The VentureFizz Podcast

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 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 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 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 395: Erez Kaminski - CEO & Founder, Ketryx by VentureFizz

Episode 394 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Brian Stempeck, CEO & Co-Founder of Evertune. Think about how people search for things on the web now and GenAI’s massive impact. A lot of people just go straight to different platforms like ChatGPT with the goal of just getting the answer to what they are searching for versus having to go to a website to find the details. This evolution matters and it matters a lot, especially if you are a brand or publisher. In the past, you had to worry about SEO to hopefully rank high in the Google search results. Now, the rules have changed and companies are trying to figure out what to do. Is your brand being mentioned in the LLMs? If so, what is being said? And if you ask multiple times, how does the response vary from the LLMs versus the consistency of the search results that you would get from Google. It’s a wild wild west and this was the void that Brian recognized and led him down the path of starting Evertune, which helps companies build its brand presence for visibility in AI search. It’s a category called GEO that being Generative Engine Optimization. The company recently announced a $15M Series A funding, led by Felicis Ventures, including returning investors Eniac Ventures, NextView Ventures, Roger Ehrenberg and others. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * A discussion around the shift in consumer behavior and how they are looking for information in the world of GenAI. * Brian’s background and getting his career started as a journalist and then working in consulting at Bain after business school. * How he got involved in The Trade Desk as employee #8 even without adtech or sales experience. * The full lifecycle story of The Trade Desk to an IPO in 2016 and how they differentiated from the competition. * How Brian’s role evolved through the years at the company and how he gained a board seat. * His biggest lessons learned from his experience at The Trade Desk. * The background story of Evertune and what led him and his co-founders down the path of starting the company. * All the details of Evertune and how they are helping brands and agencies. * Advice for building out your GTM strategy and a key piece of advice for hiring salespeople. * And so much more!

