Venture with Grace

Lorraine K. Lee is a keynote speaker, best-selling author, and founder specializing in professional presence and personal branding. With over 324,000 followers on LinkedIn, she is recognized globally as a LinkedIn Top Voice and a go-to expert on virtual communication and executive presence. Previously a founding editor at LinkedIn and the first managing editor at Prezi, Lorraine has helped shape how professionals show up and stand out in the modern workplace. Her book Unforgettable Presence distills a decade of experience into actionable frameworks used by leaders at Zoom, Cisco, Amazon, and McKinsey. Today, she teaches at Stanford Continuing Studies and LinkedIn Learning, empowering individuals and teams to be seen, heard, and remembered for all the right reasons.Topics: How to Build a Magnetic Personal Brand Without Being CringeWhy Great Work Isn’t Enough—You Need to Be Seen, TooStrategic Presence: How Founders Win in Pitches and Hiring#ExecutivePresence #PersonalBranding #Leadership #CareerGrowth #RemoteWork

Steven Lee is the Founder and General Partner of Seven Stars. ~~~~~ This episode is brought to you by Verivend. If you’re a GP or LP looking to simplify the capital raising and deployment process, Verivend is here to help. Trusted by over 800 funds and managing more than $2 billion in transactions, Verivend offers a secure, streamlined payments platform designed specifically for private capital markets. Say goodbye to manual reconciliation and repeated follow-ups - raise and deploy capital faster and with greater transparency. Ready to make your fund operations smoother? Visit https://bit.ly/3GrB4Qj and see how easy it can be. ~~~~~This episode is in partnership with Notion. Notion is the AI workspace that works for you. Startups move fast - and Notion helps you move faster. From idea to exit, build docs, manage projects, and run your team and startup in one connected workspace powered by Notion AI. And because you’re part of the show’s community, Notion’s giving you up to 6 months of the Business plan with Notion AI—worth up to $12K—free. Apply here: https://ntn.so/gracegong~~~~~Seven Stars is a $40 million seed and pre-seed venture fund backing AI applications across consumer and enterprise sectors. A former partner at SV Angel, Lee helped lead investments in over 35 AI startups including ElevenLabs, Captions, Mercor, Reflection AI, and Skild AI, and personally invested in OpenAI. Inspired by his immigrant parents who ran a clothing shop called Seven Star Fashion in L.A.'s Koreatown, Lee named his firm in their honor and brings a deeply founder-first approach to investing. With a focus on hands-on fundraising support, talent access, and advisory networks from top tech companies, Lee aims to empower the next generation of visionary AI founders and ensure AI benefits not just the first billion users, but the next eight billion.Topics: Which AI application areas are still underexplored or overhypedCommon fundraising mistakes AI founders make and how to avoid themThesis on AI reaching "the next eight billion users" #AIInvesting#FounderFirst#VentureCapital#AIForTheNextBillion#SeedStageVC

Andrew Brackin is a Partner at Gradient Ventures. ~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Verivend. If you’re a GP or LP looking to simplify the capital raising and deployment process, Verivend is here to help. Trusted by over 800 funds and managing more than $2 billion in transactions, Verivend offers a secure, streamlined payments platform designed specifically for private capital markets. Say goodbye to manual reconciliation and repeated follow-ups - raise and deploy capital faster and with greater transparency. Ready to make your fund operations smoother? Visit https://bit.ly/3GrB4Qj and see how easy it can be.~~~~~Prior to Gradient, Andrew co-founded Vial, a tech-enabled clinical trial platform that raised over $100M in venture capital from top-tier firms. Prior to Vial, he was part of the founding team and the Head of Growth at Newfront (YC W18), an AI-powered commercial insurance brokerage valued at $2.2BN, insuring numerous Fortune 500 companies. His career began at Jobr, a mobile job search business that Monster.com acquired in 2016. Andrew was a 2013 recipient of the Thiel Fellowship. Outside of work, he loves reading about global affairs, working out at Barry’s Bootcamp, and enjoying live music.Topics: Lessons from raising $100M+ and building in a complex, regulated industrySectors that are overhyped vs. undervalued in today's marketPredictions for the next wave of healthcare innovation#StartupLeadership #HealthTech #VentureCapital #ThielFellowship #AIinInsurance

Sid Trivedi is a Partner at Foundation Capital. ~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Verivend. If you’re a GP or LP looking to simplify the capital raising and deployment process, Verivend is here to help. Trusted by over 800 funds and managing more than $2 billion in transactions, Verivend offers a secure, streamlined payments platform designed specifically for private capital markets. Say goodbye to manual reconciliation and repeated follow-ups - raise and deploy capital faster and with greater transparency. Ready to make your fund operations smoother? Visit https://bit.ly/3GrB4Qj and see how easy it can be.~~~~~Sid leads early-stage investments in enterprise software and cybersecurity. With experience spanning Wall Street (Barclays Capital), private equity (Symphony Technology Group), and venture capital (Omidyar Technology Ventures), Sid brings a unique perspective to building category-defining companies. At Foundation Capital, he has backed market leaders including DevZero, Stacklet, Neurelo, AirMDR, Prime Security, Levo, Permiso, Anvilogic, and Fortanix, with notable exits including CloudKnox (acquired by Microsoft), Respond Software (acquired by FireEye), and MistNet (acquired by LogRhythm). Beyond investing, Sid curates Foundation's IT + Security Dinner Series for Fortune 2,000 executives, co-founded and co-hosts the Inside the Network podcast, and serves on advisory boards for Entrepreneurship at Cornell and the California Israel Chamber of Commerce. A Cornell University graduate (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) with a Bachelor's in Economics and Biological Sciences, Sid's global perspective was shaped by growing up across Asia during the mobile revolution, where his father's work at Nokia provided early exposure to transformative technology innovation.Topics: Why cybersecurity is the next trillion-dollar marketThe intersection of AI and cybersecurityWhat Fortune 2000 CIOs actually want from security startups#CybersecurityVC #EnterpriseTech #AIInfrastructure #VentureCapital #StartupInvesting

Marc Silberman is a Partner at Comcast Ventures. ~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Verivend. If you’re a GP or LP looking to simplify the capital raising and deployment process, Verivend is here to help. Trusted by over 800 funds and managing more than $2 billion in transactions, Verivend offers a secure, streamlined payments platform designed specifically for private capital markets. Say goodbye to manual reconciliation and repeated follow-ups - raise and deploy capital faster and with greater transparency. Ready to make your fund operations smoother? Visit https://bit.ly/3GrB4Qj and see how easy it can be.~~~~~Prior to CV, Marc led Corporate Development at FirstMark Capital, where he partnered with the firm's portfolio companies to drive top-line growth and accelerate go-to-market initiatives. He has nearly a decade of experience both operating and investing in high-growth technology businesses. On the operating side, Marc has held roles spanning growth strategy, operations, and finance at several New York-based technology companies, including CLEAR (NYSE: YOU), a biometric technology platform, and BuzzFeed (NASDAQ: BZFD), the global news and entertainment company. He was also previously a venture investor at Time Warner Investments, a media-focused corporate venture capital fund. Marc holds a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University with a double major in Applied Economics & Management and Communication. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Department of Communication at Cornell University and is a Board Trustee of the New Heights Academy Charter School.Topics: How Comcast Ventures' strategic approach differs from traditional venture capitalWhat operators-turned-investors look for that pure-play VCs might missThe intersection of content, technology, and consumer behavior#AIInvesting #CorporateVC #FounderSupport #GenerativeAI #VentureCapital

Krish Ramineni is the Co-founder and CEO of Fireflies.ai, an AI voice assistant that automates meeting notes, action items, and workflows for millions of professionals worldwide. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Krish started Fireflies after working at Microsoft, where he focused on product and growth. Under his leadership, Fireflies scaled to support users across 100,000+ organizations, including teams at Uber, Nike, and Netflix, and pioneered the use of AI meeting agents to transform productivity. With a background in product design, go-to-market strategy, and AI, Krish is a leading voice on the future of work, human-AI collaboration, and conversational intelligence.Topics: The Future of Work: Building AI Agents That Actually Do the WorkBootstrapping to Millions of Users: Lessons in Product-Led GrowthReinventing Meetings: Turning Conversation into Execution with AI#AIProductivity #FutureOfWork #StartupPlaybook #AIConversations #SaaSTools

