Inside the Startup
48 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 3 ratingsWhere the storytelling from experienced tech founders and executives provides you with real, actionable tips and advice. Our goal is to help make every startup successful. Join the SaaS startup community at Startup Sidekick.
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Episodes
Anar Mammadov @ Senpex, On-Demand Last Mile Delivery & Logistics Platform
March 08, 2021 05:00 - 37 minutes - 25.4 MBLearn about the inner workings of Senpex, an on-demand local delivery service operating in several states in the US, with insights from Anar on how he manages his company and personal life. PEOPLE Guest: Anar Mammadov, Founder & CEO of Senpex Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TOPICS 00:00 – Introduction. 02:11 – Genesis of Senpex. 03:52 – Validating the idea. 06:19 – Funding Structure. 07:28 – Company Structure. 09:06 – Revenue Model. 10:22 – Target Market. 12:0...
Ron Moravek @ SportNinja, Amateur Sport Community Platform
March 01, 2021 05:00 - 40 minutes - 28 MBListen to insights from Ron Moravek, co-founder at SportNinja, a mobile first statistics platform for amateur sports. Ron is an experienced entrepreneur with three startup exits and former executive at large video game companies such as EA Sports. PEOPLE Guest: Ron Moravek, Founder & CEO of SportNinja Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TOPICS COMPANY: Genesis of idea, target market, revenue model, customers acquisition, tracking metrics, and product development. PERSON...
Ning Ding @ TagHawk, Mobile Resale Marketplace App
February 22, 2021 05:00 - 26 minutes - 18.4 MBLearn about the inner workings of TagHawk, a mobile resale marketplace app, with insights from Ding on how he manages his company and personal life. PEOPLE Guest: Ning Ding CEO & Founder, TagHawk Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TOPICS COMPANY: Genesis of idea, target market, revenue model, customers acquisition, tracking metrics, and product development. PERSONAL: Finding solutions to challenges, getting help, constant learning, founder networks, daily tools, work-lif...
Brooke Markevicius @ Allobee, Virtual Business Solution For Entrepreneurs
February 15, 2021 05:00 - 43 minutes - 29.9 MBLearn about the inner workings of Allobee, a one stop virtual business solution for entrepreneurs and small business owners, with insights from Markevicius on how she manages her company and personal life.
Todd Smith @ 360Converge, Texting Platform for Automotive Dealerships
February 08, 2021 05:00 - 47 minutes - 32.5 MBLearn about the inner workings of 360Converge, a text message marketing automation solution for automotive dealerships, with insights from Smith on how he manages his company and personal life. PEOPLE Guest: Todd Smith, Founder & CEO of 360Converge Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TOPICS 02:20 – 360Converge’s value proposition 06:12 – Genesis of 360Converge idea 09:47 – Validating the idea with customers 11:28 – Team structure 12:26 – Funding structure (bootstrapped...
Jeroen Corthout @ Salesflare, CRM for Small Businesses
February 01, 2021 06:00 - 36 minutes - 25.2 MBLearn about the inner workings of Salesflare, an award-winning CRM startup, including revenue model, customer acquisition, metrics, product development, overcoming challenges, and much more. PEOPLE Guest: Jeroen Corthout CEO & Founder, Salesflare Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TOPICS COMPANY: Genesis of idea, target market, revenue model, customers acquisition, tracking metrics, and product development. PERSONAL: Finding solutions to challenges, getting help, constan...
Shaun Masavage @ Fret Zealot, Guitar Learning Solution
January 25, 2021 05:00 - 20 minutes - 14.1 MBMasavage provides practical tips on how and where to tap into a global talent pool. PEOPLE Guest: Shaun Masavage, CEO & Founder, Edge Tech Labs Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Start with Upwork — it provides lots of tools to make it easy (e.g. screenshots). Don’t judge people too harshly just by their ratings — give them a chance. Stay away from ones charging too much or too little. Use PayPal if you’re hiring someone who is not on Upwork; the fee is totally...
Nomin Batsaikhan @ Flickonic, Entertainment Community App
January 18, 2021 05:00 - 16 minutes - 11.2 MBBatsaikhan provides advice on how to use your company mission to drive your product vision and development roadmap. PEOPLE Guest: Nomin Batsaikhan, CTO & Cofounder, Flickonic Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Who you work with is very important, so choose your cofounder(s) wisely. Define what you’re working towards and ensure you 100% believe in this vision, since startups can become a 24/7 passion project; just wanting to be an entrepreneur isn’t enough becau...
Elisabeth Bohlmann @ December Labs, UX/UI and Development Solutions
January 11, 2021 05:00 - 21 minutes - 14.9 MBBohlmann provides an overview of UX along with practical tips on how to leverage it for your organization. PEOPLE Guest: Elisabeth Bohlmann, VP of Client Strategy, December Labs Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Don’t get scared by potential challenges of UX, since there’s a way to do UX for everyone to get value. UX can provide a great return on investment; e.g. saving users time every day or freeing customer support teams from repeat issues. Never lose the...
Using UX Research to Build The Right Product, Interview With Elisabeth Bohlmann of December Labs
January 11, 2021 05:00 - 21 minutes - 14.9 MBBohlmann provides an overview of UX along with practical tips on how to leverage it for your organization. PEOPLE Guest: Elisabeth Bohlmann, VP of Client Strategy, December Labs Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Don’t get scared by potential challenges of UX, since there’s a way to do UX for everyone to get value. UX can provide a great return on investment; e.g. saving users time every day or freeing customer support teams from repeat issues. Never lose the...
Rami Essaid @ Finmark, Financial Modeling Platform
January 04, 2021 05:00 - 18 minutes - 12.8 MBEssaid provides tips on how to iteratively grow a startup by focusing on customers, growth, prioritization, and cadence PEOPLE Guest: Rami Essaid, CEO, Finmark Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Try to break down your steps into as small time increments as possible. A lot of people think annual and quarterly, then realize they have missed the mark. Break it down into monthly and weekly -- that’ll let you get feedback more quickly to avoid big course corrections....
Building a Big Startup One Step at a Time, Interview With Rami Essaid, CEO Finmark
January 04, 2021 05:00 - 18 minutes - 12.8 MBEssaid provides tips on how to iteratively grow a startup by focusing on customers, growth, prioritization, and cadence PEOPLE Guest: Rami Essaid, CEO, Finmark Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Try to break down your steps into as small time increments as possible. A lot of people think annual and quarterly, then realize they have missed the mark. Break it down into monthly and weekly -- that’ll let you get feedback more quickly to avoid big course corrections....
Skip Sanzeri @ QuSecure, Quantum Cyber Security
December 28, 2020 05:00 - 17 minutes - 12.1 MBSanzeri describes why market timing is critical for startups and how to get it right by talking to potential customers. PEOPLE Guest: Skip Sanzeri, CEO & Cofounder, QuSecure Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Startups are typically tight on capital, so you have to be very careful on the advice you get. LinkedIn is a great tool to talk to potential customers. If you’re trying to reach CxOs, send a personalized request; don’t try to sell or ask for too much. You...
Why Market Timing Is Critical For Startups, Interview With Skip Sanzeri, CRO, QuSecure
December 28, 2020 05:00 - 17 minutes - 12.1 MBSanzeri describes why market timing is critical for startups and how to get it right by talking to potential customers. PEOPLE Guest: Skip Sanzeri, CEO & Cofounder, QuSecure Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Startups are typically tight on capital, so you have to be very careful on the advice you get. LinkedIn is a great tool to talk to potential customers. If you’re trying to reach CxOs, send a personalized request; don’t try to sell or ask for too much. You...
How To Develop Your Value Proposition, Interview With Bob London, CEO, Chief Listening Officers
December 21, 2020 05:00 - 23 minutes - 16.4 MBLondon provides advice on how to develop a value proposition by falling in love with your customer’s problems, not your solution. PEOPLE Guest: Bob London, CEO & Founder, Chief Listening Officers Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Don’t do Customer Discovery to validate your idea; do it to learn about your target audience. Understand their 3Ps (problems, priorities and perceptions): Problems: What are the biggest things on the list? What are their top 2-3 must...
Bob London @ Chief Listening Officers, Outsourced CMO Solution
December 21, 2020 05:00 - 23 minutes - 16.4 MBLondon provides advice on how to develop a value proposition by falling in love with your customer’s problems, not your solution. PEOPLE Guest: Bob London, CEO & Founder, Chief Listening Officers Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Don’t do Customer Discovery to validate your idea; do it to learn about your target audience. Understand their 3Ps (problems, priorities and perceptions): Problems: What are the biggest things on the list? What are their top 2-3 must...
Dispelling the Myths of Product Led Growth (PLG), Interview With Sam Levan, CEO MadKudu
December 14, 2020 05:00 - 16 minutes - 11.2 MBLevan discusses the myths of PLG and how to effectively implement it across your product, marketing and sales teams. PEOPLE Guest: Sam Levan, CMO & Cofounder, MadKudu, a lead scoring platform that helps you optimize your marketing by predicting expected revenue Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Be very clear on the type of PLG motion you want (e.g. self-service, land & expand); it's difficult enough implementing just one. Redefine the role of sales in PLG, so ...
Sam Levan @ MadKudu, B2B SaaS Marketing Platform
December 14, 2020 05:00 - 16 minutes - 11.2 MBLevan discusses the myths of PLG and how to effectively implement it across your product, marketing and sales teams. PEOPLE Guest: Sam Levan, CMO & Cofounder, MadKudu, a lead scoring platform that helps you optimize your marketing by predicting expected revenue Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Be very clear on the type of PLG motion you want (e.g. self-service, land & expand); it's difficult enough implementing just one. Redefine the role of sales in PLG, so ...
Philip Alphonse @ Vistria, Private Equity Firm
December 07, 2020 05:00 - 23 minutes - 16 MBAlphonse describes how private equity firms look for investment opportunities and how they help companies succeed. PEOPLE Guest: Philip Alphonse, Senior Partner and Cofounder at Vistria Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Fit: There are various flavors of PE firms out there (e.g. $2-5mm EBITDA versus $5mm+). Get to know the type of PE firm you’re talking to and their parameters (e.g. profitability, company stage, industry). Interview the PE firms to understand th...
What PE Firms Look For In Companies, Interview With Philip Alphonse, Senior Partner At Vistria
December 07, 2020 05:00 - 23 minutes - 16 MBAlphonse describes how private equity firms look for investment opportunities and how they help companies succeed. PEOPLE Guest: Philip Alphonse, Senior Partner and Cofounder at Vistria Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Fit: There are various flavors of PE firms out there (e.g. $2-5mm EBITDA versus $5mm+). Get to know the type of PE firm you’re talking to and their parameters (e.g. profitability, company stage, industry). Interview the PE firms to understand th...
MVP Product Design Mindset That Delivers Value, Interview With Piyush Jain, CEO of Simpalm
November 30, 2020 05:00 - 21 minutes - 14.6 MBJain explains why and how to iteratively and incrementally build products that focus on customer value over viability. PEOPLE Guest: Piyush Jain, CEO & Founder, Simpalm and Cofounder, Ducknowl (Duck’n’Owl) Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Value: Look at the “value” for your customer, not the “viability” of the MVP. For example, Instagram started with photo sharing to an entire platform. Design: Is crucial these days; if you have great features but not a funct...
Piyush Jain @ Simpalm, App & Web Development Solutions
November 30, 2020 05:00 - 21 minutes - 14.6 MBJain explains why and how to iteratively and incrementally build products that focus on customer value over viability. PEOPLE Guest: Piyush Jain, CEO & Founder, Simpalm and Cofounder, Ducknowl (Duck’n’Owl) Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Value: Look at the “value” for your customer, not the “viability” of the MVP. For example, Instagram started with photo sharing to an entire platform. Design: Is crucial these days; if you have great features but not a funct...
Franco Caporale @ SaaSMQL, B2B SaaS Growth Agency
November 23, 2020 05:00 - 21 minutes - 14.6 MBCaporale provides sage advice on how tech startups should acquire their first few customers using a focused approach. PEOPLE Guest: Franco Caporale, Founder & CEO, SaaSMQL (and Founder, DemandGen Cloud). Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Focus on niche first; e.g. I want to help a certain group of people. Find the first customer — this will be the hardest part. Sell to them; do whatever it takes (e.g. free or heavy discount in exchange for a case study). Then,...
Scaling From Idea To Your First 50 Customers, Interview With Franco Caporale, SaaSMQL
November 23, 2020 05:00 - 21 minutes - 14.6 MBCaporale provides sage advice on how tech startups should acquire their first few customers using a focused approach. PEOPLE Guest: Franco Caporale, Founder & CEO, SaaSMQL (and Founder, DemandGen Cloud). Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Focus on niche first; e.g. I want to help a certain group of people. Find the first customer — this will be the hardest part. Sell to them; do whatever it takes (e.g. free or heavy discount in exchange for a case study). Then,...
Stephen Becsi @ Appellon, Workforce Performance Platform
November 16, 2020 05:00 - 15 minutes - 10.9 MBBecsi provides advice on going from startup to a complete company with customers, employees, investors, partners, and systems. PEOPLE Guest: Stephen Becsi, Executive Director at Appellon (and CEO of Apollo Care) Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Start thinking early about how you will raise money (e.g. VC, friends & family); start getting out there and begin building relationships. Working capital might be not enough for scaling a startup. Your idea must absol...
Roadmap from Start-up to Scale-up, Interview With Stephen Becsi, Executive Director at Appellon
November 16, 2020 05:00 - 15 minutes - 10.9 MBBecsi provides advice on going from startup to a complete company with customers, employees, investors, partners, and systems. PEOPLE Guest: Stephen Becsi, Executive Director at Appellon (and CEO of Apollo Care) Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Start thinking early about how you will raise money (e.g. VC, friends & family); start getting out there and begin building relationships. Working capital might be not enough for scaling a startup. Your idea must absol...
How To Align Your Marketing, Sales & Support Groups, Interview With Mike Korba, CCO at User.com
November 09, 2020 05:00 - 22 minutes - 15.4 MBPEOPLE Guest: Mike Korba, CMO & Cofounder, User.com Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Decide what your one source of truth is (for customer data); where are you tracking your whole customer journey. Align your three departments (marketing, sales, support) to work together towards common goals, using KPIs/OKRs. It helps each department to know what others are doing and what customer journey has been. Be human. On the other side of the screen are real people wit...
Mike Korba @ User.com, Marketing & Sales Automation Software
November 09, 2020 05:00 - 22 minutes - 15.4 MBPEOPLE Guest: Mike Korba, CMO & Cofounder, User.com Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Decide what your one source of truth is (for customer data); where are you tracking your whole customer journey. Align your three departments (marketing, sales, support) to work together towards common goals, using KPIs/OKRs. It helps each department to know what others are doing and what customer journey has been. Be human. On the other side of the screen are real people wit...
Stefan Nagey @ Capbase, Startup Operations Automation Platform
November 02, 2020 05:00 - 18 minutes - 12.7 MBNagey recommends best practices for setting up a startup to financially and legally protect the founders and the startup. PEOPLE Guest: Stefan Nagey, Cofounder, Capbase Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS It’s never too early to get your house in order (legal, accounting, etc.). Consider the legal and financial protections you need for the next couple of milestones. If you’re going to be fundraising, set up your corporation as a Delaware C corporation, otherwise...
Launch Your Startup on Solid Footing, Interview with Stefan Nagey, Cofounder Capbase
November 02, 2020 05:00 - 18 minutes - 12.7 MBNagey recommends best practices for setting up a startup to financially and legally protect the founders and the startup. PEOPLE Guest: Stefan Nagey, Cofounder, Capbase Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS It’s never too early to get your house in order (legal, accounting, etc.). Consider the legal and financial protections you need for the next couple of milestones. If you’re going to be fundraising, set up your corporation as a Delaware C corporation, otherwise...
New Global Standards For Workforce, Interview With Sue Jauncey, Founder of Appellon
October 26, 2020 04:00 - 22 minutes - 15.7 MBJauncey explains how organizations should be focused on objective versus personalization based employee wellbeing. PEOPLE Guest: Sue Jauncey, CEO & Cofounder, Appellon Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS COVID-19 has presented us an opportunity to set new workforce standards. Stop asking employees for their views and opinions; this only increases stress and anxiety in individuals. Instead measure behavior outputs against performance improvements. Human beings li...
Single Vision Product Building, Interview With James Quigley, CEO GoCanvas
October 19, 2020 04:00 - 29 minutes - 20.1 MBQuigley describes how his startup does focused, customer centric, product development and innovation. PEOPLE Guest: James Quigley, CEO & Cofounder, GoCanvas Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Stay prioritized on limits of objectives/milestones every year (e.g. 3-5) and put your resources behind them and get everyone focused. Be open to pivoting, if needed. Deliver an amazing user/customer experience (as your base offering). TIMELINE 01:30 – Overview of GoCanv...
Building Trust Within A Startup, Interview With Connie Ruiz, CEO, Personal20
October 12, 2020 04:00 - 20 minutes - 13.9 MBPEOPLE Guest: Connie Ruiz, Co-Founder, Personal20 Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Trust needs to be part of your startup’s foundation from early on Teams need to have enough trust to give honest feedback to each other. Equip your staff with the right tools (e.g. DiSC profiling and FISH philosophy) It takes the courage of the leader to have good and bad conversations. Book: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable 1st Edition by by Patrick Lencio...
Establishing Culture After An Organizational Change, Interview With Alan Snyder, CEO, NowSecure
October 05, 2020 04:00 - 19 minutes - 13.4 MBPEOPLE Guest: Alan Snyder, CEO, NowSecure Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Culture is about mutual trust; you have to build and establish it as foundation. Culture expands out to be company’s values; i.e. how it interacts with employees, customers and partners. TIMELINE 01:28 – Overview of NowSecure 02:15 – What does culture mean? It’s about mutual trust, not an adversarial relationship. 03:35 – What CEOs might encounter when they are brought in to turn th...
Distribution Through Multiple Channels, Interview With Stacy Hayes, Co-Founder, Assured Data Plan
September 28, 2020 04:00 - 25 minutes - 17.6 MBPEOPLE Guest: Stacy Hayes, Co-founder and EVP N. America, Assured Data Protection Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Don’t make it too complicated. Keep it simple. Sometimes too many options are not a good thing; limit the choices, if possible. Stay focused. Find distribution partners with complementary alignment with what partner is doing. Focus your time wisely on where you are getting traction. Do not try to skimp on commissions to distribution partners by ...
How To Get Your 2nd Product/Market Right, Interview With Gene Riechers, Partner at Sands Capital
September 21, 2020 16:00 - 21 minutes - 14.5 MBPEOPLE Guest: Gene Riechers, Venture Partner at Sands Capital Management Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS As CEO, recognize it’ll be harder than you think and you probably know less than you think. Invest in learning. Take your time to learn the industry and buyers (e.g. demographics, buying patterns). Don’t take shortcuts (product, marketing). Realize how much know about your first product and how long it took to develop that knowledge. Have separate/para...
How To Build A Sales Organization In Your Startup, Interview With Serene Al-Momen, Cofounder & CEO, Senseware
September 14, 2020 16:00 - 20 minutes - 14.2 MBSerene Al-Momen, PhD, Cofounder & CEO, Senseware, shares lessons learned in building a sales organization for her startup. PEOPLE Guest: Serene Al-Momen, PhD, Cofounder & CEO, Senseware Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS It’s ok to iterate, try and improve; it’s part of the startup journey. Each organization is unique, so do what’s best for your market and product. Move away from cold calling to inbound marketing and land & expand Recommendations: Books – Pre...
How To Build A Great Culture Among Distributed Teams, Interview With Patrick Sheridan, Cofounder, Modus Create
September 07, 2020 04:00 - 18 minutes - 12.8 MBPatrick Sheridan, a successful serial entrepreneur, shares advice on how to build culture in a distributed team. PEOPLE Guest: Patrick Sheridan, Cofounder & Managing Partner, Modus Create Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Your work is your speech (e.g. what did you produce yesterday, what are your plans for tomorrow) Every company should play to their strengths (e.g. access to talent) Map out your employee journey, from onboarding to termination; support them...
Reaching Buyers In Uncertain Times, Interview With Anthony Kim, Founder & CEO, Education Elements
August 31, 2020 14:00 - 18 minutes - 12.6 MBAnthony Kim, a successful serial entrepreneur, provides tips on how to use MVPs to test your marketing hypothesis. PEOPLE Guest: Anthony Kim, Founder & CEO, Education Elements Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Marketing is transferability of your message. It’s about how you make your message land, memorably. Is it something that is bold enough that people remember (e.g. Just Do It, Think Different)? Use MVPs in marketing to quickly test concepts (e.g. user acq...
Fundraising (Why, How, What, Who), Interview With Arman Eshraghi, CEO & Founder, Qrvey
August 24, 2020 16:00 - 30 minutes - 21.1 MBArman Eshraghi, a successful serial entrepreneur, discusses the importance of fundraising at the right time. PEOPLE Guest: Arman Eshraghi, Founder and CEO at Qrvey Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Get to the know the partner at VC firm you’ll be working with Four pillars for a startup should master: Team, product, planning, and fundraising (capital). Don’t rush into raising money. Grow as much as you can on your own, de-risk the business model, so you can h...
Raising Money Isn’t A Measurement Of Success: Interview With Robb Doub, New Markets Venture Partners
August 17, 2020 16:00 - 26 minutes - 18.5 MBRobb Doub, a seasoned venture capitalist, discusses the right time and way to raise money. PEOPLE Guest: Robb Doub, General Partner and Co-Founder, New Markets Venture Partners Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Take the money if anyone is willing to write a check Build relationships with investors over time versus viewing it as a transaction Raise money for the right reason (e.g. scaling versus business model not working) Research the investment firm (e.g. a...
How To Build A Sales Team For Your Startup: Interview With Jim Connor, Serial Entrepreneur & Silicon Valley Investor
August 10, 2020 16:00 - 28 minutes - 19.6 MBJim Connor, serial entrepreneur and Silicon Valley angel investor, shares lessons learned from building sales teams. PEOPLE Guest: Jim Connor, CEO (Learn to Read Online), serial entrepreneur and investor Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Figure out sales channels (e.g. direct, online, supply chain). Determine the minimum set of skills required for sales people; then hire and train them. Have an adequate compensation model with incentives to compete with bigge...
Importance of Culture In Startups: Interview With Jeff Grass, CEO at HUNGRY
July 27, 2020 16:00 - 20 minutes - 14.1 MBJeff Grass, a serial entrepreneur, explains why it’s important to establish company culture early. PEOPLE Guest: Jeff Grass, Chairman & CEO of HUNGRY Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Do not underestimate how important it is to set the culture early on versus have it evolve by default Have clarity around of who you are, why you exist, and how you want to operate HUNGRY’s 9 Core Values (entrepreneurial, simplicity, people centered, positivity, integrity, grati...
Business Development 101 For Startups: Interview With Pramod Raheja, CEO at Airgility
July 27, 2020 15:00 - 16 minutes - 11.2 MBPramod Raheja, a CEO and serial entrepreneur, discusses the importance of business development in startups, what it is and how to do it right. PEOPLE Guest: Pramod Raheja, CEO of Airgility Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Build long-term relationships with customers and your network (versus quick wins) Give before you get to build mutual trust (e.g. free consulting, forward article) Learn the business development game Do customer discovery before or in para...
Perfect Your Product Market Fit With The Help Of Customers: Interview With Sam Aparicio, CEO at Ring.io
July 27, 2020 14:00 - 16 minutes - 11.3 MBSam Aparicio, a CEO and tech executive, discusses lessons learned from five years of trying to find the ideal product market fit in his now successful startup, Ring.io. PEOPLE Guest: Sam Aparicio, CEO of Ring.io a Power Dialer for Salesforce, Hubspot, Zoho, Pipedrive and Dynamics Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Start a company in an industry where you have subject matter (business domain) expertise You will make mistakes; don’t try to perfect — iterate, impr...
Leverage Customers To Find Your Target Market: Interview With Brian Kathman, CEO at Signal Vine
July 27, 2020 12:00 - 20 minutes - 13.8 MBBrian Kathman, a serial entrepreneur and tech executive, describes what a target market entails and how to define it by solving customer pain points. People Guest: Brian Kathman, CEO of Signal Vine Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick Takeaways Finding your target market is really difficult; it doesn’t just fall into your lap. Listen to your actual/prospects customers; understand their pains, price tolerance, etc. Stay focused on building only the products that customer...
Importance of Product Strategy For Startups: Interview With Anirban Chakrabarti, Serial Entrepreneur
July 27, 2020 11:00 - 16 minutes - 11.6 MBAnirban Chakrabarti, a tech serial entrepreneur, discusses five key dimensions to a successful product strategy. PEOPLE Guest: Anirban Chakrabarti, Serial Entrepreneur Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick TAKEAWAYS Five key dimensions to a successful product strategy: Customer: Deliver value customer is willing to pay for Competition: Understand what products your competition is building and serving market Technology: Entrepreneurs should look at disruptive technologies ...
Pivot Quickly; Do Not Procrastinate: Interview With Ajay Sravanapudi, Former Startup CEO
July 27, 2020 10:00 - 15 minutes - 11 MBAjay Sravanapudi, a software executive and former entrepreneur, discusses startup pivots, why to not procrastinate and what to focus on. PEOPLE Guest: Ajay Sravanapudi, SVP of Engineering and Architecture at Comscore Host: Anil Hemrajani, Founder of Startup Sidekick Takeaways Speed: Do not procrastinate. Do it quickly; it might be painful but it’s better than having your efforts split across two models. Plan: Put a business plan together, as if you are doing a new startup from scratch....