René Lomelí is a Partner at 500 Global, he joined the team back in 2013. Since then, he has been responsible for the 16-week program they run for their investments in Spanish-speaking LatAm "Somos Lucha". He's also been part of the +240 investments they've made in the region such as Konfio, Clip, Ayenda, 99Minutos, Conekta, Jüsto, Terapify, and Graviti. He enjoys helping early-stage companies in several areas, such as business strategy, product-market fit, marketing, fundraising, team, culture building, and hiring. Topics: Key trends and sectors driving innovation in LatAm Strategies for building strong startup teams and cultures in LatAm Fundraising landscape for Latin American startups: local vs. global investors #LatAmStartups #VCPodcast #500Global #TechInnovation #StartupAccelerator

Ashu Garg is a General Partner at Foundation Capital. Foundation Capital is a leading Silicon Valley based early stage venture capital firm. He focus on investing in bold founders who have a vision to transform markets and build enduring companies. Ashu has extensive experience across the stack from AI 1st applications to data/ML infrastructure, cyber security, and cloud infrastructure. Ashu is an early investor in Databricks, Cohesity, Eightfold, Amperity (via an acquisition), Anyscale, Turing, Alation, Skyflow, Fortanix, TubeMogul (acquired by Adobe post IPO), and Tubi.tv. (acquired by Fox) amongst others. Topics: The evolution of AI and its impact on various industries The future of cloud computing and infrastructure Strategies for scaling AI startups from early-stage to market leaders #AIVentures #CloudInnovation #DataDriven #TechFounders #VCInsights #FutureOfTech

Jeff Seibert is the co-founder and CEO of Digits, where he's building the world's first AI-powered accounting platform for startups and small businesses. He previously served as Twitter's Head of Consumer Product, leading the company's teams across Twitter for iOS, Android, and the Web, as well as its Developer and Data platforms. Jeff was the co-founder and CEO of Crashlytics, the award-winning mobile performance analytics platform, which today runs on over 6 Billion monthly-active smartphones worldwide. Crashlytics was acquired by Twitter in 2013 and then re-acquired by Google in 2017, and has become the de-facto crash reporting solution for both iOS and Android. In 2007, he co-founded Increo and served as COO until its acquisition by Box in 2009. At Box, he was the Engineering Manager for Desktop Sync and Mobile, and he founded the company's East Coast R&D office in Boston. Seibert gained experience at Apple in Mac OS engineering, while serving as the Campus Rep for Stanford, and led Stanford University's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders seminar series as Co-Coordinator. He was selected as a Mayfield Fellow in 2007 and received a B.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University in 2008. Seibert is a frequent presenter on both entrepreneurial and technical topics and has lectured at Stanford, Harvard, MIT, and Tufts, as well as keynoted Scaling New Heights, Twitter Flight, AppsWorld, AnDevCon, EclipseCon, and others. Topics: Lessons learned from launching and scaling multiple startups Balancing user needs with business objectives in product design Approach to angel investing and supporting new founders #TechEntrepreneur #StartupJourney #Fintech #ProductDevelopment #AngelInvesting

Kyle Harrison is a General Partner at Contrary. Contrary is a talent and research-driven investment firm. We back a small number of exceptional people and the companies they build, from seed to scale. He is an investor in Ramp, Replit, Anduril, OneSchema, Zepto, Moment, Nomic, Pave, Patch, Modern Intelligence, Teamshares, Leland, Synthesis, Armada, Power, and more. Prior to Contrary he is a Partner at Index Ventures and Growth Investor at Coatue Management and TCV. Topics: Supporting Founders from Seed to Scale The Role of Research in Venture Capital The Importance of Storytelling in Investing #VentureCapital #StartupInvesting #TechTrends #Entrepreneurship #InvestmentStrategy

Wei Lien Dang is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures and leads investments in infrastructure software, security, and developer tools. He has spent more than a decade building products at startups. Wei was a co-founder of StackRox, a cloud-native security company, where he was responsible for product management, user experience, product marketing, and technical evangelism prior to its acquisition by Red Hat. Before that, Wei held product leadership roles at CoreOS (also acquired by Red Hat), Bracket Computing (acquired by VMware), and Amazon Web Services. He also spent time on the investment team at Andreessen Horowitz. Wei Lien holds an MBA with high distinction from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar, a JD cum laude from Harvard Law School, and a BS in Applied Physics with honors from the California Institute of Technology. Outside of work, Wei enjoys exploring new places with his family and playing tennis. Topics: Insights on building successful products at startups The impact of AI and machine learning on infrastructure software and security Investment trends in infrastructure software, security, and developer tools #CloudSecurity #DevTools #InfrastructureSoftware #VentureCapital #TechStartups

#159 JuE Wong is the former President & CEO/ Executive Board Director of Olaplex Inc. (Nasdaq: OLPX). Prior to Olaplex, she was the Global CEO/ Executive Board Director of Moroccanoil, the President of Elizabeth Arden, and an Independent Board Director of The Red Door by Elizabeth Arden. Other notable companies she has served as a leader include Murad and Perricone MD, among others. You can learn more about: - How to Be the CEO of an Iconic Cosmetic Brand - The Career Journey of a Public Company CEO - How to Lead a Hyper-Growth Company and Turn Around a Company #BeautyCEO #CorporateLeadership #WomenInBusiness #HyperGrowth #BusinessTurnaround #OlaplexAlum 🚀 This episode is brought to you by LG NOVA. 🚀 Get ready to ignite your passion for innovation at the 4th Annual InnoFest, happening at the iconic Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco on September 25th and 26th! This two-day event, brought to you by LG NOVA, is your chance to dive into the future with industry leaders and cutting-edge startups shaping HealthTech, AI, CleanTech, Life Sciences, Smart Life, Mobility, and more. And here’s something extra special—I’ll be hosting a panel at InnoFest, guiding a dynamic discussion on the future of AI and the workforce. Join me, along with other thought leaders, as we explore the trends and technologies driving innovation and positive change. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to be part of the conversation and help create a brighter, more innovative tomorrow. Register today at innofest.lgnova.com and be part of the movement at InnoFest 2024!

🚀 This episode is brought to you by LG NOVA. 🚀 Watch the latest Smart Venture Podcast episode. #156 Mark Rostick is a Vice President & Senior Managing Director located in Raleigh, NC. He is a voting member of Intel Capital’s investment committee. He joined Intel Capital in 1999. Mark also co-manages our Cloud domain investment activities and portfolio. He has deep investment experience in cloud applications, infrastructure hardware and software, as well as AI/ML. As a member of Intel Capital’s Investment Committee, he is responsible for approving investments proposed by Intel Capital investors, as well as managing the group’s personnel and operations. Mark currently serves as a director or observer on the boards of Beep, RunPod, Hypersonic, Immuta, Lilt, MinIO, Opaque Systems, Tetrate, and Verta. Prior to Intel, Mark worked as a practicing attorney and in banking. You can learn more about: How to invest in the top AI/ML companies How to build a successful career in corporate venture The evolving landscape of enterprise software investments #IntelCapital #VentureCapital #TechInvestment #CloudComputing #AI #ML ===================== YouTube: @GraceGongCEO Newsletter: @SmartVenture LinkedIn: @GraceGong TikTok: @GraceGongCEO IG: @GraceGongCEO Twitter: @GraceGongGG ===================== Join the SVP fam with your host Grace Gong. In each episode, we are going to have conversations with some of the top investors, superstar founders, as well as well-known tech executives in silicon valley. We will have a coffee chat with them to learn their ways of thinking and actionable tips on how to build or invest in a successful company. 🚀 This episode is brought to you by LG NOVA. 🚀 Get ready to ignite your passion for innovation at the 4th Annual InnoFest, happening at the iconic Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco on September 25th and 26th! This two-day event, brought to you by LG NOVA, is your chance to dive into the future with industry leaders and cutting-edge startups shaping HealthTech, AI, CleanTech, Life Sciences, Smart Life, Mobility, and more. And here’s something extra special—I’ll be hosting a panel at InnoFest, guiding a dynamic discussion on the future of AI and the workforce. Join me, along with other thought leaders, as we explore the trends and technologies driving innovation and positive change. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to be part of the conversation and help create a brighter, more innovative tomorrow. Register today at innofest.lgnova.com and be part of the movement at InnoFest 2024!

🚀 This episode is brought to you by LG NOVA. 🚀 Amit Vasudev is the Managing Partner of Earl Grey Capital. Earl Grey Capital is an early-stage venture fund run by Amit Vasudev, Alex MacCaw, and Matt Sornson. They were part of the founding team at Clearbit. Clearbit helps companies create, capture, and convert demand from ideal customers — all from one powerful and flexible go-to-market platform. It was acquired in 2023 by HubSpot (NYSE: HUBS). Earl Grey Capital invests in companies that make it easier to build things on the internet. They believe the future of venture is founders backing founders and have had the privilege of backing over 100 companies to date. Topics:  - Venture Capital Trends - Challenges and Opportunities in Early-Stage Investing - Investing in API-first startups #VCTrends #FounderVCs #EarlyStageInvesting #APIStartups #TechInfrastructure 🚀 This episode is brought to you by LG NOVA. 🚀 Get ready to ignite your passion for innovation at the 4th Annual InnoFest, happening at the iconic Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco on September 25th and 26th! This two-day event, brought to you by LG NOVA, is your chance to dive into the future with industry leaders and cutting-edge startups shaping HealthTech, AI, CleanTech, Life Sciences, Smart Life, Mobility, and more. And here's something extra special—I'll be hosting a panel at InnoFest, guiding a dynamic discussion on the future of AI and the workforce. Join me, along with other thought leaders, as we explore the trends and technologies driving innovation and positive change. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to be part of the conversation and help create a brighter, more innovative tomorrow. Register today at innofest.lgnova.com  and be part of the movement at InnoFest 2024!

🚀 This episode is brought to you by LG NOVA. 🚀 Matthew Weinberg is a Partner at Max Ventures Partner. Matt joined Max Ventures in 2018 after serving several years as an Obama Administration White House appointee where he helped drive $6 billion in federal funding to early-stage technology startups and investment groups. Matt has led several key investments at Max and is the Co-founder of Elion Health. Topics: - Investing trends in the digital health space - New York City's startup ecosystem - Startup incubation approaches to building companies from the ground up #VCInsights #DigitalHealth #NYCTech #StartupIncubation #HealthTech #VentureCapital 🚀 This episode is brought to you by LG NOVA. 🚀 Get ready to ignite your passion for innovation at the 4th Annual InnoFest, happening at the iconic Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco on September 25th and 26th! This two-day event, brought to you by LG NOVA, is your chance to dive into the future with industry leaders and cutting-edge startups shaping HealthTech, AI, CleanTech, Life Sciences, Smart Life, Mobility, and more. And here's something extra special—I'll be hosting a panel at InnoFest, guiding a dynamic discussion on the future of AI and the workforce. Join me, along with other thought leaders, as we explore the trends and technologies driving innovation and positive change. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to be part of the conversation and help create a brighter, more innovative tomorrow. Register today at innofest.lgnova.com  and be part of the movement at InnoFest 2024!

🚀 This episode is brought to you by LG NOVA. 🚀 Rajeev Dham has been a Partner at Sapphire Ventures since 2013, splitting his time between applied AI companies across horizontal and vertical SaaS, as well as category-defining innovators in fintech and healthcare. For his work, he has been recognized as a Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investor by GrowthCap and most recently, the Silicon Valley Business Journal honored him in their annual 40 Under 40 list. Prior to Sapphire Ventures, Rajeev worked for Silver Lake, a technology-focused private equity firm, where he evaluated middle-market and growth equity investments across the software and internet sectors. Early on in his career, he worked for the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs and while at business school, worked with Amazon’s corporate development group. Rajeev holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and received a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Southern California where he graduated magna cum laude. Topics: - Investing in the AI and SaaS Space - The Emerging Sales AI Landscape - How AI is Transforming the Design Industry #VentureCapital #AI #SaaS #SalesAI #DesignTech #SapphireVentures 🚀 This episode is brought to you by LG NOVA. 🚀 Get ready to ignite your passion for innovation at the 4th Annual InnoFest, happening at the iconic Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco on September 25th and 26th! This two-day event, brought to you by LG NOVA, is your chance to dive into the future with industry leaders and cutting-edge startups shaping HealthTech, AI, CleanTech, Life Sciences, Smart Life, Mobility, and more. And here's something extra special—I'll be hosting a panel at InnoFest, guiding a dynamic discussion on the future of AI and the workforce. Join me, along with other thought leaders, as we explore the trends and technologies driving innovation and positive change. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to be part of the conversation and help create a brighter, more innovative tomorrow. Register today at innofest.lgnova.com  and be part of the movement at InnoFest 2024!