Episode 373 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Jeff Bussgang, General Partner at Flybridge.
Jeff has accomplished so much throughout his career. I’m sure lots of people probably know him best as a Venture Capitalist and Professor at Harvard Business School.
But… you might not know the details about his startup career prior to Flybridge which I was really excited to dig into because he played a key role at two incredibly successful companies in the Boston tech scene.
The first being OpenMarket, which pretty much invented eCommerce with its shopping cart technology that was licensed by companies like Amazon when they were just getting started. The company went public at a billion dollar valuation back in 1996 which was a very big deal.
The second company is Upromise, where he was a Co-Founder along with Michael Bronner, who was also the Founder of Digitas and really helped establish the world of direct & loyalty marketing and David Fialkow, who you might also recognize as one of the founders of General Catalyst. Upromise allowed consumers, including myself, to save for their kids’ college education through a loyalty rewards program. The company was very successful and it was later acquired by Sallie Mae.
In addition to being an entrepreneur, investor, and professor, Jeff is also an author of three books and his latest book is called The Experimentation Machine – Finding Product-Market Fit in the Age of AI.
Plus we talk about his Dad (Julian Bussgang), a scientist and entrepreneur who developed the Bussgang Theorem, Jeff’s educational background in AI, Flybridge’s history of investments in AI, Hack.Diversity and so much more!
Chapters:
- 00:00 Intro
- 00:05 Jeff’s New Book – The Experimentation Engine
- 04:47 Jeff’s Background and Early Influences
- 08:47 The Story of OpenMarket & Shopping Cart Tech
- 17:21 The Creation of Upromise
- 25:06 Transition to Venture Capital & Flybridge
- 26:37 Flybridge’s History & Focus on AI
- 32:50 Flybridge’s Investment Process
- 34:13 Advice on Go-to-Market Strategy
- 35:36 Getting Pitched by Curt Schilling
- 38:03 Teaching at Harvard Business School
- 39:48 Career Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
- 42:22 Must-Have Versus Nice-to-Have Products
- 44:00 Hack.Diversity
- 46:46 The Boston Tech Ecosystem & AI
- 52:55 Recommendations – Apps & Podcasts
Episode Sponsor:
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