Smart Venture Podcast

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04/04/2025

Emily Yu is a Deep Tech Investor at Boost VC. Boost VC invest in Pre-seed companies in the intersection of hardware + software, across robotics, aerospace, defense, climate, BCI/HCI, bio, physical infrastructure, etc.

Topics:
- Deep tech investment thesis
- Emerging trends in deep tech
- AI robotics integration

04/04/2025

Derek Xiao is an investor at Menlo Ventures. Derek concentrates on identifying investment opportunities across the firm’s thesis areas, covering AI, cloud infrastructure, digital health, and enterprise SaaS. Derek is especially focused on investing in soon-to-be breakout companies at the inflection stage. Derek joined Menlo from Bain & Company where he worked with leading San Francisco-based technology investors and companies spanning a broad range of industries. In one case, he advised a growth equity fund on potential investments in two rocket launch companies. That introduction to frontier tech and startups on the verge of hypergrowth sparked his desire to pursue venture capital.

Derek graduated summa cm laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard with a Bachelor’s Degree in Government. During his time on campus, he served as President of the student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson. Battling strong headwinds associated with the decline of the print publication industry, Derek led the effort to return The Crimson to financial stability, bringing revenues to a decade high. Derek’s passion for media inspired him to begin his career as a journalist for Forbes.

Topics:

- Verticalized AI Applications
- Healthcare AI investing trend
- Enterprise AI Adoption Cycles

04/03/2025

Jordan Viniar is a Partner at Prudence. Prudence is an early-stage venture firm investing in technology companies leading the global transformation of the built world. The firm invests across multiple verticals, including real estate, construction, infrastructure and energy/climate adaptation. Prudence is headquartered in New York City.

Topics:
- The evolution of built world technology
- Climate adaptation technologies
- Real estate technology beyond proptech

04/02/2025

Eylul Kayin is a Partner at Gradient. Prior to Gradient, Eylul was an investor with NEA and Softbank, where she backed a number of category-defining companies including Brex, Cato, Chime, Claroty, Digits, Eargo (NASDAQ: EAR), Ethos, Flexport, Material Bank, Neotract (acquired by Teleflex) and Revelle Aesthetics (incubation). Eylul started her career at Morgan Stanley and has a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Mathematics from Columbia University.

Topics:
- Enterprise AI investing strategy
- Frontline workforce innovation
- Building Moats in AI

04/01/2025

Elizabeth Weil is the Founder & Managing Partner at Scribble Ventures. She believes that passion and pushing boundaries drive success, whether it is investing in founders building with world-changing ideas, transforming a startup into a Fortune 500 company, or running ultramarathons. She is a super-connector, and with her infectious enthusiasm she leaves everyone more energetic than she found them.

With more than 2 decades in venture capital and technology companies, Elizabeth is a relationship-driven fund manager and technology investor, startup advisor, and entrepreneur. Her unmatched network provides her access to sought-after investment opportunities. Startups want Elizabeth on their team because she’s known for accelerating their growth: she tirelessly helps her investments with talent intros, fundraising construction and investor introductions, business development and customer introductions, and advice around company culture and employee experience.

Previously she was a Managing Director at 137 Ventures, a Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and an executive at Twitter during a period of hypergrowth as it scaled from 50 to 3000 people. Elizabeth has invested in more than 60 technology companies across all stages, including Slack, Whatnot, SpaceX, Coinbase, Clubhouse, Gusto, Digits, Envoy, Grab, Daily.co, Hipcamp, Titan, and Calm.

Topics:

- Building a Successful VC Fund
- Building Startups in the Age of AI
- Patterns of Unicorn Founders

04/01/2025

Simon Tiu joined Vertex Ventures US in 2024, focusing on AI-native enterprise software and cybersecurity investments. Prior to joining Vertex Ventures, Simon worked at Qatalyst Partners, where he was a core member of the Enterprise Software team. During his tenure, he provided strategic and financial advice to senior management and boards of leading technology companies across ~$100B of announced M&A transactions.

Notable deals Simon contributed to include:

Splunk’s $29.6B sale to Cisco
Afterpay’s $29B sale to Square
Anaplan’s $10.7B sale to Thoma Bravo
Coupa’s $8.2B sale to Thoma Bravo
New Relic’s $6.5B sale to Francisco Partners and TPG
Pemira’s $5.7B acquisition of Mimecast
Fitbit’s $2.1B sale to Google
BitGo’s $1.2Bn sale to Galaxy Digital (terminated)
Lucid’s $1.1B sale to Cint
Commvault’s acquisition of Hedvig
Everbridge's $1.8B sale to Thoma Bravo

Simon started his career in management consulting and corporate strategy. He received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at UC Berkeley and his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Topics:
- The evolution of AI-native enterprise software
- Lessons learned from high-profile tech M&A deals
- AI Agent Investing Trends

&A

03/27/2025

Yash Patel joined Titanium Ventures in 2014 and leads TV’s consumer (esports/gaming, fintech, ecommerce) and vertical SaaS tech investing effort. Yash has sourced and led TV’s investments in BigCommerce (Nasdaq: BIGC), Snapchat (NYSE: SNAP), OpenGov (acquired by Cox Enterprises), Skillz (NYSE: SKLZ), Super.com, Swish Analytics, Document Crunch, Mobile Premier League, Omaze, Sleeper, Team SoloMid (tsm.gg), FitOn, and Singular, amongst others. He is particularly interested in products that can reach massive scale, can leverage AI thoughtfully, and exhibit network effects.

