Growth Journeys

Hotmart is one of the world’s leading digital enablement platforms with a diverse and fast-growing ecosystem of 35+ million creators and consumers. Its all-in-one, cloud-based technology platform integrates the features and functionalities that creators of all sizes need to build, run, manage, and grow their digital businesses.

Joining a founder-led fast-growth technology company as an outside CEO isn’t an easy task. While Steve Munford had prior experience in taking the helm at founder-led companies, he started his current role as CEO of global identity verification provider Trulioo just as countries were locking down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further complicating his new role was that when Steve joined, Trulioo was embarking on an effort to scale go-to-market and product distribution across multiple geographies.

In today’s episode of Growth Journeys, Amol speaks with Steve about how he has approached global operations at Trulioo at a time of exponential growth. He takes us through Trulioo’s strategy for understanding the nuances of the various new end-markets that it serves as it scales, and how Trulioo’s customer base is integral to how the company prioritizes go-to-market channels. Steve also provides us his best practices for building trust, communication and preserving a culture across a rapidly-growing multi-geo organization. Steve shares how Trulioo leveraging its core mission of empowering all seven billion people on the planet to participate in the global economy as a north star for its growth journey.

Revenue is the lifeblood of any business, yet sales planning in the fast-moving tech world remains challenging. New competitors can launch into your markets more easily than ever, while SaaS business models are making it harder to land and expand enterprise-wide contracts. In this timely episode of Growth Journeys, long-time B2B sales leader Mark Smith (NetScreen, Infoblox, Arista, Rubrik) shares veteran advice on sales planning with Kunal Mehta, a principal on TCV’s Portfolio Operations team. Key takeaways include basing near-term forecasts on long-term fundamentals and applying the power of propensity models to predict sales success. Mark and Kunal also explore the secrets of hiring and motivating successful salespeople, why technology is changing the sales cycle, and how to think about 2021.

Newsela’s founders were educators who imagined the equivalent of Spotify or Netflix for educational content in schools. They designed their SaaS offering for the practical realities of classroom instruction, seeded it with teachers across the country, and then leveraged teacher advocacy to win district-level contracts. When it looked like their high growth could be derailed by school closings during the pandemic, they pivoted to giving content away to demonstrate solidarity with their customers – and reached two-thirds of all schools in the country. Now Newsela is firmly entrenched in the new normal for K-12 education. In this fast-moving conversation, TCV’s Dave Eichler joins Newsela co-founder and CEO Matthew Gross to unpack the secrets of the company’s success.

In early 2020 Varsity Tutors was the largest live learning platform in the U.S., connecting students and professionals with personalized instruction. Then the pandemic hit. After taking quick action to ensure business continuity, Varsity Tutors went back on offense: moving its core business entirely online, adding more small classes, and offering free live large classes. As customers flooded back Varsity Tutors kept innovating, with virtual summer camps, celebrity tutors, and School@Home – which can fully replace conventional schooling. In this conversation, Heidi Robinson, Chief Product Officer at Varsity Tutors and TCV Principal Beth Knuppel discuss how to “predict the weather” in uncertain times, so you can develop the right products at the right time; principles for product design and development in an increasingly virtual world; how to rally and redirect talent into new responsibilities in a crisis; and much more.

Barry McCarthy was CFO at Netflix and Spotify during periods of explosive growth, and he took both companies public – in different ways. Our latest episode of Growth Journeys pairs exceptional operator Barry McCarthy with veteran investor Woody Marshall, a Spotify board member and TCV General partner. Together they explore how “visionary” founders and CEOs need to be able to see the future while staying grounded in the present, and how strategic CFOs develop their own ability to see around corners and help the team navigate both choppy waters and growth opportunities in finance and operations. McCarthy and Marshall then apply these lessons to the timely topic of managing in a crisis, and the critically important relationship between CEOs and their boards of directors.

At GoFundMe, 2020 started with the celebration of a new chapter, a ten-year milestone, and the welcoming of new CEO Tim Cadogan. When the coronavirus pandemic began to spread globally, Cadogan, then in his first week as CEO, acted decisively to safeguard employees by implementing work from home and galvanized the team to quickly innovate to support the GoFundMe community in its mission of inspiring hope and changing lives through giving. In this wide-ranging discussion, Cadogan and TCV General Partner Woody Marshall, a GoFundMe board member, discuss:
• How GoFundMe’s global community has responded to the coronavirus pandemic and how the company has adapted to meet the surge of activity
• How GoFundMe seeks to create a seamless fundraising experience by balancing efficiency and safety
• How to learn a global business from top to bottom, build relationships, and earn trust – remotely – in a short period of time
• Essential qualities of culture for mission-driven companies
• The importance of honest and open communication within a company, with a board, and with a community

Recognized as a true disruptor of an established industry, at-home fitness pioneer Peloton initially struggled to get funded. Investors questioned whether Peloton could unseat entrenched workout chains and exercise machine makers, especially with a business model that requires blended expertise in hardware, software, content, retail, and logistics. But CEO John Foley and his co-founders persisted in their vision of a fitness company that actually gets people fit, delivering revenue growth, expanding internationally, going public, and continually adding value to memberships. TCV led Peloton’s Series F financing round in 2018 and supported the company on its journey to its IPO. John Foley joins Peloton board member and TCV general partner Jay Hoag for a wide-ranging discussion with multiple lessons for entrepreneurs.

Todd Piett joined a start-up called Rave Wireless to lead marketing and, on his way to becoming CEO in 2017, helped the company pivot from higher education communications to mobile safety applications. Now called Rave Mobile Safety, the company posted its tenth straight year of revenue growth in 2020, driven by innovative apps for smart 911 service, school panic buttons, and emergency alerts on corporate campuses. Todd is an articulate proponent of the principle that safety is a human right, which government and other large organizations have a duty to ensure. In this Growth Journeys podcast, Todd and TCV GP Kapil Venkatachalam discuss the evolution of “citizen safety,” how Rave successfully changed its business model, and how the company is innovating to bring modern communications to a traditional customer base.

Board members can bring a wealth of experience and advice to their CEOs – and not just when the board convenes each quarter. The chemistry of this critical relationship requires careful attention, particularly when selecting and onboarding new directors, coaching the team and providing diverse insights. Tayloe Stansbury, Venture Partner at TCV, shares lessons and insights from his board memberships and two decades reporting to corporate boards as CTO at Intuit, CIO at VMware, and EVP at Ariba. Beth Knuppel, Principal in TCV’s Portfolio Operations, guides the conversation to the key moments and processes that board members and CEOs need to master so that their relationships – and the business – can thrive.