Scale by Design: Recent Episodes
SecureVision
The Scale by Design show was created to eliminate blind spots for startup and growth-stage leaders by inviting guests from different disciplines: Venture Capital, Tech, and Go-To-Market. Each of these disciplines owns a key part of scaling insanely valuable product companies. Regardless if someone is a VC, Tech, or GTM leader, there's so much they can learn from leaders of different disciplines. And the outcome of this knowledge share is that leaders can collaborate and build better solutions to generate ideal business outcomes by understanding their VC, Tech, and GTM counterparts.
In this podcast episode, host James Mackey and our guest Mark Sherman, Managing Partner at Telstra Ventures, explore the current state of the financing market and discuss some sectors that are seeing great investments. Our guest highlights the significant trends in artificial intelligence, climate tech, and cybersecurity.
They explore the impact of tools like chat GPT on workforce planning and the potential for the redeployment of headcount to other activities that are less automatable.
They also delve into the rise of climate tech and the opportunities it presents for the future. Lastly, they touch on the critical need for cybersecurity in our increasingly data-driven world and how the current market impacts cyber companies right now.
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/scalebydesign/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
In this informative episode host, James Mackey sits down with Industry Leaders in the tech space and dives into the current economic environment and its impact on the tech industry, including recent layoffs and the state of tech industry health.
Our guests share their insights and experiences with starting and running companies during a downturn, offering perspectives from both the VC side and the Founder, CEO side.
They discuss strategies for fundraising in the current environment, the metrics VCs are prioritizing right now, and how to run lean organizations in a market downturn.
Additionally, they explore how VCs are working alongside and advising portfolio companies in 2023 and how to determine which expenses to cut and which to double down on to achieve strong unit economics.
Guest Panel:
Doug Landis - Growth Partner at Emergence Capital
Scott Barker - Partner and Co-Founder of GTM Fund
Brandon Metcalf - Founder and CEO of Blueprint, Asymbl, and Place.
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
In this episode, host James Mackey, explores the story behind the founding of Crescent Fund, a micro VC fund focused on student startups in Southern California.
We’ll hear from Gaurav Mehta, Managing Partner, and Co-Founder, about their background and the inspiration for the fund, as well as the path to raising capital and doing the first deals. They also discuss the markets and companies that students in the region are interested in starting and joining, and their career aspirations beyond college.
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
Raluca Mackey, Director of Talent at Vertex Ventures, joins host James Mackey to discuss the topic of employee engagement in light of the current economic downturn.
The conversation covers various important aspects of engaging employees, such as how layoffs should be handled, ways to show employees that they are valued, the role of paid time off in driving engagement and performance, and the importance of having a minimum work-life balance policy.
The discussion aims to provide insights and practical advice for managers and business leaders on how to maintain employee engagement in challenging times.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/3-pillars-employee-engagement-amid-layoffs-economic-turmoil-mackey/
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
Jason Radisson, Founder & CEO at Shift One (ex-Uber, McKinsey) discusses:
- Running lean orgs in a market downturn
- Leveraging near and offshore teams
- Lessons learned from building teams at Uber
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
Asad Zaman, CEO of Sales Talent Agency, Inc. joins host James Mackey to discuss the state of the labor market, the impact on demand vs. supply of talent, hiring in a tough market, & more.
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
Eren Uman, Co-Founder, and Partner at Greenlight Partners join host James Mackey to discuss the impact of capital market uncertainty on early-stage funding, the unique industry of climate tech, the due diligence process for startups & more.
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
In this episode, Michael Benezra and Noah Ente of Erez Capital join James Mackey, CEO of SecureVision, to discuss investing in the BIPOC community, thoughts on the crypto crash, lack of innovation in many sectors, and a lot more.
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
David J. Neff, Partner at Ecliptic Capital, shares his experience breaking into the VC industry. He discusses the value add of non-traditional backgrounds in VC. And breaks down the enormous range of opportunities in ClimateTech.
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
Scott shares his founding story of GTMfund and the power of having an operator-led fund. He breaks down how every stage of the VC lifecycle is optimized at GTMfund and how this has contributed to almost all of their investments raising subsequent funds.
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
Michael Nogen, the Managing Partner of Overton Venture Capital, shares his thoughts on next-gen commerce, his investment philosophy, and how VCs and founders need to approach 2023.
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
Leen Kawas, the Managing General Partner of Propel Bio Partners, shares how her unique background as a pharmacist, entrepreneur, scientist, and investor has influenced her perspective on startups and the drug development lifecycle.
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
Jason Webber, Principal and Co-Founder at Sustainable Conversion Ventures joins host James Mackey on Scale by Design - Venture Capital Show.
Jason Webber explains how many great innovations will die on the vine with the growing shortfall of semi-commercial fermentation capacity. Not necessarily capacity for the multi-billion dollar markets (food/proteins) so much as those getting squeezed out in the sub-billion dollar markets that could be most disruptive. These are typically too small for strategics to care about but ripe for innovation due to stagnation.
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
Vikram Chaudhery and Paul Conley join host James Mackey to discuss their vision as Founding Partners at General Inception.
The conversation flows from how General Inception is changing the game by partnering with scientific founders to provide technical and GTM strategy. As well as rolling up their sleeves with founders to work with partners, customers, and VCs.
Vikram and Paul then provide their insight on current market conditions and how General Inception and its founders are positioned to thrive. As well as which industries currently show the most promise for investors, the convergence of BioTech with other industries, and the opportunities therein.
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
Daniel Hoffer, Managing Director at AutoTech Ventures, joins host James Mackey on the Scale by Design - Venture Capital Show. Daniel dives into the importance of hiring top talent, organizational planning, and different ways to compensate early-stage employees. The negative impact of convincing talent to join a startup by providing an inflated title.
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
Elizabeth Edwards is the Founder and Managing Partner of H Venture. Elizabeth focuses on early-stage science-based consumer brands at the convergence of CPG and BioTech. She discusses advice to early-stage founders on how to navigate current market conditions, capital efficiency, unit economics, and supply chain impact on margin. She also provides insight into defining a path to profitable growth through unit economics at scale and revenue milestones.
Our host James Mackey, SecureVision CEO
Listen to our full episode list here:
https://www.scalebydesign.io/
Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/
Our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@securevision1677
1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews
Thanks for listening!
Jen Spencer, CEO at SmartBug Media joins host James Mackey on the Scale by Design show to discuss capacity planning, capacity utilization, when it makes sense to scale existing staff versus when it makes sense to hire externally, how you keep great people engaged & more!
Patrick Hudgins, Founder & CEO at Delegate, joins host James Mackey on the Scale by Design show to discuss the nuances of moving up or down from your ICP, why founders & CEOs should consider standing up a function prior to hiring someone to run it, cold email outreach best practices and more!
Episode Chapters
00:21 Who is Patrick Hudgins?
01:45 Companies buy technology but don’t understand what to do with it
04:05 Marketing is a huge challenge
08:01 Looking at sales and marketing talent in terms of what bucket of revenue they thrive in
09:15 How to onboard new sales people
12:15 Founder magic on sales calls
15:02 Challenges with moving up from your ICP
18:46 Enterprise sales motions are different
22:15 How to show clients that work is being done
22:53 Standing up a department before making a hire
26:15 Financing challenges and options
33:12 What Q4 hiring could look like
38:45 Email marketing best practices
45:35 Wrap up
Ross Wolfe, Founding Partner & Managing Director of Diab Venture Partners, joins host James Mackey on the Scale by Design show to discuss Dragons vs Unicorns, how venture capital firms are deploying staff into the trenches with portfolio companies, different stock classes and incentive strategies, valuations, and a lot more! 00:25 Who is Ross Wolfe?
02:15 What is a “dragon”?
04:10 VCs are now more on the ground with their portfolio companies
04:45 Breakdown of different stock classes and incentive strategies
10:58 Fair-market value considerations
16:55 Trends in the venture capital and fundraising market
20:31 The downside of high valuations
22:57 What drives such large valuations
25:45 Is the VC market actually contracting?
27:45 Expansion in global investment
36:05 Wrap up
Lio Slama, CEO at AskNeo, joins host James Mackey to discuss how sales and marketing teams have lost the human touch, breaking down internal silos to usher in the next evolution of personalized customer engagement, fundraising tips, startup accelerator tips and more!
Episode Chapters
00:25 Who is Lio Slama? Former architect, painter (Instagram @arynewyork), and serial entrepreneur.
01:45 How the pandemic impacted AskNeo
03:15 How the pandemic impacted SecureVision
04:45 Have sales and marketing teams lost the human touch?
06:57 Paradigm shift towards collaboration and 1 on 1 communication
09:58 How AskNeo is helping evolve personalized customer engagement
13:23 What’s next for AskNeo?
14:52 Fundraising advice
16:25 Benefits to Techstars startup accelerator
17:56 Benefits to Newchip startup accelerator
20:27 How much equity do you give to an accelerator?
22:15 What are VCs looking for in a founder/CEO?
25:45 How previous failures can help your next startup
28:52 Hiring advisors to help accelerate your company
31:02 Core metrics have a way of evolving
40:12 Data is key
41:02 Wrap up
Anisha Nandi, CEO at Verbate.io, joins host James Mackey to discuss how to create ERGs that generate business outcomes, scaling ERGs, ERG best practices and more!
Episode Chapters
00:19 Who is Anisha Nandi and what is Verbate?
02:10 The scope and size of ERGs are expanding
02:45 How does Verbate help ERGs?
06:15 What type of companies are using ERGs
08:51 How do you scale ERGs?
10:34 Putting an operational framework around ERGs
12:05 Examples of ERG business outcomes
15:15 When does a company typically implement an ERG?
18:03 Breaking down a typical ERG budget
19:05 Should an ERG program manager be accountable for outcomes?
20:45 How does ERG influence product and marketing
22:35 ERG is starting to influence company policy
25:20 What’s next for ERGs?
28:25 ERG benchmarking data
36:30 Wrap up
Neetha Ratakonda, joins host James Mackey to discuss revenue observability, the necessary psychology a founder/CEO needs to succeed, why founder/CEOs need to be constantly changing their role as the company changes and more!
Episode Chapters:
00:25 Who is Neetha Ratakonda?
01:20 Transitioning from engineering to CEO
03:10 What is revenue observability?
06:05 What companies need revenue observability?
07:47 How do you make your product sticky?
11:03 The importance of being clear with what you want to be what you don’t want to be
12:41 Lessons learned from being a founder
14:30 Psychology of founders
18:05 Bringing on partners and advisors early on
20:12 Skill set of leadership team
24:05 Founder CEOs have to change their role as the company changes
29:25 Fundraising best practices
31:05 When should a company shift into revenue mode
32:35 Pricing strategy
35:45 Enterprise business units are like different companies inside the same company
40:12 Wrap up
Yurii Filipchuk, Founder & CEO of Party.Space (an online virtual party platform), joins host James Mackey on the Scale by Design show to discuss what the market looks like right now for the Metaverse, who is going to use the Metaverse?, lessons learned from fundraising , and more!00:15 Who is Yurii Filipchuk
01:22 Yuri’s background
02:34 How to host a party in the Metaverse
04:40 Winning business without a complete product
07:05 Metaverse payment model
08:45 What does the market look like right now for the Metaverse
11:22 Lessons learned from fundraising
13:33 How much detail do you get into in the initial pitch
15:39 Is there an ideal customer for Metaverse virtual events?
18:15 Initial failures
21:58 Who is going to use the Metaverse?
22:57 G2 value-add
28:19 Figuring out what deal size works for your company
35:10 Nuances with hiring sales people
38:01 Virtual job fairs
41:09 Nice to have vs Must have
43:24 Fractional resources
47:34 Wrap up
Scott Leese, 6x Sales Leader, 3x Founder, 3x Author, Sales Consultant, Strategic Advisor, Angel Investor, and Evangelist, joins host James Mackey on the Scale by Design show to discuss common scaling mistakes, the massive impact advisors can have, and more!
Episode Chapters
00:20 Who is Scott Leese?
1:58 Common scaling mistakes
7:25 When should the founder/CEO hand over sales?
12:51 The importance of having an advisor
14:06 Paying the cost of advisors is worth the investment
16:45 Challenges with allocating cash raised from investors
18:32 Hiring advisors vs hiring high-level contributors in the early stages of a company
28:32 Learning how to delegate to cut the learning curve and to focus on scale
30:15 Issues with onboarding in the early stages
31:05 The power of process playbooks
34:51 Salary and compensation structure for early stage companies
38:40 The importance of a VP of Sales going through the sales process
40:15 Getting topped off
44:12 CEOs shouldn’t blindly follow VC advice
46:10 Wrap up
Sasanka Atapattu, Founder & CEO at LaunchSource, joins host James Mackey on the Scale by Design show to discuss how to prepare for the layoffs that might continue throughout the rest of 2022, there is nothing more important than talent acquisition, the great attrition and more!
Episode Chapters
00:13 Who is Sasanka Atapattu and what is LaunchSource?
02:03 What is happening in the marketplace right now as it pertains to talent acquisition
04:40 The layoffs might continue throughout the rest of 2022; how to prepare?
10:40 Talent acquisition is the single most important thing in an organization
13:15 40% of employees are considering other opportunities
15:45 The best organizations are constantly optimizing
17:25 LinkedIn’s first CHRO’s thoughts on employee attrition
22:15 Philosophical views on talent acquisition
23:25 People have a tendency to oversimplify things that aren’t in their swim lane
26:45 Frustrations with company leaders have misplaced confidence with hiring
28:51 Thinking about scaling a company to the next level
30:03 Customer segmentation
32:42 What scale is and what scale isn’t
36:56 Using advisors and making key hires to help lay the foundation to scale
45:25 Wrap up
Ben Miller, Founder & CEO of ChroniFI, joins host James Mackey on the Scale by Design show to discuss how our society doesn’t educate us on personal finance, experience in a startup accelerator, and more!
Episode Chapters
00:17 Who is Ben Miller?
00:50 What is Chronifi?
02:25 Where is Chronifi in the development cycle?
04:53 Our society doesn’t educate us on personal finance
06:05 Moving from Goldman Sachs to starting a product company
12:25 Experience in a startup accelerator
17:15 Overcoming fears when starting a company
20:07 Everybody’s winging it
21:58 Being comfortable in your own skin
23:25 Leaders are more relatable when they act human; and humans don’t have all the answers
24:48 How do you determine the feature set and product roadmap
30:58 Lessons learned from Robert Shiller from time at Yale
35:12 Putting in place structures that help you make decisions
38:05 Book recommendations for personal finance
40:02 Wrap up
Brett Lindenberg, Founder & CEO at Mindstamp (interactive video platform), joins host James Mackey on the Scale by Design show to discuss the benefits and applications of interactive video, being a bootstrapped company, breaking down the customer feedback loop process and more!
Episode Chapters
00:14 Who is Brett Lindenberg?
00:35 What is interactive video?
01:25 What are the applications of interactive video?
03:02 HubSpot’s take on interactive video
04:10 Who is using interactive video?
05:10 How does interactive video convert?
06:35 Who are the players in the interactive video space?
09:14 The benefits of a bootstrapped company
10:45 Breaking down the customer feedback loop process
12:01 Segmenting and prioritizing customer feedback
13:40 How to generate demand
16:15 Deep dive into various marketing strategies
24:15 How to handle churn
25:25 How did SecureVision (host James Mackey’s business) get started?
27:15 Niche job boards
30:15 Employees expect companies and CEO to take a stance
32:01 Employees are placing a huge emphasis on flexibility
35:35 The importance of being empathetic
39:03 Wrap up
Jon Conelias, CEO at Elevent, joins host James Mackey to discuss demand and acquisition strategies, lessons learned from successful exits, the power of simplifying the message, and more!
Episode Chapters
00:19 Who is Jon Conelias?
02:30 Biggest lessons learned from 3 successful exits
07:14 CEOs need to be adaptable
08:25 Demand and acquisition strategies
17:45 Organic Linkedin content strategy
21:35 The power of simplifying the message
25:02 How to scale out an executive team
32:01 Wrap up
Corey Kossack, CEO at Aspireship, joins host James Mackey to discuss the problem with hiring candidates only with exact match previous experience, maintaining an aggressive posture even in uncertain macroeconomic conditions, how founder-CEOs can sometimes exist in a bubble, and more!
Episode Chapters
00:19 Who is Corey Kossack
01:35 Launching a new company right before Covid
06:55 Pushing a paradigm shift to not just hire candidates with exact match experience
10:45 Companies in 2021 we were willing to take a chance on something new
16:06 When companies pause hiring, it creates demand
18:15 Maintaining an aggressive posture even in uncertain macroeconomic conditions
21:02 Sometimes founder-CEOs can exist in a bubble
26:08 Play offense when coming out of a correction
29:20 Wrap up
Kevin Philpott, Head of UX & Product Design at Pie Insurance and UX evangelist, joins host James Mackey to discuss the skill sets needed for a career in UX, ideal UX team sizes, how an org becomes more sophisticated with UX over time and more!
Episode Chapters
00:21 Who is Kevin Philpott?
02:15 Pie Insurance’s scale journey
09:15 What are the skill sets needed for a career in UX
11:45 Ideal UX team sizes
15:01 What roles are needed to fill out the ideal UX team
18:31 UX scale trap
19:45 How an org becomes more sophisticated with UX over time
24:10 How to develop a UX vision
27:02 Every UX team member needs to be tied to something measurable
28:43 What metrics should UX teams track?
30:58 Challenges with Net Promoter Score (NPS)
33:35 The importance of customer journey mapping
35:40 Career development tips for people looking to move up in UX
Tony Caraballo joins host James Mackey on the Scale by Design show to discuss the impact UX can make on your product, provides tactical UX how-to guidance, how UX works cross-functionally across the org and a lot more!
00:20 Who to Tony Caraballo
01:55 How to have repeatable success within the UX function
04:21 Overview of the UX lifecycle in an effort to improve the product
09:45 Determining the audience of user testing
13:30 Reaching out to candidates to participate in user testing
18:25 Gathering feedback from in-app sources
19:55 Building feedback into the process
21:02 How does UX work cross-functionally across the org?
24:15 Where does the UX process break down?
28:15 Experience with moving into UX leadership
36:05 Huge shifts aren’t always needed, small incremental changes can have a huge impact
Jacob Garlick, Managing Partner at Abraham Trust, joins host James Mackey to discuss the concept, and the hands-on tactics, of using your vision of the future as a guiding light for investment and a lot more!
Episode Chapters:
00:20 Who is Jacob Garlick?
02:10 Crafting your vision of the future as an investment thesis
06:25 Breaking down mHelpDesk’s origin, growth, and exit
09:45 Using customer feedback to inform product roadmaps
14:35 Leading up to mHelpDesk’s exit
20:30 “Scott Score” - what to look for in a founding team before making an investment
27:25 Product vs Market Fit vs GTM as it relates to choosing what to invest in
29:00 Is there an ideal number of founders when choosing a company to invest in?
33:56 How do you select a co-founder?
37:30 Why the NBA “Dream Team” initially failed
39:15 Key Performance Indicators when evaluating what to investment in and evaluating investment success in portfolio companies
43:55 What’s happening with tech layoffs?
49:01 How will tech recover this time around compared to 2020?
51:45 Is office space in trouble?