About This Episode:

Today I’m pleased to welcome self-professed ‘fintech nerd’ Simon Taylor to the podcast. Simon is the Co-Founder and Head of Strategy and Content for Sardine.ai. Sardine enables all companies, whether big or small, to improve risk management by having the world's best API for fraud detection and compliance. Simon has been immersed in the technology of financial services for as long as he’s been working and is consistently voted one of the most influential people in Banking, Insurance, and Fintech by banks, his peers, and a number of industry bodies. Simon is a co-host of both ‘Fintech Insider’ the #1 Business Podcast in Europe and ‘Blockchain Insider’ the fastest-growing business podcast, and author of the Fintech Brain Food newsletter. 

In this episode, you’ll hear about Simon’s path to becoming a fintech wizard and industry leader, thoughts on the pandemic and its continuing effect on fundraising and VC, insights concerning the state of digital banking and its future, and advice for first-time fintech founders.

Startup Growth Stories is hosted by Don Muir, CEO, and Co-Founder of Arc Technologies. In each weekly episode of this podcast, you'll hear from first-time, bootstrapped, and unicorn founders about how they secured their first customers, convinced their first employees to join and grew their business. Founders and industry insiders share their greatest successes (and failures) and the things they learned along the way. In the final minutes of each episode, guests get vulnerable - they share very personal stories about the impact of their work on their well-being, their relationships, and their families.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

[1:26] Simon Taylor calls himself a “fintech nerd” 

[03:18] Fintech and what’s happening in the economy

[07:12] What we’ll see looking into 2023 - Reset your growth expectations

[08:50] Fintech founders – start looking at specifics, not general advice. What works for YOU? Pricing, operating models, talent acquisition, etc.

[11:35] The past Fed’s zero interest rates, venture capital investors, and founders - Hopefully, people learn the lessons from this. The market always wins

[15:08] What Simon is seeing in private markets – he’s 60% sure the Fed will end up probably ‘breaking the bond markets’

[19:23] How should fintech startups who are credit-focused think about their next move and access to capital?---Start thinking about who those folks are, start building relationships with them, depending on what your sources of capital have been historically 

[21:36] The BaaS ecosystem and the emergence of digitally native challenger banks on the consumer side – They provided access when nobody else would. Regulators are now looking at smaller banks not designed for millions of users

[25:50] What is it that has unlocked this opportunity for these digital banks? Why has this product taken off? What's been the gap that they're serving in the market? (1) solving a consumer pain point, and (2) it was a revenue model baked in - Cash App, Venmo, Chime, etc.

[30:38] Takeaways, and advice for first-time fintech founders - 

About This Episode:

Today I’m joined by Gautham Viswanathan, Founder and CPO of Workato. With its industry-leading enterprise automation, Workato helps organizations work faster and smarter without compromising security and governance. As a serial entrepreneur, Gautham has founded and led multiple companies including Blink Interactive and iProfile.

In this episode, you’ll hear the founding story of Workato, how Gautham and his co-founders met and built ‘fusion teams’ that were pivotal to creating a community of over 500,000 shared automations with their product-let approach, and some advice for first-time founders thinking of building a new venture.

Startup Growth Stories is hosted by Don Muir, CEO and Co-Founder of Arc Technologies. In each weekly episode of this podcast, you'll hear from first-time, bootstrapped, and unicorn founders about how they secured their first customers, convinced their first employees to join, and grew their business. Founders and industry insiders share their greatest successes (and failures) and the things they learned along the way. In the final minutes of each episode, guests get vulnerable - they share very personal stories about the impact of their work on their well-being, their relationships, and their families.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

[1:19] Gautham describes himself 

[01:40] Biggest inspiration: filmmakers, sports figures, family, Workato colleagues

[02:43] Workato = “work automation”

[03:43] Founding story, where everyone met, TIBCO

[07:35] The founders knew this was an enormous TAM (Total Addressable Market)

[09:15] Workato’s approach to the market - fusion teams

[11:25] Community- 500K shared automations

[13:30] Customer feedback - magic, joyful, and game-changing

[14:55] Workato, a product-led approach

[16:40] Focusing on the end-to-end experience for Workato customers

[17:35] Advice to first-time founders in today’s economic climate - pick something that moves you, that can make an impact. Co-founders are great to have, not going it alone.

[19:45] Building a team - go with your gut

[21:18] Gautham’s pivotal moments in his career - joining Technicron/TIBCO even though it was not a well-known brand 

[22:40] Personal challenges - Family, exercise, and working from home all helped 

[25:20] Would you do it all again? In a heartbeat, even just for the people, it’s been really fun

About Workato:

As the leader in enterprise automation, Workato helps organizations work faster and smarter without compromising security and governance. Built for Business and IT users, Workato is trusted by over 11,000 of the world's top brands like Broadcom, Intuit, Box, Autodesk, and HubSpot. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., Workato is backed by Altimeter Capital, Battery Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, Tiger Global, and Redpoint Ventures. For more information, visit www.workato.com or connect with us on social media.

Links

About This Episode:

Today I’m joined by my guest Godard Abel, CEO and Co-Founder of G2 - the world's largest and most trusted software marketplace. More than 60 million people annually — including employees at all of the Fortune 500 companies — use G2 to make smarter software decisions based on authentic peer reviews. Godard is a serial entrepreneur. He led multiple companies through to exit including BigMachines, which was acquired by Oracle for around $400 million and SteelBrick, which was acquired by Salesforce for north of $300 million.

In this episode, you’ll hear how Godard found inspiration and an entrepreneurial drive from his father and grandfather when he started BigMachines, some of the hard lessons he learned as he scaled up and financed his companies, and a little bit about his experience taking on a “conscious leadership” coach and how that has shaped his leadership methodology.

Startup Growth Stories is hosted by Don Muir, CEO and Co-Founder of Arc Technologies. In each weekly episode of this podcast, you'll hear from first-time, bootstrapped, and unicorn founders around how they secured their first customers, convinced their first employees to join, and grew their business. Founders and industry insiders share their greatest successes (and failures) and the things they learned along the way. In the final minutes of each episode, guests get vulnerable - they share very personal stories about the impact of their work on their well-being, their relationships, and their families.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

[0:55] Godard describes himself in three words or less: Conscious Entrepreneur

[01:26] Godard’s biggest inspiration is Marc Benioff from Salesforce

[02:33] The backstory of Godard’s father/grandfather and their business

[04:00] Talking with his father about business, working in the plant

[05:10] “Sleeping under a bridge in Paris” was always the fallback if his Dad’s business failed. He loved France!

[05:40] John Sculley of Pepsi and David Sculley of Heinz Ketchup/in Silicon Valley, became angel investors. The internet boom, Dell, Amazon, and helping his dad with custom configurations selling pumps online

[10:44] After selling BigMachines for millions - key learning was perseverance

[13:35] Advice for today’s founders – wishes he cut staff sooner from 70 to 20. Get efficient faster. “Flee to the front.” Focus on customers and sales. Keep the positive energy and passion to keep selling, even when you're depressed.

[17:20] Vulnerability - Godard was eating/drinking too much, had premature twins, life was overwhelming.  A coach and conscious leadership helped.

[21:27] what’s the right time to get a coach? As soon as possible, join YPO and EO – peer forums can help you like therapy

[23:00] Building your company rooted around the theme of trust –true caring and culture gives purpose to employees

[26:00] How the source of capital impacts your structure and motivations - bootstrapping is easier to grow slowly, having investors starts the clock – want returns in 3,5,7 years

[29:25] Reasons your second and third companies are easier – self-finance, people believe you with one successful exit under your belt, and there’s an aura of success

[30:47] The “entrepreneurial family” that Godard prefers to keep working with, how he hires or helps fund them. All of them like to do their own thing in a startup environment