The VentureFizz Podcast

Corey has an impressive background in terms of his career path and his many accomplishments as a leader, which we discuss in detail. But that is only part of the story. I was also very excited to talk with Corey about Rapid7’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion initiatives. The company has been very open about their goals and progress. In 2018, Rapid7 set a goal to have 50% of their workforce to be women and people of color. The company published a DEI Annual Report for 2020 which shared their results. They achieve 49.7% of their goal and one would think they would just round up and say mission accomplished, but as noted from a recent blog post on VentureFizz from Christina Luconi, Rapid7’s Chief People Officer, they are immensely proud of their progress to date, but they know they still have so much more to do. Thus, we talk at length about how Rapid7 has gone about building a more diverse & inclusive workforce and Corey shared lots of advice on how other companies can follow. In this episode of our podcast, we also cover: * Corey’s background growing up and his decision to study Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Vanderbilt. * His experience at AT&T during college and working at Deloitte after graduating, then attending business school at HBS. * His time working at Microsoft as a Group Product Manager, where he worked on one of the largest releases of SQL Server back in the day. * The details on Rapid7, plus his career progression to CEO and the company’s IPO. * Advice on building a career path to a CEO position. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Much like cloud computing, open source technologies have changed the game. When I think about it, it’s unlikely that VentureFizz would exist if it wasn’t for open source software. There’s no way I could have gotten it off the ground if I had to purchase an expensive content management system. It took many years for open source to become commonplace and especially to the point where you could build a successful tech company around an open source project. Ed has been involved in the open source technology industry for 20 years, so he’s witnessed firsthand how things have evolved and how open source has propelled technology forward, which we discuss in detail. He’s currently leading EDB, which provides products, services, and support to over 5,000 customers who are using PostgreSQL, an open source database. The company is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts and has 16 offices worldwide. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Ed’s background studying business at Boston University on an ROTC scholarship and how his experience in the Army helped him as a leader. * How he got into the tech industry and the rapid growth years at Red Hat. * All the details on EDB, including their record growth from last year and what the culture is like working there. * Advice on building out pricing and go-to-market models in the tech industry. * When is the right time to bring in a Chief Revenue Officer and how the position is different from a VP of Sales. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

When you think of the greatest athletes, like Serena Williams or Tom Brady, you are in awe of their success and the number of championships that they have won. In the business world, success is often measured by an exit - either an acquisition or an IPO and one could also argue that the IPO is many times the harder hill to climb. Well… when you look at Carol’s track record, it is extraordinary. She has been part of 4 companies (yes 4) that have all gone public: Shiva Corporation, Unica, LogMeIn, and Rapid7. In addition to her success as an executive, Carol has also made a major impact as a member of the Board of Directors at several startups and as an advisor to many entrepreneurs. And, on top of all of this… Carol recently joined Glasswing Ventures as a Venture Partner. Needless to say, we had a lot to talk about - not only about all the stories from her professional career, but it was an exciting opportunity to do a deep dive into the world of marketing. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Advice on how to build your personal brand. * Carol’s background growing up and how she pivoted her career from finance to sales to marketing. * Her professional journey including lots of great stories from scaling companies. * How marketing has evolved through the years and her thoughts on the current state of B2B marketing. * Lots of great advice on how to hire marketers and how to shape your own career path to a CMO position. * And so much more.

Payal is a Partner at .406 Ventures. She joined the firm almost 6 years ago and co-leads the digital health practice. Karthyn joined .406 Ventures this year as a Vice President and she is also aligned with the digital health sector. Needless to say, the healthcare industry has gone through radical transformation due to the pandemic and a lot of the technologies that support the industry have been accelerated, so we had a lot to talk about in this space. Named after the legendary baseball player, Ted Williams, .406 Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm that has raised over $1B across four core funds and two opportunity funds. The firm invests in innovative IT and services companies in data & cloud, digital health, and cybersecurity. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Payal and Kathryn’s background and how they ended up breaking into the VC industry. * All the details on .406 Ventures including their investment area of focus, stage of investing, and portfolio examples. * A look into the trends across the digital health industry. * Thoughts on helping to improve the diversity numbers in the VC industry and career advice on how to land a job as a Venture Capitalist. * What makes the position as a VC so difficult. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Many successful entrepreneurs disrupt industries with innovative ideas, but how many can say their disruption actually helped create and jumpstart a whole industry that is massive. Chris has been involved in the cybersecurity industry since the beginning as a member of the elite hacker think tank in the 90’s called the L0pht, which went on to testify before the U.S. Senate about cybersecurity and vulnerabilities of the internet. 20 years later, the cybersecurity industry is only growing by the day with new threats popping up and new technologies being developed to help companies and consumers play defense. Veracode is one of the anchor companies and Chris is one of its co-founders. Veracode is the largest global provider of application security testing (AST) solutions serving more than 2,500 customers worldwide across a wide range of industries. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The story of the L0pht, which has the makings for a great Netflix show as it reminds me of the series Halt and Catch Fire. * @ Stake’s acquisition of the L0pht and the early days of the cybersecurity industry. * The full story of Veracode in terms of starting the company, scaling to an acquisition, and spinning back out as an independent company. * Advice for technical founders on starting a company. * Lessons learned on scaling. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

A sign of a great entrepreneur is someone who has the drive, the hustle, and that unique ability to not only recognize opportunities where things can improve, but also the ability to follow through and take action to create something. This entrepreneurial trait for Shanel started at a young age, as she remembers selling her art work at family BBQs and it only continued to build from there. She later took the initiative, while working at athenahealth, by founding the company’s first ethnic diversity business resource group, which was well ahead of its time and it grew to 775 members globally. Now, she is the founder of a company called MD Ally, a public safety telehealth company that is working to ensure the appropriate use of emergency resources and improve patient outcomes, which is a game-changer. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Advice for landing media coverage and public speaking opportunities * Shanel’s background growing up and the foundation of her professional career at AT&T and athenahealth. * All the details on MD Ally and how they are using telehealth to optimize the system for 911 and EMS resources. * Her experience participating in MassChallenge and Techstars, plus what she is hoping to accomplish with her new role as a board member at Techstars. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

What do these three things have in common: ESPN, the Olympics, and ABC News? Rob was an on-air contributor for all three. As you’ll learn from our interview, he has a very unique background in the media industry. Not only was he on-air, but he also worked in business development and in the investment arm of media companies as well, which is very rare in terms of working on both sides of the equation. This well rounded experience has now set him up to start his own company and entrepreneurial pursuit with Persona, a video Q&A marketplace where you can get personalized video answers or shout-outs from influencers and experts. Think of it like a business version of Cameo matched up with Quora. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Advice on storytelling and why it matters for entrepreneurs. * Rob’s background growing up and his passion for the media industry and how practicing law helped him get started. * What it was like being an on-air personality, plus the details on his roles on the business side of the media industry. * What led him down the path of starting Persona and why now is the ideal time for this startup. * Advice for diverse founders on raising capital. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Peter has a tremendous track record of success as a CEO for fast growing tech companies and scaling them to a successful exit. He’s done it several times and Snyk is on pace to become another anchor tech company in the area. What’s interesting to note about Peter is the fact that it was a career pivot from a role as a Controller into tech sales that helped catapult his career into an executive leadership role. Snyk is a developer-first security company that helps software-driven businesses develop fast and stay secure. The company announced $200M in funding last September at a valuation that is greater than $2.6B. This is fresh off the heels of announcing $150M just 9 months prior. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The 3 basic principles Peter follows as a leader. * The story of Peter’s career transition to tech sales and his quick ramp into a leadership role. * A journey through all the companies that Peter had the opportunity to lead like eCredit, Watchfire, Desktone, & Veeam Software. * All the details on Snyk and the massive market opportunity for the company, plus growth plans ahead. * Advice on advancing your career towards a CEO position. * How to get on the radar for Board of Director positions. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Grant’s entrepreneurial experience started as a paperboy. He noticed that the real business model of newspaper companies was the ads. This triggered an idea that he could help small businesses with advertising too. Through the encouragement of his dad, Grant started cold calling and learned the great business lesson of what it’s like to get a bunch of “no’s” but when you finally land on that “yes” - it’s the magical word and it is all you need to get started. Unstack is his latest startup and the company just announced $3.1M in funding. The company provides a no-code marketing platform that gives marketers and entrepreneurs the fastest way to launch and scale a business. They already have significant traction and some really exciting plans ahead. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * How to crush your launch on Product Hunt. * Grant’s background story including how he learned online marketing. * All the details on his prior company, Grapevine, an early to market influencer marketing platform that was acquired. * A deep dive into Unstack and how they are competing against the massive incumbents. * Advice on getting involved in angel investing. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Imagine that you’ve worked your way into an executive leadership position with one of the top insurance companies where you are overseeing an organization of hundreds of people generating billions of dollars, yet you realize that you are a builder and there’s an opportunity to build a company around an idea. So what do you do? Do you stay at the safety net of the Fortune 500 company or do you take the risk and start something from scratch? If Ty is a guest on our podcast, you probably know the decision he made and it is a decision that is taking off. Openly is reinventing home insurance with a different approach with an emphasis on tech, an improved customer service experience, and a very smart sales model where they are partnering with independent insurance agents. The company announced $40M in funding back in December and this is fresh off the heels of announcing $15M just 6 months prior. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Ty’s experience at MIT and how he got involved in competitive ballroom dancing. * His career progression at Liberty Mutual where he was most recently EVP and Chief Product Officer. * How he thought through the decision to move on and start a company. * All of the details on Openly and how they are disrupting the insurance industry. * What the future holds for Openly, including their growth and hiring plans. * Advice for senior level executives on the decision of taking a risk to start a company. * And so much more If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.