Shows
UnicornPrnEpisode 8: Blue Ocean is a BloodbathEver heard the advice “find a market with no competition”? Then you’ve definitely walked straight into a blue ocean, only to realize it’s full of sharks, no buyers, and zero budget line items.“I’m the first, so the whole world is my customer.”“If no one’s doing it, that must mean it’s a great idea.”“I’ll be the industry leader because I got there first.”… and then you bleed out on the ocean floor while explaining what your product even does to confused prospects.In Episode 8 of UnicornPrn...2025-07-0944 minUnicornPrnEpisode 7: Sh*t VCs Say.Ever raise venture capital? Then you’ve definitely heard some version of:“It’s a bit too early for us.”“What if Google builds this?”“Ping me when you have a lead.”In Episode 7 of UnicornPrn, Melissa and Lloyed crack open the cliché-filled, gaslight-ridden world of fundraising conversations. They expose the truth behind fake praise, soft NOs, and the cult of “value-add” investors.In this episode, you’ll learn:✅ How to decode the top 10 most common VC phrases ✅ Why “Let us know how we can help” is investor ghosting in disguise2025-06-191h 00UnicornPrnEpisode 6: Culture Fit is BSIs “culture fit” the secret sauce of team cohesion… or just startup speak for hiring people who look, think, and act exactly like you?In Episode 6 of UnicornPrn, Melissa and Lloyed torch the startup world’s favorite excuse for bias, groupthink, and hiring your drinking buddies. They unpack how “culture fit” became a Trojan horse for toxic execs, lazy recruiting, and leadership that folds like a lawn chair under pressure.In this episode, you’ll learn:✅ Why “culture fit” is often just code for bias✅ How the “beer test” broke your hiring✅ Startup...2025-05-2654 minUnicornPrnEpisode 5: These Hires Will Kill Your CompanyIn startup land, everyone acts like hiring’s a cheat code… “just add a rockstar!” But what if that rockstar needs a brief for everything, tanks morale, or burns $280K on vaporware?In Episode 5 of UnicornPrn, Melissa and Lloyed discuss the hiring disasters that don’t make it to TechCrunch, from corporate dinosaurs who can’t function without minions to vibe hires who vanish before onboarding. In this episode, you’ll learn:✅ Why early-stage hiring is high-stakes and emotionally loaded✅ The common bad hire archetypes that will quietly (or loudly) kill your company✅...2025-04-2343 minUnicornPrnEpisode 4: Founder or Fraudster - Con Artists In The BoardroomIn the startup world, everyone preaches “fake it till you make it”. But what happens when faking it goes too far? Are you a bold founder hustling to realize a big vision, or a fraudster selling pipe dreams and ending up in handcuffs? In Episode 4 of UnicornPrn, Melissa and Lloyed pull back the curtain on the dark side of startup hustle – when “fake it till you make it” turns into outright fraud. They swap war stories of con artists in the boardroom, from fake user accounts and phantom revenue to corporate espionage straight out of a spy thriller. 2025-04-0945 minUnicornPrnEpisode 3: Venture Capital is a Giant Ponzi SchemeIs venture capital the fuel behind world-changing innovation…or just a glorified pyramid scheme where everyone’s pretending they’re building the next Uber while actually praying for a higher valuation before the money runs out?In this spicy episode of UnicornPrn, Melissa and Lloyed expose how the game is played — founders chasing funding like junkies, markups for AI buzzwords duct-taped to a landing page, unicorn markdowns like it’s Black Friday, and accelerators slapping lipstick on broken products for Demo Day.Highlights:Why VC math makes founders lie to themselves (and investors)The billion-dollar valuation...2025-03-2653 minUnicornPrnEpisode 1: The Internet is for UnicornPrnWelcome to the very first episode of UnicornPrn, the only podcast that peels back the glossy veneer of startup life and roasts it over a flaming pile of pitch decks.Hosted by Melissa Kwan and Lloyed Lobo, two founder friends who’ve seen the startup world from the inside out, upside down, and on fire… we’re here to talk about what it’s actually like to build a company (spoiler: it’s not all oat milk lattes and billion-dollar exits).In this episode, we dive into the unicorn myth — how it hijac...2025-03-1348 minUnicornPrnEpisode 2: Cofounder Confessions — Love, Lies & BetrayalStartups are messy. But cofounder relationships? Even messier. In this brutally honest episode of UnicornPrn, Melissa and Lloyed dive into the raw, real, and often ridiculous world of cofounder dynamics—from love stories gone wrong to business partnerships built on shaky foundations.They read founder DMs and dissect juicy, anonymized tales of startup breakups, equity disputes, silent resentment, power struggles, and control freaks who hoard all the glory. Nothing is off-limits.Whether your cofounder is your best friend, life partner, or someone you met at a hackathon, this episode will ei...2025-03-1356 minUnicornPrnWelcome to UnicornPrnUnicornPrn is the only podcast that peels back the glossy veneer of startup life and roasts it over a flaming pile of pitch decks 🔥Hosted by Melissa Kwan and Lloyed Lobo, two founder friends who’ve seen the startup world from the inside out, upside down, and on fire. This show dives into what it’s actually like to build a company (spoiler: it’s not all oat milk lattes and billion-dollar exits).We riff about all the things you wish you could say out loud but can’t (or won’t) — like investor horror stories, founde...2025-03-1201 min
TractionUltimate Guide to Community-Led Growth with Kyle Poyar, OpenViewOn this episode, Kyle Poyar, Operating Partner at OpenView, delves into the transformative power of community-led growth and its impact on businesses. Kyle shares his expertise on how companies can effectively engage with their users to drive sustainable growth and build strong brands.Specifically, Kyle discusses:- The importance of understanding the needs and pain points of your audience.- How to leverage existing communities for faster results.- The role of community in creating a new category, as demonstrated by HubSpot’s inbound marketing....2024-05-2250 min
TractionThe Ultimate Playbook To Buy & Sell SaaS Companies with Andrew Gazdecki Andrew Gazdecki, CEO of Acquire.com, delves into the complexities of startup acquisitions and the entrepreneurial path from startup to sale on this episode. Andrew brings a wealth of experience as a serial entrepreneur with multiple successful exits and offers valuable advice for both acquiring and selling startups.Specifically, Andrew shares:- The significance of starting with smaller acquisitions to learn the ropes.- The impact of a business's current execution on its valuation, highlighting the importance of present achievements over future projections.- The...2024-05-081h 05
Traction$0-35M: 5 Key Steps to Raising Your Series A During a Downturn with Manik Suri of GlacierGridOn this episode, Manik Suri, Founder and CEO of GlacierGrid, shares his journey from public policy to tech entrepreneurship, exploring the challenges and breakthroughs along the way.Join Manik as he covers key insights into the startup ecosystem, including:- Debunking the myth that fundraising equates to success in Silicon Valley.- Leveraging customer feedback to pivot and refine business strategies.- Strategies for effective fundraising and managing capital efficiently.- The significant role of personal global experiences in shaping business strategies.2024-04-2558 min
TractionMastering GTM and Growth in Current Markets with Rajeev Dham of Sapphire VenturesOn this episode, Rajeev Dham, Managing Director of Sapphire Ventures, delves into the strategies of venture capital investment and the effective scaling of startups. Focusing on the B2B SaaS space, Rajeev highlights how Sapphire Ventures selects startups that redefine their market categories and the methodologies that lead to their success.Discussion points include:- The importance of backing companies that redefine their categories within the tech and software industries.- Developing go-to-market strategies that improve customer experiences and distinguish startups from their competitors....2024-04-1051 min
TractionBootstrapping to +2M Users With 0 Employees and No Investors with Ania Wysocka, RootdOn this episode, Ania Wysocka, Founder of Rootd, discusses her journey and the creation of Rootd, an app designed to support those struggling with anxiety. Having experienced firsthand the lack of quality resources for anxiety, Ania embarked on a mission to fill this gap. Through extensive research and determination, Rootd was born, embodying a therapist-approved toolset aimed at empowering individuals to overcome anxiety.With over 2 million users across 150 countries and achieving the #1 spot on iOS and Google Play, Rootd's impact is undeniable. Ania's story is about entrepreneurial success and creating a meaningful solution that...2024-03-271h 02
TractionFrom Beats to Bytes: Devo Harris’ Journey to Reinvent Interactive MediaIn this episode, Lloyed sits down with Devo Harris, the Grammy-winning producer renowned for his work with Kanye West and John Legend, who has seamlessly transitioned from the pulsating rhythms of the music industry to the cutting-edge realm of technology.Join us as Devo shares his inspiring journey to founding and growing Adventr which is reshaping the way audiences interact with commercials, movies, and games, offering viewers immersive "choose your own adventure" experiences like never before.Key Takeaways:- Devo's transition from music legend...2024-03-1242 min
TractionFrom Sequoia VC to Startup Stardom with BigPanda’s Assaf ResnickOn this episode, Assaf Resnick, Founder and CEO of BigPanda, shares his journey of going from venture capitalist to building BigPanda into a billion-dollar company, diving into the challenges and strategies along the way. Specifically, Assaf discusses:- Strategies for scaling a tech company in a competitive market.- The importance of a strong company culture and continuous innovation.- Customer feedback as a cornerstone of product evolution.- Embracing change and innovation to stay ahead of technological advancements.- Leveraging pa...2024-02-1435 min
TractionBuilding a Category Leader with Jason Smith of KlueOn this episode, Jason Smith, CEO and Co-Founder of Klue, shares top lessons from building a category leader.Specifically, Jason discusses:- The challenges and successes in the entrepreneurial journey.- Generating and refining business ideas, highlighting the value of feedback.- The importance of selecting the right co-founder, focusing on trust and skill complementarity.- Overcoming hurdles from initial concept to execution, emphasizing resilience.- Effective strategies for building a customer base. - Enhancing product development through customer feedback....2024-01-311h 05
TractionThe Route to Wealth and Freedom That No One Talks About with Paul Van Metre, ProShop ERPPaul Van Metre, Co-Founder of ProShop ERP, discusses his entrepreneurial journey: from turning a traditional machine shop into a successful software company which recently secured $32 million growth funding after 10+ years of bootstrapping.Key insights from Paul include:- The shift from manufacturing to software was driven by customer demand and the realization of a bigger opportunity in software.- A strong company culture and team unity are vital for growth and employee retention.- Being process-driven and transparent is crucial, especially during intensive business due...2024-01-1753 min
TractionHow a Team of 3 Bootstrapped to $5M ARR - Esben Friis-Jensen, UserflowOn this episode, Esben Friis-Jensen, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of Userflow, shares lessons from bootstrapping to $5M ARR with a team of 3.Esben discusses several key points:- Product growth is a crucial model for business expansion and has been successful at Userflow.- The effectiveness of search engine marketing in competitive markets and its role in acquiring initial customers.- The CEO's responsibility to stabilize a company whilst encouraging founders to inject new risks for growth.- Esben reflects on his...2024-01-0447 min
TractionGrowth Lessons From Scaling Opendoor, Instacart and Ramp with Sri Batchu, Ramp In this episode, Sri Batchu, Growth Advisor at Ramp, shares top lessons from helping scale Instacart, Opendoor and Ramp.Specifically, Sri discusses:- Product-market fit as a cornerstone for successful growth.- The critical role of high-quality founders and executives in building a talented team.- Strategies for identifying and effectively reaching target audiences.- Advocating for a focus on payback periods over traditional CAC and LTV metrics.- Insights from Opendoor on managing capital risks and strategic asset management.2023-12-2059 min
TractionFrom Pirates to Navy: Amplitude’s Voyage to a Billion-Dollar IPO with Spenser SkatesOn this episode, Spenser Skates, Co-Founder and CEO of Amplitude Analytics, delves into his journey of building and scaling the company from 0 to billion dollar IPO. Spenser discusses:- The pivotal role of understanding your product’s core action and its impact on user experience.- The exhilaration and significance of acquiring the first paying customer for a startup.- Identifying the moment of achieving product-market fit, marked by the first million dollars in revenue, signaling a viable business.- The process of scaling up by hir...2023-12-0756 min
TractionDecoding VC and Startup Growth with Logan Bartlett, Redpoint VenturesOn this episode of the Traction Podcast, Logan Bartlett, Managing Director of Redpoint Ventures, discusses key strategies for venture capital success and startup growth. With years of experience in venture capital, Logan offers a deep dive into the crucial elements that drive startup success and investment decisions.Logan explores:- His transition from investment banking to venture capital, sharing pivotal learning moments.- Redpoint Ventures’ investment focus, including software, B2B, Fintech, healthcare and AI’s impact.- The effect interest rates and public market tren...2023-11-221h 02
TractionTwo Key Trends That Will Shape the Future of Marketing with Joyce Kim, TwilioOur guest today is Joyce Kim, Chief Marketing Officer of Twilio. With a market cap of more than $10 billion, Twilio is the industry-leading platform that powers customer engagement, from voice and video to SMS and email.Joyce dives into two important trends that will shape the future of marketing — generative AI and first-party data.Specifically, Joyce discusses:- Why do so many CMOs start as engineers?- AI trends that will shape the future of marketing.- The difference between first-party and third-party da...2023-11-0947 min
Traction5 Unconventional Lessons From an IPO, $60M Failure, and a Unicorn with Gagan Biyani, MavenIn this episode of the Traction Podcast, Gagan Biyani, Co-Founder and CEO of Maven, and cofounder of Udemy and Sprig shares unconventional lessons from building, failing, and scaling. Specifically, Gagan dives into:- Going from idea to product-market fit and scale.- Navigating founder issues.- When should you shutdown your startup.- The pitfalls of over-fundraising, explaining how too much capital can lead to losing control over the company’s direction.- Recognizing personal definitions of success, urging founders to refl...2023-10-301h 18
TractionBootstrapping to $100M in Revenue with Neil Patel, NP DigitalOn this episode of the Traction podcast, Neil Patel, Co-Founder of NP Digital, shares lessons from successes and failures in building and scaling startups and brands to eventually bootstrapping NP Digital $100 million in revenue.Neil is a New York Times bestselling author, has 4 million monthly blog visitors, more than 50 million downloads on his Marketing School podcast, and a YouTube channel boasting 31 million views.Specifically, Neil discusses:- How failures and mistakes helped him find success in entrepreneurship.- How he built a ma...2023-10-1143 min
TractionHow to Build a Powerful Personal Brand on LinkedIn and SubStack with Leah TharinIn this episode, Leah Tharin, Growth Advisor for scaling B2B companies, dives into how she grew her audience on LinkedIn and Substack from 0 to 40,000 subscribers in just one year.Previously, Leah was the Head of Product at DeinDeal and Jua, and led the core product at Smallpdf to over 50 million monthly active users. Specifically, Leah shares how to:Define your audience and find your unique voice.Tailor content to meet your audience’s needs effectively.Transform your audience into a thriving community by extending you...2023-09-281h 33
Traction10 Unconventional Lessons From Bootstrapping to $1M with Melissa Kwan, eWebinarMelissa Kwan, Co-Founder and CEO at eWebinar, is one of my closest friends whose brutal honesty is something I rely on almost daily. She's bootstrapped three companies and had one exit, all while traveling the world as a nomad.Melissa's story reflects her belief that work should never come at the cost of one's life, as this idea helps you live life to the fullest.Today, Melissa dives into some juicy, unconventional insights about how she started her company and what success really looks like in the tech world.2023-09-131h 22
TractionFrom Startup to Super Scaleup: Hypergrowth Lessons with Henry Shi, Super.comIn this episode, Henry Shi, Co-Founder at Super.com shares how they grew to more than 7 million customers and raised over $100 million in funding. Specifically, Henry dives into:- How him and his cofounders validated the idea for Super and found product-market fit.- Key things founders should focus on in the early stages.- Tactics for driving customer acquisition and growth.- Who to hire and how to build a team from the early stages through hypergrowth and scale.- L...2023-09-0746 min
TractionUnleashing the Power of Community: A $40B Success Story with Cameron Deatsch, AtlassianEver wondered how a small startup skyrocketed into a $40 Billion collaboration powerhouse? Brace yourself, because today we're diving into Atlassian's electrifying journey. They birthed Jira, Confluence, and Trello, capturing a colossal 250,000 companies worldwide. But massive success also brings a lot of competition, constantly nipping away at your market share. On this episode, Cameron Deatsch, CRO at Atlassian, spills the beans on how they didn't just grow but multiplied by cultivating an unstoppable community.Specifically, Cameron discusses:- When should companies build an ecosystem and co...2023-08-3045 min
TractionHow Jason Lemkin Built the World’s Largest Community for Business Software with Jason Lemkin, SaaStr Why do some companies have loyal, cult-like followings while others blend into oblivion? Is a good product enough to win in the market today?In a world where traditional marketing is losing its edge and products are struggling to stand out, a thriving community is your biggest asset.However, building and nurturing a community takes time - relationships cannot be an afterthought. When put front and center, a community can be a great acquisition channel, product feedback mechanism, brand differentiator, retention lever, and growth moat.2023-08-1645 min
TractionBuilding Connection in a Distributed World with Anu Bharadwaj, AtlassianOn this episode, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Anu Bharadwaj, Chief Operating Officer at Atlassian. Anu believes building connection and engagement in a distributed world is Atlassian's best strategy for growth and retention. Too many companies are wasting resources on navigating return-to-office strategies instead of investing in employees and improving their ways of working. Anu shares the playbook for building meaningful connections across a distributed workforce. Specifically, Anu covers: 1:46 - The powerful lesson that Anu learned after being...2022-09-0822 min
TractionThe Ultimate Product Strategy to Deliver Billions with Sara Hicks, Intuit MailchimpOn this episode, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Sara Hicks, CPO at Mailchimp. Developing a product strategy starts with understanding the customer problems that your business can solve–which, in turn, creates a long-lasting competitive advantage. A compelling product strategy prioritizes key initiatives that will have the biggest impact for customers and the business while also navigating unknowns such as team velocity and other constraints. Sara walks through the framework for a successful strategy; she also addresses business goals, technical and operational needs, customer feedback, and c...2022-09-0720 min
TractionExpensify's Growth Playbook From 0 to IPO with Anu Muralidharan, ExpensifyOn this episode, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Anu Muralidharan, Chief Operating Officer at Expensify. Expensify is one of the few profitable, multibillion-dollar tech companies out there, and went from 0 users to IPO by staying true to its vision. Anu shares how she stepped off the well-traversed path along with Expensify to create her own rocket launcher by ignoring detractors, challenging the norm, and trusting her ideas. More specifically, Anu covers: 1:49 - Not taking no for an answer without a fight 2022-09-0221 min
TractionPerfecting Your Investor Pitch with Anne Dwane, Village GlobalOn this episode, host Lloyed Lobo at Boast.AI welcomes Anne Dwane, Co-Founder & Partner at Village Global. Most investors spend only 1-3 minutes looking at a pitch deck, so how can you make sure that your pitch deck stands out from the crowd? It all starts with a great startup story when delivering your pitch. It isn't just a marketing tool: your company's startup story is—your mission, your goals, and the problems you're here to solve. It's a powerful resource that will help you find and build...2022-08-3046 min
TractionHow To Use Product Discovery To Accelerate Growth with Jim Morris, Product Discovery GroupOn this episode, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Jim Morris, the Founder of Product Discovery Group. There's no point in creating something that no one wants, yet so many teams skip the product discovery process. Even the most efficient process can’t make a bad idea good. Building untested ideas is risky and can cause lost time, wasted money, and low morale. Jim presents concrete techniques you can start using immediately to weed out bad ideas and focus on the good ones. Spec...2022-08-2357 min
TractionHow ZoomInfo Grew From Dorm Room to IPO and Over $1 Billion Revenue with Henry Schuck, ZoomInfoOn this episode, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Henry Schuck, CEO & Founder at ZoomInfo. Over the past five years, ZoomInfo has grown 10X to more than one billion in revenue with over 3,000 employees and 25,000 customers. Today, Henry joins us to share lessons from starting and growing the company from his dorm room to global scale. Specifically, Henry dives into: 2:32 - ZoomInfo's bootstrapped backstory 4:32 - Raising venture capital versus bootstrapping 7:26 - Finding your first customers 10:51 - Biggest challenges wit...2022-08-1859 min
TractionWinning During a Downturn – 7 Lessons From Building Gong to $7 Billion with Udi Ledergor at GongOn this episode, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Udi Ledergor, CMO at Gong. With massive shifts and uncertainty in the markets, most companies are working on defensive plans such as reducing spending and increasing cash. Defensive strategies might help companies survive, but in order to exit the current climate in a market-leading position, companies must learn to play offense. Udi shares his ideas on how to play offense during a downturn. He covers marketing topics such as demand, brand, channels, team, tools, and metrics. ...2022-08-121h 01
TractionFive Growth Lessons From Scaling to $75+ Million in Revenue with Jason VandeBoom at ActiveCampaignOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo welcomes Jason VandeBoom, Founder & CEO of ActiveCampaign. ActiveCampaign has managed to build a big business by taking some less-than-obvious paths. Jason shares his take on traditional growth strategies. He tells us why they don’t always make sense and gives a breakdown of the lessons learned from scaling the unscalable into a long term sustainable business. More specifically, Jason discusses: 0:56 - ActiveCampaign’s founding story 3:12 - Prioritize customer experiences over product experien...2022-08-0822 min
TractionLeveling Up: How To Master the Game of Life & Business with Eric Siu, Leveling UpOn this episode, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Eric Siu, Chairman of Single Grain and a serial entrepreneur, author, podcast host, investor, and advisor to many companies. In his youth, Eric was not academically or socially successful, but he was a serious high-level eSports and poker player. He ultimately found how to convert his focus and success in gaming into a very successful career in marketing. He recently published his book Leveling Up: How To Master the Game of Life, which shares a 15-level approach to winning the game. 2022-08-0340 min
TractionHow To Scale While Staying True to Your Mission and Values with Max Lytvyn, GrammarlyOn this episode, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Max Lytvyn, Co-Founder, Head of Revenue, and Board Member at Grammarly. Since 2009, Grammarly has grown into one of the most successful bootstrapped companies on the web. More than 30 million daily active users rely on its AI-powered digital writing assistant to help them communicate more clearly, effectively, and mistake-free. Today, Max shares how the company turned its mission and values into powerful practical tools to supercharge growth. Specifically, Max covers: 3:42 - The difference between valu...2022-07-2817 min
TractionThe Mistakes That Took Us From 0 to $6B in 18 Months with Yinon Costica, WizOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Yinon Costica, Co-Founder and VP of Product at Wiz. Explosive growth is every startup’s dream but it’s not easy. It’s rarely ever a linear path. Mistakes are inevitable. They can make or break your business’ success while you’re scaling your teams, troubleshooting your product, and onboarding your first clients. In this episode, Yinon shares the mistakes the team at Wiz made early on that ended up helping their business skyrocket int...2022-07-211h 03
TractionThe Playbook To Skyrocket Referrals & Turn Customers Into Spokespeople with Andres Botero, BlackLineOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Andres Botero, Chief Marketing Officer at BlackLine (Nasdaq: BL). A successful customer advocacy program turns loyal customers into spokespeople for your brand, making it one of the most effective forms of marketing. According to Gartner, more than 75% of B2B buyers consult three or more sources before they make a purchase decision. In this session, Andres shares the playbook for turning customers into spokespeople. Specifically, Andres covers: 3:47 - Skills that are fundamental to a m...2022-07-1856 min
TractionBuilding and Scaling Enterprise Sales Teams From 0 to $1 Billion with Craig Nile, CodatOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Craig Nile, VP Sales at Codat. With experience helping grow some of the biggest names in SaaS, such as Salesforce and Slack, Craig shares the playbook for building and scaling enterprise sales teams from zero to a billion. Specifically, Craig covers: 1:47 - The backstory behind the journey into sales 7:25 - When is the right time to bring in a sales leader? 11:10 - What the first 90 days look like as a new sales leader 14:13 - How smaller companies shou...2022-07-151h 06
TractionHow To Scale a Startup Into a Megabrand Using Speedboat Marketing with Chandar Pattabhiram, Coupa SoftwareOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Chandar Pattabhiram, Chief Marketing Officer at Coupa Software. With so much attention on Product-Market fit, many startups forget about Go-to-Market fit which is crucial for long term sustainable growth. Chandar discusses how to drive what he calls “speedboat marketing,” sharing strategies and hard-earned lessons from 25 years of scaling companies. Specifically, Chandar dives into: 4:11 - Why so many startups fail at "go to market fit" 6:39 - What is speedboat marketing? 9:08 - Key elements of s...2022-07-1355 min
TractionMarketing With $0: How Branch Grew to $4 Billion with Mada SegheteOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Mada Seghete, Co-Founder at Branch. Driving growth doesn’t always mean hiring a big team and spending a lot of money. It starts with prioritizing activities that have the biggest reach and impact at the best ROI and moving towards your goal with high velocity. In this session, Mada shares the growth playbook that took Branch from 0 to $4 billion. She covers topics such as channels, demand, brand, community, team, tools, and metrics. Specifically, Mada dives into: 3:32...2022-07-081h 08
Traction5 Founder Lessons From Building and Scaling TaskRabbitOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI features a talk by Leah Solivan, General Partner at Fuel Capital and Founder of TaskRabbit from the in-person Traction Conference. The idea for TaskRabbit came about in 2008 around the time the iPhone first launched, while Leah was living in Boston and bootstrapping the company. In the process of bootstrapping, the entire trajectory of her journey changed. She went from being an engineer at IBM with no network or entrepreneur friends, all the way to raising her first million do...2022-06-2925 min
TractionFundraising Lessons From Two Exits & a Unicorn with Waseem Daher, PilotOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Waseem Daher, Founder and CEO at Pilot.com. Fundraising is never easy, but the right preparation can make all the difference. Waseem joins us to share the KPIs and questions that investors look at during various stages of investment. Waseem is a three-time founder with two successful exits (Ksplice acquired by Oracle and Zulip acquired by Dropbox) and he has recently raised $100+ million from Jeff Bezos (and other notable funds) at a $1.2 billion val...2022-06-2752 min
TractionHow MongoDB Transformed From Sales-Led to Product-Led Leading to 20x Increase in Market Cap with Sahir AzamOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Sahir Azam, Chief Product Officer at MongoDB. Sahir shares how MongoDB transformed from a traditional software company—sales driven, longer cycles, etc.—into more of a consumer-style self-service model. Overseeing the growth of MongoDB’s Atlas, Sahir shares his learnings (the good, the bad, and the ugly) about building and bringing to market one of the fastest-growing cloud products of any scale (70% YoY, $400M ARR, 26K+ customers). In this session, Sahir discusses: 7:44...2022-06-2556 min
TractionClinching Your Series A with Mar Hershenson, Pear VCOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Mar Hershenson, Managing Partner at Pear VC. There is a lot of confusion among founders as to the right approach to raising a series A because each industry, whether it’s e-commerce, consumer, SaaS, or marketplace, has a different set of rules and tactics. In this session, Mar Hershenson, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Pear VC gives us a masterclass on clinching your Series A. Today, Mar covers the following topics: ...2022-06-2150 min
TractionHow To Nail Product Positioning So Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It with April Dunford, Ambient StrategyOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI features a talk on Product Positioning by April Dunford, Founder of Ambient Strategy and Author of Obviously Awesome from Traction Conference 2019. Positioning has an impact across all key product decisions, from roadmap to pricing. Buyers need context to understand new innovative offerings. Businesses that figure out how to set that context have a distinct advantage over those that don't. April provides a methodology for picking the right positioning strategy and shares examples from companies that repositioned their products or...2022-06-1629 min
TractionFrom Basement to Billions - How Qualtrics Did ItOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI features a fireside between Ryan Smith, Founder and Executive Chairman at Qualtrics, and Jason Lemkin, Founder at SaaStr from the in-person Traction Conf in San Francisco. Ryan shares his journey from a bootstrapped startup to a multi-billion dollar company and the challenges and learnings along the way. In this session, Ryan and Jason discuss: 1:01 - The Qualtrics founding story 7:14 - Stress of managing cashflow in the early days when the company was boo...2022-06-1333 min
TractionHow To Sell Your Startup with Mark Achler and Mert IseriOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Mark Achler, Managing Director of MATH Venture Partners, and Mert Iseri, Entrepreneur in Residence at MATH Venture Partners. A successful exit is a dream for many founders, but it often seems like a black box or a game of chance. So how do you bake an exit strategy into your business from day one, whether it’s an acquisition/selling your startup, a merger, an IPO, or something else? In this session, Mark and Mert share how to p...2022-06-101h 15
TractionHow To Raise Your Seed & Series A with Brian Ascher, VenrockOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI and Brian Ascher, Partner at Venrock dive into the top themes driving startup funding and how founders should think about raising capital in this market. Brian has had a successful career investing across unicorns, exits, and IPOs and has been named to the Forbes Midas List multiple times. Specifically, Brian dives into: 5:04 - What Brian looks for in founders when he invests 14:40 - What's driving decision making in VC today, particularly at the...2022-06-071h 02
TractionFrom Zero to $10M ARR & $160M Funding in Two Years with Vishal Sunak at LinkSquaresOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Vishal Sunak, Co-Founder and CEO at LinkSquares. LinkSquares has grown 1,000% in two years, with 400+ brands including Fitbit and Twilio as customers. The company was recently placed No. 253 on the annual Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Fresh off their $100M Series C funding at an $800M valuation, Vishal joins us to share the founders’ perspective of scaling a company to $10M ARR in 2 years and dives into all the challenges, lessons, triumphs, and failures that...2022-06-011h 12
TractionFive F'ups (& Learnings) from Building & Funding Unicorns with Harj Taggar, Y CombinatorOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI features a fireside chat between Harj Taggar, Partner at Y Combinator, and Alda Leu Dennis, General Partner at Initialized Capital from the in-person Traction Conference. Previously, Harj was a Co-founder and CEO at Triplebyte and Co-founder and President at Auctomatic. Harj was also the first seed investor in a number of unicorns including Instacart, Coinbase, Rippling, and Opendoor. In this episode, Harj dives into: 1:26 - How he became the first partner at Y Combinator 2022-05-3121 min
TractionScaling From $1M to $500M: Five Strategies To Drive Your Next Wave of Growth with Karen Peacock at IntercomOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Karen Peacock, CEO at Intercom which helps more than 25,000 companies including Amazon, Microsoft, and Shopify to engage and support their customers and prospects. Intercom has been named one of the top 100 private cloud companies globally by Forbes for five years in a row. Before joining Intercom, Karen served as the Senior Vice President of Small Business at Intuit, where she helped build one of the world’s largest SaaS product lines and grew it to $2.5B in revenue. On...2022-05-2722 min
TractionHow To Play Offense During a Downturn with Gokul RajaramOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Gokul Rajaram, CxO at DoorDash, Board member at Coinbase and Pinterest, and an angel investor in over 100 companies with more than 40 exits and unicorns. With massive shifts and uncertainty in the markets right now, the default for most companies is to work on a defensive plan to get through it all. Whilst defensive strategies might help a company survive, thriving is a different matter. To exit this current climate in a stronger, more competitive position, and to be...2022-05-2557 min
TractionThe State of Venture Capital and Getting to $100M ARR with Byron Deeter, Bessemer Venture PartnersOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Byron Deeter, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. With massive shifts and uncertainty in the markets right now, founders, CEOs, CFOs, and board members alike want to know what the new rules are to play by. In this episode join Byron for a deep dive on what's going on in Venture Capital and how you can build a cloud unicorn in the current climate. Byron started as a SaaS CEO and has invested in pro...2022-05-1857 min
TractionPartnership Lessons from Scaling Stripe & Notion from Zero to billions with Cristina CordovaOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Cristina Cordova, Partner at First Round Capital. Partnerships are one of the most effective forms of marketing, but one of the most difficult to predict and scale. In this session, Cristina pulls from across her decade-long career running partnerships at Stripe and Notion to share the inside scoop on deals that had an unexpected outsized impact — as well as the ones that went sideways. Specifically, Cristina discusses: 2:09 - What are par...2022-05-1753 min
TractionTrello’s Journey From Idea to 20M Users and $425M Exit with Michael Pryor, TrelloOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI features a fireside chat between Michael Pryor, Cofounder at Trello and Frederic Lardinois from TechCrunch at Traction Conf. When Atlassian acquired Trello for $425 Million in 2017, the product had nearly 20 million users, all through word-of-mouth. In this session, Michael shares his journey building Trello from idea to exit and discusses how to build products that everyone loves. Specifically, Michael covers: 1:32 - Coming up with the idea and the launch process 10:4...2022-05-1128 min
TractionHow To Build High-Performing Software Teams From 0 to IPO with Alok Tyagi, Boast.AIOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Alok Tyagi, CEO at Boast.AI. You raised a big round of funding and hired a pedigreed big company CTO but now, a few months in, you’re concerned that the team is not shipping as fast as they used to. Startups are built in stages, from idea to product-market fit and scale. The kind of product and engineering playbook you implement for your stage will make all the difference between hypergrowth and missing the boat. 2022-05-0952 min
TractionThe Rise of Usage-Based Pricing with Patrick Malatack and Kyle PoyarOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Patrick Malatack, Partner at Matrix Partners and Kyle Poyar, Partner at OpenView. Is the end of subscription pricing near? Research from OpenView states that companies with usage-based pricing grow 38% faster... Of the IPOs over the last three years, seven out of nine that had the best net dollar retention all have a usage-based model. Welcome to a new era of software buying, where customers pay for the value they receive from the products. Leveraging...2022-05-0551 min
TractionHow to Reach $10M ARR on a Shoestring Budget with Matt Epstein, RipplingOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Matt Epstein, Chief Marketing Officer at Rippling. Not many CMOs have grown a company from $0 to billion dollar valuation in record time. Matt has done it twice. Matt was employee #1 at Zenefits, where he created a leading HR brand and helped grow the company from $0 to $65M ARR. Today he leads Marketing at HR unicorn Rippling, where he's taken big bets. In this session, Matt shares his tips for driv...2022-05-0245 min
TractionThe Highs and Lows of Fundraising with Founders of Expensify, LaunchDarkly, Coda, and SaaStrOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI features a panel he moderated at the recent SaaStr Annual Conference with the founders of Expensify, Coda, LaunchDarkly, and SaaStr. Panelists: Shishir Mehrotra, Co-Founder and CEO, Coda Edith Harbaugh, Co-Founder and CEO, LaunchDarkly David Barrett, Founder and CEO, Expensify Jason Lemkin, Founder and CEO, SaaStr You'll hear about the highs and lows of fundraising, working with a VC board, and real talk about what it really is like to be a...2022-04-2748 min
TractionHow To Build & Scale a Marketplace From $0 to $Billions with Matt MickiewiczOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI features a fireside chat between Matt Mickiewicz, Co-founder of 99designs, Hired, SitePoint, and Flippa, and Andy McLoughlin Partner at Uncork Capital from the IRL Traction Conference. Matt shares his secrets to building disruptive multibillion-dollar marketplaces. Specifically, he covers: 1:19 - Back story on how he got into doing some of the most popular marketplaces of the last decade 2:25 - Interacting with professionals at just 14 years old 3:47 - Key learnings from building 99designs, Flippa, and SitePoint ...2022-04-2620 min
Traction5 Questions To Unleash Your Company's Hidden Power with Matt Hulett, PetMedsOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Matt Hulett, CEO and President at PetMeds, and Author of Unlock: 5 Questions to Unleash Your Company's Hidden Power. Previously, Matt was the President of Expedia and Rosetta Stone. Whether you're starting a new business or bringing an existing one to the next level, it can be daunting. Instead of wasting months and large sums of money on an extensive strategic planning process, join Matt as he walks through his five-step strategy to determine how to unlock value in...2022-04-2251 min
TractionHow To Do PR With No Budget with Gina Gotthilf, LatitudOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Gina Gotthilf, Co-Founder at Latitud. PR can be a game-changer but for many startups, PR begins and ends with receiving a nod from TechCrunch. While TechCrunch is a great publication (and a mention from it is no small feat), there’s a lot more that goes into a winning PR strategy. Gina shares how you can use PR tactics with no budget to grow your business. Previously, Gina led growth at Duolingo, where she helped grow the orga...2022-04-2150 min
Traction4 Rules to Navigate Uncertainty & Build a Billion-Dollar Company with John Kim, SendbirdOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes John S. Kim, Co-Founder and CEO of Sendbird. Sendbird is the world's no.1 chat API, serving over 100M monthly chat users across leading companies such as Reddit, Delivery Hero, Yahoo!, Rakuten, Paytm, Accolade, Livongo, and DHL. John shares the four techniques that enabled his company to become a billion-dollar company at breakneck speed. Specifically, John covers: 2:37 - Career pivots from software engineer to gamer 4:35 - What made him...2022-04-151h 07
TractionThe Product-Led Growth Playbook for the Enterprise with Annie Pearl, CPO, CalendlyOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Annie Pearl, Chief Product Officer at Calendly. As more and more enterprises put employees in the driver’s seat to pick the right tools for their organizations, product leaders have put more emphasis than ever on end-to-end users. With everything from pricing to packaging being looked over very deliberately, will the final product frustrate those users or delight them? Annie shares insights on how to build and drive product-led growth (PLG) for the enterprise. Specifically, Annie discusses:2022-04-111h 00
TractionThe Science of Scaling From Zero to Billions with Mark Roberge, Stage 2 CapitalOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Mark Roberge, Managing Director at Stage 2 Capital. Previously, Mark was the CRO at HubSpot seeing it from the earliest stages through post-IPO. “When to scale?” and “How fast?” are two mission-critical questions for start-ups, yet most entrepreneurs lack a rigorous approach to answering them. After peeking inside the go-to-market machinery of hundreds of start-ups over the last decade, Mark Roberge shares a scientific, data-driven approach to go from zero to billion fast. In this episod...2022-04-0759 min
TractionThe Fuel Powering Enduring, Multi-Billion Dollar Businesses with Sarah Tavel, BenchmarkOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI features a talk by Sarah Tavel, General Partner at Benchmark from the IRL Traction Conference in Vancouver. Sarah started her career at Bessemer Venture Partners, and invested in Pinterest when it was a small five person company with about 30,000 registered users. She loved the company so much that she joined Pinterest to become their first product manager. Sarah led product at Pinterest through a period of hyper-growth, and when she left the company they had 100 million monthly active users. In this session, S...2022-04-0518 min
TractionReverse Freemium: How To Go From Sales-Led to Product-Led To Drive Growth with Oji Udezue and Michael LittOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Oji Udezue, Product Lead at Twitter (and former CPO at Calendly) and Michael Litt, Co-Founder and CEO at Vidyard. The most successful IPOs and fastest-growing private companies of the past decade all started with a freemium, self-service product. Zoom, Atlassian, Slack, Dropbox are just a few. But building a freemium, self-service product when you already have a successful enterprise business can seem like a daunting task. There are a million questions: “Will it canni...2022-03-301h 14
TractionSh*t VCs Say with Jason Lemkin and Justin KanOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Jason Lemkin, Founder at SaaStr, and Justin Kan, Co-Founder at Fractal.is. Justin co-founded Kiko Software, a Web 2.0 calendar that pre-dated Google Calendar by four years; Justin.tv, a lifecasting platform; Twitch, a live streaming platform for esports, music, and other creatives that was acquired by Amazon for almost $1 billion. More recent roles include Partner and GM at Y Combinator and CEO of Atrium, a software-powered law firm for startups. He is now a general partner at Goat Capital as well a...2022-03-2929 min
TractionEmbedding Fintech Into Your Products to Drive Growth with Matt Harris, Bain Capital VenturesOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Matt Harris, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. Want the key to unlocking the next unicorn? Today, more and more companies are embedding finance (payments, lending, insurance, etc.) into their products — not only to drive growth and revenue but also to stay competitive. Starbucks has the second most used payments application in the United States and they’re not a bank. Analysts estimate Shopify’s payments revenue to grow faster than their Subscription & Services revenue stream. Toast, a $2.7B restau...2022-03-2357 min
TractionBest Practices for Raising Your Seed & Series A with Patrick Lor, Panache VenturesOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Patrick Lor, Managing Partner at Panache Ventures. Patrick joins us to share the top themes driving startup funding and how founders should think about fundraising in this market. Specifically, Patrick discusses: 1:17- A walk through Patrick's journey 4:12 - How should founders think about fundraising and valuations? 13:08 - How should founders approach their funding round and relationships? 19:39 - How do startup founders provide value to VCs? 30:42 - Pat...2022-03-1652 min
TractionHubSpot's Playbook for Industry Domination with Kipp Bodnar, HubSpotOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Kipp Bodnar, CMO at HubSpot. Today’s most innovative companies will have a media company embedded in them - that’s what Kipp believes. HubSpot, Salesforce, Amex, and Adobe are a few companies that have leveraged this strategy to drive multibillion-dollar outcomes. Kipp oversees all demand generation activity worldwide, building out the EMEA and APAC marketing teams, and managing HubSpot’s field marketing, localization, strategic partnerships, and social media efforts. He also serves as a marketing advisor for SaaS...2022-03-1446 min
TractionStreet Fighting My Way From $0 to IPO With Greg Smith, ThinkificOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Greg Smith, CEO and Co-Founder of Thinkific. With over 400+ employees and 10M+ students, tech unicorn Thinkific brings the incredible power of education and business to entrepreneurs across the globe. Greg shares his lessons learned from building Thinkific from 0 to IPO through navigating many hard fought battles. Specifically, Greg shares: 5:12 - Finding early customers and product-market fit 13:31 - How customer acquisition has evolved from the early days 17:15 - The l...2022-03-091h 02
TractionThe Playbook for High-Performing Boards with Michelle Zatlyn, Shawn Abbott, and Mahendra RamsinghaniOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Michelle Zatlyn, Co-Founder & COO at Cloudflare, Shawn Abbott, Partner at Inovia Capital, and Mahendra Ramsinghani, Founder at Secure Octane & Author at Startup Boards. Together, they give us a masterclass on building high-performing boards and productive relationships. Topics covered include: 12:22 - What do investors expect from founders when it comes to their board? 23:52 - Why momentum is the source of all authority you have as a founder 32:49 - Working through imposter syndrome 42:44 - R...2022-02-281h 01
TractionWinning in Highly Saturated Markets with Rishi Mandal, FutureOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Rishi Mandal, Co-Founder and CEO of Future. You hear the term ‘saturated market' and, naturally, you are struck with the fear of limited growth. But a competitive market also shows that there’s a real demand, and with that comes customers. You just need to out-innovate and outgrow the competition. Future, backed by Kate Hudson, Kleiner Perkins, SC.Holdings, Trustbridge Partners, Founders Fund, and Khosla Ventures, is a 1:1 digital personal training experience that is winn...2022-02-2152 min
TractionAtlassian's Transformational Change Playbook for Exponential Growth with Anu Bharadwaj, AtlassianOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Anu Bharadwaj, Chief Operating Officer at Atlassian. Anu shares how to start a movement in your organization to encourage, inspire, and motivate your employees to drive transformational change and exponential growth. The most successful companies of the last decade, from Amazon to Netflix and Microsoft, have been through transformational changes. Great companies must develop the muscle to transform if they want to last — and movements make those changes possible. In this session, Anu discu...2022-02-141h 03
TractionHow to 10x Your SaaS with Jason Lemkin, SaaStrOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Jason Lemkin, Trusted Advisor at SaaStr. Jason, who is often regarded as the godfather of SaaS, shares 10 things you can do to grow 10x faster in 2022. Jason runs SaaStr, the world's largest SaaS community and $100M+ SaaS venture fund. Previously, Jason founded the web's most popular electronic signature service, EchoSign, which he grew to over $100M in revenue and sold to Adobe. Prior to EchoSign and SaaStr, he co-founded one of the only succ...2022-02-091h 11
TractionSeven Lessons From Starting, Scaling and Selling Two Startups with Nick Mehta, GainsightOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Nick Mehta, Chief Executive Officer at Gainsight. The goal of every startup is to exit via IPO, and if not, then by way of acquisition. But what should founders know about the process of getting there? Everything — from turning an idea into a scalable business to seeking potential buyers to what the reality of being owned by a larger company entails. Nick's first CEO role, at LiveOffice, led to the sale of the company in 2012 by Symantec for...2022-02-0755 min
TractionSuperhuman's Playbook to Build 10X Products with Rahul Vohra, SuperhumanOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Rahul Vohra, Founder and CEO at Superhuman. How do you build products that are 10X better than the competition? It almost always starts with a counterintuitive approach to the conventional. Rahul is one of the rare founders and product builders with this conviction, building the fastest email experience in the world. Rahul was previously the founder of Rapportive, acquired by LinkedIn in 2014. Rahul shares his frameworks on game design, customer onboarding, product development, pos...2022-02-0254 min
TractionLessons From Disrupting Two Archaic Industries with Eren Bali, Carbon HealthOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Eren Bali, Co-Founder and CEO at Carbon Health. Eren previously founded Udemy and helped pioneer the online learning industry. Now, he's disrupting healthcare with Carbon Health and has grown the company 7x since January 2020, increasing its clinic footprint from 7 to 27 clinics, introducing virtual care to 16 states, and facilitating over 500K Covid-19 tests. Specifically, Eren covers: 4:05 - The decision to start Carbon Health after pioneering a whole new industry 12:35 - Key learnings fro...2022-01-3158 min
TractionHow the Hell Do You Get More Leads These Days? With Meagen Eisenberg, TripActionsOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Meagen Eisenberg, Chief Marketing Officer at TripActions. Meagen is one of the most sought-after marketing leaders and has won a number of accolades, including Most Influential Marketing Tech Leaders and Top 25 B2B Marketing Influencers. She spent more than 20 years growing and scaling tech companies through many acquisitions and IPOs, including prior roles as CMO of MongoDB (NASDAQ: MDB) and VP of Demand Generation at DocuSign (NASDAQ: DOCU). In this session, Meagen addresses:...2022-01-2655 min
TractionHow to Expand Your Culture to Build High Performing Companies with Kerel Cooper, LiveIntent, Inc.On this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Kerel Cooper, Chief Marketing Officer at LiveIntent, Inc. Hiring has turned into gatekeeping, but building a great company is not about selecting people who fit your existing culture and keeping out those who don’t. Culture should expand like your business. Just like we want people to contribute new skills and ideas, people should be able to contribute to a new culture. Ultimately, openness is the biggest and most indispensable enabler of growth. According to Gartner, 75% of organizations with frontline decision-making teams reflecting a broad and...2022-01-2545 min
TractionHow Noah Kagan Makes $30M+ From AppSumo, & Lessons from Starting & Marketing 24 StartupsOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Noah Kagan, Chief Sumo and CEO at AppSumo. Noah started his career as employee #30 at Facebook, before getting fired and losing $185M in company shares. He was then #4 at Mint.com and built their first 100K customers as director of marketing. Today Noah runs two multimillion-dollar businesses: AppSumo and Sumo.com. But along the way, he's launched 24 businesses. In this discussion, Noah will go through EVERY business idea he's had and executed on over two decades. And h...2022-01-191h 04
TractionHow to Use Data Feedback Loops to Build Massive Moats with Tomasz Tunguz, Redpoint VenturesOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Tomasz Tunguz, Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures and co-author of Winning with Data. To build a massive long-term sustainable business, you need strong defensive moats around your company. However, the dramatic shifts in technology are rendering traditional moats useless and leaving companies feeling like it’s almost impossible to build a defensible business. Tomasz shares a unique look at SaaS and data ecosystems, and offers a proposal for novel SaaS architecture to erect huge barriers to entry. Sp...2022-01-1749 min
TractionExponential Growth Ninjutsu From 0 to IPO with Brian Rothenberg, defy.vcOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Brian Rothenberg, Partner at defy.vc. Finding exponential growth is the holy grail of every startup, but many fail in pursuit of it. Brian’s career has spanned every stage of startup growth, from scrappy zero to triumphant IPO. He founded SkillSlate which was acquired by TaskRabbit (acq. Ikea), then went on to scale Eventbrite’s $5B+ growth engine as VP of Growth and helped them to IPO. Today, Brian is investing in and advising early-stage startups. 2022-01-1258 min
TractionApplyBoard’s Growth Journey From Zero to Billions with Martin Basiri, ApplyBoardOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Martin Basiri, co-founder and CEO at ApplyBoard. ApplyBoard is the world’s largest online platform for international student recruitment, with over 750 employees in 20 countries. It has recently closed its latest round of financing and the company is now valued at $1.4 billion. In this session, Martin shares the secrets and lessons learned from their exponential growth journey. Specifically, they discuss: 7:23 - What early customer development looked like 11:09 - Coming up with the idea and getting to pro...2022-01-1053 min
TractionDesigning for Hyper-Growth with Elad Gil, Startup HelperOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Startup Helper, Elad Gil. The Information recently had a cover article with the headline, “The Rise of Elad Gil, Silicon Valley’s Biggest Solo Venture Capitalist.” Investing in one or two unicorns is already magic, but Elad has invested in over 40, including helping companies like Airbnb, Gitlab, Gusto, Instacart, Notion, Stripe, Square, Google, and Twitter navigate the hyper-growth phase by sharing his playbook. Specifically, we discuss: 6:51 - Coming up with the idea and getting to product...2022-01-051h 04
TractionLessons From Building Two $5 Billion+ Products with Shiven Ramji, Auth0On this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Shiven Ramji, chief product officer at Auth0. Building a developer product is probably one of the hardest things for startups to build, because you're selling to people who don't really hold the budget. What are the fundamentals (or secrets) to building successful developer products and companies? Shiven has built two successful products and brands at Auth0 and DigitalOcean. Both companies recently had exits of $5B+ but have had different growth motions—product-led and sales-led. Shiven shares his le...2022-01-0454 min
Traction10 Secrets of Scaling to a Billion-Dollar Company with Laurie Schultz, GalvanizeOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Laurie Schultz who was most recently CEO at Galvanize which was acquired for $1 billion.. Early-stage startups often act like pirates, fighting to scale in pursuit of treasure while being rough around the edges and breaking things along the way. But eventually, it comes time to evolve into something more like the navy—still heroic, but disciplined and polished in its approach, with a long-term view. Laurie Schultz recently sold Galvanize for $1 billion. In this...2022-01-0356 min
TractionA Bootstrapper's Guide to $500 Million in Revenue with Sridhar Vembu, Zoho CorporationOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Sridhar Vembu, founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation (moderated by Frederic Lardinois at TechCrunch). Sridhar built Zoho, a software product firm valued at over a billion dollars, without a rupee of external funding—almost completely bootstrapped. Months before the pandemic, he moved from Silicon Valley to a village in Tamil Nadu, where he is now based. Years before Atmanirbhar Bharat became a slogan, Sridhar championed the cause of self-reliance and the creation of local employment. We hear abou...2021-12-1533 min
TractionSuper Founders: What Data Reveals About Billion Dollar Startups with Ali Tamaseb, DCVCOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Ali Tamaseb, partner at Data Collective Venture Capital (DCVC). What are the key traits of billion dollar startups? Ali embarked on a journey to answer that question with real data. In the process, he has collected the largest data set on startups (30,000+ data points) to analyze every piece of them and understand what makes super founders and unicorns. What makes this even more incredible is the fact that he did t...2021-12-1358 min
TractionShopify on Building & Scaling Engineering Teams in Fast Growth Remote Culture with Farhan Thawar, ShopifyOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Farhan Thawar, VP of engineering at Shopify, a global commerce company that provides tools to start, grow, market, and manage retail businesses of all sizes. Farhan studied computer science despite his parents’ disapproval, which was because at the time there were computers but no computer industry to speak of and very few job opportunities. He ended up with a job at the food giant Kraft. It turns out his choice to work with computers was the right one...2021-12-081h 00
TractionThe Playbook for Building Two Unicorns in a Row with Jyoti Bansal, HarnessOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Jyoti Bansal, CEO and co-founder of Harness. There’s a .00006% chance of becoming a billion-dollar company. Now imagine building two in your lifetime. Is it luck, or is there strategy involved? Jyoti is an engineer turned serial entrepreneur with 2x unicorns. Harness recently attained unicorn status with a $1.7B valuation alongside his previous unicorn AppDynamics, which he sold to Cisco in 2017 for $3.7 billion. With a belief that software has the ability to change the world, Jyoti builds pr...2021-12-0658 min
TractionThe People Playbook Behind Multi-Billion Dollar Companies with Mandy Sebel, Radian CapitalOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Mandy Sebel, operating partner, people and talent at Radian Capital and former chief people officer at UiPath. Mandy has spent many years in the people and culture space, so we talked about everything from recruiting to onboarding to building a culture that fosters high retention. Mandy believes that early-stage companies should bring in a leader of people and culture as soon as they can afford it. It is a critical role because attracting and retaining top talent in any organization is t...2021-11-3058 min
TractionThe Marketing Playbook for Multi Billion Dollar IPOs with Vidya Peters, MarqetaOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Vidya Peters, chief marketing officer and interim chief product officer at Marqeta, a card issuing and payment processing company that broke many records with an IPO valuation of $16 billion. Following her love of math and science, Vidya studied engineering as an undergraduate student. She says her career path was like skiing down moguls, you know where you are starting but you don’t know exactly where you’re going. In her case, she ended up in tech marketing. When s...2021-11-291h 00
TractionHow To Build High Performing Software Teams, with Jeff Lawson, TwilioOn this episode of the Traction podcast, host Lloyed Lobo of Boast.AI welcomes Jeff Lawson, CEO and Co-Founder of Twilio, for a lively discussion about how to build high performing software teams. Jeff goes over his career journey, which included stops at Stub Hub and Amazon before starting Twilio. Along the way, he discovered that it is difficult to put in the time and energy needed to build a product or service if you aren’t passionate about it. The way to get developers passionate about what they’re doing is to gi...2021-10-2754 min