Founder Fundamentals

MaC Venture Capital: Marlon Nichols

Recorded (11/19): In this episode hear Marlon Nichols, Managing General Partner at MaC Ventures, speak about what he’s looking for as an investor and his thesis around cultural investing! Marlon touches upon how he got into the business of Venture Capital, setting up his own fund, and where he sees white space going forward. 

Tempo Automation: Shashank Samala

Recorded (10/19): In this episode, hear Shashank Samala, Co-Founder of Tempo Automation, speak about his experience innovating the PCB industry! Shashank touches upon his inspiration for starting the company, whether he'd start the same company again, challenges in scaling the business, and what's next for Tempo Automation. 

Honest Tea/Beyond Meat: Seth Goldman

Recorded (9/19): In this episode, hear Seth Goldman, Co-Founder of Honest Tea and Executive Chairman of Beyond Meat, speak about his experience of starting Honest Tea and how he got involved with Beyond Meat. Seth shares his thoughts on validating business ideas, challenges he faced in starting and running Honest Tea, his thoughts on the future of Beyond Meat and advice for other entrepreneurs. Seth even shares his favorite non Coca-Cola beverage during the rapid fire! 

Foundation Capital: Sid Trivedi

Recorded (8/19): In this episode, hear Sid Trivedi, Partner at Foundation Capital, speak about his experience as a Venture Capitalist in Silicon Valley. Sid touches upon how to break into VC, what he’s looking for when making investments and areas of interest.

Read more below on what Sid thinks is the next trillion dollar market:

https://foundationcapital.com/cybersecurity-the-next-trillion-dollar-market/

Periscope Data/Sisense: Harry Glaser

Recorded (8/19): In this episode, hear Harry Glaser, CMO and San Francisco GM of Sisense speak about his experience of starting Periscope Data. In May of 2019 Periscope Data was merged with Sisense, the leading analytics platform for builders. Harry touches upon the value of data, getting your first customer, listening to customer feedback and much more! 

Omni: Thomas (Tom) McLeod

Recorded (8/19): In this episode, hear Thomas (Tom) McLeod, CEO and Co-Founder of Omni speak about his experience starting the company. Omni is a digital marketplace of rentable goods in your area. Omni's services are currently available in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Los Angeles and Portland.  

 

Branch: Atif Siddiqi

Recorded (5/19): From Collision 2019 in Toronto listen to Branch founder Atif Siddiqi speak about starting a mobile-first platform for hourly workers. Hear Atif speak about his vision for improving the hourly worker experience, technical v. non-technical founding teams, and the advantages of starting a technology business outside large technology hubs. Branch is a Series A venture based in Minneapolis that continues to improve the shift work experience.

Deskera: Shashank Dixit

Recorded (5/19): From Collision 2019 in Toronto listen to Deskera co-founder Shashank Dixit speak about starting the Softbank backed Singaporean cloud-based business management company. Shashank touches upon pushing cloud in Asian markets, his thoughts on raising capital in the East v. West, and his learnings around building a business in Asia. Deskera has raised $180mm in funding and continues its global expansion in countries such as the United States, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Everyday Health: Benjamin Wolin

Recorded (4/19): In this episode of the podcast, listen to Everyday Health founder Benjamin Wolin speak about his experience of starting Everyday Health, taking it public in 2014 with a $100mm IPO, and selling it to Ziff Davis in 2016. Hear Ben's thoughts on the current digital advertising landscape and his advice for budding entrepreneurs. 

Thread Genius: Andrew Shum & Ahmad Qamar

Recorded (3/19): In this episode of the Founder Fundamentals podcast, listen to ex-Spotify engineers Ahmad Qamar and Andrew Shum speak about their experience of starting Thread Genius. Fun fact - Ahmad is the sole patent author of Spotify's discover weekly algorithm. Thread Genius was an AI powered image recognition platform that was acquired by Sotheby's in January of 2018. Ahmad and Andrew also touch upon the hype around machine learning and best practices for entrepreneurs.