Our mini-series, Movers & Shakers, continues with Rachel Goddard, a partner at Cooley LLP for over 22 years. Rachel walks us through her path to becoming a lawyer before becoming a partner at Cooley. She explains why she loves her job and what she and Cooley do to assist emerging managers to start their funds. Rachel also shares some best practices on things new managers might now know, like management fees and GP commitments. We also get Rachel’s perspective on the next five years for ventu...
Apr 26, 2022•34 min•Ep. 3
Season 2 of “Movers and Shakers” continues with a legend in the digital marketing ad space, Zach Coelius , Co-Founder of Triggit and Managing Partner at Coelius Capital . Zach and his sister, Susan, played an instrumental role in modernizing the way advertisers use targeted digital ads. Zach deep dives into “retargeting,” a form of online advertising where the ads are targeted to consumers based on their previous internet behavior. The conversation progresses with the constantly changing legisla...
Apr 19, 2022•40 min•Ep. 2
We are kicking off our second entitlement of “Movers and Shakers” with a bang! In The Room with Mary D’Onofrio , partner and co-founder of the growth investment practice at Bessemer Venture Partners . Topics this week include the very active investing climate of 2022 and how to be proactive when searching for businesses to partner with, how to find, obtain, and retain skilled, specialized new hires, and the difference between growth-stage and early-stage investing. For The Room Podcast in your i...
Apr 12, 2022•33 min•Ep. 1
In The Room with Alexandra Wilkis Wilson , Co-Founder of Gilt Groupe , GLAMSQUAD , and Clerisy . In our final episode of the season, and 50th episode of The Room Podcast, Alexandra shares her experience breaking into the online retail fashion world with her smash hit, Gilt Groupe, alongside her partner, Alexis Maybank. Alexandra explains how she had limited merchandising experience but took advantage of the consumer ‘FOMO’ by creating the early forms of fashion brand “drops.” In this conversatio...
Mar 08, 2022•40 min•Ep. 8
In The Room with Rathna Sharad, Founder, and CEO of FlavorCloud. With the constant growth of social media and the impacts of the pandemic, more businesses and brands are looking to export or import internationally. And since consumer expectations are only increasing, there is immense pressure on independent companies to unlock access faster. Enter, FlavorCloud, who takes care of the whole cross-border shipping process, including all customs requirements, wherever you’re shipping to. In this epis...
Mar 01, 2022•38 min•Ep. 7
In The Room with Mac Conwell , the Managing Partner and founder of RareBreed Ventures . After founding a few of his own startups, Mac’s life changed when he learned about the world of VCs and funders. This inspired him to start RareBreed Ventures, a pre-seed fund that invests in founders outside of large tech ecosystems. Mac and RareBreed provide resources, capital, and financial education to new and underrepresented founders. This episode discusses; strategies for bridging the gap between funde...
Feb 22, 2022•40 min•Ep. 6
In The Room with Ash Rust , Managing Partner at Sterling Road . Since moving to Silicon Valley in 2008, Ash Rust has become an experienced mentor to startup founders and funders. Ash realized that he didn't like the traditional Silicon Valley approach of meeting someone for a small amount of time before making a decision on a large check, as fast as possible, because “that's the cool thing to do.” Instead, he chooses to spend a lot of time with founders early on to build an organic and more valu...
Feb 15, 2022•28 min•Ep. 5
In The Room with Kelly Graziadei and Joanna Lee Shevelenko , General Partners of F7 . For this episode of The Room, we chat with the women who lead the investments and operations of F7. F7 is a seed investment fund, composed of seven senior female operators. With their combined 16 years at Facebook, Kelly and Joanna explain what they learned from their time there and how they want to use their experience, relationships, and capital to make a difference. Kelly and Joanna manage F7 because they se...
Feb 08, 2022•31 min•Ep. 4
In The Room with Faye Keegan, Co-Founder, and CEO of Dipsea. Consumers are leaning more and more into audio as their primary medium for receiving content. Faye describes how Dipsea is the first of its kind by using the new consumer love of personal audio to empower women. “Sexy audio stories and intimate wellness sessions to help you find joy and confidence in and out of the bedroom.” This episode covers concepts such as good practices when partnering on a startup with a friend, the current stat...
Feb 01, 2022•27 min•Ep. 3
In The Room with Graham Fortgang, Founder of MatchaBar . Season 5 continues with Graham Fortgang, co-founder, and CEO of MatchaBar. Graham runs MatchaBar alongside his brother, Max, whom he’s worked with for over 7 years. We asked Graham why he and Max fell in love with matcha and, to break down their mission of bringing matcha to the mainstream whether through grocery stores, online shipping, or wholesale offerings. From guerrilla marketing in the busiest grocery stores to flying to Japan to st...
Jan 25, 2022•43 min•Ep. 2
In The Room with Jeremy Cai, Founder, and CEO of Italic . We start off season 5 of The Room with Jeremy Cai, the Founder and CEO of Italic. Jeremy and Italic are changing what it means to be a manufacturer by connecting directly to customers and consumers, breaking from the traditional path of utilizing a middle-man distributor. Jeremy details the evolution of Italic, expanding on the changes they’ve made to the business model. Plus, we ask him about the future of the E-Commerce space and any pr...
Jan 18, 2022•41 min•Ep. 1
Welcome to the last episode of our four-part mini-series Movers & Shakers! This week, Madison and Claudia sit down with Ryan Mundy, Founder & CEO of Alkeme Health . Any football fans? You may also recognize Ryan as the Super Bowl-winning safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After eight seasons in the NFL and playing across three teams, Ryan retired at age 31 and embarked on a self-discovery journey to find his identity outside of football. This led him to spend time both on the investing ...
Dec 07, 2021•37 min•Ep. 4
Welcome back to The Room- today’s conversation is another installment in our mini-series, Movers & Shakers where we sit down with early-stage entrepreneurs to hear about their stories. Today we sit down with Paige Finn Doherty, Founding Partner of Behind Genius Ventures . Behind Genius Ventures is an early-stage fund investing in product-led growth companies and play at the pre-seed/seed stage. They are backed by Bain Capital Ventures, Tribe Capital, Bonfire Ventures, and others. Behind Geni...
Nov 30, 2021•40 min•Ep. 3
In today’s episode, Claudia and Madison sit down with Gaby Goldberg, an investor at The Chernin Group. A self-proclaimed Gen Zer, Gaby natively understands the creator and gamer economies. Through a self-discovery semester off from Stanford, where she spent time working at a startup in Tel Aviv, Gaby fell in love with venture capital. Through Twitter, she landed her first job in VC at Chapter One. After this experience, she found herself at Bessemer before recently joining The Chernin Group to f...
Nov 23, 2021•36 min•Ep. 2
Before the launch of season 5 of The Room Podcast, we are so excited to introduce a four-part mini-series: Movers & Shakers, where Madison and Claudia sit down with early-stage entrepreneurs and influencers to hear their stories. In this week’s episode and series launch, we sit down with Madison Campbell, Co-Founder and CEO of Leda Health , a health and wellness startup turning the conversation around sexual assault into actionable change lead. A company created for survivors by survivors, L...
Nov 16, 2021•35 min•Ep. 1
As we recently wrapped on Season 4 of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia take a trip down memory lane to look back on our past two seasons. Over the past year, we’ve had the most amazing guests come to join us in The Room to share their inspiring stories. Take a look back on some of our key themes and insights from the past two seasons. Thank you so much for joining us for four seasons now! We have so much more in store, but for now, let’s take a look back and open the door.
Nov 11, 2021•34 min
In the Season 4 finale of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia sit down with Andy Ruben, Founder and CEO of Trove , an end-to-end technology and supply chain platform, unlocking second-hand shopping for your favorite brands. Before founding Trove, Andy served on the senior leadership team at Walmart, including the role of Chief Sustainability Officer. A big congratulations to Trove who recently announced their $77.5M Series D funding . With the resale and e-commerce space expected to hit $64B i...
Oct 05, 2021•44 min•Ep. 8
In The Room with Katie Warner Johnson This week on The Room Podcast, we are excited to share our conversation with Katie Warner Johnson, Founder and CEO of Carbon38 . Carbon38 is one of the leading activewear e-commerce platforms, carrying brands like Beyond Yoga, Isabel Marant, Adidas by Stella McCartney and their own line. Katie's journey to disrupting the activewear industry started early on as a professional dancer from childhood and later, a Physique 57 fitness instructor. After years of be...
Sep 28, 2021•42 min•Ep. 7
In The Room with Sashee Chandran In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast with co-hosts Madison and Claudia, they are joined by Sashee Chandran, CEO, and Founder of Tea Drops . Founded in 2015, Tea Drops are organic, ground leaf teas pressed into fun shapes that dissolve in water. Think of a bath bomb, but tea! Using 15% less waste than traditional tea bags, Tea Drops provides an environmentally friendly, convenient, and high-quality tea experience. Tea Drops are now sold in nearly 2000 store ...
Sep 21, 2021•40 min•Ep. 6
In The Room with Vera Shokina In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia take a break from chatting with their typical founder or funder to cover a core need of every startup and fund: their bank. They are joined by Vera Shokina, Managing Director at Silicon Valley Bank where she covers U.S. banking and early stage international banking, helping VC funds and startups with all of their banking needs. From the founding moment of SVB, the bank has been focused on early stage te...
