StrictlyVC Download

Today Connie and Alex are joined by Jonah Peretti who has been working in digital media for the past two decades as the founder and CEO of BuzzFeed—a brand that has seen a ton of evolution. Last month, Jonah announced the next phase of Buzzfeed, a social media platform that will use AI to ensure a positive environment. They’re investing $10 million into BuzzFeed island which is an AI-native social...

This week on StrictlyVC Download TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos and StrictlyVC’s Alex Gove are joined by Michael Kim, the long-time VC and founder of Cendana Capital where he has built a $2.6 billion portfolio focused exclusively on seed and pre-seed funds, backing some of the most successful emerging managers in the industry. In this episode they discuss Cendana’s latest $600 million fu...

In this episode TechCrunch Editor in Chief, Connie Loizos, is joined by Aileen Lee the founder of Cowboy Ventures. Aileen coined the term "unicorn" in a TechCrunch article all the way back in late 2013. In this conversation, they discuss what’s on the horizon for Cowboy Ventures and how she’s thinking about AI’s impact on job creation, automation, and new business models—while also giving listener...

In this week's episode, Connie Loizos is joined by Kevin Rose, best known for founding Digg. The news aggregator changed the way people engaged with the news back in 2004, and it's apparently coming back. That’s right. Kevin joined forces with Alexis Ohanian – his former rival and the co-founder of Reddit, and Digg’s new CEO Justin Mezzell to relaunch Digg for a completely new and expanded audienc...

In this episode of StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos is joined by Chris Farmer, founder of SignalFire, to discuss the current state of venture capital. With many startups stuck in financial limbo and no clear path to exit, Farmer shares why he believes the industry has a structural problem. He also shares his perspective on new funding mechanisms, including secondary sales and venture buyouts, an...

This week on StrictlyVC Download, we're catching our breath and catching up with all of the news that's been happening in the industry. Connie Loizos and Alex Gove are breaking down the top headlines from Slow Ventures’ new creator fund, to Meta’s step into the humanoid robot race, to the continued saga between Elon Musk and Open AI.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Nextdoor CEO Nirav Tolia joins Connie and Alex to talk about the challenges of running a public company, his strategy to improve user engagement, and why he’s betting on AI and third-party content to make Nextdoor indispensable. They also get into Nextdoor's current product overhaul and whether an acquisition is on the table. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 03:49 - Fixing Nextdoor’...

In this episode, hosts Connie and Alex sit down with Steven Wang, the 23-year-old founder of Dub, a rapidly growing copy trading platform. Wang shares how Dub is revolutionizing retail investing by allowing users to automatically mirror the portfolios of top traders, hedge fund managers, and even politicians like Nancy Pelosi. He also dives into the challenges of navigating financial regulations,...

In this episode, we sit down with Blake Scholl, CEO of Boom Supersonic, to discuss the company’s ambitious mission to revolutionize commercial aviation. From developing the Overture, a supersonic airliner, to embracing sustainable aviation fuels, Blake shares how Boom plans to make faster, greener air travel a reality. They also discuss their recent test flights, with plans to break the sound barr...

In this episode, Brendan Wallace of Fifth Wall Ventures shares his insights on the transformative power of PropTech in addressing modern challenges like sustainability, housing affordability, and urban resilience. From rebuilding wildfire-stricken Los Angeles to navigating the intersection of real estate and AI-driven data centers, Wallace explores the innovations shaping the future of cities and...

In this episode of The StrictlyVC Download, Connie Loizos talks withwith Vlad Tenev, the co-founder and CEO of Robinhood, to discuss the company’s remarkable evolution and recent designation as Yahoo Finance’s "Comeback Stock of the Year." Tenev shares how Robinhood is poised for significant growth through its innovative approach to prediction markets, sports betting, and wealth management. The ep...

This week on the StrictlyVC Download, Connie sits down with GV CEO David Krane at our December StrictlyVC event in San Francisco to discuss his approach to identifying potential investments, what it's like to work so closely with Google while helping potential competitors, and why their approach to successful exits is much more long-term than other VCs. GV, Google's venture capital spinoff that st...

This week, Connie and Alex are joined by the founder of Lead Edge Capital, Mitchell Green, to discuss his firm’s $5 billion portfolio, its eight-point investment criteria, and their playbook for discovering early stage startups in less popular markets. He also weighs in on Bytedance’s future, the aspects of AI that he thinks may be overhyped, and the tougher IPO market. 00:00 - Introduction 03:52...

In this episode, Connie sits down with Brynn Putnam, the former CEO of Mirror, and VC Ben Lerer to discuss why founders – and investors – are getting excited about consumer-focused startups for the first time in a handful of years. Putnam already turned her home fitness company into a $500 million success story. Now she’s building something new that she believes will help families and friends conn...

At a StrictlyVC event in New York this past Wednesday, Connie talked to Marc Lore, founder and CEO of Wonder, about Wonder's plans for the future, including the news that Wonder is buying GrubHub for $650 million, or $6.65 billion less than the Netherlands-based food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway paid for the company just four years ago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/ad...

Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and Effie Epstein of Sound Ventures talk about their AI strategy and why they think we are in the early innings of artificial intelligence startups. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Connie talks to legendary venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, founder and managing director at Khosla Ventures.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Connie and Alex talk to billionaire Frank McCourt about his plan to buy TikTok and transform it into a decentralized platform where users have control over their data and identity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Connie & Alex talk to Hemant Taneja and Pranav Singhvi of General Catalyst about their “Customer Value” strategy, a  funding model in which General Catalyst pre-funds a company's customer acquisition cost in exchange for a capped return linked directly to the customer value generated from its investment. Music: 1. "Inspired" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3918-inspired)2....

Connie talks with former Vice President Al Gore and his business partner, Lila Preston, about a new, annual climate report that their sustainability-focused investment management firm, Generation Investment Management, has issued.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Connie talks to Lina Khan, Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, about the need for regulation in the tech industry to ensure competition and address potential risks of AI, the challenges of regulating innovation in a rapidly changing tech environment, and the potential risks and benefits of breaking up big tech companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Connie chats with seed-stage investor Saul Klein about the European startup scene. Music: 1. "Inspired" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3918-inspired)2. "Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5759-blippy-trance)3. "Dream Catcher" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4650-dream-catcher)4. "Pamgaea" by Kevin MacLeod (https:/...

Connie talks to Rippling CEO Parker Conrad about Rippling's new $200 million round that the company raised at a hefty $13.4 billion valuation. Music: 1. "Inspired" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3918-inspired)2. "Blippy Trance" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5759-blippy-trance)3. "Dream Catcher" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/so...

Connie talks to Eric Liaw of IVP about London, succession, and that Klarna kerfuffle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Connie talks to Arjun Sethi, co-founder of the venture firm Tribe Capital,  about Termina, a startup he cofounded that helps investors perform quantitative due diligence on their own portfolio and new deals.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices