Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.This week we are excited to have Aydin Senkut of Felicis Ventures, which since its founding in 2005 has become of the most successful early-stage funds in the world, having invested in companies such as Shopify, Canva, Opendoor, Guild, Flexport, Notion, and Plaid,  The Felicis portfolio has 45 Unicorns since it started in 2006 and Aydin is a 9-time Forbes Midas list investor. Outside of the outstanding track record, Aydin brings such an interesting point of view on venture investing. We went deep on the history of Felicis, his investment philosophy, and his overall perspectives on running a venture firm.A word from our sponsor:Aumni is an investment analytics company dedicated to improving private capital markets. Aumni’s technology digitizes hard to track unstructured data from private transaction agreements and organizes it in a structured database through an intuitive dashboard. For investors across the board, the insights provided by this data improve the managers ability to build strategy and make better decisions. Today, Aumni tracks data from over 250 thousand private market transactions to provide anonymous, aggregated market benchmarks.As someone that works deeply in the private fund space, I’m incredibly excited that Aumni’s solution helps fund managers provide more insightful accurate reporting to their investors.  Check them out at Aumni.fund.Subscribers of Venture Unlocked can sign up for 20% off when you mention Venture Unlocked.About Aydin Senkut:Aydin Senkut is the Founder and Managing Partner of Felicis. An original super angel turned multi-stage investor, he has been named on the Forbes Midas List for the past nine years (2014-2022) as well as the New York Times Top 20 Venture Capitalists list for four consecutive years (2016-2019). His recent focus areas include infrastructure, security, and future of health.He is well-known as an early backer of a number of iconic companies including Adyen, Credit Karma (Acquired by Intuit), Fitbit, Guardant Health, Guideline, Notion, Opendoor, Pluralsight, Rovio, Shopify, and Soundhound.Prior to starting Felicis, Aydin joined Google in 1999 as its first Product Manager to launch Google’s first 10 international sites, its first online search licensing products, and its first Safe Search. He then became the first International Sales Manager at Google, responsible for worldwide licensing deals. Before joining Google, Aydin was the Product Manager for Data Visualization and Data Mining software MineSet at SGI.He received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with Honors from Boston University. He also earned an MBA in Marketing from the Wharton School and a master’s degree in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.In this episode we discuss:02:12 What led to starting Felicis05:52 Why he decided to start something new instead of staying with Google08:40 Moving from angel to “super angel”12:19 The first fund raise16:10 Takeaways from early rejections and how he kept refining his pitch20:09 What was Aydin’s initial vision and how it has evolved over the years24:59 Teambuilding and early hires at Felicis29:02 How Felicis wins competitive deals through strategy35:11 When to bend a rule when it comes to unorthodox investments39:13 Commonalities of founders who create outlier opportunities42:24 How to be anti-fragile as an investor46:40 Trends in today’s market that gets Aydin excited50:16 The advice he would have given himself in 2005I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Aydin. 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.This week we are joined by Josh Berman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of private lending firm Quid, an active funding platform that provides liquidity to shareholders of top private companies. Quid has raised $420M across two funds.Josh has been in technology for over two decades, co-founding MySpace in 2003, after which he went on to start BeachMint before moving to the investing side and starting both Troy Capital Partners in 2016 and private sharing financing company Quid in 2018.During the show, we talked about the difference between secondary selling and borrowing, the issue of trapped liquidity at funds, and the learning he took away from his Myspace experience. First, a word from our sponsor:Allocate is the digital operating system for investors looking to build and manage world-class private portfolios within venture capital and other technology-focused private assets.Despite the enormous growth of the private markets and the rapid increase of retail demand for private alternatives, investing in the highest quality private assets within the innovation sector remains inaccessible and opaque.Go to allocate.co to apply to be an early-access member and join 500+ active Allocate users.About Josh Berman:Josh Berman is an operator and investor based in Los Angeles. Most recently he Co-Founded and is Managing Partner of Quid and is General Partner at Troy Capital Partners. Previously he was the Co-Founder and CEO of BeachMint, a next-generation eCommerce company based in Santa Monica, CA. He was the President of Slingshot Labs, a division of News Corporation, a web incubator dedicated to building new Internet companies.Josh is also a co-founder and was the chief operating officer of MySpace.com.He also co-founded and managed successful Internet companies, ResponseBase Marketing, and Xdrive Technologies. Prior to his startup life, Berman was a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He received his MBA from the University of Southern California, his BA from UC Santa Barbara, and is a CPA in the State of California.In this episode we discuss:01:16 Josh’s journey into startups06:01 The private stock problem that he saw in the market that Quid addresses10:58 Tax advantages of Quid’s approach to providing liquidity15:47 How stock financing actually works20:16 Affects of 2021 valuations on Quid’s lending model24:45 Employee retention strategies when strike prices may be lower than current valuation27:59 Other uses for Quid’s liquidity strategy30:00 Will traditional lenders get into this space?32:21 How the market today compares to the market in 1999/200035:26 Should investors slow down today or stay the course37:53 The biggest lesson  from his time at MyspaceI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Josh. 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.This week we are joined by Eric Tarczynski, Founder and Managing Partner of Contrary, a firm backed by founders of Tesla, Reddit, Facebook, Airbnb, and many more iconic companies. The firm acts as a full stack platform to identify and support entrepreneurs often before they are starting a company. Contrary has raised nearly $100MM across funds. In our discussion Eric and I covered their thesis on talent, how he was able to raise a first fund without the normal background LPs often look for, and how they use culture to attract top talent. First, a word from our sponsor:Allocate is the digital operating system for investors looking to build and manage world-class private portfolios within venture capital and other technology-focused private assets.Despite the enormous growth of the private markets and the rapid increase of retail demand for private alternatives, investing in the highest quality private assets within the innovation sector remains inaccessible and opaque.Go to allocate.co to apply to be an early-access member and join 500+ active Allocate users.About Eric Tarczynski:Eric Tarcynski is the Founder and Managing Partner of Contrary, a venture fund that identifies and invests in the world’s top talent. He took on $50,000 in debt to get Contrary off the ground, sleeping in the back seat of a rental car or on friends' couches. Prior to Contrary, Eric was a co-founder and operator at numerous startups. He got his undergrad degree at Northeastern.In this episode we discuss:01:11 Eric’s journey to tech and startups04:42 How Eric’s non-traditional background affected his first fundraise08:27 What happened in the two years between Fund I and Fund II that got his from a sub-$10MM fund to a $75MM fund11:09 Concrete factors that LPs weighed when investing in Contrary14:01 Why Contrary avoided “logo hunting”16:11 Contrary’s unique thesis and why their model is the endgame for going earlier in the investing process19:00 Why Contrary has such a high NPS21:09 How Contrary invests in individuals “pre-company”24:10 The software platform that Contrary is building to help identify founders26:44 Building a platform without a lot of carry28:46 What Eric’s schedule looks like as an emerging manager30:57 Aspects of VC that Eric underestimated34:04 The advice he would give himself five years ago35:36 Would he have done anything differently?36:36 Why you do need some name brand consensus investments37:35 The best advice he gives to emerging managers39:48 The importance of persistence as a competitive advantageI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Eric. 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.This week we are joined by Rabia Iqbal and Jehan Chu of Nural Capital, which is a crypto-focused hybrid firm that invests in both crypto funds and companies. Before starting Nural, Rabia spent time at Coatue and Mubadala, while Jehan is also a partner at blockchain-focused Kenetic Capital and has been one of the early pioneers within the crypto space.Given the dynamic and evolving world of crypto, we had a great conversation on unpacking all angles on crypto including the current winter we are in, the role of governance, and insights on where crypto may go from here.First, a word from our sponsor:Allocate is the digital operating system for investors looking to build and manage world-class private portfolios within venture capital and other technology-focused private assets.Despite the enormous growth of the private markets and the rapid increase of retail demand for private alternatives, investing in the highest quality private assets within the innovation sector remains inaccessible and opaque.Go to allocate.co to apply to be an early-access member and join 500+ active Allocate users.About Rabia Iqbal:Rabia Iqbal is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Nural Capital. She started her career at Morgan Stanley, she had a stop at Coatue Management before joining Mubadala, a sovereign wealth fund. She co-founded Nural in 2021. Rabia got her bachelor’s degree from Cornell.About Jehan Chu:Jehan Chu is the Co-Founder of Nural Capital. He also is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Kenetic, a Blockchain platform focused on technology, advisory, asset management, and community. Jehan has been active in the Blockchain community since 2014, when he founded the Hong Kong Blockchain Meetup and the Bitcoin Association of Hong Kong. His experience prior to that was in the art world on the auction-side at Sotheby’s and the acquisition side at Vermillion Art Collections.In this episode we discuss:01:20 How and why Nural Capital was formed05:30 Jehan’s background in Crypto08:58 How this current Crypto Winter is similar and different to ones in the past13:00 Will Crypto be a correlated or non-correlated asset moving forward15:42 Lessons we can take from the high-profile problems in Crypto20:04 How governance and regulation is evolving in Crypto and what is needed25:12 Areas where web3 excels over web 2.028:20 Differences between the early web and where Crypto is today33:23 Who is currently investing in the Crypto space37:46 What does it truly mean to be differentiated in the Crypto market42:20 Areas in the Crypto space where Nural is most bullishI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Rabia and Jehan. 