Lauren Kolodny is a Founding Partner of Acrew Capital. Lauren leads the fintech thesis area at Acrew. She has made investments in companies including Chime, Clara, Divvy, Gusto, Klar, Papaya, Pie, & Plaid. Prior to co-founding Acrew, Lauren was a partner at Aspect Ventures. Previously, Lauren worked in product marketing at Google, where she led a number of launches for Workspace, including Google Drive. You can learn more about: How AI is Transforming the Future of Financial Services The Evoluti...
Feb 27, 2025•50 min•Ep. 161
Seyonne Kang is a Partner at StepStone Group. As of September 30, 2024, StepStone was responsible for approximately $682 billion of total capital, including $176 billion of assets under management. She is a member of the private equity team, focusing on venture capital and growth equity investments. Prior to StepStone, Ms. Kang was a partner with Greenspring Associates, a venture capital and growth equity investment firm that merged with StepStone in 2021. Before that, she spent seven years in i...
Jan 21, 2025•55 min•Ep. 160
JuE Wong is the former President & CEO/ Executive Board Director of Olaplex Inc. (Nasdaq: OLPX). Prior to Olaplex, she was the Global CEO/ Executive Board Director of Moroccanoil, the President of Elizabeth Arden, and an Independent Board Director of The Red Door by Elizabeth Arden. Other notable companies she has served as a leader include Murad and Perricone MD, among others. You can learn more about: How to Be the CEO of an Iconic Cosmetic Brand The Career Journey of a Public Company CEO How ...
Sep 22, 2024•53 min•Ep. 159
Jeetu Patel is Cisco’s Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer. He combines a bold vision, steeped in product design and development expertise, operational rigor, and innate market understanding to create high growth businesses. He is relentlessly focused on building world class products that solve Cisco customers’ biggest problems – bringing the power of the Cisco portfolio together to connect and protect every aspect of their organization in the era of AI. Previously he was Cisco’s ...
Sep 21, 2024•54 min•Ep. 158
Adam Coccari is the Managing Director of Intuit Ventures, Intuit’s Venture Capital team responsible for overseeing Intuit’s investment in startups around the world. Prior to Intuit, Adam spent 8 years at Microsoft where he was most recently a Partner at M12 – Microsoft’s Venture Fund. You can learn more about: 1. The future of AI in financial services 2. Trends in B2B SaaS and SMB-focused technologies 3. AI-driven innovation strategy #VentureCapital #FinTech #AI #IntuitAssist #StartupInvesting #...
Sep 20, 2024•59 min•Ep. 157
Sponsor spotlight: Welcome to the Smart Venture Podcast's sponsor spotlight, where we highlight the companies making our show possible. We're thrilled to feature LG Nova. Sokwoo Rhee is Corporate Executive Vice President for Innovation at LG Electronics and Head of LG NOVA, LG Electronics' Silicon Valley-based innovation center. He leads LG Electronics’ global innovation projects, new business creation, strategic partnerships, and ecosystem development. Prior to joining LG, Sokwoo served as Asso...
Sep 20, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 157
Mark Rostick is a Vice President & Senior Managing Director located in Raleigh, NC. He is a voting member of Intel Capital’s investment committee. He joined Intel Capital in 1999. Mark also co-manages our Cloud domain investment activities and portfolio. He has deep investment experience in cloud applications, infrastructure hardware and software, as well as AI/ML. As a member of Intel Capital’s Investment Committee, he is responsible for approving investments proposed by Intel Capital investors...
Sep 19, 2024•57 min•Ep. 156
Puneet Agarwal brings a strong mix of operational and investment experience to his partner role at True. He began his career as a product manager at CrossWorlds Software, an early startup focused on software integration, which was sold to IBM. He then spent time in technology investment banking at J.P. Morgan and later in venture capital at the Mayfield Fund, where he invested in early stage technology companies. Puneet spent four years at BEA Systems in various product management and marketing ...
Jun 06, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 155
Ian Sigalow is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Greycroft. He has over 20 years of experience in seed-to-growth venture capital, investing in and supporting innovative companies across multiple sectors, including fintech, consumer marketplaces, enterprise software, healthcare, insurance, and media. You can learn more about: How to build an iconic VC fund How to hire and train the best investing talent How to identify, attract, and pick the best companies to invest in ===================== ...
May 15, 2024•52 min•Ep. 154
Alex Edelson is the Founder and General Partner of Slipstream Investors. Before starting Slipstream, he worked at QED Investors, a top fintech-focused venture capital firm with $4.3 billion in assets under management. Alex joined as Nigel Morris's Chief of Staff and became the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel. He previously worked at a fintech startup and spent seven years practicing law. Alex holds a J.D. and B.A. from the University of Michigan. You can learn more about: How LPs eva...
Apr 16, 2024•53 min•Ep. 153
Sophia Amoruso is the founder and managing partner of Trust Fund, an early-stage venture fund focused exclusively (yet broadly) on investing in tech-enabled products that help people start and build businesses. Trust fund’s investors include Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, David Sacks, Jason Calacanis, Ev Williams, Naomi Gleit, Andrew Chen, Jeff Jordan, Jesse Draper, Rob Hayes, and Phil Hellmuth. Some of their portfolios include Public, Liquid Death, and MoonPay, among others. She is also the foun...
Mar 05, 2024•45 min•Ep. 152
Dave Long is the CEO of Orangetheory Fitness. He leads the company's franchise model, regional development, and product development strategy. After founding the company in 2010 with two partners, Dave has led the brand through countless pivotal achievements, including launching two apps, creating a proprietary heart rate monitor with strategically chosen partners, and signing celebrity brand ambassadors. In addition, Dave facilitated Orangetheory Fitness's exponential growth and expanded the bra...
Jan 21, 2024•58 min•Ep. 151
Jake Seid is the Co-Founder and General Partner at Ballistic Ventures, a VC firm focused on early-stage cybersecurity and security-related venture investments, with a debut fund of $300M. Before working at Ballistic, Jake was a Managing Director at Lightspeed Venture Partners and founder and Managing Director at Stone Bridge Ventures—his portfolio includes Blend, Brex, Bolt, Abnormal Security, Carta, Cresta.ai, Drata, and more. You can learn more about: Investing trends in the cybersecurity spac...
Dec 19, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 150
Sergio Monsalve is the Founding Partner of Roble Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs building human enablement technologies. Before founding Roble Ventures, Sergio was a Partner at Norwest Venture Partners and the Board Member and Investor of Udemy. He also invested in other billion-dollar companies such as Kahoot! and Adaptive Insights. You can learn more about: From working at a top fund to starting a fund. Insights into founding Roble Ventures and key stra...
Dec 07, 2023•54 min•Ep. 149
Ambar Bhattacharyya is the Managing Director at Maverick Ventures. During his venture capital career at Maverick Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Bain Capital Ventures, Ambar has led or been actively involved in investments resulting in 16 IPOs & acquisitions, with six companies achieving valuations of over $1B in the public markets. Ambar has received broad recognition for his leadership, including Fortune Magazine's "40 under 40", Business Insider’s “30 leaders under 40 transforming he...
Nov 28, 2023•53 min•Ep. 148
Gaurav Jain is the Co-founder of Afore Capital , one of the top venture funds ($300M AUM) dedicated to pre-seed investments. Some of the investments Gaurav and/or Afore have been involved in include Modern Health (leading mental health platform), Hightouch (leader in data infra), Cruise Automation (acq by GM for $1B+) and Firebase (acq by Google). You can find Gaurav at https://twitter.com/gjain You can learn more about: How to identify talents in the early stage How to build a top pre-seed VC f...
Nov 20, 2023•50 min•Ep. 147
Rebecca is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Canvas Ventures where she leads early-stage investments in Fintech, Healthtech, and AI. Rebecca has been named to the Forbes Midas List five years running, a Woman to Watch: Senior Deal Maker by the Wall Street Journal, and a Top Woman VC by the New York Times. Some of her notable investments include Luminar (NASDAQ: LAZR), Lending Club (NYSE: LC), Practice Fusion (acq Allscripts), Gabi (acq Experian), Check (acq Intuit), RelateIQ (acq Salesforce), ...
Nov 15, 2023•55 min•Ep. 146
Sam Yagan is the co-founder and Managing Director of Corazon Capital, a leading Chicago-based Seed and Series A venture fund. Their portfolio includes companies like SpotHero, Songfinch and Stellar, among others. Prior to Corazon, he served as CEO of ShopRunner and led its 2020 acquisition by FedEx Corp. Previously, as CEO of Match Group, he spearheaded the launch of Tinder in 2012 and oversaw the company's IPO in 2015. His previous ventures also include founding SparkNotes in 1999 and co-foundi...
Nov 10, 2023•44 min•Ep. 145
David Rogier is the founder and CEO of MasterClass, the streaming platform where anyone can learn from the world’s best across a wide range of subjects. Instructors include Anna Wintour, Serena Williams, Gordon Ramsay, Chris Voss (our former guest), and more. With MasterClass at Work , companies can develop durable skills that transform employees into future-ready leaders through cinematic lessons and life-changing stories taught by the world’s best. You can learn more about: How to build a worl...
Nov 02, 2023•45 min•Ep. 144
Dave Zilberman is a General Partner at Norwest Venture Partners. Norwest Venture Partners manages more than $12.5 billion in capital. They have invested in over 600 early-to-late-stage companies, with more than 200 currently active. Dave primarily focuses on early to late-stage investments in enterprise and infrastructure—some of his portfolios include Slack, DocuSign, Amagi Corporation, and more. Before joining Norwest, Dave was the Managing Director of Comcast Ventures. You can learn more abou...
Oct 25, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 143
Karl Alomar is the Managing Partner at M13, a consumer technology venture capital firm with a $400 million fund to invest Seed and Series A startups offering Software and Services into the future of work, commerce, health, and money. M13's portfolios include Daily Harvest, Matterport, Ring, Rothy’s, and more. Before joining M13, Karl was the COO of DigitalOcean (NYSE: DOCN), where he grew the company from a small team to pre-IPO. You can learn more about: 1. How to leverage your operating experi...
Oct 18, 2023•57 min•Ep. 142
Mitchell Green is the founder and Managing Partner of Lead Edge Capital, a growth-stage investment fund with over $5B AUM investing $25 million to $300 million across public and private tech companies globally. Their portfolio companies are across the internet, software, consumer, and tech-enabled services sectors - including Alibaba, Asana, Benchling, Spotify, Toast, Wise, and more. You can learn more about: How to start a successful growth stage investment fund How to build a unique LP network...
Oct 13, 2023•39 min•Ep. 141
Steve Jang is the Founder and Managing Partner at Kindred Ventures. An early-stage VC firm raised $312 million across two new funds in 2022. Over the past 14 years, Steve has backed over 100 companies across different theme areas, including Uber, Coinbase, Postmates, Tonal, Color Health, Humane, DYDX, Zora, and Blue Bottle Coffee. Since 2009 and up until IPO, Steve has also served as an Advisor to Uber since the founding of the company, up through initial product launch, global expansion, and th...
Oct 05, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 140
Sponsor Spotlight guest: Alumni Ventures’ CEO Mike Collins Welcome to the Smart Venture Podcast’s sponsor spotlight, where we take a moment to highlight the companies making our show possible. We're thrilled to feature Alumni Ventures. Alumni Ventures, offers individual investors access to venture investing through its diversified, professional-grade venture portfolios. We're excited to share more about what they do and how they're making a difference. So sit back, relax, and let's dive into Alu...
Sep 10, 2023•47 min•Ep. 140
Michael Jones is the founder of studio and venture fund Science Inc., where he helps founders scale highly profitable and successful businesses. Mike ’s portfolio includes Liquid Death, Dollar Shave Club, Myspace, DogVacay, Goodreads, and Maker Studios, to name a few. Prior to Science , Mike served as the CEO of Myspace, and his company, Userplane, was acquired by AOL. His experience and expertise in both large and small companies focuses on strategy, growth, and operational efficiency, and has ...
Sep 06, 2023•55 min•Ep. 139
Matt Madrigal is the Vice President and General Manager of Merchant Shopping at Google. In this role, Matt leads the product and engineering teams that build Google Shopping’s tools, partner integrations, and infrastructure to help businesses and merchants grow and thrive. Bringing an extensive background in retail, platforms, and technology, Matt is passionate about helping businesses through digital transformation. Prior to joining Google, Matt was the Chief Technology and Product Officer at F...
Aug 31, 2023•53 min•Ep. 138
Peter Wagner is a Founding Partner of Wing Venture Capital, where he focuses on the Modern Enterprise, an agile workplace built on data and powered by AI. Peter has led investments in dozens of early-stage companies, including Snowflake, Gong, and many others, which have gone on to complete IPOs or successful acquisitions. Recently Wing has announced Wing Four, a new $600 million pool of capital dedicated to early-stage investing and long-term company building in B2B technology. Peter was also f...
Aug 28, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 137
Charles Hudson is the Managing Partner at Precursor Ventures, a classic seed-stage investment firm focusing on B2B software applications, B2C software and services, and connected hardware. Charles also serves as the Board Chair at the National Venture Capital Association and is a lecturer at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Before launching Precursor, Charles was a Partner at SoftTech VC, one of the most active seed stage investors in Internet and mobile startups. He was also...
Jul 22, 2023•56 min•Ep. 136
Ben Lerer is the Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau, a prominent early-stage venture capital fund in New York City. Lerer Hippeau has a portfolio that includes Allbirds, Glossier, Thrive, BuzzFeed, Warby Parker, Casper, Mirror, and more. Besides his role at Lerer Hippeau, Ben is renowned for founding Thrillist Media Group and serving as the former CEO of Group Nine Media. You can learn more about: Insights gained from launching and managing a successful media company Venture investing in New York...
May 27, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 135
Daniel Kan is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Cruise, a leading self-driving car company sold to General Motors for over $1 Billion 2 years after its founding. Before building Cruise, Daniel co-founded EXEC with his brother Justin Kan, the founder of Justin.tv (which later became Twitch). After founding the company in 2011, EXEC was sold to Handy in 2014. You can learn more about: How to have the confidence and knowledge it takes to start a technology company without being technical ...
May 26, 2023•56 min•Ep. 134
