Startup Hypeman: The GOAT to Market Show
294 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 days ago - ★★★★★ - 83 ratingsBecome the GOAT To Market!
This is the go-to show for founders to learn go-to-market strategy from other Founders, CXOs, VCs, and Creatives.
Every episode our guest unpacks a specific and tactical strategy they've deployed to grow and scale their venture (and sometimes they share what didn't work so you don't make the same mistake!).
Hosted by Startup Hypeman founder & Chief Pitch Artist, RajNATION.
New episodes on Sundays.
Want to go behind-the-scenes and get 1-on-1 time with our guests? Every week our guests run an Ask Me Anything inside of GOAT To Market Club, Startup Hypeman's exclusive founder community. Join the Club and Become The GOAT at startuphypeman.com/gtm-club.Subscribe to our GTM newsletter at startuphypeman.com.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
GTM 3-4: Becoming a Household Brand Name with Foxtrot CEO Mike LaVitola (Live from Startup Grind Chicago!)
April 12, 2024 19:57 - 55 minutes - 105 MBWhat does it take to turn an idea for a boutique 7-11 into a tech-driven consumer market, into a national brand that merged with one of the biggest names in grocery? Enjoy this special episode, a replay of my interview with Foxtrot CEO & Cofounder Mike LaVitola live from the Startup Grind Chicago 4th Annual Great Chicago Food Bash in January 2024. Mike shares overcoming rejection for his crazy idea in the early days, to raising nearly $200M and scaling up nationally. He talks about the...
GTM 3-3: Building & Investing in AI with Techstars MD Tricia Martinez-Saab (Live from Startup Grind Chicago!)
April 06, 2024 21:26 - 1 hour - 102 MBI think we can all agree AI is seemingly everywhere. But what does that actually mean for a startup? Enjoy this special episode, a replay of my interview with Techstars Managing Director Tricia Martinez-Saab live from the Startup Grind Chicago AI Showcase in November 2023. Tricia leads the AI and deep-tech verticals at Techstars and shares her perspective on the good and bad of AI's permeation, how to approach integrating AI into your product, the ethics behind an AI-powered future, and h...
GTM3-2: Expanding Your TAM to Increase Revenue with Cardio Diagnostics CEO Meesha Dogan
March 31, 2024 09:10 - 49 minutes - 80.6 MBThe 3-letter acronym every startup obsesses with is TAM. But what is your TAM comprised of, and specifically WHO makes up your TAM? When you go to market, you may think your target is one group, but then find it includes others you weren't previously considering. That was the case for Cardio Diagnostics, who built a solution with a clear end user but involved multiple ancillary decision makers and economic buyers, and alternative use cases. This forced them to expand their TAM in order t...
GTM3-1: Hacks to Extend Your Runway with Apologue Co-Founder Jordan Tepper (Season Premiere!)
March 23, 2024 19:56 - 47 minutes - 74.8 MBIn a down economy, runway is everything. But it should also be everything in a boom economy. Great companies figure out how to spend less, and make more. Jordan Tepper cofounded the cocktail brand Apologue in 2017, and in the 7 years since he's achieved over $1M annual revenue, while raising just $2.5M in that time, and as of this writing still carrying $1M of that raise in the bank. For a CPG brand with significant fixed expenses, Apologue's story is a clinic on meaningful growth and sp...
GTM 2-8: Making The GOAT - Sancerrely Yours,
September 14, 2023 15:07 - 1 hour - 126 MBWe've officially dropped the first-ever startup hip-hop album, GOAT To Market! Season 2 of The GTM Show is a companion podcast on the making-of, where RajNATION gets interviewed by the album's Creative Director Pablo Gonzalez (founder of Be The Stage), for an exclusive behind-the-scenes listen. GOAT To Market is available now on all streaming platforms. Listen to the album in full then come here, or one track at a time and come here for each corresponding episode. However, you want to liste...
GTM 2-7: Making The GOAT - I Get A Round
September 14, 2023 15:06 - 32 minutes - 57.2 MBWe've officially dropped the first-ever startup hip-hop album, GOAT To Market! Season 2 of The GTM Show is a companion podcast on the making-of, where RajNATION gets interviewed by the album's Creative Director Pablo Gonzalez (founder of Be The Stage), for an exclusive behind-the-scenes listen. GOAT To Market is available now on all streaming platforms. Listen to the album in full then come here, or one track at a time and come here for each corresponding episode. However, you want to liste...
GTM 2-6: Making The GOAT - Dry Powder
September 14, 2023 15:05 - 45 minutes - 82.3 MBWe've officially dropped the first-ever startup hip-hop album, GOAT To Market! Season 2 of The GTM Show is a companion podcast on the making-of, where RajNATION gets interviewed by the album's Creative Director Pablo Gonzalez (founder of Be The Stage), for an exclusive behind-the-scenes listen. GOAT To Market is available now on all streaming platforms. Listen to the album in full then come here, or one track at a time and come here for each corresponding episode. However, you want to liste...
GTM 2-5: Making The GOAT - The NXT
September 14, 2023 15:04 - 51 minutes - 93.2 MBWe've officially dropped the first-ever startup hip-hop album, GOAT To Market! Season 2 of The GTM Show is a companion podcast on the making-of, where RajNATION gets interviewed by the album's Creative Director Pablo Gonzalez (founder of Be The Stage), for an exclusive behind-the-scenes listen. GOAT To Market is available now on all streaming platforms. Listen to the album in full then come here, or one track at a time and come here for each corresponding episode. However, you want to liste...
GTM 2-4: Making The GOAT - Thankless
September 14, 2023 15:03 - 38 minutes - 68.6 MBWe've officially dropped the first-ever startup hip-hop album, GOAT To Market! Season 2 of The GTM Show is a companion podcast on the making-of, where RajNATION gets interviewed by the album's Creative Director Pablo Gonzalez (founder of Be The Stage), for an exclusive behind-the-scenes listen. GOAT To Market is available now on all streaming platforms. Listen to the album in full then come here, or one track at a time and come here for each corresponding episode. However, you want to liste...
GTM 2-3: Making The GOAT - I Can Be Anything
September 14, 2023 15:02 - 35 minutes - 62 MBWe've officially dropped the first-ever startup hip-hop album, GOAT To Market! Season 2 of The GTM Show is a companion podcast on the making-of, where RajNATION gets interviewed by the album's Creative Director Pablo Gonzalez (founder of Be The Stage), for an exclusive behind-the-scenes listen. GOAT To Market is available now on all streaming platforms. Listen to the album in full then come here, or one track at a time and come here for each corresponding episode. However, you want to liste...
GTM 2-2: Making The GOAT - Intro (I Do)
September 14, 2023 15:01 - 48 minutes - 87.4 MBWe've officially dropped the first-ever startup hip-hop album, GOAT To Market! Season 2 of The GTM Show is a companion podcast on the making-of, where RajNATION gets interviewed by the album's Creative Director Pablo Gonzalez (founder of Be The Stage), for an exclusive behind-the-scenes listen. GOAT To Market is available now on all streaming platforms. Listen to the album in full then come here, or one track at a time and come here for each corresponding episode. However, you want to liste...
GTM 2-1: Making The GOAT - Album Overview & Why We Did This
September 14, 2023 15:00 - 36 minutes - 61 MBWe've officially dropped the first-ever startup hip-hop album, GOAT To Market! Season 2 of The GTM Show is a companion podcast on the making-of, where RajNATION gets interviewed by the album's Creative Director Pablo Gonzalez (founder of Be The Stage), for an exclusive behind-the-scenes listen. GOAT To Market is available now on all streaming platforms. Listen to the album in full then come here, or one track at a time and come here for each corresponding episode. However, you want to liste...
GTM 1-12: Building A Sales Team From Scratch (Season Finale!) with SamCart GM Olivia Herron
August 26, 2023 16:00 - 53 minutes - 88.2 MBTrying to hire for sales? Who you bring in first, and subsequently your next few hires after can be the deciding factor on if your company sinks or swims. So what do you look for in a candidate? What do you ask in an interview? How do you prep them and set goals? There's A LOT that can go terribly wrong, or, wonderfully right. Olivia Herron has stood up a sales team from zero at Facebook Labs, and is now at SamCart. She steps to the mic in our season finale to share her inside ad...
GTM 1-11: Getting 150,000 Customers Via Product-Led Growth with Fireflies.ai CEO Krish Ramineni
August 19, 2023 16:19 - 42 minutes - 70.4 MBYou've probably joined a virtual meeting where a phantom 3rd party named Fireflies also joined. Heck, maybe it was your personal Firefly that joined. You're not alone. In fact, Fireflies.ai has taken notes for over 5 million calls and is now used by over 150,000 organizations. It's no wonder Khosla Ventures led their $19M Series A round. When you hear those kinds of numbers, you think of massive marketing and sales budgets. But Fireflies did it without spending on either. Instead, they...
GTM 1-10: Creating Content That Actually Works with Startup Hypeman Pitch Artist Whitney Durmick
August 06, 2023 01:34 - 56 minutes - 97 MBWe all know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of really good content. Whether it's a funny meme, an inspiring video, or an insightful whitepaper. Why then, are so many startups *so bad* at CREATING content for their audience? Is it bad source material, bad measurement, or just plain being bad at content? Whitney Durmick spent a half-decade running content for the Oracle startup accelerator and knows a thing or two about what clicks, connects, and converts. After several mont...
GTM 1-9: How An Angel Investor Thinks (Part 2) with Lofty Ventures' Chris Deutsch
July 30, 2023 04:00 - 55 minutes - 94.3 MBIn part 2 of our powerhouse conversation, Lofty Angels' lead investor Chris Deutsch comes back to the mic to share how involved an angel investor should be in a startup, his framework for making investments, and the importance of more founders becoming angel investors themselves. Note: This episode is for educational and entertainment purposes and is NOT meant to serve as financial advice. Find Chris online: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cdeutsch/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/chr...
GTM1-8: How To Become An Angel Investor (Part 1) with Lofty Ventures' Chris Deutsch
July 23, 2023 08:51 - 52 minutes - 91.5 MBEver say to yourself, "I want to invest in startups?". Even if you're a founder yourself, maybe you've had that moment of 'when I make it big, I'm gonna start investing in other founders'. Chris Deutsch wants to demystify the process for you. As founder of Lofty Angels, he's invested in over 150 founders, 80+ startups (75% by underrepresented founders), and experienced 5 exits. He's also started the Lofty Syndicate which acts as a vehicle to invest in rounds alongside Lofty Angels, a...
GTM 1-7: Lessons Scaling from $1M to $10M with WorkRamp CEO Ted Blosser
June 18, 2023 04:00 - 44 minutes - 75.6 MBGoing from zero to 1 is a beast. But what comes after 1? And how do you make sure what you're doing in the zero to 1 phase doesn't just work for the 'right now' but also sets you up for long-term success? Ted Blosser learned that lesson the hard way. After struggling to gather escape velocity and hovering in the low 6-figure MRR for literal years (where many told him that he should just give up), he had a light bulb moment that vaulted them past $1M and changed the roadmap for getting to...
GTM 1-6: Winning Big Money Pitch Competitions with Cyber Pop-Up Founder Dr. Christine Izuakor
June 11, 2023 04:00 - 50 minutes - 86.3 MBOne of the best feelings as a founder is being so good at pitching your company that people literally throw their money at you on the spot. That's what Christine Izuakor has experienced in her journey pitching Cyber Pop-Up in competitions across America. So much so that in a single year, she amassed over $250,000 in pitch competition winnings. As a Startup Hypeman client, we had an inside look at her journey from the start. She steps to the mic this week to give you an inside look, s...
GTM 1-5: Achieving a 97% Hiring Acceptance Rate with Regal CEO Alex Levin
June 04, 2023 04:00 - 52 minutes - 89.1 MBEvery successful founder and investor will tell you 10 out of 10 times that TEAM matters more than anything else. As you scale, WHO you hire and HOW you hire them is the difference between 3x growth and falling 6 months behind target. That's why your PROCESS needs to be ironclad. Alex Levin is the Cofounder and CEO of Regal. Since launching in 2020, Regal has scaled to over 100 employees. During this time they reached $10M+ ARR in the first 2 years, have driven over $1 Billion in r...
GTM 1-4: How To Get Paid Speaking Gigs with Lavender Head of Community Jen Allen-Knuth
May 28, 2023 04:00 - 1 hour - 102 MBNeed a revenue boost AND a way to promote your company in a meaningful and impactful way? Try public speaking. Jen Allen-Knuth made $77k from speaking gigs in just THREE months and championed her companies in the process. But this is not some 'get rich quick' strategy. It took time building credibility, finding her niche, saying yes to unpaid gigs, and more. But whether you get paid or not, one thing is for sure — hitting stages can be one of your biggest competitive advantages. Je...
GTM 1-3: Attracting Big-Name Advisors with Cheeze Founder Simon Hudson
May 21, 2023 04:00 - 44 minutes - 75.1 MBWhat if you could have one of Apple's pioneering innovators, or the co-founder of Netflix, or Nike, on your Board of Advisors? Simon Hudson, Founder of Cheeze, has Guy Kawasaki, Marc Randolph, and more on his board and cap table. When you essentially have celebrity backing, new doors open up, more media outlets want to promote your startup, and traction becomes a little less of an uphill battle (prior to even launching, Cheeze has raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round). Simon steps to the ...
GTM 1-2: Driving 100x Revenue Growth via Brand Differentiation with ClickUp CCO Melissa Rosenthal
May 14, 2023 04:00 - 42 minutes - 72.7 MBSay it with me friends: PRODUCT alone doesn't win! Especially when there's competition, your brand is what will convert prospects into customers into champions, and advocates. There is perhaps no better example of this than the meteoric rise of ClickUp. At its core, ClickUp is a project management software. But their BRAND is someone you'd want to be best friends with. They've become famous for things like music videos and parody commercials to announce feature releases. This typ...
GTM 1-1: Naming Your Products So Customers Want To Buy with Startup Network Europe Founder Adam Fulham
May 07, 2023 05:00 - 43 minutes - 69.9 MBWant to get Steve Wozniak to come speak at your event? You don't need a million-dollar speaking budget. Instead, you need a name that will create Pull Attention. What goes into your company and product names influences how your target audience will receive you, how you grow, and how you market. Adam Fulham has experienced this firsthand launching Startup Network Europe. In just 2 years they've hosted 60+ events, built a community of over 50,000, and even hosted Steve Wozniak on their st...
Best of Season 17: S17E8 - Minimizing Startup Chaos with HonestGame CEO Kim Michelson
January 21, 2023 14:53 - 46 minutes - 79.1 MBWe are gearing up for Season 19, but in the meantime, enjoy one of our favorites from Season 17! Everyone talks about how startup life is crazy. At any given point you're working on 5 different things. Decisions made an hour ago might change an hour later. What you thought you were doing yesterday might not be what you're doing tomorrow. In a weird way, we're kind of obsessed with the chaos, and we tend to glorify it. But operating from chaos doesn't help you grow a company. As unsexy...
Best of Season 16: S16E10 - Building A Winning Proposal with Grow Up Sales President Joe Micallef
January 14, 2023 14:49 - 59 minutes - 101 MBWe are gearing up for Season 19, but in the meantime, enjoy one of our favorites from Season 16! Most people believe deals are won or lost at the proposal stage. But that's only true if you've done a poor job managing your sales process. In reality, deals are confirmed or revised at the proposal stage. This is something I fundamentally didn't understand when I was a rookie salesperson. Then I hired Joe Micallef, President of GrowUp Sales, as my first sales coach to teach me how it shoul...
Best of Season 13: S13E12 - Using Story To Clarify Brand Perception with K+L Storytellers CEO Michele Kelly (season finale!)
January 07, 2023 14:32 - 1 hour - 131 MBWe are gearing up for Season 19, but in the meantime, enjoy one of our favorites from Season 13! I didn't think it was possible, but I found someone who is as passionate about storytelling as I am. Enter: Michele Kelly, Cofounder & CEO of K+L Storytellers, a corporate storytelling agency focused on brand development and content creation. There was magic in the air in this conversation, as we got deep into storytelling philosophy, strategy, and execution. If you leave this episode not conv...
Best of Season 15: S15E4 - Coaching Your Champion for Executive Buyin with SDRDefenders Cofounder Nikki Ivey
December 31, 2022 14:27 - 54 minutes - 88.8 MBWe are gearing up for Season 19, but in the meantime, enjoy one of our favorites from Season 15! Most conversations in B2B sales are about how you sell to the person you're speaking with. Ask them the right questions, learn their pains, needs, and goals, give them pricing, send them proposals, etc. There is A TON of content in this area. The oft-overlooked part is how to navigate a multi-stakeholder deal. Most enterprise, and many non-enterprise, sales include a main point-of-contact, i...
S18E12: Mastering Community-Led Growth with Traction & Boast Co-Founder Lloyed Lobo (Season Finale!)
September 17, 2022 16:34 - 50 minutes - 80.1 MB8-figure revenue. $123 million raise. A community of 100,000+ members. The buzzword in Silicon Valley is 'Product-Led Growth', but is PLG really the future? Lloyed Lobo Lobo thinks its CLG -- COMMUNITY-Led Growth. Building COMMUNITY is a low-cost, high-growth option that can become your ultimate moat. Lloyed would know — building up the Tractionconf.io community allowed his company Boast to bootstrap to that 8-figure revenue and pull in that massive raise. In the season finale ...
S18E11: Raising Capital Through Hidden Funding Opportunities with Phunware COO Randall Crowder
September 11, 2022 05:15 - 57 minutes - 87.3 MBWhen we think of raising capital we usually default to VCs, Angels, Friends & Family, and maybe Family Offices. But there are a whole host of other funding instruments that can put you on the map, like alumni groups, sovereign wealth funds, and more. Randall Crowder raised over $100 million for Phunware, then took the company public via a SPAC and raised another $100 million. He's experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly behind every possible funding path. He steps to the mic in t...
S18E10: Reducing CAC Through A Distribution Flywheel with Asteya CEO Hadi Radwan
August 27, 2022 19:05 - 52 minutes - 91.2 MBWhen we work on investor pitch decks, one of our questions to founders is, "What's your G2M / distribution strategy?" Too often we hear, "Social media", "buying ads", or "SEO". Now, it's not that these channels don't work, it's that it usually requires a ton of upfront capital to even start to figure out what's working and what's not. Capital that you don't have yet, for CAC that won't pay you back for a long time (potentially ever). On top of that, once you do have the keyword or ta...
S18E9: A VC's Take on a Potential Recession with LOUD Capital CEO Navin Goyal
August 13, 2022 17:41 - 55 minutes - 87.6 MBYou've seen it in the news, in your Linkedin feeds, and from industry experts. Y-Combinator sent out their doomsday letter. All the classic characteristics have started to show themselves already. I'm talking of course about 'The R Word'. What does a potential recession mean for you as a founder, both in running your company and raising capital? Who better to ask than a VC. Navin Goyal is a physician turned entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. I've gotten to know him well over t...
S18E8: Building Culture Through Conscious Leadership with BallotReady COO Aviva Rosman
August 06, 2022 20:11 - 43 minutes - 78.6 MBI'm a firm believer that the majority if not all, problems that exist are ultimately a communication problem. And as your company scales, how you communicate sets the precedent for your leadership style. Aviva Rosman and her Cofounder Alex Niemczewski have scaled BallotReady to 100 employees with 300+ customers including names like Spotify, TikTok, Snapchat, and Levis. But they were on the verge of this never happening because they didn't have the right model to communicate with each othe...
S18E7: Generating Pre-sales Before Launching with Fermat CEO Rishabh Jain
July 30, 2022 18:43 - 55 minutes - 98.4 MBIf there's one emoji you never want to describe your product, it's the cricket emoji 🦗. Yet every day, hundreds of startups launch to crickets — no interest, no adoption, no future. Rishabh Jain successfully brought hundreds of creators and dozens of brands to Fermat, securing agreements to billing terms or down payments, before ever building the product. Fermat's ability to generate pre-sales not only created a quicker path to revenue but helped ensure higher product adoption and stic...
S18E6: Driving Revenue & Awareness Through Sponsorships with FWD Collective Founder Michael Donnelly
July 24, 2022 05:30 - 59 minutes - 107 MBEver notice how whenever you watch a sports game on TV that the name of the arena is sponsored by a brand, there are decals and signs along the field featuring additional sponsors, the pre-game show is sponsored, the highlight reel, the halftime show, the postgame show are all sponsored, I think you get the idea... What these teams, venues, and networks all realize is that there is room for added value beyond the functional use of their 'product', and that added value is worth money. You d...
S18E5: Embracing Conflict for Growth and Scale with Investor & Author Gabe Karp
July 16, 2022 16:17 - 54 minutes - 97.8 MBImagine this: Your company accidentally prints the "C" word onto thousands of diaper packages for the largest diaper brand in the world. What do you do? Several years ago, as General Counsel of ePrize, Gabe Karp found himself in this exact situation. It taught him a valuable lesson on how to approach conflict. But not only that, as a former litigator, advisor, and active VC, Gabe has seen conflict from every angle. His new book, "Don't Get Mad At Penguins", unpacks what he's learned ove...
S18E4: How To Attract & Retain Young Talent with VC Keyona Meeks
July 09, 2022 16:50 - 1 hour - 103 MBAmidst all the ways you can grow a startup, there's one truth everyone can agree on: Bad hires can tank a company. So how do you position your company as attractive to a talent pool? And not just any talent pool, but the pool that's driving the future of work — young talent? At just 25 years old, Keyona Meeks has made waves in the startup world, going from Investment Strategist at Bronze Valley VC to becoming General Partner at Black Tech Capital. She's advised dozens of companies on the...
S18E3: The 6 Qualities To Look For In A CTO with TechSpeak Founder Nelly Yusupova
July 01, 2022 08:41 - 51 minutes - 89.7 MB"We're looking for a CTO, so if you know anyone please let me know!" Does that sentence sound familiar? Whether it's getting the initial product built, or taking an MVP and turning it into a scalable product, "I need a CTO!" is something I hear founders say all the time. Nelly Yusupova is a seasoned CTO with 18 years of experience. As Founder of TechSpeak, she trains startups on how to effectively create and run their product development strategy. She knows exactly what to look for in a...
S18E2: Building A Hot Investor Pipeline with FounderSuite CEO Nathan Beckord
June 25, 2022 17:49 - 1 hour - 103 MBWhat if you could not only have a great pitch but a lineup of investors eager to get time on your calendar?? It's not only possible but there's a completely practical way to make it happen. Nathan Beckord's company, FounderSuite, brings structure, speed, and efficiency to capital raising with its funding tech stack to over 2500 startups worldwide. He's personally supported hundreds of founders through the capital raise journey and knows how to line 'em up and knock 'em down. He steps...
S18E1: The Most Effective Channels To Scale Your ICP with Postie CEO David Fink
June 19, 2022 02:32 - 1 hour - 102 MBThe podcast is officially back for Season 18! What are we talking about in this week's episode? ICP! ICP! ICP! These 3 letters are the refrain for any startup breaking into the market — find your Ideal Customer Persona/Profile. But what happens once you do find that ICP, and how do you a) know if there are enough of them to keep pursuing, and b) if yes, keep finding more of them? David Fink has grown Postie to 5 consecutive years of profitability, with customers ranging from midsize to...
S17E12: Establishing A Partner-Sales Ecosystem with The Peak Beyond COO Jen Dye (Season Finale!)
April 22, 2022 23:14 - 42 minutes - 71.3 MBWhen you think about sales you typically think about generating your own leads, you and your team selling directly to the customer, and your entire sales operation being an in-house effort. Jen Dye has a different approach. She believes selling can and should be a team effort. Not just with your internal team members, but alongside external partners. The Peak Beyond's founding team has been able to reach nearly $1 million in ARR — without a single dedicated sales hire — by building a...
S17E11: Building Relationships with Hard-To-Reach People with MORE Founder Bambi Weavil
April 10, 2022 00:54 - 43 minutes - 73.7 MBTrish Stratus. Kurt Angle. Lita. Larry Zbysko. Jeff Jarrett. The Steiner Brothers. Penta El Cero Miedo. These are LEGENDARY names in pro wrestling with accomplishments like headlining stadiums around the world, performing on national television, appearing at Wrestlemania in front of 75,000 fans, and getting inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. So what would make them even take a phone call from a startup independent wrestling league? That's what Bambi Weavil, Founder of MORE Wrestling (...
S17E10: Landing Investors When You DON'T Have Revenue with New Age Meats COO Derin Alemli
March 20, 2022 09:35 - 42 minutes - 74.1 MBThe hardest thing to do during the capital raise journey is convince investors that your startup is a risk worth taking. It's even harder to do if you don't have any revenue behind your name but you're still saying, "Just trust me." Sustainable meat company, New Age Meats hasn't generated a dollar in revenue yet, but they've raised $32 million to date across Seed, Bridge, and Series A rounds. All season we're talking exclusively with clients from the Startup Hypeman portfolio, and we had ...
S17E9: Driving 85% Retention Through Unforgettable Customer Experiences with Swish House CEO Jonathon Dues
February 27, 2022 07:05 - 1 hour - 106 MBThe single greatest customer experience I've ever had is at Swish House. Swish House is the first-ever Basketball Fitness Class. The first time I took a Swish House class I was so in love that immediately after leaving I called 4 friends because I HAD to tell them. Whether you sell fitness classes or software, your customer experience should be so good that people can't help but talk about it in their circles. Swish House didn't get here by accident. Every component from when you walk in...
S17E8: Minimizing Startup Chaos with HonestGame CEO Kim Michelson
February 10, 2022 13:48 - 46 minutes - 79.1 MBEveryone talks about how startup life is crazy. At any given point you're working on 5 different things. Decisions made an hour ago might change an hour later. What you thought you were doing yesterday might not be what you're doing tomorrow. In a weird way, we're kind of obsessed with the chaos, and we tend to glorify it. But operating from chaos doesn't help you grow a company. As unsexy as it might sounds, you need discipline and structure. This season of the podcast exclusively fe...
S17E7: Going from NO Brand to KNOWN Brand with Blueboard COO Kevin Yip
February 06, 2022 08:15 - 56 minutes - 86.3 MBWhen you bring new technology to market or a new approach to the old way of doing things, you face a fundamental problem of trying to educate the market while also having no brand equity or credibility yet. So why should anyone listen to you? That's the fundamental problem experiential rewards platform Blueboard faced when they launched in 2013. But since launch, they've scaled from 2 cofounders all the way 200+ employees, $16 million raised, over $50 million in annual revenue, and a r...
S17E6: Using People Stories as a Growth Lever with Electric Sr. Comms Director JoAnn Martin
January 28, 2022 23:00 - 47 minutes - 74.5 MBPlain and simple, one of the best ways to grow a startup is to get the people talking — literally. That's what ultra-fast growing startup Electric.ai has done incredibly well. Through telling the stories of their customers, users, and even their own employees, they've managed to create a groundswell around their product that makes new customers, new users, and new users want to become part of their ecosystem. This strategy has helped them expand from $17 million to $38 million ARR in 2...
S17E5: Scaling Your Distribution Through Unowned Channels with EAFL Founder Jesse Nunez
January 07, 2022 17:17 - 46 minutes - 81.4 MBThe key to growth for nearly every startup is the ability to unlock distribution at scale. But in this pursuit, most companies don't look beyond the assets and properties they already own. In this week's episode, I have a conversation with a different type of startup doing things a different way. The Elite Amateur Fight League (EAFL) is an MMA league that's grown a fanbase by getting on TV networks NBCSports and Marquee Sports Network (home of the Chicago Cubs), instead of building the...
S17E4: Driving Revenue Growth Through Guerilla Marketing with Engagedly CEO Sri Chellappa
December 12, 2021 10:06 - 56 minutes - 96.4 MBWhat are the low to no-cost tactics and strategies we can come up with, that drive major long-term growth and awareness? That's what Engagedly's CEO Sri Chellappa asks his marketing team on a regular basis. As a bootstrapped startup, Engagedly has figured out creative ways to build their brand without breaking the bank. And it's worked — they've made it to $5 million ARR and counting. This week on the show Sri steps to the mic to break down some of the company's most effective gueril...
S17E3: Raising Your First $500k with Science On Call COO Luisa Castellanos
December 05, 2021 10:26 - 47 minutes - 72.6 MBScience On Call isn't your typical startup. Which is why when they originally founded, they didn't even entertain the idea of investor capital. But that narrative changed when they stopped thinking of their company as a restaurant IT consultancy, and started thinking of it as an IT platform for restaurants. This shift came with a business model change and a redirected vision. A vision that could be significantly bolstered through outside investment. Startup Hypeman had the chance t...