This Ideas to Invoices podcast looks at early stage funding in Austin, Texas.

It features an interview with Mike Smerklo and Tom Ball, co-founders of Next Coast Ventures, an Austin-based Venture Capital Firm that invests in early stage companies. Next Coast Ventures closed on a $85 million fund last month.

One of the things that sets them apart from other VC firms is that both Smerklo and Ball are experienced entrepreneurs who have taken a startup from idea stage to exit.

Before launching Next Coast, Smerklo ran ServiceSource and took it from a small startup to a public company with more than 3,000 employees. Ball was a general partner with Austin Ventures for a decade. But he also founded Tahoe Domains and Co-founded Openfield and Razorgator Interactive and founded eCoupons.

Smerklo received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University and a BS in Business at Miami University.

Ball received his MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and a BS in Finance at the University of Florida. He is also a Kauffman Fellow.