Podcasts about Foundation Capital

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we have a dialogue with Steve Vassallo, a General Partner at Foundation Capital, to celebrate the firm's 30th anniversary and explore the evolution of venture capital (VC) in Silicon Valley. We discuss the shift of many traditional VC firms from early-stage investments to a more asset management-oriented approach. Steve Vassallo talks about the importance of maintaining a craft-oriented, personalized approach to VC, focusing on product excellence and effective distribution. He also highlights the current trends in AI and blockchain, urging founders to prioritize innovation and core product differentiation in a rapidly changing market. With nearly 18 years at Foundation Capital, Steve shares his unique insights into the changing landscape of venture capital, the importance of maintaining a craft-oriented approach, and the challenges faced by early-stage founders. You're listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let's go. Celebrating 30 Years of Foundation Capital Foundation Capital recently marked its 30th anniversary, a significant milestone in its journey. The firm has launched its 11th fund, a $600 million vehicle aimed at supporting extraordinary founders at the earliest stages of their ventures, particularly in the enterprise sector. Steve Vassallo adds that more than half of their investments focus on early-stage companies, including seed and Series A rounds, with a strong emphasis on technology, particularly in fintech and crypto. Steve Vassallo on the Changing VC Landscape Christopher and Steve Vassallo then discuss the evolution of VC firms, noting that many traditional firms have transformed into asset managers rather than remaining true venture capitalists. Steve points out that the percentage of capital raised by these firms for early-stage investments has dwindled significantly. He estimates that only about 20% of the capital raised by these larger firms is allocated to early-stage investments, with the majority directed towards growth-stage companies. In contrast, Foundation Capital dedicates approximately 70-80% of their recent fund to backing founders at the inception of their ideas. Steve humorously refers to these early-stage entrepreneurs as "pre-founders" or "pre-criminals," highlighting the raw potential and creativity that often characterize this stage of entrepreneurship. The Craft of Venture Capital Their conversation then moves to the notion that venture capital is fundamentally a craft business rather than a scalable factory-like operation. Christopher likens the venture capital process to crafting custom surfboards, where the quality and personal touch of the creator matter significantly. He argues that the best results come from a deep, personalized partnership with founders, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Reflecting on his own background in product design, Steve Vassallo adds that he initially believed that the best product would always win in the market. However, he quickly learned that effective distribution often trumps product quality. This realization was humbling for him, as he recognized the critical role that marketing and sales play in a product's success. He stresses that when extraordinary products are paired with exceptional distribution channels, remarkable outcomes can occur. To hear more from Steve Vassallo and the future of Venture Capital, download and listen to this episode. Bio ​Steve Vassallo is a General Partner at Foundation Capital, where he invests at the intersection of design, technology, and business. Since joining the firm in 2007, he has led investments in transformative companies such as Stripe, Sunrun, Cerebras Systems, and Solana. Steve co-leads Foundation's crypto practice and is known for backing product-first founders tackling consequential problems ...

Listen to a real VC pitch in Silicon Valley and then go behind the scenes to hear what the VC actually thought... Sid Trivedi is a Partner at Foundation Capital https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddhanttrivedi/, a $6B VC fund in Silicon Valley! Josiah Spartz is the Founder of Cofactory.ai https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsjcs/, an agentic customer acquisition platform! FORMAT 1. PERFECT PITCH - Sid - shares what the perfect pitch would look like for a company in this sector 2. PITCH DISCUSSION - Joey & Sid have a pitch discussion! 3. VC CLOSED DOOR REVIEW - Sid shares more details about what he thought about the pitch and other things founders should consider!

hireEZ, has introduced Agentic AI, a new recruitment automation that balances AI-driven execution with oversight. As part of hireEZ's all-in-one recruiting platform, Agentic AI automates sourcing, screening, outreach, scheduling, and analytics, while keeping recruiters in control of strategic decisions and high-value interactions. isolved®, the most trusted human capital  management (HCM) partner, today announced a new wave of talent acquisition  advancements, reinforcing its continued investment in hiring solutions that prioritize long term fit—not just speed.  https://hrtechfeed.com/isolved-expands-hiring-features/ Tech Job board Dice announced the expansion of its Talent Solutions offering to include contract tech talent. In addition to supporting permanent hires, multiple hires and pipeline development, Dice now sources and screens candidates for organizations looking to quickly connect with highly skilled contract professionals in AI, cybersecurity, cloud computing and other high-demand fields. https://hrtechfeed.com/dice-expands-solutions-to-contract-tech-talent/ PALO ALTO, Calif. — Lumber, the AI-powered construction workforce management platform, announced a $15.5 million Series A funding round led by Foundation Capital, with participation from Tishman Speyer, Carbide Ventures, 8VC, Sure Ventures, and FirsthandVC.  https://hrtechfeed.com/construction-workforce-management-platform-secures-15-million/ NEW YORK — Jolly, a workforce optimization platform, today announced a $16.5M Series A fundraise which was led by Zach Kirkhorn, former CFO of Tesla. In addition to Kirkhorn, who will join the company's Board, the round included participation from angel investors Gokul Rajaram, Julien Codorniou, Steve Luczo, and David Marcus, and institutional support from Bullpen Capital, Dorm Room Fund, Eigen Ventures, among others. These funds will be used to expand Jolly's product suite and scale into new verticals. https://hrtechfeed.com/workforce-optimization-platform-lands-16-5m-series-a/  

Steve Vassallo, a general partner at Foundation Capital, has been known to invest at the intersection of design, technology, and business, but at a very early stage. He said much of it has to do with hearing the lessons of his "helicopter mom," the late Helen Guillette Vassallo, a well-known business professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Sand Hill Road Host Scott McGrew spoke with Vassallo, a former project lead engineer at IDEO, to learn more about why he invests early on in startups, his cryptocurrency philosophy, and how his upbringing helped shape his investment ideology. Sand Hill Road is hosted by Scott McGrew and produced and edited by Andrew Mendez. Sara Bueno manages NBC Bay Area's digital platforms. Stephanie Adrouny is the station's news director. If you'd like to get in touch, email us at sandhillroad@nbcuni.com or on any social media platform at @nbcbayarea.

Episode sponsors: Binarly (https://binarly.io) Binary Risk Hunt (https://risk.binarly.io) In this reboot of the Security Conversations interview series, Foundation Capital partner Sid Trivedi weighs in on major changes to the RSA Innovation Sandbox, the mandatory $5M uncapped SAFE investment for all 10 finalists, and red-flag concerns around discounts and pro-rata rights. Also discussed: controversial pay-for-play dynamics involving CISOs and venture capital firms, ethical implications of CISOs taking advisory positions in startups, and the challenges of investing in seed-stage startups amidst a trend towards platformization.

Arjun Pillai's journey from a small village in Kerala, India, to becoming a successful serial entrepreneur in Silicon Valley is nothing short of remarkable. With a deep passion for problem-solving and an unyielding entrepreneurial spirit, Arjun has built and sold multiple companies, navigating the challenges of bootstrapping, fundraising, and acquisitions along the way. His latest company, Docketai, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Mayfield Fund and Foundation Capital.

Miguel Armaza interviews Charles Moldow, General Partner at Foundation Capital, a 30-year old venture capital firm with $3+ billion in AUM. Charles joined Foundation in 2005 and over the last two decades has led early-stage investments for many companies, 14 out of which either went public or were successfully acquired. Some of his investments include Lending Club, DOMA, Rappi, Rover, and OnDeck Financial.I learn a lot every time I talk to Charles and I hope you'll enjoy this conversation as much as I did.We discuss:Why data is the new gold and a framework on how to invest in the sector. The reason why different market dynamics require different types of founders to succeed. Thinking selectively about credit-driven fintechs. Valuable portfolio and liquidity management lessons… and a lot more! Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today's global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 65,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

Ashu Garg of Foundation Capital joins Nate to discuss The Future of Large Language Models, Open vs. Closed Sourced, and Why 2024 is the Year of Inference. In this episode we cover: Venture Capital Investing Strategies and Ideal Founder Characteristics AI Model Development and Its Future AI Models for Legal Tech and Their Potential Applications Tech Giants' Positioning in the AI Shift Google's Innovation Dilemma and AI Adoption Guest Links: LinkedIn X Foundation Capital The hosts of The Full Ratchet are Nick Moran and Nate Pierotti of New Stack Ventures, a venture capital firm committed to investing in founders outside of the Bay Area. Want to keep up to date with The Full Ratchet? Follow us on social. You can learn more about New Stack Ventures by visiting our LinkedIn and Twitter. Are you a founder looking for your next investor? Visit our free tool VC-Rank and we'll send a list of potential investors right to your inbox!

www.CPOPLAYBOOK.comEpisode TranscriptAboutKey takeaways from this podcast episode include a decline in confidence in traditional higher education due to rising costs and uncertain job prospects. Matt Wilkerson, CEO and Co-founder at Extern introduced externships as a solution, offering students real-world projects remotely and helping companies engage with more students efficiently. Despite the advantages of skills-based hiring, its limited prevalence is attributed to challenges in standardization. Overall, the discussion emphasizes the need for innovative solutions like externships to bridge the gap between academic preparation and workplace readiness.*Matt WilkersonMatt is the Co-founder & CEO of Extern which invented the remote Externship, a new form of work experience with integrated learning. Externships let people quickly build their resumes with real work experiences remotely while giving companies expert-designed, turnkey projects that drive business outcomes.Previously known as Paragon One, last year Extern served 8,800 multi-week Externships to students out of nearly 100,000 applications on behalf of brands like PwC, Home Depot, AT&T, HSBC, Macquarie, HP, National Geographic, Beats by Dre, Hugo Boss, and more. Extern's mission is to enable anyone from any background to access professional experience, and its vision is to enable people to build their resume while earning their degree.It's backed by Foundation Capital, Launch Fund, Learn Capital, University Ventures, and YCombinator. Matt previously co-founded and was CFO of AHAlife, a luxury online marketplace for discovering 1,000+ designers and artisans from 45+ countries, which raised over $20M of venture capital and merged with ASX-listed Design Milk.Before launching AHAlife, Matt sourced, executed, and oversaw consumer internet investments with Technology Crossover Ventures, a $10Bn venture capital fund. Prior to TCV, Matt began his career in the Media & Telecom Investment Banking Group at Morgan Stanley, focusing on M&A, IPO, and debt issuances for new media and telecom companies. Matt holds both a B.S. degree in Computer Science & Engineering and a B.S. in Management Science from MIT.

Ana Marshall is the Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, where she oversees a $10.5 billion pool of capital. Ana joined Hewlett in 2004 after spending eighteen years as a direct investor in high yield credit, emerging market debt, and international equities. Our conversation covers Ana's lifelong passion for investing, joining the “super buy side,” conducting company meetings to inform the manager selection and allocation process, portfolio structure, manager selection, monitoring and measuring risk, perspectives on peers, internal dynamics, and working through a big mistake. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Today's guest is a General Partner at Foundation Capital, one of the most iconic venture capital firms in the world. Foundation has found and funded companies like Netflix, Solana, Jasper, and the list goes on.Joanne Chen began her investing career at Foundation in 2014 and has sourced and advised an incredible group of companies including Tonkean, Tubi, and CaptivateIQ. Joanne received her BS in EE and CS from Cal and her MBA from the University of Chicago. She's also a popular TEDx speaker.Today we get a master class on how the best are adapting to one of the most challenging venture investing climates in decades. Joanne and I met on a panel discussion a few months back . I've been looking forward to introducing her to our community.Listen and learn...Joanne's perspective on the euphoria surrounding GenAIWhat's different about investing in AI post-ChatGPTWhy AI tools are increasing the pace of innovationThe difference between crypto and AI investingWhat responsible AI means to JoanneJoanne's advice to "AI entrepreneurs" pitching venture investorsHow long before AI will take Joanne's jobReferences in this episode...Ashu Garg on AI and the Future of WorkJoanne's TEDx talk: Confessions of an AI InvestorJoanne's TEDx talk: Why AI Promises a Brighter FutureThe ethical implications of using AI in healthcare

Produced by Foundersuite (www.foundersuite.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with Anshu Sharma of Skyflow, a startup that makes a data privacy vault delivered as an API. Anshu has raised over $70m for SkyFlow, but he's also angel invested in over 70 startups so we talk about targeting the right investors, testing your thesis, asking for advice and more. Skyflow's most recent round was a $45M Series B financing round. led by New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners. Other investors include Mouro Capital, Mitsui's MS&AD Ventures, Canvas Ventures, Foundation Capital, and leading fintech angels such as Coinbase Board Member Gokul Rajaram How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $10 Billion since 2016. Create a free account at www.foundersuite.com.

