Can you remember a time before Gmail? Mary Grove can - she was one of the beta users.Back in 2004 Mary joined Google with plans to work at the startup for a year through its IPO before heading to law school. Plans changed and Mary spent 15 years with Google. She went on to lead new business development partnerships, negotiating worldwide early stage product and technology deals. Mary then served as the founding director of Google for Startups, leading the company’s global efforts to support entrepreneurs in over 100 countries. Today Mary is Managing Partner of Bread and Butter Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm based in Minnesota, the Bread and Butter State. The firm invests in the staple sectors of modern economy (food tech, health tech, enterprise SaaS) globally, but leverages Minnesota's unparalleled access to deep corporate connections, talent pools, and industry expertise. In this episode, Mary shares lessons she learned at Google, drops fun facts about Minnesota's rich talent ecosystem and business-friendly culture, and gives founders advice on VC outreach. You can find Bread and Butter Ventures on Twitter - @Bread_ButterVC - and LinkedIn. Follow Mary directly on Twitter or LinkedIn.To learn more about how you can build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.

Have you ever met someone and - within minutes - recognized they are a true force of nature? Well...meet Alexa von Tobel.Alexa is the Managing Partner of Inspired Capital, a venture capital firm she co-founded in 2019. Before Inspired, Alexa launched and scaled Learnvest, a personal finance startup, that was acquired by Northwestern Mutual in May 2015 after raising nearly $75 million in venture capital. In this episode of The Deal, Alexa explains how her experience building LearnVest has influenced her approach in her current role as an investor and the key ingredients for an excellent founder-investor relationship. Alexa and Tyler discuss the attributes world class founders possess and which market opportunities excite her most today. Alexa is the New York Times bestselling author of Financially Fearless and Financially Forward. You can follow Alexa on Twitter, Linkedin, or tune into her weekly podcast Inc. Founders Project with Alexa von Tobel featuring conversations with the best founders across the country. To learn more about how you can build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.

This is a conversation with Niko Bonatsos, Managing Director at General Catalyst. Niko joined General Catalyst out of Stanford as an Associate in 2010 and has spent 12 years with the firm. In this episode, Niko reflects on what equipped him to successfully ascend within the General Catalyst ranks, how it felt to lead his first deal, making investments in notable companies like Discord, Hive, and Snap, and why he's currently focused on investing in technical GenZ founders. You can find General Catalyst on Linkedin and Twitter.Follow Niko directly on Twitter or LinkedIn.To learn more about how you can build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.

Chris Kim is co-founder of Union Labs, a pre-seed and seed stage DeepTech fund that invests in founders who are solving big problems across the Climate, PropTech and Mobility sectors. In this episode, Chris shares how his experience as a founder and CTO at hardware startup August Home propelled him to start Union Labs, the characteristics he looks for in founders, and the market opportunities that excite him most. If you want to learn more about Union Labs, check out their website and Twitter . You can follow Chris Kim directly on Twitter or LinkedIn.And learn more about how you can build a company with Antler, come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.

Have you ever looked at a VC and wondered how they are giving founder advice without ever having done it themselves?  Well, that is not the case with Brett Queener.  Brett is a battle hardened veteran in the B2B SaaS space, having helped build Salesforce original channel strategy and spending 8 years building and scaling SmartRecruiter. Brett brings an incredible toolbox of experience and know how to supporting founders as an investor at Bonfire.  He loves working with founders on building what he calls their "first replicable sales motion"  and believes that the difference between good companies and great is determined by how effective and efficient your sales organization is.To learn more about Bonfire you can find them here.Or you can follow Brett directly on Twitter.To learn more about how you can build a company with Antler.  Come check us out and apply directly to one of our studios.

Have you ever heard the well known VC response, "this company is not VC fundable"?  Well. despite being easy to poke fun of, traditional VC funds do have a specific business model that requires them to literally swing for the fences.  Tyler Tringas, the founder of Calm Fund, believes this focus has created an opportunity to invest in companies that may not become behemoths, but stand to create vast wealth and impact for all involved.  So in 2018 Tyler decided to focus full time on launching a new type of investment fund.  In this episode we dive into all the details and why he believes Calm Fund can forge a bath to a new asset class focused on what he calls, "Calm Companies".To learn more about Calm Fund, you can check them out here. Or, you can follow Tyler directly on Twitter. To learn more about Antler and how you can start your next company with us please come see us at antler.co

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to graduate college with an Engineering degree in 2009 and then launch your career in tech head first into the global financial crisis?  Well that's exactly what happened to today's guest Hadley Harris.Not one to be discouraged, Hadley took it as a small road bump and charged along, finding success in the ashes.  Hadley took this experience and in 2010 launched Eniac Ventures with two of his oldest friends.  The trio has since turned Eniac into one of the world's OG seed funds and made investments in companies like Airbnb, Anchor, Cameo and Hinge.Hadley's experience with ups and downs gives him a noticeable sense of calm and patience that is rare these days, and he brings that experience to the founders he works with.To learn more about Eniac Ventures check them out here, or follow Hadley on twitter (he's quite funny).To learn more about Antler and how you can start your next company with us please come see us at antler.co

First Round Capital was founded in 2004 in Philadelphia.  To date they have done more than 1,000 early stage investments into companies like Flexport, Roblox, Warby Parker, Square and Uber.  Meka Asonye joined First Round two years ago after a career leading sales at two of the fastest growing companies in the world, Stripe and Mixpanel. To learn more about Antler and how you can start your next company with us please come see us at antler.co

Guarav Jain is co-founder and Managing Partner of Afore Capital, a $300M venture fund that invests in 10-15 companies pre-seed companies a year. Afore capitalizes founders located anywhere in the world, no matter how early on they are. Follow Guarav on Twitter.To learn more about Antler and how you can start your next company with us please come see us at antler.co 

Neil Kapur is a Partner at TTV Capital, a more than 20 year old firm that specializes in early and growth stage FinTech.  Neil is young, smart, hungry and an incredible addition to any board room.  We discuss what great looks like in FinTech deals and what he is excited about in the future.Follow Neil on Twitter.To learn more about Antler and how you can start your next company with us please come see us at antler.co