The VentureFizz Podcast

The world needs more risk takers, big thinkers, and problem solvers that are willing to take on the really hard problems that need to be solved. As you’ll hear from this interview, the world needs more Eden’s. She started her first company in high school which was focused on improving energy and water access in the developing world. She left Princeton to pursue an opportunity as a Theil Fellow as the program was just beginning and Eden is now building a company that is taking an innovative approach to mobile app testing. Her company is called Mobot and they are using robots (real robots) to test mobile applications. This was a problem that she witnessed firsthand as a Product Manager and decided to build a company around solving this problem. The company is backed by leading investors like Primary Venture Partners, Newark Venture Partners, Bling Capital, RRE Ventures, and Y Combinator. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Words of encouragement to others on taking risks and starting a company. * Eden’s background growing up and the creation of her first company, SunSaluter and the progress she made building it. * The story behind her decision to leave Princeton to become a Thiel Fellow. * A deep dive into Mobot and how they are taking a much more effective approach to mobile testing. * Why she decided to build a company as a solo-founder. * Advice on getting traction from the media. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Starting a business is hard. Starting a business during a pandemic is even harder. Let’s put another layer on top… starting an events business where people are in person during a pandemic… well, timing is everything. But, the best entrepreneurs persevere and find another way and it’s sometimes when you are forced to pivot that ends up being the game changing move for success. Ian is a serial entrepreneur who sold his last company and his latest startup is Kindred, a venture backed professional network built to prepare executives for the future of socially responsible businesses. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The business of doing good, and why doing the right thing can help companies thrive. * Ian’s background growing up and his experience working in the early days of the internet. * The creation of Deep Focus, an ad agency that was focusing on the evolution of advertising through social media and other emerging channels. * All of the details on Kindred in terms of the background story of the company and how they evolved the business. * Kindred’s current business model and the benefits of their platform for companies and members. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

It’s incredibly rare for a co-founder to remain as CEO at a company for as long as Art has, especially when the company has been involved in multiple financing rounds from venture capital and private equity firms, which says a lot about Art’s leadership style and his ability to stay focused. A key part of this focus is being the best solution for a specific industry. In Bullhorn’s case, it is building the best software to power staffing firms. One might think that being focused on what one might call a narrow industry would be a mistake, but it’s this focus that has allowed the company to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue with over 10,000 customers. The company recently announced a new strategic investment from Stone Point Capital to power the next phase of the Bullhorn’s growth. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The secrets to his parents' achievement of raising 3 very successful children who are all in the tech industry. * Art’s foundational years studying mathematics at Tufts University and his first jobs out of college. * All the details on the early days of Bullhorn and how he got started building the company with his two co-founders. * How they scaled the company and worked with multiple investors successfully. * Advice for founders on how to integrate an acquired company into your 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.

Siobhan was part of the early team at Communispace, now known as C Space, which was a big win for the Boston tech scene. The company scaled aggressively and was acquired by Omnicom in 2011. Siobhan joined MassChallenge in 2016 as its Chief Operating Officer and was promoted to CEO last year. MassChallenge is a global, zero-equity accelerator that was established in 2009, shortly after the financial meltdown. Needless to say, the economy was in a very tough spot and the outlook was bleak for startups. It took two visionaries - John Harthorne and Akhil Nigam - with a bold belief that they could create an accelerator that would award $1M to startups. There were definitely skeptics out there, including myself, but they pulled it off and the impact has been extraordinary. MassChallenge has over 2,400 alumni startups that have raised over $6.2B in funding and have gone on to generate over $3B in revenue and create over 157,000 jobs! In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Siobhan's background and how she got involved with Communispace. * The full lifecycle story behind the growth of Communispace to its acquisition and beyond. * A deep dive into the history of MassChallenge and how the program operates. * Advice for founders when applying to MassChallenge and how they decide which companies to accept. * And so much more.

Did you know that resumes have been around for over 500 years, yet why is it that resumes haven’t really evolved? Sure, maybe a LinkedIn profile is a digital version of you… but companies generally look for a copy of your resume when you apply to a job. Paul has built a career largely focused on pushing the industry forward with a better way, as he was the founder of a company that was early to use video for job interviews. His latest company is Filtered.ai, which is helping companies solve a very hard problem and that is hiring engineers. Sure, you could look at a resume with lots of technical buzzwords, but how can you be sure that the individual is qualified to tackle the work that needs to be done? Filtered.ai is focused on helping companies make the shift to skill-based hiring, as it is focused on determining an engineer’s true ability versus the words listed on a resume. Not only is it more effective and efficient, but it is also making the hiring process unbiased, which is also important for helping companies build a diverse workforce. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Tips for non-technical founders on hiring engineers. * His background, including his professional basketball career in China. * Paul’s entry into entrepreneurship with PangeaConnect and being early to market and the decision to step away from the business. * All the details on Filtered.ai and how it all works. * Experience raising money during the pandemic. * And so much more.

Digital asset management is not a new term, but the number of assets that are being generated by companies is exploding, which in return makes it very challenging to collaborate and keep tabs of everything. Take VentureFizz, we have videos, audio files, images and more spread throughout Google Drive, Dropbox, Canva, multiple hard drives, and probably several other spots that I’m forgetting. Air is taking on this problem head on, as they are building the collaboration platform for your team’s visual work. The company just announced a $12M Series A round of funding led by Tiger Global. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The belief that every company and individual is a media company. * Shane’s background growing up in Toledo and his decision to attend Stanford where he met his co-founder, Tyler Strand. * His prior company, Swap Mobile, and his experience as an investor and what these experiences taught him. * All of the details on Air in terms of the founding story to where the company and platform is today. * What it was like fundraising during the pandemic. * Advice for founders on building their initial core 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.

The Fintech industry has been blowing up over the past few years with lots of innovative advances and solutions. From digital products geared towards consumers like Robinhood and Lemonade which logged a very successful IPO back in July. To more of the foundation tech layer with platforms like Stripe for online payments and Plaid that was acquired by Visa for a reported $5.3B. Alloy is right in the sweet spot of this rapidly growing Fintech industry, as they are providing the identity operating system for the financial services industry and the company just announced a $40M Series B round of funding. Fraud detection has always been a challenge for banks, but the problem has only grown more severe due to the pandemic which has definitely shifted consumers’ behavior. Their solution makes it easy for financial services companies to quickly and safely onboard and manage more customers. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The explosion of the Fintech industry and what the future holds for financial services. * Laura’s background including her original interest in law school to how she ended up as the first employee at a Fintech startup. * A deep dive into Alloy and how their platform is helping financial institutions with a much needed solution. * What it was like raising venture capital during a pandemic. * Advice on building 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.

It’s incredibly impressive to see what Edward has accomplished throughout his career. He’s a serial entrepreneur, board member, and an investor in over 200 companies… and he’s still in his twenties. His latest company is called Conduit, which he founded with Sree Kolli. Conduit is creating a highly curated and value added marketplace with the goal of connecting the best operator investors and founders who are building the next generation of startups around the world. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The importance of building a network even at a young age. * Edward’s background and his decision to move from France to the United States to attend the University of Pennsylvania. * His early entrepreneurial pursuits. * How he got into angel investing and the details on what he targets for making investments. * A deep dive into Conduit in terms of how it all works and how it is differentiated in the marketplace from other platforms. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

David and I go way back. We first met when he was the Executive Director of TUGG, a non-profit embedded in the tech industry in Boston. He is now back to his roots living in Rochester, NY which has a growing tech scene with several startups and lots of great academic institutions. Impellent Ventures is a fund that is supporting early stage startups. The firm has made investments in multiple regions like Boston, but a core piece to their strategy is to invest in startups in western NY. After returning to the area, it became apparent to David that there was a large opportunity to fund companies locally and help grow the ecosystem there. During our conversation, we get into the weeds on the startup scene in Rochester, NY which was very interesting to learn about because it has some parallels to the earlier days of the Boston ecosystem. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * How David got into venture and if he always had a goal of being an investor. * His foundational years and career path leading up to the start of a new venture firm. * All of the details on Impellent Ventures and a look at their current portfolio of companies. * Common pitch mistakes that entrepreneurs tend to make. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

In these podcast interviews, you’ve probably heard me talk about my background in recruiting. I ran a search firm called Dissero and product management was a core area of specialty. Thus, I was really excited to interview Nate, as he is one of the top product leaders in the tech industry and it was an opportunity to really geek out on the topic of product management. We discuss lots of great topics related to this field like how to determine if a career in product management is right for you, what are the key traits for a strong product manager, and what a day in the life of a product leader looks like. In this episode of our podcast, we also cover: * Nate’s appointment to the Board of Directors at Cockroach Labs and how this seems to be a growing trend of having more operating *. * executives on the board at companies. * A journey through his career including his decision to attend business school at MIT Sloan and being part of the team that won the famous MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. * How Nate groomed his career into a product management leadership role at a startup. * All the details on Cockroach Labs and its cloud-native, distributed SQL database. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.