Podcasts about harbourvest

Peter Wilson is Managing Director at HarbourVest Partners, a private markets specialist firm with over $140 billion in assets across 14 offices. Peter has worked at HarbourVest for most of his career, in a series of roles, most recently as one of two members of the firm's Executive Management Committee which ran the firm from 2012 to 2024. In this broadranging discussion, Peter discusses his career journey and the firm's evolution as well as that of the private equity industry more broadly. We discuss the shift from standardized to bespoke investment strategies, catering to institutional and high net worth clients and some of the more derivative strategies that have emerged, such as secondaries, NAV lending and co-investments. We discuss the the importance of authenticity in leadership and why pushing outside one's comfort zone and taking on stretch challenges is so important to continue to grow in one's career. Thank you Eagle Point Credit and Benefit Street Partners for supporting this series!With over $12 billion of AUM, Eagle Point Credit Management is a premier investment firm focused on generating strong returns for its clients through sourcing, evaluating and executing investments in CLOs, Portfolio Debt Securities and other credit investments that it believes shave the potential to outperform their respective markets generally.Benefit Street Partners is a leading global alternative credit asset manager offering clients investment solutions across a broad range of complementary credit strategies, including direct lending, special situations, structured credit, high yield bonds, leveraged loans and commercial real estate debt and equity. As of December 31, 2024, BSP-Alcentra had $76 billion of assets under management.

Series 2 of the 2025 podcast was born into a time of tremendous market turbulence. In our ten conversations with a diverse range of guests – sourced globally, we go top down, and bottom up – into the weeds, and take helicopter views. Tune in to hear about the technologies in venture capital and climate tech that excite even the most experienced investors who have seen multiple cycles with podcasts featuring Hunter Somerville and Beverley Gower-Jones, OBE on topics of big swing innovation in venture capital and what is on the cutting edge of climate tech. Erik Hirsch of Hamilton Lane describes private equity's evolution, the essential role of data and what lies ahead, while Peter Wilson of Harbourvest shares his views on the topic as well as the importance of authenticity.Fernando Vinzons, CIO at Chicago Teachers Pension Fund updates us on the fund's growth and in particular the resilience of its emerging manager strategy, while Dan Gore of Darwin Alternative Asset Management describes the opportunity in small and mid-cap UK firms. Rich Byrne seamlessly marries lessons from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (in which he is a decorated champion) with lessons from the private credit world, while Cathy Bevan, also of Benefit Street, walks us through the evolution of structured credit over the past decade. Staying on credit, Sonali Pier of PIMCO describes her own journey from working as a credit trader into her current role, and we dive into the fascinating and emerging area of NAV lending with a discussion with Tom Doyle of Pemberton Asset Management.Please follow us for the launch of the second part of Series 2 next week: You can find all of our podcasts on The Fiftyfaces Hub, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you Eagle Point Credit and Benefit Street Partners for supporting this series! With over $12 billion of AUM, Eagle Point Credit Management is a premier investment firm focused on generating strong returns for its clients through sourcing, evaluating and executing investments in CLOs, Portfolio Debt Securities and other credit investments that it believes shave the potential to outperform their respective markets generally.Benefit Street Partners is a leading global alternative credit asset manager offering clients investment solutions across a broad range of complementary credit strategies, including direct lending, special situations, structured credit, high yield bonds, leveraged loans and commercial real estate debt and equity. As of December 31, 2024, BSP-Alcentra had $76 billion of assets under management.

In this episode of the Dakota Fundraising News Podcast, Pat and Konch spotlight major job changes, including Andrew Sullivan being named CEO of Prudential Financial, Nuno Matos taking over as CEO of ANZ Group, and Elijah McGowen joining StepStone as VP of Private Debt. In RIA/FA M&A, SageView acquires OnTrack 401(k) to bolster its retirement consulting business, Concurrent Investment Advisors adds eight advisors managing $885M in assets, and Serenus Wealth goes bi-coastal with a new partner and office in New York. Institutional coverage highlights Iowa PERS's upcoming absolute return manager search and 2025 commitment pacing plans for private equity, credit, and real assets. Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency Retirement System approved allocations to Constitution, HarbourVest, and Mesirow, while D.C. Retirement Board preps for an RFP for an active international equity manager. Investment news includes Houston Police Officers' Pension committing $50M to NB Private Debt Fund V and Cincinnati Retirement System committing $30M across Siguler Guff, PEG Co-Investment, and Timber Bay. Fundraising updates feature Virtus launching the Seix AAA Private Credit CLO ETF, H.I.G. Capital closing its Loan Opportunity Fund VII at $1B, and Triton Partners raising over €1B for its third Debt Opportunities Fund. Stay tuned for the latest in institutional and wealth management news.

Scott Voss, Managing Director of one of Boston's preeminent venture capital firms HarbourVest, joins CJ for an in-depth exploration of secondaries, continuation vehicles, and sidecar funds. Scott starts by outlining HarbourVest's value proposition and investment strategies, covering primary investments, secondaries, and direct co-investments while underscoring the importance of private market access for diversified portfolios. He shares the framework HarbourVest uses to identify and support emerging fund managers ahead of their success, and the process of due diligence and evaluation. Scott sheds light on how continuation vehicles work in the private equity space and other trends or innovations he has identified. The discussion also covers the complexities of succession planning within private equity firms, the evolving landscape of global entrepreneurship and venture capital internationally, and Scott's views on AI.If you're looking for an ERP head to NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and get a customized KPI checklist.—SPONSORS:Operators Guild is where the best CEOs, CFOs, VPs of finance, and BizOps leaders in the business connect, network, and grow together. Built by operators for operators, this members-only community is home to more than 1000 of the most elite high-growth operators in the world. Experience connection and knowledge share with professionals who understand you like no one else does. Learn more and apply at operators-guild.com. Maxio is the only billing and financial operations platform that was purpose built for B2B SaaS. They're helping SaaS finance teams automate billing and revenue recognition, manage collections and payments, and put together investor grade reporting packages.

The private equity landscape is evolving, with companies staying private longer due to available growth capital, expanding access and investment opportunities in private markets. In the latest episode of the Portfolio Construction podcast, Paul O'Connor, Head of Investment at Netwealth, chats with Craig MacDonald, Managing Director of HarbourVest Partners Ireland. Craig shares his perspective on why he believes private equity consistently outperforms public markets, the growing interest from Australian investors, and the innovative structures of modern private equity funds. They also explore emerging companies, liquidity and risk management strategies, and the transformative impact of AI on private markets, highlighting growth opportunities in sectors like healthcare and industrials.

This episode is sponsored by AlixPartners The Disruption Matters special podcast miniseries is back for a third season, and this year, leading industry experts will discuss how private markets can best use today's technologies to create value. In this second episode, we explore how technology is changing the nature of due diligence. How much can AI improve investment decisions? Is it only a matter of data management, or can these new technologies help identify potential operational efficiencies, EBITDA growth and new markets? And is this reserved for tech-forward industries like SaaS or can they be applied to sectors like manufacturing and insurance? We answer these questions with what's possible today, complete with the limitations and the need for expert supervision. Listeners should know that this episode ends with a plot twist that might keep GPs up at night. Guests include Anders Thulin, partner and head of digital & technology practice at Triton Partners; Andrew Tarver, founding partner of Motive Partners; Hoyoung Pak, a partner and managing director with AlixPartners; Jason McDannold, partner and managing director with AlixPartners; Lewis Bantin, partner at ECI; Sofia Gertsberg, managing director of quantitative investment science at HarbourVest; and Jeremy Lehman, director at Alix Partners. Clips: - Alien. Dan O'Bannon. 20th Century-Fox, Brandywine Productions. - Star Wars: The Force Awakens. JJ Abrams. Lucasfilm Ltd, Bad Robot, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Join us for an enlightening episode of the "Rainmaker Podcast," featuring Jamie Kase, a key figure at HarbourVest, a leading asset management firm. With a rich history tracing back to its origins as a venture firm under John Hancock, HarbourVest has evolved into an independent powerhouse, now managing a staggering $120 billion in assets. This episode offers a rare glimpse into the strategic maneuvers and cultural shifts that have propelled HarbourVest to the forefront of the asset management industry.Kase, who joined HarbourVest in 2015 and brings over 30 years of experience in sales, marketing, and investor relations, talks in-depth about the firm's journey. He discusses how HarbourVest transitioned from its initial focus on traditional funds to embracing a more diversified approach, including secondaries, co-investments, private credit, and infrastructure investments. This shift not only broadened the firm's portfolio but also enhanced its ability to meet varied client needs.The podcast also dives into the organizational growth of HarbourVest, particularly in its sales department, which expanded from a small team to over 80 professionals globally. Kase emphasizes the importance of understanding the distinct requirements of institutional and private wealth clients, a key factor in the firm's client relationship management strategy.Moreover, Kase highlights the critical role of company culture in HarbourVest's success. He talks about fostering an environment that values teamwork, collective achievement, and a deep sense of mutual respect and care among team members.Kase concludes by sharing his insights on effective client engagement and relationship management, and offers valuable advice for professionals in the investment field. This episode is not just a story of a firm's growth; it's a masterclass in adapting to the changing landscapes of asset management and setting benchmarks in client service excellence.

In der Mittagsfolge sprechen wir heute mit Dr. David Schneider, CEO und Founder von Qualifyze, über die erfolgreich abgeschlossene Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von 12 Millionen US-Dollar.Qualifyze ist ein Anbieter von strukturierten und analysierbaren GxP-Audit-Daten, die aus Vor-Ort-Inspektionen in der pharmazeutischen Lieferkette resultieren. Durch die Servicepläne profitieren Pharmaunternehmen vom Zugang zum nach eigenen Angaben größten Bestand an Auditdaten, indem sie Auditguthaben erwerben, die flexibel für Auditberichte, Datenanalysedienste und Softwarelösungen eingelöst werden können. Dabei müssen sie sich nicht auf einen bestimmten Auditstandard oder eine bestimmte Lieferantengeografie festlegen. Das Startup erfasst und konvertiert außerdem proprietäre Audit-Rohdaten, um einzigartige Einblicke in das Niveau der Lieferantenkonformität in der gesamten Lieferkette zu gewinnen. Über die Cloud-basierte Plattform können die Kundenunternehmen jederzeit auf die Compliance-Informationen der Lieferanten zugreifen und diese standortübergreifend auswerten, was einen neuen Weg zur Optimierung von Prozessen zur Risikominderung bei Lieferanten auf rationale und kosteneffiziente Weise darstellt. Qualifyze wurde im Jahr 2019 von Dr. David Schneider und Florian Hildebrand in Frankfurt am Main gegründet. Seit der Einführung der Lösung hat das Startup bereits Tausende von Lieferanten auditiert und mehr als 1.000 Pharmahersteller dabei unterstützt, die Einhaltung der Lieferkette zu verbessern und die Kosten für die Lieferantenqualifizierung zu senken. Das Netzwerk besteht mittlerweile aus über 200 lokalen auditierenden Expertinnen und Experten. Im Jahr 2023 wird das Unternehmen ein Umsatzwachstum von voraussichtlich mehr als 10 Millionen US-Dollar erreichen, womit Qualifyze seinen Wachstumskurs von 100 % gegenüber dem Vorjahr fortsetzt.Nun hat das Frankfurter Startup in einer Finanzierungsrunde 12 Millionen US-Dollar eingesammelt. Die bestehenden Investoren HV Capital und Rheingau Founders sowie die neuen Investoren HarbourVest Partners und H14 haben sich an der Runde beteiligt. Das zusätzliche Kapital wird auch genutzt, um die Expansion innerhalb bestehender und in neue geografische Märkte fortzusetzen, um als Zielvision die Referenzplattform für Supply-Chain-Compliance-Daten in der Pharmaindustrie zu werden. Ca. 80 % der Kundenunternehmen sind bereits außerhalb Deutschlands und ca. 20 % außerhalb Europas angesiedelt, wodurch Qualifyze bereits Erfolge auf dem internationalen Markt vorweisen kann. 

In der Mittagsfolge sprechen wir heute mit Kate McGinn, Associate von Seedcamp, über die erfolgreiche Auflage des Fonds Seedcamp VI in Höhe von 166 Millionen Euro.Seedcamp ist ein europäischer Risikokapitalfonds mit Sitz in London und wurde im Mai 2007 von einer Gruppe von 30 europäischen Investorinnen und Investoren gegründet. Der VC konzentriert sich auf frühphasige Startups und bietet den Portfoliounternehmen neben dem Kapital auch eine umfassende Betreuung durch das hauseigene Team an, das bei der Suche nach dem passenden Produkt für den Markt, dem Aufbau von Vertriebs- und Marketingkapazitäten, die Vergrößerung des Teams oder bei der Einführung in das globale Netzwerk von Betreibenden und Investierenden unterstützt. Im August 2017 hatte Seedcamp bereits ein Portfolio von mehr als 250 Unternehmen, die mehr als 1 Milliarde US-Dollar an Folgefinanzierungen von Kapitalgebern aus der ganzen Welt erhalten haben. Das heutige Portfolio von Seedcamp besteht aus über 460 Unternehmen, worunter sich auch die Einhörner UiPath, Wise, Revolut, Pleo, Hopin, Grover, Viz.ai, Wefox und Sorare befinden.Seedcamp hat nun den Abschluss seines stark überzeichneten Fonds VI in Höhe von 166 Millionen Euro bekanntgegeben. Seedcamp VI ist damit fast doppelt so groß wie der vorherige Seedcamp V und stellt den größten Fonds des Unternehmens dar. Zu den Kapitalgebern zählen u.a. LGT, Reference Capital, Harbourvest und Legal & General. Außerdem haben sich zahlreiche Business Angels, wie beispielsweise Michael Pennington von Gumtree, Will Neale von Grabyo, Paul Forster von Indeed, Ilkka Paananen von Supercell und Shakil Khan von Spotify bei der Auflage beteiligt. Seedcamp VI wird weiterhin europäische Founder bis zur Seed-Runde unterstützen. Außerdem wird Seedcamp die Höhe des Kapitals, welches es in Unternehmen vom ersten Scheck an investiert, phasenweise erhöhen und Kapital für Folgeprojekte bis zur Series B reservieren. Neben dem Kapital werden weiterhin das globale Netzwerk und die hauseigene Plattform für Support und Produkte zur Verfügung gestellt.

My guest on the first episode of Private Equity Masters is John Toomey, one of two members of the Executive Management Committee at HarbourVest Partners. For more than thirty years, HarbourVest has invested across all parts of the private equity spectrum - in funds, secondaries, and direct co-invests. Today, it oversees over $75 billion of assets and canvasses the world.    Our conversation discusses the early days of private equity investing, evolution of strategies across primaries, co-invests, and secondaries, international expansion, best practices of managers, the next wave of growth opportunities, and risks in the space.   John has a unique perch at the top of the industry and offers a wonderful perspective to kick off the mini-series. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

Mario Giannini and John Toomey lead two of the largest private equity fund investors in the world. Mario is the CEO of Hamilton Lane, which manages over $100 billion and supervises another $700 billion in non-discretionary assets, and John is half of the Executive Management Committee of HarbourVest, which also manages in excess of $100 billion in the space. Both are past guests on the show, and we've replayed those conversations on the feed. Mario and John joined me to canvass private equity markets. Our conversation covers the health and valuation of underlying portfolio companies, new deals, secondary markets, dry powder, fund raising, portfolio construction, winners and losers, new sources of capital, private credit, co-investments, ESG, China, and geopolitical risks. Show Notes: 03:24    Views on current environment 05:04    Bull case for private equity 06:21    Valuation trends 09:14    Financing markets 12:51    Exits for portfolio companies 15:53    Pace of new deals 18:55    Secondary market activity 22:24    Dry powder 25:49    Fundraising cycles 28:53    Capital allocation decisions 30:29    Portfolio construction 38:35    Winners and losers 43:22    New sources of capital 49:30    Private credit 52:53    Distressed investing and default cycles 55:58    Co-investment activity 57:47    ESG 1:01:40 China 1:08:53 Closing Questions Learn More  Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn  Subscribe to the mailing list  Access Transcript with Premium Membership 

In this episode – Trends in Private Equity – Joe Boushelle, CFA, CAIA, Senior Managing Director, Alternatives at Clearstead interviews Craig MacDonald, Managing Director for HarbourVest. They discuss trends, challenges, and opportunities in private equity markets.Learn more about Clearstead at: https://www.clearstead.com/  The Clearstead Investment Forum is a quarterly discussion between members of our Investment Office and industry leaders on a current investment-related topic or trend. Thank you for listening. Disclosures: This podcast is being provided for informational purposes only. The ideas and opinions expressed on this show by its host and its guest speakers do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of Clearstead Advisors, LLC or its subsidiaries and affiliates and do not constitute legal, tax, or investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security or strategy. Any performance information discussed is based on past performance, which is not an indicator of future results. Any information prepared from third-party sources is believed to be reliable though its accuracy is not guaranteed. Opinions expressed in this commentary reflect subjective judgments of the speakers based on conditions at the time of recording and are subject to change without notice.  This educational content is intended to inform and educate listeners about the topics discussed and is not intended as investment, tax or legal advice for any specific individual or specific situation. Listeners should seek the input of their own financial, tax, and legal professionals before acting on any of the information provided.

Chelinde Edouard is Co-Founder and CEO of MustWatch, which connects people through television. Chad talks with Che about creating a social and user engagement platform that allows people to come back and constantly use an app without interrupting TV-watching experiences, how they use data to improve user experience, and fundraising and giving investors opportunities to help build out the app, increase marketing, and potentially build an Android version. MustWatch (https://mustwatch.com/) Follow MustWatch on Twitter (https://twitter.com/realmustwatch) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/realmustwatch/). Follow Che on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/che-edouard-10013964/). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: CHAD: This is the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Chad Pytel, and with me today is Che Edouard, Co-Founder and CEO of MustWatch, which connects people through television. Che, thank you for joining me. CHELINDE: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. CHAD: So astute listeners of the show will note maybe that name sounds familiar. And that's because you and MustWatch were mentioned on Episode 419, which was about the GK Fund with Michael Benezra. And I asked him for examples of the kinds of companies that he was excited about that they had given their grants to. And you're the one he called out, and so that jumped out at me. And thanks for joining the show. CHELINDE: Thank you for having me. Really appreciate it. And I definitely want to shout out the GK Fund. They've definitely been a huge support to us since giving us the grant. And they're definitely leading the charge in this new avenue of racial inequality and helping startups in that fashion in Boston. CHAD: So I'm curious; before we get too far down the road of where you're at today and how you got there, let's take a step back and just remind people what MustWatch is. CHELINDE: Absolutely. MustWatch is an app that's on the App Store now. So even if you have an iPhone, you can download it. And it's an app that's revolving around TV. So it allows you to see what shows your friends watch, chat with them about them, and send recommendations all in one place. So we think of it as like a social hub for all of your TV needs. CHAD: I think people who hear this might be like, oh, does this exist already? That kind of thing. And there are a couple of things a little bit like this, but it doesn't seem like there's really anything that's quite like this, right? CHELINDE: Exactly. So a lot of the social TV apps and other services today focus on one feature, for example, chat or recommendations, or giving reviews about shows, or having a list of them. But our app, we do all of it in one place. So on our app, it can show which shows you like. You can also share with your friends directly; hey, you should go watch this show because I think you should like it. We also have this feature called watchlist, which is our natural social recommendations of here are all the shows that your friends are watching that you don't watch. And so it's a way to give people a way to find new shows without getting the same recommendations from Netflix and Hulu that are not really accurate today. CHAD: How did you hit upon this idea? CHELINDE: Actually, one of my high school friends, we were all brainstorming and coming up with ideas for companies. And then one day, he was at work, and he was trying to talk about Game of Thrones, but his boss wouldn't let him because he wasn't caught up on the season. He wasn't there. CHAD: [laughs] CHELINDE: So he was like, how do I find someone or talk to someone who's caught up to where I'm at so I can actually have a conversation? And so we brainstormed, and we tried to solve the problem of let's just create a spoiler-free chat kind of solution that would allow people to talk about shows that they're caught up on. And then that we've iterated and evolved, and that's kind of led to where we're at today. CHAD: And when was that? CHELINDE: That was, I want to say, 2014. That was when I graduated from BU. So in the summer of 2014, that's when we first had the idea. And then from there, we just brainstormed, had a bunch of meetings, and then just took a year in stealth mode trying to figure out how we wanted to create a business plan. And then, from there, we hit the ground running. CHAD: You and your friend, what were your sort of core competencies, the two of you? CHELINDE: I'm the tech background, so to speak, because, as I mentioned, I went to BU. My degree is in management information systems, which is basically business IT. So I was trying to leverage all my technology skills there and also my business skills to say how do we, one, build the app and two, create a business that can actually support it for the long term? And he had more of the idea on the customer side of how can we create an experience or a user engagement platform that allows people to constantly come back and constantly want to find more reason to use our app? Because as we know, people watch the show on TV, but the app is a conduit to that. And so, we want to figure out a way to get people to constantly use our app but also not interrupt their TV-watching experience. CHAD: So you said you're trying to figure out a business plan. You're refining the concept. At what point do you start making the leap to actually writing an app? CHELINDE: With all apps, you start with this concept called wireframes, and so we built out a bunch of wireframes. Two of my friends from high school we all built the app together. And then one of them went to Miami, and his friend from Miami he's the one that actually helped us develop the app and code. And so we worked with him to actually say, "Hey, these are our wireframes. We're trying to make this into an app. Can you build it out?" And so, we worked with him over a year to make that a reality. CHAD: And it took about a year to get to launch. CHELINDE: We actually started on Android, and we were trying to create an MVP or prototype. And so we took that idea like I said, we were working for a year, to this company called Netcapital, which is a crowdfunding platform for startups and companies. And we launched on Netcapital in May of 2020. With that idea, we raised 50k in almost three months. And with that money, we actually built the app from there. And so the app you see in the App Store now is from the money that we've raised on Netcapital. CHAD: Did you throw away that original version and start over? CHELINDE: I wouldn't say throw away. We kind of used it as a launching point. But we don't have any Android version right now. We're strictly in iOS. CHAD: Yeah, that was notable to me. Tell me more about that. CHELINDE: So going from Android to iOS it was really a business decision there because our developer had knowledge in Android but didn't have the iOS background. And so when we went on Netcapital, we used that money to actually hire a real development team. That's who's building our app now. So we work with them to build our app. And going to iOS has allowed us to, at least in the meantime, expand in the U.S. market a lot quicker. CHAD: Now, are they building it in first-party frameworks only for iOS, or are they using something that is going to allow you to go expand to Android in the future? CHELINDE: So right now, we're strictly iOS only. We would like to move to a React Native or a tool that allows us to promote to both. When we first started, we wanted to just focus on iOS, given our costs. CHAD: These are common problems that a lot of startups or common decisions that a lot of startups have to make. And it's not always straightforward. Were you worried about this? CHELINDE: Yes. Because that's one of the things now it's we would love to have an Android version. But for me, being more of a purist, I didn't want the code to work in one system and not another. And given that we only had...in my mind, it's like you have one shot to make an impression. And when you go out and launch it on the App Store, I didn't want it to be half-baked in one and half-baked in the other. I'd rather have one be exactly how we want it to look, and then we can adapt as we grow. CHAD: How has it been working for you, then? CHELINDE: So far, so good. We're actually in the process of releasing some new features later this month, and so like I said, the watchlist feature, which allows you to add shows that you're going to watch in the future. We also have the ability to create chats through the chat functionality because previously, you had to create a new chat every single time. So we've made it easier for people to start chats, and also you can do group chats as well. So it's not just individuals. You can have a whole group of people in one conversation. CHAD: So some of these features there must be a backend server powering all of this, right? CHELINDE: Yes. So we use the Google Cloud Firestore for our backend. And another cool part about our app is we have a lot of analytics about what people are watching. And that's where we take their data from our cloud, the Google Cloud Firestore, and we send it to the BigQuery, also a Google platform. And then we use the Google Analytics that we have on the app to then do our reports around who's watching what, top 10 shows for the past month, the top 10 shows based on if you're male or female, based on what age group. So we have all the analytics on the viewing habits from the data that we've collected. CHAD: Can you tell me how many users you have now? CHELINDE: As of right now, we are at 820. We are looking to obviously get a little bit over to that 1,000 users mark, and then we can have a better sense of what kind of insights we can glean from there. CHAD: Well, hopefully, coming on this show will help you do that. So if you're listening and this sounds interesting to you, where are the best places...so people can search for MustWatch on the App Store, the iOS App Store? CHELINDE: Yep. And we also have a website mustwatch.com if people want to check that out as well. CHAD: Yeah, so let's do it. Let's push them over the top and get those numbers up. I'm curious about usage patterns. Are you able to see any patterns in terms of what causes people to either keep using the app or not? CHELINDE: Yeah. So the main thing that keeps people using the app is having chat groups with people and then also getting recommendations. Like I mentioned before, we have the social recommendations of people just showing you what shows people watch. But there's also direct one-to-one. If you're on the app, I could send you a recommendation. And that's what drives a lot of people to go on the app and find new shows. Another thing that we see is a lot of people just searching, just looking up the shows that are on the app because our database of shows is actually pretty robust. I was talking to someone yesterday; he's Korean. And he was using his phone to type in a show. And he was using a Korean keyboard, and the show came up. And he was like, "Oh wow, I didn't even know you guys support multiple languages." And I was like, "Yes, we support." Our database of shows is very expansive. So if you're in Korea, if you're in Japan, if you like anime, if you like telenovelas, we have all types of shows on our app as well. CHAD: Do you get that database from somewhere? CHELINDE: Yeah, so there's actually a TV show API called TMDB, which pretty much is an open-source, free database that you can pull from. So we use that as our source for shows. CHAD: That's cool. Speaking of shows, I noticed on the MustWatch website, on the team page, you all list your favorite shows and what you're currently watching. I think you and I have different tastes in shows. [laughter] I have heard of the shows that are your favorite, but I have not watched any of them. CHELINDE: Oh wow. [laughs] What are your favorite shows? CHAD: I think actually my shows match the shows listed by Rob, your CFO. CHELINDE: Oh wow. [laughs] CHAD: And my all-time favorite show is, I think, The Leftovers. CHELINDE: Okay. So yeah, and that's the cool thing about this app is like, if you're on the app, you would see Rob's shows on the app too. Because if you download the app, you become friends with all of us immediately, so you have friends on there to start. CHAD: Oh, that's a cool idea. CHELINDE: So it gives you a way to just see what the app can look like before...because if you're on there by yourself as one person, it's a social app. It's meant to be with people. It doesn't really give you that clarity. So I bring that up because that's the one cool thing about the app is you always are surprised by what shows people watch, even if they're your friend. It's like, oh, I didn't know you would like that show. Or oh, I liked that show, and you don't like that show. And it's a very cool icebreaker or just a social connection that you can make because everyone's putting shows on the app. And one way, actually...I was talking to someone the other day thinking about how like Spotify, you put all your playlists and all your shows. This app is kind of like a Spotify but for TV shows and also for movies. So it's not just shows, movies as well. CHAD: And the cool things that Spotify does in terms of the reports that they release annually to each individual person and everything. Like, that's all stuff you can do too. CHELINDE: Yep. CHAD: Yeah, it's cool. So your background actually is in sort of business intelligence, data analysis, and analyst, right? CHELINDE: Yes, that's correct. For my day job...I just want to back up. I also have a day job while also doing this. And I've primarily been the past couple of years a BI analyst. So previously, I was at HarbourVest, which is a private equity firm here in Boston. And then, I recently joined Liberty Mutual Investments also as BI data analyst. So I've been very involved in the financial services side of data analytics, which has allowed me to just get other insights on how technology works and just also getting exposure to the whole industry as well. CHAD: So you basically have two reasons why you want to get the number of users up. One is from a co-founder perspective and founder perspective; you want to get the number of users up. But from a data perspective, you want to get the users up so that you have more data to play