startup that guides you through your fertility hormones now so you have options later. To date they have raised over 7m in funding from some of the leading players in venture including USV, First Round Capital, Maveron, SV Angel and Y Combinator. As for Afton, prior to Modern Fertility, Afton was a Product Manager @ 23andMe where she was the sole product manager responsible for all consumer-facing genetic tools. Before 23andMe, Afton was a Strategy and Finance Consultant @ Willow Pump where she participated in fundraising that led to successful $15M fundraise. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Afton made her way into the world of startups with 23andMe and then came to change the way we think about fertility with Modern Fertility? 2.) Afton has previously emphasised the importance of having "frameworks for success". What does that mean? How do those frameworks break down? How does Afton think about the decision-making process around prioritisation? How does Afton think about the difference between being customer informed and customer driven? 3.) Why does Afton believe that there are times when you should not test the MVP? Why is this? What would Afton do differently in the MVP process if she had her time again? How does Afton think about and respond to the statement "move fast and break things"? 4.) Why does Afton believe it is important to let everyone "rip apart your business"? What are the fundamental benefits of this? From the ripping aparts, Afton has experienced, what have been the biggest takeaways? What was their argument? How did Afton respond? How did her thinking and mentality change as a result? 5.) Why does Phin Barnes @ First Round say Afton is "hard as nails"? What were some of Afton's biggest learnings from her early engineering role? How does Afton think about entrepreneurial resilience today? What advice does Afton give to emerging entrepreneurs and first-time founders? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Afton’s Fave Book: Motherhood Rescheduled As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Afton on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Howard Lerman is the Founder & CEO @ Yext, the company that allows you to control your brand experience across the digital universe. Due in part to Howard's incredible leadership of the firm, Yext went public in April 2017 with an opening price of $11 a share, today the stock price sits at $26.85 and a market cap of $2.65Bn. Prior to the IPO, Yext raised over $117m in VC funding from Insight Venture Partners, IVP, SV Angel and CrunchFund to name a few. As for Howard, Yext is his 4th company and he is also Co-Founder and Chairman of Confide, a leading off-the-record messaging service. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Howard made his way into the world of startups and came to Partner with is co-founders to start the now public company that is Yext? 2.) Why must every founder know about Teddy Roosevelt and his "Five Minute Meetings"? Literally, what is the right way to structure these meetings? What one question is the right question to ask? How can a leader look to retain that startup culture and ethos with scale? Why does Howard believe running a global company is like running a country? 3.) What have Howard's biggest takeaways been from studying "John Lennon's Storytelling Trick"? How can founders use this trick both to inspire their team more effectively internally and then to present a better vision for the company, externally? 4.) Howard has said before "fundraising is not an end in itself". Does Howard believe that company financing should be celebrated? How was the IPO process for Howard? From a literal standpoint, how does the process run? How did Howard choose which banks to work with? How did the 10-day roadshow shape up? How did the pricing decision-making process look the night before IPO? 5.) Why does Howard believe it is fundamentally better being a public company? What does "public" status allow you? How does being public introduce a challenge never before seen to founders? Why must founders always examine the motives of the VC behind whether they are pushing them to remain private or go public? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Howard’s Fave Book: Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get From Good to Great As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Howard on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
Ron Conway, the "Godfather of Silicon Valley" and Union Square Ventures' Fred Wilson discuss trends in venture capital beyond Silicon Valley and New York City.
Mux is a software company that develops infrastructure and monitoring tools for developers and publishers of online video. Founded in 2015 by experts in online video, including the creators of the biggest open-source video player on the web (Video.js), the largest transcoding service in the cloud (Zencoder), and the premier conference for engineers working with video (Demuxed), Mux empowers publishers of all sizes to provide high-quality online video viewer experiences. The company is trusted by leading providers of online video like PBS, Livestream, and Funny or Die, and backed by investment from Accel Partners, SV Angel and Y Combinator, Mux is headquartered in San Francisco, CA The leader in video analytics has recently released a new product that will revolutionize the way developers monitor streaming quality and outages. This technology will make it possible for engineers to quickly identify and fix problems like the World Cup streaming outage that impacted millions of sports fans this year. Mux’s Real-time QoS Dashboard will help developers spot and address issues with video streaming as they are happening in real time. This dashboard is the first of its kind. It’s the only one out there that shows the latest measurements and trends as they are happening during the streaming process in real-time.
How I Raised It - The podcast where we interview startup founders who raised capital.
Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Sean Byrnes of Outlier.ai. Outlier makes a business intelligence platform designed to monitor business data and notify customers when unexpected changes occur. Previously, Sean founded Flurry, a mobile analytics company acquired by Yahoo for $300 million. Outlier recently raised $6.4 million of Series A venture funding led by Ridge Ventures. First Round Capital, Homebrew, Susa Ventures, 11.2 Capital and SV Angel also participated in the round. In this wide-ranging interview, Sean talks about VC fund lifecycles, how the fundraising "process" has changed since his Flurry days, balancing the distraction of fundraising vs. the need for more capital, how he used the VC process as customer development, deal terms to watch out for, how to get the most out of board meetings and much more.
