Midstage Startup Momentum: Recent Episodes
Roland Siebelink
Roland Siebelink talks all things tech startup and bring you interviews with tech cofounders across the world.
Founders who have never experienced coaching firsthand often wonder what it’s like to work with an experienced startup coach. At the Midstage Institute, we wanted to peel back the curtain a little to show you what it’s like during a coaching session.
I recently spoke with the co-founders of an estate planning startup called Inherit. With their permission, of course, I turned that into a podcast to give founders a little taste of what a coaching session is like and what was discussed.
- Finding the right target group for the product.
- How far along is the product.
- What is the promise given to users?
- Finding the balance between free and paid services.
- Prioritizing actions for the founders moving forward.
How is someone with no investing experience or expertise supposed to get into the game without any know-how? Aren’t they just setting themselves up for failure? That’s no longer a concern with dub, which allows users to copy the portfolios of accomplished investors. Rather than having to pick individual stocks, dub allows users to invest in people and their ideas. It’s truly the next great innovation in investing.
Certified unicorn guide Roland Siebelink recently spoke with dub founder and CEO Steven Wang on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to discuss how dub fits into the investing world and what Steven’s journey has been like as a young startup founder.
- What it’s like having a startup in a regulated industry.
- The unique challenge of being a young founder and hiring people twice your age.
- How the role of a CEO changes immediately after a product launches.
- Why it can be best not to pre-define an ideal customer profile.
- The one company-wide metric dub uses.
- How dub is navigating a two-sided market.
Modern technology can give us so many great things, but it also creates new challenges. Over the last year, deep fakes have emerged as one of those great challenges. Deep fakes are a form of generative AI that aims to deceive and manipulate people with things that aren’t true. Luckily, a startup like Clarity.AI is working to address this problem. Clarity serves prominent news outlets, law firms, and other organizations to verify and authenticate audio, video, and images so that people know what is fake and what is real.
Clarity CEO and co-founder Michael Matias joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to discuss the problem of deep fakes and how Clarity is solving the problem. They also discussed a variety of topics relevant to Clarity’s journey as a tech startup.
- How Clarity approached its move from having a security solution to having a product.
- Approaching the challenge of having so many potential use cases.
- The importance of action-based learning and being “on the court.”
- How startup leaders cope early on when their product is faltering.
- Behavior patterns that are found in successful startup leaders.
Cybersecurity is one of the biggest markets emerging in the tech industry right now. There are several big players, yet there is plenty of room for startups that are being innovative and taking a different approach. LimaCharlie is the latter, creating a SecOps cloud platform that aims to bring together a variety of cybersecurity capabilities in a single platform. In other words, it’s a more simplified approach to cybersecurity in the modern era.
Naturally, by taking a different approach to things, LimaCharlie ran into some unique challenges during its startup journey. Founder & CEO Maxime Lamothe-Brassard joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to discuss some of those challenges.
- The danger of working with investors who aren’t aligned with the company’s vision.
- Balancing current investors versus new investors for subsequent funding rounds.
- How to shift toward growth that gives the startup more control.
- The challenge of tech-oriented founders becoming salesmen.
- The shift from inbound-only sales to becoming more outbound.
- How the core values of LimaCharlie have changed as the company has grown.
There is a point for all startups when it becomes necessary to ask for outside help. Sometimes that means hiring a fractional CMO to help get the go-to-market machine working. For startups in that position, there are consultants like Grwth.co available to help. Led by experienced founder Mosheh Poltorak, Grwth.co can provide fractional CMO services for startups while also having a plan to hand the reins to an in-house hire when the startup is ready.
Mosheh recently joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to discuss Grwth.co and share insight from his vast experience as a founder.
- What does product-market-fit actually look like for startups?
- Why product-market-fit is an ongoing journey rather than a destination.
- How product-market-fit is different for B2B and B2C.
- Why product marketing is a critical part of early startup success.
- The importance of founders understanding their organic growth.
- The ideal timeline and situation for startups to work with a fractional CMO.
For many midstage startups, finding an accelerator can be a great way to find useful guidance that can help drive better results. One of the top accelerators in the startup world today is Founders Space, which is run by Steve Hoffman (AKA Captain Hoff). Steve is a veteran of several startups and the author of several books about the startup world who brings a wealth of information and expertise to the startups that work with Founders Space.
Steve recently spoke to fellow author and startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. The two covered a host of topics relevant to the journey of every founder:
- Why it’s critical for startups to continue to innovate.
- The qualities Steve looks for in founders that are destined for success.
- The true meaning of product-market-fit.
- How startups should balance growth versus and how the economic climate can be a factor.
- The best way for startups to consider new possibilities without getting distracted.
- How startups should pick investors and how to handle difficult investors.
When it comes to virtual and augmented reality technologies, the future that many of us have always dreamed about may already be here. That’s the case largely because of startups like Imascono, which is based in Spain. Imascono has done some amazing things while developing applied imagination and extended reality technologies that have the capacity to be used for entertainment, marketing, and industrial purposes.
Imascono co-founder Héctor Paz recently joined the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to talk with Roland Siebelink and Carlos Founaud about the long journey of the startup and key steps along the way.
- How Imascono has been able to prevent employees from leaving the company.
- How Imascono manages to connect the goals of the company with the goals of employees.
- The methods Imascono uses to create transparency with employees.
- The lessons Imascono has learned from negotiations involving a potential merger.
- The biggest takeaways from Imascono’s experience in an accelerator program.
While the construction business is massive, it’s also rather complicated. Fortunately, there are tech startups like Constrafor that are helping both general contractors and subcontractors streamline everything they do, completing projects and getting everyone paid faster. Constrafor is a construction procurement platform that handles everything from insurance to invoicing. While only started in 2019, Constrafor is already striving to become the primary end-to-end procurement platform for the biggest general contractors in the U.S.
Constrafor CEO and founder Anwar Ghauche recently sat down with startup coach Roland
Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to discuss the journey so far. He shared some insight into how Constrafor operates, which is a little different from the average startup:
- Why it makes sense for Constrafor to use an indirect monetization method.
- The reason Constrafor spoke with potential customers before building a product.
- The importance of a sales team, even in a product-led company.
- How customer success at Constrafor is handled by everyone, not just one team.
- How Anwar handles employees who do not fit the values of Constrafor.
- Why Constrafor uses company-wide KPIs rather than team or individual KPIs.
With a growing population and climate change, it’s more important than ever for farmers to be able to grow as much food as possible as efficiently as possible. Fortunately, there are startups like Hydrosat that are trying to make that job a little easier for them. As its name implies, Hydrosat uses satellite data to help farmers, agribusinesses, and government agencies with important insights that can lead to more food being produced with less water while also cutting down on electricity and climate change contributors.
Hydrosat CEO and co-founder Pieter Fossel recently joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. Pieter explained the positive impact Hydrosat can potentially have on the world and a variety of other topics about Hydrosat’s startup journey:
- How Hydrosat is able to address food security and climate change at the same time.
- The importance of solving a customer’s problem while building a product over time.
- Being able to find short-term success while maintaining a long-term vision.
- How to work with big distributors without giving up leverage.
- How Hydrosat has given both distributors and end users something new.
Experience is often a key ingredient for startup founders. Jimmy Kim, the CEO and co-founder of Sendlane, has plenty of experience with Sendlane being his third startup. With Sendlane, Jimmy is hoping to combine several MarTech tools into a single platform, dominating the space while creating a new category. Given his experience, Jimmy and Sendlane are well on their way to doing just that.
Jimmy joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to share how far Sendlane is in its journey. He also shared many key insights from the wealth of knowledge he’s gained as a founder.
- Why it took Jimmy three attempts to build a successful sales team.
- Why Sendlane decided to use outbound sales sooner than most startups.
- Why a startup’s pricing shouldn’t be the driving force in winning the market.
- Why offering the cheapest pricing can be a bad thing.
- Why fundraising is no different from a sales cycle.
- How many term sheets startups should aim to get while fundraising.
The ongoing fight against cancer requires all hands on deck. Fortunately, tech startups are starting to harness the power of AI and machine learning to help in the fight against cancer. Genialis is one startup that uses AI in the precision medicine industry to ensure cancer patients are getting the right treatment.
Genialis CEO and co-founder Rafael Rosengarten recently sat down with startup coach Roland Siebelink to discuss the role his startup is playing in treating cancer patients more effectively. Rafael also spoke about the journey Genialis has been on and his personal journey as a first-time founder.
- What it was like being a founder without a business background.
- The challenge of succeeding with a startup that hasn’t raised a lot of money.
- How startup founders can recognize when it’s time to pivot their company.
- Why Genialis doesn’t consider employee headcount an indicator of success.
- What it means to build a great company before building a great business.
- How Genialis links its values to its strategic initiatives.
It’s usually in the nature of startup leaders to conquer one market and expand to another. That is exactly the case with Hiberus, which is one of the premier tech startups in Spain but aspires to be so much more. Hiberus is a tech consulting startup that offers a variety of services and has offices all over Europe with over 3,000 employees. After experiencing such impressive growth and success in Europe, Hiberus is now expanding to operate in the U.S. and the Americas.
Hiberus Internacional CEO Marcos Latorre recently joined the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to speak with startup coaches Roland Siebelink and Carlos Founaud. Marcos talked about the past success and future goals of Hiberus while also sharing the secret sauce that has made Hiberus one of the biggest tech startups in Europe:
- How to attract people to a small company in a small city.
- Why Hiberus tries to create talent rather than just relying on acquiring talent.
- What Hiberus has done to attract customers with a small sales team.
- The three things Hiberus provides clients so that they never lose one.
- The reason Hiberus prioritizes employees over customers and investors.
- How the role of founders and CEOs change as startups grow and expand.
No startup can make it to product-market dominance without having a plan. That’s why the Midstage Institute has put together the midstage momentum method. This is a five-lever plan to help startups upon reaching the midstage and get them from product-market fit to product-market dominance as quickly and efficiently as possible. The method creates a roadmap that startups can follow for future success, guiding them as they get better at what they do and build more competencies.
On this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast, startup coach Roland Siebelink introduces the five parts of the midstage momentum method, giving startups their own roadmap to achieving product-market dominance.
- Better define the responsibilities and expected output of your team.
- Understand the core segments that are most in need of your minimum value proposition.
- Create a key functional road map that can help create discipline and rhythms.
- Learning how to continually grow revenue year after year.
- Ensuring the founder has a vision that can help to inspire others to think big.
There seems to be truly no limit to what artificial intelligence is capable of doing. One of the best examples of this is Canadian startup Daisy Intelligence, which works primarily with retailers and insurers to make automated decisions that don’t require having a human in the loop. It’s what founder and CEO Gary Saarenvirta likes to call “Explainable Decisions as a Service.”
Gary joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the newest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to share what “Explainable Decisions as a Service” means and why he doesn’t like the term artificial intelligence. He also talked about his journey to becoming a founder and Daisy’s progress thus far.
- Why Daisy feels the need to explain its AI decisions to customers.
- How to target multiple industries in the go-to-market.
- What it’s like having a global go-to-market in a competitive space.
- Why Daisy should have tried to become profitable sooner.
- Why startups need the right product if they want to burn cash.
- Navigating a product’s users being different from those choosing to buy it.
All over the planet, companies are trying to reduce their CO2 emissions, if not to help the planet, least to reduce their energy costs. Fortunately, there are startups like Resync that are serving enterprises as an energy management solution using AI. The Singapore-based startup has already made great progress and is now in the process of scaling and expanding to help move companies in different corners of the world to reduce their energy costs and carbon footprints at the same time.
Resync co-founder and CEO Emir Nurov joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to talk about his startup’s purpose, approach, and success.
- How Resync reached the point of relying mostly on inbound sales.
- The approach Resync took in finding its first few partnerships.
- Why Resync considers itself to be agnostic to different markets.
- The importance of having a team that believes in the founder’s vision.
- How Resync is able to operate with a limited sales and business development team.
- The value of founders and startup employees having corporate experience.
Solving the climate crisis is surely going to be a group effort that requires a majority of the people in the world. Fortunately, there is a tech company like Cogo that’s helping to lead the way. Cogo is helping individuals and businesses to better understand their carbon footprints and make choices to help reduce carbon emissions. They’ve started by partnering with big banks but have aspirations to do far more.
Emma Kisby, the EMEA CEO of Cogo, joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. She spoke about how Cogo turns complex data into something far easier for people to understand about their carbon footprint. She also talked about the history of Cogo, what makes this startup unique, and the future of Cogo.
- How Cogo has created partnerships with big banks and created confidence in them.
- How to take a proof of concept in one country and expand it to others.
- How and why Cogo has defined its principles aimed toward growth.
- The challenges that come with focusing on speed to market.
- How a startup can hold true to its principles without losing its agility.
Let’s face it, the world couldn’t function without trucks on the road carrying goods from place to place. Naturally, the world functions at its best when the freight on those trucks is managed efficiently. Fortunately, there is a logistics startup like Ofload that acts as a service provider and helps to coordinate freight to help trucking companies big and small be more efficient. While Ofload only operates in Australia right now, it has already achieved an impressive amount of traction and has big plans for the future.
Ofload founder and CEO Geoffroy Henry joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to talk about Ofload’s past, present, and future. They discussed the role Ofload plays in the supply chain, the success of the company thus far, and how Geoffroy is handling all of the challenges that come with being the founder and CEO of a tech startup.
- How startups can find the right balance between profitability and growth.
- How Ofload has built a team that’s fit for future growth.
- The methods Geoffroy uses when hiring leaders at Ofload.
- The difference between core jobs and growth jobs.
- The purpose behind Ofload’s mix of traditional investors and strategic investors.
- How Ofload benefits from having strategic investors at the cap table.
Given the current climate in the world, cybersecurity is more important than ever. Learning about security threats and being able to remediate them is critical for all organizations. Needless to say, the sooner you know about security threats, the better. That’s Cybersixgill is changing the game for organizations throughout the private and public sectors. Cybersixgill has technology that collects real-time data related to security threats and turns it into actionable intelligence that can help security professionals remediate threats sooner.
Cybersixgill CEO Sharon Wagner has already led one startup that was sold to Microsoft and he has Cybersixgill heading in a similar direction. Sharon joined the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast this week to talk to startup coach Roland Siebelink about what Cybersixgill does and the startup’s journey thus far. He shared insight about what has worked for Cybersixgill and what other startup leaders can do to find similar success.
- What it’s been like for Cybersixgill to address both the private and public sectors.
- How to fine-tune the lead generation process.
- The importance of diversifying lead sources.
- How Cybersixgill has been able to use sales channels, digital marketing, and references at the same time.
- The key to aligning direct sales and indirect sales with one another.
- Defining product-market-fit and why it isn’t just about your company’s product.
For all startups, finding product-market fit is far from the end of the journey. In fact, product-market fit is when things only start to get interesting. But after achieving product-market fit, there are several key changes that all startups must make to get to the next stage of development. If those changes are made effectively, a startup can go from product-market fit to product-market dominance.
On this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast, startup coach Roland Siebelink reviews all of the necessary changes following product-market fit. Being proactive in making these changes once you’re sure you’ve found product-market fit is what will make your startup attractive to investors and put you on the road to finding product-market dominance.
- Redefine your challenge to mastering distribution.
- Conquer your market by being able to capture latent demand.
- Design your product in a way that has automatic, no-brainer upgrades.
- Ensure healthy margins but don’t yet optimize for profitability.
- Use marketing effectively to drive down the sales payback time.
It’s hard to deny that e-commerce has a bright future in this world. But how are small entrepreneurs supposed to succeed in this industry? Well, the answer could come from a startup called 8fig, which is using AI to help small e-commerce businesses replicate an executive team, helping them across several layers. In fact, 8fig got its name because it strives to help small e-commerce businesses grow to be eight-figure companies.
Yaron Shapira, the co-founder and CEO of 8fig, joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest edition of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. He shared the secret sauce that makes 8fig so helpful for small e-commerce entrepreneurs while also opening up about 8fig’s own journey as a tech startup.
- How 8fig’s AI is able to analyze every e-commerce business individually.
- Why 8fig’s product is designed in a way to ensure that customers don’t outgrow the platform.
- Insight about 8fig’s go-to-market approach as a product-led company.
- The challenge of raising awareness for a startup that’s focused on product-led growth.
- What it’s like being in the same space as massive corporations like Amazon and Shopify.
- How to compete with companies that are also collaborators in the same space.
Software security is more important than ever, and its importance for both software companies and their customers is only going to grow. In theory, that’s going to force developers to spend more time working on security. But that’s not the case with a startup like Rezilion. They are helping companies to deliver safe software while also reducing the amount of time being spent on security, freeing up developers to do what they do best.
Rezilion co-founder and CEO Liran Tancman joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the newest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to talk about how Rezilion is changing software security. He also talked about all of his experiences as an entrepreneur from the perspective of someone who is now leading his second startup.
- The art of a startup finding its first 10 customers and developing a sales playbook.
- How Rezilion takes a different approach with companies of different sizes.
- The things that matter most when a startup is hiring its first few salespeople.
- How Rezilion determines if a salesperson is a good fit or not.
- Why it can be helpful to wait when it comes to scaling up the go-to-market.
- The internal roadblocks that startups face after their Series A.
- Why it’s important to be careful with the advice offered by investors.
The behavior and focus of a startup need to change in several ways after it reaches product-market fit. The use of marketing is one of the biggest challenges during this time. It’s critical that marketing be used effectively and in pursuit of the right goal following product-market fit. During this time, a startup’s marketing efforts should aim to reduce customer acquisition costs and payback time. This will help to speed up growth while ultimately creating more cash to re-invest in future sales and marketing efforts.
In the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast, startup coach Roland Siebelink hosts a workshop on driving down payback time for customer acquisition. He explains how this can be accomplished by using the company’s marketing efforts the right way.
- Why you’re in a race for product-market dominance after finding product-market fit.
- Benchmarks for how quickly your flywheel should reduce payback for customer acquisition costs.
- How marketing can play a role in reducing customer acquisition costs and accelerating growth.
- Behavior from marketers you should be aware of when hiring in that department.
- Why it’s important to avoid using too many marketing tactics at the same time.
Few professionals need to be perfect at their job as much as a surgeon. The trick for surgeons is trying to become skilled and experienced at performing surgery without being able to practice on real patients. Fortunately, Precision OS is helping to solve the problem of surgeons lacking hands-on experience by using VR to simulate real-life conditions of a surgery that can help surgeons gain experience and assess their performance. The Vancouver-based startup is creating technology that could change the medical field for the better.
Precision OS co-founder and CEO Danny Goel visited with startup coach Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. Danny talked about there is a need for this kind of technology and how Precision OS can make a positive change for both doctors and patients. They also discussed Danny’s unique journey from the medical field to the startup world:
- How Danny has his co-founders built their team based on the company’s three pillars.
- The reason Precision OS took an indirect go-to-market approach.
- The key to getting large MedTech companies to meet with a small startup.
- How partnerships with professional associations have driven the company’s marketing.
- The three metrics Precision OS uses to measure success.
- How Danny receives the advice and recommendations he receives from mentors and advisors.
One of the biggest challenges for startups is turning product-market fit into profit. Since startups have the benefit of finding outside investments, traditional financing practices don’t always apply. The question then becomes how to find the right profit margins over time while using investment funds to grow.
On the newest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast, startup coach Roland Siebelink discusses how to manage margins and profitability after product-market fit. He shares what to do and not do following product-market fit so you don’t sacrifice growth for profitability while also making your startup appealing to potential investors.
- The importance of locating gross margins so you don’t lose money in every sale.
- Why optimizing for growth will make your startup more appealing to investors.
- Cautionary tales of companies that grew too big before finding the right gross margins.
- The step-by-step process for becoming profitable over time.
- How the product margin can decline for software companies over time.
- Why it’s best not to optimize for profitability immediately after finding product-market fit.
All startup leaders are currently facing the challenge of leading their company through the new normal of low startup valuations. Valuations started to drop during the second quarter of 2022 and it could take time for the economy to rebound. In the meantime, what are startups supposed to do to make sure they are able to survive these dark days and still put themselves in a position to thrive?
Startup coach Roland Siebelink provides answers to those questions during a 25-minute webinar on getting through the new normal and the best ways for startup founders to lead during this time. The webinar covers five topics that are on the minds of every startup leader, or at least should be on the mind of every startup leader.
- What exactly is this new normal?
- How long will this new normal last?
- How can startup leaders maintain their credibility during this period?
- How can startups ensure their survival by focusing on their core?
- How can a startup extend its runway by making hard decisions?
Reaching product-market fit always means that changes are coming for your startup. The obvious changes are often in sales and marketing, but they aren’t the only ones. The entire company needs to change. This includes the user experience, the buyer experience, and even the way that you build your product. If the right changes aren’t made, you risk falling behind your competitors.
On the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast, startup coach Roland Siebelink discusses some of the changes that come after tech startups find product-market fit. He explains how companies can make these changes and what happens if they are slow to adopt necessary changes within the company.
- Moving the focus from the available market to the serviceable market to the obtainable market.
- The change in mentality that every part of the company must make after product-market fit.
- Understanding the capacity your startup needs to capture the market and stay ahead of competitors.
- The difference between the user experience and the buyer experience.
- How to design products that will have built-in upgrades.
No matter the business or the industry, there will always be changes afoot upon reaching product-market fit. Any startup must be proactive in making these changes after achieving product-market fit. It’s these changes that will hopefully take a startup from product-market fit to product-market dominance. But what are the changes that will take a startup from initial success to being a dominant player in the market?
On this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast, Midstage Institute co-founder Roland Siebelink talks about all of the ways that tech startups have to change after they’ve reached product-market fit. He explains the potential pitfalls after finding product-market fit and how startups can quickly move to achieve product-market dominance.
- How does a startup know with certainty that it has reached product-market fit?
- The difference between having a solution and addressing customer pains.
- The biggest potential downfall startups experience after achieving product-market fit.
- Why distribution is the most important factor in getting to product-market dominance.
- The best ways to stay one step ahead of your competitors and become the gorilla of a market.
- Why it’s important for your go-to-market team to become bigger than your product and engineering team after reaching product-market fit.
Most tech startups tend to endure a long and strange journey on their way to finding product-market-fit and significant traction. But things have been a little more complex and confusing for Kountable, a startup in the FinTech space. Kountable has had multiple iterations and got its start in a corner of the world that few tech startups venture into. However, Kountable has found success along the way and is on track to reaching its vision.
Kountable co-founder and CEO Chris Hale joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. He shared details of Kountable’s journey and multiple iterations, as well as some of the key learnings he’s had as a founder:
- How Kountable has taken a different approach to traditional underwriting.
- Why it can sometimes be better not to focus too much on the value proposition.
- The best ways to build brand integrity and amplify trust with customers.
- The ways Kountable has been able to accelerate the enterprise sales cycle.
- What Kountable did when its working capital dropped to 0 in one day.
- How Kountable has been able to engineer fun with a remote team.
The product testing space is an important one, just ask any software engineer. But it’s also a complicated space, especially with the current economic situation in the tech world. These circumstances have led to a lot of challenges but also a lot of learnings for ProdPerfect, which is trying to help its clients improve timeframes, budgets, and priorities when it comes to testing web applications.
ProdPerfect co-founder and CEO Dan Widing joined startup coach Roland Siebelink this week on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. The two talked about what has inspired ProdPerfect’s work and how the company has handled a host of challenges.
- Why ProdPerfect was remote-first even before the pandemic hit.
- The biggest challenge that lies ahead for companies that continue to be remote-first.
- Whether it’s more important to build a product or prove you can sell it.
- Why ProdPerfect was a services company early and how it developed from there.
- What ProdPerfect is doing to adjust to the changing economic climate for startups.
- What startups can do when customers outgrow their need for their product.
- The techniques ProdPerfect uses to maintain a sense of transparency with its employees.
Mobile ordering and contactless ordering have changed the food and beverage industry in a short period of time. But on-premise efficiency within the food and beverage industry still leaves much to be desired. However, that could be changing thanks to tech startup CHEQ, which is changing the way food and drinks are ordered in stadiums and restaurants, making those businesses more efficient while helping consumers enjoy themselves more.
CHEQ founder and CEO Tom Lapham recently joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to talk about how the on-premise experience is becoming more efficient for operators and more focused on consumers. They also discussed CHEQ’s early traction and quick rise to being one of the most promising startups in the world.
- How starting a renewable energy company in China helped to inspire CHEQ.
- How CHEQ effectively addressed the cold-start problem.
- Why CHEQ went after high-profile enterprise clients and how they did so effectively.
- Why taking the land-and-expand approach was the best option for CHEQ.
- The need for startups to pull back on their ambitions during the early days.
- The difference between iterating a product and iterating the go-to-market.
Self-driving vehicles are becoming all of the rage in all corners of the world. But what happens to autonomous vehicles when the weather is less than perfect? That is the problem being addressed by Finland-based startup Sensible4. With a background more focused on robotics than autonomous driving, Sensible4 is focused on commercial applications for self-driving vehicles while also addressing the problem of those vehicles responding appropriately to bad weather.
Sensible4 founder and CEO Harri Santamala appeared on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast with startup coach Roland Siebelink this week to talk about the inspiration and progress of his startup’s technology. They also spoke about Sensible4’s past and present journey and plans for the future:
- The best methods to gain access to established names and industry leaders.
- The importance of building relationships with potential business partners.
- How investors can be used for more than securing funding.
- The unique advantage Sensible4 has when it comes to finding talented engineers.
- Finding a balance between employees who have the necessary experience and those who have a startup mindset.
- How young startups can reduce the risk of running out of cash.
The machine learning industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds, creating a whole new space in the technology sphere. That’s where Tigran Petrosyan and his startup SuperAnnotate enter the picture. Tigran is the co-founder and CEO of SuperAnnotate, which provides the training data infrastructure that’s needed for machine learning to work.
Tigran recently joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to talk about this new space and SuperAnnotate’s role in it. They discussed SuperAnnotate’s unique origins as well as Tigran’s key learnings along the way:
- What it was like for Tigran to found a company with his brother.
- The way that co-founder roles and responsibilities have changed in the first four years of SuperAnnotate.
- How Tigran decides whether he should take someone’s advice or not.
- How to set up a go-to-market that can sell to a variety of industries.
- How SuperAnnotate went about attacking a space that already had big players.
- Why SuperAnnotate abandoned its self-service platform despite early traction.
It’s not just businesses and individuals that need cutting-edge technology to operate more efficiently, nonprofits need it too. In fact, nonprofits and charitable organizations need it more than most because they’ve been falling behind in that area. Fortunately, tech startup Keela is helping to fix that problem by offering technology that can help non-profits in a variety of ways, from processing donations to engaging with donors to converting donors, all in the interest of helping them to raise more money for their cause and do more good in the world.
Keela founder and CEO Nejeed Kassam joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. They talked about the need nonprofits have for better technology, how Keela is solving that problem, and other facets of Keela’s journey.
- Why and how Keela decided to pivot in its approach to the market.
- What startups should keep in mind when building partnerships.
- Keela’s approach to standardizing its sales playbook.
- Navigating when it’s appropriate to follow your vision or listen to customer feedback.
- The less traditional approach Keela has taken to fundraising.
- Why fundraising shouldn’t be considered an achievement.
There are always going to be challenges for startups that sell exclusively to enterprise clients. That’s particularly true in a crowded market like service management. However, CEO Cor Winkler Prins and his startup 4me have found a way to succeed by being able to thrive on complexity. Of course, it helps that Cor and the other leaders of 4me have past startup experience to help guide them on their journey.
Cor joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. He talked about 4me and shared learnings that only someone with experience from multiple startups can know.
- What startups need to do to sell to enterprise clients.
- How startups without a track record or a lot of employees can get enterprise clients to take them seriously.
- How startups can position themselves to be acquired one day.
- What potential serial entrepreneurs should know about starting a new company or changing industries.
- Why 4me believes in avoiding channel conflict even when it's competitors don’t.
- How 4me was able to create a stable and growing partner community.
There are many challenges startups face when they try to spin out of another company, especially when they have a product that wasn’t initially built for commercial use. However, it’s possible to find success in these kinds of situations. Toronto-based startup Sensei Labs is a living example of that. They offer an enterprise orchestration platform that spun out of a parent organization called Klick Health and are finding success all on their own.
Sensei Labs co-founder and CEO Jay Goldman joined the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast with Roland Siebelink this week to talk about the challenges and triumphs his company has experienced in this situation. Jay offered many key learnings that can be applied to startups in all industries and all situations.
- How Sensei Labs was born out of a book.
- The challenges that await when turning a proprietary software into a commercial product.
- The headwinds and tailwinds that become possible in a spin-out startup.
- Why Sensei Labs started its go-to-market with a partner channel.
- What startups should keep in mind when customers ask for exclusivity.
- What a carve-out startup should focus on during its first year after spinning out from its parent organization.
Tech startups have not been immune to the recent economic downturn. Many have been put in a position where fundraising will be next to impossible, so they need to find other ways to survive the dark economic winter until spring arrives. But there’s no reason why any startup leader can’t find a way to guide their company through these difficult times.
For startup leaders looking for a little help, Midstage Institute co-founders Roland Siebelink and Doug Miller have put together a two-part podcast in which they discuss what startup leaders can do during the current downturn and how to lead during lean times. The second part of their conversation shares practical steps on how to cut costs in the short term and position your startup to thrive when the dark times are over.
- Why it’s critical to focus on the parts of your business that are generating cash in the short term.
- The steps to take before you start to lay off employees.
- Why it’s vital for companies to only have one round of layoffs, even during a downturn.
- How to know what employees should be let go if layoffs become necessary.
- How reducing costs by 1% each month can make a huge difference over time.
- How to create flywheels that can be ready to take off and thrive once economic conditions improve.
No matter the industry or the size of a company, the customer experience is often one of the biggest factors in long-term success. With that in mind, Keatext has set out to provide next-level customer analysis feedback. Keatext technology takes emails, surveys, chats, and all other text feedback to help companies understand the customer journey of their clients, including what can be done better.
Keatext founder and CEO Narjes Boufaden recently joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the newest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. Their conversation led to a lot of insight about the importance of the customer journey, as well as Keatext’s startup journey so far and ambition for the future.
- Why Keatext has a product that can be used for both SMBs and enterprise clients.
- How Keatext has eliminated many of the typical challenges of selling to multiple industries.
- What it was like going from working on projects to building a product.
- What Keatext has done to seamlessly connect itself to certain ecosystems.
- What it looks like for Keatext while creating a diverse team where employees fit its culture.
The recent economic downturn has already had a profound impact on tech startups. Many midstage companies are struggling to raise funds or receive valuations they view as fair, leaving many to wonder how they’ll survive the next year or more and come out of the other side of the downturn intact.
With startup leaders in need of guidance, Midstage Institute co-founders Roland Siebelink and Doug Miller have put together a two-part podcast about what startup leaders can do during the current downturn and how to lead during lean times. In the first part of their conversation on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast, Roland and Doug talk about their experience in past economic downturns and how founders can respond to the current situation.
- The need for startups to increase their runway to cover the next 12 to 24 months.
- Why past downturns have been a blessing in disguise for the startups that survive them.
- The importance of leaders being open with their teams during times of uncertainty.
- The benefits of leaders taking time to celebrate small wins during turbulent times.
- Why the company’s bottom line is now more important than the top line.
- Why it’s not such a bad thing to have to make such hard decisions during a downturn.
They say that time is money, so saving time is the same as saving money. One startup that’s trying to do just that for its clients is LeasePilot, which helps commercial real estate companies to draft their leases in half of the time it currently takes.
Operating at the cross-section of commercial real estate and lawyers has given LeasePilot a unique perspective on what it takes to find success in the startup world, even with co-founder Gabriel Safar being a former lawyer. Gabriel joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast on LeasePilot’s journey and what he’s learned along the way.
- Why great technology is only part of the equation in finding success.
- The biggest challenge LeasePilot has faced as a B2B startup.
- Operating a business that has multiple stakeholders with different interests.
- Why LeasePilot is trying a direct approach on its go-to-market.
- The steps LeasePilot took to determine the best potential customers to target.
- Why LeasePilot’s metrics relate to the value they provide.
Ever since the emergence of Airbnb, short-term rentals have been unbelievably popular and easy to find in all corners of the world. But that doesn’t mean it’s been easy for the people in charge of managing all of those properties. Fortunately, tech startup Hostaway has created software to make that job easier, helping to create a better experience for guests and making the job a little easier for property managers.
Startup veteran Marcus Rader is the CEO and co-founder of Hostaway. He recently joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to talk about all things startup-related, including Hostaway’s incredible journey thus far.
- Why founders should never treat their idea like a map.
- The consequences when startups don’t understand their category.
- How startups are able to partner with big companies that don’t want to work with small startups.
- Why some CEOs are good wartime CEOs and others thrive during periods of peace.
- How CEOs should spend their time once they free themselves of direct reports.
- What a startup can gain from tracking and mentioning key metrics on a weekly basis.
We all know that the Internet is loaded with information, but so much of it isn’t structured in a way that can be queried. Well, that’s not the case anymore because of Thinknum, which crawls the Internet for “alternative” data that tech company operators and investors can use to get ahead.
Thinknum co-founder and CEO Gregory Ugwi joined the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast with Roland Siebelink to talk about how he came up with this unique idea, his long-term plans to be a leader in this space, and everything in between.
- Thinknum’s biggest key to building its go-to-market.
- How Thinknum tries to provide value while also generating leads.
- How Thinknum was able to turn things around after struggling to generate sales during its first year.
- The way that Thinknum utilizes its investors beyond the money they provide.
- How Thinknum convinces potential team members to work at a small startup.
- Why Thinknum prefers to hire people who are willing to take risks.
For B2B SaaS companies, keeping data safe and secure has become increasingly important. However, meeting compliances for privacy and security can be problematic and time-consuming. Fortunately, young startup Sprinto is bringing some much-needed relief to this pain point.
Sprinto co-founder and CEO Girish Redekar was a guest on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast with Roland Siebelink. The two talked about Sprinto’s early success and a slew of other topics related to the startup world.
- How and why Sprinto created an end-to-end solution to the problem it solves.
- Why focusing on a specific niche was key to Sprinto’s early success.
- Why Sprinto’s value to its customers is in part due to its end-to-end approach.
- The business benefits of Sprinto using a functional programming paradigm.
- The two macro trends Girish sees happening in the SaaS space.
- Why founders should always take advice from other founders with a grain of salt.
Among other things, the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us the importance of clinical trials. The more streamlined and efficient they are, the more lives can be saved by new treatments and devices. Fortunately, tech startup Deep 6 AI is using artificial intelligence to accelerate patient recruitment for clinical trials and make the entire process more efficient.
Deep 6 AI founder and CEO Wout Brusselaers joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to talk about how Deep 6 impacts the world and what he’s learned during his startup’s journey thus far.
- How Deep 6 went from an AI proposition to being integrated into healthcare workflows.
- What it’s like selling new software to an industry that’s reluctant to accept change.
- The best advice Wout has received on making B2B sales.
- How Deep 6 is trying to attract talent for an increasingly remote workforce.
- The traits that Deep 6 values in potential team members.
- The framework that Deep 6 has created for the things that matter the most.
Most people don’t realize it, but businesses in several industries waste massive amounts of food and money because of inefficient refrigeration practices. On top of that, poor refrigeration practices waste energy and add to our carbon footprint. Fortunately, tech startup Therma is working to address both of those problems at the same time.
Therma has already made a small dent in making the refrigeration supply chain more efficient and is on its way toward doing so much more. Therma founder and CEO Manik Suri joined Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast this week to talk about how Therma helps customers and the environment at the same time, among other topics pertinent to his startup.
- How Therma is able to sell to both large corporations and small businesses.
- Why Therma chose to target growth on two different fronts.
- The benefits of selling customers on both ROI potential and sustainability.
- Why Therma prefers to partner with investors who care about what they care about.
- The benefits that angel investors can bring to startups beyond money.
- The massive potential that exists with mission-driven entrepreneurship.
No matter where you are in the world, repairing infrastructure, especially roads, is a constant battle. If only there was a way to use technology to repair infrastructure in a more efficient way. Well, that day is finally here thanks to RoadBotics, a Pittsburgh-based startup that works with governments all over the world to make digital maps of their infrastructure so that they can use tax dollars more effectively when it’s time to repair roads and other forms of infrastructure.
RoadBotics co-founder and CEO Ben Schmidt joined the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast with Roland Siebelink this week. He shared all of the details of RoadBotics, including its product, its journey, and key lessons learned along the way.
- How RoadBotics spun out of Carnegie Mellon University.
- The unique challenges of working exclusively with governments.
- The surprising benefits of being a company that sells exclusively to governments.
- Why GovTech is a viable option for startups despite its bad reputation.
- The key to finding early adopters in the GovTech space.
- How a small company like RoadBotics was able to expand internationally.
There is typically more than one way to complete a construction project. The key is finding the best way to complete the project, especially when adjustments need to be made midway through. That’s exactly the problem that Alice Technologies is solving after developing the world’s first generative construction simulator. Alice’s software is a form of project management that the construction industry has never seen before.
Alice Technologies founder and CEO Rene Morkos joined the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast with Roland Siebelink this week to talk about this cutting-edge technology and his startup’s progress.
- The journey of developing new technology and building a product that’s useful for construction projects.
- How Alice Technologies was able to determine its ideal customer profile.
- Why a product that is useful for everyone shouldn’t be sold to everyone.
- The method that Alice Technologies uses to identify and fix bottlenecks within the company.
- The factors that determined Alice’s price points and go-to-market approach.
- Why startups should be saying no to customers while trying to build a pipeline.
On the shores of Lake Geneva, there is a small Swiss startup called Olympe that describes itself as the best composition platform in the world. Its name comes from the home of the Greek gods, and fittingly, Olympe has big dreams and big aspirations for addressing packaged business capabilities for enterprise customers.
Olympe co-founder and CEO Laurent Chatelanat recently sat down to speak with startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. They talked about Olympe’s unique location, name, and everything else that makes this a tech startup worth watching.
- Why Olympe’s go-to-market targets innovation people rather than innovation teams.
- The strategy Olympe is using to sell to enterprise clients.
- Why Olympe puts such great value in getting its product into the hands of customers.
- The best ways that Olympe has discovered to help reduce the length of sales cycles.
- The best strategies young startups can use to find partners.
- The value Olympe gains from having a community of users.
Please follow Olympe on any of these social media sites:
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/9439355/
- https://twitter.com/olympe_io
- https://www.instagram.com/olympe.io/
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0cBqRtP9Fg4lNW0Xabkfdg
For companies in almost every industry, success and failure often boil down to the sales process. But what if there was a way to make it easier for sales departments to know who to reach out to and what to say? That’s exactly what Daniel Wiener and his startup Autobound are doing. Autobound works with an existing CRM to analyze data points to find the right buyers and sell to them better.
Daniel recently spoke with startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. The CEO and co-founder of Autobound discussed how his startup began, the unique challenges it has faced, and the young company’s huge aspirations.
- How Autobound was able to narrow down its ideal client profile.
- Why Autobound’s ideal client profile is constantly changing over time.
- Autobound’s challenges while building the best team and finding the right engineering talent.
- How Autobound looks at competition in a new category that it’s trying to lead.
- The strategy Autobound has used to find the right partners.
- The north star that Autobound is striving to reach eventually.
Anyone who’s involved in commercial real estate knows that it’s a big industry with an even bigger data problem. Fortunately, Cameron Steele and his startup Prophia are working to solve that problem. Even though Cameron hasn’t spent much time in the real industry, he’s built software to access and structure critical data, helping those who work in real estate and ultimately helping to lower real estate prices.
Cameron joined the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast with Roland Siebelink this week to talk about how and why Prophia is making a difference.
- The need to build trust and prove your value proposition with potential customers.
- The best way to acquire domain knowledge when you come from outside a particular industry.
- The advantages of coming from the outside of an industry when it comes to solving problems.
- Why, as a software company, Prophia thrives on complexity.
- The importance of talking to customers in a language they understand.
- How Prophia strives to attract customers without a strong brand within the industry.
Customer service is as important now as it’s ever been. Few companies seem to understand that better than France-based startup Miuros, which mines customer service data and turns it into insights that can be useful for companies that want to improve their customer service. Miuros has already started to build an impressive list of clients from all over the world and has plans to expand further.
Miuros co-founder and CEO Benoit Gagnon found some time this week to sit down with startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. The two talked about the history of Miuros, the company’s hopes for the future, and everything in between.
- Why it’s so important for customer service teams to utilize Miuros’ technology.
- How the co-founder relationship at Miuros came to be and why it’s more important than the product.
- How a startup team with no prior sales and marketing experience built a go-to market.
- Why Miuros has decided not to target enterprise clients, at least for now.
- The one thing Miuros wants before fundraising in the U.S.
- How the pandemic forced Miuros to change its approach to finding customers for the better.
One of the most overlooked problems with education in the United States is the low college graduation rate among those who enroll. However, ReUp Education is a tech startup that is seeking to correct that problem, helping to re-enroll students in college so that they can finish what they started and get their degree. With a combination of technology and a dedicated team, ReUp is getting learners back to school and eventually to the graduation stage, one student at a time.
ReUp co-founder and Chief Impact Officer Sarah Horn joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. They talked about the surprisingly low college graduation rate and everything ReUp is doing to help that rate go up while trying to survive as a mission-driven startup.
- How finding mission-driven team members has been key to ReUp’s success.
- How ReUp’s mission-driven model has become a profitable and sustainable venture.
- The approach ReUp has taken to combat a long sales cycle in the education industry.
- ReUp’s methods of finding and aligning with the right partners.
- Why creating a diverse team has been important for ReUp and key to its success.
- The big vision ReUp has for the future and how the company plans to get there.
The jobs market has undergone significant changes in a short period of time and California-based tech startup JobzMall is at the cutting edge of those changes. JobzMall is quite literally a digital mall helping to connect employers and job seekers. The difference is that both parties use video to share their story, using video job ads and video resumes to connect the right candidates with available positions.
JobzMall co-founder and CEO Nathan Candaner recently joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to discuss JobzMall’s unique roots and the incredible traction the startup has found. Nathan was also forthcoming about a variety of topics and lessons he’s learned as a founder.
- How JobzMall has become more of a community than a startup.
- The one mistake Nathan made that many other entrepreneurs also make.
- How JobzMall grew by understanding the value it created for customers.
- Why starting a business can be similar to starting a cult.
- How building relationships and partnerships became JobzMall’s key to making sales.
- What factors go into deciding where JobzMall should expand geographically.
Imagine being able to share your story with the world in a way that will be available forever or getting the chance to ask an ancestor or any remarkable person a question. All of that and more is now possible with StoryFile, a startup that launched its first consumer product in October. Something that started as a way to hear Holocaust survivors is now available to anyone who wants to share their life story or listen to the wisdom of others.
StoryFile co-founder and CEO Heather Maio-Smith spoke with startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. They discussed the roots of StoryFile, its recent launch, and the journey ahead.
- How to know when your product is ready to launch.
- The difference between seeing other people launch a product and doing it yourself.
- How startup leaders know the type of people to put around them.
- Why StoryFile tried to avoid pivoting in the time leading up to its product launch.
- How to handle having a massive vision without having to narrow that vision.
- The future uses of StoryFile’s technology that go beyond its initial market.
In a world that’s full of data and analytics, it’s nice for companies of all industries and sizes to simplify the things they do with that data as much as possible. Fortunately, there are startups like RudderStack that are doing just that. RudderStack is a customer data platform that simplifies integrations as much as possible. While relatively new to the market, RudderStack has already made great strides and is scaling at an impressive rate.
RudderStack founder and CEO Soumyadeb Mitra recently sat down with startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. Soumyadeb shared many of the lessons he’s learned with RudderStack, as well as insight from being the founder of two previous startups:
- The best way to address DIYers being one of your biggest competitors.
- Tangible ways that a founder can balance a startup’s priorities.
- How a founder who has no sales experience can hire leaders for the go-to-market.
- Why things can start to happen automatically when you find the right culture fit.
- How to build trust with both customers and employees.
- What allows a small startup to compete with a larger, more established company.
As startups continue to grow, the time comes when they need to start creating cross-functional value. This is when it becomes necessary for different departments to work together. Various departments might be grouped together into buckets and work together toward a common goal. This is what startup coach Roland Siebelink of the Midstage Institute likes to refer to as value engines.
On this week’s episode of the Midstage Momentum Startup Podcast, Roland spoke with fellow startup coach Martin Fuez about the concept of values engines and why they become necessary when startups reach a certain size.
- The four value engines that every startup should consider.
- How value engines can make it easier for CEOs to delegate.
- Why value engines can help with both organization and governance.
- How everyone at the company can fit into one or more of the value engines.
- How value engines can help shake things up and create new goals every quarter.
Most people probably think about public transportation as inefficient but a necessary evil for getting around. But that’s not going to be the case much longer for the more than 100 cities worldwide that have partnered with Swiftly. As its name implies, Swiftly is a big data platform that aims to make public transportation more efficient. In fact, the company’s mission is to “make cities move efficiently.”
Swiftly co-founder and CEO Jonny Simkin joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest edition of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to talk about the ways that Swiftly is improving public transportation. Jonny discussed Swiftly’s early pivot that led them to work with cities on improving their public transportation systems. He also shared the other key steps and important decisions that have helped to make Swiftly a success.
- The reasons why selling to the government isn’t that different from selling to enterprises.
- How Swiftly has managed to avoid doing customizations for its partners.
- The six core values that drive important decisions at Swiftly.
- How Swiftly balances finding talented employees with those who care about the company’s mission.
- The key to Swiftly having partners in eight different countries.
Sustainability has become more important than ever for businesses of all sizes, in all industries, and in all corners of the world. But how are companies supposed to collect and analyze data related to sustainability in order to meet regulations and make a positive impact on the world? The answer to that question is tech startups like APlanet, which is based in Spain. In just two years, APlanet has made incredible traction and done great work helping CSR departments and sustainability professionals manage data and processes related to sustainability.
APlanet Co-CEO and Co-Founder Johanna Gallo recently spoke with startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. They discussed the need for a startup like APlanet and the amazing progress the company has made in just two years. More importantly, Johanna shared some of the secret sauce of APlanet’s early success.
- The biggest challenges of APlanet entering new markets.
- Why APlanet went against convention by splitting its staff between product and go-to-market from the beginning.
- How APlanet has found a balance between customer feedback and other factors that matter when building a product.
- Why the first employees hired at a startup are so critical in the future of the startup.
- How APlanet measures whether or not potential team members have a startup mentality.
We all know that remote work and distributed companies are a little different from the traditional office setting. There’s always a little bit of magic that’s lost when you don’t have those informal interactions at the office. But in a world that’s becoming increasingly remote and distributed, one startup is trying to replicate the feeling of being in an office. Tandem is a virtual office app that aims to bring back the serendipity of an office setting, even when the team is working remotely.
Tandem CEO and co-founder Rajiv Ayyangar joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. Rajiv talked about the inspiration for Tandem and the importance of collaboration. The two also discussed how Tandem got started and the important lessons Rajiv and his co-founders have learned along the way.
- The advantages of having a team-first mentality when launching a startup.
- The best way for a startup to discover its blindspots as quickly as possible.
- The importance of keeping growth and convergence separated.
- Why it was helpful for Tandem to set company-wide OKRs earlier than other startups.
- Why you shouldn’t value the feedback you receive from every customer equally.
- The pros and cons of using your own product.
Whether you’re one person or a multinational corporation, so much of our personal information exists on the Internet. It has made data security an absolute necessity, and that’s unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. Fortunately, there is a data security startup called Fortanix that’s thinking outside the box and offering a platform that keeps data protected even when you’re on an untrustworthy network.
Fortanix CEO and co-founder Ambuj Kumar recently sat down with startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to discuss his data-first, multi-cloud security startup. Naturally, the conversation moved beyond what Fortanix does with Ambuj sharing the most important lessons he’s learned as a first-time founder and CEO.
- The strategy Ambuj used for speaking with potential customers while developing his product.
- The keys to getting useful feedback from potential customers, even if it’s negative feedback.
- Why Fortanix is striving to sell its product to the top companies in the world.
- Why it’s important for CEOs to handle the first several sales that their startup makes.
- How it’s possible to build a successful company by attracting average talent.
- Why Ambuj doesn’t mind being told that he’s wrong about something.
Imagine walking into a hotel and being able to check in without needing to speak to someone at the front desk. Well, such a scenario will soon be possible thanks to Mrunal Desai and his startup AavGo. Currently, AavGo is rolling out a variety of solutions for the hospitality industry, including contactless check-in, a work management platform for hotel staffs, a digital app for in-house guests, and more.
Mrunal joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to discuss why he started AavGo and all of the ways his startup will change the hotel experience for both guests and staff. They also talked about the many learnings that Mrunal has encountered as a first-time founder.
- The biggest key for AavGo in forging successful partnerships.
- The mistake that AavGo made during its early days that it hopes not to repeat.
- How AavGo is trying to maintain the culture of a small company despite having close to 100 employees.
- The method Mrunal uses when starting new teams or hiring new employees.
- The thing founders should get from investors beyond their money.
- Why Mrunal’s biggest success as a founder has nothing to do with the company’s success.
More than ever, it’s critical for big companies to find the right candidates. But upon receiving thousands of CVs for dozens of open positions, how is it possible for a company to sift through all of the applicants and find the right candidate for a job? Well, it’s possible now with Impress.AI, which has helped to automate the process to make it easier for recruiters of enterprises to hire at scale, making the hiring process more efficient and fairer at the same time.
Impress.AI co-founder and CEO Sudh Ahuja joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. The conversation focused on how Impress.AI has been able to change the hiring process for the better, as well as some of the successes and shortcomings during Sudh’s first experience as a startup CEO.
- How Impress.AI guarantees that every applicant receives an interview.
- How Impress.AI has been able to build trust with enterprise clients.
- Why early case studies are critical when working with enterprises.
- The features of Impress.AI’s product that make it a good fit for enterprise clients.
- How Impress.AI is trying to make up for not investing more in marketing.
- How Impress.AI’s founding principles are still playing a key role in the company.
Selling to enterprise clients is one of the biggest challenges faced by B2B startups. It’s not necessarily any easier when deciding to sell to enterprise clients from the very beginning. That’s one of the lessons that Tydy co-founder Kiran Menon has learned. Tydy is a SaaS HR and operations platform that was built to target enterprise clients.
Kiran joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. They discussed why Tydy decided from the start to target enterprise customers and all of the challenges and learnings that have occurred along the way.
- How being focused on enterprises helped to build the product.
- How a product can be more appealing to enterprise clients.
- The key to expanding accounts with enterprise clients.
- How quickly should you be able to show the value of your product?
- Why fundraising is different when enterprise clients are your target.
- The two biggest traits that any entrepreneur should have before starting their journey.
The COVID-19 pandemic has helped to shine a light on the need for telehealth platforms. One startup that is striving to fill the void in the market is MediQuo, which is based in Spain. MediQuo is aiming to increase doctor efficiency and patient access with asynchronous healthcare consultations via both a 24/7 instant service and a SaaS platform.
MediQuo co-founder and CEO Bruno Cuevas joined startup coach Roland Siebelink this week on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to discuss the state of telehealth and the services that MediQuo brings to the table. They also discussed the process of getting MediQuo off the ground and Bruno’s key learnings along the way.
- How MediQuo has attempted to solve a two-sided marketplace with different experiences for both patients and health professionals.
- The value of earning trust in the marketplace.
- Why Bruno regrets not trying to monetize MediQuo sooner.
- Why it can be a good idea to extract value once you’ve started to deliver it.
- Useful fundraising methods outside of the venture capital route.
- Why your customers are sometimes the best source of financing.
We can all agree that software security is more important than ever. But even startups that specialize in security face challenges, especially for first-time founders. IriusRisk is a perfect example of that. This Spanish-born startup plans one step ahead by predicting security issues software may face before one line of code is written.
IriusRisk CEO and co-founder Stephen de Vries recently spoke with midstage startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. About the challenges of being a first-time founder and the important lessons he’s learned along the way.
- Why starting out as a consultant agency has benefited IriusRisk.
- How IriusRisk developed a more serious channel strategy.
- How to know when it’s time to hire a game-changer in a particular department.
- How IriusRisk has managed to keep the CEO and VP of products separate roles.
- The best practices for inspiring employees from different departments.
- How Stephen has adapted from being on the technical side of things to being a CEO.
With so much innovation in the world right now, what is the new frontier for technology? According to WearWorks co-founders Keith Kirkland and Kevin Yoo, that new frontier is the sense of touch. WearWorks is a startup that’s focused on communicating using the sense of touch. The company’s first product Wayband is a navigation tool that uses only the sense of touch and is geared toward blind and vision-impaired individuals.
Keith and Kevin recently joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to discuss how they arrived at this new frontier and how they’ve managed to navigate it to this point.
- The importance of understanding what the market or your target customer is missing.
- Recognizing that teams grow and develop ideas, not individuals.
- Why you don’t always have to agree with your co-founders but you should respect them.
- How to recognize when something might be bad in the short-term but good in the long run.
- Why it’s important for startups to have an extended family outside of their employees.
- The concept of co-founders constantly merging their perspectives together.
What’s the difference between being a consultant and running a startup? The answer might lie with InRule co-founders Rik Chomko and Loren Goodman. The two were working as consultants in the decision management sector, but when they found a pragmatic way of conducting business that could be turned into a product, they made the leap. With that, InRule was born.
Rik and Loren recently sat down to talk with Midstage startup coach Roland Siebelink to discuss their journey from consultants to founders and the value proposition that has made InRule successful. The two co-founders also shared a lot of the lessons they’ve learned along the way.
- Why it’s helpful to narrow your market and dominate one niche before expanding.
- The difference between creating new products and selling old products to new people.
- How Rik and Loren make sure not to add friction to their co-founder relationship.
- Why it’s important for co-founders to share the same values before scaling the company.
- The benefits of having a coach to guide you to the right answers.
There’s no question that healthcare is one of the most complicated and flawed industries in the world. Adding in a global pandemic certainly hasn’t helped. However, tech startup Redox has tried to add a little more efficiency to the entire industry. It’s truly a mission-driven company that is striving to play a role in improving patient care.
Redox cofounders Luke Bonney and James Lloyd sat down with midstage startup coach Roland Siebelink to talk about the company’s mission and a variety of other topics related to their startup journey.
- How cofounder relationships are similar to marriage.
- The importance of trust for companies that operate remotely.
- The challenge of finding employees who are motivated by purpose and passion.
- Why Redox has parted ways with high-performing employees.
- How finding the right coach became an inflection point for Redox.
One of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that all of us should make an effort to live healthier lives. One company that’s trying to make that easier for people is Kafoodle, a UK-based food-compliance company. Kafoodle works with commercial kitchens of all kinds, from bars and restaurants to schools, hospitals, and care homes. The company’s goal is to make the planet healthier by giving people the information about food they need to make good choices.
Kafoodle Cofounder and CEO Tarryn Gorre spoke with Roland Siebelink this week on the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. They talked at length about Tarryn’s past in hospitality, her passion for healthier food choices, and Kafoodle’s role as a startup that’s trying to create a healthier planet.
- The importance of Kafoodle finding partners to work with on food health.
- How Kafoodle has adapted to serve a world that prioritizes convenience.
- The methods Kafoodle uses to reach out to customers and engage with the community.
- How the pandemic became a blessing in disguise despite restaurants shutting down.
- Why Kafoodle is determined to keep its team small.
Finding success as a tech startup is difficult enough under the best of circumstances. But when you base your business around blockchain technology and mix in the uncertainty of cryptocurrencies and a global pandemic, things become even more complicated. Yet, LuxTag has been able to find multiple verticals to serve and create positive momentum moving forward.
LuxTag co-founders Rene Bernard and Jeff McDonald sat down with Roland Siebelink on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. They discussed both the unique challenges and successes that LuxTag has experienced during the company’s startup journey.
- How Rene and Jeff foresaw the future of blockchain technology years before it happened.
- The challenge of navigating the boom-and-bust cycles of cryptocurrencies.
- The difficulty of having technology before there was a use case or a problem to solve.
- How LuxTag copes gets developers to stay with the company.
- Finding a balance between investing in technology and recognizing the importance of sales.
- The importance of finding employees who have the same background as your core target group.
Drone technology has already changed the way humans interact with the world around them. Further research and development continue to make strides with new innovations. One company to come out of that research is Emesent, which has developed technology that allows drones to fly beyond the line of sight of humans where there is no GPS to guide them.
Emesent co-founders Stefan Hrabar and Farid Kendoul joined Roland Siebelink of the Midstage Institute on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Momentum Podcast. They discussed Emesent’s transition from a research project to a startup and the keys to the company’s rapid growth.
- What are the important similarities between being a researcher and being a founder?
- How did underground mining become the focus of Emesent?
- The biggest challenge when Emesent grew from seven to 80 people in two and a half years.
- The importance of being conscious of company culture with such a fast-growing company.
- How Emesent was able to have “pent up demand” as soon as it launched its product.
It’s estimated that after receiving seed funding, roughly half of midstage startups will fail to reach each subsequent round of fundraising. That means only a small fraction survive long enough to raise a Series C or D. But why are so many startups losing momentum in the midstage and struggling to survive? There are a lot of reasons why this happens, but on the bright side, there are just as many ways to avoid this fate.
On this week’s edition of the Midstage Momentum Podcast, Roland Siebelink of the Midstage Institute outlines the best ways to enhance a startup’s chances of surviving the mid-stage and finding success.
- What are the five drivers of mid-stage momentum?
- What does it mean to have a roundtable of accountability?
- How do you put together a mid-stage master plan?
- How to get your company into an unassailable market position.
- Why leaders should want CEO to mean Continually Educating Officer.
Video platforms are everywhere nowadays, and that’s a trend that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Livepeer is hoping to build open video infrastructure for the world using blockchain and open-source technology. It’s a lofty and ambitious goal, but Livepeer has already started to make headway.
Livepeer co-founder Doug Petkanics joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast to discuss the progress Livepeer has made some of the key lessons he’s learned across his three startups.
- The importance of making Livepeer fit into existing video workflows.
- The flywheel that exists at Livepeer between the commercial product and the engineering side of the company.
- Why founders need to be driven by their industry and not their idea.
- Why founders need to be cognizant of their strengths, as well as the bias they may have.
- How a small collection of advisors and an executive coach have helped Doug find clarity and make better decisions as a founder.
To learn more about Livepeer, click here.
One of the first lessons all founders learn is that it takes more than a good product to build a company. For example, there are a lot of confusing legal documents that startups need to get off the ground. Fortunately, Capbase is around to help founders who can’t afford a high-priced lawyer with the legal side of starting a company.
Capbase CEO and co-founder Greg Miaskiewicz joined Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast. Greg shared how he discovered the need for a service like Capbase, as well as important lessons for all founders.
- Why a service like Capbase can delay the need for a startup to hire a lawyer.
- How Greg learned the hard way that having the best technology doesn’t always equal sales.
- Why having a distribution secret is just as important as having a great product.
- How Capbase has been able to build trust among its target group.
- The most important milestones in the lifecycle of a startup.
- Why the ability to test hypotheses can make or break a startup.
To know more about Capbase, click here.
Some estimate as many as 75 billion new devices will come online in the next five years. This is where tech startup Latent AI enters the equation. Latent AI is helping developers build AI models, specifically ones that can be used on edge devices.
Latent AI co-founders Jags Kandasamy and Sek Chai joined Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast. In addition to talking about Latent AI’s technology and market, they discussed all of the ways they’ve tried to set themselves up for success.
- How to identify talent and find team members that fit the company’s needs.
- Why building a network within your given industry can be critical for new startups.
- The need to educate partners even before you can close any business deals.
- The role of advisors in Latent AI and how to find them.
- The importance of CEOs understanding “the four quadrants of me” and how to discover the “unknown unknowns.”
To know more about Latent AI, click here.
They say that slow and steady wins the race, but how many tech startups succeed with a patient approach? Cash management startup Neo is a shining example of slow and steady winning the race. While waiting two years for regulatory clearance, Neo built a huge customer base before they could even sell. Now they are poised to reap the rewards.
CEO Laurent Descout and Chief Product Officer Emmanuel Anton, joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast. They discussed how Neo used those two years to its advantage and shared other insights into the young company’s keys to success.
- How Neo gained insight into the pain points of its core customers.
- The formula for keeping all four co-founders on the same page.
- The right time to do away with generic roles and give team members clear roles.
- The importance of listening to potential clients to create the right product.
- Why trust within a founding team is an essential part of success.
To know more about Neo, click here.
If you’re a fan of sci-fi, you’ll expect robots will one day rule the world. Thanks to tech startup Mobot, we’re a little closer to that day. The young company is changing QA for mobile apps by using robots to test apps in ways that imitate the way that humans actually use those apps.
Mobot founder and CEO Eden Full Goh joined startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast. Eden shared the inspiration for Mobot, the secret sauce that makes the company special, and lessons she has learned since founding the company in 2018.
- Reflecting on Eden’s choice to drop out of college to accept a Thiel Fellowship.
- Why Mobot’s pricing resembles a cell phone plan.
- How Mobot is learning about the dynamics of different teams working together.
- Building a company culture at Mobot in Eden’s image.
- Why you shouldn’t be disqualified from doing something just because you haven’t done it before.
- The lens through which founders should take advice.
To know more about Mobot, click here.
The pandemic has been terrible for the restaurant industry. But that hasn’t stopped tech startup Superb or its founder and CEO Zaedo Musa. Superb is a guest experience management platform that created the first OS for restaurants. Despite this being a tough time for restaurants, Superb has found great traction and is being used by restaurants worldwide.
Zaedo joined mid-stage startup coach Roland Siebelink on the latest edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast. They discussed Zaedo’s history in the restaurant industry and how that experience has helped him make headway with restaurant-based software during a difficult time for the industry.
- How Superb improves the guest experience and drives repeat business for restaurants.
- Why having a brand in mind from the start is essential for startup success.
- Why doubling-down on their roadmap was the right move for Superb when the pandemic hit.
- Superb’s journey to becoming a market leader in a new category.
- How niching down and starting small is the right move for companies with big aspirations.
- Why money should not be the most important criteria in the search for investors.
To know more about Superb, click here.
The growth of the Internet has been nothing but amazing. Since I sent my first email from a unix terminal in 1992 (using ‘vi’!), we’ve seen the Internet over 50 billion (!) new “things” connect.
With people using so many IoT devices and facing cyber-security threats, it’s more important than ever for networks to be properly managed. That’s where Milan-based tech startup Tanaza comes in. They provide a smarter and cheaper alternative for network solutions, empowering both internal and external IT departments with their software.
Tanaza CEO and founder Sebastiano Bertani joined Roland Siebelink on the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast this week. The two discussed Tanaza’s journey, the company’s multiple pivots, and many of the challenges it has faced, as well as those that are still ahead:
- Why Tanaza considers itself the Android of networking while the bigger companies are Apple.
- How distinguishing between short-term and long-term goals can impact how you approach customers.
- Why avoiding distractions from the core of the company is Tanaza’s biggest challenge.
- Why it’s okay not to play it safe and not be afraid of being the idiot in the room.
- The importance of building a team that has chemistry and not just the best individual for a role.
To know more about Tanaza, click here.
Scaling operations is the biggest challenge any business will ever face. With so many things changing, it helps to have automation tools that you can control. That is precisely the pain point being solved by Alessio Alionco and his startup Pipefy. Unlike other workflow software, Pipefy is lightweight and geared toward non-technical users. It helps manage requests from stakeholders and make individual contributors more efficient. As Alessio puts it: “empower the doer.”
Alessio joined midstage startup coach Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast. The two discussed Pipefy’s huge success trajectory, as well as the company’s learnings and challenges along the way:
- Why it’s essential for leaders to “Go to the Gemba,” which is where value is created.
- Recognizing that changes take longer to implement as a business grows.
- Why a lot of competition is actually a positive and how to respond to it.
- Pipefy’s commitment to being a people-first company and what that looks like in practice.
- What it means to take care of the things “you don’t know that you don’t know.”
To know more about Pipefy, click here.
Think about how easy it is to send a text message compared to making a phone call or sending a letter via snail mail. Well, what if text messages could be used by consumers to pay bills or companies to converse with customers who owe money? That’s precisely the use case addressed by startup Everyware. Using technology originally developed to help hotels and resorts communicate with travelers, Everyware is now making bill-paying as simple as sending a text message.
Everyware founder and CEO Larry Talley joined the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast this week to speak with Roland Siebelink. The two discussed Everyware’s origins, the startup’s ambitions, and everything in between:
- Why targeting ISVs was Everyware’s ticket into different verticals.
- How Everyware was able to create a win-win proposition for potential partners.
- Everyware’s key to competing with internal IT departments and convincing dev teams to give up control.
- The impact of Everyware’s goal of being a unicorn has on its fundraising needs.
- Why Larry prefers to stay away from hiring people who have worked for a big corporation.
To know more about Everyware, click here.
On the surface, there doesn’t appear to be a close connection between farming and modern technology. But Milan Dobrota and his startup Agremo are starting to change that. Agremo uses AI technology to analyze aerial imagery as a method to help in crop production. Agremo’s technology can be used for any crop and addresses a huge lack of data that is useful for crops and agriculture.
Milan spent time this week speaking with Roland Siebelink on the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast. They spoke about how the agriculture industry can benefit from Agremo’s technology in multiple ways and some of the reasons for Agremo’s early success:
- Why some of Agremo’s best customers are ones that have already tried similar solutions.
- Why Agremo’s focus has nothing to do with competing companies.
- The best way to approach customers when selling a new technology.
- How creating partnerships has been an integral part of Agremo’s growth.
- Why it’s so critical for startup founders to keep learning so that they can be better than they were yesterday.
To know more about Agremo, click here.
It’s always great to talk about startup success stories. But what about those startups that have great potential but are still struggling to get on track and find a path to success? There is still a lot to learn from startups like Knowable, an audio-first learning program that launched in 2020. While Knowable has big goals and strives to make a meaningful impact on the world, it is still in the process of making inroads.
Knowable CEO and co-founder Warren Shaeffer spoke with scaleup ally Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast. As a veteran founder of multiple startups, Warren had a lot to say about his current company and advice he’d like to pass on to other founders:
- What he learned about an advertisement-supported business model from his previous startup.
- Why the best leaders are willing to be vulnerable and admit to their mistakes.
- What is the difference between selling vitamins and selling painkillers?
- Why feeding off one another’s energy has created a good partnership between Warren and his co-founder Alex.
- The importance of establishing relationships with other founders and using their experience to help on your journey.
To know more about Knowable, click here.
Blockchain technology continues to change the world in new ways. Tech startup Data Gumbo is one of the latest examples of that. Data Gumbo uses blockchain technology to create a network of smart contracts for industrial companies to automate their vendor management. By doing so, Data Gumbo vastly reduces supply chain friction while also bringing trust into an area severely lacking it.
Date Gumbo CEO Andrew Bruce sat down for a conversation with startup ally Roland Siebelink this week on the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast. Andrew explained why blockchain technology provides the perfect solution for this particular use case. He also shared the steps Data Gumbo has taken on its road to success:
- How the idea for Data Gumbo came from companies that didn’t trust each other.
- Why business sponsorship was a better fit for Data Gumbo than venture capital investing.
- The importance of looking at what investors can bring to the table outside of money.
- Andrew’s strong opinion on the evil of pilot projects.
- How a structured operating system played a key role in Data Gumbo’s growth.
- Why establishing the company value of “comfortable with chaos” has been critical for Data Gumbo.
To know more about Data Gumbo, click here.
For most startups, creating one product, finding the right market for it, and turning it into a profitable business is hard enough. But what if you were doing the same thing simultaneously with two different products? That’s the challenge for the co-founders of Greendeck, who created a price optimization engine for retailers and are now working on a platform called Cliff.ai that tracks all business metrics. Fortunately, all three of Greendeck’s co-founders are developers with a passion for building products that make an impact.
Greendeck CEO Aayush Jain and COO Aditya Joshi are Roland’s guests on this week’s Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast. They discuss the roots of their co-founder partnership, the unique journey from an India-based healthcare company to a startup that serves European fashion retailers, and all of the challenges they’ve met along the way:
- How learning from customers can be helpful in finding your niche.
- How three co-founders with similar backgrounds each found their right role to play.
- Why experimenting and learning from mistakes is such a critical part of finding the right answer.
- The challenge of managing two products that have a different go-to-market approach.
- How just showing up every day and being persistent will eventually lead to success.
To know more about Greendeck, click here.
It can be a beautiful thing when new technology coming to the market creates opportunities for startups to do something useful with the data and resources available to them. That is exactly what founder Jakob Muus and his startup Tracks are doing. Tracks uses the telematics systems inside trucks all across Europe to measure the cost of CO2 and look for ways that drivers and fleet owners can be more efficient with their use of CO2.
Jakob joined Roland Siebelink on this week’s edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum podcast. He discussed how Tracks can make it easier to make the right decision, the challenges his startup faced during the pandemic, and the long-term vision he has for Tracks:
- How Airbnb’s business model became the inspiration for Tracks.
- The best way to approach things when you have a two-sided market.
- Why it was a mistake for such a small startup to approach big companies at the beginning.
- How Tracks can succeed without being the driver of the ecosystem.
- Why the best investor for any startup is actually the customer.
To know more about Tracks, click here.
Do you play the games you like best—or the ones that have been marketed to you the hardest? This is a huge problem in the gaming world. FRVR is hoping to fix a broken system by helping gamers play the games they’ll enjoy the most while also helping game developers reach their audience better.
FRVR co-founders Brian Meidell and Chris Benjaminsen joined Roland Siebelink on this episode of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast. In addition to discussing how FRVR is moving things beyond the traditional app store, the two entrepreneurs shared a variety of thoughts on the gaming industry and their keys to startup success.
- How modern gamers don’t have a preference in technology, opening the door to distribute games in different ways.
- How FRVR is able to manage multiple products across multiple geographies.
- The importance of one co-founder being good at the things that the other co-founder is bad at.
- Why it’s not true that a product has to be good before it’s used.
- A new methodology created by FRVR called the four “ates.”
To know more about FRVR, click here.
Are you satisfied with modern voice technology as we move into 2021? Otto Söderlund, the CEO and co-founder of Speechly, still sees a lot of shortcomings in the technology. That’s why his startup has developed technology that performs speech recognition and natural language understanding in real-time. In other words, Speechly is doing things with voice technology that the big players in that space have yet to do.
Otto was a guest on the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast this week with Roland Siebelink. In addition to talking about Speechly’s incredible technology, Otto shared his vision for the future of voice technology and who stands to benefit the most from Speechly’s core technology:
- How product and development teams can integrate Speechly into their products.
- Why being tech-oriented has allowed Speechly to reduce its focus on marketing.
- How serving as a development shop was key in Speechly ultimately finding product-market fit.
- Why Otto believes that mutual trust is the biggest key to a successful co-founder relationship.
- Otto’s belief that co-founders are a family and their company is their “baby.”
In the startup world, there’s no substitute for working with the right co-founder. That’s exactly what Henry Bennett and Paul Loram have found in one another. The two have worked together on multiple startups over the past 15 years. Their latest venture, YourWelcome, is a POS tablet for rental properties that enable property managers to sell their own services, moving short-term rentals into a space that was previously only occupied by hotels.
Henry and Paul joined scaleup ally Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast. They shared their secrets to a successful co-founder relationship and how they’ve been able to find success in multiple startup ventures:
- How an old house gave Henry the idea for YourWelcome.
- Why constant dialogue is crucial for any startup partnership.
- The importance of having an end goal in mind during fundraising.
- Why startups shouldn’t forget to approach different customer segments in different ways.
- Why some startups will have a second chance to sell to their target group coming out of the pandemic.
Whether you love working with them or not, spreadsheets are a part of doing business. Spreadsheets are the most commonly used type of software in the world with literally billions of users. Fortunately, the days of boring old spreadsheets are over thanks to Yannick Rault and his startup Sheetgo. With Sheetgo, users can ask the question, “What else can I do with my spreadsheet?” They can create workflows and automate processes that lead to greater efficiency while running a business.
Yannick joined the latest edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast with Roland Siebelink. The founder and CEO of Sheetgo discussed all of the ways that Sheetgo can impact the billions of spreadsheet users and so much more:
- How Google didn’t even know the idea behind Sheetgo was possible before they saw it themselves.
- How Sheetgo has been able to survive and thrive without as much financing as competing companies.
- Why finding partners early on played a crucial role in Sheetgo finding its way in a crowded space.
- The two types of investors that are best able to help startups realize their dreams.
- How starting out as an add-on ended up being the best option for Sheetgo.
Are you still sending Word docs into Docusign? Thanks to Contractbook, legal tech has been taken to the next level with contract lifecycle management. Contractbook helps SMBs to automate everything related to their legal documents. In fact, the company sets out to make its users feel like legal professionals. Contractbook has already made great headway in this sphere and has huge ambitions to help every SMB in the world in his area of need.
This week, scaleup ally Roland Siebelink spoke with Contractbook co-founder and CEO Niels Martin Brochner on the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast. Niels shared all of the details on how Contractbook was founded, the market it serves, and its plot to dominate the world of contract lifecycle management:
- How the failure of his first startup helped Niels make Contractbook a success.
- The importance of proving to customers that you have insight into your field.
- How Contractbook discovered its target group but remains open to customers outside of that group.
- Why scaling your business might require a hard reset in some parts of your business.
- How the culture of a company can change based on that company’s targets and ambitions.
Do you ever wish AI could handle some of your company’s project coordination and free up team members to do their best work? Well, it’s 2020, and all of that is possible with Forecast. Co-founder and CEO Dennis Kayser describes Forecast as “the ultimate power-up for project teams and professional service organizations.” With the help of Forecast.app, you can automate your busy work and better manage projects, resources, and finances.
This week, Dennis spoke with scaleup ally Roland Siebelink on the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast. They discussed the origins of Forecast and the lessons Dennis has learned along the way:
- Why Forecast focused on making the best product possible, as well as a product that is simple to use.
- How remote working during the pandemic made Forecast’s customers realize they needed this type of product.
- How Forecast listens to its customers but doesn’t take what they say literally.
- Why fitting the company culture is the top priority when hiring team members at Forecast.
- The traits young startup founders need to survive when they’re just getting started on their journey.
Worldwide travel has come to a grinding halt during the ongoing pandemic. But the travel industry always bounces back after a setback, and it always comes back stronger than before. Helping to make that a reality is Redeam, a startup that connects travelers, operators, and re-sellers by bringing the same technology used by airlines and hotels to theme parks, attractions, and countless other tourist activities.
On the newest edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast, Roland Siebelink spoke with Redeam CEO Melanie Meador. They discuss how Redeam will change the travel experience and how the company has adjusted following the pandemic:
- How Redeam addresses both the supply side and the demand side of the travel industry.
- Melanie’s unique challenges of becoming Redeam’s successor CEO in 2018.
- The role that emotional intelligence plays in being a CEO.
- The importance of CEOs remembering why they hired team members in the first place.
- How Redeam has put in the effort and energy to maintain company culture with everyone working remotely.
Cryptocurrency is slowly but surely taking over the world, one blockchain at a time. Unfortunately, the IRS has caught on and isn’t going to let people make money off crypto investments without paying taxes. But the silver lining is a tech startup like ZenLedger, which works to help investors and tax professionals with their tax compliance needs as it relates to cryptocurrency.
In the latest edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast, Roland Siebelink spoke with ZenLedger co-founder and CEO Pat Larsen. They discuss ZenLedger’s strengths as a company and Pat’s unique journey to becoming the CEO of a startup:
- How Pat’s time as a chemistry major and Navy pilot led him to become a CEO.
- The challenges of deciding you want to be a CEO before having a use case.
- Why startup leaders should take every meeting they can get when looking for investors.
- Why curiosity is a quality that startups shouldn’t overlook when hiring employees.
- The importance of CEOs accepting that they don’t have all of the answers, as long as they’re looking for answers.
There are no limits to how Artificial Intelligence can have a positive impact on the world, and the dental industry is about to learn that first-hand. The aptly named Pearl, led by Ophir Tanz, Founder & CEO and Kyle Stanley, Chief Clinical Officer, is changing the way that dentists diagnose and treat patients. Thanks to Pearl, every dentist in the world will one day have AI technology double-checking their work and making sure patients get the best care possible.
In this week’s edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast, Roland Siebelink spoke with Ophir and Kyle. They discuss Pearl’s lofty goals to forever change dentistry for the better and the unique startup journey Ophir and Kyle have taken with Pearl:
- How Pearl’s AI technology helps solve the problem of inconsistency in the dental profession.
- How they plan to seamlessly embed Pearl in the workflow of every dental practice.
- Why the time is right for Pearl to become a pioneer in an emerging market.
- Why Pearl has made its biggest investment in solving problems rather than making sales.
- Why a willingness to learn is essential for all entrepreneurs, especially first-time startup founders.
It’s always good for startups of all stages to have goals and be working every day in pursuit of those goals. However, too many startups lose sight of those goals and the practices that can help get them there. That’s the precise problem that founder and CEO Matt Tucker is looking to address with his startup Koan, an alignment platform that’s heavily inspired by OKRs.
In the latest edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast, Roland Siebelink spoke with Matt. The two discussed a wide array of topics related to Koan and the qualities that put startups in a position to be successful:
- How Koan is solving a “structured collaboration problem” by helping teams work together and work transparently to create a common purpose across the entire company.
- Why several small but positive behaviors can end up making a significant difference in the end.
- The importance of startup leaders “doing the basics,” even when a business is in its infancy.
- How a combination of coaching and software can be the right combination for creating lasting change within a startup.
- Why leaders need to take into account the problem they’re solving and how quickly they need to scale when it comes to fundraising.
Efficiency is always the name of the game, particularly for development teams that don’t like distractions or interruptions. That’s why co-founders Ori Keren and Dan Lines have created LinearB.io, a project management tool aimed at improving workflow for dev teams without distracting meetings, standups and reporting tools.
In the latest edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast, Roland Siebelink spoke with Ori and Dan. They discuss how LinearB is empowering dev teams to work asynchronously as well as Ori and Dan’s journey as startup founders:
- Why dev teams can sometimes function at a high level while, at other times, productivity falls off.
- Why LinearB built both engineering and go-to-market infrastructures during the early days of the company.
- Why interacting with your community can be invaluable in finding product-market fit.
- How LinearB found success by getting its product in the hands of customers as soon as possible, even if the product was far from perfect.
- The meaning of Ori’s saying that: “every line of code is a business decision.”
There are few things in this world as complicated as banking regulation. That’s especially true when so many small-medium businesses become part of the delivery chain. Tech startup LexAlign is simplifying compliance for banks by developing the “missing piece in the digitization of banking.”
In this week’s edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast, tech-ally Roland Siebelink speaks with LexAlign CEO and co-founder Trevor Lain. They discuss the complexities of what LexAlign does and the challenges of a startup that’s hoping to conquer a new frontier:
- How the mortgage crisis helped Trevor realize the need for a company like LexAlign.
- How LexAlign tries to empower small-medium businesses while also fostering innovation and competition.
- What it’s like for a startup with broad capabilities to find a target customer.
- Why it’s okay not to have a finished product during the early days of your startup.
- The importance of having a purpose behind your day-to-day activities rather than being solely focused on money.
With adult-use cannabis products legal in 11 US states and several countries, the industry is poised for massive growth over the next several years. Tech startup Apex Trading is aiding in that growth by providing a wholesale business management and sales platform for businesses in the US cannabis industry.
In the latest edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast, Roland Siebelink speaks with Apex Trading co-founders John Manlove and Rob Fess. They discuss the goals and challenges of a young company that was founded in early 2018:
- How far the cannabis industry has come, as well as the challenges it still faces.
- What John’s experience with another startup taught him about the dangers of a CEO burning out.
- The importance of co-founders understanding one another and understanding the dynamic between one another.
- How keeping a “plant-first” mentality has allowed Trade Apex to connect with the cannabis community and earn the trust of clients.
- Finding product-market fit when your product is needed but not required.
In a world that’s been reshaped by the ongoing pandemic, remote work and virtual events are becoming more common than most of us could have ever imagined. InEvent provides a platform for team management and virtual events, and as a result, the startup has grown by leaps and bounds over the last several months.
In this week’s episode, Roland Siebelink speaks with InEvent co-founder and CEO Pedro Góes. They talk about InEvent’s journey to product-market-fit and the startup’s sudden success during the pandemic:
- How quickly the demand for virtual events has grown and the potential for future growth.
- The many steps InEvent took to find the right type of customer.
- How InEvent views salespeople for a self-service product that they want to sell itself.
- Why InEvent places so much emphasis on customer satisfaction and customer feedback.
- The importance of not comparing yourself to other startups when it comes to finding product market fit.
Companies are doing their best to remain efficient in this remote-working world. They are eager to try any tool that helps to keep their employees productive. CloudApp is one of the tools benefiting from this trend.
In this episode, Roland Siebelink speaks with CEO Scott Smith and CMO Joe Martin. They discuss the growth of their startup and what CloudApp brings to the SaaS market.
Listen to the full podcast to hear Scott and Joe share:
- How CloudApp can save time and be a useful tool for async workers.
- Why working for a startup is attractive option compared to a larger company.
- The best times to seek advice and suggestions from investors and board members.
- Why CloudApp doesn’t subscribe to the typical Silicon Valley approach to business.
- The new meaning behind the acronym ARR and how it’s shaping CloudApp’s approach.
There’s no doubt that is more and more business being conducted remotely these days with the ongoing global pandemic. Of course, some companies like design startup Superside were ahead of the curve. Superside has been 100% remote since Day 1, delivering better and faster design projects and giving customers 24/7 support. In this week’s edition of the Silicon Momentum Valley Podcast, Roland Siebelink of scaleupallies.com speaks with Superside founder and CEO Fredrik Thomassen about how the changes in the world have helped Superside and how he hopes Superside can help change the world.
Listen to the full podcast to hear Roland and Fredrik discuss:
- How Superside’s technology and commitment to finding the best designers in the world help separate the startup from its competitors.
- Why it’s so important to Fredrik that Superside helps to level the global playing field when it comes to labor.
- How the purpose of outsourcing has changed over the last 20-30 years.
- Who Fredrik listens to when he needs advice about Superside.
- The vision Fredrik has for Superside over the next 10 years and how that long-term vision has impacted his decisions as the company’s CEO.
There’s nothing worse than seeing your time go down the drain. In this week’s edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast, Roland Seibelink of scaleupallies.com tackles the issue of potential time-sucks for startup CEOs. With so many potential distractions, it’s easy for startup leaders and their companies to lose focus on what’s important. The result is time wasted on tasks that could be outsourced or accomplished more efficiently as opposed to the differentiations that a startup brings to the market.
Listen to this week’s podcast to listen to Roland advise startup CEOs on:
- Common mistakes startups make that result in time-sucks.
- Doing a self-review of your startup to find your market-observable differentiators.
- The four key criteria to determine if a task is worth your time and effort.
- Why it’s okay to outsource certain tasks to avoid time-sucks so you can focus on what you do best.
On this week’s edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast, Roland Siebelink of scaleupallies.com talks about trying to get your startup out of a funk. About four or five years after it’s first founded, most startups start to hit a wall, causing the excitement to die down and making it harder to inspire employees to go the extra mile. Roland talks about the best ways to get your startup out of a funk using examples from startups he’s helped in the past.
Listen to the full podcast to hear Roland’s insight on:
- How to reconnect to the reasons and purpose of starting your business in the first place.
- How an Australian gaming company inspired people to “escape from boredom.”
- How an employee software company stuck to its purpose of empowering employees.
- Why political slogans could hold the key to getting your startup out of its funk.
On the latest edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast, Roland Siebelink of scaleupallies.com spoke with Krish Ramineni, the co-founder of Fireflies, an AI voice assistant. Fireflies.ai has similar functionality to systems like Siri or Alexa but is designed for the workplace. During the podcast, you will hear from Krish about how Fireflies is the perfect workplace assistant while so many people are working remotely amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
You will also hear the whole conversation between Roland and Krish that covers topics like:
- How a voice assistant wasn’t the initial priority when Krish and his co-founder first created Fireflies.
- Why Fireflies is yet to hire any workers in the sales department.
- The key distinctions between building a product and building a team when things start to take off and accelerate faster than expected.
- The importance of use cases as a way to learn about the market.
- How Fireflies has achieved organizational virality.
In his latest podcast, Roland Siebelink of ScaleupAllies.com tackles the question of how to hold your co-founder accountable. This is one of the most common issues for startup and scale-up leaders who have been working together at the same mid-stage startup for several years. Whether the problem is too much criticism or not enough support from your fellow co-founder, it’s an issue that needs to be approached in the right way.
In this podcast, you will hear:
• Why calling out your co-founder directly can cause more harm than good.
• How reviewing your core values on a regular basis can help you hold your co-founder accountable and keep you on the same page.
• An example of mid-stage startup CodeCov and why they have a core value that makes it easy to hold everyone accountable.
• The three key criteria for reviewing your core values to determine which ones remain relevant and which ones can be let go.
• How the core values of a startup can help keep co-founders on common ground with one another, making it easier to hold one another accountable.
On the latest edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast, Roland Siebelink of https://scaleupallies.com talks with Jerrod Engelberg, Eli Hooten, and Subhi Beidas, the three re-founders of CodeCov. While CodeCov was originally founded by Steve Peak in 2014, the three re-founders have taken the reins and amassed a user base of nearly one million developers. Together, they are changing code coverage by changing it from a backward-looking practice to a forward-looking practice.
In this episode, you will have a chance to hear:
- Why CodeCov’s innovation from making code coverage a forward-looking practice rather than a backward-looking practice is such a difference-maker for developers.
- All about CodeCov’s backstory from its original founder to a group of re-founders and why passing the torch to Engelberg, Hooten, and Beidas was the right move.
- How CodeCov stays true to its core values and why defining the startup’s mission and principle values is more important than most startup leaders realize.
- Eli Hooten explains why the phrase “Deliver with Love” has become a crucial part of CodeCov’s mission.
- The lessons that CodeCov’s three re-founders have learned from their experience and what tips they would like to pass on to startup leaders in a similar position.
Here's a glance of what you'll learn in this episode:
In this week's podcast, Roland is joined by Rik Chomko and Loren Goodman of InRule Technologies.
Rik and Loren, shares their views on the current news in the Tech Industry, as well as their experiences and key learnings with InRule.
Tune in to this podcast to discover...
Current News in the Tech Industry
- Space
- Flying Taxi
- changes in Google's leadership
InRule's Story
- What does InRule do?
- Key Learnings from their experience with InRule
The tech companies that pull through these during trying times will do so because their founders opened their eyes and started thinking differently. In the last installment of Roland Siebelink’s CRISIS Framework for tech leaders, Roland discusses the 4 key areas new opportunities can be found in. Spoiler: merging with another company is just one of many ways! Be a savvy leader and check out the podcast here:
Your business has survived these tough months - now what? The company has survived but likely has some wounds to deal with around trust and a sense of negativity. Infusing positive energy requires 4 key actions from you as founder. Listen in as Roland Siebelink shares his best tips for finding your stride (and maybe even a better stride!) as we potentially start to approach the other side of the COVID crisis.
To get started right away with bridging the crisis in your startup, go to r13k.co/crisis. We put together all resources there that we've mentioned in this video: The crisis action plan, a one page crisis bridging plan, other videos, and more.
To learn more about advising/coaching services with Roland, visit: www.rolandsiebelink.com
Layoffs for a startup employee can feel vastly different than for employees at an established company. In today’s episode of our Leading in a Crisis series, Roland talks about the top considerations startups should spend time on before resorting to this cost saving approach. He also shares why moving fast and going big with your RIF plan can actually help build trust and prevent a break down of the culture.
To get started right away with bridging the crisis in your startup, go to r13k.co/crisis. We put together all resources there that we've mentioned in this video: The crisis action plan, a one page crisis bridging plan, other videos, and more.
To learn more about advising/coaching services with Roland, visit: www.rolandsiebelink.com
In times of a crisis, people want you to tell them what to do. In the continuation of our CRISIS series, Roland discusses why you need to provide clarity for your team today even if you don’t know what next week will look like.
Listen to the link below learn how to make quick decisions during these uncertain times.
To get started right away with bridging the crisis in your startup, go to r13k.co/crisis. We put together all resources there that we've mentioned in this video: The crisis action plan, a one page crisis bridging plan, other videos, and more.
To learn more about advising/coaching services with Roland, visit: www.rolandsiebelink.com
Reality is drastically different than it was a few months ago. Have you fully assessed the new reality in your company? In today's episode, Roland guides you through the 4 aspects of your business that you'll need to find the hard truth on in order to make it through the current market still viable. And he'll even teach you how to avoid falling into the traps of quick, emotion based decisions. Listen in as Roland continues this series on leading your startup through crisis.
To get started right away with bridging the crisis in your startup, go to r13k.co/crisis. We put together all resources there that we've mentioned in this video: The crisis action plan, a one page crisis bridging plan, other videos, and more.
To learn more about advising/coaching services with Roland, visit: www.rolandsiebelink.com
Many of us are facing challenging times going through this crisis. We will talk about the steps you can take to lead your startup through CRISIS with maximum chances of survival and success. This first step is all about communication.
- Be visible every day;
- Do answer the questions;
- Be clear about what you know and what you don't know and;
- set up the necessary crisis teams so that you can actually start delving really into the issues.
To get started right away with bridging the crisis in your startup, go to r13k.co/crisis. We put together all resources there that we've mentioned in this video. The crisis action plan, a one page crisis bridging plan, other videos, and more.
This is an interesting time in our history as we are facing a global health crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted our way of living, the startups we nurture and depend on, and the outlook of the global economy.
In this episode, Roland explains his framework on how to lead your startup through a C.R.I.S.I.S. which will help you navigate your startup during these uncertain times.
To learn more about advising/coaching services with Roland, visit: www.rolandsiebelink.com.
Do cofounders need their own version of “marital counseling?”
Should friends start businesses together even if it’s not usually advisable for friends to even live together?
And is 3 the magic number for cofounders instead of two?
Listen in to this week’s episode in which I interview 2 of Redox’s 3 cofounders, Luke Bonney and James Lloyd. We discuss the above questions and what they’ve learned to do to keep a healthy partnership as well as how to clean up train wrecks in their startup journey.
We also discuss their specific role in health tech and how Redox is serving this emerging, complicated market.
To learn more about Redox and how they can serve your company, read their blog, listen to their own podcast or see current career opportunities, visit: https://www.redoxengine.com/
To learn more about advising/coaching services with Roland, visit: www.rolandsiebelink.com
In this episode, Roland interviews Kevin Yoo and Keith Kirkland, cofounders of Wear.Works, a wearable tech that allows for wayfinding and navigation using the sense of touch/feeling. We talk about this exciting technology that is helping to pioneer the way to endless possibilities utilizing this lesser used human sense. We also talk about what it means to have inclusive tech, a strong sense of mission and are also sure to ask the tough questions about how to keep the co-founder “marriage” healthy and well.
Visit www.wear.works to learn about an exciting opportunity to bring this technology into your own life and also to learn more about potential career opportunities.