Podcasts about svb

Episode 381 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Mike Massaro, CEO of Flywire, a global payments enablement and software company. This is the full lifecycle story of an idea to a pillar publicly traded tech company in the Boston tech scene and it has it all. An international founder who discovered a major problem while trying to pay his tuition at MIT, to Mike joining the company after its Series A, an evolving business model from consumer to B2B, navigating choppy near death experiences to scaling aggressively, then raising multiple rounds of venture funding to an IPO, and more! It really is an inspirational story for all entrepreneurs to hear, as it is never an easy up & to the right story. There is so much that goes into building a successful company and this one does not disappoint. Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:17 Learning to Lead & the Importance of Communication 04:51 Mike's Background & Getting Started in Tech at edocs 15:00 Carrier IQ 19:47 The early days of Flywire 19:52 Navigating the Go-to-Market Strategy 29:52 Moving into the Role as CEO of Flywire 31:55 Challenging Times 35:09 Scaling the Company & Playing Long Ball 39:17 Expanding into New Industries 41:47 The Impact of COVID-19 45:20 Flywire IPO 50:06 Looking Ahead: Growth and Innovation 51:42 Building a Strong Company Culture 57:12 The Importance of a Strong Board of Directors 59:50 Hiring for Leadership Roles 01:02:13 Apps, Books, & Fun Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Episode 380 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Eduardo Torrealba, CEO & Co-Founder of Lumafield. As part of my conversation with Eduardo, we talk about the importance of working on hard things. Yes, it's hard to build things that seem impossible at the time but it is that level of difficulty that attracts the top talent across engineering and other functional areas to join the company. And, it is that level of difficulty that once you establish product market fit, it can been highly defensible and really difficult to copy. And, it is that level of difficulty that attracts the best investors to fund a company with the hopes that it can be an industry defining company, especially when there is hardware involved. Take Lumafield, a pioneering developer of accessible X-ray CT technology, recently announced a $35M Series B round of funding led by Spark Capital, along with previous investors Lux Capital, Kleiner Perkins, DCVC, Future Shape and angel investors like Tony Fadell - yes that Tony Fadell, the inventor of the iPod and Founder of Nest. When you have an industry leader like Tony, who after seeing their product & vision and ended up committing to an investment into the company after a 30 minute meeting, you know you are on to something big, as he understood the problem first hand based on his experience. In the video version of our podcast, there is a brief video showing Lumafield's platform in action, as you need to see it to truly appreciate the complexity yet the obvious use case it has when building physical products. In the show notes, I have also included a fun video from Lumafield with Tony where they take a look at the evolution of the iPod by looking at the inside of different generations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC6BQPowf7w In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Eduardo's background story and his initial journey into entrepreneurship with an IoT soil moisture sensor company called Oso Technologies. * Joining Formlabs and what he worked on in the earlier days of the company and what he learned during the company's growth to a billion dollar valuation. * The full story of Lumafield in terms of how the team came together and the problem they are solving. * The fundraising process and the current state of the company, plus future plans ahead. * Lessons learned from building companies and raising capital. * The importance of a strong company pitch. * And so much more Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Episode 379 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Graham Brown, Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau. It seems like just yesterday when I first interviewed Graham seven years ago back for Episode 32 (https://soundcloud.com/venturefizz/episode-32-graham-brown-partner-at-lerer-hippeau) when Lerer Hippeau was announcing its sixth fund. This puts Graham in elite company as one of the very few people who have made a repeat appearance on The VentureFizz Podcast – which I'm sure is an incredible honor for Graham to achieve… just kidding obviously. But in all seriousness… in that first interview, we discussed Graham's background (he's actually a fellow native of New Hampshire) and the early innings of his career, so in this interview, we were able to get much deeper into other topics around startups and fundraising. As you might know, Lerer Hippeau is one of the top early stage VC firms in the country and they recently announced another new fund, that one being LH Fund IX, a $200M fund which is exclusively focused on early stage companies. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * How to land a job in venture capital. * How our original interview discussed AI seven years ago and what Graham is excited about in terms of this platform shift. * The renewed interest in energy startups and the innovation in this sector. * What he's looking for out of a first meeting with an entrepreneur & the process of getting funded. * PLG versus founder led sales and advice on avoiding entrepreneurial envy. * The latest on the NYC tech ecosystem. * And so much more Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

The health tech fundraising environment shows promise. More deals are occurring alongside modest growth in total funding, suggesting a shift toward realistic valuations. In this episode, Julie Ebert, managing director of Healthcare and Life Sciences for Silicon Valley Bank, discusses the key findings from their annual Future of Health Tech report, highlighting the growth of AI adoption in healthcare as well as the increasing focus on specialty value-based care models. She noted a third of health tech companies that have raised money have an AI component, and half of the investment is in the administrative use of AI. Julie also explains that value-based care is moving from primary care to specialties due to these areas being complex and costly. Finally, she emphasizes that Silicon Valley Bank is playing a bold role in providing transparency to companies by offering working capital solutions and releasing reports that allow companies to have the knowledge to move forward.  Tune in and learn about the current landscape of health tech investment and the future of value-based care! Resources: Connect with and follow Julie Ebert on LinkedIn. Follow Silicon Valley Bank on LinkedIn and visit their website. Read this year's SVB's Future of Healthtech report here.

Episode 378 of The VentureFizz Podcast features two of the Co-Founders of Copley - David Henriquez, CEO and Sean Marshall, Chief Operating Officer. It is just a necessity for any thriving tech ecosystem. You need companies that scale and people from those companies take their learnings and go off to start their own company. HubSpot has been a big feeder of alumni who have gone off to start companies and you are starting to see the next wave with founders coming from Toast and now Klaviyo. What's even better is when you see the founders of these anchor tech companies fund the next generation of entrepreneurs. David & Sean were part of the hypergrowth scale up years at Klaviyo that ultimately led to a pillar public tech company in the Boston tech area. David held a variety of engineering & sales engineering roles, whereas Sean led global sales. Now, they are building a new company with a third Co-Founder & CTO, Mike Torra called Copley. It is an AI-Powered Content Optimization Platform that allows marketers to quickly create, test & deploy content everywhere. Copley recently announced a $4.8M pre-seed round of funding led by Asymmetric and Underscore. And yes, the founders of Klaviyo - Andrew Bialecki and Ed Hallen are investors… plus Tom Ebling & Jeffrey Barnett of Demandware which was acquired by Salesforce. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Startup fundraising advice for first-time founders and the importance of building long term relationships with investors. * The background stories for both David and Sean. * The explosive growth years at Klaviyo. * The full story of Copley in terms of the problem they are solving and their unique approach to finding early adopter customers. * GTM advice for early stage startups and the importance of storytelling. * And so much more. Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Kennt ihr leuchtende Kinderaugen, wenn sie ein Weihnachtsgeschenk auspacken? Ende April 2025 haben jeweils ca. 20 Tennisspieler jeden Alters und jeder Spielstärke beim Enjoy Your Game Day teilgenommen... Hört rein in das sehr spontane Feedback der Teilnehmer!

Episode #376 features Prem Sharma, Founder & CEO of Tandem. When you are a serial entrepreneur like Prem, you are probably coming up with lots of ideas but how do you decide which one is viable to focus on and actually build a company around? For Prem, it comes down to recognizing an experience that is broken and lots of market research. And this is not light market research, this is total submersion into the industry market research. The interest in Tandem started with a puppy arriving at his home as a new family pet and an experience at the vet. During a visit, he recognized how fragmented the industry was and how inefficient the office operated. This got him thinking about a unified vet experience. But, before jumping into build mode, he spent time working at veterinary clinics and recognized that the appetite for adopting a whole new system was not going to happen, so just a new tech platform wouldn't be the answer. Instead, he had to build a healthcare company from the ground up that includes a comprehensive service leveraging onsite clinics, mobile care, telehealth, and a whole new tech stack for running the overall operation. Tandem raised $10M in funding earlier this year to redefine veterinary care with a comprehensive solution through its novel approach to care delivery, AI technology, and more. Chapters: 00:00 Prem Sherma Intro 02:48 What Ideas Should You Build a Company Around? 07:00 From Childhood Dreams to Startup Realities 10:39 Navigating the Startup Landscape 14:30 The Full Story of DayToDay Health 18:16 Building Impactful Solutions in Healthcare 21:50 The Complexity of Patient Care 27:03 Lessons Learned From Building DayToDay Health 29:45 All the Details about Tandem 38:26 Current State of the Business & GTM 44:36 Advice for Building a Healthcare Company 50:00 App & Book Recommendations Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Join me as I sit down with Seamus Rocca, visionary CEO of Xapo Bank, a trailblazer at the intersection of Bitcoin and traditional finance. We unpack Xapo's transformation into a fully licensed bank, how it safeguards your crypto, the regulatory balancing act, and the future of digital assets. Plus, Wences shares his thoughts on yield, DeFi, CBDCs—and even the meaning of life. Follow Seamus Chen: 

Fluent Fiction - Swedish: A Spring Awakening: Friendship Blossoms at Skansen Festival Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/sv/episode/2025-04-04-22-34-02-sv Story Transcript:Sv: Våren hade just börjat omsvepa Skansen med sitt milda ljus och sina färger.En: Spring had just begun to envelop Skansen with its gentle light and colors.Sv: De första blommorna började kika fram, och träden började slå ut sina knoppar.En: The first flowers started to peek out, and the trees began to bud.Sv: Det var fullt med liv och rörelse, människor som förberedde den kommande påskfestivalen.En: It was bustling with life and activity, people preparing for the upcoming Easter festival.Sv: Mitt i detta kaos fanns Oskar, en ung man med stort intresse för historia och natur.En: Amidst this chaos was Oskar, a young man with a great interest in history and nature.Sv: Han trivdes bäst i sin egen värld, men just den här dagen hade han bestämt sig för att ge sig ut i det okända.En: He thrived best in his own world, but on this particular day, he had decided to venture into the unknown.Sv: Elin, en annan frivillig, sprang omkring och försökte styra upp allt.En: Elin, another volunteer, was running around trying to organize everything.Sv: Trots sin utstrålning och energi kände hon sig orolig inombords.En: Despite her radiance and energy, she felt anxious inside.Sv: Hon ville att allt skulle bli perfekt, men stressen över alla detaljer kunde ibland bli överväldigande.En: She wanted everything to be perfect, but the stress of all the details could sometimes be overwhelming.Sv: Oskar såg henne där, i färd med att hänga upp pastellfärgade dekorationer.En: Oskar saw her there, in the process of hanging up pastel-colored decorations.Sv: Han tog ett djupt andetag och bestämde sig för att hjälpa till.En: He took a deep breath and decided to help.Sv: "Behöver du hjälp med något?"En: "Do you need help with anything?"Sv: frågade han försiktigt.En: he asked cautiously.Sv: Elin såg på honom och log tacksamt.En: Elin looked at him and smiled gratefully.Sv: "Ja, det skulle jag verkligen uppskatta.En: "Yes, I would really appreciate it.Sv: Kan du hålla i den här stegen medan jag fäster dekorationerna?"En: Can you hold this ladder while I attach the decorations?"Sv: Tillsammans började de arbeta.En: Together they began to work.Sv: Elin förklarade hur hon ville arrangera saker, och Oskar lyssnade noggrant och ställde frågor.En: Elin explained how she wanted things arranged, and Oskar listened carefully and asked questions.Sv: Oskars hjälp gjorde att arbetsbördan lättade för Elin, och hon kände sig inte lika ensam i sitt ansvar.En: Oskar's help lightened the workload for Elin, and she didn't feel as alone in her responsibilities.Sv: Dagen fortskred, och det började komma fler besökare.En: The day progressed, and more visitors started to arrive.Sv: Plötsligt drog mörka moln ihop sig på himlen.En: Suddenly, dark clouds gathered in the sky.Sv: Ett stilla vårregn började falla, och båda kände hur paniken spred sig.En: A gentle spring rain began to fall, and both felt panic spread.Sv: De behövde skydda dekorationerna och utrustningen innan allt blev förstört.En: They needed to protect the decorations and equipment before everything was ruined.Sv: "Kom, vi måste flytta bordet under tak!"En: "Come, we need to move the table under the roof!"Sv: ropade Elin när hon snabbt agerade.En: shouted Elin as she quickly took action.Sv: Oskar hjälpte henne utan att tveka, tillsammans bar de bord och dekorationer under den närmaste överbyggnaden.En: Oskar helped her without hesitation; together they carried the table and decorations under the nearest shelter.Sv: Regnet gick över lika snabbt som det kommit, och en vacker regnbåge spände över Skansen.En: The rain passed as quickly as it had come, and a beautiful rainbow arched over Skansen.Sv: Besökarna samlades igen, och festivalen kunde börja på riktigt.En: The visitors gathered again, and the festival could truly begin.Sv: I det ögonblicket kände Oskar och Elin en gemensam känsla av framgång och lättnad.En: In that moment, Oskar and Elin felt a shared sense of success and relief.Sv: De insåg hur bra de hade samarbetat och hur mycket de hade åstadkommit tillsammans.En: They realized how well they had collaborated and how much they had accomplished together.Sv: Efter festivalen slutade de stå vid sidan av varandra och samtalade, nu både som vänner och kollegor.En: After the festival, they stood together and chatted, now both as friends and colleagues.Sv: Båda kände en ny slags tillit, Oskar mer öppen och självsäker, och Elin insåg vikten av att be om hjälp och att lita på andra.En: Both felt a new kind of trust, Oskar more open and confident, and Elin realized the importance of asking for help and trusting others.Sv: Skansen låg nu stilla under den ljusa försommarnatten.En: Skansen now lay still under the bright early summer night.Sv: Det levande museet, fyllt av historia och natur, hade blivit en plats för oväntad vänskap och gemensamma drömmar.En: The living museum, filled with history and nature, had become a place for unexpected friendship and shared dreams.Sv: Och så där, mitt i det glittrande nattlandskapet, hade både Oskar och Elin funnit något som gick bortom deras ursprungliga mål.En: And there, in the shimmering nightscape, both Oskar and Elin had found something that went beyond their original goals. Vocabulary Words:envelop: omsvepagentle: mildbud: knopparbustling: rörelsechaos: kaosventure: ge sig utradiance: utstrålninganxious: oroligoverwhelming: överväldigandepastel-colored: pastellfärgadegratefully: tacksamtcautiously: försiktigtarranged: arrangeralightened: lättadeworkload: arbetsbördanshelter: överbryggnadenpanic: panikequipment: utrustninghesitation: tvekarainbow: regnbågearch: spänderelief: lättnadcollaborated: samarbetatsuccess: framgångstanding next to: stå vid sidan avcolleagues: kollegortrust: tillitconfident: självsäkerbright: ljusashimmering: glittrande

Ducky AI operates as a pre-LLM compute layer, enabling businesses to make their proprietary data accessible to large language models without compromising security or privacy. In this episode of Category Visionaries, James O'Brien shares the journey of pivoting from a customer support solution to becoming a machine learning infrastructure tool that helps developers find and transform internal business data for optimal LLM consumption. With $2.7 million in funding, Ducky is positioning itself as the essential bridge between enterprise data and AI systems, making advanced AI capabilities accessible to technical teams without requiring extensive ML expertise.   Topics Discussed: Ducky's evolution from a customer support solution to a developer-focused ML infrastructure tool The validation process that led to identifying knowledge accessibility as a core market problem How and why the team executed their pivot in just three months The challenges of defining an ideal customer profile in the rapidly expanding AI space Building a go-to-market strategy in Nashville's emerging tech ecosystem Fundraising lessons learned during the SVB collapse   GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Listen when developers ask for your infrastructure: James discovered their true product-market fit when developers started requesting access to Ducky's knowledge retrieval infrastructure rather than their customer-facing application. "We had a revelatory moment where we realized that a bunch of developers had asked for access to our infrastructure, our knowledge retrieval infrastructure. And that's kind of what we're good at." This insight led to their pivot toward becoming an API-first tool that matched their technical strengths with the right audience. Validation is a superpower: The Ducky team excels at gathering unbiased feedback from potential customers. When considering their pivot, they embraced this strength: "I think one of the things that we're best at as a team is validation. I think we're really good at drawing relatively unbiased... input and feedback from people that we're interviewing or talking to." For B2B founders, this emphasis on rigorous customer validation before building can be the difference between success and wasted engineering resources. Make pivot decisions with data, not emotion: When considering a change in direction, Ducky time-boxed their exploration to three weeks, built multiple prototypes, and showed them to potential customers. "It was pretty clear after three weeks that one was not only a better use of our skills and time, but also a better market fit." B2B founders should approach pivots methodically, setting clear timelines and success criteria for validation. Design pricing that aligns with value creation: James emphasizes usage-based pricing that fundamentally connects revenue to customer value: "If you use it and it works, you will use it more. And that means that we're doing our job. And that's awesome. That's all I ever want to do, quite frankly, is get paid for actually bringing value to people." This approach creates natural incentives for both the vendor and customer, unlike the multi-year contracts that often create misaligned incentives. Look beyond AI hype to focus on business problems: James discovered that many companies have been tasked to "do something with AI" without clear objectives. "People are like, 'hey, we got to do something with AI,' but we don't know what that is. And then they think so deeply about, 'hey, how are we going to construct this?'" B2B founders should help customers cut through the hype by focusing on the underlying business value and specific problems to solve, rather than getting lost in technical details.   //   Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe.  www.GlobalTalent.co  

Ben Beller, Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP Ben Beller, Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, joins the podcast to walk through how companies can strategically navigate bankruptcy and restructuring during M&A. Drawing from experience on major cases like FTX and Silicon Valley Bank, Ben shares practical insights into Chapter 11 processes, planning strategies, liability management transactions, and how buyers can successfully acquire distressed assets. A must-listen  for corporate development professionals, acquirers, and M&A legal teams looking to build competency around distressed transactions. Things you will learn: The differences between Chapter 7, 11, and 13 bankruptcies and when to use each How liability management transactions work and their growing role in restructuring What buyers need to know about acquiring businesses in bankruptcy _______________ What is the Buyer-Led M&A™ Virtual Summit This isn't just another webinar—it's an interactive experience designed to give you the tools and strategies to lead your M&A deals with confidence. This half-day event brings together corporate development leaders and M&A experts to explore Buyer-Led M&A™, showing how you can take control of every stage of the deal. Register Now ________ This episode is sponsored by FirmRoom.  The World's Most Intuitive Virtual Data Room With AI Contract Analysis No Per-Page Fees. No B.S. Just Smarter, Faster Deals. Get started with your free trial today! ________ Episode Timestamps: [00:04:00] Ben Beller's background and major bankruptcy cases (FTX, SVB, Mallinckrodt) [00:07:30] Chapter 7 vs. Chapter 11 – key differences [00:11:30] Signs companies should begin planning for bankruptcy [00:14:00] Prepackaged vs. prearranged vs. freefall bankruptcies [00:17:30] Importance of lender relationships and communication [00:22:00] Role of private credit and debt trading in distressed situations [00:28:00] Liability management transactions explained: dropdowns, up tiers, and more [00:35:00] Trends in liability management and how they defer bankruptcy [00:41:00] M&A in bankruptcy: How buyers can seize opportunities [00:46:30] Understanding stalking horse bids and auction dynamics [00:54:30] Common mistakes in buying businesses out of bankruptcy [01:01:00] Bankruptcy reform trends and cost implications  

Episode 374 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Dave Blundin, serial entrepreneur & investor. Dave's track record is legendary as one of the top entrepreneurs and investors in the Boston tech scene. He's co-founded 23 companies… and many have been incredibly successful: * DataSage - acquired by Vignette for over $1B in today's dollars * EverQuote - which went public * Vestmark - manages over $2 trillion in assets Companies like CourseAdvisor, Jobcase, Autotegrity, LeadKarma were all acquired. Plus he's invested in CarGurus, TripAdvisor… and he is the Founder & General Partner of Link Ventures and he's also the founder of the startup incubator, Cogo Labs. One might think that after all of this success, Dave would downshift and relax… but it is the exact opposite. He has been waiting for this moment since he was 14 years old and that is the current platform shift to AI. He studied AI at MIT back in 1984 and pioneered quantizing neural networks as early as 1992. Needless to say… his time is now and he believes that it has the potential to be the greatest thing that ever happened to humanity. He wants to savor the moment and work to train and build faster, better, & smarter AI. Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:43 Dave Blundin's Journey Begins 08:27 Founding DataSage and Early Innovations 15:55 Meeting Jeff Bezos & Building Personalization at Amazon 18:18 DataSage Acquisition by Vignette 20:59 Founding Story of Vestmark & Its Scale 27:39 Link Ventures & Cogo Labs - Building Consumer Companies at Scale 32:31 Story of EverQuote to IPO 35:04 The Best Friend Method for Investing 36:33 AI & The Importance of Chip Manufacturing 41:45 The AI Revolution & Opportunities 44:11 Liquid AI: General-Purpose AI Systems at Every Scale 47:45 Boston's Talent Density & MIT's Advantage 53:44 Personal Insights and Hobbies 57:40 Podcast & Book Recommendations Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Fluent Fiction - Swedish: Lars' Path: Finding Peace in Spring's Embrace Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/sv/episode/2025-03-20-22-34-01-sv Story Transcript:Sv: Lars gick försiktigt längs skogsstigen.En: Lars walked carefully along the forest path.Sv: Det var vår och träden började få sina första knoppar.En: It was spring, and the trees were beginning to get their first buds.Sv: Luften var frisk och fylld med hopp om en ny början.En: The air was fresh and filled with hope for a new beginning.Sv: Hans tankar var tunga, tyngda av skuldkänslor från en gammal konflikt med sin syster Anna.En: His thoughts were heavy, burdened with feelings of guilt from an old conflict with his sister Anna.Sv: De hade inte pratat ordentligt sedan dess.En: They hadn't talked properly since then.Sv: Den täta skogen runt honom kändes både tröstande och förvirrande.En: The dense forest around him felt both comforting and confusing.Sv: Han hade alltid trivts i naturen, men idag speglade träden hans inre kaos.En: He had always enjoyed being in nature, but today the trees mirrored his inner chaos.Sv: Med påsken som närmade sig kände han ett starkt behov av att finna modet att närma sig Anna igen.En: With Easter approaching, he felt a strong need to find the courage to approach Anna again.Sv: Deras bror Karl hade planerat en påskträff för familjen, och det var hans chans att rätta till saker.En: Their brother Karl had planned an Easter gathering for the family, and it was his chance to make things right.Sv: Plötsligt bestämde sig Lars för att lämna stigen.En: Suddenly, Lars decided to leave the path.Sv: Han ville hitta en lugn plats, en plats där han kunde tänka klart.En: He wanted to find a quiet place, a place where he could think clearly.Sv: När han trädde in i den täta delen av skogen kände han sig genast lite bortkommen.En: As he stepped into the dense part of the forest, he immediately felt a bit lost.Sv: Träden stod så tätt att solen knappt nådde marken.En: The trees were so close together that the sun barely reached the ground.Sv: Trots det kändes doften av våren starkare här.En: Despite this, the scent of spring was stronger here.Sv: Han gick försiktigt längre in, med målet att få lite stillhet.En: He walked carefully further in, with the goal of finding some stillness.Sv: Efter en stunds vandring hörde han ljudet av vatten.En: After walking for a while, he heard the sound of water.Sv: Snart möttes han av en strömmande bäck.En: Soon, he was met by a flowing brook.Sv: Vattnet forsade kraftigt över stenarna, och ljudet var både skrämmande och lugnande.En: The water rushed powerfully over the stones, and the sound was both frightening and soothing.Sv: Lars stannade upp vid kanten.En: Lars paused at the edge.Sv: Bäcken symboliserade hans känslor.En: The brook symbolized his feelings.Sv: Pepprad med rädsla och skuld behövde han den här konfrontationen.En: Peppered with fear and guilt, he needed this confrontation.Sv: Lars satte sig ner på en sten och tittade över vattnet.En: Lars sat down on a stone and looked over the water.Sv: Han mindes grälet med Anna som om det vore igår.En: He remembered the argument with Anna as if it were yesterday.Sv: Orden hade sårat dem båda djupt.En: The words had hurt them both deeply.Sv: Men nu, med ljudet av den energi som bäcken gav, insåg han att han inte kunde fortsätta fly.En: But now, with the sound of the energy the brook gave, he realized he couldn't keep running away.Sv: Det var dags att släppa sin stolthet och bryta isen.En: It was time to let go of his pride and break the ice.Sv: Efter att ha suttit där en lång stund, fylld av både tvivel och hopp, bestämde Lars sig för att återvända.En: After sitting there for a long time, filled with both doubt and hope, Lars decided to return.Sv: Han förstod nu att isolationen inte var lösningen.En: He now understood that isolation wasn't the solution.Sv: Om han verkligen ville försonas med Anna, behövde han tala med henne.En: If he truly wanted to reconcile with Anna, he needed to talk to her.Sv: De kunde inte vänta längre.En: They could no longer wait.Sv: När han så småningom återvände till stigen, kände han en lättnad smyga sig in inom honom.En: When he eventually returned to the path, he felt a sense of relief creeping in within him.Sv: Att hitta tillbaka till henne, skulle han nu istället göra med öppna konversationer framöver.En: To find his way back to her, he would now instead do so with open conversations in the future.Sv: Han var redo att möta Anna på påskträffen med nytt mod och en vilja att återförenas.En: He was ready to meet Anna at the Easter gathering with new courage and a willingness to reunite.Sv: Lars hade funnit det svar han sökte.En: Lars had found the answer he sought.Sv: Familjen var viktig och det var dags att göra saker och ting rätt.En: Family was important, and it was time to make things right.Sv: Redo att börja om, gick han tillbaka genom den vackra vårliga skogen, fylld med frid och beslutet att inte längre frukta orden som kunde hela.En: Ready to start anew, he walked back through the beautiful spring forest, filled with peace and the decision to no longer fear the words that could heal. Vocabulary Words:carefully: försiktigtdense: tätacomforting: tröstandeconfusing: förvirrandecourage: modetgathering: träffleave: lämnaquiet: lugngoal: måletflowing: strömmandebrook: bäckrushed: forsadefrightening: skrämmandesoothing: lugnandepaused: stannade uppsymbolized: symboliseradeconfrontation: konfrontationenpride: stolthetreconcile: försonasisolation: isolationrelief: lättnadcreeping: smyga sigreunite: återförenasdecision: beslutetfear: fruktaheal: helaburdened: tyngdarealized: insågmirror: speglahope: hopp

Highlights from this week's conversation include:Lockwood's Background and Journey (0:46)Vincimus Capital Overview (2:09)Democratization of Private Markets (3:51)Transition to Private Equity (4:52)Influence of Shackleton's Endurance (7:43)Current Market Opportunities (8:40)Criteria for Ideal Clients (14:26)Opportunities in Larger Investments (17:09)Slow Dating in Manager Selection (20:26)Evaluating Deal Opportunities (22:07)Insider Segment: SVB's Approach to Innovation (26:10)Diversification in Venture Capital (31:07)Investment Buckets (36:02)Philanthropy in Wealth Management (39:00)Fund Manager Dynamics (41:55)The Importance of Patience in Investment (46:28)Connecting with Contacting Vincimus Capital and Final Thoughts (48:22)Vincimus Capital is an investment platform and community founded upon shared values and trusted relationships. As a team of capital allocators, we seek to deliver risk-adjusted returns that support the present and future needs of the values-aligned families we serve. Learn more: https://www.vincimus.com/Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, is the bank of the world's most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial and private banking to individuals and companies in the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity, venture capital and premium wine industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation throughout the United States, serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector expertise, insights and connections. SVB's parent company, First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA), is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $200 billion in assets. First Citizens Bank, Member FDIC. Learn more at svb.com.Swimming with Allocators is a podcast that dives into the intriguing world of Venture Capital from an LP (Limited Partner) perspective. Hosts Alexa Binns and Earnest Sweat are seasoned professionals who have donned various hats in the VC ecosystem. Each episode, we explore where the future opportunities lie in the VC landscape with insights from top LPs on their investment strategies and industry experts shedding light on emerging trends and technologies. The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this podcast are for general informational purposes only.

Part 2 of 2: Provocative China Podcast presents a conversation with Ken Wilcox, former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank and the author of The China Business Conundrum: Ensure That "Win-Win" Doesn't Mean Western Companies Lose Twice. Listen to Ken's firsthand trials and tribulations trying to set up a joint venture in China between SVB and the CCP. His experience is fascinating—and sometimes maddening—filled with unexpected assertions from Chinese counterparts right out of the Art of War playbook, highlighting key cultural differences and, as Ken puts it, deeply convoluted negotiations that expose our Western naivety regarding doing business in China. No one in China has read the book "Getting To Yes," so if you are armed with these tactics and strategies, YOU WILL FAIL IN CHINA!In our conversation, Ken dives into the struggles Western businesses face in China, from the risks of technology transfer to navigating the morality and ethics of Chinese business negotiations. He also shares some lessons he learned from his missteps along the way. Whether you're in business or just curious about U.S.-China relations, this episode is packed with honest, down-to-earth advice from someone who's been through it all.00:00:08 Western Companies Losing Twice in China 00:02:59 Negotiation Styles Between Western and Chinese Companies 00:06:11 Cultural Differences in Business Ethics 00:07:08 Honeymoon Period in Business Relationships 00:08:41 Negotiating with Chinese Partners 00:11:27 Recommended Books to Prepare for China 00:17:47 Future Economic Relations Between the U.S. and China 00:24:21 Advantages of China in Global Competition 00:25:02 Advantages of the U.S. in Global CompetitionConnect with Kenhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kenwilcoxsvb/Buy Ken's book:https://www.amazon.com/China-Business-Conundrum-Win-Win-Companies/dp/1394294166 Visit Gene's author website:https://www.provocativechina.com/Buy Gene's books:https://www.amazon.com/Gene-J.-Hsu/e/B092FYDCN7

Episode 373 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Jeff Bussgang, General Partner at Flybridge. Jeff has accomplished so much throughout his career. I'm sure lots of people probably know him best as a Venture Capitalist and Professor at Harvard Business School. But... you might not know the details about his startup career prior to Flybridge which I was really excited to dig into because he played a key role at two incredibly successful companies in the Boston tech scene. The first being OpenMarket, which pretty much invented eCommerce with its shopping cart technology that was licensed by companies like Amazon when they were just getting started. The company went public at a billion dollar valuation back in 1996 which was a very big deal. The second company is Upromise, where he was a Co-Founder along with Michael Bronner, who was also the Founder of Digitas and really helped establish the world of direct & loyalty marketing and David Fialkow, who you might also recognize as one of the founders of General Catalyst. Upromise allowed consumers, including myself, to save for their kids' college education through a loyalty rewards program. The company was very successful and it was later acquired by Sallie Mae. In addition to being an entrepreneur, investor, and professor, Jeff is also an author of three books and his latest book is called The Experimentation Machine - Finding Product-Market Fit in the Age of AI. Plus we talk about his Dad (Julian Bussgang), a scientist and entrepreneur who developed the Bussgang Theorem, Jeff educational background in AI, Flybridge's history of investments in AI, Hack.Diversity and so much more! Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:05 Jeff's New Book - The Experimentation Engine 04:47 Jeff's Background and Early Influences 08:47 The Story of OpenMarket & Shopping Cart Tech 17:21 The Creation of Upromise 25:06 Transition to Venture Capital & Flybridge 26:37 Flybridge's History & Focus on AI 32:50 Flybridge's Investment Process 34:13 Advice on Go-to-Market Strategy 35:36 Getting Pitched by Curt Schilling 38:03 Teaching at Harvard Business School 39:48 Career Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs 42:22 Must-Have Versus Nice-to-Have Products 44:00 Hack.Diversity 46:46 The Boston Tech Ecosystem & AI 52:55 Recommendations - Apps & Podcasts Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Part 1 of 2: Provocative China Podcast presents a conversation with Ken Wilcox, former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank and the author of The China Business Conundrum: Ensure That "Win-Win" Doesn't Mean Western Companies Lose Twice. Listen to Ken's firsthand trials and tribulations trying to set up a joint venture in China between SVB and the CCP. His experience is fascinating—and sometimes maddening—filled with unexpected assertions from Chinese counterparts right out of the Art of War playbook, highlighting key cultural differences and, as Ken puts it, deeply convoluted negotiations that expose our Western naivety regarding doing business in China. No one in China has read the book "Getting To Yes," so if you are armed with these tactics and strategies, YOU WILL FAIL IN CHINA!In our conversation, Ken dives into the struggles Western businesses face in China, from the risks of technology transfer to navigating the morality and ethics of Chinese business negotiations. He also shares some lessons he learned from his missteps along the way. Whether you're in business or just curious about U.S.-China relations, this episode is packed with honest, down-to-earth advice from someone who's been through it all.Part 100:00:08 Introduction 00:01:19 Perceptions of China in 2008 vs. Today 00:03:08 Lectures from Chinese Counterparts 00:10:24 Learning Chinese Language and Culture 00:23:16 Inadvertent Technology TransferConnect with Kenhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kenwilcoxsvb/Buy Ken's book:https://www.amazon.com/China-Business-Conundrum-Win-Win-Companies/dp/1394294166 Visit Gene's author website:https://www.provocativechina.com/Buy Gene's books:https://www.amazon.com/Gene-J.-Hsu/e/B092FYDCN7 

Highlights from this week's conversation include:Ian's Journey in Wealth Management (0:41)Founding Westfuller Advisors (5:05)Challenges in Early Days (10:36)Current Differentiation and Pitch (12:18)Long-term Strategic Asset Allocation Model (14:37)Ownership Lens Focus (16:57)Advocacy for Due Diligence (18:16)Economic Mobility and Career Decisions (22:32)Insider Segmeng: Catalyst 2045 Initiative Overview (25:59)Investment Focus Areas (28:32)Challenges in Supporting Underrepresented Founders (32:16)Future of Values-Aligned Investing (35:04)Investment in Generative AI (40:56)Incremental Impact in Investment (43:46)Active Ownership and Corporate Stewardship (46:43)Building Long-Term Partnerships (48:39)Final Thoughts and Takeaways (50:55)Westfuller Advisors is a values-driven investment advisory and wealth management firm dedicated to providing advice, strategy, and investment management for mission-aligned individuals, families, nonprofits, and foundations globally. Committed to fostering a just and equitable society, Westfuller integrates clients' values into tailored financial solutions. Learn more: https://westfulleradvisors.com/Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, is the bank of the world's most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial and private banking to individuals and companies in the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity, venture capital and premium wine industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation throughout the United States, serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector expertise, insights and connections. SVB's parent company, First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA), is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $200 billion in assets. First Citizens Bank, Member FDIC. Learn more at svb.com.Swimming with Allocators is a podcast that dives into the intriguing world of Venture Capital from an LP (Limited Partner) perspective. Hosts Alexa Binns and Earnest Sweat are seasoned professionals who have donned various hats in the VC ecosystem. Each episode, we explore where the future opportunities lie in the VC landscape with insights from top LPs on their investment strategies and industry experts shedding light on emerging trends and technologies. The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this podcast are for general informational purposes only.

Dual Use, Space and Ocean Tech...NY Tech Summit (Feb. 25, 2025)SUMMARY KEYWORDSDual use technology, space tech, ocean tech, cyber security, AI disinformation, Elon Musk, Ukrainian defense, naval drones, autonomous weapons, national security, public-private partnerships, ocean habitats, acoustic technology, geopolitical tensions, investment opportunities.SPEAKERSElena Anfimova, Gator Greenwill, Tony Cruz, Lisa Marrocchino, Speaker 5, Jaha Cummings, Carl Pro, Robin Blackstone, Speaker 4, Andrew Fisch, Mark Sanor, Dan BrahmyMark Sanor  00:00So Gator is with a family office investing in this space for a long time, with natural resources and minerals heritage. And Dan I met with Josette Sheeran at her office, otherwise known as the Carlisle hotel, who said, "You got to meet Dan", and now here you are on one of our panels. Thank you. So I think it's better, if you might share the "Harry Met Sally" story of how you met Dan Gator Greenwill  00:49That's a pretty good story. So Dan literally sent me a cold LinkedIn request. Yeah, there was a cut. Yeah, there were a couple of them. Mark Sanor  Wait, let's go back further. How did you identify him for that LinkedIn request? Or is it random? Or is it random? Give them the micDan Brahmy  01:15again, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So as part of being a founder who has lived in Israel for the last 19 years, I've learned to be a relentless a**hole. And so it's kind of this skill set that you need to have in order to get to a certain point in life. And I saw I heard about Gator, and then I was like, you know, maybe I'll just try and find his email address, and then I've had a lot of success is just reaching out to people on LinkedIn, you'd be surprised, like former head of Senate Intel Committee, folks like guys that you would never dream of even talking to. And I was like, hello, I'm Dan, can we talk? And they're like, Okay, whatever. So it just worked out in that Mark Sanor  01:57In that same spirit, how did you How did you land Elon Musk as a client. Dan Brahmy  02:04Well, that's a long story. So, so I'll let you go into the things you wanted to Mark Sanor  02:10say. Oh, he doesn't want that question. Gator Greenwill  02:15So anyhow, Dan, Dan did a cold LinkedIn email. It was persistent, but the area that he was exploring was of already significant interest to the investment fund that I was working for. We had long had the thesis that one of the fundamental risks of AI before we even make it to anything like artificial general or artificial super intelligence was the risk of an explosion in disinformation, an explosion in cognitive biases being worsened by tribalism on the internet. And so Dan had obviously been building the company for a couple of years when he reached out to us, he was beginning to do a raise for series, a had, you know, a very reputable Israeli VC fund that was looking for an American co investor, and we negotiated term sheet, and the the rest is history. Now we are sitting here before you today. So that's the the one minute version. There's obviously more twists and turns along along the way, we've ended up supplying probably 20 to 30, like 20% of your capital stack, maybe something like, something like that. So ended up being a significant portion of, you know, raise capital for for si Amber, before the the pre IPO and the IPO. So Mark Sanor  03:39now just want I'm getting, I want to ask more unfair questions, but, but as you look at the landscape, right? That's this is a one, just one example. What do you what excites and scares you in this? Well, Gator Greenwill  03:52a lot of things scare me. A lot of things also excite me. So the rising geo political tensions between the US and the EU certainly scare me, as well as you know, the US and at least a few members of the of the five eyes, given how important that's been to the defense posture of the United States historically, by the same token, it is causing a much needed re evaluation in Europe of spend by the government sector in the defense space, there has already been a number of very promising start ups actually being founded, even in Ukraine, but also in Estonia, Germany, France, that have been started for funding due To the government just under investing in the sector. So I'm excited about the prospects for investing in Euro zone companies. Aside from Israel, we've also invested in several Euro zone companies. So one thing that distinguished us from early on was we looked at dual use as being not just about American innovation, but American and partners innovation, including. Between Israel and the Euro zone especially. Mark Sanor  05:04And so, I guess from your perspective, Dan, maybe tell a little bit of your some interesting stories. I do want to hear this Elon Musk story, if you don't mind. Dan Brahmy  05:18So just to give a quick background, I'm Dan. I'm one of the co founders and the CEO of a company called Sara, which is cyber security in abracadabra, which kind of reveals what we do. But the truth is, we've been out there for seven years. Raised money from from gators Firm A couple times, and the value has been actually much more than just the capital. Usually, we've raised money from Founders Fund a couple times, which is Peter thiel's fund as well in the valley. So the guy who created PayPal and Palantir and all these other names out there, and for four years, we've actually done the typical mistake of the tech very geeky founders, which is building, building, building, building, and not getting enough feedback from the market. And so for a very long time, we were at that stage where we were trying to prove to the world by building the best possible tech. And I think we had, we still have, actually, it gave us a crazy advantage, but not within that four years time period, because we were just building that technology, which is in a nutshell, able to distinguish between real bad and fake for the online realm, social media and traditional media outlets, right? We want to be that, that sort of stamp of trustworthiness for the conversations that we all witness on a daily basis, on a minute basis, maybe at this point. And then, because of the Peter Thiel relationship, and because we were a tiny Israeli start up with no presence whatsoever, you know, two years ago, two and a half years ago, and we landed an article in the Wall Street Journal and forms, because we made so much noise about the stuff that we were solving. Some day, we received a call from a lawyer who was like, the pit bull is pit bull I've ever seen in my life. Scaries guy I've ever talked to sends me an email like, we need to talk now my client. I'm like, who's your client? It's like, sign this 19,000 pages. NDA, that if you say anything, you'll die tomorrow. I'm like, All right, well, we'll try, you know, we'll just sign it and and then he it's true. I mean, he told me about this story, and so he's like, this is Elon. I'm like, oh, okay, that's interesting. What does he want? It's like, well, you know what he wants? He wants to buy Twitter, right? He wants to take the price lower, and he feels like there's a gap between what Twitter is claiming about the bots and the sock puppets and trolls and the fake accounts and their impact. And so what's what they are stating about themselves as a company, what is truly happening? They're claiming that it's less than 5% has no impact over the conversations that we see over Twitter X, and he feels like it's more and he wants to use your tech. So I'm thinking this might be the first little star on our shoulder as a tech company, right? You want to start building credibility. It's kind of a deep, deep tech, a dual use technology, serving, you know, defense organizations and national security. So I said, interesting. So I mean, obviously I would do it for for a penny, right? But we didn't ask for a penny. We asked for much more, and he paid. And at the very end, I think we did a very good job. And, you know, same pit bull at the end was, I was like, Hey, can I be honest? You know, it would be great if you'd allow us to, you know, we're small company, maybe, maybe, maybe you'd allow me to go to the press, because we did such a great job. And, you know, I think his thought process was, what would a 15 people team from Israel could probably do in the press. What are the odds of these folks making noise? Wrong assumption. We very wrong assumption. So within two weeks, I received another call, after we published 1000 articles in the press, it's just like CNN, all that stuff. And he was, like, a so my client is not happy, because now he's the owner of Twitter. I'm like, okay, and well, now it reflects really badly on him, because now he's the owner of Twitter, and you're bashing the head of Twitter itself. He's the owner my Yeah, but I mean, I, you know, I saved him a billion dollars. So should be happy like, Yeah, I think you should stop now with the press. You know, it's enough and say, Well, you know, we also lined up like the BBC and stuff like that. But it will stop at 1000 articles from that moment onward. So it was November 2022 as a small company, literally, with almost no revenue at that. Point, I think we were like 300,000 in annual revenue. In two years, we ramped up to 6,000,006 point 1 million. So we blew up, and today we serve I'm not saying it's all about the musk story, but I think that a lot of startups are just completely, completely disregarding that credibility and that and that brand recognition, because, though, because we not that we we're all about the tech and the tech and the tech and and eventually, and I'm saying this as a as a tech company in the field of AI combating bad AI with good AI. And I'm going to be shooting myself in the foot as a soon to be CEO of a publicly traded company. Don't hate me when I say that. But I think people don't buy technologies. I think people by people, and people by trust, and we, I guess we prove that with time, and this equation proves to be the worthy one. That's the route we're going to be taking. And two thirds of the companies, like R and D people, I don't understand half of the shit that they're saying to me, and I'm like, Oh, very interesting. And we just move on to other stuff. But the truth is this, what we see, it's, it's, it's incredible technology being leveraged by people who want to trust you, like, that's pretty much that. So that's the story about which Mark Sanor  11:13has, which has lots of use cases, right? Not just dual use, not just forensics, but we, Dan Brahmy  11:20serve. I mean, we're on a, this is a do use technology panel. Is this a panel? If it's two people, yeah, Mark Sanor  11:28it says it's a duo, duo, dual use, the finalist Dan Brahmy  11:33of the panelists. Yeah, we work a lot with national security folks. Mark Sanor  11:38So why do you want to go public? Why? Because he wants you to go public. Do you Gator Greenwill  11:46sure I'll so I think what we found, and I've been discussing the IPO option with Dan, actually from fairly soon after he invested, after I invested, sorry, when he began discussing with different bankers about that option, and our conclusion, based on conversations with a number of VCs, was that even with a relatively depressed IPO market, the cost of money for a compelling company in the public markets is significantly cheaper than what you were seeing from VCs, post SVB bank collapse, term sheets got especially outside, if you were not a kind of golden circle Silicon Valley, you kind of Blessed from above. You know, start up. You know, no offense against, you know, friends of mine that run companies like that. You know, the types of term sheets that you get, you know, from VCs, you know, are typically fairly onerous. And so that was where, you know, we said, hey, you know, this is going to give a, you know, a multi year pipeline to the company, you know, add a, add a valuation that is has lots of room to grow, but is not overly dilutive to the existence. And I know Mark Sanor  12:59we're not pitching, but I think there's an opportunity for us to get it before the IPO. Right? All right, we'll come back to that, all right, other than his space, 13:12not a technical Mark Sanor  13:14one, a personal one, what kind of answer? Dan Brahmy  13:16I was born in France, so I'm romantic by default. Okay, I've lived there. I've no, it's true. I Yeah, so this is the beginning of the story. So 50, I live 15 years in France, right? And everything's about, like cheese love and Eiffel Tower and whatever people like about France. But there's something true about it. And I mean, I could be talking about the VC and the term sheets and the limitation preference and all the stuff that everybody knows about that probably more than I do, as a matter of fact. But the truth is, I think that we're solving one of the most complex and interesting challenges that we're facing at least nowadays, maybe in seven years will be different. But for sure, for the last two, three years and for the next couple of years ahead of us, we are in really deep, muddy waters, and the way that I want one of our, one of our board members is Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state and head of CIA Jos about to be coming in as a post listing board member. You already know that one of the one of my ways to pitch it to them was not telling them about the technicalities of becoming a NASDAQ publicly traded company, because they know everything about complexities. While I was running in diapers, the guy run the CIA, so obviously he knows more than everything that I would do in life. But I told him, I think people need to perceive that opportunity at being a shareholder at Sara some point in time, in the next couple of years, as maybe I should invest in Batman, like if we are Batman. Mark Sanor  15:01It, and you guys are running this, the French, the French coming out, and you the romantic Dan Brahmy  15:08stuff, very geeky. But the truth is, like, if we're Batman and Batman has technologies, all I'm saying is, I think people should see this as the opportunity to potentially invest and help us build the technology that can be the arsenal to bring back a little bit of more transparency for this democracy. Because right now, Gotham City is running on fumes and is looking really bad, and the and and it feels like people are losing trust, slowly losing trust. And I got, I got two children, the two boys, four and two years old. And I'm saying, Damn, by the time they became they become teenagers. What are they going to be trusting? What they'll never trust the media. They'll never trust social media. They'll never trust things that they see online. Because Mark Sanor  15:49every single No, their dad is Batman, Dan Brahmy  15:53right? So that's Batman, exactly. I don't know who's Batman son in the show, but, but that's, that's the way I that I sold it to Mike Pompeo, like I want people to invest in Batman's also Mark Sanor  16:04so questions for Batman, yes, Tony Cruz  16:13as Iron Gate Capital Advisors looked at you. Have you talked 16:15to Hamlet you save? Or Gator Greenwill  16:20I know Hamlet, I'm not sure if he's under in this specific deal. I mean, some of the, you know, some of the companies that, some of the funds that, Iron Gate is an investor, and I'm almost, like 99.9% they have evaluated. Now, obviously it's a different, you know, it's about to be a different deal than it was, you know, before an IPO. So always could be worth revising that discussion with Ty and Hannah, Mark Sanor  16:48I've got two more panelists for you. So their space is up there as well. And there's ocean space and ocean we're talking about explain, and then ELA as a fund that focuses on dual use technologies as well. So just introduce yourself. Let me start with Elena. Elena Anfimova  17:14Thank you, Mark. Hello everybody. My name is Elena, and I do Ukrainian defense technology. You probably know that Ukrainian defense Tech is a world class innovation, and the gap the capital requirement for it is massive, and the challenge, in addition to capital, is how this startups access global markets. So this is what my team is working on, how to integrate the start ups in the domestic defense ecosystem, Mark Sanor  17:52which some are calling like the new Israel of sorts. And we were just having, oh, Patrick's here. We were having lunch, and I said, Do you know who Jacques Cousteau is? And he goes, Well, yes, I've been and I invested in his films. So his grandson, Fabian, has been with us, the CEO of his company. We've invested a lot in space, but we can gain a lot more cheaply and investing in ocean based research. So maybe it's explain. Hello. Lisa Marrocchino  18:27I'm Lisa March, you know, thank you for having me join. I was just in Davos, in Ukraine, cyber tech, and technology was a big topic there, so that was super interesting for me to be there was an AI cyber conference that I attended, but what we're doing at Fabien Cousteau was the first grandson of Jacques co he. His grandfather was an ocean pioneer. I'm missing the word ocean tech from this conference. However, we need to change that. I also do believe that ocean tech is going dual use because of, well, lots of geo political reasons. So we are focusing on national security as well, and I'll explain a little bit of that. But Jacques Cousteau developed some of the first technologies to spend more time in the ocean and habitat. So he built some of what are called Ocean habitats, or really ocean research stations. And we have one in space, but we don't have any in the ocean, because the space race took off and got and left ocean behind. And as Mark mentioned, in the last 10 years, you have invested $270 billion in space and private creating a private space industry, and created, really 1700 new companies. So we really are poised to create that same kind of phenomenon in ocean tech. It reminds me I was at Goldman Sachs in technology research, and this really reminds me of, kind of the early days of technology. So his grandson kind of picked up the torch, and in 2014 lived under water for. For 31 days with five scientists did not come up to the surface because of what's called saturation technology. So he was fully saturated and lived at 20 meters or 60 feet, and did not come up to the surface for 31 days. So what happened were some phenomenal things under water. There were science experiments and kind of an acceleration of that, because you were able to dive 10 to 12 hours a day. So what we can't get back is time. We know we're at the precipice. I mean, someone mentioned a meteor here that almost hit us. I think we should be much more worried about climate change and some cataclysmic issues that are we're on the precipice of then, uh, then the media are hitting us. So I, I do believe that we we're not focused on climate change and maybe this administration and where we are today. We won't be so we will use acoustic technology, sensor technologies we've evolved from just, not just a habitat, but really thinking about an ocean technology platform where acoustics and all of those national security issues do come into play, so I'll stop there. Mark Sanor  21:08Excellent. All right, so you got a cornucopia now, space slash ocean tech we'll use and let's open up for questions. I Andrew Fisch  21:24Yes, Lisa, this is completely anecdotal, so you'll have to answer the question, and in for me, a lot of call them drums. You know, a lot of devices are being now, roaming the oceans, gathering data of all types. Is this advancing what you do as opposed to having literally people in one place? Is it complimentary? Is replace anything? Lisa Marrocchino  21:53That's a great question. We really believe that you can't just do it alone with robots, but robots are essential to amplifying and extending the reach of humans. So and this, and NASA is really studying this a lot as well, kind of this human robotic interface, if human interface, and we really, if it were true that robots could do it all, they would be the only thing on them, you know, in space. So I do believe that you really need that human interaction with robots, and we can really amplify so yes, we'll be looking at robotics, a U V S, R V s, all of those in surrounding the habitat. If you think about the habitat, is almost like the smartest node on this kind of technology ecosystem platform. So that's how we're really looking at it. There's some super cool technology that can be, that's not even out there yet, right? That can Yes, absolutely. Then they have to come back, right? And then you have to interpret the data and AI, you know, one i We heard a lot about AI, and that's one thing I'm really optimistic about. AI in ocean, there is a flood gate of so if you send out all those robots and all those sensors, are going to come back with a flood gate, even with hydro acoustic modems, there's so much information to be processed, and we know nothing about our ocean. You know, 5% has been explored. So how can we gather all that data to do to make better decisions? And that's where robotics and AI, I think, is going to make play a major role in so we're looking at all of that technology. 23:24Thank you. Other questions, Robin Blackstone  23:28yes, you know, it occurred to me that one of the factors in the ocean as well as space, is that a lot of it's not own by anybody, and so it's essentially available to be used by anyone. And it's kind of an interesting advantage. Planets would be another space like that. So in a world that's carved up already on land, there's these vast spaces which are not carved up. I was just wondering what advantage that might confer on the work that you guys are doing. Lisa Marrocchino  24:06Yeah, that's also a really good question. So we work with governments and create public private partnerships. So right now we're working in Curacao, Portugal, cap of ver very talking to people in the Middle East as well. And it is interesting. And I don't know if anyone saw there was recently an article about China having a habitat. So there is an interesting phenomenon happening, going back to dual use and national security. All of a sudden, China is interested in creating habitats at very deep levels and to do all kinds of things. So it is an open space, and I think legal will probably play a big role in this. But right now, we haven't had any issues with putting a habitat in waters outside of Curacao, Cabo Verde, Portugal and the Red Sea even there's no been no issues with like, you can't go there or you can go here, but it is a. Question, the ocean is even bigger than lots of spaces, and it's right in our back yard. So as long as we all play nice, I think, for a while, and if China accelerates what they're doing in the ocean, I hope and pray that that will help the US come to terms with investing more and the ocean, 25:27just Jaha Cummings  25:32on the question of, I guess, areas for American city research, if you consider micro Nisa, I lived there for 20 years, and the whole northern Pacific we have our contact agreement, which pretty much denies rite of passage to anyone else, right? Lisa Marrocchino  25:45I love that. Yeah, all areas are open, or we're open to any area really that would that where we need to study the ocean, and really that's almost everywhere, because we haven't studied it at Gator Greenwill  26:00all. On the question of geo politics and the ocean, one I think still under sung aspect is that right now, an enormous amount of the world internet traffic travels underneath the sea, and we've already started to see Russian and Chinese vessels in the Baltic and the South China Seas, you know, imping upon Japan, or in some cases, it seems, even sabotage cables running into various countries that they have issues with, so that, you know, that's a live area, and sort of, you know, the oceans have Been a commons for the transmission of data and information for a long time that now seems to be more and more contested in the current moment of power competition, Mark Sanor  26:53one second, and you could just say, What? What? What's the technology or company in Ukraine or related to Ukraine, because you're not all investing in Ukrainian companies that you think is most exciting we should be aware of. Well, 27:10naval drones. Elena Anfimova  27:21Oh, yeah, they're Ukraine is the first country in the world to sort of create effective naval drones. And on December 31 actually, Ukrainian naval drones. Magura down two Russian helicopters, the first presidents in the world. Hard to say it's a record. It's still loss of life, and it's still horrible, but technologically speaking, a very cheap drone, comparatively to any missile destroys a helicopter to helicopter, and the third was damaged, but made it be back to the base. Another case, one Ukrainian drones destroyed $130 million missile system. So the mind boggling phenomenon about these drones and the drone warfare is that this very cheap, again, comparatively speaking, devices destroy multi, sometimes 100 million dollar systems I just came back from the Emirates, I went to this I deck, if you guys know, it's like the largest defense exhibition. And there were all these massive, shiny toys. And I was walking, walking by and thinking, you know, like a 10,000 drone can destroy it. So I guess what we're still grasping is how war far has changed, and dominating military stockpiles are still kind of the World War Two, slash Cold War technology, and what needs to happen right now is restocking in pivoting to defense technology right now in Ukraine, the war that's happening is a war of drones. It's not even people anymore. I had a like innovative aim in system for guns, you know, for actual soldiers to do something with. And I had to drop it because there were no soldiers anymore fighting, you know, each other. It's drones and swarms of drones. So. Boom, and there is a Ukrainian company called swam. I did not invest in it, but that that's a really break through technology. Then another, and pretty much like the group of tech that's really promising, is autonomous weapons. So it's autonomous remote control weapons that you can control from 1000s of miles, and they help to save lives and pretty much like it's equipment destroying equipment. Given how horrendous the concept of physical warfare is in 21st century, it's still better than you know this mince meat attacks, I think it's called that Russia really prefers and practices to this day in Ukraine, we do not have the human resources to sort of mimic this strategy. And we value human life, so we really prefer robots to fight. So it's autonomous weapons, autonomous drones, and also electronic warfare, because what's happening is that when you face a technologically advanced enemy is that there is this jam in spoofing and GPS de night environments, so the navigation systems become very prominent anti drone electronic warfare. So how do you protect your drone from being jammed and spoofed so that it completes its mission. The interesting part is that American drones did not do well in Ukraine at all. They were expensive and glitchy because they could not perform with that kind of electronic warfare that Russia has, and let's say, out of 10, Mission only two mission are complete, whereas Ukrainian drones can complete eight out of 10. There is one. Mark Sanor  32:14Compare that to the US technology today. How far are we? Because we haven't done this every day, every hour, like you Elena Anfimova  32:21are well. So this is what I'm saying, and a lot of feedback is kind of just like a second hand information, right? Because it's not published anywhere. The only sort of public media account of this that I found is a Wall Street Journal article about that, how glitchy and how ineffective American drones were tested in Ukraine on the battlefield. Because you see, the thing is, is even for AI to function well, it needs to be fed lots of data. Ukraine is pretty much the only place where you can get the data, and that pretty much accounts for why Ukrainian drones are so much more efficient than any other drones unless they are tested on the battle field in Ukraine. So for any drone company right now to be you know, anything, they have to be there, there. So is 33:21this something you're looking Gator Greenwill  33:22at? Absolutely. We're active investors in the conference system space, happy to discuss more especially Speaker 5  33:32so we are almost ready for breakouts and refreshments. Carl Pro  33:37But I had a quick question on the what I call your misinformation or BS software, I spent my lunch time reading through like 25 or 30 websites to try to pick out the same story and read them and all to find out where the truth is. Your system would probably be great to have some independent calculation of current events, without the biases. Dan Brahmy  34:10We have been, not we've been we've been dreaming of eventually creating that stamp of trust within us that we that we spoke about. So the short answer, what you said is, this is exactly what we're aiming at, which is being able to understand whether the source, so the actor who's pushing and propagating a certain narrative or a certain angle, whether it can be a trusted source. So is it a is it a real person? Is it a real journalist? Is it a fake journalist? Is it a but a sock puppet patrol, a spam account, you name it. There's another 10,000 we don't need to get into all the categories, but, but I think that that gives you know one portion of the answer that you're looking for, and and then we explain, just to give you slightly longer answer, we we sort of decipher what we call the behavioral patterns. So. So think about an MRI that says, how, how powerful and how fast does a piece of information fly out over social media? Is it only within the social media realm, or is it flying from social media, from Twitter to The Wall Street Journal and then back to Facebook, and then going back to tick tock. And then what kind of formats, right? So the speed and the strength, and then the third part of your question would be about the authenticity and the nature of the content itself. So not just the similarity, and is it copy paste, but actually, is it? Is it a deep fake? Is it is, you know, is a computer generating the pictures and the videos that we're looking at right now, and then you aggregate all this sort of answer into, should you ignore what you're seeing, watching, reading? Should you track it closely, because it might become a threat, slash an opportunity, depending which side you're on the scale, or the last point, which is, should you be so worried that you need to mitigate against that immediately? We you know you spoke about the drones, and we spoke about the the the Navy and how we could potentially leverage the unexplored territories. We've talked to three and four star generals, and we've talked to Secretaries of Navy, and we've talked to all these incredibly smart and powerful people that have the almighty power to shift territories and shift decision making process. And the funny thing is, they have made very costly decisions based on misinformation. They shifted entire armies, not small military operations. They have shifted dozens of planes, dozens of naval ships and 1000s of soldiers. What Mark Sanor  37:01so the first, so the first saner. His name was Sanor, who was Prussian. You know, we had a lot of hessian troops. So Michael Sanor was the aide de camp. Eventually, he was known as the Flying Dutchman. He stole the white horse. But for the battle of York title, it led to the victory, partly, where the French, because they were in New Jersey, where I live, their ovens kept baking the bread, and that was that deception to the troops. They fell. They're clearly still still up there. They're still eating when instead they they moved around and caught them by surprise. So we love the French information. And it was interesting that Macron came over to see Trump. But they will talk about these things, the breakouts. This is how we do breakouts. This comes this is a slide from 2011 12, when I would do these breakouts for Dennison. Anybody from Denison? You're close enough Denison people here, usually there's always one Michigan room makes little sister Council. But we would get together in round tables and then, and it would be the round table for fashion in New York, or for finance. And then we eventually get 300 people. And there were segments that we now have a round table for each of these panels. And like one physically is over there. It's probably a popular one next to the bar. Another one's over here, and we have the ones out there, out first, mingle, you know, stretch, move around again, and then I'll put on the screen where the round tables will be. And they will the format is basically no one dominates the conversation. There's no like alpha that just takes over. It's a round table. Everybody should introduce themselves what they're doing so that everybody knows and we all try to help each other. It's the same thing we did for the alumni. No one's asking for money. The school isn't asking for money. We're here to help each other. The same spirit here and for our family office world. So if someone's got some insights, you want some questions, let's ask the panel a little more information. You know, Alyssa, like you're in the ocean world, right? You should be a guest in this, well, deep tech, ocean tech world. And, you know, everybody should know each other. And and then we come back and we say two things, what did you learn? What are your takeaways? We'll come back here one more time, and one or two people will speak about it. And one of those takeaways is like, or is like, is there something we should do? Should we do a deep dive on ocean tech? Should we do a deep dive on, you Speaker 4  39:50know, may I say one more thing, just to give plug the ocean short time you don't Mark Sanor  39:55have a chance to do that. Okay? This is just the principles of it. Okay? And you want to know more about ocean Tech, I think Lisa will be near that bar over there. And so let's let's break. I'll come back to Mike 10 minutes or so. Let you know where the breakouts will be. Do the breakouts meet the people who are relevant to you. And that's that magic for what we do. Thank you everybody. Thank you. Panel. I'm joined our 361 firm community of investors and thought leaders. We have a lot of events created by the community as we collaborate on investments and philanthropic interests. Join us. You. You can subscribe to various 361 events and content at https://361firm.com/subs. For reference: Web: www.361firm.com/homeOnboard as Investor: https://361.pub/shortdiagOnboard Deals 361: www.361firm.com/onbOnboard as Banker: www.361firm.com/bankersEvents: www.361firm.com/eventsContent: www.youtube.com/361firmWeekly Digests: www.361firm.com/digest

Tom welcomes back an always interesting guest who dives deeply into various financial topics; John Titus. Several key topics were discussed, including the banking crisis of March 2023, federal debt, central bank independence, and the implications of the Fed's policies. Titus began by revisiting his prediction of the banking crisis, attributing it to the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program during the pandemic. He explained that this led to a surge in commercial bank deposits, which ultimately caused instability when large deposits were withdrawn from banks like Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Titus emphasized that these massive deposits, often exceeding $1 billion, were uninsured and posed significant risks when withdrawn rapidly. He discussed how the Fed's actions during the pandemic injected liquidity into non-bank entities, leading to a buildup of deposits in commercial banks. This created a situation where the failure of SVB was inevitable due to the withdrawal of large deposits. Moving on to federal debt, Titus expressed concern about the growing U.S. debt and its sustainability. He highlighted that the Fed's policies have led to a system where debt is used to finance government operations, creating a cycle of borrowing to cover interest payments. This spiral could lead to fiscal insolvency if not addressed. The discussion then turned to central bank independence and the implications of a Biden administration memo emphasizing central bank autonomy. Titus argued that in the U.S., the Federal Reserve is not truly independent but rather an agency under Congress, which has the constitutional authority to oversee it. He warned against efforts to model the Fed after systems like the European Central Bank, which operate independently of national governments, as this could erode democratic accountability. Titus also previewed his new series, "The War for Bankocracy," which explores the history and power dynamics of central banks. He emphasized the importance of constitutional governance over monetary policy, arguing that Congress must maintain control to prevent abuses of power by central bankers. Throughout the interview, Titus stressed the need for public awareness and engagement in monetary policy decisions, urging listeners to stay informed and advocate for transparency and accountability in how debt and money are managed. His analysis highlighted the interconnected risks posed by federal debt, banking instability, and central bank autonomy, emphasizing that these issues require immediate attention to prevent further economic crises. Time Stamp References:0:00 - Introduction0:48 - Predicting Bank Failures4:12 - Bank System in 20256:43 - Risks or Manipulation10:06 - Fed, Deficits, & Austerity12:43 - Fed & Fiscal Dominance15:05 - The Debt Spiral20:15 - Extinguish Debt?23:40 - C.B. Gold Reserves25:57 - U.S. Rates & Debt Rollover27:07 - Treasury Dealers31:25 - Fed & Inflation34:59 - Neverending Puzzle36:30 - Debt Solutions?40:00 - Reverse Repo Status45:15 - Fed 'Independence'50:00 - Biden Memo Concerns52:26 - C.B. Independence55:20 - Bankocracy Series Guest Links:SubStack: https://bestevidence.substack.com/Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-1843407Odysey: https://odysee.com/@BestEvidence:bYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BestEvidenceBankocracy Series Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-fPI_tleUo&list=PLXr4cxq6ih6DbS8NIMK3nAiEM8AggZ_DQ John Titus holds a masters degree in electrical engineering as well as a law degree and he uses these to pursue his "day job". However, John is also a staunch critic of central banking the federal reserve system and his diligent research has uncovered numerous lies and deceptions from the U.S. Federal Reserve regarding their actions/policies since 2008. John is the creator and executive producer of the "BestEvidence" YouTube channel and all of his documentaries can be found there. BestEvidence seeks to chronicle major financial forces and legal changes be...

Episode 370 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Toshit Panigrahi, Co-Founder & CEO and Olivia Joslin, Co-Founder & COO of TollBit. There are going to be so many amazing benefits and advancements that are a result of the platform shift to AI. However, in this new world, many industries will need to go through radical transformation and the publishing industry is right in that mix. We even see some of these issues with VentureFizz, of course at a much smaller scale as compared to major publishers. For example, if you are searching for information about some startups in Boston, it's possible that the results will include content from VentureFizz in the results from Google Gemini. While in one regard, it is great that Google views us as an authority on the topic, it does however eliminate the need for the consumer to come to our site because they likely have their question answered. It's really not a major problem for us because of our business model, but it is certainly a major problem for publishers who count on pageviews for ad revenue. Enter TollBit, a two-sided marketplace for AI companies and publishers started by two alumni of Toast. The platform seeks to address the new economics of content creation in the AI era by reducing the legal uncertainties of scraping and protecting the health of the entire content ecosystem. The company recently announced a $24M Series A round of funding in October of last year which comes shortly after raising a $7M seed round in March of last year, as well. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of great topics: Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:10 AI & the Media Industry 03:51 Olivia's & Toshit's Background & Professional Journey 12:48 Starting TollBit 17:46 The Details of TollBit's Platform 25:07 TollBit's Funding & Pitch Advice 31:06 TollBit's Business Model 37:27 The Importance of Advisors for Your Startup 39:12 Lessons Learned While Building TollBit 42:18 Hiring 44:11 App & Podcast Recommendations Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Highlights from this week's conversation include:Meghan's Background and Journey (1:18)Capital Formation Insights (7:39)Lessons from Goldman Sachs (9:05)Advice for Emerging Managers (11:11)Importance of Client Experience (17:00)The Competitive Landscape of Venture Capital (19:14)Changing GP and LP Relationships (23:29)Creativity in Investor Relationships (28:19)Insider Segment: Florida's Diverse Venture Ecosystem (31:10)Challenges and Opportunities in Florida Startups (35:40)Talent Access and Flexibility (39:08)Institutional Reporting Challenges (41:02)Trust and Transparency in Fundraising (45:23)Institutional LP Process Advice (49:35)Power Law in Venture Capital (54:35)Understanding Capital Allocation (56:49)Fund Sizes and Venture Capital Dynamics (1:00:12)Final Thoughts and Takeaways (1:05:10)Altimeter Capital Management is a leading investment firm specializing in technology-focused public and private market investments. By integrating insights across markets, Altimeter aims to drive innovation in the financial industry.http://www.altimeter.com/Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, is the bank of the world's most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial and private banking to individuals and companies in the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity, venture capital and premium wine industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation throughout the United States, serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector expertise, insights and connections. SVB's parent company, First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA), is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $200 billion in assets. First Citizens Bank, Member FDIC. Learn more at svb.com.Swimming with Allocators is a podcast that dives into the intriguing world of Venture Capital from an LP (Limited Partner) perspective. Hosts Alexa Binns and Earnest Sweat are seasoned professionals who have donned various hats in the VC ecosystem. Each episode, we explore where the future opportunities lie in the VC landscape with insights from top LPs on their investment strategies and industry experts shedding light on emerging trends and technologies. The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this podcast are for general informational purposes only.

Fluent Fiction - Swedish: Love Blossoms on an Icy Shore: A Valentine's Day Revelation Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/sv/episode/2025-02-18-23-34-01-sv Story Transcript:Sv: Lukas satt på en bänk vid Långholmens strand.En: Lukas sat on a bench by Långholmen's shore.Sv: Det var en kylig vinterdag, men solen glittrade över det stilla vattnet.En: It was a chilly winter day, but the sun sparkled over the still water.Sv: Stranden var nästan tom, bara några få människor gick förbi.En: The beach was almost empty, with just a few people passing by.Sv: Lukas höll sin kamera i knät.En: Lukas held his camera in his lap.Sv: Det kändes som en evighet sedan han fotograferade sist.En: It felt like an eternity since he last took photographs.Sv: Efter knäoperationen hade Lukas kämpat med att gå ens korta sträckor.En: After his knee surgery, Lukas had struggled to walk even short distances.Sv: Varje steg var nu en liten seger.En: Every step was now a small victory.Sv: Men idag, på Alla hjärtans dag, kände Lukas att något annorlunda skulle hända.En: But today, on Valentine's Day, Lukas felt that something different would happen.Sv: Han hade bestämt sig för att möta sina rädslor.En: He had decided to face his fears.Sv: Lukas hade gömt sina känslor för Astrid länge.En: Lukas had hidden his feelings for Astrid for a long time.Sv: Hon brukade ofta promenera vid stranden, precis som idag.En: She often used to walk by the beach, just like today.Sv: När Lukas såg hennes bekanta silhuett närma sig, kände han hjärtat slå hårdare.En: When Lukas saw her familiar silhouette approaching, he felt his heart beat harder.Sv: Vinden rufsade hans hår, och han tog ett djupt andetag.En: The wind tousled his hair, and he took a deep breath.Sv: Det var dags att vara modig.En: It was time to be brave.Sv: “Hej, Astrid,” sade han när hon kom närmare.En: "Hi, Astrid," he said as she came closer.Sv: “Hej, Lukas!En: "Hi, Lukas!Sv: Hur mår du idag?En: How are you today?"Sv: ” svarade Astrid med ett varmt leende.En: replied Astrid with a warm smile.Sv: Hennes röst var alltid lugnande.En: Her voice was always calming.Sv: “Bättre.En: "Better.Sv: Sedan operationen har jag blivit starkare.En: Since the surgery, I've become stronger.Sv: Jag vill visa dig något,” sade Lukas och lyfte upp sin kamera.En: I want to show you something," Lukas said, lifting up his camera.Sv: Han visade henne en bild.En: He showed her a picture.Sv: Den fångade den tysta skönheten på stranden, med solen som sakta sänkte sig bakom de nakna träden.En: It captured the silent beauty of the beach, with the sun slowly setting behind the bare trees.Sv: Det var en bild av vinter och lugn.En: It was an image of winter and tranquility.Sv: “Den är vacker, Lukas!En: "It's beautiful, Lukas!"Sv: ” utropade Astrid.En: exclaimed Astrid.Sv: “Tack, Astrid.En: "Thank you, Astrid.Sv: Jag… den är för dig.En: I... it's for you.Sv: Jag ville berätta hur mycket du betyder för mig,” sade Lukas och hans röst skälvde lite.En: I wanted to tell you how much you mean to me," Lukas said, and his voice trembled a little.Sv: Astrid tog ett steg närmare.En: Astrid took a step closer.Sv: Hennes ögon glittrade i solnedgången.En: Her eyes sparkled in the sunset.Sv: “Jag har också tänkt på dig, Lukas,” sade Astrid mjukt.En: "I've also thought about you, Lukas," said Astrid softly.Sv: “Jag har alltid beundrat din styrka och kreativitet.En: "I've always admired your strength and creativity.Sv: Du är speciell för mig.En: You are special to me."Sv: ”Lukas kände en våg av lättnad.En: Lukas felt a wave of relief.Sv: Rädslan som suttit som en klump i magen löstes upp.En: The fear that had sat like a lump in his stomach dissolved.Sv: “Tack, Astrid.En: "Thank you, Astrid.Sv: Din närvaro är en stor tröst för mig,” sade han.En: Your presence is a great comfort to me," he said.Sv: De stod där tillsammans, och vintervinden kändes plötsligt mindre kall.En: They stood there together, and the winter wind suddenly felt less cold.Sv: Lukas insåg att hans sårbarhet hade öppnat dörren till nya möjligheter.En: Lukas realized that his vulnerability had opened the door to new possibilities.Sv: Med Astrids stöd kände han sig redo att återupptäcka både kärleken och sin passion för fotografi.En: With Astrid's support, he felt ready to rediscover both love and his passion for photography.Sv: När solen gick ned, och mörkret svepte in stranden, höll Lukas och Astrid varandras händer.En: As the sun set, and darkness swept over the beach, Lukas and Astrid held each other's hands.Sv: För första gången på länge kände Lukas sig hoppfull och trygg.En: For the first time in a long time, Lukas felt hopeful and secure.Sv: Han visste nu att han skulle klara sig genom sin återhämtning och att kärleken fanns precis där vid hans sida.En: He now knew that he would make it through his recovery and that love was right there by his side. Vocabulary Words:shore: strandchilly: kyligsparkled: glittradeeternity: evighetsurgery: operationensilhouette: silhuetttousled: rufsadetrembled: skälvdetranquility: lugnadmired: beundratcreativity: kreativitetvulnerability: sårbarhetglittered: glittradeapproaching: närma sigvictory: segerfamiliar: bekantacalming: lugnandecaptured: fångadesilent: tystaadmired: beundratrelieved: lättnadwaves: vågdissolved: löste upppresence: närvarocomfort: tröstpossibilities: möjligheterrediscover: återupptäckarecovery: återhämtningsecure: tryggpassion: passion

Episode 368 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Matthias Hofmann, Co-Founder & CEO of Eyebot. I met Matthias and Jack, Eyebot's Co-Founder & CTO at a pre-party for TechCrunch's Early Stage event in Boston a couple of years ago. It was one of those meetings that when someone describes their product - an AI powered kiosk that could conduct vision tests in 90 seconds… it sounded like something out of science fiction… but it made you pause and think… what if they actually build this… the market opportunity is massive - like TAM - everyone in the world massive. On top of that, here are some crazy stats of the void in the market that needs to be addressed with a solution: 40,000 unfilled eye doctor positions in the U.S. - more doctors retiring than graduating from school) 25% of U.S. counties don't have a practicing eye care provider 63% of Americans don't have vision insurance Well, this product and solution became a reality when Eyebot announced its partnership with Zenni Optical by deploying their kiosks in various locations and as you'll hear from Matthias… the pipeline of demand for their kiosks is incredibly strong. Another crazy stat that he shared with me is that the team is only 14 people. It's another perfect example of the level of innovation in the Boston tech scene with several next generation hardware & robotics companies that are emerging like 10 Beauty, Ozlo Sleepbuds, Pickle Robot, and many more. Eyebot raised a $6M seed round of funding last year led by AlleyCorp and Ubiquity Ventures with participation from other top investors. In this podcast, we cover: * Eyebot's first appearance at CES this year and advice on how to create a buzz. * Matthias' background story and how positions at EyeNetra & Formlabs helped shape his career. * The full story of Eyebot and the challenges in the market that they are addressing. * How their technology works, plus their go-to-market strategy, and details on funding. * Advice for founders on building hardware and raising capital. * And so much more. Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Highlights from this week's conversation include:​​Samir's Background and Journey (0:31)Founding Allocate (1:09)Emerging Managers Focus (4:26)Market Cycles and Investment Strategies (8:11)Current Market Trends (12:22)Illiquidity in Venture Capital (14:04)Misconceptions About Venture Capital (16:05)Direct Investments vs. Fund of Funds (19:51)Operational Needs of Wealth Advisors (22:13)Building Infrastructure for Investment (24:16)Insider Segment: Nico Toro of Silicon Valley Bank (27:00)Customization in Different Markets (28:55)Understanding Local Ecosystems (30:07)Opportunities in Fintech (32:26)Consolidation in Private Equity (36:49)Investment Strategies for Family Offices (40:43)Responsible Participation in Venture Capital (44:50)Ideal Investor Profile (47:05)Market Growth and Challenges (50:04)Current Investment Climate (52:00)Connecting with Samir and Final Thoughts (53:12)Allocate is a platform designed to modernize and democratize private market investing by providing accredited investors with curated access to top-tier private capital funds and direct investment opportunities. Allocate's mission is to empower a broader audience of investors to participate in private markets while emphasizing transparency, efficiency, and inclusivity. https://www.allocate.coSilicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, is the bank of the world's most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial and private banking to individuals and companies in the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity, venture capital and premium wine industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation throughout the United States, serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector expertise, insights and connections. SVB's parent company, First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA), is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $200 billion in assets. First Citizens Bank, Member FDIC. Learn more at svb.com.Swimming with Allocators is a podcast that dives into the intriguing world of Venture Capital from an LP (Limited Partner) perspective. Hosts Alexa Binns and Earnest Sweat are seasoned professionals who have donned various hats in the VC ecosystem. Each episode, we explore where the future opportunities lie in the VC landscape with insights from top LPs on their investment strategies and industry experts shedding light on emerging trends and technologies. The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this podcast are for general informational purposes only.

About Julie Ebert:Julie Betts Ebert is Managing Director of Silicon Valley Bank's National Life Science & Healthcare team, supporting life science companies in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast with banking services, debt financing, and strategic growth advice. Previously, she led SVB's Strategic Advisory effort, managing client engagements and advisory projects. Julie's prior experience includes 10 years at Greenhill & Co., advising on M&A and restructuring, and roles at Prudential Securities and J.P. Morgan. She holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.S. in finance from the University of Virginia.Things You'll Learn:There's been an increase in the number of deals being made in the health tech space, signaling a positive shift in the market despite funding not growing as drastically as there's a slight uptick.A significant portion of health tech companies, roughly a third that have raised money, are integrating AI into their products or services, demonstrating the growing importance of AI in healthcare innovation. Silicon Valley Bank's reports aim to create transparency in the market. They give companies access to critical information about venture capital trends and investment patterns, helping to level the playing field for these companies.The 2024 Future of Healthtech report also shows that investors are becoming more pragmatic about valuations, with fewer up rounds and an increase in flat or down rounds or deals where the terms are not disclosed at all. By offering its insights, being creative in its financing, and supporting companies with the knowledge to help move their businesses forward, Silicon Valley Bank shows that it is a bold leader who is playing a crucial role in transforming the healthcare industry and fostering innovation.Resources:Connect with and follow Julie Ebert on LinkedIn.Follow Silicon Valley Bank on LinkedIn and visit their website.Read this year's SVB's Future of Healthtech report here.

Fluent Fiction - Swedish: Love's Glow: A Magical Proposal at Jukkasjärvi's Icehotel Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/sv/episode/2025-02-03-23-34-02-sv Story Transcript:Sv: Viggo och Elin stiger in i det magiska Icehotel i Jukkasjärvi.En: Viggo and Elin step into the magical Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi.Sv: Snön faller mjukt utanför, men en snöstorm närmar sig hastigt.En: The snow falls softly outside, but a snowstorm is approaching rapidly.Sv: De är glada över att vara där för en romantisk helg.En: They are excited to be there for a romantic weekend.Sv: Hotellet är som en dröm, med skimrande isskulpturer och kalla, men vackra rum som lyser i blått ljus.En: The hotel is like a dream, with shimmering ice sculptures and cold, yet beautiful rooms that glow with blue light.Sv: Viggo har en hemlighet: han har planerat ett speciellt frieri.En: Viggo has a secret: he has planned a special proposal.Sv: Elin hoppas på ett samtal om framtiden.En: Elin hopes for a conversation about the future.Sv: De går genom de isiga korridorerna.En: They walk through the icy corridors.Sv: Viggo känner nerverna bubbla.En: Viggo feels the nerves bubbling.Sv: Han tittar på Elin och undrar om hon också känner sig osäker ibland.En: He looks at Elin and wonders if she also feels uncertain at times.Sv: Elin ser på Viggo med en förväntansfull blick men känner behovet av klarhet om deras framtid.En: Elin looks at Viggo with an expectant gaze but feels the need for clarity about their future.Sv: Hon har planerat att prata med honom under denna resa.En: She has planned to talk with him during this trip.Sv: När de ankommer till deras issvit blir de överraskade av hotellets vackra detaljer.En: When they arrive at their ice suite, they are surprised by the hotel's beautiful details.Sv: Men plötsligt tilltar stormens raseri utanför.En: But suddenly, the storm's fury outside intensifies.Sv: Personalen informerar dem om att de inte kan lämna hotellet förrän vädret lugnar sig.En: The staff informs them that they cannot leave the hotel until the weather calms down.Sv: Viggo inser att hans planerade frieri utomhus inte går att genomföra.En: Viggo realizes that his planned outdoor proposal is not possible.Sv: Han tänker efter.En: He thinks it over.Sv: Ska han vänta på bättre väder eller överraska Elin nu?En: Should he wait for better weather or surprise Elin now?Sv: Han bestämmer sig för att följa sitt hjärta.En: He decides to follow his heart.Sv: Medan Viggo funderar får Elin mod.En: While Viggo ponders, Elin finds courage.Sv: Hon bestämmer sig för att uttrycka sina känslor.En: She decides to express her feelings.Sv: Precis när hon ska börja talar dock ljusen plötsligt slocknar.En: However, just as she is about to start speaking, the lights suddenly go out.Sv: Rummet blir mörkt.En: The room becomes dark.Sv: Båda stannar tysta, deras ansikten speglas i det svaga ljuset från de enda få stearinljusen som brinner.En: Both remain silent, their faces reflected in the dim light from the only few burning candles.Sv: "Elin," säger Viggo plötsligt, "Jag hade tänkt något stort...En: "Elin," Viggo suddenly says, "I had planned something big...Sv: Men jag vill bara säga det nu.En: But I just want to say it now.Sv: Vill du gifta dig med mig?"En: Will you marry me?"Sv: Elin känner sitt hjärta slå snabbt.En: Elin feels her heart beating rapidly.Sv: "Viggo," börjar hon och känner all tvekan flyta bort, "Ja, ja, det vill jag."En: "Viggo," she begins, feeling all hesitation melt away, "Yes, yes, I will."Sv: Mitt i mörkret tar de varandras händer, och deras röster låter varma och klara.En: In the darkness, they take each other's hands, and their voices sound warm and clear.Sv: Plötsligt återvänder ljuset.En: Suddenly, the light returns.Sv: Rummet fylls med det blå skenet igen.En: The room is filled with the blue glow again.Sv: De ser varandras leenden och känner att de har tagit ett stort steg tillsammans.En: They see each other's smiles and feel that they have taken a big step together.Sv: Viggo känner självförtroendet växa.En: Viggo feels his confidence growing.Sv: Elin känner sig lugn och säker med Viggo.En: Elin feels calm and secure with Viggo.Sv: Snöstormen kan rasa utanför, men de vet att de har klarat den viktigaste prövningen - att möta sina rädslor och tvivel tillsammans.En: The snowstorm may rage outside, but they know they have overcome the most important trial - facing their fears and doubts together.Sv: Deras framtid i detta vinterlandskap känns nu ljus och hoppfull.En: Their future in this winter landscape now feels bright and hopeful. Vocabulary Words:magical: magiskafall: fallerromantic: romantiskshimmering: skimrandeice sculptures: isskulpturergaze: blickintensify: tilltarfury: raseripossible: möjligtrealize: inserproposal: frierisuddenly: plötsligthesitation: tvekanrapidly: hastigtoutdoor: utomhuscorridors: korridorernabubbling: bubblaawaiting: förväntansfullclarity: klarhetsurprise: överraskacalm: lugnarlight: ljusstep: stegconfidence: självförtroendetsecure: säkerstorm: snöstormcourage: modexpress: uttryckaburning: brinnerclear: klart

Episode 367 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Vivjan Myrto, Founder & Managing Partner at Hyperplane. Why Boston Be The Star of the AI Revolution - this is the title of an article that Zach Winn wrote for VentureFizz seven years ago. It talks about the history of AI in the Boston area including Marvin Minksy's first neural net machine back in 1951, the amazing academic institutions, plus the state of the tech ecosystem in this industry back then. Vivjan was featured in this article along with this quote: “I think machine intelligence represents a once in a lifetime opportunity for entrepreneurs...” It's impressive to see how Vivjan and his partners were well ahead of the AI hype machine, as they built Hyperplane's focus around backing the best founding teams working in this sector along with other innovations in hardtech like robotics, sensors and more. The firm's name is even based on a term in machine learning applications, a higher-dimensional plane used to help categorize data based on its underlying structure from images to real-world events. In this podcast, we cover: * Vivjan's inspirational background story from growing up in Albania to fighting cancer and moving to the United States for treatment and learning how to speak English while he was in the hospital. * Going on to build a healthcare startup that was acquired. * How Hyperplane came to fruition and how they raised their first fund. * All the details about Hyperplane and the firm's area of focus for investments. * A deep dive into Modulate, one of their portfolio companies. * Advice on taking the entrepreneurial leap * A discussion around the Boston tech scene and areas for improvement. * His passion for wind sports and photography. * And so much more. Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

What can we say for sure about China? Many of us can rattle off some incredible statistics.  It is a manufacturing and technology powerhouse. China ran up an astonishing $1 trillion dollar surplus in 2024. China builds more EVs than all other countries combined. And China has enough capacity to supply total global demand for batteries. We know these facts. But what we know much less well is how to engage with Chinese business people in a productive way that leads to successful outcomes. That's been a giant black hole for many Western business people. Fortunately, a giant dose of help is on the way in the form of a tremendous new book by Ken Wilcox called The Chinese Business Conundrum: Ensuring Win-Win Doesn't Mean Western Companies Twice. Mr Wilcox, the former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, also ran SVB's joint venture bank in China. He shares extremely valuable inside views of realities on the ground.   

Blake and David jump into the latest news, including the launch of Trump's own cryptocurrency and KPMG's expansion into legal services in Arizona, taking advantage of new rules allowing non-lawyers to own law firms. They also examine the Treasury Department's Chinese hack attack, South Carolina's $1.8 billion accounting error resolution, and Trump's proposed External Revenue Service.SponsorsRelay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/relayKeeper - http://accountingpodcast.promo/keeperTaxBandits - http://accountingpodcast.promo/taxbanditsBasil - http://accountingpodcast.promo/basilChapters(00:48) - Trump's TikTok Saga (03:35) - Live Stream and CPE Credits (04:48) - Trump's Cryptocurrency Launch (06:54) - Sage AI Data Leak Incident (12:27) - Relay Sponsorship and Banking Solutions (14:13) - Trump's Cryptocurrency Impact (28:06) - Direct File and IRS Developments (32:45) - KPMG Enters Legal Services (38:51) - Tax Bandits: Streamlining Your Tax Season (39:50) - Legal Document Automation with AI (41:04) - South Carolina's $1.8 Billion Accounting Error (45:56) - Trump's External Revenue Service Proposal (49:54) - Chinese Hackers Breach U.S. Treasury (56:51) - FDIC Sues Silicon Valley Bank Executives (01:04:39) - American Express Settles for $230 Million Over Bad Tax Advice (01:08:28) - Testing Google's Gemini Advanced for Tax Research (01:12:17) - Earn Free CPE Credits with Earmark (01:14:22) - Conclusion and Live Stream Announcement  Show NotesTikTok restores US service after Trump says “we have to save it”https://www.reuters.com/technology/tiktok-goes-dark-us-users-trump-says-save-tiktok-2025-01-19/ Donald and Melania Trump debuted meme coins, $Trump and $Melania. Here's what to know.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-melania-meme-coin-cryptocurrency-what-to-know/ KPMG's Bold Move: How Arizona's ABS Rules Are Reshaping the U.S. Legal Landscapehttps://lawleaders.com/kpmgs-bold-move-how-arizonas-abs-rules-are-reshaping-the-u-s-legal-landscape/ IRS Direct File set to expand availability in a dozen new states and cover wider range of tax situations for the 2025 tax filing seasonhttps://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-direct-file-set-to-expand-availability-in-a-dozen-new-states-and-cover-wider-range-of-tax-situations-for-the-2025-tax-filing-season Sage Copilot grounded briefly to fix AI misbehaviorhttps://www.theregister.com/2025/01/20/sage_copilot_data_issue/ FDIC sues 17 former Silicon Valley Bank executives over collapesehttps://www.cnn.com/2025/01/16/business/fdic-sues-svb-executives-directors-intl-hnk/index.htmlFDIC sues former SVB execs over bank closurehttps://bankingjournal.aba.com/2025/01/fdic-sues-former-svb-execs-over-bank-closure/ SoftBank-Backed Fish Firm Allegedly Faked Most of Its Saleshttps://finance.yahoo.com/news/softbank-backed-fish-startup-allegedly-141253969.html American Express to pay $230 million to settle US charges over deceptive sales practiceshttps://www.reuters.com/business/finance/american-express-pay-1087-mln-settle-deceptive-marketing-allegations-justice-2025-01-16/ U.S. Sanctions Chinese Cybersecurity Firm Over Treasury Hack Tied to Salt Typhoonhttps://thehackernews.com/2025/01/us-sanctions-chinese-cybersecurity-firm.html SC auditor resigns after outside audit found $1.8 billion ‘surplus' was actually an accounting errorhttps://www.wistv.com/2025/01/23/sc-auditor-resigns-after-outside-audit-found-18-billion-surplus-was-actually-an-accounting-error/Need CPE?Get CPE for listening to podcasts with Earmark: https://earmarkcpe.comSubscribe to the Earmark Podcast: https://podcast.earmarkcpe.comGet in TouchThanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040.SponsorshipsAre you interested in sponsoring the Cloud Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.Need Accounting Conference Info? Check out our new website - accountingconferences.comLimited edition shirts, stickers, and other necessitiesTeePublic Store: http://cloudacctpod.link/merchSubscribeApple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcastsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAccountingPodcastSpotify: http://cloudacctpod.link/SpotifyPodchaser: http://cloudacctpod.link/podchaserStitcher: http://cloudacctpod.link/StitcherOvercast: http://cloudacc...

Technology has impacted so many areas of lending but one niche that has remained a manual, human-powered process is middle market lending, where deals are typically $5 million to $100 million. These deals have been consummated on the golf course or at expensive dinners after often months of analysis and negotiation. That is not an efficient way to do business in 2025. Enter Arc.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Don Muir, the CEO and Co-Founder of Arc. Arc is first and foremost a technology company, providing startups and lenders the tools they need to manage their finances. Where Arc shines is in helping companies raise debt capital, they have built one of the most sophisticated systems on the market today to bring borrowers and lenders together to get deals done quickly and easily, even deals in the tens of millions of dollars.In this podcast you will learn:The aha moment that led to the founding of Arc.Why banks are not interested in serving the lower middle market.Why they launched with a direct lending model.How their two-sided debt marketplace works.Details of their commercial banking offering.How they make lenders decisions easier.The range of deal sizes they are doing today.What they offer in their cash management platform.How the SVB collapse has impacted their business.How Arc Intelligence uses AI to helps lenders make decisions more efficiently.Why they have decided to focus exclusively on debt and not do equity.Why demand has been so strong for the last year or more.How Don is thinking about Arc long term.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Episode #366 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Graham Brooks, Partner at .406 Ventures. “Data is the new oil” - it's a slogan that you hear everywhere these days… it's on TV commercials, print ads, LinkedIn posts… but this is not a new trend or revelation for Graham. His interest in data goes back to his first job out of college and his passion for data has followed him throughout his career, including in his current role as the leader of .406 Ventures' Data + AI strategy. .406 Ventures is a Boston-based venture capital firm with over $1.4B under management and nearly two decades of experience leading or co-leading early-stage investments in pioneering healthcare, data + AI, and cybersecurity companies founded by visionary entrepreneurs. Oh… and here's a fun fact about Graham… his sport of choice while growing up was fencing. He competed all over the world and was a two-time All American at Princeton. So cool. In this podcast, we cover: * Graham's thoughts on AI and the investment outlook for 2025. * His background story including how he got into fencing. * Joining a Princeton startup called ALK Associates which was early AI for data cleansing that was acquired by Trimble. * Learning sales and fundraising as part of the founding team at Accentus after he received his MBA at Dartmouth. * Graham's journey to landing a job in venture capital which was intentional, plus he shares some great advice for others who are interested in this career path. * The details about .406 Ventures and its thesis driven approach, plus portfolio company examples and their investment process. * His passion for extreme sports * And so much more. Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Highlights from this week's conversation include:Insider Segment: SVB's Role in the Innovation Economy (1:14)Challenges for Emerging Managers (4:31)Global Innovation and Connectivity (6:15)SVB's Offerings Beyond Financing (8:41)Treasury Services and Liquidity Solutions (10:59)Ertan Can's Background and Journey into VC (13:45)The Birth of Multiple Capital (17:41)Pan-European Portfolio Strategy (20:38)Investment Jurisdictions and Structures (24:06)Opportunities for US Investors (28:27)Exit Markets and Valuation Benefits (30:01)The Rise of European Startups (33:08)Identifying Outliers in the Ecosystem (35:10)Focus on Small and Seed-Stage Funds (38:31)Adapting to Market Changes (42:26)Advantages of Solo GPs (45:24)Future of the European Market (50:27)The Randomness of Venture Success (54:25)Final Thoughts and Takeaways (1:01:09)Multiple Capital is Europe's first tech-focused fund of micro funds, founded in 2018 by Ertan Can. The firm invests in emerging and solo fund managers across Europe and the U.S., focusing on overlooked opportunities in niche geographies and verticals. With a portfolio spanning over 1,000 companies, Multiple Capital aims to democratize access to early-stage tech investments and foster innovation. Learn more: https://www.multiple.capital/Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, is the bank of the world's most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial and private banking to individuals and companies in the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity, venture capital and premium wine industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation throughout the United States, serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector expertise, insights and connections. SVB's parent company, First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA), is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $200 billion in assets. First Citizens Bank, Member FDIC. Learn more at svb.com. Swimming with Allocators is a podcast that dives into the intriguing world of Venture Capital from an LP (Limited Partner) perspective. Hosts Alexa Binns and Earnest Sweat are seasoned professionals who have donned various hats in the VC ecosystem. Each episode, we explore where the future opportunities lie in the VC landscape with insights from top LPs on their investment strategies and industry experts shedding light on emerging trends and technologies. The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this podcast are for general informational purposes only.

Episode 365 of The VentureFizz Podcast features John Harthorne, Founder & Managing Director of Two Lanterns Venture Capital and Founder and decade-long CEO of MassChallenge. A career is a body of work. It doesn't have to be a straight line… it can take twists and turns… yon can switch industries… you can reinvent yourself… and it should be fulfilling. As you'll learn from John's background, he had lots of twists and turns but ultimately, he decided there must be more to his career. One where he can make a massive impact, but he obviously had to weigh the risks of the unknown during one of the worst economic conditions back in 2009. That unknown became one of the largest accelerators in the world with over 4,000 alumni and over $13B raised with a 65% survival rate which includes companies like Flywire, Ginger, Bitso and many, many more. It's proof that you can think and dream big! Today at Two Lanterns Venture Capital, John is focused on making pre-seed and seed investments in software startups in the U.S. and Israel. In this podcast, we cover: * John's outlook for 2025 as an investor. * His background with lots of twists and turns, including how he landed in the tech industry at a cybersecurity company called @stake. * The decision to go back to business school at MIT Sloan and how his passion for entrepreneurship developed. * The full lifecycle story of MassChallenge. All the stories from leaving Bain as a consultant along with Akhil Nigam to start the accelerator, all the obstacles they overcome, and then scaling the organization. * What led him down the path of starting Two Lanterns Venture Capital, plus all the details on the firm and what they are targeting for investments. * Common entrepreneurial mistakes. * And so much more. Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

I'm delighted to kick off 2025 with a conversation with Warren Fisher. We last spoke to Warren during the SVB banking crisis. He's the founder and CEO at Manole Captial Management, a FinTech focused asset manager. With the election promising to usher in regulatory changes across finance and technology, once again, we go to Warren Fisher. In this episode, we have a broad ranging conversation on banks, payments, regulation and, of course, crypto. I hope you enjoy the discussion.This podcast was recorded on December 19, 2024.  The respective opinions expressed are those of Mr. Fisher and Biltmore Family Office, LLC..  The opinions referenced are as of the date of this podcast and are subject to change without notice.  This material is for informational use only and should not be considered investment advice. The information discussed herein is not a recommendation to buy or sell a particular security or to invest in any particular sector.  Forward-looking statements are not guaranteed.  BFO reserves the right to modify its current investment strategies and techniques based on changing market dynamics or client needs and there is no guarantee that their assessment of investments will be accurate.  The discussions, outlook and viewpoints featured are not intended to be investment advice and do not take into account specific client investment objectives.  Before investing, an investor should consider his or her investment goals and risk comfort levels and consult with his or her investment adviser and tax professional.   Biltmore Family Office, LLC is an investment adviser registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. More information about BFO's investment advisory services can be found in its Form ADV Part 2, which is available upon request.

Zach was burned out after a decade of working at top roles in Coinbase, Square and Brex. He quit with no startup idea-- and then, he went right back in. Given their background, Zach and his co-founder quickly raised an $8M seed round to build an NFT-related product in Web3.One month later, they completely abandoned their idea. They realized it was never going to work. Then, the floor fell from underneath them. FTX went bankrupt. SVB fell apart. They took punches to the face for the first 6 months straight.But, when everyone was paying attention to Gen AI in late 2022, Zach kept going deep in Web3. He noticed stablecoins were growing but there was no platform for developers to build with. So he built Bridge, a Stripe-like API for stablecoins.The first months post-launch were underwhelming-- until they landed a fast-growing customer. From then on, the next year was exceptional 10x+ growth. Then Stripe noticed them.In Oct 2024, they were acquired for $1.1B. Just 2.5 years after he started.Here's the story of how it all happened. Why you should listen:Why even $1B+ exits still feel like rollercoasters from the inside. How to quickly abandon ideas and pivot to what truly matters.How they found a massive opportunity where no one else was looking.Why starting outside of the Bay Area was critical to their success.Keywordsstartup, billion-dollar exit, stablecoins, investor relations, crypto, fintech, market dynamics, entrepreneurship, pivot, challenges, stable coins, startup journey, acquisition, fintech, market resilience, product market fit, Pablo Srugo, Bridge, Stripe, entrepreneurshipTimestamps(00:00:00) Intro(00:2:46) Starting at the Worst Time(00:8:56) The Emotions on Pivoting a Month After Raising(00:11:44) Pivoting(00:18:24) Leaving Brex(00:20:36) Working on Something Out of Trend(00:28:34) The Core Beliefs of Bridge(00:32:56) Launching & First Customer(00:38:57) Sometimes you Can't Think Too Much(00:42:29) Series A(00:44:24) The Acquisition(00:49:05) The Feeling of Exiting for a Billion(00:52:24) One Piece of AdviceSend me a message to let me know what you think!

If you work across time zones, borders, and cultures, this is the show for you. This is your host Leonardo, welcome to the international business podcast.     What are the major differences between U.S. and Chinese business dealings and practices?   What questions do today's business leaders need to ask to work successfully and carefully with China?   How does the CCP operate, including their use of flattery to manipulate and replicate business models?   Join Leonardo on Patreon for:⁠⁠ Podcast Archive: 102 episodes (40+ hours). Podcast Bonus Episodes: New exclusive content. Early Access: Upcoming YouTube videos and newsletters. Thinking Process Journal: Insights into Leonardo's content preparation, including a curated reading list and personal reflections. Q&A: Submit questions for future episodes, and receive a shoutout when they are answered. Joining Leonardo we have Ken Wilcox. He was the CEO of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) from 2001 to 2011, then the CEO of SVB's joint venture with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB-SVB) in Shanghai until 2015, followed by four years as its Vice Chairman. He currently serves on the boards of the Asia Society of Northern California, the Asian Art Museum, and UC San Diego's 21st Century China Center, as well as Columbia Lake Partners, a European venture-debt fund. He is on the Board of Advisors of the Fudan University School of Management in Shanghai and an Adjunct Professor at U.C. Berkeley.   Ken holds a PhD in German from Ohio State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. His account of establishing an innovation bank in China, “The China Business Conundrum: Ensure that Win-Win Doesn't Mean Western Companies Lose Twice”, was published in November 2024 from Wiley.   For an extra 20 minutes episode with Ken, check out the PLUS episode that is coming out tomorrow. It is available for Patreon subscribers.   You can purchase Ken's book on Amazon here. This will contribute to The International Business Podcast.   If you work across time zones, borders, and cultures, come on the show to share your story. Connect with the host Leonardo Marra

Episode #364 of The VentureFizz Podcast features John Andrews, Co-Founder & CEO of Cimulate. There is a wave of entrepreneurs who are uniquely qualified to build a pillar tech company in the Boston tech ecosystem while leveraging the platform shift to AI. Not only is John one of them, but he is also an alum of the very successful crew from Endeca. John and his co-founder, Vivek Farias, are tackling the future of eCommerce and as you'll hear, their platform is a perfect use case for Gen AI. Their last company, Celect, was a big data predictive analytics platform for the retail industry which was acquired by Nike. Cimulate recently announced a $28M Series A round of funding led by Spark Capital with participation from their seed stage investors SIERRA Ventures and Pillar VC, with additional participation from LFX Venture Partners and Commerce Ventures. In this podcast, we cover: * A deep dive into the use cases of AI in the retail & eCommerce industry especially around personalization. * John's background story and getting his career started at Deloitte Consulting and getting an MBA from HBS. * How he met Steve Papa, the founder of Endeca, and the full lifecycle of his experience there including the acquisition by Oracle and integration of their tech there. * Connecting with Vivek Farias and Devavrat Shah through Steve Papa and the story of building Celect which was using AI / machine learning back in 2014. * How the acquisition by Nike came together * All the details about Cimulate and how the platform works, plus their growth plans ahead. * Biggest lessons learned as a multi-time CEO. * And so much more. Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

All entrepreneurs should understand what venture debt is so they can make an informed decision to take it or not. Heidi poses a series of questions and scenarios to help founders know whether it's a good option for their company. And if it is, how to set it up and use it.  More Information: https://www.threshold.vc/podcast/the-case-of-the-venture-debt-dilemma Further Reading: As I mentioned in the episode, General Catalyst has an interesting offering around a financing model for growth equity that is a hybrid of debt and equity: https://www.generalcatalyst.com/stories/the-unbundling-of-growth-equity Also, as mentioned, the next version of the SAFE has arrived in the form of a SAFERloan agreement, which allows for some repayment instead of conversion: https://www.liquiditygroup.com/resource-funding/what-is-the-safer-agreement Here's a solid primer on debt covenants:https://www.lightercapital.com/blog/what-are-debt-covenants-on-a-loan#:~:text=A%20debt%20covenant%20lays%20out,more%20specific%20and%20complex%20requirements Finally, one thing I didn't cover in the episode but is relevant to the decision-making about debt is that the lender may ask you to move all your banking business to their bank. And that can prove disastrous in situations like what happened to SVB. Here's a great piece on that danger: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/wake-svbs-collapse-some-tech-founders-turn-against-venture-tanya-dua

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu talks about his three-plus years at the forefront of bank regulation, including what regulators learned from the fall of SVB, why we still need new Basel capital rules, and whether regulatory restructuring would be worth the effort.

Frank Lavin talks about doing business in China with Ken Wilcox, the former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, who went on to run the SVB joint venture in China, the story of which resulted in his insightful book, “The China Business Conundrum.” Beyond his book, Ken also recommends “Red Roulette” by Desmond Shum and “Beijing Rules” by Bethany Allen for those interested in a deeper reading of the challenges U.S. businesses face in China.

