The StartUp to ScaleUp Game Plan

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Brad Feld: helping CEOs overcome covid's psychological challenges & build diverse leadership teams Sep 06, 2020

Show notes

Brad Feld has been an early stage investor & entrepreneur for 30 years. He co-founded Foundry Group, Mobius Venture Capital, Intensity Ventures & Techstars. Brad’s also a published author & a long-distance runner who’s completed dozens of marathons!
We discussed:

Brad's new book - "The StartUp Community Way" - and explored why the theory of complex systems is so crucial for startup & scaleup leaders
The psychological challenges Brad has faced during his career as an entrepreneur and investor
The importance of regular emotional, physical and intellectual resets
The steps Brad has taken to help his portfolio CEOs overcome the psychological/emotional challenges they've faced in 2020
Why Brad recently committed to getting at least one non-white board member - and preferably at least one female AND one non-white board member - on every board he serves, even if it means giving up his board seat
The other actions Brad's encouraging to improve diversity within his portfolio

For more insights into startup communities check out https://startupcw.com & for guidance on hiring & retaining stellar tech startup & scaleup leadership talent head over to https://alpinasearch.com

The Infinite Era of Marketing: how to outperform your competitors Sep 03, 2020

Show notes

Mathew Sweezey, Director of Market Strategy at Salesforce, has developed a radical view of the Future of Marketing with huge implications for ambitious tech ventures. We explored:

the crucial differences between the "Infinite Era of Marketing" and the Digital Era
why purpose-driven businesses have significant competitive advantages in the Infinite Era
why B2B ventures who create experiences will outperform those who merely create messages
the increasing importance of AR, VR & "XR" for B2B marketers
why companies need to create a new C Suite leadership role, & change their structure, to optimise for customer experience across the entire customer journey

For more insights into the Future of Marketing head over to https://mathewsweezey.com/future-of-marketing-2019/ & for advice on successfully scaling your B2B software venture check out https://alpinasearch.com

The downside of accepting TOO MUCH funding from VCs! Aug 27, 2020

Show notes

Marlon Nichols is Managing General Partner at MaC Venture Capital – a West Coast VC investing in technology companies that create infectious products benefiting from shifts in cultural trends & behaviours in an increasingly diverse global marketplace. Marlon’s also on the Board of Directors of Kauffman Fellows, is an Adjunct Professor at Cornell, and was previously Director of Investments at Intel Capital.

We discussed:

The challenges facing BAME VCs & BAME entrepreneurs trying to raise funding for their funds & their startups
Why it is a financial as well as a moral imperative to invest in diversity: “even if you’re not a decent human being - at least be a selfish & fiduciary human being”
The risk that startups who raise too much capital too early will lose focus & struggle to gain traction

For more insights into MaC Ventures head over to https://macventurecapital.com & for advice on recruiting exceptional talent to scale your software venture check out https://alpinasearch.com

Entrepreneurs: Please Do Not Stalk VCs Via Their AirBnb Listings! Aug 19, 2020

Show notes

William McQuillan was the youngest Partner of a European VC fund when he co-founded Frontline Ventures in 2012. An early stage venture capital fund with €110m under management, Frontline has made over 40 investments across Europe.

We explored:

Frontline Ventures “platform” offering - the 1st to be launched by a European VC firm
How the platform enables Frontline to track everything they do to add value to their portfolio
The shocking stats Frontline uncovered on gender & ethnicity in dealflow
The specific steps VCs can take to improve their ability to support diverse businesses
The criteria Frontline evaluate when investing in companies with no products & no revenues
How an entrepreneur tracked William down on AirBnb then rented a room so he could pitch him!

For more insights into Frontline Ventures head over to https://www.frontline.vc & for advice on hiring stellar leadership talent for your enterprise software scale-up check out https://alpinasearch.com

Faisal Galaria: How to Innovate Your Way Out Of A Crisis! Aug 18, 2020

Show notes

Faisal Galaria is the CEO at Blippar – a high profile augmented reality venture. Faisal previously held leadership positions at some of the world’s most disruptive technology companies including Spotify, Kayak & Skype.

We explored how:

Blippar is innovating its way out of the pandemic
Faisal decided to join Blippar after the formerly high profile AR scaleup was rescued from administration
Technology adoption trends and covid's impact on society are generating huge opportunities for augmented reality
Blippar created a truly revolutionary product launch for OnePlus when their Nord 5G smartphone was launched entirely via AR & livestreamed globally to 0.5m people

For more insights into Blippar and augmented reality head over to https://www.blippar.com & for advice on hiring stellar leadership talent for tech startups & scaleups check out https://alpinasearch.com

Oyster: The Tech Venture Determined to Reduce Inequality Aug 14, 2020

Show notes

Tony Jamous is the CEO at Oyster - a talent platform that enables companies to hire great people anywhere on the planet. Previously Tony co-founded Nexmo – a cloud communications platform – & led them to a $230m exit!

