Before Disrupt & TechCrunch, there was Technori, the original startup showcase.
Its Co-Founder is Scott Kitun.
Based in Chicago, Technori helps promising upstart companies secure visibility & funding.
If that wasn’t enough, Scott is creator & host of a nationally-syndicated crowdfunding radio show, in partnership with Republic.
He’s also Co-Founder of Songfinch, the platform to buy custom songs from professional artists.
I was thrilled to finally interview Scott, because he knows where the bodies are buried. By studying (quite literally) thousands of startups, Scott knows first-hand the mistakes that most entrepreneurs make when scaling their company.
And he puts it plainly: “The people part of startups is the only thing that matters.” I couldn’t agree more.
In this 20-minute conversation, Scott reveals how to master it. And avoid the mistakes that tank so many entrepreneurs.
Digital publishers in every field are trying to figure out how to best monetize their website.
Kurt Donnell, CEO of Freestar, shows them the way.
Combining industry-leading tech, data, and scale, Freestar works with the leading online publishers to help them better personalize & increase their ad revenue.
And they’re onto something big…
Freestar’s been ranked as an Inc. 5000 company for 3 years in a row. That makes it one of that nation’s fastest-growing companies.
And it’s backed by Abry Partners, one of the nation’s leading Private Equity firms focused on media & communications.
Prior to joining, Kurt served as General Counsel for YogaWorks and SheKnows Media.
In this 20-minute conversation, Kurt shares how he’s scaled the team to130 employees and how he’s kept the culture intact during this unusual time.
He’s not just some tech CEO.
Jason Schubert is CEO of inBrain.ai, ranked as one of the fastest-growing companies in the US according to the Inc5000.
inBrain.ai is a people-based insights & survey monetization platform that connects and rewards people to surveys designed for them.
It facilitates research for market research firms and brands by connecting them to consumers on monetizable mobile applications.
Based in Atlanta, Jason led the company’s recent successful acquisition by Dynata, the world’s largest first-party data platform for insights, activation and measurement. With a reach that encompasses 60M consumers & business professionals globally.
In this 20-minute conversation, Jason reveals how he’s scaled the team & put a Rockstar in every seat.
Brian Nickerson’s story captivated me.
He began his career playing on the Los Angeles Dodgers. 6 knee surgeries and 1 Harvard Business School degree later, he found himself as an unlikely entrepreneur.
And started MagicLinks.
Based in LA, MagicLinks is the social commerce provider for social media influencers. They connect moments of inspiration to action. Example: viewers can buy the sweater they see the influencer wearing.
Think of it as a marketplace that connects brands & influencers across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Clearly, he’s onto something big. MagicLinks is ranked amongst the Inc5000 list of America’s fastest-growing companies.
Brian has some atypical leadership approaches that I found fascinating, (including how he begins every staff meeting.)
In this 20-minute conversation, Brian reveals how he’s putting a Rockstar in every seat of the company.
This episode rocks, because it combines 3 of the hottest themes in the venture world:
Fintech + Outdoor power sports + Talent
Adam Redlich is VP Talent Acquisition of Octane, the specialty fintech company that makes your ‘passion purchases’ seamless. They’ve started with the $21B powersports equipment industry (motorcycles & ATV’s for example)
Instead of processing a loan in days or weeks, their team of 400 people do it nearly instantaneously.
Clearly they’re onto something big…
Octane has raised over $190M in venture capital from IA Ventures, Valar Ventures, Contour Venture Partners, Upper90, Parkwood, Progressive Insurance, Alive Capital Partners, Third Prime, Citi Ventures, Dreamt Ventures
Prior, Adam was an early key member of Google’s talent team during the company’s largest period of growth (1K to 40K employees)
And he led People Operations at some of the hottest early-stage companies including Elysium Health & Zest Finance.
In this 20-minute conversation, Adam reveals the 3 things you must do to put a Rockstar in every seat of your company