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Guest: Alex Smereczniak— Serial entrepreneur, former CEO of 2ULaundry & Laundry Lab (over $100M valuation, 118 franchises sold), founder of Franzy (30,000+ monthly users, $3M+ raised to help people buy “cash-flowing” businesses). Early Hustles & First Big Win: Started with classic entrepreneurial pursuits: trading cards, washing cars as a kid, and then running a laundry delivery business (“Wake Wash”) in college, which he bought for $30,000 and sold for nearly $300,000 after systematizing and scaling it. Learned about discounted cash flow, buy/sell agreements, and the real value of recurring cash flow and business structure early on. Scaling, Strategy, and Differentiation: Moved from a student business to working for a Big Four consulting firm (Ernst & Young), but quickly realized he needed to build businesses—not just advise them. Launched 2ULaundry in 2016: delivered laundry/dry cleaning to homes and businesses, quickly scaling through tech and operations, later vertically integrating by building brick-and-mortar laundromats with Electrolux, and ultimately franchising the model for rapid growth. Grew Laundry Lab to 118 franchise awards and 30 locations open as of 2025. Laundromats as a Business Model: Low failure rate due to essential, “recession proof” services—people always need clean clothes—combined with cash-flow and passive income advantages. The “Power Play”: Buy from retiring owners, retool equipment over time, tap into durable local demand. Challenges, Automation & Venture Backing: Success meant more than cash-flow: his companies required operational discipline, vertical integration, and large capital outlays (laundromat builds exceed $1M). Venture capital was attracted by the “Uber for Laundry” home-delivery angle, but Alex's model matured into a blend of tech, local infrastructure, and scalable franchising. Why Franchising Needs Disruption — Enter Franzy: Traditional franchise placement is “Wild West,” with brokers sometimes pocketing up to 60% of franchise fees, influencing which opportunities new entrepreneurs see. Franzy's mission: Take a “Zillow for Franchising” approach—leverage AI for franchise matching (across 4000+ brands), standardized fees, and transparency to empower more everyday people to buy real businesses. Focuses on each buyer's risk profile, lifestyle, and goals; not just “make the most money,” but “fit the best business to the person.” Franchise Trends & Business Models to Watch: Still bullish on laundromats for certain profiles (cash-flow, de-risked, lifestyle), but now sees huge growth in health & wellness, home services, and viral consumer brands (e.g. PopUp Bagels, HRT clinics, anything innovating with AI or “cult” followings). Anticipates continued “displacement” of white-collar jobs by AI; business ownership, franchising, and “betting on yourself” are the safest long-term play for income and autonomy. Connect with Alex & Learn More: https://franzy.com/ https://www.instagram.com/alexfromfranzy/
For Bill McDermott, work has never been just a job.On this Labor Day rerun of Grit, first published Jan 9, 2023, the ServiceNow CEO reflects on what he learned from his earliest jobs and how he carried those lessons from a deli counter in Long Island to the boardroom of an $80B software company.We cover:Why Bill bought a deli when he was in high school — and how he competed against 7-Eleven (04:00)Interviewing at Xerox and wanting it more than anyone else (08:17)Unwavering optimism and being a source of strength for others (12:34)How a love of work has shaped Bill as a person (16:44)Facing challenges and keeping a promise to his father (22:00)Enjoying the present and keeping an eye on the future (30:01)Leaving Xerox for Gartner and learning from a tough experience (33:29)Sloan Kettering and Father Michael Judge (39:22)Following the “original dream” vs. building something new at ServiceNow (44:59)Losing an eye and getting a pep talk from two Medal of Honor winners (51:15)Why Bill started and ended his book with quotes from two Kennedys (01:01:21)Connect with BillXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
S4:E186 David covers The Weekly Update in Venture followed by David and Paul's review the 2025 Angel Funders Report from an investor perspective. We talk about what the data in the report means, what is not there, what we would like to see in the future and how this data influences Seed Stage Startup Investing. (interview recorded 8.26.25)The ACA's 2025 Angel Funder's ReportFollow David and Paul: https://x.com/DGRollingSouth https://x.com/PalmettoAngel Connect On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/ We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc.
The boys taking their 3 year old daughters camping for the first time There's a rat in the house Woody not helping in the conventional sense Unicorn hunting Can we catch a single fish? Camp fire songs See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Venture capitalists are increasingly investing in cryptocurrency startups with predictable and sustainable revenue streams rather than speculative projects. This shift aims to reduce risk, attract institutional investors, and address regulatory requirements. Key areas of interest include blockchain infrastructure, payment platforms, and decentralized finance protocols that generate consistent fees. Founders are advised to focus on transparency, compliance, and robust business models to improve fundraising prospects.Learn more on this news by visiting us at: https://greyjournal.net/news/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In Episode 268 of The Business Development Podcast, Kelly sits down with Lise Birikundavyi, CFA, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of BKR Capital, Canada's first Black-led, institutionally backed venture capital fund. Lise shares her incredible journey from her roots in Burundi to becoming one of the most influential voices in impact investing and inclusive finance. With a career spanning hedge funds, global impact strategies, and leadership roles across Africa, Asia, and North America, she brings a rare global perspective on how venture capital can fuel innovation and create lasting societal change.This episode dives deep into the world of venture capital — what it is, how it works, and what founders need to know when seeking investment. Lise opens up about the challenges of breaking barriers in finance, the importance of supporting diverse innovators, and why her mission is to redefine the face of success in entrepreneurship. For founders, entrepreneurs, and anyone passionate about building companies that change the world, this conversation is a masterclass in both capital and courage.Key Takeaways: 1. Venture capital is about fueling innovation and outsized growth, not just providing money.2. Founders must show a clear pathway to $100M revenue for VCs to take interest.3. A strong founding team with resilience and vision is the number one factor VCs invest in.4. Leadership that attracts top talent is critical for scaling early-stage companies.5. Deep understanding of your market and unfair advantages set successful founders apart.6. Venture capital changes the game—bringing not only capital, but governance, networks, and accountability.7. Diversity in venture capital isn't just good ethics, it drives better outcomes and innovation.8. Failure rates remain high even at VC stage, which is why the growth expectations are so demanding.9. Inclusive investment is essential to closing the gap for underrepresented founders.10. Entrepreneurs should always trust their gut, do the work, and stay intentional about their journey.Links referenced in this episode:capitalbd.cabkrcapital.caCompanies mentioned in this episode: BKR Capital Capital Business Development Microsoft The Jacobs Foundation Seron Asset Management Engineers Without Borders Canada Are you a founder looking for a community to help you build? We've got you — not just when it's easy, but especially when it's hard. The Catalyst Club was built for entrepreneurs and leaders who need a safe, private space to share challenges, wins, and get the support that truly moves the needle. With weekly live events, powerful connections, and a community that gets you, this is where you belong.Join us today at
Venture to a pro-Palestinian rally at one of Australia’s capital cities, and you’ll invariably hear calls to “end the genocide” in Gaza.And in the international court of justice, South Africa has accused Israel of committing genocide as well. It’s a claim Israel strenuously denies. So what is a genocide? And what evidence is needed to prove that one is happening? Today, we bring you a special episode with Geoffrey Robertson, KC, a former United Nations war crimes judge and now a human rights barrister and author, who tells us why this case will become the definitive decision on genocide.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Venture to a pro-Palestinian rally at one of Australia’s capital cities, and you’ll invariably hear calls to “end the genocide” in Gaza.And in the international court of justice, South Africa has accused Israel of committing genocide as well. It’s a claim Israel strenuously denies. So what is a genocide? And what evidence is needed to prove that one is happening? Today, we bring you a special episode with Geoffrey Robertson, KC, a former United Nations war crimes judge and now a human rights barrister and author, who tells us why this case will become the definitive decision on genocide.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Venture capital has powered companies like Facebook and TikTok—but what if that same urgency fueled America's defense and industrial base? Katherine Boyle, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and cofounder of the firm's American Dynamism practice, argues this is the biggest business opportunity of our time.In this conversation from The Shawn Ryan Show, Boyle discusses the rise of defense tech startups, why optimism drives her work, and how a new generation of engineers and founders is rethinking innovation and patriotism in America. Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction 0:41 Patriotism, Optimism, and American Innovation4:27 Startups vs. Legacy Primes in Defense10:08 Venture Capital's Unique Incentives17:21 Katherine's Backstory: Family & Upbringing21:07 The Decline of Community & Family Pillars23:23 Polarization, Religion, and Social Fabric26:16 America's Birth Rate Crisis29:46 Cultural Shifts and the Family Structure42:01 Katherine's Path: Journalism to Venture Capital1:06:06 Breaking into Silicon Valley1:18:06 Investing in Defense: The Anduril Story1:37:37 The American Dynamism Movement2:04:27 Manufacturing, Space, and the Future of Defense2:14:06 Espionage, China, and National Security2:37:38 The Attack on the American Family2:48:29 Cultural Change, Suffering, and Purpose2:55:30 Closing Thoughts Resources: Find Katherine on X: https://x.com/KTmBoyleShawn Ryan Show Links YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkoujZQZatbqy4KGcgjpVxQ/joinListen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shawn-ryan-show/id1492492083Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5eodRZd3qR9VT1ip1wI7xQ?si=7abec4d61c324b24 Stay Updated: Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16zFind a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16zFind a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16zSubscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenbergPlease note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
In this episode of More or Less, Brit Morin and Dave Morin sit down with legendary VC Tony Conrad (True Ventures) for a candid conversation on the state of venture capital, the real impact of AI, the death of social media, and why non-attribution and EQ matter more than ever.Chapters:01:30 – The Power (and Rarity) of Non-Attribution in Venture 04:00 – Building Culture After the Dot-Com Crash 06:00 – Why We Don't Do This for the Money 08:30 – EQ vs IQ: The Human Side of Venture Capital 11:00 – The Wildfire Story: When VCs Show Up as Humans 16:50 – The Best GPs & Firms: Inspiration from Legacy and Newcomers 22:30 – Space Tech Is Real Venture Capital (Not Just AI) 28:10 – Venture Is a Contact Sport: Lessons from Ron Conway 30:40 – AI Hype: Is There Any Money Left for Startups? 40:00 – Manipulation, Social Media, and the Rise of AEO 49:30 – Building Brands in the Age of AI (and Why We Paused Consumer) 55:00 – The Dangers of AI Hype and Overfunding 57:00 – Why Contrarian Investing Can Wait—Focus on AI Now 1:04:00 – Pop Culture Corner: Taylor Swift, Branding, and First Concerts We're also on ↓X: https://twitter.com/moreorlesspodInstagram: https://instagram.com/moreorlessSpotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/moreorlesspodConnect with us here:1) Sam Lessin: https://x.com/lessin2) Dave Morin: https://x.com/davemorin3) Jessica Lessin: https://x.com/Jessicalessin4) Brit Morin: https://x.com/brit
In this episode of the Shift AI Podcast, host Boaz Ashkenazy is joined by Taylor Black, Director of AI and Venture Ecosystems in Microsoft's CTO Office. With a background as a B2B SaaS founder and deep tech venture studio leader, Taylor brings a rare blend of startup vision and enterprise expertise to the AI conversation.Together, they explore the rise of agentic workflows, protocols like MCP, and the shifting interface of software in the age of AI. Taylor also reflects on the philosophical and economic implications of AI's rapid evolution—from abundant intelligence to human decision-making limits. If you're curious about how Microsoft thinks about AI agents, or what the future of work might actually feel like, this is an episode you won't want to miss.Chapters:[00:00] The Promise of AI and Collective Problem Solving[00:32] Intro: Meet Taylor Black of Microsoft[01:54] Inside the CTO's Office and Innovation Labs[03:53] From SaaS Founder to Deep Tech Studio Leader[05:38] Agentic Workflows: Beyond the Hype[08:46] Ecosystems, Authority, and Agent Infrastructure[11:12] MCP: The Protocol Standard for AI Agents[15:24] Microsoft's Vision of Agentic Interfaces[18:34] Designing for Human Capacity in the AI Age[23:15] The Hidden Risks and Philosophical Impacts of AI[27:09] Scarcity vs Abundance: New Frontiers in Work[29:12] Final Thoughts: A Future of Abundant IntelligenceConnect with Taylor BlackLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/blacktaylor/Connect with Boaz AshkenazyLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/boazashkenazyX: @boazashkenazyEmail: info@shiftai.fmThe Shift AI Podcast is syndicated by GeekWire, and we are grateful to have the show sponsored by Augmented AI Labs. Our theme music was created by Dave Angel.
In this PrimeVP Podcast episode, we go back to the roots of the internet with Sabeer Bhatia, the man who gave the world Hotmail.
Chris Sacca went from getting fired as a lawyer to becoming one of the most successful venture capitalists ever.In this episode, we break down exactly how he pulled it off.Thanks to our sponsors!Ayrin Digital: https://go.ayrin.ai/rainmakersCollateral Partners: https://collateral.com/Sources:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aOr9nvi_FuDUux7nW6g0vIxEaYl4gknAD5IDTLmzIbs/edit?usp=sharing
Welcome back to another episode of the EUVC Podcast, where we gather Europe's venture family to share the stories, insights, and lessons that drive our ecosystem forward.Today we welcome David Vlerick, Founding Partner at Bluegrass Ventures, to discuss how LP capital can be mobilised with meaning, why a platform approach makes venture more accessible, and what it takes to shift mindsets in a conservative market like Belgium.Bluegrass Ventures backs top-decile, small-to-mid-sized VC funds globally, while giving investors flexibility and transparency through a platform model. In this conversation, David shares his journey from law and private equity into venture, the philosophy behind Bluegrass, and why he believes primary capital is one of the most powerful forces for shaping a brighter future.
About the Guest: Scott Stirrett is the founder of Venture for Canada (VFC), an organization that has supported over 10,000 young professionals in launching their careers. He is also the author of The Uncertainty Advantage, a book that equips people of all ages to embrace change and uncertainty as a superpower instead of fearing it. Scott's work has raised more than $80 million to empower Canada's future leaders, and he's passionate about helping people strengthen their "risk-taking muscles" to thrive in today's rapidly evolving world.Episode Summary: In this episode of Growth Ready, Steve Mellor sits down with Scott Stirrett to explore how uncertainty, often seen as a roadblock, can become our greatest advantage. From the six core pillars of thriving in uncertain times (including self-compassion, adaptability, and entrepreneurial mindset) to building risk-taking muscles and investing in community, Scott shares actionable wisdom from his book The Uncertainty Advantage.Whether you're an early-career professional or decades into your journey, this conversation will help you shift your mindset, embrace risk as growth, and strengthen your ability to thrive in times of change.Takeaways:Why uncertainty is baked into our DNAThe six pillars of The Uncertainty AdvantageBuilding risk-taking muscles through small daily actionsHow adaptability and generalist skills future-proof your careerThe power of community in navigating uncertaintySuccess stories from Venture for Canada alumniThe myth of “one big risk” vs. thousands of small betsHow reflection and feedback accelerate growthLinks & Resources MentionedScott's Book: The Uncertainty Advantage (Amazon)Scott's Website: https://www.scottstirrett.com/Send us a textSupport the showSign up for the monthly newsletter with Steve and GrowthReady (formerly known as Career Competitor) by providing your details here - Request to become part of our community Also be sure to give him and the show a follow on Instagram @coachstevemellor
Venture into the shadowy realms of power and secrecy with Already Dead, where hosts Jose Galison (@towergangjose) and Austin Picard (@theatrethugawp) dissect the intricate web of conspiracy, covert operations, and the underlying political machinations that might just be pulling the strings of our society.What to Expect:Live Listener Interaction: Call in to share your theories, ask burning questions, or discuss personal experiences related to the topics at hand.In-Depth Explorations: Each episode focuses on a different conspiracy or hidden aspect of political history, offering a platform to question and analyze what's often left unsaid.Thought-Provoking Guests: We invite individuals with insider knowledge or those who've taken the red pill to discuss topics that range from the fringe to the forefront of conspiracy culture.Critical Analysis of Current Affairs: We don't just report on events; we interpret them through the lens of parapolitics, looking for patterns and hidden agendas.Join Us: Every Tuesday at 9:30 PM ET, dive into the depths of the unknown with us. Subscribe, participate in our live call-ins, and be part of a community that seeks to understand the world beyond the surface narrative.Disclaimer: This podcast thrives on speculation, hypothesis, and the examination of alternative theories. It's meant to provoke thought and encourage personal research. Not all discussed is proven fact, but rather a call to question, explore, and understand. Warning: For those not ready to challenge their worldview, tread carefully. Once you enter the world of Already Dead, you might find that the truth is often already dead to the uninitiated. Welcome aboard, where curiosity is your guide.Check out nadeaushaveco.com today & use code Jose for 10% off your entire order!!!Please consider supporting my work- Patreon- https://www.patreon.com/nowayjose2020Only costs $2/month and will get you access to episodes earlier than the public No Way, Jose! Rumble Channel- https://rumble.com/c/c-3379274 No Way, Jose! YouTube Channel- https://youtube.com/channel/UCzyrpy3eo37eiRTq0cXff0gMy Podcast Host- https://redcircle.com/shows/no-way-joseApple podcasts- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-way-jose/id1546040443Spotify- https://open.spotify.com/show/0xUIH4pZ0tM1UxARxPe6ThStitcher- https://www.stitcher.com/show/no-way-jose-2Amazon Music- https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/41237e28-c365-491c-9a31-2c6ef874d89d/No-Way-JoseGoogle Podcasts- https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5yZWRjaXJjbGUuY29tL2ZkM2JkYTE3LTg2OTEtNDc5Ny05Mzc2LTc1M2ExZTE4NGQ5Yw%3D%3DRadioPublic- https://radiopublic.com/no-way-jose-6p1BAO Vurbl- https://vurbl.com/station/4qHi6pyWP9B/Feel free to contact me at thelibertymovementglobal@gmail.com
7BC's Fund of Funds + Cherry-Pick Direct VC Strategy (and why now) + Invitation to 7BC VC-LP-Startup EventsLearn how 7BC combines a Fund of Funds (FoF) with a Cherry Pick Direct VC strategy to back top-decile managers and invest directly in their best companies—unlocking liquidity with secondaries so VCs can return cash to LPs faster.What you'll learn• Why FoF + Direct VC now• The best VCs from the '70s–'90s scaled 10x–30x and became mega funds doing late growth rounds near exit prices. Returns are more compressed and take longer to realize.• The Cambrian explosion of VC funds: Alumni from OpenAI, Palantir, Google and countless exited founders have launched funds. NYC went from 50 VCs fifteen years ago to 1,200+; Silicon Valley has thousands. It's now impossible to track managers and deals without serious AI and dedicated resources.• How 7BC Capital (FoF) invests: We often join final closes of top emerging managers after TVPI is already up, making our commitment worth appromimately 1.2x–2.5x on day one. For established, top-decile sub-$250m funds, we work hard to access first or second closes when final closes are shut.• How 7BC Venture Capital (Direct VC) invests: We fund primaries and buy secondaries—typically preferred shares in the best five companies inside a VC's portfolio—so that manager can deliver DPI to LPs ahead of their next raise. This directly addresses the VC–LP–startup liquidity crunch.• Our AI edge: 7BC uses AI to map and monitor thousands of VC funds and tens of thousands of startups, surfacing the right managers, the right companies, and the right secondary windows.Get in touch & apply for events• Contact us to attend our 10-20 person VIP dinners the day before or after our larger Global VC Demo Day events: https://www.7bc.vc/contact• Apply to attend upcoming events: https://lu.ma/user/usr-8Y0b18KjVLZhAPmUpcoming in-person events
Arnaud Naudan reçoit Jean de La Rochebrochard, un acteur incontournable du capital-risque en France. À la tête de Kima Venture, le fonds d'investissement de Xavier Niel, il finance chaque année des centaines de startups en amorçage et accompagne les entrepreneurs dans leurs premiers pas. Ensemble, ils reviennent sur son parcours, des levées de fonds à ses débuts à son rôle de stratège et d'investisseur. Connu pour son approche directe et sans complaisance, Jean partage sa vision du financement early-stage, les dilemmes auxquels il est confronté en tant qu'investisseur et la manière dont il détecte les futurs champions de la French Tech. Entre exigence, audace et lucidité, une conversation sans filtre sur le leadership et la discipline qu'impose le métier d'investisseur. Coulisses de CEO est un podcast de BDO France Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.
Send us a textOn today's PoM podcast I sat down with Ryan Skoog, Ryan is Co-Founder and President of VENTURE.ORG, a nonprofit that works in the toughest places of the world, serving war refugees, trafficked people, oppressed children, and the unreached and one of the author's of "Lead With Prayer, The Spiritual Habits of World Changing Leaders." Authors Ryan Skoog, Peter Greer, and Cameron Doolittle spent over one hundred hours interviewing world-changing leaders across six continents, asking a powerful question: What prayer practices are fueling your impact?To learn more visit: https://www.leadwithprayer.com/Support The Show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/110664/subscribe Register for our 2025 Fall Men's Retreat: https://www.thepursuitofmanliness.com/gear/p/2025-mens-retreatRegister for our next session of Tribe: https://www.thepursuitofmanliness.com/gear/p/tribe-xviiBuild your own local Tribe with Tribe Builder: https://www.thepursuitofmanliness.com/gear/p/tribe-builderThis podcast is sponsored by Dark Water Woodwork. Dark Water Woodwork is offering a discount code exclusively for the podcast listeners. Use the discount code "PSALM824" to save 15% off of your next beard oil purchase. https://www.darkwaterkc.comSupport the show
What does it mean to succeed while living with OCD? In this episode, Kristina Orlova sits down with Scott Stirret, founder and CEO of Venture for Canada and author of The Uncertainty Advantage, to explore how OCD and uncertainty intersect with ambition, business, and personal growth. Scott opens up about his diagnosis during the pandemic, how OCD shaped his thoughts and rituals long before he had a name for it, and why getting evidence-based treatment through ERP was life-changing. He also shares candidly about setbacks, recovery, and what it means to manage OCD as a lifelong condition. Together, Kristina and Scott unpack the sneaky ways OCD shows up, the power of mindfulness and self-compassion, and how embracing uncertainty can actually become a strength rather than a fear. Whether you're navigating OCD yourself or supporting someone who is, this conversation offers hope, practical strategies, and a powerful reminder that success and OCD are not mutually exclusive. The 3 things you'll learn in today's episode: Why healing from OCD is a gradual process and not about “making thoughts go away.” How mindfulness and self-compassion can help untangle mental compulsions. Practical tools Scott uses like exercise, rest, and relationships—to manage OCD while leading a successful career. In This Episode [00:01] Kristina's welcome and introduction [00:36] Meet today's guest, Scott [01:32] Scott's OCD diagnosis and journey [04:08] Learning that OCD management is long-term [06:39] Writing The Uncertainty Advantage and the fear of uncertainty [08:26] Navigating OCD while building a business [09:58] How OCD manifests for Scott [11:21] Untangling mental rituals and compulsive thinking [13:22] Labeling compulsions with gentleness [14:20] Daily practices for ongoing management [16:01] Finding meaning in OCD and writing the book [18:47] Sitting with difficult feelings instead of running from them [20:44] Developing empathy through lived experience [21:13] Where to find Scott and his new book Our Guest Scott Stirret is the founder and CEO of Venture for Canada, a national charity that helps young people build entrepreneurial skills and careers. Over the past decade, the organization has raised over $80M and supported more than 10,000 youth across Canada. Scott is also the author of The Uncertainty Advantage, a book that guides early career professionals to build resilience by embracing uncertainty. Resources & Links Kristina Orlova, LMFT Instagram YouTube OCD CBT Journal Tracker and Planner Website Scott Stirrett LinkedIn The Uncertainty Advantage on Amazon Substack Personal Website – with his Uncertainty Quiz Please note, while our host is a licensed marriage and family therapist specializing in OCD and anxiety disorders in the state of California, this podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for therapy. Stay tuned for weekly episodes filled with valuable insights and tips for managing OCD and anxiety. And remember, keep going in the meantime. See you in the next episode!
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Byron Deeter is a Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, and one of the most renowned SaaS investors. Byron has led 19 unicorn investments, including IPO successes like ServiceTitan, Procore, Twilio, Box, Gainsight, Intercom, DocuSign, SendGrid. His portfolio includes eight companies that have gone public. Insane. Agenda: 00:00 – Why are the stakes in AI higher than ever before? 05:20 – Is defensibility in AI gone for good? 07:40 – Do margins even matter when backing the next Anthropic or Perplexity? 09:50 – How does Byron think about future dilution when investing in AI today? 12:10 – With 40% of venture money going to 10 deals, is there any point investing elsewhere? 13:40 – Is vertical SaaS dead? Is there any point when the large players can own it? 18:00 – Will AI shift from the tech budget to the human labor budget and unlock trillions? 21:10 – Are we entering the era of billion-dollar businesses built by 10 people? 25:20 – Is treble-treble-double-double now too slow for AI companies? 33:10 – In today's AI gold rush, is it better to scream the loudest or just build the best product? 41:10 – What specific growth rates are best in class, good and not good enough today? 55:00 – Is venture now just a game of scale — Chanel vs. Walmart?
How do you win when your competitors are the biggest companies in the world?This week on Grit, Dropbox co-founder and CEO Drew Houston retraces the path from a bus-stop prototype to competing head-on with Google, Apple, and Microsoft.He explains why grit is “learning to run toward discomfort,” and the moments he realized founders keep going “for the love of the game.”Guest: Drew Houston, Co-Founder & CEO of DropboxChapters:00:00 Trailer00:52 Introduction01:35 Towards full autonomy16:20 Coming back to school21:45 Golden ticket to California25:23 No one's born a CEO28:15 Y Combinator and a co-founder37:53 The craft of being a great CEO53:41 Metabolizing the stress1:10:14 Tactical advices and frameworks1:27:48 Who Dropbox is hiring1:29:35 What “grit” means to Drew1:32:10 OutroLinks:Connect with DrewXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comLearn more about Kleiner Perkins
This week at Venture, Pastor Brandon shared the heart behind our Fall Vision Sunday. Together we reflected on God's call to build His house, the value of community, and the legacy we're leaving for generations to come. Through 1 Chronicles 28–29, we looked at how King David prepared for the temple that he would never see completed in his lifetime—and how his willingness to sacrifice set up a future of worship and transformation for his children, grandchildren, and beyond. This message challenges us to step into the same kind of faith and sacrifice today as we finish building Venture's house—not just for ourselves, but for those who will meet Jesus here for decades to come.
Naveen Verma is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Princeton and the co-founder and CEO of EnCharge AI, a startup building radically energy-efficient computers for artificial intelligence. In this episode, Naveen shares how his academic research into in-memory computing evolved over six years into a venture-backed company that's rethinking the physical limits of AI computers.Naveen explains why traditional computing models can't keep up with the energy demands of AI, how in-memory architectures unlock new efficiency, and what it means to transition from professor to startup CEO. He also opens up about how failure shaped his leadership style, why co-founder alignment is more important than titles, and what academia taught him about being an empathetic manager.Whether you're in deep tech, academia, or just curious how foundational innovation becomes a company, this episode offers a grounded and honest look at what it takes to build from the lab up.Where to find Naveen:EnCharge AIXLinkedInIn this episode, you'll learn:How to turn academic research into a real-world companyHow to find and align with the right co-foundersWhat good conflict looks like in early-stage teamsHow to fundraise as a professor-turned-founderWhy being self-aware matters more than fitting a roleHow to build culture through actions, not statementsWhat it means to lead with empathy in high-stakes environmentsTimestamps:(00:00) Why Naveen almost quit engineering (03:50) From PhD to professor to founder (07:04) What EnCharge actually builds (10:56) The six-year journey to a spinout (13:20) Why incubation matters in deep tech (15:53) Inspiration, practicality, and real-world impact (17:28) Choosing the right co-founders (20:33) Why Naveen became CEO (23:00) Conflict as a strength (24:21) Vision, perspective, and pushing back (25:49) Advice on co-founder relationships (27:59) Fundraising lessons from a first-time founder (34:19) Growing to 70+ people (35:51) Hiring for culture and long-term vision (37:01) Talking about culture without naming it (38:16) Letting go and empowering the team (41:41) Hiring non-technical leaders (43:17) What Naveen found easy and hard as a manager (45:56) How he learned to give difficult feedback (48:56) Managing stress through abstraction and presence (51:23) Academic mentors who shaped his thinking (53:08) Leadership as enabling others (55:08) Impostor syndrome and comfort with failure (58:00) Early rejections and how he bounced back (01:01:00) What everyone should know about AI (01:02:43) What Naveen wishes he knew earlier (01:04:27) Final advice to founders: normalize failureConnect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/ Website: http://www.alisacohn.com Download her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better) Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from Amazon
S4:E185 David provides The Weekly Update in Venture and then Paul interviews John Harbison, a Board Member of the Angel Capital Association and early advocate for hard data for startup investing. Paul and John discuss some of the highlights from the ACA's 2025 Angel Funders Report. Next week, Paul and I will share our own insights from the report in Part 2 on The Angel Funder's Report and discuss how the report helps Angels invest smarter. (interview recorded 8.11.25)Follow David and Paul: https://x.com/DGRollingSouth https://x.com/PalmettoAngel Connect On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/ We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc.
At the EUVC Summit 2025, Kerry Baldwin (IQ Capital) and Chris Elphick led one of the most urgent conversations of the year:Can Europe mobilize its pension capital to fund innovation—or will it stay stuck on the sidelines?With £1 trillion expected to be funneled into innovation, growth, and venture by 2030, the opportunity is massive. But unlocking it will take more than speeches and slogans. It will take structures, translation, and a whole lot of education.Chris opened by setting the context:In July 2023, 10 of the UK's largest pension funds agreed to invest 5% of assets into unlisted equities—representing £5 billion of fresh capital.That capital is (unsurprisingly) biased toward private equity. But the real win?Getting a meaningful slice of it into venture.We now have the technical tools to do it:The introduction of Long-Term Asset Funds (LTAFs)—with 27 launched to date—means the legal infrastructure is in place.Regulatory shifts have opened the door. Now it's time to walk through it.“The pipes are built. Now we need to make the case.”As Kerry pointed out, it's not just about access—it's about alignment.“The pension world doesn't speak venture. It speaks in valuations, risk ratings, board approvals, and actuarial models.”To bridge the gap:Ditch the pitch decks. Instead, build relationships.Use case studies. Show, don't just tell.Speak their language. Get founders in the room. Educate through stories and real-world examples.And yes, explain your fees—transparently.→ “We charge fees because we hunt. We engage with professors. We run deep knowledge sessions. That's where the value lives.”Kerry closed with a critical reminder from someone who's seen the cycles before—2001, 2009, and now:“Just play nicely.”→ That means fair terms.→ Respecting early-stage angels.→ Not forcing founder-unfriendly clauses when capital is tight.Venture doesn't work when trust is broken at the seed layer.The prize is on the table. The pipes are laid. The policymakers are listening.Now it's up to us—as GPs, founders, LPs, and ecosystem builders—to:Make venture legibleBuild long-term trustAnd design financial vehicles that serve founders, fuel returns, and unlock national innovation agendas“Let's stop waiting for the future to finance itself. Let's build the financial architecture to fund it now.”The Landscape: Shifting Regulations, Real PotentialThe Real Bottleneck? Language & UnderstandingA Word of Warning: Don't Harm the EcosystemA Trillion-Pound Opportunity—If We Get This Right
At EUVC Summit 2025, Joe Schorge of Isomer Capital didn't come with slides—he came with a metaphor. And it stuck.He asked the room to imagine orchards of fruit. Not just apples or oranges, but a whole harvest cultivated over 12 to 14 years. Venture-backed companies. GPs. Fund positions. GP stakes. A record crop, grown with care across the UK and Europe.“We've never had this much high-quality fruit in European venture. The question now is—how do we get it to market?”For years, Europe has been laser-focused on planting:→ Backing great founders→ Building great firms→ Cultivating portfolios patientlyBut as Joe reminded the audience:“People expected the fruit to somehow sell itself. But we've learned: exits aren't automatic. Distribution isn't easy. And not everyone has the truck to move a watermelon.”Secondaries aren't just a workaround. They're a solution. Partial or full sales, done right, serve founders, GPs, and LPs alike.The market is waking up:There's more to buy than ever before: mature companies, vintage funds, GP stakesThere's more to sell than ever before: GPs needing liquidity, LPs rebalancingThere's more need than ever before: LPs want DPI, not just IRR“We're all running 10-year funds. Buy-and-hold sounds noble, but LPs want cash back. And founders want momentum.”Joe's message to LPs?→ Loosen your restrictions on secondary transactions→ Back the capital that makes liquidity possible→ Recognize that secondaries are a tool for progress, not shortcutsJoe kept it simple:Educate yourself – There's a wealth of info online. Learn the mechanics and the nuance.Look at your own portfolio – Where's the fruit starting to ripen?Talk to players in the space – From Isomer to a new wave of specialized secondary platforms, this market is growing fast.“Let's harvest, replant, and build the future together.”Secondaries aren't just about exits. They're about creating circulation, maturity, and movement in a market that's ready for it.European venture has planted well. Now it's time to harvest with discipline—and get ready to sow the next cycle with even more conviction.Planting Was Easy. Harvesting Is Hard.The European Secondary Market: Why Now?Where to Begin?A New Era of Venture Hygiene
How do you succeed in a business where being wrong is the norm?Marc Penkala has lived both sides of the table: as an entrepreneur who built, sold, and failed with companies—and now as a venture capitalist running his own fund. What makes his story different is the radical honesty about what actually drives success in venture: failure, timing, and taking risks that look stupid at first.This Spark20 episode distills Marc's hard-earned lessons into a 20-minute masterclass for founders, investors, and policymakers navigating uncertainty.What you'll learnWhy timing, not brilliance, often decides who wins.Why failure is the ultimate credibility builder for investors.How European founders hold themselves back—and what mindset shift is overdue.Why down markets are the best time to build companies.How the “stupidest ideas” sometimes create the biggest outliers.Timestamps & Quotes
In aviation, the most transformative breakthroughs often take place far above the commercial flight lanes, and far below the public radar. But in today's defense and aerospace economy, those breakthroughs are harder than ever for small companies to bring to life. Government budgets overwhelmingly favor the largest primes. Smaller, more agile innovators are forced to bankroll their own R&D while competing against firms with deeper pockets, stronger political clout, and guaranteed contracts. Venture-style “build-to-flip” incentives tempt some to chase quick exits over long-term quality. Even when technology works, commercial adoption can stall as customers demand bespoke designs for each use case. Swift Engineering's record-breaking high-altitude glider is one such breakthrough fighting its way through that gauntlet. Designed to fly at 67,000 feet for days at a time, this ultra-light, solar-powered aircraft can do what satellites can't: hold a fixed position, deliver real-time intelligence, and land on a runway. At just 1% of the cost. For Hamed Khalkhali, Swift's president, the innovation story isn't just about engineering excellence. It's about surviving and thriving in a system that often seems built for incumbents. In this conversation, he unpacks the strategic, funding, and talent challenges that determine which companies survive in the next wave of aerospace innovation. You'll also learn: High-altitude, solar UAV that outperforms satellites at 1% of the cost. Why system integration is aerospace's next frontier. The funding squeeze forcing small firms to self-finance R&D. The “moral accuracy” gap shaping U.S. drone strategy. How fresh grads can drive bigger breakthroughs than veterans. Keeping start-up creativity alive in bigger organizations. Guest Bio Hamed Khalkhali is the President of Swift Engineering and an adjunct professor at Cal Poly Pomona, with more than 25 years of experience spanning technical innovation, leadership, and cross-disciplinary communication. He brings over a decade of expertise in system-level design for Fly-by-Wire flight control systems with the highest safety standards (FDAL-A), along with deep knowledge of ARP-4752, DO-160, and DO-178 certification processes. Throughout his career, Hamed has led high-performance engineering organizations, managing teams across mechanical, electrical, verification and validation, manufacturing, AI, machine learning, quality control, supply chain, and R&D. He is known for integrating manufacturing engineering into the earliest stages of design, optimizing products through rigorous processes such as Six Sigma, Lean, Kaizen, and design-for-manufacturability. His leadership approach blends technical precision with a focus on systems integration, efficiency, and innovation in both aerospace and defense. Connect with Hamed on LinkedIn. About Your Host Craig Picken is an Executive Recruiter, writer, speaker and ICF Trained Executive Coach. He is focused on recruiting senior-level leadership, sales, and operations executives in the aviation and aerospace industry. His clients include premier OEMs, aircraft operators, leasing/financial organizations, and Maintenance/Repair/Overhaul (MRO) providers and since 2008, he has personally concluded more than 400 executive-level searches in a variety of disciplines. Craig is the ONLY industry executive recruiter who has professionally flown airplanes, sold airplanes, and successfully run a P&L in the aviation industry. His professional career started with a passion for airplanes. After eight years' experience as a decorated Naval Flight Officer – with more than 100 combat missions, 2,000 hours of flight time, and 325 aircraft carrier landings – Craig sought challenges in business aviation, where he spent more than 7 years in sales with both Gulfstream Aircraft and Bombardier Business Aircraft. Craig is also a sought-after industry speaker who has presented at Corporate Jet Investor, International Aviation Women's Association, and SOCAL Aviation Association. Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!
