First Funders
Shaherose Charania and Aamir Virani
All episodes
Best episodes
Top 10 First Funders Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best First Funders episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to First Funders for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite First Funders episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Eric Ries has invested in over 100+ early-stage startups. He is best known as the author of The Lean Startup, a must-read for entrepreneurs worldwide. He also founded the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), a new stock exchange designed to support companies with long-term goals. He recently launched a new podcast discussing ways to re-think corporate governance to be mission-first.
In Part 1 of our interview, he shared insights from angel investing. In Part 2, Eric shares his new ethos for startups rooted in long-term thinking, putting a company’s mission at the center of everything and aligning all stakeholders. This mission-first approach challenges the traditional capitalist, and data shows it leads to better company performance.
Eric writes checks of $10K or less as an Angel at the earliest stages. He is interested in mission-driven founders, education, fintech, AI, and more.
Highlights:
- Eric Angel invests for reasons beyond financial outcomes. He focuses on giving back to people in his network, learning about startup approaches and various industries, and doubling down in areas he is passionate about. Any time he has strayed from his investing criteria, it hasn’t worked out.
- Advising then investing: Eric prefers to work with a startup as a friend or advisor before investing. He keeps his check size to $10K to support his goal of high-velocity learning. He can write more checks with smaller checks, which means more learning.
- Investing as a spiritual journey: Eric practices introspection to support continuous learning and to avoid overgeneralizing when things don’t work out. When he invests, he applies Lean Startup thinking by asking, “Is this outcome falsifiable”? Invest -> Measure -> Learn. We guess this makes him is a "Lean Investor"
- Eric’s second act after Lean Startup is supporting mission-first startups: He advocates for a new ethos that he believes will lead to better performance in the long term.
- Eric shares tools for mission-first founders, including the Public Benefit Corporation, the LTSPV, employee voting trust, and more.
- (00:00) - Introduction to First Funders
- (00:54) - Meeting Eric Ries: a journey down memory lane
- (02:45) - The Impact of Lean Startup
- (07:15) - Eric's Angel investing journey starts with being an advisor and a mindset of giving back
- (09:55) - What is Eric's investing criteria
- (14:04) - Eric prefers to advise startups first before investing
- (17:47) - Eric's second act: from Lean Startup to nurturing mission-driven founders who will also realize massive profits
- (25:14) - Writing small $10K checks into a high volume of early-stage startups enables high velocity learning
- (27:24) -
- (28:28) - Eric decouples investing from outcomes to stay focused on giving back and learning
- (30:44) - How to be a useful startup advisor: stand for something that creates competitive advantage for startups
- (34:31) - A challenging investment: lessons from high-stakes and high-stress moments and can the startup journey be a force for healing trauma?
- (43:04) - The Long-Term Stock Exchange vision: a new ethos and governance approach for the startup community
- (45:01) - How mission-driven founders and investors need to be brave to challenge the capitalist status quo
- (47:33) - How tech startup can leverage the Public Benefit Corp and how the B-Corp certification won't work for software companies
- (51:24) - LTSPV: An SPV Angels can leverage to align their check with long-term thinking
- (54:08) - The spiritual journey of investing: what did you really learn vs what do you think happened?
- (57:07) - Speed Round and Final Thoughts
- (59:24) - Takeaways
- Follow the First Funders Podcast
- Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
- Twitter/X: @shaherose | @avirani
- Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
Disclaimer: This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
01: State of Venture Capital 2024 with Arjun Arora
First Funders
01/25/24 • 43 min
We're all discussing current market conditions - valuations, AI hype, fundraising challenges... Before we kick off our planned interview series on First Funders, we sat down with our friend Arjun Arora to discuss the Trends in Venture Capital 2024. As investors, we always look ahead, making this a great way to start 2024.
