Podcasts about mayfield fund

Mayfield Fund initiated a $100 million initiative for AI startups concentrating on collaborative technology. This initiative, termed AI Garage, supports ideation-stage founders in creating "AI teammate" companies. The venture capital firm plans to accept up to five founders every six months, expanding its established entrepreneur-in-residence model. Initially, these participants will not receive funding but can secure between one and five million dollars after formulating a viable business plan with the firm's partners. The focus lies on AI applications that function as collaborators rather than mere assistants. Mayfield has already invested in several AI teammate companies, including DevRev, which enhances customer service through AI, and NeuBird, which aids site reliability engineers in managing outages. Learn more on this news visit us at: https://greyjournal.net/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rob Bearden's journey is one of innovation, leadership, and relentless pursuit of growth. From his early days at Oracle to his most recent venture, Sema4.ai, Rob has been at the forefront of technological transformation across multiple industries. In this exclusive interview, Rob dives into his experiences, the lessons he learned when building and scaling his companies, and the vision that drives his latest endeavor. Rob's company, Sema4.ai, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Benchmark (Business/Productivity Software), Mayfield Fund, Canvas Ventures, Harpoon VC, and Uncorrelated Ventures.

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

In this episode, Rishi Garg, former Head of Corporate Development at Twitter and Square, shares insider knowledge on tech acquisitions. He explains when companies should start considering M&A and the three key approaches: tops down, bottoms up, and strategy influence. Rishi reveals how he managed up to 15 deals in 12 months and why integration is crucial for M&A success. He debunks common M&A misconceptions and discusses the "sins of omission" - deals he regrets not making. The conversation shifts to his current role as a VC at Mayfield Fund, offering a unique perspective on both sides of acquisitions. LINKS: https://www.twitter.com/rishigarg https://www.mayfield.com/ RECOMMENDED PODCAST:

AI teammates transform work environments with tools that extend automation to complex functions. Mayfield Fund invests in AI-enabled tools for knowledge workers. Navin Chaddha, Mayfield's Managing Partner, promotes Cognition as a Service (CaaS) to enhance productivity, envisioning digital teammates for collaboration. He invested in NeuBird's Hawkeye, an AI assistant for IT teams. Chaddha, noted for early investments in Lyft, Poshmark, and HashiCorp, manages significant resources, including a $580 million Series A fund and a $250 million AI seed start fund. Mayfield invests across AI sectors, including semiconductor cooling, model safety, data engineering, and application layer solutions like LexCheck, Outreach, and Qventus.Learn more on this news visit us at: https://greyjournal.net/news/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Puneet Agarwal brings a strong mix of operational and investment experience to his partner role at True. He began his career as a product manager at CrossWorlds Software, an early startup focused on software integration, which was sold to IBM. He then spent time in technology investment banking at J.P. Morgan and later in venture capital at the Mayfield Fund, where he invested in early stage technology companies. Puneet spent four years at BEA Systems in various product management and marketing roles in which he initiated and ran BEA's RFID initiative. Following BEA, he joined Geodesic Information Systems, a mobile messaging company, where he filled the role of vice president of product management. As part of his work, he moved to India for several months. He joined the True team in 2008. Puneet holds a bachelor's degree and master's degree in industrial engineering from Stanford University, where he was a Mayfield Fellow.    You can learn more about: Trends and Opportunities in Early-Stage Investing 2. Due diligence on early-stage companies 3. Evaluating Founding Teams    ===================== YouTube: @GraceGongCEO Newsletter: @SmartVenture LinkedIn: @GraceGong TikTok: @GraceGongCEO IG: @GraceGongCEO Twitter: @GraceGongGG ===================== Join the SVP fam with your host Grace Gong. In each episode, we are going to have conversations with some of the top investors, superstar founders, as well as well-known tech executives in silicon valley. We will have a coffee chat with them to learn their ways of thinking and actionable tips on how to build or invest in a successful company.

In the first episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Mayfield Managing Partner Navin Chaddha spoke about the need for founders to identify investors they can trust, how to pitch Mayfield's AI Start seed fund, and why he's specifically looking for inception-stage entrepreneurs who have “half-baked” ideas. Our conversation covered a lot of ground: Navin described the elements of a fundable idea, shared what excites (and unnerves) him about AI investing, and offered a framework for founder teams seeking solutions to orthogonal problems that create value for customers and align with market trends. Here's an episode rundown: 1:07: AI investing and entrepreneurship 7:56: fundraising, enterprise opportunities and success metrics 17:27 the biggest challenges facing AI investors 19:11: what strong founder teams look like 22:10: leveraging inception-stage investors 26:47: why idea-stage founders shouldn't worry about revenue 31:36: pitfalls/opportunities at the enterprise level 34:25: the "impedance mismatch" between startups + enterprise customers 38:22: societal change + responsible innovation 42:48: how he educates himself about emerging tech Coming up in Episode 2: I spoke with Rodrigo Liang, CEO and co-founder of SambaNova, about digging a moat, customer discovery, and product-led growth. Please subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on your favorite platform, and if you liked this episode, I hope you'll give me a great rating.  For now, you can find the Fund/Build/Scale newsletter on Substack. The podcast theme was written and performed by Michael Tritter and Carlos Chairez. Michael also edited the podcast and provided additional music, and I'm deeply grateful. Thanks for listening!   Links: Fund/Build/Scale on Substack: https://fundbuildscale.substack.com Mayfield: https://www.mayfield.com Navin Chaddha on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/navinchaddha/ Securiti: https://securiti.ai/ Cognitive plumbing: https://www.mayfield.com/cognitive-plumbing/ Impedance matching: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impedance_matching Jensen Huang, founder and CEO, NVIDIA: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenhsunhuang/ Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft: https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyanadella/ Thomas Kurian, CEO Google Cloud: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kurian-469b6219/ NVIDIA: https://www.nvidia.com  OpenAI: https://openai.com/ "Trough of disillusionment,” Gartner hype cycle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gartner_hype_cycle SambaNova Systems: https://sambanova.ai/ Podcast theme: "Artificio," by Michael Tritter and Carlos Chairez: https://laroda.bandcamp.com/track/artificio Fund/Build/Scale is sponsored by Mayfield Fund and Securiti.

Priya Saiprasad is a General Partner at Touring Capital, a fund investing in enterprise-focused AI powered global startups. She co-founded Touring after 13 years in venture capital, M&A and enterprise technology. She was most recently a Partner at SoftBank Vision Fund, where she led investments into category-defining software companies including Pixis, Vendr, Observe.ai, CommerceIQ, Sendoso and Skedulo. Previously, Priya was at Mayfield Fund focused on early-growth investments, and a founding member of M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund), where she led investments in Go1, Workboard, PandaDoc, Element AI (acquired by ServiceNow), and Bonsai (acquired by Microsoft). Prior to that, she was a Deal Lead in Square's M&A team leading acquisitions at the intersection of software and machine learning. Priya was recognized by Forbes in 2018 as part of their 30 under 30 in Venture Capital list. She is actively involved with All Raise, Neythri, and several prominent Women in Tech associations. Priya holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. . . . Episode Notes: How did Priya end up in venture (2:36) What about venture surprised Priya the most (6:00) Insecurities as/of an investor (11:25) Learnings as an investor when investments haven't really worked out (17:02) How can one acquire the skills to assist founders, even if they haven't personally experienced those challenges? (25:05) Investing is personal: Do investors derive guidance from aspects of their life when making investment decisions? (29:35) How does competition drive investors (34:52) Prestige and perception in venture (41:30) Advice Priya would give her younger self (47:20) . . . Social Links: Follow ⁠Priya on Twitter⁠ Follow ⁠Priya on LinkedIn⁠ Follow ⁠The Desi VC on LinkedIn⁠ Follow ⁠Akash Bhat on Twitter⁠ Follow ⁠Akash Bhat on LinkedIn

My guest is Tim Chang. He has over two decades of broad early-stage technology investment experience in Silicon Valley at Mayfield Fund, Norwest Venture Partners, and Gabriel Venture Partners and has been named to the Forbes Midas List and the AlwaysOn Power Players of top investors. Tim has led early-stage investments in Iridigm, Playdom, ngmoco, Basis, AdChina, Moat, Classpass, Tonal Fitness, TRIPP, and Grove Collaborative creating more than $4B in total exit value.  Beyond just making successful investments, Tim is deeply committed to supporting startups and organizations that bring about greater consciousness, connection, and healing in the world. Tim serves on the non-profit boards of several organizations, including California Institute of Integral Studies, Reimagine Death, and Gray Area Arts. With his unique background and expertise, Tim will share his insights on how to create a world that's more conscious, connected, and healing through technology.We talked about:(0:41) Are you going through a midlife crisis? Find out how to turn it into a midlife chrysalis.(8:41) Are you struggling to find your own story? Discover the power of storytelling and how to find yours.(13:12) Do you want to unlock the power of your social network? Learn how to find your superpowers through play.(25:13) Want to understand the underlying forces of companies and individuals? Hear Tim's mental model.(27:46) Are you looking for transformation? Learn about the power of cohort-based learning.(30:47) Do you want to surround yourself with a peer group that will help you achieve your goals? Discover Tim's criteria for choosing his peer group.(37:16) Do you need help clarifying who you are? Find out Tim's counterintuitive approach.(42:20) Are you interested in the intersection of AI and humanity? Hear Tim's perspective on the ultimate child of humanity.(50:15) Are you interested in conscious business? Learn about the necessity of the Conscious MBA program.

Join us for a conversation with 2 of 3 sisters that took their family business and not only created the ultimate sustainable brand, but also have brought forth a super ingredient in nature's skin health arsenal. Join Ekta for a conversation with the Taylor sisters , co-founders of the Instagram favorite brand, LE PRUNIER. Allison has an extensive background in Marketing, Brand Development and Management. She studied Communications and Sociology at the University of Southern California and honed her artistic design skills at Parsons New School of Design in New York. Prior to the development of Le Prunier, Allison worked with companies such as Giorgio Armani, Mother Denim, and STX Entertainment. She also has experience working within film, television and music. Her acute eye for design, entrepreneurial sensibilities and genuine love for all things health + wellness has finally culminated into her most exciting project yet. Jacqueline entered UCLA as a Pre-Med Biopsychology major for Dermatology and has always been extremely passionate about skincare. She is also a graduate of Living Light Culinary Institute where her passion for health and wellness was fully realized. Prior to Le Prunier, Jacqueline worked at Mayfield Fund, a Venture Capital firm in Menlo Park. She is currently developing proprietary processes on the amazing benefits of Plum Beauty Oil. Her diverse background in the sciences and culinary arts has enabled her to focus much of her efforts on byproduct innovation and R&D for Le Prunier. Elaine graduated from the University of San Francisco and received a B.S. in Business Administration - International Business. While at USF she studied abroad in Beijing, China where she applied her Mandarin language studies. After college Elaine joined the international sales, operations and client relations division of her family's food products business. Elaine then joined VC-backed Juicero and later Halo Top Creamery. While at Halo Top, she helped manage international sales and operations. With these experiences Elaine was ready to return to Le Prunier where she helps lead sales and operations. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/skincareanarchy/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/skincareanarchy/support

The Sunday Times' tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Navin Chaddha of Mayfield Fund, to talk about the future of work (3:10), and Silicon Valley (9:50), managing $2bn with seven people (13:55), his first startup in the dotcom boom (18:00), the importance of timing (22:50), holding his nerve at the recent peak (28:10), the other two companies he started (33:10), the lessons from he took from them (38:10), the current downturn (42:05), how he made it here from India (46:50), going through the IIT system (50:00), and what he's excited to back (55:05). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week our conversation is with Joe Mandato. Joe holds a Doctor of Business Administration degree from Case Western Reserve University, where his research focused on the evolving role of boards in ensuring effective corporate governance.  He was a 2011-2012 Fellow of Harvard University's Advanced Leadership Initiative and served as Co-Chair of Harvard's Advanced Leadership Coalition. He is a Managing Director at DeNovo Ventures, Senior Advisor at Apercen Partners, Advisor to Sonder Capital, and a 15-year Lecturer at Stanford University.  He has served on more than 20 public and private boards focused on technology and the life sciences, including Align Technology (NASDAQ), Avedro, Axogen, Inc. (NASDAQ), Hansen Medical (NASDAQ), Insound Medical & Vynca Health.  He also serves on the boards of Case Western Reserve University, Headstart, and Save the Children.  He was a seed investor, board member, and advisor to the founders of Align Technologies and has served as CEO of five life sciences companies, which resulted in significant shareholder value.  He was a member of the founding management committee of Guidant Corporation (NYSE) and was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Mayfield Fund, a Silicon Valley venture fund.  He has authored or co-authored thirty articles on healthcare and governance and the book The Entrepreneur's Journey.

Our guest this week on CLIMB by VSC, is Raj Kapoor, a VC investor and founding partner of the venture capital firm Climactic. Prior to becoming a founding partner alongside Josh Felser, Raj has a depth of experience as both an operator — Raj as CSO at Lyft and previously CEO of Snapfish and Fitmob before that — in addition to his experience as an investor at Mayfield Fund. At Climactic, Raj is focused on helping companies that help enterprises achieve their net-zero goals. About VSC Ventures: For 20 years, our award-winning PR agency VSC has worked with innovative startups on positioning, messaging, and awareness and we are bringing that same expertise to help climate startups with storytelling and narrative building. Last year, general partners Vijay Chattha and Jay Kapoor raised a $21M fund to co-invest in the most promising startups alongside leading climate funds. Through the conversations on our show CLIMB by VSC, we're excited to share what we're doing at VSC and VSC Ventures on climate innovation with companies like Ample, Actual, Sesame Solar, Synop, Vibrant Planet, and Zume among many others.

Serial entrepreneur Dheeraj Pandey has raised tens of millions of dollars for his latest tech startup. He took his first venture, Nutanix public, and has now moved on to DevRev. Top-tier investors like Mayfield Fund, Firebolt Ventures, Bradley Horowitz, and Khosla Ventures have funded the startup.

Show note at keith snow.com Unless you're living under a rock you've been exposed to the non-stop drumbeat of the fake meat town criers. Fake meat is being touted in every single media outlet on earth; social media, online newspapers, magazines, podcasts like this one, websites, trade shows-heck I'm sure they are flying banners on the fourth of July somewhere pimping Impossible burgers, probably around LA or Long Island! Industry sales of fake meats have zoomed past 1 billion in 2020 and they are growing fast. They are expected to reach over $10 billion in annual sales in the not-to-distant future. Who is buying this stuff? It's not all vegans, I'm sure some unsuspecting meat eaters have picked up some of the “trust-the-science” burgers in the meat section of the supermarket. In my opinion, the taste is rather insipid and I remember spitting out a sample of one while doing a tasting in a restaurant I was running recently. Yuk, they tasted disgusting. These fake meat pimps have sausage, chicken nuggets, chicken patty, burgers, “soysage” crumble, fake shrimp, tuna, etc. Popular brands include: Beyond Meat Beyond Meat & Sausage Impossible Burger Tofurky Field Roast Quorn-nuggets Gardein fishless filet and on and on…… Investors in the space include Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Temasek, Horizons Ventures, CPP Investment Board, Louis Dreyfus Co., Bunge Ventures, Kellogg, ADM Capital, Danone, Kraft Heinz, Mars, Tyson, SOSV, Viking Global, Thiel Capital, Generation Investment Management, Mayfield Fund, and Techstars. One of the major sectors of the growing fake meat gold rush are companies specializing in fermentation. Fermentation companies focused on alternative proteins have raised more than $837 million in venture capital funding, starting with the first GFI-tracked investment in 2013. Eighty-five percent of this funding was raised in 2019 and in the first seven months of 2020 alone. The $274 million raised in 2019 is nearly five times the capital raised in 2018. Source-Good Food Institute These fake meat Barrons want to eliminate animal agriculture in all its forms from industrial feedlots (good riddance!) to backyard chickens to hogs and even all types of fishing. The global elite is not satisfied to reach a few billion in sales and buy a yacht and retire on a private island, no, they want to decimate all forms of protein that interfere with their fake meat revolution. In short, they cannot be trusted. Remember, competition is a sin! These “marketers” use all kinds of “data” to promote their healthy alternatives to meat, they are rife with statistics about how amazing these products are for the environment, how much they taste like real meat and other unsubstantiated claims that sound really nice. In my opinion, any product that has so much “science” and so many ultra-processed ingredients cannot be called food. The following quote came from the founder of Whole Foods Market-John Mackey, “If you look at the ingredients, they are super highly processed foods,” Mackey told CNBC, “I don't think eating highly processed foods is healthy. I think people thrive on eating whole foods.” The debate over the health of fake meats is raging and anyone who speaks out is quickly demonized by the creators of such food. Just shut up and do not learn how this stuff is produced. The components to make fake meat; soy, corn, peas, etc. are planted into degraded soils that are heavily sprayed with herbicides like glyphosate and others so this crap is NOT good for humans. Studies show 0.1 ppb (parts per billion) of glyphosate can kill precious gut bacteria in humans leading to all sorts of auto-immune diseases and conditions such as SIBO (small intestinal bacteria overgrowth) and SIFO (small intestinal fungal overgrowth) which are present in the vast majority of us Americans, hmmm I wonder why? “that the Impossible Burger tested positive for glyphosate. The levels of glyphosate detected in the Impossible Burger by Health Research Institute Laboratories were 11 X higher than the Beyond Meat Burger. The total result (glyphosate and it's break down AMPA) was 11.3 ppb. Moms Across America also tested the Beyond Meat Burger and the results were 1 ppb. “We are shocked to find that the Impossible Burger can have up to 11X higher levels of glyphosate residues than the Beyond Meat Burger according to these samples tested. This new product is being marketed as a solution for “healthy” eating, when in fact 11 ppb of glyphosate herbicide consumption can be highly dangerous. Only 0.1 ppb of glyphosate has been shown to destroy gut bacteria, which is where the stronghold of the immune system lies. I am gravely concerned that consumers are being misled to believe the Impossible Burger is healthy.” credit-Indian Health Journal The Problem with Monocropping The legumes and grains that make up both conventional livestock feed and most meat alternatives are farmed in industrial monocultures, large areas of just one species that are simple to maintain and harvest. While monocultures take less labor than biodiverse farms, they are environmentally intensive to maintain, with a heavy reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides.  In recent decades, food scientists have developed more sophisticated, lab-based ways of changing the textures and flavors of foods. Unlike earlier plant-based foods, the latest generation of meat alternatives are ultra-processed, meaning that they are made almost entirely from isolated ingredients like protein concentrates, purified oils and extracted flavorings containing no whole-food ingredients. When these ingredients are put through high-tech, proprietary processing, food companies can produce imitations that come much closer to the tastes and textures of animal meat. foodprint.org Of course, they never mention that these “foods” are made with mono-cropped industrial agriculture products like soy, corn, peas, etc. Comparing a chemical agriculture system to a CAFO's (confined animal farm operations) may sound positive but it's really not much better. If you have traveled along I-80 through Nebraska you will pass a few enormous CAFO's where cows are trapped in dirt lots that are destined for burgers. These feedlots are abysmal and the smell is nothing short of disgusting. Animals wade through rivers of manure and are crammed together in highly stressful situations that lead to sickness. Neve fear, the antibiotics are just fed to them daily to keep them from getting too sick before slaughter. So why do vegans not want to eat meat? There are many reasons people turn to plant-based foods and stop eating meat. Some do it for ethical reasons that are motivated by animal abuse, the widespread use of antibiotic-laced feeds, frightening slaughterhouse practices, removing calves from their mothers within days of birth, and so on. Environmental reasons also top the list of why people stop eating meat. I believe the answer to this is Regenerative Agriculture as I opined in another episode. Animal agriculture is a destructive practice for the environment in all its forms. Confinement operations cause air pollution, water pollution, and require so much acreage to grow food that is turned into silage. Many doctors believe eating animal protein causes sickness and disease and therefore they advocate for plant-based options. This is very controversial and I do not believe this for one minute, especially as more and more research come to light showing that strictly plant-based diets are not for everyone. Why do people turn to over-processed fake meat? What is a better solution? When people go plant-based they usually try to replace foods they once loved like burgers, cheese, milk, etc. This often leads to people becoming junk-food vegans. Stores are filled with alternatives to meat, dairy, fish, etc. Most are not healthy. Instead, the approach I recommend is to fashion a diet from whole foods like potatoes, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, fruit which is much healthier than junk food vegan products. However, I still firmly believe that most people will do better without excessive grains or sugar-laden vegetables or fruits. I could (likely will) do a whole sho just on this topic. Resources For This Episode: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/chipotle-is-ignoring-beyond-and-impossible-s-fake-meat-in-favor-of-creating-its-own-and-experts-say-it-s-a-brilliant-move/ar-AASvqP5 https://foodprint.org/reports/the-foodprint-of-fake-meat/#section_4 https://navdanyainternational.org/fake-food-fake-meat-big-foods-desperate-attempt-to-further-the-industrialisation-of-food/ https://gfi.org/press/1-5-billion-invested-in-alternative-proteins-in-2020-including-a-record-435-million-in-the-next-pillar-fermentation/ Support this show by visiting Keith Snow.com/support

Anoop Gupta had his first startup acquired by Microsoft, just 18 months after launching. He has now raised nearly $200M for his current company. The venture, SeekOut has acquired funding from top-tier investors like Tiger Global Management, Madrona Venture Group, Mayfield Fund, and Founders Circle Capital.

Anoop Gupta had his first startup acquired by Microsoft, just 18 months after launching. He has now raised nearly $200M for his current company. The venture, SeekOut has acquired funding from top-tier investors like Tiger Global Management, Madrona Venture Group, Mayfield Fund, and Founders Circle Capital.

In this episode of Startup Hustle, Steven Hoffman and Arvind Gupta discuss current Silicon Valley Investment trends and anticipated future trends. Arvind is a partner at Mayfield Fund and Venture Advisor at IndieBio. As the Founder of IndieBio in 2014, Arvind redefined the pace and possibilities of early-stage biotech, investing in over 136 companies in five years. Find Startup Hustle Everywhere: https://linktr.ee/startuphustle This episode is sponsored by Full Scale: https://fullscale.io/ Learn more about Founder Space: https://www.foundersspace.com/ Learn more about Mayfield: https://www.mayfield.com/       See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now a seasoned medtech entrepreneur and leader, Amar Sawhney first became interested in the industry starting in graduate school. He was studying chemical engineering and developing biodegradable polymers for adhesion prevention and hydrogels for light-activated polymerization within the body. He and his advisor were then approached by Mayfield Fund to spin out the technology into the startup Focal. Amar was fortunate to learn a lot from then CEO Mark Levin, including some hard lessons that drove him and Fred Khosravi to found Incept, an IP holding company for creating operating companies based on field of use. As CEO/Founder of Confluent Surgical, AccessClosure, Augmenix, Ocular Therapeutix, and now Instylla, Amar learned how to transition from scientist to executive and is truly a medtech influencer. In this interview with host Geoff Pardo, Amar shares many of the valuable lessons he's learned founding and managing various startups, including how to find the right application for a technology, when a platform solution really makes sense, how to effectively lead and build successful teams, the value of a diverse workforce, and tips for overcoming the funding gap for early-stage companies, plus his candid thoughts on the differences in funding/entrepreneurship between the East and West coasts.Amarpreet (Amar) Sawhney, Ph.D., is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Instylla. He is also the CEO of Pramand LLC, and Rejoni, Inc. Prior to this Dr. Sawhney served as CEO and Chairman of Augmenix (acquired by Boston Scientific) and Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ: OCUL). In addition, he is a general partner of Incept, LLC, an intellectual property holding company. Previously, Dr. Sawhney founded Confluent Surgical and served as its President and CEO prior to its acquisition by Covidien plc. He also was a technology founder of Focal, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company acquired by Genzyme Corporation, and a founder of AccessClosure, Inc., acquired by Cardinal Health. Dr. Sawhney's innovations are the subject of over 120 issued and pending patents. He holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as a B.Tech. in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi India.

The CIO role is changing. COVID has accelerated that change, but the function has been transforming for years. These days, the role is about more than technology — it's much more focused on revenue and engagement. Just ask Gamiel Gran, Strategic Business Development & Corporate Innovation Network — aka Mayfield Edge — at Mayfield Fund, whose career has led him to notice the massive transformation of the CIO role. He joins me in this episode to discuss: How COVID made CIOs the hero (and increased competition in the field) Why CIOs are becoming more revenue-oriented (and how to help them get there) Getting the CRO, CFO and CIO aligned and working together For more engaging sales conversations, subscribe to The Sales Engagement Podcast on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or on our website. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for Sales Engagement in your favorite podcast player.

“I never think about the failure of the what. I always think about the failure of the how. How did I show up in these contexts? Was fear a really important emotion during these experiences or did I feel light? Was I courageous and open hearted, or did I feel closed?” – Rishi Garg Rishi Garg (@rishigarg) is co-head of the Consumer Investing Practice at the Mayfield Fund, a seed and Series A focused venture capital firm. Before joining Mayfield, Rishi co-founded FanSnap, which was acquired by Nextag. He has led business and corporate development for Google, Square, MTV, and Twitter, and has invested in companies such as Quilt, Grove Collaborative, and Projector. Show notes with links, quotes, and a transcript of the episode: https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/rishi-garg2-outlier-academy-show-notes  Chapters in this interview: Bringing the “people first” mindset to work every day Rishi's top habits for success, including journaling and physical activity Rishi's favorite tools: the legal pad and Flow Club Books recommended by Rishi Rishi's favorite failure and his definition of success  Sign up here for Outlier Debrief, our Friday newsletter that highlights the latest episode, expands on important business and investing concepts, and contains the best of what we read each week. Follow Outlier Academy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/outlieracademy. If you loved this episode, please share a quick review on Apple Podcasts.

“The purpose of the startup community is to take a tiny amount of human and financial capital and create a single product, usually, a single thing, an insight that, through incredible intensity, can be used to break open a market and achieve unusual skill.” – Rishi Garg Rishi Garg (@rishigarg) is co-head of the Consumer Investing Practice at the Mayfield Fund, a seed and Series A focused venture capital firm. Before joining Mayfield, Rishi co-founded FanSnap, which was acquired by Nextag. He has led business and corporate development for Google, Square, MTV, and Twitter, and has invested in companies such as Quilt, Grove Collaborative, and Projector. Show notes with links, quotes, and a transcript of the episode: https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/rishi-garg1-outlier-academy-show-notes  Chapters in this interview: Rishi's background and work at MTV, Square, and Twitter Defining business development and the core skills needed for the role Managing M&A as a founder On joining Mayfield and returning to the VC world The “people first” culture at Mayfield The importance of trust between founders and investors Big waves in internet investing, from Netscape to digital identities Sign up here for Outlier Debrief, our Friday newsletter that highlights the latest episode, expands on important business and investing concepts, and contains the best of what we read each week. Follow Outlier Academy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/outlieracademy. If you loved this episode, please share a quick review on Apple Podcasts.

For season three of our podcast, we are taking a moment to reflect on our benefactor, Jack Murdock. We are looking at current industry leaders who focus on and exemplify key areas and traits that were of particular importance and interest to Jack. In today's episode, Steve Moore, executive director of the Murdock Trust, talks about the value of entrepreneurship with Navin Chaddha, Managing Director at Mayfield Fund, a top-tier venture capital firm with $2.5 billion under management. He has been involved in some notable IPOs of companies including Poshmark, Lyft, SolarCity, and Akamai, as well as acquisitions of CloudGenix by Palo Alto Networks, CloudSimple by Google, Nuvia by Qualcomm, Portworx by Pure Storage, and Volterra by F5 Networks. He is a serial entrepreneur turned venture capitalist who co-founded three successful companies, including VXtreme, a streaming media platform, acquired by Microsoft to become Windows Media. He is an active philanthropist who supports education, diversity, equity, inclusion, and food scarcity groups.  He holds an MS degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and a B. Tech. degree in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi, where he was honored with the distinguished IIT Alumni Award. 

There's nothing like those pivotal moments of a startup that lead to it becoming wildly successful. The excitement as the company's first product begins to earn market share and attention from additional investors or acquirers. This month's podcast guest Joe Mandato has been in that situation with several successful startups turned corporations, including Guidant Corporation, Origin Medical Systems (predecessor of Intuitive Surgical), and Align Technology (maker of InvisAlign), as well as leading Tear Science and iOptics Research. Joe has learned a lot about leadership throughout these endeavors and his doctoral research on the effectiveness of corporate governance. He's seen firsthand the importance of understanding where leaders can contribute and where they need help; switching from the “wrong” application to the “right” one; having technological innovation at root, but the right business model innovation and culture to achieve to success; and maximizing boards of directors. After many decades in the industry, Joe is truly a medtech mentor. In this interview with host Geoff Pardo, Joe shares many of the valuable lessons he's learned working with various startups, how to shift from being an operator to an investor, how to best leverage boards and board meetings, and his suggestions for changes in the healthcare system and opportunities coming out of COVID.Joe Mandato holds a Doctor of Business Administration degree from Case Western Reserve University, where his research focused on the evolving role of boards in ensuring effective corporate governance. He was a 2011-2012 Fellow of Harvard University's Advanced Leadership Initiative and served as Co-Chair of Harvard's Advanced Leadership Coalition. He is a Managing Director at DeNovo Ventures, Senior Advisor at Apercen Partners and Sonder Capital and Lecturer at Stanford University. He has served on more than 20 public and private boards of directors focused on technology and the life sciences. He also serves on the boards of Case Western Reserve University, Headstart and Save the Children. He was an investor, board member and advisor to the founders of Align Technologies (Invisalign) and has served as CEO of five life sciences companies, which created significant shareholder value. He was a member of the founding management committee of Guidant Corporation (NYSE) and was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Mayfield Fund, a Silicon Valley venture fund. He has authored or co-authored numerous articles on healthcare and governance and the book The Entrepreneur's Journey.

Raj Kapoor was the founder of Snapfish (acquired by HP for $300 million) and FitMob (acquired by ClassPass).  Previously Raj was a Managing Director at The Mayfield Fund (a global venture capital firm with $2.5 billion under management), and he was the Chief Strategy Officer for Lyft, where he was also a board member and an early investor.  Today Raj is launching a stealth VC firm focused on climate change, resource sustainability, and the circular economy.Raj holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.Find Raj Kapoor:https://twitter.com/rajilhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/rajilhttps://angel.co/p/rajilhttps://www.facebook.com/rajilk

This week in Indian Startup News, Ola launches EV category in London, Simple Energy to launch their Ather 450X killer - Mark 2, PUBG starts pre-registrations, Made in India cryptocurrency Polygon makes it among the global top 20, Emeritus acquires iD Tech and PhonePe looking to acquire Indus OS. In funding news, Pine Labs raises $285 million, Moglix raises $120 million, Lenskart raises $95 million, GOAT Brand Labs in talks to raise $20 million, Agnikul Cosmos raises $11 million and another space tech startup Skyroot Aerospace raises $11 million. Ola launches EV category in London: Ola has launched the EV category for their customers in London – allowing them to book electric vehicles exclusively. The company claims to have onboarded 700 drivers already and they are hoping to get more drivers soon as they are not going to charge any commission from their drivers for the first three months. Simple Energy to launch their Ather 450X killer - Mark 2: Simple Energy is launching its electric scooter Mark 2 on 15th August (Independence Day). With a range of 240 km and a top speed of 100 km/hr, Mark 2 is priced at Rs 1.1 lakh – making it a perfect competitor to Ather 450X. PUBG starts pre-registrations: After months of wait and trying to launch PUBG India, the game is finally back as Battlegrounds Mobile India. While the official launch date is yet to be announced, the game has started pre-registrations. Made in India cryptocurrency Polygon makes it among the global top 20: Polygon (formerly known as Matic Network) has a market capitalization of $13 billion – making it the 15th largest cryptocurrency in the world. Its market cap has grown 10X since February. Emeritus acquires iD Tech: Edtech startup Emeritus has acquired iD Tech for $200 million as it looks to enter K12 learning and eyes the US market – pitting them against Byju's Future School. PhonePe looking to acquire Indus OS: PhonePe is in advanced talks to acquire Indus OS for $60 million as it looks to strengthen its mini-app store ‘Switch' and eyes its own super app. Pine Labs raises $285 million: Digital commerce and payments platform Pine Labs has raised $285 million from the likes of Marshall Wace, Baron Capital Group, Duro Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures & Ward Ferry Management at a valuation of $3 billion. Moglix raises $120 million: B2B ecommerce startup Moglix has raised $120 million led by Falcon Edge Capital and Harvard Management Company – making it India's 12th unicorn this year. Lenskart raises $95 million: Omnichannel eyewear brand Lenskart has raised $95 million from KKR as it plans to expand abroad and strengthen its VR technology. GOAT Brand Labs in talks to raise $20 million: GOAT Brand Labs is expected to raise $20 million from Tiger Global, Mayfield Fund and Flipkart's venture fund. Agnikul Cosmos raises $11 million: Space tech startup Agnikul Cosmos has raised $11 million led by Mayfield India as it gears up to become India's first private company to launch satellites in space next year. Skyroot Aerospace raises $11 million: Space tech startup Skyroot Aerospace has raised $11 million led by Greenko Group founders Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty and Mahesh Kolli for the development of their Vikram rocket.

Arvind Gupta is a Partner at Mayfield Fund where he co-leads the Engineering Biology practice. He was the first investor in several breakout biology companies including Geltor, Prellis, Synthex, and Memphis Meats. Prior to joining Mayfield, Arvind was a founder of Indie Bio, the world’s leading biotech accelerator. At IndieBio, he was fundamental to the growth of the accelerator, building a $3.2B portfolio and investing in over 136 companies over five years. He is particularly passionate about conscious capitalism and continues to serve as a Venture Advisor at IndieBio. 

We'd all like to use our bodies like a Ferrari, but maybe end up treating it like a trash compactor (T-1000 vs. Bender). Solutions are obvious (sleep, diet, etc.), but tracking/accountability always fall short. Personal devices are not new, but desire and ability to understand the power of these tools is evolving, quickly. In this episode we're joined by CEO of Oura, Harpreet Singh Rai, and Tim Chang, Partner at Mayfield Fund, to discuss the growing and improving world of quantified self and digital health.

Today, we have a guest who's democratizing access to private investing. Ken Nguyen is the co-founder and CEO of Republic, a multi-asset investment platform for private markets. Ken is a pioneer in the private markets investing world and a serial operator who knows how to build businesses. He's helped grow Republic to hundreds of millions of dollars in gross transaction volume over the past three years after Republic spun out of AngelList. After Ken was an instrumental part of building the investment and regulatory infrastructure at AngelList, as their General Counsel, Ken founded Republic to create a leading equity crowdfunding platform for both nonaccredited and accredited investors. While their incredible progress on the retail crowdfunding side is remarkable, Republic's platform and vision is so much more than simply a retail crowdfunding platform. They also have an accredited investor platform and they enable investors to invest into everything from real estate to e-sports and gaming financing to small businesses. Republic has done the hard things first. They built the investment infrastructure for private markets. And they combine that with a Robinhood-like investing experience for private markets, for both retail and high net worth investors alike. They've also been innovative in how they engage consumers by creating a Republic Note, a security token that has created network effects on their platform for users.It's been really fun to watch this team execute at a blistering pace from the time that they started out with the idea of enabling investors to invest in startups at twenty dollar minimums, to building out a comprehensive private markets investment platform. Ken has been instrumental in that success with his infectious energy tireless work ethic and drive to create democratized access to investing for people around the world.This was such a fascinating conversation. We talked about Ken's drive for starting an investment platform that could enable everyone to participate in wealth creation in private markets, how investing and owning equity is part of the American Dream, how Republic has unlocked access to private markets for all investors, “Lean back vs lean forward” framework applied to investing (h/t Rishi Garg of Mayfield Fund for the “lean back vs lean forward” framework), and how community is such a big driver of Republic's growth and success as a business.I hope you enjoy.TranscriptNote: This Transcript was created by an AI software package. It is not an exact translation of every word in the podcast.Michael: [00:02:30] Ken, welcome to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast. Ken: Michael, thank you so much for having me. It's such a pleasure to be here. Michael: Oh, it's great to see you. I love that background of New York. Ken: I am in New York. So, art mimics real life or the other way around. THE FOUNDERS STORYMichael: [00:02:46] Well, you've had a busy year, so congrats on everything. But before getting into Republic and all the things that you're doing, I'd love to hear your story. I mean, you've had such an incredible story of how you've gotten to Republic. So what is that story? Ken: [00:03:01] Yeah. Thank you, Michael. I definitely have a bit of an unusual founder story.My family immigrated from Vietnam to the Bay Area in California. And so growing up in the late nineties, early 2000's, you hear these stories of companies going IPO and tech and Google and Facebook. But just because you were smack in the middle of Silicon Valley, it doesn't mean that I or my family had anything to do with it.We definitely weren't accredited, but that fascination early on, I think, ended up, staying with me. I ended up going to law school. Started out as a litigation attorney in New York and went into finance. And along the way, I think the story, the headline news that caught my attention the most was always tech companies. You know, you hear more and more of Facebook and then Airbnb. I had the opportunity to go back to the Bay Area and academia. I spent two years as a Teaching Fellow at Stanford and studying corporate governance. But Stanford happens to be also a tech hub. And so more and more, the different stages in my life just inserted me more and closer into the tech ecosystem and then I had an opportunity to join AngelList when they first launched their first syndication product. So I joined. I think the first non-engineer hired as the General Counsel back in 2013, 2014. Part of that work led to a change in the law, which is regulation crowdfunding in 2016. And I'm sure we're going to go into it. But in short, between the Great Depression in the 1930s, all the way to 2016, you had to be a millionaire to invest privately. In 2016, all of that changed. It's like opening up the flood gates. And that's when the team and I set out to found and launch Republic. DEMOCRATIZING ACCESS TO INVESTINGMichael: [00:05:04] That's fascinating. And it seems like you really have a variety of experiences. Everything from the kind of legal and regulatory side to working in startups, to working in private companies. Was there really a specific moment in your life that has driven you to make it your mission to democratize access to investing? Ken: [00:05:25] I think there were three moments. Thinking back, probably the first moment was when my oldest brother who was 15 years older than I am and was already very established by the time I graduated college and he was an accredited investor – the first one in the family to be accredited.And he was like, Hey Ken, do you know how I can invest in this company called Facebook. And I was probably one of the earlier users, one of the earliest users of Facebook. And I'm like, great question. I'm an Associate at a law firm and I have no idea how you can do that. I asked around - no one knew how. Right in the middle of New York City, every law firm partner is a multi-millionaire and they're like, yeah, this is Silicon Valley stuff.So I think that piqued my curiosity, but also I had a desire to be like, Hey, I want to be in. I use this product. I really like it. And wanting me as a stakeholder to be a shareholder. So, I would say that that was the first moment.The second one was when, after two years of spending my time at AngelList, I realized that the accredited only model could only go so far. AngelList did open up the venture ecosystem to a lot more people, but you still have to be in the know, have to be accredited. And, I think that moment when AngelList shifted their attention to focus more on upstream institutional family offices, that's when I was like, wait, there is this law that's going to be effective very soon. And this is exactly what I, as a teenager growing up in Silicon Valley, wish that it was the case that I could get in. So, I think those two moments, rather than three in combination, probably culminated in the idea and the passion for retail investing. Michael: [00:07:31] Well, you're bringing up a really interesting point, right. And it's been during a time where value creation in private markets has far outpaced value creation in public markets. And yet, so many people really up until the past few years with what you're doing with Republic and others have done opening up access to private companies, is enabling people to access some of this value creation. How do you think about that and why is it important for people to be equity owners in things. Ken: [00:08:00] Well, investing has traditionally been dominated by large financial institutions and ultra-wealthy investors at the earlier stages. Right? And so, when a company matures from inception to raising more and more capital to the point of going IPO, much of the wealth generation, much of the upside is captured during those private stages.And that world - private investing - traditionally has been dominated, if not exclusively, the purview of the ultra-wealthy leaving the vast majority of everyone else on the outside, looking in, and really limiting the diversity of ideas and founders that I think can shape our future generations.So, being able to invest or allowing and encouraging and enabling people to invest earlier, I think that aligns passion with profit. It aligns power with profit. And I think particularly the next generations – Millennials and Gen Z - that's what they're looking for. By the time a company is listed on the NASDAQ, your ten dollars, your hundred dollars, your thousand dollars matter almost nothing to the company. But, when a company is still growing with 10,000 investors or customers, and not a million or a billion, that thousand dollars of investment, of purchases that you make, matters a great deal. So, I think enabling people to align their passion with the desire to generate profit is at the heart of the retail revolution that we see.Michael: [00:09:49] Passion and profit, power and profit. I love that. I love that way of describing this and I think we are seeing this groundswell of interest into private assets or investments where people feel they have some level of kind of interest or passion for them to your point. THE WHAT AND WHY OF REPUBLIC?Michael: [00:10:00] What you're really getting at is equity, right? People are now able to have a share in something that they might not have had a share in before. And that's kind of the underpinnings of Republic and it's really open to everybody. So, what is Republic and what's the vision for the business?Ken: [00:10:24] It's funny that you mentioned, or that you pick up on, how we describe what we do in between power and profit and passion. Our tagline is profits to the people. And what we are is that we are hopefully the leading, or one day the leading, investment platform that empowers people to invest in the future that they believe in. Invest in startups, in real estate, in crypto, in music, in sports, and yes, one day, even public companies. If you are very passionate about Apple and Nike, we want you to be able to do that on Republic one day, as well. Right now, we are focusing on the more rarefied, the more difficult ones, which is early-stage private investing. But yes, our goal is enabling, powering people and catalyzing profits to the people. Michael: [00:11:26] And why offer this comprehensive platform across private markets, across various assets, rather than just a single asset and private markets.Ken: [00:11:36] That's a great question. When the decision of building a business ultimately, a founder or a team has to ask, what is the ultimate goal? Why are we doing what we are doing rather than just the profit or how we are generating revenue? So, if the goal is just to generate revenue and build the easiest business model, focus is easier than distraction from a diversified suite of products.But Michael, our goal is, as I mentioned, to be the go-to investment platform where people can go and invest in whatever they're passionate about. So, how can you roll out any platform with that mission and interest. Enabling healthcare or sustainable companies, they're powerful missions to love, but many people are more passionate about blockchain technology.I'm certain that many of the older generations, in particular, are more passionate about real estate. So, we want to make sure that people can come to Republic and find and match their passion with potentially profitable investment opportunities that speak to them. Because of that, we have no choice. Our mission requires a multi-asset, diversified suite of products so that we can, hopefully, one day have billions and billions of people coming to cast their votes with their investment and their dollars. Michael: [00:13:16] So, you talk about something which is really interesting and a strategic decision to some extent, which is, you want all sorts of people to be able to access different assets based on what they're interested in and passionate about wanting to invest in, and see returns potentially in.When you think about that, how have you thought about constructing the platform in the context of, should this be completely self-directed where investors get to really choose what they want? Or should it be more structured? Because there's a real question, a philosophical question, in the Alt Space of whether or not investors should just access structured products. So, products that are manufactured by these platforms and diversified in and of themselves. And then investors just get exposure to a broad space or completely self-directed where somebody goes onto Republic and can invest in any startup they want to. So how do you think about that balance of self-directed, kind of choose your own adventure, versus a more structured or curated way of building investment products in the platform?Ken: [00:14:19] Mike, when it comes to structuring investment product, rather than types of products or types of industries to offer, we also want to provide a range of options for people, because I think investing, the new world of investing, has three main elements. So, passion is one and experience has to be another one and the third one is convenience. Now everyone's time and attention span is so limited. So those three things are taken into consideration. We all know that hardly anyone is passionate about mutual funds. If you put ten dollars into a mutual fund, you're not thrilled about it. You know that it's going to generate consistent returns over time. So, for those whose interest is low on passion and want upside exposure to a certain asset class, we definitely, we currently, and will build products that enable them to do so in a simple, maybe in a diversified basis. But for some people like myself, getting to know a company, getting to know a technology, getting to know a founder, is much of the value and the fun of private investing. And so, that ability to invest directly and have a conversation with that company, with that team, I think that probably still is going to be the dominant part of Republic as an investment platform for the foreseeable future. But we also will have structured products as you describe, as we continue to grow. LEANING BACK, LEANING FORWARD, AND LEANING DOWNMichael: [00:16:25] What you're getting at is something so fascinating, which I'm going to give credit to Rishi Garg, who's a partner at Mayfield, who was talking about this with me in the context of consumer social apps, like Clubhouse and things like that.He made the contrast between lean back and lean forward apps. Where lean back is totally passive, totally unengaged, but you can do it and maybe benefit from it. But lean forward is like an app where you actually have to spend time engaging on maybe it's Twitter, maybe it's even in-person.I think there's actually a real interesting analogy there in the context of what you just said in investing. So how do you think about that kind of lean back versus lean forward mentality when it comes to private market investing? Ken: [00:17:07] I love it, Mike, with that analogy. I have not heard that before except for I think Sheryl Sandberg's book called Lean In but in an entirely different context. One is about being more proactive, more intentional. And I think obviously intention and proactivity - another way of describing it is passion, right? So, when people want to do something that they really care about, it's leaning forward and caring about maybe, you know, social issues. It may have nothing to do with the core reason why you invest, which is always return on capital. But if you can add on other things that speak to you, that makes you more intentional and proactive, that's leaning forward. Leaning backward is for, you know, let's say you are a retired lawyer or that you're a Goldman MD. And you're like, hey, I just want to have exposure to this asset class known as crypto. I don't understand it yet. I think it's a little crazy. So, I want to have some exposure into it. So, can I just basically invest in some major pieces with a small amount and lean back? I would add a new category which is lean down. There again, you don't have to do anything. And, you know, we are thinking, not thinking, we have already integrated, but we'll definitely even push that product even more - retirement funds, illiquid. Currently, everyone, most people, have tens of thousands of dollars, most professionals, in their IRA deployed in some random mutual fund. So that's our lean down approach, which is you can use money, not from your checking account, not from your savings account, that you can't touch for another 30 years. Leave 5% of that or 2% of that and through Autopilot, diversify into real estate, crypto, female founders, whatever it may be, but you can just lean back and let it generate a return. So, between lean forward, lean back and lean down, we hope to capture them all over time. Michael: [00:19:28] No, that's a really interesting point on the IRA assets because the self-directed IRAs are really a great fit for longer-dated assets, private equity, startups, which may take seven to 10 years to mature or have a liquidity event, so that seems to match really well with the timeframe of an IRA. I do want to touch on one thing that you said around the lean forward part of really getting involved and engaging with the companies, the investments that people make. You've done some really interesting consumer things with Republic, in terms of having people create profiles, sharing with companies where people can help. Talk about how and why you've done that and how the creation of community is maybe different than how we've been experiencing investing in the past. Ken: [00:20:19] I would observe two trends, two technological and social trends in the past four or five years that I think have influenced our product ideation and creation. One trend is the digital community adoption. You even see Facebook now driving or focusing a lot more on Facebook groups. That's how people interact now. Clubhouse is a fantastic example of - we are just at the early days of - new iterations of communities. So that trend - humans by nature will work as community, social creatures, but technology has enabled the formation and the sharing of information in a way that wasn't possible just a half a decade ago.The second trend is the intentionality of generation after generation that Millennial moreso than the generation ahead, in Gen Z even moreso, on wanting impact on and caring about the consequences of their actions to the larger society. My parent's generation, as an example, when they were in their twenties or thirties, recycling wasn't a thing. Buying products that would help the world to be greener was not in anyone's psyche.So over time, in the Seventies and Eighties, people started seeing the impact of what they buy - their purchasing power. And I think when it got to our generation, and now the newer generation, is the shifting of everything that you do, even the clothes that you buy, but more than that, investment, even in public companies, I think the need for, or how much people care about the consequences, the social consequences of their activities are definitely amplifying over time. And that's a great thing. It's really amazing.So the two of the trends in combination, I think led us to focus a lot on building products that have community potential and that can enable people to learn not from a single source of truth, not from a long newsletter or blog that we send out about the value of the Black Swan Theory or the Black-Scholes Model or Black Swan events, but about normal everyday folks sharing maybe even 20 video clips on Twitter and TicTok explaining why they're passionate or why they think an investment opportunity is good for them and learning from that.So I think those two trends definitely dictate or play a heavy role in our product and ideation process.FUNDING ON REPUBLICMichael: [00:23:21] And are companies that come to your platform to raise from the community of Republic investors - Are they finding this valuable or is that one reason why they're actually coming to the platform to raise capital?Ken: [00:23:32] That's a very interesting question, Michael. It goes to the question, it relates to another question that I often get - Are people looking to community funding, retail funding as the last resort and you can't get VC capital. Then you come to us. And that question is related to yours in this way.Any company that is consumer-focused, obviously wants to engage their customer, even more. If you can get a customer who loved you so much to part ways with their $50 that he won't see anything back for a while, why would that be a bad signal ever for any institutional investor or sophisticated investor?That's an excellent signal. So, the type of companies that I think in the early phase of the retail revolution definitely lean heavily on B to C. These are consumer-focused companies and because of that, the customers, their consumers, matter a great deal. So, Republic managed to attract not only companies that have large customer bases, but we get rave reviews for the product and how easy it is to use.And, hopefully, we're going to grow it and maintain that reputation. But I think that's a key part. Republic has two sets of customers - founders, but also investors on our platform. Companies are not going to be happy unless their customers are having an amazing experience on our platform and because of that we focus on building products that seem to be targeting or emphasizing engagement and education or an interaction, just to give everyone a very good inclusive experience. But Michael, if I may make an observation about what you said earlier about how, if you are a shareholder of Apple or Starbucks, that statistics show that you are more likely to buy Apple over Samsung or Starbucks over Pete's coffee.And I think it is so true, but it's even more true when you're an early investor. Let's say there's a small coffee shop owned by a couple down the block from everyone. And it's down the block from where we live. And you're able to invest a hundred dollars into that couple's coffee shop business.And whenever you go back there, you have a little table for investors. I imagine whether you are a student or retiree, whether you're a lawyer or a carpenter, when you go and buy that cup of coffee or a glass of water and hang out with your friend, you're naturally going to go to that coffee shop, right? The same with an early investor in a beer brand, in a vodka brand, in anything that, that we consume.So that psychological alignment is a remarkably powerful value. That's why a lot of companies look at retail fundraising, not for money, not for a source of capital as the primary motive, but as a marketing and engagement force. Michael: [00:27:04] You've now built the infrastructure to enable people to invest into startups, crypto tokens, real estate, even venture funds. So, talk us through both of those things. So, one, quality control and curation, which is key to any marketplace, and then two, the infrastructure that underpins that. Ken: [00:27:23] We are an investment platform, first and foremost, and return on capital is ultimately our customer's number one objective. They can add passion and impact to their investment decisions, but if they don't make money in the long run, we are going to have zero customers. So, because of that we focus heavily on curating what we believe to be credible, high-quality investment products, but venture by one area of return, is just one type.A coffee shop in the example that I just gave you earlier is unlikely to ever be acquired or raise venture financing and go public, but it very likely can generate robust revenue. And, if you enable customers to invest under the form of revenue sharing, out of one hundred dollars the coffee shop generates, it passes back ten dollars to early investors. It is very aligned and still can be a very attractive, compelling investment product, for many. Real estate in the same way. You are never going to see a 10X return, rarely ever. And you very rarely see a one hundred percent loss. In an early-stage tech company, doesn't matter if it's YC or backed by Sequoia, if you invest in one deal in the seed stage, the probability of losing all of your money - doesn't matter if it's on Republic or anywhere else - is exceedingly high. So, all of these things we have to deliver in terms of information, but we want to make sure that what we bring on and curate and present to our community are credible and are, in our best judgment, of high quality. In the long run, I very much believe that there's a thesis as to what we do here, which is the crowd of retail investors. You will have case studies I think in a few years out that show that companies, backed by the retail investor in the earliest of stages that were outside of the venture lens, just in tech, may be just as competitive in terms of viability and how robust of an investment opportunity they are. So, this is a notion of wisdom of the crowd. And I just want to focus in on tech as a vertical first, because that's still the main dominant vertical on Republic.There's a narrative