Shows
Partner PathE58: Architecting Developer Experiences with Christopher Chedeau (aka Vjeux)This week’s guest is Christopher Chedeau, better known as Vjeux, Front-End Engineer at Meta and the mind behind React Native, Prettier, Excalidraw, and more.We unpack his journey from modding Warcraft at 13 to shaping some of the most widely used developer tools in the world. Christopher shares his thoughts on why React took off, how side projects become developer staples, and what AI means for the future of software creation.1:55 - Christopher aka Vjeux2:55 - Learning to code6:30 - Programming in France8:53 - Open sourcing React13:01 - Moving to Facebook15:25 - The framework wars18:25 - Th...2025-07-2938 min
Partner PathE57: Integrating your AI with Karan Vaidya (Composio)This week’s guest is Karan Vaidya, Co-Founder and CTO of Composio, a platform enabling AI agents to connect with hundreds of tools and take autonomous actions to streamline workflows. We dive into his journey building “Devin” for integrations, why the rise of AI is creating demand for thousands of application connectors, how 90% of Composio’s use cases today are agent-driven, and the role early product virality played in their traction. Episode Chapters: 2:00 – Founding with a friend (of 13 years) 3:35 – Evolution of integrations 6:50 – Lightbulb moment 9:20 – Pivoting Composio 12:40 – Agentic workflows 14:30 – Why Composio? 16:47 – Winning developers 25:20 – Build vs. buy 26:20 – AI toolset 28:25 – Age...2025-07-1431 min
Partner PathE56: Why AI Agents Need Memory with Taranjeet Singh (Mem0)This week’s guest is Taranjeet Singh, Founder and CEO of Mem0, a company building the self-improving memory layer for AI agents and LLMs.The conversation covers his path to founding Mem0, from applying to YC 7x and learning to "think bigger," to identifying a core pain point after launching a viral app in India. Taranjeet breaks down why memory is essential for agents, how Mem0 works across any LLM, and why solving one core problem deeply is a competitive advantage.He also discusses how to stay lean and ship fast by hiring high-agency contributors....2025-06-1834 min
Partner PathE55: From Viral Clips to Enterprise SaaS with Jonathan Baer (Overlap)This week, we’re chatting with Jonathan Baer, Co-Founder and CEO of Overlap. Overlap is building an AI-native video editing platform that helps podcasters and media teams turn long-form content into clips for social media. The product is designed to scale distribution with minimal manual input, making agents feel more like collaborators than tools.Jonathan shares how Overlap is harnessing video understanding models and advanced reasoning to drive autonomy in editing. We explore what makes video such a challenging medium for AI, why the best outbound strategies still rely on human nuance, and how Overlap is positioning it...2025-06-0534 min
Partner PathE54: The Infrastructure of Trust for Agents with Daniel Mason (Anon)This week, we are chatting with Daniel Mason, Co-Founder and CEO of Anon. Anon is an integration platform that aims to become the go-to infrastructure layer for the AI-powered internet.Daniel shares his journey from joining a startup straight out of college to building Anon, highlighting why distribution is often the biggest unlock when building a company. We dive into the evolving and often contradictory landscape of digital identity, how authentication is now split between defensive and offensive strategies, and why the user experience layer is critical for agent-native workflows.We also explore the tradeoffs...2025-05-2235 min
Partner PathE53: Helping the Daring Build with James Flynn (Sequoia)This week we sat down with James Flynn, an investor at Sequoia. James focuses on growth-stage investments for Sequoia and was previously an investor at General Atlantic. During the episode, we cover James's journey to Sequoia, highlighting intellectual curiosity and his competitive spirit as key attributes in his path to the firm. The conversation features a number of fascinating perspectives across investing in "daring" companies, including James's take on the relative importance of business model / founder / market in making an investment decision. We also cover how James thinks about absolute valuation as opposed to a multiple, and h...2025-05-0945 min
Partner PathE52: Hacking to Silicon Valley with Rahul Sonwalkar (Julius)This week, we have Rahul Sonwalkar, Founder and CEO of Julius, on the show. Julius is your AI Data Scientist, where users can quickly analyze, visualize, and transform data.Rahul covers his journey from traveling across the country to hackathons in college, the importance of not being afraid of failing as a founder, how Rahul seeks out mentors, the four key ways Julius delivers value, and how Julius continues to add AI to data analysis.We also cover the decision to start selling bottoms up, how that enabled revenue in the early days, and how...2025-04-2334 min
Partner PathE51: Automating Healthcare Operations with Trey Holterman (Tennr)This week, we have Trey Holterman, Co-Founder and CEO of Tennr, on the show. Tennr automates manual tasks in healthcare operations using a proprietary LLM and has raised over $61 million in VC funding from Lightspeed, a16z, Y Combinator, and others. Trey covers his journey from captaining the Stanford rowing team to navigating improv comedy and building Tennr. We dive into how Tennr defines success through improved patient experience and why hard problems attract great engineers.Trey also unpacks why his team avoids buzzwords like “AI”, despite having a clear real-world application of a LLM....2025-04-0943 min
Partner PathE50: Israel’s Cyber Boom with Matan Lamdan (CRV)This week, we are chatting with Matan Lamdan, a cloud infra investor at CRV. Matan started his career as an officer in Unit 8200, the security unit of the IDF, before transitioning to investigative journalism. Now, Matan is a Principal on the infra team at CRV, where he primarily focuses on early-stage security investments. During the episode, we discuss the screening process for the IDF and how Matan ended up in the cyber intelligence unit (which is very well known in the valley). We also cover how chance encounters landed Matan in VC, the importance of being in t...2025-03-2729 min
Partner PathE49: Where AI Meets Customer Experience with Bihan Jiang (Decagon)This week, we are chatting with Bihan Jiang, a product lead at Decagon. Decagon is reimagining customer service with AI agents. The company recently raised a $65M Series B and is trusted by companies such as Eventbrite, Substack, ClassPass, Rippling, Notion, and more. We dive into her journey starting at Scale AI after Stanford, moving to the application side of AI, LLM capabilities powering Decagon, and how customers are using Decagon to elevate their customer experience. We also dive into how Decagon is powering email, SMS, and voice and how they adhere to customers' requests for accuracy a...2025-03-1234 min
Partner PathE48: Why AI Agents Need Better Infrastructure with Vasek Mlejnsky (E2B)This week, we sat down with Vasek Mlejnsky, CEO and Co-Founder of E2B. E2B is a platform for developers to run AI agents in the cloud securely. We dive into the journey of starting a company with your best friend in the Czech Republic, building for AI agents before the hype, and why secure code execution is critical for scaling. Vasek also shares how E2B is becoming the go-to runtime for AI applications, the role of evals in agent development, and the challenges of pricing infrastructure while balancing user growth without hyperscaler-style pricing. 2025-02-2636 min
Partner PathE47: Reinventing Business Banking with Everett Cook (Rho)This week, we sat down with Everett Cook, CEO and Co-Founder of Rho. Rho is a financial operating platform for fast-growing businesses.We dive into ideating as a first time founder, discovering the cracks of business banking, building a product first organization, the trajectory of brick and mortar banks, how to structure customer service, and expanding past a BaaS solution. Episode Chapters:Global Macro Investing - 1:56Working with Mike Bloomberg - 5:15Finding the "why" - 7:38Working through systematic constraint - 11:10Partnering with banks - 13:23Competitive landscape - 19:45AI enabling customer service - 23:00 Nailing the IC...2025-02-0635 min
Partner PathE46: Investing Outside the Bubble with Finn Murphy (Nebular)This week, we sat down with Finn Murphy, General Partner at Nebular. Nebular is an early-stage VC fund based in NYC that invests in the US and Europe. We dive into building and selling his first company, how angel investing can sharpen your investing skills, whether Seed investing is a 15-year career, winning investments in Europe, and aligning LPs with your fund strategy. Episode Chapters:Growing up in Ireland - 1:50Joining VC - 8:20Founding Nebular - 11:25Pitching LPs - 15:52 Demystifying early stage venture - 20:54A global mindset - 25:32The future of Seed investing - 30:50Ho...2025-01-2343 min
Partner PathE45: Breaking Down the Agent Economy with Robert Chandler (Wordware)This week, we sat down with Robert Chandler, CTO and Co-Founder at Wordware. Wordware is a collaborative platform to build, iterate, and deploy AI agents.We explore his initial interest in self-driving cars, finding PMF (knowing when to pivot), turning weak AGI into a narrow AI expert, and why prompting is the new programming with first principles in mind. Episode Chapters:Entrepreneurship curiosity- 1:54Building HeyDaily - 4:38Pivot to agents - 9:42End to end agent orchestration - 13:55Long tail of use cases - 18:55Future of Wordware - 20:56 Feature prioritization - 24:24Building with high switching co...2025-01-0836 min
Partner PathE44: Perplexity for Video and Audio with Jonathan Baer (Overlap)This week, we sat down with Jonathan Baer, CEO and Co-Founder at Overlap. Overlap is an AI assistant that creates daily, personalized playlists of clips about anything you’re interested inWe explore navigating public opinion at Meta, why business school is good for founders, and the team of AI agents focused on making curated Overlap content. Jonathan also offers helpful advice for applying to YC (hint: new wave of consumer AI) and the value add from the accelerator.Episode Chapters:Public Policy x tech - 2:13Starting at GSB -7:05Genesis for Overlap...2024-12-1839 min
