Episode #334 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Don Bulens, 5 time Startup CEO and Executive Chair at CloudZero.This episode was recorded live at Suffolk University which was so much fun! We recorded 3 interviews with Suffolk alums on April 2nd, so this is the first conversation and we’ll have two more coming in the following weeks.And just a side…

Episode 333 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Geri Kirilova, Managing Partner at Laconia.From what I’ve seen, it is very rare for someone to start their career in venture and continue to progress up the ranks. Usually, an Associate or Senior Associate will do a rotation for 2-3 years and then move on to a portfolio company, maybe start a company,…

Episode 332 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ben Lerer, Managing Partner of Lerer Hippeau.The tech scene in New York City has come a very, very long way over the past 14 or 15 years. A lot of that transformation and growth was due to access to early-stage capital which wasn’t prevalent back then, but Lerer Hippeau was a key element to the founda…

Episode 331 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Rob Go, Co-Founder & Partner at NextView Ventures.I’ve been fortunate to have many people support my journey with building VentureFizz through the years and Rob was one of the earliest. Shortly after I launched the site, he reached out looking to meet up and needless to say, I jumped at the chance. Th…

Episode 330 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Harman Singh Narula, Co-Founder & CEO of Canary Technologies.“Are these entrepreneurs uniquely qualified to build an industry leading company?” - this is one of the many questions that most (if not all) VCs ask themselves when deciding to make an investment into a company.When you look at Harman’s bac…

Episode 329 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Pano Anthos, Founder & Managing Director of XRC Ventures.I always love it when things come full circle. I first met Pano back in, what I believe was 2008 when he was building Hangout Industries. I was running a recruiting firm at the time and I stopped into their offices to discuss some of their hirin…

Episode #328 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ellen Chisa, Partner at boldstart ventures.Back in 2016, we wrote a profile about Ellen on VentureFizz when she was leading product management at Lola.com. The profile was part of a series that we called Driven, which I think is a very fitting word to describe Ellen… and ironically, the discussion ar…

Episode #327 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Reed Sturtevant, General Partner at Engine Ventures.This is exciting! Why? Because this episode is longer than my normal interviews, as Reed and I cover his career that spans multiple decades across major technological platform shifts. This means that based on his career, he has so many great stories…

Episode 326 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Dries Buytaert, Founder and Project Lead of Drupal and Co-Founder, CTO, and Chief Strategy Officer of Acquia.Many of the most successful companies in tech were created by founders who built something that was to fill their own need. This was certainly the case for Dries, who back in 2000, started an i…

Episode 325 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Alex Shashou, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of 10Beauty.About 10 years ago, Peter Thiel is credited for saying “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.”True, Twitter or X certainly was not in the same frame of mind as to what we saw on The Jetsons, but are we finally starting to get there? The Roo…

Episode #324 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Sameer Gulati, Founder & CEO of Ordway.Sameer loves SaaS and it’s for good reason… it is expected that the size of the SaaS market may hit almost $1 trillion by 2030! Yes, the tech industry is having some challenges, but did you know that… even though the evolution to SaaS started 20 something years …

Episode 323 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Elizabeth Lawler, Founder & CEO of AppMap.A question that I ask every guest at the end of every interview is - “What do you like to do for fun outside of work?” Oftentimes, I get common answers like - hiking, traveling, etc. But, Elizabeth’s answer has by far been the best one yet and it is proof that…

Episode 322 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ryan Shank, CEO & Founder of ShareWillow.Finding the right idea for building a company that will scale is hard. It’s even harder when you get influenced by all the news about the trends in tech like AI, Web 3, crypto, or whatever is the latest trend.Yet, there are still some very large industries that…

Episode #321 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Gabi Steele, Co-Founder & CEO at Preql.Building a company is hard and there is no “one right way” to go about getting started, especially when you are creating a new category. But, when I talk to founders like Gabi, there was always an emphasis on generating revenue from the start.It’s a smart move, …

This is episode #320 and today’s guest is Mike Duda, Managing Partner at Bullish.Peloton, Harry’s, Warby Parker, Casper, Birchbox… these are all iconic direct-to-consumer brands that have all disrupted various categories that were ripe for disruption. Take Warby Parker, the eyewear company that disrupted Luxottica’s business which pretty much owned…

Episode 319 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Peter Berg, Managing Partner at M12, Microsoft’s venture capital fund.I’ve had lots of investors as guests on the podcast, but I was excited to interview Peter because I’ve never interviewed an investor from a CVC or a Corporate Venture Capital fund.I’m not sure what the number is today, but according…

Episode #318 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Henrik Werdelin, entrepreneur & author.Incubators are not a new thing but some are certainly more successful than others. Take prehype, a venture development firm in New York City where Henrik is a Founding Partner. It has holdings in major success stories like BarkBox and Ro, plus over a dozen other…

Episode 317 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Deon Nicholas, CEO & Co-Founder of Forethought.I was at a couple of networking events the other week and let’s just say the word AI was brought up many, many times. Yes, we are in a major shift in terms of a tech platform, but doesn’t it feel like some companies are forcing AI into their business mode…

Episode 316 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Clement Cazalot, CEO & Co-Founder of Machinery Partner.From scaling docTrackr to an exit… to running the Boston Techstars program… to his latest company… since coming to Boston from France in 2011, Clem has become an anchor of the Boston tech scene as an entrepreneur, investor, and community builder. …

Episode 315 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Jordan Fliegel, Managing Director of Techstars’ NYC and Sports accelerators.Athlete, entrepreneur, investor, mentor, are just some of the words to describe Jordan’s career.Originally a fixture of the Boston tech scene with his first company, CoachUp, and now a major part of the NYC tech scene as the l…

Episode 314 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Cory Munchbach, CEO of BlueConic.There is no set rule on how one becomes a CEO of a tech company and when you look at Cory’s career path, it is one of the main reasons why I encourage people to work for high growth startups. She was employee #17 at BlueConic, eight years ago, and was announced as the …

Thanksgiving is not only a special holiday because of the time with your family, all the great food, and of course, football, but it is also a time when lots of people volunteer and give back.Thus, the timing of this interview with John couldn’t have been more perfect as we head into the Thanksgiving holiday.Most people know of John as an entrepren…

I don’t mind shopping for groceries but my problem is that I’m a creature of habit and I tend to purchase the same things over and over again. Plus, I am terrible about meal planning, so after doing a full shop there is still “nothing to eat.”I guess I’m not the only one. As Ben and I discuss, on average, consumers spend 2-3 hours a week grocery sh…

Did you know that 23% of global emissions come from single family homes? Needless to say, this is a underserved segment and an industry that is ripe for innovation. Carl’s current company, Aro Homes, is a purpose-driven company on a mission to redefine residential construction. The company was founded in 2021 and has raised $21M in funding from wor…

This episode is the second live interview that we recorded live at Startup Boston Week at Suffolk University which was a ton of fun and maybe it is something that I should do more often.As you’ll hear, Wes is a native New Englander. He grew up in Acton and launched Fetch while he was in school at the University of Wisconsin. The company has office …

This is a first! This episode is one of two interviews that we recorded live at Startup Boston Week at Suffolk University which was a ton of fun and maybe it is something that I should do more often.Material Impact is a deep tech VC firm that was founded by Carmichael Roberts and Adam Sharkaway. The firm is investing in companies that are powered b…

Steve is an operator turned venture capitalist. After a very successful run at General Catalyst, he joined Juxtapose earlier this year as a Partner to focus on building innovative B2B companies.Juxtapose is an investment firm that partners with experienced entrepreneurs to build category-defining technology companies. The firm has developed over tw…

It’s nice to get paid, but what happens behind the scenes for each payroll cycle is actually very complex. There’s a plethora of different tax calculations, remittance, filling, plus the movement of money between companies and employees. Yet, it would probably make sense for lots of companies to offer payroll as an add on service to their existing …

Syncro is an all-in-one professional services automation (PSA) and remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform for managed service providers (MSPs). The company is backed by Mainsail Partners, a growth equity firm.In this episode of our podcast, we cover:* How having a broad range of experience across different functional areas helped position …

Fintech Sandbox is a nonprofit that helps fintech startups build great products. Founded in 2014, Fintech Sandbox provides critical data access and development resources to FinTech entrepreneurs around the world. It’s a 6-month program where startups can get apply anytime, as the application process is rolling and there are no deadlines to get invo…

Kumospace is a venture backed virtual office space platform that provides immersive and interactive virtual spaces for hosting team meetings, and social gatherings. Charge Ventures is a venture capital firm based in New York that invests in pre-seed / seed early stage tech ventures.In this episode of our podcast, we cover:* The details on Brett’s a…

‍Column Tax’s mission is to democratize access to tax and finance advice to improve people’s lives. The company is building the infrastructure and APIs to power year-round income tax products for all mobile banking and fintech companies. Column Tax is venture backed by Bain Capital Ventures, Felicis, Not Boring, Core Innovation Capital, and South P…

Blackbird.AI helps organizations detect and respond to threats that cause reputational and financial harm. Powered by their AI-Driven Narrative & Risk Intelligence Constellation Platform, organizations can proactively understand risks and threats to their reputation in real-time. The company recently announced its $20M Series B round of funding led…

Tropic provides data, tools and services to automate SaaS procurement for tech-forward companies, saving them money and time. The company has raised $65M since August 2021 and Insight Partners led its most recent round of funding.In this episode of our podcast, we cover:* A very open and honest conversation with David about his history with addicti…

I’m so excited to announce that with this episode we have hit a new milestone and that is #300 episodes of The VentureFizz Podcast!!! Did you know that my first interview was published 5 years ago, so I am blown away to reach this milestone.Starting a podcast is not necessarily hard, but keeping up with it is certainly one of the trickiest parts. I…

In challenging markets, like we are in right now, companies in the tech industry need to think hard about pricing of their product. Should you discount your product or think through other options like usage based pricing or credit burn down pricing. Kate and I start our conversation around the different pricing options and key points that you need …

Becoming an influencer for a particular topic is very challenging. It’s hard to build up a following at scale. It requires a lot of work in terms of building up an effective content, social media, and speaker strategy to build up engagement.As a serial entrepreneur, not only was I interested in learning about Larry's journey around building compani…

The world of cybersecurity gets a lot of attention in companies and enterprises, but when you look at what’s happen with consumers, the numbers for cybercrime and identity theft are staggering. Here are some stats:According to a report from the FBI, Americans lost more than $10B last year to cybercrime.According to the FTC, there were 1.1 million r…

The business of doing good. It is an area where companies can build a profitable organization while doing something that is socially responsible. Companies like TOMS and Patagonia are great examples.For JC, she had a successful career, but it lacked fulfilment and she finally hit a breaking point where it was time for a change.From taking the entre…

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 be…

If you’ve listened to this podcast in the past, you probably know that I’m an avid fan of tech history. There’s nothing like a legendary founding story of a company that completed disrupted an industry.Well, I have an amazing episode today that is going to cover a lot of ground at several ground-breaking, platform shift companies. I’m talking about…

It is hard enough to build a startup in a heavily regulated industry like healthcare, but what do you do when your biggest competitor who is publicly traded files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection? It can be discouraging… or it can be an opportunity. In the case of DynamiCare Health, it is hopefully an opportunity… an opportunity to build a worl…

Rember when you needed a full tech team to launch a simple brochureware website? Now you can just jump on Wix or Squarespace and spin up a well designed, responsive website in seconds.The rise of the no-code movement has helped increase the pace and usefulness of technology and it has transcended into lots of other applications and use cases. It’s …

When you have an idea to start a company that monopolizes your thinking, it’s probably a good sign to take that leap of faith into the entrepreneurial waters.In the case of Bobby, he had wanted to start his own company for a long time and he finally had that idea that he couldn’t shake from his head. It was his years and years of experience in the …

The career path to a CEO position at a tech company is not linear. If you look at the background of CEOs, there are many different roads. It could be operations, product management, marketing, or other functional areas. In Frank’s case, he ran several teams including sales and professional services. Some might believe that the CEO’s role is to be t…

There are so many companies that have been born out of the mobile revolution and some of these companies, while looking back, seems so obvious. But, in the early days of mobile - I’m talking pre-iPhone, pre-App Store days, it was the risk-takers like Rodger who set out to solve really difficult problems that set the stage for the future. Whether if…

It’s impressive when an entrepreneur builds a company from scratch that ultimately scales, but I think it is even more impressive when you can combine a strong social mission to a company that scales, as well.This is what Rodney and his Co-Founder, Travis Holoway, have built with SoLo Funds, a leading community finance platform focused on underserv…

Fate, luck, destiny… whatever you call it, it seems very apparent that all three founders of Bevi were meant to build a company together.They all shared a common interest in sustainability, a desire to build a company, and experience in a field that had water at its core.Eliza grew up sailing and was always interested in ocean stewardship which led…

What do the following brands have in common? Casamigos, Skims, Fenty Beauty, Aviation Gin, and Beats by Dre. Well, they all have a celebrity as a co-founder.While celebrities can land a lucrative endorsement deal, it pales in comparison to what the outcome can be if you own part of a company that is successful. The pairing of a brand with a celebri…

It goes without saying, but we need more capital going towards female founded companies. While we still have a long way to go, there has been some progress in this regard with dedicated funds like XFactor Ventures. The fund, which is focused on pre-seed and seed investments, was launched in 2017 by Flybridge with Anna as a Co-Founder with a strateg…