Growing as a technology leader, engaging value-add investors, and optimizing go-to-market strategies :: with Bill Murphy and Sol Cates

In this episode of Ventures, my guests Bill Murphy (https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamwmurphy/), Sol Cates (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sol-cates-649736/), and I discuss the worlds of private equity and investment banking, how founders should think about engaging strategic investors, the different stages of technology leadership as a company grows, and the services that Cresting Wave (https://www.crestingwave.com/) offers to help tech companies mature operations and execute go-to-market strategies. 

Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-33 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. 

You can watch this episode via video here. 

In this episode we cover the following:  

1:35 - Sol tee up and intro of Bill

3:03 - Bill introduction, initial stories from being part of the founding teaming of CapitalIQ, CTO of Blackstone, and Managing Partner at Cresting Wave. 

10:15 - From an education standpoint, what is investment banking? Why should people care about it? 

12:04 - What is private equity (PE)? At what point should founders think about having meetings with PE folks?

16:11 - Interacting with PEs/VCs that can bring real value-add, i.e. those that want to go on that journey with you. 

19:14 - Getting the early company engine started - first customer and first loss. 

20:30 - The balance of having a “north star” versus pivoting.

21:22 - Brief background of Sol and how his journey interacts with these topics.

25:30 - Customer segments/targets: broad vs. specialized. 

30:12 - Stages of technology leadership: beginning phase to that first transition into management/delegation?

33:51 - Where can Cresting Wave help as technology founders grow their companies? (the go-to-market side).

36:47 - Creating a good culture when company building

37:35 - Personality diversity / personality tests

40:15 - The next horizon in the growth of a technology leader, after the delegation mode has been in place for a while.   

42:18 - Communication and processes, openness and transparency. 

44:00 - Commentary on waterfall design vs. agile. 

45:13 - More about Cresting Wave. Who is the ideal customer? (Free services and ideas to tech leaders curious about optimizing their game, and go-to-market services for technology companies...helping the first handful of conversations with potential clients)

48:48 - Where can people follow up and learn more? https://www.crestingwave.com/ // https://www.linkedin.com/in/sol-cates-649736/