Origins: Inside Venture Capital

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Austin Clements, Slauson & Co. Jun 15, 2022

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Austin Clements is a co-founder and managing partner at Slauson & Co., an early-stage venture capital firm whose mission is to democratize access to entrepreneurship by bridging the gap between untapped founders and the right capital and resources required to create sustainable equity & economic inclusion. Austin is a former Principal at TenOneTen Ventures where he played a role in investing in 50+ companies across two funds, and also the founding Chairman for PledgeLA, a city-wide initiative that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion in Tech. In this episode, we cover a wide range of topics, including Austin's early experience as a founder, joining TenOneTen and learning and growing as a junior VC, and finally teaming up with his partner Ajay and launching and building Slauson from the ground up. We dive deep into the LA ecosystem, what it means to be a truly inclusive firm in 2022, and the impact that they hope to have on LA and beyond in the years to come.

Sapphire Partners hosts Jaclyn Hester, Foundry Group Jun 09, 2022

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In this special episode of our #OpenLP podcast miniseries, Sapphire Partners’ Laura Thompson chats with Jaclyn Hester, Partner at Foundry Group, about how LPs pick funds, what good performance looks like and how everything is changing with the shift in today’s markets. Laura Thompson invests in technology-focused venture funds domestically and internationally. She is passionate about partnering with established and emerging firms to advance the thinking in the limited partner space. Before joining Sapphire Partners in 2018, Laura worked as part of the investment team at Horsley Bridge Partners, where she helped the team make hundreds of millions of fund commitments. Jaclyn Hester joined Foundry in 2016 and is active across their portfolio of startup companies and venture funds. She helped launch Foundry's partner fund strategy and works closely with partner fund managers, while also spending time on direct investments. Prior to joining Foundry, Jaclyn practiced corporate law at Perkins Coie LLP and earned a JD/MBA from University of Colorado, Boulder.

Accolade Partners hosts Santiago Santos May 10, 2022

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On this episode of Origins, Aram Verdiyan, partner at Accolade Partners, hosts Santiago Santos, one of the most well-respected crypto and NFT investors in the world. The discussion is far-ranging, from Santiago's discovery of Bitcoin and Ethereum many years ago, to his decision to go full-time into crypto, to current market conditions today, and themes that he's most excited about. This was a rare look into how the best crypto native investors approach investing in this unique asset class. Aram Verdiyan is a Partner at Accolade focused on venture capital and crypto. Previously, he worked on the investment team at Andreessen Horowitz. He holds an M.B.A from the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) and a B.S. from the George Washington University. Santiago Santos, aka punk #9159, is one of the top crypto and NFT angel investors in the world, and is a core member of PleasrDAO. Previously, he was a partner at Parafi Capital, a leading crypto-native investment and technology firm founded in 2018, focused on token, venture, and quantitative strategies.

Dustin Rosen, Wonder Ventures Apr 26, 2022

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Dustin Rosen is the founder and managing partner of Wonder Ventures, a top-tier pre-seed firm based in LA. He's been an early investor in companies like Whatnot, Clutter, Arcadia and Honey. He previously founded a venture-backed startup in LA and started his career at the William Morris Agency, where he helped launch their first venture fund. This was a special episode because Dustin has been one of our closest collaborators at Notation, and our journeys have very much mirrored each other's as we've built our respective firms. We discuss Dustin's decision to launch Wonder Ventures back in 2014, as well as his experience as a solo GP, the evolution of the LA tech ecosystem, SPVs, secondary and much more.

Accolade Partners hosts Chris Ebeling, Zed Run Apr 05, 2022

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On this special episode of Origins, Marcos Veremis, partner at Accolade Partners, hosts Chris Ebeling, the Creative Director, Futurist & Co-Founder @ Virtually Human, which created Zed Run, a provably fair digital horse racing game built on blockchain technology. Marcos Veremis is a partner at Accolade Partners, a top-tier fund of funds, and one of the first firms in the market to launch a dedicated crypto fund of funds practice. Marcos was previously an MD at Cambridge Associates for more than a decade, where he focused on alternative investments, including crypto. Chris Ebeling has spent his career crafting unique visual experiences for Film, TV, Games and emerging technologies. Chris is a world-class Animator, Creative Director, Writer and Digital Artist having worked on Hollywood blockbusters such as The Lego Movie’s, The Great Gatsby, and Gods of Egypt. He has since moved on to co-found his own digital creative studio, Virtually Human, creators of Zed Run, a provably fair digital horse racing game built on blockchain technology, and a massive hit in the rapidly growing "play-to-earn" blockchain gaming category.

Jeff Morris Jr., Chapter One Mar 08, 2022

Show notes

Jeff Morris Jr. is the founder and Managing Partner of Chapter One. He was previously the VP of Product, Revenue at Tinder. In the role, Tinder became the #1 top-grossing app in the App Store and one of the top-grossing products in mobile history. In this episode, we discuss Jeff's early career as a PM and growth specialist, his transition into angel investing, and ultimately the decision to launch Chapter One, which is now squarely focused on web3 investing.

Sapphire Partners hosts Saul Klein of LocalGlobe and Latitude Nov 03, 2021

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Sapphire Partners continues their #OpenLP miniseries takeover by hosting Saul Klein of LocalGlobe and Latitude. With decades of experience in the region, Saul has been, and continues to be, an early champion of the European tech ecosystem. During the conversation, Sapphire’s Thomas Moon chats with Saul on topics including the evolution of venture in Europe over the past 20 years, the road ahead for European venture, and the journey from operator to angel to institutional seed investor.

Sapphire Partners hosts Kim Lew, CEO of Columbia University's endowment Sep 30, 2021

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Sapphire Partners continues their #OpenLP miniseries takeover by hosting Kim Lew, CEO and President of Columbia University’s endowment. During the conversation, Sapphire’s Nate Leung chats with Kim on topics including: How institutional managers consider and approach risk, particularly in the context of venture investing; Differences between foundations and endowments in terms of liquidity, portfolio construction, and risk allocation; What Kim looks for in new managers for the venture portfolio component of Columbia’s endowment; What quality mentorship and leadership looks like and how she cultivates investment talent; and her views on key investment trends across climate, artificial intelligence, crypto and more...

Sapphire Partners Hosts - Notation III and Beyond Aug 24, 2021

Show notes

On this brand new season of Origins, we're passing the torch to our friends at Sapphire Partners to host an exciting new miniseries. Beezer Clarkson, Nate Leung and the team at Sapphire Partners are some of the most knowledgeable and experienced LPs in the industry, and we're extremely excited to listen as they interview a slew of amazing new guests. In this first episode, Beezer and Nate are hosting...well...us :-) They interview us about the history of Origins, Notation, our new fund Notation III, and what we see in store for the future of our firm and the industry broadly. We asked Sapphire Partners to host this season because they're true experts in the venture ecosystem - they partner with many of the most elite venture firms and have a deep LP network to bring exciting new voices to the show. Sapphire is hosting these next episodes in support of their #OpenLP initiative. OpenLP is a community-sourced effort that amplifies and aggregates LP and GP voices across the venture ecosystem.

Chris Paik & Jordan Cooper, Pace Capital Jan 20, 2021

Show notes

Chris Paik and Jordan Cooper are co-founders of Pace Capital, a new $150M fund focused on Series A investments. Chris was previously a co-founder of Thrive Capital, now one of the top multi-stage institutional firms in the U.S., and Jordan was previously a co-founder of Lerer Hippeau Ventures, the largest institutional seed fund in NYC. In this episode, we go deep into Chris and Jordan's decision to leave their respective firms and start Pace Capital together. We discuss the questions that they asked themselves and each other before deciding to partner up, how they think about building another top firm together, and their unique and highly concentrated strategy in working with founders through the entire lifecycle of a startup. Chris and Jordan are two of the most talented and thoughtful young VCs in the industry, and it shows in one of the first times they've gone on record since launching their new firm.

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