Chicago Capital

Alyssa Jaffee is a Partner at 7wireVentures, an early-stage healthcare venture fund. She focuses on digital healthcare and technology-enabled services that enable customers to be better stewards of their health in today's shifting healthcare ecosystem. Alyssa serves on the boards of Higi and Ayogo Health, as well as Zerigo Health, NOCD, RecoveryOne, and Jasper Health as an observer.

In this episode, we covered:

• 7wireVentures Thesis
• Trends in digital healthcare and technology
• Healthcare Industry in Chicago

And much more.... Please Enjoy!

You can find Alyssa on his Linkedin & Twitter and 7wireVentures on Linkedin, Twitter and their website.

In 2021 alone, local founders have raised more than $5 billion in VC dollars – making Chicago a national destination for founders, investors, and innovators. As the City of Chicago’s economic development organization, World Business Chicago drives growth and opportunity for our local tech economy and innovation ecosystem through its flagship programs: the Chicago Venture Summit, Startup Chicago, ThinkChicago, and Venture Engine. Learn more via WorldBusinessChicago.com

Tom Shea is the Co-Founder and COO of Adgile Media Group, the first ever tech-enabled, nationwide truckside advertising company. With data at the center of all that we do, Adgile delivers advertisers the biggest bang for their advertising dollar.

Justin Strausbaugh is the Founder and Managing Director of Lakeshore Ventures, which is part of the Alumni Ventures Group family of funds, one of the most active venture firms in the world with +$500 million AUM, 700+ portfolio companies and a community of 550K alumni from other top tier universities.

Alumni Ventures was the #1 most active venture capital investor in the US in 2020 and is comprised of 20+ funds from the alumni communities of leading universities (including Stanford, Harvard, University of Chicago, MIT, and others). AVG co-invests alongside top leading investors and complements them with a network of 550K+ alumni to help portfolio companies with customer introductions, fundraising, recruiting, and identifying advisors.

The philosophy is to provide a frictionless investment process for startups and co-investors while bringing a force-multiplying network that gives entrepreneurs a competitive advantage.

Troy Henikoff is a Managing Director at MATH Venture Partners, a Chicago-based venture capital business that invests in startups and early-stage companies.

In this episode, we covered:

• Ted Lasso
• VC as an Ex-Operator
• MATH 100
• Setting Numeric Goals for Founders
• Early-stage Financial Modeling
• Techstars in Chicago

And much more.... Please Enjoy!

You can find Troy on his Linkedin & Twitter and MATH Venture Partners on Linkedin and their website.

We are proud to be sponsored by World Business Chicago, the City of Chicago’s public-private economic development agency.

The 5th Annual Chicago Venture Summit was officially sold out. 450 plus VC and start-up founders, investors and innovators connected over the three-day flagship venture capital conference led by World Business Chicago, the City of Chicago, and sponsors. Follow World Business Chicago on LinkedIn and Twitter for news, announcements, and data from this week’s Summit, and for news and announcements from the city’s tech, innovation, and venture ecosystem.

In 2015, Nate and his three close friends co-founded Crafty to help companies create welcoming and healthy workplaces through a thoughtful food and beverage offering.

Crafty’s platform provides a full-service food & beverage management experience: their on-site teams streamline daily operations, their Account Management teams regularly evolve their client's offering, their technology streamlines oversight and reporting across all locations, and their entire organization is constantly finding ways to surprise and delight their clients with new products, a beautiful aesthetic, and a warm smile from their team.

Samara Mejia Hernandez is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Chingona Ventures, a Venture Fund that focuses on rapidly changing sectors and founders with experiences that uniquely position them to build startups in underserved growth markets.

In this episode, we covered:

• Salsa Dancing to VC
• The COVID Effect
• The Growing Interest in VC
• Chingona’s 5P Due Diligence Framework
• Advice for Aspiring VC’s

And much more.... Please Enjoy!

You can find Samara on her Linkedin & Twitter and Chingona Ventures on Linkedin, Twitter, and their website.

Samara’s Organization Recommendations: Chicago:Blend, Angeles Investors, and Latinx VC.

Konrad Waliszewski is the CEO & Co-Founder of Tripscout - the #1 ranked trip planning app and a Top 5 content app in the AppStore with millions of users, 15M+ Instagram followers, and $6m raised in venture capital. He has visited approximately 100 countries and Forbes named him “the modern day Marco Polo.” Positioned at the intersection of consumer trends and travel tech, Konrad is a regular speaker and commentator on major media outlets about the future of travel.

Vic Pascucci is the Managing Partner of Energy Capital Ventures, a Venture Fund dedicated to the natural gas industry's ESG imperatives and digital transformation. They provide the newest ideas and technological advances to the natural gas market by investing in category-defining companies.

In this episode, we covered:

• State of ESG Investing
• Transitioning from Law to VC
• The Need for Curiosity in Venture
• Fundraising in 2021

And much more.... Please Enjoy!

You can find Vic on his Linkedin & Twitter and Energy Capital Ventures on Linkedin, Twitter, and their website.

Manifold Group is a venture holding company based in Chicago with offices in Dallas, Los Angeles, and soon Atlantic Canada. Early stage private investments represent an extraordinary investment opportunity, but existing investment models in the space leave much to be desired.Manifold is a new model for growth in the new economy, designed to create and capture value at the early stage through synergies across its venture fund, incubation and acceleration studio, and advisory firm. Learn more about Manifold at https://www.manifold.group.

We have hit the official 6-month mark on the show. We decided to round up the most downloaded episodes and my personal favorite moments from each of those episodes. I think the following excerpts do a good job of encapsulating the amazing and brilliant people that I have been lucky to interview in the past 6 months.

This episode features:

• Ezra Galston @ Starting Line (2:48)
• Trey Calver @ Michael Best (6:06)
• Jackson Bubala @ Motivate Venture Capital (8:46)
• Ari Perlin @ Vaizian (19:56)
• Joe Dwyer @ Manifold Group (22:09)
• Jackie Dimonte @ Chicago Ventures (31:28)
• Rick Desai @ Listen Ventures (36:55)
• Gale Wilkinson @ Vitalize Venture Capital (39:19)
• Cristin Pacifico @ TechNexus (41:16)
• Ira Weiss @ Hyde Park Venture Partners (46:25)
• Jason Heltzer @ Origin Ventures (49:30)
• Kathleen Brown @ buddhi (58:06)

A sincere thank you to every one of my guests over the past six months. This has been an incredible journey and I owe each and every one of you for that.

Yelena Shkolnik is a Partner at Jump Capital, a venture capital firm concentrating in Series A/B and growth stage investments, with a thesis-driven and sector-focused approach. Jump makes data-driven technology investments in the FinTech, B2B SaaS, IT Infrastructure, and Media industries.

In this episode, we covered:

• Her Dreamworks background and a walk down Hollywood
• Jump Capital and their thematics driven Thesis 
• The recipe for innovation
• Sports betting (and generational differences)

And much more.... Please Enjoy!

You can find Yelena on her Linkedin & Twitter and Jump Capital on Linkedin, Twitter, and their website.

Manifold Group is a venture holding company based in Chicago with offices in Dallas, Los Angeles, and soon Atlantic Canada. Early stage private investments represent an extraordinary investment opportunity, but existing investment models in the space leave much to be desired.Manifold is a new model for growth in the new economy, designed to create and capture value at the early stage through synergies across its venture fund, incubation and acceleration studio, and advisory firm. Learn more about Manifold at https://www.manifold.group.