Feb. 5, 2025

Simon Holland - Vera

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Simon Holland - Vera

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Episode Stack: https://stackl.ist/4gIAREB

Summary

In this episode, Simon shares his unconventional journey as an entrepreneur, starting from his diverse upbringing in Peru, Australia, and Spain to launching multiple businesses. He discusses the challenges and learning experiences that shaped his approach to building companies, including his first venture, an app development service called Get Appy.

Simon dives into the early stages of his latest project, Vera, which aims to simplify administrative tasks for small and medium-sized businesses by organizing and sharing information more efficiently. He explains the importance of understanding customer needs and adapting to market demands, emphasizing that constraints can lead to innovative solutions.

You’ll gain insights into the realities of starting a business, the significance of having a clear vision, and the evolving nature of product-market fit. Simon also touches on the role of funding in business growth and the strategies he employs to navigate the entrepreneurial landscape. This conversation offers practical advice for anyone interested in entrepreneurship or looking to streamline their business operations.



Chapters

00:00 - Entrepreneurial Journey and Global Beginnings

06:47 - Early Startup Ventures and Challenges

09:32 - Navigating Early Stage Entrepreneurship Challenges

15:58 - Bootstrapping and Creative Funding Mindset

20:11 - Early Stage Entrepreneurship Challenges

25:59 - Streamlining Business Information Exchange

37:57 - Startup Vision and Growth Strategies

45:28 - Embracing Fear and Starting Businesses

Transcript

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00:00:00.020 --> 00:00:07.753
I love designing within constraints because it creates more kind of opportunity for you to really innovate and kind of come up with, like you know, more radical ideas that you wouldn't necessarily have.

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Even though you've raised in the past, I imagine there still has to be that morning you wake up, you grab some coffee, you log in and you check the balance and you sort of go.

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You're growing a business, you know.

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Then you're realizing OK, I need more capital.

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That's a big distraction from the business.

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The people who haven't done it.

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Okay, I need more capital.

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That's a big distraction from the business.

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The people who haven't done it yet, I imagine, stand on the sideline and watch the roller coaster and say that's really scary, and the people who have done it a bunch are basically kind of screaming with joy, going this is really scary.

00:00:35.351 --> 00:00:37.042
I've been enjoying that.

00:00:37.042 --> 00:00:43.738
Hello sir, hello, how are you Good?

00:00:43.738 --> 00:00:49.323
Well, thanks for taking time and I was so excited.

00:00:49.323 --> 00:00:51.384
It's funny how we got here.

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This was from an outreach that you had to sort of dig in and talking about building things.

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I think we talked about it a little bit.

00:01:06.316 --> 00:01:08.278
But the sort of background of Zero to One.

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I thought about this when I was starting.

00:01:12.527 --> 00:01:14.230
As you do, right, you incorporate.

00:01:14.230 --> 00:01:15.694
No, no, no, wait, you don't do it that way.

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You buy a domain name and then you incorporate, and then you start gathering your business books and you're like what should I dig into reading to first?

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And obviously Zero to One is one of them and I I like it and I like the principle, but I feel like I'm in that very zero to um kind of state where you're like I can't, I can't tell you what one is right now.

00:01:35.600 --> 00:01:48.093
Um, you know, even if I got money yeah you know or funding, and that wouldn't, that wouldn't be one, and so, um, what I'd love to do is start, before we get into Vera, like to go back.

00:01:48.093 --> 00:02:04.329
You've got a very serial entrepreneurial background in history, so I'd love to go like before your first venture, kind of you know, your background of what kind of led you to that place.

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Did you start in sort of the, the traditional linear path of of, of school and career, and then sort of broke out of that, or did you get right into entrepreneurial or kind of what?

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What did that?

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look like.

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Yeah, I mean I had a super unconventional, um, I guess, upbringing, um.

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I lived all over the world.

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I mean I was born in peru, in south america, the place called cusco, which is the kind of near Machu Picchu, and then lived between Australia and Peru, kind of growing up, and then went to high school in Barcelona and, you know, super exposed to a whole bunch of different places and people, and I think that's really kind of what taught me the adaptability that I think is really needed in entrepreneurial life being able to constantly adapt.

00:02:44.307 --> 00:02:54.525
And yeah, I guess you know, from high school days, I'd always be a hustler, I'd always be selling things, I'd always be, you know, finding ways to make money.

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I mean naturally maybe shouldn't say all the things I did, you know, in high school to make money, but you know I was definitely happily and then, yeah, then basically was sure that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, left I guess high school in Barcelona, moved to Australia, was pretty adamant that I wasn't going to go to college, but then someone convinced me that I should.

00:03:09.480 --> 00:03:20.051
I found an entrepreneurial course, applied, got in and then basically in my third year of that course I actually decided to drop out, basically the natural entrepreneurial way.

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I was like, look, you know, I'm not learning a huge amount, I want to be spending most of my time actually building businesses, you know, and I started my first business basically, and yeah, I mean that was kind of the early journey before I guess kind of the entrepreneurial part.

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I love that.

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You know your journey in all the different countries is what I wish for my boys.

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I think my outcome for what I'm building Stackless.

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For obviously I want to build something that I think people enjoy and be able to sort of use, to share, you know, their favorite things and to make that easier than it is and to share moments of kind of joy and excitement with other people.

00:03:58.461 --> 00:04:23.427
But really personally for me, I don't want boats, but I do want the ability to be like I want to take the boys to Portugal for a month you know what I mean and just sort of give a lot more of that I, you know, in the area that I live in, it's much, it's, I think, a lot more of my circle is like you grow up here and then you go to school here and then you sort of get a job here.

00:04:23.607 --> 00:04:38.994
And it's all within this sort of very you know that the same matrix structure for everyone, and I think I was always built to like I'm always just railing against that that sort of like this is the way things are and this is how you should think about things.

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So I love that.

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I love that you, that you kind of started and your foundation was there is no matrix.

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You're just sort of trying and learning all the different things, which is amazing.

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Yeah, for sure.

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I mean, especially with raising kids.

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I mean, you know, I think that you know, even at the time as a kid it was hard sometimes moving from place to place.

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But I think that, looking back at it, I really do embrace it.

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It, you know, and being exposed to so many different people in different cultures, I think it's just part of the kind of you know the, the path of you know, kind of growing up.

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You know, um, as a kid, you know, and yeah, I wouldn't take back any any of it at all, and with my kids I want to do the same thing as well when I have yeah, yeah, amazing.

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Well, and and and you and I are similar in that same sort of.

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I hit my third year and I was in a class in my sort of early junior year and it was a computer class, computer processing something, and they handed out the syllables and they said today we're going to learn Microsoft Word.

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And I stood up and I never went back to school.

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I was like, no, thank you.

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Like you know, I would rather stay up super late and all the way into the morning and just like picking that stuff and like figuring out how to do things and sort of naturally ingrain that learning in myself, versus sort of going through ABC and then sort of reciting it back to you.

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So I love that.

00:06:01.867 --> 00:06:04.367
And then, what was your first?

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First like what was the impetus and what was the spark that sort of led to like, alright, I'm going to go set something up.

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And what was it?

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Yeah, I mean I always wanted to set up a business.

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You know, I actually I guess part of the reason I there's so many drivers for me wanting to be an entrepreneur, I mean one of the kickers was I actually worked at a large professional service firm when I was 19 and then saw what a nine-to-five job was at a bureaucracy, basically a large corporation.

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I was like, look, this is not for me.

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I don't think I can work for anybody and I want to create the best working environment for other people and that kind of really was one of the catalysts.

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So I did a few odd jobs while I was at college but really was trying to focus on starting a business essentially, and that was kind of one of the primary drivers, um, and then, yeah, I guess, started my first business.

00:06:47.632 --> 00:07:08.168
Um, it was actually a company called get appy, so g-e-t space a-p-p-y, and it was kind of around the time when, you know, there was like the third or fourth iphone basically was being kind of released and I basically sold option gene apps and and found a South American kind of app development company and I looked to basically outsource to them and find clients in Australia.

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And that's kind of the first company was like a kind of app development service company that kind of got me exposed to, I guess, the technology side of things.

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Yeah, that was really my kind of first entrepreneurial.

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I wouldn't say it was a great company.

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I mean, in a sense there was definitely learning, I got a few customers, you know, but at the same time as well, it wasn't necessary, I was just going to maybe go for large corporates, me kind of being a 20-year-old dude, and that maybe wasn't the right fit.

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But then, you know, over time then that business then evolved into another business, yeah, and another business, and yeah, that kind of rest is history.

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That's amazing and yeah, like on, the rest is history.

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Yeah, that's amazing and it's so funny how similar you are in that sense.

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I left and I went to work for a company and I actually I was killing it in sales.

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I had never done sales before.

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But I went to my manager and asked like I want to talk about management?

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And she's verbatim.

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She's like you're only 21.

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You don't need to worry about management.

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And I was like I was.

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I was very much like flip the table, I'm like whatever.

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So I left and I realized that that company was at the early like website era, was selling doctors and lawyers and real estate agents.

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They had packages that were like 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 for these websites.

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I'm like that's silly.

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So I went and I got a book and taught myself how to and I set up an agency and I'm basically like look, how, about eight and I'll do it all for you?

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And they're like great, I don't want to even talk about it.

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Like just set something up and go do it, I'm like, and so it was a little bit of that arbitrage between sort of where we were, and it wasn't a good business either.

00:08:39.386 --> 00:08:41.210
Had an office and a logo.

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Yes.

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Like you know and I was, you know I was hustling to people that are like what's a website and why do I even need?

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one.

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But it was a fantastic learning to like just get in your hands on, like offering something and someone would pay you for something, and like building things and the process of the creative to the development and QA, and so I love those that early period of of learning, sort of trial by fire.

00:09:08.725 --> 00:09:10.030
Yeah for sure, I mean it's exciting and it's like an exciting time.

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I mean you're starting a business and that's probably why I'm doing it again after so many different times, because I just enjoy it and I enjoy the early stages and the early hustle and the the all the unknowns that come with a very early stage business, you know, and going from kind of idea to kind of actually, you know, building something out.

00:09:24.051 --> 00:09:25.480
It's, it's, it's, it's.

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Yeah, it's definitely super exciting and every single day is incredibly different to the the day before how, what would you say to people that are start?

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I imagine my hypothesis that a lot of people don't start a company because of that, like the blank page, hitting file new and sort of being like yeah, um, okay, what do we do first?

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Well, of course you buy a domain name first, but but like, after that you know it's, there's this, there's this whole sort of like okay, and you've done it a number of times.

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What what do you feel like is is kind of how you've approached that like, um, that file new, era of the first, first week, first month, you know, first quarter, kind of of starting to to tackle things how do you?

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kind of approach that now yeah for sure.

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I mean I'm a hype opportunistic as a person.

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I think that's really important to be hype opportunistics and always kind of like.

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I think just the brain, my, the way my brain naturally works is I'm constantly looking for different opportunities everywhere.

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Basically, I'm always asking, always asking lots and lots of questions of anyone you know, regardless of whether it's a person that you know runs a grocery store down the road or whether it's an Uber driver, whether it's you know somebody that's a CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

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You know, I'm just so inquisitive and ask so many questions and and constantly looking at different opportunities.

00:10:39.086 --> 00:10:48.688
I guess, and I think that you know really, I guess that early stage where you've kind of got like nothing basically other than kind of maybe some concepts or some opportunities, I think that's an incredibly exciting time.

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I mean, there's no structure basically Like say goodbye to structure at all.

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You know the career path is get a job and then someone's going to tell you exactly what you need to do and you just follow this path.

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It's like following instructions, you know.

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The business plan, like having you know, but it's the business plan.

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Like having a set business plan.

00:11:08.767 --> 00:11:11.035
That's like it's perfect and it looks like the thing from jerry mcguire is just not a thing.

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I think business plans a bit out the window.

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I mean I remember being taught at college, uh, that the business plans were really important as well.

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Just kind of on that.

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But really I guess, starting with the out even a business plan, I mean I think that you know, the exciting part of the early stage is just talking to potential.

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Who your potential customers are, you know, I think that's the very first starting point.

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You know talking to them, understanding their problems, you know, understanding the solutions and really just kind of starting it that way.

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So I think if you've got the very blank paper and you've got a kind of census to the industry, the opportunity or the idea, then the first thing to do is kind of start talking to people.

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And there's nothing better than talking to people that the prospective customers, you know, uh, because if you get from them early days, you can then convert them into customers down the track.

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And I think that that's really the most important part and I think that you know that's where I try to go through.

00:11:53.707 --> 00:11:54.491
Is that okay?

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If I have something, if I see an opportunity, I do my research, I talk to people, research, talk to people.

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And now you've got tools like you know, chat, gpt and stuff like that, where you can, you know, ask a ton of different questions very, very quickly and, um, you know and how to do anything and and really just be able to reach out to people and talk to them.

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Um, is is kind of the starting point and I love that, you know, I love the research, I love talking to people, so so that's really I guess you know how I look at, kind of the taking the blank page and then starting to kind of, you know, add the notes to it per se.

00:12:24.277 --> 00:12:39.500
Um, yeah, the inception point, but yeah I mean, if you like structure, if you like to kind of be guided by a set of instructions, that the entrepreneurial kind of path is is probably going to be a bit daunting and a bit uh yeah, a bit tough maybe and wearing, because I think it's one of those that you can have.

00:12:39.539 --> 00:12:42.422
It I've had down have how if you've had this.

00:12:42.422 --> 00:12:44.884
But like, like I've had days where I can.

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I mean, I start and I'm just, I'm in ultra mode and I'm like, oh my gosh where I'm getting it.

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And by the end of the, in the start, and then as you start to chip away at things and talk to people, pieces of it become, have a little more definition and you feel better about that.

00:13:12.659 --> 00:13:14.464
But I've never wavered from that vision.

00:13:14.464 --> 00:13:21.929
But I do have periods where, like, you can start and sort of old for mode at the beginning of the day and feel great about stuff and by about two.

00:13:22.130 --> 00:13:24.181
You're sort of like is this the right path?

00:13:24.181 --> 00:13:25.302
Are we even I'm?

00:13:25.302 --> 00:13:25.902
I don't even.

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Am I?

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Am I spinning on something, is it like?

00:13:29.024 --> 00:13:31.404
And you start to sort and you can be more confused.

00:13:31.404 --> 00:14:05.929
I've had other days where I start not sort of grumpy like, and I'm like you know and it's, and I'm a little worn, and then I have one or two conversations, like a conversation like this or a conversation with an advisor, or like I talk to a customer and their mind is sort of blown or they've peeled the onion of what stackless can be, and they and they're just like and they get it, and you leave the call and you're like oh yeah, like the world doesn't know what's coming, but that happens inside of a day, sometimes 100%, I mean so interesting to say, kind of the cycles of the day as well, like I always find in the evenings I'm super excited.

00:14:05.970 --> 00:14:09.982
You know, I'm up late, I'm working away and then I'm like yes, this is great.

00:14:09.982 --> 00:14:12.850
And then I wake up the next morning and I'm like just wait, what like?

00:14:12.850 --> 00:14:16.929
And then my kind of logical type come, then it kicks in and I'm a bit like that's the the, the, the nature.

00:14:16.929 --> 00:14:21.086
Yeah, I don't be like just wait, no, no, no, problem, problem, problem.

00:14:21.086 --> 00:14:22.729
But that's very much I guess you know.

00:14:22.729 --> 00:14:29.230
Yeah, there's constant ups and downs and I think naturally those ups and downs there's going to be extreme ups and extreme lows.

00:14:29.230 --> 00:14:37.947
My view always is in the extreme highs, always celebrate, always, be happy, always like every single milestone really, really counts and make it count basically.

00:14:37.947 --> 00:14:42.860
But then for every single low, then just take that as an opportunity to basically find a solution.

00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:50.025
You know what I mean and the best I guess you know bits of advice I've ever received, which is actually not even business advice, but I apply it to businesses.

00:14:50.447 --> 00:14:56.350
My older brother is actually an architect and I asked him you know what part of the kind of the design process they enjoy the most?

00:14:56.350 --> 00:14:59.493
And he actually said he loves it when he's making a building.

00:14:59.493 --> 00:15:14.226
And then you know the counterclerk comes back with here you know you can't have this limit or you've got this constraint, or the client says these constraints and he basically says I love designing within constraints because it creates more kind of opportunity for you to really innovate and kind of come up with, like you know, more radical ideas that you wouldn't necessarily have.

00:15:14.226 --> 00:15:17.686
And I think in business, you know, constraints, equal opportunity.

00:15:17.686 --> 00:15:43.222
Whenever there's a constraint in business or something that doesn't go right, look at that as an opportunity, basically, and I think that that's once I tell myself every constraint it becomes an opportunity and I think having that kind of mindset really, really has helped me at least speaking of constraints, how, how has it typically gone or or has it changed in terms of, uh, funding and and financing the business, businesses that you've done?

00:15:43.263 --> 00:15:58.927
did you start sort of bootstrapped and now you're sort of more angel or you know, or more sort of funded, or is it like you know what does sort of constraints look like from a funding perspective and how that's evolved and how you approach your businesses?

00:15:58.967 --> 00:16:04.206
Yeah, definitely, I mean my first businesses were definitely bootstrapped basically, but there were more service companies that didn't require capital.

00:16:04.206 --> 00:16:09.955
I mean first businesses were definitely bootstrapped basically, but there were more service companies that didn't require capital.

00:16:09.955 --> 00:16:12.091
I mean we could just go out and, you know, build up customer base and basically then you know we're basically instantly profitable.

00:16:12.091 --> 00:16:17.464
Um, and that was a company called paper clad which was after get happy and that became really profitable really early on and you know we grew really quickly.

00:16:17.464 --> 00:16:26.193
Um, but as a service company, you know, we didn't need outside capital but then started actually co-founding, uh, startups, so actually started moving towards actually building startups and co-founding those.

00:16:26.254 --> 00:16:41.690
And yeah, I mean traditionally, you know it depends on kind of the time, but back then it was very much around raising capital from, like kind of, you know, family and friends and fools essentially, and then and angels, um, and then I guess, as the business has scaled, you're obviously then seeking kind of more institutional funding and stuff like that.

00:16:41.769 --> 00:16:45.770
But I guess how things have changed now I mean mean, you know it was pretty crazy.

00:16:45.980 --> 00:16:58.587
Rivera earlier this year managed to basically raise a pre-seed round of basically an idea and a deck and, you know, raise 1.5 million super quickly, but that's also a cool market and I think the background and stuff like that.

00:16:58.700 --> 00:17:03.923
But yeah, I mean, you know constraining raising capital and having that constraint it puts pressure on you.

00:17:03.923 --> 00:17:12.471
You know when it's harder to raise capital, and I think that's something that's really valuable to understand is that you know capital is not key to like building a good business.

00:17:12.471 --> 00:17:17.497
You know it accelerates the business, it means you can move more quickly, which is fantastic, which is great.

00:17:17.497 --> 00:17:27.252
But you know the constraint of not having capital actually makes you more resourceful and potentially identify opportunities or do things that you wouldn't if you just had a bunch of cash in the bank.

00:17:27.252 --> 00:17:42.268
So I think that's really important to understand that that the capital can be a constraint, you know, as much as not having capital as well, depending on how you look at it yeah, no, totally, and I think that how it changes your mindset when you think about um, you know, you hear the early stories of.

00:17:42.307 --> 00:17:52.835
I remember the early stories of, like the, the founder of pinterest, going to the Apple stores and basically making all of the Apple Macs have the homepage of Pinterest, like in the Apple store.

00:17:53.900 --> 00:17:54.421
Or like.

00:17:54.840 --> 00:18:03.554
I remember there was a great one from Bumble that the founder was saying that they would go to college campuses and put up signs that said no, no Facebook, no Instagram, no Bumble.

00:18:03.554 --> 00:18:04.655
You know what I mean.

00:18:04.655 --> 00:18:08.009
And so it was sort of like people like wait, what is this thing I'm not allowed to have?

00:18:08.089 --> 00:18:12.147
And you're sort of like going to download it and get it and that didn't cost.

00:18:12.147 --> 00:18:34.528
You know it doesn't cost, and so I think that's a great mindset also not to sort of live or sort of dwell on that Like I could probably take this much further, much faster, if only I had enough to run a bunch of Google ads or a bunch of Facebook ads or whatever, versus figuring out those ways to adapt to it, I think from a funding perspective.

00:18:34.528 --> 00:18:40.653
I also have you ever read the creative act Rick Rubin?

00:18:40.653 --> 00:18:43.924
It's a really good like.

00:18:44.205 --> 00:18:50.449
Rick Rubin, one of the best music producers, is probably the most organic.

00:18:51.060 --> 00:19:05.625
He feels like if there's anybody on earth who's sort of tapped into, like the creative source in the universe, that he's one of those that you know as the bands are playing, like he's sort of sitting in this meditative pose and he's sort of soaking it all in.

00:19:05.625 --> 00:19:29.827
But his book is great and I definitely recommend like it's the most extreme of just sort of letting things happen and there's a great story that he tells of when he was working with the Red Hot Chili Peppers that they were sitting recording and Anthony Kiedis was working on some stuff and I guess Rick came by some papers and some stuff that was laying around.

00:19:29.827 --> 00:19:38.560
He read this poem that was laying on the table and he asked Anthony about it and he was like no, that's not for the band, it's just a personal poem that I wrote.

00:19:38.560 --> 00:19:41.003
And Rick was like well, you should totally record it.

00:19:41.003 --> 00:19:51.394
And it's not chili peppers, like it's not, um, it's not of the vibe, it's not of the of the spirit of chili peppers, and Rick was like why not?

00:19:51.875 --> 00:20:05.415
And so they, finally they you know Anthony took it to the band and they recorded it and that was under the bridge and it was like one of those things where it sort of it, it tests that, like what is the chili peppers, though, like what is the?

00:20:05.415 --> 00:20:08.740
You're saying it's not this, but what is that saying?

00:20:08.740 --> 00:20:10.728
And I love that.

00:20:10.728 --> 00:20:28.218
I'm enjoying, while I do wish that we sort of had more capital at the place that we were at to be able to sort of do some harder things that we want to do around AI and and and some harder engineering things there, I still love the place that we're at.

00:20:28.285 --> 00:20:59.855
That like I don't have anybody saying you really need to start getting more revenue really quickly to prove that this is a thing, because what we're building is a new habit, it's a new mindset, it's a new thing for people, and I don't want to sort of ruin that by being like you know, I got to make decisions tomorrow about what will make people just buy this like crazy around this one specific path, and so like it's nice being able to sort of also be in a place.

00:20:59.855 --> 00:21:11.413
I think sometimes when you're cash strapped, of just also being able to sit in it and sort of like let it unfold and become what it's going to become, versus being like we gotta.

00:21:11.413 --> 00:21:15.648
We gotta drive against revenue like immediately, absolutely 100.

00:21:15.669 --> 00:21:17.675
Yeah, I couldn't, I couldn't agree more with that.

00:21:17.675 --> 00:21:21.407
Um, it's, it's, it's, it definitely is, it definitely changes things.

00:21:21.407 --> 00:21:31.651
Raising capital, um, but at the same time as well, I think that you know there is your support out there, but it does put the revenue on your back much more quickly.

00:21:31.651 --> 00:21:33.813
But, yeah, it's very, very true.

00:21:33.813 --> 00:21:42.700
I mean, there's definitely benefits and disadvantages, but the early days, yeah, there's nothing like that, really thinking outside the box and really coming up with your income.

00:21:42.700 --> 00:21:44.961
Coming up with your income and also the pressure as well.

00:21:46.005 --> 00:21:48.851
You know, I think that it's important to have pressure as well at every single point of business.

00:21:48.851 --> 00:21:59.352
And even you know, if you raise the capital, you shouldn't take the foot off the gas, like I mean, it's always, should just be on, basically, and I think that, if anything, you know, like the early days where you cast constraint, is where the extreme pressure is.

00:21:59.352 --> 00:22:15.375
And I think just embracing that pressure and you know, I do believe pressure is good you know that it does push you, you know to push you to do things you wouldn't push you to think in certain ways, you wouldn't necessarily um, which is which is great yeah, I think about some of the biggest companies that that have been out there.

00:22:15.615 --> 00:22:25.415
Uh, I think it's and I may be off on the numbers I think it was seven years that facebook didn't didn't have any any revenue, and obviously amazon is is famous for getting on the investor calls.

00:22:25.415 --> 00:22:39.384
I mean like don't expect anything for for a while because we're building this sort of big behemoth, and then both of them sort of turn into this like yeah everybody uses it all the time, uh, and so it's really interesting to take those perspectives.

00:22:39.885 --> 00:22:45.846
So where did the like I'd love to go back to, like week negative one for vera, like where did that start?

00:22:45.846 --> 00:22:46.367
What was the?

00:22:46.367 --> 00:22:48.666
What was the impetus for starting Vera?

00:22:48.666 --> 00:23:00.672
And also, what was that, that moment, like did you have any of the hair on the back of your neck, or the goosebumps or you know, or like the, the sort of feeling that there was this thing that you wanted to dive into yeah, I mean definitely.

00:23:00.731 --> 00:23:09.597
I mean um, so I was taking some time, basically a bit of a, I guess, sabbatical for for for you know, a few months, and I was kind of just taking it easy and I was like I'm not going to think about business.

00:23:09.597 --> 00:23:15.727
You know, I'm going to kind of just sit back and kind of, you know, if opportunities kind of arise, and then I think I'll kind of, you know, pursue it.

00:23:15.727 --> 00:23:39.773
And I remember just being, you know, first of all, just being super interested in what was happeningvel from Benchmark, a really, really intelligent investor, talking about how the evolution of software is basically like providing an outcome to customers versus just like actually helping with productivity, and that whole kind of mindset really really got me excited.

00:23:39.773 --> 00:23:52.411
I looked at some data and it turns out that businesses spend about $300 billion on B2B SaaS per year, versus the $6.1 trillion on professional services, and professional services provide outcomes.

00:23:52.411 --> 00:24:02.125
Companies spend a lot more money on hiring humans than they do on software, because humans provide outcomes, you know what I mean and they pay professional service firms a lot more money than software because they're getting outcomes.

00:24:02.125 --> 00:24:07.493
Basically, and that really clicked to me and I thought, you know, there's definitely an opportunity here.

00:24:08.015 --> 00:24:10.799
I really like the SMB space selling to SMBs.

00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:14.670
I think that you know you can kind of use PLG motions, you can target them in ways.

00:24:14.670 --> 00:24:19.809
If you get the right kind of channels and channel partners, then you can really scale that very, very quickly and it's just a good market.

00:24:19.809 --> 00:24:32.849
You know you can get like low tech payback periods which cuts to that position, payback periods which cuts to that position, payback periods typically it's lower than you know the enterprise space so decided.

00:24:32.849 --> 00:24:34.558
Well, you know I've got a background in kind of creating multiple different companies.

00:24:34.578 --> 00:24:53.352
I kind of originally, before Vera, I actually kind of explored creating a venture studio basically where it'd be like starting multiple different businesses but very specifically providing software to SMBs and in the kind of more GNA or the administrative side of things you know and as going through that process, realize actually you know better off having actually one business, you know, and focusing all that for one business.

00:24:53.772 --> 00:25:05.834
And that's how I guess you know Vera came about, you know and and then really started doubling down on Vera and then, yeah, so it's been about seven months now and yeah, it's, it's been, it's been a really exciting journey with Vero.

00:25:05.834 --> 00:25:11.088
So that's kind of, I guess, where the kind of inception of the idea and how it kind of evolved and it's been evolving.

00:25:11.088 --> 00:25:11.932
You know it's been evolving.

00:25:11.932 --> 00:25:24.971
You know we initially made some assumptions and kind of kept on evolving, evolving, evolving the business, you know we're still evolving it and it's ultimately kind of the core goal has always been the same, which is basically servicing SMBs and reducing administrative work.

00:25:24.971 --> 00:25:29.106
Basically that's where the opportunity that we really saw in this space.

00:25:29.667 --> 00:25:50.288
Who's your ideal client, you know, for those listening from a Vera perspective and I guess maybe give the kind of a bit of the not the elevator pitch, but give the short sort of background of what Vera is and your who your ideal client is yeah, definitely, um.

00:25:50.368 --> 00:25:59.683
So I guess, uh, veera, veera is very much evolved, but but veera basically um, let me just talk a little bit about the foundation, a little bit of like kind of the thinking.

00:25:59.683 --> 00:26:07.874
First it's it's basically, I guess, when it comes to admin, like admin, basically any types of kind of ops and admin and even finance, you know related roles and businesses.

00:26:07.874 --> 00:26:11.868
Typically it's to do with information, basically moving information one way or another.

00:26:11.868 --> 00:26:15.211
You know a lot of what you know people do at businesses is moving information one way or another, you know.

00:26:15.211 --> 00:26:16.840
And what does that involve?

00:26:16.840 --> 00:26:22.307
It involves basically taking information which now is stored across all different software tools, pulling that information together.

00:26:22.307 --> 00:26:27.700
Then, you know, using that information you know, for example, working with service providers like accountants and lawyers and the like, basically.

00:26:28.221 --> 00:26:42.316
So we saw an opportunity to basically pull that information basically from all the different third parties and then put it in a meaningful kind of structure where that can then be shared with different third parties like your accountant, for example, you know, and eventually more different service providers as well.

00:26:42.316 --> 00:26:49.838
And we kind of explored government obligations where once we actually have customer information, then we can basically then provide things like government obligations.

00:26:49.838 --> 00:27:08.811
But really what we found is the kind of core of what we do at Vera is we basically pull fragmented information from businesses from different tools and then we structure it and basically then provide that data to kind of third parties like accountants that you know that the business works with, and just kind of simplifying all that back and forth and removing the need to have checklists and all that kind of simplifying all that back and forth and removing the need to have checklists and all that kind of stuff.

00:27:08.811 --> 00:27:21.192
So so think of vera as basically kind of your information gathering and manager basically within your business that manages all that information for you and then provides to the key different parties and and also organizes it for the business itself so they can kind of find the right data and and be able to use that.

00:27:21.192 --> 00:27:23.488
So so that's the kind of, I guess, the elevator pitch.

00:27:23.488 --> 00:27:29.669
It wasn't an elevator pitch, it was definitely a background but very much around organizing and sharing information on behalf of businesses.

00:27:29.669 --> 00:27:33.153
Basically that is kind of the nutshell.

00:27:33.385 --> 00:27:36.011
The same way a human admin would in a business.

00:27:36.011 --> 00:27:40.869
You know a lot of the ministry people, whether they be the business owner or somebody who works as kind of the admin or ops.

00:27:40.869 --> 00:27:56.308
They're basically working with different tools, pulling information from their email, from document storage, from the HR software, from the accounting software, from all these different ERPs you know all this different type of software and they're having to pull that information and then use it in a certain way and then push it out somewhere else.

00:27:56.308 --> 00:27:58.635
We're replacing that piece, basically there.

00:27:58.635 --> 00:28:04.429
So it's really exciting and ultimately we want to basically reduce down, you know, the administrative workload on businesses.

00:28:04.429 --> 00:28:15.374
That's the ultimate goal with Vera is how can we significantly reduce the kind of the human element that's needed to do the really tedious, boring administrative tasks like taking information from one place and putting it in another place?

00:28:16.164 --> 00:28:18.894
As someone who started multiple businesses, does this come from a pain?

00:28:20.009 --> 00:28:21.575
Yeah, absolutely.

00:28:21.575 --> 00:28:31.278
You know the amount of times I've kind of you know filled out forms for accountants or done like due diligence forms of investors, or you know provide information to lawyers or even shared information internally.

00:28:31.278 --> 00:28:36.055
Or you know shared information with, like I guess you know, shareholders and stuff.

00:28:36.055 --> 00:28:39.011
Like it's just there's a whole bunch of suppliers that got to see the information.

00:28:39.011 --> 00:28:43.214
There's just a huge amount of administrative work when you break it down in that whole kind of information exchange.

00:28:45.205 --> 00:28:49.875
Have you ever seen the movie Inside Out where all the little emotions that live in brains?

00:28:49.875 --> 00:29:09.920
I have one of those personality, one of those characters in my brain who basically sits at a desk and is incredibly nervous that there's something about the state of Georgia or the IRS or a lawyer or a file or a form that I haven't filed.

00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:26.589
And this character basically sits nervously in the background most days, being like I hope I don't get an email, being like you are extremely behind on this thing or you no longer get to use this thing anymore because you did not file this.

00:29:26.589 --> 00:29:42.133
And I'm like I just hope that and, especially as a small business owner, when you're starting and you have all these pieces right, I've got the IRS and I've got the state of Georgia and we've also got like state of Delaware and we're a uh, we're a foreign entity in in Georgia for Delaware, you know.

00:29:42.133 --> 00:29:45.396
And then I've got my um who do we file through?

00:29:45.416 --> 00:30:07.692
I went through Clerky and so Clerky's got the paperwork there, and then my lawyer, who also ties into Clerky, and Pulley, and then, like you know, and then we've got our 1099s and sort of how and all of these things that are sort of in there and but I can't like, and part of my, my neurodivergency and how and how I sort of work on all the things all the time.

00:30:07.692 --> 00:30:14.080
I definitely don't have and I should but like administrative hours where I sit down and work on all that stuff.

00:30:14.080 --> 00:30:24.230
I'm just trying to sort of like get that new feature out, get a handful of new clients signed up today I'm getting closer to that hundred, you know fanatical users Like that's all I'm worried about.

00:30:24.230 --> 00:30:30.220
And that little, that poor little administrative guy sitting at his desk is just like sweating this tapping his foot.

00:30:32.287 --> 00:30:40.987
The bad is, I mean, like, if we look at the biggest stakeholder, the business is the government in a lot of ways, you know, and the thing is, running a business should be much easier than it is.

00:30:40.987 --> 00:30:45.217
You know, businesses should just focus on their product and service and growing the business.

00:30:45.217 --> 00:30:49.141
That's what they should focus on, you know.

00:30:49.141 --> 00:30:51.285
They shouldn't be focusing on all this administrative workload and all these kind of requirements the government set for you.

00:30:51.285 --> 00:30:52.910
That's just something that you know.

00:30:52.950 --> 00:31:01.529
We really, I guess, very want to liberate businesses from the administrative shackles so they can focus on what they really care about, which is their product or their service and growing their business.

