Understanding VC - SoundSage

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Discover how SquareFi is transforming cross-border payments and stablecoin infrastructure by leveraging regulatory advancements and innovative technology. Join Anton Lobintsev as he shares insights on building lean, scalable fintech solutions, navigating regulations across jurisdictions, and the future vision of a seamless global settlement network.

Key Topics:

The evolution of stablecoin infrastructure in response to regulation (US, UAE, Canada) and its impact on fintech

SquareFi’s integrated API and white-label solutions for embedding banking, cards, and cross-border rails

The strategic separation of SquareFi as a B2B2C platform and Mosta as a consumer-facing product

Building a nimble, top-tier technical team with minimal headcount and leveraging AI automation

The role of compliance (90%) versus technology (10%) in fintech development

The opportunity of stablecoins in global remittances and cross-border payments—market size and potential

Future vision: a global, accessible settlement network utilizing native stablecoins, agents, and embedded finance

Timestamps:

00:00 - The regulatory landscape sparking innovation in stablecoin infrastructure

00:35 - How SquareFi consolidates fintech services into a single API platform

01:41 - The differentiation between SquareFi and Mosta: B2B2X versus direct consumer

03:13 - The importance of compliance and regulation in fintech strategy

04:44 - Expanding product offerings via API, white labels, and licensing paths

05:23 - The evolution from real estate tokenization to stablecoin-focused payments

07:12 - Global regulatory progress and the US as a key market for stablecoins

08:33 - Licensing strategies across Canada, US, UAE, and Switzerland

09:36 - Raising Series A to fund expansion, licenses, and top-tier talent

15:10 - Building a lean, highly skilled tech team responsible for specific domains

18:10 - Leveraging AI for automation—Dennis’ CRM system and customer support bots

22:36 - Market opportunities in stablecoins and global settlement network vision

23:18 - What could cause SquareFi to fail—and how resilience is built

24:34 - Unfair advantages: one-stop infrastructure, adaptable orchestration system, proprietary stablecoin

26:52 - Insights into selling embedded finance solutions to fintechs and non-fintechs

29:28 - The ultimate vision: a connected, global, low-cost settlement network with agents and local partners

32:20 - Closing remarks and future outlook for SquareFi

Resources & Links:

SquareFi Official Website

Mosta.io - Consumer Payment Platform

Connect with Anton Lobintsev:

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Summary

In this conversation, George discusses TaxNova, an AI-powered platform that automates the R&D tax credit process for tech companies. He shares his personal journey as a founder, the role of AI in streamlining tax claims, and the challenges faced in the traditional claims process. George emphasizes the importance of efficiency and compliance, the significance of funding and accelerator experiences, and the market potential for TaxNova. He also addresses the collaboration with tax advisors and the unique advantages of being an outsider in the industry.Takeaways

TaxNova automates the R&D tax credit process for tech companies.

The founder's journey is deeply personal and reflects their strengths.

AI is transforming paperwork-heavy tasks in tax claims.

The claims process is often inefficient and burdensome for companies.

Efficiency and compliance are critical in tax claims.

Funding from angels and operators is crucial at the pre-seed stage.

The market for R&D tax credits is substantial and growing.

Collaboration with tax advisors is essential for final submissions.

Understanding the target audience is key to market positioning.

Being an outsider can provide unique insights and advantages.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to TaxNova and Its Purpose

03:19 The Founder’s Journey and Motivation

06:09 The Role of AI in Tax Credit Claims

08:56 Understanding the Claims Process

12:02 Efficiency and Quality in Tax Claims

15:06 Funding Journey and Accelerator Experience

17:41 Milestones and Future Goals

20:34 Market Positioning and Competition

23:40 Collaboration with Tax Advisors

26:22 Target Audience and Market Size

29:26 Challenges and Unfair Advantages

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🕰️ Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction

00:44 - Having Multiple Term Sheets

04:39 - Real-Life Fundraising Scenarios

07:27 - Strategies for Effective Fundraising

11:08 - ‘Best Outcome’ when Raising Funding

14:10 - Single v/s Multiple Term Sheets

18:33 - How to secure Multiple Term Sheets

25:37 - Role of Investors in Fundraising

30:15 - VC Support in Fundraising

34:07 - Timing and Control in Fundraising

38:35 - Managing Investor Relationships

41:41 - Delaying Dataroom is a Negative Sign?

43:59 - Prioritizing & Qualifying Investors for Intro Calls

47:25 - Purpose of Intro Calls

51:51 - Do well-run fundraising processes correlate with company success?

54:44 - Communicating through the Fundraising process

56:14 - Conclusion

About
Camila is a General Partner at Grand Ventures. In this role, she identifies promising investment opportunities across the firm’s sectors of interest, works closely with portfolio companies on strategy development and implementation, and spearheads fundraising and operations for the firm.

Camila has 12+ years of venture capital, consulting, and corporate experience. Prior to Grand Ventures, Camila worked at General Electric holding management positions within finance, portfolio management and business strategy. She spent six years at GE Ventures, playing a crucial role in building the foundation for it to become one of the most active corporate venture capital firms in the country, and managing a portfolio of over 150 investment companies. She has also held operational roles in startups, including an extensive project with Zinc, a GE Ventures portfolio company acquired by ServiceMax, and Imaginare Studios, a company she co-founded with two MBA colleagues.

Her recent recognitions include being named a Venture Capital’s Rising Star 2024 (PEI), 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan (Crain’s 2024), and 39 Most Important VCs in the Midwest (Insider 2022).

She is a class 27 Kauffman Fellow and currently serves as a Board Director of the Michigan Venture Capital Association. Most recently she co-founded the Great Lakes Venture Capital Association.

Camila earned a BBA from the Universidade Federal da Bahia in Brazil and received her MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

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📍 About:

Understanding VC is a podcast that provides founders with the knowledge and resources they need to understand venture capital. Our goal is to create the best and most comprehensive resource on venture capital on the internet, so that founders can make informed decisions about their businesses and secure the funding they need to succeed.

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🕰️ Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction

00:48 - Opening Question

01:08 - Challenges in Evaluating Founders

03:56 - Assessing Founders

06:58 - Market and Product Assessments

09:25 - Founder-led companies do better at later stages?

12:00 - The Importance of Quantitative Assessments

13:14 - Psychological and Motivational Discernment

16:24 - Value Creation in AI

20:30 - Framework for Assessing Founders

24:32 - Storytelling + Narrative

26:43 - Vision

31:35 - Inquisition + Curiosity

33:42 - Grit and Drive

35:40 - Do Founders really need External Validation?

37:51 - Irreverence for Status Quo

39:53 - Resourcefulness in Time and Money

41:46 - Magnetism

45:56 - Superpowers

50:32 - Not-So “Ideal” Founders

51:45 - Curiosity as Sign of Intelligence

54:45 - Adapting to Time Constraints

01:01:09 - Conclusion

📍 About:

Born and raised in Philadelphia, James Shecter began his journey into entrepreneurship and venture capital as an undergraduate, where he served as a strategist and consultant for several student-run startups, including Seated and Transcend. He launched his professional career at Citibank in New York City, providing multi-stage M&A advisory services in the aerospace and business services sectors. Following this, he transitioned to Lee Equity, a middle-market private equity firm, where he was involved in various transactions within the fintech/insurtech and healthcare industries.

Most recently, James worked at 9Yards Capital, a growth-stage venture capital firm based in Los Angeles, where he contributed to deploying over $50 million into fintech, logistics, and enterprise startups such as Chainalysis, LeafLink, and Remote HR. Additionally, he co-leads The MBA Fund, an institutional seed fund that supports entrepreneurs from the Harvard, Stanford, and University of Pennsylvania ecosystems.

Since his high school years, James has been actively engaged in mentoring, tutoring, and coaching students from inner-city Philadelphia. He holds an MBA from Wharton and a BA in Behavioral Economics from Harvard. Outside of his professional pursuits, James enjoys surfing, reading, and writing, and is working towards building a collection of guitars as functional decor for his future home.

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🕰️ Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction

00:42 - Purpose of a Pitch

02:15 - Defining the Outcome of Your Pitch

05:32 - Elements of Persuasion in a Pitch

12:08 - Different Types of Pitches

17:57 - Core of a Great Pitch

21:29 - Crafting an Effective Pitch

24:27 - Structuring the Pitch for Funding

28:22 - Right People to Practice Pitch to

30:06 - What Investors Look for in Startups

33:30 - Structuring Your Pitch for Maximum Impact

38:39 - Handling Q&A Sessions Effectively

41:14 - How should you End the Pitch?

45:18 - How often should Startups change the Pitch as it Progresses

47:43 - Should you seek feedback after a pitch?

50:55 - Importance of Visuals and Demos in a Pitch

55:36 - You are the Pitch

01:00:01 - Conclusion

📍 About:

Kris Childress is the Managing Partner at Kris Consulting, a Singapore-based consultancy helping early-stage tech startups. With a rich background in business development, technology commercialization, and strategic storytelling, Kris has played a pivotal role in the success of noted Singapore ventures such as Zimplistic, Equatorial Space, and NEU Battery Materials, providing expert guidance in pitching, business ideation, and strategy.

As the Mentor-in-Residence at the National University of Singapore’s Enterprise Incubator, Kris works closely with university spin-offs, providing hands-on mentoring to help them navigate the early stages of development. He likes to describe his focus as Ideation, Validation, and Narration for early-stage ventures. Kris was also part of the teaching and consulting team for the NUS Graduate Research Innovation Program (GRIP) for over 5 years, where he guided a number of startups towards market success.

Prior to moving to Singapore, Kris was deeply involved in business development for several U.S.-based technology companies in hardware, software, and consulting services. He holds a degree in Biology from a leading American university and has lived in Singapore for more than 17 years with his Singaporean wife and their two dogs, Zac and Zofie.

In addition to his professional endeavours, Kris is an avid reader with wide-ranging interests, which he says has been essential to his work as a mentor. Kris and his wife are also passionate travellers, having recently visited and kayaked in Antarctica for the first time.

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🕰️ Timestamps:

00:42 Success Metrics for Series A Fundraising

01:29 Industry Averages and Market Trends

02:11 Factors Influencing Graduation Rates

04:07 The Importance of Support and Playbooks

05:43 Developing Benchmarks and KPIs

10:54 Case Study: Tecto's Roadmap to Series A

12:46 Challenges and Common Gaps in Planning

17:56 Defining and Achieving Product-Market Fit

28:43 Go-to-Market Strategy Principles

30:05 Exploring Growth Channels

31:04 Key Metrics for Success

32:21 Pricing Strategies

35:53 Building a Strong Team

40:19 Financial Metrics and Burn Rates

42:39 Planning for Series A

45:37 Adapting to Challenges

50:25 Crafting a Compelling Equity Story

54:39 Ideal Metrics for Series A

57:45 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

📍About:

Christian Meermann is a Founding Partner at Cherry Ventures. After some years at The Boston Consulting Group, Christian joined Zalando as their first CMO. Christian was responsible for building up and managing the group’s marketing efforts (i.e. performance marketing, CRM, PR, TV and brand marketing). He then joined the Management Board of Peek&Cloppenburg and was responsible for the company’s online business. He holds a diploma in business administration from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. He has lived and worked in the U.S., Spain, Brazil and South Africa. Christian gets excited about founders that are as passionate about execution as they are about building a strong and sustainable brand. He has a particular focus on logistics and mobility as well food technology companies.

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🕰️ Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction

00:50 - Opportunity in AI

02:39 - OverInvestment in LLMs

05:37 - Impact of AI on Jobs

07:19 - Value Creation in the Application layer

10:32 - SaaS evolving into AI Agents

12:48 - Exaggeration of Capabilities in Gartner Hype Cycle

19:22 - Human Brain v/s LLMs

21:53 - Cost of doing Search is High

27:42 - What is Accelerated Computing

31:42 - Limitations of LLMs

36:57 - LLM progress curve is Plateauing?

38:49 - Opportunity for VC in AI Space

43:15 - Will future Startups be High Margin?

44:25 - Conclusion

📍 About:

Itamar is a solo capitalist and the founder of Recursive Ventures, a pre-seed fund focused on fintech, AI and emerging tech startups. Itamar has been on all sides of the startup table: as a founder and executive, an institutional VC, and an angel investor. He has supported over 50 successful startups, including Deel, Honeybook, Placer, Credible (IPO), MileIQ (acquired by Microsoft), Automatic Labs (acquired by SiriusXM), Tile (acquired by Life360), SafeGraph, and Armory. He’s been recognized by Business Insider as a Top 100 global seed investor. As an operator, he helped take Life360 from Seed to IPO, scaling the business to over $250m in revenue. Before that, Itamar was a founding team member and head of Product at Gigya (acquired by SAP). He holds an MBA from Berkeley Haas and an undergraduate degree in computer science from the Tel-Aviv Jaffa College.

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🕰️ Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction

03:54 - Importance of Branding in Startups

07:42 - Hugh on starting JFDI

17:33 - Importance of Mentorship

20:44 - How to attract great people

26:06 - Measuring relevant Progress Metrics in Accelerators

29:41 - Selection in Accelerators

32:17 - What’s a ‘Great’ Outcome for an Accelerator?

35:50 - Lessons from running JFDI

38:53 - Startup Ecosystem in Singapore

49:25 - Do top entrepreneurs still value accelerator programs?

📍 About Hugh:

Hugh Mason is a UK-born entrepreneur and investor based in Singapore, best known as the co-founder and CEO of JFDI Asia (Joyful Frog Digital Incubator), Southeast Asia's first startup accelerator, established in 2010. With a background in electronic engineering and media production, he has produced over 150 documentaries for major networks before transitioning to the startup ecosystem. Under his leadership, JFDI has invested around USD 3 million in over 70 startups, emphasising the importance of storytelling and community in entrepreneurship. Hugh continues to mentor emerging entrepreneurs and has co-authored books on startup journeys.

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In this episode you will learn:

00:00 - Introduction

01:32 - Easy to build good relationships with Investors?

03:55 - Importance of a Good Relationship with Investors

05:59 - Size and Strategy of a fund affects Founder-VC Relationship

07:37 - Components of a Successful Relationship

09:04 - Hummingbird’s POV on Investor interference

12:16 - VCs' Role in Crucible Moments

14:39 - Power Dynamics in Founder-VC Relationships

16:35 - Can Investors and Founders be good friends?

21:03 - Scenarios Leading to Founder-Investor Friction

26:36 - Handling Co-Founder Breakups

28:29 - Evolution of Founder-Investor Relationships

34:49 - Measuring the Founder-Investor Relationship

35:57 - Conclusion

About

Akshay leads investments in both emerging markets and global fintech at Hummingbird.

Previously, Akshay worked at Citigroup, where he raised equity capital for large corporations, and at Artivest (acquired), where he helped build and grow a platform that enables retail capital to access alternative investments. During graduate school, Akshay had the opportunity to work with MIT's $25 billion endowment fund.

In his spare time, Akshay records music and writes about founders in his newsletter, 'Amplify'.

He holds an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT and a BA in Economics with a minor in Ethnomusicology from Franklin & Marshall College.

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In this episode you will learn:

00:00 Introduction

01:28 The Prestige and Challenges of VC

03:28 Arun Pai's Journey into Venture Capital

04:08 Breaking into Investment Banking

06:17 Transitioning from Banking to Startups

07:57 Joining Monk's Hill Ventures

09:04 Advice for Aspiring VCs

11:59 The Fluidity of the VC Industry

12:29 Who Should Become a VC?

15:19 Skills and Specialization in VC

22:58 Building Relationships and Reputation

27:19 Transitioning to Quantitative Roles

27:34 Understanding VC Roles and Value

28:27 Challenges in Breaking into Investment Teams

29:39 Building a 360-Degree Skill Set

30:13 Personal Journey into VC

33:23 VC Interview Process

35:13 Importance of Partner Buy-In

36:47 Why Do You Want to Become a VC?

39:10 Monk's Hill Philosophy

41:48 Due Diligence in VC Hiring

42:22 The Excitement of Being a VC

43:42 Challenges in High Conviction Investing

47:20 The Importance of Networking and Luck

48:37 Burnout and Specialization in VC

51:16 Balancing Experience and Staying Updated

52:53 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

About:

Arun is a Principal at Monk’s Hill Ventures, based in Singapore and responsible for deal sourcing, due diligence and investment analysis and research. Arun brings over 15 years of experience in Finance and Tech start-ups.

Prior to joining MHV, Arun spent the last 6 years in the startup ecosystem as a C-level executive. He was the Chief Sales & Strategy Officer at Flow, where he managed growth and capital raising initiatives for the company leading to its acquisition. Prior to that, he was the Chief Kristals Officer, one of the first employees at Kristal.AI. He started his career and spent just under a decade in investment banking at Lehman Brothers and, subsequently, at Nomura across New York, Hong Kong & Singapore.

Arun graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.

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In this episode you will learn:

00:00 Introduction to Corporate Entrepreneurship

00:27 Welcome to Understanding VC

00:34 Introducing Sebastien Picard and xcube

01:08 Understanding Venture Studios

02:10 xcube's Unique Approach

02:42 The Corporate Venture Portfolio Equity Model

05:40 Real-World Applications and Examples

06:50 Challenges and Solutions in Financial Inclusion

10:27 The Role of Ecosystems in Innovation

13:24 Benefits for Startups, Investors, and Corporations

18:15 The CVPE Model: A New Investment Class

29:13 Psychological Support for Entrepreneurs

32:40 Measuring Success and Future Evolution

39:33 Conclusion and Next Steps for xcube

About

Sebastien Picard is a seasoned entrepreneur known for his expertise in early-stage innovative ventures.

Sebastien has a proven track record of launching and growing multiple successful businesses across Asia, North America and Europe. His relentless determination, visionary and strategic mindset, and humility set him apart as a business leader.

Sebastien founded xcube in 2023, xcube is a Singapore based corporate venture studio specialises in building ventures through a unique ecosystem approach.

Established from Sebastien's entrepreneurial insights and brought to life by a talented core team, xcube embodies his vision and entrepreneurial experiences, paving the way for innovative ventures to thrive.

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📍 About:

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In this episode you will learn:

00:00 Introduction to Big Business and Market Size

01:23 Conversation with Xi'an Co on Big Markets

01:28 Importance of Identifying Big Markets

03:18 Challenges and Considerations for Founders

05:07 Defining and Evaluating Big Markets

05:58 Insights from Famous Market Examples

09:51 Understanding Customer Experience and Market Dynamics

12:20 Evaluating Unit Economics and Team Dynamics

15:21 Prioritization and Roadmap for Startups

24:09 Challenges of Digital Targeting

25:15 Importance of Customer Experience

26:53 Product and Market Dynamics

27:25 Creating New Markets

31:39 Understanding Customer Problems

37:02 Iterative Product Development

40:17 Surprising Success Stories

44:42 Final Thoughts and Reflections

About

Shiyan Koh is an experienced operator and investor. She is currently a Co-Founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund, a global pre-seed venture fund. Prior to Hustle Fund, she was VP of Business Operations & Corp Dev at NerdWallet (employee #10), growing annual revenue from $1 million to more than $150 million. Before NerdWallet, she was an investor at Institutional Venture Partners and Bridgewater Associates.

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📍 About:

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In this episode you will learn:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:00:40 - Importance of Managing Finances for Startups

00:08:58 - Compliance Regulation for Startups

00:12:48 - Strategizing on resource allocation

00:15:48 - Startups offering inflated incentives

00:18:48 - Finding the right talent

00:23:34 - Basic Metrics startups should consider

00:28:36 - Startups operating on Low margins

00:29:33 - Reporting Spends to VC’s

00:34:55 - Investment rejection

00:36:53 - Unexpected challenges startups face

00:41:29 - Are managing Finances a necessity for Startups?

00:42:45 - Conclusion

About

Manoj Agarwal, Co-founder & Managing Partner at SeaFund, has 25+ years of experience in business leadership, investments, and strategy. He co-founded SeaFund, an early-stage venture fund, and currently leads capital raising for its new fund. Previously, he was CEO of Karuturi Global, a top agricultural transnational, and is an advisor to Latize, a Singaporean data management company. Manoj holds a computer science degree and completed an executive program at INSEAD.

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In this episode of PitchMeNot, host Rahul, alongside guest VC Michael Blakey, delve into the pioneering world of SoMin, an AI-powered SaaS marketing platform founded by Alex Farseev. SoMin distinguishes itself by optimizing digital advertising and competitor monitoring through advanced data analytics, aiming to significantly reduce costs and boost sales for its clients. The podcast covers SoMin's journey, it's product offerings (SoAds and SoMonitor), market fit, and the challenges it aims to address within the ad tech space, highlighting the annual wastage in ad spend and inefficiencies in ad targeting. Alex shares insights on SoMin's traction, revenue models, funding history, and future aspirations, including potential for IPO or acquisition, driven by a passion for transforming the advertising industry through technology. The episode concludes with a VC debrief, evaluating SoMin's pitch, the clarity of the problem statement, the strength of the founding team, product differentiation, and strategic growth plans.

00:00 Welcome to Pitch Me Note: The Startup Pitch Podcast

00:12 Introducing Today's Guests and Startup Focus

00:42 Diving Deep into SoMin: The AI-Powered Ad Tech Platform

01:25 Exploring the Core Problem SoMin Solves

01:51 Target Customers and Product Offerings

02:44 SoMin's Traction and Funding Journey

04:14 The Founder's Journey: From Developer to CEO

05:52 Achieving Customer Savings and Business Metrics

07:50 Customer Acquisition Strategies and Sales Cycle Insights

09:36 Leveraging Technology for Competitive Advantage

10:53 Funding Goals and the Vision for Growth

14:44 Transforming the Advertising Industry: A Visionary Goal

16:46 Staying Ahead in the Fast-Paced Ad Tech Landscape

19:31 Navigating Data Challenges in Marketing

19:45 The Importance of Staying Relevant and Innovative

20:19 Addressing the Rising Costs of Customer Acquisition

21:12 Strategic Ad Scaling and Performance Marketing Insights

21:58 Post-Pitch Debrief and Analysis

22:09 Evaluating the Problem Statement and Market Fit

25:54 Investor's Perspective on Ad Tech and Team Dynamics

35:20 Final Thoughts and Investment Considerations

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In this episode you will learn:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:31 - The US-India Saas Corridor

00:04:13 - Advantage of building Software in India

00:08:57 - Early GTM strategies for Companies

00:11:46 - How can Indian SaaS Companies compete in the US?

00:14:49 - Will the cost advantage of building software in India persist?

00:16:19 - Challenges faced by Indian Companies in the US

00:21:21 - VC’s expectations before investing

00:23:19 - When should SaaS companies target the US market?

00:28:15 - Finding Product Market Fit

00:32:38 - US Go-To Market Strategy

00:39:01 - Raising Funds in the US

00:42:06 - Building a Great Network in US

00:48:30 - Future of India-US SaaS Corridor

00:50:14 - Conclusion

About

Chanchal Bhoorani is an investor at WestBridge Capital, focusing on US-India Enterprise Software investments from their Silicon Valley office. WestBridge is a multi-stage investment firm with approximately $8 billion in evergreen capital.

Chanchal played a key role in sourcing Physics Wallah for their first round of financing, valuing the company at over $1 billion. She has also been instrumental in the firm's investment in Freshworks and other private deals.

Prior to WestBridge, Chanchal gained experience building large-scale B2B and B2C products. At Ola Cabs, India's leading ride-sharing company, she designed allocation and dynamic pricing algorithms as a product manager. She then led the product team for a fashion e-commerce marketplace in Southeast Asia during their high-growth period.

Chanchal holds a graduate degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an engineering degree from IIT Varanasi. When not working, she volunteers with organizations supporting female education and employment. She also enjoys cheering for underdogs in Formula One racing, hiking, and hosting game nights.

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In this episode you will learn:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:00:52 - About J-Ventures

00:02:57 - J-Ventures' VC Model in comparison to Traditional VCs

00:11:56 - Process of Onboarding LP’s

00:19:16 - Managing the community of LPs

00:20:29 - J-Ventures unique approach in VC

00:26:06 - J-Ventures’ investment mandate

00:30:50 - Value-based Investing in Companies

00:32:12 - Sourcing Companies for Investing

00:38:38 - Criteria for Evaluating Founders

00:42:06 - LP representation on Company Boards

00:46:36 - Needing Support v/s Being Self-Reliant

00:50:01 - Importance of Dialogue and Learning for first time founders

00:59:29 - Community led Model v/s Traditional VC Model of Investing

About

Oded Hermoni is an investor, entrepreneur and journalist. Since 2005, he has invested in over 70 companies (5 of which became Unicorns), as is currently the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of the J-Ventures Fund (a "Capitalist Kibbutz") in Silicon Valley. Oded is active in philanthropic organizations and has been a Board Member at the Jewish Federation SF, JFCS, Friends of Hebrew University, ICON, Intro, and more.

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This video is sponsored by Digital Prizm.

📍Digital Prism, the Singapore-based digital transformation expert which help you transform your business digitally. From product development to enhancing your online presence, they've got you covered!

🎁The first 10 sign-ups receive a whopping 20 hours of free consultation! Secure your complimentary consultation and unlock your business's digital potential today!!

In this episode you will learn:

00:03:09 - Relationship between Good Founding Teams

00:08:16 - Personality Disorders amongst Founders

00:11:59 - Major Reason for Conflict amongst Founders

00:14:09 - Risk Taking ability of the Founders

00:16:38 - Investor Response to Founder Conflicts Post-Investment

00:20:16 - Resolving Founding Team Conflicts

00:21:58 - Founder Red Flags Investors Look out for

00:25:33 - Tackling Founder Ego

00:27:09 - Impact of Founder Conflict on Company’s Success

00:30:52 - How can Startups navigate Product Market Fit?

00:35:58 - Resources to Educate Founders to tackle Conflicts

00:38:22 - Conclusion

About:

Will Klippgen is a Singapore-based Norwegian entrepreneur and technology venture capitalist who co-founded the price comparison portal Zoomit.com (later merged with Kelkoo, which was sold to Yahoo! in 2004). He served as one of the judges on the television series Angel's Gate, which was broadcast on Channel NewsAsia in 2012. Will is a co-founder and serves as the Managing Partner at Cocoon Capital. He holds an MBA from INSEAD where he is an Entrepreneur in Residence.

He has invested in over 55 startups in Singapore and across the world since 2004. His investments include PropertyGuru, Anacle Systems, ReferralCandy, Nugit, Tickled Media, iXiGO.com, See-Mode Technologies, SensorFlow, GuardRails, BuyMed and Augmentus.

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This video is sponsored by Digital Prizm. (https://www.digitalprizm.net)

🎁The first 10 sign-ups receive a whopping 20 hours of free consultation! Secure your complimentary consultation and unlock your business's digital potential today!

In this episode you will learn:

02:30 - Origins of Venture Studios

09:02 - Venture Studios vs Accelerators

13:49 - Higher Startup Success Rates with Venture Studios?

18:43 - Founder Obsession with Idea: Key to Startup Success?

24:35 - Evaluating Founders for Outbound Opportunities

31:44 - Founders: Domain Expertise vs Quick Learners

33:49 - Corporate Collaboration with Venture Studios

39:14 - Equity Ownership for Founders in Venture Studios

45:08 - Challenges Faced by Venture Studios

46:39 - Collaboration with LPs in Venture Studios

53:11 - Managing Multiple Studios within a Venture Studio

59:13 - Who Should Start a Venture Studio?

01:01:43 - Conclusion

About:
Sam is an entrepreneur, venture builder, board advisor and investor. He works with pre-seed and seed-stage entrepreneurs & investors to build startups & venture studios.

In 2017, he founded Rainmaking APAC Venture Studio. Rainmaking APAC is today one of the largest venture development companies in the region, and was acquired by Bain & Company in 2023.

The companies that have been built and scaled by Rainmaking APAC have generated $880m in funding and hold a combined equity value of more than $9bn. Through his work with Rainmaking APAC, Sam has also pioneered a range of equity-share models of corporate venture building.

Sam’s focus is on building companies, supporting venture build ecosystems, and creating and empowering venture builders. He believes that entrepreneurship is one of the best means that we have of offering fulfilling work and creating the conditions required to unlock the potential in our global workforce at scale.

Prior to launching Rainmaking APAC Venture Studio, Sam was a founder and early team member in startups in Europe, and invested in startups through an early-stage accelerator. These experiences as founder, operator and investor shaped the thinking, philosophy, process and governance structure that he now applies to venture building at scale in the Rainmaking APAC Venture Studio.

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In this episode you will learn:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:00:42 - Optical vs Quantum Computing

00:03:11 - Basics of Photonic Computing

00:07:15 - Challenges in using Optics for Compute

00:09:44 - Under-utilization of Compute for Data Transfer

00:13:19 - Segments and Opportunities in Photonics

00:20:08 - Lumai's Approach in Optical Processing

00:21:55 - Importance of Optical Computing in AI Progress

00:27:21 - Industries Benefiting from Optical Computing Breakthroughs

00:30:10 - Talent and Startups in Optical Computing

00:33:12 - Backgrounds of Optical Computing Founders

00:34:09 - Do we need Quantum Computing?

00:41:09 - Challenges of Optical Computing

00:43:29 - Investment Opportunities in Optical Computing

00:45:07 - Business Models for Optical Computing Startups

00:50:54 - Exits and Acquisitions: Problem Size and Tech Maturity

About

Denis Kalinin, serving as the Asia Business Development Manager at Runa Capital since 2020, plays a pivotal role in advancing Runa's initiatives across Asia. His primary focus lies in facilitating the entry of portfolio startups into Asian markets, with a special emphasis on China. Denis actively seeks out suitable technological and distribution partners for these startups, while also contributing to the scouting efforts for B2B SaaS, Deep Tech, and Fintech startups in the Asian region.

Before joining Runa, Denis led an investment project in China and co-founded a startup dedicated to assisting high-tech companies in navigating the Chinese market. Holding an M.S. degree from the University for International Business and Economics in Beijing, Denis also gained valuable international exposure through an exchange program at the Free University of Berlin. Notably, he served as the chairman of a student Energy Club during his academic tenure.

Fluent in English, German, and Chinese, Denis has a penchant for watching series and reading books in these three languages. Beyond his professional pursuits, Denis exhibits a keen interest in space exploration, having authored several articles comparing various space industries.

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In this episode you will learn:

00:00 - Introduction

01:54 - Talent Investing & Fundamentals

03:28 - Talent Investing vs. Recruitment

05:10 - What Talent Investors Look For

08:11 - Characteristics of Great Talent Investors

14:14 - Early Discovery of Exceptional Individuals

16:22 - Finding Exceptional Talent

17:58 - Characteristics of a Great Founder

23:48 - Challenges in Finding the Right Founders

26:37 - Fear of Failure

31:07 - Role of Family and Childhood

34:02 - Decision to Become a Founder

37:54 - Co-Founders with Complimentary Skillsets

42:09 - Increased productivity w/ a Co-Founder
52:18 - EF’s Ecosystem

54:36 - EF's Graduate vs. Core Programs

01:01:17 - Conclusion

About

Rahul Samat, Partner and India Head at Entrepreneur First, brings over 14 years of experience as a founder, builder, and mentor. He holds a Master's in Science from the University of Pennsylvania and completed a scholarship program at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Rahul started his career in banking at Barclays Investment Bank and later joined Capital One. In 2014, he co-founded InnerChef, a VC-backed startup, and in 2016, he became the Head of Private & Strategic Brands at Swiggy. In 2022, Rahul joined Entrepreneur First to lead and expand the team in India, focusing on supporting entrepreneurs from the pre-idea stage to fundraising through EF's investor network.

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In this episode you will learn:

[00:00:00] Introduction

[00:02:42] Mehak explains startup convertible notes.

[00:05:00] Improvements and challenges in Indian startup regulations.

[00:06:24] Foreign fundraising challenges and issues.

[00:09:24] Angel tax impact on startups and investors.

[00:11:46] Impact of recent FinTech regulatory changes.

[00:13:24] Data Protection Bill overview and startup cost implications.

[00:15:06] Crowdfunding platforms in India.

[00:17:51] Pandemic's impact on fundraising and startup valuations.

[00:19:00] Mehak on ESG importance in Indian startups.

[00:21:24] ESG due diligence and compliance indemnities.

[00:23:00] Explanation of indemnity in negotiations.

[00:25:50] Fundraising terms becoming founder and investor-friendly.

[00:26:55] Discussion on equity, preference shares, convertible notes, and debentures.

[00:28:46] Mehak on equity-debt debate and finding the right balance.

[00:29:54] Factoring vs. Debt Instruments: SAS companies and cash flow.

[00:30:47] Investor-Friendly Terms: Founder lock-in and escrow securities.

[00:33:23] Key Investor Rights: Preemptive, anti-dilution, and exit rights.

[00:34:46] Impact of Governance Issues: Control over founders and compliance focus.

[00:36:31] Founder's Response to Compliance Challenges: Establishing compliance departments and seeking advice.

[00:37:32] Compliance Verticals: ESG, tax, financial, data, and IP compliance.

[00:40:33] Challenge of Compliance in India: Navigating through myriad laws.

[00:41:41] Improvements in Contract Enforcement: Faster judicial remedies.

[00:43:18] Streamlining Labor Laws: Indian government's efforts through labor codes.

[00:45:50] Contractual Compliance: Focus on watertight contracts.

[00:47:38] Compliance Verticals: ESG, tax, financial, data, and IP compliance.

[00:49:46] Investor Checks and Balances: Emphasizing checks and balances.

[00:50:59] Post Fraud or Embezzlement Remedies: Founder clawback and exit clauses.

[00:53:19] Directors and Officers Liability Insurance: Protecting investor representatives.

[00:55:16] Positive Trend: Increasing importance of due diligence and compliance.

About

A seasoned corporate lawyer with 15 years of experience in law firms and in-house legal departments, Mehak has led strategic legal advice for both large, established companies and fast-growing tech startups, as well as investors. She has overseen intricate restructuring and M&A transactions, from orchestrating contract drafting and negotiations to delivering corporate advisory services and managing real estate deals. Her expertise extends beyond practice areas to include sector-specific advice in a wide range of fields, such as FMCG, manufacturing, technology/digital, sports, food, telecommunications, entertainment, e-commerce, and retail. She is a recipient of prestigious awards, including the ET Prime Women Leadership Award 2021, Asian Legal Business India Rising Star 2021, FORBES Under 40 Top General Counsel 2020, and the 40 Under 40 Rising Star Award by Legal Era 2020. Mehak regularly engages with industry and economy in forums and media such as Mint, Business Standard, and News18.

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In this episode you will learn:
[00:00:00] Introduction

[00:05:15] Building an Enduring Firm

[00:08:00] Challenges of Partnership Culture

[00:10:43] Personal Brand vs Firm Brand

[00:13:00] Succession Planning

[00:17:00] Long-Term Commitment

[00:19:00] LP Relationships

[00:20:55] Advantages of a Partnership

[00:21:37] Benefits of Scale

[00:21:52] Building a Great Firm and Naming

[00:23:00] Soft Aspects of Building a Firm

[00:24:59] Unifying Themes in Firms

[00:27:00] Progression in Venture Capital

[00:29:40] Motivation and Managing a Firm

[00:31:20] Understanding Carry

[00:35:00] Managing Long-Term Careers

[00:39:07] Carry Allocation

[00:42:45] Team Dynamics and Carry Distribution

[00:43:50] Inclusion of Back-Office in Incentives

[00:44:40] Building a Successful VC Firm

[00:45:56] Firm Evolution

[00:47:32] Transition to a Bigger Institution

[00:49:25] Challenges in Talent Retention

[00:53:00] Philosophical Differences and Firm Evolution

[00:57:00] Risks in VC Industry

[01:02:00] Solo GPs vs. Venture Firms

[01:04:38] Building a Healthy VC Firm

About

Hussein is a partner at Hoxton Ventures. He currently represents Hoxton on the boards of Avantia Law, Baseimmune, BeyondRisk, Biocortex, Biotx, DruidAI, Finesse, Fy!, Giraffe360, Kbox, Kitt, Luminary, Peptone, PillSorted, Raptor Supplies, Really Clever, Rensair, Replai, Replan, Skin Analytics, TourRadar and XYZ Reality, and serves as a board observer on Behavox and Karakuri. He previously served on the boards of Babylon Health (NYSE:BBLN), bd4travel (acquired by Dnata), Campanja (acquired by 24/7 Media), Darktrace (LSE:DARK), Deliveroo (LSE:ROO), Panakeia, SOCOS (acquired by Sophos), Yieldify (acquired by Publicis) and Vidya Health.

Hussein serves on the board of UCLB, the commercialization company of UCL and also sits on the advisory board of GTO Partners, a tech mid-market buyout firm, and Landscape, a venture capital review site. Previously he served on the board of Tech Nation, a UK quasi non-governmental organization. In a personal capacity, he is an angel investor in Apex:E3, Builder.ai, Callaly, GoCardless, Mellizyme, MyGlamm, Reachdesk and Signpost.

While forming Hoxton, he helped Eros STX Global develop ErosNow, an online streaming video platform for Bollywood. Prior to Hoxton, Hussein was an associate with Accel Partners. He joined Accel from Microsoft Corporation. Earlier in his career, he worked with three startups, Safe-View (acquired by L-3), Radiance Technologies (acquired by Comcast) and Studio Verso (acquired by KPMG).