with. CHELINDE: Exactly, exactly. The more users we have, the more data we can collect. And then data we can glean insights, and then provide value to our customers as well. Because our app users, if we can know which shows they are liking, we can also then tell them about shows that they also might like. Because once you find commonalities in shows that people are liking, you can then give them better recommendations. And we think that the social aspect of our app, the fact that we have all of your friends on there and they're giving you recommendations, it's better than just, oh, you've watched this show in the past three years, and it's on Netflix's algorithm of watched shows. That, to us, doesn't really seem as insightful and helpful to people. Mid-Roll Ad: When starting a new project, we understand that you want to make the right choices in technology, features, and investment, but that you don't have all year to do extended research. In just a few weeks, thoughtbot's Discovery Sprints deliver a user-centered product journey, a clickable prototype or Proof of Concept, and key market insights from focused user research. We'll help you to identify the primary user flow, decide which framework should be used to bring it to life, and set a firm estimate on future development efforts. Maximize impact and minimize risk with a validated roadmap for your new product. Get started at: url tbot.io/sprint CHAD: So you mentioned you have another job in addition to all this work you've been doing on MustWatch. How has that been? You know, starting a company, working on it while also having a full-time job elsewhere? CHELINDE: Yeah, it's definitely been, I guess, one of the challenging things I would say. It's definitely been rewarding. It takes a lot of time management, I would say, because you have to balance your day job and manage something on the side. I think the biggest hurdle I had was when we were first launching the app on the App Store, meeting with developers, and trying to fundraise all at the same time because I was just pressed for time. Because of the COVID, COVID happened right when we were launching. So working from home all day everyday kind of helped because I didn't have an hour commute anymore. So I got two hours back in my day. So I could, instead of going to work and just commuting, I had an hour in the morning and an hour after. I could use that time for MustWatch. But I had to definitely sacrifice some of my social life to make that happen. [laughter] CHAD: I assume that you have the plans that you would hope that things with MustWatch get to the point where you could do it full time. CHELINDE: Yes. The goal is to get MustWatch to a point where we can pay our employees and have salaries, and everyone can just be working from the company. But as everyone knows, if you're in a startup, you got to just not pay yourself and make sure everything goes into the company. How I see it is you can't pay yourself until everything else is working. CHAD: Yeah, I mean, people hear the startup stories of raising a whole bunch of money, working exclusively on it, having more than enough. I think that that's actually not necessarily the norm; that's the outlier. I think it's more common, more widespread to do what you're doing, to have an idea, and to be working on it and growing it while also holding down another job. CHELINDE: Because as we all know, the bills need to be paid, [laughs] and those don't go away. But I didn't want to give up on the dream. So if you want to make it happen, you can make it happen because while I was at HarbourVest, I also was at Babson getting my master's degree in business analytics. So at one point in time, I was working full-time at grad school and doing MustWatch. To me, that was probably the most busiest period of my life, but I did get through it. [laughs] But definitely took a lot, but now we're here. And we've gotten support from the GK Fund, and I couldn't be happier with where the future lies ahead. CHAD: One of the things about the GK Fund is that it's a grant. It's not an investment where you're giving up part of your company in order to do it, which I think is really important, especially for very early-stage companies, not to have to give away a significant portion of their company just to get some angel investment or that startup fund. I assume that's one of the reasons why it's been a big impact for you. CHELINDE: Absolutely. I mean, one, having it not be an investment was a lifesaver for us. At the time, we were still trying to figure out how to just get cash to get to the next stage. And so, for us, a grant was literally the blessing or a miracle at the perfect timing because it allowed us to...it gave us a little kickstart. Because I mean, as everyone knows, if you're a startup, you're always low on cash. And you're always trying to decide what's the best way to move the company forward? And that just gave us that breathing room without having to worry about paying it back, or a timetable to now let us actually grow and do what we can do best. CHAD: Do you hope to take a more traditional investment in the future? CHELINDE: Yes. So we're actually planning to do another fundraising on Netcapital. This time we're planning to raise $450,000. And that's going to help us build out the app, increase our marketing, and then potentially also build an Android version. CHAD: So I'm not sure that everyone who's listening will know what Netcapital actually is. CHELINDE: Yep. So Netcapital is a crowdfunding equity platform which allows retail investors to directly invest in startups. So if you're looking for another way to get into early-stage companies, Netcapital is a great place to do that. It's similar to if you've heard of StartEngine. It's a similar concept to that. And it's mainly you pretty much buy shares in a company, and then that company will then take that money to then use it for the funds that they have set in their offering. And you actually get an equity stake in the company. And so, for us, it's great because typically, those types of fundraising opportunities don't come for us. You need to have VC-backed or some kind of angel investor to get to that level. But having it be open to everybody, there's a larger pool of retail investors that allow you to get to where you need to go. Because if you can get a couple of your family, friends around to give you like a hundred or a couple thousand, it's definitely a better avenue than just going the VC route or just getting a loan from a grant or a startup, an SBA loan, something like that. CHAD: Traditionally, something like Netcapital was not really possible. But my understanding is that in 2016, the laws changed to allow smaller investments and get actual equity and for companies to offer it in such a way that wasn't possible before. CHELINDE: Yes, I believe it's called a Reg CF, Regulation Crowdfunding, and that was the law that was passed in 2016. And that is crucial to us being able to have an offering on Netcapital. CHAD: So it's not like Kickstarter where, you know, in Kickstarter, you're offering a new product or something, and people aren't becoming investors in your actual company. Netcapital is they are actual investors. And so, as an entrepreneur, as a company, what do your obligations to those investors look like? CHELINDE: So because they're investors, we have to give them quarterly updates. We have to file our annual report. We have to disclose any conflict of interest. There's a whole SEC team that has to approve and review any offering that goes on the platform to make sure that we are following all SEC guidelines. And then also, we are liable because they're investors. So they can email us. They can reach out to us, and we will respond because they are our shareholders. [chuckles] And so we need to make sure they're happy as well. CHAD: Yeah, with one of the things that Netcapital does is it sort of works like Kickstarter in that if you don't meet the goals that you've set, it doesn't actually happen. CHELINDE: Yep, there's a minimum investment threshold, so it depends on how much money you're raising. So last time, when we raised 50k, the minimum was 10k. So if we didn't get over $10,000, all the investors would get their money back. But if we got over that threshold, then that's the money that we would be able to use for our company. CHAD: 450,000 is significantly more than 50,000. What do you feel like you need to do in order to make sure that you hit the goal? CHELINDE: So one thing is going on podcasts like this to make sure that people know about it. [laughter] Secondly, we're actually going to be partnering with the GK Fund to do some more media exposure there. And then we're also partnering with Silicon Valley Bank because they're actually our partners on the banking side. And so, I'm going to be partnering with their network to leverage their connections as well. And then we're also going to be just doing the classic social media, posting on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, friends, or family. All avenues of media we will be pushing out MustWatch. CHAD: When do you expect to open up that listing? CHELINDE: We're targeting mid-July right now. So that's when we're planning on going live on Netcapital pending the compliance review and all the other legal stuff, but that's when we plan to go live. CHAD: Okay, well, if you're listening to this episode, it's going to be going live in a couple of weeks. And so definitely follow along and check it out. Cool. Well, what are your goals for that next funding round? What do you expect to use it for? CHELINDE: We expect to use our funding round on improving the iOS experience, so adding more features because we've gotten some customer feedback. And we have a laundry list or a backlog of items we want to add but obviously limited by cash constraints. So once we have the money, we can do what we want to do. And then we also would like to improve our marketing. So we want to have a real marketing team and improve our SEO. And then we also have a connection with Hollywood. So the writer for Ford and Ferrari, his name is Jason Keller is on our team. And we want to see how we can get our foot in the door with Hollywood as well. CHAD: That's really cool. What would that look like in your ideal scenario? CHELINDE: Ideally, we'd have some celebrities or Hollywood A-listers on the app using MustWatch and then promoting their shows or promoting our app in one of their media engagements as well. CHAD: Or chatting with people about the episode that just came out and that kind of thing. That'd be really cool. CHELINDE: Yeah, exactly. We want to get people to just engage on the app with celebrities as well. That's definitely one of the avenues we were thinking as well. CHAD: One of the big trends right now is TV companies making companion podcasts to the shows that they make. I can totally see them doing this kind of thing as well. CHELINDE: As we all know, user engagement and fan engagement is crucial for these companies, and MustWatch would be a crucial way for a lot of companies to connect easily. CHAD: This is a little bit of an aside, but I was sort of surprised that you were able to get mustwatch.com. CHELINDE: It was not cheap. [laughter] I think for some people who were following us for a while, when we first launched, our name was WatchParty. And that's how we originally started our company. But as we evolved, Facebook released a watch party feature; Hulu, Amazon all have these watch party features, and they weren't exactly like our company. And we didn't want to get any confusion in branding. And so we had a long discussion around what name do we change to, and how do we still convey the right feel for the app, and what we want to do? Because on our app, you're not watching the show on our app, I want to make that very clear. It's all about finding a new show, chatting, and connecting with people, but you're not watching on the app. And so it's tough to...not tough, but we wanted to make sure that people knew that the app was for finding new shows. But also, it has to be like a must-watch. Like, I need to go watch this right now because it's something really good. And so that's how we came across this name. CHAD: You mentioned earlier on that expenses are tight when you're working on something new. How worried were you about spending money on a domain name? CHELINDE: So this is also where our partnership with Netcapital came into play because they helped us in terms of getting us off the ground. And we work with them on the business side as well. And this is one of the avenues where they helped support us. CHAD: Oh, wow. Wow. It's great that you're able to pull together these different resources and get that support. CHELINDE: Yeah, to us, it's been crucial because, without the support, it's very tough to get your name out there. It's very tough to promote the idea. And so, with Netcapital and the GK Fund, it definitely puts us in a better light than usual. CHAD: Well, Che, I really wish you the best and MustWatch the best and your whole team. And good luck over the next few weeks as you open up this round on Netcapital. I ask everybody, again, go check out the app. Sometimes we talk to companies of all different stages on the show. And I especially think it's important when we have someone that's just getting started really trying to hit these user numbers that if people could go check it out, that'd be great. CHELINDE: Really appreciate it. CHAD: If folks want to follow along with you, get in touch with you, that kind of thing, where are all the different places where they can do that? CHELINDE: Reach out to me on LinkedIn. I'm on LinkedIn, Che Edouard. You can reach out to us on mustwatch.com. We have a contact us email there. You can also email me at che@mustwatch.com if you want to reach out. I am available on all platforms. CHAD: Wonderful. And you can subscribe to the show and find notes and a complete transcript for the episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. And you can find me on Twitter at @cpytel. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thanks so much for listening, and see you next time. ANNOUNCER: This podcast was brought to you by thoughtbot. thoughtbot is your expert design and development partner. Let's make your product and team a success.

My guest on the first episode of Private Equity Masters is John Toomey, one of two members of the Executive Management Committee at HarbourVest Partners. For more than thirty years, HarbourVest has invested across all parts of the private equity spectrum - in funds, secondaries, and direct co-invests. Today, it oversees over $75 billion of assets and canvasses the world.    Our conversation discusses the early days of private equity investing, evolution of strategies across primaries, co-invests, and secondaries, international expansion, best practices of managers, the next wave of growth opportunities, and risks in the space.   John has a unique perch at the top of the industry and offers a wonderful perspective to kick off the mini-series.   Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Victor is the co-founder & CEO of Fivestars, a software startup on mission to help businesses and communities thrive by turning every transaction into a relationship. 30 million people use Fivestars to get rewarded at over 13,000 local businesses with one rewards program. Local businesses use Fivestars to bring more customers into their stores. In 2017, Fivestars drove $2 billion in local commerce across its network. Fivestars has raised $105 million from HarbourVest, Menlo Ventures, Lightspeed, DCM, Y-Combinator, and others. Prior to Fivestars, Victor worked at McKinsey & Company, where he helped build out cutting edge loyalty and customer engagement strategies for premiere Fortune 500 brands. He started his career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, and holds three degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, where he triple majored in Industrial Engineering, Rhetoric, and Business Administration. Victor and his wife Jessica live in San Francisco and attend Reality SF church.

My guest on the first episode of Private Equity Masters is John Toomey, one of two members of the Executive Management Committee at HarbourVest Partners. For more than thirty years, HarbourVest has invested across all parts of the private equity spectrum - in funds, secondaries, and direct co-invests. Today, it oversees over $75 billion of assets and canvasses the world.    Our conversation discusses the early days of private equity investing, evolution of strategies across primaries, co-invests, and secondaries, international expansion, best practices of managers, the next wave of growth opportunities, and risks in the space.   John has a unique perch at the top of the industry and offers a wonderful perspective to kick off the mini-series. Learn More Subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Google Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe Monthly Mailing List Read the Transcript

Talking about how Telstra Ventures migrated from an on-balance sheet / full-time employee business unit CVC to an independent 2&20 VC fund controlling its own IC (Investment Committee) and diversifying its LP base to include HarbourVest and other financial LPs. Discussing the evolution of a CVC with the Investment Committee (IC) changing and evolving. Video of this podcast at https://youtu.be/kj2BlCBnJM4. andrew@7bc.vc

In this episode of The New CISO Podcast, the host, Steve, and guest David Rule of HarbourVest, discuss the skills he learned to transition from engineering to executive management, the evolution of leadership styles, and better ways to prepare for crisis management.     Transition from Engineer to Executive Manager     The first topic we covered was David’s transition from being on the tech side of security, to assuming a CISO position. We discuss how this change may be more challenging than originally anticipated, so in order to focus on developing leadership skills, David suggests entering a management role in a field in which you are familiar. He understood security and coding, and therefore he could spend more of his time learning how to be an effective leader.     Nontechnical Managers     While David’s path benefitted him, we also talked about the growth of more nontechnical leaders in cybersecurity. There are advantages and disadvantages to working under a nontechnical manager. How can you, as the employee, support your boss? Well, David points to the important skill of communication. Learning how to explain complicated concepts to someone who has less specific knowledge than you do proves to be an imperative skill for yourself, your manager, and the team.     While nontechnical managers offer knowledge in other areas such as business or client relations, they have to be careful when it comes to proposals. If the company proposes a specific plan, the nontechnical manager could sometimes miss spotting future issues once s/he delves deeper into the tech itself.        Administrative Rights of the Technical Manager    As a technical manager has specific background in cybersecurity, s/he can be tempted to fiddle with the coding. However, the technical manager must stay away from the daily, more administrative tasks, for several reasons. Listen to the podcast to hear our different points on this subject!       Advice for the Younger Self     Another interesting conversation we had was on the type of advice we would give to our younger selves. David feels he should have been more self-aware, and more willing to accept constructive criticism. To him, feedback is a gift, and you can only improve once you see it as such. In addition to self-awareness, we discussed situational awareness. This skill helps guide you in knowing when to speak and when to listen. Listen on to hear more about how this tool can aid you in meetings and increase your social relations at work.     Client Relations    A key aspect to any management role that other employees do not always have is navigating relationships with clients. David walks us through his approach to speaking with new clients—and it doesn’t begin with the tech. You can hear more about the specifics in this episode.     We also covered mentoring junior staff when it comes to client relations. David points out that meetings with clients helps junior staff members in two ways: you can explain to them what needs to be accomplished in the meeting, and then they can see you do it in person. This real-life experience helps them grow as an employee at a much more rapid rate. From you, they can learn how to deliver difficult news and still maintain grace.     Crisis Management     Another essential topic we spoke on was how to best train your team to manage a crisis in an effective way. David points out an astute observation: that by the time people have reached a leadership role, they haven’t worked through the problem at that level. They find themselves spending time on introductions and acclimating to the situation, which, in a crisis, is the worst time to have to do these things. To resolve this issue, David began an executive tabletop crisis discussion to help teach CISOs and other mangers how to handle a breach in a controlled environment. We also dive into getting ahead of the breach in terms of communication with clients, and how to manage their fears. Listen on to hear more specifics to how he facilitated conversations with not just the cybersecurity team, but the marketing and PR teams, and how to address clients in the face of a crisis.        Different Metrics for Different CISOs     We conversed about how formulating a program is an art, not a science. Every CISO builds a program that incorporates different sets of data. As a result, each CISO measures the success of his/her program via different metrics.     A Good CISO vs. a Great CISO    As different CISOs generate various styles of measuring the success of the program, it can be difficult to determine if your program is excelling. How do you know if you’re a great CISO—or just an average one? We talk about how world events influence the CISO position greatly and what the best CISOs do that separates them from the crowd. This role is a demanding one, and with the support and trust of the team, CISOs can effectively build trust in how their system works.    Links:   Exabeam: Website New CISO Podcast Steve Moore - Linkedin HarbourVest Website  David Rule - LinkedIn 

This episode features Daniel Conti the Principal of HarbourVest and Jean Martin the CIO of CEOS. They discuss the recent market volatility and how they position their client portfolios as well as what we should expect from private equity.

Let's say you make a choice that had you chosen differently, things would ostensibly have turned out more favourably. Later on, a similar situation comes up and you make the choice you think you should have made previously in the hope that the result you wanted before will come true this time around. This is called counterfactual thinking and it forms the main topic of our discussion in today’s episode. First publicized in a fascinating paper called The Psychology of Preferences, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky explore the abundance of instances where humans employ irrational ‘what if’ thinking in their processing of recently made decisions that resulted in an undesirable outcome. People tend to think back and wish that they had made a different choice, irrationally thinking that if they had, things would have worked out better. This idea, of course, has applications to investing in stocks with particular implications due to the utter randomness of the market. This is a mind-blowing discussion about human irrationality with links to many leading papers that research this principle in relation to different situations. Outside of our main discussion, we also touch on why you should think twice before buying a condo, the utter absurdity of the Robo-Advisor business model, monthly posted DVD accounts and the surprising birth of Netflix, and finally, the ambiguity of Vanguard’s partnering with HarbourVest. Key Points From This Episode: The story of Netflix’s origin starting by renting DVDs out by post. [0:02:30.0] Life expectancy, annuities, and Wade Pfau’s ideas on Safety-First retirement planning. [0:04:56] Investor/insurer reluctance and why you shouldn’t buy a condo. [0:07:23] The Robo-Advisor financing crisis and eventual merge of software and humans. [0:11:28] Counterfactual thinking and how it affects investment patterns. [0:17:40] The central role closeness of a related incident plays in ‘what if’ thinking. [0:21:21] Contrast effects: winning $50 feels good unless you could have won $100. [0:24:42] Causal inference effects: rectifying a past problem by acting its solution in the future. [0:27:37] Investor preferences reflecting counterfactual thinking and attachment to stocks. [0:31:27] The effect the end of WW1 had on people to blind them to the coming depression. [0:36:00] How there is no proof that if we acted differently a desired set of realities would result. [0:40:22] The randomness of the stock market and how mastering it is thus impossible. [0:41:34] Tools for beating counterfactual thinking: document your original rationale, etc. [0:43:19] Jason Zweig’s tips: lightning rarely strikes twice, and only gamble 10% of your money. [0:44:17] Bad or good advice? Vanguard’s partnering with HarbourVest. [0:47:32] How private equity valuations used to be low, resulting in high expected returns. [0:50:09] And much more!

