Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managers

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.Today we’re thrilled to bring you my conversation with Justin Fishner-Wolfson, co-founder and managing partner of 137 Ventures, a growth-stage venture firm that provides customized liquidity solutions to founders, investors, and early employees of high-growth private technology companies. With a total AUM of $1.5B, 137 Ventures has backed some of the most impactful companies of the past decade, including Wish, Flexport, SpaceX, Uber, and Airbnb. Prior to launching 137 ventures in 2010, Justin worked on the investment team at Founders Fund. A message from our sponsorAnduin is revolutionizing fund management with streamlined fund operations, digitized fund subscriptions, and real-time status updates. Traditional, paper-based subscriptions are costly, tedious and error-prone, with up to 80% of submitted documents being incorrect and considered not in good order.Fund managers lack real-time visibility, facing manual processes, endless back-and-forth and a mountain of emails, documents and spreadsheets.Anduin’s investor onboarding workflow improves the investor experience, bringing clarity, guidance, and efficiency to fund subscriptions which drastically reduces error rates.The Anduin platform allows GPs to perform fund operations simply and efficiently with improved data accuracy, freeing up time so they can focus on what they do best... investing.For more information, or to arrange a demo, visit fundsub.io/ventureunlockedIn this episode we discuss:02:10 Justin’s journey into venture capital03:36 Learnings from Founders Fund05:52 Differentiating yourself in tangible ways07:45 How Justin thinks about the sales process10:34 Fund sizing14:59 Liquidity solutions for the future17:42 How efficient are the secondary markets right now?20:40 Justin’s philosophy on risk26:00 The considerations of check size and ownership requirements28:53 What are the toughest things to get right in building a firm?31:01 Avoiding talent atrophy and ensuring generational succession32:56 The hardest lesson learned in building a firm39:47 The most counterintuitive lesson Justin learned in investing42:19 Learnings from misses43:47 Justin’s inspirationsMentioned in this episode137 VenturesI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Justin. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.Today’s episode is with Jeff Morris, Jr., founder of Chapter One Ventures, an early stage product fund that has invested in Cameo, Pipe, Alt, and Roam. After a significant track record as an angel investor (including investing in Lyft) he started Chapter One in 2019 that featured tier one investors such as Lightspeed and Sequoia as LPs. Jeff was previously the VP of Product at Tinder, spearheading popular features like Boost and Tinder Gold. He graduated with an MBA from UCLA’s School of Management and is a frequent speaker on monetization, product, and growth.We chat about finding your product market fit as an investor; thinking about scaling yourself, and the ever-changing relationship between entrepreneurs and VCs. A message from our sponsorAnduin is revolutionizing fund management with streamlined fund operations, digitized fund subscriptions, and real-time status updates. Traditional, paper-based subscriptions are costly, tedious and error-prone, with up to 80% of submitted documents being incorrect and considered not in good order.Fund managers lack real-time visibility, facing manual processes, endless back-and-forth and a mountain of emails, documents and spreadsheets.Anduin’s investor onboarding workflow improves the investor experience, bringing clarity, guidance, and efficiency to fund subscriptions which drastically reduces error rates.The Anduin platform allows GPs to perform fund operations simply and efficiently with improved data accuracy, freeing up time so they can focus on what they do best... investing.For more information, or to arrange a demo, visit fundsub.io/ventureunlockedIn this episode we discuss:02:11 Jeff’s journey into investing05:43 Jeff’s learnings as an angel investor to being a scout to starting a firm08:38 The main differences between being an angel investor and a full-time venture capitalist11:13 Adjusting to doing venture full time13:51 How Jeff evolved along each step of the way in his investing career16:22 How he constructed his LP base, and him taking on capital from Tier 1 VC’s17:58 How Jeff thought about fund sizing and what he learnt from his first fundraising22:14 Why bring a Chief of Staff onto a VC firm24:47 The debate between optimizing for # of companies vs. ownership27:27 Learnings from Sequoia about investing and entrepreneurship30:23 Jeff’s decision-making model34:39 The future of the VC 37:17 The pros and cons of having a brand on Twitter/ social media39:52 The most counterintuitive lesson Jeff has learned41:20 Lessons learned from companies that he missed43:26 Inspirations in the VC worldMentioned in this episode:Chapter One VenturesI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Jeff. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Our guest today is Miriam Rivera, managing director and CEO of Ulu Ventures, an early seed stage venture fund in Silicon Valley focused on IT startups. Currently Ulu Ventures has an AUM of >$200MM and the team has invested in companies such as Palantir, BetterUp, SoFi, Guild, and Span [For full disclosure, Ulu Ventures is also an investor in my startup, Allocate).Prior to Ulu, Miriam was deputy general counsel at Google, which she joined in 2001 as the second attorney.  She graduated from Stanford University, where she earned the AB, AM and JD/MBA degrees. Miriam is the co-founder, former co-president and on the board of Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs, an open source network of Stanford alumni investors and entrepreneurs.Listen to our conversation to hear Miriam’s thoughts on moving from angel investing to starting a firm, being a husband and wife team, the reasons behind Ulu’s large portfolio strategy, and why diversity is so important to her.  A message from our sponsorStandish is the largest provider of fund administration services to Venture Capital funds globally. Currently, we serve approximately 750 Venture Capital funds and have more than $150 billion in committed capital under administration.  Standish has been designed by experienced Chief Financial Officers with a deep understanding of the service needs of both finance departments and General Partners at every stage of the product life cycle.  Standish can handle all of the needs of finance department so General Partners can focus on investing.Standish is an employee owned company.https://www.standishmanagement.com/In this episode we discuss:02:05 Miriam’s journey into the investment side03:23 Why they started Ulu and raised outside capital05:22 The challenges of starting a fund as a wife-husband duo 08:14 Navigating their working relationship 11:33 Their unique view on what portfolio construction should be14:06 What the stats say on returns16:53 Trade-offs between size of portfolio and ownership20:20 Strategies for venture investing at the seed-stage23:14 Ulu’s unique decision making framework29:15 Benefits of investing in diverse teams31:58 Changes that can be made in the LP/VC ecosystem35:06 LPs with diverse managers38:18 The social vs. financial impetus in making investments in diverse managers/ partners40:39 Miriam’s most counterintuitive learning as an investor42:00 Companies Ulu missed out on43:36 Inspirations in the VC worldMentioned in this episodeUlu VenturesI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Miriam. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Follow me @samirkaji for my (usually) daily thoughts on the world of venture capital. We’re pleased to provide this week’s episode with Ben Casnocha, founding partner of Village Global.Prior to Village, Ben was an entrepreneur and also acted as Chief of Staff at LinkedIn and Greylock working directly with Reid Hoffman. Ben has also co-authored two New York Times bestselling management books, The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age (with LinkedIn chairman Reid Hoffman and entrepreneur Chris Yeh). and The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career (with Reid Hoffman). Village ventures has $250M AUM and was co-founded with Erik Torenberg, Founder and current chairman of On Deck, and Product Hunt’s first employee. Together, they’ve invested in over 200 companies, and use a very unique community driven approach to serve their founders. The firm is based in Silicon Valley and backed by some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs in Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman, and Sara Blakely.We chat with Ben about the importance of curating networks, how they use an unique incentive model within the Village community, how they performed their portfolio construction model, and what venture trends are here to stay.A message from our sponsorStandish is the largest provider of fund administration services to Venture Capital funds globally. Currently, we serve approximately 750 Venture Capital funds and have more than $150 billion in committed capital under administration.  Standish has been designed by experienced Chief Financial Officers with a deep understanding of the service needs of both finance departments and General Partners at every stage of the product life cycle.  Standish can handle all of the needs of finance department so General Partners can focus on investing.Standish is an employee owned company.https://www.standishmanagement.com/In this episode we discuss:02:10    Why Ben doubled down on venture capital04:43    Ben’s learnings from working with Reid 08:08    How the fund leverages its relationships with luminary LPs11:27    Curating networks for scale14:30    Monetary and access incentives for collaborators in the VC community18:08    What characterizes a great founder/ learnings from luminaries21:55    The firm’s feedback framework25:08    How Ben and team constructed their portfolio29:49    Village’s acquisition and exit models32:39    How does Ben think about flexibility and rules when it comes to ownership34:50    Trends driving the current venture ecosystem 38:26    Relationship between institutions and seed funds40:45    Looking into the future: What does Fund 5 look like for Village42:22    What Ben has learned so far43:18    How his thinking has changed over his career45:44    Ben’s biggest inspirationsMentioned in this episode* Village Global VC* Ben’s blog* Ben’s booksDisclaimer: This presentation does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security. No representation is being made that any investor or portfolio will, or is likely to, achieve profits or losses similar to those discussed. Targets discussed have been established based on several assumptions that may vary depending on the type of investment.  There is no guarantee that the conditions on which such assumptions are based will materialize as anticipated and will be applicable to Village Global’s portfolio investments.I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Ben. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Today’s episode is with Lan Xuezhao, founding partner of Basis Set Ventures which has raised $301M across two funds. Lan has extensively studied AI, data science, and human psychology, and with Basis Set, she has combined those elements to bring a very unique approach to investing. Lan’s background in corporate development at Dropbox and management at McKinsey has contributed to her data driven approach to sourcing and investing. She has a PhD in Psychology from the University of Michigan. We chat about Lan’s unique investment philosophy, how she found GP/LP fit for Fund 1 and then Fund 2, how her firm has many shared characteristics of a portfolio company, and what makes for a founder super power. A message from our sponsorStandish is the largest provider of fund administration services to Venture Capital funds globally. Currently, we serve approximately 750 Venture Capital funds and have more than $150 billion in committed capital under administration.  Standish has been designed by experienced Chief Financial Officers with a deep understanding of the service needs of both finance departments and General Partners at every stage of the product life cycle.  Standish can handle all of the needs of finance department so General Partners can focus on investing.Standish is an employee owned company.https://www.standishmanagement.com/In this episode we discuss:02:18    Lan’s journey into venture capital 07:40   How did she go unconventional on fund size10:06    Lan’s learning about GP/LP fit13:57    Constructing a different LP base in Fund 2 vs. Fund 117:18    The structure of the fund’s tech and investment team21:01    Eliminating bias 22:56    Founder psychology + super power thesis26:00 Top two key traits of the best founders28:31    How Lan sees BSV’s place in the market today31:25    Future of firms in her size range34:14    Her Anti-Portfolio36:09    Inspirations from the investment worldMentioned in this Episode* Basis Set Ventures* Thesis on What Makes a Successful FounderI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Lan. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. In today’s show, we have the pleasure of speaking to Braughm Ricke, who has worked closely with emerging managers throughout his career, first serving as CFO of True Ventures, and then starting Aduro Advisors, which started in 2012 originally to focus on the new era of VC. He was also a early Advisor and Investor in Carta and has been an active investor. Thanks to working with over 350 venture fund clients, Braughm has unique insights on effective fundraising, what makes for a institutional back-office, and broad venture trends. In this episode we discuss:01:01    What Braughm saw in 2012 when he started Aduro Advisors to focus on Emerging VC’s 05:49    How the emerging manager space has grown and evolved06:42    What is different today from the early days08:49    The fundraising landscape for emerging managers11:49    Tactics for breaking into family offices13:51    What managers often need to do between rounds 16:19    The workload for solo GPs18:12    The support systems GPs need so they can spend more time on core activities22:56    Common traits amongst successful managers25:22    The most common mistakes he sees managers make26:45    What the future holds for venture29:55    The speed of new firm creationMentioned in this episode:* Aduro AdvisorsWe’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Braughm! Follow @SamirKaji and give your insight and questions using the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. We’re so pleased to bring you my discussion with Monique Woodard of Cake Ventures, a seed-stage firm investing in demographic change. To date, Monique has invested in startups such as Blavity, Court Buddy, Mented Cosmetics, and Silvernest. Cake Ventures invests in a thesis that is based on a “three-layer” philosophy that the future of technology is being driven by certain major shifts:* The aging Baby Boomer population* The shift of minorities driving culture* The increased spending power of women.Monique herself has a diverse background in government, venture capital and inclusive entrepreneurship. She was previously venture partner at 500 Startups, an investment scout for Lightspeed Ventures, and she is also the co-founder of Black Founders. We chat about a wide-range of topics, from her work in Sub-Saharan Africa, why she chose to start her own fund vs joining a large fund, raising capital, and the importance of building community in venture.A message from our sponsorStandish is the largest provider of fund administration services to Venture Capital funds globally. Currently, we serve approximately 750 Venture Capital funds and have more than $150 billion in committed capital under administration.  Standish has been designed by experienced Chief Financial Officers with a deep understanding of the service needs of both finance departments and General Partners at every stage of the product life cycle.  Standish can handle all of the needs of finance department so General Partners can focus on investing.Standish is an employee owned company.https://www.standishmanagement.com/In this episode we discuss:01:56    Monique’s journey into venture capital04:26    Why she joined 500 Startups06:51    Key insights on the globalization of startups from her time at 500 Startups08:57    Transitioning from 500 Startups to Cake Ventures11:10    The three layers of the Cake that form her thesis13:39    Early days of Cake Ventures17:30    Raising capital in a virtual environment20:32    Institutionalizing yourself and your portfolio22:52    Why Monique decided on being a solo GP28:46    When you should think about bringing on additional partners31:13    The future of diversity in the seed ecosystem35:08    Monique’s biggest learning as an investor37:00    Some missed opportunities38:23    Inspirations in the investment communityMentioned in this Episode* Cake Ventures* Gray New World - 2020 Report on Aging* 500 StartupsI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Monique. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Our guest today is Shauntel Garvey, co-founder and general partner of education tech focused Reach Capital. She has a long history investing in ed-tech companies stemming back from her time at NewSchools Venture Fund. What I love about the Reach team is how thoughtfully they’ve constructed their firm and partnership which by far is one of the most diverse in all of venture. Currently Reach has $300 AUM and has invested in companies such as Mystery Science (acq by Discovery Education), Nearpod, Outschool, ClassDojo, and Epic.Shauntel did her undergrad at MIT, and got a MA in Education and MBA from Stanford.Listen to our conversation to learn more about how she’s seen the EdTech market evolve over the last few years and particularly since the pandemic, why they are active with portfolio companies after typical seed funds are, and how she thinks about investing thesis. A message from our sponsorFrank, Rimerman + Co.’s history is closely intertwined with that of Silicon Valley. With humble beginnings similar to so many start-ups, Frank, Rimerman was formed with a desire to serve the entrepreneurial and venture communities of the Valley and the determination to think outside-the-box.When it comes to venture funds, we work with almost 500 VC groups from over 20 states across the USA. We have worked with over 350 fund groups throughout their first year, making us one of the leading providers in the country to emerging managers.No one wants to be bored at work. That’s why we chose to work with some of the most innovative and creative people – people who are changing the world around us every day. Their excitement fuels our passion and determination to grow and serve this special community.Frank, Rimerman + Co, Passion Works Here.www.frankrimerman.comIn this episode we discuss:01:29 Shauntel’s journey into VC03:12 The decision to start Reach from NewSchools04:39 Why they decided to go with a larger partnership in Fund 107:14 The challenges of raising a sector specific fund for a sector not well understood at the time09:50 Pitching impact focused LPs vs return focused LPs11:51 How sector-specific managers answer the question about being too narrow16:18 Why despite being as seed fund, Reach stays with their companies throughout their lifecycle20:06 How they think about hiring at Reach21:51 How Reach looks at talent development as a part of its legacy23:41 Things firms can do early to build a generational legacy25:51 Developing and evolving an investment thesis28:24 Creating systems to allow for proactive outreach and investment30:03 Building strong a back office and operations32:50 Shauntel’s greatest learning as an investor33:55 What she’s learned from her misses36:42 The investor she aspires to be more likeMentioned in this episode:* Reach CapitalWe’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Shauntel! Follow @SamirKaji and give your insight and questions using the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Today we’re excited to bring you my recent conversation with Mark Suster, managing partner at Upfront Ventures, a firm that was founded 25 years ago, originally as GRP partners. Mark joined the firm in 2007 and became managing partner in 2011 and helped architect the new era of the firm while also actively evangelizing the now robust LA tech ecosystem. Upfront currently has $1.9B AUM and has invested in companies such as Overture,  Maker Studios, and Ring.Prior to joining Upfront, Mark was a two-time operator, including selling the latter to Salesforce.com. He did his BA at UCSD, and got his MBA at the University of Chicago.This was a fun one and we talked a lot about how they’ve rebranded and evolved as a firm, how raising funds is no different than enterprise sales, and the interesting paradox that faces every VC today.A message from our sponsorFrank, Rimerman + Co.’s history is closely intertwined with that of Silicon Valley. With humble beginnings similar to so many start-ups, Frank, Rimerman was formed with a desire to serve the entrepreneurial and venture communities of the Valley and the determination to think outside-the-box.When it comes to venture funds, we work with almost 500 VC groups from over 20 states across the USA. We have worked with over 350 fund groups throughout their first year, making us one of the leading providers in the country to emerging managers.No one wants to be bored at work. That’s why we chose to work with some of the most innovative and creative people – people who are changing the world around us every day. Their excitement fuels our passion and determination to grow and serve this special community.Frank, Rimerman + Co, Passion Works Here.www.frankrimerman.comIn this episode we discuss:01:43    Mark’s journey into VC04:16    Why he thought GRP was a good fit for him08:22    How the firm transformed its investment focus12:55    The process around the rebranding to Upfront Ventures18:23    Human psychology of decisions23:41    Why you need to be careful on when to share data rooms27:41    How fundraising is like sales33:05 Why creating scarcity is important34:57    Talent retention and acquisition42:26    The current state of the venture market Mentioned in this episode:* The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion* Why You Should Never Have A Data RoomWe’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Mark! Follow @SamirKaji and give your insight and questions using the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

On this week’s show, we’re excited to bring you Satya Patel, co-founder of Homebrew, who he started with his partner Hunter Walk in 2013. Today, the firm is widely considered one of the top seed firms in the industry, counting companies such as Chime, Cruise, Eero, and Gusto as portfolio companies. Satya brings a unique product background to the table as he worked on AdSense in the early days at Google, and later in various product roles at Twitter. He also spent time as an investor at Battery Ventures. Satya and Hunter are incredibly thoughtful and detailed when they think about firm building, and during our conversation Satya and I discuss the hard conversations that potential partners need to have before starting a partnership, the unconventional way they raised their first fund, how Homebrew thinks about consistency with founder relationships, and fund sizing.A message from our sponsorFrank, Rimerman + Co.’s history is closely intertwined with that of Silicon Valley. With humble beginnings similar to so many start-ups, Frank, Rimerman was formed with a desire to serve the entrepreneurial and venture communities of the Valley and the determination to think outside-the-box.Frank Rimerman works with almost 500 VC groups from over 20 states across the USA with 350 fund groups during their first year of existence, making them one of the leading providers in the country to emerging managers.Frank, Rimerman + Co, Passion Works Here.www.frankrimerman.comIn this episode we discuss the following topics:01:13    How he and Hunter became friends and decided to work together again03:12    Personal factors in deciding to start his own firm when there were so many other options for them. 06:50    How he and Hunter sorted through their strengths and weaknesses 09:07    How were able to raise their first fund in 100 days by targeting institutional investors instead of relying on family offices like most Fund 1’s. 12:40    How they used scarcity and a hard close date to drive the process19:11    The thought process behind moving up weight classes in investing21:28    Different stages of investment require different skills 24:10    Number of investments vs. bigger ownership in a smaller portfolio26:38    Interview questions for new hires + how they compensate the team31:04 Homebrew to announce an effort to systematically further diversify VC34:45 The best lesson he’s learned37:08 Best advice for someone starting out in VC38:29 The investors that has been most helpful to his careerMentioned In This Episode:* Homebrew* All RaiseWe’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Satya! Follow @SamirKaji and give your insight and questions using the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com