Hussein holds an MBA from London Business School and did his undergraduate studies in Symbolic Systems at Stanford University.

He stubbornly refuses to swear allegiance to a monarch and remains a proud American.

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In this episode you will learn:

00:00 Introduction to Voluntary Carbon Markets

01:51 Exploring the Controversy Around Carbon Offsetting Firm Southport

05:14 Defining Carbon Credits and Carbon Offsets

11:09 The Challenges of Carbon Sequestration

19:59 The Role of Nature-Based Solutions in Carbon Markets

25:28 The Struggles and Potential of Nature-Based Carbon Credits

29:28 The Need for Both Engineering and Nature-Based Solutions

30:15 The Impact of Energy Sources on Carbon Credit Calculations

31:05 The Importance of Clean Energy

31:32 Challenges of Carbon Dioxide Capture

32:30 Potential Low-Energy Solutions for Carbon Capture

33:28 Discussion on Carbon Capture Techniques

34:08 The Role of Rock Weathering in Carbon Capture

34:48 The Potential of Carbonates in Carbon Sequestration

37:04 Challenges in the Voluntary Carbon Market

38:07 The Role of Compliance Market in Carbon Reduction

38:53 The Impact of Corporate Carbon Reduction Goals

39:43 The Need for More Credible Carbon Projects

40:34 The Role of Government and Companies in Carbon Reduction

52:01 The Rise of Climate-Focused Startups

55:04 The Business Models of Climate Startups

59:03 The Future of Carbon Capture Startups

About:
Maryanna Saenko is an early-stage venture capitalist and cofounder of Future Ventures. She invests in frontier technologies that make the world a better place, and don’t prey on human frailty. Recent investments have been across a wide swath of sectors, including nuclear fusion, sustainable agricultural and land management, bee immunology, women’s reproductive longevity, and the application of AI to everything from the construction industry to medical therapeutics. Previously she was at Khosla Ventures, and prior to that DFJ. She was also an investment partner at Airbus Ventures where she led a series of venture investments strategically aligned with Airbus’ future-of-aerospace initiatives. Before Airbus, Maryanna was a consultant at Lux Research and a research engineer at Cabot Corporation. She’s worked on lunar rovers, martian landers, driverless cars, and long-range low-frequency communication systems.

Maryanna graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BS in BioMedical Engineering and a BS and MS in Materials Science and Engineering.

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In this episode you will learn:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:37 - Productivity of Agriculture in India

00:05:34 - Why Manufacturing isn’t where it’s supposed to be

00:06:54 - Opportunities for Tech Investment in Agriculture

00:07:59 - Omnivore’s Investment Focus

00:09:27 - Life Sciences

00:11:28 - Can ALT protein address protein deficiency in the Indian diet?

00:13:52 - Structural Changes in Diet

00:19:04 - Opportunities in Life Sciences

00:23:05 - Policy Changes for Agriculture

00:27:52 - Land Reforms and Digitization

00:30:30 - Leasing Land

00:33:34 - Entrepreneurial Talent in Agri Tech

00:36:42 - Diverse Business Models in Agri Tech

00:38:06 - IPOs in Agri Tech

00:40:07 - Small Holder Farming

00:41:23 - Drawing Wisdom from Rudyard Kipling

About:
Mark co-founded Omnivore with Jinesh Shah in 2010. Previously, Mark was the Executive Vice President (Strategy & Business Development) at Godrej Agrovet, one of India’s foremost diversified agribusiness companies. At Godrej Agrovet, Mark was responsible for corporate strategy, M&A, R&D, and new business incubation. Earlier in his career, Mark worked for Syngenta and PFM. He earned a BA (Honors) from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he graduated as a Baker Scholar.

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In this episode you will learn:

00:00 Introduction and Overview

01:37 Debate on Investing in YC Startups

04:43 The Role of Accelerators in Startup Success

06:34 Benefits of Joining an Accelerator

08:31 The Challenges of Being a Startup Founder

15:01 Choosing the Right Accelerator

18:12 What Accelerators Look for in Startups

22:46 Investment Deal Terms for Accelerators

25:26 Reasons a Startup Might Not Join an Accelerator

25:37 Understanding the Role and Value of Accelerators

26:25 The Business Model of Accelerators

27:37 The Importance of Providing an Excellent Founder Experience

29:15 The Challenges of Running an Accelerator

30:53 Exploring Different Models: Venture Studios and Incubators

38:05 The Evolution and Future of Accelerators

42:35 The Competitive Landscape for Accelerators

47:02 The Impact of Tech Advancements on Accelerator Models

50:25 Why Choose Forum VC for B2B SaaS Startups

About:
Michael Cardamone is the CEO and Managing Partner at Forum Ventures. Prior to Forum Ventures, Michael was one of the first 30 employees at Box in a BD role and then led partnerships at AcademixDirect. He is also an angel investor in a dozen companies, including in the seed round of Flexport.

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In this episode you will learn:

00:00 - Introduction

01:21 - Who is a solo capitalist?

03:42 - What are the merits of being a solo capitalist?

07:50 - How is a solo capitalist helpful for a founder?

15:20 - Do solo GPs offer better founder friendly terms?

17:30 - Can solo capitalists be a bad deal for some founders?

22:10 - Why are LPs interested in backing solo GPs?

24:20 - Do solo capitalists charge lower management fees than LPs?

29:00 - Is there an upper limit to the fund size for solo capitalists?

30:08 - What are the challenges of being a solo capitalist?

35:40 - How should solo capitalists look at their succession?

36:40 - How can solo capitalists stay on top of their game while maintaining work-life balance?

38:50 - How do solo VCs and traditional firms differ in terms of diligence, sourcing, portfolio risk management, etc?

41:40 - How has being a solo capitalist become a ‘trend’ in the last five years?

47:50 - Are solo capitalists born out of the evolution of scout programs and super angels?

51:00 - Do founders' agile fundraising strategies match the support provided by solo capitalists?

56:00 - What is the next step in the evolution of solo GPs?

57:15 - Will solo capitalists operate like traditional firms when it comes to managing reserves?

01:00:00 - How will the relation between traditional VC firms and solo capitalists evolve?

01:03:33 - Conclusion

About

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In this episode you will learn:

00:00 - Introduction: The Essence of Startup Board Roles

00:34 - Board Governance vs. Decision-Making: An In-depth Exploration

00:37 - Understanding the Board of Directors and Their Vital Duties

10:25 - The Optimal Timing for Establishing a Business Board

16:50 - Defining 'Board Chairperson,' 'Board Observer,' and 'Non-Executive Board Member'

22:50 - Founder or Investor as Chair: A Crucial Decision and Its Rationale

23:55 - Finding the Right Board Size for Early-Stage Startups and Its Significance

27:00 - Strategies for Assembling Your Startup's Dream Board

31:40 - Red Flags to Watch Out for When Building Your Board

33:30 - Ideal Dynamics Among Board Members: A Guide for Startups

36:10 - Effective vs. Ineffective Communication Practices Between Founders and Investors

39:55 - Smooth Sailing Through Board Meetings: Best Practices

47:40 - The Mystery of Board Packs and Their Purpose

About
Joe is a coach to CEOs. He works with CEOs at start-ups, high growth to IPO to public companies to the big exit; helping define what it means to be a leader, how to create impact, how to grow alongside the business and how to change the world all while enjoying every part of that journey. Joe is a recovering neuroscientist, then a spell as an elementary school teacher as well as 15 years in tech, $20b in revenue, experience with 30+ startups & FTSE / Fortune 100 giants.

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In this episode you will learn:

[00:01:15] Purpose of Due Diligence: Caroline on the importance of due diligence for informed investment decisions and responsible investing

[00:03:00] Team Evaluation: Starting with the founding team's compatibility, execution ability, and responsiveness

[00:06:00] Advisor Relevance: Listing advisors who genuinely contribute value

[00:07:53] Confidence vs. Arrogance: Balancing self-confidence and avoiding arrogance for founders

[00:09:44] Team's Ability to Execute: Examining past experiences, references, and operational skills

[00:11:26] Team Dynamics and Skills: Assessing teamwork and complementary skills

[00:13:45] Motivation: Evaluating the team's motivation, especially in the early stages

[00:15:00] Ownership Percentage: Considering founder ownership's impact

[00:15:44] Online Background Checks: Basic online checks for red flags

[00:18:09] Professionalism and Responsiveness: Indications of founders' business approach

[00:20:00] Evaluating the Product: Understanding development, data, pricing, and product demos

[00:23:00] Competitive Differentiation: Assessing primary differentiators

[00:25:07] Finding Competitors: Methods for identifying competitors

[00:30:34] Market Sizing Strategies: Caroline's bottom-up approach to market sizing

[00:33:00] Market Size Threshold: Seeking markets greater than a billion dollars

[00:34:40] Timing Matters: Consideration of market growth timing

[00:35:24] Sales and Marketing Due Diligence: Early-stage focus on founder's vision and go-to-market strategy

[00:38:00] Red Flags in Sales and Marketing: Warning signs like high churn rates and unclear strategies

[00:40:38] Financial Due Diligence: Critical financial aspects, including balance sheets and revenue growth

[00:44:49] Financial Projections: Looking for realistic financial projections

[00:45:54] Exit Analysis: Assessing potential returns for fulfilling responsibilities to LPs

[00:49:33] Assessing Milestones: Founders' realistic funding goals

[00:51:26] References: Importance of talking to various references

[00:55:21] Timing of Due Diligence: The duration and starting point for due diligence

[00:58:00] Compromising on Due Diligence: Avoid rushing due diligence

[01:00:13] Challenges with Pre-Seed Due Diligence: Dealing with limited data

[01:02:27] Using Diligence Reports Internally: The role of diligence reports in the process

[01:04:36] Transparency with Founders: Benefits of sharing the diligence process with founders

About

Caroline is a Partner at VITALIZE Venture Capital, a seed stage venture fund that invests in the future of work. As Partner, Caroline spends her time sourcing and evaluating potential investments, managing the firm's diligence process, and supporting portfolio companies.

Prior to joining VITALIZE in 2018, Caroline worked for GE Ventures in San Francisco where she helped incubate and operate a startup in the drone space. Before transitioning into venture capital, Caroline worked in corporate finance for various GE businesses in Chicago, Atlanta, London, and San Francisco.

Caroline received a BBA with honors in math and psychology from Boston College and a Masters of Science in Management from the University of Notre Dame, where she was valedictorian of her class.

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Jyri's deck on How to Invest in Startups Even If You’re Not a VC

In this episode we discuss:

[00:01:14] Introduction: Defining "Dual Threat CEOs"

[00:02:35] Getting on Other People’s Cap Tables is About Developing Social Capital

[00:03:42] Importance of Starting Early in Your Career

[00:06:31] Turning Your Angel Investing into a Fund

[00:08:28] How to Invest with Limited Capital

[00:11:24] Thinking About Everything as an Opportunity to Invest

[00:14:57] Why You Should Invite Other Operators on Your Cap Table

[00:24:44] Exploring "Parallel Entrepreneurs"

[00:29:20] A Structured Approach to Angel Investing

[00:38:00] Importance of Starting Early in Your Career

[00:41:00] Why You Should Not Stop Investing

[00:42:42] Doubling Down on Your Winner

[00:48:00] Doing All This in the U.S. vs Europe

[00:52:18] How Jyri Invests in and Starts Companies at Yes VC

[00:55:29] Forming a Venture Studio Around a Single Exceptional Founder

[00:56:51] Having Multiple Parallel Successes

[00:57:29] Easier to Let One Fail When You Have Many, Psychological Benefits of Not Depending on One Thing
About:
Jyri Engeström is an early investor in Unity, Dapper Labs, Oura, and many other successful companies. Together with his partner Caterina Fake he runs Yes VC, an early stage firm based in San Francisco. Before starting Yes VC he founded two companies. The first one sold to Google, the second one to Groupon.

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In this episode we discuss
00:00:00 Introduction to Quantum Computing and Challenges

00:06:00 Quantum Computing Basics

00:10:45 Hardware Architectures and Quantum Systems

00:15:14 Progress and Challenges in Quantum Computing

00:21:44 Quantum Cryptography and Security

00:25:39 Challenges and Adoption of Quantum Computing

00:30:43 Quantum Computing's Business Applications

00:31:43 Investment in Quantum Computing

00:32:16 Hybrid Approach and Quantum-Classic Interaction

00:34:38 Human Influence on Quantum Outcomes

00:38:55 VC Funding for Quantum Startups

00:42:17 Risks and Assessment of Quantum Startups

00:50:41 Challenges and Future of Quantum Computing

00:52:07 Advice for Those Interested in Quantum Computing

About

Ion is a Principal at APEX Ventures, where he invests in European early-stage deep tech startups in the areas of quantum technologies, future computing, space and AI.

He brings over 12 years of experience at the intersection of technological breakthroughs and financial capital. He has a PhD in quantum physics from Heidelberg University and has previously worked as Chief Operating Officer at GlassDollar, VP Corporate Venturing at Bosch and Management Consultant at Oliver Wyman, while actively angel investing and mentoring startups for many years. He supports companies in fundraising, talent acquisition and strategic partnerships.

A passionate technical and rescue diver, Ion is based in Munich, Germany, with his wife and son.

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In this episode we discuss:

[00:37:00] Who is an angel investor?

[00:01:39] What is the average investment check size for angel investors these days?

[00:02:40] How is angel investing different from venture capital?

[00:04:07] Why has angel investing historically been concentrated in the U.S.?

[00:06:40] How has the angel investing landscape evolved, and what trends do you see?

[00:10:52] What are the advantages and disadvantages of being part of a syndicate or doing angel investing individually?

[00:13:20] How do you see technology and tools shaping the future of angel investing?

[00:15:22] What challenges are angel investors facing right now?

[00:17:46] When is the right time for an angel investor to make investments in startups?

[00:19:30] What types of companies should angel investors consider investing in?

[00:21:58] What are the misconceptions about angel investing?

[00:22:35] How can individuals decide if angel investing is right for them?

[00:24:33] What advice would you give to angel investors to be successful?

[00:28:25] What Is angel squad? Is it similar to a syndicate?

[00:31:38] How do you approach due diligence for investments in areas where you lack expertise?

[00:34:33] How do you negotiate investments and win allocation?

[00:36:50] How do you manage risk and approach making follow-on investments?

[00:41:47] How important is it to stay informed about emerging tech trends?

[00:44:44] What advice would you give for new angel investors?

[00:47:20] Why angel invest despite the high risk?

[00:50:56] Why are you passionate about angel investing and educating other people about Angel Investing?

About

Brian Nichols is the founder of Angel Squad, a program affiliated with the early-stage VC firm Hustle Fund. This initiative provides a unique opportunity to delve into the realm of angel investing, enabling you to both learn about and participate in investments alongside Hustle Fund in its portfolio companies. By joining Angel Squad, you not only gain access to a vibrant community of fellow angel investors and operators but also unlock a wealth of valuable resources pertaining to angel investing.

Brian's notable career highlights include pivotal contributions to the achievements of Lyft, Zoox, BlackBird, and others. In 2019, he partnered with Ann Miura-Ko to establish Uplyft, a syndicate catering to Lyft alumni. This endeavor attracted over 300 initial employees of Lyft, who collectively injected more than $30 million into the initiative. Brian's commendable reputation as a guiding figure in the realm of alumni syndicates further propelled him to share his expertise with renowned companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Pinterest, and DoorDash.

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In this episode we discuss:
[00:02:12] How did Nitin's definition of "impact" change over time?

[00:03:44] When did Nitin join the VC industry, and what was the market condition at that time?

[00:07:54] What was the most important lesson Nitin learned from his time at NEA (New Enterprise Associates)?

[00:10:50] How is the VC industry different in the US compared to India?

[00:16:06] What are some things that founders in India don't understand about VCs?

[00:20:29] Why did Nitin become interested in EdTech?

[00:23:00] What is Nitin's view on the future of EdTech in India and the role of AI in the sector?

[00:27:00] What is Antler and what is its mission in the startup ecosystem?

[00:28:23] What specific pain points is Antler India addressing for founders in the ideation phase?

[00:29:01] How does Antler differentiate itself from traditional venture capitalists?

[00:30:30] How does Antler's global network benefit startups in India and help them think about their products and teams differently?

[00:31:14] What does Antler focus on in the early stage investing process, particularly at the pre-seed stage?

[00:31:54] Does Antler only look for future founders in colleges or does it consider applicants from various backgrounds?

[00:32:35] What is the Antler India Fellowship, and how does it help democratize entrepreneurship?

[00:35:00] How does Antler reduce the cost of experimenting and building startups, and what are the key factors that Antler considers when evaluating founders?

[00:38:00] What are the challenges and limitations of venture capital in India?

[00:41:25] What factors make India a promising market for startups, and what are some counter examples that indicate the potential for significant success?

[00:44:00] What is the role of a VC, and what are the key learnings and qualities required to be successful in venture capital?

[00:47:29] How do ONDC and Web3 differ in their approach to decentralization, and what are the challenges and opportunities for both?

[00:52:15] What are some of the potential benefits of ONDC for small businesses in India, and how could it bridge the gap between digital payments and digital commerce?

[00:54:16] Where does Nitin see Antler India in 10 years and what is the desired impact on the startup ecosystem?

About
Nitin is a seasoned early-stage investor, having invested in 60+ tech startups in multiple geographies. With First Principles, he built a thesis-driven proprietary portfolio of 40+ angel investments backed by marquee investors. As the founder of Incrypt Blockchain, he has been the first Indian VC to play an active role in fostering India’s blockchain ecosystem. Nitin and his team have invested in 16 blockchain projects since 2017, with the Incrypt Blockchain portfolio spanning projects such as Arweave, Mudrex, OnJuno, BAT, Ocean, Molecule, Persistence and more.

Previously, Nitin was a founding team principal at Lightbox Ventures, one of India’s leading consumer-focused VCs, where he helped build the first two funds since the very inception.

Earlier in his career, he learnt the ropes of the VC business in the US, while being at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), one of the world’s preeminent venture funds. At NEA, he worked on multiple investments with successful IPO/M&A outcomes (Millennial Media, AddThis, OPower, etc.) and co-led the firm’s first education technology investment. He also served as an early executive at EverFi (one of the world's largest education networks, $250M raised), and started his career as a technology investment banker at UBS Investment Bank in San Francisco.

Nitin holds an MBA from The Wharton School, and two degrees from the University of Southern California. He serves on the India Advisory Boards of AngelList, the USC Viterbi School and The Better India, and advises the Indian government (NITI Aayog) on frontier tech policy.

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In this episode we discuss:
[00:00:00] Why Melody chose to stay in the US for startups and her hobbies growing up

[00:07:00] What values Melody upholds as a VC when working with startup founders

[00:12:00] The important lesson Melody learned in early-stage venture investing

[00:13:00] Why Melody believes in investing in exceptional founders with high potential

[00:18:00] Melody's hands-on approach as a VC and how she supports founders

[00:21:00] The benefits of NextView Ventures' concentrated bets on startup founders

[00:22:00] Why building trust is crucial in the VC-founder relationship

[00:23:00] Melody's role as a VC and how she guides founders

[00:25:00] How NextView faced challenges during COVID and supported a struggling portfolio company

[00:28:00] The key trait that makes founders successful in the fast-changing startup world

[00:30:00] Understand the mindset founders need to overcome obstacles and achieve their mission

[00:32:00] Why startups should focus on problems in large, pervasive markets

[00:35:00] NextView's investment thesis and the problems they aim to solve

[00:37:00] How NextView supports concept-stage companies through their accelerator program

[00:42:00] Meaning of different seed and pre-seed funding stages for startups and what matters most

[00:53:00] Investors Melody would reach out to if she were starting a new startup today

About

Melody is a Partner at NextView Ventures based in its New York office. She has spent her entire career working with technology and Internet startups as an entrepreneur, operator, and investor.

Prior to joining NextView, Melody was Head of Product at Blue Apron (NYSE: APRN). Melody joined Blue Apron as the first product hire when the company was 18 months old with 20 HQ employees. She helped scale the business through hyper-growth (25x in 3.5 years) and to its IPO, building and leading a 35-person team across Product Management, Product Design, and Analytics/Data Science.

Previously, Melody was a Product Manager at Fab.com leading marketing & analytics products and the founder/CEO of a seed-funded wine subscription e-commerce service. Melody was also a venture investor at Time Warner’s strategic VC group and was a one of six inaugural members of First Round Capital’s Product Co-op initiative. Melody began her career as a tech/media M&A investment banking analyst at Evercore Partners.

Melody holds an MBA with Distinction from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Commerce with Distinction from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and son.

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In this episode we discuss:

06:00 - The Importance of Design in VC

09:00 - Visionary Founders vs. Hypothesis-Driven Founders

15:00 - Importance of Strategy in VC

22:00 - Sprint Method and Product-Market Fit

26:00 - Hypothesis driven approach - How it can save time and money

28:00 - Introduction to the OATS scorecard system

32:00 - Longitudinal use and comparison of scores

33:00 - Reasons for not investing

39:00 - Challenges of FOMO and saying no

42:00 - Detachment and enthusiasm in investment decisions

47:00 - Name selection process and the significance of "Character"

About

John Zeratsky is co-founder and general partner at venture-capital firm Character, bestselling author of Sprint and Make Time, and former design partner at GV. Previously, John was a design leader for YouTube, Google Ads, and FeedBurner, which was acquired by Google in 2007.

Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day

Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days

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In this episode you will learn:

Why did Rex decide not to start a company and pursue venture capital instead?
How has the Cambrian community evolved over time? How does Rex see the value of adding value to the ecosystem and creating access over time?
What impressed Rex about Deel and its founders? Did he expect Deel to become one of the fastest growing companies in the world when he first met them?
What is the role and importance of product counsel in a FinTech company?
How does Rex assist startups in navigating the FinTech ecosystem? How does connecting with other founders who have built on similar platforms benefit entrepreneurs in making partnership decisions?
What is vertical SaaS and why is it an interesting trend in 2023? What are the dynamics of winner-takes-most in vertical SaaS markets?
What is embedded FinTech and how does it relate to vertical SaaS? What are examples of financial services that can be embedded within vertical SaaS platforms?
How can AI impact financial services and improve operational efficiency according to Rex? Will incumbents in the financial industry be able to adopt AI more effectively than other technologies like cloud and mobile?
What is the potential impact of embedded financial services on the distribution of financial products and services?

About

Rex Salisbury is the Founder and General Partner of Cambrian, an early-stage VC fund specializing in fintech startups. With prior experience as a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Rex has invested in over 50 fintech companies. Known for his talent in connecting founders with vital resources, Rex's fintech community, Cambrian, has become a platform for fostering success. His exceptional understanding of the fintech landscape enables him to identify promising opportunities and support entrepreneurs on their journey.

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In this episode, I’m joined by Joseph Mocanu, Managing Partner at Verge HealthTech Fund, an early stage VC firm based in Singapore investing in health tech companies and we will be talking to Varun Gupta, Founder and and we will be talking to Laina Emmanuel, Founder and CEO of BrainSight, a startup that is building the google map of the brain.

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In this episode you will learn:

What is the greatest risk Vlad has taken in his life?
How does Vlad compare angel investments to an MBA in terms of education and learning?
According to Vlad, how important is a founding team's psychology in the success of a startup? What are some positive signs and negative signs to look for in a founding team from a psychology perspective?
How did Vlad become a VC? What are the reasons behind Digital Horizon focusing on immigrant founders in terms of risk-taking and cost efficiency?
How should startups think about growth, especially at the Series A stage, considering the previous growth strategies of startups?
What are the current demands and changes in wealth management that require a new infrastructure?
How can VCs overcome prejudices and biases in their investment decisions?
What are the key factors in building relationships and trust in the VC industry?
What aspects of VC will remain unchanged, such as the importance of networking and relationships?
What new tools and technologies are emerging in VC to enhance deal sourcing, decision-making, and efficiency?

About:
Vlad Tropko is a Partner at Digital Horizon, a venture firm specializing in FinTech Infrastructure, B2B Software, and AI applications. With over 15 years of experience in the VC/PE industry, Vlad is a seasoned executive with a focus on investments in European and American startups. Throughout his career, he has successfully closed more than 50 deals, including notable acquisitions such as "Quantenna Communications" by OnSemiconductor and "Zipline International."

Vlad is known for actively supporting immigrant and female founders, recognizing the unique perspectives, drive, and ambition that often accompany individuals who have migrated to new communities. He believes in the distinct vision, capabilities, and growth potential that arise from such experiences.

Digital Horizon operates globally with offices in London, UK, and Tel Aviv, Israel. The firm's strong connections to local ecosystems enable an active investment approach and effective portfolio management. Their investment focus aligns with their specialization in FinTech Infrastructure, B2B Software, and AI applications. Digital Horizon's commitment to supporting founders with a migratory background stems from their belief in the transformative power and innovative ideas that emerge from diverse experiences.

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In this episode you will learn:

What is Vinod's perspective on risk appetite in the venture capital ?
What is the connection between the venture business and Black Swan events according to Vinod? How does Vinod define controllable Black Swans in the context of venture capital?
How did working at Kalaari impact Vinod's knowledge, sourcing, and relationships in the startup ecosystem?
What are the core value systems of Java Capital? What are the key metrics used to measure values such as serendipity and quality of investments?
How does Java Capital evaluate missed deals and learn from them?
How does Java Capital support portfolio companies in hiring, business development and fundraising?
Why does Java Capital focus on founders in smaller cities like Coimbatore?
What excites Vinod the most about the future?

About:
Vinod Shankar is a Partner and Co-founder at Java Capital, an early stage venture capital firm based in India. With over 18 years of experience in venture capital, angel investing, retail marketing, technology, and startups, Vinod has established himself as a prominent figure in the industry. He has an extensive investment portfolio that includes successful ventures such as Agnikul, Eplane, Customfit, Daily Ninja, SandboxVR, and plasmic.

Before co-founding Java Capital, Vinod managed the seed portfolio at Kalaari Capital, one of the leading venture capital firms in the country. Prior to that, he gained valuable experience as an entrepreneur, marketer, and technology developer while working at Emuzed, which was later acquired by Sequoia and KKR. He also contributed to the growth of JustBooks, a tech-led retail library chain. Vinod has been an active angel investor since 2013, supporting over 20 startups with his expertise and funding.

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PitchMeNot is a podcast that takes listeners inside the initial pitch meetings between startup founders and VCs. It goes beyond the pitch by featuring candid debriefs from the VCs once the founders leave the room, providing valuable insights into the world of startups and investments. In this episode, I’m joined by Saurabh Gunwant, senior associate at 8X ventures, a deep tech VC firm based in Dubai and we will be talking to Varun Gupta, Founder and CEO of Atmax, a SaaS solution that helps companies automate their sales incentive and performance management.

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In this episode you will learn:

What were the motivations behind Chandan's career pivots from consulting to working at Twitter and then joining B Capital?
What are the key areas of focus for B Capital's operating team, and how do they provide value to portfolio companies?
How does B Capital proactively identify potential crises and provide support to their portfolio companies?
How does Chandan measure success in her role?
How can startups minimize poor decisions, especially in a challenging environment?
What are some strategies startups can employ to thrive during tough times?
How should startups approach fundraising during such a period?

About

Chandan Deep is the Vice President of Strategy and Operations on B Capital Group’s Platform team covering India and South East Asia. Chandan has a passion to build and operationalise businesses within the tech space and partners closely with founders of BCap’s portfolio companies to help them scale.

Prior to B Capital, Chandan launched and grew Twitter’s commercial operations in emerging markets for Asia Pacific as the company commenced it’s monetisation journey post IPO. She also spent several years in management consulting with Accenture and the Boston Consulting Group. A keen champion of women in tech, she seeks to actively mentors young professionals and has previously led Twitter’s women chapter in Asia and co-founded Connected Women, a leadership forum to bring together women across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Airbnb & Google.

Chandan earned a B.A. in Economics from the Shri Ram College of Commerce and an M.B.A. from Faculty of Management Studies in Delhi. Raised in India, she now lives in Singapore with her husband and her two sons. She enjoys good food, design, décor and fitness.

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In this episode you will learn:

Why is psychology important for an investor, especially when dealing with early-stage companies?
What made Mikhail decide to explore VC? What were some of the adjustments Mikhail had to make when transitioning from private equity to venture capital?
Why did Mikhail choose AI as a technology to focus on? Why do they have a global mandate for their fund?
What value proposition does AI offer traditional heavy industries, like mining? Why aren't many people building companies in this space?
How does Mikhail spend his time as a solo VC?
What do people overvalue in venture that he doesn't? Why does he believe knowledge of finance is not as important at the early stages of a company?
Why did Mikhail name the fund after his own name?

About:

Mikhail Taver is the founder and managing partner of Delaware-based Taver Capital, an international venture capital fund focused on investing in global artificial intelligence companies. In 20 years of top executive roles with major financial groups and industrial companies, he has closed over 250 M&A and private equity deals. He holds CFA, ACMA and CGMA certifications.

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In this episode you will learn:

Why does Erik emphasize the importance of financial literacy and understanding money management?
What motivated Erik to establish a VC fund alongside his marketing agency, Hawke Media?
How did Erik and his team develop a strategic approach for their VC fund, Hawke Ventures?
How did the extensive ecosystem and network of their marketing agency benefit their VC fund's operations?
What advantages does owning an ecosystem bring and how does it benefit portfolio companies and the overall business?
What challenges arise when raising a fund, and how does the emotional aspect impact the fundraising process, particularly with high net worth individuals?
What defines dual threat CEOs, and how do they potentially generate better returns compared to traditional VC fund managers?
Why is self-reflection and learning from missed investment opportunities crucial for growth?
Why does Erik's fund have a lower frequency of investments in consumer brands? What current trend in commerce enablement excites Erik the most?

About:

Erik Huberman, the CEO and Founder of Hawke Media, is a highly accomplished entrepreneur and marketing expert. In 2014, he launched Hawke Media, which has become the fastest growing marketing consultancy agency in the United States, now valued at over $150 million. Prior to this, Erik had already built and sold two successful e-commerce companies by the age of 26.

Erik's business portfolio has continued to expand strategically, including several company acquisitions. In 2018, he launched Hawke Ventures, which achieved a closed single fund of $5.6 million. In 2020, Erik started his own podcast called HawkeTalk, and in 2021, he introduced HawkeZ, an agency specifically designed to help brands connect with Generation Z. Most recently, he authored a book titled "The Hawke Method."

Erik's expertise and achievements have earned him recognition within the industry. He has been honored with accolades such as Forbes Magazine's 30Under30, CSQ's 40Under40, and Inc. Magazine's Top 25 Marketing Influencers, among others.

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In this episode you will learn:

What did Brian learn from his internship at Intel that has helped him as an entrepreneur?
What issues does Brian see in the current food system? Why does Brian believe that science and technology can uplevel the food system?
Why does FTW Ventures have a highly focused and concentrated investment approach? What value does FTW Ventures aim to create for founders?
Why are there not many VCs investing in the food and agriculture market?
What are the indicators of a team that can successfully navigate the stages of product development according to Brian?
How do Brian assess the market potential and customer interest in a startup's product?
How does the focus on transportation affect the quality and nutrition of food? How does the current food system contribute to health crises?
How does addressing climate change in the food system have both purpose-driven and profit-driven benefits?
What approach should entrepreneurs take when entering the food and Agritech space?
What are the potential future developments and investments in cell culturing and synthetic biology?
What consumer behaviour in food according to Brian will become mainstream in the next five to ten years?
What are the challenges faced by farmers today, and how can technology help address them? How can AI and technology help address labor shortages and augment human labor in agriculture?

About:

Brian is the Founder and General Partner of FTW Ventures. He is experienced in both Technology & Food, and understands the complexity of running startups at the intersection of these two, challenging spaces.

Prior to founding FTW, Brian led 3 venture-backed businesses to successful exits and directed innovative products in communication, mobile, social & AI/ML for both startups & Fortune 500 Companies over his 20+ year career.

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In this episode you will learn:

Where did Terry grow up? What sparked Terry's interest in investment and finance?
Why did Terry and her team decide to move to Singapore from Hong Kong?
What does Terry think of the state of deep tech in Singapore? What is AIC's investment strategy?
What is the reason for US having the best talent and approach in AI, and why is Asia lagging behind?
What is the disruptive technology approach that the Terry looks for in companies, and how does she assess it?
Why is staying relevant in AI super important for all tech giants? What does Terry think about the opportunity for a startup to build the Next Trillion Dollar company in AI?
What is the due diligence process of AIC like? What according to Terry is the most important trait of a founder?
How can AI help with faster diagnosis and what are the challenges for a diagnostics AI business?
What will be the consequences of generative AI tools in various sectors? What should individuals do to adapt to this change?

About:

Terry Chou is an accomplished investor with over 10 years of experience in venture capital and private equity. Her passion lies in investing and supporting entrepreneurs on their personal journeys. Terry's mission is to work with founders to bring disruptive AI technologies to the market, and she plays an essential role as a board member/observer of portfolio companies. As an investor at AIC, Terry has led advanced AI investments across regions with a focus on cybersecurity, FinTech, and SaaS. She joined AIC as an investor and founding member of Fund I in 2017 and has successfully led AIC's investments in several high-profile companies, including ReaQta, SenseTime, AI Music, QxBranch, Envelop Risk, Osaro, GetVisibility, and Vamstar. Before joining AIC, Terry spearheaded technology investments at VMS Investment Group, where she deployed over $180 million in investments in technology and health-tech investments, including notable investments such as iQiyi and Universal Medical Group Company. Terry holds a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is also a personal investor in K Health and Sandbox VR. She is an advocate for FemTech entrepreneurs and investors in the APAC region.

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In this episode you will learn:

What is Connect the Dots and how does it help users find strong connections to desired contacts?
How does Connect the Dots differ from other tools like Conspire, Affinity, or Bridge.app in terms of relationship intelligence?
How does Connect the Dots enable users to keep their contacts and relationship history as they change jobs, without losing valuable information?
Why did Drew choose to focus on solving the problem of relationship management?
How did Drew's experience at Salesforce contribute to his decision to become an entrepreneur?
What advice does Drew have for entrepreneurs wanting to build a network?
How can multi-threading and using relationships across the organization help in speeding up the sales cycle and improving conversions? What benefits can an entire sales team and company experience when everyone is leveraging relationships for sales?
How does having a network help with recruitment? In what ways are recruitment, fundraising, and sales similar?
Why are introductions important for entrepreneurs seeking funding from VCs?

About:

Drew Sechrist is a serial entrepreneur, veteran sales leader, and the CEO and co-founder of Connect The Dots.

A cold email to Marc Benioff in 1999 landed Drew an account executive job at Salesforce, where he was employee number 36. Drew became the company’s highest-producing seller, then the highest-producing sales manager as Salesforce scaled from zero to more than a billion dollars in revenue.

When Drew moved on in 2010, he was the VP of Salesforce’s High Tech vertical, calling on customers such as Apple and EMC. Drew launched his first tech company, Koozoo, in 2010. He went on to serve as an investor, advisor, and Chief Revenue Officer for various startups before founding Connect The Dots in 2019.

As a young seller, leaders like Marc Benioff, Jim Steele, Carl Schachter, and Susan St. Ledger transformed Drew’s career by opening their networks and making warm introductions on Drew’s behalf. With Connect The Dots, Drew is making that experience possible for anyone.

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In this episode you will learn:

What led Alex Felix from being a national ski champion to a career in finance and venture capital?
How is private equity different from venture capital according to Alex?
How did Coin Fund start? How do crypto VC firms design their support system?
How do crypto companies tackle the challenge of composability?
What does effective token distribution mean for crypto companies?
How do you develop a non-consensus viewpoint in venture? Does a non-consensus viewpoint need to become a consensus viewpoint for success?
Why is Alex so convinced about crypto?
How might crypto-based solutions enable better alignment of incentives between platform participants and the platform itself?

About:

Alex Felix is Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner at CoinFund. CoinFund founded in 2015 and headquartered in New York City and Miami is a cryptonative investment firm and registered investment advisor. Prior to CoinFund, Alex was in Private Equity and worked at America Capital, Bank of America, RBS and Guggenheim Partners.

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In this episode you will learn:

How did Shwetank end up in venture?
Why does Shwetank advise not to treat fundraising as a competition?
What is the most challenging situation a VC can help a startup with, and why is it important?
Is it easy to get the truth about VCs from founders, and where is the best place to get it?
Why is it important to read what VCs write on LinkedIn or other places according to Shwetank?
Why has insurance been a bit behind other financial services? How can InsureTech reduce costs and increase convenience?
Why is building trust important for new insurers? What can new insurers do to build trust with their customers?
How can standardized data provided by the health stack help insurers create better products and outcomes?
What is the current state of venture in India and what positive changes are expected in the ecosystem?

About:

Shwetank Verma is the Co-Founder, and General Partner at Leo Capital. Shwetank leads Leo Capital's investments in South East Asia and supports the India investments. Based in Singapore, he is a frequent visitor to India and is personally passionate about health-tech and insurtech opportunities. Prior to his role at Leo Capital, Shwetank was the head of open innovation at MetLife Asia, where he established and managed Collab, a platform for matching the best technology startups with the right problem statements in the enterprise. He also served as an adviser on open innovation to several Fortune 500 companies.

