Podcasts about VC

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode:  Are OpenAI and Anthropic reenacting the Fat Protocol Hypothesis Will AI agents cause bank runs optimizing bank balances for yield? If the AI complex bursts does it take down VC? Our tribute to Hester Peirce as she retires from the SEC The SEC and CFTC publish crypto FAQs Vitalik lays out his vision for Ethereum in 2030 Quantum progress is accelerating Illinois delays their crypto transaction tax  Is San Francisco better than it was? 

Lito is the Head of Growth at Ethena Pay.Is it time to buy ENA? What is Ethena Pay and how does it compete as a DeFi neobank? What is the equity basis trade and why does it matter for USDe yield? What just happened with early ENA investor buyouts and VC unlocks?Reputable DeFi investor and builder Lito, now leading growth at Ethena Pay, answers all this and more about why Ethena is thriving in its second bull run and why it's so well positioned to challenge Circle and Tether's dominance in the stablecoin market.------

Robin is the Head of Technology Investment Banking at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., where he leads a 50-banker team spanning 12 tech verticals. He has 30+ years of investment banking experience advising high-growth technology companies on M&A and capital raising.Topics:AI in Investment BankingTech Market OutlookStrategically Hiring Senior TalentBuilding a Collaborative Culture...and so much more.Top TakeawaysGrowth opportunities are increasingly coming from venture-backed targets. Most of the M&A activity Robin's team is seeing isn't traditional buyouts but portcos making strategic acquisitions to build out their existing platforms. Oppenheimer's recent sale of Kentik to PE-backed Infoblox is one example. For sponsors, it's a reason to look beyond the traditional add-on universe when building their M&A pipelines.The best use of AI may be capacity creation rather than headcount reduction. Oppenheimer is using an internal analytics tool to offload model-building, SEC data pulls, and other repetitive work. Robin sees the payoff not as needing fewer bankers, but as giving the existing team more capacity to process transactions and spend time with clients. The practical opportunity is to identify where AI can remove execution bottlenecks, then deliberately reinvest that capacity rather than treating efficiency as the end goal.High-stakes moments are built through low-stakes repetition. Robin learned that lesson rowing at Harvard, where months of repetitive training came down to a handful of six-minute races. Dealmaking requires the same discipline: keep doing the work when the payoff is distant, so you're ready when the moment that matters arrives.About Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. is a full-service investment bank and wealth manager. Robin leads its technology investment banking group, with about 50 bankers across 12 verticals, from semiconductors and enterprise software to defense tech and aerospace. The team has advised on transactions including Backblaze's 2021 IPO, Corvex's $33M data-center financing, and Gilat's ~$157.5M acquisition of Comtech's satellite and space communications segment.Investors & Operators is brought to you by 51 Labs51 Labs is a marketing agency for the lower middle market. We offer full-service digital marketing for PE, portfolio companies, IB, VC, hedge funds.Brand Identity, Marketing Strategy, Marketing & AGM Video, LinkedIn Strategy & Execution, Web Design & Development, CRM Support & more400+ videos100+ projects#1 content creator on LinkedIn in the lower middle market

Selling your pitch to an investor is one thing. Showing that you understand how to sell your product to customers is another. Amy Cheetham, partner at Costanoa Ventures, sometimes watches founders talk to prospective customers as part of her diligence. Those conversations can reveal how well they understand the problem they're solving, whether they can absorb feedback and how effectively they communicate with the people they hope will buy what they're building. In this episode, Amy explains what she looks for in those conversations, why learning to sell matters for founders, and how distribution can become a moat for AI startups. We also discuss what makes a strong early-stage narrative, how founders without an existing VC network can start building investor relationships, and a simple seven-day experiment for testing an idea with prospective customers. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GkTaPQ02NG8 RUNTIME 46:20 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (1:41) Costanoa "will invest really as early as you can imagine."  (5:33)  ”It's not just fundraising as a skill. We're understanding how founders sell to customers.” (21:38) If you can't explain it, you can't sell it  (29:58) In the application layer, distribution is the moat  (34:50) "My founder archetype has always been domain experts." (38:30) Start cultivating relationships with investors before you raise (44:07) Validate your startup's right to exist with this 7-day experiment LINKS Amy Cheetham Costanoa Ventures How to Run Efficient and Effective Early Stage Board Meetings, TechCrunch Ivo Marble Health Are you building something that's hard to explain? That's often a sign you're working on something interesting, but it raises the risk that you're missing out on fundraising, sales, hiring, and media opportunities. I help early-stage founders sharpen the narrative: what matters, why now, who needs to care, and why they're the right team to make it happen. If you're preparing for a raise, launch, important customer meeting, panel, or hiring push, I can help you pressure-test the story before the stakes get higher. Visit the Fund/Build/Scale website to learn more, or email fundbuildscale@gmaii.com

This week on Swimming with Allocators, Earnest and Alexa unpack the post-SpaceX IPO environment, why LPs still aren't writing checks, and what might actually unlock capital for emerging managers in the coming years. They explore how liquidity flows back into institutions, the growing preference for barbell strategies, and where allocators are shifting attention beyond venture, including middle-market PE and new hedge fund strategies. Drawing on insights from LP conferences, they share practical fundraising advice for GPs—how to differentiate, communicate future potential, and avoid bad pitch dynamics. They debate the renewed role and structure of fund of funds, the risks and FOMO around mega AI bets, and how AI tools are reshaping outbound, deal flow, and relationship management. The episode closes with tactical guidance on building momentum with anchors, hosting intentional LP/GP gatherings, and rethinking how GPs present themselves as “founder magnets” and long-term partners to allocators.Highlights from this week's conversation include: SpaceX IPO, Lockups, and Why LPs Still Aren't Re‑Upping (1:20) Why IPO Liquidity May Not Prompt Immediate Reinvestment (4:24) Returning Capital and Questions About Established VC Brands (6:07) LP Pitch Advice: Make It a Conversation (7:52) Finding Your Differentiation by Asking Why Friends Invested (8:52) Assessing GPs for Future Potential (9:38) Becoming a Founder Magnet and an Ecosystem Node (10:20) Fund of Funds and the Shift Back From Direct Investing (13:31) The Barbell Approach to Venture Investing (17:04) AI Risks, the Space Race, and Open-Weight Models (19:44) AI Downside Scenarios and Broader Economic Risk (22:22) Fundraising Momentum and Finding Anchor Investors (23:23) Why LPs May Prefer Returns Over Lavish Events and Parting Thoughts (28:30) Swimming with Allocators is a podcast that dives into the intriguing world of Venture Capital from an LP (Limited Partner) perspective. Hosts Alexa Binns and Earnest Sweat are seasoned professionals who have donned various hats in the VC ecosystem. Each episode, we explore where the future opportunities lie in the VC landscape with insights from top LPs on their investment strategies and industry experts shedding light on emerging trends and technologies.  The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this podcast are for general informational purposes only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is produced in partnership with Microsoft.Deirdre Quarnstrom leads Microsoft's AI-enhanced learning product portfolio and strategy. She started her work in education bringing Minecraft Education to students and educators around the world. Deirdre also serves as a Director on the board of the Block by Block Foundation and is a founding partner and advisor at Reaction, a social impact VC fund.

Regulatory for Private Funds Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Regulatory for private funds includes venture capital funds. VC funds can find an exemption from regulatory requirements by one of the following: Having fewer than 100 owners in the fund. This excludes entities created for the purpose of investing in the fund, such as SPVs or Special Purpose Vehicles. This is known as Section 3(c)(1). A qualifying venture capital fund can have up to 250 beneficial owners if the fund is less than $10M. It must pursue a venture capital investment strategy. It cannot be highly leveraged with debt. It cannot have redemption rights. Section 3(c)(7) concerns a fund that requires qualified investors. A fund cannot have more than 1,999 investors, so it's not a reporting company. Only qualified investors, not accredited investors, can invest. Qualified investors have $5M invested or they are an entity with $25M of investments. Review the regulatory requirements around a venture capital fund before launching one. Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. Let's go startup something today. _________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.

In this episode, we sit down with David Haber, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and former founder of Bond Street, to discuss what separates exceptional founders from everyone else.David breaks down why the best founders study those who came before them, how to stand out in crowded markets, what makes an “N of 1” company, and the biggest mistakes founders make when hiring. We also discuss building and selling Bond Street, New York vs. Silicon Valley, and how AI is changing what it takes to build a successful company.If you're interested in entrepreneurship, startups, venture capital, founder advice, hiring, AI, or building a successful company, this episode is for you.This episode is supported by Sydecar, HEX, Wispr Flow, Granola, Beehiiv, KalshiSydecar: https://sydecar.io/partners/trailblazersbeehiiv: www.beehiiv.com/splash?utm_campaign=trailblazers-2026-Partnership&utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=trailblazers&utm_term=podcast-18&stripe_campaign_code=TRAILBLAZERS30 (or use code “trailblazers30” for 30% OFF)Granola: http://granola.ai/trailblazers*Granola is the official notetaker of Trailblazers! Check out the episode shownotes here: https://notes.granola.ai/t/18b4e05d-a30c-4192-85f7-f5db17f34f4f-00b881l8Kalshi: http://Kalshi.com/r/trailblazersWispr Flow: https://ref.wisprflow.ai/trailblazersHEX: http://hex.ai/trailblazers

What do hand-rolling cigarettes at age six, running international trading on Wall Street, venture investing and Hollywood have in common? Steve Garrow.Steve joins The Whiskey Hue to unpack a career built on fearlessness, calculated risk and constantly chasing the next big opportunity. From Wall Street to venture investing to Travelin Bone Entertainment, he shares lessons on PMF, hiring exceptional talent, de-risking investments and findingan edge. Today, he's applying that playbook to bringing Hollywood scripts and IP to the massive South Asian market, creating multiple paths to monetize content and maximize ROI. Plus, how to avoid the “idiot tax,” solve complex problems, bet on great people and why working hard early can ultimately earn you the freedom to choose what you do next.Special Recording: Steve was a featured Guest Speaker in Atul's Venture Capital Class at Fordham Gabelli School of Business. 00:00 Intro02:45 Learning bootleg Entrepreneurship08:25 ‘4 Must Learns' During College Years12:45 I Hustled à Became Head of International Trading16:20 NYU Stern Berkeley Center EIR17:50 Search + Deploy: Operational + VC Excellence Merge24:30 Travelin Bone Entertainment26:15 Stacked Team of Oscar + Emmy Award Winners27:00 Entering the South Asian Film Market, vetting projects32:10 De-Risking an Asset - Controlled vs Uncontrolled33:00 What looks like a “Win' for TBE?37:00 Amplify Opportunity to Repurpose + Monetize Content37:45 Student Questions*. Entrepreneurship + Deal Flow42:22 Emerging Sectors Where They Have Edge46:10 Hiring High Caliber Talent49:44 Avoiding the Idiot Tax51:18 Identifying Signals Needed to Succeed54:30 How TBE Decides Which Projects Work in S. Asia. 56:53 Career Trajectory Questions58:30 Work Hard Early, Enjoy Fruits Later.*Thank you Gabelli BS, Fall 2026 VC students, Carlos, Patrick, Lily, Hrithik, James, Roxanne, Luca. Please Rate, Review, Subscribe and Share with a Friend!Means a lot to us - thank YOU!For more info on:1. Venture, Tech, Sports and Investing, visit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AtulPrashar | LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠2. Learn Venture Capital Investing for less than a dinner in NYC: “VC: IdeationThrough Execution”: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/APsVCCourse⁠⁠⁠⁠

Anna Skaya built Basepaws from “23andMe for cats” into a pet genetics company that ultimately sold to Zoetis in a nearly nine-figure exit.But the path there was anything but straightforward. Anna was rejected by YC four times, initially turned down by Shark Tank, struggled to raise venture capital, navigated a painful co-founder split, and spent years hearing that her cat DNA company would never work.In this episode, Anna shares how she turned that rejection into fuel, what she learned from Kevin O'Leary and Shark Tank, why founders should start building relationships with potential acquirers years before an exit, and what life after selling a company actually feels like.Now a General Partner at Ani.VC, Anna also shares what she's seeing next in pet tech and why she believes Miami could become a global hub for the industry.

Grubby -  the award-winning plant-based meal kits and ready meals delivered to your door -  went from a £23M valuation and rapid growth TO around 140 VC rejections, losses of more than £1m in a year and a point where the founder says the business was probably only weeks away from “game over.” BUT... if you need some inspiration from someone who has been through this and successfully turned things around then you're going to love this convo with founder Martin Holden-White - an unusually open conversation about what it REALLY takes to turn around a scaling D2C consumer brand. Today, the picture looks very different! Grubby is heading towards roughly £6m revenue, growing around 25%, has recorded approximately six profitable months this year and is close to achieving its first break-even year. Martin shares what had to change to get there: the down round, cost cutting, greater financial transparency, bringing in stronger financial leadership, acquiring manufacturing and recipe IP from Allplants, launching ready meals and becoming far more disciplined about how growth is funded.  What You'll LearnHow Grubby went from a £23m valuation to being weeks away from failureWhy Martin now looks back at that £23m valuation as “completely bonkers”What changed to take Grubby from £1m+ annual losses towards break-even while still growingHow acquiring Allplants' manufacturing and recipe IP accelerated Grubby's move into ready mealsWhy Martin wishes he had hired a Financial Director much earlierKey Topics DiscussedGrubby's journey towards approximately £6m revenueThe danger of valuations becoming detached from business fundamentalsRaising around £6m and navigating an extreme down roundWhat happened after roughly 140 VC rejectionsCutting technology and marketing spend to change the economicsHow existing investors helped save the businessFounder dilution and protecting crowdfunding investorsThe physical impact of founder stressWhy Grubby shares its P&L internally every monthBuilding a more financially disciplined growth modelAcquiring manufacturing and recipe IP from AllplantsReady meals growing to around 20% of the business£50-ish customer acquisition costs and reducing reliance on paid socialUsing AI for menu optimisation, forecasting and waste reductionPartnerships as a route to product discovery and growthWhy Martin wishes he'd hired an FD sooner  Pasted textCommunity and review requestIf you learn anything from this chat, PLEASE share the love by sharing this episode with another founder building a challenger brand, a colleague or a mate or anyone trying to work out how to build a sharper, more focused growth model.AND! Don't forget to FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE to Brand Growth Heroes on your favourite podcast app, and even LEAVE A REVIEW - both of these actions make a MASSIVE difference to our mission to help more founders just like you.IF you leave a review with your name and I can find you on LinkedIn, I promise to write to say thanks!*** Thanks to Brand Growth Heroes' podcast sponsor — Joelson, the commercial law firm ***If you're a founder, you already know how much energy goes into building the perfect product, creating standout branding and connecting with consumers.But scaling a CPG business also brings legal complexities that can make or break your growth journey - from contracts and regulatory compliance to protecting your intellectual property.That's why we're proud to partner with Joelson, the leading commercial law firm with 10000s of hours experience supporting the founders of scaling consumer brands, just like you.Joelson works with brands like Little Moons, Trip, Eat Natural, Bear Graze and Pulsin, and advised the innocent founders on their landmark sale to Coca-Cola - and they still work with them at JamJar Investments today!Joelson is offering a FREE LEGAL CONSULTATION to all BGH listeners (https://joelsonlaw.com/contact/bookings/ We HIGHLY recommend you take them up on it, you'll learn a LOT. (Don't forget to let them know you booked becauase you listened to Brand Growth Heroes)********Follow Brand Growth Heroes to learn more from fab founders scaling Challenger Brands:Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/brandgrowthheroes)LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/brand-growth-heroes/?viewAsMember=true)Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/@brandgrowthheroes)Find out more about the programmes and courses Fiona runs here (https://www.brandgrowthheroes.com/mini-mba-2026)Join the NextGen CPG WhatsApp group for founders leaning in to the value that a leadership approach to engaging with AI can unlock for businesses like yours. https://mailchi.mp/fionafitzconsulting.com/building-ai-native-challenger-cpg-brandsCreditsThanks to our Sound Engineer Gyp Buggane at Ballagroove.com and the entire BGH team. 

SummaryDom Beveridge, Founder of 20for20, returns to Modern Multifamily for the eighth edition of his annual white paper, built on 20 structured, open-ended interviews with multifamily executives. Host Mike Wolber, Chief Sales Officer at Apartment List, digs into the word that kept surfacing this year (exhaustion), why a balance sheet industry finds three years of P&L focus so draining, and how centralization now looks settled for owner operators while third party managers still depend on their owners to roll it out.The conversation then turns to tech bloat: community managers with more than 40 logins, the third of operators now running tech freezes and shedding applications, the VC funding model that quietly drives over-buying, and the 6 companies Dom calls AI first, who are configuring their organizations around automation instead of buying widgets. Dom closes with his early read on 2027: a possible peak in the proptech VC wave and a push to simplify the resident application process. For multifamily operators, marketers and anyone selling technology into real estate.Chapters00:00 Why a digital leasing assistant isn't an AI strategy00:46 The 20for20 thesis after eight editions03:15 Owner operators versus third party managers on centralization05:36 Exhaustion becomes the word of the year09:39 Tech bloat, tech freezes and cutting 40 apps to 2014:50 Shifting sands for proptech vendors17:52 The VC model and the tech bloat trade-off20:18 AI first operators versus widget buyers26:27 Conversion rates when AI nurtures every lead32:06 The 2027 outlook: peak VC and simpler applicationsTakeaways- Exhaustion is structural: a balance sheet industry has spent 3 years focused on NOI while also changing how it operates, and the same second-half recovery has been predicted 3 years running.- Community managers routinely carry more than 40 logins, and getting rid of technology is at least as hard as acquiring it.- About a third of operators now treat shedding tech as a formal initiative, with tech freezes and one large owner operator cutting from the low 40s to under 20 applications.- The VC model that gives startups access to LP operators creates an incentive to roll out software most portfolio companies will never grow into.- AI first operators configure the organization around automation and ask software to tell them how to improve, while most of the industry still reflexively buys widgets like a digital leasing assistant.Connect with the GuestDom Beveridge LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dombeveridge/Company Website: https://20for20.com

Roughly 70% of U.S. substations were built before modern digital technology. Now AI, renewables, batteries, and EVs are forcing a century-old grid to become something fundamentally different.Company bio:NovaTech Automation provides automation, monitoring, and control technology for electric utilities, with equipment in roughly 25% of U.S. substations. Founded in 1979, the family-owned company helps utilities modernize aging infrastructure while integrating increasingly complex power sources and loads.Guest bio:Conrad Oakey is CEO of NovaTech Automation and the second generation to lead the 45-year-old company. A Duke MBA, he has helped expand the business while navigating utility sales, acquisitions, succession, and technological change.Seven things you'll learn in this episode:Why the grid must shift from “plan and predict” to “sense and respond.”Why 4% power-demand growth changes the economics of grid innovation.How to sell new technology into deeply risk-averse utilities.Why customer pull matters more than technically elegant innovation.How a $10K product can expand into a $100K integrated solution.Why buying an established business can beat starting from zero.Why NovaTech kills roughly 98 of every 100 product ideas.--Are you a VC- or PE-backed CEO building in energy, infrastructure, or climate tech?Join 45 CEOs and 45 investors and post-exit founders who help each other make better decisions on capital, strategy, scaling, and leadership.See if the CEO community is a fit → entrepreneursforimpact.comGet smarter on energy, infrastructure, and climate tech in 2 minutes.Join 40,000+ professionals getting practical insights on startups, investing, commercialization, strategy, and leadership.Get the free newsletter → entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comHelp more people find this podcast.If this episode was useful, take 20 seconds to follow the show or leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps bring these conversations to more entrepreneurs, investors, and executives.

