Episode 350 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Steve Papa, serial entrepreneur, mentor, and investor. It is time for another milestone episode and I couldn’t be more excited about this interview. Steve has accomplished so much throughout his career, so let’s just dive in. In this interview you are going to hear lots of amazing stories like: * Steve’s background and how he got his career started in the tech industry, including his involvement in the early days of Akamai. * The full lifecycle story of Endeca in terms of how the idea originated, to getting traction and raising funding, scaling, to a $1.1B exit to Oracle… plus so many amazing stories along the way. * The Special Ops team at Endeca and how many of the members of this team have gone on to be founders & leaders of companies. * Investing all of the money that he made from Endeca back into startups. * The story of Toast and how its distribution channel innovation drove the company’s success and helped create the vertical SaaS category. * The importance of Parallel Wireless and why it is such a passion project for him. * The problem that Shoobx was solving for startups and its exit to Fidelity. * How the tech industry repeats itself and his thoughts on AI. * Plus so much more! Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.