00:31:01.529 --> 00:31:05.053
You know, and that's the fun part of running a business, not all this other stuff.

00:31:05.053 --> 00:31:15.800
As you just mentioned, um, and we're looking to, I guess you know, any small business, um, or small medium business, um, or startup in the us, um, that that's our target market.

00:31:15.800 --> 00:31:30.839
And also we're partnering with accounting firms actually, um, to basically, you know, make that whole kind of information exchange between small businesses and accountants much more simple so with the of your, of your sort of ideal client that would come sign up for VRB.

00:31:31.224 --> 00:31:34.513
So you've got me right, as a small business owner, I started this up.

00:31:34.513 --> 00:31:52.075
I've got I'm wearing a million hats, but then I started I, as I grow, I start to add, either like a chief of staff or somebody who runs operations or somebody who sort of is is is looking over that administrative sort of legal, financial, people, hr, as that comes up, that person also.

00:31:52.075 --> 00:32:04.413
Basically you're taking all those tasks off of that person and now they have a centralized place to sort of look out of that, which I imagine then opens up hours per week or per month or whatever that they also don't have to have that nervous personality tapping their foot in their brain 100%.

00:32:04.432 --> 00:32:06.057
We're removing all the kind of like the mind-numbing kind of administrative side.

00:32:06.077 --> 00:32:07.643
don't have to have that nervous personality, tapping her foot in their brain.

00:32:07.643 --> 00:32:07.884
100.

00:32:07.884 --> 00:32:11.824
We're removing all the kind of like the, the, the mind numbing kind of administrative side.

00:32:11.824 --> 00:32:13.753
But we're also providing expertise as well, you know.

00:32:13.753 --> 00:32:30.028
So we're kind of doing the two sides, like the expertise really understanding the business, you know, as well as actually understanding, I guess you know, the and the kind of more mundane tasks and and yeah, as you mentioned, as businesses scale, you know, we kind of see vera taking care of certain administrative business functions for the business, you know.

00:32:30.028 --> 00:32:38.934
So it won't negate the need to hire somebody to do certain administrative, you know things because we can do that for the business and you kind of see how it kind of evolves.

00:32:38.954 --> 00:33:00.856
But that's that's really where we kind of see Vera kind of fitting in the journey so we've gone over sort of history and then what, what there is, I think we think about now and into the future, like what happened, what happened in your mind the morning after 1.5 million settled and you went like, oh, okay, great, we've got some capital.

00:33:00.856 --> 00:33:07.153
Like where, like what, what was the next sort of like set of decisions that you made around?

00:33:07.153 --> 00:33:14.718
Sort of like, how are we gonna, how are we going to sort of activate this and what are we going to focus on?

00:33:15.365 --> 00:33:20.753
Yeah, definitely, I mean, you know, raising the capital was just part of the journey, but we'd already kind of started the process before even raising capital.

00:33:20.753 --> 00:33:22.028
You know, we started talking to customers.

00:33:22.028 --> 00:33:33.419
We started kind of, you know, coming up with, I guess you know, designing it out.

00:33:33.419 --> 00:33:36.375
You know, and, and I guess, once the capital kind of came in the bank, I mean, I, you know, historically I've raised a bunch of capital from other businesses, basically, you know.

00:33:36.375 --> 00:33:38.199
So it's kind of nothing new, but it basically meant, okay, we've got this capital.

00:33:38.199 --> 00:33:43.711
It means that we can move a bit more quickly and we kind of bring in more expertise, basically for different areas, and that's the kind of way to look at it.

00:33:43.711 --> 00:33:44.272
I guess you know.

00:33:44.854 --> 00:33:46.195
And I guess you know, was it daunting?

00:33:46.195 --> 00:33:50.191
Yeah, I mean, you're always raising capital because ultimately, you know, you've got more and more shareholders in the business.

00:33:50.191 --> 00:33:53.425
You know, um, and you know it, it does augment pressure in a lot of ways.

00:33:53.425 --> 00:33:55.188
Um, as well, you know so.

00:33:55.188 --> 00:33:57.170
So that's something that you know to take into account.

00:33:57.170 --> 00:34:21.827
But honestly, just just you know, it was really like, okay, things are real now really going to have to, you know, put the foot down and really kind of have to move, you know, and and that's always kind of been the, I guess, the cases raising that, that, that capital, but yeah, it certainly does, you know, help for sure, but it doesn't change a huge amount, you know.

00:34:21.827 --> 00:34:32.880
It just means things can move more quickly and you can, you know, bring more quickly and you can, you know, um, bring our people and expertise and services, you know, to help kind of, you know, grow and and and identify opportunities for the business, even though you've raised in the past.

00:34:32.940 --> 00:34:49.585
I imagine there still has to be that like that morning you wake up, you grab some coffee, you log in and you check the balance and and you sort of go, okay, there's, there's, there's the, there's the breathing room and the opportunity and all those sort of things.

00:34:49.606 --> 00:35:11.130
I imagine, those, those, those have to be sort of good moments, yeah, and I was kind of, you know also, I mean, you know, one of the companies I co-founded is a series c company and other ones a series b company, you know, like much later stage businesses, and you know, I, I remember those businesses, you're getting at certain points where you know, the runway was, you know, dropping and basically it meant that you we'd have to raise and the really pressure was to raise.

00:35:11.130 --> 00:35:14.594
And that's something that you know is something to be really conscious of as well.

00:35:14.594 --> 00:35:14.896
Is that?

00:35:14.896 --> 00:35:38.168
You know, yes, you raise capital, yes, it's exciting, but, you know, depending on how the business is, that, you know, I guess you, you know what I mean having to raise capital, right, you know so.

00:35:38.168 --> 00:35:42.047
So I mean, yeah, it's, it's kind of one of those kind of blessings, of the curse.

00:35:42.047 --> 00:35:49.463
You know, definitely, raising capital is fantastic, you know, and then we really appreciate investors and it's a, it's a good nod that intelligent people have, you know, backing us as a business.

00:35:49.523 --> 00:35:55.565
But you know, at the same time as well, it's, it's, it's that that capital needs to be used to get to a certain milestone and then there's going to be another milestone from there.

00:35:55.565 --> 00:36:01.664
You know, um, but yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's definitely comes with its its challenges, but then that comes to experience as well.

00:36:01.664 --> 00:36:08.291
You know, making sure you've got a good runway when you're raising this right of capital, you don't want to be freaking out because you completely run out of runway.

00:36:08.291 --> 00:36:11.884
You know that that's something you wouldn't necessarily be at, um, but yeah, it is.

00:36:11.884 --> 00:36:13.306
It's definitely a relieving feeling, though.

00:36:13.306 --> 00:36:27.748
You've got, you know, a good amount of cash in the bank and, yeah, it makes you a bit more money conscious as well and capital conscious, um, yeah for, for aspiring or or or, let's say, new entrepreneurs that are sort of starting into something how do?

00:36:27.768 --> 00:36:34.304
you typically handle the story evolution when raising capital, especially in the early days.

00:36:34.304 --> 00:36:46.309
There's that sort of like you've got this, you've got this sort of blurry gray, you know version of a vision and your head and you're starting.

