Ilir Sela is the Founder & CEO at Slice, a technology company helping independent pizzerias manage their day to day operations. Slice has raised over $100M from notable investors like KKR, Notable Capital, Primary Ventures and 01 Advisors. -Not knowing a thing about venture capital and bootstrapping to $40M GMV-Acquiring first customers going door to door in NYC-Why he raised VC when the company vs bootstrap given early traction-Relaunching from MyPizza to Slice in 2016-The value of VCs when you're a solo founder
Mark Ghermezian is the co-founder and prior CEO of Braze, a customer engagement platform used by businesses for multi-channel marketing. Braze raised $180M before its IPO from leading investors Meritech Capital, Battery Ventures and ICONIQ. Mark is now the founding GP at MXV. In this episode we dig into: Starting AppBoy/Braze and hustling to raise initial capital Randomly meeting his co-founders on a street corner in NYCThe importance of building relationships between rounds with VCs Why you should always get on a plane to close the deal Stepping back as CEO pre-IPO Building a VC firm from scratch
Tarek is the co-founder and CEO of Kalshi, the first CFTC regulated exchange dedicated to trading on the outcome of future events. In this episode we discuss: - Not being a hot company in YC- Suing the government as a startup and winning - Raising money from Sequoia, Henry Kravis, Schwab and others - Being unable to take on more deposits because of demand during the presidential election - The power of building a company that is "anti-pattern" to other companies
Gaurav Misra is the co-founder and CEO of Captions, the leading video AI company building the future of video creation. Captions has raised over $80M from leading investors Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Index and A16Z. We dig into: Launching in the app store and the product taking off on its ownUnintentionally making their first $500K in revenueWhy raise venture capital vs. bootstrap given the early traction Not starting a company before working at a startupScaling to 10M+ global creators on the platform The future of video with AI Thank you to todays sponsor JoinWarp. Warp offers nearly instant payroll and compliance solutions for startups and venture capital firms. For a free pair of Apple Airpods 4, click to learn more at https://www.joinwarp.com/novpromo?utm_sour.... Stifel Bank is committed to supporting the innovation community. Focused on seed- through late-stage companies, they provide a dynamic platform of collaborative solutions for treasury management and lending. Our clients enjoy access to the broader capabilities of Stifel, including Investment Banking, Private Client Banking, and Wealth Management. Stifel’s Wealth Management services provided by Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated. Shoot a note to aguerrero@stifelbank.com for more information.
Nichole Wischoff is the founder and Managing Partner at Wischoff Ventures, a pre-seed and seed stage venture capital firm with $80M in AUM. Nichole is the host of the First Money In Podcast. This episode is her first solo session focused on the latest in the tech world at the earliest stages: - Whats hot at pre-seed and seed stage right now - Massive secondary sales replacing IPOs and the implications - Should CEOs of big companies be building their own personal brands online
Maria Davidson is the co-founder and CEO of Kojo, a startup building a construction materials management platform for contractors and suppliers. Merge has raised over $85M from leading investors 8VC, Tiger Global and Battery Ventures. We dig into: - VCs passing on their $4M seed because construction tech was unproven- How to acquire sub-contractors when they can't be found online and during Covid- What most construction tech startups get wrong about the market opportunity- Raising growth rounds at the height of the market in 2021 Thank you to todays sponsor JoinWarp. Warp offers nearly instant payroll and compliance solutions for startups and venture capital firms. For a free pair of Apple Airpods 4, click to learn more at https://www.joinwarp.com/novpromo?utm_source=nichole. Stifel Bank is committed to supporting the innovation community. Focused on seed- through late-stage companies, they provide a dynamic platform of collaborative solutions for treasury management and lending. Our clients enjoy access to the broader capabilities of Stifel, including Investment Banking, Private Client Banking, and Wealth Management. Stifel’s Wealth Management services provided by Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated. Shoot a note to aguerrero@stifelbank.com for more information.
Shensi Ding is the co-founder and CEO of Merge, a startup that helps B2B companies build customer-facing integrations. Merge has raised over $75M from leading investors like NEA, Addition and Accel. We dig into: - VCs passing on the seed round because $4.5M was "too large" - Why giving their seed investor a board seat was great for the company - The trouble with pitching non-technical investors a very technical product - AI and its impact and opportunity for Merge Thank you to todays sponsor JoinWarp. Warp offers nearly instant payroll and compliance solutions for startups and venture capital firms. For a free pair of Apple Airpods 4, click to learn more at https://www.joinwarp.com/novpromo?utm_source=nichole. Stifel Bank is committed to supporting the innovation community. Focused on seed- through late-stage companies, they provide a dynamic platform of collaborative solutions for treasury management and lending. Our clients enjoy access to the broader capabilities of Stifel, including Investment Banking, Private Client Banking, and Wealth Management. Stifel’s Wealth Management services provided by Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated. Shoot a note to aguerrero@stifelbank.com for more information.
Leif Abraham is the co-founder and co-CEO of Public.com, an investing platform with a mission to make the public markets work for everyone. Public.com was founded in 2019, scaled to over 1M users in the less than 18 months post launch and has since raised over $300M from notable investors like Accel and Tiger Global. In Today's episode you will hear from Leif about: - Pitching almost 100 VCs for his first company before getting a single yes from Thrive Capital - What founders often get wrong when they go out to fundraise from VCs - Massive tailwinds for Public.com due to Covid and Gamestop - Events contracts and the election (Robinhood & Kalshi) - His hot take on the future of consumer fintech Thank you to todays sponsor Joinwarp.com. Warp offers almost instant payroll & compliance solutions for startups and venture capital firms. For a free pair of Apple Airpods 4, inquire to learn more. https://www.joinwarp.com/novpromo?utm_source=nichole