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The Startup Playbook Podcast
Rohit Bhargava - Entrepreneur | Blogger | Podcaster. I help launch, grow and fund startups and online businesses
Every week, I interview successful entrepreneurs, investors and business industry experts on how they got started, the strategies they used to succeed and their advice to current and future entrepreneurs
Episodes
Mentioned books
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Jul 4, 2024 • 58min
Ep190 – Taryn Pieterse (Partner – Rampersand) on Rampersand’s AAA approach to investing
The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors
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Ep190 – Taryn Pieterse (Partner – Rampersand) on Rampersand’s AAA approach to investing
July 4, 2024
rohitbhargava
Podcast
My guest for Ep190 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Taryn Pieterse.
Taryn is a Partner of Rampersand VC, a dedicated seed fund that has invested over $100M across its funds, counting companies such as Sendle, Skedulo and Expert360 as part of its portfolio.
Prior to joining Rampersand, Taryn worked in Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs across Australia, the UK and Europe and at the family office of Radek Sali, the fomer CEO of Swisse Wellness.
In this episode we covered a range of topics including:
Taryn’s journey from Investment Banking into Tech & VC
Rampersand’s AAA approach in to investing in and supporting startups
How to think about financial modeling as an early stage founder
and much more!
Timestamps:
1:28 Taryn’s background and journey to VC
13:34 Building your reputation and personal brand
20:44 Early career, working on the Campaign Monitor deal
25:17 Things founders commonly overlook when pitching to investors
33:39 Giant Warm Intro program for founders and investors to connect
37:10 How to foster relationships with investors before you fundraise
42:48 When to start charging customers and how to figure out pricing
47:54 Rampersand’s AAA process for investing
52:38 How to think about financial modeling as an early stage founder
55:14 Advice to founders navigating a fundraise in this current challenging environment
Our partners
A big thank you to Paul Napthali and Chaz Heitner for their help with this interview!
Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:
Scendar
Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com
Vanta
Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount.
Links mentioned
Taryn’s links
Taryn’s LinkedIn
Rampersand
Giant Warm Intro
People mentioned
Radek Sali
George Calombaris
Paul Naphtali
Chanie Hyde
Chaz Heitner
Companies mentioned:
Goldman Sachs
Campaign Monitor
Light Warrior Group
SABMiller
AB InBev
Swisse
Wanderlust
Made by cow
Amazon
Hatch
The Iconic
Sapia
Expert360
Cake
Feedback/connect/say hello:
Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel
Credits:
Music: Paycheck
Other channels:
Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep190_-_Taryn_Pieterse.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: RSS
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Jun 27, 2024 • 52min
Ep189 – Jalal Shaik (Founder & CEO – GAMEFACE AI) on AI, persistence and M&A pitfalls
The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Instagram
Ep189 – Jalal Shaik (Founder & CEO – GAMEFACE AI) on AI, persistence and M&A pitfalls
June 27, 2024
rohitbhargava
Podcast
My guest for Ep189 of The Startup Playbook Podcast, was Jalal Shaik.
Jalal is the Founder & CEO of Gameface.AI, a company that uses AI and machine learning to provide accurate and relevant performance insight for sports.
In 2022, Gameface was acquired for $33M by now publicly listed company, Slinger Sports after having only raised $1.2M in total funding.
Despite their success on paper, it was a difficult journey for Jalal and in this episode he opens up and shares a large part of the lessons and insights from his journey including:
The ups and downs of the GAMEFACE.AI journey
Challenges raising capital for an AI startup 6 years ago
How a deal with famous Indian Cricketer Virender Shewag, led to their acquisition
Lessons learned (the hard way) through the acquisition process
and much more!
Timestamps
1:48 Jalal’s background
5:53 Early exposure and learnings working for five companies that got acquired
8:36 The initial idea for GAMEFACE.AI
10:18 Going through Startmate accelerator
13:09 Challenges raising capital for an AI startup 6 years ago (before today’s AI hype)
19:09 Advice to founders currently fundraising
22:01 Challenges in the early days of building GAMEFACE.AI
25:12 Cultural challenges marrying his partner outside his family’s religion
34:10 Most important traits for founders to develop
35:35 Doing a deal with Virender Sehwag
36:21 Lessons and warnings to founders going through the acquisition process
46:39 Getting top talent to buy in to your vision
Our partners
A big thank you to Danny Bhandari and Adir Shiffman for their help with this interview!
Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:
Scendar
Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com
Vanta
Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount
Links mentioned
Jalal’s links
Jalal’s LinkedIn
GAMEFACE.AI
People mentioned
Jason Calacanis
Nick Crocker
Rayn Ong
Danny Bhandari
Kylie Frazer
Adir Shiffman
Niki Skevac
Virender Sehwag
Companies mentioned
NVIDIA
IBM
Arm
VXL Technology
Connexa
NXP Semiconductors
SMIC
Australian Foundry Institute
Startmate
Telstra
Cricket Australia
FIFA
Sehwag Cricket Academy
Feedback/connect/say hello:
Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel
Credits:
Music: Paycheck
Other channels:
Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep189_-_Jalal_Shaik.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: RSS
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Jun 20, 2024 • 1h 4min
Ep188 – Jessy Wu (Partner – AfterWork VC) on brand, storytelling and community powered VC
Jessy Wu, Partner at AfterWork Ventures, discusses her background in linguistics, building a personal brand, creating a challenger brand in VC, dealing with criticism, and community-powered VC. She shares insights on storytelling, building relationships, and combatting power abuses in the tech ecosystem.
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Jun 13, 2024 • 0sec
Ep187 – George Peppou (Founder & CEO – Vow) on talent, health and building the future of food
The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors
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Ep187 – George Peppou (Founder & CEO – Vow) on talent, health and building the future of food
June 13, 2024
rohitbhargava
Podcast
My guest for Ep187 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was George Peppou.
George is the Founder & CEO of Vow, a company on a mission to create a new category of food that is good for you, your health and the planet.
Unlike all the other players in this space, Vow isn’t looking to reproduce the meats we know. They are focused on using cultured meat technology to craft an entirely new category of food by inventing new meats that are tastier and more nutritious than animals.
In November 2022, Vow raised a AUD$73.5M (USD$49M) Series A funding round led by Blackbird and Prosperity7 Ventures. Their seed round in 2021 made them just the 3rd company to have both Blackbird and Square Peg on their cap table at the Seed stage.
In this episode we covered a range of topics including:
the challenges and opportunities in building a business in hard mode
how George has attracted world class talent from some of the world’s leading companies
why and how George prioritises his physical health and energy management as a founder
& much more
Timestamps
1:39 George’s background in commercial kitchens and as an inventor
12:33 His first experience with startups
13:53 Lessons from earlier experiences he applied to Vow
18:36 The early days of Vow
23:26 How he approached fundraising in Australia as a deep tech company
25:57 The R&D process for Vow
28:35 Bringing manufacturing in house
32:32 Attracting world class talent
37:42 Prioritising health as a founder
42:31 Handling pressure and chaos during challenging periods with the company
49:49 Doing business on “hard mode”
53:24 Finally launching after 5 years of work
55:33 What’s next for Vow
Our partners
A big thank you to Ellen Dinsmoor and James Tynan for their help with this interview!
Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:
Scendar
Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com
Vanta
Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount.
Links mentioned
George’s links
Vow
George on LinkedIn
George on Twitter/X
People mentioned
Edward Jung
Nathan Myhrvold
Anastasia Volkova
James Tynan
Ines Lizaur
Ellen (Murray) Dinsmoor
Companies mentioned
Meat & Livestock Australia
Grow Ag
Regrow Ag
Blackbird
Square Peg
CSIRO
Quantal Bioscience
SpaceX
Tesla
Zoox
4 Pines
Forged
Feedback/connect/say hello:
Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel
Credits:
Music: Paycheck
Other channels:
Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep187_-_George_Peppou.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: RSS
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Jun 6, 2024 • 0sec
Ep186 – Rohen Sood (General Partner – Reinventure) on the story behind investing in Coinbase
The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors
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Ep186 – Rohen Sood (General Partner – Reinventure) on the story behind investing in Coinbase
June 6, 2024
rohitbhargava
Podcast
My guest for Ep186 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Rohen Sood.
Rohen is a General Partner at the Reinventure Group, a Venture Capital fund with a dedicated focus on Fintech companies.
Reinventure raised $150M across 3 funds, with the bank, Westpac, being an anchor LP in the fund to invest into emerging global fintech companies.
This led to an investment in Coinbase as part of their $75M Series C raise when the company was just 30 months old and had 2.3M users. Reinventure Fund 1 held 1.2M shares of Coinbase which yielded $546M gross gain.
