First Customers

Matheus Riolfi is the CEO & Cofounder of Tint, an embedded insurance platform that raised $30 million in venture capital investment from Y Combinator and others. They’ve worked with clients like Uship, Deel, and Outdoorsy. Show Notes/Links/Transcript: https://parisvega.com/matheus-riolfi-tint-ai/

Jon Darbyshire ran the global security practice for Ernst & young, then started and sold Archer Technologies for $200 million after 9.5 years, and now he's currently Founder & CEO of SmartSuite, a company he’s grown to 600 customers after 2.5 years. Show notes, links, & transcript: https://parisvega.com/jon-darbyshire-smartsuite/

Mark Stouse grew his startup, ProofAnalytics.ai, from $0 to $2 million in revenue in 18 months. Now they’re one of the 100 partners for Salesforce and they’re still growing. Their client roster includes mega brands like Bayer, Samsung, Johnson Controls, Oracle, and others. Show links, notes, and transcript: https://parisvega.com/mark-stouse-proof-analytics/

Karthik Suresh, ex Facebook product manager and now co-founder/CTO of Ignition, the world's first go-to-market ops platform. They raised $5 million in VC funds, including lead investor Altman capital (Sam Altman of Open AI fame and his brothers). He's a go-to-market expert so his insights are perfect for the show. He delivers a ton of value here. Listen & learn. Show links, notes, & transc...

David CM Carter , Chairman & Founder of Entelechy Academy , is the world's leading CEO mentor. He's worked with senior leaders at Anglo American, BWC, Love Film, and GO Airlines. He’s also a best selling author of his book, "Breakthrough. Also he's formerly known as Mr. Flipside when he worked for the BBC Worldwide newspaper review. Show links, notes, & transcript: https://parisvega.com/da...

Alex Levin is a Harvard grad and the Founder/CEO of Regal.io, an Outbound Phone & SMS Sales Platform. Starting in 2020 with 0 customers, their service has generated $1 billion in revenue for their customers in the last few years. Alex has a clear and proven perspective on how startups are built. He delivers practical strategies and tactics for getting your first customers that will help any st...

Mark Ross Smith, CEO & Founder of StatusMatch.com, revolutionized the way airlines run their incentive programs for frequent travelers. Through Status Match he's brought over one billion dollars in new customer value to major airlines, like Emirates, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and more. Show Notes & Links: https://parisvega.com/mark-ross-smith-status-match/

Billy Samoa Saleebey is an Ex-Tesla Global Leader and Cofounder/CEO of Podify, a service that produces podcasts like Language of Love with DR. Laura Berman from Oprah’s TV network. He's also a slef-proclaimed ramen addict. Billy gives great advice for entrepreneurs and podcasters on this episode. Anyone who is just getting started or wanting to learn new ways to grow, check it out. I learned a lot...

Liam Corcoran is a Teacher, Rapper, and Artist. He's also the Founder of an education startup called OK . He is one of the founding teachers at Synthesis , the online program that evolved out of Elon Musk’s school at SpaceX. And he also served as an Acton Academy Guide . Liam's thoughtfulness, openness to connection, and clarity of purpose have lead him on an adventure of fulfilling opportunities....

Andres Glusman is a legend. He helped get Meetup.com 's very first customer and first $14 of revenue. Meetup later sold for $200 million. Now Andres is the cofounder and CEO of Do What Works . His experience spans across decades, from the birth of the internet in the 1990s to modern day startups. This episode is packed with extremely valuable practical advice for founders and entrepreneurs based o...

Liz Parker , Founder of LT Results, just released a new book called “Who’s Leading Your Business?”. Twenty-four years ago she quit her successful international sales training job at DHL in Hong Kong to start a strategic planning company from scratch. On this episode, Liz tells us the story of those first moments starting her business on the other side of the world and the tactics she's used to get...

Esteban Dalel , CTO/Co-Founder of Watermelon Tools, raised $250k before getting their first customer and now has over 4,000 users. Get insight into how a scrappy team of two programmers got their first investors, users, and how they plan to get their first paying customers. Show Notes & Links: https://parisvega.com/esteban-dalel-watermelon-tools/

Tyler Robertson , Founder/CEO of Diesel Laptops, quit his six figure job in the truck service business and scaled his part time gig into a $100 million business. This is a great story about slow and steady growth, taking smart risks, and obsessing over solving your customers' problems. Show Notes & Links: https://parisvega.com/tyler-robertson-diesel-laptops/

How did David Smooke grow HackerNoon from 0 to 4 million readers per month? David Smooke, Founder & CEO of HackerNoon, a technology website that publishes 50 stories per day read by about 4 million people every month. He takes us on the journey from selling his skills as an agency, through the grind of building HackerNoon for years without pay, until finally landing their first advertising dea...

John "Small Mountain" Hill, author of Selling from Scratch and Founder of Adapted Growth, an international sales/marketing agency coaching service.  Show Notes John's book: Selling from Scratch https://amzn.to/41MZkCf (paid affiliate link) Sales Throw Down podcast: https://www.youtube.com/c/SalesThrowdown Sales Practice Lab: https://offers.adaptedgrowth.com/AGSaleslab Topics Covered: Networking CR...

Alberto Voltolina , CEO/President MGG North America, American/Italian company that went from $0 to $1.5 million in one year. They are a worldwide leading equipment manufacturer and supplier for paint brush & paint roller manufacturers like Sherwin Williams, Baer, and more. It was fascinating to learn how high ticket manufacturing equipment is sold at this level. However, the lessons I learned...

Ron Karr , author of the Velocity Mindset, helped his clients increase incremental revenues by over 1 billion dollars. We go deep into what the Velocity Mindset is and how it affects the sales process. From prospecting and cold calling to closing the sale, Ron has a unique effective approach for asking the right questions. I learned a lot from Ron. I know that you will too. Show Links, Notes, &amp...

Sergey Lechshenko , Founder/CEO of Beverly English Career Coaching, a business he started in Kiev, Ukraine before the war. When the war started he had to adapt to find customers and continue growing his business. Listen to the story of an entrepreneur with a dream to serve customers around the world while helping his home country's economy in a time of chaos. Show Links, Notes, & Transcript: h...

Jeff Bealeis Mr. Marketology. He's Founder and Marketing Strategist at The Marketology Group, develop marketing strategies for frustrated businesses who want to go from brand awareness to sales. He’s worked with brands like Home Depot, Turner Broadcasting, and more. Jeff is an expert marketer with decades of experience. In this episode he shares his journey from being in the military to becoming M...

Warren Greshes is a legendary sales pro, award-winning speaker, and author of several books over the past 30 years.  He was inducted into the National Speakers Association hall of fame in 1998, and one of his books is considered to be in the top 10 best sales books of all time. The title says it all. It's The Best Damn Sales Book Ever. Listen to his hilarious energy-packed stories in this episode...

Omayya Atout , Founder & CEO of Songlorious, a SharkTank featured company that hit $5 million in revenue after only 2.5 years. You can hire their roster of musicians to write and record custom songs for any occasion to tell your story.  Show Notes & Links: https://parisvega.com/omayya-atout-songlorious-shark-tank/

Stewart Townsend is the Chief Revenue Officer of PodcastHawk.com, a company advised by Pat Flynn & Jordan Harbinger that helps guests automate getting booked on podcasts. Show links, notes, & transcript: https://parisvega.com/stewart-townsend-podcast-hawk/

Matt Leavell , CEO of BuyLowWarehouse.com, earned $1 million in their first year and ranked in the Inc 5000 fastest growing companies in the USA in 2022. After decades of taking business risks and learning hard lessons along the way, Matt found success selling wholesale goods by the truck load. Armed with a strong sense of loyalty and determined to build trust within his community, he's built a gr...

Austin Linney , CEO Crementum Capital and mindset coach, overcame addiction and has doubled his revenue every 6 months for the last 1.5 years building a business with a mission. He's a serial entrepreneur, real estate investor, business and mindset coach, and host of the weekly podcast: Construct Your Life. His motto: Your not in business, your in the people business. Austin tells an inspiring sto...

Sam Eisenberg , Co-Founder of Design for Decks, a boutique pitch deck design firm whose decks have raised over $2 billion dollars. He's also the founder of Read with Love, a voice-cloning audio book service for busy education minded parents that uses AI to copy a parents voice and use it to create recordings of stories there kids can listen to when they are away. Show notes & links: https://pa...