The Path - A Telstra Ventures Show

Gurpreet Ghuliani

Welcome to The Path, a videocast and podcast series about how successful entrepreneurs navigate the world of venture capital to help them scale rapidly. Join us, as we welcome the founders of successful businesses to share their experiences and insights on what they're going through, challenges faced, lessons learned and the changes they're making moving forward.

Episodes

  1. 02/06/2021

    Welcome to the Trust Economy

    Visit us at http://www.telstraventures.com In this 1st (1 of 2) episode of The Path, Gup Ghuliani, Telstra Venture's Operations Partner, speaks with Andrew McLeod, C3O and co-founder of Certn. Hear how Andrew built a massively successful human risk intelligence solutions business to accelerate the 'global trust economy.' Andrew believes that trust is a two-way street, and that breaking down barriers between employers and candidates gives businesses access to a global talent pool they would have otherwise been unable to reach. Andrew shares his journey of starting the company with two close friends, focusing on culture first, and scaling the company's intense-but-fun work culture that he likens to his university rugby team. Tune in to hear about what the trust economy entails and how it has become more relevant than ever at a time where in-person engagements are not always possible. Of course, Andrew also provides insights into how he approached friends and family first and identified mentors to help scale the business. ABOUT CERTN Since 2017, Certn has built the most direct connections to local and international human risk databases – including courts and police services. Our proprietary identification verification solution enables businesses to effectively validate someone's identity and make better trust-based decisions. With a focus on user experience, our award-winning solution offers the fastest, most comprehensive reports ever made. Focusing on real-time background screening solutions for technology, retail, property management, financial, and gig service industries, Certn's human risk intelligence solutions focus on accelerating the background check process, without compromising on accuracy and compliance. As companies and employees shift to remote hiring and work due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the need for a trusted and intuitive background screening solution continues to grow. In assisting the growth of the global trust economy, Certn's machine learning technology allows for a seamless screening process that connects individuals to relevant organizations and life-changing opportunities. Website: https://certn.co/

    24 min
  2. 07/04/2021

    The Role Of Venture Capital in This Chinese Company

    Subscribe to The Path in one Click: http://bit.ly/TelstraSub This week, I'm excited to welcome Jing Wang, co-founder and CEO of FinTell Financial Services, a leading independent technology provider that's helping financial institutions adapt to the digital economy with its big‒data risk management products and solutions. • Tell me about the company, why you started it, the problems you solve, and how you're helping financial institutions adapt to the digital economy. • Leadership/Management o I understand this is your first startup since you left Amex. How does your experience running a startup differ from a corporate leadership role? o How has your professional network from your corporate days helped your startup? o How have you grown the company to become one of the four top fintech providers in China? o What are some of the tough decisions you've been faced with during your startup journey? How did you choose which path to follow? • Funding the company: o Why did you need funding? o What is your approach to selecting the right investors? o How have investors helped you most? • What's next?: o What are your growth ambitions? o How have tightening regulations impacted Fintell, and how are you navigating these headwinds? BIOGRAPHY Jing Wang is the Co‒Founder, CEO, and Board Chairman of FinTell Financial Services, a leading Chinese financial technology company that provides advanced big‒data risk management products and solutions to a variety of financial institutions and service providers. Additionally, he serves as a corporate advisor to multiple financial companies across China where he advises Chairs, CEOs, and CROs on business strategies and economic growth opportunities. Jing began his professional career in finance with American Express where he held numerous leadership roles throughout his 17 years with the company, including Senior Vice President‒Head of Enterprise Model Validation. In this role, he oversaw and was responsible for global model governance, model risk management, and independent model validation. Following American Express, Jing was the Corporate Vice President at Baidu, Inc., one of the largest search engines in China, which offers dozens of search‒based products, including map, image, video, and news tools.

    15 min
  3. 24/03/2021

    The Funding Strategy Behind Springboard - The Airbnb of Learning

    Episode 2: Gautum Tambay of Springboard THE PATH: An Entrepreneur's View on When and How to Raise Capital Welcome to The Path, hosted by Gup Ghuiliani, Operating Partner at Telstra Ventures. In this videocast and podcast series, we uncover how successful entrepreneurs navigate the world of venture capital to scale rapidly. For each episode, we invite the founders of successful businesses to share their experiences and insights on what they're going through and the changes they've made going forward. Today, we talk with Gautam Tambay, co-founder and CEO of Springboard, a mentor-led online education platform that provides upskilling and reskilling courses for people looking to learn in-demand skills. Watch the interview on video In this episode we ask Gautam: What motivated you to start Springboard? What challenges did you have in building the company? What metrics do you use to measure early business success? The pandemic has accelerated demand for alternate learning. How does Springboard ensure students stay engaged? Genuinely learn new skills? Get hired? What challenges did you have in deciding whether to take VC capital or not? Where are you on your funding path, and why did you need to raise capital? How did you choose which path to follow? What was your approach to selecting the right investors? You raised your Series B last summer, despite social distancing. How did your approach to raising venture investments change? What advice would you offer young entrepreneurs looking to raise capital for their fast-growing businesses? How did you develop your leadership style as a young entrepreneur? What advice would you offer others? Why You Started Springboard, Early Growth Your Funding Path/Leadership: What's Next? Your goal is to educate 1m people in 10 years. How will you get there? (both internal and external drivers).  How will university partnerships play a role? Building a network of mentors is core to Springboard. Are there other models that you look to in benchmarking this program going forward (consulting, university professors, Backroads travel company, etc.)? How will student placement change? Will you link content and projects to more tailored placement (eg did well in this facet of data science as such marketing attribution would be a great career) Do you have an exit strategy? If so, what is it? If not, why not? Springboard Funding Info Springboard raised $31 million to expand its mentor-guided education platform to more geographies. Springboard, an online education platform that provides upskilling and reskilling training courses to people looking to learn in-demand roles, has raised $31 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand to more geographies. The Series B financing round for the San Francisco-headquartered startup was led by investment firm Telstra Ventures . Vulcan Capital and SJF Ventures, as well as existing investors Costanoa Ventures, Pearson Ventures, Reach Capital, International Finance Corporation (IFC), 500 Startups, Blue Fog Capital, and Learn Capital also participated in the round, said the seven-year-old startup, which has raised more than $50 million to date. https://www.springboard.com/

    26 min
  4. 24/03/2021

    How Airspace Raised Funding After Bootstrapping the Business

    Welcome to the first episode of The Path, hosted by Gup Ghuiliani, Operating Partner at Telstra Ventures. In this videocast and podcast series, we uncover how successful entrepreneurs navigate the world of venture capital to scale rapidly. For each episode, we invite the founders of successful businesses to share their experiences and insights on what they're going through and the changes they've made going forward. Today, we talk with Nick Bulcao, co-founder and CEO of Airspace, a shipping service for critical, valuable goods that's disrupting the entire industry. Check out the YouTube version of this show here: https://youtu.be/p4T0iBQ-aB4 In this episode we cover: 1. Why did you decide to start Airspace? 2. What early failures almost wiped out the company? 3. When did you decide to raise capital? 4. What mistakes did you make deploying the capital and how did you rectify them? 5. How do you grow from 5 to 50 employees and now 150 – double in the next 12 to 18 months. 6. What's next on the horizon? 7. When you talk to other entrepreneurs, what lessons learned do you give them to be successful? 8. Do you have an exit strategy? GUEST Info Nicholas Bulcao is Co-Founder and CEO of Carlsbad, Calif.-based Airspace, a leader in time-critical shipments. Bulcao is a well-established entrepreneur and has successfully owned and scaled businesses within the logistics industry for nearly 20 years. Bulcao founded Airspace in 2015 after he discovered a major communication and visibility problem in the industry, and set out to deliver a solution. Bulcao has seen tremendous growth within Airspace and is responsible for leading the company's nearly 150 employees on all strategic decisions and investment opportunities throughout the U.S. and in its ever-expanding international markets. Learn more at https://www.airspace.com/

    18 min

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Welcome to The Path, a videocast and podcast series about how successful entrepreneurs navigate the world of venture capital to help them scale rapidly. Join us, as we welcome the founders of successful businesses to share their experiences and insights on what they're going through, challenges faced, lessons learned and the changes they're making moving forward.