About Al Morris Al is a chief architect and co-founder of Koii network. Koii was born in 2020 to widen the possibilities for the future of Web3. Al loves teaching, which made him start Blockchain Institute Chicago. The main goal of the institute is to help educate the public about the use of blockchain technology. SHOW NOTES: 0:00 | Introduction to Al Morris 0:22 | Why Koii? 2:42 | What sets Koii apart from other networks 4:43 | Crypto -a giant scam? 6:33 | Intricacies of remote work 11:12 | Str...
Sep 08, 2022•29 min
About Mark Rickmeier Mark is the CEO at TXI - a product innovation firm. He believes in creating rich employee and customer experiences. But, not everything scales well. Even good intentions don’t necessarily scale well. In the pandemic, TXI tried to deliver cooked meals to all members of the team. That didn’t scale well. Mark shares lessons he learned about scalability throughout this episode. Besides TXI, Mark founded The Kermit Collective where founders of software companies get together to s...
Aug 09, 2022•47 min
Follow Aram Melkoumov on Linkedin for highlight clips and DMs. Ron runs a tight ship at Uplinq and he shares how and why he does so. This interview also explores why growing a startup for the sake of an exit is a bad strategy, why you should want to hold cash in this economy, how to hire people that make a genuine impact in your growth, and the difference between thoughtful scaling and so-called ‘aggressive’ scaling. About Ron Benegbi Ron is the founder and CEO of Uplinq. He is a 4 time tech fou...
Jun 20, 2022•39 min
Follow Aram Melkoumov on Linkedin for highlight clips and DMs. How much do you really know about exiting a company? Most people know very little, simply because there’s very little out there about the hush-hush world of mergers and acquisitions. That’s until today’s guests co-wrote their book Exit Right. About Mert Hilmi Iseri Mert is the co-author of Exit Right. He is an Entrepreneur In Residence at MATH Venture Partners and Ex-CEO of SwipeSense. During the episode, he narrates his rollercoaste...
May 30, 2022•47 min
Follow Aram Melkoumov on Linkedin for highlight clips. Highlights: - Building a Minimal sellable product (MSP) and going international - How Jordi deals with the paradigm of large customers and requests for introducing features in the product roadmap - Finding a French version of himself - origin of Jordi’s company Inbenta About Jordi Jordi is the Founder & CEO at Inbenta, an AI and semantic search technology company for e-commerce and customer support. He graduated from Harvard Business sch...
Mar 29, 2022•41 min
Conversation highlights: - How Jonathan’s $60,000 MRR company failed after acquisition process went sideways - Hiring your leadership team as a founder: what to look for - What qualities founders need to have to raise money About Jonathan Jonathan Graff is the Venture Partner at Celtic House Venture Partners, a Canadian venture capital firm that has collaborated with extraordinary founders and management teams since 1994 to develop technology companies from inception through to exit. A high ener...
Feb 17, 2022•50 min
The pandemic has disrupted the workforce twice. Once when it made remote working normal and another time when it empowered workers to be more autonomous and powerful. Scott Absher, the CEO at ShiftPixy talks about what happens now. About Scott Scott Absher is the CEO at ShiftPixy - a company focused on streamlining the gig economy to unleash new potentials for flex workers and the companies who hire them. His interest in the gig economy began with his skepticism toward companies like Uber and Ly...
Jan 25, 2022•40 min
Winning attitudes that show up again and again among the most effective entrepreneurs, include: - They are lifelong learners, perpetually curious. - They don’t feel the need to be the smartest person in the room. - They’re able to listen to feedback, seek out information and learn from others. - They’re good at delegating and helping people reach their full potential. -They demonstrate humility and openness. Key Takeaways 0:00 | A bit of Jeff’s background by way of introduction. 0:50 | Jeff deci...
Dec 09, 2021•42 min
Approach VCs that have an interest or expertise in your market sector. Create pitch decks that are tight, disciplined and get right to the selling points. Nick shares thoughts about how to ride the entrepreneurial tide without getting lost in a sea of competitors. As a wrap up with take a quick look at what’s on the horizon for Differential Ventures and the VC industry overall as we head into a huge period of growth and unknown implications related to big data. Key Takeaways 0:00 | Introduction ...
