Podcasts about inspired capital

Dan Preston is the co-founder and CEO of Stand, a brand-new startup property insurer providing homeowners insurance for climate-exposed properties. They're launching with a go-to-market focus on higher-end properties in California—homes that are otherwise unable to obtain affordable rates or any coverage at all due to wildfire risk. Stand claims that their differentiation, as Dan will explain in depth, comes from how they assess fire risk at the individual property level and help homeowners take proactive steps to mitigate those risks as part of the underwriting process.Dan is a seasoned entrepreneur with a win under his belt in InsurTech. He was previously the CEO of Metromile, which went public on the NASDAQ in 2020 via a SPAC merger and was later acquired by NextGen insurance company Lemonade in 2022.Stand recently raised a $30 million Series A, co-led by Inspired Capital and Lowercarbon, and came out of stealth at the end of 2024 to begin underwriting properties.Insurance risk is being priced and managed in ways that no longer match today's realities, and we loved hearing from Dan about how Stand is tackling the challenge.In this episode, we cover: [3:49] Dan's background in computer science and machine learning[7:00] The catalyst for starting Stand[9:22] How insurance companies typically evaluate risk[11:05] Challenges in measuring wildfire risk[17:32] Managing fire-prone communities and the importance of collective resilience[20:53] The role of private firefighters in insurance[22:08] Stand's mission and focus on climate-exposed properties[26:53] Progress since launch and early traction[27:39] Stand's product, technology, and risk modeling approach[33:18] Why legacy insurers have struggled to adapt to wildfire risk[38:35] What "perils" mean in insurance and why they matter[41:47] Stand's $30M Series A funding and future plansEpisode recorded on Feb 11, 2025 (Published on Feb 20, 2025) Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.Connect with MCJ:Cody Simms on LinkedInVisit mcj.vcSubscribe to the MCJ Newsletter*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Send us a textMiguel Armaza interviews Richie Serna, CEO & Co-Founder of Finix, a US full-stack payment processor and infrastructure provider that processes billions of dollars a year for software platforms, marketplaces, retail, and e-commerce businesses.Founded in 2015, Finix has raised over $135 million to date and is backed by ActOne Ventures, Homebrew, Bain Capital Ventures, Insight, Visa, AmEx, Inspired Capital, and many more.In this episode, we discuss:Navigating the complex world of paymentsThe fundamental reasons why building a large payments company takes a long timeSome of their secret sauce to product developmentFundraising lessons and a big anecdote… 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 ~70,000+ 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

Many people love the thought of investing in real estate. However, there are risks with any investment. Should real estate be part of your investment strategy? How might it fit into a portfolio? What are the challenges when it comes to using real estate as part of your financial plan? Is real estate a better investment plan? How does it compare to other investments? In this episode of Real Estate Right Now Adam Whitesell, CFP®, CRPC™, APMA™, CEP®, Private Wealth Advisor, Managing Director at Inspired Capital joins us to talk about how real estate can be a part of your financial future.   Linda Craft Team, Realtors www.LindaCraft.com Linda Craft[...]

Alexa von Tobel of Inspired Capital joins Nick to discuss ID'ing Generational Founders, Targeting Structurally Broken Markets, Bringing Venture Back to the Studs, and How Value will Accrue in AI Between Incumbents and Upstarts. In this episode we cover: Support Innovative Companies Addressing Societal Problems Investing in Structurally Broken Markets AI Adoption, Future of Work, and Potential Job Automation AI Value Distribution, Incumbents Vs. Startups, and M&A Challenges Future of FinTech and Reimagining Products Investment Strategy in Uncertain Macro Environment Guest Links: LinkedIn X Inspired 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!

On this episode of Beauty Bosses, we sit down with the inimitable Alexa von Tobel to discuss personal finance, entrepreneurship, and revolutionizing Fintech. She is a founder of various enterprises including LearnVest and Inspired Capital where she currently serves as a Managing Partner. She also is a New York Times best-selling author, with three books under her belt, including a text on financial planning for kids, called ‘Money Matters' with Rebel Girls.

On this episode of Beauty Bosses, we sit down with the inimitable Alexa von Tobel to discuss personal finance, entrepreneurship, and revolutionizing Fintech. She is a founder of various enterprises including LearnVest and Inspired Capital where she currently serves as a Managing Partner. She also is a New York Times best-selling author, with three books under her belt, including a text on financial planning for kids, called ‘Money Matters' with Rebel Girls.

In this episode of Week in Edtech, Alex and Ben discuss:1. AIBusiness Schools Are Going All In on AIEducators divided over AI's impactAI concerns grow even as more teachers adopt the technology2. BigTechMicrosoft's $100 billion 'Stargate' datacenter for OpenAI may be AI's 'Star Wars' momentOpenAI Unveils A.I. Technology That Recreates Human VoicesOpenAI built a voice cloning tool, but you can't use it… yet3. K-12Kids Missing school at an alarming rateA New Federal Taskforce Targets Cybersecurity in Schools4. EdtechEdtech funding hits new lowBijal Shah named Guild CEO, Rachel Carlson goes public with health concerns5. M&A & FundingModal Announces $25 Million Series A to Upskill Employees in AISpecial Guest:Alexa von Tobel, Founder, Managing Partner at Inspired Capital

Inspired Capital's Alexa Von Tobel is at the forefront of early-stage investing, with a focus on solving some of the world's biggest problems. She goes Inside the ICE House to discuss how her venture capital firm is backing the audacious and how they plan to deploy their recently-raised third fund.  https://www.ice.com/insights/conversations/inside-the-ice-house

As part of the new fund, Inspired Capital wrote a manifesto that highlights how the venture capital firm thinks, what it believes in and what it is looking for. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've reached the end of Season 9 of The HPScast. Join host Colbert Cannon for a listen back to some of our best moments this season. We heard from thought leaders across industries, from entrepreneurs turned VC backers to organizational psychologists, as well as chief investment officers of leading pensions and global insurers. Their stories reinforced the ethos of The HPScast — that success does not happen in a vacuum. Thank you to all of our listeners for your continued support. We'll be back at the top of 2024 with all new conversations. Until then, listen back to any episodes you might have missed, and check out our show notes to find links to all of the Best Ideas shared so far.

Paul Monasterio co-founded Kalepa in 2018 with the mission to help commercial insurance underwriters bind business with confidence. Kalepa's AI-powered Copilot software enables underwriters to focus their time on the highest ROI opportunities and to quickly evaluate and optimally select risk. Paul talks about finding the balance between underwriters saying yes to everything versus saying no to everything, to focus their time on selecting exactly the right opportunities that bring profitability and reduce claims risk. The first decision an underwriter has to make is where to use their time - so Copilot helps triage opportunities based on their attractiveness and alignment to the strategic book priorities.  Paul also discusses technology tools and changes applicable to commercial insurance, focusing on the right opportunities and understanding risk exposures in the right context. He sees that underwriters need to be better armed to address the complexity and nature of claims and new lines. He does not see a world in which there are fewer underwriters, or less work to do. instead, he sees winning carriers and MGAs as those who understand where to use technology to augment their underwriters' skills and not fall into the trap of thinking tech will drive personnel cost savings. Kalepa is backed by IA Ventures, Inspired Capital, and leaders in technology and financial services. Kalepa was recognized as one of the most innovative insurtechs in the world as part of FinTech Global Insurtech 100 in 2022 and 2023, one of Benzinga's Best Insurtechs in 2021, and as a Cool Vendor by Gartner in 2020. Prior to founding Kalepa, Paul was an executive at Facebook/Meta, Mastercard, and Applied Predictive Technologies, developing novel applications of data and technology to solve the most critical problems of Global 1000 firms in insurance, banking, and the public sector in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Paul also founded Forg, a microfinance organization fostering micro-entrepreneurship in South East Asia. Paul graduated with a PhD in Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT and holds Bachelors degrees with Highest Honors and Highest Distinction in Mathematics and Nuclear Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. 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.

Welcome back to Season 9 of The HPScast. Host Colbert Cannon sits down with Alexa von Tobel, a dynamic entrepreneur, NYT-bestselling author, and venture capitalist. Alexa is the founder of Inspired Capital, an early stage venture capital firm committed to nurturing the next generation of exceptional entrepreneurs. We delve into Alexa's remarkable journey, from her early career at Morgan Stanley to founding LearnVest, a pioneering financial literacy company that was later acquired by Northwestern Mutual. Then, we discuss her latest venture, Inspired Capital — and why she's embracing more volatile economic conditions, including rising interest rates,  to build better businesses and teams. Throughout, Alexa shares her keys to success at every juncture and vital lessons learned along the way. Learn more about Alexa von Tobel and her VC firm, Inspired Capital here. Watch “The Social Network,” Colbert's Best Idea for this week, here.

