Podcasts about venture fund

In this episode of the Dakota Fundraising News Podcast, Pat and Konch cover key job moves, including Erika Olson joining Meketa as Director of Public Markets Manager Research and Ken Mathieson moving to US Capital Wealth Advisors. In RIA/FA M&A, Wells Fargo recruits the $1.6B Broadleaf Wealth Management Group from UBS, Sanctuary Wealth adds $200M NewSpring Wealth Partners, and Bryn Mawr Trust expands with a four-member team from Truist. Institutional updates feature pension fund searches and commitments, including San Francisco Employees Retirement System and Teacher Retirement System of Texas. Fundraising highlights include Longshore Capital closing Fund II at $325M and Hamilton Lane surpassing its target with a $615.3M venture fund. Tune in for the latest in institutional and intermediary fundraising!

On today's episode, I'm grateful to be joined by Roddy Campbell, Director of Partnerships & International Business at Tennis Australia  We're catching up right off-the-back of the busiest three weeks of the year for Roddy and his team, having just seen the Australian Open conclude in Melbourne. The tournament has developed an incredible reputation as the 'startup slam' and innovation flows through everything that they do - including across partnerships.  Although starting out in sport at The FA, Roddy has spent a lot of his career in the worlds of music and entertainment at the likes of EMI and Universal.  In our conversation, we discuss the “festivalisation" of sport, his team's co-creation approach to partnerships, their focus on China, and wanting to become the 'Super Bowl of APAC', we also touch on the AO's approach to media and launch of a Venture Fund - particularly how it fits into Roddy's work with partners.  Time Stamps 2:00 - Roddy's Career Journey  3:00 - Music and Sports Partnerships  6:00 - The Australian Open Experience  7:00 - Tennis Australia's Broader Role  11:00 - International Expansion and China Focus  14:30 Innovative Partnerships and Brand Integration  22:00 Melbourne Park and Event Logistics  27:00 Tourism and Economic Impact  30:00 Innovation and Future Trends  42:00 Closing Remarks and Future Aspirations  Additional Links The Festivalisation of Sport: How The Australian Open Is Serving Up A New Era Sport & Spectacle AO Ventures completes first close of $US30 million VC fund By the numbers: Recapping Aussie singles success at AO 2025  Connect with Roddy on LinkedIn - Here  Connect with Andy on LinkedIn - Here

Send us a textHey, welcome to another episode of Making Billions,  I'm your host, Ryan Miller and today I have my dear friend Marques Colston. Marques is an NFL champion termed venture investor, as the founding partner of a $100 million venture firm called Champion Venture Partners. Marques brings his experience from making it into the NFL to Angel investing and now in the pro leagues of a venture fund. So what does this mean? Well, this means that Marques understands how to take on projects and deals and pull out a win, especially when the odds are not on your side, and he's about to teach you and I how to go from the locker room to the boardroom.Subscribe on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTOe79EXLDsROQ0z3YLnu1QQConnect with Ryan Miller:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rcmiller1/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makingbillionspodcast/Twitter: https://twitter.com/_MakingBillonsWebsite: https://making-billions.com/[THE GUEST]: Marques is an NFL champion termed venture investor, as the founding partner of a $100 million venture firm called Champion Venture Partners.Everyday AI: Your daily guide to grown with Generative AICan't keep up with AI? We've got you. Everyday AI helps you keep up and get ahead.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showDISCLAIMER: The information in every podcast episode “episode” is provided for general informational purposes only and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction. By listening or viewing our episodes, you understand that no information contained in the episodes should be construed as legal or financial advice from the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal, financial, or tax counsel on any subject matter. No listener of the episodes should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in, or accessible through, the episodes without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer, finance, tax, or other licensed person in the recipient's state, country, or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction. No part of the show, its guests, host, content, or otherwise should be considered a solicitation for investment in any way. All views expressed in any way by guests are their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the show or its host(s). The host and/or its guests may own some of the assets discussed in this or other episodes, including compensation for advertisements, sponsorships, and/or endorsements. This show is for entertainment purposes only and should not be used as financial, tax, legal, or any advice whatsoever.

Send us a textHey, welcome to another episode of Making Billions, I'm your host, Ryan Miller and today I have my dear friend Charley Ma. Charley is the co-founder and Managing Partner of a $75 million venture fund known as Pathlight Ventures. Prior to Pathlight, Charley was part of multiple early stage teams that built and scaled enterprise software startups like Plaid, Ramp and Alloy, as well as a critical role at JP Morgan covering R & D, payments, strategy and blockchain before it was cool. So what does this mean? Well, it means that Charley is an expert in venture capital, closing deals and building reputation, relationships and results, and he's here today to help us understand the fundamentals of launching our first venture fund and how that can change not only your life, but 1000s of others in the process.Subscribe on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTOe79EXLDsROQ0z3YLnu1QQConnect with Ryan Miller:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rcmiller1/MarketAboutA breakdown of listed companies' financials, news, trends and other.Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Business is Fcking HardBusiness owners share their business journey, and the lessons learned along the way.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showDISCLAIMER: The information in every podcast episode “episode” is provided for general informational purposes only and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction. By listening or viewing our episodes, you understand that no information contained in the episodes should be construed as legal or financial advice from the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal, financial, or tax counsel on any subject matter. No listener of the episodes should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in, or accessible through, the episodes without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer, finance, tax, or other licensed person in the recipient's state, country, or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction. No part of the show, its guests, host, content, or otherwise should be considered a solicitation for investment in any way. All views expressed in any way by guests are their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the show or its host(s). The host and/or its guests may own some of the assets discussed in this or other episodes, including compensation for advertisements, sponsorships, and/or endorsements. This show is for entertainment purposes only and should not be used as financial, tax, legal, or any advice whatsoever.

Send us a textHey, welcome to another episode of Making Billions, I'm your host, Ryan Miller and today I have my today I have my dear friend Steve Brotman.Steve is the managing general partner at Alpha Partners, a $300 million AUM venture capital firm out of New York. Steve has been recognized a few times as a finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, as well as being named in Crain's Tech 100, Top 25 Players Shaping Silicon Valley, Top 40 under 40, and he's been listed among New York business leaders. So what does this mean? Well, this means that Steve understands how to deliver an edge to investors so that they too can enjoy their pursuit of Making Billions.Subscribe on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTOe79EXLDsROQ0z3YLnu1QQConnect with Ryan Miller:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rcmiller1/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makingbillionspodcast/Twitter: https://twitter.com/_MakingBillonsWebsite: https://making-billions.com/[THE GUEST]: Steve is the managing general partner at Alpha Partners, a $300 million AUM venture capital firm out of New York.Support the showDISCLAIMER: The information in every podcast episode “episode” is provided for general informational purposes only and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction. By listening or viewing our episodes, you understand that no information contained in the episodes should be construed as legal or financial advice from the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal, financial, or tax counsel on any subject matter. No listener of the episodes should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in, or accessible through, the episodes without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer, finance, tax, or other licensed person in the recipient's state, country, or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction. No part of the show, its guests, host, content, or otherwise should be considered a solicitation for investment in any way. All views expressed in any way by guests are their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the show or its host(s). The host and/or its guests may own some of the assets discussed in this or other episodes, including compensation for advertisements, sponsorships, and/or endorsements. This show is for entertainment purposes only and should not be used as financial, tax, legal, or any advice whatsoever.

I met Michael Bervell through a mutual acquaintance some two months ago. Since then he and I have talked a few times and found that we have many interests in common.   Michael grew up near Seattle where he stayed through high school. He then went across the country to study at Harvard. He received a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy. He then returned to Seattle and began working at Microsoft where he held some pretty intense and interesting jobs he will tell us about.   At a young age and then in college Michael's entrepreneurial spirit was present and flourished. His story about all that he has done as an entrepreneur is quite impressive. Today he is back at Harvard working toward getting his Master's degree in Business.   Michael has developed a keen interest in digital accessibility and inclusion. We spend time discussing internet access, the various options for making inclusive websites and how to help educate more people about the need for complete inclusion.       About the Guest:   Michael Bervell is a Ghanaian-American angel-investor, entrepreneur, and best-selling author. He is currently the founder of TestParty, an industry-leading and cutting edge digital accessibility platform.   In 2007, Bervell co-founded “Hugs for” an international, student-run non-profit organization focused on using grassroots strategies to develop countries around the world. To date, "Hugs for" has fundraised over $500,000 of material and monetary donations; impacted over 300,000 youth around the world; and expanded operations to 6 countries (Tanzania, Ghana, United States, Uganda, Kenya, and Sierra Leone). Because of his work, Bervell was awarded the National Caring Award in 2015 (alongside Pope Francis, Dikembe Mutombo, and 7 others).   Bervell is the youngest Elected Director of the Harvard Alumni Association and was the youngest President of the Harvard Club of Seattle. He has helped to found and lead a variety of organizations including the WednesdAI Collective (a Harvard & MIT AI incubation lab), Enchiridion Corporation (a marketing consulting company), Sigma Squared (formerly the Kairos Society), and Billion Dollar Startup Ideas (a media and innovation company). He has experience working as a Chief of Staff at Databook, Venture Fellow at Harlem Capital, Portfolio Development Manager at Microsoft's Venture Fund, Program Manager at Microsoft, and Software Engineer at Twitter.   His various efforts have earned him recognition as a Samvid Scholar (2022), Warnick Fellow (2021), Jonathan Hart Prize Winner (2019), GE-Lloyd Trotter Scholar (2018), World Internet Conference Wuzhen Scholar (2017), Walter C. Klein Scholar (2017), United Health Foundation Scholar (2016), Deutsche Bank Rise Into Success Scholar (2016), Blacks at Microsoft Scholar (2016), Three Dot Dash Global Teen Leader (2015), Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholar (2015), National Achievement Scholar (2015), Coca-cola Scholar (2015), Elks Scholar (2015), AXA Achievement Community Scholar (2015), Build-a-bear Workshop Huggable Hero (2014), and more.   Ways to connect with Michael:   Personal Website: https://www.michaelbervell.com/ LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbervell/ Company Website: https://www.testparty.ai/ Company LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/testparty/     About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, hello, everyone. I am Michael Hinkson, and you are listening to unstoppable mindset. Our guest today is Michael Bervell, who is a Ghanaian American angel investor. He is a published author, and he is also an entrepreneur and a scholar by any standards. And if he wants to brag about all that and all the the different kinds of accolades and awards he's gotten, he's welcome to do that. And I will just take a nap. No, I won't. I won't take a nap. I'll listen to him. I've read it all, but I'll listen to it again. Michael, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Michael Bervell ** 01:58 Thanks so much for having me. It's a great name. You have too, both the podcast and your own name, another Mike.   Michael Hingson ** 02:04 You know, I think it's a great name. People have asked me, why I say Michael, and do I prefer Michael to Mike? And as I tell people, it took a master's degree in 10 years, a master's degree in physics in 10 years, to figure this out. But I used to always say Mike Kingston on the phone, and people always said Mr. Kingston. And I couldn't figure out, why are they saying Kingston when it's Kingston, and I introduced myself as Mike Kingston. And finally, one day, it hit me in the head. They're getting the mike the K part with the Kingston, and they're calling it Kingston. If I start saying Michael hingson, will that change it? I started saying Michael hingson, and immediately everybody got it right. They said Mr. Hingson or Michael, or whatever. I don't really care, Mike or Michael is fine, but the last name is hingson, so there.   Michael Bervell ** 02:50 It's so funny. Yeah, I'm glad no one's calling you Mr. Links and or something like, yeah, yell and adding it. They   Michael Hingson ** 02:55 do. They do. Sometimes do Hingston, which isn't right, yeah, which shows you sometimes how well people listen. But you know, what   03:03 do you do? Exactly, exactly? Tell   Michael Hingson ** 03:07 us a little bit, if you would, about the early Michael bervell Growing up in and where, and all that sort of stuff. And you know, then we can get into all sorts of fun stuff, because I know you've been very interested in accessibility and disabilities and all that, we'll get to that. But tell me about you growing up. Yeah. I mean,   Michael Bervell ** 03:24 for me home, home for me was in Seattle, and I actually lived and went to school in a place that was about 30 minutes apart. So my parents would drop me off at school in the morning. I go through the day, meet all my friends, and then come back home. They would pick me up, take me back home in the evening. So I had a lot of time in the day after school, you know, school ends at two, and my parents picked up a five to do all this other stuff. So I used to always be part of every student, student club. I did every sports team, you know, I was in high school, you know, on the captain of all these, all these teams and such. And of course, I would go home and my parents picked me up. And in that in that in between time, I spent a lot of time in the library, so I probably every day in middle and high school, spent three hours a day at the library, just in that in between time, waiting for your parents, waiting for my parents. So that for me, was a lot of time that I just used to incubate projects. I taught myself how to code and took some CS classes when I was, you know, in high school at the library, I became friends with all the librarians and joined the student library advisory board when I was in eighth grade at the library, and did a bunch of other things. But I think probably the most impactful library project that I had was actually a nonprofit that my family and I started, and it was memory of my grandmother, who born in Ghana. She used to always go back there in the winter times, because, you know, it's cold in Seattle, warm in West Africa in the winter   Michael Hingson ** 04:48 as well. Yeah,   Michael Bervell ** 04:49 yeah, it was super warm there. I mean, it's always, you know, 80 plus degrees, wow. Yeah, it's lovely. And so she would always go home. And whenever she went back to Ghana. She would, you know, come into our bedroom and tip doe at night and go into the bed and take a teddy bear or take some of her old school supplies. And whenever she visited, she would give that to kids in hospitals and schools and North pages. So, you know, when she, when we, when she passed away, we ended up going back to Ghana for her funeral. And, you know, all the burial ceremonies, and there were just so many people from the community there expressing their love for her and what she had done. And we realized that, you know, while it was small for us, you know, as a six year old or sixth grade kid, her taking a teddy bear had such a big impact, and it had these ripple effects that went far beyond her, so that that was, like one of my biggest projects I did at, you know, in sixth grade and beyond. It's an organization, a nonprofit called hugs for Ghana, which we've been running for the last 15 years, 15 plus years, and now is operating in six different countries. And we do the same thing. We get teddy bears and school supplies and all these things, and pick them up and hand deliver them to kids in developing countries. But that, for me, was one of my most fundamental parts of my childhood. When you ask me, you know, was it like as a child? I can't separate my growing up from, you know, those long drives to school, that time at the library and eventually the nonprofit made in honor of my grandmother,   Michael Hingson ** 06:10 and giving back,   Michael Bervell ** 06:13 yeah, and giving back exactly how   Michael Hingson ** 06:16 I talked fairly recently on this podcast to someone who formed. Her name is Wendy Steele. She formed an organization called Impact 100 and impact 100 is really primarily an organization of women, although in Australia, there are men who are part of it. But basically what Wendy realized along the way was that, in fact, people are always looking for, what can they do? And at the same time, they don't have a lot of time. So with impact 100 she said, and the way the organization works, the only thing that she requires that anyone who joins the organization must do is donate a check for $1,000 that's it. If you don't want to do any work, that's great. If you want to be part of it and all that. It's fine. If the organization is primarily composed of volunteers. I think they have now like 73 or 77 chapters in mostly in the United States, but they're also when Australia and a couple of other countries, and they have given out in the 20 years since the organization was formed, all told, close to $148 million what they do is they take the money that comes in, and they for every $100,000 that a Chapter raises, they give a $100,000 grant to someone no administrative costs, unless those are donated on top of the $1,000 so all the money goes back to the community. I think the first grant they ever gave was to a dental clinic to help with low income people and so on. But it's a fascinating organization, as I said, it's called Impact 100 and she started it because as a child, she was very much involved in giving back, and for a while she she didn't. And then it started again when her father passed away, and she realized how many people from the community supported her and the rest of her family because they didn't have the tools or the resources to do it all alone. Yeah, so I'm not surprised that you have the story of giving back and that you continue to do that, which is really pretty cool.   Michael Bervell ** 08:36 Well, I think I actually heard a statistic that I think they tried to track how early childhood development, or just early adulthood, affected later adulthood. I think one of the findings was that people who volunteered when they were in middle and high school or significantly more likely to volunteer later in life than those who never did. And so there is a certain level of kind of you know, how you experience the world in your early ages and your early days affects your potential to want to make a change, especially as it relates to giving back or giving time or money or whatever effort, whatever it might be, I think is a really interesting concept. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 09:14 it makes sort of perfect sense, because as you're growing up and you're forming your life, if you see that you're doing things like giving back or being involved in supporting other people, and that is a very positive thing, it makes sense that you would want to continue that in some way.   Michael Bervell ** 09:33 Yeah, yeah. I mean, it reminds me also of just like habits. You know, you build your habits over time, and it starts from super young ages not to say that you can't change habits. There's a bunch of research about the science of habit change and how to break a habit loop, and Charles Duhigg is a great author in that space, but it's also just really interesting just to think through that. But yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 09:54 and habits can be hard to break, or they can be easy if you're really committed. Into doing it. But I know a lot of people say it, it's fairly challenging to change or break a habit.   Michael Bervell ** 10:06 Exactly, yeah, exactly.   Michael Hingson ** 10:09 Unfortunately, sometimes it's all too easy to make a habit. But anyway, there you go. Yeah,   Michael Bervell ** 10:14 my one of my it's, it's funny, because after you know one of my habits I made when I was in high school that, to my mom's chagrin, was I used to always love just doing work on my bed. The positive thing about the habit was I was always comfortable. The negative thing is I would sometimes fall asleep. So many times I mid paper, you know, mid take home exam, fall asleep. I have to wake up and scramble to finish. But that doesn't show me a faster writer. If anything   Michael Hingson ** 10:41 I remember, when I was in graduate school at UC Irvine, I had an office of my own, and I was in it one day, and I was looking at some material. Fortunately, I was able to get most of the physics texts in Braille, so I was studying one, and the next thing I knew, I woke up and my finger was on the page, and I had just fallen asleep, and my finger for reading braille, was right where I left off. Always thought that was funny,   Michael Bervell ** 11:14 yeah, just a just a quick, just a quick pause. You just pause for a second, even   Michael Hingson ** 11:18 though it was about 45 minutes, but whatever. But my figure didn't move.   Michael Bervell ** 11:24 You really focused, you know, just That's it. That's it.   Michael Hingson ** 11:27 The advantage of Braille, exactly. But, you know, I do think that it's great to have those kinds of habits, and I really wish more people would learn the value of giving back and sharing, because it will come back to benefit you so many times over.   Michael Bervell ** 11:48 Yeah, yeah. I mean, what's even what influences me, like now and even throughout, you know, post high school, like when I went into college, I knew I wanted to be in some sort of service and giving back type of industry, but I didn't really know what that was, right, like, I didn't want to do want to do philanthropy full time, because I found it difficult, right? Like, I found it hard to have to go back to investors, and I found it difficult to sometimes sell the vision. And my question was, is there a way to make this more sustainable? And so I spent a lot of my time in school and college just learning about social impact, which, at the time was just coming up, like a lot of those impact investment funds, impact bonds, the idea that you can tie finance to impact, and you can have carbon offsets that people buy and sell, that has some sort of social good, that you can somehow transact. All these kind of new and interesting ideas were coming around, and it started, it just got me interested, right? It's, you know, can I make a habit of creating an impact, but also habits somehow work within, you know, this capitalist system that the world operates in. It's something I've been wrestling with, you know, even in all my my future business and kind of current business, work and practices.   Michael Hingson ** 12:58 What do you do when you propose an idea or have a thought, and you discuss with people and they object to it. How do you handle objections?   Michael Bervell ** 13:05 Yeah, I mean, I think, I think for me, I'm always interested in the root cause, right? I think I'm one who tries to understand first before trying to persuade. So I could give you an example, I think very early in my, very early my college career, I realized that my parents would be able to pay for college for me. That was the youngest of three. And, you know, they'd use a lot of their savings on my siblings, about the who ended up going to med school, which is very expensive, yeah, college, which was also very expensive. And being immigrants from Ghana, of course, they hadn't saved up an infinite amount of money. So my mom sat me down and told me, Hey, you have to pay your own tuition. And so, you know, the person I had to convince to kind of help me here was actually funny enough, restaurants are in Harvard Square, and the reason why is I decided to make a business that did restaurant consulting. So I went door to door, and I would ask people and like, hey, you know, do you need 20 Harvard students to come and help you understand how you can get more foot traffic in the door. You know, sell more pizzas or sell more burritos. I think I heard 20 or 30 knows. And finally, one woman said, Well, you know, if, if, if, if you think that you can do it, then, you know, show me. Show me the numbers, right? And that was, that was really interesting. And so I think it realized, you know, when I when she initially said, No, I said, Well, why not? She said, I just don't know if you can do it. And when I said, Oh, we can actually show you the proof, she's like, Okay, well, then if you can run a pilot and show me the proof, then I'll do it. And so understanding the why, I think, is more important than getting the rejection and, you know, getting the setback. But that's try to, that's how I try to deal with it.   Michael Hingson ** 14:38 One of the things that I learned fairly early on, when I was put in a position of starting to sell for a living, actually, in Cambridge, working for Kurzweil Computer Products and taking a Dale Carnegie sales course was stay away from asking closed ended or. Yes, no questions. And so most of the time, I wouldn't say, you know, can we do this? Or would you do this? I would say, I'd like to hear your thoughts about or we've got this idea, tell me what you think, and doing other things to get people to talk. And when I started using that in my career, it was easy to get people to talk because they they want to talk. Or, as I like to say, people love to teach, and most of the time, if you establish a relationship with people and they know you're listening, they're welcome, or they're willing to give you wisdom. And so there are so many examples I have of asking open ended questions like that, or I went into a sales meeting with one of my employees, and there were a bunch of people there, and I said, Tell me to the first person I talked with, tell me why we're here. And it totally caught him off guard. Of course. The other thing is that they didn't realize that the sales manager who was coming, that the the guy who had set up the appointment was was told to bring his manager, and they didn't realize that the sales manager was blind, which also was a great addition to help. But again, I didn't ask, so you want to take backup system, but rather tell me why we're here. Tell me what you're looking for. Why are you looking for that? What do you want it to be? And I actually realized by the time I went around the room that our product wasn't going to work, but we still did the PowerPoint presentation. And then I said, if case you haven't figured it out, our system won't work, and here's why, but here's what will work. And that eventually led to a much larger order, as it turns out, because they called back later and they said, We got another project, and we're not even putting it out for bid. Just tell us what we pay you, and we'll order it. And it's it's all about. The objections are really mostly, I think, from people who maybe have some concerns that you didn't learn about because you didn't ask an open ended up or the right question, which is something that only comes with time.   Michael Bervell ** 17:15 Yeah. I mean, I think it also sounds very similar to like, what journalists are are trained to do, like a great journalist. And I took a journalism class a few years ago, maybe five years ago, with Joe Abramson, who was one of the first female executive, executive editors of the New York Times. And this was kind of her exact lesson. Is that everyone has some story to teach, some wisdom to share, and the difficulty, or really the challenge on you as an interlocutor, as a journalist, as someone whose job it is to uncover the story, is to ask the right questions, yeah, to allow that person the space to teach.   Michael Hingson ** 17:51 And if you and if you don't know the right questions, you ask something open ended, enough that maybe you'll get to it.   Michael Bervell ** 17:57 Yeah, exactly, exactly. And then the flip side, right, because there's, of course, you can't put all the burden on the person, no, right? You have to be an active listener. You have to listen to know, and then you have to prod and even say something like, Tell me more. Yeah, exactly right. Questions like, Tell me more, her second favorite question was, and then what happened? Yeah, right. Those are two such simple things, you know? And then what? Yeah. And it's just such an opening to really evolve and to grow.   Michael Hingson ** 18:23 And if they really think you're listening and that you want to know and understand, people will talk to you exactly which is, which is really what it's about. Well, so you did all of your so you went to high school in Seattle, correct? Yeah. And, and then what did you do?   Michael Bervell ** 18:43 Yeah. So High School in Seattle Graduated, went off to Boston for college, where, you know, of course, had to figure out a way to pay for school. And that was my first, I guess, for profit business. Was this restaurant consulting company. And of course, like I said, everything I want to do in my in my life, was focused on social impact. So the impacts there was that we only hired students to work for us who needed to pay tuition. There was this program called federal work study where, if you get trade, you have to, you know, work as part of a federal mandate for some amount of hours per week, and that was the book study requirement. And for the most part, students would do on campus jobs that would pay 10, $15 an hour to do this work study. Well, I'd spent up this consulting business as a sophomore that I then ran for all three years, and on an hourly basis, we were making significantly more than that, right? So I was able to go find students who traditionally had been working their whole life, right? Harvard has such a, you know, vast background of individuals. I knew, people who were homeless, people who were billionaires and everyone in between, who ended up coming to the school and so to find people who you know had been working 40 hours a week since they were in middle school, and give them a job where they could work less and actually have more free time to invest in their community or invest back into developing new skills, was, for me, super, super impactful. On the surface, it was a restaurant. A consulting business, but behind the scenes, what we were doing with our staffing and with our culture was was around that social impact. So I stayed out in in Cambridge for for four years, studied philosophy. I got a minor in computer science, and eventually went off to Microsoft back in in Seattle, where I eventually then, you know, was product manager and was a venture capital investor, and met a bunch of really phenomenal and interesting people who were pushing technology forward.   Michael Hingson ** 20:27 Now, why Harvard, which is all the way across the country?   Michael Bervell ** 20:33 Yeah, I mean, well, I think I love traveling. I loved, I loved, you know, being out and about, and I think growing up as the youngest of three, and also as the child of African immigrants, they'd always told me, you know, we moved here for you, like we moved 3000 miles away to a country where you don't speak the language, where you don't know anybody for you. And what they meant for that is, you know, we want you to really thrive. And even you know, now I'm at the age when my parents had first moved right to the US, and I can't imagine moving to a country where I don't know the language, don't know the people, and don't know a soul for my potential future children. And their children, that's what they did, and they invested a lot of time and energy and effort into me. And they always told me, you want you to be really successful. And so I remember when I was when I was in middle school, my sister got into Harvard, which was unheard of, right? No one in our high school had gone to Harvard in the past, especially not for, you know, a black family in a primarily white neighborhood, for one of us to go to Harvard was was a big deal. And so I knew that, you know, at the very least, for my parents, for my sister, for my family, I wanted to kind of match up to that   Michael Hingson ** 21:43 well, and it certainly sounds like you've, you've done a lot of that. Oh, here's a an off the wall question, having been around Cambridge and worked in Cambridge and all that is cheapo records still in Harvard Square.   Michael Bervell ** 21:57 Oh, man. You know what's so funny, I got a record player. I got a record player last semester, and I don't remember if cheaper records, that's the one that's like, I think I've is that the one that's in like, the actual, like, it's by, like, Kendall, take by Kendall, Kendall Square.   Michael Hingson ** 22:15 No, I thought it was in Harvard Square. Okay,   Michael Bervell ** 22:19 I think, I think it still exists. If I'm not mistaken, I think it still exists. I think I got a lot, got a lot of records from cheapo over the years record stores in Cambridge. And because I got a record player as a gift, I've been, I've been collecting a lot more,   Michael Hingson ** 22:31 ah, yeah, um, I've gotten a lot of records from cheapo and over the years. And of course, not so much now, since I'm out here. But next time I get back to mass, I'll have to go check,   Michael Bervell ** 22:43 oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah. We can do a cheapo records hanging how tactile It is, yeah, yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 22:52 There used to be one in New York that I would go to. They were more expensive as New York tends to be colony records, and they're not there anymore, which is sort of sad, but cheapo. Cheap just seemed to be one of those places that people liked. I don't want to say it was like a cult, although it sort of is all the dedicated people to to real vinyl, but I hope it's still   Michael Bervell ** 23:16 there. Is it? It's a chain of record stores, or is it just,   Michael Hingson ** 23:18 no, I think it's a one. Oh, yeah. If there's more than one, I'm not aware of it, I'd   Michael Bervell ** 23:23 probably say I'm 80% certain it still exists. Well there,   Michael Hingson ** 23:27 yeah, so have to come back to mass. And yeah, I'll have to go to cheaper records and Legal Seafood.   Michael Bervell ** 23:32 Oh yeah, Legal Seafood. That was, yeah, I love Legal Seafood musical all the time with my roommates from college. And, yeah, we used to order the crab cakes and eat lobster rolls. It's a great time.   Michael Hingson ** 23:44 Yeah, and then their little chocolate desserts, which are great yeah, and the chowder. Oh, well, yeah, yep, gotta, gotta get back to mass. Okay. Now whoever   Michael Bervell ** 23:53 you're listening is probably getting hungry. Well, you know,   Michael Hingson ** 23:57 as as they should, you know, you know why they call it Legal Seafood. I actually don't know nothing is frozen. It's all fresh. It's legal. Oh, I love that. I love that, at least that's what I was told. Yeah, that's pretty cool. Well, so you, you went to college and went then back to Seattle and worked for Microsoft and so on. So clearly, you're also interested in the whole idea of investing and the whole life of being an entrepreneur in various ways. And so you brought entrepreneurialism to everything that you did.   Michael Bervell ** 24:35 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that was my first job at Microsoft. I was, you know, managing what's called Windows IoT. So we were putting software on everything that wasn't a phone or a laptop. So think, you know, smart screens in airports, or screens in Times Square, or, you know, the type of software that your Amazon Echo, you know, maybe not Amazon in particular. But what that would run on that was working on IoT all these. They called it headless devices, yeah, devices with no screens. And that was my team for a little bit. I worked there for about year and a half. It was phenomenal. You know, we were managing multiple billions of dollars in revenue, and there was only, you know, 4050 people on my team. So you do the math, we're all managing hundreds, 10s to hundreds of millions of dollars in our products. And while I loved it, I realized that my my true passion was in was in meeting people, talking to people, and giving them the resources to succeed, versus giving them the actual technology itself. I loved being able to connect an engineer, you know, with the right supplier to work on a hard problem that could then be built for Microsoft to eventually get to a customer. And that sort of connection role, connector role is kind of the role of a venture capitalist. Yeah, right. You're connecting your limited partners who have invested in this fund to entrepreneurs who are trying to build some sort of idea from the ground up. And, you know, once you invest in the entrepreneur, then connecting the entrepreneur to mentors, to advisors, to potential employees, to potential customers. And so there's this value in being someone who's a listener, a journalist, right, like we had been talking about someone who has a habit of trying to make a broader impact. And it kind of all aligned with what I had been building up until that point. So I worked at M 12, it's Microsoft's venture capital fund, and invested in in a bunch of companies from Kahoot, which is like an education startup, to obviously open AI was a Microsoft investment as well, to other things like that. And so it was cool, because, you know, the fund was, was really, we had the mandate of just find cool companies, and because we were Microsoft, we could reach out to any founder and have a conversation. So it was, it really was a few years of just intense and deep learning and thoughtfulness that I wouldn't, I wouldn't trade for anything. What got   Michael Hingson ** 26:58 you started in the whole arena of thinking about and then being involved with digital accessibility, because we've talked about that a lot. I know that's a passion. So how did you get started down that road?   Michael Bervell ** 27:11 Yeah, I mean, it came partially through working at Microsoft, right? I mean, as I was at Microsoft, Satya Nadella, who was the CEO, he was making big, big investments into digital accessibility, primarily because his son, now, his late son, had cerebral palsy, and a lot of the technology at Microsoft, his son couldn't use, and so he had this kind of mission and vision to want to make more accessible technologies. But my first exposure to it even before then, like I said, in college, I had to work all these, all these jobs to pay tuition, and I built my own business, but one of the clients we consulted for was a large search engine. I'm sure you can imagine which one it was, and it wasn't Microsoft, and that were search engine. I helped them devise their ability strategy.   Michael Hingson ** 27:56 You mean the G word, something like that? Yeah.   Michael Bervell ** 28:00 Yeah. Duck, duck, go, yeah. No, that's it. Yeah, exactly. And so it was really cool to work with them and to see like at scale, at 200,000 employee scale, at 1000 product scale, how do you create systems and guardrails such that accessibility, in this case, digital accessibility, will be something that that actually ends up happening. Ends up happening. And so that was my first exposure to it. And then again at Microsoft. And then finally, a third time, while I was in business school, you know, working on various projects with friends. And one friend told me, you know, all I did at work this week was have to fix accessibility bugs because my company got sued. And that was and just all those moments combined with the idea that I wanted to impact the deep empathy that comes through learning and knowing and understanding people's backgrounds and histories, all of it came to a head with what I now work on at test party.   Michael Hingson ** 28:57 So now, how long has test party been around? And we'll get to that up. But, but how long have you had that?   Michael Bervell ** 29:03 Yeah, we started. We started about a year ago. Okay, so it's pretty recent,   Michael Hingson ** 29:07 so yeah, definitely want to get to that. But, so the whole issue of accessibility, of course, is a is a thing that most people don't tend to know a lot about. So so let's start this way. Why should people worry about making products and places like websites accessible? And I know websites, in a lot of ways, are a lot easier than going off and making physical products accessible, especially if they're already out, because redesign is a very expensive thing to do, and is not something that a lot of people are going to do, whereas, when you're dealing with websites, it's all about coding, and it's a lot easier. Yeah,   Michael Bervell ** 29:48 yeah. I mean, I think, I think fundamentally, it comes down to, you know, a set of core beliefs. And I think we could all agree, and I think we would all believe that, like everyone has the right to. You a decent, fulfilling and enjoyable life. I think regardless of where you fall on, you know, belief spectrums or anything, that's something that we all fundamentally believe. You know, you should live well. You should try to live a good life. It's what people talked about in writing for years. And I think when you think of the good life in today's terms, in the 21st century, it's almost inseparable from a life that also engages with technology, whether it's cell phones or computers or whatever it might be, technology has become so fundamental into how we live that it now has also become part of how we live well and how we live a good life. And I'll give you a clear example, right? Let's suppose you really believe that voting is part of living the good life. There is a time, 100 years ago, you know, you didn't need to really have a car. You could get a rehearsing buggy. Maybe you could even walk to a voting station and cast your vote in today's world, especially, let's suppose a COVID world, and even a post COVID world, computers, technology, websites, are fundamental in living that good life, if that's your belief system. And you can play this game with any belief that you have, and once you extrapolate into what does it take for you to do that thing in the best way possible? It almost inevitably, inevitably, you know, engages with technology. Yeah, so why do I think having accessible websites are important? Well, it's because pretty much 195 people has a disability of some sort, and so to live the good life, they have to engage technology. And if that technology is not working for them for whatever reason, then that needs to be fixed. That needs to be changed. And of course, there's the guardrails of laws, you know, ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act, EAA European Accessibility Act and others that try to mandate this. And of course, there's the goodwill of companies who try to do this proactively. I think Apple is a really good example, and Microsoft as well. But fundamentally, the question is, you know, what is a good life? How do you enable people to live that? And I think through technology, people should be able to live a better life, and should not have any barriers to access.   Michael Hingson ** 32:02 The thing is, though, take apple, for example. For the longest time, Apple wouldn't do anything about making their products accessible. Steve Jobs, jobs basically told people to pound sand when they said, iTunes, you wasn't even accessible, much less the iPod and the iPhone and the Mac. And it wasn't until two things happened that they changed really. One was target.com target had been sued because they wouldn't make their website accessible, and eventually too many things went against target in the courtroom, where they finally said, Okay, we'll settle and make this work. When they settled, it cost them $8 million to settle, whereas if they had just fixed it up front, the estimate is that it would have been about $40,000 in time and person hours, but because of where the lawsuit was filed and so on, it was $8 million to settle the case. And so that was one thing, and the other was it had been made very clear that Apple was the next company on the target list because they weren't doing anything to make their product successful. Well, Apple suddenly said, Okay, we'll take care of it. We will deal with it. And I think they had already started, but they and so as not to get sued, they said, We will do it. Well, probably the first thing that happened was the iPhone 3g well, maybe it wasn't the three, it was earlier, but the iPhone became accessible. The iPod became accessible. Pretty much all of them, iTunes, you the Mac. So by 2009 last when I got my iPhone 3g Apple was well known for making their products accessible, and they did it in a very clever way. It was accessible right from the outset. You didn't have to buy other stuff to make their products work. No need to buy a new screen reader or any of those kinds of things. So they spread the cost over every product that they sold, whoever bought it, so anyone who buys an iPhone can invoke accessibility today, which, which was cool, yeah,   Michael Bervell ** 34:09 yeah. And I think through Apple, I mean, I think the initial argument I made for why is it import to make websites accessible was an ethical argument, right? I think in Apple's case, they, they probably did the business case analysis and understood this actually does make economic sense. And I think what you see today is there is even more economic sense because of the expanding market size. Right? Think the aging population that will develop some sort of disability or impairment, right? That's really growing larger, right? Think about, you know, individuals who may have what people call temporary disabilities that are not permanent, but last for some period of time, whether it's, you know, nine months, 10 months, two years, three years, and those types of things. So I think there is, there's also a business case for it. I think that's what Apple as a case study has shown. What you bring up, though, is, does it matter? Does it really matter? Like, why companies start doing this, right? And I think that's a question, you know, to grapple with. You know, if Apple did it out of the goodness of their heart versus because they didn't want to get sued, but the downstream effects are the same, you know, does that matter? And, you know, question, Do the ends justify the means? In this case, the ends are good, at least just by the start, perhaps, but sure that interesting question so, but I do think that they have done really good work   Michael Hingson ** 35:27 well. And you and you brought up something which, you know we talked about, which is that you talked about one company that dealt with some of because they got sued. And litigation is all around us. Unfortunately, we're a very litigious society and in our world today. So so like with accessibe, that that I work with, and work for that company, and a lot of what I do, some people have said, well, accessibe shouldn't always use the idea that, well, if you don't make your website accessible, you're going to get sued. That's a bad marketing decision, and I think there are limits, but the reality is that there are lawyers who are out there who still haven't been muzzled yet, who will file 5060, 100 complaints just to and they get a blind person to sign off and say, Yeah, we support this, because they'll get paid something for it. But they're not looking to make the companies deal with accessibility. They just want to earn money, 10,015 $20,000 per company. But the reality is, part of the market is educating people that litigation is a possibility because of the fact that the internet is a place of business under the Americans with Disabilities Act.   Michael Bervell ** 36:54 Yeah, exactly. I think when you think of like, you know, what is the purpose of litigation? Again, I, as a philosophy guy, I always think back to first principles, and it really is a deterrent, right? Obviously, no one wants to get sued. And, of course, no one wants to pay damages, punitive or reparative. And so in this case, these are all examples of punitive damages that people are paying for not having done the right thing. Right? In in, in the best case, you do the right thing to begin with. But I think it's, you know, the consequence of not doing the right thing. I think, of course, there's the question of you described, kind of these lawyers, or what people call as kind of the trolls who are just kind of suing and, you know, reaping the benefits from this. And I think it's an unfortunate side effect. I do wish that there was a world where these trolls wouldn't even need to exist, because things are working perfectly, right, well,   Michael Hingson ** 37:45 and the reality is that it goes back far earlier than the internet. I mean, there are places, there are people who would drive around and make people in wheelchairs who might find the smallest by violation wasn't even necessarily a legitimate violation, and they would sue and so and so. It isn't anything new that is just with the internet. Yeah, it's been going on for years. Yeah,   Michael Bervell ** 38:11 those are the drive by lawsuits. I remember I heard about those, and I think it's, this is the digital equivalent of that,   Michael Hingson ** 38:16 right? Yeah, right. And it is an issue, and it is something that that needs to be dealt with, but you also talk about doing the right thing, and that's really the better reason for doing it. If you do, you really want to exclude up to 20% of your potential business by not making your website accessible. Or better yet, if you make your website inclusive for all, what is going to happen when somebody comes to your website looking for a product and then they buy it because they were able to are they going to come back to that website? Are they going to go looking elsewhere? And there are so many studies like Nielsen did studies, and others have done studies that show absolutely people appreciate brand loyalty, and when they feel that they're they're valued and included, they're going to stick with that company.   Michael Bervell ** 39:12 Yeah? But even with that said, right, there's so this conflict of we all logically know it's the right thing to do, there's business purpose for doing it, and yet people don't do it. Yeah, 97% of the internet is still not accessible, if you look at this correct right? And so our hypothesis release, what we take, and what I take as a business is that sometimes, if it's too hard to do the right thing, people won't do the right thing, but that's what they want to do. And so how do you make it easier to do the right thing? And that's hopefully what, what we're what we're hoping to change in the industry, is just making it easier and also letting people know that this is an issue. One   Michael Hingson ** 39:48 of the one of the criticisms, oh, go ahead. Go ahead. A lot of people   Michael Bervell ** 39:52 don't, don't do the right thing, because just don't know that there is a right thing to do. You know   Michael Hingson ** 39:56 right well. And one of the criticisms I've heard over the. Years, especially dealing with the products like accessibe is, well, the problem is, you just slap this AI thing on their site, you're not teaching them anything, and that's not a good thing. And with manual coders, they're going to teach people. Well, that's not true either, but, but this whole argument of, well, you just put it on there, and then you go away, which isn't true, but again, that's one of the criticisms that I've heard any number of times, and that you're not really educating people about accessibility. You're not really educating them much about it. And the answer is, look, the company that wants to do business came to you in the first place. So they obviously knew they had to do something.   Michael Bervell ** 40:44 Yeah, yeah. And I think when I think through it, it's like, how do you make sure that the downstream effects of whatever you do is just positive and beneficial, right? And the ideal, as we all agree, I think, would be just to build it right the first time. Whether it's physical buildings, build a building right the first time. Or, if it's websites, build the website correctly the first time. Whatever helps people to get to that stage and that level of thinking and habits I think are, are ideal   Michael Hingson ** 41:13 coming from your background and so on. You know now that there are two basic ways that people can work to make websites accessible. One is the traditional way where you have someone who goes in and codes in the access and puts it right on the website. And now, over the past several years, the other way that has come into existence is the whole concept of using as accessibe does AI and although AI won't necessarily do everything that needs to be done, it will do most of what needs to be done, and maybe everything, depending on how complex the website is. But what do you think about the whole fact that now AI has entered into the accessibility world and people are using it?   Michael Bervell ** 42:02 Yeah, I think AI is interesting. And I think AI is a tool. I think it's it's a tool that's been developed, obviously, over a long history, right? Like the first artificial intelligent computers were in the 60s and 70s, being able to predict things, and of course, you heard of AlphaGo and computers that could pay chess and all these different things. So I think we'll definitely be surprised by what AI can do as a tool, right? And the question is, it will be, you know, the panacea, the thing to cure it all. Well, we all love for that to be the case. Who knows? You know, if it'll be AI, maybe functionally, AI could do that. But in terms of compute power, you know, it won't be able to until we have quantum computing or something right, in which case maybe it'll leapfrog this whole type of technology, and maybe web page will be obsolete in a decade, and then this whole idea of even needing to use AI to fix web pages will be replaced something else, like, like Be My Eyes, or something like that. That's even more advanced. But I think, as I see it, it's a tool that can be used to make it easier. And whether it's ease of use in terms of physical effort, ease of cost, in terms of bringing down costs to you know, to make a website compliant or a digital asset compliant, or just ease of understanding, right? Someone can explain to you what these really complicated rules mean, and so you can actually think about it from day one. So I think AI as a tool can lead to ease, which can then furthermore lead to hopefully more accessible products.   Michael Hingson ** 43:30 Well, the first time I ran into real AI was working with Ray Kurzweil back in the late 70s. He developed a machine that would read print out loud to blind people. But one of the things that was unique about them, well, vinyl, whether it's totally unique, but certainly was unique for blind people and for most of us, was the fact that the more the machine read, the better the reading got. It actually learned, and it learned how to to understand and analyze its confidence. And so it would get better the more that it read. Chris. The only problem with that is, back in those days, the software was on a cassette that went into a player that was part of a Data General, Nova two. And so it had to learn all over again every time you rebooted the machine and loaded the program. But that's okay. It learned based on on what you were reading, but it really dramatically got better the more you read. And I think that today, the reality is that a lot of people really need to. And I would say this is true of manual coders. And I know a few who have adopted this, they'll use accessibe to do what it can do, and then they, in turn, then go and address the issues that access a B's widget doesn't do. And for me, my. My learning that lesson actually goes back to the mid 1980s when I couldn't get a job, and I started my own company selling computer aided design systems to architects. And a lot of architects would come in and say, well, we can't buy your system. Yeah, great. It works, but if we use it, we'll develop our drawings in a fraction of the time, and we can't charge what we did, because now we're not spending as much time, and I said you're missing the whole point. You change your model. You're not charging for your time. You're charging for your expertise. You don't need to charge less. And what you do is then you go off and you get more projects, but you can also do more for each individual customer that you bring in. We had access to a system that was a one of the early PC based three dimensional solid metal modeling CAD systems, so people could come into our office, or anybody who bought the product could could invite their customers in, and they could do actual walk throughs and fly throughs of buildings. They had light sources or Windows to look out. You could even see what was going on outside. It wasn't renderings. You actually saw everything right on the computer. Those are so many things that revolutionize the industry. Now, of course, CAD is everywhere as it should be, and the reality is that that I think that any manual programmer who is programming a website could use accessibe to do a lot of the work, and then an accessibe also has some tools using a product called Access flow, where they can analyze and even tell you exactly what you need to do with the things that aren't accessible, and then you can do it, but you can use accessibe to do most of the stuff, and it continuously monitors it's a scalability issue, and you don't get any scalability with manual coding at all. So again, it's the whole, as you point out, the whole tool of artificial intelligence really can make a big difference in what we're doing to create accessibility on in the internet and in so many other ways as we go forward.   Michael Bervell ** 47:06 Yeah, and already we're running right up on time with a minute or two left. But I think even fundamentally, what you're what you're describing, back to first principles is, is, if we make it easier, either in time or in effort or in understanding, to make things accessible. Will people do it right? Whether you're using, you know, an access to be or whether you're using another tool, there's this question, How will it help? And will it help? And I think in evaluating any tool, and really I can apply in so many cases, that's the core question task.   Michael Hingson ** 47:37 Since we started late, it's up to you, but time wise, we're fine. It's up to you, but I realize that we want to end fairly soon here, but I think you're right, and that gets back to the whole education issue. People really need to learn and understand the value of accessibility, why it's a good thing, and it's kind of hard to argue with losing 20% of your business because your website's not accessible. And accessible, and the reputation that you gain by not doing it can go beyond that 20% when people tell their own friends about the issues they're facing. Yeah, exactly, exactly. But it goes the other way. You make it accessible, and you get all sorts of accolades. That's going to help too. But it is a conversation that we need to have, and it's part of the whole big conversation about disabilities. In general, we don't really see disabilities as much in the conversation. When we hear about people talking and discussing diversity, they talk about race, gender, sexual orientation, so on, but they don't talk about disabilities, and disabilities tend to be left out of the conversation for the most part, which is extremely unfortunate. Why do you think that is?   Michael Bervell ** 48:46 Yeah, I think, I think it comes down to, I'm not, I'm not sure why it is. I'm not sure. But I think even though I'm not sure why it is, I do know what I hope. And I think what I hope is for, you know, a world where every, every part of society reflects what it's made up of, right? So you look and it's representative of of all the constituents, people with disabilities, people of different genders and races and and so on and so forth, so, so I think that's what I hope for. I think it's difficult, right? It's difficult based on the systems that have been made people's biases and more to get there, but I do think, I do think that's ultimately the hope. But I   Michael Hingson ** 49:30 think that a lot of it comes down to fear people. Fear people with disabilities. I think that the whole fear factor, and even with race or gender or sexual orientation, so on, some of the comments, if you listen to them, all they're doing is promoting fear which which doesn't help at all. But in the case of disabilities, oh my gosh, I could become blind or paralyzed in a second, and that fear is something that we really don't tend to you. Do nearly as much about as we should. Now I know you and I earlier talked about fear, and the reality is that that we can learn to control fear. I would never tell people don't be afraid. No such thing as not being afraid, but you can certainly learn to control fear so that you can use it again as a very powerful tool to guide you and help you, and that's what the best aspects of fear are all about. I think, yeah,   Michael Bervell ** 50:26 I totally agree. I totally agree. Well, speaking of fear, I would be afraid of what might go I'm a president for Section G, which is one of the sections here, HBS, and we have to go select our Class Day speaker. So I'd be afraid if I, if I missed too much of the well, if they,   Michael Hingson ** 50:43 if they want to hire a speaker, I'm just saying I know Mike was, I was like, Man, I wish I had met you, like, back when you're doing our, our, like alumni and friend speakers. On the other hand, we can certainly talk about next year, and I would love to do that. Well, I want to really thank you for being here. I think we'll just have to have another discussion about all of this in the future. But I really appreciate you being here a lot and chatting very, very frequently, and you're going to go off and play drums later too, right? Oh, yeah,   Michael Bervell ** 51:11 it's a busy I'm in my, you know, Shirley retirement era, you know, yeah, right. Go back into, back into the workforce.   Michael Hingson ** 51:19 So, real quick, though, you wrote a book. What's it called?   Michael Bervell ** 51:23 It's called unlocking unicorns. I'll send you a copy of the book, and so you can put in the show notes and everything else. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 51:29 that would be great. And if people want to reach out to you, how do they do that? Yeah,   Michael Bervell ** 51:34 but just my name, Michael purvell, M, I, C, H, A, E, L, B, E, R, V, E, L, l.com, contact my website. Is there? My bio, and this podcast will be there eventually   Michael Hingson ** 51:46 as well it will, and you'll get all the info. Well, thanks very much, and I want to thank you all for listening. Really appreciate you listening to us today. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please email me at Michael, h, i, m, I, C, H, A, E, L, C, we spell our names the same. H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I b, e.com, or go to our podcast page, www dot Michael hingson, H, I N, G, s, o, n.com/podcast, and would love to to hear your thoughts. Love it. If you would give us a five star review wherever you're listening. If you know anyone else who ought to be a guest, please introduce us. We're always looking for it. And I would also say if anybody needs a speaker, it is what I've been doing ever since September 11, and I'm always looking for speaking opportunities. So please reach out and let's see if we can chat and and one of these days, maybe we'll get Michael to bring us up to Harvard we can go visit the coupe. But thanks so much for listening, everyone. Thanks once more for thanks. Once more Michael, for being here. Thanks.   Michael Hingson ** 52:52 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

What is your space strategy? Yes, space. As the cost to launch has plummeted and satellites have proliferated, we now interact with data from space every day, and as Alexander shared, “every company in the future will become a space company.” Alexander is the Managing Director of Seraphim Space Enterprise (SSE), the global insights and acceleration division of Seraphim Space, the world's leading specialist investor in SpaceTech with a portfolio of over 130 companies across 30 countries. They support businesses from inception to exit across their accelerator, venture fund, and listed growth fund. Their quarterly insights on SpaceTech innovation have become a must-read for corporations and governments to inform their space strategies. Today, we talk about magnetic levitation, how science fiction is now science fact, the similarities of gov tech to space tech, and what change agents in corporations can learn from these regulated industries.

The most important part of entrepreneurship? Imagination.  Nik sits down with Kelly Dill, an investor at Imaginary Ventures where imagination is the KEY to ideation. Kelly explains how new ideas become companies and companies then become their own organism. How should you approach new business ventures? How should you raise capital? Kelly explains it all. And, it's all about confidence during investor meetings: you've done the hard part. Now it's time to showcase your work and be proud of what you're doing.  Motion helps DTC brands ship more winning ads. Track your competitors, save ads to your swipe file and analyze your creatives with beautiful creative reporting.  Visit motionapp.com or watch a demo of Motion here Plus, find out how Nik and Kelly feel about SaaS investing—and where they think it's headed soon. Don't forget to check out Nik's helpful hacks here: nik.co/tiktokads nik.co/everydaydose Want more DTC advice? Check out the Limited Supply YouTube page for more insider tips.   Check out the Nik's DTC newsletter: https://bit.ly/3mOUJMJ   And if you're looking for an instant stream of on-demand DTC gold, check out the Limited Supply Slack Channel for Nik's most unfiltered, uncensored thoughts.   Follow Nik: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mrsharma

In today's rapidly evolving venture capital landscape, one of the most exciting developments is the rise of investors like Kate McAndrew. Kate, a visionary founder and leader, recently launched Baukunst, a $100M fund. Baukunst has attracted funding from top-tier investors with whom Kate and her co-founders had built long-term relationships.

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.In this episode, Sam Heshmati and Vince Timoney from Citizens Private Bank stop by to talk about all things venture banking and how the industry is recovering from the 2023 regional banking crisis.Sam and Vince, both of whom have extensive experience in the banking sector, share their insights on the challenges faced during this period, including the impact on startups and venture funds. They also discuss the significant changes in the banking industry since the crisis, such as the increased cost of capital, the fragmentation of fund banking services, and the shift in how banks serve emerging managers and venture capital firms.The conversation provides a detailed look at the current landscape of banking for the venture ecosystem and how Citizens Private Bank is positioning itself to help clients navigate these challenges.About Sam Heshmati:Sam Heshmati is an Executive Managing Director at Citizens Private Bank, heading the emerging VC and innovation practice. Previously, he co-founded and led programs serving the VC and tech community, cultivating and managing relationships with some of the nation's top emerging managers, accelerators and entrepreneurs at the former First Republic Bank. He has over 21 years of experience in the technology ecosystem, serving clients not only as a banker, but as trusted partner with the expertise needed to help navigate important decisions within this space. Over his career, he has worked with more than 1000 early-stage VC firms and several thousand venture-backed startups. Prior to joining First Republic Bank in 2012, he spent 10 years as a tech banker at Silicon Valley Bank and Square 1 Bank. He earned a bachelor's degree from San Jose State University.About Vincent Timoney:Vincent Timoney is a Senior Managing Director at Citizens Private Bank, serving the fund finance and innovation economy nationwide. He has more than 12 years of experience working with VCs in business development, sales, lending and relationship management roles within the venture capital and technology ecosystem.In this episode, we discuss:(01:34) The evolving importance of banking, especially after the events of 2023.(02:16) Banking Crisis of 2023 triggered by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank.(04:00) The impact of Silicon Valley Bank on the venture ecosystem and the rapid sequence of events leading to its downfall.(07:00) How the banking industry has changed post-crisis, focusing on client expectations and digital banking.(08:30) The increase in players in fund banking and the rise in cost of capital.(12:00) Sam and Vince explain their journey of joining Citizens Private Bank, focusing on safety, stability, and continuing their work in the sector.(18:00) Challenges faced by emerging managers, including capital call lines and banking needs.(22:12) The importance of a seamless digital experience.(28:16) Explanation of management company lines and their use by emerging managers.(31:00) Advice for emerging managers on managing financial challenges and understanding the economics of running a fund.(34:00) How technology and APIs are used to enhance banking services and integrate with third-party providers.(38:00) Importance of offering personalized banking experiences tailored to individual client needs.(40:00) Value-added services and why banks offer advisory support and strategic guidance.(45:10) The long-term commitment required to build a successful banking franchise in the venture ecosystem.I'd love to know what you took away from this conversation with Sam and Vince. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you'd like to be considered as a guest or have someone you'd like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Send us a textHey, welcome to another episode of Making Billions, I'm your host, Ryan Miller, and today I have my dear friend, Kaitlyn Doyle. Kaitlyn is the VP at $100 million venture fund called TechNexus. This firm raises capital from institutional investors and then works with them to develop their investment strategies that align with their internal mandates. Not only that, but she's also been a speaker at South by Southwest, while raising over $80 million throughout her career. So what does this mean? Well, this means that Kaitlyn understands not only how to raise, how to source and how to underwrite deals, but to do it in the way that you can win and win big.Subscribe on Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTOe79EXLDsROQ0z3YLnu1QQConnect with Ryan Miller:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rcmiller1/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makingbillionspodcast/Twitter: https://twitter.com/_MakingBillonsWebsite: https://making-billions.com/[THE GUEST]: Kaitlyn is the VP at $100 million venture fund called TechNexus.Support the showDISCLAIMER: The information in every podcast episode “episode” is provided for general informational purposes only and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction. By listening or viewing our episodes, you understand that no information contained in the episodes should be construed as legal or financial advice from the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal, financial, or tax counsel on any subject matter. No listener of the episodes should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in, or accessible through, the episodes without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer, finance, tax, or other licensed person in the recipient's state, country, or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction. No part of the show, its guests, host, content, or otherwise should be considered a solicitation for investment in any way. All views expressed in any way by guests are their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the show or its host(s). The host and/or its guests may own some of the assets discussed in this or other episodes, including compensation for advertisements, sponsorships, and/or endorsements. This show is for entertainment purposes only and should not be used as financial, tax, legal, or any advice whatsoever.

Outside of BTC's cypherpunk movement, the early days of crypto were more or less barren in terms of innovation. However, this presented a huge opportunity for visionaries and angel investors to either launch or back bold projects, recognizing the potential of crypto stretching far beyond than just payments. One of them was Konstantin Lomashuk, co-founder of cyber•Fund which was a key actor in bootstrapping the cybernetic economy. Apart from early investments in Ethereum, Polkadot, Cosmos, Solana and many others, Konstantin recognized the potential threats to the core ethos of decentralisation and also co-founded Lido DAO in order to stave off Ethereum's centralization risks.Topics covered in this episode:Konstantin's backgroundcyber·Fund & cybernetic economyEntrepreneurship vs. angel investingDelegating tasks and scaling businessesLido's origin storyLido DAO proposals and improvementsSolana vs. EthereumThe evolution of Ethereum's economyKonstantin's other areas of interestAI's risk of centralizationThe impact of AI on cryptoHow CyberFund invests in new narrativesEpisode links:Konstantin Lomashuk on Twittercyber·Fund on TwitterP2P orgSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain.

In this episode of Molecule to Market, you'll go inside the outsourcing space of the global drug development sector with Chris Garabedian, CEO at Xontogeny and Venture Fund Manager at Perceptive Advisors. Your host, Raman Sehgal, discusses the pharmaceutical and biotechnology supply chain with Chris, covering: How he utilized his pharma experience to become a CEO and revitalize a biotech company, positioning it for a $15bn market cap Why the biotech space had such a market downturn, and how the uptake in the industry will be data-driven Demystifying the role of a biotech CEO and understanding what it takes to drive successful drug development Why relying on outsourcing is critical for biotechs today The emerging, secondary-tier biotech clusters in the US... but why does Boston remain unrivalled? Chris Garabedian founded Xontogeny in June of 2016 to support multiple promising technologies from early development through clinical proof of concept. In 2017, Chris joined Perceptive Advisors to develop their Venture Fund strategy and is Portfolio Manager of the Perceptive Xontogeny Ventures Fund, which supports early-stage companies with Series A investments across biotech, medtech and healthtech. Chris has a broad base of experience and a track record of success over his decades-long experience in the biopharma industry. Chris served as the President and CEO of Sarepta Therapeutics from 2011 to 2015, overseeing the turnaround of a company that is now a commercial-stage leader in the genetic technology space. He also led Corporate Strategy for Celgene from 2007 to 2010 and served in several global commercial and corporate development leadership roles at Gilead from 1997 to 2005. He serves on the boards of several life sciences companies and speaks at industry conferences on a wide range of important issues. He is a member of the Corporate Relations Board for the Keck Graduate Institute. He has previously served on the Board of Directors of MassBio and is a Senior Advisor for the Boston Consulting Group. ----- Join Molecule to Market and ramarketing for an exclusive panel discussion series at this year's CPHI Milan - across 3 power-packed sessions, our industry experts will be sharing insights into driving brand growth with strategic marketing. Find out more and pre-register here ----- Please subscribe, tell your industry colleagues and join us in celebrating and promoting the value and importance of the global life science outsourcing space. We'd also appreciate a positive rating! Molecule to Market is sponsored and funded by ramarketing, an international marketing, design, digital and content agency helping companies differentiate, get noticed and grow in life sciences.

In the business world, some stories stand out not just for their success but for the bold decisions and risks that paved the way. Michael Marks, founding partner at Celesta Capital, is one such figure whose journey from Missouri to Silicon Valley is about the spirit of entrepreneurship and the transition from operator to investor. His career, marked by strategic moves and seizing opportunities, offers invaluable lessons for entrepreneurs at every stage. Celesta Capital has funded top-tier companies like Aurascape, Auradine, Recogni, and Agnikul.

Colosseum fuels Solana innovation!

You've heard me talk about Success North Dallas many times on this show, and we are always honored to have these amazing speakers. As often as possible, I like to get the speaker to go straight from the meeting to my studio so I can introduce him or her to my viewers. I was blown away by my next guest, Vip Vipperman, the vice president of Eagle Venture Fund.

This week's Espresso covers news from Tucán, Veikul, Andes STR, and more!Outline of this episode:[00:27] –Tucán secures $1M seed round[00:43] – Veikul raises $3M in seed round[00:58] – Andes STR raises $4M in a round led by Executive Venture Fund[01:12] – Overview of the Transformation of Logistics in Latin America with DeltaX[01:23] – Latamlist Roundup August 1st – August 15thResources & people mentioned:Startups: Tucán, Veikul, Andes STR, DeltaXVCs: Shefa, First Check Ventures, Executive Venture Fund

Jeff Ennenga Wildfire Resilience Director describes his job and focus on 375 million acres and how to prepare the communities. Listen in to see how the Venture Fund are engaged at local and state level.

The latest price moves and insights with Jennifer Sanasie.To get the show every day, follow the podcast here.CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie breaks down the latest movements in the TON ecosystem, with a focus on its new $40 million venture fund aimed at investing in consumer apps. Plus, the surge in its native token toncoin in the past year and how the venture fund could help Telegram achieve its goal of becoming an "everything app."-This content should not be construed or relied upon as investment advice. It is for entertainment and general information purposes.-This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “Markets Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and Melissa Montañez, and edited by Victor Chen. All original music by Doc Blust and Colin Mealey.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The latest price moves and insights with Jennifer Sanasie.To get the show every day, follow the podcast here.CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie breaks down the latest movements in the TON ecosystem, with a focus on its new $40 million venture fund aimed at investing in consumer apps. Plus, the surge in its native token toncoin in the past year and how the venture fund could help Telegram achieve its goal of becoming an "everything app."-This content should not be construed or relied upon as investment advice. It is for entertainment and general information purposes.-This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “Markets Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and Melissa Montañez, and edited by Victor Chen. All original music by Doc Blust and Colin Mealey.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Steve Grzanich has the business news of the day with the Wintrust Business Minute. Chicago has a new healthcare venture fund. It’s called Create Health Ventures and Crain’s reports it just closed its inaugural fund that’ll invest in early-stage business-to-business digital health companies developing tools for insurance companies and pharmaceutical firms. The fund has $21 […]

In this episode, Amir chats with Samir Kumar, Co-Founder and General Partner at Touring Capital, about platform shifts in technology and the role of AI in future advancements. Samir shares Touring Capital's investment philosophy, focusing on series B investments in software-centric companies. He discusses the competitive dynamics between startups and tech giants in the AI space, challenges and opportunities in building AI-driven business models, and the future impact of technologies like the metaverse and blockchain. Highlights: - 02:53 Platform Shifts in Technology - 06:22 AI and the Role of Incumbents - 10:30 Opportunities and Challenges for Startups - 18:34 Narrow Focus and Industry-Specific AI - 25:06 Outcome-Based Pricing and Monetization Guest: Samir Kumar is co-founder and General Partner at Touring Capital. Before co-founding Touring, Samir was a Managing Partner at M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund), where he led investment activities in horizontal/vertical AI, deep tech, and hardware-enabled software companies. Samir's notable investments include Applied Intuition, Psi Quantum, Wandelbots, Syntiant, D-Matrix, Regrow, and Netradyne. Samir previously held senior product and strategic business development roles at Qualcomm, Samsung, and Microsoft. He developed a strong passion for AI after delving deep into neural networks a decade ago; this ultimately paved the way for him to become a venture investor. Samir is a graduate of Cornell University. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samirkum/ ---- Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek. We would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

Join Brett for this exciting episode as he sits down with Wes Lyons of the Eagle Venture Fund. Eagle Venture Fund seeks to use venture capital to move the needle on real-world problems such as human trafficking in the U.S, Singapore and beyond as they currently work with 39 companies. Brett and Wes talk about Eagle Venture Fund, its goals since its conception in 2015, its current projects and so much more. Other topics in this episode include: Using capital as a magnet to draw people in and solve problems Pairing collective action with the power of capital How to use capital to build organizations that serve the most vulnerableBuilding ecosystems around venture capital Exit strategies for capital investmentCity Transformation Place-based vs Cause-based movements So join Brett and Wes as they share stories and vision of capital that truly transforms society. Connect with Wes - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wes-lyons-94602477/ Connect with Brett Johnson on social media: Facebook Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Visit brettjohnson.biz for articles, devotionals, and more.

Avik Ashar has been building or investing in businesses for the past 12 years. He is currently a Principal @ Artha Venture Fund, focused on early-stage investments (seed - series A) in India. He previously ran a single-family office for the Sutariya family, based in Bombay, investing across India & SEA and scaled Zilingo across 5 geographies, $100mn P&L responsibility with a team of 60, and raised $280mn for the business. He also founded a SaaS startup in the auto insurance space (exited). In this episode, we talk about - - How Artha prefers a "Company friendly" approach and not a "Founder friendly" approach as a VC - How family offices, angel investors, and VCs use different lenses to look at prospective investments - How Artha's term sheet is different from others - Portfolio construction approach at Artha & lots more Links: ⭐ Sponsored by Podcast10x - Podcasting agency for VCs - https://podcast10x.com Artha Venture Fund - https://artha.vc/ Avik Ashar on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/avik-ashar-70821b16

Send us a Text Message.Hey, welcome to another episode of Making Billions, I'm your host, Ryan Miller and today I have my dear friend Ron Levin. Ron is the managing partner of Alumni Ventures, a $1.3 billion venture fund that was recently ranked as the most active VC firm in the US. Ron has been an angel investor, unicorn founder and McKinsey consultant with degrees from Babson, College and Harvard. So what this means is that Ron is changing the game in the US by showing people that capitalism 2.0 is not only possible, it's crucial. And he's about to teach us all a masterclass on VC, entrepreneurship and current markets.Subscribe on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTOe79EXLDsROQ0z3YLnu1QQConnect with Ryan Miller:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rcmiller1/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makingbillionspodcast/Twitter: https://twitter.com/_MakingBillonsWebsite: https://making-billions.com/[THE GUEST]: Ron is the managing partner of Alumni Ventures, a $1.3 billion venture fund that was recently ranked as the most active VC firm in the US. Ron has been an angel investor, unicorn Everyday AI: Your daily guide to grown with Generative AICan't keep up with AI? We've got you. Everyday AI helps you keep up and get ahead.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the Show.DISCLAIMER: The information in every podcast episode “episode” is provided for general informational purposes only and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction. By listening or viewing our episodes, you understand that no information contained in the episodes should be construed as legal or financial advice from the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal, financial, or tax counsel on any subject matter. No listener of the episodes should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in, or accessible through, the episodes without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer, finance, tax, or other licensed person in the recipient's state, country, or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction. No part of the show, its guests, host, content, or otherwise should be considered a solicitation for investment in any way. All views expressed in any way by guests are their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the show or its host(s). The host and/or its guests may own some of the assets discussed in this or other episodes, including compensation for advertisements, sponsorships, and/or endorsements. This show is for entertainment purposes only and should not be used as financial, tax, legal, or any advice whatsoever.

Imagine moving across the world at 18, adapting to a new culture, and later becoming a major force in a thriving business sector. That's the incredible journey of Lokesh Sikaria, the founder and general partner of Moneta Ventures. From his humble beginnings in Assam, India, influenced by his father's entrepreneurial spirit, to his current mission of transforming Sacramento's funding landscape, Lokesh's story is one of resilience, inspiration, and vision. This episode offers an intimate look into his life, highlighting pivotal moments like his education at Don Bosco and an unforgettable meeting with Mother Teresa that shaped his worldview. As Lokesh recounts his transition from Delhi to Berkeley, he shares the challenges and triumphs of adjusting to life in the United States. His early professional experiences at Price-Waterhouse-Coopers in San Francisco paved the way for his future success in venture capital. With family support, especially his mother's insistence on staying connected to his roots, Lokesh navigated the complexities of a new culture while laying a solid foundation for his career. This chapter of his life provides listeners with valuable insights into the immigrant experience and the significance of perseverance. Dive into the heart of Sacramento's startup ecosystem with Lokesh as he discusses his vision for Moneta Ventures. Learn about Moneta's hands-on approach to mentorship and how they support small, private companies with strategic advice and funding. Lokesh highlights the success of Aumni, a software company that Moneta backed, and shares his optimism for the region's potential to become a hub for innovation. This compelling conversation showcases Lokesh's gratitude for his journey and his contributions to the community, as well as, the potential for our region to become an influence in tech for the country. To learn more about Moneta Ventures visit: https://www.moneta.vc/ For more information on what we provide at CAPTRUST visit www.captrust.com. You can reach John Lockwood via email at: john.lockwood@captrust.com You can contact me, Kelly Brothers, through the show at: bisifipodcast@gmail.com To reach me at CAPTRUST visit www.captrust.com/locations/sacramento-ca/ Episode Highlight Timestamps (00:42 - 02:33) Childhood in Assam Sparks Business Passion (16:46 - 18:08) Transitioning From US Work Experience (20:38 - 21:43) Transition From Sparta to Venture Fund (30:36 - 31:37) Successful Exit of Scaled Startup (33:51 - 35:08) Investor Compensation and Risk Alignment (35:08 - 38:44) Understanding Venture Capital Liquidity (42:32 - 43:37) Economic Potential of Sacramento (45:08 - 46:22) India and US Political Alignment Chapter Summaries (00:00) From India to Finance Lokesh Sikaria's early life in Assam, India, his diverse exposure to business, and his impactful experiences with mentors and Mother Teresa. (10:23) Journey From India to Entrepreneurship An 18-year-old immigrant from Delhi adjusts to life in the U.S., supported by family, and begins a career with Price-Waterhouse-Coopers. (21:55) Venture Capital in Sacramento Moneta Ventures provides funding, mentorship, and strategic advice to small, private companies in Sacramento, with a successful investment in Aumni. (37:59) Indian Business Success and US Synergy Venture capital and private equity investments require long-term commitment, Sacramento's potential for startup success, and the success of Indian American leaders in the US. (47:53) Grateful Founder in Folsom Lokesh Sikaria's decision to stay in Folsom has brought joy and success, making him a cherished figure in the community.

This episode of The Angel Next Door podcast is a special edition of Minutes with Marcia. In this episode, Marcia shares a detailed behind-the-scenes look into her journey of writing the upcoming book, "Do Good While Doing Well," slated for release in September 2024. Pre-order link here.The day this episode is releasing is June 27th, which also happens to be Marcia's birthday. She is sharing her journey since so many have been asking as the book is getting ready to make it's debut. In this quick episode, she candidly discusses her unexpected plunge into the world of writing. Despite her comfort zone being more in numbers and spreadsheets, Marcia was inspired by the feedback from her TEDx Charlotte speech in 2022 and decided to extend her impact by authoring a book.This episode, the first in a two-part series titled "Minutes with Marcia Book Part 1," provides a high-level overview of Marcia's journey from speech to manuscript. She gives us a look into her process, guided by AJ Harper's extensive workshop, and discusses how she developed the book's core message and structured her content. For anyone curious about the intersection of entrepreneurship, angel investing, and philanthropy, this episode is a must-listen. Marcia shares insights on making impactful investments accessible to more people, debunking the myth that angel investing is only for the rich and well-connected. Whether you're an aspiring author, a budding entrepreneur, or someone looking to make a real difference, this episode is packed with invaluable takeaways and inspiration. Sign up for Marcia's newsletter to receive tips and the latest on Angel Investing!Website: www.marciadawood.comLearn more about the documentary Show Her the Money: www.showherthemoneymovie.comAnd don't forget to follow us wherever you are!Apple Podcasts: https://pod.link/1586445642.appleSpotify: https://pod.link/1586445642.spotifyLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/angel-next-door-podcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theangelnextdoorpodcast/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@marciadawood

