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HOT TOPICS
- The Startup Velocity Question
- Platform as a Service
- Man and Superman
- Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
- The Future: End of Capitalism
- Capitalism 2.0
Bootstrapping Using Services: Bay Dynamics Co-Founders Feris Rifai and Ryan Stolte (Part 1)
Feris and Ryan wanted to work together on a new venture. They first built a services company, then introduced an OEM product, and eventually bootstrapped a product under their own brand. The company has recently raised its first venture money after many years of being in business as a profitable, growing entity. Sramana Mitra: One
Buying Control Back from VCs: Jason Robbins, CEO of ePromos (Part 7)
Sramana Mitra: The scenario that you are pointing out is a scenario that a lot of venture-funded entrepreneurs face. Business is not the rocket that the VCs thought it would be, but it’s a healthy profitable long-term business that the entrepreneur may be interested in running. That’s a scenario where VCs and entrepreneurs have to
Buying Control Back from VCs: Jason Robbins, CEO of ePromos (Part 6)
Sramana Mitra: You had a $5 million round. You were pretty much profitable. What are some of the major inflection points? Jason Robbins: The $5 million basically almost disappeared. By the time money came in, the investors wanted a CEO that was known in the marketplace so they then can then raise the next round
Buying Control Back from VCs: Jason Robbins, CEO of ePromos (Part 5)
Sramana Mitra: On the website, you would provide the designs that your suppliers were able to build against. You would provide that catalog and fulfill through that supplier network. Jason Robbins: Exactly right. You would come to my website and you’d say I like that. You would upload your logo. I would send your logo
Innovating in Fintech: Jason Hogg, CEO of Lending.com (Part 7)
Sramana Mitra: What did American Express do with it? Did they keep the card? Since 2009 on to 2015, what happened in the business? Jason Hogg: American Express actually created Serve, which is their reloadable prepaid product. We were also, at that time, early in the mobile and smartphone game with money transfer and other transaction
Innovating in Fintech: Jason Hogg, CEO of Lending.com (Part 6)
Sramana Mitra: Chronologically, where are we? What year is this? Jason Hogg: We’re midway through 2007. I’ve done my raise in 2006. In 2007, we had gotten the customer base that I was just describing to you both on the credit card and the peer-to-peer side. We completed a $50 million B round at that
Buying Control Back from VCs: Jason Robbins, CEO of ePromos (Part 4)
Jason Robbins: Eventually, I took a little bit of what I knew from the promotional products business and a little bit of what I knew from catalogs and the website I wanted to build, and I started ePromos.com. That was a business that was designed to create a website with merchandise and start finding the
Buying Control Back from VCs: Jason Robbins, CEO of ePromos (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: Why did you want to do that? That made no sense to me. Jason Robbins: I know. I just felt that it was tough out there. Real estate is the long-term play. Now, I’m basically chasing a stock I sold. If I stayed at Goldman Sachs and didn’t bother about getting my MBA and