The VentureFizz Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 137: Jeremy Hitchcock and Gray Chynoweth, Minim Oct 14, 2019

Show notes

For Episode 137 of The VentureFizz Podcast, I interviewed Jeremy Hitchcock and Gray Chynoweth of Minim. Manchester, NH…or for you insiders, Manchvegas… it is where I grew up. My dad was an entrepreneur and he ran a leather coat factory in the historic mill buildings there. The same mill buildings were the home to a major tech company that played a key role in keeping the internet running (for real) and it was called Dyn - the leading cloud-based Internet performance and DNS provider. The company was started by WPI students and it went on to scale to an eventual acquisition by Oracle for a reported $600M. Jeremy Hitchcock was the CEO of Dyn and one of its co-founders. He is on to his next company which is called Minim. Gray is also an alum of Dyn and is now Minim’s CEO. Minim, as they put it, is on a mission to make home WiFi as safe and reliable as drinking water through its IoT platform that enables and secures a better connected home. The company is backed by Founder Collective and Flybridge Capital Partners. In this episode, we cover: * The current state of the tech scene in New Hampshire. * A deep dive into the story of Dyn from the early beginnings to acquisition. * All the details on Minim and their technology. * Advice for founders on raising capital. * A discussion about the acquisition process. * Recruiting members to your Board of Directors. * And more! If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Episode 136: Jonathan Keidan - Founder & Managing Partner, Torch Capital Oct 10, 2019

Show notes

For Episode 136 of The VentureFizz Podcast, I interviewed Jon Keidan, Founder and Managing Partner of Torch Capital. Are there parallels between identifying musical talent that will become the next great recording artist and the next great entrepreneur who will transform an industry by building a unicorn company? There are definitely some similarities, as you are taking a risk by investing in the artist or the entrepreneur and betting on their ability to execute. We have definitely seen some crossovers from the music industry into tech investing with examples like Troy Carter or Guy Oseary. Jon is another example of a crossover whose career has transcended both industries and identifying talent has always been a superpower. He started his own music talent management company at a very young age and he worked on developing the careers of high-profile artists and since becoming an investor, he made early stage investments in lots of great companies like Sweetgreen, Acorns, Zocdoc, and many more. Torch Capital is a new investment firm that he founded with a $60M fund which will focus on investing in early-stage consumer companies. In this episode, we cover: * Jon’s early career in the music business and what he learned from running a talent management company. * The details on InsideHook, a digital media publication that he co-founded and was acquired. * How he became an investor and why he decided to start Torch Capital. * What he looks for when making an investment. * Why entrepreneurs should be careful about valuations. * Advice for founders on building a consumer brand. * And more! If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Episode 135: John Burns - CEO of TB12 Oct 07, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to Episode 135 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed John Burns, CEO of TB12. A lot has been reported about Tom Brady’s health and training regimen. At 42 years old, he is still performing at an elite level in the NFL as the quarterback of the New England Patriots. So, it makes you wonder… what if we all could apply these same methods that the 6-time Super Bowl champion and 3-time NFL MVP has leveraged to help us improve our own health and wellbeing? Well, that is the goal of TB12, the company that was started by Tom Brady and his partner Alex Guerrero. As described by the company, TB12 is centered around a holistic philosophy for health and wellness by using workouts and nutrition to help you do what you love, longer. John Burns is TB12’s CEO. His career has been focused on investing and helping to build consumer companies like Lululemon, Spartan Races, Oath Craft Pizza, EveryBodyFights, and others. It was John’s own personal experience at TB12 that helped him recover from a hockey injury which ended up being the catalyst for his involvement in the company. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of other topics: -What it’s like having Tom Brady as your boss. -A discussion about the trend of professional athletes who are becoming entrepreneurs or investors. -John’s background story and the details behind his investments in the consumer industry. -How Tom Brady got connected with Alex Guerrero and how TB12 got its start. -Lots of details on TB12 and its future plans. -Great advice on building a consumer brand from the ground up. -And so much more. Is your company hiring? If yes, then you might want to add a BIZZpage subscription. It is our employment branding and hiring solution that helps to keep your company top of mind for our targeted audience of professionals in the tech industry. A BIZZpage subscription includes an employment branding page, unlimited postings to our Job Board, access to our exclusive content series, and more. Send an email to info@venturefizz.com for more details. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Episode 134: Jannick Malling - Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Public Oct 03, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to Episode 134 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Jannick Malling, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Public. Public is a new kind of brokerage that makes it possible to buy any public stock with any amount of money commission-free. It is an idea that I wish existed when I was younger, as they are democratizing the public markets by allowing people to purchase slices of stock. It is a different philosophy where you are focused on how much you want to invest or can invest versus the number of shares. They also have a really interesting social component to the app where you can see what other people are purchasing. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like: -Jannick’s background and career, including how he caught the entrepreneurial bug. -All the details on Public, including how everything works in terms of purchasing slices and the company’s business model. -How they are building a social layer to Public and how it is a key differentiator. -How they got the Public.com domain, as well as advice for founders on buying domains. -Advice on raising capital. -And so much more. Public is offering our listeners $10 for anyone who is approved and funds a Public account through this episode. Go to: http://share.public.com/jannick to get started. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Episode 133: Sarah Downey - Principal at Accomplice Sep 29, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to Episode 133 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Sarah Downey, Principal at Accomplice, a seed-stage venture capital firm. In the past, there really weren’t too many career paths into the venture capital industry. Typically, someone joined a firm from a top business school or investment banking firm. Or, another common path is being a successful founder and switching over to the investment side. Well, this isn’t the case anymore and Sarah is a perfect example of someone whose career has taken lots of great twists and turns leading up to her current role as a Principal at Accomplice. In addition to Sarah’s role as an investor, she is also a community-builder. She is actively involved in Rev Boston, TUGG, and other non-profits. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like: -The value of having your own user guide to provide others with instructions on the best way to interact with you. -Sarah’s background story including her time in law school and her career pivot into the tech industry as a marketer. -How she made the transition into venture capital. -Trends in the AR/VR space, as well as other areas of tech. -The importance of elevating more women in the Boston tech scene, and -Sarah’s role in making that happen. -And so much more. TUGG is one of the organizations that Sarah is apart of. One of their flagship events is called Tech Gives Back, which we talk about in the podcast. It is the largest industry service event in the country and an opportunity for your company to volunteer for a day of service and work with some incredible non-profits. This year’s event is taking place on October 10th & 11th. Go to tugg.org to learn more and sign your company up for this worthy cause! Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Episode 132: Jon Staff - Founder and CEO of Getaway Sep 26, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to Episode 132 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Jon Staff, Founder and CEO of Getaway. With today’s always-connected and always-on world, I think most people would agree that disconnecting is good for the mind, body, and soul. This is exactly the business that Jon has created, an environment where you can disconnect in one of their tiny cabins that are situated in nature a couple of hours from a major city. The goal is to let you recharge and spend time on the things that matter, like ourselves and our relationships. Jon is a serial entrepreneur. We actually wrote a story about prior company called Favecast on VentureFizz several years ago. Getaway ended up being the right idea, as the company recently announced a $22.5M Series B round of funding and is scaling aggressively. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like: -The interesting places Jon has lived including the basement of a frozen yogurt shop. -The details on his background, including where his work ethic came from and the multiple companies he started. -What led him down the path of founding Getaway and how the company got started. -His experience pitching Getaway on Shark Tank and the impact it had on the company’s business. -Advice for building a great brand. -The challenges of building a team in the early days of a company. -And so much more. Did you know that every Monday morning, we send out two weekly digest emails? There is one for Boston and one for NY. It is your weekly email to stay connected to all the “must-know” information from the local tech scene. It includes information on companies, jobs, events, deals and more. Go to venturefizz.com/email and look for the “Weekly Tech Buzz” to sign up. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Episode 131: Dan O'Malley - Founder and CEO of Numerated Sep 22, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to Episode 131 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Dan O'Malley, Founder and CEO of Numerated. Dan has built a strong level of domain experience in the Fintech industry. What is really interesting about his career is how he’s been a driver of innovation at startups, as well as much larger companies. At Capital One, he built their payment product into one of the company's largest strategic initiatives. As CEO and Co-Founder of Perkstreet Financial, they built an online-only consumer banking startup, which just didn’t hit the market right from a timing point of view. He later joined Eastern Bank as the Co-Founder and Head of Eastern Labs, the company’s innovation arm which was built to help keep Eastern Bank competitive in their industry. It was this experience that has led to the founding of Numerated, a company that was spun out of the lab and is focused on helping banks grow relationships faster with its real-time sales platform. Numerated recently announced a $15M Series B round of funding. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics like: -How innovation works at larger companies. -Dan’s background story and a walk through his career. -All the details on Numerated’s platform and why the company was spun outside of Eastern Bank, plus its growth and hiring plans. -The current state of FinTech in Boston. -Advice for first-time entrepreneurs on raising capital. -And so much more. Whenever someone asks me who are the fastest-growing tech companies in Boston or New York City, I simply direct them to our BIZZpages. From there, you can do a virtual tour of each tech scene and explore over 290 companies! Each BIZZpage tells you everything you need to know from a high level like the details on the company, culture, job openings, leadership team, and more! Go to venturefizz.com/bizzpages to start exploring! Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Episode 130: Eddie Geller, Co-Founder and CEO of Tinybeans Sep 18, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to Episode 130 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Eddie Geller, Co-Founder and CEO of Tinybeans. Eddie is a serial entrepreneur who is originally from Australia. He founded his first company, a software development services firm called Unique World in 1999 with just $5,000 in the bank. By the time he sold the company, he had grown the business to $15M with nearly 100 employees. Tinybeans is a company that is dedicated to storing family memories through its secure photo-sharing platform and mobile app. Every day millions of people including celebrities, politicians and high-profile families rely on Tinybeans as their primary platform for capturing, storing and sharing their children’s life stories. It is a product that I wish existed when my kids were younger. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of other topics, like: -The importance of having a transparent company culture. -The story of building and scaling Unique World to an exit. -The background story of Tinybeans and how Eddie got involved, plus the current state of their business and scale. -The benefits of having a concentrated, rather than a general, audience as your users. -And so much more. If you have been enjoying The VentureFizz Podcast, then please leave us a 5-star review on iTunes. The more reviews we have, the more that people will discover these amazing stories about entrepreneurs across the Boston and New York entrepreneurial ecosystems. Thanks in advance—we appreciate it! Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Episode 129: Alicia Lindgren - CEO at CollegeLab Sep 15, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to Episode 129 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Alicia Lindgren, CEO at CollegeLab. Alicia’s career started out in the financial services industry and then she later moved into the non-profit sector before transitioning into the educational field where she has developed a deep level of expertise around college admissions. CollegeLab is an AI-driven college admissions tool that helps families and counselors better navigate and manage the college admissions process. Built using machine learning methods, CollegeLab utilizes over 4 million student applications with outcomes to tell students their chance of admission at 500 colleges and universities, comparing 12 data points and identifying areas they should focus on to improve their chances. I have a confession to make about this podcast episode. Not only do Alicia and I have a deep conversation about the CollegeLab platform, but we also talk in great detail about the college admissions process, which was of great interest to me. I have a daughter who is a sophomore in high school, and while we are not out there doing college visits just yet, it is all right around the corner. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of other topics, like: -The truth behind college rankings and their data. -Alicia’s background story in terms of her professional career. -All the details on CollegeLab and what makes the platform valuable to students, parents, and counselors. -Her thoughts on the SAT and ACT, and the current status of these tests. -How colleges and universities make their decisions around admissions. And so much more. Our Job Board has over 4,500 positions listed, and the design of our job listings just went through a major overhaul. It is a much cleaner design and you’ll find highly relevant information on each listing like employee testimonials, photos, video, and the latest featured story from VentureFizz. This way you can learn a lot more about the company and its culture direct from each job listing. Go to venturefizz.com/jobs to check it out. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Episode 128: Leslie Borrell - VP of Smart Cities at Intersection Sep 12, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to Episode 128 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Leslie Borrell, VP of Smart Cities at Intersection. When we talk about the next 5, 10, 15 or more years of urban living, the phrase “smart city” will almost definitely be a part of the conversation. Now, smart city can mean a number of different things, from good public Wi-Fi to autonomous cars and much, much more. Intersection is a company at the forefront of the smart cities revolution. Its mission is to improve the experience of public places through technology that provides connectivity, information, and engaging content and experiences to civilians across various cities. You might know them from LinkNYC, the largest and fastest free public Wi-Fi network in the world. Leslie is part of the team that is making Smart Cities a reality and as we discuss her background, you’ll notice that she has not been afraid to take chances and go for it. This has all paid off as she has held engineering leadership roles at a variety of tech companies in NYC. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of other topics, like: -Leslie’s thoughts on what our smart city future will look like. -The full background story of her career and how she worked her way into engineering leadership roles. -All the details on Intersection’s products and how they are powering smart cities, plus their business model. -The company’s culture, including their approach to diversity and inclusion, and advice for companies on building a diverse workplace. -Advice for women on pursuing leadership roles in tech. -And so much more. Ok - quick side note - Our Job Board has over 4,400 positions listed, and we just went through a redesign of the job listings. It is a much cleaner design and you’ll find highly relevant information on each listing like employee testimonials, photos, video, and the latest featured story from VentureFizz. This way you can learn a lot more about the company and its culture direct from each job listing. Go to venturefizz.com/jobs to check it out. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

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