Category Visionaries

Rodney Reisdorf, CEO of Verivend: $3 Million Raised Transform Private Capital Transactions

Rodney Reisdorf, CEO of Verivend, a payments platform operating exclusively in the private capital space, about why this most finance-orientated sector has been left behind by the fintech revolution, and how Verivend is set to disrupt the way transactions take place. By providing a seamless, streamlined platform for moving venture capital and private equity money around, emulating the success of personal payment platforms in transforming how most of us interact with our finances on a daily basis.
We also spoke about the challenges of being a founder and how you can’t always trust the theory, why Verivend asked its funders to invest directly through the platform they were supporting, and why Rodney’s biggest biggest decision might have been pivoting away from his original idea to pursue a more problem-based approach to growing a business. Creating a brand new business category around their private capital-focused platform, Rodney also explains why a comparative description might be the best way to communicate an idea with new potential customers.
Topics Discussed:
Why being a business founder means confronting the limitations of theory and the messy challenges of real life
How Verivend was able to onboard investors as early adopters of their payments platform, to the benefit of both parties
Why flexibility and willingness to adapt are vital for founders looking to build something sustainable
The history of the ‘wire’ transfer, and why so little has changed in this centuries-old financial service
Why a ‘this of that’ description can be useful for businesses driving disruptive change, giving customers a reference to understand who you are
How keeping laser-focused on customer problems will guarantee that they keep coming back for more, and that your business will continue on a solid growth trajectory
 
Favorite book: 
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

Josh Shaul, CEO of Allure Security: $6 Million Raised to Help Businesses Win the Battle Against Online Scammers

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Josh Shaul, CEO of Allure Security, about his lifelong obsession with cybersecurity, taking technology apart, and fighting the oldest scam on the internet, identity fraud. With a proactive approach to brand protection, Allure Security scours the internet for identity fraudsters impersonating established brands, working with browsers and other industry partners to shut them down or overloading them with unusable data, rendering their business model essentially unviable. From building relationships with major social media players to protecting individual accounts from scammers, more sophisticated brand protection is a cornerstone of contemporary business, and while total immunity is all but impossible, Allure Security can promise a dramatic reduction in its impact.
 
Topics Discussed:
How cybersecurity was a natural progression for Josh Shaul since he was a child in the 90s
How cybersecurity has evolved and grown more sophisticated over time, but why identity scams are still a major threat
Why cybersecurity is an ongoing ‘chess match’ against scammers, and how to target their profits as a major pain point
Brand Protection as a key category in the cybersecurity space, and why it deserves more recognition
Why punitive action against scammers may not always be advisable, safe jurisdictions and retaliatory attacks
The false promise of total protection, and why giving clients realistic expectations is a better relationship strategy
Favorite book: 
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

Jorge Penalva, CEO of Lang AI: $40 Million+ Raised to Build the Customer Experience Operations Category

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 Jorge Penalva, Co-Founder & CEO of Lang AI, a language understanding platform that's raised $40 Million+ in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Customer Experience Transformation: Lang AI focuses on helping CX organizations manage and analyze massive amounts of customer data to transform CX from a cost center to a revenue driver.
AI for Business People: Lang AI aims to democratize AI by making it accessible and operational for business users, not just engineers.
Category Building Challenges: Jorge admires founders like Manny Medina of Outreach for their ability to build new categories and create strong teams around their vision.
Data-Driven Insights: Lang AI helps companies like Ramp, Freshly, and Stitch Fix to process and operationalize customer data in real-time, providing actionable insights and improving customer success.
Market Positioning: Lang AI positions itself as a data platform for unstructured data, aligning closely with the growing role of CX operations in organizations.
Scaling and Traction: With significant traction in fintech and e-commerce sectors, Lang AI has developed strong partnerships with platforms like Zendesk and Salesforce, driving their growth.

Parry Bedi, CEO of Tingono: $7 Million Raised to Help Companies Boost Net Revenue Retention

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Parry Bedi, CEO of Tingono, a revenue retention platform that's raised almost $7 Million in funding, about why most companies miss out on the real value of their data, and how stitching together inputs to form a cohesive whole can provide critical decision-making insights for a modern business. Terming this approach ‘Machine-Learning driven revenue growth,’ Tingono has carved a space for itself in the SaaS ecosystem, working closely with clients to develop genuinely value-adding software solutions.
We also spoke about why Parry has such a pattern for entrepreneurship, how working with data is now much more important than just producing it, building ‘design partner’ relationships with potential customers, and why constructing the ideal team can be both the biggest challenge in business, and also one of its most rewarding aspects in the long run.
Topics Discussed:
Why Parry’s passion for entrepreneurship leads him to keep founding new enterprises
How a history of working with great people positions Parry ideally for launching an innovative startup
The challenge most businesses face when dealing with customer data, and how Tingono can help them out
The role of machine learning in getting a good view of customers
Why Tingono’s goal is not only producing a great product, but also really adding value to their customers’ businesses
Why integrating ‘design partnerships’ into your development process can help pre-empt critical challenges later on
Why being surrounded by the right team can be a rewarding experience in business
 
Favorite book: 
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't

Paul Kim, CEO of Notifi: $12 Million raised to Build the Future of Web3 Communication Infrastructure

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Paul Kim, CEO of Notifi, a Web3 communication infrastructure platform that's raised over $12 Million in funding. 
Topics Discussed:
From multinational enterprise to energetic startups, how experience working with the big boys gave Paul valuable lessons for his own company
Why customer obsession is still absolutely critical, even in a technology-focused market
How Notifi field tested software solutions with hacker communities first, before engaging with major market players
Why web3 mass adoption is inevitable, and what businesses need to do to get involved
The current missing link in the web3 system, and how Notifi plans to plug the gap
Why Paul elected to sacrifice short-term adoption from crypto-purists to focus on the major market space of mass adoption

Jordan Gal, CEO of Rally: $6 Million Raised to Build the Future of eCommerce Checkout

 
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 Jordan Gal, CEO & Co-Founder of Rally, a checkout payment platform that's raised $6 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Innovative Checkout Solutions: Rally offers an alternative checkout solution for e-commerce merchants, challenging the standard platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce.
Experience with Competitors: Jordan discusses the impact of competitors like Fast and Bolt on the market and Rally’s strategy to navigate this noisy space.
Post-Purchase Offers: A key feature of Rally is post-purchase offers, enabling merchants to increase revenue without risking the initial sale.
Transition from Bootstrapping to VC: Jordan shares insights on his journey from bootstrapping his previous company to raising venture capital for Rally.
New Market Categories: Rally aims to redefine e-commerce checkout with a focus on headless commerce, offering greater flexibility and customization.
Future Vision: Jordan envisions Rally integrating crypto tokens to provide true ownership to merchants and shoppers, fostering a more engaged network.
 

Chris Strahl, CEO of Knapsack: $7 Million Raised to Build the Future of Design Systems

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Chris Strahl, CEO of Knapsack, a design systems platform that has raised more than 7 million in funding, about his addiction to the more agile side of the business world, and why smaller companies are the way he likes to operate. With Knapsack, he's determined to reset the relationship between business and design, providing an integrated platform for collaboration and coordination which ensures the highest level of efficiency and consistency in the digital design process. The design systems platform category is all about providing the framework to support a whole range of design solutions, whether they come from engineers, designers, or the mind of a visionary CEO, and see them transform into high-quality content.
 
Chris also spoke about the current state of the venture capital market and being a 'wartime CEO, ' the challenges non-digital native companies have in facing an increasing consumer demand for online experiences, and why building a new market category is such an exhilarating but challenging experience. Whether or not Knapsack will emulate the success of design platforms like Canva remains to be seen, but Chris can see a path ahead in that direction, and he's determined to make it. 
 Topics Discussed:
The mundane challenges of modern design, and why most designers end up making the same product several times over
Why collaboration between engineers and designers is a key challenge for building a more efficient design process
The current state of the startup marketplace, and why a good ROI pitch is essential to make any headway with potential investors
How Knapsack is defining a new market category, why it matters and what makes it such a challenging experience
Why Chris isn't done with conversations about defining 'design systems platform' yet, and how the future of the category is still flexible
The shortfalls of some leading design platforms, and why Chris believes Knapsack can do it better
 
