Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast

Paul-Henri Ferrand is the Chief Operating Officer of Brex. Brex, the corporate card that accelerates entrepreneurs and scaling businesses, is founded by Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi, two engineers who previously founded Pagar.me, a Brazil payment processing company. Brex has raised $315M in equity and $510M in debt, and is backed by the co-founders of PayPal (Max Levchin and Peter Thiel)...

Brianne Kimmel is a newly minted venture capitalist.  She didn't join a venture fund: She started her own. Her fund ⁠— Work Life Ventures ⁠— invests in new technologies and services for your work life.    Work today has a whole new meaning: it's social w/ Slack, flexible w/ Zoom and approachable through low-code and no-code tools for anyone with an idea to build something.   Brianne's recent inves...

Do you know why we download podcasts, but stream video?  This is the podcast that tells the story. Jeff Macpherson is founder of AR/VR training company Motive.io .  But before that – he created and acted in "Tiki Bar TV". If you don't know what that is, you can -- and should -- find it at TikiBarTV.com .  Tiki Bar TV was at the red-hot center of the early video wars – which were at one point a kni...

In honor of Keller's recent warmly received recent talk at Jackson Square ventures -- here she is again! ----- Keller Fitzsimmons is the author of Lost in Startuplandia: Wayfinding for the Weary Entrepreneur.  She gives lie to the idea that entrepreneurship is a thrilling, lucrative adventure.  All is great, of course, until things go horribly wrong. "As crisis after crisis hits, even the most sea...

Marco Zappacosta is a co-Founder & CEO of Thumbtack, a startup that lets people find local professionals for "pretty much anything".  Thumbtack has raised over $400 million and is valued at well over $1 billion.  Investors include Sequoia Capital, Cyan Banister, Jason Calcanis and brothers Ali and Hadi Partovi.  Marco has been recognized by Forbes as top "30 under 30" entrepreneur, and Thumbtack i...

Chris Douvos has a rare job.  There are very few venture capitalists in the world.  There's an even more scarce job, however:  Several 'fund-of-funds" exist that provide capital to venture capital firms, and a path into venture capital for large institutions that want to invest in Silicon Valley.  Chris Douvos' Ahoy Capital is one of those funds. In this wide-ranging discussion, Chris tells us how...

Mike Maples, Jr. is Founder and General Partner of Floodgate, a seed investing firm that has made early investments in companies like Twitter, Demandforce and Lyft.  He was #12 on the 2018 "Midas List" of top venture capitalists. The seed investing trend he identified has become, literally, an entire category of investors.  He is also the host of his own podcast – Starting Greatness. In this episo...

David Hornik is a partner at August Capital. He is also the much-loved creator and executive producer of "The Lobby".  In preparing for this podcast, a number of people expressed sincere affection for David, The Lobby, and the relationships it has fostered.  In this episode David explains what the Lobby is, and where the idea came from.  In addition to The Lobby, David started (with his colleagues...

Joe Garofoli is the Senior Political Writer for the San Francisco Chronicle.  He is also host of the San Francisco Chronicle podcast "It's All Political".  Guests on "It's All Political" recently have included California Governor Gavin Newsom, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and a "Who's Who" of Democratic presidential hopefuls. Very few people have Joe Garofoli's unique perch – here in San Francisco...

Ryan Petersen founded Flexport to make the world a more connected and better place.  He wanted to "fix the user experience in global trade".  It's been quite a success so far.  To date – the company has raised $1.3  billion, and Paul Graham, the founder of Y Combinator, told Bloomberg News, "There will be more international trade because of Flexport and international trade is a very big thing for...

Josh Felser co-founded and sold two companies -- Spinner and Grouper – for a combined value of nearly $400 million.  Then, he and his partner, Dave Samuel, started one of Silicon Valley's most successful seed venture funds – Freestyle.   Freestyle has backed companies like Airtable, Intercom, BetterUp, Patreon and Wag. In this wide-ranging discussion, Josh talks about building Spinner and the nail...

Dan Scheinman is one of the best investors – and nicest people – you may not have heard of…yet.  But you should know him, because he has become a force in Silicon Valley.  After running Corporate Development at Cisco, Dan became an investor.  Investing his own capital, he has backed from the earliest stages firms like Zoom, Arista, SentinalOne and CyCognito.  These companies are now collectively w...

You know her right?  The woman who started two venture funds and a wealth management firm?  You don't?  Meet Ba Minuzzi.  Ba was born in Brazil, where she started a fashion business in her teens.  That soon gave way to a real estate business, and then the venue changed to Miami.  In Miami, she realized she wanted to start a venture fund – and that Silicon Valley was the place to do it.  Today she...

Jerry Colonna is the author of Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up, and cofounder of Reboot – a coaching company, which he started along with Ali Schultz, Khalid Halim, and Dan Put.  Before building a successful coaching firm – Jerry was a "Prince of New York" – he co-founded the VC firm Flatiron partners and then ran JP Morgan Partners'.  But walked away from it all at the age of 38, wra...

Maha is a partner at Canaan Partners, one of Silicon Valley's largest and most successful venture firms.  She spots technology trends early and partners closely with her companies to drive growth and exits. Maha focuses on e-commerce and enterprise / cloud, and was one of the first investors to recognize the potential of social gaming. She represented Canaan as the first institutional investor in ...

Esther Wojcicki is a journalist and educator.  She founded and runs the Palo Alto High School Media Arts Center, which engages over 600 students directly in media such as magazines, newspapers, radio, television and photography.  She wrote the book "How to Raise Successful People:  Simple Lessons for Radical Results ".  Her qualifications?  Her three daughters, Susan, Anne and Janet are the CEO of...

It's the time of  year when Silicon Valley decamps to a party in the desert known as Burning Man.  Grown adults, with children and jobs spend multiple weeks preparing, burning, then decompressing. In this replay episode, we take a light-hearted look at Burning Man as seen from Silicon Valley.  We review the history of the event, which began at Ocean Beach in San Francisco.  We also cover a dark pe...

Alison McCauley is the Best Selling Author of Unblocked: How Blockchain will Change your Business and What to Do About It. Why does blockchain matter? Alison points out that disruption is no longer a moment in time. It's a continual state. How do you understand the new opportunity? Set priorities in a complex and ever-shifting landscape? Prepare for what's ahead? Alison helps you navigate the huma...

In honor of Kelly's recent, well-received talk at Jackson Square Ventures, and the ongoing interest in mental health issues in Silicon Valley -- here she is again! ------ Keller Fitzsimmons is the author of Lost in Startuplandia: Wayfinding for the Weary Entrepreneur. She gives lie to the idea that entrepreneurship is a thrilling, lucrative adventure. All is great, of course, until things go horri...

Adriana is the Founder and CEO of Girls in Tech, a San Francisco-based non-profit organization that empowers women in the tech industry across the globe. Before founding Girls in Tech, Adriana served in executive roles at Ogilvy & Mather, Interpublic Group of Companies, Social Gaming Network (SGN), and SecondMarket. She has been named one of the 20 most influential Latinos in Technology by CNET, a...

Anne Dwane is co-founder and partner of Village Global, the venture firm 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, and Ken Chennault. Before becoming a venture capitalist, Anne was a tech company co-founder, a private company CEO, and public company executive...

After attending the University of Illinois, Chris Michel began his career as a Naval Flight Officer, flying aboard P-3 Orion "sub-hunters".  Today, he is a photographer, chronicling Silicon Valley and the World.  His photography has taken him from the edge of space, to the North and South Poles and everything in between.  Chris's path from the Navy to photographer was not a straight line, and in t...

  Julian Guthrie is a journalist-turned-author, covering such topics as Larry Ellison's quest for the America's Cup, and the new age of private space exploration. She gravitates to tales of underdogs and innovation, and her latest book is no exception. " Alpha Girls: The Women Upstarts Who Took on Silicon Valley's Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime " is the story of four women: Magdalen...

 Charles is the founder and Managing Partner of Precursor Ventures, one of Silicon Valley's hot seed stage venture firms. He was previously at Uncork, the storied seed venture firm founded by Jeff Clavier. Precursor is a classic seed stage venture firm investing in founders they believe in.  Before becoming a venture capitalist, Charles cofounded Bionic Panda Games, and held senior business develo...

Michael Tchong has been called "the most influential trend-spotter in America". He is a top-rated innovation speaker, adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco, trend forecaster and author of "Ubertrends — How Trends And Innovation Are Transforming Our Future." He heads up incubator Ubercool Innovation and is the founder of four disruptive startups, including MacWEEK, Atelier Systems, C...