Just Go Grind

Ethan Bloch is the Founder and CEO of Digit, on a mission to tackle the number one stressor for Americans: financial well-being. In doing so, Ethan aims to make financial health effortless for everyone. His obsession with personal finance started at age thirteen when he began day trading technology stocks with his bar mitzvah money and continued as he studied behavioral finance in college and realized that that financial health does not come naturally to most. To combat this, Ethan created Digit, the first personalized and automated savings app that helps members reach their financial goals and achieve results. One of the fastest growing financial service companies, Digit has helped members save over $5 billion and pay down over $180 million dollars of debt to date. An early adopter of social media, Ethan founded his first successful Silicon Valley venture, Flowtown, at age twenty-three. The platform, which helped small businesses connect email and social marketing, was acquired by Demandforce two years after its launch. Ethan has a degree in Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Florida. He is based in San Francisco. Some of the Topics Covered by Ethan Bloch in this Episode What Digit is and how it works Ethan's passion for finance and how the idea for Digit developed The original MVP of Digit at launch in February 2015 and how it has evolved into what it is today Initial customer acquisition The importance of trust in financial services The role referrals play in the industry and how they developed Digit's referral program Referrals as one of Digit's core growth channels The challenge of resource allocation Why Ethan doesn't recommend being a solo founder How Ethan approached building out the Digit team Ethan's experience fundraising $65M in four rounds of funding Strategic thinking in fundraising The extra hurdles of creating a financial services company Digit's grand ambition and how they're working towards their mission Why Digit focused on saving as the first element of financial health How Digit began to move beyond saving How Digit's product development mirrors an individual's financial health journey Ethan's approach to reading and researching and his view on accelerated learning How Ethan prioritizes reading How Ethan unwinds and finds balance Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Jason Shuman has been working in New York as a VC for the past six years, and is currently a Partner at Primary Venture Partners, where he focuses his investing activities on marketplace startups, consumer tech, and prosumer acquisition models. In college, Jason launched a direct-to-consumer footwear company that sold hand-sewn boat shoes and driving moccasins. He later went on to work at New York-based seed fund Corigin Ventures, where he invested in several companies including the recently public enterprise smart lock company, Latch. Most recently, Jason was the Chief of Staff to Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) Co-Founder Mark Gerson, where he managed all venture and LP investments for Gerson’s family office. There, Shuman invested in companies including Botkeeper, The Guild and Bunker. His other responsibilities included corporate development, partnerships and strategy at Julius, a venture-backed influencer marketing software company. Jason is passionate about working with founders that impact consumer behavior and daily living. He earned his BBA in entrepreneurship and marketing from the University of Miami. In 2019, he was named Forbes 30 Under 30 in Venture Capital and was listed by the Venture Capital Journal as one of Venture Capital's 40 rising stars. Some of the Topics Covered by Jason Shuman in this Episode Where Primary Venture Partners is focusing its efforts How Jason became a founder and got into VC at a young age and how it aligns with his life mission Jason's experience sourcing deals while working as an Uber driver Jason's time at Corigin Ventures (now Alpaca VC) as an early hire How to spot potential in marketplace startups Where Jason is focusing his investments and why he is passionate about democratizing access Jason's diligence process for evaluating a company How to evaluate a founder's sense of urgency, speed of learning, resourcefulness, and ability to sell What sets Primary Venture Partners apart as a VC firm The importance of having a highly skilled portfolio impact team How Jason's deal-sourcing process has changed over the years How Primary Venture Partners is sourcing deals and supporting founders How they're approach using content and marketing to help the firm How COVID and the move online has changed how Jason accesses deals and why he prefers in-person meetings How Jason invests in his own learning, structures his time and optimizes his calendar Playing the long game and investing time in future founders Insight into Jason's decision-making process The challenge of turning down a deal and how Jason does it The benefits of working with a coach Jason's meditation and journaling practice Jason's advice for founders Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Jesse Draper is a mother of 2 boys, founding partner of Halogen Ventures as well as creator and host of Emmy nominated television series, The Valley Girl Show. Jesse is a 4th generation venture capitalist focused on early stage investing in consumer technology companies led by female and co-ed teams. Among her 55 portfolio companies are the Skimm, Glamsquad, Carbon38, HopSkipDrive, The Flex Company, Eloquii (recently sold to Walmart) and This is L (sold to P&G). She stars on SET's television series Meet the Draper's, currently in it's second season. Jesse was listed by Marie Claire magazine as one of the ‘50 Most Connected Women in America’. She has been a contributor to Marie Claire, Mashable, Forbes, and is a regular investor and tech personality on shows including TLC’s Girl Starter, The Katie Couric Show, Fox’s Good Day LA, CNBC’s Who Wants to Be the Next Millionaire Inventor? & Freeform’s Startup U. She proudly sits on the board of directors of Blue Fever, Carbon38, Preemadonna (creator of the Nailbot) and the non-profit board Bizworld and Project Glimmer. Jesse supports the Parkinson’s Institute and is very involved with growing UCLA’s female entrepreneurship community. Some of the Topics Covered by Jesse Draper in this Episode What Halogen Ventures is doing today Jesse's unique journey from Nickelodeon actor to venture capital Jesse's tech talk show (The Valley Girl Show) and her initiative to interview 50% women in tech The imposter syndrome that comes with being a female in VC and how to overcome it How Jesse approached identifying the right LPs and raising her first fund How raising her first fund differed from her second Jesse's advice for first time fundraisers How Halogen is supporting their founders How to leverage media for consumer companies Jesse's outlook on relationship building and prioritization How Jesse and Halogen evaluate early stage founders Jesse's investment in Toucan and how she views the future of work and learning What industries Jesse recommends investing in now Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Sandro Roco is the Founder and CEO of Sanzo, an Asian-inspired sparkling water company on a mission to bridge cultures by connecting people to authentic flavors. Sanzo uses real fruit, not "natural flavors," and has no added sugar. Sandro, a Queens-born Filipino American, was walking through a popular Asian supermarket in Manhattan’s Koreatown when he noticed a huge gap between the modern, clean labels of the new-age “American” beverage brands and the preservative- and sugar-laden labels of the legacy Asian brands. His goal was simple: celebrate high quality Asian flavors that for decades have been masked by added sugars, artificial flavors and preservatives. Sandro started out as an engineer at a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, worked for two years on a trading floor for J.P. Morgan, and then became head of growth and later chief-of-staff for an online personal styling service. This unconventional career path equipped Sandro with a unique skillset that ultimately led to the founding of Sanzo. Some of the Topics Covered by Sandro Roco in this Episode What makes Sanzo sparkling water different and how Sandro came up with the idea Getting Sanzo started and moonlighting for a year Why Sandro is a solo founder How Sandro was scrappy while approaching manufacturing for his CPG Getting a "scheduled process," or food scientists' approval The importance of developing relationships with distributors and retailers and being prepared before starting those relationships How Sandro made the decision to leave his day job and go full time with Sanzo How Sandro got his first sales Deciding which retailers and distribution partners to work with How distribution has shifted as Sanzo has grown The impact being a child of immigrants had on how Sandro chose to finance his company How he raised 1.3M (from a $600,000 goal) The feedback Sandro was getting from early high profile investors How Sandro has approached building community and how this was reinforced during the pandemic Sandro's eye test rules for packaging design How their packaging design shifted over time Launching D2C during the pandemic How Sandro has gone about product development regarding flavors Sandro's hiring methodology and how the focus has shifted from pain to opportunity What has helped Sandro as a founder and how he steps away from work Why Sandro is passionate about what he does and what's next for Sanzo Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Gal Ringel is the Founder and CEO of Mine, a smart data assistant allowing you to enjoy the internet while feeling safe and secure. Mine is on a mission to create a new global privacy standard where people can manage their data and minimize online risks without changing their behavior. They are bridging the gap between people and companies by making regulations accessible to everyone. Gal is an accomplished leader with a rare fusion of technology (Cybersecurity, 6 years in the 8200 elite intelligence corps), entrepreneurship, VC experience, strategic thinking, and unique business skills. During his 4.5 years as a VC investor, Gal had the opportunity to deploy ~$50M in 20+ amazing early & late-stage companies in the Israeli eco-system. He also had the chance to help those companies excel in almost every aspect