In this episode, we’ll be talking about why traditional CEOs have been replaced by a new breed called DEOs, design executive officers, and how companies are basically being led by executives who embrace design thinking.
To help us out, I’ve invited Maria Giudice formerly the founder of Hot Studio. Maria built and successfully ran Hot Studio through 3 tech busts, I’d say that’s enough of a reason for me to want to learn from this amazing design leader! Hot Studio was eventually acquired by Facebook. Maria’s latest role is as the VP of Experience Design at Autodesk and she has co-authored a new book called The Rise of The DEO.
Whether you’re a leader or aspire to be one, you won’t want to miss listening to this episode, because Maria and are I are going to be talking about how DEOs:
In this episode we’re tackling a tough topic that isn’t talked about a lot: The Challenges Immigrant Tech Entrepreneurs Face.
Whether you’re an immigrant, thinking of immigrating to the US, or just a startuper, you’re sure to be inspired by this episode, because we talk about what it takes to overcome a number of obstacles and setbacks over a 4 year period before breaking into the US market with big customers and investors!
Agustina Sartori, the CEO & Co-Founder of Glam St shares how she began her career as a software engineer in Uruguay working at a startup, and then decided to strike out on her own with her co-founder Carolina Bañales to build Glam St.
Watch and learn:
How she and her co-founder landed their first big client L’Oreal before building anything!
How they built their first prototype.
Alternate sources of funding they pursued because there aren’t a lot of investors in Uruguay.
How cultivating a level of self-awareness when talking to potential customers and investors is beneficial to attracting them.
Why it’s important to build relationships with organizations who can help you grow your business like accelerators.
It’s the final episode of FemgineerTV for the 2015 season!
It felt like just yesterday I was waking up at 5am on a January morning to buy bagels for Ben Congleton our first guest. Then driving up with him to SF to beat the traffic on 101. Still can’t believe we made it one piece for the live pilot episode!
Since then we’ve produced a total of 11 episodes with guests who are changing the landscape of technology in the way they design, engineer, and lead product innovation and their companies. If you’ve missed even one episode, then take some time this holiday season to watch them all here.
Of course none of these episodes would have been possible without the support of our sponsor Pivotal Tracker. Specials thanks to Ronan Dunlop, Charles Springer, and Dan Podsedly for believing in my vision for FemgineerTV and continuing to support it. These are some of the BEST guys in Silicon Valley to work with!
I also want to thank my team: Michael Zeligs (videographer), Nathalie Arbel (editor), Christy Buckland (editor), and Gary Kirk (video editor). They are such a pleasure to work with, and go out of their way to make the episodes look and sound amazing!
Now on to the final episode of FemgineerTV for the 2015 season!
In this episode we’ll be exploring the theme of what it’s like to start building a technology company and product with little to no experience.
We’ve all heard stories about tech founders who started their careers as engineers, designers, product managers and sales staff, while supporting a tech company. But can someone from outside tech successfully launch a tech product? Sandi MacPherson is proof it can be done! She’s the founder of Quibband has a unique story of how she became a founder.
In the latest episode of Femgineer TV, Sandi shares how she went from working in eastern Canada as a scientist, studying climate change, to completing her MBA, and eventually moving to California to start a technology company.
Having no prior experience in tech, Sandi went through a series of steps and received a lot of hands-on help that led her to eventually start Quibb, a service that shares articles and reports that influencers and experts are reading, in a newsfeed and daily email.
In this episode, you’ll learn the following from Sandi:
We know that funding is critical for the life of a startup, and founders can opt to bootstrap or raise capital from VCs. Many do both as we saw in episode 8 when I interviewed Melody McCloskey.
Then in episode 9, I spoke to Shruti Gandhi, the founding and managing partner at Array VC, a fund that invests in early stage startups. Shruti shared with us the different ways investors can help a company grow, plus tips for dealing with different types of investors, and how to dig into an investor’s thesis to see if they’re the right fit for you.
In today’s episode, we’re going to expand beyond the mechanics of funding, and learn about a startup that’s helping investors and founders learn all they can to make decisions when it comes to investing. Danielle Morrill is the CEO and co-founder of Mattermark, a data platform that keeps track of startups and their growth signals.
Danielle began her startup career working Pelago, then went on to become the first employee at Twilio, and recently launched Mattermark.
Her goal is to make Mattermark the go-to source for information about startups and their investment potential. Think of it as Bloomberg for private companies.
In this episode you’ll learn:
If you’ve been following along with FemgineerTV, you’ll have learned what the investor-founder dynamic is like from the viewpoint of an entrepreneur. In the last episode, I sat down with the CEO & co-founder of StyleSeat, Melody McCloskey, to understand what it takes to raise capital at the various stages of a startup, from Seed to Series A and beyond.
In today’s episode, we’re going to get the opposite perspective by diving into an investor’s mindset. We’ll try to understand what compels them to write a check and, more importantly, how they add value beyond a check.
(That’s right, they’re not just a source of capital; they can be an indispensable partner!)
I’ve invited Shruti Gandhi to chat with us. Shruti is the founding and managing partner at Array VC, a fund that invests in early stage startups. She began her career as software engineer. Since then, she has been a startup founder and an investor in five funds; now, she has started her own.
Having been in many roles, Shruti understands the importance of capital, but she also knows firsthand that founders need help beyond the check.
During our conversation, you’ll learn:
You’ve probably noticed the ongoing debate about whether or not we’re in a tech bubble. Headlines are always gushing about the latest companies with billion dollar valuations.
There’s a lot of investment capital out there right now, and if you’re a startup founder who hopes to raise money, you might be wondering what it takes to attract some of that capital to you .
You have to figure out what to say to attract investors, but here’s the thing: depending on whether it’s your first fundraise or a follow-on round, you have to take a different approach.
So, what do investors look for in a startup ripe for Series A versus Series B? When should you stop bootstrapping and search for seed funding?
To help us out with these questions, I’ve invited Melody McCloskey, the CEO & Co-Founder of StyleSeat, who has successfully raised $39.9M for her company through 4 separate fundraising rounds, ranging from seed to Series B.
Each round was different, and it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Melody. Hear how she succeeded in her 4 rounds and learn: