Follow me on Twitter @Samirkaji to get my ongoing and frequent updates on the early stage venture landscapeRoger Ehrenberg is the founder and Managing Partner of IA Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in New York City. In this episode, Roger gives a master class on all aspects of starting and building a venture firm. IA is managing $475M across four funds, and is currently investing out of its $160M fourth fund. Fund 1 was a $50MM fund raised during the global financial crisis, with a first close of $17MM. Earlier in his career, Roger served as CEO of DB Advisors, was Global co-head of Deutsche Bank’s Strategic Equity Transactions Group, and was an investment banker at Citibank in derivatives, capital structuring and Mergers & Acquisitions.Roger currently sits on the Boards of Ethyca, Gospel Technology, Mighty, Octane and TransferWise, and was an early lead investor in both The Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD) and Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG). Formerly, he served on the boards of Buddy Media (sold to Salesforce for $800M), Recorded Future (sold to Insight for $780MM), and Simple Finance (sold to BBVA for $120M). In this episode, Roger covers the following:* His background from going from M&A banking and hedge to early stage investing. * The opportunity and vision he saw for IA during the global financial crisis. * The amount of diligence he went through for choosing a partner. * How he made some unconventionally sized portfolio bets early in Fund 1 when the fund was still raising. * IA’s philosophy on fund sizing. * How he thinks about portfolio construction and recycling. * How he thinks about staying disciplined on ownership and valuation targets and when to have some flexibility.* The role of pattern matching and how IA tests and re-tests this. Here are some resources to learn more about Roger:* IA Ventures website* Roger’s Information Arbitrage blog. The following posts should be required reading for emerging managers:* Building a Seed Stage Venture Fund* Working to Build a Better Mousetrap* Thoughts on distribution strategy * A presentation Data-Driven Business Models for The Research Board’s Global CIO Conference 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

Charles Hudson is the Managing Partner and Founder at Precursor Ventures, one of the first and most active pre-seed focused venture firms in the world. Precursor seeks to invest in a company’s first round of institutional investment and focuses on investments in B2B software applications, B2C software and services, and connected hardware. Prior to founding Precursor Ventures, he spent 5 years as a Partner at Uncork Capital (formerly known as SoftTech VC). Charles was also the Co­Founder and CEO of Bionic Panda Games, a mobile games startup. Prior to this he held Business Development roles for Serious Business (acquired by Zynga), Gaia Interactive, and Google. Prior to joining Google, Charles was a Product Manager for IronPort Systems, and he worked at In-Q-Tel, the venture capital fund backed by the Central Intelligence Agency. Charles holds a BA and an MBA from Stanford University.In this episode, Charles and I cover the following topics:* What his thought process was of spinning out of an established seed firm to start his own firm. * Why positioning your fund correctly represents such a critical part in fundraising successfully.  * His experience raising his first two funds relative to what he expected. * How he manages his time as a solo GP. * Why running a venture firm is actually multiple businesses in one. * The role of diversity in venture, and the opportunity ahead. Mentioned in this episode:* Precursor Ventures* Diversity & Inclusion in the VC Industry study by the NVCA and DeliotteI’d love to know what you took away from my conversations with Charles; Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to considered as a guest, or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter. 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

Elizabeth Yin is Co-Founder & General Partner at Hustle Fund, a pre-seed focused firm based in the Bay Area. Appropriately named, Elizabeth and her team truly epitomize the word hustle. She and her co-founder Eric raised $11.5MM Hustle Fund I in the fall of 2018 and more recently started investing out of a larger Fund II. The firm has a unique investment model that starts by investing $25K in each startups, and then by working closely with their entrepreneurs looks to upsize their commitments into select portfolio companies. Previously, Elizabeth was a partner at 500 Startups where she invested in seed stage companies and ran the Mountain View accelerator. In a prior life, Elizabeth co-founded and ran an ad-tech company called LaunchBit (acq 2014). Elizabeth has a BSEE from Stanford and an MBA from MIT Sloan.In this episode, Elizabeth covers the following:* What their journey in raising their first fund together was like. * How broad their LP outreach was, and how they managed hundreds of LP conversations. * The continuous nature of raising capital. * The role of brand in venture. * The thinking behind their unique portfolio construction model, and how they serve such a large group of portfolio companies. * How to efficiently manage a firm amidst all the competing priorities. * What she wishes she knew before she started Hustle Fund. Mentioned in this episode:* The Hustle Fund* Elizabeth’s post “How I Raised my $11.5m VC Fund”* Here’s her post on “11 Things I’ve learned from running a micro VC in the last year”* Elizabeth’s post “How Do VCs Make Money?”Hope you enjoy the episode, feel free to tweet or DM me @samirkaji your further questions from the show or other guests you think I should invite to the show under the hashtag #ventureunlocked.  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

I’m excited to announce the imminent release of Venture Unlocked, the first podcast dedicated solely to helping emerging venture investors launch, operate, and scale successful venture capital firms. The trailer embedded here provides a bit of background on the podcast —- if you like what you hear please forward this email to your friends and colleagues and encourage them to sign-up for the Venture Unlocked podcast on substack.On Tuesday September 29th, we are thrilled to release the first episode of Venture Unlocked featuring Elizabeth Yin of the Hustle Fund, who transparently spoke about her journey in raising fund 1 (and the # of LP’s they spoke to!), how they work together as a partnership, and the system Hustle Fund uses to add value to entrepreneurs. Until now, mentorship in launching and building a venture firm has only been available in small doses. Our objective is to level the playing field by unlocking the best practices of building a great firm and driving better and more diverse capital to founders. 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