Brick by Brick: Going from BigCo to a Startup with Mike Smith, Co-founder, Footwork Ventures, Fmr. COO at StitchFix and Walmart.com

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Brick by Brick

Garuda Ventures

15 episodes

3 days ago

Join us as we learn how successful startups were really built, from the people who built them. We know firsthand how much successful company building is a team sport. The founders, early employees, and first investors work together to lay the foundation for the business. In the early days chaos reigns, processes and systems are non-existent, and bold moves are required daily. It’s unglamorous. It’s blocking and tackling. It’s not for the faint of heart. Hear stories, lessons, and the 'what not to dos' from the early employees, founders, and investors from startups you know.

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Brick by Brick: Going from BigCo to a Startup with Mike Smith, Co-founder, Footwork Ventures, Fmr. COO at StitchFix and Walmart.com

Brick by Brick

59 minutes 17 seconds

1 year ago

Brick by Brick: Going from BigCo to a Startup with Mike Smith, Co-founder, Footwork Ventures, Fmr. COO at StitchFix and Walmart.com

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)

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