Podcast
Forward Thinking Investors
Hosted by Mat Sherman · EN
Forward Thinking Investors is a podcast where Mat Sherman interviews the world's brightest up and coming investors, as well as many who have already proven themselves as the best. Topics will range from portfolio construction theory to what makes a good market, and everything in between. The goal of this podcast is to help popularize the concept of investing with the public and get them familiar with how investors think. Listening to this podcast will make you a better investor and a better founder, so I hope you enjoy Forward Thinking Investors!
forwardthinking.substack.com
forwardthinking.substack.com
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
020 - Elizabeth Yin, Cofounder and GP of Hustle Fund
Aug 10, 202100:24:36Tap to summarizeAbout Elizabeth Yin:Elizabeth Yin is a co-founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund, a pre-seed fund for software entrepreneurs. Previously, Elizabeth was a partner at 500 Startups where she invested in seed stage companies and ran the Mountain View accelerator. In a prior life, Elizabeth co-founded and ran an adtech company called LaunchBit (acq 2014). Elizabeth has a BSEE from Stanford and an MBA from MIT Sloan.Elizabeth has reviewed over 20k startup pitches from around the world in the last few years and has helped numerous portfolio founders raise hundreds of millions of dollars. Her work and writing on startup fundraising has been featured in numerous publications including TechCrunch, Forbes, Huffington Post, BetaKit, and more. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit forwardthinking.substack.com
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019 - Zach Coelius, Managing Partner at Coelius Capital
Jul 29, 202100:21:50Tap to summarizeAbout Zach:Zach Coelius is a four-time entrepreneur and now investor in early-stage technology companies. Learn more about his rolling fund here or follow him on Twitter here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit forwardthinking.substack.com
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018 - Kirby Winfield, Founding Partner at Ascend.vc
Jul 10, 202100:22:01Tap to summarizeAbout KirbyKirby Winfield is a seasoned startup operator and investor, and is currently the Founding General Partner at Ascend.vc, a pre-seed stage venture fund investing in marketplace, e-commerce/DTC, and B2B software startups in the Pacific Northwest. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit forwardthinking.substack.com
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017 - Hunter Walk, Cofounder and Partner at Homebrew
Jun 28, 202100:26:44Tap to summarizeAbout Hunter WalkHunter Walk is a co-founder and Partner at Homebrew, which is an early-stage venture capital firm based in the Bay Area. Before Homebrew, I led consumer product management at YouTube, starting when it was acquired by Google. I originally joined Google in 2003, managing product and sales efforts for AdSense, Google‘s contextual advertising business. My first job in Silicon Valley was as the founding product and marketing guy at Linden Lab. Before graduate school, I was a management consultant and also spent a year at Late Night with Conan O‘ Brien. My parents are proud of my BA in History from Vassar and MBA from Stanford University. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit forwardthinking.substack.com
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016 - Nikhil Basu Trivedi, Cofounder and GP at Footwork
May 26, 202100:01:28Tap to summarizeNikhil is the cofounder and GP of Footwork. Prior, Nikhil was Managing Director at Shasta Ventures, where he invested in Canva, ClassDojo, Frame.io, Imperfect Foods, Lattice, Literati, Pill Club, Tally, and The Farmer's Dog. He was previously at Insight Partners and on the founding team at Artsy. Nikhil found his footwork growing up in the UK, India, and the San Francisco Bay Area, playing cricket and tennis. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit forwardthinking.substack.com
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015 - Kathryn Finney, Founder and CEO of Genius Guild
Apr 19, 202100:19:44Tap to summarizeAbout Kathryn Finney (From LinkedIn)Named by Inc Magazine as one of the most influential women in tech, Kathryn Finney has made her mark as an entrepreneur, social media visionary, “women in” advocate, investor, and 3x published author.On the heels of the events of the Summer of 2020, Kathryn created Genius Guild, a business creation platform that uses the venture studio model (Lab & Venture Fund) to invest in Black entrepreneurs building scalable businesses that serve black communities and beyond. Pre-launch, Kathryn and Genius Guild raised over $5MM in investment from a number of partners including Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company founded by Melinda Gates, Impact Seat, an investment company led by serial investor Barbara Clarke, First Close partners, and individual investors such as Andrew Bosworth (Facebook).In April 2020, Kathryn founded The Doonie Fund with a $10,000 personal donation, to encourage other black women entrepreneurs to continue to build their businesses in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis. One Medium post, a few emails and 6 weeks later, the fund grew to over $150,000, providing micro investments to over 1500 Black women-owned businesses.Kathryn is the founder of digitalundivided, a groundbreaking social enterprise focused on creating a world where women own their work. Kathryn started digitalundivided after selling her company, The Budget Fashionista, the pioneering lifestyle media company. Her research, “#ProjectDiane”, drew widespread buzz for disrupting the dialogue around women of color and tech entrepreneurship. She grew the organization from a simple idea to a dynamic organization with a seven figure budget, 20+ staff, and two offices. After eight years as CEO, she stepped down to become the first black woman business author at Portfolio/Penguin Books.A Yale-trained Epidemiologist, Kathryn has received numerous honors and awards including the Echoing Green fellowship, Eisenhower Fellowship, Entrepreneurs Magazine’s “Woman to Watch”, Grace Hopper ABIE award, Marie Claire’s 10 Women to Watch, Ebony Power 100, Black Enterprise “40 under 40” list and more.A White House Champion of Change and a past member of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE) appointed by the Obama Administration, Kathryn was honored by the Borough of Manhattan with the “Kathryn Finney Appreciation Day”. She has also received an Honorary Doctorate from Mount Holyoke College and was inducted into both the African-American Alumni Hall of Fame at Rutgers University and Spelman College’s “Game Changers Academy.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit forwardthinking.substack.com
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014 - Jenny Fielding, MD At Techstars New York and MP at The Fund
Mar 19, 202100:23:45Tap to summarizeJenny is the Managing Director of Techstars New York and Managing Partner at The Fund. According to her LinkedIn, she is a pre-seed investor into 140+ companies including: Latch (LTCH), Chainalysis, Alloy, Headway, Supergreat, Contra, Bloomscape, Simple Health, Particle Health, Pair Eyewear, Solo Funds, Halp, Minded, Talent Hack, Rupa Health, Morty, Wagmo, Smarthop, Solid, Remesh, Tempo and so many more! 🚀🚀🚀 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit forwardthinking.substack.com
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013 - Gaurav Jain, Cofounder and GP at Afore Capital
Feb 26, 202100:23:33Tap to summarizeAbout Gaurav (From LinkedIn)Co-founded Afore Capital, one of the largest venture funds ($124M) dedicated to super early stage investments. No investment is "too early" for Afore, and in fact, we prefer to get involved as early as possible and help the company get to the next stage where traditional VCs can get involved. If you think we could be a fit for your startup, please find a warm intro and we'd love to chat!Previously, I made 26 seed-stage investments including Cruise Automation (acq by GM for $1B+), Firebase (acq by Google) and Dia & Co (Series A Sequoia Capital) through Founder Collective.I was one of the first Product Managers for Android (led the Nexus product line); joined the platform when we had less than 1M total users (today >2.5B). I was recognized with the Founders Award, highest employee achievement award at Google, for my contributions to Android.Also co-founded Polar in 2007, leading native ads platform. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit forwardthinking.substack.com
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012 - Samara Mejia Hernandez, Founding Partner at Chingona Ventures
Feb 21, 202100:27:18Tap to summarizeSamara is the Founding Partner of an institutionally-backed pre-seed stage fund, Chingona Ventures, focusing on investing in technology and technology-enabled companies all over the U.S. Prior to this she was an early stage investor at MATH Venture Partners, an early-stage venture fund investing in technology start-ups with differentiated approaches to customer acquisition. In this capacity, she led new investment review, diligence and execution. Prior to venture capital, Samara worked at Goldman Sachs, where she was continually ranked top 5 in selling financial products, providing market insights, advising on portfolio construction, and consulting on business practices. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit forwardthinking.substack.com
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011 - Charlie O'Donnell, Founder and Partner at Brooklyn Bridge Ventures
Jan 18, 202100:39:06Tap to summarizeAbout Charlie O'donnell (From BBV Website)Charlie O'Donnell is the sole Partner and Founder at Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. The fund makes seed and pre-seed investments and was the first venture firm located in Brooklyn--where he was born and raised. Brooklyn Bridge invested in the first rounds of The Wing, Canary, Hungryroot, Ample Hills, Clubhouse, Imagen, and goTenna among others.Charlie has a reputation for being early to identifying important companies. Nick Bilton identifies him as an influence on early Twitter investors in his book, Hatching Twitter. Dennis Crowley credits him as having helped kick off the first funding of Foursquare before other VCs had said yes. At First Round Capital, he helped source the firm's investments in Singleplatform (sold to Constant Contact), Moat (Sold to Oracle) and GroupMe (sold to Skype). Charlie discovered GroupMe at the hackathon where the service had been built. He also sourced investments in Backupify (which was an idea he had tweeted to the founder, a friend of his), Moat, chloe + isabel, and Refinery29. Working in venture capital since 2001, he apprenticed his way through the asset class with analyst roles on the original Union Square Ventures team as well as at the General Motors pension fund--a long time limited partner in many top tier funds. Charlie is one of only a dozen individuals to be named to Business Insider's 100 Most Influential People in NY Tech five or more times. He served on the founding board of the New York Tech Meetup and is one of the group's first 100 members. He was recently named to City & State Magazine’s Tech Power 50. His blog, This is Going to Be BIG!, is one of the ten most widely read VC blogs in the country and over 13,000 people read his weekly NYC tech newsletter. He has spoken at SXSW and Techcrunch Disrupt.Charlie bikes to work, has done four Ironman 70.3s, four marathons, and founded the kayaking program in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The longest he has consecutively been outside of the five boroughs of New York City is three weeks.About Brooklyn Bridge Ventures (From BBC Website)Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, the first VC fund founded in Brooklyn, NY, is the most accessible early-stage partner for startups in NYC. We foster a thriving community both online and offline open to founders and innovative professionals of all backgrounds. BBV manages approximately $30 million and counting across three funds, leading or co-leading investments of up to $400,000 in New York City pre-seed and seed companies that have yet to raise $750,000 in prior rounds. Conversations often start pre-product and pre-deck and no warm intros or other systematic barriers prevent us from engaging with the community. Pitches and outreach generally start by e-mail or via a calendar request. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit forwardthinking.substack.com
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