The VentureFizz Podcast

There is a tremendous amount of information that has been written about the process of raising funding for startups, but for some reason, you don’t see nearly as much information about the acquisition process. What are the good, the bad, or the ugly experiences? How does one get on the radar for a potential acquirer? What are the common pitfalls, etc., etc.? It seems like there are so many things...

The shift of founders building startups in other regions outside of Silicon Valley is an interesting trend that has been taking shape especially since the pandemic hit and working with remote employees really hit its stride. So, what does it take to build a thriving tech ecosystem in a city or region? Well, it takes a lot of different components plus you need the people who can execute on a vision...

Episode 257 features a discussion from a recent webinar we hosted with OpenView Venture Partners around hiring and competing for talent in this competitive market. Since most companies are hiring, we thought this topic would be incredibly beneficial. For this discussion, I was joined by Steve Melia, Talent Partner, and Maggie Crean, Talent Manager from OpenView and we cover a lot of ground. We dis...

I was excited to interview Rahul for our podcast since his background before starting Clora is very deep in the life sciences industry as the head of clinical development at several biopharma companies. It was an opportunity to explore this industry, as I haven’t interviewed anyone who has the same depth of experience, so we talk about the drug discovery and clinical trials process. It was this in...

I feel like this interview was long overdue, as I’ve know Rob for a long time. I probably first met him at one of the tech events in Boston… maybe Web Innovators Group or something like that. It was during a resurgence of the tech industry in that region where a new crop of entrepreneurs were building companies and Rob’s company, Backupify, was one of the hot companies in the Boston tech scene. Ba...

Entrepreneurship… is it something that is taught or is it just engrained into some people? Personally, I think the answer is both but in the case of Ritik, it is deeply rooted in his DNA. His journey into entrepreneurship started in middle school when he built a successful web development & hosting business. He’s now a successful serial entrepreneur, as his last two companies were acquired by Box...

It’s not every day that you get to interview someone who launched four product lines with Steve Jobs and the rest of the Apple exec team, so as a fan of all things Apple, lets just say I was a little excited for this interview. Calin’s career has always been at the forefront of emerging technologies and trends. From his first stint at Apple working on software for the iMac and iBook (yes, the shel...

Real estate is the largest asset class in the world, so it’s surprising that this industry has been slow to change, but this is not the case anymore. The proptech industry is on fire. According to the Wall Street Journal, last year over $9.5B was invested into the proptech industry from VC firms and other investors. It’s proof that there is a tremendous amount of disruption happening in this secto...

I’m always amazed when I talk to an entrepreneur who starts a company while in college. There’s a lot going on during those college years in terms of the academic and social experience, so it’s impressive when they have the vision and maturity to embark on the adventure of building a business. I find it even more impressive when the entrepreneur's company is working on hard tech and has legs beyon...

This is an extra special episode of The VentureFizz Podcast as it is a milestone episode - welcome to Episode 250! This means we have over 10 days worth of entrepreneurial and investor interviews! For Episode 250, I couldn’t think of a better guest than Jonathan Bush, Founder & CEO of Zus Health. Yes, his last name is Bush, as in the same Bush family where his uncle and cousin were both president...

One of the common mistakes that entrepreneurs make is failing to discovery the true market need for an idea by talking to potential customers. Entrepreneurs sometimes fall in love with their idea and go off to build it but to only find out that it’s not a pain point for customer who are willing to pay money to solve. This was definitely not the case for Shensi and Gil Feig, the Co-Founders of Merg...

Music is a passion of mine. Technology is a passion of mine. Digital marketing is a passion of mine. So, what if you could roll up all three into one… well, you’d have Gupta Media and that is why you’ll hear the fan boy come out several times during my interview with Gogi. He takes us down the journey of his agency, Gupta Media, and how it has brought the modern world of performance marketing to t...

Serial entrepreneur, inventor, angel investor, film producer, commencement address speaker, world traveler… These are just some of the words that describe Wayne and it all started at a young age when he discovered the world of technology. It was this world that would lead him down the path to building a very successful future. Wayne has a history of recognizing technology trends before they hit ma...

My coffee is shipped to me every two weeks and it is outstanding. It is on a subscription and therefore, it’s one less thing that I need to think about getting at the grocery store. In return, the brand has me locked in as a loyal customer where I’m not tempted by the other options while walking down the aisle. It’s such a win-win! Subscription Commerce or Relationship Commerce, as Ordergroove has...

We have such a great and inspirational story to share with you from this interview with Moah, who prefers to go by her last name btw. It goes something like this - immigrant founder, attends MIT, starts to build a career in User Experience (UX), becomes the co-founder of a category creating product, where she is now the CEO, and the company proceeds to grow with very little capital raised… and it’...

At this point, it’s assumed that companies have a content strategy pulled together for their marketing plan. However, even though content marketing is not a new concept, it is still really difficult to get it right. The challenge is on multiple levels. You need to consistently write content that is meaningful and not loaded with keywords and links that add no value to the article. Search engines a...

As with most entrepreneurs, you never forget the people who supported you from the early days of the company. I first met Matt towards the end of 2009. VentureFizz had recently launched and I was looking for advertising sponsors to help fund future development of the site. At that point in time, Matt was heading up marketing for a company called uTest (now called Applause) and they were looking to...

Launching and scaling a successful company typically takes bold entrepreneurs who are willing to take the risk of building something in a market that doesn’t exist yet. They look at the world differently and they have a vision that some might think is crazy. But, it’s these entrepreneurs that go on to define markets and scale companies at unicorn valuations. In the case of Formlabs, Max and his co...

Calendly, Zoom, Dropbox, Canva - are all great examples of Product-led Growth companies or what is commonly known as PLG for short. So, what is PLG? As defined on OpenView’s website, PLG is an end user-focused growth model that relies on the product itself as the primary driver of customer acquisition, conversion, and expansion. It’s a term that was actually coined by Blake in 2016 and has become...

It’s very rare for a company to make it to the public markets. It’s even rarer to have the founder of the company as its CEO throughout the full lifecycle to that IPO milestone. EngageSmart provides vertically tailored customer engagement software and integrated payments solutions. The company went public back in September of last year and Bob had the honor of ringing the bell of the New York Stoc...

Companies strive to build a strong culture that will hopefully be the foundation for success. In the case of Seth, having a People First culture is the priority and it is why they operate with an upside down org chart. When you think about it, the upside down org chart makes a ton of sense. Aren’t leaders the ones who are ultimately working for their reports to do whatever it takes to ensure the s...

There is so much disruption happening in the healthcare industry, it is truly an exciting time. Just last week, we published our interview with Sean Duffy, Co-Founder & CEO of Omada Health, which is helping people who are dealing with chronic conditions achieve long term improvements and if you go into the archives of The VentureFizz Podcast, you’ll find lots of other discussions with healthcare e...

There’s so much going on in the healthcare industry. It is truly a transformative time that spans across the full spectrum whether it’s advancements in medicine, operational improvements, and more, there is obviously no shortage of innovation and an opportunity to make a meaningful impact. Thus, I always get excited when I get a chance to interview an entrepreneur who is scaling a company in this...

A disproportionate amount of capital invested into companies does not go to gender diverse teams and it’s a problem. It’s a problem and an issue that I’ve brought up multiple times in this podcast as I hope the continuous awareness of this issue creates a positive impact over time. Based on Lori’s background and the focus on her firm, it was a perfect opportunity to find out if we are making some...

On Upper90’s website you’ll find the following phrase: It’s not how much you raise… it’s how much you own. It’s a very compelling statement that makes a ton of sense, yet every day in the world of tech news, there’s a concentration on the size of the round and company’s valuation. Wouldn’t it be cool if they also reported how much of the company the founders still own? Since the entrepreneurs are...