Category Visionaries

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Austin Ogilvy, Founder of Thoropass, a continuous compliance and audit management platform that's raised $98 Million in funding. Here are the most interesting points from our conversation: Origins of Thoropass: Austin shared how Thoropass was born out of his experiences with compliance challenges during his previous startup, Yhat, which was later acquired by Alteryx. Market Intersection: Thoropass sits at the intersection of GRC (governance, risk, and compliance), IT audit, and third-party vendor risk management, creating a unified platform for managing digital compliance. Co-Founders and Backgrounds: Austin teamed up with Sam and Eva, whose combined backgrounds in tech and cybersecurity governance at Citigroup created a strong foundation for Thoropass. Early Traction and Growth: Thoropass experienced rapid growth, achieving significant revenue milestones much faster than Austin's previous ventures, highlighting the importance of timing and market selection. Rebranding Challenges: The company underwent a significant rebranding from its original name, Laika, to Thoropass, which involved extensive logistical changes and was a crucial learning experience. Fundraising Insights: Austin emphasized the importance of storytelling in fundraising, ensuring a single, streamlined process for investors, and leveraging design and creative storytelling to communicate complex concepts effectively.

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Dan Forman, CEO & Co-Founder of Copper Labs, an energy technology company that's raised $13 Million in funding. Here are the most interesting points from our conversation: Early AI Ventures: Dan's journey began in 2001 with an AI company aimed at creating adaptive desktop agents for a programmer with a degenerative health issue, highlighting his long-standing interest in solving real-world problems with technology. Utility Data Innovation: Copper Labs enables real-time data insights for energy and water utilities, transforming outdated systems that rely on monthly data to provide immediate visibility and control, crucial for modern grid management. Marketing Strategy: The company employs a "respectfully provocative" approach, challenging traditional smart grid solutions and advocating for more efficient, real-time data utilization to address modern energy needs. Regulatory Engagement: Copper Labs actively engages with regulators to promote their cost-effective and innovative solutions, emphasizing the importance of regulatory influence in utility market dynamics. Overcoming Market Resistance: The company faces significant pushback from established meter vendors but leverages their unique, cost-effective solutions to shift the narrative and drive market adoption. Strategic Partnerships: Building relationships with key utilities and demonstrating tangible success through case studies, such as with National Grid, has been essential for scaling and gaining market credibility. //   Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Pukar Hamal, CEO & Founder of SecurityPal, a security reviews platform that's raised $21 Million in funding. Here are the most interesting points from our conversation: Addressing a Critical Pain Point: SecurityPal was born out of Pukar's firsthand experience with the frustrations of completing extensive security questionnaires during crucial sales cycles, highlighting a significant barrier to closing deals. Complexity in Security Reviews: Security reviews are becoming more complicated, involving not just questionnaires but also interviews, evidence submissions, and policy reviews, reflecting the increasing demand for thorough security compliance. Category Creation - Customer Assurance: Pukar emphasizes that SecurityPal is defining a new category called "Customer Assurance," which focuses on providing continuous assurance to clients from the first contact to the end of the relationship. Motivation and Mission: Pukar's deep commitment to building SecurityPal over the next 30-40 years stems from his desire to bring Silicon Valley's innovations to Nepal and help establish "Silicon Peaks" in Kathmandu. Focus on Customers: Pukar believes that focusing relentlessly on customers is the key to success, enabling better fundraising, attracting top talent, and driving overall growth and satisfaction. Unique Market Positioning: Despite the noise in the security space, SecurityPal stands out by building a dedicated team in Nepal and focusing on thoughtful growth rather than relying on growth hacks or shortcuts. //   Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Costa Tsaousis, CEO and Founder of Netdata, an infrastructure monitoring platform that's raised over $30 Million in funding. Topics Discussed:  How a Reddit post by Costa spurred thousands of people to start using his newly-created platform How Costa built Netdata, the difficulties he faced developing it, and why Netdata is outstandingly helpful when it comes to monitoring What is the most important thing to show your potential investors The challenges of managing a 100% remote-work company Challenges facing Netdata on the technical front

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Sarah Lehman, CEO of Zartico, a destination operating system that’s raised $24.5 Million in funding. Topics Discussed:  How Zartico helps tourism bodies and airports leverage big data to give visitors better experiences and give locals a better quality of life What it’s like working with governmental organizations and getting investors to back gov tech Finding customers during the pandemic, and working for two years with 30 people she’d never met Sarah's two most inspirational Founders The lessons she learned from her husband, and how she teaches entrepreneurship to her children   Favorite book:  The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Anish Dhar and Ganesh Datta, Co-Founders of Cortex, an internal developer portal that's raised over $52 Million in funding. Topics Discussed: Anish and Ganesh’s backgrounds as engineers working at different companies which had the same problem, and the origin story of Cortex Microservice going wrong, and how Cortex helps development companies keep track of who owns each service and whether they are following best practices Why Anish and Ganesh are certain that cold-calling is not dead, and how they learned to market their product How to ensure you keep domination within your category, and why it’s important to ensure you’re building the right thing at the right moment Why storytelling is crucial skill in fundraising, and how you can acquire over time

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Douwe Kiela, CEO and Co-Founder of Contextual AI, an enterprise large language model company that's raised $20 Million in funding. Topics Discussed:  Why Douwe thinks Nvidia’s Jensen Huang deserves far more credit than he gets The challenges Douwe has met when working in a multicultural environment Problems with language models today, and how Contextual is addressing them Why Fortune 500 companies are asking Contextual for help with their AI The dangers of prematurely regulating a market, and what advice Douwe would give to other founders starting out   Favorite book:  The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Phillip Liu, CEO of Trustero, an AI copilot for security and compliance that's raised $8 Million in funding. Topics Discussed:  Phillip's background, including his time at Facebook and work with Ben Horowitz Living through the .com bubble and starting and selling a successful company The origin story of Trustero and how it helps compliance professionals The future of the compliance market Lessons Phillip has learned from fundraising   Favorite book:  The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

In today's episode of Category Visionaries we speak with Joe Gagnon, CEO of 1upHealth, a healthcare data platform that's raised over $75 Million in funding. Topics Discussed:  How healthcare is way behind other industries when it comes to using tech How 1upHealth helps anyone in the health industry format and share data easily Taking over the CEO role from a founder, and how founders and CEOs differ in their skill sets Why he's an endurance athlete, and the craziest thing he's ever done in sports How Joe quiets the noise in our heads Why going from Series B to C is like going from high school to college

In today's episode of Category Visionaries we speak with Davit Baghdasaryan, CEO and Co-Founder of Krisp, a voice productivity platform that's raised $19 Million in funding. Topics Discussed: Davit’s background as a software and security engineer and as an Armenian immigrant pursuing the American Dream in Silicon Valley Why entrepreneurs Jeff Lawson and Aaron Levy are inspirations for Davit, and why his all-time favorite book is an Australian novel How Krisp started as a noise-reduction tech company and expanded to other voice-related products Reaching product-market fit, and why Covid was a timely factor for Krisp The one thing Davit would have done differently, and the pros and cons of creating a new product category   Favorite book:  Shantaram