Favorite book: 
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

Wes Winham Winler, CEO of Woven: $11 Million Raised to Transform How Companies Recruit and Hire Developers

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Wes Winham Winler, CEO of Woven, about why a new way of hiring tech developers is needed to keep up with the rapid transformation and growth in the startup space. By putting candidates through rigorous skills testing exercises tailor made to the needs of a specific company, Woven is determined to all but eliminate the mishiring phenomenon and make sure everyone finds themselves in the role that’s right for them.
Wes also explains how a personal experience working with a small team led him to really understand the impact of ineffective hiring, why keeping ‘in-category’ is important for helping potential customers connect with your business, and how pretty much anything can be measured (even if not precisely) to help us all make better business decisions moving forward.
Topics Discussed:
Wes’ experiences in startup culture, and how both positive and negative experiences gave him important lessons to apply with Woven.
How many of us forget that some of the world’s biggest corporate names were once startups too, and how much we can learn from their growth experiences.
Why developing tech solutions, and skill tests in particular, needs effective client communication as much as top-quality programming
How almost anything can be measured to some extent or another, and why establishing measurements can help us make more effective decisions
Why ‘business culture’ can sometimes be a catchall to protect ourselves from legitimate criticism
Why even innovators might be better off staying in an established category to help build new connections with potential customers
 
Favorite book: 
How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business

Jay Bartot, CEO of Zeitworks: $6 Million Raised to Build the Future of Business Process Intelligence

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Jay Bartot, CEO of Zeitworks, about why so many startups put the cart before the horse when it comes to process automation. Zeitworks has established process discovery as a key component of its business model, to make sure they know exactly what their clients need before they start developing automated solutions for the more mundane needs underlying every business.
Jay also talks about his extensive experience in the startup space, how the tech investment environment has changed since the infamous ‘.com crash,’ and why the proliferation of AI technology can’t quite keep up with how fast the buzzword is spreading through the industry. He prefers the term ‘machine learning’ to help people understand the real processes going on behind the ‘black box’ of automated technology solutions.
Topics Discussed:
Jay’s years in the startup space, transitioning to being a founder, and the lessons he brings forward to the modern tech investment sector
Why automation can help free up talented people from the grind of repetitive, mundane business tasks which dominate so much of their day
Why the modern technology ecosystem is different from the ‘.com era,’ and why most companies these days are putting their business priorities first
Why data propriety is a critical consideration for any business operating in the tech sector, and why a lack of knowledge can come back to bite you eventually 
Why discover is a critical component of business process automation, and why Zeitworks’ commitment to the details puts them ahead of the competition
Why Jay is more comfortable using the term ‘machine learning’ than ‘AI,’ given how saturated the marketplace is right now
How machine learning technology is poised to drive the economy of the future, and how Zeitworks is preparing to take full advantage of its meteoric rise
 
Favorite book: 
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Rob Leslie, CEO of Sedicii: $4 Million Raised to Build the Future of Data Privacy Infrastructure for an Online World

In today's episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with Rob Leslie, CEO of Sedicii, about how security in cyberspace doesn’t always mean sacrificing privacy, and why we all need an alternative to sharing our vital data online. By pushing innovation in the field of verification technology, fragmenting critical data and deploying a range of customer-orientated solutions, Sedicii is on a mission to deliver a safer, more secure digital infrastructure for the economy of the future.
Rob Also shared his wisdom on the secrets of building an effective startup, the differences and similarities between working in Japan compared to the West, and why he really believes in the power of the technology his team are working on to change our relationship with privacy, and make sure that a sense of safety and a promise of security don’t have to be mutually exclusive
 Topics Discussed:
The challenge of ensuring security in an open marketplace without sacrificing sensitive data
Rob’s formative years in Japan and how they helped him learn about different ways of doing business
How a single bad experience led Rob to focus on verification and privacy as two key aspects of the cybersecurity movement
Why we shouldn’t need to share our sensitive data just to conduct a secure transaction
How fragmenting critical information across multiple secure sites can help prevent hacking
Why Sedicii is determined to build the ‘plumbing’ for a security-native digital future where privacy is guaranteed for all