How do you go from from zero to startup success? How do you find product market fit, growth channels, and build a rockstar team?
In Minimally Viable, we interview founders, VCs, advisors, and mentors on exactly those questions.
We are Jonathan and Kevin, founders at Polar, an early-stage EdTech startup. The questions we discuss with our guests are exactly the questions that keep us busy at Polar.
We go deep into topics directly relevant for any tech founder and those aspiring to be one - finding an idea, iterating on product market fit, prioritizing and iterating on features, conducting user research and feedback, building an MVP, growing at an early stage, finding exponential growth channels, building a team and hiring, and more.
For more details about Polar, visit getpolarized.io and follow us on Twitter at @getpolarized
Minimally Viable E25 - Scott Absher, Founder and CEO of ShiftPixy, on the gig economy, going public via SPACs, and tech in Miami
In today’s podcast, we talk to Scott Absher, CEO of ShiftPixy (https://shiftpixy.com/). ShiftPixy is a revolutionary gig economy platform that serves as an all-in-one workforce management platform for operators and part-time workers. We talk about the emergence of the gig economy, ShiftPixy’s formation and how it is a culmination of Scott’s 30 plus years of experience in human capital and his work in M&A. Scott shares what SPACs are and his process in choosing to go with a SPAC when taking ShiftPixy public. We also talk about moving to Miami and the growth of the tech community there.
Ali Jamal, Founder of First Check Ventures on His Journey into Investing, LATAM and emerging markets, and early stage investing
In today’s episode, we talk to Ali Jamal, product and growth expert and founder of First Check Ventures. Ali has invested in over 150 companies over the years. He holds a bachelor's and master's degree from Stanford University. We talk about Ali's journey from investment banking to working with product and growth in tech startups to running his own Angel Syndicate. He is currently working in emerging markets, including leading a couple of unicorns in LatAm. He shares his expertise in product and growth strategies, and the importance of focusing on the user experience as a tool to grow your product. He shares his approaches on first-time user experience, funnels, onboarding, communication, and the importance of experimentation. We talk about his journey into investing and how his approaches and strategies have evolved from investing in friends’ startups to being one of the first LPs on AngelList to investing in emerging markets and building his own Angel Syndicate. We talk about the opportunities available for startups in emerging markets and how to work in that space.