Typically, you don’t hear many venture capital backed companies get mentioned during daytime talkshows, but did you know that SevenRooms is one of Drew Barrymore’s favorite companies. At least that is what she said during her show.

She highlighted the company’s Fresh Start policy which gives new hires their first two weeks of employment as paid time off as a chance to recharge before they get going at the company. In addition, SevenRooms has a 7R&R program which requires employees who have been with the company up to five years gto take five consecutive days off twice a year and employees with a longer tenure must take double that.

Joel and I talk in detail about these benefits and why they are so meaningful for the company’s people first culture.

SevenRooms is a guest experience and retention platform that helps hospitality operators create exceptional experiences that drive revenue and repeat business. The company is venture 

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* Joel’s professional background and what he learned as the Chief of Staff at LivePerson.
* The founding story of SevenRooms and the details on the platform, plus the impact it has for its customers.
* What it was like running a company focused on the hospitality industry during the height of the pandemic and how some key decisions made the company stronger in the long run.
* The market opportunity and areas for disruption within the hospitality industry.
* Advice on building a global company.
* And so much more.

If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Episode 264: Joel Montaniel - CEO & Co-Founder, SevenRooms

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase - data is the new oil. It makes sense as it is data and of course other techonogical advancements that are powering the growth and use of AI in different industries.

But even with all the buzz about AI, data has been the key differentiating factor for companies and a strategic advantage for years and years. 

It has been a key component for Scott’s success in the retail industry going back to ProfitLogic, a company he co-founded, which leveraged data for its merchandize optimization platform for major retailers.

As an investor, Scott shares another great data example from one of his portfolio companies, that being Rent the Runway which went public in 2021. The company set up a data science and analytics team in the early days of the company as a strategic advantage.

It will be interesting to see what companies emerge with this platform shift to AI and how it will affect the retail industry. Scott will certainly be in the mix of it all, as BCV recently announced two oversubscribed funds totaling $1.9B. So, lots of dry powder to invest.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* Scott’s background story including getting his career started at IBM and what this experience taught him.
* The full story of ProfitLogic, from how it got started to growing the company to a successful exit to Oracle.
* What led Scott down the path of becoming a venture capitalist at BCV.
* More about the Rent the Runway story, plus other investments like Mirakl and Attentive.
* What he’s targeting in terms of making investments and the importance of unfair advantages.
* Advice on scaling a company and how you should think about your team and board of directors.
* And more

Is your company hiring? If yes, then what are you doing to build up your company’s employment brand?  If you don’t have a content strategy, then it is likely that you are just flying under the radar.  The good news is that we can help!  A subscription to VentureFizz includes a content playbook for sharing all the details on your company, people, and culture.  We leverage all formats of storytelling to include video, podcasting, employee profiles, and more.  Reach out to info@venturefizz.com to learn more.

Episode 295: Scott Friend - Partner, Bain Capital Ventures

Episode 348 of The VentureFizz Podcast, sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank, features Jonathan Bensamoun, Founder & CEO of Fi.

It’s crazy to think that The VentureFizz Podcast has been around since 2018 and I believe that I’ve only had one repeat guest and that founder was talking about a new company.

Thus, this is the first time I am doing a follow up episode and Jonathan was my guest for Episode 110 back in 2019.

I ran into Jonathan at the Lerer Hippeau summer party in NYC and as we were chatting about his business, it seemed very obvious that we needed to do a new interview.

What’s cool about this episode is the format, as it is different from most of my interviews. Since we already discussed his background story in the original episode, we were able to go deeper into Fi’s business and what has happened over the past 5 years.

If you are not familiar with Fi, they are the creators of the Fi Smart Dog Collar which not only has real-time location tracking, but the device also includes activity, sleep, and behavior monitoring. 

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* A brief overview of Jonathan’s background story and what was the inspiration behind Fi.
* The latest about the Series 3 product line, plus a demo and all the cool features.
* The importance of sleep tracking for your dog and how the movement to health tracking is a key piece of Fi’s strategy.
* Lessons learned from retail and why a straight direct-to-consumer model is the right fit for them at this point in time.
* Building out a company’s leadership team and Board of Directors.
* What the fundraising process has looked like through Fi’s journey.
* Creating a category and why more competition in the industry would be a good thing.
* And so much more.

More about our 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 348: Jonathan Bensamoun - Founder & CEO, Fi

Episode 353 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Giuseppe Stuto, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of 186 Ventures.

Did you know that the venture capital industry originated in Boston back in 1946 with the founding of American Research and Development Corporation (ARDC) which backed Digital Equipment Corporation and saw a 1200X return when the company went public.

Since then, Boston has been very fortunate to have a steady stream of VC investors at all stages to foster the local startup ecosystem and one of the newest firms is 186 Ventures.

Co-Founded by Giuseppe and Julian Fialkow, 186 Ventures is a pre-seed & seed stage VC firm investing broadly across technology. I kept hearing about the firm, so I was excited to interview Giuseppe for the podcast as they have been out there hustling and have been earning the respect from entrepreneurs and their peers in the VC industry.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* A discussion around the importance of investor & founder alignment.
* How a conference at Stanford changed the trajectory of his career into entrepreneurship. 
* The full background story of SmakHigh and how they evolved to Fam, the first live group video application for iMessage, including how Jeff Bussgang’s book - Mastering the VC Game - helped them raise venture funding from Jeff.
* The full story of how the acquisition by DraftKings came to fruition.
* The details about 186 Ventures and what they are targeting for investments.
* The 4 fundamental parts of a business that matter.
* The importance of building a repeatable sales model for not only your go-to-market strategy but also how it factors into raising capital.
* Why Boston is the best place to build an AI startup.
* And so much more.

Episode 353: Giuseppe Stuto - Co-Founder & Managing Partner, 186 Ventures

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 380 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Eduardo Torrealba, CEO & Co-Founder of Lumafield.

As part of my conversation with Eduardo, we talk about the importance of working on hard things. Yes, it’s hard to build things that seem impossible at the time but it is that level of difficulty that attracts the top talent across engineering and other functional areas to join the company.  And, it is that level of difficulty that once you establish product market fit, it can been highly defensible and really difficult to copy.  And, it is that level of difficulty that attracts the best investors to fund a company with the hopes that it can be an industry defining company, especially when there is hardware involved.

Take Lumafield, a pioneering developer of accessible X-ray CT technology, recently announced a $35M Series B round of funding led by Spark Capital, along with previous investors Lux Capital, Kleiner Perkins, DCVC, Future Shape and angel investors like Tony Fadell - yes that Tony Fadell, the inventor of the iPod and Founder of Nest.

When you have an industry leader like Tony, who after seeing their product & vision and ended up committing to an investment into the company after a 30 minute meeting, you know you are on to something big, as he understood the problem first hand based on his experience.  

In the video version of our podcast, there is a brief video showing Lumafield’s platform in action, as you need to see it to truly appreciate the complexity yet the obvious use case it has when building physical products.

In the show notes, I have also included a fun video from Lumafield with Tony where they take a look at the evolution of the iPod by looking at the inside of different generations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC6BQPowf7w

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* Eduardo’s background story and his initial journey into entrepreneurship with an IoT soil moisture sensor company called Oso Technologies.
* Joining Formlabs and what he worked on in the earlier days of the company and what he learned during the company’s growth to a billion dollar valuation.
* The full story of Lumafield in terms of how the team came together and the problem they are solving.
* The fundraising process and the current state of the company, plus future plans ahead.
* Lessons learned from building companies and raising capital.
* The importance of a strong company pitch.
* 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: 380: Eduardo Torrealba - CEO & Co-Founder, Lumafield

Episode 386 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Shahid Azim, Managing Partner & CEO of C10 Labs, an AI venture fund and studio.

When ChatGPT was released towards the end of 2022, it changed everything and the AI era officially began.

It was perfect timing for Shahid and his two co-founders of C10 Labs that being Professor Ramesh Raskar and Dr. Patricia Geli, as the organization was born out of a course they were co-instructors on called AI for Impact.

They knew the time was now and it was an opportunity to build a market leading venture studio that is specifically focused on AI-first companies.

They were early to the movement and helped create the spark for the AI ecosystem in the Boston area. Fast forward to today, Shahid and the team at C10 Labs are deeply involved in creating the core foundation for AI in the Boston tech ecosystem from the startups that are participating in their accelerator to playing a key role in lots of other initiatives like the Massachusetts AI Hub.  Overall, C10 Labs is making a major impact.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* Details about how C10 Labs came to fruition.
* Shahid’s background story and his journey into entrepreneurship.
* The details about Shahid’s startups which focused on lots of important matters like brain health or heart health like Quanttus, a VC backed company with ground breaking tech for a continuous blood pressure monitoring wearable device that came before the launch of the Apple Watch.
* All about C10 Labs and what companies can expect by going through their program.
* The criteria they look for while reviewing companies for their accelerator and the details on their upcoming AI Biology cohort this fall.
* Common stumbling blocks for native AI companies.
* And so much more.

Episode 386: Shahid Azim - Managing Partner & CEO, C10 Labs

Episode 393 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Daniel Demetri, Founder & CEO of Trellis.

Through the advancements of technology like cloud computing and AI, you no longer need to have a huge team to support a company that is hitting major levels of revenue. And, it’s not just the ones you read about like Lovable, Cursor, Wiz, etc., as there are other companies that are able to achieve impressive feats with a relatively lean team.

Trellis falls under this category. Conserving cash is an obvious benefit, but as Daniel explains, another advantage is speed. It removes the layers of an organization which in return allows employees to process information and make decisions faster.

Trellis is an insurtech start-up with a mission to simplify and automate shopping for home and auto insurance by powering intelligent insurance experiences using machine learning, real-time bidding, and conversational AI, backed by a team of nationally licensed insurance advisors. The company is funded by top investors, including QED, General Catalyst, Nyca, and Amex Ventures.

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

* Daniel’s background, including being a webmaster pre-college and some stories of the inner workings of Harvard.
* His progression as a Product Manager at Google (including his interviews with Marisa Mayer) and how he got involved in startups.
* Co-Founding a company that disrupted the title insurance industry called Doma which eventually went public and is now private, plus how this experience prepped him to be a CEO.
* What led him down the path of starting Trellis and how the company is applying modern technology to the traditional model of insurance sales.
* Lots of details about Trellis in terms of the team structure, hiring plans, and what’s next for the company.
* His thoughts on what makes a great product manager.
* And so much more!

Episode 393: Daniel Demetri - Founder & CEO, Trellis

Episode 395: Erez Kaminski - CEO & Founder, Ketryx

Episode 396 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Alasdair McLean-Foreman, CEO & Founder of Teikametrics.

It’s another repeat guest! I think I’m up to 5 repeat guests on The VentureFizz Podcast and just like the 5-times club on Saturday Night Live, I might have to start thinking about getting some custom jackets made up for our repeat guests because they must be on to something special!

Take Alasdair, who… five years ago, back on Episode 153, shared some predictions around eCommerce that were mostly spot on. So, I was eager to get his point of view on what’s next especially in this radically evolving world of AI which we discuss at the beginning of our interview.

He has an interesting perspective as he was one of the first third-party sellers on Amazon and his company, Teikametrics, has a front row seat as the AI marketplace optimization platform for leading brands.

There’s a lot that we had to catch up on like their new patented GenAI technology that has the opportunity to shake up how brands scale on platforms like Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, and Shopify.

He also recently brought on Sandie Hawkins, the former Head of TikTok Shop as the company’s President to help scale to the next level.

We cover all of these topics and more!

Episode 396: Alasdair McLean-Foreman, CEO & Founder of Teikametrics

Episode 397 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Liz Graham, CEO, Operator, Board Member, and Startup Advisor.

This episode was recorded live at Startup Boston Week at Suffolk University which is the third year that I’ve hosted it onsite.  Thank you to Stephanie Roulic for the invitation as it's a lot of fun and great to be involved in such a meaningful conference.  And, since it was hosted live, this episode is audio only.

Ok - this is so cool and a first… well, technically two firsts.  It’s the first time I’ve had a sibling of a previous guest and to top it off… they are twins.   Liz’s sister is Sue Graham Johnston, another successful executive in the tech industry.  She was one of my original guests as she appeared on Episode 24 when she was President of 128 Technology which was acquired by Juniper Networks. It was amazing to have the opportunity to interview Liz for a similar conversation.

Liz’s career started out in law and then expanded into operating roles at high growth companies like HubSpot, Wayfair, Notarize (now called Proof) and her most recent position was leading an early stage startup called Ada IQ, a consumer product development platform.

In addition to Liz’s professional career, she also shares some great advice around growing your career into executive leadership roles, how to be in the conversation for board seats, and more.

As you will also learn is that Liz is involved in lots of ecosystem initiatives like being a board member at MassChallenge. She is currently involved in the launch of Women Applying AI or WAAI, a nonprofit organization that offers women a collaborative environment to learn AI, expand networks, and be ready for an AI future with hands-on, practical, and supportive in-person and online programming.  WAAI is officially launching on September 26th in Cambridge.

Episode 397: Liz Graham, CEO, Operator, Board Member, and Startup Advisor

Episode 398 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Izzat Jarudi, Co-Founder & CEO at Edifii.

This episode was recorded live at Startup Boston Week at Suffolk University which is the third year that I’ve hosted it onsite.  Thank you to Stephanie Roulic for the invitation, as it's a lot of fun and great to be involved in such a meaningful conference.  And, since it was hosted live, this episode is audio only.

In this interview, we start out discussing a topic that Izzat is uniquely qualified to cover that being the potential impact of AI on our cognitive brain function.  AI is very powerful and it has so many amazing use cases, but what are the risks in terms of how it is being adopted for the human element?  Will things like our desire to solve problems or leverage our creative abilities decline over time? Izzat has a background in brain and behavioral science from MIT and Yale, plus his company, Edifii, is an AI and Neuroscience-based mentor for students, counselors, and parents.  It’s definitely something to think about and I was excited to hear Izzat’s point of view.

In this interview, we also cover:

* Izzat’s background story and how he got his career starting in management consulting.
* How he landed in Product management and his rise to a VP of Product Management role at Cambridge Mobile Telematics.
* How he made the leap to entrepreneurship.
* All the details about Ediffi and the impact its platform is making.
* What makes a great Product Manager.
* And so much more.

Episode 398: Izzat Jarudi - Co-Founder & CEO, Edifii

Episode 399 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Luisa Herrmann, Founder & CEO of AINovva.