Parent company Port and Free Zone World has offered to acquire the 19.55 per cent of DP World's shares traded on Nasdaq Dubai, returning the company to private ownership. It is going to give shareholders an almost 30 per cent premium on the share price before the announcement as a sweetener. This week, Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor in chief at The National, and Kelsey Warner, future editor, talk about DP World's decision to delist and Jeff Bezos's $ 10 billion Earth Fund. In this episode: DP World (0m 32s) Earth Fund (13m 28s) Headlines (18m 00s) Read more on our website: • DP World to delist from Nasdaq Dubai to focus on long-term strategy (https://www.thenational.ae/business/markets/dp-world-to-delist-from-nasdaq-dubai-to-focus-on-long-term-strategy-1.980092) • What does DP World’s delisting decision mean? (https://www.thenational.ae/business/markets/what-does-dp-world-s-delisting-decision-mean-1.980546) • DP World on lookout for acquisitions in the US (https://www.thenational.ae/business/dp-world-on-lookout-for-acquisitions-in-the-us-1.817098) • Amazon's Jeff Bezos pledges $10bn to fight climate change (https://www.thenational.ae/business/technology/amazon-s-jeff-bezos-pledges-10bn-to-fight-climate-change-1.980610) • HSBC to restructure as profit of Europe's largest bank falls 33% (https://www.thenational.ae/business/banking/hsbc-to-restructure-as-profit-of-europe-s-largest-bank-falls-33-1.980772) • Investcorp plans second regional private equity fund following its HarbourVest deal (https://www.thenational.ae/business/economy/investcorp-plans-second-regional-private-equity-fund-following-its-harbourvest-deal-1.979742) • World’s happiest nation seeks further joy through national financial literacy plan (https://www.thenational.ae/business/money/world-s-happiest-nation-seeks-further-joy-through-national-financial-literacy-plan-1.978986)

  Happy New Year to all of our listeners! We're kicking off the new year with a new episode featuring Victor Ho. Victor is CEO and co-founder of Fivestars, a company that helps local businesses by transforming transactions into relational experiences. To explore the theme of relationship, ATN host Paul Taylor and Victor talk about the difference between "personal" and "personalization" and technology's role in building relationships. We hope you enjoy this conversation.   VICTOR HO Victor is the co-founder & CEO of Fivestars, a software startup on mission to help businesses and communities thrive by turning every transaction into a relationship. 50 million people use Fivestars to get rewarded at 14,000 local businesses with one rewards program. Local businesses use Fivestars to bring more customers into their stores. In 2019, Fivestars drove over $3 billion in local commerce across its network. Fivestars has raised $105 million from HarbourVest, Menlo Ventures, Lightspeed, DCM, Y-Combinator, and others. Prior to Fivestars, Victor worked at McKinsey & Company, where he helped build customer engagement strategies for premiere Fortune 500 brands. He started his career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, is a CFA, and holds three degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, where he triple majored in Industrial Engineering, Rhetoric, and Business Administration. Victor also has a deep love for his wife Jessica, son Caleb, and sour candy.

The world’s most powerful investors, heads of state, former leaders, entrepreneurs and government ministers are gathering in the Saudi Arabian capital this week to discuss the future of technology, sustainable development, capital markets, infrastructure financing, energy – old and new – gene editing and cellular therapies. Host Mustafa Alrawi talks to Kelsey Warner, future editor of The National who is attending the Future Investment Initiative held in Riyadh.   In this episode:  Kelsey on FII (1m 20s) Who is attending FII? (14m 47s) New podcast by The National (25m 45s) Headlines (26m 46s)    Read more on our website: • Global elite head to Saudi Arabia as country's economic transformation gathers pace​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ (https://www.thenational.ae/business/economy/global-elite-head-to-saudi-arabia-as-country-s-economic-transformation-gathers-pace-1.929751) • Investcorp secures liquidity from HarbourVest for its Mena private equity portfolio (https://www.thenational.ae/business/banking/investcorp-secures-liquidity-from-harbourvest-for-its-mena-private-equity-portfolio-1.929731) • Iraq protests not impacting country's oil production yet, IMF official says (https://www.thenational.ae/business/economy/iraq-protests-not-impacting-country-s-oil-production-yet-imf-official-says-1.929940) • ADGM issues new employment regulations (https://www.thenational.ae/business/money/adgm-issues-new-employment-regulations-1.929939)

Senia and Sophia describe the history of Harbourvest as a direct investor in Canada, its global structure, trends that Senia and Sophia have observed in the VC industry in Canada, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, blockchain and more.

Funds Telstra Ventures has had some big exits in the past four years including IPOs for Snap, DocuSign and Box, but the unit is now electing to reshape itself by forming a partnership with private equity firm HarbourVest that will create a $500m investment vehicle. Malaysia-based conglomerate Sunway is raising $50m for a venture capital vehicle called Sun … Continue reading "09 July 2018 – Telstra Ventures Partners HarbourVest to Create Investment Vehicle"

Brooke Sutherland, a columnist for Bloomberg Gadfly, says that Donald Trump won't be able to stop the broader trends eroding manufacturing jobs, despite United Technologies' decision to keep 1,000 jobs in Indiana. Then, Eric Marshall, president of Hodges Capital Management, tells hosts Pimm Fox and Lisa Abramowicz what to look for in small-cap stocks. Also, Greg Stento, managing director of Harbourvest, gives an outlook for private equity and venture capital. Finally, Kevin Tynan, Bloomberg Intelligence's senior auto analyst, discusses how good the November auto sales were and whether they can last.

In this week's show the team discusses what HarbourVest's bid for IC top 100 fund SVG Capital means for you, takes the temperature of biotech investing and looks at the world of property-focused peer-to-peer investing. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.