How I Raised It - The podcast where we interview startup founders who raised capital.
Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Yin Wu of DirtProtocol.com. Dirt Protocol is using blockchain technology to create a new approach to verify information. The Company raised $3 million of seed funding from Digital Currency Group, Caffeinated Capital and SV Angel on July 11, 2018. Village Global, ZhenFund, General Catalyst, Greylock Partners, Hustle Fund, INBlockchain, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Avichal Garg, Liquid 2 Ventures, Danhua Capital, Vy Capital, Divergence Digital Currency Fund and Pantera Capital also participated in the round along with 11 angel investors, including Elad Gil and Othman Laraki. In this episode, Yin talks about curating trust in the crypto and ICO space, identifying the top blockchain investors, stacking investor conversations in an optimal way, how to get an investor's "greed to overcome their fear" when pitching a new market, and much more.
How I Raised It - The podcast where we interview startup founders who raised capital.
Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Ryan Boyko, CEO of Embark Vet (www.embarkvet.com). Embark Vet makes an animal DNA testing kit designed to improve dog health and wellness. Embark recently raised a seed round co-led by Founder Collective, Freestyle and ThirdKind, with support from Anne Wojcicki, Bill Maris, Slow Ventures, SV Angel and others. In this episode, Ryan talks about how he built a target investor list by researching other companies, how raising capital is like speed dating, how to keep investors interested and "hungry," how he landed strategic angels like Anne Wojcicki (co-founder of 23andMe) and Bill Maris (founder of Google Ventures) and much more.
Traditionally, companies have gathered data from a variety of sources, then used spreadsheets and dashboards to try and make sense of it all. Outlier wants to change that and deliver a handful of insights that matter most for your job, company and industry right to your inbox. Today the company announced a $6.2 million Series A to further develop that vision. The round was led by Ridge Ventures with assistance from 11.2 Capital, First Round Capital, Homebrew, Susa Ventures and SV Angel.
Jonah Goodhart is the CEO @ Moat, the SaaS analytics and intelligence company focused on transforming brand advertising online. Prior to their acquisition by Oracle for a reported $850m Moat raised over $67m in VC funding from the likes of Insight Venture Partners, Founders Fund, Mayfield, Founder Collective, SV Angel and more incredible names. Prior to founding Moat, Jonah was the founding investor and board member at Right Media, acquired by Yahoo for a reported $680m. Jonah was also the founding partner of WGI Group and co-founder of Billions.org. If all of that was not enough, Jonah is also an angel investor including the likes of adroll, Namely and fitmob all in his personal portfolio. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How Jonah made his way into SaaS with is founding investor role in Right Media? How did experiencing both bubbles change the way Jonah thinks about operations today? How does Jonah fundamentally define “North Star”? How plastic and flexible does Jonah believe a North Star should be? What was a time where Jonah’s decision was guided in a certain direction by his strong North Star? Why does Jonah believe that in B2B your roadmap is given to you by your customers? What can founders do to clearly and quickly determine what their customers want from their conversations with them? What questions are crucial to ask? What response suggests real intent to buy from them? How does one prevent this from falling into heavy customisation? How does Jonah approach the element of “brand” in the world of B2B today? What does Jonah believe is the secret to brand? How does this affect how Jonah both onboards, trains and engages with new and existing employees? Was brand core to Moat being able to sell to enterprise so successfully in the early days? Jonah’s 60 Second SaaStr What does Jonah know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning? Quality or quantity of logos in the early days? How important is it for SaaS founders to be involved in the process? 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 Jonah Goodhart
Etleap is a play on words for a common set of data practices: extract, transform and load. The startup is trying to place these activities in a modern context, automating what they can and in general speeding up what has been a tedious and highly technical practice. Today, they announced a $1.5 million seed round. Investors include First Round Capital, SV Angel, Liquid2, BoxGroup and other unnamed investors. The startup launched five years ago as a Y Combinator company. It spent a good 2.
