The Silicon Valley Podcast

Shownotes for Andrew Butt   Founder & CEO at Enable, creating the Rebate Management software category. Used by manufacturers, distributors and retailers globally to increase earnings. Since 2020 we've grown 15X and raised $275m from top tier investors.  My mission is to enable trusted trading relationships that serve customers better together. My vision is to empower thriving partner ecosystems of manufacturers, distributors and retailers where people can find the best products, services and value. Enable is a B2B SaaS platform for companies across 50+ sectors to analyze, negotiate and execute complex trading agreements to drive profitable growth. Served on the Board of Directors of several other companies and not-for-profits. I have started and grown multiple businesses into profit and positive cash flow, including exit to PE. * Founded 4 businesses, and demonstrated traction and growth in every case * Grown revenues every quarter without exception - now a permanent team of 500 * Served on main board of directors for 3 years for Helicopter Club of Great Britain * Served on main board of directors for 3 years for a $300m business * Co-founded and sold business to private equity   Episode Highlights:   Introduction to Andrew's Career:   Andrew provides an overview of his career journey, highlighting key milestones and experiences that shaped his entrepreneurial path.   Startup Ecosystem: UK vs. Silicon Valley:   Andrew shares insights into the similarities and differences between the startup ecosystems in the UK and Silicon Valley since he now resides in San Francisco.   Expansion Routes and Advice for Silicon Valley Companies:   Discussing Andrew's experience with expanding companies from the UK to Europe or the US, and valuable advice for Silicon Valley companies eyeing entry into the European market.   Evaluating Ideas for Building a Company:   Andrew delves into his approach to evaluating ideas for building a company, offering valuable insights for aspiring entrepreneurs.   Evolution of SaaS Over Time:   Reflecting on the evolution of SaaS since Andrew's first venture in 2004, exploring the changes and challenges faced by founders in the SaaS space.   Raising Capital and Working with Top Tier VCs:   Andrew shares his experiences with fundraising, from the early struggles to landing a significant investment, and discusses what it's like to collaborate with top-tier venture capitalists.   Key Metrics for Company Tracking:   Exploring the metrics Andrew tracks for his company, revealing how he identified and prioritized these metrics for success.   Rebate Management Software:   Andrew provides insights into rebate management software, shedding light on its significance in the business landscape.   Organic Growth vs. Acquisition:   Discussing the decision-making process behind growing a company organically versus through acquisitions, with a focus on the acquisition of Profectus Group’s RDM Platform.   Managing Culture Integration Post-Acquisition:   Andrew shares tips on managing the integration of different company cultures after an acquisition, drawing from his experiences.   Employee Liquidity and Staying Private Longer:   Addressing the trend of companies staying private longer and conversations around employee liquidity, providing perspectives on these industry shifts.   Continuous Learning and Board Membership:   Andrew discusses his commitment to continuous learning, serving on boards, and the best practices for being an effective board member.   Entrepreneurial Journey and Valuable Lessons:   Andrew reflects on his entrepreneurial journey, sharing the most valuable business lesson he has learned over the years.   Looking Ahead and Final Thoughts:   Andrew discusses topics not covered in the episode, his future plans, and invites listeners to connect for more insights. Connect with Andrew   https://www.linkedin.com/in/awbutt/

