Just Go Grind

Justin Gordon
  • 4.9 (163)
  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Just Go Grind

Tactics, strategies, and stories of world-class founders. Hosted by Justin Gordon.

  1. 10/05/2024

    #353: Yacine Sibous, Co-Founder of Parker, the Financial Stack for Scaling Your E⁠-⁠commerce Brand Faster and More Profitably

    Yacine Sibous is the Co-Founder of Parker, the financial stack for scaling your e⁠-⁠commerce brand faster and more profitably. After studying Physics and Computer Science at McGill University, Yacine left to attend 42, a unique software engineering school in France. It’s there that he met his co-founder Milan Ray. Yacine and Milan went on to participate in Y Combinator in 2019. They have since raised $157 million from investors and have processed more than $550 million on their platform, with customers that include brands like Caraway, Venus et Fleur, and Dolls Kill. Topics Covered by Yacine Sibous in this Episode 0:00 Parker: A digital banking platform for internet-based companies 1:05 How a friend’s business selling phone cases on Instagram in college led to the inception of Parker 5:36 Attending Y Combinator and how COVID led Yacine and Milan to return to their original idea after many pivots 8:50 How Yacine met his co-founder, Milan Ray and decided to work together 10:08 Attending the unique school 42 in France 10:59 Early feedback on Parker that led Yacine and Milan to stick to their original idea 12:01 Understanding the fundraising game and raising their first round from YC 13:35 The mistake of under-utilizing funds and burning too little 15:09 What fueled Parker’s growth 17:19 Leveraging events for growth post-COVID 18:09 What differentiates Parker from its competitors 21:45 How customer feedback enabled them to build a credit model unique to e-commerce 23:58 The key to raising debt 24:49 Yacine’s best fundraising advice 27:03 Tips for building hiring both junior and executive team members 31:12 How a focus on growth has enabled Parker’s success 33:30 How Yacine invests in himself 35:21 What’s next for Parker 36:52 Parker’s target customer 37:10 Where to connect with Yacine Connect with Parker and Yacine Website: Parker LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yacine-sibous/ Twitter: @YacineSibous Email: yacine@getparker.com Learn from other world-class founders: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon, the host, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

    37 min

  2. 01/09/2023

    #352: Julien Smith of Practice, on Optimizing for Long Value, Driving Emotion When Raising Venture Capital, and Inside Tips for Building a Better Business

    Julien Smith is currently the Co-founder and CEO of Practice, a world class tool to help coaches build their businesses entirely on their own. He has started many companies, including Breather, for which he raised $150M and got to Series D before handing it to a hired CEO. As a coach, he takes on a few select first time CEOs who he coaches on finding customers, building a team, running a business, and raising venture financing. He has coached founders who have been funded by the world's best venture firms, including A16Z, General Catalyst, Craft Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, and more. Julien is also a New York Times bestselling author of business and marketing books. He and his co-author were among the first to write books about social media and how to use it for business purposes, and many of the best practices you see in the field were put on paper by them first. The first book, Trust Agents, was written with Chris Brogan, and became instant New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, winning awards including Amazon and 800 CEO-READ's best books of the year. They also collaborated on another book, The Impact Equation, published in 2012. His second book, The Flinch, edited by Seth Godin, has remained one of the top downloaded and highlighted books on Kindle since the day it was published. Website: Practice LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juliensmith/ Twitter: @julien Second Time Founders podcast Topics Covered by Julien Smith in this Episode The background behind Julien’s company Practice Why Julien decided to start Practice after his success starting Breather How Julien runs and structures his practice coaching founders How founders can build better businesses Julien’s tips for fundraising Driving emotion in fundraising pitches Identifying true value when building your cap table Julien’s big vision for growing Practice and what he’s doing differently from his first company How the Second Time Founders podcast was born Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

    48 min

  3. 01/02/2023

    #351: Candace Nelson of Sprinkles, on Disrupting the Bakery Industry to Build an Empire, Expansion into New Markets, and Strategic Brand Building