of their business and learned so much during this journey. Gal strongly believes that: "Success is a management of failures" and therefore his motto is: “Do not be afraid to take risks and experience failures. This is how we learn best!” Some of the Topics Covered by Gal Ringel in this Episode What Mine is doing to enable you to take control of your data online The issue Mine is working to address and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected this problem The idea that privacy is dead How Gal and his co-founders decided to work together and start Mine Transitioning from engineering to VC to founding VC as a practical MBA Mine's business model and how it has shifted over time Creating the category of data ownership with Mine Fundraising a Series A remotely during a pandemic How the pandemic turned privacy into a hot topic How Gal approaches relationship building Launching on Product Hunt How they got to 200,000 users in the 12 months after launching using organic growth hacking Using influencer campaigns for performance marketing How they've approached building the Mine team by leveraging employees' networks The challenges of growing a team quickly and keeping the team aligned Gal's approach to personal and professional development as a CEO Navigating being a founder and new father during a global pandemic What we should know about cyber security The big vision for Mine Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Hadley Harris is a Co-Founder and General Partner of Eniac Ventures, leading seed rounds in bold founders who use code to create transformational companies. Eniac has recently announced it's fifth fund, of $125M, and their portfolio now includes more than 120 companies, with 50-plus exits. Their team's combined 80 years of experience founding and operating over 10 venture-backed startups and their belief in a strong community are at the heart and soul of their investment approach. Hadley has done a little bit of everything on the path to co-founding Eniac. Starting as a developer and engineering team lead at Pegasystems, he later took on roles as a product manager at Microsoft and strategist at Samsung, where it became clear that big companies were not for him. In 2007 he was very fortunate to join a couple talented AI founders out of MIT at Vlingo where he ran a several aspects of the business across product, strategy and marketing until it was sold to Nuance for $225M. He rolled his experience building a successful startup into Thumb where as CBO he helped the real-time recommendation app reach user engagement levels second only to Facebook before being acquired. Hadley grew up in downtown Boston, where he started his first company Beantown Odd Jobs at the age of 13. Hadley is passionate about improving the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, which stems from his close relationship with his brother Traves. He is a Board Director for Cardinal Cushing Centers, which serves adults and children with intellectual disabilities across 4 campuses in Massachusetts. Some of the Topics Covered by Hadley Harris in this Episode Areas Eniac is investing in and how they got started Why Hadley loves this work and has continued it What drives their deal flow Their strategy of 2-3 GPs per year and shifting from following to leading How they approach the platform side of things Eniac's unique deal process Hadley's view on portfolio construction How their ownership targets have shifted as their funds have grown How they go about telling founders "no" Hadley's learnings on negotiation Their investment in Anchor The difference between investing in first and multiple time founders What founders should know about raising their seed round How Hadley manages so many professional relationships His relationship with his co-founders How Hadley prioritizes his mental and physical health Hadley's perspective on getting an MBA Hadley's advice for founders Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Tony Jamous is the Founder & CEO of Oyster, the remote work employment platform. The company is on a mission to remove the barriers between talented people and great full-time jobs globally. They believe it should be easy for any company to hire any person, no matter where either is located in the world. Oyster's software platform is created to solve for the complexities of giving full-time, full-fledged employment to anyone in the world, while providing a delightful experience to employers and employees. Prior to Oyster, Tony was Co-Founder and President of Nexmo, a Vonage Company. He joined Vonage as part of Vonage's acquisition of Nexmo, Inc. in June 2016. Some of the Topics Covered by Tony Jamous in this Episode What Oyster is and why Tony started it The unique way Tony began building the Oyster team Why the pandemic forced Oyster to accelerate their growth process Oyster's ideal customer, target market, and customer acquisition strategy How Oyster is partnering with VC firms The strategic way Tony approached the fundraising process for Oyster The process of building a world-class distributed team How Oyster is utilizing asynchronous work The way being mission-driven informs how Tony approaches competition as coopetition The Oyster