Harry Glaser is the Founder & CEO @ Periscope Data, the startup that allows you to transform your business with the fastest, most powerful analytics platform. To date, Periscope have raised over $34m in funding from some of the very best in the business including Bessemer, SV Angel, DFJ, Susa Ventures and Data Collective, just to name a few. With this funding they now serve over 975 customers including Adobe, Flexport, Tinder, NewRelic and more. Prior to founding Periscope, Harry was a Product Manager @ Google. Fun fact about Periscope, it was voted the best small company to work for in 2017. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How Harry made his way from being a PM at Google to convincing his co-founder Tom to leave his comfortable corporate job in Seattle to chase the startup dream in the valley? Diverse Teams: There a a lot of all white male teams in SaaS, what should they do to create a more diverse, well-rounded team? What is the first step? What is the framework for achieving this hiring ambition? What are the biggest challenges? Where does Harry see founders most often making mistakes in building diverse teams? Data Teams: Why does Harry believe that founding teams must have data professionals within them from Day 1? Why does Harry believe this makes those startups more successful? What are the fundamental benefits? How does this data-centricity change the decision-making of the organisation? What are the core challenges in scaling this data team? Moving Upmarket: Why does Harry believe that it is better to do SMB to enterprise than enterprise to SMB? How does the product fundamentally change when addressing the enterprise market? How does the structure of the team change with the move? How does the messaging of the company alter with the move to a more enterprise focus? 60 Second SaaStr What does Harry know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning? Harry recently tweeted “you don’t choose the kind of CEO you are”, what kind of CEO are you then? A moment in Harry’s life that has served as an inflection point and changed the way he thinks? What can a founder do today to instantly make a better workplace culture? 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 Harry Glaser
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Chris Hutchins is the Founder & CEO @ Grove, the startup reinventing financial planning allowing you to reach your goals with personalized financial advice. Just last week they announced their seed round from some of the best in the business including First Round Capital, Lowercase Capital, Box Group and SV Angel. Prior to Grove, Chris was an Partner & EiR with Google Ventures and before that co-founded Milk (acq by Google) alongside Kevin Rose. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Chris made the move from Google acquired Founder to Partner @ Google Ventures to now, founding First Round backed, Grove? 2.) What does Chris believe are the foundational elements founders must consider pre-fundraise? How does Chris suggest founders structure the process? How important is a fundraise deadline? How does Chris advise founders on getting warm intros, what is best? 3.) How can founders really optimise VC interactions? What is the biggest mistake founders make when meeting VCs? What should founders be looking to take from these meetings? How transparent should founders be about their meetings with other investors? 4.) What are Chris' view on the rise of SAFE's vs priced equity rounds? In what situations do SAFE's make sense? How did Chris think about this with his own fundraise recently? Does Chris believe there is too much money in the ecosystem? Where are there gaps and where is there overfunding? 5.) Why does Chris think hiring is a "big data problem"? Where do many founders make mistakes in recruiting in the early days? What hacks can be done to ensure a quality stream of candidates continuously? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Chris' Fave Book: Happy Money As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Chris on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Cooley are the global law firm built around startups and venture capital. Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley has formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50+ years working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad issues that arise through a fund’s lifetime. So to learn more about the #1 most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public. Head over to cooley.com and also at cooleygo.com. Zoom, fastest growing video and web conferencing service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including video meetings and webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms, and persistent chat all in one easy platform. Plus, it is the easiest solution to manage, scale, and use, and has the most straightforward, affordable pricing. Don’t take our word for it. Zoom is the top rated conferencing app across various user review sites including G2Crowd and Trust Radius. And you can sign up for a free account (not a trial!). Just visit Zoom.us.
How I Raised It - The podcast where we interview startup founders who raised capital.
Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" is an interview series that goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have successfully raised capital. This episode is with Sergio Villasenor, CEO of Elliot (https://www.helloiamelliot.com/). Sergio raised capital from Susa Ventures, Bowery Capital, BAM Ventures, Flexport, SV Angel and Acceleprise. Recorded on January 18, 2018.
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
David Barrett is the Founder & CEO @ Expensify, the startup relieving the world’s frustrations, one expense report at a time. With 35,000 companies and more than 5 million users, David has raised close to $30m from the likes of Redpoint, OpenView, Travis Kalanick, Baseline and SV Angel. However, David certainly does not have traditional views on funding, something we very much touch on in the interview today! Prior to Expensify, David built a peer-to-peer file transfer technology called Red Swoosh with Uber's Travis Kalanick, which was acquired by Akamai in 2007. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How David went from founding Red Swoosh with Travis Kalanick to changing the sexy world of expense reporting with Expensify? 2.) Why does David want to change the cult of the second time entrepreneur? Why does David believe that Silicon Valley fundamentally changes exits in the wrong way? How does David define true operational success? 3.) Why does David believe that Silicon Valley investors are not investors but gamblers? Why does David believe that the business model VCs have created is not only not optimal for founders but poor business practice with "profit" being a dirty word? 4.) What does David believe are the fundamental benefits of capital constraints? How does having financial independence influence your stance when speaking with investors? When does the decision of financially lean or VC backed need to be taken? 5.) Why does David believe the more hiring you do, the more problems you have? What are the core issues of revenue being tied to headcount growth? Why does David believe Silicon Valley is poor for hiring and you must look further afield? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: David’s Fave Book: Guns, Germs, and Steel, Enders Game As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and David on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Available in carry-on and check-in sizes, Raden is the case for better, smarter travel. By pairing the lightest and most durable materials with technology, travelers can charge their devices on the go, weigh, and track their cases. Visit Raden.com to use code 20VC at checkout. With purchase, receive credit towards Tablet Hotels for the next year. If a UK listener, head over to Selfridge’s and shop Raden today. The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it offers the perfect support for two people. A mattress that responds to you and your partner’s sleeping patterns. Delivered free, with a one hundred night sleep trial, free returns and a ten year guarantee. Start your free trial at simbasleep.com
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Alex Rampell is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz where he leads the firms fintech investments and serves on the boards of Branch, PeerStreet, Point, and Quantopian. Prior to joining a16z, he was the CEO and co-founder of TrialPay, a leading transactional advertising and payments company with 100 employees and over $300M in revenue. TrialPay was acquired by Visa in 2015. Previously, Alex cofounded FraudEliminator, the first consumer anti-phishing company, which merged into SiteAdvisor and was acquired by McAfee for $75M in 2006. Prior to joining the firm, Alex had been an active angel investor with the likes of Pinterest, Bloomreach, SiftScience among many others in his portfolio and served as an advisor to the SV Angel fund. He also co-founded three other companies: TXN, Point, and Affirm, with Max Levchin. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Alex make the move from serial entrepreneur with numerous successful exits to General Partner @ a16z? 2.) Question from Chris Dixon: What were the key takeaways for Alex from his time in operations? Having been both entrepreneur and VC, how does Alex view the continuous struggle between innovation and distribution? Can you succeed with only one? 3.) How does Alex believe the new generation of large incumbents are acting in the market? Why does he believe that a counter-revolutionary strike from them would not be atypical? 4.) How does Alex really define "data network effects"? How does Alex look to analyse them effectively? How does Alex believe that startups can use inflection points in the sales process to enter an incumbent heavy market? 5.) How does Alex view the rise of ICOs? Does Alex share Charlie Lee's concerns that they are the most concerning element of the crypto world? What framework does Alex use to determine whether an applications is optimised through centralised or decentralised databases? Why does Alex believe that most ICOs are ridiculous? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Alex’s Fave Book: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka Alex’s Fave Blog: Chris Dixon Alex’s Most Recent Investment: Propel As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Alex on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Available in carry-on and check-in sizes, Raden is the case for better, smarter travel. By pairing the lightest and most durable materials with technology, travelers can charge their devices on the go, weigh, and track their cases. Visit Raden.com to use code 20VC at checkout. With purchase, receive credit towards Tablet Hotels for the next year. If a UK listener, head over to Selfridge’s and shop Raden today. The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it offers the perfect support for two people. A mattress that responds to you and your partner’s sleeping patterns. Delivered free, with a one hundred night sleep trial, free returns and a ten year guarantee. Start your free trial at simbasleep.com
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Kevin Hartz is a Partner @ Founders Fund, one of the world's most prestigious and successful VC funds with prior investments in the likes of Facebook, Airbnb, SpaceX, Spotify and many more incredible companies. Prior to Founders Fund, Kevin was Founder & CEO @ Eventbrite, the company that powers thousands of millions of events around the world with backing from the likes of Sequoia and SV Angel. Before that Kevin was the Founder of Xoom Corporation, the international money transfer company that went public in 2012 and was acquired by Paypal in 2015. Kevin has also been a prolific angel with a personal portfolio including Airbnb, Uber, Paypal, Pinterest and Yammer. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) Question from Brian Singerman: How did Kevin come to be the world famous Kevin Hartz? What was Kevin's entry into the world of VC? 2.) How has Kevin seen his investment decision making and evaluation process change when comparing his angel deals in Uber, Paypal and Airbnb to today, investing institutionally with Founders Fund? 3.) How does Kevin see believe his time in operations lends to him being a better investor today? Does Kevin agree with Pat Grady @ Sequoia in stating, 'the rate of decay on operating experience has never been greater'? 4.) With no Monday morning Partner meetings, if a Partner wants to push a deal through, how do you do it at Founders Fund? How do you structure those conversations internally? 5.) What have been Kevin's biggest learnings since joining Founders Fund? How did Kevin look to scale the VC learning curve as fast as possible? What elements did Kevin find most challenging? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Kevin’s Fave Book: Peter Thiel: Zero To One Kevin’s Most Recent Investment: HyperTrack As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Kevin on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including online meetings, video webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms and business instant messaging. Plus, it is the easiest solution to use, buy and scale with the most straightforward pricing. Do not take our word for it, Zoom's their partnership with Sequoia in their latest 100m funding round says it all. Zoom is a must for your business. Vidyard is the video platform for business that helps marketing and sales teams drive more revenue through the use of online video. Going beyond video hosting and management, Vidyard helps businesses drive greater engagement in their video content, track the viewing activities of each individual viewer, and turn those views into action. Global leaders such as Microsoft, McKesson, Lenovo, and LinkedIn rely on Vidyard to power their video content strategies and turn viewer into customers. Check them out at vidyard.com.
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Topher Conway is a Co-Managing Partner of SV Angel, one of Silicon Valley's leading seed funds with investments in the likes of Facebook, AirBnB, Twitter, Dropbox and many more. At SV Angel, Topher works particularly close with Gusto, Github, Lookout and many more incredible companies. He was included in Forbes Magazine's 30 Under 30 in 2015. Prior to SV Angel, he worked at EQAL, Inc. At EQAL, he worked with the Business Development and Sales teams and lead efforts in creating new business opportunities. Prior to EQAL, he held positions at eCost and a 2004 summer internship in Google's Direct Sales Organization. He is also a member of the UCLA VC Fund, helping foster entrepreneurship at the University. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Topher made his way into the wonderful world of VC and came to be Managing Partner @ SV Angel? 2.) How has the rise of the pre-seed market affected Topher's access to deals? How has Topher reacted to the creation of this new market segment with their new fund size? 3.) How does Topher evaluate grit within founders? Do Topher and SV prefer serial or first-time founders? How does Topher and SV approach startup pivots? Where is the line between stubbornness and vision? 4.) To what extent does Topher focus on valuation and ownership? Why does he believe that it is not important at this stage? What is his determinant to see whether it will be a problem? 5.) To what extent has Topher witnessed the Series A Crunch? Where does he see gaps in the investment landscape? Why does Topher not have a problem with bridge rounds? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Topher’s Fave Book: The Score Takes Care Of Itself Topher's Most Recent Investment: BetterUp As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Topher on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support together on one integrated platform. With Intercom, businesses can chat directly with prospective customers on their website, engage current users with targeted messages based on their behavior, and provide personal support at scale with an integrated help desk and knowledge base. This is perfect for Businesses that want to help people visiting their website become customers. Marketing and growth teams that want to onboard and retain users by sending the right messages at the right time and Support teams that want to move beyond email to provide personalized, scalable support so simply head over to Intercom.com/20MVC Cooley are the global law firm built around startups and venture capital. Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley has formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50+ years working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad issues that arise through a fund’s lifetime. So to learn more about the #1 most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public. Head over to cooley.com and also at cooleygo.com.
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Henry Ward is the Founder & CEO @ eShares, the No 1 cap table management platform providing equity management, 409A valuations and liquidity all in one place. They are backed by leading investors and past guests including USV, SV Angel, Spark Capital, Semil Shah, Manu Kumar, Tim Draper and Kamal Ravikant, just to name a few. Prior to eShares, Henry was Founder @ SecondSight, the first registered investment advisor to go direct to your brokerage and improve your portfolio. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Henry made his way into the world of startups and came to found eShares? 2.) How does Henry challenge the notion that investors should have such high fail rates? How does Henry believe investors can build a strong and sustainable portfolio without home runs? 3.) Why does Henry believe that investors will never accept market risk? How much of a role does Henry believe herd mentality plays in the VC ecosystem? 4.) How does Henry view the increasing exit horizons for startups? Is this a problem? How can we create liquidity options pre large exits? 5.) How does Henry view the role of regulation in private markets? How does this differ to public markets? What would Henry like to see change in the VC ecosystem? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Henry’s Fave Blog: Hacker News Henry’s Fave Book: The Essays Of Warren Buffett As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Henry on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it offers the perfect support for two people. A mattress that responds to you and your partner’s sleeping patterns. Delivered free, with a one hundred night sleep trial, free returns and a ten year guarantee. Start your free trial at simbasleep.com Cirrus Insight is a plugin for sales pros who use Gmail and Outlook. It automatically updates activities in Salesforce so you don’t have to. It was named #41 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing companies, and it has more than 1,700 customer reviews on the Salesforce AppExchange. Today, it serves over 150,000 sales people across 5,000 organizations using Gmail, Outlook, iPhone, iPad, and Android. Cirrus Insight is perfect for sales, support, and success teams who want to save time, schedule 3x more appointments, track email opens and much more with Salesforce information at their fingertips in the inbox. www.cirrusinsight.com/20VC
Alex MacCaw is the Founder & CEO @ Clearbit, the startup that is building a suite of business intelligence APIs to help companies find more information on their customers in order to increase sales and reduce fraud. They have backing from some of the best early stage investors including the likes of First Round Capital, SV Angel, Intercom’s Eoghan McCabe, Hubspot’s Dharmesh Shah and many more incredible investors. As for Alex, as well as being a fellow Brit who loves tea, he also worked at the likes of Twitter and Stripe prior to founding Clearbit. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: How did Alex make his way into the world of SaaS and came to found Clearbit in SF having grown up in the UK? Should API driven companies have sales teams? Should they do outbound? What’s the most effective way to generate leads? Alex has said before that the trouble is, ‘everyone is treating their customers the same”. What does he mean by this? How do the smart companies differ? How possible is it to address customer specific needs at scale? How does this scalability alter when elements like freemium and self service models are added to the equation? How effective have freemium tools been for Alex as a lead gen to on board new customers? Why did Alex choose the same pricing structure as the likes of Stripe and Twilio? What was the thought process behind this? 60 Second SaaStr How important is it for SaaS startups to be in SF? What does Alex know now that he wishes he had known when he started? Biggest mentor to Alex and how it came about? Fave SaaS reading material? 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 Alex MacCaw
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Jay Desai is Co-Founder and CEO of PatientPing, a company that connects health care providers across the country with real-time notifications to seamlessly coordinate patient care. They have raised funding from some of the best in the world including Google Ventures, First Round Capital and SV Angel. Prior to co-founding PatientPing, Jay worked at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation where he helped design and implement ACO, Bundled Payment, and other innovative payment models funded by the Affordable Care Act. Jay's previous experience includes Triad Isotopes, Parthenon Capital, and Lehman Brothers. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Jay came to found PatientPing? What was the a-ha moment for him? 2.) How does Jay assess the chemistry and alignment of VCs and their portfolio founders? How can founders detect if the VC is right for them? 3.) We always hear the importance of focus. How does Jay decide the single most important thing? Does this vary with stage and size? How does Jay look to balance such focus with a broader vision for the company? 4.) How important is internal entrepreneurialism for Jay? How does that play out in his management style? What boundaries need to be set? Does Jay agree with Suster, 'constraint enforces creativity'. 5.) Why does Jay have not internal budgets at PatientPing? What are the benefits? How does that affect the team's approach to spending, responsibility and accountability? Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode: Jay’s Fave Blog: The Morning Consult Jay’s Fave Book: Pastoralia As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Jay on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. The Twenty Minute VC is proudly sponsored by Luma, Luma is the world’s first ever Surround WiFi system that brings speed, security and control to the home network. And Unlike traditional routers, Luma comes in a pack of two or three sleek devices to place in different rooms in your home. Luma then creates a mesh network that work together to create an outrageously-fast, ultra-secure Surround WiFi network. Lastly, Luma’s app lets you easily see and control which devices, users and content are on your network. To buy your Luma, simply dead to getluma.com or amazon.com. So many problems start with your head: stress, depression, anxiety, fear of the future. What if there was some kind of exercise you could do, that would help you get your head in shape. That’s where the Headspace app comes in. Headspace is meditation made simple. The Headspace app provides guided meditations you can use whenever you want, wherever you want, on your phone, computer or tablet. They have sessions focused on everything from dealing with stress and depression, to helping you eat more mindfully. So download the Headspace app and start your journey towards a happier, healthier life. Learn more at headspace.com/20vc. That’s headspace.com/20vc.
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Lyon Wong is the Founding General Partner @ Spectrum 28, a $170m Silicon Valley fund that invests in companies who leverage data and computation to create and transform large industries. Prior to Spectrum 28, Lyon was Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners, the $3bn VC fund with investments in the likes of Snapchat, Nest and Giphy, just to name a few. Before Lightspeed Lyon spent time with leading Silicon Valley seed fund, SV Angel, where he worked with the likes of Ron Conway and David Lee. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Lyon come to be GP of Spectrum 28 with their recent $170m fund? 2.) Why does Lyon believe that you do not have to have operational experience to be a good investor? What are the core components to beeing a good investor and value add investor? 3.) Why does Lyon believe that there is no optimal stage to invest? How does he evaluate the efficiency curve and positioning on it? How does this affect his thesis? 4.) Why does Lyon believe that funds must focus on reputation instead of cash on cash? What is the most effective and scalable way to build a reputation in today's venture ecosystem? 5.) How does Lyon evaluate team building at Spectrum 28? What did he look for in potential partners? How does he look to implement generational transition into the fund? Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode: Lyon’s Fave Blog: Medium, Quora Lyon’s Fave Book: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius Lyon’s Most Recent Investment: PatientBank As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Lyon on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Angelloop is the leading post funding management platform for private market investors and their portfolio companies. They help investors manage and track their portfolio companies on the cloud while providing them with access to their investments performance data. Angelloop helps founders of startups track their performance, manage their cap table and keep their investors in the loop. Investors get free access while their portfolio companies pay only $49/Month. Use or share the promo-code 20MinVC to get your portfolio companies online with a two month trial. This episode was supported by Wunder Capital, the leading online investment platform that allows individuals to invest in large scale solar projects across the U.S. Wunder’s solar investment funds allow you to earn up to 11% annually, while diversifying your portfolio, curbing pollution and combating global climate change. Do well by doing good and sign up for a free account here and join the thousands of people that are already achieving their investment targets.
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Annie Kadavy is a General Partner @ Charles River Ventures. The prestigious VC fund that is now on it's 16th fund and has backed the likes of Twitter, Yammer and Mailbox just to name a few. At CRV, Annie focuses on all things consumer and has either led or sourced their investments in ClassPass, Cratejoy, Patreon, Laurel & Wolf and DoorDash. Prior to CRV, Annie spent time with SV Angel and Warby Parker. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Annie made her way into the world of VC? 2.)Why have we seen the explosion of marketplaces in recent years? What are the inherent challenges of two sided marketplaces; typically consumers and micro-entrepreneurs? Does Annie agree with Jeff Jordan in stating that these marketplaces need to nurture and manage conditions of perfect competition? 3.) What are the core components to growing traditional producer consumer marketplaces? How do they broach the chicken and the egg problem of supply and demand? 4.) Why is Annie so excited for the potential of bots? Will the transition to bots and conversational interfaces represent a major point of disruption or more of an evolution in the interface paradigm? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Annie's Fave Book: Mindset: How You Can Fulfill Your Potential by Carol Dweck Annie's Fave Blog: The Skimm Annie's Most Recent Investment: Roam
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Sasha Orloff is the CEO and Co-founder of LendUp, a fintech startup offering online and mobile personal loans and credit cards in the United States. Prior to launching LendUp Sasha was on the other side of the table as a VC with Citi Group’s corporate venture capital arm. On the topic of VC funding, LendUp raised an incredible $150m in Jan 2016 from likes of SV Angel, Yuri Milner our friends at Susa and Google Ventures just to name a few. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Sasha come to found LendUp following a stint in VC with Citi Group? 2.) What Sasha learnt from VC about running a successful startup and how he applied them to his founding of LendUp? 3.) Was it difficult leaving the security of a VC job to found a startup? Would you have done the same had you had children at the time? 4.) What trends in FinTech is Sasha most excited for? Why does Sasha think banks are in so much trouble? Is there the potential to co-operate rather than replace banks? 5.) How was the fundraising process for Sasha? What was his preferred round and how did they differ from stag to stage? Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode: Sasha’s Fave Book: Banker To The Poor Sasha’s Fave Blog: Sam Altman As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Sasha 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! The Twenty Minute VC is brought to you by Leesa, the Warby Parker or TOMS shoes of the mattress industry. Lees have done away with the terrible mattress showroom buying experience by creating a luxury premium foam mattress that is order completely online and ships for free to your doorstep. The 10 inch mattress comes in all sizes and is engineered with 3 unique foam layers for a universal, adaptive feel, including 2 inches of memory foam and 2 inches of a really cool latex foam called Avena, design to keep you cool. All Leesa mattresses are 100% US or UK made and for every 10 mattresses they sell, they donate one to a shelter. Go to Leesa.com/VC and enter the promo code VC75 to get $75 off!
The FAA created an advisory committee, permits educational institutions to fly UAS, and rescinded a proposed website for collecting reports of bad drone behaviour. UPS and Zipline partner for drone delivery of medical packages, and more interviews from the Drone Dealer Expo. Zipline International medical package delivery drone News FAA Administrator Makes Major Drone Announcements FAA Administrator Michael Huerta made two significant announcements at the AUVSI annual conference in New Orleans. Another advisory committee is being formed to provide advice on unmanned aircraft integration issues. Huerta said, "Input from stakeholders is critical to our ability to achieve that perfect balance between integration and safety. We know that our policies and overall regulation of this segment of aviation will be more successful if we have the backing of a strong, diverse coalition." Huerta also announced that students can operate UAS for educational and research purposes without going through the Section 333 process. This allows educational institutions to conduct activities that have been restricted in the past. UPS-backed Rwandan blood deliveries show drones' promise, hurdles The UPS Foundation announced a partnership with Zipline, a California-based robotics company, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to “explore using drones to transform the way life-saving medicines like blood and vaccines are delivered across the world.” The UPS Foundation has awarded an $800,000 grant to support the initial launch of this initiative in Rwanda using Zipline fixed-wing drones. Zipline International, Inc. is a robotics company that works with governments to provide access to medical products at the last mile. Zipline is supported by investors such as Sequoia Capital, Google Ventures, SV Angel, Subtraction Capital, Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and Stanford University. UPDATE: FAA Withdraws Request for Drone Reports Dubbed Witchhunt By Many Congress has directed the FAA to “assess the flight behavior of [drones] and enable the reporting of [drone] sightings that cause public concern for safety, national security, and/or privacy.” In response, the FAA planned to launch a website to collect “airborne and ground based observations by the public of drone behavior that they consider suspicious or illegal.” Now, however, the FAA has withdrawn the plan [PDF], citing that the proposal “contained errors, and needs further clarification.” Drone Dealer Expo Interviews More interviews by Tim Trott of Southern Helicam from the Expo: David Alamillo, Chief Pilot and Flight Operations Manager, Farm Solutions, which manages sensor output for agricultural applications, and integrates with drone manufacturers Mark Manson, Consumer Experience Lead for Academy of Model Aeronautics Videos of the Week Max and @dronemama Fly Away Dronie This “fly away dronie” of Max Flight and @dronemama was taken by Hover Solutions, LLC at the 2016 Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival at the Howard County Fairgrounds, West Friendship, Maryland. Hover Solutions was at the Festival with their DJI Inspire 1 to film the festival for the organizers. Hover Solutions provides aerial photography and video for clients, UAV education, and industrial applications such as orthomosaic mapping and multisensor scanning services, including 3D modeling and NDVI overlays. Hover Solutions will be exhibiting at the 2016 Howard County Fair, August 6-13, 2016, at the Howard County Fairground in West Friendship, Maryland. They'll have a booth next to the main building. Stop by and say hello! Clash of epochs: Drone speared at history festival in central Russia A drone that was filming a historical reenactment in Russia was taken down by a spear thrown by a man dressed as an ancient Russian warrior. How often do you see that?
