LA Venture

More growth rounds in 2024! Avery Rosin is writing $50-300M checks for Lead Edge Capital. He thinks PE firms are going to continue being acquisitive, companies are going to reorient around the Rule of 40 and more reasons for his optimism.

Have VCs overreacted against investing in consumer? Shamin Walsh has a 10x fund and numerous case studies to show that consumer can provide huge returns when done right. Shamin shares how to win when investing in consumer (eg: invest in a cat litter company that raises $1.5M and exits for $500M!!)

Michael Tubbs gained national prominence when he became the youngest mayor of any major American city at age 26. He was a hero of the universal basic income movement until he suddenly lost reelection. Listen to his lessons learned and think about what you're willing to stick your neck out and lose for. Tubbs is now investing out of Tubbs Ventures, where he focuses on government technology and solving fundamental societal problems.

Josh Resnick is the co-founder of candy brand Sugarfina, where he sold very expensive gummy bears that made people happy. Before Sugarfina, he sold his video game developer Pandemic Studios for $860M. He is now a General Partner at OpenSky Ventures where he invests in the future of commerce and helps founders avoid pitfalls of growing too fast--adding SKUs too quickly, not having a handle on business data, overspending on legal and other lessons he's learned from his founder and angel investing journey.

Kunal Tandon was running a family business importing paper and metal before cold calling his way into venture capital. Previously at Collaborative Fund, Kunal is now investing out of El Cap Fund II with his partner and former NFL player Stewart Bradley.

Scott Nolan tells us what he thinks about the Elon-haters and how Founders Fund is unique in their investing approach. Scott, a partner at Founders Fund, has been there 12 years and was one of the first hires at SpaceX.

From fleeing revolution at 14 to shaping the future of B2B SaaS investments, Ivan's journey is nothing short of inspirational. Uncover secrets to startup success and the art of building a vibrant venture community.

FirstLook Partners is a hybrid fund of funds actively investing in funds under $50M. Josh Porter, co-founder of FirstLook, explains why he thinks smaller funds make the best investment opportunities. Josh has seen hundreds of decks and digs in on how to evaluate funds and his unique approach to co-investments.

Can you live to be 150!? Our podcast guest Will Weisman thinks so! Explore the realm where future tech intertwines with the quest for immortality. From his start as a couch-surfing entrepreneur to Executive Director of Singularity University to founder of KittyHawk Ventures. Predicting a world where immortality is possible, this episode dives into the cutting edge of longevity, the power of psychedelics, and reimagining our lifetimes. Tune in for an inspiring journey into tomorrow!

Scott Hartley shares what we get wrong about college degrees, how to identify and test founders and why seemingly disparate interests create innovation. Scott is the co-founder of Everywhere Ventures and Two Culture Capital, two global VC funds, a best-selling author and a team member on the Council on Foreign Relations. He has invested in >300 portfolio companies and gives heaps of tactical investing advice, thoughts from his book and some of the best lessons from his mentors.

Unveil the truth about early stage funding and candid startup journeys with Sydney Thomas from Symphonic Capital. Tune in to learn more about: *Sydney's journey from Precursor to Symphonic Capital *Dive into the benefits of a long-term view in pre-seed funding *Discover the power of direct and candid feedback in entrepreneurship and more!

Brian Frank talks about how everything in the food system can be improved, and how VCs are investing with a technology lens instead of a problem solving perspective. Tune in to learn more about: *The biggest opportunities ahead in the food system *Evolution of replacing animal protein, including synthetic biology *How Brian is perfectly positioned to help the next generation of founders in the industry

Adrian Fenty has a fascinating perspective as founding managing partner at MaC Venture Capital and former mayor of Washington, DC. In this episode, Adrian dives into the intersections of government and technology, including: * Why governments should be run more like tech companies * Why governments are critical for real change (including insights from his massive educational reform in Washington, DC) * How VC is both art and science

