The Puck: Venture Capital and Beyond

On the 50th episode of The Puck, Jim sits down with Courtney McCrea, co-founder and managing partner at Recast Capital, a firm focused on investing in emerging founders in the venture space. Courtney explains how Recast invests in funds that are early in their own journeys, and the many things she’s learned in her decades in the business. They talk record fundraising over the last two years, the p...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Matt Cohen, Founder and Managing Partner at Ripple Ventures. An operator turned investor, Matt started Ripple Ventures in 2018 to bring his “operator-first” mindset to the early stage investing world. He and Jim discuss his background as a public market investor, and his hands-on approach to investing. At Ripple Ventures he also runs “The Tank,” an incuba...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Stanford University Professor Greg Walton, a social psychologist who specializes in studying the development of young people. Professor Walton works on what he calls “wise interventions” that can be implemented to help young people succeed. He talks about the myths surrounding our heroes, how a community can help build up its individual members, and how w...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Tyler Norwood, managing partner at Antler, a global firm focused on early stage investment. He talks Jim through his background, from moving to Vietnam directly after his college graduation, to his work in the fashion e-commerce space, eventually getting what he calls “a real world MBA,” launching Antler across Southeast Asia. He speaks about how he and h...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Anna Barber, Partner at M13 and head of their Launchpad program. Their wide-ranging discussion touches on the shifting landscape in today’s economy, how different values between generations influence the workforce, and inflation. Anna thoughtfully reflects on how to be a more considerate investor, and how her passions for addressing climate change, income...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with British Economist Sir Paul Collier to discuss the current state of Capitalism, and walk our listeners through historical reactions to economic crises around the world. He speaks about his working class upbringing, compares the 1840s and 1930s to today, and speaks about using the lessons of the past to inform the present.

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Melissa Weintraub, co-founder and executive director of Resetting the Table, an organization dedicated to dialogue across political divides. Their conversation touches on Melissa’s professional roots working on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, growing up in a very politically red community, and how we can all do a better, healthier, job of communicating...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Cyrus Sigari of Up Partners, a venture firm at the forefront of transportation innovation. He speaks about his lifelong love of aviation and the journey of starting his firm centered around mobility. Cyrus and Jim discuss drone capabilities and taking cues from birds, sustainability related to technology, the massive benefits of AI in the transportation s...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with David French, political commentator, senior editor of The Dispatch, and co-host of the Good Faith podcast. Their wide-ranging discussion covers the current US political climate and what he calls the ‘new culture war,’ the fundamental differences in thinking between liberals and conservatives, and the possibility of unity in today’s polarized world. A fasc...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Neil Sequeira, founder and managing director at Defy, an early-stage venture fund focused on emerging high-potential investments. Neil walks Jim through his history in the corporate VC world, weathering downturns in the economy, and working towards positive change in consumer financial services. They talk about blockchain, the market, and a more socially...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with author and journalist Christopher Leonard to discuss his new book, The Lords of Easy Money How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy. Chris has spent his career writing about powerful institutions on behalf of the public and his new work examines how FED policy over the last fifteen years has shaped our current financial landscape. From Quantitat...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Jordan Nof, co-founder of Tusk Venture Partners, a firm whose expertise in the regulatory space has made them a valuable partner to such companies as Bird, Lemonade, and FanDuel. Jordan walks Jim through the founding of the firm, his background in a more traditional investing space, and how Tusk’s experience with technology regulation makes them a strateg...

This week, Jim sits down with Grant Miller, founder and CEO of Replicated, a company built around a new way to package software. Grant walks Jim through how Replicated allows software vendors to scale the delivery of applications in a way that’s more portable, letting companies more securely protect their data by bringing applications to them. They talk about bringing a unique product to the marke...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Adriana Saman of Clocktower Ventures, a Southern California based venture fund focused on investing in the future of financial services. She walks Jim through her background in investment banking and how the experience informs her work in the fintech space. She talks about the future of fintech as beyond simply vertical, Clocktower’s mission to be the bes...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Scott Painter, founder and CEO of NextCar, a major disruptor on the sales side of the auto industry. Scott has devoted much of his career to solving the problem of car ownership – updating the model, reducing the headache, and making the marketplace more efficient. He and Jim discuss his journey from 1-800 Car Search to today, bringing a subscription mode...

On this week’s episode, Jim speaks with writer and social entrepreneur Shaylyn Romney Garrett about how we got to where we are today. Author of The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again, Garrett covers a wide range of topics including income inequality, polarization, and social isolation. She highlights similarities between the Gilded Age and now and discusses...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Michal Cieplinski, CBO of Pipe, a groundbreaking financial platform revolutionizing the way companies are funded. They discuss Pipe’s beginning, working strictly with Software as a Service companies before expanding into the larger marketplace. Their in-depth conversation explores how Pipe is reinventing debt and creating a new type of asset class.

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Maury Blackman, CEO of Premise Data, an innovative AI-driven decision engine geared toward collecting data that can help decision makers respond more effectively to real world events. Maury walks Jim through how Premise curates a network of data collection, working with members of the gig economy, all the while blending the human and technological sides o...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Ryan Falvey, the co-founder and managing partner of Financial Venture Studio, and a pioneer in the fintech space. Ryan walks Jim through his background in mobile banking and payment platforms, discussing the massive upheaval at play in the financial sector – everything from a more curated financial experience to the changes in access to loans and the shif...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Erik Tarczynski, the founder of Contrary Capital, a venture fund focused on future leaders in engineering and design. Their conversation touches on the Contrary origin story, how Eric scouts, evaluates, and supports talent, and operating remotely long before COVID-19. Eric has some interesting ideas about work/life balance, mental health innovation and ho...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Will Schmitt of Miroma Ventures, the investing arm of The Miroma Group, an international firm focused on growth stage consumer brands and media platforms. Will walks Jim through his finance oriented background building models and doing financial diligence, and how working with food and beverage companies informs his work today. He talks about Miroma’s pos...

On this week’s episode, Jim sits down with Elizabeth Edwards of H Venture Partners for a fascinating discussion covering a variety of topics, including the power of diverse lived experience in the venture world, the benefits of gender parity in finance, and investing in the consumer space through companies like Peloton. Their conversation covers Elizabeth’s background, including her time in M&A at...

On this week’s episode, Jim is joined by Kristina Serafim, managing director at Verizon Ventures. They touch on a wide range of topics, including Kristina’s background as an engineer, co-founding companies that eventually got acquired, and investing in state of the art technology like 5G and vertical AI. Kristina discusses how Verizon’s ecosystem provides resources to young companies beyond simply...

This week, Jim speaks with Brad Feld, author of the recently published The Entrepreneur’s Weekly Nietzsche, as well as co-founder of Foundry Group, a tech-focused venture fund located in Boulder Colorado.  Brad and Jim discuss how Brad accidentally became a venture capitalist, gender and racial equity in the venture world, and setting aside bias as a leader.  They then move onto the advantages of...

This week, Jim sits down with Vern Howard, co-founder and CEO of Hallo, the digital events platform transforming the job fair market. Over the course of their conversation, Vern talks Jim through the the difficulties students face getting into the right rooms and the science behind finding applicants the proper job fit. Vern shares his experience relocating the company to LA from San Francisco rig...