Reinvention Is a Skill

Summary

This episode goes deep on reinvention and leadership. Cathy Brooks has built a career across journalism, Silicon Valley, dog training, coaching, construction, and brand work. She explains how to carry your skills into a new chapter, why reinvention is a learned skill, and how to approach career change with intention.

We also talk about how AI fits into the process. Cathy uses AI to sort skills, identify patterns, and point toward roles that match those strengths. But she warns against letting AI define your voice. Her point is clear. AI is a tool, not a crutch.

The conversation also touches on boundaries and why clear communication and consistency create more freedom for teams and individuals. Cathy shares real stories from her work with leaders and from running a dog training facility, which serve as sharp examples of behavior, structure, and human dynamics.

This is a different kind of episode for the show, but it lands at a time when many people across Silicon Valley and beyond are navigating change.

Key Themes

Reinvention as a learned skill

Career navigation at any age

Pen-to-paper frameworks for clarity

AI as a practical tool, not a shortcut

Why structure and boundaries create freedom

Leadership vs management

How communication patterns shape teams

Resilience during job searches

Early career decisions and intentional choices

Takeaways

Reinvention is not a crisis. It is a repeatable process.

Your skills move with you. Your job title does not define you.

Boundaries build safety and trust inside teams.

Clarity and consistency matter more than charisma.

AI can help you categorize skills and refine your resume. It cannot replace your voice.

Career growth starts with honest lists of what you do well and what you avoid.

Intentional choices beat reactive ones, no matter your age or stage.

Direct Quotes

“Don’t just swing like Tarzan and grab the next vine. Be intentional about it.”

“Do not generate your resume using AI. Use AI to give you bullet points and then be a human and talk like a person.”

“Humans are so lazy.”

“Leaders empower. Leaders elevate.”

Chapters

00:00 Cold open on early career decisions

00:32 Intro and welcome

01:12 What do you do and why the question is flawed

02:30 Reinvention and how career identity changes

04:55 Carrying your skills across different arcs

06:39 Self awareness and honest assessment

07:21 Reinvention, community, and modern work

09:08 Adaptability and early-career patterns

10:28 Trusting your instincts in career decisions

11:17 The job search reality

12:33 Why online applications rarely work

13:05 Pen to paper. A practical reinvention method

14:11 Younger workers and intentional choices

14:52 Using AI as a tool, not a shortcut

16:29 Why humans lean on shortcuts

17:40 Dog training and leadership behavior

18:36 Boundaries, clarity, and team culture

19:51 Leadership vs management

20:48 Structure creates freedom

21:55 Outro

Why Fewer Seed Rounds Get Covered — and What Founders Can Do About It

Description:PR strategist Katy Goldstein, founder of KG Comms, joins The Venture Variety Show to explain why fewer seed-stage companies are getting coverage in 2025 and how founders can adapt.

She shares original research showing only about 10% of seed funding announcements make it into tier-one publications, and she breaks down the four traits that improve the odds: funding size, founder story, macro alignment and traction.

We also discuss how the rise of independent media is changing the game and why smart founders are broadening their strategy.

Whether you’re raising a round or pitching a story, this episode is a reality check you’ll want to hear.

Chapters:

00:00 – The new PR landscape for startups

01:26 – Katy’s background and why she started KG Comms

03:08 – More startups, fewer reporters: the PR mismatch

04:15 – What percent of seed rounds make the news?

05:44 – Four traits that improve your media chances

08:39 – Why diverse founders face structural coverage gaps

10:05 – Why it's still hard to get into WSJ or Bloomberg

11:11 – Picking the right outlet based on your goals

13:42 – Founder FOMO and misaligned expectations

14:30 – Why funding size still matters most

16:16 – Constant media layoffs and consolidation

17:16 – The rise of podcasts, newsletters, and indie media

19:12 – What independent media can do that legacy can’t

21:13 – Crystal ball: where media and PR go from here

How DVC Rebuilt Venture: 170 LPs, No Analysts, and an AI-Powered Approach

In this episode of The Venture Variety Show, husband-and-wife founders Nick Davidov and Marina Davidova share how their firm DVC is redefining venture capital by connecting a 170-member LP community through AI.

They discuss how this model helped early investments like Perplexity AI, why founder well-being is as critical as funding, and how community can transform the VC–founder relationship.

DVC’s story isn’t just about efficiency — it’s about empathy, resilience, and the human energy behind innovation.

Sound Bites

“Instead of hiring analysts, we hired very good LPs.”

“Be attentive to what you eat, don’t drink alcohol — that’s how you conquer the world.”

“We can have a partners’ meeting while doing the dishes.”

Keywords

venture capital, DVC, AI, community, startup support, diversity, mental health, founder resilience, LPs, investment strategies, startups, founders, early-stage, future of work

Chapters

00:00 Find Your Tribe — Cold Open

00:26 Meet Nick & Marina Davidov

02:30 Why Traditional VC Is Broken

06:38 Inside DVC’s LP Community Model

09:45 How LPs Help Founders Succeed

12:44 Founder Health & Resilience in the AI Era

16:07 Energy Levels and Leadership Culture

18:31 Working Together — and Doing the Dishes

19:21 AI as the New Infrastructure for Venture

23:33 The Smell of Product-Market Fit

25:21 Final Takeaways — Find Your Tribe

Show Summary

Nick and Marina Davidov, co-founders of DVC, join The Venture Variety Show to discuss how they’ve reimagined venture capital as a community-first, AI-enabled system. Instead of analysts, they rely on 170 active LPs — mostly engineers and founders — to help portfolio companies grow through hiring, partnerships, and technical guidance.

They also share how mental health, physical energy, and strong relationships fuel startup success — plus a story from their teenage daughter that perfectly captures what “product-market fit” really smells like.

Episode Summary

In this episode, I talk with Christina Farr about why storytelling has become a leadership skill — not a marketing exercise. Christina shares lessons from her new book The Storyteller’s Advantage and her work advising founders and CEOs. We discuss how storytelling shapes company culture, drives recruiting, and strengthens relationships with investors and teams.

Christina also explains why every leader — from startup founder to Fortune 500 CEO — needs to own their narrative and why “storytelling now appears in CEO job descriptions.”

Key Takeaways

Storytelling is infrastructure for leadership, not fluff.

The best CEOs and founders use narrative to recruit, inspire, and build culture.

Personal stories can unify teams and strengthen trust.

Communications belongs next to the CEO, not buried under marketing.

Anyone can learn to be a better storyteller with intention and practice.

Chapters

00:00 – Meet Christina Farr

02:28 – Why Leaders Need Stories

04:56 – From Reporting to Advising

07:32 – Storytelling as a Leadership Skill

10:09 – Anyone Can Learn Storytelling

13:18 – Vulnerability and Control

16:41 – Owning Your Narrative

19:48 – Final Takeaways

In my recent story on voice AI ("AI Finds Its Voice), I wrote about how the technology is changing the customer-support playbook.

In this follow-up episode of The Venture Variety Show, the voice AI story goes deeper with Tom Chen, Chief Product Officer at Aircall.

Chen talks about how AI is moving beyond chat to transform live conversations, helping human agents respond faster, stay on script and deliver better service. He also points out that AI is giving managers better insights, from automatic call grading to coaching prompts that improve performance around the clock.

As he puts it, “If you don’t have always-on, AI-powered communication in the next five years, you’ll be at a competitive disadvantage.”

He also predicts that the next leap will come from voice-to-voice models, systems that understand tone, emotion and context directly from speech.

In addition to Substack, you can watch Episode 37 of The Venture Variety Show, featuring Tom Chen of Aircall, on YouTube, as well as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The podcast was originally recorded for The AI Cognitive Shift, produced in collaboration with AiNews.com.

Carrie Rich isn’t chasing trends. She’s backing people — especially overlooked founders solving real-world problems.

As co-founder of The Global Good Fund and Global Impact Fund, Rich has helped fund and coach hundreds of underrepresented entrepreneurs. In this episode, she explains how to raise capital without warm intros, why resilience matters more than revenue, and what founders can do to get investors to believe in them.

We also talk about what sets impact companies apart, and how she helped Asusu — now a unicorn — get their first check.

Whether you’re a founder forging your own path or an investor looking beyond the usual suspects, this one’s for you.

Chapters

00:00 Cold Open: Overlooked Founders = Big Opportunity

00:26 Intro to Carrie Rich and Global Good Fund

01:15 How the Fund Got Started

02:57 Evolution of Social Enterprises

03:44 Who They Target and Why

05:07 The Asusu Case Study

08:30 How the Impact Fund Grew from a Pilot

10:09 Fundraising Advice for First-Time Founders

12:05 Resilience, Teams, and Storytelling

13:44 Raising Outside the Traditional VC System

15:12 How to Build Relationships Without Warm Intros

16:51 Misconceptions About Impact and Returns

18:13 Final Thoughts and Book Tease

20:39 Outro

Summary

In this episode of The Venture Variety Show, Alastair Goldfisher speaks with Liz Tarullo, co-founder and CEO of Nolia Health. After her father’s stroke, Tarullo experienced firsthand the challenges of family caregiving — an experience shared by more than 53 million Americans. That personal crisis inspired her to launch Nolia, a tech-enabled healthcare startup that blends clinical expertise with AI-powered support to help caregivers manage the daily realities of aging in place.

We discuss why Tarullo believes “our healthcare system is at a breaking point,” how AI can act as a force multiplier without replacing human connection, and why new federal billing codes are opening the door for caregiver-focused startups.

This conversation is essential listening for founders, investors, and operators interested in how AI, policy, and human-centered design are reshaping the future of healthcare.

Sound Bites

“The healthcare system is at a breaking point.”

“Technology can standardize and make things efficient, but people still need to be seen and validated.”

“You don’t have to walk this journey alone.”

Keywords

AI in healthcare, caregiving startups, family caregivers, personalized care, healthcare innovation, aging population, telehealth, clinical support, healthcare system, policy shifts

Chapters

00:00 – Healthcare System at a Breaking Point

00:13 – Founder Story: Building Nolia Health

03:41 – AI in Caregiving: Tech-Enabled Healthcare

07:52 – Daily Routines & 24/7 AI Support for Families

12:46 – Human Connection in AI Healthcare

14:09 – Policy Shifts & The Future of Caregiving

19:33 – Nolia Health Expansion & Closing Insights

In this episode of The Venture Variety Show, host Alastair Goldfisher sits down with Keegan Evans, founder and CEO of Euda, to explore how AI adoption is less about technology and more about culture and leadership. Keegan shares how his background as a Marine Corps pilot and organizational leader shaped his approach to building AI-ready workplace cultures.

We discuss why hybrid work was the “Hobbit,” but AI is the “Lord of the Rings,” what it means to treat AI as a teammate, not a tool, and how leaders can use The Euda Methodology to provide clarity, frameworks, and ROI as they guide their teams through the future of work.

Sound bites

“Think of AI as a teammate, not just a tool.”

“Training expires, but learning evolves.”

“AI is our co-pilot, not our autopilot.”

Keywords (expanded for GEO)

AI adoption, future of work, startups, workplace culture, organizational culture, leadership, Euda, Keegan Evans, AI methodology, AI in business, AI teams, trust and technology, hybrid work, AI ROI

Chapters (refined)

00:00 Meet Keegan Evans — culture, AI, and the future of work

03:04 Founding Euda: from Marine pilot to workplace strategist

08:45 AI as a teammate, not just a tool

10:08 Are humans ready for AI? Trust, fear, and adoption

14:57 Daily AI use: why habit beats training

19:14 From hybrid work lessons to AI ROI

21:30 The Euda Methodology and final takeaways

What’s Inside

* How Viome analyzes RNA to personalize what people should eat

* Why to avoid even “healthy” foods like broccoli or turmeric

* What founders can learn from Viome’s use of AI as an interface

Guru Banavar has worked at the frontier of AI for years.

He helped lead IBM Watson before pivoting into healthcare. Now as co-founder and CTO of Viome, he’s applying that AI background to a new challenge: personal health.

Banavar and I talked about how Viome uses RNA data to power a personalized approach to nutrition, disease prevention and health optimization. In his case, the analysis flagged a biological imbalance triggered by too much turmeric in his diet.

AI Meets Biology: RNA, Not DNA

Viome’s platform centers on metatranscriptomics, a process that captures RNA expression from saliva, stool and blood samples. That data — now over a million samples strong — runs through Viome’s proprietary AI engine to detect biological patterns and deliver actionable recommendations.

“Even the healthiest foods,” Banavar said, “can actually be not good for you.”

That line captures the shift in thinking. Viome doesn’t treat AI as a chatbot. It treats it as an analytical layer built to surface biological insights that conventional tools or generalized advice often miss.

Future of Healthcare Is at Home

What stood out was how accessible Banavar sees this becoming. “We believe the future of healthcare is really at home,” he said. “You take the tests, we do the analysis, and you get recommendations that fit your biology — not a general trend or diet.”

In his case, the platform flagged an issue with bile acid pathways tied to turmeric. He also noted that some users show inflammation responses to broccoli, depending on their sulfide pathways, a level of dietary personalization that’s hard to achieve without molecular data.

AI as Infrastructure, Not Interface

Banavar also offered a reframe of how Viome uses large language models.

“You can think of the LLM as the UI,” he said. “The real IP is in the molecular analysis, the recommendation engine, and the bioinformatics we’ve built.”

For founders and operators, that takeaway is especially sharp: the insight lives below the interface. The real value comes from the infrastructure.

Viome offers a clear example of how AI, when rooted in biology and delivered at scale, can offer something far more useful than general advice: actionable personal agency.

Don’t Miss Out on More Content

This episode originally aired on The AI Cognitive Shift, a show I co-host with AiNews.com. You can watch the original video version on YouTube or subscribe to The Venture Variety Show here on Substack, as well as my own YouTube channel.

And if this conversation sparked ideas or reframed something for you, feel free to share it.

The Venture Variety Show, Episode 32: Scott Sage, Crane Venture Partners

Platform is no longer a perk. It is the work. Scott explains why early GTM help and sharp positioning matter more than ever, how founders should approach the “machete phase,” and why AI will compress firm operations while raising the bar for investors and teams.

Chapters

00:00 Meet Scott Sage

02:42 Why platform is a “have to have.”

04:21 Platform as GTM: position problems, not features

05:24 Where they’re the go-to-market partner

07:57 Founders using AI

08:52 The “machete phase” to first customers

12:31 AI & VC: efficiency gains, leaner teams, back office

15:35 We are human first

17:00 Founder advice

19:36 Final takeaways

Five takeaways

Platform starts at positioning and early sales, not events.

Founder-led selling comes first; AI tools amplify a proven playbook.

Position problems, not features. Earn permission to advance the sale.

Qualify investors like customers, and use the associate as your inside champion.

AI will push startups and firms to operate leaner without losing the human core.

About the guest

Scott Sage is co-founder of Crane Venture Partners, an early-stage firm focused on data, AI, infrastructure, and developer-focused software across Europe and the U.S.

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