Confluence.VC: Recent Episodes
Clay Norris and Tyler Dean
Guest: Jake Kupperman (@jbkupperman)
Company: Level Ventures
Location: New York, NY
Background:Level is a leading data-driven investment manager focused on technology innovation. Their team thinks about venture investing differently than most, and they apply deep levels of data science to inform their decision-making process.
Talking points (five-second version):
- The human aspect of venture capital becoming more data driven
- LP value creation to venture funds
- Non-obvious differences between working in venture and working at a fund of funds
Talking points (five-second version):
- The old state of venture investing
- The new state of venture investing
- Why the market is ripe for new workflows
Guest: Nico Cerdeira (@nicocerdeira)
Company: Failory
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Background: Failory is a content side for founders, and Nico has led their team for the past five years. Their team has mastered their marketing, and their site brings in hundreds of thousands of unique visitors per month. They use programmatic SEO to make this happen, and we cover more of the details in this talk.
Talking points (five-second version):
- The fundamentals of programmatic SEO
- How Failory reached 200k+ unique visitors / month with a team of one
- Ways to monetize a content site
- Lessons on how companies have found product-market fit
Key takeaways (30-second version):
- If you're ignoring search trends, your business has no shot. You have to win attention in today's world. Search trends tell you where attention lives today.
- Programmatic SEO is about building thousands of pages to capture long tail search demand. You do this by keeping the structure of the page consistent and mapping information to that structure.
- You can learn a TON by observing people and companies that have won at programmatic SEO. Nomad List, Zapier, and Failory are three companies to study.
- Increasing prices is the best way to grow top line. This can be uncomfortable if you're starting out.
- Sponsorships < affiliate programs < subscriptions. All business owners prefer recurring dollars over transactional dollars. If you warrant sponsorship, use it to earn recurring revenue down the road.
- Lack of PMF is the biggest reason startups fail. If you want to save yourself time, money, and heartache, check this out.
- You want ruthless feedback instead of passive compliments. The best way to pre-sale is to justify demand first.
Guest: Matt Knight (@JustMattKnight)
Company: Proptech Angel Group
Location: Atlanta, GA
Background: Proptech Angel Group is an angel group out of Atlanta that, as the name suggests, invests in companies shaping the future of real estate. The group has grown to ~200 members, and Matt is the founder and leader of the group. If you invest in proptech, he's a great guy to know.
Talking points (five-second version):
- Running an angel group vs. running a traditional fund
- Subsectors of proptech worth betting on
- Non-obvious takeaways growing a paid community to 200 members
Key takeaways (30-second version):
- Angel groups are a great source of inside information. If you're looking to get answers to questions you can't find on Twitter, try an angel group.
- Angel groups are slow because members notoriously don't have free time. Many of these people are running their own companies, so chasing down capital is the biggest con to running an angel group.
- You have much more flexibility running an angel group than a traditional fund. This is the two-sided coin of having less structure.
- You can learn things academically, but you don't really understand things until you get anecdotal evidence. To better understand academic concepts, practice them in real life.
- Any community is going to follow a Pareto's principle. 20% of members will produce 80% of the value. Find those people, and reward them to keep them engaged.
- When you're in an up-cycle, everybody wants things that are growing to expand revenue. During a down-cycle, people start focusing more on cost-cutters and other things that can streamline operations to reduce overhead.
- People are renting for longer periods of time for a few different reasons. Some are priced out as home prices have increased, but others are choosing to avoid homeownership because it is more convenient for them to rent.
Guest: Mack Kolarich (@MackKolarich)
Company: Assure
Background: Assure is the OG and most-used special purpose vehicle platform. They help anybody running SPVs by handling all of the administrative work that you don't have time for. Mack is a VP, and he also leads up their analytics team to leverage data to better understand trends.
Talking points (five-second version):
- Perspectives on building track record
- SPV trends
- Takeaways on innovation within the VC tech stack
Key takeaways (30-second version):
- Managing SPVs is more complex than you think. When it comes time to launch your first SPV, you want to go with an SPV provider that has seen everything before.
- SPVs aren’t just for VCs. Real estate funds, crypto funds, broker dealers, and others use SPVs to pool funds.
- 50% of funds admitted to sacrificing diligence to get into deals. This was one of the takeaways from the survey we ran with Assure earlier this year on how junior VCs are looking at special purpose vehicles.
- The main reason that investors aren’t building their personal track record is a lack of capital. SPVs offer a way around this.
- Syndicate leads are competing for LP attention today. LPs today are backing 20-30 different syndicates, and this optionality on the LP side is making it harder to get deals done.
- The number of family offices participating in SPVs has dropped in half over the past year. However, those that have stuck around have doubled the size of their investment.
Guest: Drew Glover (@DrewBailer)
Company: Fiat Growth
Background: Fiat Growth is an emerging VC focused on supporting and growing the next generation of fintech companies.
Talking points (five-second version):
- Differences in evaluating and investing companies at different stages of the lifecycle
- Overcoming the hurdles of selling into financial services
- Subsectors of fintech that Drew and the team are diving into
Guest: Anubhav Srivastava (@anubhav0313)
Company: Tactyc
Background: Anubhav is the founder and CEO of Tactyc, a venture portfolio construction, performance forecasting, and scenario planning software for data-driven funds. Get started with a 30% discount on their Construction and Solo plans by using the code CONFLUENCE30 at checkout.
Talking points (five-second version):
- Why fund managers should never be creating spreadsheets
- The importance of portfolio construction and scenario planning
- What's going on behind the scenes in the venture services market
Key takeaways (30-second version):
- Funds that are shutting down right now are going to miss out on some of the best opportunities. Valuations are down, founders still need capital, and investors that wait on the sidelines are going to miss the upside. Scared money don't make money.
- Especially at the pre-seed, revenue shouldn't be prioritized highly. Product-market fit and having early indicators of traction matter more than immediate revenue.
- More and more opportunities are popping to syndicate and tag along into deals they're already doing.
- Portfolio construction is a process. You usually have to lay this out in the fundraise.
- A good portfolio construction strategy is an evergreen asset you can keep using to manage investment decisions going forward. The better you lay this out, the better you can stick to your strategy over the lifecycle of the fund.
- Your primary goal as a GP is not to create spreadsheets. It's to get into deals and raise capital from LPs.
- Most up-and-coming venture services providers are collaborative and are building out products with a focus on integrations. Most of the traditional venture services providers are exclusive and want to build a one-stop shop for VCs. It's easier to see this on the inside, but it holds true.
- Australia is one of the fastest-growing venture capital markets in the world. According to Anubhav, they have clients over there, and they have some of the best internal processes he has seen.
- Startups need most help around distribution. If you want to actually be helpful to your portfolio companies, help them get the word out.
- Guest: Jacob Peters (@J__Cub)
- Company:House Capital
- Role: Co-Founder & General Partner
- Background: House Capital is the venture arm ofLaunch House. They invest ~$100k checks to support builders of the next Silicon Valley, and all of their portfolio companies get lifetime access into Launch House.
Talking points (five-second version):
- How the younger generation is influencing investment
- What the future of venture looks like
- Evaluating community-led companies
- Non-obvious things that make great communities
- Guest: Mike Suprovici (@msuprovici)
- Company:VC Lab
- Role: Head of Acceleration
- Background: VC Lab is the leading venture capital accelerator for fund managers. The program is 16 weeks, it's free for participants (once accepted), and the goal is to help participants reach their first close.
Talking points (five-second version):
- The types of people that are most-likely to become emerging managers
- The most challenging parts about starting your first fund
- Non-obvious things about pitching LPs
- Guest:David Kobrosky (@thebrunchguy)
- Company:Intros AI
- Role: CEO
- Background: Intros AI helps automate introductions to help communities build stronger connections. We use their software to help our community make more meaningful relationships, and Confluence premium members can sign up for that service here.
Talking points (five-second version):
- What makes a great place to gather
- Differences between Web2 and Web3 communities
- Similarities between choosing jobs and communities
Guest summary (10-second version):
- Guest:Melissa Widner (@melissawidner)
- Company:Lighter Capital
- Role: CEO
- Background:Lighter Capital is a revenue-based financing fund that helps SaaS companies raise capital without giving up ownership.
Talking points (five-second version):
- Revenue-based financing dynamics
- Ownership preferences of founders
- How downturns affect capital markets
This week we had on Zain Jaffer (@zainjaffer) from Zain Ventures.
Zain is a former operator with multiple exits under his belt, the most notable being Vungle's $780 million acquisition by Blackstone in 2019. Zain now primarily focuses on his family office, Zain Ventures, and he invests primarily in real estate and proptech companies.
In this talk, we cover:
- Prepping for a successful exit
- Non-obvious differences between family offices and traditional funds
- Opportunities in the future of real estate
This week we had on Alexa Grabell (@alexa_grabell) from Pocus.
Pocus is a product-led sales platform that helps GTM teams use data to improve customer acquisition, conversion, and expansion. Alexa is the co-founder & CEO, and she just raised $23mm to fuel their next phase of growth.
In this talk, we cover:
- Branding as a product-led growth company
- Creating early demand for your product
- Extracting value from investors after they write checks
This week we had on Nick Moran (@TheFullRatchet) with New Stack Ventures.
New Stack is a Chicago-based funds that invests in outsiders. They aim to back pre-seed and seed founders working on problems within software, fintech, protech, healthcare, supply chain, and e-commerce. Nick is the managing partner of the fund, and he is also the founder and host of The Full Ratchet.
In this talk, we cover:
- Becoming an insider in the venture game
- The solo capitalist movement
- Why it's worth betting on talent outside of the hubs
This week we had on Kirby Porter (@KirbyPorter_) with New Game Labs.
Kirby started her career in venture, and switched over the operating side recently to launch New Game Labs to help athletes learn, connect, and create in web3.
In this talk, we cover:
- Figuring out your "why"
- NIL deals and their impact on college athletics
- Layering on community to improve the first version of your product
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This week we had on Corey Walters with Here.
Here let's anybody invest into vacation rentals like stocks. They handle all the administrative work; investors earn passive income. We love this company, and we're currently syndicating a small allocation into their upcoming round (to view our memo and participate, you'll have to back us syndicate first).
In this talk, we cover:
- Educating before selling
- The process of fractionalizing hard assets
- Solving bottlenecks as you scale
Want to get more value from us? Check out our website at www.confluence.vc.
This week we had on Jared Fuller (@fullerfreedom) with BuiltFirst.
BuiltFirst helps communities spin up vendor marketplaces to help community members make better software decisions. We're one of the 200+ communities they have onboarded (we use them for our perk board), and they have already created $30mm in software savings. Jared runs partnerships, and he is in charge of managing the different relationships between vendors, partners, and purchasers.
In this talk, we cover:
- Using ecosystems to your advantage
- Modern partnerships 101
- How to make sure that your portfolio CEOs are making the right hires
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This week we had on Nik Talreja (@niktalreja) from Sydecar.
Sydecar is a frictionless deal execution platform for venture investors. Their platform handles back-office operations, automating banking, compliance, contracts, and reporting so that customers can focus on making deals and building relationships.
In this talk, we cover:
- Why more junior investors are using SPVs to build their track record
- The benefits of not building in public
- Attracting top talent as an early-stage startup
Want to get more involved?
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This week we had on Fed (@foliofed) with Hive Index.
Hive Index is an aggregation tool that let's anybody find the right online communities to join. Fed is a nomad, a bootstrapped founder, and he also runs another software company when he's not busy with Hive Index.
In this talk, we cover:
- Things that great communities do well
- Community-focused businesses
- The rise of the solopreneur
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This week we had on Dustin McCaffree (@terribledustin) with Marvel.
Marvel helps businesses outsource their content creation, and it specializes in blogs and other forms of written content. We use them for a lot of our content, and we would recommend them to anybody reading this.
In this talk, we cover:
- Winning the SEO game
- Why every company is becoming a media company
- Overcoming bottlenecks as a founder
This week we had on Tyler Denk (@denk_tweets) of beehiiv.
Beehiiv is an all-in-one newsletter solution that helps writers create better content is keep more of their revenue.
In this talk, we cover:
- Creating an "us vs. them" mentality
- Processes to ship product faster
- Why free is not always better
This week we had on Michael Quigley at SpinCar.
SpinCar is an automative merchandising platform for automative dealers, wholesalers, and OEMs. The company has grown to millions in recurring revenue, and Michael acts as the president while also serving as a managing partner at StartFast.
In this talk, we cover:
- Investing with an operator mindset
- Partnerships and commitment in a world of abundance
- What trend in venture is most exciting to Michael
Want to get more value from us? Subscribe to our newsletter for advice, jobs, deal flow, and other resources every week.
This week we had on Kenny Rose with FranShares.
FranShares makes it possible for anybody to build passive income through franchise investing. Their team is planning to open up access soon, and you can sign up for the waitlist for free using this link.
In this talk, we cover:
- The appeal of cash flow compared to speculative bets
- Creating hype before a product launch
- Unromantic parts of startup life
This week we had on Jake (@jjbarry17) and Kai (@hankai1998) from Pallet.
Pallet is building hiring infrastructure for communities and creators. We use it for our job board, we love the product, and we wanted to bring on their team to show them some love for helping us add value to this community.
In this talk, we cover:
- The past, current, and future state of business recruiting
- Community-based marketing
- Creating value through aggregation
This week we had on Amir Kabir (@AmirKabir99) at AV8.
AV8 is an early-stage fund that focuses on healthcare, enterprise, financial services and deep-tech. Within his role, Amir primarily covers fintech and insurtech.
In this talk, we cover:
- The four things that matter as a VC
- Finding product-market fit as an insurtech business
- Looking for honesty when evaluating founding teams
Want to get more value from us? Subscribe to our newsletter for advice, jobs, deal flow, and other resources every week.
This week we had on Kristofer Martin (@K_Swizzy20) from Will Ventures.
Will is an early-stage fund that invests in consumer, health, and media companies. Their entire team is former college athletes, and they look to back founders with the same type of background.
In this talk, we discuss:
- successful traits of athletes-turned-founders
- applying skills from different backgrounds
- sectors and opportunities within consumer tech
Supporting Confluence.VC:
- 👥 Submit your info to join our private community of investors.
- 📩 Become a paying subscriber to unlock more content and resources from us.
- 📌 Submit jobsto be featured on the board and in this newsletter.
- 👕 Shop our merch and upgrade your wardrobe.
- 👨💻 Use our perk board to make better software decisions.
- 📈 Back our syndicateand invest with this community.
This week we had on Phil Nadel (@NadelPhil) from Forefront Venture Partners.
Forefront is one of the largest and most successful syndicates on AngelList. Phil is the host of a popular podcast called The Pitch, and his partner is also an investor on Shark Tank. Their syndicate focuses on backing revenue-generating companies that they have deep conviction in.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Distribution advantages
- Prioritizing diligence to protect your reputation
- How the syndicate game has changed over the past ten years
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This week we had on Kai Cash (@kuaicash) at Primary Venture Partners.
Primary is one of the best seed funds in the world. They focus on backing the best founders in New York, and this approach has resulted in their companies raising follow-on capital nearly 90% of the time. Kai is on the investment team, and he spends his time focusing on climate and software below the application layer.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Breaking into VC
- Creating leverage as a junior investor
- Building trust and deal flow with the other side of the table
Supporting Confluence.VC:
- 👥 Submit your info to join our private community of investors.
- 📩 Become a paying subscriber to unlock more content and resources from us.
- 📌 Submit jobsto be featured on the board and in this newsletter.
- 👕 Shop our merch and upgrade your wardrobe.
- 👨💻 Use our perk board to make better software decisions.
- 📈 Back our syndicateand invest with this community.
This week we had on Helene Servillon (@HServillon) from JourneyOne Ventures.
JourneyOne is a first-time fund focusing on backing cannabis companies poised for high-velocity growth. Helene is the founding partner of the fund, and she does everything within her role.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Problems that alcohol, pharma, and CPG don’t address
- What makes a cannabis business investible
- Obstacles and tailwinds for the cannabis industry
This week we had on Justine Humenansky (@j_humenansky) with RabbitHole.
Justine has worked as an investor at Dorm Room Fund, First Round Capital, Playground Global, and she recently switched over to RabbitHole to help the next era of people gain skills for participating in the new digital economy.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Networks based on ownership instead of association
- The crypto adoption cycle and bringing late adopters onboard
- Web3 projects staying compliant with legal ambiguity
This week we had on Abigail Tisch at RRE Ventures.
RRE is one of the top funds in the world investing in early-stage, category-defining startups across all sectors and across the country. Abigail works on their investment team, and she focuses on opportunities within mobility, climate, supply chain, and women’s health.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Learning to operate within venture
- Climate tech and the limitations of capital
- Tailwinds and opportunities within mobility tech
This week we had on Victor Pascucci (@victorpascucci3) at Energy Capital Ventures.
ECV is a first-time fund focusing on the ESG imperatives and the transformation of the natural gas industry. As a firm, they leverage strong relationships with strategic limited partners in the utilities industry to provide a competitive advantage to their portfolio companies.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Aging infrastructure and the opportunity within the utility sector
- Applying mental models across different industries
- Building a career on the idea of creating versus destroying
🔥 If you'd like to own a piece of this edition, you can purchase that here. 🔥
This week we had on Andrew Gazdecki (@agazdecki) at MicroAcquire.
MicroAcquire has become the marketplace for startup M&A, and since launching a year ago, it has already helped facilitate 500+ exits. Andrew has built up a brand as one of the most-liked people within tech, and we had a ton of fun picking his brain on a number of different topics.
In this talk, we discuss:
- How the M&A process puts startups at a disadvantage
- Media portraying the wrong image of entrepreneurship
- Replacing traditional gatekeepers
Supporting Confluence.VC:
- 👥 Submit your info to join our private community of investors.
- 📩 Become a paying subscriber to unlock more content and resources from us.
- 📌 Submit jobsto be featured on the board and in this newsletter.
- 👕 Shop our merch and upgrade your wardrobe.
- 👨💻 Use our perk board to make better software decisions.
- 📈 Back our syndicateand invest with this community.
This week we had on Nicole (Williams) Ruiz (@nwilliams030) at Compound.
Compound is a thesis-driven seed stage venture firm investing in bleeding edge technology on the brink of commercialization. Within her role, Nicole focuses on finding and supporting frontier tech companies at the seed.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Narrative-driven investing
- Ingredients of great narratives
- Opportunities within deep tech
- The future of digital education
Supporting Confluence.VC:
- 👥 Submit your info to join our private community of investors.
- 📩 Become a paying subscriber to unlock more content and resources from us.
- 📌 Submit jobsto be featured on the board and in this newsletter.
- 👕 Shop our merch and upgrade your wardrobe.
- 👨💻 Use our perk board to make better software decisions.
- 📈 Back our syndicateand invest with this community.
This week we had on Hanel Baveja (@HanelBaveja) at Union Square Ventures.
USV is one of the best venture capital funds in the world, and since 2003, they have invested in over 100 companies that use the power of the internet to re-shape markets. Within her role, Hanel focuses primarily on opportunities within fintech and digital wellness, and she also helps develop theses within these verticals.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Outbound versus thesis-driven sourcing
- Sharing thoughts to create magnets for dealflow
- Investment opportunities within fintech and early-stage wellness
Supporting Confluence.VC:
- 👥 Submit your info to join our private community of investors.
- 📩 Become a paying subscriber to unlock more content and resources from us.
- 📌 Submit jobsto be featured on the board and in this newsletter.
- 👕 Shop our merch and upgrade your wardrobe.
- 👨💻 Use our perk board to make better software decisions.
- 📈 Back our syndicateand invest with this community.
This week we had on Justin Smith at Recharge Ventures.
Recharge is a first-time fund that is betting on consumer technology within emerging markets. Justin is a friend of ours, an advisor to our syndicate, and he’s one of the smartest and most genuine guys we’ve met since starting Confluence.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Starting a fund from scratch
- The opportunity for consumer tech in emerging markets
- Investing into consumer brands in today’s world
Supporting Confluence.VC:
- 👥 Submit your info to join our private community of investors.
- 📩 Become a paying subscriber to unlock more content and resources from us.
- 📌 Submit jobsto be featured on the board and in this newsletter.
- 👕 Shop our merch and upgrade your wardrobe.
- 👨💻 Use our perk board to make better software decisions.
- 📈 Back our syndicateand invest with this community.
This week we had on Mel Strong (@girlstrong) at NEXT Ventures.
NEXT is a first-time fund designed to invest in sports, fitness, nutrition, and wellness. Mel is one of three managing partners at NEXT, and before joining the team, she spent the bulk of her career building and designing products at Nike.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Transitioning from a major corporate into VC
- Identifying the DNA traits of successful founders
- Sub-verticals of interest within sports, fitness, and nutrition
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Lolita Taub (@lolitataub) at The Community Fund.
Lolita is a force of nature, and she is universally loved by everyone in the startup world. In her role at The Community Fund, she focuses on backing community-led businesses that create outsized returns.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Productizing yourself and streamlining requests through tech
- Non-obvious benefits from building an audience across platforms
- Core pillars of thriving communities and thoughts on the current and future states of community building
This week we had on Vinay Iyengar (@VinIyengar) of Two Sigma Ventures.
Two Sigma is a multi-strategy fund that invests from seed to Series B across a number of industries. Vinay helps lead up the San Francisco office, and he focuses on early-stage investments in enterprise software, machine learning, marketplaces, and infrastructure.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Why now is the golden age to start a business
- Implications and second order effects of software becoming commoditized
- Ways to demystify the job search process
This week we had on Aashay Sanghvi (@aashaysanghvi_) of Haystack.
Haystack is an early-stage fund that backs outlier founders at the earliest stages. Some of their portfolio companies include DoorDash, Instacart, Figma, Carta, and OpenDoor to name a few. Aashay is one of the three members of the team, and he focuses primarily on dev tools, fintech, and healthcare opportunities.
In this talk, we discuss:
- the hype cycle of a venture career
- distinction between the business and the game of being a VC
- things that make developer tools an attractive category to invest in
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Ali Jamal (@MrAliJamal) of First Check Ventures.
First Check is one of the largest and most active syndicates on AngelList, and Ali is the founder and sole member of the team. Since launching in July of 2020, the group has already invested in 25+ companies from around the world.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Developing a product mindset and using that skillset to support portfolio companies
- Leveraging a massive syndicate LP base that can offer more value than traditional funds
- Some thoughts around the massive influx of new syndicate leads, rolling funds, and new forms of capital
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on David Teten (@dteten, teten.com) of Versatile VC. Versatile is a different type of VC that focuses on capital-efficient startups. Of the Inc. 5000 companies, only 6.5% raised money from VCs and 7.7% raised from angels. Versatile is VC for the other 93%.
Versatile provides free an exclusive database tracking providers of free money, free consulting, and free acceleration. Versatile is also launching Founders’ Next Move, an invite-only, no-cost community for founders researching their next move. Versatile has the flexibility to invest using both traditional and alternative VC structures.
David Teten is the founding partner of the fund. On top of running the day-to-day operations at Versatile, he has built a media network covering many aspects of venture capital. Check out his blog (https://teten.com/) and his resources on the tech stack of VC, https://pevctech.com/ .
In this talk, we discuss:
- How members of our community can work with Versatile VC
- Opportunities within the VC tech stack
- How VCs can mitigate career risk for themselves, and for people working for their companies
- Diversity and VC
- and parkour!
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Yohei Nakajima (@yoheinakajima) of Untapped Capital.
Untapped is an early-stage fund that bets on overlooked founders. Yohei has built up a massive network through previous experiences at Disney, Techstars, and Scrum Ventures, and part of Untapped’s strategy involves leveraging that network to help his portfolio companies succeed.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Some of the flaws around relying on referrals for deal flow
- Betting on businesses making real impact on the world
- No-code and the expansion of opportunity when removing barriers to development
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Ariana Thacker of Conscience VC.
Conscience is an early-stage fund investing at the intersection of consumer and science. The fund backs pre-seed and seed companies within this thesis, and it tries to be the first check written when it has the chance. Ariana is the founding partner of the fund, and she wears many hats in her role.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Tactical advice on raising a first-time fund without an existing network
- Standing out through authenticity
- Deal breakers when evaluating founding teams
- Why Conscience is betting on the intersection of science and consumer
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on John Smothers (@smothers_john) from Acrew Capital.
Acrew is a multi-strategy fund focused on modernizing security and infrastructure, rebuilding financial services, reimagining the future of work, better connecting datasets, and activated communities. Within his role, John focuses on sourcing pre-seed companies that match the funds’ thesis.
In this talk, we discuss:
- The opportunity to build businesses on top of existing online communities
- The irony of relying on pattern matching when investing in the future potential of companies
- How venture is becoming a hospitality business
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Tali Vogelstein (@talivog) from Avid Ventures.
Avid just closed on one of the largest first-time funds ever raised, and the firm is looking to win allocation into the best deals by taking a more collaborative approach. Within her role, Tali focuses on investing across consumer internet, fintech, and software businesses across the US, Europe, and Israel.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Sweat equity and earning the right to follow on investments
- Building an LP base that is a source of value to portfolio companies
- Catalysts that have propelled Israel into an innovation hub
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Mikal Khoso (@mikalkhoso) from Wavemaker Partners.
Wavemaker is a multi-strategy fund based in LA and Singapore that invests globally across enterprise, consumer, and digital media opportunities. Within his role, Mikal focuses on emerging markets, and he documents a lot of his findings through writing at Emergent.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Operating across geographies and stages
- The next opportunity zone for innovation
- The reversal of startup idea generation between established and emerging markets
- The super app wars and the logic behind bundling services
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Josh Schlisserman (@jslishi) of Behind Genius Ventures.
Behind Genius is generalist fund that focuses on product-led growth companies. Josh is the founding partner of the fund, and he handles LPs and fundraising along with sourcing, evaluating, and supporting the companies they work with.
In this talk, we discuss:
- the rise of operator-led rounds
- getting into seed rounds as institutional money flows upstream
- portfolio theory and maximizing shots on goal
- simplifying the job of a VC into three core functions
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Halle Kaplan-Allen (@____hka) of AngelList.
AngelList is the OG platform for startups, angel investors, and job-seekers looking to work in tech. Halle has built a unique skillset as an operator, no-code wizard, and Twitter personality, and we wanted to have her on to pick her brain on a wide range of topics.
In this talk, we discuss:
- leveraging software and building scalable systems
- why funds cannot afford to overlook internal operations
- creating a brand based on authenticity
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Katie Shea (@katiesheasays) of Divergent Capital.
Divergent is a generalist fund that prefers to invest at the pre-seed. Katie is one of the founding partners of the fund, and within her role, she uses her previous experiences within marketing to help her portfolio commercialize and scale.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Emerging managers establishing track record as marketing collateral
- Building scalable systems while providing hands-on support to a portfolio
- Underwriting technical and and business model risks at the pre-seed
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Zibo Gao (@gao_zibo) at Intonation Ventures.
Intonation Ventures is an early-stage consumer fund based in NYC and Beijing that invests in products that bring people joy. Zibo is the founding partner of the fund, and within his role, he focuses on companies within gaming, sports, and wellness.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Challenges for junior VCs and emerging fund managers
- Investing in products that provide an emotion
- Some nuances of investing in China
- Thoughts around hype-building strategies
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Ronnie Martinez at CEAS Investments.
CEAS is a single family office that invests aggressively across stages. The fund focuses primarily on B2B SaaS, established marketplaces, logistics, and robotics, and within her role, Ronnie spends her time sourcing, evaluating, and supporting companies within these categories.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Parallels between athletics and venture investing
- The sustainability of Florida as a tech hub
- Differences in dynamics between family offices and traditional venture funds
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Ryan Bloomer (@rblooms) and Adriel Bercow (@AdrielBercow) of K50 Ventures.
K50 is a global venture firm that invests early in mission-driven founders transforming the world’s biggest industries. Within their roles, Ryan and Adriel are in charge of finding and supporting founders challenging the status quo in essential categories like health, education, housing, finances, and work.
In this talk, we discuss:
- heightened employee demands and the challenges for modern benefits
- the complex future of remote education
- reasons to be optimistic in the Latin America startup scene
- investing with a mission-driven thesis
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Rachel Lauren (@RachelnotLauren) of BDMI.
BDMI is an early-stage fund that makes investments into innovative companies in the tech and media landscape. Although the fund specializes in digital media, Rachel focuses most of her time helping the fund diversify its focus to more enterprise software and fintech deals.
In this talk, we discuss:
- missed opportunity areas within consumer fintech
- the future of retail and areas of excitement within commerce
- the legitimacy of NFTs and whether or not they can be considered an investable category
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Nandu Anilal ( @nanduanilal) of Canaan Partners.
Canaan is an early-stage fund that has a portfolio that speaks for itself. Within his role, Nandu focuses on enterprise technology companies, and in his free time, he shares a lot of his lessons and learnings through writing.
In this talk, we discuss:
- The process of learning as a VC
- The rise of data-driven companies
- Themes worth monitoring within data infrastructure
- Preempting rounds and escaping the competitive fundraising process
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Ankit Sud (@asud) of NewView Capital.
NewView is one of the top-performing multi-strategy funds in the world with stakes in Segment, Plaid, Hims, Duolingo, and many others. Within his role Ankit focuses primarily on evaluating and supporting growth-stage fintech and enterprise software companies.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Growing slow and scaling culture as you expand your team
- Venture funds attempting to de-commoditize themselves
- Thoughts on the current state of valuations
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Sakib Jamal (@skbjml) of Crossbeam.
Crossbeam is an early-stage fund that invests in new internet economies, financial services, and novel asset classes. Sakib does a little bit of everything for Crossbeam, and outside of work he somehow finds time to operate The Capsule, which shares South Asian news, professional development content, and entertainment in 3-minute emails.
In this talk, we discuss:
- the shifting balance of power away from major platforms
- the lack of capital powering the creator economy
- running side experiments to build empathy and optionality
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Paraj Mathur (@itsparaj) with Panoramic Ventures.
Panoramic recently debuted with a mission to fund companies in the Southeast, Midwest, and other regions across the country where opportunities are often overlooked. In his role, Paraj focuses on sourcing and evaluating Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A deals, and he also shares his thoughts through writing.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Surrounding yourself with the right people
- Optimizing for number of at bats as an investor
- Avoiding competition and doubling down in overlooked founders
- The secondary effects of entrepreneurship becoming a more popular choice of work
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Greg Stofman with Struck Capital.
Struck is an industry-agnostic seed fund based in Santa Monica that aims to partner with founders tackling the world’s largest problems. Greg was the first full-time investment team member at Struck, and he has now been with the firm for over three years.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Moonlighting to find your next role
- VCs competing as service providers
- Hiring in-house talent to support portfolio companies
- Opportunity areas within climate tech and the future of work
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Jay Drain Jr. (@jay_drainjr) of Maven Ventures.
Maven is a seed-stage fund that has made a name for itself as one of the best consumer-focused funds out there with a portfolio consisting names like Zoom, Cruise, and AngelList to name a few. Jay is a rising star in the venture world, and we wanted to have him on to pick his brain on a number of topics.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Synthesizing thoughts through writing
- The platform-ification of Zoom
- The emergence of vertical social networks
- Thoughts on retail investing 3.0
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Erica Amatori (@ericaamatori) at Alpaca VC.
Alpaca is a generalist fund that invests in pre-seed and seed deals within the US and Canada. In her role, Erica leads up marketing, platform, community, and operations. Erica has been one of our biggest supporters and most active community members, and we wanted to reward her engagement by highlighting her work.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Translating marketing experiences into investment skills
- Why venture firms are investing heavily into platform functions
- Being a resource for the founders you back (with resources like this and this)
- Supporting underserved communities
- Building incentive structures to reward community engagement
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Ally Warson (@A_Warson) at UP.Partners.
