The VentureFizz Podcast

I don’t mind shopping for groceries but my problem is that I’m a creature of habit and I tend to purchase the same things over and over again. Plus, I am terrible about meal planning, so after doing a full shop there is still “nothing to eat.” I guess I’m not the only one. As Ben and I discuss, on average, consumers spend 2-3 hours a week grocery shopping. 75% of what we buy at the grocery store are the same items as the week before and 20-30% of what is purchased at the grocery store is thrown away and wasted. Terrible. So, what if you could have a service that cuts that shopping time down to 2-3 minutes a week, plans the meals for you, creates the list of ingredients that is only 10% of what you purchased the week before, and delivers it to your home! Sounds dreamy right… well, say hello to Hungryroot. Hungryroot is the only grocery and recipe delivery service designed to make healthy eating easy, personal, and sustainable. The company is profitable with revenues of $182M for the first six months of this year all while building a “relatively speaking” capital efficient business. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Ben’s background story and how entrepreneurship was part of his DNA from an early age including starting a company at 18 years old that was ultimately acquired. * The details about Savored which helped restaurants book empty tables using dynamic pricing which was acquired by Groupon. * The full story about Hungryroot which evolved from selling its own line of food products and how they pivoted to a grocery service and using AI at its core since 2019. * His lastest entrepreneurial side project called Every which is an app focused on enhancing human experiences and fostering deeper connections among individuals. * Advice on creating and scaling a consumer business. * 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!

Did you know that 23% of global emissions come from single family homes? Needless to say, this is a underserved segment and an industry that is ripe for innovation. Carl’s current company, Aro Homes, is a purpose-driven company on a mission to redefine residential construction. The company was founded in 2021 and has raised $21M in funding from world-class investors including Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Why Carl has build a career with a focus on working on products that touch the lives of millions of people in a positive way. * A deep dive into Carl’s professional history across lots of market leading companies including Unilever, Amazon, Dyson, eBay, Affirm, and other startups. * The environmental impact for single family housing and why the industry has lacked innovation. * All the details on Aro Homes and how they are disrupting this industry, including their emphasis on reducing waste and improving efficiency. * Advice for building a great consumer product. * 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

This episode is the second live interview that we recorded live at Startup Boston Week at Suffolk University which was a ton of fun and maybe it is something that I should do more often. As you’ll hear, Wes is a native New Englander. He grew up in Acton and launched Fetch while he was in school at the University of Wisconsin. The company has office locations in Madison, Chicago, and other locations, but he is local to the Boston area again as he moved back a couple of years ago. Fetch is a consumer-engagement platform that rewards shoppers for buying the brands they love. The company has over 700 employees and has raised over a half a billion dollars in capital with its most recent round valuing the company at greater than $2.5B. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Advice for when you are in the pre-product market fit and figuring out the right problem to solve. * Wes’ background story and how entrepreneurship was always a focus. * How the idea of Fetch came to fruition while at the University of Wisconsin and how he met his co-founder, Tyler Kennedy. * The early days of the company and how they built the foundation of customers and consumers. * The current scale of the business which includes 6M DAUs (Daily Active Users) and $150B of aggregated spend. * Lessons learned from scaling the company and how he learned to lead. * Why they don’t use surveys for making decisions. * 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 info@venturefizz.com for more details.

This is a first! This episode is one of two interviews that we recorded live at Startup Boston Week at Suffolk University which was a ton of fun and maybe it is something that I should do more often. Material Impact is a deep tech VC firm that was founded by Carmichael Roberts and Adam Sharkaway. The firm is investing in companies that are powered by material science that solve enduring, large-scale, real-world problems. They are full lifecycle investors and work from the earliest stages of companies. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Elyse’s background story including how she made the transition to marketing and her role at high growth startups like MC10 and Lose It! * The importance of understanding your customer and the difference between B2B versus B2C marketing. * All the details about Material Impact in terms of the types of companies they invest in and how they support their portfolio companies. * A deep conversation about Gen Phoenix, a portfolio company where Elyse is their interim CMO, that rescues leather offcuts destined for landfill and regenerates them into a premium, durable leather material coveted by the world’s most iconic brands in the fashion industry. * Advice on getting media attention for your startup. * And so much more.

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 info@venturefizz.com for more details.

Kelly Fryer, Executive Director of FinTech Sandbox, discusses the unique features of their nonprofit program supporting FinTech startups. Topics include Boston FinTech Week, Kelly's background at Bloomberg, Techstars experience, fundraising, and collaboration in a virtual setting.

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.