Founders Future

In this episode of "Founders, Future," host Laura Skinner interviews Jono Bacon, the co-founder and CEO of Community Leadership Core. The discussion delves into Jono's inspiring journey in the tech community landscape, where he has dedicated over 26 years to helping companies build passionate audiences around their products and services. 

Jono shares insights into his experience working with both large organizations like Okta and Adobe, as well as early-stage startups, emphasizing the importance of community building and effective market strategies. He recounts his background, including his leadership role in creating a community of 60 million users and his time at Xprize and GitHub. 

The conversation highlights Jono's philosophy on community engagement—advocating for a gradual, natural integration of users into vibrant communities rather than a transactional approach. He identifies a significant gap in traditional consulting methods, which often fail to translate information into actionable change, and explains how Community Leadership Core aims to bridge that gap.

Listeners will gain valuable insights into Jono's vision for future growth, the challenges faced by startups in fostering community, and the strategies that drive successful engagement.

In this episode of *Founders Future*, Laura Skinner interviews Anthony Pierri, co-founder of Fletch PMM, a consultancy specializing in product positioning and homepage messaging for B2B SaaS startups. Anthony shares how Fletch PMM grew from a side project at a product design agency into an independent company that has helped over 300 venture-backed startups refine their messaging. He discusses the challenges of finding market focus, their success using LinkedIn to build a pipeline, and the importance of clear, compelling positioning for startups. Anthony also highlights the dilemmas of scaling, debating whether to broaden their offerings or deepen their expertise. This episode offers valuable insights on the power of focus, building trust in consulting, and navigating the balance between growth and maintaining quality.

In this episode of *Founders Future*, host Laura Skinner sits down with Sinjin Dalgleish, CEO of Poland AI, to discuss the transformative power of hyper-personalized outbound sales solutions. Sinjin shares the founding story behind Poland AI, a platform leveraging custom AI models to automate highly personalized email and LinkedIn outreach, tailored for lean sales teams aiming to scale effectively. 

Sinjin explains how Poland AI's unique approach differentiates itself in a crowded AI-generated outbound market, emphasizing quality over volume. He highlights the challenges of onboarding clients, scalability, and maintaining a lean team while achieving significant milestones like acquiring 45 clients within their first year of operation. 

The discussion explores emerging trends such as social selling and its potential to complement traditional outbound strategies. Sinjin also provides insights into the evolving market dynamics and his vision for the next stages of growth, including refining their ideal customer profile (ICP) and expanding into the North American market. 

Finally, Sinjin reflects on his journey as a first-time CEO, balancing the highs and lows of startup leadership, and the lessons learned in building a sustainable business that customers love. 

In this episode of *Founders Future*, host Laura Skinner sits down with Bernie Kassar, the founder and CEO of Latitude 39. Bernie shares the story behind the company, which began as a divestiture from Xactly Corporation, acquiring two mature products focused on automating incentive compensation management for SMBs. With a mission to streamline commission calculations and provide sales teams with greater visibility, Latitude 39 helps organizations align compensation plans with corporate goals and drive desired sales behaviors.

Bernie discusses the unique advantages of launching with established products and a pre-existing customer base, which allowed the company to bypass the typical early-stage challenges of achieving product-market fit. Despite its solid foundation, Bernie emphasizes the importance of building a company culture, assembling the right team, and navigating a competitive market with well-funded players. The company has found success in industries such as managed service providers, value-added resellers, and medical device companies, and aims to deepen its impact in these verticals.

Latitude 39’s growth strategy focuses on leveraging partnerships with platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot, and ConnectWise to enhance its reach. Bernie also highlights the importance of simplifying implementation for smaller organizations through a product-led growth strategy and creating tools to help sales reps align personal and professional goals with their compensation plans.

Reflecting on his journey, Bernie shares insights from his transition from roles in sales, business development, and customer success to becoming a founder. He underscores the importance of building a strong team, staying focused on objectives without being distracted by "shiny objects," and maintaining a sense of fun and adaptability in the face of challenges.

This episode offers a compelling look at how Latitude 39 is reshaping incentive compensation management and valuable lessons for founders navigating the complexities of startup life.

In this episode of "Founders Future," host Laura Skinner welcomes Riley Seward, the co-founder of Orbital. The conversation explores Riley's entrepreneurial journey, starting from the inception of Orbital to its current position in the market. With a team of around 20 people, Riley reflects on the challenges faced in targeting legacy brick-and-mortar industries, drawing from his previous experience in a self-driving delivery company and his co-founder's tenure at Cisco's Meraki.

Riley shares the inspiration behind launching Orbital, focusing on the difficulties encountered in traditional prospecting methods. He highlights the limitations of platforms like LinkedIn in connecting with potential clients in sectors such as restaurants and retail. This realization prompted them to develop a solution tailored for businesses selling to small enterprises, positioning Orbital as a platform akin to ZoomInfo but specifically designed for small business interactions.

Listeners will gain insights into the entrepreneurial spirit, the importance of adaptability, and the strategic pivots required to succeed in a competitive landscape. This episode offers a valuable glimpse into the innovative thinking that drives Orbital's mission and the broader implications for entrepreneurs navigating similar challenges.

In this episode of *Founders Future*, host Laura Skinner sits down with Raza Jafri, the visionary CEO of MetaWorldX. The conversation explores Raza’s journey from his early life in Montreal, Quebec, to becoming a leader in the cutting-edge field of digital twin technology. Raza reflects on how his multicultural upbringing and early aspirations to help communities shaped his path toward urban planning and entrepreneurship.

Raza shares the origin story of MetaWorldX, describing how challenges such as the 2008 recession redirected his career trajectory. Unable to secure traditional roles in urban planning, he ventured into entrepreneurship, eventually founding a company that combines his passions for urban infrastructure and technology. MetaWorldX leverages digital twin technology—virtual replicas of real-world environments—to help cities and organizations improve urban management, prepare for emergencies, and make data-driven decisions.

The discussion highlights the company’s go-to-market strategies and the hurdles of promoting a forward-looking technology in a traditional industry. Raza explains how MetaWorldX relies on partnerships with major organizations, research into market patterns, and word-of-mouth referrals to build its client base. He also emphasizes the importance of educating decision-makers about the potential of digital twins and ensuring their technology solves real-world problems.

Throughout the episode, Raza shares valuable lessons from his entrepreneurial journey. He advises listeners to stay focused on their mission, embrace challenges as opportunities, and remain resilient in the face of setbacks. He also underscores the importance of purpose and impact in sustaining motivation and achieving success.

Looking ahead, Raza reveals his ambitious vision for MetaWorldX, including scaling operations, expanding partnerships, and leveraging technology to address global challenges like climate change and urban infrastructure management. By the end of the episode, Raza’s passion and optimism leave listeners inspired to think big and remain committed to their goals. 

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, urban innovation, and the transformative power of technology.

In this episode of *Founders Future*, host Laura Skinner interviews Paul Dudley, co-founder of Streamcap, a company transforming the data landscape by simplifying streaming data solutions. Paul shares the story behind the founding of Streamcap, how it addresses challenges in data processing, and the lessons learned on his entrepreneurial journey.

The conversation begins with Paul’s background in the data infrastructure space and his inspiration to start Streamcap in 2022. He explains how Streamcap simplifies the complexities of streaming data, allowing businesses to move data quickly and efficiently—reducing setup times from months to mere minutes. This innovation enables companies to transition from traditional batch processing to faster, real-time data solutions.

Paul provides insight into Streamcap’s impressive early growth, from acquiring its first customer within a month of launching to expanding its client base through inbound marketing, SEO-driven content, and outbound efforts. He highlights the balance between customer acquisition via organic channels and paid media, emphasizing the importance of creating a predictable growth engine. Despite the challenges of competing in a rapidly evolving space, Streamcap continues to expand its offerings and refine its go-to-market strategies.

On the personal side, Paul reflects on his path as a founder, including the decision to prioritize early customer engagement and adapt Streamcap’s product focus based on client feedback. He shares lessons on the importance of customer conversations, maintaining a focused vision, and the confidence to say no to distractions that don’t align with long-term goals. Paul also discusses the value of seeking external advice to maintain clarity and objectivity.

Looking ahead, Paul is optimistic about scaling Streamcap through strategic investments in content marketing and potential funding rounds. He acknowledges the competitive landscape and evolving technology trends, such as AI, but sees these as opportunities to enhance Streamcap’s impact in the data ecosystem.

This episode offers actionable insights into building a customer-centric startup, navigating market dynamics, and staying resilient in the face of challenges, making it a must-listen for aspiring and established entrepreneurs alike.

In this episode of *Founders Future*, Laura Skinner interviews Pete Ryan, co-founder of High 5, a platform designed to revolutionize B2B go-to-market strategies through influencer-led growth. Pete shares how High 5 addresses challenges in customer acquisition by leveraging a network of connectors—trusted individuals who facilitate introductions, nudges, and LinkedIn posts. He highlights the company's journey from ideation to profitability, overcoming initial struggles with product-market fit and evolving into a high-ROI solution for mid-market and enterprise clients. Pete discusses their innovative model, which ensures clients see significant returns on investment, and how High 5 uses its own platform to drive growth. This episode offers valuable insights into disrupting traditional sales methods and creating scalable solutions in a crowded marketplace. 

In this episode of *Founders Future*, Laura Skinner interviews Jack Singer, co-founder of GoML, a specialized AWS-focused AI solution provider. Jack shares the story behind GoML’s founding, born out of a decade of experience within the AWS partner ecosystem and a vision to help businesses unlock the true value of generative AI. Over 18 months, GoML has grown from four employees to over 100, delivering cutting-edge solutions like chatbots, document summarization tools, and industry-specific AI applications. Jack discusses the challenges of maintaining delivery quality during hypergrowth, the process of scaling the team globally, and GoML’s plans to deepen its impact in industries like healthcare and fintech. The conversation also explores the importance of strong leadership, team alignment, and finding product-market fit to drive success in the competitive AI landscape.

This episode features an interview with Shivam Sethi, the founder of Newsology, an AI-powered user research platform. Shivam discusses how his own experience as a product manager facing challenges with user testing led him to start the company. Newsology's AI-driven approach aims to enable faster, more in-depth user research without delaying product development. Shivam shares Newsology's go-to-market strategy, which has focused on personalized LinkedIn outreach supplemented by in-person events. As Newsology looks to scale, Shivam sees content marketing as a key next step to drive more qualified inbound leads. He also plans to explore paid advertising once the company has solidified product-market fit. Shivam highlights the emotional rollercoaster of the founder journey and advises other entrepreneurs to be selective about the advice they follow, while keeping a relentless focus on talking to customers and continuously improving the product.