Thanks for listening to The Morning Five! As always, you can become a subscriber and support our work over at Substack. Subscriptions fuel this podcast and helps fund the dozens of hours we put into this podcast and our content each week. Use this link: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://wearweare.substack.com/subscribe ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thanks for listening, rating/subscribing Wear We Are on your favorite podcast platform, and following/liking The Center for Christianity and Public Life (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@ccpubliclife⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠). Michael's new book, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, is now available! You can order on Amazon, Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, or at your favorite local bookstore. Join the conversation and follow us on: Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@michaelwear⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@MichaelRWear⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tsfnetwork⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music by: King Sis #politics #faith #religion #religious #culture #news #prayer #Biden #WhiteHouse #executiveorder #Immigration #border #SouthAfrica #elections #courts #race #discrimination #affirmativeaction Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dive into the world of Istanbul's venture capital scene with Laton Venture's Görkem Türk. Together we explore essential topics like investment strategies prioritizing founding teams' quality, the evolving role of culture in startups, and future trends in gaming such as AI and socialization-focused experiences. Don't miss out on industry insights. Sign up for our newsletter! www.deconstructoroffun.com/subscribe --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/deconstructoroffun/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/deconstructoroffun/support

Today on Equity's startup-focused Wednesday show, we dug into the Multiverse-Searchlight deal that reminded us of the Wonderschool-Early Day transaction that we covered on the show a few weeks back.We also dug into the latest Guesty round, which was both large and interesting from a financial perspective, the Monad Labs transaction that led us to try and explain the difference between L1 and L2 blockchains, and Cyera's quick recent megaround. Put more simply, startup news is feeling very busy, and very high-dollar again, and that's a lot of fun for the show.To round things out, we also squeezed in a new venture capital fund targeting growth-rounds in Africa.That's it for us today, but join us on Friday for our roundtable news roundup!Equity is TechCrunch's flagship podcast and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and you can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.For the full interview transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, read on, or check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast. Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

This week we had Mary Ann, Becca, and Alex aboard. Here's what the crew got into:Deals of the Week: Mary Ann wanted to talk about Onyx, a neobank aimed at wealthy early-to-middle career adults. It's pivoting to B2B and is not, despite what the Internet said, dead. Alex wanted to discuss Montauk Climate, a climate incubator set up by the former co-founder of Casper and the recent Marc Lore/Wonder deal. The climate isn't doing well, in case you've missed the news. So, projects like this are welcome. And Becca brought Ethos Fund to the table, allowing us to discuss cross-border investing.The upcoming Saudi AI push: What has lots of capital and is ready to pour it into AI investments? Sure, your local venture scene but also the Saudi Arabian government. Notable venture funds have been flying to the Middle Eastern state to raise capital, but perhaps in the future the capital will come for them.How some VCs are holding back an IPO rush: A recent Becca investigation unearthed an interesting finding, namely that it may not be the fault of late-stage founders that their companies are not going public. Their backers might actually be the ones holding the door closed.Oh, and Reddit started trading during our recording slot, and it's doing well!We are back Monday with more! Chat then!For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity's Simplecast website.Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders and more! Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

In our latest episode of Web3 Unpacked, Rich Pasqua of @mvmtmedia speaks with Clay Robbins, Co-Founder of @Colosseum, an organization focused on attracting, accelerating, and investing in the next wave of talented founders in the Solana ecosystem.ABOUT COLSSEUMColosseum is an organization that integrates three pillars: Hackathon, Accelerator, and Venture Fund.Colosseum runs online hackathons for the Solana Foundation and the broader ecosystem. We believe these competitions are the best mechanism for attracting and discovering the most talented crypto builders globally. Our five week hackathon provides founding teams a level playing field to showcase their potential to build crypto startups that will change the world.Our accelerator is a five-week, online program designed for hackathon winners to become embedded in the Solana ecosystem, join an elite founder community, and receive 1:1 mentorship in jumpstarting their crypto projects.Founding teams accepted into the accelerator will receive an upfront investment of $250,000 from Colosseum. The accelerator program culminates with a private Demo Day where founders will pitch their products to top VCs.Website:  https://www.colosseum.orgLEARN MORE ABOUT MVMThttps://linktr.ee/mvmt.mediahttps://arctai.com

This week's featured guest is Gavin Myers, Managing Partner at Prudence, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in technology companies in the real estate sector. We dig into Gavin's background and transition to proptech, as well as Prudence's investment strategy of backing differentiated and defensible companies. Gavin shares the importance of understanding the sector and the people involved, as well as the challenges of finding talent in proptech—a topic I'm passionate about (collectively, we as an industry need to do more to attract high-caliber talent).Gavin also provides insights into Prudence's new fund and their focus on AI and construction tech. This is Prudence's third fund at $80 million, bringing their total AUM to $230 million. News of the fund is linked down below.More about Gavin and PrudencePrudence is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in technology companies leading the global transformation of the real estate sector. Prudence is an early investor in companies such as Casafari, Compass (COMP), CREXi, Evernest, Hemlane, Maxwell, Propify, Salus, Sundae, and VendorPM. Gavin and his team are investing across Proptech 2.0 – software innovation driving data capabilities to power autonomous business processes in real estate. Gavin Myers is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Prudence. He currently serves on the Board of Directors at AI Clearing, Casafari, Morty, VendorPM and CREXi (observer). Before co-founding Prudence in 2009, Gavin worked at Sun Capital Partners, focused on middle market private equity, as well as Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs. He received a BA in Political Science from Yale University and an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School.  Connect with Gavin on LinkedInFollow Prudence on TwitterCheck out PrudenceNews: Prudence Closes Its $80mm Fund III To Invest In Technology Companies Transforming The Built World

Are you ready to dive into the world of entrepreneurship and venture capital with an innovative twist? In this episode of The Angel Next Door Podcast, host Marcia Dawood chats with the vibrant Laurel Mintz, the Founder and General Partner of Fabric VC. Laurel's journey from a background in law and marketing to becoming a successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist is a captivating testament to her determination and forward-thinking mindset. Her unique perspective and passion for supporting diversity in venture funding sets the stage for an inspiring and informative conversation that sheds light on the power of women in finance and the future of investment.In this engaging episode, Laurel Mintz shares her personal investor journey and the pivotal moment that led her to start a venture capital firm. She discusses the origins of Fabric VC and the mission behind it, emphasizing the importance of weaving together diverse founders with funding. With a commitment to supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs, Laurel discusses the fabric thread count, a second layer of diligence that focuses on companies needing support from a marketing perspective. Her insightful approach to investing and dedication to empowering women in the financial landscape make this a must-listen episode for anyone interested in the intersection of entrepreneurship, diversity, and venture funding. To get the latest from Laurel Mintz, you can follow her below!LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurel-mintz/https://www.fabricvc.com/ Sign up for Marcia's newsletter to receive tips and the latest on Angel Investing!Website: www.marciadawood.com And don't forget to follow us wherever you are!Apple Podcasts: https://pod.link/1586445642.appleSpotify: https://pod.link/1586445642.spotifyLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/angel-next-door-podcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theangelnextdoorpodcast/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@marciadawood

LvlUp is a multi-stage venture ecosystem and direct investment fund focusing on mature seed with a bottoms up approach to investing. In this episode, Adam Torres and Brandon Maier, General Partner at LvlUp Ventures, discuss the LvlUp approach along with its 800+ venture scout community which runs deal flow.Follow Adam on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/askadamtorres/ for up to date information on book releases and tour schedule.Apply to be a guest on our podcast:https://missionmatters.lpages.co/podcastguest/Visit our website:https://missionmatters.com/Support the showMore FREE content from Mission Matters here: https://linktr.ee/missionmattersmedia

LvlUp is a multi-stage venture ecosystem and direct investment fund focusing on mature seed with a bottoms up approach to investing. In this episode, Adam Torres and Brandon Maier, General Partner at LvlUp Ventures, discuss the LvlUp approach along with its 800+ venture scout community which runs deal flow.Follow Adam on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/askadamtorres/ for up to date information on book releases and tour schedule.Apply to be a guest on our podcast:https://missionmatters.lpages.co/podcastguest/Visit our website:https://missionmatters.com/More FREE content from Mission Matters here: https://linktr.ee/missionmattersmedia

On this episode of “B The Way Forward,” host Brenda Darden Wilkerson takes listeners through a unique and mission-driven type of venture capitalism. Our guest Sunita Grote leads UNICEF's Venture Fund which provides seed funding to early-stage ventures in emerging markets. Through her work at UNICEF, Sunita builds a portfolio of emerging technologies that help children around the world. Brenda and Sunita talk about what types of technologies the Venture Fund is investing in from AI and machine learning to blockchain, cryptocurrency and drones. Sunita shows us how these investments drive impact for example: Education solutions that make it easier for children to consume math; A medical records platform that has helped boost child vaccination rates by over 8%; And even blockchain cash and voucher systems that improve the speed and transparency which cash assistance is delivered to families in need. They also talk about the importance of changing power dynamics by being thoughtful about which solutions are selected and investing in technology founded by women. Together, Brenda and Sunita dive into the importance of mission-driven venture funding and what we can look forward to from Sunita and UNICEF in the future.  “How we do things when it comes to technology and innovation, to me, is as important as the ‘what' we do. It's not really okay to compromise on the ‘how' for the sake of the next big technology solution. That's not really going to get us to changing some of those fundamental imbalances that we're seeing and those injustices that we're seeing.” To find out more about UNICEF's Office of Innovation and their work check out... LinkedIn - /unicef-innovation X - @UNICEFinnovate Instagram - @unicefinnovate --- At AnitaB.org, we envision a future where the people who imagine and build technology mirror the people and societies for whom they build it. Find out more about how we support women, non-binary individuals, and other underrepresented groups in computing, as well as the organizations that employ them and the academic institutions training the next generations. --- Connect with AnitaB.org Instagram - @anitab_org Facebook - /anitab.0rg LinkedIn - /anitab-org On the web - anitab.org  --- Our guests contribute to this podcast in their personal capacity. The views expressed in this interview are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology or its employees (“AnitaB.org”). AnitaB.org is not responsible for and does not verify the accuracy of the information provided in the podcast series. The primary purpose of this podcast is to educate and inform. This podcast series does not constitute legal or other professional advice or services. --- B The Way Forward Is… Produced by Dominique Ferrari and Paige Hymson Sound design and editing by Neil Innes and Ryan Hammond  Mixing and mastering by Julian Kwasneski  Associate Producer is Faith Krogulecki Executive Produced by Dominique Ferrari, Stacey Book, and Avi Glijansky for Riveter Studios and Frequency Machine  Executive Produced by Brenda Darden Wilkerson for AnitaB.org Podcast Marketing from Lauren Passell and Arielle Nissenblatt with Riveter Studios and Tink Media in partnership with Carolyn Schneller and Coley Bouschet at AnitaB.org Photo of Brenda Darden Wilkerson by Mandisa Media Productions For more ways to be the way forward, visit AnitaB.org

To get the latest from Christina Tamer, you can follow her below!LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinatamer/VentureWell - https://venturewell.org/ Sign up for Marcia's newsletter to receive tips and the latest on Angel Investing!Website: www.marciadawood.com And don't forget to follow us wherever you are!Apple Podcasts: https://pod.link/1586445642.appleSpotify: https://pod.link/1586445642.spotifyLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/angel-next-door-podcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theangelnextdoorpodcast/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@marciadawood

Ryan Akkina is a member of the Global Investment Team at the MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCo), which is responsible for managing MIT's endowment and pension plans. Ryan has invested in the likes of Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, a16z, Greenoaks and Initialized to name a few. Ryan also leads many of MITIMCo's direct co-investments including most notably into Coupang and Rippling. Prior to joining MITIMCo, Ryan was a consultant at McKinsey & Company. In Today's Episode with Ryan Akkina We Discuss: 1. From Engineer to LP with MIT: How did Ryan make his way into the world of fund investing as an LP with MIT? Why did he turn down the chance to be a VC early in his career? What does Ryan know now that he wishes he had known when he started at MIT? 2. The Manager Evaluation Process for MIT: What does Ryan look for most when investing in new managers? How important is track record when evaluating a new manager? What is the biggest mistake Ryan has made in picking a manager? What did he not see that he wish he had seen? How did that change his process? 3. How MIT Builds Their Portfolio: How does MIT construct their portfolio from private to public to everything in between? What are the three different types of check sizes that MIT writes when investing in new managers? What are the most common reasons why MIT will not re-up with a manager? What are the single biggest reasons why great managers turn bad? 4. MIT: The Direct Investor: Why does MIT see so much opportunity in direct investing? How does MIT approach the direct investing process? How do they approach underwriting themselves vs working with their managers in the process? How do MIT think about the right number of direct deals to make up their portfolio? How do they approach check sizing on a per-company direct investment? What has been Ryan's biggest direct investing mistake? How did that change his approach and mindset? 5. LP Markets Today and Where We Go From Here: Are LPs open for business today? What type of firms will not struggle? Which will? How does Ryan view liquidity windows today? When will M&A and IPO markets open? What would Ryan most like to change about the world of LPs? Why does Ryan believe the LP incentive structure in terms of compensation is broken?

This Week in Startups is brought to you by… Squarespace. Turn your idea into a new website! Go to Squarespace.com/TWIST for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Northwest Registered Agent. When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit http://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist to get a 60% discount on your next LLC. LinkedIn Jobs. A business is only as strong as its people, and every hire matters. Go to LinkedIn.com/TWIST to post your first job for free. Terms and conditions apply. * Today's show: David Weisburd hosts Elizabeth Yin, Zach Coelius, and Jason Calacanis to discuss trends in venture capital, including the growth of fund sizes (2:32), the resurgence of the Bay Area (33:42), the decrease in capital efficiency (51:12), the rise in unicorn companies but lack of liquidity (45:11), and top recent investments (57:27)! * Timestamps: (0:00) David Weisburd hosts Elizabeth Yin, Zach Coelius, and Jason Calacanis to dive into the state of venture funds (2:32) Venture funds are growing in size despite the slow market (10:37) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://Squarespace.com/twist (11:43) Exploring the performance: smaller funds vs. larger funds (28:56) Northwest Registered Agent - Get a 60% discount on your next LLC at http://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist (29:49) Hustle Fund's quantitative approach to evaluating startups (33:42) Is the Bay Area officially back? (43:51) LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job for free at https://linkedin.com/twist (45:11) Number of unicorns has increased but liquidity has decreased (51:12) The decline in capital efficiency over the past decade (57:27) Rapid-fire segment on top recent investments * LINKS: https://www.wsj.com/articles/pro-take-why-venture-fund-sizes-rose-despite-the-slow-market-fd4c4677 https://www.cowboy.vc/news/welcome-back-to-the-unicorn-club-10-years-later * Thanks to our partners: (10:37) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://Squarespace.com/twist (28:56) Northwest Registered Agent - Get a 60% discount on your next LLC at http://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist (43:51) LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job for free at https://linkedin.com/twist * Follow Elizabeth X: https://twitter.com/dunkhippo33 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethyin/ Check out: https://hustlefund.vc Check out: https://letsgo.hustlefund.vc/raise-millions Check out: Bruinhealth.com Check out: Goafterwork.com * Follow Zach X:  https://twitter.com/zachcoelius LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachcoelius/ Check out: https://coelius.vc/ Check out: Echomark.com Check out: Findbugzero.com * Follow David X:  https://twitter.com/DWeisburd LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dweisburd/ Check out: https://10xcapital.com/ * Follow Jason: X: ⁠https://twitter.com/jason⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jason⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis Check out: Podcast.ai Check out: Zestapp.co Check out: getriver.io * Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland * Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis * Follow TWiST: Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups * Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast * Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: ⁠https://rb.gy/v19fcp⁠

“There are people who are working for these companies that are applying these concepts in their work – what if we brought them into the classroom virtually so that they can hear it from the horse's mouth?”Links mentioned:Follow Sabari on LinkedIn

We are excited to sit down with Victor Guwein, founder and managing partner at M25. Victor started his career as a founder of a scooter company, Scooter Versity. At 23, Victor founded M25 to invest solely in the Midwest.  Fast forward 8 years, and M25 has invested in over 130 companies and is now investing out of its third fund. Victor discusses why the Midwest is ripe for disruption, the M25 DNA,  valuations shifting with market dynamics, and how to win at the pre-seed / seed stage.Episode Chapters:Starting a Scooter Company - 1:20Starting a Venture Fund (@ 23) - 3:06Building a Track Record - 7:48 How VCs make Money - 10:32The M25 Sourcing DNA - 14:10Objectivity with Decision Making - 16:50The Importance of Entry Valuations - 20:00Interest Rates Impact on Valuations - 24:08Coastal Investors moving Central - 27:32Advice to Emerging Managers - 30:11Ending Questions - 31:45As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

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

Miles Cook, a partner in our Atlanta office, has had many leadership roles since joining in 1986 including helping establish and later becoming head of the Atlanta office. In addition to serving our clients, he sits as Chairman of the Investment Committee for Bain's Future Back Ventures, our alumni venture fund that offers financial and non-financial support to Bainies who've started businesses. Listen as Miles shares his remarkable Bain journey spanning from the late 80s to the present and how the firm is supporting our alumni community through Future Back Ventures.

In this episode, I talk with Hina Dixit, Partner at M12 - Microsoft's Venture Fund, about the intersection of artificial intelligence, startups, and venture capital. Hina, with her extensive background in software engineering and leadership roles at Apple and Samsung Next, provides valuable insights into the AI landscape, infrastructure, and gaming startups. Join us as we explore the world of AI investments, industry trends, and the future of technology from the perspective of a seasoned venture capitalist. Invest in AI Box: https://republic.com/ai-box Get on the AI Box Waitlist: ⁠⁠https://AIBox.ai/⁠⁠ Facebook Community: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/739308654562189 Follow me on X: ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/jaeden_ai⁠⁠

Rock Feilding-Mellen had a unique childhood growing up. As the son of Amanda Feilding, the Founder of Beckley Foundation and known as the “Queen of Psychedelics”, psychedelic discussion and exploration was a normal part of family life. Rock is now the Co-Founder of Beckley Waves, the venture arm of the broader Beckley ecosystem that includes the Beckley Foundation, Beckley Retreats and Beckley PsyTech. During this episode, we talk about growing up with Amanda Feilding, Rock's career into politics and how psilocybin mushrooms became his first glimmer of hope after a tragedy struck during his time in office.  This is a powerful episode about grace, service and hope. ❤️   Don't forget to subscribe, share and rate this podcast!    Beckley Waves and Beckley Foundation Websites: https://www.beckleywaves.com/ https://www.beckleyfoundation.org/   Enjoying Trip On This? Donations Welcome https://linktr.ee/lifewithkatwalsh Check out the new items in the TRIP ON THIS Shop!   https://www.etsy.com/shop/TripOnThisPod Social Media & Website: Instagram: http://instagram.com/lifewithkatwalsh TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@lifewithkatwalsh Twitter: http://twitter.com/lifewithkatwals Facebook: http://facebook.com/triponthispod  Trip On This Website: http://triponthispodcast.com Kat's Website: http://lifewithkatwalsh.com

Eric Jorgenson is a writer, builder, and investor. In 2020, Eric released the "Almanack of Naval Ravikant," a bestseller with over a million copies sold. This conversation discusses the "The Anthology of Balaji", Eric's long awaited followup book (released today). The Anthology distills the best ideas from futurist Balaji Srinivasan into three main sections, Technology, Truth, and Building the Future. Our discussion covers:* How to be "truth-literate"* The most exciting opportunities for technological progress* The impact Eric hopes this book will have on the world* Challenges with modern media business models* What we can all learn from Balaji* And much moreEric Jorgenson is a GP at Rolling Fun, an early-stage investment fund. In addition to writing books and investing in companies, Eric is on a quest to create the perfect sandwich.Note from Louis: I could not put this book down. It was phenomenal. Please read it. Read Eric's Books:→ Read The Anthology of Balaji: https://balajianthology.com/→ Read The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: https://www.navalmanack.com/Connect With Eric:→ Eric's Podcast: https://www.ejorgenson.com/podcast→ Eric on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EricJorgenson→ Eric's Venture Fund: https://www.rolling.fun/Learn More About Balaji:→ Balaji on Twitter: https://twitter.com/balajis→ The Network State: https://thenetworkstate.com/Additional Resources Mentioned:→ Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages by Carlota Perez: https://www.amazon.com/Technological-Revolutions-Financial-Capital-Dynamics/dp/1843763311→ The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age: https://www.amazon.com/Sovereign-Individual-James-Dale-Davidson-ebook/dp/B00AK9IXXM This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit louisshulman.substack.com

After 12 years as an operator (Bonobos, TellApart, Floored, CBRE), Dave is now a full-time investor with Zigg, a global investment organization with a singular mission: to accelerate the combination of real estate and technology, improving our collective quality of life, work, and community. On this episode, Brandon and Dave discuss:How Zigg sources dealsThe innovation of Real Estate TechnologyHow Zigg approaches portfolio constructionWhat needs to change in order for the industry to mass-adopt technological advancementsLinks:Zigg CapitalDave on LinkedIn & TwitterHello@Ziggcap.comJuniper SquareBrandon on LinkedInTopics:(00:00:00) Intro(00:01:27) Dave's background and Zigg Capital(00:04:26) - What are some of the big differentiators of the different chapters of your career?(00:08:30) What was your experience transitioning into entrepreneurship and becoming an operator?(00:12:17) Zigg Capital(00:18:22) How do you source deals?(00:20:05) Where do you think we are in the innovation of real estate technology?(00:23:03) Where are you seeing the highest level of technology adoption?(00:24:50) Are there niches where you hope the flywheel will start picking up?(00:27:42) How would you describe your approach to portfolio construction?(00:38:14) Where do you think capital will come from for those investing in real estate?(00:41:18) Why would a company select Zigg for capital?(00:47:42) What's your take on AI and where we will be in the next decade from an innovation perspective?(00:51:32) What must change in order for the industry to achieve the Cambrian explosion?

Sponsor Spotlight guest: Alumni Ventures' CEO Mike Collins  Welcome to the Smart Venture Podcast's sponsor spotlight, where we take a moment to highlight the companies making our show possible. We're thrilled to feature Alumni Ventures.  Alumni Ventures, offers individual investors access to venture investing through its diversified, professional-grade venture portfolios. We're excited to share more about what they do and how they're making a difference. So sit back, relax, and let's dive into Alumni Venture's sponsor spotlight.  _________________________________________________________________  How to invest in startups as individual investors? I get this question, A LOT. So I brought one of the experts to join me to talk about this. Mike Collins is the CEO of Alumni Ventures, America's Largest Venture Capital Firm for Individual Investors. Smart Venture Podcast's sponsor, Alumni Ventures, offers individual investors access to venture investing through its diversified, professional-grade venture portfolios. The company's funds have consistently outperformed public market equivalents, with over $1.1 billion raised and invested in over eleven hundred portfolio companies. They have a dedicated team of fifty full-time venture investors and were the #1 most active venture firm in the US in 2022 and #3 globally according to Pitchbook. Investing in venture capital can help reduce overall portfolio risk and increase the likelihood of stronger returns. To learn more, visit av.vc/grace and schedule a call. Investors must be accredited. Please note that all financial investments involve risk, past performance does not guarantee future results, and it is important to conduct your own research and seek professional advice before making any investment decisions. Check out their service: av.vc/grace ===================== YouTube: @GraceGongCEO Newsletter: @SmartVenture LinkedIn: @GraceGong TikTok: @GraceGongCEO IG: @GraceGongCEO Twitter: @GraceGongGG =====================   Join the SVP fam with your host Grace Gong. In each episode, we are going to have conversations with some of the top investors, superstar founders, as well as well-known tech executives in silicon valley. We will have a coffee chat with them to learn their ways of thinking and actionable tips on how to build or invest in a successful company.

Michael Jones is the founder of studio and venture fund Science Inc., where he helps founders scale highly profitable and successful businesses. Mike's portfolio includes Liquid Death, Dollar Shave Club, Myspace, DogVacay, Goodreads, and Maker Studios, to name a few. Prior to Science, Mike served as the CEO of Myspace, and his company, Userplane, was acquired by AOL. His experience and expertise in both large and small companies focuses on strategy, growth, and operational efficiency, and has resulted in over $2B in exits.    You can learn more about:  How do we build the next big consumer brand?  How to create and manage a successful venture capital portfolio?  How to invest in the next Liquid Death and Dollar Shave Club?  ===================== YouTube: @GraceGongCEO Newsletter: @SmartVenture LinkedIn: @GraceGong TikTok: @GraceGongCEO IG: @GraceGongCEO Twitter: @GraceGongGG =====================   Join the SVP fam with your host Grace Gong. In each episode, we are going to have conversations with some of the top investors, superstar founders, as well as well-known tech executives in silicon valley. We will have a coffee chat with them to learn their ways of thinking and actionable tips on how to build or invest in a successful company.