Podcasts about sheel

What's next in fintech? In this high-signal episode, Sheel Mohnot (GP at @ Better Tomorrow Ventures) shares deep insight into the future of financial services, AI's impact on SaaS, and how VC is evolving in 2025.

In this all-new episode of Absolute Trust Talk, Kirsten Howe and her associates, Jessica Colbert and Ariana Flynn, delve into the complex estate battle surrounding the late San Diego Padres owner, Peter Seidler. The MLB team finds itself at the center of a legal dispute as Seidler's wife, Sheel, contends with his brothers over control of the franchise. With allegations of breached trust, fraud, and self-dealing, the case highlights the intricacies of estate planning for high-net-worth individuals and the potential pitfalls of ambiguous or informal documentation. While largely speculation, the conversation also explores the crucial role of trustee selection and the challenges of navigating ownership agreements in the context of professional sports. Tune in for expert insights on safeguarding your legacy, minimizing the risk of litigation, and ensuring your estate plan is as airtight as your favorite team's defense.   Time-stamped Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 1:08 To kick things off, let's dive into the complex estate battle of the late San Diego Padres owner, Peter Seidler. Listen in for a discussion of how Seidler's wife, Sheel, takes on his brothers in a heated legal fight to control the MLB team. 1:20 Breached trust, fraud, and self-dealing - the hosts break down the allegations and their implications for estate planning. 3:00 Next, let's examine the role of the Padres' "control person" and how it complicates the case and its potential outcome. 4:06 The function of a trustee is vital in estate planning. Here are some tips on how to avoid family feuds and ensure impartiality in estate administration. 7:05 Learn how Major League Baseball's unique ownership regulations can complicate estate planning for team owners. 7:59 Handwritten wills and informal estate documents: Why they often lead to legal disputes and how to avoid them. 9:12 Tune in now for what you need to know about recognizing the importance of following proper legal procedures to ensure estate plans are legally sound and enforceable. 10:36 Gain insights into how emotional reactions and unexpected human behavior can significantly impact estate disputes and learn strategies to mitigate these risks. 11:03 Key takeaways from the Padres' estate battle for creating effective and resilient estate plans.

Episode 685: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk about the most interesting things they've found this week.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Justin Caldbeck (8:02) Steve Houghton (20:15) James Currier (38:36) Furqan Rydhan — Links: • NFX - https://www.nfx.com/  • James Altucher - https://www.jamesaltucher.com/  • Agora - https://theagora.com/  • Sheel's MFM episode - https://youtu.be/-HfUCbnapKo  • Digital Gold - https://tinyurl.com/5n6kvm8d  • Predictably Irrational - ​​https://tinyurl.com/4beh8axz  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it's called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam's List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

In this episode Rex chats with Sheel Mohnot from Better Tomorrow Ventures. Sheel shares his journey of living on a dollar a day in India, founding and selling multiple companies (including one sparked by a chance meeting on a train), and even hosting nine weddings—one of them sponsored by Taco Bell in the metaverse. They dive into Sheel's evolving personal finance stack, from traditional banks to Robinhood's gold credit card, and discuss why consumer fintech is suddenly exciting again. Sheel also unpacks how AI-driven solutions are transforming bookkeeping, mortgage operations, and more. From vertical SaaS insights to San Francisco's culture of radical experimentation, this conversation is a whirlwind tour of where fintech is headed.00:00:00 - Introduction00:01:00 - BTV Office & Life Above Work00:02:46 - Microfinance & Typhoid Stories00:04:01 - Half-Billion Domain Startup00:05:13 - Nine Weddings & Taco Bell00:06:28 - Building a Modern Finance Stack00:08:14 - Credit Cards & Margin Lending00:10:24 - Bank Inefficiencies & Chime's IPO00:11:33 - Consumer Fintech: Lessons & LTV00:15:50 - B2B Focus & Early-Stage Strategy00:19:15 - AI in Services: Accounting & Mortgage00:23:07 - Vertical SaaS & Embedded Finance00:31:10 - AI's Impact on Low-Margin Services00:33:34 - Doing More with Less & Moats00:40:01 - Regulatory Shifts & SF's Future

Ben & Woods kick off the 9am hour by reading a statement from Sheel Seidler's attorneys in response to today's news that MLB owners have unanimously approved John Seidler to become the new Padres control person. Then we get to a late edition of "Don't (And DO) Do This" before we wrap up the show with The Reindl Report and Paulie's top stories of the day, including an odd trend with some MLB teams and their promotional giveaways. Listen here!

Ben & Woods kick off the 7am hour talking a little college hoops as San Diego State went on the road and got a big 69-50 win over Nevada. Then we get to "Don't (And DO) Do This" before the guys react in real time to a couple of new articles from the Union Tribune, including a Q&A with Sheel Seidler which all leaves us with more questions than answers. Listen here!

Bright on Buddhism - Episode 103 - What is a Dalai Lama? What is the meaning and significance of that position? Who is the Dalai Lama today? Resources: Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. Jr., eds. (2014). Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-15786-3.; David-Neel, A. (1965). Magic & Mystery in Tibet. Corgi Books.London. ISBN 0-552-08745-9.; Dhondup, K. (1984). The Water-Horse and Other Years. Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.; Dhondup, K. (1986). The Water-Bird and Other Years. New Delhi: Rangwang Publishers.; Dowman, Keith (1988). The power-places of Central Tibet : the pilgrim's guide. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 0-7102-1370-0.; Kapstein, Matthew (2006). The Tibetans. Malden, MA, USA. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 9780631225744.; The Illusive Play: The Autobiography of the Fifth Dalai Lama [aka 'Dukula']. Translated by Karmay, Samten G. Serindia Publications. Chicago. 2014. ISBN 978-1-932476-67-5.; Laird, Thomas (2006). The Story of Tibet : Conversations with the Dalai Lama (1st ed.). New York: Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-1827-1.; McKay, A. (2003). History of Tibet. RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 978-0-7007-1508-4.; Mullin, Glenn H. (1982). Selected Works of the Dalai Lama VII: Songs of Spiritual Change (2nd ed., 1985). Snow Lion Publications, Inc. New York. ISBN 0-937938-30-0.; Mullin, Glenn H. (1983). Selected Works of the Dalai Lama III: Essence of Refined Gold (2nd ed., 1985). Snow Lion Publications, Inc. New York. ISBN 0-937938-29-7.; Mullin, Glenn H. (2001). The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation. Clear Light Publishers. Santa Fe, NM. ISBN 1-57416-092-3.; Norbu, Thubten Jigme; Turnbull, Colin M. (1968). Tibet. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-20559-5.; Richardson, Hugh E. (1984). Tibet and its history (2nd ed., rev. and updated. ed.). Boston: Shambhala. ISBN 978-0-87773-376-8.; Van Schaik, Sam (2011), Tibet. A History. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.; Schulemann, Günther (1958). Die Geschichte der Dalai Lamas. Leipzig: Veb Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-530-50001-1.; Schwieger, Peter (2014). The Dalai Lama and the Emperor of China: A Political History of the Tibetan Institution of Reincarnation. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-53860-2. OCLC 905914446.; Shakabpa, Tsepon W.D. (1967), Tibet: A Political History. New York: Yale University Press, and (1984), Singapore: Potala Publications. ISBN 0961147415.; Shakabpa, Tsepon W.D. (2010). One Hundred Thousand Moons. An Advanced Political History of Tibet (2 vols). Leiden (Netherlands), Boston (USA): Brill's Tibetan Studies Library. ISBN 9789004177321.; Sheel, R N Rahul (1989). "The Institution of the Dalai Lama". The Tibet Journal. 14 (3).; Smith, Warren W. (1997). Tibetan Nation; A History of Tibetan Nationalism and Sino-Tibetan Relations. New Delhi: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-8133-3155-2.; Snellgrove, David; Richardson, Hugh (1986). A Cultural History of Tibet. Boston & London: Shambala Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-87773-354-6.; Stein, R. A. (1972). Tibetan civilization ([English ed.]. ed.). Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Univ. Press. ISBN 0-8047-0901-7.; Diki Tsering (2001). Dalai Lama, my son : a mother's story. London: Virgin. ISBN 0-7535-0571-1.; Veraegen, Ardy (2002). The Dalai Lamas : the Institution and its history. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld. ISBN 978-8124602027.; Ya, Hanzhang (1991). The Biographies of the Dalai Lamas (1st ed.). Beijing: Foreign Language Press. ISBN 978-7119012674. Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by tweeting to us @BrightBuddhism, emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com, or joining us on our discord server, Hidden Sangha ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/tEwcVpu⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

Get our Business Monetization Playbook: https://clickhubspot.com/monetization Episode 667: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Sheel Mohnot ( https://x.com/pitdesi ) about the biggest opportunities he sees right now.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Intro (2:33) iPod mini hustle (10:40) Being a dot collector (20:30) The $100M story of Thistle (24:30) IDEA: Affinity-based retirement home (34:30) IDEA: Yelp for professional services (38:48) IDEA: Pearly whites (42:10) IDEA: Outsourced pizza (44:40) The story of Grey Goose (48:00) IDEA: School for AI Tools (52:00) Sheel's credit card stack (59:00) Sheel's position on crypto (1:03:00) Learning to sell — Links: • Thistle - https://www.thistle.co/  • Sam's List - https://samslist.co/  • Pizzeria DeLuna - https://pizzeriadeluna.com/ • U.S. Bank Smartly Visa - https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/bank-smartly-visa-signature-credit-card.html  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it's called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam's List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

The San Diego Padres are in the midst of a lawsuit battle over ownership that involves the late Peter Seidler's wife, Sheel Seidler, and his brothers over who should control the team. While this situation doesn't appear to have a resolution in sight anytime soon, the future of the franchise will certainly hinge on how things unfold.Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman discuss the lawsuit and statement issued by Sheel, the obligation she feels to Padres fans and her late husband's legacy and her efforts to continue building a winning team. They also explore how this messy drama might be affecting the Padres' offseason plans, including their pursuit of Roki Sasaki and other free agents.Also on this episode of the Baseball Bar-B-Cast, the guys talk about the San Francisco Giants signing Justin Verlander and what his expectations should be heading into his age-42 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers trading Gavin Lux to the Cincinnati Reds and Brent Rooker signing an extension with the Sacramento A's. Later, the guys read a hilarious mention from Jazz Chisholm Jr., open the BBQ Mailbag and make their picks for The Good, The Bad & The Uggla. (2:34) - The Opener: Padres lawsuit drama(23:04) - Around The League: Justin Verlander to the Giants(31:27) - Dodgers trade Gavin Lux(40:13) - Brent Rooker signs an extension(48:25) - Sorry For Your Mentions(52:51) - BBQ Mailbag(57:03) - The Good, The Bad & The Uggla(1:12:25) - Remembering Brian Matusz Subscribe to Baseball Bar-B-Cast on your favorite podcast app:

Sheel Mohnot is the Co-founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures, an early stage fintech focused fund leading rounds in pre-seed and seed-stage companies.Our conversation weaves through Sheel's two decades of building and investing in fintech, starting BTV, and why they started a fintech-focused accelerator, The Mint.Fun facts on Sheel, he was a contestant on the Zoom Bachelor during COVID lockdowns, in a Justin Bieber music video, got married in the Taco Bell Metaverse, and was once banned from Uber.We talk lessons competing against Stripe before selling his first company, common fintech startup pitfalls, and the trick every VC should use when fundraising.Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(03:13) Why fintech makes disproportionate positive change(07:49) Most interesting opportunities in fintech today(09:09) The accountant shortage(12:59) Common early fintech startup pitfalls(16:09) Building Fee Fighters to cut payment processing fees(21:15) Lessons competing with Stripe(21:57) Getting acquired by Groupon and adding $600m in market cap(25:11) Biggest first-time startup mistakes(29:21) Getting $10k in Uber credit via paid Google ad(32:13) Investing in Flexport(36:19) Navigating hot vs underhyped rounds(43:39) Sheel's domain auction company(53:18) How he started angel investing(54:57) Spotify acquiring his podcast “The Pitch”(59:55) Why accelerators succeed and fail(01:06:07) The Mint, BTV's fintech-focused accelerator(01:09:56) Camp BTV in the Santa Cruz Mountains(01:11:41) Early days of NerdWallet(01:14:55) Raising $75m BTV Fund 1 with Jake to fill a gap in the market(01:18:36) Understanding Fund of Funds incentives(01:22:15) Importance of references in VC fundraising(01:24:02) $150m BTV Fund 2(01:27:13) Importance of following-on when leading roundsReferenced:BTV: https://www.btv.vc/ The Mint: https://www.themint.vc/ Fee Fighters: https://techcrunch.com/2011/09/23/feefighters-launches-payment-gateway-samurai/ Follow Sheel:Twitter: https://x.com/pitdesi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smohnot/ 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/ 

