The VentureFizz Podcast

The insurance industry is extremely complex and can be very challenging to break into as an industry outsider. After being in a minor car accident, Snejina’s premium increased. Like any of us, she went online to find a better option only to realize that a marketplace for insurance didn’t exist. Existing sites were all lead gen. The complexity of the insurance industry probably kept other entrepreneurs from trying to build this type of marketplace, but it was the a-ha moment that led Snejina to take on this challenge, which has required a tremendous amount of grit and determination. Insurify is reimagining the way you compare, buy, and manage your insurance online. Through artificial intelligence, they make insurance shopping simple, affordable, and hassle-free. The company recently announced $23M in Series A funding led by MTech Capital and Viola FinTech, with participation from Nationwide, Hearst Ventures, and MassMutual Ventures. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Snejina’s background growing up in Bulgaria and her professional career, including her move to the U.S. * What led her down the path of starting Insurify and why she spoke with hundreds of people in the insurance industry before even starting to build out the core product. * How she landed her first insurance carrier which created a snowball effect. * The current state and scale of Insurify, plus its growth plans ahead. * Advice on building a customer acquisition strategy. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Lots and lots of startups and corporations have moved to an open office environment, which was supposed to foster collaboration amongst employees. As it turns out, according to research published by CNBC, “90% of employees working in offices with an open floor plan experience increased stress levels, conflict, blood pressure and turnover rates.” Wow… shocking! So, how do you solve this issue without completely renovating your office, which would be very costly and disruptive? That’s where ROOM comes into play. They are rethinking the modern workplace with their innovative phone booth design. They are on to something, as the company has over 3,000 customers. Growing up Brian always dreamed of being an entrepreneur and being a part of a startup. This is his second company, as he was previously a co-founder of a smart suitcase startup called Bluesmart, which was a Y Combinator company. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Brian's early experience teaching English in Ecuador and what that taught him about leadership. * How he got into startups and his involvement with Bluesmart. * The origin story of ROOM and how they discovered an underserved market that is helping to improve mental health and wellness in the workplace. * The current stage of the company and growth plans ahead. * Advice on setting up and finding the right manufacturer, plus why they choose to work with partners in Indiana and Portugal. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

It’s one thing to build a successful business, but it’s a whole different level if you can build a business out of doing good and creating better lives for others. As you will hear in this podcast, Liz has a heart of gold and a do whatever it takes attitude to help others out in need. She has a history of volunteering and during her time at Harvard, Liz realized that there was an opportunity to help the less fortunate succeed through art. This led Liz and her brother to pull together $4,000 from their personal savings to create ArtLifting. The company empowers artists living with homelessness or disabilities through the celebration and sale of their artwork. Its impact? Artists have earned over $1M from ArtLifting. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Liz’s experience and her background in volunteering for non-profits. * The inspiration that ultimately led to the start of ArtLifting. * All of the details on ArtLifting and the massive impact they are having on improving the lives of the homeless or disabled. * How they raised capital from prominent investors, like the founder of TOMS Shoes, while building a social enterprise. * The evolution of their business from a direct to consumer model to a more sustainable B2B focus. * Advice for other founders around getting PR. * And more! If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

It is a known fact that building a business is hard. It can be tricky because as an entrepreneur, you are filled with optimism. You are putting your blood, sweat, and tears into a business and it might feel like you are making progress and great traction. Yet, it could all just be a false positive. So, what happens if you come to this realization, then to put another layer of complexity to the scenario, the situation gets worse. An acquisition falls through and you are left with $1,000 in the company’s bank account? Well, you could shut down the company, which would be a logical decision for most people. Or, you could pivot and bet your company on one piece of your platform. This is exactly the scenario that happened to Ben. Pivots fail too, but in this example, it couldn’t have turned out better and it is a great story for all entrepreneurs to hear. Privy is the leader in eCommerce marketing for small businesses and entrepreneurs. They are on a mission to be the front office operating system for eCommerce and its working. They have over 400,000 stores in 180 countries using their platform for marketing automation. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Ben’s early career and how he got into entrepreneurship. * The first iteration of Privy and some of the lessons learned. * Hitting rock bottom with the failed acquisition and the decision to pivot. * All the details Privy’s incredible growth since and what’s in store for the future. * Advice on communicating good & bad news with investors * How to determine when to pivot your business. * And more! If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Kyle and I are from the same hometown, that being Manchester, NH. Growing up, I used to purchase my gear from his family’s sporting good store called Indian Head Athletics, so it is definitely a small world. After graduating from Bentley, Kyle worked in the tech and went on to be part of the core leadership team that built Dyn, one of the most successful companies to come out of New Hampshire. Not only did they scale revenue to $100M in ARR, but Dyn also became one of the most important tech companies in the world as thousands of the top websites counted on the company for internet performance and security. Dyn was acquired by Oracle in 2016. After investing in over 70 startups over the past decade and building companies as an operator, Kyle is leveraging this experience to help other entrepreneurs succeed through his firm called York IE (Investment Enterprise). This is a new value-add investment firm and operating company with a commitment to reshape the way startups are built, scaled, and monetized. In addition to York IE, Kyle is actively involved with several other companies as either an investor, operator, or board member. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Kyle’s background and some reminiscing about Manchester. * All the details in terms of how he led corporate strategy, growth, and go-to-market at Dyn. * How a massive DDoS attack at Dyn turned into a positive. * Kyle’s experience as an angel investor. * The details on York IE and how they differentiate from other investors. * Advice for founders on building out an initial sales strategy. * And more! If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