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In this episode you will learn:

Does Ansible Ventures only invest in seasoned entrepreneurs, or would it also invest in first-time founders?
What is Ansible Ventures' positioning and how does it aim to bridge global networks and knowledge to Vietnam?
Did Valerie face doubters while raising her fund, and how did she deal with them?
What are Valerie's areas of interest in terms of investments and why?
What is the current state of consumer internet in Vietnam and why is it attractive for investment?
How does FinTech relate to e-commerce in Vietnam and what are some challenges in investing in FinTech?
What are the three Cs that Valerie is bringing to the Vietnam startup ecosystem, and how is she using content creation through her TikTok channel and podcast to change the perception of startups and venture capital in Vietnam, and reach a wider audience?
What is Valerie doing to build a community and bridge the gap between Vietnam and the Vietnamese diaspora?
What motivates the interest of overseas Vietnamese and people of Vietnamese origin in building startups and contributing to their home country?

About

Valerie founded Ansible Ventures, a seed fund dedicated to Vietnam in 2022. Previously, she served as Vietnam Country Head for Venturra Capital, where she led over a dozen investments from 2020 to early 2022. From 2016 to 2019, she worked at Deloitte U.S. as a senior consultant where she advised hedge funds, private equity funds and other investment management clients. Valerie graduated magna cum laude in 2016 from Temple University’s Fox School of Business with a major in accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Pennsylvania. She also founded Career Opportunities in Vietnam (COVN), providing advice to aspiring professionals and co-hosted Forward Vietnam Podcast.

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In this episode you will learn:

What is Fast Forward, and what problem does it aim to solve for founders, according to WaterBridge?
How important is it for founders to conduct a background check on VCs, and what percentage of founders actually do it?
What does Anjali mean by Founder learnability and scalability, and why are founders hesitant to let an experienced CEO scale the company?
What are the networks and channels that WaterBridge relies on for sourcing high-quality startups?
When evaluating a startup, why does Anjali prioritize assessing the team over analyzing markets?
Does consumer behaviour evolve over time, or does human psychology follow a hierarchy of needs, according to Anjali?
Why does Anjali think that women should build more consumer products?
What are the reasons behind the focus on vanity metrics and growth at all costs before VCs started focusing on profitability and real metrics, and how can this be avoided in the future to build sustainable businesses?

About

Anjali Sosale is a Partner at WaterBridge Ventures, an India-focused seed to series A fund that invests in early-stage technology companies. With a focus on consumer tech, e-commerce, marketplaces, and all enablers to Indian Consumer Demand, Anjali is dedicated to finding and supporting innovative startups that are changing the way Indians transact online. She is particularly interested in products that can enable the next half billion rural Indian Internet users to engage in e-commerce.

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In this episode you will learn:

How does access to credit impact low income countries like India?
Why does Sheel insist on a minimum ownership of 10%?
What are the reasons for Sheel's reluctance to invest in startups that need to raise a lot of funds?
Are both first-time founders and second-time founders equally willing to accept the valuations offered by Better Tomorrow Ventures?
Under what circumstances would Sheel stop supporting one of his portfolio startups?
What kinds of fintech startups are poised for success in this decade?
Do all neo banks face challenges with customer trust and what factors are preventing them from competing with traditional banks?
What are Sheel's plans for scaling Better Tomorrow Ventures in the coming years?

About

Sheel Mohnot is a Co-Founder & Partner at Better Tomorrow Ventures, a seed-focused venture capital firm that invests in transformative fintech companies founded by exceptional individuals across the world. With its second set of funds amounting to approximately $225M, Better Tomorrow Ventures is dedicated to investing in innovative ideas that can revolutionize the fintech industry. Sheel's exclusive focus on fintech investment dates back to 2015, following a couple of successful FinTech exits. Sheel has also co-founded the podcast "The Pitch," which was acquired by Gimlet Media / Spotify and attracts around 100k weekly listeners. Additionally, Sheel has co-founded Thistle, a food company that serves tens of thousands of customers every week.

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In this episode you will learn:

Why does Capria Ventures act as both a VC fund and a fund of funds, and what benefits does this approach offer?
What is the "state of the art venture capital innovation" that Capria Ventures brings?
How does Capria Ventures nurture its partnerships with fund managers across different regions?
What are some of the challenges that founders from the global south face and how different are they to the global north?
According to Dave, what is the most common mistake made by founders or founding teams?
Why is the "spray and pray" investment strategy unsustainable, according to Dave?
Why does Capria Ventures focus on the global south, and is it possible for this region to achieve the same level of wealth as the global north over time?

About

Dave Richards is Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Capria Ventures.

Dave is an experienced entrepreneur, operating executive, and venture capital investor. He co-founded Capria Ventures in 2012 and has since made 60+ investments in early- and early-growth tech startups across the Global South -- India, SE Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

Previously, Dave led Unitus Group, a leading early venture catalyst and capital investor in microfinance in the Global South. He has also held business operating leadership roles with RealNetworks, Sybase, and Symantec managing large global teams and building multiple zero to $100M technology-led businesses in digital media, databases, and business productivity tools. Dave received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia.

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In this episode you will learn:

After building multiple successful startups, why did Sergey get into VC?
What is the fund strategy at Flint Capital?
Is it a good strategy for startups to target the single biggest enterprise market in the world - the US?
Based on Sergey’s experience, what are some of the mistakes that startups make while trying to expand into the US market?
How does he add value to his portfolio startups?
How does Sergey assess startups, especially at the very early stages?
What does Sergey think about the cybersecurity industry, since Flint Capital has invested in a bunch of cybersec startups?
What are Sergey’s thoughts on OpenAI?
Is the future of tech exciting, considering the recent layoffs at big companies?

About
Sergey Gribov is an experienced technology entrepreneur and investor, currently serving as a Partner at Flint Capital, an early-stage venture fund with a global focus on investing in startups across Israel, the USA, and Europe. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Sergey has been involved in many successful startups as a founder or top manager in the U.S. and Israel. Notably, he was part of the founding team at Vivox and served as the Director of R&D and Operations. Sergey has a diverse background in various IT sectors including software development, cybersecurity, digital health, and fintech. He holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and a B.Sc. in Computer Science from Beer-Sheva University, and has also studied Computer Science at the University of Ben Gurion (Israel). In addition to his professional accomplishments, Sergey is also a licensed pilot and Bareboat IYT Skipper. Currently, he serves as an investor and board member at companies such as Socure, Cyolo, Sensi.ai, XRHealth, and others.

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In this episode you will learn:

What are some of the success stories, challenges, and crisis that Karl faced while building multiple startups, and how did he navigate them?
According to Karl, why should a VC think like an entrepreneur, and how can this approach benefit startups?
Does Karl believe that prior experience as an entrepreneur is ideal for someone looking to become a VC, and why?
How is M13's propulsion platform different from the platform model of other VC funds, and how does it help startups?
Why is it important for VCs to support their portfolio companies when there are leading indicators of a crisis?
Why is building trust with founders important for a VC to ensure that they are taken seriously and not create friction?
What is M13's investment thesis, and why do they prefer to back startups that are building infrastructure layers?
What are some common mistakes made by the teams and founders of infrastructure layer startups, and how can they be avoided?
What does Karl mean when he says, "The value I seek can only be realized at scale," and what kind of startups is he looking for?
How should startups strategize their fundraising and operations during an economic downturn like the one we are experiencing now?

About

As DigitalOcean's COO, Karl built the business from first product to >500 employees & $250M ARR over six years and prepared it for its eventual IPO (NYSE: DOCN). Having previously managed and exited two startups over a 20 year operating career, Karl is now M13’s managing partner and oversees its day-to-day operations.

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In this Fundraise episode, I speak with Tim Flannery, CEO at Passthrough on their Series A fundraise. Tim shares the problem Passthrough is trying to solve, his larger vision for the company, the progress they’ve made so far and how he sees Passthrough positioned among its competitors in the market. Tim also explains why he chose to work with Positive Sum, the fund that backed Passthrough during the seed round and led their Series A round. He also offers insight into the difficulty of the series A funding round.

2 interesting things that they did while fundraising was:

Used a memo instead of the usual pitch deck
Included ‘why you should not invest’ information in the memo

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In this episode you will learn:

Elizabeth shares the story of how she got into entrepreneurship and subsequently a VC
What is the fund strategy of Hustle fund?
According to Elizabeth, why is the speed of execution so important for the success of a startup?
Having made more than 700 investments in startups, how does Elizabeth rate herself as a VC? What does it take for a VC to get into the top 1% echelon?
What are some of the processes that Hustle Fund has in place to make investments and portfolio support faster and efficient?
How does she manage her time as a VC?
How can founders manage their risk during tough times like we are experiencing now?
What does Elizabeth mean when she says that startups are a ‘multi-turn game’?
Why do customer acquisition costs (CAC) almost always go up for a startup?

About

Elizabeth Yin is a co-founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund, a pre-seed fund for software entrepreneurs. Previously, Elizabeth was a partner at 500 Startups where she invested in seed-stage companies and ran the Mountain View accelerator. In a prior life, Elizabeth co-founded and ran an adtech company called LaunchBit (acq 2014). Elizabeth has a BSEE from Stanford and an MBA from MIT Sloan.

Elizabeth has reviewed over 20k startup pitches from around the world in the last few years and has helped numerous portfolio founders raise hundreds of millions of dollars. Her work and writing on startup fundraising have been featured in numerous publications including TechCrunch, Forbes, Huffington Post, BetaKit, and more.

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In this episode you will learn:

Why James became a VC despite having an opinion that it was a bad idea?
How does Creative Ventures evaluate startups and why do they study the market they invest in deeply before looking at tech solutions for it?
Why James doesn’t invest in startups with R&D risk and also talk about the strict protocols they have in place to make investments?
Why startups who don’t share information about their tech or product is a sign of a really bad one?
Does investing in more diverse founders outside of the elite networks that get most of the venture potentially offer better venture returns?
What challenges are faced by healthcare startups in aligning the different stakeholders to ensure a successful GTM strategy?
How even the end of the Ukraine war is not going to end the global food shortage and the challenges faced in agriculture to improve productivity

About

James Wang is a General Partner at Creative Ventures, an early-stage VC focusing on healthcare, agriculture, and industrial technologies, and a co-founder of Lioness Health. Previously, he was on the core investment team at Bridgewater Associates, founded a non-profit consulting firm specializing in microfinance, and did a stint at Google X's Makani project.

James holds an MBA from UC Berkeley where he was a Jack Larson Fellow in Entrepreneurship, a BA with Honors from Dartmouth, and an MS in Computer Science at Georgia Tech. He also holds a Data Science Specialization from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and completed the course track for a Ph.D. Designated Emphasis in Computational Sciences and Engineering at UC Berkeley.

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In this episode you will learn:

What is a term sheet and why does it exist?
What are the key sections of a term sheet?
Why is the term sheet less like a legal document and more like a commercial document?
Do you need a lawyer to negotiate the term sheets that VCs offer startups when they’re raising a fund?
What are exclusivity rights, voting rights, governing laws, and information rights in a term sheet?
What do the terms liquidation preference, anti-dilution, break-free, and preemptive mean?
Can VCs back out of a term sheet?
What should be the mindset of a founder while negotiating a term sheet?
How should a promoter conduct negotiation if he receives multiple term sheets?
What are some of the red flags that a founder should look out for in this process?
Why is full ratchet anti-dilution a red flag?
What are non-standard protective rights?

About
Siddharth Mody is a Senior Partner at Desai and Diwanji. With 18 years of rich experience advising on transactions, general corporate law, and disputes, and regularly commended for his pragmatism and responsiveness, Siddharth has served both large and mid-sized funds as well as early-stage and emerging companies in the tech sector and conventional sectors.

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In this episode you will learn:

According to Amra, should everyone start a business at least once in their career?
What is Accelerating Asia? What are 3 services that they offer the startup ecosystem?
Why was sustainability always a priority for Accelerating Asia right from the start?
Why does Accelerating Asia focus on investing in startups that are between the MVP stage and the product-market fit stage?
Is building a venture-backed startup the best way to create impact? What is one other alternative?
Why is Amra bullish on Bangladesh and Bangladeshi startups?

About

Amra Naidoo is Co-Founder and General Partner at Accelerating Asia, an award-winning VC, and startup accelerator that scouts and propels the best founders in the region and invests up to US$250k in pre-Series A startups.

For close to a decade, Amra has spearheaded high-impact partnerships and programs, including the award-winning UN Women global social entrepreneurship program, Project Inspire, and was a key contributor to muru-D’s startup selections, including investing in Shop Up.

She's the Southeast Asia Lead for Impact Capital and the Outgoing Curator for the Global Shapers Singapore Hub, a World Economic Forum initiative. She's also the host of the Doing Good Podcast.

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In this episode you will learn:

How did Puiyan break into the VC industry despite having an engineering background?
According to Puiyan, should a startup founder engage with a big corporation as their initial customer or should he/she go after the SMB & Mid-Market segment?
What are the core values of Vertex Ventures?
What does it take to raise a Series A?
How do Vertex Ventures assess Series A startups? How do they go about evaluating the founding team?
Does it make sense for startups to raise as much funds as possible in series A? What are some downsides of doing this?
The creator economy is on a boom, but at the same time, there are very few creators creating sustainable businesses. Will the creator economy expand, and sustain at the same time?
What are the opportunities that Puiyan sees in the creator economy?
What is climate tech and how do VCs look at it?

About
Puiyan Leung serves as Partner, Investment in Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, and focuses on opportunities in Southeast Asia. Prior to joining Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, Pui Yan was an Investment Director at Singtel Innov8, the CVC arm of Singtel. Prior to that, she assumed a range of operating roles, including Business Development, Product Marketing, and Strategy. Pui Yan is a Kauffman Fellow and graduated with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering Degree from the National University of Singapore.

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In this episode, you will learn:

Pavel’s journey of building a web development company straight out of university
How hard was it for Pavel to move to the US from Russia and start a venture fund?
How does Mindrock Capital operate and the value it provides to its investors?
How does the prediction model at Mindrock Capital that evaluates the probability of a startup’s success work? What are its data points?
What is the Hack Temple project, the reason why Pavel started it and why it's a mystical project for him?
Implications of the war in Ukraine on Mindrock Capital and how they have managed to cope with it

About

Pavel Cherkashin is the Managing Partner at Mindrock Capital. At Mindrock, Pavel is responsible for it's vision and strategy. He oversees over $1B in AUM. Earlier in his career, Pavel held senior positions at Microsoft Russia, Adobe Systems and Siebel Systems. He founded several IT companies that were acquired by leading global organizations and managed two early-stage venture capital funds.

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In this episode you will learn:

Why did Chirag start 8X Ventures instead of staying as a VC at 500 Global?
Why is 8X Ventures based in Dubai?
How does 8X Ventures compete with VC funds that are geographically closer to the deep-tech startups in Europe and US?
Why does 8X Ventures invest in only deep-tech startups?
According to Chirag, why have VC firms (which initially started with deep-tech investments) now diversified into other sectors?
Why should deep-tech startups choose 8X Ventures over other VC funds?
What does Industry 4.0 mean for the developed and developing world?
Why does Chirag think that Founder-CEOs aren't always the best option for a deep-tech startup in the long term?

About

Chirag Gupta is the Managing Partner at 8X Ventures, a Deeptech-themed venture capital firm. He invests in startups that will lead disruptive technological innovation and create sustainable value for industries and economies. Before 8X Ventures, he held various positions at 500 Global, Careem, McKinsey, PwC/Strategy& and Korn Ferry. Chirag holds an MBA from the University of Chicago: Booth and Nanyang Business School. He studied Business Analytics at Harvard University (with Harvard scholarship).

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In this episode you will learn:

Why does Future Ventures invest in only technology risk startups?
Can a venture fund afford to build a portfolio of just deep tech startups while giving good returns? If so, how?
Maryanna shares why she invests with an abundance mindset and why it’s important.
3 questions that Maryanna asks herself while looking to invest in a deep tech startup
How does Future Ventures support the startups they invest in?
2 reasons why deep tech startups originate in and around universities
Why does Future Ventures have a fund life of 15 years instead of the traditional 10 years?
Why does Future Ventures operate with a tiny team and not follow the service model that many large funds employ, and is it sustainable?
What does Maryanna think about the future of the food industry and energy?

About

Maryanna Saenko is an early-stage venture capitalist with an interest in robotics, quantum computing, blockchain, aerospace, and the future of food. Previously she was at Khosla Ventures, and prior to that at DFJ, where she worked with Steve to focus on frontier technology investments. She was also an investment partner at Airbus Ventures where she led a series of venture investments strategically aligned with Airbus’ future-of-aerospace initiatives. Before Airbus, Maryanna was a consultant at Lux Research and a research engineer at Cabot Corporation.

Maryanna graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BS in BioMedical Engineering and a BS and MS in Materials Science and Engineering.

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In this episode you will learn:

How did Mark convince his co-founders to work on his idea of Appboy (Braze) when they were building a different product at the time?
As a founder, what is the hardest thing that Mark had to overcome while building Braze?
What was Mark’s experience of raising a bridge round for Braze like? According to Mark, what percentage of startups end up raising a bridge round, and what percentage actually figures this out from the seed round?
What does Mark really mean when he says, “never underestimate your competitors but at the same time don’t chase them”?
Why did Mark raise the m]x[v capital fund? What are its focus areas in terms of stage, geography and sector?
What makes a great investor? What are some do’s and don'ts of early-stage investing? Would a great founder in a not-so-good market succeed?
What are the signs of a great founder or a great founding team according to Mark? What can the founding team do to attract great talent?
What are some of the benefits of an ‘operator focussed approach’ in investing?
What is the future of the cloud and what are some of the areas in the cloud where you find great opportunities to build businesses?

About

Mark Ghermezian is a serial entrepreneur and successful investor with 20+ years of experience in founding, building, and investing in early-stage SaaS startups. Before becoming the Founder and General Partner at m]x[v Capital, Mark co-founded Braze (BRZE) and led the company as its founding CEO, pioneering a new category from ideation to IPO (Braze IPO’d in November 2021). As an angel investor, Mark was an early investor in companies such as Nutanix, Lattice, Thoughtspot, Rubrik, and Riskified, along with 50 other investments, primarily focused on SaaS, experiencing several IPOs, unicorns, and successful exits. At m]x[v Capital, Mark is proud to be a mentor to his founders and entrepreneurs, offering his experience and expertise to help their companies find the same success.

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In this episode, you will learn:

Silicon Valley’s open and sharing culture and the role VCs had in its making
The mindset of a VC
The role VCs played in making companies like Apple what they are today
VCs who’ve stood out to Sebastian while researching for the book
Bill Gurley and his investment in Uber + how he understood that network businesses are lucrative
What is the solution for growth investors coming in and spoiling the market?
Why taking risks as a VC shouldn’t equate to writing checks with minimum due diligence
The importance of network embeddedness + preparedness for a VC
3 things to do to remain at the top as a VC

About

Sebastian Mallaby is the Paul A. Volcker senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is an experienced journalist and public speaker and contributes to a variety of publications, including Foreign Affairs, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, and the Financial Times, where he spent two years as a contributing editor. He is also the author of five books, most recently The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future.

The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future

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About

Michael Blakey

Michael Blakey is the Managing Partner and co-founder of Singapore-based venture capital firm Cocoon Capital. Set-up alongside Will Klippgen in 2016, Cocoon adopts a hands-on, founder-first approach to early-stage investing. Before this Michael was an entrepreneur and since 2000 was a full-time angel investor who was named ‘UK Angel Investor of the Year 2015’, selected as one of the Maserati 100, and classified as a "Business Angel you should know".

Blackfrog

Blackfrog Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is a Manipal, Karnataka, India-based technology startup company that seeks to improve the efficiency of immunization supply chains. We have developed a patented system for precision cold-chain and vaccine traceability with support from BIRAC (DBT) and leading impact investors in the nation including Venture Centre (NCL, Pune) and Social Alpha to provide logistical support in the last-mile delivery of vaccines.

Emvólio is a portable, battery-powered refrigeration device that will strictly maintain any preset temperature for over 12 hours for the last-mile transport of vaccines. Emvólio’s 2-litre capacity enables it to carry 30- 50 vials, which is standard for a daylong immunization campaign. Further device capabilities include continuous temperature monitoring, location tracking, state-of-charge indication, communication with headquarters via live tracking, and vital statistics for improved coverage.

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In this episode you will learn:

Why did Aly start a VC fund focussed on Web3 and other emerging techs
What are some of the differences and similarities of investing in Web3 companies when compared to SAAS companies?
What are the risks of tokenisation?
“If you have a good social media presence or an audience, Web3 startups would want your money.” How true is this statement?
What are some of the transparency issues in web3 startups?
Can venture capital move away from the current partnership model to a DAO model in the future?
Is Jack Dorsey right when he says VCs control Web3?

About

Aly Madhavji穆亚霖 is the Managing Partner at Blockchain Founders Fund which invests in and venture builds top-tier startups. He is a Limited Partner on Loyal VC and Draper Goren Holm. Aly consults organizations on emerging technologies such as INSEAD and the UN on solutions to help alleviate poverty. He is a Senior Blockchain Fellow at INSEAD and was recognized as a “Blockchain 100” Global Leader by Lattice80.

He is an internationally acclaimed author, publishing three books and a monthly columnist for the leading blockchain magazine. Aly serves as a board member of CryptoStar Corp. (TSXV: CSTR), Soluna Holdings (NASDAQ: SLNH) and has served on various advisory boards including the University of Toronto’s Governing Council, which manages a $2.5B budget. He is a mentor with Chinaccelerator, an elite accelerator program operated by the venture fund SOSV with $1.1B+ AUM and the Mobile Only Accelerator (MOX).

Aly holds a Master of Global Affairs as a Schwarzman Scholar from Tsinghua University (清华大学), a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD (Singapore and France), and a Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction from the University of Toronto.

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In this episode, you will learn:

Why is Intudo Ventures an ‘Indonesia-only’ venture capital firm?
Intudo Ventures is an independent VC firm, ie no single LP owns more than 10% of the fund. Why is this important?
How is Intudo’s team consisting of just nine people set up and operate to ensure they support all their portfolio startups well?
According to Eddy, why will his ‘concentrated portfolio’ approach give better returns as compared to the ‘index’ investing approach?
What is a commercial-operational dependency moat?
Why does Intudo primarily focus on B2B or B2B2C startups instead of B2C startups?
What does Eddy mean when he says that Intudo looks for non-contentious companies?
Why does Eddy believe that building a VC is like building a startup?

About

Eddy Chan is a founding partner of “Indonesia-only” independent early-stage venture capital firm Intudo Ventures, that acts as the Indonesia Beachhead Strategy for dozens of leading institutions, funds and family offices from the United States, Europe and Asia, and supports the “digital transformation” strategy of dozens of Indonesian conglomerates. Intudo portfolio companies include Xendit, Halodoc, TaniHub, Pintu, Kargo, PasarPolis, BeliMobilGue, Yummy Corp., and more.

Eddy works closely with the top Pulkam (Bahasa Indonesian term for: “go home to your hometown”) South East Asian Turtle Indonesian returnee (“Pulkam S.E.A. Turtle”) talent in the United States and local Indonesian talent via professional and student associations and has been featured as a speaker at the annual Harvard Asia Business Conference (2019-2021), MIT Asia Business Conference (2020-2021) and Southeast Asia MBA Weekend (2018-2021).

Prior to co-founding Intudo, Eddy worked on venture investments in startups since the late 1990s, including PayPal, Palantir, and Affirm, founded and operated venture-backed technology companies with operations in Silicon Valley and Asia, practised corporate/M&A law at Morrison & Foerster LLP and worked as an investment banker at Banc of America Securities LLC.

Eddy holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a Global Law Scholar, and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley’s Walter A. Haas School of Business.

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About

Jeevan Sunner

Jeevan graduated from UCL in Pharmacology where she spent time in clinical settings spanning healthcare and academia. She thereafter joined PwC's Insolvency and Restructuring department, implementing turnaround and restructuring projects for large corporates during crisis. After completing her ACA Chartered Accountancy qualification, she moved to PwC's Commercial Innovation team where she worked with 20+ B2B SaaS startups whom she supported throughout their Series A fundraises. Jeevan is co-creator of startup podcast, When Unicorns Fly, and has interviewed guests from Seedrs, Antler, Innovate UK, Indiegogo and Lakestar. Jeevan joined Playfair in September 2020. She works closely with portfolio companies, sources and leads deals, and co-leads Playfair's D&I initiative: Female Founder Office Hours. She was recently shortlisted on Sifted's Top 30 Young Venture Capitalists list. Outside of Playfair, you can find Jeevan on the squash court or with a camera in hand. She is dog mum to our office pooch, Cassius.

Waitrr provides contactless QR ordering & payments technology to restaurants, cafes, bars & hotels in seven countries. Customers scan QR codes to order food & drinks, and make payment, all from within their phone’s browser (i.e. NO app download required). Orders go straight into the POS, without the need for manual entry. Waitrr’s partners reduce their manpower costs, increase average ticket sizes and increase table turns, increasing profits by more than 15%.

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In this podcast episode, you will learn:

According to Insik, what are the values, skillsets and dynamics of a great team? What should be the ideal size of a founding team?
What are some things that the startup founders don’t understand about VCs?
When should startups think about forming a board, what is the role of the board and who should be a part of it?
What is the role of a board member and an advisor?
How does Insik assess a company that works with data; for example, a company working on data security for the cloud?
What is an investment thesis and how do you come up with it? Do investors really need an investment thesis?
What is the reason for the current VC funding winter and why a correction like this is needed for the startup ecosystem?

About

Insik is a General Partner at Vertex Ventures US and is a former founder of Loudcloud and Kiva Software, companies that helped shift enterprise technology categories. At Vertex US, he works with founders who are pursuing advancements in data science and machine learning, enterprise process automation, and real-time infrastructure.

Prior to Vertex US, Insik served as General Partner at Rembrandt Venture Partners where he led investments in A Bit Lucky (acquired by Zynga), CloudOn (acquired by Dropbox), and Ooyala (acquired by Telstra). Before that, he was a Partner at Accel Partners, here investing and advising companies including Cloudera, Couchbase, Facebook, Mochi Media (acquired by Shanda), and Terracotta (acquired by Software AG).

As the Co-founder and Chief Tactician of Loudcloud, which later was renamed Opsware, Insik helped create the cloud computing paradigm and the data center automation software category.

Loudcloud IPO’ed and then was acquired by HP in 2007. His first company, Kiva Software created the Application Server Market market. Enterprises such as E*Trade, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo developed their first online sites using Kiva. Netscape acquired Kiva in 1997 for $180 million.

He is currently on the boards of Testlio, Interana, Zepl, Cyberhaven, Evisort and Upsolver and holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley and currently serves on the university’s Executive Advisory Board for the College of Engineering.

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In this podcast episode, you will learn:

What is venture philanthropy? How is it different from a VC fund?
What is the investment thesis at Kickstart ventures? What has Kickstart’s journey from its first fund right up to the recent (third) fund been like?
Why does Kickstart invest in startups throughout the globe as opposed to the conventional approach of VC funds of focusing on particular geography?
Are big conglomerate businesses better off investing in startups or having an internal innovation team?
Over the years, how far has the Philippines come when it comes to the digitization of consumers and enterprise experience? How big can the digital economy in the Philippines be in the coming years?
Social movements or trends (in the startup world) that Joan thinks have a lot of growth potential in the Philippines or globally in the coming years like B2B e-commerce, agriculture, healthcare, and education
Joan answers the question ‘What are the traits of a great founder?’ by mentioning various factors such as being able to build a team, being humble, open-minded, decisive with a strong point of view about a particular thing, the one who understands the market and its requirement and the one who considers himself responsible enough for taking wrong calls and yet pivoting a way out of it
What are some ways in which the Philippines startup ecosystem has improved over the years?

About

Joan Yao is the Vice President of Investments at Kickstart Ventures Inc., the corporate venture capital arm of Globe Telecom. Prior to Kickstart, she was Investment Manager for Southeast Asia at LGT Venture Philanthropy, a global impact investing firm headquartered in Europe. For six years, Joan was primarily responsible for the sourcing, screening, execution, and management of LGT VP’s deals in the region. In 2015, she served as a consultant to the Secretary of Trade and Industry of the Republic of the Philippines, advising on policies and programs related to MSME development, tech startups, inclusive business, and social enterprise.

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In this episode you will learn:

Why was becoming a VC a more appealing decision for Do instead of just continuing to build startups? How did the factors such as his ten years of work experience in building and growing startups, working with big corporates, and understanding how investments work affect his decision?
What are the challenges that he faced and the lessons that he learned along the journey of building his first business - ispeaking.org?
How different are today’s startup founders from Do’s generation ten years ago? How has the startup ecosystem in Vietnam changed in terms of knowledge base, VC investments, opportunities, per capita GDP of the consumer base, etc?
Why are all the limited partners in Thinkzone’s second fund local Vietnamese? How is that advantageous for the fund?
Why does Do work with just five startups at a time at Thinkzone accelerator? Why is the due diligence process one month long?
What are some of the difficulties facing startups and VCs that can be solved with better public policies?

About
Mr. Bui Thanh Do is the Founding Partner & CEO of ThinkZone Ventures, Vietnam's largest local-resourced venture fund with $60 million in fund size, investing in technology startups from Pre-Seed to Series A in various verticals. Before founding ThinkZone, Do Bui had more than 11 years of experience in startups and startup-support activities in the field of technology.

He has also operated as a C-level leader in many large companies and corporations.

Vice President & CPO of Five9 Vietnam - One of the leading companies in Vietnam in telecommunications, big data, and providing a credit-scoring platform for banks with more than 50 million USD in annual revenue.
Co-founder of TechElite (with its products including bigtime.vn & worktime.vn), CCO of Co-Well Asia - One of Japan's leading IT solution providers with more than 500 engineers.
A former manager at Microsoft Vietnam, one of the first members of Money Lover (a personal financial management application with more than 10 million users

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In this episode you will learn:

Why Joseph started a VC fund specializing in healthcare?
What are some of the interesting innovations happening in the three areas of focus for the healthcare tech industry namely prevention, diagnosis,and absolute cure?
3 strategies that startups can use to ace fundraising
Why it’s important for startups to do a competitor analysis before approaching VCs and how startups can do it well?
If a VC withdraws a term sheet, who looks bad? The VC or the startup?
What were the challenges that Joseph faced while raising capital for his VC fund and the lessons he learned?
Why is Joseph interested in investing in healthcare startups focusing on respiratory health?
Can we ensure that this is the last pandemic? If not, how can we do things better in the future?

About

Joseph Mocanu is an angel investor and the founding partner of the Verge Healthtech fund focusing on seed-stage healthcare technology companies relevant to emerging markets based in Singapore. He was born in Romania, and he was a scientist researching new cancer therapies, a medical device entrepreneur, and a management consultant for Oliver Wyman where he led life sciences and digital health across Asia before he started his journey as an investor.

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In this episode you will learn:

What is FounderSuite? What are the ways in which FounderSuite facilitates fundraising?
Why FounderSuite over spreadsheets?
How did Nathan redirect his entrepreneurial spirit to create a SaaS product aimed at entrepreneurs?
How can founders lookout for clues for a good founder-VC fit?
What’s the roadmap for a founder to materialize their ‘dream team’?
What’s the right way to make yourself conspicuous in the industry before approaching your A-list investors?
How to deal with rejection and contradictory feedback from various investors?
How valuable are Investor Updates to propel a startup’s growth prospects?
How can founders get a quicker ‘no’?
The seasonality of fundraising in the west

About

Nathan Beckord is the CEO of Foundersuite.com a venture-backed company that makes the leading “funding stack” (investor database, CRM, pitch deck hosting, and Investor Update tools) for startups raising capital. Since launching in 2016, users have raised over $3 Bln in seed and venture capital.

Prior to starting Foundersuite, Nathan spent ten years working with over 150 startups as interim CFO, Business Developer, and Advisor. Nathan has an MBA in Entrepreneurship, a BSC in Finance, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). In his free time, he enjoys sailing, traveling, and riding motorcycles.

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In this episode you will learn:

What is the key quality required in an entrepreneur or VC entering 2022’s breakneck technology sector?
Can speed of execution be an appropriate criteria when tracking a startup’s progress?
How do VCs navigate the equivocality of a business’s input and output?
What is the one hubris that usually afflicts entrepreneurs?
How has abundant capital hampered the process of decision-making in startups?
Why do most copy-cat founders end up chasing their own tails?
Jeffrey’s estimation of the importance of mental health and skill coaching for founders and employees
Why is there a staggering proportion of entrepreneurs who helplessly suffer from mental health issues? Is this a business-specific phenomenon or a fog hanging over all of society?
Why is immunity to disappointments a superpower for founders when they are just starting off?
Does a high management fee diminish the intangible incentives that are requisite for motivating a VC for calculated progress and returns?

About

Jeffrey Paine is a Co-founder and Managing Partner of Golden Gate Ventures, an early stage technology venture capital fund based in Singapore investing in Southeast Asia with over US$175 million under management investing in over 45 companies since 2012.

Jeff started and manages the Founder Institute in Singapore where he is currently overseeing its expansion in Southeast Asia, and Japan. Since 2010 the Founder Institute in Singapore has graduated over 100 companies. He is a recipient of the Founder Institute Director Award 2012 for “Greatest Ecosystem Impact” Worldwide (Singapore).

He is a Singapore native and graduated with a Bachelors of Business Administration (Information Systems) from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

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In this episode you will learn:

Hian’s meandering journey from Singapore to England, from computers to law, and how he ended up becoming an investment banker.
Why does Hian liken entrepreneurs to underdogs? How can entrepreneurs transcend the underdog mentality?
The success story of Kumu, a Filipino video sharing and e-commerce social networking service
How does the face-off between tradition and innovation complicate decision making in VCs and startups? What is the best way to tackle such a situation?
What was Hian’s vision for creating the The Unreasonable Podcast?
Why does Hian ascribe immense importance to humanizing VCs? What personal efforts has he made to meet that end?
What’s the best way to sift through and imbibe feedback?
Hian’s definition of a ‘magical’ product
How and why does Openspace nurture largely variegated expertise?
Openspace’s data-driven approach to investing which employs active intelligence

About

As a co-founder of Openspace in 2014, Hian has worked side-by-side with Shane Chesson to build the firm and lead significant investments. He sits on the Investment Committee, focuses on new growth strategies, and represents Openspace on the Boards of some of our fastest growing investments, including Kumu, Nutrition Technologies, Love, Bonito and FreshKet.

He also led the first institutional fundraising round for Gojek. He has a great deal of practitioner experience having founded and built Asian Food Channel, a 24-hour pay TV channel, which was sold to US media giant, Scripps Interactive in April 2013. He is currently active on the Board of the Singapore Science Centre and sits on the A*STAR portfolio management committee.

Hian holds an MBA from INSEAD Singapore and a Law Degree from Trinity College, Oxford.

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In this episode you will learn:

Jessica Liu’s journey from Associate in charge of the accelerator to a Partner at Appworks, a platform that connects investors and businesses, acting as an integral catalyst in Taiwan’s VC ecosystem in addition to being a venture fund.
What is the equity-free Appwork Accelerator Program? How does it offer support and guidance to founders?
The importance of the ‘dating period’ for the sustenance of a startup-VC relationship.
Which domains is Appworks looking to invest in?
What does Appworks’ portfolio spectrum look like?
Jessica’s idea of ‘founder exchange’, one of Appworks’ best strategies to boost founders’ growth and optimize outputs.
Appworks’ customized method of mentor-mentee relationship building, while staying clear of the matchmaker role.
As an industry expert, what does Jessica think about the emerging possibilities of Web3? How would the ongoing digital revolution change the startup and investment landscape?

About

Jessica is a Partner leading our efforts in Southeast Asia and the region’s burgeoning blockchain ecosystem. She loves helping visionary founders realize their full potential. Jessica has been active in the digital industry since 2010, starting her career managing online marketing for Standard Chartered Bank’s cross-selling strategies before joining AppWorks in 2014. At AppWorks, Jessica has been closely watching the development of consumer internet applications, especially as they intersect with the increasing ubiquity of deep technologies. She previously served as an Associate in charge of our Accelerator and Southeast Asia initiatives amongst many other major projects before becoming a Partner in 2019. Jessica received her B.B.A from the University of Southern California.

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In this episode, you will learn:

What is Edmicro’s macro approach in handling the Vietnamese ed-tech ecosystem?
How does Edmicro add value to the education sector?
What is the reasoning behind Edmicro’s predominantly B2B approach?
How has technology and accessibility reformed the Vietnamese education system?
Why do Linh and Yinglan ascribe as much importance to founder-product fit as to product-market fit?
What are the key elements of a sustainable startup-VC relationship?
What are the intricacies of Venture Capital as viewed from service-oriented and product-oriented perspectives? Are these two facets of VC complementary or contrastive?
What were the factors that facilitated not just a tenable but an amiable relationship between Insignia and Edmicro?

About

Yinglan Tan

Yinglan Tan founded Insignia Ventures Partners in 2017. Insignia Ventures Partners is an early-stage technology venture fund focusing on Southeast Asia and manages more than US$450 million from sovereign wealth funds, foundations, university endowments and renowned family offices. Insignia Ventures Partners is the recipient of “Deal of the Year (Small Cap / VC)” for Ajaib (2021) by AVCJ and two back-to-back “VC Deal of Year” awards for Payfazz (2019) and Carro (2018) from the Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association and its portfolio include many other technology leaders in Southeast Asia. He also co-hosts the On Call with Insignia Ventures podcast, where he chats with portfolio founders and regional investors. An author on venture capital, startups and innovation, he recently published his fourth book, Navigating ASEANnovation (World Scientific, 2020). He also serves on the International Board of Stars – Leaders of the Next Generation, the Singapore Government’s Pro Enterprise Panel and is a Board Member at Hwa Chong Institution.

Linh Dang Bao

Linh Dang Bao is the CEO and co-founder of Edmicro. He is a seasoned operator in Vietnam’s education sector, having worked several years driving adoption of Intel Vietnam’s edtech solutions across the country through partnerships with government agencies and schools, prior to starting Edmicro. He took up his PhD in the Netherlands before he returned to Vietnam.

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In this episode, you will learn:

Swapna's journey towards becoming a VC, and how her culture, upbringing, and work experience influenced the process
How is Qualcomm any different from other corporate VCs in the industry? How does their portfolio thesis set them apart?
Qualcomm's fulfilling journey with MapMyIndia, culminating in its stellar IPO performance
How should founders practice prudence while utilizing capital, and intangible resources? An illustration of Shadowfax
Why is Qualcomm particularly interested in logistics and supply chain startups? How can better infrastructure fully tap this sector's potential in India?
What is Qualcomm Women Entrepreneurs India Network? How does it aspire to motivate women entrepreneurs in Deeptech?
What are some inequalities and prejudices miring the Indian startup ecosystem?
What are the changing trends in the Indian startup industry? What composes its potential as a global investment market?

About

Swapna Gupta is a Director at Qualcomm Ventures India, based out of the Bangalore office. She manages investments across all sectors in the technology related ecosystem. She spends a significant amount of time building a high-quality deal pipeline, executing deals and portfolio management. She has led and manages investments in companies such as Locus, Zuddl, Shadowfax, Ninjacart, Stellapps, Moveinsync and Reverie (Acquired by Reliance) among others. Prior to joining Qualcomm, she was part of the Investment Banking team at EY, India where she concentrated on Private Equity and M&A of Technology/Telecom companies. She is also part of class 25 of the prestigious Kauffman fellow program.

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In this episode, you will learn:

What was Joshua's first working experience and how did it propel him to enter the world of VC?
What are some of the prejudices that lead VCs to lose out on great startups?
What are the two types of founders? Is one better than the other?
What are the characteristics of a great entrepreneur?
The one question that no one tells you to ask yourself before fundraising
How does Mandiri Capital add value to its portfolio companies?
What is Mandiri Capital's 'Inclusive Incubator Program'? How can it benefit you?
What are some of the changing trends in the Indonesian startup ecosystem? How can entrepreneurs and investors steer its wheels in the right direction?

About

Joshua is an experienced tech investor in Indonesia. He has 8+ years of experience in the venture capital industry and has been managing a total of 6 funds to date. He is currently serving as Director of Venture Funds in Mandiri Capital Indonesia - the corporate VC arm of Bank Mandiri, which is the largest corporate bank in Indonesia. He is responsible for leading fundraising and investment operations of Mandiri Capital’s new venture fund vehicles.

Prior to Mandiri Capital, Joshua was the Vice President of Investments in MDI Ventures, corporate VC arm of Telkom Indonesia. Under his tenure, he led MDI Ventures’ investment department and managed to achieve a track record of 9 exits in 6 years of fund life with 100% DPI and managed to source 3 unicorns (startups with valuation > US$1Bn). Besides investment activities, Joshua is also actively involved in industry and market research where he co-led MDI Ventures' 2 whitepaper publications.

Joshua holds a bachelor's degree in Economics (Cum Laude) from the University of Indonesia and was inducted into Forbes Asia 30 under 30 2021 in Finance & Venture Capital category.

Notable deals: Kredivo, Mobile Premier League, Payfazz, PrivyID, Bukalapak, Whispir

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In this episode, you will learn:

How did Michael’s four years at ING Insurance fuel him to explore entrepreneurship?
The coincidence that introduced Michael to venture capital, and made him a partner at Golden Gate Ventures.
What are the parallels and differences between fundraising as a fund manager and as a founder?
What are the nuances of identifying suitable investors for series A and B fundraising?
Why should founders pitch to only a handful of their choicest VCs when they are starting off?
What is the technique for getting certain and prompt responses from investors?
Why does the need for diversification of investors on your cap table increase with every succeeding stage?
What are the introverts’ strengths which have the potential of building a prolific and responsive network? How can one network effectively without speaking in front of crowds?
Michael’s speculations about the evolution of the Southeast Asian startup landscape in 2022, and some measures that founders should start taking

About

Michael Lints has over 20 years of experience helping innovative businesses obtain the resources, insights, and expertise they need in order to be successful. Michael has been a startup operator, investor, and mentor, and is currently a Partner at the Singapore-based venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures. He joined the firm in 2013 and is currently leading growth venture efforts, which include LP fundraising and portfolio management for Golden Gate Venture's investments at Series B and beyond.

Michael’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2000 when he co-founded an IT managed services startup in Europe that was acquired by a large data and telecom company six years later. In 2007, Michael founded a venture fund focused on Dutch small- and medium-sized enterprises to help them with capital financing, business development, and strategy. During the same period, he was invited to join the Economic Development Board Rotterdam as Vice Chairman. In that role, he launched the Young Economic Development Board where he brought together a highly influential Dutch network to develop a sustainable framework for public-private relationships that increased local business investment while leveraging the public infrastructure.

Michael has helped support firm and portfolio-level priorities that have spanned fundraising, capital allocation, and corporate development. He has helped to raise over USD $60M for Golden Gate Ventures and its portfolio companies, including helping to raise later stage rounds from external investors as well as leading two early strategic acquisitions.

Outside of work, sport is an essential part of Michael’s life. He is a former member of the Dutch karate team and the former ambassador for Treknology (Trek bikes distributor in Singapore). Michael actively participates in Ironman 70.3 races and marathons. He is also passionate about social justice and uses sport as a vehicle to raise awareness for important issues such as civil rights, economic opportunity, and education. Besides sport, Michael is an active writer and writes articles regarding life, balance, and venture capital on michaellints.com.

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In this episode, you will learn:

The distinction between responsibilities handled by fund managers, LPs, and founders
Why is fundraising harder for VCs than it is for founders?
How can you set your VC fund apart?
A comparison between the portfolios of LPs and VCs
Parallels between the roles and responsibilities of emerging managers and founders
What are the implications of fund size on fund strategy?
Why is it better to keep your portfolio concentrated?
What is the relationship between TVPI, graduation rate, and returns?
What is the process of recycling money? Why is it important?

About

Brian Ma is a partner at Iterative Capital and 3x founder turned investor. Brian was previously founder and CEO of Divvy Homes ($2B valuation), Weave (YC S14, acquired), and Decide (Series C company, acquired by eBay). In non-existent spare time, Brian enjoys dog parks with his german shepherd mix, rides on his motorcycle, and aping into interesting crypto projects.

Iterative is a YC style accelerator focused exclusively on Southeast Asia by the founders of Divvy (a16z, GIC), Weave (YCS14), and Decide (acquired by eBay) who have collectively raised $100M+ in VC. Iterative invests US $150K into early stage startups twice a year then works with them intensely for 3 months culminating in a Demo Day. Founded in 2021, Iterative's mission is to increase the GDP per capita of Southeast Asia through entrepreneurship.

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In this episode, you will learn:

Prayank’s journey from IIT Delhi to becoming a VC
How did Prayank discover venture capital as a complete beginner? How did his missed opportunity with Flipkart lead him to Accel?
What are some unique customer acquisition and retention strategies that Accel’s portfolio companies employ?
Why does Prayank give precedence to NPS while evaluating product-market fit?
What is the Accel Atoms Program? How does it aim to aid founders?
What are the 5 Why(s) that Prayank asks before choosing any startup?
Do founders really get to pick and choose between different VCs?
What is the B2B thesis of Accel?
What is the one quality shared by all smart founders?
What are Accel’s plans for Southeast Asia?
Prayank’s take on the evolution of the Indian startup ecosystem, the pros and cons of arriving a little late to the party.

About

Prayank is a Partner at Accel, and joined the firm in 2011. He focuses on cybersecurity, developer tools, marketplaces, and SaaS investments. Some of the investments led by him are - Aavenir, Bizongo, Maverix, OnsiteGo, Securden, Slintel, Skeps, and Zetwerk. Prior to Accel, he worked at Adobe and Standard Chartered Bank in India and Singapore. He held positions across engineering, product marketing, pre-sales, and product management. Prayank is from Ghaziabad. He has an integrated master's degree in Mathematics and Computing from IIT Delhi and an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

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In this episode, you will learn:

What is StartupIndonesia? What are the services it provides to founders and VCs?
How relevant is the founders’ background to the fate of their startup? What comprises that background?
What do SID points signify for startups? What are the factors that affect these points?
How does StartupIndonesia facilitate more compatible matches between startups and VCs?
What is the foremost indicator of a startup’s potential according to most VCs?
What motivates VCs to reverse pitch to certain startups?
What is the Indonesian market lacking despite the presence of ample capital?
What are the ways soonicorn companies can expand their markets and eventually turn into unicorns?

About

Erwin is the Head of StartupIndonesia.co, an online market database and intelligence platform that connects Indonesian founders with investors. He was formerly an Investment Analyst at Angel-eQ – an angel investor’s network, before joining DBS as the Innovation Manager of Digibank. In 2018, Erwin was invited as one of the 35 international delegates at the ASES Summit by Stanford University. Afterwards, he then took the role of Project Manager of Idbyte Esports 2019, a biennial tech event by Bubu.com

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Jyri's deck - What You Should Know About Early-Stage Venture Capital

Jason Lemkin's tweet that started this discussion.

In this episode, you will learn:

The mechanics of early-stage VC, their 2 and 20 compensation structure and the brutal math of VC
Why do VCs raise new funds every 2-3 years?
How are rolling funds and evergreen funds different from traditional VC funds?
What is a capital call and why don't VCs hold a lot of cash in the bank?
Why is it important for VCs to negotiate pro rata rights with startups?
Why was minimum ownership in a startup traditionally important for VCs and what are the reasons that seems to be changing?
What are the different approaches VCs adopt to support their startups with better alignment?
What is the most consequential decision that you would make when building a startup?
How does building products and services for growing social movements create multi-billion startups?
Why do early-stage firms succeed by saying 'Yes' more than saying 'No'?

About

Jyri Engeström is an early investor in Unity, Dapper Labs, Oura, and many other successful companies. Together with his partner Caterina Fake he runs Yes VC, an early stage firm based in San Francisco. Before starting Yes VC he founded two companies. The first one sold to Google, the second one to Groupon.

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In this episode, you will learn:

What are the pivots that propelled Chris’s successful transition into a VC?
What are the three crucial stages of fundraising that Chris deems indispensable?
What are the 2 Bs that every founder should keep in mind while creating their pitch deck?
Story of how the founder of Continuum Industries reached out to Chris and chased him during a conference to pitch him and raise funding
Is fundraising really as easy as people make it out to be?
How should VCs allocate their time investment to their two customers - LPs, and founders? How does Playfair do it?
What are some of the ways in which VCs can harm startups?
Why does Chris prefer a hybrid work structure at a time when most companies are going completely remote?
What are the pros and cons of investing in Europe and SouthEast Asia? Is one better than the other?

About

Chris is Managing Partner at Playfair Capital, a Kauffman Fellow (Class 25) and a Contributor to Forbes.
He focuses his investing activities on seed (and pre-seed) deals in the UK, Europe and Israel. Chris is particularly interested in autonomous transportation, business and industrial automation (especially through AI, ML and computer vision), HealthTech (except diagnostics and therapeutics) and B2B SaaS. He loves finding companies operating in unloved/overlooked sectors that are ripe for disruption.
Prior to joining Playfair, Chris held senior roles at plan.com including Sales Director, Head of Tech/BI and Head of Product Development. He was the 8th member of the team and over a 5 year period built an award-winning sales team, introduced new products (organically and through acquisition) and lead the rollout of version 4 of the platform. Revenues grew to £50m in 2018 and the company ranked #1 in The Sunday Times Tech Track 100.
In addition to his roles at plan.com, Chris worked on the re-launch/re-branding of Vannin Capital (another Bramden Investments' portfolio company which was acquired by Fortress Investment Group LLC in September 2019).
Chris executed 14 angel investments across the UK and US from 2008 to 2018 with five exits to date including SuperAwesome (acq. Epic Games), Nearbuy Systems (acq. RetailNext) & Bidstack (LON:BIDS). He is passionate about investing in tech companies and supporting founders using his extensive operational and legal experience.
In his previous life, Chris spent nearly a decade in the City as a transactional lawyer. He has worked with some of the world’s leading private equity and venture capital funds on predominately international acquisitions, disposals and restructurings. At Weil, he spent time on secondment to the Silicon Valley office’s patent litigation team, UK-based food manufacturer Premier Foods and the Asset Protection Agency.
He also setup a telecoms business offering discounted international calling from 14 countries in 2001 which he partially exited via an MBO in 2005.

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In this episode, you will find out:

Aldi’s early real-life experiences which fanned his interest in understanding finance
Aldi’s experience working with Japanese LPs. What are the differences and similarities between their approach in business and that of other Asian countries?
What was the driving force which led to the establishment of Arise, a fund in limited partnership with MDI Ventures?
How has the business of innovation evolved over the last decade? Have VCs been able to keep up with this evolution?
Why does Aldi not endorse the “spray and pray model”? What is his alternative strategy? How is it beneficial to founders trying to raise early stage funds?
Arise’s robust due diligence structure which ensures a business relationship based on not just trust and faith, but also facts and data.
Aldi’s concept of “venture indexing”. How is it better than good old venture investing?
Why should startups have a sound budgeting and finance model? How can Arise help them achieve that?
What is Aldi’s method for filtering the best investment prospects? How is it different from the general approach of “investing in founders, not companies” which prevails in startup ecosystems?
What is a Corporate VC? Is it the devil it is made out to be, or do we lack the conceptual understanding of how VCs operate?
Where does Aldi see the Indonesian market a couple of decades down the line?
What is Aldi’s personal value system which encourages him to continue his journey as a VC?

About

Aldi is the Partner at Arise, an early-stage VC fund in partnership with Telkom Indonesia-backed MDI Ventures and Bank BCA-backed Finch Capital. Arise enables the next generation of startup founders to scale up and build a real business with interesting tech in Southeast Asia.

He is also the Vice President of Investments at MDI Ventures, an $830 Million AUM Global Multi-Fund VC Firm investing in local founders. Aldi is leading the overall global investment activities to focus on seed-to-growth equity stage startups across 5 Funds and 3 Offices (ID, SG, USA) with portfolios that represent 12+ Countries including 3 Unicorns (Nium, FinAccel, and MPL) and leading Centaurs such as PayFazz (YC S17), aCommerce, SiCepat, ObserveIT (Exited to Proofpoint), Wavecell (Exited to 8x8), RDP (Exited to PayU Naspers), Whispir (IPO at ASX), and Geniee (IPO at TSE).

Prior to MDI Ventures, he was in charge of setting up, leading, executing, and managing investments of a Silicon Valley-based Venture Capital firm in the SEA region and #1 Fintech focused VC arm of Indonesia largest Corporate Lender with top SEA portfolio which includes Alodokter, Investree, Koinworks, Amartha, Bridestory (Exited to Tokopedia), Moka (Exited to Gojek), Urbanindo (Exited to 99.co) Jurnal (Exited to Mekari), Talenta (Exited to Mekari), and Cashlez (IPO at IDX).

Recently, Aldi was awarded as the only GCV Powerlist Top 100 from SEA region among other top global CVCs such as Softbank, Intel Capital, GV, M12, Naspers, Tencent Investment, and Alibaba Innovation Ventures.

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The episode will answer:

What’s the quest which commanded the trajectory of Tu’s brilliant career?
What did Tu learn from her first internship at a VC firm?
Tu’s working experience with VietAbroader, a student-run non-profit organization whose commitment for promoting sustainable development aligned with Tu’s personal quest since college.
What were the challenges that Tu faced while building her first startup, YOLA? How did she manage to overcome them?
What is Tu’s criteria to identify the right co-founders and investors?
What are the factors which promote positive team-building in an early-stage startup?
What are the perks of working as an early-stage startup employee?
What is the Touchstone Fellowship Program?
Which sectors does Touchstone focus on while investing?
What are the ESG principles? How have they dictated Tu’s growth as an entrepreneur and an investor?

About

Tu believes everyone has an inner potential but opportunities are not equally distributed, hence as a startup founder, VC investor and community builder, she wants to build solutions to enable especially young people, entrepreneurs and women to grow their skillsets and lead their own lives. She's the co-founder and Chairwoman of YOLA, a leading online-offline English education services company in Vietnam and the founding General Partner of Touchstone Partners, an early-stage US$ 50 mil VC fund focusing on Vietnam with interests in education, healthcare, consumer tech, hardware and climate action related solutions.

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This episode will answer:

The founding story of Klout, “a Google for people”, where Binh was a co-founder
Binh’s participation in pioneering the Vietnam startup ecosystem
Why does Binh think that the Southeast Asia tech industry has a promising future?
How did Binh become one of the first investors of Axie Infinity, currently the most successful blockchain game in the world?
Being a founder, how can you employ and lead people who are smarter than yourself?
Why does Binh attribute immense importance to culture-building and expansion? How do founders build cultures that serve as a magnet to attract exceptional performers?
What are the differences between the story founders must present to their employees, customers, and investors in order to garner faith and interest?
How can you hit the sweet spot when it comes to time invested in fundraising? How can you optimize operations and fundraising simultaneously?
Why is fudging the numbers a severely mistaken technique to impress investors during fundraising? Can it bring any benefit at all?

About

Binh Tran is the co-founder and General Partner of Ascend Vietnam Ventures, a seed stage venture capital firm investing in Southeast Asia's next wave of market leading tech companies that begin their journey in Vietnam. Prior to Ascend Vietnam Ventures, he was the co-founder and General Partner of 500 Startups Vietnam, the first tech focused seed stage VC firm in Vietnam. Prior to that, Binh co-founded Klout, the Kleiner Perkins-backed social analytics company in San Francisco that was acquired for over USD$200M. Binh has completed over 50 seed investments since 2012 and currently resides in Ho Chi Minh City.

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This episode will answer:

Why is Adrian drawn to developing markets like China and Indonesia? What role does technology play here?
What motivated Adrian to develop Idapted, a one-on-one English test preparation platform for Chinese students? What were some of the challenges he faced in the process?
What is Adrian’s science of hiring, and what inspires it?
Why does Adrian refer to himself as a “Venturepreneur”?
What is AC Academy? How does AC Ventures aim to educate entrepreneurs through it?
Why doesn't Adrian endorse the Chinese 996 work culture?
What is Adrian’s Barbell Strategy to achieve work-life balance?
How does Adrian compare a triathlon with the evolution of a startup? What are the ways to reach the finishing line?
What is Adrian’s perception of the Indonesian tech startup ecosystem, its qualities, and shortcomings?

About

Adrian Li is Founder and Managing Partner at AC Ventures, a merged fund between Agaeti Ventures and Convergence Ventures. ACV is an early stage Indonesia focused technology venture capital fund. ACV manages 3 funds with a portfolio of over 80 businesses. Some of their noteworthy investments include Payfazz, Koinworks, Julo, Carsome and M17. Previously, Adrian has also been the co-founder of several ventures in Indonesia and China. Adrian’s 1st Internet venture was Idapted where as CEO & cofounder he raised 2 rounds of venture financing and led the company to be the largest live one-on-one online English test preparation service in China. Adrian is also passionate about non-profit work. He founded and chairs a UK Charity called CNYTrust, which supports children in rural China to continue schooling. He is a business mentor at several organisations including Endeavour, Founders Institute and Antler. He has served on the board of Entrepreneurs Organisation in several roles including Beijing Chapter President and Regional Communications Director. He is also a member of Young Presidents Organisation (YPO) in Indonesia.

Being a master of several trades, Adrian is also a sponsored endurance athlete, ranked in top 5% in his age group for Ironman 70.3 distances. He has completed several marathons in New York, London, Tokyo and Beijing & triathlons including a full Ironman. Adrian graduated from Cambridge University with a BA and MA in Economics and MBA from Stanford while studying in the dual degree MBA & Education MA program. He is currently enrolled in the Tsinghua OBOR EMBA program. Additionally, he is a Kauffman Fellow in Class of ‘21. He speaks Mandarin and English fluently and is proficient in Cantonese and basic Bahasa.

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This episode will answer:

What does Rajesh mean by “build a company, not a startup”?
What are Rajesh’s thoughts on GSF India’s 80% portfolio founders being IITians? Is this a result of unequal opportunities?
What are the three green-flags that investors look for in founders?
What are the dos and don’ts of making a startup pitch? How can you optimize your pitch by employing both facts and emotions?
In what ways does GSF India support its portfolio companies apart from monetary investment? How involved should the investors be in a company’s administration?
Why is creating market disruption an important element for generating profits?
What are the non-commercial problems that plague startups during the early stages? How to deal with them?
What’s the right way to build your core team? Why is it preferable for founders to scout employees from their immediate network?
What is the reason behind Rajesh’s intensive interest in early-stage and Series A investing?

About

Rajesh Sawhney is one of the leading angel investors in India, with an impressive record of nurturing over 100 startups. He is the founder of GSF, India’s leading tech startup accelerator which provides initial capital, mentorship, and global exposure to entrepreneurs and founders.

His current portfolio consists of successes like Whatfix, Quizizz, Slintel, FlintoClass, Citymall, and more. Rajesh serves on multiple boards, including that of Indiamart (India's target B2B marketplace) and Ixigo. Previously, he was on the boards of Microland and Nielsoft on behalf of Trident Capital, a prominent venture firm based in Palo Alto, California. Rajesh is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School (AMP), and has a fellowship from the London School of Economics.

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Aloke Bajpai is the Co-Founder & Group CEO of ixigo. A travel industry veteran, he has worked in various product and technology roles at Amadeus, France, prior to launching ixigo in 2007. A big supporter of entrepreneurship, Aloke is a key investor and advisor for several startups and accelerators. Aloke is an IIT Kanpur alumnus and an MBA from INSEAD.

Key Takeaways

Aloke shares the struggles of getting ixigo off the ground and also the challenges they faced while raising their first round of investment
How positive customer feedback and growth for their key metrics kept them going even when things were hard
How startups can deal with a crisis like COVID and come out of it stronger
ixigo’s work culture, how it was shaped and how startups can build a great company culture
Aloke shares how his leadership has evolved over time learning from mistakes and key qualities that are quintessential for a startup leader
An interesting instance where a VC made a big impact for ixigo
How late stage fundraising is different from Seed and Series A
How startups should think about going for IPO
Startups Aloke likes to back and why

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Vy Le is the Co-founder and General Partner of Do Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm that focuses on making investments in information technology companies in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. The fund is looking for pioneers with a desire to create disruptive products that can bring about outstanding values to society.

Vy is an innovative serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in operations and keen insights into the Vietnam market. At 13, she founded TmSpeed Network, specialized in web development and hosting service. In 2010, Vy founded Chon.vn and served as CEO, developing the platform into one of the most popular online fashion shopping centers in Vietnam. In 2014, she exited Chon.vn to Vingroup, the largest private conglomerate in Vietnam. She then served as the CEO of Vingroup’s e-commerce subsidiary, Adayroi.com, and successfully scaled the company from scratch to reach a few hundred million USD in revenue. Throughout her career, she is known as an innovative leader with an outstanding ability to inspire employees and facilitate teamwork, creativity, and productivity.

Vy graduated as Valedictorian from Georgetown University (United States). She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance.

Key Takeaways

2 investment models(B2C & B2B) of Do Ventures
Qualities of a great startup team and red flags for Vy
How DO ventures use a data-driven approach in tracking their portfolio companies’ progress and optimise their support
Vy’s approach to advising startups and helping them overcome setbacks
Tech trends that Vy is watching both in Vietnam and the rest of Southeast Asia
Why she is excited to be part of Vietnam’s transformation into a major tech hub

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Martin Tang is the Co-Founder and Partner at Genesis Alternative Ventures. He has worked in venture debt since 2015 as a founding member of DBS’ venture debt business, leveraging his close to 8 years of investment banking and private equity experience in pioneering the asset class in SE Asia. He then began his entrepreneurial journey when he co-founded Genesis Alternative Ventures, SE Asia’s premier venture debt fund with his two other partners in 2018. He enjoys running, mountain biking, cooking and fine wines in his free time.

Key Takeaways

Why Martin decided to start Genesis Alternate Ventures
What is Venture Debt and dos and don'ts for startups raising a venture debt round
How Venture debt is different from revenue based financing like Pipe.com
What are some of the red flags for Martin when a startup approach him for venture debt financing
What is a typical tenure for venture debt and why Thrasio like business models raise a large round venture debt round alongside a small equity round

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Hsu Ken is the Founder and General Partner at Iterative, a YC-style accelerator focused exclusively on Southeast Asia. Before that, he was the Chief Product Officer of Workmate, an on-demand blue-collar staffing platform in Southeast Asia. In 2014, he was VP of Product at Weave (YCS14). In 2009, he started Decide.com an early machine learning company that predicted the future price of consumer goods. It was acquired by eBay in 2013. Hsu Ken has a BS in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Washington.

Key Takeaways

How Hsu Ken got started in startups
Origin story of Decide.com, a price comparison website co-founded by Hsu Ken and acquired by eBay in 2013
How and why Decide was able to raise funding pre-product
Highs and Lows of building Decide
Why the team decided to sell Decide to eBay and about the acquisition process of Decide
Challenges of building a product for professional networking and his experience building Weave
Why he decided to build Iterative, a YC-style accelerator focused exclusively on Southeast Asia
What he looks for in startups applying for the Iterative program and the importance of quickly validating your hypothesis while building products
Hsu Ken shares why he is excited for Southeast Asia tech ecosystem and his vision for how Iterative will add value to the tech ecosystem in the region

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Olivier Raussin is the co-founder and Managing Partner at FEBE Ventures. FEBE, which stands for “For Entrepreneurs, By Entrepreneurs” is an early-stage VC fund with a geographic focus on Vietnam and SEA. FEBE's Partners who have created 30+ companies from scratch, back mission-driven founders providing them with entrepreneurial know-how, experience-based advice in MVP, business development, fundraising, talent acquisition etc

Prior to FEBE, Olivier was a General Partner at Project A Ventures, an operational VC in Europe and Latin America with $500M in assets under management, and he held executive roles at Google, Youtube, Microsoft, and Yahoo! before his foray into venture capital.

Key Takeaways

Why Olivier decided to set up a VC fund focused on Vietnam and Southeast Asia
Olivier talks about some of the mistakes he has made in his career as an entrepreneur, VC and a tech operator
Due Diligence process at FEBE Ventures
What % of the FEBE’s fund is a typical investment and how they support their portfolio companies
Some of the technology trends that Olivier is paying attention to and why VC should have a founder first approach

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Sony is a serial entrepreneur who founded multiple startups in the telecom & fintech space. His first startup MOBME was founded while he was half way into his engineering degree back in 2006. MOBME monetised a bouquet of B2B & B2B2C products in the telecom space, creating employment for hundreds.

His last startup Chillr, founded in 2013, was funded by Sequoia, Blume & Uniqorn. Chillr was the pioneer in seamless inter-bank mobile payments years before UPI & during this stint, he worked closely with numerous banks including the likes of HDFC Bank, Bank of Baroda etc.

In 2018 Chillr was acquired by Swedish HQ Caller ID app Truecaller, post which he has been heading Truecaller's fintech arm. More recently, he took responsibility of building the Enterprise Business vertical for Truecaller from the ground up. It's now an extremely fast growing business unit that's operating like a full fledged SaaS company and is focused on making business communication safe & efficient. The division already boasts of hundreds of active clients across BFSI, Fintech, EdTech, Healthcare, Automotive etc and is becoming an indispensable tool for businesses that rely on telephones as a communication channel.

Key Takeaways

Sony shares his entrepreneurial journey founding MobME with friends in college and innovations they brought in the telecom and banking industry
The insightful Chillr story including its founding, Series A fundraising, and strategic reasons behind selling the business to Truecaller
Some of the biggest lessons from Chillr and how Sony managed the Truecaller acquisition process
Why growth is the key for a successful fundraise for any startup
Why you should be prepared to spend a significant amount of your life(7-10 years) when you decide to build a startup
Major trends in fintech especially credit and why financial data is the key to building inclusive products and services

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Anand is passionate about helping entrepreneurs build high impact enterprises in Fintech, InsureTech, Education, Logistics. With a background in operations at high growth companies, Anand is keen to help start-ups with his experience. He believes in the immense scope that “Bharat” presents for innovative India specific models.

Anand was an entrepreneur and business leader prior to joining Nexus. He was a founding team member of MagicPin, a hyperlocal deal discovery platform. Most recently he was heading New Market P&L and Growth across Asia for BIMA (Milvik) – a global insure tech company. Previously Anand worked with Bain & Co. as a strategy consultant where he advised Technology and Consumer Goods companies in India and Silicon Valley.

Anand holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur.

Key Takeaways

How a background in consulting has helped Anand in his career as an entrepreneur and a VC
What is first principle thinking and how you can apply it to solve large problems
Why ‘being calm is a superpower’ for a founder going through the topsy turvy journey of building a startup
Why founders should focus on communication as part of their product’s distribution, marketing, customer onboarding, customer support, and how startup teams can develop their communication skills
2 startup pitches that stood out out for Anand, the core questions a startup should be answering while pitching to VCs & control rights to keep in mind while working with a VC
Why lending is a business of collections
Challenges of a category building business and why your story matters more than anything else while you are building a category building business
How the Indian tech ecosystem has matured and why now you see startups building products for the global markets
Why lesser the regulation, the better for the tech ecosystem and why the next 10 years is going to be a golden period for the Indian tech ecosystem

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Prachi Sinha heads Healthcare Investments at Axilor Ventures, where she focuses on sourcing innovation and works closely with portfolio companies. Prachi is most passionate about working with entrepreneurs on business model viability, go to market strategies, corporate partnerships, and clean regulatory pathways. She believes the gap in India's healthcare capabilities and resources can be bridged only through innovation. To that end, she has specific interests in new commerce models and science-backed ideas.

Prachi has a decade of public policy and consulting experience in organizations including Janaagraha and McKinsey. She is an MBA from the Indian School of Business (ISB) and an Economics graduate from Fergusson College, Pune.

Key Takeaways

How Axilor Ventures is different to other early-stage funds in India
Challenges healthcare startups face in India
How Prachi and the team at Axilor Ventures support their portfolio companies
Common mistakes startups make during fundraising and immediately after the fundraise
Challenges and potential of using medical data for better healthcare
Major emerging themes in healthcare in India
How incentives of all stakeholders in healthcare are misaligned and how a business model that is aligned to the patient can be created in healthcare

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Jeremy Au is a VC at Monk's Hill Ventures who invests in fellow founders who will transform millions of lives. He also spearheads MHV's key initiatives from venture scouts to thought leadership. Jeremy is also the host of the BRAVE podcast who interviews trailblazing founders, investors and rising stars in Southeast Asia tech. His mission is to inspire thousands to build the future, learn from our past and stay human in between. He is an angel investor in multiple startups across the USA and Southeast Asia

Jeremy co-founded CozyKin, an early education marketplace. He led the startup as CEO from 0 to Series A to acquisition by Higher Ground Education. Won Harvard Business School's New Venture Competition and the MassChallenge grand prize. Incubated by Harvard Innovation Lab's VIP Program and MIT Sandbox.

Jeremy co-founded Conjunct Consulting, an impact consulting platform, to deliver over 285 engagements and train thousands of new leaders. He bootstrapped the social enterprise to profitability and handed off to his handpicked successor where it thrives to this day. He also consulted across multiple Southeast Asia markets and China as a Bain management consultant. He also served as an infantry sergeant in Singapore.

Jeremy is a public speaker and panellist on entrepreneurship, leadership and community engagement. He has spoken for thousands across Harvard, Deutsche Bank, Singapore Global Tech Network, Boston SPARK Council, Institute of Policy Studies, Civil Service College and many others. Recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 and Prestige 40 Under 40. MBA from Harvard Business School and double honour degrees in Economics & Business Administration from UC Berkeley.

Jeremy enjoys science fiction, improv, hiking, tea and being a dad with his family. He enjoys hearing from authentic founders, receiving podcast guest recommendations and new speaking opportunities.

Key Takeaways

3 phases of fundraising - how to prepare your startup for fundraising, organising your fundraising process, and growing your startup with the funds raised
Why the ability to learn quickly, making good decisions consistently, and emotional self regulation are the must have leadership skills for a startup founder
Why every founder must have the self awareness to grieve when they exit their startup before deciding on the next challenge
How you can deal with a startup failure and why it’s like losing a loved one
How startups can use capital advantage as an economic moat
How as human beings we learn linearly and startups are expected to grow exponentially, and why this makes building startups really hard
Ways Jeremy gives back to the startup community

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Key Takeaways

Challenges of growing up with dyslexia and how that prepared Michael to be a better entrepreneur
The hideous shoe story - Unique approach by a founder to stand out and get Michael’s attention while pitching to him
How to make a good first impression and mistakes to avoid while pitching to a VC
Most important slides on a pitch deck that founders tend to overlook
Why some entrepreneurs can raise millions of dollars pre-revenue while some other entrepreneurs struggle to raise funding even after making significant growth
How founders can organise the fundraising process efficiently
How founders can answer 'what if Google tries to build this' effectively
Difference between Seed and Series A round investment
Realities of raising a bridge round or down round investment
Ways founders can create urgency to close the funding round quickly

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Fred Seibert is one of the leading independent animation producers and a serial media entrepreneur.

He was the first creative director of MTV, the last president of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, and the founder of Frederator Studios and Next New Networks (acquired by YouTube). His production hits include shows on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon (Adventure Time, Dexter’s Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, The Fairly OddParents, ChalkZone, and My Life as a Teenage Robot), Netflix (Castlevania), Cartoon Hangover, the home of original programming like Bravest Warriors and Bee and PuppyCat (history’s most backed animation on Kickstarter).

Fred’s on the board of directors of Sawhorse Media and was the first investor in Tumblr (acquired by Yahoo!). He’s received the Lifetime Achievement Medal from the American Institute of Graphic Arts and is in the Animation Magazine Hall of Fame.

Key Takeaways

‘Stay Original. Always.’ - Why Fred do things differently and not follow trends
Story of how Tumblr was created and why Fred invested in Tumblr
How David Karp, the founder of Tumblr ran board meetings
Frameworks Fred uses to spot and nurture talent
How VCs assess startups and the important questions they ask during fundraising
Why storytellers targeting niche audiences do really well nowadays and how the definition of success is dramatically different now in comparison to the early days of television
Decisions that led to the Jonny Quest cartoon series not doing well and why it’s okay to have failures

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Peng is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Monk’s Hill Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage tech companies, primarily Series A, in Southeast Asia. Peng is an industry veteran with over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, founder, and investor in Silicon Valley and in Asia. He is based in Indonesia and is a board member of Glints, ELSA, Finaxar, and Intelligent Video Solutions.

Prior to Monk’s Hill Ventures, he was a Venture Partner at GSR Ventures in China. The firm is known for its successful investments in companies like Didi Chuxing and Qunar. As an entrepreneur, he co-founded a series of successful companies including Electric Classifieds (today known as Match.com), Interwoven and Encentuate, which combined today generate over USD$1 billion in revenues annually.

Peng is currently the Chairman of SolveEducation! and serves as a board member of the International Advisory Board for the University of Texas at Austin and SEA Founders.

Peng earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas and an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois.

Key Takeaways

Why the best investment Peng has made is being an entrepreneur and how that helped him as an investor
What is first principles thinking and how founders must use the framework while building startups
What questions should you as a founder ask a VC while pitching to them
What stage a startup must be in terms of product, distribution, and team to successfully raise a Series A round
How Monk’s Hill Ventures support their portfolio companies in scaling their businesses
Importance of Board of directors in the success of a startup
Strategies startups use while expanding their business to different countries in Southeast Asia
Why artificial intelligence and bioengineering are the most important technologies for the future of mankind

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Ivan Kirigin is an Investor at Tango VC. Tango VC is a new seed-stage fund focused on machine learning and robotics. Before Tango VC, Ivan was a two-time technical startup founder and also worked for companies like iRobot, Facebook, Dropbox, and Lyft. He holds a masters degree in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University and was also an earlier investor in Cruise automation.

Key Takeaways

How Ivan helped Dropbox grow 12X in 2 years
How Ivan became an early investor in Cruise which sold to GM for $1 billion
Why founders must focus on how fast they learn and how fast they improve
When autonomous cars will become the norm
As a founder, ways you can get the timing right while building a product
Why Machine Learning and Robotics are good investment opportunities
How Machine learning can reduce health care and how healthcare policies need to change for it to get better
How you can do due diligence on a VC
His decision making processes while investing in startups

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Key Takeaways

Difference between Angel investors and Venture Capitalists
Best pitch Will has heard and a deal he wishes he should’ve closed
How VCs determine the valuation of startups
Important clauses in a term sheet or a shareholder agreement that founders should know
Why VCs insist founders take a low salary till their startup is profitable
How Cocoon Capital works with startups when they invest in them
Industry verticals Will is interested to invest in and why

Understanding VC: Recent Episodes

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