The Vitalize Podcast

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Pejman Nozad (@pejmannozad), the Co-Founder and Founding Managing Partner of Pear VC, a firm specializing in seed stage investments that partners with founders at the earliest stages to turn great ideas into category-defining companies. Over the past two decades, he has been a seed investor in some of the most iconic tech companies including Doordash, Dropbox, Applovin, Gusto, Guardant Health, Branch, Aurora Solar, Soundhound, CourseHero, and others.As an immigrant from Iran, Pejman did not take the typical path towards becoming a VC. After arriving in the U.S., he lived in an attic above a yogurt shop and then worked at a rug store in downtown Palo Alto. He immersed himself in the vanguard of technology and slowly, with a few small investments, developed a reputation for both identifying talent and taking promising ideas to the next level.Pejman lives in California with his wife, Mania, and their two children. He was included in the Forbes Midas List in 2021 and 2022 and ranked #1 in the U.S. (#2 in the world) on the Forbes Midas Seed List in 2022.Website: Pear VCLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/pejman/Twitter: @pejmannozadEmail: pejman@pear.vcShow Notes: Pejman's fascinating background and journey from Iranian soccer player to carwash and yogurt shop employee to rug salesman to investor Where Pejman derives his impressive work ethic What compelled Pejman to capitalize on the opportunity to transition from rug salesman to venture capitalist What makes a great sales person How Pejman was able to break into the industry and establish himself as a great investor and partner Fostering authentic connection in an over-networked society Building Pear as an institution to serve founders at the earliest stages Taking 4 years to convince Mar Hershenson to partner with him and start a fund together The process of raising their first fund while building community at Stanford What differentiates Pear Pear's model and building their platform Pejman's big vision for Pear What they look for in founders at Pear Why he prefers to get to know founders in person before investing in them What drives Pejman today What makes Pear a great partner More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

The VITALIZE Podcast presents: Off Topic, a special series where we dig into a variety of topics, trends, and current events in the startup ecosystem. In this inaugural episode of Off Topic, Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Gale Wilkinson (@galeforceVC) and Andrew Gazdecki (@agazdecki).Gale is the Founder and Managing Partner at VITALIZE, a seed-stage venture fund and angel community investing in The Work Revolution. Previously, Gale founded IrishAngels, one of the largest angel groups in the world. She has led $65M+ in early-stage deals across 80+ startups. Her experience prior to VC includes founding two failed startups, consulting for new product launches with Nielsen, and strategy with Orbitz. Gale received a BBA with honors from Notre Dame and an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She was a founding Board member of the C200 Scholars Network, and she is currently a founding Board member of Chicago Blend, an organization focused on increasing diversity in VC and startups.Andrew Gazdecki is the Founder and CEO of Acquire (previously MicroAcquire), a founder-friendly startup acquisition marketplace. Acquire aims to consolidate the fragmented acquisition market by giving founders and entrepreneurs a single convenient marketplace to meet, coordinate, and close acquisitions. They provide free and instant access to trusted and vetted buyers with total anonymity and are on a mission to turn founder journeys into success stories and foster the next generation of entrepreneurs. They have more than 100,000 registered buyers, more than 2,000 companies listed for sale, and has facilitated more than 500 deals with a combined value of more than $200 million. Andrew has been an entrepreneur for longer than he can remember. He likes to build stuff, mostly companies, and try to tell a story that goes beyond what the company does to how it's changing markets. Prior to founding MicroAcquire, he started two companies, Bizness Apps and Altcoin.io, both acquired. He's been featured in NYT, Forbes, WSJ, Inc.com, and Entrepreneur Magazine, as well as prominent industry blogs such as Mashable, TechCrunch and VentureBeat.Connect with Andrew Gazdecki:Website: Acquire (previously MicroAcquire)LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/agazdecki/Twitter: @agazdeckiConnect with Gale Wilkinson:Website: VITALIZE Venture Capital LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/galevc/Twitter: @galeforceVCVITALIZE Newsletter: Re:VITALIZEVITALIZE Angel Investing Community: VITALIZE AngelsShow Notes: Andrew's pitch to Elon Musk to get the @acquire Twitter handle for his company's re-brand Gale and Andrew's thoughts on Elon's takeover of Twitter How Andrew stays positive and motivational on Twitter ChatGPT, AI as the next tech frontier, and the challenge of differentiating generative content The danger of deep fakes The opportunities they see for the future of AI Acquire's potential Valuation & acquisition trends and predictions in VC Their take on the FTX collapse Trends Gale, Andrew, and Justin are excited about in 2023 More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Lisa Blau and Amanda Eilian, Founding Partners of Able Partners (@ablepartnersnyc), a health & wellness investment fund focused on supporting visionary, early stage brands in positive living. They aim to support entrepreneurs that are helping to make the daily lives of consumers healthier, happier and more meaningful. They seek to partner with companies that are narrowing the Wellness Gap, and are most focused on overlooked or stigmatized communities that have resulted in underserved markets.Lisa has spent the last decade as an active investor focused on consumer businesses with a particular interest in supporting women-led entrepreneurial ventures. Previously, she co-founded VitalJuice.com, a daily email newsletter on healthy living tips and trends that was acquired by Tasting Table. She also helped build and launch Portero, an online luxury goods auction platform sold to Richemont. Lisa chairs the Investor Group of the Leadership Now Project, a membership organization of business professionals committed to renewing democracy. She is a founding member and leader of the TIME'S UP Care Economy Business Council, a coalition of business leaders and companies committed to building a new American care economy, empowering caregivers, and championing gender equality throughout their workforce. She is a Board Member of The New York Public Library, KIPP New York, and Mt. Sinai's Parenting Center. Amanda has been actively investing in early stage consumer companies for the last decade, drawing on her experience as an institutional investor and entrepreneur. Previously, Amanda was the co-founder of Videolicious, an enterprise video creation platform backed by Amazon, and served as its President until it was acquired by Squarespace (NYSE:SQSP). Under Amanda's leadership, Videolicious grew to over 5 million users in 103 countries, including Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, Walmart, SAP, Verizon and GE. Prior to forming Videolicious, Amanda was a founding partner of Capitol Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) that completed a $265 million initial public offering and became Two Harbors Investment Corp., a $3 billion REIT (NYSE:TWO). TWO grew to over $5 billion of market capitalization (including a spin-off). Amanda began her career in private equity and mergers and acquisitions. Amanda serves on the Board of Directors of the Melanoma Research Alliance and is a member of the Tech:NYC Leadership Council. Website: Able PartnersLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lisa-jacobs-blau-8284133/ & linkedin.com/in/amanda-eilian-13025b6/Twitter: @ablepartnersnycEmail: info@ablepartners.nycShow Notes: Able Partners' focus and investment thesis Investing in primarily women-led companies Why Lisa and Amanda chose to make the jump from founder to investor Able Partners' strong thesis around the wellness gap and some of their investments that embody this Deal flow at a very thesis-driven fund Important soft skills successful founders need to have Trusting your gut on founder red flags The power of thoughtful brand building The importance of creative connection and community in today's world How to diversify the VC asset class and startup ecosystem More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Jenny Fielding (@jefielding), General Partner at The Fund, a first-of-its-kind venture fund fueled by a community of brilliant founders & operators. The Fund invests in mission-driven, technology-enabled companies at the earliest stages. They are a generalist fund with a focus on the basic stuff we need to live: money, health and work, and have invested in the pre-seed rounds of 200+ companies in 4.5 years. They've pooled capital, networks, and expertise to help grow startup ecosystems around the globe in a radical new way, and unlike traditional venture capital, they involve their community in everything they do.Jenny is a 2x entrepreneur and knows how challenging it is to build great products, inspire a team, and keep the lights on. She spends her time working to surround founders with the resources they need to survive + thrive. She has been the first check into 200+ startups including: Chainalysis, Alloy, Latch, Tempo Automation, Headway, Supergreat, Dash, Contra, Particle Health, Bloomscape, Simple Health, Pair Eyewear, Solo Funds, Halp, Minded, Rupa Health, Morty, Wagmo, Smarthop, Solid, PathSpot, Remesh, Cube, OnePipe, Union Crate, Season, Parsley Health and many more. She is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University where she spent many years as a student.Website: The FundLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jennyfielding/Twitter: @jefieldingEmail: J@thefund.vcShow Notes: What Jenny is working on today at The Fund and their “by founders for founders” model The logistics of expanding to ten cities and deciding where to launch The Fund's structure and the strategy behind it The evolution of The Fund's growth from fund I to fund III The Fund's investment thesis Their portfolio-to-portfolio model and how they're approaching growth strategically How they leverage their diverse community to execute diligence The Fund's venture partners What distinguishes good CEOs from great CEOs Jenny's thoughts on valuations in the current 2022 market Jenny's advice for becoming a better investor Innovation in highly regulated industries Trends Jenny is excited about in the Future of Work The value of in-person activity and events Merging the experiences of being a founder and investor as a GP at a micro fund More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

In this episode, Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks again with Gale Wilkinson (@galeforceVC), Founder and Managing Partner at VITALIZE, a seed-stage venture fund and angel community investing in The Work Revolution. In this round with Gale, we dig into how she conducts initial founder calls for VITALIZE.Previously, Gale founded IrishAngels, one of the largest angel groups in the world. She has led $65M+ in early-stage deals across 80+ startups. Her experience prior to VC includes founding two failed startups, consulting for new product launches with Nielsen, and strategy with Orbitz. Gale received a BBA with honors from Notre Dame and an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She was a founding Board member of the C200 Scholars Network, and she is currently a founding Board member of Chicago Blend, an organization focused on increasing diversity in VC and startups.Website: VITALIZE Venture Capital LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/galevc/Twitter: @galeforceVCVITALIZE Newsletter: Re:VITALIZEVITALIZE Angel Investing Community: VITALIZE AngelsShow Notes: What Gale looks to get out of initial founder calls Gale's secret to running founder calls The general script Gale uses and how she tailors it contextually What helps founders stand out How Gale takes notes during the call Gale's mindset in initial evaluation of founders and the process for a founder to make it through to diligence How these calls differ for Gale as a VC fund manager vs as an angel investor Behavioral red flags from founders How Gale has adjusted to remote founder calls Process and company red flags to look out for Factors to consider when determining ownership terms How founders/investors should prepare for calls with investors/LPs The importance of showing up authentically Gale's thoughts on giving feedback on calls What founders should ask VCs More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Richard Kerby (@kerby), Co-Founder and General Partner at Equal Ventures, a seed stage focused fund backing the founders and businesses transforming society and industry. Prior to Equal Ventures, Richard was an investor at Venrock, where he led seed stage and Series A stage investments in 6Sense, Amino Apps, Beckon, Burner, Luxe Valet, and Salsify. Prior to joining Venrock, Richard was an investor at Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), where he focused on identifying and evaluating later-stage investments. While at IVP, Richard worked with IVP portfolio companies such as Dropbox, FleetMatics, PopSugar, Shazam, and Yext. Previously, Richard worked in the Investment Banking Division of Credit Suisse. Richard is a proud Georgetown alum and is a rabid Hoyas basketball fan. He is also the founder of Stealth Mode, a community of more than 1,500 African American founders, operators and investors.Website: Equal VenturesLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/richardkerby/Twitter: @kerbyEmail: kerby@equal.vcShow Notes: Equal Ventures' investment thesis and the strategy behind being generalists Deciding to start a fund instead of joining an existing one Richard's key learnings as an emerging manager What being hands-on with their founders means at Equal Ventures Their all “hands on deck” approach to building the Equal Ventures team Running the Emerging Managers Circle and deciding to host summits Trends Richard is excited about Richard's view on remote vs. in-person How Equal Ventures evaluates founders Richard's advice for emerging managers More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Ray Kallmeyer, CEO and Founder of Enklu (@ExperienceEnklu). After a decades-long career in the AAA video games industry, Ray founded Enklu in 2016 and built and deployed the first wave of spatial apps in augmented reality for the Microsoft HoloLens globally. He now helps enterprises accelerate their spatial transformation with an end-to-end solution which empowers today's workforce with tomorrow's technology.Enklu's mission is to empower creators with transparent technology. Ray believes in a future where technology fades into the background and people can become more present with each other and their environment.Ray is an entrepreneur, startup advisor, patent author, featured artist, and public speaker at universities such USC, Stanford, and MIT.Website: EnkluLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/raykallmeyer/Twitter: @ExperienceEnkluShow Notes: Enklu and its origin story that stems back to Ray's childhood Why Ray chose entrepreneurship The “reality distortion field” and building innovative technology Identifying Enklu's ideal customer profile and use cases The realities of how the metaverse and AR will impact the future of work and the world Enklu's big vision More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Andrew Berman (@berman66), Co-Founder and CEO of Vowel, the world's first complete meeting solution designed to make every meeting more inclusive and worthwhile – before, during, and after. Vowel is a collaboration platform that makes meetings searchable, shareable centers of knowledge for your business. By redefining what data capture is capable of, they are optimizing the potential of every team.They are a remote-first company whose 20+ employees span four continents. Their team is made up of engineers, designers, inventors, entrepreneurs and security experts – from leading organizations like Google, Bridgewater, Nanit, Airbnb, Casper, Recombine and others. They're building both an inclusive product and an inclusive team that celebrates diverse cultures and backgrounds. Andrew's inspiration is to apply new technology to build products that can touch millions of people in ways that were impossible before. He is also the founder of Nanit, the first camera to track human behavior (the leading baby monitor), an experienced investor from seed to LBO stages (Silicon Valley, NY and other markets), and an active and experienced angel investor (with investments in SaaS, Security, Healthcare, Consumer and CV/AI).Website: VowelLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aberman/Twitter: @berman66Use coupon code: JUSTGOGRIND for 3 months free of unlimited seats on Vowel'sPro plan (monthly only)!Show Notes: How Vowel is creating instant searchable, shareable knowledge through a modern video conferencing tool Andy's journey to founding Vowel How the idea for Vowel stemmed from Nanit's pain points as a distributed team Early distribution and organic growth through Twitter How Vowel's original use-cases have expanded naturally and leaning into user-led product development Giving their users a 10x improved media experience through their next generation video platform The challenges of building Vowel Recruiting the original founding team Building remote-first company culture The fundraising process and Vowel's powerful cap table of operator- angel investors How to vet investors Their B2B growth strategy Developing their freemium business model How they view competition and taking on legacy brands Learnings as a multi-time founder and former VC What motivates Andy to challenge the status quo and build innovative companies Andy's thoughts on the future of work and running remote teams Snagging the vowel.com domain name More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Matt Cohen (@mattybcohen), Founder and Managing Partner at Ripple Ventures, an early-stage venture fund seeking investments in B2B SaaS Startups in various industries ripe for disruption with a focus on workflow automation and data & analytics platforms. As serial entrepreneurs, they are actively involved with all their investments and aren't scared to roll up their sleeves and get dirty. They support entrepreneurs who seek to revolutionize the most competitive global industries by solving difficult problems with the most unique solutions. Their industry focuses include: enterprise software, healthcare technology, and industrial technology. Matt founded Ripple Ventures in 2018 to help entrepreneurs and start-ups learn from his experiences while giving them more than just capital to succeed. With their 'Operators-First' approach, they work with companies every day not just every quarter. Matt Cohen is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist focused on early-stage technology. He knows the risk entrepreneurs take when starting a company, and understands what helps them succeed at the earliest stage. He has hands-on experience in selling enterprise SaaS solutions to the top financial institutions globally, and sees the importance of working with trusted advisors and partners early to help scale a business faster. Website: Ripple VenturesLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1/Twitter: @mattybcohenPodcast: Tank TalksShow Notes: How the many facets of Ripple were developed How to build resilient companies The decision to build The Tank – a physical incubator space How the pandemic impacted The Tank How Matt is supporting their founders with mental health Building strong infrastructure to withstand unstable markets Transparency in their relationship with LPs Their concentrated portfolio and deployment strategy through Fund III Their Ripple Fellowship Program to support underrepresented founders and future funders Matt's perspective on the future of Web3 Matt's family office and how he began investing as an LP More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Brandon Brooks (@OfficialBBrooks), tech entrepreneur, founder & founding partner at Overlooked Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on transparently supporting and investing in early-stage tech and tech-enabled startups with one or more historically ignored founder that are building for humanity, wellness, and in industries lacking innovation.Brandon has partnered with organizations such as the Pittsburgh Steelers and Players Coalition on various social justice initiatives. With his experience as a bootstrapped tech founder, he looks to share his experiences and insights with other overlooked founders so their startups can excel. Keep an eye out for Brandon's next project, to be announced in 2023!Website: Overlooked VenturesLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/inventrify/Twitter: @OfficialBBrooksEmail: brooks@zinsu.coShow Notes: How Brandon is serving founders in the ecosystem through Inventrify, the first black-owned crowdfunding platform in U.S. and Overlooked Ventures, which he founded with Janine Sickmeyer Why Brandon feels a responsibility to solve the problems he's tackling How Brandon's community approach to venture stems from his upbringing The early days of launching Overlooked Ventures The role audio spaces played in enabling Brandon to build a network and being a very early Clubhouse user Developing the thesis for Overlooked Ventures and discovering their value-add as investors Making the democratization of VC a reality by intentionally not taking warm intros How Brandon found direction for his next project and how he stays true to his vision and beliefs How to handle difficult conversations How Brandon is approaching things differently as he builds his newest venture More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Rachel Cossar (@rachelonpointe), Co-Founder and CEO of Virtual Sapiens, a machine learning SaaS platform leveraging AI to help client-facing professionals measurably improve their comfort and confidence in order to master communication skills over video. Like a virtual coach, Virtual Sapiens leverages expert knowledge in body language and presence and provides convenient avenues for receiving personalized feedback and coaching. Users can benchmark their video presence and improvement in their own time with their Virtual Presence Assessment. Users can also use their in-call communication coach, the Sidekick, to receive in-call coaching nudges and encouragements to ensure every call is a success. Both solutions come with progress tracking analytics, so you can actually see your progress over time. Virtual Sapiens amplifies human connection, builds human skills, and leverages cutting edge technology to do so at scale over time. Virtual Sapiens is a VITALIZE portfolio company.Rachel Cossar is a leader in the field of nonverbal communication and leadership presence facilitation. As a former nationally ranked athlete and professional ballet dancer, Rachel has a knack for translating unique skills into relatable business competencies. Virtual Sapiens, Rachel's most recent venture, comes as an evolution of her combined work as founder of Choreography for Business, a nonverbal communication consulting firm, as well as a faculty member with Mobius Executive Leadership and as a leadership presence facilitator with Ariel Group. Rachel has worked with leaders from GE, BCG, Pfizer, Accenture, McKinsey, HBS and more.Rachel believes in the power of leveraging unique channels of communication in their own ways. Whether it is in person, on stage, or on video, human connection is the key to organizational impact. At Virtual Sapiens and in all endeavors, Rachel is known to lean in to the future, to uncertainty, and to strengthening human experiences in business and beyond. Rachel's thought leadership has been featured on the TEDx Northeastern stage, Harvard Business Review, The Boston Globe, Psychology Today and more.Website: Virtual SapiensLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rachel-cossar/Twitter: @rachelonpointeShow Notes: What Virtual Sapiens is Rachel's background as a professional ballet dancer and how it led her to found Virtual Sapiens How Rachel leveraged the pandemic transition to a virtual world to get Virtual Sapiens off the ground The question of bringing on a technical cofounder vs. outsourcing How Rachel connected with her technical co-founder, and deciding to work together Product development from original vision to today How early feedback provided validation and informed product development Their ideal customer and how that profile shifted since inception How Rachel envisions Virtual Sapiens fitting into the Future of Work The decision to go through an accelerator and choosing the Roux Institute chapter of Techstars Virtual Sapiens' business model and pricing strategy Lessons from the first 2 years of running a tech startup The big vision for Virtual Sapiens More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Anna Barber (@annawbarber), partner at M13, a venture firm accelerating businesses in the future of consumer behavior with four pillars: Health, Money, Work and Commerce. M13 is building a team of industry-leading operating executives to help founders make better decisions and win in their category. They believe founders deserve an investor who propels them on their mission of transforming an idea into a successful company, while staying out of their way. This is why they are building a Venture Engine, a full-service venture firm that provides the right people, platform, and partnerships for founding teams to build high-velocity businesses. M13 injects capital to fuel high-growth, while helping founding teams fill gaps in their businesses through their Propulsion Team, which provides strategic counsel, operational expertise, and a constellation of talent, experts, and resources to accelerate growth. Where they see whitespace in an industry, their Launchpad develops the right founding teams, products, and practices to incubate and launch an idea from inception.An investing partner at M13, Anna is focused on Series A and seed. Previously, she was the managing director of Techstars LA and also a partner in The Fund LA. A certified executive coach, Anna has been a corporate lawyer, McKinsey consultant, product exec, talent manager, film producer, round-the-world traveler and outdoor adventurer. As an entrepreneur, she has been a founder, co-founder and early employee at e-commerce, media and ed tech startups. She serves on the Advisory Board of PledgeLA and is a member of AllRaise.Website: M13LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annawbarber/Twitter: @annawbarberShow Notes: M13's investment focus Anna's path to becoming a partner at M13 The learning process and adjustment from investing at pre-seed and early stage to Series A How M13's studio arm, Launchpad, supports their core investing strategy M13's structure and Launchpad's unique incubation strategy Areas Anna is excited about investing in and some of her recent investments (including AllVoices, Northstar and WeeCare) Anna's reflections on tech for working mothers Anna's insights on how Gen Z trends will affect the future of work and commerce How Anna approaches supporting founders The M13 team's Propulsion model of portfolio support Anna's experience creating community and inclusion through The Fund LA and Pledge LA and LA Tech Week Evaluating founders for Series A investments at M13 Anna's fascinating Air Guitar era How Anna embodies her mom's fierceness More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

This is a special episode pulled from the VITALIZE vault—back when The VITALIZE Podcast was Talking Venture! Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Allison Robinson (@mrsrobinson_a), CEO and Founder of The Mom Project, a VITALIZE portfolio company. The Mom Project is a digital talent marketplace and community that connects professionally accomplished women with world-class companies for rewarding employment opportunities. They are changing the way women work and redefining career structures by providing women with real work opportunities that are in balance with their personal goals. This evolution will keep more talented, professionally accomplished women in the workforce. As of September 2022, The Mom Project hit a major milestone: their talent community is now home to over 1 million moms, dads, and allies. After having her son Asher in 2015, Allison identified how universally challenging it can be for American mothers to juggle the demands of motherhood with a full-time career and decided to tackle the issue on a national scale. Prior to founding The Mom Project, Allison spent 7 years at Procter and Gamble working on go-to-market strategies for leading household brands with a special focus on moms during her tenure on the Pampers brand.Website: The Mom ProjectLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/allison-m-robinson/Twitter: @mrsrobinson_aEmail: allison.robinson@themomproject.comShow Notes: How The Mom Project is connecting talented women with world-class employers as a marketplace matchmaker and their growth plans for the future Allison's journey from joining Procter & Gamble at the age of 19 to founding The Mom Project The customer discovery process and steps Allison took to build an MVP Deciding to partner with an agency to build their product Leveraging their mission to pitch and onboard companies for The Mom Project's marketplace From bootstrapping to VC fundraising What has fueled The Mom Project's growth Their three-pronged go-to-market strategy and scaling by minimizing friction Developing their business model What moms want from work The pandemic's impact on working moms and how it further validated The Mom Project's mission Acquiring Werk and Glassbreaker and how they approached integration Launching their 501c3 Rise to elevate women of color The platform's user experience for moms How they've solved the supply-demand matching challenge by strategically engaging moms beyond job placement Building out The Mom Project's team How Allison's role as CEO and founder has evolved since the early days Allison's view on the Future of Work, particularly for moms How she views the potential of the creator economy How Allison stays inspired More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Dan Kimerling (@dkimerling), Founder and Managing Partner of Deciens Capital, a venture capital firm that supports early-stage founders building the next generation of enduring companies in financial services.Deciens Capital exclusively focuses on financial technology investments with interests in payments, lending, insurance, regtech, risk management, capital markets, trade finance, personal finance, savings, marketplaces, and much more. They seek visionary founders at the earliest stage of their company's life. They support their founders with advice, expertise, relationships, and, yes, capital.Dan Kimerling is a start-up veteran with three exits, an angel with 30+ deals, an experienced GP, LP, and CxO. He is focused on the future of Financial Services in the US and abroad. Educated at the University of Chicago, YCombinator, and Kauffman Fellows.Website: DeciensLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dkimerling/Twitter: @dkimerlingShow Notes: Deciens' investment thesis How hard criteria, soft criteria, and timing must align to get a yes from Deciens Why leading deals is key to their thesis The reality of the transition from angel investing to running a fund The parallels between enterprise sales and raising a fund The challenge of how to market Deciens authentically and learning to tell their story engagingly Deciens' Venture Partner role dedicated to capital partnerships and capital formation The importance of partnering a great product with successful sales marketing as a VC fund How Dan's experience as a founder/operator has influenced how he works with founders as an investor Common failure patterns among VC funds Deciens' investment in Sydecar Key traits to look for in a founder Deciens' investment in Chipper Cash What's next for Deciens More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Bobby Franklin, the President and CEO of the National Venture Capital Association (@nvca) and Board Chair of Venture Forward. Since 2013, Bobby Franklin has led the venture community's preeminent trade association focused on empowering the next generation of transformative American companies. As president and CEO of NVCA, he champions public policy that supports the American entrepreneurial ecosystem, making NVCA the dominant voice of the U.S startup ecosystem.In 2020, Franklin led the launch of Venture Forward, NVCA's connected organization which drives the industry's human capital by promoting a strong, diverse, and inclusive venture community that will fuel the economy of tomorrow. Through its VC University program, Venture Forward has educated more than 1500 aspiring and early career VCs, many from historically underrepresented communities.In 2022, he started hosting NVCA's first-ever podcast called Venture Capitol. The show provides listeners a unique look at public policy through the eyes of America's venture capitalists who are investing in the high growth companies of tomorrow. The podcast brings together VCs, policymakers, and policy influencers to discuss and debate issues that impact our nation's economic future.Prior to joining NVCA, Franklin spent ten years at CTIA, representing the entire wireless industry. Before CTIA, he served as Vice President, Federal Government Affairs and head of Alltel's Washington, D.C. office. Franklin began his professional career with eight years of experience on Capitol Hill working for Senator David Pryor (D-AR). Franklin earned his B.S.B.A. in Finance and Banking from the University of Arkansas. He and his wife, Julia, have three young adults and reside in Arlington, VA. Websites: NVCA & Venture ForwardNVCA's Podcast hosted by Bobby: Venture CapitolLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bfranklindc/Twitter: @nvca  Show Notes: NVCA: lobbyists for the entrepreneurial ecosystem Recent policy trends and updates affecting the VC/startup ecosystem and the potential impact they'll have NVCA membership as a resource for keeping up with VC policy changes How NVCA determines which policies to prioritize and the balance between playing offensively and defensively in policymaking Where NVCA is currently focusing their energy and what changes Bobby wants to see in the industry How Venture Forward is diversifying the industry by democratizing access to information and education about being a VC The 2022 VC Human Capital Survey as the definitive resource on VC demographics Bobby's thoughts on the LP-GP dynamic and the long game nature of the industry The challenge of policy-makers' disconnect from the VC industry Bobby's observations from a decade in VC policy What can be done to advance the industry beyond the JOBS Act Industry trends Bobby is excited about Why you need to pay attention to and engage with VC policy-making More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Patrick Utz (@PatrickUtz), Co-Founder & CEO of Abstract, the premier platform and database for working with California state & local legislation that's bringing lobbying and advocacy into a new era by increasing government transparency. Abstract streamlines how you research and track bills, organize notes, brief stakeholders, and collaborate over legislation in real-time. More than just a bill tracker, Abstract provides the tools necessary to influence legislation and keep stakeholders aligned, all in one place.Abstract is a VITALIZE portfolio company that recently raised $2.5M from several notable investors, on their thesis of becoming the gateway for understanding messy government data. Website: AbstractLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/patrick-utz/Twitter: @PatrickUtzShow Notes: How Abstract is increasing government transparency Abstract's origin story as a university senior project The evolution of Abstract's product development Leaning into their mission to get an alumni from their university to build Abstract's front-end for free Early customer acquisition through cold outreach Determining their ideal customer base and what Patrick would have done differently Securing funding after 60+ rejections: all while still attending university Defining their early north star metric How they run pilot programs to construct a product road map Structuring Abstract's business model and the dark art of pricing The huge market opportunity for Abstract What puts Abstract above their competition Hiring to elevate not to delegate, and leveraging their mission to win over tech talent What's next for Abstract The decision to build a mobile app The big vision for Abstract More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Zach Hudson (@nosduhz), co-founder of Deft, an ad-free, SEO-free search engine for e-commerce. A VITALIZE portfolio company, they are building the future of e-commerce search by enabling its users to find, research, and buy products all in one place.Zach has 7+ years of experience in e-commerce and gaming technologies, and is a second-time founder. He is a product manager by trade, and a self-taught developer.Website: DeftLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hudsonzp/Twitter: @nosduhzShow Notes: How Deft is enabling trustworthy e-commerce searches The evolution of Deft's product over the last 2 years (since their presentation to Tyler Cowen) Zach's background and how he teamed up with co-founder Alex Gunnarson Narrowing down their target and why they started in the furniture and home decor category Early customer discovery and product development via their “Wizard of Oz” approach How they drove early customer acquisition via organic communities From non-scalable acquisition strategies to the diversification of channels The challenges and complexities of indexing products The evolution of Deft's business model Determining where to establish a paywall for their product Taking on Amazon and Google, and what differentiates Deft How they vet investors Establishing roles and responsibilities as co-founders How being data driven fuels their growth Which metrics they value most Creating stickiness in their product What's next for Deft Developing a browser extension and making UX effortless More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (justingordon212) talks with Marlon Nichols (@MarlonCNichols), the founding managing partner at MaC Venture Capital, a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in visionary founders building the future that the world wants to see, and helping entrepreneurs bring the future into focus to find their breakthrough moment. MaC Venture Capital is the result of the merger between successful Los Angeles and Bay Area based Seed funds, Cross Culture Ventures and M Ventures. They are focused on finding ideas, technology, and products that can become infectious, investing in technology companies that benefit from shifts in cultural trends and behaviors in an increasingly diverse global marketplace. They recently raised their $203M Fund II.Marlon is a Kauffman Fellow who also serves on the Board of Directors. Prior to MaC Venture Capital, Marlon was founder of Cross Culture Ventures and served as Investment Director at Intel Capital. Marlon has an extensive background in technology, private equity, media and entertainment. His unique eye for global and cultural trends, along with shifts in consumer behavior, has helped him uplift and accelerate entrepreneurs and companies that are on the verge of their breakthrough moment. Some of his current and previous portfolio companies include Blavity, Gimlet Media, LISNR, Mayvenn, MongoDB, PlayVS, Pipe, Thrive Market and Wonderschool, among others.Marlon was recently honored as a member of the 2022 class of the LA500 list and as a top early stage investor on Insider's 2022 Seed 100 list. Additionally, he is the recipient of MVMT50's SXSW 2018 Innovator of the Year award, Digital Diversity's Innovation & Inclusion Change Agent award and was a TechWeek 100 winner. He was named Pitchbook's 25 Black Founders and VCs to Watch in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and one of Silicon Republic's 26 VC professionals spearheading change. Marlon has been featured on TechCrunch, Fortune, Cheddar, MSNBC, Blavity and NBC, and is adjunct faculty in entrepreneurship and venture capital at the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University.Website: MaC Venture CapitalLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marloncnichols/Twitter: @MarlonCNicholsMarlon on the Just Go Grind Podcast in March 2021: Episode #285 on JGGShow Notes: What enabled MaC Venture Capital to double their first raise, closing a $203M Fund II The value of a strong reserves strategy MaC Venture Capital's investment in Pipe, which transforms recurring revenue into up-front capital for growth without dilution or restrictive debt The story behind MaC Venture Capital's investment in Truebill, now Rocket Money (check out Co-Founder Haroon Mokhtarzada's episode on the Just Go Grind podcast) What makes a stellar founder How they ended up investing in Mahmee and what makes their founder Melissa Hanna such an investable founder Where Marlon is excited to invest next How Marlon educates himself on new geographies and markets Marlon's perspective on investing in the current market downturn More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Shruti Gandhi (@atShruti), founder and General Partner of Array Ventures, a venture capital firm that focuses on solving impactful problems in the world leveraging revolutionary technology. Often that means category-leading startups that take advantage of data, analytics, workflows, and new platforms to change the way an industry works. They invest in smart people with a bold mission who take big risks in large or new markets.Shruti brings a strong mix of operating and investing experience. She spent her early career as a developer on mainframe security, collaboration tools, and data analytics. Post engineering, she was an early stage venture capital investor at True Ventures, Samsung Electronics, Lightbank, HighBAR Partners, and the i2A Fund. She is also professor in the Computer Science department at Columbia University.Website: Array VenturesLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shrutigandhi/Twitter: @atShrutiShow Notes: Array Ventures' investment focus How a failed company led Shruti to found Array Ventures and determine their thesis Raising a fund as a solo female GP back in 2015 and her early pitch to investors Investing in solutions that solve agitating pain points in enterprise tech stacks What founders can expect with Array on their cap table How Shruti's extensive background impacts where she invests Signals that Shruti looks for to identify breakout companies at a very early stage, such as Placer.ai The complexities around being a solo GP How raising Fund III differed from the first two Growing the Array Ventures team after raising a $56M Fund III Array Ventures' portfolio construction and ownership targets The impact Shruti has personally felt with the increasing number of women in VC How Shruti views trends and evaluates innovation in enterprise software Shruti's unique view on remote work How Shruti manages her mental wellbeing Balancing the many stakeholders in VC More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Peter Barba (@pbarba_22) and Zygimantas (Zygi) Zabieta (@zzabieta), Co-Founders of Lectrium, a full-service platform for EV home charging on a mission to make every home EV-ready. They make the home charging installation process easy through their network of EVITP certified electricians. At Lectrium, they believe that true carbon neutrality can be achieved only if the transition to EVs is frictionless, and their ambition is to standardize and reduce the cost of the installation process and remove financial barriers for EV adoption.Peter Barba played Division 1 basketball in college and left his job in investment banking to attend Antler's disruptive startup builder in Oslo, Norway, where he met his co-founder. He is passionate about climate technology, electric vehicles, blockchain, and building businesses. Zygi Zabieta loves innovation, EVs, blockchain, renewables, politics, and sustainable planning. He is also a public speaker, host & co-founder of Impact Meetups Vilnius, Community Champion for Nordics and Baltics at WEF Global Shapers, and got his Master of Science degree in Environmental Management & Policy at Lund University (IIIEE). Website: LectriumLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/peter-barba/ and linkedin.com/in/zabieta/Twitter: @pbarba_22 and @zzabietaShow Notes: How Lectrium is making U.S. homes EV-ready Lectrium's origin story How they ended up at the Antler accelerator How Peter and Zygi met at Antler, bonded, and decided to work together The evolution of Lectrium during the Antler program—how a bad idea became the goldmine What customer discovery looked like for Lectrium Product development and using no-code tools (Zyro and Typeform) for initial building Getting their first paying customers Lectrium's business model and customer acquisition Bottom-up vs. top-down dealership acquisition strategies How they're approaching growth in these early stages How new U.S. public EV charging mandates could affect Lectrium The argument for residential vs. public EV charging The potential for partnering with auto-manufacturers directly Onboarding electricians and their role in Lectrium's success How they're approaching brand recognition and marketing, and startup showers as the new baby showers How they're managing a distributed team across time zones Their execution plan to succeed as market leaders in the next few years More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Jesse Randall (@SweaterCEO), CEO and Co-Founder of Sweater Ventures, a VC fund that pools money from millions of regular people and invests it into emerging technology and product companies poised for growth—companies you'll see in your daily life or at work. At Sweater Ventures, they believe that every founder should be able to build their vision, and every person should be able to support the startups that create the next generation of influence and wealth. Their mobile-first experience allows you direct access to the world's most exclusive asset class—Venture Capital.Jesse Randall originally set out to raise a traditional venture fund, but immediately raised an eyebrow at the accredited investor requirement. Is that really still necessary? The Sweater Ventures team is hell-bent on leveling the playing field and reinventing venture capital to reach its maximum potential. That starts by creating a venture capital fund that anyone can invest in.Website: Sweater VenturesLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/deviantstrat/Twitter: @SweaterCEOShow Notes: How Sweater Ventures is democratizing VC investing Jesse's background and Sweater Ventures' origin story in the history of accreditation laws The process that took 4 years from idea inception to launching Sweater Ventures Sweater Ventures' fundraising inception and Jesse's personal tip for surviving the raise How they pitched investors on the concept of disrupting the VC industry Sweater Ventures' go-to-market strategy and how they leveraged the time waiting for SEC approval The marketing behind building Sweater Ventures' waitlist Developing multi-channel legitimacy The model behind Sweater Ventures and how they're different from a traditional venture fund Sweater Ventures' unique redemption windows The Sweater Ventures app and why they're a mobile-first company Sweater Ventures' investment thesis Building out a team for Sweater Venture's unique structure The story behind the Sweater name Where to connect with Jesse and why he prefers LinkedIn as a platform More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Shayna Harris (@mamashayna) and Noramay Cadena (@noramayc), co-founders and managing partners at Supply Change Capital, a VC firm that believes in a future of food that is sustainability-mindful, supply chain efficient, better for you, and culture rich. They invest at the intersection of food, culture, and technology to catalyze early stage sustainable businesses that modernize the food system.Noramay Cadena is an aerospace engineer turned investor whose professional career has spanned a diverse range of operating and investing environments, from early-stage startups to Fortune 50 companies. She previously launched MiLA Capital, an early stage fund that invested in over 20 manufacturing and supply chain companies. She also leads investments for Portfolia's Rising America Fund, a micro fund investing in Latinx, Black and LGBTQIA founders. She serves on the advisory board of the Homeboy Industries Ventures and Jobs Fund, and as a founding board member of Latinx VC, an organization increasing the Latino ecosystem of funders and founders. She was appointed to the board of the Housing Authority Commission of Los Angeles (second largest housing authority in the nation) by the Los Angeles Mayor. In 2020, she was named one of 50 renowned women in robotics, one of 10 Latinas making waves in venture capital, and one of the top 100 influential Latinas in the United States. She's a Kauffman Fellow and holds a MBA, a Master's in Engineering Systems and a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering – all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She's also a Director Member of the Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA).Shayna Harris brings an insider's eye to the industry, from architecting the 21st-century chocolate supply chain at Mars to building the groundbreaking food tech company Farmer's Fridge. She advises Fortune 100 companies and startups on navigating the fast-changing food terrain, and writes for Forbes. She has spent her career at the intersection of food, sustainability, and innovation. She's driven by a deep personal belief that food is a human right, and it should have a positive impact on all it touches. She cares to connect with people in authentic and personal ways; spanning from the farmers that she lived with and learned from in southern Mexico, Brazil, and Cote d'Ivoire, to the board rooms of Mars, Oxfam, and Farmer's Fridge. She's also a builder – she has never taken a role with a job description. Website: Supply Change CapitalLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/noramay/ and linkedin.com/in/shaynaharris/Twitter: @noramayc and @mamashaynaShow Notes: How both Shayna and Noramay ended up in the VC industry Supply Change Capital's origin story How Noramay and Shayna came to develop Supply Change Capital's investment thesis at the intersection of culture and climate in the future of food Their fundraising journey and storytelling around their thesis What differentiates Supply Change Capital The FOODS framework for evaluating founders Their Supercharge III post-investment support program in partnership with Verde Associates Their favorite up and coming food trends Some of Supply Change Capital's most interesting investments: Aqua Cultured Foods and Hyfé Foods How Shayna and Noramay stay educated in the rapidly changing future of food market How Shayna and Noramay protect their time as VCs How they've approached building out the Supply Change Capital team More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Kelly Graziadei (@kkgraz) and Joanna Lee Shevelenko, the founders and General Partners of f7 Ventures (@F7Ventures), a seed investment fund comprised of seven senior female operators who met at Facebook. With expertise in product, engineering, sales, marketing, partnerships, HR, and operations, they invest in and help bold founders grow and scale at their earliest stages. During their tenures at Facebook, Google, Yahoo and beyond, they managed and developed thousands of people across dozens of teams around the world. They grew and managed revenue from $0 to > $15B, scaled user growth to over a billion, launched over 30 new products globally, and led teams across almost every organizational discipline.Kelly Graziadei brings 20 years of leadership experience in tech and consumer internet with companies ranging from 3 people to 200,000. She spent 7 1/2 years at Facebook in leadership positions in sales, product marketing and media. Kelly joined Facebook in 2010 and built and led its Mid-Market Sales & Account Management team in North America. She then led Facebook's Monetization Product Marketing for the Direct Response Ads & Commerce business globally, focused on inbound product strategy and global go-to market. Throughout her career, Kelly has driven dramatic scale, revenue growth and product development while establishing teams and cultures that help people perform at their full potential. In 2018, Kelly became a founding partner of F7. Joanna Lee Shevelenko joined Facebook in 2006 as one of the first 100 employees. She built multiple teams 0-1 including content moderation, site integrity and user insights. Started the Facebook India office, worked on Facebook's first ecommerce effort, growth strategies, stealth mobile projects and top partnerships. After Facebook, she became the COO at Premise Data (series C) and COO of Atrium (series B). In addition to being a founding partner of F7, she's also the EIR at Social Capital and Board Director at mPharma.Website: f7 VenturesLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kellygraziadei/ & linkedin.com/in/joannaleeshevelenko/Twitter: https://twitter.com/kkgrazEmail: hello@f7ventures.comShow Notes: The journey of founding f7 Ventures Deciding to go from angel investing to starting an institutional fund The process of raising capital for f7 and fundraising as rejection exposure therapy What differentiates f7 for LPs Defining f7's mission, vision and values and how that constantly impacts their execution Navigating co-founder dynamics: different skillsets and personalities but aligned values f7's investment thesis and what ties together their three buckets Their specific rubric for evaluating founders Establishing accessibility and building trust with their founders and how they provide value to their portfolio companies Their plan for future funds Some of their biggest surprises and learnings since launching f7 How investing has changed from 2021 to 2022 with recent market shifts The process of investing in CloudEagle Their off-cycle investment in Done What they're most excited about in the realm of Future of Work More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Amy Eliza Wong (@amyelizawong), the founder of Always On Purpose®. She is an executive leadership coach, author, speaker, and facilitator working with organizations such as Airbnb, Salesforce, Roku, LinkedIn, Facebook, and more. Amy offers transformative leadership development and cutting-edge communication strategies to executives and corporate teams around the world, as well as institutions including Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley. She pulls from various disciplines, studies, and practices to find a consilient approach to achieve flow and create profound impact through the three lenses of Self, Relationships, and Results. As a certified executive coach with expertise in transpersonal psychology, design thinking, interpersonal neurobiology, and Conversational Intelligence®, Amy has catalyzed transformative growth for hundreds of executives and teams. She has a passion for helping leaders identify blind spots, reclaim precious time, energy and creative bandwidth, and create next level impact. Her new book, Living On Purpose, was released in March of 2022.Website: Always on PurposeLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/amyelizawong/Twitter: @amyelizawong Show Notes: How Amy became an executive coach Amy's North Star of feeling it out instead of figuring it out, and how she has put it into practice to build her business How Amy defines who is a good fit for her work  The process of enabling people to get unstuck Self-worth as the common theme Amy sees her clients struggle with The question to ask to understand exactly how you're holding yourself back Amy's constant evolution as a coach and how she defines her work Amy's system approach and how she equips teams for better communication Indicators of when to work with an executive coach How Amy came to write her book, Living on Purpose The challenging jump from coaching individuals to writing a book for a wide audience More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (justingordon212) talks with (@SamaraMHernandz), the Founding Partner at Chingona Ventures, an institutionally-backed pre-seed stage fund investing in the next generation of badass founders building technology and technology-enabled companies all over the U.S. In May 2022, Chingona Ventures announced the close of their $52M Fund II.Samara has over 15 years of experience in investing, selling, and advising on both public and private markets. She has a background in sales, operations and technology at Goldman Sachs. She was an early-stage investor with MATH Venture Partners and advisor to Angeles, Camino Financial, and Chicago Blend. Samara is actively involved in the Chicago tech community and passionate about helping underrepresented groups get into STEM education, venture capital and entrepreneurship. She co-founded the Latinx Founders Collective organization to bring together Latinx founders, investors, and community leaders to support the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Samara is an active member of Latinx VCs, a San-Francisco based group of experienced venture investors coming together to connect, engage, and foster the Latinx VC ecosystem. She studied engineering at the University of Michigan, and has her MBA from Northwestern University. Samara is a proud Mexican immigrant and mama to a toddler.Website: Chingona VenturesLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/samaramejia/Twitter: @SamaraMHernandzSamara on the Just Go Grind Podcast in January 2021: https://www.justgogrind.com/samara-mejia-hernandez-podcast/Show Notes: Samara's journey to raising a $52M fund for Chingona Ventures, including doubling her target Portfolio construction from Fund I to Fund II  Funding 80% women and minorities and getting them in a position to grow a venture-backed business Building out the Chingona Ventures team and offering opportunities to interns What Samara is prioritizing platform-wise Having an authentic social media presence The origin story of one of Chingona Ventures' most successful investments, Career Karma, and meeting founder Ruben Harris via cold outreach The process of raising Fund I vs Fund II Participating as a Kauffman Fellow Samara's thoughts on leadership and passion More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Drew Leahy, Managing Partner at Hawke Ventures (@hawkeventures), an early stage consumer and B2B marketing technology fund. He is also the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Hawke Media. Prior to Hawke, Leahy was Chief Marketing Officer and co-founder of SnapSuits.com, a tech-forward men's fashion e-retailer with over $2M+ in revenue. Drew was also Entrepreneur-in-Residence at memBrain in Los Angeles, making investments with tech and entertainment angel investors Ken Hertz and Liz Heller.He is a data-driven, product focused entrepreneur and VC, motivated by the thousands of softwares that power brands. He has extensive experience in consumer mobile & web, b2b SaaS, social media, video, apparel, and entertainment verticals. His product mantra: Vision (big), Execution (small), Test (thorough), Revise (smart). Repeat. He obsesses over conversion rate optimization, which is part art, part science.Website: Hawke Ventures & Hawke MediaLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drewleahy/Twitter: @hawkeventuresEmail: drew@hawkemedia.comDrew's first podcast episode with Justin in 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8w_JjvSokcShow Notes: The journey from closing Hawke Ventures' first $5.6M fund to raising a $25M fund  How Drew is thinking about building out their team & how different firms approach the platform role How Hawke Ventures leverages the relationship with Hawke Media What Hawke Ventures is looking for in potential portfolio companies with their lead check fund Hawke Ventures' unique portfolio construction strategy and the value of a narrow investment thesis Evaluating companies' alignment with their thesis and what it means to hustle alongside their founders Some of the stories behind Hawke Ventures' portfolio companies and how their “tracker checks” work What makes them repeat-invest in a company How their diversity-focused Venture Scout Program came about Drew's thoughts on the current VC market More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Mariam Hakobyan (@mariam_hakobyan), Co-Founder and CEO of Softr, the easiest no-code platform for building custom apps and portals, in minutes. With Softr, you can build client portals, internal tools, marketplaces, online communities, resource directories, websites and more. They believe the world is missing out on some of the most creative minds, ideas and innovation (99.7% to be exact), and have set out to change that with Softr by democratizing software building so anyone can build businesses without tech skills.Softr grew from 0 to 50K+ users in

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Tony Jamous (@jamingo), the CEO and founder of Oyster, a Global Employment Platform that empowers companies to hire, pay, and care for team members wherever they are in the world. Oyster allows growing companies to tap into the global talent pool and offer their remote workers around the world a great employment experience. They are on a mission to make the world a better place by making it possible for any talented person in the world to realize their full potential through fulfilling, fairly-compensated work. Website: OysterOptimize for distributed work: Oyster AcademyLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/teljamou/Twitter: @jamingoTony on the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/tony-jamous-podcast/Show Notes: Oyster: a global employment platform How the talent shortage and digital transformation trends have fueled Oyster's growth to reach $1B valuation in less than 2 years Building a team that resembles the planet Earth, at 500+ employees distributed in 60 countries, and 60% women The operational logistics of a huge distributed team using their “follow the sun” model Leading by example: how to be the best remote worker Oyster's open source academy for remote workers Tony's perspective on the global distributed work trend and how it reconnects us to our communities Incorporating in-person time with a distributed team and the downside of hubs What has tangibly impacted Oyster's GTM strategy and their rapid growth Oyster's category-creation playbook Tony's thoughts on the future of work and how distributed work can make the world more resilient More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

In this episode, Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks again with Gale Wilkinson (@galeforceVC), Founder and Managing Partner at VITALIZE, a seed-stage venture fund and angel community investing in The Work Revolution. In this round with Gale, we dig into the details of the Work Revolution and VITALIZE's investment focus.Previously, Gale founded IrishAngels, one of the largest angel groups in the world. She has led $65M+ in early-stage deals across 80+ startups. Her experience prior to VC includes founding two failed startups, consulting for new product launches with Nielsen, and strategy with Orbitz. Gale received a BBA with honors from Notre Dame and an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She was a founding Board member of the C200 Scholars Network, and she is currently a founding Board member of Chicago Blend, an organization focused on increasing diversity in VC and startups.Website: VITALIZE Venture Capital LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/galevc/Twitter: @galeforceVCVITALIZE Newsletter: Re:VITALIZEVITALIZE Angel Investing Community: VITALIZE AngelsShow Notes: How Gale defines the Work Revolution Why VITALIZE is focused on the Work Revolution VITALIZE's buckets within the Work Revolution Some of VITALIZE's portfolio companies in the each of the Work Revolution buckets How Gale views verticalized solutions and next gen hiring Gale's thoughts on remote work trends The growing trend of hiring internationally Where Gale sees the greatest opportunity within the Work Revolution The shifting space of learning development The over-crowded benefits space New areas Gale is excited about within the Work Revolution Gale's thoughts on both the potential and challenges of the exploding Web3 space How Gale views innovative b2b2c business models  More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Maryanna Saenko (@FutureSaenko), Co-Founder and Partner at Future Ventures, which supports passionate founders who are forging the future. For the past 25 years, Future Ventures has backed the visionaries who push the boundaries of possibility and explore the frontier of the unknown. They focus on disruptive technology such as commercial space exploration, deep learning, quantum computing, robotics, AI, blockchain, sustainable transportation, synthetic biology and clean meat. As venture capitalists, the founders of Future Ventures have led founding investments in several companies that had successful IPOs and others that were acquired for over $16 billion in aggregate. Some of their early VC investments include Memphis Meats, Mythic, Nervana, Planet, Rethink Robotics, Skype, SpaceX, Tesla and Zoox.Maryanna Saenko is an early-stage venture capitalist with an interest in robotics, quantum computing, blockchain, aerospace, and the future of food. Previously she was at Khosla Ventures, and prior to that at DFJ, where she worked with Steve Jurvetson to focus on frontier technology investments. She was also an investment partner at Airbus Ventures where she led a series of venture investments strategically aligned with Airbus' future-of-aerospace initiatives. Before Airbus, Maryanna was a consultant at Lux Research and a research engineer at Cabot Corporation. Maryanna graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BS in BioMedical Engineering and a BS and MS in Materials Science and Engineering.Website: Future VenturesLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/maryannasaenko/Twitter: @FutureSaenkoEmail: maryanna@future.venturesShow Notes: Maryanna's Ukranian background and her thoughts on the current conflict in the region How Maryanna came to co-found Future Ventures with Steve Jurvetson and their big vision How they manage deal flow with just two investors Derisking the customer side of deep tech Future Venture's thesis around deep tech How they conduct due diligence in complex industries Evaluating teams' credibility How they approach onboarding LPs Determining Future Venture's fund size and deployment period The areas Maryanna is most excited about investing in, including the future of food How Maryanna keeps herself organized in terms of aligning her values with Future Venture's portfolio companies More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

