Silicon Street

Jim Ferry is a Partner at Volition Capital , a Boston-based growth equity firm founded in 2010 that focuses on investing in high-growth, founder-led technology companies. After graduating from Providence College in 2014, Jim Ferry joined Volition as an Analyst and has been there ever since. In this episode, we walk through his journey from sourcing deals as a junior investor to leading and closing...

Mike Joslin is currently a partner at the 1842 Fund and a Build Director at High Alpha Innovation, where he focuses on creating and investing in startups in collaboration with universities and corporations. We begin by discussing the start of his career at Best Buy’s corporate headquarters, followed by his MBA at Harvard Business School, where he conducted research under the late Clay Christensen....

Dr. John Behrens is the Director of the Technology and Digital Studies Program as well as the Idzik Computing and Digital Technologies Program at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to joining Notre Dame, Dr. Behrens spent 20 years in industry where he held several executive positions at large tech firms like Cisco and Pearson, where he was most recently the Vice President of AI Product Developmen...

Henry Kittle is the COO and Co-Founder of Tiger Tracks, a digital advertising agency focused on helping companies build effective and tailored marketing strategies centered around the top ad platforms. Prior to founding Tiger Tracks, Henry spent over 8 years at Google as a shopping lead, helping companies strategize and deploy their digital marketing budgets. In this episode, we discuss Henry’s ca...

Michelle Seitz is the Founder and CEO of MeydenVest Partners, an investment and strategic advisory firm that partners with businesses within the technology, healthcare, and financial services sectors who are aiming to solve important problems. Prior to founding MeydenVest, Michelle was the Chair and CEO of Russell Investments and CEO of William Blair Investment Management. First, we explore the mi...

Mike Mauzé is a Founder and Partner at VMG Partners, a leading investment firm that backs visionary consumer products and technologies. First, we discuss some of the most important considerations before starting your own private equity fund and explore the sacrifices and benefits involved. Next, Mike elaborates on the art and science of consumer investing, offering insights for aspiring investors...

Mary Miller is the Head of Business Development within Growth Equity Investing at Norwest Venture Partners. Prior to joining Norwest in 2023, Mary was a Director at SoftBank’s Vision Fund and has held a number of other positions focused on investments in consumer technology companies. First, we explore some of the administrative and investing roles that Mary has worked in as she explains how she e...

Professor Raymond Mooney is the Director of the Artificial Intelligence Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. Having written his first paper on AI as a 17 year-old and spending his entire academic and professional career as an AI researcher, Prof. Mooney has become one of the most respected and distinguished thought leaders in the world on artificial intelligence and natural language processin...

Sara McLay is a Director at UTA Ventures, the growth arm of the United Talent Agency. First, Sara talks about her career journey through the entertainment industry and delves deeper into what UTA is, specifically highlighting the unique role she has on the Ventures team. Next, Sara explains what the Creator Economy is and how celebrities like Mr. Beast have been able to leverage their talent and p...

Konrad Billetz has built and led several startup companies over the past decade, including his current company Outliant, and has received many distinctions for his entrepreneurial work, including an appearance on Shark Tank, being listed on Forbes 30 under 30 list, and being featured in numerous media outlets including Forbes and Entrepreneur. First, we talk about Konrad’s unique career journey an...

Cody Kittle is a Portfolio Manager at Elliot Management. Prior to joining Elliot, he worked as a private equity associate at Wind Point Partners and an Investment Banking Analyst at JP Morgan. First, we talk about the typical finance career path and the discernment process of finding the right role within the industry. Next, we discuss interview and networking tips for progressing through careers...

Keith Melaragno was a long time manager at Pepsi Beverages Company and spent time in various high-level roles throughout the company including the VP of Marketing, VP of Foodservice, and VP of Retail in the Midwest. First, Keith talks about his career journey through the food and beverage industry, how the broad exposure he got by rotating through various divisions of Pepsi benefited him later in...

Jeff Bocan is a partner at Okapi Venture Capital, which is a venture capital firm based in Ladera Ranch, California that invests during the seed stage in technology and software driven companies. First, we talk about the factors that led Jeff to pursue a career in venture capital and some of the unique insights he gained from interesting experiences that he had early on in his career. We also talk...

Sean Davis is the founder of and a managing director at Merton Capital Partners, which is a US-based investment firm that specializes in creating efficient vehicles to deploy large-scale philanthropy. First, we chat about how Sean’s experiences living abroad opened his eyes to the need for philanthropy giving and take a look at the major issues that Sean addresses in his book “Solving the Giving P...

Ryan Welsh is the co-founder and CEO of Kyndi, a natural language technology platform that utilizes artificial intelligence to assist enterprises. First, we discuss how the processing, storing, and transfer of information has advanced via technology while the ability of humans to read and consume information has not. This pivots into a discussion of how AI, specifically Kyndi, will allow us to bri...

Russell Steenberg is a 40-year veteran in the private equity industry and is transitioning from his role as a managing director and the global head of the BlackRock’s Private Equity Partners business to serve as Chairman for the business. First, we discuss the challenges Russell faced and the lessons he learned throughout the process of building and leading BlackRock’s PEP into its current form. N...

Steve Tullman has founded and led 12 pharmaceutical startup companies during his impressive career and currently serves as the Executive Chairman of Nexstone Immunology, a clinical stage drug development company. First, we discuss Steve’s experiences at pharmaceutical giant GSK, where he spent 15 years gaining exposure to several different business sectors and spending time abroad, until he eventu...

Richard Dresdale is a senior managing director at Jefferson River Capital, which is a small family office private equity firm that invests across a number of industries including in industrial and healthcare businesses. First, we talk about Richard’s long and distinguished career in private equity, including his involvement in starting a middle-market private equity firm called Fenway Partners and...

Sara Gilson is a principal at Freeman Spogli & Co., a middle-market PE fund based in Los Angeles with an industry focus in the consumer and distribution sectors. During our conversation, we first take a look at the lessons Sara learned during her experiences in investment banking as well as the benefits she gained by attending Harvard Business School. Next, we dive into the unique investment a...

Dennis Thankachan is the Co-Founder and CEO of Lightyear, a telecom company that allows businesses to buy and manage all telecom services through a single platform. Additionally, he is an angel investor in numerous tech start-ups. First, we take a look at the lessons Dennis learned through his career in banking and at a hedge fund. Next, we dive into the telecom space, where Dennis elaborates on s...

Tom Daly is an analyst at Great Point Partners, a healthcare private equity fund based in Greenwich, CT that invests across all sectors of the healthcare industry. Tom is a recent graduate of Notre Dame, where he started a gamified learning platform called “TD3 Innovative Gaming” and also worked in M&A at Evercore in the Investment Banking division during his junior year summer. As private equ...

With Conor, Alex, and Chris recently graduated from college and currently focused on starting their professional careers, Silicon Street is excited to announce Michael Cutler and James Barham will be taking over as co-hosts. Michael and James, both sophomores at the University of Notre Dame, are extremely passionate about the mission of Silicon Street and look forward to adding new energy to the p...

Thomas Hagerty is a managing director at Thomas H. Lee Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm investing in the Financial Technology & Services, Healthcare, and Technology & Business Solutions sectors. We chat about Thomas’s 30+ years at THL and the evolution of private equity from when he started in the industry in 1988 until today. For instance, we discuss increased competition, the...

Luiz Ribeiro is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Brazil Office for General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm. First, we discuss the impact of Luiz’s early career experiences at buyout firm Advent International on his investment philosophy and the lessons he learned from serving as the CFO of one of his portfolio companies. We then dive into the importance of investing in digital...

Chris Smith is a Director at GTCR, a leading private equity firm based in Chicago focused on investing in growth companies. In this conversation, we discuss the firm’s investment philosophy and the Leaders Strategy in which GTCR finds and partners with management teams in core domains to identify, acquire, and build market leading companies. We then do a deep dive on the rise of value based care i...