The VentureFizz Podcast

This is episode #268 and today’s guest is Jeffrey L. Bowman, CEO & Co-Founder of Reframe, the first tech enabled change management platform that helps build inclusive employee and customer experiences at scale. From what I’ve noticed by working with hundreds of tech startups through the years, is that the companies that are the most successful at building a diverse and inclusive workforce start from the very early days and make it a priority. It ultimately becomes more and more difficult to change the course as the company grows and scales, especially if you are talking about large Fortune 500 companies. Jeffrey has been working to help change the narrative around this very important topic and throughout our conversation, he gives some great insights into items like the current state of diversity in the tech industry, historical references, and advice for founders on how to build a solid foundation for a diverse workforce through its mission, vision, and value statements. In this episode of our podcast, we also cover: * Jeffrey’s background story and his experience in sales and then in various marketing positions after completing his MBA. * His experience at Ogilvy & Mather where he pioneered the industry’s first cross-cultural practice that modernized the marketing and communications industry. * What led Jeffrey down the path of starting Reframe and how he was able to productize the company’s services with a software platform. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Market timing. It can destroy a business or it can be the greatest gift and the launchpad to massive scale and adoption. For Dan and the team at Donut, it was the latter. While some companies saw an uptick over the past couple of years, the real challenge has been maintaining that growth when the tide changes. The good news for Donut, is that remote and hybrid work are not going away anytime soon (if ever) and it’s this shift in terms of how we work that has kept up Donut’s momentum. The company’s Slack extension has ultimately replaced the watercooler chatter that would happen in the office and has been a key part for helping keep a company’s culture intact by connecting people internally no matter the working environment. Based on Dan’s background, it is not a surprise that the company has built a product that creates value for users and can withstand market conditions. His background in product leadership and as a lecturer on lean startup methodologies are the perfect foundational blocks for building a market leading company. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Dan’s framework for naming a company which includes customer feedback and how they landed on Donut, plus how they secured the single word .com. * A journey through Dan’s career in academia and product leadership roles at startups. * Working with Steve Blank and how Dan got involved in the lean startup methodology. * The full background story on Donut which includes lots of key decisions (like building on top of Slack), lessons learned along the way, and the explosive growth during the pandemic. * His experience as a professional musician for Mobile Steam Unit which writes songs with a business theme. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

I’m sure most of our listeners remember or even still use Mint.com. I have vivid memories of the company as it basically kicked off a Fintech revolution and it was such a major success story. In the span of two years, it launched at a TechCrunch event and was acquired by Intuit for $170M. This was back in 2009, about a year after Sequoia Capital published its famous RIP good times presentation. Lofty valuations and unicorns were not a common thing back then and this exit was a homerun at the time. I still remember the blog post about the exit from Josh Kopelman of First Round Capital, who was an early investor in the company. It mentioned how Aaron was a member of the First Round Capital blank check club, which they did follow through on that promise as an investor in his other companies. Looking back, there were 3 reasons why Mint.com stood out for me - 1. It was a design first type of product which was not common especially in the financial services industry. 2. It was free for consumers to use, so they had to figure out an alternative way to generate revenue. 3. It automatically pulled in your financial data and categorized transactions, which is something that we just take for granted now. Since Mint.com, Aaron has gone on to build other companies and his latest startup is called Vital. The company is building software for care teams & patients, with a focus on the Emergency Room (ER) experience. Vital uses AI/ML to transform the care experience, increase patient & staff satisfaction, and increase revenue for their clients. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Why having a “fail fast” mentality may not be the best way to build a company if you are solving a really complex problem. * Aaron’s full background story including examples as an entrepreneur and a builder from an early age. He even had a business called getawebsite.com and yes, he owned that domain, which he later sold. * The full lifecycle story of Mint.com with lots of great stories and lessons learned along the way. * How Vital is disrupting the healthcare industry and emergency room experience for consumers. * The difference between building a consumer product versus an enterprise solution in the healthcare industry. * Advice on building the initial foundation team for a startup. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Whether it was being a member of an advanced studies program as a child, to moving to Los Angeles from Israel as a teenager, or his experience as part of an elite team called Unit 8200 of the Israel Defense Forces, Udi has always been up for a challenge and has a passion for solving hard problems. This passion has continued throughout his career as he took the leap of faith into entrepreneurship towards the beginning of his career by building an enterprise software company that was later acquired by SAP. Udi is now looking to replicate the same level of success that he’s had at multiple enterprise software companies at Earnix. The company is a global provider of real-time AI-driven rating, dynamic pricing, product personalization, and fully operationalized telematics solutions for Insurance and Banking. Earnix achieved unicorn status last year after its latest funding round and recently opened its new North American headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The overview of the tech and startup industry in Israel and the momentum there. * Udi’s full background story and his experience scaling and growing enterprise software companies. * All the details on Earnix, plus use case and customer examples. * Details on the growth plans for hiring at Earnix and what it is like working there in terms of its culture. * Advice for entrepreneurs and CEOs who are looking to expand in the U.S. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Typically, you don’t hear many venture capital backed companies get mentioned during daytime talkshows, but did you know that SevenRooms is one of Drew Barrymore’s favorite companies. At least that is what she said during her show. She highlighted the company’s Fresh Start policy which gives new hires their first two weeks of employment as paid time off as a chance to recharge before they get going at the company. In addition, SevenRooms has a 7R&R program which requires employees who have been with the company up to five years gto take five consecutive days off twice a year and employees with a longer tenure must take double that. Joel and I talk in detail about these benefits and why they are so meaningful for the company’s people first culture. SevenRooms is a guest experience and retention platform that helps hospitality operators create exceptional experiences that drive revenue and repeat business. The company is venture In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Joel’s professional background and what he learned as the Chief of Staff at LivePerson. * The founding story of SevenRooms and the details on the platform, plus the impact it has for its customers. * What it was like running a company focused on the hospitality industry during the height of the pandemic and how some key decisions made the company stronger in the long run. * The market opportunity and areas for disruption within the hospitality industry. * Advice on building a global company. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Through the years, many successful businesses have been born from unbundling CraigsList with stand alone companies from different categories across the site. I’ve recently read articles about how the same could be said for Google and internet search with more of a curated web approach which makes me wonder if the same opportunity exists to unbundle YouTube into different streaming platforms for a targeted audience. Twitch was obviously the homerun in this category, as it proved that there was a large enough audience and interest to build a business around livestreaming videos games. Well, did you know that, according to Jenny, that the beauty market is five times larger than the gaming industry. Based on this massive opportunity, Jenny has taken her experience, knowledge, and passion to build NEWNESS, which is the livestreaming platform built specifically for the beauty community. The company is venture backed by Sequoia Capital and other leading VC firms and angel investors. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * A very open discussion about imposter syndrome and advice on how to overcome it. * Jenny’s background story in terms starting her career in investment banking and why she made the transition to the tech industry. * Her experience at Twitch right before the acquisition by Amazon and her different roles there, plus some key lessons learned from working under the Amazon umbrella. * All the details on NEWNESS and how she got the business started in terms of raising funding (where she shares a very unique tip), building out the tech, identifying creators, and growing an audience. * Her thoughts about the future of livestreaming. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Healthcare is the biggest labor sector in the country and the demand for healthcare workers continues to grow as the population is aging. The challenge is that the number of healthcare workers has certainly not kept up with demand, as we are on track to be short 1 million nurses by the end of next year. Any solid entrepreneur would hear that number and think of one word and that is opportunity. However, when you combine two industries that can be very difficult to transform that being healthcare and staffing, well most entrepreneurs are going to run the other way. This was not the case for Iman and her co-founder, Rome Portlock, as they both come from families with lots of roots in the industry and how they have built their own careers with domain experience in healthcare, it makes them uniquely qualifies to flip this industry on its head and scale a massive company. Incredible Health’s mission is to help healthcare professionals live better lives and find and do their best work. The company is backed by leading VC firms and was recognized by Forbes as a “Next Billion-Dollar Startup” company. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Advice on perfecting your company’s story & pitch deck when raising capital. * Iman’s background including how her experience in medical school and management consulting helped build out the initial foundation for her career. * Why she decided to join the tech industry as a Product Manager out of business school at Wharton and her path into entrepreneurship. * All the details about Incredible Health from how the idea come to fruition to how the company differentiates itself through the use of technology and other key benefits to solve this staffing crisis. * The value and importance of focus and the emphasis on delivering user delight. * Advice for entrepreneurs who are building companies in the healthcare industry. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

How many times a week does someone ping you with a question about how to do something? You could respond by explaining it over email, jumping on Zoom to show them to give the visual, detail it with step by step instructions in a doc… or you could just make a Scribe in seconds. Lots of products help solve pain points, but very few really nail the user experience to the point where you pause with a delightful look on your face and blurt out “that’s cool.” It’s that a-ha moment that any founder would love to see from its users. Before interviewing Jennifer, I signed up for Scribe. As a product-led-growth company, the onboarding process was incredibly simple, as it should be, but it was the experience of using their product that gave me the exact a-ha experience. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Advice and tips on best practices for onboarding remote employees. * Jennifer’s background story including how she landed on the investment side of the equation and how her experience at Greylock helped her as an entrepreneur. * Lots of details about Scribe including how the idea came to fruition, building out the company, their go-to-market strategy, onboarding of new users, and more. * Key advice for entrepreneurs on raising VC funding and how to build out a diverse team. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Pop quiz… what do you think would be the most detrimental to your health… lack of food, water, or sleep? Well, you’ll have to listen to this episode to find out, as Joe shares the answer and it may surprise you. Not only is Joe a successful startup CEO, but he is also an endurance athlete. I’m talking about someone who is pushing their body to the ultimate limits… things like running a marathon a day for six days across six continents which is something that Joe accomplished. As he shares, running a startup is a lot like being an endurance athlete in terms of the mentality and the commitment not to quit when things get hard or challenging. Your mindset is so critical to the foundation of your success. 1upHealth is an intelligent health data platform powered and connected by FHIR® that connects an ecosystem of payers, providers, patients, life sciences and app developers within a trusted interoperability network. The company announced a $25M Series B round of funding last year led by F-Prime Capital. Joe also has a podcast called Chasing Tomorrow where he interviews other endurance athletes with his co-host Dave Proctor. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Joe’s background story and how he got his career started at E&Y, plus his journey in the tech industry. * All the details on 1upHealth and how they are disrupting the healthcare industry, plus growth plans ahead in terms of hiring. * Lots of fun stories from his experience as an endurance athlete. * How to prepare yourself for a CEO position at a startup. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

There is a tremendous amount of information that has been written about the process of raising funding for startups, but for some reason, you don’t see nearly as much information about the acquisition process. What are the good, the bad, or the ugly experiences? How does one get on the radar for a potential acquirer? What are the common pitfalls, etc., etc.? It seems like there are so many things that can go wrong, so it’s a common question that I ask entrepreneurs for this podcast. Based on Brian’s track record, it was a perfect opportunity to get some solid advice for entrepreneurs to follow, as he’s been through multiple acquisitions via companies like Google and Facebook. Brian’s latest startup is focused on data privacy for digital marketing, as Sourcepoint provides tools to protect consumer privacy, manage compliance and optimize revenue. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Brian’s background story and how he got his career started in the tech industry in customer service. * His experience in leadership roles in the tech industry at DoubleClick, Admeld, and LiveRail. * The story behind Sourcepoint with his Co-Founder, Ben Barokas, and how their vision of transparency around usage of data became a reality. * The current stage of Sourcepoint and growth plans ahead. * Advice around hiring for startups and how to think about the recruiting process. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.