Successful entrepreneurs begin with the support of a few #earlybelievers. Gopi Rangan, founding partner at Sure Ventures, interviews venture capital investors in the Silicon Valley and beyond. Guests share insider stories on how they invest in early stage startups. Do you want to learn from real-life challenges, inspiring missions and important decisions by CEOs, founders, VCs, angels, and advisors? Listen to https://podcast.sure.ventures.
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Build Businesses to Make Everyone’s Lives Better
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24:30
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24:30
Aaron Webster, Managing Director at Cameron Ventures, shares his experience in the dynamic world of venture capital, with a focus on InsurTech, FinTech and Enterprise Technology investments at seed and Series A. He explains the evolving trends within these sectors and emphasizes the critical role of data infrastructure in driving innovation. Aaron …
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Believe in People Early, Earn Lifelong Trust
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30:50
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30:50
Ben Black, co-founder and managing director of Akkadian Ventures, shares insights into the venture capital secondary market. He highlights the distinct approach Akkadian Ventures takes, focusing on businesses with proven customer economics and strong technology moats. Ben elaborates on their strategy of gradually increasing positions and leveraging…
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Patiently Teach Investors What You Know to Win Them Over
26:49
26:49
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26:49
Venktesh Shukla, Founder and General Partner at Monta Vista Capital, shares his journey from a reluctant immigrant to a successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He outlines his investment strategy at Monta Vista Capital, emphasizing deep due diligence, expert validation, adaptability, continuous learning, and leveraging networks. Additionall…
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Prioritize Innovation Using Artificial Intelligence, Don't Fear AGI
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32:27
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32:27
Gayathri Radhakrishnan, partner at Hitachi Ventures, shares profound insights from her journey and perspectives on venture capital and technology. Gayathri reflects on her early life in India and how her competitive spirit and supportive family shaped her path to challenging norms in male-dominated fields. She delves into her focus on impactful inv…
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Courageous Entrepreneurs Are Heroes, Not Consensus Seekers
32:14
32:14
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32:14
Dan Kimerling, founder and managing partner at Deciens, talks about key principles that shape his current approaches to startup investments. He explains Deciens' strategy of leading financing deals with a concentrated portfolio, allowing for deep partnerships with entrepreneurs. Dan critiques the average venture capital returns and promotes a bold,…
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Vishal Tripathi, investor at Next Legacy Partners, delves into venture capital dynamics, spotlighting Next Legacy Partners' unique blend of philanthropy and athlete-focused strategies. Vishal shares his journey into venture capital, underscoring the industry’s allure for innovation and human connection. He also discusses key insights including the …
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Make Sustainability Cool to Appeal to the Human Side
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32:20
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32:20
Atlas Berry, founder and general partner at Mission One Capital, delves into funding mission-driven founders who focus on frontier technology solutions to sustainability challenges. Atlas discusses the significance of sustainability to him personally, highlights the specific areas of climate tech his venture capital firm targets, and explores curre…
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Founders Are Made, Not Born. You Can Learn the Craft
26:49
26:49
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Chris McKelvy, founder of K. Ventures and military veteran, recounts his journey from the military to tech companies like Oculus VR and Meta, culminating in establishing his own venture capital firm. Chris talks about his early involvement in JFK family's non-profit initiatives and getting inspired to start K. Ventures, focusing on the disabilities…
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Family Office with Three Sisters Finds Alpha Through VCs
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30:16
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30:16
Alexa Binns, a seasoned investor and marketer, takes us through her remarkable journey from non-profit roots to establishing herself as a venture capital investor, overseeing her family office alongside her three sisters. Drawing from her dual roles as an angel investor and limited partner, Alexa provides invaluable insights for founders and ventur…
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Engage With Customers Sooner Than Later When You Build AI Solutions
26:15
26:15
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Vijay Reddy, partner at Mayfield, talks about the latest innovations and trends shaping the artificial intelligence (AI) landscape. He shares his venture capital journey and describes Mayfield's unique focus on cognitive plumbing and Cognition-as-a-Service (CaaS), unraveling what these concepts entail. Vijay also offers practical advice for startup…
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Philip Edmundson, founder of Corvus Insurance (recently acquired by Travelers), shares the captivating journey of Corvus, from its inception to its recent acquisition. He discusses the company's unique approach to cyber risk and its mission to revolutionize commercial insurance with advanced data science and an AI-driven approach. Philip also discu…
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Don’t Let the Curse of Knowledge Drag You into Details
26:56
26:56
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Tommy Leep, founding partner at Jetstream, shares insights on climate tech investing and nurturing startups for a sustainable future. He delves into climate tech trends, opportunities for startups, and challenges that early-stage investors face (such as greenwashing). Tommy also advises founders on articulating their vision, avoiding the "founders'…
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Experienced VCs Investing in Under-crowded Markets with Concentrated Portfolios Win
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Eric Sippel of Sippel Farb Family Office delves into the intricacies of investing in emerging managers. Eric outlines his meticulous emerging manager selection criteria, emphasizing his preference for specialists over generalists. He highlights key challenges of identifying good VCs as a Limited Partner (LP), and offers insights into the shifting v…
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Aakar Vachhani, Managing Partner at Fairview Capital Partners, explores the crucial role of limited partners (LPs) in the venture capital ecosystem. He delves into the distinctive characteristics of venture capital as an asset class and sheds light on Fairview's role as a fund of funds, culture, investment strategy, areas of focus, and bullish stan…
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Make Venture Capital Work for Everyone, Including LGBT Founders and Investors
35:56
35:56
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Lorenzo Thione, Managing Director at Gaingels, shares his journey from Italy to the U.S. and the pivotal life event inspiring his advocacy for inclusive venture capital representation. He delves into Gaingels' investment philosophy, emphasizing its focus on supporting diverse founders and investors. Lorenzo also offers insights for today's founders…
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A Global Village of Luminaries Help Founders Unleash Potential
29:11
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Anne Dwane, a Partner at Village Global, shares her commitment to supporting amazing entrepreneurs working on big ideas. Leveraging her background as an entrepreneur-turned-investor, Anne underscores the significance of establishing networks early and explores the feasibility of launching a company during economic downturns. Moreover, she sheds lig…
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Patrick Mork, founder and CEO of LEAP, shares his career journey and underscores the pivotal role of coaching in nurturing founder success. Drawing from his extensive leadership and coaching experience, Patrick imparts valuable advice to founders and leaders, addressing the intricacies of entrepreneurship and leadership. Topics covered include prof…
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Attract High-Quality Limited Partners Who Value Your Experience
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32:00
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32:00
Justin Dyer, Chief Investment Officer at AWM Capital, shares insights into AWM's venture strategies and human-centered approach to athlete wealth management. He talks about the critical role of networks in VC and gives useful tips for choosing the right limited partner. In this episode, you’ll learn: [6:13] AWM Capital's human-centered approach to …
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Work With Your Investor to Build Strategic Partnerships
34:46
34:46
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Steve Pretre, partner at World Innovation Lab (WiL), takes us on an extraordinary journey from his upbringing in Silicon Valley to becoming a key player in the insurtech and venture capital worlds. He shares the thrilling journey of starting Metromile and leading it through the IPO stage, highlighting some of the biggest challenges of starting an i…
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VC is an Important Asset Class for Endowments to Generate Alpha
39:12
39:12
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39:12
Miles Dieffenbach, Director of Investments at Carnegie Mellon University Endowment, offers valuable insights, personal anecdotes, and perspectives on the fundamentals of venture capital. He covers topics such as GP commit, navigating the denominator effect, and the broader economic trends that impact the venture capital industry. In this episode, y…
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Concentrated Investments Can Generate Top Tier Returns, While Diversified Index Aims for Average
38:35
38:35
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Aram Verdiyan, Partner at Accolade Partners, offers a comprehensive exploration of the LP landscape and the strategies that drive success in the world of venture capital. Aram emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships with VCs and sheds light on how general partners (GPs) think. He also discusses his views on returns generation, co…
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Understand Nuances of Culture to Build Useful Products
24:42
24:42
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Theresa Blissing, founder of Accelerating Insurance and the Asia InsurTech Podcast, delves into the transformative potential of emerging technologies in the insurance sector. She offers valuable insights for founders aiming for success in the insurance industry, irrespective of their operational geography. Additionally, she sheds light on noteworth…
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Chris Douvos, founder of Ahoy Capital, discusses venture capital investing as a limited partner (LP). He explores how venture capital fits in an investor's portfolio, shares his investment philosophy, and reveals how he identifies nonconformist VC investors, especially emerging managers. Chris also reflects on recent VC landscape changes and offers…
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Priya Ramachandran, founder and managing partner at Foster Ventures, recounts her remarkable odyssey from the tech world in India to her venture capital journey in the heart of Silicon Valley. She candidly discusses her evolution as a VC, starting as an angel investor, and passionately elaborates on the core values and principles that underpin the …
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Eric Ver Ploeg, founding partner of Tunitas Ventures, talks about how his seed-stage venture firm is helping entrepreneurs raise the best possible Series A. He shares his inspiring career journey into venture capital and expounds on the three key things he looks for in a potential investment. Additionally, he offers insights into the transformative…
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Software Will Solve Broken Systems in Every Aspect of Healthcare
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32:55
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Scott Barclay, Managing Director at Insight Partners, delves into the potential of software to revolutionize healthcare's flawed systems. He explores the dynamics of VC firms operating across various stages in the ecosystem, weighing the pros and cons of seed-stage investments for larger firms. Additionally, Scott shares insights on why now is an o…
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VCs Help Startups Recruit Great Candidates and Catch Liars
28:51
28:51
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28:51
Oren Zeev, Founding Partner at Zeev Ventures, shares his one-man VC experience, and lessons from investing in so many successful companies. Oren reveals the secrets behind his renowned Silicon Valley builder-investor approach. He also gives his perspectives on the dynamic role of a VC in supporting founders, as well as his thoughts on trends shapin…
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David York, a founder and managing director of Top Tier Capital Partners, provides invaluable insights into the intricacies of fund of funds (FOF). Delving into the dynamic nature of FOFs within the venture capital ecosystem, he sheds light on three distinct methods of investing in venture capital. Furthermore, David offers a comprehensive overview…
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Ruth Foxe Blader, a Partner at Anthemis Group, discusses her international focus on investing in FinTech and InsurTech startups. She emphasizes the need for investors to see beyond founders' storytelling and communication skills, and instead evaluate their potential to execute their mission. Ruth also highlights emerging generative AI trends and he…
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The Insurance Industry Desperately Needs Startups
30:45
30:45
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Charles Moldow, a general partner at Foundation Capital, shares his remarkable journey from being a Wall Street analyst to becoming an entrepreneur and eventually transitioning into his current role as an investor over two decades ago. His captivating anecdotes leave you eager for more, whether he's recounting stories about his father's wisdom on t…
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AI is a Mega-Trend Like the Internet, Social and Mobile
34:19
34:19
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Munjal Shah, the co-founder and CEO of Hippocratic AI, highlights how a personal health event propelled him into the healthcare industry. He elucidates the potential of AI technologies to offer intelligent, secure, and cost-effective solutions for the significant challenges encountered by traditional industries. Furthermore, Munjal delves into the …
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David Gritz, co-founder and managing director at InsurTech New York, and Bryan Falchuk, founder and managing partner at Insurance Evolution Partners, discuss the dynamic roles of different players in the insurance ecosystem. David and Bryan also give useful tips for founders to effectively manage the landscape and be successful. In this episode, yo…
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Tanvi Narain, an investor at Counterpart Ventures, shares her venture capital journey and the insights gained from her first investment. She offers advice on how to prepare for entry into the VC realm and provides a new perspective on the industry. Additionally, she discusses the role of women in corporate venture capital. In this episode, you’ll l…
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Let’s Demystify the Venture Capital Asset Class
25:13
25:13
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Fernando Pontaza, co-founder and managing general partner at Invariantes Fund, recounts the inception of Invariantes, Guatemala's first early-stage venture capital fund. He offers insights into the growth of the Latin American VC market and shares his experiences as a multi-asset class portfolio manager. In this episode, you’ll learn: [2:11] Insigh…
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Politics is Like Venture Capital. Really!
28:38
28:38
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Adrian Fenty, managing general partner at MaC Venture Capital, discusses his journey from being D.C. mayor to becoming a venture capitalist. He highlights the similarities between politics and venture capital and shares insights on MaC's unique approach to investment opportunities. In this episode, you’ll learn: 2:01 Lessons about business from a f…
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Alex Edelson, founder and general partner at Slipstream Investors, shares his journey as a limited partner and recounts the genesis of Slipstream. He talks about the importance of evaluating VCs based on their portfolio construction, unique strengths, and feedback from founders, and highlights lessons from common mistakes emerging managers do. In t…
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Diversified VC Portfolios Find Big Winners
35:44
35:44
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Jamie Rhode, Principal at Verdis Investment Management, sheds light on the opaque world of LPs. Jamie shares insights into how data is utilized at Verdis to make informed decisions about fund allocation strategy. She offers valuable advice for building successful GP/LP relationships, and ofers her views on prevailing trends in the venture capital i…
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Don’t Lose Contact with Investors, Stay in Touch
26:13
26:13
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Manu Kumar, Founder and Chief Firestarter of K9 Ventures, talks about how he balances being an investor and a founder. He shares unique insights from his experience founding Carta, HiHello and his other startups, and lessons from his high-conviction type of investing. In this episode, you’ll learn: [3:32] Why solo GPs prioritize deal quality over q…
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David Thacker, General Partner at Greylock, shares insights from his career journey. He previously led product development at high-growth tech companies such as Google and LinkedIn and now invests in consumer and B2B2C tech startups. He discusses changes in the venture capital industry and their impact on fundraising for founders. In this episode, …
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Venture Capital Will Open To All Investors
26:43
26:43
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Eric Woo, co-founder and CEO at Revere VC, talks about how Revere is pioneering ‘the Morningstar for venture capital’. Eric shares examples of how VC can become more transparent and more data driven, and gives advice on how to navigate a more complicated future VC world. In this episode, you’ll learn: [**3:23**] The value of venture capital in the …
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Richard Kerby, co-founder and general partner at Equal Ventures, shares the journey of Equal Ventures and thought behind Emerging Managers Circle. He provides insights into the investment decision-making process at multi-partner venture capital firms and offers advice on how to position your business for success. Finally, he discusses the issue of …
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Karthee Madasamy, founder and managing partner at MFV Partners, talks about how deep tech is affecting and transforming traditional industries. Karthee shares important lessons for deep tech founders to help them move from proving the underlying technology to building scalable businesses. He also explains the MFV Partners investment philosophy and …
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Fintech Startups Are Underdogs Who Innovate
26:21
26:21
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Ryan Falvey, co-founder and managing partner at Restive Ventures, talks about how he founded his firm on the premise of helping to unblock the path for fintech founders as they grow and scale their businesses. Ryan highlights the huge untapped opportunities in the U.S. for fintech startups, and explains why there should be more venture capital mone…
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Can You Plan for No Fundraising in the Future?
26:59
26:59
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Semil Shah, General Partner at Haystack Ventures, talks about fundraising in a changing VC environment. Semil highlights ways for founders to raise investors’ interest in their companies, and explains why founders should occasionally imagine a future where they won’t have to raise more capital. In this episode, you'll learn: [**4:56**] Ask investor…
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Tom Ferguson, managing partner at Burnt Island Ventures, talks about water investing: trends, opportunities and challenges. Tom shares lessons from his experience working with entrepreneurs in the water sector. He also explains the methodology Burnt Island Ventures uses to assess potential investments while avoiding the biases that often hinder gre…
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Samara Hernandez, founding partner at Chingona Ventures, talks about investing in underrepresented and overlooked badass founders from different backgrounds. Samara explains her 5Ps framework of evaluating startups and gives her thoughts on how access to capital for underrepresented founders has changed. She also gives her advice to founders as the…
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Chris Kim, the co-founder and managing partner at Union Labs, talks about supporting deeptech entrepreneurs with empathy. Chris shares his journey as a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and venture capitalist. He explains, with real-life examples, why the founder’s character ultimately matters and shares his thoughts on high-speed fundraising dea…
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Edward Suh, founding partner at Alpine VC, talks about focusing on metrics and data to remove biases when looking for investment opportunities. Edward elaborates how his quant-based investment philosophy helps him to objectively find hidden gems (underprivileged and overlooked entrepreneurs) that are building scalable early-stage startups. In this …
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Guy Kawasaki, chief evangelist at Canva and previously at Apple, talks about defying the odds to become a remarkable person. Guy shares his interesting career story and lots of lessons along that journey. He also talks about the mission behind his podcast ‘Remarkable People’. In this episode, you’ll learn: [3:34] Defy the statistics if you want to …
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The Difference Between Success and Failure is Right Between Your Ears
25:18
25:18
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Mike Smerklo, co-founder and managing director at Next Coast Ventures, shares his journey and lessons learned through his experiences as an entrepreneur and now an investor. Mike gives practical examples of how founders can prudently build a relationship with investors right from the first meeting. In this episode, you’ll learn: [7:08] Learning to …
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