Episode 399 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Luisa Herrmann, Founder & CEO of AINovva.

This episode was recorded live at Startup Boston Week at Suffolk University which is the third year that I’ve hosted it onsite. Thank you to Stephanie Roulic for the invitation as it’s a lot of fun and great to be involved in such a meaningful conference. And, since it was hosted live, this episode is audio only and my apologies for the background noise.

Entrepreneurs take different paths when it comes to finding ideas to start a business and how they go about funding it.

Her company, AINovva was born out of her own need. After working in AI for several years and learning how to code, she built the product to solve her own content-switching exhaustion called AIFred. It handles email prioritization, meeting prep, and relationship management so busy professionals can focus on what matters.

And to fund the company, she has bootstrapped it through consulting revenue. Not every company needs an outside investment and if it does, the longer an entrepreneur can hold out… the better situation they will be in when it comes to negotiating the terms.

In this interview, we cover:

* Advice on attending networking events.

* Luisa’s background story in terms of how she got involved in the tech industry and her journey into product management.

* Her experience in product roles at ZoomInfo, Validity, and other startups.

* All the details about AINOvva.

* Advice for hiring your first Product Manager.

* And so much more.