We welcome Prashant Matta, General Partner at Panache Ventures.

We look back at Prashant's time at OMERS Ventures, how his approach to investing and working with founders has evolved, and the lessons he learned working with some amazing investors and founders during his time there.

We dig into the changes in the Canadian venture scene since Prashant entered the industry, how recent market downturns have impacted Panache Ventures' investment strategy, and why they focus on pre-seed and seed-stage investments.

And lastly, we discuss the importance of diversity in startups and how Panache Ventures supports founders along the different stages of development.

About Prashant Matta:Prashant Matta is a General Partner at Panache Ventures. Before joining Panache, he worked as a Principal at OMERS Ventures as a product strategist at Samsung, and as a senior management consultant at Deloitte.

He's a board member at Junior Achievement and the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and has been a mentor at Creative Destruction Lab and Techstars.

He received a bachelor’s from York University and an MBA from INSEAD.

In this episode, we discuss:

(01:21) Prashant’s journey to becoming an investor(02:35) His time at OMERS Ventures(04:21) The importance of seeing a lot of deals to learn(05:22) Joining Panache Ventures(07:19) Panache’s place in the Canadian startup ecosystem(10:48) Why Panache focuses on early stage inversting at Pre-Seed and Seed(13:08) LPs view on joining fund II(15:25) Lessons fron the super-heated 2021 venture market(17:49) Why founders are so important to Prashant(19:09) How they source early-stage founders(22:30) The trade-off for going for YC(25:36) What is Founder Fuel(27:44) How Canada differs from other regions with its accelators(34:14) Future plans for Panache

Fast Favorites:

* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: All In

* 📰- Favorite Newsletter / Blog: The Algorithm

* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: iRobot

* 📈- Favorite New Trend: 20 million post-money cash or pre-product market companies

* 📚- Favorite Book: Thinking Fast and Slow

* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: You've got to stay in the game before you win it

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