I once read a blog post that stated an interesting fact. The number of professional athletes in the U.S. is equal to the number of positions in venture capital. Needless to say, positions are scarce in the VC industry and they are highly sought after. For Claire, she was determined to land a position in venture capital after getting her MBA at Wharton. She devoted months of her time sitting in coffee shops researching and learning the industry, while creating a recruiting plan, cold emailing VC firms, and offering her research to investors in hopes of landing an open position. Well - Her determination paid off when she joined Corigin Ventures and she recently joined Highland to help the firm built out its New York office. Highland has a long history of success as a leading VC firm and their track record speaks for itself to the tune of 46 IPOs and 127 acquisitions. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * How living in Kenya for six months influenced her career. * Her experience working in investment banking during the economic crisis. * How dedication and commitment through cold emailing landed Claire a position in the VC industry. * All the details on Highland Capital Partners and what she is targeting for investments. * How to get investors to respond to cold email pitches. * What first-time founders can expect during the process of raising capital. * And more! If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Semyon’s professional journey started out in a rather unconventional manner. As one of the members of the famed MIT Blackjack team, he’s always had an incredible knack and drive for mastering whatever challenge was in front of him. After living the life of a high roller, Semyon went on to become a successful founder of multiple tech companies but he found his true calling when he started angel investing and running the Techstars Boston program. He realized that his passion was really centered around helping other entrepreneurs succeed. Today, Semyon is the Founder and Managing Partner of One Way Ventures, a venture fund that is focused on investing in immigrant founders. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Semyon’s own story as an immigrant who migrated to the U.S. from Moscow. * How he became a member of the MIT Blackjack Team, which has been featured in movies, books, and documentaries. * His experience as an entrepreneur and the companies that he founded. * How he got into investing, where he made over 100 angel investments, plus his involvement with Techstars. * All of the details on One Way Ventures and how they are helping immigrant entrepreneurs. * Advice on generating interest from investors. * Common mistakes made by entrepreneurs. * And more! If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Sometimes in life, you need to turn negatives into positives. Ben suffered a back injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down for a period of time. While recovering from surgery for over a year, he had to purchase everything online and it was his constant usage and dependency of eCommerce that sparked his idea. Ohi was built to solve the problem for other eCommerce retailers who are trying to accomplish the same delivery expectations that consumers have based on the Amazon Prime experience and that is next day or same-day delivery. Ohi’s micro-warehousing strategy not only allows up and coming brands to compete, but this strategy is also much better for the environment, which was interesting to learn about as I wasn’t aware of how much of a negative impact that next day or two-day delivery has on our environment. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Ben’s early background in the Financial Services industry and why he decided to go back to business school. * Advice on the application process at Stanford. * How a back injury influenced the creation of Ohi. * All of the details on Ohi’s strategy and how their business model is helping the environment. * Advice on recruiting for your team. * And more! If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

To kick off the new decade we have an amazing episode for you today that has everything a great Hollywood movie should have - a groundbreaking idea that changed our lives, a team of risk-takers, the dramatic ups & downs of building a company to the point of potential failure, and of course... the heroic outcome. I’m talking about the story of E Ink and my guest today is Russ Wilcox, Partner at Pillar. Russ is a venture capitalist these days, but he was a Co-Founder of E Ink and later on, he led the company as its CEO and growth to $200M in revenue. E Ink commercialized electronic paper which was invented at the MIT Media Lab and was the technology that changed how we read, as it made the Amazon Kindle and lots of other devices a major success. Russ and I get deep into the weeds of this story which is ultimately a 15 year journey that ended in a very successful acquisition. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Russ background story. * How E Ink got started and the early days of the company. * The story of how the first launch of their product was a failure, but somehow this failed product ended up on Jeff Bezos’ radar. * Scaling the company and what the Oprah effect can mean. * Why Russ decided to become a venture capitalist and all the details behind Pillar and the type of investments he is making. * Advice for founders who are looking to commercialize technology. * And more! If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

As her intro suggests, Mona has accomplished a lot throughout her career. She always knew that someday she wanted to start a company and it was her experience working in the fashion industry which led her to start JOOR. She recognized an opportunity to start a company that brought the antiquated wholesale buying process between brands and buyers into the digital era with an online marketplace. In addition, Mona recently authored a book titled Startups and Downs: The Secrets of Resilient Entrepreneurs which was published back in September. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * What its like writing and getting a book published. * Mona’s background story and what led her down the path of starting a company. * All of the details on JOOR and how they modernized and disrupted the fashion industry. * Her current role as a Partner with her investment firm, Kings Circle Capital. * Hiring advice for first-time founders. * When is the right time to raise venture capital funding. * And more! If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.