Series A - The Podcast

Plenty of people are called industry leaders, tech titans, ground breakers and pioneers.  But few have earned the moniker like Chicago tech visionary Howard Tullman.  The serial entrepreneur has helmed a variety of successful companies, written numerous influential books, and helped spawn hundreds of other companies through his groundbreaking startup collective 1871, the epicenter of … Continue reading #15 – EXCLUSIVE & IN-DEPTH: CHICAGO TECH TITAN HOWARD TULLMAN →

Many business people will tell you there are few things worse than attending a crowded trade show like CES or NRF in hopes of connecting with a potential customer, only to find it nearly impossible to find the needle in a haystack. It’s a problem veteran founders and marketing and sales guys John Corrigan and … Continue reading #14-FINDING NEEDLES IN A TRADE SHOW HAYSTACK – SUMMITSYNC →

When you think of business in LA, artificial intelligence isn’t likely to come to mind. But it turns out a number of leading entrepreneurs and academics have made the City of Angels an epicenter of AI. Some of those leading minds came together recently for Applied AI, an event hosted by LA-based startup Deep Current. … Continue reading #13 – AI IN LA – CITY OF ANGELS AT THE EPICENTER →

Atlanta startup enabling  air traffic control for autonomous cars, smarter cities

A tragic fatality involving an autonomous Uber vehicle in Arizona this week again underscored the challenges facing the burgeoning industry.  But Atlanta-based startup Metrotech is at the forefront in developing solutions that could help make the future safer and help manage the ever increasing congestion throttling most of our major metropolitan areas.

The lastest edition of Series A- The Podcast travels to the Atlanta Tech Village, where host Jim Brisimitzis visits with Metrotech COO/CTO and veteran Silicon Valley startup fixer Paul Valcheff.

The promise of easing traffic and managing a future that could bring us far closer to one envisioned by the Jetsons was what drew Valcheff to Metrotech.

"If you're all drawing from the same data sets and if you're all communicating with each other, now we can finally get through congestion."

Valcheff details the rapid, tech-driven changes in the automotive industry that are shifting the focus from Detroit to the Silicon Valley and other tech centers including Atlanta.

"There are massive changes over the next five to 10 years that we can't even imagine today," he says in the wide ranging conversation.

Valcheff offers interesting comparisons between the Silicon Valley and Atlanta for founders, as well as a number of hard-earned lessons and insights regardless of geography.

He also provides an insider's perspective on opportunities for founders across the country when it comes to what's being termed "Transportation Technology" or "Trans Tech," and details why Atlanta is poised to become the center of what promises to be a multi-billion dollar industry (with the world's busiest airport, Delta Airlines, UPS, AT&T, Kia and numerous other car manufacturers and OEM's, it's understandable why.)

Listen now to the in depth conversation on the future of transportation technology in this edition of Series A-The Podcast with Jim Brisimitzis, General Manager of the Microsoft for Startups team in the United States and Canada.

Why would anyone leave a highly successful sales career after a decade at Microsoft with all the benefits that come with it?

"One day I just realized sometimes you have to step out of the picture to actually see the picture clearly," says Piyush Saggi, the CEO and co-founder of Atlanta-based SalesTing.

What Saggi repeatedly encountered was a huge disconnent between sales and marketing.  So the Georgia Tech MBA set out to fix it.

Saggi shares his insights founding the flourishing startup in the latest edition of Series A-The Podcast, recorded on location at the Atlanta Tech Village with host Jim Brisimitzis.

Saggie offers great lessons in moving from the enterprise to a startup, and the problems that come with shifting from selling IT to creating solutions.

"The realization was that marketing organizations, sales organizations...they are basically living in two different solar systems, and the lack of data is causing  bad decisions or lack of decisions in many cases," he says.

Saggi admits it's been difficult and humbling at times, and acknowledging his own shortcomings has been a key in his own development as a CEO.

"There are all these skill sets I did not have to build a company," he laughs.

Saggi offers tremendous insights for other founders, including the need to build relationships and shore up those shortcomings well before you launch your startup to minimize the learning curve.

Saggi also shares his learnings on building a team and hiring employees, including the challenge of actually identifying the best fits.

"Everybody has to share the dream and the vision.  It's not about the 401 match at this point...And you need people who are really good at execution," he says.

From the time he was a kid, John Dogru was always tinkering with electronics, taking them apart and trying to put them back together again.  So it's little surprise he would one day become CEO and co-founder of 3DPrinterOS, a company revolutionizing 3D printing.  But it's a journey over 30 years in the making.

"I quickly realized (as a child) this mechanical world had a lot of restrictions," he tells host Jim Brisimitzis in the latest edition of Series A-The Podcast.

Dogru offers tremendous insights into founding a business in such a nascent field, where technology is just beginning to catch up to the vision. He  likens it to when IBM DOS first came on scene.  "You need a platform that's agnostic to whatever printer manufacturer and design tools they're using," he says.

3DPrinterOS accomplishes just that.  It's an elegant but simple solution that allows anyone with a web browser to log in and manipulate designs then print anywhere around the world.

The platform has become the gold standard at leading universities and enterprises around the world, from Duke and Caltech to John Deere and Bosch.

With 3D printers sitting idle at times around the world, 3DPrinterOS allows anyone to access them, and watch their creations come to life.  And with the quality of desktop printers rapidly approaching industrial strength, it's revolutionizing manufacturing, Dogru says.

"You know it takes five years to set up a factory for a car....but in 3D printing what you see on the screen comes out the other side.  No restrictions," he says.

Along with a fascinating look at the world of 3D printing, Dogru offers tremendous insights for other founders gleaned from the past several years of founding the company, from hiring to fundraising.

Dogru likens adding members to his team to a rock band.  "You can't tell people how to play the guitar or drum or bass.  You need people that come in there and know how to be in the band and know how to add value instantly," he tells Brisimitzis.

And he says you also have to be willing to cut people quickly if they aren't up for the task, unlike some large organizations that can accommodate weaker links.  He admits of the over 160 software engineers that have joined 3DPrinterOS at one time, only 12 or so remain.

"You can either do the task or you can't do the task...you either know what you're doing or you don't," he says.

Dogru shares his experience raising capital, and offers sage advice he's followed religiously.  Although he's raised millions, he's turned down plenty more, choosing quality investors over quantity.  The key?  Finding mentors and partners with deep experience and connections, not just deep pockets.

"I see a lot of entrepreneurs that are just begging for money for their ideas.  And really, ideas are nothing.  It's all execution," he says.

And after a number of years, it's clear 3DPrinterOS has gotten the execution down pat, with hundreds of thousands of print jobs on thousands of printers across the globe.  And a manufacturing revolution well underway.

 

When it comes to the founding of insurance industry upstart Flyreel, there's been nothing quick or easy.

"Everyone reads the TechCrunch article about so and so raising $5 million and it just seems so effortless.  And that just wasn't our experience at all," admits Cole Winans, the tenacious founder and CEO of the rising Denver-based startup.  Winans is the latest founder to share his experiences, insights and embarrassments in another revealing episode of Series A-The Podcast.

"Trust me.  People say after your first no it gets easier, but the only thing harder than getting 50 consecutive nos is 51," he tells host Jim Brisimitzis.

But eventually he started hearing yes, and Flyreel has emerged as a leader in the business and residential space, creating a unique new platform that promises to revolutionize the way everyone's property and possessions are insured.

Flyreel leverages AI and machine learning to capture and then catalog everything in a business or home.

We've learned that a lot of these businesses are insuring properties sight unseen or they have to spend a significant amount time effort and money having to have an inspection done.  It all adds up to a problem where because of the lack of transparency and accountability carriers can't accurately price premium.  They're using high level analytics  and predictive modeling to guess the value of these properties and now we just let them know," Winans says.

Winans and his team were in Redmond recently at Microsoft headquarters for a hackfest where engineers from his company and the Microsoft for Startups team worked feverishly to help prepare the Flyreel platform for scale.

"With your (Microsoft) engineers and the talent that you have internally on leading really the next wave of technology on automation, AI and the like, it's been a dream," Winans says of the partnership that leverages the Azure platform.

Winans shares the struggles he faced as a solo entrepreneur, escaping to the solace of rural Missouri to build out his platform after facing a series of rejections.  He offers keen insights on fundraising, hiring his first partner, and working with investors.  He provides a valuable perspective on the burgeoning Denver-area startup ecosystem, and why you don't need to be on one of the coasts to be successful.  And perhaps most importantly, he discusses trusting your gut.

"One of the things I've learned is a lot of people are ready and willing to give you advice, and most of them - even the experts that have been in the space for years - are mostly wrong because your case is different than anyone else's that they've seen," Winans says.

Listen to the lastest edition of Series A-The Podcast with host Jim Brisimitzis now on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher or Blubrry.

