Startup Competitors

Startup Competitors

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Startup Competitors episodes

  • Realync: The day it’s no longer fun, it’s no longer worth it

    Realync is a video solution for multi-family leasing companies. It is a technology platform that allows multi-family owners and managers to show prospective residents a property through recorded videos and live video tours. In my conversation with co-founder and CEO Matt Weirich, he shares that the original market they targeted was not the market they are in today. After going through an accelerator program and working with a mentor, they realized the potential that multi-family users would have on the platform. He discusses how they knew they found product-market fit after pivoting, current status, and the upcoming biggest challenges for Realync.

    Topics in this episode

    Changing a pricing model with a new product-market fit

    Focusing on client success over sales

    The future of the platform, both vertically and horizontally

    Having clients rank their product roadmap based on what would be most valuable for them

    Focusing on growing the team in 2020

    The biggest challenge they face today

    Being the leader of a business and a lean team

    Contact Info

    Website: https://www.realync.com/

    Email: [email protected]

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  • RevBoss: Turning Cold Prospects Into Engaged Opportunities
    RevBoss is a lead-generation software and service company, working with SaaS companies and marketing agencies to grow their sales pipeline and grow faster. The team at RevBoss will work with their clients to hone in on the target customers and then create strategies to find cold prospects and engage them.
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  • Civic Champs - Identifying a Role, Even In A Crowded Market

    Civic Champs is a social enterprise to help automate the volunteer process for both the nonprofit and volunteers to make it a seamless experience for both parties. In my conversation with co-founder and CEO Geng Wang, he shares other features of the platform, how they determine which features to add to their product roadmap, as well as the partnership between Civic Champs and the Shultz Family Foundation. Geng shares that even though the volunteer market is a crowded space, it is highly fragmented and that there is still room in the market for new solutions.

    Topics in this episode

    Separating Civic Champs from the competitors

    The origin of the idea for Civic Champs

    Identifying pain points for their clients

    Providing value to the mentorship space

    Outbound marketing techniques

    Converting volunteers to donors for nonprofits

    Using surveys as a method to determine product-market fit

    Contact Info

    Website: civicchamps.com

    Email: [email protected]

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  • Wormser Legal: The Best Investments You Can Make In Your Startup

    Barry Wormser is the principal attorney at Wormser Legal and is also a local angel investor and advisor to a number of early-stage companies in Indianapolis. He has a great deal of insight when it comes to the needs of a company, especially in the early stages, in order to set themselves up for success, or if nothing else, to be prepared in case things go sideways. In our conversation, he shared top tips for why startups should invest in legal and accounting needs early, as well as what he’s looking for when meeting a potential investment opportunity.

    Topics in this episode

    Founders should consult advising teams early, and have a willingness to engage with them

    Things founders should have an understanding of:

    Their near-term goals

    Actual financials and projections that are based on sound assumptions that they can articulate

    An understanding of product-market fit, and where it can go wrong

    Having difficult conversations with your team at the beginning of the project

    Saving money at the expense of good legal documentation is a huge mistake

    The process of finding a good law firm and choosing that firm, based on how you fit together

    Fundraising trends

    Biggest mistakes in fundraising

    Handling conflicting advice from investors

    How Barry determines if a potential investment is worth his time

    Contact info

    https://www.wormserlegal.com/

    [email protected]

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  • Costello: (Part 2) The importance of culture in an ideal acquisition partnership

    Today we have part two of my recent conversation with, Frank Dale, founder of Costello, which was recently acquired by Sales Loft, the 7th fastest growing tech company in America last year. To hear part one of our recent conversation, click here: https://startupcompetitors.com/podcast/2019/12/31/costello-the-importance-of-culture-in-an-ideal-acquisition-partnership

    Frank details the three requirements to build an amazing business: keep the focus on the customer, get the best people you possibly can that are both values and mission-aligned, and keep the standard high across the board. He explains how he created those things within Costello in order to get it where it is today. He also shares what’s next for Costello, how to have difficult conversations with members of your team, and what he’s learned from SalesLoft that he will take with him in the future.

    Topics in this episode

    Making changes and improvements based on customer interviews

    Winnable deals slip through the cracks because of a lack of project management

    What it takes to be a good sales professional

    Relationship between engagement and if a partner is a good fit or not

    Building something people will love

    Book: Meaningful, by Bernadette Jiwahttp://meaningfulbook.com/

    Why and how you should create an environment where people feel comfortable challenging you

    Good conflict vs bad conflict.

    Contact Info

    Website:https://andcostello.com/

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/frankcdale

    Email: [email protected]

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  • Costello: (Part 1) The importance of culture in an ideal acquisition partnership
    Today we have back for round 2, Frank Dale, who’s the founder of Costello,
    which was recently acquired by Sales Loft, the 7th fastest growing tech
    company in America last year. I recommend going back to listen to the first
    episode with did with Frank, which we rebroadcasted on December 2nd in
    preparation for this conversation:
    https://startupcompetitors.com/podcast/2019/12/2/costello-the-benefits-of-having-close-relationships-with-your-customers
    . 
    In part one of this in-depth conversation, Frank shares the journey of the
    transition from SalesLoft being a customer for over 19 months, to then
    acquiring Costello. He details the lessons he learned from the acquisition
    of Compendium, a previous company of which he was CEO, and how he used that
    experience to create a pattern through which Costello could be acquired.
    Frank also shares helpful tools and insights he gained along the way for
    other companies that may go through this process. 
    Topics in this episode
    * Why this acquisition was a good fit for both Costello and SalesLoft 
    * The importance of culture and making sure they’re a good fit when
    considering a partnership of any kind
    * Taking into consideration how an acquisition affects:
    o Employees
    o Customers
    o Investors
    o How do I feel about it?
    * Core values as a scaling mechanism for a company
    * Being intentional about talent and core values while also having a
    strong organizational structure
    * Pay attention to the ecosystem of companies that your customers are
    using, because some of those could be potential partners. And for
    those potential partners, pay attention to their values system.
    * Why we bet on SalesLoft: the culture and the people 
    * Bottoms-up sales
    * Building credibility with investors
    * A helpful guide book in understanding the acquisition process: Magic
    Box Paradigm by Ezra Roizen,
    https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Box-Paradigm-Framework-Acquisitions/dp/0692778047
    * How to communicate a possible acquisition to your board
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  • The journey from five felony charges, to a successful start-up

    Garrett Mintz, CEO and Founder of Ambition in Motion, wants to help employees become excited to go to work and to feel fulfilled by the work they do. Ambition in Motion focuses on facilitating mentor relationships between team members of an organization in order to increase engagement and satisfaction among employees. In our conversation, Garrett shares his unique journey and how he grew from his experience of getting arrested for drug dealing as a freshman in college, learned from it, and then used that growth and knowledge in order to create his startup.

    Topics in this episode

    Getting started by working with higher education organizations, and the longer sales process that takes

    Making the jump from higher education to corporate settings

    His experience in connecting with a mentor, and the impact that had on his personal life, and how he turned that into professional growth

    In contrast to what people may think, Garrett argues that being in business school is the best time to start a business

    Pivoting from simple mentor connections to also helping people gain networking skills

    The difficulties of working with a greek organization’s local chapter

    The spectrum of work orientation, and how you feel about your job

    How to increase engagement through mentorship

    Looking 2 and 5 years into the future

    Contact Info

    Email: [email protected]

    Website: https://ambition-in-motion.com/

    Work Orientation Assessment: https://ambition-in-motion.com/companies

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