Venture Confidential

Ep. #23, Counseling Founders with Jonathan Heiliger of Vertex Ventures

November 02, 2020 12:39 - 45 minutes - 63 MB

In episode 23 of Venture Confidential, Heavybit’s Jesse Robbins interviews Jonathan Heiliger of Vertex Ventures on counseling founders and making big infrastructure bets.

Ep. #22, Feat. Dan Scholnick of Trinity Ventures

October 31, 2018 10:20 - 45 minutes - 63.6 MB

In episode 22 of Venture Confidential, Dan Scholnick, General Partner at Trinity Ventures, discusses how his past experience as a two time entrepreneur helps him determine which promising companies and charismatic entrepreneurs to invest in as well as what sets Trinity Ventures apart from other funds.

Ep. #21, Feat. Lan Xuezhao of Basis Set Ventures

September 21, 2018 09:30 - 38 minutes - 54 MB

In episode 21 of Venture Confidential, Lan Xuezhao, Founding Partner at Basis Set Ventures, describes how she went from a career in Corp Dev at Dropbox to later founding a venture firm that invests in companies that improve people’s work efficiency.

Ep. #20, Feat. Leo Polovets of Susa Ventures

September 06, 2018 09:30 - 38 minutes - 53.3 MB

In episode 20 of Venture Confidential, Leo Polovets, General Partner at Susa Ventures, describes how he went from a career in software engineering to later entering the world of venture and working with founders.

Ep. #19, Feat. Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures

August 30, 2018 09:30 - 45 minutes - 63.4 MB

In episode 19 of Venture Confidential, Charles Hudson stops by the studio to talk about his journey from founding a mobile games company to becoming a partner with Uncork and most recently Precursor Ventures.

Ep. #18, Feat. Aligned’s Jodi Sherman Jahic

June 08, 2018 09:30 - 42 minutes - 60.2 MB

In episode 18 of Venture Confidential, Aligned Partners’ Jodi Sherman Jahic stops by the Heavybit studio to discuss what kind of companies and portfolios she invests in and what capital efficiency should mean for startups.

Ep. #17, Feat. Manu Kumar of K9 Ventures

May 23, 2018 09:30 - 35 minutes - 50 MB

In episode 17 of Venture Confidential, Manu Kumar stops by the Heavybit studio to talk about how he started a micro VC called K9 Ventures and why he chooses to invest in and help grow early stage companies.

Ep. #16, Feat. Greylock Partners’ Jerry Chen

May 11, 2018 09:30 - 45 minutes - 63.7 MB

In episode 16 of Venture Confidential, we’re joined by Jerry Chen of Greylock Partners. Chen recounts his experience from managing and marketing product at VMware to investing in companies including Docker and Gladly as a partner with Greylock. The pair discuss what it takes as an investor and board member to help make a good company great.

Ep. #15, Sourcing with Zetta’s Jocelyn Goldfein

February 28, 2018 09:45 - 52 minutes - 73 MB

In episode 15 of Venture Confidential, Peter is joined by Jocelyn Goldfein, partner at Zetta Venture Partners. Jocelyn recalls how she was part of huge growth at VMware and also overhauled Facebook’s tech recruiting process before entering the world of venture capital with Zetta. Hear the process of her first investment in enterprise security and hear the similarities between being a good investor and being successful at recruiting.

Ep. #14, Building Community with Boldstart’s Ed Sim

February 13, 2018 09:00 - 47 minutes - 65.8 MB

In the latest Venture Confidential, Peter is joined by Boldstart’s Ed Sim to discuss founder/market fit and building community between founders and investors. Hear Ed’s take on the differences between developer evangelism and enterprise marketing, how to approach a pricing timeline, and more.

Ep. #13, The Role of the Investor with Ryan Floyd of Storm

January 26, 2018 12:05 - 48 minutes - 66.6 MB

In this installment of Venture Confidential, Peter is joined by Ryan Floyd of Storm Ventures to discuss the evolution of Storm and investing in general. Key points include when to stay out of the way as an investor, what it means to be client-oriented and why having expertise makes a big difference when choosing your next move.

Ep. #12, Feat. Angel Investor Bubba Murarka

December 19, 2017 07:15 - 54 minutes - 74.8 MB

In the latest episode of Venture Confidential, Peter is joined by Bubba Murarka, angel investor and former Principal at DFJ. Bubba recounts his journey from Microsoft, to an Entrepreneur in Residence role at Bay Partners before becoming a Product Manager at Facebook, and finally Partner at DFJ. He explains how he learned to examine problems through a business lens and shares insights into how he cultivated successful mentoring relationships to continue to learn and advance his career.

Ep. #11, Feat. BlueRun Ventures’ Jana Lee

November 21, 2017 08:23 - 37 minutes - 51.5 MB

In the latest episode of Venture Confidential, Peter is joined by Jana Lee, Principal at BlueRun Ventures. Jana recalls her non-traditional path to a venture career and reveals how she created a feedback loop using deal flow to evaluate her performance. She then shares BlueRun Venture’s approach to identifying, evaluating and capitalizing on investment opportunities.

Ep. #10, Feat. Array Venture’s Shruti Gandhi

November 07, 2017 14:05 - 38 minutes - 54.1 MB

In the latest episode of Venture Confidential, Peter is joined by Shruti Gandhi, Founder of Array Ventures. Shruti explains how she stumbled into a full-time career in venture and walks us down the career path that led to the inception of Array. She also shares her thesis driven approach to understanding problems and developing an informed point of view, illustrating them with a few examples.

Ep. #9, Feat. Maveron’s Anarghya Vardhana

October 18, 2017 09:35 - 44 minutes - 75.8 MB

In the latest episode of Venture Confidential, Peter is joined by Anarghya Vardhana, Senior Associate at Maveron. Anarghya recounts her journey into venture capital, including the challenge of moving from product to venture. She talks about her experience working at a “consumer only” venture capital firm and explains her approach of using “targeted curiosity” to uncover and exploit new opportunities.

Ep. #8, Feat. System.One’s Max Claussen

October 11, 2017 09:24 - 39 minutes - 55.4 MB

In the latest episode of Venture Confidential, Peter is joined by Max Claussen, founder of System.One. Max recalls how he got into the venture scene and talks about his experience operating a pre-seed fund in Europe. Max also reveals how he overcomes challenges of operating a one-man shop and explains his approach of casting a wide net and quickly filtering down as he evaluates investment opportunities.

Ep. #7, Feat. NFX Guild’s Tammy Camp

September 07, 2017 13:40 - 44 minutes - 60.7 MB

In the latest episode of Venture Confidential, Peter is joined by Tammy Camp from NFX Guild. Tammy describes her venture career journey from affiliate marketer, to Partner at 500 Startups to Advisor at NFX Guild. They discuss early mistakes that marketers make, building LP relationships, and emerging blockchain technologies.

Ep. #6, Feat. SoftTech VC’s Stephanie Palmeri

August 22, 2017 08:25 - 43 minutes - 60.5 MB

In this episode of Venture Confidential, Peter is joined by Stephanie Palmeri, Partner at SoftTech VC. Stephanie recalls her early challenges getting into venture, including living on the East Coast before eventually moving to California. Stephanie describes her early career at SoftTech and reveals how she used her relative abundance of time as a new hire to help support the partners at the firm. Stephanie also shares useful insights into how micro VC firms like SoftTech operate.

Ep. #5, Feat. Nordic Makers’ Hampus Jakobsson

August 07, 2017 09:38 - 51 minutes - 71.1 MB

In the latest episode of Venture Confidential, Peter is joined by Hampus Jakobsson. Hampus discusses how he got into investing, and reveals the factors he considers when deciding where to invest. Hampus also shares his “parent-teenager” approach to managing angel investing, and includes some useful tips for staying focused and spending time in the right areas using “rigid external frames.”

Ep. #4, Feat. Heavybit’s Tom Drummond

July 17, 2017 07:06 - 38 minutes - 61.5 MB

In the latest episode of Venture Confidential, Peter is joined by Tom Drummond. Tom recounts his first foray into Venture Capital in San Francisco. Tom explains that the typical rise through the venture ranks necessitates a shift of focus from analytics to relationship building. With absolutely no industry contacts, Tom describes how he set out to build his network by creating a very low bar for meeting people and rarely turning down introductions.

Ep. #3 Feat. Redpoint’s Scott Raney and Lenny Pruss

February 18, 2016 17:36 - 43 minutes - 60.6 MB

In this episode Tom is joined by Redpoint’s Scott Raney and Lenny Pruss. Tom, Scott, and Lenny discuss Redpoint’s investment philosophy, the changing expectations founders and investors have for each other, and finally they examine the current funding environment and Redpoint’s outlook for 2016. To find out about new episodes of this and other Heavybit podcasts, follow @heavybit on Twitter.

Ep. #2, Feat. Accel’s Vas Natarajan

February 05, 2016 18:28 - 57 minutes - 64 MB

In this episode, Tom is joined by Vas Natarajan of Accel Partners. Tom and Vas talk about how much money founders should raise and when, how to transition from individual developers to enterprise customers, and how open source business models are evolving. To find out about new episodes of this and other Heavybit podcasts, follow @heavybit on Twitter, and sign up for our newsletter for more great developer focused news, events, and announcements.

Ep. #1, Feat. BVP’s Sunil Nagaraj

November 12, 2015 21:21 - 40 minutes - 57.2 MB

In this first episode, I host entrepreneur-turned-VC, Sunil Nagaraj of Bessemer Venture Partners. Sunil and I talk about how BVP decides to invest in your startup, what you may be getting wrong when you pitch to VC’s, and what you should expect from investors sitting on your board. To find out about new episodes of this and other Heavybit podcasts, follow @heavybit on Twitter, and sign up for our newsletter for more great developer focused news, events, and announcements.