The Silicon Valley Podcast

This week we look back at some of the highlights of past interviews with some of the biggest Venture Capitalist that have been on the show   SC Moatti is a technology visionary and investor. She is the founding partner of Mighty Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, and Products That Count, one of the largest and certainly the most influential network of product managers in the world.   Ravi Belani   He is the Managing Director of the Alchemist Accelerator which is a venture-backed initiative focused on accelerating startups whose revenue comes from enterprises (not consumers). The accelerator backs teams with distinctive technical founders.  He is also a Lecturer, Fenwick & West Educator of Entrepreneurship at Stanford University where for the past 8 yrs he co-teaches The Spirit of Entrepreneurship, an undergrad/grad survey course on entrepreneurship   Nick Moran is the General Partner at New Stack Ventures.  Prior to New Stack, Nick worked for Danaher (NYSE: DHR). After a few years in M&A, Nick led breakthrough innovation, developing one of the most successful products in the company's history -- an IoT solution w/ a novel method for testing compounds in drinking water. In addition to investing, Nick founded the 1st Venture Capital podcast, The Full Ratchet.   Aman Johar, Proteum Capital Over the last 12 years, Aman has worked with a variety of startups and has been on both sides of the entrepreneur-investor table. With a background in strategy, operations, and deal-making, Aman focusses on blockchain applications and the supporting ecosystem including expertise in the business and regulatory implications of tokenizing assets. He is a strategic advisor to executives and boards on creating new business models for fintech, media and entertainment, and identity management to name a few recent engagements. Currently, Aman is a mentor at the Singularity University and a board member at KeraCel, a solid-state battery company. Previously, Aman co-founded Applied Protein which was acquired by Pivot Pharma. He holds a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, BHU and an MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon where he was named a Swartz Fellow for entrepreneurship. In his spare time, Aman enjoys teaching photography to his kids. 

  Waikit Lau has founded 2 machine learning-based companies that were acquired and he helped take one public. He has been on both VC and founding/operating side.    We Talk About What was it like to go to Harvard Business School? How should one think of Business school in general? How was the journey from starting a company to growing it to over 600 people before taking it public? What is your screening process to investing in deals?       Connect with Waikit Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/waikit-lau-89129/ Website https://www.remotehq.com/   CONNECT WITH SHAWN https://linktr.ee/ShawnflynnSV Shawn Flynn’s LinkedInAccount Silicon Valley LinkedInGroup Account Shawn Flynn’s FacebookAccount Email Shawn@thesiliconvalleypodcast.com    

Daniel is currently the CEO and Chairman of Transactive, a international financial technology company that provides payment infrastructure software and payment services globally.  Under Daniel’s leadership Transactive has successfully launched its software, services over thousand customers, done over $1bn in payments and achieved profitability.  Previously Daniel was the Vice President of Finance and Operations at Mobile Gaming Technologies. Mobile Gaming Technologies was the world’s first crypto iGaming platform. Under his leadership Mobile Gaming Technologies became venture backed, scaled international and achieved profitability. He also lead Mobile Gaming Technologies through several successful capital raises, raising over $40m for the company.  MGT became the first blockchain company in the world to sponsor a major league sports team, Arsenal Football Club from London. Eventually the MGT sold the company to Novomatic, the largest privately held gaming company in the world with over 5bn in revenue per year.  Prior to joining Mobile Gaming Technologies, Daniel worked as an Investment Banker at Financial Technology Partners, D.A. Davidson and Wells Fargo / Wachovia. He advised technology companies on mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and strategic corporate development. He has successfully closed over 15 M&A and capital raise transactions. Daniel is also a board member of several technology companies spanning from London to Silicon Valley. He is a financial technology enthusiast and speaks at conferences all around the world about financial technology, blockchain and cryptocurrency. Daniel graduated with a B.S. in Finance & minor in Chemistry from Oregon State University.    In his free time Daniel likes to run, hike and go to the gym.  He is also an active reader, trying to read at least 4 books a month.      We talk about Why did you decide to leave Investment banking and do a startup? What was it like being the first Blockchain company to sponsor a major Soccer/ football team? What will be the big breakthroughs in Fin tech in the coming years?   Connect with Daniel  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwe/     CONNECT WITH SHAWN https://linktr.ee/ShawnflynnSV Shawn Flynn’s LinkedInAccount Silicon Valley LinkedInGroup Account Shawn Flynn’s FacebookAccount Email Shawn@thesiliconvalleypodcast.com      