Dec 07, 2021•31 min
Follow me on Linkedin for podcast updates, new episodes and highlight clips. Highlights: - A powerful way to connect and network with tech entrepreneurs who deliver daily value - How hire the right people based on your company growth stage - When is a good/right time to bring your first marketer onboard About Anuj Anuj Adhiya is the author of the book 'Growth Hacking for Dummies'. He mentors startups at Harvard Innovation Labs, Seedstars and The McCarthy(s) Venture Network. Way before that he wa...
Nov 24, 2021•42 min
Highlights: - Principles and metrics on when to pivot or not (apart from the gut feeling) - How Mike started GrubHub and grew it to IPO - How Mike raised 5 million dollars for his new company Fixer About Mike Mike Evans is an author and Founder of Fixer and GrubHub. Before Fixer, he earned a pile of degrees in MIT, where he also accrued a massive amount of debt. After seeing flaws in the food delivery system, Mike launched GrubHub, which he bootstrapped for two years and was involved in five fun...
Nov 21, 2021•50 min
Highlights: - How to prepare your company for an exit - When is the right time to exit your business - If you’re being acquired how not to sell your business too low - VC role may not be a good fit to you - reasons why About Stephen Stephen is a managing partner at Fresco Capital. He was Chief Strategy Officer of Telerik, a leading vendor of developer and team productivity tools which got acquired in 2014. And he’s also an avid mountain climber, and leads an annual charity fundraising trek in th...
Nov 20, 2021•46 min
Follow me on Linkedin for similar content and personal updates. Highlights: - 2 moments when Bram was considering walking away from a startup - How to get employees to work on what they really want - 1000 small pivots - what’s that and how it works - Don’t set long term goals About Bram Bram Warshafsky is the Founder of Shelfgram, a tech start-up that enables brands and retailers with increased in-store visibility and a suite of competitive intelligence tools to find actionable shopper insights,...
Oct 12, 2021•38 min
Follow me on Linkedin for podcast updates, new episodes and highlight clips. Highlights: - How much mindset matters in running your business - What to look for in a good mentor - How Mike met Bill Campbell - Self-awareness - fundamental block for your success About Mike Mike Smerklo has worked 100 hour weeks at Lehman Brothers, a job that he hated. Got hired by legendary entrepreneurs Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz as one of the first employees of their new startup, Loudcloud. Started his own ...
Sep 16, 2021•31 min
Follow me on Linkedin for similar content and personal updates. Highlights: Why you need to start marketing before you build a product At what point do you abandon opportunities? How do you find traction? How to not get destroyed by your business mentally About Mike Mike is the CEO and Co-founder of Jetstream and a Facilitator of the Alacrity Academy Digital Marketing Bootcamp. In his current role, Mike works to help companies grow through scalable digital marketing strategies and initiatives an...
Sep 08, 2021•40 min
Conversation highlights: Jim’s philosophy on failing and doing market research How Jim bought Danby Appliances What to look for in hiring Wealth philosophy - you don’t need that much money About Jim Estill: Jim is a Canadian technology entrepreneur, executive, and philanthropist. He started his first computer distribution business from the trunk of his car while in university and grew that business to $2 Billion in sales. He invested in, mentored and advised over 150 technology companies includi...
Aug 12, 2021•46 min
Parth takes us through his entrepreneurial path and obstacles he had to overcome while building his business. We talk about product market fit, figuring out your company values, scaling and fundraising. Key talking points: - Product market fit - what to look out for - What kind of mindset you need to secure funding and build relationships with investors - What company culture really is and how to define your core values About Parth Khanna Parth holds an undergrad degree in neuropsychology, two l...
Aug 10, 2021•51 min
Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here . I’m speaking with technologist, inventor, and entrepreneur Scott Case. Scott is well-known as the founding CTO of Priceline.com. Currently, he is the Co-founder and CEO of Upside.com, where he is reinventing business travel for millions of people each year. He is also the host of Founders Focus, a community of entrepreneurs navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis....
Aug 05, 2021•51 min
Key talking points: - How Nelio hacked his way into marketing while being on vacation - Key considerations for founders to build their brands on social media - What elements make social posts hyper-successful About Nelio: Nelio has been a growth marketer for nearly a decade, and he has a passion for building edgy brands with digital flair. He is the founder of Urban Monks, a growth marketing agency he started in early 2019, dedicated to building awesome brands and helping entrepreneurs earn thei...
