The Room Podcast

Welcome back to The Room- today’s conversation is another installment in our mini-series, Movers & Shakers where we sit down with early-stage entrepreneurs to hear about their stories. Today we sit down with Paige Finn Doherty, Founding Partner of Behind Genius Ventures. Behind Genius Ventures is an early-stage fund investing in product-led growth companies and play at the pre-seed/seed stage. They are backed by Bain Capital Ventures, Tribe Capital, Bonfire Ventures, and others. Behind Genius focuses on API-first products, wellness, creator economy, and dev tools. Paige is also the author of Seed to Harvest: A Simple Explanation of Venture Capital. Today we chat about her passions, how she got into venture, and her take on future tech trends. Let’s open the door.

In today’s episode, Claudia and Madison sit down with Gaby Goldberg, an investor at The Chernin Group. A self-proclaimed Gen Zer, Gaby natively understands the creator and gamer economies. Through a self-discovery semester off from Stanford, where she spent time working at a startup in Tel Aviv, Gaby fell in love with venture capital. Through Twitter, she landed her first job in VC at Chapter One. After this experience, she found herself at Bessemer before recently joining The Chernin Group to focus on the evolving space of crypto. Today's episode explores insights and themes including navigating early career milestones, the concept of modern friends, and the future of Web 3. Let’s open the door.

Before the launch of season 5 of The Room Podcast, we are so excited to introduce a four-part mini-series: Movers & Shakers, where Madison and Claudia sit down with early-stage entrepreneurs and influencers to hear their stories. In this week’s episode and series launch, we sit down with Madison Campbell, Co-Founder and CEO of Leda Health, a health and wellness startup turning the conversation around sexual assault into actionable change lead. A company created for survivors by survivors, Leda Health provides the care and resources needed for a full recovery and works towards bettering the many systemic shortcomings surrounding sexual assault services. We chat with Madison on her journey to founding Leda Health and her mission and vision for the future of healthcare and wellness. Let’s open the door.

As we recently wrapped on Season 4 of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia take a trip down memory lane to look back on our past two seasons. Over the past year, we’ve had the most amazing guests come to join us in The Room to share their inspiring stories. Take a look back on some of our key themes and insights from the past two seasons. Thank you so much for joining us for four seasons now! We have so much more in store, but for now, let’s take a look back and open the door.

In the Season 4 finale of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia sit down with Andy Ruben, Founder and CEO of Trove, an end-to-end technology and supply chain platform, unlocking second-hand shopping for your favorite brands. Before founding Trove, Andy served on the senior leadership team at Walmart, including the role of Chief Sustainability Officer. A big congratulations to Trove who recently announced their $77.5M Series D funding. With the resale and e-commerce space expected to hit $64B in annual sales by 2028, Trove is at the forefront of enabling top-tier brands like Patagonia, REI, and Lululemon to capture this rapidly growing market. This week’s episode covers key themes such as how we empower sustainable consumption, the art of the reframe, and building a business in a supply-constrained market. Let’s open the door. Season 4 is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley. …

In The Room with Katie Warner Johnson This week on The Room Podcast, we are excited to share our conversation with Katie Warner Johnson, Founder and CEO of Carbon38. Carbon38 is one of the leading activewear e-commerce platforms, carrying brands like Beyond Yoga, Isabel Marant, Adidas by Stella McCartney and their own line. Katie's journey to disrupting the activewear industry started early on as a professional dancer from childhood and later, a Physique 57 fitness instructor. After years of being immersed in the health and fitness world, Katie realized that the sports bras and leggings that were being sold were just not meeting the needs of women. She decided to move to Los Angeles and build a business that provided fashion-forward activewear designed by women, for women. In this episode, Katie talks about the relationship between being a performer and an entrepreneur, serving the needs of her customer, The Boss, empowering women with women-led brands, and the future of activewear. Season 4 is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley.

In The Room with Sashee Chandran In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast with co-hosts Madison and Claudia, they are joined by Sashee Chandran, CEO, and Founder of Tea Drops. Founded in 2015, Tea Drops are organic, ground leaf teas pressed into fun shapes that dissolve in water. Think of a bath bomb, but tea! Using 15% less waste than traditional tea bags, Tea Drops provides an environmentally friendly, convenient, and high-quality tea experience. Tea Drops are now sold in nearly 2000 store retailers around the United States. This week’s key themes include what it's like to start and fund a venture-backed business in the CPG space, the importance of passion and grit, and the future for D2C. Let’s open the door. Season 4 of The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley.

In The Room with Vera Shokina In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia take a break from chatting with their typical founder or funder to cover a core need of every startup and fund: their bank. They are joined by Vera Shokina, Managing Director at Silicon Valley Bank where she covers U.S. banking and early stage international banking, helping VC funds and startups with all of their banking needs. From the founding moment of SVB, the bank has been focused on early stage technology companies and venture capital funds. Vera walks us through the top tips for founders looking to establish a banking relationship, the process of getting a debt line, and how a bank like SVB helps out with remote work. Let’s open the door. Season 4 is sponsored by our friends at SVB and Cooley. The episode is now live on all podcast streaming platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Welcome to another episode of The Room Podcast! In this week’s episode, co-hosts Madison and Claudia chat with Danielle Cohen-Shohet, Co-Founder and CEO of GlossGenius. Danielle, a freelance hobbyist makeup artist, started GlossGenius when she knew that there had to be a better way to manage a business and engage with clients. From scheduling to booking and payments, GlossGenius meaningfully helps freelancers and small businesses in US salon and studio spaces. In this episode, Danielle talks about building for a specific need and passion, developing a tech platform for hyper-local businesses, and where the beauty industry is going next. Let's open the door. Season 4 of The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at SVB and Cooley. This episode is now live on all podcast streaming platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia sit down with Katherine Salisbury, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Qapital, a mobile banking app designed to help incentivize people to save smarter. Qapital’s Chief Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely leverages science to propel people into better money habits. Since its inception in 2015, Qapital has helped millions of users collectively save over $2 billion. This week’s key themes include navigating raising venture capital with an untraditional background, co-founding your business with your significant other, and when to make your product a paid product in the world of free. Let’s open the door. Season 4 is sponsored by our friends at SVB and Cooley. … Key Theme 1: Navigating raising venture capital with an untraditional background After graduating from Cornell Law, Katherine started her career as a lawyer in New York City before moving to Europe to found and run a sports management company focused on soccer. Without a background in FinTech, Katherine advises founders to just show up and put in the time and energy. It’s a learning curve to work out all the kinks, but you have to be willing to try, be embarrassed, and mess up. Key Theme 2: Co-founding your business with your significant other Co-founding Qapital with her significant other George Friedman, Katherine gives some tips on how to balance personal and work life. She says it’s sometimes easier to be on the same rollercoaster with a significant other as they share compassion for one another whether it be through the good or bad moments. Katherine also emphasises the importance of turning it off and knowing when to put work aside for the day. Key Theme 3: When to make your product a paid product in the world of free When deciding the pricing scheme for her product, Katherine and her team went to several pricing experts and ended up developing a lasting partnership with Simon Kucher. They tested different options out and were able to back up Katherine’s initial intuitions with detailed research. … Thank you so much for tuning into another week of The Room Podcast. Join us on Clubhouse on Wednesday, Sept. 1 at 1:30PM PST to hear directly from Katherine! New episodes launch every Tuesday at 7AM PST.

In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia sit down with Sydney Sykes, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of BLCK VC. Founded in 2018, BLCK VC empowers and advances black venture investors by providing a focus community built for and by black venture investors. Out of Harvard undergrad, Sydney joined New Enterprise Associates as an investment analyst before moving on to e-commerce planning with Dolls Kill. Today, Sydney is also studying at Stanford GSB for her MBA. This week’s key themes and insights include solving the problems you see in the world, the future of direct-to-consumer investing, and the integral role of a unique perspective and driving innovation. Let’s open the door. Season 4 of The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at SVB and Cooley. Learn more about SVB’s Access to Innovation initiative here. … Key Theme 1: Solving the problems you see in the world Blck VC is evidence that you have the ability to solve the problems you see in the world. Sydney took her lived experience and passion for building a better tomorrow into action. This passion to unlock more equity in who’s represented in venture led her to create her non-profit. Whether you’re thinking of starting a non-profit or a for-profit business that solves something you deeply believe should change; Sydney reminds us that you are empowered to build for that future. Key Theme 2: Direct-to-consumer Brands and their Evolution Having spent time in operations at Dolls Kill, a venture-backed DTC brand, Sydney has unique insights into the future of e-commerce. As an investor, Sydney is compelled by brands who are taking a more differentiated approach to finding and cultivating community with their customers. She specifically is interested if they’re providing a product or service that no one else is offering. Two driving questions Sydney shared when it comes to investing in DTC are What's different about what I'm building? Why is this going to take off in a way that works for venture capital? Key Theme 3: The integral role of a unique perspective and driving innovation Sydney believes the venture capital industry’s growth is dependent on unique perspectives and new ideas. “If a venture capital firm continues to have the same perspectives for long periods of time, or doesn't bring in new networks or doesn't bring in something that gives them a competitive advantage, that firm will fall behind.” She gives the example that lack of diversity in a firm leads to a massive ecosystem gap. Without any black investors, firms are missing 15% of consumers as well as the inability to relate to and fully understand some of their founders. … Thank you to Sydney for joining us in The Room! We will be back next week with a new episode on Tuesday, Aug. 31 at 7AM PST.

Welcome to Season 4 of The Room Podcast! We start off this brand new season with Kara Goldin, Co-Founder and CEO of Hint. Hint is known for its healthy fruit-infused flavored water that brands itself as a better alternative to sugar-laden sodas and artificially sweetened drinks. Hint Water in a variety of fun and fruity flavors is found at any local supermarket. Today, Hint has also expanded its product line to sun and body items, including sunscreen and deodorant. Kara’s newest book Undaunted: Overcoming Doubts and Doubters is also available now for purchase. In this week’s episode, Madison and Claudia chat with Kara on value-driven product development, building and growing a CPG brand, and accidental entrepreneurship by being undaunted. Let’s open the door.

In the Season 3 finale of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia sit down with Heidi Zak, CEO and Co-Founder of ThirdLove, a multi-generational women's lifestyle brand focused on elevated essentials across bras, underwear, loungewear, and much more. ThirdLove’s products are designed to support women feeling effortlessly comfortable and confident. ThirdLove is also the third largest underwear and bra retailer in the world, which is a true testament to how its unique model truly disrupted how consumers shop for bras and other essentials. This week’s key themes include what fundraising looks like for non-software businesses, finding product market fit and innovating on distribution, and the future of e-commerce. Let’s open the door. Season 3 is sponsored by our friends at SVB and Cooley.

In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia cover a relevant topic as the world begins to re-open and adapt to a life post-pandemic: the future of work. They are joined by two CEOs, Frank Weishaupt and Roy Hirshland, who are both innovating on the new normal as leaders of their companies. Frank is the CEO of Owl Labs, a video collaboration technology company that provides the inclusive meeting experience remote participants need and deserve. Roy is the CEO and Co-Founder of T3 Advisors, a global real estate firm that inspires companies to think more strategically about real estate and their workplace. We discuss key insights and tactical advice surrounding the future of work, including the hardware and software tools needed to empower a hybrid work culture, leadership’s vital role as reopening brings transition, and multi-generational perspectives on navigating a crisis while empowering employees to thrive at work. Let’s open the door. Season 3 is sponsored by our friends at SVB and Cooley. The questions today were researched through SVB’s Future of Work Report.

In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia chat with Analisa Goodin, Founder and CEO of Catch&Release, a company making it easier to discover the best content for an open web and making it available for licensing to agencies and brands worldwide. As a classically trained artist and art historian, Analisa personally understood these pain points of creatives. This past April, Catch & Release announced its $15M Series A, led by Accel. We cover the key themes of the intersection between art, creatives, and technology, tips for fundraising and pitching for founders who don’t have traditional tech backgrounds, and how Analisa translated customer pain points into a scalable marketplace. Let’s open the door. Season 3 is sponsored by SVB and Cooley. Find this newest episode of The Room Podcast on all streaming platforms, including iTunes and Spotify. Enjoy!

In this week’s episode, Madison and Claudia sit down with Michelle Zatlyn, Co-Founder, President and COO of Cloudflare. Public since 2019, Cloudflare is a web performance and security company keeping millions of businesses and, by association, consumers safe online through their cybersecurity infrastructure, stopping over 70 billion attacks a day. Michelle is one of few female founders to take a company public, and now Cloudflare is valued at over $24 billion as the world increasingly realizes the importance of keeping our internet safe. We discuss with Michelle themes including diversity of thought in co-founding teams, the power of changing your own framing of a problem, and only needing to get a few things right. Let’s open the door. Season 3 is sponsored by our friends at SVB and Cooley.

In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia cover early stage startup legal needs, an essential part of the startup journey. Oftentimes, the first round of fundraising is the first time founders will interact with lawyers, and this relationship will continue for years beyond just the initial fundraise. They are also joined by Lauren Creel, Early-Stage Partner at Cooley, to help walk us through what the legal side of startup fundraising looks like. Headquartered in Palo Alto, Cooley is an international law firm with one of its specializations in startup and venture capital legal needs. We are proud to be sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank alongside Cooley LLP for Season 3 of The Room Podcast. This week’s key learnings include when to involve a lawyer when you are starting a startup, understanding the common components of a term sheet and what to look out for, and finally digging into the legal implications of company building decisions. Let’s open the door.

We are so excited to sit down with Maria Salamanca, Partner at Unshackled Ventures, in the newest episode of The Room Podcast. Unshackled Ventures is a pre-seed venture firm focused entirely on investing in immigrant founders. An immigrant herself, Maria came to the United States from Colombia when she was six years old. After attending UC Berkeley, Maria joined the FWD.us team, a political organization supporting immigration reform started by tech leaders like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. In 2015, she joined Unshackled Ventures and was recently named Partner at the firm. Before Madison and Claudia chat with Maria, our two co-hosts walk us through the pre-seed round from both the founder and funder perspectives. This week’s episode explores the key themes of navigating the pre-seed round, the unique experiences of being an immigrant founder, and the value of time versus money in the early stages. Let’s open the door. This episode is brought to you by Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley LLP.

This week on the room, we are thrilled to be sitting down with SJ, Sacchetti, CEO of Cleo, a working parent family benefits platform for employers. SJ didn’t always think she was going to become a CEO and chats with us about her career path, her learnings along the way, and what it's like coming into a company as CEO just months before COVID and work from home. SJ started her career in politics and policy, cutting her teeth in the world of political fundraising, which “set her clock” for the startup world. SJ made her way into tech as a marketing consultant at Formspring, then as SVP of Marketing at Collective Health, and ultimately CMO- a pivotal step towards her career at Cleo. After nearly 5 years at Collective Health, SJ joined Cleo as CEO late 2019. This March, Cleo announced their $40 million dollar Series C round. Today we dig deeper into themes such as leadership during unfamiliar and unusual circumstances, overcoming imposter syndrome, and being a boss amidst uncertainty. Let’s open the door. This episode is brought to you by our partners at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley LLC.

In The Room Podcast’s very special Season 3 opener, Claudia and Madison sit down with the one and only, Ciara. We all know her as the Grammy-award winning singer and songwriter behind hit classics like “1, 2 Step,” “Goodies,” and “Level Up,” but she is also a businesswoman and entrepreneur behind multiple businesses. Ciara is the CEO and Founder of music label Beauty Marks Entertainment, through which she produced her latest album, as well as Co-Founder of The House of LR&C, a fashion house she started with husband Russell Wilson. This week’s special episode walks through the themes of digital media’s transformation of the music industry, having a level up mentality, and surrounding yourself with people aligned to your vision. Let’s open the door. Season 3 is brought to you by our partners at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley.

We cannot believe that we have concluded season 2, but are even more excited for season 3, airing next week! Thank you so much to all of our listeners for joining us on The Room! We have big plans for Season 3, launching Tuesday, May 4th, featuring international pop star & entrepreneur.... *drumroll please*.... Ciara Wilson! But before we enter the room where it happened with a whole new slew of entrepreneurs, we take a look back on Season 2, its guests, our biggest takeaways, and share some life updates.

Yesterday, Brex announced their Series D round, led by Tiger Global, which now valued them at $7.4 billion. Today, we share an episode of The Room Podcast that just couldn’t wait! Madison and Claudia sit down with Henrique Dubugras, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Brex in late March. For those who don’t know, Brex is the unicorn fintech startup that provides the all-in-one money and banking solution for startups. Both Brazilian natives, Henrique and his co-founder Pedro Franceschi founded Pagar.me before both attending, then dropping out of Stanford to found Brex. We discuss the key themes of deciding what market you are built for, the multi-time co-founder experience, and Brex’s decision to remain fully remote in the future. Let’s open the door.

In the Season 2 finale of The Room, we sit down with Trae Vassallo, co-founder of early stage venture fund Defy.vc. Out of undergrad at Stanford, Trae worked for the iconic design and innovation firm IDEO, developing products for companies including the Palm Pilot and Dell. During her second year of business school at Stanford, Trae founded Good Technology, a mobile device company whose purpose was to connect islanded devices to the Internet. Good Technology sold to Motorola for $500 million. Through a relationship built with John Doerr and Kleiner Perkins backing Good Technology, she then spent 11 years at Kleiner Perkins. In 2016, Trae and fellow industry veteran Neil Sequeira founded Defy.vc where her paths intersected with our co-host Madison a few years back. On today’s episode we discuss the early days of the Internet, the pros and cons of venture funding, and how an opening of the venture ecosystem has fostered more equity and inclusion across the table. Let’s open the door.

In this week’s episode of The Room, we welcome Liz Meyerdirk, CEO of The Pill Club, a women’s telehealth platform that simplifies and personalizes the experience of prescribing and delivering birth control. Prior to joining The Pill Club Team, Liz was a founding member of the Uber Eats team, leading strategy and global business development for six years. As The Pill Club hit a $100 million run rate, Liz joined as chief executive officer, now leading the team into an exciting product line launch that we have the exclusive on! We talk knowing when to launch a new product line, transitioning CEOs in a growth-stage startup, and the future of women’s health care. Let’s open the door.

This week on The Room, we sat down with Zubin Koticha, co-founder and CEO of Opyn. Opyn is a decentralized finance platform for ethereum options, which recently raised their series A, lead by Paradigm only months after their seed. Zubin graduated from Berkley in 2018 after a Manu-year love and obsession with the crypto space. Post-graduation Zubin worked at Thunder researching blockchain but soon started open with his two co-founders Alexis and Aparna in 2019. Zubin has worked in the crypto space through highs and lows, but given today’s wildly hot crypto market, I think it's safe to say Zubin and the Opyn team are hitting product-market fit. Today we will learn more about fundraising during difficult times, navigating a pivot, and a lot about crypto, DeFi, and NFTs. Let's open the door.

In this week’s episode of The Room, we talk to Allison Barr Allen, Co-Founder and COO of Fast, a one-click, passwordless checkout platform. Allison started her career as tech consultant with PwC then joined Uber in its early days, eventually serving as Head of Global Product Operations on the Money Team. While launching Uber Money products including Instant Pay, Cash, and Wallets, Allison delved into the world of angel investing. In 2019, she met her Fast Co-Founder Domm Holland on Twitter, and within a few months had raised a Series A funding of $20 million. Less than a year later, the Fast team raised $102 million in Series B Funding led by Stripes this January. We discuss the early days of Uber, how Fast grew so fast, and why investing is for everyone. Let’s open the door.

Claudia and Madison welcome Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO and Co-Founder of Neeva, into The Room this week. Sridhar immigrated from India for his PhD in Data Science at Brown, back in 1989. Today, Sridhar is a Silicon Valley legend, first growing Google’s search ad program to a $115 million business as the Senior Vice President of Ads and Commerce. After 15 years with Google, he joined Greylock as a Partner, a position he still holds today. Now, he’s also onto his newest venture called Neeva, an ad-free private search engine that just announced its Series B funding of $40 million led by Sequoia Capital and Greylock. Through Neeva, Sridhar is rebuilding trust within the Internet, reimagining the ways we can use data for value. We discuss information and privacy in serving your customer, rethinking pre-existing mental models, and leadership principles. Let’s open the door.

In this week’s episode, we welcome Jesse Draper, Emmy-nominated television star turned venture capitalist who founded Halogen Ventures, an early-stage venture firm focused on investing in female entrepreneurs. You’ve seen her on TV in The Naked Brothers Band and as the host of The Valley Girl Show, interviewing tech and business entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Mark Cuban. As a fourth-generation venture capitalist, Jesse moved away from entertainment to build her own venture firm, Halogen Ventures, which invests entirely in female founding teams. Having recently closed her second fund, Jesse is just getting started on changing the technology ecosystem for the better. Jesse shared with Madison and Claudia the value of building a brand for yourself, her experiences on being an angel and an institutional investor, and her thoughts on the future for female founders. Let’s open the door.

This week on The Room, we sit down with Jane Metcalfe. Jane was the co-founder of the legendary Wired magazine and media company, TCHO chocolates, and now NEO.LIFE. In the early 1990s, Jane and her life partner and co-founder Louis Rossetto came to the Bay Area with the idea and passion to build a magazine and media company devoted to cutting-edge technology. This magazine is what we now know as the iconic Wired, home to some of the most futuristic, but also technology-defining stories. Jane and Louis launched Wired with a big story to tell: the internet becoming mainstream. Today we chat with Jane to hear about her three-time founding stories, from media to chocolates, to biotech, Jane has seen it all and has some deep wisdom to share. Let's open the door.

In this episode, co-hosts Madison and Claudia, interview Ajay Kori, co-founder and former CEO of UrbanStems. They find out more about his journey of founding and scaling this massively successful eCommerce flower delivery service business. He shares a few of his learnings about customer satisfaction and the best way to ensure the longevity of new customers. His inspiring story of failing during the initial phases of the business, but not letting that deter him or his team from making a huge success of the company, should be a great motivation for any aspiring entrepreneur. Ajay shares why he eventually decided to hand over the CEO reins of UrbanStems and start a new business that now has the potential to help millions of people find relief from migraines.

In this episode of The Room, Claudia and Madison kick off the new season with Amy Chang, Co-Founder of Accompany, an AI-driven relationship intelligence platform acquired by Cisco in 2018 for $270 million. we hear from a first-time founder and long term product guru on the ups and downs of transitioning from big tech to founding a company. Listen here to learn about the power of early career decisions, battling anxiety and uncertainty, and the right reasons to sell your company.

And that’s a wrap on Season 1! Thank you so much to all of our listeners for joining us on The Room! We have big plans for Season 2, launching Tuesday, Feb.9, but before we enter the room where it happened with a whole new slew of entrepreneurs, we take a look back on Season 1, its guests, and our biggest takeaways.

Claudia and Madison close out The Room’s first season with guest Amit Sharma, CEO, and founder of Narvar. Madison first met Amit in Narvar’s offices back in 2019, as a customer at Gap Inc. If you’ve ever received an email about your tracking update or returned something online, odds are you’ve interacted with Narvar’s core products. Narvar is a post-purchase customer engagement platform helping over 650 retailers streamline their customer communication, returns, and exchanges. Founded in 2012, Amit saw what others did not, post-purchase is a powerful mechanism for e-commerce customer loyalty, retention, and satisfaction. Rather than “ghosting” your customers, retailers needed to handhold customers every step of the way from the “complete purchase button” to the ring of the doorbell. As we learn in today’s episode, this wasn’t Amit’s first try at start-up. Listen to the episode to hear about his journey from India, the first start-up with unfortunate market timing, his time working at multiple large retailers, and ultimately taking the plunge to start Narvar.

Alexa Buckley is the Co-Founder of Margaux - a direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand of insanely comfortable and beautiful shoes. If you pay attention to Instagram posts from influencers wearing handcrafted ballet flats in every color of the rainbow, then you’ve probably seen a Margaux shoe. Alexa started the shoe line during her senior year at Harvard. Alongside co-founder, Sarah Pierson, the two women realized the pervasive shoe shuffle, where working women would have to swap their walking shoes with their office shoes under their desks due to a lack of style in the former and comfort in the latter. Why wasn’t it possible to have both? It was time to take a leap of faith and disrupt the shoe industry. Landing on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and nailing a Vogue spread, Alexa and the story of Margaux inspires us all to Guax for it!

This week, we sat down with Amy Nelson, CEO and founder of The Riveter, a digital and physical community for women. Spending 10 plus years in corporate law, Amy never thought she'd be a founder. However, after the 2016 election, she took a closer look at what mattered most to her - The Riveter was born. While it's been a challenging year for physical spaces, Amy has gallantly persevered by building a growing digital space proving our belief that "the room" is more than four walls. In today's episode, we'll explore insights and themes such as how political and venture fundraising have more in common than you might think, motherhood in the workplace, and core product pivots. Let's open the door.

This week on The Room, we interview Shishir Mehrotra, founder and CEO of Coda. Coda is a venture-backed workflow tool recently valued at over $600 million dollars. With Coda, docs are now as powerful as applications. Although Coda was started in 2014, Coda is more relevant now than ever as a key player in 2020’s “future of work.” Coda is redefining what it means to stay organized, engaged, and effective during COVID-19’s acceleration of a remote-first culture. In today’s episode, we explore Shishir’s path to building one of the world’s most powerful work tools- where the flexibility of a doc is combined with the power of a spreadsheet and application. We’ll explore insights and themes such as prioritizing opportunities that foster personal growth, the benefits of building a company in stealth, and scaling a distributed workforce and culture well. Let’s open the door.

This week on The Room, we interview Jessica Lessin, founder of The Information. In Silicon Valley, whenever there is a breaking story, The source that founders, funders, and technologists turn to to get the inside scoop is the subscription-based news-source that Jessica founded in 2013. Jessica has created a platform the tech world can’t get enough of in a world crowded by media coverage and ad-blockers. In today’s episode, we explore her path to disrupting journalism and how information is consumed in the tech world. We’ll explore insights and themes such as knowing what’s valuable and not giving it away, sustainable growth, and dealing with the hard stuff, like controversy.

This week on The Room, we interview Hope Cochran, managing director at Madrona Venture Group. It's probably easier to ask, what hasn't Hope done? Music and economics at Stanford. Founder and CFO of SkillsVillage, bought by Peoplesoft in 2001. CFO of Clearwire and King Digital. Board member of three public companies, Hasboro, Mongo DB, and New Relic. Today we explore colorful stories of her time in C-suites and boardrooms discussing insights and themes such as advocating for yourself at work, what makes a good board, and the little moments that matter.

This week on The Room, we interview Coral Chung, the CEO, and co-founder of Senreve. Sitting down with Coral to hear about the start of her luxury D2C brand, we learned about the early days of founding an accessories brand in Silicon Valley, her global expansion plans, and a bit about juggling the hats of CEO and mother.

In this episode of The Room podcast, Madison and Claudia spend some time diving into the history of Silicon Valley power couple; Matt Rogers and Swati Mylavarapu - founders of Venture Capital business - Incite. Previously to Incite, Matt Rogers was the co-founder of Nest. They go into detail about how they have been able to juggle the highs and lows of building a business together while pursuing their own individual passions - all while taking care of each other as a married couple and their growing family. In this episode, they share their passion for building innovative businesses, developing entrepreneurs and non-profits as well as helping to fund political candidates. These passions played a profound role in shaping the way they built Incite.