Jared Hecht - Founder at GroupMe & Fundera - Strategic Exits

05/08/19 • 35 min

Pattern Recognition - Investing in the Future

Very few founders can tout building an app with millions of users and a marketplace that's originated over a billion dollars in loans. Jared Hecht, the founder and former CEO of GroupMe and founder of Fundera, discusses his reflections selling GroupMe in the early days of mobile to Skype (Microsoft) and the lessons he learned in that sale process. He also shares his perspective on how to navigate a slow-moving regulatory landscape within financial services and how Fundera is enabling the small business economy.

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Jeff Fluhr - Founder at StubHub & General Partner at Craft Ventures - Marketplaces

What was it like scaling a marketplace after the the dot-com bubble burst? Jeff Fluhr, General Partner at Craft Ventures and former Founder and CEO at StubHub, sits down to talk lessons learned in hiring, dealing with an unfriendly regulatory environment, and exiting successfully to a strategic. Additionally, Jeff shares his take on marketplace unit economics like LTV/CAC, sell-through rate, and cohort analyses. Jeff also dives into the contrast between building StubHub and his second startup, Spreecast, which he ultimately wound down.

Next Episode

Marco Zappacosta - Founder at Thumbtack - Marketplace Differentiation

Last valued at $1.3 billion, Thumbtack provides a service marketplace for millions of consumers a year. So what's it like running the ship? Marco Zappacosta, Thumbtack's founder and CEO, walks us through how he thinks about differentiation in the gig economy, how to hire at scale, and how Thumbtack is empowering the small business economy.