The Syndicate

Announcing The Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch Podcast May 27, 2022

Are you a climate or impact startup looking for funding? Are you an investor looking for interesting world-positive companies to invest in? Then let me introduce you to The Startup Tank presented by 4WARD.VC, the ultimate startup investor pitch contest where top climate tech and impact founders pitch to a panel of VCs looking to...

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Announcing The Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch Podcast May 09, 2022

Are you a climate or impact startup looking for funding? Are you an investor looking for interesting world-positive companies to invest in? Welcome to The Startup Tank presented by 4WARD.VC 4WARD.VC angel group, a special Swiss-focused startup pitch competition where founders pitch their project to our investor panel including the Swiss ICT Investor Club (SICTIC),...

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Objectivity is a Fictitious Thing We Like to Pretend Exists | Charles Arthur Sep 07, 2020

Charles Arthur (@CharlesArthur) is a former technology editor of the Guardian and the author of Cyber Wars: Hacks That Shocked the Business World covering some of the world’s biggest cyber attacks. He also played a large role in the UK’s Free Our Data campaign to persuade the government to make non-personal government data available for free reuse....

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Investing in Meditation, Mindfulness, Psychedelics for a Better Mental Health Future | Charlie Hartwell Sep 01, 2020

Charlie Hartwell (@ShiftIt_Inst) is an Operating Partner at the Bridge Builders Collaborative, a consumer health tech investment group that invested early in Pear Therapeutics, Insight Timer and Headspace, in addition to being a “Change Agent” focused on igniting consciousness, mindfulness, and creating a more connected human world. In today’s episode we discuss: Where are headed with consumer health tech and...

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REPLAY: Cory Doctorow – Political Fallout of COVID-19, Possible Economic and Healthcare Changes, and Why It’s Time for a New Deal to Overcome Late-Stage Capitalism Aug 24, 2020

Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) is the best selling science fiction author, blogger, and technology activist. He is the co-editor of the popular weblog Boing Boing), a contributor to many magazines, websites, and newspapers and a special consultant to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org), a non-profit civil liberties group that defends freedom in technology law, policy, standards,...

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The Divergence of AR and VR and Connectivity, Collaboration and Entertainment in a Post COVID World | Tony Parisi Aug 10, 2020

Tony Parisi (@auradeluxe) is a virtual reality pioneer, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor. He co-created several, 3D graphics standards, is Head of AR/VR Ad Innovation at Unity Technologies, and author several O’Reilly Media books on virtual reality and WebGL. Today, Tony is has a leading spokesman for the immersive industry and was recently named one...

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Leading Spain in Paris Accords and Pushing Climate Policy Today | Miguel Arias Cañete Jul 27, 2020

Miguel Arias Cañete was the European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy and led the EU negotiations of the Paris Agreement. He’s now involved with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation which has launched the Prize for Humanity, an annual €1m award for people or organizations from all over the world focused on mitigation of, and adaptation to climate...

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Blockchain, Building Recycled Plastic Homes and Redistributing Wealth | Morten Bove Jul 20, 2020

Morten Bove (@mbove) is the founder and CEO of Wohn Homes, a Danish startup revolutionizing modular, eco-friendly affordable housing designed with tokenized ownership for students. Morten also runs Block21, a blockchain-focused tech podcast on the future of decentralization. In today’s episode we discuss: How recycled plastic can be used to make sustainable housing Why inequality is the driving factor in...

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Eco-Friendly B Corps, Dropping Disposables and Building a More Equitable World for All | Carinne Chambers-Saini Jul 13, 2020

Carinne Chambers-Saini is the founder and CEO of DivaCup, an eco-tech startup focused on making feminine health more sustainable. She’s been awarded the EY Entrepreneur of The Year for Sustainable Products and Services, been recognized as one of Canada’s 40 under 40, and her company, Diva has ranked 138 on the 2018 GROWTH 500 list and...

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Solving the Climate Crisis by Fixing the Politics of Kyoto Protocol and Paris Accords | Gerald Kutney Jul 06, 2020

Gerald Kutney (@geraldkutney) is a climate scientist, professor, journalist/speaker, author and founder/consultant of 6esm, a C-level consulting firm focused on the bio-economy, renewable energy and the politics of the Kyoto Protocol and others like it. Gerald’s a frequent contributor to the HuffingtonPost, Canada’s National Observer and is the author of the peer-reviewed: Carbon Politics and...

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Venture Bubbles, the Trade War and Tech Investing in the 2020s | Chip Meakem Jun 08, 2020

Chip Meakem is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Tribeca Venture Partners. Prior to co-founding Tribeca, Chip worked at both Kodiak Venture Partners and DFJ Gotham. Previous notable acquired investments include Appnexus, Ingenio and Q-Link. Listen and Learn: How quantum computing will change the world forever What areas Chip sees as the biggest opportunities to invest...

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Tackling Climate Change With Economic Incentives and Circular Economics | Andrew Winston Jun 01, 2020

Andrew Winston is the founder of Winston Eco-Strategies, author of The Big Pivot and Green Recovery, and coauthored Green to Gold, the best-selling guide to what works — and what doesn’t — when companies go green. He’s a globally recognized expert on green business and has appeared in WSJ, Time, BusinessWeek, NYTimes, and CNBC. His clients...

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Saving Lives and Stopping Disease Through Clean Air and Startup Innovations | Jaya Rao May 25, 2020

Jaya Rao is the co-founder of Molekule, a transformative SF based startup that’s raised $38M+ to tackle the clean air problem worldwide, starting in people’s homes to promote a healthier future. Prior to Molekule, Jaya focused with Stanford’s Public Sector InnovationLabs to work with citizens to redesign public transit. Listen and Learn: The epidemic of air...

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Eyes in the Sky Surveillance, Drone Warfare and the Future of Freedom | Arthur Holland Michel May 18, 2020

Arthur Holland Michel (@writeauthor) is a writer and researcher focused on drones, surveillance, artificial intelligence, robots, the arts, immigration, and movies for topnotch publications like Wired, Vice, The Verge, Fast Company, Motherboard, Al Jazeera America, U.S. News and more. Arthur’s the author of EYES IN THE SKY, about the rise of advanced aerial surveillance technology...

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Coal is Dead, Climate Change is Real, and Bezos and Alexa for President | Nikolas Badminton May 11, 2020

Nikolas Badminton is a world-respected futurist speaker, author, and researcher. He wows audiences with keynote speeches on the impact of exponential technologies including: Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality; Work Productivity; The Sharing Economy; Autonomous Transportation; Smart Cities; Education; The Future of AI integrated with Life and Business; and Predictions for humanity from 2017 to 2030, and...

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Smart Cities that Function Like Startups and Ayesha Khanna May 04, 2020

Dr. Ayesha Khanna is Co-Founder and CEO of ADDO AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) solutions firm and incubator that was named one of 4 top AI companies in Asia. She has been a strategic advisor on artificial intelligence, smart cities, and fintech to leading corporations and governments and serves on the Board of Infocomm Media Development...

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Blockchain, Isolationism, Space Exploration and the Future of Nations | David Orban of Singularity University Apr 27, 2020

David Orban is an entrepreneur, author, keynote speaker and the Founder and Managing Partner of Network Society Ventures, a seed stage global investment firm focused on innovative startups at the intersection of exponential technologies and decentralized networks. An early adopter of blockchain and an active Bitcoin investor since 2010, he was the first to own Ether...

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Arduino Co-founder David Cuartielles on the Open Source Movement and Future of Education Apr 20, 2020

David Cuartielles is the co-founder and co-creator of Arduino the open hardware platform Arduino, which has become a leading platform for DIY electronics and which earned the team an Honorary Mention at the Ars Electronica Digital Community Prix 2006, the SER price 2015, the FIUM price 2017, and an Ashoka Fellowship 2017, among others. David’s work spans...

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Catching the Most Notorious Spy in US History and Why James Bond’s Just a Hacker | Eric O’Neill Apr 13, 2020

Eric O’Neill is an accomplished speaker, security expert and author that presents keynotes about espionage and national security, cybersecurity, fraud, corporate diligence and defense, hacking, pursuing one’s dreams and surviving Hollywood. Eric has worked as an FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence operative, a national security attorney, as a corporate security consultant and founded The Georgetown Group, a...

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Designer Babies, Reviving the Neanderthals and Funding Fundamental Science | Prosanta Chakrabarty Apr 06, 2020

Prosanta Chakrabarty is a systematist and an ichthyologist studying the evolution and biogeography of both freshwater and marine fishes. His work includes studies of Neotropical (Central and South America, Caribbean) and Indo-West Pacific (Indian and Western Pacific Ocean) fishes. Prosanta is an Associate Professor and Curator of Fishes at the Museum of Natural Science and Department...

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Derek Sivers on Minimalism, Mastery and Avoiding New Technology Mar 30, 2020

Derek Sivers is a serial entrepreneur, blogger, author and musician who revolutionized the music industry pre-Spotify with CDbaby, the largest online distributor of independent music which he founded accidentally sold in 2008 for $22 million. Before that, he donated the company to a charity to fund public music education. Derek also created a viral TED talk...

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Programming Life, Preventing Bioterrorism and Viruses that Kill Cancer | Andrew Hessel Mar 23, 2020

Andrew Hessel is the CEO of Humane Genomics Inc., a seed-stage company developing virus-based therapies for cancer, starting with dogs and also co-founded the Genome Project-write, an international scientific effort working to engineer large genomes, including the human genome. Andy has been Singularity University faculty since 2009 and from 2012-2017 was the Distinguished Researcher at Autodesk Life...

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David Heinemeier Hansson Uncensored on Healthcare, Privacy, Education and Inequality Mar 16, 2020

David Heinemeier Hansson is the creator of Ruby on Rails, co-founder and CTO at Basecamp (formerly 37Signals), and the best-selling co-author of Rework and Remote: Office Not Required. He’s blogged the past two decades at Signal v Noise, been featured on the Tim Ferriss Show, and if that wasn’t enough, DHH is a Le Mans & WEC...

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Creating Healthy Consumer Brands to Feed Humanity and Solve Climate Change | Filipp Chebotarev and Polina Chebotareva Mar 09, 2020

Polina Chebotareva is a co-founder of Cambridge Companies SPG, a social mission-oriented VC firm on fixing nutrition, farming, and health worldwide. Prior to Cambridge, Polina was an Executive VP and Partner at a real estate investment firm with $350M Equity AUM. She is a Board Member for The Laguna Art Museum, helps raise awareness and funding...

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The Mathematics of War and Future of US-China Relations, Plus AI, Automation and Mutually Assured Destruction | Sean Gourley Mar 02, 2020

Sean Gourley is a physicist, founder and CEO of AI company, Primer, an expert on the mathematics of war, TED Fellow, speaker and political advisor. Before that, he was CTO and co-founder of Quid, an augmented-intelligence company and also worked on self-repairing nano-circuits at NASA. Sean was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford focused on complex systems...

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Why the US and China are Already in a Cold War, the Economics of Inequality and Future of Capitalism | Geoff Colvin Feb 24, 2020

Geoff Colvin (@geoffcolvin) is FortuneMagazine’s Senior Editor-at-Large, an award-winning thinker, author, broadcaster, and speaker on the most significant trends and issues impacting business, politics and the economy. Geoff’s work has earned him millions of loyal fans and 7M weekly listeners on CBS Radio Network He’s the author of four books including groundbreaking bestsellers Talent Is Overrated: What Really...

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AI, VR and a World Without Privacy as We Explore the Cosmos and What it Means to be Human | August Bradley of Mind & Machine Feb 17, 2020

August Bradley is a futurist business consultant, founder/host of the Mind & Machine podcast and former COO of the pioneering virtual reality company Kite & Lightning. August’s worked with brands including Coke, Xbox, Kia, Gap, J.Crew, Banana Republic, Fisker Automotive, and many more. He is also a Board Member & Director of the AI & Machine...

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Energy, Infrastructure, Fracking and the Future of Journalism | Russell Gold Feb 10, 2020

Russell Gold is an author and award-winning investigative journalist and energy reporter at The Wall Street Journal best known for covering the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. They were awarded the Gerald Loeb Award for best business story of the year and were finalists for the Pulitzer. He’s the author of The Boom: How Fracking...

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Elon Musk’s Wrong, Driverless Cars Make Things Worse and Buses are the Future of Transportation | Jarrett Walker Feb 03, 2020

Jarrett Walker is an international public transit network design and policy consultant and the author of popular public transit blog HumanTransit.org, and the book Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives. This book is a friendly, non-technical introduction to transit’s underlying geometry and the real value judgments that...

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Andy Rachleff on Founding Benchmark, Wealthfront and Fixing F’ed Up Finance Industry with Big Data Jan 27, 2020

Andy Rachleff is the co-founder and Executive Chairman (prev CEO) of Wealthfront, an automated investment service startup to provide wealth advisor-like management to everyday folks. Andy co-founded Benchmark Capital in 1995 (one of the most successful venture capital firms of all time) and was a general partner until 2004. Prior to Benchmark, he was a GP...

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Moving Beyond Meat, Burning Down The Amazon and Business for Good | Paul Shapiro Jan 20, 2020

Paul Shapiro is the bestselling author of Clean Meat: How Growing Meat Without Animals Will Revolutionize Dinner and the World, the CEO and co-founder of The Better Meat Co., a four-time TEDx speaker, the co-host of the Business for Good Podcast, and a long-time leader in food sustainability. He’s been interviewed by hundreds of news outlets...

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How Sharing Cities Saves the World From Destructive Big Tech Capitalism and Libertarianism | Neal Gorenflo Jan 13, 2020

Neal Gorenflo is the co-founder of Shareable, award-winning news, action, connection hub for the grassroots sharing transformation. Neal’s worked with startups like P2P asset sharing platform Moogul.com, an online DVD exchange, a spinout of Cisco’s corporate asset sharing platform, and Divvy.com. He co-organized The Abundance League monthly salons in SF between 2005 and 2010, consulted with...

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How Universal Basic Income Makes Us Richer, How to Pay for It and Why Our Economy is in Trouble | Jim Pugh Jan 06, 2020

Jim Pugh (@dr_pugh) is a co-founder of the Universal Income Project, a fiscally sponsored organization focused on raising awareness and support for UBI. Jim’s also the founder and CEO of ShareProgress, a social-good startup that helps progressive organizations use the power of data and technology to grow their base and win their campaigns. He previously served as...

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Zipcar Founder Robin Chase on Lessons Learned Inventing Ridesharing Almost a Decade Before Uber and What It Means for Future of Urban Transportation Dec 30, 2019

Robin Chase is the founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest carsharing company in the world; Buzzcar, a carsharing marketplace in France; and GoLoco, an online ridesharing community as well as co-founder of Veniam, a company that moves TBs of data between vehicles and cloud. Her recent book is Peers Inc: How People and Platforms...

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Product and Go To Market Fit, Funding Milestones and Enterprise SaaS with Tae Hea Nahm of Storm Ventures Dec 23, 2019

Tae Hea Nahm is co-founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures and co-author of Survival To Thrival. Survival to Thrival is a mind-meld of a 3x entrepreneur (Bob Tinker) and a VC/board member (TH Nahm), and other enterprise entrepreneurs, which demystifies building enterprise startups. Tae Hea was the founding CEO of Airespace, later sold to Cisco for $450m. Currently,...

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Psychedelics, Superhuman Memory and Evolving Education as We Head Towards Jobless Future | Jonathan Levi of SuperHuman Academy Dec 16, 2019

Jonathan Levi is an experienced entrepreneur, angel investor, superlearner and lifehacker from Silicon Valley. He runs the SuperHuman Academy Podcast (3M+ downloads) and since 2014, has was one of the top instructors (over 60k students) on Udemy, with his course Become a SuperLearner® (now retired), in addition to his Masterclass course. In addition to his own...

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WIRED Editor Nick Thompson on Free Speech, Fake News, Regulating Big Tech and Coming Cold War with China Dec 09, 2019

Nick Thompson is the editor-in-chief of WIRED, the 5th since its founding. Under his leadership, WIRED has broken massive stories about Facebook, cyber-warfare, the Robert Mueller investigation, and numerous other topics. Prior to WIRED, he was the editor of newyorker.com. Nick is also a co-founder of The Atavist, a software company and National Magazine Award-winning digital...

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How to Have Your Meat and Eat It Too While Combatting Climate Change | Bruce Friedrich Dec 02, 2019

Bruce Friedrich is co-founder and executive director of The Good Food Institute (@GoodFoodInst), a nonprofit that promotes plant, dairy, and eggs-based meats as well as clean meat (also known as cultured meat and cell-based meat), as alternatives to the products of conventional animal agriculture. Bruce is a TED Fellow (whose TED Talk has been viewed over...

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How Functional Medicine and Community Health Insurance Cure Chronic Disease, Increase Longevity and Save Money | James Maskell Nov 25, 2019

James Maskell is the founder of Functional Forum, the world’s largest integrative medicine conference and KNEW Health, a transformation alternative health-sharing insurance model. He’s health advocate and entrepreneur, that’s spent a decade encouraging a shift from conventional western medicine toward a wellness-centered, functional medicine model—starting with the doctors themselves. He’s also the founder of the Evolution≠...

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Augmented Reality, Automation and Life After Move Fast and Break Things | Galit Ariel Nov 18, 2019

Galit Ariel is a transdisciplinary creative and strategic thinker and self-defined Digital Hippie, very focused on augmented reality and experiential tech. Her book Augmenting Alice – The Future of Identity, Experience and Reality explores the manner in which Augmented Reality’s diffusion will shift cultural and functional paradigms and redefine core concepts related to culture, space, experience...

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Thinking Outside the Venture Box – Legal Insight from The Big Short Plus Newer Blockchain Based Funds with Jonathan Nelson Hackers and Founders Nov 11, 2019

Nir Eyal (@nireyal) is a writer, entrepreneur, teacher and investor focused on the intersection of psychology, technology, and business MIT’s Technology Review dubbed “The Prophet of Habit-Forming Technology.” Nir founded two tech companies since 2003 and has taught at the Stanford Grad School of Business and Institute of Design and is the author of the...

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Why Blockchain and Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency Threaten Governments and What a Decentralized Renewable Energy Future Looks Like | Abe Cambridge Nov 04, 2019

Abe Cambridge is a serial energy entrepreneur who establishes businesses and projects around the world that use solar energy to bring about out major socio-economic shifts. In 2010, he pioneered utility-scale solar in Britain and in 2012 one of his businesses, The Renewable Energy Co-operative, was nominated ‘International Co-operative of The Year’ in the United Nations...

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The Failed Drug War, Unintended Consequences and Future of Sustainable Agriculture | Richard Brion Oct 30, 2019

Richard Brion is the founder of Revolution Agriculture—a patent-pending solution to the food security challenge—and an ex-US Navy officer focused on making farming more adaptable to a climate change-driven world with less resource 60% less water, faster production, and higher yields. He’s the winner of the USAID & Humanity United Tech Challenge to Prevent Mass Atrocity,...

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The Bioethics of Engineering Superhuman CRISPR Babies, Cloning and Bringing Back the T-Rex | Paul Root Wolpe Oct 21, 2019

Paul Root Wolpe is the Raymond F. Schinazi Distinguished Research Chair in Jewish Bioethics, a Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Biological Behavior, and Sociology, and the Director of the Center for Ethics at Emory University and spent 15 years as Senior Bioethicist at NASA and is now their first Chief of...

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Space Law, Piracy, Profit and Militarization in Age of Star Wars | Frans von der Dunk Oct 14, 2019

Frans von der Dunk is a Professor of Space Law at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Director of Black Holes Consultancy, and is generally recognized as one of the world’s leading space law experts. Franz has served as an adviser to a number of governments, the European Commission, ESA, the United Nations, the OECD, various national space...

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The Epic Battle Between Technologists and Naturalists Trying to Stop Climate Change | Charles Mann Oct 07, 2019

Charles Mann is a science-focused journalist and award-winning author. He’s the author of 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus which won the National Academies Communication Award for best book of the year which he followed up with 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. Charles has co-authored four books, is contributing editor for Science,...

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Sustainability to Save Ourselves From Climate Change, Automation and Nuclear War | Mark Diesendorf Sep 30, 2019

Mark Diesendorf teaches, researches and consults in the interdisciplinary fields of sustainability & energy, energy policy, urban transport, ecological economics, and practical sustainability Prior to joining the Institute of Environmental Studies, UNSW Australia, he’s been a Principal Researcher and lecturer at various higher institutions. Mark’s work with organisations including AusAID, Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenpeace Australia Pacific,...

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Why LeBron’s Poop Could Help You Lose Weight, GMOs Rock and Your Gut Gets Last Word on Disease | Zack Abbott of ZBiotics Sep 23, 2019

Zack Abbott is the CEO and co-founder of ZBiotics, a company developing bioengineered probiotics for optimum human performance. He holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Michigan and developed ZBiotics’ core technology: probiotic bacteria genetically engineered to express targeted protein therapies directly inside the body. By building genetically engineered products that...

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The Youngest Dragon’s Den Investor on Future of Ecommerce and Entrepreneurship | Michele Romanow Sep 16, 2019

Michele Romanow is a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, the youngest Dragon on Canada’s famed Dragon’s Den and one of the most badass women in tech. Before that, she co-founded SnapSaves (acquired by Groupon in 11 months), Buytopia.ca and Clearbanc (a transformational funding company to help startups avoid giving up equity). Michele is ranked on WXN’s “100...

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The Scientist Behind (and Inspiration of) Jurassic Park Who’s Also Birthing a Dino Chicken | Jack Horner Sep 09, 2019

Jack Horner (@dustydino) is one of the best-known paleontologists in the world, the inspiration for (and advisor of the Jurassic Park films and Dr. Alan Grant and discovered and named Maiasaura, providing the first clear evidence that some dinosaurs cared for their young. His research is now focused on reactivating dormant dinosaur DNA in birds to...

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Passing on Tesla’s Seed Round and Why Greg Robinson Doesn’t Regret It, Plus Insights into Midwest Investing and the Tech Bubble Sep 02, 2019

Greg Robinson is the Managing Director of 4490 Ventures focused on underserved markets. Prior to that, Managing Director at Peninsula Ventures in Palo Alto, to cofounder & COO of Cogent Technologies, an enterprise software company that was acquired by a public company. Listen and Learn: Why Greg moved to the Midwest to focus on middle-of-the-country investing...

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A Deeper Diver into UBI, Automation and the Economy of Tomorrow | Martin Ford Aug 26, 2019

Martin Ford is a futurist and the author of the bestselling, award-winning Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future, Architects of Intelligence: The Truth About AI from the People Building It and The Lights in the Tunnel, as well as the founder of a Silicon Valley-based software development firm. Martin’s...

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Building a Top Angel Network, Accredited Investor Mistakes and Winning with Underrepresented Startup Founders with Erica Duignan Minnihan fof 1000Angels Aug 19, 2019

Erica Duignan Minnihan is the founder and Managing Partner of 1000 Angels, the world’s largest digital-first, invitation-only elite investor network of curated, high-quality investment opportunities with ZERO carry. SAVE $500 OFF 1000Angels Exclusive Angel Investor Membership with this Link! For more info about 1000Angels, but not to join, use this link. Erica’s also the founder...

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George Church on Synthetic Biology, Climate Change and the SUPERHUMAN Genome Project Aug 12, 2019

George Church @geochurch) is a professor of genetics at Harvard & MIT, director of the Personal Genome Project, co-author of 509 papers, 143 patent publications and developed methods used for the first genome sequence (1994) & million-fold cost reductions since. It is NO exaggeration to say George’s innovations have contributed to nearly all “next generation” DNA sequencing methods...

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LEGOs in Space, Blockchain vs Big Tech and the Uber that Ultimately Failed | Steve Sammartino Aug 05, 2019

Steve Sammartino (@sammartino) is an entrepreneur, futurist, author and public speaker focused on finding the truth and creating the future. He has had multiple tech startups and launched one of the first sharing-economy startups Rentoid.com, before Uber or Airbnb, and sold the company to a public company. Steve now invests in emerging technologies and has...

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Engineering the Economy Out of Its Debt Fueled Destructive Spiral and Towards a Sustainable System that Also Solves Climate Change | Jarl Jensen Jul 22, 2019

Jarl Jensen (@jarljensen) is an inventor, entrepreneur and best selling author. He served as President and CEO of EuroMed, Inc. from 2004 to 2009, has nine issued patents, with many more pending for medical devices which have grossed over $500 million dollars. Jarl’s the author of Optimizing America where he applied his out of the box thinking to...

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Why CRISPR is Overrated and Gene Drives are Terrifyingly Powerful | Gabriel Licina Jul 15, 2019

Gabriel Licina is a Molecular Biologist, Research Consultant, hardcore biohacker and the Chief Research Officer of Scihouse, a research-focused makerspace working to make science and technology accessible for everyone with a variety of classes on topics from programming and computer skills, to botany, chemistry, 3d printing and more. In 2015 Gabriel chemically induced night vision in...

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Why Hacking and Cyberwarfare is Big Business for Russia, the Mafia and CIA | Eric Cole Jul 08, 2019

Eric Cole (@drericcole) is arguably the #1 cyber security expert in the US with a resume including the Obama administration, the CIA, the Gates Foundation and CTO of McAfee and was inducted into the 2014 InfoSecurity Hall of Fame. Eric is an expert in information technology, with a focus on secure network design, perimeter defense,...

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Polarization, Powerful Billionaires and the Eroding Effects of Inequality | Rahaf Harfoush Jul 01, 2019

Rahaf Harfoush is a digital anthropologist, bestselling author and speaker researching the impacts of emerging technologies on our society and is focused on deep (and often hidden) behavioral shifts that are taking place within organizations and individuals in this digital era. She also teach Innovation and Disruptive Business Models at SciencePo’s Masters of Finance and Economics...

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The Importance of Internet Censorship, Power of Authoritarianism and Collapse of Digital Advertising | Ben Hammersley of Wired UK Jun 24, 2019

Ben Hammersley is a technologist, futurist author and Editor-at-Large of UK’s WIRED magazine. Ben explores the effects of the internet and the digital network on the world’s business, political and social atmospheres. His latest book, 64 Things You Need to Know Now For Then gives us the essential guide to the things we need to know for life in the 21st...

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Avoiding Apocalypse by Doubling Down on Team Human and Reinventing 21st Century Business | Douglas Rushkoff Jun 17, 2019

Douglas Rushkoff is an author, teacher, and documentarian who studies human autonomy in a digital age. He has been named one of the “world’s ten most influential intellectuals” by MIT. Douglas’ work explores how different technological environments change our relationship to narrative, money, power, and one another. He coined such concepts as “viral media” and “social...

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AI, Apple, Autonomous Vehicles and Reducing 51% of CO2 Emissions | Kevin Surace Jun 10, 2019

Kevin Surace (@kevinsurace) is a futurist and disruptive innovation speaker, creator of the first smartphone and digital assistant and innovator of the decade. Surace has disrupted every industry he has entered from communications to A.I. to clean energy, been named Inc. Magazine’s 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year, CNBC’s Innovator of the Decade, and inducted into RIT’s Innovation...

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Why We’re Basically Just Bonobos Monkeys with Better Tech | Rebecca Costa Jun 03, 2019

Rebecca D Costa is an American sociobiologist and futurist and a recipient of the prestigious Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Award. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, The Guardian, and other leading publications and here weekly column, THE FIX, is presently featured on Newsmax and on her site: rebeccacosta.com Costa was the...

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Consistently Predicting Tech Trends Decades Before They Happen | Daniel Burrus May 28, 2019

Daniel Burrus is considered one of the world’s leading futurist speakers on global trends and innovation and The New York Times has referred to him as one of the top three business gurus in the highest demand as a speaker. Daniel is a strategic advisor to executives from Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, GE, American Express, Google,...

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Solving the Hard Problem of Consciousness with a Mathematical God and Messed Up Perception of Reality | Donald Hoffman May 13, 2019

Donald Hoffman (@donaldhoffman) is a cognitive scientist, popular author and Professor of Cognitive Science at UC Irvine. He studies how our visual perception, guided by millions of years of natural selection, authors every aspect of our everyday reality. Don has co-authored two technical books: Observer Mechanics: A Formal Theory of Perception which offers a theory of consciousness and its...

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Creative Destruction in Canada and Avoiding Unicorn Investing with Matthew Leibowitz of Plaza Ventures May 06, 2019

Matthew is a seasoned growth-stage tech investor and career VC and General Partner at Canada based Plaza Ventures, focused on deal flow, ecosystem development and investor relations that sits on the board of numerous companies, accelerators, and charities. Before that, at B.E.S.T. Funds, Matthew oversaw dozens of growth-tech finance investments with consistent double-digit returns and...

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Consistently Predicting Tech Trends Decades Before They Happen | Daniel Burrus Apr 29, 2019

Daniel Burrus (@danielburrus) is considered one of the world’s leading futurist speakers on global trends and innovation and The New York Times has referred to him as one of the top three business gurus in the highest demand as a speaker. Daniel is a strategic advisor to executives from Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, GE, American Express,...

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Blockchain, Isolationism, Space Exploration and the Future of Nations | David Orban of Singularity University Apr 22, 2019

David Orban is an entrepreneur, author, keynote speaker and the Founder and Managing Partner of Network Society Ventures, a seed stage global investment firm focused on innovative startups at the intersection of exponential technologies and decentralized networks. An early adopter of blockchain and an active Bitcoin investor since 2010, he was the first to own Ether...

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Gigaom CEO Byron Reese on AI Consciousness, Tech Progress and 4th Age of Humanity Apr 15, 2019

Byron Reese is the CEO and publisher of Gigaom, an industry-leading technology research company. Byron’s also an award-winning author, speaker, and futurist with a strong conviction that technology will help bring about a new golden age of humanity. Byron holds a number of technology patents and hosts two podcasts about artificial intelligence. He gives talks around...

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The Science of Brain Aging, Basis of Consciousness and Future of Neuroscience | Dr. Brynn Winegard Apr 09, 2019

Dr. Brynn Winegard is neuroscience, psychology and marketing expert, award-winning professor, speaker, and expert. She speaks frequently on the topics of persuasion, productivity, the neuroscience of leadership, motivation and preventing age-related cognitive decline. Coupled with over a decade in corporate marketing working for Pfizer Inc., Nestle Inc., and Johnson & Johnson Inc., she brings an interesting...

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Building a Successful Corporate Venture Fund with Venu Pemmaraju of Wipro Ventures Apr 01, 2019

Venu Pemmaraju is Managing Partner at Wipro Ventures, a $100M fund out of Wipro Ltd. focused on early to mid-stage startups investments that leverage their Global 1000 clients to help startups grow and acquire enterprise-level customers. He also serves as a board observer for Avaamo, CloudGenix, Emailage, and ImanisData and prior to this was an Investment Director at Intel...

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Megashifts, AI and Why the Future is More Unknowable than Ever | Gerd Leonhard Mar 25, 2019

Gerd Leonhard (@gleonhard) is a futurist, keynote speaker and author and listed by Wired Magazine as one of the top 100 most influential people in Europe (2015). Gerd’s work focuses on the future of humanity, technology and digital transformation; including big disruptors like artificial intelligence, robotics, the future of content and media and much more. Gerd...

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The China Startup and VC Revolution and Future of Mobile-Only Businesses | Ramez Naam Mar 18, 2019

Ramez Naam is a computer scientist, futurist, angel investor and award-winning author best known for his Nexus Trilogy: Nexus, Crux and Apex. His other (non-fiction) books include: The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet and More than Human: Embracing the Promises of Biological Enhancement. He’s currently co-chair of energy and the environment at Singularity University and earlier in his career...

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Hillary Clinton’s Top Advisor on Technology, Innovation, Biotech and Future of Politics | Alec Ross Mar 11, 2019

Alec serves as an advisor to investors, corporations and government leaders to help them understand the implication of factors emerging at the intersection of geopolitics, markets and increasingly disruptive network technologies and is on the board of directors (or advisors) for companies in the fields of technology, media, telecommunications, education, health care and cybersecurity. He recently...

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The Future of Digital Health, Personalized Medicine and Possible Immortality | Bertalan Meskó – The Medical Futurist Mar 04, 2019

Dr. Bertalan Meskó (@berci) is The Medical Futurist, one of the world’s leading biotech thinkers and keynote speakers. A self-described geek physician with a Ph.D. in genomics, Bertalan is an Amazon Top 100 author and host of the popular Youtube channel The Medical Futurist (TMF).Bertalan envisions the impact of digital health technologies on the future of...

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Inventing TV on the Internet a Tad Bit Too Early | Scott Klososky Feb 25, 2019

Scott Klososky (@sklososky) is a technologist, entrepreneur and thought leader that specializes in helping leaders see the world in new ways. He has built and sold multiple companies, the largest being webcasts.com which was ultimately acquired by iBEAM for approximately $115 million in stock in April of 2000. After the acquisition, he served as VP of Production for iBEAM...

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The Dangers of AI and Safety of Mutually Assured Destruction | George Dvorsky Feb 18, 2019

George Dvorsky (@dvorsky) is a Canadian futurist, science writer, and ethicist that has written and spoken extensively about the impacts of cutting-edge science and technology—particularly as they pertain to the improvement of human performance and experience. He is also a senior staff reporter at the popular tech blog Gizmodo, a contributing editor at io9 where he writes...

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Understanding the Adoption Curve of VR and Mixed Reality | Sam Watts Feb 11, 2019

Sam Watts is one of the foremost thinkers on VR and the Director of Immersive Technologies at MakeReal, a company that believes that immersive digital products are transforming the way we work, play and learn. MakeReal makes virtual reality experiences, augmented reality devices, collaborative ‘serious games’ and other tools that support new types of work, play and...

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Click Here to Kill Everybody: Security, Privacy, Social Media and Politics | Bruce Schneier Feb 08, 2019

Bruce Schneier (@schneierblog) is an internationally renowned security technologist, called a “security guru” by The Economist. He is the author of 13 books–including: Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World Click Here to Kill Everybody: Security and Survival in a Hyper-connected World In addition to his books, Bruce has hundreds of...

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Why Elon Musk Is Wrong About Electric Vehicles and Future of Energy | Garry Golden Feb 04, 2019

Garry Golden is a professionally trained futurist who writes, speaks, and consults on complex issues shaping society and business in the 21st century. He has consulted for Fortune 500 companies, governmental agencies and the US Army on issues related to transportation and mobility, food safety and health, the future of portable power, financial services and much...

The post Why Elon Musk Is Wrong About Electric Vehicles and Future of Energy | Garry Golden appeared first on The Syndicate.

Why Automation Equals More Jobs | Former Presidential Advisor Pippa Malmgren Feb 01, 2019

Dr. Pippa Malmgren is a futurist trend spotter, public speaker, best selling author and advisor to investors and governments about macroeconomic policy and investment strategy. She is a former Presidential Advisor who served on The National Economic Council in the White House where she was the point person on Enron and Terrorism Risks to the Economy...

The post Why Automation Equals More Jobs | Former Presidential Advisor Pippa Malmgren appeared first on The Syndicate.

The Ultimate Guide to Quantum Computing | Eric Ladizinsky of D-Wave Systems Jan 28, 2019

Eric Ladizinsky is the co-founder and Chief Scientist of D-Wave Systems (@dwavesys), the world’s first quantum computing company and the leader in the development and delivery of quantum computing systems and software. Their mission is to use quantum computing to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. D-Wave’s systems are being used by world-class organizations like Lockheed Martin,...

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The China Startup and Venture Capital Revolution and Future of Mobile Only Businesses with Matt McIlwain of Madrona VC Jan 21, 2019

Matt McIlwain is a Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Seattle, Washington. He invests primarily in software-driven companies and currently serves on several boards. He co-teaches a course on venture capital in the University of Washington Computer Science Department and is a board member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer...

The post The China Startup and Venture Capital Revolution and Future of Mobile Only Businesses with Matt McIlwain of Madrona VC appeared first on The Syndicate.

How VCs and Fortune 500 Make Serious Money Investing in the Midwest with Sarah Anderson of Cintrifuse Syndicate Fund Jan 14, 2019

Sarah Anderson is the Managing Director of Cintrifuse, a Cincinnati based incubator/accelerator program and their Syndicate Fund. Cintrifuse also runs Startup Cincy with the goal being to invigorate the Cincinnati and Ohio startup ecosystem and push MidWest innovation. Prior to Cintrifuse, Sarah was a VP at JP Morgan and before that focused on capital markets....

The post How VCs and Fortune 500 Make Serious Money Investing in the Midwest with Sarah Anderson of Cintrifuse Syndicate Fund appeared first on The Syndicate.

The 5 Most Impactful Technologies of 21st Century | Dr James Canton Jan 07, 2019

Dr. James Canton (@futureguru) is a renowned global futurist, social scientist, keynote presenter, author, and visionary business advisor. He is the CEO and Chairman of the Institute for Global Futures, a leading think tank he founded in 1990 that advises business, the Global Fortune 1000 (like IBM, GE, HP, Boeing, Intel and more) and many governments on...

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The Future of Fintech, AI and Cybersecurity with Schwark Satyavolu of Trinity Ventures Dec 31, 2018

Schwark Satyavolu is a serial entrepreneur and inventor with 15 patents. He co-founded the fintech companies Yodlee (YDLE) and Truaxis before joining Trinity. Today, he brings his entrepreneurial and broad operational experience to investments in fintech, AI and security startups. The firm/partners has invested in the likes of Starbucks, Branch, LoopNet, New Relic, Care.com, Auth0,...

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The Ultimate Guide to Nanotechnology | Steve Burgess of Foresight Institute Dec 24, 2018

Steve Burgess (@steveburgess01) is the president of Foresight Institute, a nonprofit think tank that researches technologies of important to the future of humanity, focusing on nanotechnology, cybersecurity, and AI and rewards grants to lead scientists and safety initiatives. Steve is a nanotechnology activist, tech writer & speaker, startup mentor, and an internationally recognized computer forensics consultant. Steve...

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How to Break into VC and the Future of B2B SaaS Investing with Sumay Parikh of Quake Capital Dec 17, 2018

Sumay Parikh is VC with Quake Capital, a NYC based seed fund and accelerator focused on early-stage tech. He has experience in distressed businesses, marketing, strategic partnerships, product development, and operations. Before Quake he bootstrapped a Real Estate Investment Fund in the Midwest, constructing High-End hotels. He has experience leading strategy and growth at several velocity...

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AI, AR, Education and the Future of Jobs | Brad Waid Dec 03, 2018

Brad Waid (@techbradwaid) is an international speaker, influencer and educator with over 15 years of classroom and industry experience. Brad is an industry leader in the fields of educational technology, 21st century learning, culture and innovation and has been name a top 15 influencer/thought leader in Augmented Reality. Brad is a consultant to industry, education and government and...

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Designing the Mars One Colony and Mining Asteroids in Space | Bryan Versteeg of Deep Space Industries Nov 27, 2018

Bryan Versteeg (@spacehabs) is a conceptual designer at spacehabs.com and the co-founder of Deep Space Industries (@GoDeepSpace), an asteroid mining company striving toward the effective and efficient development of space resources to propel human development off the earth. The company will change the economic model of doing business in space by providing the technical resources, capabilities and system...

The post Designing the Mars One Colony and Mining Asteroids in Space | Bryan Versteeg of Deep Space Industries appeared first on The Syndicate.

Why Europe is Toxic to Startups and What We Can do About It with Oussama Ammar of The Family Nov 19, 2018

Oussama Ammar is the co-founder, partner and director of The Family, the investment focused group that’s not an incubator, accelerator or VC, but a family of entrepreneurs throughout Europe focused educating entrepreneurs, building infrastructure to empower them and opening them up to a network of smart investors. Oussama is an investor in Compass, Tribe App and...

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Why 21st Century Will Be Defined by Biotech | Ramphis Castro of ScienceVest Nov 12, 2018

Ramphis Castro (@jramphis) is the co-founder of ScienceVest, a venture capital fund for hard-tech and life science companies, and Impact Science Angels, an angel group focused on investing in companies that can impact 1MM+ lives. Ramphis is a Kauffman Fellow and co-Chair the NYC chapter of the Society and focused on the funding gaps for radical...

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Getting Dirty Middle Eastern Money Out of Venture Industry and Intentionally Raising a Small VC Fund with John Vrionis of UnusualVC Nov 05, 2018

John Vrionis is the founder and managing partner of UnusualVC, a mission-driven seed-stage venture firm and is a venture partner with Lightspeed Ventures (previously a partner). John’s invested in the likes of Affirmed, AppDynamics, Docker, Athos, Citadel and many more. Listen and Learn: How John prioritizes diversity and why it leads to better returns What...

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How Family Offices Think About Startup Investing and Venture Capital with Richard Wilson of Family Office Club Oct 29, 2018

Richard Wilson runs the Family Office Club, the #1 largest community in the industry with well over 1,500 registered single and multi-family offices which manage in excess of $1 Trillion in Assets Under Management. They host 10 exclusive events per year with billionaire family members, top 50 multi-family offices, and secretive single family offices to share...

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The Future of the Internet and Governments with Clay Collins of the Flippening Podcast Oct 22, 2018

Clay Collins (@claycollins) is one of the top internet marketers in the world. After leaving home at age 15 to start his first software company, Clay has gone on to co-found Leadpages which raised $38M and was later acquired for a sizable exit. In addition, Clay has presented on some of the largest internet marketing conferences...

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How YCombinator is Working to Save the US Education System from Collapse with Geoff Ralston of YC Oct 08, 2018

Geoff Ralston is the founder of Imagine K12, an education focused vertical within the super successful startup accelerator YCombinator. Collectively, Y Combinator and Imagine K12 have backed over 100 education technology startups. In addition to his work with YC, Geoff’s a prolific angel investor, with over 80 portfolio companies and 18 exits to date. Prior...

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FringeFM 38 – Bitcoin, Blockchain and Building a Better Future with Travis Scher of Digital Currency Group Oct 01, 2018

Travis Scher (@travisscher) leads venture capital and new cryptoasset investing at Digital Currency Group(DCG), a blockchain investment firm with a mission is to accelerate the development of a better financial system. DCG is world’s the most prolific investor in blockchain startups. They have invested in over 100 companies in 30 different countries, including market leaders like Coinbase,...

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How to Tech Invest Like Warren Buffett with Prolific Angel Investor David Weekly Sep 24, 2018

David Weekly is back on The Syndicate podcast. If you missed David’s previous appearance on the show, it was a great one, especially for angel investors and VCs interested in driving returns by investing out of market. If you haven’t already, go listen to that episode before continuing here, or don’t, either way it is...

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Building Better Product Driven Companies with Catherine Ulrich of FirstMark Capital Sep 17, 2018

Catherine Ulrich is the Managing Director of FirstMark Capital, invests in a broad range of consumer and enterprise start-ups. She has a deep passion for and expertise in health and wellness, consumer AI, and behavior change. Prior to joining FirstMark, she was the Chief Product Officer at Shutterstock (NYSE: SSTK), which she joined after serving...

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Internet of Things Sep 03, 2018

Kyle Ellicott is the Founder and Chief Labs Officer of ReadWrite / ReadWrite Labs (formerly known as Wearable IoT World, Inc.), a San Francisco-based Media and Ventures company dedicated to creating the social fabric for businesses around Wearables and the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. The company is focused on connecting technological experts, thought-leaders, corporate/startup...

The post Building and Funding over 100 IoT Startups and the Future of Transportation and Driverless Cars with Kyle Ellicot of ReadWrite Labs appeared first on The Syndicate.

Artificial Intelligence Aug 27, 2018

Robin Hanson (@robinhanson)is associate professor of economics at George Mason University, and research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University with a doctorate in social science from CalTech, master’s degrees in physics and philosophy from the University of Chicago. He has spent nine years as a research programmer, at Lockheed and NASA, has 3500 citations, 60 publications, 700 media mentions,...

The post FringeFM 14 – Inside the Mind of a Human Artificial Intelligence with Professor Robin Hanson appeared first on The Syndicate.

Aging Aug 13, 2018

Aubrey de Grey (@aubreydegrey) is Cambridge researcher and Chief Science Officer of SENS Research Foundation focused on aging and extending human longevity. He proposes that the first human beings who will live to 1,000 years old have already been born. In addition to his research, Aubrey is editor-in-chief of the academic journal Rejuvenation Research, author of...

The post FringeFM 18 – Aubrey de Grey on the End of Aging, Increased Human Longevity and Living to 1000 Years appeared first on The Syndicate.

Life Sciences Aug 06, 2018

Nathan McDonald is a Managing Partner and CEO of Keiretsu Capital. Nathan brings a unique entrepreneurial business and organizational development background developed during many years of hands-on, active leadership and operational experience. As one of the Northwest’s leading organizers of entrepreneurial and investor relations-focused media and funding events, he has facilitated scores of engagements and...

The post Why Life Sciences are Underfunded, Healthcare is Broken and the Northwest is a Great Place to Angel Invest with Nathan McDonald of Keiretsu Capital appeared first on The Syndicate.

Indian Startups Jul 30, 2018

Ankur is co-founder of Emergent Ventures. Previously, Ankur was a venture investor at Nexus Venture Partners investing in US and India. Prior to that, Ankur was venture investor at Blumberg Capital investing in US and Israel. Prior to that, Ankur did strategy consulting at Accenture across a range of verticals including healthcare, financial services and...

The post The Indian Startup Ecosystem System, Investing Cross-Border and Using Mindfulness and Meditation as an Investment Filter with Ankur Jain of Emergent VC appeared first on The Syndicate.

FringeFM 17 – AI, Education and the Role of Women in Tech and Venture with Ann Miura-Ko, General Partner at Floodgate Jul 23, 2018

Ann Miura-Ko (@annimaniac) has been called “the most powerful woman in startups” by Forbes and is a lecturer in entrepreneurship at Stanford. The child of a rocket scientist at NASA, Ann is a Palo Alto native and has been steeped in technology startups from when she was a teenager. Prior to co-founding FLOODGATE, she worked at...

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The Nordics, Spotify and Investing in Unicorns with Carl Fritjofsson of Creandum Capital Jul 16, 2018

Carl Fritjofsson is entrepreneurial leader – +7 years experience as co-founder and early hire at multiple startup Internet ventures, in the online media and consumer Internet with management roles in business development, sales and operations. He is a trusted early stage investor and advisor – Angel and institutional investor in a broad range of startups such...

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Roger Ver, Clay Collins and Paul Veradittakit The Future of Cryptocurrency Investing Jul 09, 2018

Panelists: Roger Ver Roger Ver, often dubbed Bitcoin Jesus is one of the earliest investors in and proponents of Bitcoin. He’s made hundreds of millions, if not billions off his investments and was also an early investor in bitcoin.com, blockchain.com, Zcash, BitPay and Kraken. He led a fork of Bitcoin, known as Bitcoin Cash to...

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Venture Jul 02, 2018

Jonathan Struhl is a cofounder and General Partner at Indicator Ventures, a VC fund that invests in innovative early-stage technology companies with the goal is to make business and consumer life more efficient. Jonathan is a 5th generation entrepreneur, and it’s evident each day he comes to work and interacts with founders and teams. Listen...

The post How Indicator Ventures Employs Tons of Venture Partners to Supercharge their Startup Investments with Jonathan Struhl with Indicator Ventures appeared first on The Syndicate.

Crypto Jun 25, 2018

Kyle Samani (@kylesamani) is cofounder and Managing Partner of Multicoin Capital, a venture capital-esque crypto hedge fund with at least $250M in assets under management (AUM). Prior to starting Multicoin Capital, Kyle ran Pristine.io (a Google Glass company for surgeons) as CEO, raising $5M and ultimately being acquired. Kyle’s writing and thought leadership has built him up...

The post FringeFM 6 – Ethereum, IoT, Augmented Reality and Exploring the Crypto Rabbit Hole with Kyle Samani of Multicoin Capital appeared first on The Syndicate.

Futurism Jun 22, 2018

Jamais Cascio (@cascio) is a writer, speaker and futurist that focuses on the intersection of emerging technologies, environmental dilemmas, and cultural transformation, specializing in the design and creation of plausible scenarios of the future – writing mainly on the importance of long-term, systemic thinking, emphasizing the power of openness, transparency and flexibility as catalysts for building a...

The post FringeFM 5 – Jamais Cascio on Forecasting the Future, Climate Change and Geoengineering and the Biggest Threats to Human Civilization appeared first on The Syndicate.

Scientific Research Jun 20, 2018

Lee Cronin (@leecronin)’s lab at the University of Glasgow does cutting-edge research into manufacturing and 3D printing complex molecules, like medicines on-demand – a breakthrough he presented at TEDGlobal 2012. He has one of the largest multidisciplinary chemistry-based research teams in the world, having raised over $35 M in grants and current income of $15...

The post FringeFM 4 – Creating Artificial Life and 3D Printing Personalized Medicines with Prof Lee Cronin appeared first on The Syndicate.

Life Extension Jun 15, 2018

Zoltan Istvan Gyurko (@zoltan_istvan) is an American transhumanist, journalist, entrepreneur and Libertarian futurist who ran for President of the United States in 2016 to raise awareness for transhumanism. In 2017, Istvan announced his intent to run for Governor of California in the 2018 election as a member of the Libertarian Party – see his website: zoltanistvan.com for more. Formerly a reporter for the National...

The post FringeFM 3 – Transhumanist Technologies to Live Forever, Become Bionic and Build a Better Political System with Zoltan Istvan appeared first on The Syndicate.

Biotech Jun 13, 2018

Mike Selden (@mikeseldenFF) is co-founder and CEO of Finless Foods, a food startup that uses cutting-edge cellular-agriculture technologies to grow marine-animal cells, creating fish and seafood products enjoyed around the world. They are working toward a sci-fi, soon-here world where everyone has access to healthy, delectable seafood, without the environmental devastation or the health hazards...

The post FringeFM 2 – Growing Meat in a Test Tube to Feed Humanity, Combat Climate Change and Explore Outer Space with Mike Selden of Finless Foods appeared first on The Syndicate.

The Russian Startup Scene and What Founders and VCs Need to Know with Jeffrey Donenfeld of Boomtown Accelerator Jun 11, 2018

Jeffrey Donenfeld is an international business strategy advisor, investment manager, and startup venture mentor with experience in tech ideation, investment analysis and market positioning. Jeffrey is currently the Investment Manager of Boomtown Accelerators, and Director of Four North Media Group. He has been instrumental in raising and managing multi-millions in private equity, seasoned working with sector-leading...

The post The Russian Startup Scene and What Founders and VCs Need to Know with Jeffrey Donenfeld of Boomtown Accelerator appeared first on The Syndicate.

Healthcare Jun 04, 2018

Mary Jo is a Board Director of the National Association of Corporate Directors and a Senior Advisor at BDC and CEO of Healthcare Angels. She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and is an active angel investor with the San Francisco Chapter of Keiretsu Forum. She has been actively involved in the healthcare sector...

The post How the Healthcare Crisis Could Turn the US into a 3rd World Country Mary Jo Potter of Healthcare Angels appeared first on The Syndicate.

Angel Investor May 28, 2018

Daniel Curran an Angel/Advisor/Mentor to over 115+ Startups including Cruise Automation and DollarShave Unicorns and runs an Angellist syndicate with over $170M in exits and IPOs. He’s a serial founder, currently building CustEx, previously was VP/COO @ Western Digital. Listen and Learn: The differences between the dotcom days and blockchains today How Dan leverages investing...

The post How this Angel Investor Hit 4+ Unicorn Companies using a Simple Investment Framework with Super Angel Daniel Curran appeared first on The Syndicate.

Tim Draper, Jimmy Song and Kyle Samani Roundtable on The Value of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Networks Roundtable May 21, 2018

Are you interested in the future of blockchain, cryptocurrency and token offerings? Panelists: Tim Draper Tim Draper is the founding partner of Draper Associates and DFJ and widely recognized as one of the most prominent venture capital and entrepreneurial leaders in the world. He was listed as #46 of the most outstanding Harvard University alumni, #7 on the Forbes Midas List among other...

The post Tim Draper, Jimmy Song and Kyle Samani Roundtable on The Value of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Networks Roundtable appeared first on The Syndicate.

Synthetic Biology May 14, 2018

Pascal is Fastrack’s Executive Director and Singularity University’s Chair for Entrepreneurship & Open Innovation. He focuses on helping change makers tackle the most intractable problems of our times. He got started on the net before there was a web browser, founded a series of technology startups, led eBay’s Platform Solutions Group in Europe, launched a...

The post Why VCs Suck at Sci Fi Tech Investing, AI and Synthetic Biology are the Most Exciting Industries and Chinese Totalitarianism May Outperform Democracy With Pascal Finette of Singularity University appeared first on The Syndicate.

Angellist Syndicates May 11, 2018

Lee Jacobs is a Managing Partner at Edelweiss VC, a mentor at 500 Startups and an incredibly accomplished investor with investments in the likes of Checkr, Numerai, Shyp, Managed by Q and Blue Bottle Coffee. Prior to that he built Angellist’s syndicate investor program, founded several startups, worked for a few funds and also did...

The post Angellist’s First Syndicate Deal and Why Generalist VCs Typically Win with Lee Jacobs of Edelweiss appeared first on The Syndicate.

Cannabis Investing May 07, 2018

David Friedman is entrepreneur, Managing Partner at Panther Capital, mentor and financial professional with 25 years experience in building, managing and growing closely held businesses, managing investment assets and investment strategies. He has been involved in Venture Capital, Private Equity and direct investment opportunities across multiple industries and disciplines. His current fund is only investing in the...

The post Cashing In on the Cannabis Green Rush with David Friedman of Panther Capital appeared first on The Syndicate.

Autonomous Vehicles May 04, 2018

Nic Wetzler is the Director of Augment Ventures, an early stage VC focused Software, Smart Hardware, and Physical Science Innovations that impact the way we work and live. He also spent time as an EIR and Mentor in Residence local universities and incubators in the Detroit area. Listen and Learn: How Michigan has transformed since the...

The post Inside Michigan’s Startup Scene – How Autonomy Impacts Detroit with Nic Wetzler of Augment Ventures appeared first on The Syndicate.

Overhyped AI Apr 30, 2018

Varun Jain currently leads Qualcomm Ventures’ global early-stage fund, focused on Seed and Series A opportunities. This fund has scaled to $100M+ AUM and 75+ global investments, which include winners such as Cruise Automation (acquired by GM), 99 (acquired by Didi) and Zoom. He also serves the global lead for the fund’s investments in the automotive...

The post How Qualcomm Ventures Drives Returns by Investing Across Geographies and What the Future Holds with Varun Jain appeared first on The Syndicate.

From Founding Activision to Funding 150 Crypto Companies with Howard Marks of Start Engine Apr 27, 2018

Howard co-founded StartEngine with the mission of helping entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. Prior to this he was the founder and CEO of Acclaim Games, a publisher of online games that is now part of The Walt Disney Company. Before Acclaim, Howard was Chairman of Activision Studios from 1991 until 1997. As the former Board Member,...

The post From Founding Activision to Funding 150 Crypto Companies with Howard Marks of Start Engine appeared first on The Syndicate.

Micro VC Apr 23, 2018

Jonathan Hakakian joined SoundBoard Consulting Group, LLC in 2010 to focus on early-stage growth companies after several years working in a startup. In 2012 he co-founded SoundBoard Angel Fund in order to build a community of experienced entrepreneurs outside of NYC to formally invest in early-stage companies. He also continues to coach “new” entrepreneurs as...

The post Building a Micro VC Fund and Structuring a Venture Scale Syndicate Fund with Jonathan Hakakian of SoundBoard Angel Fund appeared first on The Syndicate.

Unicorn Startups Apr 20, 2018

Daniel Gulati is partner at Comcast Ventures, a corporate venture firm focused on early stage consumer internet companies. Prior to becoming a VC, Daniel founded FashionStake an indie online designer marketplace which was later acquired by Fab.com. He also an author, prior consultant and blockchain enthusiast. Listen and Learn: How ecommerce has evolved and continues...

The post The Law of Small Numbers, Power Law Investing and Picking Unicorn Startups with Daniel Gulati of Comcast Ventures appeared first on The Syndicate.

Cryptocurrency Apr 16, 2018

Gabriel Jarrosson is a business angel, cryptocurrency investor and accomplished entrepreneur. He co-founded French e-learning platform albert academie and is an angel investor in Storj, Shapr, BitStamp and Seedrs among many other others. He is also deeply involved in blockchain and advises a handful of companies. Listen and Learn: The challenges of angel investing without...

The post Investing Early in Ethereum, the Evolution of Blockchain and Why Crypto Liquidity Creates Problems with Gabriel Jarrosson appeared first on The Syndicate.

How David Weekly Hit 350x Returns Investing in Mexican Startups and Where He is Focused Next Apr 14, 2018

David Weekly is a product manager at Google (also previously at Facebook), a syndicate lead for Drone.vc on Angellist and the founder of HackerDojo, the world’s largest non-profit hackerspace. David is intimately involved with the startup ecosystem, a serial founder and facilitator and an active angel investor with over 40 investments to date. Listen and...

The post How David Weekly Hit 350x Returns Investing in Mexican Startups and Where He is Focused Next appeared first on The Syndicate.

CRISPR Apr 09, 2018

Jenny Rooke is the founder and managing partner or Genoa Ventures (formerly 5 Prime Ventures) where she funds & builds companies that change the way science gets done with new tools and technologies. She has a PhD in Genetics, a Bachelors in physics, and a background in computer science and works closely with early-stage life science start-ups...

The post Investing in CRISPR and the Predicting the Future of Life Sciences and Biotech Investing with Jenny Rooke of Genoa VC appeared first on The Syndicate.

Blockchain Apr 06, 2018

Today’s an interesting episode where Matthew Le Merle interviews The Syndicate podcast host Matt Ward, sharing his story, lessons learned and controversial/contrarian opinions to make the podcast more interesting and informative overall. Previously, Matt built and sold #1 crowdfunding podcast, artofthekickstart.com and transitioned into own products business. Here he turned $8k investment into a 7...

The post Blockchain, Business, Politics and Angel Investing with Matt Ward of The Syndicate appeared first on The Syndicate.

Charlie O’Donnell of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures on Working with Fred Wilson, Skipping Follow On Funding and Why Pre-Seed is the Best Stage to Invest Apr 02, 2018

Charlie O’Donnell has been an active member of the NYC startup community for over a decade. He is the sole Partner and Founder at Brooklyn Bridge Ventures that invested in the first rounds of Canary, The Wing, Ample Hills, Hungryroot, Clubhouse, Petal, and goTenna. Prior to Brooklyn Bridge, Charlie worked at Union Square Ventures and...

The post Charlie O’Donnell of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures on Working with Fred Wilson, Skipping Follow On Funding and Why Pre-Seed is the Best Stage to Invest appeared first on The Syndicate.

Jeff Clavier on Why Brand Matters in VC and the Best Startup Investments Break Your Investing Rules Mar 30, 2018

Jeff Clavier is the Founder and Managing Partner of Uncork Capital (formerly SoftTech VC), one of the original seed VC firms in Silicon Valley, having closed 200+ investments since 2004. An early angel investor in Web 2.0, Jeff and his team have backed successful startups like Mint (Intuit), Kongregate (GameStop), Brightroll (Yahoo), LiveRamp (Acxiom), Milo...

The post Jeff Clavier on Why Brand Matters in VC and the Best Startup Investments Break Your Investing Rules appeared first on The Syndicate.

Canadian Startups Mar 26, 2018

Alex Norman is a serial entrepreneur and tech community builder that is working to build Canadian tech communities across the country through events, connections, advice, and investment. He built arguably the top Toronto/Canadian based tech event: TechToronto, works with Angellist and runs an early stage investment syndicate. Listen and Learn: How Trump’s immigration policies affect...

The post The Implications and Evolution of The Canadian Startup Ecosystem with Alex Norman of Tech Toronto appeared first on The Syndicate.

Singularity University – The Future through the Eyes of Entrepreneurs and Investors with Will Weisman Mar 23, 2018

Weisman currently serves as an Executive Director at Singularity University where he oversees all the company’s large programs including the Global Summit, Industry Summits (Exponential Medicine, Exponential Manufacturing, and Exponential Finance), and International Summits. Prior to Singularity University, Will spent time as an investor, advisor, and operator working with a range of companies in the...

The post Singularity University – The Future through the Eyes of Entrepreneurs and Investors with Will Weisman appeared first on The Syndicate.

Mobile IoT Mar 19, 2018

Alex is a Partner at Relay Ventures, an early stage venture fund exclusively focused on mobile computing. Alex oversees direct investments in a broad range of mobile applications and services companies. Alex is an active board member and observer in supporting Bionym, Influitive, ClearFit, TouchBistro, Kira and teaBOT. Alex overseas the Fund’s affiliate program investments...

The post Why Mobile and IoT are the Future and How Canada is Leading the Way with Alex Baker of Relay Ventures appeared first on The Syndicate.

Blockchain Investing Mar 16, 2018

Jonathan Nelson is the founder of Hackers/Founders, the largest global network of tech founders with over 300k members across 45 countries. He build a $600M portfolio market cap in first 5 years and runs HACK Fund, a liquid venture fund on the blockchain. Jonathan has also served on an SEC Advisory Committee on Capital Formation...

The post Thinking Outside the Venture Box – Legal Insight from The Big Short Plus Newer Blockchain Based Funds with Jonathan Nelson Hackers and Founders appeared first on The Syndicate.

IoT Mar 12, 2018

Scott MacDonald is the co-founder of McRock Capital, a Toronto based VC firm focused on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). He is also the Director and Chairman of numerous high-growth public and private companies. Listen and Learn: The reason Scott only invests in IoT with recurring revenue What investors and entrepreneurs need to know...

The post Industrial IoT is Eating the World of Boring but Incredibly Lucrative Businesses with Scott MacDonald of McRock Capital appeared first on The Syndicate.

Consumer Tech Mar 09, 2018

Matt Hartman is a partner at NYC based Betaworks, an early stage accelerator/venture studio with a killer track record. Matt leads the Seed Investments team and helps the company decide which bets to make. Prior to Betaworks, Matt was serial entrepreneur and worked on a variety of early stage startups. Listen and Learn: The evolution...

The post Interfaces, Understanding Paradigm Shifts and the Product in Consumer Tech Investing with Matt Hartman of Betaworks appeared first on The Syndicate.

SaaS Mar 05, 2018

Michael Cardamone was one of the first 30 employees at Box and went on to lead partnerships at AcademixDirect. After 6 years in operating roles, he started and is now the Managing Director of Accelerise in San Francisco (www.acceleprise.vc), an enterprise software focused accelerator backed by leading operators. In addition to Acceleprise, he is a...

The post The Most Important Metrics and Milestones for SaaS Startups Raising Seed and Series A Funding with Mike Cardamone of Acceleprise appeared first on The Syndicate.

Angel Investing Mar 02, 2018

Matthew Le Merle is co-founder and Managing Partner of Fifth Era and of Keiretsu Capital – the most active early stage venture investors backing more than 175 companies a year. Matthew is an expert on corporate growth, innovation and business transformations having advised leading companies including Amazon, Cisco, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, PayPal and many...

The post Building the Most Active Angel Network Worldwide and Dominating as a Husband and Wife Investor Duo with Matthew Le Merle of Keiretsu Capital appeared first on The Syndicate.

Building a Better Series A Accelerator with Andrew Ackerman of Dreamit Ventures Feb 26, 2018

Andrew Ackerman is a successful serial entrepreneur, startup mentor, and occasional angel investor that runs Dreamit’s UrbanTech Accelerator. He work closely with Dreamit’s partners to develop and execute on their strategies for sourcing external innovation and encouraging internal innovation and helped build one of the top 10 accelerators worldwide. Listen and Learn: The challenges with...

The post Building a Better Series A Accelerator with Andrew Ackerman of Dreamit Ventures appeared first on The Syndicate.

One Question Every VC Should Ask Founders Feb 23, 2018

Brad is a co-founder and General Partner at Primary Venture Partners (formerly High Peaks Venture Partners). He has been a venture investor since the bubble days of the late 1990s, starting his investing career with The Berkshires Capital Investors and Village Ventures. Prior to his VC career, he was a strategy consultant with Monitor Group,...

The post Todays Tech Bubble, Why Many VCs Fail Founders and Managing Investor Expectations with Brad Svrluga of Primary.vc appeared first on The Syndicate.

China is Challenging the Status Quo and Taking Over the Startup Scene – Here is How Hardware Plays Out and Changes the World with Ben Joffe of the HAX Accelerator Feb 19, 2018

Benjamin Joffe is a Partner at HAX, the #1 global investor in early stage hardware startups with over 200 investments. Prior to HAX he worked mostly across Asia for the past 18 years (China, Japan, Korea) in various high-tech industries: aerospace, telecom, Internet, mobile, gaming. and ran his own cross-border research & advisory firm. He...

The post China is Challenging the Status Quo and Taking Over the Startup Scene – Here is How Hardware Plays Out and Changes the World with Ben Joffe of the HAX Accelerator appeared first on The Syndicate.

Big Data Feb 16, 2018

Pete is a software engineer, serial founder and advisor/investor of data-backed startups with a passion building valuable resources and community for the tech community. He beliefs data sets along with advances in machine learning and neural networks are paving the way for the most significant disruption we’ve seen since the advent of the PC. Data...

The post Why Data is Dead for Consumer Tech thanks to Facebook and Google and What Investors Need to Know about Data Moats with Pete Soderling appeared first on The Syndicate.

Uber is Going to 0, and Benchmark Knows It! Feb 12, 2018

Originally posted on mattward.io “Moving first is a tactic, not a goal….It’s much better to be a last mover.” — Peter Thiel On the surface this seems contrarian. When is being last better than being first? Steve Jobs understood this. Apple didn’t make the 1st MP3 player or the 1st smartphone. Yet in consumer tech, Apple is synonymous...

The post Uber is Going to 0, and Benchmark Knows It! appeared first on The Syndicate.

Health Tech Feb 09, 2018

Sean Schantzen is the cofounder and CEO of the Health Rosetta Group and Institute, as well as a managing partner in their seed fund, the Quad Aim Fund. They are building an ecosystem to transform the health care system by enabling employers to change how they buy to pay less and get more. This three...

The post How Healthcare Could Bankrupt America and How Startups, Investors and VCs Are Fighting to Fix It with Sean Schantzen of the Quad Aim Fund appeared first on The Syndicate.

Starting VC Firm Feb 05, 2018

Leo Polovets is a software engineer turned VC and a cofounder/managing partner at a Susa Ventures, a $50m seed stage fund. He mostly focus on b2b companies that are building up strong long-term competitive advantages (network effects, proprietary datasets, economics of scale, etc.) Prior to Susa Ventures, IHewas one of the first 10 software engineers...

The post How to Build Better Competitive Moats that Provide Pricing Power and Why Contrarian Investing is Overrated with Leo Polovets of Susa Ventures appeared first on The Syndicate.

TechStars Feb 02, 2018

Ted Serbinski is an entrepreneur and early stage investor operating at the intersection of Detroit’s automotive dominance and its entrepreneurial resurgence. He is the Managing Director of Techstars Mobility, the first US startup accelerator program focused on next-generation mobility technologies. Previously, he was a Partner and founding team member of Detroit Venture Partners, a $55M...

The post How Detroit is Defining Future of Mobility and Transportation by Teaming up with Startups with Ted Serbinski of TechStars appeared first on The Syndicate.

Fintech Jan 29, 2018

Jenny Fielding is a prolific angel investor and the Managing Director of Techstars NY, where she focuses on helping founders create the future, specifically focusing on Fintech and IoT. Prior to TechStars Jenny was in charge of BBC’s Ventures, the BBC’s innovation and venture arm. She’s also a quite accomplished founder, building Switch-Mobile up to...

The post Jenny Fielding of TechStars on Fintech and IoT, the Future of Accelerators and the Power of Index Investing appeared first on The Syndicate.

Robotics Jan 26, 2018

Oliver Mitchell has been an operator and manager of emerging technologies for over 20 years, building and selling numerous ventures, including: Holmes Protection and Americash while also launching RobotGalaxy, a national EdTech brand. He has been investing in the robotics industry for close to 10 years, with four successful exits in the past two years...

The post How to Invest in Robotics, Autonomy and the Future of Jobs, Work and Transportation while delivering Venture Scale ROIs with Oliver Mitchell of Autonomy Ventures appeared first on The Syndicate.

Rob Go of NextView Ventures on Ecommerce, Consumer Tech and Investing in the Everyday Economy Jan 22, 2018

Rob Go is a founding partner of NextView Ventures, a seed fund focused on consumer and the everyday economy. Based out of Boston and NYC, NextView has been leading the way on East Coast consumer innovation and built a great brand through their podcast and constant content. Prior to this, Rob worked at Spark Capital...

The post Rob Go of NextView Ventures on Ecommerce, Consumer Tech and Investing in the Everyday Economy appeared first on The Syndicate.

The Memorable Elevator Pitch that VCs Can’t Ignore Jan 20, 2018

Originally posted on mattward.io Those words terrify entrepreneurs. You get one chance to make a first impression. And fear of failure often ruins that. Overconfidence is equally harmful though. And one way or another, most startups screw this up. It isn’t easy. It isn’t hard either though. Short, sweet and to the point. That is...

The post The Memorable Elevator Pitch that VCs Can’t Ignore appeared first on The Syndicate.

Network Effects Jan 19, 2018

SC Moatti is a technology visionary, entrepreneur and investor (. She is the founding partner of Mighty Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, and Products That Count, a global community of product managers, leaders and founders. Previously, she built products that billions of people use at Facebook, Nokia and Electronic Arts. Listen and Learn:...

The post The Growth Hackers Guide to Acquiring Users, Network Effects, Community Building and Fundraising with SC Moatti of Mighty Capital appeared first on The Syndicate.

Don’t Mine for Gold When You Can Sell Shovels Jan 15, 2018

Source: FanArt Originally posted on mattward.io Get rich or die trying — that’s a common mantra among entrepreneurs, gangsters and drug dealers. I know that was my mindset. How can I hustle my way to a million bucks? That was the question I asked myself every day, and night. Looking back, this was the wrong question to...

The post Don’t Mine for Gold When You Can Sell Shovels appeared first on The Syndicate.

Cryptocurrencies Jan 15, 2018

Michael Weiksner is the founder of Rostrum Capital, a VC fund focused next generation of platform companies that is also building out a crypto division to focus on disruptive blockchain opportunities. Previously he raised over $2.5mm for EndlessTV, an innovative mobile video app that was the first mobile app to provide swipeable shopping. Prior to...

The post Cryptocurrencies, Politics and the Disruption of Government with Michael Weiksner of Rostrum Capital appeared first on The Syndicate.

Consumer Hardware’s a Horrible Business Model, So Apple Slows Down Your iPhone Jan 12, 2018

Hardware is hard. Consumer hardware is even worse. As an ex ecommerce seller with years of experience manufacturing overseas, I can tell you dealing with suppliers, MOQs (minimum order quantities), quality control, cash flow and even LTV are tough. Unlike SaaS where you build it once and sell again and again with almost no added...

The post Consumer Hardware’s a Horrible Business Model, So Apple Slows Down Your iPhone appeared first on The Syndicate.

Esther Dyson on Angel Investing in Facebook and Square and Combatting America’s Healthcare Crisis Jan 12, 2018

Esther Dyson is a down to earth super angel that practically invented the category. Her incredible portfolio includes the likes of Facebook, Square, 23andme, Flickr, Evernote and many more. Esther now runs Way to Wellville, a non-profit focused on curing America health crisis with a focus on education and early, preventative care. She serves on...

The post Esther Dyson on Angel Investing in Facebook and Square and Combatting America’s Healthcare Crisis appeared first on The Syndicate.

Why Your J Curve is Actually an S Curve and TAM is a Meaningless Metric Jan 09, 2018

Two days ago I had the privilege of moderating a roundtable with some of the smartest futurists and forward thinkers in the industry. Our panelists included Tim O’Reilly, James Allworth, Ben Gilbert and Jeff Morris Jr. [VIDEO REPLAY] The State of Consumer Tech Roundtable with Tim O’Reilly, James Allworth, Ben Gilbert… It was an interesting...

The post Why Your J Curve is Actually an S Curve and TAM is a Meaningless Metric appeared first on The Syndicate.

Angellist Jan 08, 2018

Parker Thompson’s a Partner at Angellist, an active investor and syndicate lead and likes to help startups in any way he can. Before AL, he was a mentor, partner and as an early employee at 500Startups, where he helped Dave McClure and co build 500 into a top tier accelerator., help His illustrious past includes...

The post Angellist’s Parker Thompson on Why the Best Startups Tell You a Secret and How Platforms are Changing Investing appeared first on The Syndicate.

Facebook’s Mantra “Join us or we will copy you” – Platforms, Marketplaces and Playing with Fire Jan 05, 2018

The internet has changed. The world of the walled garden is here. This creates interesting dynamics, problems and opportunities for startups. It is exciting, and terrifying. Let me explain. My background is ecommerce and Amazon. In 2015 I invested ~$8k in product and managed to scale my “startup” to a 7 figure exit at the...

The post Facebook’s Mantra “Join us or we will copy you” – Platforms, Marketplaces and Playing with Fire appeared first on The Syndicate.

Hardware Investing, The Future of IoT and Why Boring Businesses Bring The Best Investor Returns with Avidan Ross of Root VC Jan 05, 2018

Avidan is the Founding Partner of Root Ventures. Before Root, he designed industrial robotics for Food Network’s kitchens. Prior to that, Avidan was CTO of CIM Group, where he focused on industrial internet investing, and worked as an embedded application developer at Excite@Home. Listen and Learn: Why Avidan focuses exclusively on hardware based startups Avidan’s...

The post Hardware Investing, The Future of IoT and Why Boring Businesses Bring The Best Investor Returns with Avidan Ross of Root VC appeared first on The Syndicate.

Why I Quit Startups to Be “Lazy” and Invest in or Advise Companies Instead Jan 02, 2018

Yes, that headline and image is meant to be provocative. Startups need to sell. Attention is critical. But not clickbait. So grab your coffee and let’s go (btw that definitely isn’t me!). First, a quick backstory My background is ecommerce and Amazon. In 2015 I invested $8k in product and managed to scale my “startup”...

The post Why I Quit Startups to Be “Lazy” and Invest in or Advise Companies Instead appeared first on The Syndicate.

Adam Draper on Why Crypto and ICOs are actually Underhyped and What the Future May Bring Jan 01, 2018

Adam Draper’s the founder of Boost.vc, an accelerator and fund focused creating a sci-fi future. They work with and invest in blockchain and VR companies with exceptions made for breakthrough businesses. Adam comes from a venture background and is working to continue the Draper tradition of excellence and advancing the future. Listen and Learn: Why...

The post Adam Draper on Why Crypto and ICOs are actually Underhyped and What the Future May Bring appeared first on The Syndicate.

Startup Pirate Game Theory Dec 31, 2017

“If you’ve got a dream and your dream doesn’t require a team, you need to dream bigger.” — Unknown When working with startups (both as an investor and advisor), I like to focus on incentivizes. The more aligned your organization is, the better the performance will be. Commissioned sales people are hustlers. Ever buy a used car?...

The post Startup Pirate Game Theory appeared first on The Syndicate.

UK Startup Investing Dec 29, 2017

Peter Cowley has been active angel investor for ten years, personally investing in over 60 startups and was named UK Business Angel of the Year 2014/15 and Best Angel of the World by the World Business Angel Investment Forum in February 2017. He is also the chair of the board of the Cambridge Business Angels...

The post The Problem with Transparency in Tech Investing, Why the UK Dominates European Startup Scene and How to Build a Strong Investor Brand with Super Angel Peter Cowley of UK Business Angels Association appeared first on The Syndicate.

The Future of Consumer Tech and Humanity Roundtable with Tim O’Reilly, James Allworth, Ben Gilbert and Jeff Morris Jr. Dec 25, 2017

The Syndicate hosted The Future of Consumer Tech and Humanity Roundtable on 12/20/17. Our Expert Panelists: Tim O’Reilly is a futurist that has reshaped the computer industry, coined the terms “open source software”, “web 2.0” and “the Maker movement” and had a hand in framing each of those big ideas. He is the founder, CEO, and...

The post The Future of Consumer Tech and Humanity Roundtable with Tim O’Reilly, James Allworth, Ben Gilbert and Jeff Morris Jr. appeared first on The Syndicate.

Impact Investing Dec 22, 2017

Keith is an experienced investor, advisor, operator and PE manager focused on impact investing for awesome ROIs. Prior to working at Flat World Partners, a global impact VC firm focused on truly worldchanging products helping move humanity foward, Keith worked his way up the private equity world before making the jump into venture. Today Keith...

The post Impact Investing for Enormous Profit and Inside Look at African Tech Scene with Keith Mauppa of Flat World Partners appeared first on The Syndicate.

How to Start a Series A Fundable SaaS Business — A 15 Page Guide to Acquiring Customers and Reducing Churn Dec 19, 2017

Software as a service is the new heroine. Companies and individuals sign up for free trials and are instantly hooked. It is a hell of a drug. For B2B customers this is especially true. Most businesses hate change. When the ball is rolling, the last thing you want is overhaul the entire new system. You...

The post How to Start a Series A Fundable SaaS Business — A 15 Page Guide to Acquiring Customers and Reducing Churn appeared first on The Syndicate.

Golem's ICO Dec 18, 2017

Julian Zawistowski is founder and CEO of Golem, the decentralized supercomputer company that raised $8.6M in 30 minutes in their crowdfunding/ICO. Julian’s company is now valued at $280M and he talks candidly about building a crypto company, managing investors and building a gamechanging disruptive technology. Listen and Learn: How the cryptocurrency landscape has evolved The...

The post How Julian Zawistowski Raised $8.6M in Golem Networks ICO and Changes in Crypto and ICOs Since appeared first on The Syndicate.

AI Roundtable Dec 15, 2017

The Syndicate hosted The Future of AI and Autonomous Vehicles Live Streamed Roundtable on 12/11/17 Our expert panelists include: Dennis Mortensen a super successful serial entrepreneur with 3 exits and is currently the founder of X.ai. His company has raised $44M and are solving the issues of scheduling and personal assistants. He has a ton of experience...

The post AI, Autonomous Vehicles and Future of Cities Live Streamed Roundtable appeared first on The Syndicate.

Uber is Going to 0, and Benchmark Knows It! Dec 13, 2017

“Moving first is a tactic, not a goal….It’s much better to be a last mover.” — Peter Thiel On the surface this seems contrarian. When is being last better than being first? Steve Jobs understood this. Apple didn’t make the 1st MP3 player or the 1st smartphone. Yet in consumer tech, Apple is synonymous with both. That was no accident....

The post Uber is Going to 0, and Benchmark Knows It! appeared first on The Syndicate.

Arlan Hamilton on Raising 1st VC Fund While Homeless to Attack Tech’s White Guy Diversity Problem Dec 11, 2017

Arlan Hamilton isn’t your typical VC. She’s a smart, scrappy founder and fighter and believes in inclusion and diversity to drive outsized rewards. Her firm Backstage Capital invests in underrepresented founders like herself: people of color, LGBT and anyone SF wouldn’t normally give a fair shake. She’s fiery, she attacks conventions and she’s changing the...

The post Arlan Hamilton on Raising 1st VC Fund While Homeless to Attack Tech’s White Guy Diversity Problem appeared first on The Syndicate.

The Broken Business of Ecommerce and Why Your Startup Won’t Be The Next Casper Dec 09, 2017

If you haven’t heard, Amazon won ecommerce. Bezos’ juggernaut is the most powerful marketplace and brand the Western world has ever seen (get my analysis here as an ex 7 figure Amazon seller). But it isn’t the only game in town. Every year new startups appear, looking to compete and grab their piece of the...

The post The Broken Business of Ecommerce and Why Your Startup Won’t Be The Next Casper appeared first on The Syndicate.

Driverless Cars Dec 08, 2017

Shaun Abrahamson’s an angel investor and venture capitalist focused on the urbanization and transformation of cities. He’s an investor in Blue Bottle, Soma Water, Refinery29, Skycatch, Blokable and dozens of other early stage companies. Previously he worked at and with several Dotcom and made a bit of money with an exit, leading into his investing...

The post Driverless Cars and The Future of Cities and Government with Shaun Abrahamson of Urban.us appeared first on The Syndicate.

ICOs Dec 04, 2017

Stefano Bernardi’s sat at both ends of the table. A YC backed founder and startup hustler, Stefano got into venture and angel investing early and never looked back. Stefano enjoys long walks in the Alps, investing and blogging about crypto and blockchain and helping European founders find their groove and succeed. Listen and Learn: What...

The post ICOs, Ethereum, Italian Mountains and being Dave McClure’s Shadow with Stefano Bernardi appeared first on The Syndicate.

The Future of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Roundtable Dec 01, 2017

The Syndicate hosted The Future of Cryptocurrencies/Blockchain Live Streamed Round Table on 11/28/17 Our expert panelists include: Gil Penchina, Andy Bromberg, Lou Kerner and Joey Krug Gil Penchina’s one of the top super angels of all time, with investments in Ripple, Brave, Polychain, Paypal, Filecoin, Civic, Linkedin, Cruise Automation, Dollar Shave Club, Wealthfront, Discord, Fastly and a name as good as...

The post The Future of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Roundtable appeared first on The Syndicate.

Angel Networks Nov 27, 2017

Michael Girdley is an angel investor, venture capitalist, former founder and operator and sits on numerous boards. He founded the San Antonio Angel Network, building it into the fastest growing angel network in the US and is focused on driving returns while also reinvigorating Texas and flyover states with smart money and startup growth. Listen...

The post How Michael Girdley Built the Fastest Growing Angel Network in America appeared first on The Syndicate.

How Gil Penchina Tried to Lose Money and Hit 5 Unicorns and the Future of Cryptocurrencies Nov 24, 2017

Gil Penchina’s one of the top super angels of all time, with investments in Ripple, Brave, Polychain, Paypal, Filecoin, Civic, Linkedin, Cruise, Dollar Shave Club Wealthfront, Discord, Fastly and a name as good as gold. Prior to that he worked at Ebay through the IPO process and now he runs 20+ syndicates on Angellist with millions...

The post How Gil Penchina Tried to Lose Money and Hit 5 Unicorns and the Future of Cryptocurrencies appeared first on The Syndicate.

Marketplace Monopolies and the Cult-Like Religion of ICOs Nov 21, 2017

As an angel investor, I am always looking for transformational businesses. And marketplaces are arguably one of the strongest and most time-tested business models of all time. From early Rome and milenia earlier, merchants conducted commerce in markets. Thanks to efficiency gains for both buyers and sellers, the market thrived. Sellers could set up shop...

The post Marketplace Monopolies and the Cult-Like Religion of ICOs appeared first on The Syndicate.

Women in Tech Nov 20, 2017

Angela Lee is the founder and CEO of 37Angels, a angel network of over 60 female investors and the Chief Innovation Officer of Columbia University’s Business School – where she is also a full time professor. Oh, she’s also a board advisor for several education focused venture funds and successful startups. Listen and Learn: The...

The post The Future of Higher Education and Fixing Tech’s Pipeline Problem with Angela Lee of 37Angels appeared first on The Syndicate.

How Pascal Levy-Garboua Runs a $1.4M Angellist Syndicate, a Top Tech Startup and an AL Venture Fund All At Once Nov 17, 2017

Pascal has 10+ years experience in Enterprise software and Consumer Internet and is passionate about marketplaces and local commerce since working at eBay. He built and scale VirtuOz (VC backed) from 4 to 80+ employees before ultimately being acquired. Pascal also runs one of the top Angellist syndicates, having invested in Realty Shares, Checkr, Wag,...

The post How Pascal Levy-Garboua Runs a $1.4M Angellist Syndicate, a Top Tech Startup and an AL Venture Fund All At Once appeared first on The Syndicate.

Amazon’s Acquisition of Whole Foods, Gameover Groceries… Nov 16, 2017

Amazon’s is the most monopolistic and well positioned marketplace the Western world has ever seen. Last year they did $136B in revenue with double digit growth every year. Yet they haven’t even scratched the surface. The US food retail and food services industry represents a $5.35T market (with $800B+ in grocery alone). That is 40x...

The post Amazon’s Acquisition of Whole Foods, Gameover Groceries… appeared first on The Syndicate.

Network Effects and The Unbreakable, Unregulatable Monopolies of Today Nov 14, 2017

With great power comes great profit, and then even the innovative get fat and lazy. This was the paradigm pre 2000s. Rome rose and fell. Microsoft’s monopoly was cracked. Kodak created the digital camera and kept it from customers. The bigger they are, the harder they fall and the harder they fight. But historically failure...

The post Network Effects and The Unbreakable, Unregulatable Monopolies of Today appeared first on The Syndicate.

Immigrant Entrepreneurs, H1B Visas and the State of the Startup Union with Nitin Pachisia of UnshackledVC Nov 13, 2017

Nitin started UnshackledVC to help immigrant founders like himself simplify the visa problem of building businesses in the USA. His particular areas of interest when working with early stage startups are story-telling, pitching, fundraising, product strategy, and bringing in the first customers/sales. Listen and Learn: How H1B visas get used and abused The challenges for immigrant...

The post Immigrant Entrepreneurs, H1B Visas and the State of the Startup Union with Nitin Pachisia of UnshackledVC appeared first on The Syndicate.

The Death of Google and End of Apple Nov 12, 2017

Apple and Google are two of the strongest, most profitable tech giants today. But both are in for a kick in the ass, here is why. Disruption is the name of the game. Great businesses die from one of two main reasons: failure to innovate or a powerful disruption. From my vantage point, both Apple...

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Equity Crowdfunding Nov 10, 2017

Ken Nguyen is a neuroscience and law graduate that took legal and psychology to tech startups, building Republic.co, one of the largest and most successful equity crowdfunding sites. Prior to starting Republic, Ken was employee #20 an Angellist where he headed up growth hacking and scaling. Listen and Learn: How Title 3 Crowdfunding is affecting...

The post Republic’s Founder Ken Nguyen on Angellist, ICOs and Equity Crowdfunding Eating Traditional Venture Capital appeared first on The Syndicate.

Corporate Innovation Nov 06, 2017

Brett Bivens is a former competitive athlete turned startup junkie after 4 ACL surgeries turned this baseballer to startup investing and mentorship. Brett founded a startup podcast, worked at a top sports tech company, was an associate at a VC firm and now is responsible for deals and investing at TechNexus, where corporates and startups...

The post How Startups and Corporate Collide to Create the Future of Fortune 500 with Brett Bivens of TechNexus appeared first on The Syndicate.

Christopher Mirabile of LaunchPad on Valuations, Exits, Startup Trends and the Future of IPOs Nov 03, 2017

Christopher Mirabile is the Public Policy Chair of the Angel Capital Association and the co-founder of portfolio management tool Seraf. He is also co-Managing Director of Launchpad Venture Group, a venture investment group focused on seed and early-stage investments in technology-oriented companies. Launchpad is the largest angel group in New England and top-three ranked group...

The post Christopher Mirabile of LaunchPad on Valuations, Exits, Startup Trends and the Future of IPOs appeared first on The Syndicate.

Amazon Ecommerce Nov 01, 2017

Jeff Bezos is the Terminator… and he is killing competition and ecommerce faster than Arnold can say “I’ll be back” Hope you are hooked. Let’s go for a ride. My background is ecommerce. Before starting The Syndicate and investing in early stage disruptors, I cut my teeth in ecommerce, specifically Amazon. I had learned a...

The post The Amazon Apocalypse of Ecommerce appeared first on The Syndicate.

Ben Gilbert of Acquired on The End of Government, The Death of Apple and The Amazon Apocalypse Oct 30, 2017

Ben Gilbert’s an ex-Microsoft guy with a passion for startups and growth. He runs Pioneer Square Labs, an innovative venture studio that after raising $12M, has cranked out half a dozen successful startup spin offs – think Rocket Internet without the copy/paste. Ben is also the co-host of the Acquired podcast where he and David...

The post Ben Gilbert of Acquired on The End of Government, The Death of Apple and The Amazon Apocalypse appeared first on The Syndicate.

An Insider’s Guide to Latin American Startups and Fundraising with Sergio Romo Oct 27, 2017

Sergio Romo co-founded Mexican takeout company Miorden and later sold it to SinDelantal in 2012. Since then Sergio has invested in and advised/mentored over 100 startups and started Investo, a micro VC focused on early stage, seed/pre-seed deals in and around SF and Latin America. Listen and Learn: What is happening in Mexico’s startup ecosystem...

The post An Insider’s Guide to Latin American Startups and Fundraising with Sergio Romo appeared first on The Syndicate.

The Exponential Boom, Bust and Rebirth of the ICO Economy, ie Dotcom Bubble with Dumber Money Oct 26, 2017

The blockchain build up is eerily reminiscent of the Dotcom era – inexperienced founders with only an idea raising absurd amounts of money to build a product and take it to market. We all remember how that turned out. Things went up, things blew up, and later things went up again. This time is no...

The post The Exponential Boom, Bust and Rebirth of the ICO Economy, ie Dotcom Bubble with Dumber Money appeared first on The Syndicate.

Software as a Service Oct 23, 2017

Nathan is a product guy and leads the Flight VC SaaS syndicate where he focuses on B2B and enterprise SaaS. While running one of the oldest, largest and most successful syndicates on Angellist, he is also Product Manager at a late stage, pre-IPO company, a dad of two and an advisor and consultant to numerous...

The post Teaming up with Gil Penchina to Found the Flight.vc SaaS Syndicate with Nathan Creswell appeared first on The Syndicate.

Offered 1/4 of Facebook for $5M – Lou Kerner of Flight.vc on Israel, Social Media, Cryptocurrencies and Future of Monopolies Oct 20, 2017

Lou Kerner is the founder and managing partner of Flight.vc’s Israeli Founder fund and the Social Internet fund. Before that, Lou pioneered social media with Bolt, the largest social media company of its time before being conquered by Myspace. Since then Lou has invested in the likes of Palantir, Facebook, Meetup.com, Klout, Plated and more....

The post Offered 1/4 of Facebook for $5M – Lou Kerner of Flight.vc on Israel, Social Media, Cryptocurrencies and Future of Monopolies appeared first on The Syndicate.

Nick Moran of the Full Ratchet on Why IoT is the #1 Startup Sector and the Midwest is the Best Place for Companies Oct 16, 2017

Nick Moran is a former M&A guy turned angel investor and venture capitalist. He started the 1st VC podcast (the Full Ratchet) over three years ago and used this platform to build one of the top syndicates on Angellist. Since starting investing, none of his companies have failed to date and he since raised a...

The post Nick Moran of the Full Ratchet on Why IoT is the #1 Startup Sector and the Midwest is the Best Place for Companies appeared first on The Syndicate.

Ecommerce Oct 13, 2017

Semil is the founder of Haystack.vc a pre-seed VC fund which is a proud early investor in Instacart, DoorDash, Hired, Hashicorp, eShares, Giphy, OpenDoor, Chariot, Managed By Q, and many other companies. Prior to investing, Semil worked at Concept.io where he learned product focused design and he has taken many of these lessons through to...

The post Semil Shah on Instacart, Amazon and the Future of Retail and Groceries appeared first on The Syndicate.

NYC Startups Oct 09, 2017

Jason Cahill is the founder of McCune Capital, a micro VC based in Brooklyn, NY focused on seed-stage companies in inefficient industries. Jason is also an entrepreneur in residence at Grand Central Tech and an advisor to Carnegie Mellon, SXSW and the Entrepreneurs Roundtable. Listen and Learn: What special forces teaches startup founders Which industries...

The post The Secret to NYC’s Startup Success with Jason Cahill – Special Forces to Startups, VC to Grand Central Tech appeared first on The Syndicate.

Women in Tech, Syndicates vs VCs and The Future of Enterprise Investing with Shruti Gandhi of Array Ventures Oct 06, 2017

Shruti is founder and managing partner of Array Ventures which invests in enterprise deep tech early stage companies. Shruti spent her early career as a developer before joining True Ventures and Samsung’s venture funds to invest in early stage companies. Listen and Learn: The big difference between enterprise and all other industries How the...

The post Women in Tech, Syndicates vs VCs and The Future of Enterprise Investing with Shruti Gandhi of Array Ventures appeared first on The Syndicate.

Startups Oct 02, 2017

Marvin works with awesome startups across the globe and 500 Startups San Franscisco/Silcon Valley accelerator programs. He’s on the board of numerous companies, has advised and overseen 300+ in his time at 500 and a recovering exec from Yahoo, happy to be part of the Revolution! Listen and Learn: What to look for when talking...

The post The #1 Trait to Look for In Startup Founder with Marvin Liao of 500 Startups appeared first on The Syndicate.

How Singapore Became a Tech Startup Hotspot and How Other Cities Can Do the Same with Rahul Harkawat Sep 29, 2017

Rahul was a mentor in ASEAN region years for 10 years, helping Web2.0 startups focused on big data, med tech devices & financial servicesscale and build partnerships. He led an accelerator program and help Singapore grow to dominance the tech startup space. Before that he was a founder of Global Multimillion software company focused on...

The post How Singapore Became a Tech Startup Hotspot and How Other Cities Can Do the Same with Rahul Harkawat appeared first on The Syndicate.

Tech Investing Sep 25, 2017

Jeff is currently the Director of Product Management for Revenue at Tinder, where he leads the top grossing app in the world in monetization and growth. He has also built one of the top syndicates on AngelList, all while working full time at Tinder and he focuses on his strong suits: subscriptions, advertising, and a...

The post Jeff Morris Jr. on Starting a Top AngelList Syndicate While Turning Tinder into #1 Revenue App in World appeared first on The Syndicate.

Taking European Startups Global and Berlins Tech Ecosystem Sep 22, 2017

Christian is in charge of the German Accelerator in NYC and is a managing partner at Napali Partners, a boutique consulting and advisory firm. Before that, Christian was an SVP, Head of Marketing at Indiegogo, one of the world’s top crowdfunding platforms. Listen and Learn: The growth of NYC’s startup and funding scene How...

The post Taking European Startups Global and Berlins Tech Ecosystem appeared first on The Syndicate.

Legendary Rocker Howie Diamond of Ranch Ventures on Following Your Obsessions Sep 18, 2017

Rocker turned entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, Howie Diamond of Ranch Ventures joins the podcast to share his insights on an unintentional journey into the world of VC. Howie’s a character and a rising star in Silicon Valley and his human centered approach is a refreshing and likely strategy to dealing with startup founders. Listen and...

The post Legendary Rocker Howie Diamond of Ranch Ventures on Following Your Obsessions appeared first on The Syndicate.

China Startups Sep 14, 2017

An investor in the likes of FitMob and Shyp, Sajid Rahman is an executive level leader with industry leading experience in emerging markets, helping companies expand internationally and the Asian startup landscape. He started the first tech accelerator program in Bangladesh, runs an AngelList syndicate, sits on the board and advises numerous startups and is...

The post Why The Next Mega Tech Company is Probably Coming out of China with Sajid Rahman appeared first on The Syndicate.

Autonomous Sep 11, 2017

Zach is a 4 time entrepreneur, full time angel investor and all around good and helpful guy. His Cruise Automation syndicate was the first billion dollar exit on AngelList and he’s invested and advised several more startups well on their way to the coveted unicorn status. Before starting investing, Zach’s company Triggit raised ~18M in...

The post Zach Coelius on 1st Billion Dollar AngelList Exit and Building a Top Tier Syndicate appeared first on The Syndicate.

Missing Uber Seed Round By Hours and The Evolution of Silicon Valley with Maarten ‘t Hooft Sep 08, 2017

Maarten’s a developer that has seen the evolution of Silicon Valley, from Sun Micro System to Google and finally launching his own micro VC fund. Quest Ventures is industry agnostic and looks for opportunities in early stage startup companies. With some big hits, some big misses, the firm is actually founder friendly and has a...

The post Missing Uber Seed Round By Hours and The Evolution of Silicon Valley with Maarten ‘t Hooft appeared first on The Syndicate.

The Pitch Sep 04, 2017

Sheel Mohnot of 500 Startups is ACTUALLY a jack of all trades. He helps design, build, and improve human ecosystems through technology, as a creator or an investor/partner. He focuses specifically on what he calls “financial services for the rest of us” and helping financial institutions operate more efficiently. Sheel has had 2 successful fintech...

The post Sheel Mohnot with 500 Startups and The Pitch on Fintech, Fund Size, Syndicates and Exiting a Startup appeared first on The Syndicate.

VC Sep 01, 2017

Phil Nadel is a managing partner and syndicate lead at Forefront Venture Partners/Barbara Corcoran Venture Partners where he leads one of the largest and most active angel syndicates on AngelList. In addition to being an accomplished investor and being a featured investor on the Shark Tank style Pitch podcast, Phil is also a published author,...

The post Why VCs Should be Industry Agnostic and Avoid Silicon Valley with Phil Nadel of Forefront Ventures appeared first on The Syndicate.

Cryptocurrencies, ICOs and the Future of Public Markets with Joey Krug of Panterra Capital Aug 28, 2017

Joey got involved in Bitcoin mining in 2011 before building Bitcoin point of sale system in 2013. In 2014, he dropped out of Pomona College to cofound one of the first projects on Ethereum called Augur, and in 2015 they did the first crowdsale on Ethereum. Then this year he joined Pantera Capital as Co-Chief...

The post Cryptocurrencies, ICOs and the Future of Public Markets with Joey Krug of Panterra Capital appeared first on The Syndicate.

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