Startup Happy Hour

Matthew Gould is the Founder and CEO of Unstoppable Domains, an innovative startup that builds domain names on the blockchain and sells them to customers for a one-time fee.

In this episode, Matthew takes listeners through the ins and outs of what blockchain and decentralization are, and he dives into blockchain’s revolutionary potential. He shares that one day, blockchain could allow everyone to have a single, cohesive digital identity, ownership over their online experience and data, and overall, greater online transparency and data verification.

Tune in to hear Matthew talk about why it’s important to own your digital assets, how cryptocurrency could disrupt the economy, what the future of blockchain looks like, and more.

You can find Matthew on LinkedIn (let him know you found him through the Startup Happy Hour podcast), and don’t forget to check out Unstoppable Domains at the link below!

Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/

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CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

TWEET at Diana: https://twitter.com/ddwchen

“Talent is everywhere; opportunity is not.”

That’s why Andrew Hutton created Day One, an accelerator for early stage startups. He believes that entrepreneurship is going to be the most important skill of the 21st century and wants to make it accessible to more than just the 1% who know how to play the game.

Tune in to hear Andrew talk about what it was like to start a business at the start of the pandemic, what he learned from working at a VC firm, and how he started his career as a pig farmer in Africa.

You can find Andrew on Twitter or LinkedIn (let him know you found him through the Startup Happy Hour podcast), and don’t forget to check out Day One at the link below!

Day One: https://www.joindayone.com/

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SUBSCRIBE to Startup Happy Hour to get episodes like this delivered to your device every Tuesday!

WEBSITE: https://www.startuphappyhourpodcast.com/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startuphappyhour/

CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

TWEET at Diana: https://twitter.com/ddwchen

When most people think about SEO, they still automatically think about keywords. But the truth is, there is so much more to SEO than just keywords.

Ryo Chiba, Founder of Topic, talks about how to take advantage of the ever-changing Google algorithms to create impactful content that ranks highly on Google. With Topic, you can create better content faster.

Tune in to hear Ryo talk about the technology behind Topic, the lucky break he credits for making Topic a success, and his projections for the future of content and SEO.

You can find Ryo on LinkedIn (let him know you found him through the Startup Happy Hour podcast), and don’t forget to check out Topic at the link below!

Topic: https://www.usetopic.com/

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SUBSCRIBE to Startup Happy Hour to get episodes like this delivered to your device every Tuesday!

WEBSITE: https://www.startuphappyhourpodcast.com/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startuphappyhour/

CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

TWEET at Diana: https://twitter.com/ddwchen

Work smarter, not harder.

That’s what Ashutosh Priyadarshy, Founder of Sunsama, helps the world’s most successful professionals do each day with his daily planner that organizes everything you need to do today in one place: tasks, meetings, emails, you name it.

Like many entrepreneurs, Ashutosh’s startup journey was not a linear one. In the first 4.5 years after founding Sunsama, Ashutosh and his co-founder, Travis, launched, iterated on, and sunsetted six different products in the meeting, collaboration, and productivity space. Now, seven years later, they’ve finally found product fit and feel confident about the product they have, in big part thanks to their time at Y Combinator.

Tune in to hear Ashutosh talk about how and why he stuck with his long journey toward building the Sunsama we know today, what he learned along the way, and what he’s working on for the future.

You can find Ashutosh on Twitter or LinkedIn (let him know you found him through the Startup Happy Hour podcast), and don’t forget to check out Sunsama at the link below!

Sunsama: https://sunsama.com/

Ashutosh Priyadarshy was part of the W19 cohort at Y Combinator. To hear another perspective on Y Combinator, listen to Episode 5 with Ben Taylor, Founder of Doorport (acquired by PointCentral), who was also in the W19 cohort at YC.

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SUBSCRIBE to Startup Happy Hour to get episodes like this delivered to your device every Tuesday!

WEBSITE: https://www.startuphappyhourpodcast.com/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startuphappyhour/

CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

TWEET at Diana: https://twitter.com/ddwchen

Can you really use data and AI to solve social justice issues like racism and do good for the world?

Andrew Ehrenberg thinks so. As a data scientist at DataRobot, Andrew works day in and day out with massive data dumps to build models and make predictions for the owners of that data. DataRobot has essentially operationalized the best practices of world class data scientists and machine learning engineers to help organizations turn their data (questions) into predictions (answers).

Andrew’s work at DataRobot has inspired him to think big and imagine other applications of data science and automated machine learning to create a larger impact in our world.

Tune in to hear how Andrew went from being a college kid who just wanted to talk about sports all day to getting plugged into all facets of University of Michigan’s entrepreneurial community (shoutout to his best bud, David Silverman, who was featured in Episode 9) and now focusing on using the newest technologies available to us in impactful and innovative ways.

You can email Andrew at [email protected] or find him on Twitter or LinkedIn (let him know you found him through the Startup Happy Hour podcast), and don’t forget to check out DataRobot at the link below!

DataRobot: https://www.datarobot.com/

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SUBSCRIBE to Startup Happy Hour to get episodes like this delivered to your device every Tuesday!

WEBSITE: https://www.startuphappyhourpodcast.com/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startuphappyhour/

CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

TWEET at Diana: https://twitter.com/ddwchen

If you’ve ever contacted customer support for help with an issue with a product or service you purchased from them, you know that high quality customer service is harder to come by than one might think.

That’s why Jim Coleman founded xFusion, which provides customer support for SaaS companies and startups. In addition to providing phone and live chat support, xFusion also provides back end support, like tech migrations and billing support.

Tune in to hear how Jim handled leaving a full time job during the pandemic while raising five kids to build xFusion, some of his best marketing strategies for acquiring his first customers, and why he thinks “relationships over revenue” is the most important philosophy for a founder to live by.

You can email Jim at [email protected] or find him on LinkedIn (let him know you found him through the Startup Happy Hour podcast), and don’t forget to check out xFusion at the link below!

xFusion: https://www.xfusion.io/

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SUBSCRIBE to Startup Happy Hour to get episodes like this delivered to your device every Tuesday!

WEBSITE: https://www.startuphappyhourpodcast.com/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startuphappyhour/

CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

TWEET at Diana: https://twitter.com/ddwchen

Having just celebrated its 10 year anniversary, Magnitech isn’t technically a startup anymore but still very much operates like one. Much of that startup mentality can be attributed to Magnitech’s CEO and Founder, Tim Pabich, who believes in identifying unique strengths in each of his team members and empowering each person to do the work that truly fulfills them.

Magnitech is an IT managed services provider (“MSP”) - or, in simpler terms, an outsourced IT department for small and mid-sized companies. They provide the whole suite of services - a full blown service desk, project management, cyber security, disaster recovery, and pretty much anything an IT department would provide for a business.

Tune in to hear how Tim got his start in entrepreneurship, how he managed to build and scale a company over a decade, his best advice for newer founders, and his predictions for future changes in technology that will affect the way businesses operate.

You can email Tim at [email protected] or find him on LinkedIn (let him know you found him through the Startup Happy Hour podcast), and don’t forget to check out Magnitech at the links below!

Magnitech: https://www.magnitech.com/

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SUBSCRIBE to Startup Happy Hour to get episodes like this delivered to your device every Tuesday!

WEBSITE: https://www.startuphappyhourpodcast.com/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startuphappyhour/

CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

TWEET at Diana: https://twitter.com/ddwchen

Inspired by her auntie, a first generation immigrant who worked hard to send money back home to the Philippines, only to have to pay a whole month’s worth of salary every year in transaction fees, Rebecca Kersch knew there had to be a better way. That’s why she founded TANG App, a payment platform that lets anyone from the US (or other countries) send money and phone credit (a new addition in response to Covid-19) to the Philippines, and eventually to the whole world. Think: a global Venmo.

Rebecca shares about how she built TANG App, from facing tons of rejection to finally finding her tribe to building her team and now growing the business while staying super involved on the ground. She has an attitude that no task is too small for her, despite being the Founder and CEO of the company, and she genuinely cares about connecting with and listening to each and every customer.

She also shares about her personal background of being a Dutch-Filipina who grew up mostly in the Netherlands and how that has impacted her journey toward entrepreneurship.

Tune in to hear all this and more in a fast-paced and fun episode!

You can find Rebecca on Twitter or on LinkedIn (let her know you found her through the Startup Happy Hour podcast), and don’t forget to check out TANG App at the link below!

TANG App: https://www.tangapp.org/

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SUBSCRIBE to Startup Happy Hour to get episodes like this delivered to your device every Tuesday!

WEBSITE: https://www.startuphappyhourpodcast.com/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startuphappyhour/

CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

You’ve heard from a number of exciting startups on this show, but today we’re diving into the other side of startup world: venture capital.

Brad Baum joins us to talk about the inner workings of VC life, what his day to day as an investor at Lightbank looks like, what investors look for in startups, and much more.

Lightbank is an early stage venture capital firm based in Chicago that has big names like Fiverr and Udemy in its portfolio.

Tune in to hear more of Brad’s story from taking a gap year before college to work on his own startup in Los Angeles to starting his own venture capital firm while attending University of Michigan to getting a job at a notable venture capital firm right out of college -- and find out what he would do differently if he could go back in time.

You can contact Brad by email at [email protected] or find him on LinkedIn (let him know you found him through the Startup Happy Hour podcast), and don’t forget to check out Lightbank at the link below!

Lightbank: https://www.lightbank.com/

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SUBSCRIBE to Startup Happy Hour to get episodes like this delivered to your device every Tuesday!

WEBSITE: https://www.startuphappyhourpodcast.com/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startuphappyhour/

CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

Reducing inefficiencies is every entrepreneur’s goal, but Jay Hsueh, Founder and CEO at Roby, has managed to solve an inefficiency that has plagued corporate offices for decades.

Roby helps companies streamline their help desk support tasks, like scheduling meetings, managing meeting rooms, controlling office temperature, and more so that all members on the team can work more efficiently and effectively.

This has been an interesting time for Jay as he has had to pivot with the environment, as more and more companies are shifting toward a fully remote or hybrid work setting. Luckily, Jay is “addicted to challenges” (his words, not mine) and already has some exciting new plans for Roby in place.

Tune in to hear more about the future of Roby, as well as Jay’s startup story, from working as an engineer in Taiwan to experiencing corporate life in the U.S. to finally discovering his passion for entrepreneurship. Jay’s positive attitude is infectious, so if you’re looking for something to smile about today, make sure you check out this episode.

You can contact Jay by email at [email protected] (let him know you found him through the Startup Happy Hour podcast), and don’t forget to check out Roby at the link below!

Roby: https://tellroby.com/

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SUBSCRIBE to Startup Happy Hour to get episodes like this delivered to your device every Tuesday!

WEBSITE: https://www.startuphappyhourpodcast.com/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/startuphappyhour/

CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/