Akshay Chaturvedi is the founder and CEO of Leverage Edu, a fast-growing study abroad platform startup that provides personalized mentorship and guidance for higher education and careers. He is also a prolific angel investor. Timestamps: 00:00: Top Moments 00:34: Intro with Akshay 02:25: Leverage Edu Overview 04:22: First External Investor 06:25: Akshay's Angel Investing Journey 08:15: Impact on Growth as Founder 12:26: Identifying Investment Opportunities 15:51: Angel Investing Learnings 18:58: Advising on Cap Table Construction 22:22: Advice for Operator Angels 27:04: Akshay's Typical Day 29 ..read more

Charles Hudson is the Managing Partner and Founder of Precursor Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in the first institutional round of financing for the most promising software and hardware companies. He is one of the pioneers of pre-seed investing. He is also an advisor and mentor to a number of emerging managers. Timestamps: 00:00 Top Moments 00:31 Intro to pod with Charles Hudson 02:21 Angel investing and Precursor Ventures' founding story 05:28 Evolution of fund strategy over the years 07:29 Convincing LPs on a diversified portfolio 09:52 Non-consensus of no ..read more

Masha Bucher is the Founder of Day One Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm that’s pioneering a new model in VC by spearheading communications for its portfolio companies. The fund has backed backed 8 unicorns and one portfolio company went public They have invested in companies like Remote, Worldcoin, You.com, Simulate, Superhuman, Truebill (acq), Arcadia, DoNotPay, Atoms, Yumi, DuckDuckGo & others Before that, Masha was an angel investor and PR studio founder working with companies like Houzz, HotelTonight, Toptal & more. Timeline: 00:00 : Top Moments 00:31 : Intro to pod wi ..read more

Arjun Nair is the co-founder and COO of Great Learning. Great Learning is India's leading provider for online professional & higher education. In 2021, BYJU’S Acquired Great Learning for $600 Million. Great Learnings was bootstrapped. Timeline: 00:00: Top Moments 00:38: Intro to pod 02:00: Early life and shaping moments 09:56: Return to India and founding Great Learning 16:03: Evolution of online learning and its future 22:44: Key issues in Indian education and solutions 28:55: Advice for diasporas for seizing opportunities in India 33:29: A glimpse into a typical day 35:52: Yoga practice ..read more

Nihal Mehta is the co-founder of Eniac Ventures. One of the top Venture Capital funds in the US. Through Eniac they have invested in over 10 unicorns. Before founding Eniac, Nihal had built 5 tech companies. Some succeeded and some failed. People call Nihal the human Rolodex and Nihal is typically the life of the party. Timeline: 00:00 Top Moments 00:40 Intro to pod with Nihal Mehta 02:30 Foundational Thesis of Eniac Ventures 04:19 Portfolio construction and evolution over the years 06:44 Journey of transitioning from making smaller investments to leading rounds 10:11 Aspects of investing: sou ..read more

Fabrice Grinda is among the world’s leading Internet entrepreneurs and investors. Fabrice was named the #1 Angel Investor in the world by Forbes. Fabrice founded FJ labs, and today FJ labs is one of the most active investors globally. FJ labs has invested in companies like Alibaba, Airbnb, Instacart, Flexport, and many more. Timeline : 00:00: Top Moments 00:34: Intro for Pod with Farbrice 01:57 : FJ Labs founding story 04:57: Portfolio and fund model evolved through experience and learning. 07:59: Success factors for a $295 million fund 09:45: Potential changes for the third fund if starting a ..read more

Back in 2015, when the start-up landscape in India was at a nascent stage, as a banker Ishpreet pioneered the first-ever debt solutions for startups in India. In 2018, Ishpreet founded Stride Ventures and today it has become —India’s leading venture debt fund. They have partnered with companies like Zepto, Bira, Sugar, Spinny, Zetwerk and many more. 00:00 Top Moments 00:26 Intro 02:31 Starting Stride Ventures in 2015 and pioneering venture debt in India 05:40 Thesis, portfolio, fundraising, and venture debt business model 12:10 Check sizes, sectors, and stages of investment 14:09 Journey of b ..read more

Jeff Morris Jr. is the founder and Managing Director of Chapter One. Chapter One has invested in companies like Mercury, Supabase, Superhuman, Dapper Labs, and Pipe to name a few. Morris was previously the VP of Product, Revenue at Tinder. In the role, he led the revenue team to the #1 top grossing app in the App Store globally. Timestamps 00:00 Top Moments 02:27 - Entry into angel investing and Chapter One's founding story. 05:22 - Fundraising and portfolio changes between Fund 1 and Fund 2. 08:23 - Establishing a unique value proposition for Fund 2. 11:17 - Staying relevant in a rapidly chan ..read more

Julia Lipton is the founder of Awesome People Ventures. Awesome People Ventures is an early-stage fund focused on Web3. She is one of the top web3 investors globally. Timestamps: 0:00 Top Moments 0029 Intro to pod with Julia Lipton 01:39 What led to founding Awesome People Ventures? 03:16 Fundraising journey and evolution of fund thesis? 05:13 Portfolio construction, check sizes, investment stages? 06:32 Mistakes in fund one and their influence on approach? 09:36 Future of Web3 in next 3-5 years? 11:09 LPs in fund one, key learnings, evolution in fund two? 13:15 Importance of brand building fo ..read more

Eddy Chan is the Founding Partner at “Indonesia-only” Intudo Ventures, the only VC investing exclusively in Indonesia Prior founding to Intudo Ventures, Eddy worked on venture investments in startups since the late 1990s, including PayPal, Palantir, and Affirm, founded and operated venture-backed technology companies Timestamps : 00:00 Top Moments 00:31 Intro to pod with Eddy 02:04 Eddy's Entry into Venture capital and Intudo Ventures 07:13 His journey from first fund to current fund 17:21 Strategy to build LP relationships and closing deals. 27:36 Lessons learnt while fund raising 29:41 Evolu ..read more