Scaling a company from $5M revenues to $50M to $250M isn’t just about a great product.
In fact, that’s the easy part.
Scaling a great team, which enables the business to scale, is far more difficult.
So I sought out an expert to find out how it’s done.
Carter Griffin is General Partner of Updata Partners, the growth equity firm with $1 Billion in committed capital. He & team have invested in over 60 B2B software growth-stage companies.
In short, he knows how to pour fuel on the fire when a company has $5M to 50M revenues.
You know his investments. They include Built In, DataCore Software, Interactions LLC, Jellyvision, LendKey Technologies, Inc., Piano, Ruby.
Scaling often comes down to the CEO (Carter likes to back “tenacious storytelling leaders”)
Carter serves on the Board of Directors of Mindshare, a leading forum for 900 tech CEOs. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association
In this 20-minute conversation, Carter reveals how he helps his portfolio companies put a Rockstar in every seat.
Obesity is America’s #1 underlying health issue.
Because it causes or increases the likelihood of over 100 other health conditions.
Now, Isabelle Kenyon is out to change the way the world treats weight.
She’s Founder & CEO of Calibrate, the VC-backed medical metabolic health company.
It’s creating a new category by improving metabolic health to drive long-term, sustainable weight loss with a program designed by world leaders in obesity & nutrition science.
This is the first direct-to-consumer telemedicine business aligning incentives for doctors, insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and consumers.
Calibrate combines FDA-approved metabolic medication with a holistic curriculum and 1:1 virtual coaching sessions that drive lasting behavior change.
Prior to Calibrate, Isabelle led the business operations, growth, and strategic partnerships & communications teams at Capsule, a technology business that is rebuilding the pharmacy from the inside out.
Clearly, she’s onto something big.
She recently closed a $22.5 million round of venture capital including Threshold Ventures, Redesign Health, and Forerunner Ventures.
In this 20-minute conversation, Isabelle reveals how she’s putting a Rockstar in every seat at Calibrate
Food. Activity. Sleep.
If you’re not doing all 3 properly, you’re far less likely to scale your business successfully.
In fact, we’re getting less sleep than ever. And, with today’s understandable stressors, the quality of our sleep has suffered.
But I tracked down a Venture-backed CEO who sleeps like a baby. Nine hours a night.
He’s Matteo Franceschetti, Co-Founder & CEO of Eight Sleep
Based in NY, Eight Sleep developed a proprietary technology called the Pod that enhances sleep performance, and is currently used by pro athletes and top performers across multiple industries to fall asleep faster and get more restful sleep. The end goal of the Pod is to compress sleep and scan your body while asleep to monitor your health.
It’s the “Peloton of Sleep”
Eight Sleep was named one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies” in 2018, recognized as one of TIME’s “Best Inventions” in 2019.
Matteo & team are backed by some of top VC’s around: Azure Capital Partners, Comcast Ventures, Craft Ventures, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, 8VC, Jason Calacanis, Sway Ventures
In this 20-minute episode, Matteo reveals how he’s putting a Rockstar in every seat of Eight Sleep.
(It’s sure to keep you awake.)
8 years ago, Casey Berman worked in real estate when he had an “A-Ha” moment.
He began searching for tech companies to help automate the real estate workflow. There weren’t many.
So Casey formed Camber Creek, a venture capital firm providing strategic value & capital to technology companies focused on the real estate market.
Camber Creek eats its own cooking. The firm uses PropTech and Real Estate Tech products before making the investment decision.
Fast forward to today. ..
The firm has $250 million under management and has nearly 30 portfolio companies. They include: Turbo Appeal, TaskEasy, whyhotel, Notarize, and Curbio.
In this 20-minute conversation, Casey reveals how he helps his portfolio companies scale by putting a Rockstar in every seat.
Shawn Boom, CEO of Vanco, is crystal clear about the companies’s “Why” - Serve those who enrich communities
Based near Minneapolis, Vanco delivers online payment processing solutions & software that enables churches, schools, and nonprofit to operate more efficiently. In short, they can accept electronic payments from students, parents, patrons, and churchgoers.
More than 40,000 churches, nonprofits, and schools now trust Vanco to simplify administrative processes, organize events, and securely complete transactions every day.
Vanco’s 300 people came together from the 9 companies that Shawn has rolled up. (As you’d expect, when he’s not working, he’s running ultra-marathons.)
Vanco is backed by legendary Private Equity firm Great Hill Partners, with $8B under management and over 80 portfolio companies.
In this 20-minute conversation, Shawn reveals how to find your company’s “Why” & how to hire only people who live it. Everyday.
Based in Silicon Valley, Rashmi Gopinath is General Partner at B Capital Group, the global VC firm that specializes in equity investing in growth-stage companies that have achieved traction with customers.
With a focus in horizontal enterprise software (cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, devops, database SaaS for F500), she’s invested in and/or served on the Boards of: Synack, Yalo, Labelbox, Clari, Phenom People.
Prior, Rashmi served at Intel Capital and M12, Microsoft’s venture fund.
And now she invests in the growth stage (Series B thru D), writing checks between $30-60M.
After more than a decade of VC investing, Rashmi says “The team is the #1 factor”
In this 20-minute conversation, she reveals why & how to build a Rockstar team every time.
How can you beat Silicon Valley in the war for talent?
(…or if you’re in Silicon Valley, how can you compete for talent with Apple, Tesla, Google, and Facebook?)
A few years back, a group of Silicon Valley venture capitalists upped & moved to Columbus Ohio to invest in (under-invested) Midwest companies.
They named the firm Drive Capital.
And Robert Hatta is its Partner responsible for talent across their 50+ portfolio companies.
You know the companies they’ve funded… Root Insurance, Duolingo, Greenlight, and Olive
Robert shows the companies how to compete for talent, how to get the most out of that talent, and how to adapt to 2021’s new way of working.
In this 20-minute conversation, he reveals the keys to mastering the people part of your business.