Tank Talks By Ripple Ventures

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

The road of a solo GP is full of highs and lows, and today’s guest Kirby Winfield has been through all of it. After working in the 90s tech and startup scene in Seattle, Kirby went on to found Ascend VC as a solo GP. We talk about his biggest lessons, the best advice he’s gotten, and dig into some of the stories from the trenches as an emerging manager.About Kirby Winfield:Kirby Winfield is currently the Founding General Partner at Ascend.vc, a pre-seed stage venture fund investing in marketplace, e-commerce/DTC, and B2B software startups in the Pacific Northwest.Early in his career, Kirby was a founding team member and operating executive at back-to-back tech IPOs, with Go2Net (GNET) and Marchex (MCHX). He is also a two-time venture capital-backed CEO, with AdXpose (DFJ, Ignition) acquired by comScore (SCOR), and Dwellable (Maveron, VersionOne) acquired by HomeAway (AWAY).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 Kirby’s journey into tech06:08 Lessons from the Dot Com bust12:21 Why founders should get to know public market analysts13:45 Kirby’s early experience as an Angel Investor16:07 Early exits as an investor18:11 Finding his first LPs as an emerging manager21:36 Why he viewed his age as a first time manager as an advantage26:37 Building a better startup ecosystem in the Pacific Northwest31:37 Kirby’s original investment thesis and how is has evolved38:19 Managing as a solo GP45:03 Things to avoid that may be red flags to LPs49:10 Navigating the seed and early stage markets in 202252:50 The best career advice he’s gotten as a GPFast Favorites* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Chuck D - Narrates the Band the Clash, Invest like the best* 📰 - Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Chad Sanderson substack - Data Products* 📲 - Favorite Tech Gadget: Garmin* 📈 -  Favorite New Trend: Lower valuation caps* 📚 - Favorite Book: Led Zepplin, The Beatles* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Running Everyday Solves ProblemsFollow 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 company culture through a screen is a challenge more and more organizations are facing these days. The benefits of remote work will not go away, so how can organizations adapt and evolve to build a culture with everyone spread out? Our guest today is Jason Goldlist, CEO and Co-Founder of Venue, a remote-first meeting software for culture-obsessed companies. We talk about Jason’s dedication to community throughout his career working at amazing companies like Wealthsimple, and how he got Slack’s Founder, Stuart Butterfield and Accel Partners to back his startup.About Jason Goldlist:Jason Goldlist is the Co-Founder and CEO of Venue, he has been an operator with strong ties to community-building for the last 15 years. Prior to Venue, Jason was Head of Marketing and General Manager of Wealthsimple. He also Co-Founded TechTO, one of Canada’s most prominent tech communities. He began his career at McKinsey and did his undergrad at the University of New Brunswick and his MBA at INSEAD.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:02:37 Jason’s journey into tech04:45 Why he leans towards counterintuitive decisions06:30 Lessons Jason took from working at McKinsey09:23 Working in sub Saharan Africa10:57 His experience working at Wealthsimple13:30 Judging his early career in terms of experience in the moment and in retrospect15:29 Jason’s first role at Wealthsimple and how it grew19:18 How he worked on Culutre at Weathsimple20:05 Origins of TechTO23:17 What TechTO has accomplished27:25 How the pandemic and the TechTO events schedule inspired Venue30:18 Steps Jason and the Venue team took to help define the problem32:18 Why 2x2 analysis can sometimes deceptive34:20 Building Venue’s MVP37:46 How venue is helping build culture and community in the remote world39:58 ROI casestudies for Venue43:09 How Venue’s $4M seed came together47:21 The long-term vision for VenueFast Favorites* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Reply All, the show about the Internet and how we relate to it, told through the lens of amazing storytelling and mysteries. Start with episode #158, the case of the missing hit. * 📰 - Favorite Newsletter/Blog: The TechTO newsletter. Monday is community events and people, Wednesday is career advice and opportunities, and Friday is all about news and fundraising. * 📲 - Favorite Tech Gadget: Stream Deck by Elgato. I use it to control my lights, speakers, music and a lot more.* 📈 -  Favorite New Trend: Remote-first* 📚 - Favorite Book: Bonfire of the Vanities, In Cold Blood, and The Sun Also Rises* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson:Know thyselfFollow 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

Once is lucky, twice is good. And our guest today is good. Darrell Silver, Founder and CEO of Unbundle Studio, has sold two companies for over $100M and he’s using that experience to start investing. We dig into why Darrell decided to help create tech companies with underappreciated founders in a venture studio model and the mindset needed for running the studio completely off his own balance sheet.About Darrell Silver:Darrell Silver runs Unbundle Studio, a venture studio that launches tech companies with underappreciated founders. He is also a board member, advisor, and investor across EdTech and child advocacy.He co-founded+CEO'd+sold two companies: Thinkful (acquired by Chegg) & Perpetually (acquired by Dell).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 Darrell’s journey into Tech04:51 Darrell’s experience pitching Jason Calacanis and TechCrunch Disrupt08:21 Building Thinkful and selling to Chegg11:02 Best practices for acquihires and retaining senior talent13:00 Evaluating deals by weighing the best alternative15:46 Why you can’t BS your way through an M&A process17:32 Why Darrell launched Unbundle Studio21:41 The thesis behind Unbundle Studio23:25 Types of founders Unbundle is looking for24:22 Why Darrell is using his own money to start Unbundle26:01 How the traditional venture model doesn’t account for profitable businesses27:27 Darrell’s experience as an LP28:38 Why he sticks to his expertise when investing30:50 What he looks for when he invests33:06 The importance of good board members35:55 Building your networks37:05 What he learned from Mike Maples at Floodgate38:36 Redflags people should avoid when pitching him as an LP39:50 How Darrell adds value as an LP41:16 Why being a board member is philanthropic42:44 Advice for new LPs44:39 The best career advice he’s gotten as an LP45:50 Why he’s building a workshop with his dadFast Favorites* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Mike Maples* 📰 - Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Matt Levine* 📲 - Favorite Tech Gadget: Apple Watch* 📈 -  Favorite New Trend: Google Home* 📚 - Favorite Book: Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Grinding It Out* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: How lucky he’s been to be presented with these life opportunitiesFollow 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 tempting to think of Venture Capitalists as the top of the food chain, but in reality, we are closer to founders. VCs build an investment thesis and then go test that thesis, both in the fundraising marketplace and in doing their investments. Just like with founders, sometimes the marketplace demands VCs to pivot and change their thesis, sometimes dramatically. And always—always—VCs are held accountable by their investors, known as Limited Partners, or LPs. Our guest today is Jeffrey Rinvelt, his work at Renaissance Venture Capital finds him investing as an LP across many funds. He’s got some great insights into what LPs are thinking, and what the market may hold in the coming months.About Jeffrey Rinvelt:Jeffrey Rinvelt is a Partner with the Rennaisance Venture Capital. He was previously part of Ardesta, where he was a Director engaged in sourcing, evaluating, and conducting due diligence on investment opportunities, as well as monitoring and providing assistance to the companies in Ardesta’s portfolio. Prior to joining Ardesta, Jeff was a co-founder of GrapeVINE Technologies, providing Product Management and Marketing for their knowledge management product, eventually resulting in an acquisition by Sun Microsystems. Jeff was also part of the start-up team for MAXfunds.com, an Internet company providing complete coverage of the mutual fund industry, including hundreds of funds not available on any other site. In addition, Jeff spent five years with Ernst & Young’s Information Technology group as a senior consultant.Jeff is a proud trustee of Western Michigan University and also lends his expertise to a number of local non-profits.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:02:38 Jeff’s journey into Venture Capital and why he started in Michigan05:11 How he got through the 2008 financial crisis06:11 The original investing thesis for Renaissance Venture Capital08:59 Inspiration and innovations around Renaissance10:33 What makes a good fund manager12:20 Red flags for emerging managers14:52 What’s more important for a manager, track record or technical chops?17:10 How Jeff works to give value as an LP19:33 Building a platform as an LP20:29 What the current market is like as an LP22:50 Internal conversations around deployment of funds in 202224:05 Types of returns they are looking for in the current market25:38 Are preferred returns required to get LPs27:15 Advice to new LPs28:46 Why isn’t there standardized reporting around track record for Venture30:55 The problems with current 409A valuations32:55 Thoughts on opportunity funds34:29 Why Jeff stopped doing direct investments35:12 Philosophies around co-investing opportunities36:37 Investment categories Jeff is excited about38:20 Showing off results from research and investments39:24 The best career advice he’s ever gottenFast Favorites* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Cocaine and Rhinestones The History of Rock in 500 Songs* 📰 - Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Dave Pell’s Next Draft* 📲 - Favorite Tech Gadget: Raspberry Pi* 📈 -  Favorite New Trend: Work from Home and Walk and Talks* 📚 - Favorite Book: The Hard Things About Hard Things* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Longterm games with long-term peopleFollow 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

The term A/B testing gets thrown around a lot in startups, many use it to great effect, and some know they should use it, but never quite do. Our guest today is Chetan Sharma, Co-Founder and CEO of Eppo, a platform that helps companies run useful, reliable experiments by automating the analysis, diagnostics, and investigations, all on top of your data warehouse. We get into the power of A/B testing, how Eppo can unlock that power for startups of all sizes, and best practices for implementing them.About Chetan Sharma:Chetan Sharma is the Co-Founder and CEO of Eppo. Previously, he was Data Scientist at Webflow and Airbnb. Chetan worked in empirical healthcare policy, helping to craft metrics and incentive systems as part of the Affordable Care Act's pay-for-performance programs. He has BS and MS degrees from 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 cashback 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:02:25 Chetan’s journey into startups and data science03:46 His experience working at AirBnB06:56 How one of his projects at AirBnB became open source11:22 Chetan’s decision to take a year to travel before his next career move14:42 Why A/B testing is so popular at startups17:34 Some misconceptions around A/B testing21:31 Why companies struggle with A/B testing24:08 What happens when A/B gives inaccurate results26:38 Picking the right northstar metrics for your company to track29:32 How capital-constrained companies can use A/B testing to solve problems faster30:59 What Eppo does to make A/B testing better32:15 How Eppo works34:12 Why focusing your company to work on core products and not tools is important at early startups35:42 What early-stage startups can do to get more data38:04 The ROI of Eppo even in a recession39:39 The value-add of Eppo40:32 Customer case studies of Eppo42:43 Eppo’s new Cupid product46:13 Plans for the recent $16M Series A round backed by some of world’s leading data and  product investors like Menlo Ventures and Amplify PartnersFast Favorites* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: NFL Podcasts, Hardcore History, Ezra Klein, Tyler Cowen* 📰 - Favorite Newsletter /Blog: Lenny Rachitsky* 📲 - Favorite Tech Gadget: Apple Watch* 📈 -  Favorite New Trend: Angel Investing* 📚 - Favorite Book: How Asia Works* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: All you know is what you personally observe and what you personally feel, you don’t know intentions of others.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