here that you only want to onboard companies that are either already backed by VC or that are venture backable, because those are deemed to be of high quality. There's definitely truth to that. A company backed by you, Michael, or by Alfred Lin at Sequoia is more likely going to succeed. But what about the founders and companies that don't have access to you, don't have access to Alfred Lin. And statistics very much show that mostly female, older, or founders who aren't in Silicon Valley or the two coasts, have very little access to venture capital. So, we do present investment opportunities that we find to be credible and hope that if they speak to a larger retail public, that they may get the capital they need to grow and grow to be of a stage where they can be appealing to you and to Alfred.So we view venture retail investing as additive, contributive in the long run to the ecosystem rather than being competitive, so to speak. It's a long-winded way of answering your question, Michael, but we value very much on traditional indications of quality, as well as testing out models that can speak to people's passion, even if they fall outside of the traditional VC lens of credibility. Michael: [00:31:42] Well, you're hitting on something that I think is so important, which is that early-stage investing, in many respects, is about finding outliers. But in some cases, finding outliers means going outside of the mainstream or what's more traditional or even going outside of different networks.We've talked about community in one sense, which is having people and investors, consumers support companies. But you've also built community around creating a diverse set of people who can help you find the right companies, funds, and assets to put on your platform that may be overlooked by others. So, I'd love to talk about community in that respect because that's something that's so core to what you're doing and so different from what many others have done.Ken: [00:32:29] The notion of inclusion and access I think has to be looked at under both lenses, which is the founder's access to capital, customers, and businesses. You know, it's a crazy statistic, but even when it comes to business loans by the government, apparently female founders representing fifty percent, give or take, of all small businesses comprise less than fifteen percent of small business loans, which are supposed to be pretty much, if you have revenue, you get the loan. So, this lack of information and access permeates all throughout the different forms of capital sources and businesses. But then you also have the customer, the investor base on the lack of opportunities. You know, it's funny, but we noticed, and we hope, that as Republic continues to grow, that we make it easy and comfortable for that high school student, perhaps in Detroit, whose parents are not sophisticated investors, but in a classroom, instead of Fidelity or Apple donating computers, maybe they donate a thousand dollars in grants to the entire high school class.And each student gets a chance to invest ten dollars for fun on a platform like Republic as financial education. I imagine if you do that, even with any sense of life skill, you're going to have a whole new generation that are much more financially sophisticated. Certainly would be more than me. My niece and nephew now are more financially sophisticated than me when I was in college or law school even.And I think that financial equity is very much a solution to social inequities, the many inequities that we see. So, our focus on access and inclusion applies on both sides of our customer base. Michael: [00:34:30] I love that - financial equity is a solution to social inequity. I mean, that really gets to what you're saying here, which is that talent may be evenly distributed, but the opportunity is not so you have to help find that - help people find those opportunities. So, what have you done in terms of building out this community of venture partners and this network of people who've helped you find investments in different places where others may not have been able to look? Ken: [00:35:00] Michael, I can't really take credit on my own because I've been - one of the most fortunate thing about my journey building Republic has been able to convince such a committed, talented, and most importantly, diverse team of colleagues to join. So, my colleague, Cheryl Campos, who heads Venture Growth and Venture Partnerships for Republic, through her work she has launched a Venture Program and now does a Venture Fellow Program for those still in MBA programs.And soon she will do a Venture Associates Program that's meant to go even deeper to undergrad. But the notion here is that in order to attract diverse founders, and to improve access inclusion in the space, you also have to incubate and support diverse venture capitalists as well. And I think that, as when I first started out at a law firm, I may have been the only Asian American law associate in a class of approximately 60. Now, across the board, some 15 years later, it's much more diverse.And I think that with the proliferation of venture capital as a business model, you now have diverse talent in venture as a percentage, much higher than what you saw 10 years ago. So, the Venture Partner Program is to build a community to support, and to also get them to help evangelize for what we are building because the notion of access and inclusion certainly applies to venture as well.I would not be able to do that myself because I'm just one voice, one lens and one experience. And I think that to build a community, you need people with the same mission, but all different backgrounds so that we all can communicate and understand and a different lens and get more to join the mission and the journey.THE REGULATORY ENVIRONMENTMichael: [00:37:12] Interesting. Interesting. And then to some extent, the regulatory environment, which you've actually been leading the charge on - you've been in DC, helping legislators, regulators figure this out. What's been going on from a regulatory perspective that's enabled you to unlock access to private markets to retail non-accredited investors? Ken: [00:37:36] Well, since the great depression in the 1930s, in the infinite wisdom of Congress, someone decided, hey, if you're not a millionaire, you should not invest privately because it's too high risk.I mean, it makes no sense. It stopped making sense a long while ago. In 2010, for example, private investing was legal for most people. Gambling wasn't but buying lottery tickets was highly promoted. So, it obviously is not making sense. But I think that people are truly waking up to the power of that false narrative - this is the example of the Reddit and Game Stop saga that we saw very recently. It used to be that people thought that the public markets were much more low risk or safer for the individual retail investor and it's decidedly not so. Market timing, insider trading, and predatory behavior can result in very, very risky and just pitfalls that you don't see in the private markets. So, I think both in Congress as well as at the SEC regulatory level, people understand that, people see that, and they are taking a close look.And there's no question in my mind, that you're going to see more and more easing of the rules and regulations around allowing retail investors to invest in more asset classes. At the end of the day, you have to make sure, and that's the goal and the rule, and the reason why the SEC exists is to protect investors, first and foremost, but what it means to do so, and how to do so, changes with time. Technology and society change faster than the law, just by the construct of it.But there's no question that laws and regulations will follow. They have been following and I have no doubt that they will continue to follow. So, you are going to see this retail revolution, is really driven in part by a more relaxed regulatory framework around investing. THE REPUBLIC NOTE TOKENMichael: [00:39:51] Well, so retail revolution - I want to extend that point that you're talking about. So, one part of that is fractionalization of assets, which you are in part, along with some others in the Alts Space, kind of a pioneer on, and it's really unlocking opportunities in all sorts of alternative assets. You've done this in a few different ways, but one way you've kind of extended this even further is with the Republic Note. So tell us about this Note, because it's really an innovation in private capital markets. Ken: [00:40:23] Michael, if I may first share a view about blockchain or distributed ledger technology and how it relates to FinTech and to Republic and how it is so core, instrumental to our mission of global adoption of private investing.My ultimate goal, and I think right now we have a community of over a million members, it's not a success until we have a community of like a billion members, but I think it would make me happy, and I definitely would smile when my distant cousin in a small village in Vietnam can invest five dollars into a startup or some investment products on Republic. Currently, that is not possible. To make that investment cross-border, the fee is like 30 bucks and they don't have bank accounts. And most banks in Vietnam don't synch so easily with JP Morgan and Bank of America. Now Vietnam happens to be a very crypto friendly country. Surprisingly, enough people, even in small villages do own a fraction of Bitcoin or Ether. So, the ability to enable global participation at a tiny scale, five dollars may not be a lot for a college student in the US at Columbia or at the University of Michigan, but it's a lot of money for a single mom, middle-class woman living in Hanoi, Vietnam even today. Right? So, how do we enable more investment, more activities, more transactions at scale globally? You cannot do that without blockchain, without this technology. And it has already enabled, to accept investment globally at a far smaller minimum amount than we did before.So the ability to factionalize and automate, factionalize any assets to tiny, tiny pieces, therefore lowering the minimum amount and the ability to automate and streamline the process of confirmation payment settlements are key parts of FinTech and retail adoption. The Republic Note Token, we do have our own token as you mentioned, this currently is the only, as far as I know, revenue sharing digital token in the US and it happens to be available to our entire community.So, the theory behind that, Michael, is that we want it so that even people with just a dollar can somehow share in Republic's success, as we are still a very private company. We have a million members plus. If they want, or they used to be able to, buy or earn some tokens, some Republic Note Tokens. And, as we continue to grow, they're going to earn a little bit of payout potential and dividends.So the goal, the ultimate goal, is this: In the year 2030 or 2028, a company that had raised on Republic in 2017 and now is as large as Uber or Coinbase is going public. And this is the headline news across the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal about company ABC's IPO. You know what Uber did then? About a thousand early investors had a big smile on their faces and about 200,000 Uber users and drivers had a big frown because they got nothing – it was not relevant. We hope that when company ABC that raised on Republic a few years ago, and in eight years goes IPO, that you can have, not only the early investors in that company but 5,000 investors in that company, being very happy, but every Noteholder, hopefully, at that point a hundred million. They may get five dollars back. It's not going to make anyone rich. They may get three dollars per Note, but for once they feel like a part of the story on that front page, in that newspaper. And I think that's what people ultimately want and care about. Money and making profit and investing is not just making money for money's sake. It's about buying happiness and security. And you know what, being a part of something, feeling like you matter in a larger society. Two dollars payback, but yes, you are a part of this narrative. I think that part of our mission of what we are building is that we hope to contribute a little bit to a societal sense of fairness and hopefully, more societal stability, especially compared to the year that we just went through in 2020 and earlier this year.Michael: [00:45:29] And it also sounds like they get access to everything that's on the Republic platform. So, they're getting this diversified access to private markets, which as you continue to build that flywheel of private companies of crypto assets, of real estate projects, of video game financing projects, they're going to get access to everything. Ken: [00:45:46] Yes. I'll give another shot at defining the Republic Note Token a little bit more succinctly. So, the Note is a revenue-sharing digital token. We can share a portion of that upside back to the token holders. So, in many ways, it's like a perpetual bet into this growing basket of companies. And even if a thousand companies fail, if one company succeeds, a little bit will go back to each and every single token. And that's what I meant earlier by saying that we hope that by doing that, and if we truly made sure and become the go-to platform for every and any company that looked to raise and grow, that the Noteholders have broad exposure and would be linked to the success of literally tens of thousands of companies and more down the road.Michael: [00:46:58] That's really cool. Because it just gives people access to all sorts of assets in the private markets that some of which may be very successful, others which may not work out as well. But by having diversified access, then they can benefit from everything on the platform, which I think is such an interesting innovation. Ken: [00:47:18] Michael, it just occurred to me that the Note Token may be the ultimate example of the lie down and lie back example. Michael: [00:47:25] Yes it is. Ken: [00:47:27] You can earn the Notes if you don't want to buy the Note and then have broad exposure to the entire ecosystem and be part of this story without having to do anything. Michael: [00:47:38] Yes, that's fascinating. So that maybe that is the right definition of the lie down part of the lean back-lie down lean-forward, and you can participate in any of those ways. If you want, to your point, to get engaged in and help some of these companies on the Republic platform, you may be able to earn tokens for that.Ken: [00:47:56] I am going to have to give credit to you when we file that lie down-lean back investing trademark application as a description of Republic.Michael: [00:48:06] Oh no. Give credit to Rishi. He was the one who shared that with me. But yes, I'm sure he'll appreciate that as somebody who's worked at Twitter and Square, so he's seen it, he's seen things from kind of the financial services perspective and the consumer social perspective. But, no, that's fascinating. THE ROUND ANNOUNCEMENTMichael: [00:48:22] I think we have to touch on some of the big news that just broke. So, you raised a substantial round to grow your business. People are very excited about what's going on with Republic. Why did you decide to raise capital and what are you going to do with this additional capital?Ken: [00:48:40] Okay. Thank you so much, Michael. It's been four-plus years. And part of the reason why we raised this financing round was to show to the world, and ourselves, that what we are building now is of institutional-grade - is no longer like a fringe, quirky business model. So, we're first of all, so honored and Broadhaven, of course, has been an early supporter and we're delighted to be a portfolio company of Broadhaven, but Galaxy Digital, Nomura, and Naspers are in the round together with Motley Fool Ventures.So these are traditional brands. Nomura, it doesn't get more traditional and institutional than that. Naspers is one of the largest, I think they go by Prosus now, is one of the largest venture firms in the world, and they've never backed a crypto project before. The Republic Note Token is Naspers' very first crypto investment.So, all of these institutional investors involvement, I think not only validates what we do at Republic, but also the industry. That is the retail industry, the blockchain industry as an ecosystem, and this notion of the future of why adoption of retail investing is a model.Michael: [00:50:08] That's fascinating to see the traditional financial services worlds blending with the next gen version of financial services, which is the democratization of access. But that's both in terms of traditional company equity and also the crypto world and the DeFi world, which it seems like you're really with your investor base, but also with what you're building kind of the blending of all of those things as you institutionalize and bring more institutions onto the platform like a Nomura which is fascinating.Finale: Favorite InvestmentMICHAEL: [00:50:39] So to wrap up, I always ask everyone what is their favorite or best investment idea? Ken: [00:50:47] I'm going to share my investment idea that I came up with when I was in college, no first year of law school. I don't think I was of an age to invest in college. Once a week, my recommendation now to my sibling's kids, my nieces and nephews, is that vice that you spend money on once a week, or at least once a month, just cut back on that vice, that one vice. Use that dollar to invest. Buy stock, public stock back then, and now invest in whatever it is that you care about. But be consistent. So, don't one day put it in shoes on StockX and on another day put it in wine. Just pick one thing and be consistent with it. Literally, one cocktail in Manhattan is like eighteen dollars, in a college town maybe like six dollars. These things add up. And if you do that, it's going to be a really fun learning experience. In my case, I can't tell you what I've been reliably putting my money in, but it has done very well for me over the years, but I'm old. MICHAEL: [00:51:59] Well, no, I mean, I think what you're getting at is something really fascinating, which is, and it's ironic that you're drinking a Starbucks right now while we're having this interview. But basically if people, and I saw a statistic on this the other day, that if people had the three or four dollars they're spending a day on coffee, if they had put some of that money into crypto or Bitcoin, or it could be in startups or the Republic Note Token, that capital has the chance to appreciate in a way that those three, four dollars spent on a Starbucks coffee every day may not. So, I think that that's fantastic, fantastic advice. Even as you drink your Starbucks. Ken: [00:52:37] Michael, you asked me a question that you ask everyone. What is their investment idea? May I ask you a question that I've been meaning to ask people that I know, but I have yet to, which is, I think the future is no longer about investing in a given range of options, but the question is what would you want to invest in that you currently are not able to. Because that desire for people to want to invest in new things, I think necessarily will make that happen.So, I would love to hear what is one thing that you have not been able to invest in. For any reason that you really want. MICHAEL: [00:53:22] That's a great question. You know, I think it's actually starting to become true already with some of the infrastructure that's being built. We're just starting to see the early days of this. But I think so many people in the world love sports, me included. I played soccer. I collected football cards, basketball cards, growing up as a kid. And I think the ability to marry - exactly what you said - passion with the ability to invest, is so powerful. Right? And there's so much to learn. For people who've never learned or understood investing in a more traditional sense, because maybe they find it really boring or hard to and inaccessible to learn about stocks. They may be able to do that with something like sports cards if they love LeBron James and they could learn all about LeBron James. So, I think we're starting to see this. Some of the infrastructure is being built in the sports card space, where people are now able to invest in sports cards in either fractional ways or in more, or in larger ways and invest into cards.But I think, I would love to see that happen because, for me, I love sports, but the ability to marry that and combine that with investing, I think is just the kind of perfect collision of those two things. So, it's not something that's not totally possible. It is starting to become possible, but I'm super excited to see that become more of a reality and financialize itself as an asset.Ken: [00:54:52] Michael, I promise you, I will do my very best to bring sports investing to Republic within this year. MICHAEL: [00:54:59] Well, the other one is, is not just cards, but sports teams, as well. I think talk about the kind of combination of community and fandom with the ability to invest in something. And I mean, sports teams are, whether it's English, you know, English football teams, and it doesn't have to be the Premiership teams, it could be the local town teams where people grow up as fans and they love those teams with a passion. They pass that down to their kids and their kids' kids. Imagine if they had the ability to invest in that as well, not just be a spectator on the sidelines, but have the chance to be in the game with the team and the owners and the players.I think that would actually be a really, really cool thesis. Cards are a financial asset or representation of players, but sports teams themselves are proving to be potential good investments as well. I mean, you look at the value of MLS teams have gone up massively. I think we'll see the same in women's soccer with the NWSL.So, that's actually one where if the Republic platform could give the crowd and fans the ability to invest into sports teams, I think that would be super cool as well. Ken: [00:56:10] Maybe we give every investor an NFT that is issued by the sports team. If they hold onto the investment they have that NFT. If they sell the investment the NFT goes with it.  Michael: [00:56:25] All the leagues are going to have to contact you because I think there's absolutely something here that they should be thinking about.Ken: [00:56:32] Send it my way. But yeah, anything that anyone is a distinct holder in - fan of a sports team or a fan of a movie, I think they definitely should, and hopefully one day you can become a shareholder or stakeholder.Michael: [00:56:52] That's a great way to end this podcast because I think you've touched on community, you've touched on passion, you've touched on profit, and it's just also so exciting to see, having known you for the past four years and seeing you when you were just starting out Republic, just to see you build this business into something that really is based on the passion that is associated with investing, the community that's associated with investing.I mean, you're truly democratizing access to financial services, which is such an important piece of what the next wave of financial services looks like. Ken: [00:57:24] Thank you so much, Michael. And thank you for all your encouragement and support along the way, even during days and months, that that was so new and early and no one believed in us just yet and you did. Michael: [00:57:37] Hey, the one thing I've learned is never doubt Ken Nguyen. So …Ken: Thank you, sir. Michael: Awesome. Well, thanks for having you on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast. Ken: Thanks for having me.Michael: [01:08:34] Thanks for listening to this episode of Alt Goes Mainstream. I hope you enjoyed it. You can find more episodes of the podcast at any of your favorite podcast sites. And you can read more about Alts on my Substack AltGoesMainstream.substack.com and follow me on Twitter at @MichaelSidgmore and @GoesAlt[01:08:52] Thanks a lot. Have a great day. Republic Disclaimer: With regard to any reference to an issuer reference in this notice that is gauging interest in a potential securities offering pursuant to the Regulation A exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act, including opportunities to “reserve” securities as indications of interest in the potential offering, please note that pursuant to SEC Rule 252 (i) no money or other consideration is being solicited thereby, and if sent in response, will not be accepted, (ii) no sales will be made or commitments to purchase accepted until the offering statement for the potential offering is qualified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, (iii) any such offer may be withdrawn or revoked, without obligation or commitment of any kind, at any time before notice of its acceptance is given after the qualification date, and (iv) an indication of interest is non-binding and involves no obligation or commitment of any kind.  

Priya Saiprasad is currently the youngest and only female VC partner at Mayfield Fund, one of the oldest and most respected venture capital firms in the Valley. Previously, Priya was a founding member of Microsoft's investment fund, M12, where she launched M12's female founder's competition as part of her work to make access to capital easier for underserved female entrepreneurs. In this episode, we speak with Priya about how Pilates was the wake-up call that helped her overcome a need for external validation, why we should aim to be respected instead of being liked, and how to find your voice in the workplace as a young woman of color. ------------------------------- Episode resources: Follow Priya on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyasaiprasad/ Follow Priya on Twitter: https://twitter.com/priyasaiprasad?lang=en Priya's Business Insider profile: https://www.businessinsider.com/priya-saiprasad-mayfield-fund-enterprise-investing-2019-5 ------------------------------- If you enjoyed today's conversation about the intersection of work and Asian American identity, please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a review to spread the word. We'd really appreciate it! Learn more about the show at acrossthelinespodcast.com, follow us @acrossthelinespodcast, and subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest updates.

Jeff Kirschner, Founder & CEO - Litterati, a global community working to create a litter-free planet. Litterati has been featured by Rolling Stone, CNN, National Geographic, USA Today, Time Magazine, Huffington Post, Upworthy, the San Francisco Chronicle, and many more.   Jeff is also a public speaker. Over the last several years, he's been a keynote speaker for Fortune 500 corporations, universities, government organizations, and conferences.  Examples include Google, Facebook, eBay, Keep America Beautiful, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the University of Michigan, the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business, and 100+ others. Previously, Jeff was the Co-Founder and Creative Director of two other startups. Intro, an SMS-based platform designed to help conference speakers meet, engage, and follow up with their audiences. (Acquired by Bizzingo, Inc.), and Razz, a mobile entertainment company, backed by Mayfield Fund, Cardinal Venture Capital, Siemens Acceleration in Communications, and Guy Kawasaki's Garage Technology Ventures. His career began at TBWA/CHIAT/DAY, where he was a writer working with clients such as Levi's, Sony, and Novartis.  Jeff has continued to consult to advertising agencies such as MuhTayZik Hofher, working on clients such as Google and HP.

“I would love to see what part I can play in helping people be healed and whole such that they could be free to find their form of expression utilizing the gifts that are unique to them.” Tim Chang is a partner at Mayfield Fund and a driving force behind many social impact initiatives.  From early on in life Tim has been a very curious person, this has led him not only to learn more about himself but it has led him to impact others around him by living a life of service. Some of the highlights of today's episode are:  How living in an immigrant household mold this upbringing  The impact of empowering and helping others!  How caring less about money helped him in his journey  Morning meditation, music, and acting  His power description of what a flow state feels like Be sure to follow Tim Chang on LinkedIn and Twitter. To learn more about the initiatives he mentioned please see below:  North Star #Quaranteam  Reimagine death   Connect with John on LinkedIn and Twitter @JohnTukums. To delve more into breath and high performance, check out johntukums.com; or better yet, sign up for the newsletter so the best content related to breath and high performance comes straight to you. If this podcast brings you happiness, we'd be so grateful if you shared that with others. We appreciate everyone who takes 60 seconds to leave an honest rating & review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes (here's where and here's how)—or wherever you listen. Until next week; keep breathing in your Happiness Oxygen.

Trevor Martin is the cofounder and CEO of Mammoth Biosciences which develops novel CRISPR applications for disease detection, research, agriculture, biodefense, and more. The company has raised over $75 million investors from top tier investors such as Mayfield Fund, 8VC, or NFX to name a few. 

Trevor Martin is the cofounder and CEO of Mammoth Biosciences which develops novel CRISPR applications for disease detection, research, agriculture, biodefense, and more. The company has raised over $75 million investors from top tier investors such as Mayfield Fund, 8VC, or NFX to name a few. 

The CEO of Appify lands an extension to the company's Series A from Mayfield Fund.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The old way of doing capitalism is about making money in the short term, and that way of thinking has caused a lot of destruction. But some venture funds are taking a new approach and deploying capital in a way that is net beneficial for society in the long term. So, how do we leverage this new kind of conscious capitalism to support the biotech companies that are making the world a better, more sustainable place?Arvind Gupta is a Partner and at Mayfield Fund, a venture capital firm that operates under a framework of conscious capitalism. Arvind is also the Founder and Venture Advisor at IndieBio, the world's largest biotech accelerator, where he invested in 136 companies in five years and grew a portfolio worth $3.2B. Arvind has been a guest lecturer at UCSF, MIT and Harvard, and he is the coauthor of the forthcoming book, Decoding the World: A Roadmap for the Questioner.Today, Arvind joins us to share his mission to help scientists create companies, explaining why access to equity is more important than capital and what we can do to address the trending economic inequality. He discusses the connection between social revolution and new technologies, introducing us to the idea of conscious capitalism as a way to make an impact AND create better returns. Listen in for insight around the challenges of scaling a bio-related startup and learn how Arvind is working to deploy the capital necessary to build the technology that will save the world. Arvind's work as the founder of IndieBioHelp scientists become entrepreneurs136 companies valued at $3.2B The connection between revolutions and new technologySocial shift demands new way of doing thingsGen Z, millennials willing to pay to affect change Arvind's philosophy on the way we view animalsSee as living thing or disposable productReflects way we treat each other The benefits of replacing meat with lab-grown foodSubtract moral cost of meatRemove carbon from supply chain Why Arvind sees COVID as the Great AcceleratorSpeeding up every trendIncludes biology, neo-feudalism What we can do to correct neo-feudalismReinvent education to create mobilityCreate jobs that provide access to equity How Arvind is engaging in conscious capitalismDeploy capital for things feel important + make moneyCreate better returns by changing way things done Arvind's insight on the idea of designed humansAbility to make compounds by delivering RNA/DNA (but not keep)Editing DNA too dangerous for future generations What's different about funding a bio-related startupTech is alive under hood and living things don't always behaveChallenge to ensure production platforms repeatable at scale What inspired Arvind's transition to MayfieldBio companies need support in series A/B for movement to growLearn from world-class team devoted to conscious capitalism Connect with ArvindIndieBio  https://indiebio.co/Mayfield Fund https://www.mayfield.com/Arvind on Twitter https://twitter.com/arvndgpta ResourcesArvind on Boost VC Podcast EP034 https://theboostvcpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/f2db5d9c-d3c4f571Decoding the World: A Roadmap for the Questioner by Po Bronson and Arvind Gupta https://www.amazon.com/Decoding-World-Questioner-Po-Bronson/dp/1538734311IDEO https://www.ideo.com/Memphis Meats https://www.memphismeats.com/Finless Foods https://finlessfoods.com/New Age Meats https://www.newagemeats.com/George Church's Woolly Mammoth Revival https://reviverestore.org/projects/woolly-mammoth/Khan Lab School https://www.khanlabschool.org/Navin Chaddha's Post on Conscious Capitalism https://www.mayfield.com/conscious-capital/‘China's CRISPR Babies' in the MIT Technology Review https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/12/03/131752/chinas-crispr-babies-read-exclusive-excerpts-he-jiankui-paper/The Martian by Andy Weir https://www.amazon.com/Martian-Andy-Weir/dp/0553418025Dan Carlin's Hardcore History https://www.dancarlin.com/Yik Yak https://www.linkedin.com/company/yik-yak-inc-Tim Chang at Mayfield https://www.mayfield.com/team-member/tim-chang/Ursheet Parikh at Mayfield https://www.mayfield.com/team-member/ursheet-parikh/Mammoth Biosciences https://mammoth.bio/ Connect with Boost VCBoost VC Website https://www.boost.vc/Boost VC on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boostvc/Boost VC on Twitter https://twitter.com/BoostVCBoost VC on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/boost_vc/

Raj Kapoor is the Chief Strategy Officer for Lyft, as well as the Head of Business for Lyft’s self-driving division. He joins Drew to talk about the inspiration and new purpose he found from his experience contracting and surviving COVID-19. Once recovered, Raj created his new brainchild, World Without COVID, to empower others - COVID-positive or -negative - to come forward for testing and participating in clinical trials. He found there’s a stigma around having COVID-19. Now we all have an opportunity to fight this pandemic, together, by using World Without COVID. Raj also shares his insights on the impact COVID-19 has had on him personally as well as for Lyft as a company. During these tumultuous times, he has witnessed how Spirit-led ideas and actions have sparked real change through these times. Raj also serves as a board advisor for ClassPass and is a Venture Advisor at Mayfield Fund. Prior to Lyft, he was a co-founder and CEO of both Snapfish (acquired by HP in 2005) and Fitmob (acquired by ClassPass in 2015), as well as a managing director at Mayfield Fund. Raj holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Subscribe on Apple/iTunes

Joe Mandato, Managing Director, DeNovo Ventures Joe joined De Novo Ventures as a Managing Director in March 2003. Prior to joining De Novo, Joe served as Chairman of Confer Software, a developer of software used to create efficiencies and streamline processes in healthcare. He also served as President/CEO of Origin Medsystems, a developer of minimally invasive surgical devices for use in general, cardio-thoracic, and ob-gyn surgery, which was acquired by Eli Lilly & Company in 1992 and spun out as one of the units which formed Guidant Corporation in 1995. At Guidant, Mr. Mandato served as a member of the founding management committee and CEO of two of its five operating units, Origin and Heart Rhythm Technology. He also co-founded and served as CEO of Gynecare, a women's health spin-out of Guidant, which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson. Subsequent to his tenure at Guidant, he served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Mayfield Fund, a venture capital firm. Earlier in his career, he was CEO of Ioptex Research, a developer of intraocular lenses used in cataract surgery, which was acquired by Smith & Nephew PLC. He joined Ioptex from Cilco AG in Zug, Switzerland, the Europe, Middle East, and Africa headquarters of a unit of Rorer Group, where he served as CEO. He began his career in healthcare as a Captain in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps. Joe received his Doctor of Management from Case Western Reserve University, and serves on its Board of Trustees. His research focused on the evolving role of boards in ensuring effective governance. He serves on the adjunct faculty of The University of San Francisco's Graduate School of Management and co-teaches the course Medical Device Innovation at Stanford University. He also serves on the boards of The Institute of International Education and Save the Children. Joe sits on the boards of Axogen, Endogastric Solutions, Facet Solutions, Hansen Medical (NASDAQ: HNSN), InSound Medical, M2 Medical, Tear Science, Inc. and WaveTec Vision Systems.

Tim Chang is a Partner at Mayfield Fund, investing in next-gen Commerce & Marketplaces, Communities, Health & Wellness and Digital Media, has been twice named to the Forbes Midas List and the AlwaysOn Power Players of top investors, as well as receiving the Special Achievement award from the Gamification Summit for his work in leveraging game design thinking. Tim has led early stage investments creating more than $2.6B in total exit value, sits on the board of myriad companies, is a bass guitarist in two bands, and aims to bring a “Wow” to each moment. https://mayfield.com/team-member/tim-chang Twitter ► https://twitter.com/timechange Instagram ► https://instagram.com/timechange LinkedIn ► https://linkedin.com/in/timchang1 Welcome ✌

430: Mayfield Fund Managing Director Navin Chaddha discusses what the company looks for when deciding which entrepreneurs to invest in and which do not fit the Mayfield model. The company looks closely into what the entrepreneur is doing, which entails determining what is driving them, what their values are, what their vision is, what their mission is, and if they are interested in creating a product company and flipping it or if they are interested in building an industry-defining company and changing the way people work, live, and play. To do that, the company must spend a great deal of time with the entrepreneur outside of the pitch meetings to truly understand what is driving and motivating them. Further, Navin cites that it is critical to find out who they are, which involves determining if they have high EQ and IQ, how hungry they are, and what their ethics are. We also discuss Mayfield's work in China and India, three attributes of millennials and how to reach them, what makes for a great partnership between partners and the early-stage companies, among other topics.

430: Mayfield Fund Managing Director Navin Chaddha discusses what the company looks for when deciding which entrepreneurs to invest in and which do not fit the Mayfield model. The company looks closely into what the entrepreneur is doing, which entails determining what is driving them, what their values are, what their vision is, what their mission is, and if they are interested in creating a product company and flipping it or if they are interested in building an industry-defining company and changing the way people work, live, and play. To do that, the company must spend a great deal of time with the entrepreneur outside of the pitch meetings to truly understand what is driving and motivating them. Further, Navin cites that it is critical to find out who they are, which involves determining if they have high EQ and IQ, how hungry they are, and what their ethics are. We also discuss Mayfield’s work in China and India, three attributes of millennials and how to reach them, what makes for a great partnership between partners and the early-stage companies, among other topics.

Tim Chang, partner at the Mayfield Fund, sits down with Tonya Hall to discuss the growing industry of biohacking. FOLLOW US - Subscribe to ZDNet on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2HzQmyf - Watch more ZDNet videos: http://zd.net/2Hzw9Zy - Follow ZDNet on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZDNet - Follow ZDNet on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZDNet - Follow ZDNet on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ZDNet_CBSi - Follow ZDNet on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ZDNe... - Follow ZDNet on Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/zdnet_cbsi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, I’m excited to speak with Vivek Saraswat of the Mayfield Fund. Vivek is a venture investor and experienced product leader in next-generation enterprise application and infrastructure technologies. You’ll definitely want to hear how he answered my question about how to raise your first $10M, his advice for CEOs who want to pitch investors, and much more. You’ll also hear why he spotlighted a few noteworthy investors: Ed Sim of Boldstart Ventures, Leo Polovets of Susa Ventures, Hunter Walk of Hombrew, and Navin Chaddha of Mayfield. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/murray-newlands7/support

Stuart Landesberg is the co-founder and CEO of Grove Collaborative which has an owned direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform for natural home and personal care products. The company has raised over $200 million at a $1B+ valuation from investors like Norwest Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, General Atlantic, Marc Bell Ventures, Greenspring Associates, Nextview Ventures, and Bullpen Capital to name a few. 

Stuart Landesberg is the co-founder and CEO of Grove Collaborative which has an owned direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform for natural home and personal care products. The company has raised over $200 million at a $1B+ valuation from investors like Norwest Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, General Atlantic, Marc Bell Ventures, Greenspring Associates, Nextview Ventures, and Bullpen Capital to name a few. 

Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Bryant Lee of Cognition IP (www.cognitionip.com). Cognition IP streamlines patent filings by using machine learning along with a network of lawyers to provide expert guidance on IP strategy In this episode, Bryant talks about the benefits of Y Combinator, why selling to startups can be a good market, getting mentored by Adora Cheung (CEO of Homejoy) and Jared Friedman (Scribd) and more. The Company raised a $2.8 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures. Mayfield Fund, Hike Ventures and Basis Set Ventures also participated in the round. This series is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite users have raised over $1.2 Billion since 2016. Learn more at www.foundersuite.com.

more funding for Smartians, a new acquisition for Indeed and a CareerBuilder rumor in the news. Special thanks to our sponsor Hiretual.com Recruit Holdings Co., parent company of Indeed.com has announced that its HR Technology SBU (Strategic Business Unit) has signed an agreement to acquire Syft Online Limited (“Syft”) through Indeed Ireland Operations Limited. Syft is a leading recruiting platform for the hospitality, events and industrial industries in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2015, Syft’s proprietary technology provides a simple, effective recruitment solution and shift management tool for part-time and flexible work, connecting and matching qualified and vetted jobseekers with available shifts through its desktop and mobile app. Chris Hyams, CEO at Indeed, commented: “At Indeed our mission is to help people get jobs. Syft’s simple and transparent approach to shift work hiring is an innovative solution to the growing demand for part-time and flexible work. We look forward to supporting the Syft team as they continue to improve the hiring experience.”   So here’s my take: indeed wants in on one of the hottest segments of online hiring today. They are currently way behind an an already crowded field that includes players like Wonolo and Shiftgig. With Google encroaching on their turf and facing increased compeition from Linked and Facebook they are broadening their offerings. Will have to wait and see if they can make it successful. I am curious if they are bringing it to the usa https://recruitingheadlines.com/recruit-holdings-announces-acquisition-of-recruiting-platform-syft/ EW YORK, May 29, 2019 — Careerlist Inc., a recruiting technology company, today announced the completion of a $3.7 million round of seed funding. Launched one year ago, Careerlist is changing the recruiting industry by combining the world’s best recruiters with the greatest minds in technology to transform how companies access and hire the most remarkable talent. Careerlist corporate customers include WeWork, Yext, AB InBev and more than 100 others. Investors in this round of funding included BreakawayGrowth, Grid Ventures, Garage Capital and a number of notable individual investors. Funds raised in this round will be used to accelerate the attraction of recruiters, unique talent and employers as well as to advance technology investments. “Careerlist is building the infrastructure, data and tools that will power the next generation of recruitment and job search,” said Michael Scissons, Chairman and CEO of Careerlist. “This new funding is only the beginning of a massive expansion in technology that will attract the world’s best recruiters to amplify their businesses with us. Our mission is to open doors for the world’s most remarkable talent.” https://recruitingheadlines.com/new-york-based-careerlist-raises-3-7-million/   For Recruiters A better financial model through increased opportunity, efficiency and talent representation. For Talent An alternative to the traditional job search process allowing easy, confidential exposure to opportunities and self-marketing tools. DHI Group, Inc….announced today that Dice, the career site for technology professionals, has launched their latest innovation, Candidate Match™, a powerful tool that uses intelligent automation and machine learning to surface the most qualified candidates for tech jobs. “Our Candidate Match solution is tailor-made for tech, using our robust understanding of the technology marketplace and the needs of both professionals and recruiters,” said Art Zeile, President and CEO of DHI Group, Inc., parent company of Dice. “Our proprietary skills data model and taxonomy, Knowledge Graph™, uses sophisticated algorithms to uncover interrelationships among skills to provide the most relevant recommendations to employers hiring tech talent. It’s another step demonstrating Dice’s commitment to developing best-in-class matching algorithms to make recruiting top candidates easier.” Candidate Match… Goes beyond traditional keyword matching by looking at job and candidate data to provide the best match. Allows recruiters to sort applicants by match within five classification levels, while many competitive services offer only one or two levels of classification. Learns by leveraging the input and expertise of tech recruiters, HR professionals, tech professionals, and tech hiring managers to continuously improve the outcomes of its machine learning algorithm. Intelligent automation results in better matches and removes unconscious bias Candidate Match assigns a match level to each applicant, which helps recruiters quickly assess an applicant’s fit to a job posting, allowing recruiters to focus on engaging the most qualified candidates first. https://recruitingheadlines.com/dice-launches-new-candidate-matching-tool/ Recruiting platform SmartRecruiters, announced it has raised a $50M Series D round, led by repeat investor Insight Partners and joined by long-time investors Mayfield Fund and Rembrandt Venture Partners. The round follows a year marked by strong performance, including 100 percent year-over-year enterprise growth and the launch of SmartAssistant, the first native AI product ever offered within a talent acquisition product suite. SmartRecruiters will invest the funds into accelerating its product roadmap, including deepening the abilities of SmartAssistant through AI and machine learning; geographic expansion in Europe and Asia Pacific, to include hiring 100 people; and broadening the components of SmartRecruiters’ Hiring Success methodology, specifically process optimization, strategy and customer workshops. “Fortune 500 companies don’t have the luxury of letting critical positions go unfilled – they need to maintain their competitive advantage through effective sourcing of quality talent,” said Jerome Ternynck, CEO and Founder of SmartRecruiters. “With this funding in place, we see an accelerated product development trajectory, allowing us to build on our record of delivering what we call Hiring Success: better hires, better hiring velocity, better candidate quality, and enhanced candidate experience for enterprise customers.” https://recruitingheadlines.com/smartrecruiters-raises-50-million-in-new-funding/ Congrats to my friends at SmartReceuiters - i used to be a client of theirs back in 2015 and it’s great to see them doing so well Finally for whats its worth...Just heard Careerbuilder is coming out end of June with an entirely new platform. Contact info on Linkedin, facebook and google. Supply and Demand portal, job postings under $50, recruitment edge and other features. They are changing the focus from the old standard job board. Follow Recruiting Headlines on social media: @recheadlines on Twitter Facebook Linkedin

My guest for Episode 102 of The Startup Playbook Podcast is Investor and Stanford Professor, Pedram Mokrian. Pedram started his career as an Engineer and commodities trader before moving into the world of Venture Capital. He joined as the Principal of the Mayfield Fund, a global Venture Capital Fund with $1.8Bn under management, investing in seed through to Series B funding. He now spends his time working with companies ranging from early-stage startups to Fortune 50 companies and even The World Bank. He is also the adjunct Professor at Stanford University where he teaches and advises entrepreneurs and global companies on entrepreneurship, business model disruption and technology innovation. In this interview we discussed: How to find the right opportunities and skills to acquireUnderstanding your work vs personal risk personalityThe 6 T's of investmentHow VCs filter through ideasThe future of corporate innovation Show notes: Sand Hill RoadMartin Eberhard (Co-founder of Tesla)Marc Tarpenning (Co-founder of Tesla)Navin Chaddha (Mayfield Fund)Mayfield FundEnronZimride Check out my new video series on Youtube! Feedback/connect/say hello:Rohit@startupplaybook.co@RohitBhargava7 (Twitter)/rohbhargava (LinkedIn)@rohit_bhargava (Instagram)My Youtube Channel Credits:Music: Joakim Karud – Dreams Other channels:Don't have iTunes? The podcast is also available on Soundcloud & Stitcher Audio Player The post Ep102 – Pedram Mokrian (Investor) on the 6 T's of investment appeared first on Startup Playbook.

Saying that your company does artificial intelligence might still have a slightly cool ring to it if you're talking to one of your peers at a conference, but it doesn't mean very much to venture capitalists today, who've been battered with machine learning and artificial intelligence in every pitch deck they've seen for the last three or four years. I wondered, from a venture capitalist perspective, what makes an AI company's value proposition actually strong? What is it that makes an AI startup actually seem like a company that maybe could use AI to really win in the market? Not just to be another company that says they're going to do it or says they are doing it, but where can it actually provide enough of that competitive edge to make a VC want to pull the trigger? Getting a grasp of the answer to that question seems pretty critical. This week, we speak with Tim Chang, partner at Mayfield Fund in Menlo Park, California. Chang and I both spoke at the Trans Tech Conference, held every year in Silicon Valley, focused on wellness and health-related technologies. Chang talks about what it is about an AI company's pitch, product, and market that actually makes AI an enhancement to the business in a way that's compelling to someone who wants to invest potentially millions and millions of dollars.

Ursheet Parikh, Partner at Mayfield Fund, entrepreneur and investor featured on "Designing Science" podcast with Arvind Gupta, Founder and Managing director of IndieBio. IndieBio is a leading seed-stage life science accelerator program devoted to funding and building startups dedicated to solving humanity’s most pressing problems through biology. We enable the best scientists to become entrepreneurs, and nurture the future leaders of movements and systemic change. Our technology focus is on reinventing the food and water supply chain, medicine, healthcare, diagnostics, agriculture, and biomaterial industries. To date, 116 companies have graduated from the program, with a combined current valuation of over $2B. IndieBio is a member of SOSV a $700M global fund focused on lasting impact. Follow on www.twitter.com/indbio

Tim and I sit down to discuss consciousness-hacking, the future of wearables, nootropics, diet, the ego, our favorite books and much more. Tim Chang is the managing director at Mayfield Fund and has been twice named to the Forbes Midas List of Top Tech Investors. Tim is also an accomplished musician, who performs in three bands, as well as a body and consciousness-hacking enthusiast.

Tim Chang, Partner at Mayfield Fund, joins host Rob Coneybeer to discuss his career journey investing in technology on Launch Pad. Tim has been named to the Forbes Midas list of Top Tech Investors and received the Gamification Summit award for Special Achievement. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today Jeff Kirschner Founder CEO of Litterati joins us in the Virtual Studio ; ) Jeff feels his sense si that, He is on this planet to share the stories of what's possible, then create the change to make them happen. Jeff Founded Litterati, a global community working to create a litter-free planet. They are taking a data-driven approach to understanding one of humanity's most complex and challenging problems. (www.litterati.org) Litterati has been featured by National Geographic, USA Today, Time Magazine, Huffington Post, Upworthy, the San Francisco Chronicle, and many more. Jeff's also a public speaker. Over the last several years, He's been a keynote speaker for Fortune 500 corporations, universities, government organizations, and conferences. Examples include: Google, Facebook, eBay, Keep America Beautiful, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the University of Michigan, University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business, and 100+ others.Previously, he was the Co-Founder and Creative Director of two other startups. Intro, an SMS-based platform designed to help conference speakers meet, engage, and follow up with their audiences. (Acquired by Bizzingo, Inc.), and Razz, a mobile entertainment company, backed by Mayfield Fund, Cardinal Venture Capital, Siemens Acceleration in Communications, and Guy Kawasaki's Garage Technology Ventures.His career began at TBWA/CHIAT/DAY, where he was a writer working with clients such as Levi's, Sony, and Novartis. I've continued to consult to advertising agencies such as MuhTayZik Hofher working on clients such as Google and HP.His passion lies in storytelling. He has written several scripts and taught Story at the Miami Ad School.You can reach his anytime on Twitter @jeffkirschnerhttps://www.ted.com/speakers/jeff_kirschner https://twitter.com/jeffkirschner  Go Plastic Neutral ! http://www.plasticoffsets.com 

Produced by Foundersuite.com, "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with Stuart Landesberg, CEO of Grove Collaborative (www.grove.co). Grove makes natural home and personal care products with a mission to help every family create a healthy and beautiful home. Grove recently raised raised $36.77 million of Series C funding in a deal led by Norwest Venture Partners. Bullpen Capital, Mayfield Fund, Serious Change, NextView Ventures, MHS Capital, John Replogle and others also participated in the round. Stuart discusses raising initial capital based on a clickable prototype and excel, why he chose a B-Corporation, his investor funnel for the A round, and more.

Rishi Garg is a General Partner @ Mayfield Fund, where he focuses on new media platforms, disruptive financial services and new marketplaces. Prior to joining Mayfield, Rishi was as Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy at Twitter where he led the company’s most active M&A program, including the acquisitions of Periscope, TellApart, TapCommerce, and many others. Prior to Twitter, Rishi was the first Head of Corporate Development at Square. Rishi was also the Founder of a leading venture-backed startup, FanSnap and has also held roles at Google, Highland Capital Partners and Morgan Stanley.   In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Rishi made his way into VC following time at Twitter and Square? 2.) How does Rishi look to analyse the state of co-founder relationships? What questions get to the core issues? What are the signs that encourage and worry Rishi? 3.) To what extent does a co-founder leaving the company concern Rishi? In what circumstance is this understandable? How should this process be played out? 4.) How much of a role should VCs play post-investment in the relationship of the founders? What are the dangers of this? How should VCs balance helpful and over involved? 5.) Why is Rishi anti the rise of the very large Series? What are the inherent dangers of this? How does he convey this concern to founders? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Rishi’s Fave Book: The Tibetan Book of Living & Dying, Malcolm X Rishi's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Wait But Why As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC, Rishi on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it offers the perfect support for two people. A mattress that responds to you and your partner’s sleeping patterns. Delivered free, with a one hundred night sleep trial, free returns and a ten year guarantee. Start your free trial at simbasleep.com Cirrus Insight is a plugin for sales pros who use Gmail and Outlook.  It automatically updates activities in Salesforce so you don’t have to.  It was named #41 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing companies, and it has more than 1,700 customer reviews on the Salesforce AppExchange. Today, it serves over 150,000 sales people across 5,000 organizations using Gmail, Outlook, iPhone, iPad, and Android. Cirrus Insight is perfect for sales, support, and success teams who want to save time, schedule 3x more appointments, track email opens and much more with Salesforce information at their fingertips in the inbox. www.cirrusinsight.com/20VC  

Tim Chang is a Managing Director @ Mayfield Fund and Tim was referred to me by many other VCs as 'the fittest man in silicon Valley', notable tech publications even write it. His eclecticness does not stop there as he is also a musician in 3 bands and a serious body hacker. As for his investments, he has had AdChina (acquired by Alibaba), Playdom (acquired by Disney) and Basis (acquired by Intel) just to name a few. Prior to Mayfield, he spent time at notable institutions including General Motors and Norwest Venture Partners. It is not only us that appreciate Tim’s skills though as he has also been named to ‘Top 100 Innovators’ on Forbes Midas List for 2 years running.   In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Tim made his way into the wonderful world of VC following Stanford Business School? 2.) How did Tim's perspective of starting VC around 9/11 shape his perspective coming into the industry? Why does Tim believe you need to see multiple cycles to be a good VC? 3.) Where are theWhy does Tim believe that startups need to be better capitalised than they currently are in the early days? Why does Tim argue for the existence of the Series B Crunch? 4.) How does Tim view the creation of a business model for machine learning? What are the 2 elements that founders need to consider before deciding in a pricing mechanism? 5.) How does Tim evaluate machine learning startups today in the plethora that have been created over the last few years? How does Tim determine true machine learning talent? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Tim’s Fave Book: Nexus  Tim's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Wait But Why Tim’s Most Recent Investment: Next Entertainment As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC, Tim on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it offers the perfect support for two people. A mattress that responds to you and your partner’s sleeping patterns. Delivered free, with a one hundred night sleep trial, free returns and a ten year guarantee. Start your free trial at simbasleep.com Cirrus Insight is a plugin for sales pros who use Gmail and Outlook.  It automatically updates activities in Salesforce so you don’t have to.  It was named #41 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing companies, and it has more than 1,700 customer reviews on the Salesforce AppExchange. Today, it serves over 150,000 sales people across 5,000 organizations using Gmail, Outlook, iPhone, iPad, and Android. Cirrus Insight is perfect for sales, support, and success teams who want to save time, schedule 3x more appointments, track email opens and much more with Salesforce information at their fingertips in the inbox. www.cirrusinsight.com/20VC    

Rick Marini is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor with over 45 investments in early stage startups. Some of Rick's investments include the likes of Snapchat, AngelList, Luxe and Nuzzel, just to name a few. Prior to his prolific angel investing career, Rick was the Founder & CEO of BranchOut - the largest professional network leveraging the social graph with more than 800 million profiles. BranchOut raised $49 million in funding from Accel Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Mayfield Fund and more. BranchOut was acquired in 2014 by One-Page. Previously, Rick was also the Founder & CEO of Talk.co. Talk.co was acquired in 2014 by Hearst Corporation. Prior to BranchOut and Talk.co, Rick was the Co-Founder, of Tickle. Tickle operated as a profitable company with almost $40 million of revenue. Tickle was acquired in 2004 by Monster Worldwide for $100 million.  In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Rick made his way into early stage investing from founding and exiting 4 companies? 2.) What is Rick's approach to pre-investment value add? Should investors hold it back and wait until the term sheet is signed? What have been some of Rick's biggest lessons from Naval @ AngelList? 3.) Naval Ravikant says, 'you need to make 30 investments before you know what you are doing'. Does Rick agree with this and can this be applied to the venture ecosystem? 4.) How does Rick approach the common angel problem of dilution? What are his thoughts on getting squeezed out by VCs and growth investors in later rounds? 5.) How does Rick measure his success and value as an angel? What are Rick's biggest concerns when viewing a  prospective investment? Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode:  Rick’s Fave Blog: Mattermark Daily Rick’s Fave Book: Hero With A Thousand Faces Rick's Most Recent Investment: True Facet As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Rick on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. The Twenty Minute VC is proudly sponsored by Luma, Luma is the world’s first ever Surround WiFi system that brings speed, security and control to the home network. And Unlike traditional routers, Luma comes in a pack of two or three sleek devices to place in different rooms in your home. Luma then creates a mesh network that work together to create an outrageously-fast, ultra-secure Surround WiFi network.  Lastly, Luma’s app lets you easily see and control which devices, users and content are on your network. To buy your Luma, simply dead to getluma.com or amazon.com. So many problems start with your head: stress, depression, anxiety, fear of the future. What if there was some kind of exercise you could do, that would help you get your head in shape. That’s where the Headspace app comes in. Headspace is meditation made simple. The Headspace app provides guided meditations you can use whenever you want, wherever you want, on your phone, computer or tablet. They have sessions focused on everything from dealing with stress and depression, to helping you eat more mindfully. So download the Headspace app and start your journey towards a happier, healthier life. Learn more at headspace.com/20vc. That’s headspace.com/20vc.

The purpose of a business pitch is to get that second meeting says Allen Morgan of the Mayfield Fund.

Janice Roberts, General Partner at Mayfield, discusses how Mayfield is going global and carefully evaluating opportunities in countries like India and China. She stresses the importance of accessing the needs of young customers who are embracing new technologies at an extremely fast pace and demanding more products and services.

This episode are highlights from my conversation with Rishi Garg. Rishi Garg Rishi is a partner at Mayfield. Mayfield is a global venture capital firm with a people first philosophy of investing. Links: Full Episode with Rishi Garg ( https://www.theconsumervc.com/38-rishi-garg-mayfield-consumer-distrust-curated-experiences-and-whats-next-for-social-media/ ) Click on Mobile to Join Community ( https://link.upstreamapp.com/eEoV65h1U6 )