Topics:
- Esports investment evolution
- Network effects in consumer tech
- The Future of Fintech

03/26/2025

Rob co-founded a new company in 2024 called Eternos.life, which launched the world's first AI legacy service enabling people to create a lifelike AI of themselves to pass their knowledge down to future generations.

Previously, Rob was the Founder of LivePerson, Inc. (LPSN: NASDAQ ), and was its Chief Executive Officer from 1995 to 2023. He was the guiding force behind the company’s vision of creating meaningful connections between brands and consumers.

Rob’s interests extend beyond his business and reflect his close ties to New York City. He is a founding member of Equal AI and NYC Entrepreneurs Council of the Partnership for New York City. In 2001, he started the Dream Big Foundation with its first program FeedingNYC, which gives families in need a Thanksgiving dinner. To date, FeedingNYC has donated more than 40,000 meals. Its second program, the Dream Big Entrepreneurship Initiative, launched in 2014 to fund, mentor, coach, and empower local entrepreneurs in underserved communities.

Topics:
- The intersection of AI and human connection
- Technology and Legacy in the Digital Age
- The Future of Personal Knowledge Transfer

03/26/2025

Miles Deamer is a VP at Crossover VC, where he allocates capital to both early-stage emerging managers as well as select direct investment opportunities. Miles has spent more than a decade in Silicon Valley designing and implementing business strategies in the fintech and proptech verticals. Prior to joining Crossover, Miles spent seven years as an early employee of multiple venture-backed startups including Kiavi, Sundae, and AlphaFlow, where he led teams in capital markets, operations, and business development. Miles began his career in Credit at First Republic Bank where he conducted quantitative and qualitative due diligence on private credit direct loan opportunities.

Topics:
- Fund of Funds Strategy
- Hybrid Investment Model
- Emerging Manager Landscape

03/25/2025

Feyza Haskaraman is a principal at Menlo Ventures, Feyza focuses on soon-to-breakout consumer, fintech, and enterprise SaaS companies. Prior to Menlo, Feyza worked as an engineer at various companies in different growth stages, including Nucleus Scientific (now Indigotech), Fitbit, and Analog Devices. Her exposure to a wide range of tasks and opportunities led Feyza to grow curious about the way companies operate. Feyza pursued a career in business management when she joined McKinsey & Company after graduating from MIT. At McKinsey, she consulted multi-billion-dollar technology companies on strategy and operations, in addition to early-stage startups. Working with startups piqued her interest in venture capital and she joined Insight Partners. After working on a slew of successful investments, Feyza became even more inspired to work closely with founders throughout their journey from series seed and beyond. Feyza holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. Passionate about STEM education, she previously taught science in Nepal and Malawi. When she’s not working, you can find Feyza running, playing tennis, and critiquing indie movies.

Topics:
- Cybersecurity Investment Thesis
- AI Security Risks That Most Enterprises Overlook
- Next-Gen Identity Platforms Unifying Human and Machine Access

🚀 Venture with Grace: Week 61 Recap 🚀This past week on Venture with Grace, we dove into AI, fintech, cloud, security, an...
03/22/2025

🚀 Venture with Grace: Week 61 Recap 🚀

This past week on Venture with Grace, we dove into AI, fintech, cloud, security, and venture investing with some of the top minds shaping the future of tech. If you missed it, here’s what went down:

🔥 March 25
💡 Iliana Oris Valiente CPA,CA (Managing Director & NA Innovation Hubs Lead, Accenture) – How VC is evolving and the future of innovation

🔥 March 26
📊 Brian Peterson (CTO, Dialpad) – AI’s role in revolutionizing communication

☁️ Joseph Floyd (GP, Emergence Capital) – Backing the next wave of enterprise cloud & B2B SaaS

🔥 March 27
🔐 Casber Wang (Partner, Sapphire Ventures) – Investing in security & AI’s future

🔥 March 28
🚀 Andrew Blum (Co-founder, HumanX) – Accelerating enterprise AI adoption through events

🔥 March 29
⚙️ Sabrina Farmer (Former Google VP, GitLab CTO) – Engineering excellence at scale

🎧 Full replays are now live on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts—catch up before we drop Week 62 tomorrow!

📢 What’s the most valuable insight you took away this week?

🚀 Venture with Grace: Week 60 Recap 🚀Two weeks ago, we wrapped up Week 60 of Venture with Grace, featuring some of the s...
03/22/2025

🚀 Venture with Grace: Week 60 Recap 🚀

Two weeks ago, we wrapped up Week 60 of Venture with Grace, featuring some of the sharpest minds in AI, fintech, and venture capital. If you missed it, here’s what went down:

🔥 March 10
🎥 Jae Lee (Co-founder, TwelveLabs) – Pushing the boundaries of video AI

💸 Andrew Brown (Founder, Check) – Powering embedded payroll with APIs

🔥 March 11
🚀 Yousuf Khan (Partner, Ridge Ventures) – From CIO to VC: How tech leaders shape B2B investments

🎤 Stefan Weitz (CEO, HumanX & GP, SilverCircle) – AI, community-building, and the future of work

🔥 March 12
🛍️ Anna Barber (Partner, M13) – The intersection of enterprise AI & commerce

🎧 Full replays are now live on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts—get caught up before we drop the Week 61 recap later today and Week 62 tomorrow!

📢 Tons of insights packed into these episodes—what was your biggest takeaway?

03/21/2025

Sabrina Farmer is the Chief Technology Officer at GitLab, where she leads software engineering, operations, and customer support teams to execute the company's technical vision and strategy and oversee the development and delivery of GitLab's products and services. Prior to GitLab, Sabrina spent nearly two decades at Google, where she most recently served as vice president of engineering, core infrastructure. During her tenure with Google, she was directly responsible for the reliability, performance, and efficiency of all of Google's billion-user products and infrastructure. A long-time advocate for women in technology, Farmer earned a B.S. in Computer Science at the University of New Orleans, where she established two scholarships to help level the playing field for inclusion and empowerment in technology.

Topics:
- The evolution of DevOps and developer tools
- The real impact of AI on engineering productivity
- Building and maintaining technical talent

03/20/2025

Andrew Blum is the Co-Founder and COO at HumanX, the preeminent event dedicated to accelerating enterprise AI adoption - backed by Primary, Foundation Capital, and FPV. Previously, he served as Researcher-in-Residence at Primary Venture Partners, where he built out the incubation program and helped launch venture-scale businesses.

Topics:
- Community building as a catalyst for AI innovation
- Insights from bridging the AI hype-reality gap
- Enterprise AI adoption timeline - where we are and what's next

03/18/2025

Joseph Floyd is a General Partner at Emergence and a Kauffman Fellow. Joe’s expertise in building cloud startups has evolved from over fifteen years of advising and investing in rocketship startups like SalesLoft, project44, Mya, Total Expert, LogDNA and more. Before joining Emergence, Joe was a Senior Associate in American Capital’s technology group where he focused on investing in fast-growing internet and software companies including HomeAway. Joe was also an Associate at McKinsey & Co. in their corporate finance practice and did hard time in tech investment banking before that.

Joe earned an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. While at Wharton, Joe won first place at the International Venture Capital Investment Competition. He is also a proud Cal Bear with a BA in Economics and BS in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley.

Topics:

- Evolution of the cloud startup landscape
- How to evaluates AI SaaS sales and revenue tools
- Impact of AI on enterprise SaaS business models

03/18/2025

Brian Peterson is the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Dialpad, a leader in AI-powered communication and collaboration. With a background as a Senior Software Engineer at Google, where he contributed to the development of Google Voice, Peterson has been instrumental in driving technological innovation at Dialpad. His leadership continues to shape the company's growth and product development in the evolving landscape of hybrid work.

Topics:
- The evolution of AI in business communication tools
- Building and scaling a communication platform
- The role of real-time voice analytics and AI transcription

03/17/2025

Iliana Oris Valiente is the Managing Director (Partner) of NA Innovation Hubs Lead at Accenture. She leads all NA innovation hubs at Accenture, working with senior exec clients and boards to support their transformation journeys. This includes a focus on our AI, metaverse/web3, and cross industry plays. In this role, she oversees teams that bring together specialists in design, data science, the venture ecosystem, tech, along with variety of industry experts to educate clients, inspire change and move forward with results.

Michael Ströck is the Co-Founder and CEO of Allocator One. Allocator One is the leading platform for first-time venture capital funds. Since its founding, Allocator One has invested in numerous first-time GPs, including standout funds like Common Magic and Don't Quit Ventures. Today, Allocator One has built a powerful community of emerging fund managers and provides the tools and support needed to launch successful venture funds.

Topics:

- Building Effective Innovation Ecosystems
- AI's Impact on Investment Strategies
- The Evolution of VC Funding Models

03/12/2025

Anna Barber is a partner at M13, Anna was the managing director of Techstars LA and also a partner in The Fund LA. A certified executive coach, Anna has worked as a corporate lawyer, McKinsey consultant, product exec, and entrepreneur. She serves on the Advisory Board of PledgeLA and is a member of AllRaise.

Topics:
- The rise of solopreneurship and its impact on the business landscape
- How AI is transforming the economics of small businesses
- The concept of "business-in-a-box" solutions

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