Tank Talks By Ripple Ventures

Retaining talent is a superpower for successful companies and creating environments that support employees is often the foundation of retention. Our guest today is Cameron Yarbrough, Co-Founder and CEO of Torch, a platform that helps companies build professional growth through the power of trusted relationships. We are big believers in coaching and mentorship and Torch has really caught our eye with how they are able to measure ROI on these traditionally difficult-to-measure relationships. We also talk to Cameron about Torch’s recent $40 million Series C financing round right before the market downturn.About Cameron Yarbrough:Cameron is Co-Founder and CEO at Torch Leadership Labs, a leadership development company built on principles of psychology and management best practices. Prior to Torch, Cameron worked at the Stanford Graduate Business School as a facilitator to MBA students in Interpersonal Dynamics. He has a Masters in Counselling Psychology and a clinical background. He also was a CEO and founder of an e-commerce in the first dot-com wave in 1997.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 up to 3% cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook or AWS every month. 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:02:47 How Cameron’s career led him to Stanford Graduate Business School and ultimately Torch05:28 Cameron’s journey of self-discovery after selling his first business09:18 The final push that led Cameron to start Torch13:09 Why companies should still invest in supporting employee's professional growth15:55 How Founders can leverage their missions to find and retain great employees17:11 How companies can better embody their missions19:26 The most important leadership skills for founders to master25:06 How Torch shows ROI on coaching and mentorship to leaders27:01 How Torch devised their unique method of coaching and mentoring29:11 Cameron’s advice to first-time founders31:40 How founders should think about stress and how Cameron manages his own stressful times34:33 Dealing with impostor syndrome36:18 The importance of humility and authenticity in founders37:36 Coaching high-calibre entrepreneurs40:01 Cameron’s experience with M&A and the lessons he learned42:14 Plans for their recent $40M Series C led by 137 Ventures, in addition to follow on capital from Initialized Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, and Obvious VenturesFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Wow In The World* 📰- Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Josh Bersin* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Calm App* 📈-  Favorite New Trend: Remote Work* 📚- Favorite Book: The Invention of Nature* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Be humble and be vulnerable 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 new and more efficient ways to reward creators for their efforts is one of the biggest challenges of the digital economy. Our guest today, Jared Nusinoff, is working to bring value to creators with Mash, a crpyto/web3 platform that helps get creators paid with a new “Pay-As-You-Enjoy” model. Mash recently received a $6M seed-round co-led by Castle Island Ventures & Whitecap Venture Partners.About Jared Nusinoff:Jared is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mash. His previous experience was starting a Travel Company, Out Here Travel, and he spent a long stint at Google. He began his career at Bain and did his undergrad at Ivey Business School 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 up to 3% cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook or AWS every month. 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:02:30 How Jared started as a canoe guide in Canada and got involved with technology03:56 What Jared took from his time at Bain04:53 Simplifying options can help people make decisions06:13 Lessons he took from his time at Google07:52 How he launched projects within Google08:29 Google’s mindset around success and failure09:23 Why revenue isn’t always the best success metric within companies like Google11:17 Lessons he learned from founding his adventure travel company Out Here Travel16:13 How Web 2.0 has failed creators to help them support themselves20:23 Who is a creator today and why they are turning to Web322:50 How Mash helps creators26:23 Problems he’s hearing from creators28:40 What the BitCoin Lightning Network and why they chose to build Mash ontop of it32:38 How Mash helps crypto curious creators dive into the Web3 world34:42 Securtity on Mash to protect wallets from scams36:55 Early use cases of Mash39:41 How developers are using Mash40:44 The competitive landscape for Mash42:33 Plans for their seed-round Co-led by Castle Island Ventures & Whitecap Venture Partners43:50 Being a remote-first companyFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: * On The Brink – best/smartest take on bitcoin + web3/blockchain* 📰- Favorite Newsletter /Blog: * Fred Wilson’s AVC* Ben Hunt’s Epsilon Theory * Stratechery by Ben Thompson* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: * Coldcard Signing Device / Wallet* 📈-  Favorite New Trend: * Freedom Enabling Sound Money – Lightning Network + Bitcoin* Unbundling of the Internet* 📚- Favorite Book: * Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: * Don’t listen to life lessons. Everyone’s unique. Do things* Do your own research. Don’t trust the “experts” & narratives.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

Hiring is one of the toughest challenges startups face in today’s global economy. They are competing for talent not only against “name brand” companies, but also the incredibly rich and robust startups from around the world. Our guest today has seen that struggle both as an operator and now as an investor, Michele Delcambre, is the operations partner at Felicis Ventures, one of the greatest venture firms to form in the last decade. Prior to Felicis, she led HR and Talent divisions at some of the fastest-growing technology companies like Atlassian, Okta, Databricks, and Stripe.This is a great conversation with a ton of insight for founders at all levels.About Michelle Delcambre:Michelle is an Operating Partner at Felicis and leads Talent and People focused initiatives. In this role, Michelle leverages over a decade of experience in high-growth companies to advise and assist companies across the portfolio on their People and Talent best practices.Prior to joining Felicis, Michelle led Talent and People Operations functions for a number of successful technology companies building and scaling hiring practices, People strategy, and People technology solutions during incredible growth periods. Michelle has seen various stages of scale, as the first US-based recruiting leader for Atlassian scaling from a few dozen to a few hundred employees, and growing organizations from 500-2,000 as the Head of Talent at Okta through their IPO. Additionally, she helped Stripe to operationalize the People and Recruiting functions as they scaled from >2,000 to over 5,000 employees. Michelle is a native of Louisiana and attended Michigan State 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 up to 3% cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook or AWS every month. 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:02:41 Michelle’s journey into Talent/HR04:20 How Michelle’s view on talent was shaped by her time at Atlassian06:22 Lessons she learned from her time at Zenefits09:56 How she helped Stripe transition to remote work during the pandemic12:16 What resources needed to shift when Stripe went remote12:59 How Stripe’s culture survived and thrived during the pandemic14:31 Why remote work has increased the available talent pool and how startups can win the war for talent18:40 Why good employees leave companies and how remote-only or in-office only is more complicated20:31 Policies that founders should consider to attract talent24:44 Why Gen Z wants in office to find mentorship26:50 How DEI efforts help companies become stronger29:25 The use of data in recruiting and HR30:48 Tools Michelle recommends to track HR data31:30 How to build a talent pipeline33:18 Common mistakes that hiring managers make36:15 Balancing moving candidates through the pipeline versus rushing bad candidates into a role38:37 Michelle’s role at Felicis and how she helps its portfolioFast Favorites:* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: The Trojan Horse Affair, Things You’re Wrong About * 📰- Favorite Newsletter/Blog: The Tedium* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Apple Watch* 📈-  Favorite New Trend: Tiny library rooms* 📚- Favorite Book: To Kill A Mockingbird, The Changing World Order* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: All people have more in common than you thinkFollow 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

How we organize our companies used to be a straightforward affair, pick a place, like a humble garage, have everyone show up at that place and build your widget, and grow from there. Even before the rise of the pandemic, that equation was being disrupted, and the question of do we even need a physical place to build together has been questioned. Our guest today, Eyal Lasker, Co-Founder and CEO of Flexspace is helping companies navigate questions around growth, community, and space. Flexspace is a platform that allows companies to discover, book, and manage on-demand workspaces with no commitment or upfront cost. About Eyal Lasker:Eyal Lasker has been a founder and operator for the last decade. He Co-Founded a video compression startup in 2012 before moving to Klarna in 2013 as Lead Product Manager and founding member of Klarna's consumer domain. He then had jobs at Otto and Uber, before landing at WeWork. He has a BS from Tel Aviv University and his masters from Reichman 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 up to 3% cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook or AWS every month. 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 Eyal’s journey to founding Flexspace04:56 How the IDF helped shape his career06:49 Making the jump to becoming a founder08:09 What lessons he took from his first startup09:16 Why team building is so important to startups10:05 Lessons from Klarna, Uber, Otto, and WeWork13:05 What working at hedge funds taught him to be successful at big-league startups15:02 What made Eyal decide to pull the trigger to start Flexspace17:26 How Flexspace actually works18:51 Why Flexspace is different than other predecessors and competitors20:14 How they coach landlords on how to use their spaces with data23:09 How employers should think about leasing space and offices moving forward26:02 Why other coworking spaces need a platform like Flexspace27:06 How Flexspace is helping solve repurposing retail space28:37 Data Flexspace is collecting32:22 Plans for their recent funding round led by M13, with R-Squared Ventures, Magenta Venture Partners, and othersFollow 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

Startups love to tackle big problems in entrenched industries, but when it comes to the biggest problems, like say the Global Climate Crisis, sometimes it can be hard to find a new way to solve the problem. Our guest today, Devon Wright, Founder and CEO of Lumo, a smart irrigation system that helps growers save water, improve crop quality, and reduce costs. We talk to Devon about what Lumo is doing and how other startups can help solve the climate crisis.About Devon Wright:Devon Wright founded Lumo. Our mission is to massively improve fresh water efficiency for humanity. Our focus is on helping growers optimize their irrigation to continue to meet our growing food demand with an increasingly volatile water supply.Prior to this, he co-founded Turnstyle Solutions and grew it to one of the largest local marketing platforms of its kind before being acquired by Yelp in 2017. He helped build and run the Yelp Restaurants division until 2022.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 up to 3% cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook or AWS every month. 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:02:44 Devon’s background and how he got here05:47 How capitalizing on opportunities has helped his career07:14 Challenges he’s faced as a non-technical founder11:05 The perils of outsourcing versus trying to make it work yourself13:26 How Devon found himself living on a farm17:10 Why the pandemic helped spur his interest in sustainable farming21:02 How Lumo came to be from Devon’s person need for a better solution to irrigation26:08 The prevalence of manual watering in 202227:35 Building the early prototypes32:38 How Lumo actually works33:54 Where Devon found his co-founders38:48 Why speed to market is so important to founding a company40:24 Lumo’s recent fundraising round led by Fallline Capital42:53 The longterm vision of LumoFast Favorites:* 🎙- Podcast: My Climate Journey (MCJ) * 📰- Favourite Newsletter/Blog: Wine Industry Advisor* 📲- Favourite Tech Gadget: Arduino* 📈-  Favourite New Trend: Substack and direct content monetization* 📚- Favourite Book: “Dreamt Land” by Mark Arax and “The Water Paradox” by Ed Barbier* 🤔- Favourite Life Lesson: Follow your heart. Do what you care most about. Your passion is your biggest assetFollow 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

Spencer Dent, Co-Founder of Clozd, has a rich background in sales strategy and consulting. He shares key insights on how startups can enhance their sales forecasting and win-loss analysis techniques. Listeners learn about the importance of product market fit and effective customer interviews. Spencer discusses the value of third-party consulting in gathering unbiased buyer insights and emphasizes building resilience in startups. His journey from a call center to founding Clozd reveals essential lessons on grit and emotional intelligence for aspiring entrepreneurs.

With the ascendance of gig work platforms like Uber, Fiverr, and DoorDash, it could be easy to be lulled into thinking that the space is fully matured. But there’s a new wave of gig working platforms that promise to add in Web3 Technology and the ability to accomplish more complex work. Our guest today, Matthew Spoke, is the Founder and CEO of Moves Financial, a fintech platform designed to enable the gig economy in Web3.About Matthew Spoke:Matthew Spoke is the CEO of Moves, the Digital Credit Union of the gig economy. Matt is considered a leader on the cutting edge of future-defining technologies and has spoken at dozens of tech conferences and written for Forbes, FastCompany, Coindesk, Financial Post, and TechCrunch.Matt is a strong advocate for the social benefits of decentralized technologies and created the Open Foundation, a not-for-profit focused on advancing blockchain technologies. He’s served as an advisor to governments on the regulatory implications of new technologies like blockchain on the future world of finance.In his former life, Matt was working as a CPA with Deloitte, when he discovered Bitcoin and became fascinated with the technology.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 up to 3% cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook or AWS every month. 