Something Ventured Posts

Max Altman and Ben Braverman were both pretty close to Silicon Valley royalty before they started Saga Ventures.  Max had built Alt Capital with his brothers Sam and Jack.  Ben had helped Ryan Peterson build Flexport as its Chief Revenue Officer. 

Recently, they came together with a 3rd partner (Thomson Nguyen, who does not appear in this episode) to form Saga Ventures.

In this episode, Max and Ben talk about building their new fund.  They discuss its structure, goals, and the nature of VC partnerships.  They continue with a look at the Silicon Valley Ecosystem: The focus on people, the interconnected nature of Silicon Valley, and how certain patterns of behavior and community dynamics influence the startup and venture capital space.

We finish by covering a range of other topics: 

• How venture capital lost its way
• The rise of VC podcasting
• Billionaire VCs fighting over politics

Join us as Max Altman and Ben Braverman discuss building Saga Ventures.

Listen on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you find your podcasts.

Saga Ventures

8-Bit Capital

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If you don’t already know about Alexis Gay, you’re about to. Alexis is the creator and star of her solo comedy show, “Unprofessional”. Recently, her show was a hit at the world-renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and she’s now touring the show for audiences across the United States. 

Alexis previously worked in the tech industry running Business Operations and Creator Partnerships at Patreon.   Outside of work, she started creating videos featuring dead-on takes on tech culture — and everyday life.   These soon went viral, racking up more than 24 million views across social media. Her sharp insights into startup life and its absurdities resonated far and wide, transforming her into a favorite amongst both tech insiders and comedy fans alike.

From viral videos to her successful podcast, Alexis has kept audiences hooked. She’s been profiled by Fast Company, Nightline, Business Insider, SFGate, and CNBC.  And now, she’s stepping onto the stage as a standup comedian.

Now comes her debut solo show, “Unprofessional”.  It has received numerous four-star reviews and played to sold out audiences. Chortle, the leading UK comedy publication, called it “an entertaining and – ironically/appropriately – professional hour set in a world that’s rarely covered in stand-up.”

Whether you’re a startup founder or someone who’s never heard of venture capital, her observations land with a sharp, comedic edge. Catch her live and see why she’s bound to be way bigger than…John Mulaney. 

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Alexis Gay “Unprofessional”

8-Bit Capital

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In this episode of Something Ventured, I talk to Adeyemi “Ade” Ajao, co-founder of Base10 Partners, one of the largest Black-led venture capital firms in the world.

Ade shares his journey from growing up in Nigeria and Spain to building multiple successful companies, including Tuenti, which was sold to Telefonica. He also discusses his transition into venture capital, his mission to empower underrepresented founders, and the impact of Base10’s Advancement Initiative, which partners with top universities to support a diverse new generation of entrepreneurs.

Other topics include: 

• Sci-Fi Inspiration: Adi and his brother are avid readers of science fiction, which shaped their belief in the power of human imagination and technology.
• Global Entrepreneurship: Adi reflects on the scarcity mindset found in some parts of the world, like Spain and Mexico, and contrasts it with the abundance mindset in Silicon Valley, where entrepreneurs help each other succeed.
• Technological Evolution: The conversation touches on how social networking emerged due to advancements in technology, and the broader impact of automation on traditional industries.
• Philosophy on Venture Capital: Adi shares how Base10 gives back by donating 50% of their carry to fund scholarships for underrepresented students in STEM, and emphasizes the importance of mission-driven work.

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Base10 Partners

8-Bit Capital

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Nick Sturiale is a seasoned venture capitalist with over two decades of experience in the technology and startup ecosystem. Currently a Managing Partner at Ignition Partners, Nick has been instrumental in guiding numerous early-stage companies to successful outcomes. His investment focus includes enterprise software, cloud infrastructure, and cybersecurity, and he has a strong track record of identifying and nurturing high-potential startups. He previously worked at Icon Ventures, Sevin Rosen Funds and Carlyle Group.

Among many of his great investments are Bill.com, Reputation.com and Splunk.

Nick has seen a few cycles in venture, and here he shares a unique perspective on the industry.

He discussed a number of topics including:

• Why finding ‘product-market fit” is non-obvious
• When to take advice from investors (and when not to)
• The real job of a startup CEO

You can listen on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Ignition Partners

8-Bit Capital

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Eric Paley is a General Partner at Founder Collective, one of the great seed-stage venture capital brands – and one of the relatively few venture firms led by startup founders. As the name suggests, Founder Collective is a “founder stage” venture capital fund that focuses on providing the first professional round of capital to “entrepreneurs with compelling business concepts”. Eric himself also founded several companies before becoming a VC.  Founder Collective’s investments include:  Coupang, Cruise, Kaggle, Pill Pak, The Trade Desk, Uber and Venmo.

In this episode we discuss the importance of Founder-led VC firms, and the evolution of seed VC firms – which barely existed when he started, and now number in the hundreds.

We also discuss:

• Why the unique name “Collective”
• Fuzzy VC math
• VC ‘revisionist history”     
• What’s next for Founder Collective

Eric Paley on X (Twitter)

Founder Collective

8-Bit Capital

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Homebrew is one of the great venture firm names.  It hearkens back to the 1970s era computer hobbyist group that included people like Steve Jobs.  Hunter Walk and Satya Patel are the partners who founded and built Homebrew (the venture capital firm).

Nevertheless, if you say “Hunter and Satya” in Silicon Valley, people will know exactly who you are talking about. 

Hunter Walk came to homebrew with experience as a product leader at YouTube and Google.  Meanwhile, Satya Patel’s background was as a seasoned investor at Battery Ventures and product leader at Twitter.

In this episode we discuss the power of partnerships in Silicon Valley.  In particular we talk about the power of the 2 -person partnership (see also:  Andreessen Horowitz), why the alchemy has to be right, and why some don’t make it.

We also discuss the evolution of Homebrew from a firm backed by outside capital (from Limited Partners or “LPs”) to one in which the two founders deploy their own capital.

Finally, we cover Hunter and Satya’s newest fund:  Screendoor.  Screendoor has a mission of supporting underrepresented General Partners of emerging venture capital funds by providing capital, access and mentorship.

Homebrew https://homebrew.co/

Screendoor https://www.screendoor.co/

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Nolan Bushnell’s career is extraordinary.  Nolan has ignited two entertainment revolutions: first with Atari, birthing the video game industry through classics like Pong, and later with Chuck E. Cheese, merging pizza and arcade games for family fun. A serial entrepreneur, he’s founded over 20 companies, venturing into robotics, personal computers, and beyond, forever changing the landscape of leisure and inspiration.

Nolan has turned his thoughts to the state of education in the US and has teamed up with Dr. Leah Hanes to form ExoDexa, a developer of educational games that seek to ‘gamify’ education.  Together, they’ve published a book “Shaping the Future of Education” outlining their ideas.

Dr. Leah Hanes is a force to be reckoned with as well.  Dr. Hanes has been a champion for STEAM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) for years, leading the Two Bit Circus Foundation since 2013 and using her expertise to advocate for a more engaging and future-proof approach to learning.

In this episode Nolan and Dr. Hanes discuss the current state of education, and ways to transform the rate at which kids learn by 10X or even 20X.

Exodexa:                      https://www.exodexa.com/

Nolan Bushnell:           https://twitter.com/NolanBushnell

Dr. Leah Hanes:           https://twitter.com/LeahHanes

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Richard Socher is a visionary computer scientist, entrepreneur, and AI researcher who has dedicated his career to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in AI. With a Ph.D. from Stanford University, Richard’s groundbreaking work in deep learning, neural networks, and NLP has paved the way for remarkable advancements in AI applications.

It may seem like everyone is an AI expert these days:  Richard Socher really is.  Richarrd is founder of the AI-focused venture firm AIX, and founder of the AI-powered search engine You.com.

He is the former Chief Scientist at Salesforce and founder of the groundbreaking MetaMind AI startup (which was acquired by Salesforce).  In short, when it comes to AI, Richard is the real deal.

In this episode, we delve into Richard’s insights on the latest AI trends, ethical considerations in AI development, the future of human-AI collaboration, and much more.

Whether you’re new to AI – or have been investing in it for 10 years — Richard’s engaging discussions and visionary ideas will captivate and inspire you.

You.com

AIX Ventures

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What are the odds that 4 friends can start a VC firm, and still be firing on all cylinders years later?  Hadley Harris, one of Eniac Ventures’ 4 co-founders has the answer.

Before co-founding Eniac, Hadley was as a developer and engineering team lead at Pegasystems, and later took on roles as a product manager at Microsoft and strategist at Samsung.

His time at Microsoft and Samsung taught Hadley one thing:  Big companies were not for him.

So, Hadley joined a couple of talented AI founders out of MIT at Vlingo where he ran a several aspects of the business across product, strategy, and marketing until it was sold to Nuance for $225M. He rolled his experience building a successful startup into Thumb, where as CBO he helped the real-time recommendation app reach user engagement levels second only to Facebook before being acquired.

In this episode we discuss how he co-founded and built Eniac, and what he is seeing when it comes to the recently hot trend of investing in Artificial intelligence.  Last, but not least, we discuss how to pronounce “Eniac”.

www.x.com/hadley

www.x.com/eniacvc

www.eniac.vc

www.8bitcapital.com

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Samir Kaji is the founder behind Allocate, a pioneering platform in the venture capital space. Samir has established himself as a key connector between venture capital firms and the “LPs” (Limited Partners) who invest in them:  He is building Allocate to leverage his experience into a platform.

After observing inefficiencies in the venture capital market – between venture firms and the LPs that fund them – he was inspired him to create Allocate.  Allocate is described as “a game-changing solution that empowers venture capital firms to streamline allocation processes, optimize portfolios, and make data-driven decisions.”   

Samir’s position in the industry gives him a unique perspective.  In this episode he parses what he sees from his vantage point, as the VC market undergoes upheaval at the same time one of the most exciting technologies (“AI”) in 20 years emerges.

He also gives us a post-mortem on the turmoil that rocked SVB and First Republic Bank.  Here he brings unique insight, given his years spent in venture banking working at SVB and First Republic Bank where he closely worked with and advised over 700 venture capital and private equity firms. .
Samir is also an active writer on venture capital and is the host of a top venture podcast Venture Unlocked.

Join us in exploring Samir Kaji’s journey and the transformative impact he hopes to have with Allocate on the world of venture capital.

https://www.allocate.co/

Samir on Twitter

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