VentureForth - Adventures in Startups

Michael Berolzheimer is the founder & managing partner at Bee Partners, a fund specializing in partnering with startups at the earliest stages of their business.  Some of their notable pre-seed and seed investments include TubeMogul, IndieGogo, Tradesy, tbh, and even Bear Naked Granola.

On this episode, we’ll explore the pre-seed investing space, dig into Bee Partners’ decision-making process, as well as the evolution into partnering with blockchain startups.

 

Learn more about Michael, Bee Partners, and the Frontier Innovation Awards.

Follow Michael (@berolz) on Twitter.

Michael's favorite book: 2312

Michael would travel 500 miles to see the band: Seven Mary Three and Tom Petty

Got big ideas in blockchain and ties to UC Berkeley?  Click here to apply for the Frontier Innovation Awards.

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Alan R. Milligan is the founder & CEO of White Rabbit.  White Rabbit is a browser plug-in that recognizes the content you watch, allowing you to reward the films and series you stream, ensuring artists receive their fair share.

In this episode, we learn all about the movie business, why it's so messed up, and how cutting out the middle man might just be the solution the industry needs to level the playing field for content creators.

Learn more about Alan and White Rabbit!

Follow White Rabbit (@WRJumpIn) on Twitter.

Alan's favorite book: Any book by Roald Dahl

Alan's favorite film: Midnight Cowboy, Godfather, and Saturday Night Fever

A blockchain trend Alan would like to see in 2018: How blockchain can change politics and give power to the people

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Fred Krueger is the co-founder and CEO of TroopMarket and WorkCoin, a token and marketplace powering the future of freelance work.  Fred has been a TEN time founder with multiple exits in the social networking, advertising, and casual gaming space, and is maintaining an extremely pragmatic, fundamental approach to his latest project.

In this episode, we discuss how Fred's philosophy of building a real product with immediate utility ahead of their upcoming ICO will drive value for investors, and why the ecosystem may benefit from legal and SEC regulation.

Learn more about Fred, WorkCoin, and TroopMarket!

Follow WorkCoin (@workcoin) on Twitter.

Fred's favorite book: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Fred's advice for blockchain founders: Find things that are broken, focus on building a real business, and how crypto can improve how things are done.

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This episode of the Ventureforth podcast is sponsored by:

White Rabbit - A New Digital Streaming Reality

White Rabbit is a browser plug-in that opens access to a global content library, without the need to subscribe.  White Rabbit makes content accessible to everyone by allowing viewers to compensate rights holders directly, while streaming from whatever P2P site they prefer.

White Rabbit's pre-sale whitelist is currently underway, with plans to issue the MVP in Q1 2018.  Head over to Whiterabbit.one to sign up for the newsletter and whitelist, and to join the new digital streaming reality.

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Mark Jeffrey is the co-founder & CEO of Guardium and Guardian Circle, products tackling an extremely critical industry that most of us take for granted…emergency response.  He's also a 5-time entrepreneur with multiple exits, eight time author, and worked closely with some of the biggest names in tech including Jason Calacanis and Travis Kalanick.

In this episode, we talk about the access and evolution of emergency response services, the Guardium token sale, and how Guardium's framework will help save the lives of the 4 billion unbanked people worldwide with no 9-1-1.

Learn more about Mark, Guardium, and Guardian Circle!

Follow Mark (@markjeffrey) on Twitter.

Mark's favorite book: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever

Band that Mark would travel 500 miles to see: Pink Floyd

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This episode of the Ventureforth podcast is sponsored by:

TroopMarket - Hire a Great Freelancer with Crypto

WorkCoin - The Cryptocurrency for Freelance Work

TroopMarket is a platform for hiring a great freelancer with WorkCoin, the cryptocurrency for freelance work.  WorkCoin is unique in that it provides escrow protection, independent arbitration, and most importantly, fast transactions so that sellers can get paid immediately, and avoid the slow mining and high transaction fees of paying for services with Ether or Bitcoin.

WorkCoin’s presale starts on March 1st, but you can buy and sell freelancing services on TroopMarket using WorkCoin today.  For more information on the token sale, go to www.workcoin.net.  You can also go to www.troopmarket.com and earn $10 in WorkCoin just for listing a service.

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

 

Paul Veradittakit is a partner at Pantera Capital, the world's most successful venture fund.  Pantera Capital recently announced returns of over 25,000% to early investors in its short 4-year life, largely driven by the meteoric rise in the price of Bitcoin.

Paul's accomplishments with Pantera include closing over 30 venture investments, 20 token pre-sale investments, growing Pantera’s brand, and building relationships with incubators, startups, and institutions to discover unexpected and valuable opportunities for everyone involved.

In this episode, we learn about Paul's path to Pantera, the firm's ICO investing philosophy, and explore the future of crypto and the blockchain.

Learn more about Paul and Pantera Capital!

Follow Paul (@veradittakit) on Twitter.

Paul's favorite book: eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work

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This episode of the VentureForth Podcast is sponsored by:

GUARDIUM - Token for Global Decentralized 9-1-1

GUARDIUM is a token for a new global public safety utility, providing an economic framework for distributed emergency response to the four billion unbanked people worldwide with no 9-1-1.

The GUARDIUM Token is not in public pre-sale.  Get a 25% bonus if you act now.  Go to Guardium.co and sign up on the mailing list to get more info.  That's Guardium.co for Global Decentralized Emergency Response.

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Roger Ver is the founder and CEO of Bitcoin.com, one of the earliest evangelists of Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Cash, and the first investor in Bitcoin-startups including Bitinstant, Ripple, Bitpay, and Kraken.

He's one of the most well-known and controversial figures in the bitcoin and crypto ecosystem, and even ran for California State Assembly as a Libertarian Party candidate in 2000.

In this episode, we learn about Roger's life, explore the growth of Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Cash, dig into the civil war between the two Bitcoin forks, and the future of the ecosystem.

Learn more about Roger and Bitcoin.com.  Get your Bitcoin.com wallet!

Follow Roger (@rogerkver) on Twitter.

Roger's favorite book: The Ethics of Liberty & Cryptonomicon

Roger used to collect: Magic: The Gathering cards and Beanie Babies

Roger's most successful investment: Blockchain.info

Roger's favorite non-Bitcoin app: Sleep Cycle

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This episode of the VentureForth Podcast is sponsored by:

The Bee Token - The Future of Home Sharing

Do you find yourself renting houses while on vacation or on business instead of the same old boring hotels?  Or do you rent your house or apartment out for extra income on the side?

Well there's a new company out on the blockchain that is doing this with ZERO percent commission.  They're called the Bee Token, and are run by a seasoned team of former employees from Google, Facebook, Uber, and Civic.

Bee Token is reimagining the home sharing economy by building Beenest and the Bee Protocols on the Ethereum blockchain.  Presale starts January 2nd, and ICO begins January 31st.

Visit www.beetoken.com for more information

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Jon Chou and Tony Tran are the co-founders of the Bee Token, a decentralized home sharing network where hosts and guests can connect with one another without going through a middleman like Airbnb or VRBO.  That means cheaper stays for guests, and more money for hosts, democratizing access for just about anybody.

In this episode, we follow the Bee Token's growth from idea in October to ICO in February, and share their learnings for others who want to follow the cryptocurrency route.  Their ICO presale sold out in just 5 minutes!

Learn more about Jon, Tony, and Bee Token.

Follow Jon (@SimplyJonChou) and Tony (@quicksorter) on Twitter.

Jon's favorite book: Choose Yourself!

Tony's favorite book: The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance & Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach

How Jon would fix Uber: Build a sustainable business, even if it requires curbing growth.

How Tony would fix Uber: Cut politics out of the workplace.

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Peter Tang is a managing partner of GoldLok Vodka, one of America’s newest craft vodka brands.  He’s also got one of my favorite Instagram accounts because he’s always surrounded by beautiful cars, famous people, and an amazing lifestyle.

In this episode, we learn about Peter's hustle coming up in the luxury car game to breaking GoldLok Vodka into one of the largest liquor markets in the world...Las Vegas.

Mike Jones is the co-founder and CEO of Science Inc, a disruptive media company, incubator, and fund that invests in, and scales early stages startups like MeUndies, Mammoth Media, Flutter, and Earny.  They're also one of America’s most successful incubators with exits including Delicious, DogVacay, and Dollar Shave Club, which was acquired by Unilever for $1B in 2016.

In this episode, we learn about Science Inc's recently announced Science Blockchain ICO, the first ICO blockchain incubator of it's kind. We also dig into Mike's plans for the ICO as well as his views on how ICOs will affect traditional venture capital.

Learn more about Mike Jones, Science Inc, and the Science Blockchain ICO!

Follow Mike on Twitter @mjones.

Mike's favorite book: Ready Player One

If Mike was the CEO of any company for a day, it would be: Snapchat or Riot Games

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Debra Lin

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin

Kara Goldin is the Founder & CEO of Hint Water, the leading all natural, sugar free, and zero-calorie flavored water brand. Kara created Hint as a healthy alternative to soda, and also thought that plain water was simply too boring.

In this episode we learn about how Kara's personal struggles inspired her to set out on this venture, how Hint is expanding into new product lines, and how she created a new consumer category out of her home.

Learn more about Kara Goldin and Hint Water!

Follow Kara on Twitter @karagoldin.

Kara's favorite book: Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

Kara's favorite flavor of Hint: Cherry Fizz

 

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Executive producer & host: Joe Mahavuthivanij

Edited by: Debra Lin

Theme music by: Music for Makers

Logo design: Debra Lin