Venture With Mo: Recent Episodes

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Episode Overview On this week's podcast, we're joined by Minn Kim, Partner at On Deck, Board Member at the EVCA (Emerging Venture Capitalists Association) and was previously a VC at Bloomberg Beta for 4 years.

What an amazing show we have in store for you today. Minn talks about:

• Life before Bloomberg
• The different paths to venture
• Ecosystem comparison - west coast vs east coast
• What is Seed vs Series A
• The origin of Bloomberg Beta and how the firm invests
• Venture careers, how responsibilities change over time
• Thoughts on fundraising seasonality
• What is the future of work? What is workflow automation?
• The relationship between machine learning and innovations in industry

About Kim Min Minn Kim is a Partner at On Deck and previously a San Francisco-based investor at Bloomberg Beta, a seed-stage venture capital firm focused on the future of work. Before Bloomberg Beta, she worked on Bloomberg LP’s Strategy and Corporate Development team in New York.

About Bloomberg Beta Bloomberg Beta is an early-stage venture capital firm with $225M under management, capitalized solely by Bloomberg. The fund exists to expand Bloomberg’s horizons by investing in companies that are creating profound change in the way business operates, with a focus on machine intelligence and the future of work.

Resources * Bloomberg Beta: Bloomberg Beta * GatherRound: https://gatheround.com/ * On Deck: https://www.beondeck.com/

Connect With Minn Kim * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/minnkim/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/minney_cat

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/motypes * Email: mo@metapair.com

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Episode Overview On this week's podcast, we're joined by Chris Yin, Investor at Scale Venture Partners, a $600 million fund.

Chris has been deeply embedded in the B2B, Enterprise, RPA, and automation space both as an investor and as an operator for many years. I'm excited to share this episode, Chris drops a wealth of knowledge:

• Journey into venture capital
• Investment thesis and how to evaluate investment opportunities
• The Scale Venture Partner investment process
• Enterprise vs B2B vs B2C businesses
• The future of automation and cognitive applications
• Product led growth vs top-down sales approach for B2B companies
• GPT3 copilot and its impact on enterprise

About Chris Yin Chris is a Principal on Scale’s investing team, focused on investments in intelligent business software, vertical AI companies, and data-first businesses. He helped source Scale's investment in Archipelago (2021), Flatfile (2021) and Spruce (2020). A veteran Product Manager, he has held senior roles at several successful startups. Before joining Scale, Chris was VP of Product at Rainforest QA, a QA automation platform where he built and led the product, design, support, and community teams and developed the company’s product strategy and roadmap.

Chris was also Director of Product Management at Coupa Software, helping to grow the company from a startup to a publicly-traded company. He started his career at Xpenser, an expense management product that was acquired by Coupa.

About Scale Venture Partners Scale is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital investment firm with $1.3B under management. We were early investors in SaaS pioneers like Bill.com (NYSE:BILL), DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU), HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS), JFrog (NASDAQ: FROG) and Root (NASDAQ: ROOT). Today we’re focused on the next generation of enterprise software companies building Cognitive Applications like Comet.ml, Observe.ai, Techsee and Viz.ai. Learn more at www.scalevp.com.

Scale is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on intelligent business software with a Scaling Platform that has helped companies like Box, Bill.com, Hubspot, Docusign, JFrog, and WalkMe move from founder-led growth to a repeatable go-to-market machine. Learn more at scalevp.com.

Resources * Scale Venture Partners: https://www.scalevp.com/

Connect With Chris Yin * Web: https://www.scalevp.com/team/chris-yin * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisyin/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/chriseyin

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/motypes * Email: mo@metapair.com

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Episode Overview On this week's podcast, we're joined by Jeff Farrah General Counsel at the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) where he advocates before Congress, the White House and agencies for pro-entrepreneurship policies and leads in-house legal matters for the association, including management of the NVCA Model Legal Documents.

Jeff shares a wealth of knowledge on proposed changes to acquisitions, the effects on the startup ecosystem and immigration policy. We also cover a whole host of topics including:

• The journey from Capitol Hill to Venture Capital
• What is the NVCA and why it's an important
• How policymakers work and how they make decisions
• The Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act (CALERA)
• Differences between Amy Klobuchar & Josh Hawley's bills
• How democrats and republicans view mergers and acquisitions
• The rise of venture capital ecosystems
• Immigration during the Trump administration
• Why it's challenging to make changes to immigration policy
• What is the international entrepreneurs rule & why it's a big deal
• L visa, O visa, H-1Bs & how they relate to the new rule

About Jeff Farrah Successful advocate for entrepreneurship as General Counsel at the National Venture Capital Association. Jeff has been featured in publications like the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and TechCrunch on topics such as foreign investment, immigration, antitrust, and how public policy impacts startups. Jeff regularly speak at conferences, present to investors, and counsel investors and companies on policy strategy and regulatory compliance.

Previously, Jeff served as Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation where he advised Chairman Thune (now Senate Minority Whip) on telecommunications, technology, and Internet policy. Jeff also served as General Counsel and a policy adviser to U.S. Senator Scott Brown.

Before Senate service, Jeff was an attorney at a leading Washington, DC law firm for international trade matters. His private sector legal experience includes international trade investigations (antidumping/countervailing duty), administrative reviews, and sunset reviews in market and non-market economy cases. He has also counselled businesses on World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement, NAFTA Binational Panel Reviews, customs matters, and appeals before the U.S. Court of International Trade.

About NVCA The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) empowers the next generation of American companies that will fuel the economy of tomorrow. As the voice of the U.S. venture capital and startup community, NVCA advocates for public policy that supports the American entrepreneurial ecosystem. Serving the venture community as the preeminent trade association, NVCA arms the venture community for success, serving as the leading resource for venture capital data, practical education, peer-led initiatives, and networking.

Resources * NVCA (National Venture Capital Association): https://nvca.org/ * Techcrunch article "Restrictions on acquisitions would stifle the US startup ecosystem, not rein in big tech": https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/19/restrictions-on-acquisitions-would-stifle-the-us-startup-ecosystem-not-rein-in-big-tech/

Connect With Jeff Farrah * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-farrah-5343853/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/jefffarrah

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/yo_jalil * Email: mo@metapair.com

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Episode Overview We have a fascinating conversation with Craig Dixon co-founder and general partner of Accelerating Asia. Craig has spent the last decade within the startup ecosystem in South East Asia as both an entrepreneur and now as a venture investor. In this episode, we cover a whole host of topics including:

• The journey from entrepreneur to fund manager
• The Accelerating Asia program
• Investing in Bangladesh and frontier markets
• How timing affects a fund's internal rate of return
• The mechanics of the Singapores VC FM license
• Venture capital incentives and founder alignment
• Why and how founders should master storytelling
• Introducing Safe notes in South East Asia and why founders should use them
• The importance of ESG and impact investing

About Craig Dixon Craig Dixon is the Co-Founder, Entrepreneur in Residence (EiR) and Program Director for Accelerating Asia, which provides innovation consulting for organizations looking to engage with startups, runs Singapore’s only independent startup accelerator program and manages the associated venture capital firm Accelerating Asia Ventures.

Previously, Craig was the EiR and Program Manager for the muru-D Singapore startup accelerator. Craig arrived in Singapore in 2013 after his startup, Zumata received funding from Wavemakers Partners, the National Research Foundation and 500 Durians.

He is also an Angel investor, speaker and blogger on startup topics. Craig has been involved in over 50 investment rounds in startups as either a founder, institutional investor or Angel investor. He has a passion for building a more efficient startup ecosystem in Southeast Asia, focusing on standardization of investment terms and fairness between startup founders and investors.

Prior to beginning a career in startups, Craig lost his way for a time and spent 8 years as a banker and getting his MBA from the University of Maryland and HKUST.

About Accelerating Asia Accelerating Asia is an accelerator VC that runs programs for early-stage startups and investors. Licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Accelerating Asia’s early-stage VC fund focuses on pre-Series A startups with untapped potential that are 6-18 months away from institutional funding. Accelerating Asia invests up to US$250,000 in pre-Series A startups, and the current portfolio covers over ten countries in Southeast and South Asia.

While most angel investors and startup programs in the region focused on ideation-minimum viable product stage startups, and venture funds focused on solid product-market fit, startups with a robust product at early stages of customer traction are often overlooked. That is where Accelerating Asia comes in. Our accelerator and venture capital model is designed to support pre-Series A startups to fast track growth and drive success, unlocking the potential in them.

At the core of the work we do is the guiding belief that entrepreneurs are one of humanity’s greatest catalysts for positive change. Currently, applications for Accelerating Asia Cohort 5 will close on 30 June 2021.

Resources * Accelerating Asia : https://acceleratingasia.com/

Connect With Craig Dixon * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigbristoldixon * Twitter: https://twitter.com/craigdixon88

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/yo_jalil * Email: mo@metapair.com

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Episode Overview Today is a very special episode on female founders and the Latin American market. We're joined by Claire Díaz-Ortiz investor, seasoned author and partner at Magma Partners and head of Brava. Claire and I have an absolutely fascinating conversation where we discuss:

• Angel investing and a look back at Claire's first check
• Ticket sizes, frequency and funding for female founders over the last few years
• The impact of covid on fundraising for diverse founders
• How built-in bias and social graphs affect who we fund and the opportunities we see
• Venture opportunities in Latin America
• Magma Partners, The Brave Initiative and funding female founders
• The inherent problems with VC investor pattern matching

About Claire Díaz-Ortiz Claire Díaz-Ortiz is an investor & bestselling author who was an early employee at Twitter. Wired magazine once called her "The Woman Who Got the Pope on Twitter" and she was also named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company.

She is currently an investing partner at Magma Partners, Latin America's leading pre-seed VC fund, and leads Brava, Magma's initiative to invest in female founders in Latin America. She is also an angel investor in all geographies. Claire was an early employee at Twitter, where she was first hired to lead corporate social innovation.

About Magma Partners Magma Partners is a seed-stage venture capital firm with offices in Latin America and California. Magma specializes in finding the best technology startups with technology and/or sales team in Latin America, but whose primary market is the United States. Since 2014, they have invested in 32 companies with teams all across Latin America.

Resources * Magma Partners: https://magmapartners.com/ * Brava: https://brava.magmapartners.co

Connect With Claire Diaz-Ortiz * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairediazortiz/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/Claire

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/yo_jalil * Email: mo@metapair.com

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Episode Overview In today's episode, we have Magnus Grimeland CEO and founder of Antler Global. Antler is a global early-stage venture capital firm that invests in technology companies. In the last 2 years, Antler has made over 200 portfolio company investments across 30 industries and has opened offices across six continents and most major entrepreneurial hubs.

In the show we discuss:

• The United World Colleges and the start of an entrepreneurial journey
• The Norwegian navy seals and the importance of grit
• The early days at Zalora and building from scratch
• Rocket Internet and the venture builder model
• Democratizing access for founders and investors
• The Antler platform and the process of applying
• How Antler does founder selection
• The characteristics of great founders
• Personal improvement and how to improve on your strengths
• The relationship between talent, hard work and luck

About Magnus Grimeland Magnus Grimeland is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Antler (www.antler.co), a global VC enabling and investing in the world's most exceptional people. He leads a global team across 5 continents and 13 locations with the mission to fundamentally improve the world by supporting founders, who are building the defining companies of tomorrow. Antler has invested in, and helped build over 220+ portfolio companies worldwide and established the world’s largest early-stage investment platform, with an unparalleled global network of entrepreneurial leaders and advisors.

Prior to Antler, Magnus co-founded ZALORA.com, Asia’s largest fashion e-commerce company. He served as COO and Managing Director of Zalora after it was acquired by Global Fashion Group (GFG) and expanded it across 26 countries.

Magnus is an alumnus of Harvard University and McKinsey & Company. He was a Junior Partner at McKinsey & Co and worked in North America, Europe and Asia in the global telecommunications, media and tech industries. He served as a Navy Seal with the Royal Norwegian Navy Special Operations.

About Antler Antler is a global early-stage venture capital firm that invests in the defining technology companies of tomorrow. In the last 2 years Antler has made over 200 portfolio company investments across 30 industries and has opened offices across six continents and most major entrepreneurial hubs

The founders from their portfolio represent over 70 nationalities and 40% of those startups are led by female entrepreneurs. Several of these early-stage startups have since secured follow-on investment by top-tier VCs.

Antler enables exceptional people to build impactful technology startups by building complementary co-founder teams, supporting the teams with deep business model validation and providing a global platform for scaling their startups.

Antler provides funding from day one to support founders building businesses that will positively impact local, national and global economies.

Resources * Antler Global: https://www.antler.co/

Connect With Magnus Grimeland * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/magnusgrimeland/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/magnusgrimeland

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/yo_jalil * Email: mo@metapair.com

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Episode Overview We're back with part 2 of our first look at the intersection between food, agriculture and venture investing with Carter Williams CEO and Managing Partner of iSelectFund. iSelect connects investors with innovative companies that are fixing our food and health systems while opening up access to investment opportunities that are making a real impact on the future of our world.

Carter has an extensive career spanning engineering, entrepreneurship and venture capital.

In today's show we discuss:

• Synthetic proteins and protein fabs
• The Chinese, South Korean and Singaporean models for food cultivation
• Why funds with vintage years can be bad for LPs
• Healthcare, food and preventative technology
• The joy of sailing and high-performance teams

About Carter Williams Carter Williams has spent his entire career working on innovation. First as a young engineer at McDonnell Douglas, next in his leadership roles at Boeing managing R&D and starting Boeing Ventures, and later as a successful entrepreneur and venture investor. Throughout his career, he has directly managed investments of more than $600 million in early-stage ventures and corporate research, resulting in several billion dollars of new product revenues. As part of Boeing Phantom Works, Carter led Boeing’s technology planning process, involving all aspects of internal and external technology development and manufacturing research. This eventually led to his role in founding and managing Boeing Ventures. After Boeing, he was President of Gridlogix, initially a small struggling 4 person startup that grew over 3 years, selling successfully to Johnson Controls in October 2008. Prior to leading iSelect, Carter served as Senior Managing Director at Progress Partners, an energy and technology investment banking firm, and was a Managing Partner at Open Innovation Ventures and a Director at Clayton Capital Partners. Carter is the past President and Founder of the MIT Corporate Venturing Consortium and Co-founder of the MIT Entrepreneurship Society. He has an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

About iSelectfund iSelectfund is an early-stage venture firm that invests in companies that are addressing critical global issues, in large markets, and with financially attractive business models. We are based in St. Louis but we take a national view, with a regional focus outside the coasts and on companies making an impact. To date, iSelect has invested in more than 25 portfolio companies across the country, in markets including food & agriculture, healthcare, resource efficiency and B2B software, in partnership with some of the largest and most successful venture investors in the industry.

Resources * iSelectfund: https://www.iselectfund.com/ * Part 1: https://bit.ly/3lFrCdh

Connect With Carter Williams * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carter/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/jcarterwil

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/yo_jalil * Email: mo@metapair.com

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Episode Overview Today we have part 1 of our first look at the intersection between food, agriculture and venture investing with Carter Williams CEO and Managing Partner of iSelectFund. iSelect connects investors with innovative companies that are fixing our food and health systems while opening up access to investment opportunities that are making a real impact on the future of our world.

Carter has an extensive career spanning engineering, entrepreneurship and venture capital.

In today's show we discuss:

• Deconstructing "Innovation is deflationary", what does it mean?
• The information theory of investing
• Journey from engineering to entrepreneurship and then venture capital
• From Boeing Ventures to the creation of iSelectfund
• Economics of entrepreneurship & the optimistic mindset
• Democtraising venture capital focusing on the 97% of people that can invest in venture but don't
• Why funds with vintage years can be bad for LPs
• Healthcare, food and preventative technology

About Carter Williams Carter Williams has spent his entire career working on innovation. First as a young engineer at McDonnell Douglas, next in his leadership roles at Boeing managing R&D and starting Boeing Ventures, and later as a successful entrepreneur and venture investor. Through his career, he has directly managed investments of more than $600 million in early-stage ventures and corporate research, resulting in several billion dollars of new product revenues. As part of Boeing Phantom Works, Carter led Boeing’s technology planning process, involving all aspects of internal and external technology development and manufacturing research. This eventually led to his role in founding and managing Boeing Ventures. After Boeing, he was President of Gridlogix, initially a small struggling 4 person startup that grew over 3 years, selling successfully to Johnson Controls in October 2008. Prior to leading iSelect, Carter served as Senior Managing Director at Progress Partners, an energy and technology investment banking firm, and was a Managing Partner at Open Innovation Ventures and a Director at Clayton Capital Partners. Carter is the past President and Founder of the MIT Corporate Venturing Consortium and Co-founder of the MIT Entrepreneurship Society. He has an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

About iSelectfund iSelectfund is an early-stage venture firm that invests in companies that are addressing critical global issues, in large markets, and with financially attractive business models. We are based in St. Louis but we take a national view, with a regional focus outside the coasts and in companies making an impact. To date, iSelect has invested in more than 25 portfolio companies across the country, in markets including food & agriculture, healthcare, resource efficiency and B2B software, in partnership with some of the largest and most successful venture investors in the industry.

Resources * iSelectfund: https://www.iselectfund.com/

Connect With Carter Williams * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carter/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/jcarterwil

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/yo_jalil * Email: mo@metapair.com

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Episode Overview This week we have a special episode on the Japanese venture and startup ecosystem. We're joined by Masahiko Honma General Partner and CoFounder of Incubate Fund, the best known and largest seed and early-stage investor in Japan.

Incubate Fund has made over 140 with 13 exits and 19 IPOs from companies like Sansan, Medley, Gamewith and iSpace.

In today's show we discuss:

• Venture capital vs corporate venture capital
• The power of getting into rounds early and being a lead investor
• The uniqueness of the Japanese startup ecosystem
• All things gaming, mobile and VR
• Vertically integrated telecommunication and why the iPhone won
• Gaming and innovators dilemma, how opportunities form for new entrants
• The startup ecosystem in Japan vs South East Asia
• Quantum computing and cryptography

About Masahiko Masahiko started his investment carrier at JAFCO in helping Silicon valley and Israel tech startups access into Japan market, then worked for Accenture’s venture capital arm and corporate venture capital under Mitsubishi Corporation. In 2007, he founded Core People Partners, angel fund specializing in the incubation of internet businesses, and made about 10x returns. He co-founded Incubate Fund in 2010, and has been making active investment in Japan as well as directing Asia investment operations in South East Asian market and India.

He was Graduated from Keio University Faculty of Business and Commerce.

About Incubate Fund Incubate Fund is a venture capital specialised in investing in startups in the seed stages. Since the establishment of the Incubate Capital Partners in 1999, we manage the fund worth ¥44.4 billion($440million) and invested in over 300 startups through our related fund. As Incubate Fund, since the establishment of 1st fund in 2010, we have invested ¥34 billion($340million) in seed startup, including more than 120 companies through our related fund in the last 5 years making us one of the biggest investors of the seed/early-stage startups in Japan.

Resources * Incubate Fund: http://incubatefund.com/en/

Connect With Masahiko Honma * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masahikohonma/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/masahiko_honma

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/yo_jalil * Email: mo@metapair.com

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Episode Overview We're back with a special look at Venture & Startup ecosystem in India and joining us is Rajesh Raju Managing Director at Kalaari Capital.

Kalaari Capital has made over 90 investments across three funds leading to about 15 successful exits from companies like Myntra, MedPlus and Snapdeal.

Rajesh has been venture investing in India for over 15 years, and has seen it all, on today's show we discuss:

• Venture capitalist and social media
• India's free-market approach and the significance of open tech borders
• Funds of funds and sources of capital
• Consumer spending and the importance of GDP per capita
• Market depth and IPO's, what this means for opportunities for entrepreneurs

About Rajesh Rajesh is a pioneer in investing in direct-to-consumer companies in India. His investment interests span consumer categories in retail, education and mobile. Rajesh returned from the US in 2006, drawn by the immense potential that India presents for entrepreneurs in reshaping the country. He has been a part of the startup ecosystem ever since.

In a career spanning over 20 years, Rajesh has had a broad set of experiences in the technology industry across product development, sales, M&A, equity research and private equity. He currently serves on the boards of several companies. Rajesh has an MBA (Hons) from the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, a Master’s in engineering from Marquette University and Bachelor’s in Engineering from BITS, Pilani.

About Kalaari Capital Kalaari Capital is an India focused venture capital firm that manages $650M funds with a strong advisory team in Bangalore. Kalaari Capital invests in early-stage, technology-oriented companies in India.

Resources * Kalaari Capital: https://www.kalaari.com/

Connect With Rajesh Raju * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrraju/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/RajeshKalaari * Email: rajesh@kalaari.com

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/yo_jalil * Email: mo@metapair.com

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Episode Overview This week we're delighted to have Shiyan Koh, General Partner at Hustle Fund, let me start by saying we dive into numerous topics, far more than what's listed below. As a taste of what to expect we discuss :

• Life at NerdWallet and bootstrapping to $50 Million
• Lifestyle versus venture-backed businesses
• How VCs evaluate an opportunity
• What is pre-seed? The hustle fund model and how they work with founders
• Contrasting Silicone valley, Singapore and South East Asia
• A brief history of VC, the evolution of micro funds and solo capitalists
• Early-stage investing and where the capital comes from
• High finance vs starting a fund and delayed gratification

About Shiyan Shiyan is an experienced operator, investor and General Partner at Hustle Fund. Prior to Hustle Fund Shiyan was VP of Business Operations & Corp Dev at NerdWallet (employee #10), growing annual revenue from $1M to $150M+, an investor at Institutional Venture Partners and Bridgewater Associates. Shiyan is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Business School.

About Hustle Fund Hustle Fund is a venture capital fund investing in fast-executing teams at the pre-seed and seed stages.

Resources * Hustle Fund: https://www.hustlefund.vc/ * The Culdesac: https://www.shiyankoh.com/

Connect With Shiyan * Web: https://www.shiyankoh.com/ * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shiyankoh/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/shiyankoh

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/yo_jalil * Email: mo@metapair.com

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Episode Overview Today we have a really interesting look at ASEAN Fintech scene with Managing Partner of 1982 Ventures, Herston Powers. The only seed fund exclusively focused on fintech and South East Asia. In this candid conversation we talk about:

• The formation of 1982 Ventures
• 1982 Ventures investment thesis
• Specialist funds and the power of going deep into a vertical
• The growth and opportunity in fintech
• What are Neobanks
• Thoughts on banking, payments and e-wallets
• Upstream capital and the future of Corporate VC in Singapore for fintech

About Herston Herston is a Managing Partner at 1982 Ventures. He is responsible for setting the strategy and direction of 1982 Ventures. He is active in investments, portfolio management and investor relations.

Prior to founding 1982 Ventures, he was a Principal at tryb Group in Singapore and created and executed their early-stage investment strategy. He led investments into Alami, a leading Indonesian Islamic Finance Platform, Gradana, a pioneer in Proptech in Indonesia and managed the investment into Maria Health, a Philippines-based insurtech. He previously held board observer roles at Alami and Gradana.

Resources * 1982 Ventures : https://1982.vc

Connect With Herston * Web: https://1982.vc/ * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/herston/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/herstonelton

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/yo_jalil * Email: mo@metapair.com

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Episode Overview In this episode we sit down with Dimitra from GGV and discuss:

• Life as a VC
• The culture of GGV
• Mindset difference between private equity and venture capital
• Edtech and the state of Education in Indonesia
• Innovations in food tech and alternative meat
• What are venture scouts and their relationship with venture firms
• How investors view Market fragmentation in south-east Asia
• GDP per capita as an investment indicator
• Exits and stock options in south-east Asia
• Barriers to growth - Infrastructure challenges in Indonesia

About Dimitra Taslim Dimi focuses on Edtech, Foodtech, and B2B commerce. He travels frequently between China, India, and Southeast Asia to source new investments and to help portfolio companies with international expansion. He works with Udaan (India), KhataBook (India), Vedantu (India), RuangGuru (Indonesia), BLUEmart (Indonesia), Telio (Vietnam), 酷家乐/Coohom (China), and 十荟团/ShiHuiTuan (China). He is actively involved with GGV’s “Evolving for the Next Billion” initiative, a global podcast community that connects startup enthusiasts with emerging markets founders & operators, who are revolutionizing how the next billion internet users live, work, and play through tech.

Dimi was previously an entrepreneur building a digital wealth platform. Prior to that, he led deal sourcing and deal execution across Southeast Asia for a regional VC firm. He started his career in London, where he cut his teeth in consulting and private equity. Dimi graduated with an MSc Economics from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

About GGV Capital GGV Capital is a global venture capital firm that invests in seed-to-growth stage investments across Consumer/New Retail, Social/Internet, Enterprise/Cloud and Smart Tech sectors.

The firm was established in 2000 in Singapore and Silicon Valley and manages $6.2 billion in capital across 13 funds. Today its team is based in five offices, located in Menlo Park, San Francisco, Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore

Resources - Mentions, People, Companies & Books * GGV Capital : https://www.ggvc.com/ * Jenny Lee : https://www.ggvc.com/ggv_employee/jenny-lee/ * Redefine Meat: https://www.redefinemeat.com/ * Ruangguru: https://ruangguru.com

Connect With Dimitra * Web: https://www.ggvc.com/ggv_employee/dimitra-taslim｜林新祥/ * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitra/

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: htntps://twitter.com/yo_jalil * Email: mo@metapair.com

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Episode Overview This week we have a truly fascinating and nuanced conversation with an investor, operating partner and all-round great guy Christopher Aw, where we discuss :

• What to consider as a first-time angel investor
• How to select a venture fund to invest in
• Opportunities and challenges in South East Asia
• Liquidity events and exits expectations
• Startups as a risk asset
• The impact of agritech (agricultural technology)

About Chris Christopher is an operating adviser with Monk’s Hill Ventures, a Series A focused venture capital firm, a member of the selection committee for the German Accelerator in South East Asia as well as a mentor at Chinaccelerator in Shanghai and the MOX accelerator in Taipei. He independently advises multiple startups in varying sectors of technology and business.

Prior to joining the world of venture Chris served in the US Air Force and worked across IT and intelligence disciplines globally as a communications officer and systems engineer. He served in operational, staff, and research and development organizations. While at a DC think tank, he supported the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence in a $20B per year fund evaluating technology investments in a broad array of disciplines.

Resources & Mentions * Alpha Square Group: https://alphasquaregroup.com/ * Monk's Hill Ventures: https://www.monkshill.com/ * Pandan Ventures: https://www.pandan.vc/ * Horangi: https://www.horangi.com/ * Ninja van: https://www.ninjavan.co/ * Glints: https://glints.com/ * Elsa: https://elsaspeak.com/

Connect With Chris * Web: https://www.pandan.vc/ * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopheraw/?originalSubdomain=sg * Twitter: https://twitter.com/awchristopher

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/yo_jalil * Email: mo@metapair.com

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Episode Overview We kick off this journey with none other than the renowned David Cohen, where we discuss:

• Investing Globally
• What it means to build startup communities
• The history of Techstars
• Techstars Anywhere and remote programs
• Lessons learned creating a community of entrepreneurs
• Give first, the culture of paying it forward
• The future of early-stage investing

About David David Cohen is the Founder and Managing Partner at Techstars, the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed. David has been an entrepreneur and investor for his entire life. He has only had one job interview in his career, successfully got that job but then quit shortly thereafter to start his first company. Since then, he has founded several companies and has invested in hundreds of startups such as Uber, Twilio, SendGrid, Pillpack, Classpass, and FullContact. In total, these investments have gone on to create more than $100B in value.

Prior to Techstars, David was a co-founder of Pinpoint Technologies which was acquired by ZOLL Medical Corporation (NASDAQ: ZOLL) in 1999. You can read about it in No Vision, All Drive. Later, David was the founder and CEO of earFeeder, a music service that was sold to SonicSwap. He also had what he likes to think of as a “graceful failure” in between.

David is the co-author (with Brad Feld) of Do More Faster; Techstars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup. David also enjoys reading non-fiction books and playing tennis. He is married to the coolest girl he’s ever met and has three amazing kids who always seem to be teaching him something new. You can find David tweeting at @davidcohen and blogging on the web at DavidGCohen.com.

About Techstars Techstars is the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed. Since 2006, Techstars has invested in more than 2,200 companies that today have a combined market cap valuation of more than $29 billion.

Resources * Techstars: https://www.techstars.com/ * GiveFirst Podcast: https://givefirst.techstars.com/ * Brad Feld: https://twitter.com/bfeld * Moisey Uretsky: https://twitter.com/moiseyuretsky * Digital Ocean: https://www.digitalocean.com/ * Startup communities: https://www.amazon.com/Startup-Communities-Building-Entrepreneurial-Ecosystem/dp/1531886035 * From good to great: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others-ebook/dp/B0058DRUV6 * Do More Faster: Techstars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup: https://www.amazon.com/Do-More-Faster-Techstars-Accelerate/dp/1119583284/ * No Vision All Drive: What I Learned from My First Company: https://www.amazon.com/Vision-All-Drive-Execution-Techstars/dp/1119632803/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=no+vision+all+drive&qid=1568093211&s=books&sr=1-1

Connect With David * Web: https://davidgcohen.com/ * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgcohen/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidcohen

Connect With Mo * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/ * Twitter: https://twitter.com/yo_jalil * Email: mo@metapair.com