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 392 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Damien Lewke, Founder & CEO of Nebulock. Damien is purpose built for this company, which is a statement he’s heard from one of his investors that being Will Lehman. When you hear about Damien’s background story, it’s hard to argue. Damien’s path to where he is today has been very thoughtful, methodical, and intentional. It’s a path that allowed him to learn and understand as much as possible about cybersecurity. In addition, he has worn several different hats throughout his career (I’m talking Solutions Architecture… Product Marketing… Product Management… and other roles) that have all put him in a strong position to lead a venture backed startup. Nebulock is an autonomous threat hunting platform designed from scratch for behavior-based detection. By connecting directly to identity, endpoint, and cloud telemetry, Nebulock continuously hunts threats, surfaces hidden anomalies, and automatically increases your detection coverage. The company announced $8.5M in funding, including their seed round led by Bain Capital Ventures alongside Decibel VC, Zetta Venture Partners, In-Q-Tel, and several angel investors. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:57 Being a Solo Founder 05:03 Damien's Background & Playing Soccer in Germany 07:35 The Impact of Sports on Entrepreneurship 09:50 Career Beginnings 12:08 Transition to CrowdStrike 17:11 Joining Palo Alto Networks 19:08 Pursuing Further Education at MIT 21:38 Product Management at Arctic Wolf 23:45 Founding Nebulock 27:22 What is Threat Hunting? 29:57 Details about Nebulock 32:17 State of the State at Nebulock & Looking Ahead 40:46 3 Lessons Learned Since Founding a Company 43:34 Personal Insights and 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 391 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Joseph Krause, Co-Founder & CEO of Radical AI. There are many benefits with the platform shift to AI, but one of the clear benefits that I’m seeing is how some of the most brilliant minds are working on incredibly meaningful and challenging problems. While yes, there is a need for lots of applications, even another photo sharing app, I’ve always strongly believed that the best entrepreneurs should leverage their intellect to work on something that could actually change the world. Meet Joseph, an entrepreneur who has built his career for this moment. He has a bias for action and a go-big or go home approach with a startup that is looking to completely reconstruct the scientific process and if successful, it will replace multi-national corporations like Dow Chemical. Radical AI is building a self-driving lab which will accelerate materials R&D to tackle the world’s most pressing problems. Through the integration of artificial intelligence, engineering, materials science, and applied research, Radical AI is changing the way materials are designed, developed, and discovered. The company announced a $55M Series Seed+ led by RTX Ventures, joined by NVentures (NVIDIA’s VC arm), noa, Infinite Capital, Eni Next (Eni’s VC arm), AlleyCorp and many others. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The details of Radical AI recommendations with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) for the 2025 National AI Research and Development Strategy Plan. * Joseph’s background story and experience in academia, DEVCOM Army research lab, & the National Guard. * How a cold email landed him a position in venture capital and his time at AlleyCorp. * The full story of Radical AI and how they are addressing material science challenges with an innovative approach. * The Self-Driving Lab concept and why Radical AI is a generation-defining opportunity. * Building a culture of action and hiring plans. * 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 390 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Maya R. Said, Sc.D., Founder & CEO of Outcomes4Me. Maya believes that in our lifetime, we will get to a point where we can either cure or control cancer.  That is a bold statement and one of major importance.  As we kick off our interview, she shares the reasons why it could happen. In order to get there, however, it is certainly going to take a lot of brilliant founders and innovative companies, but when you have founders like Maya who are building companies like Outcomes4Me, you can see why there is hope. For this podcast, I am blessed to speak with so many amazing people, who are all very intelligent, driven, and optimistic… but Maya is in a league of her own. Her academic credentials are beyond next level and what she accomplished within the healthcare industry makes her uniquely qualified to build a company that is contributing to this mission of either curing or controlling cancer. Outcomes4Me is the first and only end-to-end, AI-driven patient empowerment platform that helps patients with cancer take a proactive approach to their care from diagnosis throughout every stage of life and care.  Its direct-to-patient platform integrates clinical guidelines, genomics, trial matching, and symptom tracking to help patients navigate through a cancer diagnosis with confidence and clarity.   The company recently announced a $21M round of funding from new investor - Salica Investments, with participation from all existing investors: Labcorp Venture Fund, Forecast Labs, Northpond Ventures, Sierra Ventures, Asset Management Ventures, IRA Capital, and Merstal LTD. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Maya’s background story and her experience in academia at MIT. * Her transition into industry and the various leadership roles she held. * The full story of Outcomes4Me including how the platform works and how they help patients, plus their plans looking ahead. * The importance of data to speed up innovation and the drug development process. * The impact of TV advertising * The overarch theme of what she has learned while building a company. * Fundraising advice * And 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 389 and today’s guest is Jeff Taylor, serial entrepreneur and Founder of Monster.com. About a month ago, the combined entity of Monster & CareerBuilder filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It signaled the end of an era and a 31 year run for Monster which is pretty extraordinary. A reflective tribute was added to LinkedIn by Jeff and after reading his post, I immediately reached out, as the story of Monster needed to be told and documented. Thus, I went long form for this interview, a la Joe Rogan style, to bring you the most detailed account of Monster.com from an initial dream to a top 11th or 12th website in the world & a major consumer brand. An initial dream, you might ask… yes… it’s true.  Jeff dreamt of the idea, the brand, and the mascot… which received tremendous pushback from multiple parties in the early days. It’s this story and so many others that we uncover: * The early building blocks of the internet and how groundbreaking Jeff and Monster.com was in terms of being the 454th dot com and posting the first jobs and resumes on the internet. * The debatable too-early acquisition of Monster in the very early innings of the dot com bubble by TMP Worldwide. * Stories of the hypergrowth years at Monster. * Behind the scenes of the, what was first considered a failure then turned iconic - When I Grow Up - Super Bowl commercial. * And what I found to be the most shocking story… which we lead with - the paper napkin agreement between Jeff Taylor and Reid Hoffman for Monster.com to acquire LinkedIn.  Wow - can you imagine what might have happened if Monster’s board didn’t turn the deal down? In addition to the deep dive into the legendary story of Monster, we also discuss Jeff’s background story, other companies he’s built like Eons, and his current company called BoomBand - which is reinventing the resume and building a new AI talent marketplace. The company is still in stealth mode but expects to launch its product late fall. 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 388 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Andy Ellner, Founder & CEO of Quilt Health. Yes, there are endless possibilities in terms of the platform shift to AI and how it will disrupt industries, but the one that I’m most excited about is the healthcare industry.  Could there be a great moment to hopefully improve lives and maybe even eradicate diseases or even cure cancer someday?  The future is unknown but these advanced in technology certain give a lot of hope. To tackle these big problems, we need people who are not only the top brilliant minds on this planet, but they also need to be risk takers in terms of building these companies. Andy fits the bill.  Not only is he an MD with top academic credentials, but he’s also a serial entrepreneur. And probably the most important quality of Andy is that he comes from a medical family that’s passionate about making a difference across the world and that quality is deeply rooted into his mindset as well. His latest company is Quilt Health, a digital health company dedicated to bridging gaps in treatment access for complex diseases. They are focused on sickle cell disease and plan to expand to address other complex conditions.  Quilt Health just announced a $6M seed round of funding led by MaC Venture Capital and Underscore Ventures, with participation from Meridian Street Capital, BoxGroup, Watershed VC, and Coalition Operators. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of great topics like: * Some key lessons learned while building healthcare startups, including the importance of finding the right business model. * Andy’s background story including his connection to the Baseball Hall of Fame and his work helping to solve the global HIV pandemic where his learnings from this timeframe have carried over to Quilt Health. * Co-Founding the Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care. * Starting Firefly Health to address the inefficiencies of primary care with a virtual-first care model. * What led him down the path of starting Quilt Health and their plans for disrupting the industry. * His Minimum Viable Team philosophy and advice around hiring. * What excites him about the potential AI use cases in the healthcare industry. * And so much more.

