Startup Sense Podcast

Let's pretend you just bought a new house or condo, or perhaps moved into a new office space and want to make it look amazing...where do you go for help? how do you find the right interior designer for your needs, your budget and your preferred taste? Well the old way of doing it was through google search or maybe getting a referral, but the new way (and better way) is going to Homepolish. Homepolish was started in 2012 as a platform for connecting homeowners with the perfect interior designer. They screen the interior designers very carefully as to only let the best in. Currently they have around 600 designers available across the country but not surprisingly NYC, LA and SF are their three biggest markets. Homepolish has raised $20 million, in based in NYC and has 65 employees. It's also worth noting that two of their early investors are Jennifer Hyman (co-founder of Rent the Runway) and Andy Hunt (co-founder of Warby Parker).  In this interview I spoke with Noa about his motivation and vision with Homepolis

My guest today accomplished something that most of us entrepreneurs truly aspire to which is growing a company to $100 million then selling it to a Fortune 500 company. After working in the financial services industry after college, Kelcy decided to join his father's roofing company and transform it into one of the leading solar companies in the country. When Roof Diagnostics Solar was purchased by NRG in 2014 it was the 8th largest solar installer in the U.S. (which they accomplished in just 3 years). After selling Roof Diagnostics Solar, Kelcy stayed with NRG for 2 years before jumping into his next project called MemberWhen. MemberWhen is a service that helps families tell their life story and receive an audio memory file that will live on forever and be passed down to the next generation.  In this interview we started off by talking about Roof Diagnostics and how they were able grow this company so incredibly fast, what does it really take to build a $100 million company in 3 years, what were their bigges

I've known today's guest for a few years when he launched his first company Ubidock, a wireless charging system for bars, restaurants, coffee shops, hotels and other venues. Not only is this a solution for customers so their phone doesn't die but it also provides valuable customer data to the venue and keeps the customer there spending more money. Ubidock is still in growth mode but our guest Izzy is in the process of launching his next business called JackAI. Jack is a 24/7 chat service for everything home related. Whether you're trying to find a plumber or landscaper or any of a thousand other possibilities, soon you'll have Jack to help you. Learn more at ubidock.com and 247jack.com In this interview I spoke with Izzy about both companies but started with Ubidock since he's been working on this one longer. I asked him about why he started Ubidock, how he founder his co-founders, what it took to design the product and setup manufacturing, what were the biggest challenges, how are they acquiring customers, w

Today's interview was extra special for me because I've been a big fan of Quest Nutrition and our guest Tom Bilyeu for many years. I remember back in 2011 when I tried a Quest bar for the first time and was immediately hooked. Not only did their protein bars taste great but the macros were much better than everything else on the market. It was finally possible to get a healthy protein bar that wasn't loaded up with sugars and artificial ingredients. For the first couple years Quest was only available online but they were crushing it with social media and with influencers (in full disclosure I've been an ambassador with Quest since 2012). As demand for Quest bars continued to grow the company began distributing through retail stores. Fast forward to today and thousands of retail stores, nutrition stores, websites and gyms are selling Quest bars. They are definitely the #1 protein bar on the planet but Quest is not just a protein bar company, they are a legitimate food company that is changing the way people ea

Many of us are using dozens of web apps on a daily or weekly basis for everything from sending emails to saving documents to managing contacts to assigning tasks to taking notes or so on. Most of these web apps don't automatically connect with each other unless they're using Zapier. The founders of Zapier realized back in 2011 when they started the company that the explosion in web apps would create this massive opportunity to connect hundreds of the most popular web apps to make us more productive and save us time. You can see all 750+ of the web apps currently connected through Zapier by [clicking here]. Zapier has 85 employees with no office or headquarters meaning every single person works remotely. The company went through Y-Combinator in the summer of 2012 and raised $1.3 million in late 2012. They have been cash flow positive since 2014 so they have not needed to raise any additional funding. In this interview I spoke with Wade, co-founder of Zapier about his journey as an entrepreneur over the past 6

Questis has created a financial wellness platform for companies and their employees because it's well documented that financial stress leads to increased employee productivity so it certainly makes sense that companies would want happy, stress-free employees. Steve and his business partner John Tabb started Questis back in 2004 as an Investment Advisory firm but after 6+ years of running that business and providing advice to retirement plan clients they realized their was a much bigger opportunity to build the current platform solution. Questis is based in Charleston, South Carolina and has already closed on $3.6 million with another $2 million closing in the next couple months.  In this interview I spoke with Steve about Questis and what the company does, why did they decide to pivot away from the Investment Advisory business, how are they growing the Questis platform through marketing and partnerships, what is their client acquisition strategy, what has been their fundraising strategy, what has been their r

When you're looking for a fun night out with friends or maybe you have a hot date or perhaps you're traveling to a new city and want to search for the best spot based on criteria like ambiance, noise level, price, food style, and so on. Which website would you use? Is there a good app or this? Unfortunately there isn't any good solution which is why the founders of DateSeat see a large market opportunity. It's still very early for the company as they only launched in Summer 2016 and currently operate just in Boston but they do have near term expansion plans. The company is still a small team and still bootstrapped but they are planning to begin talking to angel investors later this year.  In this interview I spoke with Mike Laskowski, co-founder of DateSeat about his motivation behind starting the company, what problem are they solving, how did he find his co-founder, what type of development work was required pre-launch, what is their marketing strategy, what are the challenges with bootstrapping, what types

We spend nearly 1/3 of our lives sleeping which means over a 10 year period we spend upwards of 29,000 hours on our mattress. So doesn't it make sense that you'd want a premium mattress customized to your preferences, sleep style, body weight and age. Of course the answer is yes which is where Helix can help you. Helix launched in mid-2015 with a personalized mattress solution that was created just for you (based on your answers to some questions) and then delivered right to your doorstep in 5-7 business days. Helix has raised a little more than $8 million from investors across two funding rounds, the company is based in NYC and has 30+ employees. In this interview I spoke with Adam Tishman, co-founder of Helix about why he started the company, what was his motivation behind getting into the sleep industry, how did he find his co-founders, when did they raise their first round of capital, what is their customer acquisition strategy and which marketing channels have worked best, what have been the biggest chal

Prior to starting ConvertPlayer, our guest today Simon Payne was a co-founder of LeadPages and helped grow the company to millions in revenue, 150+ employees and tens of thousands of customers. Simon spent 4.5 years at LeadPages but then felt it was time to start something new. ConvertPlayer allows anyone to easily built a wrapper for their videos which then embeds an email subscribe button or social sharing buttons into the video. This makes it easier for video publishers, video marketers, brands and vloggers to engage with and grow their audience. ConvertPlayer is also able to provide some video conversion numbers that can be helpful to the video creators and publishers. ConvertPlayer is currently bootstrapped and has a small team but with Simon's experience I'm thinking they'll be booming soon. In this interview I spoke with Simon about why he left LeadPages, does he still own equity in the company, why he started ConvertPlayer, what problem are they solving, who is their target client and how are they pla

We're living in an era where brands are constantly advertising to us and online companies are tracking our activity. Whether we like it or not these companies are gathering more and more data on us...so doesn't it make sense to start controlling what type of data they are seeing. The team at Autograph saw this trend coming back in 2011 when they started the company. They call it "opt in" marketing. Autograph allows individuals to customize the data that companies are using when sending them ads, offers and announcements. Think about it, if you're going to see banner ads and popup ads along with text alerts and email blasts, wouldn't you prefer that they're at least tailored to your likes and dislikes? Autograph has raised $13 million, is a team of 17 people and has offices in Seattle and London.  In this interview I spoke with Henry Lawson, co-founder of Autograph about why he started this company back in 2011, what was their thesis on the future of marketing, what was their plan of attack, how did he find hi

Leapfin describes themselves as "Salesforce for financial data" which basically means they make it really easy for companies of all sizes to aggregate their financial data into one place. By having all over your financial numbers and metrics together it's so much easier for a business owner or financial executive to get a real snapshot of the business, what looks good, what needs improvement, and much more. Their software can help companies with analytics, compliance and reporting. It's scary to think that some companies are using excel spreadsheets for these critical tasks. Leapfin is based in San Francisco, has 10 employees, is currently hiring and has raised $2.4 million from a bunch of angel investors as well as seed funds like Index Ventures and Bowery Capital.  In this interview I spoke with Raymond Lau, co-founder of Leapfin about his journey as an entrepreneur, selling his previous company Playhaven, why he started Leapfin and what problem are they tackling, how are they growing their client base, wha

The next time you and some friends are traveling to a new city and want to guarantee yourselves a good time with access to the hottest nightclubs I suggest you use Galavantier. Their goal is to give every customer an amazing, unforgettable experience. They're currently serving 7 cities including Vegas, NYC, Miami, Los Angeles and San Diego. Their founder Marko spent many years in the nightlife business so he not only had the connections needed but also understood the market opportunity. Galavantier is based in Las Vegas, has raised approx $5 million and currently has 14 employees.  In this interview I spoke with Marko about his motivation behind starting Galavantier, what is the company's business focus and how do they make money, how do they find their customers and how are they using local ambassadors, why did they launch in Vegas and what was their expansion strategy, what have been the biggest challenges and what have been the best moments, what's the most any of their customers have spent in the weekend,

For any entrepreneur that has ever raised capital for their startup and for any investor that has put money into a company you understand the challenges with cap tables. As you add more capital, dilute shareholders, give stock grants and options to employees you changes the cap table for everyone which is where Capshare wants to help. No more excel spreadsheets. No more pulling up old legal documents to reconcile info. Capshare is a web application that helps businesses manage their stock and shareholders in one organized platform. Capshare was started in 2013, has raised $3 million, is based in Utah and is currently hiring engineers and sales people.  In this interview I spoke with Matt Stapleton, co-founder of Capshare about the motivation behind starting this company, what problem are they solving, how have they generated so much traction, the journey to being cash flow positive, what is their marketing strategy and how has it changed over the past few years, what type of content have they had the most suc

The story of Clean Eatz is remarkable. The company was founded in 2011 by Don and Evonne Varady after they relocated to Wilmington, NC. They bought a former deli and converted it into their flagship location. The concept is simple "provide fresh, healthy foods to people that want to live a healthy lifestyle". The company has three main revenue sources: their sit-down safe, weekly meal plans and catering. Several years after opening their first location Don and Evonne decided to begin franchising which has taken the brand to unexpected heights. Just a couple years into franchising Clean Eatz has already expanded to 20 locations with another 20+ locations already in the pipeline for 2017 and 2018. It's safe to that that Clean Eatz is becoming a healthy food empire.  In this interview I spoke with Don Varady, co-founder of Clean Eatz on what it's taken to get his company to where it is today, how did they get started, what motivates them, how did they find their early customers, what convinced them to try franch

There are millions of service businesses and solo-entrepreneurs that have real needs when it comes to scheduling appointments with customers, easy communications, invoicing, collecting payments, staffing employees and much more. These small businesses don't want to spend thousands of dollars every month nor do they want to use a dozen different services so PocketSuite decided to create an all-in-one solution. You can get a better idea of the types of businesses they love to work with by [clicking here]. PocketSuite was started in 2013 by Yang Forjindam and then Sam joined him shortly after that. The company is based in San Francisco, went through y-combinator and has raised $1.6 million from investors.  In this interview I spoke with Sam Madden, co-founder of PocketSuite on why he joined Yang to build this company, what was it like going through Ycombinator, when did they decide to raise capital, how have they managed to stay so lean, how have they been able to get 25,000+ businesses using PocketSuite, what h

