The Deal: Recent Episodes
Tyler Norwood, Antler
Hear from the best VCs around the world. How they think, what gets them excited and how to get your startup in front of them. The Deal's mission is to make VC more human and more accessible to everyone.The Deal is hosted by Tyler Norwood and brought to you by Antler. To learn more about how you can start your next startup with Antler visit www.antler.co
This is a special episode of The Deal with Gené Teare, Senior Data Editor at Crunchbase News. Gené is a Silicon Valley veteran (she joined TechCrunch in 2008 to run Crunchbase, within 6 months of its founding) with extensive knowledge of the tech industry. Gené uses Crunchbase's extensive database to conduct strategic research on trends within private company data. She focuses in particular on global venture funding trends, artificial intelligence, fintech, AI, gender equity in tech and venture. (Gené leads the charge on Crunchbase News' monthly, quarterly, and annual VC funding reports.)
In this episode of The Deal, Gené breaks down the data behind fluctuations in today's venture capital landscape, how our current market contraction looks different from the dot-com bubble bust, her funding predictions for the remainder of 2023, and more.
Follow Crunchbase on LinkedIn and Twitter @crunchbase.
You can find Gené on Twitter @geneteare and LinkedIn.
To build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios in Austin, Boulder, and NYC.
Clara Brenner is the co-founder and Managing Partner of the Urban Innovation Fund, a venture capital firm that invests in pre-seed and seed stage companies that are shaping the future of cities. Previously, Clara co-founded Tumml, a startup hub for urban tech. In this episode of The Deal, Clara shares how the Urban Innovation Fund provides regulatory support to entrepreneurs solving tough urban challenges, how she segued into venture after starting her career in commercial real estate, and the areas of innovation she's most excited to watch develop.
Follow Urban Innovation Fund on LinkedIn and Twitter @UrbanInnoFund.
You can find Clara on Twitter @clara_brenner and LinkedIn.
To build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios in Austin, Boulder, and NYC.
Arjun Kapur is the Managing Partner and Founder of Forecast Labs, a one-of-a-kind venture group - part of Comcast NBCUniversal - that earns equity into its investments by driving paid customer acquisition via TV advertising. Prior to launching Forecast Labs, Arjun helped build some of the most prominent NYC startups like Aaptiv, HelloFresh, Tictail, Shutterstock, Squarespace, and Ladders. He's also served as an advisor to Chewy, Calm, and Ollie.
In this episode of The Deal, Arjun discusses how Forecast Labs analyzes potential investments (the fund invests in consumer businesses from seed to Series D). He also provides practical advice on how startups can build cross-functional teams that align goals, promoting a culture of shared ownership and customer-centric focus. This is a must-listen for any founders scaling and structuring a growing startup.
Follow Forecast Labs on LinkedIn and Twitter @ForecastLabs.
You can find Arjun on Twitter @arjunkapur and LinkedIn. (Or drop him an email at arjun_kapur@comcast.com.)
To build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios in Austin, Boulder, and NYC.
Ben Lerer, Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau, is a former founder (credits include Thrillist) turned investor and native New Yorker. Ben built Lerer Hippeau to bridge a gap he personally faced as a startup founder: 15 years ago it was nearly impossible to find venture capital funding in New York City. Today, New York City's startup ecosystem rivals that of Silicon Valley and Lerer Hippeau's portfolio contains more than 300 leading consumer and enterprise companies, including Guideline, MIRROR, Blockdaemon, K Health, Allbirds, ZenBusiness, and Palmetto, among others. In this episode of The Deal, Ben shares what he's learned from launching startups, how the Lerer Hippeau team supports its portfolio companies, his thoughts on the evolution of venture capital, and why the most important question you can ask early-stage founders is: "why now?"
Follow Lerer Hippeau on LinkedIn, Twitter @LererHippeau, and Instagram.
You can find Ben on Twitter @BenjLerer and LinkedIn.
To build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios in Austin, Boulder, and NYC.
Melody Koh is a Partner at NextView Ventures, a high conviction, hands-on seed stage investor that backs founders building technology companies to redesign the everyday economy. Before joining NextView, Melody was Head of Product at Blue Apron. She'd joined as Blue Apron's first product hire and then scaled the business through hyper-growth (25x in 3.5 years) and IPO. In this episode of The Deal, Melody shares what led her back to venture after her time at Blue Apron, launching her own startup while pursuing an MBA at Harvard Business School, how she evaluates prospective investments at NextView, and how founders can stand out in a sea of deal flow.
Stay up to date with NextView Ventures on LinkedIn and Twitter @NextViewVC.
Follow Melody on Twitter @melodykoh and LinkedIn.
To build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.
Cassie Young is a General Partner at Primary Venture Partners. In addition to leading software investments at Primary, Cassie also manages the firm's portfolio impact program, Primary Impact. In this episode of The Deal, Cassie shares her thoughts on what has driven explosive tech ecosystem growth in NYC over the past decade, the power of Primary Impact for her fund's seed stage founders, Primary’s own incubation program, and how she's personally navigated her career as an operator-investor in New York.
Stay up to date with Primary on LinkedIn and Twitter @PrimaryVC.
Follow Cassie on Twitter @dukecass and LinkedIn.
To build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.
Dan Long is a Partner at Cohen Circle, an investment firm that capitalizes fintech companies from their Series A rounds to exits. But before Dan was an investor, he was an operator himself. On this episode of The Deal, Dan shares how his experience building PeerIQ (which was acquired by CrossRiver Bank) influences his investment frameworks at Cohen Circle today, the nuance of innovating in a heavily regulated industry, how building a VC firm is quite similar to launching a startup, and transformational shifts he expects to emerge in fintech in the decade to come.
Learn more about Cohen Circle on LinkedIn and Twitter @CohenCircle.
Follow Dan on Twitter @itsdanlong and LinkedIn.
To build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.
Do you live on startup Twitter? Then you’re probably familiar with the prolific Elizabeth Yin (aka @dunkhippo33). Elizabeth is Co-Founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund, a pre-seed VC that writes checks into ultra-early stage founders. On this episode of The Deal, Elizabeth and Tyler discuss how venture capital always comes at a cost, the best way to communicate with VCs, and how to iterate on customer acquisition.
Learn more about Hustle Fund on LinkedIn and Twitter @HustleFundVC.
Follow Elizabeth on Twitter @dunkhippo33, LinkedIn, or her website.
To build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.
Gale Wilkinson is the Founder & Managing Partner of VITALIZE Venture Capital. A self described "process nerd at heart," Gale is focused on investing in people-first, data-driven, big ideas that are transforming the future of work. In this episode, Gale discusses her experience building a career in venture capital and advice for founders who are building and fundraising today.
You can find VITALIZE Venture Capital on LinkedIn and Twitter @VitalizeVC.
Follow Gale's hot takes on Twitter (@galeforceVC), LinkedIn, or her website!
To learn more about how you can build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.
This is a conversation with Jason Chen. Jason is a Partner at Contrary, an early-stage venture firm thats backs bold founders in their pre-seed and seed rounds and supports them as they scale. In this episode, Jason expands on how Contrary systematically identifies exceptional talent and cultivates relationships with emerging founders through its university Venture Partners program and the Contrary Fellowship. Tune in to hear about Jason's own path into venture, the advice he's giving founders in this turbulent macro environment, strategies for finding alpha in venture, and a few tangents on the Philadelphia Eagles (sorry about the Superbowl, Jason).
You can find Contrary on Linkedin and Twitter.
Follow Jason directly on Twitter - @jchen623 - or LinkedIn.
To learn more about how you can build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.
Can you remember a time before Gmail? Mary Grove can - she was one of the beta users.
Back in 2004 Mary joined Google with plans to work at the startup for a year through its IPO before heading to law school. Plans changed and Mary spent 15 years with Google. She went on to lead new business development partnerships, negotiating worldwide early stage product and technology deals. Mary then served as the founding director of Google for Startups, leading the company’s global efforts to support entrepreneurs in over 100 countries.
Today Mary is Managing Partner of Bread and Butter Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm based in Minnesota, the Bread and Butter State. The firm invests in the staple sectors of modern economy (food tech, health tech, enterprise SaaS) globally, but leverages Minnesota's unparalleled access to deep corporate connections, talent pools, and industry expertise.
In this episode, Mary shares lessons she learned at Google, drops fun facts about Minnesota's rich talent ecosystem and business-friendly culture, and gives founders advice on VC outreach.
You can find Bread and Butter Ventures on Twitter - @Bread_ButterVC - and LinkedIn.
Follow Mary directly on Twitter or LinkedIn.
To learn more about how you can build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.
Have you ever met someone and - within minutes - recognized they are a true force of nature? Well...meet Alexa von Tobel.
Alexa is the Managing Partner of Inspired Capital, a venture capital firm she co-founded in 2019. Before Inspired, Alexa launched and scaled Learnvest, a personal finance startup, that was acquired by Northwestern Mutual in May 2015 after raising nearly $75 million in venture capital.
In this episode of The Deal, Alexa explains how her experience building Learnvest has influenced her approach in her current role as an investor and the key ingredients for an excellent founder-investor relationship. Alexa and Tyler discuss the attributes world class founders possess and which market opportunities excite her most today.
Alexa is the New York Times bestselling author of Financially Fearless and Financially Forward. You can follow Alexa on Twitter, Linkedin, or tune into her weekly podcast Inc. Founders Project with Alexa von Tobel featuring conversations with the best founders across the country.
To learn more about how you can build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.
This is a conversation with Niko Bonatsos, Managing Director at General Catalyst. Niko joined General Catalyst out of Stanford as an Associate in 2010 and has spent 12 years with the firm. In this episode, Niko reflects on what equipped him to successfully ascend within the General Catalyst ranks, how it felt to lead his first deal, making investments in notable companies like Discord, Hive, and Snap, and why he's currently focused on investing in technical GenZ founders.
You can find General Catalyst on Linkedin and Twitter.
Follow Niko directly on Twitter or LinkedIn.
To learn more about how you can build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.
If you want to learn more about Union Labs, check out their website and Twitter .
You can follow Chris Kim directly on Twitter or LinkedIn.
And learn more about how you can build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.
Have you ever looked at a VC and wondered how they are giving founder advice without ever having done it themselves? Well, that is not the case with Brett Queener. Brett is a battle hardened veteran in the B2B SaaS space, having helped build Salesforce original channel strategy and spending 8 years building and scaling SmartRecruiter.
Brett brings an incredible toolbox of experience and know how to supporting founders as an investor at Bonfire. He loves working with founders on building what he calls their "first replicable sales motion" and believes that the difference between good companies and great is determined by how effective and efficient your sales organization is.
To learn more about Bonfire you can find them here.
of you can follow Brett directly on Twitter.
To learn more about how you can build a company with Antler. Come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.
Have you ever heard the well known VC response, "this company is not VC fundable"? Well. despite being easy to poke fun of, traditional VC funds do have a specific business model that requires them to literally swing for the fences. Tyler Tringas, the founder of Calm Fund, believes this focus has created an opportunity to invest in companies that may not become behemoths, but stand to create vast wealth and impact for all involved.
So in 2018 Tyler decided to focus full time on launching a new type of investment fund. In this episode we dive into all the details and why he believes Calm Fund can forge a bath to a new asset class focused on what he calls, "Calm Companies".
To learn more about Calm Fund, you can check them out here. Or, you can follow Tyler directly on Twitter.
To learn more about Antler and how you can start your next company with us please come see us at antler.co
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to graduate college with an Engineering degree in 2009 and then launch your career in tech head first into the global financial crisis? Well that's exactly what happened to today's guest Hadley Harris.
Not one to be discouraged, Hadley took it as a small road bump and charged along, finding success in the ashes.
Hadley took this experience and in 2010 launched Eniac Ventures with two of his oldest friends. The trio has since turned Eniac into one of the world's OG seed funds and made investments in companies like Airbnb, Anchor, Cameo and Hinge.
Hadley's experience with ups and downs gives him a noticeable sense of calm and patience that is rare these days, and he brings that experience to the founders he works with.
To learn more about Eniac Ventures check them out here, or follow Hadley on twitter (he's quite funny).
To learn more about Antler and how you can start your next company with us please come see us at antler.co
First Round Capital was founded in 2004 in Philadelphia. To date they have done more than 1,000 early stage investments into companies like Flexport, Roblox, Warby Parker, Square and Uber.
Meka Asonye joined First Round two years ago after a career leading sales at two of the fastest growing companies in the world, Stripe and Mixpanel.
To learn more about Antler and how you can start your next company with us please come see us at antler.co
Guarav Jain is co-founder and Managing Partner of Afore Capital, a $300M venture fund that invests in 10-15 companies pre-seed companies a year. Afore capitalizes founders located anywhere in the world, no matter how early on they are.
Follow Guarav on Twitter.
To learn more about Antler and how you can start your next company with us please come see us at antler.co
Neil Kapur is a Partner at TTV Capital, a more than 20 year old firm that specializes in early and growth stage FinTech. Neil is young, smart, hungry and an incredible addition to any board room. We discuss what great looks like in FinTech deals and what he is excited about in the future.
Follow Neil on Twitter.
To learn more about Antler and how you can start your next company with us please come see us at antler.co
Zach Coelius is the Founder and still only employee of Coelius Capital. Coelius is a multi-stage firm that mostly focuses on B2B SaaS, but is sometime convinced to invest into other things. Zach looks for, above all else, crazy ideas that haven't been done yet.
You can follow Zach on Twitter for more from him.
To learn more about Antler and how you can start your next company with us please come see us at antler.co
Some notable investments in the Coelius Capital portfolio:
- Cruise
- Hellosign
- Mercury
- Clubhouse
Sheel Mohnot is the Founder and General Partner at Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV). BTV is a multi-stage, fintech focused fund that believes in a future where every company has a compelling fintech component.
You can follow Sheel on Twitter for more awesome thoughts from him.
To learn more about Antler and how you can start your next company with us please come see us at antler.co
Some notable investments in the Better Tomorrow portfolio:
- AngelList
- Flexport
- Lattice
- Ramp
Some people Sheel follows:
- Jake Gibson
Books in Sheel's Library:
- Ender's Game
- Also check out Ad Auris here to have any and all articles read to you.
Guru Chahal in a General Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. LSVP is one of the worlds preeminent VC funds that operates under three key pilars: multi-stage (pre-seed to growth), multi-sector (enterprise, consumer, healthcare, web3 and more), and multi-geo. To learn more about LSVP you can check them out at lsvp.com and here you can follow Guru on Twitter.
To learn more about Antler and how you can start your next company with us please come see us at antler.co
Some notable investments in the LSVP portfolio:
- Carta
- Epic Games (Fortnite, Unreal Engine)
- Snap
- Grubhub
- Nest
Some people Guru follows:
- Ravi Mhatre
- Arif Janmohamed
- Gaurav Gupta
Books in Guru's Library
- Andy Weir
- Foundation - Isaac Asimov
- Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig
- Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu
Aubrie Pagano is a General Partner at Alpaca, a firm built by founders for founders. Alpaca focuses on commerce enablement, including e-commerce, global logistics and data infrastructure around the global economy of goods. Learn more about Alpaca at alpaca.vc and follow Aubrie on twitter.
To learn more about Antler and how you can start your next company with us please come see us at antler.co
Some notable investments in the Alpaca pack:
- Firstbase
- Imperfect Foods
- Compass
- The Sandbox
- Latch
Some people Aubrie follows:
- Rex Woodbury - Investor at Index Ventures
- Natalie Sportelli - Head of Content and Thing Testing
- Benedict Evans - Writer
- Matthew Hertz - COO Second Marathon
- Scott Galloway - the dawg
Books in Aubrie's Library
- Good to Great - Jim Collins
- Fast and Slow Thinking - Daniel Kahneman
- Solvable
