Something Ventured Posts

Mike Maples, Jr. is Founder and General Partner of Floodgate, Floodgate is a seed investing firm that has made investments in firms like Twitter, Demandforce and Lyft.  He was #12 on the 2018 “Midas List” of top venture capitalists. The seed investing trend he identified has become, literally, an entire category of investors.  Mike is also the host of his own podcast – Starting Greatness.

In this episode of Something Ventured we talk about Mike’s path to Silicon Valley. We also discuss the investing opportunity he saw here, and how it has changed over time.  He explains terms like ‘earned secret’ and “thunder lizard”, and the overarching importance of “why now”.

If you’d like to get to know Mike Maples, Jr. – don’t miss this episode, and listen to his new podcast – Starting Greatness.

Listen on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

Starting Greatness podcast https://medium.com/starting-greatness

Floodgate https://floodgate.com

Chris Michel Photography

Comments closed

David Hornik is a partner at August Capital. He is also the much-loved creator and executive producer of “The Lobby”.  In preparing for this podcast, a number of people expressed sincere affection for David, The Lobby, and the relationships it has fostered.  In this episode David explains what the Lobby is, and where the idea came from.  

In addition to The Lobby, David started (with his colleagues) the first venture capital blog, VentureBlog, and the first venture capital podcast, VentureCast. He has been honored by Forbes Magazine as a member of its Midas List of top Venture Capitalists.

As a venture capitalist, David over the last 20 years has worked closely with technology companies to help them grow and prosper. David joined August Capital in 2000 to invest in a broad range of software companies. Since that time, he has invested in dozens of companies across the software spectrum, including a number of enterprise software and SaaS (e.g, Splunk, Fastly, GitLab), consumer services (e.g., Evite, Ebates, Drop), and financial technology companies (e.g., WePay, Bill.com, PayNearMe).

In this podcast we discuss everything from his investments in Broadway musicals, to the state of venture capital, to the issues faced by the LGBTQ community in Silicon Valley.  Warning – this podcast includes singing!

Listen on iTunes or Spotify

August Capital https://www.augustcap.com

The Lobby https://www.thelobbyconference.com/the-lobby

Comments closed

Joe Garofoli is the Senior Political Writer for the San Francisco Chronicle.  He is also host of the San Francisco Chronicle podcast “It’s All Political”.  Guests on “It’s All Political” recently have included California Governor Gavin Newsom, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and a “Who’s Who” of Democratic presidential hopefuls.

Very few people have Joe Garofoli’s unique perch – here in San Francisco in the heart of Silicon Valley – to view California and National politics through the lens of Silicon Valley.  In this podcast he takes us “behind the scenes” of the current state of California and National US politics. We talk about everything from the recent wildfires in California, to the relationship between Governor Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump, to what issues you REALLY should be paying attention to in the upcoming California ballots.

Listen on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts

Joe Garofoli at SFGate

Comments closed

Ryan Petersen founded Flexport to make the world a more connected and better place.  He wanted to “fix the user experience in global trade”.  It’s been quite a success so far.  To date – the company has raised $1.3  billion, and Paul Graham, the founder of Y Combinator, told Bloomberg News, “There will be more international trade because of Flexport and international trade is a very big thing for there to be more of”.  

Before starting Flexport, Ryan was co-founder and CEO of ImportGenius.com, a data-as-a-service business for global shipping. He holds a degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from Columbia University.

In this wide-ranging discussion, we cover Ryan’s path to becoming an entrepreneur and why he thought international trade needing shaking up.  He talks about the early days of Flexport, building a strong excutive team to compliment his strenghts and how his role as a CEO and the company have scaled through each stage of growth.  Also discussed are the current trade wars’ effect on shipping and businesses, as well as the unique perspective they have as the trusted shipper for thousands of companies.

Visit Flexport

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

Comments closed

Josh Felser co-founded and sold two companies — Spinner and Grouper – for a combined value of nearly $400 million.  Then, he and his partner, Dave Samuel, started one of Silicon Valley’s most successful seed venture funds – Freestyle.   Freestyle has backed companies like Airtable, Intercom, BetterUp, Patreon and Wag.