Partner PathE43: Safety, Scaling Laws, and the Future of Claude with Nicholas Marwell (Anthropic)This week, we sat down with Nicholas Marwell, a member of the technical staff at Anthropic. Anthropic is one of the most fascinating companies of the decade, building foundation models focused on safe AI.We explore joining the post-training team at Anthropic, why folks started to be concerned about safety, understanding a model's neurons, using Claude at work, two areas Nick is most excited for AI to disrupt, and where value will accrue.Episode Chapters:Joining Anthropic- 1:55Secure AI - 5:03The Founding Story - 8:41Interpretability - 11:33Anthropic's Business Model - 15:01Claude for Enterprise - 19:00...2024-12-0635 min
Partner PathE42: Empowering the Next Generation of Founders with Kofi Ampadu (a16z)This week, we sat down with Kofi Ampadu, a Partner at Andreessen Horowitz who leads the Talent x Opportunity Initiative (TxO). TxO focuses on discovering and supporting high-potential entrepreneurs who have the vision and determination to build transformative businesses but lack traditional access to resources and networks. We explore his experiences working as an engineer at Kraft, the importance of having hard conversations early on, and what drives innovation in CPG companies. Kofi also shares how to optimize a brand for staying power, investing at the intersection of culture and lifestyle, and how TxO defines PMF.2024-11-2044 min
Partner PathE41: Setting Sail at Optimist Ventures with Teddy HimlerThis week, we sat down with Teddy Himler, General Partner at Optimist Ventures. Optimist is an early-stage fund backing founders focused on critical technologies at the inflection stage. We explore his experiences investing in SE Asia, taking less PMF risk in emerging markets, and signals that led him to start his own fund. Teddy also shares his perspectives on technology's secular and cyclical trends, the importance of owning your domain, and AI breakthroughs in healthcare, insurance, and robotics.During the episode, we reference Thomas Laffont's All-In Summit presentationEpisode Chapters:Investing in internet 1.0 - 1:55Hi...2024-10-3035 min
Partner PathE40: Building Fund I with Leeor Mushin (Formation)This week, we sat down with Leeor Mushin, General Partner at Formation. Formation is an early-stage fund that partners with founders from day one. We dive into his experience starting a fund at Stanford by investing in his classmates, the journey of building a managed marketplace, and key signals that indicate it's the right time to start a fund. Leeor also shares insights on why 'ugly ducklings' are ripe for disruption, along with his unique approach to sourcing talent and creating a competitive edge for Formation. Episode Chapters:Growing up in Texas - 1:52Moving to Stanford...2024-10-1745 min
Partner PathE39: Managing AI Agents with Alex Reibman (Agency)This week, we sat down with Alex Reibman, CEO and Co-Founder of Agency. Agency is an agentic platform to help build reliable agents at scale. We discuss learning through competing (in hackathons), agents as self-driving programs, multi-agent tenancy, and why LLMs are not best suited for agents. We also explored which failure scenarios we can accept when building agentic systems and why community is crucial for scale. Episode Chapters:Alex's background - 1:50Enterprise to startup - 6:42Hackathons to Agency - 9:50What is an AI agent? - 11:40How to use an agent - 15:43LLMs impact on agents...2024-10-0242 min
Partner PathE38: AI and Product Management with Bihan Jiang (Scale)This week, we sat down with Bihan Jiang, a Senior PM at Scale AI. During the conversation, we discussed Bihan's journey joining a startup after undergrad, the pace and deployment of products at Scale, and the challenges with producing niche datasets. We also discussed how enterprises implement AI in their solutions and how Scale can help leverage massive amounts of data.Episode Chapters:Texas to Stanford - 1:27Joining Scale AI - 3:42Eng to PM - 5:37Scale AI's mission - 8:20Accelerating the development of AI apps - 10:27Scale Gen AI platform for Enteprrise - 14:14Expanding safety/evals...2024-09-2532 min
Partner PathE38: Scaling a P2P Marketplace with Julia and Brian (Pickle)This week, we sat down with Julia and Brian, co-founders of Pickle. Julia and Brian met at Blackstone before leaving to start Pickle, a P2P clothing rental marketplace. We discuss their founder dynamic, lessons learned through execution, leveraging micro-influencers, and scaling through network effects. We also explored their experience raising capital, how to identify the right investors, and managing round dynamics. Episode Chapters: Blackstone to Pickle - 1:58What is Pickle? - 4:13Reaching consumers - 6:24Secondhand marketplaces - 10:03Acquiring first closets - 13:22Supply side demand - 18:29Measuring success - 22:11Kickstarting organic channels - 24:02 Raising VC capital - 2...2024-09-1834 min
Partner PathE37: Your next AI personal assistant with Div Garg (MultiOn)This week, we sat down with Div Garg, Founder of MultiOn. During the conversation, we discussed Div's journey from big tech to startups, the promise of agents, and how the LLMs are tackling agents. We also discussed how the agent ecosystem will evolve over time, whether we should pay our agents, and building a team as a first-time founder.Episode Chapters:Working in Big Tech - 2:28Intro to AI agents - 3:22MultiOn's Mission - 4:50What will agents disrupt? - 8:37Agent headwinds - 11:20Product launch that didn't work - 13:40The role of LLMs - 17:05Upper limits of...2024-07-2434 min
Partner PathE36: Media meets VC with Brett Perlmutter (Bulletpitch)This week, we sat down with Brett Perlmutter, Founder and CEO of Bulletpitch. During the conversation, we cover Brett's journey starting Bulletpitch as an undergraduate student to hosting events and writing for thousands of readers. We also cover wanting to break into VC, why top VCs are fantastic media companies, and why media yields deal flow.Episode Chapters: Starting Bulletpitch - 1:04Building the pipeline - 5:50The content evolution - 8:03Company selection - 12:30Why scarcity is critical - 16:44Growth hacking in the early days - 22:50Building a syndicate - 30:00Brett's value add - 34:55 Quick-fire round - 37:03 ...2024-07-1040 min
Partner PathE35: Redefining Spreadsheets with Bobby Pinero (Equals)This week, we sat down with Bobby Pinero, CEO and Co-Founder of Equals. During the conversation, we cover Bobby's journey from being inspired by "engineering entrepreneurship" at Stanford to leading the finance team at Intercom and then starting Equals. We also covered the moat behind Equals, having a clear end-user, competing with Excel and Google Sheets, and the importance of brand building.Episode Chapters:Bobby's upbringing - 1:46Scaling with Intercom - 7:14Seed to start Equals - 10:00What is Equals? - 13:44Why switch to Equals - 18:43Gaining market share - 23:37Two ways to grow - 27:50Brand building...2024-06-2639 min
Partner PathE34: Identity, Security, and Innovation with Eli Wachs (Footprint)This week, we sat down with Eli Wachs, Co-founder and CEO of Footprint. During the conversation, we covered Eli’s journey from being an undergraduate student at Stanford to an obsession with KYC and starting Footprint. We also cover KYC, starting with the Patriot Act, how to find early customers, execution at scale, and Eli’s second career as a comedian. Episode Chapters: What makes Eli, Eli - 1:12Innovation at Stanford - 3:33Know Your Customer (KYC) - 5:42Why should customers trust Footprint? - 9:45The value Footprint provides - 12:46Working with larger banks - 16:50Keeping consumer data secure...2024-06-1233 min
Partner PathE33: Building the Next Generation of Events with Avante Price (POSH)This week, we sat down with Avante Price, CEO and Co-Founder of POSH. During the conversation, we cover Avante's journey from being an undergraduate student at NYU to dropping out and starting POSH. We also cover starting an event community, finding success in a consumer-facing space, optimizing for profitability, and hiring at the early stages.Episode Chapters:DJ to Startups - 1:12Three Missing Themes in Event Platforms - 5:56Deciding to Drop Out - 8:24Creating a New Market - 11:20Gaining Market Share - 15:252024 Roadmap - 17:51Managing as a Younger Founder - 23:15The Shopify Journey - 26:30Events on t...2024-05-2934 min
Partner PathE32: Scaling with a Growth Fund with Avery Rosin (Lead Edge)This week, we sat down with Avery Rosin, a Partner at Lead Edge Capital. During the conversation, we cover Avery's long journey at Lead Edge, where he has impressively navigated the path from Analyst to Partner. We also cover Lead Edge's strategy, Avery's areas of focus, his thoughts on the current macro environment, and his advice to aspiring growth equity investors. Episode Chapters:Selling Cutco Knives - 1:20Staying Power at a Fund - 5:25Lead Edge's Strategy - 8:10Retention is King - 12:50Determining the Best Benchmarks - 16:06Investing as a Generalist - 19:50Healthcare IT - 21:21Raising Fund II...2024-05-1533 min
Partner PathE31: Bridging Biotech and Big Data with Sara Choi (Wing VC)We are excited to sit down with Sara Choi, Partner at Wing VC! Prior to Wing, Sara co-founded the mobile data company Airfox. Since 2019, Sara has dedicated her efforts to investing in early-stage companies operating at the intersection of bio and data. During this episode, we discuss raising VC capital (versus not), the impact of a thematic focus, and the future trajectories of drug discovery.Episode Chapters:The American Dream - 1:15Founder Journey X 2 - 5:33Day 1 at Wing VC - 8:10Entry Stage Valuations - 12:55Sector Specialization - 14:30Data's Impact on Biology - 19:04Sourcing Superpower - 23:43VC...2024-05-0140 min
Partner PathE30: Drumsticks to Deal-Making with Pete Mathias (Alumni Ventures)We are excited to sit down with Pete Mathias, Partner at Alumni Ventures. Prior to VC, Pete was the lead drummer in a rock band, Filliger, where he traveled the world for 14 years. Later in his career, Pete found his way into the venture world and focused on strategic technologies critical to the United States. During the episode, we discuss breaking into VC from a non-traditional background, a network-powered approach, and why software has eaten the world.Episode Chapters:From Graduation to Rockband - 1:30Discovering Venture Capital - 4:15VC with a Non-Traditional Background - 6:54Two Types...2024-04-1731 min
Partner PathE29: Beyond the Code with Alessio Fanelli (Decibel Partners)We are excited to sit down with Alessio Fanelli, Partner and CTO at Decibel. Alessio grew up in Rome and made his way to the US as an engineer at 645 before landing at Decibel Partners, an early-stage fund focused on data, dev tools, and cyber security. During the episode, we discuss dropping out of school to start a company, the importance of open-source software, how to diligence pre-product market fit, and the next wave of large language models.Episode Chapters:Growing up in Rome - 1:20Learning to Code - 3:27Joining 645 - 7:10Partner & CTO @ Decibel - 10:42Open...2024-04-0342 min
Partner PathE28: Empowering the Employee with Jeff Schumann (Aware)We are excited to sit down with Jeff Schumann, Co-Founder and CEO at Aware. Jeff started building technology at a young age (selling software to CBS and tracking Al-Qaeda) before founding Aware, a contextual intelligence platform for organizations. During the episode, we discuss intercepting terrorist communications, the employee voice as the most important asset, and why context is king.Episode Chapters:Early Entrepreneur Days - 1:25Working with the CIA - 6:10Modernizing the Tech Stack at Nationwide - 11:10Aware: Contextual Intelligence - 13:33Ask IQ (Chat GPT for the Enterprise) - 15:28Columbus: The Collaborative City - 24:17Living...2024-03-2041 min
Partner PathE27: The Digital Currency Climb with Maxime (Draper)This week, join us with Maxime Bucaille from Draper Associates. Maxime began his career as a foreign exchange trader before becoming an operator at Airswap. His passion for blockchain continued when he joined Atari, a multi-platform gaming company. During the episode, we discuss raising $37M in two hours, mitigating centralized risk, and consumer adoption of virtual reality.Episode Chapters:Moving from Paris to NYC - 1:20FX Trader at BNP - 2:25Joining Airswap (3rd ever Decentralized Exchange) - 4:51Breaking down Draper Associates - 9:40Investing with Tim Draper - 14:57Crypto POV - 17:00Bullish on Bitcoin - 20:30Changing Consumer...2024-03-0634 min
Partner PathE26: Water: Your Newest Skincare Weapon with Arjan (Jolie)This week, we're sitting down with Arjan Singh, the Co-Founder of Jolie. Arjan's journey into the world of beauty and wellness began early on and grew as he collaborated with entrepreneurs in high school and honed his expertise in luxury, consumer, and fashion at BCG. In today's episode, we'll delve into the essentials of building a successful consumer brand, the underlying factors of skin and hair health, the significant impact of social influence, and the number one tool every founder should utilize.Episode Chapters:Passion for Beauty Wellness - 1:20The Power of Relationships - 3:32Starting Jolie...2024-02-2132 min
Partner PathE25: Mastering Marketplaces with Luke Skertich (FJ Labs)We're excited to chat with Luke Skertich, a Principal at FJ Labs. Prior to his role at FJ, Luke transitioned from a pre-med background to a career in product management. FJ Labs, known for its focus on early-stage marketplace businesses, has invested in industry giants such as Alibaba, Uber, and Airbnb. In this episode, Luke delves into his journey from pre-med to venture capital, shares insights on investing in marketplace platforms, and explores the dynamics of balancing supply and demand. Episode Chapters:Initial Career Path - 1:26Portfolio Value Add - 5:19FJ Founding Story - 6:41What is a...2024-02-0733 min
Partner PathE24: Healthcare's New Era: AI Insights with Jacob Effron (Redpoint)We're excited to chat with Jacob Effron, a Partner at Redpoint Ventures. Before joining Redpoint in San Francisco, Jacob served as a product manager at Flatiron Health. In addition to being an investor, Jacob hosts two podcasts, Unsupervised Learning and Vital Signs. Jacob sheds light on the impact of artificial intelligence in healthcare, the influence of large language models (LLMs) on drug discovery, the current importance of value-based care, and the future prospects of AGI!Episode Chapters:Economic Development in East Africa - 1:26Breaking down the Product Manager Role - 2:54Redpoint's Strategy - 4:42Healthcare AI Themes...2024-01-2430 min
Partner PathE23: The Interplay of Research and Intuition with Jason Bornstein (Forerunner)We're excited to talk with Jason Bornstein, Partner and Head of Research at Forerunner. Jason started his career by leading growth marketing at Bonobos, scaling it into one of the first venture-backed DTC brands to achieve $100M in revenue. Post business school, he joined Forerunner, a VC firm specializing in early-stage consumer-driven ventures. Jason shares his experiences of shifting from conventional marketing tactics and his exploration of VC during his business studies and discusses Forerunner's people-centric strategy, including the innovative brand power score.Episode Chapters:Starting in Growth Marketing at Bobobos - 1:55Diversification across Marketing Channels...2024-01-1030 min
Partner PathE22: Data is the New Oil with Sean Thorne (People Data Labs)We are excited to sit down with Sean Thorne, founder and CEO at People Data Labs. Sean dropped out of the University of Oregon to start his first company, Hallspot. Taking his learnings from Hallspot, he started People Data Labs (PDL). PDL is an innovative API product for developers & data scientists, with over 3 billion data records. Sean discusses why every company is a data company, how perseverance wins out, powering AI companies, and the importance of a clear story while fundraising.Episode Chapters:Entrepreneur Pursuit - 1:30Starting a Company at 19 - 3:50Building People Data Labs - 6:20...2023-12-2731 min
Partner PathE21: The Midwest Momentum with Victor Gutwein (M25)We are excited to sit down with Victor Guwein, founder and managing partner at M25. Victor started his career as a founder of a scooter company, Scooter Versity. At 23, Victor founded M25 to invest solely in the Midwest. Fast forward 8 years, and M25 has invested in over 130 companies and is now investing out of its third fund. Victor discusses why the Midwest is ripe for disruption, the M25 DNA, valuations shifting with market dynamics, and how to win at the pre-seed / seed stage.Episode Chapters:Starting a Scooter Company - 1:20Starting a Venture Fund (@ 23) - 3:06Building a...2023-12-1334 min
Partner PathE20: Investing in Highly Regulated Markets with Manu Sharma (Tusk)We are excited to sit down with Manu Sharma, an investor at Tusk Venture Partners. Manu started his career at Dallas VC, helping launch the fund before heading to business school in Chicago. This year, Manu joined Tusk Venture Partners, an early-stage fund based in NYC. Tusk has a unique model in that it helps companies navigate highly regulated markets. Manu dives into the benefits of business school, doubling down in regulated markets, pros and cons of AI and what areas of vertical SaaS are ripe for technological disruption. Episode Chapters: Moving from India to the Uni...2023-11-2929 minPartner PathE19: A New Era for Laundromats with Alex Jekowsky (Cents)We are excited to sit down with 2x founder Alex Jekowsky. During college, he launched Ulyngo, a multi-channel marketplace that enabled universities to facilitate student life commerce. Alex grew the business until its acquisition by Modo Labs in 2019. He then founded Cents, a leading laundry business management system. Cents helps laundromats with everything from onboarding, payments, employee management, customer records, in-store operations, and more!Episode Chapters:Founding Ulyngo - 1:15Interest in Laundromats - 4:48Modernizing the Laundry Tech Stack - 7:30The Consumer Experience - 10:50Cents' Addressable Market - 12:40Optimizing the Value Chain - 15:32GTM Strategy - 18:27Vertical...2023-11-2232 minPartner PathE18: Pioneering PropTech with Daniel Fetner (Alpaca)In today's episode, we're joined by Daniel Fetner, a General Partner at Alpaca. Before joining Alpaca, Daniel founded Soil Connect, a SaaS-enabled marketplace to manage and acquire soil. Daniel joined Alpaca in 2018 as Chief of Staff and later moved into an investor role. At Alpaca, he primarily focuses on real estate and construction tech. Daniel dives into how he recruited for VC, why specialization matters, PropTech as a standalone category, and the current state of the market.Episode Chapters:Founding Soil Connect - 1:45Founder -> Funder - 4:36Alpaca's 4 Founder Strategy - 10:47Category Specialization as an Investor...2023-11-0831 minPartner PathE17: Acing the Interview with Mike Hinckley (Growth Equity Guide)We are excited to sit down with Mike Hinckley, the founder of Growth Equity Guide. Mike started his career in investment banking before working in growth equity at General Atlantic. Mike noticed firsthand the need for interview prep resources and sought to create a dedicated growth equity platform. With recruiting in full swing, Mike dives into growth equity as an asset class over time, tips and timelines for breaking in, and the importance (or not) of networking,Episode Chapters:Investment Banking -> Growth Equity -> Tech - 1:33Growth Equity Interview Prep - 5:21GE Evolving Overtime - 7:00R...2023-11-0133 min
Passion Play Profit#38 - Laura Hamilton and Wil Hagen: Hosts of the Partner Path Podcast and Growth/PE Investors at Spring Mountain Capital and Apax DigitalLaura and Wil are the hosts of Partner Path, a podcast that extracts insights from the venture capital and growth equity ecosystem and covers everything from sourcing and investment strategies to market trends and best practices. Laura is an associate at Spring Mountain Capital, a series A/B tech investment firm, while Wil is an investor at Apax Digital, a technology, internet, and software growth equity and buyout investment firm.
You can check out the Partner Path podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/show/7pOVa1E3o5Bjo0trJGxgO02023-10-2646 minPartner PathE16: Defense Tech, The New Frontier with Jacqueline Blackburn (Decisive Point)Today, we sat down with Jacqueline Blackburn, a Principal at Decisive Point. Jacqueline was an athlete at the Naval Academy before serving as a platoon commander for six years after college. Now, Jacqueline is focused on investing in defense, energy, and infrastructure. During this episode, Jacqueline discusses the importance of purpose and team, early-stage investing in deep tech, becoming a strategic partner, innovation during times of need, and the current state of globalization.Episode Chapters: Starting at the Naval Academy - 1:28Deployment and Platoon Responsibilities - 4:01Introduction to Venture Capital - 6:54Investment Strategy at Decisive Point...2023-10-1830 minPartner PathE15: Understanding VC Platform Roles with Charlotte Japp (ffVC)We are excited to sit down with Charlotte Japp, the Head of Platform at ffVC. Charlotte began her career in creative marketing and later founded Cirkel, a platform that facilitates connections between experienced and younger professionals for mutual career support. Fundraising for Cirkel served as her introduction to the VC ecosystem. During this episode, Charlotte provides insights into platform's evolving role, the value VCs bring to the table, the assessment of platform performance, brand development, and her vision for the future of platform strategies.Episode Chapters:Media Background - 1:30Founding Cirkel - 4:33The Role of Platform...2023-10-0433 minPartner PathE14: Breaking down Bitcoin and DeFi with Tycho Onnasch (Zest Protocol)We are excited to chat with Tycho Onnasch, General Manager of Trust Machines and Co-Founder of Zest Protocol. Originally from Amsterdam, Tycho attended Oxford University before founding Deedmob, a volunteer management platform. Now, Tycho is building Zest Protocol, the first on-chain Bitcoin lending protocol. Tycho discusses deciding where to build in Bitcoin, introduction to smart contracts, adoption points in Bitcoin, regulatory jurisdiction, and transitioning to a mainstay currency. Episode Chapters:Dutch Culture - 1:30Building Deepmob - 2:57Exposure to Bitcoin - 5:12What is Finance? - 8:55The Role of Bitcoin in DeFi - 11:20Building at Trust Machines - 14:57H...2023-09-2033 minPartner PathE13: An Unchartered Route into Venture Capital with Sean Simons (Newark Venture Partners)Today, we sat down with Sean Simons, a Senior Associate at Newark Venture Partners. Sean had an untraditional path into Venture Capital. He started his career at PhotoShelter and 212 brewing before beginning a fellowship at NVP. While at NVP, he worked as a scrap collector and airplane washer. Five years later, Sean has built a strong brand by leading impressive investments within supply chain & logistics. Join us as Sean dives into getting his foot in the door, how to win deals, theme-focused sourcing, why the supply chain is essential, and the future of maritime technology.Episode Chapters:2023-09-0631 minPartner PathE12: Demystifying AI with Rickard Brüel Gabrielsson (Unbox AI)Today we are joined by Rickard Brüel Gabrielsson, an artificial intelligence researcher and co-founder of Unbox AI. Rickard moved from Sweden to the US to attend Stanford and immediately dove into learning systems and artificial intelligence. Rickard breaks down unsupervised learning, text-based language models, revolutionizing retail, pricing your product, encoding semantics, and where companies will incorporate foundation models.Episode Chapters:Transitioning from Sweden to the US - 1:35Interest in Learning Systems & AI - 2:40Unsupervised Learning - 5:24Foundation Models - 7:14Unbox AI - 9:29Building Application Models - 11:41VC in the eyes of an AI founder - 14:26F...2023-08-2335 minPartner PathE11: From CIA Officer to Data Innovator with Kartik Chopra (Devron)During today’s discussion, we sat down with Kartik Chopra, CIA officer turned Founder, leading Devron - a federated machine learning platform. With a Series A backing from Tiger Global, Devron revolutionizes data access and empowers teams to analyze and build models on-site. Join us as Kartik shares his journey, AI's impact on investing, finding a VC partner, machine learning capabilities, and the state of data privacy.Episode Chapters: 1. Childhood and Rutgers University - 1:45 2. Roles & Responsibilities in the CIA - 3:453. Roots of Devron - 5:354. Devron as a Solution - 7:205. Raising VC Capi...2023-08-0930 minPartner PathE10: MarTalk with Dawit Heck (Bain Capital Ventures)During today’s discussion, we sat down with Dawit Heck, a Principal at Bain Capital Ventures based in New York. In February, BCV announced $1.9 billion in new funds to back founders from Seed to Growth stages. Over the last 20 years, BCV has backed companies such as Attentive, DocuSign, LinkedIn, Mirakl, and more. Dawit discusses transitioning into venture capital, Bain's structure and value add, thesis building, and the current state of marketing tech and venture capital. Episode Chapters: Takeaways from Banking & Growth Equity - 1:25Bain Capital’s Structure - 5:55Former Operator Impact as an Investor - 9:47Learnings from Sc...2023-07-2639 minPartner PathE9: Digitizing Portfolio Reporting with John Melas-Kyriazi (Standard Metrics)We are excited to introduce John Melas-Kyriazi, Co-Founder and CEO of Standard Metrics. John began his journey as a physics Ph.D. student at Stanford before embarking on a career as an Investor in 2014 at Spark Capital in Boston. After five years of sourcing and leading 10+ investments, John left to start his own company. Standard Metrics is a portfolio collaboration tool for venture capital firms and startups. During our discussion, John dives into sourcing tactics, contributing as a younger board member, the inception of Standard Metrics, the evolution of the ideal customer profile, and the future of data automation...2023-07-1237 minPartner PathE8: The Rise of Matcha with Teddie Levenfiche (PerfectTed)In today's episode, we sit down with Teddie Levenfiche, co-founder of PerfectTed. Formerly an Associate Consultant at Bain & Company in LA, Teddie moved back to the UK in April 2021, where he started to create the perfect blend of natural and sustained energy. PerfectTed is revolutionizing the energy drink space in the UK with their matcha-powered energy drinks. Join us as Teddie breaks down the problems around energy drinks, sourcing high-quality matcha, big beverage companies' approach to Matcha, metrics for CPG brands, social media & content strategy, and experience on the BBC's Dragons' Den.Episode Chapters:Starting at Pen...2023-06-2835 minPartner PathE7: A New Age of Restaurant Reviews with Judy and Eliot Frost (Beli)In today's episode, we interview Judy and Eliot Fost, co-founders of Beli. Former investment analysts at McKinsey, their shared passion for food and exploration led them to create Beli, an innovative app. Beli allows users to organize restaurant lists, maps, and reviews, while also offering personalized recommendations based on their dining history. Join us as Judy and Eliot share insights on Beli as a social media platform, user acquisition, the product roadmap, competition, and their unique experience of working together as a married couple.Episode Chapters:Mckinsey to Harvard Business School - 0:55Explaining...2023-06-1429 minPartner PathE6: FinTech in Latin America with Carlos Alonso-Torras (FinTech Collective)During today’s discussion, we sat down with Carlos Alonso-Torras, a newly promoted Partner at FinTech Collective in New York City. Carlos is a former operator turned investor with a strong passion for investing in Latin America. His current fund focuses on Seed and Series A investing in FinTech globally. Since its inception in 2012, FTC has invested in over 50 companies, including MoneyLion, Vestwell, Willa, Flutterwave, and TradeBlock. Join us as Carlos discusses shifting from an operating to investing role, starting as an Associate and working his way up to Partner, vertical specializations within FinTech, and the investing ecosystem in La...2023-05-3125 minPartner PathE5: Teamwork, Culture, and Thesis-Driven Investing with Romie Boyd (Sequoia) We are excited to introduce Romie Boyd, a partner at Sequoia, which has an exceptional reputation for its investments from seed to IPO and beyond. Sequoia has an impressive portfolio, having partnered with prominent companies such as Airbnb, DoorDash, HubSpot, 23andMe, and more. Having previously worked with Bain Capital's Private Equity Group in Boston, Romie shares insights on transitioning from Private Equity to Growth Equity, team dynamics at Sequoia, the impact of AI on personal and investor levels, thematic sourcing, and the art of building strong founder relationships.Episode Chapters: College Soccer to Ve...2023-05-1726 minPartner PathE4: The Future of CRMs with Shubham Goel (Affinity)Today, we welcome Shubham Goel, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Affinity. Affinity is a relationship intelligence platform for dealmakers. Affinity uses machine learning to score and increase the chance of closing deals, transforming traditional CRM. In this episode, Shubham shares his experience of meeting co-founder Ray at Stanford as undergrads, and talks about the future of CRMs, risks in relationship management, expanding the business, and fostering remote team culture.Episode Chapters:Childhood in India - 1:00Founding Affinity - 3:40 Attending School in the Valley - 6:30Affinity for PE/VC - 9:30The Future of CRMs and AI - 12:30Risks I...2023-05-0331 minPartner PathE3: Gaming Investing with Jack Soslow (a16z)Today, we welcome Jack Soslow, an Investor in Andreessen Horowitz’s Gaming group. A16z, a major global venture capital fund, has invested in companies like Airbnb, Groupon, Facebook, GitHub, and Roblox. In 2022, the Games Fund I closed at $600 million, targeting Games Studios, Games x Consumer, and Infrastructure. During the discussion, Jack delves into his path to VC, product testing, the distinction between AR and VR, education gaming, generative AI, and women in gaming.Episode Chapters:Joining Oculus and Interest in Data Science - 00:48Breaking into a16z - 5:00Starting the Games Fund - 7:41Gaming Defined...2023-04-2038 minPartner PathE2: The Evolution of Sourcing with Nevin Raj (Grata)Today, we welcome Nevin Raj, Co-Founder and COO of Grata. Grata is revolutionizing VC & PE deal sourcing by providing a platform for users to find, research, and engage with middle market companies. Grata raised a $25 Million Series A round led by Craft Ventures in February 2022. Nevin shares his journey of founding Grata, insights on the future of sourcing, establishing product/market fit, handling customer feedback, and building strong leadership.Episode Chapters:1. Grata's Founding Story - 1:002. Achieving Product Market Fit - 4:253. Sourcing Strategies - 7:104. Partnering with Craft Ventures - 14:455. Reviewing and Implementing...2023-04-0733 minPartner PathE1: West Coast to East Coast Investing with Matt Lu (Cowboy Ventures)Today, we welcome Matt Lu from Cowboy Ventures, based in NYC. Cowboy Ventures is a Pre Seed and Seed stage-focused fund. Cowboy has made over 100 early-stage investments, with 70% being pre-product. Before joining Cowboy in late 2022, Matt was an investor at Bullpen Capital in San Francisco. Episode Chapters:Breaking into Venture and Cowboy Ventures - 1:00East Coast Versus West Coast Investing - 10:30Sourcing Best Practices - 18:20Generative AI and Focus Areas - 25:20Overall Market Thoughts - 32:20What Motives Matt? - 36:00As...2023-03-1939 min