Need help pitching investors? Want to learn what can sink your presentation---and alternatively, what makes it sing? Get invaluable advice from Jason Allen, an investor with MassMutual Catalyst Fund and  former VP of Investments at MassVentures.

1. The Do's and Dont's of Pitching a VC

Is your research ready for commercialization? How do you know?  Entrepreneurial champion Vinit Nijhawan gives topline advice for university spinouts, including: How do you know when your research is ready?, How do you find your beachhead market?, What are the steps you should take with your TLO office? and the importance of finding an entrepreneurial champion, or business coach.

2. Vinit Nijhawan - University Spinouts (Part 1)

So, you got the meeting with a potential customer. Now what? Try some "foreplay" to make the sale says Brian Sarr, an award-winning account executive at Comcast. Get topline advice on the fundamentals of sales in this episode.

3. Fundamentals of Sales

Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. cofounders Jason Kelly and Reshma Shetty talk with Charlie Hipwood about their journey from academic #spinout to a nearly $4 billion, publicly-traded company.  Get their top advice, from peer-reviewing your work, to continually running experiments, to "weaponizing #diversity."

4. From Basic Research to Billions

Looking for patent advice and don't know where to start? This episode, featuring  Hamilton, Brook, Smith & Reynolds, P.C. experts Deirdre Sanders and James Coe, (now with Keurig Dr Pepper Inc.) covers the fundamentals.  Learn: 1) How do you know what patent type is right for your #startup?, 2) When is the time right to get patent protection?, 3) What criteria are important to consider in patenting your product?, 4) How can IP protection benefit your business?

5. Intellectual Property 101 with HBSR

Tony Liu, founder and CEO of JobGet, talks about how MassChallenge really set him up for success

6. JobGet Founder Tony Liu

SYRG co-founder and CEO, Rahkeem Morris, shares his personal story of launching a business and raising capital. "Think of the people you are pitching as your peer."

7. SYRG Founder Rahkeem Morris

You've got investors, and the pressure is on to move fast -- as a new startup. How do you set up robust systems for finance, operations, and human resources that can grow with your business? Investor, CFO/COO, Advisor Michelle Breitman Hipwood, now with Mable, offers best practices, resources, and invaluable advice in this episode.

9. Setting up Finance, Ops, HR

Got a promising innovation you’d like to move into the market? SBIR, the Small Business Innovation Research Program run by the Small Business Association, can help. It’s a “get to commercialization program” that aims to help entrepreneurs convert their lab innovations into small companies and prepare them for raising private capital. In this episode, SBIR expert Stacy Swider overviews the program and discusses the criteria for eligibility.

12. SBIR Overview and Eligibility

What does it take to win a coveted Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to help get your research into the market? SBIR expert Stacy Swider has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs with their proposals.  She provides concrete and invaluable advice for putting together a proposal that will stand out in this highly competitive program.

13. SBIR 10 Keys to a Winning Proposal

So, you’ve filed a patent and you’ve talked to your university’s licensing office, what’s next? How do you spin out a business from the university? In part 2 of this conversation, entrepreneurial champion Vinit Nijhawah lays out important next steps, from exhausting all the resources your university has to offer, to nailing your proof of concept with non-dilutive, translational funds, to getting your pitch deck ready for investors.

14. Vinit Nijhawan - University Spinouts (Part 2)

When you're getting your business off the ground, it's easy to make unwitting mistakes that could cost you later. Robert Bishop, partner at Goodwin and board member at The Capital Network gives high-level advice on #Legal Dos and Don'ts for #startups.

8. Legal Dos and Don'ts

What value do strategic investors bring startups and how do you work with them? Davide Marini, CEO of Inkbit, gives excellent advice on navigating the complexities of acquiring and working with strategics, who could be early customers or potential acquirers. Learn: How do you approach strategics who could be competitors? What’s the advantage over traditional VC? Why is it important to engage with multiple strategics? What can you do to maximize the relationship?