Miguel Armaza sits down with Stephany Kirkpatrick, Founder/CEO of Orum, a fintech company that's built a single API to enable US real-time and fast payments across RTP, FedNow, Same Day ACH, Wires, and more.Launched in 2020, Orum has raised over $80 million from great fintech investors including Inspired Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Clocktower, Acrew, Primary, and Accel.In this episode, we discuss:The future of real-time payments in the US and how Orum is helping increase adoption for small and mid-sized banksWhy the risks posed by new technologies should not deter technological innovationLessons learned from building an enterprise sales organizationAsking for help and why founders should create a personal 9-1-1 call list… 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 & 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

#41: Alexa von Tobel is the founder and former CEO of LearnVest and the current Managing Partner of Inspired Capital, a venture capital firm she founded. As a mother of three, Alexa is going the extra mile to help her kids know everything they need to know about money and finances. Alexa gives advice on how to talk to your kids about money and how to help your kids have a good relationship with money, and she lists everything you should be doing to help set up your kids financially. Get Alexa's book, Financially Fearless. To apply for the Senior Podcast Producer position at Erika Taught Me: https://erikakullberg.com/producer-application Special thanks to our partners & sponsors: This episode is sponsored by/brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ETM and get on your way to being your best self. Webull (free stocks) - erikataughtme.com/invest Get a 14-day free trial with my sponsor Aura and see where your personal information is being leaked online - erikataughtme.com/aura Thanks for tuning in and come back every Tuesday for a brand-new episode! Make sure you hit the follow button to get notified.  Prefer video or want closed captions?⁠⁠ Watch this episode on YouTube. Did you enjoy the episode?⁠⁠ Please leave us a review here⁠⁠: https://erikakullberg.com/review (just scroll to the bottom and tap on “leave a review”) It really helps the podcast especially since we're just getting started. Even just a sentence is perfect! Follow the podcast @erikataughtme across platforms.  ⁠Connect with me on Instagram.⁠ For more information, go to⁠ https://www.erikataughtme.com/⁠. Get on my personal finance & investing course priority waitlist here. https://erikakullberg.com/3DMoney Get my Mastering YouTube course, to learn how to grow a YouTube following and monetize it. https://erikakullberg.com/MasteringYT  ⁠Get more of my free resources.⁠

In today's leadership spark, Alexa von Tobel, CEO of LearnVest and Founder of Inspired Capital, shares insights on structured learning, self-awareness, and inclusive decision-making. She emphasizes the value of a learning mindset, setting goals, and seeking feedback.  Alexa also highlights the importance of bringing people along, fostering transparency, and valuing input for effective decision-making. She emphasizes the importance of transparency, shared norms, and input from team members to create a sense of ownership and collaboration. Alexa's approach focuses on empowering individuals, valuing their perspectives, and making decisions that benefit the collective team. ___________________ This episode is sponsored by AvePoint. Take control of your SaaS environment and ensure secure collaboration with AvePoint. ___________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email https://greatleadership.substack.com/

In today's leadership spark, Alexa von Tobel, CEO of LearnVest and Founder of Inspired Capital, emphasizes the importance of work-life balance and shares her own experiences of overworking and its negative consequences. She also discusses the value of working with a coach to foster personal growth and highlights the role of vulnerability in leadership. Moreover, Alexa also emphasizes the significance of hiring talent that aligns with the company's mission and values, as well as the importance of continuous learning and self-awareness. She highlights the value of assessments and tools that provide insights into strengths and weaknesses, enabling leaders to make informed decisions and build effective teams. ___________________ This episode is sponsored by AvePoint. Take control of your SaaS environment and ensure secure collaboration with AvePoint. ___________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email https://greatleadership.substack.com/

In today's leadership spark, I speak with Alexa von Tobel, CEO of LearnVest and Founder of Inspired Capital. Alexa shares her journey and insights on building successful businesses, emphasizing the importance of learning from failures and seeking guidance through coaching and mentorship.  Alexa highlights the need for balance in leadership, including managing workloads, prioritizing sleep and exercise, and seeking perspective outside of work. She also emphasizes the value of surrounding oneself with trusted advisors who are willing to provide honest feedback. Through her experiences, Alexa demonstrates the growth and personal development that comes from embracing challenges and learning from others. ___________________ This episode is sponsored by AvePoint. Take control of your SaaS environment and ensure secure collaboration with AvePoint. ___________________ Start your day with the world's top leaders by joining thousands of others at Great Leadership on Substack. Just enter your email https://greatleadership.substack.com/

Alex Levin, the CEO, and co-founder of New York City-based Regal.io, a tech stack for powering calls and messages that might provide customers — as well as sales and marketing teams — a better outbound calling experience. Regal has raised $42.1 million with Emergence Capital leading and Founder Collective, Homebrew, Flex Capital, Inspired Capital, and Operator Collective.Regal.io was founded in 2020 to help brands drive more conversations with consumers and hit their growth goals way faster. They currently have 150 brands that use their product in ways they never imagined to power 40M customer conversations and $1 billion in brand revenue to date. Alex Levin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexlevin1/Regal: https://www.regal.io/If you like our podcast, please don't forget to subscribe and support us on your favorite podcast players. We also would appreciate your feedback and rating to reach more people.We recently launched our new newsletter, Principles Friday, where I share one principle that can help you in your life or business, one thought-provoking question, and one call to action toward that principle. Please subscribe Here.It is Free and Short (2min).

Matt Burns spoke to Brynne McNulty Rojas, who's the co-founder and CEO of Habi, the hot real estate startup out of Colombia which reached unicorn status last year. Brynne founded Habi to bring modern home buying tools to low- and middle-class home buyers in her home country of Colombia. Now, with a valuation above $1 billion USD, Habi is a serious player in the LatAm home buying market where the majority of the homes for sale are not listed online. Joining Brynne in this conversation is Mark Batsiyan, a co-founder and partner at Inspired Capital.Brynne and Mark spoke to us about:Habi's growth and what it was like to work with US-based investorsHow Brynne built her team's confidence during a period of uncertaintyThe value of transparency and sharing vulnerabilityAnd advice to founders raising in today's marketWe closed out the show with a new batch of founders for Pitch Practice. And as always, if you want to check out the full video of today's conversation, head to our YouTube channel and stay tuned for more TechCrunch Live!The TechCrunch Live Podcast drops at 6:00 a.m. PT every Monday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast,Spotify and all the casts.

Today's guest, Alexa Von Tobel is the founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital - a VC fund she started with former Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. Prior to Inspired Capital, Alexa founded LearnVest in 2008 with the goal of helping people make progress on their money. After raising nearly $75 million in venture capital, LearnVest was acquired by Northwestern Mutual in May 2015 in one of the biggest fintech acquisitions of the decade. Following the acquisition, von Tobel joined the management team of Northwestern Mutual as the company's first-ever Chief Digital Officer. She later assumed the role of Chief Innovation Officer through which she oversaw Northwestern Mutual's venture arm. Alexa, who holds a Certified Financial Planner™ designation, is the New York Times-bestselling author of Financially Fearless and Financially Forward. She is also the host of The Founders Project with Alexa von Tobel, a weekly podcast with Inc. that highlights top entrepreneurs. Alexa is a member of the 2016 Class of Henry Crown Fellows and an inaugural member of President Obama's Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship. She has been honored with numerous recognitions including a Forbes Magazine cover story, Fortune's 40 Under 40, Fortune's Most Powerful Women, Inc. Magazine's 30 Under 30, and World Economic Forum's Young Global Leader. We know listeners will love getting to know Alexa in today's episode! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/howdshedothat/support

Financial anxiety, just like all forms of anxiety, can affect anyone. So, Ofosu and Leah talk with Alexa von Tobel, the founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital and a Certified Financial Planner™ about how to overcome mental barriers around money and take the fear out of finances. She also shares her three key steps to successful money management and how to have better conversations about money with others.

In this episode, Alexa von Tobel, Founder of Learnvest and Founder and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital shares some of her learnings from being an entrepreneur building and selling a successful startup. We learn all about her journey including her switch to investing in startups with her company Inspired Capital. She shares what she believes it takes to build the startup of the future and so much more! This is another inspiring episode that you won't want to miss! On this episode of #TheKaraGoldinShow. Enjoying this episode of #TheKaraGoldinShow? Let me know by clicking on the links below and sending me a quick shout-out on social. Or reach out to me at karagoldin@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/karagoldin/ https://www.instagram.com/karagoldin/ https://twitter.com/karagoldin https://www.facebook.com/KaraGoldin/ Check out our website to view this episode's show notes: https://karagoldin.com/podcast/347 To learn more about Alexa von Tobel, Learnvest and Inspired Capital: https://www.learnvest.com/ https://www.instagram.com/alexavontobel/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexavontobel/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/inspired-capital-partners/ https://inspiredcapital.com/

Smart entrepreneurs know one of the secrets to scale is leveraging wisdom from others. (In fact, that's the mission of this show!) But not all advice is right for you right now — and some can even be disastrous. As the founder of the proto-fintech platform LearnVest, Alexa von Tobel scaled her business by seeking advice from mentors and friends … and then, taking only the advice that served her mission. Following Alexa's story, you'll learn how to become a good advice detective, with the power to sort the transformative advice from the traps.Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.comSubscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dlirtXSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alexa von Tobel exudes confidence from the minute you meet her, but has she always been that way? In the first episode of Claim Your Confidence, Alexa pulls back the curtain on her confidence journey and shows how an unexpected loss at an early age taught her to be the architect of her own life. Alexa shares her journey of creating and selling LearnVest, one of the biggest fintech purchases ever, and gives advice to entrepreneurs looking to follow in her footsteps. She also catches us up on what she is looking for as she builds her next empire with Inspired Capital.What every entrepreneur needs to think about going into a pitchHow Alexa uses failure to her advantage at every opportunityHow to slam down Imposter Syndrome (side note - there is a chapter in my new book Claim Your Confidence that talks about this in case you are looking for a road map  https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Claim-Your-Confidence/Lydia-Fenet/9781982196684 )For more information on Alexa von TobelWebsite: https://inspiredcapital.com/team/alexavontobelInstagram: @alexavontobelTwitter: https://twitter.com/alexavontobelKeep up with LydiaWebsite - www.lydiafenet.comInstagram @lydiafenet   Facebook: Lydia Fenet

Alexa von Tobel exudes confidence from the minute you meet her, but has she always been that way? In the first episode of Claim Your Confidence, Alexa pulls back the curtain on her confidence journey and shows how an unexpected loss at an early age taught her to be the architect of her own life. Alexa shares her journey of creating and selling LearnVest, one of the biggest fintech purchases ever, and gives advice to entrepreneurs looking to follow in her footsteps. She also catches us up on what she is looking for as she builds her next empire with Inspired Capital. What every entrepreneur needs to think about going into a pitch How Alexa uses failure to her advantage at every opportunity How to slam down Imposter Syndrome (side note - there is a chapter in my new book Claim Your Confidence that talks about this in case you are looking for a road map  https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Claim-Your-Confidence/Lydia-Fenet/9781982196684 ) For more information on Alexa von Tobel Website: https://inspiredcapital.com/team/alexavontobel Instagram: @alexavontobel Twitter: https://twitter.com/alexavontobel Keep up with Lydia Website - www.lydiafenet.com Instagram @lydiafenet    Facebook: Lydia Fenet Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast for free wherever you're listening or by using this link: https://bit.ly/ClaimYourConfidencePodcast If you like the show, telling a friend about it would be amazing! You can text, email, Tweet, or send this link to a friend: https://bit.ly/ClaimYourConfidencePodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we chat with finance mogul, Alexa Von Tobel.Alexa von Tobel, CFP® is the founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital and the New York Times-Bestselling Author of Financially Fearless and Financially Forward. Founded in 2019, Inspired Capital is a $500M early-stage venture capital firm that invests across categories of innovation. Prior to Inspired Capital, Alexa founded LearnVest in 2008 with the goal of helping people make progress on their money. After raising nearly $75 million in venture capital, LearnVest was acquired by Northwestern Mutual in May 2015 in one of the biggest fintech acquisitions of the decade. She later assumed the role of Chief Innovation Officer through which she oversaw Northwestern Mutual's venture arm.In this episode the pair trace back to the start of Alexa's “work hard” approach to success, recalling her high school years as a student athlete and her psychology studies at Harvard University. Alexa breaks down how a positive attitude is the key to success and offers insight to achieving and maintaining a positive space. Conversations on building success with her husband, the road to finance in NYC, and mixing talent with passion to achieve dreams are just the beginning… Twentysomethings, get ready for an episode with the woman of the hour, Alexa Von Tobel!Follow Us!Alexa Von Tobel: @alexavontobelInspired Capital: @inspiredcapital (and website here)Learn Vest: @learnvest (and website here)Erica Wenger: @erica_wengerDear Twentysomething: @deartwentysomething

Miguel Armaza interviews Ben Gleason, Co-Founder of Kamino, a financial hub that powers the operations and growth of Brazilian startups and scale-ups with integrated finance products, services and software. Kamino is backed by Inspired Capital, GFC, Picus, Flourish, QED, and Gilgamesh Ventures among others. We discuss:The remarkable positive impact that FinTech in Brazil has had in terms of financial inclusion and customer service, and why there's still a massive opportunity in the regionBen started building his first startup, GuiaBolso, back in 2012. The Brazilian ecosystem was nascent, and he encountered some crazy challenges, including a lawsuit that reached the Supreme Court. How did they persevere?The inspiration for Kamino and how they're helping entrepreneurs hit the ground running and start building much faster than ever beforeAdvice for entrepreneurs navigating a down marketWhy he is so passionate to help female and underrepresented founders... 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 48,000+ 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

September 14: For this episode of the JCurve I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Benjamin Gleason, founder and Head of Strategy & Corporate Development at Kamino, Sao Paulo-based end-to-end financial hub for high growth businesses in Latin America that has recently raised over $6M in pre-seed capital from Inspired Capital, Global Founders Capital, Fontes, Picus Capital and Flourish. In today's episode we will learn: 1. What are Benjamin's key learnings of building Guiabolso and how the experience is different with Kamino?2. What are the fintech trends in Brazil Benjamin is excited about?3. What's Benjamin's advice to founders who have to raise in adverse market environment?4. What are the critical elements of building productive teams?

Alexa von Tobel is the founder and managing partner at Inspired Capital and former founder and CEO of Learn vest. In today's episode, we will discuss Alexa's journey to create Learn Vest and Inspired Capital. Her mistakes and failures along her way and how she deals with them where she grows to be a successful entrepreneur and leader. Alex will also share the actions she'd take to create more balance for herself, her strategy to convey purpose, meaning, and impact to people, leadership tips, hack, and strategies that helped make her more successful. --------------------- This episode is sponsored by Workplace from Meta. Workplace is a business communication tool from Meta. Think Facebook, but for your company. It's part of Meta's vision for the future of work. A future in which we'll all feel more present, connected and productive. Start your journey into the future of work at workplace.com/future. ------------------ Get ad-free listening, early access to new episodes and bonus episodes with the subscription version of the show The Future of Work Plus. To start it will only be available on Apple Podcasts and it will cost $4.99/month or $49.99/year, which is the equivalent to the cost of a cup of coffee.  ________________ Companies with better employee experiences have more engaged and productive workers, higher profits, and the ability to attract and retain talent. In today's competitive talent landscape, companies can't afford not to invest in employee experience. Download your copy and start creating better experiences for your employees and customers today! --------------------- Get the latest insights on the Future of Work, Leadership and employee experience through my daily newsletter at futureofworknewsletter.com  Let's connect on social! Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobmorgan8 Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacobmorgan8 Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jacobm Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FuturistJacob

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 Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan of Chief.com, a private membership network focused on women executive leaders. In this episode, Carolyn and Lindsay talk us through each round of financings, from Seed to Series A to Series B and they share exactly how they did it and what level of traction they had at each stage. They also provide tips for raising capital, managing a rapidly growing startup, and more. Chief.com has raised $140 million over three rounds: 1) Chief announced its $3 million seed round in October 2018, led by Primary Venture Capital and Flybridge Capital Partners, with participants including Accel, Box Group, Able Partners, XFactor Ventures, Silas Capital, BBG Ventures, and Alexa Von Tobel. 2) In June 2019, Chief raised a $22 million Series A, co-led by General Catalyst and Inspired Capital, with previous investors and GGV Capital participating. Ken Chenault, chairman and a managing director of General Catalyst, and Alexa von Tobel, founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital, joined the board of directors. Chief also announced an additional $15 million extension in June 2020, led by GGV Capital. 3) In March 2022, the company raised $100 million in Series B funding at a $1.1 billion valuation, bringing its total funding to $140 million. The round was led by CapitalG, the independent growth fund of Google parent company Alphabet, and General Partner Laela Sturdy joined the board of directors. Previous investors General Catalyst, GGV Capital, Inspired Capital, Primary Venture Partners, Flybridge Capital Partners, and BoxGroup also participated in the round. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $3 Billion since 2016. Create a free account at www.foundersuite.com.

This week's Espresso covers updates from Habi, Xepelin, Belo, and more!Outline of this episode:[00:28] - Habi gained unicorn status after raising a $200M Series C round[01:08] - Xepelin raised a $111M Series B round[01:50] -Village Capital and Moody's partnered to create a new accelerator program[02:13] -Belo raised $3M in a seed round[02:35] -Interview with Manuel Beaudroit, CEO and co-founder of Belo[06:17] -Grupo Central raised $3M in a seed round[06:38] -Interview with Alejandro Iglesias, CEO and co-founder of Grupo Central[10:13] -Second edition of the accelerator program K-Startup Grand Challenge[10:38] -First episode of the Hacking Insurance podcast with Martin Ferrari, CEO of 123Seguro[11:01] -New episode of Entrepreneurship 101 “Growth strategies for Latin American companies”[11:17] - Talanta's upcoming webinar “The competition for emerging talent is changing, who will win?”Resources & people mentioned:Companies & Startups: Habi, Xepelin, Belo, Grupo Central, Sekure, 123Seguro, TalantaVCs, Accelerators, Institutions: Kaszek, Softbank, Homebrew, Tiger Global, Inspired Capital, Avenir, Village Capital, Moody's, CRV, The Venture City, Newtopia, Latitude, Moonvalley Capital, Global Founders Capital (GFC), Opera VenturesPeople: Manuel Beaudroit, Alejandro Iglesias, Rodrigo Alfonso, Martin Ferrari, Andrea Campos, Gina Gotthilf, Manuela Sánchez

Miguel Armaza sits down with Alexa von Tobel, Co-Founder / Managing Partner at Inspired Capital, an early-stage VC based in New York City, with over $500M in Assets Under Management. The firm was founded by Alexa and Penny Pritzker, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and has backed some outstanding fintech companies, including Finix, Rho, Habi, Orum, Public, and Kamino.In this episode, we discuss:Alexa's background & entrepreneurial adventures and why she dropped out of Harvard Business School to build LearnVest, which she then sold for $375 million. Lessons learned in the last three years since launching Inspired and their process to look for an find exceptional founders with relentless determination.The reasons why Alexa is excited about the impact of fintech internationally, especially in places like Latin America.And why she loves hosting her own podcast, Inc. Founders Project, where she's interviewed 150+ incredible founders and what she's learned from them.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  32,000+ readers 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

With the Great Resignation top of mind for every employer, creating a people-centric employee experience has never been more important. For two decades, Sequoia has provided benefits, HR, payroll, and risk management solutions for employers across the country. As Sequoia's Principal and CMO, Michele has a front-row seat to the programs that employers are adopting in order to maximize their investment in people. We cover why so many companies are deepening their investment in mental health benefits, how early-stage startups are managing workforces that are suddenly distributed across state lines, and how HR has become an increasingly strategic function within every organization.

We're taking a look at some of our favorite moments from the 2021 Fast Company Innovation Festival.  Here's a conversation about going from a corporate gig to entrepreneurial life with Gail Becker, CEO of Caulipower, and Alexa Von Tobel, founder of Learnvest and Inspired Capital.

“Me gusta romper el estatus quo. Sin duda es lo que más me gusta hacer y como fundador tienes esa libertad de hacer esas apuestas, ejecutarlas, aprender y equivocarse.” - Sebastián Noguera ( 

As founder & managing partner of Inspired Capital, Alexa von Tobel has advised countless business leaders throughout her career. In this episode of Uniquely Led, she reveals why empathy is the most essential modern leadership skill, what CEOs and ER surgeons have in common, and which traits she looks for in founders when making investment decisions.

A force of positivity and pioneer of Financial Technology, Alexa von Tobel felt so strongly about democratizing financial advice for Americans that she dropped out of Harvard business school to build her first business, LearnVest, in 2008. After revolutionizing digital financial services, she sold LearnVest the very same week that she gave birth to her first child. Now, Alexa von Tobel is the Managing Partner of Inspired Capital, a venture capital firm which she founded in 2019.  You'll also learn: How growing up in a medical family and losing her Dad in high school prepared Alexa for life and leadership. How studying the psychology of happiness prepared Alexa to quit business school during a Recession and start a finance education company. What leaders can do to lead through uncertainty and stay sane, healthy, and fulfilled. Why Alexa sold LearnVest to Northwestern Mutual and started a venture capital firm in New York City. The fastest way to get “no” and “yes” when fundraising. The importance of having people around you who believe in you, encourage you, and keep you accountable. The one thing you need to do in order to succeed.

A taste of Inspired in 15, the new podcast from early-stage venture capital firm Inspired Capital. Each episode features an expert founder or operator, sharing their insights on the future in just 15 minutes.

Miguel Armaza sits down with Brynne McNulty Rojas, Co-Founder and CEO of Habi, a PropTech company that is streamlining the traditionally opaque home buying process in Latin America revolutionizing the real estate market in the region.Founded in 2019, Habi has raised over $100 million from investors, including SoftBank, Inspired Capital, Tiger Global, Homebrew, Clocktower, 8VC, and many more.Brynne and Miguel explore:- Building Habi and a deep dive of the exciting PropTech revolution taking place in Latin America.- Their recruiting approach to attract those crucial first employees, developing Habi's culture, and a rundown of the company's four key values and why they were written in English, rather than Spanish.- Habi's secret data analytics machine and how they've been able to scale to over 30k real estate pricings per month.- Fundraising lessons for entrepreneurs… 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.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

Alexa von Tobel, founder and managing partner at Inspired Capital, shares how she built her first startup LearnVest at 23 and later co-founded Inspired Capital to improve access to startup capital. Alexa looks for tenacious and highly committed founders with an ‘always be learning' attitude.In this episode, you'll learn:[3:55] Did dropping out of Harvard Business School to start a company in the middle of a global financial crisis pay off?[11:23] How Alexa's entrepreneurial experience fueled her desire to make capital more accessible to founders[13:57] How can entrepreneurs hone their brand narrative to thrive in the future of the fundraising world?[18:33] What's an Inspired company, identifying the founder's WHY and their ‘Tsunami'Non-profit that Alexa is passionate about: Every Mother CountsAbout Alexa von TobelAlexa von Tobel is the Founder and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital. Alexa is a successful entrepreneur who started LearnVest, a fintech company that raised nearly $75 million in venture capital before it was acquired by Northwestern Mutual in 2015. She is a Certified Financial Planner™ and New York Times-bestselling author of Financially Fearless and Financially Forward. She also hosts The Founders Project with Alexa von Tobel, a weekly podcast with Inc. that highlights top entrepreneurs.About Inspired CapitalInspired Capital is a New York City-based, women-led venture capital firm that invests in exceptional founders and seed to Series-A startups with strong underlying technology and category-defining visions. Inspired Capital's portfolio includes Finix, Habi, Chief, Orum, Canvas, Rho, DANDY, Lean Financial, Teamshare, and Skythe. Prior to founding Inspired, Alexa and her business partners have built a long track record of both professional and angel investments in standout companies, including Uber, Chime, and Airtable.Next Week's EpisodeComing up next week in Episode 69, we have a special guest, Jacob Haar, Founder and Managing Partner of Community Investment Management, who will talk about debt capital and its impact on financial inclusion.Subscribe to our podcast and stay tuned for our next episode that will drop next Tuesday.Follow us: Twitter | Linkedin | Instagram | Facebook

My guest today is [Alexa von Tobel](https://twitter.com/alexavontobel), Founder of [Inspired Capital](https://inspiredcapital.com/) and [LearnVest](https://learnvest.com/). Inspired is a generalist fund based in New York City that backs early-stage founders with transformative ideas. Some of their companies include Chief, Geneva, Public and Snackpass. They recently closed their second fund of $281 million investing in seed and series A companies. She also founded LearnVest, which was an American financial planning company which she sold for $250 million. In this episode we discuss how New York's entrepreneurial and venture capital scene has risen in the past 15 years, her approach to investing as a generalist and staying price disciplined in this current market. Without further ado, here's Alexa. Some of the questions I ask Alexa: 1. So what inspired you to start Inspired Capital? 2. How did the fund come together? 3. What was fund 1's focus? 4. Unfair advantages? 5. Operational experience to be a great investor? 6. What were some of your biggest learnings through fund 1? 7. How do you approach investing at seed and Series A? 8. How has New York transformed as a startup and venture ecosystem in the past 15 years? 1. What verticals in New York are you most excited about? 9. How is fund 2 going to be different from fund 1? 10. How do you think about price discipline in the current market? 11. Is founder-friendly in today's landscape writing a larger check? 12. How do you approach partnering with founders? 13. Are you finding that founders aren't always choosing the highest prices? 14. How do you stay price discipline in this current market? 15. What's your sourcing strategy? 16. What parts of the creator economy excite you? 17. Has COVID changed your mind on any particular verticals? 18. What's one thing you would change about venture capital? 19. What's one piece of advice for founders?

Henry Ward is the CEO and co-founder of Carta, a company that continues to revolutionize the way founders, investors, and employees manage equity and ownership. Since founding Carta in 2012, Carta has grown to manage hundreds of billions of dollars in equity. Companies including Intercom, Samsara, and Flexport trust Carta to provide things like fund administration, 409A valuations, cap table management and scenario modeling. Carta has been included on the Forbes “World's Best Cloud Companies”, Fast Company's Most Innovative list, and Inc.'s Fastest Growing Private Companies.Prior to Carta, Henry was founder and CEO of Secondsight, a portfolio optimization platform for retail investors. He also held leadership positions at software companies including Reddwerks Inc. and BetweenMarkets. Henry graduated from University of Michigan with a BGS in Mathematics and Computer Science and holds a MSC in Market Finance from EDHEC Business School.Carta helps private companies and investors manage their cap tables, valuations, investments, and equity plans. Its platform offers portfolio insights and dashboards, scenario modeling, board management, fund administrators, LP management, and other services. Private companies use Carta to streamline how they manage equity from their founding phase to their IPO. Investors use the firm's services to efficiently manage their portfolios and streamline their back office activities including valuations, fund administration and scenario modeling. CartaX is its new offering - a vertically integrated market ecosystem that offers private equity investors the ability to sell their equity to other investors.Carta has been included on the Forbes “World's Best Cloud Companies”, Fast Company's Most Innovative list, and Inc.'s Fastest Growing Private Companies. (Interviewed by Alexa von Tobel the co-founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital).

In this content-rich episode, Ally McCloskey sits down with Stephany Kirkpatrick, Founder & CEO of Orum. Orum is building new and frictionless financial infrastructure to power smart, real-time, and fully-automated money movement across accounts, products, and financial institutions. Backed by Bain Capital Ventures, Inspired Capital, Homebrew, Acrew, Primary, Clocktower, Box Group, SVB Capital, AmEx Ventures, and an impressive angel network. Orum has 2 signature products in market: 1) Orum's Foresight product is an ACH risk intelligence tool, which identifies and reduces ACH return risk and fraud before it occurs by pulling in extra data through partnerships with financial institutions. And 2) Orum's Momentum product, which intelligently routes which payment rails a transaction should travel on given the financial institution's preferences for speed and cost. Ally and Stephany discuss: - How Stephany's background as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and years of working at LearnVest and Northwestern Mutual exposed to her a ubiquitous market challenge - Stephany's earliest steps when taking the plunge into starting a company - Why Orum started in stealth - The history of payment rails and infrastructure and why there is so much friction in the system - How the burden of ACH risk ultimately lands on the end user via nonsufficient funds and overdraft fees - Stephany's advice on looking for stage-specific and sector-specific investors, but most importantly screening for good humans - The great recommendation she got from Satya Patel at Homebrew on hiring a Head of People early - Her impressive Whoop record - And a WHOLE lot more Stephany Kirkpatrick Stephany Kirkpatrick is a digital executive and seasoned entrepreneur with over 15 years experience in companies across a variety of industries, from startups to Fortune 100 corporations. Stephany founded Orum in 2019 on the belief that consumers should have immediate access to their money. Stephany is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ who's spent the last decade building technology to optimize financial outcomes for Americans – first at LearnVest where she helped design its financial planning software and now at Orum. Orum is building new financial infrastructure that allows money to move immediately and automatically across accounts, products, and financial institutions. Stephany leads with strong core values and believes in diversity of thought and people. She is a mother of two young girls and actively participates in building a future that empowers women through her mentorship work. About Orum Orum is building the infrastructure for a frictionless financial system, powering smart, real-time money movement with proprietary intelligence. Enterprises partnered with Orum can stop spending time thinking about how to move money and focus on the simple question: how fast. Learn more at https://orum.io, and check out Orum's inclusion in the 2021 Forbes FinTech 50 list here: https://www.forbes.com/companies/orum/?sh=49118a29712a. -- As always, for more Fintech insights, please follow us below: WFT Blog: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Ally's Twitter: twitter.com/AllyMcCloskey LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/

Alexa von Tobel is redefining venture capital by building the venture capital firm that she wishes existed when she was a founder.Over a decade before she launched Inspired, Alexa von Tobel was a founder herself—and at the heart of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, Alexa did what most founders would never dream of doing: she raised funds for a brand new startup when the economy was facing a sharp decline. Alexa was confident that her novel idea for a company that helped the average person manage their finances at an affordable rate would be well worth the risk. Up until then, financial services were only available to those who had already amassed a great deal of capital; as Alexa pointed out, this was like making doctors available only to those who were already healthy.Alexa's risky bet did indeed end up paying off—her startup, LearnVest, sold to Northwestern Mutual for $375M in 2015. Alexa's personal experience as a founder built the groundwork for Inspired Capital, which she founded in 2019. Inspired is that VC firm that Alexa wished she had access to when she was at LearnVest: the partners at Inspired prioritize planning, communication, and transparency in order to help their founders succeed. As a generalist firm, Inspired's portfolio spans a wide range of industries, all of which are connected in their common goal of defining the next generation of innovation.Learn more about Inspired Capital ›

Jimmy Chen is the founder and CEO of Propel, a fintech focused on low-income Americans. Propel has raised $18.5M to date from investors like Nyca Partners, Inspired Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz. In this episode, we talk about the opportunity in building products for underserved Americans, how Jimmy bootstrapped the company for the first 3 years of its existence, and how government safety net programs work. You can follow Jimmy on Twitter at @jimmychen and Joe's at @joeysweeny

Stephany Kirkpatrick is the founder and CEO of Orum, a payments infrastructure company building a platform for real-time money movement. Stephany just raised 21 million from Bain Capital and repeat backers, Homebrew, Primary VC and Inspired Capital. You can follow Stephany on Twitter @StephKirkpat and Joe at @joeysweeny

How do we build a world where everyone can feel financial empowerment? Vlad talks with Alexa Von Tobel about what it takes. In this episode, Vlad meets Alexa Von Tobel, founder of financial planning site LearnVest and managing partner of Inspired Capital. During her time at Harvard, Alexa worked in the Happiness Lab, where she disovered that life is full of regrets for the things you do, and don't do, which made her determined to avoid regret at all costs. In her first job at Morgan Stanley, she quickly realized her own lack of knowledge in the space of finance, and the few resources out there for women to learn about financial strength. This inspired Alexa to return to Harvard and develop a business plan to change that—which would eventually become LearnVest. In this interview, we learn about the resilience it takes to build a company and live a life without regrets, as well as the importance of financial empowerment for everyone, regardless of gender or age. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Miguel Armaza sits down with Everett Cook, Co-Founder & CEO of Rho Business Banking, a NYC-based company offering banking services to SMBs, including corporate cards, payments and expenses. The company has raised close to $20 million from leading investors, including M13 Ventures, Torch Capital, Inspired Capital, Interplay Ventures, and Mike Vaughan. We talked about - Everett’s journey from hedge fund portfolio manager to startup founder - What inspired him and his co-founders to launch Rho - Why SMB banking in the US needs a refresh - Lessons learned from clients and investors over the past couple of years - And a lot more! Everett Cook - Co-Founder and CEO of Rho Everett Cook is the CEO and co-founder of Rho Business Banking. With over 10 years of experience in finance and investment management, Everett is an expert in financial structuring, macroeconomics and fintech regulations. Everett led research at two $1 billion macro funds, and has worked under leaders like Steve Cohen and Michael Bloomberg. About Rho Business Banking Rho Technologies is the NYC-based fintech behind Rho Business Banking, the only finance platform built from the ground-up to help business teams work better together. The company was founded by former Point72 and Deutsche Bank alum Everett Cook and British-Canadian serial entrepreneur Alex Wheldon. With backgrounds in both finance and operations, they understood how badly fragmented and outdated current commercial finance solutions and tools were relative to the rest of today’s enterprise software. The Rho Business Banking platform approach consists of a single solution that encompasses both collaborative finance software and commercial-grade banking, which together help businesses save time, money, and effort as they grow. Clients are all supported by its team of business bankers and capital markets professionals. Rho Business Banking offers banking, corporate cards, payments and expenses — all in one place. Rho provides finance technology on top of core banking to help businesses move, manage, and leverage money within their whole organization. Rho’s all-in-one platform consolidates banking and cash management with powerful financial tools like global payments, built-in expense management, and A/P, alongside its leading corporate card program. Rho clients are served by dedicated business bankers and introduced to growth options by our capital markets team.

“You have to fall in love with the idea or the problem that you’re trying to solve.”  What do you do after co-founding one of the hottest internet companies around? Some become VCs and start their own firm with other powerful entrepreneurs and notable people! Meet Lucy Deland, former COO and Co-founder of Paperless Post. Now as a VC of the super hot Inspired Capital, she is helping lift other entrepreneurs by investing and helping them launch their early-stage companies. This was a great episode. I can’t wait for you to listen. Show notes at https://karagoldin.com/podcast/lucy-deland  

Alex Wheldon is the co-founder of Rho - a leading digital commercial banking platform backed by Alexa Von Tobel and Inspired Capital. Alex has founded four startups, three of which were acquired. Alex founded Rho because there were no banks tailored towards founder needs, a personal pain point Alex faced as a serial entrepreneur. Rho provides a full-service digital banking solution that integrates with the tools and services that modern entrepreneurs use to run their businesses.

Miguel Armaza sits down with the talented and energetic Alexa von Tobel, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Inspired Capital, a $200M early-stage venture capital firm based in New York City, focused on backing founders with transformative ideas, brilliant teams, and relentless determination. The firm was founded by Alexa and Penny Pritzker, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Prior to Inspired Capital, Alexa founded LearnVest with the goal of helping people make progress on their money and later sold the company to Northwestern Mutual for $375M. We talked about - Alexa’s background & entrepreneurial journey - Why she dropped out of Harvard Business school to build LearnVest - What it really means to be the CEO of a large company and why she decided to sell her business - The reason why she loves hosting her own podcast, The Founders Project, and what led her to write two books - Working with President Obama - The importance of having a supportive spouse - And a whole lot more! Alexa von Tobel Alexa is the co-founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital. Prior to Inspired Capital, she founded LearnVest in 2008 with the goal of helping people make progress on their money. After raising nearly $75 million in venture capital, LearnVest was acquired by Northwestern Mutual in May 2015 in one of the biggest fintech acquisitions of the decade. Following the acquisition, von Tobel joined the management team of Northwestern Mutual as the company’s first-ever Chief Digital Officer. She later assumed the role of Chief Innovation Officer through which she oversaw Northwestern Mutual’s venture arm. Alexa, who holds a Certified Financial Planner™ designation, is the New York Times-Bestselling Author of Financially Fearless and Financially Forward. She is also the host of The Founders Project with Alexa von Tobel, a weekly podcast with Inc. that highlights top entrepreneurs. Alexa is a member of the 2016 Class of Henry Crown Fellows and an inaugural member of President Obama’s Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship. She has been honored with numerous recognitions including: a Forbes Magazine cover story, Fortune’s 40 Under 40, Fortune's Most Powerful Women, Inc. Magazine's 30 Under 30, and World Economic Forum's Young Global Leader. Originally from Florida, Alexa attended Harvard College and Harvard Business School before settling in New York City where she currently resides with her husband, Cliff, and three children, Toby, Cashel, and Rosey. About Inspired Capital Inspired Capital is a $200M early-stage venture capital firm based in New York City. Inspired backs founders with transformative ideas, brilliant teams, and relentless determination. The firm was founded by Alexa von Tobel, who previously founded LearnVest, and Penny Pritzker, founder and chairman of PSP Partners who served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce. By leveraging deep experience across consumer and enterprise technology, the firm invests in tech-advantaged, capital efficient businesses, striving to help them become category-defining companies. For more information, visit www.inspiredcapital.com.

Connie & Alex go over the week's top tech stories and then chat with Alexa von Tobel of Inspired Capital about Robinhood, the sorry state of financial literacy, and opportunities she sees in fintech investing.1. "Inspired" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3918-inspired)2. "Dream Catcher" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4650-dream-catcher)3. "Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5759-blippy-trance)4. "ice Flow" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3898-ice-flow)5. "Pamgaea" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4193-pamgaea)6. "EDM Detection Mode" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3687-edm-detection-mode)

Liz speaks with Alexa Von Tobel, former CEO and founder of personal finance website, LearnVest, current Founder and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital, and author of New York Times bestsellers Financially Fearless and Financially Forward about her mission to empower women to feel in control of their finances. Alexa also explains why it is so important for parents to model healthy behaviors for the kids when it comes to money.

New reports confirm the mysterious symptoms exhibited by State department employees in Cuba were not psychosomatic, but something else entirely. A caller from Ireland sets the guys on the tragic, unsolved case of the Vanishing Triangle. An anonymous email prompts an exploration of Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan -- why does the capital seem riddled with bizarre occult symbols? All this and more in this week's listener mail. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers

On Wednesday, October 28, 2020, Cornell Tech @ Bloomberg featured Alexa von Tobel, Founder and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital, in conversation with Scarlet Fu of Bloomberg Television. During this virtual conversation, von Tobel and Fu discussed von Tobel's decision to leave school to start LearnVest in the middle of a recession, her transition from entrepreneur to investor, why she's committed to fostering diversity in New York City's startup ecosystem while also making investments across the U.S., and why she thinks moments of crisis are good times to build a business.

Howie Liu is co-founder and CEO of Airtable, the platform democratizing software creation. Over 60,000 organizations, including half of the Fortune 1000, currently use Airtable to power their most ambitious operations. Launched in 2015, Airtable has raised over $70M in venture funding, and was recently added to Forbes’ “Cloud 100” list of the private companies leading cloud computing in 2018.  Learn more about Oracle for Startups(Interviewed by Alexa von Tobel, CFP® is the Founder and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital ).

In this week’s Espresso, we invited Anabel Perez, co-founder & CEO of Novopayment, to talk about the launch of their new product in partnership with Visa. We also cover investment updates from Neon, Slik, Kestraa, and Habi, as well as other news from dLocal and SP Ventures.  Outline of this episode: [0:28] - Investments: Neon, Slik, Kestraa, Habi [2:16] - Anabel Perez, NovoPayment [4:39] - New fund  [5:05] - Nubank H1 update [5:33] - dLocal partnerships [5:55] - Featured articles of the week   Resources & people mentioned: Anabel Perez NovoPayment Prepaid in a Box Startups: Neon, Slik, Kestraa, Habi, Nubank, dLocal VC: General Atlantic, Vulcano, Angel Ventures, Canary Ventures, Inspired Capital, AgVentures Fund II, Syngenta Ventures, BASF Venture Capital, IDB Lab, Capria Ventures Featured articles: Latin American startups adapt and grow amidst the global pandemic by Melissa Montalvo, Agave Lab 5 reasons why $Meli should buy $Dher America’s division (PedidosYa) by Manuel García Cuerva, Betamod Project  

Alexa von Tobel (@alexavontobel) and Mark Batsiyan (@mbatny) of Inspired Capital join Erik on this episode.They discuss:- What fintech 2.0 will look like and their experiences growing a company during the fintech 1.0 era.- The idea of the self-driving wallet and removing friction for consumers.- Their investment thesis and the trends they are seeing in fintech.- How incumbents will react to changes and why they will be just as acquisitive.- The impact of COVID on fintech.- How Gen Z thinks about finances.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Alexa von Tobel (@alexavontobel) and Mark Batsiyan (@mbatny) of Inspired Capital join Erik on this episode.They discuss:- What fintech 2.0 will look like and their experiences growing a company during the fintech 1.0 era.- The idea of the self-driving wallet and removing friction for consumers.- Their investment thesis and the trends they are seeing in fintech.- How incumbents will react to changes and why they will be just as acquisitive.- The impact of COVID on fintech.- How Gen Z thinks about finances.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Welcome to The Yield. Milind Mehere is the passionate serial entrepreneur, the Founder & CEO of YieldStreet and the host of this first episode of the new YieldStreet podcast. In today's episode, Milind is joined by Alexa von Tobel, Founder of LearnVest and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital. Together they discuss ways that financial management and planning will have to change in a post-COVID-19 world. There are opportunities for innovation amid this chaotic environment, from democratizing business ownership to shifting embedded finance and getting everyday investors access to VC funding and private equity. Join us as they share powerful ideas for innovating the future of finance with one goal in mind — to rethink the ways that you can take advantage of today's innovations to enhance your financial life.Key Takeaways:[:50] Introducing The Yield Podcast, founder Milind Mehere and today's guest Alexa von Tobel.[5:04] Alexa reflects on the challenges of starting up a financial company during a recession or a pandemic and how the world is permanently changing for the better.[8:50] A look at the ideas and entrepreneurs that are emerging from the current pandemic.[12:34] The sectors of main interest at Inspired Capital, from DNA tech to a new money movement infrastructure.[15:45] Highlighting some of the ways that financial management and planning will have to change in a post-COVID-19 world.[21:57] What does the future of money look like? Will a self-driving wallet ever exist?  Do we really have to be paid every two weeks? What is the future of life insurance for the modern family?[27:00] Options and statistics for getting the everyday investor access to VC funding and private equity.[30:42] How Inspired Capital helps founders navigate the journey from the founding idea to post-funding support.[33:16] Overcoming the COVID-19 fear of human interaction and how we will continue to get business done. [36:15] What are some of the best investment options for the everyday person? Alexa addresses 401k contributions, managing credit card debt, long-term investing, and gaining access to VC.Mentioned in This Episode:YieldStreetLearnVestInspired CapitalFinancially Forward: How to Use Today's Tools to Earn More, Save Better and Spend Smarter by Alexa von TobelAlexa von Tobel on Instagram