In this wide-ranging discussion, Josh talks about building Spinner and the nail-biting moment an acquirer asked him “what’s your number”.  We also cover Josh’s rebuttal to Kent’s previous episode on Burning Man, and how Josh first met California’s governor, Gavin Newsom.   Other topics include mental health in Silicon Valley, and how to support women and people of color in Silicon Valley.  Also included is some music advice for podcaster Harry Stebbings.

Listen iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.

Freestyle http://freestyle.vc

Burning Man https://burningman.org

Rush https://www.rush.com/band/

Comments closed

Dan Scheinman is one of the best investors – and nicest people – you may not have heard of…yet.  But you should know him, because he has become a force in Silicon Valley.  

After running Corporate Development at Cisco, Dan became an investor.  Investing his own capital, he has backed from the earliest stages firms like Zoom, Arista, SentinalOne and CyCognito.  These companies are now collectively worth tens of billions of dollars.

We briefly discuss the passing of Sequoia Capital Founder and Cisco Board Chairman Don Valentine and his legacy.  We talk about the ups and downs at Cisco – which at various times has been the most valuable company in the world.  Dan talks about how to find true outliers in tech companies, and what it means to be truly ‘contrarian’.  We discuss ageism in Silicon Valley, and why investing in women, people of color and those over 35 is an investing advantage.  

Dan tells the story of how he became the first investor in video conferencing company Zoom – which is now valued at nearly $20 billion.

Finally, we discuss what to do when enormous wealth finds you, and why venture capitalists think both math and their jobs are har

Listen on iTunes.

Zoom

Dan Scheinman on Twitter

Comments closed

You know her right?  The woman who started two venture funds and a wealth management firm?  You don’t?  Meet Ba Minuzzi.  Ba was born in Brazil, where she started a fashion business in her teens.  That soon gave way to a real estate business, and then the venue changed to Miami.  In Miami, she realized she wanted to start a venture fund – and that Silicon Valley was the place to do it.  Today she is founder of Babel (an early stage healthtech venture fund), Ausum (a blockchain fund) and  UMANA (a wealth management firm for tech self-mades, conscious celebrities and athletes).  She is the first Latina to start a Silicon Valley venture fund.

In this episode, we discuss her path to Silicon Valley, why she started not one, not two, but three funds.  She also responds to recent episodes that poked a bit of fun at Burning Man.

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

Babel Ventures
https://www.babel.ventures

Ausum Ventures
https://www.ausum.vc

UMANA
https://www.umana.vc

Comments closed

Jerry Colonna is the author of Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up, and cofounder of Reboot – a coaching company, which he started along with Ali Schultz, Khalid Halim, and Dan Put.

Before building a successful coaching firm – Jerry was a “Prince of New York” – he co-founded the VC firm Flatiron partners and then ran JP Morgan Partners’.  But walked away from it all at the age of 38, wracked with depression.  Today he’s a bestselling author, Buddhist, and a sought after coach for the most influential people in business and beyond.

In this podcast we discuss some fascinating parts of Internet history that you may have forgotten – including the first internet newspaper.  We speak about the legacy of “Coach” Bill Campbell and how Jerry found himself as a coach to some of the most powerful and famous executives in the world.  We also track his harrowing path through depression and suicidal thoughts to a fulfilled life, in which he is transforming the lives of others.

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

Reboot
www.reboot.io

Comments closed

Maha is a partner at Canaan Partners, one of Silicon Valley’s largest and most successful venture firms.  She spots technology trends early and partners closely with her companies to drive growth and exits. Maha focuses on e-commerce and enterprise / cloud, and was one of the first investors to recognize the potential of social gaming. She represented Canaan as the first institutional investor in The RealReal – which recently went public.

Maha is a founding member of All Raise, an organization with the mission to “accelerate the success of female funders and founders”. She is also a trustee for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 

Before becoming a venture capitalist, Maha was an executive at Qwest Communications and studied Economics and Sociology at Stanford, and Economics at MIT.

In this podcast Maha shares her journey to becoming a venture capitalist.  She discusses the changes she’s seen in the venture industry and what does – and doesn’t – excite her today.  We also talk about the evolving path for women in Silicon Valley, and what an ally of women can do to be helpful.

Listen on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts

Canaan Partners

All Raise

The RealReal

Comments closed