Founder Vision with Clearview

Hyperspec CEO Sravan Puttagunta is on an ambitious mission: to make self-driving cars think like humans, not machines. With recent advances in available computational power combined with some very clever machine learning algorithms, Hyperspec is enabling robots to think critically and contextualize the world more like humans do, removing the need for pre-defined maps and opening up new possibilities. As Sravan explains to Brett what it’s like to build an AI that approaches human consciousness, they also reflect on what it means to think like a human, and how that can inform the cultures we cultivate and the companies we build.

Early stage startups cannot afford to rest on their laurels. In order to scale and grow a business sustainably, business leaders have to make wise decisions about how to direct their resources and where to focus their efforts. Hamish Livingston, Head of Product at Willo, knows that well. He joins Brian Gupton on the podcast to discuss how Willo is managing to scale their asynchronous video interview platform in today's competitive market while keeping the Willo team agile and capital-efficient. He discusses how the product team assesses and prioritizes feature suggestions and leverages the advantages of outsourced developer resources to build a product that clients want to pay for. Listen in to learn how Willo is changing the game in video interviewing, and get a peek at some of the lessons Hamish and his team have learned along the way.

How did I end up here?In today's episode, we speak with ChainSafe's VP of Product & Project Management Amer Ameen about overcoming difficult life challenges while building a tech startup.Whether it's an unfulfilling career, a failing relationship, getting laid off or even all of the above, difficult life challenges are inevitable. How you deal with those challenges is what matters.We discuss how to make these life challenges a catalyst for personal & professional growth.

Taylor Cole has always boldly followed his curiosity. As a BASE jumper and CRW (synchronized maneuvers under skydive canopy) pilot, he gained an interest in the forces that effect wings - and so he went to grad school to study fluid mechanics. During his career in the Navy, he has put his creativity to work, using math to capture bad guys, perform analyses, and lead a research lab. When he discovered that he himself has an auditory processing disorder, he started exploring immersive environments that engage multiple senses in concert… which led him to found Burble Creativity. Burble Creativity is creating portable environments that use audio and visual elements together to engage both hemispheres of kids’ brains in immersive experiences. Early research shows promise for education and therapeutic applications, not just for auditory processing disorders, but for a whole slew of others, including autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He joins Brett Kistler on the podcast to share the incredible story behind this new technology, dive deep into what might drive some people toward adventure sports, discuss the under-recognized power of a neurodivergent mind, and more.

For non-technical would-be entrepreneurs, getting a tech startup off the ground can be especially challenging. In today's episode, we speak with Sendoso co-founder & CEO Kris Rudeegrapp.Kris was a sales guy who saw an unmet need around sending gifts as a way to engage with prospective clients throughout their buyer journey. We discuss how he self-funded the company with just $25K and scaled it to over 500 employees and a $100M Series C.Join us today to learn all the nitty gritty details.

Building a business using cutting edge technology often means your business may not have a clear or immediate revenue model. How does this reality change your business strategy?Volograms Co-Founder & CEO Rafael Pages started his company as a university research project in 3D augmented reality. In today's episode, we discuss the unique challenges associated with building new deep tech without a clear revenue path. We discuss options including starting as a services provider, fundraising and building early stage teams.

Product pivots are an inevitable reality for early stage tech startups. Understanding how to build, manage and scale early stage engineering teams while embracing the inevitable product pivot or code rewrite is a critical factor in getting your biz to escape velocity. In today's episode, Brian Gupton discusses these realities with Izicap's CTO Tancho Markovik. Learn how Tancho scaled one company from 6 to 125 devs, how he adjusts his interview process for early versus later hires, how he manages internal expectations around technical debt and much more.

