Seed to Sequoia
Practical advice on go-to-market from leading investors, founders, and advisors. Host Alex Shartsis has been it all–founder, employee, investor, even the guy at the big company whose job is buying little companies. Learn what works and what mistakes to avoid. Hear unvarnished stories of the tough times, the pivots, and the big wins. But mostly what to avoid. Whether you’re hiring your first salesperson, or preparing for your next financing round, you’ll learn something useful you can use right away.
Episodes
Dave Hersh, former entrepreneur and founder of Jive Software, shares his insightful journey from bootstrapping to IPO and beyond.
Dave is also the Author of 1 in 10,000, a newsletter on The Future of Competitive Advantage: Case Studies and Strategies for Building Moats in the Age of Commoditized Technology
In this episode, Host Alex Shartsis dives into the unspoken challenges of startup growth with Dave, highlighting the pitfalls...
Tony Stubblebine is the CEO of Medium, a renowned platform for writers and readers, and a seasoned entrepreneur with a rich history in tech, having co-founded several successful startups.
Join Alex Shartsis in this episode as Tony shares his personal anecdotes and hard-won insights from turning around Medium, highlighting the importance of situational leadership, and navigating the challenges of scaling a platform. He also reflect...
Luke Hohmann is a serial entrepreneur, author, and pricing expert. He recently wrote "Profit Streams," a book about effective software pricing strategies. With experience in multiple startups, successful exits, and even a significant failure, Luke brings valuable insights to the table.
Join Host Alex Shartsis in this episode as Luke shares crucial knowledge about software pricing strategies, challenging common misconcepti...
Gregoire Viasnoff is the VP of the Incubation practice of SE Ventures which is a corporate arm of Schneider Electric having 1B+ Assets under management focused on sustainability, energy management and Industry 4.0. Gregoire and his team are transforming ideas into scalable and independent VC backed start-ups. They incubate around 2 companies per year and their young portfolio already includes 1 unicorn: Verkor, 3 exits (EiQ to Next...
Nate Williams is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Union Labs - an applied DeepTech seed fund focused on building and backing leading seed-stage startups in Climate, PropTech and Mobility.
Nate is a hands-on serial entrepreneur having previously played roles as an EIR at Kleiner Perkins, CRO & Head of Business at August Home, Inc. which became a leader in Smart Home Access, later acquired by Assa Abloy in 2017. He was als...
Rob Christenson is the CEO and Co-Founder of oPRO AI, an AI startup that uses machine learning techniques to enable complex manufacturing operations to achieve higher optima — higher yields, lower energy use, reduced emissions, safer and stabilized operations.
Rob has had success in founding companies, going from $0 to one exit at about $100 million a year. He was the SVP of PROS, a leading AI pricing company that he worked on for ...
Lars Leckie is the managing director and partner of Aspenwood Ventures. He and his partner Steve started their career at the first ever software focused venture capital firm that started back in the late eighties, and took over that firm turning it ino Aspenwood Ventures.
They look for disruptive technologies and market shifts, aiming for companies to reach $100 million in revenue and stressing the importance of building real busin...
Chase Woolard is the founder of Early Stage HQ. He is a Bay-Area based talent leader with 12 years of experience helping startups hire and retain great people. The last 8 of those years he has been building and managing high-growth recruiting teams, starting originally in the agency world before moving into working internally, driving talent at venture-backed startups like Perfect Price, AngelList, and Hone.
Join Host Alex Sha...
This episode explores one of the most underrated and overlooked superpowers for founders and entrepreneurs - the ability to listen deeply to your customers.
It's easy to drift into building products and services based on our own assumptions and hunches. The founders and industry leaders joining us have battle-tested strategies for doing the opposite - obsessing over authentic customer voices to uncover game-changing insights.
Y...
Matthew Leibowitz is the Co-Founder and Managing General Partner at Plaza Ventures, a growth-stage bespoke venture capital firm that focuses on structuring deals tailored to individual circumstances and strong relationships with companies. He has been a VC his entire professional career spanning 17 years and has seen the ecosystem evolve and completely change over the past 2 decades.
Join Host Alex Shartsis in this episode as Matth...
Aaron Endré is the founder of Endré Communications, that helps groundbreaking tech companies achieve their growth and impact goals with integrated marketing and PR strategies. Over the past 15 years, he has worked with some of the most innovative and disruptive companies in Silicon Valley — from pre-seed to publicly-traded — helping 3 of them achieve unicorn status; 12 secure profitable exits; and raise over $3 billion in VC fundin...
Janel Gallucci, is the founder of Gallucci Ventures. She is a sales powerhouse whose career spans from the bustling streets of New York City to the heart of Silicon Valley's tech landscape. Rising through the ranks from SDR to sales director, Janel's relentless hustle led her to spearhead a startup office to profitability within its first quarter in San Francisco. Her tenure at Hearst and LinkedIn solidified her reputation ...
Many startup founders tend to not plan around series B and C since they're too focused on closing earlier stages of investment, missing the forest for the trees in the bargain.
In this episode, Hammad Aslam of Susa Ventures outlines the transformative journey of startups from seed stage to Series A and the crucial reasons behind considering Series B and C stages early on.
Founders have plenty to gain from tuning into this epi...
In this episode, we dive deep into the world of clean tech with Kristian Hanelt of Ultra Capital, exploring the ever-evolving landscape of renewable energy, funding cycles, and market dynamics.
Tune in to the episode to discover:
- Kristian's journey from the coal mines to clean energy.
- Insights into navigating the funding market for clean tech startups
- The importance of execution-focused investment strategies
- Managing t...
What's new in the startup legal landscape? Turns out, something never seen before!
In this episode of the Seed to Sequoia Podcast we speak to Ronnie Roy of DME Law.
What's that new change? It's much more merger-of-equals activity than ever before. This rare type of deal has become very popular with startups. Learn about this unique type of deal, whether it might be right for your company, and how to pull it off.
We a...
In this week's Coaching Snack we revisit insights from successful founder Sean Burns and the importance of customer focus, finding a visually compelling problem, and listening to feedback.
Sean Byrnes is a Partner at Near Horizon (nearhorizon.vc). He started his first company, Flurry, in 2005, which became one of the largest analytics and ad platforms in the world. He later sold it to Yahoo in 2014. Sean has been a founder, investor and advisor over the years and has a wealth of lessons to share.
Join host Alex Shartsis In this episode as Sean shares with us the essentials of successful company building, emphasizing ...
This week's coaching snack recaps lessons from the intricate world of building a climate tech startup. We explore essential practices for success, from harnessing the power of customer feedback to navigating the fundraising landscape with integrity.
Key takeaways:
- Harnessing the Customer Voice: Discover how prioritizing customer conversations, beyond sales pitches, fuels product development and builds trust.
- Building Tru...
Joshua Posamentier is Managing Partner of Congruent Ventures, an early stage which invests early in companies in the sustainability ecosystem with companies focused on the energy transition, smart cities and mobility, food and agriculture, and sustainable consumption and production. With over 25 years of experience spanning venture (Prelude Ventures, ICap) and operating roles (Intel, NSC, TI, Blipstream), he was a core part of Inte...
Every week we post a 'coaching snack' to start your week off. We hit highlights from our last Thursday's guest and give you a couple of things to think about for the week that was past and the one that's coming.
In this episode we talk about
- Being deliberate
- Asking investors for more
- Being too nice
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