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#87: How To Create A Successful Venture Studio With Diversity And Mindfulness by Powderkeg

Today’s episode is a recording of a live fireside chat with two amazing guests who flew in from the Valley and Portland, Maine to be here. This is the third of our Innovation Series in partnership with Kenzie Academy, a design and coding school right here in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Before we begin the discussion with our guests, Chok Ooi, the founder of Kenzie Academy introduces the brand new General Manager of Kenzie Academy, Danielle McDowell. Chok and Danielle will update us on the amazing things going on at Kenzie Academy and tell us what’s new.

Now, let’s meet our fireside guests...

First up is Ian Peters-Campbell. Ian has an inspiring story having gone from being kicked out of high school and being homeless to a very successful career in tech. His background includes Mobile & Web Development, Enterprise Architecture, AI/Big Data, Business Intelligence, QA, and more. He got his start in tech as an intern at Napster. Since then, he’s worked with companies like Loopt, Green Dot, and Stickbuilt. He is now VP, Global Platform Services at WEX and living in Portland, Maine after spending his professional career in the Valley.

Our next guest is Jayesh Sureshchandra. Jayesh has an extensive background in engineering and leading engineering teams, working with several Silicon Valley companies. He was one of the first developers at Salesforce, where he helped build the force.com program. He has spent the last 6 years as at Duetto, focusing on using data analytics to optimize hotel revenue. Jayesh is now managing a global team at Duetto as their VP of Engineering.

In this episode with Ian Peters-Campbell and Jayesh Sureshchandra, you’ll learn:

--- How to stand out as a software developer today

--- What the future looks like for software developer jobs

--- How the role of software developer changing

--- The best ways to increase salary as a software developer

--- Some of the best ways to continue to learn and hone the craft of programming

--- Some of the lesser known expectations/duties of a software developer

--- The most important skills needed to be an exceptional software developer

--- How to make the transition from individual contributor to team leader

If you like this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. You can also follow us on Soundcloud or Stitcher. We have an incredible lineup of interviews we’ll be releasing every Tuesday here on the Powderkeg Podcast.

Find out how practicing mindfulness (one of our Powderkeg core values) can help you in business and life. Jenny Blake, author of Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, explains how she has managed multiple pivots in her career and in business through mindfulness practices.

Kara Nortman is the co-founder of Seedling and partner at Upfront Ventures. In this interview she recounts her evolution as a creative child from an adventurous family, to her role as a partner in the largest and most tenured venture capital fund in Los Angeles.    

Armed with an AB in Politics and an MBA from Stanford, Kara Nortman found herself the only person from business school attending a C++ class when she interned at Microsoft more than a decade ago. Before that, she delved deep into esoteric stuff, sailing across uncharted waters (talk DSL and IP switches) just to make her job as telecoms industry analyst at Morgan Stanley more fulfilling and meaningful.

To Kara, so much lies beyond our comfort zones. For her, true entrepreneurs need to “dig past their limitations” to make the impossible possible. But for this to happen, entrepreneurs must have resilience, self-awareness, and passion for what they do.

You can follow Kara (@KaraNortman) on Twitter and read her thoughtful writing on her blog, Venture Inside.

Join Kara as she walks us through her formative years, from family trips that gave her a broader perspective, to her role as a VC evaluating the business viability of startups. Find out what makes a good pitch, and which traits differentiate successful entrepreneurs from those who won’t make the cut.

In this episode you’ll learn:

--- How Kara’s upbringing influenced her evolution as a top-tier entrepreneur.

--- The important role love of learning and discovery plays in achieving entrepreneurial success.

--- The importance of finding mentors even at the point where you can mentor budding entrepreneurs and leaders yourself.

--- Why being passionate also matters in the art of investing.

--- Which entrepreneurial traits venture capitalists commonly look for.

--- Why entrepreneurs should also conduct due diligence on the particular investors they are pitching to as much as the other way around.

--- The factors making Los Angeles a highly attractive venue for innovation, entrepreneurship and business growth.

If you like this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. You can also follow us on Soundcloud or Stitcher. We have an incredible lineup of interviews we’ll be releasing every Tuesday here on the Powderkeg Podcast.

It takes guts, grit, and an uncommon dose of wisdom to lead a business team. Sameer Dholakia has all three qualities, plus two decades of leadership experience in enterprise software.

Dholakia is the CEO of SendGrid, one of the world’s premier email delivery services. SendGrid serves 50,000 customers and delivers 1.3 billion emails each day—more than double Twitter’s daily Tweet volume. In addition to its classic transactional email API, SendGrid more recently rolled out an email marketing product that has already been adopted by 5,000 users.

Dholakia is an experienced tech executive with a love of history and a passion for building strong teams and big businesses in the enterprise software industry. In our interview, he shares his most effective leadership habits, including the importance of humility, how to foster an outstanding company culture, and strategies for turning around a dire financial situation.

I’m so grateful Dholakia took the time to share so much of his knowledge and experience with the Powderkeg community, and I admire his resolve to always keep improving himself and his company. Connect with him on Twitter @spdholakia to share your appreciation, and enjoy the show.

In this episode with Sameer Dholakia, you’ll learn:

--- How you can begin using email marketing tools for your startup (13:40)

--- Strategies for launching a new product within your existing brand (21:27)

--- The only mistake in business you can’t recover from (33:26)

--- Why you should be a humble leader (36:30)

--- How to dig yourself out of a bad financial situation (42:48)

--- The two biggest challenges SaaS companies face (47:08)

--- How to create an exceptional company culture (53:54)

If you like this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. You can also follow us on Soundcloud or Stitcher. We have an incredible lineup of interviews we’ll be releasing every Tuesday here on the Powderkeg Podcast.

Last week on the show, we heard some insight into what a tight-knit company culture looks like. This week we will be getting some insight on how a company can preserve this culture on a large scale. On today’s episode of Powderkeg Igniting Startups, we welcome three entrepreneurs and human resources specialists to share how they get companies ready to expand, and how they keep culture thriving as the company grows.

First we have Co-Founder of Analytic.li Jana Fuelberth. She originally started in payroll sales, but quickly found herself trying to solve problems that would rise in the market. The technical side of Analytic.li wasn’t yet ready, but Fuelberth had a strong understanding of the market and where her company was going to fit. Kronos, in a partnership with Analytic.li, is helping the company thrive.

Next we have Zach Linder, who’s currently the Vice President of Analytics and Machine Learning at Canvas, a software for text-based interviewing. Linder originally came on to work at a 50 person consulting firm. When the firm went from 50 to 250, he needed to find a way to hire the right people. Linder works on the technical side of things. He makes programs that streamline the hiring process, while acquiring the ideal candidates.

Lastly we have Heather Haas, president of ADVISA. Haas began her career as a teacher. After a little soul searching, a predictive index placed her in a position to help train people in leadership roles. After a few years she was able to find a leadership role for herself. At ADVISA she helps over 300 companies optimize talent in the most efficient way possible.

In this episode we will learn what the employment market looks like today. More importantly we will be getting three unique perspectives on what techniques and technologies are optimizing the employment process.

In this episode with Jana Fuelberth, Heather Haas, and Zach Linder, you’ll learn:

--- How to convey your company culture

--- What biases you need to avoid when interviewing a candidate

--- The difference between liking a client, and them fitting well with the work

--- What issues can arise between generations at a workplace

--- When to trust and when to ditch the data

--- How the Midwest stands out

If you like this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. You can also follow us on Soundcloud or Stitcher. We have an incredible lineup of interviews we’ll be releasing every Tuesday here on the Powderkeg Podcast.

Startups consider countless opportunities before getting a strong foothold in their market. They look for what products their audience wants, and why they don’t have it already. A lot of time can be spent researching, building and figuring the best course for product development. In the end the people making all these new ideas possible deserve a little recognition as well. This is where company culture comes into play.

On this episode of Powderkeg: Igniting Startups we have Jason Price, Co-Founder and President of Covideo right here in Indianapolis. Price started his ventures during college at Purdue University with one question: “How can I start making product for the people”? His first company was a food delivery service that catered to Purdue students. After that he started a number of companies, and learned when it was a good time to pause one project and begin another.

In this episode Jason Price shares how to build a community at work. Along with getting the inside scoop on how a friendly work environment can cure a good case of the Mondays, you’ll learn how this can help a company flourish. Price has found that because his co-workers bond together outside of work, they care more about what they accomplish during business hours.

Want to connect with Covideo? Check out their profile here: https://powderkeg.com/covideo

In this episode with Jason Price, you’ll learn:

--- How to read the market.

--- Scaling the company through good and bad times.

--- How to find your core values.

--- What to look for when deciding if someone fits into the culture.

--- The importance of a strong company culture looks like.

--- Why it is important to fit into a community versus showing up just to work.

--- How to keep company culture engaged as it expands.

If you like this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. You can also follow us on Soundcloud or Stitcher. We have an incredible lineup of interviews we’ll be releasing every Tuesday here on the Powderkeg Podcast.

Share before you’re ready. Leaders learn the answer. In this episode of Powderkeg: Igniting Startups, you’ll meet Max Yoder making his third appearance on the podcast. As the CEO of Lessonly, a rapidly scaling tech company in Indianapolis, Max views his job as helping people flourish, thrive and understand themselves. In this conversation Max shares his learnings as a founder and breaks down some of the core principles of his newest book, “Do Better Work.” The mantras and habits that he shares are applicable to everyone, whether you’re leading a team, working on a team, or spending any time with people.

In this episode with Max Yoder, you’ll learn:

--- Methods to create clarity, camaraderie and progress in life and work

--- Why it’s important to share your work before you’re ready

--- How changing a personal habit is similar to the steps in a marketing funnel

--- Ways to model the behaviors you’d like to see on your team

--- The importance of processing emotions and how to prevent emotion from spilling over

--- Compassionate, thoughtful behaviors that inspire better work

If you like this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. You can also follow us on Soundcloud or Stitcher. We have an incredible lineup of interviews we’ll be releasing every Tuesday here on the Powderkeg Podcast.

One of the most valuable experiences that entrepreneurs can learn from is the mistake that cost another entrepreneur their dream. Whether you’re building your first company or your tenth, entrepreneurship is full of uncertainty. And while success is always the goal, there are a thousand valuable lessons in startup failure. On today’s episode of the podcast you’ll hear from three serial entrepreneurs about the biggest mistakes to avoid when building a startup.

First, you’ll meet Michael Cloran. This guy started his career on a bumpy road. His first hand in success was making a kid-safe internet venture. From there he started his biggest company, Interactions. While working there he got his first real display of technical debt. Learning from this experience, he founded Developertown to help other startups that don’t have extreme technical skills on staff.

Dr .Todd Saxton teaches strategy and entrepreneurship at the IU Kelley School of Business and Kelley Direct, which is one of the best online MBA programs in the world. Dr. Kim Saxton is also a professor at the IU Kelley School of Business. Kim teaches marketing and works as an academic researcher studying how entrepreneurs work, fail and succeed. In addition to their lives in academia, both Todd and Kim are angel investors to several startups.

The purpose of their book, The Titanic Effect, is to let founders know what to avoid in order to make a successful venture. The book launches next month, so this episode is a little bit of a preview. Tune into Igniting Startups to hear which mistakes broke good business ideas and how to avoid them yourself.

In this episode on how successful startup teams can avoid startup failure with the authors of The Titanic Effect, Michael Cloran, Kim Saxton and Todd Saxton, you will learn:

Which startup mistakes to avoid when building your new venture

What market research you deserves your focus early on

The importance of anticipating problems before they happen

How to test the waters in a new market

What you can do to build the most “unsinkable” startup in your market

Please enjoy this conversation about how successful startup teams can avoid startup failure with the authors of The Titanic Effect, Michael Cloran, Kim Saxton and Todd Saxton!

If you like this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. You can also follow us on Soundcloud or Stitcher. We have an incredible lineup of interviews we’ll be releasing every Tuesday here on the Powderkeg Podcast.

Networking is similar to a contact sport like football, soccer or basketball. If you don’t really put in the work, then you might as well stay on the sideline. Building a network can be a little intimidating -- whether you are just starting out, navigating a career change or are even mid-career and just need a boost. On today’s episode of Powderkeg: Igniting Startups, you’ll learn from two serial entrepreneurs that built entire networks full of career-changing relationships, all by using some really practical professional networking tips that you can start using today.

First, you’ll hear from Evan Burfield. He is the CEO of Union, a digital platform that connects innovators around the globe, and one of the co-founders of 1776, the nation’s largest network of entrepreneurial incubators with 10 campuses across 5 states. Starting as a persistent young entrepreneur, Burfield has built up a successful set of businesses and helps startup ecosystems across the country thrive.

Broadcasting live from Nigeria is Stephen Ozoigbo. He launched the African Technology Foundation to globalize innovative technologies of New Africa, and is Managing Partner of a US State Department program called LIONS@frica that helps launch and expand technology companies in Africa. Working largely on an international scale, he has been involved in a number of startups across the globe.

This podcast episode was recorded in front of a LIVE studio audience as part of the Innovation Series at Kenzie Academy, a tech and coding school focused on apprenticeship as a way to skill-up the next generation of the tech workforce, located right here in Downtown Indianapolis. During this engaging conversation, Stephen and Evan share how they’ve built the relationships they needed to get their ideas off the ground, and their networks today as they change the world with their companies.  

In this episode you will learn:

-- How to get a mentor to accelerate your growth

-- Professional networking tips to grow your career.

-- How successful professionals network and where they started from

-- Why a network connection is more than just a tool for communication

-- How making a business connection is similar to making a new friend

-- Why it’s always, always better to give than take

If you like this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. You can also follow us on Soundcloud or Stitcher. We have an incredible lineup of interviews we’ll be releasing every Tuesday here on the Powderkeg Podcast. Check it out at powderkeg.com/itunes.