Fund 81

I tried for many years to maintain a jam-packed schedule with zero margin for error, but life never seems to fit into perfectly scheduled boxes. After a straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back moment, I'm learning to live off of the brink of disaster.

I've spent more time than necessary on our fund administration and reporting, in part because of some of the easily avoidable administrative mistakes I’ve made over my 10-year journey as a startup investor. In this episode, I share some of the lessons I’ve learned to help you avoid the same headaches. The two templates I mention in the episode are here: The quarterly survey we send to our portfolio companies (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1U9TQrJSk-8vr1dJDl6l0ZDdfNJ3MKAwK2r8YWACb0is/edit) Our quarterly report to our LPs (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bmJj_utOufDOORIXlRCUfsLnE7FFmLzL/view)

It's hard to believe that it’s been more than two months since my last episode. I just haven't felt the inspiration to post. However, over these past two months and throughout all of 2020, I've learned something that I want to record to make sure that I remember - My anxiety about the potential outcomes is almost always worse than the actual outcome. For more color and a quick life update, check out this episode.

In this second episode of a new series to feature startups sourced from our Fund81 VC forum members’ portfolios, I interviewed Alaffia Technology Solutions (https://www.alaffia.io/) nominated by the Hustle Fund (https://www.hustlefund.vc/). Alaffia Technology Solutions automates medical claim audits to reduce and recover the billions of dollars medical insurance companies improperly pay to medical providers each year. If you’d like to get a sneak peek at these companies before these episodes go live, check out our Fund81 forum. Fund81 is a group of authentic investors who challenge the status quo and ask thought-provoking questions. Membership is by invitation only, but you can learn more and nominate yourself here: https://www.mergelane.com/fund81

Beezer Clarkson invests in early-stage venture funds in the US, Europe, and Israel as the managing director at Sapphire Partners (the division within Sapphire Ventures that invests in venture funds). In this episode, Beezer shares how the pandemic is affecting Sapphire Partners’ investment strategy. I also share what I’ve been seeing from investing in startups and venture capital funds through our MergeLane fund. The two podcast episodes Beezer mentions are: Samir Kaji’s Venture Unlocked with the Hustle Fund’s Elizabeth Yin: https://ventureunlocked.substack.com/p/venture-unlocked-episode-1-elizabeth Notation Capital’s Origins with Fika Ventures’ Eva Ho: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9jRl95YXdFSg/episode/ODlmMzZjZjMtMGZmNS00MmEzLTlmY2MtYjRhYWFjZjc5MTlk?hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwjdjqbFmP3sAhVFbs0KHd9KAEAQjrkEegQIBRAF&ep=6 Enjoy.

Martin Babinec founded the HR services company Trinet in 1988, serving as its CEO for 20 years and as chairman for 10. Since he founded the company 32 years ago, Trinet has grown to annual sales of $4 billion and is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Martin founded and built Trinet in Silicon Valley while commuting from Upstate New York. After seeing the stark difference between these two startup ecosystems, he embarked on a ten-year journey to transform his talent-exporting community in Upstate New York to a talent-magnetic community to support the innovation economy. His journey included a run for congress in 2016, the creation of a new political party, and several experiments to create more innovation economy jobs in his region. He has just released a book entitled “More Good Jobs” (https://www.moregoodjobs.org/) about his experience. In this episode, Martin offers timely advice on why and how VCs should engage politically, and how they can leverage opportunities outside traditional startup ecosystems.

I’m starting a new series to feature some startups sourced from our Fund81 VC forum members’ portfolios. In this episode, I interviewed Gurjot Narwal, CEO of Gini Health. Gini Health is disrupting the supplement industry by making a smart and fully-customized multivitamin based on health data that changes according to continuous lifestyle data. Its app allows people to easily track their food, sleep, and poop (warning - there is some talk about poop :). Gini Health uses this lifestyle data, DNA, and current health status/deficiencies to deliver supplements and nutrition advice that is so customized that even identical twins will receive different recommendations. Gini Health was nominated by Sunil Sharma, managing director of Techstars Toronto. If you’d like to get a sneak peek at these companies before these episodes go live, check out our Fund81 forum. Fund81 is a group of authentic investors who challenge the status quo and ask thought-provoking questions. Membership is by invitation only, but you can learn more and nominate yourself here.

The proliferation of venture capital funds, accelerators, and other startup resources has left many VCs wondering how to deliver unique value to their portfolio companies and how to scale that value to fit their portfolio strategy. I invited Ben Capell, partner at Peterson Ventures, to join us for a candid conversation. Enjoy.

It seems that nearly every startup I talk to is recruiting developers, technical co-founders, CTOs and other tech talent. I invited Evan Walden of Getro to share his thoughts on recruiting top talent in the current environment and the role VCs can play to help their portfolio companies address this ongoing issue. https://www.getro.com/ Enjoy.

Kim Smith, executive director of the League of Innovative Schools, has worked for many years to address education equity and has a unique perspective on the barriers to entrepreneurship. In this interview, Kim shares her thought-provoking insights to help drive racial equality in our venture capital industry, and makes a powerful call for white co-conspirators who are ready, willing, and able to fight. For more, read Kim’s op-ed: A Call to Action — Black Educators Need White Co-Conspirators to Combat Racism in Schools and Empower Our Students to Succeed (https://www.the74million.org/article/smith-a-call-to-action-black-educators-need-white-co-conspirators-to-combat-racism-in-schools-and-empower-our-students-to-succeed/). If you want to become a white co-conspirator and change the venture capital diversity ratio, Kim emphasizes that anti-racist work must be done in parallel. She suggests taking time to: Reach out to a white colleague or industry peer who you can work with in affinity and invite them to be an accountability partner in anti-racist work. Reflect on the characteristics of a white supremacy culture and your role and perspective. Review the list (https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/white-supremacy-culture-characteristics.html) and mark the characteristics that are evident in your organization and yourself. Engage in a candid exchange with a peer. Kim referenced Dr. Bettina Love in her op-ed. She is leading an abolitionist teaching movement. Watch her 30-minute presentation where she talks about co-conspirators (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_sL_DbXjr8&feature=youtu.be). While Dr. Love’s presentation is focused on education, there are many applicable lessons for VCs.

We sourced five startups from our Fund81 VC forum members to present for our June forum. Check out this episode to hear pitches from these incredibly tenacious entrepreneurs. Presenting Startups: Airin (Park City, UT) Nominated by both Resolute Ventures and Peterson Ventures www.airin.ai CarServ (Austin, TX) Nominated by Springtime Ventures Mars Mundy www.carserv.com Fleeting (Brooklyn, NY) Nominated by the Hustle Fund Pierre Laguerre www.fleeting.us Hostfully (San Francisco, CA) Nominated by me (MergeLane) Margot Schmorak www.hostfully.com Reality Check (Palo Alto, CA) Nominated by Peterson Ventures (Still in stealth mode) www.linkedin.com/company/reality-check-2020/ This discussion is an expression of personal opinion and does not represent the opinion of MergeLane or any company we discuss. Our conversations are for informational purposes only, including any mention of securities or funds. This is not legal, business, investment or tax advice and is not intended for use by any investor. Certain MergeLane funds own, or may own in the future, some of the securities and companies discussed in this podcast.

I’ve always thought of myself as someone who has a modern marriage. Three months into this COVID-19 situation, however, I'm starting to feel like I'm stuck in a 1950s sitcom in which my husband is a fun, lovable guy who can't wait to hang out with his male friends to get away from his nagging wife, and that I am a responsible, well-intentioned, but unlikeable wife who can't stop treating her husband like her elementary school student. Through my conversations with other entrepreneurs and VCs, I've learned that we're not the only couple that has regressed into this dynamic. How did we get here? More importantly, how do we get out? I recorded this podcast episode to unpack our regression.

