The VentureFizz Podcast

VentureFizz
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The VentureFizz Podcast

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 388: Andy Ellner - Founder & CEO, Quilt Health

    4D AGO

    Episode 388: Andy Ellner - Founder & CEO, Quilt Health

    Episode 388 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Andy Ellner, Founder & CEO of Quilt Health. Yes, there are endless possibilities in terms of the platform shift to AI and how it will disrupt industries, but the one that I’m most excited about is the healthcare industry.  Could there be a great moment to hopefully improve lives and maybe even eradicate diseases or even cure cancer someday?  The future is unknown but these advanced in technology certain give a lot of hope. To tackle these big problems, we need people who are not only the top brilliant minds on this planet, but they also need to be risk takers in terms of building these companies. Andy fits the bill.  Not only is he an MD with top academic credentials, but he’s also a serial entrepreneur. And probably the most important quality of Andy is that he comes from a medical family that’s passionate about making a difference across the world and that quality is deeply rooted into his mindset as well. His latest company is Quilt Health, a digital health company dedicated to bridging gaps in treatment access for complex diseases. They are focused on sickle cell disease and plan to expand to address other complex conditions.  Quilt Health just announced a $6M seed round of funding led by MaC Venture Capital and Underscore Ventures, with participation from Meridian Street Capital, BoxGroup, Watershed VC, and Coalition Operators. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of great topics like: * Some key lessons learned while building healthcare startups, including the importance of finding the right business model. * Andy’s background story including his connection to the Baseball Hall of Fame and his work helping to solve the global HIV pandemic where his learnings from this timeframe have carried over to Quilt Health. * Co-Founding the Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care. * Starting Firefly Health to address the inefficiencies of primary care with a virtual-first care model. * What led him down the path of starting Quilt Health and their plans for disrupting the industry. * His Minimum Viable Team philosophy and advice around hiring. * What excites him about the potential AI use cases in the healthcare industry. * And so much more.

    1 hr
  2. Episode 387: John Voith - Co-Founder & CEO, InStride Health

    JUN 30

    Episode 387: John Voith - Co-Founder & CEO, InStride Health

    Episode 387 of The VentureFizz Podcast features John Voith, CEO & Co-Founder of InStride Health. A common theme for John that you’ll hear throughout the interview is how he has always followed his head and heart. It’s a philosophy, where you can build something meaningful for the world that fulfills your interests yet has a mission to help people. Healthcare is certainly an industry where one can have an impact and what’s interesting is that he has never wavered. As you’ll learn, John’s interest in healthcare began as a child and it has followed through his career and entrepreneurial journey. InStride Health provides specialty outpatient care for pediatric anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and related presentations. The company is venture backed with $56M in funding raised by General Catalyst, .406 Ventures, Valtruis, Mass General Brigham Ventures, and Hopelab Foundation. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of great topics like: * John’s background story and how medical illness in his family influenced his future in the healthcare industry. * Seeing rapid growth of his career at athenahealth where he became one of four General Managers in the company. * The founding story of Virtudent, a venture backed company that provides preventive dental care and care coordination through teledentistry services, on-site services and virtual support. * All the details about InStride Health and how he met his Co-Founders Drs. Mona Potter and Kathryn Boger, plus all the details on their unique and effective approach to treatment. * Lessons learned as a CEO and advice for healthcare entrepreneurs. * And so much more.