Episode 387 of The VentureFizz Podcast features John Voith, CEO & Co-Founder of InStride Health. A common theme for John that you’ll hear throughout the interview is how he has always followed his head and heart. It’s a philosophy, where you can build something meaningful for the world that fulfills your interests yet has a mission to help people. Healthcare is certainly an industry where one can have an impact and what’s interesting is that he has never wavered. As you’ll learn, John’s interest in healthcare began as a child and it has followed through his career and entrepreneurial journey. InStride Health provides specialty outpatient care for pediatric anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and related presentations. The company is venture backed with $56M in funding raised by General Catalyst, .406 Ventures, Valtruis, Mass General Brigham Ventures, and Hopelab Foundation. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of great topics like: * John’s background story and how medical illness in his family influenced his future in the healthcare industry. * Seeing rapid growth of his career at athenahealth where he became one of four General Managers in the company. * The founding story of Virtudent, a venture backed company that provides preventive dental care and care coordination through teledentistry services, on-site services and virtual support. * All the details about InStride Health and how he met his Co-Founders Drs. Mona Potter and Kathryn Boger, plus all the details on their unique and effective approach to treatment. * Lessons learned as a CEO and advice for healthcare entrepreneurs. * And so much more.

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 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 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 383: Rob Biederman - Managing Partner, Asymmetric Capital Partners by VentureFizz

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 381 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Mike Massaro, CEO of Flywire, a global payments enablement and software company. This is the full lifecycle story of an idea to a pillar publicly traded tech company in the Boston tech scene and it has it all. An international founder who discovered a major problem while trying to pay his tuition at MIT, to Mike joining the company after its Series A, an evolving business model from consumer to B2B, navigating choppy near death experiences to scaling aggressively, then raising multiple rounds of venture funding to an IPO, and more! It really is an inspirational story for all entrepreneurs to hear, as it is never an easy up & to the right story. There is so much that goes into building a successful company and this one does not disappoint. Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:17 Learning to Lead & the Importance of Communication 04:51 Mike's Background & Getting Started in Tech at edocs 15:00 Carrier IQ 19:47 The early days of Flywire 19:52 Navigating the Go-to-Market Strategy 29:52 Moving into the Role as CEO of Flywire 31:55 Challenging Times 35:09 Scaling the Company & Playing Long Ball 39:17 Expanding into New Industries 41:47 The Impact of COVID-19 45:20 Flywire IPO 50:06 Looking Ahead: Growth and Innovation 51:42 Building a Strong Company Culture 57:12 The Importance of a Strong Board of Directors 59:50 Hiring for Leadership Roles 01:02:13 Apps, Books, & Fun 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 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.