Saka's Is That So

In this episode, Saka talks to Dr Mohammed Nuru about the crossovers between finance, tech and entrepreneurship with medicine.

Dr Mohammed is currently an MD candidate at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, conducting research in the fields of Neurosurgery and Neuroscience.

He shares his knowledge within the field of medicine and how tech and finance is integrated within medicine.

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In this episode, Saka talks to Farhan Ialji about his experience with LTV capital and the building of startup companies.

Farhan is the Founder of LTV Capital who work with founders, venture capital investors, institutional and private investors globally to find the right partnerships, investments and support to build a thriving venture ecosystem that benefits all.

Previously, he was Director in the Venture Partnerships team at Anthemis, exploring venture tech and fund investments. He is also an entrepreneur in residence at King’s College London and a part-time lecturer at London Business School on managing in digital organisations.

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In this episode, Saka talks to Nihil Mehta about how 4 friends started a VC firm from scratch and about how to scale relationships and networks. They also discussed thematic vs opportunistic investing.

Nihal is a Co-Founder at Eniac Ventures and was an Angel Investor at Uber. Early in his career, he honed his ability to spot top entrepreneurial talent by investing in Admob (acquired by Google), Swiftkey (acquired by Microsoft), Tapad (acquired by Telenor), Tala, and Uber, to name a few. Nihal and his wife are now angel investors and LPs in almost 100 underrepresented founders and fund managers.

Nihal is a co-founder of the non-profit “Project Ahimsa,” providing scholarships to disadvantaged youth in India, where his parents immigrated from in the early 1970s. Nihal also recently co-founded initiatives like Help Main Street to help restaurants survive the pandemic, and The 100k Pledge, a social justice tracker of economic empowerment to Black communities

If you think you or someone you know would like to chat with Saka in an exclusive interview, please get in touch!

In this episode, Saka speaks to Ross Haleliuk all about how he leveraged content creation to become an investor

Ross is an experienced operator and product leader at LimaCharlie shaping the future of cybersecurity. He is also the author of the substack, Venture Insecurity where he writes regular blogs talking all things cybersecurity.

If you think you or someone you know would like to chat with Saka in an exclusive interview, please get in touch!

In this episode, Saka speaks to Carlos Pereira about his expertise in the crypto centric side of VC.

Carlos is a Partner at BITKRAFT Ventures based in New York. He generally focuses on crypto-centric opportunities globally, as well as expanding the funds' coverage in LatAm and India. 

Prior to joining the team, he worked at Eldridge, investing in private markets with a focus on growth equity and venture capital, especially in media and interactive entertainment. 

Originally from Brazil, Carlos is a graduate of the Political Philosophy program at University of Virginia. He is passionate about Jiu Jitsu and games.

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In this episode, Saka talks to Sarah Millar about diversity and inclusion in the VC space. 

Sarah is COO of Diversity VC and is director of VPP Operations at OhmConnect. Through her work at Diversity VC, she works with entrepreneurs, investors and universities in order to create an industry that is free from bias.

At Wharton, she held internships with two impact investors in Mexico City (IGNIA and Adobe Capital.) She also served as a consultant for multiple impact organizations, including local and global impact funds and nonprofits.

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Saka’s Is That So? is a podcast that focuses on challenging conventional norms across a range of industries including entrepreneurship, finance, tech, society and culture, to help us question things we assume as true.

In this episode, Saka talks to Ali Jamal about his origin story starting in VC and the build up to the success of him VC firm, First Check Ventures. He also talks about angel investing, which Ali does on the sidelines.

Ali has more than 10 years experience in various Product and Growth roles at companies like Zynga, RockYou, Agoda, Rappi, and most recently at PayClip (one of LatAm's fastest growing FinTech companies). He is an angel investor who has completed more than 200 deals!

He generally works for early-stage venture-backed portfolio companies of all sizes mainly focused in the Social Gaming, Consumer Internet and Enterprise Software spaces.

If you think you or someone you know would like to chat with Saka in an exclusive interview, please get in touch!

In this episode, Saka talks to Christian Facey about how his successful business venture, Audiomob, started and is running through the use of VC funding and investment.

Christian is currently the CEO and co-founder of AudioMob, the world’s first non-interrupting gaming advertising solution that allows game developers to monetize their audience via audio advertising. AudioMob, is a VC backed company and recently closed $14m in funding at a $110M valuation, with Investors such as LightSpeed Ventures, Makers Fund, Google, Supernode Global and Atomico’s / Sequoia’s angel fund.

As Founder and CEO, he is focused on creating a brand safe, flexible in-game audio ad platform that is proven to significantly elevate engagement for advertisers and revenue for publishers.

In his spare time, he is a hip-hop and jazz producer having taken recent influences from Logic and Jamiroquai, and he has long enjoyed game development.

If you think you or someone you know would like to chat with Saka in an exclusive interview, please get in touch!

In this episode, Saka talks to Darius Dale about currency trends in the world right now, along with his expert advice on institutional-grade macro risk management frameworks and processes.

Darius is the Founder & CEO of 42 Macro, an investment research firm that aims to disrupt the financial services industry. Prior to founding 42 Macro, Darius was a Managing Director and Partner at Hedgeye Risk Management, an independent investment research firm based in Stamford, CT.

Darius spent his entire childhood in and out of homeless shelters with a first-hand view of drug addiction. His humble beginnings have led him to develop a passion for social service that continues to this day as a founding member of Hedgeye Cares, as a junior board member of Domus Kids, and as co-chair of Yale Football’s 4 for 40 mentorship program.

If you think you or someone you know would like to chat with Saka in an exclusive interview, please get in touch!

In this episode, Saka talks to Rachel Ten Bink about her views as a General Partner on current venture capital trends and the ways in which she feels about venture capital whilst offering expert advice and knowledge on her niche of early stage investing and high-growth startups.

Rachel is a General Partner and co-Founder of @redbikecapital, a Latinx and woman-led Venture Capital fund based in New York that invests in early stage, high-growth startups that drive the economy and improve people’s lives. Rachel is a Founder, Investor, Board Member, and Growth Marketing expert. Prior to founding Red Bike Capital, she was Co-Founder and CMO of Scentbird, a Y-Combinator backed ecommerce startup that raised $29MM in venture funding.

If you think you or someone you know would like to chat with Saka in an exclusive interview, please get in touch!