businessroundups.org Live is back with top founders and investors, and you get to ask the questions every week • businessroundups.org

businessroundups.org Live is entering its third season and I am thrilled to be leading the events again this year. The first event is February 1, 2023 and will feature a timely discussion on what to do if your company is unable to raise Series A. We have Cambly’s Sameer Shariff and Benchmark’s Sarah Tavel speaking at the first event.

businessroundups.org Live is of course free to attend. This weekly event/episode records live every Wednesday at 12:00/3:00 PST/EST. Register on Hopin to ask questions and network with guests and other attendees. The event is also streaming to Facebook Live and YouTube and will also be on Twitter Spaces.

TCL’s mission is still to help founders build better venture-backed businesses. But as we enter 2023, there is a new urgency behind this mission. businessroundups.org Live started in the heady days of 2021 and now, in early 2023, the startup world is undergoing radical changes. It’s harder to raise money, sales cycles are much longer, and investors (and their LPs) have different expectations that affect all industries.

A few updates for 2023

• businessroundups.org Live is back on Hopin. Each event has a dedicated Hopin room so you, the viewer, can ask the guests questions. You must register and sign up for each event. But it’s worth it. Believe me.
• I also turn to Twitter to help find some questions for each week’s guest. It’s critical to me that you can ask the questions you find most interesting, so if you can’t log into Hopin, send me questions via Twitter at @mjburnsy.
• The TCL Podcast! I have a producer and the lackluster TCL Podcast is getting some serious love. Every Monday we upload an edited and condensed version of TCL. And the logo changes thanks to @dicebourbon.
• Pitch training is back! Sign up to present your company with this form.

Arriving guests

Sarah Tavel (benchmark) and Sameer Shariff (Cambly) — 2/1/2023

Cambly seems like a sure bet at the moment, but as you’ll hear from Sameer, getting to this point has been a struggle. After failing to establish a Series A, the company had to change models overnight. When VC after VC said no, Cambly had to find a way to turn a profit to keep the doors open. Since then, the company has raised a $20 million Series A and a $60 million Series B, but only because the company took the hard steps to turn a profit earlier than expected.

Register here

Christina Ross (Cube) and Rajeev Batra (Mayfield) — 2/8/2023

Christina Ross and her company, Cube, are on a mission to improve financial planning and analysis. Unlike competitors, Cube does not try to replace in-house spreadsheets, but to live alongside these beloved spreadsheets. Cube’s strategy is to meet its customers where they are. Hear how this new approach was developed and how it attracted investment from major companies, including Rajeev Batra of Mayfield Fund.

Register here

Christina Cacioppo (Vanta) and Andrew Reed (Sequoia) — 2/15/2023

Christina Cacioppo co-founded Vanta to help companies stay current with ever-changing compliances. And the industry responded enthusiastically. The company quickly raised more than $200 million in venture capital and became a unicorn with its $150 million Series B in October 2022. Hear from Cacioppo and Sequoia Capital general partner Andrew Reed about Vanta’s growth trajectory and fundraising strategy.

Sagi Eliyahu (Tonkean) and Joanne Chen (Foundation Capital) — 2/22/2023

David Blumberg (Blumberg Capital) and Tanis Jorge (Trulioo) — 3/1/2023

Mark Goldberg (Index Ventures) and Rick Song (Persona) — 8/3/2023

Mamoon Hamid (Kleiner Perkins) and Arianna Huffington (Thrive Global) — 3/15/2023

Eric Tarczynski (Converse) and Harshita Arora (AtoB) — 3/22/2023