Brett Sharenow is a trusted advisor on raising capital from VCs, PE, and Angel investors, for start-up, growth, pivot, and exit. Since 1995 he has helped companies raise more than $750 million and have facilitated exits valued at more than $6 billion. Some of Brett’s client companies: Venture and Private Equity Backed • Verio (acq. by NTT) • Viator (acq. by Trip Advisor) • Dial Page/Dial Call (acq. by Nextel) • Switch Lighting • Vistard • VirtualLan • Ethernetworks • GroWiseBeWell Academy • Puro...
Sep 09, 2020•45 min•Ep. 56
For the Past 30 years Bob Karr has been both an active angel investor as well as in business development founding and growing some of the most powerful networking groups in Silicon Valley. His current company, LinkSV is an online information service providing curated, detailed information about the senior team, board members, key partners, customers, angel, institutional and VC funding on companies in Silicon Valley. This episode we talk about: How can parents encourage their children to become ...
Sep 02, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 55
For the Past 30 years Bob Karr has been both an active angel investor as well as in business development founding and growing some of the most powerful networking groups in Silicon Valley. His current company, LinkSV is an online information service providing curated, detailed information about the senior team, board members, key partners, customers, angel, institutional and VC funding on companies in Silicon Valley. This episode we talk about: What are some of the usual questions that you ask t...
Aug 26, 2020•47 min•Ep. 54
051 Stanford to Harvard to Managing Partner at Alchemist Accelerator and More with Ravi Belani Ravi Belani is the Managing Director of the Alchemist Accelerator which is a venture-backed initiative focused on accelerating startups whose revenue comes from enterprises (not consumers). The accelerator backs teams with distinctive technical founders. He is also a Lecturer, Fenwick & West Educator of Entrepreneurship at Stanford University where for the past 8 yrs he co-teaches The Spirit of Ent...
Aug 19, 2020•56 min•Ep. 53
050 Helping your Portfolio Companies with Managing Partner of Mighty Capital SC Moatti SC Moatti is a technology visionary and investor. She is the founding partner of Mighty Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, and Products That Count, one of the largest and certainly the most influential network of product managers in the world. Previously, she built products that billions of people use at Facebook, Nokia and Electronic Arts. She also serves on boards of both public and private comp...
Aug 12, 2020•30 min•Ep. 52
Tae Hea Nahm is co-founding MD of Storm Ventures, a Silicon Valley VC firm investing in tech start-ups all around the world. He’s also a two-time author. His second book, Survival to Thrival: Change or Be Changed explores how all people in a startup – from the executive team to the CEO and the board – need to change their roles and skills as a company grows. Bob Tinker is a three-time entrepreneur. Most recently, he was the founding CEO of MobileIron, which in eight years grew from ‘three people...
Aug 05, 2020•27 min•Ep. 51
Tae Hea Nahm is co-founding MD of Storm Ventures, a Silicon Valley VC firm investing in tech start-ups all around the world. He’s also a two-time author. His second book, Survival to Thrival: Change or Be Changed explores how all people in a startup – from the executive team to the CEO and the board – need to change their roles and skills as a company grows. Bob Tinker is a three-time entrepreneur. Most recently, he was the founding CEO of MobileIron, which in eight years grew from ‘three people...
Jul 29, 2020•33 min•Ep. 50
Nick Moran is the General Partner at New Stack Ventures. Prior to New Stack, Nick worked for Danaher (NYSE: DHR). After a few years in M&A, Nick led breakthrough innovation, developing one of the most successful products in the company's history -- an IoT solution w/ a novel method for testing compounds in drinking water. In addition to investing, Nick founded the 1st Venture Capital podcast, The Full Ratchet. This episode we talk about: Why join or start an angel syndicate? Suggestions for ...
Jul 22, 2020•42 min•Ep. 49
Aman Johar, Proteum Capital Over the last 12 years, Aman has worked with a variety of startups and has been on both sides of the entrepreneur-investor table. With a background in strategy, operations, and deal-making, Aman focusses on blockchain applications and the supporting ecosystem including expertise in the business and regulatory implications of tokenizing assets. He is a strategic advisor to executives and boards on creating new business models for fintech, media and entertainment, and i...
Jul 15, 2020•47 min•Ep. 48
Ben Bartlett is a Berkeley City Councilmember, appointed member of the CA Blockchain Working Group and internationally recognized policy leader. Ben has passed more than 60 measures focused on innovation, opportunity, and inclusion, including: Prefabricated Housing for the Homeless Health Innovation Zone Electric Vehicle Infrastructure telemedical adoption Unionized Jobs in Robotics and Automation Ben is currently working to integrate government and Blockchain through public finance, Opportunity...
Jul 08, 2020•29 min•Ep. 47
Ben Bartlett is a Berkeley City Councilmember, appointed member of the CA Blockchain Working Group and internationally recognized policy leader. Ben has passed more than 60 measures focused on innovation, opportunity, and inclusion, including: Prefabricated Housing for the Homeless Health Innovation Zone Electric Vehicle Infrastructure telemedical adoption Unionized Jobs in Robotics and Automation Ben is currently working to integrate government and Blockchain through public finance, Opportunity...
Jul 01, 2020•31 min•Ep. 46
Tehlma Ekiyor is an Impact Investor, Development Expert, Social Entrepreneur, Fundraising Expert, Senior Public Sector Project Advisor. Implemented projects in 22 African countries Served as Senior Consultant to the Africa Union, ECA, IGAD, ECOWAS Co-founded SME.NG - Nigeria's impact investment platform for women. pioneered the establishment of national and international non-profit and philanthropic organizations Passionate about equipping women to participate in decision making - co-founded wom...
Jun 24, 2020•42 min•Ep. 45
Sean Randolph is senior director for the Bay Area Council Economic institute as well as being the Former Director of Trade for the California Trade and Commerce Agency, he is an Executive with expertise in economic policy, technology and innovation, and international affairs. Frequent speaker and writer on economic issues, with over 200 published reports and articles on foreign affairs, international business and economic policy. Active kayaker and trail, mountain and ultramarathon runner. This ...
Jun 17, 2020•44 min•Ep. 44
We have Scott Orn on the show. Scott runs Operations at Kruze Consulting, a fast-growing Startup CFO Consulting firm that works with over 160 startup clients. Kruze is based in San Francisco with clients in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and New York. In addition to his Operations responsibilities, Scott runs the Venture Debt Consulting practice at Kruze. In his spare time, Scott publishes the Founders & Friends Podcast, which interviews Startup CEO's, Investors and other service providers in the...
Jun 10, 2020•45 min•Ep. 43
On today’s episode, we chat with Jerry Ross. Jerry is an energetic and creative leader who has achieved success leading corporate, start-up, and non-profit organizations. He is a life-long entrepreneur that has been honored as "CEO of the Year" by the Orlando Business Journal, and the "Economic Development Leader of the Year" by I-4 Business Magazine for his work at the National Entrepreneur Center. In this episode, you’ll learn: What does it take to be an investible company? How can a startup e...
Jun 03, 2020•38 min•Ep. 42
On today’s episode, we sit down with Raymond Chen. Raymond is a board member and the President of CIE-SF, a non-profit volunteer organization. He spent 19 years in the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software industry. As the co-founder and Senior Vice President of Sigrity, Inc., he not only led many aspects of product architecture, engineering process, customer application and support, operation and IT with a worldwide team, but also marketed and sold innovative technologies and tools to lea...
May 27, 2020•35 min•Ep. 41
On today’s episode, we char with Dr. Prasun Mishra. Dr. Mishra (Ex-Genentech, Ex-NCI, Ex-NIH) is the Founder and CEO of Agility Pharmaceuticals. He is a serial entrepreneur who founded his first company after graduating high school, and second company during his PhD. Since then, he has accumulated a wealth of experienced by building, investing and advising numerous other companies. He is an investor/ co-founder/ board member of a few US based corporations focused on accelerating drug discovery &...
May 20, 2020•40 min•Ep. 40
On today’s show, we’re happy to chat with our very own Stig Brodersen. Stig is a value investor, business owner, and international bestselling author. His podcast We Study Billionaires has over 30 million+ downloads and has been recognized as the #1 ranked stock investing podcast in the world with awards such as: #1 stock investing podcast on iTunes #1 stock investing podcast on Google #1 investing podcast by CNBC #1 investing podcast by Business Insider In this episode, you’ll learn: How does a...
May 14, 2020•40 min•Ep. 39
James Ehrlich is a serial entrepreneur in the areas of technology, media technology and clean-tech. He is the founder at ReGen Villages, Entrepreneur in Residence at Stanford University Center for Compassion, Altruism, Research and Education (CCARE), and faculty at Singularity University. James is part of an on-going White House Task Force on the Nexus of Food, Water, Energy and Waste and advising the Office of Science and Technology Policy and Department of State on regenerative platform develo...
May 07, 2020•48 min•Ep. 38
On today’s episode, we sit down with Jim McKelvey. Jim is the co-founder of Square, a financial services, merchant services aggregator, and mobile payment company. In 2009, Jim designed a card reader which in 2011 was inducted into the Museum of Modern Art. Jim then teamed with other St. Louis-based serial entrepreneurs to help found Cultivation Capital which was ranked the 7th most active venture capital firm founded since 2009, and the 3rd most active lead investor and since 2017, McKelvey has...
Apr 30, 2020•49 min•Ep. 37
Rich Razgaitis has been passionate about building brands and teams. Since 2002, he has served in CEO/president-level roles in several venture capital backed start-ups, privately held turnaround and growth companies, and he brings insight from those experiences to his work today at FloWater. Raz was the CEO of several consumer-tech companies, including DealOn, an e-commerce company that developed the Web’s first deal-commerce exchange, and another, MyTownPerks, which built the first PCI-complaint...
Apr 23, 2020•46 min•Ep. 36
Crystal McKellar is the Founder and Managing Partner of Anathem Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in companies that have developed breakthrough technology that they are pragmatically leveraging to win and own uncrowded, high-margin markets. Crystal currently serves on the board of Cooler Heads, and previously served as a board member at Siren, Neurable, and DoubleDutch (acquired by Cvent) and as a board observer at Fractyl. Crystal is a Kauffman Fellows Mentor, and has serv...
Apr 23, 2020•46 min•Ep. 35
On today’s show, we’re happy to chat with Nichole Yembra. Nichole is the Founder and Managing Director of The Chrysalis Co which houses The Chrysalis Capital, a new $15M Africa and Diaspora early stage tech fund and The Chrysalis Advisors, a strategy and investment advisory firm. In addition to this work, Nichole is deeply committed to making gender diversity a priority within the financial-technology 'fintech' space in Nigeria and enhancing opportunities for women in leadership. She founded the...
Apr 23, 2020•42 min•Ep. 34
On today’s show, we sit down with Kelly Coyne who is deeply immersed in the Silicon Valley start-up community. Having grown multiple start-ups from conception to over $100M valuations, she is a leading Go-To-Market expert. After earning her MBA from Oxford University, Kelly served at the helm of several early-stage hardware companies (Lily, Mimosa, Candl) and advised many others. Kelly has broad technology experience, but specializes in guiding Robotics, AI, AR/VR and computer vision companies f...
Apr 23, 2020•38 min•Ep. 33
On today's show, we sit down with Elnaz Sarraf, who is a serial entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in technology, business, sales, and marketing. She is currently the CEO and Founder of ROYBI; an investor backed EdTech company focusing on early childhood education, that recently raised $4.2 million in its seed round. Before starting ROYBI, Elnaz co-founded and led a consumer electronics/IoT company, iBaby, serving as the company's President. As an immigrant and female founder, Elnaz h...
Apr 23, 2020•35 min•Ep. 32
On today's show, we're happy to chat with George Gammon. George Edward Gammon is an American real estate investor and entrepreneur. He produces and stars in the hit reality television series "Vide En Remodelacion," a home remodeling program on the Colombian network Telemedellin. Prior to 2012, George started, owned, and operated multiple businesses ranging from conventions to advertising. After 12 years as a successful entrepreneur, at the age of 38, George semi-retired and shifted his focus to ...
Apr 23, 2020•35 min•Ep. 31
On today’s show, we sit down with Bill Reichert. Bill is the Managing Director at Garage Technology Ventures, a seed and early-stage venture capital fund, which invest in extraordinary entrepreneurs with unique technologies that will define the next era of innovation. He takes a hands-on approach from the very beginning, partnering with talented entrepreneurs to transform their vision into reality. He is an entrepreneur, mentor, author, speaker, board member, adviser, educator, partner, spouse, ...
Apr 23, 2020•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 30
On today’s show, we interview Brett Sharenow. Brett is a trusted advisor on raising capital from VCs, PE, and Angel investors, for start-up, growth, pivot, and exit. Since 1995, he has helped companies raise more than $750 million and have facilitated exits valued at more than $6 billion. In this episode, you’ll learn: What happens in an analyst meeting? What is the “ladder” bump in valuation? How do companies plan out their go-to-market strategies? What are the 3 C’s that every company needs to...
Apr 23, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 29
On today’s show, we welcome Andreas Ramos. Andreas moved to Silicon Valley in 1992, where he worked in engineering at SGI, SUN Microsystems, Brio, IMSI, and other companies. He did translations and localization in six languages at these companies before joining Acxiom as head of the digital agency, where he worked with Global Fortune 200 clients. Andreas then led global SEO at Cisco, where he worked in 44 languages in 86 countries. He is now an Adjunct Professor of Digital Marketing at CSTU and ...
Apr 23, 2020•54 min•Ep. 28
On today’s show, we are happy to chat with Steve Hoffman. Steve, or Captain Hoff as he’s called in Silicon Valley, is the CEO of Founders Space, one of the world’s leading incubators and accelerators. He’s also an angel investor, limited partner at August Capital, serial entrepreneur, and author of Make Elephants Fly, the award-winning book on radical innovation. Always innovating on his life, Captain Hoff has tried more professions than cats have lives, including serial entrepreneur, venture ca...
Apr 23, 2020•38 min•Ep. 27
