Just Go Grind

Yoni Shtein is a technology entrepreneur and investor with over 15 years of experience at the intersection of technology and finance. Yoni brings his passion around data and impact into focus by helping to improve people's lives as CEO and co-founder of Laguna Health, a technology enabled recovery solution providing a dynamic member experience and integrative clinicians to shorten recovery times and reduce costly readmissions. Laguna aims to radically improve care experiences and care outcomes for patients who have moved through a hospital stay and have been discharged home to self-care. Laguna marries a proven clinical treatment model with a digital-first care team, personalized recovery plans, coaching, data-driven interventions and expansive behavioral health resources, all delivered in a friendly and accessible app-based environment. From employers to health plans to providers, the entire healthcare ecosystem now has the ability to ensure every patient recovers with confidence. Yoni began his career as a software engineer at Microsoft and leveraged that as a founding member of RPX insurance business (KPCB, CRV, Index -> IPO). Next, Yoni co-founded Koru Ventures, which was integrated into Fortress Investment Group, where he led investments in over 30 companies exceeding $500M in equity and debt. Topics Covered by Yoni Shtein in this Episode How Laguna Health is helping people recover confidently from surgery at home How Yoni and his co-founder Yael Adam met and decided to work together The dating/diligence process of finding a co-founder and the importance of being able to "argue well" The hospital unbundling thesis How they developed the idea for Laguna Health from personal experiences Validating the business opportunity and finding a workable tech-enabled solution Connecting with clinical experts and stakeholders Yoni's "work hard, work smart, be lucky" approach How their business model has evolved How demonstrating impact has fueled Laguna Health's growth The UX for Laguna Health patients Building the Laguna Health team with a "bicoastal" approach Yoni's advice for developing remote team dynamics and the impact of aligning cultures and values What's next for Laguna Health Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Dejan Pralica is a sneaker enthusiast and entrepreneur with a passion for building community-first businesses that empower consumers. In 2018, DP co-founded SoleSavy to address the challenges and growing frustrations sneaker consumers face amidst a booming resale economy. SoleSavy provides community, tools, and technologies to help fans connect and buy sneakers at retail and has grown into one of the world's largest paid sneaker communities. As SoleSavy's CEO, DP leads a growing team of 50 people servicing thousands of members globally. Prior to SoleSavy, DP co-founded KicksDeals, a leading source for news releases, deals, and coupons on sneakers. This is DP's second time on the Just Go Grind Podcast— listen here to his first chat with Justin on episode #168. Topics Covered by Dejan Pralica in this Episode Dejan's insane sneaker collection SoleSavy's growth since Dejan was last on the Just Go Grind podcast in September of 2020 From 10 to 50 employees in a year and a half Dejan's approach to building out SoleSavy's team and why he scares people off on purpose The evolution of SoleSavy's peer to peer marketplace as an element of their end to end experience How they utilize cohorts to manage their community of 7k members and why the process can't be automated Navigating trial and error with community dynamics and what hasn't worked How the rise of Web3 and NFTs has affected SoleSavy and the trades and resale economy How they've leveraged partnerships with NBA teams as a brand building opportunity How they decided to partner specifically with the Philadelphia 76ers and Portland Trail Blazers Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Meghan Jewitt is the CEO and Co-Founder of Uniform Teeth, a modern orthodontic startup that uses advanced technology to deliver a best in class experience. Meghan believes in making orthodontic care higher quality, more patient-centric and more affordable. After over a decade in the healthcare industry, Meghan's past experience includes executive roles at DaVita Kidney Care and One Medical Group, and she holds a Biomedical Engineering degree from Columbia University and a MBA from Harvard Business School. In her downtime, Meghan skis, surfs, bikes and climbs. Topics Covered by Meghan Jewitt in this Episode What makes Uniform Teeth a modern orthodontic services provider Meghan's journey to starting Uniform Teeth and her mission to improve the health care industry Meeting her co-founder Kjeld Aamodt and what empowered Meghan to commit to their idea The evolution of Uniform Teeth The technology that enables a seamless experience for patients Their "scrappy" approach to early customer acquisition Deciding to go the VC route for funding and what Meghan would do differently Fundraising vs. bootstrapping Their fundraising experience as a tech-enabled brick and mortar service business What has fueled their growth over the past few years Facilitating an organic referral engine Hiring for a diverse range of positions and how the challenges have been different than they expected Considering the four-day work week How Uniform Teeth is pioneering orthodontics care of the future Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Abby Mercado is the Co-Founder & CEO of Rescripted and a mom of IVF twins. Rescripted is the #1 global social network for people interested in fertility topics, providing tech tools & resources for wherever you are on your journey to build a family. From a vibrant fertility community and trusted IVF content to a tech-enabled fertility pharmacy and mental health counseling, Rescripted brings together everything you need to feel fully supported on your fertility journey. Abby is a first-time founder but lifelong entrepreneur, and previously a VC investor. Topics Covered by Abby Mercado in this Episode What Rescripted is and how Abby's personal experience led her to the idea Abby's founder story and how winning a Techstars Startup Weekend gave her the push to commit to her idea Abby's objectives going through the Techstars program while simultaneously starting the company What Abby found most valuable from Techstars Their experience raising $2M+ exclusively from angel investors The blocks they ran into that led to a pivot from B2B to D2C Building a friendship and mentorship with Kristyn Hodgdon and eventually merging their businesses The process of acqui-hiring Kristyn How the concept for Rescripted has evolved over the years into their current multi-prong model The tech, tools and resources Rescripted provides as an integrated care platform for fertility patients How they're helping women cope with an infertility diagnosis through mental health programming Being community and cohort centric How Abby allocates her time What's on deck for Rescripted and their big vision Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Ryan Feit is the CEO and Co-Founder of SeedInvest, a leading equity crowdfunding platform that provides individual investors with access to vetted startup investment opportunities. To date they have over 600,000 investors on their platform, through which founders have raised over $350M. SeedInvest sold to Circle in 2019. Prior to founding SeedInvest, Ryan worked at Wellspring Capital Management and Lehman Brothers in New York City where he invested in, financed, and managed dozens of private and public businesses. Ryan was instrumental in the passage of the 2012 JOBS Act, which changed 80-year-old U.S. securities laws to make it possible for entrepreneurs to raise capital over the Internet. Since then, Ryan has served as a focal point of the budding Equity Crowdfunding industry, co-founding the Crowdfunding Professional Association and serving as a board member of the Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates. He also worked closely with members of the SEC, FINRA, the White House, and the Treasury Department on the implementation of the JOBS Act. In addition, he frequently serves as a subject matter expert on startup investing and the JOBS Act for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, CNBC, FoxBusiness, the Economist and the New York Times as well as a columnist for Fortune Magazine and Inc. Magazine. Ryan received an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BBA in Finance and Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Topics Covered by Ryan Feit in this Episode SeedInvest in a nutshell How Ryan got into the digitization and democratization of investing Getting the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act approved The challenges of building a two-sided marketplace Getting SeedInvest off the ground and why they started with onboarding investors How they scaled the platform Shifting from onboarding investors to focusing on onboarding great companies Risk mitigation and how they vet companies for SeedInvest Their semi-automated diligence process Following up with and supporting companies who don't qualify for the platform Tracking investors Supercharging their business with more resources by selling to Circle Their decision-making process and Ryan's advice around acquisition SeedInvest's big ambitions and Ryan's thoughts on the future of investing Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Cary Breese is Co-Founder and CEO of NowRx, a technology-leveraged pharmacy service using software automation, logistics, robotics, and micro-fulfilment strategy to transform retail pharmacy. Traditional retail pharmacy is broken, marked by inefficiencies and terrible customer experience. NowRx is on a mission to rebuild healthcare the way it should be – accessible, convenient, and affordable for all. Cary is a multi-time CEO with more than 15 years of experience leading companies that leverage innovative software and automation technologies to disrupt large legacy industries. Topics Covered by Cary Breese in this Episode The vision of NowRx How NowRx works as a full stack pharmacy solution What led Cary to start NowRx Disrupting legacy industries Why existing incentive structures have prevented the pharmacy industry from being disrupted before The process of getting NowRx rolling Cary's hands-on customer discovery process and early customer acquisition How they developed their business model Why they decided to crowdfund How they approach geographical growth through micro fulfillment Their plan to become a national brand The challenges they've faced in building NowRx What Cary has learned from his experience as a multi-time founder Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Jordi Hays is the Co-Founder and CEO of investing platform Party Round. Party Round is building better tools for founders, starting with an automated fundraising tool. Generate & send docs, collect signatures, and receive funds, automating your raise from open to close. Previously, Jordi Hays founded Likewise and Branded Native. Topics Covered by Jordi Hays in this Episode How Party Round is simplifying the process of raising capital for founders How Jordi got inspired to start Party Round and what sets it apart from other fundraising platforms How Jordi and his co-founder Sarah Chase got Party Round off the ground Why they focused on marketing early on The story behind Party Round's viral drops How their team brainstorms and executes their drops Why their BIGTECH Fellowship drop was meaningful for Jordi How Jordi approaches choosing investors What's next for Party Round Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Nhon Ma is the CEO and Co-Founder of Numerade, a venture-backed, high-growth education technology startup based in Los Angeles. Numerade is singularly focused on creating exceptional video and interactive content experiences for education, making the knowledge and skills of world class educators widely accessible and affordable to student audiences of all backgrounds. Their mission is to close the educational opportunity gap by unlocking and democratizing access to extraordinary educators and the content they have to offer. Previously, Nhon Ma and Alex Lee co-founded Tutorcast, which eventually led to the founding of Numerade. Prior, Nhon also worked at Google. Topics Covered by Nhon Ma in this Episode How Numerade is tackling their mission to democratize STEM education How Nhon and his co-founder Alex Lee's previous company Tutorcast evolved into Numerade Why they were inspired to address the issue of access to tutoring through technology How they're approaching content creation at scale and onboarding educators How COVID affected their process and led more contributing teachers Working towards digitizing teaching and learning styles in order to drive deep learning Their platform of courses and practical videos How they've reached students through organic growth The current age demographic of their students and why it's important for Numerade to expand to younger demographics How they're utilizing community to reinforce accountability and motivation How being a mission-driven company has helped them grow the Numerade team and navigate the "war on talent" Numerade's approach to cultivating healthy company culture How Nhon's time at Google has impacted him as a founder What fuels Nhon and how this has shifted over the years to focus on the "why" The "three acts" of their business and the big vision for Numerade Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Suman Siva is the Co-Founder and CEO of Marco, a platform for discovering, planning, and booking high-quality experiences. Marco is helping companies and teams up-level their next Zoom happy hour or offsite and do something collaborative and engaging via virtual experiences that evolve modern teams into thriving cultures. Suman has spent his career advising, operating, and investing in consumer tech companies and marketplaces, and now he's excited to be working on building one! His experience includes working as a Growth Advisor to marketplaces at Basis One, investing at SoftBank Vision Fund Consumer Internet, and consulting at Bain. Topics Covered by Suman Siva in this Episode How Marco is bringing companies and teams together through their experiences platform How Suman's time investing in the experiences space at SoftBank led to him founding Marco The evolution of Marco and how the pandemic led to a pivot Shifting from B2C to B2B Their go-to-market strategy and exploring paid acquisition Expanding into enterprise solutions The pain point that Marco is addressing and their current business model Their journey raising nearly $3M in capital Getting early traction Suman's transition from investor to entrepreneur How Marco is enabling the creator economy Their opportunistic approach to hiring part-time, distributed employees Marco's Future of Culture E-Book The types of experiences Marco's customers are looking to engage in How they're zooming in on inclusivity in the workplace The trends Suman is expecting to see regarding in-person versus virtual offerings Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vivian is the Founder and CEO of Rise (joinrise.co), a professional social network that enables companies to proactively build relationships with people. Rise connects members with the world's most innovative and forward-thinking companies across roles and industries. They are a data-driven tech platform that provides access to impactful opportunities to those who want purpose, advancement, and equity. Prior to starting Rise, Vivian was an operator who built brands and products for high-impact businesses, Fortune 500 companies, high-growth startups, as well as leading VCs, PE firms, and global institutions. She has advised and worked with companies such as L'Oreal, Greenhouse Software, Glamsquad, Klarna, Bain Capital, the AARP, and more. Vivian has been featured in Business Insider, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Bustle, and other media outlets for her work in championing women. Her work has been recognized by Forbes as a Next 1000 company, Cartier as a Top 10 Female Founded Company in North America, JP Morgan as a Woman on the Move, and Barclays as a leader for the Future of Work. Vivian is on the board of Wharton Alumnae Founders & Funders Association (hellowaffa.org), a 501c3 non-profit organization with the mission to accelerate the success of Penn Wharton female founders and investors. Topics Covered by Vivian Chen in this Episode What Rise is and the belief system it's built on Combating "the great resignation" Rise's origin story Leaving her job to become an entrepreneur before she had a business idea Using consulting as a strategy to leapfrog her career How COVID affected Rise and its iterations, resulting in an early pivot and "Rise 2.0" The UX and business model for Rise The strategy to onboard companies to the Rise platform How Vivian built out the product herself How she has approached early outreach and growth Embracing "the great re-hiring" and onboarding big tech companies How they're differentiating themselves in the now booming virtual recruitment industry The recent fundraising experience for Rise Joining the founder program Day One and how that led to the first investments in Rise before Vivian had a formal pitch deck The unique questions she was asked by investors who truly believed in her The importance of investors getting to know founders on a personal level What's next for Rise Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Sehreen Noor Ali is the Co-Founder of Sleuth, a childhood health recommendation engine, powered by crowdsourced insights and machine learning. The platform allows parents to share stories and information with each other to get essential perspectives on programs, treatments, therapies, tips and tricks, and outstanding specialists. Sleuth is backed by NewLab and Antler. Previously, Sehreen was an educative executive in technology with experience spanning across sales, business development, marketing, and community-building. She is deeply operational and is adept at scaling nascent product lines into revenue-generating departments. Her sweet spot is closing large deals that get new products in the hands of parents. She's passionate about inclusion and has launched a newsletter (in beta) for parents of color. Sehreen is a frequent speaker on business strategy in education technology and is the recipient of SXSWedu's first ever Change Maker Award in 2015 for her founding of EdTechWomen. She is a fellow with the Pahara Institute, the 92Y's Women inPower program, and the Truman National Security Project. She has appeared in Scary Mommy, Mom 2.0, The Harvard Business Review Podcast, and others. Topics Covered by Sehreen Noor Ali in this Episode How Sehreen's personal experience led to the founding of Sleuth Deciding to raise money through VC Sehreen and her co-founder Alex Leed's experience at the startup generator program Antler Being surprised by who decided to invest in their company Sleuth's business model and pricing strategy How they approached early growth through personal branding Building trust with customers Growing the Sleuth team with part time hires Their experience hiring through the freelance platforms The process of building out the product itself and what makes it unique The UX for first time users of Sleuth How they control crowdsourced data and ensure credibility on their platform What's next for Sleuth How Sehreen takes care of her own health and wellbeing as a founder Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Kirsten Baumberger is the Co-Founder and Director of Partnerships at minisocial.io, a User Generated Content platform that facilitates the production of UGC on-demand and at scale. mini works with top D2C brands and agencies including DoorDash, Sanzo, Native, JAJA, Pattern brands, and Olipop to generate fully-licensed UGC via micro influencer activations on TikTok and Instagram. Kirsten has been featured in Forbes, AdWeek, The New York Times, Thrive Global, and Business Insider. In her journey of entrepreneurship, Kirsten has developed relationships with international brands and has been recognized as a young trailblazer within her industry. Beyond mini, Kirsten is passionate about helping young women and fellow entrepreneurs succeed. Topics Covered by Kirsten Baumberger in this Episode The origin story of minisocial From Bootstrapping for the first year to raising funds through VC How minisocial executed cold outreach Minisocial's tools for brands Partnering brands with micro- and nano- influencers who are building quality content and community How minisocial is approaching growth through advertising partners today Leveraging newsletters and podcasts to expand their reach Focusing on D2C E-Commerce brands Growing minisocial's team Hiring a technical team as non-technical founders Working with their advisor Emmett Shine Being a user-friendy "anti-platform" Deciding which VCs and angel investors to work with Lolita Taub's newsletter How they're using the capital raised with Hustle Fund to execute on their vision How Kirsten and her co-founder applied their learnings from running a small agency to building minisocial Managing clients' expectations How Kirsten uses the pressure of investors' expectations as motivation Kirsten's advice for entrepreneurs looking to raise capital Finding investors who provide you with the right kind of pressure through aligned values What's next for minisocial and their big vision Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

JP Fatta is a serial entrepreneur with multiple startups including health, entertainment and Cannabis related businesses. He is currently the CEO of Kush Klubs, the first monthly Cannabis Network, Fintech & Subscription-Based Membership Club. Members gain access to a gram or more a day, every day of the month, up to 365 days a year. Kush Klubs works with dispensaries in their network to bring members below market rates while helping dispensaries grow their customer base. As a socially conscious brand, they see their role in the Cannabis space to negotiate for the people, empower local businesses, advocate for minority owners and lobby for decriminalization. If you're interested in their mission, check out: https://wefunder.com/kushklubs Topics Covered by JP Fatta and Bryce Petty in this Episode How JP decided to start Kush Klubs How regulations within the cannabis industry affected the development of their idea through various iterations and how they found their entry point into the market How Bryce got involved in the cannabis industry and with Kush Klubs Overcoming the cultural taboo around cannabis use Deciding to crowdfund, the benefits of this method, and how they chose the WeFunder platform How they've approached growth and overcoming the challenges that come with the nature of their business Finding their dispensary partners and building trust with them Getting and keeping users Bryce's view on the opportunities in the cannabis industry Creating brand loyalty and recognition through community building Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Caroline Casson is a Partner at Vitalize Venture Capital, where she spends her time sourcing potential investments, assisting portfolio companies, and managing the due diligence process for Vitalize. She also writes founder spotlights on her blog. Prior to joining Vitalize in 2018, Caroline worked for GE Ventures in San Francisco where she helped incubate and operate a startup in the drone space. Before transitioning into venture capital, Caroline worked in corporate finance for various GE businesses in Chicago, Atlanta, London, and San Francisco. Caroline received a BBA with honors in math and psychology from Boston College and a Master of Science in Management from the University of Notre Dame, where she was valedictorian of her class. Caroline is originally from Madison, Wisconsin and enjoys going home to spend time with her family whenever she can. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where she loves to bike, hike, sail, and play golf with her husband, Tom, and their dog, Sailor. Follow Caroline on Twitter: https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_ Follow Caroline on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/venturecaroline/ Topics Covered by Caroline Casson in this Episode How Caroline got her start in VC Caroline's experience at GE Ventures and how she ended up at Vitalize Doing a cross-country bike ride with Bike & Build Caroline's process for due diligence on a company The importance of excellent founding teams in early stage ventures How they filter through companies and decide which to invest in Where Caroline chooses to invest personally as an angel investor What makes a rock star founder Justin and Caroline's perspective on Vitalize's angel investor community What has helped Caroline learn and grow as an investor How she has developed her pattern recognition Caroline's advice for founders and how to execute a successful cold outreach Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Annelise Hillmann is the co-founder of FRONTMAN, the Gen Z self-care brand for men creating a new grooming category. A story teller at heart, Annelise is an art director and designer focusing on brand identity and marketing strategy for early stage companies. She has a Harvard degree in economics and psychology and lives in Brooklyn. She co-founded FRONTMAN with Nick Bunn in 2018, and also does freelance for companies still in stealth and others post-IPO. Topics Covered by Annelise Hillmann in this Episode What FRONTMAN is and how Annelise and her co-founder Nick Bunn came up with the idea Developing the product itself and how they navigated contract manufacturing for cosmetics Using a product consultant Designing for behavior change and creating the brand for FRONTMAN Utilizing nostalgia to cultivate authenticity in brand building FRONTMAN's go to market strategy, and what has and hasn't worked to target Gen Z How they've kept their team small so far Raising a $150K pre-seed and working with Recharge Capital FRONTMAN's fundraising journey and Annelise's advice on raising capital How Annelise invests in her own health and wellbeing as a founder Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Joseph Heller, a true entrepreneur at heart, is the Founder and CEO of The/Studio, an on-demand manufacturing platform which is also now the parent company of Supplied, creating a network of empowered entrepreneurs through their wholesale platform for small businesses. While at UC Berkeley, Joseph raised a seed round for an e-commerce platform which sparked his early interest in technology. He believes life and entrepreneurship are a journey and that journey took him to China where he later founded a successful supply chain business. Joseph was absolutely obsessed with being part of the process of consumer products being produced, but agitated by the inefficiencies endemic in the manufacturing industry, which has changed very little in over a hundred years. As a result, Joseph founded The/Studio as a marriage between his passion for technology and manufacturing. They are creating an on-demand supply chain for the 21st Century which will democratize manufacturing, and allow their customers to manage the entire supply chain on the cloud. Topics Covered by Joseph Heller in this Episode Being a lifetime entrepreneur What Joseph's companies The/Studio and Supplied do and how they tailor to different clients How they're connecting small businesses with sourcing and manufacturing in China Bootstrapping to 100 employees Skipping angel and seed investing and going straight to raising a Series A Deciding to fundraise through VC and his advice on this method Initially trying to raise VC in China Why it took a challenging 18 months to raise an $11M Series A Why they decided not to participate in YCombinator after being accepted How Joseph would have fundraised differently in hindsight Early customer acquisition and growth and getting to 10M+ in revenue Joseph's view on paid marketing and how it has shifted in recent years Utilizing social media for community building The business models for The/Studio and Supplied How their two-sided marketplace is solving the pain point of customizing products Overcoming the logistical challenges of working with factories in China Getting to profitability with The/Studio Growing Supplied 10X in 10 months How they're prioritizing clients' needs and deeply solving customers' problems to create a successful B2B marketplace Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

David Perry is the CEO and Co-Founder of Carro, a new e-commerce partnership network that over 30K Shopify brands have joined, providing over 320M visitors a month. GetCarro.com helps brands gain attention, sales, and new customers by partnering with other brands in the network. Before Carro, Sony PlayStation acquired Perry's last company Gaikai to establish leadership in the future of streaming video games from the cloud. This service is called PlayStation Now. After 39 years in the business (with founding roles at companies such as Acclaim Entertainment and Shiny Entertainment, both of which were acquired by industry giants), Perry remains one of the best-known video game industry veterans, with multiple #1 hits and the Develop - Development Legend award. Topics Covered by David Perry in this Episode What Carro is now and how they're helping companies optimize e-commerce by working together How David and his co-founder Jason Goldberg came up with the idea by leveraging the authentic relationship between influencers and brands and how that idea evolved into Carro How they overcame the challenge of getting brands onto the platform David's insights regarding how to understand investors as a founder The obstacles they've confronted in building Carro Overcoming friction and the "zero click solution" David's past companies and successful exits The importance of proving a pattern The future of merging e-commerce with social media How they've approached fundraising for Carro How Carro pairs brands Why Carro is focused on growing brands, not competing with them What sets Carro apart The community building element of Carro's strategy Leveraging geography and thinking globally for growth in order to get a competitive advantage Going beyond being an entrepreneur to become an innovator How to level up in your industry How David is integrating his 30 years of gaming experience into building Carro Gamification through implementing skill, risk and strategy into your business Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Richard Mensah is the Co-Founder of EllisX, which is pioneering authentic marketing, a new market category that allows companies to increase brand awareness without hassle. Their infrastructure empowers creators and writers to connect with the best startup/tech stories. Originally from Ghana, Richard previously founded 3 startups in the Media, Adtech and HR industries, while studying for his college degree in Computer Science. His current company EllisX was selected as a finalist for the 2020 New England Innovation Awards, the oldest innovation competition in the Northeast. Richard was listed in BostInno's 25 under 25 in 2019 and holds graduate degrees in international business and disruptive innovation. Topics Covered by Richard Mensah in this Episode How EllisX is pioneering authentic marketing Richard's entrepreneurial journey with 4 startups How Richard met his co-founder Leia Ruseva and how EllisX got started Customer discovery, the early stages of EllisX and how the concept has shifted to their current vision Their launch on Product Hunt EllisX's current business model and how they developed their pricing How they're approaching growth through partnerships, referrals and content How their strategy informs conversations with investors Getting into Launch House What the EllisX user experience is like Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Matt Jung is an entrepreneur and generalist with over a decade of experience founding businesses and leading teams with a focus on business development, operations, marketing and brand strategy in both startup, incubator/accelerator, and corporate environments. Currently Matt is the CEO of Last Crumb, the world's first ultra-premium luxury cookie brand. Their nostalgic flavors are upgraded with the world's best ingredients, delivered through a premium direct-to-consumer membership with luxe packaging you can show off. Topics Covered by Matt Jung in this Episode How Matt and his team are building the world's first ultra-premium luxury cookie brand with Last Crumb How Matt ended up as CEO of Last Crumb Developing their 12 cookie flavors Being intentional about developing a brand before going to market Creating a market and why that worked for their brand Why they chose not to test their product on consumers before launching Actively going against their investors' advice Last Crumb's go to market strategy and how they built an organic flywheel without any paid media Managing supply and demand for a waiting list of over 100,000 people Building an in-house cookie factory and 3PL while simultaneously creating a D2C brand Learning to scale at a feasible rate for their growth and demand while maintaining a very high quality and consistent product Growing from a mom and pop roadside bakery cart to an exclusive cookie factory Constantly improving quality to create an amazing customer experience Some ideas Matt has for the future of Last Crumb Avoiding the mistake of diversifying before scaling Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Alex Simon is the Co-Founder and CEO of Elude, a budget based travel company getting you out of your office and around the world. Alex previously worked as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank, a career he left in 2018 to turn travel hacking into his full-time gig as an entrepreneur with his co-founder, Frankie Scerbo. Elude is a travel search engine & app that allows people to discover and book unique travel packages based only on your budget and date. Think "Where can you go next month for $700." They are internationally venture backed in LA and Singapore with angel investors throughout NY, SF, LA & UK. Topics Covered by Alex Simon in this Episode What Elude is and who it serves How the backend of the app functions How Alex and his co-founder Frankie's personal experiences led to the founding of Elude The early days of Elude and getting their first users Jumping from two thousand to tens of thousands of customers via partnerships Transitioning out of an investment banking career into full time entrepreneurship How they approached fundraising by focusing on warm intros and direct leads Transitioning from fundraising from angel investors to raising a seed round from a fund How they allocated their seed round funding The challenges of innovating in a very established industry The consumer experience with the Elude app Organic versus paid growth and the value of partnerships Elude's business model Building and growing a remote team Launching a travel industry startup during a global pandemic Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Rachel Sanders is the Co-Founder and CEO of Rootine, a wellness company working to optimize its users' health and daily performance with precision nutrition. They enable individuals to leverage their personal health and nutrition data to improve how they look, feel and perform everyday with their test-take-track approach. Rachel has spent her career in high-stress roles that require her to maximize the time she has — first as an investment banker and now as a startup founder and first-time mom. Early on in her career she was suffering from burnout, fatigue, stress, and brain fog which hampered her ability to give her best every day. She turned to nutrition and fitness as a way to get more out of her day when sleep wasn't always an option - constantly iterating on products, exercises, and ways to fuel her body to add performance gains throughout the day. Topics Covered by Rachel Sanders in this Episode What Rootine is, what inspired Rachel to start the company and how she found her co-founder, Dr. Daniel Wallerstorfer How Rootine is empowering consumers to gain access to their health data and leverage it to improve how they feel and perform The importance of personalizing health solutions How Rootine launched and what their go to market strategy was Being a digitally native brand What differentiates Rootine amongst the competition in the 700 billion dollar global nutrition industry Their test-take-track approach Creating a strong brand The customer experience for new Rootine consumers Rootine's business model and how they developed it How they approach expanding markets Rootine's primary use cases Rachel's first startup as a learning experience Rootine's fundraising process and the importance of diversity in investors Hiring and building out the Rootine team and hiring for culture over expertise Being a values and results driven company Achieving the big mission and vision for Rootine Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Nicholas Hinrichsen is the co-founder of Clutch, a SaaS company working to turn credit unions into FinTechs, while helping you to refinance your auto loan and save thousands in minutes. Nicholas used to be an avid golfer, playing on Germany's national team for four years. After finishing his master's degree in Germany, he worked at Bain & Company and Merrill Lynch before he moved to the U.S. in 2011. Nicholas and his co-founder Chris Coleman met at Stanford Business School, and after graduating in 2013 they started Carlypso, the Amazon for used cars. They eventually sold to Carvana in 2017, and stayed on board until 2020, when they started the original iteration of Clutch. Topics Covered by Nicholas Hinrichsen in this Episode The pivot Clutch is making and how it came about How they're turning credit unions into FinTech companies Creating a self-serve product Why loan origination systems are archaic and how Clutch is implementing technology to make credit unions more efficient The current business model for Clutch The challenge of competing for talent in Silicon Valley and Clutch's unique approach to new hiring How they came to the decision to hire internationally and the complexities of doing so Their most recent round of fundraising with Andreessen Horowitz What's next for Clutch and the ultimate vision for their consumer experience Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels offers "angel investing for everyone" and in this special episode of the Just Go Grind podcast, Gale Wilkinson and Justin Gordon take you behind the scenes to tell you how they, and the Vitalize team, did it. Learn more about Vitalize Angels and join here: https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/ The Vitalize Angels deal close process for founders: https://vitalize.notion.site/Deal-Close-Process-c95157c58dc3447fa8537b8447e9db79 More about Vitalize: Vitalize was formed in 2017 as a pre-seed and seed-stage venture fund investing in the future of work + learning. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The Vitalize Team: Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC​ Caroline - https://twitter.com/caroline_yeager​ Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212​ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/

Zach Evans, my best friend since high school, is a pianist, producer, and kick-ass entrepreneur who turned his passion for piano into a business that's done more than $1 million in revenue in 3 years. He's been featured on CBS, Yahoo, USA Today, and has amassed more than 10 million views on YouTube. Zach now lives in Los Angeles and, with the extra time his lifestyle business gives him, is focusing his time and effort on breaking into the music industry – this time as an artist. Zach is our first three-time guest! In this episode, we discuss where both of our entrepreneurial journeys started and reflect where they have taken us as well as how we've grown ourselves and our online businesses, how we view work, and what's next for each of us. Some of the Topics Covered by Zach and Justin in this Episode Being the first three-time guest on the Just Go Grind Podcast Zach's piano course and how it has grown, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic The changing world of online course creating How Zach views growth and how he learns for his business Zach's approach to stress management as an entrepreneur Going daily with the Just Go Grind Podcast Where to get quality advice for building your business How the Just Go Grind Podcast evolved--from sourcing guests to interview prep, technical issues, monetization, and finding a flow Justin's entrepreneurial journey and how he got into venture capital The key to hiring A-players Justin's view on the lottery ticket approach of putting your work out there and making connections Learning by doing How Justin scaled his network through the Just Go Grind Podcast The power of podcasting Leveraging content and community in VC How equity and ownership are changing for employees Evan and Justin's reflections on their entrepreneurial journeys thus far Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Naomi Shah is the Founder and CEO of Meet Cute, a venture-backed media company that has produced over 300 original light-hearted romantic comedies in podcast form. The company celebrates human connection and the full spectrum of love with a core mission -- having every person feel like they are reflected in Meet Cute stories. Since inception (Feb 2020), the podcast already has over 2 million listens across over 150 countries and has been featured in the top 10 of Fiction on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Before starting Meet Cute, Naomi was a member of the investment team at Union Square Ventures, a technology venture capital firm in New York, where she spent most of her time talking to companies in the consumer and well-being space. Prior to that, she was a macro equities trader at Goldman Sachs and studied Mechanical Engineering (with a minor in Human Biology) at Stanford University. Some of the Topics Covered by Naomi Shah in this Episode What Meet Cute is Deciding to start a VC backed startup after working at Union Square Ventures The early Meet Cute team Why their concept is unique and pushing past early noes Getting traction to validate their format Changing listening behavior with scripted content in audio Meet Cute's business model The creation process at Meet Cute Distribution and discoverability Strategy around changing formats Naomi's experience fundraising for Meet Cute and what was helpful during the process The importance of developing a relationship with your investors How Naomi built out the team for Meet Cute and COVID's impact Their unique approach to sourcing talent and maintaining a large pool of creative contributors Navigating building a startup as a first-time, solo founder during a global pandemic Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Jarrid Tingle is Managing Partner of Harlem Capital where he focuses on deal sourcing, organizational strategy, and due diligence efforts. Jarrid was featured on the 2019 Forbes 30 under 30 list, 2019 Inc. 30 under 30 list, and the 2018 Ebony Power 100 list. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS) in 2019 where he was a Baker Scholar (top 5% of class). During HBS, Jarrid was a fellow in the Robert Toigo Foundation and Management Leadership for Tomorrow MBA Programs. Previously, Jarrid was a Private Equity Investment Professional at ICV Partners. Prior to ICV, Jarrid was an Investment Banker in the Global Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group at Barclays. Jarrid graduated cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Concentration in Finance. Jarrid was an active member of Friars Senior Society, Onyx Senior Honor Society, and The Lantern Senior Society. Upon graduation, Jarrid received the Wharton Undergraduate Dean's Award for Excellence (Wharton's highest honor). Jarrid's favorite activities include reading, weight training, traveling, and attending concerts. Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Jon Dahl is the Co-Founder and CEO at Mux, where he builds software to help online video get better. Before that, he was Co-Founder of Zencoder, and then VP of Technology at Brightcove, two pioneering companies in the world of online video. Mux is building the future of online video infrastructure. They started off by building Mux Data, a best-in-class performance analytics tool that's trusted by developers at companies like Vimeo, Robinhood, CBS Interactive, Discovery, PBS, and TED. Billions of monitored streams later, they launched Mux Video, a simple API for video hosting, encoding, and streaming. Take any video file or live stream and make it play beautifully at scale on any device, powered by magical-feeling features like automatic thumbnails, animated GIFs, and data-driven encoding decisions. Some of the Topics Covered by Jon Dahl in this Episode What Mux is How Jon got interested in video Jon's experience building his previous startup, Zencoder How Zencoder got acquired and how they made the decision to sell Leaving Brightcove and why Jon started Mux The video industry landscape and building Mux Early consumer research and customer feedback Why they started with data analytics and then added the video streaming layer How they approached early customer acquisition and growth Growing and strengthening their reputation and expanding sales How the COVID-19 pandemic led to unexpected accelerated growth Video as a part of the creator economy How they scaled up the team during COVID and accidentally becoming a hyper growth startup Recruiting as a function of growth and in-house versus external recruiters Mux's hiring process Fundraising for Mux and why they ended up raising more than they originally planned How the video industry has changed, where it's going, and the role Mux hopes to play What's next for Mux and opportunities in the landscape of the video industry What fuels Jon today What keeps Jon sane as a founder The importance of finding meaning outside of your startup and work Jon's advice for early stage founders The importance of scaling yourself and having a growth mindset Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Jessica Chu is the Co-Founder and COO at DIG Labs, advancing daily pet healthcare through science and technology. In 2019, Jessica co-founded DIG Labs with Tara Zedayko out of a shared mission to finally conquer unexplained digestive issues with each of their rescue dogs, Sammy and Kali. Armed with decades of experience in health technology, business management, and dog rescue, they set out to give all pet parents a better way to listen to their pets. DIG labs is re-imagining personalized pet wellness. They believe that pets are the family members who love us unconditionally. The best way to love them back is by proactively caring for their health and wellness, especially because they can't tell us what's wrong. DIG Lab's mission is to deliver custom insights and solutions that are convenient, accessible, and continuously advancing, enabled by the power of technology and science. They strive to give pets a voice and create a two-way dialogue of insights and actions, so they can live healthy, beautiful lives. A female-founded, NY-based venture-backed startup, DIG Labs is developing patent-pending, tech-enabled insights, and personalized products, including supplements. Founded by former CPG and R&D, brand management execs and pet lovers whose vision is to translate the benefits of personalized human healthcare to pets, DIG Labs launched its proprietary real-time health platform, powered by patent-pending computer vision and machine learning. Some of the Topics Covered by Jessica Chu in this Episode What DIG Labs is doing today and how they've pivoted and evolved How the DIG labs digestive health check app works The computer vision and image analysis side of developing the app Incorporating early customer feedback What's next for DIG Labs How they've approached customer acquisition and growth From bootstrapping to fundraising Why consulting wasn't the right fit for Jessica Why Jessica decided to work together with her co-founder Tara and in the pet health industry Bringing on a third co-founder and expanding their team How they've adapted into being a technology company How Jessica spends her days as COO and how her role as evolved as the team has grown How they've approached building a go to market strategy Narrative and brand building The role of content creation Jessica's journey as a pet parent and foster Founder market fit How Jessica unwinds and tools she uses to find balance The big vision for DIG Labs Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Amos Schwartzfarb is the Managing Director of Techstars in Austin. Amos has more than 15 years of sales leadership and strategy experience in software, digital, advertising and entertainment. Before joining Techstars, Amos served as co-founder and Head of Customer Development at Joust. Prior to Joust, Amos served as Vice President of Customer Development for BlackLocus, which was acquired by The Home Depot in 2012. Amos was also Co-Founder and served as COO of mySpoonful, which was acquired in 2011. Additionally he served on the Executive team of Business.com, as Vice President of Sales and Client Services, which was acquired by RH Donnelly in 2007. Amos is the author of Sell More Faster - The Ultimate Sales Playbook for Startups and more recently, Levers: The Framework for Building Repeatability into Your Business. Some of the Topics Covered by Amos Schwartzfarb in this Episode How Amos ended up at Techstars Austin Amos' first year as the Managing Director and how the role has evolved How Amos navigated early "failures" in the role How founders should think about The Revenue Formula How Amos' book Sell More Faster can help founders truly understand product market fit How founders and business leaders can use Amos' books as long-term toolkits Amos' insights on customer discovery and why being extremely specific is so important Why Amos doesn't believe in free trials and how to navigate pricing for early stage startups Why Amos recommends underpricing for as long as possible How Amos has grown professionally in his time at Techstars How Amos decides whether to invest in a company and how he proves conviction in founder Amos' perspective on good storytelling as a founder as 3 parts math, 1 part theater Conversations over pitches Why Amos wrote his most recent book, Levers How Amos has approached promoting his books Traditional vs. non-traditional publishers Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Zach Sims is the Co-Founder and CEO of Codecademy, the easiest way to learn to code. Since the company started in August of 2011, millions of people have begun learning to program using the site. Codecademy has worked with organizations like The White House, the Government of Colombia, American Express, Rakuten, and more. Zach and his cofounder Ryan Bubinski have grown Codecademy to over 100 employees and have raised nearly $90M in venture capital financing from top tier investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Union Square Ventures, Index Ventures, Yuri Milner, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, SV Angel, Richard Branson, Y Combinator, and more. Prior to founding Codecademy, Zach was a student at Columbia University. He has worked in product and business development/strategy capacities at startups including GroupMe (sold to Skype) and drop.io (sold to Facebook). He also has experience in the venture capital industry with AOL Ventures. Zach and Codecademy have been honored by many publications. TIME Magazine called Codecademy one of the "50 Best Websites of 2012," while TechCrunch awarded Codecademy the "Best Education Startup" Crunchie Award in 2013. Zach has been named to Inc. Magazine's 30 Under 30 list, along with Forbes Magazine's 30 Under 30 list. The City of New York named him a New York City Venture Fellow in 2013. Some of the Topics Covered by Zach Sims in this Episode What Codecademy is doing today and how it got started The issue of active discouragement of learning technical skills What led to early growth and traction of Codecademy Earning over 200,000 users in the first 3 days How Zach views viral loops Raising capital versus running off revenue Creating a movement versus building a product Creating sustainability first and scaling later The timing of launching a paid version of the product Going from the center of attention the the brink of bankruptcy Creating premium educational content Resource allocation between users who are upscaling and career switching Building an engaged community Zach's views on bootcamps How they cater to different types of Codecademy users and learners Codecademy for business How Zach takes care of himself to be at his best Zach's founder support networks Zach's path to and views on entrepreneurship How Zach sees the future of higher education and learning Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Sid Viswanathan is the Co-Founder and President of Truepill. Alongside Co-Founder Umar Afridi, Sid founded Truepill in 2016 to revolutionize the pharmacy and healthcare industry. The company shipped its first prescription less than five years ago and has since expanded its services to deliver an end-to-end, direct-to-patient experience unlike anything else in the healthcare industry. In 2010, Sid founded his first company, CardMunch, a business-card scanning app which was acquired by LinkedIn soon after its founding. After its acquisition, Sid joined LinkedIn as Product Manager and saw CardMunch named one of Time Magazine's Best Apps of 2012. Sid started his career in Johnson & Johnson's Global Operations Leadership Development program, working in the medical device and pharmaceutical sectors. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering. Some of the Topics Covered by Sid Viswanathan in this Episode What Truepill is doing today and how Sid and his co-founder Umar Afridi started it in 2015 How Truepill differentiated themselves in the pharmaceutical industry The role serendipity has played in Sid's career Sid's experience as a first-time founder with CardMunch, how that led to 4 years at LinkedIn and what he learned there The journey of being a multiple-time founder and finding founder-market fit The process of researching and founding in an industry he previously had no experience in How Sid went about understanding the healthcare industry The early days of Truepill and navigating how to scale the operating model Their experience going through Y Combinator and the value of their low friction application process The different challenges Truepill has faced over the years--from scaling to product development in a regulated industry Sid's learnings in the hiring process for Truepill Their "friendly test" that they use to evaluate potential new hires Leveraging Truepill's story to bring on great talent Truepill's vision Balancing building a business and growing a family Learning how to prioritize as a founder and be present as a parent How Sid approaches structuring his time and finding work-life balance What has fueled Truepill's growth How Sid views "founding moments" and expanding Truepill's vision How Sid's relationship with his co-founder developed and enhanced his professional growth Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Ethan Bloch is the Founder and CEO of Digit, on a mission to tackle the number one stressor for Americans: financial well-being. In doing so, Ethan aims to make financial health effortless for everyone. His obsession with personal finance started at age thirteen when he began day trading technology stocks with his bar mitzvah money and continued as he studied behavioral finance in college and realized that that financial health does not come naturally to most. To combat this, Ethan created Digit, the first personalized and automated savings app that helps members reach their financial goals and achieve results. One of the fastest growing financial service companies, Digit has helped members save over $5 billion and pay down over $180 million dollars of debt to date. An early adopter of social media, Ethan founded his first successful Silicon Valley venture, Flowtown, at age twenty-three. The platform, which helped small businesses connect email and social marketing, was acquired by Demandforce two years after its launch. Ethan has a degree in Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Florida. He is based in San Francisco. Some of the Topics Covered by Ethan Bloch in this Episode What Digit is and how it works Ethan's passion for finance and how the idea for Digit developed The original MVP of Digit at launch in February 2015 and how it has evolved into what it is today Initial customer acquisition The importance of trust in financial services The role referrals play in the industry and how they developed Digit's referral program Referrals as one of Digit's core growth channels The challenge of resource allocation Why Ethan doesn't recommend being a solo founder How Ethan approached building out the Digit team Ethan's experience fundraising $65M in four rounds of funding Strategic thinking in fundraising The extra hurdles of creating a financial services company Digit's grand ambition and how they're working towards their mission Why Digit focused on saving as the first element of financial health How Digit began to move beyond saving How Digit's product development mirrors an individual's financial health journey Ethan's approach to reading and researching and his view on accelerated learning How Ethan prioritizes reading How Ethan unwinds and finds balance Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Jason Shuman has been working in New York as a VC for the past six years, and is currently a Partner at Primary Venture Partners, where he focuses his investing activities on marketplace startups, consumer tech, and prosumer acquisition models. In college, Jason launched a direct-to-consumer footwear company that sold hand-sewn boat shoes and driving moccasins. He later went on to work at New York-based seed fund Corigin Ventures, where he invested in several companies including the recently public enterprise smart lock company, Latch. Most recently, Jason was the Chief of Staff to Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) Co-Founder Mark Gerson, where he managed all venture and LP investments for Gerson's family office. There, Shuman invested in companies including Botkeeper, The Guild and Bunker. His other responsibilities included corporate development, partnerships and strategy at Julius, a venture-backed influencer marketing software company. Jason is passionate about working with founders that impact consumer behavior and daily living. He earned his BBA in entrepreneurship and marketing from the University of Miami. In 2019, he was named Forbes 30 Under 30 in Venture Capital and was listed by the Venture Capital Journal as one of Venture Capital's 40 rising stars. Some of the Topics Covered by Jason Shuman in this Episode Where Primary Venture Partners is focusing its efforts How Jason became a founder and got into VC at a young age and how it aligns with his life mission Jason's experience sourcing deals while working as an Uber driver Jason's time at Corigin Ventures (now Alpaca VC) as an early hire How to spot potential in marketplace startups Where Jason is focusing his investments and why he is passionate about democratizing access Jason's diligence process for evaluating a company How to evaluate a founder's sense of urgency, speed of learning, resourcefulness, and ability to sell What sets Primary Venture Partners apart as a VC firm The importance of having a highly skilled portfolio impact team How Jason's deal-sourcing process has changed over the years How Primary Venture Partners is sourcing deals and supporting founders How they're approach using content and marketing to help the firm How COVID and the move online has changed how Jason accesses deals and why he prefers in-person meetings How Jason invests in his own learning, structures his time and optimizes his calendar Playing the long game and investing time in future founders Insight into Jason's decision-making process The challenge of turning down a deal and how Jason does it The benefits of working with a coach Jason's meditation and journaling practice Jason's advice for founders Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Jesse Draper is a mother of 2 boys, founding partner of Halogen Ventures as well as creator and host of Emmy nominated television series, The Valley Girl Show. Jesse is a 4th generation venture capitalist focused on early stage investing in consumer technology companies led by female and co-ed teams. Among her 55 portfolio companies are the Skimm, Glamsquad, Carbon38, HopSkipDrive, The Flex Company, Eloquii (recently sold to Walmart) and This is L (sold to P&G). She stars on SET's television series Meet the Draper's, currently in it's second season. Jesse was listed by Marie Claire magazine as one of the '50 Most Connected Women in America'. She has been a contributor to Marie Claire, Mashable, Forbes, and is a regular investor and tech personality on shows including TLC's Girl Starter, The Katie Couric Show, Fox's Good Day LA, CNBC's Who Wants to Be the Next Millionaire Inventor? & Freeform's Startup U. She proudly sits on the board of directors of Blue Fever, Carbon38, Preemadonna (creator of the Nailbot) and the non-profit board Bizworld and Project Glimmer. Jesse supports the Parkinson's Institute and is very involved with growing UCLA's female entrepreneurship community. Some of the Topics Covered by Jesse Draper in this Episode What Halogen Ventures is doing today Jesse's unique journey from Nickelodeon actor to venture capital Jesse's tech talk show (The Valley Girl Show) and her initiative to interview 50% women in tech The imposter syndrome that comes with being a female in VC and how to overcome it How Jesse approached identifying the right LPs and raising her first fund How raising her first fund differed from her second Jesse's advice for first time fundraisers How Halogen is supporting their founders How to leverage media for consumer companies Jesse's outlook on relationship building and prioritization How Jesse and Halogen evaluate early stage founders Jesse's investment in Toucan and how she views the future of work and learning What industries Jesse recommends investing in now Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Sandro Roco is the Founder and CEO of Sanzo, an Asian-inspired sparkling water company on a mission to bridge cultures by connecting people to authentic flavors. Sanzo uses real fruit, not "natural flavors," and has no added sugar. Sandro, a Queens-born Filipino American, was walking through a popular Asian supermarket in Manhattan's Koreatown when he noticed a huge gap between the modern, clean labels of the new-age "American" beverage brands and the preservative- and sugar-laden labels of the legacy Asian brands. His goal was simple: celebrate high quality Asian flavors that for decades have been masked by added sugars, artificial flavors and preservatives. Sandro started out as an engineer at a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, worked for two years on a trading floor for J.P. Morgan, and then became head of growth and later chief-of-staff for an online personal styling service. This unconventional career path equipped Sandro with a unique skillset that ultimately led to the founding of Sanzo. Some of the Topics Covered by Sandro Roco in this Episode What makes Sanzo sparkling water different and how Sandro came up with the idea Getting Sanzo started and moonlighting for a year Why Sandro is a solo founder How Sandro was scrappy while approaching manufacturing for his CPG Getting a "scheduled process," or food scientists' approval The importance of developing relationships with distributors and retailers and being prepared before starting those relationships How Sandro made the decision to leave his day job and go full time with Sanzo How Sandro got his first sales Deciding which retailers and distribution partners to work with How distribution has shifted as Sanzo has grown The impact being a child of immigrants had on how Sandro chose to finance his company How he raised 1.3M (from a $600,000 goal) The feedback Sandro was getting from early high profile investors How Sandro has approached building community and how this was reinforced during the pandemic Sandro's eye test rules for packaging design How their packaging design shifted over time Launching D2C during the pandemic How Sandro has gone about product development regarding flavors Sandro's hiring methodology and how the focus has shifted from pain to opportunity What has helped Sandro as a founder and how he steps away from work Why Sandro is passionate about what he does and what's next for Sanzo Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Gal Ringel is the Founder and CEO of Mine, a smart data assistant allowing you to enjoy the internet while feeling safe and secure. Mine is on a mission to create a new global privacy standard where people can manage their data and minimize online risks without changing their behavior. They are bridging the gap between people and companies by making regulations accessible to everyone. Gal is an accomplished leader with a rare fusion of technology (Cybersecurity, 6 years in the 8200 elite intelligence corps), entrepreneurship, VC experience, strategic thinking, and unique business skills. During his 4.5 years as a VC investor, Gal had the opportunity to deploy ~$50M in 20+ amazing early & late-stage companies in the Israeli eco-system. He also had the chance to help those companies excel in almost every aspect of their business and learned so much during this journey. Gal strongly believes that: "Success is a management of failures" and therefore his motto is: "Do not be afraid to take risks and experience failures. This is how we learn best!" Some of the Topics Covered by Gal Ringel in this Episode What Mine is doing to enable you to take control of your data online The issue Mine is working to address and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected this problem The idea that privacy is dead How Gal and his co-founders decided to work together and start Mine Transitioning from engineering to VC to founding VC as a practical MBA Mine's business model and how it has shifted over time Creating the category of data ownership with Mine Fundraising a Series A remotely during a pandemic How the pandemic turned privacy into a hot topic How Gal approaches relationship building Launching on Product Hunt How they got to 200,000 users in the 12 months after launching using organic growth hacking Using influencer campaigns for performance marketing How they've approached building the Mine team by leveraging employees' networks The challenges of growing a team quickly and keeping the team aligned Gal's approach to personal and professional development as a CEO Navigating being a founder and new father during a global pandemic What we should know about cyber security The big vision for Mine Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Hadley Harris is a Co-Founder and General Partner of Eniac Ventures, leading seed rounds in bold founders who use code to create transformational companies. Eniac has recently announced it's fifth fund, of $125M, and their portfolio now includes more than 120 companies, with 50-plus exits. Their team's combined 80 years of experience founding and operating over 10 venture-backed startups and their belief in a strong community are at the heart and soul of their investment approach. Hadley has done a little bit of everything on the path to co-founding Eniac. Starting as a developer and engineering team lead at Pegasystems, he later took on roles as a product manager at Microsoft and strategist at Samsung, where it became clear that big companies were not for him. In 2007 he was very fortunate to join a couple talented AI founders out of MIT at Vlingo where he ran a several aspects of the business across product, strategy and marketing until it was sold to Nuance for $225M. He rolled his experience building a successful startup into Thumb where as CBO he helped the real-time recommendation app reach user engagement levels second only to Facebook before being acquired. Hadley grew up in downtown Boston, where he started his first company Beantown Odd Jobs at the age of 13. Hadley is passionate about improving the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, which stems from his close relationship with his brother Traves. He is a Board Director for Cardinal Cushing Centers, which serves adults and children with intellectual disabilities across 4 campuses in Massachusetts. Some of the Topics Covered by Hadley Harris in this Episode Areas Eniac is investing in and how they got started Why Hadley loves this work and has continued it What drives their deal flow Their strategy of 2-3 GPs per year and shifting from following to leading How they approach the platform side of things Eniac's unique deal process Hadley's view on portfolio construction How their ownership targets have shifted as their funds have grown How they go about telling founders "no" Hadley's learnings on negotiation Their investment in Anchor The difference between investing in first and multiple time founders What founders should know about raising their seed round How Hadley manages so many professional relationships His relationship with his co-founders How Hadley prioritizes his mental and physical health Hadley's perspective on getting an MBA Hadley's advice for founders Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Tony Jamous is the Founder & CEO of Oyster, the remote work employment platform. The company is on a mission to remove the barriers between talented people and great full-time jobs globally. They believe it should be easy for any company to hire any person, no matter where either is located in the world. Oyster's software platform is created to solve for the complexities of giving full-time, full-fledged employment to anyone in the world, while providing a delightful experience to employers and employees. Prior to Oyster, Tony was Co-Founder and President of Nexmo, a Vonage Company. He joined Vonage as part of Vonage's acquisition of Nexmo, Inc. in June 2016. Some of the Topics Covered by Tony Jamous in this Episode What Oyster is and why Tony started it The unique way Tony began building the Oyster team Why the pandemic forced Oyster to accelerate their growth process Oyster's ideal customer, target market, and customer acquisition strategy How Oyster is partnering with VC firms The strategic way Tony approached the fundraising process for Oyster The process of building a world-class distributed team How Oyster is utilizing asynchronous work The way being mission-driven informs how Tony approaches competition as coopetition The Oyster experience How Tony got into angel investing and how he sources deals How Tony manages his time How emigrating from Lebanon has affected Tony personally and professionally Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Marlon Nichols is a founding managing partner at MaC Venture Capital (formerly Cross Culture Ventures), which finds the entrepreneurs who are building the future for the rest of America. He's an industry veteran – a former Kauffman Fellow and Investment Director at Intel Capital, where he launched Intel's $125M diversity fund. Marlon, with an extensive background in technology, private equity, media and entertainment, has a unique eye for global trends and shifts in consumer behavior. This has helped him capture high-potential investments, which include Gimlet Media, MongoDB, Thrive Market, Fair, LISNR, Mayvenn, Blavity, Pipe, Wonderschool, and other companies that reflect overlooked markets. He serves on the board of directors for Ajua, Blavity, Finesse, Kauffman Fellows Program, LISNR, Ryff, Sote and Wonderschool. Thanks to his background as a professional athlete, Marlon utilizes sports leadership philosophy when working closely with CEO's to build the ventures of tomorrow. His diverse network of media and entertainment industry leaders, tech entrepreneurs, Fortune 500 executives and sports professionals helps him develop strategic partnerships and promote brand expansions for his portfolio companies. Marlon is a 2018 nominee of the ADCOLOR in Tech award, a recipient of MVMT50's SXSW 2018 Innovator of the Year award, Digital Diversity's Innovation & Inclusion Change Agent award, was named Pitchbook's 25 Black Founders and VCs to Watch (2018 – 2020), was a TechWeek 100 winner and was named one of Silicon Republic's 26 VC professionals spearheading change. He's also been featured on TechCrunch, Fortune, Blavity, NBC and many more. He has been featured as a keynote speaker and regularly appears in the media as a thought leader in investing and cultural trends. Marlon earned his Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems from Northeastern University and an MBA from the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, where he is also adjunct faculty in entrepreneurship and venture capital. MaC Venture CapitalMaC Venture Capital is the result of the merger between successful Los Angeles and Bay Area based Seed funds, Cross Culture Ventures and M Ventures. MaC Venture Capital is an early stage venture capital firm focused on finding ideas, technology, and products that can become infectious. They invest in technology companies that benefit from shifts in cultural trends and behaviors in an increasingly diverse global marketplace. MaC VC helps entrepreneurs bring the future into focus to find their breakthrough moment. Their proven track record of 100+ investments has unlocked growth opportunities through capital, advisement, and relationship building. Their previous funds' portfolios have returned capital to investors and continue to appreciate in value. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you Varia Search. Varia Search is a boutique legal recruiting firm that uses a bespoke approach to fill legal department roles from general counsel to paralegal. They have a particular focus on startups and growing tech companies. They are a boutique firm which allows them to provide individualized, in-depth attention to both their clients and to their searches. They focus solely on placing in-house candidates which allows them to give their clients a bespoke experience in filling their legal needs. Their matchmaking approach ensures that clients are paired with candidates who not only have great credentials but who are also a good cultural fit for a growing company. Learn more at variasearch.com. Some of the Topics Covered by Marlon Nichols in this Episode How MaC VC invests How they identify emerging behavioral and cultural trends How M Ventures and Cross Culture came together to merge into MaC Venture Capital The process and challenges of merging venture funds How Marlon got into VC The process of fundraising for their first fund What institutional LPs are looking for when investing in a fund Knowing when to be innovative and when to stick to what is proven to work Startup ecosystems Marlon has seen evolved during his time in VC and how they look at new markets How they first heard about some of their portfolio companies like Gimlet Media and Zero Grocery, how they evaluated them and why they decided to invest How Marlon manages his time The growing industries of exchanges, trading platforms and fractional ownership What's next for Marlon and MaC VC Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Vanessa Larco is a Partner at NEA, a global venture capital firm with a mission to make the world better by helping founders build great companies that improve the way we live, work and play. She joined NEA in 2016 and focuses on enterprise SaaS and consumer investing. She is passionate about well-designed products and services that enable people to be more productive and fulfilled at work and at home. Vanessa has led investments in Cleo, Rocket.Chat, Mejuri, EvidentID, Greenlight Card, Feather, and Lily AI. She is also a board observer at Robinhood, Willow Pump, Forethought AI and OmniSci. Prior to joining NEA, she was the Director of Product Management at Box (NYSE: BOX) where she worked on building the next generation of productivity apps across web and mobile. Her passion for design and analytics stems from her experience in the gaming industry, which includes leading the Speech Recognition Experience team at Xbox Kinect v1, and building a top grossing gaming studio at Disney Social. Vanessa holds a BS in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you Varia Search. Varia Search is a boutique legal recruiting firm that uses a bespoke approach to fill legal department roles from general counsel to paralegal. They have a particular focus on startups and growing tech companies. They are a boutique firm which allows them to provide individualized, in-depth attention to both their clients and to their searches. They focus solely on placing in-house candidates which allows them to give their clients a bespoke experience in filling their legal needs. Their matchmaking approach ensures that clients are paired with candidates who not only have great credentials but who are also a good cultural fit for a growing company. Learn more at variasearch.com. Some of the Topics Covered by Vanessa Larco in this Episode How Vanessa unexpectedly got into VC Her experience becoming a founder and what she would do differently Vanessa's time working in enterprise software at Box How A/B testing almost got her fired at Box Some important lessons Vanessa took away from working in product management Vanessa's early days at NEA and how she adjusted Vanessa's framework for decision-making as a VC How she approaches mentoring founders Her process for valuating companies at NEA and the importance of founder diversity Deal flow and the areas Vanessa is most excited about right now How Vanessa has seen the VC industry change in recent years Her time management approach of ruthless prioritization The challenge of constant task switching as a VC and how to avoid being transactional Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Alex Iskold is a co-founder and Managing Partner at 2048 Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm investing in exceptional first-time entrepreneurs who are building businesses differentiated through technology. Based in NYC, 2048 invests in founders from New York, Boston and Emerging Tech Cities. Alex is a 4x founder, a software engineer, and an investor in over 110 startups. He writes one of the top startup blogs called Startup Hacks. Alex is also a co-founder of the 1kproject - a volunteer effort focused on pandemic relief. Prior to founding 2048 ventures, Alex spent 5 years at Techstars as the Managing Director of its NYC program. Alex was also the founder and CEO of Info Lab (acquired by IBM), founder and CEO of GetGlue (backed by USV, RRE, Time Warner), and a Chief Architect of distributed computing startup DataSynapse (acquired by TIBCO). Alex currently serves as a Coach and a VC in Residence at the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at the Harvard Business School. Alex previously taught an award-winning undergraduate computer science class at NYU. He holds a B.S. in Math with Honors from Lehigh University and M.S. in Computer Science from NYU. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you Varia Search. Varia Search is a boutique legal recruiting firm that uses a bespoke approach to fill legal department roles from general counsel to paralegal. They have a particular focus on startups and growing tech companies. They are a boutique firm which allows them to provide individualized, in-depth attention to both their clients and to their searches. They focus solely on placing in-house candidates which allows them to give their clients a bespoke experience in filling their legal needs. Their matchmaking approach ensures that clients are paired with candidates who not only have great credentials but who are also a good cultural fit for a growing company. Learn more at variasearch.com. Some of the Topics Covered by Alex Iskold in this Episode How Alex "accidentally" got into VC Being a 4-time founder and the challenges that he faced Startup failure and knowing what's next How his background in computer science and software engineering and his experience as a founder impacted his role at Techstars and as a VC Why Alex decided to start 2048 Ventures and how he went about structuring the firm The process of raising a $27M fund in 3 months How they prepared to raise the fund and networked for LPs How they think about ownership strategy and the institutional-caliber process they've developed The challenges of pre-seed deal flow and sourcing and being geographically agnostic What Alex has learned from building and running his own fund How 2048 screens early stage companies Evaluating founder-market fit How Alex sees early stage investing (and the world) changing How Alex curates the content he consumes How he approaches industry deep-dives What happens after the investment Why Alex has his blog Startup Hacks and the culture of writing things down How Alex manages his time and the myth of more hours Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Rishi Mandal is the co-founder and CEO of Future, backed by Kleiner Perkins and Founders Fund. Future is an online personal training platform that pairs clients with their own world-class coach. Future is creating the most personal training experience ever by using a combination of technology, content, and elite personal trainers to empower members through fitness. Their custom-made training plans with personalized audio coaching are designed to keep you coming back. With Future, you can reach your goals at home, in the gym, or at your group fitness classes, when and where it's most convenient for you. Their team comes from Apple, Google, Airbnb, Square, Fitbit, the NCAA, and the NBA. Rishi was previously the CEO of Sosh (acquired by Postmates) and a product leader at Google. Prior to tech, Rishi was an astrophysics researcher at NASA and Stanford University. Some of the Topics Covered by Rishi Mandal in this Episode What Future is and why Rishi decided to start it How Rishi identified the problem he wanted to tackle with Future and the discovery process that followed The shift and benefit as a coach using Future Future's focus on diversity when recruiting coaches How they approached customer acquisition and how it has shifted Building the coach-trainee connection digitally Underbuilding the original product to test its validity and product market fit The big vision for Future and how they're getting there by building the business in phases How they designed Future's pricing model and business model Rishi's insights on planning and fundraising How Rishi views relationship building Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Charlie O'Donnell is the sole Partner and Founder at Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. The fund makes seed and pre-seed investments and was the first venture firm located in Brooklyn--where he was born and raised. Brooklyn Bridge invested in the first rounds of The Wing, Canary, Hungryroot, Ample Hills, Clubhouse, Imagen, and goTenna among others. Charlie has a reputation for being early to identifying important companies. Nick Bilton identifies him as an influence on early Twitter investors in his book, Hatching Twitter. Dennis Crowley credits him as having helped kick off the first funding of Foursquare before other VCs had said yes. Working in venture capital since 2001, he apprenticed his way through the asset class with analyst roles on the original Union Square Ventures team as well as at the General Motors pension fund--a long time limited partner in many top tier funds. Charlie is one of only a dozen individuals to be named to Business Insider's 100 Most Influential People in NY Tech five or more times. He served on the founding board of the New York Tech Meetup and is one of the group's first 100 members. He was recently named to City & State Magazine's Tech Power 50. His blog, This is Going to Be BIG!, is one of the ten most widely read VC blogs in the country and over 13,000 people read his weekly NYC tech newsletter. He has spoken at SXSW and Techcrunch Disrupt. Some of the Topics Covered by Charlie O'Donnell in this Episode How Charlie started his career at GM and what he learned there How he ended up joining Union Square Ventures early on and why he decided to get into VC, particularly working in tech in New York Deciding to start his own fund Raising his first fund--how he failed at first and what he learned Having 50 investors in his first fund The challenge Charlie ran into when fundraising at first due to the nature of his network and how he overcame it How raising for his second fund compared to the first experience How Charlie approaches deal sourcing Taking the Pre-Series A Offsite event online at the beginning of the pandemic Curating and choreographing events to maximize value for the audience How Charlie approaches blogging and how it plays into his role as a VC Making yourself findable Charlie's perspective on the future of learning and work Startup ecosystems and what it takes to make one successful Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Jordan DeCicco is the co-founder of Super Coffee, an enhanced coffee company that now offers a variety of products, from bottled coffee to creamers, grounds and pods. Their products are non-GMO, Gluten-Free, Lactose-Free, Soy-Free, Low-Calorie, and have no added sugar and zero-artificial-ingredients. As a collegiate student-athlete, Jordan was tired. His campus store offered energy products with empty caffeine, excessive sugar and harmful chemicals. He wanted a drink that promised powerful energy and delicious flavor from healthy, organic ingredients. Not one to settle, Jordan turned his dorm room into a culinary kitchen and got to work! Determined to solve his energy crisis, he consciously blended organic Colombian coffee with grass-fed milk protein, and healthy fats from coconut oil to create an unparalleled source of focused energy. This side project became his passion and now purpose as he and his two older brothers lead the youngest, hungriest team in the business. They believe in positive energy for positive change because if you can change your energy you can change your world. Some of the Topics Covered by Jordan DeCicco in this Episode What Super Coffee is and what spurred Jordan to start it as a freshman year student athlete in college The steps Jordan and his brother took to get the business started The decision to drop out of university and give up his athletic scholarship in order to pursue Super Coffee full time Raising capital first through a friends and family round, then angel investors From getting their product into their local Whole Foods to 50 Whole Foods stores in the first year while doing their own production and deliveries Learning what it takes to be a good manufacturer and distributor Their experience on Shark Tank Working with his two brothers as co-founders Scaling manufacturing, retail, and distribution Going from 100 stores to 35,000 stores and 500 distributors in 4 years Getting into e-commerce as a viable channel for their product How they evaluate resource allocation and prioritizing retail versus D2C The biggest challenges they've faced in scaling the business How Jordan and his brothers have approached product development Jordan's view on the competition How Jordan prioritizes his own physical and mental health Jordan's book recommendations Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Isabelle Kenyon is the Founder & CEO of Calibrate, the modern, medical metabolic health business that is changing the way the world treats weight. Calibrate's doctor-guided program defines a new standard of clinical care, bringing decades of academic research to everyone, everywhere. Their program combines FDA-approved metabolic medication with a holistic curriculum and 1:1 virtual coaching sessions that drive lasting behavior change. The result is a metabolic reset that delivers sustainable weight loss and success beyond the scale, with improved whole-body health that enables our members to embrace a new day-to-day. Prior to Calibrate, Isabelle led the business operations, growth, and strategic partnerships & communications teams at Capsule, a technology business that has raised $270 million to rebuild the pharmacy from the inside out. Before Capsule, Isabelle worked at beloved consumer brands in London and New York and was selected to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Retail & E-commerce list in 2015. She began her career as an investment banker in Hong Kong and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. Some of the Topics Covered by Isabelle Kenyon in this Episode What Calibrate is and what fueled Isabelle to start it The first steps she took to get the business off the ground Pitching investors Calibrate's go to market strategy Pivoting the business after the consumer research predicted the wrong demographic Founder market fit and waiting for the right idea Early customer acquisition What Calibrate's program entails Building and growing a team virtually during a global pandemic How Isabelle has approached pricing for Calibrate What's next for Calibrate and their big vision How Isabelle views partnerships and competition Isabelle's experience as a female founder The power of persistence Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Xiaoyin Qu is the Founder and CEO of Run The World, a leading virtual events platform for community building. Run The World is the one-stop-shop for experts, creators, community leaders and organizations to host and monetize from interactive online events such as workshops, meetups, summits or shows. Xiaoyin is a Forbes 30 under 30, Linkedin Top Voice, and Inc. Female Founder 100. Prior to dropping out of Stanford Graduate School of Business to start Run The World, she led product management at Facebook and Instagram. She is an active and well-published product writer and tech influencer, and is running her own product columns in China with 7000+ paid subscribers (Geektime), and working on her new upcoming book. She has been invited to speak at multiple international and national product conferences as well as top universities such as Stanford, UC Berkeley, UT Austin, Claremont Colleges and more. Xiaoyin is a contributor for Forbes China, Hacker Noon, and she runs her own tech columns in 36kr (leading tech media in China), Product Coalition (world's largest free Product Management community), woshiPM (China's leading product management media). She was selected to be a resident for Zhenfund, China's leading angel fund. Some of the Topics Covered by Xiaoyin Qu in this Episode What Run The World is and what differentiates them Coming to the U.S. from China at age 18 for college Working at Facebook and Instagram as a product manager Deciding to go to business school at Stanford and then dropping out to start Run The World Running her first virtual conference and how that led to funding Run The World Making Run The World a comprehensive event platform Early customer acquisition and organic growth Fundraising as a female founder Xiaoyin's advice for first time founders Building out a team for Run The World Determining roles and responsibilities with her co-founder How the COVID-19 pandemic affected their business as they were in the early stages of growth Managing a distributed team The business model for Run The World and how pricing has evolved How Xiaoyin sees Run The World as a new media format How they're helping event organizers to create more value for people in order to generate revenue and monetize Managing feedback The biggest challenges of growing Run The World A typical day for Xiaoyin and balancing having team members across the world How Xiaoyin recharges away from work Learning how to be a manager Figuring out what success looks like in areas outside of your expertise What makes a successful online event How they're approaching specialization and narrowing down their use cases What Xiaoyin would do differently looking back The big vision for Run The World Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Wisam Dakka is the co-founder of Meemo, an AI-powered social finance app where your digital wallet meets your everyday life. Meemo allows you to send and receive money to friends and family, and is delighting users with automatic rewards based on their recent activity. This includes personalized offers and shopping deals, Weekly Review stories, useful transaction-based notifications, and more. The secure app can also be used to search and sort through accounts and transactions, and enjoy shareable insights uncovered by Meemo's powerful AI. Wisam Dakka and his co-founder, André Madeira are longtime product developers, coders and engineers who previously worked at Snap and Google. Some of the Topics Covered by Wisam Dakka in this Episode What Meemo is and where the idea came from The landscape for this type of service and having Google and Apple as potential competitors How Meemo is building trust with its users How they've gone about prioritizing features and why they had to have a unique approach Meemo's go-to-market strategy and how it has been affected by COVID How they have begun to acquire customers and how they've shifted their strategy How they have adapted the way their team works during COVID and keeping a remote team engaged What's next for Meemo Insights on building a consumer product that Wisam gained from working in big tech The transition from working in big tech to building a startup Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Colleen Cutcliffe, PhD, is co-founder and CEO of Pendulum Therapeutics, a biotech startup in San Francisco. Colleen stands alone among entrepreneurs: she is a scientist with a doctoral degree in biochemistry and molecular biology, a pioneer in the exploration of the human body's microbiome, and a challenger of the probiotics industry and its 1970s-era formulas. Prior to Pendulum, Colleen led a team of scientists at Pacific Biosciences, a company famous for its DNA sequencing. Armed with this technology, Pendulum is doing groundbreaking microbiome research by extracting new bacterial strains, studying their impact on chronic conditions, and combining them in never-before-seen formulations. The company's mission is to create probiotics as effective as prescription drugs, without any side effects. The company's first offering, Pendulum Glucose Control, is the only probiotic in existence that has lowered blood sugar spikes and A1C levels in a clinical trial – welcome news for the 122 million Americans living with diabetes and prediabetes. Colleen completed her postdoctoral research at Northwestern Medicine's Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. She received a doctoral degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Wellesley College. Some of the Topics Covered by Colleen Cutcliffe in this Episode What Pendulum Therapeutics is doing today and how Colleen decided to start it Why working in microbiome science is so personal for Colleen The first steps that Colleen and her co-founders took to found Pendulum The incredible journey from learning what VCs are to getting their first investment in the form of a convertible note, to finally becoming fully venture-backed The catch-22 of VCs wanting to see the milestones that you're actually fundraising in order to reach The unexpected challenges Colleen faced when asked for her bank account information Pivoting from a service company to a product business Deciding which application of their technology to focus on first Creating the product over a decade Deciding between the pharmaceutical path or going D2C How they've begun to grow their customer base The anti-drug movement and shift towards pro-natural The ongoing question of pricing a very unique product As a scientist, how Colleen approached the field of marketing Colleen's leadership style and values How Colleen recharges and creates boundaries around work The importance of having investors that are fundamentally aligned with your values Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Erik Jacobson is the Founder and CEO of Lemonpie, a full service podcast PR and production agency. Erik first saw the power of podcasting after working with podcasters like Tim Ferriss. With Lemonpie, he now helps companies like FreshBooks, HubSpot, and Four Sigmatic use podcast strategies to build awareness and drive revenue. He also recently launched Hatch, which offers unlimited podcast editing. You can get deep-dive case studies, expert interviews, and all of Erik's podcast strategies on his weekly show, Brands That Podcast. Some of the Topics Covered by Erik Jacobson in this Episode What Lemonpie is and how Erik fell in love with podcasting How Erik ended up working for Tim Ferriss and Jason Calacanis How to know if a podcast strategy is right for your business and where to start The 3 different podcast strategies and the pros and cons of each Tips for how to approach and get the most out of each of the podcasting strategies Video vs audio podcasting Understanding the ROI of podcasting The logistics of creating your own podcast Growing your audience and distribution when starting a podcast Some example brands doing a great job with podcasting The services Lemonpie and Hatch offer and Erik's new course, Podcast in a Week How to avoid "podfade" Links from the Episode Tim Ferriss Jason Calacanis Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Tim Ferriss Brands that Podcast: Ep04 Masterclass: Lessons from $20 Million Spent on Podcast Ads (w/ Glenn Rubenstein) Gong Balto Buffer The Science of Social Media (Buffer Podcast) Breaking Brand (Buffer Podcast) Brands that Podcast Rand Fishkin SparkToro Drift Seeking Wisdom: A Podcast From Drift Laura Roeder Edgar Brands that Podcast: Ep01 – How MeetEdgar Podcasts (w/ Laura Roeder) Hatch Podcast in a Week Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Eric Shoykhet is the Founder and CEO of Atom Finance, a modern financial knowledge platform empowering investors to make informed investing decisions with best-in-class research, software, and data. Eric founded Atom to fill a white space he identified in the market. As an institutional analyst at Blackstone and Governor's Lane, Eric had access to enterprise platforms like CapIQ and Bloomberg. He quickly identified the massive information gap between those platforms and what was readily available to retail investors via Yahoo! Finance, etc. Eric founded Atom Finance in 2018 to bridge the gap and provide the same market research resources traditionally available only to Wall Street professionals into the hands of any investor via a powerful and intuitive platform that works anywhere. Some of the Topics Covered by Eric Shoykhet in this Episode What Atom Finance is and what led Eric to found it The early hurdles Eric faced in building Atom Finance How Eric approached customer discovery Early fundraising for Atom Finance and what Eric has learned during the process Why there weren't many competitors when Eric started Atom Finance Building the MVP for Atom Finance Early customer acquisition, what growth looks like for Atom Finance today and who their ideal customer is How Eric view pricing differently than others in the space How being an operator influences your perspective as an investor and vice versa The challenges of hiring and building company culture What makes Atom Finance stand out Resources Eric has found helpful as a first-time founder Eric's communication style with their investors How Eric prioritizes his time and energy and finds balance Eric's book recommendations on building a business The next steps and big picture for Atom Finance Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/