The Room Podcast

Season 6 continues with Sandra Abrevaya, CEO and co-founder alongside her husband, of Synapticure. Synapticure's mission is to make sure no one living with ALS is ever told, “I'm sorry, I can’t help you” because Brian and Sandra know firsthand how difficult it can be to receive ALS treatment. We chat with Sandra about balancing a romantic relationship and a business relationship with your significant other, what the current treatment options are for ALS patients, and how the COVID pandemic affected business in the medical field. Check out Synapticure here! For The Room Podcast in your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter. 3:48 - What convinced Sandra to go to Law School?5:21 - What are Sandra's top three takeaways from her career in politics that she uses as an entrepreneur? 9:37 - Did Sandra ever think she was going to become a founder? 10:57 - What has Brian's journey with ALS been like and how did it lead him and Sandra to found Synapticure?16:32 - Are there many options for treating ALS currently?22:17 - Who was the first person to say yes to investing in Synapticure?26:20 - What advice would Sandra give to a founder who is looking to build a mission-driven startup? 25:33 - What are some of those unique challenges in building a product and getting it into the hands of customers?26:07 - How does Sandra interface with patients during this need-finding process?31:14 - How did the COVID pandemic accelerate part of Synapticure’s roadmap? 33:37 - How does Sandra balance her romantic relationship and her business relationship with her husband?36:16 - What’s next for Sandra and Brian?37:49 - What’s next for Sandra personally? The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley. WX Productions

Season 6 of The Room returns with Julie Bornstein, Founder and CEO of THE YES, a personalized web-based fashion retailer that works with hundreds of brands, large and small. Julie describes what she learned from her time at Nordstrom, Sephora, and Stitch Fix and how she was able to use those experiences to create THE YES. Julie gives advice to new founders and the best first steps to take to raise capital from investors. Julie also walks us through THE YES’s algorithm and how they continue to provide an accurate and personalized selection for each user, as well as future goals for the company. Plus, she shares her insight on the future of online retail and Web3/ e-commerce 3 in general. For The Room Podcast in your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter. 3:58 - What was investment banking like when Julie was in college?6:31 - What were some of the innovations that Julie brought to Sephora to make them the cutting edge brand they are today? 13:10 - How did Julie end up working with Stitch Fix?16:35 - What was it like taking a company public after building it for over five years?18:29 - What led to Julie founding THE YES?22:30 - What does THE YES do?24:00 - Who were the early partners that said yes to working with THE YES?29:52 - What advice does Julie have for new founders?29:47 - What goals did Julie set for THE YES early on, and how did she carry out her vision?32:21 - How far are consumers from a fully personalized shopping experience?26:48 - How does THE YES’s algorithm learn from picky users and continue to provide an accurate personalized selection?36:25 - Who was the first brand to say yes to joining THE YES’s collection?38:18 - What was a time when things didn’t go to plan while starting THE YES?41:59 - What does Julie believe is the future of e-commerce? 43:44 - What’s next for Julie?44:47 - Who is a woman in Julie’s life that had a profound impact on her and her career? The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley. WX Productions

Thank you for joining us for Season 6 of The Room Podcast! We are starting strong with our first guest, Shuo Wang. Her company Deel was evaluated at over $5 billion last year from their revolutionary work in remote work and international payrolling. Shuo joins us to talk about her experience at the Y Combinator and the impact it had on her work with Deel. Subjects continue with how the pandemic was a catalyst for the growth of Deel and what metrics Deel uses to track that success. Plus, we ask Shuo about her strategies for competitively innovating and expanding Deel. For The Room Podcast in your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter. 4:12 - Where did Shuo grow up and how has that shaped her worldview?7:01 - How did a Mechanical Engineering degree translate into founding?8:21 - What encouraged Shuo and her co-founder to start thinking about global hiring? 10:40 - How was Shuo’s experience at the Y Combinator and what was the MMVP of the Deel product?12:07 - What country first started using Deel’s services?12:45 - What is the core product of Deel?15:35 - Who was the first to say yes and invest in Deel?16:20 - How would Shuo define her role as co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer?17:15 - What was Shou’s strategy for competitively innovating Deel?18:52 - What tips does Shuo have for founders who think they over perfectionists?20:24 - What metric does Deel mainly use to track revenue?21:25 - How did the pandemic affect the growth of Deel?22:32 - When was a moment things didn’t go as planned in the Deel story?24:45 - How does Deel plan for expansion?24:53 - What does Shuo think the future of hiring looks like?26:57 - What can look forward to for Deel?27:59 - What is coming up for Shuo personally?30:06 - Who is a woman in Shuo’s life that impacted her and her career? The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley. WX Productions

Season 2 of Movers & Shakers ends with another incredible guest, Founder and CEO of Meet Cute, Naomi Shah. Meet Cute is a “rom-com incubator.” Audio, written video, short-form video, long-form video, etc. Meet Cute produces them all. Naomi tells us what inspired the idea for Meet Cute and what it was like for her to raise funding at the start of her founding journey. Naomi also speaks on balancing inspiring other underrepresented founders while not being stuck in the box of a “female founder.” Other themes discussed in this episode include turning an investment thesis into a company, the “girl boss” trope and what it means for founders, and the future of the romance genre. Let’s open the door. Watch Extracurricular Here! For The Room Podcast in your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter. 0:05 - Where did Naomi grow up and how did that impact her view of the world? 2:34 - Did Naomi always think she was going to be a founder?4:10 - How did a mechanical engineering degree specifically translate into Naomi’s work?7:50 - What was the initial aha moment for Meet Cute?11:37 - In a few words, what is Meet Cute?12:47 - What is Naomi’s favorite Meet Cute series that they’ve made?14:43 - How was the process of getting the first funding for Meet Cute, and what did Naomi learn?17:49 - What advice does Naomi have for new founders?22:00 - How does Naomi balance paving a wave for underrepresented entrepreneurs, while also removing the stigma of being a “female founder?”27:09 - How do we appropriately help make things more equal for underrepresented founders?29:49 - What is Naomi’s favorite rom-com moment? 32:46 - How has a data-driven approach to storytelling helped unlock unexpected insights on consumers?37:09 - What does the Netflix stock drop say about the volatility of the entertainment market?40:19 - What's next for Naomi and her team at Meet Cute? 42:31 - Who is a woman in Naomi’s life that has had a profound impact on her and her career? The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley. WX Productions

Our mini-series, Movers & Shakers, continues with Rachel Goddard, a partner at Cooley LLP for over 22 years. Rachel walks us through her path to becoming a lawyer before becoming a partner at Cooley. She explains why she loves her job and what she and Cooley do to assist emerging managers to start their funds. Rachel also shares some best practices on things new managers might now know, like management fees and GP commitments. We also get Rachel’s perspective on the next five years for venture funds in light of the past few years being a very hot market and non-accredited investors investing in venture funds. For The Room Podcast in your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter. 0:14 - Where did Rachel grow up and how did that shape her view of the world?0:58 - Did Rachel always want to be a Lawyer?1:41 - What was the pivot that led Rachel into law?3:34 - How is Cooley focused on supporting venture capital?6:04 - What comes up in early conversations with emerging managers?8:43 - Rachel clarifies some of the terminology used to describe different stakeholders. 10:42 - What are the four documents that Rachel always starts with?12:15 - What are some best practices on things like management fees and GP commitments?16:31 - What is the definition of a smaller fund to Cooley?17:21 - What are Rachel’s thoughts on non-accredited investors investing in venture funds?20:25 - What do you think the next five years hold for venture funds in light of the past few years being a very hot market?22:00 - What advice does Rachel have for first-time fund managers and underrepresented fund managers?25:41 - What is coming up for Rachel, personally?27:35 - Who is a woman in Rachel’s life that had a profound impact on her and her career? The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley. WX Productions

Season 2 of “Movers and Shakers” continues with a legend in the digital marketing ad space, Zach Coelius, Co-Founder of Triggit and Managing Partner at Coelius Capital. Zach and his sister, Susan, played an instrumental role in modernizing the way advertisers use targeted digital ads. Zach deep dives into “retargeting,” a form of online advertising where the ads are targeted to consumers based on their previous internet behavior. The conversation progresses with the constantly changing legislation on privacy from large companies like Google and Apple. Plus, we further discuss Zach’s take on cryptocurrency, which is very different from the mainstream opinion. For The Room Podcast in your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter. 4:03 - Where did Zach grow up and how did this shape his view of the world?4:37 - Did Zach always think he was going to be an entrepreneur? 5:37 - Why did Zach attend five Olympic Games?8:52 - What is Triggit and how did Zach get started founding it?11:34 - What is the core product of Triggit and what was the competitive landscape like in the ad tech space?14:44 - How does Zach feel about the new privacy changes that Google and Apple are implementing?16:35 - Now in 2022, would Zach recommend entering the digital marketing ad space?18:05 - What are Zach’s thoughts on working within digital marketing on the paying side?19:41 - How is Coelius Capital structured? 22:31 - How would Zach describe his fund? 26:14 - Why is Zach not bullish on Crypto? Has his opinion changed in the last six months? See his mentioned User Manual here. 30:28 - What are some sectors that Zach is bullish on?31:36 - What advice does Zach have for founders looking for funding?36:12 - What’s next for Zach?37:25 - Who is a woman in Zach’s life that has had a profound impact on him and his career? The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley. WX Productions

We are kicking off our second entitlement of “Movers and Shakers” with a bang! In The Room with Mary D’Onofrio, partner and co-founder of the growth investment practice at Bessemer Venture Partners. Topics this week include the very active investing climate of 2022 and how to be proactive when searching for businesses to partner with, how to find, obtain, and retain skilled, specialized new hires, and the difference between growth-stage and early-stage investing. For The Room Podcast in your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter. 3:34 - Where did Mary grow up and how did this shape her view of the world?5:05 - Did Mary always think her career would be in Venture?7:28 - What lessons in “deal-making” did Mary learn during her time at Morgan Stanley?8:15 - What initially brought Mary to Bessemer in 2018?10:10 - What are some of the key characteristics you look for when searching for “the next big thing?”11:52 - How did Mary level up in that way to be able to really effectively evaluate these technical businesses?13:41 - How do you weigh valuing a company and its team versus the growth of the customer and the metric data?15:58 - What will continue to evolve within the cloud ecosystem for enterprise SaaS and software companies?17:34 - What is one company that is changing the way cloud is used or changing the technical ecosystem? 19:02 - How does Mary work with businesses she invests in? 21:10 - Is there a common stumbling block or something that is particularly tricky for new businesses? 24:10 - What advice does Mary have for post-B-level businesses who are struggling to retain talent and hire?25:50 - How is Mary thinking about 2022 and this current very accelerated pace of investing?28:53 - What does the future hold for Mary?29:32 - Who is a woman in Mary’s life that has had a profound impact on her career? The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley. WX Productions

In The Room with Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Co-Founder of Gilt Groupe, GLAMSQUAD, and Clerisy. In our final episode of the season, and 50th episode of The Room Podcast, Alexandra shares her experience breaking into the online retail fashion world with her smash hit, Gilt Groupe, alongside her partner, Alexis Maybank. Alexandra explains how she had limited merchandising experience but took advantage of the consumer ‘FOMO’ by creating the early forms of fashion brand “drops.” In this conversation, we cover themes such as the original “drop” model, what’s happening in Miami’s ‘Silicon Valley Beach’, and the adoption of Omni-channel 3.0. For The Room Podcast in your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter. 4:23 - Where did Alexandra grow up and how did that experience shape her view of the World?5:55 - Did Alexandra always think she would become a founder?7:35 - When Alexandra was at Harvard, were many people looking to become founders?10:03 - What was the retail climate like in 2007 when Alexandra started Gilt Groupe?13:05 - Did Alexandra realize she was creating the early stages of fashion brand “drops”?14:24 - What inspired Alexandra to structure Gilt Groupe in the way that it was?15:13 - Was it difficult pursuing larger purchase orders without having much retail fashion experience?18:32 - Who's the first person to say yes to Alexandra and Gilt Groupe?20:39 - What challenges did Alexandra face when building the robust catalog of items on Gilt?25:31 - Is Alexandra more or less bullish on the gig economy than she was when she founded Glamsquad in 2014?26:56 - What is the investment strategy of Clerisy? 29:44 - How is the technology ecosystem evolving in Alexandra’s new home city of Miami?32:07 - What do the next five years hold for commerce?33:54 - How is Alexandra thinking about the evolving tech world, especially in regard to Web3?36:38 - Who is a woman in Alexandra’s life that had a profound impact on her and her career? Be the first to know when new episodes drop - Receive Our Newsletter Season 5 of The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley. WX Productions

In The Room with Rathna Sharad, Founder, and CEO of FlavorCloud. With the constant growth of social media and the impacts of the pandemic, more businesses and brands are looking to export or import internationally. And since consumer expectations are only increasing, there is immense pressure on independent companies to unlock access faster. Enter, FlavorCloud, who takes care of the whole cross-border shipping process, including all customs requirements, wherever you’re shipping to. In this episode, CEO and co-founder, Rathna covers topics such as unlocking “anywhere to anywhere” shipping, the increasingly higher expectations of online consumers, and theories on how the supply chain issues will shape up this year. For The Room Podcast in your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter. 3:34 - Where did Rathna grow up and how did that shape her view of the world?5:24 - When Rathna was growing up did she want to be a founder?7:04 - What did the logistics ecosystem look like in the early 2000s?9:31 - What challenges did Rathna face when switching from B2B to B2C?13:02 - How did Rathna’s first company, Runway to Street, inform what is now FlavorCloud?18:45 - Who was the first person to say yes to investing in FlavorCloud?19:41 - Who is the target customer of FlavorCloud?20:57 - Which international markets are growing the fastest and where would Rathna recommend retailers expand?25:25 - How will the supply chain shape up next year?29:09 - What advice does FlavorCloud have for businesses that manufacture and distribute in multiple countries?32:06 - How has consumer expectation shifted the need for logistics to become faster and faster? And how have the supply chain constraints stunted e-commerce growth?34:40 - What’s next for Rathna?35:00 - Who is a woman in Rathna’s life that has had a profound impact on her and her career? Be the first to know when new episodes drop - Receive Our Newsletter Season 5 of The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley. WX Productions

In The Room with Mac Conwell, the Managing Partner and founder of RareBreed Ventures. After founding a few of his own startups, Mac’s life changed when he learned about the world of VCs and funders. This inspired him to start RareBreed Ventures, a pre-seed fund that invests in founders outside of large tech ecosystems. Mac and RareBreed provide resources, capital, and financial education to new and underrepresented founders. This episode discusses; strategies for bridging the gap between funders and marginalized founders, the unique uses of TEDCO, a state-sponsored VC that provides resources to early stage companies in Maryland, and how Mac is utilizing Rule 506(c) to publicly fund new founders. For The Room Podcast in your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter. 0:17 - Where did Mac grow up and how did that shape his view of the world? 1:21 - How did Mac’s early career start put him on a path to entrepreneurship? 3:15 - At what point did Mac decide to quit his job and become an entrepreneur?5:06 - What resources are available now versus when Mac started his career?5:53 - Who did Mac start his first company with?8:59 - How did Mac’s experience as a founder lead him to venture?12:27 - What is it like to be primarily investing in your home state?16:19 - Is there a “top of the funnel” issue when it comes to who is receiving funding and financial education?18:13 - What is TEDCO and how is it tying venture to state funding?20:13 - Why did Mac start RareBreed Ventures?21:31 - How and why does Mac have a “become an LP” button on his website? 26:46 - Who are some of Mac’s favorite companies that he works with?30:46 - How will access to capital change for new founders in the future?33:32 - What’s next for Mac?34:30 - Who is a woman that has had a profound impact on Mac and his career? Be the first to know when new episodes drop - Receive Our Newsletter Season 5 of The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley. WX Productions