Episode 367 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Vivjan Myrto, Founder & Managing Partner at Hyperplane.

Why Boston Be The Star of the AI Revolution - this is the title of an article that Zach Winn wrote for VentureFizz seven years ago. It talks about the history of AI in the Boston area including Marvin Minksy’s first neural net machine back in 1951, the amazing academic institutions, plus the state of the tech ecosystem in this industry back then.

Vivjan was featured in this article along with this quote: 

“I think machine intelligence represents a once in a lifetime opportunity for entrepreneurs...” 

It’s impressive to see how Vivjan and his partners were well ahead of the AI hype machine, as they built Hyperplane’s focus around backing the best founding teams working in this sector along with other innovations in hardtech like robotics, sensors and more.

The firm’s name is even based on a term in machine learning applications, a higher-dimensional plane used to help categorize data based on its underlying structure from images to real-world events. 

In this podcast, we cover:

* Vivjan’s inspirational background story from growing up in Albania to fighting cancer and moving to the United States for treatment and learning how to speak English while he was in the hospital.
* Going on to build a healthcare startup that was acquired.
* How Hyperplane came to fruition and how they raised their first fund.
* All the details about Hyperplane and the firm’s area of focus for investments.
* A deep dive into Modulate, one of their portfolio companies.
* Advice on taking the entrepreneurial leap
* A discussion around the Boston tech scene and areas for improvement.
* His passion for wind sports and photography.
* And so much more.

Episode Sponsor:

As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Episode 367: Vivjan Myrto - Founder & Managing Partner, Hyperplane

Episode 368 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Matthias Hofmann, Co-Founder & CEO of Eyebot.

I met Matthias and Jack, Eyebot’s Co-Founder & CTO at a pre-party for TechCrunch’s Early Stage event in Boston a couple of years ago.

It was one of those meetings that when someone describes their product - an AI powered kiosk that could conduct vision tests in 90 seconds… it sounded like something out of science fiction… but it made you pause and think… what if they actually build this… the market opportunity is massive - like TAM - everyone in the world massive.

On top of that, here are some crazy stats of the void in the market that needs to be addressed with a solution:

40,000 unfilled eye doctor positions in the U.S. - more doctors retiring than graduating from school)
25% of U.S. counties don't have a practicing eye care provider 
63% of Americans don't have vision insurance

Well, this product and solution became a reality when Eyebot announced its partnership with Zenni Optical by deploying their kiosks in various locations and as you’ll hear from Matthias… the pipeline of demand for their kiosks is incredibly strong. 

Another crazy stat that he shared with me is that the team is only 14 people.

It’s another perfect example of the level of innovation in the Boston tech scene with several next generation hardware & robotics companies that are emerging like 10 Beauty, Ozlo Sleepbuds, Pickle Robot, and many more.

Eyebot raised a $6M seed round of funding last year led by AlleyCorp and Ubiquity Ventures with participation from other top investors.

In this podcast, we cover:

* Eyebot’s first appearance at CES this year and advice on how to create a buzz.
* Matthias’ background story and how positions at EyeNetra & Formlabs helped shape his career.
* The full story of Eyebot and the challenges in the market that they are addressing.
* How their technology works, plus their go-to-market strategy, and details on funding.
* Advice for founders on building hardware and raising capital.
* And so much more.

Episode Sponsor:

As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Episode 368: Matthias Hofmann - Co-Founder & CEO, Eyebot

Episode 369 of The  @Venturefizz  Podcast features Krenar Komoni, CEO & Founder of Tive.

The question: “What led you down the path to start this company?” is always interesting, as you never know what ultimately inspired the entrepreneur. It could be years of experience working in an industry, maybe it is a personal experience, or it could be a tremendous amount of research to find a problem that’s worth solving… or in the case of Krenar and Tive, it could be your family as the idea stems from his father-in-law’s trucking company and the manual process of located its drivers.  From Krenar’s point of view, it is a problem that could be fixed with a tracking system and oh… it is a problem that Krenar just happens to be uniquely qualified to solve based on his expertise and background with wireless connectivity, hardware, and chipsets.

Fast forward to today, Tive is a leading provider of supply chain and logistics visibility technology. Trusted by over 900 customers, the company recently announced a $40M Series C round of funding led by WiL (World Innovation Lab) and Sageview Capital.

Chapters

00:00 Intro
02:23 Advice for Raising Follow On Rounds of Venture Capital
08:47 Krenar's Background Story in Kosovo
11:11 Landing in Vermont & Experience at Startups
19:45 Background Story of Tive
23:32 Industry Trends
25:22 Naming the Company
28:25 Landing First Customers
30:50 Early GTM Approach & Learning from the Sales Team
36:08 Picking the Right Industry Vertical
43:19 The Latest at Tive
46:35 The Question that Entrepreneurs Need to Ask Themselves.
48:09 The Culture at Tive
48:20 New Chapter
50:06 Apps &  Book Recommendations

Episode: 369: Krenar Komoni - CEO & Founder, Tive

Episode 371 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Melissa Withers, Managing Partner & Co-Founder of RevUp Capital.

As an entrepreneur, are you thinking about your capital stack? Meaning, how are you going about funding your company? There are lots of options… you could bootstrap, raise money from friends & family, grants,  and of course, raise venture capital which is the most discussed option in the media and blog posts.

But, one vehicle that I don’t think is talked about enough is Revenue Based Financing which is a non-dilutive form of financing where repayments are tied to a percentage of the company's revenue. 

In this interview with Melissa, we get into lots of details about what why this is a compelling option for entrepreneurs as RevUp is focused on this category as a non-equity investment fund for B2B and B2C companies ascending the $1M-$10M growth curve. 

In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of great topics:

* Melissa’s background and the story of her journey to becoming an investor.
* All the details about RevUp and how their model works.
* The importance of storytelling when pitching your startup to investors.
* KPI’s and figuring out your company’s God Metric.
* The importance of mental health and balance for entrepreneurs.
* And so much more


Episode 371: Melissa Withers - Managing Partner & Co-Founder, RevUp Capital

Episode 373 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Jeff Bussgang, General Partner at Flybridge. 

Jeff has accomplished so much throughout his career.  I’m sure lots of people probably know him best as a Venture Capitalist and Professor at Harvard Business School.

But... you might not know the details about his startup career prior to Flybridge which I was really excited to dig into because he played a key role at two incredibly successful companies in the Boston tech scene.

The first being OpenMarket, which pretty much invented eCommerce with its shopping cart technology that was licensed by companies like Amazon when they were just getting started.  The company went public at a billion dollar valuation back in 1996 which was a very big deal.

The second company is Upromise, where he was a Co-Founder along with Michael Bronner, who was also the Founder of Digitas and really helped establish the world of direct & loyalty marketing and David Fialkow, who you might also recognize as one of the founders of General Catalyst.  Upromise allowed consumers, including myself, to save for their kids' college education through a loyalty rewards program.  The company was very successful and it was later acquired by Sallie Mae.

In addition to being an entrepreneur, investor, and professor, Jeff is also an author of three books and his latest book is called The Experimentation Machine - Finding Product-Market Fit in the Age of AI.

Plus we talk about his Dad (Julian Bussgang), a scientist and entrepreneur who developed the Bussgang Theorem, Jeff's educational background in AI, Flybridge’s history of investments in AI, Hack.Diversity and so much more!

Chapters:

00:00 Intro
00:05 Jeff's New Book - The Experimentation Engine
04:47 Jeff's Background and Early Influences
08:47 The Story of OpenMarket & Shopping Cart Tech
17:21 The Creation of Upromise
25:06 Transition to Venture Capital & Flybridge
26:37 Flybridge's History & Focus on AI
32:50 Flybridge's Investment Process
34:13 Advice on Go-to-Market Strategy
35:36 Getting Pitched by Curt Schilling
38:03 Teaching at Harvard Business School
39:48 Career Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
42:22 Must-Have Versus Nice-to-Have Products
44:00 Hack.Diversity
46:46 The Boston Tech Ecosystem & AI
52:55 Recommendations - Apps & Podcasts

Episode Sponsor:

As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Episode 373: Jeff Bussgang - General Partner, Flybridge

Episode 374 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Dave Blundin, serial entrepreneur & investor.

Dave’s track record is legendary as one of the top entrepreneurs and investors in the Boston tech scene. 

He’s co-founded 23 companies… and many have been incredibly successful:

* DataSage - acquired by Vignette for over $1B in today’s dollars
* EverQuote - which went public
* Vestmark - manages over $2 trillion in assets

Companies like CourseAdvisor, Jobcase, Autotegrity, LeadKarma were all acquired.

Plus he’s invested in CarGurus, TripAdvisor… and he is the Founder & General Partner of Link Ventures and he’s also the founder of the startup incubator, Cogo Labs.

One might think that after all of this success, Dave would downshift and relax… but it is the exact opposite.  He has been waiting for this moment since he was 14 years old and that is the current platform shift to AI.

He studied AI at MIT back in 1984 and pioneered quantizing neural networks as early as 1992.  Needless to say… his time is now and he believes that it has the potential to be the greatest thing that ever happened to humanity. He wants to savor the moment and work to train and build faster, better, & smarter AI.

Chapters

00:00 Intro
02:43 Dave Blundin's Journey Begins
08:27 Founding DataSage and Early Innovations
15:55 Meeting Jeff Bezos & Building Personalization at Amazon
18:18 DataSage Acquisition by Vignette
20:59 Founding Story of Vestmark & Its Scale
27:39 Link Ventures & Cogo Labs - Building Consumer Companies at Scale
32:31 Story of EverQuote to IPO
35:04 The Best Friend Method for Investing
36:33 AI & The Importance of Chip Manufacturing
41:45 The AI Revolution & Opportunities
44:11 Liquid AI: General-Purpose AI Systems at Every Scale
47:45 Boston's Talent Density & MIT's Advantage
53:44 Personal Insights and Hobbies
57:40 Podcast & Book Recommendations

Episode Sponsor:

As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Episode 374: Dave Blundin - Serial Entrepreneur & Investor

Episode #377 of The VentureFizz Podcast is Victor D. Lombard (aka DIVINE), CEO & Co-Founder of Notes.

As the host of this podcast, I have the honor of being able to help tell the story of so many founders and investors and each story is unique.

But this one is a whole new level.

DIVINE’s full story is probably the most unique entrepreneurial story that has been told on our podcast.  From the streets of NYC to incarceration to master networker to fintech entrepreneur, this story has it all… including how one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capitalists, that being Ben Horowitz helped change his life and built a friendship, plus his rap song that was the intro for the A16Z podcast.

Oh… and it just so happens that the co-founder of his latest startup called Notes is Rakim. Yes, that same Rakim from the 80’s hip-hop duo of Eric B & RAKIM… with legendary songs like Don’t Sweat the Technique and Paid in Full… which is why you are hearing their song Let The Rhythm Hit ‘Em for this podcast intro and outro.

Notes is a fintech and AI-powered platform empowering independent urban music artists and creators with access to capital, financial literacy, entrepreneurship and music business education, and more, for financial independence, and career growth and sustainability.  The company is in pre-launch.

We cover a lot of ground in this podcast including:

* DIVINE's full background story
* His journey into the tech industry including working with Greg Selkoe at Karmaloop
* How he connected with Ben Horowitz
* The details of his own career as a rap artist
* The journey into entrepreneurship
* All the details on Notes 
* And more!

Episode 377: DIVINE - CEO & Co-Founder, Notes

Episode 382 of The  @Venturefizz  Podcast features Abe Murray, General Partner at AlleyCorp.

I recently had Matthias Hofmann, the Co-Founder & CEO of Eyebot on the podcast and when I was doing my research on the company, I realized that their recent investment from AlleyCorp was led by one of their partners who was located in the Boston area.

It made me pause, as I didn’t realize that AlleyCorp had someone in the local Boston area.  If you are not familiar with AlleyCorp, it is the venture fund started by Kevin Ryan who is a tech icon in NYC. Kevin led DoubleClick’s growth to an IPO and acquisition by Google.  He’s also a co-founder of MongoDB, Business Insider, Zola, Gilt Groupe, and many others. AlleyCorp was backed as a family office by Kevin until last year when it became an institutional VC firm through the announcement of its $250M Fund I which includes outside LPs for the first time.

Abe is leading AlleyCorp’s deep tech investments, so it just makes sense that he is based in the the Boston area, as there is such a high concentration of innovation and companies in the Northeast.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* Abe’s background story which includes dropping out of high school to run fishing boats & factories in the family aquaculture business and the importance of growing up with a chip on your shoulder.
* Starting his career at BAE Systems where he worked on Generative AI and advanced technologies for the defense industry.
* Going to Harvard Business School and working on a startup called Doodbleboard, an online whiteboard.
* Landing at Google, then later Alphabet, where he worked on various AI/ML initiatives, as well as the Android mobile team with Rich Miner.
* Taking on the healthcare industry and leading the Boston office for Verily, an Alphabet company.
* Getting into angel investing and how he landed at AlleyCorp.
* All the details about AlleyCorp and the investments they are making across the firm, plus the specifics about what Abe is targeting.
* The importance of storytelling and advice on how to get great at it.
* And so much more.

Eyebot interview:
https://venturefizz.com/insights/episode-368-matthias-hofmann-co-founder-ceo-of-eyebot/

Episode 382: Abe Murray - General Partner, AlleyCorp

Episode 384 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Thomas “TK” Kinsella, Co-Founder & Chief Customer Officer of Tines.

The success of Tines is not based on luck. The company’s co-founders experienced a major problem that wasn’t being being solved by existing platforms and after talking to peers who were also dealing with the same problem, they decided to do something about it.  

But, it wasn’t just an idea that got them to where they are today. This team was uniquely qualified to build the next generation solution based on TK’s and his Co-Founder & CEO, Eoin Hinchy’s many years of experience in the cybersecurity industry, plus a history of working together for something like 15+ years at Deloitte, eBay, and DocuSign.

Tines empowers teams to build, run, and monitor their most mission-critical and sophisticated workflows. The company recently announced a $125M round of funding at a $1.125B valuation and is co-headquartered in Dublin and Boston.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of great topics like:

* A discussion about the cybersecurity industry and the platform shift to AI.
* TK’s background story growing up in Dublin and some mutual geeking out on rugby.
* Starting his career in cybersecurity at Deloitte where he met Eoin, plus lots of details about what they worked on at eBay and DocuSign.
* Getting Tines started from the early days and all the details about the platform today.
* Why they hired a top designer as one of the first employees in the company and the importance of making products that are easy to use.
* Details on the latest round of funding and what’s next.
* And so much more.

Episode Sponsor:

As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Episode 384: Thomas "TK" Kinsella - Co-Founder & Chief Customer Officer, Tines

Episode 385 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Julia Austin - Board Member, Executive Coach, HBS Senior Lecturer, Operator, Angel Investor, and now - Author.

Another repeat original guest! Julia was a guest for Episode 30 of The VentureFizz Podcast back in 2018 where we do a deep dive into her background plus cover lots of interesting topics like what it takes to become a great Product Manager and others.

In this interview, we catch up to discuss her new role as an author and the details about her new book called After The Idea - What It Really Takes to Create and Scale a Startup:

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/julia-austin/after-the-idea/9781541705296

https://www.amazon.com/After-Idea-Really-Create-Startup/dp/1541705270

Julia is a seasoned operator who has served in leadership roles at several scaled technology companies like Akamai, VMware, and DigitalOcean.  She has also advised hundreds of founders and startups.

In this new book, which I believe will become a new staple in the entrepreneurial startup circles,  she helps entrepreneurs navigate the complexities and challenges of building a startup like important matters around product, people, operations, and more.  What I also appreciate the most about this book is the fact that it is very comprehensive, yet easy to understand and implement.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of great topics like:

* A quick run through Julia’s background - check out Episode 30 for the deeper dive.
* How Julia became a member of the faculty at Harvard Business School and the impact of The Startup Operations course that she created.
* The inside look at what it’s like to write a book.
* How proper discovery can help avoid false positives.
* Why entrepreneurs don’t always need a co-founder.
* The importance of ABR - that being Always Be Recruiting - for founders.
* The difference between Founders & Joiners
* Comparing the Boston and NYC startup ecosystems.
* And so much more.

Episode 385: Julia Austin - Board Member, Executive Coach, HBS Senior Lecturer, Operator, Angel Investor, & Author

The VentureFizz Podcast is the flagship podcast of VentureFizz.com, the leading authority for jobs & careers in tech. In this podcast, VentureFizz Founder Keith Cline interviews the top founders and investors in the tech industry.

New tracks tagged #keith cline