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

LP Roundtable with Chris Douvos (Ahoy Capital), Beezer Clarkson (Sapphire Partners), Guy Perelmuter (GRIDS Capital) on opportunity funds, red flags they watch for, and the state of the market. 19.10.2021 1:07:49

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. As we move towards the end of 2021, we wanted to record an episode that focused on the LP perspective on current capital and ventures. To that end, this week we are joined by joined by Chris Douvos , founder of Ahoy Capital , Elizabeth “Beezer” Clarkson , Managing Director of Sa...

Human Ventures' Heather Hartnett on studio models, developing their business creation platform to add value to founders, and their fundraising learnings from raising their first significant fund 12.10.2021 43:30

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. My guest today is Heather Hartnett , CEO and founder of Human Ventures , an NYC-based venture firm founded in 2015 that leverages a very unique model that combines traditional fund investing with business creation and startup studio model in order to back and assist exceptional...

Global Founders Capital’s Don Stalter on their belief in larger portfolios, managing a global investment firm, and building systems and processes to deliver value at scale 05.10.2021 37:14

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. On this week’s Venture Unlocked episode, we had the pleasure of hosting Donald Stalter , Partner at Global Founders Capital , a global multi-stage venture firm that has raised $1.6B across two funds and has backed companies such as Kalshi (led by Don), Deel, Headway, Slack, Away...

Founders Fund Delian Asparouhov on Miami as a major tech hub, what he thinks as the drivers for innovation now, and the pros of incubating companies like Varda within firms 28.09.2021 47:04

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 my conversation with Delian Asparouhov of Founders Fund, a Silicon Valley and now Miami based firm that has long been known for backing some of the most category defining companies in the world including SpaceX, Palantir, Facebook, AirBnB, and S...

Banana Capital's Turner Novak on his unconventional path in breaking into VC, being a successful stage agnostic investor, and leveraging social platforms to build advantages 21.09.2021 50:08

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. We’re thrilled to bring you my conversation with Turner Novak , founder of Banana Capital. While fairly new to venture, Turner continually brings some of the most interesting perspectives about technology, and is one of best venture follows on social media. Turner has an incre...

Primary Venture Partners Jason Shuman on integrating partners into an established partnership, KPI's on measuring value to founders, and views on portfolio construction. 14.09.2021 42:49

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Today, I’m excited to bring you my conversation with Jason Shuman, a partner at NY based Primary Venture Partners. The firm leads seed rounds for companies in NY and has previously invested in companies such as Jet, Mirror, and Latch. The firm recently raised two funds totaling...

Broadhaven Ventures' Michael Sidgmore on democratization of venture capital, why Alts are the future of private portfolios, and the role of wealth management firms. 07.09.2021 45:43

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 a very unique conversation with Michael Sidgmore, Co-Founder of Broadhaven Ventures and host of the Alt Goes mainstream podcast. Broadhaven Ventures is fintech focused and has invested in several platforms that make alternatives more accessible...

Act One Ventures Silton and Guerrero on the Diversity Rider initiative, building meaningful partnerships, and operating experience has been key to their model 31.08.2021 50:16

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Today’s episode is with Michael Silton and Alejandro Guerrero of Act One Ventures , a Los-Angeles based firm that invests in pre-seed and seed-stage . Before becoming Managing Director of Act One, Michael was Executive Director of the UCLA VC Fund for three and half years. He wa...

From Norwest to starting Roble Ventures, Sergio Monsalve on equity and diversity in tech, adapting from large VC to a small, solo-GP, and investing in heated markets. 24.08.2021 46:38

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Today’s episode is with Sergio Monsalve , founding partner of Roble Ventures, a seed firm based in Silicon Valley that invests in solutions that help human progress. Their portfolio includes Kahoot, Mosaic, and Dragonboat, among others. Prior to Roble, Sergio spent 14 years at...

Haystack's Semil Shah on building the firm from the ground up, portfolio models, and the state of VC today 17.08.2021 51:22

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Today’s episode is with Semil Shah , founder and general partner at Haystack , a pre-seed and seed-stage supporting outlier founders. Haystack’s portfolio includes DoorDash, Instacart, HashiCorp, Figma, Applied Intuition and many more. Semil is also Venture Partner at Lightspeed...

137 Ventures Justin Fishner-Wolfson on why ownership is an overvalued heuristic, building lasting teams, and the current state of secondary markets. 10.08.2021 46:10

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 my conversation with Justin Fishner-Wolfson, co-founder and managing partner of 137 Ventures , a growth-stage venture firm that provides customized liquidity solutions to founders, investors, and early employees of high-growth private technology...

Jeff Morris, Jr. on finding your own fund/market fit, having like Lightspeed and Sequoia as LPs, and the ever-changing dynamic between entrepreneurs and VCs 03.08.2021 45:46

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. Today’s episode is with Jeff Morris, Jr. , founder of Chapter One Ventures , an early stage product fund that has invested in Cameo, Pipe, Alt, and Roam. After a significant track record as an angel investor (including investing in Lyft) he started Chapter One in 2019 that featu...

Miriam Rivera on going from angel to running a firm, driving real change in diversity in tech, and how traditional heuristics should be challenged in VC. 27.07.2021 46:26

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 Miriam Rivera , managing director and CEO of Ulu Ventures , an early seed stage venture fund in Silicon Valley focused on IT startups. Currently Ulu Ventures has an AUM of >$200MM and the team has invested in companies such as Palantir, BetterUp, SoFi, Guild...

Ben Casnocha on his learnings from working with Reid Hoffman, building network incentives, and the art of portfolio construction. 20.07.2021 49:38

Follow me @samirkaji for my (usually) daily thoughts on the world of venture capital. We’re pleased to provide this week’s episode with Ben Casnocha, founding partner of Village Globa l. Prior to Village, Ben was an entrepreneur and also acted as Chief of Staff at LinkedIn and Greylock working directly with Reid Hoffman. Ben has also co-authored two New York Times bestselling management books, T...

Lan Xuezhao of Basis Set Ventures on using data science along with human psychology to assess deals, finding LP/GP fit, founder super powers measurement, and conviction based investing. 13.07.2021 39:10

Today’s episode is with Lan Xuezhao , founding partner of Basis Set Ventures which has raised $301M across two funds. Lan has extensively studied AI, data science, and human psychology, and with Basis Set, she has combined those elements to bring a very unique approach to investing. Lan’s background in corporate development at Dropbox and management at McKinsey has contributed to her data driven a...

Meet the Expert: Braughm Ricke of Aduro Advisors on working with over 300 Emerging Firms, his time as the first CFO at True Ventures, traits of successful managers 08.07.2021 34:52

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. In today’s show, we have the pleasure of speaking to Braughm Ricke , who has worked closely with emerging managers throughout his career, first serving as CFO of True Ventures, and then starting Aduro Advisors , which started in 2012 originally to focus on the new era of VC. H...

Monique Woodard of Cake Ventures on the 3 layers of the Cake that comprise her thesis, what she learned at Lightspeed and 500 startups, fundraising during a pandemic, and diversity in the seed. 06.07.2021 41:46

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. We’re so pleased to bring you my discussion with Monique Woodard of Cake Ventures , a seed-stage firm investing in demographic change. To date, Monique has invested in startups such as Blavity, Court Buddy, Mented Cosmetics, and Silvernest. Cake Ventures invests in a thesis t...

Shauntel Garvey of Reach Capital on EdTech, raising a sector focused fund, and the importance of being an active seed investor beyond the A round 29.06.2021 38:45

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 Shauntel Garvey , co-founder and general partner of education tech focused Reach Capital . She has a long history investing in ed-tech companies stemming back from her time at NewSchools Venture Fund. What I love about the Reach team is how thoughtfully they...

Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures on Generational Firm Evolution, Why Fundraising is Like Enterprise Sales, & The State of Venture today 22.06.2021 48:40

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 bring you my recent conversation with Mark Suster , managing partner at Upfront Ventures , a firm that was founded 25 years ago, originally as GRP partners. Mark joined the firm in 2007 and became managing partner in 2011 and helped architect the new era...

Satya Patel of Homebrew on how they were able to raise their first fund in 100 days, creating enduring partnerships, and the art of fund sizing. 15.06.2021 37:42

On this week’s show, we’re excited to bring you Satya Patel , co-founder of Homebrew , who he started with his partner Hunter Walk in 2013. Today, the firm is widely considered one of the top seed firms in the industry, counting companies such as Chime, Cruise, Eero, and Gusto as portfolio companies. Satya brings a unique product background to the table as he worked on AdSense in the early days at...

Jeff Clavier of Uncork Capital on being one of the earliest seed stage VC's, lessons in fundraising during a downturn, and building a multi-generational firm 08.06.2021 49:12

We’re thrilled to bring you my recent talk with Jeff Clavier of Uncork Capital , one of the early trailblazers of the emerging manager community. Jeff started investing in seed full time all the way back in 2004 well before the Micro-VC moniker was even conceived (back then we called them Super Angels). Today the firm is one of the most active seed funds in the market with over $500MM in AUM and h...

Nnamdi Okike of 645 Ventures on thoughtfully growing funds, data driven sourcing in venture to reduce bias, and building one of the largest BIPOC led venture firms. 25.05.2021 45:06

Using data to make better investment decisions is a common theme these days, but Nnamdi Okike , co-founder and managing partner of 645 Ventures , a firm that uses unique, data driven methodologies to improve sourcing while helping to eliminate the biases that often present themselves when assessing new opportunities. Using public data that to accompany their own automated systems, they’ve found an...

Stephen DeBerry of Bronze VC on social impact investing, GP commits, & the next-gen of underrepresented managers 19.05.2021 45:08

I’m extremely excited to bring you this week’s episode of Stephen DeBerry from Bronze investments. In addition to being an experienced investor at previous stops at Kapor Capital, Omidyar, The California Endowment, Stephen also developed the “Eastside” thesis which spoke to the inequities that are often present in eastern communities. He presented this thesis in a now viral TED Talk and was a fact...

Sunil Dhaliwal from Amplify Partners on finding overlooked investment opportunities, deal competition, and the future of venture capital 11.05.2021 46:22

Amplify Partners has quickly become one of the true breakouts from the early emerging manager movement. Led by Sunil Dhaliwal , who started Amplify nearly a decade ago after a 14 year tenure at Battery Ventures, the firm has over $750MM in AUM and has invested in companies such as Datadog and Fastly. This was a fun wide ranging discussion about the current state of VC and where we think the indust...

Pete Flint from NFX on network effects, VC as a platform, and how they think about fund sizes. 04.05.2021 38:22

Follow me @samirkaji for my ongoing thoughts on the private fund markets. Over the last decade, we’ve seen a surge of VC firms formed by those that spent their entire lives as entrepreneurs. NFX is one of those firms, and in 2016, ex-Trulia founder Pete Flint joined the firm as fourth partner bringing the experience of starting a company, taking it public, before ultimately being acquired by Zil...