Seed to Sequoia

Seed to Sequoia

By SilverwoodBusinessEntrepreneurship
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Seed to Sequoia episodes

  • Right moves successful entrepreneurs make at every funding stage ft. Leo Polovets of SUSA Ventures.

    Leo Polovets is the co-founder and General Partner of SUSA Ventures, a seed-stage fund focusing on traditional tech, where he's been instrumental in shaping the landscape of B2B SaaS, healthcare, and fintech.

    Leo began his journey as a software engineer, where he made significant contributions to industry giants like LinkedIn and Google, before venturing into the startup world with Factual. 

    Tune in to the Seed to Sequoia Podcast's premiere episode, where Leo Polovets and Host Alex Shartsis discuss the intricacies of building a successful startup, covering - hiring, sales, pilot projects, and more.

    Show Notes:

    0:00 Introduction

    2:27 GTM at various Investment Stages

    5:06 Importance of Founder-led Sales

    6:56 Self assessment on Sales capabilities

    9:24 Goals of Early Stage Sales

    11:11 Indicators of Right and Wrong Tracks

    16:00 The Importance of Go-to-market Strategy

    19:50 The Role of Metrics in Business Growth

    22:40 The Dangers of Vanity Metrics

    24:05  Pilots in Deep Tech

    29:00 Gap Between Original Pitch and Actual Customer Needs

    31:32 Knowing when you hired the right person

    34:50 What should founders ask more of to investors

    39:00 The Role of Strategic Investors in Early Stages

    41:20 Best Practices for Founders

    44:50 Conclusion and Contact Information

    Guest: Leo Polovets(linkedin.com/in/lpolovets)

    Host: Alex Shartsis(linkedin.com/in/shartsis)

    Audio Engineer & Video Editor - James Fixx (fixxmusic.com)

    The Seed to Sequoia podcast is created by Silverwood Advisors to help founders with practical advice on building successful startups.

    If you would like to get expert advice for your startup reach out to us on:

    Website: silverwood.ai

    Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/silverwood-advisors


    Below is a list of startups backed by SUSA Ventures:

    Accorded. Andela. Aquera. Ascend. Assemble. Avro Therapeutics. BetterStack. Bright Cascade.Casetext. Centaur Labs. Chapter. Chatdesk. Claim. Cocoon. Coros. Cortex Health. Curebase. Drivezy Expanse .Farmraise. Flexport . Float . Flock . Focal Point . Fynn . Gentem . Guilded. Hallow . Headrace . Higo. Hodinkee . Honeybee Health . Human Interest . Hyas . Interviewing.io . Intricately . Journey . Juvena Therapeutics . LifestyleRx . Lightyear . Locale . Loop. Lyst . Mashgin . Meadow . Medallion . Memo. Merit. Miso . MK1 . Modelbit . Modernanimal . MUX

    47 min
  • Introducing Seed to Sequoia

    Introducing Seed to Sequoia, where host Alex Shartsis interviews venture capitalists, founders and advisors on practical subjects that founders care about. From go-to-market subjects like sales, marketing, and partnerships to corporate development, hiring, pitching investors or managing with your board of directors, every episode delivers a new perspective on the startup journey.

    1 min

About Seed to Sequoia

From the publisher's feed

Practical advice on go-to-market from leading investors, founders, and advisors. Host Alex Shartsis has been it all–founder, employee, investor, even the guy at the big company whose job…