Highlights from our discussion:
- What to expect in round sizes and valuations
- Anticipated returns from the AI hype
- The significance of data-driven decision-making for VCs
- The rise of hyper-specialized funds
You can read the full report here: https://www.arjundarora.com/trends-report
This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
Topics
- (00:00) - 01: State of Venture Capital 2024 - Arjun Arora
- (00:49) - Guest: Arjun Arora on the State of Venture Capital 2024
- (01:24) - Arjun's Founder Background
- (03:03) - Format One and how they help founders
- (04:41) - Are Mega-deals only happening in AI?
- (06:07) - How should early-stage investors consider exit strategy?
- (08:02) - Is AI coming for venture capitalists?
- (10:36) - Social signals inform investors about founders AND teams
- (11:51) - Later-stage investors use prior investors as a signal
- (13:57) - Are crowd-funded companies legit investments?
- (16:01) - Do funds focused on a niche limit returns and increase risk?
- (22:25) - Don't go chasing Unicorns?
- (26:41) - Where's crypto and blockchain?
- (27:27) - Do founders want to do one-and-done raises?
- (29:17) - Can seed funds less power law, higher average outcomes?
- (31:45) - Will AI generate returns for investors?
- (33:35) - Advice for founders in this market environment
- (35:21) - Key Take aways: What we learned from Arjun's report for our own seed investing strategies
- (43:00) - Outro
Connect with Us
Follow the First Funders Podcast
Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
Twitter/X @shaherose
Twitter/X @avirani
Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
02/27/24 • 63 min
Rachel Sheinbein is an angel investor with over 250 startup investments. She shares her insights on angel investing and how it allows her to work with founders “even before the seed stage,” writing $25k checks into technology startups through her vehicle Very Serious Ventures. Later, Rachel discusses how building a community drives her investing strategy and lessons from memorable startup investments. Shaherose and Aamir kick off the show with a special message for founders who like to argue and end with their personal takeaways from the conversation with Rachel.
Highlights from our discussion:
- Why Rachel chose angel investing over a partner position at a VC firm
- What to look for in a quality angel group
- Using a DAF to align with an investing purpose
- Detecting founder passion and coachability
- Defining your purpose
This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
Topics
- (00:00) - 03: Rachel Sheinbein, Angel
- (01:14) - PSA: Your startup's users know more than Aamir the angel investor does
- (02:51) - Rachel Sheinbein, angel investor and advisor
- (04:56) - From engineering to venture capital to angel investing
- (07:28) - Do angel groups and angel networks provide value to startup investors?
- (13:23) - How Rachel aligns purpose and philanthropy with her early-stage startup investing
- (16:08) - Rachel's first angel investment was in a gaming startup
- (19:17) - Investor experience, startup luck, and Sequoia
- (21:49) - How does an angel investor like Rachel measure bad outcomes in startup investments?
- (24:53) - How angel investors operate differs from venture capitalists
- (29:47) - Pitch decks - do they matter when seed investing so early?
- (33:45) - Startup founder signals that matter to an angel investor
- (40:47) - A climate tech seed investment that paid off quickly and returned funds
- (46:39) - Very Serious Ventures angel invests $25k super early in founders
- (48:51) - An exercise to help you become a better angel investor
- (51:04) - Speed round, and the best book on strategy for startup founders
- (52:59) - Our takeaways on better startup investing
Connect with Us
Follow the First Funders Podcast
Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
Twitter/X @shaherose
Twitter/X @avirani
Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
02: 300 startup investments, 500 LPs, sharp elbows - Jenny Fielding, Everywhere Ventures
First Funders
02/14/24 • 67 min
Jenny Fielding, a pre-seed investor and angel with 300 early-stage startup investments, discusses investing in FinTech, hard tech, and consumer spaces over the past decade. From studying law to working in finance to leaving it all to found not just one but two startups, Jenny brings a founder-operator mindset to her fund, Everywhere Ventures. She writes pre-seed and seed-stage checks for $50k to $250k.
Highlights from our discussion:
- Jenny’s first seed investment and its fast, huge outcome
- Her simple evaluation framework for startup companies and their founders
- The way larger funds can screw early angel investors
- Everywhere Ventures’ latest seed investment comes out of stealth
- A yearly ritual to become a better angel and startup investor
This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
Topics
- (00:00) - 02: Jenny Fielding - Everywhere Ventures
- (03:07) - How does Shaherose know Jenny?
- (04:17) - Jenny's Journey into Investing
- (05:10) - Why did Jenny choose the investor side of the table?
- (08:27) - How did Jenny land her first investment (which went big!)?
- (11:02) - How does Jenny evaluate companies?
- (15:39) - How Jenny categorizes companies and check sizes
- (17:49) - How an angel investment went public and yet Jenny got nothing
- (25:18) - How does Jenny maintain authentic relationships while seed investing?
- (29:38) - Seed investors promise access to founders - does it matter?
- (33:39) - Jenny's successful seed investment in a Blockchain company - for real!
- (37:53) - Angel invest and chill? What signals help assess your investment early?
- (39:26) - How Jenny seed invests and then helps with future fundraising
- (40:46) - Using secondaries to generate returns and lower risk
- (44:18) - Pre-Seed fund return profiles - what's the goal and reality?
- (46:14) - Jenny and Everywhere seed invest in the "table stakes economy"
- (47:21) - What is the difference between pre-seed and seed startup investment rounds?
- (48:56) - Does valuation discipline matter for early angel and seed investors?
- (51:44) - Jenny's latest seed investment: Fora comes out of stealth
- (53:47) - Jenny's one trick to become better at startup investing
- (55:43) - How Jenny partners with Scott to make investment decisions
- (57:00) - Jenny's hot takes
- (58:21) - Takeaways from the interview
Connect with Us
Follow the First Funders Podcast
Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
Twitter/X @shaherose
Twitter/X @avirani
Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
01/23/24 • 6 min
Before you dive into our archives or the next episode, learn about First Funders and its hosts, Shaherose Charania and Aamir Virani.
You'll hear about Shaherose's background as a startup builder turned VC who started as a product marketer and how she started Women 2.0, a startup ecosystem, and Founder Labs, a tech incubator. She also reviews her time at Nike, where she built their first incubator, and her role as an angel investor and now Venture Partner at Cake Ventures.
Aamir then shares his experience as an engineer turned product management leader at Dropcam, which was acquired by Google/Nest, and then his turn as a venture capitalist at Felicis Ventures. Why did he end up back as an angel investor and operator? What types of investments does he look for now?
This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
Topics
- (00:00) - About the Hosts and their Angel and Seed Investing backgrounds
- (01:13) - How Shaherose went from operating to building Women 2.0 to funding startups
- (03:26) - Aamir's Journey from Founder to VC to Angel Investor
- (06:06) - Outro
Connect with Us
Follow the First Funders Podcast
Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
Twitter/X @shaherose
Twitter/X @avirani
Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
04: 3x tech founder turned seed VC brings a founder mindset to startup investing - Amit Kumar, Accel
First Funders
03/12/24 • 61 min
Amit Kumar, former founder and angel investor, is a generalist venture capitalist at Accel focused on dev tools, healthcare, and fintech startups. Twitter acquired Amit’s third company, and it was then that he realized his true purpose was supporting startup founders, and he shifted to venture capital. Amit shares insightful stories and lessons learned from 8 years of early-stage investing out of a large, top-tier VC fund.
Amit writes checks of $2M to $4M as the lead and first institutional seed investor.
Highlights from our discussion:
- How Amit frames venture capital as a long game
- Why Amit considers himself a “co-founder as a service,” and how that serves his startup community
- The right way to think about deal setup for successful early-stage investing
- Why the problem slide in your pitch deck is most important
This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
Topics
- (00:00) - 04: Amit Kumar - Accel
- (00:16) - A startup idea seed investors will definitely say NO to (but maybe Shark Tank will take it)
- (03:35) - Amit Kumar - seed investor and First Funder at Accel
- (05:17) - Amit's Transition to Accel and the Power of Networking
- (07:38) - How Amit learned about angel investing - friends, conferences, and meetups
- (08:47) - What does it look like when a VC firm recruits you as a potential founder? Potential partner?
