Silicon Valley Startup Podcast: Recent Episodes
Founders Floor
Welcome to the Silicon Valley Startup Podcast, hosted by us here at Founders Floor - an immersive coworking accelerator that mentors and backs startups right here in San Jose. On every episode, we have new investors and founders sharing their wisdom on how to create that truly successful startup company. Our main rule on this podcast is to tell it like it is so that you can use the candid advice we share to help grow your own company.
This episode is Part 2 of a Workshop with well-known Silicon Valley investor, Bill Reichert. Bill illustrates exactly how entrepreneurs can be the three ‘c’s to impress investors - clear, compelling and credible. He also covers a really important part of investor discussions - the lies, or white lies, a founder should never tell to an investor!
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe so that we can keep bringing you more investors!
In this episode, well-known Silicon Valley investor, Bill Reichert runs a startup workshop for founders. Bill is the Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures, which he co-founded with early Apple employees, Guy Kawasaki. Bill has invested in many successful startups, including Pandora and Kaboodle.
This is Part 1 of a 2-part workshop, where Bill teaches entrepreneurs how to ‘wow’ investors. In his signature unorthodox fashion, he covers what he thinks about storytelling, templates for pitches and reports, and how to reach an investor’s heart.
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe so that we can keep bringing you more investors!
In Part 2 of this 2-part episode, we talk to Andrew Filev, the founder and CEO of Wrike, a cloud-based work management platform and one of the fastest growing companies in North America according to Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 List in 2017.
Andrew discusses:
- How the company behaved differently post-funding rounds
- Pitfalls founders should look out for after they raise a funding round
- How he approaches attracting and retaining quality employees
- The future of collaborative work management with increasing numbers of remote workers
- How they coped with migrating to new technologies to keep up
- How he balanced his own product vision with customer feedback
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe so that we can keep bringing you more investors!
In Part 1 of this 2-part episode, we talk to Andrew Filev, the founder and CEO of Wrike, a cloud-based work management platform and one of the fastest growing companies in North America according to Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 List in 2017.
Andrew discusses:
- The reason for Wrike’s growth
- The immigration path from Russia to Silicon Valley
- How he came up with the idea for Wrike
- How and why he decided to bootstrap the company and how successful that was
- Strategies Wrike employed as a company that led to early success
- How he dealt with the psychological and company pressures that early startups face
- The thought process behind raising Series A and Series B rounds
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe so that we can keep bringing you more investors!
In this episode, we talk to Silicon Valley investors, Jim Connor, currently with Sand Hill Angels and Nick Triantos, an investor at Ignition Partners, with 20 years experience in the industry, from being a successful technical founder right through to his current role as an investor.
Our investors discuss:
- The characteristics that make a successful entrepreneur
- What’s involved in the sometimes harsh but rewarding reality of being a startup founder
- The best way to reach out to investors
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe so that we can keep bringing you more investors!
This is part 2 of our 2 part episode with Santi Subotovsky, investor at Emergence Capital. Emergence Capital was awarded best venture capital firm of the year in 2017 by the National Venture Association and Santi has recently experienced a lot of success as one of the early investors in the now publicly-traded, Zoom.
Santi discusses:
- Critical metrics
- Going from seed to Series A
- The ideal CEO profile
- Future trends for B2B and SaaS startups
- The factors that make startups stand out
- Thoughts on how startups can approach valuation
- Patterns with pricing models
- His opinion on corporate investment in the early stage
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe so that we can keep bringing you more investors!
In this episode, we talk to Santi Subotovsky, investor at Emergence Capital, in Part 1 of a 2-part episode. Emergence Capital was awarded best venture capital firm of the year in 2017 by the National Venture Association and Santi has recently experienced a lot of success as one of the early investors in the now publicly-traded, Zoom.
Santi discusses:
- his background and how he reached the successful position he’s in today
- what his immigration path was like to the US from Argentina
- his transition from entrepreneur to investor
- what’s next for Emergence Capital
- how they spot the best companies and early talent like Zoom and Salesforce.com
- what metrics to focus on as a startup
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe so that we can keep bringing you more investors!
In this week's The Weekly Roundup of tech and startup news on April 19, 2019, we cover:
- What AI bias means for the future
- The difference between a true marketplace and a ‘managed marketplace’
- How Colossus, the robot, saved the day
- An easy breakdown of IPO week
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe - we really appreciate your support!
For a full list of sources, head to FoundersFloor.com/podcasts
In this week's The Weekly Roundup of tech and startup news on April 12, 2019, we cover:
- Coinbase launching a new debit card
- Israel - the ‘startup nation’
- Typical traits of programmers
- Using a startup’s space for more productivity, and
- Yes, we are being listened to...
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe - we really appreciate your support!
For a full list of sources, head to FoundersFloor.com/podcasts
In this week's The Weekly Roundup of tech and startup news on April 5, 2019, we cover:
- Technological barriers to flying cars
- Dealing with startup failures
- Andreessen Horowitz shifts the VC model
- Patagonia's refusal to stock certain companies with a 'power vest' uniform, and
- Our latest startup event has just been announced
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe - we really appreciate your support!
