[00:01:00] Jared's Journey from sales to building a thriving community of 45,000 revenue professionals and how community saved his life. [00:10:00] What makes for a successful B2B community and when companies should think of creating one [00:14:00] The Collab: Jared’s New Initiative - a newsletter and community for collaborative growth. How Collab connects creatives, founders and fractionals with founders. [00:22:00] Challenges and Misconceptions in Community Building [00:32:00] Audience buildin...
May 29, 2024•45 min•Ep. 93
[2:15] From Classical Music to Tech Startup Annu discusses her transition from a classical musician to founding a technology company, highlighting the unexpected path from arts to entrepreneurship. [12:25] Understanding the Upright Project's Impact Model A deeper dive into how the Upright Project measures the net impact of companies, using tangible examples to illustrate their methodology. [23:05] Brand Building in the Sustainability Space Annu shares her thoughts on the intricacies of brand bui...
Feb 21, 2024•40 min•Ep. 92
2:16 - Path from operator to angel investor to Atomico scout 19:09 - Advice on early stage marketing Marketing focus by stage of growth How do you balance performance marketing and brand/organic marketing? How do you balance the marketing for end-users vs decision makers? Common mistakes 80% of founders make - working as siloed teams Resource for angel investing Ventures Together Alma Angels Seae Ventures Book recommendation: On Identity by Amin Maalouf...
Jan 05, 2024•49 min•Ep. 91
Guerson Meyer, Co-Founder & Technology Officer of Sophiq Properties, a PropTech company talks about how he uses no-code solutions at Sophiq Properties to locate, evaluate and validate properties in real-time, adapting to the needs of each investment. In 2023 alone, they will complete 16 operations totalling 30 million euros. Hear in detail what no-code tools he used to build his core business.
Nov 29, 2023•48 min•Ep. 90
Why all SaaS companies should implement usage-based pricing and How to run a successful design partner program with your customers to build your early MVP
Oct 05, 2023•44 min•Ep. 89
[1:49] - Why not having domain expertise can sometimes help entrepreneurs [5:45] - Defining your ICP [8:31] - Determining your MVP [13:06] - Funding your seed and lessons learnt from raising too early. [22:48] - GTM [30:11] - Building a team and culture; it starts first with language. [40:20] - Culture first hiring tips Links Company: Digitail.io Guest: Sebastian Gabor Book link: Never Split the difference , Chris Voss...
Aug 23, 2023•48 min•Ep. 88
[2:16] - 20 years and starting a company in Estonia [5:08] - Angel investing and what to look for? [10:01] - First CIO of Estonia [16:59] - Koos - what is it and why is it important [29:04] - Advice for other entrepreneurs [31:35] - ChatGPT and the future [33:09] - HK Unicorn squad and Links Koos Sponsors: Chargebee E-residency...
Jun 22, 2023•42 min•Ep. 87
[2:00] - How the SVB crisis unfolded at Payhawk [6:23] - The 3 most important ingredients for building a successful unicorn [16:19] - Validating your company idea [18:19] - 60 rejections. How Payhawk overcame the biggest objection from VCs [28:35] - Leading through crisis [31:54] - Competition - Use data not marketing to assess competition [36:18] - Trends in Fintech: the payment gap Company link: Payhawk Book recommendation: Proving Ground: The Inside Story of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Boat Rac...
Mar 22, 2023•41 min•Ep. 86
[2:24] - Journey to starting Seedstars [5:31] - Investing and not being local [10:27] - Seedstars programs [13:28] - Investor returns from emerging markets [19:06] - Challenges [25:12] - Advice for entrepreneurs [27:16] - Advice for investors Links Seedstars Book: Where the crawdads sing...
Mar 02, 2023•32 min•Ep. 85
[3:16] - Hedgeflows: Managing risk and automating payment runs for SMEs [9:51] - Advice for finding early product market fit [16:39] - How to attract talent in early stages without brand or VC backing [19:07] - Knowing your investor’s incentives Links: HedgeFlows Books: Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 steps to successful startup by Bill Aulet...
Jan 25, 2023•25 min•Ep. 84
[2:08] - The economics of solar [7:39] - Challenges and barriers to solar adoption [11:11] - Where are the different countries when it comes to adopting solar [14:50] - Erik’s Journey to starting Svea Solar [19:06] - advice on doing layoffs [23:13] - Challenges of scaling - its all about recruiting, developing and retaining talent [29:48] - Continuous people evaluation [37:40] - 3 things Erik looks for when he interviews people Links: Svea Solar Books: How to avoid a climate disaster by Bill Gat...
Jan 13, 2023•44 min•Ep. 83
[2:07] - Advice on navigating current economic conditions [6:00] - FTX bankruptcy [8:48] - Early-stage due diligence [10:59] - Identifying outliers to find the next Uber or Airbnb [14:13] - Decision-making at Creandum [16:20] - Funding process Links Creandum The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Dec 07, 2022•39 min•Ep. 82
[1:44] - About Remofirst and Nurasyl’s journey to starting Remofirst. [6:49] - The three ingredients for not failing at a startup [9:04] - Finding your ideal customer profile [12:00] - Trends in remote hiring [14:09] - Funding journey and tips [21:50] - Making remote working work Links Remofirst Delivering Happiness - Tony Hsieh, founder of Zappos...
Nov 24, 2022•31 min•Ep. 81
[1:53] - Journey to becoming a venture partner at 29 years [7:40] - Increasing the number of women in VC [10:53] - Ideal startups for Sapphire and how they source deals [21:29] - Common challenges, mistakes and advice for Series B companies [30:14] - Series B valuation and trends in valuation [33:51] - Work life balance as a VC Links: Sapphire Ventures The Fearless Organization...
Nov 09, 2022•38 min•Ep. 80
[2:15] - Online dating market - is there space for one more? [4:47] - Lessons learned from previous startups - retention, defensibility, product complexity, and proving pmf outside of your home market. [16:39] - Never giving up [20:52] - With 8 rounds of fundraising under his belt, David shares his secret for fundraising. [29:00] - Seed stage valuation [29:54] - Iceland as a growing entrepreneurial hub Links Smitten Book Recommendation Never Split the Difference Rich dad, poor dad...
Oct 20, 2022•41 min•Ep. 79
1:55] - Journey to founding TERN [4:49] - Refugee problem is a global problem. By the numbers. [7:08] - Are refugees are burden to the host country? [9:85] - The Rwanda Refugee plan - will it work? [21:39] - UK’s support for refugees - asylum seekers vs resettlement [28:28] - TERN support for refugees [31:45] - Top three businesses started by refugee entrepreneurs and their main challenges Links Tern Refugee market place, Anka Ben and Jerry’s support page...
Oct 06, 2022•42 min•Ep. 78
[1:53] - Safety in upbringing and why being outside can be a boon to an entrepreneur [8:29] - “Never look at the competition, know your customer instead” [10:58] - Focus on the product and avoid distractions [14:25] - On B2C marketing [19:20] - Building the company culture at Vivino [23:34] - When should a founder step down and bring in a new CEO [27:08] - Fundraising tips [30:35] - what Heini looks for in founders for angel investing Links: www.vivino.com Raw Startup youtube channel - how to gr...
Sep 21, 2022•41 min•Ep. 77
[1:51] - Irish startup scene [7:41] - How to attract and incentivize talent at a macro level [11:13] - The best startup ecosystems in Europe [19:15] - Dogpatch [24:12] - Norther Ireland/Southern Ireland collaboration [27:21] - Funding for startups in Ireland Links Dogpatch Changing World Order by Ray Dalio Midnight’s children by Salman Rushdie...
Jul 25, 2022•36 min•Ep. 76
[2:30] Idea development when you are not from the industry [14:52] - From idea to MVP - DIY or outsource? [21:16] - Funding journey pre-seed to seed [25:26] - Building your team [29:34] - Getting your first customers [31:58] - Niche down on a vertical or not [37:25] - Fundraising dos and don’ts Links Arx Alliance
Jun 22, 2022•48 min•Ep. 75
1:45 - Your journey from operational role to VC 6:16 - Advice for others thinking of moving from operational to VC role. 12:33 - What makes Creandum different to other VC firms? 16:25 - Creandum’s process of finding and investing in companies 25:00 - Timing for approaching Creandum 27:48 - Metrics for investing 32:59 - Trends in Europe Links Creandum
May 25, 2022•41 min•Ep. 74
2:00 - Founding YuLife - the journey 10:34 - Finding the right co-founders 17:49 - Initial customers 19:21 - Proving ROI 23:11 - From founder-led sales to systematic marketing and sales 27:28 - External branding 31:41 - Pivoting from B2C to B2B early on 34:33 - Internal culture and branding Links YuLife 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Steven Covey...
Apr 28, 2022•49 min•Ep. 73
[1:57] - About Notion Capital [4:04] - Notion’s go-to-market support and building the scaling engine [9:09] - How to build a team for growth [16:10] - When to bring in marketing; and determining the first hire [20:13] - US Expansion: when and how you should expand to the US [28:01] - How do you become a Notion Capital portfolio company [40:35] - Big trends and areas of growth in Europe Links Notion Capital The Circadian Code...
Apr 07, 2022•51 min•Ep. 72
[2:08] Your career from currency trader to COO of Railsbank [6:50] Advice for women in FinTech on growing their careers [11:07] Building a high-performance sales team and hiring women after a career break [16:24] Current trends in embedded finance and fintech [25:46] Growing from 120 - 500 people Links: Railsbank Little Women by Louisa Alcott...
Mar 24, 2022•31 min•Ep. 71
[2:12] - Journey from consulting to founding Meatable [11:06] - Alternative protein market [14:35] - Biggest challenges facing Meatable and lab-grown meat [17:45] - Cost of Meatable burger vs a normal burger and target market [22:58] - Funding [24:45] - Go-to-market strategy: license technology or vertically integrate [28:00] - Messaging for different markets - Singapore, US, Europe [31:00] - US expansion Links Meatable.com Books: Der Prozess by Kafka...
Mar 09, 2022•39 min•Ep. 70
[2:17] Your journey to founding HealthHero [11:54] Multi-pronged business model and prioritization [14:13] Brand strategy [16:49] Go-to-market strategy [20:58] Structuring for growth [25:24] US expansion plans Links HealthHero Sponsors Chargebee E-residency Book recommendation Sapiens...
Feb 23, 2022•30 min•Ep. 69
[1:55] Overview of Balderton [3:46] What do you think makes for a good VC? [5:32] Where are you making big bets going into 2022? [6:30] Why is there a difference in the US and Europe when it comes to web3? [7:52] What is your take on the NFT opportunity? [13:26] Opportunities in fintech [17:52] Team vs Idea - what is more important? [23:36] Organizational design from Series A to Series B [33:02] SaaS metrics for companies Balderton has invested in [35:39] If you could start a movement to change ...
Feb 09, 2022•38 min•Ep. 68
[2:10] What motivates you and what makes you keep going one startup after another? [13:36] What makes Inkitt different from all the other self-publishing platforms? [18:30] Who are your readers and what is trending? [20:53] What was the turning point where growth took off? [24:34] How did you manage the downturns in the business? Books mentioned Alchemist from Paulo Coelho...
Jan 26, 2022•38 min•Ep. 67
Maritime industry [1:34] Why did you start Deepsea? Why has the maritime industry been so late in modernizing? [6:53] Being two engineering founders, how did you supplement the business knowledge that was missing? [09:56] How did the pandemic affect your business? What did you need to do to adapt? Startup advice [12:15] What are some of the challenges and lessons you learnt in the early stages? [14:43] What was the one change you made in your B2B selling process? [18:30] You were initially wary ...
Jan 21, 2022•34 min•Ep. 66
[01:40] Why did you decide to focus on the travel industry? [04:10] What are some of the big trends you see in the travel industry? What do you think has changed permanently and what do you think will go back? [5:27] What are some of the opportunities you see for travel startups [8:16] Your leadership style [11:17] How do you hire? What questions do you ask in interviews? [19:33] How do you keep employees motivated when business is not doing well? [21:03] How did you determine your 30-60-90 day ...
Jan 12, 2022•33 min•Ep. 65
[1:26] Early life and value of hard work [2:43] Experience and most memorable moments from your time at Google and Twitter as an early employee [7:15] Pivoting during the pandemic [21:50] Future of the workplace Links: Envoy Book recommendation: The Cold Start Problem...
Dec 15, 2021•27 min•Ep. 64