When it comes to innovation, some old-school industries aren't exactly the epitome of transformation.  But thanks to a number of exciting new partnerships between Microsoft and some cutting edge startups, dramatic change is coming to the insurance industry and other traditionally staid finanical services sectors.

It's far more sexy than it sounds, according to Microsoft US insurance industry lead Colin McClive, who offers a wealth of insights in the latest episode of Series A-the Podcast.

The New York-based McClive works directly with all of the leading insurance companies across North America -  companies he says are just beginning to embrace the coming revolution, making startups relevant to the enterprise and vice versa.

Colin tells host Jim Brisimitzis his eyes were opened recently at a national industry conference where he expected mostly aging accountants.  Instead, he was overwhelmed by the number of ambitous and whip-smart young people he'd more likely run into at an incubator or hackfest.

"I said 'why are you guys in actuarial sciences?' And they said  'we're all math and computer science majors.  It's where the money is'," Colin explains.

According to Colin, the insurance industry is a multi-billion dollar business organized around six fundamental areas - each one ripe for disruption: sales and marketing, underwriting, claims, actuarial, investments and financial controlling,

"Whereas Microsoft builds really cool platforms, we don't necessarily build solutions," Colin says.  "So it's an ideal time to bring together the best of Microsoft with partners."

That's creating a world of new opportunities for startups.  But connecting the old school with the new kids on the block to come up with solutions isn't always easy.  That's where Tereza Nemessanyi, Microsoft for Startups Entrepreneur in Residence, comes in.

Nemessanyi is a veteran founder and startup mentor in New York City.  She's been working closely with Colin and others at Microsoft to bring the resources of Microsoft to the most innovative startups poised to transform the enterprise.

"To me that means things like access to revenue, saving time, derisking stuff, finding ways to get to solutions you might otherwise not," she says.

A great example is a recent trip Colin and Tereza took to Colorado, where they cemented a new relationship with Boulder-based Flyreel. (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/microsoft-and-flyreel-accelerate-insurance-industry-access-to-groundbreaking-new-ai-powered-underwriting-solution-300599249.html) The company is at the forefront of incorporating AI and big data to transform all aspects of the insurance industry.  That includes everything from sensors in cars sending accident data instantaneously to insurance agencies to automated visual identification of personal items in a home or business for identification.  Imagine being able to take a picture of your restaurant and having Flyreel rapidly determine the make, model and value of your equipment, furniture and inventory.

And it turns out Flyreel was already building its solutions on Azure, but didn't know how to get them to the C-level decision makers at the major insurers - insurers clamoring for just such a solution.

"It's not just technology.  It's a whole rethinking of the business itself," Colin says.  "The fun thing for me selfishly altruistic is I get to have something that's of value and relevant to my customers but  I also get to help a startup get to market. "

It's a powerful lesson for other startups across all industries, and one Colin, Tereza and Jim detail with insightful, thought-provoking and humerous accounts in the latest edition of Series A-The Podcast.  Listen now.

What do you do when a friend asks for help with her wedding? If you're veteran Microsoft engineer Vishal Joshi, you hack an app. And before you know it, you’re CEO and co-founder of a burgeoning startup disrupting a $90 billion industry.

In this edition of Series A-The Podcast, Joshi details the improbable rise of San Francisco-based Joy.

You could call it a happy accident. Joshi was a rising star at Microsoft on the fast track to senior leadership. But as word got out about the app that combines all of the disparate services needed to put together the perfect wedding, the pull to focus full-time on Joy with his co-founder Michael became too strong. His co-workers began leaving Post-It notes on his computer with their wedding dates, telling him to make sure the app was done before then. “It was just going to be a project. But at some point in time it just got to a state where it was just not ignorable anymore,” Joshi tells host Jim Brisimitzis.

Joshi offers a number of valuable insights for any founder with a rare honesty and sense of humor. He details the learning curve for forming a new venture, starting with the creation of a legal entity. There were no high-powered lawyers. Just a visit to Legal Zoom to create the company and a basic site license. “By using Joy, you agree to not sue us,” he recalls the initial license read with a laugh. “I mean really, the entire gobbly-goo that’s written is for that. We said we are making this for friends and family, it’s for a happy occasion. Just don’t sue us! We are working really hard to make this thing work."

