The StartUp to ScaleUp Game Plan

On today's episode I interviewed Eyal Malinger, Managing Partner at Resurge Growth Partners.

We delved into Eyal's journey through the venture capital world, exploring his strategies for identifying high-potential ventures and his vision for the future of tech entrepreneurship. From his early days as a software engineer to his roles at McKinsey, Oaktree Capital and Beringea, Eyal shares the pivotal moments that shaped his career an...

Welcome to an exciting episode where we delve into the cutting-edge world of artificial intelligence and machine learning with Ben Gutkovich, the co-founder of Superlinked. Join us as we explore how Superlinked is transforming the landscape of AI-powered software, making it accessible and efficient for organizations worldwide.

Superlinked stands at the forefront of AI data processing, turning complex data into vector embeddings at ...

Richard Thornton's’s story begins with his early career in consulting and his serendipitous entry into the tech industry in the early 2000s. He joined a digital data collection business that was looking to disrupt the market research industry. This venture-backed company gave him his first taste of working with venture capitalists and shaped his 20-year career working for B2B, technology-enabled, and SaaS propositions. Richard's ca...

In today's episode, I interviewed Stefan Bader, a two-time founder and the current CEO of Cello—a SaaS scale-up pioneering the way B2B companies incentivize referrals.

Stefan shares the pain points he encountered as Chief Revenue Officer at Shore, a company akin to Square but focused on European markets. His growth team faced challenges in implementing a user referral program. The lack of suitable third-party solutions led Stefan t...

In this captivating episode of "Startup to Scale Up," we delve into the Nordic startup ecosystem with Robin Egerow, Managing Partner at Goose Valley Ventures. With a track record investing in companies like Klarna, Lunar Bank and Receipt Hero, Robin brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table.

We kick off the conversation by uncovering the intriguing origins behind the name Goose Valley Ventures, inspired by majestic N...

In this episode, we dive deep into the world of AI-driven productivity with Gabriel Hubert, the Founding CEO of Dust. Dust is a Paris-based SaaS scale-up that's redefining team collaboration and efficiency through the power of generative AI. Supported by global venture capital giants like Sequoia, Dust is on a mission to break down information silos and empower teams to thrive in a fast-paced, data-driven world.

Gabriel shares the ...

In this episode, Gary Reeman interviews Pete Daffern, a three-time CEO and two-time president with a track record transforming fledgling companies into thriving unicorns. With $50 billion worth of software transactions under his belt, Pete’s insights are gold for any startup or scale-up looking to navigate the treacherous waters of growth and expansion. Currently, Pete leverages his extensive experience to serve on various boards a...

Marcel van der Heijden, a Partner at leading B2B software venture capital and growth equity firm, Fortino Capital, describes the challenging environment for B2B SaaS funding during the past two years.

Marcel brings us up-to-date with the status of the B2B software and SaaS funding landscape as of April 2024, the emergence and rise of AI-based products and services.

Marcel imparts valuable advice to startups, founders, and board mem...

Richard Anton, General Partner at Oxx, discussed the past, present and future of B2B SaaS investing. Richard shared insights about the evolution of the sector during the past 2 decades and explained why he believes Europe will strongly grow its share of global B2B SaaS investing despite the traditional Silicon Valley hegemony.

Richard delved into topics such as the rise of generative AI, the emergence of Product-Led Growth (PLG...

In the latest episode of The Startup to Scale-Up Game Plan, host Gary Reeman invites Mark Beeston, Founding Partner at Illuminate Financial, to share his career journey, investment strategies, and insights into the fluid dynamics of the financial market. Illuminate Financial is a venture capital firm known for its expertise in investing in enterprise software companies catering to financial services businesses.

We go over how Mark ...

Adam Liska is the co-founder & CEO at Glyphic – funded by Point72 Ventures – who’ve developed an AI co-pilot to make sales teams more productive, improving conversion rates & increasing revenue.

Adam discussed:

* Why he felt the market was ready for a fast-moving LLM product company even before OpenAI released ChatGPT

* Overcoming the challenges of transitioning from working at a large corporate to becoming a startup founde...

Jason Foster is the CEO of groundbreaking biotech firm Ori who've raised $130m in funding from the likes of Novalis, Octopus & Amadeus.  Jason also runs his own angel investment portfolio & supports over a dozen healthtech & Saas ventures as a Board member/advisor. We explored: 

• Ensuring a smooth handover from a technical founder to an incoming professional CEO 
• Why startups need to prove they've a viable busi...

Hannah Meiton is a Founding Partner at the Nordic VC fund, Ampli Ventures who invest in the Nordics’ leading SaaS ventures.

We explored:

• How Hannah transitioned from a career as a senior operator to building a VC firm
• Why the tough decisions that keep her awake at night are always about people
• Her passion for investing in individuals who demonstrate grit, a clear vision, & creative ways to solve problems 
• How Ampli Ventures...

Amrit Sami is a VC at Mercia Ventures who's taken an unconventional route into the world of venture capital.

We explored:

• how to break into the VC community as an outsider
• the support system startup CEOs need to build to ensure their businesses survive & prosper
• the importance of talent diversity when companies are building their leadership teams 
• how to leverage micro-testing to make key product & market decisions

Seth de Hart is a Venture Partner at Point Nine – he also advises other B2B SaaS startups on building & optimizing go2market

We discussed

• Why product-market fit trumps effective sales processes & sales expertise
• How to ascertain if you have true product market fit
• The mistakes CEOs make in hiring sales leaders
• How to expand a successful European business into the US
• How AI can help improve your sales process
• Why sales, ...

Jonathan Organ is a Founding Partner at Axiom Equity – a new breed of B2B Saas investor who aim to challenge convention & think outside the box.

We discussed:

• Jonathan's varied operational & investment career path & network 
• the gap in the market for growth equity providers between VC & leveraged PE style investors
• the traditional VC approach to making bets on many companies – the majority of which will be ignor...

Barrie Hadfield is the founding CEO at mindset.ai – a B2B saas venture who make every piece of content easily accessible via a unique combination of generative AI & advanced knowledge graphs.

Barrie’s a serial entrepreneur who’s founded 5 companies, employed thousands of people globally & launched several products that went on to be market leaders.

We explored the extraordinary impact generative AI has had on his business o...

Kashish Gupta is the co-founder of HighTouch, a Saas scale-up helping companies sync customer data across different back-end databases and systems. HighTouch has raised $90m from investors like Databricks, Bain Capital and Iconiq.

We delved into HighTouch's journey, discussed their strategic relationships with Databricks, Snowflake & Hubspot, and explored their unique approach to data management.

Some key takeaways include:

Maria Palma is a General Partner at Kindred Capital - a London HQ VC who describe themselves as  an ‘equitable venture’ fund where every founder they back becomes a co-owner of the fund.

Kindred have raised £266m across 3 funds & have backed startups like FiveAI, which was sold to Bosch in 2022, and Atlas ML, which was sold to Meta within a year of raising a seed round from Kindred.

Maria explained why:

• Kindred's equitable ...