The VentureFizz Podcast

Steve is an operator turned venture capitalist. After a very successful run at General Catalyst, he joined Juxtapose earlier this year as a Partner to focus on building innovative B2B companies.

Juxtapose is an investment firm that partners with experienced entrepreneurs to build category-defining technology companies. The firm has developed over twenty companies over the last 25 years including Tend, Great Jones, Earned, and others.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* How to make big bets and recognize shifts in the tech industry as an investor.

* Steve’s background from academia to how he got his career started in the tech industry.

* The story of VMware and how he learned how to scale an engineering organization to over 3,000 people.

* His experience as an investor at General Catalyst and his thesis around making investments in cybersecurity, along with portfolio companies that have scaled like Illumio and Datto.

* What he is up to now at Juxtapose and how the firm is unique in terms of investing and company creation.

* And so much more.

If you are listening to this podcast, then it is highly likely that you are interested in the founder journey and lessons learned around building companies. Please make sure you don’t miss any episodes by subscribing to The VentureFizz Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or Soundcloud. Oh, don’t forget to leave us a review. It will really help us out!

It’s nice to get paid, but what happens behind the scenes for each payroll cycle is actually very complex. There’s a plethora of different tax calculations, remittance, filling, plus the movement of money between companies and employees. Yet, it would probably make sense for lots of companies to offer payroll as an add on service to their existing business.

That’s where Check comes in. Check is a payroll-as-a-service API that allows companies like Homebase, Bambee, & 7Shifts, an easy way to integrate a payroll product which creates new sources of revenue and the ability to better service the needs of their customers. The company is backed by Stripe, Index Ventures, Bedrock, and Thrive Capital.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* The difference between building and scaling a B2B versus a B2C business.

* Andrew’s background story, the difficulty of getting Duke / UNC basketball tickets, and starting his career at Google.

* The inspiration behind Oyster, which was like a Netflix for books and how they scaled the company to an exit to Google.

* All the details about Check and why this market was so interesting for building another company.

* Advice for founders on building a platform of platforms company.

* And so much more.

This week’s episode is sponsored by MarketMuse, a content intelligence platform that sets the standard for content quality. Their AI-powered software enables companies to create predictably better content at scale that increases traffic and engagement, improves productivity, and drives revenue. Get more out of your content with packages starting at $0/month, plus you can get 20% off the MarketMuse Standard plan by using our code "FIZZ20" at checkout. Go to marketmuse.com to get started!

Syncro is an all-in-one professional services automation (PSA) and remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform for managed service providers (MSPs). The company is backed by Mainsail Partners, a growth equity firm.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* How having a broad range of experience across different functional areas helped position Emily into a CEO role.

* Emily’s background story and the details on her career path across Product Management, Customer Experience, and more.

* What is an MSP (Managed Service Provider)?

* All the details on Syncro and how they are helping their customers run a profitable business.

* Advice on building a diverse workforce.

* Some of the challenges she has tackled as the company’s CEO.

* And so much more.

Is your company hiring? If yes, then you might want to add a VentureFizz subscription. It is our employment branding and hiring solution that helps to keep your company top of mind for our targeted audience of professionals in the tech industry. A VentureFizz subscription includes an employment branding page, unlimited postings to our Job Board, access to our exclusive content series, and more. Send an email to [email protected] for more details.

Fintech Sandbox is a nonprofit that helps fintech startups build great products. Founded in 2014, Fintech Sandbox provides critical data access and development resources to FinTech entrepreneurs around the world.

It’s a 6-month program where startups can get apply anytime, as the application process is rolling and there are no deadlines to get involved and another big part of what makes this program unique is that they don’t take equity or fees for participation.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* An overview of Boston Fintech Week which is powered by FinTech Sandbox and this year’s event is happening from October 10th - 13th.

* Kelly’s background story and how she got her career started at Bloomberg and then later how she got involved in the entrepreneurial ecosystem while getting her MBA at Indiana University.

* Her experience at Techstars and being part of the team running the Barclays Fintech Accelerator.

* All the details on FinTech Sandbox and what makes their program unique, types of companies they are targeting, and what FinTech startups can expect by participating.

* Fundraising for FinTech startups and a conversation around different trends in the industry.

* And so much more

Did you know that you can set up a user profile on VentureFizz? It is a feature that gives you access to personalized content, job seeker tools, and administrative features to manage your email subscriptions. To create a user profile and maximize your experience on VentureFizz, go to venturefizz.com/register to get started.

Kumospace is a venture backed virtual office space platform that provides immersive and interactive virtual spaces for hosting team meetings, and social gatherings.

Charge Ventures is a venture capital firm based in New York that invests in pre-seed / seed early stage tech ventures.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* The details on Brett’s advice around raising capital which is a process that he calls FOMO Fundraising.

* Brett background story which includes a variety of pursuits across investment banking, sailing, VICE Media, starting a band, being a Fulbright Scholar, and how he ultimately ended up in the tech industry as an investor.

* The story of Sonar Media, the first ambient social networking company and lots of lessons learned from building this company.

* All the details about Kumospace and how their platform is solving the challenges of remote work, collaboration, and culture.

* Brett’s experience as an investor with Charge Ventures, plus the details on what they are targeting for investments.

* The difference between figuring product-market fit for enterprise versus consumer products.

* And so much more.

Did you hear that VentureFizz launched a spinoff site a few months ago called Just Product Management Jobs? The title of the website says it all. So, if you are a Product Manager and you are looking for a new opportunity - check out justproductmanagementjobs.com - and you’ll find over 100 PM jobs at all levels of experience! If you are hiring, you can post your PM jobs for just $199 which is such a deal based on this highly curated audience!

‍Column Tax’s mission is to democratize access to tax and finance advice to improve people’s lives. The company is building the infrastructure and APIs to power year-round income tax products for all mobile banking and fintech companies.

Column Tax is venture backed by Bain Capital Ventures, Felicis, Not Boring, Core Innovation Capital, and South Park Commons.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* Building a company and how to think about competing against the large incumbants in the industry.

* Gavin’s background story including sales & operations roles at Dropbox, Premise Data, and Waymo.

* What led Gavin and his co-founder, Michael Bock, down the path of starting Column Tax.

* All the details on Column Tax and how they are approaching the business of filing taxes a different way and the level of impact their platform is having, especially with low-income families.

* Advice for building a remote first company.

* And so much more.

Did you know that you can set up a user profile on VentureFizz? A user profile gives you access to personalized content, job seeker tools, and administrative features to manage your email subscriptions. To create a user profile and maximize your experience on VentureFizz, go to venturefizz.com/register to get started.

Blackbird.AI helps organizations detect and respond to threats that cause reputational and financial harm. Powered by their AI-Driven Narrative & Risk Intelligence Constellation Platform, organizations can proactively understand risks and threats to their reputation in real-time.

The company recently announced its $20M Series B round of funding led by Ten Eleven Ventures.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* A deep discussion about how quickly AI is developing and if it should be regulated.

* How Wasim started as an entrepreneur as a sophomore in college and has been building startups since.

* The history of misinformation dating back to 1835.

* How he started to focus on AI back in 2017 and how being early to market as an AI first company has ultimately been a competitive advantage.

* All the details on Blackbird.AI and how their platform is helping enterprises, plus growth plans ahead.

* And so much more.

It’s hard to believe that we have over 300 episodes of The VentureFizz Podcast. We have built up an amazing catalog of inspirational stories around building companies and every episode includes lots of great advice to follow, as well. If you haven’t checked out our past interviews, go to venturefizz.com/podcast for the complete list. Oh, and one ask - please share The VentureFizz Podcast with your friends and colleagues in the industry. I appreciate your support!

Tropic provides data, tools and services to automate SaaS procurement for tech-forward companies, saving them money and time. The company has raised $65M since August 2021 and Insight Partners led its most recent round of funding.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* A very open and honest conversation with David about his history with addiction and how he overcame it and ultimately channeled his tendencies into a superpower.

* David’s background story and how he started out as a novelist and what led him into sales in the tech industry and helped a startup grow from the ground level to over $80M in revenue.

* Why the procurement industry was ripe for disruption.

* The story of Tropic and how they are bringing transparency to the process of purchasing software for companies and why their business is setup to thrive in any type of economic conditions.

* Lessons learned around building out a marketing function.

* And so much more.

Is your company hiring? If yes, then what are you doing to build up your company’s employment brand? If you don’t have a content strategy, then it is likely that you are just flying under the radar. The good news is that we can help! A subscription to VentureFizz includes a content playbook for sharing all the details on your company, people, and culture. We leverage all formats of storytelling to include video, podcasting, employee profiles, and more. Reach out to [email protected] to learn more.

I’m so excited to announce that with this episode we have hit a new milestone and that is #300 episodes of The VentureFizz Podcast!!! Did you know that my first interview was published 5 years ago, so I am blown away to reach this milestone.

Starting a podcast is not necessarily hard, but keeping up with it is certainly one of the trickiest parts. I believe that the key criteria for a successful, long standing podcast is that the host needs to be genuinely interested in the topic that is being discussed. It goes without saying that I am fascinated by the journey of building startups and I consider myself to be incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to interview so many amazing entrepreneurs and investors. I want to thank them all for taking the time to share their stories and advice with our audience.

So, for Episode #300, I couldn’t think of a better guest than Diane Hessan - Entrepreneur, Investor, Board Member, and Columnist.

Diane has accomplished so much through out her career and during this interview she shares so many great stories from each step along the way including building Communispace (now called C Space) which was the first company to leverage social media for consumer insights.

We had a lot of ground to cover, so we discuss a lot including:

* Diane’s background story growing up in Pennsylvania and why she completed her undergrad at Tufts in three years, plus the story of her very unique application to Harvard Business School.

* Her career path as a Brand Manager for General Foods and later rising through the ranks at The Forum Corporation.

* The full story of Communispace and how the company pivoted and disrupted the market research industry which led to an acquisition by Omnicom.

* Authoring a book and becoming a nationally recognized expert on the American voter.

* Serving on the Board of Directors at companies like Panera Bread, Brightcove, Eastern Bank, and others.

* What it’s like giving a commencement address.

* Saying “yes” and the importance of serendipity.

* And so much more!

Ok quick side note, as you know this is Episode #300. This means we have quite the library of interviews with entrepreneurs and investors in the tech industry. I interview legends like Diane who are wildly successful, but I also interview first time entrepreneurs, as I like to provide insights and advice for entrepreneurs at different stages. So, if you haven’t explored our full catalogue, you can go to venturefizz.com/podcast or any of the major streaming players like Spotify, Apple, Google Play, Soundcloud, and others. I hope you find these interviews useful, as there are so many great lessons learned!

In challenging markets, like we are in right now, companies in the tech industry need to think hard about pricing of their product. Should you discount your product or think through other options like usage based pricing or credit burn down pricing. Kate and I start our conversation around the different pricing options and key points that you need to think about because these decisions can have a major impact in the future when it comes to renewals, so lots of useful information for entrepreneurs.

Nue is the leading quote-to-revenue platform, designed to help businesses of all sizes automate their sales and finance processes. The company recently announced a $9M seed extension, bringing its latest round of funding to a total of $15M.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover:

* Kate’s background story and how she got her career started in marketing at Kiva.org and was later the first marketing hire at RichRelevance and what this experience taught her.

* Her experience working in startups and build her career into leadership positions that ultimately led her into a operational role in venture capital at NextWorld Capital.

* What led Kate and her co-founder, Tina Kung, down the path of starting Nue and the details on their journey thus far and plans ahead.

* The emergence of RevOps and the meaning of this function at companies.

* Advice on raising capital for diverse founders.

* And so much more.

This week’s episode is sponsored by MarketMuse, a content intelligence platform that sets the standard for content quality. Their AI-powered software enables companies to create predictably better content at scale that increases traffic and engagement, improves productivity, and drives revenue. Get more out of your content with packages starting at $0/month, plus you can get 20% off the MarketMuse Standard plan by using our code "FIZZ20" at checkout. Go to marketmuse.com to get started!