This is a special episode pulled from the VITALIZE vault—back when The VITALIZE Podcast was Talking Venture! Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Amanda DoAmaral (@AmandaDoAmanda), Co-Founder of Fiveable, a social learning network for students. Since this original episode released in May 2021, Fiveable has raised a $10M Series A. Fiveable is an educational technology company that is committed to unlocking opportunities for young people through academic and social empowerment. At Fiveable they believe that students who are educated, confident, and informed will open more opportunities for their future. Fiveable aims to give equal opportunities for all students to reach their potential.Amanda DoAmaral is an educator, activist, and co-founder of Fiveable. She spent half a decade teaching high school history in Oakland, CA, where her passion for creating equitable educational opportunities was ignited. Amanda has been a vocal advocate for inclusive history curriculum and is active within the Milwaukee tech community.Website: FiveableLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adoamaral/Twitter: @AmandaDoAmandaShow Notes: What Fiveable does Onboarding Serena Williams and Chelsea Clinton as an investors Fiveable's origin story Turning tutoring ex-students via livestream into a VC-backed startup Fiveable's early growth stage How the Fiveable product has evolved over time Risk assessment and hiring a team Generational entrepreneurship and participating in an accelerator The lack of education about available resources for founders Amanda's experience with gener8tor and how it contributed to Fiveable's growth Raising pre-seed capital and the stress of executing fund allocation What has fueled Fiveable's growth Content development and SEO strategy Managing an expansive team and hiring students The impact of building in public The big vision for Fiveable More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

In this special episode, Justin Gordon (@justingordon212), the Director of Marketing with VITALIZE Venture Capital, interviews three key VITALIZE team members, Founder and Managing Partner Gale Wilkinson (@galeforceVC), Partner Caroline Casson (@carolinecasson_), and Community Manager Larissa Insogna (@LarissaInsogna).VITALIZE Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. VITALIZE has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. We believe in people and process. From our investors to team members to the founders we fund, we are focused on building a community of amazing people. Venture capital is a relationship business, and one of our core differentiators is how we leverage our extensive network to provide value to our portfolio companies. We make valuable connections for our companies, mostly to prospective customers and other VC firms, but we field all types of requests to help our portfolio companies flourish. As founders ourselves, we have learned a lot from building this investment firm. We have implemented effective processes for deal flow, due diligence, and helping our companies post-investment, allowing us to move quickly and offer a high-quality product to founders and investors. VITALIZE Venture Capital: https://vitalize.vc/VITALIZE Angels: https://vitalizeangels.com/VITALIZE on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/vitalizevcVITALIZE on Twitter: @VitalizeVC Show Notes: How Gale got into venture and started the Irish Angels investment network How Caroline decided to partner with Gale Caroline's cross-country cycling adventure and Gale's pandemic road trips Larissa's diverse professional experiences and how she ended up running community at VITALIZE How a cold DM to get Gale on Justin's own podcast led to him joining VITALIZE The challenges and less glamorous side of working in VC How Gale envisions achieving a manageable workload for herself and her team The effect of the COVID pandemic on their schedules Different strategies the team members use to create boundaries for a healthy work-life balance Making investing accessible to everyone through the VITALIZE Angels community Gale and Caroline's thoughts on the future of early stage venture VITALIZE's North Star and the strategy to get there Potential paths for the future of VITALIZE The trailblazing work some of our VITALIZE Angels community members are involved in The due diligence process for VITALIZE Angels What makes a good fit to become a VITALIZE Angels portfolio company What to expect in terms of ROI for our VITALIZE Angels members The value of angel investing communities More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Elizabeth Yin (@dunkhippo33), Co-Founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund, a VC fund that invests in pre-seed software startups. Hustle Fund is often the first check into a startup or in the first round of funding. Beyond the usual criteria that VCs typically look for, they prioritize founders' speed of execution above all else. Per their name, they also make a fast decision after speaking with a company.Elizabeth is a tech entrepreneur turned startup investor. Her mission for the next 30-40 years is to democratize wealth through entrepreneurship. She also blogs about how to raise early stage capital. Previously, Elizabeth was a partner at 500 Startups where she invested in seed stage companies and ran the Mountain View accelerator. In a prior life, Elizabeth co-founded and ran an adtech company called LaunchBit (acq 2014). Elizabeth has a BSEE from Stanford and an MBA from MIT Sloan.Elizabeth has reviewed over 20k startup pitches from around the world in the last few years and has helped numerous portfolio founders raise hundreds of millions of dollars. Her work and writing on startup fundraising has been featured in numerous publications including TechCrunch, Forbes, Huffington Post, BetaKit, and more.Website: Hustle FundLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/elizabethyin/Twitter: @dunkhippo33Elizabeth's Website: https://elizabethyin.com/ Show Notes: The transition from founder to investor and why Elizabeth doesn't actually see herself as a VC The variety of ways Hustle Fund is supporting founders and investors beyond investing capital Behind the scenes of developing Camp Hustle How Angel Squad came about and the power of angel investing communities Elizabeth's perspective on crowdfunding How Hustle Fund provides value and stands out in a crowded industry Becoming widely known for her Twitter threads What Hustle Fund looks for in their potential investments How they evaluate founders in emerging markets Lessons from raising a second fund Their fund strategy and portfolio construction What's next for Hustle Fund More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Jon Morris (@yojonmorris), Founder and CEO of NOWHERE, an online metaverse platform that aims to revolutionize gathering with patent pending video presence technology that allows serendipitous social mingling between conversations with friends or colleagues at conferences, meetings, or parties all within dynamic web environments.Jon Morris is a conceptual artist who creates multilayered installations, performances, and experiences with the express intent of elevating his audience to a sublime state. Challenging the relationship between art and spectator, Morris' work is typically equal parts technical, playful, inventive and rich with depth. From Le Louvre to Lady Gaga from Cirque Du Soleil to the Metropolitan Opera, his work has been praised by NY Times, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Rolling Stone, NBC, VICE, Wired and more. He previously founded The Windmill Factory, an interdisciplinary arts collective that creates interactive installations, immersive performances, stage designs, and experiential events.He has been a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, Kinnernet-Europe Experience Director, LaMaMa ETC Artist in residence, Watermill Center Fellow, Tennessee Williams Fellow, NCAA Post Graduate Scholar, 6-time All-American Springboard Diver, and holds a B.A. from the University of the South, Sewanee. Jon has taught master classes at Harvard, NYU, Columbia, Pace, The University of The South, Vanderbilt. Website: NOWHERELinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jonlmorris/Twitter: @yojonmorrisEmail: jon@urnowhere.comShow Notes: The future of online gathering with NOWHERE's metaverse platform Jon's journey from all-American springboard diver to tech founder NOWHERE as a pandemic-born pivot  Early creative development for the platform Developing NOWHERE's vision and the challenge of finding web3 engineers Sourcing talent and building the NOWHERE team The power of spatial audio in the NOWHERE platform Customer discovery and growing to venture scale How NOWHERE plays into the future of work NOWHERE's competitive advantage More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Amanda Greenberg (@AKGreenberg), Co-Founder and CEO of Balloon, a research-backed platform that unlocks ideas and feedback from a group by eliminating groupthink and amplifying voices. They're rebuilding the way teams collaborate, making them more productive, innovative, informed, and inclusive.Before founding Balloon, Amanda was a public health researcher, translating science and research into national behavior change campaigns for the U.S. CDC and EPA. Her research focused on engagement, listening, and community-based decision-making, and it was in that work that she discovered that groupthink plagues decision-making. To solve this problem, she and her co-founder Noah built Balloon from the ground up to align with research for how to unlock the highest quality and quantity of information from a group...and how to do it in the most productive way possible.Website: BalloonLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/amandagreenberg/Twitter: @AKGreenbergShow Notes: How Balloon is enabling teams to drive better outcomes, leverage creativity, and improve productivity Amanda's background and how it led to great founder-market fit to build Balloon Navigating minimal prior exposure to tech entrepreneurship and VC Deciding to raise funds through angel investors, being Vitalize Angels' first portfolio company, and the value of diverse cap tables The big vision for Balloon  How Balloon's flight templates fuel their growth by building credibility How they on-boarded and partnered with industry experts How pandemic-related shifts in FOW have affected Balloon Balloon's use-cases and the ROI it provides to companies How Balloon uses their own platform internally More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Jonathan Siddarth (@jonsidd), CEO and Founder of Turing, a company on a mission to help unleash the world's untapped potential. Turing's hiring platform combines planetary reach and AI to deliver your ideal engineers in order to help you spin up your engineering dream team. Their deep matching intelligence finds the best Turing developers across 100+ skills like React, Node, Python, Golang, Angular, Swift, Java, and many more. As part of their rigorous vetting process, they also review software engineers' technical abilities, English skills, and remote working capabilities. Turing ensures time zone overlap, transparency, and reliable communication in order to make remote development easy for you after the match.The Turing team has deep expertise in AI and building engineering dream teams in the U.S. at top companies. Turing is backed by well-known investors like Facebook's initial CTO (Adam D'Angelo), executives from Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Founders Fund (investors in Facebook, Tesla, Asana, etc). Turing.com is led by serial A.I. entrepreneurs Jonathan Siddharth and Vijay Krishnan, whose last A.I. firm leveraged remote talent and had a successful acquisition. Website: TuringLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jonsid/Twitter: @jonsiddShow Notes: Jonathan's path to Turing's moment of inception in 2018 How COVID accelerated Turing's growth as our world quickly turned remote-first The challenges that come with hiring and managing fully remote, distributed teams The importance of the market evaluation and opportunity validation stage of building a company Early customer acquisition and why it's important to start with non-scalable approaches The value of specificity and curiosity when narrowing down your ideal customer profile Why companies are choosing Turing today Turing's silicon valley-caliber, cloud-based vetting and matching process When companies should start using Turing and the value it provides Jonathan's thoughts on the future of work More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Deena Shakir (@deenashakir), Partner at Lux Capital, a venture capital firm that makes long-term bets on contrarians and outsiders. At Lux, Deena invests in transformative technologies improving lives and livelihoods, and she is particularly interested in intersectional and underdog entrepreneurs building breakthrough companies to accelerate advances and equity in human and population health.Since joining Lux in late 2019, Deena has led a number of investments across stages and sectors, including in women's health (Maven Clinic, Alife, Adyn), digital health infrastructure (SteadyMD, H1), health equity (Waymark), and foodtech (Shiru), and fintech (Mos and Ramp). Prior to joining Lux, Deena was a Partner at GV (formerly Google Ventures), previously led product partnerships at Google for early stage products in healthcare, AI/ML and search at Google, and directed social impact investments at Google.org.Before tech and venture, Deena had diverse partnership-centric experiences as an aspiring anthropologist, journalist, diplomat, aid worker and technologist. She was a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of State under Secretary Clinton, where she helped launch President Obama's first Global Entrepreneurship Summit in 2010. Her non-traditional path has cultivated Deena's deep conviction in the potential of breakthrough ventures to positively transform the future and garnered her unparalleled network to help them achieve it.Website: Lux CapitalLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/deenashakir/Twitter: @deenashakirShow Notes: Deena's background and how she ended up in VC How her experience across a variety of industries has led to a valuable diverse network How Deena views innovation opportunities in