Category Visionaries

Jeff Radke, CEO of Accelerant: Over $500 Million Raised to Empower Underwriters to Deliver Better Insurance

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Jeff Radke, Co-Founder and CEO at Accelerant, an insurance technology company that's raised over $500 Million in funding, about why empowering underwriters with cutting-edge technology helps everyone get access to the coverage they need. After years of dissatisfaction from industry veterans regarding the aging technology stacks the industry was working with, Jeffrey and his team have given people access to the data they need to drive the right insurance decisions.
We also speak about Jeff’s choice to get into the insurance industry at a very young age and how that led him to where he is today, building the relationships which have helped him grow both professionally and personally, how Accelerant grew to writing over a billion dollars last year, and why the path to success sometimes means changing direction.
 
Topics Discussed:
Jeff’s early start in the insurance space and what stimulated this decision at such a young age
Industry dissatisfaction with the insurance sector’s aging technology, and why Jeff and his team thought they could do it better
Why relationships are so important to Jeff’s career, and also to his personal growth as an individual
Why, when it comes to insurance, data is much more important than the technology it’s built on
The flywheel of Accelerant’s business growth and why Jeff is optimistic about the future
Why a pivot at the right moment might be just what you need to keep on the path to success
 
Favorite book:
Leadership and Self-Deception by The Arbinger Institute

Sid Upadhyay, Co-founder & CEO at WizeHire: Over $30 Million Raised to Help SMBs Hire Great Talent

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Sid Upadhyay, Co-Founder and CEO of Wizehire, a small business hiring platform that's raised over $37 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Bootstrap to Venture-Backed: Sid discusses Wizehire’s journey from a bootstrapped company to securing $37 million in funding, emphasizing the importance of achieving product-market fit before seeking venture capital.
Customer Obsession: Wizehire’s success is attributed to a relentless focus on customer needs, delivering a hiring platform that goes beyond traditional applicant tracking systems.
Navigating Market Challenges: Sid shares how Wizehire adapted during the early months of the pandemic by pivoting industries and expanding their addressable market.
Community Building: The importance of engaging with niche communities and providing value beyond just sales, helping to build long-term trust and organic growth.
Category Creation: Insights into the commitment required for category creation and the role of storytelling and partnerships in establishing a new market category.
Future Vision: Sid outlines Wizehire’s goal to support small businesses from hiring to other critical functions like payroll and insurance, aiming to level the playing field for SMBs.

Hala Borno, Founder and CEO of Trial Library: Improving Patient Recruitment and Diversity in Oncology Clinical Trials

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Hala Borno, Founder and CEO of Trial Library, an evidence-based platform for improving patient recruitment and diversity in oncology clinical trials, about why a more representative candidate pool is key to the future of better health for everyone. Trial Library partners with study sponsors to recruit candidates from a wide range of backgrounds to make sure that the principles of health equity are built into the process from the bottom up.
We also speak about Hala’s personal experience with her mother’s care choices that led her to a career in medicine, how she balances maintaining a commitment to patients with the responsibilities of being a CEO, what it means to build a public benefit company with empathy as its ‘North star,’  and why diversity in clinical trials depends largely on healthcare providers’ role as the gatekeepers.
Topics Discussed:
How her mother’s personal challenges with overcoming health barriers led Hala to a career in medicine
Hala’s background as a researcher in health equity, and what that term means in the context of the modern economy
What it’s like to found a ‘public benefit company’ with empathy as its guiding principle in a highly competitive economy
How Trial Library generates income by acting as a recruitment intermediary for study sponsors and helping them meet diversity targets
The challenges of keeping a commitment to patient health while also taking on the responsibilities of a startup CEO
Why healthcare providers remain the gatekeepers to clinical trials, and what their role in achieving health equity in the future is likely to be
 
Favorite book: 
The Emperor of All Maladies

Iain Cooper, CEO of SeekOps, $23 Million Raised to Build the Future of Emissions Monitoring

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Iain Cooper, CEO of SeekOps Inc., an emission monitoring company that has raised $23 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Iain’s journey from Scotland, to England, and how he ended up in Austin, Texas as the CEO of SeekOps.
The CEOs Iain admires most and what makes them stand out among a crowded field of their peers
How Iain felt going from the dizzying heights of the corporate world to statup CEO
How SeekOps successfully navigates between their clients in the industry, regulators, and ultimately, their bottom line
SeekOps traction and growth predictions for the next 3 years, how they continue to generate exponential returns and what that means for their scaling in the future
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Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. 
www.GlobalTalent.co
 

Barr Moses, Co-Founder & CEO of Monte Carlo: $230 Million Raised to Build the Data Observability Category

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Barr Moses, Co-Founder & CEO of Monte Carlo, a data observability platform that's raised over $230 Million in funding, about why quickly spotting problems in big commercial data can be the difference between a swift resolution or a costly correction later on. By providing data teams with the tools they need to keep up to date with what’s going on with their data, Monte Carlo gives them a headstart in resolving, and sometimes even preventing dangerous errors before they can cause major problems.
We also speak about Barr’s background in the Israeli military, the lessons she learned and brought forward to the world of business, why communication with potential clients was at the heart of the Monte Carlo strategy, how happy Barr is to see the data observability category establishing itself in the marketplace, and why her biggest business inspiration might just be her own Mother.
Topics Discussed:
Barr’s background in the Israeli military, and the lessons in analytics and dealing with challenges that she brought to the world of business
How Barr’s Mother became her business inspiration from a young age, and what she learned from watching her business journey
Why it can be easy to end up making content only for yourself, and how important it is to communicate with your potential clients to know what’s really going on
Why Monte Carlo’s focus is on getting as many customers as possible and making them as happy as they possibly can
Why Barr spends time on podcasts, at speaking events, and writing blogs to share the concept behind his new business category
The data observability category and why Barr is so thrilled to see it establishing itself

Gary Hoberman, CEO & Founder of Unqork: Over $400 Million Raised to Pioneer the Codeless as a Service (CaaS) Category

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Gary Hoberman, CEO and Founder of Unqork, a no-code enterprise application platform that’s raised over $400 Million in funding, about why the future of tech innovation for some of the world’s largest companies is being built without a single line of code. With a range of software solutions combining automation and cutting-edge analytics, Unqork helps their clients divert critical resources back to driving forward momentum instead of maintaining out-of-date solutions.
We also speak about Gary’s impressive career in some of the world’s leading enterprises, how his entrepreneurial family helped shape his unique approach to business, Gary’s vision for innovation in business, and why, as far as he’s concerned, cutting-edge technology really is magic.
Topics Discussed:
Gary’s career in the world of global enterprise and what it taught him about his own personal approach to business
How Gary found firms spending 80% of their budget just to 'keep the lights on'
What it was like transitioning from corporate heights to the world of startup technology
Gary’s fascination with coding as a language, and why Unqork helps their clients innovate without it
How people find happiness in different enterprise spaces and why it all comes down to personal psychology
Why technology is magic as far as Gary is concerned
 
Favorite book: 
Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong

William Sankey, CEO and Head of Product, Co-Founder of Northspyre: Over $32 Million Raised to Revolutionize Real Estate with Proactive Intelligence

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with William Sankey, CEO and Head of Product, Co-Founder of Northspyre, a proactive intelligence platform that's raised over $32 Million in funding, about why making the right decisions about complex urban environments means working with massive amounts of data, and how automation can be a game changer for this massive economic sector. Letting their clients leverage cutting-edge technologies to deliver building and construction projects in a more predictable, repeatable and generally easier way, Northspyre is helping build better cities for everyone.
We also spoke about William’s lifelong fascination with the urban environment and why he loves to learn about how cities work, his personal experiences with the real estate industry’s most salient pain points, what it was like coming from an entrepreneurial family and why the real estate sector remains at the tail end of technological innovation.
Topics Discussed:
William’s lifelong fascination with the urban environment, and why he always wanted to build better cities
The current state of data analytics in the real estate sector, and why it’s real estate developers who are most often on the front lines of executing the development of cities and spaces
Why most developers spend 30-50% of their time doing low value administrative work, and how Northspyre plans to change all that
Why the real estate sector has lagged behind when it comes to the implementation of technological solutions
How Northspyre’s staff’s real-world experiences in the real estate sector help them develop relevant strategy for industry disruption
How William’s entrepreneurial family opened his eyes about how things got built and the role business can play
 
Favorite book: 
The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects

Peter Prizio Jr, CEO of SnapAttack: $8 Million Raised to Power the Future of Threat Management

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Peter Prizio Jr, CEO of SnapAttack, a threat management platform that's raised $8 Million in funding. SnapAttack is the Enterprise-Grade & MSSP Platform that helps security leaders answer their most pressing question: “Are we protected?” By rolling intel, adversary emulation, detection engineering, threat hunting, and purple teaming into a single, easy-to-use product with a no-code interface, SnapAttack unlocks the potential of your security operations. Prior to SnapAttack, Peter developed complex defense weapons systems and citizen services for Government clients, ultimately finding a home in cybersecurity startups spanning from Third Party Risk and Cyber Threat Intelligence. He is passionate about collaboration and information sharing across organizations, industries, and public sectors as a backbone for proactive security.
We speak about why the scale and sophistication of cybersecurity threats means that constant innovation is an industry essential. By capturing detailed information about cyberattacks and handing it over to the defender, their mission is to help clients hunt for hackers and respond more effectively.
We also speak about Peter’s background as an Electrical Engineer and his fascination with finding out how things work, how SnapAttack spun out from RnD at Booz Allen Hamilton, the challenge of finding the hacker hunters to deal with contemporary security concerns, and why government clients might be hard to crack at first, but the networking rewards make them worth it in the end.
Topics Discussed:
Peter’s background as an electrical engineer, and his fascination with how things function that eventually led him to the cybersecurity space
How SnapAttack spun out of the ‘Dark Labs’ RnD at Booz Allen Hamilton, and how they found themselves as an independent entity
The current state of threat detection and why most companies relying on traditional manual hunting can find themselves stretched to capacity
Why constant evolution in the scale and sophistication of cyber threats means defenders need to stay at the cutting edge of innovation
How SnapAttack’s ‘snapshot’ strategy puts critical tools in the hands of defenders to detect and deal with real-world threats
Why doing business with government agencies can be a real slog to start with, but why the long-term benefits make the effort worth it in the end
 
Favorite book: 
The Little Red Book of Wisdom

Stijn Vande Casteele, Founder of Sweepatic: $4.4 Million Raised to Build the Future of External Attack Surface Management

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Stijn Vande Casteele, founder of Sweepatic, an external attack surface management company that’s raised $4.4 million in funding, about why an effective cybersecurity strategy depends on getting the right information to the people who need to make decisions, and how Sweepatic makes that happen in real time. Market leaders in threat discovery, Sweepatic’s name comes from the focus on continuously mapping, analyzing and monitoring all  internet facing assets or ‘sweeping,’ to provide their clients with critical information via a seamless interface.
We also speak about the challenges of getting a startup off the ground in Europe versus some other cybersecurity hubs, Stijn’s experience across an entire industry which inspired him to start Sweepatic, the appeal of cloud-based services for contemporary customers, and why Sweepatic’s approach might have found perfect market fit.
 
Topics Discussed:
Stijn’s career in cybersecurity, and the lessons that led him to found Sweepatic
Why discovery is probably the most important component of any cybersecurity infrastructure
The different challenges facing cybersecurity startups in Europe compared to the US or Israel
How a seamless, cloud-based solution has helped Sweepatic attract more customers
Why keeping customers close and really focusing on their feedback has been critical to Sweepatic’s success
The future of cybersecurity: more information, more visibility, more control

Fady Hawatmeh, Founder and CEO of Clockwork: Nearly $3 Million Raised to Make Financial Modeling and Cash Flow Forecasting Easy

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Fady Hawatmeh, CEO of Clockwork, an FP&A platform that has raised nearly $3 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Personal Pain Point: Fady's background as an outsourced CFO highlighted the need for a more automated, accessible FP&A solution, leading to the genesis of Clockwork.
Customer-Centric Approach: Clockwork's development was driven by direct feedback from clients, focusing on what small businesses truly need from an FP&A tool.
Competitive Market Strategy: Despite the noise from well-funded competitors, Fady emphasizes the unique, hands-on experience and genuine connection with the small business market.
Financial Growth: In its first full year, Clockwork achieved 5x revenue growth, demonstrating strong market traction and customer validation.
Vision for the Future: Clockwork aims to be the go-to platform for companies under $100 million in revenue, integrating all financial, payroll, and HR functions into one seamless system.
Mission-Driven Leadership: Fady’s leadership is rooted in a genuine commitment to solving real problems for small businesses, prioritizing customer success over short-term gains.
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Sponsors:
Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership.
www.FrontLines.io
The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. 
www.GlobalTalent.co