From college dropout to acclaimed designer to CEO of project-management pioneer Flow, Daniel Scrivner’s path to success has been anything but typical — and he wouldn’t have it any other way. It only took one web design class over a summer break in high school, and Daniel was hooked. He would eventually drop out of college to focus on mastering the art and science of design, first honing his talent as a freelancer, then joining an LA-based advertising firm in 2007. Barely a year later, he relocated to San Francisco to take a coveted design position at Apple. After three years of soaking up every bit of insight and wisdom he could, Daniel left Apple and joined the team at a small but promising startup: Square. He quickly worked his way up to Director of Design, responsible for overseeing everything from product design to video production. In his time at the company, he left his fingerprint on almost every aspect of Square's design aesthetic. Daniel left Square in 2016 to found his own design counsel and venture capital firm, Blackletter Ventures. Then, in February 2019, he took over as CEO of Flow. He’s spent the last year slowly, methodically, and tirelessly reinventing their product from scratch. Under his leadership, the business is back to profitability and growth — and he’s just getting started.   We Talk About As a new angel, how does one get access to early stage deals?  Bay Area to Colorado, why make the move? What are the next steps you plan on taking with Flow?       Connect with Daniel Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielscrivner/ Flow Website https://www.getflow.com/?utm-source=linkedin   CONNECT WITH SHAWN https://linktr.ee/ShawnflynnSV Shawn Flynn’s LinkedInAccount Silicon Valley LinkedInGroup Account Shawn Flynn’s FacebookAccount Email Shawn@thesiliconvalleypodcast.com    

From college dropout to acclaimed designer to CEO of project-management pioneer Flow, Daniel Scrivner’s path to success has been anything but typical — and he wouldn’t have it any other way. It only took one web design class over a summer break in high school, and Daniel was hooked. He would eventually drop out of college to focus on mastering the art and science of design, first honing his talent as a freelancer, then joining an LA-based advertising firm in 2007. Barely a year later, he relocated to San Francisco to take a coveted design position at Apple. After three years of soaking up every bit of insight and wisdom he could, Daniel left Apple and joined the team at a small but promising startup: Square. He quickly worked his way up to Director of Design, responsible for overseeing everything from product design to video production. In his time at the company, he left his fingerprint on almost every aspect of Square's design aesthetic. Daniel left Square in 2016 to found his own design counsel and venture capital firm, Blackletter Ventures. Then, in February 2019, he took over as CEO of Flow. He’s spent the last year slowly, methodically, and tirelessly reinventing their product from scratch. Under his leadership, the business is back to profitability and growth — and he’s just getting started.   We Talk About Why is there such a high turnover at startups? What was it like before and after square went public? What it like to switch from working at a startup to being an investor in 100 plus startups?   Connect with Daniel Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielscrivner/ Flow Website https://www.getflow.com/?utm-source=linkedin     CONNECT WITH SHAWN https://linktr.ee/ShawnflynnSV Shawn Flynn’s LinkedInAccount Silicon Valley LinkedInGroup Account Shawn Flynn’s FacebookAccount Email Shawn@thesiliconvalleypodcast.com    

Axel Schultze started and successfully exited 4 companies, the biggest reaching $5 Billion in revenue, the second close to $1 Billion. Axel is a published author, patent holder, 2015 listed in the global 100 most influential startup accelerators, 2008 won the SF Entrepreneur Award, 2006 chaired the SaaS Channel Committee at the SIIA, 2003 early adviser of LinkedIn. 2001 Founder & CEO of Silicon Valley based BlueRoads a partner management software. Initially funded by The Angels Forum, then venture funded by Eldorado Ventures, Cardinal Ventures and Arrow Path. Named most successful channel management company in 2006. Exit in 2007.  1997 Pioneered equity based crowdfunding - Sold it in 2001.  1996 Founder & CEO Infinigate, Leading European IT security provider. Funded through private placement on Webstock. Today over $600 Million in revenue.  1983 Founder & CEO Computer 2000 a $5 Billion high tech distributor. With a highly disruptive business model bypassed 8,000 tech distributors and became the third largest in the world. VC Funded by Deutsche Bank WFG. IPO in 1996. merged with Tech Data at $5 Billion in revenue in 1998.   We Talk About            What questions should one ask themselves or brainstorming should be done before starting a company? What is the best advice for someone is plans on starting and growing a billion-dollar company with their significant other? Why does brainstorming to create a billion-dollar idea seem to fail when it is done in a corporate setting, but succeed when it is done by a startup?   Connect with Axel Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/axelschultze/ Website https://bluecallom.com/     CONNECT WITH SHAWN https://linktr.ee/ShawnflynnSV Shawn Flynn’s LinkedInAccount Silicon Valley LinkedInGroup Account Shawn Flynn’s FacebookAccount Email Shawn@thesiliconvalleypodcast.com      

Bob Car was the Founder and CEO of Heatland Payment Systems, one of the largest payment processors in the United States, which he sold in 2016 for over 4 billion dollars. He is now the CEO and Chairman of the Board for Beyond Inc. which strives to simplify operations, reduce costs and streamline payments for owners of small and mid-size businesses across the country.    We talk about What’s it like to sell a company for over 4 billion dollars? How did the CEO impact on individual employees change as the company grew from 10, 100, 1000 employees? How should one think about life, and what they do?   Connect with Bob Carr Website https://www.getbeyond.com/ https://www.giveback.ngo/   CONNECT WITH SHAWN https://linktr.ee/ShawnflynnSV Shawn Flynn’s LinkedInAccount Silicon Valley LinkedInGroup Account Shawn Flynn’s FacebookAccount Email Shawn@thesiliconvalleypodcast.com      

Paul Kallmes is an independent technology professional with a focus on foreign start-ups coming to the US, with a specialty in the strategic management of intellectual property. His nearly 20 years of IP and technology licensing and management have given him a broad base in the nuance and complexities of developing and deploying intangible assets to the benefit of IP owners and users alike. He has extensive experience in various industries in IP management and manufacturing. He has extensive international experience working with companies in the US, Europe and Asia on patent portfolio development, market entry strategies, product development and roll-out, and early-stage fund-raising activities. Intangible assets and intellectual property are becoming ever more important in today's economy, and every company in a technology space needs to take their IP issues seriously or risk being left behind by their competitors. His current focus on assisting start-ups from various European and Asian countries allows him to see a wide range of opportunities that will make positive contributions to various markets in the US and around the world.    We Talk About How should an outsider go about building a network in Africa? What have been some of the pit falls of Western money entering the African ecosystem? Accelerators and Incubators in Africa, how do they compare with those in Silicon Valley?       Connect with Paul https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-kallmes-8a0376/ CONNECT WITH SHAWN https://linktr.ee/ShawnflynnSV Shawn Flynn’s LinkedInAccount Silicon Valley LinkedInGroup Account Shawn Flynn’s FacebookAccount Email Shawn@thesiliconvalleypodcast.com      

Max Shapiro Founded PeopleConnect in 2000 to help early-stage high-tech companies find the talent they need to succeed. Their clients are in technology, biotech, cleantech, apps, services, medical devices, and consumer products. He is also involved in areas that also support the startup community: ● Angel Investor and member of Keiretsu Forum since 2001 ● Co-founder of Runway Innovation Hub ● Creator & Producer of PitchForce PitchForce is a weekly pitch event for early stage companies with a panel of establish angel investors and CEO's   On today Show we Talk about How should a startup prepare themselves for a pitch event? How should an investor or a startup follow-up any contacts that they made at a pitch event? How much equity should be given to a new hire at a startup?     Connect with Max Email max@peopleconnectstaffing.com Company peopleconnectstaffing.com  Linkedin linkedin.com/in/maxshapiro Twitter PeopleConnectS   CONNECT WITH SHAWN https://linktr.ee/ShawnflynnSV Shawn Flynn’s LinkedInAccount Silicon Valley LinkedInGroup Account Shawn Flynn’s FacebookAccount Email Shawn@thesiliconvalleypodcast.com

Sandra Shpilberg is the Founder and CEO of Adnexi, a disease intelligence platform for the next generation of biopharma treatments. Prior to this, Sandra was the Founder and CEO of Seeker Health, a breakthrough digital patient finding platform, which accelerates drug development and commercialization for biopharmaceutical companies. Seeker Health was acquired by EVERSANA in September 2018. She’s the author of New Startup Mindset, a book on her non-traditional founder’s journey and lessons learned starting, building and exiting this company. She’s a featured contributor at Thrive Global, InsightTimer and Hackernoon. On today Show we Talk about What question should a founder or founder team should ask themselves about a company before starting it? How important is positioning one’s company? The temptation to take venture funding and the positives and the negatives of going down that path?   Connect with Sandra Shpilberg adnexi.com sandrashpilberg.com  Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandra-shpilberg-b7b334/ Website https://www.sandrashpilberg.com/       CONNECT WITH SHAWN https://linktr.ee/ShawnflynnSV Shawn Flynn’s LinkedInAccount Silicon Valley LinkedInGroup Account Shawn Flynn’s FacebookAccount Email Shawn@thesiliconvalleypodcast.com