Here's how the second-biggest bank collapse in U.S. history happened in just 48 hours. Silicon Valley Bank closed its doors today. Within 48 hours, a panic induced by the very venture capital community that SVB had served and nurtured ended the bank's 40-year-run. For sure you've heard that millionaires are made in recessions, but how? Jaspreet Singh is joining Tom for a second time to get you up to speed on what it takes to get wealthy during any recession. Jaspreet is the Minority Mindset guru and Chief Money Nerd at Minority Mindset Companies. He's been creating financial education videos on YouTube for years and is breaking down all the reason you don't have to be scared during a recession Jaspreet is a voice of reason to remember that recessions are only bad or good in relation to which side of the equation you are on. This is a must watch if you're trying to find the best route through a recession that has most people nervous and panicked. [Original air date: 3-13-23]. CHECK OUT OUR SPONSORS Range Rover: Explore the Range Rover Sport at  https://landroverUSA.com Miro: Bring your teams to Miro's revolutionary Innovation Workspace and be faster from idea to outcome at https://miro.com. Found Banking: Stop getting lost in countless finance apps and try Found for free at https://found.com/impact. Netsuite: Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at https://netsuite.com/theory Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://shopify.com/impact Factor:  Get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month while your subscription is active at https://factormeals.com/impacttheory50 with code impacttheory50. Follow Jaspreet Singh: Website: https://theminoritymindset.com/about-us/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MinorityMindset Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/minoritymin... Twitter: https://twitter.com/minoritym1ndset Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MinorityMind... CHECK OUT OUR SPONSORS Range Rover: Explore the Range Rover Sport at  https://landroverUSA.com Miro: Bring your teams to Miro's revolutionary Innovation Workspace and be faster from idea to outcome at https://miro.com Betterhelp: This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://betterhelp.com/impacttheory and get 10% off your first month Netsuite: Spend less time looking backwards, and more time on what's next. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning at https://NetSuite.com/theory  NordVPN: EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/impacttheory Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Vanta: Get $1,000 off Vanta when you go to https://vanta.com/THEORY ********************************************************************** What's up, everybody? It's Tom Bilyeu here: If you want my help... STARTING a business: join me here at ZERO TO FOUNDER SCALING a business: see if you qualify here. Get my battle-tested strategies and insights delivered weekly to your inbox: sign up here. ********************************************************************** Join me live on my Twitch stream. I'm live daily from 6:30 to 8:30 am PT at www.twitch.tv/tombilyeu ********************************************************************** LISTEN TO IMPACT THEORY & MINDSET PLAYBOOK AD FREE + BONUS EPISODES on APPLE PODCASTS: apple.co/impacttheory ********************************************************************** FOLLOW TOM: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tombilyeu/ Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tombilyeu?lang=en Twitter: https://twitter.com/tombilyeu YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TomBilyeu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 362 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Alice Pomponio, Managing Director at BrightEdge, the investing arm of the American Cancer Society. Venture capital and private equity investors are all working on meaningful initiatives in terms of building great companies with the hope of gaining a meaningful return for investors. However, the role that Alice plays in the world of investing into startups is different… As the innovation, impact investment and venture capital arm of the American Cancer Society, BrightEdge propels groundbreaking patient-centric solutions by accelerating ACS's mission to advance science, reduce disparities, and promote healthcare sustainability. All of the investments from BrightEdge have a common goal and that is to fight for a world without cancer. On top of this incredibly important mission is how the firm operates where the financial returns are reinvested back into the fund or are returned to the American Cancer Society to build a diversified and sustainable source of funding for the organization. In this podcast, we cover: * The platform shift to AI and its potential impact on cancer research. * Alice's background and how cancer has affected her family, plus a walk through her career in the biotech & pharmaceutical industry. * The details of the firm's proprietary Cancer Impact Investment Framework. * Sample portfolio companies and the overall impact that BrightEdge has made. * How BrightEdge is helping to advance health equity and increase representation for underserved populations. * And so much more. Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Today we are breaking down commercial real estate lending with Josh Zegen, co-founder and managing principal of Madison Realty Capital.  Josh and his team at Madison launched in 2004 and evolved from a hard money lender when there really was no alternative industry called commercial real estate lending. They've developed into a single-source capital provider today with more than $21 billion in AUM. Josh gets into great detail here about how it's not an all-or-nothing story when it comes to real estate. We covered some of the basics on construction loans, the life cycle of capital, and new developments. Then, we get into some of the current market dynamics, post-COVID interest rates, post-SVB, and much, much more.  Please enjoy this Breakdown of commercial real estate lending. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Public: Invest in stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and more in one place. A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. The [6.7%] yield is the average annualized yield to maturity (YTM) across all ten bonds in the Bond Account, before fees, as of [9/05/2024]. A bond's yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore a bond's YTM is “locked in” when the bond is purchased. Your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTM is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTM of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity, or if the issuer calls or defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. You should evaluate each bond before investing in a Bond Account. The bonds in your Bond Account will not be rebalanced and allocations will not be updated, except for Corporate Actions. – This episode is brought to you by EightSleep, the temperature-controlled mattress cover that heats or cools your mattress to transform your sleep. The Pod 4 Ultra is the new gold standard in intelligent sleep systems. It can be added to your current mattress like a fitted sheet and is been clinically proven to give you up to an hour more quality of sleep every night. The cooling capability can cool your side of the bed to 20 degrees below room temperature, all managed by the pod's autopilot feature, which adjusts the temperature throughout the night. This holiday season go to eightsleep.com/breakdowns and use code JOYS for up to $600 off the Pod 4 Ultra when bundled.  ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes (00:00:00) Welcome to Business Breakdowns (00:05:22) Starting Madison Realty Capital (00:06:44) Evolution of the Lending Market (00:10:08) Construction Lending Dynamics (00:15:36) Risk Management and Portfolio Strategy (00:18:49) Leveraging Private Credit (00:30:31) Portfolio Management and Challenges (00:33:32) COVID-19's Impact on Real Estate Projects (00:34:49) Strategies for Loan Workouts (00:37:38) Post-COVID Market Dynamics (00:39:45) Opportunities in Loan Purchases (00:42:53) Sector-Specific Real Estate Insights (00:49:27) Impact of Work Schedules on Real Estate (00:51:22) Interest Rates and Market Impact (00:55:45) Future Opportunities and Market Trends

Episode 361 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Phil Pergola, CEO at CloudZero. Phil has a tremendous track record and we talk about a lot of great companies that he's helped build throughout his career, but I need to highlight one of these companies in this intro and that is BladeLogic and the lasting impact the company has made. If you've ever read the famous startup book by Ben Horowitz called The Hard Thing About Hard Things… the competitor to his company Opsware was BladeLogic which is absolutely classic. BladeLogic went on to become a public company and was subsequently acquired by BMC Software. Another fascinating point about BladeLogic is the people and how many have gone on to become C-level sales executives or advisors at some of the most successful companies out there like MongoDB, AppDynamics, Snowflake, Wiz, Okta, and others. There is even a podcast called Hunters + Unicorns which interviews a bunch of them. CloudZero is the leader in proactive cloud cost efficiency. They enable engineers to build cost-efficient software without slowing down innovation. The company announced a $32M Series B round of funding last year. In this podcast, we cover: * The importance of building a successful pre and post-sales organization, plus the details of the LAYR model (Land Adopt Expand Retain). * Phil's background and the story of his initial interest in pursuing a career path as an actuary. * A trip down Boston tech memory lane across multiple companies like Eggrock Partners which was acquired by Breakaway Solutions, BladeLogic, enerNOC, and CloudHealth Technologies. * All the details about CloudZero - how they found product market fit, why he joined as CEO, and the latest at the company today. * Advice on raising venture capital funding. * Lots of great advice on being a first time CEO - his lessons learned, what you should think about in the first 90 days, and advice on how to get on the radar for CEO positions. * And so much more. Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

The China Business Conundrum: Ensure That "Win-Win" Doesn't Mean Western Companies Lose Twice (Wiley, 2024) describes former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) Ken Wilcox's firsthand challenges he encountered in four years “on the ground” trying to establish a joint venture between SVB and the Chinese government to fund local innovation design―and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) efforts to systematically sabotage the project and steal SVB's business model. This book provides actionable advice drawn from meticulous notes Wilcox took from interviews with people from all walks of Chinese life, including Party and non-Party members, the business elite, and domestic workers. Describing a China he found fascinating and maddeningly complex, this book explores topics including: Difficulties in transplanting SVB's model to China, from misunderstandings about titles and responsibilities to pitched battles over toilet design Ethics and practices widely adopted by Chinese businesses today and why China must be met with realistic expectations Wilcox's own honest missteps and the painfully learned lessons that came afterwards Engrossing, enlightening, and entertaining, The China Business Conundrum: Ensure That "Win-Win" Doesn't Mean Western Companies Lose Twice is an essential cautionary tale and guidebook for anyone seeking to do business in or with China, and an essential first-person account for academics trying to understand China's unique political economy and development trajectory. Ken Wilcox was the CEO of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) from 2001 to 2011, then the CEO of SVB's joint venture with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB-SVB) in Shanghai until 2015, followed by four years as its Vice Chairman. He currently serves on the boards of the Asia Society of Northern California, the Asian Art Museum, and UC San Diego's 21st Century China Center, as well as Columbia Lake Partners, a European venture-debt fund. He is on the Board of Advisors of the Fudan University School of Management in Shanghai and teaches as an Adjunct Professor at U.C. Berkeley. Ken holds a PhD in German from Ohio State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a former member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. He has given numerous speeches in both English and Chinese, published a variety of articles in the banking press, and recently wrote the management book “Leading Through Culture: How Real Leaders Create Cultures That Motivate People to Achieve Great Things” (Waterside Productions, 2020) and its accompanying workbook, “How About You?” (Waterside Productions, 2023). The father of two sons, he lives in San Francisco with his wife, Ruth, and several antique cars. For more of Ken's insights, follow his substack. Interviewer Peter Lorentzen is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of San Francisco, a nonresident scholar at the UCSD 21st Century China Center, an alumnus of the Public Intellectuals Program of the National Committee on US-China Relations, and is currently a visiting scholar at the Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions. His research focuses on the economics of information, incentives, and institutions, primarily as applied to the development and governance of China. He created the unique Master's of Science in Applied Economics at the University of San Francisco, which teaches the conceptual frameworks and practical data analytics skills needed to succeed in the digital economy. Lorentzen's other NBN interviews relating to China's tech sector include From Click to Boom, on the political economy of e-commerce in China, Trafficking Data, on how Chinese and American firms exploit user data, The Tao of Alibaba, on Alibaba's business model and organizational culture, Surveillance State, on China's digital surveillance, Prototype Nation, on the culture and politics of China's innovation economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The China Business Conundrum: Ensure That "Win-Win" Doesn't Mean Western Companies Lose Twice (Wiley, 2024) describes former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) Ken Wilcox's firsthand challenges he encountered in four years “on the ground” trying to establish a joint venture between SVB and the Chinese government to fund local innovation design―and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) efforts to systematically sabotage the project and steal SVB's business model. This book provides actionable advice drawn from meticulous notes Wilcox took from interviews with people from all walks of Chinese life, including Party and non-Party members, the business elite, and domestic workers. Describing a China he found fascinating and maddeningly complex, this book explores topics including: Difficulties in transplanting SVB's model to China, from misunderstandings about titles and responsibilities to pitched battles over toilet design Ethics and practices widely adopted by Chinese businesses today and why China must be met with realistic expectations Wilcox's own honest missteps and the painfully learned lessons that came afterwards Engrossing, enlightening, and entertaining, The China Business Conundrum: Ensure That "Win-Win" Doesn't Mean Western Companies Lose Twice is an essential cautionary tale and guidebook for anyone seeking to do business in or with China, and an essential first-person account for academics trying to understand China's unique political economy and development trajectory. Ken Wilcox was the CEO of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) from 2001 to 2011, then the CEO of SVB's joint venture with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB-SVB) in Shanghai until 2015, followed by four years as its Vice Chairman. He currently serves on the boards of the Asia Society of Northern California, the Asian Art Museum, and UC San Diego's 21st Century China Center, as well as Columbia Lake Partners, a European venture-debt fund. He is on the Board of Advisors of the Fudan University School of Management in Shanghai and teaches as an Adjunct Professor at U.C. Berkeley. Ken holds a PhD in German from Ohio State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a former member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. He has given numerous speeches in both English and Chinese, published a variety of articles in the banking press, and recently wrote the management book “Leading Through Culture: How Real Leaders Create Cultures That Motivate People to Achieve Great Things” (Waterside Productions, 2020) and its accompanying workbook, “How About You?” (Waterside Productions, 2023). The father of two sons, he lives in San Francisco with his wife, Ruth, and several antique cars. For more of Ken's insights, follow his substack. Interviewer Peter Lorentzen is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of San Francisco, a nonresident scholar at the UCSD 21st Century China Center, an alumnus of the Public Intellectuals Program of the National Committee on US-China Relations, and is currently a visiting scholar at the Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions. His research focuses on the economics of information, incentives, and institutions, primarily as applied to the development and governance of China. He created the unique Master's of Science in Applied Economics at the University of San Francisco, which teaches the conceptual frameworks and practical data analytics skills needed to succeed in the digital economy. Lorentzen's other NBN interviews relating to China's tech sector include From Click to Boom, on the political economy of e-commerce in China, Trafficking Data, on how Chinese and American firms exploit user data, The Tao of Alibaba, on Alibaba's business model and organizational culture, Surveillance State, on China's digital surveillance, Prototype Nation, on the culture and politics of China's innovation economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Episode 360 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Mike Troiano, Partner at G20 Ventures. When I think of Mike, I think of a master marketer, a branding guru, and an amazing storyteller. As we start our conversation we discuss the importance of these traits as it relates to entrepreneurs. The importance of storytelling and brand building is often overlooked by entrepreneurs. Yet, it is such a critical part of a startup's success as a good story attracts customers, talent, and capital. If you haven't followed his blog, please make sure you check it out on Medium, as there are so many great pieces of advice to help you improve your skills in storytelling, creating a brand, and building a startup. He's one of the best. G20 Ventures is the capital partner that helps new businesses grow with smart money, great storytelling, and the right connections. The firm's sweet spot is mainly Series A investing in enterprise software companies. In this podcast, we cover: * Playing sports at Cornell and getting his career started in the marketing agency world, plus starting his own company which was acquired and went public. * The full lifecycle story of M-Qube which was acquired by VeriSign and all the details about how the company powered the voting for American Idol and the lucky case drawing for Deal or No Deal. * Launching a startup called MatchMine which was backed by the Kraft family and was building a personalization tech for consumers that ended up being too early for the market. * The story of Actifio and its copy data management solution which grew into unicorn status with backing from Tier A investors and was acquired by Google. * How a viral post on Medium started his journey into venture capital and joining G20 Ventures, where he was a founding member and LP. * Getting started as a VC and how he found his Zone of Genius, plus what he's targeting for investments. * The 5 phases of a career. * And so much more. Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

Guests: Joe Thomas, CEO and co-founder of Loom; and Ilya Fushman, partner at Kleiner PerkinsLoom CEO Joe Thomas had a lot of things to think about before he sold his company to Atlassian for $975 million: The impact an acquisition might have on the product, how to keep the Loom brand alive, the risk of remaining independent... but it wasn't until after the deal was announced that he really understood what it meant for his team. “I didn't know how emotional it'd be for me,” Joe says. “All of the Loom employees, current and former, that reached out when this was announced, they did their calculation and they're like, ‘Oh my God.' That, to me, was the most emotionally transformative part of the process. I didn't fully recognize what that would be like, on the individual front.”Chapters:(01:34) - The Atlassian acquisition (05:25) - The bittersweet moment (08:15) - Transforming Loom (13:30) - Ilya's perspective (18:04) - Life-changing (22:55) - Doing it again (25:00) - Loom's early days (28:26) - The Series A (32:33) - Turning on monetization (35:37) - The Series B (37:05) - Loom AI (43:13) - Revenue orientation (48:18) - The acquisition landscape (52:27) - Working inside Atlassian (54:04) - Atlanta tech (55:00) - Who Atlassian is hiring (55:24) - What “grit” means to Joe Mentioned in this episode: Wilson Sonsini, Vinay Hiremath, Andrew Reed and Sequoia Capital, Zoom, Mike Cannon-Brookes, Shahed Khan, COTU Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Scott Farquhar, the Lindy Effect, SVB, Google Chrome, Dropbox, Slack, Snapchat, HubSpot, the Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter, Dylan Field and Figma, Atlassian Rovo, Palo Alto Networks, Salesforce, and Garrett Langley and Flock Safety.Links:Connect with JoeLinkedInTwitterConnect with IlyaTwitterLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner PerkinsThis episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm