Something Ventured Posts

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/

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Alison McCauley is the Best Selling Author of Unblocked:  How blockchain will Change your Business and What to Do About It. 

Why does blockchain matter?  Alison points out that disruption is no longer a moment in time. It’s a continual state. How do you understand new opportunity? Set priorities in a complex and ever-shifting landscape? Prepare for what’s ahead? Alison helps you navigate the human side of digital acceleration.

In this episode we discuss the moment Alison came to be blown away by the potential of blockchain, how it’s like the early Internet…and the surprisingly large role of women in this industry. 

I also conduct a thorough podcast investigation of whether Alison is Satoshi Nakamoto. Don’t miss it!

More about Alison McCauley:

Alison is founder and CEO of Unblocked Future, a consultancy that helps executives drive adoption at the forefront of emerging tech. She helps companies communicate their vision, resonate with stakeholders, and activate communities for change. She is a keynote speaker who, in addition to spending time in the blockchain rabbit hole, helps teams to educate and drive adoption in their markets at the front edge of innovation in IoT, robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and other developing technologies.. A social scientist by training, she spent her career studying the intersection of human behavior and emerging technology, with 20 years of consulting to technology-first startups and Fortune-500 companies across industries including healthcare, education, telecommunications, energy, retail, finance, hospitality, and manufacturing

@unblockedfuture

https://www.alisonmccauley.io

www.somethingventured.us

Listen on iTunes or wherever you get podcasts

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Keller Fitzsimmons is the author of Lost in Startuplandia: Wayfinding for the Weary Entrepreneur.  She gives lie to the idea that entrepreneurship is a thrilling, lucrative adventure.  All is great, of course, until things go horribly wrong. “As crisis after crisis hits, even the most seasoned founder can get disoriented. Whether you’re in the throes of business woes or just getting into the game, E. Keller Fitzsimmons has written a field guide outlining the terrain to help you avoid getting Lost in Startuplandia.”

Keller is a serial tech entrepreneur, artist, and mother of two. She is the cofounder of Custom Reality Services, a virtual reality production company whose first two projects, Across the Line (2016) and Ashe ’68 (2019), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Keller is the recipient of the Silvertip PwC Entrepreneurship Award and Speech Technology’s Luminary Award.

Her work has been published by Network Computing, InformationWeek, and Inc. An active angel investor, she serves on the technology committee for BELLE USA, a venture fund that invests in women-led startups. Originally trained as a classical archaeologist, Keller holds a master’s degree from Harvard University.

In this podcast Keller discusses a wide range of topics, including losing her ability to read (before becoming a best selling author).  She discusses the surprising prevalance of anxiety, depression and suicide in Silicon Valley.

Listen on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.

Lost in Startuplandia
https://www.lostinstartuplandia.com

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Adriana is the Founder and CEO of Girls in Tech, a San Francisco-based non-profit organization that empowers women in the tech industry across the globe. Before founding Girls in Tech, Adriana served in executive roles at Ogilvy & Mather, Interpublic Group of Companies, Social Gaming Network (SGN), and SecondMarket.  She has been named one of the 20 most influential Latinos in Technology by CNET, among other awards.

She is author of the book Tech Boss Lady:  How to Startup, Disrupt and Thrive as a Female Founder. 

In this episode, Adriana charts the influence her immigrant grandparents, and entrepreneurial parents had on her.  She shares her early experience with Silicon Valley’s unwelcoming male culture, and how she came to create the global enterprise that is Girls in Tech.  She discusses how sexual harassment in Silicon Valley has – and hasn’t – changed.  From roller skating to balling up stress like a travel t-shirt – this episode has a bit of everything.

Listen on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts

Girls in Tech https://girlsintech.org

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Anne Dwane is co-founder and partner of Village Global, the venture firm backed by an impressive and diverse group of investors that includes:  Jeff Bezos, Sara Blakely, Reid Hoffman, Magic Johnson, Anne Wojcicki, Mark Zuckerberg, Diane Green, Judy Estrin, and Ken Chennault. 

Before becoming a venture capitalist, Anne was a tech company co-founder, a private company CEO, and public company executive. She built Military.com with previous podcast guest Chris Michel, and was CEO of Zinch before it was acquired by Chegg.  At Chegg she had P&L responsibility as the company became public, with a value over $1 billion.

In this episode, Anne shares her journey from Harvard Business School, to Silicon Valley, and her path to becoming a public company executive to her latest role as a venture capitalist at Village Global.

Listen on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.

Chegg

www.chegg.com

Village Global

www.villageglobal.vc

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