Episode #328 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ellen Chisa, Partner at boldstart ventures. Back in 2016, we wrote a profile about Ellen on VentureFizz when she was leading product management at Lola.com. The profile was part of a series that we called Driven, which I think is a very fitting word to describe Ellen… and ironically, the discussion around considering a role in venture capital actually came up. So, in my opinion, it was only a matter of time. From being part of the winning...

Episode #327 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Reed Sturtevant, General Partner at Engine Ventures. This is exciting! Why? Because this episode is longer than my normal interviews, as Reed and I cover his career that spans multiple decades across major technological platform shifts. This means that based on his career, he has so many great stories to share. It is like a historical walkthrough of the Boston tech scene. We even had to do two sessions, so if you are watching this video from...

Episode 326 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Dries Buytaert, Founder and Project Lead of Drupal and Co-Founder, CTO, and Chief Strategy Officer of Acquia. Many of the most successful companies in tech were created by founders who built something that was to fill their own need. This was certainly the case for Dries, who back in 2000, started an internal online message board for his friends from his dorm room in Belgium which turned into Drupal. Fast forward to today, Drupal powers 2% of...

Episode 325 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Alex Shashou, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of 10Beauty. About 10 years ago, Peter Thiel is credited for saying “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.” True, Twitter or X certainly was not in the same frame of mind as to what we saw on The Jetsons, but are we finally starting to get there? The Roomba was a step in the right direction in terms of a consumer robot success story. But… the future just might be closer than you think in...

Episode #324 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Sameer Gulati, Founder & CEO of Ordway. Sameer loves SaaS and it’s for good reason… it is expected that the size of the SaaS market may hit almost $1 trillion by 2030! Yes, the tech industry is having some challenges, but did you know that… even though the evolution to SaaS started 20 something years ago… the adoption of SaaS still only sits at a 36% adoption rate versus traditional on-premise software. There is still such a massive...

Episode 323 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Elizabeth Lawler, Founder & CEO of AppMap. A question that I ask every guest at the end of every interview is - “What do you like to do for fun outside of work?” Oftentimes, I get common answers like - hiking, traveling, etc. But, Elizabeth’s answer has by far been the best one yet and it is proof that she is not only a great entrepreneur but also a maker at heart. Elizabeth is building with her husband & Co-Founder, Kevin, and their...

Episode 322 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Ryan Shank, CEO & Founder of ShareWillow. Finding the right idea for building a company that will scale is hard. It’s even harder when you get influenced by all the news about the trends in tech like AI, Web 3, crypto, or whatever is the latest trend. Yet, there are still some very large industries that are still operating with very old tech and are still ripe for disruption. Case in point is Ryan’s latest company, ShareWillow, which is a...

Episode #321 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Gabi Steele, Co-Founder & CEO at Preql. Building a company is hard and there is no “one right way” to go about getting started, especially when you are creating a new category. But, when I talk to founders like Gabi, there was always an emphasis on generating revenue from the start. It’s a smart move, as you can obviously control your own destiny through any customer work that might seem more like a services play. But, in addition to...

This is episode #320 and today’s guest is Mike Duda, Managing Partner at Bullish. Peloton, Harry’s, Warby Parker, Casper, Birchbox… these are all iconic direct-to-consumer brands that have all disrupted various categories that were ripe for disruption. Take Warby Parker, the eyewear company that disrupted Luxottica’s business which pretty much owned the whole market from eyewear brands to storefronts. Or Casper, the company that made the process of purchasing a mattress much more...

Episode 319 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Peter Berg, Managing Partner at M12, Microsoft’s venture capital fund. I’ve had lots of investors as guests on the podcast, but I was excited to interview Peter because I’ve never interviewed an investor from a CVC or a Corporate Venture Capital fund. I’m not sure what the number is today, but according to a 2023 report about CVCs, it counts 1,100 active CVCs. Based on this scale, it is a very meaningful opportunity for entrepreneurs in terms...

Episode #318 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Henrik Werdelin, entrepreneur & author. Incubators are not a new thing but some are certainly more successful than others. Take prehype, a venture development firm in New York City where Henrik is a Founding Partner. It has holdings in major success stories like BarkBox and Ro, plus over a dozen other venture capital-backed startups. As a Co-Founder of BarkBox, he was part of the team that built one of the most successful subscription...

Episode 317 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Deon Nicholas, CEO & Co-Founder of Forethought. I was at a couple of networking events the other week and let’s just say the word AI was brought up many, many times. Yes, we are in a major shift in terms of a tech platform, but doesn’t it feel like some companies are forcing AI into their business model or solution… versus an organic solution. Well, this is not the case for Forethought where AI has been core to their platform since the...

Episode 316 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Clement Cazalot, CEO & Co-Founder of Machinery Partner. From scaling docTrackr to an exit… to running the Boston Techstars program… to his latest company… since coming to Boston from France in 2011, Clem has become an anchor of the Boston tech scene as an entrepreneur, investor, and community builder. Machinery Partner is on a mission to digitize access to high quality heavy equipment and machinery for small and medium sized businesses....

Episode 315 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Jordan Fliegel, Managing Director of Techstars’ NYC and Sports accelerators. Athlete, entrepreneur, investor, mentor, are just some of the words to describe Jordan’s career. Originally a fixture of the Boston tech scene with his first company, CoachUp, and now a major part of the NYC tech scene as the leader of the Techstars program, it is shocking that Jordan hasn’t been a guest on The VentureFizz Podcast, since that is the two markets that...

Episode 314 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Cory Munchbach, CEO of BlueConic. There is no set rule on how one becomes a CEO of a tech company and when you look at Cory’s career path, it is one of the main reasons why I encourage people to work for high growth startups. She was employee #17 at BlueConic, eight years ago, and was announced as the company’s CEO earlier this year. My point isn’t that you should join an early stage company because it is the best shot to a CEO role, but it...

Thanksgiving is not only a special holiday because of the time with your family, all the great food, and of course, football, but it is also a time when lots of people volunteer and give back. Thus, the timing of this interview with John couldn’t have been more perfect as we head into the Thanksgiving holiday. Most people know of John as an entrepreneur and investor, as he was the founder of a company that went public and was a co-founder of General Catalyst and has since been with Sigma...

I don’t mind shopping for groceries but my problem is that I’m a creature of habit and I tend to purchase the same things over and over again. Plus, I am terrible about meal planning, so after doing a full shop there is still “nothing to eat.” I guess I’m not the only one. As Ben and I discuss, on average, consumers spend 2-3 hours a week grocery shopping. 75% of what we buy at the grocery store are the same items as the week before and 20-30% of what is purchased at the grocery store is...

Did you know that 23% of global emissions come from single family homes? Needless to say, this is a underserved segment and an industry that is ripe for innovation. Carl’s current company, Aro Homes, is a purpose-driven company on a mission to redefine residential construction. The company was founded in 2021 and has raised $21M in funding from world-class investors including Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Why Carl has build a career with a...

This episode is the second live interview that we recorded live at Startup Boston Week at Suffolk University which was a ton of fun and maybe it is something that I should do more often. As you’ll hear, Wes is a native New Englander. He grew up in Acton and launched Fetch while he was in school at the University of Wisconsin. The company has office locations in Madison, Chicago, and other locations, but he is local to the Boston area again as he moved back a couple of years ago. Fetch is a...

This is a first! This episode is one of two interviews that we recorded live at Startup Boston Week at Suffolk University which was a ton of fun and maybe it is something that I should do more often. Material Impact is a deep tech VC firm that was founded by Carmichael Roberts and Adam Sharkaway. The firm is investing in companies that are powered by material science that solve enduring, large-scale, real-world problems. They are full lifecycle investors and work from the earliest stages of...

Steve is an operator turned venture capitalist. After a very successful run at General Catalyst, he joined Juxtapose earlier this year as a Partner to focus on building innovative B2B companies. Juxtapose is an investment firm that partners with experienced entrepreneurs to build category-defining technology companies. The firm has developed over twenty companies over the last 25 years including Tend, Great Jones, Earned, and others. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * How to make...

It’s nice to get paid, but what happens behind the scenes for each payroll cycle is actually very complex. There’s a plethora of different tax calculations, remittance, filling, plus the movement of money between companies and employees. Yet, it would probably make sense for lots of companies to offer payroll as an add on service to their existing business. That’s where Check comes in. Check is a payroll-as-a-service API that allows companies like Homebase, Bambee, & 7Shifts, an easy way...

Syncro is an all-in-one professional services automation (PSA) and remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform for managed service providers (MSPs). The company is backed by Mainsail Partners, a growth equity firm. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * How having a broad range of experience across different functional areas helped position Emily into a CEO role. * Emily’s background story and the details on her career path across Product Management, Customer Experience, and...

Fintech Sandbox is a nonprofit that helps fintech startups build great products. Founded in 2014, Fintech Sandbox provides critical data access and development resources to FinTech entrepreneurs around the world. It’s a 6-month program where startups can get apply anytime, as the application process is rolling and there are no deadlines to get involved and another big part of what makes this program unique is that they don’t take equity or fees for participation. In this episode of our...

Kumospace is a venture backed virtual office space platform that provides immersive and interactive virtual spaces for hosting team meetings, and social gatherings. Charge Ventures is a venture capital firm based in New York that invests in pre-seed / seed early stage tech ventures. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The details on Brett’s advice around raising capital which is a process that he calls FOMO Fundraising. * Brett background story which includes a variety of...