Startup Sense Podcast

Filld is solving a problem that many of us can relate to. Perhaps we have even wondered from time-to-time why a service like this hasn't already existed. Filld delivers fuel to consumers at their residence or office. They simply schedule it in advance using the app, type in where the car will be located and then no more hassle of dealing with gas stations. We all admit that time is our most valuable resource and now Filld is giving some back to us. The gas station industry will never go away but now as a Filld customer you won't have worry about pumping your gas is undesirable weather conditions, handling those disgusting pumps, getting gas on your new shoes, or trying to find a gas station late at night. Filld has 25 employees, has raised $6 million from investors and is based in the Bay Area which is one of their three markets, the others being Seattle and Vancouver.  In this interview I spoke with Chris about his motivation behind starting Filld, where did the idea come from, what job was he doing prior, w

Sabin Lomac and Jim Tselikis, cousins and co-founders of Cousins Maine Lobster have built a $20+ million lobster empire in just 5 years. They first appeared on Season 4, Episode 6 of Shark Tank (watch now) after being in business for just 2 months but had already done $100,000+ of revenue which was enough to prove to Barbara Corcoran they were worthy of a deal. Barbara ultimately invested $55,000 for 15% of their young company. Fast forward to 2017 and the company has 27 food trucks (22 of which are owned by franchisees) as well as a brick and mortar location in West Hollywood. The company has received hundreds of applications from potential franchisees so it's safe to assume the growth is not slowing down anytime soon. In this interview I spoke with Sabin about his motivation and inspiration behind starting the company, where did the idea come from, how much did it cost to get their first truck operational, when and how did they get onto Shark Tank, what was that experience like, what is it like being in fro

5 years ago Joshua joined us in episode #35 to talk about his company Bigger Pockets. Back then it was just a 1-person company that was showing signs of potential growth but fast forward to 2017 and the company is crushing it. Bigger Pockets is the largest online community for residential and commercial real estate investors/owners that provides access to information, forms, potential deals, building relationships, interviews, success stories, private chat and of course their insanely popular Bigger Pockets podcast. Bigger Pockets is based in Denver, is growing rapidly in terms of people and revenue, just moved into some office space and is still bootstrapped.  In this interview I chatted with Joshua about the company's growth over the past 5 years, what decisions he made that got things really moving, what have been the biggest challenges, why has the company remained bootstrapped, how much larger is the community today than 5 years ago, when did they launch the podcast and how large is the audience, any tip

For anyone that has bought or sold a residence they are familiar with the traditional 6% commission which typically gets split between the buyer's agent and the seller's agent. The team at Door wants to change that. Door charges a flat $5,000 fee regardless of the property value which means a $630,000 home (which is their average transaction value) would normally generate $37,000+ of fees but with Door the buyer and seller are both saving a ton of money. Door has also reinvented the way that agents get paid...instead of working on straight commissions, their agents receive a competitive salary plus bonuses. Also keep in mind the average real estate agent only does 3-4 transactions per year but the average Door agent is doing 3-4 per month which means your Door agent has much more experience. Door did their first transaction in early 2016 and just 18 months later are approaching $100 million of total transaction volume. Door is based in Dallas, TX and has raised $3.1 million from investors.  In this interview

Brands and companies are always looking for new ways to connect with their customers and followers in hopes of selling more product. Hosting live video broadcasts have become more popular but selling product during them has never been easy. Booster allows any person or company to live stream while, showcasing their product(s) and begin getting sales immediately through the mobile app. For any person or company with something unique to offer and a decent audience on social media (or email) they now have another platform to help sell more product in real time. Live video is definitely the most genuine way to connect with customers. Booster has raised $450,000 with 8 employees and is based in Charleston, SC. In this interview I spoke with Michael Steven, solo-founder of Booster about why he started this company, what does Booster do, how is it different than other live streaming or broadcasting platforms, who are their ideal customers, how do they make money, how much do their clients pay, what was he doing befo

Two of the most competitive industries are restaurants and retail. Owners of those businesses are constantly worried about bringing in new customers, increasing profit margins and making operations as efficient as possible. The team of Revzi understands the challenges which is why they've developed software to help these owners. Revzi is based in Chicago, with a team of approx 15 people and currently bootstrapped. Paul had a successful exit from his last company which has enabled him to fund Revzi since the beginning.  In this interview I spoke with Paul Hadfield, co-founder of Revzi about what his company does and why he started it, who are their customers, how are they acquiring those customers, how are his sales reps compensated, what advice does he have with regards to compensation, what have been the biggest challenges, the lessons learned, what advice does he wish he could go back and give himself, how is Revzi funded and do they plan to raise outside capital, why did he sell his previous company and mu

Building a brand is no easy task, just look at the millions of failed businesses across every industry. It takes skill, experience, strategy, patience and a little bit of luck. Many founders might know know their industry, they might be great engineers or product people, they might be great at fundraising or closing deals, but none of those skills translate into being able to build a brand which requires deeply understanding the end customer and being able to make your brand stand apart from the competition. The team at Red Antler is one of the top branding agencies in the country and have worked with amazing companies like Casper, Allbirds, MissionU, Bowery, Foursquare and more. Red Antler has been around for 10 years and is based in NYC however they work with companies and brands around the world. Learn more at RedAntler.com In this interview I spoke with JB about Red Antler and why he started the company, what was he doing prior, what services do they provide, what types of companies/brands do they work wi

Companies have so much more data than ever before. It comes from their websites. It comes from their mobile apps. This data can be very valuable with respect to learning more about consumer behavior and consumer interactions. Interana helps companies analyze their data so they can continually improve and optimize their systems and products. Interana works with many well-known companies like Microsoft, Tinder, NextDoor, Asana, Survey Money and many more. Interana is based in the Bay Area, has raised $46 million from investors and is hiring.  In this interview I spoke with Bobby Johnson, co-founder of Interana about his motivation behind starting the company, what exactly does Interana do, who are some companies they work with and how are those companies using their product, what it's like to start a company with your wife, what it was like being at Facebook from 2006 to 2012, how that experience at Facebook prepared him to be a founder, why Interana went through Y-combinator, how the famous accelerator helped

You can rent cars by the hour. You can rent boats by the hour. You can rent many things by the hour except for hotels, or that was the case before Recharge started up last year. Recharge is providing flexible options for guests and travelers at luxury hotels. Currently they are operating in San Francisco and New York City with expansion plans on the horizon. Eventually they want this service to be available at thousands of hotels in hundreds of cities around the world. Through the Recharge service you can check into a hotel for any number of hours, take a shower, take a nap, watch some television, order some food, et some work done, change into some new clothes, kill some time until your next meeting or all of the above. Even if hotels are near a 100% occupancy rate (which is rare) there's still a very good chance that 25% of those rooms will be empty for most of the day due to late check-ins. Recharge has 11 employees, is based in San Fran and has raised just under $5 million from investors.  In this intervi

Since the first show aired back in 2013 I've been a huge fan of The Profit with Marcus Lemonis. This business reality show has gone on to produce 4 seasons of episodes, each of which showcases a different company in pursuit of doing an investment deal with Marcus. Back in Episode #6 of Season 1 we were introduced to Mr. Green Tea (owned by the parent company MGT Foods). Mr. Green Tea is a family-owned, third generation ice cream company based in Keyport, NJ. Unlike many of the other small businesses from Season 1, Mr. Green Tea was not in any financial trouble, business was good, and they had carved out a nice niche in their industry. Their biggest problem was a fear of taking big risks, most notably building their own manufacturing facility so they could get away from their co-packers, introduce new products, increase their profit margins and ultimately control their own destiny. Since doing a deal with Marcus, sales are booming at Mr. Green Tea and Mr. Mochi (their newest brand). In their food service divis

Online voting will probably never move online because the risk for fraud is just too high but that shouldn't stop municipalities and political groups from using software to organize and streamline their operations. With all the complexities of elections, EasyVote has a platform for managing inventory, people,, finances, schedules and much more. With hundreds of districts across the country using EasyVote, they have clearly proven that their platform is far superior to the old way of managing these things which relied on word docs, spreadsheets and emails. EasyVote is a solution that saves time and money while increasing accuracy and accountability. EasyVote is based in Atlanta, Georgia with approx 15 employees (distributed around the country) and they've raised $2 million from a couple Angel Investors (with plans to raise more money soon).  In this interview I spoke with Charles Davis, co-founder of EasyVote about his motivation behind starting this company, why does EasyVote actually do, how is the company f

The people at Kinsa are determined to build a globally impactful healthcare company that is literally mapping human health, diseases, outbreaks and more. Through their "connected, smart thermometer" and a couple other products more than 1 million people are benefiting from their new technologies. The company is also using their anonymous data to help schools, cities and companies better understand the health of their students, residents and employees. Kinsa is based in San Francisco, has 30 employees and has raised $29 million from amazing investors like Founder Collective, IA Ventures, FirstMark and Kleiner Perkins. In this interview I chatted with Inder Singh, solo-founder of Kinsa Health about his motivation behind starting this company, what did his career look like before Kinsa, why is human health mapping such a huge market opportunity, what have been the biggest challenges, how do they handle the manufacturing, where are their products sold, what is the price point, have they started expanding interna

Entrepreneurs, founders and CEO's have a variety of platforms and software products to help them with marketing, hiring, financials and just about every other aspect of running a company but there's no platform to help CEO's be better CEO's. That is until Joel Trammell launched Khorus in 2012. Khorus is an innovative enterprise platform built to give leaders a simpler, better way to align teams and execute strategies. Khorus offers a single system for driving results across the whole organization. Khorus has 15 employees, has raised $6.6 million (much of which came directly from Joel) and is based in Austin, Texas. In this interview I spoke with Joel about his previous ventures leading up to Khorus and why he saw a huge opportunity to built out a platform for CEO's, what exactly does the platform do for CEO's, how do they find their customers, what does the sales process look like, what have been the biggest surprises and biggest challenges over the past 5 years, what is the startup scene in Austin like, is h

Companies and brands are always trying to get to know their customers better as well as figure out what the market is looking for so they can develop new products and services. However if company's reach out to their customers directly they will most likely get biased results so they hire a company like Survata to help them out. Survata constructs and carries out large consumer and market research surveys. They work with a long list of Fortune 100 companies. Survata has raised $7.7 million from investors, has 25 employees, is based in San Francisco and is hiring.   In this interview I spoke with Chris about his motivation and vision behind Survata, what was he doing before starting this company and why is this opportunity so large, how are they finding clients, what does the sales process look like, what is the pricing model, how does their service work, how do they find the right consumers to answer the surveys, what publishers do they work with and what is their incentive, what have been the biggest challen

Today's guest is a perfect reminder that the American Dream is still going strong. In Season 4 of Shark Tank, Tracey Noonan and her daughter Danielle (from Wicked Good Cupcakes) wowed the sharks with their cupcakes in a jar. After some negotiating the ladies finally did a deal with Mr. Wonderful who offered them $75,000 for no equity but instead $1 for every jar sold until he recouped his initial investment then $.45 for every jar in perpetuity. Their appearance on Shark Tank kicked off a wild 4-year growth story that has led to more than $13 million of sales and a 10x return for Mr. O'Leary. The story gets even cooler for us business TV reality fans because Marcus Lemonis invested into the company in 2014 to help support their rapid expansion plans. In this interview I spoke with Tracey about this amazing story of success, how and when the company got started, when did they decide to apply for Shark Tank, when was the show produced and when did it air, what happened with sales post-Shark Tank, how have Kevin

For anyone that has been in charge of setting up corporate events you understand how tedious the process can be especially when you have to call a dozen different venues to get pricing, availability, menu options and so forth. Bizly makes your life much easier by providing a platform for corporate meetings and events. Everything you need to plan and execute a great function is available to you. Not only will they save you time but they'll also save you money since Bizly clients tend to get special rates. Bizly is based in New York, has 15 employees and has already raised $1.5 million with another $2 million closing soon.  In this interview I spoke with Ron Shah, co-founder of Bizly about his motivation behind starting the company, what problem are they solving, how big is the corporate event market, how does the Bizly platform work, what types of companies do they work with, how do they find their suppliers (aka the venues), how do they make money, which markets are they currently operating in, how quickly ar

Americans are eating healthier because we have better choices and we're more educated about nutrition. This is no different for employees that spend 8+ hours a day at their office but don't always have time to go out for food, trek through the parking garage, sit in traffic, and wait in long lines. Why should it take 45 minutes just to satisfy your hunger. Obviously the great people at LeanBox agree which is why they're providing innovative food solutions to hundreds of companies in the New England area. The company is based in Boston with plans to expand to the Chicago area and down the East Coast over this year. LeanBox pivoted from an earlier business model which so far appears to have been the right decision.  In this interview I spoke with Shea about his motivation and vision behind LeanBox, what was he doing before starting this company, how did he build the early team, what was their original business model and why did they pivot into LeanBox, when did they raise capital and what has that funding gone

It's undeniable that the world has gone more digital. This is also true for businesses that are spending more time and resources across social and digital platforms. But these companies are constantly at risk of being hacked, impersonated, blackmailed, defrauded and many other threats. ZeroFOX protects those companies, their employees and their customers from a variety of online, social and digital threats. ZeroFOX is based in Baltimore, has raised $40 million, is approaching 200 employees and is always on the hunt for more great people to join their team.  In this interview I spoke with Evan about the mission of ZeroFOX, why did he start the company, what services do they provide, how are they protecting companies in the digital age, where are companies and brands getting damaged, what is their pricing model, what have been the secrets to building such a fast growing company, what is their customer acquisition strategy, why have they raised so much capital, what has been their recruiting strategy, what is th

50 million Americans have gym memberships with 5-10% of those people using personal trainers. But what do you do for a workout when you can't get to the gym or you can't afford to use a personal trainer...you use Aaptiv which provides on-demand audio fitness classes for all types of workouts including yoga, running, strength training, cycling and several others. Aaptiv is the personal trainer in your pocket that promises to make your workouts more fun and more effective. The service only costs $9.99 per month and provides unlimited access to dozens of workout routines. Aaptiv is based in NYC and has raised $1.5 million.   In this interview I spoke with Ethan about his motivation behind starting Aaptiv, what was he doing before this venture, what does Aaptiv do, what is their pricing, how do they acquire their users, how do they pick their trainers, what's their LTV/CAC ratio (lifetime value / customer acquisition cost), what are the demographics of their user base, what have been the biggest challenges with s

A couple months ago I began using Hunter.io for my own prospecting efforts. I quickly became a fan of the service so I reached out to the founders and invited them onto my podcast. They're solving a very simple but important problem that most entrepreneurs and sales people deal with...how to get the right email address. They currently have a web app, chrome extension and plug-ins for services like Linkedin. Hunter.io allows you to search for email addresses and built prospecting lists that can be uploaded to your CRM or exported in a CSV file. Hunter.io is currently bootstrapped and cash flow positive. The team is small but they've had impressive traction over the past couple years thanks for word of mouth and being featured on ProductHunt.  In this interview I spoke with Antoine about his motivation behind starting Hunter.io, what was he working on prior to this project, how much user growth have they seen so far, how are they finding those users, any growth marketing tips, how were they able to get to cash