Venture Studio

I’m sure like me, a lot of you who don’t work in crypto are trying to understand and learn about it these days. I know that some of us are very skeptical, some are intrigued, and that some are just curious, and trying to learn as much as they can. After this conversation with Ken Kruger, you can consider me among those who are really inspired at the possibilities. Ken deeply believes that Cryptocurrencies are the future of money — he is walking the walk, and is the founder and CEO of Moon, a company on a mission to bring this future to fruition. By background, Ken is a serial founder and software engineer with a computer science degree from Cornell, and an MS in industrial engineering and Operations Research from Columbia, where he studied Financial engineering. In the past he’s has worked at Lockheed Martin as a software engineer, and as a Product Manager on classified military projects. Let’s head up to the office…. “Stablecoins you just can’t ignore; there’s so much value there” - Ken Kruger Show Notes: -About Ken’s intro to the world of Crypto -What are stable coins? -The currency situation in Venezuela -What does Dave get consistent pushback on regarding crypto? -China, and bitcoin mining prohibition -What is the importance of stable coins? -How do you obtain a stable coin? -What are the methods for converting to local currency from your crypto wallet? -Why are stable coins important in the scenario of currency exchange in foreign countries? -What are some alternates to stable coin? -Which Crypto communities are “up and coming”? -What are the problems with crypto payments? -What are some companies that allow for purchases in crypto? -What’s driving consumers to want to transact in crypto? -What is “Moon”, and how does it work? -What is the Moon user base like, demographically? -What’s in the future for Moon? -Increasing use cases of Moon -What are systems like Moon unlocking for the future? “The power of crypto is that every time a new application comes up, it brings new people, and that’s the built-in network effect of these cryptocurrency networks.” - Ken Kruger

Lindsey Gray leads the Platform Team at Two Sigma Ventures. She is responsible for identifying the needs and challenges of portfolio companies, and developing resources, programs, and connections to help them succeed. Lindsey is also helping to build out Two Sigma Ventures' marketing and content strategy. Lindsey joined Two Sigma Ventures from NYU where she was Senior Director of the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute. Prior to NYU, Lindsey worked with Fortune 500 companies on corporate spin-outs and innovation strategy as part of Clay Christensen’s consulting firm, Innosight. Lindsey received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Connecticut College.

Deborah Jackson is a founder and entrepreneur, early-stage investor and former investment banker. In 2012 Deborah founded Plum Alley to advance women entrepreneurs and strong teams of women and men, to build better products and companies that are positioned to outperform others. Anyone interested in learning more about Plum Alley can email andrea@plumalley.co ==== - 20+ years raising capital for entities including healthcare technology; past experience includes Goldman Sachs, Shattuck Hammond Partners - Early stage investor in copmanies in consumer internet, cloud software, mobile, and medical, including one IPO - Co-Founder/Advisor, WIM Accelerator to build mobile tech - Columbia University Committee Advisor to President on entrepreneurship - Hosted hackathon w/ 18 women developers who built an anti-sex trafficking game; covered by Fast Company - Awards & Recognition: TechCrunch 40 Over 40, Forbes “Women Changing the World” (VC/Enrepreneurs), Fast Company “League of Extraordinary Women,” Bpeace Economic Impact Award - Start-up Competition Judge: Harvard Busines School New Venture Competition, Technovation, Startup Weekend - Featured Speaker: CNBC, Family Office Association, HBS, The Atlantic Conference, Columbia University, UPenn

This week’s guest is Jason Cahill of McCune Capital. A network design engineer by training, an experienced manager, an Army veteran who served with Special Forces, an empathetic customer advocate, and a product-focused leader that loves to think big. An MBA at Carnegie Mellon sparked his passion for tech, and for data-centric, mission-driven companies solving “real problems.” He's always enjoyed helping teams and has long been an advisor/mentor/advocate for entrepreneurial ventures in various organizations. His investments have spanned sectors, but always gravitate toward high-performing operators. Remember - all of our shows are available on iTunes, Soundcloud, TuneIn and Google Play. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio. ====== Mccune Capital https://www.mccune.vc/ Are you building a painkiller or a vitamin? https://medium.com/@McCuneVC/are-you-building-a-painkiller-or-a-vitamin-f5cbedb2a2b6 Ep 29 - Matt Harrigan - Grand Central Tech https://soundcloud.com/venture-studio/ep-29-matt-harrigan-grand-central-tech

This week's guest is Rafat Ali. Rafat is the CEO/founder of Skift, the largest business intelligence and marketing platform in travel, providing news, information, data, and services to all sectors of the world’s largest industry. Previously, he was the founder of paidContent and ContentNext, now owned by UK’s Guardian News and Media. Prior to that, he was managing editor of Silicon Alley Reporter. ===== Skift.com Rafat.org http://rafat.org/post/136289931946/how-we-got-off-the-addiction-of-venture-capital

This week is part 2 of our interview with Ed Sim, founder of Boldstart Ventures, an enterprise seed fund which focuses on infrastructure and SaaS startups. Part 1 is here: https://soundcloud.com/venture-studio/ep-42-ed-sim-boldstart-ventures-1-of-2 All of our shows are available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio. ======= Boldstart.vc Twitter: twitter.com/edsim Newsletter: digest.beyondvc.com From Beyondvc.com: ENTERPRISE TECH IN 2017 http://www.beyondvc.com/2016/12/boldstart-in-2016-enterprise-tech-in-2017.html Episode 24 with Eliot Durbin: https://soundcloud.com/venture-studio/Ep-24-eliot-durbin-boldstart-ventures Episode 32 with Jonathan Lehr of Work-Bench: https://soundcloud.com/venture-studio/ep-32-jon-lehr-work-bench

This week’s guest is Ed Sim, founder of Boldstart Ventures, an enterprise seed fund which focuses on infrastructure and SaaS startups. All of our shows are available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio. ======= Boldstart.vc Twitter: https://twitter.com/edsim Blog: Beyondvc.com Newsletter: digest.beyondvc.com Episode 24 with Eliot Durbin: https://soundcloud.com/venture-studio/ep-24-eliot-durbin-boldstart-ventures

Jessica Lawrence Quinn is the CEO of NY Tech Alliance, a non-profit organization supporting New York’s growing technology community, and the organizer of NY Tech Meetup, the world’s largest Meetup group. Prior to her work with NY Tech Alliance, Jessica was the CEO of Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council in Southern California, where she supported a community of 75 staff, 5,000 volunteers, and 15,000 girls. Jessica was one of only 15 women selected to participate in Seth Godin’s Female Entrepreneur MBA (FeMBA) in 2010. Jessica’s writing has been featured on the Harvard Business Review blog, Forbes.com, The Next Web, The Huffington Post and in a weekly column in The Press-Enterprise. She also speaks frequently on the tech sector, the future of work, and organizational development and culture at events such as PopTech, SXSW, and TEDx. === Jessica’s Blog https://jessicalawrencequinn.com/ NY Tech Alliance https://nytech.org/ NY Tech Meetup + Bloomberg Women's Demo Night 2017: https://nytech.org/monthly-meetup/ny-tech-meetup-bloomberg-women-s-demo-night-2017 April 2017 NY Tech Meetup and Afterparty: https://nytech.org/monthly-meetup/april-2017-ny-tech-meetup-and-afterparty Human Tech Meetup https://www.meetup.com/Human-Tech-Meetup/

Part 2 with Brad Harrison of Scout Ventures Scout Ventures is a seed stage venture capital firm in NYC that partners with experienced entrepreneurs who are building scalable technologies. Scout focuses on core business fundamentals and help with key areas of growth. === www.scoutventures.com www.mayorbrad.com

This week’s guest is the incomparable Brad Harrison, founder and managing partner of Scout Ventures. Scout Ventures is a seed stage venture capital firm in NYC that partners with experienced entrepreneurs who are building scalable technologies. Brad is an entrepreneur and seasoned business development executive with a passion for technology, media, entertainment and lifestyle. Brad has a great deal of experience launching new ventures. While attending MIT, he worked as a Partner in a seed stage venture fund, ITU Ventures, and helped launch a joint MIT-Harvard incubator. During this experience, Brad worked at the earliest stages with many dynamic companies including Endeca Technologies. While serving as Director of Media Strategy and Development at AOL, Brad co-authored 3 patents in search, geo-tagging, and personalization, with Edmund Fish, Senior Vice President and General Manager at AOL. Following AOL, Brad helped raise $40M in venture funding for a contextual online advertising network. Prior to launching his business career, Brad served in the United States Army for five years, earning both Airborne and Ranger qualifications and retired as Captain. He resides in Tribeca with his wife, Angie, his son, Elvis and his daughter, Scout. Remember - all of our shows are available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play on Android Devices. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio. === Scout Ventures: http://www.scoutventures.com/

This episode's guest is Spencer Ante, founder of WhoWeUse and author of Creative Capital: Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital. This is part 2 of our interview with Spencer. When we left off, Spencer had just told the story of Digital Equipment’s IPO, and its 70,000% ROI for ARD and its founder George Doriot. This week, Dave and Spencer get into the drivers of economic progress, the roots of the difference between east and west coast founders and more detail about Spencer’s company, WhoWeUse. ====== Download WhoWeUse: http://whoweuse.net/