- (12:14) - Angel investing as risk diversification and knowledge sharing, especially for existing startup founders
- (13:56) - Venture capitalists can provide "co-founders as a service"
- (17:21) - How Amit chose between being a founder again and investing full-time
- (20:06) - Amit's first investment, and how past founder relationships build trust
- (22:23) - Startups that don't go public in 7 years - does that hurt your model and LP relationships?
- (24:11) - Conviction, not consensus - but what builds trust among GPs when startup investing?
- (26:30) - Startup valuations: Amit's venture capital POV and moving targets in 2024
- (28:37) - How does a large early-stage VC think about follow-on investments and the number of startups to fund?
- (31:57) - Taking bigger risks earlier
- (34:49) - How startup investors consider incumbents in a space when assessing competition and exits
- (36:24) - Headway, and what Amit has learned about identifying good startup investments in new markets
- (42:05) - How to think about thesis investing, conflicts of interest, and competing startups
- (45:14) - How Amit thinks about return profiles and seed investing today
- (48:08) - What founder and market signals does a venture capitalist look for?
- (50:39) - How to get on the Midas List - it's the fundamentals
- (51:47) - A movie you must see to understand venture capital and startup investing matters
- (54:15) - Takeaways from Amit Kumar's First Funder approach
- (01:01:18) - Outro
Connect with Us
Follow the First Funders Podcast
Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
Twitter/X @shaherose
Twitter/X @avirani
Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
Meka Asonye, a Partner at First Round Capital, started angel investing in 2018 while working at Stripe and joined First Round in 2021. He has made dozens of Angel investments and 13 Venture investments, and he's just getting started! While he focuses on B2B SAAS, he has not shied away from investing in audacious founders, from modernizing 911 call centers to putting the biggest satellites in space. Meka shares his approach to finding true outliers, a practice he began while uncovering hidden talent for the Cleveland Guardians.
Meka writes checks of $2M to $5M as the lead at pre-seed and seed.
Highlights from the discussion:
- Meka's unconventional path to VC: from discovering high-potential baseball talent to leading sales at startups to VC
- Meka's first angel investment came from Craiglist!
- Exploring the frontiers: investing in Space and GovTech
- How Meka supports founder friends, honestly
- Leveling up in VC by learning from partners, retros, reviews, and reflection powered by process and data
This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
Topics
- (00:00) - Kicking Off the First Funders Podcast with Meka Asonye
- (03:52) - First Round Capital's role in Meka and Shaherose's transition from Angel to VC
- (05:53) - Meka's Unconventional Path to Venture Capital: from baseball talent to management consulting to startups to VC
- (10:54) - Meka's purpose is rooted in being a part of the founder's village
- (13:55) - The Art of Angel Investing: Meka's First Investment Story came from a person he met on Craiglist!
- (18:37) - Thoughtful reflection: outliers can't be discovered via pattern matching
- (20:15) - How Meka assesses for money smells and hustle in a founder
- (23:16) - Missed deals like Anthropic keep Meka up at night.
- (28:10) - How Meka supports founder friends
- (33:42) - Outcomes and up rounds thus far: Rimeto, CODA, K2Space, Prepared
- (36:16) - Exploring the Frontiers: Investing in Space and GovTech
- (37:42) - Meka's betting on a pair of brother's putting big satellites in space
- (39:04) - Unexpected VC bet: Integrating tech into every 911 emergency call
- (43:31) - Meka is a generalist investor with a focus on B2B SAAS, Fintech and hard tech
- (44:54) - Investing in YC companies and maintaining an orientation towards prioritizing ownership over valuation
- (49:28) - First Round Capital's approach is rooted in consensus not conviction, they invest as team
- (52:17) - Leveling up in VC by learning from partners, retros, reviews, reflection powered by a process and data
- (01:07:47) - Outro
Connect with Us
Follow the First Funders Podcast
Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
Twitter/X @shaherose
Twitter/X @avirani
Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
07/02/24 • 59 min
Hailing from Michigan, Charles developed an early obsession with the public markets in high school. Charles Hudson is now the Managing Partner at Precursor Ventures, a pre-seed venture fund that has defined and has become synonymous with “pre-seed”. Charles is known for his ability to identify and mentor early-stage companies that have the potential to disrupt their industries - first and early - including companies like the Athletic (acquired by the NY Times for $550M), Bobbie (recently raised a $70M Series C), Carrot Fertility (recently raised $75M Series C) and Pair Eyewear (recently raised $75M Series C).