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.This week brings us Mark Mullen, Co-Founding partner of LA-based seed firm Bonfire Ventures.Bonfire is based in Santa Monica and manages three Venture Capital funds with over $400MM in AUM. Mark spent 20 years as an I-banker before focusing on startup investing in 2012 with Double M capital. Mark has also been an active LP, investing in over 20 managers over the years. On the show, we talked about how he and Jim Andelman (formerly Rincon) decided to join forces to start Bonfire after each running their own VC firms. We also spoke about things like what he looks for in a great manager, his view on the seed market today, and what helped him gain so much early success as a fund manager when he was just getting started.First, a word from our sponsor:Allocate is the digital operating system for investors looking to build and manage world-class private portfolios within venture capital and other technology-focused private assets.Despite the enormous growth of the private markets and the rapid increase of retail demand for private alternatives, investing in the highest quality private assets within the innovation sector remains inaccessible and opaque.Go to allocate.co to apply to be an early-access member and join 500+ active Allocate users.About Mark MullenMark is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Bonfire Ventures. He is also the Founder of the early-stage firm Double M Partners.Prior to his investing career, Mark spent the first 20 years of his career as a telco, cable, and tech M&A investment banker working for Bill Daniels, often referred to as the father of cable TV in the US. He also served as COO of the City of Los Angeles and Senior Advisor to then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.In this episode we discuss:01:12 Mark’s journey to starting Bonfire Ventures and partnering with Jim09:33 How Mark found early success getting into competitive deals12:12 The power of effective scouts17:28 His view on investing in emerging managers23:01 Balancing the Firm’s brand and the individual brands when it comes to building a reputation27:00 Why Mark and Jim decided to partner up and form Bonfire31:30 Why mergers of VC firms are challenging and why raising Fund II will be a huge challenge for emerging managers35:01 How were their conversations with LPs when raising Bonfire when he and Jim decided to join forces?38:40 The health of the seed market in 202242:43 The lesson Mark has taken as his true north in investingI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Mark. 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.This week we are joined by Ravi Viswanathan, Founder and Managing Partner of NewView Capital, a growth and secondaries focused fund founded in 2018 with over $2.2 billion under management. NVC invests in technology companies through both direct investments and curated portfolio acquisitions, pairing funding with significant operational support. Focusing primarily on growth-stage companies, the NVC portfolio includes Plaid, Duolingo, Forter, Hims & Hers, MessageBird, and Scopely.Ravi brings a wealth of experience around growth and secondary markets to the conversation, and it was really fun to discuss both of those areas in detail, particularly in light of the change in the markets over the last year. First, a word from our sponsor:Allocate is the digital operating system for investors looking to build and manage world class private portfolios within venture capital and other technology focused private assets. Despite the enormous growth of the private markets and the rapid increase of retail demand for private alternatives, investing in the highest quality private assets within the innovation sector remains inaccessible and opaque.Go to allocate.co to apply to be a member and join 400+ active Allocate users. About Ravi Viswanathan:Ravi is an experienced company builder and dedicated partner to entrepreneurs and investors. In 2018, Ravi raised $1.35B to architect an innovative portfolio acquisition of 31 companies from NEA to found NewView Capital (NVC).Prior to founding NVC, Ravi was a General Partner at NEA, where he oversaw investment in enterprise software and fintech companies and co-led the firm’s Technology Venture Growth Equity effort. His investments of note include Braintree (acquired by PayPal), MuleSoft (acquired by Salesforce), GlobalLogic (acquired by Apax Partners), TeleAtlas (Euronext: TA, acquired by TomTom), Cyence (acquired by Guidewire), Acquia (acquired by Vista Equity Partners), Scout (acquired by Workday), Plaid, and Forter. Ravi spent several years at Goldman Sachs in the Private Equity Technology Practice before joining NEA. He began his career in consulting at McKinsey & Co and as a scientist at Raychem Corporation.Ravi holds an MBA from Wharton, a PhD in Chemical Engineering from University of California Santa Barbara, and a BS in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the Chair of the Wharton Entrepreneurship Advisory Board.In this episode we discuss:01:29 How the 2022 downturn compares to 2000 and 200803:20 The effect of market conditions on growth investing06:51 Why VCs keep making the same mistakes in bull markets and factors that lead to the most recent one09:22 What led to the launch of NVC in 201813:24 How Ravi sold the unique structure of NVC to founders and LPs15:55 Team building through the transition into NVC18:51 How Ravi managed communication around his conviction to close20:45 Navigating different LP considerations when putting together NVC23:38 What the next 6-12 months will look like in the venture markets28:06 State of the secondary markets in 202232:15 The stigma of selling positions early as managers and LPs35:50 The types of firms that are well-positioned for success in the current marketI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Ravi. 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.On this week’s show, we are excited to be joined by Gaurav Jain, Co-Founder of Afore Capital, one of the largest pre-seed funds in the US with nearly $300MM in AUM across 3 funds. Afore says that no investment is "too early,” and very often investing in companies that are pre-product. We had a great conversation covering pre-seed investing, whether the current market should affect portfolio construction, and how they are able to execute on so many initiatives without the benefit of a large team. About Gaurav Jain:Before co-founding Afore in 2016 with Anamitra Banerji (formerly at Foundation Capital), Gaurav was a principal at one of the top-seed firms in the world in Founder Collective and prior to his investing career, he was an early Product Manager for Android Google and was a co-founder of Polar Mobile.In this episode we discuss:00:58 The inspiration for starting Afore 04:05 What is the difference between pre-seed and seed stage investments06:32 How Afore underwrites risk at the earliest stages of development10:19 The type of founders that Afore is most excited about13:03 Why storytelling is so important at the early stages of companies17:38 Why the market conditions haven’t changed Afore’s portfolio construction23:18 How they think about follow-ons and insider bridges26:58 How Afore has productized its offer with Afore Alpha31:40 How the Afore platform and community works36:48 What Gaurav’s day-to-day schedule looks like42:50 The lessons Gaurav has learned from his anti-portfolioI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Gaurav. 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.On today’s show, we have Shawn Merani, Founder and Managing Partner at seed-stage focused Parade Ventures which recently closed a $40MM+ oversubscribed Fund II. In this episode, we talk about the basics of LP relationship building, founder support during tough times, and his view on larger VC’s invested in seed.About Shawn Merani:Shawn Merani is the Founder and Managing Partner of Parade Ventures, a pre-seed & seed stage-focused venture capital firm.Previously, Shawn was a co-founder and partner at Flight Ventures, investing in early-stage software, internet, and mobile companies across a variety of sectors. Shawn’s investments include Dollar Shave Club (acquired by Unilever), Sapho (acquired by Citrix), Moveworks, Trusted Health, Clubhouse, Side, Plastiq, Jumpcloud, amongst others.As an operator, Shawn was a founding partner of Liquidnet’s Private Shares marketplace, which enabled over 750 of the world’s leading asset managers to invest in high-growth, pre-IPO companies. He grew the marketplace to $150MM+ GMV in the first two years. Prior to Liquidnet, Shawn was Senior Director of Business Development at ReachLocal. Shawn has a BA in Economics and a BS in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley, as well as an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management.In this episode we discuss:01:04 Why Shawn decided to found Parade rather than joining an established firm07:09 What are red flags and signals of alignment when looking at early-stage founders10:10 How Shawn rises above FOMO when looking at deals12:44 The lessons he learned between Fund I and Fund II and why he was able to raise so much more16:10 How Shawn partners with LPs to build trust and relationships18:24 How Shawn sourced his LPs20:44 How Shawn approaches investing in this market22:25 Is there any difference in leading rounds in 2022 vs. 202124:59 When is it right for a company to press the gas in a downturn27:40 What the next few years look like in venture capital31:20 How large, later-stage firms getting into seed will affect the market33:35 Shawn’s biggest contrarian view about investing35:11 The biggest career lesson he’s learned36:46 The biggest misconception of seed investingI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Shawn. 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.On this week’s episode, we were thrilled to b joined by Jordan Nof, co-founder and managing partner of Tusk Venture Partners.Jordan co-founded the firm in 2015 along with Bradley Tusk to help founders build companies in areas that require regulatory navigation and expertise. The firm recently closed a $140MM Fund III, and it has previously invested in companies including Coinbase, MainStreet, Lemonade, and FanDuel. Jordan and I went deep into the evolution of Tusk, including moving from a multi-stage firm to an early-stage firm, how they’ve constructed their investment mentality, and his overall views on regulation, including within the Crypto Markets.About Jordan Nof:Jordan Nof is a Co-founder and Managing Partner at Tusk Venture Partners L.P. and is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. He has led many of the firm’s investments including Lemonade, Bird, Coinbase, Alma, Sunday, and Wheel. He currently serves on the board of directors of Alma, Sunday, and Wheel.Prior to Tusk Venture Partners, Jordan spent six years as a Director at Blackstone, where he focused on the development of the firm’s corporate venture capital portfolio. During that time, Jordan focused on investing in early-stage technology companies that could accelerate operations across Blackstone and the firm’s underlying portfolio companies.Before joining Blackstone, Jordan spent four years in the institutional investment management division at Alliance Bernstein. During that time, he worked with many of the firm’s largest global institutional sub-advisory relationships.Jordan received an M.B.A. from Rollins Graduate School of Business and graduated from Florida State University where he received a B.S. in Finance. He is based out of the firm’s New York office.In this episode we discuss:01:09 Why Jordan and Bradley decided to start Tusk Venture Partners05:36 How Tusk supports founders through complex regulatory environments09:10 Transitioning from a multi-stage thesis to an early-stage thesis11:23 Why they decided to lead rounds and how they built conviction with founders16:09 How the current market landscape has affected Tusk’s investing strategy21:01 Tusk’s reserve strategy and advice they are giving to portfolio companies to combat the changed capital environment25:41 How Jordan spends his time between fundraising, working with existing portfolio companies, and finding new ones30:38 Where Crypto/Web3 is today and where regulation fits into its future36:16 How regulation is a validation of a market position39:18 The biggest career lesson he’s learnedI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Jordan. 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.For full disclosure, Tusk is also an investor in the company I co-founded, Allocate.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.I’m excited to bring my conversation with Wesley Chan, founder and managing partner of his new fund FPV Ventures, which recently closed an oversubscribed $450M Fund 1. Wes brings a very unique lens to investing as he closely worked with the founders of Google (where founded Google Voice and Google Analytics), and went on to co-found GV before he joined Felicis Ventures. During his 13 year venture career, he has backed 20 unicorns and 5 decacorns, including Canva, Flexport, Guild Education, RobinHood, AngelList, Plaid, and Ring.During our discussion, we spoke about how he’s been able to have such a hit rate in his investing career, what being founder-friendly really means, and his time working with people like Sergey and Larry at Google as well as what he learned from Bill Campell. I really hope you enjoy our chat.About Wesley Chan:Wesley Chan is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at FPV Ventures, a $450M early-stage fund that backs and serves mission-driven founders. He is an investor in five $10B+ "decacorns," his most notable being Canva where he is a member of the board of directors, led the Series A and C rounds, and is worth north of $40B. He founded Google Analytics and Google Voice and holds 17 US patents for his work in creating Google AdWords.Among Wesley's 20+ unicorn investments, he wrote the first or very early check into fintech API decacorn Plaid, logistics powerhouse Flexport, SMB payroll leader Gusto, enterprise software unicorn Lucid, and stock trading platform RobinHood (NASDAQ: HOOD)—and led investments in Canva, AngelList, Carta, Guild Education, Sourcegraph, Dialpad, RocketLawyer, Orca Bio, Checkr, CultureAmp, HyperScience, Zipline, Astranis, TrialSpark, and Ring (exit to AMZN). Business Insider named Wesley to their Top 100 Seed Investors list for two consecutive years in 2022 & 2021.He was formerly a Managing Director at Felicis Ventures and one of the first General Partners at GV (Google Ventures). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT and completed his Master’s degree at the MIT Media Lab.In this episode we discuss:01:22 Wesley’s path to becoming a VC05:03 The start of GV, and the early days05:59 How we got to current market conditions06:57 Why Wesley doesn’t have a thesis driven approach09:12 What he saw in the founders of Canva to give him conviction even when other investors would not invest12:46 How FOMO and being incremental are so detrimental in being a VC17:01 What is it about Wesley’s mindset that allows him to consistently be non-consensus20:48 Why $450M was the right fund size for FPV23:26 The ethos for FPV and how Wesley and his partner in FPV, Pegah Ebrahimi, decided to work together26:40 Why you don’t always need to be on a board to be helpful27:28 What founders really need from investors28:43 How FPV thinks about differentiating itself from bigger firms31:40 The impact of Bill Campbell on Google and also how he impacted Wesley’s style as an investor34:36 Where the market is right now and what the next few years look like I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Wesley. 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