global markets How Deena evaluates the coachability and grittiness of founders Some founders with unique backgrounds that Deena is excited to be working with Deena's strategy around supporting founders The benefits of investing across different stages with Lux Supporting founders through a market downturn Emerging industries where Deena sees a lot of potential Why certain areas such as women's health are underinvested in How Deena began angel investing and breaking down barriers to entry for women Time management and work-life balance Deciding to write a children's book More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Alex Damianou (@alex_damianou), Founder and CEO of OpenAxis, a company that's simplifying and democratizing the data storytelling process. Alex is a multilingual political economist & entrepreneur trying to figure out how the world works. After a brief stint at the United Nations and a failed attempt at a pro soccer career, he went abroad and spent about five years conducting on-the-ground economic research and policy consulting across several emerging markets in Africa & the Middle East. Before returning to the US, he then took on the research & strategy lead for a new $20bn smart city and the world's tallest tower.Now, as a founder, he tries to tackle socio-economic challenges. After starting a macro/geopolitical advisory, he joined Andrew Yang's 2020 Presidential campaign as his national policy director and foreign policy advisor. Today he's focused on democratizing data via OpenAxis, a Vitalize Angels portfolio company. Website: Open AxisLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adamianou/Twitter: @alex_damianouInstagram: instagram.com/openaxishq/Show Notes: OpenAxis as a data storytelling platform How society's poor data literacy drove Alex to start OpenAxis How Alex serendipitously got involved with Andrew Yang's presidential campaign Alex's time working on the Smart Cities project in Saudi Arabia The ideal co-founder combo of complementary skillsets and shared values  OpenAxis' go to market strategy Challenges within customer discovery and onboarding The community-building aspect of OpenAxis How OpenAxis' big vision fits into the Future of Work The reality of being a first-time tech startup founder More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Lolita Taub (@lolitataub), GP at Ganas Ventures where she invests in pre-seed and seed community-driven companies in the US and Latin America. She's on a mission to change the narrative about who's an investor, who we invest in, and the types of founders that build unicorns. With 15 years working within the Silicon Valley ecosystem, Lolita has accomplished $70M+ in sales and made 90+ investments as an angel investor, Scout at Lightspeed Venture Partners, and VC at Backstage Capital and The Community Fund. She is also a Co-Founder of proprietary matching tools Startup-Investor Matching Tool, the GP-LP Matching Tool, and the LaaS community which brings along a community of over 4K+ founders, funders, and ecosystem friends. Forbes and Inc Magazine have featured her as a woman promoting investment in underestimated founders and funders. She has a BA from the University of Southern California and an MBA from the IE Business School. Lolita is currently in LATAM, hunting for unicorns, and most importantly, she is a dog mom to the cutest Dachshund mix, Choco.Website: Ganas VenturesLolita's Website: https://www.lolitataub.co/LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lolitataub/Twitter: @lolitataubLolita's Newsletter: https://lu.ma/lolitataubShow Notes: Lolita's background and how she got into VC What led her to start Ganas Ventures Lolita's journey building community, leveraging her social capital, and expanding her services Raising a fund and LP strategy for Ganas Ventures How Lolita stays organized while maintaining a variety of initiatives Job opportunities with Lolita and what she prioritizes in hiring More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Jennifer Smith (@scribeceo), Co-Founder and CEO of Scribe, a software tool that makes it easy to learn from your most productive people without slowing them down by automatically generating step-by-step tutorials for any task, while they work. Scribe seamlessly captures how work gets done across your organization, enabling you to analyze, optimize, and standardize processes, in a way your employees will love. Founded in 2019, the Scribe team imagines a world where the best of what anyone knows how to do is available to everyone. Instantly and automatically. So every person, company, and community can do their best work, every day. With a little more ease and joy.Prior to founding Scribe, Jennifer spent time at McKinsey & Company and Greylock Partners. She is a Princeton and Harvard Business School alum. Website: ScribeLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jenniferreneesmith/Twitter: @scribeceoShow Notes: How Scribe is making it easy to share how to do something Jennifer's background and realizing she needed to build Scribe to solve a problem she observed for years Going from “someone else will solve it” to “I'm going to solve it” and the first steps she took to start a company Finding developers early in Scribe's journey Talking to 80+ engineers before she connected with her technical co-founder, Aaron Podolny The importance of finding a co-founder that shares your value and vision How organic growth enabled Jennifer and the Scribe team to run lean and focus on building in the right direction without any marketing for the first 1.5 years How their approach to growth and marketing has shifted How they narrowed their target market for a product with such a wide variety of use cases Raising an unexpected Series A for Scribe while pregnant with her first child Jennifer's strategy behind bringing on great angel investors Making Scribe an extremely user-friendly product More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Jonathan Heiliger (@heiligerj), General Partner at Vertex Ventures US, a boutique fund that invests early (often the first!) in enterprising founders who make it possible for new applications and services to be born. Jonathan and his partners have created $6B+ of value as founders themselves, and 'first check' backers. Jonathan co-founded Vertex US in 2015 to empower the next generation of pioneers who are passionate about solving hard problems with tech.Before Vertex US, Jonathan was General Partner at North Bridge Venture Partners, where he led investments in Lytro (acquired by Google), Periscope, Quora, and Ravel Law (acquired by LexisNexis), in addition to co-founding Coolan (acquired by Salesforce). He spent the previous five years at Facebook as Vice President of Infrastructure and Operations, leading global infrastructure, site architecture, and internal systems as the company scaled from 35 million to nearly 1 billion users.Earlier in his career, Jonathan held executive engineering roles at Walmart and Danger (acquired by Microsoft) and spent several years as Chief Operating Officer for Loudcloud/Opsware (IPO then acquired by HP for $1.6 billion). At 19, he co-founded and was Chief Technology Officer of GlobalCenter, one of the first web hosting providers and the world's first native-optical IP network, serving CNN, Netscape, Playboy, and Yahoo! as initial customers. He also founded Global Crossing's venture capital group.Today, through his role at Vertex US, Jonathan holds board seats for a number of their portfolio companies. Looking ahead, he is particularly excited about innovations that will improve how and where we live, specifically in construction and real estate.Website: Vertex Ventures USLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jheiliger/Twitter: @heiligerjEmail: jh@vertexventures.comShow Notes: Where and how Vertex Ventures US is investing How their focus has shifted since launching in the U.S. in 2015 The major changes Jonathan has observed in the VC industry over the years What helps Jonathan and Vertex stay laser focused despite the quick-paced nature of the industry Navigating fund strategy as the market changes How both Vitalize and Vertex address ownership targets How Jonathan approaches mentorship and hard conversations with founders Jonathan's angel investing and advising journey  More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Max Zamkow (@MZamkow), Managing Partner at Third Act Ventures, an early-stage venture firm investing in AgeTech - technology for older adults and their caregivers. Third Act Ventures invests in founders revolutionizing aging, and is the only firm investing across the entire spectrum of AgeTech.A century ago we didn't expect to make it to 60, but now we're surviving well into our 80's and beyond. Surviving, but not thriving. Technology hasn't kept pace with the medical advancements that gave us 20+ extra years of life leaving us directionless, isolated, and alone. Third Act Ventures invests in companies that recognize this massive opportunity to improve the lives of older adults and their caregivers.Website: Third Act VenturesLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mzamkow/Twitter: @MZamkow Newsletter: AgeTech NewsEmail: max@thirdact.vcShow Notes: What AgeTech is Why Third Act Ventures invests in the AgeTech ecosystem and how it's changing The process of developing a thesis and overcoming the lack of interest in AgeTech Emerging models and how social determinants of health are impacting AgeTech How having a wide range of stakeholders has led to lack of innovation in the industry How Max screens for value and the importance of timing The challenge of not being the end user for products he invests in  One of the AgeTech companies Max is excited about Third Act Ventures' strategy as a follow fund and why they're shifting their approach Max's effort to expand investments in the AgeTech industry and shift it from niche to mainstream Justin's thoughts on how to market yourself uniquely to stand out More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Peter Liu (@NewOrleansVC), Managing Partner at Revelry Venture Partners. RVP is a full service venture capital firm with a unique model that includes both a fund investing in pre-seed and seed SaaS and tech-enabled solutions, as well as an incubation studio that supports their founders every step of the way. They are a team of builders that actually work for their founders to solve the problems that matter during the lonely, difficult, and scary initial phases of launching a startup.Website: Revelry Venture PartnersLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/petereliu/Twitter: @NewOrleansVC Show Notes: How Peter first got into VC How he got the idea for what Revelry Venture Partners is today while participating in the Kauffman Fellowship The barbell versus incubation models Peter has observed in VC The different variations of RVP and their unique model How they manage their $15M fund between traditional pre-seed/seed investing and incubating Why they're excited to be based in New Orleans The process of raising their fund and the experience of working with first-time LPs  The challenges of being unique and finding your niche as a VC firm How they evaluate early stage companies and founders to make sure they're a good fit for RVP's model Unique insights on customer acquisition Peter has seen Areas where Peter sees high potential and is excited about investing in  More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Nik Talreja (@niktalreja), Co-Founder and CEO of Sydecar, a platform making smart software and providing superior service to support a new generation of investors and enablers. Sydecar was founded upon the radical idea that anybody should be able to fund entrepreneurs who are changing the world. The opportunity in venture capital is greater than ever. But for aspiring investors, getting started can be intimidating, expensive, and time-consuming. Sydecar makes private investing dead simple so you can focus on what matters most: building relationships and sourcing investment opportunities.A “recovering” corporate attorney, Nik Taljreja is passionate about automating away inefficiency, and is on a mission to create new standards for how we all interact with private markets by enabling the next generation of alternative asset investing.Website: Sydecar.ioLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/niktalreja/Twitter: @niktalrejaShow Notes: How Sydecar serves as an onramp to fluid capital allocation in venture Why Nik is passionate about Sydecar eliminating the inefficiencies of breaking into venture The end to end experience of putting together an SPV through Sydecar Building credibility and trust with their customers and demystifying the legal element of investing Who they're attracting to the Sydecar platform and the impacts of diverse customer interest The need for standardization in deal flow, capital allocation, and reporting Going from lawyer to founder and how Nik has approached team building for Sydecar How and why they've leveraged recruiters in their hiring process How fundraising varied from their first to second round Nik's thoughts on finding time to invest while building a company Nik's complementary dynamic with his co-partner and co-founder David Meister How Nik has leveraged his learnings as a lawyer to build Sydecar  Professional services as a great training ground for future founders Building brand loyalty as a fund What's next for Sydecar and why Nik thinks the future of venture will be more personal Your portfolio as a representation of your story More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Bo Ren (@Bosefina), Director of Early Stage Startups at Silicon Valley Bank. Bo is a liberal arts thinker, PM turned investor, and incubation partner. She marries deep tech expertise (5G, edge, AI) with consumer applications (strong interest in AI apps). She loves to invest and empower product-driven founders building weird shit at the earliest stages. In her free time, she writes about product management, private and public markets, responsible AI, behavioral science, and career pathing. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, New York Times, FastCompany, and Women 2.0. Bo is also a public speaker, covering topics such as creative thinking, designing products for behavioral change, millennial career paths, and why curiosity matters. She is passionate about inspiring people through her nontraditional career path and focusing on building a more inclusive future. Website: Silicon Valley BankLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bo-ren-0ba2218/Twitter: @BosefinaMedium: https://medium.com/@BosefinaSubstack: https://bosefina.substack.com/Show Notes: How Bo got her start in angel investing through advising What pushed Bo to make her first investment Bo's perspective on when to start investing Shifting from an opportunistic approach to sourcing deals through a women's angel group What key elements Bo looks for in the teams she invests in Bo's value-adds as an investor and how she works with founders  The importance of matching a founder's needs with an investor's expertise and approach How being a “nerd herder” benefits her portfolio companies How being the child of immigrant parents affects how Bo invests The double-edged sword of immigrant survivalist mentality  The value of resilience and the intersection of grit and ambition Bo's thoughts on work-life balance and identity Moving from the achievement mindset to the manifestation mindset Bo's journey to joining Silicon Valley Bank and being at the epicenter of the innovation economy  More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Juan Jaysingh (@JuanJaysingh), President and CEO at Zingtree, leading the company's mission to transform complex processes into clear actions for businesses around the globe. Since becoming CEO in January 2020, Juan has focused on scaling and expanding Zingtree as a profitable, B2B SaaS organization working with over 700 customers worldwide. Juan's years of experience in tech entrepreneurship include his time at Universal Tennis, the sports tech startup behind UTR Powered by Oracle. Juan led the GTM strategy and rollout of UTR's community platform to elite clubs and tennis academies worldwide. Juan also founded ZeeMee, a social media community platform for high school students transitioning to college. Under his leadership, ZeeMee was named to the inaugural CNBC Upstart 25 in 2017. Before ZeeMee, Juan held various technology consulting roles.An accomplished tennis player, Juan immigrated to the United States alone at the age of 14. A chance encounter landed him full tennis scholarships to study and compete at Georgetown Prep and then at American University. Juan says passion and integrity drive his work ethic. As he likes to say, “if it's too easy, it's probably not worth it.” Juan and his family reside in Palo Alto, California.Website: ZingtreeLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juanjaysingh/Twitter: @JuanJaysinghEmail: juan@zingtree.comShow Notes: What Zingtree is and how the company was founded on accident Going from consultant to CEO Zingtree's initial completely organic growth (its first 600 customers, 150 of which are enterprise household name logos) How early customers began leveraging Zingtree's tool beyond its original use case Going from focusing on SMBs to being enterprise solution The challenge of joining a startup as a non-founder at the executive level How Zingtree is improving the customer service experience on both ends Defining their ideal customer profile Applying their own product to their internal decision-making processes as they grow Leaning in to the remote work style and how this has amplified the need for Zingtree's software The importance of investing in building culture early amongst a remote team  More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (justingordon212) talks with Heather Hartnett (@HeatherHartnett), General Partner and CEO of Human Ventures, where she and her team have created one of New York's premiere startup studios, incubators and early stage venture funds. Prior to founding Human, Heather's venture capital career spanned across various roles at firms including Lightspeed Venture Partners, CityLight Capital, and Claremont Creek Ventures. Previously, Heather led the development and operations at the David Lynch Foundation, where she worked with some of the country's largest family offices and investment institutions. She's a graduate of the Kauffman Fellowship Program and serves on the board of Transact Global, Trilantic Capital Partners Founder's Council, AARP's Innovation Council, and Summit Impact.Heather is active in the community, serving on the leadership board of tech: nyc and Transact Global. She has been listed as one of The 50 Most Influential Women in America by Hearst Digital Media Publications, is a frequent speaker at TechCrunch Disrupt, and is a regular contributor to Forbes, where she covers a range of venture capital topics.Website: Human VenturesLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/heatherhartnett/Twitter: @HeatherHartnettHeather's Forbes ContributionsHeather with Transact GlobalShow Notes: Human Ventures as a business creation platform How Heather and her partner Joe Marchese started as a startup studio in NYC and how it was received Where Human Ventures focuses their investments How they operationalize their network to build companies How Heather personally manages her network as an investor Being relationship driven and focusing on creating value How she evaluates founders' EQ Their Guide to Being Human Some highlights of Human Venture's portfolio companies Evaluating product vs. distribution Their Humans in the Wild entrepreneur in residence incubation program, born during the pandemic Heather's thoughts on building startup and VC ecosystems Transitioning from an operator to an investor Increasing diversity in VC More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_ Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Ruben Harris (@rubenharris), Co-Founder and CEO of Career Karma, which is helping over 1 million workers navigate their careers every month through advice and coaching. By offering free coaching and peer mentorship, Career Karma has grown to over 150,000 members from every background and profession. Through their directory of 9,000 bootcamps and trade schools, career switchers discover training programs by comparing courses and reading student reviews.Ruben Harris is a Bay Area transplant from Atlanta, Georgia where he served as an Advisor for Forge and organized Atlanta's first Healthcare Hackathon. Over the past couple of years, Ruben has worked with academics, organizers, politicians, and union leaders at Hustle, Honor and AltSchool focused on improving their personalized outreach, healthcare and education.Ruben began his technology career working in Partnerships and Sales and later Co-Founded the Breaking Into Startups Podcast to demystify the process, resulting in a social media reach of ~3 million people and invitations to be a Contributor for TechCrunch and Black Enterprise.Prior to working in tech, Ruben worked as an Investment Banker. During college, Ruben organized 50+ events for non-profits, athletes, and celebrities including Tyrese, Kim Kardashian, and Jay-Z. Ruben has been playing the cello for ~25 years, taught music, performed in venues all over the world - including Carnegie Hall, and landed placements from Def Jam. He is also an active member of the NAACP.Website: Career KarmaLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rubenharrisTwitter: @rubenharrisInstagram: instagram.com/rubenharrisEmail: ruben@careerkarma.comShow Notes: What Career Karma is and how they've expanded and evolved in recent years How the student loan bubble and “the great resignation” have led Career Karma to work more closely with employers Career Karma's secret sauce of community building How social audio rooms have played a part in the growth of Career Karma The Breaking into Startups podcast Ruben's view on audio, communication, and community in the Future of Work and Learning How Ruben has approached personal branding and taking control of your narrative Relationship building on the internet Ruben's advice for what employers and recruiters need to do differently to identify and develop talent The 110 initiative Education as an employee benefit Ruben's perspective on juggling part time roles and the freelance economy Career navigating as a social experience Social capital and virtual currency More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Mac Conwell (@MacConwell), Managing Partner at RareBreed Ventures. Mac is a former software engineer and two-time founder. One of Mac's companies failed, the other went on to a successful exit. RareBreed Ventures is a pre-seed fund that invests in exceptional founders outside of large tech ecosystems, earlier than everyone else. They invest in 2 types of companies: those building a software product with a unique or clearly repeatable customer acquisition strategy or building a physical product in a vertical that has lacked innovation in 10+ years. This is because these two founders are out-of-the-box thinkers and problem solvers. Unlike other pre-seed funds, RareBreed takes a concentrated portfolio approach by writing checks of up to $250K as the first or one of the first investors.Website: RareBreed VenturesLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mckeever/Twitter: @MacConwellShow Notes: Mac's thoughts on being a great storyteller How Mac uses his story as his pitch to raise a fund  The journey that led him into VC How Mac has the confidence to constantly bet on himself Mac's experience at rock bottom and building resilience From dropping out of high school to having a 6-figure job at the age of 21 How Mac manages his time and priorities Mac's secret to using Twitter What Mac looks for in the founders he invests in How Mac evaluates customer acquisition at the pre-seed level The value of creativity and how Mac leveraged it for customer acquisition as a founder Some of Mac's portfolio companies and their stories of grit What's next for RareBreed Ventures More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Anoop Gupta (@anoopxgupta), CEO and Co-Founder of SeekOut, the AI-powered Talent 360 platform. SeekOut provides companies with a comprehensive view of internal employees and external talent with analytics, predictive insights, and action recommendations to provide a competitive advantage in recruiting, retaining and developing their talent base.Anoop started SeekOut after a 20-year career at Microsoft, which began with the acquisition of his first startup, VXtreme, in 1997. During his tenure, Anoop was the Corporate Vice-President of the multibillion-dollar Unified Communications group. He was TA to Bill Gates, advising on technology and product strategy as a Distinguished Scientist at Microsoft Research, leading work on Telepresence and Natural User Interfaces. Prior to Microsoft, Anoop was a tenured professor at Stanford University and he holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.Website: SeekOutLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/guptaanoopTwitter: @anoopxguptaShow Notes: What SeekOut is and their incredible growth, including 3X-ing their revenue over the last year Anoop's journey from professor at Stanford, to a 20 year career at Microsoft, to startup founder How founding a series of other companies and the resulting pivots led Anoop and his team to start SeekOut How their company has evolved to focus on retention and the digital transformation during COVID How SeekOut's recruitment platform is helping companies put DEI into action  How they've approached the in-person versus virtual work question as a high growth company How SeekOut is investing in their own team and their focus on positive mindset and gratitude How Anoop views the future of work What he has loved about the transition from big tech to startup founder Building great company culture What's next for SeekOut More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Justin Gordon (justingordon212) talks with Jordi Hays (@jordihays), Co-Founder and CEO of investing platform Party Round. Party Round is building better tools for founders, starting with an automated fundraising tool. Generate & send docs, collect signatures, and receive funds, automating your raise from open to close. Previously, Jordi Hays founded Likewise and Branded Native.Website: Party RoundLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jordi-hays-559199113/Twitter: @jordihaysEmail: jordi@partyround.comShow Notes: How Party Round is simplifying the process of raising capital for founders How Jordi got inspired to start Party Round and what sets it apart from other fundraising platforms How Jordi and his co-founder Sarah Chase got Party Round off the ground Why they focused on marketing early on The story behind Party Round's viral drops How their team brainstorms and executes their drops Why their BIGTECH Fellowship drop was meaningful for Jordi How Jordi approaches choosing investors What's next for Party Round More about the show:The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. More about us:Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.The Vitalize Team:Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVCCaroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/