Business accelerators can be valuable resources for entrepreneurs. Traditionally, they have provided a space to attend expert talks and workshops, make valuable connections, and test your idea alongside other would-be founders. But how can a founder best capitalize on this opportunity? Miriam Schwab from Strattic has some ideas. She joins Brian Gupton on the podcast to discuss when to consider paying a fee or trading equity for space in an accelerator, the benefits and limitations of online-only accelerators, how to maximize your value from the workshops offered, and more. She also delves into other topics, including finding the right business partner, scraping together your first MVP, and recruiting your first set of clients and investors. We were fortunate to have an established professional like Miriam join us to share her insights, and we really encourage anyone who has considered joining an accelerator to give this one a listen. For 80% off your first year with Strattic, use https://www.strattic.com/clearview/

Alex Price and the team at Ecologi have an ambitious mission: to cut the world's carbon emissions 50% by 2040 through the power of collective action. Bold projects require bold people, and Alex has learned some interesting lessons along the way. He joins Brett Kistler on the podcast to discuss the scaling abilities of a business over a charity, the power of transparency in hiring great people, what to look for in a mentor, how to avoid burnout, and so much more. Ecologi is a project with a lot of heart, and it shows in this interview. We hope you'll join us.

Being part of a startup rather than an established business has a unique set of challenges and opportunities. It can be a big, risky leap both professionally and personally. Thankfully, there are people like Aaron Cheng who have done this a time or two. Prior to taking on his current role as Chief Product Officer for Felix Health, he already had extensive experience building and scaling large tech teams across a myriad of industries. He joins Brian Gupton on the podcast to share some key insights with us, including the importance of setting and measuring goals even as a hard-to-predict startup, what to look for in first product hires, how to determine whether you need a product manager or project manager, and more.

When a business has been trucking along nicely for (30+) years, it can be tempting to avoid rocking the boat. But in today's rapidly-changing world, not only does that boat need to be rocked, sometimes it's time to replace the sails with a jet motor! When Patricia Hume joined Canvas, she was up for the challenge. She brought 20 years of C-level experience to her new role as CEO, ready to lead Canvas's strategic vision into the future. She joins Brian Gupton on the show to talk about her experience, including the challenges of moving from a perpetual license model to subscription software while retaining clients, managing internal resistance to change and maintaining team rapport, securing funding for new ventures while supporting legacy products, and more. With Patricia at the helm, Canvas has big things ahead, and we're so glad she shared her insights with us.

On a very special episode of Founder Vision, Yurii Filipchuk joins Brian Gupton from his home in Kyiv, mere kilometers from the active warzone, on the 8th day of the Russian invasion. Yurii and two cofounders (who were themselves displaced by conflict in 2014 and now again in 2022), formed Party.Space as a way to create virtual “microverses” - VR environments for events, conferences, and parties. When your real world is under pressing threat, what is the creator of a virtual world to do? 

Yurii shares so much with us in this powerful interview. Topics include: - Day to day life under the shadow of war - How tech companies and everyday people can support the Ukrainian resistance, both virtually and physically - How the Ukrainian tech community is fighting - and winning - a “meme war” to destabilize critical Russian IT infrastructure and get real information to the Russian people. - How Ukrainian businesses are surviving, and how to support them - Differing responses within the Ukrainian workforce; ranging from crippling fear to “work therapy” All this and more. We hope you’ll give it a listen, and continue to listen to the people of Ukraine. Interview recorded 5:30pm Ukrainian time on Thursday, March 3.

Technical debt is the source of a lot of confusion, concern, and negative stigma in the startup world. It's the idea that taking a coding shortcut now - to meet a deadline, push an iteration, or for some other goal - will lead to more development work needed in the future. Non-technical founders may fear it, have trouble recognizing it, try avoid it, and unknowingly accrue it. Nael El Shawwa, Head of Engineering at Perpetua.io, has a different perspective. He joins Brian Gupton on the podcast to discuss how founders can thoughtfully - not recklessly - leverage technical debt to help move their vision forward. This thought-provoking conversation also digs into topics such as leadership - how to embrace it for yourself and how to identify and foster it in others; the current state of tech recruitment; and what can be gained and lost as we are siloed away from the office in remote work. We really enjoyed this conversation and think you will too.

Beginning and growing a startup is a resource-intensive process. It demands time, money, attention, and energy. In a world where all these resources are finite, how can founders prioritize their efforts for maximum results? Dennis Kelly from Postalytics has some ideas. He joins Brian Gupton to discuss strategies such as building a sales pipeline, identifying your core demographic, optimizing content, the benefits of releasing free software, and more.

Ciprian Spiridon knows a thing or two about startups. After all, in his role at AW Rostamani Group, he's responsible for the internal software house that serves the companies that make up AWR Group, from ecommerce retail to automobile services and beyond. Both as part of AWR Group and in his prior career as a software developer, he's had the chance to interact with startups and scaling companies from a vast variety of industries, and he joins Brian Gupton on the podcast to share some of what he's learned. Listen in to hear about the most important skill a founder can have, the value of "controlled chaos" in a growing company, his "golden rule" for nontechnical founders, and more.

When Daniela Tudor set out to create WEconnect, it was personal. As someone who is in long-term recovery herself, she saw the major barriers that people in recovery face as they try to change self-destructive behaviors. It can be difficult to stay accountable, find connection, and even to afford access to ongoing recovery support. She and her team at WEconnect are disrupting that pattern with their powerful mobile tool that challenges and rewards participants for creating healthier habits, provides one-on-one peer support, and serves as a safety net for members in crisis. She joins Brett and Brian on the podcast to discuss her journey in building a platform that has helped people from around the world with recovery from addiction. https://www.weconnectrecovery.com/free

In founding a business, improving a product, and generally keeping up with the fast pace of innovation in today's startup landscape, it's important to make the right decisions the first time around. For years, businesses have relied on quantitative (numbers-based) data to help them understand what's happened and try to guess where to go next. But so much information comes to us in shapes that are hard to punch into a spreadsheet. From phone and video conversations to open-field survey questions, a wealth of data gets overlooked because it can't be easily analyzed, which leaves leaders trying to make decisions from their inherently-biased personal judgment. Michael Bamberger and his team at Tetra Insights are tackling this problem with their powerful qualitative data mining tool. He joins Brett and Brian on the podcast to share some of the insights his team has unearthed and how doing the right research ahead of time can empower business leaders to stay ahead of the curve in today's demanding market. https://www.tetrainsights.com/

When Dr. Matt Wilson decided to leave a burgeoning career in clinical medicine to found medical research technology platform uMed, it was a leap of faith. All the moreso because his first attempt at a medical startup failed to take off. So what does it take to brush the dust off and try again? A heap of inspiration, a bit of luck, and the right mentors and partners around you. Matt and uMed's Head of Product Patti Ward join Brett and Brian on the podcast to share uMed's story. They dig into the need to fail gracefully, how to know when to pivot and when to stay the course, the importance of finding the right mentors on a startup journey, and more.

Ethan Glass's parking management service Ocra came from humble roots. As a parking operator managing spaces near the LA Coliseum, he saw firsthand just how fragmented, inefficient, and disorganized the industry was; every vendor had different methods for tracking inventory, adjusting pricing, and accepting payments.  Not content with the status quo, Ethan began incorporating automations and technology to reduce slippage and operating costs. Then, like so many other startups, COVID-19 disrupted the industry. With in-person events (and thus, event parking) coming to a screeching halt overnight, Ethan and his team could have rolled over and quit. Or, they could get creative. Listen in as he shares the story of Ocra's pivot to build the world's first omni-channel management platform for parking operators, designed around real client needs from the ground up.getocra.com

The Team W understands how human psychology drives UX. After all, founder and CEO Susan Weinschenk holds a Ph.D. in Psychology and serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Wisconsin. This makes The Team W's expertise uniquely valuable to their clients, who are trying to optimize their offerings to guide customer behavior and interactions. But how do we know when we're nearing an ethical boundary, where optimization approaches manipulation? Susan joins Brett Kistler and Brian Gupton on the podcast to talk about The Team W's approach to ethics. She shares the ethical calculator that her son Guthrie Weinschenk created, and gets real about what it means to manage and grow a business as a parent-child team. theteamw.com ethicalformula.com