Kruze Consulting's Founders and Friends Podcast for Startups podcast.

From TeachStreet acquisition by Amazon to Dave's current musings at MyPerfectColor, he shares his thoughts on raising venture and why it does not make sense to wait and struggle.

Parker Conrad founded Rippling (https://www.rippling.com/) to simplify a startup's entire back-office by uniting Payroll, Benefits, HR & IT.

Brian Balfour of Reforge (https://www.reforge.com) - the growth career development company - talks about product-led growth. He discusses how the system of product-led growth includes product, marketing, and engineering, and steps organizations can take to create a culture of growth.

Interviewed by Scott Orn of Kruze Consulting, the leading accounting firm to funded startups. https://kruzeconsulting.com

Mike Whitmire traces his journey from accountant at a high growth startup to the founder of Floqast (https://floqast.com), which has raised over $90 million in VC funding, has 150 employees, and hundreds of paying clients.

Lylan Masterman traces his journey from startups, through the Kauffmann program into venture capital. He also digs into why NYC is a great startup location, including how the city has diversified from just adtech and fintech into direct to consumer, enterprise software, and beyond.

Interview by Scott Orn of Kruze Consulting. Startups looking for accounting help in New York City turn to Kruze Consulting. Learn more at https://kruzeconsulting.com/new_york_city

David Bergeron of T3 Advisors (https://www.t3advisors.com), a leading commercial real estate advisor to venture-funded companies, discusses how COVID will change the future of the startup office. From the next few months to several years from now, how startup office space will be forever different.

Interviewed by Scott Orn, COO of Kruze Consulting, a leading startup accounting consulting firm. Learn more at https://kruzeconsulting.com

The founder of Biome (https://www.biome.us), Collin Cavote, joins Kruze Consulting’s podcast to discuss how bioengineering and careful indoor plants can positively improve air quality, worker safety, and productivity.

Glen Evans, VP of Core Talent at VC firm Greylock Partners (https://www.greylock.com) digs into why venture capital firms have in-house recruiting partners. Glen has helped Google, Facebook, and Slack recruit talent, and explains strategies startups can use to get the best hires.

If you’re a funded startup, learn how Kruze Consulting can simplify your payroll process with our automated systems. Learn more at https://kruzeconsulting.com/five_tips_for_startup_financial_health/implement_startup_payroll

"Lea Dessi-Olive, experienced outsourced CFO to over 20 funded startups and founder of Elevation Advisory (https://www.elevation-advisory.com), discusses how she is helping her clients manage through the COVID crisis. She explains how she analyzes the trade-off between conserving cash and being prepared for growth.

Learn more about Kruze’s part-time CFO service here: https://kruzeconsulting.com/startup-cfo/"

Seth Freedman, General Manager at Intelligent Observation (https://intelobserve.com), talks about technology that can drive behavior modification to dramatically reduce hospital infections. From idea to iteration to actually getting healthcare workers to follow proper hand hygiene compliance guidelines in major hospitals. He also discusses how this new technology can help combat the COVID crisis.

Looking for information on the COVID related stimulus, the CARES Act? Visit: https://kruzeconsulting.com/blog/post/cares-act-startups

Chris Savage of Wistia (https://wistia.com) discusses the impact of video content as a powerful marketing tool and as a training platform for COVID health workers and everyone else learning or working from their homes.

Interviewed by Scott Orn of Kruze Consulting. Learn about Kruze Consulting’s bookkeeping for startups! https://kruzeconsulting.com/startup-bookkeeping

Safety, security, and facilities management robots in the time of COVID, with Travis Deyle, CEO of Cobalt Robotics (https://cobaltrobotics.com).

Special episode with two experienced CFOs, Evan Meagher from Logikcull (https://www.logikcull.com) and Jay Goldberg, talking about SBA Cares Act, PPP loans, and how startups can update their financial modeling to adapt it for the COVID-19 crisis.
Find free startup financial models, or work with Kruze experts to build a customized model for your company! https://kruzeconsulting.com/five_tips_for_startup_financial_health/startup_financial_models

Matt Belloni of Hollywood Reporter (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com) walks us through the impact the Covid-19 shutdown is having on Disney, the Streaming Wars, and online entertainment news business models.

Jeff Lee talks about how Origin (https://www.origin.io) pivoted its 3D Manufacturing business to help produce swabs for Covid-19 testing. Origin's swabs went into a clinical trial 7 days after the team conceived of the idea.

Michael Wang, founder and CEO of Inspiren (https://inspiren.com), and Rohit Prakash, founder and CEO of Coast App (https://coastapp.com), talk about how their companies are making a difference helping healthcare and frontline workers during the COVID crisis.

In a pre-COVID interview, Anne Dwane of Village Global (https://www.villageglobal.vc), a $100 million venture capital fund, explains her fund’s “founder-driven” investment thesis. What does it take to stand out as a founder in her fund’s view? While this interview was recorded prior to the COVID crisis, we at Kruze really love the content and wanted to publish it so our subscribers could benefit from Anne’s great insights.

Prashant Fonseka, a venture capitalist with Tuesday Capital (https://tuesday.vc) (formerly the CrunchFund) explains his process for evaluating pre-seed, seed and post-seed VC investing. Prashant also lists the advice he gives to portfolio companies during the COVID crisis.

Lighter Capital (https://www.lightercapital.com) provides revenue-based loans to startups. Jon Prentice discusses how this funding strategy works, and how his firm is helping fund startups during the COVID crisis.

Read all of Kruze Consulting’s COVID and PPP Loan-related content at https://kruzeconsulting.com/blog/post/cares-act-startups/

David Blumberg of Blumberg Capital (https://www.blumbergcapital.com) on Fintech & Supply Chain Software's Role in Helping During Covid-19.

Kelsey Chase of Aumni (https://www.aumni.fund) Discusses the CARES Act PPP Loans and how SBA Affiliate Rules Affect Startups.

Kathryn Hickey of PilieroMazza PLLC (https://www.pilieromazza.com) discusses eligibility for startups under the CARE Act stimulus loans. She explains the SBA rules around “affiliates” and solutions for VC backed startups to be eligible for the loans.

Brock Blake of Lendio (https://www.lendio.com), a small business and SBA loan expert, talks about the recent COVID / coronavirus stimulus act for startups and small businesses. Does the CARE act help startups with funding during the COVID crisis, and how can startups apply for stimulus funding?

Jacob Yormak, one of the co-founders of and Partner at Story Ventures (https://storyventures.vc), discusses his journey into venture capital, explains how he raised his first and second fund and dishes on how he makes concentrated bets in early-stage startups.

Congress is about to pass legislation that may make it possible for VC and seed backed companies to access “disaster” type SBA loans. The legislation is evolving - Scott Orn and Healy Jones of Kruze Consulting layout the current options as we understand them. Note that the final legislation, when passed, may differ from our discussion.

Congress is about to pass legislation that may make it possible for VC and seed backed companies to access “disaster” type SBA loans. The legislation is evolving - Scott Orn and Healy Jones of Kruze Consulting layout the current options as we understand them. Note that the final legislation, when passed, may differ from our discussion.

M&A expert Michael Frankel of Deloitte (https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en.html) discusses the steps startups can take to increase their enterprise value during a sale. Michael goes over things smart acquiring companies look for in a target, items a founder can do now that improve a future sale price and tips for succeeding at due diligence.

Interview by Scott Orn of Kruze Consulting, a leader in startup bookkeeping. https://kruzeconsulting.com/startup-bookkeeping/

FairyGodBoss (https://fairygodboss.com/) founder Georgene Huang found herself pregnant and out of a job. Here’s how she created a fast-growing business helping other women level up their careers.

Interviewed by Scott Orn of Kruze Consulting, a leader in startup bookkeeping. https://kruzeconsulting.com/startup-bookkeeping/

Evan Meagher, who is not only the VP of Finance of Logikcull (https://www.logikcull.com/) but who also wrote, performed and recorded the theme song to this podcast, talks about the challenges needed to upgrade a late-stage SaaS business to enterprise quality accounting systems. Interviewed by Scott Orn of Kruze Consulting, a leader in startup bookkeeping. https://kruzeconsulting.com/startup-bookkeeping/

VC Jennifer Vancini explains how her early-stage VC firm, Mighty Capital (https://mighty.capital/), uses a network of product professionals to evaluate investments - and drive value for portfolio companies. Interview by Scott Orn of Kruze Consulting, a leader in startup R&D tax credit work. https://kruzeconsulting.com/startup_calculators/rd_tax_calculator/

Michael Tannenbaum, CFO and Chief Business Officer of Brex, (https://brex.com/?ref_code=kruzehttps://brex.com/?ref_code=kruze) shares how they are building an interconnected FinTech company, and how partnerships with other innovative startups enhance the customer experience.

Rich Keen, COO of Mind Candy (https://mindcandy.com/), discusses building a world-class brand that combines apps, media, and celebrities. Rich also explains quite a bit about Moshlings, the characters that inhabit the brand. Interviewed by Scott Orn of Kruze Consulting, a leader in startup taxes and HR. https://kruzeconsulting.com/startup-taxes/

Amy Lazarus, founder of InclusionVentures (http://inclusionventures.com/), shares strategies to increase diversity - and innovation - by building a more inclusive startup culture. From the message companies send during the recruiting process to creating “brave spaces” inside the organization - Amy explains how best in class tech businesses are making their companies better places to work. Interviewed by Scott Orn of Kruze Consulting, a leader in startup taxes and HR. https://kruzeconsulting.com/startup-taxes/

Kelly Nyland, a multi-time startup founder, discusses how eCommerce has evolved, and where she thinks it is going in the age of text messaging. Her new company, Whym (https://www.mywhym.co/), is a female-focused brand that lets people purchase right from texts. Interviewed by Scott Orn of Kruze Consulting, a leader in early-stage bookkeeping (https://kruzeconsulting.com/startup-bookkeeping/) and accounting.

Don Butler, from Thomvest Ventures (https://thomvest.com/), has been a Fintech VC for 20 years - he shares his experiences in investing in the original wave of Peer to Peer lenders, and his predictions on why startups have a strong chance to disrupt traditional banks. Interviewed by Scott Orn of Kruze Consulting, a leader in startup taxes and HR. https://kruzeconsulting.com/startup-taxes/

Ron Bland and Dillon Castro of AEIS Advisors (https://www.aeisadvisors.com/) strategize on the best ways for startups to provide healthcare benefits to their employees. With health costs rising, startups need smart ways to keep their employees healthy and happy. Interviewed by Scott Orn of Kruze Consulting, a leader in startup taxes and HR. https://kruzeconsulting.com/startup-taxes/

Scott Orn and Healy Jones of Kruze Consulting break down the massive amount of innovation happening in the startup banking space. Why does it matter who your bank is if you are a startup? Learn about startup banks and credit cards. https://kruzeconsulting.com/best-startup-credit-cards/ From Kruze, the leader in startup bookkeeping. https://kruzeconsulting.com/startup-bookkeeping/

John Popeo of the Gallatin Group (https://www.thegallatin.com/) talks with Scott Orn of Kruze Consulting about how financial regulations are impacting the growth of the Fintech startup market. Cryptocurrency, banking regulation and more! The Gallatin Group consults with fintech startup on bank charter applications, M&A, regulatory relations, risk management, compliance, strategic planning and more.

The year-end is a great time to prepare your startup’s budget for the next year. Scott Orn and Healy Jones of Kruze Consulting (https://kruzeconsulting.com/) talk about best practices for preparing and managing your startup’s budgeting process.

Nicole Sahin, CEO and Founder of Globalization Partners (https://www.globalization-partners.com/), has helped thousands of high-growth companies set up their first international hires. She discusses the complexities of international headcount growth and explains how startups can efficiently get the international talent they need without spending a ton on legal and compliance.

Kati Radziwon, founder and CEO of iFlipd (https://www.iflipd.com/), talks to Scott Orn about the journey of growing her startup from a textbook rental company to a video game rental business to a FinTech play helping college students pay for college.

Kruze Consulting COO, Scott Orn, discusses why Gusto and Zenefits are no longer letting their APIs talk to each other, and what this means for startups who use Gusto for payroll and Zenefits for benefits.

2019 has been the year of innovation for the financial ecosystem tools for startups, with a ton happening in the corporate card space in the past couple of months. Scott and Healy, VP of FP&A at Kruze Consulting, get together to discuss Brex, Stripe, Amex, Expensify and the main startup focused banks.

Kelsey Chase of Aumni (https://www.aumni.fund/) started out as a corporate lawyer working on venture capital deals - but now is a startup founder, offering technology that helps VCs and founders turn complex deal document data into valuable information.

David Spreng of Runway Capital (https://runwaygrowth.com/) has a winding, unique and interesting journey in the technology financing industry; he talks with Kruze Consulting about how his experience led him to found a venture debt firm.

Serial entrepreneur Immad Akhund of Mercury Bank (https://mercury.co/) discusses why startups need a bank built specifically for their needs, and the challenges of creating a bank from the ground up.

Curtis Coleman, founder and CEO of RVillage (https://www.rvillage.com), joins Scott Orn of Kruze Consulting to talk about growing a niche social network.

Aman Mann, Procurify (https://www.procurify.com/) Founder and CEO, dives into how strategically managing a team's spend can drive purpose, mastery, and autonomy inside organizations.

Chelsea Shukov, the founder of Sugar Paper (https://sugarpaper.com/), talks about focusing on quality and distribution to build a successful, offline consumer business.

From picking the right beans and roasts to managing gross profits, Brad Gakenheimer of Roast Umber Coffee Company (https://www.roastumber.com/) explains what it takes to start a coffee company.

Jamie Ceglarz, Guild Talent (https://www.guildtalent.com) founder, has helped many startups make their first finance and operations leadership hire. He talks about how to find and evaluate a finance hire, and what they can bring to a startup.

Andre Gharakhanian of Silicon Legal Strategy (http://www.siliconlegal.com/), the first outside lawyer for Uber, Pinterest, and Instagram, talks startup legal strategy and about growing a law firm totally focused on serving fast-growth startups.

Robbie Mitchell, CEO and founder of Frame.ai (https://frame.ai/), discusses his founder journey - and explains how companies are integrating their customer conversations and using machine learning to create a business intelligence stack for important customer communications.

Stephanie Mann and Anne Foreman of At Your Core (http://www.atyourcore.org/) discuss how to set the foundation for a strong culture in a startup, and how to build and maintain a startup’s team value system.

Andrew Miller, Executive Vice President of Business Operations of the Toronto Blue Jays (https://www.mlb.com/bluejays) discusses aligning an organization to focus on a single goal, winning.

Lars Kamps, Intermix founder (https://www.intermix.io/), talks about how to raise a seed round for your startup. Hear about how Lars decided how much to raise, mapped out possible investors, and figured out how to structure his seed round.

Mark MacLeod, an investment banker to fast-growing SMB software startups, dives into how SaaS companies prepare for an exit. Learn what a SaaS startup has to do to be acquired, what the M&A process is like, and how to maximize the probability of an exit.

Evan Meagher of Logikcull (https://www.logikcull.com/) discusses how to scale finance and sales scale together in fast growth SaaS startups. Evan dives into how finance and accounting can support the growth of a sales team, and when SaaS companies should make infrastructure investments.

Venture debt expert Scott Orn, of Kruze Consulting, explains what venture debt is and how startups use debt to boost growth while optimizing their cap table.

Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures (https://precursorvc.com) goes over the challenges of raising a seed fund in today's environment, then discusses how Precursor Ventures takes bets on up and coming founders in exciting industries.

Mary Lemmer of Improv4 shares how Improv (http://www.improv4.com) improves startup culture and trains leaders. Improv4 uses improv and comedy techniques to train entrepreneurs, and startup teams to work together better and have more fun at work.

Audrey Grubman & Christina Kramlich of Parkside Advisors discuss Incentive Stock Options, the Qualified Small Business Stock Tax Exemption, and other Financial Planning Strategies for Startup Founders & Employees.

Joel Gragg of ORIX (https://www.orix.com) discusses how growth stage startups use debt as part of their capital structure. Joel also talks about how greater predictability in startup revenue and customers unlocks more and more low-cost loans, enabling startups to fund their growth without giving up lots of equity.

Eric Frazer & Richard Seaberry of Decisely (http://www.decisely.com/) discuss Startup Benefits & Human Resources. Decisely is an online benefit brokerage and HR services firm that focuses on startups and small businesses.

