Releasing The Venture Unlocked Podcast

I’m excited to announce the imminent release of Venture Unlocked, the first podcast dedicated solely to helping emerging venture investors launch, operate, and scale successful venture capital firms. The trailer embedded here provides a bit of background on the podcast —- if you like what you hear please forward this email to your friends and colleagues and encourage them to sign-up for the Venture Unlocked podcast on substack.On Tuesday September 29th, we are thrilled to release the first episode of Venture Unlocked featuring Elizabeth Yin of the Hustle Fund, who transparently spoke about her journey in raising fund 1 (and the # of LP’s they spoke to!), how they work together as a partnership, and the system Hustle Fund uses to add value to entrepreneurs. Until now, mentorship in launching and building a venture firm has only been available in small doses. Our objective is to level the playing field by unlocking the best practices of building a great firm and driving better and more diverse capital to founders. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:14

Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund - Venture Unlocked 001

Listen now | Elizabeth Yin is Co-Founder & General Partner at Hustle Fund, a pre-seed focused firm based in the Bay Area. Appropriately named, Elizabeth and her team truly epitomize the word hustle. She and her co-founder Eric raised $11.5MM Hustle Fund I in the fall of 2018 and more recently started investing out of a larger Fund II. The firm has a unique investment model that starts by investing $25K in each startups, and then by working closely with their entrepreneurs looks to upsize their commitments into select portfolio companies. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:14

Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures - Venture Unlocked 002

Listen now (36 min) | Charles Hudson is the Managing Partner and Founder at Precursor Ventures, one of the first and most active pre-seed focused venture firms in the world. Precursor seeks to invest in a company’s first round of institutional investment and focuses on investments in B2B software applications, B2C software and services, and connected hardware. Prior to founding Precursor Ventures, he spent 5 years as a Partner at Uncork Capital (formerly known as SoftTech VC). Charles was also the Co­Founder and CEO of Bionic Panda Games, a mobile games startup. Prior to this he held Business Development roles for Serious Business (acquired by Zynga), Gaia Interactive, and Google. Prior to joining Google, Charles was a Product Manager for IronPort Systems, and he worked at In-Q-Tel, the venture capital fund backed by the Central Intelligence Agency. Charles holds a BA and an MBA from Stanford University. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:14

Roger Ehrenberg of IA Ventures on the craft of building a top-decile firm - Venture Unlocked 003

Listen now (36 min) | Follow me on Twitter @Samirkaji to get my ongoing and frequent updates on the early stage venture landscape Roger Ehrenberg is the founder and Managing Partner of IA Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in New York City. In this episode, Roger gives a master class on all aspects of starting and building a venture firm. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:14

Jodi Sherman Jahic of Aligned Partners on why alignment with partners, LPs, and companies is powerful - Venture Unlocked 004

Listen now (34 min) | Jodi Sherman Jahic is a managing partner of Aligned Partners, a Silicon Valley-based venture fund investing in early-stage, enterprise technology companies that are have a lean toward capital efficiency. Jodi has nearly 20 years of venture experience and started Aligned Partners in 2011 with her co-founder Susan Mason. A meticulous designer of market strategies and a fierce ally of entrepreneurial founders, Jodi is recognized for her thought leadership in go-to-market strategies. Aligned has raised a total of $125 million across three funds. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:14

Jon Sakoda of Decibel on building your fund with founders by your side - Venture Unlocked 005

Listen now (39 min) | Jon Sakoda is the Founding Partner at Decibel, a venture firm that was created in partnership with Cisco (but independent in nature) in 2018 to invest in early-stage companies. Hear how Jon, who describes himself as a “recovering entrepreneur,” started his first company, Imlogic, Inc. which was eventually acquired by Symantec, and then joined New Enterprise Associates (NEA) in 2006 where he served as a partner for 12 years. During his time at NEA, NEA clearly established itself as the largest venture firm in the world and had raised a $2.5B fund well before the current mega-fund boom. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:14

