Partner Path (Laura Hamilton and Wil Hagen)

Today, we welcome Matt Lu from Cowboy Ventures, based in NYC. Cowboy Ventures is a Pre Seed and Seed stage-focused fund. Cowboy has made over 100 early-stage investments, with 70% being pre-product. Before joining Cowboy in late 2022, Matt was an investor at Bullpen Capital in San Francisco.

Episode Chapters:

1. Breaking into Venture and Cowboy Ventures - 1:00
2. East Coast Versus West Coast Investing - 10:30
3. Sourcing Best Practices - 18:20
4. Generative AI and Focus Areas - 25:20
5. Overall Market Thoughts - 32:20
6. What Motives Matt? - 36:00

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

Today, we welcome Nevin Raj, Co-Founder and COO of Grata. Grata is revolutionizing VC & PE deal sourcing by providing a platform for users to find, research, and engage with middle market companies. Grata raised a $25 Million Series A round led by Craft Ventures in February 2022. Nevin shares his journey of founding Grata, insights on the future of sourcing, establishing product/market fit, handling customer feedback, and building strong leadership.

Episode Chapters:

1. Grata's Founding Story - 1:00
2. Achieving Product Market Fit - 4:25
3. Sourcing Strategies - 7:10
4. Partnering with Craft Ventures - 14:45
5. Reviewing and Implementing Customer Feedback - 16:35
6. Grata's Competitive Advantage - 19:11 
7. Learning Across Different Divisions - 24:25
8. What Would You Change? - 26:40
9. Leadership Qualities - 27:45
10. What Motivates Nevin? - 30:35 

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

Today, we welcome Jack Soslow, an Investor in Andreessen Horowitz’s Gaming group. A16z, a major global venture capital fund, has invested in companies like Airbnb, Groupon, Facebook, GitHub, and Roblox. In 2022, the Games Fund I closed at $600 million, targeting Games Studios, Games x Consumer, and Infrastructure. During the discussion, Jack delves into his path to VC, product testing, the distinction between AR and VR, education gaming, generative AI, and women in gaming.

Episode Chapters:

1. Joining Oculus and Interest in Data Science - 00:48
2. Breaking into a16z - 5:00
3. Starting the Games Fund - 7:41
4. Gaming Defined - 10:24
5. Qualities in a Gaming Studio Investment - 13:06
6. Success in a Single Title - 17:13
7. Augmented and Virtual Reality - 19:35
8. Product Testing and Stickiness - 23:20
9. Generative AI on the Creative Workspace - 25:15
10. Use Cases Beyond Traditional Games - 30:06
11. Women in Gaming - 32:00
12. Ending Questions - 33:35

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

Today, we welcome Shubham Goel, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Affinity. Affinity is a relationship intelligence platform for dealmakers. Affinity uses machine learning to score and increase the chance of closing deals, transforming traditional CRM. In this episode, Shubham shares his experience of meeting co-founder Ray at Stanford as undergrads, and talks about the future of CRMs, risks in relationship management, expanding the business, and fostering remote team culture.

Episode Chapters:

1. Childhood in India - 1:00
2. Founding Affinity - 3:40 
3. Attending School in the Valley - 6:30
4. Affinity for PE/VC - 9:30
5. The Future of CRMs and AI - 12:30
6. Risks Impacting the Relationship Management Industry - 15:00
7. The Vision of Affinity - 17:00
8. Target Customer & Expansion - 19:20
9. VC Tech Stack - 21:10
10. Working with a Friend- 24:16
11. Team Culture and Engagement - 27:10
12. Ending Questions - 29:25

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

 We are excited to introduce Romie Boyd, a partner at Sequoia, which has an exceptional reputation for its investments from seed to IPO and beyond. Sequoia has an impressive portfolio, having partnered with prominent companies such as Airbnb, DoorDash, HubSpot, 23andMe, and more. Having previously worked with Bain Capital's Private Equity Group in Boston, Romie shares insights on transitioning from Private Equity to Growth Equity, team dynamics at Sequoia, the impact of AI on personal and investor levels, thematic sourcing, and the art of building strong founder relationships.

Episode Chapters:

1.  College Soccer to Venture Capital - 0:55
2. Joining Sequoia - 3:10
3. Private Equity to Growth Equity - 6:20
4. Founder Traits and Deal Teams - 8:00
5. Culture - 10:40
6. Advancements in AI - 13:30
7. Generative AI Impacting VC Tech Stack - 16:55
8. Data Analytics & Business Intelligence - 20:25
9. Sourcing and Thesis Building - 21:45
10. Ending Questions - 25:05

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

 Show Notes

• Generative AI Article

During today’s discussion, we sat down with Carlos Alonso-Torras, a newly promoted Partner at FinTech Collective in New York City. Carlos is a former operator turned investor with a strong passion for investing in Latin America. His current fund focuses on Seed and Series A investing in FinTech globally. Since its inception in 2012, FTC has invested in over 50 companies, including MoneyLion, Vestwell, Willa, Flutterwave, and TradeBlock. Join us as Carlos discusses shifting from an operating to investing role, starting as an Associate and working his way up to Partner, vertical specializations within FinTech, and the investing ecosystem in Latin America.

Episode Chapters:

1. Motivation to get an MBA at Penn - 1:05
2. Operations to Investing - 2:05
3. Interest in FinTech - 3:17
4. FinTech Collective - 4:10
5. Promotions in VC - 4:50
6. Portfolio Support - 5:50 
7.  Vertical Specialization in FinTech - 7:10 
8. Venture & Growth Investing in Latin America - 9:40
9. Tech Adoption in LatAm - 14:10
10. Current State of Venture Capital Funding - 16:57
11. Mattilda Investment - 19:45 
12. Decentralized Finance Solutions - 20:50
13. Ending Questions - 22:45

 As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback. 

Show Notes

• LatAm Digital Payments

In today's episode, we interview Judy and Eliot Fost, co-founders of Beli. Former investment analysts at McKinsey, their shared passion for food and exploration led them to create Beli, an innovative app. Beli allows users to organize restaurant lists, maps, and reviews, while also offering personalized recommendations based on their dining history. Join us as Judy and Eliot share insights on Beli as a social media platform, user acquisition, the product roadmap, competition, and their unique experience of working together as a married couple.

Episode Chapters:

1. Mckinsey to Harvard Business School - 0:55
2. Explaining Beli (App) - 4:12
3. Beli as a Social Media Platform - 6:41
4. Metrics and User Retention - 8:50
5. User Acquisition - 11:00
6. Monetization Strategy - 12:38
7. Expansion Plan - 14:30
8. Recommendations Based on Data- 16:22
9. Competition - 19:05
10. Content Creation - 20:40
11. The Future of Beli - 21:57
12. Experiences Around Food - 24:32
13. Ending Questions - 27:50

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback. 

In today's episode, we sit down with Teddie Levenfiche, co-founder of PerfectTed.  Formerly an Associate Consultant at Bain & Company in LA, Teddie moved back to the UK in April 2021, where he started to create the perfect blend of natural and sustained energy. PerfectTed is revolutionizing the energy drink space in the UK with their matcha-powered energy drinks. Join us as Teddie breaks down the problems around energy drinks, sourcing high-quality matcha, big beverage companies' approach to Matcha,  metrics for CPG brands, social media & content strategy,  and experience on the BBC's Dragons' Den.

Episode Chapters:

1. Starting at Penn and Entrepreneurial Pursuit - 1:12
2. Interest in Matcha - 2:15 
3. Sourcing Matcha - 4:30
4. Misconceptions around Matcha - 7:00
5. US versus UK Adoption - 8:58
6. Scaling Distribution to 400 Stores - 12:55
7. Unit Economics Over Time - 15:50
8. Daily Metrics - 17:20
9. Drink Brands Folding into Conglomerates - 20:05
10. Dragons' Den (UK Shark Tank) - 22:40
11. Beverage Brand Teddie Respects & Why - 25:57
12. Activation Services - 27:06
13. Expanding Across Borders - 31:00
14. Ending Questions - 31:20

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

We are excited to introduce John Melas-Kyriazi, Co-Founder and CEO of Standard Metrics. John began his journey as a physics Ph.D. student at Stanford before embarking on a career as an Investor in 2014 at Spark Capital in Boston. After five years of sourcing and leading 10+ investments, John left to start his own company. Standard Metrics is a portfolio collaboration tool for venture capital firms and startups. During our discussion, John dives into sourcing tactics, contributing as a younger board member, the inception of Standard Metrics, the evolution of the ideal customer profile, and the future of data automation and reporting.

Episode Chapters:

1. Path To Studying Physics - 1:22
2. Introduction to StartX - 4:35
3. Starting at Spark Capital in Boston - 7:20
4. Sourcing Tactics - 9:30
5. Transition To Leading Deals - 13:00
6. Adding Value as a Junior Board Member - 14:40
7. Catalyst for Starting Standard Metrics - 16:45
8. Evolution of The Ideal Customer Profile - 23:15
9. Future of LP Reporting - 25:25
10. Competition/Platform Displacement - 28:15
11. Automation of Financial Data - 30:20
12. Leveraging Artificial Intelligence - 32:44
13. Ending Questions - 34:50

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

During today’s discussion, we sat down with Dawit Heck, a Principal at Bain Capital Ventures based in New York.  In February, BCV announced $1.9 billion in new funds to back founders from Seed to Growth stages. Over the last 20 years, BCV has backed companies such as Attentive, DocuSign, LinkedIn, Mirakl, and more. Dawit discusses transitioning into venture capital, Bain's structure and value add, thesis building, and the current state of marketing tech and venture capital. 

Episode Chapters: 

1. Takeaways from Banking & Growth Equity - 1:25
2. Bain Capital’s Structure - 5:55
3. Former Operator Impact as an Investor - 9:47
4. Learnings from Scott Friend - 11:17
5. Thesis Building - 12:53
6. Sourcing Tips & Tricks - 15:50
7. The Power of Marketing Tech - 19:40
8. Trends within the Application Layer - 24:36
9. Vertical SaaS Solutions - 27:58
10. Content Creation and Displacing Legacy Solutions - 30:10
11. The State of Venture - 33:22
12. Ending Questions - 36:44

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

During today’s discussion, we sat down with Kartik Chopra, CIA officer turned Founder, leading Devron - a federated machine learning platform. With a Series A backing from Tiger Global, Devron revolutionizes data access and empowers teams to analyze and build models on-site. Join us as Kartik shares his journey, AI's impact on investing, finding a VC partner, machine learning capabilities, and the state of data privacy.

Episode Chapters: 

1. Childhood and Rutgers University - 1:45 
2. Roles & Responsibilities in the CIA - 3:45
3. Roots of Devron - 5:35
4. Devron as a Solution - 7:20
5. Raising VC Capital - 10:54
6. Scaling Post Fundraise - 13:30
7. Enterprise versus Government Customers - 15:34
8. Trends in Machine Learning - 19:14
9. Investing in Machine Learning Companies - 23:26
10. Data Sharing in Regulatory Environments - 25:10 
11. Consumer Data Privacy - 27:43
12. Ending Questions - 29:00

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.  

Today we are joined by Rickard Brüel Gabrielsson, an artificial intelligence researcher and co-founder of Unbox AI. Rickard moved from Sweden to the US to attend Stanford and immediately dove into learning systems and artificial intelligence. Rickard breaks down unsupervised learning, text-based language models, revolutionizing retail, pricing your product, encoding semantics, and where companies will incorporate foundation models.

Episode Chapters:

1. Transitioning from Sweden to the US - 1:35
2. Interest in Learning Systems & AI - 2:40
3. Unsupervised Learning - 5:24
4. Foundation Models - 7:14
5. Unbox AI - 9:29
6. Building Application Models - 11:41
7. VC in the eyes of an AI founder - 14:26
8. Fine-tuning and Vector Databases - 17:08
9. Embedding Semantics - 19:50
10. Protecting Domain Expertise - 24:40
11. Are Smaller Players Ripe for AI Innovation? - 26:43
12. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) applicability - 28:52
13. Ending Questions - 31:33

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.  

Today, we sat down with Sean Simons, a Senior Associate at Newark Venture Partners. Sean had an untraditional path into Venture Capital. He started his career at PhotoShelter and 212 brewing before beginning a fellowship at NVP. While at NVP, he worked as a scrap collector and airplane washer. Five years later, Sean has built a strong brand by leading impressive investments within supply chain & logistics. Join us as Sean dives into getting his foot in the door, how to win deals, theme-focused sourcing, why the supply chain is essential, and the future of maritime technology.

Episode Chapters:

1. Working in Sales and Washing Airplanes - 1:42
2. The Journey into Venture Capital - 6:45
3. Why You? - 9:07
4. NVP’s Investment Strategy - 11:10
5. Seed Stage Investment Process - 15:15
6. The Supply Chain Innovation - 17:08
7. Globalization and Nearshoring Supply Chain - 20:55
8. Blue Economy Technology - 23:19
9. EV Waste and Innovation - 29:08
10. Final Questions - 29:56

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.  

We are excited to chat with Tycho Onnasch, General Manager of Trust Machines and Co-Founder of Zest Protocol. Originally from Amsterdam, Tycho attended Oxford University before founding Deedmob, a volunteer management platform. Now, Tycho is building Zest Protocol, the first on-chain Bitcoin lending protocol. Tycho discusses deciding where to build in Bitcoin, introduction to smart contracts, adoption points in Bitcoin, regulatory jurisdiction, and transitioning to a mainstay currency. 

Episode Chapters:

1. Dutch Culture - 1:30
2. Building Deepmob - 2:57
3. Exposure to Bitcoin - 5:12
4. What is Finance? - 8:55
5. The Role of Bitcoin in DeFi - 11:20
6. Building at Trust Machines - 14:57
7. How Zest Protocol Profits - 18:42
8. The Importance of Bitcoin Lending - 21:55
9. Regulatory Oversight in Crypto - 23:45
10. Investing in Crypto - 26:45
11. Traditional Banking Systems & Bitcoin's Impact - 30:22
12. Ending Questions - 31:44

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback. 

We are excited to sit down with Charlotte Japp, the Head of Platform at ffVC. Charlotte began her career in creative marketing and later founded Cirkel, a platform that facilitates connections between experienced and younger professionals for mutual career support. Fundraising for Cirkel served as her introduction to the VC ecosystem. During this episode, Charlotte provides insights into platform's evolving role, the value VCs bring to the table, the assessment of platform performance, brand development, and her vision for the future of platform strategies.

Episode Chapters:

1. Media Background - 1:30
2. Founding Cirkel - 4:33
3. The Role of Platform - 6:26
4. Value Add as a VC - 9:55
5. Individual KPIs and Metrics - 12:31
6. Prioritizing Portfolio Tasks - 15:25
7. Early Stage versus Growth Equity - 17:45
8. Brand Building as a VC - 19:15
9. Winning Deals - 25:36
10. Sequoia Cuts Talent Team - 27:38
11. Ending Questions - 31:33

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback. 

Today, we sat down with Jacqueline Blackburn, a Principal at Decisive Point. Jacqueline was an athlete at the Naval Academy before serving as a platoon commander for six years after college. Now, Jacqueline is focused on investing in defense, energy, and infrastructure. During this episode, Jacqueline discusses the importance of purpose and team, early-stage investing in deep tech, becoming a strategic partner, innovation during times of need, and the current state of globalization.

Episode Chapters: 

1. Starting at the Naval Academy - 1:28
2. Deployment and Platoon Responsibilities - 4:01
3. Introduction to Venture Capital - 6:54
4. Investment Strategy at Decisive Point - 9:55
5. Hardware, Robotics, Drone, and Quantum Investing - 12:35
6. How to Win Deals - 16:03
7. Hardware meets Software - 18:20
8. Success Stories in Defense (Anduril) - 20:20
9. Building in Advanced Manufacturing - 24:02
10. Geopolitical Collaboration - 26:18
11. Ending Questions - 28:10

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

We are excited to sit down with Mike Hinckley, the founder of Growth Equity Guide. Mike started his career in investment banking before working in growth equity at General Atlantic. Mike noticed firsthand the need for interview prep resources and sought to create a dedicated growth equity platform.  With recruiting in full swing, Mike dives into growth equity as an asset class over time, tips and timelines for breaking in, and the importance (or not) of networking,

Episode Chapters:

1. Investment Banking -> Growth Equity -> Tech - 1:33
2. Growth Equity Interview Prep - 5:21
3. GE Evolving Overtime - 7:00
4. Recruiting Landscape - 9:45
5. How to Stand Out in a Crowded Market - 14:53
6. Networking - 21:37
7. Interview Structure - 23:04
8. Ending Questions - 30:00

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

In today's episode, we're joined by Daniel Fetner, a General Partner at Alpaca.  Before joining Alpaca, Daniel founded Soil Connect, a SaaS-enabled marketplace to manage and acquire soil. Daniel joined Alpaca in 2018 as Chief of Staff and later moved into an investor role. At Alpaca, he primarily focuses on real estate and construction tech. Daniel dives into how he recruited for VC, why specialization matters, PropTech as a standalone category, and the current state of the market.

Episode Chapters:

1. Founding Soil Connect - 1:45
2. Founder -> Funder - 4:36
3. Alpaca's 4 Founder Strategy - 10:47
4. Category Specialization as an Investor - 13:40
5. PropTech Evolution - 16:12
6. Hardware meets Software - 21:40 
7. PropCo/OpCo Structure - 23:15
8. Real Estate Tech Enablement - 26:35
9. Multiples Leveling Off - 28:00
10. Ending Questions - 29:43

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

We are excited to sit down with 2x founder Alex Jekowsky. During college, he launched Ulyngo, a multi-channel marketplace that enabled universities to facilitate student life commerce. Alex grew the business until its acquisition by Modo Labs in 2019. He then founded Cents, a leading laundry business management system. Cents helps laundromats with everything from onboarding, payments, employee management, customer records, in-store operations, and more!

Episode Chapters:

1. Founding Ulyngo - 1:15
2. Interest in Laundromats - 4:48
3. Modernizing the Laundry Tech Stack - 7:30
4. The Consumer Experience - 10:50
5. Cents' Addressable Market - 12:40
6. Optimizing the Value Chain - 15:32
7. GTM Strategy - 18:27
8. Vertical SaaS Takeover - 23:30
9. Payments in Vertical SaaS Businesses - 26:35
10. Horizontal versus Vertical SaaS - 28:00
11. Ending Questions - 30:15

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

We are excited to sit down with Manu Sharma, an investor at Tusk Venture Partners.  Manu started his career at Dallas VC, helping launch the fund before heading to business school in Chicago. This year, Manu joined Tusk Venture Partners, an early-stage fund based in NYC. Tusk has a unique model in that it helps companies navigate highly regulated markets. Manu dives into the benefits of business school, doubling down in regulated markets, pros and cons of AI and what areas of vertical SaaS are ripe for technological disruption. 

Episode Chapters: 

1. Moving from India to the United States - 1:30
2. Building Dallas Venture Capital - 2:15
3. Why Business School? - 4:00
4. Tusk Venture Partners - 7:10
5. Helping Companies with Regulatory Risks - 9:45
6. The History of Vertical SaaS - 11:16
7. AI Execution on Vertical SaaS - 18:12
8. The Contract Network (Legal Tech) -  23:10
9. The End State of LLMs - 25:45
10. Platform Team in VC - 27:12
11. Ending Questions - 28:45

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

We are excited to sit down with Victor Guwein, founder and managing partner at M25. Victor started his career as a founder of a scooter company, Scooter Versity. At 23, Victor founded M25 to invest solely in the Midwest.  Fast forward 8 years, and M25 has invested in over 130 companies and is now investing out of its third fund. Victor discusses why the Midwest is ripe for disruption, the M25 DNA,  valuations shifting with market dynamics, and how to win at the pre-seed / seed stage.

Episode Chapters:

1. Starting a Scooter Company - 1:20
2. Starting a Venture Fund (@ 23) - 3:06
3. Building a Track Record - 7:48 
4. How VCs make Money - 10:32
5. The M25 Sourcing DNA - 14:10
6. Objectivity with Decision Making - 16:50
7. The Importance of Entry Valuations - 20:00
8. Interest Rates Impact on Valuations - 24:08
9. Coastal Investors moving Central - 27:32
10. Advice to Emerging Managers - 30:11
11. Ending Questions - 31:45

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

We are excited to sit down with Sean Thorne, founder and CEO at People Data Labs. Sean dropped out of the University of Oregon to start his first company, Hallspot. Taking his learnings from Hallspot, he started People Data Labs (PDL). PDL is an innovative API product for developers & data scientists, with over 3 billion data records. Sean discusses why every company is a data company, how perseverance wins out, powering AI companies, and the importance of a clear story while fundraising.

Episode Chapters:

1. Entrepreneur Pursuit - 1:30
2. Starting a Company at 19 - 3:50
3. Building People Data Labs - 6:20
4. Founder, Market Fit - 7:45
5. The Evolving Ideal Customer Profile - 11:05
6. How to Win as a Data Company - 13:55
7. Fundraising from VCs - 17:42
8. Data is the New Oil - 21:20
9. Privacy Impact - 23:20
10. Who will benefit from AI? - 26:15
11. Ending Questions - 29:50

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

We're excited to talk with Jason Bornstein, Partner and Head of Research at Forerunner. Jason started his career by leading growth marketing at Bonobos, scaling it into one of the first venture-backed DTC brands to achieve $100M in revenue. Post business school, he joined Forerunner, a VC firm specializing in early-stage consumer-driven ventures.  Jason shares his experiences of shifting from conventional marketing tactics and his exploration of VC during his business studies and discusses Forerunner's people-centric strategy, including the innovative brand power score.

Episode Chapters:

1. Starting in Growth Marketing at Bobobos - 1:55
2. Diversification across Marketing Channels - 5:53
3. Business School to Investing - 9:58
4. Forerunner's Investment Strategy - 12:48
5. Joining as a Principal and Promotion to Partner - 14:05
6. Carving out a Head of Research Position - 16:10
7. Thematic Focus in Practice - 18:25
8. Forerunner's Brand Power Score - 22:03
9. Improving Your Score - 26:02
10. Ending Questions - 28:45

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

We're excited to chat with Jacob Effron, a Partner at Redpoint Ventures.  Before joining Redpoint in San Francisco, Jacob served as a product manager at Flatiron Health.  In addition to being an investor, Jacob hosts two podcasts, Unsupervised Learning and Vital Signs. Jacob sheds light on the impact of artificial intelligence in healthcare, the influence of large language models (LLMs) on drug discovery, the current importance of value-based care, and the future prospects of AGI!

Episode Chapters:

1. Economic Development in East Africa - 1:26
2. Breaking down the Product Manager Role - 2:54
3. Redpoint's Strategy - 4:42
4. Healthcare AI Themes - 7:32
5. AI Meets Drug Discovery - 10:20
6. The Impact of AI on Clinical Trials - 14:35
7. Value-Based-Care versus Fee-For-Service - 17:40
8. Technology Paired with VBC - 21:00
9. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) - 24:24
10. Evaluating a Founder - 27:30
11. Ending Questions - 28:54

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

We're excited to chat with Luke Skertich, a Principal at FJ Labs.  Prior to his role at FJ, Luke transitioned from a pre-med background to a career in product management. FJ Labs, known for its focus on early-stage marketplace businesses, has invested in industry giants such as Alibaba, Uber, and Airbnb. In this episode, Luke delves into his journey from pre-med to venture capital, shares insights on investing in marketplace platforms, and explores the dynamics of balancing supply and demand. 

Episode Chapters:

1. Initial Career Path - 1:26
2. Portfolio Value Add - 5:19
3. FJ Founding Story - 6:41
4. What is a Marketplace? - 8:55
5. Attractive Marketplace Attributes - 12:38
6. Evaluating a Marketplace/Competitive Landscape - 15:32
7. API Enabled Marketplaces - 22:06
8. AI Enhancing the User Experience - 26:15
9. SaaS Enabled Marketplaces - 28:15
10. Ending Questions - 31:23

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

This week, we're sitting down with Arjan Singh, the Co-Founder of Jolie. Arjan's journey into the world of beauty and wellness began early on and grew as he collaborated with entrepreneurs in high school and honed his expertise in luxury, consumer, and fashion at BCG. In today's episode, we'll delve into the essentials of building a successful consumer brand, the underlying factors of skin and hair health, the significant impact of social influence, and the number one tool every founder should utilize.

Episode Chapters:

1. Passion for Beauty Wellness - 1:20
2. The Power of Relationships - 3:32
3. Starting Jolie - 7:40
4. Developing a Shower Head - 11:46
5. Changing Consumer Behavior - 14:26
6. The Jolie Marketing Approach - 17:12
7. Valuing Connections & Experiences - 21:10
8. Product Messaging with Macro Economic Shifts - 24:15
9. Will Jolie Raise Capital? - 28:48
10. Ending Questions - 30:07

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

1. Moving from Paris to NYC - 1:20
2. FX Trader at BNP - 2:25
3. Joining Airswap (3rd ever Decentralized Exchange) - 4:51
4. Breaking down Draper Associates - 9:40
5. Investing with Tim Draper - 14:57
6. Crypto POV - 17:00
7. Bullish on Bitcoin - 20:30
8. Changing Consumer Behavior - 23:51
9. The Future of the Metaverse - 26:55
10. Coinbase: Leading the Way - 30:45
11.  Ending Questions - 31:14

We are excited to sit down with Jeff Schumann, Co-Founder and CEO at Aware. Jeff started building technology at a young age (selling software to CBS and tracking Al-Qaeda) before founding Aware, a contextual intelligence platform for organizations. During the episode, we discuss intercepting terrorist communications, the employee voice as the most important asset, and why context is king.

Episode Chapters:

1. Early Entrepreneur Days - 1:25
2. Working with the CIA - 6:10
3. Modernizing the Tech Stack at Nationwide - 11:10
4. Aware: Contextual Intelligence - 13:33
5. Ask IQ (Chat GPT for the Enterprise) - 15:28
6. Columbus: The Collaborative City - 24:17
7. Living by your Values - 27:00
8. Employee Privacy - 31:17
9. Enterprise AI Adoption Trends - 35:50
10. Ending Questions - 39:00

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback

We are excited to sit down with Alessio Fanelli, Partner and CTO at Decibel. Alessio grew up in Rome and made his way to the US as an engineer at 645 before landing at Decibel Partners, an early-stage fund focused on data, dev tools, and cyber security. During the episode, we discuss dropping out of school to start a company, the importance of open-source software, how to diligence pre-product market fit, and the next wave of large language models.

Episode Chapters:

1. Growing up in Rome - 1:20
2. Learning to Code - 3:27
3. Joining 645 - 7:10
4. Partner & CTO @ Decibel - 10:42
5. Open Source Software - 15:56
6. Diligence as a Pre-PMF Investor - 26:10
7. Challenging Open AI - 29:54 
8. Now's the Time for Dev Tools? - 34:50
9. Ending Questions - 36:17

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

Check out Alessio's podcast!

We are excited to sit down with Pete Mathias, Partner at Alumni Ventures. Prior to VC, Pete was the lead drummer in a rock band, Filliger, where he traveled the world for 14 years. Later in his career, Pete found his way into the venture world and focused on strategic technologies critical to the United States. During the episode, we discuss breaking into VC from a non-traditional background, a network-powered approach, and why software has eaten the world.

Episode Chapters:

1. From Graduation to Rockband - 1:30
2. Discovering Venture Capital - 4:15
3. VC with a Non-Traditional Background - 6:54
4. Two Types of Investment Opportunities - 10:27
5. "I am wet clay" - 13:36
6. Investing in Nuclear Energy - 18:05
7. Tips for the "Partner Path" - 25:20
8. Is VC the Right Fit? - 27:45 
9. Ending Questions - 28:58

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback

We are excited to sit down with Sara Choi, Partner at Wing VC! Prior to Wing, Sara co-founded the mobile data company Airfox. Since 2019, Sara has dedicated her efforts to investing in early-stage companies operating at the intersection of bio and data. During this episode, we discuss raising VC capital (versus not), the impact of a thematic focus, and the future trajectories of drug discovery.

Episode Chapters:

1. The American Dream - 1:15
2. Founder Journey X 2 - 5:33
3. Day 1 at Wing VC - 8:10
4. Entry Stage Valuations - 12:55
5. Sector Specialization - 14:30
6. Data's Impact on Biology - 19:04
7. Sourcing Superpower - 23:43
8. VC Office Hours - 26:50
9. Drug Development - 28:37
10. Healthcare with Employers - 36:21
11. Ending Questions - 39:10

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

This week, we sat down with Avery Rosin, a Partner at Lead Edge Capital. During the conversation, we cover Avery's long journey at Lead Edge, where he has impressively navigated the path from Analyst to Partner. We also cover Lead Edge's strategy, Avery's areas of focus, his thoughts on the current macro environment, and his advice to aspiring growth equity investors.   

Episode Chapters:

1. Selling Cutco Knives - 1:20
2. Staying Power at a Fund - 5:25
3. Lead Edge's Strategy - 8:10
4. Retention is King - 12:50
5. Determining the Best Benchmarks - 16:06
6. Investing as a Generalist - 19:50
7. Healthcare IT - 21:21
8. Raising Fund II and Beyond - 26:22
9. IPO Market Opens Up - 28:22
10. Quick Fire Round - 31:55

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback

This week, we sat down with  Avante Price, CEO and Co-Founder of POSH. During the conversation, we cover Avante's journey from being an undergraduate student at NYU to dropping out and starting POSH. We also cover starting an event community, finding success in a consumer-facing space, optimizing for profitability, and hiring at the early stages.

Episode Chapters:

1. DJ to Startups - 1:12
2. Three Missing Themes in Event Platforms - 5:56
3. Deciding to Drop Out - 8:24
4. Creating a New Market - 11:20
5. Gaining Market Share - 15:25
6. 2024 Roadmap - 17:51
7. Managing as a Younger Founder - 23:15
8. The Shopify Journey - 26:30
9. Events on the POSH Platform - 30:22
10. Quick Fire - 32:13

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback

This week, we sat down with  Eli Wachs, Co-founder and CEO of Footprint. During the conversation, we covered Eli’s journey from being an undergraduate student at Stanford to an obsession with KYC and starting Footprint. We also cover KYC, starting with the Patriot Act, how to find early customers, execution at scale, and Eli’s second career as a comedian. 

Episode Chapters: 

1. What makes Eli, Eli - 1:12
2. Innovation at Stanford - 3:33
3. Know Your Customer (KYC) - 5:42
4. Why should customers trust Footprint? - 9:45
5. The value Footprint provides - 12:46
6. Working with larger banks - 16:50
7. Keeping consumer data secure - 18:30
8. What is keeping Eli up? - 20:48 
9. Moral guidance around data - 23:37
10. Stand up comedy - 27:35 
11. Ending questions - 31:45

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

This week, we sat down with Bobby Pinero, CEO and Co-Founder of Equals. During the conversation, we cover Bobby's journey from being inspired by "engineering entrepreneurship" at Stanford to leading the finance team at Intercom and then starting Equals. We also covered the moat behind Equals, having a clear end-user, competing with Excel and Google Sheets, and the importance of brand building.

Episode Chapters:

1. Bobby's upbringing - 1:46
2. Scaling with Intercom - 7:14
3. Seed to start Equals - 10:00
4. What is Equals? - 13:44
5. Why switch to Equals - 18:43
6. Gaining market share - 23:37
7. Two ways to grow - 27:50
8. Brand building - 32:18
9. Expand the TAM with AI - 34:285
10. Ending Questions - 36:43

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

This week, we sat down with  Brett Perlmutter, Founder and CEO of Bulletpitch. During the conversation, we cover Brett's journey starting Bulletpitch as an undergraduate student to hosting events and writing for thousands of readers. We also cover wanting to break into VC, why top VCs are fantastic media companies, and why media yields deal flow.

Episode Chapters: 

1. Starting Bulletpitch - 1:04
2. Building the pipeline - 5:50
3. The content evolution - 8:03
4. Company selection - 12:30
5. Why scarcity is critical - 16:44
6. Growth hacking in the early days - 22:50
7. Building a syndicate - 30:00
8. Brett's value add - 34:55 
9. Quick-fire round - 37:03 

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

This episode is brought to you by Grata, the world's leading deal sourcing platform. Our AI-powered search, investment-grade data, and intuitive workflows give you the edge needed to find and win deals in your industry. Visit grata.com to schedule a demo today.

This week, we sat down with Div Garg, Founder of MultiOn. During the conversation, we discussed Div's journey from big tech to startups, the promise of agents, and how the LLMs are tackling agents. We also discussed how the agent ecosystem will evolve over time, whether we should pay our agents, and building a team as a first-time founder.

Episode Chapters:

1. Working in Big Tech - 2:28
2. Intro to AI agents - 3:22
3. MultiOn's Mission - 4:50
4. What will agents disrupt? - 8:37
5. Agent headwinds - 11:20
6. Product launch that didn't work - 13:40
7. The role of LLMs - 17:05
8. Upper limits of agents - 19:27
9. The value of agents - 21:43
10. Building an organization - 25:45
11. Raising VC funding - 29:15
12. Quick fire questions - 32:16

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

This episode is brought to you by Grata, the world's leading deal sourcing platform. Our AI-powered search, investment-grade data, and intuitive workflows give you the edge needed to find and win deals in your industry. Visit grata.com to schedule a demo today

This week, we sat down with Julia and Brian, co-founders of Pickle. Julia and Brian met at Blackstone before leaving to start Pickle, a P2P clothing rental marketplace. We discuss their founder dynamic, lessons learned through execution, leveraging micro-influencers, and scaling through network effects. We also explored their experience raising capital, how to identify the right investors, and managing round dynamics. 

Episode Chapters: 

1. Blackstone to Pickle - 1:58
2. What is Pickle? - 4:13
3. Reaching consumers - 6:24
4. Secondhand marketplaces - 10:03
5. Acquiring first closets - 13:22
6. Supply side demand - 18:29
7. Measuring success - 22:11
8. Kickstarting organic channels - 24:02 
9. Raising VC capital - 26:45
10. Two areas of validation - 31:35
11. Quick-fire round - 33:25

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

This episode is brought to you by Grata, the world's leading deal sourcing platform. Our AI-powered search, investment-grade data, and intuitive workflows give you the edge needed to find and win deals in your industry. Visit grata.com to schedule a demo today.

Fresh out of Y Combinator’s Summer batch, Overlap is an AI-driven app that uses LLMs to curate the best moments from podcast episodes. Imagine having a smart assistant who reads through every podcast transcript, finds the best parts or parts most relevant to your search, and strings them together to form a new curated stream of content - that is what Overlap does. Podcasts are an exponentially growing source of unique information. Make use of it! Check out Overlap 2.0 on the App Store today.

This week, we sat down with Alex Reibman, CEO and Co-Founder of Agency. Agency is an agentic platform to help build reliable agents at scale. We discuss learning through competing (in hackathons), agents as self-driving programs, multi-agent tenancy, and why LLMs are not best suited for agents. We also explored which failure scenarios we can accept when building agentic systems and why community is crucial for scale. 

Episode Chapters:

1. Alex's background - 1:50
2. Enterprise to startup - 6:42
3. Hackathons to Agency - 9:50
4. What is an AI agent? - 11:40
5. How to use an agent - 15:43
6. LLMs impact on agents - 19:53
7. Agency as a product - 21:30
8. Trusting the system - 26:27
9. Who will benefit first? - 34:04
10. Do not bet against the models - 37:31
11. Quick fire round - 39:40

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

This episode is brought to you by Grata, the world's leading deal sourcing platform. Our AI-powered search, investment-grade data, and intuitive workflows give you the edge needed to find and win deals in your industry. Visit grata.com to schedule a demo today.

Fresh out of Y Combinator’s Summer batch, Overlap is an AI-driven app that uses LLMs to curate the best moments from podcast episodes. Imagine having a smart assistant who reads through every podcast transcript, finds the best parts or parts most relevant to your search, and strings them together to form a new curated stream of content - that is what Overlap does. Podcasts are an exponentially growing source of unique information. Make use of it! Check out Overlap 2.0 on the App Store today.

This week, we sat down with Leeor Mushin, General Partner at Formation. Formation is an early-stage fund that partners with founders from day one. We dive into his experience starting a fund at Stanford by investing in his classmates, the journey of building a managed marketplace, and key signals that indicate it's the right time to start a fund.  Leeor also shares insights on why 'ugly ducklings' are ripe for disruption, along with his unique approach to sourcing talent and creating a competitive edge for Formation. 

Episode Chapters:

1. Growing up in Texas - 1:52
2. Moving to Stanford - 4:25
3. Founding Digital Stairway - 8:55
4. Joining Floodgate - 13:32
5. Community sourcing - 19:05
6. Starting a fund - 23:00
7. The "Ugly Duckling" - 29:51
8. Founder attributes - 35:45
9. Business school or not? - 38:40
10. Quick-fire round - 40:30

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

This episode is brought to you by Grata, the world's leading deal sourcing platform. Our AI-powered search, investment-grade data, and intuitive workflows give you the edge needed to find and win deals in your industry. Visit grata.com to schedule a demo today.

Fresh out of Y Combinator’s Summer batch, Overlap is an AI-driven app that uses LLMs to curate the best moments from podcast episodes. Imagine having a smart assistant who reads through every podcast transcript, finds the best parts or parts most relevant to your search, and strings them together to form a new curated stream of content - that is what Overlap does. Podcasts are an exponentially growing source of unique information. Make use of it! Check out Overlap 2.0 on the App Store today.

This week, we sat down with Teddy Himler, General Partner at Optimist Ventures. Optimist is an early-stage fund backing founders focused on critical technologies at the inflection stage. We explore his experiences investing in SE Asia, taking less PMF risk in emerging markets, and signals that led him to start his own fund.  Teddy also shares his perspectives on technology's secular and cyclical trends,  the importance of owning your domain, and AI breakthroughs in healthcare, insurance, and robotics.

During the episode, we reference Thomas Laffont's All-In Summit presentation

Episode Chapters:

1. Investing in internet 1.0 - 1:55
2. Historian investing style - 5:35
3. Valuations in emerging markets - 7:50 
4. Launching a fund - 12:00
5. Betting on the next 30 years - 16:14
6. Differentiation as an emerging manager - 19:10
7. Market adoption of AI - 22:39
8. LP learnings - 25:35
9. Quick fire round - 31:20

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

This episode is brought to you by Grata, the world's leading deal sourcing platform. Our AI-powered search, investment-grade data, and intuitive workflows give you the edge needed to find and win deals in your industry. Visit grata.com to schedule a demo today.

Fresh out of Y Combinator’s Summer batch, Overlap is an AI-driven app that uses LLMs to curate the best moments from podcast episodes. Imagine having a smart assistant who reads through every podcast transcript, finds the best parts or parts most relevant to your search, and strings them together to form a new curated stream of content - that is what Overlap does. Podcasts are an exponentially growing source of unique information. Make use of it! Check out Overlap 2.0 on the App Store today.

This week, we sat down with Kofi Ampadu, a Partner at Andreessen Horowitz who leads the Talent x Opportunity Initiative (TxO). TxO focuses on discovering and supporting high-potential entrepreneurs who have the vision and determination to build transformative businesses but lack traditional access to resources and networks.  

We explore his experiences working as an engineer at Kraft, the importance of having hard conversations early on, and what drives innovation in CPG companies. Kofi also shares how to optimize a brand for staying power, investing at the intersection of culture and lifestyle, and how TxO defines PMF.

Episode Chapters:

1. What makes Kofi, Kofi - 2:08
2. Transition from enterprise to startups - 5:38
3. SKU'd Ventures - 12:35
4. Innovation in CPG - 17:25
5. AI's impact on CPG - 21:00
6. TxO - 26:00
7. Thesis at TxO - 30:00
8. Donor advised fund - 33:30
9. Quick fire round - 41:53

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

This episode is brought to you by Grata, the world's leading deal sourcing platform. Our AI-powered search, investment-grade data, and intuitive workflows give you the edge needed to find and win deals in your industry. Visit grata.com to schedule a demo today.

Fresh out of Y Combinator’s Summer batch, Overlap is an AI-driven app that uses LLMs to curate the best moments from podcast episodes. Imagine having a smart assistant who reads through every podcast transcript, finds the best parts or parts most relevant to your search, and strings them together to form a new curated stream of content - that is what Overlap does. Podcasts are an exponentially growing source of unique information. Make use of it! Check out Overlap 2.0 on the App Store today.

This week, we sat down with Nicholas Marwell, a member of the technical staff at Anthropic. Anthropic is one of the most fascinating companies of the decade, building foundation models focused on safe AI.

We explore joining the post-training team at Anthropic, why folks started to be concerned about safety, understanding a model's neurons, using Claude at work, two areas Nick is most excited for AI to disrupt, and where value will accrue.

Episode Chapters:

1. Joining Anthropic- 1:55
2. Secure AI - 5:03
3. The Founding Story - 8:41
4. Interpretability - 11:33
5. Anthropic's Business Model - 15:01
6. Claude for Enterprise - 19:00
7. AI for Coding - 22:50
8. Scaling Laws - 24:30
9. Making models smarter - 28:00
10. Quick fire - 32:18

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

This episode is brought to you by Grata, the world's leading deal sourcing platform. Our AI-powered search, investment-grade data, and intuitive workflows give you the edge needed to find and win deals in your industry. Visit grata.com to schedule a demo today.

Fresh out of Y Combinator’s Summer batch, Overlap is an AI-driven app that uses LLMs to curate the best moments from podcast episodes. Imagine having a smart assistant who reads through every podcast transcript, finds the best parts or parts most relevant to your search, and strings them together to form a new curated stream of content - that is what Overlap does. Podcasts are an exponentially growing source of unique information. Make use of it! Check out Overlap 2.0 on the App Store today.

This week, we sat down with Jonathan Baer, CEO and Co-Founder at Overlap. Overlap is an AI assistant that creates daily, personalized playlists of clips about anything you’re interested in

We explore navigating public opinion at Meta, why business school is good for founders, and the team of AI agents focused on making curated Overlap content. Jonathan also offers helpful advice for applying to YC (hint: new wave of consumer AI) and the value add from the accelerator.


Episode Chapters:

1. Public Policy x tech - 2:13
2. Starting at GSB -7:05
3. Genesis for Overlap - 11:58
4. Podcast market - 14:00
5. LLM based clipping algorithm - 16:55
6. Overlap use cases - 21:55
7. Applying for YC - 26:05
8. Financial element of YC - 30:31
9. Quick fire round - 35:00 

As always, feel free to contact us at partnerpathpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to hear ideas for content, guests, and overall feedback.

This episode is brought to you by Grata, the world's leading deal sourcing platform. Our AI-powered search, investment-grade data, and intuitive workflows give you the edge needed to find and win deals in your industry. Visit grata.com to schedule a demo today.

Fresh out of Y Combinator’s Summer batch, Overlap is an AI-driven app that uses LLMs to curate the best moments from podcast episodes. Imagine having a smart assistant who reads through every podcast transcript, finds the best parts or parts most relevant to your search, and strings them together to form a new curated stream of content - that is what Overlap does. Podcasts are an exponentially growing source of unique information. Make use of it! Check out Overlap 2.0 on the App Store today.