Brick by Brick

Garuda Ventures

Join us as we learn how successful startups were really built, from the people who built them. We know firsthand how much successful company building is a team sport. The founders, early employees, and first investors work together to lay the foundation for the business. In the early days chaos reigns, processes and systems are non-existent, and bold moves are required daily. It’s unglamorous. It’s blocking and tackling. It’s not for the faint of heart. Hear stories, lessons, and the 'what not to dos' from the early employees, founders, and investors from startups you know.

  1. Brick by Brick: Building with Swagger with Amy Fox, Employee #5 @ Lyft

    01/23/2025

    Brick by Brick: Building with Swagger with Amy Fox, Employee #5 @ Lyft

    Amy Fox is the COO and co-founder of ATH Media and the All the Hacks podcast. A former tech operator, she was employee number five at Zimride (which became Lyft), helping the company grow from a seed-stage startup to a post-IPO company. In this episode, she shares insights into Lyft's early days, startup culture, and the importance of building strong team relationships. In this episode, we talk about : - Lyft's origin story and Amy's unexpected recruitment - The Hackathon that launched Lyft - The ride sharing wars between Lyft and Uber - Did competition ever go too far? - Building Lyft's unique culture - Advice for companies considering remote or hybrid work models - Building with "swagger" - Working with your spouse & lots more Where to find Amy? Amy on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amylynnfox/ All The Hacks podcast - https://www.chrishutchins.com/episodes/ Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc). About Garuda Ventures: Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc Today's episode was hosted by Rishi Taparia. Find Rishi on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rktaparia/), Substack (taps.substack.com) or X/Twitter (x.com/taps) Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!

    53 min
  2. Brick by Brick: Building on Platform Shifts with Raj Chopra, SVP/CPO Cisco Security, fmr Netskope, Juniper

    12/18/2024

    Brick by Brick: Building on Platform Shifts with Raj Chopra, SVP/CPO Cisco Security, fmr Netskope, Juniper

    Raj Chopra is the Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer for Security Products at Cisco. With a computer science background and extensive enterprise software experience, Raj has been a key player in transforming security products across multiple platform shifts, including cloud and AI. In this episode, Raj shares insights from his journey through enterprise software, highlighting his experiences at Netskope (now a decacorn in cybersecurity) and his current role at Cisco. The conversation explores the evolution of security products, the impact of platform shifts, and the transformative potential of AI in enterprise security. Topics discussed: - Raj's early career and move to Silicon Valley - The transition from engineering to product management - Importance of market pull and team consistency - Product marketing is crucial for articulating the value of a product - How the security market has evolved over the years - AI integration in Security solutions - Leadership and startup advice Links: Raj's blog at Cisco - https://blogs.cisco.com/author/rajneeshchopra Raj on X - https://x.com/RajnChop Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc). About Garuda Ventures: Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc Today's episode was hosted by Arpan Punyani. Find Arpan on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/arpanpunyani/), Substack (https://arpanpunyani.substack.com/) or X/Twitter (https://x.com/arpanpunyani) Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!

    56 min
  3. Brick by Brick: The Magic of Small Teams with Shreyans Bhansali, Employee #1 @ Venmo

    12/04/2024

    Brick by Brick: The Magic of Small Teams with Shreyans Bhansali, Employee #1 @ Venmo

    Shreyans Bhansali is a serial entrepreneur who was employee #1 at Venmo, co-founded Socratic (acquired by Google), and is currently building Maven. He studied computer science and economics at UPenn before diving into the startup world. In this episode, we talk about : - Shreyans first foray into tech in middle school - Why he left his stable consulting job to join Venmo as employee #1 - The early days at Venmo and a crazy SXSW 2010 - The power of talking to people - The feeling of Product-Market Fit at Venmo - How to identify great talent for hiring - Similarities and differences between being an early employee versus being a founder - What he would have changed about Socratic instead of selling to Google - Lessons from fatherhood & lots more Where to find Shreyans? Website - https://shreyans.org/ Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreyansb/ Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc). About Garuda Ventures: Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc Today's episode was hosted by Rishi Taparia. Find Rishi on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rktaparia/), Substack (taps.substack.com) or X/Twitter (x.com/taps) Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!

    56 min
  4. Brick by Brick: Finding PMF in Africa with Sid Sridhar, Head of Business @ Wave (fmr. Sendwave, Uber, Google)

    11/07/2024

    Brick by Brick: Finding PMF in Africa with Sid Sridhar, Head of Business @ Wave (fmr. Sendwave, Uber, Google)

    Sid Sridhar is Head of Business at Wave, a leading fintech company in Africa. Prior to Wave, Sid had stints at companies like Google, Uber, and Sendwave, and has the unique distinction of being Venmo user number 5! Through these experiences, he gained deep expertise in international payments, finance, and fintech broadly. Sid shares his journey into startups, the lessons he's learned from building in Africa, what product market fit feels like, and how he balances his career while being a father of two young kids. In this episode, we cover: - How Sid's background as an expat and finance and international payments led him to an early stage startup - The feeling of product-market fit at Sendwave, and the operational challenges that come with it - The decision to sell Sendwave's business to focus on building Wave, business with more network-effects - The differences in building startups in the developed markets vs emerging markets like Africa - Balancing life as a startup operator and a father of two young kids Where to find Sid: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sid-sridhar/ Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc). About Garuda Ventures: Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc Today's episode was hosted by Rishi Taparia. Find Rishi on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rktaparia/), Substack (taps.substack.com) or X/Twitter (x.com/taps) Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!

    50 min
  5. Brick by Brick: Startups are for Optimists: Uma Chingunde, fmr VP Eng at Render, Eng Leader at Stripe & VMware

    10/16/2024

    Brick by Brick: Startups are for Optimists: Uma Chingunde, fmr VP Eng at Render, Eng Leader at Stripe & VMware

    Uma Chingunde is a seasoned engineering leader. She was previously the VP of Engineering at Render and engineering leader at Stripe and started her career at VMware. In this episode, Uma shares her advice on how to balance uptime and reliability with feature release cadence, staying level-headed through engineering incidents, and how startups that are selling to the engineering function should think about showing value in the post-ZIRP era. Topics discussed: - Uma's background and journey into computer science and the tech industry - Uma's time at VMware, including her transition from individual contributor to engineering manager - Uma's move to Stripe and the company's approach to balancing uptime/reliability with feature velocity - Advice on building high-performance engineering teams - Thoughts on the changing landscape for startups selling to engineering teams - Career advice and Uma's framework for evaluating new opportunities Links: Follow Uma on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/umachingunde Follow Uma on X - https://x.com/umachingunde Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc). About Garuda Ventures: Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc Today's episode was hosted by Arpan Punyani. Find Arpan on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/arpanpunyani/), Substack (https://arpanpunyani.substack.com/) or X/Twitter (https://x.com/arpanpunyani) Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!

    55 min
  6. Brick by Brick: Building Winning Sales Teams w/ Justin Roberts (early @ SFDC, Box, Lever, SignalFX)

    09/11/2024

    Brick by Brick: Building Winning Sales Teams w/ Justin Roberts (early @ SFDC, Box, Lever, SignalFX)

    Justin Roberts has over 20 years of experience selling software at companies like Salesforce, Box, Lever, and SignalFX. He also advises and coaches founders, sales executives, and account executives on how to become better sellers. In this episode, we cover: • Justin's first job at Salesforce and how it launched his startup career • Justin's decision to leave Salesforce and join the early team at Box • Building sales processes and systems at fast-growing Box • The impact of closing Box's first six-figure deal on the team • Transitioning from an individual contributor to a sales manager • Advice for founders on building effective sales teams and cultures • The importance of founders staying involved in sales as their company scales • Balancing work and family life as a sales leader and more! Where to Find Justin: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinroberts1/ Website: https://www.revenuepilot.coach/ Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc). About Garuda Ventures: Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc Today's episode was hosted by Rishi Taparia. Find Rishi on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rktaparia/), Substack (taps.substack.com) or X/Twitter (x.com/taps) Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!

