Ursa Consultants: Beyond the Balance Sheet Jace Lotz

In the most recent episode of Beyond the Balance Sheet, Jace sat down with Mehdi Tehranchi, co-founder and CEO of KnowledgeNet.ai.
Mehdi Tehranchi is a seasoned software entrepreneur who is currently working on his third startup. KnowledgeNet is an AI solution designed to help companies retain knowledge across their organization.
Jace and Mehdi talk a lot about AI, and how it will shape our future across the board. Mehdi emphasizes the importance of AI training for employees and gives specific examples of what you can do today.
He thinks that every organization should start implementing AI, and explains why and how. His philosophy is simple: start with simple AI applications, and then progressively move into more complex tasks. 
Jace and Mehdi also go into the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship. Mehdi discusses the build vs. buy dilemma when it comes to owning a business.Should you build it from scratch or buy an existing business in today’s world, which is changing faster than ever before?
It was a pleasure to have Mehdi on the podcast. Enjoy!
 

It’s Friday night – having just finished your final Zoom call of the week, you hop into an Uber to pick up your friend from their Airbnb, while you check Yelp for a good restaurant to grab dinner downtown. Sounds like a pretty realistic scenario, right?
In that sentence, I mentioned four different startups that we can't imagine life without. But without proper banking and financial services, those companies wouldn’t exist. And that’s exactly what this week’s guest knows all about.
In our most recent episode of Beyond the Balance Sheet, Jace sat down with JP Ferro, VP of Startup Banking at Bridge Bank.
JP started at NetSuite, where he worked directly with portfolio companies to drive value creation. He then moved into venture capital, where he managed startup ecosystem partnerships for Burkland. 
These experiences led him to Bridge Bank. Having been active in the startup world for close to a decade, JP knows about the financial side of running an early company. As a Vice President in Bridge Bank’s Startup Banking Group, he supports entrepreneurs and startup founders navigate their journey from inception to success.
Jace and JP talk about the state of startup banking. Since many early-stage companies struggle with getting a credit card, Bridge Bank thought there was a better option for startups to get the credit they need for everyday purchases.
"We created our new offering designed for early-stage startups based upon their deposit balances. So it's not tied to credit history, not to raising an equity round, and not to an individual founder on the personal guarantee side."
Most banks aren’t creative when it comes to financing and helping startups. Bridge Bank decided to provide a solution that gives founders more ability to succeed. Why? JP explains all in this episode. 
It was a pleasure to have JP on the podcast. Enjoy!
 

What happens when a Navy SEAL gets put in a leadership position at a company? According to Casey Woo, that is exactly what the operator role is. “They are specialists at being generalists.”
In our most recent episode of Beyond the Balance Sheet, Jace sat down with Casey, the founder and CEO of Operators Guild – an independent, invitation-only group that is home to the world’s top finance and operations leaders. 
Casey is a Harvard grad who previously worked as the Global Head of Strategic Finance at WeWork and Chief Financial Officer at Landing, before starting Operators Guild, and his investment firm FOG Ventures.
Jace and Casey talk about the role of an Operator.“We are the Navy SEALs of company building. Navy SEALs have the same tattoo and they're all called SEALs, except they have disciplines. They are brought in because they're specialists at being generalists.”
They discuss the value of engaging with operators and how they deploy vision to ensure the success of the company as a whole. Casey emphasizes the importance of understanding the company’s vision, values, and core objectives in today’s world.
Casey describes how the roles of operator and CFO are changing. Different types of skills are important in the current business environment, and Casey explains what skills you should focus on developing today
The two then go on to discuss the importance of community, and the difficulties that come with building great teams. Casey also shares how he and the operators in his community track success.
It was a pleasure to have Casey on the podcast. Enjoy!

In our most recent episode of Beyond the Balance Sheet, Jace sat down with Robin Zander, founder and CEO of Zander Media – a creative agency that’s worked with clients such as Sequoia, Philz Coffee, Codility, and more.
Robin is a serial entrepreneur, having built three successful companies in the last seven years. He knows a thing or two about building businesses from the ground up.
Jace and Robin talk about the entrepreneurial journey and Robin shares the story of how he started a restaurant with no prior experience – and the challenges that came with that. 
They discuss  Robin’s transition from the restaurant industry to founding Zander Media and why he decided to focus on digital storytelling for startups. 
Robin gives specific advice on storytelling. He argues that just because not everyone is a natural storyteller, but that doesn’t mean not everyone can tell a great story. As Robin says, “Practice makes excellent.”
Robin’s journey wasn’t one without hurdles. But those challenges are part of the fun. In Robin’s words, “There’s always another mountain to climb. But I’ve done something like that before.”
It was a pleasure to have Robin on the podcast. Enjoy!

With all the new technologies on the rise in the past few years, the accounting landscape is evolving. There’s no question about it.
With all the new AI tools, and companies automating processes more and more, a reporting revolution seems to be on the horizon. But what does this look like?
In our most recent episode of Beyond the Balance Sheet, Jace sat down with Anita Koimur, co-founder and COO of LiveFlow.
LiveFlow is a financial platform that turns your Excel or Google Sheets into a live financial planning & analysis dashboard. It was part of a recent batch of Y Combinator startups.
In the interview, Jace and Anita talk about finding product market fit. This is crucial for any startup. Marc Andreessen of a16z once said: “The only thing that matters is getting to product-market fit.” But getting there is not easy. 42% of startups fail because they lack product-market fit.
Anita was able to crack the code. She shares interesting insights into how to find product-market fit, and even gives an anecdote of how LiveFlow got there through analysis and iteration.
Anita dives into LiveFlow’s people-first approach, which she thinks is key to success. LiveFlow is always in direct communication with its customers and strives to be hyper-responsive to problems. "Through conversations with the customers, through the case studies, interviews, etc., where we ask them, what is the impact on your business with LifeLow versus without LifeLow?"
It was a pleasure to have Anita on the podcast. Enjoy!

On average, it takes startups 40-50 meetings to raise a $1M+ round of capital. 
This investor often invests after just one or two meetings…
In our most recent episode of Beyond the Balance Sheet, Jace sat down with Eric Bahn, General Partner and co-founder of Hustle Fund.
They talk about Hustle Fund’s mission and the importance of cultivating community.
Hustle Fund focuses on investing in ridiculously early-stage startups and Eric shares some interesting insights into making decisions within one or two meetings, and providing initial funding quickly.
Eric shares some insider stories, like that of a company which started with a solo founder without a team and is growing at an incredible rate. He also mentions the Angel Squad community, which helps new investors learn and engage in the startup world.
Eric touches on the broader goal of making the tech ecosystem kinder and more inclusive. But he also criticizes the current startup culture of celebrating 'brilliant jerks' and shares how he thinks it should change.
It was a pleasure to have Eric on the podcast. Enjoy!