Shrina Kurani is an investor actively writing checks to help catalyze emerging managers as part of IBank’s Venture Capital Access Program. Shrina and the team at IBank are happy to be a part of a fund's first close and they participate with meaningful capital ($5M-$10M). It is easy to apply to the IBank program and Shrina says that she hopes to be …

Venture capital is a team sport masquerading as an individual sport. Rayfe Gaspar-Asaoka, partner at Canaan Partners, tells us why he thinks VC partnerships resemble a swim team. We also talk about space and defense tech, the evolution of venture capital, how generational transition can work well and why a thoughtful reserve strategy has outsized l…

More growth rounds in 2024! Avery Rosin is writing $50-300M checks for Lead Edge Capital. He thinks PE firms are going to continue being acquisitive, companies are going to reorient around the Rule of 40 and more reasons for his optimism.By LA Venture, Avery Rosin

Have VCs overreacted against investing in consumer? Shamin Walsh has a 10x fund and numerous case studies to show that consumer can provide huge returns when done right. Shamin shares how to win when investing in consumer (eg: invest in a cat litter company that raises $1.5M and exits for $500M!!)By LA Venture, Shamin Walsh

Michael Tubbs gained national prominence when he became the youngest mayor of any major American city at age 26. He was a hero of the universal basic income movement until he suddenly lost reelection. Listen to his lessons learned and think about what you're willing to stick your neck out and lose for. Tubbs is now investing out of Tubbs Ventures, …

Josh Resnick is the co-founder of candy brand Sugarfina, where he sold very expensive gummy bears that made people happy. Before Sugarfina, he sold his video game developer Pandemic Studios for $860M. He is now a General Partner at OpenSky Ventures where he invests in the future of commerce and helps founders avoid pitfalls of growing too fast--add…

Kunal Tandon was running a family business importing paper and metal before cold calling his way into venture capital. Previously at Collaborative Fund, Kunal is now investing out of El Cap Fund II with his partner and former NFL player Stewart Bradley.By LA Venture, Kunal Tandon

Scott Nolan tells us what he thinks about the Elon-haters and how Founders Fund is unique in their investing approach. Scott, a partner at Founders Fund, has been there 12 years and was one of the first hires at SpaceX.By LA Venture, Scott Nolan

From fleeing revolution at 14 to shaping the future of B2B SaaS investments, Ivan's journey is nothing short of inspirational. Uncover secrets to startup success and the art of building a vibrant venture community.By LA Venture, Ivan Nikkhoo

FirstLook Partners is a hybrid fund of funds actively investing in funds under $50M. Josh Porter, co-founder of FirstLook, explains why he thinks smaller funds make the best investment opportunities. Josh has seen hundreds of decks and digs in on how to evaluate funds and his unique approach to co-investments.…

Can you live to be 150!? Our podcast guest Will Weisman thinks so! Explore the realm where future tech intertwines with the quest for immortality. From his start as a couch-surfing entrepreneur to Executive Director of Singularity University to founder of KittyHawk Ventures. Predicting a world where immortality is possible, this episode dives into …

Scott Hartley shares what we get wrong about college degrees, how to identify and test founders and why seemingly disparate interests create innovation. Scott is the co-founder of Everywhere Ventures and Two Culture Capital, two global VC funds, a best-selling author and a team member on the Council on Foreign Relations. He has invested in >300 por…

Unveil the truth about early stage funding and candid startup journeys with Sydney Thomas from Symphonic Capital. Tune in to learn more about: *Sydney's journey from Precursor to Symphonic Capital *Dive into the benefits of a long-term view in pre-seed funding *Discover the power of direct and candid feedback in entrepreneurship and more!…

Brian Frank talks about how everything in the food system can be improved, and how VCs are investing with a technology lens instead of a problem solving perspective. Tune in to learn more about: *The biggest opportunities ahead in the food system *Evolution of replacing animal protein, including synthetic biology *How Brian is perfectly positioned …

Adrian Fenty has a fascinating perspective as founding managing partner at MaC Venture Capital and former mayor of Washington, DC. In this episode, Adrian dives into the intersections of government and technology, including: * Why governments should be run more like tech companies * Why governments are critical for real change (including insights f…

Brett Queener from Bonfire spends 20-30 hours onboarding each of his companies and shares some of his playbook and rules of thumb. I like a lot of his operational tips: * Founders should stay involved in sales (at the seed stage) * Seed companies should hire mechanics not scalers * 20% of employees should be quota carrying * Revenue growth is tied …

Katelyn Foley is the President of UP.Labs, a venture lab that builds SaaS companies in partnership with large corporations. Katelyn was previously a partner at BCG Digital Ventures. Follow Katelyn Foley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katelynfoley/ Follow Minnie Ingersoll: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mingersoll/ In this episode, you will learn: (1:03)…

March Capital was investing in generative AI long before ChatGPT went mainstream. In today's episode, we talk with Partner Wes Nichols, who has brought his 30 years of analytics and AI experience as an investor and entrepreneur to help March Capital with this area of focus. Wes is an industry authority in predictive analytics, marketing, AI/machine…

Will Coffield is a co-founder and General Partner at Riot Ventures, a hard tech fund that invests at seed and Series B. In this episode Will shares: The technological renaissance taking place at the US Dept. of Defense. What caused the United States' lead in defense tech to narrow What is at stake in the ongoing defense technological race between t…

Galen Shaffer is a Senior Vice President at Eos Venture Partners, a Series A fund, investing in the future of insurance. In this episode Galen shares: - Why cyber insurance is a $30B opportunity for startups. - What the first wave of D2C insurance startups got wrong. - Why novel data is often not impactful data.…

Carl Fritjofsson is a Partner at Creandum, one of Europe's leading VC firms. In this episode Carl shares: Why nearly every software category can be reimagined with a generative AI-first approach Why Q4 2023 and Q1 2024 could be "pretty bloody" and a "moment of truth" for startups Creandum's approach to winning competitive Series A deals Why VC pose…

Aaron Samuels tells us about investing in intersectional founders, he explains what identity saliency is to Minnie and he shares how he and Brian Hollins were able to parlay their scout investing into $66M Collide Fund I.By Aaron Samuels, LA Venture

Dan Wenhold co-leads Fifth Wall's real estate technology fund. He tells us how Fifth Wall has massively grown their AUM by bringing in LPs from the real estate industry who want access to innovation in PropTech. He also tells us how Fifth Wall has stayed innovative and leaned into creative deal structures that are outside the typical VC playbook.…

Founder of Notation Capital Nick Chirls : * Likes to invest in companies that are too early * Prefers when it's hard to explain what the company is doing * Does not think now is a good time to invest in AI * And generally sounds nothing like a VCBy Nick Chirls, LA Venture

In this episode with Ann Lai from Bullpen we talk about: * The metrics that matter for fundraising * How Bullpen invests in overlooked businesses * And how Ann bounced back from her experience with Justin Caldbeck at Binary CapitalBy Ann Lai, LA Venture

Howard Morgan is the Chairman and General Partner at B Capital and previously the co-founder of First Round Capital. Howard shares his perspective on building successful seed funds (he's an LP in 80), what is exciting him today in tech and how he has chosen such great partners throughout his life.By Howard Morgan, LA Venture

Another great Southern California Series A fund and another great investor moving from the Bay Area to LA. Toba partner Patrick Mathieson tells us why he moved from the Bay Area to LA to pursue his thesis around companies building platforms for SMB. Patrick has invested in Boulevard, PatientPop, FloQast, Luxury Presence and now Candid (a TenOneTen …

David Zhang is a partner at TCV, a ~21B AUM growth fund that has invested in companies like Brex, Airbnb, Klarna, and Nubank. David leans in on FinTech investing and tells us about some of his theses on the unbundling (and bundling) of financial services. David comes from a hedge fund background and also shares why he prefers the alignment of priva…

Don't let the joy get sucked out of investing. Investor Emilio Diez Barroso reminds us to remain focused on the joys of creativity and creating value. Emilio invests from his own family office and as a partner at Bold Capital, a Series A fund with a focus on frontier tech, biotech and innovations that have the potential to transform humanity.…

When Taylor Adams advises family offices on setting up venture programs he recommends investing into fund of funds for coverage, emerging managers for access and direct investments for alpha. In addition to his family office work, Taylor is the co-founder of Rise Together Ventures, a fund enabling for-profit entrepreneurs to realize their full for-…

"It would be delightful if all the brightest brains in the world focused their energies on solving climate problems." Gaby Darbyshire gained deep operational expertise as a founder of Gawker Media before starting climate tech focused Dangerous Ventures. There is a lot to learn from Gaby in many dimensions.…

The next version of the internet will feel a lot more like a game. Jason Yeh and partner Brian Cho helped Riot Games scale League of Legends to a massive global scale. They take a lot of lessons from gaming as they invest from $90M Patron Fund I into what they call the "spectrum of play".By Jason Yeh, LA Venture

Andrew Kahn from Crush Ventures invests in music, interactive media, the creator economy, and more. Crush Ventures is the venture arm of Crush Music, a global talent management firm whose roster includes Miley Cyrus, Sia, Green Day, Panic! at the Disco, Weezer, among many others.By Andrew Kahn, LA Venture

"Good paperwork makes good friendships". Deron Quon, co-founder of Menus.com, Datassential, and Collective Solution shares thoughts on scaling and navigating a sale to private equity. Now an active angel investor and founder of Hoopla.com, Deron also talks about the importance of investing back into the LA ecosystem.…

