Tank Talks By Ripple Ventures

Getting into competitive venture deals is difficult enough when you aren’t a huge name-brand VC, and doing it from another country is even more challenging. Our guest today, Yatong Li is Managing Director at Sixty Degree Capital, a cross-sector firm that invests in software, digital infrastructure, healthcare, and biotech companies across multiple stages as early as Series A and as late as pre-IPO. Yatong talks to us about how he gets into competitive deals and what his view of the market looks like in 2023.We also have Anthony Mouchantaf joining us for another news rundown covering the biggest news in tech this week.About Yatong Li:Yatong Li is the Managing Director of Sixty Degree Capital. He joined in 2017 as an Analyst in the Toronto office and advanced to Managing Director in 2022.Born in China, Yatong moved to Canada and completed the Master of Finance program at the Schulich School of Business, York University. He graduated from Nanjing Agricultural University with a B.Sc. Before joining Sixty Degree Capital, Yatong worked at China Securities (SH: 601066) and as an investment banking analyst at China Galaxy Securities (HK: 06881), a state-owned securities firm in Beijing with a market value of $6.3 billion.In this episode we discuss:(00:59) News roundup with Anthony Mouchantaf(16:10) How Yatong got his start in becoming an investor(17:37) Early investments(19:01) Sixty Degree Capital’s origin story(21:54) How Yatong nurtures relationships in Silicon Valley(23:02) The diligence process at Sixty Degree(24:35) Building relationships with corporate partners(25:55) Why he focuses on infrastructure investments(28:17) Their investment decision process(29:47) How Yatong’s investing thesis has evolved(32:30) Sixty Degree’s process of investing(34:26) How Sixty Degree co-invests(36:23) How early-stage investments are assessed(37:38) What the market looks like right now(39:27) Thoughts on Stripe and others slashing valuation(41:04) Sixty Degree’s recent investment in DataGrail(43:44) Fallout from the SVB collapse(47:03) Biggest lessons learned as an investorFast Favorites:1. 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Tank Talks!2. 📰- Favorite Newsletter /Blog: The Information Tomasz Tunguz and Nikhil from Footwork3. 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: E-scooter4. 📈- Favorite New Trend: Asking ChatGPT questions5. 📚- Favorite Book: Ray Dalio’s Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order6. 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Sacrificing your health for success or wealth isn’t worth itFollow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.ai 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

Startups take longer than anticipated, the average exit takes between 7 and 10 years. Even overnight successes are the product of years of behind-the-scenes work. This is as it should be, but the problem comes if you’re not in love with finding and solving the core problem of your startup (or if the market itself doesn’t actually have that problem).Our guest today is Adit Gupta, CEO and Co-Founder of Lula Convenience. Adit loves the problem he’s solving but also has advice for other founders on how to find that love as well as a problem that the market wants to solve. Lula Convenience is the operating system for the convenience industry. Their mission is to help stores by providing an all-encompassing platform that connects their stores to the world. Adit also is an alumnus of the RippleX Fellowship.And we have a news round-up with Anthony Mouchantaf.About Adit Gupta:Adit Gupta is co-founder and CEO of Lula Convenience, a verticle-SaaS product disrupting the US convenience retail sector. The Lula Store Platform captured nearly 1% market share within 12 months of product launch. He did his undergrad and is a Doctoral Candidate at Drexel University.In this episode we discuss:(01:10) News rundown with Anthony Mouchantaf(12:28) Adit’s journey to founding Lula Convenience(13:36) How he became a tennis coach using Youtube(16:04) What it took to land some of his first internships(17:57) Lessons he took from his first startup effort(20:30) Finding the problem you want to solve(21:29) How the RippleX Fellowship helped Adit focus on Lula(22:59) The founding of Lula Convenience(26:22) Why Lula was different than his first startup(28:18) Early lessons and pivots at Lula(31:49) The number of SKUs and other issues convenience stores face when focusing on delivery(32:57) How the business model has evolved(34:32) Advice to other early-stage founders on defining ICPs(37:16) Why they decided to rebrand to Lula Convenience(38:56) How Lula has grown with advice and support from their VC partners(40:48) What recent challenges have meant for their growth and development(42:41) Adit’s vision for the next few years of LulaFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Tank Talks (How I built this)* 📰- Favorite Newsletter /Blog: Nikhil Trivedi (Footwork)* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: My air fryer and my electric scooter* 📈- Favorite New Trend: Using ChatGPT for every computational task* 📚- Favorite Book: Never Split the Difference & Hard thing about hard things * 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Treat people how you want to be treated, Think long term, there’s always creative ways / solutions to problems. Follow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.ai 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

We start this week’s episode with John Ruffolo and Matt discussing the SVB and Regional banking crisis taking over the headlines recently. It’s a candid discussion about what went down and how it's affecting the global startup ecosystem.We then talk with Connor Atchison, Founder and CEO of Wisedocs. Wisedocs is helping streamline and transform medical information with its artificial intelligence platform for insurance, legal, and independent medical evaluation firms to review medical records with ease.About Connor Atchison:Connor Atchison is the Founder CEO of Wisedocs. He began his career in the Canadian Armed Forces in the Infantry and left 12 years later supporting the Canadian national mandate of the Directorate of Casualty Support Management (DCSM) and the Canadian Forces Health Services Group (CFHSG).He received his BS from the University of Toronto - University of Trinity College and his Masters in Health Administration from the University of Regina.In this episode we discuss:(00:53) The news rundown with John Ruffolo(26:44) Connor’s background and journey into tech from the military(27:26) Why he stuck with a military career for so long(28:14) Lessons he learned in the military(28:59) How his military career put him in the position to found Wisedocs(30:27) Dealing with imposter syndrome as a new CEO(31:25) The process of actually starting Wisedocs(33:09) The early days as a tech founder(34:26) Wisedocs COVID experience and how they survived(37:00) How Wisedocs expanded into the US market(37:55) Connor’s evolution as a leader(39:37) The importance of focus in the early days(40:51) How AI and ML help power Wisedocs(42:19) Does ChatGPT fit into this use case(43:35) How medical records are currently handled in the US(44:54) Plans for Wisedocs recent seed round(46:43) Where Wisedocs is going to expandFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: The Game* 📰- Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Forbes* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Apple products* 📈- Favorite New Trend: Talking to ChatGPT* 📚- Favorite Book: How to win friends and influence people* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Define what you value and build your life around thatFollow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.ai 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

Raising a round of financing is always a stressful endeavour. But in today’s economic climate, it’s even more so. So how can a founder navigate these choppy waters and not lose their shirts? Our guest today is Peter Hass, Associate Partner at Maverix Private Equity. Peter knows the ins and outs of deal structure and has guidance for founders at all stages to help them raise capital. Peter broke all of this down in a tremendous article he share recently here.We also recap tech headlines with Antony Mouchantaf of RBCx.About Peter Hass:Peter Hass is an Associate Partner with Maverix Private Equity. He is focused on leading deal execution including financial modelling and leading due diligence. Peter also works closely with portfolio companies in strategic and financial management as well as the evaluation of add-on acquisitions opportunities.Previously, Peter worked as a Director of Home Services within Mattamy Ventures at Mattamy Asset Management and OMERS where he was a founding member of OMERS Growth Equity.Peter is a graduate of the Richard Ivey School of Business.In this episode we discuss:(01:22) News roundup with Antony Mouchantaf(19:34) Peter’s journey to becoming an investor(21:28) Working at OMERS(23:49) How different investors value investments(25:05) What Maverix invests in(27:24) What is structured financing means in VC(28:55) Items founders should be aware of(30:52) Examples of what new investors will ask for(35:01) How preferred shared get treated in a liquidation event(37:02) What does participating pref or full participation mean(38:11) A liquidation scenario explained(41:56) How should founders manage all these transactions and terms(47:49) Why raising less at times can be smarter for your business(48:46) Terms that Maverix typically offers(50:54) When founders need to take a down roundFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Acquired* 📰- Favorite Newsletter /Blog: Noahpinion* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Airpods* 📈- Favorite New Trend: Space and Rockets* 📚- Favorite Book: eBoys* 🤔- Favorite Life Lesson: The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stonesFollow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.ai 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

Seeing life through fresh eyes is a trait that can get lost in today’s noisy world. When you bring a perspective of a beginner, not knowing what is impossible, you can sometimes transcend conventional wisdom and achieve greatness. Immigrants can bring a fresh perspective and couple it with a focused effort to succeed. Our guest today is Hamed Abbasi, Co-Founder and CEO of Plooto, who is both a successful serial founder and has survived the difficult and often underappreciated immigrant journey.About Hamed Abassi:Hamed Abassi is the Co-Founder and CEO of Plooto, a payments platform aimed at simplifying B2B payments. Prior to that he co-founded and was CEO of Vast Labs, a casual gaming company that was acquired in 2014. He started his career in the banking world.In this episode we discuss:(01:24) Hamed’s journey as an immigrant from Iran(05:12) Skills he had to learn as a newcomer to Canada(08:10) Moving from the world of banking to becoming a startup founder(11:15) Creating Flywheel dynamics in a startup scene(12:49) Starting Plooto(15:45) Pivoting from a Bitcoin platform(17:31) Plooto’s first financing round(19:10) Competing against well-established industries(22:59) Why Hamed wanted to compete in the crowded FinTech market(26:14) How and when to raise prices as a founder(29:12) Would they handle their price hike differently(30:10) The importance of data when gathering feedback(32:02) Why revenue is important to startups(33:47) Plooto’s success at venture fundraising(37:32) The prep that went into their fundraise(41:26) How the current financial climate is affecting their businessFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Knowledge Project* 📰- Favorite Newsletter /Blog: plooto.com/blog* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Kindle Scribe* 📈- Favorite New Trend: Espresso Extraction* 📚- Favorite Book: Full Castastrophe Living* 🤔- Favorite Life Lesson: Nobody knows anything, and you need to experience things for yourselfFollow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.ai 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

Finding founders with true visions that have a real plan to execute those visions is rare. So rare that those founders are actually called unicorns. But finding and supporting those founders takes a lot of patience and skill. Today’s guest has both of those traits, Stephanie Palmeri, Partner at NextView Ventures, has been working at the top of the venture industry for more than a decade and has backed impressive founders.About Stephanie Palmeri:Stephanie Palmeri is a Partner at NextView Ventures and is based in San Francisco. She loves supporting founders who share a North Star of building exceptional user-centric experiences for individuals, families, workers, and communities. Her investments in the Everyday Economy have spanned many industries, including social commerce, circular retail, education, digital health, marketplaces, transportation, and finance. Previously, Stephanie was a partner at Uncork Capital, where she spent a decade investing in dozens of seed-stage companies, including Poshmark ($POSH), Clever (acq. by Kahoot!), Chariot (acq. by Ford), ClassDojo, Carrot Fertility, Hallow, Panorama Education, Phil, Wrapbook, and Wonderschool. Before venture investing, Stephanie worked as a technology consultant and marketer at Accenture, Estee Lauder, and several startups.Stephanie holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS from Villanova University.In this episode we discuss:(0:01:15) News roundup with John Ruffolo(0:22:44) How Stephanie ended up in the venture and startup world(0:27:32) Why she chose NextView instead of creating a new fund(0:29:36) What appeals to Stephanie about investing in Canadian Startups(0:32:17) Becoming comfortable investing in the Canadian ecosystem(0:33:28) The biggest changes to early-stage investing in the last decade(0:36:29) The process of joining NextView(0:41:22) NextView’s current focus and plans for its new $200M fund(0:44:18) Starting NextView’s accelerator program(0:47:29) Founders deciding to have an early exit(0:50:08) Deciding to become a certified coach to help her founders(0:53:50) What makes a great board member(0:58:39) How she advises as an LP and angel investor(1:00:09) Who should contact her and what she invest inFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Acquired* 📰- Favorite Newsletter /Blog: Stratechry and Ben’s Bites* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Whoop* 📈- Favorite New Trend: The return of in-person events* 📚- Favorite Book: Burn Rate* 🤔- Favorite Life Lesson: Take a leap of faith in yourself and try something newFollow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.ai 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

An often undervalued aspect of the startup world is the importance of building a brand. How you represent your company and its values visually can really add value to your company. Our guest today is Sarah Dobson, founder of Design of Brand (affectionately known as D.O.B.), a specialized brand consultancy for Entrepreneurs. She is both a strategist and designer that uses research and creativity to make companies stand out in a cluttered marketplace.About Sarah Dobson:Sarah Dobson is the founding partner of Design of Brand. She started her career working closely under the legendary Paula Scher at Pentagram in NYC. There she developed her sharp, research-focused approach to brand development. Her magnetic creative solutions blend clear concepts and emotional designs to align young brands with their business objectives.Sarah, together with her partner Dani Hall and their nimble team at D.O.B. have created over 60 brands, including Greenhouse Juice, Ace Valley, Rainbo Mushrooms, Mylko, Superette, Sunscoop, Regimen Skincare, Scruncheroo, Thesus Outdoors, Othership, Barbet, nutbar, Fairgrounds, and Outro Health.She studied at Western University and Parsons.In this episode we discuss:(01:33) Sarah’s journey to become a brand designer(03:57) Working at Bumble & Bumble and Pentagram(07:55) Creating the identity for Greenhouse Juice(10:19) How Sarah begins the design process with new clients(11:43) The importance of honesty in the branding process(14:50) Advice to early founders around branding(17:28) Protecting your intellectual property(21:14) Forming partnerships with startups(25:39) The feeling of designing the perfect logo(26:35) Strategy behind DOB(27:31) How DOB chooses clients to work with(30:38) Goals for DOB(32:56) Brands she wishes she could overhaul(34:06) Becoming friends with clientsFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: The Rainbo Podcast* 📰- Favorite Newsletter /Blog: Sift Queue (technically a playlist newsletter)* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Whoop* 📈- Favorite New Trend: Wearables, and loving your *cringe*.* 📚- Favorite Book: everything by Alain de Botton * 🤔- Favorite Life Lesson: Run your own race, and “enlightenment is the space between your thoughts”Follow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.ai 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

There are many vices but few things can match when you create a business that changes the world. Our guest today, Corey Holmes Co-Founder of Popup, knows that feeling and has literally been around the globe to chase that high. We caught up with him in Dubai to discuss Popup, a no-code platform designed to empower new e-commerce experiences as well as his addiction to entrepreneurship.About Corey Holmes:Corey Holmes is the Co-Founder of Popup. He started his path as an entrepreneur as a flipper on craigslist in his tweens and teenage years.When he was 22 he dropped out of university a week before class began and launched an Auto and Marine Detailing business. Then he moved to Uganda to start a nutraceutical company and one of the fastest-growing fitness classes in the country at the age of 23. He learned to code, won an app development award, and placed first in a provincial app development competition.With that experience, he and his wife started building e-commerce stores and joined Shopify together. After that, he started a successful content creation company, and a dropshipping company which turned into an 8-figure commerce portfolio company (Viceroy Group) comprised of several brands selling in over 100 countries.In this episode we discuss:(00:01:00)  News roundup with John Ruffolo(00:19:50)  Corey Holmes’ early path to entrepreneurship(00:20:35)  The influence of his parents on him(00:23:21)  Advice for people who move a lot(00:25:11)  Why he dropped out of school — twice(00:27:29)  Deciding to start his first business(00:29:52)  How Corey’s fear of failure drives him(00:31:41)  His early days as a Craigslist flipper(00:34:28)  Corey’s time in Uganda(00:38:40)  Is it better to not know what you’re getting into as a founder or to have experience(00:38:57)  Lessons from working at Shopify(00:45:51)  His journey as a content creator(00:51:41)  Co-Founding the Viceroy group(00:55:21)  How Popup became his first Venture-Backed Startup(00:57:28)  What Popup is and the problem it solves(01:01:21)  The long-term vision around Popup(01:02:21)  Popup’s recent $3.5M pre-seed round led by Accel and investors like Seedcamp, Harry Stebbings 20VC, and a group of executives from Shopify, Hopin and othersFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: The Game* 📰- Favorite Newsletter /Blog: Morning Brew* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Apple products* 📈- Favorite New Trend: Talking to ChatGPT* 📚- Favorite Book: How to win friends and influence people* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Define what you value and build your life around thatFollow 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

Being an investor in the early stages of companies has a lot of responsibility. You know the money you are putting in is a vote of confidence, but your role is even more important, you become a sounding board, a mentor, and in the best cases, a friend to the founder. Our guest today is Sam Haffar, Partner at Real Ventures, and he knows this road very well.This was a great chat and it was wonderful to hear Sam’s perspective on investing and the markets.And we also have reactions to the week’s news with John Ruffolo.About Sam Haffar:Sam Haffar is Partner at Real Ventures, where he works with founders on all aspects of their business from organizational development and product strategy to series A fundraising, growth, and scale initiatives.He began in the Silicon Valley startup world barely before he graduated from university and then joined the founding team at Chegg, a leading education technology company that went public in 2013.In this episode we discuss:(0:00:56)  News roundup with John Ruffolo talks Thoma Bravo acquiring Magnet Forensics, preventing hollowing out Canada, ChatGPT’s threat to white collar workers, and activist investors(0:19:03)  Sam Haffar’s journey to becoming an investor(0:22:39)  Where Sam gets his drive(0:25:21)  On becoming an extrovert(0:27:57)  How Sam came to the Canadian tech scene(0:32:14)  Coping with imposter syndrome as an early investor(0:36:14)  Processing the emotional rollercoaster of being an early-stage investor(0:43:10)  Staying grounded when things may look a bit too rosy(0:48:57)  How founders can deal with adversity(0:52:00)  Backing founders super early(0:54:43)  Work-life balance with young kids at home(0:57:56)  What keeps Sam passionate about this space(1:01:07)  His vision as a content creator in the space(1:04:18)  Content creators he admires(1:06:23)  How he supports his portfolio as they growFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Lex Fridman* 📰- Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Waverly* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: iPhone* 📈-  Favorite New Trend: ChatGPT* 📚- Favorite Book: Kitchen Confidential* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: If you live by fear, you create a fearful world. But if you live by love, you create a fear less world, not fearless, but fear less world.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

Building your tech stack as a startup can either help you soar to new highs, or become your biggest nightmare and slow you down. Our guest today is helping founders navigate that path, Taylor Lint is Co-Founder and CEO of Swantide, a platform that automates the configuration and management of your GTM tech stack.Before this week’s episode, we welcome back John Ruffolo to chat about the news making headlines in the Canadian and global tech markets.About Taylor Lint:Taylor Lint is the Founder & CEO of Swantide. Prior, Taylor led engineering and product at Replica, an analytics company that spun out of Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs. Previously she led engineering for the launch of LinkedIn’s Talent Insights product. Taylor studied Information Science and German at Cornell.In this episode we discuss:(0:00:26)  News Roundup with John Ruffolo talking about ClearCo, BMO x Georgian Partners, Quantum Computing, Sequoia’s make good, IP Law, and Microsoft as king of M and A(0:20:10)  Taylor’s journey into the tech world(0:21:58)  Lessons launching LinkedIn Talent(0:23:28)  What Taylor learned at Sidewalk Labs(0:26:32)  The process of spinning out Sidewalk Labs into a separate entity from Alphabet(0:27:39)  Why Taylor decided to tackle the GTM Tech stack problem(0:29:34)  Data you need to infor your GTM strategy(0:31:13)  When is the right time to invest in GTM(0:32:36)  Typical startup GTM strategies and mistakes(0:35:18)  Goal setting for GTM(0:36:06)  How Swantide makes the GTM better(0:39:23)  Eliminating isolated documents and data with Swantide(0:41:18)  Best practices to set up and maintain your CRM(0:44:30)  Advice for early-stage startups around data collection(0:46:25)  Other considerations around preparing to scale later(0:48:49)  How Swantide’s $7M Seeed round came together with Menlo Ventures alongside Village Global, NEO, and a handful of strategic angelsFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: How’s work? With Ester Perel* 📰- Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Allison Pickens’ Newsletter* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Apple Watch* 📈-  Favorite New Trend: Walking* 📚- Favorite Book: Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Change is the only constantFollow 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