Origins - A podcast about the LP and VC ecosystem.
82 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 57 ratingsOrigins is a podcast about Limited Partners, the firms and institutions that invest in venture capital funds. Through a series of interviews, we explore what has historically been an opaque corner of the startup ecosystem and learn how the people behind the capital make decisions. This podcast was created by Nick Chirls of Notation and co-hosted with Beezer Clarkson of Sapphire Partners.
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Episodes
Building a venture firm w/ Scott Kupor (a16z)
March 19, 2024 13:20 - 52 minutes - 48.5 MBIn the first Origins episode of the year, Nick Chirls (Notation Capital) and Beezer Clarkson (Sapphire Partners) host Scott Kupor, a Managing Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. In his role as managing partner, Scott invests in growth-stage companies building in the bio and healthcare industries, manages the firm’s investor relations team, and is responsible for the firm’s growth initiatives. Scott was the first employee at Andreessen Horowitz and managed the firm’s growth from $300 milli...
Power Law VC Performance with David Clark (VenCap)
December 13, 2023 11:30 - 56 minutes - 51.6 MBIn the last Origins episode of the year, Nick Chirls (Notation Capital) and Beezer Clarkson (Sapphire Partners) host David Clark, Investment Director at VenCap International plc. With nearly four decades of experience in investing, David has backed some of the most established VC funds across the US, Europe, China and India and shares historical figures on where to find performance in venture. David recently uncovered 30 years of data from 400+ funds with 15,000+ underlying portfolio compan...
Q4 Market Predictions w/ Ed Sim (Boldstart) & Seyonne Kang (StepStone)
October 03, 2023 10:15 - 1 hour - 58.9 MBIn this episode of Origins, Nicholas Chirls (Notation) and Beezer Clarkson (Sapphire Partners) host Ed Sim, founder of Boldstart and Seyonne Kang, Partner at StepStone. Ed is the founder of boldstart ventures, a day-one partner and true believer for developer first, enterprise infra, & SaaS founders. He is currently a board member/observer of Snyk, Blockdaemon, Kustomer (sold to Meta), BigID, Protect AI, Env0, among many others. Seyonne is a member of the private equity team, focusing on v...
Navigating difficult markets w/ Adam Valkin, General Catalyst
August 23, 2023 10:15 - 45 minutes - 41.4 MBBeezer Clarkson of Sapphire Partners and Nick Chirls of Notation host Adam Valkin, Managing Director of General Catalyst at their NYC office. Adam Valkin is a Managing Director at General Catalyst. Adam leads the firm's global early-stage practice and co-led its international expansion. He has been at GC for over ten years after joining the firm from Accel London. He has a uniquely global perspective on venture and entrepreneurship and has experience as both an operator and investor. In t...
The family office episode - Nick & Beezer co-host Melissa Lucas, Your OCIO
July 19, 2023 10:20 - 1 hour - 57.9 MBMelissa Lucas currently serves as the CIO for the investment vehicles of two extended families. She has decades of experience handling the unique investment needs of extended families, and investing across asset classes from venture capital to credit to equities. Prior to her work for families, she spent nearly a decade working at several subsidiaries of The Capital Group – first, as an investment analyst of, and later, as an investor in, the healthcare and chemical industries. In this epis...
Deep Dive on Series A - Nick & Beezer co-host Beth Ferreira, Firstmark
June 06, 2023 10:15 - 54 minutes - 50.1 MBOrigins is a podcast about the VC and LP ecosystem, co-hosted by Nick Chirls of Notation and Beezer Clarkson of Sapphire Partners. We're joined by our guest Beth Ferreira, a Partner at FirstMark focused on seed and Series A investing in a broad range of consumer companies, including next-generation commerce, consumer tech, and mobile startups. Prior to FirstMark, Beth was the Managing Partner of WME Ventures, was Chief Operating Officer at Fab and ran operations in the early days of Etsy. ...
LP Market Perspective - Nick & Beezer co-host Atul Rustgi, Accolade Partners
April 28, 2023 10:00 - 1 hour - 55.9 MBOrigins is a podcast about the VC and LP ecosystem, co-hosted by Nick Chirls of Notation and Beezer Clarkson of Sapphire Partners. In this episode, we are joined by Atul Rustgi, managing partner of Accolade Partners, a top-performing venture capital, growth equity, and blockchain fund of funds. Prior to joining Accolade in 2007, Atul worked at McKinsey & Co., a leading strategy consulting firm, where he advised senior management on issues of strategy, organization, technology and operations....
Investing in AI - Nick & Beezer co-host Dr. Lan Xuezhao
March 22, 2023 11:10 - 55 minutes - 50.5 MBOrigins is a podcast about the VC and LP ecosystem, co-hosted by Nick Chirls of Notation and Beezer Clarkson of Sapphire Partners. In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Lan Xuezhao, founder and managing partner of Basis Set Ventures, an AI-focused seed firm based in SF. Lan is among the earliest investors in companies such as Scale AI, Quince, Path Robotics, Workstream, and Ergeon. She built and led the Corporate Development Strategy team at Dropbox during its most acquisitive time. She stud...
Nick & Beezer co-host David Tisch, Box Group
February 14, 2023 12:48 - 1 hour - 56.3 MBOrigins is a podcast about the VC and LP ecosystem, co-hosted by Nick Chirls of Notation and Beezer Clarkson of Sapphire Partners. On this episode, we dig into the history of Box Group and seed investing in NYC with David Tisch. Topics covered include Box Group's unique perspective and strategy on seed investing, staying true to one's strategy and mission, the decision behind Box Group raising outside capital, and the current state of the venture market. Follow us: https://twitter.com/nchi...
Nick (Notation) & Beezer (Sapphire) co-host Kanyi Maqubela (Kindred)
February 01, 2023 14:15 - 51 minutes - 47 MBOrigins is a podcast about the VC and LP ecosystem, co-hosted by Nick Chirls of Notation and Beezer Clarkson of Sapphire Partners. On this episode, we dig into current market dynamics with our guest Kanyi Maqubela of Kindred Ventures. Topics covered include the current state of the venture market, how LPs and VCs are modifying their investment strategy, the future state of seed funds, and how to manage psychology through downturns. Follow us: https://twitter.com/nchirls https://twitter.co...
Venture market deep dive with Beezer Clarkson
September 20, 2022 10:00 - 53 minutes - 48.8 MBOn this episode of Origins, we sit down with Beezer Clarkson of Sapphire Partners to discuss the current state of the VC and LP markets, given recent dislocations. We cover what Beezer is seeing on the ground, where we might be in the current cycle / downturn, how VCs can respond both strategically and tactically, as well as her outlook for what's to come. Beezer leads Sapphire Partners‘ investments in venture funds domestically and internationally. Prior to joining Sapphire in 2012, Beezer ...
Austin Clements, Slauson & Co.
June 15, 2022 10:00 - 43 minutes - 40.1 MBAustin Clements is a co-founder and managing partner at Slauson & Co., an early-stage venture capital firm whose mission is to democratize access to entrepreneurship by bridging the gap between untapped founders and the right capital and resources required to create sustainable equity & economic inclusion. Austin is a former Principal at TenOneTen Ventures where he played a role in investing in 50+ companies across two funds, and also the founding Chairman for PledgeLA, a city-wide initiative...
Sapphire Partners hosts Jaclyn Hester, Foundry Group
June 09, 2022 10:00 - 51 minutes - 46.8 MBIn this special episode of our #OpenLP podcast miniseries, Sapphire Partners’ Laura Thompson chats with Jaclyn Hester, Partner at Foundry Group, about how LPs pick funds, what good performance looks like and how everything is changing with the shift in today’s markets. Laura Thompson invests in technology-focused venture funds domestically and internationally. She is passionate about partnering with established and emerging firms to advance the thinking in the limited partner space. Before j...
Accolade Partners hosts Santiago Santos
May 10, 2022 10:00 - 59 minutes - 54.2 MBOn this episode of Origins, Aram Verdiyan, partner at Accolade Partners, hosts Santiago Santos, one of the most well-respected crypto and NFT investors in the world. The discussion is far-ranging, from Santiago's discovery of Bitcoin and Ethereum many years ago, to his decision to go full-time into crypto, to current market conditions today, and themes that he's most excited about. This was a rare look into how the best crypto native investors approach investing in this unique asset class. A...
Dustin Rosen, Wonder Ventures
April 26, 2022 10:00 - 44 minutes - 40.3 MBDustin Rosen is the founder and managing partner of Wonder Ventures, a top-tier pre-seed firm based in LA. He's been an early investor in companies like Whatnot, Clutter, Arcadia and Honey. He previously founded a venture-backed startup in LA and started his career at the William Morris Agency, where he helped launch their first venture fund. This was a special episode because Dustin has been one of our closest collaborators at Notation, and our journeys have very much mirrored each other's ...
Accolade Partners hosts Chris Ebeling, Zed Run
April 05, 2022 09:00 - 50 minutes - 46.4 MBOn this special episode of Origins, Marcos Veremis, partner at Accolade Partners, hosts Chris Ebeling, the Creative Director, Futurist & Co-Founder @ Virtually Human, which created Zed Run, a provably fair digital horse racing game built on blockchain technology. Marcos Veremis is a partner at Accolade Partners, a top-tier fund of funds, and one of the first firms in the market to launch a dedicated crypto fund of funds practice. Marcos was previously an MD at Cambridge Associates for more t...
Jeff Morris Jr., Chapter One
March 08, 2022 10:00 - 43 minutes - 39.5 MBJeff Morris Jr. is the founder and Managing Partner of Chapter One. He was previously the VP of Product, Revenue at Tinder. In the role, Tinder became the #1 top-grossing app in the App Store and one of the top-grossing products in mobile history. In this episode, we discuss Jeff's early career as a PM and growth specialist, his transition into angel investing, and ultimately the decision to launch Chapter One, which is now squarely focused on web3 investing.
Sapphire Partners hosts Saul Klein of LocalGlobe and Latitude
November 03, 2021 09:30 - 58 minutes - 53.4 MBSapphire Partners continues their #OpenLP miniseries takeover by hosting Saul Klein of LocalGlobe and Latitude. With decades of experience in the region, Saul has been, and continues to be, an early champion of the European tech ecosystem. During the conversation, Sapphire’s Thomas Moon chats with Saul on topics including the evolution of venture in Europe over the past 20 years, the road ahead for European venture, and the journey from operator to angel to institutional seed investor.
Sapphire Partners hosts Kim Lew, CEO of Columbia University's endowment
September 30, 2021 09:00 - 48 minutes - 44.7 MBSapphire Partners continues their #OpenLP miniseries takeover by hosting Kim Lew, CEO and President of Columbia University’s endowment. During the conversation, Sapphire’s Nate Leung chats with Kim on topics including: How institutional managers consider and approach risk, particularly in the context of venture investing; Differences between foundations and endowments in terms of liquidity, portfolio construction, and risk allocation; What Kim looks for in new managers for the venture portfol...
Sapphire Partners Hosts - Notation III and Beyond
August 24, 2021 10:00 - 59 minutes - 54.6 MBOn this brand new season of Origins, we're passing the torch to our friends at Sapphire Partners to host an exciting new miniseries. Beezer Clarkson, Nate Leung and the team at Sapphire Partners are some of the most knowledgeable and experienced LPs in the industry, and we're extremely excited to listen as they interview a slew of amazing new guests. In this first episode, Beezer and Nate are hosting...well...us :-) They interview us about the history of Origins, Notation, our new fund Notati...
Chris Paik & Jordan Cooper, Pace Capital
January 20, 2021 10:00 - 55 minutes - 50.9 MBChris Paik and Jordan Cooper are co-founders of Pace Capital, a new $150M fund focused on Series A investments. Chris was previously a co-founder of Thrive Capital, now one of the top multi-stage institutional firms in the U.S., and Jordan was previously a co-founder of Lerer Hippeau Ventures, the largest institutional seed fund in NYC. In this episode, we go deep into Chris and Jordan's decision to leave their respective firms and start Pace Capital together. We discuss the questions that t...
Renata Quintini & Roseanne Wincek, Renegade Partners
December 15, 2020 10:00 - 51 minutes - 47.3 MBRenata Quintini and Roseanne Wincek are general partners and co-founders of Renegade Partners, a new venture capital firm investing at the "supercritical" stage. Supercritical stage companies have raised institutional financing, have a product in market, and the budding signs of customer love, but are early, young organizations who are still writing their stories. Before Renegade, Renata was a partner at Lux Capital and Felicis Ventures, and before that an LP at the Stanford University endow...
Matt Auxier, The University of Chicago
November 17, 2020 10:00 - 45 minutes - 41.7 MBMatt Auxier is a portfolio manager for The University of Chicago's private equity investments, focusing primarily on venture capital. He examines investments across asset classes and researches new investment opportunities. Since joining the Office of Investments in 2012, he has also served as an operations analyst and senior portfolio analyst. In this episode, (among other topics) we discuss how Matt's investment philosophy has evolved within venture over time, including both small emergin...
Sahil Lavingia and Steve Schlafman on new VC structures
October 13, 2020 09:00 - 58 minutes - 53.7 MBIn this special episode of Origins, we discuss new VC fund structures with Sahil Lavingia, the founder of Gumroad and manager of one of the top rolling funds on AngelList, and Steve Schlafman, who combines professional coaching through his firm High Output with active angel investing using a traditional fund on AngelList. Both operators and investors, Sahil and Steve provide a fascinating look into how the venture industry is evolving, and how they combine their experiences operating and inv...
Lisa Edgar, Top Tier Capital Partners
September 23, 2020 09:00 - 46 minutes - 42.5 MBLisa Edgar is a Managing Director and member of the Investment Committee at Top Tier Capital Partners. She focuses on manager selection, due diligence and investment monitoring of Top Tier’s primary investments. Leveraging her 25 years of experience, Lisa is particularly interested in helping up-and-coming micro funds structure themselves for success in the future, including strategic fundraising, thoughtful portfolio construction, effective capital deployment and management succession. Pri...
Frederik Groce, Storm Ventures & BLCK VC
September 09, 2020 08:00 - 50 minutes - 46.2 MBFrederik Groce is a Principal at Storm Ventures and a co-founder at BLCK VC. After finishing school, Frederik spent two years as CEO of Stanford Student Enterprises (SSE) with more than one hundred employees and total assets exceeding $18 million – including overseeing Stanford’s accelerator program. In this episode, we discuss Frederik's path to VC out of college, and how he's learned on the job and been promoted multiple times at Storm Ventures since. We also discuss his work as a co-foun...
Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, The Chainsmokers + Mantis VC
August 11, 2020 10:00 - 48 minutes - 44.4 MBIn this special episode of Origins, we interview Alex Pall and Drew Taggart of The Chainsmokers, one of the most successful artists and producers in the world, and now active VCs through their firm Mantis. We discuss how they got into music, their break as DJs and rising up the early charts of Hype Machine and then Spotify, as well as more recently how they discovered angel investing and how they're building Mantis VC. Safe to say this was one of the most interesting episodes we've ever recor...
Josh Kopelman, First Round Capital
July 07, 2020 08:00 - 40 minutes - 37.2 MBJosh Kopelman is the co-founder of First Round Capital, a pioneering seed-stage venture capital firm. He's been an active entrepreneur and investor in the Internet industry since it's commercialization. He co-founded Infonautics while still an undergrad in 1996, which went public in 1999. He then co-founded and ran Half.com, a fixed price marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of used books, movies and music products, which he sold to eBay in 2000. In this episode, we discuss Josh's earl...
Hunter Somerville, Greenspring Associates
June 24, 2020 08:00 - 51 minutes - 47.4 MBHunter Somerville is a General Partner at Greenspring Associates and is responsible for the sourcing and due diligence efforts on fund, direct and secondary opportunities. He's also actively involved in the assessment of micro-vc managers for the Firm. Additionally, Hunter serves on the LP Advisory Boards for firms such as Bullpen Capital, Redpoint China, Fika Ventures, Foundry Group, among many others. In this episode, we discuss Hunter's path at Greenspring (and LP firms in general), lead...
Atul Rustgi, Accolade Partners
June 02, 2020 08:00 - 46 minutes - 42.6 MBAtul Rustgi is a Partner at Accolade, working across both early-stage venture and late-stage growth equity strategies. Prior to joining Accolade in 2007, Atul worked at McKinsey & Co. and the Robin Hood Foundation. In this episode, we discuss Atul's unique experience evaluating VC managers over the past decade, and Accolade's strategy investing in both very small early-stage venture funds and much larger late-stage growth equity funds. We also discuss Atul's deep conviction around portfolio ...
Kanyi Maqubela, Kindred Ventures
May 13, 2020 08:00 - 59 minutes - 54.6 MBKanyi Maqubela is a Managing Partner at Kindred Ventures. He previously served as a Partner at Collaborative Fund, where he was an early advisor to Tala and Walker & Co., and a board member at Buffer, Camino Financial, Spruce, and True Link. Kanyi is also a co-founder at Heartbeat Health, and has served as a Lecturer and Adjunct at New York University Tisch School of the Arts. In this episode, we discuss everything from Kanyi's childhood to founding his first startup out of Stanford to joini...
Ciaran O'Leary, BlueYard
April 14, 2020 10:00 - 49 minutes - 45 MBCiaran O'Leary is a co-founder and general partner at BlueYard, a thesis-driven early-stage venture capital firm based in Germany. In the past several years, BlueYard has backed companies like Protocol Labs (Filecoin) and Open Source Coin in the Blockchain space, Meatable and Bit Bio at the intersection of science and technology, Pitch and Vectary in open data, among other fascinating companies and theses. In this episode, we discuss the European tech and venture capital environment over th...
Mark Suster, Upfront Ventures
March 03, 2020 09:45 - 55 minutes - 50.4 MBMark Suster is the Managing Partner at Upfront. He previously was the founder & CEO of two successful enterprise software companies, the most recent of which was sold to Salesforce.com where Mark became VP, Products. He's also one of the OG VC bloggers at https://bothsidesofthetable.com. In this episode, we discuss Mark's journey as both an entrepreneur and VC going back to the dot com, how he joined GRP Partners in 2007 and transitioned the firm into what it is now Upfront, and how he plans...
"Portfolio Construction" w/ Beezer Clarkson, Alda Leu Dennis and Trae Vassallo
January 28, 2020 09:45 - 1 hour - 59.7 MBThis is a special episode of Origins focused entirely on the concept of VC portfolio construction. We recorded this discussion as a panel with three guests that provide different perspectives on this important topic. Beezer Clarkson is an LP and managing director at Sapphire Partners, Alda Leu Dennis is a partner at Initialized, a seed-stage venture firm, and Trae Vassallo is a founder and partner at defy, an early-stage venture firm focused on Series A investments. In this episode we cover ...
Chad Byers, Susa Ventures
January 07, 2020 09:30 - 52 minutes - 48 MBChad Byers is a co-founder and partner at Susa Ventures, a seed-stage venture fund based in SF that has backed companies like Robinhood, Flexport, and Andela. Chad discusses growing up in Silicon Valley, his path to venture, the unusual founding story of Susa with his partners, and how they've strategically planned their funds over time. Chad is one of the smartest young seed investors in SF, and this episode was essentially a playbook on how to build a seed firm. A huge thank you to Carta, ...
Lo Toney, Plexo Capital
December 11, 2019 09:30 - 50 minutes - 46.1 MBLo Toney is the founding managing partner of Plexo Capital, a new $42.5 million fund incubated inside of GV focused on making investments in seed-stage VC firms led by women or people of color. In addition to investing as LPs, Plexo Capital makes direct investments in startups that are funded by firms where Plexo has an LP position. The fund’s investors include Alphabet, Intel Capital, Cisco Investments, the Royal Bank of Canada, Kapor Capital, the Hampton University Endowment and the Ford Fo...
Fabrice Grinda, FJ Labs
October 01, 2019 08:45 - 59 minutes - 54.8 MBFabrice Grinda is the founder of FJ Labs, a company co-creation and investment firm, focused on marketplace businesses. FJ Labs has invested in companies such as Flexport, Shippo, Lime, Brightroll, among many others. Fabrice is also a serial entrepreneur, previously founding three companies - Zingy, Aucland, and OLX - All of which scaled to significant size. He was born in France and is an avid traveler, writer, and speaker. In this episode, we cover what it was like to come to the U.S. for ...
Paul Mace, Tufts University
September 10, 2019 08:30 - 43 minutes - 39.9 MBPaul Mace is the Director of Investments for Private Equity and Real Estate in the Tufts University Investment Office. He is responsible for evaluating private market managers and their investment strategies to potentially include in the university’s portfolio. Before joining Tufts, Paul was an investment banker evaluating M&A and private equity transactions for a boutique advisory firm. In this episode, we dig into the many similarities and differences in evaluating private real-estate fun...
Beezer Clarkson hosts Anne Martin, CIO of Wesleyan University
August 06, 2019 08:30 - 49 minutes - 45.2 MBIn this special episode of Origins, Beezer Clarkson of Sapphire Partners hosts Anne Martin, the Chief Investment Officer of Wesleyan University. Anne was previously a Director of Investments at Yale University, where she oversaw the private and natural resource portfolio. At Wesleyan University, she oversees all aspects of the endowment and reports to the university's board and investment committee. Over the course of the conversation, Beezer and Anne cover exactly what it means to run and i...
Bryce Roberts, Indie VC
July 16, 2019 08:45 - 56 minutes - 51.3 MBBryce Roberts is the founder of Indie VC, a 12-month program and venture fund designed to fund and support founders on a path to profitability. Before that, Bryce was a co-founder of OATV in 2005, one of the earliest seed focused VC firms, where they invested in companies like Fastly, Foursquare, Planet, Hipcamp, and others. On this episode, we discuss the earliest days of seed investing and raising OATV while Bryce lived in Utah, as well as the difficult decision to morph OATV into what is ...
David Fauchier, Cambrial Capital
February 26, 2019 10:00 - 55 minutes - 37.9 MBDavid Fauchier is the co-founder of Cambrial Capital, an investment firm based in London deploying a thesis-driven fund of funds strategy focused on the digital assets space. David has previous experience as a product leader and angel investor in Europe, and has one of the most thoughtful approaches to investing in the blockchain space that we've seen. We cover a wide range of topics in this episode, including the varied types of strategies that blockchain VC firms and crypto funds are pursui...
Lindsay Larsen, UVIMCO
February 05, 2019 10:00 - 52 minutes - 47.8 MBLindsay Larsen is a managing director at UVIMCO, which represents the University of Virginia's $9B+ endowment. At UVIMCO, Lindsay co-heads the endowment's venture capital investing, as well as hedge fund investing and the growth equity portfolio. She previously held roles at Sequoia Heritage and Bluestem Asset Management, and she started her career at Goldman Sachs after attending UVA as an undergrad. In this unique look into how a large university endowment is managed, we dig into how UVA ...
Manu Kumar, K9 Ventures
January 15, 2019 10:00 - 54 minutes - 37.3 MBManu Kumar is the founder of K9 Ventures, a technology-focused Pre-Seed fund based in Palo Alto, California. K9 Ventures was the first "pre-seed" venture firm in the industry, and Manu was the earliest investor in companies like Twilio, Lyft, Carta, Crowdflower, and many more. Manu has a truly unique outlook on the VC business, and has a highly disciplined investment model that he's stuck with since the beginning in 2009. In this episode, we discuss Manu's time at Carnegie Melon and Stanford...
Conrad Shang, UTIMCO
December 18, 2018 10:00 - 55 minutes - 37.9 MBConrad Shang is a Director at UTIMCO, The University of Texas and Texas A&M Endowment, where he leads the VC portfolio for one of the largest university endowments in the country. He’s been on both sides of the table, having also previously been a VC at Norwest Venture Partners and Bain Capital Ventures. This was a particularly fascinating conversation because Conrad now oversees what is probably the largest VC portfolio of anyone we've had on the Origins podcast to date. In this episode, we...
Zach Aarons, Metaprop
November 27, 2018 10:15 - 58 minutes - 40 MBZach Aarons is a co-founder and partner at Metaprop, an early-stage venture firm and accelerator focused on real-estate related technology. Zach has been working at the intersection of real estate and venture capital for the past decade, and he's the most active early-stage PropTech investor in the United States, having funded over 60 startups in the space as an individual as well as 40 startups (and counting) through MetaProp NYC's venture capital funds. In addition to early-stage investin...
Sarah Anderson and Emily Geiger, Cintrifuse
October 30, 2018 09:10 - 49 minutes - 33.7 MBOn this episode of Origins, we interview Sarah Anderson and Emily Geiger, who are responsible for two critical components of Cintrifuse, a unique organization and public-private partnership established to drive the next phase of growth in the Cincinnati region. Sarah is the Managing Director of the Cintrifuse Syndicate Fund, a fund of funds that invests in VC managers across the U.S. Emily is the VP of BigCo Innovation at Cintrifuse, where she focuses on bridging partnerships, as well as expl...
David Tisch, Box Group
October 09, 2018 09:00 - 51 minutes - 35.6 MBDavid Tisch is a founder and managing partner of Box Group, the most prolific angel and seed investing firm in NYC, where they're investors in companies such as Pillpack, Flatiron Health, GroupMe, Plaid, Roman, among many others. He previously co-founded Techstars New York, a fixture of the NYC tech community for many years, and is the head of Cornell Tech's Startup Studio. In this episode, we discuss how Box Group has stuck to its knitting over the years by continuing to focus on the earli...
Rob Mazzoni, TrueBridge Capital Partners
September 18, 2018 09:05 - 57 minutes - 39.7 MBRob Mazzoni is a principal and one of the earliest members of the TrueBridge investment team, an alternative asset management firm founded in 2007 and focused on the venture capital industry. Rob first worked with TrueBridge co-founder and general partner Mel Williams at UNC Management Company, Inc. (UNCMC) as an investment and performance analyst. In this episode, we discuss Rob's professional path as an LP since college, as well as the founding and evolution of Truebridge Capital Partners...
Shan-Lyn Ma, Zola
August 21, 2018 09:05 - 50 minutes - 34.8 MBShan-Lyn Ma is the co-founder and CEO of Zola, the fastest growing wedding registry and planning site in the U.S. Before Zola, Shan-Lyn was the chief product officer of chloe + isabel, and an executive at Gilt Groupe. In this episode, we cover a wide range of topics, including Shan-Lyn's experience growing up in Australia, discovering the Internet at a young age, and eventually moving to the U.S. to go to Stanford and pursue her dreams as a technology entrepreneur. We also discuss the many le...
Mike Maples, Floodgate
July 24, 2018 09:00 - 50 minutes - 46 MBMike Maples is the founding partner at Floodgate and has been on the Forbes Midas List since 2010. Before becoming a full-time investor, Mike was involved as a founder and operating executive at back-to-back startup IPOs, including Tivoli Systems (IPO TIVS, acquired by IBM) and Motive (IPO MOTV, acquired by Alcatel-Lucent.) Some of Mike’s investments include Twitter, Twitch.tv, ngmoco, Weebly, Chegg, Bazaarvoice, Spiceworks, Okta, and Demandforce. In this episode, we cover a wide range of to...