Venture with Grace

Venture with Grace

By Grace GongBusinessInvesting
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Venture with Grace episodes

  • Dave Anderson & Erasmus Elsner: Early Stage Tech & AI Investing

    Dave Anderson is the founding partner of Beat Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in companies that use AI to enhance humans in overlooked legacy industries. Early checks into Ziva Dynamics (acq. by Unity), Bipi (acq. by RBI), AEYE (NASDAQ: LIDR), Common Sense Machines, Drishti, Operant AI, Volur, Stack AI, Oxen AI, Bitpart AI, Bolo AI, Middleware, Hireguide, Treehouse, Fishtail, Clockwork, Safe, Mentorcam, Dropverse, Truewind, Athenic AI, Universal Hydrogen, Carbice, Nauto, Metawave, Realtime Robotics, May Mobility, Skip, Clubhouse, Firefly, and SoftDrive. Featured in Crain’s Detroit Business 20 in their 20s, Huffington Post, Blac Magazine, and ABC’s 20/20. Harvard MBA, Michigan Engineer.

    Erasmus Elsner is the founder of Sand Hill Road, which is a maker studio that builds, advises and invests in Seed/Series A startups. Partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs in infrastructure, cloud, open-source, devops and ML/AI at the earliest stages of the climb.
    Topics:

    • Early-Stage Investing Trends
    • Overlooked Industries and Applied AI
    • Keys to Building and Scaling a Successful VC Firm

      • #VentureCapital #AI #Fintech #InvestmentTrends #AugmentedIntelligence #CommunityBuilding

      1 hr 22 min
    • Ben Huh: Orange Fund GP on Crypto Founders' Zero-to-One Journey

      Ben Huh is the founder of Orange Fund. Orange Fund is the seed-stage venture investing partner of the Orange DAO, a community of more than 1,000 experienced tech founders working in crypto. He is also the former CEO of The Cheezburger Network, which at its peak in 2010 received 375 million views a month across its 50 sites.

      Topics:

      • The intersection of AI and blockchain technology
      • Evolution of Internet Culture
      • Managing large online communities

        • #CryptoVC #Web3Future #OrangeDAO #BlockchainInnovation #SeedStage

        1 hr 4 min
      • Suman Natarajan from B Capital on Enterprise Growth Investing

        Suman Natarajan is a Principal at B Capital’s San Francisco office, where she invests in startups powering the enterprise, across domains such as cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, DevOps, data and ML/AI, and B2B SaaS.

        Previously, she was a Senior Vice President at Citi Ventures and an investor at Intel Capital, where she drove investments in companies such as Cribl, Tessian, Snyk, Styra, Nylas, Transmit Security, Immersive Labs, Netskope, Verodin (acq. by FireEye), and Kenna Security (acq. by Cisco). Prior to becoming an investor, Suman worked in product, product marketing, and strategy roles on Intel’s wearables and emerging market teams, on Symantec’s enterprise mobile security group, and at Strata Decision, a health analytics startup. She started her career in investment banking at JP Morgan.
        Suman received her MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and her BA in Economics and South Asian Studies from the University of Chicago. An avid traveler and novice scuba diver, Suman is also passionate about dance and enjoys classes in modern dance and classical Indian styles.
        Topics:

        • The GPU Cloud Landscape Through an Investor's Lens
        • From Growth At All Costs to Strategic Scaling
        • Dev Tools as the Foundation of Modern Software

          • #GPUCloud #EnterpriseAI #TechInfrastructure #NVIDIA #CloudComputing #AIInfrastructure

          1 hr 2 min
        • John Frankel: ff Venture Capital Founder, AI & Tech Startup Investor

          John Frankel is a Partner at ff Venture Capital. He is passionate about working with founders that are building the big businesses of tomorrow. He founded ff Venture Capital in 2008 to work with founders who share this vision, which has since funded over 150 seed and early-stage companies that have in turn created thousands of jobs and impacted the lives of millions. While ff Venture Capital’s investments span a number of industries, John is currently fascinated by applied artificial intelligence, encompassing drones, robotics, and financial services technology. Over the years, John has served on the boards of over sixty companies as well as the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, to help in further fostering the New York City ecosystem.
          Topics:

          • Lessons learned from serving on the boards of over sixty companies
          • The challenges and opportunities in seed and early-stage investing
          • Challenges and advantages of managing a geographically diverse investment portfolio

            • #VentureCapital #GlobalInvesting #StartupEcosystem #TechInnovation #AITrends

            1 hr
          • Omar Shaya: MultiOn Founder Pioneering Autonomous AI Agents & Workflows

            Omar Shaya is the founder of MultiOn, an AI company that develops autonomous agents.

            Prior to this, he led product management for Core Product Ranking at Meta and worked on product management at the Microsoft Search, Assistant, and Intelligence (MSAI) organization. Additionally, Omar has worked as a product manager at Crealytics and LiquidM, two successful startups where he helped incubate and develop AI-based marketing automation platforms. Omar holds an MS in Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He also has a Computer Science background, holding BS and MS degrees with a focus on AI from Göttingen University in Germany. He holds several patents in AI applications. Besides his professional life, Omar is passionate about classical music and is a skilled classical and flamenco guitarist. He is committed to supporting Syrian refugees through education and career development programs and has worked with Jusoor, a US-based non-profit founded by Syrian expats.
            Topics:

            • Key trends and challenges in the development of autonomous AI agents
            • The potential impact of autonomous agents on various industries
            • Strategies for personalizing AI agents for individual customers

              • #AIEntrepreneur #AutonomousAgents #TechInnovation #ProductManagement #PersonalizedAI

              52 min
            • Nick Adams: Quill Founder & Ex-AME Cloud MD Transforms Meeting Workflows

              Nick Adams is the co founder of Quill. Quill is a local meeting tool designed to free you to be present in meetings, and get work done fast afterward. Whether you're capturing notes from startup pitches, documenting founder updates, or organizing insights from multiple discussions, Quill makes post conversational work a breeze. With customizable templates for various roles and industries, Quill functions like a Notion for conversations, enabling users to effortlessly record, organize, and follow up on meeting content. Its powerful toolkit includes selective sharing options, automations, and deep integrations with tools like Notion and Slack. Embracing a local-first approach for enhanced privacy and user control, Quill has gained the trust of leading venture capital firms such as Lerer Hippeau and 500 Startups, making it an essential tool for professionals looking to streamline their meeting workflows and boost productivity.

              Prior to founding Quill, Nick was Managing Director at AME Cloud Ventures from its inception, taking thousands of meetings and investing in hundreds of startups including Zoom, where he sat on the board until IPO.
              Topics:

              • Essential Components of Effective Meeting Notes
              • The Impact of AI on the Future of Workplace Communications
              • The Future of Meetings

                • #MeetingNotes #AIatWork #FutureOfWork #ProductivityHacks #WorkplaceInnovation

                1 hr 4 min
              • Mark Kraynak: Acrew Capital Partner Driving Security & AI Innovation

                Mark Kraynak is a Founding Partner at Acrew Capital.

                🚀 This episode is brought to you by Quill Meetings. 🚀
                Mark Kraynak is a technology executive, company builder and erstwhile poet/engineer. Before co-founding Acrew, Mark joined Aspect Ventures as Entrepreneur in Residence and converted to a full time investor at the end of 2017. Prior to joining Aspect, Mark spent nearly 13 years at Imperva, where he held a number of marketing, product, corporate development and strategy roles.
                Mark has led or co-led investments in Aembit, At-Bay, Aqua Security, Casa, CipherTrace, Coin Metrics, Edge Impulse, Nextdata, Nokod Security, Protect AI, Radiant Security, and Silverfort in the early stage and Aqua Security, Cato Networks, Exabeam and Vanta in the later stage. He has also been an advisor to Exabeam, Indegy, Kloudless, Trustar, and Aqua Security.
                Topics:

                • Evolving Market Dynamics in Cybersecurity
                • Opportunities for Early-Stage Security Companies
                • Building Category-Defining Security Companies

                  • #CyberSecurity #MarketTrends #TechIPO #AIinSecurity #CloudNative
                  🚀 Today’s sponsor is Quill Meetings, the private AI meeting client that I use daily to prepare for conversations and follow-up.
                  Whether you’re learning about a founder’s latest pivot during a coffee chat, capturing partner meeting decisions, or organizing portfolio updates from a dozen conversations, Quill thrives on the messiness of work and enables you to be your most human and creative self in every conversation.
                  Quill is for more than just VCs with customizeable templates for dozens of roles, like Notion for conversations.
                  Quill provides a powerful toolkit to make sure everything is organized and actionable. Share selectively, set next steps on autopilot, or keep things private for your own reference. Plus, with deep integrations into tools like Notion or Asana, managing the complexities of startup life has never been easier. Quill’s local-first approach means no bots, no cloud data—just you in control.
                  Trusted by leading investors like Lerer Hippeau, 500 Startups, and Mosaic Ventures, Quill is designed to take your venture work to the next level. Learn more at quillmeetings.com.

                  1 hr 5 min
                • Chris Picardo: Madrona Partner on Tech-Driven Life Science Innovation

                  Chris Picardo is a Partner at Madrona. Chris joined Madrona in 2017. As a partner on the investment team, Chris focuses on identifying, evaluating, and leading new investment opportunities and working closely with existing companies. Chris helps lead Madrona’s investments in companies innovating around the intersection of life and computer science through combining novel wet lab science with cutting-edge machine learning. He also helps lead investing activities in consumer technology and commerce, marketplaces, and Web3, focusing on how new technological innovations can create new consumer experiences and interactions with the digital world.

                  Topics:

                  • Evolution of the "Intersections of Innovation" strategy
                  • Innovation and trends in personalized medicine and healthcare
                  • The potential impact of ML-driven approaches on the pharmaceutical industry

                    • #VentureCapital #LifeSciences #AI #BioTech #IntersectionsOfInnovation

                    1 hr 5 min
                  • Arvind Jain, Glean CEO: Revolutionizing the Future of AI-Powered Work

                    Arvind Jain is the Co-founder and CEO of Glean ($4.6 Billion valued), the Work AI platform connected to all your data.

                    🚀 This episode is brought to you by Quill Meetings. 🚀
                    Find, create, and automate anything. Prior to Glean, Arvind co-founded and led R&D at Rubrik, one the fastest growing companies in cloud data management. Arvind also spent over a decade at Google as a distinguished engineer, where he led teams in Google’s Search, Maps, and YouTube products. Earlier in his career, Arvind held leadership positions at Akamai and Microsoft. He earned his BTech in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and his Masters in Computer Science from the University of Washington.
                    Topics:

                    • The evolution of AI in the workplace
                    • Lessons from scaling multiple startups
                    • Building a successful AI company

                      • #AIStartup #TechInnovation #FutureOfWork #EnterpriseAI #WorkplaceProductivity
                      __________________
                      🚀 Today’s sponsor is Quill Meetings, the private AI meeting client that I use daily to prepare for conversations and follow-up.
                      Whether you’re learning about a founder’s latest pivot during a coffee chat, capturing partner meeting decisions, or organizing portfolio updates from a dozen conversations, Quill thrives on the messiness of work and enables you to be your most human and creative self in every conversation.
                      Quill is for more than just VCs with customizeable templates for dozens of roles, like Notion for conversations.
                      Quill provides a powerful toolkit to make sure everything is organized and actionable. Share selectively, set next steps on autopilot, or keep things private for your own reference. Plus, with deep integrations into tools like Notion or Asana, managing the complexities of startup life has never been easier. Quill’s local-first approach means no bots, no cloud data—just you in control.
                      Trusted by leading investors like Lerer Hippeau, 500 Startups, and Mosaic Ventures, Quill is designed to take your venture work to the next level. Learn more at quillmeetings.com.

                      1 hr 1 min
                    • Microsoft CVP Sumit Chauhan: AI-Powered Future & Tech Leadership

                      Sumit Chauhan is the Corporate Vice President of Office Product Group at Microsoft.
                      🚀 This episode is brought to you by Quill Meetings. 🚀
                      She heads up a wide portfolio of Microsoft 365 experiences, guiding product, design, and engineering teams for both M365 Copilot and M365’s flagship applications and creator tools. Her portfolio includes M365 Copilot, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Designer as well as Microsoft 365’s video solutions. She and her team are working to evolve the way we accomplish modern productivity across our lives, with a mission to create the next generation of authoring and storytelling experiences powered by new and powerful AI services.
                      Prior to this, Sumit led the Office Engineering team. Her multi-disciplinary team was responsible for driving radical improvements in engineering workflow. Under her leadership, the Office team revolutionized its engineering methodology, moving from three-year cycles to continuous engineering with monthly "evergreen" releases. She also drove significant improvement on the core infrastructure for legacy engineering systems.
                      Since joining Microsoft in 1996, Sumit has held numerous engineering leadership roles and is recognized for her technical acumen and product leadership. Earlier in her career, Sumit focused on development in Excel and led the Access product through several releases.
                      In May 2021, Sumit was recognized by Forbes in the magazine’s 30 Inspirational Women series. She is an avid supporter and board member of Pratham Seattle – Pratham is an innovative learning organization created to improve the quality of education in India.
                      Topics:

                      • Integrating AI into everyday work
                      • Building a culture of innovation within large, established organizations
                      • Developing a successful career at an iconic tech company

                        • #TechLeadership #AI4Productivity #WomenInTech #MicrosoftInnovation #CareerGrowth
                        __________________
                        🚀 Today’s sponsor is Quill Meetings, the private AI meeting client that I use daily to prepare for conversations and follow-up.
                        Whether you’re learning about a founder’s latest pivot during a coffee chat, capturing partner meeting decisions, or organizing portfolio updates from a dozen conversations, Quill thrives on the messiness of work and enables you to be your most human and creative self in every conversation.
                        Quill is for more than just VCs with customizeable templates for dozens of roles, like Notion for conversations.
                        Quill provides a powerful toolkit to make sure everything is organized and actionable. Share selectively, set next steps on autopilot, or keep things private for your own reference. Plus, with deep integrations into tools like Notion or Asana, managing the complexities of startup life has never been easier. Quill’s local-first approach means no bots, no cloud data—just you in control.
                        Trusted by leading investors like Lerer Hippeau, 500 Startups, and Mosaic Ventures, Quill is designed to take your venture work to the next level. Learn more at quillmeetings.com.

                        1 hr 3 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.