As an immigrant from Iran, Pejman did not take the typical path towards becoming a VC. After arriving in the U.S., he lived in an attic above a yogurt shop and then worked at a rug store in downtown Palo Alto. He immersed himself in the vanguard of technology and slowly, with a few small investments, developed a reputation for both identifying talent and taking promising ideas to the next level.

Pejman lives in California with his wife, Mania, and their two children. He was included in the Forbes Midas List in 2021 and 2022 and ranked #1 in the U.S. (#2 in the world) on the Forbes Midas Seed List in 2022.

Website: Pear VC

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/pejman/

Twitter: @pejmannozad

Email: pejman@pear.vc

Show Notes:

• Pejman’s fascinating background and journey from Iranian soccer player to carwash and yogurt shop employee to rug salesman to investor
• Where Pejman derives his impressive work ethic
• What compelled Pejman to capitalize on the opportunity to transition from rug salesman to venture capitalist
• What makes a great sales person
• How Pejman was able to break into the industry and establish himself as a great investor and partner
• Fostering authentic connection in an over-networked society
• Building Pear as an institution to serve founders at the earliest stages
• Taking 4 years to convince Mar Hershenson to partner with him and start a fund together
• The process of raising their first fund while building community at Stanford
• What differentiates Pear
• Pear’s model and building their platform
• Pejman’s big vision for Pear
• What they look for in founders at Pear
• Why he prefers to get to know founders in person before investing in them
• What drives Pejman today
• What makes Pear a great partner

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Gale is the Founder and Managing Partner at VITALIZE, a seed-stage venture fund and angel community investing in The Work Revolution. Previously, Gale founded IrishAngels, one of the largest angel groups in the world. She has led $65M+ in early-stage deals across 80+ startups. Her experience prior to VC includes founding two failed startups, consulting for new product launches with Nielsen, and strategy with Orbitz. Gale received a BBA with honors from Notre Dame and an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She was a founding Board member of the C200 Scholars Network, and she is currently a founding Board member of Chicago Blend, an organization focused on increasing diversity in VC and startups.

Andrew Gazdecki is the Founder and CEO of Acquire (previously MicroAcquire), a founder-friendly startup acquisition marketplace. Acquire aims to consolidate the fragmented acquisition market by giving founders and entrepreneurs a single convenient marketplace to meet, coordinate, and close acquisitions. They provide free and instant access to trusted and vetted buyers with total anonymity and are on a mission to turn founder journeys into success stories and foster the next generation of entrepreneurs. They have more than 100,000 registered buyers, more than 2,000 companies listed for sale, and has facilitated more than 500 deals with a combined value of more than $200 million. Andrew has been an entrepreneur for longer than he can remember. He likes to build stuff, mostly companies, and try to tell a story that goes beyond what the company does to how it’s changing markets. Prior to founding MicroAcquire, he started two companies, Bizness Apps and Altcoin.io, both acquired. He’s been featured in NYT, Forbes, WSJ, Inc.com, and Entrepreneur Magazine, as well as prominent industry blogs such as Mashable, TechCrunch and VentureBeat.

Connect with Andrew Gazdecki:

Website: Acquire (previously MicroAcquire)

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/agazdecki/

Twitter: @agazdecki

Connect with Gale Wilkinson:
Website: VITALIZE Venture Capital 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/galevc/

Twitter: @galeforceVC

VITALIZE Newsletter: Re:VITALIZE

VITALIZE Angel Investing Community: VITALIZE Angels

Show Notes:

• Andrew’s pitch to Elon Musk to get the @acquire Twitter handle for his company’s re-brand
• Gale and Andrew’s thoughts on Elon’s takeover of Twitter
• How Andrew stays positive and motivational on Twitter
• ChatGPT, AI as the next tech frontier, and the challenge of differentiating generative content
• The danger of deep fakes
• The opportunities they see for the future of AI
• Acquire’s potential
• Valuation & acquisition trends and predictions in VC
• Their take on the FTX collapse
• Trends Gale, Andrew, and Justin are excited about in 2023

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Lisa has spent the last decade as an active investor focused on consumer businesses with a particular interest in supporting women-led entrepreneurial ventures. Previously, she co-founded VitalJuice.com, a daily email newsletter on healthy living tips and trends that was acquired by Tasting Table. She also helped build and launch Portero, an online luxury goods auction platform sold to Richemont. Lisa chairs the Investor Group of the Leadership Now Project, a membership organization of business professionals committed to renewing democracy. She is a founding member and leader of the TIME’S UP Care Economy Business Council, a coalition of business leaders and companies committed to building a new American care economy, empowering caregivers, and championing gender equality throughout their workforce. She is a Board Member of The New York Public Library, KIPP New York, and Mt. Sinai’s Parenting Center. 

Amanda has been actively investing in early stage consumer companies for the last decade, drawing on her experience as an institutional investor and entrepreneur. Previously, Amanda was the co-founder of Videolicious, an enterprise video creation platform backed by Amazon, and served as its President until it was acquired by Squarespace (NYSE:SQSP). Under Amanda’s leadership, Videolicious grew to over 5 million users in 103 countries, including Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, Walmart, SAP, Verizon and GE. Prior to forming Videolicious, Amanda was a founding partner of Capitol Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) that completed a $265 million initial public offering and became Two Harbors Investment Corp., a $3 billion REIT (NYSE:TWO). TWO grew to over $5 billion of market capitalization (including a spin-off). Amanda began her career in private equity and mergers and acquisitions. Amanda serves on the Board of Directors of the Melanoma Research Alliance and is a member of the Tech:NYC Leadership Council. 

Website: Able Partners

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lisa-jacobs-blau-8284133/ & linkedin.com/in/amanda-eilian-13025b6/

Twitter: @ablepartnersnyc

Email: info@ablepartners.nyc

Show Notes:

• Able Partners’ focus and investment thesis
• Investing in primarily women-led companies
• Why Lisa and Amanda chose to make the jump from founder to investor
• Able Partners’ strong thesis around the wellness gap and some of their investments that embody this
• Deal flow at a very thesis-driven fund
• Important soft skills successful founders need to have
• Trusting your gut on founder red flags
• The power of thoughtful brand building
• The importance of creative connection and community in today’s world
• How to diversify the VC asset class and startup ecosystem

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Jenny is a 2x entrepreneur and knows how challenging it is to build great products, inspire a team, and keep the lights on. She spends her time working to surround founders with the resources they need to survive + thrive. She has been the first check into 200+ startups including: Chainalysis, Alloy, Latch, Tempo Automation, Headway, Supergreat, Dash, Contra, Particle Health, Bloomscape, Simple Health, Pair Eyewear, Solo Funds, Halp, Minded, Rupa Health, Morty, Wagmo, Smarthop, Solid, PathSpot, Remesh, Cube, OnePipe, Union Crate, Season, Parsley Health and many more. She is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University where she spent many years as a student.

Website: The Fund
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jennyfielding/
Twitter: @jefielding
Email: J@thefund.vc

Show Notes:

• What Jenny is working on today at The Fund and their “by founders for founders” model
• The logistics of expanding to ten cities and deciding where to launch
• The Fund’s structure and the strategy behind it
• The evolution of The Fund’s growth from fund I to fund III
• The Fund’s investment thesis
• Their portfolio-to-portfolio model and how they’re approaching growth strategically
• How they leverage their diverse community to execute diligence
• The Fund’s venture partners
• What distinguishes good CEOs from great CEOs
• Jenny’s thoughts on valuations in the current 2022 market
• Jenny’s advice for becoming a better investor
• Innovation in highly regulated industries
• Trends Jenny is excited about in the Future of Work
• The value of in-person activity and events
• Merging the experiences of being a founder and investor as a GP at a micro fund

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Previously, Gale founded IrishAngels, one of the largest angel groups in the world. She has led $65M+ in early-stage deals across 80+ startups. Her experience prior to VC includes founding two failed startups, consulting for new product launches with Nielsen, and strategy with Orbitz. Gale received a BBA with honors from Notre Dame and an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She was a founding Board member of the C200 Scholars Network, and she is currently a founding Board member of Chicago Blend, an organization focused on increasing diversity in VC and startups.

Website: VITALIZE Venture Capital 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/galevc/

Twitter: @galeforceVC

VITALIZE Newsletter: Re:VITALIZE

VITALIZE Angel Investing Community: VITALIZE Angels

Show Notes:

• What Gale looks to get out of initial founder calls
• Gale’s secret to running founder calls
• The general script Gale uses and how she tailors it contextually
• What helps founders stand out
• How Gale takes notes during the call
• Gale’s mindset in initial evaluation of founders and the process for a founder to make it through to diligence
• How these calls differ for Gale as a VC fund manager vs as an angel investor
• Behavioral red flags from founders
• How Gale has adjusted to remote founder calls
• Process and company red flags to look out for
• Factors to consider when determining ownership terms
• How founders/investors should prepare for calls with investors/LPs
• The importance of showing up authentically
• Gale’s thoughts on giving feedback on calls
• What founders should ask VCs

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Prior to joining Venrock, Richard was an investor at Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), where he focused on identifying and evaluating later-stage investments. While at IVP, Richard worked with IVP portfolio companies such as Dropbox, FleetMatics, PopSugar, Shazam, and Yext. Previously, Richard worked in the Investment Banking Division of Credit Suisse. 

Richard is a proud Georgetown alum and is a rabid Hoyas basketball fan. He is also the founder of Stealth Mode, a community of more than 1,500 African American founders, operators and investors.

Website: Equal Ventures

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/richardkerby/

Twitter: @kerby

Email: kerby@equal.vc

Show Notes:

• Equal Ventures' investment thesis and the strategy behind being generalists
• Deciding to start a fund instead of joining an existing one
• Richard’s key learnings as an emerging manager
• What being hands-on with their founders means at Equal Ventures
• Their all “hands on deck” approach to building the Equal Ventures team
• Running the Emerging Managers Circle and deciding to host summits
• Trends Richard is excited about
• Richard’s view on remote vs. in-person
• How Equal Ventures evaluates founders
• Richard’s advice for emerging managers

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Enklu’s mission is to empower creators with transparent technology. Ray believes in a future where technology fades into the background and people can become more present with each other and their environment.

Ray is an entrepreneur, startup advisor, patent author, featured artist, and public speaker at universities such USC, Stanford, and MIT.

Website: Enklu

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/raykallmeyer/

Twitter: @ExperienceEnklu

Show Notes:

• Enklu and its origin story that stems back to Ray’s childhood
• Why Ray chose entrepreneurship
• The “reality distortion field” and building innovative technology
• Identifying Enklu’s ideal customer profile and use cases
• The realities of how the metaverse and AR will impact the future of work and the world
• Enklu’s big vision

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

They are a remote-first company whose 20+ employees span four continents. Their team is made up of engineers, designers, inventors, entrepreneurs and security experts – from leading organizations like Google, Bridgewater, Nanit, Airbnb, Casper, Recombine and others. They’re building both an inclusive product and an inclusive team that celebrates diverse cultures and backgrounds. 

Andrew’s inspiration is to apply new technology to build products that can touch millions of people in ways that were impossible before. He is also the founder of Nanit, the first camera to track human behavior (the leading baby monitor), an experienced investor from seed to LBO stages (Silicon Valley, NY and other markets), and an active and experienced angel investor (with investments in SaaS, Security, Healthcare, Consumer and CV/AI).

Website: Vowel

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aberman/

Twitter: @berman66

Use coupon code: JUSTGOGRIND for 3 months free of unlimited seats on Vowel’s
Pro plan (monthly only)!

Show Notes:

• How Vowel is creating instant searchable, shareable knowledge through a modern video conferencing tool
• Andy’s journey to founding Vowel
• How the idea for Vowel stemmed from Nanit’s pain points as a distributed team
• Early distribution and organic growth through Twitter
• How Vowel’s original use-cases have expanded naturally and leaning into user-led product development
• Giving their users a 10x improved media experience through their next generation video platform
• The challenges of building Vowel
• Recruiting the original founding team
• Building remote-first company culture
• The fundraising process and Vowel’s powerful cap table of operator- angel investors
• How to vet investors
• Their B2B growth strategy
• Developing their freemium business model
• How they view competition and taking on legacy brands
• Learnings as a multi-time founder and former VC
• What motivates Andy to challenge the status quo and build innovative companies
• Andy’s thoughts on the future of work and running remote teams
• Snagging the vowel.com domain name

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Matt Cohen is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist focused on early-stage technology. He knows the risk entrepreneurs take when starting a company, and understands what helps them succeed at the earliest stage. He has hands-on experience in selling enterprise SaaS solutions to the top financial institutions globally, and sees the importance of working with trusted advisors and partners early to help scale a business faster.

Website: Ripple Ventures

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1/

Twitter: @mattybcohen

Podcast: Tank Talks

Show Notes:

• How the many facets of Ripple were developed
• How to build resilient companies
• The decision to build The Tank – a physical incubator space
• How the pandemic impacted The Tank
• How Matt is supporting their founders with mental health
• Building strong infrastructure to withstand unstable markets
• Transparency in their relationship with LPs
• Their concentrated portfolio and deployment strategy through Fund III
• Their Ripple Fellowship Program to support underrepresented founders and future funders
• Matt’s perspective on the future of Web3
• Matt’s family office and how he began investing as an LP

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Brandon has partnered with organizations such as the Pittsburgh Steelers and Players Coalition on various social justice initiatives. With his experience as a bootstrapped tech founder, he looks to share his experiences and insights with other overlooked founders so their startups can excel. Keep an eye out for Brandon’s next project, to be announced in 2023!

Website: Overlooked Ventures

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/inventrify/

Twitter: @OfficialBBrooks
Email: brooks@zinsu.co

Show Notes:

• How Brandon is serving founders in the ecosystem through Inventrify, the first black-owned crowdfunding platform in U.S. and Overlooked Ventures, which he founded with Janine Sickmeyer
• Why Brandon feels a responsibility to solve the problems he’s tackling
• How Brandon’s community approach to venture stems from his upbringing
• The early days of launching Overlooked Ventures
• The role audio spaces played in enabling Brandon to build a network and being a very early Clubhouse user
• Developing the thesis for Overlooked Ventures and discovering their value-add as investors
• Making the democratization of VC a reality by intentionally not taking warm intros
• How Brandon found direction for his next project and how he stays true to his vision and beliefs
• How to handle difficult conversations
• How Brandon is approaching things differently as he builds his newest venture

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Rachel Cossar is a leader in the field of nonverbal communication and leadership presence facilitation. As a former nationally ranked athlete and professional ballet dancer, Rachel has a knack for translating unique skills into relatable business competencies. Virtual Sapiens, Rachel's most recent venture, comes as an evolution of her combined work as founder of Choreography for Business, a nonverbal communication consulting firm, as well as a faculty member with Mobius Executive Leadership and as a leadership presence facilitator with Ariel Group. Rachel has worked with leaders from GE, BCG, Pfizer, Accenture, McKinsey, HBS and more.

Rachel believes in the power of leveraging unique channels of communication in their own ways. Whether it is in person, on stage, or on video, human connection is the key to organizational impact. At Virtual Sapiens and in all endeavors, Rachel is known to lean in to the future, to uncertainty, and to strengthening human experiences in business and beyond. Rachel's thought leadership has been featured on the TEDx Northeastern stage, Harvard Business Review, The Boston Globe, Psychology Today and more.

Website: Virtual Sapiens

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rachel-cossar/

Twitter: @rachelonpointe

Show Notes:

• What Virtual Sapiens is
• Rachel’s background as a professional ballet dancer and how it led her to found Virtual Sapiens
• How Rachel leveraged the pandemic transition to a virtual world to get Virtual Sapiens off the ground
• The question of bringing on a technical cofounder vs. outsourcing
• How Rachel connected with her technical co-founder, and deciding to work together
• Product development from original vision to today
• How early feedback provided validation and informed product development
• Their ideal customer and how that profile shifted since inception
• How Rachel envisions Virtual Sapiens fitting into the Future of Work
• The decision to go through an accelerator and choosing the Roux Institute chapter of Techstars
• Virtual Sapiens’ business model and pricing strategy
• Lessons from the first 2 years of running a tech startup
• The big vision for Virtual Sapiens

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

M13 is building a team of industry-leading operating executives to help founders make better decisions and win in their category. They believe founders deserve an investor who propels them on their mission of transforming an idea into a successful company, while staying out of their way. This is why they are building a Venture Engine, a full-service venture firm that provides the right people, platform, and partnerships for founding teams to build high-velocity businesses. M13 injects capital to fuel high-growth, while helping founding teams fill gaps in their businesses through their Propulsion Team, which provides strategic counsel, operational expertise, and a constellation of talent, experts, and resources to accelerate growth. Where they see whitespace in an industry, their Launchpad develops the right founding teams, products, and practices to incubate and launch an idea from inception.

An investing partner at M13, Anna is focused on Series A and seed. Previously, she was the managing director of Techstars LA and also a partner in The Fund LA. A certified executive coach, Anna has been a corporate lawyer, McKinsey consultant, product exec, talent manager, film producer, round-the-world traveler and outdoor adventurer. As an entrepreneur, she has been a founder, co-founder and early employee at e-commerce, media and ed tech startups. She serves on the Advisory Board of PledgeLA and is a member of AllRaise.

Website: M13

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annawbarber/

Twitter: @annawbarber

Show Notes:

• M13’s investment focus
• Anna’s path to becoming a partner at M13
• The learning process and adjustment from investing at pre-seed and early stage to Series A
• How M13’s studio arm, Launchpad, supports their core investing strategy
• M13’s structure and Launchpad’s unique incubation strategy
• Areas Anna is excited about investing in and some of her recent investments (including AllVoices, Northstar and WeeCare)
• Anna’s reflections on tech for working mothers
• Anna’s insights on how Gen Z trends will affect the future of work and commerce
• How Anna approaches supporting founders
• The M13 team’s Propulsion model of portfolio support
• Anna’s experience creating community and inclusion through The Fund LA and Pledge LA and LA Tech Week
• Evaluating founders for Series A investments at M13
• Anna’s fascinating Air Guitar era
• How Anna embodies her mom’s fierceness

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

After having her son Asher in 2015, Allison identified how universally challenging it can be for American mothers to juggle the demands of motherhood with a full-time career and decided to tackle the issue on a national scale. Prior to founding The Mom Project, Allison spent 7 years at Procter and Gamble working on go-to-market strategies for leading household brands with a special focus on moms during her tenure on the Pampers brand.

Website: The Mom Project

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/allison-m-robinson/

Twitter: @mrsrobinson_a

Email: allison.robinson@themomproject.com

Show Notes:

• How The Mom Project is connecting talented women with world-class employers as a marketplace matchmaker and their growth plans for the future
• Allison’s journey from joining Procter & Gamble at the age of 19 to founding The Mom Project
• The customer discovery process and steps Allison took to build an MVP
• Deciding to partner with an agency to build their product
• Leveraging their mission to pitch and onboard companies for The Mom Project’s marketplace
• From bootstrapping to VC fundraising
• What has fueled The Mom Project’s growth
• Their three-pronged go-to-market strategy and scaling by minimizing friction
• Developing their business model
• What moms want from work
• The pandemic’s impact on working moms and how it further validated The Mom Project’s mission
• Acquiring Werk and Glassbreaker and how they approached integration
• Launching their 501c3 Rise to elevate women of color
• The platform’s user experience for moms
• How they’ve solved the supply-demand matching challenge by strategically engaging moms beyond job placement
• Building out The Mom Project’s team
• How Allison’s role as CEO and founder has evolved since the early days
• Allison’s view on the Future of Work, particularly for moms
• How she views the potential of the creator economy
• How Allison stays inspired

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Deciens Capital exclusively focuses on financial technology investments with interests in payments, lending, insurance, regtech, risk management, capital markets, trade finance, personal finance, savings, marketplaces, and much more. They seek visionary founders at the earliest stage of their company's life. They support their founders with advice, expertise, relationships, and, yes, capital.

Dan Kimerling is a start-up veteran with three exits, an angel with 30+ deals, an experienced GP, LP, and CxO. He is focused on the future of Financial Services in the US and abroad. Educated at the University of Chicago, YCombinator, and Kauffman Fellows.

Website: Deciens

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dkimerling/

Twitter: @dkimerling

Show Notes:

• Deciens’ investment thesis
• How hard criteria, soft criteria, and timing must align to get a yes from Deciens
• Why leading deals is key to their thesis
• The reality of the transition from angel investing to running a fund
• The parallels between enterprise sales and raising a fund
• The challenge of how to market Deciens authentically and learning to tell their story engagingly
• Deciens’ Venture Partner role dedicated to capital partnerships and capital formation
• The importance of partnering a great product with successful sales marketing as a VC fund
• How Dan’s experience as a founder/operator has influenced how he works with founders as an investor
• Common failure patterns among VC funds
• Deciens’ investment in Sydecar
• Key traits to look for in a founder
• Deciens’ investment in Chipper Cash
• What’s next for Deciens

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

In 2020, Franklin led the launch of Venture Forward, NVCA’s connected organization which drives the industry’s human capital by promoting a strong, diverse, and inclusive venture community that will fuel the economy of tomorrow. Through its VC University program, Venture Forward has educated more than 1500 aspiring and early career VCs, many from historically underrepresented communities.

In 2022, he started hosting NVCA’s first-ever podcast called Venture Capitol. The show provides listeners a unique look at public policy through the eyes of America’s venture capitalists who are investing in the high growth companies of tomorrow. The podcast brings together VCs, policymakers, and policy influencers to discuss and debate issues that impact our nation’s economic future.

Prior to joining NVCA, Franklin spent ten years at CTIA, representing the entire wireless industry. Before CTIA, he served as Vice President, Federal Government Affairs and head of Alltel’s Washington, D.C. office. Franklin began his professional career with eight years of experience on Capitol Hill working for Senator David Pryor (D-AR). Franklin earned his B.S.B.A. in Finance and Banking from the University of Arkansas. He and his wife, Julia, have three young adults and reside in Arlington, VA.
 
Websites: NVCA & Venture Forward
NVCA's Podcast hosted by Bobby: Venture Capitol
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bfranklindc/
Twitter: @nvca
 
Show Notes:

• NVCA: lobbyists for the entrepreneurial ecosystem
• Recent policy trends and updates affecting the VC/startup ecosystem and the potential impact they’ll have
• NVCA membership as a resource for keeping up with VC policy changes
• How NVCA determines which policies to prioritize and the balance between playing offensively and defensively in policymaking
• Where NVCA is currently focusing their energy and what changes Bobby wants to see in the industry
• How Venture Forward is diversifying the industry by democratizing access to information and education about being a VC
• The 2022 VC Human Capital Survey as the definitive resource on VC demographics
• Bobby’s thoughts on the LP-GP dynamic and the long game nature of the industry
• The challenge of policy-makers’ disconnect from the VC industry
• Bobby’s observations from a decade in VC policy
• What can be done to advance the industry beyond the JOBS Act
• Industry trends Bobby is excited about
• Why you need to pay attention to and engage with VC policy-making

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Abstract is a VITALIZE portfolio company that recently raised $2.5M from several notable investors, on their thesis of becoming the gateway for understanding messy government data. 

Website: Abstract

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/patrick-utz/

Twitter: @PatrickUtz

Show Notes:

• How Abstract is increasing government transparency
• Abstract’s origin story as a university senior project
• The evolution of Abstract’s product development
• Leaning into their mission to get an alumni from their university to build Abstract’s front-end for free
• Early customer acquisition through cold outreach
• Determining their ideal customer base and what Patrick would have done differently
• Securing funding after 60+ rejections: all while still attending university
• Defining their early north star metric
• How they run pilot programs to construct a product road map
• Structuring Abstract’s business model and the dark art of pricing
• The huge market opportunity for Abstract
• What puts Abstract above their competition
• Hiring to elevate not to delegate, and leveraging their mission to win over tech talent
• What’s next for Abstract
• The decision to build a mobile app
• The big vision for Abstract

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Zach has 7+ years of experience in e-commerce and gaming technologies, and is a second-time founder. He is a product manager by trade, and a self-taught developer.

Website: Deft

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hudsonzp/

Twitter: @nosduhz

Show Notes:

• How Deft is enabling trustworthy e-commerce searches
• The evolution of Deft’s product over the last 2 years (since their presentation to Tyler Cowen)
• Zach’s background and how he teamed up with co-founder Alex Gunnarson
• Narrowing down their target and why they started in the furniture and home decor category
• Early customer discovery and product development via their “Wizard of Oz” approach
• How they drove early customer acquisition via organic communities
• From non-scalable acquisition strategies to the diversification of channels
• The challenges and complexities of indexing products
• The evolution of Deft’s business model
• Determining where to establish a paywall for their product
• Taking on Amazon and Google, and what differentiates Deft
• How they vet investors
• Establishing roles and responsibilities as co-founders
• How being data driven fuels their growth
• Which metrics they value most
• Creating stickiness in their product
• What’s next for Deft
• Developing a browser extension and making UX effortless

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Marlon is a Kauffman Fellow who also serves on the Board of Directors. Prior to MaC Venture Capital, Marlon was founder of Cross Culture Ventures and served as Investment Director at Intel Capital. Marlon has an extensive background in technology, private equity, media and entertainment. His unique eye for global and cultural trends, along with shifts in consumer behavior, has helped him uplift and accelerate entrepreneurs and companies that are on the verge of their breakthrough moment. Some of his current and previous portfolio companies include Blavity, Gimlet Media, LISNR, Mayvenn, MongoDB, PlayVS, Pipe, Thrive Market and Wonderschool, among others.

Marlon was recently honored as a member of the 2022 class of the LA500 list and as a top early stage investor on Insider’s 2022 Seed 100 list. Additionally, he is the recipient of MVMT50’s SXSW 2018 Innovator of the Year award, Digital Diversity’s Innovation & Inclusion Change Agent award and was a TechWeek 100 winner. He was named Pitchbook’s 25 Black Founders and VCs to Watch in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and one of Silicon Republic's 26 VC professionals spearheading change. Marlon has been featured on TechCrunch, Fortune, Cheddar, MSNBC, Blavity and NBC, and is adjunct faculty in entrepreneurship and venture capital at the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University.

Website: MaC Venture Capital

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marloncnichols/

Twitter: @MarlonCNichols

Marlon on the Just Go Grind Podcast in March 2021: Episode #285 on JGG

Show Notes:

• What enabled MaC Venture Capital to double their first raise, closing a $203M Fund II
• The value of a strong reserves strategy
• MaC Venture Capital’s investment in Pipe, which transforms recurring revenue into up-front capital for growth without dilution or restrictive debt
• The story behind MaC Venture Capital’s investment in Truebill, now Rocket Money (check out Co-Founder Haroon Mokhtarzada’s episode on the Just Go Grind podcast)
• What makes a stellar founder
• How they ended up investing in Mahmee and what makes their founder Melissa Hanna such an investable founder
• Where Marlon is excited to invest next
• How Marlon educates himself on new geographies and markets
• Marlon’s perspective on investing in the current market downturn

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Shruti brings a strong mix of operating and investing experience. She spent her early career as a developer on mainframe security, collaboration tools, and data analytics. Post engineering, she was an early stage venture capital investor at True Ventures, Samsung Electronics, Lightbank, HighBAR Partners, and the i2A Fund. She is also professor in the Computer Science department at Columbia University.

Website: Array Ventures

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shrutigandhi/

Twitter: @atShruti

Show Notes:

• Array Ventures’ investment focus
• How a failed company led Shruti to found Array Ventures and determine their thesis
• Raising a fund as a solo female GP back in 2015 and her early pitch to investors
• Investing in solutions that solve agitating pain points in enterprise tech stacks
• What founders can expect with Array on their cap table
• How Shruti’s extensive background impacts where she invests
• Signals that Shruti looks for to identify breakout companies at a very early stage, such as Placer.ai
• The complexities around being a solo GP
• How raising Fund III differed from the first two
• Growing the Array Ventures team after raising a $56M Fund III
• Array Ventures’ portfolio construction and ownership targets
• The impact Shruti has personally felt with the increasing number of women in VC
• How Shruti views trends and evaluates innovation in enterprise software
• Shruti’s unique view on remote work
• How Shruti manages her mental wellbeing
• Balancing the many stakeholders in VC

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Peter Barba played Division 1 basketball in college and left his job in investment banking to attend Antler’s disruptive startup builder in Oslo, Norway, where he met his co-founder. He is passionate about climate technology, electric vehicles, blockchain, and building businesses. 

Zygi Zabieta loves innovation, EVs, blockchain, renewables, politics, and sustainable planning. He is also a public speaker, host & co-founder of Impact Meetups Vilnius, Community Champion for Nordics and Baltics at WEF Global Shapers, and got his Master of Science degree in Environmental Management & Policy at Lund University (IIIEE).

Website: Lectrium

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/peter-barba/ and linkedin.com/in/zabieta/

Twitter: @pbarba_22 and @zzabieta

Show Notes:

• How Lectrium is making U.S. homes EV-ready
• Lectrium’s origin story
• How they ended up at the Antler accelerator
• How Peter and Zygi met at Antler, bonded, and decided to work together
• The evolution of Lectrium during the Antler program—how a bad idea became the goldmine
• What customer discovery looked like for Lectrium
• Product development and using no-code tools (Zyro and Typeform) for initial building
• Getting their first paying customers
• Lectrium’s business model and customer acquisition
• Bottom-up vs. top-down dealership acquisition strategies
• How they’re approaching growth in these early stages
• How new U.S. public EV charging mandates could affect Lectrium
• The argument for residential vs. public EV charging
• The potential for partnering with auto-manufacturers directly
• Onboarding electricians and their role in Lectrium’s success
• How they’re approaching brand recognition and marketing, and startup showers as the new baby showers
• How they’re managing a distributed team across time zones
• Their execution plan to succeed as market leaders in the next few years

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Jesse Randall originally set out to raise a traditional venture fund, but immediately raised an eyebrow at the accredited investor requirement. Is that really still necessary? The Sweater Ventures team is hell-bent on leveling the playing field and reinventing venture capital to reach its maximum potential. That starts by creating a venture capital fund that anyone can invest in.

Website: Sweater Ventures

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/deviantstrat/

Twitter: @SweaterCEO

Show Notes:

• How Sweater Ventures is democratizing VC investing
• Jesse’s background and Sweater Ventures’ origin story in the history of accreditation laws
• The process that took 4 years from idea inception to launching Sweater Ventures
• Sweater Ventures’ fundraising inception and Jesse’s personal tip for surviving the raise
• How they pitched investors on the concept of disrupting the VC industry
• Sweater Ventures’ go-to-market strategy and how they leveraged the time waiting for SEC approval
• The marketing behind building Sweater Ventures’ waitlist
• Developing multi-channel legitimacy
• The model behind Sweater Ventures and how they’re different from a traditional venture fund
• Sweater Ventures’ unique redemption windows
• The Sweater Ventures app and why they're a mobile-first company
• Sweater Ventures’ investment thesis
• Building out a team for Sweater Venture’s unique structure
• The story behind the Sweater name
• Where to connect with Jesse and why he prefers LinkedIn as a platform

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Noramay Cadena is an aerospace engineer turned investor whose professional career has spanned a diverse range of operating and investing environments, from early-stage startups to Fortune 50 companies. She previously launched MiLA Capital, an early stage fund that invested in over 20 manufacturing and supply chain companies. She also leads investments for Portfolia's Rising America Fund, a micro fund investing in Latinx, Black and LGBTQIA founders. She serves on the advisory board of the Homeboy Industries Ventures and Jobs Fund, and as a founding board member of Latinx VC, an organization increasing the Latino ecosystem of funders and founders. She was appointed to the board of the Housing Authority Commission of Los Angeles (second largest housing authority in the nation) by the Los Angeles Mayor. In 2020, she was named one of 50 renowned women in robotics, one of 10 Latinas making waves in venture capital, and one of the top 100 influential Latinas in the United States. She’s a Kauffman Fellow and holds a MBA, a Master’s in Engineering Systems and a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering – all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She’s also a Director Member of the Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA).

Shayna Harris brings an insider's eye to the industry, from architecting the 21st-century chocolate supply chain at Mars to building the groundbreaking food tech company Farmer’s Fridge. She advises Fortune 100 companies and startups on navigating the fast-changing food terrain, and writes for Forbes. She has spent her career at the intersection of food, sustainability, and innovation. She’s driven by a deep personal belief that food is a human right, and it should have a positive impact on all it touches. She cares to connect with people in authentic and personal ways; spanning from the farmers that she lived with and learned from in southern Mexico, Brazil, and Cote d’Ivoire, to the board rooms of Mars, Oxfam, and Farmer’s Fridge. She’s also a builder – she has never taken a role with a job description. 

Website: Supply Change Capital

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/noramay/ and linkedin.com/in/shaynaharris/

Twitter: @noramayc and @mamashayna

Show Notes:

• How both Shayna and Noramay ended up in the VC industry
• Supply Change Capital’s origin story
• How Noramay and Shayna came to develop Supply Change Capital’s investment thesis at the intersection of culture and climate in the future of food
• Their fundraising journey and storytelling around their thesis
• What differentiates Supply Change Capital
• The FOODS framework for evaluating founders
• Their Supercharge III post-investment support program in partnership with Verde Associates
• Their favorite up and coming food trends
• Some of Supply Change Capital’s most interesting investments: Aqua Cultured Foods and Hyfé Foods
• How Shayna and Noramay stay educated in the rapidly changing future of food market
• How Shayna and Noramay protect their time as VCs
• How they’ve approached building out the Supply Change Capital team

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Kelly Graziadei brings 20 years of leadership experience in tech and consumer internet with companies ranging from 3 people to 200,000. She spent 7 1/2 years at Facebook in leadership positions in sales, product marketing and media. Kelly joined Facebook in 2010 and built and led its Mid-Market Sales & Account Management team in North America. She then led Facebook’s Monetization Product Marketing for the Direct Response Ads & Commerce business globally, focused on inbound product strategy and global go-to market. Throughout her career, Kelly has driven dramatic scale, revenue growth and product development while establishing teams and cultures that help people perform at their full potential. In 2018, Kelly became a founding partner of F7. 

Joanna Lee Shevelenko joined Facebook in 2006 as one of the first 100 employees. She built multiple teams 0-1 including content moderation, site integrity and user insights. Started the Facebook India office, worked on Facebook’s first ecommerce effort, growth strategies, stealth mobile projects and top partnerships. After Facebook, she became the COO at Premise Data (series C) and COO of Atrium (series B). In addition to being a founding partner of F7, she’s also the EIR at Social Capital and Board Director at mPharma.

Website: f7 Ventures

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kellygraziadei/ & linkedin.com/in/joannaleeshevelenko/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kkgraz
Email: hello@f7ventures.com

Show Notes:

• The journey of founding f7 Ventures
• Deciding to go from angel investing to starting an institutional fund
• The process of raising capital for f7 and fundraising as rejection exposure therapy
• What differentiates f7 for LPs
• Defining f7’s mission, vision and values and how that constantly impacts their execution
• Navigating co-founder dynamics: different skillsets and personalities but aligned values
• f7’s investment thesis and what ties together their three buckets
• Their specific rubric for evaluating founders
• Establishing accessibility and building trust with their founders and how they provide value to their portfolio companies
• Their plan for future funds
• Some of their biggest surprises and learnings since launching f7
• How investing has changed from 2021 to 2022 with recent market shifts
• The process of investing in CloudEagle
• Their off-cycle investment in Done
• What they’re most excited about in the realm of Future of Work

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Website: Always on Purpose

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/amyelizawong/

Twitter: @amyelizawong 

Show Notes:

• How Amy became an executive coach
• Amy’s North Star of feeling it out instead of figuring it out, and how she has put it into practice to build her business
• How Amy defines who is a good fit for her work 
• The process of enabling people to get unstuck
• Self-worth as the common theme Amy sees her clients struggle with
• The question to ask to understand exactly how you’re holding yourself back
• Amy’s constant evolution as a coach and how she defines her work
• Amy’s system approach and how she equips teams for better communication
• Indicators of when to work with an executive coach
• How Amy came to write her book, Living on Purpose
• The challenging jump from coaching individuals to writing a book for a wide audience

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Samara has over 15 years of experience in investing, selling, and advising on both public and private markets. She has a background in sales, operations and technology at Goldman Sachs. She was an early-stage investor with MATH Venture Partners and advisor to Angeles, Camino Financial, and Chicago Blend. Samara is actively involved in the Chicago tech community and passionate about helping underrepresented groups get into STEM education, venture capital and entrepreneurship. She co-founded the Latinx Founders Collective organization to bring together Latinx founders, investors, and community leaders to support the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Samara is an active member of Latinx VCs, a San-Francisco based group of experienced venture investors coming together to connect, engage, and foster the Latinx VC ecosystem. She studied engineering at the University of Michigan, and has her MBA from Northwestern University. Samara is a proud Mexican immigrant and mama to a toddler.

Website: Chingona Ventures

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/samaramejia/

Twitter: @SamaraMHernandz

Samara on the Just Go Grind Podcast in January 2021: https://www.justgogrind.com/samara-mejia-hernandez-podcast/

Show Notes:

• Samara’s journey to raising a $52M fund for Chingona Ventures, including doubling her target
• Portfolio construction from Fund I to Fund II 
• Funding 80% women and minorities and getting them in a position to grow a venture-backed business
• Building out the Chingona Ventures team and offering opportunities to interns
• What Samara is prioritizing platform-wise
• Having an authentic social media presence
• The origin story of one of Chingona Ventures’ most successful investments, Career Karma, and meeting founder Ruben Harris via cold outreach
• The process of raising Fund I vs Fund II
• Participating as a Kauffman Fellow
• Samara’s thoughts on leadership and passion

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

He is a data-driven, product focused entrepreneur and VC, motivated by the thousands of softwares that power brands. He has extensive experience in consumer mobile & web, b2b SaaS, social media, video, apparel, and entertainment verticals. 

His product mantra: Vision (big), Execution (small), Test (thorough), Revise (smart). Repeat. He obsesses over conversion rate optimization, which is part art, part science.

Website: Hawke Ventures & Hawke Media

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drewleahy/

Twitter: @hawkeventures

Email: drew@hawkemedia.com

Drew’s first podcast episode with Justin in 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8w_JjvSokc

Show Notes:

• The journey from closing Hawke Ventures’ first $5.6M fund to raising a $25M fund 
• How Drew is thinking about building out their team & how different firms approach the platform role
• How Hawke Ventures leverages the relationship with Hawke Media
• What Hawke Ventures is looking for in potential portfolio companies with their lead check fund
• Hawke Ventures’ unique portfolio construction strategy and the value of a narrow investment thesis
• Evaluating companies’ alignment with their thesis and what it means to hustle alongside their founders
• Some of the stories behind Hawke Ventures’ portfolio companies and how their “tracker checks” work
• What makes them repeat-invest in a company
• How their diversity-focused Venture Scout Program came about
• Drew’s thoughts on the current VC market

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Softr grew from 0 to 50K+ users in <1 year, with $0 marketing, all driven by WOM, virality and a passionate community. In January 2022, they closed their $13.5M Series A to build the largest ecosystem of no-code apps.

Mariam is an engineer turned entrepreneur, mother of two, and lover of all things technology, product & design. She built and led products & engineering teams for more than a decade, and is now making tech accessible to everyone by building the future of no-code.

Website: Softr

Slack: Softr Community

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mariamhakobyan/

Twitter: @mariam_hakobyan

Show Notes:

• What is Softr?
• Softr’s origin story, their MVP, and how they’ve evolved
• Deciding to price Softr higher than other website builders from the beginning
• The timeline from idea generation to launching MVP
• The journey to full-time for each Softr founder
• Softr’s Product Hunt launch and getting their first paying customers
• Finding and leveraging a community of Twitter no-code enthusiasts
• How they’ve maintained growth momentum post- Product Hunt
• How they landed on Softr’s growth strategy
• Launching their mobile app and letting their customers guide their product development
• The process of raising VC for Softr
• How they screened for right-fit investors
• The importance of empathy, trust, and conflict management skills in a co-founder relationship
• Married co-founders: the value of setting clear role and responsibility boundaries and finding work-life balance
• Mariam’s view on the landscape of the no-code industry
• The range of Softr’s use-cases

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Website: Oyster

Optimize for distributed work: Oyster Academy

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/teljamou/

Twitter: @jamingo

Tony on the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/tony-jamous-podcast/

Show Notes:

• Oyster: a global employment platform
• How the talent shortage and digital transformation trends have fueled Oyster’s growth to reach $1B valuation in less than 2 years
• Building a team that resembles the planet Earth, at 500+ employees distributed in 60 countries, and 60% women
• The operational logistics of a huge distributed team using their “follow the sun” model
• Leading by example: how to be the best remote worker
• Oyster’s open source academy for remote workers
• Tony’s perspective on the global distributed work trend and how it reconnects us to our communities
• Incorporating in-person time with a distributed team and the downside of hubs
• What has tangibly impacted Oyster’s GTM strategy and their rapid growth
• Oyster’s category-creation playbook
• Tony’s thoughts on the future of work and how distributed work can make the world more resilient

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Previously, Gale founded IrishAngels, one of the largest angel groups in the world. She has led $65M+ in early-stage deals across 80+ startups. Her experience prior to VC includes founding two failed startups, consulting for new product launches with Nielsen, and strategy with Orbitz. Gale received a BBA with honors from Notre Dame and an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She was a founding Board member of the C200 Scholars Network, and she is currently a founding Board member of Chicago Blend, an organization focused on increasing diversity in VC and startups.

Website: VITALIZE Venture Capital 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/galevc/

Twitter: @galeforceVC

VITALIZE Newsletter: Re:VITALIZE

VITALIZE Angel Investing Community: VITALIZE Angels

Show Notes:

• How Gale defines the Work Revolution
• Why VITALIZE is focused on the Work Revolution
• VITALIZE’s buckets within the Work Revolution
• Some of VITALIZE’s portfolio companies in the each of the Work Revolution buckets
• How Gale views verticalized solutions and next gen hiring
• Gale’s thoughts on remote work trends
• The growing trend of hiring internationally
• Where Gale sees the greatest opportunity within the Work Revolution
• The shifting space of learning development
• The over-crowded benefits space
• New areas Gale is excited about within the Work Revolution
• Gale’s thoughts on both the potential and challenges of the exploding Web3 space
• How Gale views innovative b2b2c business models 

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Maryanna Saenko is an early-stage venture capitalist with an interest in robotics, quantum computing, blockchain, aerospace, and the future of food. Previously she was at Khosla Ventures, and prior to that at DFJ, where she worked with Steve Jurvetson to focus on frontier technology investments. She was also an investment partner at Airbus Ventures where she led a series of venture investments strategically aligned with Airbus’ future-of-aerospace initiatives. Before Airbus, Maryanna was a consultant at Lux Research and a research engineer at Cabot Corporation. Maryanna graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BS in BioMedical Engineering and a BS and MS in Materials Science and Engineering.

Website: Future Ventures

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/maryannasaenko/

Twitter: @FutureSaenko

Email: maryanna@future.ventures

Show Notes:

• Maryanna’s Ukranian background and her thoughts on the current conflict in the region
• How Maryanna came to co-found Future Ventures with Steve Jurvetson and their big vision
• How they manage deal flow with just two investors
• Derisking the customer side of deep tech
• Future Venture’s thesis around deep tech
• How they conduct due diligence in complex industries
• Evaluating teams’ credibility
• How they approach onboarding LPs
• Determining Future Venture’s fund size and deployment period
• The areas Maryanna is most excited about investing in, including the future of food
• How Maryanna keeps herself organized in terms of aligning her values with Future Venture’s portfolio companies

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Amanda DoAmaral is an educator, activist, and co-founder of Fiveable. She spent half a decade teaching high school history in Oakland, CA, where her passion for creating equitable educational opportunities was ignited. Amanda has been a vocal advocate for inclusive history curriculum and is active within the Milwaukee tech community.

Website: Fiveable

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adoamaral/

Twitter: @AmandaDoAmanda

Show Notes:

• What Fiveable does
• Onboarding Serena Williams and Chelsea Clinton as an investors
• Fiveable’s origin story
• Turning tutoring ex-students via livestream into a VC-backed startup
• Fiveable’s early growth stage
• How the Fiveable product has evolved over time
• Risk assessment and hiring a team
• Generational entrepreneurship and participating in an accelerator
• The lack of education about available resources for founders
• Amanda’s experience with gener8tor and how it contributed to Fiveable’s growth
• Raising pre-seed capital and the stress of executing fund allocation
• What has fueled Fiveable’s growth
• Content development and SEO strategy
• Managing an expansive team and hiring students
• The impact of building in public
• The big vision for Fiveable

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

VITALIZE Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. VITALIZE has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. We believe in people and process. From our investors to team members to the founders we fund, we are focused on building a community of amazing people. Venture capital is a relationship business, and one of our core differentiators is how we leverage our extensive network to provide value to our portfolio companies. We make valuable connections for our companies, mostly to prospective customers and other VC firms, but we field all types of requests to help our portfolio companies flourish. As founders ourselves, we have learned a lot from building this investment firm. We have implemented effective processes for deal flow, due diligence, and helping our companies post-investment, allowing us to move quickly and offer a high-quality product to founders and investors.

VITALIZE Venture Capital: https://vitalize.vc/

VITALIZE Angels: https://vitalizeangels.com/

VITALIZE on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/vitalizevc

VITALIZE on Twitter: @VitalizeVC 

Show Notes:

• How Gale got into venture and started the Irish Angels investment network
• How Caroline decided to partner with Gale
• Caroline’s cross-country cycling adventure and Gale’s pandemic road trips
• Larissa’s diverse professional experiences and how she ended up running community at VITALIZE
• How a cold DM to get Gale on Justin’s own podcast led to him joining VITALIZE
• The challenges and less glamorous side of working in VC
• How Gale envisions achieving a manageable workload for herself and her team
• The effect of the COVID pandemic on their schedules
• Different strategies the team members use to create boundaries for a healthy work-life balance
• Making investing accessible to everyone through the VITALIZE Angels community
• Gale and Caroline’s thoughts on the future of early stage venture
• VITALIZE’s North Star and the strategy to get there
• Potential paths for the future of VITALIZE
• The trailblazing work some of our VITALIZE Angels community members are involved in
• The due diligence process for VITALIZE Angels
• What makes a good fit to become a VITALIZE Angels portfolio company
• What to expect in terms of ROI for our VITALIZE Angels members
• The value of angel investing communities

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Elizabeth is a tech entrepreneur turned startup investor. Her mission for the next 30-40 years is to democratize wealth through entrepreneurship. She also blogs about how to raise early stage capital. Previously, Elizabeth was a partner at 500 Startups where she invested in seed stage companies and ran the Mountain View accelerator. In a prior life, Elizabeth co-founded and ran an adtech company called LaunchBit (acq 2014). Elizabeth has a BSEE from Stanford and an MBA from MIT Sloan.

Elizabeth has reviewed over 20k startup pitches from around the world in the last few years and has helped numerous portfolio founders raise hundreds of millions of dollars. Her work and writing on startup fundraising has been featured in numerous publications including TechCrunch, Forbes, Huffington Post, BetaKit, and more.

Website: Hustle Fund

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/elizabethyin/

Twitter: @dunkhippo33

Elizabeth’s Website: https://elizabethyin.com/ 

Show Notes:

• The transition from founder to investor and why Elizabeth doesn’t actually see herself as a VC
• The variety of ways Hustle Fund is supporting founders and investors beyond investing capital
• Behind the scenes of developing Camp Hustle
• How Angel Squad came about and the power of angel investing communities
• Elizabeth’s perspective on crowdfunding
• How Hustle Fund provides value and stands out in a crowded industry
• Becoming widely known for her Twitter threads
• What Hustle Fund looks for in their potential investments
• How they evaluate founders in emerging markets
• Lessons from raising a second fund
• Their fund strategy and portfolio construction
• What’s next for Hustle Fund

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Jon Morris is a conceptual artist who creates multilayered installations, performances, and experiences with the express intent of elevating his audience to a sublime state. Challenging the relationship between art and spectator, Morris’ work is typically equal parts technical, playful, inventive and rich with depth. From Le Louvre to Lady Gaga from Cirque Du Soleil to the Metropolitan Opera, his work has been praised by NY Times, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Rolling Stone, NBC, VICE, Wired and more. He previously founded The Windmill Factory, an interdisciplinary arts collective that creates interactive installations, immersive performances, stage designs, and experiential events.

He has been a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, Kinnernet-Europe Experience Director, LaMaMa ETC Artist in residence, Watermill Center Fellow, Tennessee Williams Fellow, NCAA Post Graduate Scholar, 6-time All-American Springboard Diver, and holds a B.A. from the University of the South, Sewanee. Jon has taught master classes at Harvard, NYU, Columbia, Pace, The University of The South, Vanderbilt. 

Website: NOWHERE

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jonlmorris/
Twitter: @yojonmorris

Email: jon@urnowhere.com

Show Notes:

• The future of online gathering with NOWHERE’s metaverse platform
• Jon’s journey from all-American springboard diver to tech founder
• NOWHERE as a pandemic-born pivot 
• Early creative development for the platform
• Developing NOWHERE’s vision and the challenge of finding web3 engineers
• Sourcing talent and building the NOWHERE team
• The power of spatial audio in the NOWHERE platform
• Customer discovery and growing to venture scale
• How NOWHERE plays into the future of work
• NOWHERE’s competitive advantage

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Before founding Balloon, Amanda was a public health researcher, translating science and research into national behavior change campaigns for the U.S. CDC and EPA. Her research focused on engagement, listening, and community-based decision-making, and it was in that work that she discovered that groupthink plagues decision-making. To solve this problem, she and her co-founder Noah built Balloon from the ground up to align with research for how to unlock the highest quality and quantity of information from a group...and how to do it in the most productive way possible.

Website: Balloon

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/amandagreenberg/

Twitter: @AKGreenberg

Show Notes:

• How Balloon is enabling teams to drive better outcomes, leverage creativity, and improve productivity
• Amanda’s background and how it led to great founder-market fit to build Balloon
• Navigating minimal prior exposure to tech entrepreneurship and VC
• Deciding to raise funds through angel investors, being Vitalize Angels' first portfolio company, and the value of diverse cap tables
• The big vision for Balloon 
• How Balloon’s flight templates fuel their growth by building credibility
• How they on-boarded and partnered with industry experts
• How pandemic-related shifts in FOW have affected Balloon
• Balloon’s use-cases and the ROI it provides to companies
• How Balloon uses their own platform internally

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

The Turing team has deep expertise in AI and building engineering dream teams in the U.S. at top companies. Turing is backed by well-known investors like Facebook’s initial CTO (Adam D’Angelo), executives from Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Founders Fund (investors in Facebook, Tesla, Asana, etc). Turing.com is led by serial A.I. entrepreneurs Jonathan Siddharth and Vijay Krishnan, whose last A.I. firm leveraged remote talent and had a successful acquisition.

Website: Turing

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jonsid/

Twitter: @jonsidd

Show Notes:

• Jonathan’s path to Turing’s moment of inception in 2018
• How COVID accelerated Turing’s growth as our world quickly turned remote-first
• The challenges that come with hiring and managing fully remote, distributed teams
• The importance of the market evaluation and opportunity validation stage of building a company
• Early customer acquisition and why it’s important to start with non-scalable approaches
• The value of specificity and curiosity when narrowing down your ideal customer profile
• Why companies are choosing Turing today
• Turing’s silicon valley-caliber, cloud-based vetting and matching process
• When companies should start using Turing and the value it provides
• Jonathan’s thoughts on the future of work

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Since joining Lux in late 2019, Deena has led a number of investments across stages and sectors, including in women's health (Maven Clinic, Alife, Adyn), digital health infrastructure (SteadyMD, H1), health equity (Waymark), and foodtech (Shiru), and fintech (Mos and Ramp). Prior to joining Lux, Deena was a Partner at GV (formerly Google Ventures), previously led product partnerships at Google for early stage products in healthcare, AI/ML and search at Google, and directed social impact investments at Google.org.

Before tech and venture, Deena had diverse partnership-centric experiences as an aspiring anthropologist, journalist, diplomat, aid worker and technologist. She was a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of State under Secretary Clinton, where she helped launch President Obama’s first Global Entrepreneurship Summit in 2010. Her non-traditional path has cultivated Deena’s deep conviction in the potential of breakthrough ventures to positively transform the future and garnered her unparalleled network to help them achieve it.

Website: Lux Capital

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/deenashakir/

Twitter: @deenashakir

Show Notes:

• Deena’s background and how she ended up in VC
• How her experience across a variety of industries has led to a valuable diverse network
• How Deena views innovation opportunities in global markets
• How Deena evaluates the coachability and grittiness of founders
• Some founders with unique backgrounds that Deena is excited to be working with
• Deena’s strategy around supporting founders
• The benefits of investing across different stages with Lux
• Supporting founders through a market downturn
• Emerging industries where Deena sees a lot of potential
• Why certain areas such as women’s health are underinvested in
• How Deena began angel investing and breaking down barriers to entry for women
• Time management and work-life balance
• Deciding to write a children’s book

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Alex is a multilingual political economist & entrepreneur trying to figure out how the world works. After a brief stint at the United Nations and a failed attempt at a pro soccer career, he went abroad and spent about five years conducting on-the-ground economic research and policy consulting across several emerging markets in Africa & the Middle East. Before returning to the US, he then took on the research & strategy lead for a new $20bn smart city and the world's tallest tower.

Now, as a founder, he tries to tackle socio-economic challenges. After starting a macro/geopolitical advisory, he joined Andrew Yang's 2020 Presidential campaign as his national policy director and foreign policy advisor. Today he’s focused on democratizing data via OpenAxis, a Vitalize Angels portfolio company. 

Website: Open Axis

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adamianou/

Twitter: @alex_damianou

Instagram: instagram.com/openaxishq/

Show Notes:

• OpenAxis as a data storytelling platform
• How society’s poor data literacy drove Alex to start OpenAxis
• How Alex serendipitously got involved with Andrew Yang’s presidential campaign
• Alex’s time working on the Smart Cities project in Saudi Arabia
• The ideal co-founder combo of complementary skillsets and shared values 
• OpenAxis’ go to market strategy
• Challenges within customer discovery and onboarding
• The community-building aspect of OpenAxis
• How OpenAxis’ big vision fits into the Future of Work
• The reality of being a first-time tech startup founder

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Website: Ganas Ventures
Lolita's Website: https://www.lolitataub.co/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lolitataub/

Twitter: @lolitataub

Lolita’s Newsletter: https://lu.ma/lolitataub

Show Notes:

• Lolita’s background and how she got into VC
• What led her to start Ganas Ventures
• Lolita’s journey building community, leveraging her social capital, and expanding her services
• Raising a fund and LP strategy for Ganas Ventures
• How Lolita stays organized while maintaining a variety of initiatives
• Job opportunities with Lolita and what she prioritizes in hiring

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Prior to founding Scribe, Jennifer spent time at McKinsey & Company and Greylock Partners. She is a Princeton and Harvard Business School alum.

Website: Scribe
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jenniferreneesmith/
Twitter: @scribeceo

Show Notes:

• How Scribe is making it easy to share how to do something
• Jennifer’s background and realizing she needed to build Scribe to solve a problem she observed for years
• Going from “someone else will solve it” to “I’m going to solve it” and the first steps she took to start a company
• Finding developers early in Scribe’s journey
• Talking to 80+ engineers before she connected with her technical co-founder, Aaron Podolny
• The importance of finding a co-founder that shares your value and vision
• How organic growth enabled Jennifer and the Scribe team to run lean and focus on building in the right direction without any marketing for the first 1.5 years
• How their approach to growth and marketing has shifted
• How they narrowed their target market for a product with such a wide variety of use cases
• Raising an unexpected Series A for Scribe while pregnant with her first child
• Jennifer’s strategy behind bringing on great angel investors
• Making Scribe an extremely user-friendly product

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Before Vertex US, Jonathan was General Partner at North Bridge Venture Partners, where he led investments in Lytro (acquired by Google), Periscope, Quora, and Ravel Law (acquired by LexisNexis), in addition to co-founding Coolan (acquired by Salesforce). He spent the previous five years at Facebook as Vice President of Infrastructure and Operations, leading global infrastructure, site architecture, and internal systems as the company scaled from 35 million to nearly 1 billion users.

Earlier in his career, Jonathan held executive engineering roles at Walmart and Danger (acquired by Microsoft) and spent several years as Chief Operating Officer for Loudcloud/Opsware (IPO then acquired by HP for $1.6 billion). At 19, he co-founded and was Chief Technology Officer of GlobalCenter, one of the first web hosting providers and the world’s first native-optical IP network, serving CNN, Netscape, Playboy, and Yahoo! as initial customers. He also founded Global Crossing’s venture capital group.

Today, through his role at Vertex US, Jonathan holds board seats for a number of their portfolio companies. Looking ahead, he is particularly excited about innovations that will improve how and where we live, specifically in construction and real estate.

Website: Vertex Ventures US

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jheiliger/

Twitter: @heiligerj
Email: jh@vertexventures.com

Show Notes:

• Where and how Vertex Ventures US is investing
• How their focus has shifted since launching in the U.S. in 2015
• The major changes Jonathan has observed in the VC industry over the years
• What helps Jonathan and Vertex stay laser focused despite the quick-paced nature of the industry
• Navigating fund strategy as the market changes
• How both Vitalize and Vertex address ownership targets
• How Jonathan approaches mentorship and hard conversations with founders
• Jonathan’s angel investing and advising journey 

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

A century ago we didn't expect to make it to 60, but now we're surviving well into our 80's and beyond. Surviving, but not thriving. Technology hasn't kept pace with the medical advancements that gave us 20+ extra years of life leaving us directionless, isolated, and alone. Third Act Ventures invests in companies that recognize this massive opportunity to improve the lives of older adults and their caregivers.

Website: Third Act Ventures

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mzamkow/
Twitter: @MZamkow
Newsletter: AgeTech News

Email: max@thirdact.vc

Show Notes:

• What AgeTech is
• Why Third Act Ventures invests in the AgeTech ecosystem and how it’s changing
• The process of developing a thesis and overcoming the lack of interest in AgeTech
• Emerging models and how social determinants of health are impacting AgeTech
• How having a wide range of stakeholders has led to lack of innovation in the industry
• How Max screens for value and the importance of timing
• The challenge of not being the end user for products he invests in 
• One of the AgeTech companies Max is excited about
• Third Act Ventures’ strategy as a follow fund and why they’re shifting their approach
• Max’s effort to expand investments in the AgeTech industry and shift it from niche to mainstream
• Justin’s thoughts on how to market yourself uniquely to stand out

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Website: Revelry Venture Partners

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/petereliu/

Twitter: @NewOrleansVC 

Show Notes:

• How Peter first got into VC
• How he got the idea for what Revelry Venture Partners is today while participating in the Kauffman Fellowship
• The barbell versus incubation models Peter has observed in VC
• The different variations of RVP and their unique model
• How they manage their $15M fund between traditional pre-seed/seed investing and incubating
• Why they’re excited to be based in New Orleans
• The process of raising their fund and the experience of working with first-time LPs 
• The challenges of being unique and finding your niche as a VC firm
• How they evaluate early stage companies and founders to make sure they’re a good fit for RVP’s model
• Unique insights on customer acquisition Peter has seen
• Areas where Peter sees high potential and is excited about investing in 

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

A “recovering” corporate attorney, Nik Taljreja is passionate about automating away inefficiency, and is on a mission to create new standards for how we all interact with private markets by enabling the next generation of alternative asset investing.

Website: Sydecar.io

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/niktalreja/

Twitter: @niktalreja

Show Notes:

• How Sydecar serves as an onramp to fluid capital allocation in venture
• Why Nik is passionate about Sydecar eliminating the inefficiencies of breaking into venture
• The end to end experience of putting together an SPV through Sydecar
• Building credibility and trust with their customers and demystifying the legal element of investing
• Who they’re attracting to the Sydecar platform and the impacts of diverse customer interest
• The need for standardization in deal flow, capital allocation, and reporting
• Going from lawyer to founder and how Nik has approached team building for Sydecar
• How and why they’ve leveraged recruiters in their hiring process
• How fundraising varied from their first to second round
• Nik’s thoughts on finding time to invest while building a company
• Nik’s complementary dynamic with his co-partner and co-founder David Meister
• How Nik has leveraged his learnings as a lawyer to build Sydecar 
• Professional services as a great training ground for future founders
• Building brand loyalty as a fund
• What’s next for Sydecar and why Nik thinks the future of venture will be more personal
• Your portfolio as a representation of your story

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

In her free time, she writes about product management, private and public markets, responsible AI, behavioral science, and career pathing. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, New York Times, FastCompany, and Women 2.0. Bo is also a public speaker, covering topics such as creative thinking, designing products for behavioral change, millennial career paths, and why curiosity matters. She is passionate about inspiring people through her nontraditional career path and focusing on building a more inclusive future. 

Website: Silicon Valley Bank

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bo-ren-0ba2218/

Twitter: @Bosefina
Medium: https://medium.com/@Bosefina
Substack: https://bosefina.substack.com/

Show Notes:

• How Bo got her start in angel investing through advising
• What pushed Bo to make her first investment
• Bo’s perspective on when to start investing
• Shifting from an opportunistic approach to sourcing deals through a women’s angel group
• What key elements Bo looks for in the teams she invests in
• Bo’s value-adds as an investor and how she works with founders 
• The importance of matching a founder’s needs with an investor’s expertise and approach
• How being a “nerd herder” benefits her portfolio companies
• How being the child of immigrant parents affects how Bo invests
• The double-edged sword of immigrant survivalist mentality 
• The value of resilience and the intersection of grit and ambition
• Bo’s thoughts on work-life balance and identity
• Moving from the achievement mindset to the manifestation mindset
• Bo’s journey to joining Silicon Valley Bank and being at the epicenter of the innovation economy 

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Juan’s years of experience in tech entrepreneurship include his time at Universal Tennis, the sports tech startup behind UTR Powered by Oracle. Juan led the GTM strategy and rollout of UTR’s community platform to elite clubs and tennis academies worldwide. Juan also founded ZeeMee, a social media community platform for high school students transitioning to college. Under his leadership, ZeeMee was named to the inaugural CNBC Upstart 25 in 2017. Before ZeeMee, Juan held various technology consulting roles.

An accomplished tennis player, Juan immigrated to the United States alone at the age of 14. A chance encounter landed him full tennis scholarships to study and compete at Georgetown Prep and then at American University. Juan says passion and integrity drive his work ethic. As he likes to say, “if it’s too easy, it’s probably not worth it.” Juan and his family reside in Palo Alto, California.

Website: Zingtree

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juanjaysingh/

Twitter: @JuanJaysingh

Email: juan@zingtree.com

Show Notes:

• What Zingtree is and how the company was founded on accident
• Going from consultant to CEO
• Zingtree’s initial completely organic growth (its first 600 customers, 150 of which are enterprise household name logos)
• How early customers began leveraging Zingtree’s tool beyond its original use case
• Going from focusing on SMBs to being enterprise solution
• The challenge of joining a startup as a non-founder at the executive level
• How Zingtree is improving the customer service experience on both ends
• Defining their ideal customer profile
• Applying their own product to their internal decision-making processes as they grow
• Leaning in to the remote work style and how this has amplified the need for Zingtree’s software
• The importance of investing in building culture early amongst a remote team 

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Heather is active in the community, serving on the leadership board of tech: nyc and Transact Global. She has been listed as one of The 50 Most Influential Women in America by Hearst Digital Media Publications, is a frequent speaker at TechCrunch Disrupt, and is a regular contributor to Forbes, where she covers a range of venture capital topics.

Website: Human Ventures

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/heatherhartnett/

Twitter: @HeatherHartnett

Heather’s Forbes Contributions

Heather with Transact Global

Show Notes:

• Human Ventures as a business creation platform
• How Heather and her partner Joe Marchese started as a startup studio in NYC and how it was received
• Where Human Ventures focuses their investments
• How they operationalize their network to build companies
• How Heather personally manages her network as an investor
• Being relationship driven and focusing on creating value
• How she evaluates founders’ EQ
• Their Guide to Being Human
• Some highlights of Human Venture’s portfolio companies
• Evaluating product vs. distribution
• Their Humans in the Wild entrepreneur in residence incubation program, born during the pandemic
• Heather’s thoughts on building startup and VC ecosystems
• Transitioning from an operator to an investor
• Increasing diversity in VC

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Ruben Harris is a Bay Area transplant from Atlanta, Georgia where he served as an Advisor for Forge and organized Atlanta's first Healthcare Hackathon. Over the past couple of years, Ruben has worked with academics, organizers, politicians, and union leaders at Hustle, Honor and AltSchool focused on improving their personalized outreach, healthcare and education.

Ruben began his technology career working in Partnerships and Sales and later Co-Founded the Breaking Into Startups Podcast to demystify the process, resulting in a social media reach of ~3 million people and invitations to be a Contributor for TechCrunch and Black Enterprise.

Prior to working in tech, Ruben worked as an Investment Banker. During college, Ruben organized 50+ events for non-profits, athletes, and celebrities including Tyrese, Kim Kardashian, and Jay-Z. Ruben has been playing the cello for ~25 years, taught music, performed in venues all over the world - including Carnegie Hall, and landed placements from Def Jam. He is also an active member of the NAACP.

Website: Career Karma

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rubenharris

Twitter: @rubenharris

Instagram: instagram.com/rubenharris
Email: ruben@careerkarma.com

Show Notes:

• What Career Karma is and how they’ve expanded and evolved in recent years
• How the student loan bubble and “the great resignation” have led Career Karma to work more closely with employers
• Career Karma’s secret sauce of community building
• How social audio rooms have played a part in the growth of Career Karma
• The Breaking into Startups podcast
• Ruben’s view on audio, communication, and community in the Future of Work and Learning
• How Ruben has approached personal branding and taking control of your narrative
• Relationship building on the internet
• Ruben’s advice for what employers and recruiters need to do differently to identify and develop talent
• The 110 initiative
• Education as an employee benefit
• Ruben’s perspective on juggling part time roles and the freelance economy
• Career navigating as a social experience
• Social capital and virtual currency

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Website: RareBreed Ventures

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mckeever/

Twitter: @MacConwell

Show Notes:

• Mac’s thoughts on being a great storyteller
• How Mac uses his story as his pitch to raise a fund 
• The journey that led him into VC
• How Mac has the confidence to constantly bet on himself
• Mac’s experience at rock bottom and building resilience
• From dropping out of high school to having a 6-figure job at the age of 21
• How Mac manages his time and priorities
• Mac’s secret to using Twitter
• What Mac looks for in the founders he invests in
• How Mac evaluates customer acquisition at the pre-seed level
• The value of creativity and how Mac leveraged it for customer acquisition as a founder
• Some of Mac’s portfolio companies and their stories of grit
• What’s next for RareBreed Ventures

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Anoop started SeekOut after a 20-year career at Microsoft, which began with the acquisition of his first startup, VXtreme, in 1997. During his tenure, Anoop was the Corporate Vice-President of the multibillion-dollar Unified Communications group. He was TA to Bill Gates, advising on technology and product strategy as a Distinguished Scientist at Microsoft Research, leading work on Telepresence and Natural User Interfaces. Prior to Microsoft, Anoop was a tenured professor at Stanford University and he holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.

Website: SeekOut

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/guptaanoop

Twitter: @anoopxgupta

Show Notes:

• What SeekOut is and their incredible growth, including 3X-ing their revenue over the last year
• Anoop’s journey from professor at Stanford, to a 20 year career at Microsoft, to startup founder
• How founding a series of other companies and the resulting pivots led Anoop and his team to start SeekOut
• How their company has evolved to focus on retention and the digital transformation during COVID
• How SeekOut’s recruitment platform is helping companies put DEI into action 
• How they’ve approached the in-person versus virtual work question as a high growth company
• How SeekOut is investing in their own team and their focus on positive mindset and gratitude
• How Anoop views the future of work
• What he has loved about the transition from big tech to startup founder
• Building great company culture
• What’s next for SeekOut

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Website: Party Round

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jordi-hays-559199113/

Twitter: @jordihays

Email: jordi@partyround.com

Show Notes:

• How Party Round is simplifying the process of raising capital for founders
• How Jordi got inspired to start Party Round and what sets it apart from other fundraising platforms
• How Jordi and his co-founder Sarah Chase got Party Round off the ground
• Why they focused on marketing early on
• The story behind Party Round’s viral drops
• How their team brainstorms and executes their drops
• Why their BIGTECH Fellowship drop was meaningful for Jordi
• How Jordi approaches choosing investors
• What’s next for Party Round

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Prior to Divergent, Katie was General Partner at Kairos/K50. Before that, she ran a growth consultancy working with early-stage tech companies as an interim CMO/Head of Growth. Previously, Katie was the Head of Marketing at OrderGroove - an enterprise loyalty platform used by retailers including Walmart, CVS & L'Oreal. She joined as the ninth employee & was the first full-time marketing hire through the Series A and B.

Katie started her career by co-founding a manufacturing company from her NYU dorm room that was acquired in 2013. The company's best-selling brands were sold at Neiman Marcus, Macy’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, The Shopping Channel & thousands of global retail locations.

Katie has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, New York Daily News, BusinessWeek, Fox News, Forbes, Cosmopolitan, Entrepreneur Magazine & more. She's an active angel investor and a well-known ecosystem builder who frequently brings together founders, angel investors & VCs.

Katie holds a BS in Finance & Marketing from NYU Stern and lives in NYC.

Website: Divergent Capital

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/katiesheanyc/

Twitter: @katiesheasays

Katie's Email: hello@divergenthq.com

Show Notes:

• How Katie got into angel investing in 2014
• Katie’s first investment with Bombas Socks
• Katie’s advice for people hesitating to start investing in startups
• The transition from operator to full time VC investor
• Her experience with Kairos Society
• How Katie identifies early talent
• Building Divergent as an institutional multi-decade fund with Lucy Wang
• Their experience raising a fund
• Their approach to portfolio management
• Why they stay under the radar with their digital presence
• Playing to your strengths

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Website: Forethought

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/deon-nicholas

Twitter: @dojiboy9

Instagram: @dojiboy9

Email: Deon@forethought.ai

Show Notes:

• How Forethought is transforming the customer support experience
• Going from 20 to 140+ employees in 18 months
• Navigating extremely rapid growth while simultaneously empowering employees to do their best work
• How the pandemic-induced global shift to digital work affected Forethought
• How they manage their distributed team via 4 hubs
• How Forethought is impacting their stakeholders’ daily lives with their human-centered AI platform
• What has made Forethought stand out in the industry
• The secret sauce of “true AI”
• Defining their ideal customer profile
• How Deon views the future of human-centered AI
• What has helped Deon navigate the challenges of being a founder and running a rapidly growing tech startup

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Website: WorkRamp
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tedblosser
Twitter: @TedBlosser
Email: ted@workramp.com

Show Notes:

• How Ted Blosser and his co-founder Arsh Mand sought out the opportunity to found WorkRamp
• The first iteration of WorkRamp and the evolution of the platform 
• The challenge of the product market fit journey and defining their target customer
• Recent labor market trends that resulted from the pandemic and how they influenced today’s version of WorkRamp
• The variety of use cases for WorkRamp and how they cater to the needs of companies as they evolve
• How they’ve been mindful about narrowing down the huge TAM of workplace training
• What has fueled WorkRamp’s growth in recent years
• How they were able to have the confidence to go against the grain of market trends
• How they’re adjusting to meet social trends, consumer needs, and modern attention spans
• The big vision for WorkRamp and how Ted’s approach to growth will get them there

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Romeen is the President of Metasys Technologies, a workforce management advisory firm based in Atlanta. Metasys partners with leading global organizations on the full lifecycle of their talent management strategy. They have been recognized by Inc. 5000 as one of the fastest growing private businesses in the country and work with over 50 leading global organizations today.

On his podcast, Square One: Conversations with the Best in Business, he unpacks the journey of founders, investors, and executives at the cutting edge of business. The conversations on the show dive deep into a variety of industries, business models, and the stories of how some of the most innovative companies of our time have been built.

Additionally, he is an increasingly active angel investor. In 2021, he made over 25 investments in companies such as Bolt and Slice.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/romeen-sheth-07494427/
Twitter: @RomeenSheth

Show Notes:

• Why Romeen started his podcast, Square One 
• How he found success in podcasting before it was a popular industry 
• The impact podcasting has had on his career
• Romeen’s thoughts on Twitter as a tool for investors and founders
• How he views adding value as a strategic angel
• Romeen’s authenticity approach to growth
• The mental unlock that led Romeen to angel investing
• Romeen’s approach to building relationships 
• Creating an organic versus a transactional community
• Why Romeen has become a more active angel investor over the last year
• How Romeen allocates his funds 
• His approach to evaluating companies by looking at structural opportunities
• Romeen’s strategy for allocating his time as an operator, investor, and creator by viewing them as cohesive

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

He was the President and Co-Founder of Launch.it, a new self-publishing platform for PR professionals, agencies and brands to launch and socialize everything new. Prior to that Trace was an SVP at iFluencePR where he “created understanding for a complex world.” He specializes in strategic PR for tech companies looking to develop their communications, branding and outreach strategies to connect with their communities and customers with transparency. Trace is a graduate of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University with a double major in Entrepreneurship and Marketing. He is one of the original Co-Founders and former CMO of Brand-Yourself.com, which helped students and young professionals manage their reputation and personal brands online.

Website: New York Venture Partners

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tracecohen

Twitter: @Trace_Cohen

Trace's Email: t@nyvp.com

Show Notes:

• Investing as a family business for Trace
• Studying entrepreneurship before it was cool
• Starting his first company, Brand Yourself, from his college dorm room
• Joining his father as a full time professional angel investor
• Trace’s distinction between angel investor and professional angel investor
• Trace’s process for investing at New York Venture Partners
• Their “do diligence” process
• Where they get their deal flow and how they manage and prioritize it
• Investors as “marriage counselors/therapists”
• Being in the businesses of saying ‘no’ and exits
• Some of Trace’s best investments, like Fi and Uizard
• Evaluating founders based on their attitude around what’s possible
• Where they invest geographically and how that has shifted in the last 5 years
• Making memes and having one go viral
• Trace’s newsletter The Active Investor List

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

While Claire was working as the Vice President of Technology and Innovation at 20th Century Fox she came across Susan Fowler's blog, exposing the toxic harassment she experienced as a software engineer at Uber. The story occupied part of Claire’s mind for months. She began speaking with HR professionals and discovered that the tools available to employees to share feedback or report issues were ineffective, ominous and rarely used. The whistleblower hotlines in the market were outdated and clunky. This lack of an effective and comprehensive employee feedback management platform, was encouraging toxic workplace cultures of silence and unresolved, systemic issues. So Claire began building AllVoices. Then Susan’s voice along with countless others became the start of the #MeToo movement, and the potential of AllVoices became even more clear to investors and supporters, launching our rapid growth. Now, they’re the leading Employee Feedback Management Platform, trusted by leading companies and preferred by employees.

Website: AllVoices

Podcast: AllVoices, Reimagining Company Culture

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/clairecschmidt

Twitter: @clairecaveny

Email: Claire@allvoices.co

Show Notes:

• What AllVoices is and how Claire came up with the idea
• Leveraging technology to provide a better employee experience
• How Claire’s passion led her to take the leap from leaving her full time position at 20th Century Fox to being an entrepreneur
• The pain points and gap in the market that Claire discovered in her research, which led to the founding of AllVoices
• Starting AllVoices in the midst of the Harvey Weinstein scandal
• Onboarding her first customers before she even had a product
• The challenges of rushing to build a safe and secure platform for sensitive information
• How the product has evolved over the past few years
• How the COVID-19 pandemic and the explosion of remote work impacted use cases for AllVoices
• Claire’s advice for proactively building a great company culture and how they're doing so at AllVoices
• Claire’s perspective on the decision around in-person versus remote work
• How to hire great people and actively listen to your employees

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ellenjdasilva
Twitter: @ellenjdasilva

Show Notes:

• How Ellen began angel investing in 2015 
• How she was deal sourcing during business school
• What Ellen was looking for in her early investments and how that has changed over time
• Deal sourcing via Twitter
• Deciding to invest in Fast within 10 minutes of meeting founder Allison Allen
• How Twitter democratizes access for both founders and investors
• Investing in Clubhouse early
• Cold outreach as an investor
• Getting validation as an investor
• How Ellen manages her angel investing portfolio alongside having a fulltime job and being an operator herself
• How Ellen provides value beyond money to the companies she invests in
• Leveraging your value add as an investor in your pitch to founders
• How the value unlock investors provide can be much more important than the financial element
• What Ellen learned writing the book Pitching and Closing: Everything You Need to Know About Business Development, Partnerships, and Making Deals that Matter with Alex Taub
• Transitioning from being an angel investor to being a scout with Sequoia Capital
• Ellen’s experience with the Rough Draft program 

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Prior to Fika, Eva was a founding GP at Susa Ventures. She is a serial entrepreneur and founder, most recently a founding executive at Factual, a leading location data provider in Los Angeles. Previously, she was a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Google and Youtube for 5 years. Prior to Google, she was the head of marketing for Applied Semantics, a company that sold to Google in 2003. She also co-founded Navigating Cancer, a health startup, in 2008 which is now based in Seattle. She is active in the non-profit sector, serving on the boards of California Community Foundation and First Descents. She is also a founding member of All Raise. She recently served as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence for the city of Los Angeles working with Mayor Eric Garcetti and his team.

In her spare time, you can find her wandering remote geo coordinates, with a special affinity for cold, inhospitable places. Almost always, she is accompanied by her trusty camera and a backpack too large for her frame. Eva holds an MBA from Cornell and a BA from Harvard.

Website: Fika Ventures
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/evaho1
Twitter: @eva_ho
Eva's Email: eva@fika.vc  
 

Show Notes:

• Eva’s original vision for launching Fika Ventures with her partner TX Zhuo
• Eva’s time with Susa Ventures
• Eva’s personal background and the journey that has brought her to where she is today
• How she began angel investing in 2013 and her path to VC
• The importance of representation and diversity in VC
• Eva’s advice for improving and growing as an investor
• The mindset shift from operator to investor
• Finka Ventures' portfolio construction and the progression through their three funds
• Balancing discipline around a clearly focused thesis with knowing when to make exceptions and take risks
• Adapting to the quickly changing world of modern investing
• Eva’s thoughts on the Future of Work and embracing discomfort
• Eva’s experience with Screendoor

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

In 2017, Alexandra was named by Forbes to the 30 Under 30 list of young professionals making an impact in the Consumer Technology industry. The same year, she was a speaker at the Forbes Under 30 Summit on the topic of longevity, sleep and technology. Prior to Eight Sleep, Alexandra applied her marketing experience at various startups, academic institutions, and Wall Street organizations. She was raised in Tijuana, Mexico and now lives in New York City. She holds a B.S. in Communication Science from Tecnologico de Monterrey.

Website: Eight Sleep
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexandrazatarain
Twitter: @a_zatarain

Show Notes:

• The evolution of marketing for Eight Sleep and repositioning the brand 
• Defining their target market and what Alexandra thinks they should have done differently
• Balancing listening to your intuition as a founder and advice from investors
• Working with Khosla Ventures
• Using your company’s vision as a north star for innovation and branding
• How remote work has benefitted Eight Sleep and how they keep their team moving in the same direction
• Mitigating supply chain issues through managing customer expectations and heightened customer service
• How they approach growth in different markets
• Building community around creating a new category in fitness
• Using storytelling as strategy in partnerships
• Managing engagement on Twitter
• Becoming a scout at Cleo Capital 
• Where Alexandra focuses her angel investments
• How she leverages her expertise for companies she invests in
• How and why Alexandra began angel investing

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Website: Gradient Ventures

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/wenwen

Show Notes

• Transitioning from founder to VC at Gradient Ventures
• How being a founder influenced Wen-Wen as an investor
• What Wen-Wen looks for in founders
• Investing in Party Round's pre-seed funding
• Wen-Wen's core focus for the companies they are investing in with Gradient ventures
• How hands-on Wen-Wen is when working with companies
• Angel investing prior to Gradient Ventures
• How Wen-Wen manages her time now
• What Wen-Wen is excited for next

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Before Homebrew, he led consumer product management at YouTube, starting when it was acquired by Google. He originally joined Google in 2003, managing product and sales efforts for AdSense, Google‘s contextual advertising business. His first job in Silicon Valley was as the founding product and marketing guy at Linden Lab. Before graduate school, he was a management consultant and also spent a year at Late Night with Conan O‘ Brien. His parents are proud of his BA in History from Vassar and MBA from Stanford University.

Hunter Walk’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/hunterwalk

Topics Discussed: 

• Leaving google and launching his own venture
• Different ways of being an investor
• Angel investing 
• Blogging as an investor
• The value of Twitter
• Screendoor, an organization supporting underrepresented General Partners of emerging venture capital funds
• How Hunter's time at Google impacted him

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

As a leader in the entrepreneurship community, David holds several advisor/board memberships. He is on the board at MITX, an advisor at Harvard Ventures, Nanigans, CO Everywhere, OpenFrame, and Linkwell Health. He has made 70+ angel investments in startups such as Crashlytics, clypd, Amino, Logz, Cuseum, CarePort Health, Dashfire, Mogul, Uncharted Play, through the Where Angel Fund and TBD Angels. David is a frequent speaker on the topics of startups, fundraising, and the Boston tech ecosystem, and he actively mentors students and founders. 

Awards include Boston Business Journal's Power 50: Most Influential Bostonians, BostInno’s 50 on Fire: Education Winner / Investment Winner / Tech Finalist, and Finalist for NEVY Angel of the Year.

David Chang’s Twitter:  https://twitter.com/changds

Show Notes: 

• Switching from entrepreneurship to investing
• What makes David comfortable investing in more companies
• How David chooses the amount to invest
• David’s portfolio structure as an angel investor
• The best investment David made
• Investing with through an angel group
• The structure of TBD Angels and tools used to manage it
• What David is looking for as an angel investor
• His thoughts about subconscious bias and underrepresented founders
• Sourcing deals from universities

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series. 

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors. 

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital. 

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

WeeCare has also created the only childcare benefits program built to enable employers of all sizes to cost-effectively offer employees and team members the most convenience and support for their childcare needs. WeeCare’s Childcare Benefits result in decreased employee absenteeism, reduced job turnover, and increased job satisfaction.

More information about WeeCare:

WeeCare is the largest childcare network in the United States, with the mission of providing access to affordable, high-quality childcare for all families. Parents use WeeCare to find, tour, and enroll with the perfect childcare provider for their family. WeeCare supports families along the way with messaging, photo and video updates, and health and safety features through the app. Childcare providers are supplied with the support and tools they need to manage and grow their business with ease, including enrollment and finance management, tuition payment collection, and professionally developed curriculum. WeeCare was founded by a team set on solving the childcare crisis and proud to support women and minority-owned small businesses.

Jessica Chang’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/jessicajchang

Show notes:

- What WeeCare does
- The other side of Jessica's marketplace
- Where the idea of building a childcare network came from
- What fueled the growth of Weecare
- The experience of building a two-sided marketplace
- Growing WeeCare during the pandemic
- The average daycare costs
- The advantage of having childcare benefits
- The biggest pushback Jessica got from companies
- Jessica's educational advice
- The benefit of providing data back to Jessica’s employees
 
More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital ( https://vitalize.vc/ ), The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series.

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors.

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital.

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Anne Dwane is passionate about aligning teams and applying technology to unleash human potential.

The venture firm is backed by an impressive and diverse group of investors that includes:  Jeff Bezos, Sara Blakely, Reid Hoffman, Magic Johnson, Anne Wojcicki, Mark Zuckerberg, Diane Green, Judy Estrin, Bill Gates, and Ken Chennault.

Anne Dwane’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/adwane

Show Notes:

- Switching from executive to venture capitalist
- Starting Village Global
- Building a systemic network to advantage founders
- How Anne started investing
- Anne Dwane's investment strategy
- Village Global's process of evaluating startups
- The best advice Anne got in looking for the best companies
- How Anne helps founders, emerging managers, and angels find simplicity beyond complexity in venture capital
- How Anne and her team decide what projects to focus on
- What Anne is excited about now

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series.

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors.

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital.

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:
Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC​
Caroline - https://twitter.com/caroline_yeager​
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212​

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/

Andrew's Twitter: https://twitter.com/irrvrntVC

Topics Discussed

- How Andrew got into investing and invested in Caraway pre-product and pre-launch, Branch Furniture after reaching out on LinkedIn, and Lunchbox as the first check
- Finding great founders in great markets
- What makes founders stand out
- The benefit of having the experience of working with a lot of different early-stage founding teams
-  Why Andrew over indexes on go-to-market and CAC and the level of detail founders can go into
- The importance of timing at pre-seed
- How hands-on Andrew is as an investor
- How to find companies really early and the cap Andrew put on companies he can invest in out of his fund
- The opportunity at the early stages of investing
- Why Andrew started a rolling fund vs. just continuing angel investing
- Figuring out the structure for a rolling fund and the amount to raise