In this episode, host David Goldman speaks with legendary graphics chip architect Raja Koduri, who explains why every gigawatt of AI infrastructure now costs $50 to $60 billion, and why China's goal of doing it for under $10 billion is the real threat to Western AI. Raja twice led graphics at AMD, directed Apple's graphics architecture and was chief architect at Intel. He argues that the real AI race isn't Nvidia vs. Google vs. Broadcom but China vs. the rest of the world, and that the new bottleneck isn't compute. It's memory.In this conversation, Raja joins TechSurge to talk about his new startup Oxmiq, which aims to turn "electrons to tokens super efficiently." He covers how 3D-stacked, hybrid-bonded memory could deliver 10x the bandwidth of today's HBM, why AI agents are changing how chips get designed, and why he thinks the next disruption to AI data centers "comes from the bottom."The conversation covers:✅ Why every gigawatt of AI infrastructure costs $50 to $60 billion, and where the $45 billion in hardware spend goes✅ The $24 trillion capital question: 400+ gigawatts of new compute needed by 2030✅ How China's under-$10 billion per gigawatt target creates a 5 to 6x cost gap✅ Why memory hierarchy, not raw compute, is now the real bottleneck in AI✅ How advanced packaging can unlock 10x bandwidth and 10x token generation, even on older 7nm nodes✅ Why OpenAI's Jalapeño chip shows that AI can speed up silicon design✅ Why the value of experienced engineers has gone up 100x in the age of AI coding agents✅ Leadership lessons from Steve Jobs at Apple and Lisa Su at AMD✅ Why Intel's decision to kill 3D XPoint memory came at "the wrong time"✅ Boom or bust: the financial engineering risk behind the AI infrastructure buildout✅ Token factories vs. token banks: why "the more boring you make it, the more it becomes fabulous"Guest Links: Raja Koduri: Founder of Oxmiq. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raja-koduri-3a51611X: https://x.com/RajaXgOxmiq: https://oxmiq.ai Further Reading and ResourcesOpenAI and Broadcom announcement: https://openai.com/index/openai-broadcom-jalapeno-inference-chip/High Bandwidth Memory (HBM): The memory technology Raja's AMD team helped bring to market with HBM1 and HBM2, and the benchmark Oxmiq's 3D-stacked approach aims to beat by 10x. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Bandwidth_Memory Intel 3D XPoint (Optane): The discontinued memory technology Raja says could have made Intel a major player in the inference era. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_XPoint Chapters00:00 - A Gigawatt of AI Now Costs $60 Billion01:58 - Introducing Raja Koduri02:02 - What Oxmiq Builds: Electrons In, Tokens Out05:18 - The $24 Trillion AI Infrastructure Bill06:05 - China vs. the Rest of the World09:10 - Memory Is the New Bottleneck22:03 - How AI Agents Are Changing Chip Design36:30 - Lessons From Steve Jobs and Lisa Su44:54 - Advanced Packaging, Memory Prices, and Intel's Mistake55:38 - Boom or Bust: The Future of Token FactoriesAbout TechSurge:TechSurge Podcast shares the latest insights directly from legendary Silicon Valley leaders, daring new founders, and visionary technologists.

Jeff Mains sits down with Carl Lenocker, a 30-year enterprise software veteran who started in Silicon Valley in the '80s, survived the dot-com bust, and now consults founders on what actually creates durable companies. Carl delivers a sobering assessment: more than 90% of the AI companies being built today could be reproduced by a larger competitor in six months or less. The conversation covers why distribution matters more than product, why "get acquired" is a hope masquerading as a plan, the disappearing apprenticeship pipeline and what it quietly breaks inside organizations, how AI "second brains" may replace tribal knowledge transfer, and what software might look like in 10 years when bespoke AI-generated tools could replace the SaaS model entirely. Carl also shares lessons from his book Success Plan for Life, his contrarian investment philosophy, and why he'd rather put money in apartment complexes than most small AI startups right now.Key Takeaways[4:18] — 90%+ of AI companies being built today could be reproduced by a larger competitor in about six months.[7:08] — Distribution matters 100x more than the product when anyone can build something.[8:35] — Rumors of SaaS being dead are completely overblown — AI is amplifying software roles, not eliminating them.[11:41] — Entry-level jobs have fallen off a cliff, and the loss of mentorship-style apprenticeships may cost companies in 5–10 years.[16:44] — Enterprise clients are greenlighting 8–10 AI platforms but expect to consolidate to 1–2 by 2027 — value and outcomes will decide who survives.[19:13] — Carl would rather invest in apartment complexes right now than small AI software companies, because most lack a defensible moat.[22:35] — Fundamentals matter: companies without a path to profitability, like pets.com, fail regardless of the hype surrounding them.[24:40] — Executive presence without a successful product is putting the cart before the horse — build the business first, hire the presence later.[30:49] — "Get acquired" is not a plan; most founders don't respect how hard acquisition actually is.[34:57] — Splunk's T-shirt marketing campaign is a masterclass in creative distribution and brand-building.[37:19] — Human-to-human relationships and sales skills are the most AI-proof skills you can invest in right now.[39:13] — In 5–10 years, software could become bespoke — AI agents building custom, self-maintaining solutions tailored to each company.Tweetable Quotes[7:02] Carl Lenocker: "If you could vibe code it in your basement, a major firm could probably have what you've built in six months."[7:28] Jeff Mains: "Distribution mattered way more than the product, and I think that is 100 times more true today than it's ever been."[8:35] Carl Lenocker: "The rumors of SaaS being dead are completely overblown."[19:13] Jeff Mains: "You'd rather put money in apartment complexes right now than a small AI software company."[26:08] Carl Lenocker: "People who put executive presence in front of having a successful product and a path to profitability are putting the cart before the horse."[32:25] Carl Lenocker: "Getting acquired is hard, and most people do not give it the respect it's due."[37:25] Carl Lenocker: "Everything good in my life came from having a plan. Second to that, everything good came from relationships."[37:55] Carl Lenocker: "If you're young and want to prevent your job from being taken by AI, invest in relationship building and sales skills."SaaS Leadership Lessons1. Distribution is the real moat. When anyone can build a product — and AI makes that faster every day — the companies that win are the ones that own distribution. Carl notes he could build a million-dollar company with one good SDR, one closer, and a product person, regardless of what the product actually is. If your go-to-market strategy is an afterthought, your company will be too.2. Tie every customer investment to a measurable outcome. Carl's 15+ years in customer success taught him that renewals live or die on value realization. Whether a client is writing a $50 million check or a $50,000 check, the question is always the same: did they see 2x, 3x, 4x the value of what they're paying? In the AI gold rush, companies theorizing future value will eventually have to prove it — and the ones who can't will be cut.3. Build a path to profitability from day one. The pets.com cautionary tale still applies. Hype without fundamentals is a time bomb. Carl's contrast between pets.com (no shipping infrastructure, no plan to ever make money) and Amazon (Bezos building distribution centers while everyone laughed) is the exact lens founders should use on their own AI startups today. Growth at all costs is no longer a viable strategy.4. "Get acquired" is not a plan — build like you're running it for a decade. Doug Merritt, former CEO of Splunk, said it best: people don't understand how hard it is to get acquired. Many founders take VC money, face mounting dilution, miss their growth apex, and end up sold to a hedge fund that fires 80% of employees. Build a company you'd want to run for 10–20 years. If someone wants to acquire it anyway, that's a bonus — not a strategy.5. Executive presence is hireable; product and revenue are not. Don't put charisma in front of fundamentals. Alex Karp at Palantir isn't charming — but he has a product that works and investors trust the results. Steve Jobs was known to be difficult. Bill Gates, same. Elizabeth Holmes had the presence but not the product. You can always hire a seasoned executive to sit across from clients. You can't hire your way out of a product nobody wants.6. Invest in human relationships — your most AI-proof skill. As AI writes emails, sends IMs, and soon handles calls, the ability to take someone to dinner, build genuine trust, and navigate a human-to-human conversation toward business outcomes becomes increasingly rare and valuable. Carl's advice to young professionals: relationship building and sales skills are where you should invest, because AI can fake empathy but it can't build real trust. Everything good in his career came from having a plan and, second to that, from relationships.Guest Resourcescarl.lenocker@gmail.comSuccessPlanforLife.comRockstarCSM.cominstagram.com/SuccessPlanforLifeEpisode SponsorThe Futureproof Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfkXKUPZ5xuOqMPR7_gzGybncTtavyR1NThe Captain's KeysSmall Fish, Big Pond – https://smallfishbigpond.com/ Use the promo code ‘SaaSFuel'Champion Leadership Group – https://championleadership.com/https://jeffmains.com/books/SaaS Fuel ResourcesWebsite - https://championleadership.com/Jeff Mains on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkmains/Twitter - https://twitter.com/jeffkmainsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/thesaasguy/Instagram - https://instagram.com/jeffkmains

Most firms think their competition is the CPA office down the street. Jody Padar, co-founder of XcelLabs and the original Radical CPA, says that is not even close. In this episode, she joins Tom Wadelton and Adam Hale to talk about why AI's real job in accounting is making CPAs more human, not replacing them, and how her company built a coaching tool that scores advisors on authenticity and clarity instead of billable hours.Key Takeaways:The real competition isn't another firm. Jody says most CPAs are still comparing themselves to the firm down the street, when the actual threat is a FinTech or a VC-backed startup building a firm from a blank sheet of paper.Navi coaches the human, not the workflow. Jody's company, XcelLabs, built Navi to listen to advisory calls and score CPAs on authenticity, clarity, and impact instead of billable hours.Practice the hard conversation before you have it live. Navi lets CPAs rehearse a pricing conversation or advisory pitch against an AI client before ever picking up the phone with a real one.Humanness is the differentiator for 2030. As AI takes over routine compliance work, Jody argues the CPAs who thrive will be the ones who lead with authentic, well trained client relationships.Episode resources: ● XcelLabs Academy: http://www.xcellabsacademy.com ● If you have questions or would like to be a guest on the show, email us at mcpasuccessshow@anderscpa.com ● Check out the Virtual CFO Playbook Course: https://anderscpa.com/virtual-cfo-services/vcfo-playbook/Quotes:Jody Padar: "It is going to be our humanness."Jody Padar: "Most CPAs don't realize their competition isn't another firm. It's a FinTech or a VC-backed startup that just got a bazillion dollars to build a new firm with a blank slate of paper."Adam Hale: "We have to move to more of a simulation, just like flight. If you learn to fly, they're not throwing you in the airplane and saying, hey, figure it out. They're putting you in something where you can get hands-on experience."Tom Wadelton: "Tons of people are going to come and say, I can give you better-looking dashboards and data, but it's the person who's saying, yeah, but we'll have the conversation in the wisdom."About the Guest Jody Padar, CPA, known as The Radical CPA, is a leading voice in accounting transformation. She pioneered the cloud firm model and has been named to Accounting Today's Top 100 Most Influential People list for more than a decade. A three-time author and sought-after advisor, Jody has helped firms evolve across traditional practices, cloud models, and fintech startups, including Botkeeper and April.Today, she co-founded XcelLabs, where she leads AI-X, an AI-powered firm model helping CPA firms move beyond automation and build future-ready leadership.Website: http://www.xcellabsacademy.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jody-padar-18a9711/About the Hosts Tom Wadelton is a Virtual CFO at Anders, bringing over 20 years of financial expertise from his tenure at a Fortune 500 company. He has extensive experience spanning financial management, accounting operations, and information technology integration. Tom specializes in delivering strategic Virtual CFO services, helping businesses optimize their financial performance through advanced accounting solutions. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomwadelton/ Adam Hale, CPA, is a Partner and Managing Director of Advisory at Anders, dedicated to transforming traditional accounting practices through innovative Virtual CFO services. With over 20 years in public accounting, Adam has been instrumental in the ideation and development of CPA training courses. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamhalecpa/About the Show The Modern CPA Success Show is the go-to podcast for accounting firm owners eager to enhance profitability and master Virtual CFO services. This podcast leverages combined expertise in delivering top-tier Virtual CFO services across North America.Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2458888Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndersCPALinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/anders-cpa/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anderscpa/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@andersvcfo#VirtualCFO #AccountingAI #CPAFirmGrowth

To close out this miniseries we wanted to make sure to include the perspective of one of the most important parties, the startup founder. These are the people we invest into, we learn from and follow the journey of over time. It was our pleasure to be joined by Sharon Chen of Persimmon Systems and Laura Bogaert of (former) Tracer/OpenSRE.The Associated Syndicate participated in the friends and family (i.e. earliest possible financing round) of both companies. We learned so much from this episode including:The “Soft ROI” of Angels vs. The “VC Timer”: How early-stage angel capital provides high-impact “soft value” — acting as WhatsApp sounding boards and providing niche industry unlocks—without immediately starting the ticking clock and pressure of institutional VC milestones.The 3-Tiered Angel Pyramid: How founders evaluate their cap table, categorising investors from “Check Writers” (who invest on vibes and gut belief) to “Network Connectors” and “Strategic Brainstormers.”Navigating Legal & Admin Realities: Tactical lessons on successfully securing UK SEIS/EIS tax benefits under a Delaware Topco structure, and why setting up your administrative paperwork early saves you from having your bank hold up an investment wire until you upload LinkedIn screenshots to prove you're real-life friends!War Stories from the Trenches: From Laura literally sprinting for 20 minutes across town to jump on our syndicate pitch call breathless, to Sharon's full-circle journey from syndicate investor to raising over $2M for Persimmon Systems.Lastly, we want to share our heartfelt gratitude that you stuck with us this short season. Now, we would like to hear from you! How were the episodes? What were the least and most favourite?Until next time,DB & FB

AI分析による3人の変化は… 最も安定した存在は欠席2回、理由は全部寝坊。最長モノローグ王は均等な会話者に。不在期を経てAI実装者としてV字回復へ。「200回最大の変化」の指摘に3人とも首をかしげつつ、4年分の3人の話の交差点を振り返ります。02:11 たいてい3ヶ月でフェードアウトして続かないのに、週1で4年・200回達成04:30 リニューアルしたウェブサイトにお便り欄を作ってみたので、感想やコメントもらえたらうれしい07:41 AIで下書き＋人間手直しの概要＆タイトル、判定サービスPangramでは「100%人間」10:04 Anthropicが発表したテキストの電子透かし、仕組みは言葉のゆらぎや言葉選びの偏り13:38 XCrossingの今までの200回分をAIに分析してもらったので見てみよう13:50 上野：最も安定した存在、発言占有率25%→40%、テックから歌舞伎・香りへ（見えた"本当の好き"）15:04 及川：不在期を経てAIの実装者としてV字回復、技術の語り部からAIを使う実践方法中心へ15:51 関：最大の語り手から均等な会話者。最長モノローグ王、VC実務の話が中心に17:09 AI分析が指摘する「200回最大の変化」に、当の3人は首をかしげる23:58 クルマのマニュアルを読む代わりにダッシュボードを写真に撮ってAIに聞くだけになった技術の進化27:36 Logic Proの間詰め作業をComputer Useで完了、それでも手を入れるのはこだわりか執着か30:53 書籍をAIに書かせて ”こだわりがない” と思っていても、表現へのこだわりはやっぱりある33:45 実はXCrossingの説明を「テックとクリエイティブの交差点です」的に変えた41:58 これからの抱負：死なない、好きなことを思ったように話す、新しいことを始めるエピソード内で取り上げた情報へのリンク： 数字で見るXCrossing XCrossingへのお便りはこちらから===テック業界で働く3人が、テクノロジーとクリエイティブに関するトピックを、視点を行き交わしながら語り合います。及川卓也 @takoratta プロダクトマネジメントとプロダクト開発組織づくりの専門家 自己紹介エピソード ep1, ep2関信浩 @NobuhiroSeki アメリカ・ニューヨークでスタートアップ投資を行う、何でも屋 自己紹介エピソード ep52上野美香 @mikamika59 マーケティング・プロダクトマネジメントを手掛けるフリーランス 自己紹介エピソード ep53 https://x-crossing.com

Pendant des années, la fin heureuse d'une startup tenait en une phrase : se faire racheter par un grand groupe. Aujourd'hui, les startups signent de l'autre côté du chèque.Dans cet épisode, pas de musique, pas d'entrepreneur cédant face à moi. Pour la première fois, on passe de l'autre côté de la table : celui de l'acheteur.Nicolas Rose est managing partner chez XAnge, qui finance des startups depuis plus de vingt ans. Avec Buy to Grow, le playbook M&A que XAnge consacre aux fondateurs européens, il documente un mouvement de fond : dix fois plus de rachats menés par des startups financées par du VC en dix ans.On parle de ce qui distingue une startup acheteuse d'un grand groupe, de la question qui décide de tout (cash ou papier ?), de l'intégration, là où la valeur se fait ou se défait, et de ce que l'IA change dans l'arbitrage « buy or build ».Et puisque, pour une fois, j'avais un VC face à moi : que se passe-t-il quand le dernier investisseur entré bloque une cession ? Qu'est-ce qui pousse un fonds à débrancher un fondateur ?Les acheteurs et les vendeurs commencent à se confondre. Autant comprendre les deux.Pour télécharger le playbook M&A consacré aux fondateurs européen, c'est juste ici

Stephen Ippolito shares his path from $5B+ in investment banking M&A to founding Veritus and launching the Human Health Platform, an ecosystem focused on shaping investable healthcare companies earlier than traditional VC. Stephen breaks down the stark differences between PE-backed and family-owned transactions, why founder psychology and identity can make or break outcomes, and what he looks for in first-time leaders—especially the balance of EQ and IQ, coachability, and healthy co-founder dynamics. The conversation dives into why too much healthcare innovation dies in academia, the need for better IP audits and university commercialization programs, and the case for combining complementary startups to unlock disproportionate value. Stephen also offers a blunt reality check on succeeding in U.S. healthcare: know your true customer, distribution, and incentives—then build accordingly.Stephen Ippolit LinkedInHuman Health Platform LinkedInHuman Health Platform Website“Good to Great” by Jim CollinsDuane Mancini LinkedInProject Medtech WebsiteProject Medtech LinkedInThank you to our sponsors: Ward Law, Wheelhouse DMG, and JumpStart Inc.

Marie Lepske brings a combination that's genuinely rare in venture: a background in applied mathematics and physics, early experience covering quantum at Runa Capital before most generalist funds knew the field existed, and now a GP seat at Constructor Capital, which closed a $110M Fund I in February 2026 with more than half its capital directed toward next-generation computing including quantum. She backed Qnami at Runa — a quantum sensing company acquired by Quantum Design in June 2026, one of the few clean sensing exits the field has produced — and Constructor's portfolio includes QuEra, which raised over $230M in a round led by Google Quantum AI and SoftBank.The conversation matters now because the quantum investment landscape is genuinely changing. SPAC activity, mega-rounds from hyperscalers, and rising valuations are pulling in non-specialist capital at the same time that the science is getting harder to evaluate from the outside. Lepske is one of the people who has to navigate that tension every day, and she's willing to name the failure modes.Founders building quantum or deep-tech companies, investors trying to understand where specialist and generalist capital intersect, and technically curious listeners who want to understand how the business side of quantum actually works will all find this episode useful.What We Get IntoWhy technical training matters at the earliest stages — and what it actually buys you when a founding team's only asset is a laboratory and an optical table, before there's even a legal entityHow the specialist-versus-generalist divide is evolving — Lepske's 2022 argument that early-stage quantum would stay specialist territory, and how she reads the arrival of Google, SoftBank, and NVIDIA in QuEra's cap tableThe due diligence framework for pre-product science startups — team provenance, patent landscape, IP legal review, and how Constructor uses its scientific advisory board to validate founders they can't fully assess internallyWhat a "no" looks like — the specific signals that make Constructor wait rather than invest, including teams with strong science but no credible path to market and IP positions that are already crowdedThe Qnami exit and what it reveals about quantum sensing — why sensing applications are currently concentrated in R&D markets, which verticals Lepske thinks will break out first, and why sensing competes with computing for buyer attentionThe SPAC problem — why the wave of quantum public listings concerns her, and why evaluating roadmap credibility requires the kind of deep familiarity that takes years to buildHow Constructor supports portfolio companies beyond capital — executive hiring, software development guidance, co-investor introductions, and the limits of that hands-on modelAI and quantum as parallel tracks — why she doesn't see AI as cannibalizing quantum talent or capital, and where she thinks the two fields will eventually convergeResources & LinksGuest & FundMarie Lepske — LinkedIn — Primary professional profile; includes keynote highlights and 2026 speaking engagementsConstructor Capital — Official Website — Fund homepage with portfolio listings, team bios, and investment thesis across DeepTech, Software Tech, and Knowledge TechConstructor Capital Fund I Close (Tech.eu, Feb 2026) — Coverage of the $110M close, check sizes ($1–10M, select up to $15M), and the university sourcing networkPortfolio Companies ReferencedQuEra — $230M+ Financing Round Announcement — The round led by Google Quantum AI and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with NVIDIA's NVentures participatingQnami Acquisition by Quantum Design (The Quantum Insider, June 2026) — The sensing exit discussed in the episode; context on what a quantum sensing acquisition looks likeBackground ReadingQuantum Computing Report — "Venture Capital Trends in Quantum Technologies" (Runa Capital, 2022) — Lepske's co-authored market analysis, the source of her "specialist VC" thesis discussed in the episodeConstructor Capital — "Quantum Investing Playbook" (Nov 2025) — Her Paris keynote on making successful quantum investments; source of the valuation figures cited in the conversationEntangled Future — Quantum Computing Funding & Investment Landscape 2026 — Context on the $4.9B private VC figure for 2025 and the broader public commitment landscapeRecent Constructor NewsConstructor Start Demo Day Finalists (The Quantum Insider, Sept 2026) — Quantum startups among the 16 finalists announced one week before this recordingKey Quotes & InsightsOn what early-stage diligence actually looks like: > "They have only laboratory, and they have optical table which they want to show to you and you should understand if they have some interesting and useful patents or they can file them during the next one to two years."On where specialist and generalist capital divide: > "These bigger players, they're coming later. They're coming when we already investigated that this particular technology and this particular team actually could win."On the SPAC problem: > "It's very difficult for [non-specialist investors] to evaluate if they're doing proper investment or not, or if this valuation is good or not… You should be able to find out these roadmaps and to understand if this is a real roadmap or just written for the SPAC."Insight — sensing vs. computing for buyer attention: Lepske observes that quantum sensing is structurally underappreciated relative to computing, not because the products aren't real, but because governments and corporates perceive computing as the larger prize — which she suggests is not obviously correct.Insight — quantum talent scarcity as a leading indicator: She notes that quantum computing companies are now competing for talent the way AI companies did four or five years ago, with roughly 400–450 relevant laboratories globally — a number that puts the field's scale in sharp relief.Related EpisodesEp. 22 — Trapped Ions and Quantum VCs with Chiara Decaroli — Another physicist-turned-investor conversation; useful companion for understanding how scientific training shapes investment judgment in quantum hardwareEp. 96 —

In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, host Kevin Brent is joined by John Readman, founder of ASK BOSCO and Modo25, to explore what it really takes to turn a big idea into a focused, scalable business. John's journey offers a particularly useful lesson for founders: sometimes scaling isn't about doing more. It's about narrowing your focus. ASK BOSCO was created to tackle a problem familiar to many e-commerce businesses. Marketing teams can see return on ad spend, finance teams can see profitability, and platforms such as Google, Meta and TikTok all report their own versions of performance. But those numbers don't necessarily add up to a clear answer to the question that really matters: Where should we spend our next pound to generate the most profit? ASK BOSCO brings those disparate sources together, de-duplicates the data and helps businesses connect marketing activity with commercial performance. But the technology is only part of John's ScaleUp story. One of the standout moments in our conversation is John's account of being told that ASK BOSCO's original strategy was simply too broad. Rather than defending the original plan, the team listened, narrowed its focus and rebuilt the proposition around the Shopify ecosystem. That decision created a much clearer route to market and helped underpin a £4.1 million investment from Gresham House Ventures. The standout message Focus can be a growth strategy. The temptation when building an ambitious business is to serve more markets, add more features and pursue more opportunities. John's experience suggests the opposite can sometimes create far greater value: choose the market where you can win, remove friction and execute relentlessly. We also explore the people and culture behind the businesses. John talks about creating a high-performance environment based on trust, transparency and accountability. That includes a four-day working week on full-time pay, measuring people on outputs rather than hours, monthly visibility of KPIs and even creating a deliberate "not-to-do" list. There's an interesting influence from military discipline too: punctuality, clear processes, teamwork and people knowing what's expected of them. In this episode, we discuss: Why marketing ROAS and actual business profitability can tell very different stories How ASK BOSCO creates a clearer view of marketing performance Why linking product profitability to individual campaigns matters The decision to pivot from a broad analytics proposition to a Shopify-first strategy Why external advice can be invaluable when it challenges your assumptions Raising £4.1 million in venture capital and what investors bring beyond money Building a scalable SaaS model through the Shopify ecosystem Why human onboarding and support can be a competitive advantage in an increasingly AI-driven market Using a four-day week to focus on outputs rather than inputs Creating a "not-to-do" list to protect strategic focus Using a small number of annual "Big Rocks" to create alignment How transparency, discipline and trust shape company culture John's longer-term ambition for ASK BOSCO The one key thing... Scaling often means having the confidence to choose less. ASK BOSCO became more investable and potentially more scalable when the team stopped trying to solve the problem for everybody and committed to a clearly defined ecosystem. For founders facing dozens of apparently good opportunities, John's story is a reminder that the question isn't simply "What could we do?" It's "What should we deliberately choose not to do so we can execute the things that matter?" From more, to less, to done Most founders I speak to feel busy but frustrated. Plenty is happening, but they're not moving forward at the rate they want to. Often that's because success creates more options, pulling founders and their teams in different directions. More than 500 interviews on ScaleUp Radio have reinforced something important: the founders who scale choose less, and deliver all of it. That's what the G90 Summit is for. It's a structured half-day where we cut through everything competing for your attention, agree the three to five things that must happen in the next 90 days, and build the rhythm to make sure they do. From the frustration and chaos of more, through the discipline of less, to the rhythm of done. Quarterly. Virtual. £97 a seat. Smart90.co.uk/summit Listen to the full episode to hear John's ScaleUp journey and the lessons he's learned from building, focusing, funding and leading growing businesses. Intro Script Hi there and welcome back to another edition of ScaleUp Radio, the podcast brought to you by Smart90, inspired by the Entrepreneurial ScaleUp System and designed to make navigating our ScaleUp journeys that little bit easier by learning from others' experiences. I'm Kevin Brent and in today's episode I'm joined by John Readman, founder of ASK BOSCO and Modo25. There's a great lesson in John's story about the power of focus. ASK BOSCO started with a huge ambition, but it was narrowing the proposition to Shopify that helped unlock a scalable route to market and £4.1 million of investment. We also talk about linking marketing spend to actual profit, four-day working weeks, human support in an AI world, and why every growing business might need a "not-to-do" list. Before we get into it, most founders I speak to feel busy but frustrated. Plenty happening, but frustrated that they are not moving forward at the rate they want to. Success creates more options, pulling them and their teams in different directions. Here's what more than 500 interviews on this show have taught me: the founders who scale choose less, and deliver all of it. That's what the G90 Summit is for. A structured half-day where we cut through everything competing for your attention, agree the three to five things that must happen in the next 90 days, and build the rhythm to make sure they do. From the frustration and chaos of more, through the discipline of less, to the rhythm of done. Quarterly, virtual, £97 a seat. Smart90.co.uk/summit. Make sure you don't miss any future episodes by subscribing to ScaleUp Radio wherever you like to listen to your podcasts - and why not give us a follow. You can also nominate a guest for ScaleUp Radio if you know someone with an interesting ScaleUp story – you can find how in the shownotes. For now, continue listening for the full discussion with John. Main Episode Post – LinkedIn + Instagram Could doing less actually help your business scale faster? That's one of the big lessons from my latest ScaleUp Radio conversation with John Readman, founder of ASK BOSCO and Modo25. ASK BOSCO tackles a problem many e-commerce businesses will recognise: Google, Meta and other platforms give you plenty of marketing data, but can you confidently connect what you're spending to the profit you're actually making? John's ScaleUp journey goes much further than the technology. A few things stood out for me:

Could the way you're marketing your rental properties be costing you weeks of vacancy? In this episode of the #DoorGrowShow, Jason Hull sits down with Kori Covrigaru, co-founder of PlanOmatic, to discuss how professional listing media can help property management companies lease properties faster, reduce vacancy costs, and attract more owners. Kori shares what he's learned from more than two decades in real estate photography, including why professional photos, floor plans, and 3D tours can make such a difference in today's competitive rental market. They also discuss how outsourcing photography can save your team hours of driving and administrative work, allowing you to grow your portfolio without adding unnecessary overhead. If you're looking for ways to fill vacancies faster, improve your property management brand, and give your team more time to focus on growing the business, this episode is worth a listen. You'll Learn [02:14] Kori Covrigaru's Story and PlanOmatic [04:18] Why Professional Photos Help Properties Lease Faster [06:36] How Better Listings Attract Property Owners [10:03] Scaling Your Business Without Adding Overhead [12:28] How PlanOmatic Works and Integrates With Your Software [15:30] Photography Pricing and Who Pays for It [17:36] How AI Virtual Staging Improves Rental Listings [23:58] Providing Photography Services Across Different Markets [28:31] Building a Client-Focused Business Through Communication Quotables "But the biggest reason why it actually makes sense and there's a high ROI for our customers to use us versus what you described as properties with professional photos lease faster." — Kori Covrigaru Pasted "You attract who you are." — Jason Hull  "It's better to know that nothing is happening than to not know that something is happening." — Kori Covrigaru Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive Transcript Jason Hull (00:01) Five, four, three, two, one. All right, we're live. Hey everybody, I'm Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow. We are the world's leading and most comprehensive coaching and consulting firm for long-term residential property management entrepreneurs. We've been doing this for over 18 years, roughly about now, and we have brought innovative strategies and optimization to the property management industry.   We are on a mission here at DoorGo to transform property management business owners and their businesses. We want to transform the BS or eliminate the BS, transform the industry, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, help the best property management entrepreneurs win. And we're particularly genius at three key things: rehabbing property management companies so they make more money, optimizing their growth engines so they add more doors without having to waste money on digital marketing. And we help them figure out and get their ops dialed in so they get more freedom.   Now let's get into the show. Alright, today's guest hanging out with me here is Cory. And Corey, say your last name for me. I'm gonna try it. Kavrigaru. That is an A. Really? What how do you say it? It's Kovrigaru. Kovrigaru. It could be Kovrigaro. It's Roman.   Kori Covrigaru (01:07) That is an A. You got an A. Yeah, it's covrigaro. But you know what? It could be covrigaro. It's Romanian.   I don't speak Romanian. My father and his family were born in Romania. Means bagel maker in Romanian. Yeah, you nailed it. We're off to a good start.   Jason Hull (01:21) Interesting. Okay. He's runs bagel you know, meets bagel maker in Romanian. Okay. All right. Very cool.   Yeah, my brother Bryant actually he runs a property management business. He actually was a Mormon missionary in Romania. So he speaks Romanian. So   Kori Covrigaru (01:37) Wow.   Buona di miniatso. That means good morning. That's about, yeah, the count of 10. We can do it again. That's...   Jason Hull (01:40) There you go. That's more than I ever knew. So now everybody knows. Thank you. All right, cool. So   so Corey is the the co founder of Plan O Matic. And   Kori Covrigaru (01:54) Yes.   Jason Hull (01:55) we're gonna discuss today how high quality listing media can help properties lease faster, reduce vacancy costs, and create a better experience for both owners and prospective residents.   Corey's going to share insights for more than two decades of building one of the nation's largest real estate photography companies and what today's property manager should know about standing out in a competitive rental market. And it has gotten tough to get leasing handled in some markets right now. They've got a lot of inventory, the market shifted, it can be difficult. So we're going to get into that. All right, cool. So   Corey, give us a little background on you so those that are listening can understand what how did you get into entrepreneurism and decide to be crazy like the rest of us and start a business? And like how did this lead to Planomatic? I think it was the short answer is by necessity. I realized early.   Kori Covrigaru (02:48) I think it was the short answer is by necessity. I realized early on   that it was unemployable and in order to provide an income for myself and eventually my family, had to figure   Jason Hull (02:56) And eventually my family.   Kori Covrigaru (02:58) out how to start a business. So I got into Planomatic. I was an entrepreneur major at the first school. I attended SUNY Buffalo my freshman year. played soccer there and transferring to Western Michigan. They didn't have an entrepreneurship major there, but I kind of continued upon that path for myself. And then at some point,   Jason Hull (03:05) Buffalo, my freshman year, I played soccer there, I ended up transferring to Western Michigan. They didn't have an entrepreneurship major there, but I kind of continued upon that path for myself. And then at some   point in college I met someone who had written software or decreased work plans quickly on site, started helping him with his business, and then eventually licensed that software, started my own business, brought my co-founders on board, and then eventually we started using other software, of course. That's how I kind of got into it.   Kori Covrigaru (03:17) In college, I met someone who had written software to create floor plans quickly on site, started helping him with his business, and then eventually licensed that software, started my own business, brought my co-founders on board. And then eventually we started using other software, of course, but that's how I kind of got into it by happenstance.   Jason Hull (03:34) I knew that you know A O B was probably not for   Kori Covrigaru (03:34) But I knew that, know, J-O-B was probably not for me. And   that's what led me to the path I'm on. 22 years.   Jason Hull (03:42) Twenty   two years planomatic. Very cool. Very cool. So cool. So what is Planomatic? Yeah. So Planomatic provides professional photography, floor plans, three D scans, AI virtual staging, and more services to the single family rental property management industry nationwide at speed and at scale. So that's kind of like   Kori Covrigaru (03:50) Yeah. So Plan-O-Matic provides professional photography, floor plans, 3D scans, AI virtual staging, and more services to the single family rental property management industry nationwide at speed and at scale. So that's kind of like our...   you know, if you're familiar with EOS or traction, that's our, that's our elevator pitch. We provide professional photography floor plan, 3D scans, AI virtual for single family rental specifically. We did use to service the for sale by agent space or the traditional real estate agent that sells homes. And we actually pivoted a hundred percent to the single family rental property management industry in   Jason Hull (04:09) You know, if you're familiar with EOS or traction, that's our that's our elevator pitch. We provide photography floor technology scans for single family rentals specifically. We did use to service the for sale by agent space or the traditional real estate agent that sells homes and we actually pivoted a hundred percent to the single family rental, property management industry.   Kori Covrigaru (04:32) 2020, 21, sort of around that time.   Jason Hull (04:36) Okay, okay, got it. So three D scans, pro photography, speed, scale. So for property managers, why is it important to do this stuff well? Why can't they just send out one of their team members that's got an iPhone and just sort of wing it? Okay. Well there's there's a lot are a lot of reasons why that's not the optimal solution.   Kori Covrigaru (04:57) Well, there's a lot. There are a lot of reasons why that's not the optimal solution. Now, look,   I'm not going to say that, you know, it's the same for every property manager and every price range and every market across the U.S. That's not the case. But generally speaking, windshield time is what really cuts into profits.   Jason Hull (05:05) same for every property manager and every price range and every market across the US. But generally speaking, windshield time is is what really cuts into   Kori Covrigaru (05:18) And so what we're able to do is reduce that windshield time. That saves money and makes you more efficient.   We also save a lot of the back office having to download, upload photos, color correct them, download them, sort them, upload them to that folio, build them, rent, find wherever your PMS is. And so we save a ton of time by being integrated with your property management software. But the biggest reason why it actually makes sense and there's a high ROI for our customers to use us versus what you described as properties with professional photos lease faster.   Jason Hull (05:31) Upload photos, color correct them, download them, sort them, upload them, tab folio, building, random, wherever your PMS is. And so we save a ton of time by being integrated with your property management software. But the biggest reason why it actually makes sense and there's a high ROI for our customers to use us versus what you described is properties with professional photos leads   faster.   Kori Covrigaru (05:55) So   we're   able to get out to your property often same day or next day and deliver those assets the day later. So that's like an average of two and a half days from order to delivery when you can have professional leasing photos up on the Zillow platform, up on apartments.com or wherever else you   Jason Hull (05:56) Yeah. We're able to get out to your property often the same day or next day and deliver those assets the day later. So that's like an average of two and a half days from order to delivery and then you can have professional leasing photos up on the Zillow platform, up on Parliament.com, or where   Kori Covrigaru (06:11) may advertise your single family rentals. so by reducing the windshield time and the time it actually takes to get those photos on, we can reduce the time by about 14 days.   Jason Hull (06:12) else you may advertise your scene family rentals. And so by reducing the the windshield time and the time it actually takes to get those photos up, we can reduce the time by about 14 days   and lease that property about 10 days faster once it hits the market with those pro photos.   Kori Covrigaru (06:22) and lease that property about 10 days faster once it hits the market with those pro photos.   Jason Hull (06:27) So two weeks two weeks less. Two weeks less. On average it takes about two weeks from rent ready to get professional listing photos up on the portal. We can do that for you in two to two and half days.   Kori Covrigaru (06:30) Two weeks less on average, takes about two weeks from rent ready to get professional listing photos up on the portal. We can do that for you in two to two and a half days. And   then we can also save your team time so that they're not dealing with going out to   Jason Hull (06:39) And you can also save your team time so that they're not dealing with   Kori Covrigaru (06:42) a property and taking photos and uploading them in the background and doing all that stuff. They can focus on tenants or maintenance issues or communicating with owners or just not have to grow your staff as fast as you grow your business.   Jason Hull (06:47) tenants or maintenance or or communicating with owners or just not have to grow your staff as fast as you grow business.   Got it. So it this gives you leverage, especially during times where leasing gets heavy like the summer and there's an increase in workload and workflow happening, then you can just outsource this piece and get people get really somebody else handling this, which is planomatic, get get photos handled, you know, quickly and get things, you know   Get the property leased a lot faster. Leased a lot faster. I mean it's really at this point it's table sticks, right? In this environment especially.   Kori Covrigaru (07:17) Lease a lot faster. I mean, it's really at this point, it's table stakes, right? In this environment, especially where everything   is so competitive, it's taking a lot more to lease a property. You actually, you need professional   Jason Hull (07:25) Yeah,   Kori Covrigaru (07:28) photos to compete out there. And I really, didn't even mention there is another layer to why it's important to market your properties professionally. That's because that's the first impression that potential owners that may want to hire you see online. I mean, you're dirty laundries out there, right? Like they see how you treat your existing portfolio, your existing.   Jason Hull (07:30) And I I really I didn't even mention there there is another layer to why it's important to market your properties professionally, and that's because that's the first impression that potential owners that may want to hire you see online. Your your very laundry's out there, right? Like they see how you treat your existing portfolio, your existing   Kori Covrigaru (07:47) and the doors that you manage, and they're going to envision their property being in that same spot on your listing page or on your website. And so   Jason Hull (07:47) clients and the doors that you manage, and they're gonna envision their property being in that same spot on your listing page or on your website. Right.   Kori Covrigaru (07:55) you can really elevate your brand and brand yourself professionally by hiring a professional to do your professional property manager. It's like the same reason why you wouldn't recommend an owner or manage their own property. It could work, but it doesn't make sense as far as your time value and what you value, like what's your full-time job.   Jason Hull (07:56) you know, you can really elevate your brand and and and bring yourself professionally by hiring a professional to do the your professional property manager. It's like the same reason why you wouldn't recommend an owner or manage your own property. It could work, you know, it but but it doesn't make sense as far as your time value and what you got you know what's your what's your full time job, right? Let a professional go let them   do it better. That's kind of the way we see it.   Kori Covrigaru (08:16) Let a professional do let them do it better. That's kind of the way we see it.   Jason Hull (08:20) I I think that's a really good point. If you're a property manager listening to this and you're thinking, Well I could just do that myself   You are exactly the problem that frustrates you. These are the investors that are like, I'll just do it myself. You have to have a mindset that it makes sense to outsource to get a better quality product, that it makes sense to get an expert brought in to do expert work. And I love the idea because either you're at the top of your market and you're positioning yourself as the best and you're the best branded and you have the best photos and everything you do is the best, or you got to be the cheapest because in the middle is where you die.   Kori Covrigaru (08:56) Exactly.   Jason Hull (08:56) And that playing the game of being the cheapest and trying to do everything low cost is a great way to have a business that makes you miserable, that isn't fun to run, and isn't very attractive to the best clients. It's gonna attract cheapos. You attract who you are. And so if you want to position yourself mentally, and I coach a lot of clients on this, and if you want to position yourself mentally, you got to get graduate from being a cheapo to maybe a more normal type of buyer. And then you got to graduate from being a normal type of buyer to a premium buyer. And then you can attract everything that you want.   But if you have enough premium buyers, normal buyers, you may turn down or fire a lot of the cheapos and not even work with them. Because the people that care about having nice photos and things looking good also care about things being done well and they probably have more money to spend. They're not   Kori Covrigaru (09:41) Exactly.   Jason Hull (09:41) looking for the cheapest, ugliest option to just get it done. You don't want to be cheap. especially in an area that kind of reverberates across   Kori Covrigaru (09:45) So, yep, I agree. You don't want to be cheap. And especially in an area that kind of reverberates across the   internet that everybody can see your existing clients as well as potential clients. You just don't want that to be your brand's thing. It's like,   Jason Hull (09:54) the internet that everybody can see your existing, you know, clients as well as potential clients. You just don't want that to be your brand's thing.   Kori Covrigaru (10:03) I'm going to cut corners when it comes to marketing your properties, for example. So that's just like the elevate your brand, kind of keep your existing owners, attract new owners. That's one component of the reason why.   Jason Hull (10:07) So that's that's just like to elevate your brand, kind of keep your existing owners, attract new owners. That's one component why.   Yeah, I love it. I mean, nicer photos is nice, but I think for me the benefit as a business owner really is freeing up my team to focus on higher level tasks. They're not being sent out to go be a half ass photographer. So it because it's drive time, going out to do things, they could be getting stuff done, helping onboard new clients, getting the   things done in the office rather than just driving around taking photos. And if they're not really great at it, let an expert do it. So seems to be a no brainer. I'm a business owner   Kori Covrigaru (10:43) And again, I'm a business owner too.   Jason Hull (10:45) too.   Kori Covrigaru (10:46) You might be able to, again, not scale your people as you scale your business. I mean, that's every entrepreneur's dream, right? It's how do I keep my overhead the same as it relates to the revenue, but increase that top line in order to generate more   Jason Hull (10:49) scale your people as you scale your business. I mean, that's every entrepreneur's dream, right? So how do I keep my overhead the same as it relates to revenue, but increase that top line in order to   Kori Covrigaru (11:00) profits, right? So not having that, that, overhead, that permanent W2 employee that's driving around, insured, buying gas while they're, you know, could be doing other things.   Jason Hull (11:02) Not having that that overhead, that permanent W two that's driving around insured, buying gas while they're you know   doing other things, not doing anything at all is is   Kori Covrigaru (11:12) doing anything at all is a high cost.   Jason Hull (11:14) high costs. Yeah. yeah, yeah. You know, like our cars are often just sitting in the driveway, right? Not really doing a whole lot for us, and then we use it occasionally. And but in business you don't want team members, they're just sitting like a car in the driveway. You want them   be productive, getting stuff done and focus on the right things. And so yeah, if you have seasonal work, if photos are just something that happens occasionally, you know, or even pretty regularly, you want to be able to scale without having to just go out and hire. Hiring is one of the most costly things you will ever do. One bad hire usually costs business owners, I find, when we really dig into it, minimum 10 grand. It's 10 grand in opportunity cost, 10 grand in loss   money that's been spent on this team member for about three months before you figure out they're just not going to cut it. And so the less you have to get involved in the hiring piece and you can use a system with experts just when you need it, that is a lot more ideal. Even if it's more expensive to get that thing done, there you don't have that sunk cost of having a team member all the time that you're paying. Exactly. Keep it variable if you can cool. Business in general you can keep   Kori Covrigaru (12:20) Exactly. Keep it variable if you can. In business in general, if you can keep it variable, keep it variable.   Jason Hull (12:24) it variable   Yeah, you you mentioned table sticks. You're talking about the game where the it's who grabs the sticks first? No, it's kind of   Kori Covrigaru (12:32) No, it's kind of like poker,   you know, like required to pay if you're to play the game.   Jason Hull (12:37) Pay if   you're gonna play the game. Okay. Got it. Okay.   Kori Covrigaru (12:41) You up. It's not, you know, if you're playing poker, you have to   ante up. If you're in property management, you have to treat your listing.   Jason Hull (12:47) Got it. I'm obviously   a really seasoned poker pr player. Just kidding. So right, actually, you can tell me if I say it aloud, so I'm looking   Kori Covrigaru (12:51) I hope I get that right. Actually, you put me totally, I say it a lot. So I'm going to look that one up afterwards.   Jason Hull (12:56) at it. All right, cool. So yes, I missed the reference. All right. So very cool. So I I these are some of the benefits. How does Planomatic work? How does this how does this work? G paint the picture. Somebody signs up with you. What's the process? How are they able to leverage you and use you? How does this go?   Kori Covrigaru (13:17) There are a number of ways we are integrated with AppFolio, Buildium, and RentFine. So I integrated what I mean is you register as a Planomatic client, and then you integrate with your property management software. Your portfolio then syncs with our system so you can see   Jason Hull (13:22) Build DM and Redfine. So by integrating what I mean is you register as a priomatic client and then you integrate with your property management software. Your portfolio then syncs with our system.   Kori Covrigaru (13:33) your properties in our system, see what's for rent, what's not for rent, what has professional photos, what doesn't, and make your buying decisions that way with one click. Order photos, order photos, order photos.   Jason Hull (13:36) Rent what has professional photos, what doesn't, make your buying decisions that way with one click, order photos, order photos, order   photos. Yeah. We either dispatch our photography either same day or next day, go out, capture the content, have that content processed and photoshopped, etc., by our team and some tools that we use, and then we sync those assets back with your property management software so you can go ahead and with one click syndicate that property.   Kori Covrigaru (13:43) We then dispatch our photographer either same day or next day, go out, capture the content, have that content processed and photoshopped, et cetera, by our team and some tools that we use. And then we sync those assets back with your property management software so that you can go ahead and with one click syndicate that property as far   as the marketing photos are concerned. They appear in your account ready to go, right sort order with the right captions, the right size.   Jason Hull (14:04) Far as the marketing photos are concerned, they're appear in your account, ready to go, right? Sort order with the right captions, the right   size, etc. And so that entire process from order to delivery is average, you know, averages about two and a half days. and you don't have to download a single thing, like everything just kind of like goes the way it goes. There is another that we've just launched. Actually, this is kind of big news for us, but we've launched the ability to receive work orders now through either property meld or   Kori Covrigaru (14:11) Etc. And so that entire process from order to delivery is average, know, averages about two and a half days. And you don't have to download a single thing. Like everything is kind of like goes the way it goes. There is another way that we've just launched. Actually, this is kind of big news for us, but we've launched the ability to receive work orders now through either property meld or, or   at folio ability and rent finds. So we can actually receive work orders from our customers, just like you order a plumber.   Jason Hull (14:33) Folio ability of our device. We can actually receive work orders from our customers. Just like you order   a plumber to come out to the property, you order Planomatic to shoot photos, we receive that work order, we digest that order automatically, and then two to two and a half days later, you'll find those assets synced with your property management software ready to syndicate in the most ways that we work with our customers. And we do have larger owner operator customers that own their their rentals as well as manage them and those   Kori Covrigaru (14:38) to come out to the property, order PlanoMatic to shoot photos, we receive that work order, we digest that order automatically, and then two to two and a half days later, you'll find those assets synced with your property management software, ready to syndicate immediately. Those are the most organized that we work with our customers. And we do have larger owner operator customers that own their rentals as well as manage them. And those are kind of like we call   them enterprise clients, institutional investors.   Jason Hull (15:04) Clients, institutional investors,   Kori Covrigaru (15:06) They integrate with us in a bit of a unique way. They directly integrate with our platform versus going through property management software because they're typically on either Salesforce or Yardi or some sort of proprietary platform. So those customers have a more direct integration with us. That's pretty much, it's really easy. Just register and go ahead and integrate. You don't have to integrate. You can also just go out and place an order and we'll be there.   Jason Hull (15:07) they integrate with us in a bit of a unique way. They directly integrate with our platform versus going through property management software because we typically want either Salesforce or ERB or some sort of proprietary platform. Okay. Just register and go ahead and integrate. You don't have to integrate the just go out and place an order. Okay. Very cool. And   so if they place an order and you go out there and maybe the tenant   left something or wasn't quite ready. like there's a trash bag in the kitchen or there's something's missing or whatever. The Photoshop guys can kind of get it s that weird thing out or take care of that. It's just AI the thing and it's gone. We don't charge for something like that. We charge for object   Kori Covrigaru (15:44) But as we know today, that's kind of a lasso situation. You just kind of lasso that item. We get rid of those items, and we don't charge for something like that. We charge for object removal that's   bigger. Like if there's a car in the driveway for some reason, or there's a big trash bin, we may charge a little extra   Jason Hull (16:00) Yeah.   Kori Covrigaru (16:00) for that, because that's a little more heavy. But as long as the is vacant, we can take the photos. We can clean up a little bit of a mess.   Jason Hull (16:03) Got it. Okay.   Kori Covrigaru (16:07) It's no big deal. We can do a lot more. can AI virtual stage images, too, but declutter.   Jason Hull (16:12) Okay.   Cool. Got it. I I'm sure people listening to this are like, this sounds great. This sounds really cool, but what is the cost? Is that something you can tell talk about? Yeah, the cost in and right now we we do have a membership program, so it it does impact that and we do have a prepay and save, but Okay. But the cost is a la carte. You don't have to pay like this, you know, per month subscription. It's like literally you have an   Kori Covrigaru (16:23) Yeah, the cost in right now, we do have a membership program, so it does impact that, and we do have a prepay and save, but the cost is a la carte. You don't have to pay like this per door per month subscription. It's like literally you have an order to place with   us. Great. Go on, place one order for photography only. Our minimum there is 10 photos. You can also place an order for photos and 3D tour and a floor plan.   Jason Hull (16:40) place with us, great. Go on place one order for photography only. Our minimum there is ten photos. you can also place an order for photos and three D tour and a floor plan.   Kori Covrigaru (16:50) I believe that photos, know, everything's like for, for 15 photos, a 3d tour and a 2d floor plan. We're talking under 300 bucks per property setting. 270. It's like off the rack, 15 photos, 3d.   Jason Hull (16:51) Okay. I believe that photos, you know, everything's like for f for fifteen photos, a three D tour and a two D floor plan, we're talking under three hundred bucks. Okay. Awesome. Two seventy it's like off the rack.   Yeah, that's great. And this would be easily be something that you could   offer as part of your packages or your offerings and have the owner pay for as part of the leasing process. I was gonna backtrack and say it's free. Right. Right. You should be tweaking your owner and you should be probably marking that up for all the coordination just that you do. I mean it's transparent, but we don't really support the kickbacks or or charging more and saying, you know, tell them it was more or whatever it is, but   Kori Covrigaru (17:19) I was going to backtrack and say it's free. It's free to the property manager, right? Because you should be choosing your owner and you should be probably marking that up for all the coordination, just like you would mark up in the work that you do. mean, of course, transparently, we don't really support kickbacks or charging more and saying, you know, tell them it was more or whatever it is. But yeah, this   is something that most property managers that we work for are starting to change their process, change their owner agreement to make sure that that owner   Jason Hull (17:40) Yeah, this is something that most property managers that we work for are starting to change their process, change their owner agreement to make sure that that owner   Kori Covrigaru (17:49) pays for those marketing photos and it makes sense, right? Because once that owner picks up and leaves and takes their door with them, those photos are then obsolete, right? for the property manager. it makes a lot of sense. And a lot of owners are like, yeah, of course we need professional photos to market my property.   Jason Hull (17:50) pays for those marketing photos and it makes sense, right? Because once that owner picks up and leaves and takes a vote with them, those photos are then obsolete, right? So for the for the property managers. So it makes a lot of sense. And a lot of owners are are like, Yeah, of course we need fashion for this.   Kori Covrigaru (18:04) It's my property.   Jason Hull (18:04) Yeah, obviously.   And then if they can explain everything you just explained about the benefits of this, then to their clients, the then the owners will say, Yeah, no brainer. I should do this. I'll pay the extra money.   I'll pay and mute.   Kori Covrigaru (18:16) That should be in the agreement. mean, that's something, yeah.   Jason Hull (18:20) Got it. Okay, very cool. What else do people typically ask about Planomatic or what what else are am I are we missing? Those that are listening that might usually be curious about.   Kori Covrigaru (18:30) I you know, I don't want to call it a silver bullet because I don't   know that I believe necessarily in silver bullets. Are you, are you with me on the silver bullet thing? All right, good. Just making sure. So AI virtual staging has, has provided us with significant data that shows that it works almost like a silver bullet. mean, properties with AI virtual staging just lease faster. get more showings, more, more.   Jason Hull (18:35) Silver bullets? Are you are you with me on a silver bullet thing? Yeah, yeah. So AI virtual staging has has provided us with significant data that shows that it works almost like a silver bullet. I mean, yeah. Properties with AI virtual staging just lease faster. They get more showings, more   more applications, and it's been kind of wild.   Kori Covrigaru (18:59) and it's been kind of wilder.   That's something that we've seen from our institutional folks. They take a lot more time to research ROI on specific products that we offer. one of the...   Jason Hull (19:02) That's something that we've seen from our institutional folks. They take a lot more time   to research on RLI on specific products that we offer. So everybody knows kind of what staging is, right? If you're selling a home and it's usually a more expensive home, you call a company a staging company and they'll bring a big U-Haul with a bunch of furniture and they'll come and they'll drop it off and they'll put it in, and then you'll have your listing photos taken, right? Because listing photos look so much better.   Kori Covrigaru (19:12) Yeah. So everybody knows kind of what staging is, right? If you're selling a home and it's usually a more expensive home, you call a company, a staging company, and they'll bring a big U-Haul with a bunch of furniture and they'll come and they'll drop it off and they'll put it in. And then you'll have your listing photos taken, right? Because listing photos look so much better with   furniture. Well, for the longest time, we've been able to virtually stage real estate photos. We've had to do it with a human being and that costs a lot. You know, that costs a lot.   Jason Hull (19:32) furniture, well for the longest time we've been able to virtually stage real estate photos. We've had to do it with a human being and that's cost a lot, you know, that   costs a lot more money. But today the advances of AI and we see it all you know commercials on TV and everything, we can virtually stage and by virtual stage I mean s like take a a photo of a vacant room. Yeah. Go go to our staging vendor, a software company, click a button, choose   Kori Covrigaru (19:42) But today, with the advances of AI and we see it all over commercials on TV and everything, we can virtually stage. And by virtually stage, mean, take a photo of a vacant room, go to our staging vendor, a software company, click a button, choose between   Jason Hull (20:00) between various different styles for staging. Okay. And then it actually places that furniture in the image and and you and it looks like s it's scary how real   Kori Covrigaru (20:00) various different styles for staging. And then it actually places that furniture in the image and it looks like it's scary how real it looks.   Jason Hull (20:09) it looks. Right, yeah. And so when you have when they have properties that are are staged or virtually staged, and we label them virtually staged just   Kori Covrigaru (20:11) And so when you have, when you have properties that are staged or virtually staged and we label them virtually staged just to make sure that.   Jason Hull (20:18) to make sure that you've got the virtual staging in the photos. Does this show up in the three D tour or stuff like that? It doesn't show up in the three D tour. It does however show   Kori Covrigaru (20:25) doesn't show up in the 3d tour. does, however, show up   in the photography carousel, of course. And we typically have like a before and after. It allows for the potential renter to envision their lives in that, versus seeing it as an empty box. So naturally there's been more, we've all looked for real estate before and we've clicked through properties and when the photos are bad, it's you kind of move on. Cause like you don't stuff in that mess, right?   Jason Hull (20:31) Got it. I mean we have like a before and after. It it it allows for the potential renter to envision their lives. Right, they can imagine it. Versus seeing it as an empty box. So naturally they're gonna spend more we all looked for real estate before and we've clicked through properties and photos of that it's you kinda move on. Yeah, yeah. You don't withten that mess,   right? When it's nicer photos you stop and and so the the furniture really helps the potential rent to stop spending more time   Kori Covrigaru (20:53) When it's nicer photos, you stop. so the furniture really helps the potential renter stop, spend more time on that listing   and eventually get more showings and more applications.   Jason Hull (21:02) Sure. Yeah. I've moved into places and you know, seeing how they had it decorated before or seeing photos how they decorate it gave me an idea of, we could do something like this, or here's what I want to change. Because you're not starting with just this blank slate and trying to be creative. And so yeah, I think it helps people's imagination so they can picture their life in there. Okay,   Kori Covrigaru (21:23) Yep. It just cause you to stop, you know.   Jason Hull (21:25) cool. And there's you you were citing there's evidence.   that virtual staging significantly increases the results as well. So not just having good photos, but also good photos that are virtually staged, you're now maximizing the the return on this. And the and the virtual staging that that's   Kori Covrigaru (21:41) And the virtual staging, that's really inexpensive.   I think it's 36 bucks for three rooms, if I'm not mistaken.   Jason Hull (21:46) It's thirty six bucks for three rooms. Yeah.   Kori Covrigaru (21:49) So it's like a huge ROI   Jason Hull (21:51) Cool.   Kori Covrigaru (21:52) to order virtual staging on top of your professional photo.   Jason Hull (21:54) Sure, a lot cheaper than real staging.   Kori Covrigaru (21:58) Where'd you go?   Jason Hull (21:59) So yeah, got it. Very cool. anything else that we're missing about Planomatic? Sounds very cool. Yeah.   Kori Covrigaru (22:05) Yeah, no, I mean, I'm again, been an   entrepreneur for about 22 years. We have a high focus on, on client communication and client support. So that's one thing that's like paramount for me. I always tell my team, it's better to know that nothing is happening than to not know something is happening, meaning keep the customer updated. You know, even if we don't have the resolution yet for you, like we'll figure it out or we're working on it. So when you work with us, you really understand those, that's part of our core values. really.   Jason Hull (22:10) we have a high focus on on client communication and client support. So that's one thing that's like paramount for me. I always tell my team it's better to know that nothing is happening than to not know something is happening. Meaning keep the customer updated. Yeah. You know, even if we don't have the resolution yet for you, like we'll figure it out or we're working on it. So what when you work with us, you really understand those that's part of our core values. It   really emulates through the entire organization. So that's really important to us. Our integration, of course, is is really important and allows for   Kori Covrigaru (22:30) emulates through the entire organization. So that's really important to us. Our integration, of course, is really important and allows for our customers to   be able to transact with us. Again, business 101, make it as easy as possible for your customers to transact with you. So we've tried to make that a reality. And then, know, we're business owners, we're a small business, just like you all are, you know, just like you are, Jason, just like our property management clients are. And we just want to...   Jason Hull (22:39) To be able to transact with us, make our business one on one, make it as easy as possible for your customers to transact with you. So we've tried to make that a reality. and then you know, we're we're business owners, we're small business just like just like you all are. We're not just like you are, Jason, just like our our our property management clients are. and   we just wanna be successful in helping our clients make more money and and gain more market share, and and that's what we strive for every day. So we have the same   Kori Covrigaru (22:59) be successful in helping our clients make more money and gain more market share. And that's what we strive for every day. So we have the same struggles,   but same successes that every business owner does. We're not PE-backed or VC-backed.   Jason Hull (23:08) Same struggles, but same successes does with the RP backed or PC backed on P back back.   Got it. So I know there's a lot of people listening that are gonna think, because I hear this all the time, even with with what we do at DoorGrow, will this work in my market? I'm in a big city, will this work in my market? I'm in a small town. How do you source photographers? So before you answer that, I'm gonna share a quick word from our sponsor. So our sponsor today is Vendoroo. So if you're working with   Door grow, you're growing doors, right? And that means you have to keep figuring out how to keep up with the maintenance. So instead of doing that, we recommend that you use Vendoroo to have maintenance figured out for you with AI. Some of our clients are getting 85%, 95% of their maintenance coordination handled by Vendoroo, which is amazing. Vendoroo brings the best practices, workflows, and AI intelligence. They've developed across hundreds of property management operations and puts it into work, into your business.   It's an AI that answers the phone. It troubleshoots with residents. It coordinates vendors. It does follow-up. It drives the work order all the way to completion. It could probably work with Plan O Matic, right? So as you add doors, you don't have to keep reinventing maintenance. Let Vendoroo build your maintenance for you. Like so many of our DoorGrow community members have already done. You focus on growing your doors. Build an AI-first maintenance department that will scale with you forever.   Use Vendoro. Cool. All right. So tell us how do you handle photographers? Because some people are thinking, well, this might be hard in my town. They who do they know in, you know, Podunksville, you know, wherever I'm at, you know. Or they might think I'm in a really big city and maybe photographers, there's challenges with getting good ones and they're so expensive or w whatnot.   Kori Covrigaru (25:01) You hire a team to, you know, to   Jason Hull (25:02) You hire a team to to you know.   Kori Covrigaru (25:04) onboard, to hire, to onboard, maintain these contract photographers nationwide. That's kind of what we've   Jason Hull (25:09) Yeah.   Kori Covrigaru (25:09) done. we've perfected that, almost perfected that. I think one really important thing to note about us is we try to make it as simple as possible for our photographers to work with us from all the software. And it hasn't historically been that way and we're getting closer to it, but what software do they have to download and register for on our system?   Jason Hull (25:13) Almost almost perfected that. Yeah. One really important thing to note about us is we try to make it as simple as possible for our photographers to work with us from all the software and and and it hasn't historically been that way. We'll get any closer to it, but what software do they have to download and register for on our system?   Yeah. what specifics, like how are the instructions given out? What about access to to you know these doors and and I'm not talking about just one method. It's like there are so many different methods.   Kori Covrigaru (25:30) What specifics, like how are the instructions given out? What about access to these doors? And we're not talking about just one method. It's like there are so many different methods. I'm trying to key   box, so there's a key hidden. There's this, there's that. Call this number, get this code, right? So it's just a lot. I mean, we've been doing this since 2004. We've been in the SFR space since 2012, handling hundreds of shoots a day.   Jason Hull (25:41) trying to key box so there's a key hidden there's this there's that call this number get this code right so it's just a lot I mean we've been doing this since 2004 we've been in the SFR space since 2012 handling hundreds of shoots a   day for larger companies and smaller companies and so there's a lot a lot of its experience of just like okay here are all the you know here are all the edge cases this is what you do in this case and also just being available for them to pay them of course enough to make it make sense but we have   Kori Covrigaru (25:56) for larger companies and smaller companies. And so there's a lot of experience of just like, okay, here are all the edge cases. This is what you do in this case. And also just being available for them. You have to pay them, of course, enough to make it make sense, but we have to pay them enough   for the business to operate, right? So it's a very delicate, it's the hardest thing that we do is find quality photographers, educate them, onboard them, maintain them, and then keep them happy.   Jason Hull (26:11) good enough for the business to operate, right? So it's a very delicate it's a har it's the hardest thing that we do is is find quality photographers, educate them, onboard them, maintain them and keep them happy. Yeah. it's   Kori Covrigaru (26:25) It's as tough as it sounds. And it doesn't matter if it's a small market or a huge market. Huge markets with a lot of people have their own challenges. There's traffic, there's cost of living, it's higher. Small markets, you don't have all that, know, it's to find quality people   Jason Hull (26:26) it's as tough as it sounds and and it doesn't matter if it's the small market or a or a huge market, but you huge markets with a lot of people have their own challenges. There's traffic, there's cost of living to hire small markets, you know, have all that you know, hardly fine   Kori Covrigaru (26:41) in the specific industry. it's just, hire the right people to take care of our great network of planet tech.   Jason Hull (26:40) quality people in the specific industry. So it's just hire the right people our great network with planetary. Yeah.   This is some of the magic that you've spent a lot of time dealing with. And I'm sure people that have tried going and getting a photographer, tried doing it themselves, tried editing photos, like that is just so time intensive, so much work. And if you're a business owner doing this stuff, that's the dumbest trade you could ever make. You should offload that, get that off your plate because the speed of you is the speed of the business and the team.   And you should calculate your time as worth the the top line revenue of the company and what that comes out to per hour. And so you should not be doing this stuff. So now another challenge that people deal with, and I don't know if there's a way your system addresses this, but there's been a lot of challenges with scammers stealing photos from people's listings, putting up other listings elsewhere, tricking people into giving money. Is there any way we can combat that through   Kori Covrigaru (27:37) No.   Jason Hull (27:38) the photography?   Kori Covrigaru (27:39) You know, I think with general awareness around how sort of the internet works and how, and the general awareness of what AI   Jason Hull (27:40) But I think with general awareness around how sort of the internet works and how to t and and the general awareness   Kori Covrigaru (27:46) is capable of, I think people are more skeptical these days. I don't think everybody's just sending out checks and routing numbers and checking numbers. Cause we hear, I'll be honest, we hear less noise about it lately. And I think it's around the awareness. Historically, you know, we, we watermark photos. can watermark photos, however you, you know, property   Jason Hull (27:48) skeptical these days, right? Yeah. Everybody's just sending out checks and routing numbers and 'cause we hear we hear less noise about it lately and I think it's awareness. historically, you know, we we watermark photos, we can watermark photos   Kori Covrigaru (28:05) manager wants to watermark photos.   AI today, you can get rid of those watermarks in like a half a second, Free AI account. So man, it's changing rapidly right now. I don't have a recommendation that will just solve all of those problems. think that you have to be very careful. I would still watermark. You have to be careful where you put your images. There are applications out there like...   Jason Hull (28:08) Photos with AI today, you can give rid of those watermarks. Yeah. Yeah. So man, it's it's it's changing rapidly right now. I don't have a a a recommendation that will just solve all of those problems. I think that I mean you have to be very careful. I s I would still watermark, you have to be careful where you put your images. there are there are applications out there like   Kori Covrigaru (28:34) invisible watermarks that you can kind of track across.   Jason Hull (28:35) invisible watermarks and you can add it. Yeah,   I've heard about the invisible watermarks lately. Claude and some of these tools   Kori Covrigaru (28:40) Yeah.   Jason Hull (28:40) are adding invisible watermarks to stuff, to text, to images, to things that are created. So people will go, this was created by AI. Here's where it came from. I think it's a matter of educating your your potential renters. I think it's a lot a lot it's you know still   Kori Covrigaru (28:48) Yeah. I think it's a matter of educating your potential renters. think it's a lot of it's, know, Zillow has to make it,   has to educate their users, right, to make sure that people aren't just going and sending random checks out and putting it all over the listing media and all over your brochure and description. I think it's really important. If you're a renter, don't go on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. Stick to the internet listing services that are, you know, tried and true, I think.   Jason Hull (29:11) stick to the listing services that are you know tried and true.   Kori Covrigaru (29:19) I think that's the most important thing is like just watch where you put your listings, make sure it's reputable.   Jason Hull (29:20) Think that's the most important thing. It's like just watch where you put your listings, make sure it's reputable. Very cool. Love   it. So, Corey, tell us a little bit about the philosophy that you try to instill with your company, with the people that are in your business, like maybe the values that that you guys espouse. Give people a feel for what the culture is like at Planomatic. We are exceptionally client for meaning, I don't like to say no.   Kori Covrigaru (29:41) We are exceptionally client forward, meaning I don't like to say no to clients. I like to ask   more questions and I don't like giving an update without a resolution that's coming up. And I get copied on a lot. I drive my team nuts, Jason. I mean, I drive work because I'll reply to a random support ticket or response from our team. I'll just, I'll.   Jason Hull (30:00) Yeah. I'll reply to a random support ticket or or response from our team and I'll just   Kori Covrigaru (30:08) I'll reach out to that team member and I think there's a better way we could have handled this reply. And if I'm the customer, like, when are you getting back to me?   Jason Hull (30:08) I'll I'll reach out to that team member and say, hey, I think there's a better way we could have handled this reply. If I'm the if one of the customers are like, when are you getting back to me?   Kori Covrigaru (30:15) Right. And I think that's like most important again, it's, better to know, like everybody hears it from me. It's better to know that nothing is happening than to not know that something is happening. And so we have this, we have this phrase we use, we hold the client at the center of the organization, no matter what. one thing I haven't talked about recently, but I think it's really cool. And it's something that we've kind of put in place in 2020 or 2021 is we have personas.   Jason Hull (30:17) And I think that's like the most important. Again, it's it's better to know like everybody hears it from better to know that nothing to not know that something is happening. So we have this we have this phrase we use, we hold the client at the center of the organization no matter what. one thing I haven't talked about recently, but I think it's really cool and it's something that we've we kind of put in place in twenty twenty twenty or twenty twenty-one is   Kori Covrigaru (30:37) our customers, they're real names, right? So we started out with Emma. Emma is our enterprise client. Emma is typically a   Jason Hull (30:37) percent of our customers. They're real names, right? So we start out with Emma. Emma is our enterprise client. Emma is typically   Kori Covrigaru (30:46) single family rental owner operator. Emma raises money through institutional capital, whether that be publicly traded on Wall Street or private equity money or pension plans.   Jason Hull (30:47) A single family rental owner operator. Emma raises money through institutional capital, whether that be publicly traded on Wall Street or private equity money or pension plans.   Emma is usually a customer that uses his own software and integrates directly with our platform. Emma has this National Rental Home Council, Emma Emma. So   Kori Covrigaru (30:57) Emma is usually a customer that uses her own software and integrates directly with our platform. Emma has this National Rental Home Council, Emma, Emma, Emma. And then we have Paul.   Jason Hull (31:09) these are your customer, you've got customer avatars so that when you are building out your products and services.   you are have them in mind and you know these categories of clients or buyers of your services will, you know, maybe perceive it a certain way and the product's geared towards these personalities. That's exactly right. And we we   Kori Covrigaru (31:27) That's exactly right. And we, we talk about   Emma and Paul all day long. It's just natural. Like I'll, I'll be talking to. So Paul, Paul is when we got into,   Jason Hull (31:33) Tell us about Paul. Who's Paul?   Kori Covrigaru (31:37) servicing the third party property manager that manages,   Jason Hull (31:40) Well you're breaking up a little bit. Say that again.   Kori Covrigaru (31:43) when we, when we started servicing the third party property manager, you know, a smaller business that, that manages 50 to up to, you know, a thousand doors.   Jason Hull (31:45) When we when we started servicing the third party property manager, you know, a a smaller business that that manages fifty to up to you know a thousand   doors, that persona was so different, and we named that persona Paul, Paul the property manager. Okay. Paul uses folio or building arm or or rent client or rent manager, right? Paul doesn't own their properties, they have clients. Paul's typically smaller, Paul's usually regional. Paul goes to the n national rental.   Kori Covrigaru (31:55) that persona was so different and we named that persona Paul, Paul the property manager. So Paul uses Azzolio or Bildium or Rentvine or Rent Manager, right? Paul doesn't own their properties, they have clients. Paul's typically smaller, Paul's usually regional. Paul goes to National   Association of Residential Property Management conferences, NARPAM.   Jason Hull (32:15) National Association of Residential Property Management Conferences. Not that   and and so those are important to like know what each customer wants. The real value is that we've like humanized our clients. Yeah. It's no longer client or or you know ACE property management company wants this. No, it's it's Paul. It's it's it like we have these personas, we have these images of what Paul might look like and what Emma might look like. And so it really helps the team   Kori Covrigaru (32:19) And so those are important to know what each customer wants, but the real value is that we've humanized our clients. It's no longer the client or Ace property management company wants this. No, it's Paul. We have these personas, we have these images of what Paul might look like and what Emma might look like. And so it really helps the team   humanize the customer and realize that we're talking to human beings.   Jason Hull (32:44) humanize the customer and and realize that we're we're talking   to human beings. These are real people not just folks behind the screen or whatever it is. Yeah, I love it. Every every small small examples of things that we've done, one of our core values is we create genuine relationships, right? Our customers. We love we love that core value. So everything that we do, it's just like the longer you're in a business, the more you realize that communication and support, how you   Kori Covrigaru (32:48) real people, they're not just folks behind the screen or whatever it is. And so every small examples of things that we've done, one of our core values is we create genuine relationships, right? With our customers. We love that core value. So everything that we do, it's just like the longer you're in business, the more you realize that communication and support and how you, it's not how you   treat the customer when things are going well, it's how you.   Jason Hull (33:13) It's not how you treat the customer when things are   going well, it's how you treat the customer, communicate to the customer when things aren't ideal. How you get back on track. Get the client to say, you know what? That got screwed up really, but they took such good care of me so quickly and they gave me this and they got out back for property that. That's what brings customers back more and more. It's not it's not, you know I I believe. Actually that's what keeps me buying from the same, you know, vendor or from the same board is if I'm treated.   Kori Covrigaru (33:16) treat the customer and communicate to customer when things aren't ideal. How do you get back on track? You get the client to say, you know what, that got screwed up royally, but they took such good care of me so quickly and they gave me this and they got out back to the property that, that's what brings customers back more and more. It's not, it's not, you know, I believe actually that's what keeps me buying from the same, you know, vendor or from the same, or as if I'm treated   with respect and communicated with respect and that's what   Jason Hull (33:45) Yeah, I love that. I think that's a great tip for those listening to map out your ideal customer profile or your ideal client profile. Map out the avatars that you tend to serve. There's usually a small category of clients that are the ones you're really going after that you're serving. this is true in any business. And the more clear and the more you humanize them and the more you realize what their strengths, what their challenges are, what their pains, their frustrations, their concerns are.   And you map this out, the better you're going to be able to do marketing, target them, create your sales presentation, scripts, pitches, whatever you're doing to be more effective and to teach your team about them so they understand these different avatars. And so yeah, we've done the same thing at DoorGro. We have very clear avatars that we target and that we focus on. And yeah, and we gear our products towards directly towards those avatars and what their challenges are. So love that. It's a great tip to share.   and I love the the I the the focus on relationships, which I think is is paramount. So cool. Well Corey, great stuff. Really appreciate you coming on, telling us about Planomatic. How can people find Planomatic and how can they get started? the easiest way is just planomatic.com, just like it's spelled. you can   Kori Covrigaru (34:59) The easiest way is just planomatic.com, just like it's spelled. You can email me always   at k-o-r-i at planomatic.com. You can also find us in the marketplace on Atfolio's marketplace, Buildium's marketplace as well. We're all over Narpoem, so if you come to our show, come find us. We're usually in one of the bigger booths because we're preferred partners with Narpoem. So it's not too hard to find us. Go to our website, check us out, reach out to me. Always happy to hear from classic.   Jason Hull (35:13) in this marketplace as well. We're all over Narbum. So if you come to a show, come find us. we're usually in one of the bigger booths because we're for partners with Narbum. So it's not too hard to find us. Go to our website, check us out, reach out to me.   Always happy to hear from class prospects as well as existing clients. Any feedback anybody has that's another things we ask for.   Kori Covrigaru (35:27) Prospects as well as existing clients any feedback anybody has that's another things we ask for a hell of a lot of feedback often   too much But yeah easy to find and we welcome everybody   Jason Hull (35:36) But yeah, easy to find. Cool,   awesome. Tell them that you heard about them from the DoorGro Show podcast if you see this.   Kori Covrigaru (35:42) Talon, DoorGro, I've got a special coupon if you tell me you heard about us   from the DoorGro show. I'll hook it up.   Jason Hull (35:49) Cool.   Awesome. We appreciate that. So that he'll give you a special deal. All right. Very cool. Well, Corey, thanks for being here. Appreciate you coming on the DoorGrow show. For those that are enjoying this or watch our show, if you've ever felt stuck or stagnant, you want to take your property management business to that next level. You've been hitting a wall. You've been frustrated for a while. You've tried different marketing channels. You feel like you're just getting sold a bill of goods sometimes. You're just you're frustrated.   Reach out to us at doorgrow.com, we can help. So for a free training on how to get unlimited free leads, text the word leads to 512-648-4608. Also join our free Facebook community just for property management business owners by going to doorgrowclub.com. You can also join that by going to getting our DoorGrow Hub app that is in the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.   And if you want tips, tricks, or ideas and to learn about our offer, subscribe to our newsletter by going to doorgrow.com/slash subscribe. And if you found this episode even a little bit helpful, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review. We'd really appreciate it. It helps us out. Until next time, remember the slowest path to growth is to do it alone, all by yourself. So let's grow together. Bye everyone.  

Between every down and inning is an ad for BetMGM, Fanduel, Draftkings, or the latest sports betting upstart with VC money and a celebrity sellout. Alongside author Danny Funt, we dissect how language shapes perception and policy and how industry lobbying influenced legalization in the world of “sports gaming”. — Buy Danny Funt's book here. X: @dannyfunt Bsky: @dannyfunt.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danny-funt-2695b4a3/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dannyfunt/ — To get more Propaganda subscribe for free to our Patreon. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/thisispropaganda Website: thisispropaganda.show Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow Email: propaganda@brink.com — CREDITS  Written, Produced, and Hosted by Malcolm Critcher and Joshua Belhumeur  Co-Producer: Reed Chandler — ATTRIBUTIONS  SAMIZDAT Written and performed by Joshua Belhumeur  — REFERENCES Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling by Danny Funt

Hiring mistakes can cripple a startup in energy, infrastructure, or industrial technology. This simple three-trait framework helps CEOs spot great team players and six dangerous hiring archetypes before they join the company.The Frramework:Adapted from Patrick Lencioni's "The Ideal Team Player," this episode applies three traits to climate tech hiring: humble, hungry, and smart, meaning emotionally intelligent. Even talented candidates can fail when one of these traits is missing.Seven things you'll learn in this episode:Why humble + hungry + smart is a powerful hiring filter.Why character can matter more than climate or energy expertise.How the Accidental Mess-Maker creates problems despite good intentions.Why the Lovable Slacker can quietly slow a fast-growing startup.How to recognize the ambitious, charismatic Skillful Politician.Why Bulldozers can deliver results while damaging the team around them.The one interview question that matters: Which virtue is missing?Read more here:https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com/p/which-climate-tech-character-did--Are you a VC- or PE-backed CEO building in energy, infrastructure, or climate tech?Join 45 CEOs and 45 investors and post-exit founders who help each other make better decisions on capital, strategy, scaling, and leadership.See if the CEO community is a fit → entrepreneursforimpact.comGet smarter on energy, infrastructure, and climate tech in 2 minutes.Join 40,000+ professionals getting practical insights on startups, investing, commercialization, strategy, and leadership.Get the free newsletter → entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comHelp more people find this podcast.If this episode was useful, take 20 seconds to follow the show or leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps bring these conversations to more entrepreneurs, investors, and executives.

Steve Wolfe co-founded Growth Street Partners in San Francisco about ten years ago with his partner Nate Grossman, after a career in software-focused private equity. The firm's name is the point: they don't invest on Sand Hill Road, Wall Street, or even Main Street, but a street or two behind it, where the rent is lower and practical founders put their earnings back into the business. Growth Street has now raised three funds — $70 million, $130 million, and a little over $200 million — with the same strategy since day one. They write $5 to $15 million checks for 20 to 50 percent of vertical B2B SaaS and tech-enabled services companies doing $1 to $5 million in revenue, always as a minority partner. Portfolio companies include Chipply and TeamLinkt, both previous Practical Founders guests. Steve's 2026 answer to the AI shift is a firm-wide operating principle they call "Operation Cole Trickle":  when the race track fills with crashes and smoke, "go high" and avoid the crazy mess. That means returning to first principles — a high integrity founder, real customer value, a strategic piece of real estate — and treating the daily AI headline cycle as a distraction with a very short half-life. Key Takeaways Go High — Drive above the wreck instead of through it, and return to first principles. Minority Stakes — $5-15 million buys 20-50 percent, so founders keep control and keep deciding. Headline Half-Life — Reading AI news daily burns time on knowledge that expires in weeks. Right to Win — Add AI where you already have an edge, not everywhere you see a nail. Exit Discipline — Growth Street models five times revenue at exit, same as day one. Quote from Steve Wolfe, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Growth Street Partners "We call it founder market fit. We're not buying control of the businesses, which is really a critical component of our strategy. Founders are willing to talk to us because we're a minority investor. What it means for our strategy is that our founders are going to make thousands of decisions without us. So they need to have the same values that we have, because God forbid they don't.we're in big trouble.  "When we think about diligencing a new opportunity, when a business has got $1-5 million of annual recurring revenue and it's growing nicely and everything seems good. But the clay on that business is still really wet, so we can help them mold the business.  "But the founder that we're partnering with, the market that we're entering into, that clay is usually pretty dry. You can't change the founder and you can't change the market. And so that founder better be aligned with you, better have the values that you have. Otherwise, you're in big trouble." Links Steve Wolfe on LinkedIn Growth Street Partners on LinkedIn Growth Street Partners website Steve's earlier Practical Founders episode (#123, with Nate) Podcast Sponsor – DevHawk Every founder I know is trying to move their roadmap faster with AI, but most admit it isn't working. DevHawk is an AI software factory from former practical founder Praveen Ghanta.   DevHawk plugs in a full crew of customized AI agents that handle the whole development job, end-to-end. Not just writing code, but requirements, testing, shipping, and maintenance.   Add their AI agents to your org chart and run them yourself--or have the DevHawk team manage the software factory for you. Either way, you get a team that works while you sleep, and a roadmap that can move 5-10x faster within a month.   Head to devhawk.ai/practical to book a conversation about how DevHawk can help.  The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app or view on our YouTube channel. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com. Practical Founders CEO Peer Groups Be part of a committed and confidential group of practical founders creating valuable software companies without big VC funding.  A Practical Founders Peer Group is a committed and confidential group of founders/CEOs who want to help you succeed on your terms. Each Practical Founders Peer Group is personally curated and moderated by Greg Head.

У епізоді подкасту CEO Club говоримо про те, що має враховувати власник, обираючи систему компенсації та мотивації топкерівників.Чому бонуси не завжди спонукають керівника до потрібних компанії дій? Як вибудовувати короткострокову та довгострокову мотивацію? Як зрозуміти, скільки і за що платити топкерівнику? І чому мотивацію топменеджменту варто розглядати як інвестицію?Учасники розмови:— Тарас Кириченко, член наглядової ради Нова пошта, генеральний партнер інвестиційного синдикату TOLOKA.VC.— Ігор Кабузенко, керівний партнер Ward Howell Ukraine, член Ради CEO Club 26/27;— Юлія Кірьянова, CEO з багаторічним досвідом корпоративного управління та стратегічних трансформацій у провідних бізнес-групах.У відео також розкриваються питання:— які найпоширеніші системи компенсації топкерівників в Україні;— як цілі власника та компанії визначають систему мотивації керівників;— які моделі мотивації топменеджменту використовують найчастіше: фіксована зарплата, бонуси, премії, LTI;— що визначає рівень зарплати CEО та як впровадити грейдинг у компанії;— навіщо будувати проактивний підхід до мотивації;— як аналіз цілей компанії та ринку допомагає сформувати вибірку кандидатів на ключові посади;— які сценарії мотивації використовувати, якщо бізнес став неприбутковим;— чим відрізняються системи мотивації у світових та українських компаніях;— чому український бізнес досі масштабно не вийшов на світові ринки;— чому створення доданої вартості компанії має бути частиною мотивації підприємця та топкерівника.Відеозапис розмови: https://youtu.be/LuLnxFUUzgoCEO Club — клуб лідерів бізнесуЗ 2011 року об'єднуємо підприємців і СЕО для розвитку, взаємопідтримки та співтворення.Більше про клуб https://ceoclub.com.ua Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CEOClubUkraine Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ceoclubukraine/ Telegram https://t.me/CEOnotes

Pete Townsend is joined by Derek O'Doherty, founder of West x West, the two-day tech, venture and culture festival in Castlebar, Mayo that brings Irish founders together with global investors. Derek spent thirty years in capital markets across London, Sydney and New York, and until last week a year inside Enterprise Ireland building international VC relationships for scaling companies. They get into why the Irish economy isn't big enough to carry a founder from pre-seed to Series B on home capital alone, the VC pecking order that sends founders abroad to raise, why Irish founders outside the US are second only to Israel in the share who raise capital, and why Derek left a state agency to build a festival that brings the funders to the founders instead. Plus the Nik Milanović super-connector path, why he's rooting it all in the West rather than Dublin, and what's on at WXW this October.Connect with Derek:https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-o-doherty-91669530/More on West x West:https://westxwest.ie/https://www.instagram.com/westxwest.ie/Listen and subscribe:https://open.spotify.com/show/4F8uOLxiscYVWVGEfNxTndChapters0:00 Cold open0:11 Intro and welcome0:47 Why Irish founders hit a wall on home capital1:22 The VC pecking order3:11 The pre-seed funding reality5:06 Bringing the capital to the market6:13 Why leave Enterprise Ireland now7:57 Why a festival, not a fund9:16 Community and the super connector10:18 Event details and lineup11:42 CloseSharp riffs, big ideas and real insights from smart people, all in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend with the people rebuilding money, markets, and the internet from the ground up.Web: https://www.moneyneversleeps.ie/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/X: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNVInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/Email: info@norioventures.com

Why does venture capital flow heavily into construction and development, and what will it take for architectural firms to capture real value?This week on Practice Disrupted, host Evelyn Lee explores architecture's business model from the other side of the table. Evelyn sits down with Mayra Arntz, Principal at Building Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in technology for the built environment. Having built a unique career spanning field construction at open-pit mines, startup product development, and corporate strategy, Mayra brings a candid, grounded perspective on where money actually flows in AEC, and why so little of it reaches architectural design.Mayra shares her upbringing in Peru, where watching her father build roads and bridges sparked an early fascination with how physical infrastructure drives community and commerce. After studying civil engineering and voluntarily working on-site at remote mining projects to gain field experience, she moved to San Francisco for an MBA. After discovering the gap between Silicon Valley's rapid software innovation and construction's reliance on legacy systems, Mayra joined HoloBuilder as its first construction expert, eventually rising to Head of Product before overseeing venture investments and acquisitions at Stanley Black & Decker.The conversation dives deep into the realities of venture capital and technology adoption across the built environment. Mayra explains why VCs focus heavily on ConTech and PropTech over architectural design software, pointing directly to firm wallet sizes, price elasticity, and the high-growth expectations of venture returns. She also unpacks the friction of changing status-quo mindsets on job sites, offers candid advice on alternative funding paths like bootstrapping and corporate venture capital, and encourages more women to step into male-dominated leadership roles across construction, software, and venture capital. "Take the spotlight, take the risks if you want to do it. Worst thing that could happen is that it doesn't work. And then you do something else." - Mayra ArntzThis episode serves as a powerful reminder that shifting the business model of architecture requires understanding the broader economic forces driving the AEC industry. By looking beyond traditional design practice and understanding how capital, technology, and risk intersect, AEC professionals can better position themselves to drive innovation and capture long-term value. Guest:Mayra Arntz is a Principal at Building Ventures, an early-stage firm investing in technology for the built environment across ConTech and PropTech. Born and raised in Peru, she earned her degree in Civil Engineering before working in project controls on complex open-pit mining developments. After earning her MBA, Mayra transitioned into construction technology as Head of Product at HoloBuilder (acquired by FARO Technologies) and later led strategy, M&A, and investments within Stanley Black & Decker's corporate venture group (Stanley X) before joining Building Ventures.This episode is especially for you if: ✅ You are curious about how venture capital works in the AEC space and what drives investment decisions in ConTech and PropTech.✅ You want to understand why architectural software faces unique challenges in scaling and securing venture funding compared to construction tools.✅ You want strategies for overcoming tech adoption friction and changing status-quo mindsets on job sites and in offices.✅ You are an entrepreneur evaluating different funding models, including bootstrapping, corporate venture capital, and traditional VC.✅ You are looking for inspiration on breaking into male-dominated spaces like venture capital, construction, and tech leadership.What have you done to take action lately? Share your reflections with us on social and join the conversation.

200 episodes. Shane and AJ are back together and they have a lot to catch up on. Ibiza, Future Proof, Martinis and Mortality, and a Time Magazine article about AI that had Shane looking at sailboats. They kick things off with a Substack piece called Travel Isn't a Hobby, whether affluent people who travel constantly are actually enjoying it or just stuck on a hedonic treadmill, and the Japanese concept of misogi, doing something hard once a year and pairing it with something luxurious. Then it's on to the nScale IPO, a British company going public in New York with $140 million of its $280 million in revenue not yet materialized, and the Oura Ring IPO, where the entire $2.2 billion raise is going to pay off a VC and cover employee tax withholding rather than grow the company. A viral tweet from a researcher claiming AI will wipe out humanity sent the internet into a panic and may have derailed Anthropic's IPO timeline. Shane has a conspiracy theory about it. They close with a Reddit question from a 36-year-old woman who is already financially independent but can't figure out whether to keep running the family business her dad built. Topics covered: Travel Isn't a Hobby: the hedonic treadmill and the misogi concept Future Proof festival recap and Martinis and Mortality event nScale IPO: a house of cards built on contracts that haven't materialized Oura Ring IPO: $2.2 billion raise that goes entirely to pay off a VC and employee taxes How to read an S-1 and what the story they're telling actually means The viral AI doomsday tweet, Shane's conspiracy theory, and the race to regulate Reddit: would you keep running a profitable family business if you were already financially independent? Timestamps: 00:00 Intro, episode 200, Ibiza, Italy and Future Proof recap 03:30 Travel Isn't a Hobby: the hedonic treadmill and the misogi concept 07:00 Luxury hotels, the First Class Jerk Substack and pairing hard things with rewards 10:00 Martinis and Mortality: 15 estate plans done in one night 11:30 nScale IPO: a British AI company going public with mostly unearned revenue 15:30 Oura Ring IPO: $2.2 billion raise, none of it going to grow the company 19:00 How to read an S-1 and what investors actually love about subscriptions 22:00 Wall Street banning GLP-1s and the Oura Ring placebo sleep effect 24:00 The viral AI doomsday tweet and Shane's conspiracy theory about OpenAI and Anthropic 28:30 Reddit: financially independent but can't walk away from the family business

The world is changing quickly, and health systems need to keep up with AI, clinical innovation, therapeutic discoveries, an aging population, the shift toward outpatient care and more. But transformation is expensive and requires capital to modernize facilities, invest in new equipment and technology, and build the services communities will need next.Healthcare finance can feel opaque outside the C-suite, but it's central to the future of care. For not-for-profit hospitals especially, access to capital markets and the credit ratings that shape borrowing costs can determine whether a long-term vision becomes reality.In this episode of Healthcare is Hard, Keith Figlioli spoke with Lisa Goldstein, managing director of treasury and capital markets at Kaufman Hall. After decades at Moody's evaluating the financial strength of hospitals and health systems, Lisa brings a rare perspective on how investors, rating agencies and health-system leaders weigh risk, cash flow and strategy. Lisa and Keith discussed topics including: The mechanics of a credit rating. With common misconceptions about what a credit rating is – or isn't – Lisa gave a quick history lesson about how the system works. Rather than a pass-fail grade or seal of approval, a rating is a way for investors to assess an organization's likelihood of repaying its debt and the risks they take on by investing. While this system has existed for more than a century, Lisa explains why ratings have come to carry such outsized meaning for health systems, and why leaders need to manage their financial performance proactively.The difference between for-profit and not-for-profit. As Lisa points out, “Not-for-profit” does not mean “pro-deficit.” Even though nonprofit hospitals do not have shareholders, they still need durable margins and cash reserves to sustain operations and invest in their communities. And because they cannot raise equity by issuing stock, the tax-exempt bond market is a critical way they finance major projects. This is an advantage not available to their for-profit peers, which instead rely on taxable corporate debt and equity markets.The heroic work of health system CFOs. With responsibility for ensuring an organization has the financial strength to carry out its mission, hospital finance leaders must balance strategy, governance, operations and clinical care. Lisa describes that work as heroic. Navigating difficult negotiations with commercial payers, while being unable to negotiate reimbursement rates with government payers that account for a growing share of the payer mix, is just one challenging element of their role. Ultimately, they have to protect cash flow and preserve the capital needed to invest in the organization's future.Why healthcare will continue to be capital intensive. There's an ongoing debate about whether advancements like AI, virtual care and therapeutic breakthroughs will make healthcare less capital intensive. But Lisa doesn't see that happening anytime soon. With an aging population, rapidly evolving treatments and equipment, ambitious ambulatory plans, and aging hospital infrastructure, she believes capital needs will remain high. The question is not whether health systems will need to invest, but how they will prioritize, finance and manage that investment.To hear Lisa and Keith discuss these topics and more, listen to this episode of Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for Insiders.

What does it look like when an entire industry builds its own data infrastructure — and then has to reimagine itself for the AI era?Patrick Knight, President & CEO of IDEA, joins Karthik Chidambaram to talk about what makes IDEA unlike any other company in the B2B supply chain space: it's not VC-backed, it's not chasing an IPO — it's owned by the industry it serves (NAED and NEMA), and everything it builds is aimed at making electrical distribution smarter and more efficient.In this episode, Patrick unpacks how AI is reshaping supply chain data management, why data accuracy matters more than speed when wrong specs can cause real physical harm, and what IDEA's digital transformation into a full SaaS company looks like over the next five years. He also breaks down IDEA's flagship products (IDEA Connector and IDEA Exchange), newer offerings like DataWhispers and Cross-Check, and the push to adopt ETIM North America standards across the supply chain.If AI, supply chain innovation, or the future of B2B distribution is on your radar, this one's worth your time.

Career paths, mentorship, workplace power, and finding your voice as a therapist. When we met a few years back, Lee Thompson, LCSW, was an early career therapist, a "COVID baby" of sorts. She inherited a professional space acclimating (or not) to rapid changes in the field, like the use of conferencing tools and the growing popularity of VC-backed virtual "wellness" platforms.  Lee is part of a broader, younger cohort that has opted to enter private practice upon graduation rather than pursue experiences in community mental health. There are many reasons for this generational shift, not least of which is an opportunity to pay back those increasingly burdensome loans.  We talk about: the external forces weighing on therapists' career choices,  the life-changing magic of meaningful mentorship,  and how group practice employees can feel empowered even during challenging times.   How are we having conversations between owners and employees to actually make it more feasible to be in the group practice space with all of these changes coming? Good question. Some of the answers lie in the power dynamics of a group practice. The tension in these relationships must be addressed openly and honestly on both sides because, even if the practice owner is being absolutely 100% perfectly benevolent, the relationship doesn't work if the employees aren't owning 100% of their power. Group Practice (R)evolution is a podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future. Become a part of the (R)evolution in our Authentic Leaders Group. Join the waitlist for the next Authentic Leaders Group cohort. This is a journey of self-discovery and leadership mastery, where you'll not only enhance your leadership skills but also forge meaningful connections with fellow therapists who are committed to their own growth and the betterment of the therapy field. Apply now! UPCOMING EVENTS Check the calendar for opportunities to connect with Sarah and earn CEs. SUPPORT THE SHOW Sarah's Downloadables Join our Patreon for gifts & perks Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts *** Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places… Website Facebook @headheartbiztherapy Instagram @headheartbiztherapy

This week on Swimming with Allocators, Roy Swan of the Ford Foundation returns to discuss how impact investing can simultaneously “do good and make money,” unpacking the foundation's $1 billion mission-related investments endowment, its 9.5% return hurdle, and why achieving market-rate returns with impact is both possible and necessary. He explains why impact investing is harder than traditional investing in requiring analysis of positive and negative externalities, careful manager selection, and a deeper understanding of human psychology and narrative. Roy introduces ideas from his book Positive Sum, revisiting misunderstood economic thinkers like Adam Smith and Milton Friedman, and connects quality jobs, broad-based employee ownership, and empathy-driven culture to stronger democracies and better long-term outcomes. The conversation also touches on Anthropic as an example of public-interest-focused AI, the dangers of narrow, extractive capital allocation, and a rich reading list for listeners who want to rethink capitalism from first principles. Also, Shane Goudey of Sidley joins the show and explains how a hot venture market, driven by AI, deep tech, and emerging managers, is creating intense demand for fund formation, SPVs, and holistic LP structures, while Sidley helps GPs navigate timing, strategy, and LP capital availability. Highlights from this week's conversation include: Roy Returns and What's Changed Since Last Episode (0:04) Cost Of Capital, Hurdle Rate, and Spectrum Of Impact Returns (2:41) Proving You Can Do Well and Do Good Without Financial Trade-Offs (4:51) From Cave Mentality to Cooperative Economies and Broader Portfolios (6:47) Introducing Positive Sum and Rethinking Adam Smith and Milton Friedman (10:19) Shane On Venture Fund Formation, SPVs, and Co-Invest Structures (17:16) Planning Fund Launches, First Closes, and LP Capital Availability (20:03) Applying Positive Sum Ideas: Worker Power and Quality Jobs Examples (24:02) What Asset Managers and VCs Can Do To Challenge Conventional Wisdom (28:36) Work Hours, Elon Musk, and Different Definitions Of Wealth (32:34) Anthropic Case Study: Slower Growth for Safety and Long-Term Advantage (32:42) Key Book: Why Nations Fail and Inclusive Versus Extractive Economies (37:14) Final thoughts and Episode Wrap-Up (41:28) The Ford Foundation is an independent organization working to address inequality and build a future grounded in justice. For more than 85 years, it has supported visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. Today, with an endowment of $16 billion, the foundation has headquarters in New York and 10 regional offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Sidley Austin LLP is a premier global law firm with a dedicated Venture Funds practice, advising top venture capital firms, institutional investors, and private equity sponsors on fund formation, investment structuring, and regulatory compliance. With deep expertise across private markets, Sidley provides strategic legal counsel to help funds scale effectively. Learn more at sidley.com. Swimming with Allocators is a podcast that dives into the intriguing world of Venture Capital from an LP (Limited Partner) perspective. Hosts Alexa Binns and Earnest Sweat are seasoned professionals who have donned various hats in the VC ecosystem. Each episode, we explore where the future opportunities lie in the VC landscape with insights from top LPs on their investment strategies and industry experts shedding light on emerging trends and technologies.  The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this podcast are for general informational purposes only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Xaver Lehmann co-founded e-bot7 from a university dorm after seeing a Facebook post about chatbots on a train ride home from King's Day in Amsterdam. Five years later, the company had 130 employees, five European offices, and a $60 million acquisition offer from a Nasdaq company. He was 28. From the outside, it was the whole checklist.In this episode, Xaver and I get into what it was like building with investor money as a first-time founder, the clauses in VC contracts nobody warns you about, and why he walked away from a $25 million Series B to chase the acquisition with only weeks of cash left. We talk about the moment the deal fell apart, why he and his cofounder declined the revised terms anyway, and how the buyer came back on a Saturday and restored the original offer. Then we get into what happened after the money landed: months of depression so deep he couldn't even drive, two years working for the company that acquired him while completely burnt out, and being asked to fire 85 of his own people when the acquirer's stock collapsed.We also talk about his relationship with money as he came into financial success and what he's building now with The Honest Founder.If you've ever thought hitting a number would be the solution to all your problems, this one's for you.______(01:23) How he defined success as a kid(05:53) A Facebook post on a train that started a $60M company(08:23) Cold-emailing corporates with no product, no website, no name(10:19) Forbes 30 Under 30, 130 employees, but did any of it land?(13:14) What building with VC money is actually like(15:42) Would he raise from VCs again?(17:08) Walking away from a $25M Series B to chase an acquisition(19:36) Declining the revised deal with weeks of cash left(22:54) Why he wanted to sell(24:47) The buyer came back on a Saturday(27:50) What having money actually felt like vs. the fantasy(28:44) Not checking prices for the first time in his life(30:19) Showing up burnt out for a company that wasn't his anymore(34:00) Every Slack message felt like the end of the world(37:11) Purpose then vs. purpose now(39:42) Investing, coaching, and The Honest Founder(41:23) Would he build again? (45:58) What he'd tell founders chasing the dream he livedShow notes:Find show notes of each episode on ProfitLed.fm. Connect with our host:Follow Melissa on LinkedIn where she shares stories & lessons from her founder journey weekly.Connect with Melissa at melissakwan.com and subscribe to  'your founder next door', Melissa's weekly newsletter on what it's like to build a company without an abundance of resources and friends in high places.Follow @themelissakwan on Instagram and YouTube where she shares short videos of business advice and other truth-bomb sound bites.This podcast was brought to you by eWebinar:Find out how you can turn pre-recorded videos into interactive experiences with chat so you can run your demos, onboarding calls, and training sessions on autopilot, 24/7, without being there. Hop into a demo at eWebinar.com, no salesperson required.

Episode 1000. Almost a decade ago I started Wings of Inspired Business to change the power dynamic for female founders, who to this day receive less than 2% of venture capital while delivering 2.5 times the returns. So, for the thousandth episode I gathered seven women who have lived it: Rajia Abdelaziz (invisaWear), Lindsey Mignano (Mignano Law Group), Clare Baukham (The Billionaire Woman), Ungenita Prevost (Ungenita Beauty), Trixy Castro (TRX Capital) and Deborah Sass (SpaceVrse), bookended by venture investor Naseem Sayani (GCWC Capital). The subject: money. Who gets it, why, what to say when an investor hesitates, and how women could put $55 billion into venture without asking anyone's permission.

In this episode, we sit down with Jeff Clavier, founder of Uncork Capital and one of the early pioneers of seed-stage venture capital.Jeff shares what he has learned from more than two decades of investing in startups, from raising some of the earliest institutional seed funds to backing companies like Postmates and Fitbit. We get into the realities of raising a venture fund, what LPs look for in emerging managers, why DPI and returning actual capital matter more than paper markups, and how secondaries can create liquidity for investors. Jeff also breaks down his approach to deep tech and hardware investing, the opportunity he missed with Uber, and how he planned the transition of Uncork to its next generation of leadership.If you're interested in venture capital, raising a VC fund, seed investing, emerging managers, LP fundraising, startup investing, fund economics, DPI, secondaries, or building a long-term career in venture, this episode is for you.This episode is supported by Sydecar, HEX, Wispr Flow, Granola, Beehiiv, KalshiSydecar: https://sydecar.io/partners/trailblazersbeehiiv: https://www.beehiiv.com/splash?utm_campaign=trailblazers-2026-Partnership&utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=trailblazers&utm_term=podcast-17&stripe_campaign_code=TRAILBLAZERS30 (or use code “trailblazers30” for 30% OFF)Granola: http://granola.ai/trailblazers *Granola is the official notetaker of Trailblazers! Checkout the episode shownotes here: https://notes.granola.ai/t/cd9f769d-33de-4ef8-abe9-57baa929cc4f-00b881l8Kalshi: http://Kalshi.com/r/trailblazersWispr Flow: https://ref.wisprflow.ai/trailblazersHEX: http://hex.ai/trailblazers

Jayla Siciliano breaks down why early-stage founders should not dismiss small checks when raising their first round. The episode focuses on how a modest commitment can create the validation needed to unlock larger angel, strategic, and investor conversations later.In this episode, Jayla explains why most founders are not ready for VC funding right away and why smaller early checks can matter more than the dollar amount itself. She also shares how founders without wealthy networks can still build credibility with strangers by showing that someone else already believes in the business. Key topics Why a $10,000 check can be more valuable than its face amount at the early stage Why most startups are not ready for VC funding or angel groups immediately Why "go straight to VCs" is usually the wrong first move for new founders How friends and family checks can validate a founder before meeting strangers Why even $2,000, $5,000, or $10,000 from a trusted person can signal legitimacy How strategic partners, distributors, sales channels, or influencers can provide even stronger validation than family money Why investors often want proof that someone else believes in the founder before writing a larger check Why founders should not get fixated on only accepting $50,000 to $100,000 checks at the start Why small early commitments can help open doors to much bigger checks later How Jayla's own experience raising money without a wealthy network shaped this advice Timestamps 00:00 — Why the right small check can matter more than the amount 01:31 — Why most founders are not ready for VC or angel money yet 02:30 — Why investor gatekeeping makes early fundraising harder than people expect 03:00 — When startups can skip the usual fundraising steps 04:25 — Raising money without wealthy friends and family 04:53 — How a small friends and family round builds investor validation 05:18 — Why strategic partners can be stronger validation than cash alone 06:17 — Why founders should not wait for only large checks 07:10 — How outside investors interpret early commitment from others 08:07 — Jayla's offer to help founders strategize their funding plan Have questions specific to your situation? Join Jayla's FREE monthly Seed Money Office Hours call to ask your real funding questions and get more clarity on funding strategy, investor materials, pitching, finding investors, and how to close. Save your spot: https://seedmoney.mysamcart.com/office-hours About Your Host Jayla Siciliano is an entrepreneur with 25+ years in consumer brands, product, and marketing. After raising her first angel round against all odds and later appearing on Shark Tank, where she closed a deal with Mark Cuban, she now helps founders become fundable, confident, and ready to attract the right investors. Entrepreneurship changed her life, and she's on a mission to help first-time founders raise their first round of angel funding and change theirs too. Disclaimer The information in this podcast is educational and general in nature and does not take into consideration the listener's personal circumstances. Therefore, it is not intended to be a substitute for specific, individualized financial, legal, or tax advice.

What kills hard-tech startups usually isn't the technology. It's everything surrounding it: unit economics, supply chains, customers, workforce, financing, and the long road from demonstration to deployment.Guest bio:Dr. Vanessa Chan is an entrepreneur, engineer, angel investor, and educator who works at the intersection of technology, commercialization, and business. She previously served as Chief Commercialization Officer at the U.S. Department of Energy and now leads innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Pennsylvania's Engineering program. She was also a partner at McKinsey & Company, where she co-led its innovation practice. TIME named her to its TIME100 Climate list of influential climate leaders in 2024. She holds three patents and, outside of work, runs her own pottery studio.Seven things you'll learn in this episode:Technology readiness isn't enough: founders also need to systematically reduce market, supply chain, workforce, regulatory, community, and economic risks.A startup doesn't need to eliminate every risk before raising capital, but it needs data, explicit assumptions, and a credible plan for driving each major risk down.Commercialization ultimately comes down to three questions: Do customers want it, will they pay enough for it, and can you deliver it at a cost that lets the value chain make money?The hardest financing gap in hard tech often sits between development and demonstration, when first-of-a-kind projects remain expensive, but traditional capital wants proven economics.America's capital providers may need new structures that spread risk across the first several deployments instead of waiting to finance the eighth or ninth project.Founders trained as technologists need to replace “technology push” with “market pull,” including talking to customers long before the technology is finished.Some of the best entrepreneurial training comes from getting comfortable without a rubric: observe problems, ask why, experiment, build networks, and learn how to find answers you were never taught.--Are you a VC- or PE-backed CEO building in energy, infrastructure, or climate tech?Join 45 CEOs and 45 investors and post-exit founders who help each other make better decisions on capital, strategy, scaling, and leadership.See if the CEO community is a fit → entrepreneursforimpact.comGet smarter on energy, infrastructure, and climate tech in 2 minutes.Join 40,000+ professionals getting practical insights on startups, investing, commercialization, strategy, and leadership.Get the free newsletter → entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comHelp more people find this podcast.If this episode was useful, take 20 seconds to follow the show or leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps bring these conversations to more entrepreneurs, investors, and executives.

Cyber startups churn through heads of sales, and the usual explanation is a bad hire. Matt Calligan, Director of Growth Markets at ArmorText, argues something different. Founder-led product-market fit only proves the founder can sell, and there's a stage between that and scale that most companies skip. He calls it the Vanguard stage and lays out what has to be true before anyone hands a VP of Sales a number.In this episodeWhy early cyber buyers are "buying access to the founder," not the productThe four lights that have to turn green before you scale: a defined motion, a non-founder who can sell it, proof at volume, and junior reps who can run it without churnWhy junior AEs vs. a seasoned VP is a false binary, and the personality type Matt hires for insteadWhy your President's Club rock star is often the wrong person for the first seatHow ArmorText's founder-run hour-long demo became a five-minute UI walkthroughWhat to do when your founder won't let go of the long feature demoHow the unicorn math of a VC fund pushes founders to skip the middle stageAbout the guestMatt Calligan is Director of Growth Markets at ArmorText, which builds secure out-of-band collaboration for incident response teams. He has spent two decades in enterprise sales, including co-founding Influents as VP of Sales, and has worked on ArmorText's go-to-market since 2018.Notable quotes"If your process is still requiring the founder, then what you have is a founder and an AE in a trench coat." (tightened)"This stage takes as long as it takes.""Founders are always salesperson number one."Chapters00:06 Welcome and the spin-the-wheel game01:51 Why cyber startups go through three heads of sales05:16 What product-market fit actually proves08:57 Founders are always salesperson number one11:20 Fund math and the pressure to skip steps16:11 Why cyber's chasm is inverted18:49 The four lights of the Vanguard stage21:28 Who to hire for the first seat24:48 Do it a hundred times: hearing why the baby is ugly26:32 From a 60-minute demo to five minutes30:40 How to get the founder to let go32:52 When to stop preserving runway and floor it38:47 The reverse channel program43:35 Questions to ask before joining as a founding AE45:57 Differentiation teardown Support the showThe Cyber Go-To-Market Talk is the show for cybersecurity sales leaders, founders, CROs, and go-to-market operators looking to improve cyber sales performance and build more predictable revenue growth. Hosted by Andrew Monaghan, founder of Unstoppable.do, covering cyber sales leadership, revenue leadership, sales onboarding, forecasting, pipeline generation, and cybersecurity go-to-market execution.Follow me on LinkedIn for regular posts about growing your cybersecurity startupWant to grow your revenue faster? Check out my cybersecurity sales consulting and trainingNeed ideas about how to grow your pipeline? Sign up for my newsletter.

How do investors(LPs) invest in investors(VCs) when the world is changing so fast?Vishal Verma has invested in 20+ VC(Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed, General Catalyst) funds and has seen 4 market cycles. Vishal has spent decades investing in and alongside some of the biggest venture funds in Silicon Valley.In this episode, we cover the less talked about side of venture ecosystem: LPs, family offices, access, co-investments, fund cycles and how VC has changed.We also discuss Anthropic, SpaceX, trillion-dollar IPOs, the shrinking Silicon Valley middle class, why large VC funds can no longer make small bets, roll-up strategies and what Vishal has learned from investing through multiple market cycles.Watch this episode to learn how venture ecosystem works00:00 From ISRO to Silicon Valley04:06 From Operator to Investor05:58 The Early Sequoia Bet08:07 From $300M to $15B Funds12:24 Access Matters More Than Capital15:02 Building Redwood Collective19:10 Trillion-Dollar IPOs27:24 How Silicon Valley's Mafias Compound31:30 How VC Returns Changed34:02 The Disappearing Middle Class36:14 Why People Are Leaving California37:36 Why Big Funds Can't Make Small Bets39:30 Why Unicorns Aren't Enough Anymore40:18 What Happens After the IPO43:02 VC Firms Becoming Financial Giants?45:56 Why He Ignores IRR49:25 Is AI a Commodity?53:10 Next Generation of VC Funds59:00 Inside the Roll-Up Strategy01:02:36 Surviving Four Market Cycles-------------India's talent has built the world's tech—now it's time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It's about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that's done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we're doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail

In this episode of Shift AI, Emrecan Dogan, Head of Product of Glean, joins host Boaz Ashkenazy for a wide-ranging conversation on what it actually takes to give enterprise AI real organizational context.Emrecan has convinced countless CIOs and CEOs to stop chasing a data cleanup project that he says will never finish. Instead he makes the case for leaving the mess exactly where it is and solving the problem somewhere else entirely, a position that runs against nearly everything companies think they need to do before they can "get onto AI." He also lays out a theory of why knowledge workers spend half their AI time just re-teaching context, and what it would take to get that number to zero.This one is for CIOs, chief AI officers, heads of product, and platform and data leaders who are being told to fix their data before they can move on AI, and who want a second opinion.Chapters[00:00] Welcome and introduction[00:33] Emrecan's path to Glean: entrepreneur, LinkedIn, Stripe, and a warning from a VC[02:36] First paid job: fixing bikes in Turkey[04:19] What Glean actually does: the work AI platform explained[06:53] The onboarding moment of truth and losing Glean when you leave[09:40] Why organizational data, not model choice, is the real moat[10:47] Seven years of infrastructure work before the GPT moment[13:00] The pipe dream of cleaning up your data stack first[15:36] "Bot sitting": the hidden cost of teaching context to AI every day[17:59] Why picking a single model provider is one of the worst bets you can make[23:37] Token yield, marginal cost intelligence, and the "half my budget is wasted" problem[30:36] Assistants versus agents: a framework for when each one applies[36:31] What's coming next: durable, multiplayer artifacts and proactive AI[40:34] Closing question: the future of work in two wordsConnect with Emrecan DoganLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emrecandogan/Glean blog: glean.comConnect with Boaz AshkenazyLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/boazashkenazy/Email: info@shiftai.fm

Wing Vasiksiri joins Jeremy Au to analyze a major wave of tech M&A deals and macro growth trends reshaping Southeast Asia. They dissect Grab's $1.5 billion acquisition of a 60% stake in Atome Financial, examining its unique performance-linked staged structure, offline-to-online retail synergies against Sea Group, and the strategic value of Atome's credit underwriting capabilities. They also break down Circle's $400 million purchase of Tazapay, exploring how cross-border B2B payment rails and all-stock deal structures de-risk regional expansion and align long-term founder incentives. Finally, they examine Singapore's $200M+ fintech fund injection, the double-digit surge in regional e-commerce activity, and why Thailand and Malaysia are emerging as primary data center hubs for Chinese hyperscalers and frontier AI initiatives. 00:00 SEA tech M&A takes off: Grab announces a $1.5B deal for Atome Financial while Circle acquires B2B payments firm Tazapay for $400M.  03:14 Grab and Atome synergies: Combining offline BNPL retail networks with food delivery to build an orthogonal vector against Sea Group.  04:38 Unique deal structures in regional tech: How staged buyouts and performance-linked mechanisms de-risk acquirers and align management teams.  06:36 Underwriting as a competitive moat: Grab taps into Atome's multi-country credit track record, institutional debt lines, and portfolio scale.  11:08 Strategic cash deployment: Grab utilizes balance sheet cash for high-growth strategic acquisitions rather than traditional public market buybacks.  12:51 Circle acquires Tazapay: Cross-border regulatory licenses and global payment infrastructure unlock a 6x payout for early VC backers.  18:02 Singapore's $200M+ fintech initiative: Public funding steps in during a VC deployment winter to support proven regional exit pathways.  19:50 E-commerce surge across SEA: Double-digit growth in app installs in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia creates secondary startup opportunities. 26:02 Frontier AI labs expand to APAC: OpenAI and neolabs establish Singapore headquarters and launch accelerator programs in Thailand.  27:18 The Thailand and Malaysia data center boom: Abundant power, cheap land, and a "bring-your-own-chip" model drive Chinese hyperscaler investments.

Security researchers used Claude to hack into OpenAI's private code repository through a bug bounty program, OpenAI launched Astra for Law for select firms, Anthropic redesigned Claude projects to run parallel agent threads, and opened a Bay Area biology lab. Security researchers in an OpenAI bug bounty program hacked OpenAI, accessing its "monorepo" on GitHub, using a cybersecurity version of Opus 4.8 and Opus 5 (The Wall Street Journal) OpenAI launches Astra for Law, combining GPT-6 Astra with a legal search index and instructions for legal analysis and writing, initially for select law firms (OpenAI) SiliconANGLE reports Astra for Law passed 54% of legal-research benchmark questions versus 38.7% for base GPT-6 Astra, launches with 26 partner-built plugins connecting Relativity, Clio, and iManage, and brings ChatGPT for Word to general availability (SiliconANGLE) Anthropic redesigns Claude projects, letting users describe work in one conversation and have Claude manage it across parallel threads, starting in Claude Code (Anthropic) The Verge reports each project thread runs as its own Claude Code cloud session on a separate repo branch, with a coordinator resolving overlapping work as merge conflicts, and beta access starting today for select Claude Pro and Max subscribers (The Verge) Anthropic Life Sciences Head Eric Kauderer-Abrams says the AI company set up a Bay Area wet lab for physical biology work, as it pushes into AI disease research (Reuters) Longreads Theoretical computer scientist Scott Aaronson says he's heard rumors that AI labs are sitting on major unpublished math solutions, and describes a mathematics community consumed by anxious conversation about the "AI tsunami" after the hostile response to a recent Navier-Stokes proof (Shtetl-Optimized) The FT reports the AI boom is fueling a resurgence in VC bets on "moonshot" sectors like nuclear fusion and brain-computer interfaces, as Dealroom data shows non-AI deep-tech funding has topped $150B since the start of 2024 (Financial Times) Subscribe to the ad-free feed.

Big projects routinely blow their budgets, schedules, and sometimes the companies building them. But research across 16,000+ projects reveals surprisingly consistent rules for getting them right.In this solo episode, I translate lessons from How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner into practical strategies for entrepreneurs building factories, energy projects, infrastructure, and other capital-intensive businesses.Seven lessons for entrepreneurs:Assume your forecast is too optimistic. Compare your project with what actually happened on similar projects, not just your own projections.Plan slowly so you can build quickly. Mistakes are cheap on paper and brutally expensive once construction starts.Don't innovate everywhere at once. A breakthrough project can combine mostly proven components with a small amount of genuinely novel technology.Find your LEGO brick. Standardization, repetition, and modularity can dramatically reduce cost, complexity, and execution risk.Hire people with scars. Your first commercial project should not also be your contractor's first attempt at building one.Shrink the window of vulnerability. Every extra month creates more exposure to inflation, tariffs, elections, supply chains, and other surprises.Align incentives before construction begins. Structure contracts so everyone wins when the project succeeds, rather than profiting from delays and change orders.Read about all 15 tips here:https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com/p/15-rules-for-building-big-projects--Are you a VC- or PE-backed CEO building in energy, infrastructure, or climate tech?Join 45 CEOs and 45 investors and post-exit founders who help each other make better decisions on capital, strategy, scaling, and leadership.See if the CEO community is a fit → entrepreneursforimpact.comGet smarter on energy, infrastructure, and climate tech in 2 minutes.Join 40,000+ professionals getting practical insights on startups, investing, commercialization, strategy, and leadership.Get the free newsletter → entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comHelp more people find this podcast.If this episode was useful, take 20 seconds to follow the show or leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps bring these conversations to more entrepreneurs, investors, and executives.

Heath Adams is a military veteran in Albuquerque who started posting ethical hacking videos on YouTube under the handle The Cyber Mentor. The videos found a large audience, consulting clients started showing up, and he launched TCM Security as a penetration testing shop. Then he put a course on Udemy in December and it did six figures in its first week. TCM became a training company quickly. By the time he sold TCM, it had 30-plus courses, around 10 hands-on certifications with a proprietary exam platform, and 30 employees. Revenue was low eight figures, split roughly 33-40% education, 30% certifications, and 20-30% services. The YouTube channel passed a million subscribers, over 100,000 students bought courses, and more than 10,000 were paying subscribers. No outside funding, ever. He sold to Educate 360 in 2024 and exited in 2025. He spent two to three years deliberately unwinding his own YouTube centrality so the company could be sold without him: hiring a marketing team, handing off social media, putting other people on the videos, until customers stopped equating TCM Security with Heath Adams. He now runs Breach Point, a defensive security company built to scale from day one. Key Takeaways Affordable Pricing — $30 subscriptions opened a global audience nobody else in cyber training was serving. Revenue Share — Splitting revenue with expert instructors bought quality he could never have afforded to hire. Platform Lock-In — Teachable worked fine at five courses and became a trap at thirty. M&A Advisor — A million dollars in deal costs doubled the offer, and he'd pay it again. Track Data Early — Accrual accounting and a real CRM from day one, not spreadsheets and intuition. Quote from Heath Adams, Founder and CEO of TCM Security "We spent many years getting rid of founder dependency in our marketing, and that was a big thing to prepare for. If I ever wanted to get out of here, if I wanted to exit, I had to get rid of the founder dependency with me as the face of the company. "So it was a two, three year plan way before then. We started hiring people in to be the face. Stopped posting on social media as much about the person and only about the the company. "We got to a point where they don't say TCM Security is Heath Adams. They just say that guy maybe works at TCM Security, or they don't even know who I am. Getting to that point was hard to achieve, but we did get there eventually." Links Heath Adams on LinkedIn TCM Security on LinkedIn TCM Security website Breach Point (Heath's new company) Podcast Sponsor – Full Scale This podcast is sponsored by Full Scale, one of the fastest-growing software development companies in any region. Full Scale vets, employs, and supports over 300 professional developers, designers, and testers in the Philippines who can augment and extend your core dev team. Learn more at fullscale.io. The Practical Founders Podcast Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app or view on our YouTube channel. Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com. Practical Founders CEO Peer Groups Be part of a committed and confidential group of practical founders creating valuable software companies without big VC funding.  A Practical Founders Peer Group is a committed and confidential group of founders/CEOs who want to help you succeed on your terms. Each Practical Founders Peer Group is personally curated and moderated by Greg Head.

图们江边的一家交通旅社里，挂着一条双语横幅：「牲畜越境，请勿擅自处理。」在地图上，国界通常被画成一条清晰的线，而牲畜不懂国界，只认水草丰美的方向；可人呢？一个非此即彼、排他性的边界，真的存在吗？ 图们江作为边界已延续数百年，河流没有改变，人们认识边界的方式却不断变化。清朝与朝鲜都曾严禁越境，但当晚清面对俄罗斯扩张威胁时，清朝又开始将渡江垦荒的朝鲜人纳入「我民」。进入现代国家体系后，国籍、户籍和证件进一步明确了人的归属，却也把原本交错生活的人群划入不同的国家、民族与身份类别。而如巴以、印巴和卢旺达等地区，殖民时期划定的疆界或族群分类在解殖后仍然延续，至今仍是理解当地分治、对立与冲突不可绕开的历史背景。边界从来不只是一条静止的线，它会随着政治经济结构变化不断被解释和重划。 这一期节目，我们邀请到清华大学人文与社会科学高等研究所教授宋念申，从中朝边境的历史和普通人的生活选择出发，聊聊边界如何在流动的现实中不断被划定和跨越，帝国主义、资本主义与殖民主义，又是如何让这条线越变越坚硬。 本期人物 宋念申，清华大学人文与社会科学高等研究所教授 徐涛，声动活泼联合创始人 主要话题 [00:33]和宋老师一起Citywalk：西塔的边界在哪里？ [08:50]五百年，图们江没变，但我们认识边界的方式变了 [17:00]封禁江岸、严惩越境：清朝与朝鲜边界管控背后的内政考量 [25:42]晚清的边界转向：越境垦荒的朝鲜人为何从「夷」变成「我民」 [30:27]边境故事：是边界跨过人，也是人跨过边界 [43:11]现代性的「铁三角」：帝国主义、资本主义与殖民主义让边界变硬 [59:02]被继承的边界：解殖为何没有终结殖民秩序？ [1:06:01]种族之外：政治经济结构与资本扩张如何制造新的边界 [1:12:45]学科也在划界：真问题推动知识生产跨越边界 延伸阅读 西塔:一个东北街区中的空间、国家与日常 劃界：在圖們江製造現代東亞（1881-1919） 也可以在小红书账号「徐涛-声东击西」看到更多相关内容和幕后 给声东击西投稿 「声东击西」一直在寻找来自不同社会和群体的真实声音。我们曾经采访过为特朗普竞选生产 MAGA 帽子的中国制造商、记录过七位在美国大选中经历起伏的华人个体，也讲述了委内瑞拉青年的故事。 如果你也有一些特别的经历、观察或想法，不论是亲身体验的故事，还是你在某个行业、社区中的所见所闻，都欢迎你向我们投稿。 你的声音可能出现在未来的节目当中，我们非常期待你的分享！ 投稿入口 加入我们 声动活泼团队目前正在招聘内容监制、商业运营经理、商业发展经理和实习生，如果你也对播客行业的内容制作和商务运营感兴趣，欢迎投递！ 详情点击招聘入口：加入声动活泼（在招职位速览） 幕后制作 后期：赛德 运营：George 设计：饭团 实习编辑：翔宇、怡然 商务合作 声动活泼商业化小队，点击链接可直达商务会客厅，也可发送邮件至 business@shengfm.cn 联系我们。 关于声动活泼 「用声音碰撞世界」，声动活泼致力于为人们提供源源不断的思考养料。 我们还有这些播客：声东击西、What's Next｜科技早知道、商业WHY酱、跳进兔子洞&跳进兔子洞第三季、吃喝玩乐了不起、不止金钱、泡腾 VC、反潮流俱乐部 欢迎在即刻、微博等社交媒体上与我们互动，搜索声动活泼即可找到我们。 也欢迎你写邮件和我们联系，邮箱地址是：ting@sheng.fm 获取更多和声动活泼有关的讯息，你也可以扫码添加声小音，在节目之外和我们保持联系！ Special Guest: 宋念申.

The Home Depot's founding story is like an Avengers movie… if the Avengers got fired, went broke, and stacked empty paint cans ten feet high to look legitimate. After being unceremoniously fired from their previous hardware chain at ages 48 and 35, Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank took the words of their New York banker Ken Langone (who had also just accidentally caused their firings) to heart: they'd just been "kicked in the ass with a golden horseshoe.” They proceeded to author the greatest compounding story in American retail history, helped by some legendary cameos along the way from Sol Price, Jamie Dimon, and Ross Perot (to name a few). And the ending is as good as any superhero film: from its 1981 IPO to today, The Home Depot has been the single highest-returning equity in the entire US stock market — higher than Apple, Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway, and everything else!Sponsors:Many thanks to our fantastic Fall '26 Season partners:SierraWorkOSAnthropicSentryLinks:Sign up for email updates, get our takeaways and research photos from each episode, and vote on future topics!The Official Acquired Meetup on Sept 17th with our friends at Sentry. Join us!The Acquired Home Depot Companion PDFOur Visual Artifacts page for Home DepotBuilt from Scratch by Bernie Marcus and Arthur BlankKick Up Some Dust by Bernie MarcusThe Board Wore Chicken Suits by Joe Nocera, The New York TimesFrank Blake on Invest Like the BestKen Langone's interview with Arvind NavaratnamWorldly Partners' Multi-Decade Home Depot StudyAll episode sourcesCarve Outs:Silo Season 3Tires Season 3Ratio 8 Coffee MakerTrade CoffeeQuarterbackComedianMore Acquired:Get email updates and vote on future episodes!Join the SlackCheck out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!00:00:00 Start00:00:43 Intro00:05:32 Bernie Marcus's Early Career and meeting Arthur Blank (1972)00:15:58 Ken Langone & Handy Dan (1970s)00:33:08 Ken Buys Handy Dan, Bernie & Arthur Fired00:43:55 Ross Perot Almost Buys Home Depot00:51:20 Pat Farrah & The HomeCo Interlude01:05:03 First Stores & Early Model (1979)01:14:16 Home Depot Goes Public & Expands (1981)01:24:35 Home Depot's Unique Operating System01:46:01 Arthur Blank Takes CEO & Early Cracks (1997)01:56:07 The Bob Nardelli Era (2000-2007)02:12:09 Nardelli's Public Downfall & Firing (2006-2007)02:24:24 Frank Blake's Turnaround: Crisis & Culture (2007)02:42:30 E-commerce & Distribution Revolution02:59:57 Home Depot Today: Pro & DIY (2024)03:12:04 Analysis: The Paradox of Specialness03:16:18 7 Powers: Home Depot's Competitive Advantages03:19:17 Quintessence: Why It Got So Big03:26:27 Carve-Outs + Outro‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

“Thanks, Mom.” In this episode, Mark and Dan discuss Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 7) #35, which is legacy issue #999. This issue was written by Joe Kelly. The cover features artwork by Ed McGuinness, Mark Farmer, and Marcio Menyz. The interiors feature art by Francesco Manna, colors by David Curiel, and, of course, letters by VC's Joe Caramagna. This issue was first released on August 26th, 2026. Rick Coste edited this episode. Alex Galucki edited the video version of this podcast. Our artwork is handcrafted by artists Ron Frenz, Nick Cagnetti, and the late Sal Buscema. Our theme songs were produced by Ryland Bojack, Tony Thaxton, and Spider-Maj. Our animated introduction to the show is by Josh Sutton of Panels to Pixels. Watch the show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOPCnjzQZNViyEnoOuckaVQ We would also love to see you join our Amazing Spider-Slack community board. If you'd like to join in on our amazing conversations, click this link to get started: https://join.slack.com/t/amazingspider/shared_invite/zt-42tsfhs2-yBaH6KkRmOWiW_8gCf9SmQ This week's Patreon podcasts include a review of Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 7) #36 / Legacy #1000, a brand new interview with writer Paul Jenkins, our discussion of the two Spider-Man/Superman comics, and two episodes of the Whatever a Spider Can Diaries, which document Dan’s process of writing a book about Spider-Man. If you'd like to follow along with our reviews as they are released, please check out our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/superiorspidertalk Read our B-Title reviews, collecting memories, and more in the Amazing Spider-Talk Substack! http://www.amazingspider.substack.com You can email questions to our show at amazingspidertalk@gmail.com or by clicking here. You can also BUY MARK'S BOOK, 100 Things Spider-Man Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. The post The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 7) #35 / LGY #999 – REVIEW appeared first on Amazing Spider-Talk.