Brian Wolfe is Managing Partner at Funded Ventures, a private investment firm, and is a retired partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. In addition to his teaching at Booth, Wolfe also teaches courses on private equity and entrepreneurship at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina, and previously co-led a SaaS “buy and build” with sale to private equity.Wolfe is on the board and audit committee of Chicago Public Media, the boards of Intersect Illinois, Breakthrough T1D (f/k/a JDRF) Illinois, the Greater Chicago Legal Clinic and the Skandalaris Center at Washington University in St. Louis, and is a member of the Illinois Courts Commission and the Economic Club of Chicago.

Pablo Srugo is a Partner at Mistral, based in Toronto. Prior to Mistral, Pablo was the co-founder and COO of Gymtrack– a VC-backed startup in the FitTech space. Before starting Gymtrack, Pablo co-founded an online tutoring platform, which was acquired in 2014.

Vijen Patel is the Founding Partner of The 81 Collection, a $41 million early-stage venture fund that invests in founders building across "hard industries" like manufacturing, real estate, retail, and construction—sectors often overlooked by traditional VCs.Before becoming an investor, Vijen co-founded Pressbox in 2013 with his Notre Dame classmate Drew McKenna. Starting from a 600 sq ft Chicago office, they revolutionized dry cleaning through proprietary lockers in high-end residential buildings, eliminating traditional storefronts. In just 5 years, Pressbox scaled to 1,200 locations, becoming the world's largest dry cleaner before being acquired by Procter & Gamble in 2018 for an undisclosed sum. Post-acquisition, Vijen led the company's rebranding as Tide Cleaners.Prior to entrepreneurship, Vijen worked in private equity after graduating from the University of Notre Dame. Today, through The 81 Collection—which he calls "The Founders Fund for Hard Industries"—he backs entrepreneurs using automation and AI to transform traditional, capital-intensive businesses that others find "boring" or difficult to scale.Based in Chicago, Vijen brings decades of operating experience to identifying high-margin opportunities hidden within low-margin industries, focusing on founders tackling structural inequities and unsexy but essential work.

Harry Kraemer, Jr. is the former Chairman and CEO of Baxter International, a $12 billion global healthcare company. He is currently a Clinical Professor of Leadership at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where he teaches values-based leadership and has been named Professor of the Year multiple times. Harry is also the author of four bestselling books on leadership, including From Values to Action and Your 168. He serves on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards and is widely respected for his work on leadership, ethics, and purpose.

Michael Fassnacht is President of the Chicagoland Region and Chief Growth Officer at Clayco, where he drives business development, marketing, and sales while mentoring the team. Before Clayco, he was the first-ever Chief Marketing Officer for the City of Chicago and CEO of World Business Chicago, where he led more than 400 corporate expansions and doubled the size of the economic development agency. A German native with over 20 years in Chicago, Michael also spent a decade as CEO of advertising giant FCB, launching their creative and business growth globally. Throughout his career — from Lufthansa in Germany to Silicon Valley to Chicago — he has been a passionate advocate for innovation, creativity, and the city of Chicago.

Landon W. Campbell is the General Manager for Drive Capital in Chicago, a $2.3B venture capital firm committed to investing in exceptional founders who are shaping the future of market-defining companies between the Hudson River and the Rocky Mountains. Landon oversees the firm’s $80M pre-seed fund in Chicago.

Edward Woodford is the Co-Founder and CEO of Zero Hash, a leading crypto and stablecoin infrastructure platform based in Chicago. Since founding the company in 2017, Edward has been at the forefront of transforming the global financial landscape, enabling seamless access to digital assets for companies across industries. Under his leadership, Zero Hash has raised over $170M in funding, settled over $20 billion in transactions, and onboarded more than 6 million customers globally.

TTT is the CEO of Teragonia, specializing in AI-driven analytics and value creation for PE-backed and founder-led middle-market companies. A seasoned M&A strategist with deep expertise in data science, he previously built and led Houlihan Lokey’s financial due diligence and data analytics practices. He has advised corporations, financial sponsors, and sovereign wealth funds across the transaction lifecycle, driving 8-figure EBITDA improvements through enterprise-wide analytics and AI enablement.

Duane is the Founder & Managing Partner of Author Capital Partners with 20 years of experience advising and investing in public and private companies. He serves on the boards of SilverIP Communications and ESD Global. Previously, Duane was an investment professional at BDT Capital Partners, focusing on founder- and family-led businesses, and a Private Equity Fellow at Vista Equity Partners. His career spans roles at Fireman Capital, Manasota Capital, the U.S. Treasury (TARP), and Merrill Lynch. Duane holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BBA from George Washington University. He is an Investor-in-Residence at the University of Chicago Booth School and a Board Trustee at Lake Forest Academy.

Shawn Ellis is the Managing Partner of Distributed Ventures. He co-founded and manages the fund. Prior to Distributed Ventures, Shawn built and lead NFP Ventures, a captive early-stage venture fund sponsored by NFP Corp, the diversified insurance brokerage. Shawn’s investment approach leverages diverse operational, strategic and investment experience. Previously, as President and founding team member of Zest Health, he led the company’s growth from concept to over half a million paid subscribers and partnerships with several health plans less than three years. Zest was eventually rebranded as Yaro and acquired by Virgin Pulse. Prior to Zest, Shawn focused on healthcare technology investments at 7wire Ventures. He was a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and began his career at Lazard Middle Market’s M&A practice.Shawn holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago. He is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and a board member of the Linden Foundation. --

Time stamps:[0:00 - 1:51]: Introduction[1:51 - 12:25]: Lessons from IB, strategy, and consulting[12:25 - 16:07]: How to crack into VC[16:08 - 19:47]: Tips for relationship building/networking[19:47 - 25:17]: Investing in the future of risk[25:17 - 28:33]: Thoughts on corporate venture capital[28:34 - 30:51]: Building Distributed Ventures[30:52 - 34:02]: What makes a stand-out founder[34:02 - 37:24]: Dealing with pressure & mental health[37:24 - 41:10]: Navigating burnout [41:10 - 43:15]: Being bullish on Chicago[43:16 - 45:45]: 2025 outlook