Alex Hardy

If you're looking for inspiration and advice on how to grow your business from its early stages to scaling it at incredible rates, have a listen below. The Hiveway Inc. founders sit down with CanadianSME Small Business Magazine to discuss the highs and lows, and perseverance required - to take an idea to becoming a leader in a global partner ecosystem.

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🤖 Growth marketing agents 🤖 - they're getting smarter and more capable thanks to next gen tooling and infrastructure Just chatted with Isabelle Hughes and Vishal Khanna from Exa - they're building some awesome embeddings-based search tools. Here's a few of the top use cases I walked away with that are relevant for above-the-API growth marketers and cold emailers 1️⃣ Finding lookalike companies based on embeddings Exa claims to have the smartest lookalike search and deepest indexes of any company doing lookalike modeling I've talked to recently. What they've done differently is build a smarter 'looker-upper' (using more than just raw cosine-similarity), and not just a bigger database of things to look up 2️⃣ Finding recent company news Run API calls through Exa API to find nuanced articles related to your target prospects companies Pricing is a bit expensive if you're a volume maxie cannon loader, but for lower volume enterprise-y type stuff in Clay this might be a great substitute for other data providers 3️⃣ Automated newsletter generation Everyone wants a newsletter but nobody wants to actually read the news. Might actually build a product around this one, but pull in recent news using Exa about any topic, summarize with an LLM, feed it a template, and off you go with your shiny newsletter 4️⃣ Automated technical white paper creation This type of content can be tricky for marketers in technical industries Here's what I'd do: Scope the outline of a 60 page white paper using a best-in-class AI model, and instead of using the out of the box outputs for each step in the outline, loop in an Exa search for the top 10 technical content pieces (using Exa's nuanced embedding-based search) to provide RAG context for each section's prompt. The result should be a technically-informed, super relevant full length white-paper. (Might build that one myself too) Looks cool Exa keep it up

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+1 this wholeheartedly. I don’t even love calling it “Support” and prefer something like “Customer Experience Engineering.” These folks are a direct line between customers and product engineering. Reduce that friction, and assuming you act on the feedback, you’ll reduce frustration-related tickets coming through this channel. Funny enough, when you do that, you can have these same folks focused more on proactive solutioning with customers vs. just reactive support, thus scaling the role from cost-center to revenue-generator. 🚀🚀🚀

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I am seeing this as well. especially, the contrast between those that get the importance of real GTM experimentation and implementation... and those that do not... is quite striking.

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Stripe held Sessions 2024, its yearly annual conference in San Francisco last week. Yes, there were a ton of announcements, including the return of crypto to Stripe, but the one that caught my eye was Stripe de-coupling payments from its software stack. This is HUGE, so let me explain. Historically, Stripe required its clients to use its payment services as a gateway to access its software stack such as billing, invoicing, and fraud prevention. However, this requirement has been removed to allow businesses to utilize Stripe's suite of services more modularly. This strategic pivot is intended to reduce friction for existing and potential customers who may only need specific components of Stripe's offerings, and not necessarily the payment processing solutions. Ok, so this means that you can use Adyen, Checkout.com or Worldpay as your payments processor and use Stripe as your Billing Engine! I distinctly remember how much of a hot button issue this used to be at Stripe and it's interesting how Stripe has come around to this outcome. At Xflow, we've architected our payments and product infrastructure very similarly to what Stripe used to do, which is that product and payments are tightly coupled. Maybe it's time to rethink this? For more details, check out the link to the TechCrunch article in the comments section. #paymentsinfrastructure #stripe #paymentsystems

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The path to 10x work from Andrew Chen: "Open yourself up to serendipity by expanding your world and experiences. Reject core loops and checklists, embrace serendipity." Sounds like the path to 10x Life, Andrew Chen.

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Many people underestimate the impact of out-of-home (OOH) advertising, especially at the early stage. I’ve seen time and time again how it can be done well. I was reminded of this last week when Canvas Ventures hosted a panel discussion with GTM leaders. Euphonia X. (Brex, Ashby) shared why billboards worked especially well for Brex, when she was joined as the second marketer at the Series B, and why she’s trying it again now at Ashby. In this clip, Euphonia shares how you can figure out if your audience is properly concentrated to ensure effective reach, and how to boost engagement and think about measurement by incorporating a LinkedIn strategy. "I recently did a little bit of testing, kind of like a single billboard situation on the 101. We were able to talk to some pretty crazy big companies that we would otherwise not be able to. Something unique about a billboard is that it is a physical thing. It gives people a feeling that you are trustworthy. So whenever you buy billboards, try to buy premium placement before you do bus stops." I'll be sharing additional tips and insights from last week's event here throughout this week. #GTM #VentureCapital #OOH #Marketing #Venture

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The major labels and the RIAA are suing Suno and Udio (link in comments). Everyone saw this coming. At $150k per infringement, each company could end up owing more than $150,000,000,000. It doesn’t have to be this way. There’s a fundamental conflict of interests currently between music rights holders along with the artists they represent, and the AI companies that want to train on commercial music-but don’t want to pay for it. It seems like there’s no middle ground, but that’s not true. There are, in fact, hundreds of AI companies that want to do the right thing. They want to negotiate reasonable paid licenses with rights holders that will empower them to make amazing products and compensate the original artists who created the music in the training data. The problem has been the absence of an infrastructure to manage these licensing arrangements in a way that allows for the music business to know how, when, and what the AI company is doing with the music.. We have a solution. Securing the training data, metering the model and attribution for the outputs are the keys to unwinding this conflict. At Musical AI (www.WeAreMusical.AI), our patent-pending Attribution Engine for AI identifies on a percentage basis the influence of each training object on the generated outputs. Additionally, our cloud infrastructure manages content take-downs, license sunsetting and more. We can solve this. #Music #AI #Attribution #Copyrights #wearemusical.ai

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Ezra Klein opens his podcast, with AI Expert, Ethan Mollick, with an all too relatable preamble: “I consistently sort of wander up to the A.I., ask it a question, find myself somewhat impressed or unimpressed at the answer. But it doesn’t stick for me. And I think that failure matters. I think getting good at working with A.I. is going to be an important skill in the next few years.” In the next hour, Klein and Mollick go back and forth with some of the most insightful and practical AI guidance I’ve heard.  For example: Ethan Mollick: "A.I. is built like a tool. It’s software…But because of how it’s built, because of how it’s constructed, it is much more like working with a person than working with a tool. In fact, there’s some early evidence that programmers are the worst people at using A.I. because it doesn’t work like software. It doesn’t do the things you would expect a tool to do. Tools shouldn’t occasionally give you the wrong answer, shouldn’t give you different answers every time, shouldn’t insult you or try to convince you they love you. And I find that teachers, managers, even parents, editors, are often better at using these systems, because they’re used to treating this as a person.” See comments below for some of my other favorite sound bites. I definitely encourage everyone to listen. https://lnkd.in/gjmHCEvq

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I've been hard on venture capital. Even if it may not feel like it, there are responsible, kind, smart, and helpful people in the VC world. You just have to dig, so I'd like to make a positive post today highlighting firms/ studios/ individuals who have been nothing but great to me. My disdain has been aimed in the direction of larger VCs who appear untouchable, but these are examples of people doing positive things that I would recommend anyone connect with: Rule 1 Ventures - Todd Ehrlich and team took me on at a volatile time in my life with my first startup. He gave me a job as an Entrepreneur in Residence, and to this day he still offers guidance when at times I was difficult to work with. I was young, hungry, and I thought I could will anything into existence. But I failed in being able to step back and see the bigger picture of how much value this firm could offer me long-term. I hope I left Rule 1 in a better place than when I started, even if I wasn't always the most tactful person in my approach. I'm truly grateful Todd still supports me and sees something in me. Atlanta Ventures - A.T. Gimbel is a salt of the earth human who was the first person to make me believe I could make something of myself in tech. They even offered me a job at one of their portfolio companies when I was "floating in the wind" a bit. Our vision for my first company didn't align with the scale that Atlanta Ventures was looking for, but that never stopped A.T. from offering feedback and supporting us in trying to build our lifestyle business. Chisos Capital - Will Stringer invested in me as a person when I was still feeling like I was in a volatile state trying to figure out this whole startup thing. I still owe him both gratitude and the reaching of my full potential. Pioneer Square Labs - T. A. McCann and I didn't have many conversations, but boy the conversations we did have were valuable. He has so much knowledge to share and a refreshing perspective on life. I would recommend anyone work with Pioneer Square Labs. Mark II - I just recently met Christopher Hand, but he was willing to go out of his way to meet with me and discuss the venture landscape in Alabama. We also got to nerd out about AI and LLMs. He is someone I would no doubt trust to approach AI responsibly. I even got to beta test one of their products, and I would recommend them to anyone. I'm hopeful our paths will cross again in the future. Being edgy/ trying to point out bits of madness in the tech world comes with pros and cons. I don't want to lean into negativity too much, which admittedly I may have previously done. So this is all about positivity. But I'm not done. I'm tagging and talking about more individuals who positively impacted me in the comments below ⬇ Brevity isn't my strongest trait, but this post isn't about reach or impressions...just gratitude. #venturecapital #venturestudio #fundraising #vc

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If you’re an early-stage founder, finding out what your customers *really* want so you can build the right product is critical. I’m excited to share some of First Round Capital's PMF Method program with Gagan Biyani on Friday! Gagan has founded 3 companies including Udemy, Sprig, and Maven. We’re hosting this live conversation for product leaders & founders on how to reach PMF. You’ll learn: - How to identify your customers' real problems - How to test demand by selling before building - When to write code vs. build a no-code MVP RSVP to join on June 14th (it’s free): https://bit.ly/3VBAK69

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You can now download Abe for Home on the app store!! When you sign up, use my invite code: ‘ISAACK’ This is a huge moment for Chase and I. Over the past 6 months or so, we’ve built, tested, onboarded customers, established partnerships and teed-up a powerful roadmap to kick off our broader go-to-market. Today, it is time to give you access! Abe gets homeowners the answers they need to save time and money. Walk the aisles of any hardware store and you can almost feel the problem solving in the air. We are all just one unanswered question away from confidently fixing that leaky sink or repairing that appliance with the weird noise. Abe builds the timely (and necessary) connection between service pro and homeowner with an easy to use video chat. But more importantly, Abe provides access to trusted information and a community of pros to get the job done…together. Owning a home is a big deal. You should feel capable and ready for the tasks ahead. We have a couple exciting things and news in the works. Over the next couple weeks, I'll share more of it. I can't wait to get this version in your hands. #DayOne https://lnkd.in/gUVxKvyt

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Did you know that 68% of small businesses report having cash flow problems, and many small businesses rely on the owner's personal funds to stay afloat? Relay exists to solve this and the best part is it's actually working! Which makes this announcement even sweeter: We raised a USD $32.2 million Series B round. What does this mean? - More spend management tools to improve financial visibility - More products to give small business owners flexibility - More integrations to streamline operations - And ultimately more businesses making better and smarter financial decisions Exciting times ahead! PS We're hiring: https://lnkd.in/gMT2mN25

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What a pleasure it was to have Aaron Smith, Chief Product Officer at Pattern®, join me in this latest episode of Product Thinking! 💫 Aaron shared so many insightful lessons from his impressive product career, including his time at Amazon, Grubhub, and Nordstrom. Some highlights from our conversation: ► Aaron's learnings from Amazon's customer obsession, data-driven decision making, and flexible, autonomous planning approach. He emphasized the importance of being results-focused rather than overly committed to one plan. ► The cultural adaptation challenges ex-Amazonians face when joining other companies. Aaron stresses the need for humility - it's about finding the best of both cultures, not just trying to replicate Amazon. ► Aaron's "pain-point alchemy" leadership principle - truly understanding customer needs, even when they're not articulated, to uncover innovative solutions. ► Fostering a culture of innovation through consistency and giving employees the chance to share their best ideas, just like Amazon's "operational planning" process. Product leaders can learn so much from Aaron's wealth of experience at some of the world's top customer-centric companies. If you're a product leader looking to level up your skills, you won't want to miss this conversation! 🎙️ How do you plan to implement customer-centric strategies in your product leadership role? I’d love to hear your insights! Listen now: https://lnkd.in/esYQdddE #ProductThinking #ProductLeadership #CustomerCentricity #InnovationInsights

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TL;DR: Hire me (and my team). Over the last year, my team and I at Endeavor Labs have developed: 1) A custom ML solution for predictive invoice coding for a fintech SaaS company 2) Predictive models for demand planning in the warehousing and logistics space 3) A RAG-based app for answering security questionnaires. (Still a work-in-progress.) We’ve also done a couple data platform builds, helped a legal AI startup hire their founding team, and provided technical diligence for several on M&A transactions related to data analytics and AI. Here are some nice things our clients have said about us: ▶ “Thanks to their capabilities and highly collaborative approach, we were able to get our AI product to market in record time. I would gladly recommend them to other CTO’s.” - Pauly C., CTO of Ascend Software ▶ “I was impressed with how quickly they understood our business, and navigated the quirks of our data and processes to actually deliver a working solution.” - Hill H., Co-CEO of Central Storage & Warehouse ▶ “The systems that Endeavor Labs set up significantly reduced the time and effort needed to get answers from our data.” - Alex F., CEO of Axl.net Are you looking for a partner to help get your data or AI/ML project off the ground? Or get an existing one back on track? Let's talk. (Calendar link in the comments.)

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Quality and Craft is the difference between people using your software and loving it.

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Great insight from Scott Barker of GTMfund on separating the tools from the tactics. At Pocus we think about building tools reps will love and actually use. Features like AI can help teams speed up the tedious-but-necessary tasks like pipeline hygiene and lead scoring, but can't replace the relationship building and strategic selling customers expect and demand. That's why I'm bullish on automating things like listening for key signals and providing predictive analytics to sales teams, so they can focus all of their time and energy on what they do best: selling. Excited about our partnership with GTMFund as we continue to shape the modern sales strategy.

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After 10+ years working with early-stage startups it’s fair to say I’ve seen I’ve seen some things (& some things I will never unsee), learned some things, earned some stripes, some scars, and some measure of expertise (one hopes) helping more than a dozen startups find product-market fit. While I’ve enjoyed year-long runways at well-funded startups that were eventually acquired, or went public, or very publicly imploded—what really taught me the real meaning of Lean startup was working with self-funded founders who had ten compelling concepts but resources to build one. When you don’t have a year to be wrong; you learn to get it right very fast. If you are a founder facing your own set of high stakes decisions & tradeoffs; we can help. For free. You can book a 1 hour chat with us to talk through all the things racing through your head. We know what’s involved in getting something tested, validated, and built; this is what we do every day all day. We might not have all the answers but there is a good chance we can give you some clarity, some calm, some options. Call us at 1.844.4FLAGRANT or DM me. And if you want to get a sense of what we are like as hoomans- check out our Delightful Reveal series. It’s all the things we have been reading, watching, listening to, & enjoying. https://lnkd.in/gfrz9tQS #startups #entrepreneurship #socialentrepreneurs #innovation

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Do things that don't scale. Seriously. Launch now. Talk to users. Optimise to learn, not scale. Instacart went to Trader Joes and simply bought one of each item, photographed each and put it for sale on their website - no expensive integrations and deals. Validated the idea and demand - then pushed forward. The rest is history. Scaling can be expensive and take too much time before finding the right product market fit, especially if an idea is not right. This is not just for startups. Test and learn quickly. Talk to users. Move quickly, but in small steps. Just works. https://lnkd.in/gpBsfkDu

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