Miguel Armaza sits down with Stuart Sopp, CEO and Co-Founder at Current, one of the largest New York fintech platforms offering financial services to US consumers.Launched in 2015, Current serves almost four million customers and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global, TQ Ventures, Avenir, Sapphire Ventures, Foundation Capital, Wellington Management, QED, and many more.We recorded this conversation live in the heart of NYC at Barclays Rise, as part of a series of events during New York Tech Week.We discussed:Launching Current and why it took many iterations and two pivots to eventually land on Current present stateThe importance of balancing growth and tech development in periods of hypergrowthWhy Stuart believes we've entered the “era of value” for fintech and what this means for founders launching companies these daysWhat he's learned working with Mr. Beast and many other influencersWhy NYC is the best place to start a fintech company… and a lot more! Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today's global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join almost 60,000 readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

About Josh Josh Jensen is the CEO and co-founder of Inspectify, a venture-backed technology platform in the property inspection space. Inspectify streamlines the property inspection experience across the entire property lifecycle through its network of 2,000+ inspectors and proprietary inspection and data technology. The company is backed by prominent investors including Nine Four VC, Foundation Capital, Munich Re, DivcoWest and top executives from startups such as Opendoor, Built Technologies, Side, Sundae, Flyhomes, and Steadily. Before Inspectify, Josh was the Vice President of Operations at Flyhomes, a nationwide real estate brokerage, where he was responsible for all real estate operations for the company and helped scale the business from seed to Series B. Josh is also an active real estate investor, holding rental properties on both the East and West coast. He has an MS in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Josh resides in Seattle, WA, with his wife, Mary, two daughters, and a newborn son.Connect with Josh on LinkedInAbout InspectifyInspectify is a venture-backed, vertically-integrated technology platform in the property inspection space.‍Inspectify streamlines the home inspection experience for real estate agents and their clients through its network of 2,000+ inspectors and proprietary inspection software, including a mobile inspection app.Inspectify helps a broad range of partners in real estate, such as agents, buyers, investors, lenders or property managers, collect comprehensive data from a property in a standardized, clear format.Partners use Inspectify to add efficiency and speed to their transactions, as well as to gain insight into the true condition of a property and its potential ROI. Connect with Inspectify on LinkedIn Check out Inspectify

Tim Guleri has had a remarkable run at Sierra Ventures since 2001. He has invested in transcendent companies including Sourcefire and MakeMyTrip which both went public. Before that, Tim had a successful career as an entrepreneur and exec at companies like Scopus and Octane which was acquired by Epiphany in 2000.Sierra has one of the strongest future of work and AI portfolios that includes companies like Paro, Krisp, and SupportLogic which acquired Emtropy Labs which was founded by great former guest Harish Batlapenamurthy. In full disclosure, Sierra and I are both investors in ArmorCode.Listen and learn...Why the most successful venture investors were previously entrepreneursTim's thesis for investing in gen AI customer journey company SimulateHow Tim identifies "gen AI whitewashing" when hearing pitchesWhy gen AI is more than just another platform shiftHow gen AI startups can beat Big Tech incumbentsWhy all companies are ultimately "financial products"Sierra's primary data from CIOs: "...they're spending money on use cases that unlock employee productivity"What Tim means by "build horizontally but execute vertically"Which jobs AI will eliminate vs. augmentTim's "one that got away" pitch from his early days at SierraReferences in this episode...According to CNBC, 69% of U.S. adults are uncomfortable with AI that can mimic human thinkingAshu Garg from Foundation Capital on AI and the Future of WorkRory O'Driscoll from Scale Venture Partners on AI and the Future of WorkSierra Ventures

Nathan Harding's journey into the world of innovation began with a simple childhood curiosity. From his early years in Houston, he found himself captivated by the art of deconstructing and fixing things. Little did he know that this innate curiosity would pave the way for a groundbreaking career that would span the realms of mechanical engineering, robotics, and even the beauty industry. His startup, LUUM, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like SaxeCap, XSeed Capital, Foundation Capital, and Handshake Ventures.

In today's episode of If Not Now Wen, we're so excited to talk with special guest Jake O'Shea. Jake is a professional match-maker and superconnector. He currently works as the Director of Portfolio Operations at Foundation Capital, building tools and systems to operationalize the firm's network and leading the 30yo firm's Platform and Portfolio Support functions. Prior to Foundation Capital, Jake was Director of Platform at Capital Factory, where he was responsible for managing and developing the firm's value-add initiatives for portfolio companies. Jake is a co-organizer of AITX, a local Austin AI community. He is also cofounder of Serend.ai, a GPT-powered network management tool, and creator of ShowerThoughts, allowing you to turn your unstructured brain dump into a short summary with highlights and action items that are delivered directly to your inbox. In this episode Jake gives an inside look into the venture capital business model and has an incredible way of demystifying the investment process in a way that is very clear and refreshing. He is an open book and gives clear steps and game-changing advice for founders. We talk about:

Jason Lemkin is the Founder @ SaaStr one of the best-performing early-stage venture funds focused on SaaS. In the past, Jason has led investments in Algolia, Pipedrive, Salesloft, TalkDesk, and RevenueCat to name a few. Prior to SaaStr, Jason was an entrepreneur, selling EchoSign to Adobe for $100M where it is now a $250M ARR product. Rick Zullo is the Co-Founder and General Partner at Equal Ventures. Prior to co-founding Equal Ventures, Rick was an investor at Lightbank, Prior to Lightbank, Rick worked with investment firms Foundation Capital, Bowery Capital, and Lightview Capital. In Today's Episode We Discuss: 1. Why Venture Capital Needs It's Jerry Maguire Moment: Why does Rick believe that VC needs it's "Jerry Maguire" moment? What needs to change? What needs to stay the same? Why does Jason believe we will see even more mega funds in 2024 and 2025? 2. Unicorns are So 2019: Why does Jason believe that "unicorn investing is mostly dead for bigger funds and none of them are looking for a $1BN outcome anymore?" Why does Rick believe that multi-stage fund investing at seed simply does not make sense? What does Rick believe many founders need to know when they take multi-stage money at seed? Of the over 1,000 unicorns created over the last few years, how many of them do Rick and Jason feel are actually unicorns today? 3. Efficiency and Growth: We Need it All: Why does Jason believe, as a founder you should be embarrassed if you ever had a RIF (reduction in force)? Last year many founders got a pass on growth as they were more efficient. Is that pass over? Do they need to get back to growth? What is the single biggest reason that companies do not scale from seed to Series A? What happens to the many companies with years of runway but no product-market-fit? Are we entering a new age of efficient company building or will we go back to high burn environments and excessive spending? 4. Entering the World of LPs: If Jason and Rick were to advise LPs today on how much to discount the value of their venture books, what advice would they give? How have markups completely corrupted the venture ecosystem? How does LPs being incentivized by paper-marks make the industry even more screwed? What are the single biggest misalignments between GP and LP?

MLOps Coffee Sessions #172 with LLMs in Production Conference part 2 Building LLM Products Panel, George Mathew, Asmitha Rathis, Natalia Burina, and Sahar Mor Using hosted by TWIML's Sam Charrington. We are now accepting talk proposals for our next LLM in Production virtual conference on October 3rd. Apply to speak here: https://go.mlops.community/NSAX1O // Abstract There are key areas we must be aware of when working with LLMs. High costs and low latency requirements are just the tip of the iceberg. In this panel, we hear about common pitfalls and challenges we must keep in mind when building on top of LLMs. // Bio Sam Charrington Sam is a noted ML/AI industry analyst, advisor and commentator, and host of the popular TWIML AI Podcast (formerly This Week in Machine Learning and AI). The show is one of the most popular Tech podcasts with nearly 15 million downloads. Sam has interviewed over 600 of the industry's leading machine learning and AI experts and has conducted extensive research into enterprise AI adoption, MLOps, and other ML/AI-enabling technologies. George Mathew George is a Managing Director at Insight Partners focused on venture-stage investments in AI, ML, Analytics, and Data companies as they are establishing product/market Fit. Asmitha Rathis Asmitha is a Machine Learning Engineer with experience in developing and deploying ML models in production. She is currently working at an early-stage startup, PromptOps, where she is building conversational AI systems to assist developers. Prior to her current role, she was an ML engineer at VMware. Asmitha holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego, with a specialization in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Natalia Burina Natalia is an AI Product Leader who was most recently at Meta, leading Responsible AI. During her time at Meta, she led teams working on algorithmic transparency and AI Privacy. In 2017 Natalia was recognized by Business Insider as “The Most Powerful Female Engineer in 2017”. Natalia was also an Entrepreneur in Residence at Foundation Capital, advising portfolio companies and working with partners on deal flow. Prior to this, she was the Director of Product for Machine Learning at Salesforce, where she led teams building a set of AI capabilities and platform services. Prior to Facebook and Salesforce, Natalia led product development at Samsung, eBay, and Microsoft. She was also the Founder and CEO of Parable, a creative photo network bought by Samsung in 2015. Natalia started her career as a software engineer after pursuing Bachelor's degree in Applied and Computational Mathematics from the University of Washington. Sahar Mor Sahar is a Product Lead at Stripe with 15y of experience in product and engineering roles. At Stripe, he leads the adoption of LLMs and the Enhanced Issuer Network - a set of data partnerships with top banks to reduce payment fraud. Prior to Stripe he founded a document intelligence API company, was a founding PM in a couple of AI startups, including an accounting automation startup (Zeitgold, acq'd by Deel), and served in the elite intelligence unit 8200 in engineering roles. Sahar authors a weekly AI newsletter (AI Tidbits) and maintains a few open-source AI-related libraries (https://github.com/saharmor). // MLOps Jobs board https://mlops.pallet.xyz/jobs // MLOps Swag/Merch https://mlops-community.myshopify.com/ // Related Links --------------- ✌️Connect With Us ✌️ ------------- Join our slack community: https://go.mlops.community/slack Follow us on Twitter: @mlopscommunity Sign up for the next meetup: https://go.mlops.community/register Catch all episodes, blogs, newsletters, and more: https://mlops.community/

 In der Mittagsfolge sprechen wir heute mit Dr. Sarah Buchner, CEO und Founder von Trunk Tools, über die überzeichnete Seed-Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von 9,9 Millionen US-Dollar.Trunk Tools ist ein Technologie-Startup der Baubranche, welches Anreize für Produktivität und Sicherheit mit den vorhandenen Arbeitskräften schafft und das Projektmanagementteam auf gemeinsame Kosteneinsparungen ausrichtet. Mit einer Kombination aus Technologie, KI-basiertem Projektmanagement und Verhaltens- und Wirtschaftspsychologie kann die Lösung des Unternehmens die Projektzeiten und Budgetergebnisse verbessern und Unternehmen dabei helfen, Talente zu gewinnen, zu halten und effektiv zu beschäftigen. Die von dem Startup entwickelte Plattform kann somit die Ergebnisse verbessern und einen frist- und budgetgerechten Projektabschluss ermöglichen. Trunk Tools wurde im Jahr 2021 von Dr. Sarah Buchner während ihrer Zeit an der Stanford Business School gegründet.Nun hat das Bau-FinTech in einer überzeichneten Seed-Runde 9,9 Millionen US-Dollar unter der Führung von Innovation Endeavors eingesammelt. Damit tritt das Startup außerdem aus dem Stealth-Modus. Zu den weiteren Kapitalgebern zählen u.a. Fifth Wall und Foundation Capital. Des Weiteren wurde Trunk Tools in die jüngste Kohorte von Stanford dy/dx aufgenommen. Dieses Programm ist eine Mischung aus intensiver Führungsarbeit, betriebswirtschaftlicher Ausbildung und Mentorenschaft durch führende Dozierende, erfahrene Investierende und erfolgreichen Unternehmenden, um Startup-Führungskräfte auf den Erfolg ihrer unternehmerischen Laufbahn vorzubereiten und wird von Sequoia Capital, Accel, Lightspeed, Index sowie Innovation Endeavors unterstützt. Das frische Kapital soll für das Wachstum des Unternehmens durch die Erweiterung des Teams, die Beschleunigung der Entwicklung seiner Incentive-Lösung und die Förderung der Marktakzeptanz eingesetzt werden.

Jonathan Matus, the founder and CEO of Fairmatic and co-founder of Zendrive, has had a fascinating journey from his birthplace in New York to leading two successful tech-based ventures. His time in the tech industry, studying at prestigious institutions, and serving in the Israeli military have instilled a unique blend of tenacity, vision, and innovative thinking in him. His venture, Fairmatic, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Foundation Capital, Battery Ventures, Bridge Bank, and Aquiline Technology Growth.

This bonus episode features conversations from season 5 of the Open||Source||Data podcast. In this episode, you'll hear from Jaya Gupta, Partner at Foundation Capital; Yuliia Tkachova, Co-founder and CEO of Masthead Data; and Omoju Miller, Founder and CEO of Fimio.Sam sat down with each guest to discuss how they are building foundations for trust, inspiration, and reputation as we all race into the AI-centric future.You can listen to the full episodes from Jaya Gupta, Yuliia Tkachova, and Omoju Miller by clicking the links below.-------------------Episode Timestamps:(00:49): Jaya Gupta(01:48): Yuliia Tkachova(03:03): Omoju Miller-------------------Links:Listen to Jaya's episodeListen to Yuliia's episodeListen to Omoju's episode

This episode features an interview with Jaya Gupta, Partner at Foundation Capital, where she leads early-stage investments across the enterprise software stack. Previously, Jaya was a Senior Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company focusing on software diligence and helping startups expand their go-to-market strategies.In this episode, Sam and Jaya discuss her journey to Foundation Model Ops, how software is becoming more accessible, and the democratization of AI tools.-------------------"At the end of the day, FMOps isn't just about the new tools. It's actually more about the new builders, the new workflows, and a completely new market of customers. I was on the other day, looking at LangChain's page of integrations, I don't know if you've seen it, but it's like Anyscale, Databricks, all these other huge legendary companies are integrating with LangChain, and I think it's clear that there's a huge community that is building something real and valuable." – Jaya Gupta-------------------Episode Timestamps:(01:05): What open source data means to Jaya(08:51): Jaya's journey to Foundation Model Ops(15:58): How software is becoming more accessible(23:04): The democratization of AI tools(27:01): One question Jaya wishes to be asked(29:32): Jaya's advice for the audience(31:51): Backstage takeaways with executive producer, Audra Montenegro-------------------Links:LinkedIn - Connect with JayaFollow Jaya on TwitterLearn more about FMOps

Charles Moldow, a general partner at Foundation Capital, shares his remarkable journey from being a Wall Street analyst to becoming an entrepreneur and eventually transitioning into his current role as an investor over two decades ago. His captivating anecdotes leave you eager for more, whether he's recounting stories about his father's wisdom on the internet or recalling a memorable encounter with an exceptional entrepreneur. Charles also delves into the exciting market trends within insurtech and offers valuable insights into the areas to focus attention for fruitful opportunities.In this episode, you'll learn:[2:20] Charles Moldow's early entrepreneurial ventures during the dynamic evolution of the internet.[7:58] The role of a VC in sometimes discouraging founders to protect them from their own pitfalls.[13:01] The revealing nature of a founder's personal life story, showcasing their unique abilities.[19:54] "Don't prepare to impress me. Just share your authentic truth." - Charles Moldow[23:43] The importance for entrepreneurs to explore the vast array of promising opportunities for leveraging technology in the insurance industry.The non-profit organization that Charles is passionate about: safespaceAbout Charles MoldowCharles Moldow is a general partner at Foundation Capital. At Foundation, he identifies technology trends and new user experiences that will change the financial services landscape. His thesis investing has him focused on fintech, insurtech and proptech opportunities with a crypto overlay to everything he evaluates. Since he joined Foundation Capital in 2005, he's made seventeen successful investments, five of which have gone public and twelve have been acquired. Charles' public portfolio includes early-stage investments that have led to notable IPOs with DOMA (IPO 2021), Rover (IPO 2021), LendingClub (IPO 2014), OnDeck (IPO 2014) and Everyday Health (2014). Fun fact: Charles moonlights as AAA Little League coach and family vacation planner.Learn more about Charles here.About Foundation CapitalFoundation Capital is a Silicon Valley-based early-stage venture capital firm that's dedicated to the proposition that one entrepreneur's idea, with the right support, can become a business that changes the world. The firm is made up of former entrepreneurs who set out to create the firm they wanted as founders. Foundation Capital is currently invested in more than 60 high-growth ventures in the areas of consumer, information technology, software, digital energy, financial technology, and marketing technology. These investments include AdRoll, Beepi, Bolt Threads, DogVacay, Kik, ForgeRock, Lending Home, Localytics, and Visier. The firm's twenty-six IPOs include Lending Club, OnDeck, Chegg, Sunrun, MobileIron, Control4, TubeMogul, Envestnet, Financial Engines, Netflix, NetZero, Responsys and Silver Spring Networks.Subscribe to our podcast and stay tuned for our next episode. Follow Us:  Twitter | Linkedin | Instagram | Facebook

Es más común emprender en una industria que conoces bien, pero emprender en una industria que no conoces pero a la que traes perspectivas frescas sobre cómo enfocar los problemas que tiene también puede ser una ventajaConversamos con Ricardo Weder, cofundador y CEO de Justo, el primer supermercado en línea de México. Antes de fundar Justo, Ricardo tuvo roles directivos en empresas de tecnología como Cabify y EasyTaxi. Además, ha sido inversionista ángel en decenas startups incluyendo compañías reconocidas como Nowports y Clara.Justo ha levantado más de $200 millones de dólares de fondos como General Atlantic, Foundation Capital y Nazca Ventures.En esta entrevista, Ricardo nos contó cómo evalúa el potencial de una industria y qué se necesita para ganar. También, nos contó qué características hacen interesante a un modelo de negocio como rentabilidad, defensividad y atractivo para inversionistas. También, hablamos sobre cuáles son las claves para diferenciarse en negocios altamente operativos.--La manera más sencilla de ayudarnos a crecer es dejando una reseña en Spotify o Apple Podcasts: https://ratethispodcast.com/startupeableEste episodio es presentado por:Talently Hire te conecta en 72 horas con desarrolladores de software con al menos 3 años de experiencia. Conoce más en https://talently.tech/hire/---Notas del episodio: https://startupeable.com/justo/---Para más contenido síguenos en

Sid Trivedi is a Partner at Foundation Capital. Sid leads the firm's focus on cybersecurity and has participated in investments in Permiso, CloudKnox, & Attivo Networks.

Miguel Armaza sits down with Zach Noorani, Partner at Foundation Capital, a 28-year venture capital firm with $3 billion in assets under management, currently investing out of its 10th flagship fund. Foundation has previously backed great companies like Stripe, Solana, Lending Club, Envestnet, Alto, and many more.In this episode, we discuss:What Zach learned after spending almost a decade at Capital One and why there's such a strong fintech alumni network coming out of the bankDifferences and similarities between US-based founders and Latin American entrepreneursThe importance of specializing in financial services and fintech and how it's allowed Zach to distinguish fairytales from realityTransitioning from operator to investor, best practices for board management… and a lot more!Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today's global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 51,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIpqp

In Episode #123, we deconstruct Steve Vassallo's peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. Steve is General Partner at Foundation Capital. We cover translating non-human languages, enlightened procrastination, and his insatiable curiosity. “Go deep, go early, go big.” – Steve Vassallo EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED) https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/steve-vassallo-playbook/  FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/steve-vassallo-playbook-transcript/  CHAPTERS In this episode, we deconstruct Steve Vassallo's peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. In it we cover: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:03:52 – Translating non-human languages 00:06:35– Having insatiable curiosity and a deep love of building hard things 00:08:27 – Investment philosophy can be distilled down to conviction 00:10:21 – You can always find a way to build something you've already sold, but you can't always sell something you've already built 00:12:08 – Enlightened procrastination 00:14:44 – Thinking, Fast and Slow 00:17:10 – Invest in people you want to work with 00:21:01 – Take stock of what you're granting your attention to ABOUT STEVE VASSALLO Steve Vassallo has been a general partner at Foundation Capital for the last 15 years. At Foundation, he's led the firm's investments in Stripe, Cerebra, Sunrun, Loft Orbital, Solana, and many other incredible firms. Steve is also the author of The Way to Design, which is a guide to how companies of all sizes should approach design. The book is a compendium of interviews with more than 50 designers, design scholars and tech founders who have gotten design right from day one. Steve began his career at IDEO where he worked closely with IDEO's founder, David Kelly, to research design and deliver innovative products and services across industries. Because of Steve's early experiences at IDEO he's drawn to product-centric founders and has a wonderful knack for bringing design and engineering together to create incredible products. In this episode, we cover why Steve has been fascinated with the wicked problems that exist in Crypto and why he thinks we're still in the earliest innings there. He talks about his work with the earth species project, whose goal is to decode non-human language in mammals of all sizes from whales to monkeys. Talks about how he combines insatiable curiosity and a deep love of building hard things in his investing work. He shares his advice for founders and investors, and he shares his favorite books, including why he loves Thinking Fast and Slow and Poor Charlie's Almanack.

Listen to one of our favorite moments from tomorrow's 20 Minute Playbook episode featuring Steve Vassallo of Foundation Capital. In it, Steve Vassallo shares his favorite books, tools, habits, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode #120, we explore reinventing a well-established venture capital firm. We're joined by Steve Vassallo, General Partner at Foundation Capital. We cover Minimum Awesome Product, the prepared mind vs. open mind, and learnings from tearing down and rebuilding an investment firm. “The best product matters, but it is not what defines a generationally important company.” – Steve Vassallo EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED) https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/foundation-capital-steve-vassallo  FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/foundation-capital-steve-vassallo-transcript  CHAPTERS This episode is our definitive guide to reinventing a venture capital firm. In it we cover: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:02:39 – From electro mechanical engineering to product design 00:06:22 – Interdisciplinary innovation and missionary misfits 00:10:24 – How investing snuck into Steve's career 00:15:33 – Working at the intersection of building and investing 00:19:24 – A 15-year window into the investment world 00:24:45 – Tearing down and rebuilding an investment firm 00:39:04 – Identifying a firm's turning point 00:41:21 – Going down the rabbit hole of crypto and enticing investors to follow 00:51:35 – The prepared mind vs. open mind 00:54:44 – Building the best product matters, but it doesn't guarantee success 00:57:56 – The Minimum Awesome Product and evolving product-market fit 01:02:07 – Advice for new founders ABOUT FOUNDATION CAPITAL Steve Vassallo is General Partner at Foundation Capital and author of "The Way to Design." In this episode, we explore what it's like to reinvent a venture capital firm. Foundation Capital was founded in 1995, 27 years ago by Bill Elmore, Catherine Gold, and Jim Anderson. One of the foundation's early claims to fame was that it was one of the first investors in Netflix back in the early 2000s.  This episode is our definitive guide to reinventing a venture capital firm. In it, we cover Steve's early years bringing design, product, and engineering together at IDEO, and what that taught him about building successful products and companies, the early warning signs he saw that made it clear Foundation Capital needed to be reinvented, how Foundation rediscovered who they were and who they wanted to be as a team, how they changed the way they operated and made investment decisions to giving partners more latitude to invest in the ideas they thought could be massive companies in the years to come, how they began making crypto investments, which led to massive wins in Solana and Brave by making small bets and winning over LP support as the wins added up.

Listen to one of our favorite moments from tomorrow's Spotlight episode featuring Foundation Capital with Steve Vassallo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eric Satz is a serial entrepreneur who sold one of his companies for $560M. His latest venture, which is empowering individuals to invest in more alternative assets with great tax advantages, has already rasied $70M through a Series B round. The venture, Alto, has acquired funding from top-tier investors like Unusual Ventures, Alpha Edison, Foundation Capital, and Acrew Capital.

Ana Marshall is the Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, where she oversees a $10.5 billion pool of capital. Ana joined Hewlett in 2004 after spending eighteen years as a direct investor in high yield credit, emerging market debt, and international equities. Our conversation covers Ana's lifelong passion for investing, joining the “super buy side,” conducting company meetings to inform the manager selection and allocation process, portfolio structure, manager selection, monitoring and measuring risk, perspectives on peers, internal dynamics, and working through a big mistake. Learn More  Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn  Subscribe to the mailing list  Access Transcript with Premium Membership   

Beerud Sheth is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gupshup, a leading platform for cloud messaging. Prior to that he was the cofounder of what is now Upwork, a pioneer of online freelancing and remote work. Beerud took the slow and steady pace to winning the race, building two unicorns over 25 years. On the show, he and Ashu draw from Beerud's depth of experience and break down how a company can achieve capital-efficient growth in the current economic environment. They also lay out the case for why India might be the Silicon Valley of the future.

Jonathan Siddharth is cofounder and CEO of Turing, the platform that helps companies source, vet, match, and manage the world's best software developers remotely. Jonathan started Turing in Foundation Capital's offices four years ago and he's since grown it into a $4B company. On this episode of B2BaCEO, Ashu gets him to talk about how he did it: from best practices for hiring execs and communicating with investors, to the unique fundraising machine that Turing's built, to navigating through choppy economic waters. Jonathan is one of the most methodical, forward-thinking entrepreneurs active today. For four wild years, he's been living the startup life, and fighting the founder's fight, and embodying this show's ideal of growing from engineer to CEO.

Eyhab Aejaz is CEO at Breach, developing cyber insurance solutions for the growing $2T+ cryptocurrency market. Breach has built a proprietary policy issuance and administration platform and an industry-first solution to insure clients of popular cryptocurrency custodians and exchanges. Eyhab says crypto is built on trust and transparency, yet decentralized markets the product is based on those same standards. Crypto is not illegal because it is taxed, so they see it as a type of asset, with a buyer, seller, and exposure to risk. Eyhab sees crypto coverage being similar to jewelry insurance, assets are in custody, in order to underwrite they only need to confirm applicable State rules, the custodian of record and the insured amount. Breach partnered with Boost Insurance to figure out the actuarial and reinsurance side and operations of the business. This essentially de-risked the company launch, but Eyhab says he still felt the act of 'taking the leap' into a startup, being early and not having enough on-board, yet also feeling in hindsight that was the exact right time to start the company. Breach is now in the process of standing up a carrier to defray its own reinsurance costs, so is one of the new wave of companies making the jump from insurtech to insurer. The company is backed by Raptor Group, LightShed Ventures, Ted Rogers, Foundation Capital, Global Founders Capital, Road Capital, PJC, and Goodwater Capital. Follow the Insurtech Leadership Podcast airing weekly hosted by Joshua R. Hollander. We give you up-close access and personal insights from the leaders of the fastest-growing #insurtechs and most innovative #insurance carriers and brokers.

Change starts with an idea and accelerates with leadership.    It takes more than innovative tools to move toward a better future. Through collaboration and leadership, we can bring to life the unique ideas that will change our trajectory and move humanity forward.   In this episode of Fifth Dimensional Leadership, our guest is Will Weisman, a leader passionate about people and ideas who is focused on bringing them together to help unlock great opportunities and make a positive impact on the world.  He is the Founder and Managing Director of KittyHawk Ventures. In our conversation, Will talks about moving humanity forward by leveraging technology to accelerate change.   Previously Will Weisman served as an Executive Director at Singularity University, which “helps leaders adapt to a world of accelerating change and empower them to leverage tech to improve the lives of one billion people over the next five years.” Will spent seven years at Singularity and continues to work with Singularity co-founder Peter Diamandis.   Will's experience managing, investing in and advising technology and consumer product companies has given him a unique combination of investment, operational and entrepreneurial experience. He was a venture capitalist at Foundation Capital and Maveron and an operator at Intuit and World Wrapps.   Will holds an MBA from Stanford and a BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He speaks regularly around the world on exponential technology trends, as well as venture investing and entrepreneurship. Will is an avid kiteboarder and ocean swimmer, and resides in Santa Monica, California. Things you will also learn in this episode: Understanding psychedelics from scientific, medical and investment perspectives. What “Longevity Escape Velocity” is and its implications on life as we know it How technology is unlocking unique ideas and life-changing opportunities Which leadership competencies  are needed in the technology sector Why storytelling is key to attracting strong talent and raising investment capital Quotes:   “How we look at ourselves and the world is our reality.” - Will Weisman   “The world is built on growth, and when you've got a shrinking populace, that creates other challenges for the economy and how the world functions.” - Will Weisman   “To  be successful, you have to be able to tell your and your company's story in a way that resonates with people.” - Will Weisman   “With the right people around us, we can do much more than we give ourselves credit for.” - Will Weisman   “Sometimes you have to put yourself in harder situations to get to a place where it starts to feel natural for you.” - Will Weisman   “Surround yourself with smart people who are doers and are open and adaptive to change because those are the people you want to be in business with.” - Will Weisman   “Control what you can control, and let the rest go.” - Will Weisman “We are our own limiting factor, so if you start to dream bigger and look at yourself and see the world in a more positive way, the world reacts to you in a more positive way.” - Will Weisman

Miguel Armaza sits down with Alfonso (Poncho) De los Rios, CEO/Co-Founder of Nowports, the biggest digital freight forwarder in LatAm, that combines logistics with financial and technological tools to ship cargo around the world. Founded in 2018, Nowports is not only a Latin American company but is quickly becoming a global powerhouse. Nowports has also raised almost $250 million in equity from SoftBank, Tiger Global, Foundation Capital, Monashees, Soma Capital, Broadhaven Ventures, Mouro Capital, Tencent, YC, and more.In this episode, we discuss:Poncho's background, why he's an entrepreneur at heart, and how his family played a big role in shaping and encouraging his adventurous natureHow the decision to drop out of university during his first semester led him to Silicon Valley and to eventually cross paths with Max Casal, now his Nowports Co-FounderBuilding company culture and the importance of surrounding yourself with people who are smarter and more experienced than you are to actually execute your visionWhy bold, unpopular, and fast decisions are what drives startup growth and some examples that have been consequential at NowportsPoncho's vision to build a global company, instead of a local or regional firm… and a lot more!Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today's global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 44,000+ readers and listeners around the world!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIpqp

Today we chat with Oscar Adelman, the Founder and CEO of Remi. Remi is a direct-to-consumer sleep and wellness organization backed by Foundation Capital. The mission of Remi is to provide affordable and ultra-comfortable custom night guards to individuals who would otherwise have to obtain this protection from a dentist. Oscar has a diverse background in business. From being a part of the BMW venture capital team to investing with startups, Oscar has been finding inventive ways to cut out the middleman and go directly to the consumer.  What are the benefits of acquiring these products directly from a company? Affordability and convenience. Increased stress is linked with teeth grinding and clenching, which causes poor sleep, jaw pain and headaches. But did you know that 1 in every 4 adults grind or clench their teeth while sleeping? A Remi Custom Night Guard can protect your teeth from grinding and clenching, while saving you hundreds of dollars compared to the dental office. Use code GUARD20 for 20% off your order. Visit ShopRemi.com now. Listen now to learn more about: How Remi's custom night guards protect peoples' teeth from the detrimental effects of grinding. The short and long-term negative impacts of grinding and clenching your teeth at night.  The feedback that Remi gets from its customers.  Oscar's overall vision for Remi. Want to learn more about Oscar and his work with Remi? Visit shopremi.com now, and make sure you use the code GENIUS25 to receive 20% off of your order! Episode also available on Apple Podcast: http://apple.co/30PvU9C

Kamal Ahluwalia and the Eightfold team set out to find the right career for everyone in the world. Six years later after having raised more than $200M from a legendary group of investors and built a talented 600-person team, they're well on their way. Kamal joined Eightfold as President in 2018 from a successful tech career at companies like Model N and Selectica. Hear Kamal share his vision for how to use data and AI to help employees upskill, reskill, and ultimately find careers they love. Listen and learn…How Eightfold operationalizes the bold vision to find “the right career for everyone in the world" What has helped Eightfold scale to support customers in 140 countries and 19 languagesHow an AI HR platform helps with upskilling for internal mobility but also with hiring and talent-skill matchingWhy legacy HR tech software failed by focusing on “compliance vs. employee needs” Why automation won't eliminate jobs… but every job will change as a result of AI How understanding human potential starts with understanding data stored outside HCM in “systems of work” like CRM and ITSM How to mitigate the impact of biased data to use AI to achieve inclusion and diversity goalsHow AI can identify roles where employees are likely to succeed… even when they have no experience performing skills they require What are the ethical implications of using AI to hire and promote employees References in this episode: OneTen.org and the role of Eightfold in its formation Renee Steenvorden from Randstad on AI and the Future of Work Giselle Mota from ADP on AI and the Future of Work Ashu Garg from Foundation Capital on AI and the Future of Work The BigScience BLOOM LLM

Ben Brennan, former guest, accomplished author, and QSTAC CEO, guest hosts today's "turn the tables" episode... and interviews Dan Turchin, PeopleReign CEO. Learn about Dan's vision for augmenting human intelligence with machine intelligence and how AI will be used to give the next billion employees back an hour a day.Listen and learn...The origin story behind this podcastWhat's required to use AI to improve employee experiences How many new jobs will be created by AI in the next five years according to The World Economic ForumThe right way for investors to identify talent and catalyze innovationHow Ben learned the value of human-centric AI from his days at Yahoo, Box, and TwitterReferences in this episode:Mark Settle, serial CIO, on AI and the Future of WorkDr. Mark van Rijmenam, The Digital Speaker, on AI and the Future of WorkRory O'Driscoll from Scale Ventures Partners on AI and the Future of WorkAshu Garg from Foundation Capital on AI and the Future of Work Glenn Solomon from GGV on AI and the Future of Work The great Katie Stanton, PeopleReign investor from Moxxie Ventures

This episode was produced remotely using the ListenDeck standardized audio & video production system. If you're looking to jumpstart your podcast miniseries or upgrade your podcast or video production please visit www.ListenDeck.com. You can subscribe to this podcast and stay up to date on all the stories here on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon and iHeartRadio. In this episode the host John Siracusa chats remotely with Zach Noorani,  Partner at Foundation Capital.    Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm made up of former entrepreneurs who set out to create the firm they wanted as founders. Foundation Capital  has invested in companies like LendingClub, Sunrun and Netflix, among many others.  Foundation Capital is currently invested in more than 60 high-growth ventures.  The firm's twenty-six IPOs include Lending Club, OnDeck, Chegg, Sunrun, MobileIron, Control4, TubeMogul, Envestnet, Financial Engines, Netflix, NetZero, Responsys and Silver Spring Networks. Tune in and Listen. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Google , Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon and iHeartRadio to hear Thursdays episode with Login Allin from Fin Capital . About the host:   John is the host of the  ‘Bank On It' podcast which is produced by ListenDeck podcast & video production.

This episode was produced remotely using the ListenDeck standardized audio & video production system. If you're looking to jumpstart your podcast miniseries or upgrade your podcast or video production please visit www.ListenDeck.com. You can subscribe to this podcast and stay up to date on all the stories here on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon and iHeartRadio. In this episode the host John Siracusa chats remotely with Haroon Mokhtarzada,  Co-founder & CEO at Truebill.  Truebill was acquired by Rocket back in December 2021.  Haroon is a serial entrepreneur and has had past exits such as Webs.com back in 2018.  Truebill is a personal finance app that utilizes AI to enable users to manage their personal finances and improve their financial health. Tune in and Listen. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Google , Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon and iHeartRadio to hear next Tuesdays episode with Zach Noorani from Foundation Capital. About the host:   John is the host of the  ‘Bank On It' podcast which is produced by ListenDeck podcast & video production.  Follow John on LinkedIn, Twitter, Medium

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.On this week’s show, we are excited to be joined by Gaurav Jain, Co-Founder of Afore Capital, one of the largest pre-seed funds in the US with nearly $300MM in AUM across 3 funds. Afore says that no investment is "too early,” and very often investing in companies that are pre-product. We had a great conversation covering pre-seed investing, whether the current market should affect portfolio construction, and how they are able to execute on so many initiatives without the benefit of a large team. About Gaurav Jain:Before co-founding Afore in 2016 with Anamitra Banerji (formerly at Foundation Capital), Gaurav was a principal at one of the top-seed firms in the world in Founder Collective and prior to his investing career, he was an early Product Manager for Android Google and was a co-founder of Polar Mobile.In this episode we discuss:00:58 The inspiration for starting Afore 04:05 What is the difference between pre-seed and seed stage investments06:32 How Afore underwrites risk at the earliest stages of development10:19 The type of founders that Afore is most excited about13:03 Why storytelling is so important at the early stages of companies17:38 Why the market conditions haven’t changed Afore’s portfolio construction23:18 How they think about follow-ons and insider bridges26:58 How Afore has productized its offer with Afore Alpha31:40 How the Afore platform and community works36:48 What Gaurav’s day-to-day schedule looks like42:50 The lessons Gaurav has learned from his anti-portfolioI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Gaurav. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

In Episode #123, we deconstruct Steve Vassallo's peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. Steve is General Partner at Foundation Capital. We cover translating non-human languages, enlightened procrastination, and his insatiable curiosity. “Go deep, go early, go big.” – Steve Vassallo EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED) https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/steve-vassallo-playbook/  FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/steve-vassallo-playbook-transcript/  CHAPTERS In this episode, we deconstruct Steve Vassallo's peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. In it we cover: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:03:52 – Translating non-human languages 00:06:35– Having insatiable curiosity and a deep love of building hard things 00:08:27 – Investment philosophy can be distilled down to conviction 00:10:21 – You can always find a way to build something you've already sold, but you can't always sell something you've already built 00:12:08 – Enlightened procrastination 00:14:44 – Thinking, Fast and Slow 00:17:10 – Invest in people you want to work with 00:21:01 – Take stock of what you're granting your attention to ABOUT STEVE VASSALLO Steve Vassallo has been a general partner at Foundation Capital for the last 15 years. At Foundation, he's led the firm's investments in Stripe, Cerebra, Sunrun, Loft Orbital, Solana, and many other incredible firms. Steve is also the author of The Way to Design, which is a guide to how companies of all sizes should approach design. The book is a compendium of interviews with more than 50 designers, design scholars and tech founders who have gotten design right from day one. Steve began his career at IDEO where he worked closely with IDEO's founder, David Kelly, to research design and deliver innovative products and services across industries. Because of Steve's early experiences at IDEO he's drawn to product-centric founders and has a wonderful knack for bringing design and engineering together to create incredible products. In this episode, we cover why Steve has been fascinated with the wicked problems that exist in Crypto and why he thinks we're still in the earliest innings there. He talks about his work with the earth species project, whose goal is to decode non-human language in mammals of all sizes from whales to monkeys. Talks about how he combines insatiable curiosity and a deep love of building hard things in his investing work. He shares his advice for founders and investors, and he shares his favorite books, including why he loves Thinking Fast and Slow and Poor Charlie's Almanack.

On this episode, it's Ashu Garg vs. Ashu Garg. Our guest is his good friend Ashu Garg, who also goes by Ashutosh. Ashutosh is the founder and CEO of Eightfold, an AI-powered talent-acquisition and -management platform, where our Ashu is a board member and early investor in the company. In this conversation, the two Ashus trace Eightfold's not-always-easy path from altruistic mission to Silicon Valley unicorn. They spend much of their time discussing how to hire the best people. And CEO Ashu shares everything he wished he knew at the beginning of his startup journey.

On this episode, Ashu's guest is Yamini Rangan, the CEO of HubSpot. The tagline of the B2BaCEO podcast is “from engineer to CEO,” and that's exactly the path that Yamini took. She started out as an engineer, then moved to sales, and then eventually to running go-to-market operations as an executive. Less than a year ago, Yamini became the CEO of HubSpot, under unexpected and trying circumstances, which she details in the conversation. Ashu and Yamini spend most of their time discussing how to make the transition from engineering to sales and how to build a customer-focused organization.

Tom Lenehan is the CIO at the Wallace Foundation, where he oversees $2 billion for the New York City-based Foundation whose mission is to foster equity and improvements in learning and enrichment for young people. Tom is only the second CIO in Wallace's history, having taken over the helm in January 2021. Before joining Wallace, he served as deputy CIO of Rockefeller University under longtime CIO Amy Falls and appeared as the 4th guest on Capital Allocators back in 2017. That replay is available in the feed and offers a fantastic comparison in Tom's perspectives on as a deputy compared to a CIO. Our conversation this time dives into his transition, managing a team and a portfolio during COVID, and how Tom has approached asset allocation of a new pool of capital. We discuss his key priorities for the portfolio, and his perspectives on China, venture capital, private equity, hedge funds, inflation, cash, and crypto. We close with Tom's approach to building and working with his team, governance, and future risks.   Learn More‍ Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn‍ Subscribe to the mailing list‍ Access Transcript with Premium Membership‍

Nikesh Arora began his career at Fidelity Technologies, where he served as VP Finance. He then went onto T-Mobile, where he was CMO and then in 2004 joined Google, initially running Europe and was ultimately the Chief Business Officer of the company before he left in 2014. He was then president and COO of Softbank Corp before becoming CEO of Palo Alto Networks in 2018. Nikesh has held so many different functional leadership roles that it's small wonder we've dubbed him the “One Man C-Suite.” On this episode, Ashu and Nikesh explore the importance of culture, and how it separates the great companies from the also-rans. Nikesh explains how he went about defining the culture at Palo Alto Networks and then translated that aspiration into reality, including how he approaches hiring.

Zach Noorani is a partner at Foundation Capital where he leads FinTech investing.   Zach shares why he is excited for composability in finance, why he's still excited for neobanks and why traditional finance is not going to be disrupted by web3 overnight.