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First Funders
First Funders episodes
- 04: 3x tech founder turned seed VC brings a founder mindset to startup investing - Amit Kumar, Accel
Amit Kumar, former founder and angel investor, is a generalist venture capitalist at Accel focused on dev tools, healthcare, and fintech startups. Twitter acquired Amit’s third company, and it was then that he realized his true purpose was supporting startup founders, and he shifted to venture capital. Amit shares insightful stories and lessons learned from 8 years of early-stage investing out of a large, top-tier VC fund.
Amit writes checks of $2M to $4M as the lead and first institutional seed investor.
Highlights from our discussion:
- How Amit frames venture capital as a long game
- Why Amit considers himself a “co-founder as a service,” and how that serves his startup community
- The right way to think about deal setup for successful early-stage investing
- Why the problem slide in your pitch deck is most important
This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
Topics
- (00:00) - 04: Amit Kumar - Accel
- (00:16) - A startup idea seed investors will definitely say NO to (but maybe Shark Tank will take it)
- (03:35) - Amit Kumar - seed investor and First Funder at Accel
- (05:17) - Amit's Transition to Accel and the Power of Networking
- (07:38) - How Amit learned about angel investing - friends, conferences, and meetups
- (08:47) - What does it look like when a VC firm recruits you as a potential founder? Potential partner?
- (12:14) - Angel investing as risk diversification and knowledge sharing, especially for existing startup founders
- (13:56) - Venture capitalists can provide "co-founders as a service"
- (17:21) - How Amit chose between being a founder again and investing full-time
- (20:06) - Amit's first investment, and how past founder relationships build trust
- (22:23) - Startups that don't go public in 7 years - does that hurt your model and LP relationships?
- (24:11) - Conviction, not consensus - but what builds trust among GPs when startup investing?
- (26:30) - Startup valuations: Amit's venture capital POV and moving targets in 2024
- (28:37) - How does a large early-stage VC think about follow-on investments and the number of startups to fund?
- (31:57) - Taking bigger risks earlier
- (34:49) - How startup investors consider incumbents in a space when assessing competition and exits
- (36:24) - Headway, and what Amit has learned about identifying good startup investments in new markets
- (42:05) - How to think about thesis investing, conflicts of interest, and competing startups
- (45:14) - How Amit thinks about return profiles and seed investing today
- (48:08) - What founder and market signals does a venture capitalist look for?
- (50:39) - How to get on the Midas List - it's the fundamentals
- (51:47) - A movie you must see to understand venture capital and startup investing matters
- (54:15) - Takeaways from Amit Kumar's First Funder approach
- (01:01:18) - Outro
Connect with Us
Follow the First Funders Podcast
Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
Twitter/X @shaherose
Twitter/X @avirani
Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
1 hr 2 min - 03: Angel vs VC, finding purpose and community in startup investing - Rachel Sheinbein
Rachel Sheinbein is an angel investor with over 250 startup investments. She shares her insights on angel investing and how it allows her to work with founders “even before the seed stage,” writing $25k checks into technology startups through her vehicle Very Serious Ventures. Later, Rachel discusses how building a community drives her investing strategy and lessons from memorable startup investments. Shaherose and Aamir kick off the show with a special message for founders who like to argue and end with their personal takeaways from the conversation with Rachel.
Highlights from our discussion:
- Why Rachel chose angel investing over a partner position at a VC firm
- What to look for in a quality angel group
- Using a DAF to align with an investing purpose
- Detecting founder passion and coachability
- Defining your purpose
This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
Topics
- (00:00) - 03: Rachel Sheinbein, Angel
- (01:14) - PSA: Your startup's users know more than Aamir the angel investor does
- (02:51) - Rachel Sheinbein, angel investor and advisor
- (04:56) - From engineering to venture capital to angel investing
- (07:28) - Do angel groups and angel networks provide value to startup investors?
- (13:23) - How Rachel aligns purpose and philanthropy with her early-stage startup investing
- (16:08) - Rachel's first angel investment was in a gaming startup
- (19:17) - Investor experience, startup luck, and Sequoia
- (21:49) - How does an angel investor like Rachel measure bad outcomes in startup investments?
- (24:53) - How angel investors operate differs from venture capitalists
- (29:47) - Pitch decks - do they matter when seed investing so early?
- (33:45) - Startup founder signals that matter to an angel investor
- (40:47) - A climate tech seed investment that paid off quickly and returned funds
- (46:39) - Very Serious Ventures angel invests $25k super early in founders
- (48:51) - An exercise to help you become a better angel investor
- (51:04) - Speed round, and the best book on strategy for startup founders
- (52:59) - Our takeaways on better startup investing
Connect with Us
Follow the First Funders Podcast
Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
Twitter/X @shaherose
Twitter/X @avirani
Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
1 hr 4 min - 02: 300 startup investments, 500 LPs, sharp elbows - Jenny Fielding, Everywhere Ventures
Jenny Fielding, a pre-seed investor and angel with 300 early-stage startup investments, discusses investing in FinTech, hard tech, and consumer spaces over the past decade. From studying law to working in finance to leaving it all to found not just one but two startups, Jenny brings a founder-operator mindset to her fund, Everywhere Ventures. She writes pre-seed and seed-stage checks for $50k to $250k.
Highlights from our discussion:- Jenny’s first seed investment and its fast, huge outcome
- Her simple evaluation framework for startup companies and their founders
- The way larger funds can screw early angel investors
- Everywhere Ventures’ latest seed investment comes out of stealth
- A yearly ritual to become a better angel and startup investor
This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
Topics
- (00:00) - 02: Jenny Fielding - Everywhere Ventures
- (03:07) - How does Shaherose know Jenny?
- (04:17) - Jenny's Journey into Investing
- (05:10) - Why did Jenny choose the investor side of the table?
- (08:27) - How did Jenny land her first investment (which went big!)?
- (11:02) - How does Jenny evaluate companies?
- (15:39) - How Jenny categorizes companies and check sizes
- (17:49) - How an angel investment went public and yet Jenny got nothing
- (25:18) - How does Jenny maintain authentic relationships while seed investing?
- (29:38) - Seed investors promise access to founders - does it matter?
- (33:39) - Jenny's successful seed investment in a Blockchain company - for real!
- (37:53) - Angel invest and chill? What signals help assess your investment early?
- (39:26) - How Jenny seed invests and then helps with future fundraising
- (40:46) - Using secondaries to generate returns and lower risk
- (44:18) - Pre-Seed fund return profiles - what's the goal and reality?
- (46:14) - Jenny and Everywhere seed invest in the "table stakes economy"
- (47:21) - What is the difference between pre-seed and seed startup investment rounds?
- (48:56) - Does valuation discipline matter for early angel and seed investors?
- (51:44) - Jenny's latest seed investment: Fora comes out of stealth
- (53:47) - Jenny's one trick to become better at startup investing
- (55:43) - How Jenny partners with Scott to make investment decisions
- (57:00) - Jenny's hot takes
- (58:21) - Takeaways from the interview
Connect with Us
Follow the First Funders Podcast
Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
Twitter/X @shaherose
Twitter/X @avirani
Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
1 hr 8 min - 01: State of Venture Capital 2024 with Arjun Arora
We're all discussing current market conditions - valuations, AI hype, fundraising challenges... Before we kick off our planned interview series on First Funders, we sat down with our friend Arjun Arora to discuss the Trends in Venture Capital 2024. As investors, we always look ahead, making this a great way to start 2024.
Highlights from our discussion:
- What to expect in round sizes and valuations
- Anticipated returns from the AI hype
- The significance of data-driven decision-making for VCs
- The rise of hyper-specialized funds
You can read the full report here: https://www.arjundarora.com/trends-report
This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.Topics
- (00:00) - 01: State of Venture Capital 2024 - Arjun Arora
- (00:49) - Guest: Arjun Arora on the State of Venture Capital 2024
- (01:24) - Arjun's Founder Background
- (03:03) - Format One and how they help founders
- (04:41) - Are Mega-deals only happening in AI?
- (06:07) - How should early-stage investors consider exit strategy?
- (08:02) - Is AI coming for venture capitalists?
- (10:36) - Social signals inform investors about founders AND teams
- (11:51) - Later-stage investors use prior investors as a signal
- (13:57) - Are crowd-funded companies legit investments?
- (16:01) - Do funds focused on a niche limit returns and increase risk?
- (22:25) - Don't go chasing Unicorns?
- (26:41) - Where's crypto and blockchain?
- (27:27) - Do founders want to do one-and-done raises?
- (29:17) - Can seed funds less power law, higher average outcomes?
- (31:45) - Will AI generate returns for investors?
- (33:35) - Advice for founders in this market environment
- (35:21) - Key Take aways: What we learned from Arjun's report for our own seed investing strategies
- (43:00) - Outro
Connect with Us
Follow the First Funders Podcast
Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
Twitter/X @shaherose
Twitter/X @avirani
Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
44 min - About the Hosts: How they got into Seed and Angel Investing
Before you dive into our archives or the next episode, learn about First Funders and its hosts, Shaherose Charania and Aamir Virani.
You'll hear about Shaherose's background as a startup builder turned VC who started as a product marketer and how she started Women 2.0, a startup ecosystem, and Founder Labs, a tech incubator. She also reviews her time at Nike, where she built their first incubator, and her role as an angel investor and now Venture Partner at Cake Ventures.
Aamir then shares his experience as an engineer turned product management leader at Dropcam, which was acquired by Google/Nest, and then his turn as a venture capitalist at Felicis Ventures. Why did he end up back as an angel investor and operator? What types of investments does he look for now?
This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
Topics
- (00:00) - About the Hosts and their Angel and Seed Investing backgrounds
- (01:13) - How Shaherose went from operating to building Women 2.0 to funding startups
- (03:26) - Aamir's Journey from Founder to VC to Angel Investor
- (06:06) - Outro
Connect with Us
Follow the First Funders Podcast
Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
Twitter/X @shaherose
Twitter/X @avirani
Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
7 min - Coming Soon - a podcast for Angels and Venture Capitalists who write first checks
Coming soon.
First Funders is a podcast for the Angels and Venture Capitalists who write first checks.
Co-hosted by Shaherose Charania, startup builder turned VC.
And Aamir Virani, founder turned angel investor.
In each episode, you'll hear from angel and seed-stage VCs who wrote the first checks into startups that made it.
- How did these investors find these opportunities?
- How did they gain conviction?
- How did they decide to make a bet?
- And what can you learn from their journey?
Sharpen your theses and make better investments by hearing from the First Funders about their successful investments.
This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
Connect with Us
Follow the First Funders Podcast
Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
Twitter/X @shaherose
Twitter/X @avirani
Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
1 min
About First Funders
From the publisher's feed
How first checks get written. What it takes to earn them.
First Funders goes inside the minds of the investors who back founders before anyone else believes in them, and the founders bold enough to make that pitch.
Each episode, host Shaherose Charania, Partner at Unshackled Ventures and a 20-year veteran of the startup ecosystem, sits down with angels, pre-seed investors, and operators-turned-VCs for candid, tactical conversations. Guests include partners from First Round Capital, Accel, Precursor Ventures, Climate Capital, Hustle Fund, and beyond.
We cover how investors are building conviction in an era where AI is reshaping every sector, what they look for before traction exists, and the frameworks behind their best bets. Whether you're writing first checks or trying to earn one, this is your inside track.