Brett Queener from Bonfire spends 20-30 hours onboarding each of his companies and shares some of his playbook and rules of thumb. I like a lot of his operational tips: * Founders should stay involved in sales (at the seed stage) * Seed companies should hire mechanics not scalers * 20% of employees should be quota carrying * Revenue growth is tied to the number of productive sales reps hired * And many more insights from his 13 years as an executive at Salesforce

Katelyn Foley is the President of UP.Labs, a venture lab that builds SaaS companies in partnership with large corporations. Katelyn was previously a partner at BCG Digital Ventures. Follow Katelyn Foley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katelynfoley/ Follow Minnie Ingersoll: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mingersoll/ In this episode, you will learn: (1:03) How Katelyn has created 15 businesses in 8 years. (2:57) What about the studio model Katelyn changed when coming to UP.Labs (4:00) How Katelyn selects a strategic problem to build a business around. (6:49) Why startups should not be doing digital transformation work. (8:20) Why public companies struggle to incubate new businesses. (10:00) Why opportunities exist where high value and high friction meet. (11:59) In SaaS, you want to augment decisions that already happen. (14:04) Intelligence augmentation is the buzzword. (17:04) Where opportunity exists for OEMs while the industry shifts to EV. (21:30) How Katelyn sources new opportunities. (23:18) Katelyn’s opinion of CVCs. (27:27): Why businesses developed by UP.Labs only need seed funding. Available on: Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Past Conversations and Transcripts available at: tenoneten.net/podcasts Follow the LA Venture podcast: https://twitter.com/TenOne10 Want episodes in your inbox? Share your email at tenoneten.net/podcast

March Capital was investing in generative AI long before ChatGPT went mainstream. In today's episode, we talk with Partner Wes Nichols, who has brought his 30 years of analytics and AI experience as an investor and entrepreneur to help March Capital with this area of focus. Wes is an industry authority in predictive analytics, marketing, AI/machine learning, and digital transformation. He authored the Harvard Business Review cover story, Analytics 2.0, on next-generation analytics to drive more predictive decision-making, with a follow-up article underway currently. A two-time entrepreneur, Wes has created high profile analytics software companies. Most recently, Wes was co-founder and CEO of MarketShare, which had a $450 million exit to Neustar. Prior to that, he was the founder and CEO of Direct Partners, one of the industry’s first data-driven analytics and CRM companies, which was acquired by Omnicom Group. In summary, he's one of the founders who really put LA on the map and set the foundation of LA Tech. Episode Details: (0:54): Wes’ entrepreneurial background (4:01): Creating one of the first digital marketing companies (8:10): What makes a VC valuable to an entrepreneur (10:15): From angel to full-time investor at March Capital (13:10): Comparing vertical vs horizontal applications of AI (15:33): Positive applications of data and sentiment analysis (17:45): What the military optimizes for (19:38): Joining the LAPD Reserve Police Officer Program (25:45): Why being an entrepreneur helps Wes be a better board member Follow Wes Nichols: https://twitter.com/wesnichols Follow Minnie Ingersoll: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mingersoll/ Follow the LA Venture podcast: https://twitter.com/TenOne10 https://www.instagram.com/ten.one.ten/ Explore other LA Venture episodes: https://www.tenoneten.net/podcast

Will Coffield is a co-founder and General Partner at Riot Ventures, a hard tech fund that invests at seed and Series B. In this episode Will shares:

Galen Shaffer is a Senior Vice President at Eos Venture Partners, a Series A fund, investing in the future of insurance. In this episode Galen shares: - Why cyber insurance is a $30B opportunity for startups. - What the first wave of D2C insurance startups got wrong. - Why novel data is often not impactful data.

Carl Fritjofsson is a Partner at Creandum, one of Europe's leading VC firms. In this episode Carl shares:

Aaron Samuels tells us about investing in intersectional founders, he explains what identity saliency is to Minnie and he shares how he and Brian Hollins were able to parlay their scout investing into $66M Collide Fund I.