A Serial Entrepreneur Who Understands ‘Work’: WorkMarket CEO Jeff Leventhal (Part 2)

Sramana: What did you do after you sold LANSafe in 1995? Jeff Leventhal: As an entrepreneur, I have built my companies based on what I have learned in previous companies. This led me to launch a business called Remote Lojix. What I had discovered while running my previous software business is that companies were having

Read Full Article »

A Serial Entrepreneur Who Understands ‘Work’: WorkMarket CEO Jeff Leventhal (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.  Jeff Leventhal has built four businesses in the domain of ‘work’ and has created a blue-print of managing distributed workforces on behalf of companies. All four businesses have monetized well for this serial entrepreneur who really has the magic touch! Sramana: Jeff, let’s start with a

Read Full Article »

Building a Fat Startup: Apptio CEO Sunny Gupta (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: As long as you are delivering and executing on what you said you were going to deliver on, there is no shortage of capital. In your case, you have delivered a product. You’ve had customers. Your pricing model is validated. Your business model is validated. You’re ramping up well. These kinds of deals

Read Full Article »

Comment-Selling on Facebook: Smocked Auctions Founders Amy Laws and Nicole Brewer (Part 7)

Sramana: On the surface, Facebook advertising does not seem all that complicated. A lot of people also believe that fans don’t turn into leads. You are getting leads and transactions out of Facebook. What have you learned that is worth sharing? Amy Laws: Once that fan likes your page, you have to put your best

Read Full Article »

Building a Fat Startup: Apptio CEO Sunny Gupta (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: Your point is well-taken but you have to be able to afford it. You’re starting with a $7 million Series A. Not all entrepreneurs have the luxury of starting with a $7 million Series A. Sunny Gupta: I understand. I have myself been there when I started, which was literally two years prior

Read Full Article »

Comment-Selling on Facebook: Smocked Auctions Founders Amy Laws and Nicole Brewer (Part 6)

Sramana: So now in addition to your auctions, you are also offering traditional e-commerce on your website? Nicole Brewer: Yes. We still have our auctions as well. Sramana: What infrastructure do you use to complete your auctions? Is that still custom software? Nicole Brewer: We have a partner that we are using. We post a

Read Full Article »

Building a Fat Startup: Apptio CEO Sunny Gupta (Part 4)

Sunny Gupta: Then came the fund raising. Greylock and Madrona were my prime investors. I started talking to them as I was validating the idea in the summer of 2007. I think their perspective was, “We have a lot of faith in you. Great teams can take a bad idea and make it into a

Read Full Article »

Comment-Selling on Facebook: Smocked Auctions Founders Amy Laws and Nicole Brewer (Part 5)

Sramana: What percentage of the business is girls clothing versus boys clothing? Nicole Brewer: About 70% to 30%. Girl moms definitely shop more than the boy moms. You can do a lot more with a girl. Sramana: When you decided to move to a more automated payment process, how did you manage that decision process?