Did it ever. The first wedding was a success, and traffic to the site quickly grew as people discovered a one-stop shop for everything from invitations to catering to photography. Joshi tells of the unique way they chose their first employee, an under-employed physicist who was working odd handyman jobs to make ends meet. “We were foolish. That foolishness was necessary for us to get started,” he says. Joshi talks about the need to hire initially from what he calls the “missionary bucket” in building an early team. “You have to eventually hire from the mercenary bucket because you need people who are like hired guns, who are extremely good at stuff. But the initial 15-20 people you have to have those people you can really count on,” he says.

Joshi describes the serendipitous meetings and circumstances that led to Joy’s acceptance in a cohort of Y Combinator, and the lessons learned thanks to his tenure there. The insights are extremely valuable as one of only 100 chosen from about 7,000 applicants.

Most notably, the keys to successfully pitching potential investors. “It’s just crazy that your entire life’s work boils down to these three minutes,” he says of the YC pitchfest before hundreds of the most influential VC’s in the world.

Joshi’s secret? Refining his pitch with waiters, bartenders or anyone else who would listen. “I think that helped a lot,” Joshi says. “Talking to a real normal individual who’s not invested in investing, who’s not judging you, who’s just listening to your story. And if it resonates with them, I think it will resonate with investors too. They are also humans, you know?

“What I learned is you can raise when you really need money, second is when people really want to give you money…It is easier said, but I think that you should probably put 10x more effort to get into the second bucket,” he adds.

The story of Joy has been a rousing success so far. The site has tens of thousands of users, significant seed funding, and a bright future making the biggest day of couples’ lives go smoothly. And it offers a font of insights thanks to Joshi’s candor in this revealing edition of Series A – The Podcast.

Regardless of the business, artificial intelligence has become the holy grail for just about any startup. There’s been plenty of buzz but we’ve barely scratched the surface, according to Microsoft Applied Machine Learning Scientist Justin Bronder.

In this edition of Series A-The Podcast, Justin joins host Jim Brisimitzis for a revealing and fascinating look at the history, present and future of AI as it relates to the startup ecosystem.Justin says the AI offers huge potential implications to everything from data to cryptocurrency  “Some big breakthroughs are coming,” Justin tells Jim.

One area he points to is autonomous vehicles. Justin predicts not only a dramatic increase in the number of self-driving cars and trucks on our roads in the next few years, but the endless opportunities for car makers and supporting companies alike. “Microsoft not only works with Tesla but we work with a bunch of other startup-based companies that focus on autonomous driving systems that are independent of the actual vehicle. So, they can sell it to Ford or Chrysler or some other companies,” he tells Jim.

As for the easiest adoption opportunities for startups, Justin points to tremendous opportunity in the hardware space since Nvidia remains the dominant player. “Everybody runs on Nvidia GPU’s. The space is ripe for competition,” he says.

He also sees AI massively disrupting software development. “Right now, we have a human being who writes the lines of code. But we’re getting to the point now where a lot of the tasks that we hand curate can be done in an automated fashion by software,” Justin says. “We’re doing a lot of research into whether programs can be written based solely on intention.”

Justin also discusses the role AI and deep learning will play in navigating what he calls unstructured data, such as images, audio and video. For example, he details the potential for AI to allow home security systems to differentiate between a person moving in your back yard, an animal, or even a tree blowing in the wind.

“We’re doing work with reinforcement learning where those (AI-enhanced systems) are going to actually do more measurably useful things for us,” he tells Jim.

As for which companies will prevail on the platform side for AI, Justin says it’s still the earliest days or the “Wild West”, with many competitors.

So how should even the smallest startup prepare for an inevitable future? Justin says it’s critical for founders to make sure data science or AI is as much a consideration as traditional engineering.

“Some people have argued you need a Chief AI officer along with a CTO,” he says. But he warns small startups in the garage that AI requires petabytes of data. “If you don’t have a lot of data, it’s hard to build deep learning systems. You can design them, but you need some source for a lot of your data for training.”

As Jim often points out, data is the new oil. But not everyone will get in on the gushers. Jim’s conversation with Justin includes the sobering reality that the disruption coming could bring significant job cuts in many industries ranging from transportation to agriculture. And Justin says we could see a higher impact on white collar jobs than in past technological and industrial revolutions “It will be painful for some,” he says.

But by the same token, we can’t even begin to imagine the wealth of possible jobs that don’t even exist now once humans are freed from labor intensive tasks that can be done by systems instead. It’s an exciting and uncharted frontier for thought leaders like Justin Bronder, which makes this episode of Series A-The Podcast so fascinating, timely and relevant.