We talk to Southern California VCs to get to know them, their funds, and their advice for entrepreneurs.
Hosted by Minnie Ingersoll from TenOneTen, an LA-based seed fund investing in b2b software.
We talk to Southern California VCs to get to know them, their funds, and their advice for entrepreneurs.
Hosted by Minnie Ingersoll from TenOneTen, an LA-based seed fund investing in b2b software.
Shrina Kurani is an investor actively writing checks to help catalyze emerging managers as part of IBank’s Venture Capital Access Program. Shrina and the team at IBank are happy to be a part of a fund's first close and they participate with meaningful capital ($5M-$10M). It is easy to apply to the IBank program and Shrina says that she hopes to be "bombarded" with decks from amazing fund managers.
Venture capital is a team sport masquerading as an individual sport. Rayfe Gaspar-Asaoka, partner at Canaan Partners, tells us why he thinks VC partnerships resemble a swim team.
We also talk about space and defense tech, the evolution of venture capital, how generational transition can work well and why a thoughtful reserve strategy has outsized leverage, especially in early stage venture firms.
More growth rounds in 2024! Avery Rosin is writing $50-300M checks for Lead Edge Capital. He thinks PE firms are going to continue being acquisitive, companies are going to reorient around the Rule of 40 and more reasons for his optimism.
Have VCs overreacted against investing in consumer? Shamin Walsh has a 10x fund and numerous case studies to show that consumer can provide huge returns when done right.
Shamin shares how to win when investing in consumer (eg: invest in a cat litter company that raises $1.5M and exits for $500M!!)
Michael Tubbs gained national prominence when he became the youngest mayor of any major American city at age 26. He was a hero of the universal basic income movement until he suddenly lost reelection. Listen to his lessons learned and think about what you're willing to stick your neck out and lose for.
Tubbs is now investing out of Tubbs Ventures, where he focuses on government technology and solving fundamental societal problems.
Josh Resnick is the co-founder of candy brand Sugarfina, where he sold very expensive gummy bears that made people happy. Before Sugarfina, he sold his video game developer Pandemic Studios for $860M.
He is now a General Partner at OpenSky Ventures where he invests in the future of commerce and helps founders avoid pitfalls of growing too fast--adding SKUs too quickly, not having a handle on business data, overspending on legal and other lessons he's learned from his founder and angel investing journey.
Kunal Tandon was running a family business importing paper and metal before cold calling his way into venture capital. Previously at Collaborative Fund, Kunal is now investing out of El Cap Fund II with his partner and former NFL player Stewart Bradley.
Scott Nolan tells us what he thinks about the Elon-haters and how Founders Fund is unique in their investing approach. Scott, a partner at Founders Fund, has been there 12 years and was one of the first hires at SpaceX.
From fleeing revolution at 14 to shaping the future of B2B SaaS investments, Ivan's journey is nothing short of inspirational. Uncover secrets to startup success and the art of building a vibrant venture community.
FirstLook Partners is a hybrid fund of funds actively investing in funds under $50M. Josh Porter, co-founder of FirstLook, explains why he thinks smaller funds make the best investment opportunities.
Josh has seen hundreds of decks and digs in on how to evaluate funds and his unique approach to co-investments.
Can you live to be 150!? Our podcast guest Will Weisman thinks so! Explore the realm where future tech intertwines with the quest for immortality.
From his start as a couch-surfing entrepreneur to Executive Director of Singularity University to founder of KittyHawk Ventures. Predicting a world where immortality is possible, this episode dives into the cutting edge of longevity, the power of psychedelics, and reimagining our lifetimes. Tune in for an inspiring journey into tomorrow!
Scott Hartley shares what we get wrong about college degrees, how to identify and test founders and why seemingly disparate interests create innovation.
Scott is the co-founder of Everywhere Ventures and Two Culture Capital, two global VC funds, a best-selling author and a team member on the Council on Foreign Relations. He has invested in >300 portfolio companies and gives heaps of tactical investing advice, thoughts from his book and some of the best lessons from his mentors.
Unveil the truth about early stage funding and candid startup journeys with Sydney Thomas from Symphonic Capital. Tune in to learn more about: *Sydney's journey from Precursor to Symphonic Capital *Dive into the benefits of a long-term view in pre-seed funding *Discover the power of direct and candid feedback in entrepreneurship and more!
Brian Frank talks about how everything in the food system can be improved, and how VCs are investing with a technology lens instead of a problem solving perspective. Tune in to learn more about: *The biggest opportunities ahead in the food system *Evolution of replacing animal protein, including synthetic biology *How Brian is perfectly positioned to help the next generation of founders in the industry
Adrian Fenty has a fascinating perspective as founding managing partner at MaC Venture Capital and former mayor of Washington, DC. In this episode, Adrian dives into the intersections of government and technology, including: * Why governments should be run more like tech companies * Why governments are critical for real change (including insights from his massive educational reform in Washington, DC) * How VC is both art and science
Brett Queener from Bonfire spends 20-30 hours onboarding each of his companies and shares some of his playbook and rules of thumb. I like a lot of his operational tips:
* Founders should stay involved in sales (at the seed stage) * Seed companies should hire mechanics not scalers * 20% of employees should be quota carrying * Revenue growth is tied to the number of productive sales reps hired * And many more insights from his 13 years as an executive at SalesforceKatelyn Foley is the President of UP.Labs, a venture lab that builds SaaS companies in partnership with large corporations. Katelyn was previously a partner at BCG Digital Ventures.
Follow Katelyn Foley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katelynfoley/
Follow Minnie Ingersoll: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mingersoll/
In this episode, you will learn:
(1:03) How Katelyn has created 15 businesses in 8 years.
(2:57) What about the studio model Katelyn changed when coming to UP.Labs
(4:00) How Katelyn selects a strategic problem to build a business around.
(6:49) Why startups should not be doing digital transformation work.
(8:20) Why public companies struggle to incubate new businesses.
(10:00) Why opportunities exist where high value and high friction meet.
(11:59) In SaaS, you want to augment decisions that already happen.
(14:04) Intelligence augmentation is the buzzword.
(17:04) Where opportunity exists for OEMs while the industry shifts to EV.
(21:30) How Katelyn sources new opportunities.
(23:18) Katelyn’s opinion of CVCs.
(27:27): Why businesses developed by UP.Labs only need seed funding.
Available on: Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Past Conversations and Transcripts available at: tenoneten.net/podcasts
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March Capital was investing in generative AI long before ChatGPT went mainstream.
In today's episode, we talk with Partner Wes Nichols, who has brought his 30 years of analytics and AI experience as an investor and entrepreneur to help March Capital with this area of focus.
Wes is an industry authority in predictive analytics, marketing, AI/machine learning, and digital transformation. He authored the Harvard Business Review cover story, Analytics 2.0, on next-generation analytics to drive more predictive decision-making, with a follow-up article underway currently.
A two-time entrepreneur, Wes has created high profile analytics software companies. Most recently, Wes was co-founder and CEO of MarketShare, which had a $450 million exit to Neustar. Prior to that, he was the founder and CEO of Direct Partners, one of the industry’s first data-driven analytics and CRM companies, which was acquired by Omnicom Group.
In summary, he's one of the founders who really put LA on the map and set the foundation of LA Tech.
Episode Details:
(0:54): Wes’ entrepreneurial background
(4:01): Creating one of the first digital marketing companies
(8:10): What makes a VC valuable to an entrepreneur
(10:15): From angel to full-time investor at March Capital
(13:10): Comparing vertical vs horizontal applications of AI
(15:33): Positive applications of data and sentiment analysis
(17:45): What the military optimizes for
(19:38): Joining the LAPD Reserve Police Officer Program
(25:45): Why being an entrepreneur helps Wes be a better board member
Follow Wes Nichols:
https://twitter.com/wesnichols
Follow Minnie Ingersoll:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mingersoll/
Follow the LA Venture podcast:
https://www.instagram.com/ten.one.ten/
Explore other LA Venture episodes:
Will Coffield is a co-founder and General Partner at Riot Ventures, a hard tech fund that invests at seed and Series B.
In this episode Will shares:
Galen Shaffer is a Senior Vice President at Eos Venture Partners, a Series A fund, investing in the future of insurance. In this episode Galen shares: - Why cyber insurance is a $30B opportunity for startups. - What the first wave of D2C insurance startups got wrong. - Why novel data is often not impactful data.
Carl Fritjofsson is a Partner at Creandum, one of Europe's leading VC firms. In this episode Carl shares:
Aaron Samuels tells us about investing in intersectional founders, he explains what identity saliency is to Minnie and he shares how he and Brian Hollins were able to parlay their scout investing into $66M Collide Fund I.
Dan Wenhold co-leads Fifth Wall's real estate technology fund. He tells us how Fifth Wall has massively grown their AUM by bringing in LPs from the real estate industry who want access to innovation in PropTech. He also tells us how Fifth Wall has stayed innovative and leaned into creative deal structures that are outside the typical VC playbook.
In this episode with Ann Lai from Bullpen we talk about:
* The metrics that matter for fundraising * How Bullpen invests in overlooked businesses * And how Ann bounced back from her experience with Justin Caldbeck at Binary CapitalHoward Morgan is the Chairman and General Partner at B Capital and previously the co-founder of First Round Capital.
Howard shares his perspective on building successful seed funds (he's an LP in 80), what is exciting him today in tech and how he has chosen such great partners throughout his life.
Another great Southern California Series A fund and another great investor moving from the Bay Area to LA. Toba partner Patrick Mathieson tells us why he moved from the Bay Area to LA to pursue his thesis around companies building platforms for SMB. Patrick has invested in Boulevard, PatientPop, FloQast, Luxury Presence and now Candid (a TenOneTen co-invest).
David Zhang is a partner at TCV, a ~21B AUM growth fund that has invested in companies like Brex, Airbnb, Klarna, and Nubank. David leans in on FinTech investing and tells us about some of his theses on the unbundling (and bundling) of financial services. David comes from a hedge fund background and also shares why he prefers the alignment of private market investing over the more Darwinian nature of the public markets.
Don't let the joy get sucked out of investing.
Investor Emilio Diez Barroso reminds us to remain focused on the joys of creativity and creating value. Emilio invests from his own family office and as a partner at Bold Capital, a Series A fund with a focus on frontier tech, biotech and innovations that have the potential to transform humanity.When Taylor Adams advises family offices on setting up venture programs he recommends investing into fund of funds for coverage, emerging managers for access and direct investments for alpha. In addition to his family office work, Taylor is the co-founder of Rise Together Ventures, a fund enabling for-profit entrepreneurs to realize their full for-profit and philanthropic vision.
"It would be delightful if all the brightest brains in the world focused their energies on solving climate problems." Gaby Darbyshire gained deep operational expertise as a founder of Gawker Media before starting climate tech focused Dangerous Ventures. There is a lot to learn from Gaby in many dimensions.
The next version of the internet will feel a lot more like a game. Jason Yeh and partner Brian Cho helped Riot Games scale League of Legends to a massive global scale. They take a lot of lessons from gaming as they invest from $90M Patron Fund I into what they call the "spectrum of play".
Andrew Kahn from Crush Ventures invests in music, interactive media, the creator economy, and more. Crush Ventures is the venture arm of Crush Music, a global talent management firm whose roster includes Miley Cyrus, Sia, Green Day, Panic! at the Disco, Weezer, among many others.
"Good paperwork makes good friendships". Deron Quon, co-founder of Menus.com, Datassential, and Collective Solution shares thoughts on scaling and navigating a sale to private equity. Now an active angel investor and founder of Hoopla.com, Deron also talks about the importance of investing back into the LA ecosystem.
Roy Rubin dropped out of UCLA to start Magento, a massive eCommerce platform that scaled to over $100B in transactions annually. Roy is now writing $500k to $1M checks out of his fund, R-Squared Ventures. The story of his success and lessons learned is inspiring and worth a listen!
There are so many great founders and VCs moving to LA! Vinay Singh is a Managing Director at Anthemis where he leads seed and Series A investments out of their early stage fund. Vinay tells us that Anthemis is a global investment platform focused on the digital transformation of financial services, investing across all stages of growth.
What are the best ways for a startup to partner with a big corporation?
Beth Kearns from Touchdown Ventures tells about different partnership models, best practices and pitfalls to avoid.
This interview includes information from third party sources believed to be reliable; however, we make no representations as to its accuracy or completeness. References to strategies are for illustrative purposes only and should not be relied upon as a recommendation to engage in any particular strategy or to invest in any particular security. Opinions expressed herein are based on current market conditions and may change without notice and we reserve the right to change any part of these materials without notice and assume no obligation to provide an update. Recipients are advised not to infer or assume that any securities, strategies, companies, sectors or markets described will be profitable or that losses will not occur. Any description or information regarding investment process or strategies is provided for illustrative purposes only, may not be fully indicative of any present or future investments and may be changed at the discretion of the manager. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Word on the street is that more deals have structure. Kareem tells us about structured equity--when it makes sense and who it's right for. Arrowroot is an 8+ year old growth equity firm in LA and Miami on Fund V ($500MM+ invested globally across 28 port cos.) that specializes in structured equity for venture-backed enterprise software companies.
Talking with Jeffrey made me wonder if I need to get a celebrity for our venture fund. Jeffrey had the opportunity to work with Alex and Drew of the Chainsmokers to set up Mantis VC and it sounds like an amazing team.
Jeffrey explains the value that the Chainsmokers are able to bring and how entrepreneurs and funds can best work with celebrity.
Fred is the Chief Innovation and Partnerships officer at Caltech where he oversees the Tech Transfer office and recently set up two new funds : The Caltech Fund and the Wilson and Hill fund.
Fred gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how Caltech labs are run and how his team thinks about the translational potential of scientific work.Why is a Series B pitch so much different than pitching a Series A company? How do growth stage investors think about multiples today?
Mike Fernandez talks about what he is seeing in growth rounds today and the sort of support that is needed for later stage companies.
This is a great explanation of PLG from the guy who coined the term. Blake Bartlett tells us about the different eras of business software and the problems it was built to solve--from solving a CIO's problems, to solving a business problem, to solving an end user problem.
Blake explains how to get started with PLG, how the funnel changes going from a sales-led motion to a product-led motion, how to think about PLG metrics, and much more.I learned so much about working with celebrities from Jackie Fast at Sandbox Studios :
* Celebrities are not doing this for impact. It is for the money * George Clooney's $1B payday from Casamigos caught everyone's attention * It's not only about choosing the right celebrity, it's also about having the right team around them * Celebrities are so eager to work with startups, they are resorting to DMs * Celebrities and startup collaboration is going to explodeThe hippies were right. From music festivals, to veganism, to eastern philosophy, and now psychedelics. In this fascinating episode, Greg Kubin tells us about the growing psychedelic movement that is gaining momentum as we start to understand more about how the brain works. Greg's fund, PsyMed is a $25M fund investing in psychedelic medicine and mental health technologies.
Should we be pouring massive amounts of time and money into web3 or is it just technology looking for a use case?
Pitbull Ventures founder Brad Zions is also the producer of Kissing Jessica Stein and the co-founder of Lemonade restaurants. He tells us why movies and restaurants are bad investments and why, in his opinion, web3 is even worse.
Pitbull is a generalist seed/preseed fund that targets 50+ portfolio companies per fund.Will Bumpus from Concrete Rose joins us today. Concrete Rose has grown quickly and is now leading rounds with $1-2M checks to support a virtuous cycle of wealth and opportunity for underrepresented communities of color. Will tells us about his own focus on sustainability and where that came from in his life. He also shares why he and his partners may (hopefully) be part of a growing trend of VCs pledging a percent of their carry (50%!) to give back to nonprofits.
Marcy Venture Partners has grown from $30M to $900M AUM, now leading Series A and Series B rounds.
Charlie Hanna tells us how he, Jay-Z, Jay Brown and Larry Marcus work together at Marcy to evaluate and champion the brands of the future. He points out that celebrities like Jay-Z and Rihanna didn't make their billions from their music, but from their ability to build brands.Megan Holston-Alexander leads a16z's Cultural Leadership Fund (CLF). CLF connects the world’s greatest cultural leaders with the best new technology companies and advances young African Americans into tech. Megan tells us about the importance of getting Black capital onto cap tables, Black talent into tech and building generational wealth. She shares how a16z has grown CLF and its influential network, how startups and cultural leaders collaborate, and her own journey into venture.
B Capital has rapidly grown to over $6B AUM and has just announced its first early-stage fund, the $250M Ascent Fund run by a superstar team that includes Eduardo Saverin, Gabe Greenbaum, Karen Page, Karan Mohla, and Howard Morgan. Raj says B Capital was not an overnight success but was built steadily on the conviction that there needed to be a firm that could be best in class on value-add and also global from the outset.
What does it mean to be more authentic online and will it lead to a nicer Internet? How will future social networks make it easier to establish an online identity, find community and enable community ownership? Faraz Fatemi, partner at Lightspeed, brings his perspective on consumer psychology to today's episode of LA Venture.
Climate is eating the world. Shomik Dutta says that climate, and specifically the need to decarbonize every major industry will "eat the world" in the same way that Marc Andreessen famously said that software would eat the world in 2011. Shomik argues that the TAM in climate is multiples of the TAM in software today. The immensity of the need is one of the motivations of the work that he is doing now at Overture.
Another great example of top Silicon Valley talent moving to LA! Kyle Lui was a partner at multi-billion dollar DCM until he left to join Ben Ling at Bling Capital. He shares thoughts on how a small fund can still build best in class playbooks and processes to support founders.
Paige Craig shares his amazing story of sneaking into Iraq dressed as a CNN reporter, how he built a private military from scratch inside Baghdad and then how he parlayed that exit into an incredible investing career that includes Wish, Scale, Gusto, AngelList and many others.
Corporate venture capital is becoming a first choice option for founders seeking the value-add that corporates can bring in an industry. This is the thesis of Laurent Grill as he seeks to build the #1 choice PropTech fund at JLL Spark.
Cannabis is still a schedule 1 narcotic (cocaine is a less serious schedule 2). Cannabis plants have RFIDs on them and are tracked from seed to sale. Casa Verde's Karan Wadhera tells us why he sees this and other regulations as an opportunity and why he and Snoop set up Casa Verde to invest from $1M to $15M in cannabis startups.
Do you feel good about the purchases you make and the trash you generate as a consumer? Dan Fishman believes in empowering consumers and he shares perspective for startups and brands that are being built to serve our new regenerative future.
Maureen Klewicki heads up investing at Cedars-Sinai Health Ventures, the venture arm of Cedars-Sinai. Cedars-Sinai is a top 10 hospital in the US that serves more than 1 million people each year with over 4,500 physicians and nurses.
Maureen discusses opportunities she sees for startups to be created to address issues in care delivery, the labor shortage crisis, and the move to value-based care. She shares go to market strategies in healthcare and much more.
Amanda Groves shares how startups can best navigate working with elite athletes and celebrities. How should a startup structure an equity arrangement? Has cancel culture gone too far? And how does a firm like PLUS Capital help to measure and quantify an engagement's impact.
Kathryne Cooper tells us about Jumpstart Nova, a new $55M fund investing in incredible Black healthcare founders at the seed and series A stage.
Jumpstart has LPs such as Meharry Medical College, Eli Lilly and Company, Cardinal Health and is part of the trend of VCs offering strategic help from their LPs as an important value-add.
The best day to sell your company is the worst day to re-invest that money. The best day to plan for that sale is not a month before it happens.
Evoke's Michael Carney shares wealth management tips for startup execs and tells us about Evoke's fund of funds strategy.Ludis Capital founder Matilda Sung is investing $500k - 1M at the intersection of sports media and technology. She explains why the NFL looks up to the NBA's digital engagement, how sports betting is different in the US than in other countries and she clarifies who really owns the rights to digital assets like TopShop NFTs.
Jonathan Hung tells us about his two new funds: Trousdale Ventures has deployed over $300M the last two years and is a partnership with Phillip Sarofim. Playhouse Ventures is a web3/NFT fund with Steve Aoki. He also shares his perspective on doing business with China and how to choose a manufacturing partner in today's market.
This episode is so good. If you care about how culture is born in a city or what makes LA tech special, then get some inspiration as Crosscut's Brett Brewer talks about the early days of building Intermix and MySpace and how he sees the ecosystem evolving.
Venture investment in consumer brands goes in and out of vogue. Amanda Schutzbank explains how Willow Growth takes a unique approach to consumer investing that combines the best of venture and private equity investing.
One of everyone's favorites, Ed Wilson, joins to talk to about Impulsum Ventures, how they've built a venture firm alongside a 30-person dev shop and his sunny approach to life.
Another great Series A fund in LA! Yelena Shkolnik is a partner at Jump Capital. Jump may be most recognized for their crypto work, but we have a broad conversation on content, commerce, fintech and how those are converging in today's ownership economy.
Every pitch today involves community. Upfront partner and former CMO Kobie Fuller tells us how the best brands are giving users the tools to be brand advocates and how those same brands are tapping into the community to get insights. We also talk about being black in venture and what inspired Kobie to build Valence, a network for black professionals.
The Gotham Gal herself, Joanne Wilson, tells us that department stores are dead, but gives us a glimpse into the future and her own upcoming cannabis store that will pair your cannabis with your needs, mood and even the food you're serving that night. We also cover the state of VC today and much more.
We couldn't be more excited for Carter Reum and M13's newly announced $400M Fund III. There are still only a few funds in LA that are true lead Series A investors. Carter tells us how they have doubled in size from Fund I to Fund II and again from Fund II to Fund III (it helps to have 11(!) unicorns in Fund I) and how their thesis has continued to evolve as they've built the fund.
Earth's population has doubled in Cody's lifetime. 96% of mammals on earth by biomass are now humans and livestock. China emits more greenhouse gases than all developed countries combined. This and much more from Cody at MCJ Collective.
How are sports evolving to match the changing tastes of fans? What can traditional sports learn from esports? How is sports betting rolling out across the country? This and much more with Steve Ahern, partner at KB Partners.
Zach Noorani is a partner at Foundation Capital where he leads FinTech investing. Zach shares why he is excited for composability in finance, why he's still excited for neobanks and why traditional finance is not going to be disrupted by web3 overnight.
Great discussion with Richard Wolpert on the convergence of tech and media. Some punchlines: * Movie theaters will only be for tent-pole movies * Live concerts are not going away * The metaverse will happen * Social media is toxic and needs to be fixed
Dom Perri is with Vertex US, an early-stage venture fund that's part of the broader Vertex global network. With its $200M Fund III, Vertex will continue investing in early-stage B2B companies.
Dom tells us about Vertex US, his partners In Sik and Jonathan, his career in corp and business dev, and also some of his favorite maxims, including: "you don't ask, you don't get".
After investing in Chime, Step, Brace, and many others, leading FinTech investor, Joe Guzel, tells us why he and fellow Crosslink partner McLain Southworth are starting their own fund, Haven, and betting their careers on web3 FinTech.
Ben Marcus is the cofounder of UP Partners, a new $230M fund investing in the moving world. Ben tells us about electric vertical takeoff airplanes, drones delivering packages from the roofs of Walmarts, and how flight is going to connect humanity.
Two-time NBA all-star, Baron Davis talks about his investing and how he encourages people to put their money where their mouth is.
Omar is a partner at Mucker and leads their $190M "early" fund. Previously a partner at Sequoia and founder of AdMob. So many great insights on building companies and why it's hard for startups to raise a Series A from Sand Hill.
Kyle Adkins is a partner at FullCycle Climate Partners. FullCycle invests to accelerate the deployment of technologies that address our greenhouse gas crisis.
Kyle shares great perspective on the state of climate tech and climate tech investing today.
Saeed Amidi is the CEO and founder of Plug and Play. Plug and Play connects startups with corporate partners and is one of the most active investors in the world with about 250 investments per year and over 2000 startups going through one of their programs every year.
Alex Andrianopoulos tells us how scientific breakthroughs are going to reshape medicine, climate and the world we live in.
Kairos Ventures is a ~$300M fund investing in these breakthroughs... even when other VCs aren't yet interested.
Shawn Colo is a founder and managing partner at 3L Capital, a growth equity firm based in LA and NY writing $10-30M checks.
We discuss 3L portfolio companies goPuff, Relativity Space, AvantStay and Shawn's founding of Demand Media.
Martha Notaras is the smartest and most fun Insurtech investor that I know. She tells us about Brewer Lane's $175M Fund I and investing into Series A and B Insurtech and Fintech companies.
Spencer shares all about 75 & Sunny--how he is trying to avoid putting dotLA behind a paywall, how Pacaso is not at all like a timeshare, and how he's reinvesting back into startups in LA and beyond.
Gary Benitt is a managing partner at Social Leverage, a $99M seed fund with investments that include Robinhood, Rally Road, Kustomer and more.
Gary is a serial entrepreneur who likes to invest early and lean in.Pejman Nozad tells us about investing in Dropbox and DoorDash, and how he picks winners. He also talks about Pear's current initiatives: Pear Accelerator, Pear Fellows, Pear competition and Founder Circles. A lot to learn in this episode!
Jessica Jackley is currently an investor at UntappedVC and the founder of Alltruists, a startup disrupting the $300B volunteer economy. Jessica shares how her experience starting Kiva shaped her view of what is possible.
Matt McCall catches us up on venture investing for the Pritzker group where he's doing a lot of seed deals and using those to fuel his Series A investing. We also discuss wearing life like a loose sweater and other ways to thrive on the entrepreneurial journey.
Josh Jones is the richest, goofiest, most confident yet normal-seeming person who was a Bitcoin pioneer, recently bought an airline, and is a partner at The Fund LA.
Media tech expert Shane Kelly joins to discuss the business of financing feature films and tech startups.
Shane also shares his passion for Pharrell's Black Ambition Prize and his thoughts on the state of capitalism.Rick Smith is a founding manager partner of @CrosscutVC and one of the pillars of the LA tech community. Crosscut is now investing out of Crosscut Fund V, but started as a $5M Fund I in 2008. We talk about growing a fund, a scout program, a tech community and growing personally.
Chirag tells us about his journey from Pritzker Group to DFJ and the evolution from DFJ to Threshold. He's one of only a few LA-based Series A investors. Great to hear his perspective on today's venture market!
Julie's new fund, Magnify, is writing $1.5M - $2.5M checks into companies that will transform life, work and care for modern families. Julie talks about very relatable themes like the relentlessness of modern parenting and household optimization.
Alejandro Guerrero is a partner at Act One Ventures. We discuss: * Entering venture capital without a "traditional" background * Why VCs need to start measuring success differently * The Diversity Rider
Brianne Kimmel is the founder of WorkLife Ventures and an early investor in Hopin, Pipe, Webflow, Tandem and many others.
We had a great discussion on how she gets into rounds, how she established herself as a top angel investor and then transitioned into a fund manager and her thoughts on work and life.
Drew Taylor is a partner at Digitalis Ventures. Digitalis has a $100M human health fund, a $100M pet health fund and $30M for venture creation. We also discuss being part of a family business and why founders in pet health are great people to work with.
Justin Fishner-Wolfson is the cofounder and managing partner at 137 Ventures.
137 has more than $1.5B assets under management and is known for investing in growth-stage companies by providing custom liquidity solutions to founders.
Carey Ransom runs the Operate Studio and is one of the best known startup investors in Orange County. Carey challenges us all--from LPs to GPs--to think harder about how we are measuring success and supporting the communities we live in.
From sitting on the Roku board from 2011 - 2018, Daniel Leff saw disruption in the media industry first hand. He says that, unlike in tech, disruption in media comes from working with the incumbents rather than working against them.
Raina is a partner at The Fund LA along with Anna Barber, Josh Jones, and Austin Murray.
We talk about The Fund, ethics in tech, the benefits of daily turmeric and more.I could have talked with Mike for many more hours.. about building Science, building consumer brands, NFTs, social networks, parenting and much more. Worth a listen even if just for inspiration on building better social networks for our children.
Anna Barber is a partner at M13 where she is launching consumer startups. She's also a partner at The Fund LA, an LA-focused pre-seed fund. Anna tells us about the difference between launching companies (narrowing the focus) and accelerating companies (widening the aperture), doing Series A investments and much more.
Sam Wick joins to talk about UTA Ventures. Sam clarifies how and when startups can best approach UTA's clients and the role of the Ventures team.
Will Schmitt is Head of Venture Strategy at Miroma Ventures. Miroma recently announced a $100M commitment to fund the next generation of consumer brands and media platforms. Miroma has worked with companies from McDonald's to Netflix to Masterclass and Spotify. They invest at the seed or Series A stage and aim to bring that expertise to earlier stage companies.
Today Marlon talks about MAC Ventures and how he, Mike Palank, Adrian Fenty and Charles D. King tap into their deep networks to identify shifts in cultural trends and behaviors.
TX Zhuo joins today to talk about starting Fika with Eva Ho with the goal of giving back to the community.
TX has an amazing story of dropping out of school to start his first business and how his approach to investing is evolving as the venture market evolves.
Jeremy Milken is a partner at Watertower, a serial entrepreneur, and just a lot of fun to talk to.
We talk about his own journey, his views on deploying money into the venture asset class, his partner Derek and his wife, the flexible neurotic.Nick believes VC has become a very reactive business. He explains how he and Nate Redmond set out to build Alpha Edison as a proactive, knowledge-driven fund.
So much fun talking with Rob Dyrdek about everything from his $450M in exits to his multiple world records to his thoughts on building self-belief! Rob has built a system for it all at the Dyrdek Machine, his venture creation studio.
Sanjay tells us about Unlock Fund II, his Southern California focus, advice for startups on finding good bankers and much more.
Vik is a partner at Dreamers VC, a $55m fund co-founded by Will Smith. Vik explains the world of influencers, talent fees, production fees, and how warrants are effective when working with influencers. Unlike what every other VC says, Vik does not aim to be the founders first call at 2am when something goes wrong.
My partner Gil Elbaz joins to talk about his passion for data, building AdSense, selling to Google and then building Factual. He also explains why founders should mentally commit 10 years to their startup before beginning.
We talk with Scott Lenet of Touchdown Ventures about the pros and cons of corporate venture... and how Touchdown is trying to do it right. Touchdown already has 45 people on the team, and they're actively hiring!
Omar is a partner at Mucker and leads their $190M "early" fund. Previously a partner at Sequoia and founder of AdMob.
So many great insights on building companies and why it's hard for startups to raise a Series A from Sand Hill.
Griffin Gaming Partners is a $250m Fund I focused exclusively on gaming. Phil Sanderson says that gaming investing is the new enterprise software--a predictable business model with strong CAC to LTV ratios and increasingly large exit opportunities. We also talk about ultramarathons, a 240 mile race, and how Phil has trained himself to go after even bigger, more audacious goals.
Many VCs shy away from tech that serves SMBs. Austin explains how this has left an enormous opportunity and his tips for entrepreneurs in the space.
We talk about his partnership with Ajay Relan at Slauson & Co and the work that PledgeLA and Grid110 have been doing to support underrepresented founders ($25k checks!)Chang Xu is a partner at $140M fund Basis Set Ventures. We discuss everything from why open source is a good business model, how next gen infrastructure might look, what she learned at Upfront, and even practical advice for forming a startup board.
I really enjoyed my conversation with Product Hunt founder Ryan Hoover about product launches, building community and what he looks for when investing out of the Weekend Fund.
What is the state of global warming today? Renewables? Should all VCs be investing in CleanTech?
Aaron Fyke from Thin Line Capital is one of the smartest CleanTech investors and joins us to talk about multiple years working with Idealab and building cleanTech companies.
Taj Eldridge tells us about his brand new $250M fund, Include Ventures, that he just launched with Bahiyah Robinson and Keith Spears. Taj is passionate about reducing the wealth gap through black and brown ownership and continuing the work he's been doing with LACI.
The one, the only, David Waxman!!
David was the founder of three venture backed companies before he and Gil Elbaz started TenOneTen. David shares lessons learned from an IPO, a litigious board member and a couple decades in startups.Megan is one of the founders of King River Capital, an LA-based fund investing in Series A and later companies. They are investing out of a $100M Fund II. Megan shares how they are able to leverage their LPs for significant co-investment.
Fantastic chance to get to know Jamie Montgomery. Jamie shares how he's built such strong relationships, delivered outsized returns for March Capital, his approach to philanthropy and his high school fire extinguisher business.
For more, tune in March 3rd and 4th to the 18th annual Montgomery Summit.Loved talking with Kerry about how startups should think about their marketing org and how that has changed.
Also fun to hear about Upfront's brand and the brand of the partners at Upfront.Great talk with Zach White about managing Sinai Venture's $600M Fund II. We talk about investing in Pinterest, buying secondary shares, and independent thinking in the venture business.
With their recently raised $500M, Westlake Village BioPartners is catalyzing the LA biotech ecosystem. Sean Harper, former Head of R&D at Amgen, tells us about his focus on therapeutics to improve human lives and starting Westlake Bio with Beth Seidenberg.
Great discussion about next gen robotics and next gen bioscience with Gil Demeter from Pontifax AgTech. With over $465M in AUM, Pontifax is one of the largest food and agtech funds in the world.
Lux invests in emerging science and technology ventures at the outermost edges of what is possible.
Lux will write $10- 15M checks and they are not afraid to invest pre-product and sometimes pre-company. Shahin has fascinating insight on automation, autonomous cars, AI and more.When we started this podcast people asked if we'd run out of guests after a year of weekly episodes with LA VCs. Not even close. Hope you enjoy a few highlights from LA venture and hope we get to see more of each other in 2021!
Tracy shares insights on manufacturing, why exports matter, industry 4.0, and the state of diversity in venture today.
Scott has invested in Uber, Facebook, Slack, Square, Robinhood and others... there was probably more than 30 mins worth of stuff I could have learned.
Before starting ACME, Scott was the co-founder of Sherpa Capital and before that he was head of Internet investment banking at Goldman Sachs. And now proudly part of the LA venture community!If you have any questions if debt can help your startup, feel free to give Dan Zinn a call.
Dan's firm, Rivonia Road, provides a much more bespoke solution than traditional venture debt. We also talk about how Dan built a billion dollar hedge fund and XPRS, a small business lender.Nicole Quinn says "you can't be called Lightspeed and move slowly" and explains how they can get a term sheet done in 2-3 days.
Lots of insights on building an enduring brand that are applicable whether you are in the consumer space, or building an insurance company.Marcos Gonzalez is the managing partner at Vamos Ventures, a seed-stage venture fund investing in Hispanic and diverse founders. Over half of LA county is Hispanic. Seems like a great time to be investing in this community!
Great discussion with Arjan Schutte about democratizing prosperity and running Core Innovation Capital, a finTech fund that measures its impact on society and has invested in Ripple, NerdWallet, Synapse, Fundera and more.
Mark Suster from Upfront explains why the best time to talk to founders about fundraising is 3-4 months after their last fundraise. He was kind enough to share that framework and others this week on LAV. #longla
One of my new favorite LA investors, Petra Griffith, joins to discuss Wedbush Ventures.
Petra talks about starting a new fund, how she's seen venture debt work well as non-dilutive funding, and lessons on the content business from Netflix and Yahoo.
Bruce's new $100M fund, Miramar Digital Ventures II, invests early in software and data. He explains why many VCs have gone back to preferring notes over SAFEs, and other insights on deal preferences and construction.
Lots of insights on equity crowdfunding today from Buck Jordan. He's raising $50-100k/day (mostly on SeedInvest) for the cool robotics and food companies coming out of WaveMaker Labs.
He also has great insights on corporate innovation and how seed stage companies can take advantage of corporate partners.This is a pre-election must listen. Andrew Glazier is the CEO of Defy Ventures and runs an incredible entrepreneurship program for incarcerated entrepreneurs. We talk about developing an entrepreneurial mindset and the need for criminal justice reform.
We talk with Jim Andelman about Bonfire's new $100M Fund II, the great team additions (Jennifer Richard, Tyler Churchill, Brett Queener), what good traction looks like nowadays, and a couple great resources on tech.
Super interesting guest (and person), Z Holly talks about university innovation, LA manufacturing, gracious professionalism, the LA River, and a parachute malfunction while skydiving...!
Mark is a leading B2B investor and on the board of Scopely, Icertis and more. He shares his current investment theses and explains how Greycroft operates as a seed to growth stage venture fund.
I deeply appreciate David's approach to life and work. He founded FreeFlow to invest in startups coming out of Caltech that have the potential to improve our world.
Brian Schwartz is a hub of LA startup deals, a scout for Canaan Partners, the founder of SIZE advisors, SIZE capital, and an advisor to unicorn startup goPuff.
Javelin's Alex Gurevich talks with us about investing in Masterclass, Thumbtack, Mythical Games and more. Alex also tells us why VCs should be getting performance reviews from their founders.
Eric and I work together at TenOneTen! We talk about our partners, Lava Lab, AmplifyLA, Scopely, marketplaces and the sort of companies that thrive in LA.
Dan Abrams is a partner at Cobalt Capital. Prior to Cobalt, Dan (and the entire Cobalt team) was at CAA-affiliated Evolution Media. Cobalt leads Series B rounds, but likes to get to know founders earlier in their journey.
We had a chance to hear about Hamet's newly launched venture foundry, Share Ventures, focused on human performance. We talk about brain health, Hamet's role at Upfront, and insights on early stage innovation.
Virginia Schmitt is a partner and CFO at B Capital. B Capital is a leading growth-venture firm and one of the largest with an LA office, investing $10-60M in series B-D companies. Virginia shares insights from being a CFO investing out of over $1B AUM.
One of LA's most fascinating investors, DA Wallach, tells us about touring with Blink 182, making a song with with Diddy, becoming an investor with Ron Burkle, and his current life science focus at Time BioVentures.
Great connecting with Rachel Springate about her path into VC, raising consumer-focused Muse Fund II, her partnership with Assia, and diversity in venture.
Really fun talking with Clinton Foy about the gaming industry, founding Immortals, living in the metaverse, and who his favorite Crosscut partner is.
Eric Manlunas joins us to explain all the different things that Wavemaker is doing--starting with $250-500k seed checks, anchoring other funds like Wavemaker 360 and Thin Line and even building companies at Wavemaker Labs with Buck Jordan.
Tom McInerney is a full-time angel investor with 120 angel investments. He shares how he gets into rounds like Clubhouse, Tala, Segment, his view of investing during Covid, and why he spends time hanging out in Clubhouse.
Adam Lilling probably has the coolest job. He's the founder and managing partner at Plus Capital, where he works with celebrities like Ellen and Portia who want to invest in growing companies (post-seed) that align with their values.
Today we chat with Deb Benton about her new fund, Willow, that she founded with Amanda Schutzbank. Deb is on the board of Carbon38, TomboyX, The Leaf Group and she has all sorts of insight on how to do consumer investing well and what sort of metrics to look for.
Don Stalter and David Resnekov are colleagues at GFC (Global Founders Capital), a $1.2B fund that will invest pre-product all the way through later growth rounds and will even lead multiple rounds for a company. Interesting, entrepreneurial approach to VC.
So interesting talking to Brendan Wallace about how he built Fifth Wall to $1.2B in 3.5 years.
We talk about how the retail landscape is changing, how the work week will change and hopefully how the carbon impact of real estate will change.Jason Schoettler started Calibrate Ventures where he invests in advanced automation (usually Series A).
He and long-time partner Kevin Dunlap have made some really good investments (Ring, Dollar Shave Club) and some newer pretty cool looking ones (check out the Moxie video). We talk about why he feels comfortable investing in hardware (when there's a subscription), how to be a good board member, and much more.Dovi Frances is the founder of Group11 VC, one of the nation’s top decile performing FinTech funds. Group11 has led fintech investments into category defining companies such as Tipalti, Sunbit, TripActions and next insurance to name a few. (Series A sweet spot). Dovi is a bold thinker who isn’t afraid to throw jabs at other venture capitalists for hosting too many lavish parties and yoga sessions. This one is a fun listen.
Blue Bear Capital invests in technologies for the energy sector ($1-4M first check). We talk with Ernst and Vaughn about the energy supply chain, the growth of renewables and what Ernst calls BroPEC.
One of the newest partners at Upfront, Aditi Maliwal, tells us about her path to partner, her investments in Chime, BetterUp, and her time in Google corp dev.
Ben Savage tells us about Clocktower Ventures. They are fintech specialists who invest stage-agnostically into financial services innovation ($250k - $2.5m). Clocktower never leads rounds and Ben suggests that VCs often dont make for the best board members anyhow. Clocktower Ventures: https://www.clocktowerventures.com/ Pasadena VC/founder event: https://bit.ly/35e5Kxc
Steph Janson joins to tell us about OCV, a $260M LA fund investing into companies that have $5M+ ARR. He also shares some great stories about Israel's startup ecosystem and his time at OurCrowd.
Halogen Ventures invests ($250k - $1M) in consumer tech companies led by women (The Skimm, Carbon38). Jesse Draper shares her perspective of growing up 4th gen VC, how she learned to be fearless, and much more.
Our guest Matt Kozlov is the managing director of Techstars Space and ran Techstars Health for 3 years before that.
We chat about launching toaster sized objects into space for a couple million bucks, getting non-dilutive grant money, and of course Techstars ($120k and a great program)!
Today's episode is with Dinesh Moorjani, managing director of LA-based Comcast Ventures. Comcast's sweet spot is a Series A check ($3-20M) but they are flexible. Dinesh explains how Comcast operates, tells us about the early days of Tinder, his experience of private equity, and much more.
It was really hard to do a podcast about myself on my own podcast, but my dear friend Steph Hannon was kind enough to interview me. I tried to give the basics of TenOneTen ($500-$1M into seed rounds), but mostly felt like we chatted about my background and this podcast.
Elaine recently joined Greycroft to co-lead the Albertsons Fund, a $50M fund investing into the future of retail.
The Albertsons Fund (ACI Fund) is investing with Greycroft's core fund $2-6M into Series A or seed companies that are redefining the future of retail.
We talk about how Brian has evolved Expert Dojo into a really interesting international accelerator ($100k checks), how lean startup can be misapplied, and how women are better than men :)
Totally worth checking out--both the Dojo and this episode!
Michael is one of the most sought after and prolific angel investors in LA. One year he invested in 50 companies... and that was before joining a prominent scout program. We also talk about growing Yelp with his brother Jeremy Stoppelman.
M13 is a $200M LA-based brand development and venture capital firm. Courtney is a co-founder of M13 and an investor in Pinterest, Ring, Lyft and much more. This is a fun one!
Founder of MiLA Capital, Noramay Cadena, talks with me about the intersection of tech and manufacturing. Along with partners Carmen Palafox and Shaun Arora, Noramay is writing first checks ($100k-$1M) into "tech you can touch".
Shout out to creator, collaborator Z holly and Make it in LA SoCal Alliance report on SoCal innovation Kauffman fellowsGreat chat with Michael Tam about Craft Ventures ($1-$15M), vertical labor marketplaces, Uber, his partners David Sacks, Bill Lee, Jeff Fluhr, Sky Dayton, and Michael's path into venture. David Sacks posts: https://medium.com/@davidsacks
We caught up with Derek Norton about Watertower ($100-500k checks with his partner Jeremy Milken), micro M&A, advantages(?) of a hard fundraise, media as IP, and how great we are here in LA :)
Great episode if you like entertaining guests. Peter invests up to $250k initial checks out of PLG Ventures and is not afraid to invest super-early (pre-product, pre-revenue).
He helps his portfolio companies on all things organizational behavior, but was formerly CEO of AmTrust, the largest privately held bank.We got a chance to catch up with Erik about Honey's $4B exit, his new partner Omar, his decision-making process and all things Mucker ($100k - $1.5M checks and a lot of elbow grease).
MAC is a $100m fund writing $500k - $1.5m checks. David and I didn't talk much because Mike had so many great stories. He tells us about his partners Adrian Fenty, Marlon Nichols, Charles King and some of the cool stuff in interactive media today.
Lil Miquela : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE1J9JxqhFo ... makes our podcast guest list look a little dryKelly is founding partner of Moonshots Capital where he invests $500k - $1.5M with conviction into extraordinary leadership with a heavy emphasis on leaders with a military background.
We enjoyed talking with him about his experience running a syndicate and winning Season 2 of the Apprentice and working with Donald Trump.Robert Mai joins us to talk about Scopus Ventures, an early stage fund focused on B2B enterprise software (initial checks $250-$1M). Scopus is active in LA and Israel. Robert also educates us on family office investing.
Brian is the founder of BAM Ventures, ShoeDazzle, LegalZoom, the Honest Company and more. We talked to him about investing out of BAM Ventures where he's not afraid to invest early--$250-500k into a great entrepreneur and an idea.
Also really interesting to learn his approach to launching a brand, shopping at CVS, and whats going on today at BAM labs.
Jay is a partner at Wavemaker 360 Health, a healthcare fund with a liberal definition of what a healthcare company is. They do seed investing ($100-$500k first check). Jay is very thoughtful about everything from how he leverages his LPs to the implications of value-based care.
Meredith is a partner at March Capital Partners where she leads investments into enterprise B2B companies raising Series A, B and C. Prior to March, Meredith was at Salesforce Ventures. I'd want Meredith on my board if I were running a later stage enterprise business!
Eric is the president of Tech Coast Angels, but we definitely got caught up talking about his prior experience as CEO of 99c only stores. This one is a great listen if you're at all interested in selling consumer goods or scaling operations.
Grid110 is a fantastic free accelerator program in DTLA (no cost, no equity). Miki started Grid110 in 2014 with a focus on fashion tech, but now Grid110 is open to early stage entrepreneurs in all sectors. Miki's awesome and what's not to love.
Laurent Grill is lead investor at Luma Launch, an LA pre-seed fund that does both B2B and B2C, with a particular interest in storytelling. In addition to funding (average check size $250k), Luma provides great mentors and services for it's teams. Laurent explains why Luma (and others) have moved away from the accelerator model.
Peter is a founder and managing partner at Embark Ventures, one of the very few deep tech/frontier tech focused investors in town. They write $500- $1M checks into pre-product companies with important science behind them. Peter is full of interesting thoughts on robotics, brain computer interaction and tech transfer out of universities.
Alex is an early-stage enterprise B2B investor, typically writing checks $300-$600k into rounds of ~$1-3M. He is full of interesting insights and convictions. I could have talked to him for a long time.
Dana is a Founding Partner at Greycroft and heads the west coast office. She invests in seed, series A and out of the Greycroft growth fund. We talk to her about tracker funds, acquirers, her relationship to email and other interesting things.
John is a gem. He is also a partner at Okapi Ventures. Before Okapi he was a founder (twice), he worked at Idealab and in corporate M&A. As he says, he has sat on all 10 sides of the table.
Brian is one of the founders of Crosscut. Crosscut has been doing seed investing in LA since 2007. Brian explains their portfolio construction ($1.5-3M is "typical" but they stretch in both directions), the personalities of the Crosscut team and how they think about their reputation and the ecosystem they have been a part of growing for the past decade. From the episode: Nick Kim's post on Platform as a Product. Evolution coaching: https://www.evolution.team/
Peter Pham is the co-founder of Science. Science is a startup studio here in Santa Monica that partners with founders at the earliest stage of company-creation. Peter educates me and David on D2C margins and radiation-preventing underwear over tallboys of Liquid Death.
Join us at Innovate Pasadena with great upcoming guests and a podcast if you can't join us in person.
Paul is founder and managing partner at Amplify. Amplify started as an accelerator, they still have the great office space, but now Paul describes Amplify as "pre-seed with benefits". They have a heavy LA focus to their investments ($250-500k) but not funding LA companies exclusively. Paul is also a venture partner at Greycroft and a nice person.
Adam Struck is an LA seed investor from Struck Capital (checks $1-1.5M) who challenges any other VC to put in more sweat equity per dollar than he does. He also thinks VCs should be weirder. I already feel like I'm busting my butt so I will accept the weird challenge.
Kara is a partner at Upfront, a founder, and one of the most prominent investors in LA. Kara shares about the Upfront partnership (8 different UIs with the same backend), advice for founders, and her own areas of interest.
With over 100 members, Pasadena Angels is one of the largest angel investor networks in LA. Stender Sweeney is chair of the Pasadena Angels and explains how their process works, what size check to expect ($250-750k) and what it means to be "more than the money".
Techstars is a 90-day mentorship-driven accelerator program with three programs in LA: Techstars Music, Techstars Space and Techstars LA. Today we talk to Anna Barber, Managing Director for Techstars LA, about the mentorship, investment ($120k) and network that Techstars LA provides.
Fika invests in enterprise, B2B SAAS and data-oriented solutions. Fika is usually writing checks in the $750k to $1.2M range and Eva tells us how check size and round size have changed over time. Eva is an extremely thoughtful investor about everything from data ethics to building stronger communities. We're glad Eva is part of the LA community! Leave us a review, let me know, and I'll send back my gratitude.
Mark talks with us about what sort of traction he looks for when doing B2B seed investing, what sort of questions he asks founders, and his direct personal style.
Will talks to us about Mucker Capital, the early stage venture fund that he and Erik co-founded as well as Mucker Labs, his very well-respected LA accelerator.
Dustin Rosen is the founder and managing partner at Wonder Ventures, a pre-seed fund here in LA.
Britt talks about venture debt, Alpha Edison's investment thesis and how trust is created.
Eytan is a multiple time co-founder (Social Native, Render Media, Scopely), venture partner at TenOneTen, and full of insights on angel investing.