Reinventure sold half its stake, following Coinbase’s IPO in 2021 which provided it’s LP, Westpac, with a $288M gain on the Coinbase investment alone.
This is Rohen’s first ever podcast interview and in this wide ranging interview we covered everything from:
the benefits and drawbacks from having Westpac as an LP of the fund
the story behind their Coinbase investment
thematic vs generalist investing
Rohen’s personal journey from Investment Associate to General Partner at Reinventure over the last 10 years
& much more
Timestamps
1:37 Rohen’s background
8:23 The path from engineering to management consulting to venture capital
15:48 The early days of venture capital in Australia
25:29 Thematic vs generalist investing
27:21 Navigating founder/investor dynamics
32:45 Reinventure’s investment into Coinbase
39:47 How he builds conviction in ideas
44:36 How he assesses founders and opportunities
47:03 Rohen’s 10 year journey with Reinventure
55:55 Learnings from going through his first cycle in venture
Our partners
A big thank you to Simon Cant, Paul Weingarth and Damir Cuca for their help with this interview!
Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:
Scendar
Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com
Vanta
Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount
Links mentioned
Rohen’s links
Rohen’s LinkedIn
Rohen’s Twitter/X
Reinventure
People mentioned
Maxine Minter
Paul Weingarth
Simon Cant
Danny Gilligan
Damir Cuca
Companies mentioned
Blackbird
Airtree
Square Peg
SocietyOne
Westpac
Coinbase
Union Square Ventures
Draper Associates
Auror
Slyp
Basiq
Feedback/connect/say hello:
Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel
Credits:
Music: Paycheck
Other channels:
Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep186_-_Rohen_Sood.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: RSS
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May 30, 2024 • 0sec
Ep185 – Maxine Minter (Founder & GP – Co Ventures) on pre-seed, performance and mental models
Maxine Minter, Founder and General Partner of CoVentures, shares her journey from law to entrepreneurship, highlighting the importance of courage and representation in venture capital. She discusses the hurdles of long sales cycles and the critical role of leadership and empathy in startups. Maxine also delves into the high-performance mindset, emphasizing continuous learning and passion alignment. Additionally, she addresses the unique challenges of investing in solo founders and the grit and resilience necessary for navigating early-stage obstacles.
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May 22, 2024 • 1h 27min
Ep184 – Adrian Osman (Co-founder & COO – Me&U) on metrics, ratios and mergers
Adrian Osman, Co-founder & COO of Me&U, discusses Mr. Yum's early days, focusing on ratios, raising $89M Series A, and the merger with me&u. Insights on unconventional entrepreneurship paths, challenges in consulting, and growth in the food industry. Also covers team dynamics, merger negotiations, and peer learning during scaling.
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May 16, 2024 • 58min
Ep183 – Howard Leibman (Founder & General Partner – EVP) on being the “founder whisperer”
The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors
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Ep183 – Howard Leibman (Founder & General Partner – EVP) on being the “founder whisperer”
May 16, 2024
rohitbhargava
Podcast
My guest for Ep183 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was the Founder of EVP, Howard Leibman.
Howard is the Founder and General Partner of EVP, a VC fund focused on investing in B2B software companies in Australia and New Zealand.
In 2023, they raised $100M for Fund 4, taking its total funds under management to $300M.
EVP takes a very hands on approach with their investments including taking board seats in their portfolio companies. Howard currently sits on the board of portfolio companies such as Practice Ignition and Deputy which in March 2024 became the first Australian company in 2 years to hit the $1B valuation status.
This is Howard’s first ever podcast interview and in this rare interview he opens up about:
His career and journey
EVPs framework to assess potential investment opportunities
Managing changes in executive leadership as companies scale
Being the “founder whisperer”
& much more!
Timestamps:
2:00 Howard’s career background
13:23 How his early career shaped his investment lens for EVP
17:20 Early investment into Shippit
20:18 How he builds conviction in founders and market opportunities
22:09 Early stage vs later stage investing
27:33 What he looks for in investment opportunities
30:57 EVP investing frameworks
35:06 How the role of the founder can evolve over time
41:04 Taking an active role in companies they invest in
45:20 How founders can build deeper relationships with their investors
48:12 How EVP thinks about optimal fund size
54:01 How he approaches hiring and people at EVP
Our partners
A big thank you to Justin Lipman and Guy Pearson for their help with this interview!
Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:
Scendar
Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com
Vanta
Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over six thousand fast-growing companies that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount
Links mentioned
Howard’s links
Howard’s LinkedIn
EVP
People mentioned
Les Szekely
Justin Lipman
Daniel Szekely
William On
Rob Hango-Zada
Guy Pearson
Simon Lenoir
Mark Velik
Companies mentioned
General Electric
Medtronic
Shippit
Rezdy
Deputy
Oneflare
DesignCrowd
Procter & Gamble
Deloitte
Ignition
Hnry
Mutinex
Feedback/connect/say hello:
Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel
Credits:
Music: Paycheck
Other channels:
Find all of the links for the podcast on Linktree here
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/startupplaybook/Ep183_-_Howard_Leibman.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: RSS
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May 9, 2024 • 1h 6min
Ep182 – Rolf Weber (CEO – Marley Spoon Australia) on building culture through resilience
The Startup Playbook PodcastInsights and lessons from the world's best entrepreneurs and investors
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Ep182 – Rolf Weber (CEO – Marley Spoon Australia) on building culture through resilience
May 9, 2024
rohitbhargava
Podcast
My guest for Ep182 of The Startup Playbook Podcast was Rolf Weber, the CEO of Marley Spoon Australia.
Rolf joined Marley Spoon as their Australian CEO in March 2015
Prior to this he co-founded, BrandsExclusive in 2009, before they were eventually fully acquired in 2014. He then went on to launch and invest in a number of businesses including being a Founding shareholder and Director in Mad Paws.
In this episode we covered a broad range of topics including:
Lessons from launching, growing and exiting BrandsExclusive
The ups and downs of the Marley Spoon journey including their IPO with a market cap of over $260 million, to some of the challenges during Covid
Building a culture of resilience
& much more!
Timestamps:
1:47 – Rolf’s Background
3:56 – Moving from Germany to Australia
6:23 – His time at Ikea
9:35 – Launching Brands Exclusive
11:32 – Importance of co-founder dynamics
15:53 – Advice on making the leap to startups later on in your career
20:01 – Fundraising in 2008
23:00 – Building a business with the intention to sell from the beginning
28:49 – Clauses founders should be aware of during an acquisition process
31:45 – How he approached next career steps post acquisition
37:59 – Staying balanced during ups and downs of entrepreneurship
43:13 – The decision to join Marley Spoon
46:59 – Operational challenges during Covid
52:58 – Differences between building Brands Exclusive and Marley Spoon
59:58 – Preparing for and going through an IPO, operating in public
Our partners
A big thank you to Justus Hammer for his help with this interview.
Also a big shout out to our partners for the show:
Scendar
Scendar is the OG startup accounting firm in Australia catering to all stages of your business’ life. If you’re busy running your startup, you don’t have time to do your own books and forecast. Instead, fully outsource your finance function, giving you time and resources back to focus on what you do best in growing your business. Find out more at Scendar.com
Vanta
Vanta helps businesses get — and stay — compliant by automating up to 90% of the work for the most in-demand compliance frameworks. And with over 300 integrations, you can easily monitor and secure the tools your business relies on.Join over seven thousand fast-growing companies including Atlassian, Flo Health and Quora that use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time.Startup Playbook Podcast listeners get access to an exclusive offer of USD$1000 off their plans. Head over to vanta.com/playbook to get access to this exclusive discount
Links mentioned
Rolf’s links
Rolf’s LinkedIn
Marley Spoon
People mentioned
Daniel Jarosch
Justus Hammer
Sam Kothari
Bjorn Behrendt
Alexis Soulopoulos
Jeff Bezos
Fabian Siegel
Companies mentioned
IKEA
brandsExclusive
Marley Spoon
PwC
eBay
Playbook Ventures
Everlab
APN Media
Mad Paws
Telstra
Amazon
Blue Apron
Feedback/connect/say hello:
Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel
Credits:
Music: Paycheck
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January 1, 2014
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January 1, 2014
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The post Ep182 – Rolf Weber (CEO – Marley Spoon Australia) on building culture through resilience appeared first on Startup Playbook.
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May 2, 2024 • 1h 12min
Ep181 – James Tynan (Partner – Square Peg Capital) on storytelling & entering the business olympics
James Tynan, Partner at Square Peg Capital, shares insights on decision-making, success ingredients of Khan Academy, overcoming investor fears, operating in your zone of genius, and more. He discusses starting a business in university, the


