The Silicon Valley Podcast

083 Mental Wellness of Startup Founders.

Waikit Lau has founded 2 machine learning-based companies that were acquired and he helped take one public. He has been on both VC and founding/operating side. 
 
Tim Alison is an entrepreneur who has started and scaled four businesses. At the age of 31 Tim walked away from one of the highest paying sales jobs in the country, moved to a tiny fishing village in Nova Scotia Canada, and started an educational software company. The naysayers laughed. They stopped laughing when his sales topped $10 million.
 
Rich Razgaitis has been passionate about building brands and teams. Since 2002, he has served in CEO/president-level roles in several venture capital backed start-ups, privately held turnaround and growth companies, and he brings insight from those experiences to his work today at FloWater.
Raz was the CEO of several consumer-tech companies, including DealOn, an e-commerce company that developed the Web’s first deal-commerce exchange, and another, MyTownPerks, which built the first PCI-complaint, cloud-based loyalty program for B2B. (Both companies were subsequently acquired.)
 
 Steve Hoffman. Steve, or Captain Hoff as he’s called in Silicon Valley, is the CEO of Founders Space, one of the world’s leading incubators and accelerators. He’s also an angel investor, limited partner at August Capital, serial entrepreneur, and author of Make Elephants Fly, the award-winning book on radical innovation.
Always innovating on his life, Captain Hoff has tried more professions than cats have lives, including serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, angel investor, studio head, computer engineer, filmmaker, Hollywood TV exec, published author, coder, game designer, manga rewriter, animator and voice actor.
Hoffman was the Founder and Chairman of the Producers Guild Silicon Valley Chapter, Board of Governors of the New Media Council, and founding member of the Academy of Television’s Interactive Media Group.

082 Tech and the Future on The Silicon Valley Podcast

What does the future hold for technology?  What is happening today that we should know about for tomorrow?  We take highlights from past interviews with Shmuel Silverman, Jonathan Trent, Peter Fiekowsky, and Tim Bigwood and share them in this weeks episodes
 
Shmuel Silverman.
Shmuel is an inventor with over 145 patents & provisional publications and success with co-founding and selling two companies. He bring years of leadership experience in Telecommunications, Internet technologies, IoT, and Artificial Intelligence and have led technology teams of researchers, developers, and marketers at two global icons, where he helped develop a proven process to identify, nurture and develop unique Intellectual Property focused on protecting the business first and enabling technology second. He is a trusted advisor to attorneys, M & A specialists, and entrepreneurial CEOs around the world.
 
Jonathan Trent.
His 20-year stint at NASA as a Senior Research Scientist has included research in marine science, microbiology and cell biology, medicine, nanotechnology, engineering, and environmental sciences. After doing 7 TED talks about his career in science, he is now leaving NASA to form his own startup which will pivot from the offshore system to an onshore design that he is calling UpCycle Systems. It will be the only patented technology that accepts wet waste as is, without initial treatment, and then converts it to renewable assets, clean water, steam, electricity, gas and minerals.
 
Tim Bigwood,
Is the acting CEO of Noregon Systems. Noregon is a company that are the experts at acquiring, analyzing, and interpreting vehicle data. Their products include in-shop diagnostic and repair tools and real-time fleet asset-management solutions that give assistance in capturing and transforming your own vehicle data into actionable information.
 
Peter Fiekowsky
Peter is an MIT-trained physicist and entrepreneur who is committed to leaving behind a world he is proud of. Peter’s passion for that goal drives his leadership in multiple climate initiatives, including volunteering for the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and founding the Climate Restoration Alliance (CRA). He is also founder and president of Automated Visual Inspection (AVI) LLC and a board member of Zynergy Capital Inc. He holds 27 patents.

081 Best of Startup Advice on The Silicon Valley Podcast

Jenny Huang has 20 years of experience as a strategic marketing consultant, a brand marketer and communicator in the hardware, software, mobile app, and telecommunications industries, serving start ups and progressive companies. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies such as Intel, Intuit and British Telecom, where she launched and managed regional co-branded programs with PC OEM partners, their retailers and resellers; invigorated new user acquisition to drive growth, and established regional brand presence.
 
Mark Brinkerhoff is the president of Fusion Design which is a full-service product development company located in Silicon Valley. Founded in 1990, they have worked with a variety of clients from small companies to fortune 100 corporations with engineering services.
Mark’s specialties include: Product Development Consulting, Turnkey Solutions, Industrial Design, Mechanical Packaging and Mechanism Design, Finite Element Analysis, Thermal Analysis 
 
Brett Sharenow
Trusted advisor on raising capital from VCs, PE, and Angel investors, for start-up, growth, pivot, and exit. Since 1995 he has helped companies raise more than $750 million and have facilitated exits valued at more than $6 billion.
Some of Brett’s client companies:
Venture and Private Equity Backed• Verio (acq. by NTT) • Viator (acq. by Trip Advisor) • Dial Page/Dial Call (acq. by Nextel)• Switch Lighting • Vistard • VirtualLan • Ethernetworks • GroWiseBeWell Academy• Puronyx • Skylights • Husk Power Systems • Yonder
 
 Scott Orns runs Operations at Kruze Consulting, a fast-growing Startup CFO Consulting firm that works with over 160 startup clients. Kruze is based in San Francisco with clients in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and New York. In addition to his Operations responsibilities, Scott runs the Venture Debt Consulting practice at Kruze.

080 Africa and Tech

Paul Kallmes is an independent technology professional with a focus on foreign start-ups coming to the US, with a specialty in the strategic management of intellectual property. His nearly 20 years of IP and technology licensing and management have given him a broad base in the nuance and complexities of developing and deploying intangible assets to the benefit of IP owners and users alike. He has extensive experience in various industries in IP management and manufacturing. He has extensive international experience working with companies in the US, Europe and Asia on patent portfolio development, market entry strategies, product development and roll-out, and early-stage fund-raising activities. Intangible assets and intellectual property are becoming ever more important in today's economy, and every company in a technology space needs to take their IP issues seriously or risk being left behind by their competitors. His current focus on assisting start-ups from various European and Asian countries allows him to see a wide range of opportunities that will make positive contributions to various markets in the US and around the world. 
 
Sam Floy
After living in East Africa for 3+ years he is now based in Copenhagen where he runs a business setting up and running podcasts for companies around the world.
While in East Africa he started the The East Africa Business Podcast which is a podcast about the business environment in East Africa based around interviews with entrepreneurs, investors and organizations looking to help the region grow.
 
Tehlma Ekiyor is an Impact Investor, Development Expert, Social Entrepreneur, Fundraising Expert, Senior Public Sector Project Advisor.
Implemented projects in 22 African countries
Served as Senior Consultant to the Africa Union, ECA, IGAD, ECOWAS
Co-founded SME.NG - Nigeria's impact investment platform for women.
pioneered the establishment of national and international non-profit and philanthropic organizations
Passionate about equipping women to participate in decision making - co-founded women's organizations.
 
Nichole Yembra. Nichole is the Founder and Managing Director of The Chrysalis Co which houses The Chrysalis Capital, a new $15M Africa and Diaspora early stage tech fund and The Chrysalis Advisors, a strategy and investment advisory firm.
In addition to this work, Nichole is deeply committed to making gender diversity a priority within the financial-technology 'fintech' space in Nigeria and enhancing opportunities for women in leadership. She founded the Garden Women's Network, a group dedicated to the development and retention of high-performing women in the Nigerian tech ecosystem. 
 
 
 

079 Life Changing advice on The Silicon Valley Podcast

Now on this week's episode, we go back and we revisit some past episodes, where some of our guests gave us some life changing advice. When I first heard this, it moved me when I heard it again, it impacted me even more. Now, some other information for everyone out there, we're redoing a lot. We're redoing some of the branding, the website and that for the podcast, and we're gonna have some big announcements moving forward in this coming month. So stay tuned. But right now, let's start the episode. All right, enjoy

078 Best of Angel Investors' Advice on The Silicon Valley Podcast

Roger King
Roger King founded BayAngels which is dedicated to promoting the entrepreneurial spirit by assisting early-stage technology companies with capital, connections, and board-level advice. Examples of our portfolio companies include Pree Media, CashBet, Trpz, Sea of Change Trading Co.,
CEO of Chiefpeople20 years’ experience in recruiting at both the executive level and the individual contributor level. Interested in companies with hiring needs. Offering extremely cost-effective solutions. Clients include SoftBank Robotics, Jiff, Gracenote, OpenTable, Manage, Grid Dynamics, and Navera.
 
Max Shapiro
Max Shapiro Founded PeopleConnect in 2000 to help early-stage high-tech companies find the talent they need to succeed. Their clients are in technology, biotech, cleantech, apps, services, medical devices, and consumer products.He is also involved in areas that also support the startup community:● Angel Investor and member of Keiretsu Forum since 2001● Co-founder of Runway Innovation Hub● Creator & Producer of PitchForcePitchForce is a weekly pitch event for early stage companies with a panel of establish angel investors and CEO's
 
Steve Hoffman
Steve Hoffman, or Captain Hoff as he’s called in Silicon Valley. Steve is the CEO of Founders Space, one of the world’s leading incubators and accelerators. He’s also an angel investor, limited partner at August Capital, serial entrepreneur, and author of Make Elephants Fly, the award-winning book on radical innovation.
Always innovating on his life, Captain Hoff has tried more professions than cats have lives, including serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, angel investor, studio head, computer engineer, filmmaker, Hollywood TV exec, published author, coder, game designer, manga rewriter, animator and voice actor.
Steve was the Founder and Chairman of the Producers Guild Silicon Valley Chapter, Board of Governors of the New Media Council, and founding member of the Academy of Television’s Interactive Media Group.
 
 
CONNECT WITH SHAWN
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077 Best of Startup Founders on The Silicon Valley Podcast

Sam is a CEO coach, interim CEO/CTO/CFO, a Silicon Valley advisor and the author of 21 Secrets of Successful Startups, a book about world-class execution for startups. As a serial entrepreneur, he has been CEO, CTO, or VP Engineering / TechOps for five companies, driving multiple acquisitions. As a hands-on “roll up the sleeves” startup advisor, Sam draws from his 30+ years of successes and failures to train and help entrepreneurs with execution, fundability, fundraising, strategy, product/market fit, product management, finance, operations, legal, talent development and founder wellness. 
 
 Elnaz Sarraf, who is a serial entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in technology, business, sales, and marketing. She is currently the CEO and Founder of ROYBI; an investor backed EdTech company focusing on early childhood education, that recently raised $4.2 million in its seed round. Before starting ROYBI, Elnaz co-founded and led a consumer electronics/IoT company, iBaby, serving as the company's President. 
As an immigrant and female founder, Elnaz has made worthy accomplishments in a short duration living in the US. Honors include being selected as Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center Milestone Maker 2018, named the Woman of Influence through Silicon Valley Business Journal in 2016 and Entrepreneur of The Year in 2016 in Silicon Valley. She has been a speaker at several conferences such as the Mobile World Congress, ASU GSV Summit, Consumer Technology Association, and more. 
 
 
Sandra Shpilberg is the Founder and CEO of Adnexi, a disease intelligence platform for the next generation of biopharma treatments.
Prior to this, Sandra was the Founder and CEO of Seeker Health, a breakthrough digital patient finding platform, which accelerates drug development and commercialization for biopharmaceutical companies. Seeker Health was acquired by EVERSANA in September 2018.
She’s the author of New Startup Mindset, a book on her non-traditional founder’s journey and lessons learned starting, building and exiting this company.
She’s a featured contributor at Thrive Global, InsightTimer and Hackernoon.
 
Daniel Edwards is currently the CEO and Chairman of Transactive, a international financial technology company that provides payment infrastructure software and payment services globally.  Under Daniel’s leadership Transactive has successfully launched its software, services over thousand customers, done over $1bn in payments and achieved profitability.  Previously Daniel was the Vice President of Finance and Operations at Mobile Gaming Technologies. Mobile Gaming Technologies was the world’s first crypto iGaming platform. Under his leadership Mobile Gaming Technologies became venture backed, scaled international and achieved profitability. He also lead Mobile Gaming Technologies through several successful capital raises, raising over $40m for the company.  MGT became the first blockchain company in the world to sponsor a major league sports team, Arsenal Football Club from London. Eventually the MGT sold the company to Novomatic, the largest privately held gaming company in the world with over 5bn in revenue per year.  Prior to joining Mobile Gaming Technologies, Daniel worked as an Investment Banker at Financial Technology Partners, D.A. Davidson and Wells Fargo / Wachovia. He advised technology companies on mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and strategic corporate development. He has successfully closed over 15 M&A and capital raise transactions. Daniel is also a board member of several technology companies spanning from London to Silicon Valley. He is a financial technology enthusiast and speaks at conferences all around the world about financial technology, blockchain and cryptocurrency. Daniel graduated with a B.S. in Finance & minor in Chemistry from Oregon State University. 

076 Best of the Venture Capitalist on The Silicon Valley Podcast

This week we look back at some of the highlights of past interviews with some of the biggest Venture Capitalist that have been on the show
 
SC Moatti is a technology visionary and investor.
She is the founding partner of Mighty Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, and Products That Count, one of the largest and certainly the most influential network of product managers in the world.
 
Ravi Belani  
He is the Managing Director of the Alchemist Accelerator which is a venture-backed initiative focused on accelerating startups whose revenue comes from enterprises (not consumers). The accelerator backs teams with distinctive technical founders.  He is also a Lecturer, Fenwick & West Educator of Entrepreneurship at Stanford University where for the past 8 yrs he co-teaches The Spirit of Entrepreneurship, an undergrad/grad survey course on entrepreneurship
 
Nick Moran is the General Partner at New Stack Ventures.  Prior to New Stack, Nick worked for Danaher (NYSE: DHR). After a few years in M&A, Nick led breakthrough innovation, developing one of the most successful products in the company's history -- an IoT solution w/ a novel method for testing compounds in drinking water. In addition to investing, Nick founded the 1st Venture Capital podcast, The Full Ratchet.
 
Aman Johar, Proteum Capital
Over the last 12 years, Aman has worked with a variety of startups and has been on both sides of the entrepreneur-investor table. With a background in strategy, operations, and deal-making, Aman focusses on blockchain applications and the supporting ecosystem including expertise in the business and regulatory implications of tokenizing assets. He is a strategic advisor to executives and boards on creating new business models for fintech, media and entertainment, and identity management to name a few recent engagements. Currently, Aman is a mentor at the Singularity University and a board member at KeraCel, a solid-state battery company. Previously, Aman co-founded Applied Protein which was acquired by Pivot Pharma. He holds a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, BHU and an MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon where he was named a Swartz Fellow for entrepreneurship. In his spare time, Aman enjoys teaching photography to his kids. 

075 How to take something from an idea to an IPO with Waikit Lau

 
Waikit Lau has founded 2 machine learning-based companies that were acquired and he helped take one public. He has been on both VC and founding/operating side. 
 
We Talk About
What was it like to go to Harvard Business School?
How should one think of Business school in general?
How was the journey from starting a company to growing it to over 600 people before taking it public?
What is your screening process to investing in deals?
 
 
 
Connect with Waikit
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/waikit-lau-89129/
Website https://www.remotehq.com/
 
CONNECT WITH SHAWN
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Shawn Flynn’s LinkedInAccount
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Shawn Flynn’s FacebookAccount
Email Shawn@thesiliconvalleypodcast.com
 
 

074 Why leave Investment banking and do a startup? with Daniel Edwards

Daniel is currently the CEO and Chairman of Transactive, a international financial technology company that provides payment infrastructure software and payment services globally.  Under Daniel’s leadership Transactive has successfully launched its software, services over thousand customers, done over $1bn in payments and achieved profitability.  Previously Daniel was the Vice President of Finance and Operations at Mobile Gaming Technologies. Mobile Gaming Technologies was the world’s first crypto iGaming platform. Under his leadership Mobile Gaming Technologies became venture backed, scaled international and achieved profitability. He also lead Mobile Gaming Technologies through several successful capital raises, raising over $40m for the company.  MGT became the first blockchain company in the world to sponsor a major league sports team, Arsenal Football Club from London. Eventually the MGT sold the company to Novomatic, the largest privately held gaming company in the world with over 5bn in revenue per year.  Prior to joining Mobile Gaming Technologies, Daniel worked as an Investment Banker at Financial Technology Partners, D.A. Davidson and Wells Fargo / Wachovia. He advised technology companies on mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and strategic corporate development. He has successfully closed over 15 M&A and capital raise transactions. Daniel is also a board member of several technology companies spanning from London to Silicon Valley. He is a financial technology enthusiast and speaks at conferences all around the world about financial technology, blockchain and cryptocurrency. Daniel graduated with a B.S. in Finance & minor in Chemistry from Oregon State University. 
 
In his free time Daniel likes to run, hike and go to the gym.  He is also an active reader, trying to read at least 4 books a month. 
 
 
We talk about
Why did you decide to leave Investment banking and do a startup?
What was it like being the first Blockchain company to sponsor a major Soccer/ football team?
What will be the big breakthroughs in Fin tech in the coming years?
 
Connect with Daniel 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwe/
 
 
CONNECT WITH SHAWN
https://linktr.ee/ShawnflynnSV
Shawn Flynn’s LinkedInAccount
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Shawn Flynn’s FacebookAccount
Email Shawn@thesiliconvalleypodcast.com