Episode 375 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Becca Xiong, Managing Director of Programs & Engagement at Harvard Innovation Labs.
Becca is a serial entrepreneur with the rare experience of having success in both consumer and B2B products. She was a Co-Founder of an early social networking startup called Going.com which was acquired by AOL and then she went with her fellow Co-Founder, Roy Rodenstein to start SocMetrics, a social insights platform for marketers that was also acquired.
This combination of experiences makes Becca the perfect leader for the Harvard i-lab where 1 in 9 students across all of the schools under the Harvard umbrella are a member of the i-lab.
Since its founding in 2011, the i-lab has supported over 6,000 ventures that have gone on to raise over $8B in funding including unicorns like WHOOP, Shield AI, Mark43, Lightmatter, and others.
In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of great topics:
- Becca’s background story and establishing her entrepreneurial roots at MIT.
- The full story of Going.com including raising funding from General Catalyst and Highland Capital, plus scaling the company.
- SocMetrics and the differences between building a B2B platform versus consumer products.
- The transition from founding companies to supporting entrepreneurs.
- All about the Harvard i-lab and how it supports students.
- Lots of startup advice including how to use ChatGPT for the Mom Test.
- And so much more.
