Venture Vignettes

In today’s episode Riana Shah chats with Rashad Moore, an investor who is changing the way capital gets allocated to entrepreneurs.. Rashad was a software engineer by trade, but found his way into the entrepreneurial world after moving to Washington D.C. He began his career by coding for companies in the defense industry and eventually started his own defense contract company, Software Theoretic Corp. After selling his company to a PE firm, he became more involved in investment and venture capital. Now, he is the Founder and Managing Partner of Score 3 (S3) Angels. S3 Angels is an angel network focused on funding African American, Latino, and women-lead high-growth tech startups and aims to change the landscape of venture capital and entrepreneurship. Listen to how he utilized his expertise in company-building and coding to parlay that into the entrepreneurial scene and his thoughts on building a business today.

Ever wonder how to make change from your current career to a totally different one? This week on Venture Vignettes, host Riana Shah speaks with Justin Davis on how to transition into investment from a radically different industry. Justin Davis was formerly a professional basketball player who played in Europe and for the NBA. Now, he’s a portfolio manager at REDF, a venture philanthropy organization, where he oversees investments and is a part of the impact lending team, helping identify and support new lending opportunities. Before joining REDF, he got his MSX degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business and was a Community Engagement Officer at the Kapor Center for Social Impact, where he developed and led multiple initiatives that introduced youth of color to computer programming and tech careers. Listen to how Justin made the transition from playing basketball to tapping into his passion to help people, organizations, and companies.

Ever wonder how to make change from your current career to a totally different one? This week on Venture Vignettes, host Riana Shah speaks with Justin Davis on how to transition into investment from a radically different industry. Justin Davis was formerly a professional basketball player who played in Europe and for the NBA. Now, he’s a portfolio manager at REDF, a venture philanthropy organization, where he oversees investments and is a part of the impact lending team, helping identify and support new lending opportunities. Before joining REDF, he got his MSX degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business and was a Community Engagement Officer at the Kapor Center for Social Impact, where he developed and led multiple initiatives that introduced youth of color to computer programming and tech careers. Listen to how Justin made the transition from playing basketball to tapping into his passion to help people, organizations, and companies.

In this podcast, Riana, Erin, and McKeever discuss the components that are important to building a diverse ecosystem of entrepreneurs and the role of governmental offices of economic development and innovation. Erin Horne McKinney is the co-founder of Black Female Founders (#BFF) and KissIntel mobile app. She was previously a Senior Advisor on Innovation and Entrepreneurship to D.C.’s Deputy Mayor for Greater Economic Opportunity (DMGEO). McKeever Conwell II is the Deal Team Lead at TEDCO (Technology Development Corporation of Maryland). Previously, he worked as a government contractor for the Department of Defense doing software development before joining TEDCO.

In this podcast, Riana, Erin, and McKeever discuss the components that are important to building a diverse ecosystem of entrepreneurs and the role of governmental offices of economic development and innovation. Erin Horne McKinney is the co-founder of Black Female Founders (#BFF) and KissIntel mobile app. She was previously a Senior Advisor on Innovation and Entrepreneurship to D.C.’s Deputy Mayor for Greater Economic Opportunity (DMGEO). McKeever Conwell II is the Deal Team Lead at TEDCO (Technology Development Corporation of Maryland). Previously, he worked as a government contractor for the Department of Defense doing software development before joining TEDCO.

This week, Venture Vignettes host Riana Shah sat down with Stephanie Lampkin, CEO of Blendoor. Stephanie graduated from Stanford with a BS in Management Science and Engineering in 2006 and later received her MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Hear how her experiences working in Silicon Valley tech companies led her to create and build Blendoor, a software designed to mitigate unconscious bias in the hiring process by tracking recruits based demographics in the hiring pipeline and identifying where and how bias happens. Stephanie has been on the cover of the The Atlantic, MIT Technology Review, and was called the next Steve Jobs by Barack Obama. In this episode you will learn about raising angel funding and telling your story to garner media attention.

This week, Venture Vignettes host Riana Shah sat down with Stephanie Lampkin, CEO of Blendoor. Stephanie graduated from Stanford with a BS in Management Science and Engineering in 2006 and later received her MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Hear how her experiences working in Silicon Valley tech companies led her to create and build Blendoor, a software designed to mitigate unconscious bias in the hiring process by tracking recruits based demographics in the hiring pipeline and identifying where and how bias happens. Stephanie has been on the cover of the The Atlantic, MIT Technology Review, and was called the next Steve Jobs by Barack Obama. In this episode you will learn about raising angel funding and telling your story to garner media attention.

Venture Vignette’s guest this week is Sampriti Ganguli, Arabella Advisors’ chief executive officer. Sampriti leads Arabella Advisors, a mission-driven, Certified B Corporation that has provided strategic guidance on over $100 billion in assets to increase their clients’ philanthropic impact. Arabella helps foundations, philanthropists, and investors who are serious about their impact achieve the greatest good with their resources. Prior to her leadership at Arabella, Sampriti worked as Executive Director at the Corporate Executive Board, a corporate best-practice research firm in Washington D.C. Sampriti is originally from India, grew up in the Philippines, and has been in the United States since arriving for her undergraduate years at Swarthmore College from where she holds a B.A. She also earned an M.A. in international affairs from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and an M.B.A from the Wharton School of Management. In this episode, Riana and Sampriti have a heart-to-heart about her work leading Arabella and preparing for executive leadership throughout one’s professional career.

Venture Vignette’s guest this week is Sampriti Ganguli, Arabella Advisors’ chief executive officer. Sampriti leads Arabella Advisors, a mission-driven, Certified B Corporation that has provided strategic guidance on over $100 billion in assets to increase their clients’ philanthropic impact. Arabella helps foundations, philanthropists, and investors who are serious about their impact achieve the greatest good with their resources. Prior to her leadership at Arabella, Sampriti worked as Executive Director at the Corporate Executive Board, a corporate best-practice research firm in Washington D.C. Sampriti is originally from India, grew up in the Philippines, and has been in the United States since arriving for her undergraduate years at Swarthmore College from where she holds a B.A. She also earned an M.A. in international affairs from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and an M.B.A from the Wharton School of Management. In this episode, Riana and Sampriti have a heart-to-heart about her work leading Arabella and preparing for executive leadership throughout one’s professional career.

Host Riana Shah sat down with Alan Chiu, a partner at XSeed Capital to talk about product design and engineering. Alan has a computer engineering background and holds a MS in Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was a Sloan Fellow focused on entrepreneurship, venture capital, and mergers and acquisitions. He has previously worked as an engineering manager at a network security start-up and director of product management, before joining XSeed Capital as a partner investing in mobile enterprise applications, data analytics platforms, enterprise infrastructure, and fintech startups. In this conversation Riana and Alan chat about product design, getting an edge over your competitors, and knowing when to quit working on an idea.