Jul 21, 2021•25 min
Foti is an accomplished founder with an extensive background in full stack growth marketing. He has over a decade of experience developing and marketing businesses. In this episode, we’re speaking with Foti about getting your product off the ground and growing your startup, as well as the benefits of outsourcing, and why a strong team might not be the right fit for your company. Growth Mentor started in 2018, matching founders, marketers and product managers with vetted growth marketing and star...
Jul 21, 2021•40 min
On today’s episode of the Off the Record series, our guest is Chief Revenue Officer, Marcus Cauchi. Marcus collaborates with ambitious founders and CEOs of disruptive technology companies in the £10-£50m turnover range to increase revenue quickly and effectively. He is also co-Author of Making Channel Sales Work, founder of Sales: A Force For Good and produces 2 podcasts of his own – ‘Scale Ups & Hypergrowth’ and ‘The Inquisitor’. In this episode you’ll learn some pro prospecting pointers, h...
Jul 09, 2021•42 min
Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here . A New Jersey native and business graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Bethany joined Venture For America after college. She led marketing for start-ups, Filestack and VidGrid before shifting gears to pursue her own entrepreneurial aspirations to co-found Sendspark in 2019. Sendspark is a video messaging platform for businesses to record & send personalized videos to customers. Users can record themselves, the...
Jul 08, 2021•47 min
Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here . Key talking points: - PR stunts and making your brand unforgettable - Advice on building your brand through influence and not audience - Importance of word-of-mouth marketing About Saul: Saul Colt is the Founder and Creative Director at The Idea Integration Company. In his career he has been named as one of the iMEDIA 25: Internet Marketing Leaders & Innovators as well as been called one of Canada’s best community build...
Jul 01, 2021•46 min
Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here . Key talking points: What you need to be a customer centric organisation Early adopters vs product market fit Managing high churn rates Ways to engage your engineers About Sam: Sam is the Founder of Pavilion (former Revenue Collective) and also hosts the Sales Hacker Podcast. Prior to Revenue Collective, he spent 15 years leading go-to-market teams in the greater New York City area and was a CRO and SVP Sales at several fast...
Jun 29, 2021•53 min
Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here . Lee gives his insight into how you can identify a realistic launch date for your product to avoid overspending on your development. Airborne App is a Sales Engagement application, purpose built for marketing agencies. Users can manage multi-channel sequences via email, phone, and LinkedIn touches. Check out Airborne App here: https://www.airborneapp.io/...
Jun 04, 2021•52 min
Want to see future episode highlights? You can add us on Linkedin here . Key talking points: - How to sell your product to customers on a sales call - Qualities of a good leader and how to be truly great in any role - Running productive one-on-one meetings with your employees Check out how Sales assembly works: https://www.salesassembly.com/ About Christina: Christina is the President at Sales Assembly with 15+ years of overall sales experience, and 10+ in leadership for B2B Tech companies. She ...
Jun 03, 2021•49 min
Want to see future episode highlights? You can add us on Linkedin here . Key talking points: - Swish’s career journey as an entrepreneur - How to build your brand and community effectively through social media - Prioritizing what’s important as an entrepreneur and managing your time About Swish: Gen Z entrepreneur and venture capitalist Swish Goswami has consulted for Fortune 500 companies such as Google, Western Union and American Express. He has a passion for public speaking and has given mult...
Jun 02, 2021•48 min
Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here . Discover Art’s views on the importance of building a strong team of “passionate people”, who can become “true assassins” for your company. We also talk about taking the reins of responsibility as a founder, and what that role actually means. As well as the value in continuously learning and developing your own skills to be the best. The CircleIt platform allows users to send cards, media, and gifts to loved ones across time...
Jun 02, 2021•48 min
Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here . Key talking points: How Grant approached fundraising process What Grant was looking for to make his best hires Challenges and failures of building Unstack community What Grant would do if his company went bankrupt About Grant Grant started his entrepreneurial career delivering paper and is the CEO of Unstack his latest startup and the company just at the end of last year announced $3.1M in funding. The company provides a no...
May 11, 2021•47 min
Want to see future episode highlights? You can add me on Linkedin here . Key talking points: - How Stephen quit his job to start his first company - Wiza could potentially replace zoominfo for B2B companies - why/how - Relevance vs context of your sales/marketing emails - Stephen’s views on bootstrapping vs taking capital - Saying no to new shiny opportunities as a CEO About Stephen: Stephen used to run an outbound sales agency. Later launched a company called Wiza with his agency’s profit. He b...
May 04, 2021•52 min
