Rajiv Bala, GP of Clutch VC, discusses his hands-on approach to early-stage investing in Texas. They explore the differences between Texas and Silicon Valley startup cultures, the importance of sub $500 million outcomes in VC, and the benefits of previous founder experience in investing. Rajiv also shares insights on selective incubation as a strategy and building genuine relationships with founders before investing.

Meka Asonye, a Partner at First Round Capital, shares his journey from uncovering baseball talent to leading Sales at Stripe and now angel and venture investing. He invests in B2B SAAS and audacious founders, exploring Space and GovTech. Meka values honesty in supporting founder friends and emphasizes learning from partners, retros, and reviews in VC. He writes checks of $2M to $5M, focusing on finding true outliers in tech.

Former tech founder turned seed VC, Amit Kumar from Accel, shares insights on framing VC as a long game, being a 'co-founder as a service,' and the importance of the problem slide in pitch decks. He discusses the transition to VC, angel investing for risk diversification, and his strategy of writing $2M to $4M checks as a lead seed investor. Amit emphasizes the value of networking, authenticity in deal structuring, and supporting exceptional entrepreneurs in sectors like healthcare, fintech, and dev tools.

Rachel Sheinbein is an angel investor with over 250 startup investments.  She shares her insights on angel investing and how it allows her to work with founders “even before the seed stage,” writing $25k checks into technology startups through her vehicle Very Serious Ventures.  Later, Rachel discusses how building a community drives her investing strategy and lessons from memorable startup investments.  Shaherose and Aamir kick off the show with a special message for founders who like to argue and end with their personal takeaways from the conversation with Rachel.Highlights from our discussion:Why Rachel chose angel investing over a partner position at a VC firmWhat to look for in a quality angel groupUsing a DAF to align with an investing purposeDetecting founder passion and coachabilityDefining your purposeThis is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.Topics(00:00) - 03: Rachel Sheinbein, Angel (01:14) - PSA: Your startup's users know more than Aamir the angel investor does (02:51) - Rachel Sheinbein, angel investor and advisor (04:56) - From engineering to venture capital to angel investing (07:28) - Do angel groups and angel networks provide value to startup investors? (13:23) - How Rachel aligns purpose and philanthropy with her early-stage startup investing (16:08) - Rachel's first angel investment was in a gaming startup (19:17) - Investor experience, startup luck, and Sequoia (21:49) - How does an angel investor like Rachel measure bad outcomes in startup investments? (24:53) - How angel investors operate differs from venture capitalists (29:47) - Pitch decks - do they matter when seed investing so early? (33:45) - Startup founder signals that matter to an angel investor (40:47) - A climate tech seed investment that paid off quickly and returned funds (46:39) - Very Serious Ventures angel invests $25k super early in founders (48:51) - An exercise to help you become a better angel investor (51:04) - Speed round, and the best book on strategy for startup founders (52:59) - Our takeaways on better startup investing Connect with UsFollow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X @shaheroseTwitter/X @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests

Jenny Fielding, a pre-seed investor and angel with 300 early-stage startup investments, discusses investing in FinTech, hard tech, and consumer spaces over the past decade. From studying law to working in finance to leaving it all to found not just one but two startups, Jenny brings a founder-operator mindset to her fund, Everywhere Ventures. She writes pre-seed and seed-stage checks for $50k to $250k.Highlights from our discussion:Jenny’s first seed investment and its fast, huge outcomeHer simple evaluation framework for startup companies and their foundersThe way larger funds can screw early angel investorsEverywhere Ventures’ latest seed investment comes out of stealthA yearly ritual to become a better angel and startup investor This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.Topics(00:00) - 02: Jenny Fielding - Everywhere Ventures (03:07) - How does Shaherose know Jenny? (04:17) - Jenny's Journey into Investing (05:10) - Why did Jenny choose the investor side of the table? (08:27) - How did Jenny land her first investment (which went big!)? (11:02) - How does Jenny evaluate companies? (15:39) - How Jenny categorizes companies and check sizes (17:49) - How an angel investment went public and yet Jenny got nothing (25:18) - How does Jenny maintain authentic relationships while seed investing? (29:38) - Seed investors promise access to founders - does it matter? (33:39) - Jenny's successful seed investment in a Blockchain company - for real! (37:53) - Angel invest and chill? What signals help assess your investment early? (39:26) - How Jenny seed invests and then helps with future fundraising (40:46) - Using secondaries to generate returns and lower risk (44:18) - Pre-Seed fund return profiles - what's the goal and reality? (46:14) - Jenny and Everywhere seed invest in the "table stakes economy" (47:21) - What is the difference between pre-seed and seed startup investment rounds? (48:56) - Does valuation discipline matter for early angel and seed investors? (51:44) - Jenny's latest seed investment: Fora comes out of stealth (53:47) - Jenny's one trick to become better at startup investing (55:43) - How Jenny partners with Scott to make investment decisions (57:00) - Jenny's hot takes (58:21) - Takeaways from the interview Connect with UsFollow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X @shaheroseTwitter/X @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests

We're all discussing current market conditions - valuations, AI hype, fundraising challenges... Before we kick off our planned interview series on First Funders, we sat down with our friend Arjun Arora to discuss the Trends in Venture Capital 2024. As investors, we always look ahead, making this a great way to start 2024.Highlights from our discussion:What to expect in round sizes and valuationsAnticipated returns from the AI hypeThe significance of data-driven decision-making for VCsThe rise of hyper-specialized fundsYou can read the full report here: https://www.arjundarora.com/trends-reportThis is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.Topics(00:00) - 01: State of Venture Capital 2024 - Arjun Arora (00:49) - Guest: Arjun Arora on the State of Venture Capital 2024 (01:24) - Arjun's Founder Background (03:03) - Format One and how they help founders (04:41) - Are Mega-deals only happening in AI? (06:07) - How should early-stage investors consider exit strategy? (08:02) - Is AI coming for venture capitalists? (10:36) - Social signals inform investors about founders AND teams (11:51) - Later-stage investors use prior investors as a signal (13:57) - Are crowd-funded companies legit investments? (16:01) - Do funds focused on a niche limit returns and increase risk? (22:25) - Don't go chasing Unicorns? (26:41) - Where's crypto and blockchain? (27:27) - Do founders want to do one-and-done raises? (29:17) - Can seed funds less power law, higher average outcomes? (31:45) - Will AI generate returns for investors? (33:35) - Advice for founders in this market environment (35:21) - Key Take aways: What we learned from Arjun's report for our own seed investing strategies (43:00) - Outro Connect with UsFollow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X @shaheroseTwitter/X @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests

Before you dive into our archives or the next episode, learn about First Funders and its hosts, Shaherose Charania and Aamir Virani.  You'll hear about Shaherose's background as a startup builder turned VC who started as a product marketer and how she started Women 2.0, a startup ecosystem, and Founder Labs, a tech incubator.  She also reviews her time at Nike, where she built their first incubator, and her role as an angel investor and now Venture Partner at Cake Ventures.Aamir then shares his experience as an engineer turned product management leader at Dropcam, which was acquired by Google/Nest, and then his turn as a venture capitalist at Felicis Ventures.  Why did he end up back as an angel investor and operator?  What types of investments does he look for now?This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.Topics(00:00) - About the Hosts and their Angel and Seed Investing backgrounds (01:13) - How Shaherose went from operating to building Women 2.0 to funding startups (03:26) - Aamir's Journey from Founder to VC to Angel Investor (06:06) - Outro Connect with UsFollow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X @shaheroseTwitter/X @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests

Coming soon. First Funders is a podcast for the Angels and Venture Capitalists who write first checks. Co-hosted by Shaherose Charania, startup builder turned VC. And Aamir Virani, founder turned angel investor.In each episode, you'll hear from angel and seed-stage VCs who wrote the first checks into startups that made it. How did these investors find these opportunities? How did they gain conviction? How did they decide to make a bet? And what can you learn from their journey? Sharpen your theses and make better investments by hearing from the First Funders about their successful investments.This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.Connect with UsFollow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X @shaheroseTwitter/X @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests