Episode 411: Madeleine Smith - CEO & Co-Founder, Civic Roundtable

Episode 411 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Madeleine Smith, CEO & Co-Founder of Civic Roundtable. We all know that building a startup is incredibly hard. But building a startup for the government sector? Many would say that’s insanely hard. The reputation of slow-moving bureaucracies, limited budgets, and legacy tech is enough to scare off most founders. However, where others see obstacles, entrepreneurs like Madeleine see a massive, untapped opportunity. True disruption often comes from those who come into the equation with a fresh look and a different perspective.  The result, an underserved industry that is hungry for modern tools to help them with their day to day workload. That is the origin of Civic Roundtable, a government operations platform purpose-built for federal, state, and local agencies. Emerging from the Harvard Innovation Labs, the company is already trusted by public servants at over 1,500 agencies across all 50 states. With funding led by General Catalyst, they are modernizing how millions of government workers across 90,000 agencies collaborate and achieve their mission. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:17 How Entrepreneurs Should Think About Adding AI Into Their Platform 04:37 Madeleine's Background & Early Career 05:24 Working at Mark43 07:38 Transitioning to Product Management 09:47 The Journey to Civic Roundtable 12:03 Customer Discovery and Validation 14:49 Initial Proof of Concept 17:04 Building the Government Operations Platform 20:14 Creating a Successful Company in the Government Sector 22:01 Achieving Compliance and Security Standards 23:25 The Benefits of Working with Past Colleagues 24:42 Funding Details from General Catalyst 25:42 The Latest at Civic Roundtable 26:47 Sales Strategy and Market Positioning 28:32 Fast Company Recognition 29:12 Looking Ahead 30:25 Advice for First-Time Founders as CEO 31:31 Building a Company as Non-Technical Founders 33:29 Advice & Encouragement for Female Founders 34:54 Involvement in Charitable Organizations 37:24 Personal Interests and Hobbies