Roy Rubin dropped out of UCLA to start Magento, a massive eCommerce platform that scaled to over $100B in transactions annually. Roy is now writing $500k to $1M checks out of his fund, R-Squared Ventures. The story of his success and lessons learned is inspiring and worth a listen!By Roy Rubin, LA Venture

There are so many great founders and VCs moving to LA! Vinay Singh is a Managing Director at Anthemis where he leads seed and Series A investments out of their early stage fund. Vinay tells us that Anthemis is a global investment platform focused on the digital transformation of financial services, investing across all stages of growth.…

What are the best ways for a startup to partner with a big corporation? Beth Kearns from Touchdown Ventures tells about different partnership models, best practices and pitfalls to avoid. This interview includes information from third party sources believed to be reliable; however, we make no representations as to its accuracy or completeness. Refe…

Word on the street is that more deals have structure. Kareem tells us about structured equity--when it makes sense and who it's right for. Arrowroot is an 8+ year old growth equity firm in LA and Miami on Fund V ($500MM+ invested globally across 28 port cos.) that specializes in structured equity for venture-backed enterprise software companies.…

Talking with Jeffrey made me wonder if I need to get a celebrity for our venture fund. Jeffrey had the opportunity to work with Alex and Drew of the Chainsmokers to set up Mantis VC and it sounds like an amazing team. Jeffrey explains the value that the Chainsmokers are able to bring and how entrepreneurs and funds can best work with celebrity.…

Fred is the Chief Innovation and Partnerships officer at Caltech where he oversees the Tech Transfer office and recently set up two new funds : The Caltech Fund and the Wilson and Hill fund. Fred gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how Caltech labs are run and how his team thinks about the translational potential of scientific work.…

Why is a Series B pitch so much different than pitching a Series A company? How do growth stage investors think about multiples today? Mike Fernandez talks about what he is seeing in growth rounds today and the sort of support that is needed for later stage companies.By Mike Fernandez, LA Venture

This is a great explanation of PLG from the guy who coined the term. Blake Bartlett tells us about the different eras of business software and the problems it was built to solve--from solving a CIO's problems, to solving a business problem, to solving an end user problem. Blake explains how to get started with PLG, how the funnel changes going from…

I learned so much about working with celebrities from Jackie Fast at Sandbox Studios : * Celebrities are not doing this for impact. It is for the money * George Clooney's $1B payday from Casamigos caught everyone's attention * It's not only about choosing the right celebrity, it's also about having the right team around them * Celebrities are so ea…

The hippies were right. From music festivals, to veganism, to eastern philosophy, and now psychedelics. In this fascinating episode, Greg Kubin tells us about the growing psychedelic movement that is gaining momentum as we start to understand more about how the brain works. Greg's fund, PsyMed is a $25M fund investing in psychedelic medicine and me…

Should we be pouring massive amounts of time and money into web3 or is it just technology looking for a use case? Pitbull Ventures founder Brad Zions is also the producer of Kissing Jessica Stein and the co-founder of Lemonade restaurants. He tells us why movies and restaurants are bad investments and why, in his opinion, web3 is even worse. Pitbul…

Will Bumpus from Concrete Rose joins us today. Concrete Rose has grown quickly and is now leading rounds with $1-2M checks to support a virtuous cycle of wealth and opportunity for underrepresented communities of color. Will tells us about his own focus on sustainability and where that came from in his life. He also shares why he and his partners m…

Marcy Venture Partners has grown from $30M to $900M AUM, now leading Series A and Series B rounds. Charlie Hanna tells us how he, Jay-Z, Jay Brown and Larry Marcus work together at Marcy to evaluate and champion the brands of the future. He points out that celebrities like Jay-Z and Rihanna didn't make their billions from their music, but from thei…

Megan Holston-Alexander leads a16z's Cultural Leadership Fund (CLF). CLF connects the world’s greatest cultural leaders with the best new technology companies and advances young African Americans into tech. Megan tells us about the importance of getting Black capital onto cap tables, Black talent into tech and building generational wealth. She shar…

B Capital has rapidly grown to over $6B AUM and has just announced its first early-stage fund, the $250M Ascent Fund run by a superstar team that includes Eduardo Saverin, Gabe Greenbaum, Karen Page, Karan Mohla, and Howard Morgan. Raj says B Capital was not an overnight success but was built steadily on the conviction that there needed to be a fir…

What does it mean to be more authentic online and will it lead to a nicer Internet? How will future social networks make it easier to establish an online identity, find community and enable community ownership? Faraz Fatemi, partner at Lightspeed, brings his perspective on consumer psychology to today's episode of LA Venture.…