Amy Fox is the COO and co-founder of ATH Media and the All the Hacks podcast. A former tech operator, she was employee number five at Zimride (which became Lyft), helping the company grow from a seed-stage startup to a post-IPO company. In this episode, she shares insights into Lyft's early days, startup culture, and the importance of building strong team relationships.
In this episode, we talk about :
- Lyft's origin story and Amy's unexpected recruitment
- The Hackathon that launched Lyft
- The ride sharing wars between Lyft and Uber
- Did competition ever go too far?
- Building Lyft's unique culture
- Advice for companies considering remote or hybrid work models
- Building with "swagger"
- Working with your spouse
& lots more
Where to find Amy?
Amy on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amylynnfox/
All The Hacks podcast - https://www.chrishutchins.com/episodes/
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc).
About Garuda Ventures:
Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc
Today's episode was hosted by Rishi Taparia. Find Rishi on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rktaparia/), Substack (taps.substack.com) or X/Twitter (x.com/taps)
Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!
Raj Chopra is the Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer for Security Products at Cisco. With a computer science background and extensive enterprise software experience, Raj has been a key player in transforming security products across multiple platform shifts, including cloud and AI.
In this episode, Raj shares insights from his journey through enterprise software, highlighting his experiences at Netskope (now a decacorn in cybersecurity) and his current role at Cisco. The conversation explores the evolution of security products, the impact of platform shifts, and the transformative potential of AI in enterprise security.
Topics discussed:
- Raj's early career and move to Silicon Valley
- The transition from engineering to product management
- Importance of market pull and team consistency
- Product marketing is crucial for articulating the value of a product
- How the security market has evolved over the years
- AI integration in Security solutions
- Leadership and startup advice Links:
Raj's blog at Cisco - https://blogs.cisco.com/author/rajneeshchopra
Raj on X - https://x.com/RajnChop
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc).
About Garuda Ventures:
Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc
Today's episode was hosted by Arpan Punyani. Find Arpan on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/arpanpunyani/), Substack (https://arpanpunyani.substack.com/) or X/Twitter (https://x.com/arpanpunyani)
Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!
Shreyans Bhansali is a serial entrepreneur who was employee #1 at Venmo, co-founded Socratic (acquired by Google), and is currently building Maven. He studied computer science and economics at UPenn before diving into the startup world.
In this episode, we talk about :
- Shreyans first foray into tech in middle school
- Why he left his stable consulting job to join Venmo as employee #1
- The early days at Venmo and a crazy SXSW 2010
- The power of talking to people
- The feeling of Product-Market Fit at Venmo
- How to identify great talent for hiring
- Similarities and differences between being an early employee versus being a founder
- What he would have changed about Socratic instead of selling to Google
- Lessons from fatherhood
& lots more
Where to find Shreyans?
Website - https://shreyans.org/
Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreyansb/
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc).
About Garuda Ventures:
Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc
Today's episode was hosted by Rishi Taparia. Find Rishi on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rktaparia/), Substack (taps.substack.com) or X/Twitter (x.com/taps)
Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!
Sid Sridhar is Head of Business at Wave, a leading fintech company in Africa. Prior to Wave, Sid had stints at companies like Google, Uber, and Sendwave, and has the unique distinction of being Venmo user number 5! Through these experiences, he gained deep expertise in international payments, finance, and fintech broadly.
Sid shares his journey into startups, the lessons he's learned from building in Africa, what product market fit feels like, and how he balances his career while being a father of two young kids.
In this episode, we cover:
- How Sid's background as an expat and finance and international payments led him to an early stage startup
- The feeling of product-market fit at Sendwave, and the operational challenges that come with it
- The decision to sell Sendwave's business to focus on building Wave, business with more network-effects
- The differences in building startups in the developed markets vs emerging markets like Africa
- Balancing life as a startup operator and a father of two young kids
Where to find Sid:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sid-sridhar/
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc).
About Garuda Ventures:
Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc
Today's episode was hosted by Rishi Taparia. Find Rishi on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rktaparia/), Substack (taps.substack.com) or X/Twitter (x.com/taps)
Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!
Uma Chingunde is a seasoned engineering leader. She was previously the VP of Engineering at Render and engineering leader at Stripe and started her career at VMware.
In this episode, Uma shares her advice on how to balance uptime and reliability with feature release cadence, staying level-headed through engineering incidents, and how startups that are selling to the engineering function should think about showing value in the post-ZIRP era.
Topics discussed:
- Uma's background and journey into computer science and the tech industry
- Uma's time at VMware, including her transition from individual contributor to engineering manager
- Uma's move to Stripe and the company's approach to balancing uptime/reliability with feature velocity
- Advice on building high-performance engineering teams
- Thoughts on the changing landscape for startups selling to engineering teams
- Career advice and Uma's framework for evaluating new opportunities
Links:
Follow Uma on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/umachingunde
Follow Uma on X - https://x.com/umachingunde
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc).
About Garuda Ventures:
Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc
Today's episode was hosted by Arpan Punyani. Find Arpan on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/arpanpunyani/), Substack (https://arpanpunyani.substack.com/) or X/Twitter (https://x.com/arpanpunyani)
Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!
Justin Roberts has over 20 years of experience selling software at companies like Salesforce, Box, Lever, and SignalFX. He also advises and coaches founders, sales executives, and account executives on how to become better sellers.
In this episode, we cover:
• Justin's first job at Salesforce and how it launched his startup career
• Justin's decision to leave Salesforce and join the early team at Box
• Building sales processes and systems at fast-growing Box
• The impact of closing Box's first six-figure deal on the team
• Transitioning from an individual contributor to a sales manager
• Advice for founders on building effective sales teams and cultures
• The importance of founders staying involved in sales as their company scales
• Balancing work and family life as a sales leader
and more! Where to Find Justin:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinroberts1/
Website: https://www.revenuepilot.coach/
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc).
About Garuda Ventures:
Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc
Today's episode was hosted by Rishi Taparia. Find Rishi on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rktaparia/), Substack (taps.substack.com) or X/Twitter (x.com/taps)
Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!
Christy Augustine is the Chief Operating Officer at Bloomreach, a global company that provides AI-powered e-commerce personalization products. Christy was previously at Bain, Hewlett Packard, and Walmart.com.
In this episode, Christy discusses her career journey from engineering to business strategy, her experience joining and growing Bloomreach over the past decade, and advice for early career professionals.
In this episode, we cover:
- Christy's background and early career path, from studying math and computer science in college to joining HP
- How she transitioned to the business side through an MBA at Harvard
- The decision to join Bain Consulting right after her MBA and how that helped her get insights into multiple businesses
- Why she chose to join Bloomreach, a "stealth startup" at the time, and the evolution of the company from a single product to a multi-product platform
- Christy's role and career progression at Bloomreach, from building new product lines to eventually becoming Chief Operating Officer
- Advice for early and mid-career professionals on developing a diverse skill set and taking on new challenges to prepare for leadership roles
Links:
Follow Christy on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinaaugustine/
Bloomreach website - https://www.bloomreach.com/en
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc).
About Garuda Ventures:
Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc
Today's episode was hosted by Arpan Punyani. Find Arpan on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/arpanpunyani/), Substack (https://arpanpunyani.substack.com/) or X/Twitter (https://x.com/arpanpunyani)
Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!
Mike Smith is the Co-founder and General Partner at Footwork, an early-stage venture fund. Mike also happens to be one of the most highly regarded and skilled operators in and around commerce. Prior to getting into venture he was the President and COO at Stitch Fix, where he joined as employee number 4, and for over 10 years there held most of the senior roles at the company from COO to CFO to interim CEO and eventually took the company public in 2017.
Prior to joining Stitch Fix, Mike spent almost 10 years building out the e-commerce and multi-channel offerings of Walmart at walmart(dot)com, eventually growing to be the COO of the $5 billion division. Mike also sits on the board of Ulta Beauty and Herman Miller.
In this episode, we cover:
- Why Mike left Walmart to go to a very early stage company
- What skills and playbooks Mike developed at Walmart that he was able to apply at Stitch Fix
- What he saw in Katrina Lake, Stitch Fix's CEO that convinced him he should join
- Balancing being a husband, father, and early stage operator
- The role of humans and AI in delivering customer service
- How to build and scale culture
- The difference between building a company and building a venture firm
- And a whole lot more!
Relevant links and references:
- Mike on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcsmith1/
- Stitch Fix: stitchfix.com
- Footwork Ventures: https://www.footwork.vc/
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc).
About Garuda Ventures:
Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc
Today's episode was hosted by Rishi Taparia. Find Rishi on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rktaparia/), Substack (taps.substack.com) or X/Twitter (x.com/taps)
Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!
Avanish Sahai is a former technology executive with experiences in product, marketing, and ecosystems. He has held leadership positions at both early-stage and established companies including Oracle, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Google Cloud. Avanish has served on the boards of tech companies HubSpot, Birdie.ai, and Scribe, as well as of non-profits World Affairs and BayBrazil.
Born in India, raised in Brazil, and now a US citizen, Avanish is an avid traveler (50+ countries). The world is home; he is increasing his focus on philanthropy and investments.
In this episode, we cover -
- Avanish's experience in a high-performance culture of the early days of Oracle - Importance of "people" in determining the future success of a company - The different stages of a software company - Avanish's early days at Salesforce - Why product marketing & storytelling is so important for B2B businesses - Why relationships & trust matter a lot in building a successful career - What it's like to be a global citizen
& lots more.. Links:
Follow Avanish on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/asahai/)
Follow Avanish on X (https://x.com/avanishsahai}
Subscribe to The Platform Journey - https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-platform-journey-6930587788056690688/
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc).
About Garuda Ventures:
Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc
Today's episode was hosted by Arpan Punyani. Find Arpan on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/arpanpunyani/), Substack (https://arpanpunyani.substack.com/) or X/Twitter (https://x.com/arpanpunyani)
Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!
In this episode of Brick by Brick, Rishi Taparia sits down with Tom White. After stints at Sandhill Markets, On Deck, and Google, Tom now writes, edits, researches, and ghostwrites professionally for a number of startup/F500 executives, VCs, and institutional fund managers.
Past work includes writing The Observer Effect with Sriram Krishnan.
He also advises and consults on web3, growth, storytelling and customer psychology for a number of different international startups and funds. He also pens a free weekly newsletter on books and behavior, psychology and philosophy called "White Noise".
In this episode, we dig into:
- Why all founders should write
- Tom's guide to breaking free from the fear of publishing
- The important difference between creating content and distributing content
- Why AI is killing creativity
- When to engage a ghostwriter
- The importance of reading and how to read in a "Lindy safe" way
- Tom's recommended reads Tom White's links:
White Noise: https://www.whitenoise.email/
Home: https://www.tomwhitenoise.com/
Tom's Reading List: https://www.tomwhitenoise.com/bookshelf
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjwtjw/
Twitter: https://x.com/TJIWhiteIV
Referenced in the pod:
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc).
About Garuda Ventures:
Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc
Today's episode was hosted by Rishi Taparia. Find Rishi on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rktaparia/), Substack (taps.substack.com) or X/Twitter (x.com/taps)
Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!
In this episode of Brick by Brick, Arpan Punyani sits down with Ben Sabrin. Ben is a seasoned early sales leader at iconic enterprise infrastructure businesses such as JBoss, MongoDB, Rackspace among other startups.
Ben is currently Head of Global Sales at Weaviate - the vector database company.
In this episode, we cover -
- What founders should look for in early-stage GTM talent?
- His experiences scaling infrastructure companies like MongoDB
- Importance of customer empathy
- Whether AI use-cases are starting to happen in production for enterprises?
- Some things that make infrastructure products unique
& more..
Links:
Follow Ben on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bsabrin/)
Follow Ben on X (https://x.com/bsabrin}
Weaviate is hiring! (https://weaviate.io/)
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc).
About Garuda Ventures:
Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc
Today's episode was hosted by Arpan Punyani. Find Arpan on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/arpanpunyani/), Substack (https://arpanpunyani.substack.com/) or X/Twitter (https://x.com/arpanpunyani)
Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!
In this episode of Brick by Brick, Rishi Taparia sits down with Jared Fliesler, a seasoned operator who has held key roles at companies like Slide, Square, and Scribd.
Jared shares his untraditional path into the startup world, the importance of storytelling as a leader, his philosophy on making the most of "mundane" tasks, and how to hire and fire well. He also discusses his own venture, First Call, his own coaching practice built to help founders navigate the challenges of scaling.
In this episode, we dig into:
- How Jared transitioned from finance into startups
- The importance of storytelling and narrative development for founders and leaders
- "Making magic of the mundane" - Jared's approach to tackling necessary but boring tasks that are core to growing any company
- Early "hacks" Jared and the Square experimented with as they began to scale
- The importance of communicating the "why" as a founder, not just giving directives
- Jared's new coaching venture, First Call, and his unique approach to founder coaching
Where to Find Jared:
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jaredsf/
Twitter: x.com/JaredSF
Website: firstcall.co
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc).
About Garuda Ventures:
Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc
Today's episode was hosted by Rishi Taparia. Find Rishi on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rktaparia/), Substack (taps.substack.com) or X/Twitter (x.com/taps)
Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!
In this episode, Andrew Peterson, co-founder of Aviso Ventures, engages in an insightful conversation, sharing insights on the founding story of Signal Sciences, strategies for hiring and managing employees in early-stage startups, the importance of scaling a company while maintaining culture, and advice for founders and early employees in the startup ecosystem.
The discussion also touches on the role of AI in achieving business value and differentiation, the effectiveness of AI in product development and investment, and the challenges faced by founders in the cybersecurity industry.
Topics discussed:
- Founding Story of Signal Sciences (Exit to Fastly for $825 Million)
- Importance of Establishing Clear Roles and Dynamics Among Co-founders
- Finding the Right Fit for Early Employees
- Unique Hiring Strategies in Startups
- Strategies for Closing Candidates in Early-Stage Startups
- Impact of Scaling Up on Team Dynamics and Culture
- Transition from Early-stage to Scaling in a Startup
- Identifying and Embracing Product Market Fit
- Advice for Founders and Early Employees
- Importance of Grit and Hard Work
- Challenges Faced by Founders in the Cybersecurity Industry
Links:
Find Andrew on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmarshallpeterson/)
Aviso Ventures' website (https://avisoventures.com/)
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc).
About Garuda Ventures:
Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc
Today's episode was hosted by Arpan Punyani. Find Arpan on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/arpanpunyani/), Substack (https://arpanpunyani.substack.com/) or X/Twitter (https://x.com/arpanpunyani)
Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!
In this episode, our guest Aston Motes shares his experience as the first employee at Dropbox, sharing insights into the early days of the company's growth, decision-making processes, and challenges faced. We explore the importance of product-market fit, the dynamics of startup culture, the impact of talent and diversity in teams, and the transition from early employee to founder.
Aston also shares advice for prospective founders and early employees.
Topics discussed include:
- Aston's background and journey from South Carolina to becoming the first employee at Dropbox
- Why he decided to join Dropbox and how they grew the early team
- The importance of product-market fit and the evolution of the company
- The role of talent, diversity, and relationships in startup success
- Lessons learned from the early days of Dropbox and the transition from early employee to founder
- Advice for anyone considering joining a new startup or becoming a founder
- Essential questions for prospective founders and early employees to ask themselves before taking the leap
Links:
Find Aston on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/aston-motes/) or on his website (astonmotes.com)
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc).
About Garuda Ventures:
Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc
Today's episode was hosted by Rishi Taparia. Find Rishi on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rktaparia/), Substack (taps.substack.com) or X/Twitter (x.com/taps)
Brick by Brick is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Hit 'subscribe' to stay up to date with new episodes!
Brick by Brick is presented by Garuda Ventures (https://garuda.vc) Welcome to the Brick by Brick podcast, hosted by Rishi Taparia and Arpan Punyani, co-founders of Garuda Ventures. Garuda is a first-check pre-seed and seed venture firm backing ambitious B2B founders right when they’re getting started. We’ve both had the pleasure (and experienced the pain) of operating at early-stage companies, Arpan at Okta and Rishi at Poynt and Legion. We know firsthand how much successful company-building is a team sport, with the founders, early employees, early investors working together to lay the foundation for the business. The reality of building a startup is it’s chaos everyday. There are no processes or systems. Fires are burning everywhere. And each day you and the small group of believers you’re working with are trying to justify your reason for being. It’s unglamorous. It’s blocking and tackling. And it’s not for the faint of heart. We want to share more of those stories with you. So, join us as we learn how successful startups were really built from the people who built them. We’ll hear from early employees, founders, and investors as they share the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of building startups, brick by brick. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you’ve got ideas for a show, topics you’d like us to discuss, or any feedback, shoot us an email at brickbybrick@garuda.vc About Garuda Ventures: Garuda Ventures is a B2B-focused pre-seed and seed venture fund. Garuda was founded by Rishi Taparia, a 2x startup exec and former venture investor at Matrix Partners, and Arpan Punyani, a lawyer turned startup operator who was an early employee at Okta and helped it grow from a small startup to a world-renowned publicly traded company. Garuda is a first-check firm and aims to earn the right to be a founder's first call as they go about building their companies. To learn more, visit https://www.garuda.vc