The Seidler Trust rereleases a statement about Sheel Seidler's lawsuit. Sheel responds and the war of words is officially on in the case for Padres control. Los Angeles devastated by multiple wild fires. 4:45 thoughts with people in LA for fires 13:00 crazy video of fire 21:00 pch fire 0:30 padres situation getting uglier 36:30 threat of padres relocation 41:30 racism confirmed 45:00 seidler's are dodger fans 55:00 raiders fire pierce 1:02:00 best ownership group in nfl 1:12:00 rams v. vikings 1:14:00 chargers should beat texans 1:30:00 cfb playoff 1:35:00 cfb playoff needs fixing 1:39:00 prize picksSupport the show: http://Kaplanandcrew.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Seidler Trust rereleases a statement about Sheel Seidler's lawsuit. Sheel responds and the war of words is officially on in the case for Padres control. Los Angeles devastated by multiple wild fires. 4:45 thoughts with people in LA for fires 13:00 crazy video of fire 21:00 pch fire 0:30 padres situation getting uglier 36:30 threat of padres relocation 41:30 racism confirmed 45:00 seidler's are dodger fans 55:00 raiders fire pierce 1:02:00 best ownership group in nfl 1:12:00 rams v. vikings 1:14:00 chargers should beat texans 1:30:00 cfb playoff 1:35:00 cfb playoff needs fixing 1:39:00 prize picksSupport the show: http://Kaplanandcrew.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Seidler Trust rereleases a statement about Sheel Seidler's lawsuit. Sheel responds and the war of words is officially on in the case for Padres control. Los Angeles devastated by multiple wild fires. 4:45 thoughts with people in LA for fires 13:00 crazy video of fire 21:00 pch fire 0:30 padres situation getting uglier 36:30 threat of padres relocation 41:30 racism confirmed 45:00 seidler's are dodger fans 55:00 raiders fire pierce 1:02:00 best ownership group in nfl 1:12:00 rams v. vikings 1:14:00 chargers should beat texans 1:30:00 cfb playoff 1:35:00 cfb playoff needs fixing 1:39:00 prize picksSupport the show: http://Kaplanandcrew.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Peter Seidler's widow Sheel, is suing his brothers to gain full control of the Padres. The Chargers are favored on the road vs. Houston. The Rams are underdogs at home vs. the Vikings. 6:50 this sucks for Padres 14:00 seidler's statement 19:30 peter seidler had to have a plan 30:30 moving the Padres? 38:00 who could own the Padres 46:45 can the Padres keep spending 54:00 who the heck is John Seidler 1:03:00 stephen a on skip bayless 1:10:00 fox story / joy taylor 1:22:00 rex ryan back to jets 1:32:00 why is vrabel the next guy 1:49:00 prze picksSupport the show: http://Kaplanandcrew.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We expected to be talking about Roki Sasaki and Luis Arraez rumors. A bombshell Monday morning changed that. Sheel Seidler has filed a lawsuit in hopes of gaining control of the Padres franchise from her late husband's brothers. Derek and Darnay discuss the main points of her complaint, the two sides' differing visions for the franchise, and the impact of the power struggle on the organization and its fans.

Already we are seeing NFL coaches getting blown out as the regular season ends. Are more coaches going to drop? And who will replace them? We break down the NFL's final weekend with focus on the Chargers, Lions, Ravens, Rams, Panthers, Texans, Jets, and 49ers. Are the Dodgers, Padres, and Angels about to make a deal? Plus, we get into the war of words between JJ Redick and Charles Barkley, the Jimmy Butler situation in Miami, and a big weekend for the Aztecs and Tritons in college basketball. Plus, off the High-Speed Sports Wire we have NHL and EPL news and notes. Got a question or comment for Hacksaw? Drop your take in the live chat on Facebook, X or YouTube. Here's what Lee Hamilton thinks on Monday, January 6, 2025.   1)...NFL...WIN-GO TO PLAYOFFS...LOSE...YOU LOSE YOUR JOB "BLACK MONDAY"   2)...NFL SEASON ENDING SUNDAY "SHOOTOUTS-BLOWOUTS"   CHARGERS LIONS RAVENS RAMS CAROLINA TEXANS JETS 49ERS ------------- 3)...BASEBALL...BUSY WEEKEND... RUMORS-DEAL "DEALS IN SD-LA-ANAHEIM" =========== (HALFTIME-DIXIELINE LUMBER) ============ 4)...LA LAKERS...BAD BLOOD COACH AND TBS-TV “BAD BLOOD – JJ REDICK, CHARLES BARKLEY"   REDICK... ..."HIGHLY CRITICAL MEDIA REASON TV RATINGS FALL   BARKLEY ..."CRAPPY PRODUCT-KEEP JACKING UP 100-3'S A NIGHT: ..."YOU FIRED VOGEL-HAM GOOD COACHES ..."LAKERS ARE FLAWED" ..."SAME UGLY GIRL-PUT LIPSTICK ON THAT PIG ..."YOU ARE DEAD MAN WALKING" ---------- 5)...MIAMI HEAT-UGLY DIVORCE COMING "JIMMY BUTLER-SUSPENDED" ---------- 6)...AZTECS-TRITONS...VERY DIFFERENT WINS "IMPRESSIVE WINS" ----------- 7)...NAMES IN THE NEWS "OFF THE SPORTS WIRE"   OILERS DUCKS VANCOUVER LIVERPOOL SOCCER ================ .         =============== #nfl #JETS #PATRIOTS #RAVENS #BROWNS #BENGALS #STEELERS #TEXANS #JAGUARS #TITANS #CHARGERS #RAIDERS #BRONCOS #COWBOYS #GIANTS #COMMANDERS #LIONS #PACKERS #VIKINGS #FALCONS #BUCS #SAINTS #PANTHERS #49ERS #RAMS #SEAHAWKS #PADRES #DODGERS #shoheiohtani #ANGELS #rokisasaki #petealonso #NOLANARENADO #hyeseongkim #ncaa #sandiegostate #aztecs #briandutcher #UCSD #ericolen #milesbyrd #coachprime #TRAVISHUNTER #ASHTONJEANTY #CAMWARD #justinherbert #quentinjohnston #jkdobbins #laddmcconkey #samdarnold #aaronrodgers #kirkcousins #MIKEVRABEL #dougpederson #jaredmayo #nhl #DUCKS #OILERS #canucks #heat #jimmybutler     Be sure to share this episode with a friend!   ☆☆    STAY CONNECTED    ☆☆ For more of Hacksaw's Headlines, The Best 15 Minutes, One Man's Opinion, and Hacksaw's Pro Football Notebook: http://www.leehacksawhamilton.com/   SUBSCRIBE on YouTube for more reactions, upcoming shows and more! ► https://www.youtube.com/c/leehacksawhamiltonsports   FACEBOOK ➡ https://www.facebook.com/leehacksaw.hamilton.9   TWITTER ➡ https://twitter.com/hacksaw1090   TIKTOK ➡ https://www.tiktok.com/@leehacksawhamilton   INSTAGRAM ➡ https://www.instagram.com/leehacksawhamiltonsports/   MUSIC ➡  https://www.purple-planet.com     To get the latest news and information in sports, join Hacksaw's Insider's Group. It's free! https://www.leehacksawhamilton.com/team/ Thank you to our sponsors: Dixieline Lumber and Home Centers https://www.dixieline.com/  

Peter Seidler's Widow Sheel Files Lawsuit Against Peter's Brothers For Control Of Padres. SDSU Ast Coach Ryan Badrtalei Joins Us To Talk About The Teams Big Win At Boise St And More.

Peter Seidler's widow Sheel, is suing his brothers to gain full control of the Padres. The Chargers are favored on the road vs. Houston. The Rams are underdogs at home vs. the Vikings. 6:50 this sucks for Padres 14:00 seidler's statement 19:30 peter seidler had to have a plan 30:30 moving the Padres? 38:00 who could own the Padres 46:45 can the Padres keep spending 54:00 who the heck is John Seidler 1:03:00 stephen a on skip bayless 1:10:00 fox story / joy taylor 1:22:00 rex ryan back to jets 1:32:00 why is vrabel the next guy 1:49:00 prze picksSupport the show: http://Kaplanandcrew.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A lawsuit has been filed in a family dispute over control of San Diego's baseball team. Correspondent Gethin Coolbaugh reports.

The latest on the Padres and Sheel Seidler situation

Peter Seidler's widow Sheel, is suing his brothers to gain full control of the Padres. The Chargers are favored on the road vs. Houston. The Rams are underdogs at home vs. the Vikings. 6:50 this sucks for Padres 14:00 seidler's statement 19:30 peter seidler had to have a plan 30:30 moving the Padres? 38:00 who could own the Padres 46:45 can the Padres keep spending 54:00 who the heck is John Seidler 1:03:00 stephen a on skip bayless 1:10:00 fox story / joy taylor 1:22:00 rex ryan back to jets 1:32:00 why is vrabel the next guy 1:49:00 prze picksSupport the show: http://Kaplanandcrew.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Wednesday December 18, 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Wednesday December 18, 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Tuesday July 30, 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Tuesday July 30, 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There may be no better pair of fintech investors than Better Tomorrow Ventures Jake Gibson and Sheel Mohnot. After successful exits in the industry -- Jake as the co-founder of NerdWallet, one of the OG consumer fintech companies, and Sheel with FeeFighter and Innovative Auctions, Jake and Sheel saw a gap in the market and started a fund to help fintech companies at the earliest stages. And they've already had some big wins, counting Ramp and Unit as Portcos. Jake and Sheel joined us on the pod to tell us how they built their previous companies and talked to the future of fintech and the the trends they're seeing across the industry. We cover the pandemic-induced surge in fintech interest and how their big bet is on embeddable fintech, where financial services are seamlessly integrated into non-financial platforms. Chapters: 00:00:35 Tyler & Sterling's Intro00:07:05 Starting NerdWallet during the 2008 Financial Crisis00:12:34 How Jake Gamed Google SEO To Grow NerdWallet00:19:08 How Better Tomorrow Ventures Started00:24:17 Early Support from Andreessen Horowitz for Fund00:30:08 Fintech Investment Opportunities During The Pandemic00:37:38 Embedded Fintech Is The Future00:45:52 The Durbin Amendment & Changing Bank Profit Pools 00:55:47 Jake And Sheel's Nominees for Best Operators & Investors Connect with Jake And Sheel Twitter (Sheel): https://twitter.com/pitdesiTwitter (Jake): https://twitter.com/iamjakestreamWebsite: https://www.btv.vc/Learn More About The Minthttps://www.themint.vc/Connect with IO Pod Twitter: https://twitter.com/IO__podcastTiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@io_podcastYT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCayuY0VO95kQTUXJvh9T0oQWebsite: https://www.investoroperator.io/This episode of the IO Podcast is brought to you by Pelion Venture Partnershttps://pelionvp.com/#StartupLife #StartupMentality

Follow us on IG! Tom Kelly @tomcarloskelly Sheel Mehta @sheelmehta Dev Swami @the_dev_swami

Spoke with drummer Sheel Davé about getting major label interest in High School with Irepress, Being dorm mates at Northeastern, Forming Eclectic Collective and Bad Rabbits, The Karma Loop and basement shows era, Making an unreleased album with Teddy Riley, Being endorsed by Zildjian and Pearl, and Getting back to the basics.

This week we have a reading of 'The Shell to Sea Campaign and its Legacy' by campaigner, freelance journalist and photographer William Hederman. William takes us through the history of the Sheel to Sea campaign and draws a thread between this campaign and its successes and what we can learn from the campaign today. ---- Rupture Issue 10 out - The theme of the issue is AN IRELAND FOR ALL and features articles on the causes of the rise of a far-right in Ireland, lessons from Sweden, Germany and the Rock Against Racism movement of the 80s and more . If you would like to subscribe to the magazine go to ⁠https://rupture.ie/subscribe⁠ --- Rupture Radio is a weekly podcast looking at news, politics and culture from a socialist perspective. It is produced by members of the RISE network within People before Profit, and is linked to Rupture - Ireland's Eco-Socialist Magazine. Check out the magazine at ⁠rupture.ie ⁠ Anyone who would like to support the podcast can do so on our Patreon. Sign up today at ⁠https://www.patreon.com/ruptureradio⁠ Any comments or queries please send them to LeftInsidePod@gmail.com or get in touch on ⁠Twitter⁠. See you next week, cheers! Social media: Rupture Radio ⁠https://twitter.com/RuptureRadio_⁠ Rupture Magazine ⁠https://twitter.com/RuptureMag --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ruptureradio/message

He's the Co-Founder of Effectiv Ai This week's guest is none other than Ravi Sandepudi It was a blast chatting with Ravi And we covered lots of ground: 1. His Immigrants story 2. Sheel and BTV 3, Paths crossing with Elon Musk and David Sacks or not 4. Google and PayPal Tech Mafias Connect with Ravi below: X(formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/sandepudi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandepudi Connect with the host Roohi Kazi on the below platforms: Instagram-roohik2 LinkedIn: Roohi Kazi Twitter: https://twitter.com/roohi_kr Visit this link for more listening options/platforms for the Business Podcast by Roohi, and next step groups: ⁠https://bop.me/roohikaz⁠ Business Podcast by Roohi Website: https://businesspodcast.transistor.fm/ Subscribe to the Business Podcast by Roohi newsletter here: ⁠https://businesspodcastbyroohi.substack.com/⁠ Subscribe to the YouTube channel here: ⁠https://youtube.com/@bizpodroohi?si=V4VxfkFEO4AlEiIz⁠ If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review of the podcast here on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-podcast-by-roohi-vc-startups/id1516165457?uo=4 Or rate it on Spotify Would really appreciate it! Follow Business Podcast by Roohi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/business-podcast-by-roohi/ DM me on X or LinkedIn- if you are interested in sponsoring episodes of the podcast

Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Friday September 8, 2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Friday September 8, 2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He's an OG in the Fintech Space He is the Co-Founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures He got married in the metaverse This week I had a conversation on the podcast with Sheel Mohnot(Co-Founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures) We talked about: 1. Immigrant Mentality and Bias for Action 2. The Mint Accelerator 3. The Pitch Show And so much more Connect with Sheel here: Twitter: https://twitter.com/pitdesi Check out Better Tomorrow Ventures here: https://www.btv.vc/ Check out The Mint Accelerator here: https://www.themint.vc/ The sponsor for today's episode is Akshat Jain Akshat is an incredible resource for those who want to learn more about the VC space Connect with Akshat here: LinkedIn.com/in/akijain2000 Connect with the host Roohi Kazi on the below platforms:Instagram-roohik2LinkedIn: Roohi KaziTwitter: https://twitter.com/roohi_krVisit this link for more listening options/platforms for the Business Podcast by Roohi, and next step groups: https://bop.me/roohikazBusiness Podcast by RoohiWebsite: https://businesspodcast.transistor.fm/Subscribe to the Business Podcast by Roohi newsletter here: https://businesspodcastbyroohi.substack.com/Subscribe to the YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_wI_t2KXX2Oqz0VDDe9sMgIf you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review of the podcast here on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-podcast-by-roohi-entrepreneur-marketing/id1516165457?uo=4 Follow Business Podcast by Roohi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/business-podcast-by-roohi/

In This Episode Welcome to this week's episode of Breaking Banks where we feature pieces from cohosts and Provoke.fm sister podcasts NextGen Banker and Tech on Reg. First, David Reiling, host of NextGen Banker, interviews Sheel Mohnot cofounder of Better Tomorrow Ventures, discussing Sheel's first foray into the fintech world with a non-profit and why he's dedicated his career to making the consumer experience better. Spoiler alert, they also talk about his recent viral wedding in the Taco Bell metaverse. Then we shift to Biometric Signatures: The Digital Dotted Line, and Dara Tarkowski's conversation with Matthew Gibson Co-Founder of Syngrafii. From virtual signing rooms to remote pens and more, they cover the digitization and compliance of signatures and the changed landscape of biometric signature capabilities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIg9avTcTS0

Welcome to another episode of the Build In Public Podcast.Today's episode features Sheel Mohnot, the co-founder and GP at Better Tomorrow Ventures, a $225M fund that helps fintech founders at their early stages.BTV has also recently launched a fintech accelerator, this time under its own roof, called The Mint.In this interview, Sheel and KP uncover Sheel's remarkable journey, sharing their perspectives on topics like:● Intro● What Sheel is most proud of with BTV● Sheel being the most relatable VC ● The definition of winning and levels of wealth ● The dynamic experiences, setbacks and passion of immigrants● What Sheel finds most inspiring about his father's immigrant journey● Lessons learned during his leadership at 500 Fintech Accelerator● Top investments they made at 500 Fintech● Why Sheel loves early-stage companies● The Mint: its mission, vision and how they built it● Patterns and traits that great entrepreneurs have● Time founders should spend on building vs. talking to users● The Mohnots' Taco Bell metaverse wedding● Story behind The Pitch Show● Sheel's request for startups● What he would want to buildBuild In Public Podcast is an interview show where KP chats with ambitious startup founders, CEOs, and top Internet creators to unpack their stories, insights, and lessons.Thanks for listening! Links:Sheel's Twitter: https://twitter.com/pitdesiBetter Tomorrow Ventures on Twitter: https://twitter.com/btv_vcBetter Tomorrow Ventures: https://www.btv.vc/The Mint: https://www.btv.vc/KP's Twitter: https://twitter.com/thisiskp_KP's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/KarthikPuvvadaKP 

Sheel Mohnot is a Co-Founder and General Partner @ Better Tomorrow Ventures, a $225M fund that leads rounds in pre-seed and seed-stage fintech companies globally. Sheel and Jake (his co-founder) invested for many years together before founding BTV and wrote checks into Mercury, Flexport, Ramp, and Hippo Insurance to name a few. As for Sheel, before BTV he ran 500 Fintech for close to 7 years, and before that was a founder, founding two companies, both of which were acquired. In Today's Episode with Sheel Mohnot We Discuss: 1. VC Needs to Change: Why does Sheel believe that VCs should have smaller funds? What are the biggest misalignments between founders and VCs today? What are the biggest points of friction between VCs and their LPs today? 2. VC in 10 Years Time: Who are going to be the winners in venture in 10 years time? Who are going to be the losers? Will micro-funds be bigger or smaller as a segment of the ecosystem? Will solo-GPs be bigger or smaller? Were they a zero-interest rate phenomenon? 3. The Errors of a Bull Market: What does Sheel believe are the single biggest mistakes made by VCs between 2020-2022? Did Sheel take liquidity off the table in the last few years? What have been some of his biggest lessons on when to sell? How does Sheel evaluate the flood of capital into emerging markets in the bull market? What happens now? Fintech is also experiencing the same challenging time, how does Sheel assess what is happening in the fintech financing market today? 4. Building a Fund: Lessons, Mistakes and Advice Scaling to $225M: What are the single biggest mistakes Sheel and Jake have made in the fun scaling? How has it impacted their mindset? What does Sheel know now about fund management that he wishes he had known at the beginning? What advice does Sheel give to emerging managers today, raising their first and second funds?

That Sheel Mohnot, Founding Partner of BTV, is a natural storyteller and a good hang, you can just figure that out with his Twitter feed and his track record of creating one of the most popular startup podcasts. That he also happens to be one of the sharpest minds in FinTech investing which makes him an exceedingly interesting guest.This is a wide-ranging conversation that covers Sheel's early days, what he learned as a founder, and how he's grown as an investor. Enjoy!A word from our sponsor:The team at Ripple is always focused on helping our founders and portfolio companies find the best partners to work with within the tech and venture capital ecosystem. And that is why we are so excited to announce our partnership with the incredible team at Torys LLP. When it comes to legal support and advice, the team at Torys is the best in class. Torys is a storied Canadian law firm with offices in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Halifax and New York City. Torys has been around since its founding in 1941.They have always worked closely with players across the emerging startup ecosystem in all aspects of the creation, acquisition and commercialization of businesses. They help founders determine when and how much to fundraise, how to achieve the right economic structure, how to think about board and control issues and how to successfully navigate different stages of growth. They are also advisors to VC funds, strategic investors, private equity funds and other institutional investors on fund formation and shareholder arrangements to buyouts and other exits.In fact, Torys recently acted as counsel to Maverix PE on the transformative $260M  Miovision Technologies growth funding with an advisory team that included Dany Assaf, Konata Lake and Max Schwartz-Labell on that investment.So whether you are negotiating a new business arrangement or developing a new service offering, Torys helps clients seize new opportunities and build creative, market-leading business models in this fast-paced world we live in every day space.Visit torys.com to learn more.About Sheel Mohnot:Sheel Mohnot is a founding partner of Better Tomorrow Ventures. Before BTV, Sheel was a Partner at 500 Startups, running the 500 FinTech Fund and the FinTech track within the San Francisco Accelerator program. His recent startup experience includes 2 successful FinTech exits – a payments company and a high-stakes auction company. He also created and hosted a podcast called The Pitch.He formerly worked as a financial services consultant at BCG and did Microfinance work at the non-profit Kiva. Sheel holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a BS from Carnegie Mellon. In this episode we discuss:(02:58) Sheel's journey to becoming a FinTech investor(07:55) How did growing up in India and around the world help shape him(11:14) Sheel's time at Fee Fighters and why they sold to Groupon(13:33) What he learned at Groupon(16:31) How the Pitch Podcast came to be(18:58) Selling the podcast to Spotify(20:58) How Sheel started as an Angel investor(22:24) 500 FinTech as a stepping stone to becoming a VC(25:05) His first fundraising experience(28:30) Investing in BTV's first company before they had finished fundraising(30:18) How his investing journey has evolved(32:22) The importance of being a sounding board for founders(33:20) BTV's investing thesis(35:18) Who Sheel looks up to as investors(36:29) Why VC needs to be collaborative(37:28) The importance of partnership in the VC/Founder relationship(38:56) Concrete things early-stage founders should ask from their VCs(39:37) How power law informs all of VC and portfolio construction(43:14) Lessons from Sheel's anti-portfolio(44:59) His stay with Brian Chesky at Airbnb LAFast Favorites*

We're going into a galaxy far away to experience the ultimate commitment – the very first legal marriage in the Metaverse! We're chatting with long-standing guest Sheel and his now-wife Amruta about their Taco Bell Metaverse Wedding that got written up by People Magazine (yup, you heard that right). We're discussing how a metaverse wedding even works, what happens when two people aren't always on the same page regarding that next level of commitment, and how weddings are being reimagined in 2023.Follow us @dateablepodcast. Check out our website for more content, virtual live show dates, and merch. Join the Sounding Board at https://www.dateablepodcast.com/soundingboardFollow us @dateablepodcast, @juliekrafchick and @nonplatonic. Check out our website for more content. Also listen to our other podcast Exit Interview w/ iHeart Podcasts available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.This episode is sponsored by:BetterHelp: Get 10% off your first month of online therapy at betterhelp.com/dateable with the code DATEABLEHelloFresh: Get 16 free meals plus free shipping by going to hellofresh.com/dateable16 and use the code DATEABLE16Drizly: Download the Drizly app or go to Drizly.com and use promo code FAST5 for $5 off your first order.Dateable is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. You can find more outstanding podcasts to subscribe to at frolic.media/podcastsOur Sponsors:* Check out Drizly: https://drizly.com* Check out Factor 75 and use my code dateable50 for a great deal: https://www.factor75.com/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/dateable-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This year, Taco Bell broadened its stakes in love. On February 24th, 2023, Taco Bell held its very first metaverse wedding, where lifelong Taco Bell fans Sheel Mohnot and Amruta Godbole said “I do” in a wedding ceremony in Decentraland.  Winning out over 300 couples, Sheel and Amruta give Taco Bell CEO Mark King the inside scoop on how they worked closely with Taco Bell to plan their wedding and will relive moments from their happily ever after.  Watch Mark, Sheel and Amruta get interviewed inside the metaverse here.

Sheel Ohri  who is a author &  Entrepreneur  talks to the women agenda For all advertising or if u would like to be featured on the podcast : talentspotlight309@gmail.comcheck out the live video interview & subscribe to our women agenda channel as we feature live interviews with leading women artists & emerging artists every week www.youtube.com/c/TheWomenAgendaour website for the latest podcast news: https://thewomenagendapodcast.com/check out sheetal ohri website for latest information on her book etchttps://www.sheetalohriauthor.com/Support the show

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.On today's episode, we have Sheel Mohnot, the co-founder and Partner of FinTech VC fund Better Tomorrow Ventures.Sheel is a career fintech investor and operator. He has built Better Tomorrow Ventures into an active pre-seed and seed stage fintech VC that has grown to over $225M AUM. Prior to founding BTV, he was the GP at 500 FinTech, where he was the first institutional investor in Albert, Kin, Indio, Chipper Cash, Ethic, and others. He was also an early investor in Stripe and Flexport. He also co-founded two fintech startups – FeeFighters, which was acquired by GroupOn, and Innovative Auctions.Sheel and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of FinTech, how to build and scale an emerging manager, the challenges of raising a first time fund, and why smaller funds can outperform.We didn't have a chance to discuss the experience of his Taco Bell wedding in the metaverse, but congrats Sheel and Amruta on your marriage and wishing you happiness in both life and the metaverse.Thanks Sheel for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your wisdom and experiences.

In this episode you will learn:How does access to credit impact low income countries like India?Why does Sheel insist on a minimum ownership of 10%?What are the reasons for Sheel's reluctance to invest in startups that need to raise a lot of funds?Are both first-time founders and second-time founders equally willing to accept the valuations offered by Better Tomorrow Ventures?Under what circumstances would Sheel stop supporting one of his portfolio startups?What kinds of fintech startups are poised for success in this decade?Do all neo banks face challenges with customer trust and what factors are preventing them from competing with traditional banks?What are Sheel's plans for scaling Better Tomorrow Ventures in the coming years?AboutSheel Mohnot is a Co-Founder & Partner at Better Tomorrow Ventures, a seed-focused venture capital firm that invests in transformative fintech companies founded by exceptional individuals across the world. With its second set of funds amounting to approximately $225M, Better Tomorrow Ventures is dedicated to investing in innovative ideas that can revolutionize the fintech industry. Sheel's exclusive focus on fintech investment dates back to 2015, following a couple of successful FinTech exits. Sheel has also co-founded the podcast "The Pitch," which was acquired by Gimlet Media / Spotify and attracts around 100k weekly listeners. Additionally, Sheel has co-founded Thistle, a food company that serves tens of thousands of customers every week.

Sheel Mohnot is Co-Founder and General Partner at Better Tomorrow Ventures, an early-stage fintech VC currently investing out of its $225m second fund.   Sheel is a former founder, having built a tech-first card processor way back in 2010 which was quickly acquired by Groupon.   Since 2014, Sheel has been angel investing and, as of 2016, investing full-time.   Sheel is an incredible Twitter follow and constant source of information, insight and entertainment.   In this conversation, we discuss how fintech VC has changed over the last few years, the state of the early-stage market today, what separates elite seed funds from others, building social capital as an investor, the investment areas Sheel is currently focused on and more.   Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Sheel Mohnot.

INTRODUCTION: I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Exposition, with an interdisciplinary in Literature, from Moody Bible Institute. I was one of two recipients of the MBI Homiletical Jury Award for outstanding preaching in 2016. I have experience as a youth pastor, pastoral intern, academic journal editor, and guest speaker. I used to be a part of the largest cult in the United States. In 2019, I published my first book, The Cult of Christianity, as a first step in addressing the subtle issues of this complex system. In 2021, I continued my work with this podcast!   INCLUDED IN THIS EPISODE (But not limited to): ·      How Christianity Is A Cult·      A Look Into TCOC Book's Cover Art·      How The Church Exploits Vulnerabilities ·      Civil Rights Movement Implications·      Explained: Control – Contain – Convert·      Refusing Cake To The Gays! – But Why Though?·      The “Karen-ness” Of Christians ·      Fake Oppression·      Getting Over Self-Condemnation For Falling For The Church·      The Honor In Self-Deprecation  CONNECT WITH JOHN: Website, Social Media & Books: https://linktr.ee/thecultofchristianity  CONNECT WITH DE'VANNON: Website: https://www.SexDrugsAndJesus.comWebsite: https://www.DownUnderApparel.comTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sexdrugsandjesusYouTube: https://bit.ly/3daTqCMFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/SexDrugsAndJesus/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sexdrugsandjesuspodcast/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TabooTopixLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devannonPinterest: https://www.pinterest.es/SexDrugsAndJesus/_saved/Email: DeVannon@SDJPodcast.com  DE'VANNON'S RECOMMENDATIONS: ·      Pray Away Documentary (NETFLIX)o  https://www.netflix.com/title/81040370o  TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk_CqGVfxEs ·      OverviewBible (Jeffrey Kranz)o  https://overviewbible.como  https://www.youtube.com/c/OverviewBible ·      Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed (Documentary)o  https://press.discoveryplus.com/lifestyle/discovery-announces-key-participants-featured-in-upcoming-expose-of-the-hillsong-church-controversy-hillsong-a-megachurch-exposed/ ·      Leaving Hillsong Podcast With Tanya Levino  https://leavinghillsong.podbean.com  ·      Upwork: https://www.upwork.com·      FreeUp: https://freeup.net VETERAN'S SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS ·      Disabled American Veterans (DAV): https://www.dav.org·      American Legion: https://www.legion.org ·      What The World Needs Now (Dionne Warwick): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfHAs9cdTqg  INTERESTED IN PODCASTING OR BEING A GUEST?: ·      PodMatch is awesome! This application streamlines the process of finding guests for your show and also helps you find shows to be a guest on. The PodMatch Community is a part of this and that is where you can ask questions and get help from an entire network of people so that you save both money and time on your podcasting journey.https://podmatch.com/signup/devannon  TRANSCRIPT: John Verner [00:00:00]You're listening to the sex drugs and Jesus podcast, where we discuss whatever the fuck we want to! And yes, we can put sex and drugs and Jesus all in the same bed and still be all right at the end of the day. My name is De'Vannon and I'll be interviewing guests from every corner of this world as we dig into topics that are too risqué for the morning show, as we strive to help you understand what's really going on in your life.There is nothing off the table and we've got a lot to talk about. So let's dive right into this episode.De'Vannon: John m is back with us again to go harder into his very provocative book, the Cult of Christianity. Join us today as we discuss the ways in which the church mind fucks us, violates us, and exploits people's vulnerabilities. Also, I hope that through this episode you begin to find a sense of healing in knowing that if you or your loved one has been devastated by the.[00:01:00]You are not alone, honey. We are in this together. John and I are with you,and we will walk with you every step of the way.Hello everyone and welcome back to the Sex Drugs in Jesus podcast. I'm your hostess with the mostest, Devon Huber. And I have with me the lovely, the handsome, the talented, the smart, intelligent, brave, bold, and in touch with his emotions. John er, he is the John: host, John De'Vannon: er mm-hmm. , John er. He is the host of The Cult of Christianity podcast.And the author of the book titled the same. He was on my show before to talk about, well, the book, but then we got so deep into his history in the podcast. We didn't get a chance to talk about the [00:02:00] book, so I had to have the motherfucker back on so we can dive into this shit. How the fuck is you? John: I is fine.20, 20, 23 feels like a little bit of a reset. And so I'm, I'm kind of living in that head space of like, all right, what's next? Since we last spoke, I went, I can't, I don't think I had started back working on my master's in journalism. And so that's been taking up a lot of time. I'm, I'm, it's all online, but I'm studying at N Y U mm-hmm.And that's been awesome. I've been, been doing some religious reporting stuff, which is, is fun. I'm excited to kinda move towards that, doing religious reporting. It's pretty fun. De'Vannon: Well, congratulations. Congratulations. And all of it was a good thing. . So you're religious reporting like say for, for like, for like the university's press John: or like where Yeah.For right [00:03:00] now. Yeah. And then yeah, I'm already, I'm hopefully gonna sell my first, I'm actually right after we record this, I'm gonna have a meeting to hopefully sell my first story of a church investigation I did. Cuz that's what I wanna do. I want to, not just Christian churches, but I want to go into churches and colts and investigate them and figure out what's really going on De'Vannon: as someone should.Have you heard of the Trinity Foundation in Texas? John: Yeah. You mentioned that last time we talked. I didn't, I didn't look too far into them, but I know there's, there's several. This is a relatively new thing that's popping up that's actually really, really important work. De'Vannon: So what you're telling me is there's organizations who investigate churches more than that one.This is becoming like a trend. Well, John: religious reporting has been around for, for decades, but it's been done in a very kind of general way. And I think there's being a small push to be like, let's actually look at individual, like if someone is whistle blowing on their [00:04:00] church or is like giving us leads about a specific church, that it should be fair game and we should investigate them like we would any other business.De'Vannon: Right. Well, I wish you success with that as you get going and keep going, be sure to let me know if there's anything that I can do for you because, you know, I don't give a fuck about churches, but I give all the fucks. I give all the fucks about Christ as I always say. Mm-hmm. , but the church. Yay Jesus. And that's the way that, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.Now, before we get too much into this, I want you to tell me about that coffee mug in your hand. Can you hold it up the camera so that we can see Yeah. What it says. Apostate coffee roasters. You mind giving us a little bit of history on what the fuck apostate means and where you got that from? Yeah.John: Apostates just a derogatory term that different cults and religions have thrown at people who, typically it's someone who, like me, who used to be a part of the faith and is no longer [00:05:00] but it's, it's more broadly a pro. A similar word would be something like heretic. But the, yeah, so prostate coffee roasters, they're this coffee company that is run by ex Mormons and Mormons are not allowed to drink coffee.So it's a very like, empowering thing for them to roast their own coffee and make it so they're awesome. Love 'em to death. They're great. Make good coffee. So their De'Vannon: whole show is one big clap back. Not the whole show. Their whole fucking concept is one big clap back. Mm-hmm. . So do you have any idea why Mormons think coffee is Satan?Why do they think coffee is of the devil? John: Yeah. I don't know personally too much. You know, I didn't grow up Mormon or anything. I do know that just in my studies of Colts , what they do is one move to do is to control what people eat and drink. You know, in Southern Baptist culture that looks like alcohol [00:06:00] you know, in, in certain pockets of Christianity, historically there was only certain kinds of bread you could use for communion.Anytime you're trying to regulate what people are eat, eating, you're regulating what they're putting into their body. That's just a, that's just a very like kind of you've mentioned stuff like hypnosis. It's, it's a very like, Kind of mind numbing way to control a person is to control what they eat and drink.The other big one I talk about a lot is controlling what you wear. That's like a, that's a big thing that pops up in different cults. You'll see usually a distinction between how clergy dress and the followers and how people dress on Sunday versus the rest of the days is common in Christian circles.So basically if you can control what someone expresses and you can control what someone intakes, it's very easy to control their mind cuz you're already controlling their body. . [00:07:00] Mm. So that would be my, my, my spin on it. I don't know the theo, I don't know what theological reason they made up for coffee.Like I, I'm sure there's some, I'm sure somebody said it was you know, too addicting at some point is probably the modern version, I would assume. De'Vannon: Well, if that was the case, at least those bastards were even across the board, you know, unlike say the Pentecostals who were like, that was show not drinketh of the vine, but they're gross in a fucking gallon of coffee in the back every Sunday and like that.But that's all good, right? . John: Yeah. Well that's also, yeah, especially, especially if they go the grape juice route too, because even grape juice is from a vine. So that's kind of. , De'Vannon: it's all silly. The marijuana, the L s D mm-hmm , the shrooms, the coffee beans, the grapes, and any of their derivatives is something that is of the Lord.And it is not for humans to tell us what the fuck. We can't do really with [00:08:00] anything, but it's certainly not anything that grew up out the fucking dirt. Hmm. So, speaking of artistic expressions, cuz you're also fucking artistic. I mentioned the, the cover for your podcast the last time, but I wanted to talk about that again because I feel like it's just so enigmatic and so polarized and you have this big, huge fucker standing on like a pedestal and his little minions bowing before them for him sucking his dick or whatever the case may be, paying HOK in some way.And the interesting thing is you can't tell whether or not that's supposed to be a preacher, a rabbi, a pope, a pastor that's supposed to be God, you know, or Jesus or some like sort of deity. , and I know you said it before, but I'd like you to just tell us again why you went with this cover art, because I think it's so true.John: Well, this is a, every so humans like categories we like [00:09:00] to find a group. We like to label things as good and bad. And there's not necessarily anything wrong with that. That's just kind of how our brains work. And the problem is we've got kind of this weird concept of good guys and bad guys, and the church is pretending to be the good guys while they're being the bad guys.But you end up having to label specific things that are wrong because there's so many goodhearted people in. . And so a lot of times when I critique Christianity, people wanna spend the conversation of, well, you're not critiquing Christianity. You're critiquing this version of Christianity, which isn't necessarily wrong, I am way more focused on White American evangelicalism than the rest of it.But White American evangelicalism was not a term when there were slavery in the us. There it existed, but we hadn't [00:10:00] labeled it that yet. The Crusades, the was not only white people, was not American people and was certainly not evangelicals, but the Crusades were bad . And it stemmed from their beliefs their Christian beliefs.So I can't say everything all at once. , but what I hope the art communicates is the, the problem that I've spotted, the category that I think everything else falls from is the idea of leaders and followers of other people submitting to someone else. I don't really, I, I think it's worth bringing up white supremacy.I think it's worth bringing up patriarchy. I think all those things are very much worth talking about, but I don't think it's the only thing going on. I think we have a we're, we're sometimes scared, and I think we've been made to be scared of pointing out that what's really going on in churches is that cult structure of one man with [00:11:00] other people having the knee bow to him either literally or metaphorically.So again, the art is, is purposely vague because I think unless there's some fundamental changes 40 years from now when evangelicalism won't exist, it will be gone. We won't be calling anyone an evangelical anymore. The same problems, the same structure, the same issues will still be present unless there's foundational changes.Chow, I'm De'Vannon: getting Game of Thrones flashbacks. Okay. Like, how many season is it gonna take to get you to bend the knee? John Snow, get on down there. Boy. and motherfucking service. Yo, queen God damnit. And so . John: Yeah. Well seasons is an interesting way of thinking about it. Both television and, and you know, weather or whatever.But it's true. Like there's seasons of Christianity that that kind of come and go. But what seems to remain is that structure of one person being in charge of others or [00:12:00] multiple people being in charge of multiple others. But there's always that hierarchy. So again, I, I have tried to update the art before, but I think it, I think it's just the, it, it's, it's about what I'm talking about most specifically.You know, that my art. on that is in line with the problem I'm trying to point to. There's many other people who are doing great work to dismantle white Evangelicalism and I support all those people. But to me, that's not my niche. That's not what I'm trying to talk about. Hmm. Then De'Vannon: tell us like it, you know, and make it official here.What, what are you trying to talk about? What is your mission in this world? Hmm. John: I'm not just against Christianity, I'm against cults. I just know how much of a cult Christianity is. Hmm. And the reason I'm against cults is it's an erase. It erases people's identity. It makes their vulnerabilities their whole personhood.It [00:13:00] it, it limits them to a very narrow way of. , and I think there's cult speak outside of, you know, there's a lot of cult speak in the business world. There's a lot of cult speaking, just American culture when it comes to politics. So I'm against all of it across the board, the one I'm just super familiar with, and can get very detailed and very like you know, just kind of a prime example.And unfortunately a very big example in the US is Christianity. And one of the ways, it's the biggest example is it's absurd that the largest cult is the most protected class of people in the country. Like, that's concerning to me. We have an organiza a loosely organized group of people that are protected by constitutional rights and legal rights more than anyone.and they're not oppressed, but they're that protected and that's a very dangerous, as we've seen, very dangerous combination. So they're worth talking about the most, and it's the one I can [00:14:00] talk about the most, but I'm against cults across the board. I'm not just bitter about my church hurt, I'm not just upset because of this, that, and the other.This is a real problem that really needs to be talked about in real ways and real solutions need to happen. De'Vannon: That's interesting you say like the, these ultimate people's vulnerabilities, their whole personality. I've never heard it stated like that before. So from from the people who've reached out to you in response to your book or your show or the work that you're doing, do you have any sort of, I don't know if we would call it a testimony, any kind of bullshit somebody shared with you that a, a church or a cult put them through that was particularly scary or moving to you that you can recall?John: Yes. To me. So I, I have two thi things that I think of with that question. One is, nothing surprises [00:15:00] me anymore. Nothing . It, it can still hurt. It can still shock me. It never surprises me. It only makes me feel like, yeah, that makes sense. And frankly, I only feel like I was five clicks away from being the victim or perpetrator of whatever bad thing happened, because that's what the system breeds.It, it breeds perpetrators and victims . I mean, that's just what it does. There's, there's many horrifying stories. Sometimes I avoid telling them because, When you tell like a really I guess salacious, for lack of a better word story, like someone who, like, you know, I have an episode of my podcast where I interview a guy who was kidnapped by Christians, right?About as extreme as it can get. What people do is go, well, those Christians were crazy. Those were the crazy ones. [00:16:00] Or like, if someone talks about, you know, this is unfortunately becoming, we're all becoming aware how common this is. When someone was sexually harassed or abused by someone in the church they, they go, well, that, that guy needs to leave.Like he's, you know, he's bad. And, and the church would, that church was bad, but you should come to my church. You should do this, you should do that. It, it just gets a little exhausting for me to kind of engage and. Let me tell you this horrible story because frankly, the horrible story doesn't change anyone's mind because the cult won't let it change your mind because your empathy has been pressure washed out of you.You, you don't, you don't ha the story doesn't tug at you because the thing that tugs at you more is you've been told how ashamed you are and how shameful your existence is. And the only hope for reming that shame is believing in Jesus Christ. And so that belief that's so firmly held is actually gonna [00:17:00] trump your ability to be empathetic towards someone's story.So yeah, I could sit here and I could, off the top of my head at least tell you three stories that would make a lot of people who are unfamiliar with churches that would make their jaw drop, but it wouldn't change anything. And it's very sad because we want to believe that people's horrifying stories change stuff.And I think it does and to, and I think it can. . But I think a lot of the times it actually ends up being counterproductive because the cults, the cult leaders are anticipating that they've already done a lot of work to build a firewall against that particular human thing of storytelling to promote change.You know, I no better example than like Martin Luther King Jr. Right. You know, told amazing stories, was a great orator. Not the per, not a perfect person, but someone who told a lot of great stories and who was, showed the impact. And we like to [00:18:00] pretend that that changed the church and up more positive direction.But did it, I mean, I, I mean, what, what tangible, measurable things can we point to that were changed within church culture? I'm not talking about American culture in general. There was great things that came outta the Civil Rights Movement. What did the church really change? Not a lot. It just changed their verbiage, which they always changed their verbiage.But, but systemically what really changed. So if you want horrible stories, I can give them, but that's why I'm hesitant to a lot of the time is cuz I'm not sure it's actually that helpful. De'Vannon: What you said is, look, you said what you said . Okay. Did I accept that when I think of Martin Luther King or any of the civil rights, I never, ever think about the church, you know, except for the fact that the church stood silently by why people were murdered in the streets and stuff like that, you know?You know. [00:19:00] How's it say that? Well, John: and, and I mean, I mean, even Evangelicals hated Martin Luther King Jr. They called him a thug. They. There, there's a letter from the guy who wrote the Left Behind books. There's a letter from him to Wheaton College because they had a memorial service after King was shot.And he said, how could you celebrate the life of this man? They didn't just passively like, not like m l K, they hated him. Jerry Falwell hated Martin Luther King Jr. Because he was for segregation. So like, and again, like I, I, you know, I know this is an intense topic to go to right off the bat, , but, but I just think, I think we, I think sometimes those of us who have left the church think if we just tell enough stories of how bad we've been hurt, Christians will change.They don't give a shit. They don't, and it's, and some of it's not even their fault. A lot of the followers have been brainwashed to not give a shit. And [00:20:00] so the, the best hope is we can, with our stories, what we can do is help people who have already left know that they're not alone. Which is huge and that's really important work and people who are looking for a way out might find the way out.But if you're talking about systemically changing what cult leaders are gonna do it, it ain't gonna do shit. De'Vannon: Right. I concur. So, you know, that's why like in my ministry, man, I am preaching not to church people, but the people who have already been hurt or people who, who know people and love people who have been hurt because people don't go to church for the betterment of humanity.People go to church for entirely selfish reasons, to keep themselves outta hell, to work out their own self, soul, salvation, whatever it is. They're going there to get their blessing, their miracle. They're come up, they're not going there cuz they give a fuck about you. And then so yeah, I concur. There is no talking to them hardheaded people.Like if they're setting up there every god damn Sunday or whatever, they're not gonna be able to hear us [00:21:00] because they're constantly being re indoctrinated and re hypnotized by the big man up on stage or we god damn week. or the woman or the who of the fuck ever twirling about. So yeah, they're a lost cause shot of a miracle.John: Yeah. I, or also just explaining systemically what happens, you know, if you, if you're able to generalize it more than just a specific person, like one person's story and you can show them the patterns. You know, I used to be a cult leader, you know, I studied to be a pastor. I got out, I was hardheaded then.But the reason I got out was not because I heard a story that was finally, you know, enough, it was cuz I kept seeing the same thing over and over again. And I was like, this is just how a cult operates. And I was in denial about it. So I think cult leaders, the way you do reach them is say, don't you know what you're doing?Like, you know? Right. And if you actually focus the conversation on that and not just the extreme cases of bad things that happen, but actually point [00:22:00] to like the pattern. Like, okay, so do you have control over your congregation? . Like, that's a great question to ask a pastor because they'll, they'll struggle.They cannot give a yes or no que answer to it. But just be like, do you have control over your congregation? And you'll it then watch how they react. Cuz you'll see some interesting things. . You De'Vannon: can also ask 'em to apologize for something and get that same reaction cuz those bastards won't say they're sorry.And so, so now that you're speaking about control, I wanted to talk about, so y'all, his book, the called of Christianity is broken down into three succulent sections. The first one is called control. The section one is the sexual, the sec, second one is called Contained. Clearly I need to gimme some dick.Where the fuck did that come from? And the third one is called Convert. And you'll always, whenever you hear John's talk, he'll always say, control, contain, convert, control, contain, convert. And so, and that's how his book is broken down. And if I may, I'm gonna [00:23:00] read a little sniff it. That kind of echoes what you were just saying.And Howard, I had already taken down in my notes. Now, this is John speaking y'all, and he's saying, I don't recant anything in this letter. I said, holding back tears. I was feeling tired, dressed down, confused and hurt, yet unwilling to go again. So what I knew to be true, the truth was I had spent three hours in a boardroom that reminded me of the one I had seen in The Apprentice.I want you to tell us what the hell was going on here and why were you crying. . John: So yeah, so this is the first chapter of the book, and this is kind of, I, I, you know, my, my rose bud, my whatever, my my or villain or hero origin story, depending on how you look at it. So I was 16 years old going to a pretty stuffy church Presbyterian church, p c a for whoever that means [00:24:00]something to suit and tie church.And I was, I was angsty, you know, at the same time I was also in a punk band. I had grown out my hair. I was still very Christian, like, very conservative Christian, in fact. But I, you know, was around people who, you know, I, I, I was ex, I was becoming an adult, right? Like in as much as a teenager does.And the church was just ridiculous. And so, like, I, I had this whole rigamarole of, of beef with the, the leadership of the church. So I sent a letter. to email. I emailed the pastor and said, here are my problems with this church. And I had broken it into four sections of just like, they don't respect the youth of this church.They have a bad view of music. That was important to me cuz they were like, they had this whole, like, contemporary music is evil. They were like one of those. And [00:25:00] then they there were a couple other things. Oh, they, the way they hated Catholics actually really bothered me. The way they talked about Catholics was very not okay in my opinion.And then basically I'd told them I would never invite a friend to church here. Like I would never, like, do y'all want to actually save people? Because I would never invite. Yeah. So I wrote this whole long letter, sent it to the pastor. He forwarded it to the elders. I told my dad afterwards about it and my dad and dad was like, can I read it?And I was like, sure. I signed it to him. He is like, all right, proud of you. This is good stuff. . And so I told my parents that I wanted to face the elders alone. So we would go to their session room, which was a long wooden table, had like chairs on all around it. And then on the wall it had pictures of Martin Luther.It had Swingley and it had John Calvin. And then it had like these bookshelves that [00:26:00] were just like full of like reformation propaganda. And so it's me and the three elders I knew the most. And then for, for three hours they talked to me about how my long hair was sinful, which was the first time like, I thought, only crazy churches believe that, right?And they were like, no, you're trying to look like the world with your hair. And I was like, what? And then they talked about my best friend who dressed in all black, like how, you know, they're dressing in all black. Same friend was in the band with me and was just like, said, they look like the world.Talk to me about how I was the one who was disrespecting them. They weren't disrespectful of you, of youth. I was disrespectful to them and that yeah, that basically I, and, and I didn't confront them correctly. I shouldn't have written a letter. When you have a problem with someone, you go and confront them, and then if they don't listen, you bring another, you [00:27:00] know, the whole Matthew 18 dumb ass shit.And so I just, I, I was a wreck and so I cried. Eventually my dad came in, and that's the cool part of the story. My dad comes in and he goes, what happened? And, well, no, my dad comes in and actually the first things outta his mouth was who was yelling at my son. And it was a, it was a good moment for me and my dad.Our, our relationship only got stronger after that moment. then they started talking about the hair and stuff. Then my dad goes, look behind you. And there's like, you know, his wingy with his long beard and stuff, and he is like, and my dad goes, the person who sh what? I can't even remember the terminology anymore.The person who led me to the Lord, that's how they talk. The person who led me to the Lord had long hair. Like, what are you talking about? You know? and so it kind of got tense and then yeah, at the end I say I don't recant, which was a paraphrase of what [00:28:00] Martin Luther said when he was brought before, Catholics and, and excommunicated.cuz I thought that would be an extra sting of, since they idolize this man so much. that was the first time I switched from being a blind follower. I stayed a Christian for many years after that, but I stopped blindly following what church leaders say that day. De'Vannon: I like that whole recant thing.Like I was saying earlier that you said what? You said , I'm might, I might hit a bitch with that one day I recant, not it. John: Lost the fuck out. Yeah. It, it's a little dramatic. Well, because they, well, one of the elders said like, do you, do you have like, I want to give you the last word. Is there anything you wanna say?Because I could tell by the look on their face, they felt like they did something good. They felt like they did a good job of putting me back on the right path. [00:29:00] And I was like, guys, y'all just proved everything I said. Like, I, why would I recant anything? and they were, they were mad frankly. They were mad.De'Vannon: They always are. They, they were that way with Lakewood, you know, you know, when they, when the ki when the, when the kids choir director and the adult choir director were firing me from all aspects of volunteering for not being straight. Despite the, despite, aside from the fact they would call me in the office and question who I'm dating and stuff like that, trying to get all into who I'm fucking and whatnot.Well, I mean, we can't even fuck even doing all that. Just, you know, or hold hands or shit, I guess, whatever their rules were, you know? Mm-hmm. , when they offered me their conversion therapy package in order to stay and to be demoted, quote unquote, to an usher from being on, you know, camera and television and stuff in the more public ministries, and I got up to walk the fuck out, they were so confused, you know, that I didn't accept their conversion [00:30:00] therapy package.And they, when they were talking to me, they felt like they, they, they, they felt like I had hurt them and offended them. You know? Like, how could you, how could you hang out with gay people when you're not here, ? John: Yeah. I mean, when you, when you think, when you, you, when you think you're divinely appointed by God people aren't supposed to argue with you.And if they do, they're spo. If someone argues with you, they're arguing with the Lord. I mean, there's some who would never say, no, no, no, no, no. Like it's, it's, I don't, I don't have that kind of authority, blah, blah, blah. But I'm like, but in practice, like, I mean, this is what we keep agreeing to by showing up to church is that you're divinely appointed by God to do whatever the hell you wanna do, frankly And so, I, I don't know. I mean, it's, it's, but it's so sad, right? It's so sad that it happens to not only, you know, [00:31:00] adults or like people who've put a lot of work into the church. it happens to very vulnerable people. It happens like in my case, to a child. I mean, I was 16 years old and I had grown ass men ripping me a new one because I just challenged their bad behavior.I mean, this is what we were working with. Imagine if I was like a woman when I did that, or like, You know, or, or like, you know, not, not white, you know? yeah, like, I, I, I mean, it's just horrifying, right? It's, it's all about once you deviate from, the, the program, I mean, you're gonna, you're gonna experience some, some shaming at minimum.De'Vannon: Hmm. Some shaming in some shade. Yeah. Especially white