Joshua Rahn (Co-founder & Managing Partner at Oceans)

Joshua Rahn is Co-founder & Managing Partner at Oceans, a new, NYC-based early-stage venture fund working to help build the next trillion-dollar businesses. Oceans recently announced the close of Fund I, an $11M fund designed to make this mission a reality. Early investments include Famer, Mealco, Uppercampus, Teal, and Tembo Health, among others.

Prior to founding Oceans, Josh spent 9 years at Facebook, where he helped grow their NYC office. Josh also had two successful exits as a founder before joining Facebook. He is a WashU alum!

In the episode, Josh joins The Takeoff's Michael Spiro to discuss:

His new venture firm Oceans and the firm’s mission

Oceans’ focus areas

How Oceans differentiates from other VCs

What is was like raising Fund I during COVID

Why $11m for Fund I made sense, and why Josh and the other partners’ friends, peers, and former coworkers thought they were crazy for launching an $11M fund: “Raise a $200M fund.”

Finding product-market fit as a fund

How to get more recent grads to join startups or start companies of their own

& much more.

Quick note from Michael: I had a ton of fun having a WashU alum in Josh on the Podcast. I can’t wait to see what’s ahead for him and Oceans. As a native New Yorker, I love the fund’s New York focus, and Josh’s passion for helping current students (particularly at WashU) means so much to me. 

You can find Oceans by visiting oceans.ventures. And, if you want to get involved with one of their many incredible portfolio companies, you can check out oceans.ventures/jobs. 

I had so much fun recording this episode and hope you enjoyed the listen. You can find me on Twitter @mspiro3, The Takeoff on Twitter @_TheTakeoff, and be sure to subscribe to our Substack newsletter at thetakeoff.substack.com so as to not miss a beat with any of our new content.

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