2024’s Most-Downloaded Episode: Building Resilience, Growing Revenue, and Mastering Founder Fundamentals with Firaas Rashid
Listen to this week’s episode below via Spotify, Apple Podcast, or your favorite podcast platform.
Today's guest is Firaas Rashid, CEO and Founder of Hook. Hook is the B2B SaaS platform focused on predictable revenue growth from existing customers. Backed by Lightspeed and LocalGlobe, Hook is revolutionising the way companies forecast their revenue growth using product usage and customer data. He is passionate about changing the way Customer Success is run and building the leading workplace for ambitious people who want to be part of a team. Before founding Hook, Firaas was CTO and Head of Customer Success (EMEA) at AppDynamics, scaling from $170m to $550m Annual Recurring Revenue in 2 years. He led a rapid journey of rebuilding Customer Success to focus on data-driven prioritisation and scale. Prior to that he was a Director of IT at Credit Suisse.
Beyond his role, Firaas finds joy in travel, exploring new restaurants, and even taking to the skies.
This episode is brought to you with support from Netsuite. Learn more at Netsuite.com/scale
From College Quadmates to AI Co-Founders: Dean Shu Discusses the AI Hype, Validating Product-Market Fit, and the Top 3 Insights from Founder-Led Sales
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In this episode of Uncharted, Poya sits down with Dean Shu, founder and CEO of Arphie (https://www.arphie.ai), an AI-driven platform that accelerates RFP and questionnaire responses. Dean shares his journey from software consulting and investing to scaling startups like Scale AI, where he learned the skills that prepared him for entrepreneurship. He discusses how personal pain points and deep market research inspired him to become a founder, as well as shares his approach to founder-led sales, building customer trust, and differentiating in a crowded AI market. Dean emphasizes the importance of choosing the right co-founder, setting realistic expectations, and staying outcome-focused. Tune in for insights on navigating startup challenges and lessons from Dean’s entrepreneurial path.
About our Guest: Dean Shu is the CEO and Co-Founder of Arphie (https://www.arphie.ai), a platform that streamlines the process of responding to tedious requests for proposal (RFPs), security questionnaires, and more. Arphie was born out of his prior experience in responding to these RFPs at Scale AI, where he was the General Manager of a software business unit. Prior to Scale AI, Dean invested in B2B software companies at Insight Partners, a $90B fund based in New York, and served as a consultant to tech companies at McKinsey & Company. Dean graduated from Harvard University, where he met his Arphie co-founder Michael Chen. When he's not building Arphie, Dean spends time with his wife and their Samoyed puppy.
This episode is brought to you with support from Netsuite. Learn more at Netsuite.com/scale
From Elton John to 25 Days of Giving: The Art of Event Production, Client Relationships, and Giving Back with Ashley Montgomery
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This week's episode features Ashley Montgomery, the CEO of Montgomery Entertainment, a boutique event production agency with over 20 years of experience creating unforgettable moments across the globe. Ashley shares her approach to selecting clients, the key ingredients for successful collaborations, and why trust is at the heart of her work.
Ashley's stories inspire and offer valuable lessons in leadership and integrity. Plus, she opens up about her annual 25 Days of Giving initiative, where she’s bringing holiday cheer through community partnerships and exciting giveaways.
Tune in for a conversation filled with actionable insights, heartwarming stories, and the spirit of giving. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, event enthusiast, or just looking for a dose of inspiration, this episode is for you!
This episode is brought to you with support from Netsuite. Learn more at Netsuite.com/scale
Beyond Business: Elevating Leadership and Growth Through Health and Relationships with Chris Gannon
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About our speaker:
Chris Gannon is the Founder of Captivate Talent, a recruiting firm specializing in hiring top-tier go to market talent. In this episode, Chris dives into the importance of culture, importance of healthy decisions and the value of bringing authenticity to business. Genuine, insightful, and refreshingly no-nonsense, Chris is a leader who truly walks the talk.
This episode is brought to you with support from Netsuite. Learn more at Netsuite.com/scale
Jill of All Trades: Lessons from Ashley Wilson on Growth, Change and Embracing Uncertainty
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About our speaker:
This week's guest is Ashley Wilson, the co-founder and COO of Momentum.io. Prior to Momentum, she founded Olivine, a product marketing agency, working with companies like ServiceNow, Aruba, Diligent, and Mercury. Before that, she was an early employee and marketing leader at Sauce Labs. Ashley lives in Argentina, by way of SF, and is the mother of 3 energetic kids.
This episode is brought to you with support from Netsuite. Learn more at Netsuite.com/scale
From CS to CEO: Varun Sharma on Risk, Resilience, and Real-Time Feedback
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About our speaker:
This week's guest is Varun Sharma, CEO and co-founder of Enterpret.
Varun's journey to founding Enterpret began at Amplitude, where, as employee 15, he helped scale product analytics for startups to Fortune 500s. During this time, Varun identified a major gap: product teams knew what was happening with their data but not the why. The solution? Insights were buried in unstructured feedback—messy, inconsistent, and impossible to scale. Today, Varun and his team at Enterpret help companies like Canva, Notion, Vimeo, and Strava turn feedback into actionable insights, empowering teams to drive growth and build products users love.
This episode is brought to you with support from Netsuite. Learn more at Netsuite.com/scale
From Panic Mode to Building a Scalable Business featuring Taylor Hersom
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In this exciting episode we sit down with Taylor, founder of Eden Data, to discuss his incredible pivot from corporate life to entrepreneurship. Taylor shares the bold decision to quit his job just before the pandemic hit, leading him to turn to Upwork. From gamifying client acquisition to navigating the challenges of scaling a bootstrapped startup, Taylor reveals the highs and lows of his journey. Tune in to hear how he built a successful cybersecurity company, all while staying grounded with lessons on growth, community, and the importance of setting your own scoreboard.
About our speaker:
Taylor Hersom is the Founder and CEO of Eden Data, the leading cybersecurity firm from SOC 2 to IPO. The Texas-native Deloitte-veteran has built Eden Data into a team of 30+ ex-Big 4 security advisors with 200+ clients including Zendesk and Kindbody. The firm is the back-to-back winner of Drata’s Partner-of-the-Year award. You can follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylorhersom/
This episode is brought to you with support from Netsuite. Learn more at Netsuite.com/scale
Unlocking Career Growth Through Peer Communities
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More about our speaker:
Jeremy is an entrepreneur whose goal is to create products that positively impact people's lives. He caught the startup bug 18 years ago and has been building and growing products ever since. His first startup journey concluded when his team was acquired by Facebook, where he went on to spend nine years in growth and product roles. Now, Jeremy is focused on building Sidebar, a platform with a mission to connect leaders and catalyze their extraordinary success. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with family and friends in the mountains, skiing and trail running, or at the beach, learning how to surf.
You can follow him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremytbarton
Embracing Failure and Leading with Values in Engineering With Balki Kodarapu
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More about our speaker:
Our guest is Balki Kodarapu, an all-in engineering leader and entrepreneur at heart. Balki has a proven track record of leading SaaS products from inception to hyper-growth, helping companies achieve 2x to 10x revenue growth, including two successful exits. He loves being a hands-on engineer, director, and VP of Engineering (all at once!), shaping product strategy and building high-performing teams. Currently, Balki leads engineering at Lōvu Health where his team helps create positive, joyful & healthy experiences for pregnant & postpartum moms every single day!
You can follow him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/balki/
This episode is brought to you with support from our sponsor, Oracle Netsuite. download the CFO’s Guide to AI and Machine Learning at NetSuite dot com slash SCALE. Learn more at netsuite.com/scale
Metrics and Data Points That Matter: Insight from Ray Rike
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More about our speaker:
Our guest this week is Ray Rike. Ray has over 30 years of experience in subscription-based software, service, and SaaS companies. His passion for data-driven, metrics informed decision making started with his selection to the GE Executive Management Development program and was subsequently enhanced by his experiences across five successful SaaS and software company exits.
These experiences, coupled with his innate analytical orientation provides the foundation for our mission to enable companies to embrace a data-driven, KPI informed decision making approach to accelerate revenue performance.
Follow Ray on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayrike/
Manoj Agarwal on Navigating Tech's Highs and Lows, Innovation, and Building Customer-Centric Companies
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More about our speaker:
Our guest this week is Manoj Agarwal, President, and Co-founder of DevRev. Manoj is the co-founder and President of DevRev, one of the hottest startups in Silicon Valley with unprecedented seed funding and recent $1B series A round. Previously, he held executive positions at Nutanix (Nasdaq: NTNX), leading engineering teams and playing a vital role in the company's successful IPO in 2016, which was the largest tech IPO at the time. Manoj is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and has worked in notable technology startups and companies like Synopsys and Sandisk. He left his role as SVP Engineering at Nutanix, where he spearheaded their cloud efforts, to co-found DevRev with Dheeraj Pandey in 2020.
Connect with Manoj at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devreveler/
From Passion-Driven Teams to Startup Success: Tido Carriero on Hiring, Building Value, Overcoming Challenges, and Taking Risks in Business Leadership
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More about our speaker:
Tido was an early engineering leader at Facebook, Dropbox, and Chief Product Officer @ Segment from early days through its acquisition by Twilio. He now is Co-Founder @ Koala, which is an end-to-end pipeline generation platform used by thousands of Sales teams.
From Founder to CMO: Lessons on Marketing, Innovation, and Global Expansion featuring Andrew Davies
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More about our speaker:
Andrew Davies is the CMO of Paddle, a payments infrastructure platform for high-growth SaaS companies serving over 3000 customers. He has more than 20 years of experience in start-ups ranging from leading global demand, advisory and consultancy, and even teaching.
Tony Barbagallo's Key Lessons in Engineering, Marketing, and Leadership for Success
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More about our speaker:
Tony Barbagallo is the VP of Marketing at DuploCloud, a company that automates the most tedious tasks of DevOps. Prior to DuploCloud, Tony served as the CEO of Caringo where he was previously spearheading marketing. Prior to that, he held a variety of roles across startups and large enterprises in product management, sales, marketing and engineering. A graduate of Syracuse University, Tony currently resides in the Bay Area.
A Candid Conversation on Leadership, Early Customers, Hiring, and Company Culture with Merge's Shensi Ding
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More about our speaker:
Shensi Ding is the co-founder and CEO of Merge, a company that offers a unified API to add hundreds of integrations to your product. Prior to founding Merge, Shensi served as the Chief of Staff at Expanse (acquired by Palo Alto Networks) and worked in investment banking roles at Credit Suisse and Silver Lake. A graduate of Columbia University, Shensi currently resides in and works out of New York City.
Reinventing Yourself: An Inspiring Story on Resetting, Embracing Change and Rebuilding With Sean Ericson
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After nearly a decade in the trenches, Sean found himself on autopilot, pressing the same buttons day after day, until his inner voice screamed for change. Discover how a six-week sabbatical helped him reset, reconnect, and reprogram his life, and gain insights on the importance of finding your core, listening to your inner voice, and the value of human connections. Whether you're feeling stuck or just need a boost of inspiration, this episode is packed with practical advice and heartfelt reflections to help you navigate your own path. Tune in and get ready to be motivated!
More about our speaker:
Sean Ericson is the founder of Abloom GTM, a sales development advisory firm that architects SDR and RevOps motions. Before Abloom, he provided foundational consulting services for 30+ startups like Clearbit, ConductorOne, Semgrep and Dolby.io as a Partner at InsideScale, and was a founding SDR at Talkdesk. Sean holds a Master's in International Development from the London School of Economics and is currently building a SaaS product for nurses.
From Metal Bands to Startups: James Evans on Navigating Pivots, Challenges and Go to Market
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In this episode, we sit down with James Evans, founder of CommandBar, to explore his journey from high school heavy metal bassist to tech entrepreneur. James shares fascinating insights into starting a company, overcoming challenges, and the pressures of living up to family expectations. We dive into his experiences with early-stage startups, navigating pivots, and the resilience needed to weather the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. Whether you're an aspiring founder or a seasoned entrepreneur, this conversation is packed with valuable lessons and inspiring stories
More about our speaker:
This week's guest is James Evans, the co-founder and CEO of CommandBar, a user assistance software company that powers chat and proactive help interfaces for hundreds of software businesses and millions of end users. Before CommandBar, he worked in private equity investing at Bain Capital and studied CS at Princeton.
Conversation with Tim Schumacher: How to Teach Entrepreneurship at an Early Age, the Non-Obvious Things to Consider When Evaluating Any Company and Why We All Should Prioritize Climate Change
This Week's Episode is Tim Schumacher, Co-founder and CEO of saas.group
Listen to this week’s episode below via Spotify, Apple Podcast, or your favorite podcast platform.
Tim shares his entrepreneurial adventures, from coding games in his teens to scaling successful companies and becoming a key player in SaaS. Discover his insights on making acquisitions founder-friendly, the importance of long-term vision, and his passion for climate tech. This conversation is filled with valuable lessons for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, investment, and sustainable business practices.
More about Tim:
In 2001, he co-founded Sedo.com, the world's largest domain marketplace. Since selling the company, he has been active as an entrepreneur and investor in various start-ups, including Eyeo (makers of Adblock Plus), Ecosia, Hitfox, Aklamio, Miomente, PiwikPro, BasicThinking, Home, Zolar, Joblift, SaaS.group, and others. His focus is primarily on internet ventures, particularly online marketing and marketplaces.
Strategic Scaling: Insights from Jim Yu's 17-Year Experience Growing BrightEdge
This Week's Episode is Jim Yu, Founder and Chairman of BridgeEdge.
Listen to this week’s episode below via Spotify, Apple Podcast, Descript or your favorite podcast platform.
Jim is the founder and exec chair of BrightEdge. As CEO of BrightEdge, Jim helped create a whole new category in digital marketing software and built BrightEdge into the enterprise market leader with $100M+ in revenue, profitable, and 500 employees. It is used by 57% of Fortune 100 companies and nine out of the top ten international digital agencies. BrightEdge is backed by Altos Ventures, Battery Ventures, Intel, and Insight Partners. As the global leader in enterprise organic search, content, and digital automation, it empowers marketers to transform online content into business results, such as traffic, conversions, and revenue. It is powered by a sophisticated deep-learning engine and contains the industry's most extensive data set. Its all-in-one platform provides vital market insights and business intelligence based on secure, compliant, and robust sets of first-party, real-time, and historical data. Jim is a founder, digital marketing expert, and speaks at conferences such as Share, Dreamforce, Adobe Summit, as well as Search Engine Expo and Search Engine Strategies worldwide. In addition, Jim is an industry pundit with featured columns in Entrepreneur, Fortune, ClickZ, Search Engine Land and Huffington Post. Jim is widely recognized as the driving force behind enterprise content performance marketing technology, having built the largest and most widely adopted platform which is in use by over 20,000 digital marketing professionals across 8,400 brands around the globe. Jim holds an MBA from Stanford University, a Master's of Engineering from the University of Virginia, and a Bachelor's of Science in Computer Science from the University of South Dakota.
Plus, a word from our sponsor, NetSuite by Oracle, on streamlining operations for scaling businesses. Get a free product demo at Netsuite.com/scale
Expanding into The United States: Common Mistakes Founders Make and Key Insights to Successfully Scale With Poya Osgouei
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In today’s episode, Poya shares his keynote from SaaStanak that took place in Croatia, and dives into the common mistakes founders make when expanding into the United States market, with practical advice and engaging storytelling from his experience working with over a dozen companies such as HackerRank, Automile, Plato and more.
This episode is packed with actionable tips, real-world examples, and the immigrant mindset driving Poya’s success. Whether you're a founder or aspiring entrepreneur, gain valuable insights to help your business thrive. Plus, a word from our sponsor, NetSuite by Oracle, on streamlining operations for scaling businesses. Get a free product demo at Netsuite.com/scale