Listen Here

| |

Conversation
Highlights

 

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech’s most innovative B2B founders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Shariq Siddiqui, co-founder and CEO of Veeve, a shopper engagement platform that has raised over $10 million in funding.

Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:

  • Veeve’s smart shopping carts use computer vision to automatically recognize items placed inside, create a running total, and recommend nearby deals, enabling a seamless “just walk out” experience.
  • As an outsider to the retail industry, Shariq questioned the scalability of Amazon Go’s model and developed a more cost-effective solution by retrofitting existing carts with IoT devices.
  • Veeve evolved its offering to include a snap-on module for retailers that don’t sell by weight, reducing hardware costs by 90% and accelerating sales cycles.
  • By positioning Veeve as a “retail operating system,” Shariq aims to help retailers gain e-commerce-like insights into in-store behavior, traffic patterns, and inventory management.
  • To navigate complex enterprise sales, Veeve leverages VC relationships for warm intros, tailors pitches to specific buyer personas, and leads with a “wedge” product that minimizes integration requirements.
  • Veeve’s long-term vision is to build a plug-and-play platform for retailers to deploy various IoT devices and access a unified dashboard to monitor store performance across locations.

Actionable
Takeaways

Question Incumbent Models to Uncover Opportunities:

By critically examining Amazon Go's approach, Shariq identified scalability challenges and devised a more flexible, cost-effective alternative. Founders should scrutinize industry leaders' strategies to spot gaps and potential improvements they can exploit to differentiate their offerings.

Iterate Your Product to Expand Your Addressable Market:

Veeve's shift from a ground-up smart cart to a modular add-on dramatically reduced costs and opened up new retail segments. Founders should continuously assess their product architecture and explore variations that can unlock additional customer segments without compromising core functionality.

Frame Your Solution as a Platform, Not a Point Solution:

Shariq positions Veeve as a "retail operating system" that can integrate multiple data streams and enable future IoT deployments. By painting a broader vision for their technology, founders can elevate their value proposition beyond a narrow point solution and increase stickiness with customers.

Develop a "Wedge" Product to Accelerate Sales Cycles:

To overcome hurdles in enterprise sales, Veeve created a simplified offering that minimized integration requirements and enabled faster piloting. Founders selling to large organizations should devise a "wedge" product that delivers standalone value and greases the skids for broader adoption.

Leverage Investors as Bridges to Key Accounts:

Shariq purposefully sought out VCs with retail portfolios and connections to shorten his sales cycle. Founders should view investors as not just sources of capital, but as strategic partners who can provide warm intros and lend credibility to their ventures.

Recommended Founder
Interviews

Brandon Schulz

CEO and Co-Founder of Violet

Brandon Schulz, CEO and Co-Founder of Violet: $14 Million Raised to Power the Future of E-commerce

Raj De Datta

CEO & Co-founder of Bloomreach

Raj De Datta, CEO & Co-founder of Bloomreach: $450 Million to Build the World’s Leading Commerce Experience Cloud

Rishabh Jain

CEO and Co-Founder of Fermàt

Rishabh Jain, CEO and Co-Founder of Fermat: Over $12 Million Raised to Power the Future of Commerce Experiences

Beck Besecker

Founder and CEO of Marxent

Beck Besecker, Founder and CEO of Marxent: Over $44 Million Raised to Power the Future of 3D Product Experiences

Oscar Rundqvist

CEO & Co-Founder of eComID

Oscar Rundqvist, CEO & Co-Founder of eComID: $3 Million Raised to Build the Future of Return Reductions

Maggie Adhami-Boynton

CEO & Founder of ShopThing

Maggie Adhami-Boynton, CEO & Founder of ShopThing: $10 Million Raised to Power the Future of Live Video Commerce

Bryan Mahoney

CEO and Co-Founder of Chord Commerce

Bryan Mahoney, CEO and Co-Founder of Chord Commerce: $40 Million Raised to Power the Future of E-commerce Data

Pujun Bhatnagar

CEO & Co-Founder of Kintsugi

Pujun Bhatnagar, CEO & Co-Founder of Kintsugi: $8.2 Million Raised to Build the Future of Sales Tax Automation

John Golinvaux

CEO & Founder of Fulcrum

John Golinvaux, CEO & Founder of Fulcrum: $6 Million Raised to Power the Future of Conversion Optimization

Kacper Nowicki

Co-founder, CEO of Nomagic

Kacper Nowicki, CEO of Nomagic: $30 Million Raised to build the Future of ​​Robotics Fulfillment

Rohit Bhadange

CEO & Founder of Zamp

Rohit Bhadange, CEO & Founder of Zamp: $14 Million Raised to Solve the Sales Tax Problem Killing eCommerce Companies

Jordan Gal

CEO of Rally

Jordan Gal, CEO of Rally: $6 Million Raised to Build the Future of eCommerce Checkout

Hans Elstner

CEO & Founder of Rooom

Hans Elstner, CEO & Founder of Rooom: $25 Million Raised to Power the Future of Enterprise Metaverse

Dane Baker

CEO and Co-Founder of EcoCart

Dane Baker, CEO and Co-Founder of EcoCart: $17.5 Million Raised to Power the Future of Sustainable Commerce

Melodie van der Baan

Co-Founder and CEO of Max Retail

Melodie van der Baan, Co-Founder and CEO at Max Retail: $10 Million Raised to Help Retailers Sell Unsold Inventory