Midstage Startup Momentum

Imagine being able to share your story with the world in a way that will be available forever or getting the chance to ask an ancestor or any remarkable person a question. All of that and more is now possible with StoryFile, a startup that launched its first consumer product in October. Something that started as a way to hear Holocaust survivors is now available to anyone who wants to share their life story or listen to the wisdom of others.

StoryFile co-founder and CEO Heather Maio-Smith spoke with startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. They discussed the roots of StoryFile, its recent launch, and the journey ahead.

In a world that’s full of data and analytics, it’s nice for companies of all industries and sizes to simplify the things they do with that data as much as possible. Fortunately, there are startups like RudderStack that are doing just that. RudderStack is a customer data platform that simplifies integrations as much as possible. While relatively new to the market, RudderStack has already made great strides and is scaling at an impressive rate.

RudderStack founder and CEO Soumyadeb Mitra recently sat down with startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. Soumyadeb shared many of the lessons he’s learned with RudderStack, as well as insight from being the founder of two previous startups:

As startups continue to grow, the time comes when they need to start creating cross-functional value. This is when it becomes necessary for different departments to work together. Various departments might be grouped together into buckets and work together toward a common goal. This is what startup coach Roland Siebelink of the Midstage Institute likes to refer to as value engines.

On this week’s episode of the Midstage Momentum Startup Podcast, Roland spoke with fellow startup coach Martin Fuez about the concept of values engines and why they become necessary when startups reach a certain size.

Most people probably think about public transportation as inefficient but a necessary evil for getting around. But that’s not going to be the case much longer for the more than 100 cities worldwide that have partnered with Swiftly. As its name implies, Swiftly is a big data platform that aims to make public transportation more efficient. In fact, the company’s mission is to “make cities move efficiently.”

Swiftly co-founder and CEO Jonny Simkin joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest edition of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to talk about the ways that Swiftly is improving public transportation. Jonny discussed Swiftly’s early pivot that led them to work with cities on improving their public transportation systems. He also shared the other key steps and important decisions that have helped to make Swiftly a success.

Sustainability has become more important than ever for businesses of all sizes, in all industries, and in all corners of the world. But how are companies supposed to collect and analyze data related to sustainability in order to meet regulations and make a positive impact on the world? The answer to that question is tech startups like APlanet, which is based in Spain. In just two years, APlanet has made incredible traction and done great work helping CSR departments and sustainability professionals manage data and processes related to sustainability.

APlanet Co-CEO and Co-Founder Johanna Gallo recently spoke with startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. They discussed the need for a startup like APlanet and the amazing progress the company has made in just two years. More importantly, Johanna shared some of the secret sauce of APlanet’s early success.

We all know that remote work and distributed companies are a little different from the traditional office setting. There’s always a little bit of magic that’s lost when you don’t have those informal interactions at the office. But in a world that’s becoming increasingly remote and distributed, one startup is trying to replicate the feeling of being in an office. Tandem is a virtual office app that aims to bring back the serendipity of an office setting, even when the team is working remotely.

Tandem CEO and co-founder Rajiv Ayyangar joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. Rajiv talked about the inspiration for Tandem and the importance of collaboration. The two also discussed how Tandem got started and the important lessons Rajiv and his co-founders have learned along the way.

Whether you’re one person or a multinational corporation, so much of our personal information exists on the Internet. It has made data security an absolute necessity, and that’s unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. Fortunately, there is a data security startup called Fortanix that’s thinking outside the box and offering a platform that keeps data protected even when you’re on an untrustworthy network.

Fortanix CEO and co-founder Ambuj Kumar recently sat down with startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to discuss his data-first, multi-cloud security startup. Naturally, the conversation moved beyond what Fortanix does with Ambuj sharing the most important lessons he’s learned as a first-time founder and CEO.

Imagine walking into a hotel and being able to check in without needing to speak to someone at the front desk. Well, such a scenario will soon be possible thanks to Mrunal Desai and his startup AavGo. Currently, AavGo is rolling out a variety of solutions for the hospitality industry, including contactless check-in, a work management platform for hotel staffs, a digital app for in-house guests, and more.

Mrunal joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to discuss why he started AavGo and all of the ways his startup will change the hotel experience for both guests and staff. They also talked about the many learnings that Mrunal has encountered as a first-time founder.

More than ever, it’s critical for big companies to find the right candidates. But upon receiving thousands of CVs for dozens of open positions, how is it possible for a company to sift through all of the applicants and find the right candidate for a job? Well, it’s possible now with Impress.AI, which has helped to automate the process to make it easier for recruiters of enterprises to hire at scale, making the hiring process more efficient and fairer at the same time.

Impress.AI co-founder and CEO Sudh Ahuja joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. The conversation focused on how Impress.AI has been able to change the hiring process for the better, as well as some of the successes and shortcomings during Sudh’s first experience as a startup CEO.

Selling to enterprise clients is one of the biggest challenges faced by B2B startups. It’s not necessarily any easier when deciding to sell to enterprise clients from the very beginning. That’s one of the lessons that Tydy co-founder Kiran Menon has learned. Tydy is a SaaS HR and operations platform that was built to target enterprise clients.

Kiran joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. They discussed why Tydy decided from the start to target enterprise customers and all of the challenges and learnings that have occurred along the way.