    49 min
  3. Episode 386: Shahid Azim - Managing Partner & CEO, C10 Labs

    JUN 23

    Episode 386: Shahid Azim - Managing Partner & CEO, C10 Labs

    Episode 386 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Shahid Azim, Managing Partner & CEO of C10 Labs, an AI venture fund and studio. When ChatGPT was released towards the end of 2022, it changed everything and the AI era officially began. It was perfect timing for Shahid and his two co-founders of C10 Labs that being Professor Ramesh Raskar and Dr. Patricia Geli, as the organization was born out of a course they were co-instructors on called AI for Impact. They knew the time was now and it was an opportunity to build a market leading venture studio that is specifically focused on AI-first companies. They were early to the movement and helped create the spark for the AI ecosystem in the Boston area. Fast forward to today, Shahid and the team at C10 Labs are deeply involved in creating the core foundation for AI in the Boston tech ecosystem from the startups that are participating in their accelerator to playing a key role in lots of other initiatives like the Massachusetts AI Hub. Overall, C10 Labs is making a major impact. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Details about how C10 Labs came to fruition. * Shahid’s background story and his journey into entrepreneurship. * The details about Shahid’s startups which focused on lots of important matters like brain health or heart health like Quanttus, a VC backed company with ground breaking tech for a continuous blood pressure monitoring wearable device that came before the launch of the Apple Watch. * All about C10 Labs and what companies can expect by going through their program. * The criteria they look for while reviewing companies for their accelerator and the details on their upcoming AI Biology cohort this fall. * Common stumbling blocks for native AI companies. * And so much more.

    52 min
  4. Episode 385: Julia Austin - Board Member, Executive Coach, HBS Senior Lecturer, Operator, Angel Investor, & Author

    JUN 16

    Episode 385: Julia Austin - Board Member, Executive Coach, HBS Senior Lecturer, Operator, Angel Investor, & Author

    Episode 385 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Julia Austin - Board Member, Executive Coach, HBS Senior Lecturer, Operator, Angel Investor, and now - Author. Another repeat original guest! Julia was a guest for Episode 30 of The VentureFizz Podcast back in 2018 where we do a deep dive into her background plus cover lots of interesting topics like what it takes to become a great Product Manager and others. In this interview, we catch up to discuss her new role as an author and the details about her new book called After The Idea - What It Really Takes to Create and Scale a Startup: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/julia-austin/after-the-idea/9781541705296 https://www.amazon.com/After-Idea-Really-Create-Startup/dp/1541705270 Julia is a seasoned operator who has served in leadership roles at several scaled technology companies like Akamai, VMware, and DigitalOcean. She has also advised hundreds of founders and startups. In this new book, which I believe will become a new staple in the entrepreneurial startup circles, she helps entrepreneurs navigate the complexities and challenges of building a startup like important matters around product, people, operations, and more. What I also appreciate the most about this book is the fact that it is very comprehensive, yet easy to understand and implement. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of great topics like: * A quick run through Julia’s background - check out Episode 30 for the deeper dive. * How Julia became a member of the faculty at Harvard Business School and the impact of The Startup Operations course that she created. * The inside look at what it’s like to write a book. * How proper discovery can help avoid false positives. * Why entrepreneurs don’t always need a co-founder. * The importance of ABR - that being Always Be Recruiting - for founders. * The difference between Founders & Joiners * Comparing the Boston and NYC startup ecosystems. * And so much more.

    47 min
  5. Episode 384: Thomas "TK" Kinsella - Co-Founder & Chief Customer Officer, Tines

    JUN 9

    Episode 384: Thomas "TK" Kinsella - Co-Founder & Chief Customer Officer, Tines

    Episode 384 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Thomas “TK” Kinsella, Co-Founder & Chief Customer Officer of Tines. The success of Tines is not based on luck. The company’s co-founders experienced a major problem that wasn’t being being solved by existing platforms and after talking to peers who were also dealing with the same problem, they decided to do something about it. But, it wasn’t just an idea that got them to where they are today. This team was uniquely qualified to build the next generation solution based on TK’s and his Co-Founder & CEO, Eoin Hinchy’s many years of experience in the cybersecurity industry, plus a history of working together for something like 15+ years at Deloitte, eBay, and DocuSign. Tines empowers teams to build, run, and monitor their most mission-critical and sophisticated workflows. The company recently announced a $125M round of funding at a $1.125B valuation and is co-headquartered in Dublin and Boston. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of great topics like: * A discussion about the cybersecurity industry and the platform shift to AI. * TK’s background story growing up in Dublin and some mutual geeking out on rugby. * Starting his career in cybersecurity at Deloitte where he met Eoin, plus lots of details about what they worked on at eBay and DocuSign. * Getting Tines started from the early days and all the details about the platform today. * Why they hired a top designer as one of the first employees in the company and the importance of making products that are easy to use. * Details on the latest round of funding and what’s next. * And so much more. Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

    58 min
  6. Episode 383: Rob Biederman - Managing Partner, Asymmetric Capital Partners

    JUN 2

    Episode 383: Rob Biederman - Managing Partner, Asymmetric Capital Partners

    Episode 383: Rob Biederman - Managing Partner, Asymmetric Capital Partners by VentureFizz

    57 min
  7. Episode 382: Abe Murray - General Partner, AlleyCorp

    MAY 27

    Episode 382: Abe Murray - General Partner, AlleyCorp

    Episode 382 of The @Venturefizz Podcast features Abe Murray, General Partner at AlleyCorp. I recently had Matthias Hofmann, the Co-Founder & CEO of Eyebot on the podcast and when I was doing my research on the company, I realized that their recent investment from AlleyCorp was led by one of their partners who was located in the Boston area. It made me pause, as I didn’t realize that AlleyCorp had someone in the local Boston area. If you are not familiar with AlleyCorp, it is the venture fund started by Kevin Ryan who is a tech icon in NYC. Kevin led DoubleClick’s growth to an IPO and acquisition by Google. He’s also a co-founder of MongoDB, Business Insider, Zola, Gilt Groupe, and many others. AlleyCorp was backed as a family office by Kevin until last year when it became an institutional VC firm through the announcement of its $250M Fund I which includes outside LPs for the first time. Abe is leading AlleyCorp’s deep tech investments, so it just makes sense that he is based in the the Boston area, as there is such a high concentration of innovation and companies in the Northeast. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Abe’s background story which includes dropping out of high school to run fishing boats & factories in the family aquaculture business and the importance of growing up with a chip on your shoulder. * Starting his career at BAE Systems where he worked on Generative AI and advanced technologies for the defense industry. * Going to Harvard Business School and working on a startup called Doodbleboard, an online whiteboard. * Landing at Google, then later Alphabet, where he worked on various AI/ML initiatives, as well as the Android mobile team with Rich Miner. * Taking on the healthcare industry and leading the Boston office for Verily, an Alphabet company. * Getting into angel investing and how he landed at AlleyCorp. * All the details about AlleyCorp and the investments they are making across the firm, plus the specifics about what Abe is targeting. * The importance of storytelling and advice on how to get great at it. * And so much more. Eyebot interview: https://venturefizz.com/insights/episode-368-matthias-hofmann-co-founder-ceo-of-eyebot/

    1h 10m
  8. Episode 381: Mike Massaro - CEO, Flywire

    MAY 19

    Episode 381: Mike Massaro - CEO, Flywire

    Episode 381 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Mike Massaro, CEO of Flywire, a global payments enablement and software company. This is the full lifecycle story of an idea to a pillar publicly traded tech company in the Boston tech scene and it has it all. An international founder who discovered a major problem while trying to pay his tuition at MIT, to Mike joining the company after its Series A, an evolving business model from consumer to B2B, navigating choppy near death experiences to scaling aggressively, then raising multiple rounds of venture funding to an IPO, and more! It really is an inspirational story for all entrepreneurs to hear, as it is never an easy up & to the right story. There is so much that goes into building a successful company and this one does not disappoint. Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:17 Learning to Lead & the Importance of Communication 04:51 Mike's Background & Getting Started in Tech at edocs 15:00 Carrier IQ 19:47 The early days of Flywire 19:52 Navigating the Go-to-Market Strategy 29:52 Moving into the Role as CEO of Flywire 31:55 Challenging Times 35:09 Scaling the Company & Playing Long Ball 39:17 Expanding into New Industries 41:47 The Impact of COVID-19 45:20 Flywire IPO 50:06 Looking Ahead: Growth and Innovation 51:42 Building a Strong Company Culture 57:12 The Importance of a Strong Board of Directors 59:50 Hiring for Leadership Roles 01:02:13 Apps, Books, & Fun Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

    1h 5m
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4.8
out of 5
33 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 - 2025
  • Episodes
    389
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    The VentureFizz Podcast

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