Traction: How Startups Start | Nextview Ventures

After our first year of The Idea Maze, we wanted to share five key takeaways that we have distilled from these converations. Listen now to host Rob Go break down the most significant lessons he learned from past episodes.    If you enjoy this episode, please be sure to subscribe to The Idea Maze.   

Hello Traction Listeners! Did you know we have another podcast, The Idea Maze? Hosted by Nextview Co-Founder Rob Go, each episode gives us an intimate, unfiltered look at a founder's journey through the twists and turns of the idea maze. We're sharing a favorite episode from Season 1 featuring Mike Salguero, founder of Butcherbox.    If you enjoy this episode, please be sure to subscribe to The Idea Maze. 

In a very special episode of Traction, we sit down as a team and discuss the new mission of the firm and talk through B2C and B2B examples of the Everyday Economy. We learn what commonalities exist among founders who are redesigning that economy, and the NextView partners share their perspectives on the next big wave of internet innovation. Plus, we share some news about the future of the show. Subscribe to get all NextView content at nextviewvc.com/blog Follow the NextView team on Twitter: David: twitter.com/davidbeisel Rob: twitter.com/robgo Lee: twitter.com/leehower Ginny: twitter.com/ginnymineo Listen to Jay's podcast about questioning conventional thinking at unthinkable.fm Thanks for listening to Traction!

On the podcast today, NextView cofounder Rob Go sits down with Andy Rachleff, VC veteran and the president, CEO, and executive chairman of Wealthfront. They talk about how Andy came up with the term product-market fit, how he applied his own lessons (and updated them) in building Wealthfront, and the mental models founders can use to unlock their real unfair advantage in a tactics-obsessed world: how you think. Follow Andy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arachleff  Follow Rob on Twitter: http://twitter.com/robgo  Subscribe to the newsletter, The Next View, to get 1 new link and 1 strong opinion on tech each week: http://nextviewvc.com/blog 

Today, Samantha Howe of Grove Collaborative shares her in-depth knowledge of a massive trend in marketing: working with influencers. You'll hear how to get started, approach influencer in your space, and measure impact. Jay and Samantha also rant against some of the less effective but common tactics permeating this approach to marketing. Follow Samantha on Twitter: https://twitter.com/howesocial  Follow Jay on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jayacunzo  Check out the latest from NextView's refreshed brand, including the introduction to the Everyday Economy: http://nextview.vc/eetraction  Here is NextView's pitch to founders: http://nextview.vc/pitchdecktraction  Lastly, subscribe to get all of NextView's content at http://nextviewvc.com/blog 

On the show today, Fareed Mosavat shares his experiences on growth teams for Slack, Instacart, and RunKeeper. We learn from his approach but also extract valuable lessons about where growth jobs actually fit into your overall organization. Follow Fareed on Twitter: https://twitter.com/far33d  Follow Jay on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jayacunzo  Subscribe to get all of NextView's content at http://nextviewvc.com/blog (including the Hitchhiker's Guides to Boston: http://bostontechguide.com/ and NYC: http://startupguide.nyc/  Listen to Jay's other podcast, Unthinkable: http://unthinkable.fm or iTunes http://bit.ly/unthinkablefm

Today's episode features a fast-rising company led by Shan-Lyn Ma. Her startup, Zola, is changing the way people purchase gifts for brides and grooms. Anyone who has ever experienced the insanity of wedding season -- whether attending as a guest or planning your own -- knows just how stressful the whole experience can be. Shan-Lyn and her team are using some unique insights and past experiences to rethink it, and boy, is it working right now. We talk about tough early beginnings, clever market validation tests, and what Shan-Lyn believes about the future of startups and venture capital. Visit zola.com to learn more about the company, and follow Shan-Lyn on Twitter: twitter.com/shanlynm Subscribe to get all of NextView's content at nextviewvc.com/blog

Wayne Chang and Jeff Seibert are the cofounders of Crashlytics, which Twitter acquired in 2013. Today, as angel investors, they see dozens of entrepreneurs every quarter, and they've joined the show today to help us answer some tough questions: How should you structure communication with your cofounder? How do you work through difficult decisions, especially if nobody on the founding team is a domain expert? What would the pair do differently next time around? And what are they exploring as their next venture? Follow Wayne and Jeff on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wayne and https://twitter.com/jeffseibert  Follow Rob and Jay on Twitter: https://twitter.com/robgo and https://twitter.com/jayacunzo  Subscribe to the NextView blog for future episodes and more resources for seed-stage startups: http://nextviewvc.com/blog  Thanks for listening!

Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown are entrepreneurs, growth experts, and co-authors of the book Hacking Growth. Today, we talk about this notion of growth hacking and debunk some myths, then walk through a smart process you can use to start running a growth engine strategically, instead of seeking false silver bullets. Their book, Hacking Growth, on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Growth-Fastest-Growing-Companies-Breakout/dp/045149721X Follow Sean and Morgan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeanEllis and https://twitter.com/morganb  Subscribe to the NextView blog for future episodes and more resources for seed-stage startups: nextviewvc.com/blog Thanks for listening!

Christina Sass is co-founder and COO of Andela, a company that locates, trains, and staffs world-class engineers in Africa for hire by tech companies in the US and elsewhere. They've sparked a movement, cracked the code on finding great coders, and have attracted investors like Mark Zuckerberg. Visit andela.com to learn more, or follow Christina at twitter.com/sasschristina Subscribe to the NextView blog for future episodes and more resources for seed-stage startups: nextviewvc.com/blog Thanks for listening!

Will Ahmed is the CEO and co-founder of WHOOP, a fitness tech startup working with high-performance athletes. Their users include LeBron James, Michael Phelps, pro teams like the Boston Red Sox, and thanks to a deal with the NFL Players' Association, every pro football player across the nation. Visit whoop.com to learn more, or follow Will twitter.com/wahmmys Subscribe to the NextView blog for future episodes and more resources for seed-stage startups: nextviewvc.com/blog Thanks for listening!  

Ellen Chisa is VP of product at Lola, a travel company combining the human element of travel agents with smart technology. While some entrepreneurs build their products in markets that feel wide open for the taking, travel is one of those industries with tons of noise and competition. So how does one gain a foothold? How do you break through, build something BIG and DIFFERENTIATED? All that, and much more, in this episode. Gotham Voices (NYC) newsletter: http://nextviewventures.com/blog/gotham-voices/ Subscribe to the NextView blog for future episodes and more resources for seed-stage startups: http://nextviewvc.com/blog Visit http://lolatravel.com to learn more about the company and their product Follow Ellen on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ellenchisa Thanks for listening!  

Adam Marchick, CEO of VoiceLabs, sees the disruptive force on the horizon that is voice technology. Whether it's voice-based apps or voice inputs and outputs, all of us in tech should be watching this trend, and Adam is at the forefront of it.  Adam has led a remarkable career, spanning six different startups and seven-plus years as an investor. Today, NextView business school intern Jenny Jao from HBS discusses the major lessons he's learned and why his trajectory was, in his words, "like catching a tiger by the tail." Subscribe to the NextView blog for future episodes and more resources for seed-stage startups: nextviewvc.com/blog Visit voicelabs.co to learn more about the company and their product Follow Adam on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adammStanford Thanks for listening!      

Chad Laurans is the CEO of SimpliSafe, a large and growing tech company located in the Boston area. Years ago, in the span of 30 days, three of Chad's friends were robbed. The companies that should serve them well in those moments were anything but helpful, comforting, and simple to work with. That led to Chad's thriving business today. Today, we discuss how Chad built an Internet of Things-like product before that phrase existed, before the hype helps your marketing or fundraising, and before anyone was thinking about the connected home. Subscribe to the NextView blog for future episodes and more resources for seed-stage startups: http://nextviewvc.com/blog Visit http://simplisafe.com to learn more about the company and their product Follow Jay on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jayacunzo Listen to Jay's show about creativity in business: http://unthinkable.fm Thanks for listening!

Dan Reich is the CEO and co-founder of Troops, a company bringing artificial intelligence to your sales team's workflow, right in Slack. (Disclosure: NextView is an investor in Troops.) Today, we discuss Dan's smart process hiring his early technical talent -- both leadership and front-line developers. Subscribe to the NextView blog for future episodes and more resources for seed-stage startups: http://nextviewvc.com/blog Follow Dan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanReich Follow Troops on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Troops Visit http://troops.ai to learn more about the company and their product Follow Jay on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jayacunzo Listen to Jay's show about creativity in business: http://unthinkable.fm  

Kristen Craft is VP of business development and marketing at Ovia Health. For this episode, Jay sat down with Kristen while she was head of biz dev at video platform company Wistia. They talk about what business development roles actually do for their companies, and when and why a founder would hire someone to lead up the function. This is a deep, nuanced exploration of a job role that doesn't often fit as neatly into departmental categories as engineering, product, sales, or marketing. And Kristen is one of the best in the biz to discuss it. Follow Kristen: http://twitter.com/thecrafty Follow Jay: http://twitter.com/jayacunzo Subscribe to the NextView Ventures blog: http://nextviewvc.com/blog  

Mike Russell is the CEO and co-founder of Paintzen, a NextView-backed company based in New York. Over the last couple years, they've experienced strong growth for their marketplace business, and today, we dive deep into the weeds of how Mike and team grew the business. More specifically, we learn about the approach and tactics used to grow the supply side of the Paintzen marketplace. Mike is a candid guy who was willing to share a ton of truth behind his business, as well as some very personal stories about a diagnosis that affected his life, an early customer and partner with a famous name, and more. Visit http://paintzen.com to learn more

This episode features two concerned and proactive members of New York's tech-startup community laying bare the facts and solutions to the problem of diversity in the local tech workforce. On the show today, Tim talks to Alex Qin, Skillshare engineer and founder of Code Cooperative.  Follow Alex - http://twitter.com/alexqin Follow Tim - http://twitter.com/jayacunzo Follow NextView - http://twitter.com/nextviewvc Be sure to rate and review Traction on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening!

This episode features two veteran marketers going deep into the ins and outs of building an initial marketing team from scratch. On the show today, Jay talks to Mike Volpe, CMO of Cybereason and former CMO of HubSpot. Follow Mike - http://twitter.com/mvolpe Follow Jay - http://twitter.com/jayacunzo Follow NextView - http://twitter.com/nextviewvc Check out Jay's other marketing show - http://unthinkable.fm Be sure to rate and review Traction on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening!

When you hear "brand marketing," what do you think about? Maybe big brands, big budgets, or even big wastes of money and time as a startup, right? But what if brand marketing could help you get actual results, whether that's user acquisition or raising a Series A? In this episode, we talk to the VP of Brand Marketing at ecommerce company Wayfair, Nancy Go. She shares how brand marketing is really sales at scale, and helps us understand how to think about this approach to distribution and communication for young companies. Visit wayfair.com to shop their store. Follow Jay at twitter.com/jayacunzo or go behind-the-scenes of his creative process every day at snapchat.com/add/jayacunzo Subscribe to all NextView content at nextviewvc.com/blog