Up.Partners is an early-stage fund that partners with entrepreneurs building companies that support multi-dimensional mobility. Within her role, Ally focuses on sourcing and evaluating the next wave of companies making it easier for people to get from Point A to Point B.
In this talk, we discuss:
- The changed landscape of mobility and growth areas within the space
- Unlocking economic value by better mobilizing emerging markets
- The role of being contrarian in venture
- How VCs can participate in the creative process
- Prioritizing execution over ideas
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Asher Kraut (@asherkraut) with Starburst.
Starburst is a global accelerator that focuses exclusively on aerospace, aviation, and defense. Within his role, Asher leads up deal flow, and he spends his time sourcing and evaluating the next wave of companies looking to make real change in the world.
In this talk, we discuss:
- building a defensible market position as an accelerator
- accessibility, diminishing costs, and lack of competition leading to more opportunities within space and defense
- focusing your time on problems worth solving
- flaws within the venture and startup world
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Faye Maidment (@maidmentfaye) with Unshackled Ventures.
Unshackled is an early stage fund focused on partnering with and supporting immigrant-founded startups. The fund invests agnostically across verticals, and Faye spends most of her time within AR, VR, Gen Z, and internet culture. Outside of work, she also co-authors a weekly newsletter (High Tea) that dives into the topics she is interested in.
In this episode, we discuss:
- The explosion of the creator economy and the secondary effects of this transition
- The art of curation and audience building
- Why AR/VR is poised to get over the adoption issue
- Evaluating timing risk as an investor
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Ashley Paston (@ashleypaston) with Bain Capital Ventures.
Bain is a multi-strategy fund with offices New York, Boston, and San Francisco. Ashley sits in New York on the fintech team at Bain, and she primarily focuses on venture and growth-stage opportunities in the space.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Fintech 2.0 and the shift towards embedded finance
- evaluating proximity to buyers in a remote world
- navigating around long sales cycles within financial services
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Osman Nur (@oz_notes) with Revolution Growth.
Revolution is a multi-strategy fund based in Washington, D.C. that invests in underrepresented geographies across the US. Within his role, Oz helps source and evaluate high-growth companies that align with the mission of the fund.
In this talk, we discuss:
- investing outside of the traditional innovation hubs
- the expansion of firms offering full-stack investment strategies
- growth stage enterprise themes
- the short and long-term outlook for SPACs
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Tasha Kim (@natashajuliakim) with Marcy Venture Partners.
Marcy invests in consumer businesses and mass-market brands that resonate with culture across products and services, media, and technology. Tasha heads up a lot of the firms' sourcing and evaluation efforts, and she also regularly shares her thoughts through her Substack.
In this talk, we ask Tasha about:
- Her co-authored consumer trends report and the findings from that piece
- Collaborating on external projects with other investors
- Social 3.0 and the ability to interact with online brands and influencers
- The intangible value of brand-led communities
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Gaby Goldberg (@gaby_goldberg) of Bessemer Venture Partners.
Bessemer has built a brand as some of the best software investors in the world, and their portfolio consists of companies like Twilio, Shopify, LinkedIn, Twitch, and DocuSign just to name a few. Gaby is one of the newest members of the fund, and she’s already made quite a name for herself within the venture world.
In this talk, we discuss:
- How startups can engineer attention in the early days
- The playbook for building in public
- The need for curation in the age of abundance
- Why Gaby believes we are living in a golden era for audio
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Steven Venino (@spvenino33) of Rosecliff Ventures.
Rosecliff has built up a reputation as one of the top early-stage funds, and their portfolio consists of companies like Allbirds, Casper, Roman, and others. The fund is sector agnostic, but Steven focuses most of his time within fintech, agriculture tech, and sustainability.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Steven’s path from banking —> hedge funds —> venture
- Overlooked sectors that Steven expects to outperform over the next decade
- Bottoms-up vs. top-down investing and deciphering what is noise vs. signal
- Assessing founder-market fit at the seed
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Corinne Riley (@CorinneMRiley) of Greylock.
Greylock is one of the oldest and most established venture capital funds in the world, and the success of their portfolio speaks for itself. Since its founding, the company has invested in companies like Figma, Okta, Airbnb, Nextdoor, and countless others. Within her role, Corinne focuses on teams at the earliest stages of company development in enterprise software.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Her winding path from Italy into venture
- Adopting a product-first mindset as an investor
- How business moats change and evolve along with markets
- What Greylock looks for in a pitch
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Abha Nath (@abhanath) of Wonder Ventures.
Wonder is an early-stage fund that aims to invest earlier than anyone else in Southern California’s best founders. Since its founding in 2015, the firm has invested in category-defining companies like Honey, Luxe, Joymode, and a number of others. Abha is the first and only hire at Wonder, and we wanted to have her on to dive into her unique path.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Abha’s journey to venture and how her previous roles at the Disney Accelerator and Ring prepared her to be an investor
- What makes Southern California unique as a startup ecosystem
- What has changed when evaluating early-stage companies virtually
- Some red flags that make businesses un-investible
- We flip it around and let Abha ask us a few questions at the end
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Brandon Beck with Kickstart.
Kickstart is an early-stage fund based in Salt Lake City that focuses on building and partnering with the best companies in the Utah region. Since launching in 2008, this targeted approach has established the fund as one of the most successful in all of the Mountain West with their portfolio consisting of companies like Galileo, NAV, Lucid Software, and countless others.
In this talk, we cover:
- Brandon’s background and path into venture
- The origin story and thesis of Kickstart
- Investment trends that Brandon is monitoring
- The startup ecosystem in Utah and the Mountain West and the Utah Startup Guide that Brandon helped author
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Sutian Dong, who is the co-founder of Women in VC.
Women in VC is the world's largest network for women working in venture capital, and since its founding in 2015, the group has grown to nearly 3,000 members today. Sutian has been of our earliest supporters, and she has given us tons of priceless knowledge on building and scaling communities.
In this talk, we cover:
- Sutian's path into venture and the spark that led to the formation of Women in VC
- The challenges of scaling a community from niche to global
- Statistics and findings from the Women in VC emerging manager report
- Tactical advice for the Confluence community on how to best support more investment into women
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week’s guest is Kenn So, who works as an associate at Shasta Ventures.
We wanted to bring on Kenn because he recently published the most comprehensive book we have found on breaking into venture, but we touch on a lot of other things as well. In this talk, we cover:
- Kenn’s path into venture,
- the benefits and tradeoffs of having a banking and consulting background,
- Shasta’s pivot towards investing exclusively into B2B, and
- the idea behind Shasta Elevate and taking a more hands-on approach with portfolio companies
Check out Kenn's book here: https://kenn.so/Breaking-into-early-stage-VC-55bec51b43254c858abfceb16b21827f
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we talked to Cheryl Campos, who is Head of Venture Growth and Partnerships at Republic.
Republic allows for both accredited and non-accredited investors to invest directly into startups through their platform, and within her role, Cheryl focuses on helping build out partnerships with other venture capital and ecosystem builders while also supporting Republic's existing portfolio.
In this talk, we ask Cheryl about:
- Her multiple talents outside of her day job
- Her roles as an investment partner with the Community Fund and a scout with Lightspeed
- How Republic is democratizing access into vetted startups
- Investing in underrepresented founders
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Abhinaya Konduru, who works as an associate at M25.
M25 is one of the most respected early-stage funds in Chicago, and within her role Abhinaya spends her time sourcing new investments and working with portfolio companies. In this talk, we discuss:
- The Chicago tech ecosystem
- The thesis and goals of M25 as a fund
- The challenges of working on a small team
- Other projects that Abhinaya is working on outside of work
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Meagan Loyst, a VC at Lerer Hippeau based in New York.
Lerer Hippeau is one of the most active and well-respected early-stage venture funds in the world, and within her role, Meagan focuses primarily on Seed and Series A investments in consumer, digital media, e-commerce, emerging tech, and enterprise software. Meagan recently did some interesting work around Gen Z trends, and after interviewing 75 other young investors from around the world, she published some of here findings here.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Meagan's path into early-stage investing,
- Why she decided spend so much time understanding Gen Z investment preferences,
- Her main takeaways and companies to watch based on her findings
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Abir Liben, an investor at Serena Ventures based in San Francisco.
Serena Ventures is the venture arm of Serena Williams, and since launching in 2014, the fund has established itself as one of the top-performing celebrity-backed funds.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Abir's unplanned path into venture,
- the dynamics of working under one of the most popular figures in the world,
- how celebrities are able to add value where other investors cannot compete,
- misused founder evaluation frameworks
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had on Mark Grace, an investor at M13 based in LA.
M13 is one of the premier consumer-focused funds, and their portfolio consists of companies like Lyft, Ring, ClassPass, Daily Harvest, and many others. Mark was one of the earliest employees at M13, and we wanted to have him on to learn more about what he is focusing on today.
In this talk, we discuss:
- Mark's path into his role
- key themes of consumer tech
- areas within consumer that he is monitoring
- why LA has emerged as the hotbed for consumer businesses
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
This week we had the chance to talk with Molly Fowler who serves as the CEO of Dorm Room Fund.
Dorm Room Fund is the OG student-run venture fund, and since launching in 2012, the fund has invested in over 200 startups, and the community has grown to 300+ founders and 50+ mentors. Molly serves as the head of the ship for this massive and growing community of startup talent, and we are very grateful that she let us borrow 30 minutes from her extremely busy schedule.
In this talk, we ask Molly about her unusual path into venture, the thesis behind investing in student-run startups, how DRF has built an unfair advantage over other similar initiatives, and how her team goes about identifying talent in an increasingly-large applicant pool.
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
For our second guest, we had Jessica Li who recently left her role as an investor at Soma Capital to join Zageno in a growth marketing role. Jessica is the definition of an overachiever, and when she is not busy with her day job, she doubles as head of content at Elpha, is a top venture capital writer on Medium, and advises for a number of other startups and organizations.
In this episode, we get Jessica's thoughts on creating leverage as an investor through personal branding, why specialization is dying, and why she is leaving venture to join the operator side.
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.
For our first guest, we had Mike MacCombie who works as the Director of Platform of ffVC. Mike is a self-proclaimed “community geek”, and within his role at ffVC, he focuses on accelerating the growth of portfolio companies, spending most of his time on business development, founder best practice advisement, hiring, and later stage fundraising. Outside of work, Mike acts as a mentor for Techstars NYC and Quake Capital, and he also authors the Investor G.A.N. Newsletter from ffVC.
In this talk, we ask Mike about:
- his path into venture
- why more firms are positioning themselves as platforms
- his secrets on effective platform strategies
📫 For weekly insights from the next era of investors and operators, make sure to subscribe to Confluence.VC Weekly.