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 friend-of-the-pod Guy Perelmuter, founder of GRIDS Capital, a firm based in Sao Paulo, Brazil that invests in deep tech focused venture funds and startups.  GRIDS, whose tagline is “Science is our Business. Business is our Science” has invested in funds such as Lux Capital and Root Ventures as well as directs into Desktop Metal, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Instrumental, Matterport, Esper, and Momentus Space.About Guy Perelmuter:Guy began his career in Banking as Chief Risk Officer at Banco Pactual (acquired by UBS), one of the largest banks in Latin America. He went to Vinci Partners, an investing platform for alternative investments in 2009 as Chief Risk Officer. He and his partner, Isabelle, Co-Founded GRIDS Capital in 2016.Guy made a memorable appearance on Venture Unlocked with the LP round table discussion and he is the author of the acclaimed book "Present Future: Business, Science and the Deep Tech Revolution.” Guy got a BS in Computer Engineering and an MS in AI from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro.A word from our sponsor:Why 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:02:25 Guy’s path into investing in Deep Tech08:39 What is Deep Tech and why other investors have historically avoided investing in it12:12 Risk mitigation strategies Guy uses to help decide to invest into early Deep Tech startups17:53 What makes a fund manager a good Deep Tech investor?20:30 How GRIDS thinks about competitive moats and winning deals24:46 What’s more important in a fund manager, track record or technical chops?30:00 How Guy is focusing on growing as an LP and how he adds value to his GPs36:56 Why today’s market is “extraordinary” and his case for both a bull and bear view44:10 How new investors in the venture capital market can mitigate risk and capture upside in today’s market50:37 The best career advice he’s ever receivedI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Guy. 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 byAgent 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 Elizabeth Weil of seed-focused Scribble Ventures.Elizabeth and her Scribble VC partners, Annie and Kevin, raised an oversubscribed $50M Fund I, all during the COVID Pandemic. Before starting the firm, she previously invested as an angel into companies such as Postmates, SpaceX, Mainstreet, Clubhouse, and Figma.About Elizabeth WeilElizabeth is a relationship-driven fund manager and technology investor, startup advisor, and entrepreneur. She has built a reputation for accelerating growth by tirelessly helping her investments with introductions and advice around company culture and employee experience.Previously she was a Managing Director at 137 Ventures, a Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and an executive at Twitter during a period of hypergrowth as it scaled from 50 to 3000 people. Elizabeth has invested in more than 60 technology companies across all stages, including Slack, Whatnot, SpaceX, Coinbase, Clubhouse, Gusto, Digits, Envoy, Grab, Daily.co, Hipcamp, Titan, and Calm.Elizabeth graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Economics and a Masters in Engineering. She is also an entrepreneur having started Paperwheel (paperwheel.com), a design and letterpress company.A word from our sponsor:Why 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:01:48 What launched Elizabeth into the world of venture capital04:21 The lessons from being an operator and early investing that led to Scribble10:50 Why Elizabeth views herself as a hybrid between a super-angel and an institutional investor14:07 How Scribble scales internally to help its founders16:37 Working with founders in sprints on specific needs18:41 How Scribble gets into competitive deals22:04 Strategies around consensus versus non-consensus investment decision making24:48 Best practices around conviction based investing29:01 Building a healthy culture of effective risk-taking 31:36 How her first fundraise went and lessons learned36:59 The difference between pitching institutional investors versus high net-worth individuals40:01 The most impactful investing advice she has receivedI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Elizabeth. 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 Rebecca Kaden, General Partner at Union Square Ventures, who are with a doubt one of the very best venture firms in the world having backed companies such as Stripe, Twitter, Etsy, LendingClub, and Coinbase.The firm is also very thesis and mission-driven, including investing in the future by addressing issues like the climate crisis. It was founded in 2003 by Fred Wilson and Brad Burnham and currently has $1.9B in AUM.About Rebecca Kaden:Rebecca Kaden is a managing partner at Union Square Ventures. She began her career as a journalist and prior to USV was a General Partner at Maveron, a consumer-focused early-stage fund. She studied English and American Literature at Harvard and received her MBA from Stanford.A word from our sponsor:Invest in innovation. Allocate is a digital platform that enables investors of all types to invest and manage private alternatives within the technology sector.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.With Allocate, wealth advisors, banks, family offices, and other qualified investors can have a streamlined way to responsibly invest in the highest quality technology centered private alternatives.Go to allocate.co to find out more and please sign up to the waitlist to learn more and get early access to the platform.In this episode we discuss:01:13 Rebecca’s journey to becoming a full-time investor from journalism04:15 The skillsets that most translated from journalism to VC06:08 The things she was most looking for when joining a VC firm. 08:45 Construction a true venture investment thesis12:45 What thesis-driven investing means in practice, and the application for it when evaluating companies. 15:12 The primary benefits of having a defined thesis (but also why it must evolve)18:55 How USV thinks about fund size in today’s market22:09 Why adjusting fund size significantly upward was something they decided against25:47 Why USV has decided to avoid the run faster, chase more mentality in today’s market27:49 Why risk management is a critical, but underrated part of VC. 30:03 The adjustments that USV has made in response to the market climate in the last few years33:19 What she thinks has made USV such a great firm over the last two decades36:07 How Rebecca thinks about generational succession, and how to get it right39:02 How USV avoids a deferential culture and how new partners find their voices42:17 the most transformational career advice Rebecca has receivedI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Rebecca. 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 thrilled to bring you my conversation with Brianne Kimmel, founder and managing partner of Worklife Ventures, a San Francisco-based firm that invests in seed-stage companies focused on the future of work. Worklife started in 2019 with a $5M fund (which included 7 unicorns), and is now investing out of Fund II. One interesting point about the fund is that she intentionally was very strategic about building an LP base and has LPs that include Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, Matt Mazzeo, Alexis Ohanian, Garry Tan, and others.About Brianne Kimmel:Business Insider recently named Brianne a top angel investor that every startup should know alongside Ellen Pao and Cyan Bannister.She previously worked on the go-to-market team at Zendesk focused on self-serve growth, technology integrations and built Zendesk for Startups.Started with SaaS when she was Head of Social Media at Expedia leading paid acquisition, customer support, and community.Brianne runs an invite-only program called SaaS School for startup founders to learn from the fastest-growing companies like Airtable, Drift, Dropbox, Slack, and more. A word from our sponsor:Invest in innovation. Allocate is a digital platform that enables investors of all types to invest and manage private alternatives within the technology sector.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.With Allocate, wealth advisors, banks, family offices, and other qualified investors can have a streamlined way to responsibly invest in the highest quality technology centered private alternatives.Go to allocate.co to find out more and please sign up to the waitlist to learn more and get early access to the platform.In this episode we discuss:01:09 Brianne’s life prior to investing and what led her to become a full-time investor03:39 Her motivation for becoming an investor rather than staying an operator08:51 Experiences that led to Brianne’s investing thesis12:39 How she spends her time as a solo GP17:40 What she’s found to be the most valuable use of her time as a solo GP21:14 The difference between investing in Fund I and Fund II28:16 The importance of building community within her LP base and learning by investing alongside other investors32:55 Non-negotiables she looks for in founders and founding teams37:40 The importance of founder/investor fit and personality traits she thinks attracts top-talent41:41 How culture is conveyed through remote work44:14 The best piece of career advice Brianne has receivedI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Brianne. 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 absolutely thrilled to bring you my conversation with Frank Rotman, Founding Partner of QED Partners, one of the top Fintech firms in the world. Founded in 2007 alongside Nigel Morris, QED has invested early in companies such as Credit Karma, Klarna, SoFi, and Nubank. They currently have $3B in AUM.As many of you that follow Frank on twitter, and if you don’t you should right away, you’ll know he’s one of the most insightful thinkers in the industry. As such, I wanted to take this opportunity to have a more global dialogue about the state of the venture market today, including a close evaluation from both a risk and return perspective.About Frank Rotman:Frank was one of the earliest analysts hired into Capital One and spent almost 13 years there helping build many of the company’s business units and operational areas. With two decades in consumer & small business finance, Frank is widely known in the industry as a Credit Risk and Portfolio Management Expert.His responsibilities have included turning around underperforming business units, building new businesses from concept to market leadership positions, overseeing the credit performance of Capital One as a whole, and creating a Student Lending company after leaving Capital One in December 2005. Frank graduated from the University of Virginia with degrees that included Applied Mathematics (BS) and Systems Engineering (MS).A word from our sponsor:Invest in innovation. Allocate is a digital platform that enables investors of all types to invest and manage private alternatives within the technology sector.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.With Allocate, wealth advisors, banks, family offices, and other qualified investors can have a streamlined way to responsibly invest in the highest quality technology centered private alternatives.Go to allocate.co to find out more and please sign up to the waitlist to learn more and get early access to the platform.In this episode we discuss:01:45 Frank’s journey from banker to investor05:23 What the current investing market looks like from QED’s perspective09:10 How should investors be underwriting to future exits?13:50 Assessing how liquidity has fueled the market, and what it means for startups. 18:28 Predicting narrative violations and who the winners will be in the next 10 years22:58 The maturation of financial markets for technology 32:32 How the QED model has adapted to respond to higher pricing and faster decisions39:20 Signals Frank looks for when evaluating a new investment44:56 The problems entrepreneurs face when raising at a higher valuation48:41 Risks that VCs can help entrepreneurs mitigate against54:38What would Frank do if he was the CIO of an endowment? How would he build his VC portfolio?I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Frank. 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 byAgent 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 thrilled to bring you my conversation with Matt Cohen, Founder of Ripple Ventures, a seed stage firm based out of Toronto.As someone who's Canadian myself, I’ve been closely following the Canadian VC ecosystem and have been thrilled to see how it’s grown over the years. Matt is someone whose story I’ve followed since he started Ripple. He’s an ultimate student of the game, and to help drive thought leadership and to enhance his own learning, he also runs a podcast called Tank Talks which is a great listen for anyone in VC or tech. Like he is on his podcast, Matt was thoughtful and candid about how he views investing and running a firm.About Matt Cohen:Matt is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist focused on early-stage technology. He started his career in Banking at RBC and National Bank of Canada and did his undergrad at Dalhousie University.A word from our sponsor:Invest in innovation. Allocate is a digital platform than enables investors of all types to invest and manage private alternatives within the technology sector.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.With Allocate, wealth advisors, banks, family offices, and other qualified investors can have a streamlined way to responsibly invest in the highest quality technology centered private alternatives.Go to allocate.co to find out more and please sign up to the waitlist to learn more and get early access to the platform.In this episode we discuss:01:04 Matt’s journey into venture capital03:57 The impact of hedge funds on the venture market now and moving forward06:48 Will anything reverse the trend of the continued growth of crossover investors? 09:08 How rising valuations have impacted Ripple 12:41 His thoughts on portfolio construction17:01 Thinking through the pros and cons between a higher portion of the front for initial checks vs. a higher reserve ratio. 22:06 Making portfolio investment exceptions as it relates to ownership and check size. Why make them, and what do you look for?25:52 Why Matt went with smaller funds and higher GP commits with his early funds28:04 When Matt started engaging with institutional funds30:22 How personal branding has become so important in the VC world. 33:15 How being a solo GP has impacted his life and what new managers should think about as they embark on the venture journey35:29 The advice he gives to people just starting their career37:38 The character qualities that help drive resiliency in venture39:53 The advice that helped change his careerMentioned in this episode:Ripple VenturesMegaCycles in Tech & CryptoI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Matt. 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 byAgent 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 Carter Reum, Co-Founder of M13, a unique venture capital firm that combines a traditional fund, a services platform, and a studio model to support high potential early-stage companies. M13 has AUM of over $650MM and the team has invested in companies Ring, Daily Harvest, Tonal, Thrive Market, Pinterest and many others.Prior to M13, Carter and his brother Courtney founded VEEV Spirits which became one of the fastest-growing independent brands in the country before being acquired in 2016. Carter holds a B.A. from Columbia University and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. Carter and his brother are the authors of the national bestseller Shortcut Your Startup (Simon & Schuster) that shares business insights to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs.A word from our sponsor:Invest in innovation. Allocate is a digital platform that enables investors of all types to invest and manage private alternatives within the technology sector.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.With Allocate, wealth advisors, banks, family offices, and other qualified investors can have a streamlined way to responsibly invest in the highest quality technology-centered private alternatives.Go to allocate.co to find out more and please sign up to the waitlist to learn more and get early access to the platform.In this episode we discuss:01:27 Why he and his brother decided to start M13 as a full time endeavor after being entrepreneurs their entire lives. 06:38 The era of value add has changed, and how they’ve thought about systematizing this. 11:34 How capital is commoditized so much today, and what VC firms need to think about to compete. 14:39 How M13 mitigates risks through their propulsion platform18:19 The data behind M13’s high Net Promoter Score and what they found their founders cared about most21:20 What are the non-negotiable traits they look for when recruiting26:06 Developing a pattern and ethos around diversity of though. 31:06 What are the things they had to unlearn when moving from angel investors to a firm32:37 Early mistakes as a VC and what they learned from them37:13 How they set up rules for follow-on investments and when they break those rules43:43 The most non-consensus view he holds as an investor44:19 The person who has been most impactful on his career as an investor45:01 The entrepreneur that has helped form him the mostMentioned in this episode:M13I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Carter. 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, we’re excited to host Megan Bent, founder and managing partner of Harbinger Ventures, a Boulder, CO-based firm that invests in earlier stage CPG companies that feature female or diverse founding teams. Prior to founding Harbinger in 2016, Megan served as Managing Director of Revelry Brands. She began her career in private equity and consumer brands at the Parthenon Group, and she holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.We spoke about CPG investing, consumer behavior post-pandemic, and also we dove into the benefits and challenges they face with having a portfolio size of 5-8 companies per fund. Tune in!A word from our sponsor:Invest in innovation. Allocate is a digital platform than enables investors of all types to invest and manage private alternatives within the technology sector.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. With Allocate, wealth advisors, banks, family offices, and other qualified investors can have a streamlined way to responsibly invest in the highest quality technology centered private alternatives. Go to allocate.co to find out more and please sign up to the waitlist to learn more and get early access to the platform.In this episode we discuss:00:59 Megan’s journey to becoming a full-time investor02:44 The insights that led her to form Harbinger05:46 Why Megan thinks early stage growth-equity is at the series A and not the series B08:09 How Harbinger thinks about risk and return with their concentrated portfolio construction13:41 Most common traits of successful founders within CPG companies17:17 The process of reaching conviction within the firm and how they manage their decision-making processes 20:52 How they have adjusted to today’s market where speed is paramount for many deals24:15 Deciding on the best number of companies in a portfolio and where they can absorb risk27:55 How has consumer behavior changed permann because of the pandemic and what will happen when things go back to “normal”32:47 How will changes in consumer behavior impact on Harbinger’s investments36:00 Some of the investment aspects Megan considers negotiable38:42 How Megan thinks of ownership and amount money invested41:16 The most counterintuitive lesson she’s learned as an investor42:49 The most challenging aspect of running a firm44:22 The investor that she aspires towardMentioned in this episode:Harbinger VenturesI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Megan. 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 Ed Sim, founder and general partner of boldstart ventures, an NYC-based firm started in 2010 with the focus on being a day-one partner for founders. Boldstart had a modest beginning, with only a $1M fund in 2010. It has since grown to just under $500M in AUM. Some of his first check investments include Snyk, Kustomer, BigID, and Superhuman.Ed previously co-founded and was a managing partner at Dawntreader Ventures in 1998. Dawntreader grew to $290 AUM and invested in seed and early-stage software, Internet, and digital media companies.He began his career at JP Morgan, and early on in his career learned how to code. Ed did his undergrad at Harvard College and was a four-year letterman on the men’s lacrosse team. Ever insightful and candid, Ed provided so many great nuggets around building a firm, navigating markets, and tell us why exactly he’s decided to stay true to the original thesis of backing entrepreneurs at early formation. A word from our sponsor:Invest in innovation. Allocate allows investors to access top-tier private funds and co-investment opportunities within the technology sector.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 still remains limited to institutions and ultra-connected high net worth individuals.With Allocate, wealth advisors, banks, family offices, and other qualified investors can have a streamlined way to responsibly invest with confidence.Go to allocate.co to find out more and please sign up to the waitlist to learn more and get early access to the platform.In this episode we discuss:01:22 Ed’s decision to become a fulltime investor03:06 Why Ed turned down a Harvard MBA to start his first fund04:54 The investment thesis behind boldstart and how it was informed by his time at Dawntreader.08:21 How early days of running a new firm will test resiliency 09:57 What was their major inflection point?13:18 How Ed gets comfortable with being the first check in, often pre-product, and ways to mitigate risk. 16:14 Patterns Ed has seen when looking at his successful investments20:03 How he spots “non-obvious” founders and deals27:27 How they underwrite to what can be a “fund returner”31:35 How boldstart thinks about generating alpha in such a competitive seed market36:08 Where he believes we are in the market cycle today, and what the years ahead may look like43:52 The non-obvious things a venture investor needs to think about to maintain durability over the long term47:28 What emerging managers need to think about when evaluating when to join a firm versus starting their own. 50:38 The most counterintuitive lesson Ed has learned about being a venture capitalist53:28 The founder that helped define Ed as an investor57:28 The investor that has been most influential to his careerMentioned in this episode:boldstart venturesI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Ed. 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 the treat of hosting Peter Hébert, co-founder and managing partner of Lux Capital, a 21-year-old firm that is a pioneer of deep-tech investing. The firm has nearly $4B in AUM and has led investments in Desktop Metal, Latch, Matterport, and Auris Health which was acquired by J&J in a $6 billion transaction.Prior to Lux, Peter began his career at Lehman Brothers, where he worked in the firm’s Equity Research group. He did his undergrad at Syracuse University and was the Founding President of its first venture organization, Future Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs.I’ve known Peter for nearly a decade and have found the Lux story to be so enjoyable to follow. This episode was a real treat as Peter spoke about the 20+ year “overnight success” story of Lux, which included many difficult times in the early days. Over the years, they had many inflection points and in our episode we talk through those inflection points, how they’ve managed a bi-coastal firm, and Peter’s general thoughts on the market. A word from our sponsor:Invest in innovation. Allocate allows investors to access top-tier private funds and co-investment opportunities within the technology sector.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 still remains limited to institutions and ultra-connected high net worth individuals.With Allocate, wealth advisors, banks, family offices, and other qualified investors can have a streamlined way to responsibly invest with confidence.Go to allocate.co to find out more and please sign up to the waitlist to learn more and get early access to the platform.In this episode we discuss:01:33 Why Peter and his co-founders started Lux towards the end of the Dot Com bubble and what they saw as the opportunity03:14 The challenge of raising under what was an esoteric thesis 06:17 The early signals that acted as signals that pointed toward success09:03 The biggest inflection points of Lux Capital’s first ten years16:00 Peter’s relationship with his co-founder and co-managing partner Josh Wolfe and how it’s evolved over time18:46 How the partnership works on a day-to-day basis to ensure firm cohesiveness 23:33 Characteristics of new partners they look for and how they integrate new members on the team 29:21 How Lux enables an ownership mentality within the firm33:37 How they became a bi-coastal firm nearly a decade ago, and managing the firm with remote partners39:05 How follow-on for deep tech was more difficult and how they managed their own portfolio construction to account for this. 44:55 Where SPACs fit in as tools for founders and investors53:18 The most transformative piece of career advice he’s ever received55:24 The photo Peter has on his office wall, and it’s meaning 58:59 The piece of advice he would give to emerging managersMentioned in this episode:Lux CapitalI’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