Startup Hypeman: The GOAT to Market Show

Hey startups -- want to pitch the Chicago Bulls??In my latest #HYPEsession I sit down with Navin Goyal, MD, Cofounder & CEO of LOUD Capital.They recently partnered with the Bulls to launch the first ever Chicago Bulls Venture Pitch Competition where the winning company takes home a $50k investment from LOUD!Application deadline is December 16th. Tune in to today's #HYPEsession for full details, plus:Hear how LOUD believes in making an impact with its dollars.Learn their investment philosophy.And hear Navin's non-traditional path to VC.LOUD Capital is one of my favorite investment groups, and I think you're gonna see why right here.#HYPEsessions are provided to you here in audio format through our podcast feed, but also simulcast with video on my personal Linkedin (linkedin.com/in/rajivnathan) and IGTV via the @startuphypeman account.If you're a partner of the startup ecosystem and want to be featured in a future #HYPEsession, email media@startuphypeman.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a sales-minded founder myself, a part of me cringes when I talk to other entrepreneurs who consistently avoid getting in front of customers themselves in favor of their other responsibilities. That's why I was excited to welcome PJ Taei, Founder & CEO of the VOD platform Uscreen on today's episode. Uscreen has 30 employees, has never raised outside capital, and amassed over 1,000 paying customers and thousands more users, including Wanderlust, Yoga With Adrienne, BBC, and Time Warner Media. PJ started off running the entire sales process, and over time delegated out. But he still steps in to help close certain deals, and it has a big impact on the customer. PJ and I have an energetic conversation on the topic that I'm excited to share with you.Find Uscreen and PJ online:Twitter and IG @uscreentvwww.uscreen.tv Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You've seen the videos, read the blog posts, and heard all the buzz about Y-Combinator.But what's it really like to get into a YC cohort and go through the program yourself?In today's podcast I chat with Shruti Kapoor, Cofounder & CEO of Wingman who shares her firsthand experience at the hailed Silicon Valley accelerator. Hear the big lessons and takeaways she learned, the changes her company made during the program, the mindset it takes to go through YC, and other 'behind-the-scenes' tidbits you'd only get from someone who's been through it themselves.Find Shruti and Wingman online:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shrutikapoor/Twitter: @me_nderWebsite: www.trywingman.comAnd head to https://www.startuphypeman.com/articles/surviving-y-combinator-with-wingman-cofounder-shruti-kapoor for a blog post where Shruti expands further on the topic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our second #HYPEsession features BJ Lackland, CEO of Lighter Capital. Lighter Capital is the most active revenue-based financing provider in the United States. In this chat BJ shares:What exactly is revenue-based financing and when does it make sense versus traditional VC or angel money, or bootstrapping.A look into Lighter's existing portfolio and the amount of funding they typically provide.What type of companies make the most sense with Lighter Capital's model.#HYPEsessions are provided to you here in audio format through our podcast feed, but also simulcast with video on my personal Linkedin (linkedin.com/in/rajivnathan) and IGTV via the @startuphypeman account.If you're a partner of the startup ecosystem and want to be featured in a future #HYPEsession, email media@startuphypeman.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

700 customers, including Hubspot, Linkedin, and PayPal. $68.1 million in funding. 200+ employees. Next-level brand awareness. Category leader.Do you think all that happens just from direct selling? Think again.Gong has produced, in my opinion, the BEST content in the game. And it's reflecting in those numbers you see above (and oh yeah, nearly all of their content itself gets hundreds and thousands of views, likes, and comments). I've been a huge fan of Gong for the last year so I was really excited to get their Content Strategy Manager, Devin Reed, on for this episode. Devin started as Gong's second sales hire and achieved $1 million in sales before transitioning to content. How have they dominated with their content? Devin lets us inside the Gong war room and shares their creative process.We also talk hip hop, can you guess Devin's favorite rapper of all time?Find Gong online:IG @Gong.ioTwitter @Gong_ioFind Devin @thereedercoAnd head to https://www.startuphypeman.com/articles/devin-reed-podcast for a blog post where Devin expands further on the topic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nobody likes pitching investors, can we all agree on that? The capital raise process is long, laborious, and dejecting. But it's something many startups have to go through.Part of the pitch is explaining your business model. If you don't explain it the right way investors will either say "oh you're just like everyone else" or "this is too complex for me". And neither of those is a good response. Real Estate tech startup Prevu recently raised a $2 million seed round and had to deal with this exact thing. It took a lot of "no's" to get there but finally they figured out how to convey their business model, and once they did their pitch landed much better, ultimately leading to the raise.Hear Cofounder Chase Marsh's story on how they got there.Find Prevu on all social platforms @prevurealestate, and head to https://www.startuphypeman.com/articles/chase-marsh-podcast for a blog post where Chase expands further on the topic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Introducing our brand new bonus content series: #HYPEsessions!These are short interviews with various trusted resource partners of the startup ecosystem (think VC groups, angels, incubators, and service providers)Each #HYPEsession is provided to you here in audio format through our podcast feed, but also simulcast with video on my personal Linkedin (linkedin.com/in/rajivnathan) and IGTV via the @startuphypeman account.Our first #HYPEsession features Christine Caven, Media Advisor at the Jacksonville-based early stage VC, PS27 Ventures.Christine shares:PS27s investment philosophyThe importance of backing minority foundersAdvice for other VCs and funds on how they can encourage #DEI.Advice for startups on how to pitch investorsShe also provides background on their annual founder immersion experience, Leadership Week, coming up next week!If you're a partner of the startup ecosystem and want to be featured in a future HYPEsession, email media@startuphypeman.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you're an early stage company, you can't afford to bring on a cofounder who doesn't get the job done. Which means your selection process needs to be on point, and you need to be willing to go the Malcolm X "by any means necessary" route to assemble the right team. In this week's episode, networking app Pod.io Founder Dr. Jo Webber shares her wild story of assembling a global founding team which included having to literally ask the question, "If we travel there, are we going to make out alive?" Learn what it really means to go the distance and in the process reassess just how much effort you've put in to assembling your own team, and what you can do differently moving forward. Pod.io launched in early 2019 and already has 5 million users. Jo also touches on how they were able to acquire so many users so quickly.Find Pod.io on all social platforms @networkwithpod, and head to https://www.startuphypeman.com/articles/dr-jo-webber-podcast for the blog post written by Dr. Jo Webber about the backstory of Pod.io..Plus -- stick around until the end for the launch of our brand new segment Startup Open Mic, where founders like you submit a 60 second elevator pitch for live feedback by me! This week's Startup Open Mic: Roady. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tars Founder Ish Jindal shares the importance of advanced customer segmentation. They discuss how Tars focused on their best customer and condensed it to 3 key segmentation questions. The chapter also explores Ish's background, the transition from a travel marketplace to Tars, and the evolution of the platform's target audience.

Enjoy one of our favorites from Season 11!Have you ever paid waaay over face value on a site like StubHub to go to a concert or sports game? Yeah, me too. Richard Davies has too, and he decided enough was enough. So he created Twickets, an ethical ticket resale marketplace, to help fans resell their tickets to other fans at face value. Twickets has been endorsed as the official resale platform by the likes of Ed Sheeran, Sir Elton John, Muse, Pixies, and more. With names like these on its roster, and a user base of 750,000 and growing, it's fair to say Twickets has developed a high level of trust with its customers. In my conversation with Richard he shares why trust is the foundation to user acquisition, in both communication and technology, and takes us through a multi-step process on how he did it.Head to startuphypeman.com/articles/richard-davies-podcast for a bonus blog post written by Richard where he breaks it down even further. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.