This episode was recorded live at Startup Boston Week at Suffolk University which is the third year that I’ve hosted it onsite.  Thank you to Stephanie Roulic for the invitation as it’s a lot of fun and great to be involved in such a meaningful conference.  And, since it was hosted live, this episode is audio only and my apologies for the background noise.

Entrepreneurs take different paths when it comes to finding ideas to start a business and how they go about funding it.  

Her company, AINovva was born out of her own need. After working in AI for several years and learning how to code, she built the product to solve her own content-switching exhaustion called AIFred. It handles email prioritization, meeting prep, and relationship management so busy professionals can focus on what matters.

And to fund the company, she has bootstrapped it through consulting revenue.  Not every company needs an outside investment and if it does, the longer an entrepreneur can hold out… the better situation they will be in when it comes to negotiating the terms.

In this interview, we cover:

* Advice on attending networking events.
* Luisa’s background story in terms of how she got involved in the tech industry and her journey into product management.
* Her experience in product roles at ZoomInfo, Validity, and other startups.
* All the details about AINOvva.
* Advice for hiring your first Product Manager.
* And so much more.

Episode 399: Luisa Herrmann - Founder & CEO, AINovva

Episode 400 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Rylan Hamilton, CEO & Co-Founder of Blue Water Autonomy.

Episode 400!  It’s another milestone episode.  

On November 2, 2017, I published the first episode of The VentureFizz Podcast.  My first 11 episodes were an experiment where I interviewed talent acquisition leaders. Christina Luconi was my first guest.  Thank you Christina!

After seeing the potential, I pivoted to interviewing mainly founders & investors in Boston and NYC.  I want to send out shout-out to all the people who have taken the time to share their stories with me and the VentureFizz audience.  It has been a pleasure to interview all of you.

For Episode 400, I wanted to interview someone who not only has had extraordinary background but someone who is also still building.  Interviewing Rylan for this milestone episode was a no-brainer.

Rylan’s professional career has been one of exploration and not just one linear path.  From graduating from Harvard to enlisting in the Navy as an Engineering Officer for surface warfair, to Harvard Business School, to being the first employee at RunMyErrand which later became TaskRabbit, to learning warehouse robotics at Kiva Systems which ended up being the 2nd largest acquisition by Amazon at the time, to starting his own warehouse robotics company called 6 River Systems which was acquired by Shopify for $450M… to now… working on his latest startup, which no doubt is his biggest swing which is Blue Water Automony… a startup building autonomous ships for the open ocean.

The company recently announced a $50M Series A round of funding led GV.  This is shortly after announcing a $14M seed round of funding earlier this year back in April.

In this interview, we cover how Rylan’s service in the armed forces helped shape his career, his full background story, plus all the chapters along the way, to all the details about Blue Water Authonomy and how this company is disrupting and re-energizing the ship industry in the United States, 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 400: Rylan Hamilton - CEO & Co-Founder, Blue Water Autonomy

Episode 401 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Nicole Phillips-Bastian of Qatch.

This episode was recorded live at Startup Boston Week at Suffolk University which is the third year that I’ve hosted it onsite.  Thank you to Stephanie Roulic for the invitation, as it’s a lot of fun and great to be involved in such a meaningful conference.  And, since it was hosted live, this episode is audio only and my apologies for the background noise.

Personalization isn’t a new term in the world of tech but as a consumer, it often fails.  It could be a failure around the data, the actual tech powering the experience, or executional challenges.

For Qatch (which stands for Quick Match), they have been able to overcome these challenges by establishing trust with consumers in one of the most coveted spots for obtaining first party data… no, it’s definitely not email, but through text messaging. 

Qatch is a personalized shopping platform that allows user preferences to dictate what products they see next. Their platform enables the company to capture user engagement to a degree other brands are not, which gives them incredibly valuable insight into what products a specific shopper would buy, so they can recommend it to them in real-time.

It all falls under that trust factor which is so important, because if Qatch is not delivering value, it’s easy to block that text message and it is this level of trust that has been so key to their success.

Two interesting points to note:

1. Nicole’s co-founder for Qatch is her sister Raquel.
2. They have built a very capital efficient company, as they have raised just under $2M in funding.

In this interview, we cover:

* The importance of founder-led sales.
* Nicole’s background story and her journey into law as a retail attorney with a focus on fashion law and regulations.
* All the details about Qatch and why they decided on text messaging as their primary method of communication.
* How the platform works and their use of AI.
* Sales and getting brands to join their platform, plus how they evolved their pricing strategy.
* The competition and how they differ from companies like Stitch Fix.
* Her experience raising capital as a female founder and why sales is the best form of funding.
* And so much more.

Episode 401: Nicole Phillips-Bastian - CEO & Co-Founder, Qatch

Episode 402 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Aaron Sekhri, CEO & Co-Founder of Le Walk.

Most apps are trying to get you to stare at your phone and create a stickiness factor for doomscrolling.  Yet, Le Walk wants you to look up and take in the world.  

