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Here’s how to startup. Even when the world goes topsy-turvy. From one home office to another, Zendesk leaders chat with founders, CEOs, and makers on their startup journey. There’s rule-flipping, new dogma and recycling failure into growth. Plus, why customer experience is at the heart of success, as told by people who know unpredictability inside out. (That seems pretty helpful right now.)
Startup Grind is the world’s largest community of startups, founders, innovators, and creators. We bring like-minded yet diverse individuals together to connect, learn, teach, help, build, and belong. We do this daily through our local events, flagship conferences, startup program, partnerships, and online media + content - collectively reaching over 3.5 million individuals worldwide.
Elad Gil — most recently co-founder of Color Genomics, previously co-founder and CEO of Mixer Labs, which was acquired by Twitter. He was a VP at Twitter focusing on scaling the company from 90 to 1500 people. Previously at Google he started their mobile team, and worked on AdSense. He is also flat out one of the best angel investors/advisors in th…
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Fourth time Lucky with Vlad Magdalin (Webflow)
49:09
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Vlad Magdalin is the Founder & CEO at Webflow. the startup that allows you to build better business websites, faster, without coding. To date, Vlad has raised over $73m with Webflow from some dear friends of the show including Accel, Ron @ Rainfall, Brianne @ Work Life, Benjamin Ling and Y Combinator to name a few. Prior to founding Webflow, Vlad w…
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Growing Globally with Thai Son (SmartOSC)
40:49
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Thai Son has spent the last 15 years building a world-class eCommerce service provider, through SmartOSC, the business he co-founded with his childhood friend. Under his leadership, the business scaled from zero to more than 600 people, achieving a constant 50%+ YoY growth. Today, as the global CEO, he's responsible for driving expansion, innovatio…
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Highlights episode: Making it through a pandemic
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In this episode, we reflect on how two startups navigated a rocky year. Our hosts, Pedro Muller and Tara McCann, handpick their favorite moments with past guests from TravelNest and Wavy. Both businesses found unique ways to grow, even during the pandemic. Find out some of their top lessons, including: Switching strategies in times of crisis Ways t…
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The Art of Being A Founder with Henry Ward
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Henry Ward is the CEO and co-founder of Carta, a company that continues to revolutionize the way founders, investors, and employees manage equity and ownership. Since founding Carta in 2012, Carta has grown to manage hundreds of billions of dollars in equity. Companies including Intercom, Samsara, and Flexport trust Carta to provide things like fun…
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Founders Space - #1 Incubator For Overseas Startups with Steve Hoffman
45:18
45:18
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Steve Hoffman (Captain Hoff) is the Captain & CEO of Founders Space, one of the world’s leading startup accelerators. Founders Space was ranked the #1 incubator for overseas startups by Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazines. Hoffman is also a venture investor, serial entrepreneur, and author of several award-winning books. These include “Make Elephants…
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Live episode: Creating the future of skin health
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In our first episode recorded on Clubhouse, we invited the Co-Founders of OneSkin onto the show. OneSkin develops products to improve “skinspan”, and was founded by Brazilian entrepreneurs, Alessandra Zonari and Carolina Oliveira. Join their conversation with Zendesk’s Pedro Muller to learn: The unique challenges of growing a startup in a new count…
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50/50 Gender Balance Across Global Leadership with Leena Nair
43:27
43:27
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Leena Nair is the first female, first Asian and youngest ever CHRO of Unilever and member of the Unilever Leadership Executive (ULE). Under her leadership Unilever has achieved a 50/50 gender balance across global leadership, led the design and implementation of progressive new working practices and models. She has continued to lead a pioneering ag…
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Product School’s Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia on unifying product with customer experience
31:04
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Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia is the CEO and Founder of Product School, the global leader in product management training. Since 2014, the community has grown to more than one million people. In this episode, Carlos shares his experiences from the digital product world, in a conversation with Shawna Wolverton, Executive Vice President of Product …
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Kaizo’s Christoph Auer-Welsbach on hacking Zendesk Marketplace
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Christoph is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of performance management platform, Kaizo. An entrepreneur and investor with a passion for ecological innovation, he’s also kicking goals with non-profit City AI, and the revolutionary domain name marketplace DAN.COM. In this episode, Christoph is in conversation with Zendesk’s Pedro Mueller. Find out: Kaizo’s…
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Atman’s Pedro Sorren on inevitable founders
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Pedro Sorren is the founder of Atman, an early-stage venture capital firm. The firm has seeded category-defining companies, like Coinbase, Instacart, GitLab, and Webflow. In this episode, Pedro shares a virtual espresso with Zendesk’s Pedro Muller. Listen to the pair chat about: Why the venture capital industry needs innovation Entrepreneurship in …
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Finimize’s Max Rofagha on becoming your own financial advisor
31:19
31:19
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Finimize is working on making finance a breeze. The London-based startup gives people information and tools that empower them to make smarter decisions about finance. In this episode, Founder and CEO, Max Rofagha, is in conversation with Zendesk’s Tara McCann. Learn about: Putting in the grind to reach critical mass The power of driving community a…
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Mmhmm Making Video Communication More Clear and Compelling with Phil Libin
46:25
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Phil Libin is the Founder and CEO at mmhmm, the app that allows you to level up your remote presentations, making high-quality video content in minutes. To date, Phil has raised over $30M for the company from an incredible investor base including Sequoia, Kevin & Julia Hartz, Tony Fadell, Instagram’s Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and Brianne Kimme…
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bud.com’s Justin Hall on making it in a fresh industry
32:02
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In 2019, legal cannabis business sales hit an all-time high of $12 billion. In this episode, get insights on being the first in a fresh industry. Hear Justin Hall, Founder and CTO of Bud.com, in conversation with Zendesk’s Pedro Muller, as he clears the smoke on building a cannabis startup. Find out: The blazing journey of bud.com, starting with a …
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Team Alignment with Stefano Mastrogiacomo
1:12:47
1:12:47
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Stefano is a project management practitioner and an academic with 20 years of experience, and the designer of the Team Alignment Map. He has been leading digital projects for Swiss-based companies Rothschild and Pictet; advising cross-functional leaders and teams for Richemont, the World Economic Forum, Applied Materials and HSBC; teaching and doin…
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Unstack’s Grant Deken on helping businesses be digital-first
29:18
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Unstack is a no-code marketing platform for startups. It aims to replace systems like WordPress with all the tools that teams need to win in the digital economy. Learn about Unstack’s journey direct from Founder and CEO, Grant Deken, as he chats with Zendesk’s Tara McCann on: Identifying the problem and building the ultimate solution The power of b…
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Building A More Creative And Prosperous World with Matt Cooper at Skillshare
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As the CEO of Skillshare, Matt Cooper believes that learning is transformative — individually, socially, economically. Skillshare's mission is to connect life-long learners everywhere and build a more creative and prosperous world. Before joining Skillshare, he was the CEO of Visually, an online marketplace for creative work that was acquired by Sc…
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Defy’s Madison McIlwain on breaking into venture capital
31:10
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Defy is an early-stage focused venture fund based in Silicon Valley. In this episode, Madison McIlwain, a Partner at Defy, catches up with Pedro Muller, GM of Startups at Zendesk. The pair discuss Madison’s journey from growing up chatting entrepreneurship at family meals, to transitioning out of the corporate world. Learn about: The role of Ventur…
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Teach One Billion People To Make Living Doing What They Love with Chris Do
54:03
54:03
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Chris Do is an Emmy award winning designer, founder and CEO of Blind, Inc., where he oversees the creative and strategic direction of the company. He is also the founder of The Futur—an online education platform with the mission of teaching 1 billion people how to make a living doing what they love. Mr. Do currently serves on the board and is an ad…
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Vindi’s Rodrigo Dantas on finding success in emerging markets
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32:46
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Vindi is a leader in payment solutions in Brazil. The startup was one of the first SaaS businesses in Brazil, and was recently acquired when it hit $33 million in valuation. Co-Founder and CEO, Rodrigo Dantas, is in conversation with Maira Gracini, Senior Director of Marketing LATAM at Zendesk. You’ll get insights on: Challenges unique to growing a…
Misha de Sterke is partner at Innoleaps, managing the corporate innovation activities for Fortune 500 companies globally. Keynote speaker, nominated entrepreneur and lecturer at Universities. He is a corporate innovation and startup expert and has extensive experience. In the corporate world as an interim manager and staff advisor on digital transf…
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Mary Louise Cosmetics’ Akilah Releford on following good ideas
22:24
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Mary Louise Cosmetics is a natural and organic skincare brand. Founded in 2017, CEO, Akilah Releford, was inspired by many of the homemade beauty remedies used by her grandmothers. So, she started the company in her university dorm room. In this episode, hear Akilah in conversation with Marissa Tree, Zendesk’s Senior Director of Public Relations. L…
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Dispatch Goods’ Lindsey Hoell on building sustainable solutions
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Dispatch Goods is a zero-waste alternative for restaurant delivery. The startup provides reusable to-go containers for restaurants, so customers always have a sustainable option. Join CEO, Lindsey Hoell, in conversation with Zendesk’s Corporate Social Responsibility Director, Todd Lineart. Get insights on: Taking action to support business to be mo…
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Enabling Teams To Work More Collaboratively Through Worker Equity with Casey Fenton
47:05
47:05
