Podcast
Venture with Grace
Hosted by Grace Gong · EN
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.
Watch this Live on LinkedIn/ YouTube: Grace Gong
110episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Lena Stocker, VC from DTCP Growth on European B2B Software Investing
Jul 400:53:29Tap to summarizeLena Stocker is an associate at DTCP Growth, where she focuses on growth-stage technology investments across Europe, with a particular emphasis on the DACH region and the Nordics. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~She has backed leading AI and enterprise software companies including Groq, Cohere, Quantum Systems, Dash0, Cognigy, Dexory, Neo4j, Zenity, and Resistant AI, while also supporting category leaders such as LeanIX, Signavio, and Pipedrive. Prior to DTCP, Lena was an investor at Northzone, worked as a Strategy Consultant at BCG, and gained venture investing experience at Redstone. She holds a CEMS Master in Management and MSc from HEC Paris and Copenhagen Business School, along with a bachelor's degree from WU Vienna University of Economics and Business and Singapore Management University.TopicsInvesting in Europe's next generation of AI and enterprise software companiesThe journey investing in neo4j graph database and Cohere enterprise AIBuilding category-defining startups across the DACH region and the Nordics#VentureCapital #GrowthEquity #ArtificialIntelligence #EnterpriseSoftware #Startups
Transcribe →Kai Mak, Together AI CRO on Scaling Enterprise AI Adoption
Jul 400:53:29Tap to summarizeKai Mak is the Chief Revenue Officer at Together AI, where he leads the company's global go-to-market organization as enterprises and AI-native companies increasingly rely on the platform for the full generative AI lifecycle. Before joining Together AI, Kai was SVP of Global Sales and Customer Success at Webflow, where he led both product-led growth and enterprise sales, helping scale the company's revenue 10x while also serving as interim CMO and leading global customer support. Earlier in his career, he held sales leadership roles at Zeplin, Microsoft, and Xamarin, building enterprise go-to-market teams for developer and cloud infrastructure platforms. Kai brings deep expertise in scaling revenue organizations at pivotal moments of growth across enterprise software and AI.TopicsPowering the Enterprise Evolution From RAG to Intelligent AgentsExploring the GTM playbook for AI-native companies and enterprisesWhat It Takes to Turn AI Innovation into Sustainable Revenue Growth#ArtificialIntelligence #EnterpriseAI #GoToMarket #SalesLeadership #Startups
Transcribe →Niklas Lindgren, Endra CEO on Rebuilding MEP Engineering with AI
Jul 400:58:40Tap to summarizeNiklas Lindgren is the Co-Founder and CEO of Endra, an AI-native platform purpose-built for MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) engineering. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Backed by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Endra uses artificial intelligence, simulation, and computational geometry to automate the creation of 3D and 2D models, device placement, conduit routing, and compliance-ready documentation, transforming traditionally manual engineering workflows. The company has raised $75 million in just 13 months, including a $50 million Series A led by a16z, and is working with leading engineering firms such as AtkinsRéalis, Buro Happold, WSP, Hoare Lea, Ramboll, and AFRY. Before Endra, Niklas co-founded Sectragon, a vertical design-build integrator for physical security, and later led the company's expansion into North America as COO and Head of Go-to-Market.TopicsHow AI is transforming MEP engineering and the future of design automationBuilding category-defining vertical AI software for engineering industriesScaling enterprise AI products from early traction to global adoption#ArtificialIntelligence #Engineering #VerticalAI #ConstructionTech #Startups
Transcribe →Zach Aarons, MetaProp Co-Founder & GP on PropTech Investment
Jul 400:53:07Tap to summarizeZach Aarons is the Co-Founder and General Partner of MetaProp, one of the world's most active early-stage venture capital firms focused on PropTech and the intelligence layer for the real asset environment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Since co-founding MetaProp in 2015, Zach and his team have invested in more than 175 PropTech companies, helping entrepreneurs scale across real estate, construction, insurance, energy, and capital markets. Before MetaProp, Zach was the most active individual angel investor in PropTech, making over 50 early-stage investments while working at Millennium Partners, where he managed large-scale mixed-use real estate developments in Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Earlier in his career, he invested at ENIAC Ventures, founded the travel startup Travelgoat, and began his career in M&A at Solomon Partners. Zach is also the co-author of the Amazon bestseller PropTech 101, an Assistant Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, and serves on the Investment Committee at Brown University's Van Wickle Ventures.TopicsHow AI is reshaping real estate, PropTech, and the built environmentBuilding and investing in category-defining PropTech startups from seed stageEmerging opportunities in energy transition, GeoAI, data centers, and real asset investing#PropTech #VentureCapital #ArtificialIntelligence #RealEstate #Startups
Transcribe →Bhaskar Sunkara, Bicycle Founder & CEO on Building Enterprise Software
Jul 400:59:31Tap to summarizeBhaskar Sunkara is the Founder and CEO of Bicycle, where he is building AI-powered infrastructure for modern software development. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Previously, he was the Founding CTO of AppDynamics, leading product development from the company's inception through its $3.7 billion acquisition by Cisco. As CTO and SVP of Product Management, he oversaw product management, engineering, user experience, and field enablement while driving AppDynamics' customer-centric innovation strategy. Before AppDynamics, Bhaskar was a Senior Software Engineer at Wily Technology, where he pioneered dynamic instrumentation technology for Java and .NET, and earlier helped build one of the first J2EE-certified application servers at Pramati Technologies. Throughout his career, he has focused on building enterprise software trusted by the world's largest organizations while advising founders and product teams on scaling technical innovation.TopicsBuilding category-defining enterprise software from startup to billion-dollar exitCustomer-centric product development for enterprise engineering teamsHow AI is transforming software development, observability, and developer productivity#EnterpriseSoftware #ArtificialIntelligence #DeveloperTools #ProductManagement #Startups
Transcribe →Rob Toews, Radical Ventures Partner on Investing in Frontier AI
Jun 2900:57:22Tap to summarizeRob Toews is a Partner at Radical Ventures and leads the firm’s Bay Area office. He has led a number of Radical’s investments including Datology, Delphina, Hebbia, Laredo Labs, Muon Space, Reka, Twelve Labs, Unlearn and others still in stealth. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Prior to joining Radical, Rob was a principal at Highland Capital Partners, where he led the firm’s AI investment efforts. At Highland, Rob backed Domino Data Lab, Eko, Idelic and StackRox (acquired by Red Hat). Previously, Rob spent several years in the world of autonomous vehicles. He helped lead the strategy team at Zoox, an autonomous vehicle startup acquired by Amazon for $1.3 billion. Before that, he worked on autonomous vehicle policy as a staffer in the White House under President Obama. He started his career in management consulting at Bain & Company. Rob writes a regular column in Forbes about the big picture of artificial intelligence. Rob holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a JD from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude), and an undergraduate degree from Stanford (Phi Beta Kappa).TopicsHow frontier AI companies transition from research breakthroughs to scalable real-world systemsThe intersection of AI investing, autonomous systems, and government policy shaping deployment at scaleWhat separates durable AI companies from short-term hype in foundation models and applied AI#ArtificialIntelligence #AIVentures #MachineLearning #FutureOfAI #DeepTech
Transcribe →Edo Segal, Napster CTO on AI, Creativity, and Human-AI Systems
Jun 2900:58:59Tap to summarizeEdo Segal is the Chief Technology Officer at Napster Corp. (formerly Infinite Reality), where he oversees R&D, product, and technology operations, driving innovation in frontier AI applications and multi-modal embodied agents. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~He is a serial entrepreneur, inventor, and technologist with 46 granted patents and five transformative exits across AI, media, and consumer technology. Earlier, he founded and served as CEO of TouchCast, a generative media platform that pioneered interactive and conversational web experiences, which was later acquired by Napster. He is also the CEO of bMuse, an innovation platform supporting media and technology ventures, and was the founder of Kinsa, a health-tech company acquired by Healthy Together, which built predictive disease monitoring systems powered by machine learning and epidemiological models. Across his career, he has worked at the intersection of AI, creativity, and human communication, building systems that expand how people learn, create, and interact with technology.TopicsBuilding multimodal AI systems and embodied agents for real-world applicationsHow generative AI is reshaping media, communication, and creative industriesThe evolution of human-AI collaboration in work, education, and entertainment#ArtificialIntelligence #GenerativeAI #FutureOfWork #Innovation #AICreativity
Transcribe →Fernando Fabre, Kauffman Fellows CEO on Building Venture Ecosystems
Jun 2901:01:01Tap to summarizeFernando is the CEO of Kauffman Fellows, the leading education and community platform for venture capitalists shaping the future of the industry. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~He is a co-founder and General Partner at Matterscale Ventures, a venture capital firm launched by former Endeavor colleagues, investing in early-stage Latin startups. He is also a co-founder of Columbia University's eLab, a fellowship for global entrepreneurs in edtech/workforce. Since 2019, he is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, SIPA, teaching the course Scaling Up in Hard Places: How Entrepreneurs Grow Outside of Silicon Valley. Prior to this, as president of Endeavor, he helped the organization expand to 30+ countries, launch Endeavor Catalyst, Endeavor Insight, Open, Outliers, and revamp the experience for entrepreneurs, mentors, and the global team.He is the co-founder of Collective Academy, a top higher-ed school in Mexico, and an advisor to EByC. He lives in New York with his family.TopicsThe future of venture capital and developing the next generation of investorsScaling startups in emerging markets and underserved regionsFrom Endeavor President 30+ countries to Matterscale Latin startups: scaling outside Silicon Valley#VentureCapital #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #EmergingMarkets
Transcribe →Ryan Gavin, Slack EVP & CMO on AI-Powered Enterprise Growth
Jun 2200:38:33Tap to summarizeRyan Gavin is EVP and Chief Marketing Officer at Slack, where he leads global growth, go-to-market strategy, and commercial operations as the company evolves into the work operating system for the AI era. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers. AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Prior to Slack, Ryan served as Chief Growth Officer at Convoy, leading the commercial engine of a $650M+ digital freight marketplace, and previously built the AI and machine learning business at Amazon Web Services into a multi-billion-dollar category. Before AWS, he spent nearly two decades at Microsoft, where he helped bring Bing to profitability, scaled it to billions of monthly searches, and led the commercial Surface business. Across enterprise software, cloud computing, AI, and marketplaces, Ryan has built a reputation for creating new categories, scaling growth engines, and helping organizations translate technology innovation into measurable business outcomes.Topics:Microsoft Bing turnaround to profitability: 5 billion searches and Cortana 145M users playbookLessons from AWS, Microsoft, Convoy, and Slack on scaling adoptionScaling Slack 2.5x revenue with 100K+ customers and 900% AI usage growth#Slack #CMO #EnterpriseAI #AgenticEnterprise #ProductLedGrowth
Transcribe →Sasha Orloff, Puzzle, Founder & CEO on Real-Time Accounting
Jun 2200:49:40Tap to summarizeSasha Orloff is Founder and CEO of Puzzle building a modern core accounting platform with real-time general ledger automation for provable accuracy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers. AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~After founding LendUp which raised over $1 billion in venture capital and debt, he spun out Mission Lane credit card division. Inspired by Muhammad Yunus, he spent years at Grameen Foundation in Honduras, World Bank's CGAP, and Citigroup before launching fintech serving underserved markets. UCSD Applied Math and Economics graduate with Georgetown MBA, he hosts a16z Tech Finance Podcast and lectures at Stanford, Princeton, and Harvard.TopicsHow Puzzle delivers real-time accounting without 30-60 day financial reporting delaysScaling Lendup $1B capital raise through underserved market fintech innovationGrowing Mission Lane credit spinout during Lendup operational transformation#AccountingTech #Puzzle #Fintech #LendUp #RealTimeFinance
Transcribe →