If you have ever experienced a group tour for a museum or some other historical location, it can be a crap shoot and for me, even with the best tour guide, I have a hard time focusing and taking it all in.

This is where Le Walk comes to the rescue.  It is your personal tour guide, right in your headphones.  The company uses AI to enhance, not replace, human creativity. Every tour still relies on real guides, editors, and storytellers — AI just helps amplify their reach.

Le Walk recently announced a $4.1M seed co-led by Adverb Ventures and Lerer Hippeau, with participation from Origins Fund and Point72 Ventures.  In beta, Le Walk has reached 110k downloads, 160k+ social followers, and 20k+ tours taken. 

In this interview, we cover:

* Aaron’s experience growing up in Hong Kong and how he landed at Stanford to study Symbolic Systems.
* Getting his career started in Product Management while at Uber.
* His experience at TikTok and what he learned there.
* All the details about Le Walk and the plans ahead.
* Their content playbook for customer acquisition and why content is king when it comes to building traction for a startup and their strategy around content.
* And so much more.

Episode 402: Aaron Sekhri - CEO & Co-Founder, Le Walk

Episode 403 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Nick Ornitz and Shannon Kay, Co-Founders of Topline Pro.

Make something people want is the motto behind Y Combinator.  It sounds simple, yet so many founders miss this fundamental requirement.

Topline Pro is a perfect case study in getting it right. They didn't fall victim to early false positives; instead, they listened, experimented, and successfully pivoted to solve a true, massive problem for an underserved market.

Topline Pro is building AI that empowers local home service pros to grow and scale their businesses. They provide a critical platform to help with the marketing, sales, and operations of running a business in the trades, allowing these business owners to focus on their craft.

The company recently announced a $27M Series B funding round led by Northzone, with new participation from Tactile Ventures, and Industry Ventures, alongside continued support from existing investors Forerunner Ventures, Bonfire Ventures, TMV, Flybridge, and BBG Ventures.

In this interview, we dive into:

* The inspirational backstory of Nick and Shannon and how they decided to build a company together after meeting at HBS.
* Their initial concept called Dwelling, the "false positive" they experienced, and the strategic pivot.
* Their time at Y Combinator and how early access to GPT opened their eyes to the potential of AI.
* The value that Topline Pro is providing customers and the exciting opportunities ahead following their Series B.
* Growth plans, hiring goals, and the culture they're building at Topline Pro.
* Advice for non-AI native companies that are starting to build out their own AI strategy.
* 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 403: Nick Ornitz & Shannon Kay - Co-Founders, Topline Pro

Episode 404 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ben Sesser, CEO & Co-Founder of BrightHire.

Well this is a first…

It’s common to time my podcast interview around a milestone for a company like a funding announcement.  But, this is the first time that in the span between my interview with the founder to the publishing date that the company announced its acquisition.

Last week, BrightHire announced that the company has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Zoom.  It certainly is a combination that makes a lot of sense.

BrightHire is an interview intelligence platform.  We saw its influence firsthand this past summer when VentureFizz hosted a series of AI job searching events. Talent acquisition leaders consistently mentioned BrightHire as the most-adopted application—a signal that immediately led me to reach out to Ben for this interview.

As Ben shares, when they started, "interview intelligence" was a brand new category in hiring, and they faced plenty of doubters. But fast-forward to today, and much like the success of companies like Gong for sales teams, BrightHire's value is now obvious. But isn't that the case for all great companies in hindsight?

BrightHire's investors include Flybridge, Index Ventures, 01 Advisors, Zoom Apps Fund, and others.

Chapters

00:00 Intro
02:48 State of Hiring in the AI Era
06:51 Ben's Background Story
19:40 Getting Started in the Tech Industry
25:26 Origin Story of BrightHire
33:06 Creating a New Category
35:31 The Value of Video in the Hiring Process
41:17 BrightHire Screen - New AI Screening Platform
45:51 Experience of Raising Capital
48:36 Biggest Lessons Learned
50:22 Common Mistakes Companies Make When Hiring
51:57 Lightening Round Questions

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 404: Ben Sesser - CEO & Co-Founder, BrightHire

Episode 405 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ed Jennings, CEO of Quickbase.

The terms 'narrow' and 'growth' seem to contradict each other, yet in Ed’s mind, the two concepts go hand-in-hand. Based on his experience, true scaling doesn't always mean adding new products or wildly expanding into new industries.

It can be a huge challenge to say "no" to new opportunities when the goal is increased revenue. But as Ed explains, the key to sustainable success is to look deeply at your core customer and double down on your core value. This focus is what helps you win and retain customers—a factor often overlooked, but insanely important for long-term growth.

Quickbase is the AI operations platform used by more than 12,000 organizations worldwide to transform ordinary work into extraordinary impact. Combining powerful AI capabilities and the flexibility and ease of low code/no code technology, Quickbase boosts productivity, improves efficiency, and enhances employee safety for organizations managing large-scale projects and operations in industries like construction and manufacturing.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
02:00 Core Foundational Elements for Scaling Companies
06:21 Ed's Background Story & Post College in Japan
13:01 Career & Executive Roles in Tech
15:26 Experience at PTC
18:04 First CEO Role
21:55 Time at ADP
24:44 Experience at Veracode
28:22 Lessons Learned as CMO
30:13 COO Role at Mimecast
35:55 Details About Quickbase
36:56 Narrowing the Focus and ICP at Quickbase
39:09 The Culture at Quickbase
41:00 Hiring at Quickbase
42:44 Quickbase's Customer Community
44:23 Advice for Building a Career Path to CEO
46:56 Advice on Hiring Executives
49:51 Lightning Round Questions

Episode 405: Ed Jennings - CEO, Quickbase

Episode 406 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Bill Simmons, serial entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Orbit.me and DataXu.

I’m going to use the cliché: Bill actually is a rocket scientist. His background is in aerospace engineering, he holds a PhD from MIT, and he worked on 13 space missions. In addition, he was part of a major Government competition for simulating options for space travel to Mars. His team simulated 35 billion possible options to generate 1,100 different Mars missions that were all feasible.

This groundbreaking technology that leverage Big Data, which we now recognize as AI and machine learning, launched his first company, DataXu, in 2008. DataXu became a pioneer in the programmatic ad platform category and raised over $87M in funding. The company scaled as a major player in the Boston tech scene, and was acquired by Roku in 2019.

Now, Bill is tackling a challenge we all likely face with his new startup, Orbit.me. Information is scattered across texts, multiple email inboxes, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and social apps—it’s impossible to keep track of what matters. Orbit.me is a perfect use case for AI, organizing your scattered messages into “Orbits” which are dedicated spaces built around the real contexts of your life, like parenting, work, or other important matters.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction
02:41 Current Status of Space Travel & Mars
08:34 Bill Simmons Background Story
10:21 Academic Experience
13:12 Space Missions including Mars Research
17:19 How DataXu Came to Fruition & Focus on AdTech
20:03 Scaling DataXu & Market Strategies
23:15 The Competitive Landscape of AdTech
26:20 The Technology Behind Real-Time Bidding
29:49 Building DataXu’s Culture During Growth
32:51 DataXu Acquisition by Roku
35:54 The Transition to Product Management & Experience at The Trade Desk
37:13 The Details of Orbit.me
43:07 The Team Behind Orbit.me
48:58 The Evolving Role of Software Engineers in the AI Era
52:01 Lightening Round Questions

Episode 406: Bill Simmons - Serial Entrepreneur, Orbit.me & DataXu

Episode 407 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Seth Rosen, Founder & CEO of CustomMade.

A common theme that you’ll hear throughout this interview is the importance of resiliency.

Sure - the media loves the story of the latest company that has achieved $100M ARR in a month (I’m obviously kidding), but the overwhelming majority of businesses are a grind.  It’s about taking a bunch of punches, getting back up and figuring it all out.  

It’s not all rainbows and butterflies, which is why I was excited to interview Seth. The story of CustomMade has lots of twists and turns… from rapid growth… to later salvaging the company by structuring a deal with Wayfair to acqui-hire their employee base… to the insanely successful reboot!

Today, CustomMade is a leading online custom jeweler that specializes in creating personalized, one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces, such as engagement rings, wedding bands, and more. The platform simplifies the entire custom process, helping buyers create their vision and working with master jewelers to bring it to life.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro
00:11 Importance of Resiliency
01:20 The Right Business Model: Subscription vs Marketplace
02:52 Seth's Background
06:24 Meeting Mike Salguero While Working in Real Estate
12:51 Background Story of CustomMade
20:55 Raising Venture Capital for CustomMade
24:58 Building & Running an Online Marketplace
27:30 The Challenges of Running an Online Marketplace
29:24 Making a Deal with Wayfair
31:33 CustomMade Reboot
36:38 CustomMade Today - The World's Largest Online Custom Jeweler
40:10 What are Lab Grown Diamonds
44:24 SEO & GEO
49:20 Seth's Other Initiatives in the Gem Industry
50:46 Seth's Role as a Venture Partner at WTI

Episode 407: Seth Rosen - CEO & Co-Founder, CustomMade

Episode 408 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Matt Fates, Partner at Innospark Ventures.

Did you know that the first modern venture capital firm was started right here in the Boston area? It’s true. Back in 1946, Georges Doriot founded the American Research and Development Corporation (ARDC), marking the birth of an industry that has fueled the entrepreneurial dream for nearly 80 years.

Matt Fates entered the industry during the “Internet 1.0” era, a time when VC firms were just beginning to gain major visibility. Over the course of his career, he has invested in over 100 companies. Through those investments, he has developed a deep expertise in data-driven enterprise and infrastructure startups—experience that has perfectly positioned him for the current massive shift toward AI.

Innospark Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in AI-native companies solving previously intractable problems across healthcare, life sciences, and the enterprise.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

00:00 Intro
02:22 VentureFizz OG
03:42 How to Land a Job in Venture Capital
07:49 Matt's Background
13:05 Getting into Investment Banking in the Tech Industry
16:22 Transition to Venture Capital
21:07 Dartmouth MBA
24:05 Experience at Ascent Venture Partners
28:59 Details of Innospark
30:39 Foundational Knowledge in AI and Machine Learning
32:41 Area of Focus for Investments at Innospark
37:04 Recent Investments for Innospark
43:36 The State of the Boston Startup Scene
46:51 The Anti-Portfolio - Missed Investments
49:04 Rapid Fire Questions
50:09 Personal Interests

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 408: Matt Fates - Partner, Innospark Ventures

Episode 409 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ilia Papas, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Band and Blue Apron.

Do you know what the enchilada factor is?  Probably not… unless you were part of the Blue Apron team that created a national brand and one of the pillar companies in the meal-kit food delivery category that ultimately went public.

In this interview, Ilia shares the inside look at those hypergrowth years, including the company’s use of machine learning for planning labor and food ordering, so they could fulfill those enchilada orders (also known internally as the enchilada factor) which always caused a spike when it was offered on the menu.

Ilia’s latest company is Band—and no, it’s not the musical kind. Instead, the company is focused on a massive, underserved sector where trillions of dollars flow between businesses, yet technical innovation has been severely lacking. Band has built the smart operating system for B2B trade agreements, providing AI-powered rebate and incentive tracking for distributors, manufacturers, and purchasing groups.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* Ilia’s background story, plus the details on his siblings and their collective success in the tech industry.
* Interning at his brother Art’s company, Bullhorn, and then building the foundation of his career at web consulting firms like Molecular and Optaros, where he worked on the original version of Rue La La.
* How he met his co-founder, Matt Salzburg, and why they pivoted from a “Kickstarter for science” idea to food delivery in 2012.  
* Bringing on a third co-founder, Matt Wadiak, who brought the culinary expertise and why they names the company Blue Apron.
* Their approach to growth marketing to compete against HelloFresh & Plated and scaling to millions of meals a week.
* The story of the IPO in 2017 and the unique challenges of running a publicly traded company
* All the details about Band and why Ilia chose this underserved industry, plus how his approach to building a company is different this time around.
* And so much more!


Episode 409: Ilia Papas - Serial Entrepreneur & Founder of Band and Blue Apron

Welcome to Season 1 of Career Inspiration by VentureFizz (now The VentureFizz Podcast), the flagship podcast of Boston's most trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights!

On this episode, VentureFizz Founder Keith Cline is joined by Mike Hebert, Head of Talent Acquisition at edX. They discuss tips for hiring engineers, building an employment brand, and the importance of retention to your overall strategy.

Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice! And make sure to follow Mike Hebert on Twitter @MhebertGlo and VentureFizz @VentureFizz.

Episode 5: Mike Hebert - Head of Talent Acquisition at edX

Welcome to Season 1 of Career Inspiration by VentureFizz (now The VentureFizz Podcast), the flagship podcast of Boston's most trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights!

On this episode, VentureFizz Founder Keith Cline is joined by Sam Zales, Chief Operating Officer at CarGurus. They discuss the ups & downs of building a company in the dot-com bubble, defining the key roles that a startup should initially hire for, and CarGurus’ humble, contagious culture of winning.

Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice! And make sure to follow Sam Zales on Twitter @zalessam, CarGurus @CarGurus & @cargurusculture, and VentureFizz @VentureFizz.

Episode 10: Sam Zales - Chief Operating Officer at CarGurus

Welcome to Episode 13 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of Boston's most trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights!

On this episode, VentureFizz Founder Keith Cline is joined by Izzy Azeri and Dan Belcher, Co-Founders of mabl.

Izzy and Dan are serial entrepreneurs whose last company, Stackdriver, was acquired by Google in just 21 months from their Series A financing.

Their new company, mabl, is disrupting the software testing industry using a machine intelligence approach, and they just announced their $10M Series A funding led by CRV.

As you’ll hear from our discussion, Izzy and Dan are pros in terms of identifying markets that are ripe for disruption, and if you think about it, the world of testing has not been touched in several years.

We cover their backgrounds, Stackdriver, and their newest company mabl, plus lots of other great topics like their hiring practices and why keeping a flat organization has been incredibly effective at both companies.

Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice! And make sure to follow mabl on Twitter @mablhq and VentureFizz @VentureFizz.

Episode 13: Izzy Azeri and Dan Belcher - Co-Founders of mabl

Welcome to Episode 24 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of Boston's most trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights!

For the 24th episode of our podcast, I interviewed Sue Graham Johnston, the President of 128 Technology in Burlington.

I have to admit, one the best things about doing this podcast is the opportunity to dig deep into the background of our guests.  When I’m doing research on each person, there’s always something that comes up that helps take the story to the next level.

Well in the case of Sue, as I was doing my research on Google, I was blown away to see a connection to an amazing story that made headlines across the world for a great charity, that being the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Sue and her husband were two of the key people that helped grant a wish for a boy named Miles Scott, who ended up being Batkid for the day in San Francisco and fight crime alongside Batman, who was played by Sue’s husband EJ, to rescue the damsel in distress, who was played by (you guessed it) Sue Graham Johnston.

It is truly an amazing and heartwarming story that we talk about at length. She also shares the details on how they’ve played a role in crashing the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s website not once, but twice.

We also talk about:

-Her professional accomplishments, of which there are many.
-What she learned at Oracle in terms of operational leadership.
-128 Technology - why she joined and what the company does. 
-Her passion for very important issues, like addressing the pipeline issue of women in STEM roles and working to fix the gender pay gap.

Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice! And make sure to follow 128 Technology on Twitter @128technology and VentureFizz @VentureFizz.

Episode 24: Sue Graham Johnston - President of 128 Technology

Welcome to Episode 27 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of Boston's most trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights!

This episode, I interviewed Jeet Singh, who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Redstar Ventures, a startup foundry that incubates new businesses.

Jeet was also a Co-Founder and CEO of ATG, a massively successful company in the Boston tech scene. The eCommerce software company went public in 1999, and was later acquired by Oracle for $1B.

Not only is Jeet a successful founder of tech companies, but he is also a passionate musician and has a band called The Singhs.  

In this episode, we cover:

-Alpha Delpha Phi (Fi) - the legendary MIT fraternity where he met Joe Chung, his Co-Founder and other industries luminaries like Brad Feld and Colin Angle 
-The story of ATG
-How giving up $1M in revenue was a catalyst for scaling the company
-The Redstar model and their portfolio companies including the most recent one called Money Experience
-Plus, lots of useful advice for entrepreneurs!

Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Episode 27: Jeet Singh - Co-Founder and CEO of Redstar Ventures

Welcome to Episode 33 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of your most-trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights!

For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Rick Grinnell, Founder and Managing Partner of Glasswing Ventures.

Glasswing, which is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in next-generation AI startups, just announced its $112M debut fund.

Rick has a proven track record of success in the venture capital industry where many of his investments have led to an exit. His investment in EqualLogic led to an acquisition by Dell for $1.4B, which at the time, was the largest cash transaction of a venture-backed company.

In this episode, we cover:

-How music led him down the path to a career in the tech industry, and how he transitioned into venture capital
-The story behind EqualLogic and the massive acquisition
-The launch of Glasswing Ventures
-The details around his area of focus in terms of making investments
-Advice for founders who are looking to raise venture capital
-Plus a lot more!

Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Episode 33: Rick Grinnell - Founder and Managing Partner of Glasswing Ventures

Welcome to Episode 37 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of your most-trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights!

For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Paul English, who is one of the top entrepreneurs in the tech industry.  

Several of Paul’s companies have been acquired, but he is probably best known as the Co-Founder and CTO of KAYAK, which went public and was acquired by Priceline for $1.8B. Paul’s current company, Lola.com, is a disruptive online travel service focused on serving the needs of business travelers. 

In this episode, we cover:

-Paul’s background, and his earlier companies
-The founding of KAYAK and its acquisition
-The details on Lola.com
-His thoughts and tips on hiring
-What it was like having a book written about him
-His charitable work
-Plus, a lot more!

Ok - quick side note!  This interview is actually Part 1 of a two-part podcast mini-series, as this interview was held shortly after the announcement of Mike Volpe joining the Lola.com team as CEO (and Paul moving into the role of CTO).  

So in addition to today's interview with Paul you’ll want to check back next week because we are going to have an interview with Mike Volpe, which is his first podcast interview since taking on the role as CEO.  

Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Episode 37: Paul English - Co-Founder and CTO of Lola.com

Let’s face it. Your company is only as strong as your team and Mike knows this first hand. As a former Olympic sailing coach, you can’t compete unless you have a winning team of people that mesh well. Yet, finding and hiring the right people that help you climb that mountain together is really hard. 

It was Mike’s own use of The Predictive Index at a former company that opened his eyes to how effective their behavioral assessment tool was in terms of hiring. It was so effective, in fact, that he and his partner, Dan Muzquiz, went on to purchase the company to help expand its value for helping companies with designing and executing their talent strategies.

This interview actually takes place at the company’s first annual Optima conference, which brought together the best minds in business to learn cutting edge strategies for designing, hiring, and inspiring high-performing teams. We discuss why they started this talent optimization conference and its importance.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

*  Details on his background - growing up on the water and racing sailboats and what his experience as a coach for the US Olympic Sailing Team was like.
*  How he got into the business of buying businesses.
*  The history of The Predictive Index and the value it provides to building teams.
*  How they SaaS'ified the business and their plans ahead for growth.
*  Advice on scaling a company once you hit product-market fit.
*  How to let things go.
*  And more!

If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Episode 151: Mike Zani - CEO, The Predictive Index

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.

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