"Most people don't get into entrepreneurship because they are passionate about accounting" — says Alex Wheldon, co-founder of Rho Banking, a New York-based technology company that raised 350 million dollars to disrupt the business banking sector in the United States. Still, it goes without saying that even if you have the best possible product out there, your company has to be good at managing money. Otherwise, you might go down faster than you think. That is the exact reason why Rho Banking...

Why do we hire designers? Is it just to make things look pretty or can they actually drive revenue? Well, according to Andy Budd, a proper design legend, one of the first UX designers in the United Kingdom and a VC nowadays, it's the latter. We caught up with Andy during our recent visit to the How To Web conference in Bucharest, where we had the opportunity to pick Andy's brain on design and growth. He talked about the things that founders miss when it comes to design and about the things...

What is the role of marketing in a successful tech company? Do marketers only care about the brand, or are they more user-focused? In today’s episode, we talked with Andrew Davies, CMO of Paddle, a unicorn valued at over 1,4 billion dollars. We explored the critical role of marketing in navigating the multiple ceilings that scale-ups face as they grow – particularly the importance of investing in a brand to avoid escalating customer acquisition costs. Andrew opened up about the thoughts and...

How does one go from a music journalist to a founder and CEO of one of the most recognizable companies in the web dev area? This week, we talked with Mathias Biilmann Christensen, who, alongside his co-founder Christian Bach, started Netlify - a web builder / hosting company that supports more than 35 million websites globally. Matthias shared his journey of building Netlify and the concept of Jamstack, which he coined to revolutionize web development by separating the user experience from...

What does it take to become one of the most prominent players in Web3 / blockchain community? How do you build tools for Web3 developers and how do you market them? How do you do all of this and become one of the fastest growing developer tooling companies?   This week, we talked to Bogdan Habic, co-founder and CTO of Tenderly, a full-stack infrastructure for Web3 professionals which was founded in 2018. and has so far raised almost 60 million dollars from VC’s such as Accel, Point Nine,...

Have you ever wondered what building and scaling products from the frontlines is like? To be at the intersection between customers and teams shaping digital tools and products? This week, we discuss those questions with Hamid Palo, a former Director of Product at Trello and Uber with extensive knowledge and experience in product development. Our hosts, IBB and Mia Biberović, caught up with Hamid in Brooklyn, where this seasoned product leader talked about his career and experiences and shared...

What's the secret behind scaling not one, but two multi-million dollar companies? What better person to talk to about growing businesses than Jason Cohen, the founder of WP Engine and someone who has been navigating the world of technology for more than 30 years! In this episode, our hosts IBB and Mia talked with Jason about his passion for blogging and how it has been a key aspect of his journey as an entrepreneur. He emphasized the importance of writing to organize thoughts, share ideas,...

Is there such a thing as overscaling the company? Is growth at all costs a good thing or can it actually harm the company and its culture? Meet Wistia, a Cambridge-based video marketing platform for businesses which was founded in 2006. with a vision to create a competition website for filmmakers, and which later evolved into a fully customizable video solution for businesses with various editing and marketing tools at the user's disposal. The story of Wistia is not the story of your average...

Boston-based office management tool Robin Powered faced a significant challenge at the beginning of 2020 when the world went into lockdown, making their business model obsolete overnight. Forced to adapt quickly, the company experienced its fastest-growing period by pivoting to meet the demands of the new work-from-home era. During a visit to Boston, we interviewed Robin’s co-founder, Brian Muse, and current CEO, Micah Remley. They discussed the company’s evolution, the enduring relevance of...

Noah Kagan is a self-made millionaire, the founder of App Sumo, and a content creator with over one million YouTube subscribers! In this episode, Noah shares valuable insights on his journey, including how he overcame challenges, the importance of finding the right people, and the power of experimenting with low-risk activities. He also discusses his experience scaling a tech product to millions of users, valuable insights into creating a $100 million business from past mistakes, working...

In this episode, we dive into a fascinating conversation with David Heinemeier Hansson, also known as DHH. As the creator of Ruby on Rails and co-founder of Basecamp, DHH shares insights on prioritizing profitability over investments, challenging mainstream business models, and the importance of building trust through admitting mistakes. Join us as we explore the keys to success for scale-up founders, the significance of effective communication, and the potential for affordable products in a...

Mario Ancic, a former professional tennis player known for his Wimbledon appearances and Davis Cup victory in 2005 with Croatia's national team, has transitioned from the tennis court to Wall Street. Currently serving as Vice President at One Equity Partners, Ancic's journey from sports to finance was discussed in the third episode of the ScaleUp & Up podcast. In the new episode, Ancic delved into his upbringing in Croatia, highlighting the support he received from his family in both...

Ivan Ostojic, Chief Business Officer at Infobip, has been immersed in science and technology since childhood. In the second episode of ScaleUp & Up podcast, Ivan discusses his journey from a fascination with technology and molecular biology to becoming a pivotal figure in the tech industry as a "business translator." His academic pursuits include a doctorate in natural sciences from the University of Basel and a Master’s degree in management, technology, and economics from the Swiss...

In the first episode of ScaleUp & Up podcast, we talked with our very own Silvio Kutic, CEO and founder of Infobip - Croatia's first ever tech unicorn. Silvio gave us an insight into what made him quit his first job after just a couple of hours and pursue his passion for developing communication technologies which later turned into the creation of Infobip - a billion-dollar company and one of the leaders in the CPaaS industry which is actively working with WhatsApp and Uber. We talked...