For a full list of sources, head to FoundersFloor.com/podcasts
In this week's The Weekly Roundup of tech and startup news on March 29, 2019, we cover:
- Interesting pre-IPO figures for Zoom and Pinterest
- Facebook reforms its policies
- Lyft prepares to hit the stock market
- Copyright reform protests in Europe
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe - we really appreciate your support!
In this week’s The Weekly Roundup of tech and startup news on March 22, 2019, we cover:
- Robot journalism
- How New Zealand is putting pressure on big tech
- The future of live video
- VC intros
- How founders should pay themselves
- The growth metrics that are meaningless
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe – we really appreciate your support!
Head to FoundersFloor.com/podcasts for a full list of today's sources.
In this week's The Weekly Roundup of tech and startup news on March 15, 2019, we cover:
- Thoughts on Y Combinator - but not the story from this week you’re thinking of
- The future of the world wide web
- The latest bizarre craze in Silicon Valley
- What the Pentagon is doing with AI
- A quick SWSW roundup
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe - we really appreciate your support!
For a full list of sources, head to FoundersFloor.com/podcasts
In this week's The Weekly Roundup of tech and startup news on March 8, 2019, we cover:
- What's behind outspoken Social Capital CEO, Chamath Palihapitiya's "identity crisis"
- Jeff Bezos's thoughts on the future of retail
- The next generation of web design
- Reid Hoffman's latest on blitzscaling
- Pros and cons of on-demand enterprise
- The happiest day on the internet in the last decade
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe - we really appreciate your support!
For a full list of sources, head to FoundersFloor.com/podcasts
In this episode, we hear from Nick Triantos, Venture Partner at Ignition Partners in Part 2 of a 2 part episode. Take a look at our back catalog for Part 1 of the episode – it should be 2 episodes back.
Ignition is a well-known VC firm in the Bay Area that invests in startups at Seed and Series A stages. They’ve had over 60 successful exits and are actively investing out of their fifth fund of $200 million.
Nick discusses:
- How to start thinking about selling your company as a founding team
- The kind of startups that would entice him to invest
- Rules of thumb for figuring out a valuation
- Views on M & A trends in the software industry
- What happens with convertible notes, and
- Where he sees the VC landscape heading in terms of ICOs in the next few years.
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe so that we can keep bringing you more investors!
In this week's The Weekly Roundup of tech and startup news on March 1, 2019, we cover:
- The latest immigration statistics for H1-B visas
- How internet marketplaces unlock economic wealth
- Building online communities
- Changing PR around AI
- 10 breakthrough technologies according to Bill Gates
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe - we really appreciate your support!
Welcome to the Silicon Valley Startup Podcast, hosted by Founders Floor - an immersive coworking accelerator that mentors and backs startups in Silicon Valley.
This episode is part of our Investor Series where we invite expert Silicon Valley investors share their wisdom with you on the fundraising process.
In this episode, we hear from Nick Triantos, Venture Partner at Ignition Partners in Part 1 of a 2 part episode - Part 2 will be released next week.
Ignition is a well-known VC firm in the Bay Area that invests in startups at Seed and Series A stages. They’ve had over 60 successful exits and are actively investing out of their fifth fund of $200 million.
Nick discusses:
- How to manage the transition from being a highly technical founder to a well-rounded business CEO
- What he looks for in a startup at each funding round
- Post-funding expectations
- Managing rapid startup growth (including managing company culture during these periods), and
- Advice on how to persevere through hard times.
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe so that we can keep bringing you more tech and startup news each week!
In this week's The Weekly Roundup of tech and startup news on February 22, 2019, we cover:
- Tips for raising a seed or Series A round
- How to keep investors up to date
- Reframing the future of work
- Adoption of enterprise AI
- Self-driving insurance issues
- Storytelling your startup in 100 words
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe so that we can keep bringing you more tech and startup news each week!
In this week's The Weekly Roundup of tech and startup news on February 17, 2019, we cover:
- The context behind Amazon's shift out of New York
- The next big thing in the gaming industry
- How to navigate startup salaries after a funding round
- Revolutionary AI tech that creators aren't releasing due to fears of misuse
- A Tinder-style app for cows
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe so that we can keep bringing you more tech and startup news each week!
In this week's Weekly Roundup on February 1, 2019, we cover:
- What has really changed in venture capital
- The pros and cons of SAFE or convertible notes
- Innovative hiring practices to try
- The two things you need to get from early customers and more.
- The White House and 5G
- The Boring Company's next target, and
- The startup reimagining packaging
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe so that we can keep bringing you content you're interested in.
Sources: FoundersFloor.com/podcasts
In this week's Weekly Roundup on February 1, 2019, we cover
- The reasons behind Tesla releasing all of its patents
- Management essentials for startups according to a VC
- Apple’s shutdown of apps that Facebook uses
- Disparities in health care and AI
- How tech salaries are stagnating, and
- New communications technology using laser audio techniques.
If you like what you hear, please rate, review and subscribe so that we can keep bringing you content you're interested in.
Sources: FoundersFloor.com/podcasts
Welcome to our podcast show, The Weekly Roundup. At the end of every week, we bring you a roundup of the latest articles and trends from VCs, interest pieces from around the web, and the need-to-know tech and startup news from the past week.
In this episode on January 25, 2019, we cover:
- The allegations behind the Oracle lawsuit
- David Bowie’s future internet thinking
- What big tech lobbying means for privacy laws
- EU's antitrust enforcer on the way out
- Nest camera's alert of a missile attack
- The rise and fall of meal delivery startups
- Screen-sharing technology to watch, and
- Boeing's flying car
If you liked what you heard, please rate, review and subscribe so that we can keep bringing you more valuable info from the tech and startup world.
Welcome to our podcast show, The Weekly Roundup. This show is part of the Silicon Valley Startup Podcast, which is brought to you by Founders Floor, a coworking accelerator for startups here in Silicon Valley.
At the end of every week, we’ll bring you a roundup of the latest articles and trends from VCs, interest pieces from around the web, and the need-to-know tech and startup news from the past week.
In this episode on January 19, 2019, we have a roundup from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, news from Mastercard’s new policy around companies that automatically bill consumers, how tech workers are uniting against forced arbitration, China’s role in the global economy, thoughts on Slack’s new logo and much more.
Welcome to our new podcast show, The Weekly Roundup.
At the end of every week, we’ll bring you a roundup of what’s been happening in the world of tech and startups. We gather the latest articles and trends from VCs, as well as interest pieces from around the web and, of course, the down and dirty need-to-know news from the week.
In this episode on January 12, 2019, we’re looking at how Amazon rose to the top, the best pieces of advice for entrepreneurs that came out of 2018, the rise of audio - according to Marc Andreessen, and some quite compelling research the New York Times is reporting on, about the language that sits behind earning reports.
Sources from today's episode:
CNBC Enterprise - How Amazon became the world's most valuable public company
First Round Review - The 30 Best Pieces of Advice for Entrepreneurs in 2018
TechCrunch - Marc Andreessen: audio will be ‘titanically important’ and VR will be ‘1,000’ times bigger than AR
New York Times - How Companies Like Apple Sprinkle Secrets in Earnings Reports
This is Part 2 of our Fireside Chat with Scott Kupor, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz. In this episode, we cover off a wide range of topics around the fundraising process from Scott's experience at the firm that currently has $2.7 billion under management.
Here are some of the topics Scott talks about:
- How does Andreessen Horowitz feel about sole founders?
- What should founders be looking for from VCs?
- What do VCs view as seed stage and Series A investment?
- What does the fundraising process look like?
- Key differences between seed and institutional round
- What is/isn’t traction?
If you enjoy this podcast, please rate, review and subscribe to get updates on our regular releases.
We were fortunate enough to hear from Jeff Epstein, investor at Bessemer Venture Partners talk about what VCs want and needs to see from startups and entrepreneurs. The info and insights Jeff talks about are based on his immense breadth of experience as an investor - but he's successfully drawn on exactly what he would want to know if he were a founder now - knowing what he knows as a successful investor.
It's for this reason that we're excited to bring you this podcast. It's seriously info-packed and there's a lot of great advice from someone who's been part of a firm that is a venture capital institution in the United States.
Bessemer Venture Partners is the oldest venture capital firm in the United States. They didn't just see the dot com boom and follow suit - they opened their doors in 1911. The firm has over $5 billion in management and the notable names they have in their portfolio are too many to name - Yelp, LinkedIn, Shopify, Twilio, Box... the list goes on.
You can follow Bessemer Venture Partners on Twitter, @BessemerVP, as well as us here at Founders Floor on all social channels as @foundersfloor. Don't forget to rate, comment and subscribe to stay updated when we regularly release new episodes.
As part of our Investor Series, we hear from Silicon Valley VC, Charles Hudson, currently at his own seed stage investment firm, Precursor Ventures, although at the time of this recording, Charles was at SofTech Ventures (now Uncork Capital).
In this podcast, Charles talks a lot about the fundraising process, along with some keen thoughts on founding teams and solo founders. He also gives a very realistic glimpse into how VCs approach investing - what worries them, what he wishes he hadn't passed on. In his words, 'You have to have a short memory in this job.'
Over his career, Charles has been an active investor in all different stages of the investment spectrum, from Series A and M&A, to now Pre-Seed and Seed stage. You can follow him on Twitter, @chudson, as well as us here at Founders Floor on all social channels as @foundersfloor. Don't forget to rate, comment and subscribe to stay updated when we regularly release new episodes.
We sat down with Scott Kupor of renowned Silicon Valley VC firm, Andreessen Horowitz, to discuss all parts of the fundraising process:
- Where introductions to their investments generally come from
- Key ingredients for a successful venture funded startup
- Most common mistakes he sees in startups
- Seed stage vs series A
- What does the process look like towards funding
- Key differences from seed/angel round to institutional rounds
- Understanding different incentives for different investors
- Advice for entrepreneurs on what they should be looking for in VCs
- Thoughts on sole founders vs founding teams