Beyond the Cap Table

This is an episode of January Ventures’ Beyond the Cap Table podcast, hosted by Jennifer Neundorfer. We aim to demystify the various parts of venture capital and highlight founders, funders, and other game changers who are building new networks and enabling the new establishment in the startup and venture world. Listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts.

Claude Grunitzky is CEO and Managing Partner at the Equity Alliance, a New York-based fund that invests in venture capital firms and early-stage ventures run by women and people of color. Born in Togo, Claude is also the founder of two media companies, TRACE and TRUE Africa. Over the past two decades, TRACE, which was funded by Goldman Sachs and successfully sold to European investors in 2010, has become one of the most popular youth culture media brands focused on Black culture. TRUE Africa is a Google-funded media tech platform championing young African voices and innovators all over the world. Growing up, Claude, who speaks six languages and carries three passports, was exposed to many different cultures. These foreign interactions shaped his transcultural philosophy and informed the creative energy of his ventures.

In this episode, Claude shares:

This is an episode of January Ventures’ Beyond the Cap Table podcast, hosted by Jennifer Neundorfer. We aim to demystify the various parts of venture capital and highlight founders, funders, and other game changers who are building new networks and enabling the new establishment in the startup and venture world. Listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts.

Sonia Kastner is the CEO and Founder of Pano AI, the leader in wildfire early detection and intelligence. Previously, Sonia spent over 10 years building and leading supply chain and manufacturing organizations within fast-growing mission-driven start-ups. Her global leadership experience spans Nest Thermostats, multiple solar energy companies, and extensive work across the IoT ecosystem. Prior to starting her career in technology, she worked in economic development for New York City under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Andrew Konya is the founder and CEO of Remesh, a web-based platform that lets institutions have live conversations with their audiences, or customers at scale, using AI to analyze and organize their responses in real-time. Since the days of that first investment, Remesh has gone on to raise $40M from investors like General Catalyst, Lionbird and Techstars. Before Remesh, there were real tradeoffs between the speed and scale of research vs. the depth and quality of response. Remesh delivers qualitative insights and quantitative scale, enabling organizations to gain fast, frequent, and efficient insights and make decisions with confidence.

In this episode, we get into:

How he decided his idea needed to be a business, not a non-profit

Power of telling people about your idea

Differences between building a technology vs. a business

The importance of getting feedback from the market and having flexibility as an early founder

How to identify and invent your own metrics of success 

How to think about building a sustainable business

Why founders should actively seek out situations where they feel like an imposter

Selling a vision and team to early investors 

The importance of getting to a quick no from early investors

How to create the right type of urgency for early investors

The office as a place to build culture and celebrate

Alex is the co-founder of two tech companies. His first company, Onosys – was a comprehensive, enterprise-level digital ordering platform for restaurant chains. Note that Alex started Onosys in 2008, so he was on the bleeding edge of the digital revolution for restaurants. Onosys raised angel capital from Zapis Capital, a family office that is a great partner to early stage founders, before they sold to Living Social in 2012. Alex’s second company was Scout RFP, an innovative e-sourcing solution for companies across all industries, which he started in 2014 With Scout, Alex and his co-founders raised $60M from funds like NEA, Menlo Ventures, and Scale Venture Partners. Scout was acquired by Workday in 2019 for $540M.

In this episode, we get into:

When he knew he wanted to become an entrepreneur

The ambition to drive his own destiny

The biggest piece of advice he would give to an entrepreneur

How your big idea will be rough before you get it right

His unique approach to early market discovery

What founders can learn from an interview vs. a survey

The moment listening to the customer changed his revenue model

Why it is critical to ask customer what they have vs. what they use  

The benefit of establishing relationships with investors early

How to effectively build relationships

The importance of being open and honest from the start

What investors are looking for in the early days

Why co-founders need to have the uncomfortable conversations upfront

Why founders shouldn't worry about an exit strategy

How and when to bring in strategic investors

How to decide which city is the best location to build your business

Diane Hessan is a successful entrepreneur, researcher and author. She is the founder and Chairman of C Space, formerly Communispace, which was the first company to build online communities for market research, and which was ultimately sold to Omnicom. Diane was CEO of the company during 14 years of exponential growth, as C Space worked with hundreds of global brands to gain insight and inspiration from their consumers. A serial entrepreneur, Diane has consolidated all of her investment and advisory work into a new company called Salient Ventures, which helps accelerate the next generation of growth companies in tech. 

In this episode, we get into:

Her real motivation, to become a CEO and leader

When she decided to start a company and build the kind of organization she wanted to work for

What led her to leave a job that she was reasonably happy in

How to come up with your idea and find a problem that matters to you

How her personal need for community identified a white space and business opportunity

One of the most critical skills for entrepreneurs: selling

The most important question: “What’s the worst thing that can happen?”

How to look at failure

The moment of validation for C Space with the Hallmark Idea Exchange

Why loving your customers is gratifying, especially in a BTB business

Why it’s all about your team and finding, keeping and motivating the employees that complement you

How (almost) everyone pivots

The realization that listening is an underrated marketing strategy

Her goal to help five women entrepreneurs a week  

Sandi Lin is the CEO and Co-Founder of Skilljar, the leading customer education platform used by enterprises like Cisco and Verizon to accelerate product adoption and deepen customer engagement. She has raised over $50M in venture capital from Insight Partners, Mayfield, and Trilogy Equity Partners. Prior to Skilljar, she led product management teams at Amazon. Sandi has bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

In this episode, we get into:

Why it was better for Sandi to throw herself off the deep end without an idea

How she identified a space that she could relate to and truly love

Why she believes that opportunity always exists as an entrepreneur, you just have to go find it

The importance of great customer discovery and how it can actually lead to customers

How the enemy in a startup is time and that with a cofounder, you can make twice as much progress

Her biggest time saving hack

The internal debate whether to pay yourself

Keys to finding investors who believe in you as a founder

Why you should seek feedback and listen, even if you don’t always agree

Why you, yes you, should learn how to code

Tristan is the Founder and CEO of Walker & Company, a leading CPG company making health and beauty simple for people of color. Walker & Company products included the Bevel shaving line for Black men and FORM Beauty, a women’s hair care collection designed for all hair textures launched in 2017. Walker & Company raised over $30M in venture funding from funds like Andreessen Horowitz, IVP, Collaborative Fund, GV, Upfront and Felicis. Walker & Company was acquired by Proctor & Gamble in 2018. Tristan is also the founder of CODE2040, a non-profit dedicated to promoting diversity in the tech industry, and is on the boards of both Foot Locker and ShakeShack. Tristan has been named USA Today’s Person of the Year, was on Fortune’s 40 under 40 list, and was on Ebony’s 100 most powerful people list.

In this episode, we get into:

How Tristan leveraged his own unique lived experience

The importance of identifying an opportunity based on your own unique lived experience

How to turn your unique experience into a strength

How to react when someone tells you the market you’re in isn’t big enough

The power of optimism and authenticity

Why focus is so critical in the early days and what happens if you lose it

The six values that guide all of Tristan’s decisions

Why the secret to freedom is ownership

Esther is the CEO and co-founder of Squad, a screen-sharing social platform that drives real connection and engagement.  Esther found early success on YouTube and became a pioneer in influencer marketing and spearheaded award-winning digital campaigns for companies like Weight Watchers and Kmart. Squad raised $7M in venture capital from funds like First Round, BBG Ventures, Y Combinator, Halogen Ventures and January Ventures. Squad was acquired by Twitter in December 2020.  After finding early success on YouTube, she became a pioneer in influencer marketing and spearheaded award-winning digital campaigns for Fortune 500 companies including Weight Watchers and Kmart.

In this episode, we get into:

Why Esther was obsessed with solving for loneliness

Why starting a company is really a family journey

How to move from operating from a place of fear to finding your power as a founder and operating from a place of confidence

Breaking the prototypical founder mold

How it really feels to go through a pivot and how Esther’s daughter was the inspiration for the product vision that eventually became Squad

Why it’s important to plan for a co-founder to leave from day one

How to sequence your fundraise to become a “hot deal”

Tammy Sun is the CEO and co-founder of Carrot Fertility, the leading global fertility benefits provider for employers. Carrot’s mission is to improve access to high-quality fertility care and dramatically reduce the emotional and financial strain for employees who need it. Tammy was inspired to create Carrot after she spent $35,000 of her personal savings to undergo egg freezing. Carrot supports over 200 companies in more than 50 countries across North America, Asia, Europe, South America, and the Middle East. Carrot has raised $40M in venture capital from leading funds like F-Prime, CRV, Maven Ventures, Precursor Ventures, and Uncork Capital.

Tammy has had a successful career across marketing, technology, and politics. Before founding Carrot, she was the Director of Partnerships at Evernote. Prior to Evernote, she spent a decade in politics, where she served as a presidential appointee at the Federal Communications Commission during the Obama administration. She also held roles at the Clinton Foundation and The White House.

In this episode, we will cover:

How Tammy turned her personal experience with fertility into the motivation to start and build Carrot

How to know if you’re the best person to turn your idea into a business

What to look for in a co-founder and founding team

How to create feedback loops with prospective customers to inform market discovery and land your first customers

The critical things Tammy did to generate momentum for her first raise and why fundraising has been easier since

Tips for standing out in the sea of companies selling into HR & benefits teams

Tammy’s #1 suggestion for early stage founders

Shadiah Sigala is the Founder and CEO of Kinside, a platform to provide modern childcare benefits for today’s working parent. Childcare issues cost the United States’ economy an estimated $4.4 billion in lost productivity each year and also impact employee retention rates. Kinside serves hundreds of employers by connecting their employees to tens of thousands of reserved spots at top rated daycares and preschools nationwide. Kinside’s intuitive app brings much-needed relief for new parents transitioning back into the workplace, and aids employers in their retention efforts with parents at all stages. Kinside has raised over $4M from investors including Initialized Capital, Haystack, Precursor Ventures, January Ventures, Y Combinator and Kairos.

Shadiah is a serial tech entrepreneur, previously co-founding HoneyBook, a SaaS tech company that powers over 50,000 freelancers in managing their business and clients. Shadiah broke ground in her first generation Mexican-American immigrant family by receiving degrees from Harvard (Master's in Public Policy) and Pomona College (BA in Latin American Studies. She has authored groundbreaking studies regarding the gender pay gap and sexual harassment in the freelance economy, published on Fortune, Forbes, and Huffington Post, among others.

In this episode, we will cover:

How Shadiah’s love of novelty and challenge led her to the world of startups

Why Shadiah thinks it’s a mistake to keep a new idea under wraps

The role of co-founders and how to find them

Why it’s important for founders taking care of themselves – and to take a pay check from day one

Raising the first round of capital, showcasing confidence, and equalizing the dynamic between investors and founders

The case for selling ahead of building and landing your first customer with a PowerPoint pitch

Kinside’s critical role in addressing the childcare crisis caused by the pandemic