The StartUp to ScaleUp Game Plan

Amar Hanspal is the founding CEO at Bright Machines - a startup combining intelligent software with flexible factory robots & machine learning to meet the demands of the next generation of manufacturing - who recently closed a $179 million Series A. Amar discusses:  The “happy collision” that brought the Bright Machines founding team together to address a $60bn-$100bn market opportunity The adventurous & disruptive profile of Bright Machines’ employees: “missionaries & mountaineers” How Bright Machines' exceptional leadership team - addressing a huge market opportunity with an aggressive business plan - raised their impressive Series A For more insights into Bright Machines check out https://www.brightmachines.com  & for advice on hiring world class talent for start-ups and scale-ups head over to http://alpinasearch.com

Christian Owens is the founding CEO at Paddle - the UK’s fastest growing software startup - who've raised $25m in VC funding, tripled revenue every year for 6 years & tripled headcount in the past 9 months. Christian discusses: How to scale your team from 50 to 150 people in 9 months How to ensure your company is the employer of choice The CEO’s day2day challenge: keeping 150+ bosses happy How to raise smart VC funding For more insights into Paddle check out https://paddle.com & for advice on hiring world class talent for start-ups and scale-ups head over to http://alpinasearch.com

Angelique Mohring is the founding CEO at GainX: a machine learning platform that helps corporates accelerate global restructuring, transformation & growth. Angelique explains The challenges she’s faced as a female founder/CEO raising money in a male-dominated industry Why she chose to launch her global HQ in the UK - despite Brexit... How to conceive & launch your business during a strategic retreat at a 5* resort! How she reduced the GainX sales cycle from 18 months to 3 days   For more insights into GainX check out https://www.gainx.com & for advice on hiring world class talent for software start-ups & scale-ups head over to http://alpinasearch.com

Emergence Capital is one of the world’s leading enterprise Saas VC funds – with 7 exits in excess of $500m including Salesforce, SuccessFactors & Box. Doug and Viv joined Emergence - as Growth Partner and Operating Partner respectively - to share their expertise in delivering successful go-to-market and growth strategies at companies like Salesforce and Box. They discuss:  How to prioritise & dominate your target verticals Why you should hire a marketing lead before you invest in sales expertise How to create a new software category for your business How to build harmony & efficiency between your sales & marketing teams Customer Success teams: why they're as important as sales/marketing yet often undervalued at startups  For more insights into Emergence Capital check out https://www.emcap.com & for advice on hiring world class talent for startups & scaleups head over to http://alpinasearch.com  

  Carles Ferrer is a General Partner at Nauta Capital – a European enterprise software VC fund - and he’s invested in companies like BeMyEye, Brandwatch and ChannelSight.  Carles discusses:  Nauta's philosophy of investing in capital efficient disruptors   How Nauta’s regional hub focus within Europe, combined with their sector focus, differentiates them from other VC funds When expanding from Europe to The States – how to get the timing & the talent right! Future themes Nauta are prioritising including the massive disruption of the Retail sector both online and offline For more insights into Nauta's investments in capital efficient disruptors check out https://www.nautacapital.com & for advice on hiring world class talent for start-ups and scale-ups head over to http://alpinasearch.com  

Scott Belsky is an entrepreneur, author,  and investor, and currently serves as Adobe’s Chief Product Officer. Scott’s also a Venture Partner with Benchmark and an early advisor and investor in a number of fast-growing companies like Pinterest, Uber, and Periscope. He is the author of "Making Ideas Happen" and in early October 2018 published his new book "The Messy Middle": The product or company launch gets cheered, the finish line gets celebrated, but the rocky terrain in between is woefully underestimated and misunderstood! Scott discusses his research & provides business & product leaders with tangible suggestions to help them navigate the journey from volatile startup to mature successful business: How to endure the extreme volatility of a new venture Optimization – how to make your team & decision-making more effective The importance of “killing your darlings” (not as shocking as it sounds!) How we falsely attribute our own expertise, or lack of expertise, to both our successes and our failures – how to stay grounded when you and your business are being successful For more insights from the Messy Middle check out https://medium.com/positiveslope/navigating-the-messy-middle-7ca6fff11966 and for advice on hiring world class talent for start-ups and scale-ups head over to http://alpinasearch.com

Eamonn Carey – once upon a time a TV producer and presenter - is now the Managing Director at Techstars London. He’s also founded and exited 2 startups and invested in over 25 companies globally.Eamonn discusses: The path he took from media exec to entrepreneur to investor Why enterprise software companies need to build character & mischief into their products to mimic the user engagement of B2C products  Some of the key societal & technology trends he’s excited about - and believes could have huge potential for future Techstars cohorts For more insights into Techstars check out https://www.techstars.com  and for advice on hiring world class talent for start-ups & scale-ups head over to http://alpinasearch.com  

Usman Shuja is the GM & Head of Industiral IOT at SparkCognition – the leading provider of AI solutions for IOT - who recently closed a $57m Series B with Verizon Ventures, Boeing, CME Ventures, Brevan Howard Investment Holdings and Invenergy Future Fund. Usman is a thought leader in machine learning, cognitive computing, security, and industrial IoT – he sits on Forbes Technology Council - and also an international cricketer. Usman discusses  how he made the journey from international cricketer to GM at a leading AI scale-up using AI to create the mind of a data scientist the “Moneyball 2.0” approach to sports science & sports talent: “Moneyball on steroids”  For more insights into AI and IOT check out https://www.sparkcognition.com and for advice on hiring world class talent for start-ups & scale-ups head over to http://alpinasearch.com

David Ratner is the CEO at Realm - the data management platform and solution that seamlessly handles connectivity, latency, transport and other backend details for mobile, IOT, and other connected apps.David’s previously had successful exits at Carrier Access and Openwave. Realm has a roster of high profile investors including Andreesen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures and Y Combinator. David discusses: Why “the enemy of best is not worst...the enemy of best is good enough” How and when to launch a 2nd product - when your initial product is a big success - and how to balance resources between the 2 products The challenges of getting messaging on-point for enterprise software businesses Why hiring for cultural fit is way more important than hiring for the exact skillset   For more insigts into Realm's technology head over to https://realm.io and for advice on hiring world class start-up & scale-up talent check out http://alpinasearch.com  

Kjartan Rist, Founding Partner at Concentric Partners, has spent the last 18 years focusing on the technology start-ups and scale-ups as a founder, advisor, Board member and investor. He’s been involved in over 50 transactions and founded or co-founded 2 successful VC funds and a merchant bank. Kjartan discusses: The valuable lessons he learned in his early days in VC from experienced investors - like Nenad Marovac & Steve Schlenker at DN Capital - and also Steve Papa, the founder-CEO at Endeca The value a local VC firm can provide to a tech venture developing an international footprint – in terms of strategic business development and local go2market strategy A very candid analysis of the challenges faced by 1 of his enterprise software investments - including the dangers of relying too much on a single route to market - and the steps they are now taking to overcome those challenges The crucial role played by advisory boards to augment the CEO and his/her skills For more VC insights check out http://concentricteam.com and for advice on hiring executive talent to scale your enterprise software venture head over to http://alpinasearch.com  

Steve King is the co-founder & CEO at Black Swan Data. Funded by Mitsui, Blackstone & Albion Capital - Black Swan Data creates better outcomes through technology, prediction & data science.  Steve discusses: his journey from DJ to enterprise software CEO Black Swan’s preference for talent “approximately 10% crazy”! Black Swan Data’s failed US strategy – the lessons they learned and the turnaround...The US now contributes 50% to Black Swan’s revenues  the story behind the data science insights that diagnosed Steve’s sister’s rare illness & led to Steve establishing The White Swan charity    For more insights into Black Swan Data check out https://www.blackswan.com & for guidance on scaling up your enterprise software venture head over to http://alpinasearch.com  

Magnus Gaarder is a co-founder at early stage tech VC fund, Cidron Ventures, having previously spearheaded Nauta Capital's investment initiatives in Northern Europe. Magnus discusses How and when enterprise software ventures should embark on international expansion  Building a winning sales/marketing team in international markets Capital efficiencies for start-ups: B2B versus B2C Why integrity & "ESG" are key criteria for Cidron in choosing which start-up teams to invest in  For more insights on Cidron Venturs, head over to http://cidronventures.com - and for guidance on scaling enterprise software ventures, check out http://alpinasearch.com    

Christian Hernandez is a co-founder & Managing Partner at White Star Capital, where he draws on his extensive experience in developing and scaling products and platforms internationally.  Prior to co-founding White Star Capital, Christian worked at Facebook and led the led the international expansion of the company’s Business Development, Platform and Gaming Partnerships groups. He previously held leadership roles at Google & Microsoft having started his career at MicroStrategy, a start-up he joined prior to their 1999 IPO. Christian discusses: How regulation and regulators, rather than being a challenge to overcome, can be a huge opportunity for start-ups to create differentiators and barriers to entry  How to co-develop enterprise technology solutions with clients – helps with funding, customer feedback, etc How to effectively price innovative enterprise software & Saas products “Re-cycling”: the single largest driver of outperformance in VC funds Head over to https://whitestarvc.com for more details on White Star Capital and check out www.alpinasearch.com for more advice on globally scaling your enterprise software venture  

Pietro Bezza is a tech founder turned venture capitalist. Pietro co-founded Connect Ventures, an early stage VC fund, in 2011 and the fund has invested in companies like Citymapper, Typeform and Soldo. Pietro discusses: Why he decided to invest in Typeform after having become a delighted user of their product How Typeform decided the time was right to expand into the States The vital role “perpetual learnability” plays in a company’s ability to scale-up The unique challenges of hiring talent during the scale-up stage in terms of both cultural & skillset diversity  Head over to http://www.connectventures.co for more details on Connect Ventures and check out www.alpinasearch.com for advice on globally scaling your B2B software venture  

Zack Urlocker helped grow a number of software companies to billion dollar exits - including Active Software, MySQL, Zendesk and most recently Duo Security. And he’s been an advisor and board member for many other successful venture-backed software companies including HubSpot and SugarCRM. He’s also written a rock opera! Zack’s worked with many Tier 1 VCs including Benchmark Capital, CRV, Index Ventures and Matrix Partners and he now lectures at the University of Michigan on Entrepreneurial Leadership. Zack discusses: Why product management is a great career path for any budding enterprise sofrtware entrepeneur The importance of focusing on great customer service when you expand internationally How and why you should avoiding micro-managing local decisions from an overseas HQ The importance of transferring your culture and cloning your successful DNA as you expand internationally The mis-step Duo Security took in failing to hire sufficient local domain expertise when they initially expanded into Europe His focus on developing entrepreneurs in the Mid-West: a US region historically starved of entrepreneurial development & learning opportunities  Head over to www.alpinasearch.com for more advice on globally scaling your enterprise software venture