men, they don't like to be told what to do and, and that they're wrong. They're accustomed to stepping on all the little brown people and stuff like that. But for the record, my brother, I think you got plenty of soul. You are always invited for the motherfucking cookout.any damn [00:32:00] day about to be crawfish season down here. Come stay with me. I got room in my house. I'll get you some soul food and fattening you up a little bit. , John: man, I miss soul food. You know, there's obviously a lot of great stuff here in Atlanta, but now I'm vegan, so like, so much of it is like off the table for me now.It's very sad. De'Vannon: So that means no crawfishes for you. Well, vegan is not. Yeah. There's no dairy in that, right? There's no dairy in, yeah, video1579991175: but John: it's a, it, it's an animal though. De'Vannon: You can't eat any animals either. John: Okay. I'm gonna have no animal, no dairy, some vegan De'Vannon: seafood shit for you. John: So some collards though. I can have some collards, which is good.You know, I De'Vannon: grow mustard greens. I got them in the backyard right now. Ooh. Okay. I cut you a pot. John: Let's goDe'Vannon: So the section called contain mm-hmm. march. Stuck out to me. In, in, in here. So I have long loathed Christian people for this fake oppression and things like that. Like what you mentioned earlier. We're gonna talk about [00:33:00] the myth of Chris and Daria. Mm-hmm. , after we talk about this whole people not wanting to make cake for the gaze.Bullshit. I like the way you said it. I'm gonna read a little ex sweeped as bugs bunnies, , sometimes racist ass would. Say he can't help how Disney dressed him. Sometimes he was in drag, sometimes he was talking to people in blackface. But there's a whole thing out there on YouTube about, you know, Disney and the different cartoons, racism.Go look it up cuz unfortunately Bugsy was in there too. So Romans 12 versus 20 through 21. This is from the book, says to the contrary, if your enemy is hangry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink For Baso doing, he will heap pointing cold on his head. So do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.John goes on to say, perceiving gay folks as enemies is [00:34:00] problematic in and of itself, but even if you do, I fail to see how refusing to give people some cake. Cake, cake, cake, cake scores you any brownie points for the God.John: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it, it is wild, right? Like that's, it's, it's, it's just, and it shows the contrary, like there's an evangelical message of we need to serve all people. And then there's another message that they're saying at the same time is like, but not if, I'm like, well, if there's a but not if, then the first thing doesn't make any sense.De'Vannon: And Jesus is saying, it is your most basic bitch Christian level. You gotta feed a bitch. You know, two people can be in a relationship and on the verge of divorce. I mean, if a pot of food is cooking, you, you can at least share that. I mean, yeah. Nevertheless, you've been commanded to do so. You're not supposed to leave people starving and without clothing.No matter how much you [00:35:00] disdain them, you're supposed to piss on them if they're on fire. It's stuff like that, no matter how much you don't want to mm-hmm. . So you conservative assholes out there when you don't wanna make me a cake because I walked in with eyeshadow on, just know. You're written of in the scriptures.You hateful ho. Yeah. Now then this myth of oppression, like you talked about earlier. Christians are a bunch of big fucking Karens running around something like. The God the world is against them. The moment they can't stop. I don't know, a trans athlete from participating in sports, then, oh my God, I'm being silenced.My rights are not being heard. I'm being so persecuted. Bitch, no one's coming after you. You just got told no for trying to come after somebody else. No one actually attacked you. . Mm-hmm. . I can't say anything more about this. So tell us who the hell, Chris. Chris and Aria . John: If, if memory serves me, I was telling you before we started recording, I, I wrote this [00:36:00]book a while ago, so I'm like, I don't actually remember all, everything, but the, that's the, the couple that supposedly got saved early on and, and really it was all about Chastity.Like they were like this couple that was, you know, like, oh, chastity is so great. and then because they're seeking to convert others. I think according to the story, it's Rome supposedly who throws a, i I think one gets fed to a lion, the other gets fed, burned at the stake, whatever. It's a pretty classic version of just early church persecution.There's a million different stories like this of just like different Christian heroes who were early Christians who, you know got converted and, and then they, you know like start, started bolstering the movement and Rome doesn't like it, so they killed them. 90% of those stories aren't true. They never happened.They were made up. It was just, it was just made [00:37:00] up. I mean, I really don't know what else to say about it. It's just, it's unverified. There were a few that happened and there was also some early Jewish persecution in that same time. That was absolutely happening. , but Jewish Christians, which was what they were at first did that kind of lumped their Jewish Christ Christendom beliefs with other sex of Judaism that were actually being persecuted.And so it just became this kind of whole glob of like of myth of saying that like, oh, if the people find out you're Christian, they'll wanna kill you for it. And that bread, like this whole martyrdom complex which is very similar obviously to a Messiah complex. And so yeah, it's just, it just, there's a lot of stories like that that, you know, you, you're free to fact check.Never happened. But they're told from the pulpit they're, you know, they're told the old, you'll hear a mirror million [00:38:00] different versions of basically like they were singing songs while they were being burned alive. They were reciting scripture while they were being burned alive. Didn't happen.It just wasn't very common. Occasionally there was some mob violence that was killing Christians, but it just wasn't a common thing. De'Vannon: I can't believe that the band was really playing as the Titanic ship went down either . But if that's what might not have, well, if that's what Rose wanna say, then we'll have to believe Rose or what the fuck ever.I want that diamond bitch, you know? . Okay, . So basically the Christian Church is a bunch of drama queens and stuff like that. And I, I, I don't know, you know what I want you to talk about, like, people who leave the [00:39:00] church and like blame themselves or haven't been duped by them because I went through that for like a really long time. , you know, it's like I was mad at myself, as they say, for buying this bullshit. True. I, looking back on it now, with a healthy mind, I was vulnerable.They took advantage of me, but I did not think that way for a many, many years. It's like, why was I so stupid? Why did I let them do that? You know, there's a grieving that happened in some, some self-loathing that came in there on me.John: Well, let me tell you a story. Yesterday I was driving to the grocery store and I saw someone on the side of the road that had a sign that said, Jesus saves. And I got outta my car and I went and talked to them. After about 30 minutes, I realized this was the most beautiful person I ever met. And guess what?The story I just told you is not. [00:40:00] So no . Not that I've just made that up. I didn't go to the grocery store yesterday. Oh. So the thing got me yo , I got, I got everybody. And that's why you shouldn't feel duped. We trust, that's what we do as humans. When someone's put, when something's put in a story form, we're compelled by what they're saying.That doesn't make anyone stupid. That makes us have empathy. That makes us like beautiful people. We don't need to blame ourselves. We need to blame people who take advantage of that. Now, I was able to just tell you I was lying and no harm is really done right. , we gotta now, but there might be a listener who goes, oh, I can't trust this guy.If he's able to lie that good, you know, fine. Don't. But the thing is, churches have built an entire system that took the storytelling, the beautiful storytelling of Judaism and just wrecked it for their own purposes. and added, took away, changed, edited [00:41:00] the story. You are not stupid for wanting to believe in a story that, that, that, that's just the thing you have to know.There's no, there's no stupidity. It's all on them . It's all on them to bear the responsibility of, of having power, of having and kind of a monopoly on redemption narratives. I mean, they've kind of created this universe literally where the, they, they have a redemptive narrative that is attributed to them.They should wield that power carefully, and they don't. So no. Anyone who gets caught up in believing it, don't blame yourself for that. That's, you're a human being. Don't blame yourself for very normal human things to do. And don't blame other people who are still believing it. understand where they're coming from.It does take work. It's not easy. I don't have a [00:42:00] magic bullet solution, but I just think being aware of why you fell for it is important. Cuz most people didn't fall for it for evil reasons. They usually fell for it for really, really good, important reasons. Mm-hmm. . De'Vannon: So a another quote that you say from your book, it's concerning these foolish people.You say, John says, y'all the claim that they are in a relationship with Christ, that their churches are their families and that they love sinners, but hate sin and that divine beauty is interwoven through all of it. John says, cool story bro. Doesn't mean you're on a cult. . John: Yeah. Well, and it's true. It's just like there's, there's a, there's an element of family that, that they pretend to provide.and that's fine. And sometimes it, it's not all pretend. Sometimes they do some really important things for each other. I don't see why that's intention with the idea that they're a [00:43:00] cult though. I, I, I think, I think you can do good things while being in a cult. I just think cults are bad things. De'Vannon: Just don't drink the Kool-Aid bitches.I'm just saying. Pour it upon the ground and run the fuck away. So then the final run, run, run, run for is run. So the final section called Convert. Hmm. I thought this was such a confident statement for you, for you to write, and I just, I'm just like reading it cause we wanna talk about hell and whether or not you believe it's real, because one of his chapters is I believe it's called a, a yeah, it's called a made up thing called Hell.Y'all. John is the most titillating, tantalizing, thought provoking. This makes you wanna dive into them like some good pussy or some good pussy. Chapter titles. I mean, the, the, the, the, the, I'm gonna read some of 'em. Slave Segregation, sorry. Faux wait. Merit faux [00:44:00] Meritocracy with a side of the Theocratic Tyranny.Selective History, the Myth of Oppression. Made of thing. Call held superficial and super fiscal. You know, the, the, the, just the Fuckings chapter Titles are art. You know what it's gonna be about. And, you know, shit's gonna be edgy and fresh and everything that, that, you know, that we need right now. And so, whew, chapter ta fucking chapter titles gave me life.So, so from, from, yeah. The John: chapter titles are better than the book. So , De'Vannon: that right there is exactly what I'm gonna read now. You exude so much fucking confidence because of the way you're able to slay yourself and kind of make fun of yourself, but then not really, you know, you have to have like the biggest pp or just not even care because you, you just, you're just so like authentically you and you're so like, relaxed about it.Y'all, this is what John says about himself growing up. He says, I doubt [00:45:00] I am the only one to have grown up dabbling in mature discussion topic. It is way too. Wait, what the fuck? Wait, wait. Lemme say that again. I doubt I'm the only one that have grown up dabbling, mature discussion topics way too young to remember being younger than 10 and debating with my cousins over suspicion about who goes to hell.Young is honestly, I'm sure of any philosophers, theologians, our professional commentators, communicators have been around or had been around for this adolescent think tank vomit, would escape from their mouths quicker than corrections even. So good for us for trying to figure out life's deepest questions.And I thought, how, how? Just confident, you know, just to, just to be able to look back on yourself and laugh without being negatively critical. You know, like, I can't believe I thought or did that way. Ha ha ha, ha ha. But here I [00:46:00] am today, so. Can you speak to us about that sort of self-confidence? Where did you get that from?How are you able to look back and say, my God, you know, I was a mess, but not attack yourself. You know, just appreciate where you were then while taking in where you are now. Make jokes about it and just go on swinging your big dick through life, . John: So how do you Well, I was gonna say, I was gonna say the large penis is most of itBut I, no, I think it's so here's the thing. Truth be told, most of my friends would not describe me as confident. Writing provides a, allows me to be the best version of myself. And so what comes across in my writing as confidence is probably what I want to be. It's not always what I am. [00:47:00] The other answer I'll give is therapy.I, I punish and it used to be worse. So I've come a long way, but I punish myself for some of who I was. But I had a therapist. Tell me once how many years is enough to punish you for what you did? On very different things, you know? I mean, I have a, I have a lot of shame about all sorts of things I wish I had done differently in life.But what's, but what's my sentence, right? Like, what, what, what, how long do I have to negatively talk about who I was before? It's enough, before enough time has passed, before I've given myself enough lashes, so to speak. Like, what's the number? Put a number to it. And when she said that to me, it kind of, just reshaped how I thought about things.I'm like, there really isn't anything [00:48:00] stopping me from being the person who I want to be. So that's a little deeper answer than that little anecdote about me talking to my cousins about hell . It was. But I think I, I appreciate you seeing that that that is something actively working on as we speak, and something I want to get better at is, and it's not so much self-confidence, although I, I, I, I, I know I'm witty and I, you know, I, there's just certain personality traits I know about myself.But I wanna love myself and I haven't figured it out yet, but I used to not even want to. And that's the, the biggest change that happened in my life is when I, not, not when I woke up one day and started loving myself, but when I woke up one day and said, loving myself should be a goal. because for a long time it wasn't even a goal, and I was indoctrinated to believe that it would actually steer me away from heaven or my loved ones, or [00:49:00] love in general.If I tried to love myself, I would become selfish. I would become sinful. I would become self-serving because the only way, proper way to love yourself would be to love God. I don't agree with that anymore. I, I think that I th first off, there's a trope going around that's been going around for a while, that you have to love yourself before you can love other people.Bullshit. I'm calling bullshit on it. You can love people so deeply while you hate yourself. You can, you can have all sorts of love. The, the, the, the truth behind that trope is it will not be sustained. You can't sustain love for other people if you're not actively practicing love with yourself.Because love is a practice. It's not just like a thing, you can't help. It takes work, it takes choices. It does take feelings, but it takes controlled [00:50:00] feelings. It takes managed feelings. And for most people it takes some therapy. And therapy can look different for different people. It doesn't have to be sitting on a couch.You know, I, I used to do activity therapy with my therapist going on walks. You know there's all sorts of things you can do for you, and no one's gonna know what you need more than you. But yeah, I, when I look back at my past self, I do feel a lot of shame. But the fact that my goal is to not makes all the difference in the.De'Vannon: Well, I hope you overcome all of that. And I just, there no, remember Jesus being on the cross where I think he had a murder on one hand and a thief on the other? And you know, the Lord says the only sin he won't forgive you for is if you blaspheme the Holy Ghost, which is not something really easy to do.I don't think most people even know what the fuck that means. And so that doesn't mean that as a human we don't have to work through, you know, shame and [00:51:00] guilt. But, you know, I just always like to remind people, you know, and you of that, you know, all things are forgiven no matter what, you know, you know, according to the word of, of Jesus and his work on the cross.So this means a murdering people, oh God, fuck y'all. I'm not saying go out and slice people down, just thinking, go run to the church and ask for forgiveness. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying like, if you're sitting in jail somewhere and you done done it and it's been 20 years and you killed whatever person, Okay, that's over.Now, you know, you have a path forward, but Jesus does require us to tell the truth about everything, you know, to make whatever amends we can to people realistically, you know, and safely, you know, if the person's around, he wants us to as, as, as he says, leave our gift at the altar and go get right with the person.And not to let the sun go down on our anger. But there is always redemption. There is always grace, is grace is sufficient for us. No matter what you have done, you just don't blast being the Holy Ghost. Everything else. It's fine. I regret having sold so many god damn narcotics to people who I [00:52:00]could tell were too, were so weak-willed that I could bend them, you know, to, to my, to my desire.You know, sometimes I think about that, but you know what? It's over. I don't sell drugs anymore. I hate the fact that I prayed on them in their vulnerabilities. You know, to make myself feel good. That's John: such a big one. Can, can I focus on two things real quick? Whatever the hell you want. Okay. Okay. Because pr preying on vulnerabilities is a big part of my shame too.Hmm. And it's really hard because I grew up in a cult that taught me how to pray on people's vulnerabilities. Subtly, not like explicitly, but just being in that environment and all of that. So that's a hard, hard thing. So good on ya. For, for, you're correct. I mean, it's something you can't change.It's not, you know, the damage is done. And you do have to accept that that was a u that [00:53:00]doesn't exist anymore or even more accurately. That's a u that you've done work to and make sure that you're not prey on vulnerable people anymore. And whatever small bit of you that was either naturally good at it or indoctrinated to be good at preying on other people, if you're able to change that about yourself, you are so much better off than so many people who are in the cult who cannot turn that off and have no mechanism to turn that off.The second thing is I don't think you need Jesus for that forgiveness and grace personally. I don't wanna take it away from anyone . That's not, that's not my personality. I'm like, if that, if that, but I just, I would, I would be amiss and offbrand if I didn't if I didn't say you do not need Jesus to have grace.You need yourself to give grace to yourself. Forgiveness is something you can offer yourself to. And [00:54:00] so I, I just, I, I have to get that in there of like, Jesus is a cool archetype, is a cool story, is a cool whatever for it, but you don't need it. And if it's too triggering for you, walk the fuck away.Get the fuck out of there. You don't need it. De'Vannon: I say both because even with Jesus offering all, even when Jesus offering all the forgiveness in the world, if a person cannot accept it or cannot conceptualize that as a reality, then it, it'll never, even though they have it, it won't be in their reality. So to them it won't exist.And so I, I hear you on the self-work part of it. I throw Jesus in there. John doesn't, why, why don't you, why don't you feel like, so do you think, do you, do you think Jesus is more of like a story if he was like a cool guy, do you not believe that he is the son of God? Oh, he is not John: Well, and I'll say why he is not First off, Jesus is only as much God as you and I are.In my [00:55:00] opinion is how I would spin that if I wanted to. Son of God was coined by Paul. Jesus never said he was a son of God. He does make that like illusion where in, in John where he says like I am the father or whatever. Son of God is specifically a Greek term that Paul was using because that was a more familiar Greek idea.Judaism did not have the idea of a son of God. The Jewish understanding of Messiah was not supposed to be a God. It was supposed to be an enlightened human being. So those are just things that developed later. So I just, that terminology doesn't resonate in my worldview. Again, I'm not here to necessarily dog on people's personal beliefs, at least of all yours.But, but I, I more just want to make that clear distinction that it's like what I like about Jesus. Is what's reported about him through a very biased lens, , and through like a very [00:56:00] like developed and evolved narrative, the redemption narrative that we've landed on with Jesus is incredibly powerful, and I think a beautiful story that is probably more beautiful than any other story in literature I can think of.And there might be some sort of value that you can attach to it. I just don't think you need to worship Jesus to get anything De'Vannon: interesting. Oh, I don't take any of this personal, I'm always one thing about Christianity in the, in the, in the, the pursuit of spirituality. In my humility, I guess it might not be too humble for me to call myself humble, but you know, like , that my fucking humility, my fucking god damn humility, I, I understand that not everything is known about the approach to God, the approach to the trinity.You know, I don't believe that I have all the answers and I have enough sense to know anything that I think could be wrong, except for in the case that I've had, like [00:57:00] something miraculous happen, like a dream, a vision, an angelic appearance, you know, a touch by the Holy Ghost, you know, or something like that, you know?Mm-hmm. , my personal experiences, you know, you know, are non-negotiable to me, but my understanding of word of, of what's written absolutely negoti because you know, as I've gotten more into it in trying to learn the original Bible languages and the way they were written in the cultural influence and stuff like that, I've had something like, wow moments.Like, what the fuck? Now, when I was over in the Middle East last year, you know, I was shocked to learn that, you know, where was I at? I was in the United Arab Emirates. You had an Egyptian tour guide and stuff like that, and he was all like taking us all these moss and stuff. He was like, , we don't believe that Messiah has come, you know?Mm-hmm. at all. They're, they're like, Jesus was cool, and they're all about worshiping God. They believe Allah and God are like the same to them, but they're like, N Jesus just one of the other enlightened ones, but they're very dedicated to their, to [00:58:00] God and everything like that. I feel like more dedicated than Christians are, and they're more real about it and shit like that.You know, if I, you know, I could, I could easily fit into, into, you know, the Arabic culture over there. So I'm not surprised to hear you say that you don't necessarily think Jesus is the son of God, because those people don't either. I, I choose to believe that they're massive prosperity comes from their devotion to who they believe in and the way that they treat each other.Mm-hmm. so, so So, so what you're saying is based on what you read and researched Son of God, and Jesus always called himself the son of man according to what I read. You know, but, but I've never, I've never what considered what you've said before, that someone else called him Son of God, you know, he never called himself a Christian.You know, anything like that. Or as you put it, John, you say, every man before Jesus came up with rules, Jesus got rid of him. And then every man after [00:59:00] him added more rules. Mm-hmm. . So people, yeah, people tend to like to add shit. I quote you on that from time to time on my show, I'll be like, John Vanier said this, and soJohn: Yeah. Well, and to be very clear, I, I, I admire and even dare say I'm am inspired by Jesus. But I just, I just, the only, the only thing when it comes to the practical side of things is just anytime my, like my alarm bells go off, when there's a direct tie between, you need Jesus. . That's just like a big red flag to me.Not because some people might need Jesus actually, like personally in their own personal life, it might enrich it, it might give them a spirituality. I like to think of it as a template. It gives them like a template for their spirituality. That's great. But the second it's pe all people need Jesus.Then I'm like, fuck no. I'm like, , get, get that, get that outta my face. Because that is, [01:00:00] in my opinion, going back to the artwork. That's what can create that like hierarchy is just creating that need for Jesus. De'Vannon: Yeah, and that's another thing. I have enough goddamn fucking humility to, to realize that not everybody's going to be a follower of.I know that, you know, as I, as I say, from time to time, I'll hang out with somebody who, who sucks Satan's dick, as long as they're not trying to personally hurt me, because not everybody's gonna be a Christian. Mm-hmm. or be a follower. I hate, I hate the word Christian. So do you feel the same way about like God and the Holy Spirit?Like in terms of non deifying them? John: Woo. Man, once you open up the Trinity, that's a whole freaking new, that's a universe. I'll know if you, if you read that after, after the prologue of, of my book. But I, I believe it's cut off into three sections. Jesus was awesome. God might be [01:01:00] great, and the Holy Spirit haunts me.And the, the God might be great is kind of a, a nod to Christopher Hitchens, who's one of my favorite authors who wrote God is Not Great. Because my, my answer to him is, well, he might be. , but probably not. You know, it's kind of like, yeah, the, I, I, I know what you're saying, but you know, I also understand that most people, for most of history, I think it's a very arrogant stance to to act like the idea of God is silly.I think that's a pretty arrogant stance to have. So it's not one I take when I say the Holy Spirit haunts me. There are spiritual experiences, like you said, for you, they're non-negotiable, right? Like you have these experiences that define your life. I've had those myself. Here's the thing, they are negotiable for me.And I would love to just say this was all in my head. I [01:02:00] can't, I can't know that , but I would love to be able to say that. So for me, I, it's a little different because Jesus, the character of Jesus is the one that's especially in evangelicalism, but in Christianity as a whole, is the one who's dare I say, name has been taken in vain.The most you know, as far as like using him as a character, using him in a very manipulative way. When you get to the Holy Spirit, like you can get really culty really quick when you start talking about like Pentecostals and like, you know, just some of the hooping and the hollering and God told me this, so it must be true that that stuff is yikes.But the concept of God is kind of, has no meaning because the word God means so many different things to so many, to the, to each individual we imagine him that that's like in the, in the proper sense, we imagine him. So maybe less dangerous than, [01:03:00] than. You know, saying you need God is probably less dangerous than saying you need Jesus, but I'd prefer you to say neither, you know and you need the Holy Spirit might be even more dangerous, but it's just probably rarer, you know?But yeah, I don't know if those are just initial thoughts. Again, because, because I'm not an atheist. I don't, I don't claim to be, but I think atheists get a lot of shit because people think they're crazy. And I'm like, well, they're certainly not crazy. I mean, they're the most rational of all of us.They, they're just, you know, I, I just, I just don't identify with it. But I, all of that to say I just love all people and I don't want people to feel like they have to go through a very narrow lens in order to receive love, forgiveness, whatever they want to receive in life. They don't need Jesus for that.They don't need God for that. They don't need the Holy Spirit for. De'Vannon: why.you say you feel like you're, like, what I would call a, like an indisputable encounter with God that I [01:04:00] had. I find it non-negotiable. You said you would like yours to be negotiable. Mm-hmm. , why do you say you would like to be, or you like still fighting against your, the church or your experience?So if God approached you personally, what you're, what I'm hearing you say is that, you know, it's really not negotiable, but you would like it to be. John: Why? I know it's not negotiable for you and I know it's not negotiable for most people. It is negotiable for me. How do you the, the, the thing? Yeah. Well, I don't, most of the time cuz I, I got other shit I gotta doThink about it. But no, I, I, you know, I, I had, I had a, I have a conversion story. I, I felt the presence of God or Jesus or whatever I, I assume as much as anyone. I mean, right? Like I went and studied to be a pastor, like clearly it meant something. I don't think I was just a full on narcissist who was like, oh, I'm gonna be the voice of God, like, da da da da da.Like, I don't, I really don't think, I think it was motivated. [01:05:00] Pretty hol wholesomely and like . I thought it was a, I prayed a lot. I prayed more than anybody I knew, you know? Like, I'm like, surely this was all real, right? I don't know. I was 11. What the fuck do you know, at 11? Like, I'm, I'm like, there, there's, and what do you know when you've been indoctrinated for over a decade?That when you feel certain things, it's definitely this. Oh, like, I'm like, you know, there's like, there's placebos, there's, there's all sorts of things we know about what we can do with our own brain. Then I'm like, I'm not gonna say it was definitely this, or definitely that. I don't know, and I probably never will know, but I'm not gonna live my life based on those experiences because that is that's cheating myself out of a very full life.De'Vannon: Okay, I see what you're saying. What you're saying is due to, you haven't been such a young Impressional age when you went through everything, you don't know if that's like some sort of P t s D, some sort John: of, or, [01:06:00] or even in adult life, you know, like there, I had spiritual moments, if you wanna call 'em that, like an adult life, you know, I was a worship leader.I, I remember very vividly sometimes I was leading worship and like, would be struck with something that felt otherworldly. The whole g the whole gauntlet, whatever a Christian can tell you about their experiences with Jesus, I'll see you one and I'll raise you one, you know, but but I just, I'm just like, but I'm not gonna pretend that because I felt like it was something and I was told to feel like it was something that, it definitely was that thing.I, I just, I wanna, I wanna have a little more humility than that and have a little more understanding of alternative worldviews. De'Vannon: I think churches should start paying all of us reparation checks, s for all this motherfucking mental health shit that we have. So yeah, the checks need to start. The money needs to start flowing the other fucking way away from these churches and

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.We are officially 100 episodes in! For our 100th episode, we are joined by the founders of Better Tomorrow Ventures, also known as BTV, Jake Gibson and Sheel Mohnot. BTV is based in San Francisco and was founded in 2019. BTV focuses on early investing in FinTech companies, and has $300M+ in AUM. Jake and Sheel initially met at 500 startups, where Sheel worked. They are both seasoned fintech founders and angel investors: Sheel built and sold two fintech companies before starting the 500 Fintech accelerator, and Jake co-founded NerdWallet (now publicly traded).About Jake Gibson:Jake Gibson is a founding partner of Better Tomorrow Ventures. He has been involved in FinTech for over a decade — he started his journey as one of the co-founders of NerdWallet before becoming an angel investor. Today, he is a Founding Partner at Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV). Prior to NerdWallet, Jake studied math and quantitative finance at MIT and traded interest rate derivatives at JPMorgan.About Sheel Mohnot:Sheel Mohnot is a founding partner of Better Tomorrow Ventures. Before BTV, Sheel was a Partner at 500 Startups, running the 500 FinTech Fund and the FinTech track within the San Francisco Accelerator program. His recent startup experience includes 2 successful FinTech exits – a payments company and a high-stakes auction company. He also created and hosted a podcast called The Pitch.He formerly worked as a financial services consultant at BCG and did Microfinance work at the non-profit Kiva. Sheel holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a BS from Carnegie Mellon. In this episode we discuss:(02:24)  BTV's origin story (06:27)  Handling their first raise at the beginning of the pandemic(11:28)  How their fund construction remained the same despite market conditions(17:27)  Surprises during their first fundraise(19:29)  How Sheel and Jake view fund construction and ownership targets(24:18)  The shift in the market from rewarding Beta to rewarding Alpha(27:55)  How founders are reacting to market conditions(29:28)  What they are seeing in the Series A markets today(32:19)  How VC's dry powder will actually get deployed(34:53)  Making sense of the market segments in 2023(37:53)  Why FinTech is still in the early-stages even though it has been heavily invested in(42:15)  Non-obvious things that it takes to run a successful firm(45:17)  Things they would have done differently at the start of their firmI'd love to know what you took away from this conversation with Jake and Sheel. 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

We received the news that our friend and past guest, Jarritt Sheel, had passed. We met via social media as he was a supporter and fan of our podcast. He booked us for several semesters to do guest lectures for various of his courses at the Berklee School of Music. In return, he would always reach out to us to celebrate our multiple milestones. We were talking about continuing our collaborations and potentially being on SXSW EDU. Our prayers are with his family, friends, and loved ones. He was indeed a beautiful person, educator, musician, and leader. May he rest in peace. Support the show

We received the news that our friend and past guest, Jarritt Sheel, had passed. We met via social media as he was a supporter and fan of our podcast. He booked us for several semesters to do guest lectures for various of his courses at the Berklee School of Music. In return, he would always reach out to us to celebrate our multiple milestones. We were talking about continuing our collaborations and potentially being on SXSW EDU. Our prayers are with his family, friends, and loved ones. He was indeed a beautiful person, educator, musician, and leader. May he rest in peace. Support the show

WE ARE BACK. With so much new information and accents this week you won't even know we were gone! Michelle and Dan hit the ground running with a deep dive on the most haunting gargoyle of them all.... the Sheela Na Gig. Which understandably leads to a recap of England's most normal reality show, My Massive C**k, living with ghosts, MOGULING and oh so much more on this long-awaited return episode. We love you, Mich & DanFor the full episode go to https://www.patreon.com/michcoll Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sheel Mohnot is a Co-Founder and General Partner @ Better Tomorrow Ventures, a $225M fund that leads rounds in pre-seed and seed-stage fintech companies globally. Sheel and Jake (his co-founder) invested for many years together before founding BTV and wrote checks into Mercury, Flexport, Ramp, and Hippo Insurance to name a few. As for Sheel, before BTV he ran 500 Fintech for close to 7 years, and before that was a founder, founding two companies, both of which were acquired. If that was not enough, Sheel is also a master at measuring the width of swimming pools and making cameo appearances in music videos with Justin Bieber. In Todays Episode with Sheel Mohnot We Discuss: 1.) Entry into Venture: How Sheel made his way into the world of venture having founded 2 fintech companies? Why did no LPs give Sheel money in the early 500 Fintech days? What were some of his biggest lessons from investing in 100s of companies with 500 Fintech? How did BTV with Jake come together most recently? What are the biggest differences to Sheel of being a fund manager vs being an investor? 2.) The Power Law: How does Sheel define "the power law" in venture capital? What multiple of return would be power law status? Given the size of outcome available with these power law returns, how does Sheel approach portfolio construction? Would it not be best to invest in 100s of companies? Who does Sheel believe has done the indexing approach best? Why? 3.) Venture Capital has Never Been Less Collaborative: Why does Sheel disagree with Harry that venture capital has never been less collaborative? Why now, for the first time, are large multi-stage funds taking single-digit ownership? Does Sheel agree with Harry it is moronic to have "guaranteed pro-rata"? How does Sheel approach re-investment decision-making? When does he pay up vs not? 4.) The Biggest Wins and Misses: What have been Sheel's biggest wins from a cashback and a multiple perspective? How did Sheel miss the chance to invest in both Robinhood and Chime early on? What did he not see? How would he have thought differently with the benefit of hindsight? How have Sheel's biggest hits and misses impacted how he invests today? 5.) Emerging and Frontier Markets: Does Sheel share Harry's concern for the removal of capital from emerging markets? Why does Sheel believe that India, South East Asia and LATAM will be fine? Why does Sheel believe Pakistan and Africa are most in trouble? What advice does Sheel give to his emerging markets founders today? Items Mentioned in Today's Episode: Sheel's Favourite Book: Enders Game