Alexa von Tobel is the founder of LearnVest, a personal finance company that made financial planning affordable and accessible for everyone, which was acquired by Northwestern Mutual in 2015 for $375 million.She’s now the founder and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in the next wave of tech entrepreneurs.In this episode, we chat with Alexa about her early life and college days, dropping out of Harvard Business School to launch LearnVest in the middle of a recession, what has helped her become a better leader of people, her thoughts on the current venture capital climate and what she’s most excited about as far as the future goes, and much more.SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER & STAY UPDATED > http://bit.ly/tfh-newsletterFOLLOW TFH ON INSTAGRAM > http://www.instagram.com/thefounderhourFOLLOW TFH ON TWITTER > http://www.twitter.com/thefounderhourINTERESTED IN BECOMING A SPONSOR? EMAIL US > partnerships@thefounderhour.com

Listen to our conversation with Alexa von Tobel, Managing Partner and founder of Inspired Capital, founder and former CEO of LearnVest (acquired by Northwestern Mutual), and the New York Times- Bestselling Author of Financially Fearless. Alexa went to Harvard College and Harvard Business School.

Joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@theSamParr) interview Alexa von Tobel (@alexavontobel), founder and former CEO of LearnVest, a fintech company that sold to Northwestern Mutual for $375M five years after launch. Today's topic include: Alexa talks about her background (0:20), Alexa talks about studying happiness at Harvard (3:40), Alexa breaks down the business plan and evolution of LearnVest (9:00), Alexa describes what it was like to be a classmate at Harvard with Mark Zuckerberg and the advent of Facebook (16:02), Sam asks Alexa, “why sell the business?” (23:08), Alexa explains the strategy behind her VC firm, Inspired Capital, and what’s interesting to her today (30:06), Shaan asks Alexa to explain her contrarian views about the future of work (32:52), Alexa explains how her roots give her an advantage in the fintech space (36:24), Sam asks Alexa what a “self-driving wallet” is (40:10), Shaan talks with Alexa about crypto projects that are streaming money (42:10), Alexa explains how friction is making it more difficult for people to grow their wealth (52:10). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Listen in as Alexa talks about the secret to keeping a good work life balance as an entrepreneur, and how she became the serial entrepreneur she is today. "Inspired Capital helps pay it forward to entrepreneurs who want to build great things in the future." - Alexa Von Tobel. Learn more about this episode of The Mentor Files with Monica Royer at www.monicaandandy.blog/81

We’ve all heard the motivational mantra that if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. But Alexa von Tobel sees things a little differently.  “If you love what you do, you’ll work every day of your life,” she says, “and it’s because I’m so passionate about what I’m doing.”  The mission that gets von Tobel jumping out of bed every morning is one that impacts every one of us—finding financial stability. Without it, whether you’re a working family or a creative new startup, it’s near impossible to plan for the long term and ultimately thrive. Von Tobel came to this understanding after graduating from Harvard and beginning a career on Wall Street, when she realized that, while she was great at managing the business finances of others, she was woefully unprepared to manage her own. And she quickly discovered that she was not alone.  That lit a fire underneath her to improve financial education, inspiring her in 2008 to launch LearnVest, a digital financial planning business that teaches investment and finances. The award-winning company became wildly popular, especially among women.  She ended up selling that business, but in 2019, van Tobel decided to take her passion for financial advising in a new direction. Today, she manages Inspired Capital, a $200 million investment firm that’s supporting early stage startups.  This massive new undertaking is all rooted in van Tobel’s desire to support ambitious entrepreneurs and help people achieve financial stability. That, and a deep love of math. Freedom to Think Bigger  Von Tobel says she was an entrepreneur from day one. She’s always been drawn to the toughest problems, outside-the-box thinking, and bringing joy to others. And when she recognized her own problem with managing her personal finances, she suspected that this could be a cause worth taking on.  Von Tobel says that 78% of all Americans live paycheck to paycheck and that the average person doesn’t even have $400 in a savings account. And the crippling anxiety that comes from mountains of debt and living one medical crisis away from going broke? She firmly believes it holds people back from concentrating on something bigger. “If you’re living for tomorrow, you can’t think long term,” she says.  Despite her lifelong love of math and her driven personality, she’d never been taught how to manage her personal accounts, invest her money, or plan for retirement. It became clear that many of her peers had not either.  “I think it’s insane that it’s not taught in every high school, college, and graduate program in America,” von Tobel says. “I mean, it’s not that dissimilar to basic hygiene.”  From von Tobel’s perspective, money is a basic lifeline that enables people to care for themselves. Therefore, she believes everyone should learn how to intelligently manage it.  That’s what drove her during her years as founder and CEO of LearnVest—the unwavering belief that financial education was a key to happiness.  “If you can create real financial stability for a family,” she says, “you can help a family thrive.” Among the strategies she taught through LearnVest were how to grow a successful savings account by setting aside 20% of each paycheck, no matter what, and the benefit of establishing firm ground rules for financial health. She taught when to begin investing (yesterday), preparing for retirement (the day before yesterday), and how to plan effectively for the ebbs and flows of life.  But what about the people (like, oh, I don’t know, the writer of this article, for instance) who are deeply terrified of math? Von Tobel says that’s not a problem.  “Personal finance is basic math,” she assures. “It’s not complicated math. It’s really straightforward math—what comes in, what goes out, is there something left, and are we saving it properly? Really, it’s more organization than math.”  After more than a decade spent as a financial educator and the sale of her business to Northwestern Mutual in 2015, von Tobel decided it was time to give something new a try.  And when her husband pointed out how many hours she had spent financially advising entrepreneurs for free, she realized she may have inadvertently stumbled upon her next big project.  Shooting for the Moon  Inspired Capital was born from von Tobel’s passion for financial education, combined with her desire to help entrepreneurs reach their goals. The result is an early stage and seed investment firm, driven by women (also led by former Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker) and funding startups nationally. Von Tobel now meets with at least 75 founders each week in pursuit of new investments of all shapes and sizes. From tech to product-based business, von Tobel is interested in all of it, provided they have a good idea and a plan.  She says that the best founders who have pitched her get to know her firm before reaching out. They also don’t get discouraged by rejection. Von Tobel says that just because it’s a no today, doesn’t mean it’ll be a no tomorrow.  And while founders are waiting for their yes, von Tobel says there are many things they can invest time in learning. She says that the biggest mistake she sees founders make is running away from the aspects of the business that make them feel inadequate, passing it off to others before even giving it a try.  “I think it’s the typical kind of head-in-the-sand ostrich move,” she says. “You’ve got to lean into the things that make you nervous.”  She believes this is what enables businesses to address issues before they reach critical mass, while also making founders feel capable and bold.  “If you want to build a really good business—if you want to get really good at being an entrepreneur—you’ve got to get good at everything,” she says. “And I don’t mean you literally have to hold every job, but you have to take the job, get pretty darn good at it to the point where then you know how to hire for it, and then you can pass it off to somebody better at it.”  Once the machine of a new business really starts whirring, von Tobel says that it’s essential to have an eye on building up the reserves.  “You want to make sure you are never within nine months of running out of cash,” she says. “Because if you need to go fix that, putting a plan together to go fix that can sometimes take three to six months, and you don’t want to be in a position where literally you can run out of money.”  While she acknowledges that smaller businesses can get away with slightly less in the bank, she wouldn’t recommend leaving the stability of a company to chance or dependent on a tight timeline.  And ultimately, von Tobel believes these healthy savings accounts are what embolden business leaders to take new and exciting risks.  “I’m not risk-averse,” she says. “I shoot for the moon, but I have a plan B that has enough cash...that gives me enough confidence to shoot for the moon. Having a good solid financial plan gives you the comfort to take more risks.” And the best part of all is that von Tobel believes there’s never been a better time to launch a business than right now.  “Every year it gets less expensive to stand up a company,” she says. “Every year there are better online resources to make it easier to do.”  From free online resources to highly affordable software for startups, she says founders need only do a light Google to find a flood of resources at their disposal.  As an investor passionate about the startups and founders of tomorrow, she can’t wait to see what thrilling new business plans come across her desk next. And that’s why she encourages struggling founders to keep pushing, keep growing, and keep pursuing their dreams.  “You’re building something new. You’re building something special that serves a purpose,” she says. “And that’s pretty powerful.”  Alexa von Tobel’s Tips for Building a Successful Business  Get the product right first Von Tobel says that entrepreneurs can be distracted so easily by the task of building a business and marketing a product that they forget to perfect the product. Talk to the customers. Find out what works and what doesn’t, and make adjustments. Before diving headfirst into marketing a product, she reminds entrepreneurs to really nail product-market fit.  Begin by stoking word-of-mouth marketing Rather than sinking tons of cash into a paid marketing strategy up front, von Tobel recommends that founders begin by delighting their customers and encouraging them to share their experiences with the brand. She reminds entrepreneurs that word-of-mouth marketing is free and often more effective than traditional marketing for startups.  Wait to focus on paid marketing until revenue is up Once revenue is climbing and there is a little more wiggle room, von Tobel says the time has come to give paid marketing a go.  Embrace a constant learning process Above all, von Tobel reminds entrepreneurs that the constant pursuit of growth without fear of negative feedback is essential to success.  “I think the best founders are learners,” she says. “They are comfortable with negative feedback. They want to make it better, and they are constantly just listening and learning obsessively.” Key Takeaways Why von Tobel, a Harvard graduate and Wall Street career woman, found herself struggling with her personal finances How this experience drove her to launch LearnVest, a digital financial planning business that teaches investment and finances Why von Tobel doesn’t believe a fear of math should stop anyone from pursuing financial education The sale of LearnVest to Northwestern Mutual in 2015 The mission behind Inspired Capital, an early stage and seed investment firm Why von Tobel wants to work with founders who embrace aspects of business they’re not good at The reason behind von Tobel’s optimism for the future of business

Tej Singh and Cindy Zhang Lucy Deland, a Partner at Inspired Capital, which was founded in 2019 with an inaugural $200M fund. It is one of the biggest debut funds out of New York and an especially significant raise for a female-founded firm. Prior to this, Lucy was the COO at Paperless Post, a site that allows users to design digital invitations, announcements, and correspondence that are as beautiful as custom printed stationery, with the efficiency of web-based communication.

This morning Finix, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup selling payments tech to other businesses, announced that it has raised a $35 million Series B. Sequoia led the round, which also saw participation from new investors Activant Capital and Inspired Capital. Finix did not disclose a new valuation as part of its round, and declined to share any growth metrics regarding its business. Instead, it offered a TAM figure and noted the number of countries in which it currently operates.

Bloomberg News Reporter Gillian Tan joins to discuss SoftBank completing an initial money-raising push for its second technology fund. Ellen Huet, Bloomberg News Startups Reporter, talks about WeWork's upcoming SEC inquiry. Bloomberg News Senior Trade Reporter Shawn Donnan and Businessweek Global Economics Editor Cristina Lindblad discuss 'short strokes' for phase one of a U.S.-China trade deal. Alexa von Tobel, Founder of Inspired Capital, walks through early-stage VC investing. And we Drive to the Close with Guillaume Mascotto, Head of ESG at American Century Investments. Hosts: Carol Massar and Jason Kelly. Producer: Doni Holloway. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Bloomberg News Reporter Gillian Tan joins to discuss SoftBank completing an initial money-raising push for its second technology fund. Ellen Huet, Bloomberg News Startups Reporter, talks about WeWork’s upcoming SEC inquiry. Bloomberg News Senior Trade Reporter Shawn Donnan and Businessweek Global Economics Editor Cristina Lindblad discuss 'short strokes' for phase one of a U.S.-China trade deal. Alexa von Tobel, Founder of Inspired Capital, walks through early-stage VC investing. And we Drive to the Close with Guillaume Mascotto, Head of ESG at American Century Investments. Hosts: Carol Massar and Jason Kelly. Producer: Doni Holloway.

The founder of LearnVest and Inspired Capital on building a company amidst the 2008 financial crisis, being a working mom and what worth means to her.

Lucy was a student at Harvard during the same timeframe when Mark Zuckerberg was starting Facebook. As we discuss in this podcast, Facebook was a key catalyst to ignited the entrepreneurial spirit at the institution. She was a co-founder and COO of Paperless Post, which included two other Harvard alumni. The company disrupted the online invitation industry by making the process a lot more elegant and personalized with a design-led philosophy, which was unique at the time. Lucy is now a Partner at Inspired Capital, an early stage investment firm that was recently launched by Alexa von Tobel. Alexa is best known as the Founder & CEO of Learnvest, a company that was acquired by Northwestern Mutual. And yes, it was at Harvard where Lucy originally met Alexa. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * What is was like attending Harvard during the creation of Facebook and its impact on entrepreneurship there * The full background story on Paperless Post and the many challenges they had to overcome * The details on Inspired Capital and what they are targeting for investments. * What pitfalls to avoid when scaling. * When you should hire a COO to join your company. * And more! If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Alexa von Tobel dropped out of Harvard Business School in 2008 to start LearnVest, the online financial planning service designed for the average American that sold in 2015 to Northwestern Mutual. Today, she is the founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital and the New York Times-Bestselling Author of "Financially Fearless" and "Financially Forward." Alexa caught up with Alli and Michael to break down her entrepreneurial journey and the latest trends in venture capital and financial technology. Keep up with Alexa von Tobel at @alexavontobel. And don't forget to follow @alliwebb for #BTS of Raising The Bar and subscribe and rate us! ᐧ

Alexa Von Tobel is the founder of LearnVest. She dropped out of Harvard Business School to found the company in her early twenties, and the company was acquired for hundreds of millions of dollars in 2015 to Northwestern Mutual.   Alexa is now the managing partner at Inspired Capital. She is the author of Financially Fearless and most recently, her new book, Financially Forward.   On a personal note, when I was in my cubicle, flirting with the idea of potentially starting a business, wondering how I could do something different with my career… I was so lost.   I would sit at my desk at my 9-5 job with one earphone in and listen to YouTube videos of Alexa sharing her story of founding Learn Vest. She stunned me both with her mastery of her business’ focus (personal finance) AND her vision and perseverance as an entrepreneur.   It wasn’t long before I decided she was “who I wanted to be when I grow up.”   Tune into this episode to hear:   How Alexa found the courage to pivot away from (Harvard) Business School and venture out on her own. Her advice about finding courage (this is a must hear!) The “must-learns” about the future of finance and how to use it to get ahead NOW.

For Alexa von Tobel (Founder & Managing Partner, Inspired Capital, and author of "Financially Forward") money is a life skill, just like brushing your teeth. In this episode Alexa talks about her failures, the importance of learning to managing your money in the digital age, and how she hired a coach to help her become a better CEO. Alexa also shares her must-have apps for getting your finances in order. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/superwomen/support

Joseph Hogue from Let's Talk Money stops by to discuss how YouTube can boost your blog, stand alone as an asset, and why (and how!) you should monetize the minute you post your first video. He also shares a formula that anyone can follow to start producing consistent video content today. Also in this episode, we had the opportunity to sit down and talk to Alexa von Tobel, the Managing Partner of Inspired Capital Partners, Founder and former CEO of LearnVest, and New York Times- Bestselling Author of Financially Fearless. Alexa shares the focus of Inspired Capital, a new 200 million venture fund that launched in January of this year, and her new book, Financially Forward: How to Use Today's Digital Tools to Earn More, Save Better, and Spend Smarter.

My guest today is Lucy Deland ( https://inspiredcapital.com/team/lucydeland ) , Partner at Inspired Capital ( https://inspiredcapital.com/ ) , who back early-stage founders with transformative ideas, brilliant teams, and relentless determination. Some of her investments include Geneva, Habi and Dandy. A couple of books that inspired Lucy: Amazing Grace ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0770435661?camp=1789&creativeASIN=0770435661&ie=UTF8&linkCode=xm2&tag=theconsumervc-20 ) by Jonathan Kozol Why We Sleep ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1501144324?camp=1789&creativeASIN=1501144324&ie=UTF8&linkCode=xm2&tag=theconsumervc-20 ) by Matthew Walker. Here's some questions I ask Lucy: * Since you went from investor to founder to investor, where it makes sense to start is what attracted you to focus your career on technology and innovation? * What was the insight that led you to founding Paperless Post? * What led you to going back to your "roots" (so to speak) and become an investor again? * Tell me a little bit about Inspired Capital and the formation. * What were some of the lessons learned from your experience as COO that made you a better investor? * I know that you're a generalist, but thesis driven. How do you approach which categories to focus on and opportunities? * In our prior conversation, we spoke about some of the differences when your customer is a consumer, SMB and enterprise. When it comes to technology, IU, and feature set, depending on who you are selling to, what are your must haves? * How has your due diligence process been disrupted by COVID? * What are some of the different milestones a company has to have at the seed vs. series A? * What are current trends (that are consumer facing) that you're focused on? * What's one thing that you would change when it comes to venture capital? * What's the best piece of advice that you received? * What's one piece of advice that you have for founders?