Shows
The Peel with Turner NovakHow to Skip Your Seed, Pre-Seed Lessons Building Afore to $500M+ AUM | Anamitra BanerjiAnamitra Banerji is the Co-founder of Afore Capital, an SF-based VC firm that specializes in investing in pre-seed stage companies.Our conversation gets into the evolution of Pre-Seed as a category, why Pre-Seed is more than option checks, what Afore looks for when backing founders before they even have a product, how to skip your Seed and go straight to a Series A, and how to run a fundraise process.We also get into Afore’s Founder in Residence program, why every VC started an accelerator, how AI is ch...2025-06-121h 35
The Peel with Turner NovakSamsara’s Journey to $26B Public Company | Sanjit Biswas, Co-founder and CEOSanjit Biswas is the Co-founder and CEO of Samsara, the fleet management and safety platform.At the time of publication, Samsara is a public company worth over $26 billion, and we unpack how exactly they went from zero to run rating at over $1.5 billion in revenue in ten years.We get into using AI to impact the physical world, how Samsara uses AI internally, and how their products prevent over 200,000 deaths per year.Sanjit has built two unicorns, and he shares everything he’s learned al...2025-05-291h 32
The Peel with Turner NovakMichael Kim @ Cendana | Lessons from the Top VCs, How Cendana Does Diligence, Portfolio Construction Best Practices, the 60x Rule, How Seed Funds Compete vs Multi-stage, Inside Cendana's Early DaysMichael Kim is the Founder of Cendana Capital, a fund of funds that makes anchor investments in very early stage VC funds.We talk characteristics of the best investors, how Cendana does diligence on fund managers, portfolio construction best practices, Michael’s “60x rule”, and why high ownership to fund size is the main driver of returns.We also get in to how VCs are using AI, the competition between Seed and multi-stage investors, why US endowments are under siege, and how secondaries are driving most early stage venture return...2025-05-221h 54
The Peel with Turner NovakHow AI Changes Governments & Business Models, From $11 to $187M Exit | Mike Vichich, PursuitMike Vichich is the Co-founder and CEO of Pursuit, which helps companies generate more revenue from the public sector.We talk about how AI is changing Helmer’s 7 Powers, how it’s impacting the government, if DOGE is actually working, building a startup in the Midwest, and how to disagree with your team.We also get into Mike’s prior company Wisely, and how they went from $11 in the bank account and unable to pay payroll for six months, to over $10 million ARR and a $187 million exit to Olo, a public company.Thanks to Jac...2025-05-151h 47
The Peel with Turner NovakUltimate Startup Growth Playbook, Using AI to Automate Operations | Sam Ross, NumeralSam Ross is the Co-founder and CEO of Numeral.This conversation is a master class on all things growth at the zero to one stage. We talk early growth lessons from Airbnb, and stories from being one of the largest, earliest Facebook advertisers.We get into working backwards from pockets of strong demand to find business ideas, how to establish early social proof around your product, why you shouldn’t hire a growth person as your first growth hire, how he raised Numeral’s Series A in four days, and why sales tax is so comp...2025-05-082h 01
The Peel with Turner NovakScaling Amplitude to $300M ARR with Co-founder and CEO Spenser SkatesSpenser Skates is the Co-founder and CEO of Amplitude.Our conversation gets into the importance of data in product design and company building, how Amplitude is thinking about AI, and the future of user responsive software.We also get into the early days of building Amplitude, when to go multi-product, how to construct your board as a startup, hiring executives at various company stages, lessons from closing three acquisitions, lessons scaling to $300 million in ARR, inside Amplitude’s 2021 IPO, and what most people get wrong about Founder Mode....2025-05-011h 44
The Peel with Turner NovakLessons Going Zero to $40M ARR in Two Years | Dan Lorenc, ChainguardDan Lorenc is the Co-founder and CEO of Chainguard, the safe source for open source.The internet runs on free, open source software. But as its risen in popularity, its become the latest attack point targeted by hackers and nation states.This conversation with Dan gets into the history of open source software, cloud computing, Linux, the software supply chain, how AI will impact it, and what the next big cyber attack will look like.Dan is an engineer, but he also loves sales...2025-04-241h 14
The Peel with Turner NovakSurviving Two Seed Extensions, Fixing Auth for AI Agents | Clerk Founder & CEO Colin SidotiColin Sidoti is the Co-founder and CEO of Clerk, the best way to build authentication and user management.I loved this conversation, because Colin is currently in the arena building Clerk. It has not been easy, and he takes us inside some of the harder moments of the past six years.We hit on three main themes: authentication; lessons raising multiple hard Seed extensions in the early days, including a recap before the A, and the demo that got a16z to invest; and things AI and MCP.2025-04-171h 39
The Peel with Turner NovakBuilding Verkada, the $4.5B Physical Security Company | Filip Kaliszan, Founder and CEOFilip Kaliszan is the Founder & CEO of Verkada, the physical security company.Verkada started in 2016 by building the best camera for physical security teams, and has since evolved into a full suite of security products for buildings. Filip takes us inside Verkada’s rapid growth to almost a billion in annual revenue, over 2,000 employees, and raising capital from investors like Sequoia, Meritech, First Round, General Catalyst, and Next47.We get into how AI and LLMs are changing hardware, the power of customer therapy, how Filip iterated on early startup ideas, inside Verkada’s very difficult firs...2025-04-101h 42
The Peel with Turner NovakForage: The Trillion Dollar Opportunity in Restricted Payments | Ofek LavianOfek Lavian is the Co-founder and CEO of Forage, the mission driven payments company.This is a special episode, because I’m an investor in Forage, and Ofek shares everything he’s learned building the company. We go deep on food stamps, also known as EBT or SNAP, the government program that provides over $200 billion dollars per year in benefits that help 42 million low income Americans buy food.Our conversation gets into lessons from Ofek’s time leading payments teams at Uber and Instacart, building Instacart’s EBT program up to 40 employees and 10% of its total re...2025-04-031h 13
The Peel with Turner NovakHow the World’s Most Active Angel Investor Operates | Ed Lando, Founder of Pareto HoldingsEd Lando is the Co-founder of Pareto, where he’s been an early investor in over 25 unicorns, started and incubated over 10 companies, and was recently named the most active angel investor in the world according to Crunchbase.We get into how Ed first got started angel investing, how he built up deal flow, why he’s historically kept a low profile, and why he hasn’t raised outside capital.We also talk concentration vs diversification, why there’s many ways to build successful companies, advice on hiring your first employee...2025-03-201h 44
The Peel with Turner NovakAlloy’s Unconventional Path to $1.5B with Tommy Nicholas, Co-founder and CEOTommy Nicholas is the Co-founder and CEO of Alloy, the identity and fraud prevention platform trusted by over 700 financial service companies.Our conversation explores the early days of fintech, why more consumer financial protections actually lead to more fraud, and gets into the weeds of various tactics he’s learned building a technical platform company like Alloy.We talk about embracing that the hard parts of company building are actually the best parts, why you’re most likely to give up when things first start getting better, using hands-on sales implementations in the early days to g...2025-03-141h 29
The Peel with Turner NovakThe $750 Billion AI Opportunity in Customer Service | Mike Murchison, Co-founder and CEO of AdaMike Murchison is the Co-founder and CEO of Ada, the AI-powered customer service automation platform.Ada’s product and scale puts Mike at the forefront at how AI is changing software and labor markets, and this conversation felt like both a glimpse into the future, and a look into the past, at a story of pure grit and determination, working seven customer service jobs at once.We talk about why management capabilities becomes even more important in AI-native companies, how customer service is changing from a cost center to a...2025-03-061h 32
The Peel with Turner NovakWhy Founders are Moving to Chattanooga, Tennessee to Lock-in | Cam Doody at BrickyardCam Doody is the Co-founder and General Partner of Brickyard, the venture capital firm moving founders to Chattanooga, Tennessee to lock-in with no distractions until they find product market fit.Brickyard is one of the most unique venture firms you’ll ever come across, and we get into how it how it was inspired by a 16x fund based in Chattanooga, why Cam and his co-founders started it during ZIRP, and why they hope everyone copies their model.We also get into Cam’s startup Bellhops, which he started in 2011 and has since grown into the...2025-02-271h 45
The Peel with Turner NovakZero to $20m ARR in Two Months: Inside Bolt’s 7-Year Journey to Overnight Success | Eric Simons, Co-founder & CEOEric Simons is the Co-founder and CEO of StackBlitz, best known for its breakout product Bolt, letting anyone build full stack apps from text, in the browser.Bolt launched in October of 2024, quickly growing from zero to a $20 million revenue run rate in two months, making it one of the fastest growing products ever. But Eric will be the first to tell you it wasn’t an overnight success - the product didn’t even work the first time they tried building it.We go behind the scenes of the seven year journey building the tech...2025-02-201h 52
The Peel with Turner NovakRick Zullo on Building Equal Ventures, Why Traction is Overrated, Advice for Emerging ManagersRick Zullo is the Founder of Equal Ventures. Our conversation gets into Equal’s unique approach to venture capital, thinking more like public market and private equity investors, and why they also think traction is overrated at Seed.We talk through Equal’s thesis-driven model, employing a team of product owners, only investing in only 3 to 5 themes at once, and Rick’s admiration of Charlie Munger.We also talk AI - who will benefit the most, what he does and doesn’t like in terms of investing in the space, why venture capital is not really v...2025-02-131h 39
The Peel with Turner NovakIllegal Immigrant to $160m Fund 1: Inside Villi Iltchev’s Journey Building Category VenturesVilli Iltchev is the founder of Category Ventures, where he invests early in enterprise software startups. And he’s done it longer than almost anyone, building Salesforce’s corporate venture arm and investing early in companies like Airtable, Zapier, GitLab, Remote, Hubspot, Gusto, and Box.
Fresh off raising his $160m Fund 1, we get into the opportunity he saw to start Category, and how San Francisco and Silicon Valley have changed over the past 30 years.
He also shares his story growing up as an illegal immigrant in Greece, moving to the...2025-02-061h 49
The Peel with Turner NovakGovtech + Drones Crash Course, Lessons From 2 Exits | Rahul SidhuRahul Sidhu is the co-founder of SPIDRTech and Aerodome, two companies in the public safety space.
He’s sold both of them, and our conversation unpacks all the lessons he learned, what he did differently with his second company Aerodome, and why he sold only 17 months after starting it.
If you tuned into last week’s episode, Paul told us to never talk to the cops. Rahul gives us the other side of the story, sharing his playbook for selling to police, the government, how he met Nikita Bier in high school, and why...2025-01-301h 28
The Peel with Turner NovakRobinhood Co-founder Baiju Bhatt on the Journey to $40B, Building Space Solar Power with LasersYou’re probably familiar with Baiju Bhatt’s work as the co-founder of Robinhood. But he’s also obsessed with space, and recently started Aetherflux, a space solar power company.We get into the physics of using lasers to beam solar power to the Earth, Aetherflux’s early roadmap, and how he went from zero to one going from building software to physical products.We also talk through the early days of Robinhood, getting turned down by hundreds of early investors, the accidental launch, how to know if you really have product market fit, how Aaron Levie at Box h...2025-01-161h 17
The Peel with Turner NovakSheel Mohnot on All Things Fintech, Starting Better Tomorrow VenturesSheel Mohnot is the Co-founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures, an early stage fintech focused fund leading rounds in pre-seed and seed-stage companies.Our conversation weaves through Sheel’s two decades of building and investing in fintech, starting BTV, and why they started a fintech-focused accelerator, The Mint.Fun facts on Sheel, he was a contestant on the Zoom Bachelor during COVID lockdowns, in a Justin Bieber music video, got married in the Taco Bell Metaverse, and was once banned from Uber.We talk lessons competing against Stripe before selling his first company, common fintech startup pitfalls, an...2025-01-091h 32
The Peel with Turner NovakLife360's 17-Year Journey to $3B | Chris Hulls, Founder and CEOChris Hulls is the co-founder and CEO of Life360, the social network for families. At the time of recording, its the 15th largest app in the US, with over $330 million in annual revenue, and valued at over $3 billion in the public markets.We go inside the two decade journey building Life360, competing against Sam Altman and Woz, almost getting cancelled on TikTok, and going public twice - first in Australia, then again in the US.Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(02:04) Why CEO’s are getting more authentic(04:59) Building a social network for family(08:14) Starting Li...2025-01-021h 21
The Peel with Turner NovakUnlocking AGI With Visual AI Agents | Joseph Nelson, RoboflowJoseph Nelson is the Co-founder and CEO of Roboflow, making the world programmable by building computer vision tools for developers and enterprises.
We talk about how computer vision creates a new paradigm to program the world, and how visual AI is the missing piece of AGI.
Joseph also shares multiple live product examples, how computer vision unlocks new data sources, lessons from Stripe and Palantir, building business models in developer tools, his experience working with David Sacks, and developer marketing tactics and how Roboflow consistently gets to the front page of Hacker...2024-12-191h 57
The Peel with Turner NovakHow Morning Brew Grew to 6 Million Subscribers and $70 Million Revenue in Six Years | Austin Rief, Co-founder & CEOAustin Rief is the Co-founder & CEO of Morning Brew, building the Wall Street Journal for the next generation. They started the company in 2017, and grew it to 6 million subscribers and $70 million in revenue in six years.
We talk through the journey starting Morning Brew with Co-founder Alex Lieberman while students at the University of Michigan, and Austin's playbook for starting a new media company from scratch today. We get into the creator economy, early stage investing, ad based business models, being the first advertiser on Instagram Stories, advice for hiring, and his secret for sourcing remote talent...2024-12-121h 13
The Peel with Turner NovakThe Startup Teaching 2-Year Olds to Read | Niels Hoven, MentavaNiels Hoven is the founder of Mentava, building software to accelerate kids’ education, starting with teaching two year old’s to read.
We talk about how public education isn’t designed for ambitious kids, the power of hater marketing, product design from zero to one, how too much data leads to Frankenstein products, Seed stage fundraising advice, parenting hacks, why AI won’t have a big impact on education, and the future of elite higher ed.
For full show notes, visit: https://highlightai.com/share/0a0869a7-c345-4974-ba2b-726bacf7a534
Timestamps...2024-12-051h 45
The Peel with Turner NovakHow Nextdoor Grew to 100M Neighbors + Why Founding CEO Nirav Tolia Returned Six Years LaterNirav Tolia is the co-founder and two-time CEO of Nextdoor. He started the company in 2011, stepped down as CEO in 2018, watched the company go public in 2021, and re-joined as CEO the summer of 2024. He also founded Epinions which IPO’d in 2004, and before that was an early employee at Yahoo. We go inside the decision to re-join the company after he thought he’d never come back, and how Nextdoor’s trying to act like a startup while running a public company. He also takes us back to the very early days of Nextdoor, the deliberate product decisi...2024-11-211h 20
The Peel with Turner NovakRecruiting From Zero to One with Nakul Mandan, Co-founder of Audacious VenturesNakul Mandan is the founder of Audacious Ventures. Prior to Audacious, he was a partner at Lightspeed, joining from Battery, which he joined in ‘09 in the middle of the financial crisis while living in India.
This conversation explores his journey immigrating to Silicon Valley and building an early stage venture firm from the ground up.
We get into why most VCs aren’t helpful with recruiting at the zero to one stage, his thesis on starting an early stage venture firm to help founders hire A+ teams, a crash course on early stage recruiting and buil...2024-11-141h 46
The Peel with Turner NovakInside Rent the Runway’s Early Days and the Future of Commerce with Co-founder Jenny FleissJenny Fleiss is the Co-founder of Rent the Runway, and more recently started Roll Rider with her three kids.
We get into the early insights that led to Rent the Runway, building the company with no fashion or tech background, fundraising advice, what she’s thinking about the future of AI and commerce, and the latest company she’s building with her kids, Roll Rider.
For full show notes, visit: https://highlightai.com/share/9bc59c07-05ab-41aa-b37e-f35a7c92092d
Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(05:31) How social media was Re...2024-11-071h 04
INDIE AUDIOGoing Bananas with Turner Novak, Founder of Banana CapitalAs someone who entered the venture industry in the wake of the Dot-com crash, I have a deep appreciation for new managers, their entry point into the industry, and how that shapes their world view. For me, it was pure carnage for the first few years of “investing”. I put that in quotes because it was mostly triaging the portfolio and trying to assess which companies were worth saving and which were destined for the Dot-com dust bin. Shortly after stepping out on my own to start OATV, another bubble burst with the Global Financial Crisis™. My trips t...2024-11-011h 04
The Peel with Turner NovakStartup Marketing Masterclass: How OpenPhone Grew to 100k Customers | Daryna KulyaDaryna Kulya is the Co-founder of OpenPhone, the world’s best business phone
This episode is a masterclass on startup marketing, chronicling the first six years of OpenPhone, how they acquired their first customers, and inside all the different channels they used to scale the business to over 100k customers, including FB Groups, Reddit, SEO, and cold outbound.We also get into why founder-led content is so important today, and why design is a crucial core competency.
For full show notes, visit: https://highlightai.com/share/28b95226-9936-4ae9-882d-6c68a1b5...2024-10-311h 36
The Peel with Turner NovakBeating the Market 15 Years in a Row, Lessons from Jeff Bezos | Lisa RapuanoLisa Rapuano outperformed the market 15 years in a row in the 90’s and 2000’s. We go deep on how she did it, including early investments in AOL, Dell, and owning 24% of Amazon in 2002.
She shares what she learned from Jeff Bezos and Michael Dell, what makes a good investor, plus her experience as a startup CFO and how it influenced how she thinks about investing.
For full show notes, visit: https://highlightai.com/share/883f2cc9-9771-4331-9a42-6ae236f50344
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(03:18) Growing up middle class while dad worked at NASA
...2024-10-241h 53
The Peel with Turner NovakGokul Rajaram | Lessons from Zuck, Jack Dorsey, Sergey Brin + Defining your ICP, Evolution of Seed InvestingGokul Rajaram is an early stage technology investor. As a product leader, operator and board member, he’s helped build seven generational technology companies, including Alphabet, Block, Coinbase, DoorDash, Meta, Pinterest, and The Trade Desk.We talk about lessons learned from Zuck, Sergey Brin, and Jack Dorsey, when big acquisitions can go well, how to define your ICP, why you should always size markets bottoms-up, having a fast response time, how seed investing has changed since 2007, and Gokul’s hot takes on titles at a startup.
Building an enterprise-ready SaaS app? WorkOS has got you covered with easy-to-integrate APIs...2024-10-1746 min
The Peel with Turner NovakHow to Build in AI, Lessons From Early Days of Snyk with Founder Guy PodjarnyGuy Podjarny is the founder of Blaze, Snyk, and now Tessl. He’s spent decades building at the center of developers and security. His newest company Tessl is reimagining software development, helping shape a new paradigm he calls AI Native Development.We talk through his four quadrant framework for building and investing in AI, plus go into the early days of Blaze and Snyk. He shares lessons on marketing to developers, hiring when no one wanted to work for him, overcoming multiple difficult funding rounds, and lessons from multiple M&A processes.Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(02:21) The fo...2024-10-101h 12
The Peel with Turner NovakThe Rise of AI-Powered Services + Ultimate Sales Crash Course for Founders | Chris Hladczuk, HanoverChris Hladczuk is the Co-founder and CEO of Hanover, where he’s building 1-click migration and 1-minute time to value fund administration for the $8 trillion in private market assets.
Chris takes us through his story of building an audience online at nights while working at Goldman, breaking into tech and going from an IC to Chief Revenue Officer at a Series A startup in nine months.
This episode is packed with advice on sales, getting your first startup role, and everything he’s up to at Hanover.
Timestamps(00:00) Intro2024-10-031h 20
The Peel with Turner NovakLessons Building Five Unicorns + Building Pathlight Ventures | Charley Ma & Mahdi RazaCharley Ma and Mahdi Raza are the Co-founders of Pathlight Ventures, and were early employees at five unicorns, Plaid, Ramp, Alloy, Robinhood, and Stytch.
They share tactical advice for early stage startup employees, lessons getting Plaid and Ramp their first customers, and deciding to build Pathlight together.
Timestamps(00:00) Intro(02:30) Growing up in basements(05:15) Charley’s journey to first biz hire at Plaid(15:01) Advice on being a good startup employee(19:34) Mahdi’s path to Robinhood(26:33) Deciding between joining an early or late stage startup(32:39) Why Charley joined Plaid despite VCs...2024-09-272h 23
The Peel with Turner NovakHow ClickUp Bootstrapped to $10m ARR and Scaled to 9-figures in Revenue with Zeb EvansBuilding an enterprise-ready SaaS app? WorkOS has got you covered with easy-to-integrate APIs for SAML, SCIM, and more. Start now at https://bit.ly/WorkOS-Turpentine-Network.
He’s had six near death experiences, and we talk about how those influenced him throughout life. We also talk about some of his early businesses, including one that had the FBI at his house when he was a kid, and lessons driving the monorail at Disney.
We also get into the founding story of ClickUp, bootstrapping to $10m in ARR, hiring mistakes from scaling too fast, why Zeb likes hi...2024-09-191h 43
The Peel with Turner NovakTeen Hacker to Founder, Building an Open Source Security Company | Bobby DeSimone, CEO of PomeriumBobby DeSimone is the Founder and CEO of Pomerium, the best way to authenticate, authorize, monitor, and secure user access to any application without a VPN.
Bobby explains why access control is so important, how it led to the biggest corporate hack ever, how its related to the day CrowdStrike took down the global economy, and how AI will change security.
Pomerium has a unique open source approach, and Bobby takes us inside the early days of building the product, how he got the first customers, lessons learning enterprise sales as a technical founder, and...2024-09-121h 15
The Peel with Turner NovakInside the beehiiv Playbook with Tyler Denk, Co-founder and CEOTyler Denk is the Co-founder and CEO of beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth.
We go inside beehiiv’s early days, including joining MorningBrew as the second employee, lessons scaling to 3.5 million subscribers, the $75 million sale to Business Insider, and why I didn’t invest in beehiiv despite being an early customer.
Tyler takes us inside the playbook that grew to $1.5m in monthly revenue in less than three years, including how they first positioned the product in a crowded market, how beehiiv ships so fast, when a co-founder passing away less than one year...2024-09-051h 46
The Peel with Turner NovakThe Future of Software, AI, and Tax, Lessons Scaling Zero to One | Michelle Valentine, CEO of AnrokMichelle Valentine is the Co-founder and CEO of Anrok, the sales tax platform for software companies.
We talked trends in software consolidation, lessons working with Anrok’s first customers, advice on fundraising, scaling a sales team, and early tricks for founders to avoid future tax-related headaches.
Timestamps
(00:00) Intro
(02:19) The trend of software consolidation
(03:00) Why billings and payments isn’t consolidating
(06:09) Early tricks for avoiding future tax headaches
(08:42) Founder lessons from first being a VC
(09:28) The two catalysts that led to Anrok
(17:15) How software companies used to figure out sales tax
(22:51) Raising Anrok’s Seed r...2024-08-291h 10
The Peel with Turner NovakShipHero’s Journey to $12B | Aaron Rubin, Founder and CEOBuilding an enterprise-ready SaaS app? WorkOS has got you covered with easy-to-integrate APIs for SAML, SCIM, and more. Start now at https://bit.ly/WorkOS-Turpentine-Network.
Aaron Rubin is the Founder and CEO of ShipHero, a warehouse management system for brands and 3PL providers.
We talk through Aaron’s journey building ShipHero, starting with what is now the largest Jiu Jitsu apparel brand in the US, which he almost went bankrupt running during the financial crisis. He shares how that business led to ShipHero, takes us inside the early days, explains why warehouse robotics and 4PL’s are overhyped, and discuss the...2024-08-221h 16
The Peel with Turner NovakInside the Logan Bartlett Show, Investing Through Market Cycles + Bubbles, Dissecting VC FrameworksLogan Bartlett is a Managing Director at Redpoint.
If you like startups and you listen to podcasts, you’re probably familiar with his podcast, the Logan Bartlett Show. We talk about how it first got started, plus all his tricks for growing the podcast, including his canonical episodes in 2022 that helped pop the web3 bubble.
