Category Visionaries

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Andy Berman, CEO and Founder of Vowel, an AI-powered meeting platform that's raised $13 Million in funding, about why most contemporary video conferencing tools fail to really deliver a working environment conducive to the collaboration so essential for modern business. With a suite of collaboration features that help everyone stay engaged while the meeting is active and an organized repository of content that allows people to search for any valuable information they might need, Vowel is transforming the virtual meeting into a powerhouse of productivity. We also speak about Andy's career in venture capital and his baby-focused market offering, working with Google, building products with organic growth within their clients' companies, and how delivering practical outputs has helped Vowel stand out in a crowded AI marketplace. Topics Discussed: Andy's career in venture capital, and the tech offerings which eventually led him to found his own AI platform The shortcomings of established video conferencing solutions in terms of supporting genuine collaboration Vowel's unique offering, supporting people during and after an important meeting takes place How Vowel developed a system driven by organic adoption within their clients' organizations The importance of messaging and a clear value proposition to establish a market identity Why category creation should be a continuous process of learning and improvement to ensure true product-market fit   Favorite book:  Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Maggie Adhami-Boynton, Founder & CEO at ShopThing, a live video commerce platform that's raised $10 Million in funding, about the future of live shopping and how the experience is set to get a whole lot more exciting. ShopThing functions as a live shopping marketplace where people can engage with and purchase from their favorite designers and creators through a seamless app interface complete with chatting, emojis, and all the audience interaction missing from traditional shopping channels. We also speak about Maggie’s more than decade-long career in the tech space, building solutions and applications for everyone from banks to quick service restaurants, how being a micro-influencer led her to found a whole new business based entirely around her passion, why a new way of live shopping is overhauling the old ‘shopping channel’ model, and why ShopThing’s approach is empowering brand partners without losing curated control. Topics Discussed: Maggie’s tech background as the backdrop for founding her first tech company How a personal passion for fashion and micro-influencing dovetailed with the commercial opportunity of a live shopping app How ShopThing positions itself as a new way to engage with and purchase from people's favorite creators via a more immersive experience The challenge of attracting brand partners to a new platform, and how ShopThing overcame this early stage hurdle The future of live streaming beyond purely content and live shopping, and how it will shape the marketplace of tomorrow How partnerships with influencers, creators, and designers via the ShopThing platform bring benefits to everyone involved   Favorite book:  Shoe Dog

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Virgile Raingeard, CEO of Figures, a compensation intelligence platform that’s raised €8.5 Million in funding, about why a lack of relevant market insights are a real pain point when developing a compensation policy, and how Figures plans to ease that issue for their customers. With a database of validated compensation data and a web-based application for accessing and analyzing it, Figures helps companies develop competitive, profitable and more equitable compensation packages perfectly suited to the talent they seek to attract. We also speak about Virgile’s unique background in both computer science and human resources, how a personal experience developing compensation policy revealed the potential marketability of a solution to the challenges, how Figures positions themselves among the market competition, and the future of the French Tech ecosystem as a whole. Topics Discussed: Virgile’s background between computer science and human resources, and how it gave him the skills he’d need as Figures’ CEO The personal compensation policy experience which highlighted the market potential of a software solution to the problem Exactly what Figures can offer their clients, from a comprehensive database to an analytics web app and consultation services The market competition confronting Figures, and how they position themselves with a unique offering The future prospects of the French Tech startup sector, and why Virgile sees big things in the country’s future   Favorite book:  Thinking, Fast and Slow

In this episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Don Muir, CEO of Arc, a digitally native corporate banking platform. Don shares his journey into the world of fintech, the challenges faced by the industry, and how Arc is poised to disrupt traditional banking. He discusses Arc's mission to redefine the banking experience for tech-driven businesses by offering frictionless financial products. Topics Discussed: Don's background in finance and his decision to start Arc after noticing a gap in the market for a seamless, digital-first corporate banking experience. A preview on Arc’s algorithmic underwriting model which they use to efficiently process and synthesize raw historical financial data to make data driven funding decisions. How Arc’s explosive growth and success can be attributed to building a strong relationship with their customers, and focusing on solving real problems. The emergence of fintech in the corporate banking market and how regulatory changes are paving the way for startups like Arc to compete with traditional financial institutions. Don's vision for Arc in the next five years, including the adoption of technology-driven financial operating systems and the potential to compete with established banks. The significant shifts we can expect in the banking industry and the challenges faced by traditional banks in integrating and supporting innovative technologies.   Favorite book:  Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Richard Queen, CEO and Co-Founder of DignifiHealth, a value based care platform that's raised $7 Million in funding, about why so many people struggle to achieve the health outcomes promised to them, and a new approach to bridge the provider-patient gap. With a comprehensive digital platform covering everything from automated communication to maximizing financial results, DignifiHealth promises to ease the pressure on struggling healthcare systems across rural America and beyond. We also speak about Richard’s background in finance and accounting, and exactly what brought him to found a startup in the healthcare space, the challenges and opportunities of digitizing our health, the central role of trust and credibility in building customer networks, how DignifiHealth managed to achieve a staggering 84% in customer care, and their plans to expand in the future. Topics Discussed: Richard’s career background in the finance and accounting sector, and what brought him to enter the healthcare space Why so many modern healthcare systems find themselves under more pressure than ever before The DignifiHealth software offering, a comprehensive platform with a whole slew of solutions to support critical customer care Why building trust and credibility with customers is so important, and how the “land and “expand” approach helps DignifiHealth get their foot in the door Why a comprehensive healthcare solutions means bringing customers, providers, and patients on board The future vision for DignifiHealth and the digital healthcare space more generally   Favorite Book: The Leader Who Had No Title by Robin Sharma

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Ben Zweig, CEO of Revelio Labs, a workforce intelligence platform that's raised $19 Million in funding, about why relying solely on the data companies provide can leave investors in the dark about what’s really going on. With a powerful software solution to collate and make sense of alternative data sources from all across the universe of HR, Revelio Labs is promising to empower decision makers with the data they need to invest, monitor and manage key business decisions. We also speak about Ben’s background as a hedge fund data scientist and what he learned from the experience, how he identified HR data as an offering with real market potential, what alternative data spaces mean for the way we all access information, and how Revelio Labs was able to break through the noise and claim a slice of a not-so-crowded market. Topics Discussed: Ben’s career and the lessons he learned moving forward to bring to Revelio labs The central importance of HR data and corresponding analytics for a whole range of marketplace actors, not least investors What alternative data spaces mean for the way we access and understand data in the contemporary economy, and their potentially game-changing role Why credibility is key to building a successful business, and how Revelio Labs leveraged a whole range of stakeholders to make a name from themselves How Revelio Labs carved a niche for themselves in a relatively unheard of sector, and how Ben’s vision for the future looks set to scale dramatically   Favorite book:  Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Joe Schaeppi, CEO and Co-Founder of Solsten, a digital experience optimization platform that's raised $39 Million in funding, about creating incredible human-centered experiences that generate insights way beyond basic demographic descriptions. With an immersive offering to track adaptive behavioral patterns and individual psychology, Solsten provides insights to help companies really understand and better serve the needs of their customers. We also speak about Joe’s career path, which has taken him from medical emergencies to world-building game design, the central role of games in the future of generating human-oriented data, why the psychology of online behavior is absolutely critical to good business decisions, and why Joe’s vision for Solsten is to ‘index’ the entire internet from a psychological perspective. Topics Discussed: Joe’s career in building experiences, from the emergency room to game designer and finally to founding Solsten Why static assessments fail to capture the complexity of human behavior, and how Solsten seeks to establish a more flexible approach The critical importance of customer profiles that go way beyond demographic data in driving the business decisions of tomorrow How Joe envision’s Solsten as following in Google’s footsteps, and “indexing all of the behavior on the internet” Solsten’s diverse success profiles, and why Joe is proud of building a multicultural, international team   Favorite book:  Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Ishveen Jolly, CEO and Co-Founder of OpenSponsorship, a sports influencer marketing platform that's raised over $5 Million in funding, about why sponsorship is all about experiences that it feels like money can’t buy, and how this billion-dollar industry looks set to keep growing well into the future. By giving their clients access to a whole range of sponsorship options across events of all shapes and sizes, OpenSponsorship is positioning themselves as ‘the Airbnb of sports sponsorship.’  We also speak about Ishveen’s passion for sponsorship, and how she found her way into the industry despite not everyone around her always being on side, how sponsorship provides an ideal opportunity for athletes to earn independent income, and why ease of access and a streamlined service is putting OpenSponsorship well ahead of the competition. Topics Discussed: Ishveen’s background in school sports, and how this passion for athleticism eventually grew into a business idea Working as a sports agent, and insights behind the scenes of this little-known industry Why industry contacts are as vital as knowledge and expertise when it comes to cutting contract deals in sports How a court ruling regarding athlete’s brand independence paved the way for OpenSponsorship’s industry rise Ishveen’s vision for OpenSponsorship to become ‘the Airbnb of sports sponsorship,’ and what it means for the future of the industry   Favorite book:  The Hard Thing About Hard Things

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 David Campbell, CEO and Co-Founder of Tropic, a software procurement platform that's raised $68 Million in funding. Here are the most interesting points from our conversation: Identifying a Market Need: David recognized a gap in the procurement space, where traditional methods were not designed for the rapidly growing software industry, leading to inefficiencies and high costs. War-Time CEO Mindset: Emphasizing the importance of quick decision-making and aggressive strategies in a competitive and challenging market environment. Avoiding Distractions: Maintaining focus on Tropic's product roadmap and vision, despite the influx of competitors and market noise. Branding Strategy: Intentionally creating a unique, consumer-friendly brand for an enterprise B2B product, breaking away from traditional, boring enterprise software branding. Open Source Marketplace: Creating a marketplace with zero commissions to build trust and align completely with buyer interests, even if it means forgoing potential revenue. Future Vision: Aiming to build an all-encompassing platform for unified spend management, leveraging a large first-party data asset to drive innovative products and deeper value for customers.

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Ben Sesser, CEO & Co-Founder of BrightHire, an interview intelligence platform that's raised $36 Million in funding, about why business side of people is so important, and why this venture-backed SaaS startup was founded to find a better way to hire. With an innovative offering empowering their clients to make better hiring decisions, reduce bias and unlock new insights, BrightHire is set to transform the way companies build market-winning teams into the future. We also speak about Ben’s passion for people at the heart of every business, why their role in building success is going nowhere in the years to come, the central importance of giving value to early customers as part of a growth-stage business strategy, and why short-term ROI should never obscure long term growth prospects on the road to success. Topics Discussed: Ben’s career background in HR, and what it taught him about the central importance of the people who make up a business Challenges and shortcomings in the current hiring strategies most businesses use, and how it inspired BrightHire’s founding The typical BrightHire client profile - talent-forward organizations that treat hiring itself as a discipline Why creating a category might mean more than just being a disruptor, and when working within an established space might actually work How data becomes a key tool to educate a potential market, training customers to understand the value a business brings   Favorite book:  The Lean Startup