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Cristina Cordova spent a decade leading partnerships at two of the most iconic tech success stories of the past decade – Stripe and Notion – before joining First Round Capital in March of 2022. Today, we discuss tactical company-building lessons that that her decade as an operator taught here.

Today, we speak to Des Traynor of Intercom about problem selection, pricing, using principles to scale yourself as a leader, and maintaining alignment as an organisation grows. Des is one of the most succinct communicators in European tech. He didn't disappoint on the episode. Throughout it, you'll come across surprising, unique principles and heuristics that have helped Des propel Intercom into €1B+ business it is today.

Today, we’re speaking to Brian O’Malley, Managing Partner at Forerunner Ventures – the famously consumer-savvy Silicon Valley firm – on everything it takes to build generational outcomes in the consumer space.

Guy Podjarny is Co-founder and President of Snyk – the €8B developer-first security platform. Together, we unpack tactical considerations that go into scaling a business – especially one with a product-led, freemium-based go-to-market. Guy started Snyk with his co-founders Assaf and Danny in 2015, spent four years as CEO, and migrated into his current role of President in 2019. Built dually in Tel-Aviv and London, and later in a distributed fashion around the world, Snyk is a platform that enables developers to automatically detect and fix vulnerabilities in their code and stack. Today, Snyk employs 1200 people is valued at closer to 8 billion euros. They’ve got there by raising a whopping 1.3 billion euros from iconic investors like Accel, GV, Coatue, Tiger Global, Addition, Blackrock and so many more. --- 1:11 What are the most important traits to have within a founding team? 2:17 What should non-technical founders spend time on in the early days? 3:23 What are the humane characteristics of great founding teams? 4:51 How do you know to stop pursuing a given idea? 6:16 Snyk's most critical milestone in the first month, quarter and year? 9:28 Why should you launch a crappy product early? 11:36 With a product-led go-to-market, which systems ensure deep learning? 15:09 Why did you choose a product-led go-to-market? 18:11 What are the signs that you should hire a professional CEO to replace you? 20:12 What can an exceptional external CEO bring to the table? 21:42 Having been acquired in the past, what do you optimize for acquiring companies? 24:22 How do you judge when to say yes and when to say no? 25:02 What do founders underinvest in early on? How about the inverse of that? 26.18 What is one important truth about company-building that very few people would agree with?

Today on the Soaked by Slush podcast, we're joined by Deena Shakir, Partner at Lux Capital – the notoriously frontier tech focused fund. We cover topics ranging from recognizing iconic entrepreneurs early to Deena’s efforts to write a children’s book about a young girl who starts a company. Deena herself has the most fascinating of backgrounds. She is a first-generation daughter of Iraqi immigrants and she self-funded her way through Harvard and Georgetown. After kicking off her career in media, she moved to public service, working for Hillary Clinton’s office during the Obama administration, and eventually ended up leading product partnerships at Google before jumping into venture– first at GV and later Lux. At Lux, Deena invests in transformative technologies improving lives – especially in women’s health, digital health and the intersection of those. She has led investments in some exceptional companies from Maven Clinic to Ramp.

When it comes to building legendary engineering and product organizations, there really aren’t many people more experienced than Quentin Clark. Having spent 20 years moving up the ranks at Microsoft, Quentin went on to become CTO at two legendary software companies in SAP and Dropbox. These days, Quentin looks for next-generation products at General Catalyst, and sits on the boards of some exceptional startups like Coda, Commure, Hopin, Minio, and Aviatrix. In this episode, we unpack what Quentin has learn about leading and scaling technical organisations for world-class outcomes. Note: Any mention of or reference to any specific company is for discussion and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities. The views and opinions expressed by the speaker are their own as of the date of the recording and not of General Catalyst. These views should not be relied on as investment or financial advice of any kind. --- 0:50 What has made Microsoft such an exceptionally enduring company? 2:49 How does Microsoft circumvent the Innovator’s dilemma? 4:29 What characteristics are non-negotiable in good CEOs? 6:16 When have you been most surprised by a trait of an individual CEO? 7:05 What separates truly exceptional CTOs from good CTOs? 9:08 How do you balance input from your sales team with long-term vision in your product roadmap? 11:13 What are the signs that you should replace your technical co-founder with an experienced hire? 12:43 What have you learned about finding and evaluating great technical talent? 14:19 What do great technical co-founders look like? 16:15 How should you think about the structure of your technical organization? 18:33 For a CTO, what really changes when the company scales from 5 to 50, and 50 to 500 people? 21:12 What are the 3 most common root causes of company failure? 22:46 What do founders think matters in the early stages that doesn’t? 23:45 What are the most insightful questions you ask when being pitched by founders? 24:43 What is one important truth about company-building that very few people would agree with?

In just over three years, Alex Bouaziz has scaled Deel to more than €5B in valuation and 700 employees across 60+ different countries. In the episode, we discuss the principles, systems and choices that have put him and Deel on that trajectory of true hypergrowth. This episode marks the first in a new era for the Soaked by Slush podcast, in which we will laser focus on company-building advice, interviewing some of the most iconic founders and investors of our generation to uncover the first principles behind the companies they have built. --- 0:42 Without which habit would you not be where you are today? 1:27 If you got to relive your early 20s, what would you spend more time on? 2:03 What are you inherently better at than most founders? What have you had to painfully cultivate? 3:15 What systems do you have in place at Deel to mitigate your lack of a knack for documentation? 4:31 Can you choose to become a founder first, and come up with ideas second? 6:11 When and why did you give up on your first company, Lifeslice? 7:51 Because of your experience at Lifeslice, what did you do differently in the early days of Deel? 9:32 How can I as a prospective founder understand whether I’m better at B2B or B2C? 10:46 How did you concretely listen to customers and iterate on the product early on? 12:50 How can you ensure that your speed of execution ripples down the organisation? 15:10 As their companies scale, how should founders manage their own responsibilities? 16:49 A common aphorism is that companies need a different CEO for each stage of growth. What are those phases? How should you adapt? 18:20 When should you promote people into leadership positions? When should you hire externally? 19:40 If you showed me your calendar, what would I find most surprising? 20:37 Who do you go to for advice? 21:53 What is the most impactful question you’ve asked the CEO of another company? 22:59 What is an important truth about company-building that few people would agree with?

Hi folks. Slush 2021 happened, and we had the opportunity to record some fun and interesting episodes on location. This week’s guest is Robert Lacher, an entrepreneur and Founding Partner at the Berlin-based VC Visionaries Club. Robert is a central figure in the European VC-scene, and is an excellent brain to pick about what entrepreneurs should think about when shopping for investors nowadays. Being a recent former entrepreneur, he himself has sought out to build a VC from his perspective of what would be most useful to founders. In this episode, we will delve into these perspectives, from personal chemistry to access and network. And we talked about Europe too, of course. Expect to learn: Why access and network means more than ever What is Robert’s unique take on Europe’s strengths in entrepreneurship? Why is the personal relationship between investor and founder important? “VCs are all about upside, not about downside” Timestamps: 1:06 Start 1:40 Intro for Robert Lacher and Visionaries Club 4:25 On the value VCs can provide to entrepreneurs these days 6:42 How has access and network changed in Europe? 11:58 Why Europe, why now? 15:19 How should entrepreneurs think about VC fit? 18:50 The role of network and access 22:20 The personal relationship between VC and Founder 27:15 Can that relationship be too close and friendly? 31:15 On failing 33:55 Curating the VC setup — Find out more about Capchase on capchase.com/slush

In this episode, recorded live at the Slush 2021 event in Helsinki, William and Isak talked to Gini and Eccie Newton from Karma Kitchen. Gini and Eccie are a pair of British siblings who decided to enter the catering business, and ended up finding a niche that they developed into Karma Kitchen. What was that niche? Buying warehouses and turning them into kitchens for restauranteurs. Oh, and their idea has raised over 300 million dollars to date. It sounds astounding, but the more you hear Gini and Eccie explain it, the more it makes perfect sense. Expect to learn: About sibling chemistry in entrepreneurship How Karma Kitchen grew without almost any marketing How Gini and Eccie manage a very capital intensive idea What the idea behind Karma Kitchen is Check Soaked by Slush out at: Twitter:https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fsoakedbyslush%2Fandredir_token=QUFFLUhqbUVWWF9ZMmpjdkpZREZRNXc2clNlZXFmelFWQXxBQ3Jtc0tuOUpHLVJNa244dE5acWNlMm5DSGNxd2x4TlBoNTBKQXVUWXhTSmpIaW9qcVBhSTJTalNGdXBUalpNb2lxNERKWlV6Y01IY0ZDSlVEempkMmhabzJDNGtHUkJHR0xfUU5XRHpBTU8yWThick9jMDA5NA%3D%3Dandevent=video_descriptionandv=WTaoLFVk880 ( https://twitter.com/soakedbyslush/) Instagram:https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fsoakedslush%2Fandredir_token=QUFFLUhqbU1vdHNocWUtOXN4Wk54Y3otelVVc3pPdXE0UXxBQ3Jtc0ttcGlHLWpBNTlSMmZVdjFYY0lfX3hmd3hEc2RwZHB1UFd4ckprUWN5YlBsY3VvMUI4QlhDU3drTmItOHB1YzQ3TUVReTRUSzZGTzFUbXI5MWxUY3lra3ItblVsazFwTXhVSW9wanNMU1I5VThKVEZzZw%3D%3Dandevent=video_descriptionandv=WTaoLFVk880 ( https://www.instagram.com/soakedslush/) Facebook:https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fsoakedbyslush%2Fandredir_token=QUFFLUhqbWpERDNkekJ3SmxfUE83MEZUYTFqS0oxZ2JyZ3xBQ3Jtc0tuNEV6T1JGdFdQMHNWQUpaUWF2bDFiYnhidjQwb1p1TGZJSTI0enludGVvNjZFUXl6VlM5MzE5YjVBQjJjQ2RmTXFTUFMwX1k5ODZrcHhKc1VQeEtNTl8wQzJtdGJpdXIzaFN0N0l5RnFDNW1VOGUwVQ%3D%3Dandevent=video_descriptionandv=WTaoLFVk880 ( https://www.facebook.com/soakedbyslush/) Soaked by Slush website:https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.slush.org%2Fsoaked%2Fandredir_token=QUFFLUhqbG9zTkNIVHV2RE9OamhtVXZYak5FOWhMX00xZ3xBQ3Jtc0tsVXdRS3VGVzNRcGNZTDQ0a0pqakFkdFFKZkd6NjBoV2R6bGtia3IxZVJzSEd5UmQ5VktrcGVCQkVFNjRFWDdmVFVRQmRqTVRKTGdCclM2dkxHVm1rZE9UakR5amJMSnl6RkpVODg1UE1TM1lUVW1xUQ%3D%3Dandevent=video_descriptionandv=WTaoLFVk880 ( https://www.slush.org/soaked/) Slush website:https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.slush.organdredir_token=QUFFLUhqbW15MzkxSGFaMXg1S0JBbmhYd2k2SW5yZUM5QXxBQ3Jtc0ttOF9ELW5CckVhWG12UzNlUlozVVQxMkFLSzhuWDlWTHhta0lNcGI2LUIxZC01R2lzU2pHZ0EteFpMa2s1RWZQZXYybkNkbllrb1doSXRKVkZFdjhQdWVESFozZWkyaWtUaWR2VnAteVZhOEFGLUlCbw%3D%3Dandevent=video_descriptionandv=WTaoLFVk880 ( https://www.slush.org) Shoot us a message or feedback: [email protected] 1:29 Intro to Eccie and Gini 3:25 History behind Karma Cans 5:11 What it’s like working together as sisters 8:43 Kitchen vs sales in planning menus 9:44 Origins of Karma Kitchen 15:08 How and why Karma Kitchen is so capital intensive? 18:30 How does Karma Kitchen acquire customers? 20:30 Marketing and finance 23:50 The relationship between investor and invested 26:15 How are Gini and Eccie different from each other as people?

In this episode, we had the pleasure of talking to one of the absolute veterans of venture capital, the Managing General Partner of NEA, Scott Sandell. NEA has been around since the 1970’s, making it one of the oldest VC firms in history. That coupled with Scott’s personal track record and experience makes for a heap of knowledge and insights about investing, venture capital, entrepreneurship, technology and more. We hope you’ll enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed making it. Expect to learn: How NEA set out to build a company lasting 100 years How Scott transitioned from being a product manager at Microsoft to venture capital How Scott thinks about investment decisions How could the VC model be innovated? 00:50 Introduction to Scott 01:30 Introduction to NEA 02:45 How do you build for longevity in VC? 05:20 Transition from Microsoft to NEA 09:05 Scott’s favourite investments 14:45 How Scott makes investment decisions 16:50 Have the basic ingredients for success changed? 21:52 Recent investments that have made Scott excited 26:20 How much has the tech world changed since Scott’s time at Microsoft? 27:50 Innovating the VC model 30:40 Is the VC model wasteful? 33:20 Allocation of capital to purpose-driven companies Find out more about Capchase on capchase.com/slush

How does one rebrand? Should you even rebrand? We were joined by Nicola McClafferty and James Clark, from the establishment formerly known as Draper Esprit. That’s right, Draper Esprit did what many people often advise against and rebranded themselves, to Molten Ventures. In fact, it’s probably not great that I’ve written Draper Esprit more times than Molten Ventures. In this episode we will talk to James and Nicola about the reasons behind the rebranding, the operational checklist for rebranding, and how to choose a name for the new brand. Expect to learn: Why James generally thinks rebranding is a bad idea How the need for rebranding should be identified What the creative and operational side of rebranding look like Does the name matter? 00:44 Introductions to Nicola, James, and Molten Ventures 04:00 Rebranding: what has changed, why did you choose to rebrand? 06:30 Rebranding in an increasingly competitive environment 11:10 Checklist for rebranding 18:05 When is the right time for a startup to start thinking about a brand? 23:30 Death of the artist in a brand 26:00 Using external help in rebranding? 28:00 Operational side of rebranding 34:45 Determining the name 36:30 Deliberate creative tension involved 37:45 What is ‘Make More Possible’ all about? 40:00 Do you think competition among VCs will push more to consider rebranding?

I don’t know about you, but there’s something special and even beautiful about trucking. About the seemingly simpler life on the highway, accompanied by demanding distances and fleeting views. It doesn’t immediately conjure up images of digital platforms and software, but that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be a good idea. Sennder is a Berlin-based digital freight logistics company that seeks to provide a platform that connects shippers with a unified fleet of trucks in Europe, and David Nothacker is their CEO and Co-Founder. In this episode, we discussed sennder’s growth through acquisitions and David’s acquisition checklist, customer acquisition, and the future of the freight industry. Expect to learn: If David thinks consulting is a good path to entrepreneurship How sennder approached customer acquisition of smaller and bigger customers Sennder’s growth through acquisitions Some of David’s thoughts on the future of the trucking industry 00:30 Intro to David 01:30 Consultants and startup founders – similarities and differences 03:30 How David got started with sennder 05:05 David’s pivot experience 07:45 Why is the digitalization of freight forwarding happening now? 09:37 How did you identify the problem? 11:40 B2B platform companies’ march forward – what is the main difference to B2C companies? 14:45 How did you acquire your first customers? 16:40 Acquiring bigger players as customers 18:20 Sustainability in the industry as a whole and what sennder is doing about this 21:30 Next 7-10 years going to see the first autonomous trucks (on highways) last legs will be done by people. Long-distance trucking. 26:25 Growth through acquisitions 31:15 How do you determine which companies to acquire? 33:50 Expansion