Charles writes checks of $250k - $500k at Pre-seed and Seed. He is a Generalist with a focus on digital health, media, and software.
Highlights:
- The boomerang back to VC: Charles shares his unique path from Michigan to Silicon Valley, starting in VC, then moving to Google and various startups before returning to VC.
- Founding Precursor Ventures: Charles spotted an opportunity to invest in non-obvious founders pre-product and pre-revenue while other firms moved upstream in 2015. This made him one of the first in a second wave of pre-seed firms to launch, and 10 years later, he’s become the go-to first funder.
- Evaluating Founders vs. Ideas: Charles is a founder-first investor (founder 70%, idea 30%). He shares his criteria for assessing talent and reveals indicators of success that have generated alpha in his portfolio.
- Investment Strategy over Trends: Even in the face of trends like crypto, AI, and the economic downturn, Charles stays steady and focused on people and his definition of pre-seed, not morphing with industry shifts.
Links:
Follow Charles Hudson on Twitter: @chudson
Read Charles’ blog on Substack
Learn more about Precursor Ventures: Precursor Ventures
Connect with Charles Hudson on LinkedIn: Charles Hudson
Connect with Us:
Follow the First Funders Podcast
Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
Twitter/X: @shaherose | @avirani
Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
Disclaimer: This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
- (00:00) - Intro
- (00:52) - Early Days and Building Community
- (03:09) - Interning at Smith Barney to the CIA's Venture firm
- (08:59) - Embracing Risk and Independent Thinking defines a solo GP
- (11:05) - Operating Experience As Product Manager, then Business Development at Google and a Return to VC
- (16:50) - Charles' first role as an advisor surprisingly had a $300M acquisition by Paypal
- (19:55) - Joining Softech (now Uncorked) in 2010 when Seed investors were known as Super Angels
- (21:10) - Launching Precursor to fill the gap created by Super Angel Funds going upstream and defining a new category - "pre-seed"
- (23:50) - First Investments: the role of macro tailwinds and headwinds
- (27:57) - Evaluating Founders 70% and Ideas 30%
- (31:03) - The Role of Business Model Innovation in Generating Alpha
- (33:25) - Learning from Challenging Investments: If you don't know its ok, but say something
- (38:01) - Staying True to Your Investment Strategy
- (40:44) - Charles' best investment: The Athletic, acquired by the New York Times for $525M
- (45:55) - How he Decides: Evaluating Founders and Their Potential, Weird Patterns, Product Velocity, Remote Teams
- (51:38) - Current Investment Strategies, Focus Areas and Check Sizes
- (53:25) - Following High-Potential Talent vs. Investing Theses: People vs. Market vs. Product Evaluations
- (57:00) - Speed Round
08 Takeaways: Charles Hudson, Precursor Ventures: macro, team vs market, fund size vs. outcomes
First Funders
07/09/24 • 20 min
Join Shaherose & Aamir as we reflect on our conversation with Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures.
Highlights:
- Don’t forget the macro: Government regulations can lead to massive opportunities or failures. We discuss case studies of companies like Samsara, Movtive (fka KeepTrucking), Republic, and Zum, showing how regulatory shifts led to category-creating opportunities. Charles’ worst investment was wiped out due to changes in government regulation.
- Team vs market: We discussed the interplay between having the right team, idea, and timing for startup success. Charles evaluates opportunities 70% team and 30% idea. Both Aamir and I take a more balanced approach than Charles does.
- Fund size vs. outcomes: Reflecting on the past learning, "Your fund size is your strategy." We wonder what role that played in Charles’ decision to invest in the Athletic, later acquired by the NY Times for $550M.
Links:
- Follow Charles Hudson on Twitter: @chudson
- Read Charles’ blog on Substack
- Learn more about Precursor Ventures: Precursor Ventures
- Connect with Charles Hudson on LinkedIn: Charles Hudson
Connect with Us:
- Follow the First Funders Podcast
- Newsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeaways
- Twitter/X: @shaherose | @avirani
- Email us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guests
Disclaimer: This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.
- (00:00) - Introduction and Format Change
- (00:39) - The macro matters
- (03:40) - Learning from past investments while staying open minded, what about bias?
- (04:12) - Team vs. Market
- (10:36) - Fund size vs outcomes
- (16:17) - Investors don't know it all
08/27/24 • 71 min
Armed with an educational background in computer science and biomedical informatics, Amit Garg switched to venture capital after a long, successful career in the corporate world, which included stints at companies like Google and Samsung.
And that’s just the way he never planned it.
That’s right, the almost-doctor didn’t intend to get into venture capital, and he certainly never planned on starting his own fund. He was drawn in by his innate need to build things, including relationships with people. He partnered up with his officemate from Norwest, Sanjay Rao, and the two started Tau Ventures in 2019, an AI-first, early-stage fund focused on healthcare, enterprise, and automation.
Amit tells us about his very targeted approach to investing, which is different from the “spray and pray” method we’ve seen from friends of the pod and other investors in general. We also get to hear first-hand accounts about the importance of building trust with your investing partners and your founders. Plus, Amit gives us his take on the state of healthcare and AI and why – despite all the challenges – he’s hopeful about where it’s headed.
Amit primarily invests $500K in Seed-stage healthcare, enterprise, and automation startups and occasionally in Series A, B, and C through Tau Ventures.
Highlights:
- Amit turned down a spot in medical school and pivoted his original ambition to become a doctor by first joining Google, pivoting to VC, and then becoming a digital health founder.
- He got into the corporate side of venture capital after business school, but he never had any interest in starting his own fund. That is until his friend and former officemate convinced him that an AI-first venture fund was a great idea in 2019.
- Amit explains that the “why” behind his investing does come from a place of self-interest – which is much different than selfish. He feels that when he pursues and realizes his own self-interests, he can help others to the same.
- Why a founder shut down a company in his portfolio and why Amit decided to back him again basically the next day.
- How he sees the interplay between angel and institutional investors and why they’re both necessary
- Amit’s frustration with healthcare and how it fuels his passion to make it better. Plus, he explains why he keeps his focus on the three legs of the healthcare tripod.
- (00:00) - FIFU 11 - Amit
- (02:30) - Amit’s journey into venture
- (06:08) - Why Amit likes venture capital as someone who wants to make the world better
- (13:01) - Memorable moments from the first conviction-driven investment: Iterative Health
- (19:18) - The machine gun vs. the shotgun style of investing
- (21:05) - Lessons from the worst investment
- (24:34) - Be careful who you partner with, optimize for good investors
- (28:22) - What the best investment with a $450M exit taught Amit
- (32:57) - Investing is about humans believing in humans
- (35:42) - The state of healthcare and AI today
- (46:39) - Venture vs. angels in the healthcare space
- (51:12) - Outcomes in the digital healthcare space are starting to behave like tradtional SAAS software outcomes
- (58:13) - Lighting round
- (01:01:51) - Takeaways
Show more best episodes
Show more best episodes
FAQ
How many episodes does First Funders have?
First Funders currently has 17 episodes available.
What topics does First Funders cover?
The podcast is about Venture Capital, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Startups, Podcasts and Business.
What is the most popular episode on First Funders?
The episode title '03: Angel vs VC, finding purpose and community in startup investing - Rachel Sheinbein' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on First Funders?
The average episode length on First Funders is 56 minutes.
How often are episodes of First Funders released?
Episodes of First Funders are typically released every 14 days, 2 hours.
When was the first episode of First Funders?
The first episode of First Funders was released on Jan 12, 2024.
Show more FAQ
Show more FAQ