Turner Novak is the founder and solo GP of Banana Capital and the host of The Peel Pod, with guests spanning from Benchmark’s Eric Vishria and Cendana’s Mike Kim to Weekend Fund’s Ryan Hoover and Sweetgreen’s founder and CEO, Jonathan Neman. From his beginnings in Winnipeg to building Banana Capital out of Ann Arbor, Turner has become one of the most recognizable and trusted voices in venture, known for pairing curiosity and humor with real conviction. He’s built a following of hundreds of thousands and a portfolio that includes BeReal, ScienceIO, Bee, Chainguard, and more. On this episode of The Rise, Turner unpacks the origin of Banana, the flywheel behind his personal brand, and how he’s built a reputation for speed, transparency, and founder trust.
Learn More About Nucleus: https://nucleustalent.io/
Follow Alex: https://x.com/alexklein0x
Timestamps:
0:00 – welcome turner novak to the rise
0:48 – from winnipeg to venture
2:15 – building banana capital from scratch
5:32 – discovering the power of social
9:41 – creating the peel pod and landing top guests
13:50 – portfolio wins: bereal, scienceio, bee, chainguard, and more
17:22 – the art of moving fast and earning trust
21:03 – raising institutional capital and lessons learned
25:26 – how social compounds into deal flow
29:17 – what founders really want from investors
33:08 – what’s next for banana capital
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