Sit Down Startup

At the age of 42, Eugenio Pace was a late bloomer in the startup game. But he more than made up for lost time when he built up identity authentication platform Auth0 from scratch in 2013, before the company was acquired by Okta in May 2021. The Co-Founder joined Adam for a chat about:

• Why developers are so important in the tech industry
• The first sale being a valuable milestone for any startup
• How the right timing (and luck) both play their part in company growth

Zendesk for Startups partner Silicon Valley Bank: Learn more here.

Modern Health first opened its virtual doors in 2017 and has since grown to 400 employees — experiencing a surge in demand as a result of changing perceptions towards mental health. We caught up with Founder & CEO Alyson Watson to talk about: 

• How focusing on the big picture is key in periods of growth 
• Looking at business objectives to find out where to prioritize resources
• The importance of looking after and supporting your own team

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When sales software company Outreach began back in 2014, there were three people making the amount of sales a team of 20 would. Today, they have 1,000 employees across the world and over 5,000 customers. We were joined by Co-Founder & CEO Manny Medina to discuss:

• Encouraging your employees to be high performers in and outside the organization
• Using feedback to understand what you’re doing right and where you can improve
• The importance of prioritizing customer retention before expansion

 

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Since launching at New York’s TechCrunch Disrupt back in 2014, DocSend was acquired by Dropbox in March 2021 and has brought on over 20,000 customers. In our Season 5 opener, Adam sat down for a virtual coffee with Co-Founder Russ Heddleston to get the lowdown on:

• How word of mouth is still important to achieve growth
• Using customer feedback as a base for making improvements
• Why founders should monetize their products from the get-go

Since 2015, Jane Technologies has been revolutionizing the world of e-commerce, providing a channel for cannabis businesses to get their product directly to consumers' homes. We talked to Founder & CEO Socrates Rosenfeld to learn more about:

• Market innovation through product development
• Focusing on long term strategies 
• UPC codes and product data in e-commerce

Shout out to our top partner Segment! Here’s a link to get $50k in free credits: https://bit.ly/3wdhYGb

Founded in 2014 and acquired by Medallia in September 2020, Sense360 offers businesses clearer insights on customer behavior through data. We met for a virtual chat with Founder & CEO Eli Portnoy to find out more about: 

• Prioritizing value at every step of your pitch
• Effective cold outreach strategies 
• Leverage your existing data to engage prospects

Shoutout to our top partner Deel! They are a global hiring platform that makes it easy to hire anyone in a new country in minutes.

After 16.5 years in business and a half a billion-dollar IPO, Olo still has that “day-one energy” and lives by its original vision: to enable restaurants to meet the needs of on-demand consumers. We caught up with Founder & CEO, Noah Glass to discuss: 

• How to best segment in the early days
• How to leverage the demonstration effect to create FOMO with prospects
• How resilience is the best founder superpower

Over the past five years, ZoomInfo has grown 10X to an $800 million dollar run rate business with over 3,000 employees and 25,000 customers. We sat down with Founder and CEO Henry Schuck to hear a few of his growth strategies. Here are a few things we talked about:

• Prioritize your go-to-market fit
• Increase expansion with CDRs (customer development reps)
• Never stop listening to prospect calls 

Going from a small takeout store to a hyperlocal fulfillment platform in 6 years, ZFW Hospitality has a story to tell. We spoke with their Founder, Madhav Kasturia — one of India’s youngest serial restaurateurs — about:

• Lockdown lessons and the impact on the hospitality industry
• Decision making in challenging situations
• Empowering customers through a great experience

Accion Venture Lab provides support to early-stage startups looking to tackle financial exclusion around the world. Zendesk’s Adam O’Donnell sat down with Accion’s Senior Director Matt Schaar for a chat about:

• Strategy development with founders
• The importance of product market fit
• Why low-income customers shouldn’t be overlooked