The VentureFizz Podcast

VentureFizz
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The VentureFizz Podcast is the flagship podcast of VentureFizz.com, the leading authority for jobs & careers in tech. In this podcast, VentureFizz Founder Keith Cline interviews the top founders and investors in the tech industry.

  1. Episode 423: Sasha Hoffman - Partner, Remus Capital

    2D AGO

    Episode 423: Sasha Hoffman - Partner, Remus Capital

    Episode 423 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Sasha Hoffman, Partner at Remus Capital. I first met Sasha over ten years ago, when she was the Chief Operating Officer at Piaggio Fast Forward. VentureFizz helped cover the launch of Gita, the cargo carrying robot named Gita. Thus, this interview was long overdue and I was excited to interview Sasha as her career has been so prolific. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 02:46 Tips For Creating High Impact, Curated Events 17:33 Sasha's Background 20:59 Career Path: From Finance to Startups 22:09 Experience at Goldman Sachs 22:14 Joining Startup - Plastiq 26:03 Sasha's Time at Piaggio Fast Forward 29:09 Navigating Challenges During COVID at Uber 33:05 Insights on Loyalty Programs and User Retention 37:27 Transitioning to Venture Capital and Investing 40:42 The Future of AI and committing to Voice AI 44:02 Remus' "Say, See, Do" Thesis 45:14 Thoughts on OpenClaw and AI 49:19 EquipmentShare IPO and the Overall Market 51:00 Angel Investing 53:14 How to Get Started as an Angel Investor? 56:06 Balancing Work and Having Fun Traveling 01:01:01 Resources for travel deals and incentives This podcast is brought to you by one of the strongest longtime supporters of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors and $44B in loans as of Q4 2025 – SVB delivers expert guidance, specialized products and a team that knows the innovation economy inside and out. Learn more at SVB.com.

    1h 4m
  2. Episode 422: David Fialkow - Co-Founder & Managing Director, General Catalyst

    APR 6

    Episode 422: David Fialkow - Co-Founder & Managing Director, General Catalyst

    Episode 422 of The VentureFizz Podcast features David Fialkow, Co-Founder & Managing Director of General Catalyst. Entrepreneur, venture capitalist, philanthropist, and Oscar winner - those are just a few of the words that describe David’s legendary career. As you’ll hear from this interview, he emphasizes the importance of storytelling, which he originally learned from filmmaking, but it goes beyond making a compelling documentary. It is an often-overlooked but essential skill for every entrepreneur. Whether you are hiring, winning over customers, or raising capital, being able to align everyone with your mission through a powerful narrative is critical for success. Most of you are likely familiar with General Catalyst. They are one of the top VC firms in the world, having backed a "Who’s Who" of tech giants including Stripe, Anduril, Circle, Airbnb, HubSpot, Snap, Canva, and Discord - just to name a few. In this interview, we cover a lot of ground, plus David shares lots of stories and interesting advice along the way, such as: What it’s like to win an Oscar and making impactful documentary films. David’s thoughts on the Boston tech scene. His long standing partnership with Joel Cutler (which I didn’t know they met when they were seven years old) and the details on their entrepreneurial initiatives in the travel industry including building the largest tour & cruise business in the U.S. The story of how a donation to Children’s Hospital led him to compete in the Ironman triathlon with just 90 days to train. How General Catalyst got started during the 2001 VC winter after dot-com bubble burst. The firm’s myopic focus on founders and their approach to building a firm with long term, intergenerational value. Investing in pillar Boston companies like HubSpot, Circle, ITA Software, KAYAK, and others… and their thought process around expanding the firm to the West Coast. The importance of surrounding yourself with people who know more than you do. And so much more! Podcast Sponsor: This podcast is brought to you by one of the strongest longtime supporters of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors and $44B in loans as of Q4 2025 – SVB delivers expert guidance, specialized products and a team that knows the innovation economy inside and out. Learn more at SVB.com.

    45 min
  3. Episode 421: Harris Stolzenberg - Partner, Pear

    MAR 30

    Episode 421: Harris Stolzenberg - Partner, Pear

    Episode 421 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Harris Stolzenberg, Partner at Pear VC. I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn and in my travels, I love discovering individuals who are local to the Boston area but are perhaps working for a meaningful company that is headquartered elsewhere. This is what happened when I stumbled on Harris’ profile - I stopped and thought to myself… wait, Pear has an investor in Boston who is leading the firm’s expansion to the East Coast?  No way - game on and off I went to connect with Harris and ultimately bring you this interview! Pear is a west coast pre-seed / seed stage VC firm which has invested in over 200 companies like Doordash, Gusto, Vanta, Dropbox, and many more.  The firm also offers an exclusive, small batch accelerator program for pre-seed companies called PearX. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Harris’s best networking advice plus tactical tips. * His background playing lacrosse at MIT, and the incredible story of how he raised money for the Boston Marathon bombing victims which even led to a personal donation from Oprah. * Getting his start in investment banking before moving into the startup world at Pando and eventually landing his first role at Pear. * The story of Flock, the company retreat platform he co-founded, its eventual acquisition, and the hard-won lessons he took from that experience. * His transition back to the East Coast and his time serving as Chief of Staff at Pillar VC. * His current role at Pear as a Partner, the firm’s approach to investing, and all the details on how the PearX program works. * Harris’ thoughts on the Boston tech ecosystem. * Plus, so much more!

    2 min
  4. Episode 420: Megan Lanham- CEO & Co-Founder, Rithmm

    MAR 23

    Episode 420: Megan Lanham- CEO & Co-Founder, Rithmm

    Episode 420 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Megan Lanham, CEO & Co-Founder of Rithmm. The betting industry has exploded over recent years. Apps like Kalshi now make it possible to bet on pretty much anything, like what companies will go public this year or where the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce wedding will take place… but, let’s face it… this industry is driven by sports betting. Last year, per ESPN, the sports betting industry hit a record $16.96B in revenue… yowza. And according to the American Gaming Association, Americans are expected to legally wager over $3B on March Madness alone! Professional sports betters have a team of quants running models all day long which is their competitive advantage. So, what if there was an app that gave you, the every day consumer, the same competitive advantage? Meet Rithmm…the AI-powered sports betting platform that surfaces the top betting opportunities backed by predictive models and explained by data. It’s not just what to bet, but why. It’s like having your own data science team in your pocket. The company has raised $8.75M in funding. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The state of the industry of sports betting and why parlays are your worst enemy. * Megan’s background growing up in Illinois and playing basketball in college and then coaching D1 for a decade. * Joining a life sciences staffing company at the ground level, scaling to an acquisition and moving into a CEO role. * The decision to head to MIT Sloan for her MBA and how it inspired her current startup. * All the details on Rithmm and a demo of the app. * Acquisition strategies for attracting users. * Entrepreneurial advice for women founders. * What success looks like for Rithmm. * And so much more!

    1h 9m
  5. Episode 419: Chip Hazard - General Partner, Flybridge

    MAR 16

    Episode 419: Chip Hazard - General Partner, Flybridge

    Episode 419 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Chip Hazard, General Partner at Flybridge. Before we get into the details of Chip’s career, I have to call out a random fun fact: Chip is the only VC with his own action figure, yes – it’s true. There’s a DreamWorks animated movie called Small Soldiers. The lead character is named Chip Hazard, voiced by Tommy Lee Jones. As you’ll hear in this episode, there’s a great story suggesting that the character’s name was actually inspired by Chip himself, which absolutely makes sense once you hear the story. But beyond the fun facts, as you’ll hear, Chip has a major leg up on most investors because he’s successfully navigated multiple platform shifts – from the internet and mobile to the cloud and now AI. What’s impressive is that Chip and the team at Flybridge saw this latest AI shift coming long before the hype. For proof, you just have to look at his blog post titled “Applied AI: Beyond the Algorithms” which he published all the way back in 2019. Chip has backed some of the most impactful companies in tech, like MongoDB back when it was still called 10Gen. Today, it’s a public company with a $20B+ dollar market cap, and Chip still serves on the board. His portfolio also includes Nasuni which was valued at $1.2 billion following a strategic investment led by Vista Equity Partners in 2024. If you aren’t familiar with Flybridge, they are a seed-stage firm investing in ambitious founders leveraging the power of AI. Last September, they announced their latest fund, a $100M seventh fund. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 04:15 A movie character named after Chip in Small Soldiers 05:39 The Current AI Platform Shift & Patterns he has seen 09:48 Decades of blogging experience and how they stayed ahead of the curve 11:23 Chip's background 12:49 Stanford and Athletics 14:00 How Chip got his career started 15:29 Discovering Venture Capital and Landing at Greylock 19:27 A Walk Through His Investments at Greylock 24:50 Starting Flybridge 28:18 The Details about Flybridge 29:46 What gets you to the point of saying YES to entrepreneurs 32:20 Company storytelling at the seed stage 34:11 Investing in MongoDB 36:46 Key Decisions for MongoDB 42:38 Investing in Nasuni 43:41 Other company investments 46:05 Why They Invested in VoiceRun 48:38 Details on xfactor ventures 51:12 Advice for Entrepreneurs on Conducting Due Diligence on Investors 53:01 How VCs Handle an Investment Post-IPO 55:12 Three apps Chip can't live without 57:08 Podcast Recommendations Podcast Sponsor: This podcast is brought to you by one of the strongest longtime supporters of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors and $44B in loans as of Q4 2025 – SVB delivers expert guidance, specialized products and a team that knows the innovation economy inside and out. Learn more at SVB.com.

    59 min
  6. Episode 418: Jeff Glass - CEO & Co-Founder, Hometap

    MAR 9

    Episode 418: Jeff Glass - CEO & Co-Founder, Hometap

    Episode 418 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Jeff Glass, Co-Founder & CEO of Hometap. Jeff’s track record is pretty amazing, yet he is incredibly humble. As both an entrepreneur and an investor, he has…in my opinion… earned a spot as one of the top builders in the Boston tech ecosystem. While success always requires the right market timing and a great team, you also need a leader who truly thrives in the full lifecycle journey of building a startup and that is exactly what Jeff has done throughout his career. Listen to this track record. Back in the Internet 1.0 era, he co-founded Transactive Solutions. This tech company included a web property called Zooba which scaled and had very forward looking technology. The company was acquired by a joint venture between Bertelsmann and AOL Time Warner. Then, in the early days of mobile, he led m-Qube through each company phase from figuring out product market fit to the hypergrowth years and eventually an acquisition by VeriSign. Beyond the exit, m-Qube is legendary for its "alumni network," having produced a generation of founders and executives who have gone on to build many successful companies in Boston and beyond. Jeff also spent years as a VC with Bain Capital Ventures, where he sat on the board of LinkedIn for three years leading up to their IPO. He later joined a portfolio company as the CEO of Skyhook Wireless which was acquired by Liberty Media. Today, Jeff is the CEO and Co-Founder of Hometap which has a very meaningful mission: making homeownership less stressful and more accessible. Hometap allows consumers to access the equity in their homes without taking on a loan or sell their home. Think of it like a startup, where an investor is taking equity as a percentage of ownership in a company for a future return. The same idea applies here for consumers and their home. It’s just one of those ideas that makes a world of sense. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 03:40 Building Extraordinary Teams 07:38 Jeff's Background & Early Career 15:15 Learning How to Sell 23:27 Early Career 28:30 Building Zooba to an Exit 39:49 m-Qube and the early days of mobile 44:33 Powering the Voting System in American Idol and Deal or No Deal 47:15 VeriSign's Acquisition of m-Qube 50:41 The amazing alumni of m-Qube 54:27 Joining Bain Capital Ventures 58:30 Joining Skyhook Wireless as CEO 01:01:15 The Early Beginnings of Hometap: A New Approach to Home Equity 01:06:28 Building Hometap: Raising Capital and Growing Initial Customer Base 01:12:43 The Scale of Hometap 01:16:08 How Hometap Works 01:20:17 What's Next for Hometap? 01:22:09 Jeff's Interests Outside of Work

    1h 25m
  7. Episode 417: Rob Hughes - Co-Founder, Koo Capital

    MAR 2

    Episode 417: Rob Hughes - Co-Founder, Koo Capital

    Episode 417 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Rob Hughes, Co-Founder of Koo Capital. If you haven’t met Rob yet… you should. He is one of the personalities behind the Boston tech scene and he is doing his part to bring the extra energy and buzz that is brewing in addition to initiatives like the Massachusetts AI Coalition. We need more Rob’s, as he has a big personality and it’s only fitting that he is one of the faces behind Pitch Lift, along with angel investor, Steve Walsh. Pitch Lift is a Shark Tank style elevator pitch event that literally happens in an elevator. Founders get 30 seconds to grab the attention of an investor and make an impression before the doors open. It’s a fun but high pressure environment and you can see it in action on Instagram and TikTok. In addition to Pitch Lift, Rob is a co-founder of Koo Capital, a private credit advisory platform built by bankers for founders to help high-growth companies unlock non-dilutive capital to scale faster. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: 00:00 Introduction 02:05 Details on Pitch Lift & How it Got Started 07:20 How Pitch Lift Creates Social Content 09:26 Common Pitch Mistakes & Advice 11:59 Rob's Background & Early Career 18:13 Pivoting from Sales to Banking 22:27 Early Focus Servicing AI and ML Companies 24:45 Transition to Citizens Private Bank 29:00 Starting Koo Capital 30:58 His New Year's Resolution to Minimize Regret 31:58 Details on Koo Capital 33:24 Alternative Funding Advice for Entrepreneurs 36:17 What qualifications does Koo Capital look for? 38:24 Lessons Learned from Running his own Company 41:29 Reviving the Boston Tech Ecosystem 45:40 3 Essential Apps 46:43 Details on an Instagram Trail Reel 48:38 The importance of short video 49:50 Podcast & Book Recommendations for Entrepreneurs 50:54 Rob's other passions and hobbies

    53 min
  8. Episode 416: Colin Raney - CEO & Co-Founder, Ray

    FEB 23

    Episode 416: Colin Raney - CEO & Co-Founder, Ray

    Episode 416 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Colin Raney, Co-Founder & CEO of Ray. Here’s a "did you know - fun fact” for you. Studies show that 90 minutes of strength training a week adds four years to your lifespan! Who knew??? At least I didn’t, until I was doing research for this podcast. I have to admit, I have a pretty good workout routine while I’m home between cardio and lifting dumbbells, but when I’m traveling… forget about it. For whatever reason, I just have a mental block where I’m just not motivated to work out. This is just one of the many great use cases for how Ray helps. It is an AI native fitness app that behaves more like a personal trainer as it changes and adapts based on what the consumer needs by continuously learning from your feedback, preferences, and performance. Ray’s co-founders are Colin and Rich Miner, who is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder of the Android operating system. The company is backed by Founder Collective, True Ventures, and other angel investors. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Colin’s background story growing up in Texas and how he got his career started in software engineering and then product management. * Going back to business school at Carnegie Mellon and how he fell in love with design. * How he landed at IDEO and later ran the firm’s Cambridge studio. * Joining Formlabs as CMO in the early days of the company and the story of the launch of the Form 2 printer. * Meeting TJ Parker and Elliot Cohen, the founders of PillPack and later joining as the company’s CMO… plus the full story to their acquisition by Amazon for a reported $1B. * All the details about Ray and a demo of the product. * His thoughts around branding and consumer marketing in the era of AI. * And so much more!

    1h 2m
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4.8
out of 5
34 Ratings

About

The VentureFizz Podcast is the flagship podcast of VentureFizz.com, the leading authority for jobs & careers in tech. In this podcast, VentureFizz Founder Keith Cline interviews the top founders and investors in the tech industry.

Information

  • Creator
    VentureFizz
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    424
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    The VentureFizz Podcast

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