If Not Now Wen Podcast

In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re excited to talk with special guest Vincent Hsieh. Vince brings 25 years of relevant entrepreneurial and operating experience in the software and services sectors, including launching and growing two successful software start-ups. Today he is a partner at Cypress Growth Capital where he participates in all facets of Cypress’ investment process and actively supports portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Cypress, Vince spent 16 years starting, building and scaling two SaaS companies, Atlas RFID and Geoforce. As CFO and COO of Geoforce, Vince’s responsibilities spanned finance, operations, marketing, human resources and legal. He also led numerous debt and equity raises, international expansions, and acquisitions. He currently serves on the Boards of both Geoforce and Atlas RFID and is a frequent speaker and panelist on the topics of entrepreneurship, growth company operations, and capital strategy. Vince is a CFA charter holder, is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and holds an MBA from Duke University and BS in Economics from UC Berkeley.

Vince is an authentic people leader who is passionate about helping and supporting others. He is such an inspiration and has so much insight to share. I know you're going to love this episode and get so many amazing takeaways.

We talk about:

🔹 Why representation in leadership matters

🔹 Pivoting after facing failure

🔹 Keys to successfully raising money at different business stages

🔹 Transitioning from startup to VC world

🔹 Important tips to know before reaching out to investors

Curious to hear more from Vince and his inspiring story? Catch today’s episode right here!

My special guest in today’s episode of If Not Now Wen is Kevin Parakkattu. Kevin is a Partner at Plug and Play Ventures, where he leads the firm's Commerce, Media, and Consumer investments.

Throughout his 5 years of investing at PNP, Kevin has led seed and early-stage investments in over 30 companies including companies like BigID, MANSCAPED (filed for $1b SPAC), Madison Reed, Naadam, ZigZag Global (acq'd Global Blue) and others.

He also sits on the Innovation Advisory Board at the National Retail Federation. Prior to PNP, Kevin was an investment analyst at Centripetal Capital and a cofounder of a pure-play customer apparel business.

Kevin is such a sincere and grounded person who leads with kindness and a genuine desire to connect with the people around him. He strives to become a facilitator of opportunity and growth for others. Kevin is such an inspiration, and I know you will love this episode as much as I do.

We talk about:

🔹 How the right mentor can change the path of your future

🔹 Huge lessons learned as a VC

🔹 How Plug and Play is becoming a global scaling partner

🔹 Understanding the life cycle of a fund

🔹 Advice for entrepreneurs in today’s climate

Curious to hear more from Kevin and his inspiring story? Catch today’s episode right here!

In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re honored and excited to talk with special guest Brad Bentz, a partner at ATX Venture Partners.

Brad spent ten years as a field archaeologist working on research projects in Pakistan, Syria, Bulgaria, and the U.S. before establishing a second career as a software developer and team lead. After business school, Brad joined a boutique private equity firm and participated in over a dozen transactions involving more than $72M in equity capital. More recently, he worked at IDC and Boston Consulting Group before joining the investment team at ATX Venture Partners.

Brad is passionate about working with and supporting founders who are bringing innovation to the market, making people’s lives better, and trying to make a dent in the universe.

In this episode we talk about:

🔹 Fundraising for early-stage entrepreneurs and advice for first time founders

🔹 How to know if Venture Capital funding is the right fit for your business

🔹 The most important things potential investors are looking for

🔹 The key to success for the first 10 million dollars

🔹 How to connect with potential investors

Still the archaeologist at heart, Brad has such a thoughtful way to examine and find the next exciting superstar and to support them on the path of growing and scaling. He is such an inspiration and has so much insight to share. I know you're going to love this episode and get so many amazing takeaways. I can't wait to hear what you think!

In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re excited to talk with special guest and dear friend Nick Spiller. Nick is a veteran of the Texas startup ecosystem and one of the biggest startup supporters, personally providing advice and mentoring many amazing founders.

Nick spends most of his days helping entrepreneurs through raising capital. He works at the most active seed stage venture capital fund in Texas, Capital Factory, where they have helped their 750+ portfolio companies raise billions in venture capital plus over half a billion in non-dilutive funding from defense and government innovation groups.

Nick is a humble leader who is passionate about creating an inclusive startup ecosystem in Austin, TX and helping the people around him to grow.

We talk about:

🔹 Making Austin a better Silicon Valley

🔹 Recognizing the difference between a founder and a CEO

🔹 Utilizing a data driven curation process to connect with investors

🔹 What makes a startup fundable (or unfundable)

🔹 Building trust with investors

Nick is such an inspiration and has so much insight to share. I know you're going to love this episode and get so many amazing takeaways. I can't wait to hear what you think!

In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re excited to talk with special guest Andra Vomir. Andra is a co-founder of Efficient App, a lifestyle business that helps teams find and integrate their software stack and streamline and map their operational processes to the software. Also known as “The Efficient Girl”, Andra is passionate about helping businesses save dozens of hours a day with automation.

Andra is also a partner at Efficient VC where she angel invests in the B2B SaaS products that she’s found to be game-changing for herself and her clients.

Andra believes in optimizing life for the enjoyment of each and every day. She is such a sincere and kind person with a beautiful presence, and I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I do.

We talk about:

🔹 What it’s like to run a business with your spouse and the qualities that make it successful

🔹 The pros and cons of raising funds for your business

🔹 The top 5 software products that everyone should have

🔹 Embracing fear and dealing with imposter syndrome

🔹 Defining success and optimizing happiness

Curious to hear more from Andra and her inspiring story? Catch today’s episode right here!

My special guest in today’s episode of If Not Now Wen is Alex Bass. Alex is a founder and investor who is obsessed with product, automation, and integration. Over a decade ago, Alex Bass founded Efficient App with the goal of helping teams find and integrate their perfect software stack.

