The VentureFizz Podcast

It was time. The insurance industry had been lagging in terms of its digital transformation. But, in recent years, lots of startups have accelerated a change in this market through the use of technology and innovative business models. Investors have certainly noticed the opportunity, as well. Crunchbase recently reported that VC firms have invested over $20B in Insurtech companies over the last three years. It’s perfect timing for an entrepreneur like Phil. He gained critical domain experience and insights about the commercial insurance industry through the success of his prior company and his current startup is scaling at a massive rate. Corvus Insurance is the leading provider of smart commercial insurance products powered by AI-driven risk data. The company recently announced a $100M Series C round of funding. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Phil’s background story and his experience in the insurance industry, including scaling his own insurance brokerage firm which was acquired. * What led him down the path of starting Corvus Insurance and how they are transforming commercial insurance by leveraging advanced data science, with an AI-driven approach to empower brokers and policyholders to better predict and prevent loss. * The details on their latest round of funding and growth plans ahead. * Phil’s experience as an investor in the Insurtech industry and the areas that he believes are still ripe for disruption. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, but for some people… they were just born with the ability to recognize opportunities in the market that are ripe for disruption and let’s face it, some were just born with that plain old hustle and desire to succeed. Take Ryan, a successful 3X entrepreneur who started his first company at the age of 17, an action sports video production company that was acquired by USA Today while he was still in college. His second company, Swarm Mobile, was acquired by Groupon and it was his experience running this company where he witnessed the frustration and problems with IT for companies. Someone had to wear the IT support hat internally for a small to mid-sized company and in some cases, it’s the founder (as was the case at Swarm), which triggered the aha moment… there has to be a better way. Electric was launched to solve this problem and the company recently closed a $40M Series C round of funding to revolutionize IT by making it simple, accessible, and cost-effective for businesses everywhere. The company provides real-time IT support to 25,000 users and centralized IT management to over 400 customers. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Advice for founders on figuring out your ideal customer profile before leaping into a business 100% of your time. * Some great stories around building his first company and how starting a company as a teenager benefited him… think “no fear.” * The details on Swarm Mobile and the lessons learned from this experience. * What led Ryan down the path of starting Electric and the incredible value they are providing companies. * A discussion around branding and how he wanted to make the Electric brand bold and memorable. * What founders should be thinking about as it relates to building the company’s culture. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Ahhh… this episode takes me back. It takes me back to my childhood years in Hooksett, New Hampshire, hanging out with my buddies in the neighborhood trading baseball cards. I was a Red Sox fan and would collect cards of Jim Rice, Carl Yastremski, Dwight Evans, and lots of other Boston greats. I also collected baseball cards and memorabilia for Steve Garvey, the first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers. I have a cousin who lives in LA, so that was the connection there. It was fun and all of my friends thought our treasures would appreciate in value and we would be set for life! Yet, the baseball card industry hit rough times, as the market ended up being flooded with cards that ultimately become worthless. I’m sure my friends who bought complete sets every year were crushed. Well, what’s old is new again and trading cards are hot! This time the card issuers are much smarter in their releases by having a scarce supply to drive up demand. It’s very similar to what the sneaker industry has experienced. To capitalize on this trend, StarStock has built a marketplace that essentially operates like a stock market for sports cards. Fans and card hobbyists can buy, sell, and invest in their favorite athletes while the sports cards are stored in a centralized vault, so there is no actual exchange of the cards. The company recently announced its $8M Series A round of funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * A deep discussion on the sports trading cards industry and how it has come full circle. * Scott’s background story including his entrepreneurial roots and building a company with his sister, Lynn, a recent Forbes Next 1000 recipient. * What led him down the path of starting StarStock and working with Nigel Eccles, a Co-Founder of FanDuel, who helped get the company started along with StarStock Co-Founder Mike Kuchera. * All the details on StarStock and how the business works. * The challenges of building a two-sided marketplace. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

You hear about lots of venture firms who are working hard to build a strategy and network that will yield more investments with diverse founders. But for a firm like Mendoza Ventures, it’s rooted in their DNA… like literally, as it is both minority & woman owned and it’s the first LatinX founded venture fund on the east coast. As you would think, their portfolio has impressive diversity numbers. As of the beginning of this year, 67% of the portfolio included investments in minority, female, and immigrant founders. Needless to say, we were able to talk in detail about the venture industry and what other investors can do to back more diverse founders. Mendoza Ventures was launched five years ago by Senofer and her husband, Adrian. The firm is focused on making pre-seed investments in FinTech, AI, and Cybersecurity. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Senofer’s background in interior design and what she learned as an operator. * How Senofer and Adrian got involved in tech investing. * All of the details on Mendoza Ventures and the types of companies they are backing. * Advice on how to build a career path into the VC 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.

Early to market… it can sometimes mean the kiss of death for a company. However, if you get it the timing right, it’s a competitive advantage and an opportunity to build a massive company. In this episode, we’ve got a great story about a company that was in this exact scenario, yet they executed, scaled and remain a pillar tech company in the industry. The company I’m talking about is Brightcove and in today’s interview we discuss the company’s full lifecycle journey. Brightcove was founded by Bob and serial entrepreneur, Jeremy Allaire. They were early pioneers in the world of online video back in 2004. Andy also joined the company early on as an executive and eventually served as its CEO. Thus, in this interview, we are able to get into all the weeds from the early days of the company to its IPO. And as a bonus,Bob provided a really cool video that shares the very first prototype of Brightcove's concept back in 2004. So, how much did they get right for online video? It’s pretty cool to see how a lot of their concepts still hold true close to 20 years later: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxaOpsSoHp8 Bob and Andy are now running Argon Ventures, a pre-seed venture fund, which is leading investments in Intelligent Industry Solutions. In this episode of our podcast, we also cover lots of other great topics like: * Their background stories, including some great details from Bob’s time at ATG and Andy’s experience at Lycos. * How Bob got into investing and his experience with Project 11 and as a mentor at Techstars. * All the details on Argon Ventures and the types of companies and investments they are targeting. * What it’s like being a CEO of a publicly traded 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.

Corey has an impressive background in terms of his career path and his many accomplishments as a leader, which we discuss in detail. But that is only part of the story. I was also very excited to talk with Corey about Rapid7’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion initiatives. The company has been very open about their goals and progress. In 2018, Rapid7 set a goal to have 50% of their workforce to be women and people of color. The company published a DEI Annual Report for 2020 which shared their results. They achieve 49.7% of their goal and one would think they would just round up and say mission accomplished, but as noted from a recent blog post on VentureFizz from Christina Luconi, Rapid7’s Chief People Officer, they are immensely proud of their progress to date, but they know they still have so much more to do. Thus, we talk at length about how Rapid7 has gone about building a more diverse & inclusive workforce and Corey shared lots of advice on how other companies can follow. In this episode of our podcast, we also cover: * Corey’s background growing up and his decision to study Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Vanderbilt. * His experience at AT&T during college and working at Deloitte after graduating, then attending business school at HBS. * His time working at Microsoft as a Group Product Manager, where he worked on one of the largest releases of SQL Server back in the day. * The details on Rapid7, plus his career progression to CEO and the company’s IPO. * Advice on building a career path to a CEO position. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Much like cloud computing, open source technologies have changed the game. When I think about it, it’s unlikely that VentureFizz would exist if it wasn’t for open source software. There’s no way I could have gotten it off the ground if I had to purchase an expensive content management system. It took many years for open source to become commonplace and especially to the point where you could build a successful tech company around an open source project. Ed has been involved in the open source technology industry for 20 years, so he’s witnessed firsthand how things have evolved and how open source has propelled technology forward, which we discuss in detail. He’s currently leading EDB, which provides products, services, and support to over 5,000 customers who are using PostgreSQL, an open source database. The company is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts and has 16 offices worldwide. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Ed’s background studying business at Boston University on an ROTC scholarship and how his experience in the Army helped him as a leader. * How he got into the tech industry and the rapid growth years at Red Hat. * All the details on EDB, including their record growth from last year and what the culture is like working there. * Advice on building out pricing and go-to-market models in the tech industry. * When is the right time to bring in a Chief Revenue Officer and how the position is different from a VP of Sales. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

When you think of the greatest athletes, like Serena Williams or Tom Brady, you are in awe of their success and the number of championships that they have won. In the business world, success is often measured by an exit - either an acquisition or an IPO and one could also argue that the IPO is many times the harder hill to climb. Well… when you look at Carol’s track record, it is extraordinary. She has been part of 4 companies (yes 4) that have all gone public: Shiva Corporation, Unica, LogMeIn, and Rapid7. In addition to her success as an executive, Carol has also made a major impact as a member of the Board of Directors at several startups and as an advisor to many entrepreneurs. And, on top of all of this… Carol recently joined Glasswing Ventures as a Venture Partner. Needless to say, we had a lot to talk about - not only about all the stories from her professional career, but it was an exciting opportunity to do a deep dive into the world of marketing. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Advice on how to build your personal brand. * Carol’s background growing up and how she pivoted her career from finance to sales to marketing. * Her professional journey including lots of great stories from scaling companies. * How marketing has evolved through the years and her thoughts on the current state of B2B marketing. * Lots of great advice on how to hire marketers and how to shape your own career path to a CMO position. * And so much more.

Payal is a Partner at .406 Ventures. She joined the firm almost 6 years ago and co-leads the digital health practice. Karthyn joined .406 Ventures this year as a Vice President and she is also aligned with the digital health sector. Needless to say, the healthcare industry has gone through radical transformation due to the pandemic and a lot of the technologies that support the industry have been accelerated, so we had a lot to talk about in this space. Named after the legendary baseball player, Ted Williams, .406 Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm that has raised over $1B across four core funds and two opportunity funds. The firm invests in innovative IT and services companies in data & cloud, digital health, and cybersecurity. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Payal and Kathryn’s background and how they ended up breaking into the VC industry. * All the details on .406 Ventures including their investment area of focus, stage of investing, and portfolio examples. * A look into the trends across the digital health industry. * Thoughts on helping to improve the diversity numbers in the VC industry and career advice on how to land a job as a Venture Capitalist. * What makes the position as a VC so difficult. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Many successful entrepreneurs disrupt industries with innovative ideas, but how many can say their disruption actually helped create and jumpstart a whole industry that is massive. Chris has been involved in the cybersecurity industry since the beginning as a member of the elite hacker think tank in the 90’s called the L0pht, which went on to testify before the U.S. Senate about cybersecurity and vulnerabilities of the internet. 20 years later, the cybersecurity industry is only growing by the day with new threats popping up and new technologies being developed to help companies and consumers play defense. Veracode is one of the anchor companies and Chris is one of its co-founders. Veracode is the largest global provider of application security testing (AST) solutions serving more than 2,500 customers worldwide across a wide range of industries. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The story of the L0pht, which has the makings for a great Netflix show as it reminds me of the series Halt and Catch Fire. * @ Stake’s acquisition of the L0pht and the early days of the cybersecurity industry. * The full story of Veracode in terms of starting the company, scaling to an acquisition, and spinning back out as an independent company. * Advice for technical founders on starting a company. * Lessons learned on scaling. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.