By Shawn Jenkins
5
1414 ratings
The podcast currently has 11 episodes available.
Welcome to The Shawn Jenkins Podcast. This episode marks the end of our first season, so Shawn and executive producer Jacob Cleveland sit down and reflect on the past 10 episodes. We dive into the origin of the podcast, Shawn’s advice to anyone considering starting a podcast of their own, and a ton of other great topics, such as:
Shawn also offers some great advice to CS students, and we answer a few listener questions as well.
We hope you enjoy this episode, and make sure to check out the show notes for a few book recommendations from Shawn as well as a list of recommended podcasting gear.
Thanks, and enjoy!
Show Notes:
Book recommendations
Podcast Gear
Charleston Digital Corridor
Shawn's LinkedIn
Welcome to The Shawn Jenkins Podcast. In this episode, we talked to Mitchell Davis (LinkedIn). Mitchell is someone I’ve always admired. Mitchell and his team at his first company, BookSurge, created the world's first integrated publishing services and manufacturing system for print-on-demand books.
Mitchell sold his company to Amazon in 2005, and then he went on to work for them in a senior management position for several years and grew it into what is now known as CreateSpace.
After leaving Amazon, he got back together with his original founding team and created a new company, BiblioLabs, in 2008, and they're now disrupting the library and independent publishing industries in a completely new way.
Mitchell is also a great supporter of the tech scene here in Charleston. He's on the board at the Charleston Digital Corridor and he and Ernest over there have created a program called How a Software Company Works, which helps middle and high schoolers better understand all the different job opportunities in the software world.
In our conversation, we cover the origins of print-on-demand, engineering serendipity, analyzing change cost for buyer adoption, how ideas evolve into businesses, simplifying UX for elegant user experiences, and so much more.
Stay tuned for our final episode of the first season in which our producer, Jacob Cleveland, will interview me on what we’ve learned in starting and recording the past 10 episodes, how we got it out into the market, and more. If you have any questions you’d like Jacob to ask me, shoot him a message on LinkedIn here.
Thanks, and enjoy!
Show Notes:
Welcome to The Shawn Jenkins Podcast. In this episode, we talked to Jonathan Yantis. Jonathan is cofounder and CEO of QuicksortRx. QuicksortRx is a pharmaceutical spend analytics platform that helps hospitals and health systems identify savings by evaluating their purchasing trends and market price changes in real time, automatically identifying action steps to lower the cost of buying medicines. It's a real game changer.
In this episode, we discuss how Jonathan spent 14 years at his first job out of college, looking for the right problem to solve, which would become his first startup company; how intrapreneurship at large companies can lead to entrepreneurship and how institutions can create a space for innovation; the joy of building software that people love to use; how a relentless focus on creating value for the user results in great products; advice for founders on hiring your first salesperson and so much more.
Please enjoy my conversation with Jonathan. And if you have any questions that you'd like to hear covered in future episodes or recommendations for future guests, please email me at [email protected]. Thanks and enjoy.
In this episode of The Shawn Jenkins Podcast, we talked to Annie Erstling. Annie is Chief Strategy Officer at Forcura, a Jacksonville-based high growth technology company, focused on simplifying healthcare communication. Annie leads, strategic growth, including partnerships, product innovation, marketing, and strategic planning. She has experienced launching new brands, new products, and companies across the healthcare and technology sectors.
Formerly Senior Director of Marketing and Communications with Florida Blue and Director of Marketing and Product Strategy for Benefitfocus, Annie has also worked with Coca Cola, XCelerate, and Grizzard Advertising. She holds an MBA from the business school at Emory University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
A member of the Women's Giving Alliance, Annie was named a 2018 Jacksonville Woman of Influence by the Jacksonville Business Journal. In our conversation, we cover a wide range of topics, including what Annie learned about branding working for Coco Cola and how she has applied that to young high growth software companies, making life's big decisions like whether or not to pursue an MBA and deciding to start her own business, how she influences and maintains company culture and how that helps her and her team maintain work life balance, and how she is turning the new COVID remote work reality into an advantage for her team and our company.
Please enjoy my conversation with Annie, and if you have questions that you'd like to hear covered in future episodes or recommendations for future guests, please email me at [email protected]. Thanks and enjoy.
In this episode, we talk to Jim O'Neill. Jim is the cofounder and chief technology officer of SaaSWorks. His company is focused on helping subscription and software-as-a-service companies improve their net revenue retention by providing data-driven expert assisted insights and recommendations.
Prior to SaaSWorks, Jim was a founding team member of HubSpot, where he held the CTO, CIO, and chief people officer positions over different times of the company's growth. He also helped scale the company from pre-revenue through $400 million and over 1,500 employees worldwide.
In 2015, Jim was named Boston CIO of the Year and was a member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council on Innovation. In our conversation, we cover a wide range of topics, including the formation story and early days of HubSpot, how maintaining good work relationships through the years has benefited Jim many times over, and how trust can help break down silos and help early stage startups succeed.
We get into the idea that SaaS businesses are more like e-commerce companies than enterprise software companies. We spend time discussing how data helps you understand your business and how it can be key to your success. We also cover Jim's thoughts on the future of product-led growth and the benefit of the freemium model, how it can help decrease customer acquisition costs (CAC), and how freemium and product-led growth leads to better customer relationships.
We also get into Jim's angel investing strategy and the Boston startup ecosystem, his advice to recent grads and current job seekers, and a whole host of other great topics. Please enjoy my conversation with Jim. And if you have questions that you'd like to hear covered in future episodes or recommendations for future guests, please email me at [email protected].
Thanks and enjoy.
In this episode, we talked to Tyson Weihs (@tysonweihs). Tyson is the cofounder and CEO of ForeFlight, the market leading provider of critically acclaimed integrated flight application software for aviation.
Since its founding in the garages of the two founders in 2007, ForeFlight has grown into a multinational operation with offices in the United States and Europe. ForeFlight flight serves personal, business, military, and commercial flight operations around the world. The company was acquired by Boeing in 2019.
ForeFlight is a four-time recipient of the Flying Magazine Editor's Choice Award, recipient of Plane & Pilot Platinum Award, and recipient of the Aviation Week Laureate Award for best new product. In 2018 Tyson and cofounder Jason Miller were presented the Eren Ozman Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Living Legends of Aviation for their achievements.
In 2019 Tyson and Jason were awarded the prestigious General Aviation Safety award by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for improving the safety of flight. In 2020 Tyson will be inducted into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame. Tyson serves on the boards of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association where he chairs the Flight Operations Policy committee, and the NBAA Advisory Board.
I first met Tyson when he joined my company in our very first year. Tyson is an incredibly smart engineer and helped us build our first products before he moved to Texas to obtain his MBA from Rice University.
In our conversation, we discussed a wide array of topics, including:
Please enjoy my conversation with Tyson, and if you have questions that you'd like to hear covered in future episodes or recommendations for future guests, please email me at [email protected]. Thanks and enjoy.
In this episode of The Shawn Jenkins Podcast, we talked to Steve Swanson. Steve co-founded Automated Trading Desk, a company that pioneered high-frequency trading and disrupted Wall Street. After 12 years of growing the company, he was named president and CEO and increased ATD's market share to 7% of US daily equity trading volume. In 2007 ATD was sold to Citi Group for $680 million and Steve became global co-head of electronic trading for equities.
Since leaving Citi in 2010, Steve has managed, mentored, and invested in several startups in New York and South Carolina. Steve was named one of the top 10 innovators of the decade by Wall Street Technology for the market changes ATD influenced. He currently serves on several boards, including The Bank of South Carolina and the board of trustees of the College of Charleston.
I first met Steve when he invested in my company in 2001. In our conversation, we cover a wide range of topics, including building and growing ATD, what Steve looks for in an investment, including how he evaluates the many pitches he receives, how and why to join a board, and how he used PR to successfully position his small growing company as a legitimate technology partner for very large enterprises.
We also discuss Steve's ongoing involvement with the College of Charleston and his involvement with Charleston Angel Partners, their origin, how to pitch your company to them, and how they evaluate potential investments. Please enjoy my conversation with Steve, and if you have questions you'd like covered in future episodes, or recommendations for future guests, please email me at [email protected]. Thanks and enjoy.
In this episode, we have a fascinating conversation with Raheel (“Raz”) Zia , cofounder of Aldrich Capital Partners. Raz has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master's in Advanced Computing from London University.
He cofounded and was the CEO of Knumi, a mobile application software company. He led the successful sale of Knumi and then went on to help launch the growth equity practice at Goldman Sachs. In 2014 Raz cofounded Aldridge Capital Partners, which invests in growing software, cloud, and healthcare technology companies.
In our conversation, we cover a wide range of topics, including how founders can best select an investment partner, negotiating valuation and investment terms, building great boards of directors, managing through difficult economic periods, the best financial metrics for your leadership to focus on, and forming partnerships to grow your business.
We also spend a good bit of time on the personal side of developing yourself to have perseverance, finding and working with mentors, and enjoying the journey of building and investing in technology companies. Please enjoy my conversation with Raz, and if you have questions that you'd like to hear covered in future episodes or recommendations for future guests, please email me at [email protected]. Thanks and enjoy.
Welcome to the Shawn Jenkins Podcast, a podcast on how to build and grow software and cloud companies. As I was building my software company, I craved behind-the-scenes, real-world examples of how founders and leaders built their companies. I wanted to hear how they made decisions, overcame obstacles, survived difficult times, and went on to sustained growth.
On my podcast, we will have conversations with leaders who are in the midst of growing their software and cloud businesses. We will hear their stories, dig deep into difficult challenges, work through complex decisions, and explore ways to celebrate successes. In this episode, we have a fascinating conversation with Dan Currin (@DanCurrin), the cofounder of OrgChartHub.
Dan and I discuss his business model of building applications inside a partner ecosystem. In his case, that partner is HubSpot. We get into the advantages provided by this model and the opportunities to rapidly get up and running with your business. We also discussed the limitations of being in one ecosystem.
Those limitations, however, do not seem to be stopping Dan from building the company and lifestyle he loves. I found this conversation refreshing, insightful, and a sign of a new wave of micro SaaS businesses to come.
Please enjoy my conversation with Dan, and if you have questions that you would like to hear covered in future episodes, please email me at [email protected]. Thanks and enjoy.
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:
How fast is fast enough when growing your B2B SaaS company? Can you maintain a work-life balance while bootstrapping? Funding vs control—what’s your top priority?
Shawn talks to David Vroblesky, co-founder of the lawn care management software company Crew Control, about the challenges and rewards of bootstrapping. Shawn and David met at The Charleston Angel Conference, where David was selected to participate in a pitch competition. David ultimately decided not to take investment. Hear why, and see if David’s strategy is right for your business.
The podcast currently has 11 episodes available.