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Fenton created the online social hospitality network, the Couchsurfing Project which he began working on in 1999. Couchsurfing currently has over 15 million members worldwide. Fenton served as executive director of Couchsurfing until 2012 and the founding chairman of the board. Since exiting his position as CEO of Couchsurfing, he has also been a p…
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(Live episode) How to find your product market fit
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Everyone knows the value of understanding your product market fit. But getting there is never straightforward. For this live episode, we’re delighted to share a recording of a Zendesk webinar, in partnership with Pendo. Listen for insights and practical advice from two product experts: Mike Gozzo, VP of Product at Zendesk, and Eric Boduch, Co-found…
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Wavy’s Victor Lebeau on helping beauty services scale
21:27
21:27
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Wavy aims to bring simplicity to hair and beauty salons. It’s a simplified cash register app and booking app solution that gets to the heart of what counts: saving time. Join Victor Lebeau, CPO & Co-Founder in conversation with Prelini Udayan-Chiechi, Zendesk’s VP of Marketing for EMEA on: Why agility is vital in order to respond to shifts in custo…
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LeaseQuery’s George Azih on making accounting easy
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LeaseQuery is a cloud-based lease accounting software. Its CEO and Founder, George Azih, took the idea from a one-person startup to a thriving company with 180 employees—in less than six years. The entrepreneur talks with Zendesk for Startups whiz, Brad Bowery, on The rollercoaster journey towards record-breaking growth Getting to the heart of unde…
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Puro.earth - a marketplace for carbon removal with Elba Horta
46:20
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Finland-based Puro.earth is a marketplace for carbon removal that’s aiming to accelerate the development of emerging carbon net-negative companies by verifying the net negative impact of these companies, and connecting them with corporations seeking to reach Net Zero targets. Through its marketplace, Puro.earth is aiming to build a self-sustaining …
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Freshly’s Michael Wystrach on the future of food
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Freshly is a meal delivery service that not only provides nutritious meals, but cares about reducing the food waste caused by the grocery supply chain. In this episode, CEO and Co-Founder, Michael Wystrach, chats with Zendesk’s Chief Marketing Officer, Jeff Titterton, on Freshly’s unique journey hacking the food industry. Together, they dish insigh…
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Republic.co- Mission to Democratize Fundraising with Kendrick Nguyen
29:42
29:42
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Kendrick Nguyen has a wealth of experience in finance and law, but his heart lies in cryptocurrency. He barely talks about his personal life, but he revealed that his past is what led to him being interested in the world of entrepreneurship. So far, his dream of helping private companies raise funds has continued to be fulfilled since in the last t…
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TravelNest’s Rebecca Moore on strong leadership in times of flux
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TravelNest is on a mission to reinvent the way hosts market their rental properties. The Edinburgh-based startup solves the problem of low occupancy by improving visibility and boosting bookings. From one Chief Operating Officer to another, TravelNest’s Rebecca Moore and Zendesk’s Peter Lorant get together (virtually) to chat: The fast-growth journ…
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Ameelio’s Uzoma Orchingwa on changing the future of prison communications
18:22
18:22
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In 2020, a couple of bright and compassionate Yale students decided to do something about the captive $1.2B prisons telecommunications industry. They founded technology nonprofit, Ameelio, to provide free communication tools for incarcerated people to connect with their families and loved ones. Learn from Co-Founder, Uzoma Orchingwa, on: How Ameeli…
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Raheem’s Brandon D. Anderson on using AI to end police violence
43:53
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In the United States, 93% of people who experienced police brutality, but did not report it. The independent service, Raheem, is working to change that. Raheem builds tools for communities to report and track police, and leverages open complaint data to find ways to respond to conflict with care. In this episode, learn important insights from Found…
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Venture Capital Firm That Invests in Companies Building "Products That Count" with SC Moatti
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SC Moatti is a technology visionary, venture capital investor, and bestselling author of Mobilized, an insider’s guide to the business and future of connected technology. While working at Facebook, Trulia and Nokia, SC has built mobile products that are used today by billions of people -one of them received an Emmy nomination. Andrew Chen, one of U…
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Novo’s Michael Rangel on building a customer-centric Fintech
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Skateistan - The First NGO To Combine Skateboarding with Creative Education with Oliver Percovich
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Oliver Percovich first skated in an empty pool at the age of six, while growing up in Papua New Guinea. In 1995 he competed in the Mystic Cup, an international skateboarding contest in Prague. Prior to a life-changing move to Kabul, Oliver worked at the Centre for Risk and Community Safety on emergency management projects for various Australian gov…
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Code for America’s Amanda Renteria on bringing startup values to government
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Code for America believes the two biggest levers for improving people’s lives at scale are technology and government. Since 2011, the non-profit organization has been helping state and local governments serve communities better to ensure that technology is simple, fast, and effective. In this episode, CEO, Amanda Renteria, shares how their team of …
Sit Down Startup is made by us, Zendesk. We were once a scrappy startup (and we’ve got the kitchen bench we were born on to prove it). Now, we help all kinds of startups, baby to big, build the best customer experiences. Support, sales, or something in between, let us lend a hand in providing a solution that’s mightiest for you.…
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Seedlip, the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirits with Ben Branson
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Ben Branson is the Founder of Seedlip and Æcorn Aperitifs, the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirits and aperitifs. He gained inspiration from his family’s 300 years of North Lincolnshire farming heritage, and grew up alongside his two younger brothers, eights dogs, horses, rabbits and guinea pigs. Stoically a country boy, Ben now lives wit…
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The Startup Community Way: Evolving an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem with Brad Feld
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Brad Feld lives in Boulder, Colorado and Homer, Alaska with his wife and is on a quest to run a marathon in every state in the US.Brad has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures. Brad is also a co-founder of Tec…
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Clipchamp - One of the Fastest Growing Startups in APAC with Alexander Dreiling
59:18
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From supercomputers to innovating at incredible speed, Alex Dreiling’s work at Clipchamp may sound like something from a Douglas Adams novel, but his successful startup began with an everyday idea and a down-to-earth attitude. He shares that they created something no one else was doing, and managed to take it from an idea they had over lunch – to r…
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Removing Barriers Between Humans and Their Data with Eric Crane
47:31
47:31
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Eric originally hails from Lawrenceville, Georgia. While he’s moved around the country a bit, Atlanta has always pulled him back. He currently lives with his wife, Shirley, and their dog, Maize, in Atlanta, Georgia. The Co-founder and COO at Flatfile, whose mission is to remove barriers between humans and their data. Hundreds of enterprises use Fla…
Maximilian Tayenthal is co-founder and CFO of N26. Together with his business partner and friend Valentin Stalf, he has built one of the fastest-growing mobile banks in the world. Their vision is to create a bank that 100 million people around the world love to use, giving people the power to live and bank their way. Previously, Max worked in a var…
After growing up in Cairo, Egypt, she earned a PhD in Cambridge University, and then joined the MIT Media Lab as a research scientist, where she spearheaded the application of emotion recognition technology in a variety of fields, including mental health and autism. She left MIT to co-found Affectiva and is a passionate advocate for humanizing tech…
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Software taking over the world: (Bonus live episode)
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In 2020, Forbes Cloud 100 list is at its most impressive, with a record 87 companies valued at $1 billion or more. In this episode, we sit down (virtually) for a candid chat with two Cloud 100 leaders. Hear Archana Agrawal, Chief Marketing Officer at Airtable, and JD Peterson, Chief Growth Officer at Culture Amp in conversation with Zendesk CFO, El…
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Industry Best Practices in Customer Experience with Amy Pressman
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Amy is Co-founder, former President, and a current board member of Medallia, a public enterprise SaaS company that pioneered Experience Management and is the leader in helping organizations capture and act on customer feedback. At Medallia, Amy built and ran many key functions from Marketing and Sales to HR and Talent Acquisition. Since its foundin…
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Building a $1B Software Giant Emphasizing Substance Over Speed with Howie Liu
30:16
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Howie Liu is co-founder and CEO of Airtable, the platform democratizing software creation. Over 60,000 organizations, including half of the Fortune 1000, currently use Airtable to power their most ambitious operations. Launched in 2015, Airtable has raised over $70M in venture funding, and was recently added to Forbes’ “Cloud 100” list of the priva…
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How to Build Trust in the Era of Fake News with Morgan DeBaun
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Morgan DeBaun, Founder & CEO of Blavity. Fresh out of college, she headed to Silicon Valley to learn from the best and brightest about Product Management and Design. The St. Louis native became a growth hacker and small business advisor to aspiring entrepreneurs. In 2014, she launched Blavity - the largest media startup and lifestyle brand for blac…
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From Basement to $8B Exit; How Qualtrics did it with Ryan Smith
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Ryan Smith co-founded Qualtrics in 2002 with the goal of making sophisticated research simple. As CEO, he has grown the company from a basement startup to one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the world. Qualtrics has more than 8,500 enterprise customers including over 75% of the Fortune 100, 1,800 colleges and universities worldwide, …
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The Definition of Creative Thought Leadership - Scott Belsky (Behance/Adobe)
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Scott Belsky is an executive, entrepreneur, author, and investor (and all-around product obsessive). He currently serves as Adobe's Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President, Creative Cloud. Scott's passion is to make the creative world more productive, connected, and adaptive to new technologies. Scott co-founded Behance in 2006, and serv…