experience How Tony got into angel investing and how he sources deals How Tony manages his time How emigrating from Lebanon has affected Tony personally and professionally Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Marlon Nichols is a founding managing partner at MaC Venture Capital (formerly Cross Culture Ventures), which finds the entrepreneurs who are building the future for the rest of America. He’s an industry veteran – a former Kauffman Fellow and Investment Director at Intel Capital, where he launched Intel’s $125M diversity fund. Marlon, with an extensive background in technology, private equity, media and entertainment, has a unique eye for global trends and shifts in consumer behavior. This has helped him capture high-potential investments, which include Gimlet Media, MongoDB, Thrive Market, Fair, LISNR, Mayvenn, Blavity, Pipe, Wonderschool, and other companies that reflect overlooked markets. He serves on the board of directors for Ajua, Blavity, Finesse, Kauffman Fellows Program, LISNR, Ryff, Sote and Wonderschool. Thanks to his background as a professional athlete, Marlon utilizes sports leadership philosophy when working closely with CEO’s to build the ventures of tomorrow. His diverse network of media and entertainment industry leaders, tech entrepreneurs, Fortune 500 executives and sports professionals helps him develop strategic partnerships and promote brand expansions for his portfolio companies. Marlon is a 2018 nominee of the ADCOLOR in Tech award, a recipient of MVMT50’s SXSW 2018 Innovator of the Year award, Digital Diversity’s Innovation & Inclusion Change Agent award, was named Pitchbook’s 25 Black Founders and VCs to Watch (2018 – 2020), was a TechWeek 100 winner and was named one of Silicon Republic’s 26 VC professionals spearheading change. He’s also been featured on TechCrunch, Fortune, Blavity, NBC and many more. He has been featured as a keynote speaker and regularly appears in the media as a thought leader in investing and cultural trends. Marlon earned his Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems from Northeastern University and an MBA from the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, where he is also adjunct faculty in entrepreneurship and venture capital. MaC Venture CapitalMaC Venture Capital is the result of the merger between successful Los Angeles and Bay Area based Seed funds, Cross Culture Ventures and M Ventures. MaC Venture Capital is an early stage venture capital firm focused on finding ideas, technology, and products that can become infectious. They invest in technology companies that benefit from shifts in cultural trends and behaviors in an increasingly diverse global marketplace. MaC VC helps entrepreneurs bring the future into focus to find their breakthrough moment. Their proven track record of 100+ investments has unlocked growth opportunities through capital, advisement, and relationship building. Their previous funds’ portfolios have returned capital to investors and continue to appreciate in value. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you Varia Search. Varia Search is a boutique legal recruiting firm that uses a bespoke approach to fill legal department roles from general counsel to paralegal. They have a particular focus on startups and growing tech companies. They are a boutique firm which allows them to provide individualized, in-depth attention to both their clients and to their searches. They focus solely on placing in-house candidates which allows them to give their clients a bespoke experience in filling their legal needs. Their matchmaking approach ensures that clients are paired with candidates who not only have great credentials but who are also a good cultural fit for a growing company. Learn more at variasearch.com. Some of the Topics Covered by Marlon Nichols in this Episode How MaC VC invests How they identify emerging behavioral and cultural trends How M Ventures and Cross Culture came together to merge into MaC Venture Capital The process and challenges of merging venture funds How Marlon got into VC The process of fundraising for their first fund What institutional LPs are looking for when investing in a fund Knowing when to be innovative and when to stick to what is proven to work Startup ecosystems Marlon has seen evolved during his time in VC and how they look at new markets How they first heard about some of their portfolio companies like Gimlet Media and Zero Grocery, how they evaluated them and why they decided to invest How Marlon manages his time The growing industries of exchanges, trading platforms and fractional ownership What's next for Marlon and MaC VC Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Vanessa Larco is a Partner at NEA, a global venture capital firm with a mission to make the world better by helping founders build great companies that improve the way we live, work and play. She joined NEA in 2016 and focuses on enterprise SaaS and consumer investing. She is passionate about well-designed products and services that enable people to be more productive and fulfilled at work and at home. Vanessa has led investments in Cleo, Rocket.Chat, Mejuri, EvidentID, Greenlight Card, Feather, and Lily AI. She is also a board observer