Category Visionaries

Daniel Sokolovsky CEO and Founder of WARP: $2M in Funding to Solve the Middle-Mile Fright Problem

Daniel Sokolovsky, CEO and founder of WARP, a middle-mile freight platform that recently raised more than $2M in funding. A lot of attention is placed on the first and last mile deliveries, but Daniel founded WARP to give logistics companies opportunities to scale better by bridging the gap. In the episode, he discusses the opportunities that exist in the middle-mile market that are commonly overlooked by logistics tech professionals. 
 
Topics discussed:
About Daniel and his background 
The difference between first-mile, middle mile, and last mile 
What excites Daniel the most about logistics 
The opportunities that exist in the middle-mile market
The future of logistics technology

Rob Whalen, CEO of PTO Exchange: $5M Raised to Empower Companies to Rethink Paid Time Off

Rob Whalen is the CEO and founder of PTO Exchange. PTO Exchange is a benefits platform that turns unused paid time off into retirement, student loan payments, and more. He founded the company after noticing how much paid time off goes unused, and they have raised $5.4 million in funding. 
Topics discussed:
About Rob and his background 
What inspired the solution of PTO Exchange and the problem it solves 
Harnessing user design to make the solution easy for employees and employers 
The target customer and how they are served by the platform 
The particular challenges that come from carving out a new market category 
What about PTO Exchange has investors so excited 
The future of PTO Exchange and employment benefits

Douglas Ver Mulm, CEO at Stable: $3.7 Million in Funding to Insure Rideshare Drivers

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 Douglas Ver Mulm, CEO & Founder of Stable Insurance, an insurtech company that has raised $3.7 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Origin of Stable Insurance: The company was born out of Doug's experience with his own fleet of rideshare vehicles in NYC, addressing the lack of suitable insurance products for rideshare operators.
Data-Driven Insurance: Stable Insurance leverages real-time data from rideshare platforms, telematics, and dash cams to create a more accurate and personalized insurance pricing model.
Unique Coverage Features: They offer benefits such as income replacement, zero-dollar deductibles with dashcam footage, and rewards for loss control investments, addressing specific needs of rideshare drivers.
Market Focus: Initially targeting individual owner-operators, the company is expanding to serve small fleets and other gig economy drivers, such as those using car-sharing and delivery platforms.
Regulatory Navigation: Successfully launching their own product in Illinois, with plans to expand to additional states including Texas, Arizona, Georgia, and Tennessee by the end of the year, and targeting California and Florida in 2023.
Future Vision: Aiming to offer a comprehensive suite of tools for gig economy drivers, including banking, lending, and health and life insurance products, along with enhanced analytics to help users manage their small businesses more effectively.
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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
 

Teladoc Founder Michael Gorton on the Early Days of Pioneering the Telemedicine Category (And What’s He’s Up to Next)

In 2002, Michael Gorton founded Teladoc — the telemedicine company with a current market cap of over $6 billion. 
Like all truly game-changing innovations, Michael and his team had to overcome tremendous resistance and opposition in the early days of taking their idea to market. 
From being raided by the DEA to being threatened with prison time, it would have been easy for any founder to back down and pursue a less risky idea. But Michael wasn't one to back down from a challenge so, he dug in and executed a thought leadership strategy and invested heavily into educating doctors, patients, and most importantly — regulators. These efforts played a major role in the growth of the category over the past 20 years. 
Michael is a true pioneer of the telemedicine category. While someone else may have initially invented it (which he discusses in this episode), Teladoc did go on to dominate it.  He was on the front lines of getting the world to believe in the idea and on today’s episode, he’ll walk us through lessons learned along the way before letting us know what he’s currently working on [Hint: it’s incredibly exciting]. 
Topics discussed:
Michael’s background and the origins of his career in telemedicine 
The early days of Teladoc 
Paving the way to telemedicine and overcoming the legal challenges and resistance from those who were against changing the status quo.  
The evolution of telemedicine since its conception almost 20 years ago 
Why thought leadership was so critical to Teladocs success 
How to succeed in creating a new market category 
About Recuro health and how the company will transform the future of healthcare

Chandler Malone, Founder of Bootup: $2 Million Raised to Solve the Tech Talent Crisis

Chandler Malone is a three-time entrepreneur who is now building Bootup, an educational and labor marketplace that has raised over $2 million in funding. Bootup solves the huge talent gap that exists in the tech industry. It is an educational labor marketplace that helps individuals get their first jobs in tech regardless of their background. 
Topics discussed:
About Chandler and his background
The problem being solved by Bootup
Inside the talent crisis in the tech industry and the possible solutions 
Market categories that are served by Bootup 
What an educational and labor marketplace is and how it will help individuals get jobs in the tech industry 
Traction Bootup has gotten since its launch in 2021
Future plans for Bootup

Tom Trowbridge, Co-Founder of Fluence Labs: $9 Million Raised to Build the Future of Decentralized P2P Computing

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 Tom Trowbridge, Co-Founder of Fluence Labs, a Web3 native computing platform that has raised $9 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Addressing Monopolistic Behavior: Fluence Labs aims to counter the monopolistic nature of cloud providers by creating a decentralized, peer-to-peer computing platform that reduces reliance on centralized infrastructure.
Solving Central Points of Failure: By distributing computation across multiple nodes globally, Fluence enhances resilience and reduces the risk of service disruptions due to single points of failure.
Combating Government Influence: The platform is designed to reduce government control and surveillance over digital infrastructure by decentralizing data and compute operations.
Advanced Peer-to-Peer Compute: Fluence offers a peer-to-peer compute network where operations can be performed at multiple locations, improving efficiency and reducing costs.
Economic Layer Development: The upcoming economic layer will enable compensation for hosts running computations and for developers creating software, fostering a thriving ecosystem.
Composability with Aqua Language: Fluence's Aqua language simplifies building peer-to-peer applications, allowing developers to assemble applications from pre-existing modules, similar to the Defi ecosystem.
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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

Jason Lavender, CEO of Electives: $10M Raised to Redefine Corporate Training

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 Jason Lavender, CEO & Co-Founder of Electives, a corporate learning platform that has raised over $10 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Electives' Unique Approach: Electives offers interactive, live classes led by a diverse range of instructors, including FBI agents, athletes, professors, and authors, rather than traditional corporate trainers.
Engagement and Interactivity: Addressing the lack of engagement in corporate training, Electives emphasizes live, interactive sessions that allow employees to connect with peers and instructors.
Customer Profile and Traction: Initially targeting mid-sized tech companies, Electives now serves a wide range of enterprises, celebrating milestones such as 100 companies hosting classes and over $1 million paid to teachers.
Teacher Recruitment and Referrals: The platform sources instructors from varied backgrounds, often through referrals from existing teachers, ensuring a wide array of unique and engaging content.
Market Disruption and New Category: Inspired by the book "Play Bigger," Electives aims to create a new category in corporate learning, moving beyond traditional training models to offer comprehensive human development.
Future Vision: Electives aims to be a staple in every company, providing diverse learning experiences that enhance personal and professional growth, while continuing to refine their category definition.
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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

Yarden Shaked, CEO and Founder of Varos: $4 Million Raised to Revolutionize Data Analytics

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 Yarden Shaked, CEO and Founder of Varos, a data analytics platform that has raised $4 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
Identifying the Problem: Varos addresses the lack of comparative data analytics for e-commerce and SaaS companies by allowing them to benchmark key metrics like customer acquisition cost and retention rate against similar businesses.
Give to Get Model: The platform's value proposition is built on a cooperative model where users must share their data to access aggregated and anonymized insights from others, creating a robust data ecosystem.
YC Experience: Yarden highlights the intensity and value of Y Combinator, emphasizing the importance of staying lean, focusing on growth, and the crucial lessons learned from interacting with other talented founders.
Category Creation: Varos is pioneering the competitive data analytics category, offering unique insights that traditional analytics tools lack, thereby requiring significant market education and evangelism.
Navigating Challenges: Building a new category involves overcoming significant hurdles, including customer education and validating the hypothesis that businesses need and will benefit from comparative analytics.
Future Vision: Yarden is motivated by the challenge of proving the Varos hypothesis, expanding the user base, and scaling the team to establish a new standard in data analytics.
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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

Tim Kraska, Co-Founder of Einblick: $6M Raised to Build the Visual Data Computing Category

Today we are speaking with Tim Kraska, the co-founder at Einblick, the world’s first visual data computing platform. Einblick is changing the way that data science teams work and collaborate remotely. Since Einblick’s spinoff in 2020, the company has raised $6M in funding. 
Topics discussed:
Tim’s background and the founding of Einblick 
How visual data enhances collaboration within organizations 
Industries that are being disrupted and innovated through this new tool 
How Einblick has managed to raise over $6M in during the Pandemic
What the future of visual data computing looks like

Why Product-Led Growth is the Ultimate Go-to-Market Strategy For Category Defining Companies

In today’s episode, we’re doing something a little different and will focus entirely on the topic of product-led growth with Dan Schoenbaum, Managing Partner at High Tide Advisors — an advisory firm that helps cybersecurity companies develop and execute high-growth go-to-market strategies. With over $5B in successful exits, IPO experience and many buy-side acquisitions, Dan’s battle-tested approach has been proven highly effective and impactful and we're excited to share with you the lessons he's learned along the way. 
Topics discussed:
Dan’s journey from Paratrooper in the Israeli military to a technology executive. 
Why product-led growth is the ultimate go-to-market strategy. 
How to determine if product-led growth is right for you.
Why product-led growth is booming in industries like cybersecurity.
What founders commonly get wrong about product-led growth.
Dan’s #1 piece of advice for companies embracing a product-led growth strategy.