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Alexa von Tobel will join Disrupt 2021 as a Startup Battlefield judge
Alexa von Tobel, co-founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital, will be joining TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 taking place September 21-23 to help judge the startups competing in Startup Battlefield. NOTE: Applications are now open to don’t hesitate to throw your hat in the ring here!
Prior to Inspired Capital, Alexa founded LearnVest in 2008 with the goal of helping women in particular make better investments and learn financial planning. After raising $75 million in venture capital and growing the service to 1.5 million users, LearnVest was acquired by Northwestern Mutual in May 2015 for $250 million.
Following the acquisition, Alexa joined the management team of Northwestern Mutual as the company’s first chief digital officer. She later assumed the role of chief innovation officer, a position in which which she oversaw Northwestern Mutual’s venture arm.
Alexa, who holds a Certified Financial Planner designation, is also The New York Times-bestselling author of “Financially Fearless,” which debuted in December 2013, and its follow-up, “Financially Forward,” which arrived in May 2019. She is also the host of “The Founders Project with Alexa von Tobel,” a weekly podcast with Inc. that highlights entrepreneurs.
Alexa is a member of the 2016 Class of Henry Crown Fellows and an inaugural member of President Obama’s Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship. She has been honored with numerous recognitions, including: a Forbes Magazine cover story, Fortune’s 40 Under 40, Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, Inc. Magazine’s 30 Under 30 and World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader.
Alexa recently joined us at TechCrunch Early Stage, where she led a breakout session on financial planning targeted specifically at startups. Join us at Disrupt this September and get your ticket for under $100 for a limited time!
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Greylock GP Mike Duboe to discuss how to scale your company at TechCrunch Early Stage in July
While the money flowing into Silicon Valley is reaching historic heights, the competition for getting customer attention and growing businesses is still a major challenge.
At TechCrunch Early Stage: Marketing & Fundraising, we’re diving into the topic of growth and scaling and bringing in experts across the startup landscape to share what they’ve learned in the pilot’s seat. We’re thrilled that Greylock General Partner Mike Duboe will be joining us in July to discuss what’s hot and what’s next for growth in consumer and B2B technology.
Before joining Greylock and being promoted to his current role as a GP, Duboe led growth at Stitch Fix as the company built out its online styling empire. Previous to that, Duboe was the first growth hire at Tilt and has had stints on YC’s growth advisory council and as a growth lecturer at Reforge.
Duboe’s interests as an investor have centered on commerce infrastructure, marketplaces, creator tools and more, with investments in no-code visual editor Builder, SMS marketing platform Postscript and online wholesale marketplace Vori. We’ll chat with Mike about where he advises founders to focus their efforts and how to make the most of budgets across channels.
Tickets for TC Early Stage: Marketing & Fundraising are available at the early bird rate which gives you an instant $100 savings if you book before May 1!
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Beat the deadline: Apply to compete in Startup Battlefield at TC Disrupt 2021
Startup Battlefield — the matriarch of all pitch competitions — is the stuff of tech legend. Heck, it even played a role in the HBO show, “Silicon Valley,” and its influence touches early-stage startups around the globe. Under no circumstance will you find a bigger, better platform for launching your startup to the world.
Battlefield has a long history of producing notable names. Need an example? A little startup by the name of Dropbox competed in the Battlefield at TC50 (the precursor to Disrupt) way back in 2008.
TechCrunch is on the hunt for innovative, game-changing startups to take the Startup Battlefield challenge and wrangle with the best-of-the-best at TC Disrupt 2021 in September. Are you game?
Apply to compete in Startup Battlefield before the deadline closes on May 13 11:59 pm (PT).
The stakes: A shot at $100,000 in equity-free prize money. Major exposure for all competing startups — think investors eager to find and fund the next big thing, journalists in search of exciting, game-changing startups to cover and potential customers and partners who can help take your business to new levels of success.
The investment: Your time. Yup, that’s it. Applying to and participating in Startup Battlefield is 100% free. No fees, no equity cut. You simply invest your time — all participating founders receive several weeks of training with the Startup Battlefield team. Your demo and presentation will be, well, pitch perfect when you deliver it to panels of top VC judges. And you’ll be thoroughly prepped to handle the Q&A that follows.
The perks: In addition to the massive interest from just about all Disrupt attendees, competing startups get exhibition space in the Startup Alley expo area, free passes to future TechCrunch events, a free membership to Extra Crunch and invitations to private events like the Startup Battlefield reception.
You’ll meet members of the Startup Battlefield alumni community — we’re talking about 922 companies (like Vurb, Mint, Yammer and, yes, Dropbox) that have collectively raised $9.5 billion and produced 117 exits. Once Disrupt ends, you’re part of this phenomenal community — just imagine the networking possibilities.
The details: Read more about how Startup Battlefield works.
TC Disrupt 2021 takes place September 21-23. If you’ve got an innovative, game-changing startup, apply to compete in Startup Battlefield. Make sure you submit your completed application before the deadline expires on May 13 11:59 pm (PT).
Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Disrupt 2021? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.
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Alexa von Tobel outlines how founders should manage personal finances
Few people are more knowledgable on the topic of how founders should manage their finances than Alexa von Tobel. She is a certified financial planner, started her own company in the midst of the recession (which happened to be a wildly successful personal finance startup that sold for hundreds of millions of dollars) and is now a VC who invests and advises founders.
At Early Stage 2021, she gave a presentation on how founders should think about managing their own wealth. Startup founders can often put all their money into their venture and end up paying more attention to the finances of their company than their own bank account.
Von Tobel outlined the various steps you can take to stay out of debt, build credit and accumulate wealth through investments to ensure you have financial peace of mind as you take on the most stressful venture of your life: Starting a company.
Know your numbers
The first step in getting organized and being proactive is often taking inventory. Von Tobel believes that knowing your numbers and getting organized digitally is the first step to having financial peace of mind.
Know all your numbers. Know your net worth. What are your assets? What’s your debt? What does your total financial picture look like? Get everything online. You should have all the mobile apps downloaded so that, in minutes, you can actually see your full financial life. And keep it simple. Fewer accounts are better. I always tell people, if you have seven credit cards, plus three savings accounts, that’s a lot. You’re never going to be as good at managing your finances. Simplify your accounts. (Time stamp — 2:50)
Manage your credit and debt
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Startup Alley at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 is filling up fast. Apply today.
Startup Alley — the very name conjures up images of early-stage startups demonstrating game-changing products, platforms and services to thousands of Disrupt attendees and industry influencers. It’s where you’ll find envelope pushing and boundary breaking going down.
If you’re busy shoving envelopes and busting down boundaries, don’t miss your chance to exhibit in Startup Alley at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 in September. But here’s the thing — we’re limiting the number of exhibitors this year, and Startup Alley spots are filling up fast.
Apply for Startup Alley now to secure your place. Budget-friendly tip: Grab your Startup Alley Pass for just $199 — but that deal expires on May 13 at 11:59 p.m. (PDT).
Startup Alley will still have plenty of amazing companies. But we want to showcase the very best and give those exhibiting companies the focused exposure they so richly deserve.
What can you expect when you exhibit in Startup Alley this year? For starters, high visibility. Every exhibiting startup gets two minutes to pitch to a global audience during featured breakout feedback sessions. Disrupt attendees include all kinds of influencers — investors, tech icons, the media — and potential customers.
You’ll receive two lists that define opportunity — press and investors. Pitch your story to members of the press and increase your brand exposure. Schedule meetings with investors to explore funding options or to get feedback on your startup.
“Disrupt is a great avenue to network with potential investors. It carries a lot of street cred and talking about our CEO’s experience pitching in Startup Alley helps us make those connections and start important conversations.” — Jessica McLean, Director of Marketing and Communications, Infinite-Compute.
You’ll also have a shot to be featured in one of the many Startup Alley Crawls. Every tech category will have its own one-hour crawl. The TechCrunch team will interview a select number of exhibiting founders within each category live from the Disrupt stage.
But wait, there’s more. You just might be one of only two exhibiting startups chosen as a Startup Battlefield Wild Card selection. The TechCrunch editorial team makes that call, and the anointed ones will participate in the legendary Startup Battlefield pitch competition for a chance to win the $100,000 prize. Win or lose, Startup Battlefield is a solid launchpad.
And here’s a big reason not only to exhibit, but to get your Startup Alley pass ASAP. TechCrunch will choose 50 exhibiting startups to participate in Startup Alley+. That cohort will see benefits kick in at TC Early Stage in July — before Disrupt even begins. We’re talking founder masterclasses, pitch-offs at Extra Crunch Live and very warm introductions to top, relevant investors.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 takes place on September 21-23. Push those envelopes, break those boundaries and don’t miss your chance to exhibit in Startup Alley. Don’t forget: Tickets are limited this year and the early-bird price ends on May 13 at 11:59 p.m. (PDT).
Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Disrupt 2021? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.
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Grab a group discount and take your team to TC Sessions: Mobility 2021
Mobility mavens, June 9 will be here before you know it, and that means it’s time to get your strategy ducks in a row for TC Sessions: Mobility 2021. You want to make the most of your time at this one-day virtual event featuring interactive presentations with the mobility industry’s top movers, shakers and startup dream makers, amirite?
Take your team to increase your ROI. Right now, you can grab a group discount — at the early-bird price — when you buy a block of four or more tickets to TC Sessions: Mobility. Don’t procrastinate. At $70 per pass, you’ll save a couple hundred bucks — but only if you make your purchase by May 5, at 11:59 pm (PT).
Like the old expression says, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. You’ll cover more ground and discover more opportunities with your whole team at your side.
TC Sessions: Mobility 2021 will feature an incredible lineup of speakers, presentations, fireside chats and breakouts all focused on the current and future state of mobility — like EVs, micromobility and smart cities for starters — and the investment trends that influence them all.
Investors like Clara Brenner (Urban Innovation Fund), Quin Garcia (Autotech Ventures) and Rachel Holt (Construct Capital) — all of whom will grace our virtual stage. They’ll have plenty of insight and advice to share, including the challenges that startup founders will face as they break into the transportation arena.
You’ll hear from CEOs like Starship Technologies’ Ahti Heinla. The company’s been busy testing delivery robots in real-world markets. Don’t miss his discussion touching on challenges ranging from technology to red tape and what it might take to make last-mile robotic delivery a mainstream reality.
Taking your team also makes you a highly efficient networking unit. Find ad hoc opportunities in the virtual platform’s chat feature or use CrunchMatch, our AI-powered platform, to zero in on the people best aligned with your business goals. Schedule virtual product demos, pitch investors or recruit new talent.
Here’s what Rachael Wilcox, a creative producer at Volvo Cars, told us about her networking experience at TC Sessions: Mobility 2020:
I didn’t think I’d network on a virtual platform but, it turns out, it’s a lot easier to network with more people. Folks just felt more comfortable reaching out. I had conversations with people I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise, and that was an unexpected benefit.
TC Sessions: Mobility 2021 takes place on June 9, but if you want to take your team — and save 25% in the process — it’s now o’clock. Buy your group discount passes before the early-bird price disappears on May 5 at 11:59 pm (PT). Grab your cohort and go!
Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TC Sessions: Mobility 2021? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.
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Bootstrapping, managing product-led growth and knowing when to fundraise
Product-led growth is all the rage in the Valley these days, and we had two leading thinkers discuss how to incorporate it into a startup at TechCrunch Early Stage 2021. Tope Awotona is the CEO and founder of Calendly, which bootstrapped for much of its existence before raising $350 million at a $3 billion valuation from OpenView and Iconiq. And on the other side of that table and this interview sat Blake Bartlett, a partner at OpenView who has been leading enterprise deals based around the principles of efficient growth.
In this interview, the two talk about bootstrapping and product-led growth, expanding internationally, when to bootstrap and when to fundraise, and how VCs approach a profitable company (carefully, and with a big stick). Oh, and how to spend $350 million.
Quotes have been edited and condensed for quality.
Bootstrapping is directly tied to product-led growth
Product-led growth is all about efficiency — spending all of a startup’s capital and time on perfecting its product to capture new users and help the most fervent customers advocate for the product with others or perhaps the managers approving their expenses. That’s directly related to bootstrapping, since by evading VC investment, a startup has to be much more tied to customers in the first place.
Tope Awotona:
With no marketing at all, Calendly began to take off. So the initial users were in higher education, and very quickly we moved to the commercial sector. And all of that was because of the virality of the product. Seeing that, we just began to invest more into virality. So the combination of self-serve, which is incredibly capital efficient, because you don’t need all of these sales people, and also the virality, instead of spending a bunch of dollars on advertising, you can really rely on the virality of the product and rely on the network of the users to really propagate and to enable distribution, just those are the two things that really allowed us to be successful. (Timestamp: 7:49)
We later discussed how the extreme focus on users can drive efficiency through product-led growth.
Blake Bartlett:
It’s the product and the distribution model, and they need to be tightly aligned. Tope spoke to some of this, but I think first and foremost, even outside of metrics, it’s just how is the business built? And on the product front, the product is built, the jobs to be done, so to speak, are oriented towards the actual user of the product, not their boss. SaaS historically was built for the boss because the boss owns the the budget for that department. So if you’re building a sales tool, build for the VP of Sales, and then hopefully the AEs will, you know, go along with it. But now with product-led growth, you’re actually building for that user. … Eventually, you can build the things on top that the boss cares about like the admin panel, and the KPIs and all that kind of stuff. (Timestamp: 29:35)
- Bootstrapping to $80M ARR
- 6 tips for SaaS founders who don’t want VC money
- Mailchimp’s Ben Chestnut on bootstrapping a startup to $700M in revenue
Product-led growth and international expansion
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Esri brings its flagship ArcGIS platform to Kubernetes
Esri, the geographic information system (GIS), mapping and spatial analytics company, is hosting its (virtual) developer summit today. Unsurprisingly, it is making a couple of major announcements at the event that range from a new design system and improved JavaScript APIs to support for running ArcGIS Enterprise in containers on Kubernetes.
The Kubernetes project was a major undertaking for the company, Esri Product Managers Trevor Seaton and Philip Heede told me. Traditionally, like so many similar products, ArcGIS was architected to be installed on physical boxes, virtual machines or cloud-hosted VMs. And while it doesn’t really matter to end-users where the software runs, containerizing the application means that it is far easier for businesses to scale their systems up or down as needed.
Esri ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes deployment. Image Credits: Esri
“We have a lot of customers — especially some of the larger customers — that run very complex questions,” Seaton explained. “And sometimes it’s unpredictable. They might be responding to seasonal events or business events or economic events, and they need to understand not only what’s going on in the world, but also respond to their many users from outside the organization coming in and asking questions of the systems that they put in place using ArcGIS. And that unpredictable demand is one of the key benefits of Kubernetes.”
Deploying Esri ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes. Image Credits: Esri
The team could have chosen to go the easy route and put a wrapper around its existing tools to containerize them and call it a day, but as Seaton noted, Esri used this opportunity to re-architect its tools and break it down into microservices.
“It’s taken us a while because we took three or four big applications that together make up [ArcGIS] Enterprise,” he said. “And we broke those apart into a much larger set of microservices. That allows us to containerize specific services and add a lot of high availability and resilience to the system without adding a lot of complexity for the administrators — in fact, we’re reducing the complexity as we do that and all of that gets installed in one single deployment script.”
While Kubernetes simplifies a lot of the management experience, a lot of companies that use ArcGIS aren’t yet familiar with it. And as Seaton and Heede noted, the company isn’t forcing anyone onto this platform. It will continue to support Windows and Linux just like before. Heede also stressed that it’s still unusual — especially in this industry — to see a complex, fully integrated system like ArcGIS being delivered in the form of microservices and multiple containers that its customers then run on their own infrastructure.
Image Credits: Esri
In addition to the Kubernetes announcement, Esri also today announced new JavaScript APIs that make it easier for developers to create applications that bring together Esri’s server-side technology and the scalability of doing much of the analysis on the client-side. Back in the day, Esri would support tools like Microsoft’s Silverlight and Adobe/Apache Flex for building rich web-based applications. “Now, we’re really focusing on a single web development technology and the toolset around that,” Esri product manager Julie Powell told me.
A bit later this month, Esri also plans to launch its new design system to make it easier and faster for developers to create clean and consistent user interfaces. This design system will launch April 22, but the company already provided a bit of a teaser today. As Powell noted, the challenge for Esri is that its design system has to help the company’s partners put their own style and branding on top of the maps and data they get from the ArcGIS ecosystem.
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Start your engines, TechCrunch is (virtually) headed to Detroit
Thanks to a warm welcome from Miami, our first City Spotlight was a big success. We met investors and entrepreneurs who are working on amazing things, and we were proud to share their personal stories on why Miami is the right city for them to live in and do business.
Join us on our next (virtual) field trip to Southeast Michigan. All lights will be shining on the Motor City.
Why Detroit? This is where StockX and Rivian call home, along with a growing stable of medical technology companies, fintech startups and security companies. The area is quickly transforming thanks to active investors, a low cost of living and access to amazing universities that have a long history of supporting entrepreneurs.
If you’re interested in what’s happening in Detroit in general, are seeking out a new up-and-coming city to live in or looking for cool companies and talented founders to invest in, then you’ll want to register and drop Thursday April 15 on your calendar.
Here’s just some of what you can expect:
- Networking: It’s what you can always count on us for. Companies are started and deals get done at TechCrunch events (yes, even the virtual ones!).
- Panels: Meet the movers and shakers up close and personal. Hear about their journeys, ask them questions and find out what’s special to them about Detroit.
- Pitch-off: Detroit startups, submit your decks. Take part in our first Detroit pitch-off and be crowned champion.
We want to hear from everyone who lives in the birthplace of techno, and we’re looking to you for suggestions of folks who should be getting all of the attention we can throw at them on the 15th.
It’s going to be one to remember, and the perfect setup for the day we can once again do this all in-person.
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Don’t miss the Pitch-Off today at TC Early Stage 2021
Ten global startups, three rounds of pitching, nine expert judges. It’s not the 12 Days of Startups (no robotic partridge in a pear tree here), it’s the TC Early Stage Pitch-Off — otherwise known as day two of TC Early Stage 2021: Operations & Fundraising.
Yesterday on day one, TC Early Stage was all about invaluable how-tos. Today, it moves into a full day of action. TechCrunch vetted hundreds of applications to pitch at Early Stage 2021. Now it’s finally time for the epic battle, as these 10 exceptional startups throw down their best pitch — streamed live to a global audience including investors, press and tech industry leaders.
Each startup gets five minutes to pitch followed by a Q&A with their judges. The action kicks off at 9 a.m. PT with five startups participating in round one — Clocr, Crispify, Pivot Market, hi.health and Fitted.
They’ll have to bring the heat to impress their panel of VC judges: Marlon Nichols (co-founder and managing general partner at MaC Venture Capital), Sarah Smith (partner at Bain Capital Ventures) and Leah Solivan (general partner at Fuel Capital).
Round two begins at 10 a.m. PT and features FLX Solutions, Nalagenetics, The Last Gameboard, Attention Quotient and Soon. They’ll present their pitches to Lucy Deland (partner at Inspired Capital Partners), Eghosa Omoigui (founder and managing general partner at EchoVC Partners) and Neal Sáles-Griffin (managing director at Techstars).
Only three startups will make it into the final round, which starts at 11 a.m. PT. The finalists pitch yet again — facing a new panel of judges and a more extended Q&A. Who’s judging that final round? We tapped Wen Hsieh (partner at Kleiner Perkins), Natalie Sandman (partner at Spark Capital) and Stephanie Zahn (partner at Sequoia Capital).
Then it all comes down to one standout startup. Along with global exposure, the ultimate winner receives a feature article on TechCrunch.com, a free, one-year membership to Extra Crunch and a free Founder Pass to TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 in September.
Don’t forget the value of watching other startups pitch — and hearing the questions the judges ask them. Expert pitch feedback is invaluable, and you might just hear a few tips you can roll into your own presentation.
Ashley Barrington, founder of MarketPearl, experienced a variation on that theme at TC Early Stage 2020.
The Pitch Deck Teardown was incredibly helpful. Hearing the investors give feedback based on their perceptions and what they look for is so valuable. And seeing the other pitch decks and how different founders presented information was both interesting and informative.
Day two of TC Early Stage 2021 will be nonstop pitch action. Grab some popcorn, get comfy on the couch and tune in to the TC Early Stage Pitch-Off — the pitch you improve could be your own.
Updated 4/2/2021: Modified to reflect all pitch-off companies.
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