The Fundable Founder

Spiro co-founder and CEO, Adam Honig, recently sold his buisness and discusses the things he wished he knew about prior to starting the process.

Dexter Ang, founder and CEO of Pison, talks about the challenges of raising venture capital. "Do VC discovery quickly and find the ones that will fall in love with you instantly. Our backers were obvious fits."

Ready to launch a new product? How do you build a customer base and scale up your sales? Yael Avidan, senior director of product at Chewy gives topline advice to first time #founders in this episode. Learn such tips as: 1) Be specific with your hypothesis for customer need so that you can measure your progress, 2) Fall in love with a problem, not a solution, 3) Measure, measure, measure! 4) Be obj...

Developing your MVP as a startup can be challenging. You need to be data-driven, good at understanding business needs and technical requirements, and ruthless at prioritization. And you also need to be able to communicate with diverse groups and motivate a team while having empathy for customers. In this episode, Kaitlyn Kirkaldy, senior product manager at Zipcar gives excellent advice on how to s...

Serial founder Greg Segall discusses what drove him to found Alyce, a mission-oriented business, and why that's important. Segall talks about the benefits, including attracting the right talent, building a tighter company culture and gaining competitive advantage as a business.

As a startup, how do you think about and build culture? And how do you hire for it? Joshua Summers, CEO & cofounder, clypd, inc. shares fascinating insights with Charlie Hipwood in this episode.

Kevin Frechette, co-founder and CEO of Fairmarkit, talks about the challenge of growing a business while raising venture capital. "Don’t oversell where you are at as a company."

As a tech startup, being able to innovate and deliver complex projects on a dime is essential for growth and revenue. And to do that, you need a resilient, effective engineering team. Before joining MassVentures as VP of Investments, Priya Yadav grew and managed an engineering team, from 3 to 350 people, at Intel. In this episode, she offers advice for building and managing effective, resilient te...

Founder and CEO of Alyce, Greg Segall, sits down with Charlie Hipwood to talk about his fundraising journey. Segall discusses the importance of creating a company around core pillars and a mission. “(If)you are a product-based CEO, you’re job is to say no…focus is success."

Diverse organizations outperform is MassVentures' investment thesis. And research backs that up. But how do you build a truly diverse organization, and maintain that diversity as you grow? It takes intentionality, time, transparency--and a lot more, but the rewards are well worth it. In this episode, Charlie Hipwood discusses how MassVentures puts its investment thesis into practice.

Julie Johnson Roberts, co-founder and CEO of Armored Things, sits down with Charlie Hipwood to discuss her fundraising journey. Roberts discusses the importance of building the right team to raise venture capital. "Fundraising is like a Sisyphean task but it is achievable," she says.

As a busy startup, managing a board can feel burdensome. But getting a really good independent director can help you manage the board, says Vinit Nijhawan, Managing Director, MassVentures in this episode. It's a critical role to fill. Nijhawan touches on: What qualities you should look for in an independent board member, how do you find them, how do you compensate them, and why you need them.

Growing your business and adding products and/or customers can be chaotic for startups. How do you manage customer success through that change? How do you proactively engage your customers, solicit their feedback, and set clear priorities as you scale? In this episode, Sarah Webber, VP Client Success at ClearGov, formerly with Constant Contact, discusses best practices for ensuring customer succes...

Growing your business is about more than just landing new customers. You also need to invest in your customers' experiences during pre-sale and after they buy to ensure that they have positive experiences and return for more--and speak highly of your brand. In this episode, Phil Pergola, CEO Cloud Zero, goes over the fundamentals of customer success: What is it, how do you build and maintain it, a...

Marci Cornell-Feist, founder and CEO of BoardOnTrack, sits down with Charlie Hipwood to discuss her fundraising journey. Cornell-Feist focuses her advice on raising a successful venture capital funding round. "Raising money is a lot like theater," she says.

Got a big news announcement to make, but don't know where to start? Independent journalist Meg Wilcox -- who's worked in both #public relations and journalism--gives topline advice to startups on the basics of writing a press release, finding and targeting the right reporters, working with PR agencies, and other important tips for getting your story out.

ClearGov co-founders, Chris Bullock and Bryan Burdick, discuss the best advice they received from a venture capitalist. "Your goal should not be raising venture capital. Your goal should be to build a great company and a great product," they say.

Marketing boils down to compelling storytelling, but how do you tell stories that resonate with your customers to grow your startup? In this episode, Pamela Erlichman, Chief Marketing Officer at Jebbit, discusses the art and science of marketing. Topics covered include the role of marketing in a startup; how to acquire customers and turn them into advocates for your brand; responsibilities of mark...

The DoD's needs are vast and span from cleantech to cybersecurity to AI to vision tech, to fabrics and materials, to data management and more. The government can also be a fantastic, reliable customer--but working with it does have its drawbacks. In this episode, Stephanie Hutch, consultant at UMass Lowell Research Institute, NorthStar Campus, an incubator for startups, discusses the benefits and...

It's not easy to build a tech business that creates products for both civilian and military uses—but it does reap big rewards. In this episode, Stacy Swider sits down with Dexter Ang, chairman & co-founder of Pison, to talk about he navigates the complexities of dual use ventures. Topics covered include: plusses and minuses of working with the defense industry, product market fit for dual ventures...

Paerpay founder and CEO, Derek Canton, gives very candid and personal advice on launching a company and seeking funding. “The worst time to start preparing for the marathon is during the marathon.”

What do you do when you think someone is copying or stealing your patented idea? Hamilton, Brook, Smith & Reynolds, P.C. IP experts Lawrence Cogswell, Ph. D. and James Coe, now with Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. provide topline guidance in this episode on IP Infringement. Part 3 of our IP 101 series covers: How do you prevent patent infringement from the get-go?, What legal recourses do you have when you...

So you're ready to file a patent to protect your intellectual property, but how do you go about it? Veteran patent lawyers Dierdre Sanders and Mark Solomon, both Principals at Hamilton Brook Smith and Reynolds, overview the process and key questions you'll need to answer to secure a strong patent.

Every founder should be on the frontline of sales early in the organization, but when and how do you start building a sales team? Sales expert Kevin Frechette, Co-founder and CEO Fairmarkit, gives topline advice. Among his tips, your first hire should have a trailblazing, founder mentality and believe in you and your mission. But how do you find that person? How do you grow the team? How do you me...

Why is it so hard to get the first sales hire right? Kent Summers gives excellent advice to help founders avoid common pitfalls and find the right person to help them grow their business. Learn: Why it's so critical to get the first sales hire right, What qualities/criteria you should look for, How to know you've found the right person, What you, as a founder, need to do to ensure your new hire su...