Phylicia Koh is a General Partner at Play Ventures. Phylicia is based in Singapore and leads new investments into game studios, tech, and plays into the intersection of gaming and lifestyle. She also leads Play's diversity and inclusion initiatives and is part of Play's ESG committee. Before joining Play as Employee #1, Phylicia spent 9 years in marketing and growth, working with the likes of Mighty Bear Games, Voice Labs, Homage, Ethnicraft Online, as well as for the Singapore Economic Development Board.Topics:Investing at the intersection of gaming, culture, and consumer behaviorFrom operator to investor: building Play Ventures from the ground upWhat’s next in gaming: new platforms, virtual economies, and global trends#GamingVC #ConsumerTech #VentureCapital #WomenInVC #InteractiveEntertainment

Jonathan Corbin is the Founder and CEO of Maven AGI. Most recently, he served as Global Vice President of Customer Success & Strategy at HubSpot. Prior to HubSpot, Jonathan spent over two decades building scalable customer success systems across multiple regions and industries. His vision for Maven was shaped by firsthand experience with the challenges of customer success, gained during his leadership roles at Adobe, Marketo, and Sprinkler. Sami Shalabi is the founder and CTO of Maven AGI. Sami brings over 25 years of experience building personalization and AI-powered software at Google, IBM, and various startups. Sami led engineering for both Google News and Google Play Newsstand and co-founded Zingku, which was acquired by Google. With more than 50 patents and a track record of scaling products from inception to over 1 billion users, Sami’s expertise spans both innovation and leadership. He holds SB and MEng degrees from MIT. Topics: Building an AI-native platform for customer success from the ground upLessons in scaling, GTM, and technical innovationThe future of customer-facing teams in the age of AGI#AIforGTM #CustomerSuccess #SaaSLeadership #FoundersJourney #AIStartup

Chris Koehler is the Chief Marketing Officer at Twilio. With over 25 years of experience in leading marketing, sales, and product teams across various domains and industries, Chris is a seasoned and versatile leader who thrives on growing and scaling new products and businesses. As the Chief Marketing Officer at Twilio, he is responsible for global marketing strategy, with a focus on expanding brand awareness, and driving messaging and positioning across Twilio's Segment and Communications platforms. All while continuing to build Twilio's world-class marketing org and its incredible culture. Chris brings a unique combination of skills and expertise to his role, ranging from customer analytics, web analytics, social media, predictive analytics, multivariate testing, optimization, branding, product marketing, product management, sales engineering, account management, and customer success. He has a passion for marketing, analytics, digital trends, and building high-performing teams that deliver exceptional results and value to customers and stakeholders. Chris also has a strong academic background, having completed the Business Analytics Program at Harvard University and a B.S. in Marketing from George Mason University.Topics:Building Marketing Organizations for HypergrowthThe Evolution of B2B SaaS MarketingAI's Impact on Marketing Strategy and Execution at Enterprise Scale#B2BMarketing #SaaSLeadership #Twilio #ProductLedGrowth #CMOInsights

Shravan Narayen is a Partner at IVP, where he invests in founders who are deeply driven to solve meaningful customer problems. He has worked across every stage of a startup’s journey—from early product development to IPO—which helps him support teams with real operating experience. At Snowflake, he saw how big technical improvements can completely change how businesses operate. At Confluent, he learned that building a great product and successfully bringing it to market go hand in hand. Earlier in his career, he worked at early-stage startups, which gave him a deep respect for the process of finding product-market fit. Shravan believes that keeping an open mind is one of the most important qualities in venture—every conversation with a founder is a chance to learn something new and potentially discover the next big company. Port cos: Perplexity, Eightfold.ai, Baseten, Chainguard, SublimeSecurity, Cortex, Glean, and Lumafield. Topics:What It Really Takes to Scale Enterprise InfrastructureHow to Spot Founders with “Irrational Compulsion” EarlyGrowth-Stage VC in the AI Era: Noise vs. Signal#GrowthStageVC #EnterpriseAI #ProductToIPO #StartupScaling #TechnicalFounders