Listen in as Nick is joined by Darren Clifford, the Founder of Adapt [us] Capital, a new venture capital fund and venture builder focused on investing and building companies at the intersection of climate adaptation and scalable, profitable businesses. In this episode, Nick and Darren discuss how the climate change, climate investment, and climate mitigation “moment” in 2025 requires new conversations, narratives, and solutions, including more focus on and concerted capital allocation to promoting adaptation-focused efforts alongside other mitigation strategies and innovation. Nick and Darren also explore: Demand Adaptation vs. Resilience Adaptation: Drawing distinctions between "demand adaptation" (businesses and technologies that profitably fulfill emerging needs in a warming world, like air conditioning, cold supply chains, and climate-resilient vacation options) and "resilience adaptation" (efforts to avert loss, price risk, and enhance society's coping mechanisms).Getting creative on narrative reframes: Darren and Nick reframe prevailing climate narratives, such as "net zero," advocating instead for optimizing humanity's overall quality of life and letting go of concepts and targets that no longer serve. They also discuss the need to balance environmental priorities with social connectivity, economic opportunity, resilient infrastructure, and many other components that ladder up to well-being, recognizing that trade-offs between maximum sustainability and human quality of life are often unavoidable, if not necessary.Venture capital's role in scaling adaptation: Nick prompts Darren to answer the “why venture” question, particularly with respect to how venture capital can support a more focused approach to, resource allocation for, and successful scaling of adaptation-focused businesses. This conversation also explores business model innovation, anticipated market sizes for climate adaptation solutions, and the evolving nature of deal flow in the digital and AI-powered world.… and much more.Timestamps:00:01:37 - Introductions00:05:41 – Distinguishing between demand adaptation and resilience adaptation00:09:25 – Reframing outdated climate narratives like net zero00:15:02 - Sustainability and human quality of life: intersections and trade offs00:26:03 - Fund launch and investment strategy00:28:12 - Market opportunities in demand-driven adaptation00:36:05 - The future of demand-driven adaptationLearn more about Darren's work and keep up to date with Adapt [us] Capital on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adapt-us-capital/+ https://www.linkedin.com/in/djclif/If you love listening to The Keep Cool Show, please leave a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/keepcoolThank you so much.Plus, you can stay up-to-date on all things Keep Cool here: https://subscribe.keepcool.co/ and follow Nick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholasvanosdol/
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Title: Why Most Capital Raisers Will Get Sued in the Next Crash with Rob Beardsley and Craig McGrouther Summary: In this episode of “Fund Friday,” hosts discuss the innovative solutions offered by Tribe Vest, a pioneering fund-of-funds startup, which is poised to transform the landscape for emerging fund managers, investors, and capital raisers. Guests Travis Smith and Seth Bradley delve into their personal journeys and the genesis of Tribe Vest, highlighting the advantages of adopting a fund-of-funds model that enhances compliance and increases access for numerous accredited investors. They detail how Tribe Vest supports fund managers through its comprehensive services, allowing them to raise capital efficiently while ensuring legal and financial compliance. The conversation unfolds various industry challenges faced by fund managers, such as the difficulties in connecting accredited investors with good deals and maintaining compliance in the ever-evolving regulatory environment. Smith and Bradley underscore the essence of Tribe Vest, focusing on its operational efficiency—providing essential support like K-1 tax distribution, capital-raising infrastructure, and investor onboarding—all streamlined with technology. In conclusion, they not only spotlight the competitive pricing and quick service turnaround of Tribe Vest but also express their commitment to fostering a landscape that democratizes access to high-quality investing opportunities while empowering fund managers. Their vision seeks to break down barriers traditionally faced in private investment, paving the way for a more inclusive investment future. Links to Listen and Subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fund-friday-e49-the-cost-effective-way-to-launch-a/id1511202840?i=1000673582673 https://open.spotify.com/episode/4tLAtXFe3OrqtCwyc7gfBE Links to Watch and Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVgT4GMrPPI&t=70s Bullet Point Highlights: Tribe Vest revolutionizes the fund-of-funds model for emerging fund managers. The connection of accredited investors to high-quality private investment opportunities is crucial yet challenging. Efficient operational support, including compliance and investor onboarding, sets Tribe Vest apart. The need for compliance amid industry scrutiny has shifted sentiment towards fund-of-funds for risk mitigation. Tribe Vest empowers fund managers by providing an institutional-level infrastructure for capital raises. Cost-effective solutions allow fund managers to focus on relationships rather than administrative burdens. Quick setup times (just five days) streamline the capital-raising process for fund managers. Transcript: welcome back to another episode of fund Friday this is going to be a very nutrient dense jam-packed episode with two amazing people we just had the pleasure of connecting with them once more at our Flagship uh summon event in New York City the gentleman behind tribe vest here a cuttingedge fun to fun group VC backed the whole nine this is going to be such an important episode for all you emerging fund managers you Capital raisers Maybe investors who kind of want to know behind the curtain what's going on and also just from a structural perspective as to how we've been able to scale our business safely and compliantly but with that said let's give a warm introduction to Travis Smith and Seth Bradley how are you both today good craigg good to see you it's been just a few weeks since we were in New York together which was an awesome event glad to be here yeah well there's been a lot of great updates to the product that tribe is offering since our initial conversation we had so I would almost even argue um for the better Awards you can maybe even scrap that episode for future purposes don't need to look back because we're going to cover that and then some here today so I'm absolutely elated and thrilled to talk about that so let's get right into it and just to start with for some some context because we're gonna just keep it moving forward here how did Seth and Travis and the team have tried best kind of Forge and kind of come together from you know this Alliance from a business perspective yeah tra you want to kick that off man sure sure and look you can't scrap that first episode because I think it's the first episode yeah like we're in the record books at this time right yeah so yeah no look uh me finding Seth and Seth Finding Me is a big part of our story no doubt really uh in early 2023 we had built out the infrastructure and the technology uh we' even been challenged by our clients to build out the back office where we do all the distributions cap table management uh k1s taxes and um but I hadn't quite figured out the fun to fun portion of this yet and uh good story you know met Seth Bradley at a a conference in the British Virgin Islands where we were both speaking at the event uh both of our wives were there and uh they hit it off we hit it off and just had a wonderful wonderful week and weekend and um and that was when Seth kind of really opened my eyes to um this opportunity Seth you know how how do you remember it where where you know how how did it go from there yeah well funny enough my my pitch or my speaking engagement was on fund of funds it was it was teaching the group about fund of funds what is it how can you how can you go from basically a passive investor and and start a business raising capital and and fund of funds is kind of the the next step and at the same time the industry was was pivoting there was uh you know there were Winds of Change so to speak from the the cgp model and people were starting to really take the fun of funds model more seriously and take a deeper look at it and the timing just couldn't be better as Travis was taking his company and and trying to make it pivot himself into the the syndicator and the fund and the capital raising market and you know originally there was a cgp type of model that was being uh thrown around and actually had a good bit of success Travis right going into uh earlier that year and you know I I we just got into some deeper discussions about where the market is and where it's going and the market was really going to fund to funds and I said' look Travis if you're going to if you're going to take this business to the next level get ahead of the game like this is where it's going it's going to fun and fund is kind of getting away from the cgp model so if you're going to build a product around that market really should focus in on fun to funds yeah I mean and I'll just go as well just to to piggyback off that timing is so funny there because I think it was roughly around the summer of 2023 when fun to fun was the biggest buzzword in the industry what is a fun of fund how does it work why is this the most compliant way do I need to do it what is it how does it structure everything included there so we're going to unpack that all there but it sounds like Travis you might have had an additional comment well I was say it really it truly was right place right time for Seth and I to meet you think about leading up to that it was the becc 2023 and there just all these Rumblings with some some bigger names in our industry that were under an investigation for the CP model and that was really how the industry was working with capital Partners at the time and uh collectively realized that there's got to be a more compliant better way and there I was with a two-thirds of the solution talking to Seth who rep represented the the last third of the solution so really was right place right time and and uh you know we're we're we're so glad to be partnered together and and solving a big problem Big Challenge yeah well and let's get right into that problem so the the problem of the industry so how can someone like loans start Capital safely compliantly bring dollars into our deals from outside investors fund managers capital allocators and opportunity so what is the industry problem and what are you guys both solving Seth I I'll hand it over to you I think from a big industry problem I mean there's just the age-old you know you have awesome lead sponsors that are working hard finding great deals private deals out there like Lone Star and and then on the other side there's over 20 million accredited investors that want the benefits of private investing they want the the benefits that come with real estate they want cash flow they want tax advantages uh you know they they want the appreciation all those things that are Why Real Estate so awesome they want to invest with these lead sponsors in these deals but as as we know unless you're kind of in a country club or in the network it's really hard to access those so that's the big problem the big problem is we have great lead sponsors with great deals and then on the other side we have have awesome accredited uh investors looking for those deals meanwhile they can't find each other and uh they don't know how to access them and so the the industry as a whole you know a big conduit to solving that is this Capital Partner right the fund manager and Seth I'll turn it over to you kind of again maybe start with how the industry was solving it and what the problem was with that right yeah I mean I think you framed it correctly it's it's access we know these these accredited investors are out there there's Millions U maybe tens of millions out there in the United States that um maybe they know it maybe they don't but they they might want to invest um they need educated they need access to Deals and on the other side you've got uh lead sponsors you've got fund managers you've got Capital aggregators who want to get access to these folks and we work on that in our business every single day about how do we reach these accredited investors um and then we all have our own little networks of people that we can raise capital from and that we know and that they no like and trust us to be able to place their Capital with us um you know since the jobs act in 2012 which is um what enabled us to start going out and soliciting and advertising um in the public uh for deals and raising capital in that manner and the the problem is that everything's been great since then up until covid right the real estate market has just been going absolutely through the roof so anybody that decided to jump into the the sector during that time had success I mean you could just you know throw paint in a wall and you're G to have success because the market just really helped us out a lot like you had to make a lot of mistakes operationally um for things to go wrong right I mean you really did you really did um not to not not Lone Star Lone Star is awesome right you're you're absolutely right no you you you hit the hammer on the nail there for sure yeah and it's uh you know until covid hit and we got that little blip and that was just kind of a you know something that you know came and went um but now you've seen in the last year and a half or so the market has slowed down um you've seen Capital calls you've seen um you know some SEC um interactions with folks and trying to see if Capital was raised correctly things like that um kind of looking into how the market evolved the market evolved beginning with a cgp model um you know initially the C GP model was thought to be compliant and if it executed properly it is compliant if you have all people in a group that are raising capital for their own deal they're all active participants they're all General Partners they're all executing the business plan and participating in decision-making all good that's an age-old uh way to do business and it's been done for all the time right like you've got Capital you've got people actively participating and all is good but just like anything else you know us entrepreneurs we like to go around the edges and try to pick and choose like oh well can we do this or can we do this let's push the limits and unfortunately the market kind of changed into this this um this thing where we push the limits too far and we've had 10 15 20 CPS in an active deal where you know really all they're doing is Raising Capital right like we might try to say on paper that this person's doing that and this person's doing investor relations and this person's doing a little bit of underwriting which all may be true true but at the end of the day if the SEC comes in and says let's take a look at your whole business plan plan with this particular asset in this particular offering and see how you raise capital and who's doing what and they're going to look under the hood and they're going to be able to figure it out they're they're smart people back there they can figure out what you're doing they can figure out that hey this person raised uh $200,000 and got 2% and this person raised $600,000 and got 6% it's pretty easy to put those pieces together um but like I had mentioned before the market you know kind of went our Direction and there were really happy investors nobody was upset nobody was suing nobody was asking questions and now since the market has changed you've seen the capital calls you've seen the foreclosures you've seen the investors upset um and now that's what Travis was alluding to earlier is there were certain folks in the industry that were um you know getting interviewed by the SEC I don't think anything ever came of it but it was enough for people to be like look we've still got to raise Capital we've still got to do these deals somehow what other way is there to do it that's more compliant than this cgp model that the industry has turned to and the answer is fun to funds and it's always been fun to funds you know there's people out there that have preached that for years but it's just a little bit you know more nuanced a little bit more complicated a little bit more expensive so people have stayed away from it yeah so exactly and and thank you so much for painting such a Picasso beautiful picture here pertaining to the why before and why now and kind of the context there because I think so many people are missing that why y component so you beautifully explained that so but then why is the fun of fund the route to do it in because it's pretty similar right and fun of funds to your point have actually been around for really not going to say forever but for a long period of time so just curious to know you know why fun of fun is this the solution from a client's perspective and and things of that nature yeah and we can and Travis jump in here whenever you want but we can kind of go through um with each stakeholder why why it's compliant why they love funded funds maybe why they don't you know let's talk about the pluses and the minuses um I think we can start with the lead sponsor I mean for the lead sponsor um to me there's there's really no downside and I'd love for somebody to may maybe making a counterargument to that but to me there there's no downside for the lead sponsor themselves right the people that are actually operating buying executing the business plan by them creating a level of Separation through the fund to funds model and not uh inviting other folks into their deal to raise Capital they're creating they're creating uh risk mitigation and dissipating liability for themselves right and they don't have to worry about bringing people into their business because it's a totally separate offering that the fund manager is going to be putting out there separate from the actual lead sponsors right and and uh another reason why the lead sponsors love it other than it's compliant creates that separation is it's way more uh efficient way more efficient when you're working with a capital partner and they're the ones that are pulling the fund to fund they might be bringing in five 10 15 20 investors into their fund to fund well uh they can coordinate that from a sales perspective and then also on the ongoing Administration right it's one line on their uh on their cap table right so instead of getting 15 smaller checks you're getting you're getting one big check and it's just way more efficient and way more safer is is Seth said too yeah and your your listeners are are very educated but just in case there a few out there that are wondering I mean the the fund of fund itself is just an LLC it's just a a group of investors it's a you know somebody managing that which is the fund manager and that LLC or that partnership however you want to structure it legally is actually just a passive investor for the lead sponsor it's just going to be a big aggregated passive investor for the lead sponsor so I just wanted to clarify that yeah and then let's talk about from so and there's also been some Evolution I hit on that word to start the conversation but before we were partnering or triest was partnering with this a couple handful of lead sponsors but there's been some Evolution so can we talk about how you guys have maybe handpicked and cherry-picked some of the top you know first and- class sponsors and how it worked kind of before and now the new product lines rolling out and how you know why fund managers are loving it and should even love it more moving forward absolutely yeah great great question and great points here so you know as you mentioned Craig when we were initially rolling this out uh it made sense for us to to cherry pick and go work with uh the lead sponsors with the best track record the best reputation and we're proud to say that you know Lone Star is one of our earliest lead sponsor partners and um and then since then uh really we had almost a requirement where you had to go through one of our our lead sponsor partners and there's good reason for it we'll we'll come back to that in a second but since if you're lead sponsor and looking to do this on different deals I'm sorry if you're a fund manager and looking to do a fun to fun on different deals working with different lead sponsors you can absolutely work with tribe best so and you think about the benefits of that right what you're what you're able to do is you can control your own brand right you you get to build your own um your your company you're building a business one deal at a time and from your Investor's perspective instead of them going to one investor portal and then you know going to another deal that has another investor uh portal they can actually all come to one portal uh as you're using tribe vest so um I want to again just point out that fund managers can now uh absolutely work directly with us they don't need a lead sponsor now I will tell you this think about the benefits though you do get when we are partnered with the lead sponsor and lonar is a perfect example of that right lonar has done the work to say look if you're a capital raiser you get these marketing resources right you get we we'll we'll put together a you know a deck that you can configure um we've thought through all the economic for you so if you're wondering how to communicate the terms and the returns you know lone Stars gone as far as adding it to their their underwriting spreadsheet so you can play with the numbers calculate it and that's a huge deal right and so all these things that a a lead sponsor partner of ours like lonar does just makes it so so much more seamless when we do engage with the funder manager right we don't have to go back and kind of figure out well what are the economics and and how are you you know doing uh you know commitments from your investors all those types of things so fund manager can absolutely come and work directly with us it's still way more smooth because we already have the offering docks ready we already have the calculator ready we already have marketing materials right all those things are reasons why by working with one of our lead sponsor Partners just makes the experience that much better for you and your investors yeah and just a little back and for a lot of people who may not be privy to this but if you are a capital allocator specifically that we're talking about in this situation who is looking to work with the loans or capital or a group similar to us your other sponsors there's just some groups that are just not really built or have the infrastructure in place to really streamline the funto fund process I.E and the underwriting model IE it already been kind of baked in there we've done this before some groups are kind of in Old way of doing things maybe they only do a couple deals a year that's totally fine I'm not saying that's a bad thing but they might have to create a funto fund breakdown economics setup for the double waterfall there where everyone gets paid out the investors get their returns that should be you know similar to what our investors get and then the fund manager needs to figure out his compensation for his basically part in the opportunity so we have that baked in and we've done this now enough times to know how this is going to look and actually as a matter of fact to go through that process even one step further before we even go to public or live with the opportunity to even start the capital raising those numbers are ironed out those numbers are in place you know what's going on it's not a scramble drill amongst everything else to get your partners going so on and so forth when you do partner and work with us which is a key benefit to do and solve for one of the most important uh places in the capital raising you know equation which is speed and time so we kind of shrink that time Gap versus other groups when do that or the other people that you work with which is highly crucial there are a lot more groups now that are tailored to the fund of fund but not every group is um so that's the exciting thing and then going back to now being partnered with a fund manager at at the fund manager level as much that's amazing for a multitude of things number one if you're a capital allocator fund manager we don't see who your investors are because as Travis alluded to it's one check going into our opportunity so you get the shield and Sheltering in that perspective in that equation there so that's number one number two is we're not going to create the other big problem in the business I would say which is Portal fatigue so it's not a big issue it's not the endl be all but you know if you're let's say a alt uh a big alternative investor guy right guy or gal person what's GNA end up happening let's say if you've got five to 10 sponsors you're probably going to have you know a bunch of different portals to go into but if you work with a couple of capital raisers who only use triest as your back office well that's immensely beneficial because you can just keep your accounts there so I just want to really highlight those two things and if you want to expand on that further please feel free to do so yeah I mean I'll jump in for sure I mean you know I've got to mention again compliance right like think about you know the fun to fun model where the fund manager is going to create their own business they're going to create their own entity that they're going to manage um that going to administrate and they're going to operate so by doing so yes there are more responsibilities you are running your own business you are taking accountability for you and your investors and your business but uh on the flip side of that is hey the old CP model you're getting into bed with all these other CPS that you don't even know I mean you may they may be an acquaintance off of social media or you might not even know who they are at all let alone the lead sponsor so if one of those folks does something wrong you guys are all in the same boat like you're not just taking care of yourself but you've got to worry about all the other people that you're in business with and if they do something wrong they're going to put your investment and your past investors um in a bad situation and let's get to the next idea which is some of the problems that some people have experienced with a fun of fund that I think you guys are really really Cutting Edge on to solve for them so let's just talk about maybe a couple of the problems which I think is you know the expense I think there's a lot of misnomers about how expensive it can be um and also what you kind of solve for it how you bundle and Pat package it together because if you're the typical person that's going to be very expensive but that's why we love you guys uh the administration burden and then also time so let's T let's just kind of break down those problems there how you see fit accordingly and uh we'll let you take it away again SE I'll let you jump in because you were saying you were just at a conference in uh think that uh maybe rais Masters conference in in San Diego and you the conversations you were having with fund managers once they kind of fully understood what we did and how we did it it really kind of uh popped for them so anyway I thought since that was fresh i' I'd ask you to to talk about it yeah I think people that have any kind of experience uh raising Capital under when they hear about all the things that we do and for the amount of money that we do it for they are absolutely blown away I think the problem that comes up is that it's a misunderstanding of what we do and what we are so a lot of folks that don't understand will put us in a category of just being an investor portal they'll be like hey triest is like cash flow portal or like syndication Pro or invest next or one of those and they just kind of lump Us in with them and we're like that's the smallest thing that we do the smallest thing that we do is the investor portal that's that's one of the services that we provide but we provide everything Soup To Nuts I mean from start to finish I mean it includes everything that you could possibly imagine I mean from getting your EI and letter to setting up your LLC to opening your business banking account to doing your legal documents and setting those up for signatures for your investors and actually onboarding your investors or hurting the cats I was going to say you actually get a account manager to help you on board your investors professionally and uh yeah you mentioned hurting cats that's maybe one of the things that we're the best in the world at is helping hurt cats yeah I think that's something definitely gets so much fun Craig knows about it all too well yeah lot a lot of work lot of uh reaching out to investors lot of questions on hey where how how do we fill out these form fields on these subscription documents right like where do we sign how do we fill this out what does this mean those things those they they take time they take effort um it's an administrative burden for you and your company and we take that off your hands and then we also Badger the passive investors till they actually send the wire right like a lot of times they get cold feet and you know we prompt them to to send the wire and actually finish their investment all the things that investor relations manager might do we handle that now there's there's some teamwork involved as well because they're your passive investors but um you know we do the heavy lifting on on that side and then even on the back end we are managing your cap table so we're setting that up for you on our dashboard and actually making distributions to your passive investors now you can log on to your dashboard if you want to and send them out manually when you want how you want and what amounts but if you want us to just take those over pursuant to the terms of your offering documents we'll handle that as well it's amazing and and the and the taxes yeah I think Craig tax can't forget the taxes yeah the taxes k1s again one K1 comes in from Lone Star uh we we of course at our core the banking and the cap table so we have the ownership percentage makes it easy for us to and our CPAs to create that K1 for each one of the members we distribute it they find it right in their uh document Management on their dashboard and uh literally two days after After we receive the K1 your investors have the K1 so think about that and I know everybody's going through tax season here yesterday was kind of a a big day uh but it it's um it's a it's amazing that it really speaks to the technology that we have that we can receive the K1 on behalf of the the deal and then create those k1s in two days and distribute them to to the members I was just going to make one last Point Craig you know I think if you think about what we do if you think about an Institutional level group or fund so I think the way fund managers can think about what we do is we really bring this institutional level uh setup legal Administration so think about a family office all the organization all the administration everything they need to have in place to operate well we bring that down to the individual level so you can have that institutional level Administration and setup as a you know a oneman business and therefore you can you can really build a business and a brand here's the thing one deal at a time you don't have to go invest tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars you can do this one deal at a time because try best is in the business of of helping you uh launch a capital raising business efficiently amazing so let's get into the next two components which is expense and time so let's talk about time and then we'll bring it home for the the of course the the elephant in the room which is what is this going to cost me so let's get into the time factor and how long it takes to set everything up from Soup To Nuts from Hey I want to work with the deal to you know funding and things of that nature Seth you want yeah yeah I'll jump in um timing wise you know we are industry leading in that in that as soon as you give us the basic information that you that we need for your fund of fund so you know just simple stuff like what do you want to call your LLC what do you want your preferred return to be what do you want your profit split to be those those things that you're going to make some decisions on as soon as you get those items to us which is in a simple form that we provide that you fill out and we walk you through that as well we can have your business banking account and your LLC set up in two days and we'll have you ready to raise Capital meaning we're going to have your legal setup we're gonna have your business bank account open all those things done within five business days so that's why you know it's we should emphasize what Travis said there that it's a deal based decision I mean you can come to us with a deal that's already that's already under contract that that maybe the lead sponsor is already raising for and say hey look I want to raise for this deal but I've only got a few weeks to go that that's plenty of time for us to to jump into action so it's really tough to do that with let's say you know if you came to me and I have my security attorney hat on i' would be like there's there's no way we we've got to get this going weeks before that like you've got to give us some setup time um with triest we've we've got it streamlined and efficient to the point where five business days you're raising Capital that's incredible and that's just really a big X Factor that should make everyone feel comfortable with the process because you know there's situations just like go out a sponsor level here where hey a capital raiser might have not been able to get an allocation to deal because of the commitments were there and guess what someone Falls up short well now as you know as a sponsor whatever dollar is not coming in you got to make up for that so it's kind of a a moving moving Target a kind of moving goal post in many respects so it's very nice that five days you're in you're out you're ready to go to the next that is awesome and then the next thought I have there is a capital allocator maybe you were late you're on vacation and there's this great deal that maybe your inbox is flooded and then one they you know peaked your interest and you could get the space into it well hey the deal could be live but you could have a five-day window to get your turntable going to raise Capital safely and compliantly um in within this structure and infrastructure yeah great great points again I'll just come back to the benefits of working with some of our our lead sponsor partners like Lone Star so you heard Seth say hey as soon as you have all these things in order and you push the tri the tribit button we spring into action and you're ready to go right well you do need to have certain things figured out before you hit that tribit button and again the nice thing of working with a a group like lonar amongst many other reasons is they have really ironed out the program the fun to fun program so if you're coming through them you already have those things figured out you hand them we get handed off or you get handed off to us and we're you're pushing that button and in five days you're ready to do onboard investors it's incredible that's amazing now the final thing what people have been waiting for what does this cost cuz you have to think for the amazing benefits and the amazing opportunity you get to raise in this time and environment this has to cost a fortune maybe there's a massive upfront cost you know I'm not going to get into names but some groups charge an arm and a leg to get things set up if you want to do the more Boutique bespoke route where you're doing everything yourself without a name brand in a sense of the the setup you've got to go through the painstaking process of finding a Seth and a Travis and a this and a that to get all your documents ready to go however it's pretty cost efficient and effective here so let's get into that I'll let Travis speak to our pricing at trivest but I do want to frame it with this when I worked in big law and you know massive Law Firm thousands of attorneys you would come to our law firm and want to put a fund of fund together or you know maybe even a more sophisticated fund but our prices started at $75,000 I think a lot of people out there in the industry are used to seeing kind of oh yeah maybe it costs like $115,000 maybe it cost $12,000 $225,000 on the top end when you get into the big leagues $75,000 to start and that's just your first drafts of your offering documents and then maybe one round of revisions and then we start charging you $1,000 doll plus an hour um to get across the finish line and that is just the legal by itself and guess what you may get there and then some could change a Nuance could happen and guess what you got to start it all over again and make further res revisions and have more billable hours to your incredible attorney like s uh these people make a lot of money okay so this is a incredible opportunity to be in a very nice spot here where it might be cheaper and to your point there about that dollar fee I'm hearing 25 Grand from certain Services I'm hearing 75k 50k to make it do it yourself and for some people that's great that's fine that fits into their budget but for I would say the most people that are doing this that probably makes it to a point where you're paying to raise capital and that's what we're looking to avoid and solve with try this so with that said Travis lead us away absolutely no what a great discussion and I teased Seth all all the time about his his industry it is it is it's the establishment right so we're disrupting The Establishment no doubt about it and uh so we just talked about what it would cost kind of going the more traditional routes well we're able to do everything that we just shared with you the setup the legal offering do uh the banking the uh helping of the onboarding setting up the cap table you know doing the servicing of the filing for you all that for $5,000 so literally say that one more time please $5,000 yes only $5,000 and here's the other thing right when we talk about having the economics of the fun to fund set up and again getting back to the benefits of working with loone star is they've they've figured out the terms and uh even added in all the expenses of tribe vest right so that $5,000 is actually included in those in the economics so it's you don't have to kind of add on additional uh cost it's all in there right and and you can do that with tri best because it's contained there's there's no creep of cost right and and I think it's also important to call out how we're able to do this is we have made a very firm box of what we're doing of course we've we've tailored it to these deals like to these deals so everything's in there that you need including the compliance includ you know everything we just talked about um but that's how we're able to do that this at scale and TurnKey and done for for you so it's $5,000 to set up now we could also talk about what's it cost to administer this over five five years six years right most of these business plans are five years before they're exiting you know working with an administrator an Administration uh you know administrator you're talking about $155,000 a year well with tri best it's $2,000 a year remember we're doing all your uh distributions for you your cap table management that includes your k1s your taxes so you know anybody that's done this before they're like it's more than $2,000 just to do the taxes every year right never mind you get the portal your investors have a a dashboard to see all their Investments and and set up their payout accounts and they get to see when their distributions are how many distributions they've had that's all there and and the distribution so anyway it's you know I think about we we mentioned right right place right time Craig and we've talked about all those things that kind of lined up for us but the industry has been trying to figure this out and we just like to think that we're a small part of it we're that technology that kind of was the major unlock that kind of opened up the floodgates if you will and um and now our job is to go out there and tell people that this exists like this tool in technology is available for you and you should build a business on it yeah I want to make some other kind of comments and points there so you hear right there so just to summarize that it's $5,000 takes five days and it's you know roughly $2,000 maybe a little bit more depending on the number of investors you have in the opportunity but all that's fine and dandy but if the product wasn't good that is where the problem is and it's sucks and I mean it sucks to spend money for something to not work well and people's experience that we've worked with have really liked the infrastructure of the product what it solves for because I think I'm someone personally that I am not afraid to spend a dollar I'm very good at spending money but I like to spend money in areas where it's actually worth the money and I've had very good reviews here from people who have of course used the product so I just want to share that right there and that's kind of been some of the burden with some of the other products out there as well you spend a lot of money for the technology to not be great I mean Travis has a background with tech so inherently having that there to have the infrastructure be supported by a good product is the difference between coming back and not coming back so I just want to tip the cap there to make it not only a good product but also have people come back to it but um it being cost efficient and effective as well and then the other time factor that I want to speak on is more from a sales perspective being someone that's been in sales by basically my entire career since I was 21 um almost a decade of sales in real estate specifically the last thing that I want to worry about and think about and do is uh had there be a burden of having you know to go through Administration stuff talking to an attorney doing this doing that doing everything that's not shaking hands and legitimately moving the conversation forward and funding dollars into the account and what tribe best solves for is a cost- effective route with good technology and done quickly where you don't have to think about any admin stuff I want to connect with people I want to talk with people I want to grow the relationships and raise the capital I do not want to deal with in the your view and the peripheral stuff and I'm sure you guys can appreciate that sentiment and also I've had people say similar things as well it means a ton to hear you say that of course that's we're building our business on fund managers coming back and building their business on our platform so um you know it's funny as as the founder and you know always improving and growing uh the the the the business and our solution We're Never Satisfied and um we always think we're disappointing in terms of the experience or and we can be doing this better and we can right and we will but when we get feedback and we we do net promoter scores and get the feedback back from the fund managers and we get you know seven plus you know would you recommend this to friends and family and would you come back and that's just a super high rating if anybody's familiar with it and um and we're we're we're proud of that but we are just getting started I mean we are just getting started so I think we nailed the fact that we bring a ton of value you know you're getting a good value uh but now we're going to really wow you and your investors that's our goal and uh we're going to keep pushing yeah so let's talk into maybe just the mission as the why you know why you guys are so passionate about this and want to create this product because you both are really smart guys you're very successful prior to this endeavor and Venture so you know why is this your mission and in your day to-day right now because you have the option of working so and doing really what you want to do so let's talk about that maybe man that's Travis that's you again buddy you're the you're the big picture guy bring it oh man no look I think Seth and I this is personal for both of us right um my brothers and I wanted to get into real estate we didn't come from a real estate family you didn't get it you know that education in in school and we did what you know we've been doing since the beginning which is you know you come together with your tribe when you need to figure something out and that's what we did and we we we started a a a tribe pulled our capital and started investing together and it changed our lives and it changed the trajectory of our of our family's Financial lives and um and that's why we're doing it um you know by doing this the fund managers right they're they're the they're the heroes in this movie the fund managers are the heroes in this movie that's how millions of investors are going to get access to these deals like the wealthy right we all know why we love real estate it it's it appreciates it cash flow there's tax advantages you you name it there's a reason why the wealthy invest in these private deals these private real estate deals well most people don't have access to it the conduit to getting into those deals are you are the fund managers are those Capital raisers we're just happy that we're providing a tool for them that makes it easy that makes it easy but as you can tell we're passionate about it Seth I mean he he was a capital Riser right Seth's done a lot he's an entrepreneur but he knows how hard it is to be a capital Riser and uh maybe you could talk a little bit about what what's motivating you s yeah I mean just quickly you know I took the the Bigger Pockets route so to speak you know read Rich Dad Poor Dad startlist to the Bigger Pockets podcast did a house hacked into a duplex and then started buying single family properties fixing flips and then started investing you're a grinder grinder just level by level by level right um started investing passively in deals when I became a little bit more sophisticated um and then I was like okay now what now I want to be on the active side and at that point I really wanted to switch over to not practicing law whatsoever I was like screw this I'm leaving Big law I'm not doing this anymore I'm only going to invest in real estate um but then kind of along the the Journey of becoming an active investor and a syndicator and capital Riser I realized that my highest and best use is actually still as a Securities attorney and I'm pretty good at it so I've kind of integrated that into my real estate business and and use that to um uh join join triest which is at the Forefront of I think perfect timing in this industry right like real estate and legal are two industries that just move extremely slow they're dinosaurs they don't want change and they're resistant to any kind of change right so we've got to as entrepreneurs even if we're fund managers or passive investors that are looking to um diversify our assets or lead sponsors we're the ones that have to propel this forward and say hey we've got technology now behind us we've got all these different tools and ways to do things we need to take advantage of that and at Tri bestest we're building that so like what we are today is going to be completely different than what we are in q1 2025 and Beyond we are we are constantly building taking in feedback from all of our stakeholders and and and looking to take over the market I love it well then let's just real quickly go back into this we've kind of touched on it but maybe just more specifically how you do work with everyone from lead sponsors fund managers and I know you're obviously always going to conferences and masterminds you're very accessible in many respects but let's just get into you know how you work with everyone once more just to maybe spoon feed everyone a little bit more information yeah absolutely so the lead sponsor uh we help them form their funto fun program right and that's a huge Advantage for them uh that they can offer a turnkey funto fund program to their Capital Partners their their Capital raisers their fund managers and we'll we'll actually sit down and talk about all the things that you need to do for that to be successful you know how are you going to work with the fund manager um economics we talked about that you got to build in the fun to fun economics into your underwriting you know uh how are you how are you going to give them access to the marketing tools those types of things and really the the blueprint is is um you know is Lone Star so lone Stars uh leading the way as they do in most things out there and have built just an awesome fun to fun program and that's why so many fun to fun managers are working with them but um you know that's how we work with the the uh the lead sponsors and we talked about all the benefits of that cool and then go ahead Seth on the are any questions there Craig no I think that that was really well said um kind of building out the blueprint that many people don't have and just how it works and pertains to us if you are a capital allocator you kind of have understanding of the deal functions and then there's a additional level there of of underwriting materials so you can raise Capital so you understand the ever important what's in it for me conversation you can assess your opportunity cost between us and other sponsor if you're looking at other deals and whatnot I'll tell you this right now I'll say it again and again again we under promise and overd deliver that's kind of the the Mantra that we try to have here like everything we're probably never going to show you the highest Returns on projections um we like to beat our deals up as much as possible prior to going live because it doesn't serve us nor you the investors to see what the best case scenario is um we try to make it as modest as possible with our assumptions so you know we have our infrastructure for what the deal looks like from an underwriting perspective what your theoretical compensation could look like so these are things are just very important to think about uh we want basically everyone to be at parody what do I mean by that well if you're a capital raiser looking to raise for our deals we want your investor returns and our investor returns to look very similar they're going to vary ever so slightly because there's a slight drag you know for the fees Associated to the deal what do I mean by that well there's the administration fees that could be about $2,000 so sometimes that by comes by way of affecting the cash on cash return minuscule from a couple you know basis points I would say roughly about the what looks like but you'll make it on the back end for the lift and raise of the deal there when the deal goes to sell so it's never going to be 100% similar because there are some you know technical nuances there but it is to be fair to everyone there and then you'll be getting you know a nice return on the deal that you raise for as well should there be profit split um above the preferred return so I just think that's a really important thing to hit on as to how that fundamentally works now let's get into Seth with you over there on fund managers yeah fund managers we kind of touched on it already but you know we' we've changed our business so we're ready to work with fund managers directly um you know you can reach out to us and have an exploratory call if you want but really when you have a deal or you have a lead sponsor that you're ready to to work with that's really when we can spring into action um make that introduction reach out to us make the introduction to the lead sponsor we can start going to work and again we can have you uh once we have the the information and and the things that we need from all the stakeholders we can have you up and running in five days and you know I'll just go ahead and talk about the passive investors too because they are really important maybe the most important I know a lot of those folks are are listening right now and just know that that's on our that's always on our road map to make the passive investors happy to make that user experience awesome and streamlined and um you know just just an awesome experience for that passive investor because ultimately that's who we're serving we're trying to reach the passive investors let them get their money moving and so they can uh create multiple streams of income and we want to make that experience awesome for them because if they're happy then the fund managers are happy and the lead sponsors are happy too yeah there's two things that this show is about it's about the for this particular episode two things it is the fund manager to be safely raising money in an everchanging business business and it is all about at the end of the day the investor the investor is the straw that stirs the drink they are the king of the beach so to speak they're the ones that this is all about for us to be able to give people who may not know that they can invest in those beautiful commercial real estate buildings that we drive by all the time you know it's sad to think that you know that's not in the hands of Main Street so to speak you know a $50,000 investment gives you access uh to that product type now I'm not saying that's where every dollar should be you should have money probably in the stock market maybe you should have some money in your primary residence maybe you don't believe that mattra but you should have also some money in these institutional grade ACC or assets and that's what we're delivering here and it's so fun to be in a conversation with you both because you guys really are creating and are the future so it's cool to be in in the moment to be having the conversation now but to be also progressing accordingly with with you all moving forward we just appreciate the partnership there's a reason why when we were cherry picking our initial lead sponsors that we we started to work with lonar and uh just you know couldn't couldn't tell you couldn't tell you how much we appreciate uh this partnership and and like you looking forward to what's to come in the future here yeah well with that said we could talk forever but we got to wrap it up at some point so let's do that now Travis and sth thank you so much for giving us so much of your time here being generous how can people reach out with you want to learn more with maybe partnering at a sponsor level investor level and or a uh fund manager level absolutely LinkedIn is always the best place to kind of find me and follow me let me know you you heard me on this show I'd love to connect with you and uh and then you can email me and we'll also have a link on the show notes Here If that's uh if that's uh okay yeah of course you can check out trib vest.com obviously and then for me you can find me all over any social media platform so feel free to reach out excellent well gentlemen thank you so much for your time today for those listening I hope you enjoyed this informative conversation about how the industry is moving and grooving and Ever Changing uh so we'll see you next week everyone have a great rest of your day peace Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVgT4GMrPPI&t=70s https://www.structuringandraising.com https://www.lscre.com/content/passive… https://www.lscre.com/resource/underw Seth Bradley's Links: https://x.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/ https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en Rob Beardsley's Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-beardsley/ https://www.facebook.com/RobBeardsleyLSC/ https://www.lscre.com/team/rob-beardsley https://www.instagram.com/robbeardsley8/ https://www.facebook.com/RobertToddBeardsleyIII/ https://x.com/RobBeardsley3?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor https://www.tiktok.com/@robbeardsley3
At the EUVC Summit 2025, Nirmesh Patel from Amino Collective took the stage with a message that felt less like a pitch and more like a call to arms. His focus? The intersection of AI, health, and bio—and why Europe is uniquely positioned to lead this next era.We're still waiting for the first blockbuster drug developed using large AI models. But don't mistake that for inaction. As Nirmesh put it:“It's fundamentally changed how everyone does research in this space.”So much so that the Nobel Prize committee had no choice but to take notice.That shift is already reshaping how scientists think, experiment, and build companies—and it's opening the door for a new generation of outlier founders at the earliest stages.Amino Collective invests pre-seed and seed into health and bio, and Nirmesh was unequivocal:“Europe has all the ingredients required to make the next healthcare giants.”Here's what he sees:Technical founders now thinking commercially from Day 1.Citizens more willing to contribute data to studies, even if they don't cancel that January gym membership.Stable grant funding across Europe—especially in contrast to recent volatility at U.S. institutions like the NIH.On-continent innovation in manufacturing mRNA at scale—key to pandemic preparedness.These aren't future predictions. They're current capabilities, and they're maturing fast.Venture is about betting on outliers.In AI x Bio, the next outliers are likely being formed right now.“We're at the very early stages of the collision between AI, health, and bio. The companies that will define the future are just starting.”If you want to back the next transformative firm in medicine, don't just look to the coasts.Look to Europe. The science is here. The funding is here. The talent is ready.“I truly believe the future of medicine is European.”So do we.AI Has Already Transformed Research. The Market Impact Comes Next.Why Europe? The Ingredients Are Already Here.From Outliers to Giants
This week, Chuck and I dig into the recent Philz Coffee sale. We break down how venture capital and private equity deals actually work, why common stockholders often walk away with nothing, and the difference between preferred and common shares. We talk about how control shifts once big investors enter the picture, the influence of a board, and how decision-making can drift from a company's original vision. We also explore the missed opportunity for Philz to take care of employees who invested their own money, even without a legal requirement to do so. From coffee companies as “brand pieces” for investment firms, to the challenges of scaling retail, we compare this sale to deals like Blue Bottle's. It's a conversation about money, ownership, and the choices that shape a company's legacy.
Even with AI, sales still comes down to human connection. This week on Grit, Dan Lee shares how Nooks automates busywork like research and dialing for thousands of sales teams, letting reps focus on the conversations that close deals.He also shares his “do more with less” approach, why cold calls still convert, and how to maximize human impact alongside AI.Guests: Dan Lee, CEO and Co-founder of Nooks and Leigh Marie Braswell, Partner at Kleiner PerkinsConnect with Dan Lee: XLinkedInConnect with Leigh Marie BraswellXLinkedInConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comLearn more about Kleiner Perkins
This Sunday, Pastor Brandon reminded us that God places people in our lives for different purposes—sometimes for a reason, sometimes for a season, and sometimes for a lifetime. No matter the length, every relationship has value, and we were created to live life in community not alone. At Venture, we believe church isn't just a service you attend—it's a chosen family you belong to. Whether you're here for a reason, a season, or a lifetime, you matter. You're seen. You're loved.
S4:E184 David provides The Weekly Update in Venture and then Paul interviews Adovate CEO William Stilley about their innovative drug development platform to exploit adenosine receptors involved in multiple major diseases. He explains their strategy of focusing on a single drug candidate with favorable physiochemical characteristics and distribution kinetics that treats a common disease with few to no side effects. They will be initiating their phase II trial of their candidate drug this year and if successful, will plan to sell the drug to a major Pharma company. (interview recorded 8.6.25)The Data Center Power post by Tyler Norris, a Power Systems expert, in his Power & Policy NewsletterFollow David and Paul: https://x.com/DGRollingSouth https://x.com/PalmettoAngel Connect On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/ We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc.
India's startup boom has lost its spark. Venture capital funding in the first half of 2025 dropped to just $3.6 billion—the lowest since 2016. Fresh ideas are scarce, and investors are stuck with fewer bets to make.So who's still getting the money? Familiar founders. Even those with messy track records. Pharmeasy's co-founders, whose healthtech giant crashed from $5.6 billion to $460 million, raised fresh funds for All Home. Whitehat Jr's Karan Bajaj, criticized for misleading ads, secured $16 million for his new venture.Why are VCs are backing baggage over breakthroughs? Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India's first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.
CONTACTAMELaura Elena MartinezCitas 949-7615048Oficina: 6 Venture, Suite 310, Irvine, CA 92618https://linktr.ee/lauraelenamartinezz
The Investing Power Hour is live-streamed every Thursday on the Chit Chat Stocks Podcast YouTube channel at 5:00 PM EST. This week we discussed:(02:58) AI's Impact on Software Companies(11:52) Trends in Alcohol Consumption(21:02) Amazon's Grocery Delivery and Instacart's Challenges(30:41) Cava's Earnings and Restaurant Industry Trends(36:14) Analyzing Restaurant Performance Amid Economic Challenges(39:58) Insider Buys(44:29) The Hot IPO Market: Opportunities and Risks(48:25) Bubble Watch: Signs of Market Euphoria(50:50) Adyen's Growth Challenges in a Competitive Landscape(56:19) CoreWeave's Risky Bet*****************************************************JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER AND CHAT COMMUNITY: https://chitchatstocks.substack.com/ *********************************************************************Chit Chat Stocks is presented by Interactive Brokers. Get professional pricing, global access, and premier technology with the best brokerage for investors today: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/ Interactive Brokers is a member of SIPC. *********************************************************************Fiscal.ai is building the future of financial data.With custom charts, AI-generated research reports, and endless analytical tools, you can get up to speed on any stock around the globe. All for a reasonable price. Use our LINK and get 15% off any premium plan: https://fiscal.ai/chitchat *********************************************************************Disclosure: Chit Chat Stocks hosts and guests are not financial advisors, and nothing they say on this show is formal advice or a recommendation.
Venture capitalist Nic Carter (Castle Island Ventures, Coin Metrics) joins The Aubservation live from PubKey NYC — the world's most famous Bitcoin bar — for an unfiltered conversation on Bitcoin, AI, banking, and the state of New York City.From Operation Choke Point 2.0 to the AI Capex supercycle, Nic and host Aubrey Strobel cover the forces shaping money, technology, and culture in 2025.In this episode:Bitcoin maxis in 2025Operation Chokepoint 2.0 AGI is already hereAI boom is bigger than internetThe problem with tokenized stocks Is NYC cooked?Follow Nic: https://x.com/nic__carter Brought to you by Cake Wallet — the easiest way to spend and store your crypto. Visit cakewallet.com.LINKSX: https://x.com/aubreystrobelTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aubreystrobelInstagram: https://instagram.com/aubreystrobelSubstack: https://theaubservation.substack.comWatch on YouTube, or listen on Spotify, Apple, and wherever you get your podcasts.
In this episode of the AgCulture Podcast Show, Louisa Burwood-Taylor, Managing Editor at AgFunder, discusses the evolving landscape of agrifood tech investment and the role of venture capital in agriculture. He unpacks trends shaping funding, startup challenges, and how AI and robotics are reshaping the future of farm operations. Explore the critical gaps between agtech innovation and farmer adoption. Listen now on all major platforms!Meet the guest: Louisa Burwood-Taylor is the Managing Editor at AgFunder and a pioneer in agrifood tech journalism. With nearly two decades of experience, he was the founding editor of Agri Investor and now leads AgFunder News and its widely cited industry reports. Louisa is known for shaping how investors, entrepreneurs, and farmers understand agricultural innovation and investment.What you will learn: (00:00) Introduction(05:03) Venture capital slowdown(09:03) Startup exit barriers(14:20) Alternative capital models(18:24) Deep tech in agriculture(22:18) AI's real role(36:03) Closing thoughtsDiscover the world of agriculture with the "Ag Culture Podcast". This podcast will be a gateway for those passionate about agriculture to explore its global perspectives and innovative practices.Join Paul as he shares his experiences in the agricultural industry, his travels and encounters with important figures around the world.Available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.Subscribe at http://www.agculturepodcast.com and keep an eye out for future episodes, bringing insights and stories from the vibrant world of agriculture.
On today's show, I sit down with Flossie Hall, CEO of Stella Foundation, a powerhouse organization serving 10,000 women founders and investors worldwide. Flossie shares her journey from serial entrepreneur—having built and exited multiple seven-figure businesses—to leading a global movement that empowers women to launch, scale, and sustain their ventures. We will talk about how Stella's initiatives, including the acclaimed Women's Venture Summit, have facilitated over $200 million in fundraising for women-led companies. The conversation dives into the mission of Stella: to inspire, equip, and propel diverse female founders while cultivating a thriving network of investors to increase equality for women-led startups.
This week on Swimming with Allocators, Earnest and Alexa welcome Diego De Colombres, founding general partner of Dissent Capital. Diego shares his journey from equity research to launching a specialized crypto fund of funds. The discussion also explores the importance of backing emerging managers, building concentrated portfolios in a volatile market, and the evolving strategies required for success in crypto venture capital. Key takeaways include the value of specialization over generalization, the risks of over-engineered fund structures, and the growing significance of trends like stablecoins and the intersection of crypto and AI. Listeners will gain insights into how disciplined selection and a long-term perspective can drive outperformance in the rapidly changing world of crypto investing. Don't miss this great conversation! Highlights from this week's conversation include:Diego's Background and Path to Venture (1:17)Early Crypto Interest and Latin American Perspective (3:34)Equity Research Skills in Venture Investing (5:55)Founding Dissent Capital: Inspiration and Strategy (9:17)Concentration vs. Diversification in Crypto Funds (11:52)Cyclicality and Deployment in Crypto Venture (13:16)Identifying and Selecting Emerging Managers (15:23)Why “Access Is Not a Strategy” (19:33)Common Mistakes in Crypto Fund Structures (22:50)How LPs Should Assess Crypto Venture Risk/Reward (26:09)Competition at Early Stages in Crypto vs. Traditional VC (29:52)Crypto Trends: Stablecoins, AI, and On-Chain Identity (31:21)LP Archetypes and Strategic Investors (36:34)Lessons Learned: Narrative-Driven Markets and Distributions (39:50)Connecting with Diego and Parting Thoughts (41:54)Dissent Capital is a pioneering crypto venture fund of funds focused on backing the next generation of emerging crypto managers. With a disciplined, high-conviction approach to early-stage investing, Dissent Capital delivers institutional-grade diligence and access to the best opportunities in the space. Learn more at www.dissentcap.xyz.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.Quote 1: "In crypto, access is no longer a strategy, and beta plays don't cut it. To capture power-law outcomes, you need focused portfolio construction and a specialization mindset, not over-diversification."
Origins - A podcast about Limited Partners, created by Notation Capital
Sunil Dhaliwal founded Amplify in 2012, and was joined by his longtime friend and colleague Mike Dauber in 2014. Beginning as one of the first solo GP, early-stage, sector-focused funds, Amplify has now grown to a team of 9 partners investing in the next generation of applications tools and platforms for developers, data teams, and ML engineers focused on AI, cloud infrastructure, and data security. Mike and Sunil sit down with Beezer Clarkson, Partner at Sapphire Partners, to discuss their strategy of building for outliers, shaping founders into leaders, and making it easy for their GPs to back non-consensus companies. They also unpack their recent $900 million raise and their first dedicated biotech fund, Amplify Bio.Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partnersLearn more about OpenLP: openlp.vcLearn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vcLearn more about Amplify: amplifypartners.comFor a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter – delivered straight to your inbox: subscribe.openlp.vcCHAPTERS:0:00 Welcome to Origins2:17 The Origins of Amplify5:21 Eliminating the Need for “Mr. Business”10:25 Building Amplify for Outliers25:08 Being Technical VCs in the Age of AI28:47 Amplify Bio36:19 Has Venture Actually Changed At All?
Ryan's story is a testimony to the power of combining business excellence with Kingdom purpose. Growing up traveling to refugee camps rather than theme parks, he developed a heart for the hurting. This calling led him to co-found Venture, a nonprofit serving the unreached, unsafe, and unresourced, funded largely by his for-profit travel technology companies. Ryan discusses practical ways to integrate generosity into business models, disciple employees, and seek God's leading in every decision. He shares both his successes and failures, emphasizing patience for God's timing, and describes how his faith was deepened during COVID when business nearly collapsed. Listeners will walk away encouraged to live out their faith boldly in the marketplace and invest in what truly matters for eternity.
What if your tools shared context like your team does?This week on Grit, Shishir Mehrotra shares how the Coda and Grammarly collaboration unlocks context as a “superpower,” reflects on his early days at Google and YouTube, and hints at a future where tools anticipate intent and amplify how we work.He also shares how this paves the way for agent-based workflows and AI-native communication, beginning with Superhuman's email experience.Guest: Shishir Mehrotra, co-founder of Coda and CEO of GrammarlyConnect with ShishirXLinkedInChapters: 00:00 Trailer01:24 Introduction02:09 Zoo vs safari12:02 A TV ahead of its time21:25 Product decisions31:25 The data behind the algorithm37:26 The AI native productivity suite48:06 Agents are digital humans57:55 Pressure trade-off1:12:50 Insulated from judgment1:25:19 Who Grammarly is hiring1:25:51 What “grit” means to Shishir1:29:30 OutroMentioned in this episode: YouTube, Ray William Johnson, Spotify, Twitch, MTV, Chris Cox, Facebook, TikTok, Google TV, Centrata, Google Chrome, Android, Gmail, Microsoft, Super Bowl, Mosaic, Panasonic, Sony, Susan Wojcicki, Rishi Chandra, Apple TV, Amazon Firestick, Comcast, LoudCloud (Opsware), Quest Communications, AT&T Southwestern Bell, Salar Kamangar, Patrick Pichette, Eric Schmidt, OpenAI ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Platforms, Sundar Pichai, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Hamilton, Reid Hoffman, Sam Altman, Tesla, Waymo, Airtable, Notion, Max Lytvyn, Alex Shevchenko, Superhuman, Duolingo, Luis von Ahn, Khan Academy, MrBeast, Facebook Messenger, Snap (Snapchat), WhatsApp, Google+, Meta LLaMa, Satya Nadella, Tim Cook, Daniel GrossConnect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.comLearn more about Kleiner Perkins
Step into a reality where the impossible is routine. In this members‑only episode, Caleb shatters Western expectations with stories that defy logic—from a missionary pilot witnessing a gliding giant over the Congo, to cursed "bowl" entities that eerily replace sleeping husbands in Ugandan villages. Venture deeper into shape-shifting entities, midnight spirit‑assignments, skinwalkers, hybrid children, and a grotesque demonic creature with a human head stitched to a snake's body. Brace yourself for Caleb's intensely personal journey across Africa and California—a journey that redefines what you thought was possible. On the frontier of the mission field, the supernatural isn't just an anomaly—it's the norm. Not a member? Get this episode and much more at www.blurrycreatures.com/members Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Trump promised to “re-privatize” the economy so that it reflects small businesses and the forgotten man. Instead, he is steering the economy to a handful of Big Tech companies more than his predecessor. Today, I show in vivid detail how Big Tech is getting special favors, including exceptions from tariffs, regulatory relief, federal land offers, federal tax credits, re-zoning favors, and state and local tax exemptions to promote the data center digital colonization of America that a free and fair market could never sustain. The government is digging us so deep into the pockets of these companies that once the data center bubble pops, it will be too big to fail and we will be stuck holding the bag. I contrast this model to the state of the economy for most Americans and small businesses, and the contrast could not be greater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Imagine an economy dominated by one industry — AI — in which all of the growth comes from a few companies, yet they are yielding few jobs. Well, that is the economy we are living in today. The very deficit spending that has crushed affordability for consumers has propped up a handful of companies. Today, I explain how the AI data center economy is unnatural and only facilitated by government policies, but consumers will be left holding the bag when the bubble pops. Next, we're joined by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) from the road, who updates us on everything he's been working on — from the Texas floods and the spending bills to health care and immigration. He explains how he has to balance fighting for liberty in a body with few Republicans who share our values. He also raises concerns about the fake economy in health care being modeled now in tech. Texas is one of the biggest targets for data centers gobbling up water during a time of drought. Finally, will Chip take his energy to state politics? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices