Hacktostart

This is the fifty-eighth episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Jeff Goldenberg (on Twitter @ Jeff_Goldenberg), the co-author of The Growth Hacker's Guide To The Galaxy & Head of Growth at Borrowell. Jeff has an unmatched talent for marketing & growth. He’s launched some impressive businesses ranging from fantasy poker camps, to a Top Chef cooking university and more. He’s also the co-author of The Growth Hacker’s Guide To The Galaxy. Jeff joins us to share his story, what lead him to becoming a tech entrepreneur & growth hacker, some of the biggest lessons he's learnt over the years, how to build partnerships when you have no leverage, and much more!

This is the fifty-seventh episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Grace Garey (on Twitter @ GraceGarey), the co-founder of Watsi, a platform for funding healthcare for people around the world. Grace has a background in global and international studies. After living in Ghana and interning at the International Rescue Committee, Grace joined Kiva to help them grow their platform. While there she helped launch Watsi - which became the first non-profit company to ever be accepted into Y Combinator. Grace joins us to share her story, what lead her to becoming an entrepreneur, what she learnt while at Kiva, how Watsi got into YC, and much more!

This is the fifty-sixth episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Guy Gunaratne (on Twitter @ GuyGunaratne), the co-founder of Storygami, an interactive video tool to add interactive overlays like articles, image galleries, call to action buttons, social feeds & more. Guy was previously an award winning, video journalist who created several documentaries on human rights subjects. However, the video medium was never quite sufficient to tell the stories he was looking to convey. Storygami is his answer to this need. It's been backed by Richard Branson & Virgin Media Pioneers and is currently used by organizations like Virgin Media & Al Jazeera - and is currently part of 500 Startups' batch 13. Guy joins us to share his unique story, how he transitioned from videographer to tech entrepreneur, how they got into 500 Startups and more!

This is the fifty-fifth episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Mustefa Jo'Shen (on Twitter @ MustefaJ), the founder & CEO of Design Cofounders, a Toronto-based company that provides design education via DC Edu, business & design consulting via the DC Studio, and drive impact and innovation through Design Makes Change initiatives. Mustafa has grown Design Cofounders from a freelancing business into a fully fledged design company. He joins us to share how he’s built such a rapidly growing company through education, community, genuine relationships and more.

This is the fifty-fourth episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Pouyan Salehi (on Twitter @ PSalehi), the Co-founder & CEO of PersistIQ,the complete outbound platform engineered from the ground up for sales. Pouyan has built 3 startups, has extensive experience in the SaaS space, was an entrepreneur in residence at Redpoint Ventures, and was accepted into YC14. He joins us to share his insights on building SaaS products, raising money, getting into YC, and much more!

This is the fifty-third episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Ross Simmonds (on Twitter @ TheCoolestCool), the founder & CEO of Foundation, Hustle & Grind, and Crate. Ross has been into startups for as long as he can remember. While running an football fantasy blog in college, he began to understand the power of content and social platforms. He joins us to share how he's managed to build a thriving consulting practise, launch two other startups, how to make sure your brand stands out online, and much more!

This is the fifty-second episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Sandi MacPherson (on Twitter @ SandiMac), the founder & CEO of Quibb, share what you're reading for work. Sandi has a background in science and non-profit organizations, but realized that she wanted to be in tech. She joins us to share her insights on starting a company, building communities and social platforms for professionals, how she raised money, and much more!

This is the fifty-first episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Matt Fiedler (on Twitter @ IAmMattFiedler), the co-founder & CEO of Vinyl Me Please, the best damn record club out there! Matt grew up with a passion for music that he inherited from his dad. Always wanting to start his own thing, Matt and his co-founder Tyler launched Vinyl Me Please as a passion project. Today they ship to more than 40 countries worldwide and have a rapidly growing user base of subscribers and music lovers. Matt joins us to share his insights on starting a company, enabling a community to take on a life of its own, how to start a subscription company, and much more!

This is the fiftieth episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Sarah Stockdate (on Twitter @ Skstock), the growth manager at Tilt, the easy way to collect money from a group for free. She's also the Director of Speakers for TedXDistilleryDistrictWomen. With a background in the financial tech industry, Sarah shares why she decided to start her career in the tech industry, how she approaches growth in this fast growing market, how optimizing everything you do for learning can help you get ahead, and much more!

This is the forty-ninth episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Phil Freo (on Twitter @ PhilFreo), the lead on product and engineering at Close.io. Phil has been developing and building websites since he was a teenager. As a full stack developer, he's worked on several products for companies like Yahoo, Google and for startups. Phil joins us to share his insights on building startups, finding your unfair competitive advantage, thinking about product development, raising money, and much more!

This is the forty-eighth episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Megan Berry (on Twitter @ MeganBerry), the Head of Product Development at RebelMouse. Megan had previously led community at several startups including Klout. Now at RebelMouse, she joins us to share her insights on product development, growth, raising money, and much more!

This is the forty-seventh episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Ef Rodriguez (on Twitter @ pug), the Director of Global Social at HTC. With a background in writing and journalism, Ef has always been passionate about startups, good marketing and cool technologies. He joins us to share his insights on working abroad, being curious, not being lazy, and exploring new technologies and much more!

This is the forty-sixth episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Anthony Thomas (on Twitter @ ac132), the co-founder and GM of Sticker Mule, a custom sticker printing service that kicks ass. Anthony has always been a manufacturing guy, but had deep frustrations with the traditional model and not having direct relationships with the end customers. He wanted to do more and so Sticker Mule was born. He joins us to share more about how this startup was launched in 3 months, how early customers enabled them to quickly achieve product/market fit and improve the experience of buying stickers online, how entrepreneurs wanting to get into manufacturing should approach partnerships, and more!

This is the forty-fifth episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Dustin Henderlong (on Twitter @ DHendy), the VP of Digital at Threadless, a community-driven design platform featuring designs created by various designers, artists and general consumers. With a background in acting & photography, Dustin has always been interested in technology. He joined Threadless to lead partnerships for several years before becoming the first employee at Snapjoy - which was later acquired by Dropbox. Dustin then returned to Threadless as VP of Digital and has been helping drive innovation since then. He shares more about his day-to-day role, why building authentic relationships is key for personal and business growth, how community is critical at all stages, and more.

This is the forty-fourth episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Katherine Hague (on Twitter @ KatherineHague), the co-founder of ShopLocket, an ecommerce platform for hardware entrepreneurs. Founded in May 2012, Katherine raised a $1 million seed round, led by Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures and Rho Canada. The company was acquired in early 2014 by PCH, a global leader in custom manufacturing solutions. Katherine now acts as VP of Community Engagement & Hackathons for PCH. Katherine has a passion for supporting other entrepreneurs that has naturally led her to becoming an active angel investor. Katherine investments tend to focus on seed stage companies in the consumer hardware and lifestyle space. Katherine has been named one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women, was listed as one of Canada's 7 Tech Stars by the Financial Post, and was named one of 5 Women to Watch in Wearable Tech. She joins us to share

This is the forty-third episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Samuel Hulick (on Twitter @ SamuelHulick), the founder and user onboarding champion at UserOnboard.com. Originally a web developer, Samuel is passionate about putting users first and creating amazing users experiences. He started his blog, UserOnboard.com to showcase different onboarding experiences as it’s often the most overlooked aspect of the overall user experience. He joins us to share his insights as an entrepreneur, blogger, and usability consultant.

This is the forty-second episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Victoria Lennox (on Twitter @ VLennox), the co-founder and CEO of Startup Canada, Canada's first-ever, entrepreneur-led, national movement. Victoria is the catalyst of a national grassroots network of local Startup Communities; PIVOTmagazine.ca, 1000startups.ca, StartupAward.ca & MentorshipChallenge.ca among other high-impact, national programs - recognised by PROFIT Magazine as one of Canada's Top 30 entrepreneurs in 2012. She joins us to share her insights and experiences on building non-profit, social driven organizations.

This is the forty-first episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Nadav Wilf (on Twitter @ NadavWilf), the VP of Possibility at HeroX, a spinoff of the XPRIZE organization founded by Peter Diamandis. Nadav has previously founded and sold many different startups including DiscoverSD which grew from $0 to $1M in 18 months. Nadav joins us to share his insights and experiences building and growing different types of web based businesses, and to share what's next for HeroX.

This is the fortieth episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Susan Su (on Twitter @ Susanfsu), the growth marketer-in-residence for 500 Startups Distribution team. Susan has more than 8 years of experience going from corporate to startup in Silicon Valley, running marketing for some major media and web startups like: Google, with Ramit Sethi & IWillTeachYouToBeRich, InsideNetwork, AppSumo, and more. She joins us to share her insights on taking risks, creating something of value, how to manage yourself and what it takes to get into 500 Startups.

This is the thirty-ninth episode of Hack To Start. Your hosts, Franco Varriano (on Twitter @ FrancoVarriano) and Tyler Copeland (on Twitter @ TylerCopeland), speak with Caneel Joyce (on Twitter @ Caneel), the CEO of Kickass Creative, her consulting practise that combines creativity with insights about human behavior to design elegant solutions to real problems. Caneel is an ideawoman, a design strategist, and a startup team builder who leverages creativity, data and psychology to design powerful products and build kickass companies. She previously lead growth & creativity at Britely and has taught several classes at the London School of Economics and the d.school at Stanford. Caneel shares lots of amazing insights with us - everything from how constraints increase creativity, how conflict can be productive, how to negotiate, why a solid vision and a mission are critical to growth, and much more.