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:02:44 Matt’s journey into Startups04:44 The attention his early ideas received and how that was embraced07:42 Lessons he learned from his first crypto startup12:38 False competition and bad ideas in a frothy market18:48 How the gig economy has evolved since 2020 and the pandemic23:45 What surprised Matt most about Gig worker economy27:12 How the privacy lockdown on iOS has affected data collection for gig platforms30:29 What Moves does and how it works for Gig workers39:23 How Moves interacts with traditional banks and financial services45:50 Getting gig workers aware of their financial position and helps improve their financial health49:02 The revenue model of Moves50:57 Plans for their recent $5M Seed round led by Omers VenturesFast Favorites* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: All in, Curse of Politics* 📰- Favorite Newsletter /Blog: Lenny Airbnb* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: DJI Mini 2 drone* 📈-  Favorite New Trend: Stock ownership by workers* 📚- Favorite Book: Inspired* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: If you’re the smartest person in the room, change roomsFollow 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

FinTech is both an undeniable tech movement, as well as, an ambiguous buzzword that founders can use for caché. So what is it and how can startups truly utilize tools from the FinTech world to give their own companies superpowers. Our guest today, Joe Keeley, is the Co-Founder and CEO of JustiFi, a platform that allows Vertical SaaS companies to add sophisticated FinTech to their service offerings and how that can save companies in processing fees and give customers more flexibility in payments. We also discuss how startups should think about choosing third-party service providers when entering the embedded fintech arena and why it may not be the smartest choice to build your own in-house payments team from scratch. They recently announced a Seed+ round led by our good friends at Crosslink Capital aligned with existing investors Rally Ventures and Emergence Capital.About Joe Keeley:Joe is the CEO and Co-founder of JustiFi Technologies, a venture-backed fintech business providing payments and fintech infrastructure and strategy for vertical SaaS platforms.Prior to JustiFi, Joe founded and grew College Nannies, Sitters & Tutors (CNST), the nation’s largest in-home childcare and tutoring company. He led CNST to over 200 franchises in the USA and United Kingdom (a milestone less than 5% of franchisors achieve) and over 13,000 employees. In 2016, College Nannies, Sitters & Tutors was acquired by Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE: BFAM), the largest corporate-sponsored childcare operator globally.He has been named the prestigious Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of The Year”, the “Global Student Entrepreneur of the Year”, “Top 25 under 25 to Watch” by Business Week Magazine, “20 under 30 Who Will Change the World” by Citizen Culture magazine, one of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal’s “Young Entrepreneurs” and “40 under 40”, Glass Door’s Top 100 Companies to Work For, Minnesota Business 100 Best Companies to Work For, and Entrepreneur Magazine's top 100 Franchise concepts many years running.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 any time. 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 up to 3% cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook or AWS every month. 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 every entrepreneur. 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 $700 sign-on bonus and skip the waitlist that already has thousands of companies by visiting tryjeeves.com/tanktalks - Use Referral Code - TankTalks to get setup today!In this episode we discuss:02:42 Joe journey to creating CNST04:19 How Joe embraced technology as a solution for childcare and tutoring05:42 Why Joe’s first company was bootstrapped07:51 Why Joe and his co-founders decided to launch JustiFi11:21 Solving the processing fee problems for small business13:06 The history of FinTech and embedded FinTech16:05 How smaller businesses can benefit from embedded FinTech18:53 Why startups benefit from outsourcing FinTech tools21:02 How businesses should choose an embedded FinTech partner23:45 Choosing a generalist vs specialist service partner26:40 Why being the best at what you do is the most important thing as a startup28:32 Why Vertical SaaS is JustiFi’s current target market31:48 What lowering fees has meant to JustiFi’s customers34:12 How bigger is JustiFi’s Total Addressable Market35:58 Plans for JustiFi’s recent fundraiseFast FavoritesPodcastThe BBC MinuteNewsletter/BlogMorning BrewTech GadgetSonosNew TrendBack to officeBookThe Giving TreeLife LessonWork Hard and Be NiceFollow 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 recent market pullback, growth-stage startups have to figure out how to best navigate today’s markets. In this episode, we welcome Margaret Wu, Partner and Lead Investor at Georgian Partners, a Canadian fund that invests in high-growth tech companies. Recently they have focused on the growth of applied AI, investing in Vention, a digital manufacturing automation platform in its $95M Series-C round; and in a $150M Series-C round for global HR software platform Oyster.Georgian Partners also publishes The Georgian Impact Podcast, runs the collaborative pre-investment CoLab program, and has developed a robust R&D team that leverages AI-driven solutions for its founders. Margo and I discuss how software can be the lifeblood of a well-run organization; how Georgian is currently managing its existing portfolio investments, and the incredible platform Georgian has built to help companies use data to deliver insights to CEOs and startups. About Margo Wu:Margaret “Margo” Wu is a Lead Investor at Georgian and is involved in due diligence, deal selection, and board governance for startups exploiting Applied AI.Prior to Georgian, she was a Product Manager for mobile marketing at Amazon, co-founded a biotech company, and served as COO at OneSpout, a local e-commerce startup. Margaret began her career in technology consulting at Accenture and holds an MBA from Cornell University, as well as a BSc and BES from the University of Waterloo. 