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- The Startup Velocity Question
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- Man and Superman
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- The Future: End of Capitalism
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Woman Entrepreneur Building a Successful, VC Funded Business: Olivia Skuza, CEO of NuORDER (Part 5)
Sramana Mitra: What’s the next major inflection point in your business? Olivia Skuza: So far, we’ve raised $25 million. We did a $3.6 million seed in 2012. Then we did Series A in 2013 for $7.5 million. New partners joined that one. Then we did an interim round in 2015 and a Series B in late
Bootstrapping a Global E-Commerce Company: SmartBuyGlasses CEO David Menning (Part 5)
Sramana Mitra: Let’s go back a little bit to the chronological story. In 2007, did you open up all of these English-speaking markets? David Menning: It was a step-by-step approach. In 2007, we were still trying to improve the Australian market. We were trying to improve the experience of the customer. Eyeglasses is quite a
Woman Entrepreneur Building a Successful, VC Funded Business: Olivia Skuza, CEO of NuORDER (Part 4)
Sramana Mitra: How much of this thesis did you get validated before you went to raise money? What was in the business by the time you went to raise money? Olivia Skuza: We had a prototype that worked. In August of 2011, we used a trade show environment as the first way to validate that
Bootstrapping a Global E-Commerce Company: SmartBuyGlasses CEO David Menning (Part 4)
Sramana Mitra: Google AdWords did exist already. Google AdWords was easier because it wasn’t as competitive and the prices of keywords was lower. David Menning: That was the main marketing channel in that initial period. There were also a few marketing channels that existed. You may recall comparison shopping was also a big thing back
Woman Entrepreneur Building a Successful, VC Funded Business: Olivia Skuza, CEO of NuORDER (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: What is the process of bringing these people onto your platform? Olivia Skuza: We’re revolutionizing behavior that has been prevalent for a very long time. We’re asking them to work in a digital environment and to upload all their information into our product so that they can use it to work with retailers
Bootstrapping a Global E-Commerce Company SmartBuyGlasses CEO David Menning (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: What was the first year that you started selling? Was it 2006? David Menning: Yes. Sramana Mitra: What transaction volume were you able to reach in the first year that you were selling? David Menning: When talking about growth, one has to put into perspective how one attains growth. Sramana Mitra: Absolutely.
Woman Entrepreneur Building a Successful, VC Funded Business: Olivia Skuza, CEO of NuORDER (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: Let’s focus on the founding of NuORDER. What did you see in the market that led you to do NuORDER? What was the premise of NuORDER at the beginning and what year are we talking? Olivia Skuza: That was 2010. We had the ‘aha’ moment while doing the agency business. Essentially, we were
Bootstrapping a Global E-Commerce Company: SmartBuyGlasses CEO David Menning (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: Why optical? Where did that idea come from? What was your background or any of your co-founders’ background that drew you to that particular idea? David Menning: We weren’t really optical-specific in terms of our expertise. We were rather entrepreneurs and savvy young business people. We were looking at identifying niches or business