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 our conversation with Jessica Peltz-Zatulove and Kate Beardsley, co-founders of Hannah Grey VC. Backed by firms such as Twitter, JP Morgan, Screendoor, Insight Partners, etc. the firm recently announced it’s oversubscribed $52MM seed fund and (13 investments made to date). Jessica and Kate have backgrounds in entrepreneurship, branding, and strategy, and bring their wealth of experiences to this week’s episode.About Jessica Peltz-Zatulove:Jessica Peltz-Zatulove is a Founding Partner at Hannah Grey.Prior to founding Hannah Grey, Jessica was Senior Managing Partner at MDC Ventures, leading investments in companies including Netomi, Gradient.io (acquired by Criteo), Veritonic, Indicative (acquired by mParticle), Catch & Release, Perksy, and Mezzobit (acquired by OpenX). Before she was a VC, Jessica specialized in connecting marketers with tech at innovation consultancy Evol8tion and at Zenith Media.Jessica also leads a NYC’s Women in VC group and created the Global directory for Women in VC, which now includes 3,800+ women investors spanning 2,400+ venture funds across 200+ cities and 60+ countries.About Kate Beardsley:Kate started her career as director of special projects for Martha Stewart Living, reporting directly to Martha Stewart. She went on to become Chief of Staff to Ken Lerer at the Huffington Post, and joined him to co-found Lerer Hippeau, a NYC-based fund focused on early-stage companies.In 2014, Kate joined Upslope Ventures as Managing Partner which took her from NYC to Denver. She is active with the Rocky Mountain Venture Capital Association and the Rockies Venture Club.Episode Summary:01:26 Why did they start Hannah Grey, and what were the key components they knew were necessary for them?08:21 What exactly is their product outside of capital? 13:36 Thinking through LP discovery and composition20:11 Learnings from raising a fund, including the difference between raising from institutional investors and non-institutional investors30:51 What internal KPI’s they track for the firm 35:26 The future of service-oriented venture38:44 The ‘Hannah Grey’ Experience when supporting founders. 43:25 Recommendations for emerging managers46:46 Cultivating a community of female investorsMentioned in this episodeHannah GreyI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Jessica and Kate. 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.We have a great conversation on top this week with Jeff Richards, Managing Partner at GGV Capital. Founded in 2000, GGV manages nearly $10B in AUM and invests across stages in both the US and Asia, and has invested in companies such as AirBnB, Wish, Opendoor, and Grab. This was a great conversation as Jeff has been both on the founder and investor side, and has spent the last 14 years at GGV where he’s had a front-row seat to the incredible evolution of the firm to what it is today. He provided us with some great thoughts on the markets today, the challenges of growing a firm, and how the current geopolitical tensions may affect international investing. About Jeff Richards:Jeff focuses on enterprise/cloud and marketplace investments, and led GGV’s investments in Appirio (acq by Wipro), Belong, BigCommerce (NASDAQ: BIGC), BlueKai (acq by Oracle), Boxed, Brightwheel, Buddy Media (acq by Salesforce), Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), Electric.ai, Evolv OnDemand (acq by Cornerstone), Gladly, Handshake, HotelTonight (acq by Airbnb), Lambda School, Mindee, Namely, People.ai, PlushCare/Accolade (NASDAQ: ACCD), Slice, Tala, Tile, Vic.ai, Workboard, and Zylo.Prior to joining GGV, Jeff founded two software companies: R4, a supply chain SaaS business acquired by VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), and QuantumShift, a telecom software business backed by Texas Pacific Group (TPG). Earlier in his career, Jeff worked in Asia and Latin America with PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He graduated from Dartmouth College.Our sponsor:At Brex, we build financial software and services to help startups scale faster. We understand that founders need to focus on building, not banking. So we’ve reimagined traditional financial systems to enable greater speed and productivity — no matter where founders and their teams are working.We offer a smart corporate card, business account, and mobile app that are easy to use from day one. No manuals needed here. Within minutes, you can deposit funds, send free wires and ACH worldwide, separate investor funds from operating expenses, earn great rewards, automate expenses, and more. Everything we do at Brex is to help founders spend less time managing expenses and reporting on your runway — and more time building your business.Get started at brex.com/ventureIn this episode we discuss:02:06 Jeff’s journey into venture capital08:30 What it took to scale GGV to what it is today14:32 How they had to shift internal mindset as they scaled fund sizes20:55 How the current market compares to previous cycles27:33 The health of the current venture market and areas where Jeff sees growth potential33:46 Advice to investors looking to create a venture portfolio39:30 How the geopolitical climate is affecting investing both in the US and globally46:26 Why emerging markets are still a strong place to look for alpha in the current market48:11 The best piece of career advice he’s receivedI’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.This week we have Venture Unlocked’s first international manager with Danny Cohen from Israel-based Viola Ventures. Originally founded under the name Carmel Ventures in 2000, Viola currently has over $4B in total assets under management. It’s focused on early-stage companies in the fields of enterprise infrastructure and applications, frontier and deep technologies (automotive, IOT, AR/VR, drones), software, software as a service, financial technology, Internet, media, communications, semiconductors, and consumer electronics.Danny joined the firm as a GP in 2013 after 11 years at Gemini Ventures.It was great to have an insider’s perspective given how much growth we’ve seen in the Israeli ecosystem over the last five years—which includes a 6X growth in funding of startups!About Daniel Cohen:Daniel Cohen is a General Partner at Viola Ventures. He has been at the fund since 2013 and invested in everything B2C, including Consumer Internet, e-Commerce, DTC, Games, and Digital Media.He currently serves on the board of EX.CO, Puls, Splacer, Deep, Lightricks, Maapilim, and Ruti He was also on the board of Tapingo (acquired by Grubhub for $150M) and Origami Logic (acquired by Intuit).In the past 15+ years worked closely with many of the best Israeli startups and personally lead investments in companies like Playbuzz, Puls, Lightricks, Tapingo, Adap.tv, Outbrain, Watchdox, Eyeview, Minute Media, and others.Prior to Viola, Daniel was GP at Gemini Israel Ventures. He did his undergrad at Tel Aviv University and got his MBA from INSEAD.Our sponsors:At Brex, we build financial software and services to help startups scale faster. We understand that founders need to focus on building, not banking. So we’ve reimagined traditional financial systems to enable greater speed and productivity — no matter where founders and their teams are working.We offer a smart corporate card, business account, and mobile app that are easy to use from day one. No manuals needed here. Within minutes, you can deposit funds, send free wires and ACH worldwide, separate investor funds from operating expenses, earn great rewards, automate expenses, and more. Everything we do at Brex is to help founders spend less time managing expenses and reporting on your runway — and more time building your business.Get started at brex.com/ventureSydecar is on a mission to enable anyone to be a capital allocator by creating tools built specifically for today’s venture investor. Their powerful software removes the headache of organizing private investments — so that you can focus on making deals, not spreadsheets.Whether you’re syndicating your first or fiftieth deal, Sydecar acts as your silent operating partner, handling all back office functions in a single place. Sydecar always has your back, so that you never have to worry about chasing subscription docs, lost wires, or late K-1s.Visit our website to learn more and join the waitlist for Sydecar’s limited beta. In this episode we discuss:03:14 Danny's journey to becoming a full-time investor06:11 What is driving the growth in Israeli startups?10:44 Why Danny spends his time focusing on early-stage investments and how he finds edge in getting deals12:27 The Viola advantage in helping founders16:18 What Viola does to maintain synergy through their many distinct fund products17:44 Challenges around branching out into different sectors and stages21:22 Inflection points in Viola’s growth23:52 How Viola has handled generational change and fostered a growth culture25:29 The importance of transparency within the partnership28:38 What makes a good Venture Capital firm?31:13 The importance of power law in returns and what makes a great team and a great market33:11 Why picking companies has the edge over deal sourcing and winning when building a firm35:31 The most impactful career advice he’s receivedI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Danny. 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 I’m thrilled to bring you my conversation with Alexis Ohanian, founder of stage-agnostic firm Seven Seven Six, which was founded in 2020 and has over $750MM in AUM today. Many know Alexis from his experience as co-founding both Reddit and later Initialized Capital. There are so many interesting components of the firm’s model, including their Cerebro platform, which is the in-house technology they use to drive values to founders and limited partners. They are also exploring the intersection of VC and social media, launching their Titan Program to help those with strong platforms become investors.Alexis and Seven Seven Six have also been at the forefront of investing in underrepresented entrepreneurs and communities with their Seven Seven Six Foundation and other initiatives.About Alexis Ohanian:Alexis is an investor and founder. He has invested in ten decacorns and 25 unicorns, including Coinbase, Gusto, Hubspot, Patreon, and Deel. He was a member of the initial cohort at YC with his startup Reddit, and he co-founded Initialized Capital with Garry Tan. He’s the founder of the Seven Seven Six Foundation and is a proud father.Our sponsors:At Brex, we build financial software and services to help startups scale faster. We understand that founders need to focus on building, not banking. So we’ve reimagined traditional financial systems to enable greater speed and productivity — no matter where founders and their teams are working.We offer a smart corporate card, business account, and mobile app that are easy to use from day one. No manuals needed here. Within minutes, you can deposit funds, send free wires and ACH worldwide, separate investor funds from operating expenses, earn great rewards, automate expenses, and more. Everything we do at Brex is to help founders spend less time managing expenses and reporting on your runway — and more time building your business.Get started at brex.com/ventureSydecar is on a mission to enable anyone to be a capital allocator by creating tools built specifically for today’s venture investor. Their powerful software removes the headache of organizing private investments — so that you can focus on making deals, not spreadsheets.Whether you’re syndicating your first or fiftieth deal, Sydecar acts as your silent operating partner, handling all back office functions in a single place. Sydecar always has your back, so that you never have to worry about chasing subscription docs, lost wires, or late K-1s.Visit our website to learn more and join the waitlist for Sydecar’s limited beta. In this episode we discuss:03:36 Why Alexis still lists being a waiter at Pizza Hut on his LinkedIn07:52 Why being customer-focused and EQ is so important in business09:28 Lessons Alexis has learned as a VC and why he decided to start Seven Seven Six16:52 How technology works as an edge to Seven Seven Six’s investing26:13 What founders really want from VC’s today, and why the venture landscape has complete shifted30:42 What the early focus has been at Seven Seven Six33:52 Their focus on being intentional on the type of LPs they admit40:47 How Seven Seven Six’s Titan Program is an alternative to scouts, and represents the new era of investing48:41 The power of ownership and investors having a voice and following on Social Media51:35 The best advice he’s ever received in his careerI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Alexis. 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 I’m happy to bring you my conversation with Drew Oetting, founding partner of 8VC, an Austin/SF/NY-based firm that he co-founded in 2015. Today the firm has >$3B in AUM, and has invested in companies such as Blend Labs, Addepar, Flexport, Oscar, and Hims. About Drew Oetting:Drew is a founding partner of 8VC. He focuses on investments across various stages and sectors including vertical software, health delivery, and biomanufacturing.He is also a founding Board Director of Affinity Technologies, an early-stage enterprise software company. Previously he was a partner at Formation 8. Drew also served as chief of staff to Joe Lonsdale prior to starting his investing career.Drew serves on the Competitiveness Council for Cerberus Capital Management. He is also a Trustee to LivingOnOne, a non-profit impact production studio; WeAreThorn, an NGO which leverages technology to eliminate child trafficking; and the Claremont McKenna College Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.Our sponsors:At Brex, we build financial software and services to help startups scale faster. We understand that founders need to focus on building, not banking. So we’ve reimagined traditional financial systems to enable greater speed and productivity — no matter where founders and their teams are working.We offer a smart corporate card, business account, and mobile app that are easy to use from day one. No manuals needed here. Within minutes, you can deposit funds, send free wires and ACH worldwide, separate investor funds from operating expenses, earn great rewards, automate expenses, and more. Everything we do at Brex is to help founders spend less time managing expenses and reporting on your runway — and more time building your business.Get started at brex.com/ventureSydecar is on a mission to enable anyone to be a capital allocator by creating tools built specifically for today’s venture investor. Their powerful software removes the headache of organizing private investments — so that you can focus on making deals, not spreadsheets.Whether you’re syndicating your first or fiftieth deal, Sydecar acts as your silent operating partner, handling all back office functions in a single place. Sydecar always has your back, so that you never have to worry about chasing subscription docs, lost wires, or late K-1s.Visit our website to learn more and join the waitlist for Sydecar’s limited beta. In this episode we discuss:03:06 Drew’s journey to becoming an investor and joining 8VC 07:49 Early days at Formation 8 Partners11:13 Why 8VC split off to focus on early-stage investing17:23 Creating a true partnership where everyone has an authentic voice21:54 How 8VC builds a team first culture28:11 Acquiring and retaining talent - What firms need do.33:05 The difficulty of competing today39:04 Ingredients necessary for firms to have to consistently win deals in 202243:51 The most impactful piece of investing advice he’s receivedI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Drew. 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 Geoff Lewis, Co-Founder and Managing partner of Bedrock Capital. Many in the industry know Geoff and Bedrock for their investing in non-consensus companies and founders, and in particular, for popularizing the notion of investing in narrative violations.Founded in 2018 with Eric Stromberg, Bedrock has $1B+ in AUM. Their portfolio companies include Cameo, Plaid, Flock Safety, among others.About Geoff Lewis:Geoff was named as one of the Top 100 Venture Capitalists in the world by CB Insights and The New York Times.Before Bedrock, Geoff was a Partner at Founders Fund for over five years. He was amongst the first to lead sizable early-stage venture rounds in companies including Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT), Wish, Privateer Holdings (NASDAQ: TLRY), Nubank, and RigUp. Geoff was also an operator as Co-Founder and CEO of Topguest, a loyalty software platform that counted United Airlines, Hilton Worldwide, and Virgin America as clients. Geoff received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada.Our sponsors:At Brex, we build financial software and services to help startups scale faster. We understand that founders need to focus on building, not banking. So we’ve reimagined traditional financial systems to enable greater speed and productivity — no matter where founders and their teams are working.We offer a smart corporate card, business account, and mobile app that are easy to use from day one. No manuals needed here. Within minutes, you can deposit funds, send free wires and ACH worldwide, separate investor funds from operating expenses, earn great rewards, automate expenses, and more. Everything we do at Brex is to help founders spend less time managing expenses and reporting on your runway — and more time building your business.Get started at brex.com/ventureSydecar is on a mission to enable anyone to be a capital allocator by creating tools built specifically for today’s venture investor. Their powerful software removes the headache of organizing private investments — so that you can focus on making deals, not spreadsheets.Whether you’re syndicating your first or fiftieth deal, Sydecar acts as your silent operating partner, handling all back office functions in a single place. Sydecar always has your back, so that you never have to worry about chasing subscription docs, lost wires, or late K-1s.Visit our website to learn more and join the waitlist for Sydecar’s limited beta. In this episode we discuss:03:29 What Geoff and Eric wanted to build when they founded Bedrock06:51 How they decided on working together09:17 How Geoff defines a narrative violation when investing in early-stage startups13:53 How to find companies that are narrative violations?17:10 How investment decisions are made internally at Bedrock21:36 How Geoff views LPs (Clients) and why an interpersonal fit is more important to him than other funds. 25:32 The factors that go into consistently winning deals as a firm29:02 How large players entering the earlier investment stages is affecting Bedrock and the market in general31:52 How healthy is the market right now?34:18 Advice to anyone looking to invest in VC funds today37:13 How the Bedrock playbook has evolved over the years39:26 Can overthinking deals create issues for firms?42:22 What Geoff has learned about firm building45:53 The most impactful piece of career advice he’s received46:35 The most under-estimated quality of a good VC47:47 The people that have inspired him in his careerI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Geoff. 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 I’m happy to share my conversation with David Cohen, Co-Founder and Chairman of Techstars, which along with YC has paved the path early-stage capital formation through the accelerator model.  Since its founding in 2006, TechStars has had 2600 companies graduate its programs and those companies have raised $16.5B in investments across all stages. In 2021 David stepped back from day-to-day operations to become Chairman.About David Cohen:David has been an entrepreneur and investor for his entire life. He has founded several companies and has invested in hundreds of startups such as Uber, Twilio, SendGrid, DigitalOcean, Pillpack, Classpass, Zipline, Scopely, Outreach, Remitly, SalesLoft, and DataRobot. In total, these investments have gone on to create more than $210B in value.Prior to Techstars, David was a co-founder of Pinpoint Technologies which was acquired by ZOLL Medical Corporation in 1999. He was also the founder and CEO of earFeeder, a music service that sold to SonicSwap. David is the co-author (with Brad Feld) of Do More Faster; Techstars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup.Our sponsors:At Brex, we build financial software and services to help startups scale faster. We understand that founders need to focus on building, not banking. So we’ve reimagined traditional financial systems to enable greater speed and productivity — no matter where founders and their teams are working.We offer a smart corporate card, business account, and mobile app that are easy to use from day one. No manuals needed here. Within minutes, you can deposit funds, send free wires and ACH worldwide, separate investor funds from operating expenses, earn great rewards, automate expenses, and more. Everything we do at Brex is to help founders spend less time managing expenses and reporting on your runway — and more time building your business.Get started at brex.com/ventureSydecar is on a mission to enable anyone to be a capital allocator by creating tools built specifically for today’s venture investor. Their powerful software removes the headache of organizing private investments — so that you can focus on making deals, not spreadsheets.Whether you’re syndicating your first or fiftieth deal, Sydecar acts as your silent operating partner, handling all back office functions in a single place. Sydecar always has your back, so that you never have to worry about chasing subscription docs, lost wires, or late K-1s.Visit our website to learn more and join the waitlist for Sydecar’s limited beta. In this episode we discuss:03:08 What led David to founding TechStars04:47 The 15-minute meeting that sparked TechStars and its initial vision06:05 The first cohort of TechStars and how it was funded07:57 How the first fundraise went and the journey of moving from high net-worth individuals to institutional LPs12:15 Portfolio construction advantages of larger portfolios 18:23 How TechStars was able to launch across geographies 21:48 Common characteristics of successful founders30:05 What type of people they key on for hires33:02 How TechStars has maintained its culture as it has scaled35:29 Advice for people looking to start their own fund39:34 How portfolio companies are emerging from the TechStars programs41:56 The view on VC today43:35 How startups should approach their raises today46:33 The advice David gives to the GPs he’s invested with49:54 The TechStars Foundation and who it servesI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with David. 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 I’m excited to bring you my conversation with Peter Barrett, Co-Founder and General Partner of Playground Global, a firm that has raised over $800MM to invest in deeply technical and transformative technologies. Founded in 2015, the firm has invested in companies like eero, Canvas Technologies, and Owl Labs, among many others.This week’s show was a bit of a departure from our normal episodes that are more focused on firm and fund management, as I was really excited to talk to Peter about new technologies and investing in these types of hard science companies. About Peter Barrett:Peter has been writing code since he was a teenager, and at 19, his first security program caught the attention of the NSA. He went on to create the first widely used video codec in the early-90s, he built the world’s most popular IPTV platform at Microsoft, worked on cloud intelligence for automotive at CloudCar, and now is pioneering quantum and optical computing, robotics, and artificial intelligence at Playground. He holds over 100 patents.Our sponsors:At Brex, we build financial software and services to help startups scale faster. We understand that founders need to focus on building, not banking. So we’ve reimagined traditional financial systems to enable greater speed and productivity — no matter where founders and their teams are working.We offer a smart corporate card, business account, and mobile app that are easy to use from day one. No manuals needed here. Within minutes, you can deposit funds, send free wires and ACH worldwide, separate investor funds from operating expenses, earn great rewards, automate expenses, and more. Everything we do at Brex is to help founders spend less time managing expenses and reporting on your runway — and more time building your business.Get started at brex.com/ventureSydecar is on a mission to enable anyone to be a capital allocator by creating tools built specifically for today’s venture investor. Their powerful software removes the headache of organizing private investments — so that you can focus on making deals, not spreadsheets.Whether you’re syndicating your first or fiftieth deal, Sydecar acts as your silent operating partner, handling all back-office functions in a single place. Sydecar always has your back, so that you never have to worry about chasing subscription docs, lost wires, or late K-1s.Visit our website to learn more and join the waitlist for Sydecar’s limited beta. In this episode we discuss:02:57 He Peter got his start and what lead him to become an investor03:52 Gaps he saw in the venture model that he wanted to address with his own firm05:48 How Peter thinks about mitigating risk when investing in hard science and deep tech startups09:02 How the pandemic has changed his due diligence process11:36 Initial check size versus follow-on in the deep tech space14:07 The difference between improbable and impossible and what makes a great company for Playground Global17:19 Common traits amongst successful deep tech founders19:37 How Peter uses his deep technical knowledge as an asset for his founders22:20 The argument that the computing revolution and the industrial revolutions still haven’t happened25:37 Limiters that are inhibiting true science innovation in startups28:24 Area to invest in where capital will be most transformational31:44 The definition of meaningful AI35:58 Finding and working with LPs that are comfortable investing in the deep tech space37:54 How Covid changed his deal-flow and why more investors are looking for meaningful transformation in technology40:03 The most transformative career advice Peter has receivedI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Peter. 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 I’m excited to bring you my conversation with Eurie Kim of Forerunner Ventures, which without a doubt is one of the world's top VC firms formed over the last decade. Forerunner invests in entrepreneurs who are redefining culture and consumer experiences in today’s digital world and has invested in companies such as Jet, Birchbox, Warby Parker, and Curology. It currently has over $2B in AUM, and they recently closed a $1B fund. This was such a treat for me as I’ve known the Forerunner team since their launch of Fund 1, and it was fun to go back in time to relive the evolution of Forerunner. About Eurie Kim:Eurie joined Forerunner Ventures in 2012 and has invested in a wide array of lifestyle and health-focused companies. She sits on the Boards of Oura, The Farmer’s Dog, Curology, Attabotics, Eclipse, and Juni, among others, and was featured on the Forbes Midas Brink List in 2020. Eurie is also a founding member of the female mentorship collective, All Raise, and champions women in the technology industry.Prior to joining Forerunner, Eurie founded MAVN, a luxury accessories brand, and worked with Bain & Company. She got her MBA at Wharton and her undergrad at Berkeley.Our sponsors:At Brex, we build financial software and services to help startups scale faster. We understand that founders need to focus on building, not banking. So we’ve reimagined traditional financial systems to enable greater speed and productivity — no matter where founders and their teams are working.We offer a smart corporate card, business account, and mobile app that are easy to use from day one. No manuals needed here. Within minutes, you can deposit funds, send free wires and ACH worldwide, separate investor funds from operating expenses, earn great rewards, automate expenses, and more. Everything we do at Brex is to help founders spend less time managing expenses and reporting on your runway — and more time building your business.Get started at brex.com/ventureWhy does signing up for Robinhood take 2 minutes but investing in private funds takes hours? Meet Passthrough. The subscription document process is a nightmare. Investors receive 100-200 question questionnaires, answer the wrong questions, miss ones they're supposed to answer, and spend hours on revisions.How can you effectively manage your raise when you don't know where your investors stand?Passthrough takes any subscription document and builds a custom workflow so that your investors only see the questions that matter to them, shrinking the time to completion to minutes instead of hours. 80% of investors don't even require revisions. Plus, you can see where your investors are and coordinate them, your law firm, and fund admin to close capital quicker.At Allocate, we have used Passthrough for our various funds, which has significantly increased the efficiency of our closings while providing our investors with a delightful user experience.Go to passthrough.com/samir to learn more about how to simplify fund closing.In this episode we discuss:03:01 The creation of Forerunner and why she jumped into venture capital full-time06:45 How she saw the obvious opportunity in dommerce when most investors were still skeptical 11:04 Overcoming early objections from LPs when raising early funds21:32 Hiring the initial team and firm building28:48 The most effective tactic for building a cohesive culture of success33:51 Why deal attribution can be a hindrance to firm growth37:22 Looking back at the inflection points that changed Forerunner42:03 How the last few years have changed the market47:46 Advice for smaller fund managers competing at early stages50:55 Why having a strong, but nimble point of view is so important in investing 52:48 The most impactful career advice she’s receivedI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Eurie. 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 I’m delighted to bring you my conversation with Packy McCormick, founder of Not Boring, a biweekly newsletter that now has over 100K subscribers and covers tech, strategy, finance, economics, and everything in between. In July 2021, Packy launched the Not Boring Capital which closed at just under $10MM and has invested in over 50 companies. Packy also started the Not Boring Club, a social and “extracurricular” community for like-minded individuals, and he also serves as a Web3 advisor for Andreessen Horowitz.About Packy McCormickPacky McCormick started his career in Investment Banking at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, which lead him to Breather, an on-demand network of over 80 beautiful meeting spaces in New York City. In April of 2020, he started writing Not Boring, and his analysis, insight, and wit quickly grew to be one of the most-read newsletters in the startup and web3 space. He has been a big proponent in DAOs and has recently been helping to raise awareness and orchestrate how crypto investors can help the Ukrainian cause. Packy did his undergrad at Duke University.Our sponsors:At Brex, we build financial software and services to help startups scale faster. We understand that founders need to focus on building, not banking. So we’ve reimagined traditional financial systems to enable greater speed and productivity — no matter where founders and their teams are working.We offer a smart corporate card, business account, and mobile app that are easy to use from day one. No manuals needed here. Within minutes, you can deposit funds, send free wires and ACH worldwide, separate investor funds from operating expenses, earn great rewards, automate expenses, and more. Everything we do at Brex is to help founders spend less time managing expenses and reporting on your runway — and more time building your business.Get started at brex.com/ventureWhy does signing up for Robinhood take 2 minutes but investing in private funds takes hours? Meet Passthrough. The subscription document process is a nightmare. Investors receive 100-200 question questionnaires, answer the wrong questions, miss ones they're supposed to answer, and spend hours on revisions.How can you effectively manage your raise when you don't know where your investors stand?Passthrough takes any subscription document and builds a custom workflow so that your investors only see the questions that matter to them, shrinking the time to completion to minutes instead of hours. 80% of investors don't even require revisions. Plus, you can see where your investors are and coordinate them, your law firm, and fund admin to close capital quicker.At Allocate, we have used Passthrough for our various funds, which has significantly increased the efficiency of our closings while providing our investors with a delightful user experience.Go to passthrough.com/samir to learn more about how to simplify fund closing.In this episode we discuss:02:44 Why Packy started the Not Boring newsletter07:17 Is investing a side hustle or a full-time commitment for smaller solo-GPs?09;13 How writing helps his investing12:28 Why it’s hard to understand and underwrite to exponential growth14:34 How he creates personal scale to be able to help 50+ portfolio companies17:11 Managing top of the funnel deal-flow20:02 The non-obvious trends that get him excited in web322:17 How can firms should think about de-commoditizing themselves27:27 Sizing your firm correctly and narrowing your focus29:33 Deciding when you need to change swim lanes as an investor31:11 Not Boring’s portfolio construction theory34:03 How the market continues to evolve so dynamically, and the opportunities for solo-capitalists36:45 Why do later-stage investing as a solo capitalist41:05 The speed of growth in modern startups43:58 Packy’s view on LPs50:38 The best piece of career advice he’s receivedI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Packy. 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