For anyone that has ever worked in a bar or restaurant or has friends that do, you might be aware that the ordering procedures for wine, beer and liquor are quite outdated. Until now most venues and managers are using pen and paper. Maybe if they're fancy they're using Microsoft excel (which is just sad). This problem is what got the founders of SevenFifty all excited and thus led to the formation of overwhelming success of their company. SevenFifty is a platform that essentially helps the alcohol distributors connect and interact with the alcohol buyers. The company was started in early 2012, has raised $8.5 million, is based in NYC and is looking to hire new talent (especially software engineers). In this interview I spoke with Aaron Sherman, co-founder of SevenFifty about his journey the past 5 years, why he started the company with his co-founders, how they determined this was a problem worth solving, where did they first launch (which region), how long did they bootstrap and when did they raise capital,

Every business wants to grow but not every business is doing a good job of cultivating referrals and maximizing the revenue potential on those referrals. That's where Auctio is able to help you. They created a product that helps B2B companies setup and accelerate referral programs. Some of their clients are now generating as much as 80% of revenue from referrals. Auctio was started in 2014, has raised $500k and is headquartered in NYC with most of their tech team in Columbia.  In this interview I spoke with Richard Ibarra, founder of Auctio Leads about his motivation and passion behind the company, what big problem are they solving and do they have a specific niche, why did he decide to be a solo-founder and what are the challenges with such, what are the advantages to hiring software engineers in Columbia as opposed to the U.S., what types of clients are they working with, what are some of their client's biggest success stories, what have been some of the harder days at Auctio, what's his #1 goal for 2017, w

Most of us are similar with the term "cloud hosting" or "cloud storage" which means our data, our pictures, our backups, our web apps, etc are stored in the cloud or hosted in the cloud but Paperspace takes it a step further with the introduction of cloud computing. Now any individual or enterprise can access a powerful computer simply through the web browser. The company has raised $4 million, is based in NYC, and is currently hiring top talent. Learn more at Paperspace.com (use the code SS2017 for a $10 discount) In this interview I spoke with Dillon Erb, co-founder of Paperspace on his motivation behind starting the company, what problem are trying to solve, how did he find his co-founder, how was their experience in Y-combinator and how did they get accepted, why is he building the company in NYC versus the Bay Area, what does the team look like now and how does he recruit top talent, who is using their service and how are they finding the people/businesses, what is future of Paperspace and cloud computin

Atlatl is a technology company that helps manufacturers and distributors across many different industries accelerate their sales efforts through better software. Their products have been specifically created to handle the complex needs of the industries they are targeting which they hope to expand in the near future. The company is based in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina and has raised approximately $12 million from private investors but has recently begun raising their series-A round. Learn more at AtlatlSoftware.com In this interview I spoke with CEO Marc Murphy who sold his last company SPARC to Booz Allen Hamilton for $53 million (that company was bootstrapped) on why he took the job at Atlatl and what attracted him to this company at this time, what exactly does Atlatl Software do and who are their clients, what is their marketing strategy, what is their sales process, what is their fundraising strategy and how are they getting in front of the right VCs, what is it like starting and growing compani

It's pretty remarkable what Whoop is doing for athletes from the pros all the way down to college, high school and even amateurs like the rest of us. Whoop has spent the past 5 years building a robust performance optimization platform that collects an enormous amount of data through a wearable strap and then provides valuable metrics back to the player, trainer and coach. The strap can be worn all day, during games, during workouts and while you sleep. Then the data can show when a player is in their peak performance zone based on recovery rates, sleep patterns and much more. Whoop is based in Boston, has 42 employees and has raised $25 million from investors including Accomplice, Atlas Ventures, Founder Collective, NextView Ventures and Two Sigma Ventures.  In this interview I spoke with Will Ahmed, co-founder of Whoop about his motivation behind starting the company, when did he realize this was a problem worth solving, how did they get started, what is it like being a first time founder, how did science an