Valley Talks – stories of Silicon Valley Startups

Although blockchain has existed for several years, only recently it has become a widely popular technology. Some companies have adopted it really well, some have tried and gave up, some have only pretended to. There is still definitely a lot to be done in terms of education as well as creating a sense of familiarity with the blockchain concept. My today’s guest, Jesse Ratner, is a founder of San Francisco–based The Blockchain Agency and a nearly 25-year veteran creative director and writer. He began his career writing taglines for Hollywood blockbusters and later he was leading creative copies for brands like Google, Uber, eBay, LinkedIn, Logitech and others. Today, Jesse is helping high growth blockchain companies properly navigate their stories. – What should blockchain companies remember about in the first place in their marketing? – How to stand out in the crowd while almost all blockchain companies market themselves as ‘decentralized’? – How to gain the audience’s trust and be well understood? – Why all blockchain explainer videos are so similar and how to make sure to differentiate the video assets? Listen to the new episode! The show is brought to you by Denim Video www.denimvideo.com. Huge thanks to DocuSign www.docusign.com for hosting us in their fabulous space.

Kloop [Knowledge Loop] is a news curation app that allows digging deeper into articles to get a full picture on a topic of interest. With Klopp, users get automated suggestions of what to read next and they can easily share their curated channels with friends and family. It launched in 2017 and earlier this year it became an app of the week by Forbes! The startup is co-founded by Nicolas Maquaire – serial entrepreneur with major success of selling his prior startup to Salesforce. Sylvia and Nicolas worked closely on Kloop’s launch commercials – watch them at www.valleytalks.com! — Why did Nicolas decide to go for positive vs. negative marketing? — How important is video storytelling in forming a brand? — How to choose the most important facts for the launch campaign? — How to navigate messaging when you’re targeting different audiences? Listen to the episode! Huge thanks to DocuSign www.docusign.com for hosting us in their fabulous space. The show is brought to you by Denim Video www.denimvideo.com.

Pitching your business to media is one of the very important steps when building your brand’s awareness or promoting your product. You want to come up with a story that will be compelling to press, will make them want to know more about you and ideally – write a narrative that will be in line with how you’re hoping to be presented. What are the best practices when pitching press? Sylvia is sitting down with Hayley Leibson, founder of Lady in Tech, an award-winning platform for female tech leaders and entrepreneurs, and contributor at Forbes. Listen to the episode! Huge thanks to DocuSign www.docusign.com for hosting us in their fabulous space. The show is brought to you by Denim Video www.denimvideo.com.

80% of veterans don’t have a full-time job upon leaving the military. Shift uses technology to match military veterans to leadership jobs in companies like Uber, Symantec, Major League Baseball, Affirm and others. Shift raised a $4.5M seed round from top Silicon Valley VCs like Andreessen Horowitz, Structure Capital, Expa and Tim Ferris. Upon launching, Shift asked me to produce films portraying the incredible stories of transitioning veterans and how they thrive in the new, tech environment. I was so honored to be a part of this excellent mission! — How did Shift gain trust from the U.S. military members as well as big companies at such an early stage? — How to make a choice between the human and the technology aspect when promoting a brand? — How did they know how to tell their own story and why they decided to go for plenty of high-quality video content? Listen to the episode! Big thanks to DocuSign www.docusign.com for hosting us in their fabulous space. The show is brought to you by Denim Video www.denimvideo.com.

If you're not a DevOps engineer or a Data Security Analyst, you may not have heard about Sumo Logic. However, they are the leading data analytics software — a cloud-native service for monitoring and securing applications. Companies like Airbnb, Adobe, Samsung, Toyota and many others from Fortune 500 are using their services for real-time data analytics and insights. They launched in 2010 in Silicon Valley and have raised over $230M in Series F. They doubled in size in 2018 alone! In their recent campaign, they chose to use fun cartoons to attract their technical audiences (such as DevOps engineers and Security Analysts) working at these high-growth companies. How cool is that! Promoting a SAS product with fun cartoons is definitely a bold move, one that you don’t see much on the B2B market. In this episode, there is a fun new touch — snippets from Sumo Logic's cartoons, which our host Sylvia and her team at Denim Video produced together with Sumo Logic. You won't obviously see them in the podcast, so if you'd like to take a look at some fun animated snippets and cool characters, check out the video version at www.valleytalks.com! — How does Sumo Logic navigate branding in huge B2B cloud space? — What branding hacks do they use so as to grab attention and differentiate themselves in the crowded market? — What are some of the golden rules they go by in creating marketing content? — How do they make sure all of their messaging sticks to the core brand values? Listen to the ep and get the awesome insights! Big thanks to DocuSign www.docusign.com for hosting us in their fabulous space. Thanks to Denim Video www.denimvideo.com for the show's production!

New Season is out! In this first episode of season 3 on STARTUP BRANDING, we travel in time to a place where computer history was made and the idea of innovative was born. Hold tight, as Daniel Kottke – Steve Jobs’ college friend and the first employee to work in Apple’s garage, takes us way back to an apple farm in 1975 where the genesis of the Apple brand was first imagined! He shares unbelievable stories from the early days of Apple I and Macintosh while divulging insights into his humble beginnings in Jobs’ family garage in Los Altos. How did Apple become the most reliable and recognizable brand? How come Daniel was the only one working in a garage? In what ways did the Macintosh brand evolution set standards in marketing and branding? What is Daniel’s takeaway from his early days with Apple? What is his tried and true advice for start-up entrepreneurs looking to sell a product? Thank you to DocuSign www.docusign.com for hosting us in their fabulous space. Kudos to Denim Video www.denimvideo.com for the show's production.

The immigration system is giving you a headache? What are the current visa options for founders, entrepreneurs, and scientists? What happened to the Startup Visa? Watch this episode and fear no more - Joshua Bratter, a killer immigration attorney, has all the answers. Mr. Bratter specializes in immigration visas for business, entertainment, science and athletics. He has successfully secured visas for Oscar and Grammy winners, artists, and the best entrepreneurs in tech. We at Valley Talks have seen him in action and no joke – he IS just KILLING it. In PART I, we discuss obstacles and challenges in acquiring a business visa. What are the current visa options for entrepreneurs? Which one is the easiest? What are the ‘must-haves’ to be eligible for a visa? What are the dos and don’ts on B1/B2 visa? Will Startup Visa be back? Is it harder now to get a visa? Stay tuned for PART II about nuances in working with an immigration firm. Thank you to DocuSign www.docusign.com for hosting us in their fabulous space. The show is produced by Denim Video www.denimvideo.com. Gorgeous hair: Nicole McKay www.instagram.com/nico_de_ms.

We got a winner! Purva Gupta, founder of Lily App, just won the coveted SXSW Accelerator Pitch competition in the Social and Culture category, while her fashion app is only few months into the public! Not to mention, that she just won several other pitch events, including The Startup Conference pitch competition. Lily connects emotionally with customers by matching clothes and styles with their moods and feelings. We talk about how Purva founded Lily, how she boarded her first users, her partnership with big retailers, her success at UNICEF, her immigration struggles that wouldn't stop her, and much much more! The show is produced by Denim Video. Fabulous styling: Kate Leonard www.k8leonard.com. Gorgeous hair: Nicole McKay www.instagram.com/nico_de_ms. Location: Polish Hub Sun Francisco www.paih.gov.pl

A few years back Michael founded KIT – a virtual marketing assistant that helps small businesses with marketing their products on social media. Before KIT, he also worked on a few startups but as he admits, each time he was solving the wrong problem. And even when he was at the forefront of bot technology, he couldn’t sell the vision and get funding. He struggled for several years to the point that his electricity was shut off. His wife worked two jobs as a research for UCSF and a waitress to support them. The pressure was so high, but they both wouldn’t give up. Finally, the aha moment came after he got an inspiration from… his grandmother! KIT’s user base skyrocketed and it didn’t take long until KIT was acquired by Shopify. How did it all happen? How do you get successfully acquired by e-commerce giant while a second ago your business was barely on the surface? Listen to find out! Want to hear Michael’s advice on negotiating with the acquirers? Subscribe to Valley Talks to get the unreleased footage! www.valleytalks.com The show is produced by Denim Video www.denimvideo.com

How important is great content marketing for a growing business? The answer is simple: VERY important! Rachel Wolfson, content strategist and HuffPost contributor, is no stranger to the intricate and dynamic art of marketing. She’s produced content for Venture Beat, O’Reilly Media, Elite Daily, Huffington Post and countless other media outlets and businesses. In this special episode, Rachel explains how to generate the best content for your company, how to create and promote a catchy blog post, and pretty much how to become an awesome content writer. She’ll show you what it means to write tech-content with a human element! HEY! Curious to know the most common mistakes in content marketing? Join our mailing list to see the exclusive footage. Also, get the special code for 15% off consultations with Rachel. www.valleytalks.com The show is produced by Denim Video. Partner: G-Startup Worldwide. Styling: Kate Leonard. Hair: Nicole McKay. Location: Polish Hub Sun Francisco

What seems like an overnight success was not! Ranidu Lankage and Justin Kan’s new video Q&A app, Whale, has received massive popularity since its late October launch on Product Hunt. Recognizing that Snapchat’s format for Q&A left a lot of problems for social media followers, Justin Kan started his own library of recorded answers and sessions. Soon, he realized there’s a whole market of influencers and experts that could use this kind of technology! In today’s episode, I speak with Ranidu Lankage, CEO of Whale. Ranidu shares stories about their early business ventures, his relationship with Justin in college, and their exciting plans for the future. Are you ready to jump into the minds of serial entrepreneurs? Well, get ready to work because these guys are not messing around! BONUS! Curious about how Whale was changing before the launch? Join our mailing list and watch the bonus excerpt! www.valleytalks.com The show is produced by Denim Video. Partner: G-Startup Worldwide. Styling: Kate Leonard.

Angela Antony took up the mission of disrupting the recruiting processes and built Scoutible – a next-generation hiring platform using immersive video games to source and match perfect-fit candidates to jobs. Mark Cuban was the first investor in Scoutible. Before the product was even launched, Angela and her team got invited to TechCrunch Disrupt. A few months later, they won the G-Startup Worldwide competition, defeating 700 companies from 10 countries! Highlights from the interview: - How playing games may speak for the candidate’s skills? - Working at the White House - The story of Mark Cuban investing in Scoutible - How studying on Harvard helps in starting own business? - First steps - Building the team - Perfecting your pitch and speaking in public - Raising venture funding - Angela’s best advice to startup founders - What’s coming up for Scoutible? You can also watch us at www.valleytalks.com. The show is produced by Denim Video in fabulous co-working space SOMAcentral. Thank you to our partner G-Startup Worldwide. Sylwia’s wearing a dress by Kamila Dmowska and was styled by SV Creatives.

Ryan Baird manages startup pitch competition in 10 countries across the globe. In this episode he shares a great deal of practical advice on how to impress investors with your pitch. Highlights from the interview: - What investors look for in a startup pitch? - How investors do their research to follow trends? - Criteria of evaluating the founding team - Does graduating top universities really matter? - Dos and don'ts in a startup pitch - Must haves when pitching to investors - Challenges of raising A round after seed - How to pitch press? - How startups are different across countries - Why often SV investors focus on SV only? You can also watch us at www.valleytalks.com. The show is produced by Denim Video in fabulous co-working space SOMAcentral. Thank you to our partner G-Startup Worldwide. Styling by SV Creatives.

Amanda Bradford is a CEO of The League – a dating app for smart, ambitious people. The League aims to gather a selective community of amazing people, and its selectiveness approach caused a lot of media controversy in the very early days of the startup. Despite the disturbing media attention and the fact that the dating market is incredibly crowded, Amanda managed to start with a 25k check and highlighted her product beyond the rest! Things we talk about: – Where does all the controversy about The League really come from? – What are the main lessons learned while at Stanford Business School? – What was Amanda’s launch strategy and why it was so unique and successful? – What were the first steps to grow a community within The League? – What was Amanda’s first funding strategy? – Why and when Amanda turned down a role at a VC fund? – Why hiring engineers occurred to be the biggest challenge? You can also watch us at www.valleytalks.com. This episode is brought to you by UnStock www.unstock.io — mobile first marketplace for authentic video. Big thank you to our Partner Kamila Dmowska www.kamiladmowska.com for the fabulous dress and styling!

Russ Heddleston, CEO of DocSend – an analytics tool that tracks viewership data after sending documents, is taking Silicon Valley by the storm! His first startup Pursuit – a social referral program – got acquired by Facebook within the first year! He worked for Facebook for over a year as a Product Manager for Pages. It didn’t take him long until he started another business. To keep the ball rolling, he partnered with August Capital and raised 8 million dollars for DocSend! Sounds like a dream, huh? So how did he do this? What are his strategies? Fortunately for us, Russ speaks about every detail that went into Pursuit and DocSend’s continued success. – How did his first startup get acquired by Facebook in under a year? – Does he have any regrets on the acquisition? – What are his best investment raising strategies? – What are Russ’s best growth strategies? – How did it feel to work at Facebook in the acquired team? – What are the most important startup lessons from comparing the two startups? – How did Russ and his team get first paying customers for DocSend? You can also watch us talk at www.valleytalks.com. This episode is brought to you by UnStock www.unstock.io — mobile first marketplace for authentic video. Big thank you to our Partner Kamila Dmowska www.kamiladmowska.com for the fabulous dress and styling!

Tim Schwab, founder of several startups and Chief Sales Officer at KnKt’d, is not the stereotypical Silicon Valley entrepreneur. However, though he doesn’t fit in the typical startup founder image, his story of drug addiction, mental illness and being fired from own company is not that uncommon. It’s just much less often told and it’s easy to guess why. Here is the outline: After years of drug addiction and living an aimless life in Wisconsin with some criminal record, Tim created a travel insurance startup. He was acquired and found himself in the ritzy, celeb town of Tiburon, California. Despite being the poorest guy around Tiburon, he went through the 500 Startup Program, raised over $1M, and connected to a vast network of the who’s who in Silicon Valley. Eventually, because of extreme stress and lack of sleep, he developed a mental illness. Oh, and he got fired from his own company. How did Tim’s startup in Wisconsin get acquired by a Silicon Valley company? How did Tim find himself in Tiburon, California? How did he get accepted to the 500 Startups Program? What happened between him and his former company that led to his termination? When did his issues with mental illness start? Why is Tim Schwab proclaimed as Portland’s least favorite startup founder? In one of our most personal and honest interviews, Tim Schwab does not hold back when it comes to telling his Silicon Valley story! You can also watch us talk at www.valleytalks.com. This episode is brought to you by UnStock — mobile first marketplace for authentic video.

A brand new startup can’t have everything. First they got to build the idea, develop a team… yadda, yadda, yadda. So, when can they start filing for patents and etch their name in their intellectual property forever? Because, god-forbid, someone else can or has already claim that idea first! Jeff Schox, patent attorney and founder of Schox Patent Group, thoroughly explains the process of filing for patents. Jeff works with top startup accelerators such as YC and AngelPad. In the interview he reminds start-ups not to rush when thinking about patents. He also denies the common thinking that the purpose of patents is to sue the competitors. Why? When is the best time to file patents? Why do we really need patents? How much does it cost to file for a patent? What areas are not really patentable nowadays? How to talk about patent strategies with investors? How to talk to investors about solutions that aren’t really patentable? How to protect my own inventions while working at another company? Watch the interview and learn how to hustle! You can also watch us talk at www.valleytalks.com. This episode is brought to you by UnStock — mobile first marketplace for authentic video.

The Hustle is a daily newsletter that delivers the latest and trending topics to young millennials. Originally a sub-product of Sam Parr’s Hustle Con, an annual business conference, The Hustle has rapidly become one of the fastest growing newsletters in USA. We discuss practical tactics that Sam uses regarding growth, virality, early acquistion, monetization, funding, cold emailing, meeting expectations and more! What is the recipe for The Hustle’s growth? What type of articles are shared the most? What is the current monthly reach of TheHustle.co? How did Sam and his co-founder know that the conversational tone is the right to catch a large audience? What did Sam learn from his roommate matching company? Why did he hate to work there after it got acquired? How does he select the writers and chooses the topics for the platform? How is he monetizing it? Watch the interview and learn how to hustle! You can also watch us talk at www.valleytalks.com. A lovely shout out to our partners: StyleBee for fabulous styling (use a special promo code VALLEYTALKS for $25 OFF of your first styling by StyleBee!) and UnStock — mobile first marketplace for authentic video.

DearMissJ is an e-commerce store that sells in-house designed and manufactured jewelry. Kristy came to USA from Korea when she was 11 years old. In order to start her own business, she made the decision to quit her job at a Venture Capital fund. Before she would leave though, she was looking for a technical co-founder which actually took her 2 years. 6 months into her startup, she and her team had to change the company's business model. Today, DearMissJ's jewelry pieces are sold in the brand's online store as well as at 40 other brand's retail stores across the country. Why and when Kristy decided to give up her convenient job at a Venture Fund? How is she producing the jewelry? How did she finally find her co-founders? Why did she have to change DearMissJ’s business model? Listen the interview and learn about Kristy's story!! You can also watch it at www.valleytalks.com. A lovely shout out to our partners: Runway Incubator for providing amazing space and to StyleBee for fabulous styling (use a special promo code VALLEYTALKS for $25 OFF of your first styling by StyleBee!) A BIG thank you to our sponsor UnStock — mobile-first marketplace for video clips.

Morado Venture Partners is a Silicon Valley based seed fund investing mostly at B2B and SaaS companies. Dominik meets about 50-100 startups every month and listens to their pitch. Since his role is to further recommend (or not recommend) startups to the fund’s parters, I’m asking him several (not necessarily most comfortable) questions to help us understand the investor’s point of view while meeting with a startup. What do investors pay attention to most during a pitch meeting? What do they like and what they don't like? How do they measure "quality of a founder"? What were the funny situations? Do they really mean they want to hear back from founders when they say "no" to them? In how many startups does Morado Ventures invest per month? What's their attitude towards "married founders"? What's the first thing founders should do when arriving to Silicon Valley? Listen to the interview and find out! You can also watch it at www.valleytalks.com. Big THANK YOU to our sponsor: UnStock — Mobile-First Video Marketplace

Ondrej Homola comes from Czech Republic. He is a co-founder and CEO of Lifeliqe – a tool for learning science with virtual and augmented reality currently used by 15K schools around the world. How did Ondrej and his team start their partnership with Microsoft? How did Ondrej’s company approach schools and convince them to start using virtual reality in classes? How is Ondrej financing his business and why is he avoiding raising money from investors? What were the reactions to Lifeliqe in Czech Republic? Watch the interview and hear about Ondrej’s impressive story! You can also watch the interview at www.valleytalks.com. A lovely shout out to our sponsor UnStock www.unstock.io – an on demand community and marketplace for mobile videographers!

Joe Vasquez has been involved in startups ever since. While he was at Stanford University, he co-founded StartX Accelerator – one of the top accelerators in USA. For the last couple years he’s been managing partnerships at Runway Incubator. Now he is starting Michelson Runway Accelerator that focuses on educational technology. Joe was born deaf, but as he says, he has the ability to listen incredibly well (not to mention that he also fluently speaks several languages!). Joe strongly emphasizes the importance of empathy, listening to users and continuous learning – components of lean startup method that Joe implements in his programs. In the interview we talk about: Why Joe decided to focus on startups that are working on improving educational system? What was his experience in gaining education as a deaf child? What’s the difference between an accelerator and an incubator? Do accelerators in Silicon Valley compete with each other? What’s the most common mistake that startup founders make? Is it true that Silicon Valley is very welcoming to the founders who have failed before? What founders should remember about in their pitch to investors? How they can make the best use of Silicon Valley when they arrive here? You can also watch the interview at www.valleytalks.com. A lovely shout out to our partners Runway Incubator, StyleBee and our sponsor UnStock – an on demand community and marketplace for mobile videographers!

Petcube is the first ever smart camera for pet owners that lets you watch, talk to, and play with your pet remotely from a smartphone. Founders come from Kiev, Ukraine, and this is where in 2012 they came up with the idea. Soon, they decided to go for a Kickstarter campaign and moved to China to work on manufacturing. Their Kickstarter campaign just blew out, ending with impressive $250,000! Today, they are selling in Best Buy, Nordstrom and many other retail and online stores. However, things were not always so optimistic… What's the secret behind their great success on Kickstarter and how did they get so much press? Why did the company almost die right after the Kickstarter? How did they deal with so many pre orders? How and when did they start to get investors? When and how did they get to Y Combinator and what did YC help them with? How did they get the deal with Best Buy? What does Yaroslav think of the new competition coming in? Listen to the interview get insights on incredible Petcube story! You can also watch the interview at www.valleytalks.com. A lovely shout out to our partners Runway Incubator, StyleBee and our sponsor UnStock – an on demand community and marketplace for mobile videographers!

Ryan Rogowski created a very helpful, for some people even anxiety eliminating, product – Waygo – an app that allows to instantly translate Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Ryan, apparently not alone, experienced a huge language barrier during his one-year stay in China. He had trouble especially in restaurants, since he had no idea what he was ordering. He soon decided to develop an app, that would translate Chinese in real time while hovering a phone camera over the text. Today, after 5 years, it translates from three Asian languages and users have made over 7M translations. What were the first steps for Ryan to work on the idea? At what point did he decide to move to Silicon Valley? How did he end up on a 2-week trip with Dave McClure, Founder of 500 Startups, and did he get to the program? What user acquisition strategies does he use for Waygo? What would he do differently now? Listen to the interview and hear Ryan’s incredible story! You can also watch the interview at www.valleytalks.com. A lovely shout out to our partners Runway Incubator and StyleBee!

Priya is a founder of Fidl – an intelligent shape wear that tracks body measurements. She studied engineering, gained lots of programming skills and won several hackatons in her home country – India (despite the fact that, as she underlines, she was not 100% good at math). Her dreams came true as she did several own projects and managed businesses in India. Eventually, she decided to leave her comfort zone and move to Silicon Valley for love. Today she works on an invention that stole women's hearts on one of San Francisco hackatons, where she and her team won the 1st prize. How did Priya start a new venture in Silicon Valley? How did she make it to legally work in USA? What's her strategy in devoting time and money into a new hardware startup? How is she approaching the smart body measurements market? Listen the interview and learn more about Priya's story! You can also watch the interview at www.valleytalks.com. A lovely shout out to our partners Runway Incubator and StyleBee!

Doug Rogers is a co-founder and Director of Product at Pretty Instant – a service that disrupts the industry of hiring photographers for family and business events. Pretty Instant started as an event photo booth service, then they (kind of by accident) applied to Y Combinator, got approved for the program and narrowed their focus to what they were doing extremely well – matching photographers with events. How come did they actually get clients before really having a product? How do they prevent any problems in delivering the service by their photographers? What is their story behind getting approved to YC? Do investors mind that the company is spread between Silicon Valley and Boston? Listen to the interview and learn lots of incredible insights on Pretty Instant’s story and their experience with Y Combinator! You can also watch the interview at www.valleytalks.com. A lovely shout out to our partner Runway and to our sponsor UnStock — an on demand community and marketplace for mobile videographers.

Adryenn Ashley is a movie and TV Producer, social media influencer (200K total followers on FB, Twitter, Instagram) and founder of CrowdedTV – a crowdfunding platform for reality TV, movies and talk shows. It is pretty much like Kickstarter for shows that aim to be broadcasted on TV. Adryenn decided to build the platform, in order for TV productions be easier and more independently funded than via traditional ways, which often act against the interest of producers. With CrowdedTV people can back shows not only with money, but also with their social media profiles, so that producers will know what type of audience is interested in watching their show. Why TV industry is so much behind with implementing the social aspect of their audience and why is it so important? What’s the hardest part in getting a show broadcasted on TV? How did Adryenn gain 200K social media followers? What does she mean by saying that she was doing online marketing even before the internet was born? How did she build the platform, how did she get the first projects on CrowdedTV and how is she growing her user base? Is she looking for investors and what would she spend the first money on? Listen the interview, learn lots of incredible insights about TV industry and learn why Adryenn takes matters into her own hands! You can also watch the interview at www.valleytalks.com. A lovely shout out to our partner Galvanize and to our sponsor UnStock — an on demand community and marketplace for mobile videographers.

Did you know that today hotel’s rooms availabilities need to be uploaded in excel spreadsheets, in order to submit updates to some of the biggest booking databases? Maksim Izmaylov is a co-founder and CEO of Roomstorm – a company that helps airlines and hotels deal with booking emergencies. Maksim’s B2B business targets hotels and airlines to help them reduce negative effects of overbooking or flight cancellations and deliver great customer experience. Also, Maksim is on his fantastic mission to disrupt travel industry by introducing automatization in various fields. Having been born and raised in Russia, how Maksim managed to start a business in Silicon Valley? How did he make a living before his project really took off? How did he make it into Y Combinator and what did the program help him with the most? How did he find first customers, including big, national airline? Why does he think travel industry is archaic and how is he going to change it? — Listen to the interview to find out! You can also watch video interview at www.valleytalks.com. A lovely shout out to our partner Runway Incubator and to our sponsor UnStock — an on demand community and marketplace for mobile videographers.

Peeple app allows rating other people, much like Yelp allows rating restaurants, services and places. As soon as the app concept became public, media storm broke accusing Peeple founders of creating a tool for bullying people. Ironically, Julia Cordray — the app co-founder and CEO — became a bullying victim herself, as she started receiving thousands of aggressive messages and phone calls, including death threats. Julia went through a real press and social media nightmare in the fall of 2015, and now she's receiving a second wave of media attention after Peeple's launch in March 2016. We talk about the full story of Peeple app — from the idea and building the first version of the app, through Julia's comments on the media attention and launching difficulties, to future plans for Peeple. Did Julia expect all the media controversy? Did she modify the app concept and how? How many people are using the app today? What does she think of current 1.5 star review in the App Store? Does she feel like the media storm worked for better or worse for the company? Listen to the interview and learn about what was happening behind the scenes while press and social media were loosing their mind about Peeple. You can also watch video interview at www.valleytalks.com. A lovely shout out to our partner Galvanize, where me and Julia could comfortably meet and chat, and to our sponsor UnStock — an on demand community and marketplace for mobile videographers.

Evlo (Everything Local) is a platform to easily and conveniently buy local furniture and art. It not only helps to find the perfect piece, but the product can be brought to the customer with no obligation to buy. Sounds cool, right? Nick is Silicon Valley native, he was born and raised in Los Altos. He studied marketing and business at San Jose State University, then worked full time as an Account Executive, and today he is in 100% devoted to his startup. Since he was raised here, finding the team was rather easy – Nick asked his friends to join. However, all the rest is a challenge – from finding the first furniture suppliers, through figuring out the logistics necessary to deliver the products, finding first clients and getting funded. How does Nick compare being full-time employed to running his own startup? At what point did he decide to leave the job? How did he find the first partnerships in San Francisco? How does “Try before you buy” option work out for Evlo? What is important to know when pitching to investors? Watch video interview at www.valleytalks.com

Neelam spent the first year of her startup life with her former co-founder only to discover, that he would quit and take all the code. We talk about moving from India to SV, working in a corporate world, tough startup beginnings, founders drama and finding a good partner. Watch video interview at www.valleytalks.com

Sharoon Thomas is a CEO of Fulfil.io, a platform that combines inventories from multiple marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, e-Bay. Sharoon and his co-founders founded the company in June 2015 in India, and only few months later they got approved to 500 Startups accelerator program in Mountain View. Watch video interview at www.valleytalks.com

My guest is Mark Howitson – attorney at law and former Deputy General Counsel at Facebook. We've all heard about The Social Network movie, which portrays the founding of Facebook and the resulting lawsuits. In the movie, as well as in reality, Winklevoss brothers claimed that Facebook was their idea, and Facebook’s co-founder Eduardo Saverin claimed that the was purposely induced to sign an agreement that led to significant dilution of his shares. The issues leading to the above lawsuits are not an uncommon thing in the startup world. I invited Mark Howitson to join me on the show and share his thoughts about whether similar problems can be avoided by startup founders, and how. Mark also comments on how much truth about the Facebook’s lawsuits is conveyed in the movie and published on the Internet. I feel very honored that Mark accepted my invitation, since he doesn’t appear much in media, and until now he hadn’t publicly commented on Facebook’s cases. Listen to the interview carefully, as we refer to the lawsuits throughout our talk. You can also watch video interview at www.valleytalks.com.

From brothers’ idea, through 500 Startups, TV Show rollercoaster, $120K yearly revenue and growing. How Roost – Airbnb for space – is making its way.

“All of a sudden you have a woman as a CEO, and this is just extremely abnormal.” Emmie Chang – Y Combinator graduate and a female solo founder. Watch video interview at www.valleytalks.com

"People have tons of ideas. You know there’s a saying that 5% is the idea. I think it’s actually 1% or less. You can have a fabulous idea, we all know this, I think, and if you can’t push it, promote it and really give a quality product, it’s still just an idea." – Eric Due, CEO of Bullz-i. Watch video interview at www.valleytalks.com

“One of the advice I got from several investors, is not to ask for investment too early. They have told me: ‘Push out on asking for investment as long as you can.’ “ – Fauzia Lala, CEO of Falala Innovation. Watch video interview at www.valleytalks.com

Does Jon see himself more as an investor or as an entrepreneur? Why sharing interests and tastes is more fun than sharing friends? How much of the knowledge that he shares with founders does he implement into his own businesses? Does being an investor give him extra credibility when raising money for his startups? What advice does he give to startup founders, being able to actually wear both hats? While admiring a stunning view of San Francisco downtown, we talk about these, and other amazing topics. Watch video interview at www.valleytalks.com

Nomiku is cooks food in a controlled low-temperature water bath. It had massively succeeded in two Kickstarter campaigns and is one of the highest funded food category campaign on Kickstarter. What was the story behind creating Nomiku? What were the first steps to produce and sell first Nomiku appliances? How did Lisa and her team triple their Kickstarter campaigns goals two times? Why do they manufacture in San Francisco, and finally, how it is to run a startup with a spouse? Watch video interview at www.valleytalks.com

Emily Baum is the CEO of Keyrious — high-tech fine jewelry – that unlocks extraordinary experiences with a turn of a key. Emily lived in New York, studied in Chicago, and then moved to San Francisco to pursue her dream of running a business. She tells about the beginnings of Keyrious, the first steps of getting settled in SF, her experience building a team, raising angel investment in Silicon Valley as a female founder, and many more lessons learned along the way. Watch video interview at www.valleytalks.com

Neuroon had huge success on Kickstarter in 2014, reaching their $100K goal in one day and raising nearly $500K in total. Now, the company is selling the mask to thousands of people worldwide. Neuroon was first planned to be the mask for polyphasic sleep, today it helps to manage sleep better using bright light therapy. I met with Tomasz at Runway Incubator in San Francisco to talk about how Neuroon works and what are its best applications? In what way did the purpose of the mask change over time and why? What was the reaction of Kickstarter backers to the product’s changes and the delay of delivery? And how did the founders deal with their backers’ responses? How did the founders manage to keep company’s operations after Kickstarter funding? Did they look for investors? How did they find first customers outside of Kickstarter? Listen to the interview and discover the insights of Neuroon’s amazing story! You can also watch video interview at www.valleytalks.com.