Venture with Grace

Venture with Grace

By Grace GongBusinessInvesting
Download on the App Store

Venture with Grace episodes

  • David Shim: Revolutionizing Meetings with AI at Read

    David Shim is the Co-Founder and CEO of Read AI. Read AI empowers you to enhance the effectiveness of your meetings. By applying AI and analytics to video conferencing, Read analyzes, prescribes, and prevents bad meetings. Experience the ultimate app for hybrid meetings with Read available on Zoom as part of Essential Apps. Prior to Read AI, David was the CEO of Foursquare. 

    Topics:

    • Leveraging AI to solve common pain points in virtual meetings
    • The future of hybrid work and the role of AI in enhancing productivity
    • The potential of AI to transform meeting culture and team collaboration

      • #ReadAI #AIinMeetings #HybridWork #Entrepreneurship #TechInnovation #ProductivityTools

      58 min
    • Aditi Maliwal: Investing in the Future of AI at Upfront Ventures

      Aditi Maliwal is a partner at Upfront Ventures, investing in early stage companies across financial technology and enterprise software. Aditi partners with founders at their earliest stages of inception and supports them throughout the stages of company building. While at Upfront, she has partnered deeply in this way with Arcade, Clair, Renew, Stem, WriterAI and ZestAI amongst others.

      Before joining Upfront, Aditi was at Google, first on the Corporate Development team leading acquisitions across various sectors including AI, commerce and fintech, and then on the Next Billion Users team building products for users in emerging markets. Prior to Google she worked in early stage venture at Crosslink Capital where she invested in Chime, BetterUp, and PowerToFly among other companies. She began her career in investment banking at Deutsche Bank, in the technology banking group. She has a B.A. from Stanford University. She has lived between Mumbai, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Singapore and San Francisco.
      Topics:

      • Emerging trends and opportunities in AI
      • Evaluating potential in early-stage SaaS startups
      • Insights on investing in vertical AI, SaaS, and FinTech sectors

        • #VentureCapital #Investing #VerticalAI #SaaS #FinTech

        1 hr 1 min
      • Paul Martino: Building Bullpen Capital's Gaming & Consumer Tech Future

        Paul is a Managing General Partner at Bullpen Capital. Paul is the founder of eight companies including Ahpah Software (a computer security firm acquired by InterTrust);Tribe (one of the world’s first social networks), and Aggregate Knowledge (a big data advertising attribution company acquired in 2014 by Neustar). Paul’s early online gaming innovations in multi-player user experience from over 30years ago are the inspiration for several of the modern social gaming offerings. He holds over a dozen patents on core social networking concepts, content targeting, and recommendation systems.

        Prior to forming Bullpen In 2010, he was an active angel investor and personally invested in the first rounds of Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA), TubeMogul (NASDAQ: TUBE), and uDemy. He sold a company into Millennial Media prior to its public offering (Condaptive),as well as to Marketo prior to Its public offering (Crowd Factory).
        While atBullpen, Paul has led several of its key investments including FanDuel (merged with Flutter Entertainment (LSE:FLTR)), Swish Analytics, Jackpocket, Grove, Ipsy, SpotHero, Ocrolus, and Life360 (ASX:360). Paul served on the board of directors of FanDuel for over 5 years during a period of tremendous high growth.
        Since forming Bullpen, Paul has stayed active as an entrepreneur forming companies specifically at the Intersection of sports, gaming, gambling, and technology. His most recent endeavor, Bankroll, is building a next generation sports betting focused elevated dining restaurant in his hometown ofPhiladelphia. Bankroll will receive significant affiliate fees for signing up new customers to be high lifetime value sports betting customers at the many licensed operators in the state of Pennsylvania.
        Paul is also active in media and press on topics of sports betting and gaming. He has been a guest on CNBC and Varney on Fox Business. He also created a film production company, 818 Media, that produced the film Inside Game. Inside Gametells the story of the 2007 NBA betting scandal in which referee Tim Donaghy's leveraged unreported inside information to wager on games including those that he officiated.
        Topics:

        • Gaming Industry Evolution & Future
        • Building & Scaling Gaming Companies
        • Serial Entrepreneurship Insights

          • #GamingVC #SportsBetting #SerialFounder #BullpenCapital #FanDuel

          59 min
        • Pablo & Christopher: Building OneSixOne's AI & Cloud Venture Network

          Pablo Casilimas is the Managing Partner at OneSixOne Ventures. Christopher Kennamer is a Venture Partner at OneSixOne Ventures. A VC fund investing in US-based pre-seed startups with a focus on dual-use tech and infrastructure for cloud & AI.

          Topics:

          • Building a national VC network
          • Remote Deal Evaluation Best Practices
          • Early-stage investment trends outside Silicon Valley

            • #VCNetwork #CrossCountryDeals #NationalVC #RegionalInvesting #vc

            1 hr 7 min
          • Clayton Bryan: 500 Global's Mission to Empower Founders Worldwide

            Clayton Bryan is a Partner at 500 Global. Clayton has spent time at some of the most innovative companies in Silicon Valley. He has built expansive online communities, scaled marketplace businesses, and facilitated million dollar deals. At Yahoo he worked on award winning products. Later, at Payvment, he helped a team pioneer a new set of tools that started the social commerce movement.

            With Diversity as a guiding principle, Clayton has spent the entirety of his career within venture capital focused on supporting underrepresented founders. In 2016, Clayton and four others launched a non-profit organization, Transparent Collective, tasked with coaching and connecting underrepresented founders with investors. Companies to have gone through Transparent Collective's program have raised tens of millions of dollars in early stage financings.
            Clayton has invested in over 40 companies, including Butlr, EMTECH, Public Goods, EcoCart, Printify, Silk+Sonder, and JusticeText,r. He Received a Bachelors of Arts in Political Economy from The University of California, Berkeley and his Masters of Business Administration from The Stern School of Business at New York University.
            Topics:
            Building a successful startup community
            Key lessons from scaling marketplace businesses
            Early-Stage Investment Trends Globally
            #VentureCapital #CommunityBuilding #500Global #StartupMentoring #FounderSuccess

            1 hr 5 min
          • Nomad Ventures' James Mumma on Betting Big on Network Effect Startups

            James Mumma is a Founding Partner Nomad Ventures. Nomad Ventures is an early stage venture fund focused on strong network effect businesses and marketplace solutions including Fintech, peer-to-peer economy, and the transformation of archaic industries. Investments include: Alt, Autopilot, Minoan, Cameo, Lunch Payments, Ink, Zoe Financial, Returnmates, Aquifer Motion, Packsmith, Bezel, Thermal, Beacon, Stonks, and others.

            Topics:

            • Lessons learned from marketplace investments
            • Evaluates potential network effects at the earliest stages
            • How AI is reshaping traditional service industries

              • #VentureCapital #NetworkEffects #FintechInnovation #MarketplaceVC #IndustryDisruption
              James Mumma is a Founding Partner Nomad Ventures. Nomad Ventures is an early stage venture fund focused on strong network effect businesses and marketplace solutions including Fintech, peer-to-peer economy, and the transformation of archaic industries. Investments include: Alt, Autopilot, Minoan, Cameo, Lunch Payments, Ink, Zoe Financial, Returnmates, Aquifer Motion, Packsmith, Bezel, Thermal, Beacon, Stonks, and others.
              Topics:

              • Lessons learned from marketplace investments
              • Evaluates potential network effects at the earliest stages
              • How AI is reshaping traditional service industries

                • #VentureCapital #NetworkEffects #FintechInnovation #MarketplaceVC #IndustryDisruption

                1 hr 10 min
              • Primer Sazze Partners' Partner Ian Park: Bridging US-Asia Early Stage Tech

                Ian Park is a Partner at Primer Sazze.
                Prior to joining the firm, Ian invested in startups and VC funds at KIC, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds. He also spent time at VMG Partners and Bertram Capital identifying and reviewing investment opportunities using A.I. He started his career in consulting at BRG and McKinsey & Company.
                As an aspiring economist, Ian studied mathematics and economics at University of Minnesota and pursued Ph.D. in economics at Boston College where he earned a master’s degree. Recognizing the growing importance of data and A.I., he obtained a master’s degree in computer and information technology from University of Pennsylvania. Ian was selected as Venture Capital's Rising Star in 2024 by Venture Capital Journal. He also writes one of the largest VC/Startup newsletters in Korea.
                Topics:

                • The future of AI-driven venture capital
                • Evaluating early-stage companies
                • Bridging Korean and US startup ecosystems

                  • #VentureCapital #AIinVC #StartupInvestor #KoreanVC #CrossBorderVC #TechInvestments

                  1 hr 28 min
                • Aidan Madigan-Curtis: Eclipse Partner on AI & IoT in Essential Industries

                  Aidan Madigan-Curtis is a Partner at Eclipse. As an investor, board member, public company executive and entrepreneur, Aidan’s career has centered around the innovation and transformation of critical industries. As a Partner at Eclipse, Aidan invests across core, disruptive themes in today's world including geopolitical disruption, supply chain dislocation, energy transition, manufacturing onshoring, and industrial autonomy. She sits on eight corporate boards spanning defense and industrial sectors and a broad array of technologies, including IoT, computer vision and AI, autonomy and robotics.

                  Aidan leverages her previous experience as an executive at Samsara (NYSE “IOT”), as a manufacturing lead of the first AppleWatch, and as an investor at the world’s largest hedge fund, to underwrite, accelerate, and partner with entrepreneurs towards building scalable, high-growth, generational businesses in physical industries.
                  Aidan is one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women of 2023, is a co-teacher of the Stanford Technology Venture Program, and has an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a Master’s Degree from Stanford University.
                  Topics:

                  • The intersection of technology and traditional industries
                  • The future of industrial autonomy and robotics
                  • Lessons learned from scaling hardware products

                    • #VentureCapital #TechInnovation #IndustrialAutomation #IoT #AI

                    59 min
                  • AlleyCorp's Partner Susannah Shipton: Leading B2B & Consumer Marketplaces

                    Susannah is a Partner at AlleyCorp, focused on investments in a range of tech categories, with an emphasis on B2B and consumer marketplaces. She has invested in and incubated marketplaces across a diverse range of industries from global logistics to the creator economy. In addition to investing, Susannah is deeply involved with AlleyCorp’s incubation process, dedicating substantial time to supporting portfolio companies at their earliest stages.

                    Prior to AlleyCorp, Susannah was Director of Strategy & Operations at Artsy, where she was on the leadership team for 4 years. Susannah graduated from Princeton, where she was captain of the women’s varsity rowing team.
                    Topics:

                    • The Future of Digital Commerce & Creator Economy
                    • Differences between traditional venture capital and the incubation model
                    • The current state of auto lending innovation

                      • #VentureCapital #StartupStudio #CompanyBuilding #InvestorInsights #FutureOfVC

                      1 hr 2 min
                    • Samsung Ventures' MD Jihong Kim: Investing in Deep Tech & B2B Software

                      Jihong Kim is a venture capitalist at Samsung Ventures and has led both financial and strategic investments in software, digital media, and services. Noteworthy exits include SentinelOne (NYSE: S), Couchbase (NASDAQ: BASE), BigCommerce (NASDAQ: BIGC), Raxium (acquired by Google), ClassPass (acquired by Mindbody), Centrify (acquired by Thoma Bravo), Pluto.tv (acquired by Viacom), Fetch Robotics (acquired by Zebra Technologies), and Loom.ai (acquired by Roblox). He works closely with multiple business units across Samsung in mobile, consumer electronics and enterprise software sectors in order to identify and build strategic partnerships.

                      Before joining Samsung Ventures, Jihong worked as a research analyst in a global long-short equity hedge fund. Prior to that, he advised enterprise clients in business strategy and execution as a management consultant at PwC. He began his career as a software engineer in Lucent Technologies and also held technical positions at early-stage tech start-ups.
                      Jihong holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
                      Topics:

                      • Impact of AI/ML on enterprise software
                      • Due diligence process for deep tech investments
                      • Future of consumer electronics and mobile technology

                        • #CorporateVC #SamsungVentures #VentureCapital #TechInvestments #StartupLife #DeepTech

                        1 hr 8 min

                      About Venture with Grace

                      From the publisher's feed

                      I host a top VC podcast called Smart Venture Podcast (SVPpro.com). Past guests include C-level/VPs of Google, Meta, Amazon, Sephora, Dunkin' Donuts, Chipotle, Pepsi, Instagram, Deloitte, Reddit, Lyft, etc. Managing Partners of top funds (many were featured on the Forbes Midas List) and unicorn founders (founders of Craigslist, Square, Loom, Cruise, etc.) Venture with Grace is my new spin-off series that features top LPs, GPs, solo GPs, Angel Investors, top AI founders, and other experts in tech and business to cover specific domain expertise.