We explored:

How Nexmo grew from 10m to 100m ARR in 6 years & how leadership style & organisational structure evolved at each stage of growth
Why Nexmo chose to exit via M&A in preference to the IPO route chosen by their US competitor Twilio
How Oyster reduces inequality by lowering the barrier for companies in any country to hire talent in any country
How virtual organisations reduce the differentials between extroverts & introverts and improve employees' mental health
Why Oyster partnered with Connect Ventures as an investor who shared their goals for “Impact 2.0” in preference to other VCs who's interest was purely ROI

For more insights into Oyster's platform check out https://www.oysterhr.com/ & for advice on hiring diverse, high impact, B2B software scaleup leaders head over to https://alpinasearch.com

This is The Perfect Time To Be Bold & Disruptive! Aug 10, 2020

Show notes

Pontus Noren pioneered the "cloud-native" approach as CEO at Cloudreach, the scaleup he founded in 2009 – just after Lehman Brothers collapsed - & led to an exit in 2017.

By the time Blackstone acquired the business, Cloudreach was a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, ranked top 25 in The Sunday Times Hiscox Tech 100, & ranked by the FT as one of Europe’s fastest growing companies

Pontus is now the Chair of Tyk – an opensource API platform startup - & an advisor to several tech startups & scaleups

We explored:

The huge opportunity for startups to sell to large companies who need to shake everything up due to the pandemic
The mantra: “What you don’t do is as important as what you do do!”
The learning: “I’ve often recruited people too fast but I’ve never fired someone too fast!”
The devastating consequences of senior mis-hires
To avoid panic hires: how to plan your organisational design based on your expectations of future market opportunities & challenges

For more insights into Tyk head over to https://tyk.io & for guidance on hiring & retaining senior talent in B2B startups & scaleups check out https://alpinasearch.com

A model for diversity & inclusion in VC & tech Aug 02, 2020

Show notes

Janneke Niessen is a serial entrepreneur, investor, board member & mentor for startups and the co-founder of CapitalT, a VC fund investing in software startups using proprietary technology to evaluate entrepreneurial teams.

She’s also the co-initiator of InspiringFifty - which aims to increase diversity in tech by making female role models more visible.

Janneke’s won many awards for her contribution to tech and society including EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014 & Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year in 2019

We explored:

Why VCs need to be more diverse if they are to invest in diverse startups - & why this is also important for ROI
The mental health struggles most entrepreneurs experience & the support networks to help them cope
How the entrepreneurial bug drives us forward despite the pain we all go through!
CapitalT's proprietary platform "VCVolt" which - based on 5 years of deep research into the performance of a thousand entrepreneurial teams - helps Janneke & her colleagues evaluate leadership teams, select which companies to invest in, & provide ongoing support to help portfolio companies fine-tune their teams

For more insights into CapitalT head over to https://www.capitaltvc.com & for advice on successfully scaling your enterprise software venture check out https://alpinasearch.com

Don’t Hire Someone from IBM to Ramp Your Startup Revenues! Jul 26, 2020

Show notes

Bethany Ayers, CCO at Peak.ai, has a track record leading high-growth SaaS businesses in GTM strategy, rapidly scaling their sales organisations, delivering profitable partnerships & fundraising from VCs.

Peak - who raised a $19m Series A from MMC & Praetura - have deployed their enterprise AI solution at bluechips like PepsiCo & Asos to accelerate growth, profitability & sustainability.

We discussed:

hiring proven scale-up sales talent to ramp ARR from $1m to $10m!
changing organisational structures & incentives to align outcomes in sales, marketing & customer success
implementing ideas from brilliant thinkers like Patrick Lencioni to create high performance organisations
avoiding vanity metrics & over-engineered KPIs
overcoming imposter syndrome
the challenges of diversity hiring - especially in senior roles & key functions like enterprise sales

Bethany recommends these books for any scale-up business leader:

Patrick Lencioni's "Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team" - especially the Manga version!
Verne Harnish's "Scaling Up"
"Tribal Leadership" by Dave Logan, John King, Halee Fischer-Wright

For more insights into Peak head over to https://peak.ai & for advice on hiring proven scale-up talent check out https://alpinasearch.com

Hussein Kanji: don't waste time with VCs unless you're a hyperscale startup! Jul 24, 2020

Show notes

Hussein Kanji - Hoxton Ventures co-founder - is a US-born, London-based VC who's funded scaleups like Deliveroo, Darktrace & Behavox & was named by The Daily Telegraph as Europe’s most inﬂuential technology investor!

Hussein explains why:

Entrepreneurs should only approach VCs if they've a hyper-scale startup!
Lack of talent with genuine scale-up credentials cripples the growth of European tech ventures
European startups should quickly scale their sales & marketing teams in The States
VCs, despite their high-achieving backgrounds, must learn how to be the dumbest person in the room!
Partners at small VC firms must be prepared to tread a lonely path - they'll have negligible access to mentors & coaches

For more insights into venture investing head over to https://www.hoxtonventures.com & for advice on scaling software ventures check out https://alpinasearch.com

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