Episodes
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This week, we sat down with Div Garg, Founder of MultiOn. During the conversation, we discussed Div's journey from big tech to startups, the promise of agents, and how the LLMs are tackling agents. We also discussed how the agent ecosystem will evolve over time, whether we should pay our agents, and building a team as a first-time founder.
Working in Big Tech - 2:28Intro to AI agents - 3:22MultiOn's Mission - 4:50What will agents disrupt? - 8:37Agent headwinds - 11:20Product launch that didn't work - 13:40The role of LLMs - 17:05Upper limits of agents - 19:27The value of agents - 21:43Building an organization - 25:45Raising VC funding - 29:15Quick fire questions - 32:16
Episode Chapters:As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.
This episode is brought to you by Grata, the world's leading deal sourcing platform. Our AI-powered search, investment-grade data, and intuitive workflows give you the edge needed to find and win deals in your industry. Visit grata.com to schedule a demo today -
This week, we sat down with Brett Perlmutter, Founder and CEO of Bulletpitch. During the conversation, we cover Brett's journey starting Bulletpitch as an undergraduate student to hosting events and writing for thousands of readers. We also cover wanting to break into VC, why top VCs are fantastic media companies, and why media yields deal flow.
Starting Bulletpitch - 1:04Building the pipeline - 5:50The content evolution - 8:03Company selection - 12:30Why scarcity is critical - 16:44Growth hacking in the early days - 22:50Building a syndicate - 30:00Brett's value add - 34:55 Quick-fire round - 37:03
Episode Chapters:As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.
This episode is brought to you by Grata, the world's leading deal sourcing platform. Our AI-powered search, investment-grade data, and intuitive workflows give you the edge needed to find and win deals in your industry. Visit grata.com to schedule a demo today. -
Missing episodes?
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This week, we sat down with Bobby Pinero, CEO and Co-Founder of Equals. During the conversation, we cover Bobby's journey from being inspired by "engineering entrepreneurship" at Stanford to leading the finance team at Intercom and then starting Equals. We also covered the moat behind Equals, having a clear end-user, competing with Excel and Google Sheets, and the importance of brand building.
Episode Chapters:
Bobby's upbringing - 1:46Scaling with Intercom - 7:14Seed to start Equals - 10:00What is Equals? - 13:44Why switch to Equals - 18:43Gaining market share - 23:37Two ways to grow - 27:50Brand building - 32:18Expand the TAM with AI - 34:285Ending Questions - 36:43
As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback. -
This week, we sat down with Eli Wachs, Co-founder and CEO of Footprint. During the conversation, we covered Eli’s journey from being an undergraduate student at Stanford to an obsession with KYC and starting Footprint. We also cover KYC, starting with the Patriot Act, how to find early customers, execution at scale, and Eli’s second career as a comedian.
What makes Eli, Eli - 1:12Innovation at Stanford - 3:33Know Your Customer (KYC) - 5:42Why should customers trust Footprint? - 9:45The value Footprint provides - 12:46Working with larger banks - 16:50Keeping consumer data secure - 18:30What is keeping Eli up? - 20:48 Moral guidance around data - 23:37Stand up comedy - 27:35 Ending questions - 31:45
Episode Chapters:As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.
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This week, we sat down with Avante Price, CEO and Co-Founder of POSH. During the conversation, we cover Avante's journey from being an undergraduate student at NYU to dropping out and starting POSH. We also cover starting an event community, finding success in a consumer-facing space, optimizing for profitability, and hiring at the early stages.
DJ to Startups - 1:12Three Missing Themes in Event Platforms - 5:56Deciding to Drop Out - 8:24Creating a New Market - 11:20Gaining Market Share - 15:252024 Roadmap - 17:51Managing as a Younger Founder - 23:15The Shopify Journey - 26:30Events on the POSH Platform - 30:22Quick Fire - 32:13
Episode Chapters:
As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback -
This week, we sat down with Avery Rosin, a Partner at Lead Edge Capital. During the conversation, we cover Avery's long journey at Lead Edge, where he has impressively navigated the path from Analyst to Partner. We also cover Lead Edge's strategy, Avery's areas of focus, his thoughts on the current macro environment, and his advice to aspiring growth equity investors.
Selling Cutco Knives - 1:20Staying Power at a Fund - 5:25Lead Edge's Strategy - 8:10Retention is King - 12:50Determining the Best Benchmarks - 16:06Investing as a Generalist - 19:50Healthcare IT - 21:21Raising Fund II and Beyond - 26:22IPO Market Opens Up - 28:22Quick Fire Round - 31:55
Episode Chapters:As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback
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We are excited to sit down with Sara Choi, Partner at Wing VC! Prior to Wing, Sara co-founded the mobile data company Airfox. Since 2019, Sara has dedicated her efforts to investing in early-stage companies operating at the intersection of bio and data. During this episode, we discuss raising VC capital (versus not), the impact of a thematic focus, and the future trajectories of drug discovery.
Episode Chapters:
The American Dream - 1:15Founder Journey X 2 - 5:33Day 1 at Wing VC - 8:10Entry Stage Valuations - 12:55Sector Specialization - 14:30Data's Impact on Biology - 19:04Sourcing Superpower - 23:43VC Office Hours - 26:50Drug Development - 28:37Healthcare with Employers - 36:21Ending Questions - 39:10As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.
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We are excited to sit down with Pete Mathias, Partner at Alumni Ventures. Prior to VC, Pete was the lead drummer in a rock band, Filliger, where he traveled the world for 14 years. Later in his career, Pete found his way into the venture world and focused on strategic technologies critical to the United States. During the episode, we discuss breaking into VC from a non-traditional background, a network-powered approach, and why software has eaten the world.
From Graduation to Rockband - 1:30Discovering Venture Capital - 4:15VC with a Non-Traditional Background - 6:54Two Types of Investment Opportunities - 10:27"I am wet clay" - 13:36Investing in Nuclear Energy - 18:05Tips for the "Partner Path" - 25:20Is VC the Right Fit? - 27:45 Ending Questions - 28:58
Episode Chapters:
As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback -
We are excited to sit down with Alessio Fanelli, Partner and CTO at Decibel. Alessio grew up in Rome and made his way to the US as an engineer at 645 before landing at Decibel Partners, an early-stage fund focused on data, dev tools, and cyber security. During the episode, we discuss dropping out of school to start a company, the importance of open-source software, how to diligence pre-product market fit, and the next wave of large language models.
Growing up in Rome - 1:20Learning to Code - 3:27Joining 645 - 7:10Partner & CTO @ Decibel - 10:42Open Source Software - 15:56Diligence as a Pre-PMF Investor - 26:10Challenging Open AI - 29:54 Now's the Time for Dev Tools? - 34:50Ending Questions - 36:17
Episode Chapters:
As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.
Check out Alessio's podcast! -
We are excited to sit down with Jeff Schumann, Co-Founder and CEO at Aware. Jeff started building technology at a young age (selling software to CBS and tracking Al-Qaeda) before founding Aware, a contextual intelligence platform for organizations. During the episode, we discuss intercepting terrorist communications, the employee voice as the most important asset, and why context is king.
Early Entrepreneur Days - 1:25Working with the CIA - 6:10Modernizing the Tech Stack at Nationwide - 11:10Aware: Contextual Intelligence - 13:33Ask IQ (Chat GPT for the Enterprise) - 15:28Columbus: The Collaborative City - 24:17Living by your Values - 27:00Employee Privacy - 31:17Enterprise AI Adoption Trends - 35:50Ending Questions - 39:00
Episode Chapters:
As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback -
This week, join us with Maxime Bucaille from Draper Associates. Maxime began his career as a foreign exchange trader before becoming an operator at Airswap. His passion for blockchain continued when he joined Atari, a multi-platform gaming company. During the episode, we discuss raising $37M in two hours, mitigating centralized risk, and consumer adoption of virtual reality.
Episode Chapters:
Moving from Paris to NYC - 1:20FX Trader at BNP - 2:25Joining Airswap (3rd ever Decentralized Exchange) - 4:51Breaking down Draper Associates - 9:40Investing with Tim Draper - 14:57Crypto POV - 17:00Bullish on Bitcoin - 20:30Changing Consumer Behavior - 23:51The Future of the Metaverse - 26:55Coinbase: Leading the Way - 30:45 Ending Questions - 31:14
As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback -
This week, we're sitting down with Arjan Singh, the Co-Founder of Jolie. Arjan's journey into the world of beauty and wellness began early on and grew as he collaborated with entrepreneurs in high school and honed his expertise in luxury, consumer, and fashion at BCG. In today's episode, we'll delve into the essentials of building a successful consumer brand, the underlying factors of skin and hair health, the significant impact of social influence, and the number one tool every founder should utilize.
Passion for Beauty Wellness - 1:20The Power of Relationships - 3:32Starting Jolie - 7:40Developing a Shower Head - 11:46Changing Consumer Behavior - 14:26The Jolie Marketing Approach - 17:12Valuing Connections & Experiences - 21:10Product Messaging with Macro Economic Shifts - 24:15Will Jolie Raise Capital? - 28:48Ending Questions - 30:07
Episode Chapters:
As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback. -
We're excited to chat with Luke Skertich, a Principal at FJ Labs. Prior to his role at FJ, Luke transitioned from a pre-med background to a career in product management. FJ Labs, known for its focus on early-stage marketplace businesses, has invested in industry giants such as Alibaba, Uber, and Airbnb. In this episode, Luke delves into his journey from pre-med to venture capital, shares insights on investing in marketplace platforms, and explores the dynamics of balancing supply and demand.
Initial Career Path - 1:26Portfolio Value Add - 5:19FJ Founding Story - 6:41What is a Marketplace? - 8:55Attractive Marketplace Attributes - 12:38Evaluating a Marketplace/Competitive Landscape - 15:32API Enabled Marketplaces - 22:06AI Enhancing the User Experience - 26:15SaaS Enabled Marketplaces - 28:15Ending Questions - 31:23
Episode Chapters:As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.
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We're excited to chat with Jacob Effron, a Partner at Redpoint Ventures. Before joining Redpoint in San Francisco, Jacob served as a product manager at Flatiron Health. In addition to being an investor, Jacob hosts two podcasts, Unsupervised Learning and Vital Signs. Jacob sheds light on the impact of artificial intelligence in healthcare, the influence of large language models (LLMs) on drug discovery, the current importance of value-based care, and the future prospects of AGI!
Economic Development in East Africa - 1:26Breaking down the Product Manager Role - 2:54Redpoint's Strategy - 4:42Healthcare AI Themes - 7:32AI Meets Drug Discovery - 10:20The Impact of AI on Clinical Trials - 14:35Value-Based-Care versus Fee-For-Service - 17:40Technology Paired with VBC - 21:00Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) - 24:24Evaluating a Founder - 27:30Ending Questions - 28:54
Episode Chapters:As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.
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We're excited to talk with Jason Bornstein, Partner and Head of Research at Forerunner. Jason started his career by leading growth marketing at Bonobos, scaling it into one of the first venture-backed DTC brands to achieve $100M in revenue. Post business school, he joined Forerunner, a VC firm specializing in early-stage consumer-driven ventures. Jason shares his experiences of shifting from conventional marketing tactics and his exploration of VC during his business studies and discusses Forerunner's people-centric strategy, including the innovative brand power score.
Starting in Growth Marketing at Bobobos - 1:55Diversification across Marketing Channels - 5:53Business School to Investing - 9:58Forerunner's Investment Strategy - 12:48Joining as a Principal and Promotion to Partner - 14:05Carving out a Head of Research Position - 16:10Thematic Focus in Practice - 18:25Forerunner's Brand Power Score - 22:03Improving Your Score - 26:02Ending Questions - 28:45
Episode Chapters:As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.
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We are excited to sit down with Sean Thorne, founder and CEO at People Data Labs. Sean dropped out of the University of Oregon to start his first company, Hallspot. Taking his learnings from Hallspot, he started People Data Labs (PDL). PDL is an innovative API product for developers & data scientists, with over 3 billion data records. Sean discusses why every company is a data company, how perseverance wins out, powering AI companies, and the importance of a clear story while fundraising.
Entrepreneur Pursuit - 1:30Starting a Company at 19 - 3:50Building People Data Labs - 6:20Founder, Market Fit - 7:45The Evolving Ideal Customer Profile - 11:05How to Win as a Data Company - 13:55Fundraising from VCs - 17:42Data is the New Oil - 21:20Privacy Impact - 23:20Who will benefit from AI? - 26:15Ending Questions - 29:50
Episode Chapters:As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.
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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.
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 - 31:45
Episode Chapters:
As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback. -
We are excited to sit down with Manu Sharma, an investor at Tusk Venture Partners. Manu started his career at Dallas VC, helping launch the fund before heading to business school in Chicago. This year, Manu joined Tusk Venture Partners, an early-stage fund based in NYC. Tusk has a unique model in that it helps companies navigate highly regulated markets. Manu dives into the benefits of business school, doubling down in regulated markets, pros and cons of AI and what areas of vertical SaaS are ripe for technological disruption.
Moving from India to the United States - 1:30Building Dallas Venture Capital - 2:15Why Business School? - 4:00Tusk Venture Partners - 7:10Helping Companies with Regulatory Risks - 9:45The History of Vertical SaaS - 11:16AI Execution on Vertical SaaS - 18:12The Contract Network (Legal Tech) - 23:10The End State of LLMs - 25:45Platform Team in VC - 27:12Ending Questions - 28:45
Episode Chapters:As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.
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We are excited to sit down with 2x founder Alex Jekowsky. During college, he launched Ulyngo, a multi-channel marketplace that enabled universities to facilitate student life commerce. Alex grew the business until its acquisition by Modo Labs in 2019. He then founded Cents, a leading laundry business management system. Cents helps laundromats with everything from onboarding, payments, employee management, customer records, in-store operations, and more!
Founding Ulyngo - 1:15Interest in Laundromats - 4:48Modernizing the Laundry Tech Stack - 7:30The Consumer Experience - 10:50Cents' Addressable Market - 12:40Optimizing the Value Chain - 15:32GTM Strategy - 18:27Vertical SaaS Takeover - 23:30Payments in Vertical SaaS Businesses - 26:35Horizontal versus Vertical SaaS - 28:00Ending Questions - 30:15
Episode Chapters:
As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback. -
In today's episode, we're joined by Daniel Fetner, a General Partner at Alpaca. Before joining Alpaca, Daniel founded Soil Connect, a SaaS-enabled marketplace to manage and acquire soil. Daniel joined Alpaca in 2018 as Chief of Staff and later moved into an investor role. At Alpaca, he primarily focuses on real estate and construction tech. Daniel dives into how he recruited for VC, why specialization matters, PropTech as a standalone category, and the current state of the market.
Founding Soil Connect - 1:45Founder -> Funder - 4:36Alpaca's 4 Founder Strategy - 10:47Category Specialization as an Investor - 13:40PropTech Evolution - 16:12Hardware meets Software - 21:40 PropCo/OpCo Structure - 23:15Real Estate Tech Enablement - 26:35Multiples Leveling Off - 28:00Ending Questions - 29:43
Episode Chapters:
As always, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback. - Show more
