Founder's FAQ

Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Leo Polovets, co-founder and General Partner at Susa Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm with having portfolio companies such as Robinhood, Andela, Flexport, and Stedi.Before Susa, Leo was the second engineering hire at Linkedin, where he helped build the first versions of products like Linkedin Jobs and Linkedin Groups. He then worked on payment fraud detection algorithms at Google and was also an early engineer at FactualIn this episode;1-) Defining the track record 2-) How to help to scale after the investment3-) Determining the valuation4-) Pivots in later stagesFounder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can pre-order through the website. You can also reach us through @foundersfaq on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Pejman Nozad. Pejman is a founding managing partner at Pear VC, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups, based in Palo Alto. Pejman has over 15 years of experience investing in early-stage high tech startups. He built a $40B+ portfolio, investing in over 300 startups and seeding several multi-billion dollar companies such as Dropbox, DoorDash, Guardant Health, Lending Club, SoundHound, and Gusto. And lastly, he is a soccer fan.

Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Jennifer S. LeBlanc. She is the best-selling author of Launching for Revenue and Changing Tides She is the founder of the Changing Tides Movement, which was developed out of the pressing need for a collaborative community focused on the unique experiences of women founders, entrepreneurs, and investors. Jennifer is known as a high-energy and inspiring keynote speaker and workshop facilitator for startup accelerators and corporate teams. In her private coaching work, Jennifer works with female founders, entrepreneurs, and change agents to provide them with the tools and connections they need to succeedJennifer is also the founder and CEO of ThinkResults, which was ranked as the 10th Fastest-Growing Private Company in Silicon Valley in 2017 and has been recognized as one of the top Silicon Valley agencies each year since 2013.In this episode;1-) Challenges and advantages of female founders2-) Creating a mesh network of investors3-) Scaling of early team members4-) Having self-awareness or notFounder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can pre-order through the website. You can also reach us through @foundersfaq on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Steve Barsh. Steve is a Managing Partner at DreamIt Ventures. He has over 30 years of experience starting, leading, launching, and building multi-national companies as well as early-stage venture work. He has helped launch over 100 companies that have generated over $1B in value. As a founder, Steve also started his first company while he was graduating college and sold that company 7 years later to MCI where he went on to lead the combined division. In this episode;1-) How to leverage the board effectively2-) Proof points to show in Series A3-) What to focus on while closing the round4-) Essentials of bridge roundFounder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can pre-order through the website. You can also reach us through @foundersfaq on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Sean Byrnes. Sean is CEO & co-founder of Outlier. Previously, he founded Flurry which was the leader in mobile analytics and advertising space and it was sold to Yahoo! in 2014. Sean advises some early-stage technology companies and invests in many others.In this episode;1-) The biggest challenge while scaling the company2-) How to set up a culture3-) Is it really all about the founder?4-) Having a track record or notFounder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can pre-order through the website. You can also reach us through @foundersfaq on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Josh Constine. Josh is a Principal investor and head of content at venture capital fund SignalFire. He invests in early-stage startups across verticals with a focus on social apps, visual communication, remote work, entertainment & media, and tech's transformation of new sectors. Previously, Josh was the Editor-At-Large for TechCrunch where he wrote over 3500 blog posts about social tech giants like Facebook and Snapchat as well as early-stage startups across verticals.In this episode;1-) How to assess the founder2-) Proof points at the pitch3-) How to pivot4-) The ideal way to reach out VC partnerFounder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can pre-order through the website. You can also reach us through @foundersfaq on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Elizabeth Yin. Elizabeth Yin is a co-founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund, a pre-seed fund for software entrepreneurs. Previously, Elizabeth was a partner at 500 Startups where she invested in seed-stage companies and ran the Mountain View accelerator. In a prior life, Elizabeth co-founded and ran an adtech company called LaunchBit (acq 2014).In this episode;1-) Right approach on valuation talks.2-) When to pivot.3-) What to really show off at the pitch.4-) Changes in investment thesis due to pandemic.Founder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can pre-order through the website. You can also reach us through @foundersfaq on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Phin Barnes. Phin is partner at First Round Capital, a venture capital firm based in San Francisco and New York. Previously he was creative director at AND1 and founder of responDesign. He’s also a sneakerhead.In this episode;1-) Leveraging the board.2-) Assessing the founder’s core assets.3-) Proof points to raise the round.4-) Maximizing the potential for success while picking the right valuation.Founder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can pre-order through the website. You can also reach us through @foundersfaq on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Jeff Gothelf. Jeff is the co-writer of the award-winning book Lean UX, author of Sense & Respond and Forever Employable.In this episode;1-) Resolving the uncertainty.2-) Protecting the willingness of the team.3-) Leveraging the risks.4-) Politics inside teams.Founder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can pre-order through the website. You can also reach us through @foundersfaq on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Founder's FAQ: answers to all the possible questions of a founder. Hosted by Ilker Koksal. This episode's guest is Niko Bonatsos. Niko is managing director at General Catalyst, a venture capital firm that makes early-stage and transformational investments.In this episode;1-) Evaluating the founder.2-) Due diligence of co-founders.3-) Investing in second-time founder.4-) Right partner into the board.Founder’s FAQ is a book for founders and you can pre-order through the website. You can also reach us through @foundersfaq on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.