at Robinhood, Willow Pump, Forethought AI and OmniSci. Prior to joining NEA, she was the Director of Product Management at Box (NYSE: BOX) where she worked on building the next generation of productivity apps across web and mobile. Her passion for design and analytics stems from her experience in the gaming industry, which includes leading the Speech Recognition Experience team at Xbox Kinect v1, and building a top grossing gaming studio at Disney Social. Vanessa holds a BS in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you Varia Search. Varia Search is a boutique legal recruiting firm that uses a bespoke approach to fill legal department roles from general counsel to paralegal. They have a particular focus on startups and growing tech companies. They are a boutique firm which allows them to provide individualized, in-depth attention to both their clients and to their searches. They focus solely on placing in-house candidates which allows them to give their clients a bespoke experience in filling their legal needs. Their matchmaking approach ensures that clients are paired with candidates who not only have great credentials but who are also a good cultural fit for a growing company. Learn more at variasearch.com. Some of the Topics Covered by Vanessa Larco in this Episode How Vanessa unexpectedly got into VC Her experience becoming a founder and what she would do differently Vanessa's time working in enterprise software at Box How A/B testing almost got her fired at Box Some important lessons Vanessa took away from working in product management Vanessa's early days at NEA and how she adjusted Vanessa's framework for decision-making as a VC How she approaches mentoring founders Her process for valuating companies at NEA and the importance of founder diversity Deal flow and the areas Vanessa is most excited about right now How Vanessa has seen the VC industry change in recent years Her time management approach of ruthless prioritization The challenge of constant task switching as a VC and how to avoid being transactional Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Alex Iskold is a co-founder and Managing Partner at 2048 Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm investing in exceptional first-time entrepreneurs who are building businesses differentiated through technology. Based in NYC, 2048 invests in founders from New York, Boston and Emerging Tech Cities. Alex is a 4x founder, a software engineer, and an investor in over 110 startups. He writes one of the top startup blogs called Startup Hacks. Alex is also a co-founder of the 1kproject - a volunteer effort focused on pandemic relief. Prior to founding 2048 ventures, Alex spent 5 years at Techstars as the Managing Director of its NYC program. Alex was also the founder and CEO of Info Lab (acquired by IBM), founder and CEO of GetGlue (backed by USV, RRE, Time Warner), and a Chief Architect of distributed computing startup DataSynapse (acquired by TIBCO). Alex currently serves as a Coach and a VC in Residence at the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at the Harvard Business School. Alex previously taught an award-winning undergraduate computer science class at NYU. He holds a B.S. in Math with Honors from Lehigh University and M.S. in Computer Science from NYU. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you Varia Search. Varia Search is a boutique legal recruiting firm that uses a bespoke approach to fill legal department roles from general counsel to paralegal. They have a particular focus on startups and growing tech companies. They are a boutique firm which allows them to provide individualized, in-depth attention to both their clients and to their searches. They focus solely on placing in-house candidates which allows them to give their clients a bespoke experience in filling their legal needs. Their matchmaking approach ensures that clients are paired with candidates who not only have great credentials but who are also a good cultural fit for a growing company. Learn more at variasearch.com. Some of the Topics Covered by Alex Iskold in this Episode How Alex "accidentally" got into VC Being a 4-time founder and the challenges that he faced Startup failure and knowing what's next How his background in computer science and software engineering and his experience as a founder impacted his role at Techstars and as a VC Why Alex decided to start 2048 Ventures and how he went about structuring the firm The process of raising a $27M fund in 3 months How they prepared to raise the fund and networked for LPs How they think about ownership strategy and the institutional-caliber process they've developed The challenges of pre-seed deal flow and sourcing and being geographically agnostic What Alex has learned from building and running his own fund How 2048 screens early stage companies Evaluating founder-market fit How Alex sees early stage investing (and the world) changing How Alex curates the content he consumes How he approaches industry deep-dives What happens after the investment Why Alex has his blog Startup Hacks and the culture of writing things down How Alex manages his time and the myth of more hours Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/