Tank Talk: Lo Toney (Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital) - How Emerging Managers Can Balance Long-term Success Versus Short-term Gains in Venture

On today’s Tank Talk! We welcome our guest Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital.

On today's Talk, we ask Lo about his operator journey starting out in product & marketing leadership roles at firms like Nike, eBay & Zynga and the lessons he learned around empathy and compassion. Next, we ask Lo about his transition to venture capital with his first job at Comcast ventures where he worked on the catalyst fund as part of their minority-oriented venture program.

Moving on, we dig into Lo’s time as a Partner at Google Ventures where he focused on marketplaces, media, gaming & enterprise investments and the lessons he learned about portfolio construction. We ask Lo about how he came up with the idea for Plexo Capital while still at GV and how his mission evolved until the time he spun it out. Next we ask Lo for his thoughts on how emerging fund managers can balance long-term success vs short term gains in venture capital.

We get Lo to share his thoughts on seed funds who lead rounds vs angel funds who follow-on and how funds can demonstrate their internal processes and value-add skill sets beyond just quantifiable metrics when pitching institutional LPs.

Finally, we ask Lo how emerging managers can stand out from the pack when they are still in the early days of building a fund and what firms like Plexo Capital look for beyond mark-ups.

This Tank Talk really makes you appreciate the passion and commitment Lo has applied to his life's work at Plexo Capital in helping under-represented entrepreneurs and fund managers navigate the complicated and often unfair world of venture capital.

Books Mentioned In The Show:

Why should white guys have all the fun?

Lo’s words of inspiration - “persistence overcomes resistance”

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