Windfall helps nonprofit and commercial organizations make critical strategic decisions by putting their data in a contextual framework through Windfall’s proprietary dataset. Powered by AI, Windfall’s contextual analytics platform provides a 360-degree view of the database to accelerate workflows and drive better performance. More than 700 organizations use Windfall's platform to identify, understand, and engage with their best customers and prospects.

Alongside my co-founders, Dan Stevens and Cory Tucker, I spent a lot of time in the data space working with consumer financial data from traditional data providers. During that time, we noticed a serious deficiency in the data industry - specifically, we saw pervasive inaccuracies around legacy financial data because this data relied on misleading sources and was updated too infrequently. So we were inspired to build the most accurate, up-to-date dataset focused on wealth and built a platform that enables data-driven workflows.

Balancing the vision with the execution. As a founder, you get really excited about all the potential possibilities of your product and how it can impact your customers. In addition, you see how internal processes could help accelerate scale and you just wish that it could be as easy as snapping your fingers. The patience and discipline of combining execution and vision is critical, especially as you scale the team.

‍

There are extreme highs and lows (often in the same day), but do not fall into the trap of thinking in these extremes. Remind yourself that each week you may feel better or worse than others, but depending on the situation, it will come back to a steady state over time.

‍

The most exciting part is seeing customers stay with us for 4+ years (we were founded in mid 2016) and continue to expand and extend the relationship. We have many contracts that are signed up for 5+ years and we’ve only been in business for 5 years – so quite the trust from our customer base!

Jim and his team immediately understood the value of data and our vision of transforming the way that companies should become more data-driven. Their deep domain expertise in building software businesses enables them to be extremely supportive and helpful in thinking through challenges. Not only are they supportive, but if we ever need guidance or advice, they will pick up the phone on the same day to work through the problem with you.

I cannot speak highly enough about working with the Bonfire team. Jim served on our board until our Series A and continues to be an observer after our round. No matter the time of day, the question our team has, we can always count on Bonfire to make the time to give us sage advice. There are facts, learning lessons, and different perspectives that help our co-founders and management team make tough decisions in good times and bad.

‍

The best book that I’ve read while Windfall has existed is “Understanding Start-Up CEOs” by Dan Slagen. The book is not necessarily about CEOs (although I felt like I was looking into a mirror), but rather showcasing to the team the mindset you need to successfully work at a startup. This is a good lesson of how to thrive in start-up environments and we send a copy to each new hire to help them be prepared for the amazing chaos of a start-up.