00:36:46.309 --> 00:36:53.532
But the process, especially in the first you know month, six months, year, is sort of uncovering that and it's evolving.

00:36:53.532 --> 00:37:08.945
How do you sort of marry that story evolution with also what feels like you have to have a very definitive, you know digestible thing to be able to sort of have investors be confident in putting money into it?

00:37:08.945 --> 00:37:11.532
How do you sort of balance that dichotomy?

00:37:12.099 --> 00:37:15.608
Yeah, definitely, and it really depends, I guess, on the stage of the business and how early the business is.

00:37:15.608 --> 00:37:18.884
But you know, I think what investors really care about is that you know they want to make sure that you know there's the stage of the business and how early the business is.

00:37:18.884 --> 00:37:23.496
But I think what investors really care about is that they want to make sure that there's a strong vision to the business that they feel the team can execute on.

00:37:23.496 --> 00:37:26.949
That vision is another really important piece to really kind of hone in.

00:37:26.949 --> 00:37:36.251
So having that kind of strong vision, having, I guess, the team that can execute, basically, and then also just kind of understanding the market you're going into well and that it's a large enough market.

00:37:37.213 --> 00:37:53.164
I think they're kind of three main things to kind of, um, be conscious of when, when, kind of creating that narrative to investors, especially in the very, very early days, because in the very early days you're kind of painting a picture, you know, whereas kind of in the later stages, when you're raising capital, you're kind of saying, well, this is the proof points and this is what the future looks like.

00:37:53.164 --> 00:37:57.411
Um, so it's a kind of different kind of strategy with each, but very much of the early, early days.

00:37:57.411 --> 00:37:59.737
I know this, this podcast is focused on the very early days.

00:37:59.737 --> 00:38:15.827
It's very much around you know, having a really kind of you know, having having a strong vision and it doesn't have to be 100 iron out, but it has to be like a strong vision, you know and then having a team that can execute on that, and then basically having, you know, an understanding of the market, you know, and then it's a large enough market.

00:38:15.827 --> 00:38:19.871
And they're the three kind of real factors to kind of really really push in the early days.

00:38:20.152 --> 00:38:28.342
Uh, when it comes to the storytelling of the business, and I imagine you know you've got it, you've got a vision for vera, but it's as you said, it's, it's, it's evolving.

00:38:28.342 --> 00:38:37.275
Where do you what's your hypothesis for the next kind of couple of years, even even in that sort of um, you know, semi-definitive, uh, kind of place like where, where do you that sort of you know?

00:38:37.295 --> 00:38:49.757
semi-definitive kind of place Like where do you imagine, sort of or envision yourself sometimes, in that you know time traveling into a year or two from now and where we're at and what the offering and the focus is?

00:38:50.239 --> 00:38:50.599
For sure.

00:38:50.599 --> 00:38:52.670
I mean, naturally, with businesses.

00:38:52.670 --> 00:38:57.128
It's very like rare that business is something that is like this is the plan, this is what we think is going to happen, and it actually happens.

00:38:57.128 --> 00:39:06.289
You know, it's constantly evolution, you know, and I think if you look at any kind of, you know you can google, like the anybody listening can google the startup curve basically, and it's just google image, search it and you'll see.

00:39:06.289 --> 00:39:18.309
Basically, this is like you know the excitement of, you know, the idea, and then the reality sets in and then it's like moving up and down the chasm, basically of like trying to find the opportunity and trying to find the right opportunity, and and then you kind of like hit on something.

00:39:18.309 --> 00:39:21.382
You're like, okay, this looks good and maybe it isn't, but maybe it is.

00:39:21.382 --> 00:39:23.929
And then that's when you're like, okay, then you can start scaling that basically.

00:39:23.949 --> 00:39:26.929
So so I guess with bureau, we've kind of you know, explored different opportunities.

00:39:26.929 --> 00:39:36.706
We've kind of you know, like um, tested the market, and then I think we've kind of narrowed down to something we've actually thinks a real hair on fire problem, which is defined by Sequoia Capital.

00:39:36.706 --> 00:39:40.032
Actually have this whole article about product market fit is like hair on fire.

00:39:40.032 --> 00:39:45.527
Basically is like a problem that people really, really need and it's probably the quickest way to get product market fit.

00:39:45.527 --> 00:39:55.791
And through kind of you know, testing a few different things, we kind of think we've kind of narrowed it down to a hair on fire problem basically, and I think that that's the kind of you know, the evolution.

00:39:55.791 --> 00:40:00.813
So, yeah, I mean that's kind of the evolution and I think that we're getting closer to a hair of fire problem.

00:40:00.813 --> 00:40:04.228
That will then, you know, get us to the point where we'll get to a product market fit, I think, as a business.

00:40:04.228 --> 00:40:22.204
You know, and I think that the evolution for beer over the last couple of years is, I think, you know, really be able to hone in on that kind of hair of fire problem and then be able to kind of then take that and then kind of expand from there as we scale the business and kind of, you know, further embed ourselves into the business basically, because our plan is to embed ourselves very deeply into businesses over time.

00:40:22.204 --> 00:40:25.621
Yeah, um, but I think it's really kind of finding that wedge and that inflection point.

00:40:25.621 --> 00:40:33.931
So I'm hoping we've kind of found that inflection, that wedge basically, and now it's just a matter of kind of pushing that wedge in and then starting to kind of expand out.

00:40:33.931 --> 00:40:36.467
You know that's where I see the kind of next, you know, year or two going.

00:40:37.027 --> 00:40:42.643
But what's really important as well and this is something I learned from my previous businesses is making sure you're targeting a big market.

00:40:42.643 --> 00:40:47.125
So we're definitely going off a big market um, that's that's, I guess, really important.

00:40:47.125 --> 00:40:52.711
But also having a really kind of unique and strong go-to-market strategy basically, and you have the right partners.

00:40:52.711 --> 00:41:01.389
You know, I think that if you can really scale really really quickly having the right partners, you know there's a lot of businesses that partner with the right kind of different industry partners and they've done really well.

00:41:01.389 --> 00:41:11.731
I mean, for us we're partnering with accounting firms and that's our kind of way to reach the market, basically firms, but also potentially through lawyers and different professional service firms.

00:41:11.731 --> 00:41:13.266
We see that as our avenue to market.

00:41:13.266 --> 00:41:16.027
But yeah, it's really, I guess, testing that out as well.

00:41:16.027 --> 00:41:22.983
It's going to be one of the big things we're doing.

00:41:23.005 --> 00:41:26.460
Um, but for any business that's starting, try to find a unique channel to market um, one that can really scale very quickly and and ultimately try to create a network effect.

00:41:26.460 --> 00:41:33.384
You know any business that creates a network effect is on the money, um, and typically network effects are kind of done from the bottoms up.

00:41:33.384 --> 00:41:42.248
So typically you know, uh, product growth motion or freemium motion or something like that, but you create using that basically, so it's ultra low barriers of entry.

00:41:42.248 --> 00:41:50.726
And then you can create a network by basically having an element which is, you know, exposed to other different people that are, that is, in the similar, you know, have a similar need to you.

00:41:50.726 --> 00:41:53.461
That's, that's, that's the the real crux.

00:41:53.461 --> 00:41:57.289
I think that that's a winning formula if you, if you can crack that nice.

00:41:57.710 --> 00:42:04.333
I love that, um, personally, if we get in, if we look into the future, where, where do you do you see yourself on this?

00:42:04.333 --> 00:42:35.025
Have you found your product market fit and and and you know, building and obviously the the history that you have with starting businesses and then also thinking about and starting to get into a venture studio, do you see yourself getting into that place where it's sort of like you know where, create that venture studio model of sort of creating and seeding and growing things sort of more at scale, or mentoring, you know, and sort of helping other people do that kind of in the future?

00:42:35.440 --> 00:42:36.646
Yeah, I'm not sure about the venture studio.

00:42:36.646 --> 00:42:40.920
I mean, potentially there could be spin-offs you know, from from vera, spin-off companies, potentially.

00:42:40.920 --> 00:42:44.510
There's a company that's actually called invisible, which is a fantastic company.

00:42:44.510 --> 00:42:47.206
It's growing like crazy and they're doing extremely well.

00:42:47.206 --> 00:42:53.231
They have a ton of, you know, they're very profitable as a business and they've started spinning off their own ventures, um, which is really interesting.

00:42:53.231 --> 00:42:59.806
Uh, so invisibleco is the url and they have infinity, which is all these ai enabled service companies that they've spun out, you know.

00:42:59.826 --> 00:43:02.681
So what I see the future being, depending on how the kind of business goes.

00:43:02.701 --> 00:43:10.179
There might be an opportunity for us to spin out, you know, businesses, but that's going to, you know, be eventually, one day maybe, but for now it's really, I guess, focusing on the kind of the business.

00:43:10.900 --> 00:43:12.302
But yeah, I mean, well, what does the future hold?

00:43:12.302 --> 00:43:16.568
I mean, you know, building a business that I think you know can actually have a big impact on businesses.

00:43:16.568 --> 00:43:41.887
And, like I said, you know, if I can look back in five years time and say, you know, we've liberated businesses, small businesses, from administrative shackles, basically so they could focus on what they really enjoy, which is the product or service, or in growing their business, then that's, I think, going to be, you know, the biggest reward that we can find, you know, and that's going to impact, you know, tens, if not hundreds, if not millions of businesses by that point.

00:43:41.887 --> 00:43:44.387
So, yeah, that's kind of what the future holds.

00:43:44.387 --> 00:43:50.172
So who knows I mean startups, you know who knows what it will hold?

00:43:50.172 --> 00:43:58.369
But I think we have a vision as a business, you know, and we know where we want to get to one day, and it's very much around what I just mentioned, around just removing those administrative shackles.

00:43:58.889 --> 00:44:02.768
Yeah, yeah, Well, and that up and down journey, I think that's the.

00:44:02.768 --> 00:44:19.201
I think the people who haven't done it yet, I imagine, stand on the sideline and watch the roller coaster and say that's really scary, and the people who have done it a bunch are basically kind of screaming with joy going.

00:44:19.221 --> 00:44:20.789
This is really scary, but enjoying that like that ride, it is a fun ride.

00:44:20.809 --> 00:44:25.365
I mean, the struggle is fun, you know struggle you look back and there's something my my fondest memory is of starting businesses is during the struggle times.

00:44:25.365 --> 00:44:29.826
You know, and and yeah, I mean it's, it's up and down, it it's the constant emotion.

00:44:29.826 --> 00:44:31.451
I'm up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down.

00:44:31.451 --> 00:44:34.465
You know one moment you're in the trenches, things aren't great.

00:44:34.465 --> 00:44:36.588
Next minute you're, you feel fantastic.

00:44:36.588 --> 00:44:40.356
You know, like you said, you have an amazing meeting, you get a new customer, you know you.

00:44:40.356 --> 00:44:42.320
You see the business scaling really nicely.

00:44:42.320 --> 00:44:45.454
You know you see kind of like things you anticipated working.

00:44:45.454 --> 00:44:50.210
You know, and then sometimes the the trenches are when things don't work like you anticipated, but that's just natural.

00:44:50.210 --> 00:44:51.800
You're gonna have, absolutely gonna have both those.

00:44:51.800 --> 00:44:55.143
Yeah, cool amazing.

00:44:55.943 --> 00:45:06.972
Um well, if I you Well, as we kind of wrap up here, I appreciate you coming on and sharing your early stories and about Vera.

00:45:06.972 --> 00:45:12.637
I'm going to link all of them, to grab all the links of everything that we talked about and share it out.

00:45:28.000 --> 00:45:36.773
Any kind of parting piece of advice or something that you like sharing with the person who is either thinking of making the jump or just made the jump, especially as someone who's started a living breathing organism.

00:45:36.773 --> 00:45:44.306
You know it's in a way that the ultimate challenge it's the ultimate competition, it's like the ultimate sport, and yeah, it's, it's, it's.

00:45:44.306 --> 00:45:49.407
You're never going to feel better than, at least personally, than than than starting businesses and seeing them scale.

00:45:49.407 --> 00:45:50.940
There's no better feeling in the world.

00:45:50.940 --> 00:45:52.121
So so just do it.

00:45:52.121 --> 00:45:53.043
You know, just try it.

00:45:53.043 --> 00:45:54.465
Um, and what's the worst that can happen?

00:45:54.465 --> 00:45:55.327
It doesn't work.

00:45:55.327 --> 00:45:58.353
Well, fear of failure is, you know it's a bad thing.

00:45:58.353 --> 00:46:00.563
You know just need to embrace it and that's the only way.

00:46:00.563 --> 00:46:02.389
So, yeah, Amazing.

00:46:02.559 --> 00:46:04.005
Thanks for so much for coming on.

00:46:04.005 --> 00:46:05.364
No, thank you so much.

Simon Holland Profile Photo

Simon Holland

Founder

Simon Holland is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Vera, an AI-powered back-office service designed to automate administrative tasks for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Founded in 2024 and headquartered in New York City, Vera leverages advanced AI to manage government compliance, tax filings, licensing, and other bureaucratic obligations, aiming to reduce administrative workloads by 95% . Under Holland’s leadership, the company raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding led by Village Global and earned a spot on the 2024 SMBTech 50 list for its innovative approach to empowering SMBs . Holland has emphasized Vera’s mission to “liberate startups and SMBs from admin burdens” so they can focus on growth.

Prior to Vera, Holland co-founded multiple ventures, including Vivi (a classroom collaboration tool used in 80,000+ classrooms), HotDoc (Australia’s largest patient engagement platform with 11 million users), and Elly (a chronic disease support platform backed by Google and Bayer) . His entrepreneurial career spans over a decade, blending healthcare, education, and enterprise software innovation. A native English and Spanish speaker, Holland has advised organizations like Landchecker and RMIT University, reflecting his expertise in scaling technology solutions .