The VentureFizz Podcast

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 info@venturefizz.com 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!

Becoming an influencer for a particular topic is very challenging. It’s hard to build up a following at scale. It requires a lot of work in terms of building up an effective content, social media, and speaker strategy to build up engagement. As a serial entrepreneur, not only was I interested in learning about Larry's journey around building companies, but I was also interested in learning how he went on to become one of the top names and faces in the world of digital marketing. Larry is an influencer and a highly recognized expert in the digital marketing circles. He has over 725,000 followers on Twitter and is ranked the #8 most popular author on Medium. He is pretty much everywhere - Inc. magazine, CNBC, Business Insider, plus lots of niche publications in the digital marketing industry and he is also involved in lots of speaking engagements at top conferences like Dreamforce, INBOUND, and others. During our interview, he discusses this topic and shares advice on how others can become an influencer too. His latest company, Customers.ai is an AI powered sales outreach automation platform. The company recently announced a $4.99M Series A round of funding. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The early days of Larry’s career and how he ended up making the change into digital marketing. * The full lifecycle story of WordStream from the initial ideal to scaling to an exit, plus the story of the AdWords Performance Grader product that was a massive and early PLG success story. * Advice for founders on bringing in a CEO from the outside and the benefits. * What led Larry down the path of starting Customers.ai and all the details on the company. * AI and its impact on digital marketing. * The meaning behind Larry’s statement - “be a unicorn in a sea of donkeys.” * 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!

The world of cybersecurity gets a lot of attention in companies and enterprises, but when you look at what’s happen with consumers, the numbers for cybercrime and identity theft are staggering. Here are some stats: According to a report from the FBI, Americans lost more than $10B last year to cybercrime. According to the FTC, there were 1.1 million reports of identity theft in 2022. 71% of Veterans and active duty service members have experienced digital crime. Let’s not forget about all the data breaches that seem to be a daily occurrence. It’s a major problem and like any good storyline, you need a hero to take on the bad guys. In this case, the hero is Hari and the team at Aura, who are all working to make a safer internet for everyone with their all-in-one digital protection for consumers. They even have Hollywood superhero Robert Downey, Jr. and Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg involved as investors and board members of the company. Hari is a serial entrepreneur, who started Endurance International Group early on in his career and scaled it from scratch to an IPO in 2013 and grew to over $1B in revenue. His decision to take on cybercrime and identity theft with Aura was a personal one. In this podcast, he shares his story of being a victim of identity theft which opened up his eyes to the problem. Fast forward, this unicorn company has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * A deep dive into the world of consumer cybercrime and Hari’s thoughts on how AI will factor into the equation. * The full lifecyle story of Endurance International Group, an early cloud / SaaS company focused on the SMB market. * All the details about Aura’s platform and how it is helping consumers in terms of its comprehensive approach, plus how they have been building a consumer brand. * Why you should always bet on yourself and other lessons learned from his entrepreneurial journey. * 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, culture, and hiring process. We leverage all formats of storytelling to include videos, podcasting, employee profiles, and more. Reach out to info@venturefizz.com to learn more.

The business of doing good. It is an area where companies can build a profitable organization while doing something that is socially responsible. Companies like TOMS and Patagonia are great examples. For JC, she had a successful career, but it lacked fulfilment and she finally hit a breaking point where it was time for a change. From taking the entrepreneurial leap and build a responsibly farmed fish CPG company that reached distribution in over 4,000 stores and landing Leonardo DiCaprio as an investor, to what she is doing now as CEO of SmarterX, her career has aligned with her beliefs and values, all while working to create a more sustainable world. SmarterX is in the business of using data for good through its Product Intelligence Platform™ which is leveraged by retailers and brands to gain product insights and identify how to best handle consumer products across the supply chain, to remain compliant, avoid fines, and reduce their environmental impact. The company has been recognized by Fast Company on two impressive lists that being World Changing Ideas and Most Innovative Companies. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * A deep conversation on the importance of finding personal fulfilment in one’s career. * JC’s background story in terms of growing up in rural Pennsylvania and the foundational years of her career. * The full story of Love The Wild, from scaling up to ultimately making the hard decision to exit the business. * All the details about SmarterX in terms of how its platform and business model works, plus its impact on the planet. * The positive use of AI in the cleantech and sustainability industry. * And so much more. I don’t know if you heard but the team at VentureFizz has launched a new website called Just Product Management Jobs. We are combining laser focused job postings for Product Managers with high-value blog content that is written by expert contributors covering topics around career advice and the latest trends + best practices in the PM industry. If you are a PM looking for a new opportunity or if you are hiring Product Managers, go to justproductmanagementjobs.com.

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase - data is the new oil. It makes sense as it is data and of course other techonogical advancements that are powering the growth and use of AI in different industries. But even with all the buzz about AI, data has been the key differentiating factor for companies and a strategic advantage for years and years. It has been a key component for Scott’s success in the retail industry going back to ProfitLogic, a company he co-founded, which leveraged data for its merchandize optimization platform for major retailers. As an investor, Scott shares another great data example from one of his portfolio companies, that being Rent the Runway which went public in 2021. The company set up a data science and analytics team in the early days of the company as a strategic advantage. It will be interesting to see what companies emerge with this platform shift to AI and how it will affect the retail industry. Scott will certainly be in the mix of it all, as BCV recently announced two oversubscribed funds totaling $1.9B. So, lots of dry powder to invest. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Scott’s background story including getting his career started at IBM and what this experience taught him. * The full story of ProfitLogic, from how it got started to growing the company to a successful exit to Oracle. * What led Scott down the path of becoming a venture capitalist at BCV. * More about the Rent the Runway story, plus other investments like Mirakl and Attentive. * What he’s targeting in terms of making investments and the importance of unfair advantages. * Advice on scaling a company and how you should think about your team and board of directors. * And 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 info@venturefizz.com to learn more.

If you’ve listened to this podcast in the past, you probably know that I’m an avid fan of tech history. There’s nothing like a legendary founding story of a company that completed disrupted an industry. Well, I have an amazing episode today that is going to cover a lot of ground at several ground-breaking, platform shift companies. I’m talking about the stories of legendary companies or products like AltaVista, Napster, Groove Networks… and the early days of tech pillars like TechCrunch, Y Combinator and more. Here are just a few tidbits that you’ll learn from our conversation: * Did you know that AltaVista tried to hire the founders of Google while they were still at Stanford? * Did you know that Napster was actually trying to build a legit platform with a business model that would have allowed the music labels to welcome in and embrace the digital era? * Did you know that Y Combinator held their very first demo day in Cambridge, Massachusetts and can you guess what company demoed that day and is now a top 20 web property? Now that I think about it, Don and I go way back. Not only am I thankful for his time to share these great stories, but I am also thankful for all of his support. When I started VentureFizz, I used to syndicate content from investors and influencers in the tech industry and Don was one of our partners. Don was a prolific blogger and it definitely helped up build up our credibility. His blog was called The Next Big Thing and if you want to take another trip down memory lane, check it out, as it is still published. In this episode of our podcast, we also cover many other topics like Don’s thought on AI, which he was blogging about years ago and what he’s up to these days. 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, cuts down your content process, and improves your search visibility. Get more out of your content with packages starting at $0/month. Plus you can get 20% off the MarketMuse Standard plan, which includes a ChatGPT integration, by using our code "VFIZZ20" at checkout. Go to marketmuse.com to get started!

It is hard enough to build a startup in a heavily regulated industry like healthcare, but what do you do when your biggest competitor who is publicly traded files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection? It can be discouraging… or it can be an opportunity. In the case of DynamiCare Health, it is hopefully an opportunity… an opportunity to build a world class company that is helping to improve the lives of millions of people that are dealing with an addiction to drugs, opioids, alcohol, or tobacco. DynamiCare Health was founded in 2016 by Eric and his father, Dr. David Gastfriend, who is an international expert in addiction psychiatry. As a digital therapeutics and coaching company, they are using a pre-existing, yet a previously under utilized treatment called Contingency Management that rewards members for certain behaviors. Their solution combines this method along with the usage of a tech platform and a certified Recovery Coach to help people with recovery and it is working. The company was recently granted a Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA for one of its products, a prescription only digital therapeutic that treats AUD or alcohol use disorder which affects 29 million Americans per year. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Getting press for your startup and the pros & cons of using PR firms or doing it yourself. * Eric’s background story and what he learned at the early stages of his career while running a startup called Happy Cloud as its GM. * Why he went back to business school at HBS where he also studied AI and Machine Learning. * All the details about DynamiCare Health in terms of how their platform is helping its members with recovery. * The complexity of the healthcare system. * And so much more.