We talk to another amazing LP this week, Aakar Vachhani, Partner at Fairview Capital. Fairview has over $3.5B in AUM that focuses on fund investing, co-investments, and direct investment. They have built a reputation for finding and backing emerging managers with diverse backgrounds.About Aakar Vachhani:Aakar Vachhani is a Partner and a member of Fairview Capital’s investment committee. He is involved in research, due diligence, investment monitoring, and business development for Fairview's venture capital and private equity partnership and direct co-investment portfolios.Prior to joining Fairview, Aakar was with Cambridge Associates, a leading investment advisor to foundations, endowments and corporate and government entities. He was responsible for analyzing private equity and venture capital investments in support of the firm's clients and consultants. In addition, he led research and data analytics projects on the firm’s private equity and venture capital database. Aakar also spent time with MK Capital, a multi-stage venture capital firm with a sector focus on software and cloud services.He holds a B.S. in Economics-Finance from Bentley University and an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship & Innovation from the Kellogg School of Management.A word from our sponsor:At Ripple, we manage all of our fund expenses and employee credit cards using Jeeves. The team at Jeeves helped get me and my team setup with physical and virtual credit cards in days. I was able to allow my teammates to expense items in multiple currencies allowing them to pay for anything, anywhere at anytime. We weren’t asked for any personal guarantees or to pay any setup or monthly SaaS fees.Not only does Jeeves save us time, but they also give us cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook, or AWS every month. New users can earn up to 3% cashback for their first 90 days.The best part is Jeeves puts up the cash, and you settle up once every 30 days in any currency you want, unlike some other corporate card companies that make you pre-pay every month. Jeeves also recently launched its Jeeves Growth and Working Capital initiative for startups and fast-growing companies to enable more financial freedom for companies. The best thing of all is that Jeeves is live in  24 countries including Canada, the US and many other countries around the world.Jeeves truly offers the best all-in-one expense management corporate card program for all startups especially the ones at Ripple and we at Tank Talks could not be more excited to officially partner with them. Listeners of Tank Talks can get set up with a demo of Jeeves today and take advantage of our Tank Talks special with a‍ $250 statement credit after the first $2,500 in spend or a $500 statement credit after the first $5000 in spend. Lastly, all Jeeves cardholders receive access to their Lounge Pass program and access to over 1300 airports globally.Visit tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to learn more.In this episode we discuss(02:35) Aakar’s journey to becoming an investor(05:36) Learning about data and analysis of investing at Cambridge Associates(07:37) Investments in underrepresented, emerging managers he’s most proud of at Fairview(11:05) Why Fairview began looking for underrepresented managers when it started 30 years ago(11:56) How Fairview’s investing thesis has evolved over the years(18:19) Common mistakes and red flags that emerging managers make(20:17) What Aakar does to add-value to GPs(22:30) Advice he’s giving to his GPs right now on how to adjust to the market(24:15) How the FTX reflects on the entire venture industry(27:30) What Aakar is doing ot navigate the current seed and early-stage market(29:57) Using secondary funds to make way in the current market(31:57) Adjusting their return expectations in the market(32:40) Investment sectors Fairview is excited about(34:04) How new investors and family offices should think about the current market(35:35) Best career advice he’s receivedFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Plain English with Derek Thompson* 📰- Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Hacker News, The Verge* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Owlet* 📈-  Favorite New Trend: Health and wellness* 📚- Favorite Book: The Big Picture* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Remember to take a step back and remind yourself of what really matters Follow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com

Those of us in Venture Capital also have bosses called Limited Partners, or LPs, LPs are the folks we raise our funds from, and it’s important to that we find investors that believe in our vision of the future and investing thesis. Our guest today is Dave Sachse, Founder and Managing Partner of the Sachse Family Fund, which does direct investments in early-stage companies as well as being an LP. We talk to Dave about how family offices are navigating the venture market.About Dave Sachse:Dave Sachse is a Tech investor and entrepreneur with experience as a corporate software product manager, startup founder, business development leader, and community builder. In addition to technology investing in the private and public markets, Dave is passionate about demystifying VC as an asset class and democratizing wealth generation.A word from our sponsor:At Ripple, we manage all of our fund expenses and employee credit cards using Jeeves. The team at Jeeves helped get me and my team setup with physical and virtual credit cards in days. I was able to allow my teammates to expense items in multiple currencies allowing them to pay for anything, anywhere at anytime. We weren’t asked for any personal guarantees or to pay any setup or monthly SaaS fees.Not only does Jeeves save us time, but they also give us cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook, or AWS every month. New users can earn up to 3% cashback for their first 90 days.The best part is Jeeves puts up the cash, and you settle up once every 30 days in any currency you want, unlike some other corporate card companies that make you pre-pay every month. Jeeves also recently launched its Jeeves Growth and Working Capital initiative for startups and fast-growing companies to enable more financial freedom for companies. The best thing of all is that Jeeves is live in  24 countries including Canada, the US and many other countries around the world.Jeeves truly offers the best all-in-one expense management corporate card program for all startups especially the ones at Ripple and we at Tank Talks could not be more excited to officially partner with them. Listeners of Tank Talks can get set up with a demo of Jeeves today and take advantage of our Tank Talks special with a‍ $250 statement credit after the first $2,500 in spend or a $500 statement credit after the first $5000 in spend. Lastly, all Jeeves cardholders receive access to their Lounge Pass program and access to over 1300 airports globally.Visit tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to learn more.In this episode we discuss:(02:25) Dave’s journey into tech(04:49) Origins of the family office from the family business(07:00) How Dave got his start in VC investing(07:41) Types of companies that the Sacshe Family Fund Invests in(08:53) The process of determining their investment thesis(10:27) What their investment committee looks like and their due diligence process(11:52) Assessing emerging managers and using quantitative and qualitative methods(14:22) The timescale of VC investing and working with managers(16:40) Dave’s view on GP commits(19:59) Better metrics than IRR and MOIC to judge funds and managers(23:17) LPs asking to delay capital calls(25:32) Have we hit the bottom of the market and what does the near future hold(28:07) Dave’s approach to the current market(29:23) Why you should avoid pay-to-play pitch scenarios as a manager(33:11) Biggest lessons from being an investorFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Venture Unlocked* 📰- Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Fred Wilson* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: One Wheel* 📈-  Favorite New Trend: It doesn’t matter where you live* 📚- Favorite Book: Democratizing Knowledge by Elizabeth Yin and Hung Pham This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com

Grit or resiliency is one of the most important traits in modern life, especially if you’re a Founder. Our guest today Reed Switzer is one of the youngest guests on Tank Talks, and he’s been a Founder or Co-Founder of multiple companies. His current venture is Hopscotch, a simple, easy-to-use business payments platform that grew out of Reed’s frustrations as a small business owner.About Reed Switzer:Reed Switzer is an entrepreneur and rising product leader in the financial technology space.Born and raised in New York, Reed got his start bussing tables at a local diner. In his early professional career, he developed a passion for apparel and launched his own brand in partnership with a couple of friends. He later served as Operations Lead for a music streaming startup led by the former CFO of Combs Enterprises.In 2021, studying finance and technology at Wharton, Reed decided to drop out of school to pursue his entrepreneurial spirit. He founded and currently leads Hopscotch, a FinTech startup backed by Stellation Capital, Shine Capital, NOEMIS Ventures, 3KVC, Valar Ventures, NfX, Valor Equity Partners, Red & Blue Ventures, The MBA Fund, Switch Ventures, and Brightlane Ventures.A word from our sponsor:At Ripple, we manage all of our fund expenses and employee credit cards using Jeeves. The team at Jeeves helped get me and my team setup with physical and virtual credit cards in days. I was able to allow my teammates to expense items in multiple currencies allowing them to pay for anything, anywhere at anytime. We weren’t asked for any personal guarantees or to pay any setup or monthly SaaS fees.Not only does Jeeves save us time, but they also give us cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook, or AWS every month. New users can earn up to 3% cashback for their first 90 days.The best part is Jeeves puts up the cash, and you settle up once every 30 days in any currency you want, unlike some other corporate card companies that make you pre-pay every month. Jeeves also recently launched its Jeeves Growth and Working Capital initiative for startups and fast-growing companies to enable more financial freedom for companies. The best thing of all is that Jeeves is live in  24 countries including Canada, the US and many other countries around the world.Jeeves truly offers the best all-in-one expense management corporate card program for all startups especially the ones at Ripple and we at Tank Talks could not be more excited to officially partner with