Samir Kaji

Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managers

Business EN ↓ 159 episodes

Venture Unlocked is the playbook for starting, operating, & scaling a successful venture capital firm. Samir Kaji, Host of Venture Unlocked has +20-years of experience assisting & advising startups and venture firms. Listen for VC fund guidance. ventureunlocked.substack.com

Author

Samir Kaji

Episodes

Jessica Peltz-Zatulove and Kate Beardsley on closing an oversubscribed $52MM Fund I, the difference between family offices and institutions, secondaries as a foundation of portfolio management 01.06.2022 50:38

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Today we’re thrilled to bring you our conversation with Jessica Peltz-Zatulove and Kate Beardsley , co-founders of Hannah Grey VC . Backed by firms such as Twitter, JP Morgan, Screendoor, Insight Partners, etc. the firm recently announced it’s oversubscribed $52MM seed fund and...

GGV's Jeff Richards on making sense of the market today, growing a $9B+ firm, and whether geo-political tensions may affect international venture investing 05.05.2022 53:18

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. We have a great conversation on top this week with Jeff Richards , Managing Partner at GGV Capital . Founded in 2000, GGV manages nearly $10B in AUM and invests across stages in both the US and Asia, and has invested in companies such as AirBnB, Wish, Opendoor, and Grab. This w...

Viola Ventures' Danny Cohen on the Israel's exponential growth as a tech hub, building decision frameworks for picking, and managing a firm in a rapidly changing market 20.04.2022 37:34

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week we have Venture Unlocked’s first international manager with Danny Cohen from Israel-based Viola Ventures . Originally founded under the name Carmel Ventures in 2000, Viola currently has over $4B in total assets under management. It’s focused on early-stage companies in...

776's Alexis Ohanian on the new era of VC, using technology in a firm, and things he's most excited about today. 13.04.2022 58:57

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Today I’m thrilled to bring you my conversation with Alexis Ohanian , founder of stage-agnostic firm Seven Seven Six , which was founded in 2020 and has over $750MM in AUM today. Many know Alexis from his experience as co-founding both Reddit and later Initialized Capital. There...

8VC's Drew Oetting on their decision-making culture, building talent at firms, and his most critical learnings as an investor 06.04.2022 48:52

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week I’m happy to bring you my conversation with Drew Oetting , founding partner of 8VC , an Austin/SF/NY-based firm that he co-founded in 2015. Today the firm has >$3B in AUM, and has invested in companies such as Blend Labs, Addepar, Flexport, Oscar, and Hims. About Drew...

Bedrock Capital's Geoff Lewis on Vibe capital, the power of narrative violations, and winning in today's market 31.03.2022 49:26

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week we are joined by Geoff Lewis , Co-Founder and Managing partner of Bedrock Capital . Many in the industry know Geoff and Bedrock for their investing in non-consensus companies and founders, and in particular, for popularizing the notion of investing in narrative violati...

David Cohen on founding Techstars, patterns of successful founders, and the math behind large portfolios 23.03.2022 53:48

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week I’m happy to share my conversation with David Cohen , Co-Founder and Chairman of Techstars , which along with YC has paved the path early-stage capital formation through the accelerator model. Since its founding in 2006, TechStars has had 2600 companies graduate its...

Playground Global's Peter Barrett on investing in deep tech, what makes a good deep tech founder, and the difference between the improbable and impossible 16.03.2022 42:42

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week I’m excited to bring you my conversation with Peter Barrett, Co-Founder and General Partner of Playground Global , a firm that has raised over $800MM to invest in deeply technical and transformative technologies. Founded in 2015, the firm has invested in companies like...

Forerunner Ventures Eurie Kim on scaling the Forerunner franchise, thesis based investing, and advice for emerging managers 09.03.2022 55:36

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week I’m excited to bring you my conversation with Eurie Kim of Forerunner Ventures , which without a doubt is one of the world's top VC firms formed over the last decade. Forerunner invests in entrepreneurs who are redefining culture and consumer experiences in today’s di...

Not Boring's Packy McCormick on VC's building brand through content creation, tech trends he's most excited about, and how writing has helped him with investing. 01.03.2022 52:58

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week I’m delighted to bring you my conversation with Packy McCormick , founder of Not Boring , a biweekly newsletter that now has over 100K subscribers and covers tech, strategy, finance, economics, and everything in between. In July 2021, Packy launched the Not Boring Cap...

Limited Partner and direct invest Guy Perelmuter (Grids Capital) on deep tech, bull and bear views on the market, and adding value as an LP 22.02.2022 55:47

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week, we have friend-of-the-pod Guy Perelmuter , founder of GRIDS Capital , a firm based in Sao Paulo, Brazil that invests in deep tech focused venture funds and startups. GRIDS, whose tagline is “Science is our Business. Business is our Science” has invested in funds suc...

Scribble Ventures Elizabeth Weil on the many roles of an emerging venture fund manager, building partnerships, and why network strength is a key differentiator 15.02.2022 44:39

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week I’m excited to bring you my conversation with Elizabeth Weil of seed-focused Scribble Ventures . Elizabeth and her Scribble VC partners, Annie and Kevin, raised an oversubscribed $50M Fund I, all during the COVID Pandemic. Before starting the firm, she previously inves...

Union Square Ventures' Rebecca Kaden on their theme based investing approach, fund sizing for USV, and navigating hot markets 09.02.2022 45:44

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week we have Rebecca Kaden , General Partner at Union Square Ventures , who are with a doubt one of the very best venture firms in the world having backed companies such as Stripe, Twitter, Etsy, LendingClub, and Coinbase. The firm is also very thesis and mission-driven, in...

Worklife Ventures' Brianne Kimmel on finding the right LPs, the big differences between angel investing and being a solo fund manager, and the main thing she looks for in founding teams 25.01.2022 48:16

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week I’m thrilled to bring you my conversation with Brianne Kimmel , founder and managing partner of Worklife Ventures , a San Francisco-based firm that invests in seed-stage companies focused on the future of work. Worklife started in 2019 with a $5M fund (which included 7...

QED Investors' Frank Rotman in breaking down the venture market today, determining how to compete today, and how QED makes decisions. 18.01.2022 59:14

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week I’m absolutely thrilled to bring you my conversation with Frank Rotman , Founding Partner of QED Partners , one of the top Fintech firms in the world. Founded in 2007 alongside Nigel Morris, QED has invested early in companies such as Credit Karma, Klarna, SoFi, and Nu...

Ripple Ventures Matt Cohen on individual VC personal brands, Hedge funds in tech, portfolio math and front weighting in seed, and investing in Canada 11.01.2022 42:48

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week I’m thrilled to bring you my conversation with Matt Cohen , Founder of Ripple Ventures , a seed stage firm based out of Toronto. As someone who's Canadian myself, I’ve been closely following the Canadian VC ecosystem and have been thrilled to see how it’s grown over th...

M13's Carter Reum on building an operational services team (Propulsion platform), navigating from operator to angel investor to building a firm for the long haul. 04.01.2022 47:06

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Our guest today is Carter Reum , Co-Founder of M13 , a unique venture capital firm that combines a traditional fund, a services platform, and a studio model to support high potential early-stage companies. M13 has AUM of over $650MM and the team has invested in companies Ring, D...

Harbinger Ventures Megan Bent on their concentrated portfolio approach, specific traits they look for in founding teams, and consumer behavior post-pandemic 22.12.2021 47:52

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Today, we’re excited to host Megan Bent , founder and managing partner of Harbinger Ventures , a Boulder, CO-based firm that invests in earlier stage CPG companies that feature female or diverse founding teams. Prior to founding Harbinger in 2016, Megan served as Managing Direct...

Boldstart ventures Ed Sim on starting his career during the dot-com bubble, the opportunity as being a true day one investor, and views on today's VC market compared to past eras 14.12.2021 1:00:04

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Our guest today is Ed Sim , founder and general partner of boldstart ventures , an NYC-based firm started in 2010 with the focus on being a day-one partner for founders. Boldstart had a modest beginning, with only a $1M fund in 2010. It has since grown to just under $500M in AUM...

Lux Capital's co-founder Peter Hebert on the firm's 20 year journey, creating multi-generational success, and the changing dynamics in VC (including their use of SPAC's) 07.12.2021 1:03:13

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week we have the treat of hosting Peter Hébert , co-founder and managing partner of Lux Capital , a 21-year-old firm that is a pioneer of deep-tech investing. The firm has nearly $4B in AUM and has led investments in Desktop Metal, Latch, Matterport, and Auris Health which...

Initialized Capital's Alda Leu Dennis on building the proper culture for decision making, finding ways to win in today's market, and her concerns with the drop in diverse founder funding. 30.11.2021 39:27

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week we have Alda Leu Dennis , General Partner at Initialized Capital . Founded in 2011, the firm has been an early backer of companies such as Coinbase and Instacart and describes itself as the “Honey Badger” of venture capital. Founded in 2012 with a sub $10MM fund I, the...

Kindred Ventures Kanyi Maqubela on large firms entering seed, the challenges of rising valuations, and the nuances of portfolio construction 16.11.2021 53:02

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. This week’s guest is Kanyi Maqubela , managing partner of seed-stage firm Kindred Ventures . Kindred has $156 AUM, and the team has previously invested in companies such as Coinbase, Blue Bottle Coffee, and Postmates. Prior to Kindred, Kanyi served as a Partner at Collaborative...

Base10's TJ Nahigian on using automation and research within the firm as a competitive advantage, ways to optimize outcomes in the current investing climate, and thoughts on crossover investing. 09.11.2021 49:53

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Our guest today is TJ Nahigian , co-founder and managing partner of Base10 Partners , a SF based early stage firm focusing on investing in companies that help automate the real economy. They currently manage over $600MM in AUM and have invested in companies such as Figma, Notion...

Glasswing Ventures Rudina Seseri on frontier tech, the KPI's Glasswing uses to measure their value-add to founders, and why diversity is central to their investing ethos 02.11.2021 45:36

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Today, we have the great pleasure of chatting with Rudina Seseri , Founder of Glasswing Ventures , an early-stage venture capital firm investing in AI-powered software companies. With over 17 years of investing and related experience, Rudina has led investments in companies such...

Eniac Ventures Hadley Harris on portfolio construction fundamentals, partnership durability, and views on the shifting seed market 26.10.2021 44:22

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. I’m thrilled to bring you my conversation with Hadley Harris , one of the founding partners of seed stage investor Eniac Ventures . Over their history, Eniac has invested many amazing companies including AirBnB, Cameo, Hinge, and Soundcloud. After starting with an initial $1.6M...