16. Strategics as Investors and Customers

Need advice on your go-to-market strategy? In this episode, startup executive & advisor Mike Volpe, (former CEO Lola.com, now acquired by Capital One) offers invaluable advice. Topics covered include: How do you link your product to customers?, Who are your customers and where do you find them?, How do you set your pricing? How do you integrate sales and marketing with your services?

11. Go to Market 101

As a new founder, how do you build a sales organization? Serial entrepreneur Adam Honig, CEO & Co-funder of Spiro.AI makes the pitch that founders themselves should do sales at the start. That way, you appreciate what's involved and understand what/who you need when it comes time to hire. Learn: The fundamental dos and don’ts of sales, good resources to guide first-time founders, how to structure and compensate your sales team, and how to measure success.

17. Building a Sales Organization - Adam Honig

VCs invest in teams. As a founder, it's really important that you get your hiring right for senior managers.  It will enhance your fundraising efforts and enable you to succeed overall as an organization. Hiring the wrong person can be incredibly costly. In this episode, MassVentures CEO and president Charlie Hipwood gives advice on how to ensure you hire the right senior managers. What questions should you ask? What qualities should you seek? What resources are available to guide you?

18. Hiring Senior Managers

Congratulations, you won a coveted SBIR award! Working with the federal government can have its quirks. In this episode, SBIR expert Stacy Swider walks you through the steps you need to take to access your award as quickly as possible so that you can hit the ground running.  She also covers how to manage the money properly for reporting purposes.

21. SBIR I Won, Now What?

Former National Science Foundation SBIR/STTR director Rick Schwerdtfeger offers key insights on how to succeed when applying for an SBIR grant. Learn: What type of innovations spark SBIR interest?, How does the judging work? Are you ready to apply--have you done your homework? What are your chances of getting funded? Why does it take so long?

20. SBIR insight from former NSF Director

Do you need to file taxes if you experienced a loss? Absolutely! says Scott Goodwin, CPA, of Wolf & Company, P.C. in this episode on Accounting Dos and Don'ts. Goodwin gives topline advice for first-time founders on what to do and what not to do when setting up accounting systems and accounting infrastructure. Getting it right from the start is important for fundraising.

22. Accounting Dos and Don'ts

What is product-led growth and how can it help you grow your startup? Tom Coburn, Co-founder and CEO at Jebbit explains the power of this model for growth and why his company has chosen it over sales-led growth.

23. Product Led Growth

Why is it so hard to get the first sales hire right? Kent Summers gives excellent advice to help founders avoid common pitfalls and find the right person to help them grow their business. Learn: Why it's so critical to get the first sales hire right, What qualities/criteria you should look for, How to know you've found the right person, What you, as a founder, need to do to ensure your new hire succeeds.

26. First Sales Hire

Every founder should be on the frontline of sales early in the organization, but when and how do you start building a sales team?  Sales expert Kevin Frechette, Co-founder and CEO Fairmarkit, gives topline advice. Among his tips, your first hire should have a trailblazing, founder mentality and believe in you and your mission. But how do you find that person? How do you grow the team? How do you measure success?  Listen in for his excellent advice.

27. Building a Sales Organziation

Marketing boils down to compelling storytelling, but how do you tell stories that resonate with your customers to grow your startup? In this episode, Pamela Erlichman, Chief Marketing Officer at Jebbit, discusses the art and science of marketing. Topics covered include the role of marketing in a startup; how to acquire customers and turn them into advocates for your brand; responsibilities of marketing vs. sales; and how to set up, properly resource, and grow a marketing team.

34. Marketing 101

ClearGov co-founders, Chris Bullock and Bryan Burdick, discuss the best advice they received from a venture capitalist. "Your goal should not be raising venture capital. Your goal should be to build a great company and a great product," they say.

35. ClearGov - Chris Bullock and Bryan Burdick

Growing your business is about more than just landing new customers. You also need to invest in your customers' experiences during pre-sale and after they buy to ensure that they have positive experiences and return for more--and speak highly of your brand. In this episode, Phil Pergola, CEO Cloud Zero, goes over the fundamentals of customer success: What is it, how do you build and maintain it, and how do sales and customer success teams work together?

38. Customer Success 101

Julie Johnson Roberts, co-founder and CEO of Armored Things, sits down with Charlie Hipwood to discuss her fundraising journey. Roberts discusses the importance of building the right team to raise venture capital. "Fundraising is like a Sisyphean task but it is achievable," she says.

41. Armored Things - Julie Johnson Roberts

Diverse organizations outperform is MassVentures' investment thesis. And research backs that up. But how do you build a truly diverse organization, and maintain that diversity as you grow? It takes intentionality, time, transparency--and a lot more, but the rewards are well worth it. In this episode, Charlie Hipwood discusses how MassVentures puts its investment thesis into practice.

42. Diversity and Inclusion

Founder and CEO of Alyce, Greg Segall, sits down with Charlie Hipwood to talk about his fundraising journey. Segall discusses the importance of creating a company around core pillars and a mission. “(If)you are a product-based CEO, you’re job is to say no…focus is success."

43. Alyce - Greg Segall

As a tech startup, being able to innovate and deliver complex projects on a dime is essential for growth and revenue.  And to do that, you need a resilient, effective engineering team. Before joining MassVentures as VP of Investments, Priya Yadav grew and managed an engineering team, from 3 to 350 people, at Intel. In this episode, she offers advice for building and managing effective, resilient teams.  "You have to constantly work at it, evaluate the gaps, put processes in place to address the gaps, and don't underestimate the importance of it. Leave no stone unturned."

44. Priya - Building Eng. Teams

Kevin Frechette, co-founder and CEO of Fairmarkit, talks about the challenge of growing a business while raising venture capital. "Don’t oversell where you are at as a company."

45. Fairmarkit - Kevin Frechette

As a startup, how do you think about and build culture? And how do you hire for it? Joshua Summers, CEO & cofounder, clypd, inc. shares fascinating insights with Charlie Hipwood in this episode.

46. Importance of Culture

Serial founder Greg Segall discusses what drove him to found Alyce, a mission-oriented business, and why that's important. Segall talks about the benefits, including attracting the right talent, building a tighter company culture and gaining competitive advantage as a business.

47. Orienting Around a Mission

Developing your MVP as a startup can be challenging. You need to be data-driven, good at understanding business needs and technical requirements, and ruthless at prioritization.  And you also need to be able to communicate with diverse groups and motivate a team while having empathy for customers. In this episode, Kaitlyn Kirkaldy, senior product manager at Zipcar gives excellent advice on how to succeed at product development.

48. Product Management 101 - Kaitlyn Kirkaldy, Zipcar

Ready to launch a new product? How do you build a customer base and scale up your sales? Yael Avidan, senior director of product at Chewy gives topline advice to first time #founders in this episode.  Learn such tips as:  1) Be specific with your hypothesis for customer need so that you can measure your progress, 2) Fall in love with a problem, not a solution, 3) Measure, measure, measure! 4) Be objective with your data.

49. Planning and Launching a Product

Dexter Ang, founder and CEO of Pison, talks about the challenges of raising venture capital. "Do VC discovery quickly and find the ones that will fall in love with you instantly. Our backers were obvious fits."

50. Pison - Dexter Ang

Anvesh Gurijala, co-founder of Boston Materials, discusses how he grew the startup from a Northeastern University spinout to industrial-scale production, with a 37K foot facility, and customer sales -- all in just 5 years.  Gurijala describes key moments on the journey that got him to where he is today. Boston Materials aims to transform and significantly decarbonize both the transportation and electronics industries with its low-carbon advanced materials with applications from EVs to mechanical reinforcements for airplanes.

10. Boston Materials - Anvesh Gurijala

So you’re launching a new tech business!  If it's your first, there is much to learn, from IP strategy to fundraising to sales & product management to executive leadership-- and you need to learn it fast.  Enter The Fundable Founder, which offers tips for first-time founders in short, incisive interviews with dozens of business experts.  Hosts Charlie Hipwood and Stacy Swider are former founders themselves, now investors, who spend innumerable hours coaching and advising entrepreneurs, and now they’re here for you.

The Fundable Founder

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