"Don’t sacrifice your health or happiness for your entrepreneurial goals." Steli Efti Steli Efti - Co-Founder & CEO of Close.io Steli Efti is the co-founder and CEO of Close.io. He’s Silicon Valley’s most prominent sales hustler, a YC alumni, advisor to several startups and entrepreneurs and the author of The Ultimate Startup Guide To Outbound Sales. He is an alumni of Y Combinator (they helped making companies like Dropbox, Airbnb, 9gag, and more). His company has received funding from Spark Capital, SV Angel, Start Fund, and Omidyar Networks as well as several notable angel investors. Connect with Steli: Website | Facebook | @Steli | Book | Keynote | Podcast Subscribe to the Outlier Newsletter: Click Here Brought to you by: OUTLIER ENTREPRENEURS If you enjoy Outlier On Air, please Subscribe & Review on iTunes or Stitcher
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
James Beshara is the Co-Founder @ Tilt the micro-crowdfunding platform that allows you to receive funding from friends—changing the way collaborative funding works. Tilt has raised $37 million from 3 rounds of funding from the likes of Andreesen, SV Angel, Alexis Ohanian, Naval Ravikant and Sean Parker just to name a few. As for James Before co-founding Tilt, he studied Development Economics as an undergrad and then went on to build dvelo.org, a site for crowdfunding loans and donations to poverty-alleviation organizations in developing countries. In order to vote for who you think will win James and Harry's beer pong match, head over to @twentyminutevc on Twitter and vote using our poll. A special thank you to Mattermark for providing all the data displayed in today's show and you can find out more about Mattermark here! Click To Play In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) What were the origins of Tilt? How did James go from a micro loans collector in Africa to founder of one of SF's hottest startups? 2.) What does James make of the current crowdfunding landscape? What will it take for crowdfunding to go mass market? 3.) What are Tilt doing to make crowdfunding more bite sized and consumer friendly? How important is the on boarding process for Tilt? How are Tilt approaching customer retention? What are James' targets for the year ahead with Tilt? 4.) With investors like Andreesen, SV Angel, Naval Ravikant, Sean Parker just to name a few, what the investment journey like? I heard the first funding took 6-8 months and the series A took 6 days with a16z. What changed to turn it around? 5.) On PH LIVE James stated that founding a company is a destination less journey and although admirable I struggle with that from the investors perspective. How did James sell a startup in a pitch with no exit strategy? 6.) What was it that attracted James to the investors that he chose? What value add was James most attracted to? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: James' Fave Book: 100 Years of Solitude, The Power Of Now As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and James 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!
In this interview, David Lee explains how he spots investment opportunities and what he looks for in a founder. He also reveals the harsh realities of building a successful company.
This week Abram Dawson (http://twitter.com/abramdawson) (Associate at SV Angel) and Greg Koberger (http://twitter.com/gkoberger) (Founder of ReadMe.io) join me, Ryan Hoover, on the third episode of Product Hunt Radio. In our dimly lit basement, us three dudes geek out about products, from selfie apps to new innovative healthcare solutions. Products mentioned: - Taptalk - http://www.producthunt.co/posts/taptalk - Emissary - http://www.producthunt.co/posts/emissary - Holidogs - http://www.producthunt.co/posts/holidogs - Mindie - http://www.producthunt.co/posts/mindie - Context - http://www.producthunt.co/posts/context - Facefeed - http://www.producthunt.co/posts/facefeed - Shots of Me - http://www.producthunt.co/posts/shots-of-me - Developer Agents - http://www.producthunt.co/posts/developer-agents