Ted Maidenberg of Tribe Capital - Venture Unlocked 006

Listen now (39 min) | On this episode, we speak with Ted Maidenberg, co-founding partner of Tribe Capital, which he launched with his partners Arjun Sethi and Jonathan Hsu. I’m especially excited to bring this episode to you as Ted draws from experiences working within a Corporate VC (Time Warner), a traditional VC (USVP), and now has co-founded two firms known for their innovative approaches to investing —- Social Capital in 2011 with Chamath Palihapitiya and Mamoon Hamid, and most recently Tribe. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:14

Sahil Lavingia's learnings as a VC backed founder and running a Rolling Fund - Venture Unlocked 007

Listen now (40 min) | This episode is a fun one as I had the pleasure to interview Sahil Lavingia, founder of Gumroad, an online platform that allows creators to sell directly to their consumers. The company has facilitated the sale of $356 million in products since its launch in 2011 and now helps over 70,000 creators. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:14

Leo Polovets of Susa Ventures - Venture Unlocked 008

Listen now (38 min) | Leo Polovets is one of the Founding Partners of Susa Ventures, which launched in 2012. Over the last 8 years, Susa has established itself as one of the premier seed funds in the world, and have made more than 80 investments in companies like Robinhood, Flexport, Andela, and Expanse (recently purchased by Palo Alto Networks for $800MM). Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Brendan Wallace of Fifth Wall on building a different type of venture firm - Venture Unlocked 009

Listen now (48 min) | In just a few short years, Fifth Wall Ventures, which focuses on investing in companies in the “built world” economy, has quickly become one of LA’s largest venture firms with over $1.2B in committed LP capital. I met Co-Founder Brendan Wallace when he and Brad Greiwe started Fifth Wall nearly five years ago and the trajectory of the firm has been nothing short of astounding. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Greg Sands of Costanoa Ventures on building a boutique Venture Firm, firm culture, and portfolio theory - Venture Unlocked 010

Listen now (43 min) | In this episode, we speak to industry veteran Greg Sands, who founded Costanoa Ventures after spending 13 years at Sutter Hill Ventures. Prior to Sutter Hill, Greg serves as the first product manager of Netscape (where he wrote the initial product plan and coined the name “Netscape”). Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Soraya Darabi of TMV on building and scaling a seed stage firm, Venture Unlocked 011

Listen now (38 min) | In this episode, we speak with Soraya Darabi, Co-Founder and General Partner of TMV. The firm primarily focuses on investing at the seed stage through Series A and is active in areas such as the future of work, education tech, logistics and mobility, and sustainable solutions. While not specifically diversity-focused, the firm’s portfolio is nearly 2/3rd comprised of female or minority-led companies. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Nate Williams of UNION Labs on the studio model & investing in deep tech, Venture Unlocked 012

Listen now (43 min) | In this episode, we speak with Nate Williams, Co-founder and Managing Partner at UNION Labs. Nate Co-founded UNION Labs in 2018 with his partner, Chris Kim while an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at Kleiner Perkins. Nate is a seasoned Operator and angel investor including August Home, where he served as Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Business. Following their acquisition in 2017, he went on to join KPCB as EIR where he spent time helping entrepreneurs and sourcing investments including Proxy. While EIR, Nate formed a thesis on the opportunity in verticalized IoT which he published in TechCrunch and began to see a lane for a new type of fund. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Chris Douvos of Ahoy Capital on the art of investing in Emerging VC funds, Venture Unlocked 013

Listen now (47 min) | For daily thoughts on the venture landcape, follow me @samirkaji on Twitter. Chris Douvos is the Founder of Ahoy Capital, a boutique Fund of Funds that focuses primarily on allocating into early-stage venture capital funds, while selectively co-investing directly into companies. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Deena Shakir of Lux Capital on firm culture, solving the diversity issue, and how portfolio management is a team sport - Venture Unlocked 014

Deena Shakir is a General Partner at Lux Capital, a firm founded in 2000 and has since raised $2.5 billion. Lux invests in emerging science and deep technology startups such as Auris Health, Cerulean, Zoox, and Bright Machines. Deena graduated from Harvard undergrad and began her career as a presidential management fellow at the US Department of State, where she built partnerships with tech companies and helped launch President Obama’s global entrepreneurship summit in 2010. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Marlon Nichols of MaC Ventures on VC firm mergers, funding diversity, and his relationship with LP's - Venture Unlocked 015

I’d like to share with you my conversation with Marlon Nichols, Managing General Partner at Mac Ventures. After almost twenty years building careers in tech and then in consulting with clients such as Blackstone Group, Marlon earned his MBA from Cornell and then transitioned into venture with Intel Capital. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Avidan Ross of Root VC on investing in deep tech, taking an heavy approach on reserves, and building LP relationships - Venture Unlocked 016

Listen now (45 min) | Happy New Year! I’m thrilled to announce that Avidan Ross is our first guest of 2021 Avidan is the Founder and managing partner of Root Ventures and one of the most thoughtful newer seed stage managers in the market. Like many that have appeared on the show, Avidan took a non-traditional path into venture. After graduating from Columbia, Avidan spent time in various engineering roles before becoming CTO at CIM Group, L.P., a private equity firm currently with $30B under management. After nearly 7 years at CIM, Avidan moved on to become a host a Food Network pilot and also co-write a book on the best coffee in the U.S. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Jaclyn Freeman Hester of Foundry Group on investing in emerging manager funds, venture trends, and mistakes fund managers can avoid when raising - Venture Unlocked Episode 017

Listen now (46 min) | We’re excited to release our newest episode with another great guest, Jaclyn Freeman Hester, Partner at the Foundry Group. Founded in 2007 by Brad Feld, Jason Mendelson, Ryan McIntyre, and Seth Levine The Foundry Group has $2.4B under management and has invested in startups such as FitBit, SendGrid, Beeswax, and Notion. Several years ago the firm, led by Jaclyn and Lindel Eakman, started investing in interesting emerging manager firms, and have acted as LP’s in firms such as Forerunner, K9 Ventures, Founder Collective, IA Ventures, Homebrew, and Ludlow. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Apurva Mehta of Summit Peak Investments on discovering the next-gen of top venture investors, Venture Unlocked Episode 018

Listen now (46 min) | Remember to subscribe here on substack, Spotify, or Itunes to get notified as soon as new pods are released. Also follow me @samirkaji on Twitter to get my ongoing thoughts on venture. Welcome back to another episode of Venture Unlocked. This week we have Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Mike Maples of Floodgate on investing models, how he thinks about exceptional companies, and building a lasting firm - Venture Unlocked Episode 019

Listen now (54 min) | We have a special treat of an episode this week with one of the top first generation seed investors in Mike Maples, Jr. of Floodgate. After leading two successful startups, Mike started Floodgate (formerly Maples Investment) in 2006, and has since invested on companies such as Twitter, Lyft, Twitch, and Okta. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Mac Conwell of RareBreed Ventures & Roy Bahat of Bloomberg Beta on the state of Emerging VC - Venture Unlocked 020

Listen now (48 min) | This episode was particularly a fun one to record in that we moved a bit away from our traditional interview format to more of a water-cooler format with Mac Conwell of RareBreed Ventures and Roy Bahat of Bloomberg Beta for a wide-ranging chat about the state of emerging venture capital. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Beezer Clarkson of Sapphire Partners on the #OpenLP effort, How to Pitch LP’s, & what she sees in the venture ecosystem - Venture Unlocked 021

Listen now | On today’s show we have Beezer Clarkson, Managing Director of the LP arm of Sapphire Partners where she leads investment in venture funds such as Union Square Ventures, Amplify, and Data Collective. Not only does Beezer have tremendous depth and insight into the world of VC, but she is also someone I am proud to call a friend. I can’t wait to share my conversation with Beezer with you. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Welly Sculley & Winter Mead of Oper8r on building the “YC for fund managers” and tips for launching a firm - Venture Unlocked 022

Listen now (49 min) | As the Emerging Manager world continues to grow, so does the importance of providing these managers with key education, resources, and community. Enter Oper8r, founded by Welly Sculley and Winter Mead, which is looking to become the “Y-Combinator for venture fund managers”. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Renata Quintini & Roseanne Wincek of Renegade Partners on the Supercritical Stage and running a fund like a startup; Venture Unlocked #023

Listen now (45 min) | If you enjoy the show, please subscribe at Itunes or Spotify or if you already have, leave a rating or review, as it really helps us out!! I’m excited to bring you another duo interview, this time with Renata Quintini and Roseanne Wincek, co-founders and managing partners of Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Ryan Hoover of Weekend Fund on collaborative based investing, building founder NPS, and considerations around scaling funds - Venture Unlocked Ep. 24

Listen now | The transition from founder to VC can sometimes be complicated, but Ryan Hoover, founder of Weekend Fund and Product Hunt, makes it look easy. Ryan grew up in Oregon, and worked in the games industry prior to launching Product Hunt, first as a newsletter, then as a website in 2013. It went on to great success and ultimately was acquired in 2016 by AngelList. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Lindsay Lee of Authentic Ventures on operationalizing networks & creating an edge through diversity rich networks- Venture Unlocked 025

Listen now (39 min) | Our guest today is Lindsay Lee, managing member of Authentic Ventures. Lindsay has over 20 years of investing experience in technology. Prior to starting Authentic, he served as CIO for an investment management firm to which he helped grow to almost $1B in assets and also managed a family office where he focused on seed and early-stage investments. He brings a unique combination of operating experience, public market investing experience, and early stage investing experience. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Clara Brenner of Urban Innovation Fund - Venture Unlocked 026

Listen now (36 min) | Working with special interest strategic LP's, building companies that face regulatory hurdles, and LPAC's. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:13

Kelsey Chase of Aumni on using data to become institutional quicker, and what LPs now expect from emerging managers - Venture Unlocked 027

Listen now (21 min) | The use of data is playing a bigger and bigger role in our everyday lives. Venture is no exception, but most of data use in VC is related to sourcing, picking, and helping founders. My guest today, Kelsey Chase, co-founded a company called Aumni that uses granular level data contained in deal docs to help managers have a much better understanding of their portfolio positions and offer accurate, robust reporting for LPs. It was interesting to hear his perspectives on the problems that lie in reporting, and the rising bar LPs are expecting of emerging managers. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Brian Garrett of Crosscut Ventures on building a regionally based seed firm outside of SV, the rise of LA, raising during a recession, and how Crosscut has evolved over the last 13 years.

Listen now (41 min) | Today, we’re seeing major startup hubs emerge across the US (and globally). Up until fairly recently, LA was not considered a major US technology and venture hub. My guest on this week’s episode, Brian Garrett, has been in the LA venture ecosystem for two decades now. He also co-founded Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Daniel Leff of Waverley Capital on media tech, how he's crafted a successful VC career by being contrarian, and the role of strategic LPs as differentiators

Listen now (43 min) | In venture, many people speak about being contrarian, but very few investors truly are comfortable with consistently thinking outside of mainstream consensus. One exception is Daniel Leff, co-founder of Waverley Capital. Waverley was founded in 2019 with Edgar Bronfmann, Jr. and is focused on investing in media start-ups. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Katie Jacobs Stanton on moving from angel investing to starting Moxxie, experiences with LP's "ghosting", and why she went the solo GP route

Listen now (35 min) | Non-traditional paths into venture have been a common theme among many emerging managers, and our guest this week, Katie Jacobs Stanton, founder of Moxxie Ventures, is no exception. Katie started her career as a Banker at JP Morgan, but subsequently worked within the Obama White house as special advisor to the office of innovation, and she had operator roles at Twitter, Google, Yahoo, and Color Genomics. She was also named by Forbes as the #56 on the most powerful women in the world. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Ashmeet Sidana on moving from a partnership with Foundation Capital to being a Solo GP, investing in technical teams, and the upside and downside of data.

Listen now (41 min) | On this week’s show, we are joined by Ashmeet Sidana, founder and chief engineer at Engineering Capital, a seed stage firm with $139.5M AUM. Prior to founding Engineering Capital in 2015, Ashmeet spend nearly 10 years at Foundation Capital which he joined after various technical roles at companies such as VMware and Silicon Graphics. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Paul Martino from Bullpen Capital on being an early pioneer in post-seed, conviction to back non-consensus startups + another way to think about the SPAC movement

Listen now (34 min) | Contrarian based investing requires extreme conviction, and the ability to consistently invest in founders and businesses that don’t always have mainstream acceptance. Bullpen Capital has long been known as a firm that will not shy away from the overlooked companies, but instead seeks out the undiscovered gems to drive alpha for their investors and founders. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Jamie Rhode of Family Office Verdis Investment Management on using decision science to drive fund allocation strategy, their view on large portfolio sizes, and biggest trends they see in VC.

Listen now (42 min) | Limited partners come in a few different varieties, one of the largest, but also most opaque groups is that of the Family Offices, and today’s guest Jamie Rhode, CFA, Vice President at Verdis Investment Management, gives us a glimpse into the large family office world. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Pete Flint from NFX on network effects, VC as a platform, and how they think about fund sizes.

Listen now (38 min) | Follow me @samirkaji for my ongoing thoughts on the private fund markets. Over the last decade, we’ve seen a surge of VC firms formed by those that spent their entire lives as entrepreneurs. NFX is one of those firms, and in 2016, ex-Trulia founder Pete Flint Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Sunil Dhaliwal from Amplify Partners on finding overlooked investment opportunities, deal competition, and the future of venture capital

Listen now (46 min) | Amplify Partners has quickly become one of the true breakouts from the early emerging manager movement. Led by Sunil Dhaliwal, who started Amplify nearly a decade ago after a 14 year tenure at Battery Ventures, the firm has over $750MM in AUM and has invested in companies such as Datadog and Fastly. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Stephen DeBerry of Bronze VC on social impact investing, GP commits, & the next-gen of underrepresented managers

Listen now | Sometimes the truth is right in front of us and it just takes the right person to see it for it all to make sense, our guest today Stephen DeBerry had such a moment when he first devised the Eastside Thesis. The notion that the wrong side of the tracks has the code word “Eastside” eventually became a viral TED Talk and was a factor in why Stephen decided to invest in change through Venture Capital at Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Nnamdi Okike of 645 Ventures on thoughtfully growing funds, data driven sourcing in venture to reduce bias, and building one of the largest BIPOC led venture firms.

Listen now | Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Jeff Clavier of Uncork Capital on being one of the earliest seed stage VC's, lessons in fundraising during a downturn, and building a multi-generational firm

Listen now (49 min) | We’re thrilled to bring you my recent talk with Jeff Clavier of Uncork Capital, one of the early trailblazers of the emerging manager community. Jeff started investing in seed full time all the way back in 2004 well before the Micro-VC moniker was even conceived (back then we called them Super Angels). Today the firm is one of the most active seed funds in the market with over $500MM in AUM and having invested in companies such as Poshmark, Fitbit, Eventbrite, and Molekule. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Satya Patel of Homebrew on how they were able to raise their first fund in 100 days, creating enduring partnerships, and the art of fund sizing.

Listen now | On this week’s show, we’re excited to bring you Satya Patel, co-founder and partner at Homebrew, who he started in 2013 with Hunter Walk. Without a doubt, the firm is one of the top seed firms in the industry, counting companies such as Chime, Cruise, Eero, and Anchor as some of their investments. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures on Generational Firm Evolution, Why Fundraising is Like Enterprise Sales, & The State of Venture today

We discuss: How to build a firm's legacy, how fundraising is like enterprise sales, & the paradox that faces investors. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Shauntel Garvey of Reach Capital on EdTech, raising a sector focused fund, and the importance of being an active seed investor beyond the A round

Listen now (38 min) | Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Our guest today is Shauntel Garvey, co-founder and general partner of education tech focused Reach Capital. She has a long history investing in ed-tech companies stemming back from her time at NewSchools Venture Fund. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Monique Woodard of Cake Ventures on the 3 layers of the Cake that comprise her thesis, what she learned at Lightspeed and 500 startups, fundraising during a pandemic, and diversity in the seed.

Listen now (41 min) | Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. We’re so pleased to bring you my discussion with Monique Woodard of Cake Ventures, a seed-stage firm investing in demographic change. To date, Monique has invested in startups such as Blavity, Court Buddy, Mented Cosmetics, and Silvernest. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Meet the Expert: Braughm Ricke of Aduro Advisors on working with over 300 Emerging Firms, his time as the first CFO at True Ventures, traits of successful managers

On an effective fundraising process, venture trends, and where the industry is headed.   Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Lan Xuezhao of Basis Set Ventures on using data science along with human psychology to assess deals, finding LP/GP fit, founder super powers measurement, and conviction based investing.

Listen now | Today’s episode is with Lan Xuezhao, founding partner of Basis Set Ventures which has raised $301M across two funds. Lan is an expert on both AI and human psychology, and with Basis Set, she has combined the two. Lan’s background in Corporate Development at Dropbox and management at McKinsey has contributed to her data driven approach to sourcing and investing. She has a PhD in Psychology from the University of Michigan. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Ben Casnocha on his learnings from working with Reid Hoffman, building network incentives, and the art of portfolio construction.

We’re pleased to provide this week’s episode with Ben Casnocha, founding partner of Village Global.Prior to Village, Ben was an entrepreneur and also acted as Chief of Staff at LinkedIn and Greylock working directly with Reid Hoffman. Ben has also co-authored two New York Times bestselling management books, The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age (with LinkedIn chairman Reid Hoffman and entrepreneur Chris Yeh). and The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career (with Reid Hoffman). Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:12

Miriam Rivera on going from angel to running a firm, driving real change in diversity in tech, and how traditional heuristics should be challenged in VC.

Our guest today is Miriam Rivera, managing director and CEO of Ulu Ventures, an early seed stage venture fund in Silicon Valley focused on IT startups. Currently Ulu Ventures has an AUM of >$200MM and the team has invested in companies such as Palantir, BetterUp, SoFi, Guild, and Span [For full disclosure, Ulu Ventures is also an investor in my startup, Allocate).Prior to Ulu, Miriam was deputy general counsel at Google, which she joined in 2001 as the second attorney.  She graduated from Stanford University, where she earned the AB, AM and JD/MBA degrees. Miriam is the co-founder, former co-president and on the board of Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs, an open source network of Stanford alumni investors and entrepreneurs. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:11

Jeff Morris, Jr. on finding your own fund/market fit, having like Lightspeed and Sequoia as LPs, and the ever-changing dynamic between entrepreneurs and VCs

Today’s episode is with Jeff Morris, Jr., founder and managing partner of Chapter One Ventures, an early stage product fund that has invested in Lyft, mParticle, Branch Metrics, and CryptoKitties. Their first fund that was raised in 2019 featured tier one investors such as Lightspeed and Sequoia as LPs. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:11

137 Ventures Justin Fishner-Wolfson on why ownership is an overvalued heuristic, building lasting teams, and the current state of secondary markets.

Today we’re thrilled to bring you my conversation with Justin Fishner Wolfson, co-founder and managing partner of 137 Ventures, a growth-stage venture firm that provides both primary investments and customized liquidity solutions to high-growth private technology companies. With four institutional funds and a total AUM of $1.5B, 137 Ventures has backed some of the most impactful companies of the past decade, including Wish, SpaceX, Uber, Curology, and Airbnb. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:11

Haystack's Semil Shah on building the firm from the ground up, portfolio models, and the state of VC today

Today’s episode is with Semil Shah, founder and general partner at Haystack, a pre-seed and seed-stage supporting outlier founders. Their portfolio includes DoorDash, Instacart, HashiCorp, Figma, Applied Intuition and many more. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:11

From Norwest to starting Roble Ventures, Sergio Monsalve on equity and diversity in tech, adapting from large VC to a small, solo-GP, and investing in heated markets.

Today’s episode is with Sergio Monsalve, founding partner of Roble Ventures, a seed firm based in Silicon Valley that invests in solutions that help human progress. Their portfolio includes Kahoot, Mosaic, and Dragonboat, among others.  Prior to Roble, Sergio spent 14 years at one of the longest standing VC firms, Norwest Venture Partners, where he early invested in unicorns such as Udemy and Adaptive Insights. He has also held various roles in high-growth technology companies like eBay and Portal Software. He currently teaches at his alma mater, Stanford, on education and entrepreneurship.  We chatted with Sergio about equity and diversity in the VC world, adapting to a smaller GP model after so much time at a large firm, and how he thinks about investing in human enablement technologies. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:11

Act One Ventures Silton and Guerrero on the Diversity Rider initiative, building meaningful partnerships, and operating experience has been key to their model

Today’s episode is with Michael Silton and Alejandro Guerrero of Act One Ventures, a Los-Angeles based firm that invests in pre-seed and seed-stage .Before becoming Managing Director of Act One, Michael was Executive Director of the UCLA VC Fund for three and half years. He was also CEO & Founder of RainMaker Systems(to which he took public) and co-founder of UniDirect Corp. Prior to being General Partner at Act One, Alejandro was Volunteer Associate at UCLA Ventures from 2013-2016, Co-Founder & CEO of Uniq Apps and Co-Founder & President of the Live Entertainment Network.We chatted with them about their unique partnership, how they tangibly drive real diversity into cap tables, and how they navigate in today’s white-hot market. Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:11

Broadhaven Ventures' Michael Sidgmore on democratization of venture capital, why Alts are the future of private portfolios, and the role of wealth management firms.

Today we’re thrilled to bring you a very unique conversation with Michael Sidgmore, Co-Founder of Broadhaven Ventures and host of the Alt Goes mainstream podcast. Broadhaven Ventures is fintech focused and has invested in several platforms that make alternatives more accessible including, Republic, Party Round, iCapital, Alt, and of course our startup Allocate. Michael is also a Venture Partner at Goodwater Capital, one of the top global consumer focused venture capital platforms in the world with over $2 Billion of assets under management.  Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:11

Primary Venture Partners Jason Shuman on integrating partners into an established partnership, KPI's on measuring value to founders, and views on portfolio construction.

Today, I’m excited to bring you my conversation with Jason Shuman, a partner at NY based Primary Venture Partners. The firm leads seed rounds for companies in NY and has previously invested in companies such as Jet, Mirror, and Latch. The firm recently raised two funds totaling $200MM.Prior to joining Primary, he spent time as Chief Of Staff for GLG founder Mark Gerson, was an associate at Corigin Venture, and founded and ran a company called Category Five from 2011-2015. We chatted with Jason about the importance of culture in building lasting teams, KPI’s for delivering founder success from their internal portfolio services team, and how he views both NY and the entire venture market today.  Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:11

Banana Capital's Turner Novak on his unconventional path in breaking into VC, being a successful stage agnostic investor, and leveraging social platforms to build advantages

We’re thrilled to bring you my conversation with Turner Novak, founder of Banana Capital. While fairly new to venture, Turner continually brings some of the most interesting perspectives about technology, and is one of best venture follows on social media.  Turner has an incredible backstory on how he broke into VC, and ultimately within a few years was able to found Banana Capital in January 2021, with $9.99M in commitments, including several institutional investors. Prior to having his own fund, he was General Partner at Gelt VC and also interned at a pre-seed firm Afore Capital. We talked with Turner about the value of social media in VC, how he thinks that successful investing can be stage agnostic, and his views on where the public and private markets are today, and where they may go in the future.  Get on the email list at ventureunlocked.substack.com

27 Sep 12:11