them. Listeners of Tank Talks can get set up with a demo of Jeeves today and take advantage of our Tank Talks special with a‍ $250 statement credit after the first $2,500 in spend or a $500 statement credit after the first $5000 in spend. Lastly, all Jeeves cardholders receive access to their Lounge Pass program and access to over 1300 airports globally.Visit tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to learn more.In this episode we discuss:02:47 Reed’s career in startups03:46 Using google to learn early lessons in entrepreneurship05:25 The decision to drop out of school to start Hopscotch06:49 Reed’s tenacious approach to cold reach to find advisors and investors09:32 The decision to bring on more seasoned Co-Founders and advisors10:53 Why business payments was such an exciting field to explore12:49 How Hopscotch is aiming to be Venmo for businesses14:28 The difference between Hopscoth and its competition15:41 What the Hopscotch Risk Score is16:15 The Hopscotch business model16:49 Long term vision for Hopscotch18:29 How Hopscotch leverages its data20:25 Dealing with competition in FinTech and SaaS21:46 Who the ideal customer is for Hopscotch22:52 Who Hopscotch is currently serving24:42 How they are dealing with higher interest rates and protecting their business25:51 Best ways they are attracting customers28:03 Plans for their recent fundraiseFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Joe Rogan Experience* 📰- Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Lenny’s newsletter* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Apple watch* 📈-  Favorite New Trend: Hiking* 📚- Favorite Book: Ryan Breslow - Guide to Fundraising* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Everything happens for a reasonFollow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com

Security is another issue we all deal with, but the hassle and complexity of maintaining and proving you are secure can be burdensome, especially to growing startups. Our guest today, Pukar Hamal, Founder and CEO of SecurityPal a platform that aims to be an all-in-one solution that combines bleeding-edge, yet simple, customer-facing technology with in-house squadrons of trained, equipped, and efficient “security analysts in-the-loop” to effectively solve the security review process once and for all. We talk with Pukar about his journey through tech starting as an undergrad at Stanford, and how he navigated being a part of two separate acquisitions in his career, and what the opportunity was in starting SecurityPal.About Pukar Hamal:Pukar Hamal is the Founder and CEO of SecurityPal. He started his career as the first campus ambassador for Square at Stanford. He went on to for the government, PwC, and the Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen Foundation, before landing at TalentBin prior to its acquisition by Monster. He was the first business hire at Teamable Software, which was acquired in 2020. He has a strong track record of angel investing and as a scout for Craft Ventures. He did his undergrad at Stanford.A word from our sponsor:At Ripple, we manage all of our fund expenses and employee credit cards using Jeeves. The team at Jeeves helped get me and my team setup with physical and virtual credit cards in days. I was able to allow my teammates to expense items in multiple currencies allowing them to pay for anything, anywhere at anytime. We weren’t asked for any personal guarantees or to pay any setup or monthly SaaS fees.Not only does Jeeves save us time, but they also give us cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook, or AWS every month. New users can earn up to 3% cashback for their first 90 days.The best part is Jeeves puts up the cash, and you settle up once every 30 days in any currency you want, unlike some other corporate card companies that make you pre-pay every month. Jeeves also recently launched its Jeeves Growth and Working Capital initiative for startups and fast-growing companies to enable more financial freedom for companies. The best thing of all is that Jeeves is live in  24 countries including Canada, US and many other countries around the world.Jeeves truly offers the best all-in-one expense management corporate card program for all startups especially the ones at Ripple and we at Tank Talks could not be more excited to officially partner with them. Listeners of Tank Talks can get set up with a demo of Jeeves today and take advantage of our Tank Talks special with a‍ $250 statement credit after the first $2,500 in spend or a $500 statement credit after the first $5000 in spend. Lastly, all Jeeves cardholders receive access to their Lounge Pass program and access to over 1300 airports globally.Visit tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to learn more.In this episode we discuss:02:49 Pukar’s journey into tech06:42 What the environment at Stanford was like and how it inspired him to break into tech10:09 Lessons from the two acquisitions he experienced16:15 How he became a scout with Craft Ventures18:53 The problem SecurityPal works to solve29:25 What is a security questionnaire35:45 Types of questions asked in security questionnaires40:25 What a typical security questionnaire process is like for most startups44:19 Why it is important to be honest on security questionnaires48:45 How SecurityPal instills trust in its clients50:53 How Pukar raised a $21M Series A after bootstrapping to $1M in revenue53:42 The importance of the long game and relationships in successFast Favorites* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: The Memo* 📰- Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Of Dollars and Data* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Air purifiers* 📈-  Favorite New Trend: Rising Interest Rates* 📚- Favorite Book: Shoe Dog* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Play the long gameFollow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com

With the high-profile implosion of FTX, risk has been in the spotlight. What does risk mean, how can retail and institutional investors mitigate it, and how should founders think about it? Our guest today is Evan Dreyer, Head of Risk Management at Tola, a fast, easy, and free tool for businesses to pay and get paid, however, and whenever they want. We talk to Evan about everything risk and how to approach it.About Evan Dreyer:Evan is the head of risk management at Tola, a financial technology company. Prior to that, he spent over twelve years at Credit Suisse, in both the risk management and investment banking departments. He is an angel investor and LP (including in Ripple Ventures). He has a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Chicago, and a master's in risk management from NYU.A word from our sponsor:At Ripple, we manage all of our fund expenses and employee credit cards using Jeeves. The team at Jeeves helped get me and my team setup with physical and virtual credit cards in days. I was able to allow my teammates to expense items in multiple currencies allowing them to pay for anything, anywhere at anytime. We weren’t asked for any personal guarantees or to pay any setup or monthly SaaS fees.Not only does Jeeves save us time, but they also give us cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook, or AWS every month. New users can earn up to 3% cashback for their first 90 days.The best part is Jeeves puts up the cash, and you settle up once every 30 days in any currency you want, unlike some other corporate card companies that make you pre-pay every month. Jeeves also recently launched its Jeeves Growth and Working Capital initiative for startups and fast-growing companies to enable more financial freedom for companies. The best thing of all is that Jeeves is live in  24 countries including Canada, US and many other countries around the world.Jeeves truly offers the best all-in-one expense management corporate card program for all startups especially the ones at Ripple and we at Tank Talks could not be more excited to officially partner with them. Listeners of Tank Talks can get set up with a demo of Jeeves today and take advantage of our Tank Talks special with a‍ $250 statement credit after the first $2,500 in spend or a $500 statement credit after the first $5000 in spend. Lastly, all Jeeves cardholders receive access to their Lounge Pass program and access to over 1300 airports globally.Visit tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to learn more.In this episode we discuss:02:26 Evan’s journey into tech and investing07:01 Evan’s experience at Credit Suisse10:31 Why high risk situations keep happening13:04 The definition of risk and what it means to startups17:37 How early stage founders should think about their risks and address them21:28 What it means to not bury your head in the sand and address risk23:55 Risk through the eyes of an investor28:58 When deal terms mean to mitigate risk actually backfire31:27 Risks in public vs. private market deals35:22 How Evan adds value as an investor and LP39:22 Why Evan decided to leave Credit Suisse and join a startup41:47 What risk looks like to him now that he is a startup operator43:49 Evan’s biggest career lesson47:26 Thoughts on FTX and SBFFast Favorites* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Revolutions* 📰- Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Matt Levine* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Drones* 📈-  Favorite New Trend: Digital yoga* 📚- Favorite Book: Napoleon: A Life* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Don't take anyone else's path to successFollow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com

It’s always fun to reconnect with past guests and early success stories from our Ripple Community, and today’s guest is both, Emily Lonetto was a Tank Talks guest back when it was a small in-person event at our co-working space, The Tank. Back then she was the first leadership hire at our portfolio-company Voiceflow, now she’s the Director of Community at Webflow as well as a Venture Partner with us at Ripple Ventures. Emily has amazing perspectives on growth and community, and I hope you enjoy our conversation.About Emily Lonetto:Emily Lonetto is the Director of Community at Webflow. She is an expert marketer and growth expert that started her career at Carnivore Club, a subscription food box, and moved onto to Tilt, which was acquired by AirBnB, and then to Voiceflow. She did her undergrad at Western University.A word from our sponsor:At Ripple, we manage all of our fund expenses and employee credit cards using Jeeves. The team at Jeeves helped get me and my team setup with physical and virtual credit cards in days. I was able to allow my teammates to expense items in multiple currencies allowing them to pay for anything, anywhere at anytime. We weren’t asked for any personal guarantees or to pay any setup or monthly SaaS fees.Not only does Jeeves save us time, but they also give us cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook, or AWS every month. New users can earn up to 3% cashback for their first 90 days.The best part is Jeeves puts up the cash, and you settle up once every 30 days in any currency you want, unlike some other corporate card companies that make you pre-pay every month. Jeeves also recently launched its Jeeves Growth and Working Capital initiative for startups and fast-growing companies to enable more financial freedom for companies. The best thing of all is that Jeeves is live in  24 countries including Canada, US and many other countries around the world.Jeeves truly offers the best all-in-one expense management corporate card program for all startups especially the ones at Ripple and we at Tank Talks could not be more excited to officially partner with them. Listeners of Tank Talks can get set up with a demo of Jeeves today and take advantage of our Tank Talks special with a‍ $250 statement credit after the first $2,500 in spend or a $500 statement credit after the first $5000 in spend. Lastly, all Jeeves cardholders receive access to their Lounge Pass program and access to over 1300 airports globally.Visit tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to learn more.In this episode we discuss:03:11 Emily’s journey to becoming a growth hacker and community expert05:40 Common challenges to growth for early-stage startups06:50 Differences between standard marketing and growth08:21 Her experience helping grow Voiceflow11:27 The importance of community feedback12:11 What growth means in a startup context15:14 How startups should think about growth marketing16:54 Growth Marketing tactics19:24 Emily’s Growth Marketing tech stack22:41 Analytics and testing that you should use to track growth24:20 Using negative feedback to help hone your offering25:26 How Emily has evolved as a community builder across her career28:24 Factors that can hamper a community31:35 How the Webflow community guided her even before working there33:11 Positives of having a strong community35:32 Misconceptions around community for early stage founders38:41 How growth in community is defined at Webflow41:05 Emily’s strong contribution to the Ripple ecosystemFast Favorites* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Reply All* 📰- Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Lenny Rachitsky* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: iPhone 14* 📈-  Favorite New Trend: The comeback of emo and alternative music* 📚- Favorite Book: Moonwalking with Einstein* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Change is made up of dozens of small iterationsFollow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com

It’s always great to visit another podcast, and we wanted to share Matt’s guest spot on the Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com

Our guest today is at that intersection of public and private partnerships here in Ontario, Canada. Brenda Hogan is the CIO of Venture Ontario, a $205M joint initiative between the Government of Ontario and leading institutional investors to invest primarily in Ontario-based and focused venture capital and growth equity funds that support innovative and high-growth companies. About Brenda HoganBrenda M. Hogan is the Chief Investment Officer at the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation (OCGC) and has over 15 years of experience in strategy and execution in venture capital at the co-investment, fund of funds, and fund level investing.Brenda has held senior roles in corporate development, finance, and strategic investing with Bell Canada, EY, the Business Development Bank of Canada, and a software start-up. Brenda sits on the Board of the Canadian Venture Capital Association and Chairs the Membership Committee; served as Co-Chair of Canadian Women in Private Equity (CWPE); serves with the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) as a member of the Content Committee; and served three terms on the Board of Women in Capital Markets, serving as Chair of the Governance Committee. She also served on the Board of Governors at Dalhousie University and Chaired the Finance, Audit, Investment, and Risk Committee. Brenda holds an MBA in finance.A word from our sponsor:At Ripple, we manage all of our fund expenses and employee credit cards using Jeeves. The team at Jeeves helped get me and my team setup with physical and virtual credit cards in days. I was able to allow my teammates to expense items in multiple currencies allowing them to pay for anything, anywhere at anytime. We weren’t asked for any personal guarantees or to pay any setup or monthly SaaS fees.Not only does Jeeves save us time, but they also give us cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook, or AWS every month. New users can earn up to 3% cashback for their first 90 days.The best part is Jeeves puts up the cash, and you settle up once every 30 days in any currency you want, unlike some other corporate card companies that make you pre-pay every month. Jeeves also recently launched its Jeeves Growth and Working Capital initiative for startups and fast-growing companies to enable more financial freedom for companies. The best thing of all is that Jeeves is live in  24 countries including Canada, US and many other countries around the world.Jeeves truly offers the best all-in-one expense management corporate card program for all startups especially the ones at Ripple and we at Tank Talks could not be more excited to officially partner with them. Listeners of Tank Talks can get set up with a demo of Jeeves today and take advantage of our Tank Talks special with a‍ $250 statement credit after the first $2,500 in spend or a $500 statement credit after the first $5000 in spend. Lastly, all Jeeves cardholders receive access to their Lounge Pass program and access to over 1300 airports globally.Visit tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to learn more.In this episode we discuss:03:00 Brenda’s journey to becoming an LP04:59 What it was like navigating corporate culture at one of the oldest companies in North America06:29 What Venture Ontario is and how it works08:02 How Venture Ontario Sources it’s deals11:39 Working with emerging managers with limited track record12:30 What makes a good fund manager15:16 Red flags from managers to LPs18:20 Positive signals managers can send to prospective LPs20:49 How Brenda focuses on becoming a better LP and adding value23:54 Investing in 202226:04 The Canadian Investing scene27:57 Risks and rewards she is underwriting for in 202232:23 Investment categories Brenda is excited about33:54 Strategies to mitigate risk in new commitments36:04 Best career advice she’s recievedFast Favorites* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: How I Built This* 📰- Favorite Newsletter /Blog: TED Talks* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Samsung Galaxy Fold* 📈-  Favorite New Trend: Work function appropriate* 📚- Favorite Book: Shoe Dog* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Do stuff you like with people you likeFollow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com

What is a buyer persona and why are they important to your startup? Buyer personas are models of your ideal customer, but what is the best way to generate those personas, and more importantly, are those the right personas to model in the first place? Our guest today is Leena Joshi Co-Founder and CEO of CloseFactor, a company that helps build better buyer personas. We cover how companies can collect and use data to enhance their buyer personas to be more targeted and how CloseFactor assists in this process. We also talk about building negative buyer personas, and how startups can use all of this to their advantage.About Leena:Leena is the Co-founder & CEO of CloseFactor. She is an enterprise software GTM veteran with over 20 years of experience spanning product management, product marketing, inside sales, corporate marketing and business operations at Splunk, VMware, Redis Labs, Intel, and advanced AI company, Petuum.A word from our sponsor:At Ripple, we manage all of our fund expenses and employee credit cards using Jeeves. The team at Jeeves helped get me and my team setup with physical and virtual credit cards in days. I was able to allow my teammates to expense items in multiple currencies allowing them to pay for anything, anywhere at anytime. We weren’t asked for any personal guarantees or to pay any setup or monthly SaaS fees.Not only does Jeeves save us time, but they also give us cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook, or AWS every month. New users can earn up to 3% cashback for their first 90 days.The best part is Jeeves puts up the cash, and you settle up once every 30 days in any currency you want, unlike some other corporate card companies that make you pre-pay every month. Jeeves also recently launched its Jeeves Growth and Working Capital initiative for startups and fast-growing companies to enable more financial freedom for companies. The best thing of all is that Jeeves is live in  24 countries including Canada, US and many other countries around the world.Jeeves truly offers the best all-in-one expense management corporate card program for all startups especially the ones at Ripple and we at Tank Talks could not be more excited to officially partner with them. Listeners of Tank Talks can get set up with a demo of Jeeves today and take advantage of our Tank Talks special with a‍ $250 statement credit after the first $2,500 in spend or a $500 statement credit after the first $5000 in spend. Lastly, all Jeeves cardholders receive access to their Lounge Pass program and access to over 1300 airports globally.Visit tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to learn more.In this episode we discuss:02:33 Leena’s journey before Co-Founding CloseFactor03:33 Leena’s experience at Splunk05:28 What it was like to go through the Splunk and VMWare IPOs06:15 Dealing with rapid growth and hiring sprees07:27 The opportunity she saw with CloseFactor10:13 Building the initial buyer persona for CloseFactor13:32 How companies can start building their own buyer personas16:05 What early stage founders need to think about in terms of selling today’s customers versus tomorrow’s customers17:20 How CloseFactor helps in building buyer personas19:33 Balancing customer discovery and sales20:54 Finding customer interviewees for research22:25 Defining negative buyer personas and why they are helpful23:56 How buyer personas can help with marketing24:59 Getting internal stakeholders aligned with each persona26:16 How CloseFactor helps distill down buyer personas27:49 Early success stories on CloseFactor30:56 How CloseFactor’s ICP and buyer persona has evolved32:47 Plans for CloseFactor’s recent raise of $4.5M with Sequoia and BogomilFast Favorites* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Invisibilia* 📰- Favorite Newsletter /Blog: CBInsights/Economist* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Phone* 📈-  Favorite New Trend: Pandemic trend of emphasizing time spent with friends and family* 📚- Favorite Book: Sapiens* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: You miss 100% of the shots you didn't takeFollow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com

Mountaineering is a sport that draws a lot of comparisons. Climbing can be done as a lark or as a well-planned expedition. Sometimes even the best-planned climbs can end in disaster due to one wrong choice or factors outside the control of the climbers. And sometimes everything is perfect and an underprepared climber can achieve something special.At the end of the day, you need to show up and do the climb before you know the outcome.That same truth applies to venture capital and investing, and our guest today, Tony van Marken of First Ascent Ventures, marries both those pursuits as a successful operator, investor, and mountaineer.We touched on how Tony supports founders going through the emotional startup journey, and how to help CEOs during a company-wide layoff. Tony shares his experience as a public market CEO, and how the recent sell-off in Canadian IPOs is impacting his Founders.About Tony van Marken:Tony van Marken is the co-founder and Managing Partner of First Ascent Ventures. Previously he was the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Vox Telecom Limited, a leading independent telecommunications service provider in South Africa. Tony is a former General Partner with XDL Intervest Corporation, a Canadian venture capital fund, where he led investments in the software and telecommunications industry. Prior to XDL, he was President and CEO of Architel Systems Corporation. Tony is an accomplished endurance athlete and a veteran of over 35 high-altitude mountaineering expeditions with over 65 summits. He summited Everest in 2005 to complete his quest to climb the world’s seven continental summits.Tony graduated with a B.Sc. (Computer Science) from the University of Cape Town and with a B.Comm. (Economics and Business Management) from the University of South Africa (UNISA) and has completed executive education courses at Kellogg University, Wits Business School (South Africa) and the Oxford Saïd Business School.A word from our sponsor:At Ripple, we manage all of our fund expenses and employee credit cards using Jeeves. The team at Jeeves helped get me and my team setup with physical and virtual credit cards in days. I was able to allow my teammates to expense items in multiple currencies allowing them to pay for anything, anywhere at anytime. We weren’t asked for any personal guarantees or to pay any setup or monthly SaaS fees.Not only does Jeeves save us time, but they also give us cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook, or AWS every month. New users can earn up to 3% cashback for their first 90 days.The best part is Jeeves puts up the cash, and you settle up once every 30 days in any currency you want, unlike some other corporate card companies that make you pre-pay every month. Jeeves also recently launched its Jeeves Growth and Working Capital initiative for startups and fast-growing companies to enable more financial freedom for companies. The best thing of all is that Jeeves is live in  24 countries including Canada, US and many other countries around the world.Jeeves truly offers the best all-in-one expense management corporate card program for all startups especially the ones at Ripple and we at Tank Talks could not be more excited to officially partner with them. Listeners of Tank Talks can get set up with a demo of Jeeves today and take advantage of our Tank Talks special with a‍ $250 statement credit after the first $2,500 in spend or a $500 statement credit after the first $5000 in spend. Lastly, all Jeeves cardholders receive access to their Lounge Pass program and access to over 1300 airports globally.Visit tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to learn more.In this episode we discuss:02:45 Tony’s career journey to becoming an investor06:01 Perspective on the current downturn and how it compares to ones in the past09:12 Why today may be the best time to make investments11:06 Common mistakes founders make in downturns15:42 Why now is a good time for founders to raise prices17:12 Helping founders manage the emotional rollercoaster21:27 How founders can manage a RIF and layoffs27:35 Advice to CEOs considering an IPO36:51 Has power returned to VCs or do founders still have the edge38:25 Expectations Tony has for new investments40:52 What should founders be asking investors?44:18 Should founders pursue remote or in-person for their companies50:39 Tony’s mountaineering experiencesFast Favorites* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Beyond the Grid with Tom Clarkson* 📰 - Favorite Newsletter/Blog: The Daily Maverick* 📲 - Favorite Tech Gadget: Garmin In Reach Mini-2* 📈 -  Favorite New Trend: Travel and experiences* 📚 - Favorite Book: Never Split the Difference* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Never ignore the opportunity to learn from failure…Follow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com