We also talk market cycles and bubbles, and what Logan’s seeing in the data today, especially in AI, plus Logan’s philosophy’s on venture capital as an asset class, his favorite under the radar investors, and advice for his youn...2024-08-151h 32
The Peel with Turner NovakLessons From Two Exits + Building Electric to Automate IT Management | Ryan DenehyRyan Denehy is the founder and CEO of Electric, software that helps businesses manage their IT and IT support.
We talk through his first two startups from founding to exit, the early days of getting Electric off the ground, and Ryan’s frameworks for fundraising, recruiting, and sales.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(03:05) Building an ad network for extreme sports websites
(11:07) Why a better pipeline solves all problems
(13:24) Ryan’s trick for hiring executives
(17:00) Selling the ad network to USA Today
(18:11) Moving to SF to start a software company
(21:33) Getting rid of his car to extend runway
(24:23) Paying rent...2024-08-091h 33
The Peel with Turner NovakFrank Rotman | Building Capital One ($58B) and QED Investors ($4B AUM)Get first-party targeting with Brave's private ad platform: cookieless and future proof ad formats for all your business needs. Performance meets privacy. Head to https://brave.com/ads/ and mention “Turpentine” when signing up for a 25% discount on your first campaign.
Warp: Don’t let payroll and compliance hold your startup back: visit https://joinwarp.com/peel to get started and receive a $1,000 gift card when you first run payroll.
Frank Rotman is the Co-Founder and CIO of QED Investors, and before that helped start Capital One. Frank and I go deep on their founding stories, as well as one of QED...2024-08-011h 48
The Peel with Turner NovakCar Dealership Guy: From Anonymous VC-Backed CEO to B2B Media with Yossi LeviWarp: Don’t let payroll and compliance hold your startup back: visit https://www.joinwarp.com/peel to get started and receive a $1,000 gift card when you first run payroll.
Get first-party targeting with Brave's private ad platform: cookieless and future proof ad formats for all your business needs. Performance meets privacy. Head to brave.com/brave-ads/ and mention “Turpentine” when signing up for a 25% discount on your first campaign.
Yossi Levi shares his incredible story: transforming a small family car lot into a $28 million dollar powerhouse, founding venture-backed Gettacar and growing it to $90 million in rev...2024-07-251h 31
The Peel with Turner NovakSilicon Valley's Secret 4-Week Visa with Lisa Wehden at Plymouth StreetWarp: Don’t let payroll and compliance hold your startup back: visit https://joinwarp.com/peel to get started and receive a $1,000 gift card when you first run payroll.
Get first-party targeting with Brave's private ad platform: cookieless and future proof ad formats for all your business needs. Performance meets privacy. Head to https://brave.com/ads/ and mention “Turpentine” when signing up for a 25% discount on your first campaign.
Lisa Wehden is the Founder and CEO of Plymouth Street, making fast and simple immigration for technologists. We go deep on the broken US immigration system...2024-07-111h 10
The Peel with Turner NovakBuilding boldstart ventures from $1M to $850M with Ed SimGet Attio, the next generation of CRM: https://bit.ly/AttioThePeel
Ed Sim is the Founder of boldstart ventures, which partners with bold founders reinventing the enterprise stack at the inception stage. Ed takes us inside the journey building boldstart, from its first $1m fund in 2010 up to $850m in AUM today.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(03:48) Evolution of early stage investing(05:11) Inception stage investing
(10:32) Backing bold founders reinventing the enterprise stack(11:20) Repeatable ways to build enterprise businesses
(12:04) The 5 P’s of early stage investing
(14:12) Backing Guy Podjarny and Snyk
(18:18) Knowing when to follow-on
(19:18) The 3 Ch's of a go...2024-06-201h 45
The Peel with Turner NovakScaling Instacart to $10+ Billion with ex-President Nilam GanenthiranGet Attio, the next generation of CRM: https://bit.ly/AttioThePeel
Nilam Ganenthiran is the founder and CEO of Beacon Software. Previously, he was the 12th employee and President at Instacart.
We talk tactics for customer research, building customer relationships, balancing strategy and execution, how to serve on and manage a board, what happened when Amazon bought Instacart’s biggest customer Whole Foods, inside its COVID response, surviving eight months of runway in 2015, his new company Beacon Software, and more.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(04:23) Inside Amazon acquiring Instacart’s biggest customer, Whole Foods
(12:13) Less...2024-06-141h 16
The Peel with Turner NovakHow the Smartest Companies Use AI | Ankur Goyal, BraintrustGet Attio, the next generation of CRM: https://bit.ly/AttioThePeel
Ankur Goyal is the Founder and CEO of Braintrust, the end to end developer platform for building the world's best AI products. Their customers include companies like Instacart, Zapier, Notion, Airtable, Replit, and more.
We hit on the importance of LLM evals, advice for building AI products, why the best companies have two AI product roadmaps, and his non-conventional advice for founders.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(04:04) Why everyone’s now an AI company
(06:03) Reasons LLM evals are so important
(08:10) Typescript becoming the la...2024-06-071h 27
The Peel with Turner NovakLessons From 21 Years of VC Fund Investing | Alan Feld, Vintage Investment PartnersGet Attio, the next generation of CRM: https://bit.ly/AttioThePeelAlan
Feld is the Founder and Managing Partner of Vintage Investment Partners. Vintage is one of the largest fund of funds in the world, managing over $4 billion across what is mostly investments into other venture funds, plus some secondary and direct startup investments at the growth stage.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
03:53 What is Vintage
05:40 Why VCs adding value can waste a founder’s time
09:01 VC, where the asset chooses the investor
10:14 Fund size is the enemy of returns in VC
14:57 What people get wrong about Fo...2024-05-311h 03
The Peel with Turner NovakFixing The Maternal Health Crisis with Anu Sharma at MillieGet Attio, the next generation of CRM: https://bit.ly/AttioThePeel
Anu Sharma is the Co-founder and CEO of Millie, building a better care system from the inside out. Our conversation covers the existing maternal health system, how Millie is reinventing it, and how to succeed building a healthcare company.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(03:16) Problems in US maternity care
(13:21) Why insurance reimbursement drives healthcare
(16:11) How bundled care unlocks personalization
(18:48) From fiction writer to 20 years in healthcare
(24:22) Why consumers don’t act like consumers in healthcare
(26:09) The reason scale matters
(27:43) Bundled payments and new care design
(32:16) What make Mi...2024-05-2358 min
The Peel with Turner NovakAaron Levie | The $1 Trillion AI Opportunity, Stories From Early Days of BoxGet Attio, the next generation of CRM: https://bit.ly/AttioThePeel
Aaron Levie is a co-founder and the CEO of Box. This conversation covers opportunities in AI, the early days of Box, and lessons Aaron's learned on his founder journey.
Timestamps
(00:00) Intro
(03:11) Why ChatGPT was an iPhone moment
(04:37) Advice for large companies incorporating AI
(11:16) Why AI will add jobs, not steal them
(16:13) How AI is supercharging Box’s products
(19:03) AI agents: the $1 trillion opportunity
(25:27)Estimating size of new markets(29:58) Starting Box with high school friends
(33:18) Living out of their first office
(34:52) Why early investors passed on...2024-05-1658 min
The Peel with Turner NovakElad Gil on Conviction, AI, Biotech, Ambition, Speed of Execution, and Non-Obvious Startup AdviceWarp: Don’t let payroll and compliance hold your startup back: visit https://joinwarp.com/peel to get started and receive a $1,000 gift card when you first run payroll.
Get Attio, the next generation of CRM: https://bit.ly/AttioThePeel
Elad Gil is the founder of Color Genomics and Mixer Labs, which he sold to Twitter, and an early investor in iconic companies like Airbnb and Stripe, plus upstarts like Perplexity and Anduril.
This is a wide ranging conversation that covers education, AI, and advice for building a startup.
Timestamps
(00:00) Intro
(03:46) Building cool monuments
(09:12) Fixing education
(16:38) Why AI is underhyped
(19:02) Fo...2024-05-091h 17
The Peel with Turner NovakHow to Build a Biotech with Celine Halioua at LoyalThis episode is brought to you by Warp. Don’t let payroll and compliance hold your startup back: visit https://joinwarp.com/peel to get started and receive a $1000 gift card when you first run payroll.
Celine Halioua is the founder and CEO of Loyal, a biotech company developing medicine to help dogs live longer and healthier lives. And dogs are just the start - Celine thinks Loyal could one day do the same for humans.
She takes us inside what it’s like to build a biotech company from scratch. We talk through how Loya...2024-05-021h 06
The Peel with Turner NovakGiving an AI a Computer with Rahul Sonwalkar, Founder and CEO of Julius AIGet Attio, the next generation of CRM: https://bit.ly/AttioThePeel
Rahul Sonwalkar is the founder and CEO of Julius, an AI data scientist.
He takes us inside his epic “Ligma Johnson” prank where he pretended to be fired from Twitter the day Elon acquired the company. He then goes inside his journey of building Julius, sharing lessons learned along the way and his vision for the product.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Preview
(04:16) The "Ligma Johnson" prank
(09:02) Meeting Elon
(13:10) Doing hackathons in college
(14:30) Scraping emails from Hacker News to get internships
(16:25) Using Twit...2024-04-251h 36
The Peel with Turner NovakZero to $90M Revenue in Five Years, How Athletic Brewing Created the Non-Alcoholic Beer Category with CEO Bill ShufeltBrought to you by Attio, the next generation of CRM: https://bit.ly/AttioThePeel
Bill Shufelt is the Founder and CEO of Athletic Brewing, the craft brewer that created the non-alcohol beer market in the US.
Bill takes us inside the early days of starting the company, including realizing there was an opportunity to make non-alcoholic beer, finding a co-founder, struggling to find early investors, building multiple breweries, and getting into Whole Foods before launching. Our conversation is a case study on creating a new market - I hope you enjoy.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Preview
(04:10) Becoming the #1 beer in Whole Foods2024-04-181h 18
The Peel with Turner NovakSMB Masterclass: Zero to $150M Revenue in Two Years with Dane Atkinson, Founder and CEO of OdekoDane Atkinson is the Founder and CEO of Odeko, the all-in-one operations partner for local businesses.
Dane has spent his entire career helping small businesses. This episode is a masterclass on selling to SMBs. He shares all his lessons learned as a founder, and how Odeko survived zero revenue during COVID and hit $150 million in revenue two years later.
Timestamps
(00:00) Intro
(03:33) The magic formula to sell to SMBs
(04:06) Why every small business starts as a dream
(21:57) The reasons you shouldn’t listen to customers
(25:16) Lessons running Squarespace for four years
(27:12) Why simplicity is better for SMBs
(28:58) How Squarespace ran the ve...2024-04-111h 23
The Peel with Turner NovakJosh Miller on How The Browser Company Started, How to Hire, Arc Search, and Building in PublicJosh Miller is CEO and co-founder of The Browser Company, which is building a new internet browser. He explains why effective hiring requires caring a lot and trusting your taste and why Arc Search, a default mobile browser, could be The Browser Company’s next act.
TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:02:35) Working for Obama
(00:03:55) Giving up 8-figures in Meta stock
(00:08:19) Barack Obama’s favorite web browser
(00:09:02) Why Arc released a mobile browser
(00:10:03) How Josh met Josh Kushner
(00:11:26) Becoming an EIR at Thrive Capital
2024-04-041h 15
The Peel with Turner NovakMarket Update: Peter Walker on 2023 VC Valuation Trends, Dry Powder, New Bubbles, Employee TrendsSubscribe to my newsletter The Split for new episodes emailed every week: https://www.thespl.it/
Brought to you by Attio, the next generation of CRM: https://bit.ly/AttioThePeel
Peter Walker is Head of Insights at Carta and writes a newsletter called “The Data Minute”, a weekly newsletter highlighting data from over 43,000 private tech companies that use Carta’s platform to manage their cap table. He gives us into a deep dive on VC valuation trends, the fundraising landscape, and startup strategies.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(04:50) Valuation trends in 2023
(08:10) Why Seed valuations went up over t...2024-03-281h 26
The Peel with Turner NovakChris Bakke on Selling to Elon, Small Exits, and Using Memes for MarketingSubscribe to my newsletter The Split for new episodes emailed every week: https://www.thespl.it/
Chris Bakke has founded and sold three companies for between $25-100 million to Zillow, Indeed, and most recently Twitter / X. He shares how he convinced Elon to buy his company, what it's like working for Elon, exactly how the Twitter algorithm works, and all his meme making secrets.
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(02:52) Inside Twitter’s acquisition of Laskie(05:38) Why Twitter / X works so well for recruiting(08:11) A sneak peek at upcoming Premium features(13:58) How the X...2024-03-211h 08
The Peel with Turner NovakInside Anchor’s Journey to Product Market Fit and 9-Figure Sale to Spotify with Mike MignanoSubscribe to my newsletter The Split for new episodes emailed every week: https://www.thespl.it/ Brought to you by Attio, the next generation of CRM: https://bit.ly/AttioThePeel
Mike is currently a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Before Lightspeed, he spent five years building Anchor, which he sold to Spotify in 2020, and then led Spotify’s podcast, video, and live products for three years.
It's probably safe to assume every podcast you listen to uses Mike’s product, and we go way back to the very beginning and talk through how the team at Anchor pulled it all off...2024-03-131h 19
The Peel with Turner NovakEric Newcomer on Scaling to 80,000 Newsletter Subs, How to Pitch ReportersEric Newcomer is the founder of Newcomer, a publication he launched in October of 2020 to cover the business of startups and venture capital. He had just left Bloomberg after nearly six years, and was previously the first employee at The Information.
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(02:46) The current state of media
(05:59) Anchoring his 4th grade newscast
(07:21) Becoming the 1st employee at The Information
(09:34) How reporters get stories
(21:12) The moment he quit Bloomberg to start Newcomer
(26:02) Why he writes for VC insiders
(32:19) The VC top f...2024-03-071h 21
The Peel with Turner NovakSiqi Chen on How To Go Viral, Secrets to Storytelling, and Forgetting Best PracticesSiqi Chen is the Co-Founder and CEO of Runway, the modern and intuitive way to model, plan, and align your business for everyone on your team. Or, in Siqi’s words, “revolutionizing the $80 trillion business industry”.
A few months ago, Runway’s new website went viral across the internet. Siqi takes us inside how that happened. He’s no stranger to going viral, having previously built multiple companies that went from zero to millions of users within weeks, including the fastest growing product ever before ChatGPT took the crown in late 2022.
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Brought to you by Attio, the...2024-02-291h 34
The Peel with Turner NovakAutomating the $80 Billion SOC 2 Market with Shrav Mehta (Secureframe)Shrav Mehta is the Founder and CEO of Secureframe, which empowers businesses to build trust with customers by automating information security and compliance. Shrav started the company in 2019 after being an early employee at Scale, Pilot, Lob, and Hired, and has since raised from investors like Kleiner Perkins, Backend Capital, Soma Capital, and Banana Capital.
Shrav takes us inside how Secureframe’s automating the compliance market, lessons learned on recruiting and scaling teams, and his contrarian take on finding product market fit.
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(2:10) Automating...2024-02-231h 18
The Peel with Turner NovakEpic Gardening's $100+ Million YouTube Playbook with Kevin Espiritu, Founder and CEOKevin Espiritu is the founder and CEO of Epic Gardening, which is, by multiple measures, one of the largest brands in gardening on the planet.What started in 2013 as a blog has since evolved into a gardening empire spanning YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, 4,500 gardening stores, and three gardening books.
Epic raised a $17.5m Series A from The Chernin Group in 2021, and according to external sources did $27 million in revenue in 2022.
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Brought to you by Attio, the next generation of CRM. It’s powerful, flexible and easily configures to the unique way your startup runs, what...2024-02-151h 36
The Peel with Turner NovakHow Kirsten Green Built Forerunner VenturesKirsten Green is the founder of Forerunner Ventures, a venture capital firm that focuses on understanding the mindset of the modern consumer. Kirsten started Forerunner in 2010, and was an early investor in companies like Faire, Chime, Warby Parker, Dollar Shave Club, Hims, Glossier, Jet, Bonobos, HotelTonight, and The Farmer’s Dog.
This episode takes us behind the scenes of Kirsten’s two decade journey building Forerunner from scratch. She talks about her biggest mistakes, wins, and lessons learned along the way.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(02:50) Doing market research at the mall
(08:00) Her journey from public markets to venture
(18:30) Lessons from her first inves...2024-02-081h 18
The Peel with Turner NovakThe Great Media Arbitrage: How Craig Fuller Built FreightWavesCraig Fuller is the Founder and CEO of FreightWaves, a media company and data provider for the global supply chain. He’s also the CEO of Flying Media Group, which he founded in 2021 to acquire Flying Magazine, the largest US-based print magazine for the aviation industry. This conversation is split into three parts: a crash course on logistics and supply chains, how to build and run a media company, and finally all things print magazines.
Topics discussed include:
(00:00) Intro
(02:39) Why logistics is the most important industry no one talks about
(04:23) The rise of deglobalization
(11:07) How Colombia benefits fr...2024-02-011h 56
The Peel with Turner NovakBuilding a $510 Million Personal Care Giant with Danielle Cohen-Shohet, Founder & CEO of GlossGeniusDanielle Cohen-Shohet is the CEO and Founder of GlossGenius, the all-in-one booking, payments and POS solution that helps beauty and wellness professionals drive bookings and grow their business.
Danielle started the company in 2016 and has since grown it to a $510 million valuation. This is while taking a disciplined approach to fundraising, raising roughly $70 million throughout the life of the company.
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Topics include:
A crash course on the $160 billion beauty, health, and wellness market
How the industry's shifting to time-based billing and upfront payments
Why GlossGenius spends so much time on customer experience
Su...2024-01-251h 05
The Peel with Turner NovakThe Story of Nubank, The World’s Largest Neobank with Co-founder Cristina JunqueiraCristina Junqueira is the Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Nubank, the largest neobank in Latin America – and in the world – with more than 80 million customers. She is also the second self-made female billionaire in Brazil. Cristina and her co-founders David Vélez and Edward Wible launched Nubank in 2013, essentially building the fintech category in a market where it was nonexistent, and went on to release a no-fee credit card, app, and other banking products across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.Cristina takes us through the rise of Nubank, from the scrappiest days building in a house in...2024-01-1851 min
The Peel with Turner NovakImmigrant to $250M CEO: How Circle Powers the Creator Economy with Co-founder and CEO Sid YadavSid Yadav is the Co-founder and CEO of Circle, the all-in-one community platform trusted by creators like Tiago Forte, David Perell, and Miles Snider. Sid started the tech blog Rev2 when he was a teenager in New Zealand, writing about the launch of YouTube and the iPhone. He was the founding engineer and designer of Teachable, which he helped scale to +25m+ in ARR before it was acquired in 2020. He started Circle in 2019 with co-founders Rudy Santino and Andrew Guttormsen, which they scaled to $16m in ARR by December of 2023.
Circle has since raised $31m from Investors...2024-01-112h 02
The Peel with Turner Novak🎮 Growing Medal to 10+ Million Gamers | Pim de Witte (Co-founder and CEO, Medal)Pim de Witte is the Co-founder and CEO of Medal, which enables millions of gamers to capture and share their favorite gaming moments with friends. Pim started the company in 2015 and has since raised over $72 million, supported by investors like OMERS Ventures, Makers Fund, Dune Ventures, and Horizon Ventures.
Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://bit.ly/3OwGdGC
Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/growing-medal-to-tens-of-millions
In this episode, we discuss:
Why we play video games
Why 200 million gamers play Roblox
Learning to code at 13 to build a private Runescape server t...2023-12-181h 10
The Peel with Turner NovakHow Unit Operates with Precision, with Itai Damti (Co-founder and CEO of Unit)Itai Damti is the Co-founder and CEO of Unit, the platform that helps leading tech companies store, move, and lend money.Unit has raised over $170 million from investors like Better Tomorrow Ventures, Accel, Insight, and dozens of angels.
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In this episode, we discuss:
The first and second wave of fintech innovation
How the second wave brings financial services inside other software
How Unit beat the competition and raised $170 million by focusing on product and expanding the market size
Itai’s framework for leveraging his investors
His strategy for prioritizing as a founder
How Unit oper...2023-12-141h 21
The Peel with Turner NovakPricing Lessons from the Fastest Growing Companies with Kevin Liu, Co-founder and CEO of MetronomeKevin Liu is the Co-founder and CEO of Metronome, which enables software companies to launch, iterate, and scale their business models with billing infrastructure that works at any size and stage. Prior to Metronome, Kevin and his co-founder Scott Woody both sold their respective separate companies to Dropbox.
Kevin and Scott started Metronome in 2019, and have since raised over $30 million from investors like a16z, General Catalyst, Elad Gil, Lachy Groom, and dozens of other angels.
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Brought to you by Artie, the real-time database replication solution that sets up in minutes and requires ze...2023-12-121h 12
The BetterLife Podcast#39: Brandon NovakBrandon Novak is a keynote speaker, author, former professional skateboarder/TV star, and intervention specialist who reclaimed his life from addiction in 2015.In this episode, Brandon walks us through his remarkable journey from sleeping in abandoned houses as a homeless heroin addict to owning and operating several sober living facilities and earning widespread respect as a champion for people in recovery. He also speaks about:-How he first got into drugs and alcohol, and his thoughts on "gateway drugs"-The moment when Bam Margera offered help at a critical time2023-12-041h 29
The Peel with Turner NovakZapier’s Secrets to Product Market Fit with Wade Foster (Co-founder and CEO of Zapier)Wade Foster is the Co-founder and CEO of Zapier, an automation platform that helps you work faster. Wade and his co-founders Mike and Bryan started the company in 2011, and have always done things a bit differently. From being a startup based in Missouri, working as a remote team since 2011, and raising very little outside capital despite being one of the fastest growing startups in the world.
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Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts. Get compliant with security and privacy frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR, and more. Sign-up here: https://bit.ly/3QOr2eo
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Topic...2023-11-301h 13
The Peel with Turner NovakHow Solugen is Saving the $5 Trillion Chemical Industry (Co-founders Gaurab Chakrabarti & Sean Hunt)Gaurab Chakrabarti and Sean Hunt are the Co-founders of Solugen, which replaces petroleum based products with plant-derived substitutes without sacrificing affordability or performance. They met playing poker in college, kickstarted the company with $10k from an MIT pitch competition, and have since scaled the business to over nine-figures in revenue.
Solugen has raised over $642 million from investors like Fifty Years, Lowercarbon Capital, Founders Fund, Refactor Capital, and Cantos Ventures.
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Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://bit.ly/47sxTQ0—
Topics discussed:
How the c...2023-11-151h 06
The Peel with Turner NovakSecrets of the $131 Billion Parking Industry with Jonathon Barkl (Co-founder and CEO of AirGarage)Jonathon Barkl is the Co-founder and CEO of AirGarage, a full-stack parking management company that helps real estate owners increase their income.
Jonathon and his co-founders Chelsea and Scott started the company in 2017. They’ve since raised roughly $15 million from investors including Founders Fund, Floodgate, a16z, Abstract, and prior guest of the show Ryan Delk.
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Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts. Get compliant with security and privacy frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR, and more.
Sign-up here: https://bit.ly/3QOr2eo
— 2023-11-082h 07
The Peel with Turner NovakSecuring Open Source Software with Dan Lorenc, Co-founder & CEO of ChainguardDan Lorenc is the Co-founder and CEO of Chainguard, the best way to secure your open source software. Dan and his co-founders Kim, Matt, and Ville started the company in 2021 after spending a decade working together at Google on all things open source and software security.
They’ve since raised $116 million from investors including Spark (led Series B), Sequoia (led Series A), Amplify (led Seed), The Chainsmoker’s Mantis VC, Banana Capital, and dozens of angels in the cyber security and open source communities.
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Topics discussed:
What is the “software supply chain”?
How the SolarWinds breach created the software supply chain secu...2023-11-021h 20
The Peel with Turner NovakFrom Food Stamps to a $20 Million Fund with Nichole WischoffNichole Wischoff is the founder of Wischoff Ventures, a Pre-Seed and Seed firm that invests up to $1 million in non sexy industries. Nichole closed her first fund in 2021, and previously was an early employee at Blend (NYSE:BLND), One (acquired by Walmart in 2022), and Built.
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Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts. Sign-up here: https://bit.ly/3Sif1PH
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Topics discussed include:
• Growing up on food stamps in Arkansas
• How studying abroad in Belgium changed Nichole’s life
• How falling in lo...2023-10-251h 08
The Peel with Turner NovakLessons From Scaling Pilot to a $1.2 Billion Valuation with Co-founder and CEO Waseem DaherWaseem Daher is the Co-founder and CEO of Pilot, the bookkeeping, CFO, and tax provider for startups and fast growing businesses. Prior to Pilot, Waseem and his co-founders Jeff and Jessica sold companies to Oracle and Dropbox.
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Waseem, Jeff, and Jessica started Pilot in 2017, and have since raised over $160 million from investors like Index Ventures, Stripe, Sequoia, Whale Rock, Jeff Bezos, and over 40+ angel investors.
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Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://bit.ly/3FoYm52
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In this episode, we discuss:• W...2023-10-171h 11
The Peel with Turner NovakBootstrapping Webflow to $10M ARR, and scaling to a $4B Valuation with Vlad Magdalin (Co-founder & CEO)Vlad Magdalin is the Co-founder and CEO of Webflow, software that empowers designers to build websites without code. Vlad started the company with his co-founders Sergie Magdalin and Bryant Chou in 2013, and has since raised roughly $335 million supported by investors like Accel, Khosla Ventures, YCombinator, Capital G, and Eric Bahn.
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Brought to you by Mercury, the bank built for startups. Join more than 100,000 startups and venture capital firms on Mercury, the powerful and intuitive way for ambitious companies to bank.Sign-up now: https://bit.ly/46ImCuD
Disclaimer: Mercury is a financial technology company, not a ban...2023-10-101h 21
The Peel with Turner NovakWhat is OpenStore? How Keith Rabois is Acquiring Shopify BrandsKeith is the Co-founder and CEO of OpenStore, a portfolio of brands building its own shopping destination. Before starting OpenStore, Keith was an early executive at companies like PayPal, eBay, LinkedIn, and Square, a co-founder of OpenDoor, and an early investor in companies like DoorDash, Faire, Affirm, Webflow, Ramp, and Stripe, and is also currently a General Partner at Founders Fund
Keith started the company in 2021 with co-founders Jack Abraham, Matt Lanter, and Jeremy Wood, and has since raised over $150 million supported by investors like Atomic, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, and Vine Ventures.
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Brought to you by...2023-10-031h 10
The Peel with Turner NovakThe $4 Trillion Business of Financial Crime with Natasha Vernier, Co-founder and CEO of CableNatasha Vernier is the Co-founder and CEO of Cable, the all-in-one effectiveness testing platform for financial services. Prior to Cable, Natasha joined UK neobank Monzo when it had less than 100 customers. She built and led their financial crime team for five years, and is one of the most knowledgeable individuals in the world on financial crime, which amounts to over $4 trillion per year, or 4% of global GDP.
Natasha started Cable in 2020 with her co-founder Katie Savitz, and has since raised over $16 million supported by investors like LocalGlobe, CRV, Stage 2, and Jump Capital.
— ...2023-09-261h 05
The Peel with Turner NovakGrowing Deel to $300M+ ARR in Four Years with Co-founder and CEO Alex BouazizAlex Bouaziz is the Co-founder and CEO of Deel, a full stack global HR and payroll platform. But the company didn’t start that way, and we’ll talk through Alex and his co-founder Shuo’s journey from zero to one, starting with a product that helped startups hire international employees.
Alex and Shuo launched the company one week before YC Demo day in 2019, and have since scaled to 20,000+ customers and raised over $685 million. They’re supported by investors like YC, a16z, Spark Capital, Weekend Fund, Coatue, SV Angel, Soma Capital, Quiet Capital, and angels like Lachy Gr...2023-09-2053 min
The Peel with Turner NovakHow Semil Shah Built HaystackSemil Shah is the Founder of Haystack, an institutional venture capital firm that backs outlier founders at the earliest stages. Semil started Haystack in 2013, and has since invested in X unicorns like DoorDash, Instacart, Figma, HashiCorp, Ironclad, Carta, Applied Intuition, and Opendoor.This episode takes us behind the scenes of Semil’s two decade journey building Haystack from scratch. We’ll dive into how he raised and deployed each of the first six Haystack funds, including all the mistakes made along the way, plus the details around Haystack’s new $75 million and $25 million funds announced the date this e...2023-09-101h 09
The Peel with Turner Novak🧪 The Einstein of Ecommerce: Bootstrapping to 9-Figures in Revenue with Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge Wallet)Sean Frank is the CEO of Ridge Wallet, a men’s wallet and accessories brand that does over 9-figures in annual revenue. The company started in 2012 and raised $266,000 in a Kickstarter campaign to sell the first 5,200 wallets. Ridge hasn’t raised a single dollar of outside capital since, and has also expanded into new categories like rings, knives, watches, backpacks, and keys, with dozens of more products coming soon. Sean is known in some circles as the “Einstein of Ecommerce”, and he gives us an inside look at running a consumer brand in 2023.
Brought to you b...2023-08-311h 05
The Peel with Turner NovakModern Treasury: How to Move Quadrillions of Dollars, with Co-founder and CEO Dimitri DadiomovDimitri Dadiomov is the Co-founder and CEO of Modern Treasury, an operating system for the new era of payments. Dimitri and his co-founders Matt and Sam started the company in 2018 after running into the same problem working together at their previous startup. Modern Treasury has since raised over $183 million, supported by investors like YCombinator, Benchmark, Altimeter, Salesforce Ventures, Quiet Capital, WndrCo, TQ Ventures, and Edward Lando.
Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://bit.ly/3OwGdGC
Sign-up for Ramp and get $500: https://bit.ly/3KSqfFV
Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/ho...2023-08-241h 11
The Peel with Turner NovakThe Business of Newsletters with Kendall Baker, “The Sports Newsletter Guy”Kendall Baker currently leads Yahoo’s sports newsletter business. In 2017 he launched the first daily sports newsletter called Sports Internet, which he sold to Axios in 2019. Before Sports Internet, he convinced the founders of The Hustle to focus their online tech blog on a daily newsletter, which he wrote for a year and a half. And before The Hustle, he produced SportsCenter at ESPN. He’s spent nearly a decade at the intersection of daily news and sports, and this episode is packed with insights on both.
Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated comp...2023-08-101h 32
The Peel with Turner Novak🏀 How Overtime Grew to 85 Million Fans | Dan Porter (Co-founder and CEO, Overtime)Dan Porter is the Co-founder and CEO of Overtime, a sports network for the next generation of fans. OT reaches 85 million fans per month and runs a basketball league (Overtime Elite, OTE), a flag football league (OT7), and is launching a boxing league (OTX) the week this episode airs.
Dan started Overtime with his co-founder Zack Weiner in 2016, and has since raised over $215 million. OT is supported by investors like the late ex-NBA Commissioner David Stern, Jeff Bezos, Drake, Carmelo Anthony, Trae Young, over 25 other NBA players, Spark Capital, Redpoint, a16z, Greycroft, Afore Capital, and Banana...2023-08-021h 08
The Peel with Turner Novak🍫 How to Build a $70 Million Chocolate Factory | Nick Saltarelli (Co-founder, Mid-Day Squares)Nick Saltarelli is the Co-founder of Mid-Day Squares, a healthy, functional chocolate bar. Nick, his wife Lezlie, and her brother Jake started the company in 2018 from their kitchen in Montreal, and have since built their own factory with $70 million in capacity, and grown the company to a $26 million revenue run rate.
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Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/building-a-70-million-chocolate-factory
In this episode, we discuss:
The history of the $200 billion chocolate market
Competing a...2023-07-271h 16
The Peel with Turner Novak🍕 The $1.3 Billion Pizza Business: How Ilir Sela (Founder & CEO, Slice) is Arming the Pizza RebelsIlir Sela is the Founder & CEO of Slice, the online ordering and all-in-one software platform that helps pizzeria’s manage their business. Ilir started the company in 2010 as MyPizza, rebranded to Slice in 2015, and has since raised over $125 million and supports over 20,000 independent pizza shops. Slice is supported by investors like GGV, KKR, 01 Advisors, Primary Ventures, FJ Labs, and RiverPark Ventures.
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Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/arming-the-pizza-rebels-ilir-sela
In this episode we co...2023-07-201h 13
Not Investment Advice120: Twitter vs. Threads with Turner NovakTurner Novak joins the NIA boys to discuss Threads, Twitter, Elon vs Zuk, & much more.Timestamps:(00:00:00) - Intro(00:03:55) - Threads Overview(00:06:12) - Threads Launch(00:08:57) - Interest Graph vs Follow Graph(00:16:05) - Bull Case for Threads(00:24:25) - Bear Case for Threads(00:41:35) - Twitter's Future(00:49:00) - Meta's History of Shipping Products(00:53:18) - Predictions for Threads and Twitter(01:02:59) - Turner's Thoughts on AIWhat Is Not Investment Advice?Every week, Jack Butcher, Bilal Zaidi & Trung Phan discuss what they're finding on the edges of the internet + the latest in business, technology and...2023-07-121h 08
The Peel with Turner Novak🏥 Making Healthcare a Product, Not a Service | Adrian Aoun (Founder and CEO, Forward)Adrian Aoun is the Founder and CEO of Forward Health, which is rebuilding healthcare as a product, not a service. Forward is supported by investors like Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Softbank, Expa, Marc Beinoff, Ashton Kutcher, The Weeknd, Lee Linden, Josh Kushner, First Round Capital, Eric Schmidt, DCVC, and more, Before starting Forward, Adrian worked with Larry Page at Google to setup and launch new companies inside of Alphabet. He joined Google through the acquisition of his AI startup Wavii, and spent his first year at Google helping create and build its AI division. Adrian was on the President's Council...2023-07-121h 09
The Peel with Turner NovakLessons From Building Mercury with Immad Akhund (Co-founder and CEO, Mercury)Immad Akhund is the Co-founder and CEO of Mercury, a digitally native bank for startups. Mercury is supported by investors like a16z, Coatue, CRV, Chapter One, Ryan Peterson, Scott Belsky, Serena Williams, Terrence Rohan, Zach Coelius, Todd Goldberg, and more. Before Mercury, Immad was a part-time partner at YC, co-founded Heyzap which sold for $45 million, and co-founded and scaled Clickpass to millions of users.
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Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/t...2023-07-051h 27
The Peel with Turner NovakHow Primer Turns Teachers Into Superheroes | Ryan Delk (Co-founder and CEO, Primer)Ryan Delk is the Co-Founder and CEO of Primer, a startup helping ambitious kids unlock their potential by empowering teachers to launch and run their own micro-schools. Primer’s supported by investors like Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Village Global, Susa Ventures, Sam Altman, Naval, Ryan Peterson, Amjad Masad, Julie Zhuo, Tobias Lutke, Lachy Groom, Howie Liu, Dylan Field, Packy McCormick, and many more. Before Primer, Ryan was the COO at peer-to-peer rental marketplace Omni (sold to Coinbase), and prior to that led Growth and Partnerships at Gumroad from $10,000 to $50 million in GMV.
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The Peel with Turner NovakSelling $100 Million in Dog Collars | Ken Ehrman (Co-founder, Halo Collar)Ken Ehrman is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Halo Collar, a smart dog collar that tracks your dog with GPS. Halo Collar uses patented technology that allows customers to instantly create up to 20 unique virtual dog fences from their phone using GPS.
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Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/the-iphone-for-your-dog-ken-ehrman
In this episode, we discuss:
- Working for Mike Markkula, the first i...2023-06-2848 min
The Peel with Turner NovakSweetgreen: Building McDonald’s for the Next Generation, with Jonathan Neman (Co-founder and CEO)Jonathan Neman is Co-Founder & CEO of Sweetgreen, an American fast casual restaurant chain that serves salads. Jonathan and his co-founders started the company in 2007, opening their first restaurant just three months out of college. Sweetgreen opened its second and third locations in the middle of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, and went public in 2021 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sweetgreen’s focus on locally sourced quality ingredients has built it into a national brand with more than 200 restaurants across the US.
Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://secureframe.com/request-demo-4?utm_so...2023-06-271h 04
Repeat Rhyme / リピートライム#46 ゲストインタビュー：ミーム達人のBanana Capital / Turner Novak (英語インタビュー、字幕付き)Repeat Rhymeプレイリスト
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1qFUG8l9LOtnfjTkTlM2vj?si=c31cdc83bccc46b7
エピソードの流れ
・Turner Novakさんの紹介 / About Turner Novak
・Banana Capitalの紹介 / About Banana Capital
・ミシガン州からVC業界へ / From Michigan to being a VC
・ファンタジーVCポートフォリオ / Fantasy VC Portfolio
・Turnerさんのハッスル / Hustling and grit to being a VC
・VCとしてのブランド作り / How to build a brand in VC
・コンテンツ戦略の優位性 / Differentiation in content centric funds
・ファンドのソーシング戦略 / Sourcing strategies
・適切なファンドサイズ / Choosing the right fund size
・LPへの提供バリュー / Value-add to LPs
・LPとの関係構築 / LP relationship building
・Banana Capitalの由来とファンドの名前 / Finding the right name for a fund
Turner NovakさんのTwitter
https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
Turner Novakさんのニュースレター「The Split」
http://thespl.it
Banana Capital
bananaca...2023-04-2745 min
Seed to HarvestFounding Partner of Banana Capital Turner Novak on Strategies For Investing In eCommerce platforms in Emerging Markets and His Philosophy for Scaling His Venture Team | Seed To Harvest Ep35Send us a textSeed to Harvest is a podcast focused on stories & tactics from a diverse array of investors, founders, and creators, hosted by Paige Finn Doherty, a founding partner at Behind Genius Ventures and author of Seed to Harvest, an illustrated children's book for adults.Today, I’m joined by Turner Novak, Founding Partner of Banana Capital. Turner launched Banana Capital in 2021. Prior, he ran all venture capital investing at Gelt VC and invested their second fund. Prior to Gelt, Turner was a member of the investment team at Afore Capital, where he in...2022-10-1827 min
Nathan Barry Archive071: Turner Novak - Easy Ways to Ignite Your Audience GrowthThe podcast is back! Today I’m talking with Turner Novak. Turner is someone I’ve followed for a long time. He has an amazing Twitter account where he drops hilarious memes, talks about life as an investor, and makes fun of venture capitalists and founders.He also posts deep dives on companies like Snapchat about how their earnings work, what’s going on in TikTok ads, and a lot more. It’s an interesting balance, and he does all this while investing in early-stage companies as a venture capitalist.In today’s episode Turner and I talk...2022-09-0553 min
Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managersBanana Capital's Turner Novak on his unconventional path in breaking into VC, being a successful stage agnostic investor, and leveraging social platforms to build advantagesFollow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.We’re thrilled to bring you my conversation with Turner Novak, founder of Banana Capital. While fairly new to venture, Turner continually brings some of the most interesting perspectives about technology, and is one of best venture follows on social media. Turner has an incredible backstory on how he broke into VC, and ultimately within a few years was able to found Banana Capital in January 2021, with $9.99M in commitments, including several institutional investors. Prio...2021-09-2150 min
Value Hive PodcastHow To Find Long-Term Winners Early w/ Turner Novak, Gelt VC (Episode 34)This episode is brought to you by TIKR. Join the free beta today at TIKR.com/hive. They're constantly releasing new updates that make the platform better. I couldn't be more excited to partner with TIKR. I use it every single day. Alright, back to the podcast.
Turner Novak is a venture capitalist and partner at Gelt VC. Turner came from a single-parent, low-income household and worked his way to becoming one of the more popular venture capital thinkers on Twitter today. Through hard work and sharing his thoughts online, Turner began finding his venture voice.
...2020-07-171h 03