Podcasts about seed investing

In this episode of Demo Day, we sit down with Minnie Ingersoll, Partner at TenOneTen Ventures and host of the LA Venture Podcast, for an insider look at how venture capital is evolving in 2024.Minnie drops exclusive insights on a growing trend: LP sharing - a powerful but rarely discussed tactic that's helping up-and-coming VCs fundraise faster and smarter. If you're a VC, founder, or aspiring fund manager, this episode is packed with tactical gems.We also talk about:How new VCs can build deal flow from scratchThe role of media and personal brand in fundraisingThe biggest red flags Minnie looks for in foundersHer honest take on remote vs in-person startup cultureWhere AI is actually making a difference in VC workflowsHow to get in the room where it happens - and stay thereWhether you're raising your first fund or trying to land your next round, Minnie's advice will change the way you think about investing, networking, and storytelling.Listen to the full episode and don't forget to subscribe for more interviews with top VCs and startup operators.#VCInsights #FundraisingTips #MinnieIngersoll #TenOneTen #StartupAdvice #DemoDayPodcast #EarlyStageInvesting #LPSharing #AIVC #VentureCapital #Founders #DealFlow #PersonalBrand #SeedInvesting #PitchTips #TechStartups #LAStartups

In Today's Show We Discuss:  04:49 Breaking Down the $3BN Windsurf Acquisition 06:18 Why Sam Altman is Playing a Master Game 12:40 Why Multi-Stage Funds are Destroying Seed Managers 21:52 Are Endowment Funds F****** 27:38 What Would Rory Do If He Was CFO of an Ivy League Endowment Fund 43:38 The Denominator Effect and It's Impact on Venture Allocations 49:36 Why Revenue Multiple is BS & What You Need to Know 51:34 The Rise of AI Rollup Plays & Are They Good Businesses 55:29 Competitive Markets: How to Make Money in Them? 01:02:58 Why If You Can Guarantee 5x, You Should Always Do the Deal 01:11:56 Is SF The Only Place to Be Building Today  

Jason Lemkin is one of the leading SaaS investors of the last decade with a portfolio including the likes of Algolia, Talkdesk, Owner, RevenueCat, Saleloft and more.  Rory O'Driscoll is a General Partner @ Scale where he has led investments in category leaders such as Bill.com (BILL), Box (BOX), DocuSign (DOCU), and WalkMe (WKME), among others. In Today's Episode We Discuss: 04:23 What is Wrong with Billionaires on Twitter: Are They Depressed? 08:49 Why Does product Market Fit Mean Less Than Ever 11:50 Why is Venture Capital More Risky Than Ever and No One is Discussing It 16:17 Will Private Equity Save a Generation of SaaS Companies and VCs 23:53 a16z's $20BN Fund: Seriously? 31:29 Why Josh Kushner and Thrive Capital are Masters of the World 38:21 Why is Seed Investing for Suckers 45:49 Why Are $50 Million Seed Funds Useless 46:21 Founders Fund Raises $4.6BN: Analysis 52:00 How WIll LPs Change Their Approach to Venture in the Next Five Years 59:53 When Will IPOs Comeback? 01:09:15 Why Does it Not Make Sense for the Best Companies to IPO 01:09:51 Lost Ethics and Morals in Founder Secondaries and Term Sheets 01:22:58 Quickfire: OpenAI, Cursor, Deel vs Rippling      

History may not repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes. Vibe coded games, like a flight simulator from @levelsio, are reminiscent of early iPhone app store games like Flappy Bird and Paper Toss. How else are consumer tech cycles evolving? Lightspeed Partner Michael Mignano welcomes back investor Semil Shah for their quarterly check-in. They talk about the landscape of VC seed investing, the impact of AI on tech hubs like New York, LA, and the Bay Area, and whether accelerators like Y Combinator still have the same edge?Flight Simulator: fly.pieter.comEpisode Chapters:(01:22) LA vs NYC Tech Scenes(02:54) AI's Geographic Pull(05:37) Gaming as Future Consumer Tech(08:35) Vibe Coding(17:40) Seed Investing in the AI Era(25:13) The Series A Crunch(36:03) Rising Series A Standards(41:14) Bootstrapping vs VC for AI(45:26) Value of University Degrees(55:32) YC's Expanded Cohorts(57:52) Overlooked Seed TrendsStay in touch:www.lsvp.comX: https://twitter.com/lightspeedvpLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-venture-partners/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightspeedventurepartners/Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.coEmail: generativenow@lsvp.comThe content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

What truly sets successful entrepreneurs apart from the rest? Is it creativity, resilience, or perhaps a unique blend of traits that allows them to thrive in the unpredictable world of startups? In this compelling episode of The Angel Next Door podcast, host Marcia Dawood dives into these questions with guest Greg Moran, a seasoned entrepreneur and venture capitalist with a deep-rooted passion for identifying and nurturing innovative founders.Greg Moran is a serial entrepreneur turned investor, having successfully built and sold multiple technology companies, particularly in the HR tech space. After selling his last company right as the world was bracing for a global pandemic in 2020, he transitioned into venture capital. Co-founding Evergreen Mountain Equity Partners, a fund focused on early-stage tech investments, Greg uses his vast experience to support and guide the next generation of "find a way founders" who possess grit, determination, and resilience.During the episode, Greg shares insights from his forthcoming book, "The Adaptive Innovator," which explores the archetype of successful entrepreneurs based on extensive research. He elaborates on the four key pillars of the adaptive innovator model—creative resilience, humble assertiveness, balanced risk-taking, and strategic accountability. This conversation is not only a treasure trove of wisdom for budding entrepreneurs, but also a practical guide for investors aiming to evaluate the potential of founders in a rapidly evolving tech landscape. If you're interested in understanding the personal qualities that drive entrepreneurial success or looking for investment insights in today's AI-driven world, this episode is a must-listen. To get the latest from Greg Moran, you can follow him below!https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregmoran/https://www.thefounderscollective.com/ Sign up for Marcia's newsletter to receive tips and the latest on Angel Investing!Website: www.marciadawood.comLearn more about the documentary Show Her the Money: www.showherthemoneymovie.comAnd don't forget to follow us wherever you are!Apple Podcasts: https://pod.link/1586445642.appleSpotify: https://pod.link/1586445642.spotifyLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/angel-next-door-podcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theangelnextdoorpodcast/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@marciadawood

We've had a lot of cool people on the pod, but Sheel Mohnot is our first guest to achieve this trifecta: 100X an investment, have a founder in his portfolio go to prison, and have his wedding sponsored by Taco Bell. He invests at the pre-seed and seed stages into startups in the financial technology (fintech) space, and he's quick to tell you that just about everything is fintech. Through his fund, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Sheel writes $500k to $3M pre-seed and seed checks into fintech companies. He came by to talk about that time he got defrauded by a company, how he sparked a bidding war that led to him returning most of his fund, and why speed of execution is one of his favorite traits in founders. Highlights:Sheel is beginning to think that pre-seed is the new seed, and seed is the new Series A. He unpacks these thoughts and outlines what he needs to see in order to believe in a founder at the early stages.Secondaries and early exits and two ways investors can realize an outcome in a shorter time frame than an IPO. Sheel explains how he did this with two companies, Flexport and Indio, and how he feels about his decisions retrospectively. Major companies like Toast and Shopify are synonymous with fintech, but there is a vast network of less-thought-of companies making transactions happen in nearly every imaginable space. Hair salons, golf clubs, and garbage trucks are just a few of the places where Sheel is seeing fintech potential and why he believes that everything is fintech and fintech is everything.Sheel could've saved himself some trouble (and money!) if he would've heeded the warnings of fellow investors about a deal. However, he learned his lesson and now he doesn't invest unless he thoroughly vets the founder through someone else in his network.(00:00) - FIFU 16 - Sheel Mohnot (01:25) - Sheel's early days as a founder and consultant (09:58) - Why invest and why invest in fintech (12:09) - Ideal Founder Profile: Who and what Sheel is looking for (14:43) - Lessons From the Worst Investment: How to spot a fraud (21:10) - Lessons from the Best Investment: Knowing when to take chips off the table (34:03) - Sheel's thoughts on the expansiveness of the fintech market (38:00) - Speed of execution is one of Sheel's favorite traits to find in founders (43:31) - Speed round

Gokul Rajaram is an early stage technology investor. As a product leader, operator and board member, he's helped build seven generational technology companies, including Alphabet, Block, Coinbase, DoorDash, Meta, Pinterest, and The Trade Desk.We talk about lessons learned from Zuck, Sergey Brin, and Jack Dorsey, when big acquisitions can go well, how to define your ICP, why you should always size markets bottoms-up, having a fast response time, how seed investing has changed since 2007, and Gokul's hot takes on titles at a startup. Building an enterprise-ready SaaS app? WorkOS has got you covered with easy-to-integrate APIs for SAML, SCIM, and more. Start now at ⁠https://bit.ly/WorkOS-Turpentine-Network⁠. Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(02:14) Common thread of success between the founders of Google, DoorDash, Facebook, and Square(05:50) Gokul's first job in Silicon Valley(07:46) How Serendipity led to PMing Adsense, one of Google's biggest products(12:20) Lesson from Sergey Brin on reducing friction before a products magic moment(18:50) How Zuck used founder mode to beat Google Plus in 2011(22:51) When big acquisitions can go well(24:47) How Gokul switches from startup helper to public company board member(28:09) The evolution of Seed investing since 2007(33:27) How to have a fast response time(37:40) Lessons from Jack Dorsey always selling(39:54) How to define your ICP(42:40) Using bottoms-up to size a market(44:05) Why Director and VP titles are bad for startups Referenced:Who's Got the Monkey? https://hbr.org/1999/11/management-time-whos-got-the-monkey   Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0142000280   How to Size a Market in 30 Minutes https://blog.blingcap.com/2023/02/13/How-to-Size-a-Market/ Follow Gokul:Twitter: https://x.com/gokulr  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gokulrajaram1 Follow Turner:Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/  

One day soon when you see a robot squirrel on a 10-foot unicycle, think of Danielle Strachman. These are the types of ideas Danielle Strachman sees and backs on a regular basis at her VC fund, 1517. The fund, which proudly backs “dropouts, students, and sci-fi,” has had several fund multipliers in their portfolio, including Loom (Acquired by Atlassian) and Luminar Technologies (IPO 2020). Plus, her star-studded community includes Vitalik Buterin of Ethereum, Laura Deming of The Longevity Fund, and Dylan Field of Figma – all of whom she first met when they were teenagers. Danielle's commitment to bringing freedom and autonomy to young people is much of the reason behind 1517's work with upcoming founders — which includes children as young as 10 years old! We talk to Danielle about why her firm hands out cash grants to kids, where she sees the future of deep tech headed and how she's helping it get there, the right characteristics (and anti-characteristics) to look for in founders. Danielle invests $100k angel checks and $500k pre-seed checks out 1517 Fund focusing on dropouts and sci-fi / deep tech founders.Highlights:1517 exists to address the lack of capital for young people and for the deep-tech sci-fi space. Danielle is particularly drawn to “dropouts” who skipped the higher education path to focus on their work and start their companies. Danielle likes to think of her fund as Grand Central Station, a place that helps people get to where they want to go next. She uses her relationship building skills to stay in touch with founders and connect them with new opportunities.  Danielle loves meeting “crazy scientists” and people who are working on solving the future's problems. 1517 is unique because it makes two investments in these types of companies: a $100k angel check for R&D and a $500k pre-seed follow-on check. Danielle understands the power or relationships and mentorship in a space that can often feel impersonal and transactional. She's kept in touch with many founders over the years, including the founders of Loom and Luminar Technologies – whom she met back when they were teenagers! (00:00) - FIFU 15 - Danielle Strachman (06:41) - The 1517 Differentiator: An anti-establishment fund for dropouts (08:15) - The Why: Bringing freedom and autonomy to young people (18:49) - 1517 as Grand Central Station: Helping people get to their next destination (26:35) - Lessons from the Worst Investment: Listen to your gut (35:24) - Best Investments So Far: Loom and Luminar Technologies (37:54) - The Fund Formula: 85% dropout and 15% sci-fi (51:47) - Nurturing Young Talent: How Danielle sources next gen founders (57:34) - Speed round

Elizabeth Yin realized she had a problem. She wanted to be a founder, but couldn't think of a problem she wanted to spend decades of her life working on. After soul searching, she remembered the one thing she did care about: helping other founders.She took that passion and turned it into Hustle Fund, which focuses on offering capital, knowledge, and networks to “hilariously early-stage” software startups. She also angels invests in non-software D2C companies. She's invested in over 800 startups, with two of her most notable being Webflow and Mejuri. We chat with Elizabeth about why valuation matters if you have a smaller fund, why she thinks certain hot spaces like AI might not yield the types of returns investors think they will, and what happens when founders misbehave (and commit fraud and flee to Russia). Elizabeth invests $150k checks into idea-stage B2B software, digital health, and fintech companies through Hustle Fund. Highlights: When Elizabeth says she invests at an early stage, she means it. Hustle Fund invests in founders who have an idea and are pre-revenue.Elizabeth talks about the difference between small sub-$100M funds and large multi-stage funds. As a smaller fund, you need to make your checks count by deploying them into startups where they'll make a true difference. Multi-stage funds are investing early to have the option to write a bigger check in later stages. Higher exits usually mean higher entry points for investors. If you're not a multi-billion dollar fund, you probably want to focus on investments with lower entry points and in return, lower multiples. In the end, both lead to similar quantified outcomes.You don't want to invest in overcrowded spaces because your chances of realizing alpha decreases when there are more hands in the pot. Finding unpopular spaces with less competition is where Elizabeth likes to focus.(00:00) - 13: Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund has seen over 50,000 companies and made 800 investments – usually in just 30 minutes (01:36) - Launching LaunchBit: Getting started as a founder and helping others at the same time (09:30) - The first investment: Lessons in customer acquisition (11:48) - Valuation: Why it matters at every fund size (18:43) - Making checks count: Are you an option or an investment? (28:37) - The best investment: Lessons in learning to play the long game (30:59) - Entries and exits: Elizabeth's framework for evaluating investments (39:39) - Ignoring the crowd: Staying out of too-hot spaces like AI (49:52) - AI: What's Elizabeth doing in this space? (53:23) - Speed round

Semil Shah is back for another episode of Generative Quarterly with Michael Mignano, Lightspeed Partner and host of Generative Now. Semil is a founding General Partner of Haystack and a Venture Partner at Lightspeed. Semil and Mike discuss the seed investing landscape, challenges and opportunities in building consumer tech, and competition between Apple and Google. Episode Chapters (00:00) Welcome and Introduction (00:37) Shohei Ohtani and Baseball (03:25) State of Seed Investing (11:04) Semil's Advice on Pitching Venture Capitalists (14:26) VC Fund Dynamics and AI Hype Machine (18:42) Miami's Tech Scene (19:18) Building the Next Big AI Consumer Product: Hype vs Reality (26:52) Apple's New iPhone: Where is the Apple Intelligence? (32:17) Google Android (34:04) Conclusion  Stay in touch: www.lsvp.com X: https://twitter.com/lightspeedvp LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-venture-partners/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightspeedventurepartners/ Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: generativenow.co Email: generativenow@lsvp.com The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

In this episode of Turpentine VC, we're releasing one of our most popular interviews with Roger Ehrenberg, owner of IA Capital Partners and the Managing Partner of Eberg Capital. Roger discusses his contrarian strategy to seed investing that has allowed him to generate 10x fund returns, and emphasizes the importance of focusing on concentrated portfolios to achieve outsized success. They talk about the impact of interest rates, macroeconomic factors, and the potential of sports investments. —

An ill-fated business school fashion show led to a venture capital fund with $215 million AUM. The duo met in 2010 at the MIT Sloan School of Management and soon after became research partners investigating why VCs were shunning startups in highly regulated spaces even though AirBnB and Uber were starting to reach venture scale very quickly. Tech-enabled startups impacting how we live in the real world were new (back then). Their research sparked Tumml in 2012, an early-stage accelerator, and culminated with the Urban Innovation Fund I in 2016. Now on their third fund with $215M in AUM and multiple exits, including CodeSpark Academy (acquired by BEGiN) and Electriphi (acquired by Ford). In this episode, Clara and Julie share how they lean into regulated spaces, take advantage of macro trends, and uniquely focus on the relationship between cofounders when investing—lessons from their own highly effective partnership.Clara and Julie invest $500K to $3M into pre-seed and seed startups that make cities more livable, sustainable, and economically viable. This urban thesis covers sectors like climate tech, financial services, transportation, fintech, education, proptech, and future of work.Highlights: Clara and Julie had a hypothesis that urban tech was not only going to take off, but that it was also worthy of VC capital, contrary to what some of the top VCs thought at the time. Sometimes, the role of an investor is to support other investors just as much as the founders. Clara and Julie explain the importance of being the investor who steps up and gains consensus among the other LPs when disputes or dilemmas arise. The opportunity to invest in Electriphi, an electric vehicle fleet management software company, led to an acquisition that returned most of their second fund – all because they were brave enough to bet on the macro trends and tailwinds. Matching up founders with opposite skill sets might work out, but Clara and Julie would much rather find people who truly mesh on deeper levels. (00:00) - FIFU 13 - Julie Lein & Clara Brenner (03:22) - A new kind of VC: The Urban Innovation Fund (11:16) - Opposites attract? Optimizing for cofounder-cofounde fit (18:42) - What are Julie and Clara's whys? (23:43) - Lessons from the first check: They won't all be unicorns (33:23) - Lessons from the worst investment: The only failure is giving up (39:01) - The bear hug: Avoiding the bystander effect and getting other investors on board (44:37) - Lessons from the best investment: Catching Electriphi and the regulatory tailwinds (49:26) - Sensing change: The power of investing in a not-hot space (51:08) - What's next: Looking ahead to the next 5 years of investing (58:03) - Becoming a better investor: What's the secret? (01:04:20) - Pattern matching: What it is and what it isn't to Julie and Clara (01:10:51) - Speed round

Have you ever played with an Oculus VR headset? You probably owe thanks to Arian Ghashghai. The former founder was working at Meta when someone in his network introduced him to an opportunity to invest in gummies. Yes, gummies. That's far and away from Arian's machine learning roots, it's now one of his best investments to date. Arian has since gone full-time into investing as the founder and managing partner at his own fund, Earthling VC, which specializes exclusively in making pre-seed investments into companies in the AR/VR and robotics domain. One of his investments is on track to do $20M in revenue this year after only needing to raise a single $1M round. We cover a lot of good ground in this episode, and we really get into how the rise of these “raise-once” companies is changing traditional VC models. Arian invests $25K to $200K in pre-seed AR/VR and robotics startups through Earthling VC. Highlights: Arian was a founder and quickly realized he hated being a founder. He started at Meta as an applied machine learning software engineer and angel invested for the first time in a CPG company, a decision largely driven by how impressed he was by the founder. To Arian, worse than losing money is being labeled as another dime-a-dozen investor with no unique insight or edge. That's why he advocates for being a big fish in a small pond to reduce competition and make it easier to stand out. Arian explores why VCs have traditionally been skittish about getting into VR and robotics, and why there's never been a better time than now to start investing in these categories.Arian is seeing a trend among companies that only need to raise capital once before they can rely on their own profitability. (00:00) - How one of Arian Ghashghai's virtual reality companies is on track to hit $20M in revenue after one round of funding (00:29) - Welcome, Dan Hightower, a new co-host! (02:00) - How Arian got into investing: Meta, friends, and gummies (09:13) - Invest in the top 1% of founders (13:02) - Treat your angel investing fund as a portfolio (16:40) - Marker (21:05) - On realizing deep tech was going to change everything (27:20) - The four measures of an extraordinary founder (31:46) - Lessons from the worst investment: Don't fall in love with your expertise (36:01) - Check size, scaling, and sourcing (44:12) - Truffle hunters vs. heat seekers (47:19) - Speed round (59:44) - Bonus Qs: The rise of raise-once companies and why aren't investors investing in robotics and VR content?

Armed with an educational background in computer science and biomedical informatics, Amit Garg switched to venture capital after a long, successful career in the corporate world, which included stints at companies like Google and Samsung.And that's just the way he never planned it. That's right, the almost-doctor didn't intend to get into venture capital, and he certainly never planned on starting his own fund. He was drawn in by his innate need to build things, including relationships with people. He partnered up with his officemate from Norwest, Sanjay Rao, and the two started Tau Ventures in 2019, an AI-first, early-stage fund focused on healthcare, enterprise, and automation. Amit tells us about his very targeted approach to investing, which is different from the “spray and pray” method we've seen from friends of the pod and other investors in general. We also get to hear first-hand accounts about the importance of building trust with your investing partners and your founders. Plus, Amit gives us his take on the state of healthcare and AI and why – despite all the challenges – he's hopeful about where it's headed. Amit primarily invests $500K in Seed-stage healthcare, enterprise, and automation startups and occasionally in Series A, B, and C through Tau Ventures. Highlights:Amit turned down a spot in medical school and pivoted his original ambition to become a doctor by first joining Google, pivoting to VC, and then becoming a digital health founder.He got into the corporate side of venture capital after business school, but he never had any interest in starting his own fund. That is until his friend and former officemate convinced him that an AI-first venture fund was a great idea in 2019. Amit explains that the “why” behind his investing does come from a place of self-interest – which is much different than selfish. He feels that when he pursues and realizes his own self-interests, he can help others to the same.Why a founder shut down a company in his portfolio and why Amit decided to back him again basically the next day. How he sees the interplay between angel and institutional investors and why they're both necessary Amit's frustration with healthcare and how it fuels his passion to make it better. Plus, he explains why he keeps his focus on the three legs of the healthcare tripod.  (00:00) - FIFU 11 - Amit (02:30) - Amit's journey into venture (06:08) - Why Amit likes venture capital as someone who wants to make the world better (13:01) - Memorable moments from the first conviction-driven investment: Iterative Health (19:18) - The machine gun vs. the shotgun style of investing (21:05) - Lessons from the worst investment (24:34) - Be careful who you partner with, optimize for good investors (28:22) - What the best investment with a $450M exit taught Amit (32:57) - Investing is about humans believing in humans (35:42) - The state of healthcare and AI today (46:39) - Venture vs. angels in the healthcare space (51:12) - Outcomes in the digital healthcare space are starting to behave like tradtional SAAS software outcomes (58:13) - Lighting round (01:01:51) - Takeaways

What do you get when you mix U.S. national security, angel investing, and kids' pajamas? Atlee Clark. Proud Canadian Atlee took a hard pivot from the public sector to the tech world, first through a nonprofit called the C100, which supports entrepreneurs, and later at Shopify, focusing on 0 - 1 initiatives. Similar to other angel collectives emerging at the time like Hashtag Angels and Operator Collective, Atlee tapped into her executive network at Shopify to connect with other female leaders who were looking to invest on the side. What began as informal conversations about investing and advising after the working day coalesced into Backbone Angels, a collection of executive tech women sourcing angel opportunities collectively and making investments individually. Backbone was started in 2021 and has amassed a portfolio of over 40 early-stage startups, including Bird&Be, 1Password, and Blume.Atlee tells us what it's like to balance functioning as a cohesive unit while making individual investment decisions. Plus, we get to hear about her journey as a small business owner and what motivates her to invest in what she wants to see in the world. Atlee writes angel checks of $10k to $20k, focusing on startups that address challenges for parents, small business owners, and Big Tech execs—three areas she intimately understands as the end user. Backbone Angels focuses on companies led by Black, Indigenous, and Women-led startups. Highlights:Atlee hopped on a one-way plane to San Francisco and left her U.S. national security gig in Washington, D.C., behind to head up a nonprofit organization supporting Bay Area Canadian tech entrepreneurs (and she'd never even worked in tech!)She met early Shopify execs who convinced her to come work for the company doing developer relations and the app ecosystem. Casual conversations about investing and advising with her peers led to the creation of Backbone Angels.Atlee prefers to follow her own intuition with early-stage investing, but she does have a tried-and-true framework for determining if a deal is right for her. She shares her tips for working as a collective and the reason she believes you should never overthink a “no.”Angel investing is a side hustle for Atlee (Remember, she's also a Shopify exec, small business owner, and mom), and she prefers it because it fulfills her in a way that going full-time wouldn't.   Resource:Want to Angel invest with other operators and learn from the team at Hustle Fund? Check out Angel Squad and resources created by Brian Nichols(00:00) - Atlee Clark, Angel: Canadians breaking into tech and now investing with intuition and purpose (01:33) - Building an ecosystem for Canadian tech founders: the story of becoming the first CEO of the C100 (06:38) - Meeting Tobi Luke and joining Shopify: a new adventure pre IPO (09:34) - Founding Backbone Angels: a collective of senior leaders at Shopify coming together to write checks (15:27) - First Investment: The power of patience and a developing a personal investment thesis (23:21) - Worst Investment: Trust your gut and staying patient (29:20) - The art of feeling a "no" (30:54) - Best Investment: Highlighting Top Performers Calico and MIrza (32:59) - Resilience in Founders: Overcoming Challenges (34:15) - Current Investment Strategy: Today's Focus (38:21) - Sourcing Deals: Networking and Connections (44:46) - Lightning Round ⚡

Join Shaherose & Aamir as we reflect on our conversation with Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures. Highlights: Don't forget the macro: Government regulations can lead to massive opportunities or failures. We discuss case studies of companies like Samsara, Movtive (fka KeepTrucking), Republic, and Zum, showing how regulatory shifts led to category-creating opportunities. Charles' worst investment was wiped out due to changes in government regulation. Team vs market: We discussed the interplay between having the right team, idea, and timing for startup success. Charles evaluates opportunities 70% team and 30% idea. Both Aamir and I take a more balanced approach than Charles does.Fund size vs. outcomes: Reflecting on the past learning, "Your fund size is your strategy." We wonder what role that played in Charles' decision to invest in the Athletic, later acquired by the NY Times for $550M.Links:Follow Charles Hudson on Twitter: @chudsonRead Charles' blog on SubstackLearn more about Precursor Ventures: Precursor VenturesConnect with Charles Hudson on LinkedIn: Charles HudsonConnect with Us:Follow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X: @shaherose | @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guestsDisclaimer: This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.(00:00) - Introduction and Format Change (00:39) - The macro matters (03:40) - Learning from past investments while staying open minded, what about bias? (04:12) - Team vs. Market (10:36) - Fund size vs outcomes (16:17) - Investors don't know it all

Michael is the Founder of Cendana Capital, a San Francisco-based firm that invests in very early-stage venture capital funds globally. Kelli Fontaine joined the firm 6 years ago and is a Partner. Cendana was launched in 2010 and has over $2B in assets (as of 3/31/24). Michael and Kelli provide insights into the world of VC and seed investing, why they prefer smaller funds and how they select managers.

On today's episode of Equity, we're taking a look at news you might've missed over the holiday weekend here in the U.S., starting with the recent OpenAI security breach. While it doesn't seem that people have to be too worried about what the hackers actually accessed, the fact that it happened is worth paying attention to. TechCrunch's Devin Coldeway argues that AI companies are treasure troves of data and will likely become more of a target for hackers. Companies that work with the large AI companies should pay attention. We also had an update on Fisker's slide into bankruptcy. The EV startup, that you've already heard about on Equity, had a new update this week. The company asked its bankruptcy judge for permission to sell its remaining inventory for $14,000 a vehicle, a noticeable drop from the $70,000 Fisker was initially asking for. This has some fearing that this chapter 11 bankruptcy could turn into a chapter 7. To close out, we looked at a new trend of venture funds helping seed investors exercise their pro rata rights and avoid their equity stake being diluted. This is interesting because while it could be good for smaller funds to have a way to maintain their equity stakes, pro rata rights discussions can get contentious and bringing more capital to the table won't necessarily help that. Equity will be back on Wednesday with an interesting conversation between Mary Ann and  angel investor and Floodgate Co-Founder, Mike Maples Jr, so we'll talk to you then!Equity is TechCrunch's flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast. Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

Hailing from Michigan, Charles developed an early obsession with the public markets in high school. Charles Hudson is now the Managing Partner at Precursor Ventures, a pre-seed venture fund that has defined and has become synonymous with “pre-seed”. Charles is known for his ability to identify and mentor early-stage companies that have the potential to disrupt their industries - first and early - including companies like the Athletic (acquired by the NY Times for $525m), Bobbie (recently raised a $70m Series C), Carrot Fertility (recently raised $75M Series C) and Pair Eyewear (recently raised $75M Series C).Charles writes checks of $250k - $500k at Pre-seed and Seed. He is a Generalist with a focus on digital health, media, and software.Highlights:The boomerang back to VC: Charles shares his unique path from Michigan to Silicon Valley, starting in VC, then moving to Google and various startups before returning to VC.Founding Precursor Ventures: Charles spotted an opportunity to invest in non-obvious founders pre-product and pre-revenue while other firms moved upstream in 2015. This made him one of the first in a second wave of pre-seed firms to launch, and 10 years later, he's become the go-to first funder.Evaluating Founders vs. Ideas: Charles is a founder-first investor (founder 70%, idea 30%). He shares his criteria for assessing talent and reveals indicators of success that have generated alpha in his portfolio.Investment Strategy over Trends: Even in the face of trends like crypto, AI, and the economic downturn, Charles stays steady and focused on people and his definition of pre-seed, not morphing with industry shifts.Links:Follow Charles Hudson on Twitter: @chudsonRead Charles' blog on SubstackLearn more about Precursor Ventures: Precursor VenturesConnect with Charles Hudson on LinkedIn: Charles HudsonConnect with Us:Follow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X: @shaherose | @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guestsDisclaimer: This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.(00:00) - Intro (00:52) - Early Days and Building Community (03:09) - Interning at Smith Barney to the CIA's Venture firm (08:59) - Embracing Risk and Independent Thinking defines a solo GP (11:05) - Operating Experience As Product Manager, then Business Development at Google and a Return to VC (16:50) - Charles' first role as an advisor surprisingly had a $300M acquisition by Paypal (19:55) - Joining Softech (now Uncorked) in 2010 when Seed investors were known as Super Angels (21:10) - Launching Precursor to fill the gap created by Super Angel Funds going upstream and defining a new category - "pre-seed" (23:50) - First Investments: the role of macro tailwinds and headwinds (27:57) - Evaluating Founders 70% and Ideas 30% (31:03) - The Role of Business Model Innovation in Generating Alpha (33:25) - Learning from Challenging Investments: If you don't know its ok, but say something (38:01) - Staying True to Your Investment Strategy (40:44) - Charles' best investment: The Athletic, acquired by the New York Times for $525M (45:55) - How he Decides: Evaluating Founders and Their Potential, Weird Patterns, Product Velocity, Remote Teams (51:38) - Current Investment Strategies, Focus Areas and Check Sizes (53:25) - Following High-Potential Talent vs. Investing Theses: People vs. Market vs. Product Evaluations (57:00) - Speed Round

Eric Ries has invested in over 100+ early-stage startups. He is best known as the author of The Lean Startup, a must-read for entrepreneurs worldwide. He also founded the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), a new stock exchange designed to support companies with long-term goals. He recently launched a new podcast discussing ways to re-think corporate governance to be mission-first.In Part 1 of our interview, he shared insights from angel investing. In Part 2, Eric shares his new ethos for startups rooted in long-term thinking, putting a company's mission at the center of everything and aligning all stakeholders. This mission-first approach challenges the traditional capitalist, and data shows it leads to better company performance.Eric writes checks of $10K or less as an Angel at the earliest stages. He is interested in mission-driven founders, education, fintech, AI, and more.Highlights:Eric Angel invests for reasons beyond financial outcomes. He focuses on giving back to people in his network, learning about startup approaches and various industries, and doubling down in areas he is passionate about. Any time he has strayed from his investing criteria, it hasn't worked out. Advising then investing: Eric prefers to work with a startup as a friend or advisor before investing. He keeps his check size to $10K to support his goal of high-velocity learning. He can write more checks with smaller checks, which means more learning.Investing as a spiritual journey: Eric practices introspection to support continuous learning and to avoid overgeneralizing when things don't work out. When he invests, he applies Lean Startup thinking by asking, “Is this outcome falsifiable”? Invest -> Measure -> Learn. We guess this makes him is a "Lean Investor"Eric's second act after Lean Startup is supporting mission-first startups: He advocates for a new ethos that he believes will lead to better performance in the long term.Eric shares tools for mission-first founders, including the Public Benefit Corporation, the LTSPV, employee voting trust, and more.(00:00) - Introduction to First Funders (00:54) - Meeting Eric Ries: a journey down memory lane (02:45) - The Impact of Lean Startup (07:15) - Eric's Angel investing journey starts with being an advisor and a mindset of giving back (09:55) - What is Eric's investing criteria (14:04) - Eric prefers to advise startups first before investing (17:47) - Eric's second act: from Lean Startup to nurturing mission-driven founders who will also realize massive profits (25:14) - Writing small $10K checks into a high volume of early-stage startups enables high velocity learning (27:24) - (28:28) - Eric decouples investing from outcomes to stay focused on giving back and learning (30:44) - How to be a useful startup advisor: stand for something that creates competitive advantage for startups (34:31) - A challenging investment: lessons from high-stakes and high-stress moments and can the startup journey be a force for healing trauma? (43:04) - The Long-Term Stock Exchange vision: a new ethos and governance approach for the startup community (45:01) - How mission-driven founders and investors need to be brave to challenge the capitalist status quo (47:33) - How tech startup can leverage the Public Benefit Corp and how the B-Corp certification won't work for software companies (51:24) - LTSPV: An SPV Angels can leverage to align their check with long-term thinking (54:08) - The spiritual journey of investing: what did you really learn vs what do you think happened? (57:07) - Speed Round and Final Thoughts (59:24) - Takeaways Connect with Us:Follow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X: @shaherose | @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guestsDisclaimer: This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.

Rajiv Bala, GP of Clutch VC, a pre-seed and seed-stage exclusively investing in Texas - is committed and bullish on the region with a hands-on approach to investing, working with founders on product feedback, team building, and more to see initial customer validation before investing. Rajiv also embraces sub $500 million outcomes to drive fund multiples rather than relying on Unicorn outcomes only. This episode pushed our thinking on what we know and practice here in Silicon Valley, reminding us that there is more than one way to achieve Alpha.Highlights from our discussion:Starting startups, Texas style: Is it about 24/7 work-life or work-life balance? We discussed a Texas vs. Silicon Valley approach to company building. Can it work and drive outsized venture outcomes?Beyond chasing unicorns: Can you be successful with sub $500M outcomes in VC? We dug into how portfolio construction starts with fund size and what scale of outcomes matters to you.Does previous founder or operator experience make you a better investor? Rajiv believes it builds founder empathy, skills, and experiences that make you more effective in challenging moments.Selective incubation as a strategy: Rajiv will sometimes work with a team for 6 to 12 months before investing to gain information asymmetry, build conviction (or incertitude), and establish a genuine relationship ahead of the check. Topics(00:00) - Introduction to First Funders (00:58) - Meet Rajiv Bala: GP, Clutch VC (01:34) - Rajiv's Journey into Venture Capital (03:27) - The Texas Startup Ecosystem (07:44) - Texas-style company building: work-life balance and outcomes (11:06) - Rajiv's lessons on portfolio construction: diversification and fund size as key levers (14:08) - Where and how Rajiv sources deals in Texas (17:16) - Rajiv's "why" for investing: led to his hands-on investing approach (21:01) - Lessons from Early Investment Furnace Software: an early DevOps leader bought by BMC (30:03) - Rajiv's lessons from his worst investment came with an opportunity to build founder empathy on how hard the journey is (35:38) - Rajiv's best investment: he Converse AI journey (40:21) - A higher valuation isn't the end game, pick your investors for a long game (42:10) - Selective incubation: Rajiv builds relationships with Founders before the check and wants to see the product reach initial traction (48:48) - Clutch's Investment Strategy and Market Focus (59:13) - Key Takeaways and Final Thoughts Connect with UsFollow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X @shaheroseTwitter/X @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests

Madica, an investment program launched by US-based investor Flourish Ventures to back pre-seed startups in Africa, plans to invest in up to 10 ventures by the end of the year, ramping up its funding efforts after closing three initial three deals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amit Kumar, former founder and angel investor, is a generalist venture capitalist at Accel focused on dev tools, healthcare, and fintech startups. Twitter acquired Amit's third company, and it was then that he realized his true purpose was supporting startup founders, and he shifted to venture capital. Amit shares insightful stories and lessons learned from 8 years of early-stage investing out of a large, top-tier VC fund.Amit writes checks of $2M to $4M as the lead and first institutional seed investor. Highlights from our discussion:How Amit frames venture capital as a long gameWhy Amit considers himself a “co-founder as a service,” and how that serves his startup communityThe right way to think about deal setup for successful early-stage investingWhy the problem slide in your pitch deck is most importantThis is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.Topics(00:00) - 04: Amit Kumar - Accel (00:16) - A startup idea seed investors will definitely say NO to (but maybe Shark Tank will take it) (03:35) - Amit Kumar - seed investor and First Funder at Accel (05:17) - Amit's Transition to Accel and the Power of Networking (07:38) - How Amit learned about angel investing - friends, conferences, and meetups (08:47) - What does it look like when a VC firm recruits you as a potential founder? Potential partner? (12:14) - Angel investing as risk diversification and knowledge sharing, especially for existing startup founders (13:56) - Venture capitalists can provide "co-founders as a service" (17:21) - How Amit chose between being a founder again and investing full-time (20:06) - Amit's first investment, and how past founder relationships build trust (22:23) - Startups that don't go public in 7 years - does that hurt your model and LP relationships? (24:11) - Conviction, not consensus - but what builds trust among GPs when startup investing? (26:30) - Startup valuations: Amit's venture capital POV and moving targets in 2024 (28:37) - How does a large early-stage VC think about follow-on investments and the number of startups to fund? (31:57) - Taking bigger risks earlier (34:49) - How startup investors consider incumbents in a space when assessing competition and exits (36:24) - Headway, and what Amit has learned about identifying good startup investments in new markets (42:05) - How to think about thesis investing, conflicts of interest, and competing startups (45:14) - How Amit thinks about return profiles and seed investing today (48:08) - What founder and market signals does a venture capitalist look for? (50:39) - How to get on the Midas List - it's the fundamentals (51:47) - A movie you must see to understand venture capital and startup investing matters (54:15) - Takeaways from Amit Kumar's First Funder approach (01:01:18) - Outro Connect with UsFollow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X @shaheroseTwitter/X @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests

In this episode Nataraj talked to Peter Mueller who is the founding partner of Breakwater ventures investing in early stage tech startups in Pacific Northwest and Wester Canadian Startups. The conversation includes: - how to think about angel investing & pre-seed investing? - Seattle pre-seed ecosystem - learnings from Seachange fund - thesis for breakwater - Whats making Western Canada an interesting place to invest? - investing in AI - long tail opportunity in AI & more. Follow peter on twitter here - https://twitter.com/pjsmueller Follow Nataraj on twitter here - https://twitter.com/natarajsindam Follow 100 Days of AI here - https://thestartupproject.io/100-days-of-ai/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/startupproject/message

Jenny Fielding, a pre-seed investor and angel with 300 early-stage startup investments, discusses investing in FinTech, hard tech, and consumer spaces over the past decade. From studying law to working in finance to leaving it all to found not just one but two startups, Jenny brings a founder-operator mindset to her fund, Everywhere Ventures. She writes pre-seed and seed-stage checks for $50k to $250k.Highlights from our discussion:Jenny's first seed investment and its fast, huge outcomeHer simple evaluation framework for startup companies and their foundersThe way larger funds can screw early angel investorsEverywhere Ventures' latest seed investment comes out of stealthA yearly ritual to become a better angel and startup investor This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.Topics(00:00) - 02: Jenny Fielding - Everywhere Ventures (03:07) - How does Shaherose know Jenny? (04:17) - Jenny's Journey into Investing (05:10) - Why did Jenny choose the investor side of the table? (08:27) - How did Jenny land her first investment (which went big!)? (11:02) - How does Jenny evaluate companies? (15:39) - How Jenny categorizes companies and check sizes (17:49) - How an angel investment went public and yet Jenny got nothing (25:18) - How does Jenny maintain authentic relationships while seed investing? (29:38) - Seed investors promise access to founders - does it matter? (33:39) - Jenny's successful seed investment in a Blockchain company - for real! (37:53) - Angel invest and chill? What signals help assess your investment early? (39:26) - How Jenny seed invests and then helps with future fundraising (40:46) - Using secondaries to generate returns and lower risk (44:18) - Pre-Seed fund return profiles - what's the goal and reality? (46:14) - Jenny and Everywhere seed invest in the "table stakes economy" (47:21) - What is the difference between pre-seed and seed startup investment rounds? (48:56) - Does valuation discipline matter for early angel and seed investors? (51:44) - Jenny's latest seed investment: Fora comes out of stealth (53:47) - Jenny's one trick to become better at startup investing (55:43) - How Jenny partners with Scott to make investment decisions (57:00) - Jenny's hot takes (58:21) - Takeaways from the interview Connect with UsFollow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X @shaheroseTwitter/X @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests

Highlights from this week's conversation include:David's background and journey to founding Top Tier (1:38)Confidence in Fund to Fund Strategy (6:35)Technology Consumption and Venture Capital (11:53)Insight into the Secondary Market (15:22)Private Equity Secondary Space (17:23)Investing in Emerging Managers (22:33)Seed Investing and Portfolio Construction (25:42)Understanding Underlying Portfolios (29:18)Generalist vs. Specialist Strategies (31:11)The technology stack reinvention (00:34:41)Venture capital and exciting changes (35:42)Insider Segment: SVB's commitment and offerings (40:29)Advice for emerging managers (41:19)Venture capital allocation and duration (45:06)Minority-based managers and diversity (47:28)Connecting with Top Tier (52:29)Top Tier Capital Partners is a venture capital specialist managing niche-focused funds of funds, secondaries, and co-investment strategies. We make primary and secondary investments in venture capital funds and co-invest in select portfolio companies. Our team creates diverse portfolios that are built to spot emerging trends early and to deliver optimal venture returns. Learn more at ttcp.com.Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, is the bank of the world's most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial and private banking to individuals and companies in the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity, venture capital and premium wine industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation throughout the United States, serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector expertise, insights and connections. SVB's parent company, First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA), is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $200 billion in assets. First Citizens Bank, Member FDIC. Learn more at svb.comSwimming with Allocators is a podcast that dives into the intriguing world of Venture Capital from an LP (Limited Partner) perspective. Hosts Alexa Binns and Earnest Sweat are seasoned professionals who have donned various hats in the VC ecosystem. Each episode, we explore where the future opportunities lie in the VC landscape with insights from top LPs on their investment strategies and industry experts shedding light on emerging trends and technologies. Follow along and subscribe at swimmingwithallocators.com.The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this podcast are for general informational purposes only.

David Tisch is the Managing Partner of BoxGroup, one of the leading seed-stage investment firms of the last decade having invested in over 500 seed-stage startups, including Plaid, Ro, Ramp, PillPack, Amplitude, Stripe, Warby Parker, Harry's, Flexport, Classpass, Airtable and more. Terrence Rohan is the Managing Director @ Otherwise Fund, a fund that discretely empowers a network of today's top founders to make multi-stage venture investments. Terrence has invested in the likes of Figma, Hugging Face, Vanta, Notion and Robinhood to name a few. In Today's Seed Investing Special We Discuss: 1. Is Seed Investing Now a Commoditised Asset Class: Why does Dave Tisch believe seed investing will remain the most inefficient market? What does that mean for the future of returns at seed? Why should you always pay up and be price-insensitive at seed rounds? Why does David believe that no one is great at seed investing? Why does David believe that you cannot index the seed market? 2. The Biggest BS Elements of Venture Capital: Signaling: Why does David believe that the theory of signaling is total BS? Why does Terrence disagree and think it is valid and common? Group Decision-Making: Why does Terrence believe that investing decisions should be made solo and groups merely encourage consensus decision-making? Reserves: Why does Terrence believe reserves hurt DPI and are not good? How does David respond given his growth fund? Venture Value Add: Why do David and Terrence think venture value add services platforms are BS and not worth it? 3. The World of LPs: What is the single biggest misalignment between VCs and LPs? What are David and Terrence's biggest pieces of advice for emerging managers today? Should LPs expect depressed returns from venture as the asset class commoditises?

We're all discussing current market conditions - valuations, AI hype, fundraising challenges... Before we kick off our planned interview series on First Funders, we sat down with our friend Arjun Arora to discuss the Trends in Venture Capital 2024. As investors, we always look ahead, making this a great way to start 2024.Highlights from our discussion:What to expect in round sizes and valuationsAnticipated returns from the AI hypeThe significance of data-driven decision-making for VCsThe rise of hyper-specialized fundsYou can read the full report here: https://www.arjundarora.com/trends-reportThis is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.Topics(00:00) - 01: State of Venture Capital 2024 - Arjun Arora (00:49) - Guest: Arjun Arora on the State of Venture Capital 2024 (01:24) - Arjun's Founder Background (03:03) - Format One and how they help founders (04:41) - Are Mega-deals only happening in AI? (06:07) - How should early-stage investors consider exit strategy? (08:02) - Is AI coming for venture capitalists? (10:36) - Social signals inform investors about founders AND teams (11:51) - Later-stage investors use prior investors as a signal (13:57) - Are crowd-funded companies legit investments? (16:01) - Do funds focused on a niche limit returns and increase risk? (22:25) - Don't go chasing Unicorns? (26:41) - Where's crypto and blockchain? (27:27) - Do founders want to do one-and-done raises? (29:17) - Can seed funds less power law, higher average outcomes? (31:45) - Will AI generate returns for investors? (33:35) - Advice for founders in this market environment (35:21) - Key Take aways: What we learned from Arjun's report for our own seed investing strategies (43:00) - Outro Connect with UsFollow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X @shaheroseTwitter/X @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests

Before you dive into our archives or the next episode, learn about First Funders and its hosts, Shaherose Charania and Aamir Virani.  You'll hear about Shaherose's background as a startup builder turned VC who started as a product marketer and how she started Women 2.0, a startup ecosystem, and Founder Labs, a tech incubator.  She also reviews her time at Nike, where she built their first incubator, and her role as an angel investor and now Venture Partner at Cake Ventures.Aamir then shares his experience as an engineer turned product management leader at Dropcam, which was acquired by Google/Nest, and then his turn as a venture capitalist at Felicis Ventures.  Why did he end up back as an angel investor and operator?  What types of investments does he look for now?This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.Topics(00:00) - About the Hosts and their Angel and Seed Investing backgrounds (01:13) - How Shaherose went from operating to building Women 2.0 to funding startups (03:26) - Aamir's Journey from Founder to VC to Angel Investor (06:06) - Outro Connect with UsFollow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X @shaheroseTwitter/X @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests

Coming soon. First Funders is a podcast for the Angels and Venture Capitalists who write first checks. Co-hosted by Shaherose Charania, startup builder turned VC. And Aamir Virani, founder turned angel investor.In each episode, you'll hear from angel and seed-stage VCs who wrote the first checks into startups that made it. How did these investors find these opportunities? How did they gain conviction? How did they decide to make a bet? And what can you learn from their journey? Sharpen your theses and make better investments by hearing from the First Funders about their successful investments.This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.Connect with UsFollow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X @shaheroseTwitter/X @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests

"When you go out to raise...you have to think about if you have a story to tell...think like an investor. Why are you the best person to solve this?" Join Manasi Patwa and Cynthia Zhou as they chat with Vivien Ho, Partner at Pear VC (Wharton '21). Listen to dive into the world of early-stage investing, tips for founders and entrepreneurs, and insights on the tech sphere as it stands today.

Peter Wagner of Wing VC joins Nick to discuss Lessons from Seed Investing in Snowflake and Gong, Why the Next Super-Cycle is Here and How to Invest in It, and Insights on Firm Building, Decision Making, and Talent Spotting. In this episode we cover: Early-Stage Investing and Company Building in B2B Technology Investment Decisions and Market Fit AI's Impact on Business and Investment Strategies Data Platforms, ETL, and Vector Data in AI Venture Capital Team Building and Talent Selection Guest Links: Twitter LinkedIn Wing VC The hosts of The Full Ratchet are Nick Moran and Nate Pierotti of New Stack Ventures, a venture capital firm committed to investing in founders outside of the Bay Area. Want to keep up to date with The Full Ratchet? Follow us on social. You can learn more about New Stack Ventures by visiting our LinkedIn and Twitter. Are you a founder looking for your next investor? Visit our free tool VC-Rank and we'll send a list of potential investors right to your inbox!

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today we bring on one of the world's largest pre-seed investors to cover what the state of early-stage investing looks like.We welcome Maelle Gavet, the CEO of Techstars, a leading accelerator and global investment business that works with early-stage startups. Maelle has taken a background where she's been a CEO, COO and operator at the likes of Priceline and Compass to run Techstars as they continue to transform their business. Techstars has invested in over 3,700 early-stage startups that have collectively achieved over $98B in all-time accelerator portfolio market capitalization.With a global reach and an early-stage perspective across ecosystems and sectors, Maelle was in a great position to share views on:  Why being relentless makes a great founder. Why, even despite more seed funds than ever, there's still been an increase in applications to Techstars by over 2.5x. Why Techstars can be seen as the ultimate fund-of-funds in her view. Why an actively managed index of early-stage innovation can make sense for many allocators. Thanks Maelle for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your wisdom and perspectives on early-stage investing.

Welcome to our second episode of the Venture Capital Podcast featuring special guests. Today, we have the privilege of hosting David and Kendall Frazier from the Frazier Group, a venerable VC firm rooted deep in Utah's investment history.The Frazier Group distinguishes itself as a lifecycle venture fund. Their approach is methodical: begin at the seed stage and, provided the company delivers, they expand their involvement through the purchase of Secondaries and successive participation in Bridge, A, B, C+ rounds, and beyond. Notably, they also acquire Secondaries in high-growth, venture-backed firms outside of their portfolio.A snapshot of their impressive track record: $250M invested A robust portfolio of 80 companies, with a remarkable 45 additions since 2018 alone 8 celebrated IPOs 28 successful acquisitions With their headquarters strategically located in Lehi, Utah, the Frazier Group's influence isn't limited to just their home state. Their deal-sourcing prowess spans the vast mountain west, reaching states from Washington to Texas.Our GuestsDavid Frazier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-frazier-8aba7525/ Kendall Frazier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendallfrazier/ Follow Peter HarrisTwitter: https://twitter.com/thevcstudentLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterharris1Instagram: https://instagram.com/shodanpeteYoutube: https://youtu.be/Hy9DsuFzTH4Follow Jon BradshawLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrbradshaw/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrjonbradshaw/Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjonbradshaw

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Startup stories are often stuff of dreams — and today's podcast is a story about one of tech's most unlikely venture capitalists.Journalist and professional soccer player turned immigrant turned self-proclaimed "best carwasher in San Jose" turned Persian rug salesman turned top Silicon Valley seed investor Pejman Nozad, the Co-Founder & Founding Managing Partner of Pear VC comes on the show to chronicle his journey that has crossed continents to back many of tech's top companies. While his story has taken him many places, one thing has stayed constant — his ability to build relationships and connect with people. And that talent has enabled him to succeed in building a top seed fund in Pear with his partner and serial entrepreneur Mar Hershenson, where they have backed the likes of DoorDash, Gusto, Guardant Health, Aurora, and many more.Pejman shares everything from how to build relationships to how to build a seed fund.We discussed so many fascinating topics: What he looks for in founders. Why family is so important. How and why building relationships is so critical in early-stage investing. How Pear has built out a multitude of products and services for founders across pre-seed and seed. How companies can go from zero to product-market fit. Why some of the largest institutional LPs are interested in a dedicated pre-seed and seed strategy.  I also learned that he makes some really good Persian tea, which is apparently even better than Sadaf. It was a pleasure to have you on the show, Pejman, to share a story for the ages and one that is still being written.

10 years after their initial launch, Susa is relaunching the firm with a new vision and strategy, which Susa General Partner, Chad Byers, tells us about in this episode of Turpentine VC. If you're looking to improve your sourcing, tracking, and due diligence, check out: https://synaptic.com/turpentine We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. --- SPONSORS: Synaptic unifies over one hundred real-time company performance metrics across alternative datasets like user traffic, employee data, app downloads, product reviews, and more. It's your all-in-one source for alternative data that helps you make better investment decisions. To learn how Synaptic can improve your sourcing, tracking, and due diligence, visit https://synaptic.com/turpentine --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST:  Every week investor and writer of the popular newsletter The Diff, Byrne Hobart, and co-host Erik Torenberg discuss today's major inflection points in technology, business, and markets – and help listeners build a diversified portfolio of trends and ideas for the future. Subscribe to “The Riff” with Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg: https://link.chtbl.com/theriff RECOMMENDED PODCAST: LIVE PLAYERS Join host Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg as they analyze the mindsets of today's most intriguing business leaders, investors, and innovators through the lens of their bold actions and contrarian worldviews. You'll come away with a deeper understanding of the development of technology, business, political power, culture and more. LIsten and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/liveplayers. --- Join our free newsletter to get Erik's top 3 insights from each episode every week: https://turpentinevc.substack.com/ --- RELATED SHOWS: If you like Turpentine VC, check out our show The Limited Partner with David Weisburd, where David talks to the investors behind the investors: https://link.chtbl.com/thelimitedpartner --- X / TWITTER: @chadbyers (Chad) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @SusaVentures @TurpentineVC --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (00:56) How does Susa see themselves within the venture ecosystem? (01:54) The history and next evolution of Susa Ventures (8:29) Why Susa isn't becoming multi-stage and the trade-offs of their new vision (11:59) What does Susa look like 5-10 years from now? (14:07) Chad's thoughts on Thrive (15:39) Sponsor: Synaptic (16:38) On incubations and whether Susa would want to pursue them in the future (17:47) On LP strategy (20:31) The trade-offs of investing in platform as a fund (23:21) The sweet spot of where Susa invests in relation to product-market fit (26:16) How has Susa thought about partner recruiting? (29:18) Why doesn't Susa pursue the maximal AUM game? (33:03) The unique ways Susa adds value to founders (36:29) How Chad thinks about seeds firms evolving to multistage firms and competing against Sequoia, Founders Fund, etc. (39:10) Pattern-matching the best founders Chad has backed (42:18) Chad on Sam Lessin's theory on seed investing (46:24) Predictions for the next 3-5 years of venture (48:47) Diving deeper into why Susa decided to double-down to become specialists in seed (50:15) Thought experiment: how would Chad launch Susa in 2023?

Sam Lessin is a Co-Founder and Partner @ Slow Ventures with a portfolio including the likes of Airtable, Robinhood, Slack, Solana, PillPack and many more unicorn companies. Prior to Slow, Sam was a VP Product at Facebook having sold his company to Meta. Frank Rotman is a founding partner of QED Investors, one of the leading fintech-focused venture firms investing today with a portfolio including the likes of Klarna, Kavak, Quinto Andar, Credit Karma and more. As for Frank, prior to QED, Frank was one of the earliest analysts hired into Capital One and spent almost 13 years there helping build many of the company's business units and operational areas.  Jason Lemkin is the Founder @ SaaStr one of the best-performing early-stage venture funds focused on SaaS. In the past, Jason has led investments in Algolia, Pipedrive, Salesloft, TalkDesk, and RevenueCat to name a few. Prior to SaaStr, Jason was an entrepreneur, selling EchoSign to Adobe for $100M where it is now a $250M ARR product. In Today's Discussion on Why Seed is Broken We Discuss: 1. The Seed Model Was Broken and What Comes Now: Why does Sam Lessin believe the model for seed of a "factory line" was broken? What does he believe will replace it? Why does Jason Lemkin argue that this might not be the case for SaaS and enterprise? 2. Round Construction: YC, Multi-Stage Funds and Party Rounds: Why does Sam Lessin believe we have seen the end of party rounds? Why does Jason Lemkin disagree and we will see more than ever? Why does Sam Lessin believe the factory model of YC churning out companies is over? Where does Jason Lemkin believe the value lies in the YC model? Will the multi-stage funds remain in seed? How has their entrance and deployment changed the seed market? 3. VC Value Add at Seed: Is it BS? Why does Jason believe all talent arms in venture firms have failed? Why does Sam believe that no VCs provide value? Do the best founders really need help? Why do Jason and Sam disagree? 4. What Happens Now: Why does Jason believe that every manager can write off their fund from 2021? Who will be the winners in seed in the next 10 years? Why does Sam believe if you want to bet on AI, just bet on Meta or Microsoft? What will happen to the many companies with no PMF but 10 years of runway?

Are we just playing into Elon's game with Twitter? The Lessins and The Morins debate and take different sides on whether seed investing can survive. Plus, what's Ruth Porat really up to at Google? Discussed: Google's Darkest Days: After Three Deaths, a Workforce Reckons with a Changed CompanyThe Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future Seed Investing Can't Turn Back On Show Notes: 00:00 - The hosts discuss Elon Musk rebranding Twitter as 'X'. They argue that Elon is doing it mainly to stay in the news cycle and get attention. They joke about how Elon is just like any other internet user, changing DNS records and making mistakes. 06:29 - The hosts discuss Google. They talk about Google's AI strategy, the promotion of Ruth Porat to President, and mental health issues at Google. They debate whether Google has lost its way or is still well positioned. 13:44 - Sam explains his view that 'seed investing is dead'. He argues that the venture capital model has broken down and companies are overvalued and unable to make a profit. Dave and Sam discuss how they prefer investing in 'weird' areas. 20:18 - The hosts debate whether venture capital will fundamentally change or just become a less good business. They agree that while seed investing will still exist, the previous model is over.

Lauren Washignton is the co-founder and CEO of Fundr, a platform that uses data and AI to empower decision-making in seed investing. Prior to this, Lauren co-founded Black Women Talk Tech, the largest membership organization and only conference for black women founders, and KeepUp, an automated social listening platform. Her companies have won multiple awards including 43North, the Advanced Imaging Society's Distinguished Leadership Award, and the Austin Inno Fire Award. She has been featured in The New York Times, TechCrunch, Elle, Inc, and Fortune and listed as a top entrepreneur in Essence Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, CIO Magazine, the ForbesNEXT1000 list, and Austin Black Business Journal's 40 Under 40. In this episode we discuss: How Fundr is using AI to eliminate bias, increase access, decrease the time to funding and help even the playing field of investor-to-founder relationships; and  How she plans to use the data generated from Fundr to help inform change and hopefully bring more equity to the funding ecosystem. When was the last time you enjoyed REST?At the WTF? Podcast we are big proponents of rest as a productivity hack. Book your next relaxing luxury getaway with our partner in rest and luxury at Farringdon Jets!Learn more about Lauren: LinkedInLearn more about Fundr: https://www.fundr.ai/Fundr on InstagramFundr on TwitterI hope you enjoyed this episode. Don't keep good content to yourself. If you enjoyed this episode, let me know by rating, reviewing, and sharing this episode with 3 friends. Subscribe to the podcast at its home on the ALIVE Podcast Network, here https://wheres-the-funding.onpodium.com/ and here https://bit.ly/wheresthefundingpodcast. Follow the podcast on your favorite podcast streaming platforms like Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more to get notified when new episodes drop.To be a guest or sponsor the podcast, email whereisthefunding@gmail.com. Follow the podcast on Instagram at whereisthefunding_podcast and follow me, your host Michelle J. McKenzie and the show page on LinkedIn. 

David Tisch of Box Group joins Nick to discuss Why Optimizing for Ownership is a Trap, The Future of Seed Investing, and The Opportunity in Consumer Social. In this episode we cover: Dealing with decisions that feel like tweener. Over-rotating on short-term fake signals. What is their portfolio construction philosophy? Regretting not investing in the right companies. Where do you think prices will go in 2020? Differences between social media and venture capital. The opportunity to capture the hearts and minds of consumers.

Seed investing is a team sport. The fewer team members you have around the table, the weaker position you're in, and the less likely you're going to get to the next level.About SpringTime VenturesSpringTime Ventures seeds high-growth startups in healthcare, fintech, logistics, and marketplace businesses. We look for founders with domain expertise, forging a path with a truly transformative technology. We only invest in software-based businesses in the USA. We bring a people-focused approach, work quickly, and reach conviction independently. Our initial check size is $600k. You can learn more about us and our approach.   About Rich MaloyRich's mission is to rebuild the American dream through entrepreneurship. He believes technology gives all people the opportunity to grow, learn and earn. He is a Managing Partner at SpringTime Ventures and the host of the VC Minute podcast. With prior careers in finance and sales, he's been focused on the startup ecosystem for over a dozen years. He's a father of two young children and loves sci-fi, skiing, and video games.  

Jared Franklin is an investor at Costanoa Ventures.   Costanoa is a seed-stage VC focused on fintech, data and developer infrastructure, applied AI and security, specifically B2B.   The firm has $1.5b under management across seed and growth funds, including its $225m fourth seed fund.   Prior to joining Costanoa, Jared worked in product across fintech and crypto for BillMeLater, PayPal and BlockFi.   In this conversation, Jared and I discuss his experience transitioning from operating to investing, the learning curve as a new investor, Costanoa's approach to identifying and supporting companies at the seed stage, and 7 investment themes Jared is focused on in 2023.

Our guest today is Mike Hirshland, co-founder of Resolute Ventures. Resolute Ventures is a lead seed and “pre-seed” investor focused on backing and connecting a community of Founders who share an entrepreneurial spirit and energy. Some of their investments include Bark Box, Clutter, and Lumen. We discuss what pre-seed and seed investing is today, the opportunity within Web3, and how he builds conviction within founders. Without further ado, here's Mike. Some of the questions I ask How did you enter venture capital? What were some of the learnings from that How did Resolute come together? What got you interested in the seed stage?How do you describe seed today? 10 financing in a year How do you think about risk in this market? Henrik Werdelin of BARK recently told Mike his "superpower is authenticity" which is what founders need now. What does that mean? Why is authenticity so important? One of your big themes is community. What's your approach to building community, why is it so important and why did you create the Resolute DAO? How do you think about the opportunity within Web3? What are use cases that get you excited? Emotionally support Can we imagine a world where solving a problem What parts of Web3 is investible? How do you think about the current market/landscape? What's you diligence process? What's one thing you would change about venture capital? What's one book that inspired you professionally and one book that inspired you personally?As It Is

This week Andrew talks with professional footballer Matt Smith. At age 18, Matt was released from a football training program and thought that might signal the end of his chances to play professionally. He was interviewing for jobs in business and playing semi-pro football when things started to click. He had a red-hot 6 months at the semi-pro level and signed his first professional football contract. Today, Matt plays for Salford City and has scored over 100 goals in his professional career.  He is also an avid angel investor and passionate about helping startup founders build game-changing businesses. Matt's story is a masterclass in the value of relentless work ethic, following your passions, and believing in yourself. This conversation will help you maximize your potential in anything. Show Highlights:2:22 - Getting cut from training program at age 183:02 - Meeting with Paul Dickov4:08 - Power of hard work and enthusiasm6:14 - Overcoming "talent gap"8:30 - First professional contract8:45 - Mental side of professional sport10:31 - Overcoming imposter syndrome12:56 - Role of data & analytics in sport13:45 - Maintaining human element 16:37 - What makes great teams17:27 - Evolving as a leader17:55 - Learning from other leaders19:12 - Angel investing22:13 - "Getting your plates spinning"22:21 - Networking23:19 - Experience getting an MBA24:33 - Identifying startup founders to invest in27:10 - Making sacrifices to achieve successCONNECT WITH ANDREW ON SOCIALTwitter: @andrewhmosesInstagram: @AndrewMoses123NEWSLETTERSign up for e-mails to keep up with the podcast at everybodypullsthetarp.com/newsletter!

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

Today, David is talking to Ed Wilson. Ed Wilson is a founder and managing partner at Impulsum Ventures, a seed-stage fund focused on investing in health-tech, fin-tech, and consumer tech. Impulsum's big value add to their portfolio companies is they also run a development studio that can help fill in the gaps for companies as they go from MVP to their first paying customers. When he is not meeting with founders, you can find him spending time with his amazing wife, prepping for their first baby, or skateboarding with some of the most interesting and eclectic people he gets the honor to call friends. What You'll Learn: Importance to believe in people Pattern Recognition  Network, Network, Network Value Add Investment process Valuations on Seed Deals Feature vs. Platform company  Early-stage Product Development Favorite Quote: “At the end of the day, what are you doing that is really unique; what are you doing that you have an edge in somebody else” --  The Capital Stack All Things Tech Investing and Value Creation Early growth investor David Paul interviews the world's greatest ecosystem, learns how to start and scale your own business, and finds an edge in today's capital markets.  To connect with David, visit:   Twitter -https://twitter.com/davidpaulvc ( CLICK HERE) Substack -http://davidpaul.substack.com/ ( CLICK HERE) LinkedIn -http://linkedin.com/in/Davidpaulvc ( CLICK HERE) IG -https://www.instagram.com/davidpaulvc/ ( CLICK HERE)     DISCLAIMER: David Paul is the founder and general partner at DWP Capital.  All opinions expressed by David and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinions of DWP capital.  This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for decisions. David and guests may maintain positions in the securities discussed on this podcast.

Today's Unlimited Partners are Joanna Lee Shevelenko and Kelly Graziadei from f7 Ventures. f7 Ventures is comprised of 7 female operators and leaders with over 20 years of experience in the fastest growing technology companies in Silicon Valley. During their tenures at Facebook, Google, Yahoo and beyond, they managed and developed thousands of people across dozens of teams around the world. They grew and managed revenue from $0 to > $15B. They scaled user growth to over a billion, launched over 30 new products globally and led teams across almost every organizational discipline. Topics include: Taking a $17/hr job at Facebook instead of an investment bank Lessons learned at Facebook as one of the first 100 employees Building teams and growing revenue Deciding to leave and build their own venture The reason for building f7 What to look for in a leader or founder Strategies for growing executives Not being afraid to let people fail Links LinkedIn Kelly Graziadei LinkedIn Joanna Lee Shevelenko Thomas McGannon LinkedIn f7 Ventures Follow us on social media: Like and subscribe and all that stuff...stay in touch as we will have exciting updates and content soon... @uppodpod Twitter @uppodpod Instagram UP YouTube Channel up-pod.com Email us: show@up-pod.com

Nate Pierotti is a Partner at New Stack Ventures, a Chicago-based VC firm focused on early stage capital. New Stack typically leads rounds at the angel, pre-seed, or seed stage and invests between $500k and $1.5M into startups that are pre-revenue, in pilots, or early commercialization. Our conversation with Nate covers how New Stack seeks to fund “outsiders” that break the mold of traditional founders, how investment decisions are made at the pre-seed stage, and the different dynamics of the VC industry that influence how capital is allocated. Learn more about New Stack at NewStack.com Visit us at MiddleTech.com Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Logan's Twitter Nate's Twitter Middle Tech is proud to be supported by: Our presenting sponsor, KY Innovation Bolt Marketing The Johnson Law Group Render Capital

Giuseppe Stuto is Managing Partner of 186 Ventures, a $37m seed fund launched in late-2021. 186 has made 10 investments since inception, following on from over two dozen angel investments Giuseppe and his partner Julian made over the past few years. Across angel and seed investments, Giuseppe and 186 have invested in UiPath, Chainalysis, Ponto and dozens more.   Prior to starting 186 Ventures, Giuseppe founded Fam, a group video app that was acquired by DraftKings.   In this conversation, Giuseppe and I discuss seed investing in a bear market, differentiating as a seed investor in a competitive space and themes 186 is currently focused on.

Since early 2020, we've noticed numerous startups becoming Unicorn one after another. But something a bit unnoticed by the wider audience is the valuations of startups at Seed-stage, which has grown multiples in the last two years. Bipin Shah, Partner at Titan Capital and this week's guest, says, "Till 2019, a great startup idea with an awesome team would be valued around $2Mn to $3Mn, which has now gone up to $10Mn+."So far, Titan Capital has made more than 250+ investments in early-stage startups. Bipin shares his experience and the thesis around identifying, mentoring and investing in seed-stage founders.Notes - 01:18 - Joining Titan Capital06:10 - Finding Soonicorns and Unicorns08:27 - How did they manage to make 90+ investments in a year?12:02 - What support does Titan Capital offer to portfolio companies?15:58 - Thesis: Focus on bottom 50% of companies28:10 - Change in valuation at the Seed stage31:20 - Learnings in the last six years as an investor