    Candace Nelson is a serial entrepreneur, NYT and WSJ bestselling author, WSJ contributor, angel investor, TV personality, executive producer, and mom. She started her career working in investment banking and the internet start-up scene before completely shifting gears to follow her passion and attend pastry school. In 2005, she opened the doors to Sprinkles, the world’s first cupcake bakery. Despite early naysayers, their 600-square-foot bakery in Beverly Hills disrupted the legacy bakery industry and ignited a worldwide cupcake phenomenon! In 2012 Sprinkles introduced its Cupcake ATM, a cutting-edge contactless cupcake delivery system. Later that year they sold Sprinkles to PE firm KarpReilly. Today, Sprinkles has sold over 200 million cupcakes, has over 20 stores, 30 Cupcake ATMs, and 1000 employees. In 2017, Candace co-founded Pizzana, a fast-growing chain of award-winning Neo-Neapolitan pizzerias, leading the “third wave” of pizza in the US. Pizzana cemented Los Angeles as a pizza destination and revolutionized pizza takeout with its innovative heat and slice at-home method. Pizzana also ships its frozen pizza nationwide. In 2021 she co-created and executive produced Best in Dough, a Hulu show starring Pizzana Executive Chef Daniele Uditi, which began streaming in the Fall of 2022. Today, through her company, CN2 Ventures, a family office, and venture studio, she has backed a diverse portfolio of startups in the specialty food, retail, health, wellness, and early childhood spaces with a focus on female and underrepresented founders. Candace is also the executive producer and star in Netflix’s Sugar Rush and Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. Her book, Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe For Turning Your Passion Into Profit was published by HarperCollins Leadership in November 2022. Website: Sprinkles LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/candacenelson9/ Twitter: @candacenelson Instagram: @candacenelson/ TikTok: @candacenelson YouTube: https://youtube.com/user/SprinklesCandace Her new book, Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe For Turning Your Passion Into Profit Her NYT bestselling cookbook, The Sprinkles Baking Book Topics Covered by Candace Nelson in this Episode Candace’s unconventional path to starting Sprinkles and elevating the cupcake Her decision to choose a new career path despite other people’s expectations Identifying the market opportunity for cupcakes Getting Sprinkles off the ground and early organic growth Early product development Bootstrapping and the challenge of finding a retail location Launching their first location with no retail experience and how scarcity drove demand How they leveraged celebrity marketing How they approached growth and expansion, and establishing themselves as market leaders Franchising vs owning distribution Avoiding founder’s syndrome and deciding to sell Sprinkles How Candace went on to co-found Pizzana Investing through CN2 Ventures and as an angel How Candace views brand building Brand strategy during expansion Candace’s most recent book, Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe For Turning Your Passion Into Profit Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

    43 min

  4. 12/19/2022

    #350: Dan Schaefer of Native Pet, on Product & Brand Innovation, Finding the Right Manufacturing Partner, and First Principles Thinking to Forge Your Own Path

    Dan Schaefer is the Co-Founder and CEO of Native Pet, a pet nutrition company that is redefining pet supplements by harnessing the nutritional power of whole food ingredients to deliver organic, highly effective, & limited ingredient treats, supplements and chews. Their products utilize whole-food and superfood ingredients to harness the healing powers found in nature to bolster the health and well-being of our pets. When Dan was looking for better nutrition for his Labrador retriever, Louie, he found that brands were really missing the mark. He quickly realized that kibble was base nutrition and if he wanted to customize Louie's diet for his own unique needs, he required a tailored regimen of kibble coupled with supplements. In an effort to make this realization a reality, Dan called on his childhood friend, Pat Barron, who had a similar passion for pets, food systems and entrepreneurship and together, they founded Native Pet in 2017. In March 2022, they closed their $6M Series A funding led by CAVU Venture Partners with participation from Mars' Companion Fund and Selva Ventures. Topics Covered by Dan Schaefer in this Episode   How becoming a pet parent led Dan to found Native Pet Dan and his co-founder Pat Barron's entrepreneurial experience and graveyard of startup ideas Why Native Pet became the right business idea for them to pursue Finding market opportunity through product differentiation R&D: market research, product testing, and when to leverage experts Finding the right co-manufacturing partner for quality, mission-alignment, and growth Brand-building while developing innovative product Launching on Amazon, how their distribution and marketing tactics have evolved, and going against the grain The strategy behind deciding to raise venture capital Use of funds through several stages of fundraising How they’ve seen the pet category evolve since their launch 5 years ago What’s next for Native Pet Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

    43 min

  5. 12/13/2022

    #349: Brennan Spellacy of Patch, on Value-Driven Category Creation, Strategic Hiring at a High-Growth Startup, and Enabling Trust through Transparency

    Brennan is the Co-Founder and CEO of Patch, the platform for negative emissions and scaling unified climate action. Patch is building the infrastructure for a sustainable economy by enabling gigatonne scale carbon removal. With Patch, companies can embed climate action into their own products, neutralizing the carbon impact of everyday transactions like shipping, travel, and financial services. From an API-integration to direct purchase, Patch is the carbon removal platform for businesses and consumers to seamlessly contribute to trusted removal and reduction projects at any scale. Prior to founding Patch with co-founder Aaron Grunfeld, Brennan worked in a range of product & engineering roles at Sonder and Shopify. He received a degree in chemical engineering from McGill University. Topics Covered by Brennan Spellacy in this Episode What Patch is and how they’re helping companies achieve their environmental goals Patch’s origin story Deciding to found Patch with his co-founder Aaron Grunfeld after a collaborating on a challenging project at Sonder The early days of Patch and the benefits of starting right at the beginning of the pandemic How they tackled the challenge of fundraising Using their $1.2M pre-seed raise to build their founding team Patch’s original platform Category creation and their values-centric sales pitch Getting approached by Andreessen Horowitz for investment Patch’s product evolution and the three facets of the problem they’re solving Leveraging PR to fuel Patch’s growth and shifting their strategy The logic behind their slow-to-hire approach Vetting in the carbon credit marketplace and enabling trust through transparency Patch’s business model and how it has evolved Interesting climate solutions Brennan has seen The strategic timing of their rebrand What’s next for Patch and where to connect with Brennan and his company Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

    41 min

  6. 12/05/2022

    #348: Tyler Denk of Beehiiv, on Building in Public, Growing 55% MoM, and Quick Adaptability to Compete with Big Tech

    Tyler Denk is the co-founder and CEO of beehiiv, a newsletter platform to fuel creators and publishers' ability to create, monetize, and grow their audience. While in undergrad at the University of Maryland, Tyler Denk became a self-taught software developer and launched his first startup, VentureStorm—a web application that connected entrepreneurs and startups to talented software developers. After exiting VentureStorm, Tyler continued to work with startups by building and integrating innovative technology solutions to stimulate growth and exceed various KPIs. He joined Morning Brew as the second employee in a role that spanned engineering, product, and growth—responsible for building the renowned referral program and bespoke tech ecosystem that facilitated the company to scale to a successful $75m exit in 2020. After a stint at Google as a Product Lead at YouTube Music, he left to co-found beehiiv, which is approaching $1M ARR and has averaged 55% MoM growth since launch in 2021. On the side, he enjoys building cool projects, most recently Big Desk Energy (popular Spotify playlist + web destination). Topics Covered by Tyler Denk in this Episode What beehiiv is and Tyler’s journey to founding it How Tyler approached growing Morning Brew’s newsletter Beehiiv’s initial vision and what’s next Beehiiv’s business model and how their ad network plays in Early customer acquisition and growth Leaning into their backstory to fundraise with big tech as their new competitors The process of onboarding strategic angel investors Tyler’s perspective on building in public Getting Morning Brew’s co-founders as an investor and advisor Tyler’s perspective shift to becoming a big advocate for remote work Achieving “feature parity” and competing for ad dollars with Google and Facebook Finding direction when developing features What differentiates beehiiv Tyler’s advice for people starting newsletters Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

    44 min

  7. 11/10/2022

    #347: Andrew Berman of Vowel, on Growing Organically via Twitter, Building Remote-First Company Culture, and Taking on Legacy Brands

    Andrew Berman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Vowel, the world's first complete meeting solution designed to make every meeting more inclusive and worthwhile – before, during, and after. Vowel is a collaboration platform that makes meetings searchable, shareable centers of knowledge for your business. By redefining what data capture is capable of, they are optimizing the potential of every team. They are a remote-first company whose 20+ employees span four continents. Their team is made up of engineers, designers, inventors, entrepreneurs and security experts – from leading organizations like Google, Bridgewater, Nanit, Airbnb, Casper, Recombine and others. They’re building both an inclusive product and an inclusive team that celebrates diverse cultures and backgrounds. Andrew’s inspiration is to apply new technology to build products that can touch millions of people in ways that were impossible before. He is also the founder of Nanit, the first camera to track human behavior (the leading baby monitor), an experienced investor from seed to LBO stages (Silicon Valley, NY and other markets), and an active and experienced angel investor (with investments in SaaS, Security, Healthcare, Consumer and CV/AI). Use coupon code: JUSTGOGRIND for 3 months free of unlimited seats on Vowel's Pro plan (monthly only)! Topics Covered by Andrew Berman in this Episode How vowel is creating instant searchable, shareable knowledge through a modern video conferencing tool Andy's journey to founding Vowel How the idea for Vowel stemmed from Nanit’s pain points as a distributed team Early distribution and organic growth through Twitter How Vowel’s original use-cases have expanded naturally and leaning into user-led product development Giving their users a 10x improved media experience through their next generation video platform The challenges of building Vowel Recruiting the original founding team Building remote-first company culture The fundraising process and Vowel’s powerful cap table of operator- angel investors How to vet investors Their B2B growth strategy Developing their freemium business model How they view competition and taking on legacy brands Learnings as a multi-time founder and former VC What motivates Andy to challenge the status quo and build innovative companies Andy's thoughts on the future of work and running remote teams Snagging the vowel.com domain name Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

    42 min
  8. Special: The VITALIZE Podcast - Clicking as Co-Founders, From Bad Idea to Goldmine, and Becoming Market Leaders in EV Charging, with Peter Barba and Zygi Zabieta of Lectrium

    10/11/2022

    Special: The VITALIZE Podcast - Clicking as Co-Founders, From Bad Idea to Goldmine, and Becoming Market Leaders in EV Charging, with Peter Barba and Zygi Zabieta of Lectrium

    Peter Barba and Zygimantas (Zygi) Zabieta are the Co-Founders of Lectrium, a full-service platform for EV home charging on a mission to make every home EV-ready. They make the home charging installation process easy through their network of EVITP certified electricians. At Lectrium, they believe that true carbon neutrality can be achieved only if the transition to EVs is frictionless, and their ambition is to standardize and reduce the cost of the installation process and remove financial barriers for EV adoption. Peter Barba played Division 1 basketball in college and left his job in investment banking to attend Antler’s disruptive startup builder in Oslo, Norway, where he met his co-founder. He is passionate about climate technology, electric vehicles, blockchain, and building businesses.  Zygi Zabieta loves innovation, EVs, blockchain, renewables, politics, and sustainable planning. He is also a public speaker, host & co-founder of Impact Meetups Vilnius, Community Champion for Nordics and Baltics at WEF Global Shapers, and got his Master of Science degree in Environmental Management & Policy at Lund University (IIIEE). Topics Covered by Peter and Zygi in this Episode How Lectrium is making U.S. homes EV-ready Lectrium’s origin story How they ended up at the Antler accelerator How Peter and Zygi met at Antler, bonded, and decided to work together The evolution of Lectrium during the Antler program—how a bad idea became the goldmine What customer discovery looked like for Lectrium Product development and using no-code tools (Zyro and Typeform) for initial building Getting their first paying customers Lectrium’s business model and customer acquisition Bottom-up vs. top-down dealership acquisition strategies How they’re approaching growth in these early stages How new U.S. public EV charging mandates could affect Lectrium The argument for residential vs. public EV charging The potential for partnering with auto-manufacturers directly Onboarding electricians and their role in Lectrium’s success How they’re approaching brand recognition and marketing, and startup showers as the new baby showers How they’re managing a distributed team across time zones Their execution plan to succeed as market leaders in the next few years Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

    42 min
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4.9
out of 5
163 Ratings

About

Tactics, strategies, and stories of world-class founders. Hosted by Justin Gordon.

Information

  • Creator
    Justin Gordon
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2024
  • Episodes
    357
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    Just Go Grind

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