The Peel with Turner Novak

Vlad Magdalin, Co-founder and CEO of Webflow, discusses the history of web design, empowering non-engineers with Webflow, the evolution of technology in web design, his journey as a refugee to the US, and the challenges and adaptations in building a successful startup.

Keith Rabois, Co-founder and CEO of OpenStore, discusses the problems in ecommerce, why Instagram Shopping and Wish failed, contribution margin in startups, and what he looks for in founders. He also shares his thoughts on AI startups, his favorite interview questions, and the reasons behind moving to Miami.

Natasha Vernier, Co-founder and CEO of Cable, discusses the $4 trillion market of financial crime, highlighting the prevalence of crime for financial gains and the difficulty in stopping it. She explores the increase in financial crime on crypto rails and the growing synthetic ID fraud. Natasha also shares her experience joining Monzo, building Cable to help regulatory and financial crime teams, and raising funds for the startup.

Alex Bouaziz, Co-founder and CEO of Deel, shares the journey of growing Deel from zero to $300M+ ARR in four years. Topics discussed include the initial insight around remote work, pivoting before YC demo day, Deel's remote-first approach, fundraising strategies, and the importance of building the right board and selecting committed board members.

Semil Shah, the founder of Haystack, shares insights from his journey in venture capital, detailing how he built the firm from the ground up. He discusses the emotional trials of fundraising, the importance of relationships, and key strategies for investing in early-stage companies. Semil highlights the evolution of investor expectations and the challenges of maintaining communication in a changing landscape, reflecting on mistakes made along the way. His story emphasizes the delicate balance between personal and professional responsibilities in the competitive world of venture capital.

Sean Frank, CEO of Ridge Wallet and known as the 'Einstein of Ecommerce', discusses topics such as the challenges of selling wallets, Ridge's 80% gross margins, the decision to not raise venture capital, hiring a new CEO, marketing strategies including Twitter advertising and influencer sponsorships, the future of women's return rates in fashion, vertical integration through investing in a watch manufacturer and building a factory, the importance of core competency, Ridge's tech stack, and the challenges and potential future of e-commerce penetration.

Dimitri Dadiomov, Co-founder and CEO of Modern Treasury, discusses the challenges of moving quadrillions of dollars annually in the global banking system. He explores the importance of easy-to-use B2B products with broad use cases, the qualities of a good API business, and why building deep customer relationships across industries is vital. Dimitri also shares insights on finding market gaps, the depth of Modern Treasury's product, and the significance of going slow to go fast in business growth.

Kendall Baker leads Yahoo’s sports newsletter business and previously launched the daily newsletter Sports Internet, sold to Axios. He discusses the evolution of sports newsletters and how they foster deeper connections with readers compared to traditional media. Baker shares insights on writing engaging content, the importance of experimenting in the newsletter space, and why he spent $0 on growth. They also touch on the growing interest in U.S. soccer, underrated athletes, and how trends like fantasy sports will shape the future of sports media.

Dan Porter is the Co-founder and CEO of Overtime, a sports network for the next generation of fans. OT reaches 85 million fans per month and runs a basketball league (Overtime Elite, OTE), a flag football league (OT7), and is launching a boxing league (OTX) the week this episode airs. Dan started Overtime with his co-founder Zack Weiner in 2016, and has since raised over $215 million. OT is supported by investors like the late ex-NBA Commissioner David Stern, Jeff Bezos, Drake, Carmelo Anthony, Trae Young, over 25 other NBA players, Spark Capital, Redpoint, a16z, Greycroft, Afore Capital, and Banana Capital. [Turner Novak and Banana Capital are investors in Overtime]. Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: ⁠http://bit.ly/3Qk4RNd In this episode, we discuss: The business of sports Why people love sports The founding story of Overtime How to raise money for a unique idea Overtime’s very first product How to bet on technological change The changing professional sports landscape How to launch a sports league Why founders must obsess over their product Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/how-overtime-grew-to-85-million-fans Where to find Dan: Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/tfadp⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/danporter/⁠ Where to find Turner: Newsletter: ⁠https://www.thespl.it⁠ Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/TurnerNovak⁠ Where to find The Peel: YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@ThePeelPod⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/ThePeelPod⁠ TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@ThePeelPodcast⁠ Read the full transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/how-overtime-grew-to-85-million-fans Production and distribution by: ⁠https://www.supermix.io⁠ For sponsorship inquiries: ⁠https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform⁠

Nick Saltarelli is the Co-founder of Mid-Day Squares, a healthy, functional chocolate bar. Nick, his wife Lezlie, and her brother Jake started the company in 2018 from their kitchen in Montreal, and have since built their own factory with $70 million in capacity, and grown the company to a $26 million revenue run rate. Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://secureframe.com/request-demo-4?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=062023-thesplit Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/building-a-70-million-chocolate-factory In this episode, we discuss: The history of the $200 billion chocolate market Competing against 100+ year-old monopolies Finding a huge opportunity in healthier chocolate The dirty secrets of contract manufacturing Why no one knows how to make a Snickers bar, and Coca-Cola doesn't have a patent How to build a moat in CPG Why Mid-Day Squares had to build their own factory Making chocolate like Tesla makes cars Copying Facebook’s launch strategy Measuring product market fit in CPG Almost running out of money during COVID Why every founding team should go to therapy Surviving an 85% drop in revenue How to raise a bridge round Building an enduring brand Why marketers should study the music industry Timestamps [00:00:00] Intro [00:03:07] The insane politics of chocolate [00:04:53] The history of chocolate [00:07:11] The enormous market for chocolate [00:10:24] The nutrition of chocolate [00:15:00] The Mid-Day Squares origin story [00:20:05] Creating the first product [00:25:53] Why Coca-Cola never filed a patent on their formula [00:29:08] Why they built their own manufacturing plant [00:31:35] A crazy and creative fundraising strategy [00:39:26] Taking over an island and finding PMF [00:46:32] Raising $2m to prove 2 things [00:47:15] Automating production and navigating manufacturing chaos [00:51:11] Why he had to "plead with the government on public TV” [00:53:51] On "eating shit sandwiches” [00:57:30] The COVID mistake that dropped revenue by 85% [01:03:02] Advice for raising a bridge round [01:04:55] How to build fans not customers [01:07:12] How to build in public [01:12:23] Rapid fire questions Where to find Nick Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickywonka Where to find Turner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak Where to follow The Peel podcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePeelPod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ThePeelPod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ThePeelPodcast Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/building-a-70-million-chocolate-factory Production and distribution by: https://www.supermix.io For sponsorship inquiries: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform