VentureForth - Adventures in Startups

Siqi Chen is the VP of Growth at Postmates, the leading on-demand logistics provider.  He was previously the co-founder and CEO of Hey (acquired by Postmates), maker of Heyday, an automated journal app, Stolen (the short-lived, but incredibly viral Twitter hit), and Famous.af (Stolen’s less controversial successor).  Siqi previously served as the GM at Zynga after an acquisition of his Facebook app startup, Serious Business, maker of the ridiculously viral Friends for Sale, as well as stints at Powerset, Veoh, and NASA Jet Propulsion Lab.

In this episode, we learn how Siqi leverages data to drive growth and build viral products, why the ability to build rapidly growing businesses failed to make Heyday stick, and how he applies these lessons to give super powers to everyday people.

Learn more about Siqi Chen and Postmates!

Follow Siqi on Twitter @blader.

Siqi's favorite book: The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

Something Siqi spends too much money on that he doesn't regret: Travel & food

Siqi's favorite travel destination: Osaka, Japan

Siqi's favorite restaurant (in the world): Saison

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Debra Lin

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Tony Conrad is a partner at True Ventures and co-founder of 2 companies acquired by AOL, about.me and Sphere.  He's invested in some of today’s most well-known and well-loved brands like Wordpress, Fitbit, and Blue Bottle Coffee, and Jeff Clavier says that Tony is one of the few guys who figured out how to be both a great entrepreneur and a great VC.

In this episode, we learn about how Tony's background of growing up in a small farming community in Indiana, coupled with living and working all over the world, contributed to his unique perspective to consistently support amazing founders.

Learn more about Tony Conrad and True Ventures!

Follow Tony on Twitter @tonysphere.

Tony's favorite book: Shackleton's Boat Journey

Tony's hardest, most humbling eclectic job: Janitor

Tony's funnest eclectic job: Yogurt merchandiser

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Debra Lin

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Jeff Clavier is the founder and managing partner at SoftTech VC, one of the most well-known venture firms in the industry.  As one of the original so-called super angels or micro VC’s, Jeff is a legend in the valley and has seen it all.  He knows how to pick winners, and some of his most notable investments include Mint.com, Fitbit, Eventbrite, Hired, Postmates, Poshmark, about.me, and many, many more.

In this episode, we learn about how Jeff got his start in venture, how he raised his most recent $150M fund, and how SoftTech VC stands out from the rest by not following the crowds.

Learn more about Jeff Clavier and SoftTech VC!

Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeff.

Jeff's favorite book: Dune

Jeff's number one passion: Collecting, drinking, and appreciating wine.

If Jeff was CEO of any company for one day, it would be: Twitter.  Find out why on the show!

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Debra Lin

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Bill Clark is the founder and CEO of MicroVentures, an online equity crowdfunding platform that enables accredited investors to connect with startups, businesses and services to raise capital or participate in secondary market opportunities.  MicroVentures has raised millions for startups, backing several multi-billion dollar companies including Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Yelp, and many more before they reached the public markets.

In this episode, we learn about how Bill founded MicroVentures, raised over $100M for startups, and recently partnered with IndieGogo to launch their Title III equity crowdfunding platform.

Sign up as an investor at MicroVentures and check out their partnership with IndieGogo!

Follow Bill on Twitter @austinbillc.

Bill's Favorite Book: Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist

Bill asks every entrepreneur: Why did you start the company?

If Bill was CEO of a portfolio company for one day, it would be: Lyft.  Find out why on the show!

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Eileen Carey is the founder and CEO of Glassbreakers, an enterprise SaaS company focused on supporting diversity and inclusion as a core business function.  Glassbreakers connects employees with resources, mentoring, and a community of peers, making a difference to their enterprise customers’ bottom line today.

In this episode, we learn about Glassbreakers' unique approach to improving diversity and inclusion, why it is important, the challenges of building software for a new category and selling it into the enterprise, and the effect their technology has had on closing the gender, racial, and ethnic gap in the workplace.  We also discuss how Eileen's background in high-level PR contributed to building the Glassbreakers community and opened doors to Chief Diversity Officers at Fortune 500 companies. 

Learn more about Glassbreakers' technology.  They're hiring!

Follow Eileen on Twitter @eileenmcarey.

Eileen's Favorite Book: The Collected Poems & How to Murder Your Life: A Memoir

How Eileen Spends Her Free Time: Volunteering at homeless shelters & hackathons

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Debra Lin

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Jake Gibson is the co-founder & former COO of NerdWallet, a website that gives consumers and small businesses clarity around all of life’s financial decisions.  Since departing in 2014, Jake has become an active angel investor in companies like Earnest, The Hustle, Captain401, DataFox, InDinero, Meadow, and many more.  He is currently an EIR at 500 Startups, lending his knowledge and experience with the 500 fintech fund.

In this episode, we learn about how the financial crisis led to the creation of NerdWallet and why he and co-founder Tim Chen opted to bootstrap instead of raising traditional VC funding to start their business.

Compare the best Credit Cards, Car Insurance, CD Rates, Savings Accounts, and more at NerdWallet.

Follow Jake on Twitter @iamjakestream.

Jake’s Favorite Book: Seveneaves

Jake’s Credit Card Protip: Chase Sapphire Reserve

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Ian McHenry is the co-founder and CEO of Beyond Pricing, an essential revenue management and dynamic pricing tool for vacation rental owners who list on sites like Airbnb and VRBO.  He's a Renaissance man whose background includes investment banking, consulting, solving rural poverty in Africa, sailing throughout Southeast Asia, and even a bit of wine-making.

In this episode, we follow Ian's journey as he embarks as a first-time entrepreneur and builds a company that's not only huge in Japan, but all over the world.

Automatically price your Airbnb, VRBO, or FlipKey with Beyond Pricing.

Follow Ian on Twitter @ianmchenry and read his blog.

Visit McHenry Vineyard for January 2017 Passport Weekend! 

Ian's favorite books: Tales of the South Pacific & The Royal Road to Romance

Ian's favorite travel destination: Andaman Islands

Ian's most essential "man skill": Starting a fire

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Michael Sacca is the newly minted President of Crew.co, a platform for hiring trusted creative professionals.  The Montreal-based company was formerly known as “Oomph”, and has raised about $14M to date.

In this episode, we learn about how Michael got the top job at Crew and how pursuing side projects saved the company from obscurity to becoming the best place to build your projects.

Hire a trusted freelancer at Crew.co.

Subscribe to the Rocketship.fm podcast.

Follow Michael on Twitter @michaelsacca and read his blog.

Michael's favorite book: The Social History of the Machine Gun

Something Michael strongly believes: Not everybody should try to be an entrepreneur.

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Dori Yona is co-founder and COO of Earny, an app that makes it super simple to automatically get money back on almost every purchase you make.  Earny has raised $1.2M and has processed over $1B in receipts to date.

In this episode, we learn about how Dori's experience as a Commander in the Israel Defense Forces prepared him to guide the Earny team and triumph over overpaying.

Download Earny in the App Store!

Dori's favorite book: Hatchet

Apps Dori can't live without: Snapchat, Chase & United Airlines

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Husayn Kassai is the co-founder and CEO of Onfido, a service making background check screening and identity verification easy and cost effective.

In this episode, Husayn shares how his own job hunting struggles led him to founding an indispensable service used by startups, governments, and banks worldwide.

Integrate Onfido's identity & document verification, and background checks into your business.

Apps Husayn can't live without: Blinkist, Trello, Slack, Lyft and Uber

Husayn collects: Business cards & ideas

Husayn hopes to be remembered for: Fostering a new generation of entrepreneurs.