Sep 14, 2021•29 min•Ep. 5
Welcome to another episode of The Room Podcast! In this week’s episode, co-hosts Madison and Claudia chat with Danielle Cohen-Shohet, Co-Founder and CEO of GlossGenius. Danielle, a freelance hobbyist makeup artist, started GlossGenius when she knew that there had to be a better way to manage a business and engage with clients. From scheduling to booking and payments, GlossGenius meaningfully helps freelancers and small businesses in US salon and studio spaces. In this episode, Danielle talks abo...
Sep 07, 2021•31 min•Ep. 4
In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia sit down with Katherine Salisbury, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Qapital , a mobile banking app designed to help incentivize people to save smarter. Qapital’s Chief Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely leverages science to propel people into better money habits. Since its inception in 2015, Qapital has helped millions of users collectively save over $2 billion. This week’s key themes include navigating raising venture capital with an untradit...
Aug 30, 2021•29 min•Ep. 3
In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia sit down with Sydney Sykes, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of BLCK VC. Founded in 2018, BLCK VC empowers and advances black venture investors by providing a focus community built for and by black venture investors. Out of Harvard undergrad, Sydney joined New Enterprise Associates as an investment analyst before moving on to e-commerce planning with Dolls Kill. Today, Sydney is also studying at Stanford GSB for her MBA. This week’s key themes...
Aug 23, 2021•32 min•Ep. 2
Welcome to Season 4 of The Room Podcast! We start off this brand new season with Kara Goldin, Co-Founder and CEO of Hint . Hint is known for its healthy fruit-infused flavored water that brands itself as a better alternative to sugar-laden sodas and artificially sweetened drinks. Hint Water in a variety of fun and fruity flavors is found at any local supermarket. Today, Hint has also expanded its product line to sun and body items, including sunscreen and deodorant. Kara’s newest book Undaunted:...
Aug 16, 2021•49 min•Ep. 1
In the Season 3 finale of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia sit down with Heidi Zak, CEO and Co-Founder of ThirdLove , a multi-generational women's lifestyle brand focused on elevated essentials across bras, underwear, loungewear, and much more. ThirdLove’s products are designed to support women feeling effortlessly comfortable and confident. ThirdLove is also the third largest underwear and bra retailer in the world, which is a true testament to how its unique model truly disrupted how cons...
Jun 22, 2021•42 min•Ep. 8
In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia cover a relevant topic as the world begins to re-open and adapt to a life post-pandemic: the future of work. They are joined by two CEOs, Frank Weishaupt and Roy Hirshland, who are both innovating on the new normal as leaders of their companies. Frank is the CEO of Owl Labs , a video collaboration technology company that provides the inclusive meeting experience remote participants need and deserve. Roy is the CEO and Co-Founder of ...
Jun 15, 2021•43 min•Ep. 7
In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia chat with Analisa Goodin, Founder and CEO of Catch&Release, a company making it easier to discover the best content for an open web and making it available for licensing to agencies and brands worldwide. As a classically trained artist and art historian, Analisa personally understood these pain points of creatives. This past April, Catch & Release announced its $15M Series A, led by Accel . We cover the key themes of the int...
Jun 08, 2021•42 min•Ep. 6
In this week’s episode, Madison and Claudia sit down with Michelle Zatlyn, Co-Founder, President and COO of Cloudflare . Public since 2019, Cloudflare is a web performance and security company keeping millions of businesses and, by association, consumers safe online through their cybersecurity infrastructure, stopping over 70 billion attacks a day. Michelle is one of few female founders to take a company public, and now Cloudflare is valued at over $24 billion as the world increasingly realizes ...
Jun 01, 2021•42 min•Ep. 5
In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia cover early stage startup legal needs, an essential part of the startup journey. Oftentimes, the first round of fundraising is the first time founders will interact with lawyers, and this relationship will continue for years beyond just the initial fundraise. They are also joined by Lauren Creel, Early-Stage Partner at Cooley , to help walk us through what the legal side of startup fundraising looks like. Headquartered in Palo Alto,...
May 25, 2021•37 min•Ep. 4
We are so excited to sit down with Maria Salamanca, Partner at Unshackled Ventures , in the newest episode of The Room Podcast. Unshackled Ventures is a pre-seed venture firm focused entirely on investing in immigrant founders. An immigrant herself, Maria came to the United States from Colombia when she was six years old. After attending UC Berkeley, Maria joined the FWD.us team, a political organization supporting immigration reform started by tech leaders like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. I...
May 18, 2021•36 min•Ep. 3