This episode's guest is Spencer Ante, author of Creative Capital: Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital. Spencer is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated and award-winning author, writer, editor, and journalist formerly with The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek and Wired. He is also a seasoned product developer and manager with extensive experience across digital media, social media, broadcast, and print media. He is also President and cofounder of WhoWeUse, a mobile app and Web directory that connects people with the most popular local services used by their friends and neighbors. ==== Buy Creative Capital on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Capital-Georges-Doriot-Venture/dp/1422101223

This week’s guest is Shan-Lyn Ma, Co-Founder and CEO of Zola and angel investor in New York City. Zola is re-inventing the Wedding Registry for the modern couple. Remember - all of our shows are available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio. ===== Zola Wedding Registry Zola.com

This week's guest is Jerry Colonna of Reboot. Jerry is an executive coach who uses the skills he learned as a venture capitalist to help entrepreneurs. He draws on his wide variety of experiences to help clients design a more conscious life and make needed changes to their career to improve their performance and satisfaction. Previously he was a partner with JPMorgan Partners (JPMP), the private­ equity arm of JP Morgan Chase. He joined JPMP from Flatiron Partners, which he launched 1996 with partner, Fred Wilson. Flatiron became one of the most successful, early­stage investment programs in the New York City area. At Flatiron, Jerry was responsible for a wide range of the firm’s investments including Geocities Inc., Gamesville Inc., Vertical One Inc., and The New York Times Digital. Remember - all of our shows are available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio. ===== Reboot reboot.io Reboot Podcast #45 – What’s Love Got to Do with It?- with Fred Wilson and Brad Feld https://www.reboot.io/episode/45-whats-love-got-to-do-with-it-fred-wilson-brad-feld/ Reboot Podcast # 49 - The Tragic Gap – with Tarikh Korula https://www.reboot.io/episode/49-the-tragic-gap/

This week is part 2 with Jerry Neumann, early stage angel investor at Neu Venture Capital and longtime New York VC. Neu invests in seed-stage companies developing cutting-edge technologies for use in large markets. Neu makes five or six new investments a year and only invest in companies where they can make a difference. Remember - all of our shows are available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio. ===== Reaction Wheel Jerry Neumann's Blog reactionwheel.net/ Power Laws: reactionwheel.net/2015/06/power-laws-in-venture.html Neu Venture Capital neuvc.com/ venture capitalvcangel investingstartupsTechventure studio

This week’s guest is Jerry Neumann, early stage angel investor at Neu Venture Capital and longtime New York VC. Neu invests in seed-stage companies developing cutting-edge technologies for use in large markets. Neu makes five or six new investments a year and only invest in companies where they can make a difference. Remember - all of our shows are available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio. “The hard part’s not writing the check. The hard part is getting a bigger check back at the end.” ===== Reaction Wheel Jerry Neumann's Blog http://reactionwheel.net/ Betting on the Ponies: non-Unicorn Investing http://reactionwheel.net/2014/07/betting-ponies.html Neu Venture Capital http://neuvc.com/

This week’s guest is Jonathan Lehr (@fendien), Co-Founder and General Partner at Work-Bench (@Work_Bench). Work-Bench helps scale enterprise technology startups by providing community and workspace, connecting exceptional builders to Fortune 500 buyers, and co-investing in extraordinary founders tackling enormous markets. Remember - all of our shows are available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio. This episode, we’re going to start with a few thoughts on the VC ecosystem and some recent headlines from Dave. Then, we’ll jump right into Dave’s amazing interview with Jon. ===== Work-Bench http://www.work-bench.com/ Andreessen Horowitz’s Returns Trail Venture-Capital Elite by Rolfe Winkler http://www.wsj.com/articles/andreessen-horowitzs-returns-trail-venture-capital-elite-1472722381 A(Junior)VC The best place for junior VC's to hang is on the fringe by Jonathan Libov http://whoo.ps/2016/08/31/a-junior-vc

Welcome back to Venture Studio, and welcome back to our fantastic two-part interview with Naval Ravikant of AngelList. If you missed part one, go check it out at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. In part 1 of this interview, Dave and Naval talked about AngelList, syndicates and startup funding. In part 2, things got quite a bit more philosophical. In this interview, Naval and Dave cover power dynamics and haters in venture, the American political system - Trump, Bernie and Hilary - the disruption of the wealthy elite and, of course, South Park. In this episode, Dave revers to this post by Naval called The American Spring: https://medium.com/the-mission/american-spring-d6a8320bf712#.k4ppdt9pd

This week’s guest really needs no introduction. Naval Ravikant is the founder and CEO of AngelList (angel.co). AngelList is the go-to platform for startups to raise money online, recruit employees, and apply for funding. Naval and AngelList are on a mission to democratize the fundraising process. This interview was a big one, so we’re breaking it into a two-parter - make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss part 2. Remember - all of our shows are venturestudio.org and on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. If you like this episode, you’ll love our interviews with Ming Yeh of CSC Upshot and Dustin Dolginow of Maiden Lane. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio.

This week’s guest is Matt Harrigan, Co-Founder of Grand Central Tech. Grand Central Tech is a yearlong accelerator in midtown Manhattan that actually sounds quite different from most accelerators: One year. No Rent. No Equity. GCT surrounds its companies with the best possible programming, resources and strategic partners to offer an unparalleled value proposition. Remember - all of our shows are on venturestudio.org and on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. If you like this episode, you’ll love Episode 21 with Brad Hargreaves, founder of Common, a GCT alum. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio.

This week, Zach Aarons of MetaProp NYC and Millennium Partners joins us on the podcast. MetaProp NYC is an accelerator that brings together the brightest minds in real estate and technology to help quickly build promising young real estate companies. Check out our entire archive of interviews at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. Remember to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio to stay up to date. In today’s episode, Zach discusses all things real estate tech - from nitty gritty pain points in each sub sector to history, macro trends, insights into the future of real estate tech.

This week, Julian Counihan of Red Sea Ventures joins us on the podcast. Check out our entire archive of interviews - including Dave’s epic two-part interview with Bitcoin Jesus Roger Ver - at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn and now Google Play. Remember to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio to stay up to date. In today’s episode, Julian discusses Red Sea Ventures’ origins and generalist investment strategy. Then, Dave and Julian go deep into drones, bitcoin and virtual reality.

This week, Roger Ehrenberg (@infoarbitrage), Managing Partner at IA Ventures joins us on the podcast. Check out our entire archive of interviews at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn and now Google Play. Remember to subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode and follow us on twitter @venturestudio to stay up to date. In today’s episode, Roger discusses IA Ventures’ investment focus (and debunks a few rumors about “big data” in the process), he digs deep into portfolio modeling theory for VCs, and shares his views about the difference between novel technology and novel insights.

This week, Ulrich Quay, the Head of BMW i Ventures joins us on the podcast. If you like this episode about mobility and hardware, you’ll love Dave’s interview with Jenny Fielding, head of Techstars IoT program. Check out our entire archive at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. Remember to subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode and follow us on twitter @venturestudio to stay up to date. BMW i Ventures invests in cutting-edge solutions focusing on the mobility needs of the urban population. The corporate venture arm of BWM invests in high-potential start-ups in all stages, from early stage to late stage, which are dedicated to shaping the future of global mobility. In today’s episode, Ulrich talks about BMWi’s investment focus, some trends in mobility and vehicle technology, and a few of BMWi’s portfolio companies such as Zirx, Life360 and Chargepoint.

This week, Eliot Durbin, General Partner at Boldstart Ventures, joins the show. Miss an episode, such as the Dave’s classic interview with SoftTech’s founder Jeff Clavier that Elliot referenced during this week’s show? Check out our entire archive at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher or TuneIn. Remember to subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode and follow us on twitter @venturestudio to stay up to date. In today’s episode, Eliot talks about Boldstart’s investment themes for this year - Googlization of IT, SaaS 2.0 and Smart Data. In addition, Eliot and Dave also discuss the rise of shadow IT at large enterprises, the market potential in B2B on-demand, and how to tell the difference between a pretty big problem and really big problem.

This week, Jenny Fielding joined the show from Techstars, where she is the Managing Director leading the FinTech and Internet of Things programs in New York City. Looking for more Techstars NYC interviews, like our November talk with Alex Iskold or Dave’s classic 2011 interview with David Tisch? You can listen to our entire catalog of episodes at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher or TuneIn. Remember to subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode and follow us on twitter @venturestudio to stay up to date. In today’s episode, Jenny discusses Techstars’ upcoming New York industrial internet of things program, how entrepreneurs should approach accelerators in general and Techstars specifically, and what “traction” actually means these days.

This week, Dave interviews Paul Martino, founder and General Partner at Bullpen Capital, one of the pioneers in post-seed round funding. Remember to subscribe to Venture Studio on iTunes so you never miss an episode. As always, you can find us on twitter @ventureStudio and you can listen to prior episodes at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher or TuneIn. Paul founded Bullpen in 2010 and has led several of its key investments including FanDuel, the leader in daily fantasy sports. Prior to starting Bullpen Capital, Paul was the founder of four companies and an active angel investor in companies such as Zynga, TubeMogul, uDemy, and PayNearMe. In today’s episode, Paul discusses how the herd mentality of most venture investors presented a huge opportunity for Bullpen, how to effectively manage a board and what its like to be coached by Bill Campbell.

This week, Dave interviews Brad Hargreaves, founder of Common, co-founder of General Assembly, Venture Partner at Maveron and angel investor. Remember to subscribe to Venture Studio on iTunes so you never miss an episode. As always, you can find us on twitter @ventureStudio and you can listen to prior episodes at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher or TuneIn. In today’s episode, Brad introduces Common - the first company combining brand, technology and design in the residential real estate market at scale. Later in the episode, Brad discusses the fundamental friction between consistency and coherence in great branding. Finally, a fun fact: Brad is our third consecutive guest who started his career selling weird stuff online.

This week, Dave interviews Phil Toronto of Vayner/RSE, an early stage venture capital fund formed by VaynerMedia and RSE Ventures. Make sure to subscribe to Venture Studio on iTunes so you never have to worry about missing an episode. As always, you can find us on twitter @ventureStudio and you can listen to prior episodes at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher or TuneIn. In today’s episode, Phil and Dave discuss the importance of marketing and branding, even for early stage companies, some advice for startups as they consider partnering with a Fortune 500 company, and a few predictions for 2016. We wrap up with quick discussions about VR, verticalized brands and the art of storytelling.

Welcome back to Venture Studio and welcome back to our fascinating two-part interview with Bitcoin Jesus, Roger Ver. We pick up part 2 right after Roger described how and why he renounced his US citizenship. Dave kicks off episode two on the same thread, asking Roger about the repercussions of his actions and beliefs, including a stint in federal prison. After discussing the justice system and unauthorized explosive sales, we reel it back to bitcoin by digging into blockchain, fixed supply and some predictions for 2016.

We have a very special two-part episode coming at you starting this week. Our guests is Roger Ver, entrepreneur, bitcoin investor, bitcoin evangelist, and voluntaryist. If you think we’re just going to talk about bitcoin on this episode, think again. Roger Ver, nicknamed “Bitcoin Jesus” is an interesting guy. Credited as the first person in the world to invest in bitcoin startups, he’s been the leading voice and catalyst in bitcoin ecosystem for years. Why? according to his website rogerver.com, Bitcoin is the most important invention in the history of the world since the internet and if you don't already know about it, google it. In part 1 of our two-part series, Dave and Roger discuss why people should care about bitcoin, a few companies that are accelerating mainstream bitcoin adoption and why bitcoin is a non-political means to freeing up the entire world’s economy. We take a quick foray into macroeconomic and government theory and then, for good measure, they’ll talk about George Washington, Vietnam and World War 2.

This week, we are thrilled to welcome Huoy Ming Yeh to the show. Ming is co-founder and managing partner of CSC Upshot Ventures, the largest fund dedicated to financing seed-stage startups, ever. If you’re the type of person who listens to the Venture Studio podcast regularly, you probably heard about CSC Upshot launching in October. If not, it was a big deal. Here is some background- CSC Upshot is a $400MM venture fund created to invest primarily in US seed-stage technology startups via AngelList. It’s biggest LP is CSC Group, one of China’s 3 largest private equity firms, with $12B under management. Remember, if you’re a fan Venture Studio, please subscribe on iTunes so you never have to miss an episode. If you’re feeling up to it, do us a favor and leave a 5-star rating and review in the iTunes store- it helps other people find the show. As always, you can connect with us on twitter @ventureStudio and you can listen to prior episodes at venturestudio.org, and on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher and TuneIn. Now that the words “$400MM” and “AngelList” have sunk in, lets dissect this a bit. Earlier this month, you learned about the Angel List’s Syndicates product in our interview with Dustin Dolginow of Maiden Lane. Today, we dig further into the massive opportunity. Some stats: as of October 2015 (when CSC Upshot was announced), AngelList Syndicates had helped over 650 companies raise $205MM from 4,400 individuals and Maiden Lane’s $25MM vehicle. Now, CSC Upshot joins the Syndicates ecosystem with a fund nearly double the size of all Syndicate activity to date. Today Ming and Dave talk all about CSC Upshot, the need for more liquidity at the seed stage, the difference between Chinese and US entrepreneurs, and whether we’re seeing the great unbundling of VC or just a natural evolution of the venture financing market.

This week, we welcome Dustin Dolginow to The Studio. Dustin a co-founder of Maiden Lane Ventures, the first institutional venture fund built for AngelList Syndicates. Here’s an excerpt from Maiden Lane’s AngelList page: Raising seed capital is unnecessarily complicated. Great angel investors have always helped founders cut through the noise. Maiden Lane's mission is to make partnering with world-class angels more impactful. To do that, we use capital and software to rethink the workflow of seed investing. Seems pretty logical, right? Maybe even a bit boring? Well, not really. Syndicates and funds like Maiden Lane have been called, progressive, disruptive, cute and fraudulent, and everything in between. Today, we’ll learn why. Dave and Dustin discuss the facts behind Syndicates, the massive opportunity for individual investors and founders that Syndicates presents, and the support, critiques and criticisms from others in the venture capital industry. They’ll also talk more broadly about how thought leaders like like Chris Sacca, Brad Feld, Paul Graham and Mark Suster have approached innovation and unbundling in venture capital. This episode is just the first installment of our series on AngelList Syndicates. Later this month, we’ll catch up with Ming Yeh, Founder and Managing Partner of CSC UpShot Ventures, a $400 million venture fund formed to invest in startups on AngelList. Dave and Dustin talk a bit about CSC UpShot in this week’s episode as well. You can find Dustin on AngelList (obviously) and on twitter and Medium under @dolginow.

This week, Dave interviews Craig Shapiro, the founder and managing partner of Collaborative Fund. In this episode, Craig talks about his views on the future of consumption, how to court and land awesome LPs like Pharrell, and how your company’s values can be used as a weapon. Collaborative Fund is centered on two macro themes: the growth of the creative class and the concept of collaborative consumption. Their portfolio companies include AngelList, Codecademy, Earnest, Grand St, HelloSign, Kickstarter, Lyft, Maker Studios, Reddit and TaskRabbit. In addition to those, Dave and Craig discuss a few other portfolio companies in depth on today’s episode, including Hampton Creek, Walker & Co and AltSchool.

In this week's episode, Dave continues a fascinating two-part interview with John Frankel, the founder of ff venture capital. When we left part 1 last week, John was just starting to describe a tech future with just a few behemoths owning the lion’s share of every market. This week, in part 2, Dave and John discuss how to find growth in a zero growth world and the potential down sides of tech shrinking the globe. Finally, they revisit John’s prognostications (from four years ago on this very show) about about the late-stage valuation bubble that we find ourselves in today and the implications on today’s early-stage environment.

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear part 1 of an amazing two part interview with John Frankel, the founder of ff Venture Capital. Dave and John discuss how ff approaches investing, what functions ff provides to it’s portfolio companies and why they do it, the label on the back of the honey bottle, and what it means to be living in a world of abundance. John Frankel is the founding partner of ff Venture Capital, and has been an early-stage investor since 1999. John has served as a director of over 35 companies and an investor in more than 76 companies, including Cornerstone OnDemand, Indiegogo, Ionic Security, Klout, SkyCatch, Plated, 500px, Distil Networks, and Bottlenose.

This week, Dave interviews Michael Yavonditte the founder and CEO of Yieldmo and an active angel investor in New York City. If you’re a fan of The Studio, you can find more episodes at venturestudio.org or soundcloud.com/venture-studio. Subscribe on iTunes and never miss an interview. As always, you can find us on Twitter @VentureStudio. Prior to founding Yieldmo, Mike worked at AltaVista, was CEO of Quigo (which he sold to AOL in 2007 for $360MM), founded Hashable and began angel investing. In this episode, Michael and Dave discuss YieldMo, some thoughts on startup company boards, and how Mike spots entrepreneurs he wants to invest in. You can find Mike on Twitter at @MikeYavo.

In this week’s episode, we welcome Stephanie Palmeri of SoftTech VC. Dave and Steph discuss SoftTech’s growth as a microVC, how crowded the competitive landscape really is for seed-stage founders, and the case for having a west coast investor on your cap table. At SoftTech, Steph has led investments in Poshmark, True & Co, Clever, Handshake, Grovo, Panorama Education, Lantern, and ClassDojo. She is currently on the board of Chariot, Educents, Envoy, Fatherly, and Spoon University. She also led the firm’s investment in Niche, which was acquired by Twitter. One of SoftTechVC’s most notable investments to date is Fitbit, which went public in June of 2015 with a valuation of about $4.1 billion. SoftTech’s founder Jeff Clavier has also been a guest on Venture Studio- you can find his episode on our iTunes or SoundCloud pages.

In this week's episode of Venture Studio, we welcome back one of our favorite guests, David Tisch, who runs Box Group, an early stage venture investment fund based in New York. The last time David was on Venture Studio (see Episode 1 of the podcast), he had just finished the first class of Tech Stars New York and had recently started angel investing through Box Group. Since then, Box Group has become one of the most prolific New York-based seed investing firms, having backed over 150 companies including Warby Parker, Blue Apron, Class Pass, Harry’s, Handy, and Spring, which David co-founded. Box Group has some notable exits including Sunrise, Vine and Behance. In this episode, David talks about why investors get so much press coverage these days, what it means to “add value” as an investor, how and why he co-founded Spring, and why the NYC ecosystem continues to move in the right direction.

In today's episode, Dave chats with Joanne Wilson- a prolific angel investor in New York and a major supporter of the city’s startup ecosystem. Joanne Wilson began angel investing in New York after careers in retail, wholesale, media, non-profit, education and real estate. Her portfolio now has over 80 companies and some highlights include investments in LittleBits, Justworks, One Fine Stay and Blue Bottle Coffee. Joanne blogs regularly at gothamgal.com and you can find her on twitter @thegothamgal. Joanne is an outspoken supporter of women entrepreneurs and the co-founder of Women Entrepreneurs Festival.

In today’s episode, Dave interviews Alex Iskold, a 2 time founder, an angel investor, and the Managing Director of Techstars New York. Techstars is one of the most prominent startup accelerators in the world. Techstars make entrepreneurship accessible by opening doors to capital, mentorship, marketing, business development, customer acquisition, and talent recruitment. Like many accelerators, Tech Stars runs 13-week programs and also invests in its member companies. Today’s guest Alex Iskold founded GetGlue, which was acquired in 2013 and Information Laboratory which was acquired in 2003. Alex writes a great blog about startups and venture capital at alexiskold.net and you can follow him on twitter at @alexiskold.

In this week’s episode, Dave chats about foxes, hedgehogs and Columbia Lions with company builder and angel investor Amol Sarva. Amol co-founded several startups including Virgin Mobile USA, Peek, Halo Neuroscience, Knotable, BEMAVEN, Knotel, and he also built a building in New York called East of East. He studied cognitive science for his Ph.D. at Stanford with an undergraduate degree from Columbia. Amol blogs regularly at amol.sarva.co and you can see a list of his investments at sarva.co. His personal website is amolsarva.com.

John Frankel is the head of ff Venture Capital, an early-stage New York venture capital firm that includes some of the web’s hottest startups in its portfolio. Check out our Venture Studio Vault interview with Frankel to learn what motivates him as an investor, why he’s so attracted to early stage companies and his thoughts on where the next tech bubble will manifest. This interview was originally released on October 24, 2011.

Another edition of the Venture Studio Vault. In this interview from May 2011, Dave chats with the multi-talented Bo Peabody, co-founder of Village Ventures. Prior to Village Ventures, Bo co-founded and sold Tripod, the original social network. Bo was one of very few venture investors who was bullish on media and content in 2009/2010/2011, with founding experience or investments in Everyday Health (which is now public), Babble, VoodooVox and HealthGuru Media. Bo wrote a great book called “Lucky or Smart” in 2005, which is based on his experience at Tripod. To answer the “Lucky or smart” question for himself, Bo often says that he was “smart enough to realize he was getting lucky.” Today, Bo is a Venture Partner at Greycroft Partners, based in New York City.

Today we have another classic episode from the Venture Studio Vault. Originally recorded in May 2011, Dave interviewed Jeff Clavier, an angel investor who helped build the microVC ecosystem. Jeff is the founder of SoftTech VC, one of the pioneers in the recent boom of high-volume sub $100MM seed funds. SoftTechVC is based in the Bay Area but Jeff and his team spend a lot of time in NYC with their portfolio companies. At the time of this recording, SoftTechVC III had just launched, with a target of $35MM, but ultimately closed at $55MM. Today, SoftTechVC is investing out of its $85MM forth fund. One of SoftTechVC’s most notable investments to date is Fitbit, which went public in June 2015 with a market cap of $4.1BN billion. Today, Fitbit has a market cap north of $7.5BN.

In this episode, originally from May 2011, Dave interviewed Matt Harris, the co-founder of Village Ventures. Two companies that Dave and Matt discuss in this interview are BankSimple and On Deck Capital. Village Ventures lead Simple’s $2.9MM Series A Round in September 2010. In 2014, BBVA acquired Simple for $117MM. As for OnDeck Capital, Village Ventures participated in the Series A round in January 2006. OnDeck went public in December 2014 with a valuation of about $1.3BN. At the time of this recording, OnDeck had originated $130MM in loans. At IPO, it’s origination volume was up to $1.7BN. In 2012, Matt Harris joined Bain Capital Ventures, where he leads the New York office and focuses primarily on financial services investments.

Originally recorded in April 2011, in this episode Dave interviewed the CEO and co-founder of Thrillist, Ben Lerer. Dave and Ben talk about the founding story of Thrillist and its 2011 acquisition of JackThreads. Ben also discusses Lerer Ventures, a seed fund that he and his father started 2010. Now Lerer Hippeau Ventures, the fund has become one of the most active seed funds in New York. Some notable portfolio companies include MakerBot, Warby Parker, Refinery29, Plated, SailThru, Birchbox, Brit+Co, RebelMouse and Casper Mattresses.

Originally recorded in April 2011, in this episode, Dave interviewed David Tisch. At the time of the recording, David and his team had just completed Techstars New York’s first cycle - this interview took place two days after Techstars’ first demo day in New York at Webster Hall. Dave and David talk about the origins of Techstars New York, how to build a great accelerator class, and some of the most exciting companies from that first Techstars NYC class. David also discusses angel investing through his investment firm Box Group. At the time of the interview, Box Group had invested in 27 companies. Now, Box Group has become one of the most prolific New York-based seed investing firms, having backed over 150 companies including Warby Parker, Blue Apron, Class Pass, Harry’s, Handy, and Spring, which David co-founded. Box Group has some notable exits including Sunrise, Vine and Behance.

Lylan Masterman is General Partner at White Star Capital where he leads the New York office. In this episode, Masterman discusses White Stars history and his approach to venture capitol investments. Masterman has an impressive technical background that informs his work and makes him a dynamic figure in the venture investing world. We learn about the impressive companies White Star Capital has backed and how Masterman has meticulously crafted successful venture investment teams. He talks at length about the various responsibilities of Board Members, successful relationship building within the realm of venture investing, and the importance for startups to have a strong finance leader. It was an illuminating and inspiring conversation that I’m excited to share this week. Show Notes: -The benefits of Transatlantic Investment -How co-lead investments can lead to successful ventures -Where Whitestar Capital is focusing there investments -How digitization of finance has influenced their investments -What disruption of commerce is and how they pursue companies engaging in it -Why Whitestar Capital is interested in companies that work on sensor and algorithm technology -Why Masterman decided to invest in the KeyMe company -The importance of Whitestar’s most recent investments in Drop, Mnubo, and Unicast -How Masterman got into VC investing with an educational background in math and computer science -The importance of a high functioning team and what a founder should do to create a successful company -How to conduct effective board meetings and maintain a good relation with the COO and CFO -What a good board meeting schedule is and how to find a rhythm -What good internal dynamics of a VC team look like -The benefits of having complimentary skill sets on a VC team -How to maintain valuable relationships across industries and borders -The importance of evaluating companies based on their location -How diversity of specialization in startups can be related to region and urban center Links Mentioned: https://whitestarvc.com https://medium.com @christianhern https://www.key.me https://www.earnwithdrop.com https://mnubo.com https://www.unacast.com Quotes: “Part of our DNA since day one has been to be TransAtlantic.” - Lylan Masterman “If your product can be used by clients across all the countries of the world, why would you want to ignore that addressable market.” - Lylan Masterman “We’re not afraid to go out and be the lead, but we also enjoy having another valuable investor.” - Lylan Masterman “It should always be about the CEO owning the decisions.” - Lylan Masterman “At White Star we have chosen to really get complimentary skillsets.” - Lylan Masterman

A Norwegian native, Arne joined the FJ Labs team in the spring of 2016. He lived in San Francisco for 1.5 years, where he was director of global partnerships for Telenor and focused on business development with Google [x]. ===== arne@fjlabs.com fjlabs.com fjlabs.com/portfolio

This episode's guest is Wendy Xiao Schadeck of Northzone. Wendy joined Northzone in 2016. She has a particular interest for media, fintech, real estate tech, edtech, and blockchain, and specifically companies that connect the New York and European ecosystems. Prior to joining Northzone, Wendy worked at A. T. Kearney and Accenture, where she helped solve the toughest business problems for industry giants in financial services, CPG, retail, telecommunications, and transportation. === Northzone: www.northzone.com Wendy’s most recent blog post: http://northzone.com/blockchains-4-biggest-assumptions/ Tim Ferriss Podcast with Nick Szabo & Naval Ravikant: www.tim.blog/2017/06/04/nick-szabo/ Steemit: www.steemit.com