The StartUp to ScaleUp Game Plan

Dan Bowyer is a Partner at SuperSeed Ventures a VC fund investing in technical founders who love business automation.

Dan has a radically different background to your typical VC - his career spans modelling, performing in a boy band & presenting kids TV shows before switching over to tech, entrepreneurship and eventually VC.

Dan’s passionate about startups innovating and changing the world – he believes that startups can help tackle many societal problems.

We discussed:

• Dan's atypical journey to becoming a VC

For more insights into SuperSeed check out https://www.superseed.com/ & for head over to https://alpinasearch.com/ for guidance on recruiting exceptional senior talent for software ventures

Jamie Akhtar is the Founder & CEO at Cybersmart, a cybersecurity scale-up, funded by VCs including Oxx & British Patient Capital, dedicated to helping SME's safeguard their data.

We explored:

• “Alive in 25” – the whatever-it-takes playbook to ensure your software venture will survive the next 2 years 

For more Cybersmart insights check out https://cybersmart.com/ & for advice on recruiting senior executives for B2B software startups & scale-ups head over to https://alpinasearch.com/

Guy Rubin is the CEO & Founder of Ebsta, the Revenue Intelligence Platform for Salesforce & Hubspot customers. Ebsta helps high-performing business development teams engage with more target accounts, helps sales teams close deals faster, & helps customer success teams retain happier customers.

We explored why:

• 70% of sales reps are missing their targets

For more revenue intelligence insights check out https://www.ebsta.com/ & for advice on hiring leaders for B2B Saas ventures check out https://alpinasearch.com/

Magnus Karnehm is a Principal at Left Lane Capital – Magnus heads up their European office

We explored Left Lane's unique approach to venture capital – running their fund like a sales team with each investor speaking to 25+ companies a week giving them exposure to off the beaten track sectors as well as the hot and trendy sectors. 

We discussed the traits of startups that scale efficiently from $1m to $10m ARR - in particular data obsession 

We also discussed the mistakes that can hinder a Saas venture's trajectory - e.g. moving upmarket too early 

With great candour & humility, Magnus opened up on his journey of self exploration since embarking on the Hoffman Institute process after his father passed away last year.

We discussed how important it is for a VC to maintain peak personal performance as their decisions - and the support they provide to their portfolio companies - are so impactful. 

For more insights into Left Lane Capital check out https://www.leftlane.com/ and for advice on hiring leadership talent for software ventures head over to https://alpinasearch.com/

More information on the Hoffman Institute process can be found at https://www.hoffmaninstitute.co.uk/

Maarten Stolk is the CEO & co-founder at Deeploy - a Dutch startup helping businesses build explainable and responsible AI

We discussed:

• Why people fear losing control of their AI models 

For more insights into Deeploy, head over to https://www.deeploy.ml/ & for guidance on recruiting impactful leaders for software startups & scaleups head over to https://alpinasearch.com/

Ed Keelan is a Partner at Octopus Ventures focused on B2B SaaS. As well as identifying & nurturing disruptive SaaS startups, Ed's actively involved in various initiatives addressing D&I topics - including neurodiversity - within the VC sector. 

We discussed:

• What do VCs really care about when evaluating startups & entrepreneurs?

For more insights into Octopus Ventures head over to https://octopusventures.com/ & for advice on recruiting exceptional leaders for startups & scale-ups check out https://alpinasearch.com/

William Tunstall-Pedoe's claims to fame include, in his first startup, Evi – which he sold to Amazon -  creating the AI technology that now powers Alexa in 100s of millions of devices globally, coding the AI software behind the anagrams in the Da Vinci Code, and calculating that April 11th 1954 was the most boring day in history!

William’s latest venture – Unlikely AI – who’ve recently raised a $20m seed round led by Amadeus & Octopus - is his most ambitious venture yet & could radically change the future of software & AI development

We explored:

• why does the world need a contrarian approach to AI?

For more insights into Unlikely AI head over to https://unlikely.ai/ & for advice on recruiting exceptional leaders for startups & scale-ups check out https://alpinasearch.com/

Ambre Soubiran is the CEO at Kaiko – a cryptocurrency market data provider who in June ‘22 raised a $55m Series B led by Eight Roads. Kaiko aims to become the Bloomberg of the blockchain & cryptocurrency worlds!

We explored:

• Why Ambre gave up a successful banking career to build a blockchain startup

For more insights into Kaiko head over to https://www.kaiko.com/ & for advice on hiring leaders for B2B SaaS scale-up heads over to https://alpinasearch.com/

Bastian Karweg is the Group CEO at Echobot & Leadfeeder – these 2 saas ventures were recently acquired & merged by Great Hill Partners to create a ground-breaking sales intelligence & go-to-market platform & appointed Zoominfo's former CEO, Derek Schoettle, as their Chairman.

We explored:

• the strategic thinking & ambition behind the Echobot & Leadfeeder "arranged marriage"

For more insights into Echobot & Leadfeeder check out https://www.echobot.com/ & https://www.leadfeeder.com/

And for advice on recruiting exceptional leadership talent for B2B Saas scale-ups check out https://alpinasearch.com/

Tariq Rauf is the Founder & CEO at Qatalog - backed by $18.5 million in funding from VCs like Atomico, Mosaic & Salesforce Ventures - whose digital work hub enables organisations to scale fast with transparency, automated knowledge flow, & tightly aligned teams & projects.

We explored:

• How Tariq started coding when he was 6, built his 1st software business when he was 12, developed software for major corporations throughout his teenage years & then chose to re-train as an architect!

For more insights into Qatalog check out https://qatalog.com/ & for guidance on recruiting exceptional leaders for B2B software scale-ups head over to https://alpinasearch.com/