Founders Forward Podcast

Josh Abulafia & Elle Curran are the Co-founders of ChefPrep. ChefPrep is a marketplace for ready made meals that are prepared by award winning restaurants, delivered to your door. Josh and Elle join us to break down their journey as startup founders.

A few key topics:

00:00 Introduction
01:20 How ChefPrep validated their core thesis
02:45 Why ChefPrep decided to focus on the supply side
05:25 Key marketplace metrics they track
08:25 Building barriers to entry in marketplaces
09:45 Why tracking the right data is vital to startup success
12:00 Building their company operating system

Malcolm Burenstam Linder is the CEO and Co-founder of Alva Labs. The team at Alva Labs is creating a more fair and data-driven recruitment process. Malcolm joins us to break down his story and journey as a founder.

A few key topics we hit on: 

• How Alva found their first customers 
• Using personal networks to find their first customers
• Why founders need to be extremely diligent about their first hires
• Why seeing a professional coach has been a gamechanger for him 
• Why everyone should look beyond a resume when hiring 

Matt Achariam and Zach Hamed are the Co-founders of Clay. Clay is a beautiful and private home for all your relationships. Populated from the ground up using your calendar and social history, Clay is the most stunning, powerful way to remember who you’ve met—and what matters to them.

Matt & Zach join us to hit on a few key ideas:

00:00 Introduction
02:28 How they acquired their first customers
06:45 Manually onboarding their first users
07:45 Why they focus on the problem to better build product
12:45 Why founders should stop overthinking outreach
14:30 The importance of empathy in the startup world
18:45 Why you should compliment more people
21:30 Relationship-based fundraising

Learn more about Clay here — https://clay.earth/

Or follow along Twitter here — https://twitter.com/ClayHQ

Yaw Aning is the CEO and Founder of Malomo. Malomo is a shipment tracking platform that helps eCommerce brands turn order tracking from a cost center into a profitable marketing channel.

Yaw joins us to break down:
00:00 Introduction
2:10 How Malomo found their first customers
13:10 The importance of finding a co-founder
15:00 How and why you need to solve customer's problems
16:45 How Yaw found his co-founder
18:00 The importance of being able to shut down
21:30 How to prioritize time

If you have eCommerce questions or things you'd like to discuss, find Yaw on Twitter @YawA. If you'd like to learn more about Malomo, check out their website here — https://gomalomo.com/

The Founders Forward is Produced by Visible — Our platform helps thousands of founders update investors, track key metrics, and raise capital. Try Visible free for 14 days here, https://visible.vc/

For the first episode, we welcomed Nick Loui, CEO and Founder of PeakMetrics. PeakMetrics uses machine learning to spot trends & predict message resonance across news, social, and TV/radio. In this episode, we break down: 

— Getting over the cold start problem
— Creating value through aggregation
— Narrowing down your target audience

Give episode 1 with Nick Loui a listen below (or give it a listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you normally consume podcasts)

On episode 10 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Gale Wilkinson. Gale is the Managing Partner at Vitalize Ventures — "an early-stage fund & angel community investing in software focused on future of work and future of learning."

Before starting Vitalize, Gale started her career in venture capital at Irish Angels. Gale is one of our favorite follows on Twitter where she shares tactical tips for founders on fundraising. She joins us to break down some of her most popular threads on Twitter and offers countless takeaways to help early-stage founders fundraise — covering everything from list building to ownership benchmarks.

What You Can Expect to Learn from Gale:

• How VC has changed over the last 10 years
• Why Vitalize is launching an angel group
• Why list building is vital to a successful fundraise
• How many investors a founder should expect to talk to during a raise
• What catches her eye in a cold email from a founder
• What she looks for in a pitch deck
• Why she cares about financial modeling at the early stages

On episode 9 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Lisa Besserman. Lias Besserman is the Managing Director at Expa — an accelerator based in Austin, TX dedicated to supporting pre-seed companies. 

Lisa started her career as an economist but ultimately found her way to founding Startup Buenos Aires — an accelerator located in Buenos Aires to help support startups in Latin America. Since then Lisa has made the move to Expa where is the managing director of their accelerator. Between her time at Startup Buenos Aires and Expa, Lisa has a wealth of knowledge related to all things company building, fundraising, and leading — especially at the early stages. 

Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Lisa. Give the full episode a listen here. 

What You Can Expect to Learn from Lisa:

• How founders can best connect with investors
• How to determine if an accelerator is right for your business
• What kind of companies Expa is interested in funding
• Why founders should try their best for a warm intro
• What she likes to see in a cold email 
• How to determine how much to raise
• What she thinks the future of VC looks like

Related Resources:

• Lisa's Twitter
• Lisa's LinkedIn
• Application to apply for Expa
• Expa's Visible Connect profile

On episode 8 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Anne Dwane. Anne is the partner and co-founder at Village Global — an early-stage venture capital firm backed by successful entrepreneurs. 

Anne has a unique perspective on the VC space as she founded her first successful startup, Military.com, in the 1990s. After Military.com, Anne founded a startup later acquired by Chegg where she helped scale as they went public. Anne joins us to share what she has learned from time in the space. We discuss who founders should look to for advice, the thought process behind the roster of Village Global's LPs, and how founders can build a fundraising process. 

Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Anne. You can give the full episode a listen above.

What You Can Expect to Learn from Anne:

• What Anne learned from helping scale Chegg
• How the startup world has transformed since her time founding Military.com in the 90s
• Why founders should look for a "thought partner"
• Why founders funding founders is a good thing
• How to build a fundraising process
• What she likes to see in a cold email from a founder

Related Resources:

• Anne's Twitter
• Anne's LinkedIn
• The Village Global application
• Village Global's Visible Connect Profile

On episode 7 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Kristian Andersen. Kristian is a founder and partner at High Alpha, a venture studio located in Indianapolis. 

Before launching High Alpha, Kristian founded the prolific design agency, Studio Science. During his time at Studio Science, Kristian primarily served software companies which ultimately led to him being a founding partner at High Alpha. Between Kristian's experience at Studio Science and his time at High Alpha helping launch 30+ companies, it is safe to say he knows a thing or 2 about design and storytelling. Kristian joins us to break down how design can be a competitive advantage, the importance of storytelling in business, the High Alpha Studio model, and much more. 

Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Kristian. You can give the full episode a listen below:

What You Can Expect to Learn from Kristian:

• How the High Alpha Studio models work
• What kind of co-founders they look for at High Alpha
• How design can be a competitive advantage 
• Why storytelling is important in business and fundraising
• Why Coco Chanel, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ralph Lauren are great storytellers
• What he likes to see in a cold email from a founder

Related Resources:

• Kristian's Twitter
• Kristian's website
• Apply to become a High Alpha Co-founder
• High Alpha's Visible Connect Profile

On episode 6, season 2 of the Founders Forward Podcast, we welcome Corinne Riley. Corinne is an investor at the prolific venture capital firm, Greylock, where she primarily invests in B2B companies. 

Over the course of her career, Corinne has built a knack for helping companies build and develop a go-to-market motion. Corinne has extensive knowledge of community-led growth and helping companies grow at the earliest stages of their business. Corinne joins the show to break down community-led companies and the thought process behind her investment decision-making. 

Our CEO, Mike Preuss, had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Corinne. You can give the full episode a listen below: