Inc. Founders Project With Alexa Von Tobel

Approaching a new industry as an outsider and as a team of one would be daunting for most founders. But Chen Amit, Founder and CEO of Tipalti, was a repeat entrepreneur building in a new arena. In the past 13 years, he has scaled Tipalti— a finance automation suite focusing on global payments and accounts payable—into one of the most highly valued privately-held fintech companies in the globe. With a valuation of $8.3B, Tipalti processes over $43B in payments annually. Chen shares why signing his third customer was his biggest signal of product-market fit, what playing poker taught him about taking calculated risks, and why he relearns his job every eighteen months.

Over the past 13 years, Warby Parker has become synonymous with offering stylish eyewear at revolutionary prices. The company was born back at Wharton in 2010, when a group of classmates—including co-CEO Neil Blumenthal, came together around an idea they couldn't get out of their heads. Since then, Warby Parker has grown to over 200 brick and mortar locations and went public in 2021. They've also hit a giant milestone: distributing 15 million pairs of glasses globally through their Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program, helping people get the glasses they need to learn, work, and achieve better economic outcomes. Neil shares how it took them six months and over 2,000 names to settle on Warby Parker, why getting pricing right was key to their early success, and why empathy is key to business-building. 

The company’s director of finance explains how her job goes well beyond accounting. Tina Hetzer, director of finance at Pink Lily, is one of the rising financial stars who are helping to bring their businesses to the next level. She built Pink Lily’s finance team from scratch and has helped the company become one of the fastest-growing retailers in the country. In this podcast, part of the SAP-sponsored Growth Agents series, Hetzer discusses the cash-flow challenges unique to fashion retailers and explains how working at a smaller, founder-run company can fuel greater collaboration across the organization.  

In 2014, as an engineer at a delivery startup, Daniel Yanisse identified an opportunity to improve a part of the HR tech world that was known to be high on friction. He co-founded Checkr to leverage technology to transform the world of background checks. Today, Checkr is a leading HR tech company that processes over 30 million background checks annually—and has earned a valuation of $5B. Daniel shares why the company is committed to Fair Chance Hiring, how Checkr grew alongside the on-demand economy companies it first served (like Instacart and Uber), and why being new to the industry was an advantage.

Duolingo’s freemium subscription model, beloved brand and strategic investments have allowed it to execute its educational mission and become a cultural touchstone. Matthew Skaruppa, CFO of Duolingo, is one of the rising financial stars who are helping to bring their businesses to the next level. Since he joined the company in 2020, Duolingo has grown its base of monthly active users by more than 80%. Each month, 75 million users hone their language skills on the Duolingo app. In this podcast, part of the SAP-sponsored Growth Agents series, Skaruppa discusses how his analytical background has allowed to him to be a more strategy-oriented CFO. For him, that has meant balancing big aspirations and finite resources, and turning the uncertainties of tomorrow into action today.

Athena Calderone is a multi-hyphenate creator through and through. She is widely known as an interior designer, author, chef, and entertaining expert. Since she launched EyeSwoon in 2012, she's grown the brand from editorial platform into an e-commerce destination and hit major milestones along the way: earning over a million Instagram followers, writing two best-selling books, and launching a collaboration with Crate and Barrel that beat its yearly sales projection in the first 60 days. Athena shares how her parents' careers as hairdressers gave her an early appreciation for aesthetics, why finding your authentic voice takes time, and how she structures her calendar to make space for creativity.

Mitch Reback, CFO of Sweetgreen, is one of the rising corporate financial stars who is helping to take their companies to the next level. When he started, Sweetgreen had 25 stores; today, there are more than 220—and Reback says the company is still in its “infancy.” In this podcast, part of the SAP-sponsored Growth Agents series, Reback takes a deep dive into his role as a growth agent. Capital is the engine that drives growth, and Reback says his job is to make sure the company has adequate capital to grow as well as determining how best to allocate it, including investments in stores, marketing, staff, and technology—or, as he puts it, to push innovation forward in a way that’s capital efficient.

In 2010, after a bad customer support experience for a TV delivery, Girish Mathrubootham decided to build a better solution. He launched Freshworks as the first multichannel customer support system. Today, the product has evolved into a robust suite for IT, customer support, sales, and marketing teams. Freshworks now has three offices across eight countries with over 5,000 employees and more than 65,000 customers. In 2021, Girish took Freshworks public on Nasdaq as the first Indian SaaS company to go public in the US. Girish shares why he believes this is the Indian decade for tech, why UI and design are key for product-led growth, and why "pressure is a privilege" is a motto that resonates.

What if brands were empowered to deliver personalized experiences online, just as well as they could do in a store? That's the idea that underpins Klaviyo, the leading customer and marketing automation platform. Andrew Bialecki cofounded Klaviyo in 2012 and now serves over 100,000 brands, helping them generate $28 billion in revenue for its customers in 2021 alone. Andrew shares why he bootstrapped the business until profitability, how early partnerships can be a key to efficient customer acquisition, and why he feels like he's only achieved 1% of Klaviyo's potential. Original Air Date 12-07-2022

Michael Brown started his career in investment banking, meeting two colleagues who would go on to become his co-founders. After some time in finance, he set out on a new challenge: acquiring and running small businesses. Along the way, he identified a huge mission and plans to dedicate his whole career to this singular focus—helping thousands of small businesses become employee-owned. In 2019, Michael co-founded Teamshares with Alex Eu and Kevin Shiiba. The team has raised over $245M in financing and acquired nearly 90 businesses across the country, stopping the succession problem and building wealth for employees along the way. Michael shares why he operates with a 200-year mentality, why financial education for employees is a critical part of ownership, and why the perfect hire has a mix of kindness and ambition.

What if someone told you they could help you communicate better? That's the mission Max Lytvyn, co-founder of Grammarly, has been on since 2009. After working on plagiarism detection technology, Max realized that the root of plagiarism was people's desire to be better writers. The company was incredibly early to use AI to aid in communication and now has grown to over 30 million daily users and a valuation north of $13 billion. Max shares why their technology started with the mechanics of language, why the first product targeted professional writers, and how his childhood in Ukraine inspired him to become an entrepreneur.

Euan Blair started his career in finance, but he had a nagging interest at the intersection of education and employment. In 2016, Euan launched Multiverse, a tech startup on a mission to create a diverse group of future leaders by building an alternative to university and corporate training: apprenticeships. Today, Multiverse helps over 1,000 organizations hire apprentices to close skill gaps and develop a diverse talent pipeline. The company has trained over 10,000 of these apprentices and earned its status as the UK's first EdTech unicorn. Euan shares why the company's apprenticeships are rooted in high-growth areas like tech, why founders should devote even more time to hiring, and how growing up with his dad as the Prime Minister fostered a deep sense of public service. 

In 2012, Saji Wickramasekara took a bold leap: he took a leave of absence from his undergraduate studies at MIT to start Benchling. A computer scientist by training, Saji had also worked in labs and realized just how much was still run on pen and paper. Today, Benchling's technology powers the biotechnology industry, used by more than 200,000 scientists at over 1200 companies and 7,500 research institutions around the globe. Saji shares how he approached building a digital lab for scientists to do their best work, why they offered their early product to academics for free, and what it means to grow a purpose-built business.

At his core, John Colgrove, aka "Coz," doesn't consider himself an entrepreneur. He sees himself as an engineer who loves to build things. But despite that, he is the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Pure Storage, a company that uncomplicates data storage—and has a market cap over $11B. Coz co-founded Pure Storage in 2009 to empower every organization to get the most from their data and has grown the business to over 11,000 enterprise customers. He spent 20-years at Veritas Software and holds over 170 patents in computer system design. Coz shares why he hired engineers outside of the storage industry, how to maintain a 10x mentality as you scale, and why hard drives will be a thing of the past.

To build one successful company is a feat. But to do it over and over again? Over the course of his career, Godard Abel has built repeat successes as a serial entrepreneur. Today, he is co-founder and CEO of G2, the world's largest and most trusted software marketplace used by over 80 million people. But he is also the founder of Big Machines (acquired by Oracle) and SteelBrick (acquired by Salesforce). Godard shares how to find joy in the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial journey, how to build a community of trusted peers, and why he believes AI will change everything.

Growing up, V watched his older brother suffer an accident and struggle to access the intensive physical therapy he needed to recover. V has since dedicated his career to solving pain for the 2 billion people around the globe who suffer each year. In 2015, he started Sword Health to free the world from pain and has helped thousands of people along the way. Sword's digital therapist is proven to outperform traditional physical therapy and reduces surgery by 60%. V shares how he made the transition from PhD to CEO, why Sword's success is built on a combination of AI and human-led therapies, and why getting rejected is imported to success.

Melinda is the Founder of Pivotal Ventures in addition to co-chairing the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She has spent much of her life dedicated to promoting gender equality, having invested, donated, and committed $1B to just this cause. Already, she has invested over $65 million in comprehensive federal paid family and medical leave, and they have launched a Future of Longevity Accelerator bringing innovative solutions to elder care. Melinda shares the four key industries that can change society, how her parents taught her to live out her values, and why she found success as a manager by living authentically.

As a serial tech entrepreneur, Greg Jackson entered a new arena in his career in 2016. He decided to shift his focus to the green energy revolution, pursuing a lifelong passion of his to protect the planet. The London-based founder started Octopus Energy Group, which has become the second largest energy supplier in the UK and has expanded operations to 14 countries and 5.1 million customers globally. Greg shares how he's using technology to help tackle climate change, why he's optimistic about the path to renewable energy, and why Al Gore becoming an investor was such a pinch-me moment.

At some point in every tech employee's career, one likely comes into contact with an Atlassian product, from Jira to Confluence to Trello. Scott co-founded Atlassian back in 2001 along with his university friend, Mike Cannon-Brookes, to help unleash the potential of every team. The iconic collaboration company now has over 240,000 customers around the globe and a market value over $40 billion. Scott shares why insatiable curiosity was key to their success, how Atlassian has helped the Australian tech community thrive, and why they've adopted a work-from-anywhere policy and use offices solely for intentional togetherness.

Vikram has spent much of his career as an engineer, managing database storage at Oracle and earning several patents. But in 2015, he officially took on the title of cofounder, starting Lacework to build the security layer for the cloud. The company's thesis hinges on the idea that security problems can be solved through the right datasets. In 2021, Lacework raised a $1.3B Series D round, the largest funding round for any cybersecurity company. Vikram shares why they approach security as a data problem, how they are able to onboard customers within an hour, and why solving the biggest challenges you can is what creates the best company IP and value.