Welcome to Startup Grind's Founder Series, where our VP of Sales + Startups Alex Gordon-Furse educates our global community on highly relevant early-stage topics through interviews with founders of top startups from our Startup Program.

In this episode, Alex interviews Veronica Orvalho, founder and CEO of Didimo, which is the leading creator of high-fidelity digital humans. Their 3D technology brings authenticity to virtual interactions. To date, they have raised $8.8M from investors like Techstars and Portugal Ventures, and they have customers like Sony and Amazon.

The subject of this interview is 'Company-Building as a Solo Founder'. Expect to learn a lot from how Veronica has navigated the first 4 years of Didimo as a solo founder, covering starting up, fundraising, building product, hiring & developing culture for scale.

0:00 Start
0:10 Quick intro from Alex Gordon-Furse, VP of Sales & Startups at Startup Grind HQ
1:56 Meet Veronica Orvalho, founder and CEO of Didimo
2:20 What Didimo does and where the idea came from
5:20 Veronica didn't think the product would be ready or that anyone wanted it
7:15 How things changed when Didimo shifted from a research project to a commercial enterprise
12:23 Veronica connects her love for skiing and passion for her startup
13:32 Veronica's path as a solo founder -- finding the right players to help
18:40 The power of pitching 'the why' at conferences -- even when you're tired
20:50 The power of storytelling when pitching
24:46 Veronica connects her experience in teaching and startups
27:47 How Didimo found the industry to focus on
30:27 Didimo's early pitch
33:00 How Didimo's approach to product development changed with new partners
35:10 How Amazon and Sony use Didimo today
38:01 Veronica's product helps companies like Amazon and Sony do the work at scale
41:15 Didimo working on the future -- work moving faster than they anticipated
42:43 How Veronica scaled up the team and figured out who she needed to hire
47:10 The benefits of hiring someone experienced with HR before anyone else
48:14 Figuring out company culture and importance for success
51:15 How building a diverse team leads to success and how to measure it
54:05 How Didimo is preparing for becoming a bigger company and keeping employees connected and engaged
58:33 The importance of showing people what you like and shaping the culture of the company as a leader
1:00:53 Moving the company quickly to find leaders to help grow
1:01:00 Top tips for early-stage startups fundraising at the moment -- grants, accelerators, investors, etc.
1:05:39 Tips to fast-track fundraising with grants
1:09:05 The power of academia and writing -- how to write the best investor updates
1:11:23 Communications plans for the next round of fundraising and launch
1:12:11 What the next year or two looks like for Didimo!

Watch more of the Founder Series:    • Founder Series  

Visit the Didimo website: https://mydidimo.com/
Follow Alex on Twitter -   / giomate  

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