Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managers
By Samir Kaji
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Episodes: 149
Description
Venture Unlocked is the playbook for starting, operating, & scaling a successful venture capital firm. Samir Kaji, Host of Venture Unlocked has +20-years of experience assisting & advising startups and venture firms. Listen for VC fund guidance. ventureunlocked.substack.com
| Episode | Date |
|---|---|
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The Benchmark Way: Running of an Iconic firm with Victor Lazarte
|
Mar 19, 2025 |
|
Tomasz Tunguz on where we are in the AI S-Curve and the Evolving Investment Landscape
|
Mar 05, 2025 |
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The Solo GP Playbook: Zal Bilimoria on Fundraising, Portfolio Strategy, and Founder Relationships
|
Feb 19, 2025 |
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The Evolution of building a legacy firm at Venrock with Brian Ascher
|
Feb 05, 2025 |
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Evolving Venture Liquidity Solutions with Gaurav Mathur of Pinegrove Capital Partners
|
Jan 22, 2025 |
|
The blueprint for starting a new firm with Chemistry Ventures, including the work needed before choosing your partners and non-consensus decision making.
|
Oct 30, 2024 |
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Meet the Expert: Venture Fund Banking with Sam Heshmati and Vincent Timoney of Citizens Private Bank
|
Oct 16, 2024 |
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Saga Ventures on key lessons on raising a Fund I, building healthy partnerships, and winning in a competitive seed market
|
Sep 26, 2024 |
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Building a firm to last, lessons from nearly three decades of investing, and the path to hiring great venture teams with Glenn Solomon of Notable Capital (FKA GGV Capital)
|
Aug 28, 2024 |
|
Doing a successful GP led secondary in Venture Capital, Why seed funds can scale, and what a good VC platform team looks like
|
Aug 08, 2024 |
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Investing in USV Fund I, lessons learned as a LP, and why Emerging Managers are so important
|
Aug 01, 2024 |
|
The great startup reckoning event of 2023 and 2024, but why startups should now start going back on offense featuring Tom Loverro of IVP
|
Jul 17, 2024 |
|
Finding greatness in non-consensus startups, the story of Twitch from Justin.TV, and why great companies need insights and inflection points with Mike Maples
|
Jul 10, 2024 |
|
TX Zhuo’s of Fika Ventures on raising a Fund I, evolving decision making frameworks, and what founder first means to them
|
Jun 27, 2024 |
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Limited Partner Unlocked: Michael Kim Cendana Capital on the Emerging Manager landscape, fundraising, and the need for liquidity
|
Jun 05, 2024 |
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Amy Saper of Uncork Capital on how startups should embrace constraints to foster creativity, and her learnings from being at Accel, X, Uber, and Stripe
|
May 15, 2024 |
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LP Unlocked shorts: What We're Hearing about Venture Liquidity with Meghan Reynolds of Altimeter
|
Apr 19, 2024 |
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What's happening at the seed stage? Featuring Jenny Fielding, Kirby Winfield, and Nate Williams
|
Apr 10, 2024 |
|
The Craft of Venture Capital with David Sacks
|
Mar 27, 2024 |
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Adam Bain of 01 Advisors on scaling Twitter from 0 to $1B+, being coached by Bill Campbell, and why they don't take board seats
|
Mar 13, 2024 |
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Mitchell Green of Lead Edge Capital on the Moneyball approach to investing, the art of effective cold calling, and managing 700+ strategic LPs
|
Mar 06, 2024 |
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Limited Partner Unlocked shorts: What we're Hearing from LPs with Meghan Reynolds of Altimeter
|
Feb 23, 2024 |
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Khosla Venture's Samir Kaul on building an iconic, durable firm, and the role of non-consensus decision making
|
Feb 16, 2024 |
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Venture Unlocked Shorts: Looking back the era of Unicorns and what's ahead?
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Jan 31, 2024 |
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Venture Unlocked Shorts: Why VC has gone mainstream and the parallels to private equity and hedge funds
|
Jan 26, 2024 |
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The opportunity outside of Silicon Valley and how to build a strategic LP base with Brendan Wales and Kellan Carter of FUSE
|
Jan 25, 2024 |
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Meet The Expert Series: Matt Trotter of Stifel Bank on the state of the venture debt market, and how investors & startups should approach the credit markets today
|
Jan 10, 2024 |
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Pejman Nozad of Pear on building a $800MM+ AUM firm as an immigrant who sold Persian rugs before going into VC
|
Dec 22, 2023 |
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Paul Kwan of General Catalyst on the importance of innovation in creating global resilience
|
Dec 07, 2023 |
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The Chainsmokers' Alex Pall in crossing over from a grammy nominated group in the music industry to starting Mantis VC
|
Nov 29, 2023 |
|
Brad Gerstner talks AI, Tech Super cycles vs. Market cycles, and the start of Altimeter as a $3MM fund
|
Nov 16, 2023 |
|
Going back to the foundation of Kleiner Perkins with Mamoon Hamid through clear busines model focus and culture
|
Nov 01, 2023 |
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Special LP roundtable: What are LPs thinking about in Venture with Beezer Clarkson, Guy Perelmuter and Chris Douvos
|
Oct 25, 2023 |
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Building competitive moats in VC at Lerer Hippeau with Ben Lerer and Graham Brown
|
Oct 11, 2023 |
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Building a next-generation tech-enabled Venture Capital firm with Chris Farmer of SignalFire
|
Sep 27, 2023 |
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The art of raising from LPs in an economic downturn with Mark Suster, Upfront Ventures
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Aug 30, 2023 |
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Hernan Kazah of Kaszek Ventures on investing in Latin America, learnings from building a public company, and working with founders
|
Aug 16, 2023 |
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Tomasz Tunguz of Theory Ventures on strategically raising a fund in a downturn, Why Firms Need a Business Model, and different views on portfolio construction
|
Jul 26, 2023 |
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Sunil Nagaraj of Ubiquity Ventures on the journey of a solo-GP, The Importance of Authenticity, and Navigating Hype Cycles
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Jul 12, 2023 |
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Oren Zeev on scaling to $2B+ in AUM as a solo-GP, contrarian investing, and high founder NPS
|
Jun 14, 2023 |
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Stephanie Palmeri and Melody Koh of NextView Ventures on incentives within venture partnerships, the changes in seed financing, and operating remotely
|
Jun 02, 2023 |
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Scott Kupor, Managing Partner of a16z on Building a lasting Venture Franchise
|
May 17, 2023 |
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Fundraising best practices for managers, strategic LP management, and LPACs with Meghan Reynolds of Altimeter
|
Apr 26, 2023 |
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Satya Patel and Hunter Walk on learnings from building Homebrew, moving to an evergreen model, and launching Screendoor VC to back underrepresented fund managers
|
Apr 12, 2023 |
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Portfolio construction trends and best practices with CEO Anubhav Srivastava of Tactyc
|
Apr 07, 2023 |
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Dana Settle on starting and building Greycroft, Maintaining culture and speed with scale, and thoughts on VC moving forward
|
Mar 30, 2023 |
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Shuly Galili of UpWest on building lasting partnerships and how they bridged the gap between Israeli founders and the US Market
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Mar 21, 2023 |
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Ryan Hoover of Weekend Fund and Jordan Gonen of Compound on the rise of private and retail investors into venture capital and alternatives
|
Feb 22, 2023 |
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Eddy Chan of Intudo Ventures on building a hyper-local venture strategy for Indonesia
|
Feb 02, 2023 |
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Better Tomorrow Ventures, Jake and Sheel on Investing in FinTech, fund construction, and fundraising lessons
|
Jan 11, 2023 |
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Jonathan Abrams, 8-Bit Capital: Learnings from founding and running Friendster, Defining "Founder Friendly", going from Angel to full-time VC
|
Dec 21, 2022 |
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Gautam Gupta from TCV (Velocity) on the trend of large funds going early, the art of pro-rata investing, and what he is seeing in this market cycle
|
Dec 07, 2022 |
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Patrick Chun at Juxtapose: How company creation models and studios work in VC, the squint and wedge framework of investing, and raising from blue-chip institutions
|
Nov 30, 2022 |
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Valar Ventures Andrew McCormack on running concentrated portfolios with higher ownership vs. larger portfolios, learnings from working with Peter Thiel, and thoughts on valuations today
|
Nov 10, 2022 |
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Mapping out a new partnership, why the RAISE GP/LP summit was such an important effort, and the art of fundraising by Joanna Drake of Magnify Ventures
|
Oct 26, 2022 |
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Aydin Senkut of Felicis Ventures on angel to 9 time Midas list investor, inception to scale at Felicis, and winning in today's crowded market
|
Oct 05, 2022 |
|
Quid's Josh Berman on providing financings against private stock, "trapped liquidity" at funds, and his learnings from co-founding Myspace.
|
Sep 28, 2022 |
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Discovering talent before it's obvious, the challenges of raising a fund I without a traditional pedigree, and startup fund culture with Eric Tarczynski of Contrary
|
Sep 21, 2022 |
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Evaluating Crypto today, investing in crypto funds, the role of governance in the space featuring Rabia Iqbal and Jehan Chu of Nural Capital
|
Aug 24, 2022 |
|
Mark Mullen of Bonfire Ventures on going from a solo capitalist to joining forces with Jim Andelman, the state of seed markets, and his view on what makes fund managers differentiated
|
Aug 10, 2022 |
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Ravi Viswanathan of New View Capital on the secondary and growth markets, and raising a unique $1B+ (modified) GP led secondary fund I
|
Aug 03, 2022 |
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The art of pre-seed investing, mitigating investment risk at this stage, and building processes to build a true venture platform with a lean team
|
Jul 27, 2022 |
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Parade Ventures Shawn Merani on building LP relationships, not focusing on "hot" deals, and his mindset with founders
|
Jul 15, 2022 |
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Tusk Venture Partners Jordan Nof: Evolving to an early stage firm, navigating regulatory hurdles for startups, and what the future holds for crypto.
|
Jun 30, 2022 |
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FPV's Wes Chan on the path to backing 20 unicorns and 5 decacorns, raising a $450MM Fund 1, working closely with Sergey and Larry and Google, and what Bill Campbell taught him about helping founders
|
Jun 22, 2022 |
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Jessica Peltz-Zatulove and Kate Beardsley on closing an oversubscribed $52MM Fund I, the difference between family offices and institutions, secondaries as a foundation of portfolio management
|
Jun 01, 2022 |
|
GGV's Jeff Richards on making sense of the market today, growing a $9B+ firm, and whether geo-political tensions may affect international venture investing
|
May 05, 2022 |
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Viola Ventures' Danny Cohen on the Israel's exponential growth as a tech hub, building decision frameworks for picking, and managing a firm in a rapidly changing market
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Apr 20, 2022 |
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776's Alexis Ohanian on the new era of VC, using technology in a firm, and things he's most excited about today.
|
Apr 13, 2022 |
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8VC's Drew Oetting on their decision-making culture, building talent at firms, and his most critical learnings as an investor
|
Apr 06, 2022 |
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Bedrock Capital's Geoff Lewis on Vibe capital, the power of narrative violations, and winning in today's market
|
Mar 31, 2022 |
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David Cohen on founding Techstars, patterns of successful founders, and the math behind large portfolios
|
Mar 23, 2022 |
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Playground Global's Peter Barrett on investing in deep tech, what makes a good deep tech founder, and the difference between the improbable and impossible
|
Mar 16, 2022 |
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Forerunner Ventures Eurie Kim on scaling the Forerunner franchise, thesis based investing, and advice for emerging managers
|
Mar 09, 2022 |
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Not Boring's Packy McCormick on VC's building brand through content creation, tech trends he's most excited about, and how writing has helped him with investing.
|
Mar 01, 2022 |
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Limited Partner and direct invest Guy Perelmuter (Grids Capital) on deep tech, bull and bear views on the market, and adding value as an LP
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Feb 22, 2022 |
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Scribble Ventures Elizabeth Weil on the many roles of an emerging venture fund manager, building partnerships, and why network strength is a key differentiator
|
Feb 15, 2022 |
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Union Square Ventures' Rebecca Kaden on their theme based investing approach, fund sizing for USV, and navigating hot markets
|
Feb 09, 2022 |
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Worklife Ventures' Brianne Kimmel on finding the right LPs, the big differences between angel investing and being a solo fund manager, and the main thing she looks for in founding teams
|
Jan 25, 2022 |
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QED Investors' Frank Rotman in breaking down the venture market today, determining how to compete today, and how QED makes decisions.
|
Jan 18, 2022 |
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Ripple Ventures Matt Cohen on individual VC personal brands, Hedge funds in tech, portfolio math and front weighting in seed, and investing in Canada
|
Jan 11, 2022 |
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M13's Carter Reum on building an operational services team (Propulsion platform), navigating from operator to angel investor to building a firm for the long haul.
|
Jan 04, 2022 |
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Harbinger Ventures Megan Bent on their concentrated portfolio approach, specific traits they look for in founding teams, and consumer behavior post-pandemic
|
Dec 22, 2021 |
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Boldstart ventures Ed Sim on starting his career during the dot-com bubble, the opportunity as being a true day one investor, and views on today's VC market compared to past eras
|
Dec 14, 2021 |
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Lux Capital's co-founder Peter Hebert on the firm's 20 year journey, creating multi-generational success, and the changing dynamics in VC (including their use of SPAC's)
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Dec 07, 2021 |
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Initialized Capital's Alda Leu Dennis on building the proper culture for decision making, finding ways to win in today's market, and her concerns with the drop in diverse founder funding.
|
Nov 30, 2021 |
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Kindred Ventures Kanyi Maqubela on large firms entering seed, the challenges of rising valuations, and the nuances of portfolio construction
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Nov 16, 2021 |
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Base10's TJ Nahigian on using automation and research within the firm as a competitive advantage, ways to optimize outcomes in the current investing climate, and thoughts on crossover investing.
|
Nov 09, 2021 |
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Glasswing Ventures Rudina Seseri on frontier tech, the KPI's Glasswing uses to measure their value-add to founders, and why diversity is central to their investing ethos
|
Nov 02, 2021 |
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Eniac Ventures Hadley Harris on portfolio construction fundamentals, partnership durability, and views on the shifting seed market
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Oct 26, 2021 |
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LP Roundtable with Chris Douvos (Ahoy Capital), Beezer Clarkson (Sapphire Partners), Guy Perelmuter (GRIDS Capital) on opportunity funds, red flags they watch for, and the state of the market.
|
Oct 19, 2021 |
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Human Ventures' Heather Hartnett on studio models, developing their business creation platform to add value to founders, and their fundraising learnings from raising their first significant fund
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Oct 12, 2021 |
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Global Founders Capital’s Don Stalter on their belief in larger portfolios, managing a global investment firm, and building systems and processes to deliver value at scale
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Oct 05, 2021 |
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Founders Fund Delian Asparouhov on Miami as a major tech hub, what he thinks as the drivers for innovation now, and the pros of incubating companies like Varda within firms
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Sep 28, 2021 |
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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
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Sep 21, 2021 |
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Primary Venture Partners Jason Shuman on integrating partners into an established partnership, KPI's on measuring value to founders, and views on portfolio construction.
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Sep 14, 2021 |
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Broadhaven Ventures' Michael Sidgmore on democratization of venture capital, why Alts are the future of private portfolios, and the role of wealth management firms.
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Sep 07, 2021 |
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Act One Ventures Silton and Guerrero on the Diversity Rider initiative, building meaningful partnerships, and operating experience has been key to their model
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Aug 31, 2021 |
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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.
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Aug 24, 2021 |
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Haystack's Semil Shah on building the firm from the ground up, portfolio models, and the state of VC today
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Aug 17, 2021 |
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137 Ventures Justin Fishner-Wolfson on why ownership is an overvalued heuristic, building lasting teams, and the current state of secondary markets.
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Aug 10, 2021 |
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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
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Aug 03, 2021 |
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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.
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Jul 27, 2021 |
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Ben Casnocha on his learnings from working with Reid Hoffman, building network incentives, and the art of portfolio construction.
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Jul 20, 2021 |
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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.
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Jul 13, 2021 |
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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
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Jul 08, 2021 |
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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.
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Jul 06, 2021 |
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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
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Jun 29, 2021 |
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Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures on Generational Firm Evolution, Why Fundraising is Like Enterprise Sales, & The State of Venture today
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Jun 22, 2021 |
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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.
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Jun 15, 2021 |
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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
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Jun 08, 2021 |
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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.
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May 25, 2021 |
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Stephen DeBerry of Bronze VC on social impact investing, GP commits, & the next-gen of underrepresented managers
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May 19, 2021 |
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Sunil Dhaliwal from Amplify Partners on finding overlooked investment opportunities, deal competition, and the future of venture capital
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May 11, 2021 |
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Pete Flint from NFX on network effects, VC as a platform, and how they think about fund sizes.
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May 04, 2021 |
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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.
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Apr 26, 2021 |
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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
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Apr 20, 2021 |
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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.
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Apr 13, 2021 |
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Katie Jacobs Stanton on moving from angel investing to starting Moxxie, experiences with LP's "ghosting", and why she went the solo GP route
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Apr 06, 2021 |
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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
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Mar 30, 2021 |
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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.
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Mar 23, 2021 |
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Kelsey Chase of Aumni on using data to become institutional quicker, and what LPs now expect from emerging managers - Venture Unlocked 027
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Mar 18, 2021 |
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Clara Brenner of Urban Innovation Fund - Venture Unlocked 026
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Mar 16, 2021 |
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Lindsay Lee of Authentic Ventures on operationalizing networks & creating an edge through diversity rich networks- Venture Unlocked 025
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Mar 09, 2021 |
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Ryan Hoover of Weekend Fund on collaborative based investing, building founder NPS, and considerations around scaling funds - Venture Unlocked Ep. 24
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Mar 02, 2021 |
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Renata Quintini & Roseanne Wincek of Renegade Partners on the Supercritical Stage and running a fund like a startup; Venture Unlocked #023
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Feb 23, 2021 |
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Welly Sculley & Winter Mead of Oper8r on building the “YC for fund managers” and tips for launching a firm - Venture Unlocked 022
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Feb 16, 2021 |
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Beezer Clarkson of Sapphire Partners on the #OpenLP effort, How to Pitch LP’s, & what she sees in the venture ecosystem - Venture Unlocked 021
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Feb 09, 2021 |
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Mac Conwell of RareBreed Ventures & Roy Bahat of Bloomberg Beta on the state of Emerging VC - Venture Unlocked 020
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Feb 02, 2021 |
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Mike Maples of Floodgate on investing models, how he thinks about exceptional companies, and building a lasting firm - Venture Unlocked Episode 019
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Jan 26, 2021 |
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Apurva Mehta of Summit Peak Investments on discovering the next-gen of top venture investors, Venture Unlocked Episode 018
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Jan 19, 2021 |
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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
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Jan 12, 2021 |
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Avidan Ross of Root VC on investing in deep tech, taking an heavy approach on reserves, and building LP relationships - Venture Unlocked 016
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Jan 05, 2021 |
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Marlon Nichols of MaC Ventures on VC firm mergers, funding diversity, and his relationship with LP's - Venture Unlocked 015
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Dec 29, 2020 |
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Deena Shakir of Lux Capital on firm culture, solving the diversity issue, and how portfolio management is a team sport - Venture Unlocked 014
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Dec 22, 2020 |
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Chris Douvos of Ahoy Capital on the art of investing in Emerging VC funds, Venture Unlocked 013
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Dec 15, 2020 |
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Nate Williams of UNION Labs on the studio model & investing in deep tech, Venture Unlocked 012
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Dec 10, 2020 |
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Soraya Darabi of TMV on building and scaling a seed stage firm, Venture Unlocked 011
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Dec 08, 2020 |
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Greg Sands of Costanoa Ventures on building a boutique Venture Firm, firm culture, and portfolio theory - Venture Unlocked 010
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Dec 01, 2020 |
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Brendan Wallace of Fifth Wall on building a different type of venture firm - Venture Unlocked 009
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Nov 24, 2020 |
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Leo Polovets of Susa Ventures - Venture Unlocked 008
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Nov 17, 2020 |
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Sahil Lavingia's learnings as a VC backed founder and running a Rolling Fund - Venture Unlocked 007
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Nov 12, 2020 |
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Ted Maidenberg of Tribe Capital - Venture Unlocked 006
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Nov 10, 2020 |
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Jon Sakoda of Decibel on building your fund with founders by your side - Venture Unlocked 005
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Oct 27, 2020 |
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Jodi Sherman Jahic of Aligned Partners on why alignment with partners, LPs, and companies is powerful - Venture Unlocked 004
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Oct 20, 2020 |
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Roger Ehrenberg of IA Ventures on the craft of building a top-decile firm - Venture Unlocked 003
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Oct 13, 2020 |
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Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures - Venture Unlocked 002
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Oct 06, 2020 |
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Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund - Venture Unlocked 001
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Sep 29, 2020 |
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Releasing The Venture Unlocked Podcast
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Sep 24, 2020 |