Latest / Founders and Funding / Ep 20 - Ross Keating - Co-Founder of Overpath

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Ep 20 - Ross Keating - Co-Founder of Overpath · Founders and Funding

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  Hi, welcome to the Founders and Funding podcast.
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  I'm your host, Philip Smith. On the podcast, I'll be
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  interviewing founders, investors, startup advisors on
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  how to fund the journey of your startup and some tips and advice
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  they have for you along the way. This podcast is sponsored by
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  Perfect Technologies and Laden. Enjoy the episode.
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  Ross, welcome to the Founders and Funding podcast.
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  Thanks. For having me, Philip.
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  Well, it's my pleasure to have you.
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  Just to start us off just for the listeners.
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  You've got a very nice background of New York there.
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  I do. I'm based in Dublin, but I'm in
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  New York for the week. My wife is over here on work
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  rotation at work at the moment. So over here for the week and
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  then back again in a few weeks time.
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  It's a nice opportunity for me as well to meet some of our
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  design partners and to meet some VCs that view tours are around
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  later this year. Fantastic.
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  I thought it was a green screen. And then, you know, I was, I was
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  astonished to see you really, really are there in New York at
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  the moment. So that's great.
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  Yeah, for sure. And the sun is shining.
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  It wasn't over the weekend, so good opportunity to look at the
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  skyline. Absolutely.
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  To start us off, Ross, tell me a bit about your company and your
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  role. Yeah, sure.
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  So I am the Co founder of Overpath.
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  So in Overpath we are building AI agents for every member of a
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  revenue team. We're building in a new category
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  which we're calling revenue execution.
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  And what Overpack does is it connects if you're a Rep and
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  Overpack connects to all of the channels in which you work.
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  So that's your e-mail, your calendar, your call recording,
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  your, your CRM. And we build this context layer
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  on which the agents can live. So that means the agents can do
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  some productivity tasks like move your deals along in the CRM
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  or write your follow up e-mail or help you prepare for a call.
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  But they can also then give you performance feedback.
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  So that could be in advance of a call, it could be after a call.
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  And they are not just reactive, but they are also proactive.
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  So it means because they understand dynamically the data
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  on which you're or you're working, they can proactively
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  intervene in a deal or they can proactively guide you through
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  the the work that you're doing. What were, what were we?
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  The behaviour in the market that we're looking to capture is
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  essentially every Rep is doing at the moment.
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  And that's working with foundational models like Claude
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  and Chachi, BT and and Gemini, which are fantastic models as we
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  all know, but they are not purpose built for sales and you
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  know bring some challenges with them when you go to integrate
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  them at an enterprise level within sales organizations.
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  Fantastic. I really like that because it's,
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  it's, it's, it's fantastic and innovation and you know, it's,
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  it's captured that kind of the, the, the AI flow and and
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  innovation that's happening. But because our eye driven, I
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  think that's really attractive to companies is that it's it's
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  driving that bottom line, which is that what they're really
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  trying to achieve from all the different tools that they're
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  using sounds like it's cutting through the noise and actually
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  getting them to where they want to be.
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  Yeah, I think that's a really important point.
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  You know, the go to market tech stack that built over the last
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  1520 years, it's obviously a very mature tech stack, but it
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  requires reps to context switch between tools, right?
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  So I log into my CRM and then maybe I go to my revenue
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  intelligence tool or maybe I go to my sales automation tool.
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  Maybe I've got a data provider. And at the same time, we're
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  doing a lot of my work in e-mail or in Slack or over the phone or
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  in person. So the idea with Overpass is
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  that we create this AI layer where I can continue to work
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  wherever I choose to work, right?
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  So at the moment we, I do my own work now in, in Slack, right?
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  And our, our first agent, Molly is live in Slack.
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  So I do all of my sales activities now, pre call, post
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  call, deal management, planning my week from from from within
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  that environment. Fantastic.
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  And what does an average day look like right now?
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  An average day right now is, is scrappy and can change a lot
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  given exactly where we are. So we raised money back in
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  December. So we have been building a team
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  and building a product and starting to build distribution
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  since January. So we're, you know, 3 1/2 four
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  months into that. So my my focus at the moment
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  kind of encompasses a number of of things.
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  One of those things is, you know, using the product.
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  So we have a couple of design partners using it and we're
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  using it internally ourselves. And a lot of what I do is about
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  creating fast feedback loops so that we can get the product not
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  only to a point where it is usable, but where it is driving
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  value. And then secondly, we are
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  thinking about distribution very early, right.
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  So we started a video first content strategy back in
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  January. The 1st hire, that first hire in
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  the commercial side that we brought in Michael Paul, who you
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  know is a is a content creator. He's a, he's a video editor,
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  which is probably not a typical way that a an early stage start
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  up goes to market. But it's really, you know,
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  thinking hard about the fact that technology is getting
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  easier and easier to build. We know that we're building in a
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  very crowded space. So we really believe that, you
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  know, building distribution and building brand earlier than
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  typical for a start of our size is is more important than than
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  ever. So it's a lot of content
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  creation and then it's a lot of outreach, you know, starting to
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  build our go to market flywheel, starting to engage with new
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  design partners and you know, starting to think about how we
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  scale our commercial org. Fantastic.
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  Yeah. Well, look, I think you're
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  thinking about it and, and doing it the right way.
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  I think a lot of companies they, they don't really ever get that
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  kind of, we call it kind of creation, but we're just trying
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  to speak to people in a in a, in a way that they understand that
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  that's engaging and that solves their problems and speaks to the
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  solution. So I think to get that right, I
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  think everything else will flow from there really well.
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  And how has the company funded its journey to date?
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  So we did proceeds fundraise back in December.
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  So it was a VC LED round. So it was led by Elkstone with
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  participation from Sure Valley 11 Angel.
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  So we raised 1.6 or just over 1.6.
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  So it gives us about 18 months runway, 1820 months runway.
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  And you know, it's really designed for us to build a team,
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  to build a prototype to take the product to market to, to get to
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  revenue with a view towards a seed or or Series A, you know,
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  at some point early mid next year.
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  Fantastic. And what is the best way to fund
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  a startup strength in your opinion?
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  You know, I think there's a there's a danger of, you know,
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  falling into a glamour trap here, right?
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  As you know, it's the it's the VC funded startups that get the
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  the the PR in the business. Post big headlines, yeah.
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  Exactly. But really I think the, the best
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  way to, to fund the startup is dependent on the kind of
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  business that you're building. And you know what that business
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  model looks like. I mean, for example, I have
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  another business, the Lenox Academy, which is a, a services
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  business. It's a, it's a training business
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  running for about 3 years. And you know, that's a very lean
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  operation. It doesn't have engineering
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  costs, it doesn't have nobody marketing costs at the moment.
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  Uh, you know, we, we run it, we run a very lean, lean structure
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  there. So, uh, that was one which, you
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  know, has we've been able to run as a profitable business from
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  the start. It didn't, didn't need capital.
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  Umm, and then on the over part side, obviously, you know,
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  there's a, there's a few few elements to this, but one is
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  that because we're, we're building a team fast, we've got
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  R&D costs, we've got infrastructure costs and we are
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  building this business with the goal of an exponential outcome,
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  right, which aligns with venture capital expectations.
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  So it made sense for us to go out and to do, you know, a
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  relatively large precede round. There's, there's probably a,
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  there's a happy medium in the middle there, right, which
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  startups take as well, which is to do a private round early and
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  to go out and really test the market.
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  So I think the best way to fund the startup aligns with what
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  your, your goals are for the business and what the business
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  model needs. And another mistake that
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  startups fall fall into is going out to market to raise money
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  without a real understanding of what they need the money for or
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  without the understanding of how much they need and, and why they
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  need it. And you know, it's a big, big
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  red flag to to AVC or to any experienced Angel investor as
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  well. Yeah, I've had a few of those
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  conversations with, with founders who, you know, they're
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  very eager to get VC funding or do a proceed, but they kind of
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  jump in between what, how much they should actually, uh, raise
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  or, or the rationale for it. I think it's, you've got really,
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  I think valuable and unique experience there to have both
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  bootstrapping business and to have, you know, raised, uh,
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  funding. So I think it's, uh, it's, it's,
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  it's a good journey to have both experiences, but like there are
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  pros and cons to, to, to both. I think bootstrapping can be
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  fantastic if if you can do it. But I think sometimes, like with
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  overpath, this speed is important because I think with a
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  lot of these companies, AI is moving so fast that if you took
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  the time to bootstrap, you might not have years to just grind
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  away at that. You do need that that speed to
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  capture the market before it moves on.
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  You're spot on there. A big parts of the message when
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  we went out to raise was about speed of execution.
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  It was a reason we didn't do an Angel around early and went
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  straight down to the VC route because, you know, we're
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  building in a, in a category that is a new category, but it's
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  one that's forming very quickly and there's, you know,
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  competitors emerging all the time.
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  So this is about how do we build product fast?
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  How do we get to market fast? How do we build brand fast?
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  How do we get a create usage and, and get a user base
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  quickly? So the speed of execution is, is
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  definitely a big factor here, which also was a, as you say,
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  you know, it was a, it was a key reason to go about fundraising,
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  to go back to looking for, to for venture funding.
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  Yeah, yeah, 100%. It's, it's just, it's just every
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  time I talk to a set up now, there is just that before things
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  are moving fast, but things move at a whole new speed now with AI
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  that there really isn't that much.
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  There's a lot more uncertainty about the future now or like
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  what's going to be where is AI going to be in a year and how
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  our companies then operate or create new startups and how fast
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  will it move. So I think the safest bet now
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  and before before maybe it seemed risky to to raise money,
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  move fasting that action now is probably the the safest journey
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  to go uncertainty and to look at the founding team then a bit as
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  well. Ross, I suppose this is again
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  one of those kind of a you know, broad strong questions.
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  But what? What are the best skills new
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  founders should possess? Yeah so firstly I'm I'm lucky to
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  have a fantastic Co founder German O'Connor uh who has built
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  and exited 2 software businesses already.
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  So he built box ever and skill Co as well.
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  So a part of us coming together as a team, I suppose, was how do
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  we combine or how do we create complementary skill sets, you
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  know, that we believe would be successful for for this
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  business. And so obviously he has the
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  experience of scaling and organizations, gaining a
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  technology organization and going through that deep
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  trajectory that a venture backed company requires.
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  And he's also got a technical background, so he's that he's
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  able to to fulfill that. The technical conversation with
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  the product team and the product conversation with the product
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  team. Yeah, which I wouldn't have been
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  able to do, right. And then on my side, I suppose
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  having spent the last three years building Lennox, you know,
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  spent a lot of time with sales leaders and sales reps
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  understanding what the market dynamics look like, what the
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  skills are that are required in order to be a successful Rep, or
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  what the mechanics are in order to roll out methodology across
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  the sales organization. So I suppose there's a domain
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  knowledge there. And I think maybe as technology
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  gets easier to build that domain, understanding of what
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  the problems that your user is experiencing is more important
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  than that than ever. And similarly, I think as
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  technology gets easier to build, already mentioned this, but
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  distribution is more important than ever, right?
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  So obviously I've, I've spent a lot of time in building Linux,
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  but I've also spent a lot of time posting content on
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  LinkedIn. There's a smaller audience there
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  now. So there's a nice combination
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  there hopefully between myself and Dermot where he's got that,
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  you know, kind of deep technical products understanding.
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  He's also done a, you know, he's done multiple commercial roles
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  and CEO roles as well, right? So he has a commercial
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  understanding too. And then on my side, there's the
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  there's the domain understanding and maybe that the focus on
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  distribution. I think that's a great
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  partnership to have. I think it's always the case you
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  can have that or you know, the Kill funding team have all those
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  scales. But I think if you can, I think
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  it complements each other extremely well.
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  If you can, if you can have that and and to look then back at the
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  investment piece, how can companies attract investors
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  effectively? Yeah, I mean, look, I, I think
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  there's a few pieces in this. We we probably went about it a
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  slightly unconventional route. And so, you know, we went about
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  a fundraise before we incorporated a business or
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  before we really had a product German to spend time building a,
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  a prototype. We certainly didn't have any
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  users. I, I don't recommend that route.
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  You know, we were in a, we were in a strong position given maybe
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  those complementary skill sets or complementary backgrounds
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  that I've described there. So I think the best way that you
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  can go about attracting investment is to, you know, have
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  a very strong point of view on the world that you're that
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  you're building for. So you have a very strong thesis
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  on what your industry or your domain is going to look like in
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  three, 5-10 years time to begin building for that.
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  And then really to get traction right, I think, you know, you
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  need proof points, you need users actively using your
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  products, you need customer conversations.
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  The biggest mistake that you can make is, you know, building
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  something in your head or building something from the
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  ideas in your head and not going to get into the, to the hands
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  of, of users, right? That's something that we've
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  tried to do very early, even kind of post fundraisers.
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  How do we get something into the hands of users when it's really
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  scrappy and has lots of hold on? It doesn't work well, right.
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  You know, there's a famous quote out there that if you're not
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  embarrassed by your first product release, then you ship
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  too late. And you know that that's, it's
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  a, it's a painful thing to do, to sit in front of your users
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  and to, to, to hear very tough feedback about products that had
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  bugs in them or features that didn't exist yet.
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  But it's a necessary 1. And I think for most startups,
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  you should do that before you go out looking for, for money, or
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  at least before you go out looking for meaningful amounts
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  of money in order to, to, to, to scale.
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  But then also the other thing is that at a very early stage,
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  really what what investors are investing in are, are the
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  founders, right? Yeah, there's only so much,
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  there's only so much information that you can get about a very,
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  very early stage. There's only so much due
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  diligence that you can do right, because it's, it's a very short
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  lifespan the organizations had. So really you're looking for
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  the, for the expertise of the founders.
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  You're looking for the vision of the founders.
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  You're looking for their ability to execute, their ability to
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  hire talent as well, right? Access to, to, to talent.
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  And so I think, you know, having that thought process around what
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  your founding team looks like is, is key, right?
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  If you can get a, a Co founder with a complementary skill set,
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  I would encourage you to do that.
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  I don't think I would ever build a business solo again.
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  But even if you can't get that Co founder thinking about what
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  is the profile of your founding team, your founding engineering
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  team, your founding commercial team and showing that you have
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  the ability to you know, to to to acquire that that that talent
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  in the in the business. Yeah, absolutely.
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  Well, look, I think particularly for your for yourselves in
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  Dermot, I think for investors, it's, there's, there's a lot of
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  good rationale for why you would be great founders to invest in
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  because you've had success, such a success already.
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  But I think yes, certainly for first time founders that do face
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  that struggle of why should I invest in you as a person?
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  So I think trying to build that credibility throughout your
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  career is something that that might be needed before we
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  finish. Ross, if you had one key piece
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  of advice to share on funding to start up, what would it be?
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  So, but maybe we've touched on some of this, but you know, it's
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  about having firstly, having a, a clear objective on what you're
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  trying to achieve in terms of the size, why you need it,
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  what's like what that is going to do for you, you know, over,
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  over the next period of, of time.
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  So, so planning exactly what you need and finding the right
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  mechanism to fund your startup is, is really important.
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  And then I think the best piece of advice that I got was to run
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  your fundraising process like a sales process, right?
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  So to run it like a Sprint. So when you decide that you're
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  going out to market and you know, you've built your data
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  room and you've built your deck and you've built your financial
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  model that you then meet as many investors that fit the profile
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  of investor that will fund your startup in a short a time as as
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  possible. You, you do that for a whole
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  bunch of reasons. One, you know, you can create
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  competitive dynamics between investors 2, you, you sharpen
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  your, your pitch very fast. You get very fast feedback on,
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  you know, whether this is a, a thesis that is, is landing with
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  investors, but also, you know, you, you maximize, you maximize
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  your own time efficiency, right? Like the worst thing that you
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  can do is to go through an elongated fundraising process
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  where you're trying to build a business and then going back and
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  fundraising, going back to build a business, right?
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  It's just, it's fundraising is a, is a, is a, you know, it's an
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  all-encompassing thing. So I think for anyone out there
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  that that that's listening and is thinking about raising money,
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  build your thesis, get the right materials together, get the
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  right team together, and then meet as many investors as you
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  can in a, in a shorter time span as you can.
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  Fantastic advice. Ross, thanks so much for going
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  on the podcast. It was really great speaking to
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  you. Not at all.
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  Thanks for having. Me a pleasure Ross.
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  Best of luck with Overpath and I'll be watching you on LinkedIn
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  to see more. Thanks, Philip.
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  Hi, thanks for listening to this week's episode of the Founders
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  and Funding podcast. If you'd like to be a guest or
• 19:49
  have a guest suggestion, please get in touch.
• 19:52
  Thank you.