Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

For venture investors, it’s really hard picking winners consistently over time. Kelly Ford, a partner at Edison Partners, has been studying the attributes of successful startups in her work on Edison’s Growth Index. For more than 30 years, the venture firm has been helping CEOs and their teams grow and scale successful companies. The Growth Index, which studies the firm’s portfolio of growth-stage technology companies, finds that fast growers—or companies with 30 percent or more annual growth—share seven key characteristics associated with their growth.

Edison’s Kelly Ford joins us to talk about the key takeaways from this year’s Growth Index which saw a couple of new things added to the report. She discusses how Edison uses the research as part of a broader initiative called Edison Edge, which is a program designed to help portfolio companies scale smartly and efficiently. We also chat about Edison’s portfolio and where it’s looking to make further fintech investments.

Kelly Ford is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.