Trailblazers by Erica Wenger

In this episode, we sit down with Kate McAndrew, Co-Founder and General Partner of Baukunst, a $100 million pre-seed venture fund investing in the next generation of founders. After spending more than a decade investing in over 100 early-stage companies, Kate shares how she evaluates entrepreneurs long before the rest of the market catches on. We discuss what makes a startup worth investing in, ho...

In this episode, we sit down with Nas Daily, entrepreneur, creator, and founder of one of the world's largest creator brands. After building an audience of more than 70 million followers through nearly a decade of daily videos, Nas made the biggest gamble of his career by pivoting his content to AI. We discuss why he believes AI will create the next Walt Disney, how he built and manages a comp...

In this episode, we sit down with Justin Welsh, entrepreneur, writer, and founder of a $15 million one-person business. After helping build two billion-dollar companies and raising more than $300 million in venture capital, Justin chose a different path; one focused on freedom, leverage, and ownership. We discuss the power of writing, the future of entrepreneurship in the age of AI, why many found...

In this episode, we sit down with Mark Cuban to uncover the principles behind his success in business. From whether entrepreneurs should drop out of school to the toughest challenges he faced while building his companies, Mark shares the lessons that shaped his career. He explains why curiosity is a competitive advantage, how ego can hold people back, and what separates successful entrepreneurs fr...

This week, we chat with  Leah Solivan! Leah is the founder of TaskRabbit , the pioneering on-demand marketplace that helped redefine the future of work and laid the foundation for what we now know as the gig economy. As CEO for eight years, she scaled TaskRabbit into an international business operating in more than 40 cities before overseeing its successful acquisition by IKEA in 2017. Today, Leah...

This week, we chat with  Mariam Naficy! A serial entrepreneur and visionary leader known for pioneering new ways to connect creativity, technology, and human expression. Mariam is the Founder and Chairman of Minted, and now the Founder and CEO of Arcade, a platform that uses AI to help people communicate visually — transcending geographic and language barriers to connect creators, artisans, and co...

This week, we chat with Marlon Nichols! Marlon is the co-founder and managing general partner of MaC Venture Capital, a leading seed-stage firm backing visionary founders who are redefining industries and shaping the future. Under his leadership, MaC has grown into one of North America’s largest seed-stage venture firms, with over $600 million in assets under management. He’s backed an incredible...

This week, we chat with  Paige Hendrix Buckner! Paige is the CEO of All Raise, a nonprofit working to accelerate the success of women and non-binary venture capitalists and reshape the culture of the venture ecosystem. She previously served as All Raise’s Chief of Staff and Interim CEO before stepping into the role full time. Before joining All Raise, Paige was the COO of Founder Gym, the largest...

This week, we chat with  Rob Schutz! Rob is a serial entrepreneur, operator, and growth expert who’s spent his career building and scaling technology businesses that challenge outdated systems. He’s the founder of Snagged, where he helps entrepreneurs, startups, and established companies acquire premium domain names—and he’s also the co-founder of Ro, the digital health platform that’s transformed...

This week, we chat with Mayssa Chehata! Mayssa is the founder of BEHAVE Candy, the first low-sugar, clean-label candy designed not to spike blood sugar. Inspired by her love of sweets and her father’s diabetes, she set out to create a better alternative—partnering with chefs and food scientists to develop candy that delivers on taste while helping reduce sugar in the food system. In addition to bu...

This week we chat with Satya Patel! Satya is the co-founding General Partner of Homebrew, a seed-stage venture capital firm based in San Francisco. Through Homebrew, Satya has backed some of the most impactful startups of the past decade, including Chime, Cruise, Finix, Gusto, Habi, Honor, Plaid, and Shield AI. He’s also the co-founder of Screendoor, an investment platform designed to support emer...

This week we chat with Kipp Bodnar! Kipp is the Chief Marketing Officer of HubSpot, the #1 CRM platform for scaling companies, where he leads the company’s global marketing strategy—driving awareness, demand, and growth across one of the most influential software brands in the world. Before stepping into the CMO role, Kipp served as Vice President of Marketing at HubSpot, overseeing worldwide dema...

This week we chat with  Delian Asparouhov! Delian is a Partner at Founders Fund and the President and Co-Founder of Varda Space Industries, one of the most ambitious companies redefining what’s possible in space and manufacturing. Varda is pioneering the orbital economy by producing pharmaceuticals and advanced materials in microgravity—unlocking breakthroughs that simply can’t be achieved on Eart...

Welcome back to  Trailblazers by Park Rangers Capital! In this week’s solo episode, Erica Wenger breaks down her powerful 7-step time management framework called “The Bucket Method.” If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, stretched too thin, or constantly busy but not actually productive, this episode is your reset. Erica walks through a simple, practical system for organizing your priorities, protectin...

This week we chat with Eric Newcomer! Eric is the founder and writer behind Newcomer, which is a deeply reported newsletter on the inner workings of the startup industry. He’s widely regarded as one of the sharpest independent journalists and observers of power, money, and ambition in tech. He’s built Newcomer from a Substack newsletter into a must-read publication with over 100,000 subscribers. A...

This week we chat with  Jason Feifer! Jason is the Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine , where he’s spent nearly a decade studying and telling the stories of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs. He’s also a startup advisor, keynote speaker, and a nonstop optimism machine. He’s the author of the best-selling book Build For Tomorrow , host of the hit podcast Help Wanted with over one mill...

This week we chat with  Felix Levine!  Felix is an entrepreneur, investor, and media operator who began his career in podcasting back in 2019—recording interviews straight out of his freshman-year dorm room at UC Santa Barbara. After transferring to Boston University, where he earned a dual degree in Business Law and Management, Felix spent his college years traveling the country interviewing eve...

This week, we chat with Terri Burns! Terri is the founder of Type Capital, an early-stage venture firm focused on being the first check for ambitious founders at pre-seed and seed. Most recently, she was a partner at GV, where she made history as the firm’s youngest partner and its first-ever Black female partner, with a focus on digital consumer and emerging technology. During her time at GV, Ter...

Welcome back to  Trailblazers by Park Rangers Capital! In this week’s solo episode, host Erica Wenger breaks down 10 pieces of advice for ambitious twenty somethings!  Drawing from her personal experiences in the business world, Erica covers topics like building a strong personal brand, making smart career choices, and other key strategies for growth and success. Whether you’re just starting out o...

Shomik is the newest partner at Sierra Ventures! A longtime venture investor and an inception-focused fund backing technical founders at day zero. He supported companies like Cloudquery, Kiln AI, and Ask-Y, and played a role in many other early investments. Shomik was an investor at Top Tier Capital, where he focused on growth-stage companies including CircleCI, Anaplan, Remitly, Shape Security, a...

This week we chat with Haseeb Qureshi! Haseeb is the Managing Partner at Dragonfly, a multibillion-dollar leading crypto VC firm, and is a longtime technology-focused crypto investor. He was previously a General Partner at Metastable Capital (now acquired by Dragonfly). Earlier in his career, Haseeb founded a stablecoin startup, worked as a blockchain engineer at Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase), a...

This week, we chat with Nicolas Cary! Nic is the Co-Founder and Vice Chairman at Blockchain.com ! He is responsible for bringing new adopters into the crypto ecosystem. A fascination with tech, money and politics led Nic to become deeply passionate about helping people reinvent their relationship with money. After an international upbringing, Nic worked as a teacher in India before becoming a foun...

This week we chat with  Paige Finn Doherty! Paige is the Founding Partner of Behind Genius Ventures, an early-stage venture firm managing nearly $14 million in AUM. Behind Genius makes concentrated investments in pre-seed and seed-stage companies led by technical storytellers across applied AI, frontier tech, and what’s next. A writer and former engineer, Paige first broke into venture capital in...

This week we chat with Claire Hughes Johnson! Claire is the former COO of Stripe, where she played a critical role in scaling the company from 160 employees to more than 7,000 during its period of rapid global expansion. Before Stripe, she spent over a decade at Google, leading large international teams across multiple high-growth products and operations. She now serves on the boards of HubSpot, T...

Welcome back to  Trailblazers by Park Rangers Capital! In this week’s solo episode, host Erica Wenger breaks down 7 things she wishes every founder knew before raising their first check. The honest, unfiltered truths that can dramatically change the way you approach fundraising. Drawing from the countless lessons she’s learned while raising for her own firm, Erica unpacks the realities behind inve...