Scaleup Valley Podcast

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Toni Hohlbein, CEO at Growblocks. Key Takeaways: A scientific approach to revenue planning and execution How to align a Leadership Team with a revenue operating system The highs and lows of a revenue leader in a hyper growth expectation game Moving from Revenue Leader to CEO Transparency as a pillar of a great culture

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley, Mike Dias speaks with Daniel Bakh, Co-Founder & CEO of Fullview Key Takeaways: How to build the first version of a product The thin line between the founder and a product in the early stages How to operate during recession Lessons Learned during pre-Seed and seed stage: focus on building a great product for your ICP Simultaneously raising money from VCs and...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Tobias Hagenau, CEO at awork. Key takeaways From founding one of the first SaaS in Europe to create an exciting work management company Learning from your mistakes How to be happy at work. Organize your project based business – easily and efficiently Why keep expanding in Europe instead of trying to get to new markets The evolut...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Anders Korsgaard, CEO at Blue World Technologies Key Takeaways Accelerating the green transition of the world by enabling the use of green fuel through high efficiency Lessons learned from migrating an entire team of 40 people to a new venture Fundraising lessons - from pre-seed to series B raising funds every 12 months Valuing...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valey Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Michael Altshuler, Author & Global Speaker. Key Takeaways: Finding your core values as a leader. Your beliefs dictate who you are. Persistence and resilience: the two pillars of a successful leader. Having great peers and taking care of your environment to maximize your chances of success. Staying in your comfort zone is the kill...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Peter Sorowka, CEO of Cybus Key Takeaways: Industry 4.0: How to manage the right timing to leverage a disruptive trend The journey of finding PMF (Product Market Fit): moving from SMB to Enterprise How to handle changes in your founding team From founder CTO to founder CEO How to find investors that understand and are comfortabl...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Hedda Baverud Olsson, CEO & Co-Founder of Lassie. Key Takeaways: Combining creativity and analytical skills to grow a company How to effectively build a founding team from scratch and get them ready to an angel round Challenges and opportunities of the Swedish Market How to decide which European country to expand to

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Boaz Gaon, CEO & Founder of Wisdo Health Key Takeaways The power of community in healthcare to cure loneliness at scale Pivoting from a consumer app to a B2B2C digital health business model Fundraising in a rocky market, how to navigate anxious moments Simplicity and story-telling as key factors to get investors on board. Starti...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike DIas speaks with Stian Rognild, CEO of Aquaticode. Key Takeaways: Using machine learning to solve challenges in aquaculture Building a company with R&D in the core and launching multiple products Joining a Venture Builder as CEO: advantages and challenges How to keep focus and balance it with aspiration. The 80:20 rule. Being a software first co...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Cristina Rossi, CEO of b-rayZ. Key Takeaways: Fighting Breast Cancer with Artificial Intelligence Moving From Academia to startup CEO Lessons learned in academia that can applied to a healthtech scale-up How to structure a healthtech founding team. Should we have a Medical Director on board?

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Episode, Mike Dias speaks with Sigbjørn Nome, CEO of Ignite Procurement. Key Takeaways: 1. Identifying a great opportunity in the procurement category 2. How to fund the development of your MVP with consulting fees 3. The pros and cons of skipping the pre-seed round 4. How to make a startup work without a technical co-founder in the early days 5. Investing 2/...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Tom Vollmer, CEO of Cofenser. Key Takeaways Bringing empathy into the workplace The power of great video content for effective asynchronous corporate communications From building a highly profitable 1M+ business in a bootstrapped fashion to start a scalable VC Backed company What drives a founder? Market opportunity and personal...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Peter Beckman, CEO of Treyd. Key Takeaways: Freeing up capital to invest in growth The Pro’s & Con’s of joining an accelerator like Antler to grow your business How to find the right co-founder How to synchronize a distributed leadership team How do you get comfortable with uncertainty and make decisions with no data How to comb...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Bill Snyder, CEO of Vivante Health Key Takeaways Key takeaways Leveraging technology to revolutionize digestive health and wellness. Breaking the healthcare model. How to implement the B2B2C model. A fanatical approach to product design, creating a great customer experience Building a culture where everyone feels like they own t...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Martina Åkerlund, CEO of Triggy. Key takeaways From 15 years in banking to joining a scaleup as CEO Challenges and strengths of joining a scaleup as professional CEO How to stay lean and flexible in difficult times The importance of becoming Cash Flow positive in a downturn Building a strong culture that promotes a healthy balan...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Egil Østhus, CEO & Co-Founder of Unleash. Key Takeaways How to successfully start a company with family in your founding team The importance of trust in managing the company How to get your first customers Finding the right balance between execution and perfection The best operators are the ones who have a lot of curiosity How t...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Jussi Määttä, CEO and Founder at Buddy Healthcare. Key Takeaways: Founding one of the first healthtech companies in Finland and scaling up to 1.5M+ ARR The speed of growth in healthcare that sector agnostic VCs don't get From Finland to European Expansion: starting small and focused and growing to serve other countries Doubling...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Alex Mifsud, CEO of Weavr Key takeaways: From Academia to building three startups: Entropay, Ixaris and Weavr How to manage expectations and create value for investors. Choosing your investors and growing with them Fintech evolution over the last decade. The critical and dangerous step to scale up to SEA & US Tech Crisis in the...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Lena Hackelöer, CEO & Founder of Brite Payments Key Takeaways 1. Lessons learned scaling a fintech unicorn: recruiting and understanding the market; 2. Lessons learned leading a listed company as professional CEO; 3. How to transition from ScaleUp operator/executive to startup founder; 4. How to compete with startups that raised...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Esben Friis-Jensen, Co-Founder of Userflow Key Takeaways How to bootstrap your business to 1M+ ARR with just two employees. Product Led Growth (PLG) vs Sales Led Growth: Cobalt vs Userflow Challenges of transition from Sales Led Growth to Product Led Growth Two different ways to build a successful company: VC backed and bootstra...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Kenny Laplante, Founder of Genial Care Key Takeaways A personal story about overcoming adversities and conquering learning difficulties The importance of why when starting up Investing in powerful, positive change that endures How to achieve better outcomes at lower cost in healthcare How to crack Go-To-Market From operating in...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Adrian Garcia-Aranyós, President at Endeavor. Key Takeaways: Being the president of an organization that supports entrepreneurship since 1997 The Multiplier effect of Endeavor building new ecosystems How to scale in emerging markets Entrepreneurship trends that Adrian sees across the world How to apply to Endeavor Evolution of t...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Laura Gómez, General Partner at Latin Leap. Key Takeaways: Lessons from a female serial entrepreneur Successful exit very early on How to navigate the ups and downs of entrepreneurship The purpose behind investing in Spanish speaking LATAM From founder to corporate VC to classic VC Learning from your mistakes and keep perseverin...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Laura Constantini, Co-Founder at Astella. Key Takeaways Building a fund in 2008 Early Stage VC investing in Brazilian founders since 2010 Astella investment thesis How to pick the best companies to invest on Building the future by leveraging the opportunities around consumer internet, software-as-a-service, and marketplaces Evol...

On this episode of the Scale Up Valley Podcast, Mike Dias speaks with Ben Gleason, Founder of Kamino. Key takeaways Starting up in completely different maturity stages of the ecosystem with Groupon, GuiaBolso and Kamino From MD at Groupon to fintech founder at GuiaBolso From GuiaBolso to Kamino How did the passion for the Brazilian ecosystem start Helping underrepresented founders to break the bar...