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 any time. 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 up to 3% cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook or AWS every month. 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 every entrepreneur. 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 $700 sign-on bonus and skip the waitlist that already has thousands of companies by visiting tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to get setup today!In this episode we discuss:02:37 Margo’s background in technology and startups and her journey into investing04:20 How consulting helped Margo understand the building and scaling of companies06:05 Lessons learned from Product Management at Amazon10:25 Georgian’s investment thesis and mandate13:40 How Georgian found deals at the right valuations over the past year16:49 Thoughts on “Operating during a Downturn” and preparing for a crucible moment19:47 How Georgian is thinking about profitability and how realistic it is for founders to pursue23:01 Georgian’s acquisition strategy given the cheap opportunities in the public market25:04 Advice to founders looking for growth capital but are at risk of a flat/down round26:49 How Founders are responding to the current market conditions28:56 Does Georgian Partners time the markets?30:55 How Georgian manages follow-up investments in later-stage, pre-IPO firms32:00 How Georgian’s platform has tactically supported founders34:23 How the CoLab program works38:13 How the R&D Team can help portfolio and non-portfolio company founders Fast FavoritesPodcastAll-In PodcastBlog/NewletterWait but Why By Tim UrbanTech GadgetNintendo 64New TrendRemote Work/ WFHBookArt of the Start by Guy KawasakiLife LessonKnowing when to pivot and when to persevereFollow 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 outsider these days has a lot of advantages. It can allow ideas to crystallize in ways that someone who is too close to an industry may avoid. Today we welcome Nate Pierotti, Principal of New Stack Ventures, an early-stage fund whose mission is to invest in outsiders and founders that don’t come from the same educational pedigrees or locations we typically see in the venture world. New Stack has been encouraging entrepreneurship in new places and innovation in new technologies and recently announced the close of their second fund of $42.6 million. In this episode, we discuss the mass exodus from the Silicon Valley, the effects of the pandemic and the recent market meltdown on VC firms, and the future of technological startups.About Nate Pierotti:With New Stack Ventures, Nate Pierotti has used his deep technical knowledge and invested in startups like insurance platform Covie and life sciences platform BTR. He was previously co-founder and CEO of Monarch, a sports robotics company. He received multiple patents for his work at Monarc, and was part of engineering and product design. He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Iowa.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 any time. 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 up to 3% cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook or AWS every month. 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 every entrepreneur. 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 $700 sign-on bonus and skip the waitlist that already has thousands of companies by visiting tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to get setup today!In this episode we discuss:02:33 Nate’s background and his journey into startups and technology04:34 Nate’s experience with building his first startup, Monarc07:13 What differentiates non-coastal founders in the VC world08:20 Nate’s transition into venture capital with New Stack Ventures14:24 How entrepreneurs have resisted the pressure to move to the Silicon Valley 17:06 How New Stack Ventures keeps its founders from becoming complacent18:01 Finding and scaling management teams locally20:48 The future of outsider-built technologies and startups25:37 What the mass exodus from the Silicon Valley means for entrepreneurs28:00 Supporting diverse founders outside of the Valley29:10 How New Stack competes with other firms in the Midwest, and firms along the coasts35:41 How New Stack advises its founders and helps them access capital and opportunitiesFast FavoritesPodcastsThe 20 VCBlog/NewletterAbove the Crowd by Bill GurleyTech GadgetAirPodsNew TrendUnit EconomicsBookPredictably Irrational by Dan ArielyLife LessonTreating people fairly and with respectFollow 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