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Panic with Friends - Oana Manolache, Founder and CEO of Sequel.io, on Empowering Brands with Unique Live Experiences that Connect Customers

Author

Howard Lindzon
April 27, 2023

Panic with Friends – Investing for Profit and Joy

I’m excited to have another one of our portfolio company founders (Fund 3) on this episode of Panic With Friends. Oana is the founder and CEO of Sequel.io, which allows organizations of all sizes to host live events and webinars right on their own website. It’s a no-code solution that lets marketers turn live video into leads by embedding events and content on their own digital real estate. Coming from a marketing background at HP, Oana launched Sequel.io shortly before the pandemic to solve her own marketing pain points. She is building a leader in the live-video category.

Part of the fun of being a seed investor is using many of the products in the portfolio early. We’ve used Sequel.io’s solutions at our first post-pandemic Palooza in 2022, and again at Palooza in 2023. As many long-term subscribers know, I’m also using portfolio company beehiiv for my daily blog posts. You might say I’m ‘eating our own cooking’ – it’s all part of investing for profit and joy. You’ll learn a lot from this episode. Enjoy!

You can listen to the podcast here on Spotify or Apple podcast and now all the episodes are on my YouTube channel as well. You can click subscribe on any of these channels and get the podcast alert each week.

You can also listen right here on the blog:

Oana Manolache of Sequel.io on Empowering Brand... by Panic with Friends - Howard Lindzon

I’m excited to have another one of our portfolio company founders on this episode of Panic. Oana is the founder and CEO of Sequel.io, which allows organizations of all sizes to host live events and webinars right on their own website. It’s a no-code solution that lets marketers turn live video into leads by embedding events on their own websites. Coming from a marketing background at HP, Oana launched Sequel.io shortly before the pandemic to solve her own marketing pain points. And she’s building quite a juggernaut in the live-video space. Part of the fun in being a seed investor is using many of the products in the portfolio early. We’ve used Sequel.io’s solutions at our first post-pandemic Palooza in 2022, and again at Palooza in 2023. As many long-term subscribers know, I’m also using the platform from our portfolio company beehiiv for my daily blog posts. You might say I’m ‘eating our own cooking’ – it’s all part of investing for profit and joy. You’ll learn a lot from this episode. Enjoy!

https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/STKT8917579627

For more details on today’s conversation read on below…

Guest: Oana Manolache

Where to Find Her: LinkedIn | Twitter

What is Oana Panicked About? Inefficient webinars.

Show Notes:

  • Introduction (00:32)

  • Welcome Oana (08:44)

  • Origin of Sequel (09:24)

  • Importance of staying on platform (12:06)

  • Building through the pandemic (13:57)

  • Putting yourself in the customer's shoes (17:58)

  • Perfect size company for Sequel (19:35)

  • Game Changer series (20:56)

  • Building AI with the customer in mind (22:55)

  • Building a culture with a remote sales team (24:31)

  • Dealing with large competitors (26:19)

  • Challenges to remote work (28:09)

  • The Bay Area and startup scene worldwide (29:58)

  • Balancing digital and physical (32:37)

  • Working with Social Leverage (33:26)

  • Leading with Content (35:01)

  • Wrapping up (36:27)

  • Closing thoughts (36:58)

Related:

Portfolio Company Sequel Raises $8M Series A — Social Leverage

Social Leverage portfolio company Sequel ( Fund III ) just raised an $8M Series A round in what’s been a particularly difficult year for fundraising. Sequel’s low-code and no-code options allow companies to host virtual events on their own websites without having to outsource to other platforms;

https://www.socialleverage.com/blog/2022/8/24/portfolio-company-sequel-raises-8m-series-a

Founder in Focus: Tyler Denk of beehiiv — Social Leverage

This week's Founder in Focus features co-founder Tyler Denk of beehiiv , a Fund IV portfolio company that streamlines the ability to create, customize, monetize, and scale email newsletters. beehiiv was co-founded by Morning Brew alums Tyler Denk, Benjamin Hargett, and Jake Hurd. Tyler’s entrepr

https://www.socialleverage.com/blog/2022/4/25/tyler-denk-profile

© Panic with Friends, 2023. All rights reserved.

Host: Howard Lindzon | Producer: Knut Jensen | Researcher: Pete Weishaupt Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. For full disclosures: https://howardlindzon.com/c/disclaimer/

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