Show notes for Adam Nash - Adam and the Daffy team are offering all our listeners a free $25 to give to the charity of their choice when they get started with Daffy. Simply use this sign-up link to get started.  Adam is a proven advocate for development of products that go beyond utility to delight customers. At Dropbox, he led the teams responsible for growth, product strategy, product management & product analytics for a platform with over 600 million registered users with responsibility for all of Dropbox self-service revenue (~90% of all company revenue in 2019). Before Dropbox, Adam served as the President & CEO of Wealthfront, where for four years he championed the creation of a new category of automated investment services. While Adam was at Wealthfront, the company grew its client base by over 60x, and grew assets under management 45x from less than $100m to over $4 billion. During his tenure, Wealthfront delivered industry-leading innovations including Direct Indexing, the Single-Stock Diversification Service, and the first automated 529 College Savings Plan. Prior to joining Wealthfront, Adam was Vice President of Product Management at LinkedIn. Adam led LinkedIn’s Platform & Mobile products, including the launch of LinkedIn’s open developer platform and their highly successful native applications and mobile web experiences. Adam was the founder and architect of LinkedIn Hackdays, a seminal program for driving the innovation culture at the company. He also was responsible for leading LinkedIn’s search & cloud efforts, as well as forming and leading their user experience & design team. Prior to joining LinkedIn, Adam held a number of leadership roles at eBay, including Director of eBay Express, an innovative new site focused on new, fixed-price products. Previously, Adam also held strategic and technical roles at Atlas Venture, Preview Systems and Apple. Adam holds an MBA from Harvard Business School as well as BS and MS degrees in Computer Science with a focus on Human Computer Interaction from Stanford University. Adam was born and raised in Silicon Valley where he lives with his wife, four children and a golden retriever.   We talk about What is exciting between the intersection of finance and technology? What is some due diligence one should do on a company before investing? Knowledge, experiences or a network…what is the most important when building a company? What are common behavioral biases or tendencies that individuals exhibit when making financial decisions?

Ian Leisegang   Co-Founder & Managing Partner at 3SPOKE https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-leisegang-3spoke/ 3SPOKE provides balanced liquidity solutions for the stakeholders of leading growth stage private technology companies. Utilizing an innovative financing structure combining attractive features of debt and equity, we offer individual shareholders and their companies a highly favorable form of capital. Utilized as an alternative to a secondary market sale or to provide for the capital necessary for employees to exercise their stock options and purchase their shares, 3SPOKE’s solutions are designed to maximize value and minimize risk and disruption.   We talk about: What should people know about Secondary’s and the private markets? How do investors do their due diligence on these private companies? What is the concept of balanced liquidity solutions for stakeholders of private technology companies? In the past, what have GP’s, LP’s, done for liquidity?  

Reaction is a global community and fund invested in solving the toughest global problems.   We are a global team who shares a vision for a world where thought leadership and innovation can change more lives in less time.   Why now?  Because more innovations will be created in more countries and industries over the next decade than in the previous 50 years.  Many that offer the potential to solve pressing global issues will fail to reach the markets that need them the most.   Reaction was founded by a diverse team of global leaders who united to solve this problem.     Dan Matthies Dan is a proven builder and operator of global businesses, a Stanford Changemaker, awarded innovator, and Top 100 Entrepreneur.   He has been leading Reaction since its inception.   Prior to Reaction, for 15 years Dan built and operated global tech businesses, including an awarded investment platform used by leading institutions to manage trillions of assets.  As a corporate entrepreneur, he was responsible for all aspects of strategy, product, growth and P&L, creating over $3 Billion in enterprise value.   Dan is an alum of Stanford University (Stanford Executive Program and The Corporate Entrepreneur),  The Wharton School of Business (MBA), and The College of New Jersey (Finance and International Business).   Dan has also completed his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations. https://www.linkedin.com/in/danmatthies/     Michael Dorsey I have a successful 20-year record in Impact Investing, having co-founded and managed the innovative Bay Area Equity Fund (now DBL Investors), which achieved a 24% IRR, 4x cash-on-cash return, and created more than 15,000 jobs. My current fund, the Bay Area Growth Fund, seeks to repeat this success. I also managed two funds for the Westly Group, focused primarily on clean tech.  Prior to my venture capital career, I spent 20 years in investment banking, primarily focused on technology and other emerging growth companies. I served as Head of Technology Company investment banking at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Cowen & Co. I am committed to improving the world through for-profit investing. In addition to investing, I am also committed to supporting the companies and entrepreneurs we invest in. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dorsey-372a6710/     Julieta Romero   Julieta has broad experience across venture capital, FoodTech, government and banking.   She began her career at JP Morgan where she led a team of analysts performing macroeconomic and industry research on opportunities in Power and Utilities, Oil and Gas, Retail and Hospitality.     She then went on to advise the Secretary of Financial Services and the Commissioner in the Argentinean Government Executive Branch on public policy initiatives across the mortgage, insurance and capital markets.   Most recently, she invested in climate and social solutions at an impact investment fund based in Mexico, and worked on strategy and partnerships for one of the largest alternative meat companies.      Julieta is an alum of Stanford University (MBA) and Universidad de 'San Andrés' (Masters in Finance, Corporate Finance and Bachelors in International Relations). https://www.linkedin.com/in/julietaromero/   We talk about Lessons learned while working 20 plus years at Bloomberg. The origin story of Reaction? Stories of being an Investment Banker through the history of Silicon Valley. Investing in the double bottom line. The value of a global network And more   Website https://www.reaction.global/

Drue Freeman is an Independent Board Director at Ideal Power (NASDAQ:IPWR) and is currently serving on the Board of Directors at Sand Hill Angels.   The former CEO of the Association for Corporate Growth, Silicon Valley (ACGSV) and a 30-year semiconductor veteran, Drue advises and consults for early-stage startups, multi-billion dollar corporations, and for financial institutions studying the implications of technological disruptions on the automotive industry. Drue is on the Advisory Boards of several public and private companies as well as Silicon Catalyst. His Venture Capital and Angel Investments focus primarily on the automotive sector.   Previously, Drue served as Sr Vice President Global Automotive Sales & Marketing at NXP (2009 - 2015), gaining significant automotive semiconductor TAM share. In his career with NXP (formerly Philips Semiconductors), Drue spent 3 years in Shanghai establishing a #1 position in the China automotive market while launching and serving as Board Member for the first Chinese automotive semiconductor company, Datang-NXP Semiconductors. Prior to China, he worked 7 years at NXP’s Automotive HQ in Germany, including 4 years as VP of Automotive Quality. He has also been based in Tokyo, with Philips and VLSI Technology and held positions in key account management, applications engineering, and development engineering for various companies in California.   We talk about Who are the most active angel groups in Silicon Valley? What types of due diligence does one do on a company before investing? What role do syndicate members play after making an investment? What are the negatives or benefits of investing as an individual or a syndicate? How does one find boards to be on? What technologies do you see really helping in West Africa? And much more Connect with Drue https://www.linkedin.com/in/drue-freeman-b67a12/ drue@betterbigpicture.com

Jon Li, with over 20 years of entrepreneurial and product/UX design experience, discusses the benefits of augmented reality for individuals and organizations. He also explores the future potential of AR/VR glasses and the factors to consider when purchasing AR glasses. Additionally, they discuss the concept of organizing and distributing information in AR/VR environments and the significance of context in accessing relevant information.

Shownotes for Karen Traversi Kovaleski,   Bio: I have over 20 very successful and rewarding years leading start-up and growth-stage companies in digital and tech industries. My experience spans sales, marketing, human resources, operations, and all aspects of the customer journey. Holding roles ranging from VP GM to VP of Operations to CEO, I have driven the integration and stabilization of organizations experiencing mergers & acquisitions, hyper-growth, or other disruptive processes. I have successfully helped companies ranging in size from start-up to >$100 million as well as those looking to monetize assets such as TMP/Monster.com, Ticketmaster, and Revolution Health Group. CHALLENGE Companies often struggle to connect the dots between corporate mission, sales, product delivery, and customers' goals. Mergers & acquisitions, rapid growth, or other disruptive processes typically amplify misalignment. When not addressed, this leads to missed opportunities for revenue growth, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction. Organizations tout a customer-focused approach in the hopes that this rallying cry will create alignment of people, product, and process. It doesn’t, and therefore, Brand equity suffers, engagement declines, and customers look elsewhere. REPUTATION I am known for getting things done with high proficiency and integrity, as a cross-functional leader, collaborator, and strategic thinker. I have earned the reputation of a business integrator with expertise in customer growth, operational execution, and broad-based business management. I connect the company and the client through brand clarity, effective solutions delivery, and highly engaged teams. STYLE I bring a goal-driven and collaborative style to business operations and executive leadership. I am passionate about using honesty, kindness & respect in the treatment of all people while discovering innovative ways to approach business challenges and new markets. Leveraging empathy, business acumen, and consultative approaches I drive effective operations, sales and customer growth. I am comfortable addressing complex problems and often difficult situations, handling them with ease and candor ensuring actionable goals & objectives drive success. Key Skills: Start-up * Sales and Service Delivery * People Leadership * Business Development * Customer Success Driver * Decisive and Focused Executive * Integration Before, During and After M&A * Team Builder * Product Development * Profitable Business Manager * Change Management   We talk about When starting to work with a company, where are there usually skeletons? What is life after being a CEO like? Mergers & Acquisitions… pre and post closing. What are some integration best practices? Is there a disconnect between the Silicon Valley “elite” and the rest of Silicon Valley… and the rest of the world? Connect with Karen   Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/karentraversikovaleski/ Email karen.traversi.kovaleski@gmail.com

Show notes Ron Gutman Ron Gutman is an inventor, an investor, a serial technology and healthcare entrepreneur and a Stanford University adjunct Professor. Ron has built and invested in technology and healthcare companies that have served hundreds of millions of people and saved tens of thousands of lives worldwide. He's an inventor holding a series of patents in healthcare technology and Artificial Intelligence and won the World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer award. Ron's articles have been published in respected media such as The Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fortune Magazine, CNN, and TechCrunch. He also wrote a best-selling TED Book SMILE: The Astonishing Power of a Simple Act, and gave a popular TED talk about smiling that was translated to 51 languages and viewed by millions everywhere. Ron has also presented in leading technology and healthcare conferences, including The World Economic Forum, TED, and Fortune Brainstorm Tech. Ron's mission is to help everyone live happier, healthier, longer lives.   We talk about: How did you come up with the topic for your ted talk “The Hidden Power of Smiling?” Do you live by the motto of “Smiling” today? What factors do you consider when determining the structure and design of a supply chain? How is it different scaling-up a company that has a massive funding event verse growing a company without any-external funding? What is the antidote to Blitzscaling? In the current environment, does Blitzcaling make sense? What are the best ways that entrepreneurs and start-ups can achieve hyper-growth today without making huge structural, financial, and in some cases, ethical mistakes in the process? And much more…. Connect with Ron   Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/rongutman/ Twitter @ronsmilegutman Email RonSmileGutman@gmail.com

Show notes for Gunja Gargeshwari Gunja Gargeshwari works as a Chief Revenue Officer at Bright Data, which is a Data Collection & Internet Portals company with an estimated 450 employees; and founded in 2014. They are part of the Sales Executive team within the C-Suite Department and their management level is C-Level. Gunja graduated from Wayne State University in 1996 and is currently based in United States. They used to work at Amazon.com and Théâtre de Paris a Previous Work Experience Gunja Gargeshwari's career began 27 years ago. Prior to joining Bright Data, Gunja worked at 4 companies. 2018 - 2022Zendesk Platform, Zd Sunshine Conversations & Zd Sell Vice President, Worldwide Sales 2015 - 2018Amazon.com Isv Accounts Sales Leader 2015 - 2018Théâtre de Paris Mid Market Isv Accounts Sales Leader 1996 - 2015Oracle Senior Director, Oracle Consulting Sales, Retail & Financial Services   We talk about How is Artificial Intelligence impacting data? Are companies really utilizing internal data? What are some good causes for use of public data? What does a Chief Revenue Officer, CRO do? The story of the first 1 billion dollar deal for Amazon? And more Connect with Gunja  https://www.linkedin.com/in/gunja-gargeshwari-5bb37/

Zamir Shukho is the Founder and General Partner of the Vibranium.VC venture fund. With 20 years of professional experience, he has a background as a serial entrepreneur having created 10 companies and organizations. He is also an expert in venture capital, management, and corporate innovation. In addition to this, he is a startup mentor and a certified coach of the Stanford I2M program. We talk about How does the selection process change depending on the stage of the company? What are some of the metrics a company should know at the seed stage of its life cycle? What takes place during Financial due diligence? What happens in an Investment Committee meeting?   Connect with Zamir VC and Podari.life charity program - https://www.podari.life/vibranium VC Softlanding Program - https://vibranium.vc/softlanding VC website - https://vibranium.vc/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/vibraniumvc Twitter - https://twitter.com/Vibranium_VC