From seeing first-hand the time savings these tools resulted in, he knew he wanted to get involved on a deeper level. What started as a healthy obsession in product feedback, evolved into a budding career in angel investing.

In July 2021, his first investment was put into Motion. Over the 12 months that followed, an additional 18 startups were added to his portfolio, all with a primary focus in efficiency B2B SaaS.

Alex is passionate about creating relationships, and he creates impact through a desire to help and provide support. Alex has a transparency and authenticity that is so refreshing. He is such an inspiration, and I know you will love this episode as much as I do.

We talk about:

🔹 The power of transparency to create connections and opportunities

🔹 Focusing on supporting and building relationships

🔹 How providing product feedback led to angel investing

🔹 Getting comfortable with the unknown

🔹 Alex’s unique investing strategy

Curious to hear more from Alex and his inspiring story? Catch today’s episode right here!

In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re excited to talk with special guest Eric Engineer. Eric is a partner of S3 Ventures where he supports portfolio companies as a board member and advisor for strategic growth.

Eric was previously CEO at Invodo, an S3 Ventures portfolio company, which was acquired by CoCreativ in early 2018. Prior to Invodo, Eric was a Partner at Sevin Rosen Funds in Dallas, where he helped lead the firm’s investment in Invodo. He also worked at Microsoft, where he held a variety of roles in product management, product planning, and enterprise sales across several business units.

Eric began his career as a Sales Engineer at Trilogy Software in Austin, TX. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School as well as an MCS in Distributed Systems and a BA in Computer Science from Rice University in Houston.

Eric has the rare career experience that includes corporate, start-up, and VC. He has graduated into a recession – twice – and navigated two of the biggest bubbles in recent history. Eric is a humble and compassionate leader who strives to help others. He is such an inspiration, and I hope you enjoy his story as much as I do.

In this episode we talk about:

🔹 How a bump in the road or a detour can lead you to bigger and greater things

🔹 The unique ecosystem in Texas today and what it holds for the future  

🔹 What you need to know about venture capital

🔹 Advice for entrepreneurs during this down cycle in the economy

🔹 Tips for raising capital in today’s environment

Curious to hear more from Eric and his inspiring story? Catch today’s episode right here!

What was your biggest takeaway? Let me know in the comments below!

In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re excited to talk with special guest Cara McCarty. Cara is the Founder & CEO at Betterleave, the leading platform built to support organizations and families as they navigate grief and loss.

Prior to Betterleave, Cara co-founded Code Pilot, one of the fastest growing training & recruitment platforms for developers. Code Pilot was acquired by AngelList in 2020, the second largest talent marketplace in the world.

Cara loves to partner with founders and leaders to support complex organizational and high-growth people initiatives for successful outcomes -- including WorldFirst, Acquisition and RetailMeNot, IPO. Cara is also an Advisor for the Founder Institute, Partner at The Fund Austin, and a member of the Forbes HR Council.

In this episode we talk about:

🔹 Cara’s personal journey of inspiration

🔹 The biggest lessons learned through the acquisition process

🔹 Going from founder to corporate world and back again

🔹 Important tips for raising capital

🔹 Valuable advice for fellow entrepreneurs

Cara is a courageous leader who is passionate about supporting individuals through difficult moments. She is such an inspiration and has so much insight to share. I know you're going to love this episode and get so many amazing takeaways. I can't wait to hear what you think!

The name Wen actually means “rainbow in the sky” in Chinese. I was born and raised in a tiny mountain village in the southeast part of China. Where I grew up is a beautiful town where people are born there, live there, and die there happily. But I never saw that for myself and always dreamed that one day I would go and see the world.

Now, here I am in Austin, Texas running a global accelerator INNW Institute where our goal and our mission is to support entrepreneurs from all over the world to tell the right story to get a YES. As a young girl, I never could have even imagined that I would be where I am today.

In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, I’m sharing an interview that I did with fellow entrepreneur Wendy Shew from when we first met at the Business Capital and Exit Strategy Summit. We discuss my journey from China and my thoughts on business and life. I hope you enjoy it!

We talk about:

🔹 Living your truth in life

🔹 Overcoming barriers and societal expectations

🔹 Redefining women as entrepreneurs

🔹 Following your heart and your passion

Life is short, so you might as well do you and truly dream big because the world is waiting for you.

My special guest in today’s episode of If Not Now Wen is Justin Siegel. Justin is an entrepreneur and investor, and he is the co-founder and CEO of two successful mobile entertainment companies. The first company, JSmart Technologies, was a pioneer in mobile games. It was acquired by the SK Group in 2004. The second company, JNJ Mobile, backed by General Catalyst Partners and Softbank Capital, built one of the first mobile social networks. Today it is one of Android’s top-grossing social applications and a leading mobile platform for HTML5 games.

Justin is the founder and Managing Partner of ATX Angel, LLC, which invests in early-stage companies. He is also a Techstars mentor and advisor to Boston Seed Capital.

Justin has always known that he wanted to live a life of adventure, and he has chosen paths and ideas that he finds interesting and exciting. Justin has gone from being a French teacher and journalist to becoming an entrepreneur, investor, and mentor. He is such an inspiration, and I hope you enjoy his story as much as I do.

We talk about:

🔹 A grounded, bottoms-up approach to building business

🔹 Loving the process of what you do

🔹 Navigating from the early days of mobile games, apps, and social networks

🔹 Dealing with uncertainty and disappointment and the importance of timing

🔹 Advice for early-stage entrepreneurs

Curious to hear more from Justin and his inspiring story? Catch today’s episode right here!