The VentureFizz Podcast

Welcome to Episode 118 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Sam Dunn, Co-Founder and CEO at Robin. I have a strong appreciation for entrepreneurs, as it is really hard to build and scale a business. But, starting a company while you are still in college is a whole different ball game that requires guts and determination. Sam, along with his twin brother Zach, and Brian Muse, the 3rd co-founder and CTO, have never worked professionally for anyone else. They started One Mighty Roar while they were still in college and this business eventually evolved into Robin. Robin is SaaS workplace scheduling and management platform that is modernizing the open office. Back in May, the company raised a $20M Series B round of funding to help fuel their growth. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like: -Office trends, and some interesting hacks on how to set up workplaces. -The background story of Robin and how the company evolved from an agency to a product company. -A deep dive into Robin, its platform and the value it provides for their customers. -The experience of raising capital through multiple rounds. -Their thought process behind their pricing model. -The three questions Sam uses to evaluate talent. -And so much more. Have you checked out our YouTube channel? You’ll find videos from our podcast, plus lots of other interviews with founders and our very popular Inside: series, which gives you an inside look at a functional area in one of the fastest-growing tech companies. Go to youtube.com/venturefizz to check it out. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 117 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Danielle Cohen-Shohet, Co-Founder and CEO of GlossGenius. While some children may aspire to become a doctor, astronaut, or firefighter, Danielle’s plan, even from an early age, was very different. Her plan was to start and build a company. Danielle’s aspirations became a reality with GlossGenius, the all-in-one solution for top beauty professionals. Their platform is helping very small business owners with the complexities of running a business. It simplifies and automates things like scheduling, client management, and payment, so the business owner can focus on servicing their customers. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics: -Danielle’s background story, including some of her entrepreneurial endeavors as a child. -All about GlossGenius and how they are helping very small business owners operate and run their business. -How narrowing the potential customer lens to a specific segment helped propel their business forward. -The Techstars experience and how they benefited from going through this accelerator. -Danielle thoughts on why all founders should learn how to code. -Lessons learned around hiring and onboarding. -And so much more. If you are listening to this podcast, then it is highly likely that you are interested in the founder journey and lessons learned around building companies. Please make sure you don’t miss any episodes by subscribing to The VentureFizz Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or Soundcloud. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 116 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed David Friedman, Co-Founder and CEO of Knox Financial. David is a serial entrepreneur and as you’ll hear from this episode, his latest company definitely struck a chord with me. My wife and I previously owned an awesome condo in South Boston about 13 years ago. Needless to say, if we were able to hold on to that property and rent it out without all the hassle of being a landlord, it would have been such an amazing investment. Knox makes this situation a reality and we get in lots of details on how the company operates. Back when he was at Tufts, David always knew that he wanted to start a company. His first company was Boston Logic, an integrated marketing platform for the real estate industry that was acquired by a private equity firm. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like: -David’s background and how he initially got a taste of startups. -The story of Boston Logic, including the evolution of their product and how they mostly bootstrapped the company and scaled it to an acquisition. -A deep dive into the process of hiring and working with an investment banking firm. -All the details on Knox Financial and how they are helping people turn their homes into investment properties. -Advice for entrepreneurs trying to build an advisory board. -And so much more. Did you know that you can get customized job alerts delivered to your inbox every day? It’s a great way to keep informed of the over 4,000 jobs listed on VentureFizz and have jobs from a specific category sent directly to you. Don’t let that career-defining opportunity pass you by, go to venturefizz.com/email to sign up. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 115 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Isa Watson, Founder and CEO of Squad. Isa is one of those guests that just makes you go “wow” when you hear about their background. Whether it’s how she skipped two grades in school or the story about how she built her own computer from a young age. Or, how about her experience as a chemist, a VP on Wall Street, and a classical pianist, and this was all before taking the entrepreneurial journey. Squad is the name of her company, which she calls “social media 2.0.” It’s a social community for millenials and gen-z, who are looking to move beyond screens and share real-life experiences together. The company has raised $3.1M to date, via a seed round that was led by Harrison Metal. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like: -Isa’s upbringing including stories of how her parents instilled a foundation of knowledge and curiosity. -A walk through her professional and academic history, which spans across various industries and the top academic institutions in the world. -How she became an entrepreneur, and what made her take the leap. -The details on Squad, including the story on how the product pivoted and her vision for the company moving forward. -The meaning of the word “sacrifice” for an entrepreneur. -How she’s so successful with PR despite having no formal PR strategy. -And so much more. It’s summer and no doubt, it’s hot out there. However, it's not as hot as the VentureFizz Job Board. It is on fire! You’ll find hundreds of job opportunities at some of the fastest-growing tech companies across the NY tech scene. Go to venturefizz.com/jobs to start exploring. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 114 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Ryan Boyko, Founder and CEO at Embark. You are probably familiar with the DNA testing companies like 23andMe and Ancestry. I actually tried out Ancestry and was really surprised with my results, as certain parts of my heritage were very different than I originally thought. Embark is a venture-backed company that is providing a similar service except for dogs. So, I was excited that Embark offered to test our family dog, Stella, as part of this podcast interview. What’s cool about Embark is that you are not only able to determine or confirm your dog's breed, but a key part of their testing is to help discover if your canine has any underlying health conditions. Embark provides the most comprehensive DNA testing in the market which tests for over 170 genetic health conditions. Before making an investment, most VC’s usually ask the question of “Why this team?" and "Why now?”, and as you’ll hear from my discussion with Ryan, he and his brother spent an extraordinary amount of time building what is a very defensible foundation in terms of the technology and what they are able to provide with this service. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like: -Ryan background, including his time with Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard. -How Ryan and his brother, Adam, gained an interest in dog genetics and the details behind all their research. -The story of how Embark was built over time and how their testing works. -A walk through Stella’s (our family Cavapoo) test results. -Advice for scientists who are looking to commercialize their research and start a company. -The things he didn’t expect when he first started running a business. -Plus, a lot more. Embark announced a $10M Series A round of funding back in April from a very impressive list of investors and I have some good news for you. They are hiring aggressively, so if you are interested in working at Embark, you can go to their BIZZpage on VentureFizz to see a list of their openings. Go to venturefizz.com/embark for all the details. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 113 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Nitesh Banta, Co-Founder & CEO at B12. Nitesh is deeply rooted in the tech industry as both a serial entrepreneur and investor. We actually go way back, as I remember connecting with him while he was a VC at General Catalyst. He was co-founding a new, first of its kind, student-led VC firm called Rough Draft Ventures. Fast forward, this initiative that is still powered by General Catalyst, has gone on to make a massive impact with over 150 investments in early stage startups. Today, Nitesh is back as an operator with his next startup called B12. It is a venture-backed company that has a human-assisted AI platform called Orchestra. The current use case of their technology is focused on building websites that are a fraction of the price of hiring an agency and a lot less work than a DIY site. In addition to building out B12, he is still very active in the startup community as a mentor and an angel investor. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like: -Nitesh’s passion for outer space. -How he became a Venture Capitalist and what’s the hardest part about being a VC. -His experience at General Catalyst and the story behind the launch of Rough Draft Ventures. -B12 and all the details behind its platform. -What he looks for when making an angel investment, and advice for others looking to be an angel investor. -Common mistakes entrepreneurs make when trying to raise capital. -Plus, a lot more. Are you hiring? If the answer is yes, then you should definitely consider adding a BIZZpage on VentureFizz. Is our employment branding and hiring solution that helps you engage with our very targeted audience of professionals in the tech scene. It is an incredibly cost-effective solution used by all stages of companies, from early startups to larger publicly traded companies. If you are interested in learning more, please send an email to info@venturefizz.com. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 112 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Anant Agarwal, Founder and CEO of edX & Professor at MIT. Anant is the very definition of a serial entrepreneur. Over the course of his career, he has founded five companies including Tilera Corporation, Virtual Machine Works, and others. In addition to being a successful entrepreneur, he is also a professor at MIT, where he teaches electrical engineering and computer science. edX is a non-profit company that is changing the world by bringing education to the masses through its open source, online learning platform. Founded by Harvard & MIT, edX is home to more than 20 million learners, the majority of top-ranked universities in the world and industry-leading companies. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like: -Anant’s background including running a chicken farm as a teenager and what that taught him. -A journey through his experience as an entrepreneur and the companies he founded. -The story of edX, its evolution, and the massive scale of its platform. Current plans for hiring and growth at edX. -What areas of education are still ripe for disruption. -And so much more. Whenever someone asks me who are the fastest growing tech companies in Boston or New York City, I simply direct them to our BIZZpages. From there, you can do a virtual tour of each tech scene and explore over 280 companies! Each BIZZpage tells you everything you need to know from a high level like the details on the company, culture, job openings, leadership team, and more! Go to venturefizz.com/bizzpages to start exploring! Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 111 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Todd Garland, Founder of BuySellAds. BuySellAds is an adtech company that builds scalable revenue programs for companies with captive audiences. Todd has built the company by bootstrapping it from day one. There are no tricks to their business model. It is a marketplace that aims to find audiences who are passionate and match up advertisers who are interested in advertising their product or service to these audiences. The goal is to add value to the web with contextually relevant ads for consumers. Here’s a fun fact about BuySellAds that you might not know. Remember the website Digg, the popular news sharing website from the early Web 2.0 era of user-generated content? The site was founded by Kevin Rose, who infamously appeared on the cover of BusinessWeek representing this new wave of Silicon Valley founders. Well, did you know that Digg was acquired last year buy BuySellAds? It’s true. I find it fascinating that a Boston company owns this piece of internet history. At the beginning of our podcast, we get into lots of the details behind this acquisition. Although the site is not nearly as popular as it once was, I’m really curious to see what they do with it - stay tuned! In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like: -Todd’s background growing up in Maine and his experience as an early employee at HubSpot. -The origin story of BuySellAds. How it went from being a side project generating over a million dollars in revenue to becoming his full-time job, and the challenges of building the first versions of the product. -How he built out the marketplace in terms of supply and demand. -Why he’s decided to bootstrap his company over raising outside capital. -Speculation on the future of AdTech. -Advice for founders looking to acquire companies. -Plus, a lot more. We just published the July edition of Career Forward. It has over 120 of the hottest jobs across the Boston tech scene. There are positions listed across all levels of experience and all functional areas like sales, product management, software engineering, and more. Go to venturefizz.com/careerforward to start exploring. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 110 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Jonathan Bensamoun, Founder and CEO at Fi. Did you know that 10,000,000 dogs are lost in the U.S. every year? That’s an insane number and if you own a dog, you probably consider that dog to be a member of your family. I know I do. And like any other family member, you want to make sure your dog is given the best care, attention, and security possible. That’s where Fi’s Smart Dog Collar comes in. It’s a collar that tracks your dog’s location 24/7 and it also tracks steps to make sure your dog is getting enough exercise. The company has raised $10M to date, including a $7M Series A in March led by RRE Ventures. Jonathan is a serial entrepreneur, who started his career in the technical ranks as an engineer before transitioning into product management. His first company called Pins was acquired by Square. His new company, Fi, is on a mission to keep dogs safe and healthy with a device that has many benefits and improvements as compared to other products in the market. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like: -Jonathan’s background and how he made the transition to product management. -What led him to start his first company Pins and how he built out his network in the Bay Area? -All the details behind Fi and how his dog Thor was the inspiration. -How the Fi collar works, plus what makes it such a game-changer. -A deep dive into hardware development. -What makes a great product manager. -Advice for founders looking to raise capital for a hardware company. -Plus, so much more. Ok - quick side note. Have you checked out our YouTube channel? You’ll find videos from our podcast, plus lots of other interviews with founders and our very popular Inside: series, which gives you an inside look at a functional area in one of the fastest growing tech companies. Go to youtube.com/venturefizz to check it out. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 109 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed the Founders of Wistia, Brendan Schwartz and Chris Savage. Wistia is a company that creates video software for growing businesses and they’ve helped over 500,000 of them. What is truly amazing about the Wistia story is how the business has grown with a very limited amount of outside capital and they have gone on to build one of the marque B2B software brands in the industry. Here’s a very random fun fact that I have to share about Wistia. You know when you go to the team section of a company’s website. Then you mouse over the photo and it switched over to a different picture? Well, Wistia invented this style and in the early days of the company their team page went viral and ended up landing them a bunch of customers. It is a simple, yet effective example of their creativity and over the long-term, their approach to content marketing is probably one of the best examples out there. If one word could sum up this episode it would be transparency which is a trait that I admire about Brendan and Chris. They share lots of stories about getting the business off the ground, to all the trials and tribulations, and lots of amazing advice. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like: -Brendan and Chris’ background story prior to starting Wistia. -All the details about how they founded Wistia and started to gain traction. -A cool story about how they had to make a hard decision by saying “no” to HBO as a potential customer and why that decision ended up being an important one for their future. -Why they didn’t take on traditional venture capital to fund the growth of the business and what led them down the path of taking on $17M in debt financing last year. -How they have built a strong culture that is centered around transparency. -Plans for future growth. -Plus, a lot more. Ok - quick side note… This is exciting because you have two options for catching this episode. You can either listen to the audio from your favorite podcast app or, for this special episode, you can watch the full video of this interview! The video version is classic, as the background from one of their in-house studios at Wistia looks like a Blockbuster store with real VCR movies in the background. Don’t miss it! Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!