David Bergeron, a second-time guest (!!!) discusses T3's analytical approach to the 2019 Startup Real Estate Market, how bigger companies like Amazon, Facebook & Google are changing the market and the rise of Remote Teams. (https://www.t3advisors.com/)

Paul Lappas of Intermix (https://www.intermix.io/) comes by to explain how his company gives developers and data scientists a single dashboard to monitor mission-critical data. Paul lived this problem as his previous company so Intermix is built from the ground up to help spot bottlenecks in your data pipelines, detect troublesome queries, or fix slow analytics. The Compnay's customer list is the "who's who" of the last stage startup world. It's been exciting to see the company take off!

Michael Tannenbaum of Brex (https://brex.com/) comes by to discuss startup corporate credit cards. Michael ran finance at SOFI before joining Brex and he learned first hand how painful and inefficient corporate credit cards can be. Brex has streamlined the process, made founder personal guarantees unnecessary and made integration with Quickbooks really easy. It's a great credit card solution that Kruze Consulting recommends!

Brian Mullen of InfluxData (https://www.influxdata.com/) comes by to discuss the Company's Open Source Time Series Database for Metrics & Events. Brian is a Twilio veteran and identified InfluxData as another key developer empowering service. Brian shares interesting customer stories on how InfluxData is being used across DevOps and in the Internet of Things world.

Michael Chapp of Utomic (https://www.utomic.com/) talks about the entrepreneurial journey and his Company's iphone protection hardware. Utomic has a community focus in addition to being a successful startup and Michael shares their programs in the podcast. It's an inspirational story about how a startup can help build the community and great products.

Haje Kamps is a Hardware VC at Bolt VC (https://bolt.io/) but in this podcast, Haje gets back to his journalist roots by interviewing me (Scott Orn)! Don't worry, I'm not getting a big head. This is something Haje suggested and we've had a lot of requests for this so we went ahead and did the interview. It's a lot of fun and we bounce around a ton of startup topics. Thanks, Haje!

Russ Heddleston of DocSend (https://www.docsend.com) on the Company's Content Management & Tracking System that helps sales and marketing teams be more efficient. DocSend is the preferred Content Management system for the startup world. Russ talks about his journey founding the company, figuring out what worked and now scaling the company.

Ben Raffi of Growlabs (https://www.growlabs.com) discusses the company's B2B Lead Generation & Sales Automation solution. Growlabs has harnessed Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to make sales teams far more productive. Ben realized there was a need for this type of solution at his last company so after exiting that one, he built Growlabs. :)

Haim Zaltzman & Ben Potter of Latham & Watkins (https://www.lw.com/) discuss startup funding strategies including the benefits and differences between Growth Equity & Growth Debt. Haim runs through problematic Growth Debt Terms and Covenants. Ben talks about late stage equity funding and how some startups are treating the IPO as another funding round instead of an exit opportunity.

Sumeet Howe of [Hover] (https://hover.to/) stops by to talk Startup Product Management and share her career path. Hover's 3D Models of houses is revolutionary and Sumeet has helped bridge the gap between Hover customers like Home Depot and the Engineering team. Hover has just raised a large round and it's fun to listen to the company's success through Sumeet's story.

Jennifer Saxton of Tot Squad (https://thetotsquad.com/) talks about her on demand cleaning for baby gear. Jen started the company out of Kellogg where she foresaw a huge cohort of milennial moms needing on demand cleaning services. She also discusses raising capital and being an expecting mom herself.

Ryan Shaening Pokrasso of SPZ Legal stops by to walk us through Startup Legal Best Practices. Ryan talks about how to get your fundraising documents set up correctly, how to review contracts and how to coply with some of the new privacy requirements. Ryan also tells the story of founding his own firm SPZ Legal.

Patrick Johnson of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB - https://www.svb.com/) stops by to talk about Startup Banking, Venture Debt, and the other ways SVB partners with founders and investors to support innovation and entrepreneurship. SVB is the leading startup bank and offers a suite of banking, venture debt, market insights and a host of other services to startups. Patrick is a former entrepreneur and management consultant who joined SVB and is one of the banks top startup outreach managers. A Kruze client recently closed a venture debt deal with Patrick & SVB and it was an excellent experience.

Blake Oliver of FloQast (https://floqast.com/) stops by to discuss the latest trends in Cloud Accounting. Before joining FloQast, Blake owned and operated a cloud accounting practice in Southern California. Now Blake has joined FloQast, a leader in Close Management Software for Accountants. Blake discusses how FloQast can automate and organized the monthly close. Finally, Blake has an excellent Cloud Accounting newsletter at http://newsletter.floqast.com/.

Maren Kate Donovan of Recruit (https://thisisrecruit.com) explains how to scale your startup's recruiting efforts. We also go over frequent recruiting mistakes and best practices. Kruze Consulting uses Recruit and is a huge fan!!!

Matt Gunnin of Esports One (https://www.esports.one/) explains the Esports phenomenon and how his company's computer vision powered audience experience makes it that much more enjoyable for viewing. Esports One allows the audience to track the pros and even learn from them. After taping the podcast, Esports One released its new Twitch Extension.

In this episode, Dan talks about how Thougthbot grew nationally, their philosophy on investing in team members, why they build new software services that make them more efficient and their approach to content marketing - most importantly the Thoughtbot Playbook.

Kevin Busque of Guideline 401k (https://www.guideline.com) drops by to talk Startup 401k's. Kevin talks about his experience being in charge of TaskRabbit 401k and realizing the 401k system could be improved dramatically. Guideline is built from the ground up and handles all of its own record keeping & compliance. This approach strips out an entire layer of fees through automation. Guideline delivers high-quality service at low price points.

Beth Stevens of Opendoor (https://www.opendoor.com/) comes by to talk about her experiences running Legal & Compliance at a Fast Growing Startup. Before joining Opendoor, Beth ran Legal & Compliance at Earnest and did the same for Sidecar. Beth has a wealth of operational knowledge. She always shares her philosophy and tactics to make sure women & minorities get equal time and equal opportunities at startups. Beth is not your lawyer and she is not giving you legal advice. Please consult an attorney for any specific legal guidance.

Shruti Merchant of HubHaus (https://thehubhaus.com/) is pioneering long-term home sharing. HubHaus members share a large house and use the platform to connect with potential roomates, easily pay rent and split bills. The community is designed for young professionals who want more from their housing than just a place to sleep. A week after taping the podcast, Shruti announced a $10M investment from Social Capital, General Catalyst, and other angel investors. :)

Aaron Tyler, Managing Director at TriplePoint Capital (http://www.triplepointcapital.com/), discusses Venture Debt for Startups. Aaron covers the East Coast for Triplepoint but does deals nationally. Aaron has worked in Venture Capital or Venture Debt for 15+ years. Aaron shares how startups can best leverage venture debt to extend their runway and hit key milestones that create a valuation inflection point.

Evan Meagher, VP of Finance at Logikcull(https://logikcull.com) and another 2nd-time guest (!), stops by to discuss SaaS Startup life. Evan helps run Logikcull which has become a major player in the Legal Discovery software market. In fact, Logikcull just closed a $25M round and is poised for even faster growth.

Eli Ceryak of Cushman & Wakefield, our first 2 time guest on Founders and Friends (!), stops by to discuss the 2018 Startup Real Estate Outlook. Eli has done a fantastic job for Kruze Consulting finding two offices in San Francisco already and has also helped locate our new San Jose office. Eli is one of the best Startup Real Estate Brokers in San Francisco and has some great advice and predictions in this podcast.

Rob Sadow of Scoop (https://www.takescoop.com/) talks about how Scoop makes commuting fun and easy. Scoop allows company team members to share rides to and from work through an easy-to-operate app. Scoop has become a widely offered perq in the Bay Area and Seattle.

Lee Firestone of OpenReel (https://www.openreel.com/) makes creating video easy for businesses through OpenReel's remote capture technology. Kruze Consulting uses OpenReel and absolutely loves it. You can see our OpenReel video library at youtube.com/kruzeconsulting.

Ben Munoz of Nadine West (https://www.nadinewest.com/) discusses the entrepeneurial journey - from sleeping in his offie and renitng out his apartment to help fund Nadine West - to a successful subscription commerce business that is profitable and growing rapidly.

Michael Piacente discusses his firm, Hitch Partners (https://www.hitchpartners.com), the leading Executive Search Firm for Security Professionals. Michael talks about the explosion in demand for Executives in Security and the downside companies face when they haven't invested properly in securing their IT Operations. Michael is a long time recruiting expert and shares tons of Best Practices for Recruiting as well.

Matt Miller of Embroker (https://www.embroker.com/) comes by to discuss his companies efforts to automate insurance for startups. Embroker is an online service that lets startup fill out an online form and get quotes for all kinds of insurance. Kruze Consulting is a large channel partner and big believer in Embroker's mission of making it easier for startups to get insurance.

Chuck Pettid discusses Republic's (https://republic.co) unique brand of crowdfunding equity investments for startups. Chuck runs Republic's Deal Team which means he leads origination and then vets all Republic equity crowdfunding campaigns. Every deal on Republic is vetted with professional due diligence, making it a more attractive place to invest in startups. In the interview, we talk about Republic's explosive growth and the company's future.

Josh Lowy discusses Hugo's software (https://www.hugo.ai) which makes documenting meeting insights easy and sharing with your team even easier. Hugo lets the team "be in the Know without being in the Room." Go to Hugo.ai and use the discount code "KRUZE" to get 6 months of Hugo for free!

Will Hawthorne of Code Advisors (www.codeadvisors.com) discusses M&A for Startups. Will explains how a startup can create leverage with multiple buyers, the importance of reliable financials and accounting and important deal points every Startup CEO should know.

Leslie Sagalowicz Barber of Intuit's Quickbooks discusses Quickbook's excellent online software package including the newly launched QB Community (https://qbcommunity.com/). Kruze Consulting has 150+ clients on Quickbooks Online and loves the service. QBO makes our clients' lives simpler and Kruze Consulting faster & more efficient.

With the launch of QB Community, Intuit has made life even better for startups and small business owners. Now they can ask their peers accounting, finance and even business operations question in a safe and productive community.

Kaushik Ranchod of the Ranchod Law Group (www.ranchodlaw.com) stopped by to outline the H1B Visa Process for Startups. Kaushik walks us through all the deadlines and best immigration practices. The Ranchod Law Group has an excellent track record with Kruze Consulting's team members and is recommended to all of Kruze's clients.

Zack Blum joins us to discuss Fleetsmith's (www.fleetsmith.com) new Cloud Based Mac Management Software. Zack talks about coming up with the idea while at Wikia, meeting his future co-founder Jesse Endahl at Dropbox and building the software at night and weekends for a whole year before raising venture funding.

Raphael Crawford-Marks has built a next generation employee recognition service called Bonusly (https://bonus.ly/). The Service's integration with Slack makes it quick and easy to reward co-workers for a job well done. Bonusly has become one of Kruze Consulting's most popular tools.

Reilly Brennan of Trucks VC (http://trucks.vc) invited us over to discuss early stage transportation startups. Reilly is a seed Venture Capitalist in the sector and also a Lecturer at Stanford. HIs passion is helping founders build their dream companies.

Devon Tivona of Pana (https://pana.com) discusses how Pana combines mobile app technology and virtual travel assistants to make travel easy. Although Pana is for business travel, I used it on a recent vacation and loved it. Recently Pana added features for corporate recruiters to make coordinating candidate travel simple.

Sarah Schaaf of Headnote (https://headnote.com/) retraces her journey from Google Lawyer to legal industry startup founder. Headnote makes billing and collections easy for lawyers. It's a huge pain point for lawyers and the company has already handled over $1M in its very short life. We discuss the value of an incubator (NFX) and how it helped Headnote's team pivot to the right idea. Finally, we talk about working with your spouse and how rewarding and challenging that can be.

Jesse Freese of Sequoia Consulting Group discusses the PEO approach for employee benefits at startups. Sequoia is a highly regarded, full-service Benefits and Risk Management provider that delivers payroll, benefits and other compliance needs. Rapidly growing startups often turn to Sequoia’s PEO solution, Sequoia One, to help scale benefits and people management.

Jeron Paul of Capshare (https://www.capshare.com/) stops by to talk about Cap Table Management for Startups. Capshare is the leading software provider for Cap Table Management. It allows startups to escape unreliable excel reports and bring their Cap Table into the cloud.

Laurie Lumenti-Garty of Square One Bank (www.square1bank.com) joins Founders & Friends to explain the services that every startup should receive from its bank. Square One focuses entirely on startups and does an excellent job. Laurie walks through Cash Management, Venture Debt and other financial services that are helpful to startups. Laurie & Square One have been great partners of Kruze Consulting and we recommend them to our clients.

Peter Lai joins Founders & Friends to discuss his new company, Emburse (https://www.emburse.com/). Peter is a serial entrepreneur and sold his last company to Box. He shares his tips on attacking new markets, grinding out the product / market fit stage of a startup and explains how he came up with the idea for Emburse. Kruze Consulting recommends Emburse virtual cards and expense management and it was fantastic to have Peter on the podcast.

Mike Lederman runs the West Coast Region for Bridge Bank (https://www.westernalliancebancorporation.com/bridge-bank-home), one of the premier banks that serves startups. Mike explains venture debt and the other services that Bridge Bank provides to its startup clients.

Bridge Bank is a division of Western Alliance Bank, member FDIC.

Ronjini Joshua is the founder of The Silver Telegram (http://thesilvertelegram.com/), a PR agency for startups and crowdfunding campaigns. She walks us through the best practices for Startup PR, how to get the most out of your PR Agency and a few "what not to do" stories. :)

James Schramko of SuperFastBusiness (www.superfastbusiness.com) discusses building productive habits both personally and professionally. James has founded multiple successful businesses on the web and now focuses on SuperFastBusiness, an Executive Coaching service with international clientele.

James' podcast is excellent and a must listen (http://www.superfastbusiness.com/tag/podcast/)

Rene Lacerte is Founder & CEO of Bill.com (https://www.bill.com/), the leading online business payment provider and one of Kruze Consulting's favorite software tools. Rene discusses how growing up in an entrepreneurial family shaped him, the insights that led him to start Bill.com, the culture of customer service at Bill.com and where Bill.com is going next.

Tye DeGrange of Round Barn Labs (http://www.roundbarnlabs.com/)talks startup growth marketing. Tye takes a data driven approach to marketing. It's all about performance for Round Barn Labs. We talk tactics including the power of Influencer Marketing.

Peggy Chang explains of ActivityHero (https://www.activityhero.com) explains how she came up with the idea of building a one-stop shop website to find and book kids camps and classes. Peggy lived the problem and after a growing frustration, she decided to do something about it and ActivityHero was born. Now parents across the US can easily book and find information on camps and activities for children.

Vincent Turner of Uno Home Loans (https://unohomeloans.com.au) is a Fintech pioneer in Australia & the US. Vincent's latest company, Uno Home Loans, is dramatically simplifying the Australian mortgage process by making it completely digital. The company is growing rapidly and is backed by some of the largest institutions in Australian Finance.

In the podcast we discuss the evolution of Fintech, some of the lessons Vincent learned at his last two companies and how he has applied them to Uno.

Mark MacLeod founded SurePath Capital (http://www.surepathcapital.com/) after serving as Startup CFO for Shopify and Freshbooks. Mark was also a VC at Canada's Real Ventures. Mark started SurePath to help startup founders fundraise more effectively and even help sell their companies.

Mark talks about the metrics a startup needs to raise money, how much money to raise and the difference in fundraising approaches between a Seed & Series A Stage Companies and Later Stage Companies.

Augie Rakow of Orrick (https://www.orrick.com/People/0/B/7/Augie-Rakow) is one of the best startup lawyers in the Valley. He stopped by to share tips how he got into law in the first place, why he loves venture backed startups and his best advice for Founders building their startup dream.

Steve Gillan of Azure Capital Partners (http://www.azurecap.com/steve-gillan/) discusses his firm's strategy of investing in Post Seed Stage Startups. Steve shares what he looks for in startups including metrics like Life Time Value of the Customer and Customer Acquisition Cost. Steve also shares some great stories from his day as an Operating CFO at two successful startups.

Healy Jones of ForUsAll (https://www.forusall.com/) discusses Startup 401k's, including why startups should offer them and how to make them cost effective for employers and employees. ForUsAll is the leading 401k provider for startups and Kruze Consulting is a huge fan.

Josh Reeves of Gusto (https://gusto.com/) shares his vision and people first values. Gusto is the premier payroll system for startups and a huge Kruze Consulting partner. The company has added Insurance Benefits, 401k and Employee Onboarding & Management in recent months and early feedback from the Kruze Consulting client base is excellent.

Haje Jan Kamps of TechCrunch comes by to explain How to Get Your Startup Covered (https://medium.com/@Haje/how-to-get-your-startup-covered-in-the-news-7c7e89c63abf#.cwo4elq1t). Haje also talks about his love of photography and how a simple crowdfunding campaign turned him into an entrepreneur.

Haje can be found on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Haje) and TechCrunch (https://techcrunch.com/author/haje-jan-kamps/).

Matt Ziser of Tobi (http://www.tobi.com/) stopped by to talk about running Operations at a fast growing eCommerce startup. Tobi is an online retailer that compares to Forever 21. The company has successfully bootstrapped into a large eCommerce business. Matt does a great job talking about the challenges and opportunities in eCommerce.

Jacob Colker of Lighter Capital (https://www.lightercapital.com) discusses startup funding and how to minimize dilution through Lighter Capital's startup loans. Lighter does not take equity like traditional venture lenders and has minimal covenants compared to traditional startup bank loans.

Ed Aten of Merchar (https://www.merchbar.com)shares his experiences building the leading ecommerce site for all things music merchandise. Merchbar has been featured in the iTunes Appstore 20+ times because it greatly simplifies buying your favorite bands t-shirts, albums and other gear.

Aaron Moskowitz, an Enterprise SEO Executive, stops by to share his best Startup SEO Tips. Aaron has tons of experience in online marketing and SEO. He also shares what not to do so your startup won't end up in the penalty box. :)

Sonja Hoel Perkins shares her passion for two women centric organization she has founded, Project Glimmer & Broadway Angels.

Project Glimmer (http://www.projectglimmer.org/) inspires girls to believe in themselves. Through the gift of beautiful jewelry, Project Glimmer lets young woman know their community cares. Glimmer has given over 120,000 gifts of jewelry since founding and will deliver another 50,000 gifts this holiday season. You can still donate to Glimmer or host a Glimmer Drive in time for the 2016 holiday season.

Broadway Angels (http://www.broadway-angels.com/) is an investment network consisting of successful women VC's & CEO's. The goal of the organization is to fund the best women entrepreneurs while also helping women break into the venture capital business.

Steve Walker, Founder of Cobaltix (http://www.cobaltix.com), coaches us through how startups can outsource their IT systems. Cobaltix works with hundreds of startups and knows all the best practices.

Steve is also an accomplished long distance swimmer and his new book, Where Do the Crazy People Swim (https://www.amazon.com/Where-Crazy-People-Swim-Outrageous/dp/1537573535)is available on Amazon.

Glen Evans runs Recruiting at Slack. Before Slack, Glen managed a large recruiting organization at Facebook. Glen retraces his career in recruiting and the lessons he learned along the way. He shares advice on recruiting for fast growing startups and on building a successful career in recruiting.

Evan Meagher of SigFig came by to share the lessons he has learned helping SigFig scale. Evan is Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Operations so he's seen it all. SigFig has revolutionized smart personal investing by offering algorithmic index investing. Sometimes SigFig is called a "Robo Advisor" because the machines and algorithms do all the work, leaving higher returns and lower fees for consumers.

Eli Ceryak Cushman & Wakefield stops by Kruze Consulting to talk about the Startup Real Estate Market. Eli specializes in the San Francisco Bay Area but we covered some of the other big startup hubs as well. We also talked about the trade-off's between sub-leasing and being the master tenant with a longer term lease.

Eli is super knowledgeable and such a pleasure to work with. He's Kruze Consulting's Real Estate Professional so we know he is terrific!

Steve Bennet is an active Angel Investor, Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at San Jose State University, and consults as a Startup CFO. Steve talks walks us through what Angel Investors look for in an investment and tells some great stories about big wins (iControl)and near misses (Lyft). Steve is a great startup mentor and we're so happy he came by.

Jeff Samuels of Founder Shield (http://foundershield.com/) joins us to talk Insurance for Startups. We discuss General Liability, Errors & Omissions, Workers Comp, and Benefits. It's an episode designed to answer every possible question a startup could have about Insurance.

Jeff Smith of Facebook joins us to discuss Facebook.Design (http://facebook.design/), the company's initiative that gives back to the design community with free GUI tools and much more to come. Jeff's career has come full circle as he broke into the design industry by leveraging similar open source GUI tools (http://www.teehanlax.com/). Facebook.Design is an excellent example of a successful team and company giving back to the rest of the world.

You can read more about Jeff & Team's Work and Facebook.Design @ https://medium.com/facebook-design/giving-back-to-the-design-community-2c0b4cbb091f#.nxpsc3mof

Brian Sterz of Miracle Mile Advisors (http://www.miraclemileadvisors.com/our_team/brian-sterz/) talks personal money management for startup founders and team members. Brian talks shares methods for achieving diversification and smart tax planning, two of the most impactful ways startup folks can manage their money intelligently.

John Pettus is the Founder & CEO of Fiskkit, which is developing a better way to discuss the news. Fiskkit is a social enterprise that has created a commentary and fact checking system for the Internet. John came by to discuss the election and how Fiskkit will help people on the Internet have more productive and respectful discussions in the future.

Amber Merrigan of Avison Young talks Startup Real Estate in Oakland. Amber has covered Oakland for years and it's startup ecosystem is exploding. Find out how to get the best deals, where the hottest locations are and some key terms you need in your lease.

Matthew Belloni is the Executive Editor of The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard. In this episode, Matt talks about the evolution of his own career from entertainment lawyer to journalist and editor. The Hollywood Reporter dominates Entertainment Industry coverage online and offline. However, 5 years ago the Company was an industry trade magazine with competitors. Belloni explains how the print version evolved into a weekly and how the web version has become a traffic monster.

Lynn Perkins of UrbanSitter is the Co-Founder & CEO of UrbanSitter. UrbanSitter makes finding a babysitter easy. The mobile service lets parents view the reputations and experience of sitters. It even makes paying your sitter through the app super easy, so you don't have to fumble around with cash after a few drinks. :) Lynn talks about her founding team, how she convinced investors to fund the company and the "playbook" that the team has developed to make expanding into new markets faster and easier.

Matt Rissell is the Co-Founder & CEO of TSheets (https://www.tsheets.com/). He shares a great story from his last company that led to the founding of TSheets Time Tracking Software. Matt talks about the early days of prototyping TSheets and wondering whether it could become a real business. Matt bootstrapped for a long time and he shares some great tips on building a startup to last.

The Podcast Transcription can be found at http://www.kruzeconsulting.com/founders_and_friends/podcast/Matt-Rissell-of-TSheets-Simple-Time-Tracking-Software

Robert Kohler started Kohler Law Group (http://kohler-law.com/) to provide outsourced in-house counsel for startups. Robert is an entrepreneur himself, having started his own firm and a series of restaurants in San Francisco. He understands the importance of good legal work while keeping the bills manageable for his clients. Robert was kind to drop by Kruze Consulting (http://www.kruzeconsulting.com) and share his favorite startup legal tips with us. Thanks Robert!

You can find a transcript of the podcast at: http://www.kruzeconsulting.com/founders_and_friends/podcast/Robert-Kohler-of-Kohler-Law-Group-Outsourcing-In-House-Counsel-for-Startups

Jamie Ceglarz of The Sourcery came by to talk about recruiting for growth stage startups. The Sourcery is an outsourced recruiting solution for early stage startups. As the startup scales, so does the relationship with the Sourcery. Jamie shares his best tips on hiring and on how a startup should build its teams.

Patrick Sullivan is the Co-Founder & COO of 2600hz. Patrick shares his thoughts on bootstrapping to startup success. 2600hz is a cloud telecom company gives developers and businesses access to cloud telecom services. At Kruze Consulting, we use 2600hz and we love it.

Monica Ohara & Hannah Russin of Datascore came on the podcast to talk Paid Marketing for Startups. Monica & Hannah are all about the data. In this day and age, so much marketing and advertising is done over the Internet, that you should be taking a data-centric approach to your marketing. Datascore tells you how to do it

Kathy Woeber Gardner is a Partner at of Montgomery Pacific LLP and has spent her career as a lawyer working with startups. Kathy began at Orrick and then moved to Montgomery Pacific. She talks about the transition from big to boutique law firm and building her client base including a special connection with Australian & Asia Pacific Startups. We end with an incredible series of tips for running a startup M&A process.

Mike is the founding partner at Codeword (formerly Knock Twice), a hybrid PR, content, advertising, branding and design agency that puts start-ups on the map and builds campaigns for some of the biggest brands in the world. Mike is one of the best in the business and we're lucky to have him as a guest. He walks us through the Startup PR Playbook and also gives some great career advice.

Ashish Desai, VP of Product at 99designs, talks about Product Marketing at a Startup. 99designs is the best place on the Internet to find an excellent designer. You can run a contest, get tons of submissions, and then refine a few designs before choosing a winner. Or you can contact and hire a designer directly. In this episode, Ashish talks about how a failed Internet venture (with me :)) helped him recognize the opportunity at 99designs. He talks about managing a development team on two different continents and how 99designs' Australian culture helps the team focus on the future and improvement.

David Bergeron of T3 Advisors walks us through the San Francisco Startup Real Estate Market. David shares his 3 Tips every startup should know when negotiating a new real estate deal.

Jen O'Neal & Jeff Manheimer founded Tripping.com to make finding a vacation home anywhere in the world easy. Tripping is like Kayak for the vacation home market. Consumers can go to Tripping and find available vacation homes across many other services, which guarantees the best selection and pricing.

The first portion of the the interview occurs as Tripping hit product market fit. The second half comes six months later and you'll hear about the explosive growth.

Bill Growney is a Partner at Goodwin Procter, one of Silicon Valley's leading startup law firms. Bill has 20+ of startup law experience both inside big firms and on the company side while at iMeem and Rich Relevance, a late stage eCommerce software company. Bill talks about common mistakes early stage startups make while setting up their company including securing the IP, stock options, and how to navigate liquidation preferences if you're raising a venture capital round.

Brian Mullen of Twilio was the company's first business hire. He's a Business Development guru. In this episode he talks about what attracted him to Twilio, how the company's focus on developers paid off and he even manages to sneak in a few comments about Oakland and his Cal Bears.

Rod Drury is the Founder & CEO of Xero, a multi-billion publicly traded accounting software company. Xero began in New Zealand and is going head to head with Intuit's Quickbooks across the globe. The Company has been a publicly traded startup since the early days because that was the easiest way to raise capital in New Zealand. But now Matrix and Accel have invested and Xero has just hit an annual run rate of $250M in Revenue.

David Barrett is the Founder & CEO of Expensify, the world's best expense management software. The Company's motto is Expensive Reports That Don't Suck. Expensify is backed by Redpoint & Openview Partners and the Company is growing rapidly. David talks about his original idea for Expensify, his previous startup experience building a company with Uber's Travis Kalanick and some of Expensify's unique approaches to hiring and team building.

Welcome to Founders and Friends! We're launching a new podcast that interviews everyone in the startup ecosystem. You'll hear from Startup CEO's, VC's, Laywers, Bankers, Real Estate Professionals, etc. Hope you enjoy!