The VentureFizz Podcast

Welcome to Episode 44 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of your most-trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights in Boston and NYC! For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Dave Balter, Co-Founder & CEO of Flipside Crypto. Dave is a serial entrepreneur having founded two companies in the Boston tech scene that have been acquired. BzzAgent was acquired by dunnhumby and then, Smarterer was acquired by Pluralsight, a company that went public back in May of this year and is aggressively growing their team in Boston. His current company, Flipside Crypto, is a venture backed startup that is providing indexes and investment vehicles for cryptocurrencies. Not only has Dave’s impact been felt as an entrepreneur, but he is also an investor and advocate for the Boston tech scene. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The legendary Dave Balter tech prom - yes that did happen * The details behind BzzAgent, plus a fun story involving Jason Calacanis * Smarterer’s pivot that led to an acquisition * A simple description on cryptocurrency and blockchain, plus what Flipside Crypto is up to and how they are helping people build a diversified portfolio * How he got into angel investing, including being one of the first investors at Runkeeper * Plus, a lot more. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 43 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of your most-trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights! For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Justin Robinson, Co-Founder & SVP of New Business at Drizly. Shortly after graduating from Boston College, Justin started Drizly with his two co-founders: Nick and Corey Rellas. They saw an opportunity to build a company in a relatively untapped area of eCommerce—that being the home delivery of beer, wine, and liquor. Today, Drizly is available across 101 markets and the company has raised $35M in venture funding. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: -The aha moment behind starting Drizly -The early days of the company, which were spent working in a liquor store to learn the ins and outs of the industry -How they able to initially attract consumers and build a company in a highly regulated industry -Why they are poised to win over Amazon -Advice for first-time entrepreneurs raising capital -Plus, a lot more! Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 42 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of your most-trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights! For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Adam Medros, President & COO of edX. Adam is one of the most successful consumer web executives in the Boston area. As SVP of Global Product at TripAdvisor, he was one of the key members of the team that helped the company scale to a global, publicly traded company with 400 million monthly users and over $1.5 billion in annual revenue. Adam joined edX last November in an executive leadership role for this organization that has an amazing social mission attached to it. Founded in 2012 by Harvard University and MIT, edX is an online learning destination and MOOC, which is an acronym that stands for a Massive Open Online Course provider. They offer high-quality courses from the world’s best universities and institutions to learners everywhere. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: -Adam’s background and his career path -Advice for people who are considering business school -Great stories behind the hypergrowth years at TripAdvisor -Why he decided to join edX and the details on their platform -His experience as a board member at WordStream, and advice on selecting board members for your company -Plus, a lot more! Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 41 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of your most-trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights! For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Mike Sullivan, CEO of Acquia. Mike is an entrepreneur who co-founded an early SaaS company called Steelpoint Technologies, a provider of high-end electronic discovery solutions that was later acquired. If you are not familiar with Acquia, they are one of the anchor companies in the Boston tech scene, known for helping companies create digital experiences. They have a global presence with about 800 employees. In this episode, we cover: -The details on Steelpoint, and how the company moved from a services business to a productized solution -His decision to join Acquia, and his partnership with Dries Buytaert, Acquia’s Chairman, CTO and Co-Founder -The current state of Acquia, and their strategy moving forward (which could include making acquisitions) -Advice for growing a bootstrapped business, as well as how to generate revenue on day one and get your first customers -Plus, a lot more! Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 40 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of your most-trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights! For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Eric Horndahl, CEO & Co-Founder at Renoviso. Eric was a major contributor to two successful web companies in the Boston area, that being FlipKey (which was acquired by TripAdvisor) and BuyerZone (which was acquired by Reed Business Information). If you’ve ever had a major home improvement project like replacing your windows… it’s typically not a great experience, but Renoviso is looking to change that by disrupting the home improvement industry with a whole new approach through transparency, technology, and world-class customer service. . Renoviso’s investors are Corigin Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, NextView Ventures, FJ Labs, plus a who’s who list of angel investors. This interview is timely, as they just recently raised $7M in venture funding, so we had a lot to talk about. In this episode, we cover: -Eric’s background and his experience at BuyerZone, which includes so many great alumni -His experience at FlipKey, where they built a vacation rental marketplace -The aha moment behind Renoviso and their unique business model -Advice for first-time founders raising capital -Plus, a lot more! Quick side note: It’s hard to believe that this is our 40th episode! It’s been a blast interviewing so many great people in the tech industry. We have a great roster of guests coming up, but I want to make sure we’re giving our audience what they want. So, if there are any guests you’d like to hear the background story of, feel free to shoot us an email at podcast@venturefizz.com! Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 39 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of your most-trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights! I’m excited, as this is Part 2 of our special podcast mini-series where I interviewed two Boston tech legends. The first being Paul English, who is best known as the Co-Founder & CTO of KAYAK. If you haven’t listened to that episode yet, make sure you do. There’s so much great info in there. But today’s interview features Mike Volpe, who as most of you already know, was the Chief Marketing Officer and an early employee at HubSpot. And, he was recently the CMO of Cybereason. So, why is this a podcast mini-series? Well, they are both together now at Lola.com, a disruptive online travel service which is focused on serving the needs of business travelers. They recently announced the addition of Mike as the company’s CEO, and Paul moved to the role of CTO. I went over to their offices to interview both of them shortly after the announcement was made to bring you these exclusive interviews for our podcast. In this episode, we cover: -Mike’s background, and his family’s history of success in the tech industry -The story of HubSpot; we talk a lot about its early days, how they built a world-class culture, experimental marketing, and what it was like going public -His current role as CEO of Lola.com, and the future outlook of the company -His thoughts on the Boston tech and angel investment scene -Plus, a lot more Today’s podcast is sponsored by Yesware, an inbox productivity platform that transforms the way you send emails. With features such as campaigns, email tracking, and templates, Yesware removes barriers to productivity and empowers teams to make smarter decisions, faster. Yesware is hiring! Be sure to check out http://bit.ly/yeswareishiring for more info on their culture and job openings. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 38 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of your most-trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights! For the latest episode of our podcast, I interviewed Michael Cardamone, Managing Director & General Partner at Acceleprise, a SaaS-focused accelerator with programs in New York City, San Francisco, and Melbourne, Australia. Michael was an early employee on the business development team at Box and more recently led business development and partner marketing at AcademixDirect. In addition to his current role at Acceleprise, Michael is an active angel investor and personally advises a number of startups. In this episode, we cover: -Michael's background and his experience with the family business -What it was like working as an early member of the Box team -The details on Acceleprise -Lots of great advice for founders, like how they should approach sales and their pricing strategy -Plus, a lot more Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 37 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of your most-trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights! For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Paul English, who is one of the top entrepreneurs in the tech industry. Several of Paul’s companies have been acquired, but he is probably best known as the Co-Founder and CTO of KAYAK, which went public and was acquired by Priceline for $1.8B. Paul’s current company, Lola.com, is a disruptive online travel service focused on serving the needs of business travelers. In this episode, we cover: -Paul’s background, and his earlier companies -The founding of KAYAK and its acquisition -The details on Lola.com -His thoughts and tips on hiring -What it was like having a book written about him -His charitable work -Plus, a lot more! Ok - quick side note! This interview is actually Part 1 of a two-part podcast mini-series, as this interview was held shortly after the announcement of Mike Volpe joining the Lola.com team as CEO (and Paul moving into the role of CTO). So in addition to today's interview with Paul you’ll want to check back next week because we are going to have an interview with Mike Volpe, which is his first podcast interview since taking on the role as CEO. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 36 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of your most-trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights! For this episode, I interviewed Eric Paley, Managing Partner at Founder Collective, a seed stage investment firm in the Boston area. This year, Eric was ranked #11 for the Forbes Midas list, which is a ranking of the top VC in the industry. And yes… there’s no doubt, he definitely has the golden touch. His early investments include Uber, The Trade Desk, Cruise Automation, Formlabs, and more. Prior to launching Founder Collective with his partners David Frankel and Micah Rosenbloom, he was a co-founder (along with Micah) at a company called Brontes Technologies that was acquired by 3M. In this episode, we cover: -Eric’s background and his journey into entrepreneurship. -The background story about Brontes and how they disrupted an untapped industry. -The formation of Founder Collective. -The story behind his investment in Uber. -Why he loves making investments that are "non-obvious” or “non-glamorous.“ -Plus, a lot more! Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Welcome to Episode 35 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of your most-trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights! For this second New York podcast, I interviewed Alex Douzet, who is Co-Founder and CEO of Ollie, a company that is disrupting the pet food industry with a next-generation pet wellness brand. Prior to Ollie, Alex was Co-Founder and CEO for The Ladders, which brought an innovative business model to the online job search market and during his time there, its member base grew to over 10 million users. Not only is Alex a serial entrepreneur, but he is also a 6X Ironman Triathlon finisher. In this episode, we cover: -How training and competing in an Ironman compares to founding and running a startup -Lessons learned from raising venture funding and building The Ladders -The aha moment that led him down the path of starting a company in unfamiliar industry -Ollie’s business model and their progress to date -His hiring secrets -Plus, a lot more! Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!