As a VC, I have the opportunity to build relationships with people who have tremendous financial resources and connections. I often hesitate to ask my network to support philanthropic causes, because I want to respect our business relationship. After seeing the devastating impact of COVID-19 on our community in Vail, Colorado, however, I decided it was time to ask. I invited four Vail nonprofits to present to my network. I’m sharing the recording of the event in hopes that it will inspire others to leverage their connections for good. I organized this event prior to George Floyd’s death, but I think this idea can easily be translated to support efforts to achieve racial equality. I am thinking about how I might implement that myself and welcome any of your ideas or opportunities for collaboration. The presenting organizations are below. Eagle Valley Community Foundation (link to donate: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/oucomfou/) Eagle Valley Behavioral Health (link to donate: https://donate.vailhealthfoundation.org/campaign/eagle-valley-behavioral-health-website/c247252) The Vail Valley Foundation COVID-19 Community Response Fund (link to donate: https://vvf.org/donate/community-fund/thank-you/) Walking Mountains (link to donate: https://www.walkingmountains.org/give/other-ways-to-give/) I learned far more than I expected from this presentation. Here are just five of my takeaways: Vail Valley unemployment has surged from 2% in January to over 30%. Unemployment checks will be reduced by $600 on June 26. Eagle County has seen more suicides in the past seven weeks than COVID-19 deaths. Feeding America has estimated that 8,000 of our 50,000 local residents were food insecure prior to COVID-19 and the explosion in unemployment. Based on experience at the food bank, the Eagle Valley Community Foundation believes the number of food insecure is now over 15,000 of our 50,000 neighbors. The Eagle Valley Community Foundation food banks and pantries served over 4,000 people last week. This is almost a 300% increase over demand for food before the pandemic, and the number seeking assistance is increasing each week. The food served is also now often the primary source of family meals, rather than a supplemental source of meals. Despite these dire statistics, I also heard many signs of hope in the presentation. You can hear more in the podcast episode. Thanks for listening.

I’ve now invested in close to 100 entrepreneurs. When I think about the patterns I’ve seen, my most successful investments are backed by entrepreneurs who can really visualize a big idea and genuinely believe it’s possible. To get there, almost all of these entrepreneurs had to shed some deep-seated limiting beliefs. This has me wondering, how can we better spot big thinkers and big ideas with the propensity to scale, and how can we help our entrepreneurs think bigger? I invited Dick Rothkopf, co-founder of Learning Curve International, the manufacturer of the Thomas the Tank Engine toys, to share his thoughts.

Seth has been a MergeLane investor and advisor since the very beginning. I invited Seth to join the show because we’ve had some nice conversations about the challenge we each have in managing our personal bandwidth. Since having these conversations, we’ve both managed to carve out more time through some creative outsourcing and delegation, and I thought it might be helpful to share some of our lessons learned. If you are listening to this sometime in the future, it is April 2020 and most of us are under a stay-at-home order because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Since many of us are feeling stretched by the new realities of pandemic life, we thought this topic would be especially useful. Related thoughts: https://www.sethlevine.com/archives/2020/04/investing-in-downturns.html https://www.mergelane.com/post/how-conscious-leadership-bought-me-5-hours-of-extra-time-each-day

Dave Balter, CEO of MergeLane-backed Flipside Crypto, has built three previous startups in the midst of economic downturns. He believes that recessions are the greatest time to launch into successful models. In this Fund81 podcast episode, Dave shares his thoughts on why these eras drive opportunity. Dave is the first guest to make a second appearance on the podcast. You can hear more from Dave in Episode #9 - Cryptocurrency Venture Investing: The Questions Every VC Should Ask Before Making a Crypto Investment.

In the last episode, I recorded an event I held to share what I've learned through my experience working from home for the past 15 years with some of our portfolio companies and some of the members of our fund 81 VC forum. I shared that if I'm honest with myself, I value productivity and efficiency above all else. So it's not surprising, that I focused the agenda on my tips for becoming more productive and efficient while working from home. During the call, two of our MergeLane portfolio company CEOs shared that they actually have the opposite problem. Without that physical barrier between work and home, they have a really hard time shutting off. When I listened to the recording, I realized that I failed to really hear what they were saying because I was so focused on my pre-determined agenda. This is a pattern that I now recognize thanks to studying Conscious Leadership which my colleagues Sue Heilbronner and Leah Pearlman turned me onto. You can learn more about that at Leadership.Camp. I wanted to record this follow up episode to apologize to Bo and Allie and to share some answers to the questions I glossed over.

I’ve been working from home for the past 15 years. I have learned a lot about maximizing productivity, finding work/life harmony, managing home life, staying fit and maintaining a healthy marriage while working from home. Related Resources: https://tests.enneagraminstitute.com/ https://www.leadership.camp/ https://www.mergelane.com/post/how-conscious-leadership-bought-me-5-hours-of-extra-time-each-day

I have battled anxiety for many years. In that journey, I've learned a lot about how to manage it and support others who battle anxiety as well. I thought it might be helpful to share my thoughts.

With MergeLane’s new fund and the growth of our portfolio, we’re improving our fund administration processes and considering a few different solutions. Through this process, I’ve realized that I have a lot of questions that other new venture capital fund managers may have as well. To that end, I’ve invited a few of the fund administration solutions I am interviewing to join me on my podcast to answer these questions live. Our first guest is Tiffany Cholez with CFO Fund Services. http://www.cfofundservices.com/

In this latest Fund81 podcast episode, I share my 2020 plans for the Fund81 forum and podcast (https://www.mergelane.com/fund81), and a few reflections from my short bout of holiday depression. Despite the fact that I have a wonderful life with many blessings to be thankful for, I have always struggled with depression over the holidays. Because of the work I’ve been doing in Conscious Leadership (https://www.mergelane.com/post/mergelane-runs-on-conscious-leadership), my holiday depression was shorter and less biting than ever before. I also better understand the causes of my depression. However, my depression still reared its ugly head. I’m sharing some of the lessons I learned from this experience in hopes that it might help others who struggle with holiday depression and depression in general. A few of the articles I mentioned in the episode are as follows: https://www.mergelane.com/post/how-conscious-leadership-bought-me-5-hours-of-extra-time-each-day https://www.mergelane.com/post/using-the-enneagram-in-venture-capital-investing https://www.mergelane.com/post/how-75-ski-days-made-me-a-better-venture-capitalist https://www.mergelane.com/post/when-giving-first-gets-to-be-too-much https://www.mergelane.com/post/episode-13-mental-health-in-venture-capital-with-brad-feld If you could benefit from the work we do in Conscious Leadership, join us for Camp. https://www.leadership.camp/upcoming-camps It’s radically changed every aspect of my life. I highly recommend it. Onward.

In this episode, I interview Liza Benson. Liza is a partner with Moderne Ventures, an early-stage VC fund focused on technology companies innovating within real estate, mortgage, finance, insurance, hospitality, and home services. At MergeLane, we’ve been thinking about how changing market conditions may affect our fund in the future. I know many of our listeners are asking themselves that question as well. I invited Liza to share some of her thoughts. With 20 years of VC experience, Liza lived through both the dot-com crash in 2000 and the 2008 financial crisis. Her fund, Moderne Ventures, launched in 2008. That experience played a pivotal role in the development of Moderne’s strategy. Enjoy.

Beezer Clarkson invests in early-stage venture funds primarily in the US, Europe and Israel as the managing director at Sapphire Partners (the division within Sapphire Ventures that invests in venture funds). In this episode, Beezer shares her perspective on venture capital trends, VC firm differentiation, and nonobvious mistakes for VC fund managers to avoid. There are some great interviews that cover Beezer’s path to becoming an LP and a few of the key things she looks for when making investments. I recommend listening to these three: Notation Capital’s Origins Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/elizabeth-beezer-clarkson-sapphire-ventures/id1111792048?i=1000368208534 Seed to Scale: https://medium.com/eniacvc/seed-to-scale-episode-22-with-beezer-clarkson-md-at-sapphire-ventures-7384f9ec4e79 Venture Stories: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lp-perspective-beezer-clarkson-and-chris-douvos/id1316769266?i=1000443429018 Beezer also recently championed the effort to relaunch #OpenLP (https://openlp.sapphireventures.com/) to help foster greater understanding in the entrepreneur-to-LP tech ecosystem. Here are just a few of the #OpenLP articles I found helpful: How to Build a Better Data Room: https://sapphireventures.com/blog/openlp-fundraising-tips-how-to-build-a-better-data-room/ The Master List of US Micro-VCs: https://medium.com/@Samirkaji/the-master-list-of-us-micro-vcs-aa35d9b294ab Navigating the New Seed Landscape: https://www.pear.vc/the-new-seed-landscape

Episode #18: Assessing Hustle with the Hustle Fund Elizabeth Yin, co-founder and general partner at the Hustle Fund shared her thoughts on how to assess a startup’s ability to “hustle”. Her thoughts are applicable to venture capitalists, startups and anyone who wants to work with hustlers. Elizabeth started her career as an entrepreneur when she founded the adtech platform Launchbit which was acquired by BuySellAds in 2014. Elizabeth then jumped into venture capital as a partner in 500 Startups before launching her own fund, the Hustle Fund in 2017. The Hustle Fund invests in “hilariously early” hustlers at the Pre-Seed and Seed stages. In full disclosure, MergeLane is an investor in the Hustle Fund. As an LP, I’ve had the chance to get to know Elizabeth, her team and some of their portfolio companies. From this and my experience reviewing 271 other venture funds, I think the Hustle Fund offers a truly unique approach that is resonating with entrepreneurs. This episode is worth a listen. For more context, I recommend these podcast interviews that outline Elizabeth’s origin story (http://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/elizabethyin/), how to hustle (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eric-bahn-hustle-fund-how-to-hustle/id1223825795?i=1000435067462) and the Hustle Fund strategy (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/investor-connect-episode-158-eric-bahn-of-hustle-fund/id1270191805?i=1000426732925). Elizabeth also draws on her experience reviewing 20,000+ pitches to offer practical early-stage startup advice on her blog (https://elizabethyin.com/). Enjoy. This discussion is an expression of personal opinion and does not represent the opinion of MergeLane or any company we discuss. Our conversations are for informational purposes only, including any mention of securities or funds. This is not legal, business, investment or tax advice and is not intended for use by any investor. Certain MergeLane funds own, or may own in the future, some of the securities and companies discussed in this podcast.

We asked our Fund81 forum for venture capitalists to nominate portfolio companies to participate in a startup showcase. We received over 50 nominations. Four of those startups are featured in this episode. Presenting Startups: Veho, nominated by Morris Wheeler from Drummond Road Capital https://shipveho.com/ Nori, nominated by Hannah Davis from the Techstars Sustainability Program in partnership with the Nature Conservancy https://nori.com/ Soona, nominated by me, Elizabeth Kraus, from the MergeLane venture fund https://soona.co/ Leaf, nominated by Ethan Austin from the Western Union Accelerator powered by Techstars https://www.leafglobalfintech.com/ Fund81 Forum membership is by invitation only, but if you’re someone we absolutely must have in our group, drop me a line to tell me why. https://www.mergelane.com/fund81 This discussion is an expression of personal opinion and does not represent the opinion of MergeLane or any company we discuss. Our conversations are for informational purposes only, including any mention of securities or funds. This is not legal, business, investment or tax advice and is not intended for use by any investor. Certain MergeLane funds own, or may own in the future, some of the securities and companies discussed in this podcast.

Jocelyn Goldfein, Managing Director at Zetta Venture Partners, joined the Fund81 podcast to share her approach to investing in artificial intelligence (AI). With the cost of creating software continuing to decline, Zetta believes that the companies of the future will need to build more than just great software to thrive. Zetta invests in AI software that learns from data to analyze, predict, and prescribe outcomes. This is what Zetta defines as the fourth era of computing: the computation of huge volumes – zettabytes – of data on distributed systems and the development of software that can learn from this data. This interview combined with Zetta’s other content is the most insightful information I’ve seen on this topic. It’s really worth a look. More Content from Zetta Venture Partners Investing in Artificial Intelligence: http://investorfieldguide.com/ash/ Why SaaS is Not a Fit for VC and How AI Compounds Competitive Advantage: http://fullratchet.net/161-why-saas-is-not-a-fit-for-vc-and-how-ai-compounds-competitive-advantage-ash-fontana/ Growing Up in the Intelligence Era: https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/26/growing-up-in-the-intelligence-era/ Data Is Not the New Oil: https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/27/data-is-not-the-new-oil/ Measuring AI Startups by the Right Yardstick: https://medium.com/zetta-venture-partners/measuring-ai-startups-by-the-right-yardstick-6c5f6745dd22 Sourcing with Zetta’s Jocelyn Goldfein: https://www.heavybit.com/library/podcasts/venture-confidential/ep-15-sourcing-with-zettas-jocelyn-goldfein/ Enjoy.

I love being active and outdoors, but I also have extremely high professional aspirations. I’ve spent the last 16 years trying to find a way to fit fitness into my life in a way that feels spacious and supportive to my business, relationships and health. In this episode, Nicole DeBoom, pro triathlete turned founder and CEO of Skirt Sports, and I share our thoughts on how to fit fitness into a startup schedule. Before you listen, I recommend listening to our previous conversation in episode 139 of Nicole’s Run this World podcast: https://www.nicoledeboom.com/139-elizabeth-kraus-asks-herself-3-questions-every-day/ While you’re there, subscribe to her podcast. Seriously. Nicole interviews extremely inspiring Olympians, entrepreneurs and just everyday people who have overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges. As entrepreneurs and startup investors, we all have top and bottom of the roller coaster moments. It’s what I listen to when I’m at the bottom and it never fails to pull me up. For more tips on fitting fitness into a busy schedule, check out: https://www.mergelane.com/post/how-conscious-leadership-bought-me-5-hours-of-extra-time-each-day https://www.mergelane.com/post/how-a-26-inch-powder-day-increased-my-conviction-for-my-business-my-team-and-the-15-commitments https://www.mergelane.com/post/why-my-day-in-the-woods-was-my-most-productive-work-day-yet https://www.mergelane.com/post/how-75-ski-days-made-me-a-better-venture-capitalist Enjoy.

Fundraising doesn’t come naturally to David Cohen, founder and co-CEO of Techstars. He’s an introverted, shut-up-and-deliver kind of guy, but he’s learned how to leverage his strengths and team to convince hundreds of LPs to invest in the venture capital funds that power the Techstars network. In this episode, he shares his honest and authentic reflections from his unique perspective as an non-natural fundraiser. We’ve invested in several Techstars graduates and are big believers in the power of the Techstars network. I try to track Techstars’ progress, but it wasn’t until I prepared for this interview that I fully grasped how much David and his team have achieved. Techstars has grown to 43 accelerator programs from LA to Tel Aviv, with focuses from sustainable agriculture to blockchain, and corporate development-focused programs in partnership with companies like Barclays, Amazon, and Comcast. Of the more than 1600 Techstars graduates, over 87% are still active or have been acquired. Graduates have raised over $6 billion in funding and have a market cap of over $17 billion. With $500 million under management, and portfolio companies like Uber, DigitalOcean, ClassPass and Twilio, it’s VC arm, Techstars Ventures, invests in companies built by Techstars accelerator companies and alumni. Techstars also hosts Startup Studios, Startup Weekends and Startup Weeks across the globe, and supports underrepresented communities and entrepreneurs through its Techstars Foundation. For more content from David, check out the recently released second edition of “Do More Faster: Techstars Lessons To Accelerate Your Startup” which he co-authored with Brad Feld. David and Brad also co-host The Give First Podcast (https://givefirst.techstars.com/). David writes about all things startups on his blog at DavidGCohen.com.

In this Fund81 podcast episode, I invited Brad Feld, founding partner of Foundry Group, to share his thoughts on maintaining mental health in the fast-paced venture capital world and supporting portfolio companies, colleagues, friends and family wrestling with mental health issues. Brad Feld has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and Intensity Ventures. Brad is also a co-founder of Techstars. He’s written a number of books as part of the Startup Revolution series and writes the blogs Feld Thoughts and Venture Deals. Brad has openly and authentically written about his own mental health issues and supports a wide range of mental health efforts. His transparency has sparked a dramatic shift in mental health consciousness and conversation in the startup ecosystem.

SC Moatti recently joined the Fund81 podcast to talk about how to discover and vet products in venture capital. In this episode, we talk about how VCs can spot early indications of future product success, creative ways to look under the hood before investing, and the product-related questions most venture capitalists fail to ask. SC Moatti is the founding partner of Mighty Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, and Products That Count, one of the largest communities of product managers, leaders, and founders in the world. Previously, she built products that billions of people use at Facebook, Nokia and Electronic Arts. She also serves on boards of both public and private companies, including Opera Software (OPERA:Oslo). An award-winning bestselling author, Moatti has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, and on NPR. She lectures at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she earned her MBA and has a Master of Science in electrical engineering. For more information, visit scmoatti.com.

In this Fund81 podcast episode, we talk about something that has made our team at MergeLane better investors - the Enneagram. We use the Enneagram in the work we do in Conscious Leadership. Understanding the Enneagram has forever changed the way I assess and support startup founders. To talk about how the Enneagram can help other VCs, I invited Kaley Klemp to join the podcast. Kaley is a master Enneagram specialist, as well as a highly sought after speaker, certified YPO Forum Facilitator, and a transformational executive coach. She helps individuals and organizations outperform their competitors by unlocking a deeper understanding of what motivates and drives people. Kaley co-authored The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, and The Drama-Free Office, and wrote The 13 Guidelines for Effective Teams. To learn more about the Enneagram, you can start to identify your Enneagram Type by taking the Enneagram Institute’s RHETI test. I also highly recommend Kaley’s online Enneagram course.

In this last podcast episode of Season One, I interviewed Jaclyn Freeman Hester from Foundry Group. Since joining Foundry Group in 2016, Jaclyn has seen more VC fund pitches than she can count. As someone relatively new to the industry, she has a fresh perspective on how to craft a compelling pitch and the dos and don'ts of approaching institutional investors. She also has an incredible pulse on the landscape for emerging managers and trends in early-stage venture capital. Enjoy!

In this Fund81 podcast interview, Dave Balter, the CEO of one of our MergeLane portfolio companies, Flipside Crypto, shared his perspective on investing in the cryptocurrency space. I invited Dave to join us for four reasons: He is one of the most engaging and entertaining speakers I know. He has the ability to explain complex things in an easy-to-understand way - something I have found rare in the cryptocurrency space. He is obsessed with and extremely knowledgeable about cryptocurrency. Because he is both a serial entrepreneur and a venture investor, he has an interesting perspective from both sides of the table. About Flipside Crypto Flipside Crypto has developed algorithms to track cryptocurrency performance indicators. Flipside licenses this data and uses its technology to provide investment opportunities for accredited investors via its indexes. The company also manages the process of acquiring and storing cryptocurrency to alleviate the headache of potentially confusing things like encryption and digital wallets. Flipside closed a $3.4 million financing round led by True Ventures three months after MergeLane’s investment. Coinvestors include the Chernin Group, Resolute Ventures, Boston Seed Capital, Converge, and Founder Collective. About Dave Balter Dave Balter is the founder and CEO of Flipside Crypto, a provider of data solutions and investment vehicles for cryptocurrencies. Dave has spent most of his career as an innovation‐obsessed builder of companies, most often as a founder and CEO, but occasionally as a board member, advisor or investor. Dave is also an active venture investor and M&A professional. As an operator, Dave is probably best known for Smaterer, which he founded, led, and sold to Pluralsight in 2014 and BzzAgent, which he founded, led, and sold to dunnhumby in 2011. Post BzzAgent acquisition, Dave acted as Global Head of Investments for dunnhumby and founded dunnhumby Ventures. Dave is also an independent angel and venture partner at Boston Seed Capital. Dave’s investments have included DraftKings, Promoboxx, FitnessKeeper, and Help Scout. Dave was named one of the 30 most disruptive people in Boston tech by Boston Magazine in 2016, was a finalist for the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year, and was recognized as a future legend by the Ad Club. He cofounded the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and authored two books on the subject including Grapevine and the Word of Mouth Manual Volume II. A long time Techstars mentor, Dave also co-founded Intelligent.ly, a classroom space that helps star employees become managers with his wife, Sarah Hodges, and sits on the Board of Directors for the Boch Center for the Performing Arts. Enjoy!

Conscious Leadership has been a game-changer for our partnership and our investing. For this Fund81 podcast interview, I invited my business partner at the MergeLane venture fund for high-potential startups with at least one woman in leadership, Sue Heilbronner, to talk about Conscious Leadership.

Gaining an understanding of venture fund legal terms can be a bit like learning a foreign language. In this episode, my guest Mark Weakley helps us navigate some of the more complicated terms commonly seen in venture fund legal documents.

In this Fund81 podcast episode, I spoke with Bill Maris. Bill was the founder and first CEO of Google Ventures (GV) and now runs his own fund, Section 32. He also happens to be an introvert. I am also an introvert and have been doing a lot of thinking about how my introversion plays into my life as a venture capitalist. Bill and I explore this topic in this episode.

Venture Capitalists are increasingly looking for ways to differentiate themselves and produce better returns. One popular path to this is specialization according to geography, industry sector, etc. Nick Moran, GP at New Stack Ventures and host of the Full Ratchet podcast, shares his insights.

Venture fund legal terms can sound a bit like a foreign language to new venture capitalists and venture fund investors. In this Fund81 podcast episode, Liz Meade, a new angel investor considering venture fund investments, interviews me, Elizabeth Kraus, your host at Fund81, to decode some of the lingo in venture fund offering agreements.

Welcome to Fund 81! Join Elizabeth Kraus, a managing partner of the Mergelane investment fund in Boulder, as she asks the questions and gets the answers surrounding many of the topics flying around the world of venture capital and angel investments.