    51 min
  7. Brick by Brick: The Consulting to Startup COO Playbook - Christy Augustine, COO of Bloomreach

    08/28/2024

    Brick by Brick: The Consulting to Startup COO Playbook - Christy Augustine, COO of Bloomreach

    Christy Augustine is the Chief Operating Officer at Bloomreach, a global company that provides AI-powered e-commerce personalization products. Christy was previously at Bain, Hewlett Packard, and Walmart.com. In this episode, Christy discusses her career journey from engineering to business strategy, her experience joining and growing Bloomreach over the past decade, and advice for early career professionals. In this episode, we cover: - Christy's background and early career path, from studying math and computer science in college to joining HP - How she transitioned to the business side through an MBA at Harvard - The decision to join Bain Consulting right after her MBA and how that helped her get insights into multiple businesses - Why she chose to join Bloomreach, a "stealth startup" at the time, and the evolution of the company from a single product to a multi-product platform - Christy's role and career progression at Bloomreach, from building new product lines to eventually becoming Chief Operating Officer - Advice for early and mid-career professionals on developing a diverse skill set and taking on new challenges to prepare for leadership roles Links: Follow Christy on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinaaugustine/ Bloomreach website - https://www.bloomreach.com/en Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc). About Garuda Ventures: Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc Today's episode was hosted by Arpan Punyani. Find Arpan on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/arpanpunyani/), Substack (https://arpanpunyani.substack.com/) or X/Twitter (https://x.com/arpanpunyani) Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!

    56 min
  8. Brick by Brick: Going from BigCo to a Startup with Mike Smith, Co-founder, Footwork Ventures, Fmr. COO at StitchFix and Walmart.com

    08/14/2024

    Brick by Brick: Going from BigCo to a Startup with Mike Smith, Co-founder, Footwork Ventures, Fmr. COO at StitchFix and Walmart.com

    Mike Smith is the Co-founder and General Partner at Footwork, an early-stage venture fund. Mike also happens to be one of the most highly regarded and skilled operators in and around commerce. Prior to getting into venture he was the President and COO at Stitch Fix, where he joined as employee number 4, and for over 10 years there held most of the senior roles at the company from COO to CFO to interim CEO and eventually took the company public in 2017. Prior to joining Stitch Fix, Mike spent almost 10 years building out the e-commerce and multi-channel offerings of Walmart at walmart(dot)com, eventually growing to be the COO of the $5 billion division. Mike also sits on the board of Ulta Beauty and Herman Miller. In this episode, we cover: - Why Mike left Walmart to go to a very early stage company - What skills and playbooks Mike developed at Walmart that he was able to apply at Stitch Fix - What he saw in Katrina Lake, Stitch Fix's CEO that convinced him he should join - Balancing being a husband, father, and early stage operator - The role of humans and AI in delivering customer service - How to build and scale culture - The difference between building a company and building a venture firm - And a whole lot more! Relevant links and references: - Mike on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcsmith1/ - Stitch Fix: stitchfix.com - Footwork Ventures: https://www.footwork.vc/ Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc). About Garuda Ventures: Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc Today's episode was hosted by Rishi Taparia. Find Rishi on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rktaparia/), Substack (taps.substack.com) or X/Twitter (x.com/taps) Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!

    59 min

Trailer

About

Join us as we learn how successful startups were really built, from the people who built them. We know firsthand how much successful company building is a team sport. The founders, early employees, and first investors work together to lay the foundation for the business. In the early days chaos reigns, processes and systems are non-existent, and bold moves are required daily. It’s unglamorous. It’s blocking and tackling. It’s not for the faint of heart. Hear stories, lessons, and the 'what not to dos' from the early employees, founders, and investors from startups you know.