Studying Success

Today we are joined by Josh Bowen, Co-founder and COO at Simba, a platform that provides affordable money transfer services for immigrants sending funds home. Prior to Simba, Josh was a Co-founder and head of business development and product at CrowdTwist. CrowdTwist sold to Oracle in 2019 and had more than $10 million in revenue. In this episode, we discuss how Josh and his Co-founder started Simba, why it’s so important to stay focused as a startup, and Josh’s learnings from CrowdTwist. Stick around to the end to hear Josh’s advice for Gen Z. 

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In this episode, we are joined by Chris Cabrera, founder and CEO at Xactly, a SaaS company that helps businesses manage aspects of their sales force including compensation and sales forecasting. Today we discuss how Mr. Cabrera built Xactly, the lessons he learned from his experiences working with VCs, and why Xactly was able to grow from $5 million in revenue in their first year to $20 million in revenue by their third year. Stick around to the end to hear Mr. Cabrera’s best advice for being effective in sales.

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Today we are joined by Ben Lerer who is a Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau, an early stage investment fund that targets New York based businesses and that has invested in the seed rounds of companies like Casper, Venmo, and Warby Parker. Before Lerer Hippeau, Ben was a founder at Thrillist Media Group which provides city guides to nightlife and restaurants in cities like New York and LA. Thrillist later acquired media businesses such as Now This and the Dodo to form the holding company Group Nine Media where Ben was the CEO. Group Nine Media was acquired by Vox in 2022. In this episode we discuss how Ben built Thrillist, what it was like to run Group Nine Media, and how Ben meets great entrepreneurs. Stick around to the end to hear Ben’s stories about his close friend, Gary Vaynerchuk. 

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In this episode, we are joined by Kim Dowling, Founder and CEO at Ride Indoor Cycling. Founded in Austin, Texas, Ride offers customers a fun workout experience filled with dancing, music, and colorful lights. In today’s episode, we discuss the power of word of mouth marketing for Ride’s success, how Kim creates a world class experience for Ride’s customers, and how Ride was able to pivot during COVID. Stick around to the end to hear Kim’s suggested reading list for high school and college students interested in business. 

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Today we are joined by Cyrus Massoumi, founder and CEO at Dr. B, a telehealth platform that offers affordable online medical consultations with doctors. Prior to Dr. B, Cyrus was the founder and CEO at ZocDoc, a platform that allows you to book appointments with Doctors in your area online. On top of Dr. B, Cyrus is also the founder and managing partner at Humbition, a VC firm. In this episode, we discuss how Cyrus founded Dr. B, why Cyrus is so passionate about providing affordable medical services, and why past founders are the best types of investors. Stick around to the end to hear how Cyrus evaluates businesses as a Managing Partner at Humbition.

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For our 20th episode, Studying Success is honored to be joined by someone as accomplished and successful as Reed Taussig. Taussig, in his epic career, has raised a total of $155 million and has returned to his investors $1.6 billion – yes, that’s billion with a b. From June 1997 to July of 2008, Taussig served as Chairman, President, and CEO of Callidus Software, a sales compensation management software provider, which he led from its inception to IPO. Callidus was later acquired by SAP for $2.4 billion. After Callidus, Taussig went on to become the President and CEO of ThreatMetrix, an online fraud mitigation company, which processes over 3 billion transactions per month and has over 6 thousand customers. In 2018, ThreatMetrix was acquired by LexisNexis Risk Solutions for $830 million. Reed is currently the CEO at an identity authentication company called AuthenticID.

In this episode, Reed shares his wisdom on why it’s so important as a startup to stay focused on the principal service that it provides, what “bad” CEOs do, what he thinks has been the key to his success, and his thoughts on running a public vs. private company. 

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Jason Burchard is the CEO and co-founder at a SaaS (Software as a Service) company called RootNote. RootNote provides content creators such as youtubers, musicians, twitch streamers, podcasters, etc. with a single platform that houses all of their relevant data like follower count, streams, plays, etc. so that these content creators can make better informed decisions on which form of content to release. In this podcast, Jason explains his ideation process with RootNote, the implications of raising capital and how they can be potentially stressful, and how social media is changing how businesses market to their consumers. Listen to the end to hear what Jason thinks is the most important thing to keep in mind when thinking about sales. 

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Today we are joined by Rob Taylor who has founded and operated 5 vc-backed startups over the past 20 years including BlackLocus which sold to Home Depot in 2012 and TrueCar which went public in 2014. Most recently, Rob Co-founded and was the CEO of a B to B SaaS company called Convey which was acquired by Project44 in September of 2021 for $255M. In addition to being a founder, Rob has done mentorships at Capital Factory and TechStars, and he currently is a board member at LawnStarter. In this episode, Rob shares his expert insight on what is important to focus on in the growth stage of a business, what he thinks is the most important part of a pitch to venture capitalists, and how he and his co-founders were able to grow Convey. Stick around to the end to hear what his two best pieces of advice for growth stage CEOs. 

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Mucker Capital is a venture capital firm that invests largely in preseed, seed and series A rounds. In today’s episode, Jon tells us why he likes “unsexy” software companies, what makes a company desirable to invest in in early rounds, and what are the characteristics of a great CEO. 

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In this episode, we are joined by Klaus Wegener who is a Co-Founder and Managing director at 35up, a company that provides ecommerce sites with cross selling software. Prior to 35up, Klaus Co-founded a custom laptop and phone case company called Caseable where he was the CEO. In today’s episode, we dive into how Klaus and his team launched 35up, how to reach out to investors, and why it’s so important to hire the right people. Stick around to the end to hear Klaus’ advice on business in general. 

Please subscribe to Studying Success to hear more from the best entrepreneurs and investors!

Also check out our website at www.studyingsuccesspodcast.com.

And follow us on Instagram @studyingsuccesspodcast.