Fireside with a VC

E135: Category Creators—The Secret to Venture Success | Eric Ver Ploeg of Tunitas Ventures What separates an innovative startup from a true category creator? In this episode of Fireside with a VC, Andrew Romans speaks with Eric Ver Ploeg, founder and managing partner of Tunitas Ventures, about identifying startups capable of creating entirely new markets—and generating exceptional venture returns. Drawing on more than a decade of experience at firms including VantagePoint Venture Partners and Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, Eric explains the seed-stage investment strategy he developed nearly ten years ago and continues to apply today. “I developed the strategy beginning with the end in mind, which is asking the fundamental question: Where do the great returns in venture come from?” — Eric Ver Ploeg THE POWER OF CATEGORY CREATION Category creators do more than improve existing products or compete within established markets. They give customers an experience that previously did not exist—often creating an…

🚀 Are you a VC or angel investor? Let’s partner. 7BC Venture Capital is actively partnering with venture capital funds and angel investors across four key areas: 🤝 PRO RATA CO-INVESTMENTSHave a breakout portfolio company raising its next round? We can provide capital to help you exercise your pro rata rights, while sharing economics with you. 💰 VC SECONDARIES Looking to generate liquidity or return capital to your LPs? We buy shares in high-quality venture-backed companies directly from VCs and other existing shareholders. 📈 FUND OF FUNDS INVESTMENTS Raising your next VC fund? Through our Fund of Funds, we invest in venture capital funds and build long-term relationships with top-performing managers. 🌍 EUROPEAN VC ROADSHOWS We bring select VCs with us across Europe to meet family offices, institutional investors, wealth managers, and other LPs. UPCOMING 7BC EUROPEAN VC ROADSHOWS 🇸🇪 🇩🇰 🇳🇱 🇧🇪 🇱🇺 September 2026 Stockholm • Copenhagen • Amsterdam • Brussels • Luxembourg 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 🇨🇭 🇮🇹 🇨🇭 October 2026 London • Paris…

E133: In this episode of Fireside with the VC, Andrew Romans is joined by Chris Wilkerson, founder and GP of 51 Ventures. They discuss the booming sports tech industry, the importance of relationships in the sports ecosystem, and how understanding industry language is critical for venture success. Whether you're interested in sports technology, venture capital, or relationship-building, this episode offers valuable insights. · What is sports tech? Understanding the industry beyond team ownership · Case studies of sports tech companies like We Played and Pisen · The role of relationships and trust in sports-related investments · The unique aspects of sports industry dynamics and language · The size and future potential of the sports tech market · Challenges of applying AI and automation in sports industries · How industry expertise and relationships create value for VC investors · The importance of understanding seasonality and revenue flows in sports startups · 51 Ventures – Chris Wilkerson’s firm focused on…

The one clause most founders forget to negotiate — and the family-office investor who's quietly used it for decades to protect capital and engineer better exits. Andrew Romans (7BC Venture Capital) sits down with Arthur Bavelas, founder of Family Office Insights, to unpack information rights — the deceptively simple legal provision that decides who gets paid, who gets stuck, and who actually gets to sell their shares. In this conversation: — Why information rights aren't just for investors, and how founders can negotiate them for themselves — The secondary-sale scenario where a missing clause costs founders real money — How VCs structure Layer 1 vs. Layer 2 SPVs and orchestrate "final close" tactics — A Steve Jobs–era story on how transparency rights changed an outcome — What LPs should ask before they wire In a market where deal structure quietly decides winners and losers, the people who understand these levers walk away with more. Arthur and Andrew break it down in plain English. About the guest: Arthur…

Fireside with a VC E131: Discover how Tyson Tuttle, CEO of Circuit AI, is leveraging AI to revolutionize manufacturing, supply chain, and enterprise workflows. This conversation covers strategic company growth, technological innovation, and the future trajectory of AI-enabled industrial solutions. · Tyson Tuttle's journey from semiconductor leadership to AI entrepreneurship · The application of AI in manufacturing and supply chain optimization · Strategies for go-to-market, customer engagement, and scaling of AI solutions · The role of VC funding, growth plans, and long-term vision for Circuit AI · Insights into Texas's evolving financial and manufacturing ecosystem · Tyson shares his experience leading Silicon Labs through $3.5B IPO and $8B acquisition · Details Circuit AI’s focus on automating technical workflows within manufacturing · How AI transforms complex sales processes, CPQ, and technical data management · The importance of land-and-expand strategies inenterprise AI deployment 00:00 - Introduction:…

In this episode of Fireside with a VC, Andrew Romans explains how VC secondaries really work in large private companies — and how buyers and sellers can avoid common mistakes. We cover: · Secondaries vs. primaries · Stock transfer permissions and why deals get blocked · ROFRs and the ROFR price · Direct to cap table vs. layered SPV structures · How to calculate the all-in cost (with or without carry) · Fake brokers, daisy chains, and wasted time · Liquidity post-investment This episode draws on 20 years of experience, 70 SPVs, and five pooled VC funds. 🎙️ More episodes: https://www.7bc.vc/podcast 👉 Events: https://www.7bc.vc/events ✅ Apply: https://lu.ma/user/usr-8Y0b18KjVLZhAPm 📩 Contact Andrew: andrew@7bc.vc Important: This content is for informational and relationship management purposes only. It is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Any offering will be made only to eligible investors, through private communications, pursuant to applicable offering documents, and only…

E129 — Silicon Valley Real Estate – Selling Google their first building - Barry DiRaimondo, CEO, SteelWave In this episode of Fireside with a VC, I sit down with Barry DiRaimondo to understand the history, present and future of Silicon Valley real-estate market from a lifetime veteran who sold Google their first building. The story of selling Google their HQ building Is Commercial RE a hard asset, a financial asset, or asocial asset? What is the difference between design and architecture? How has the workplace evolved over time? How technology real estate differs from other real estate. How to think about risk? What types of risks CAN be underwritten and what types CAN'T be underwritten? Lessons learned from those that CAN'T be underwritten? The future of the industry going forward and compare that towhere its been. Upcoming live events — Global VC Demo Day (VC–LP Tour) 👉 Register and view dates: https://www.7bc.vc/events 📌 Next stops include: Dallas, Zurich, Geneva, Munich, San Francisco, Austin, New York,…

In this episode of Fireside with a VC, I sit down with Biju Ashokan, CEO of Radius, to unpack how AI and automation are reshaping the real estate agent workflow—from lead to close. We discuss: · How AI and automation can help agents buy or sell five times more properties per year (in the right operating model). · What an “always-on” assistant looks like: proactively sourcing inventory, matching buyers and sellers, drafting complex documents, and handling back office tasks—so agents can spend more time on relationships and closing. · What is changing in the US real estate and brokerage industry. · Why the number of agents may decrease, while productivity and income per agent may rise. Learn more about Radius · Website: https://www.radiusagent.com/ · Contact: Biju Ashokan (CEO) — biju@radiusagent.com Upcoming live events — Global VC Demo Day (VC–LP Tour)👉 Register and view dates: https://www.7bc.vc/events 📌 Next stops include: Dallas, Zurich, Geneva, Munich, San Francisco, Austin, New York, Singapore, Berlin,…

In this episode of Fireside with a VC, I sit down with Simo Lemhandez, CEO, Folk We discuss: CRM built today with native-AI technology. How one CRM draws data from email, CRM, WhatsApp, meeting notes and more. Integrating data enrichment, mining your data, sending email sequences and follow up reminders all in one dynamic application. How CRM can become a virtual assistant. Allowing CRM to do much of your busy work combining many expensive static software suites into one central application. Start your 2-week free trial here: https://www.folk.app/. Upcoming Live Events Global VC Demo Day VC–LP tour 👉 Register here: https://www.7bc.vc/events 📌 Next stops on our global tour include Dallas, Zurich, Geneva, Munich, San Francisco, Austin, New York, Singapore, Berlin, and London. Check dates and availability: https://www.7bc.vc/events. Apply to attend our upcoming events: https://lu.ma/user/usr-8Y0b18KjVLZhAPm Find all Fireside with a VC episodes at: https://www.7bc.vc/podcast. Find this episode on YouTube:…

In this episode of Fireside with a VC, I sit down with FabriceGrinda, founder of FJ Labs investing in seed at scale : 3 investments per week We discuss: Valuations of AI Seed to Series A startups All things market places, take rates, valuations, exits Secondaries, how to sell, when and how much Take rates and how to layer revenue on a marketplace Why the seed VC market outperforms the growth market Global VC Demo Day Miami – Art Basel 👉Register here: https://luma.com/ulz95tfo Contact Andrew Romans if you are an active LP seeking toinvest in VC funds and would like to join us at any of our VIP luncheons, dinners, or sunset yacht cruise during Art Basel Miami, December 4–7, 2025. 📌 Next stops on our global VC–LP tour include Dallas, Zurich, Geneva, Munich, San Francisco, Austin, New York, Singapore, Berlin, and London. Check dates and availability: https://www.7bc.vc/events Apply to attend our upcoming events: https://lu.ma/user/usr-8Y0b18KjVLZhAPm

In this episode of Fireside with a VC, I sit down with Arvin Grover, General Partner at Digital Health Venture Partners (DHVP), to dive into how AI is reshaping healthcare and where the biggest opportunities are for founders and investors. We discuss: · Why roughly 22% of the healthcare sector has adopted AI compared to 9% in the broader economy · The most compelling use cases for AI across the healthcare value chain · How targeted AI solutions and sector-focused innovation can rejuvenate America’s competitiveness · What it takes for a digital health–focused venture fund to thrive (or fail) under shifting market conditions 📧 Connect with ArvinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arvin-grover/Email: arvin@dhvp.io Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uB9xhrFQVe8 Meet Arvin Grover at 7BC’s Global VC Demo Day in Miami during Art Basel on December 4, 2025, alongside 100+ VCs, family offices, institutional investors, HNWIs, startups, and more. Join us for a 2-hour networking reception following 7 hand-selected VCs…

This video explains how a VC Fund of Funds (FoF) works. It explains how we raise LP capital from investors, how cash is paid into the fund and how cash is paid back to LPs. I explain how the management fees and carry work, how this compares to a classic VC fund that invests directly in startups, how the risk is lower, how the payments back to LPs are expected to be much steadiers, multiples, and other ways to compare an FoF to a VC fund and how they work together.

This video / episode is NOT for my usual audience, but explains how venture capital works to someone who is new to VC. We recently had new LPs invest in our VC funds, and they were not clear about how VC differs from a hedge fund. They were not clear on how they pay their cash into the fund, how the management fees and carry / performance fee work, and how we make cash distributions back to them, and how they get their money back and are paid profits. This video explains how classic VC works, how 2&20 works, and how and when distributions are made when we sell shares from IPO, M&A, or secondary transactions.

In this episode of Fireside with a VC, I sit down with John Frankel, founder and partner at ff Venture Capital, to discuss: · The rise of AI Point Solutions (AIPS) · ff VC’s new fund driving innovation in energy and manufacturing · How VC fund size and strategy influence performance across different economic cycles John shares insights on how targeted AI solutions and sector-focused innovation can rejuvenate America’s competitiveness — and what it takes for a venture fund to thrive or fail under shifting market conditions. Upcoming Live Event Hear John present his fund strategy at 7BC’s Global VC Demo Day in New York City on September 17th, 2025, alongside 100+ VCs, family offices, institutional investors, HNWIs, startups, and more. Join us for a 2-hour networkingreception following 7 hand-selected VCs presenting their funds. 👉 Register here: https://lu.ma/f3qxubi5 📌NYC is the 4th stop of our global tour. Apply to attend our upcoming events: https://lu.ma/user/usr-8Y0b18KjVLZhAPm Global Tour Dates🍎 New York…

7BC’s Fund of Funds + Cherry-Pick Direct VC Strategy (and why now) + Invitation to 7BC VC-LP-Startup EventsLearn how 7BC combines a Fund of Funds (FoF) with a Cherry Pick Direct VC strategy to back top-decile managers and invest directly in their best companies—unlocking liquidity with secondaries so VCs can return cash to LPs faster.What you’ll learn• Why FoF + Direct VC now• The best VCs from the ’70s–’90s scaled 10x–30x and became mega funds doing late growth rounds near exit prices. Returns are more compressed and take longer to realize.• The Cambrian explosion of VC funds: Alumni from OpenAI, Palantir, Google and countless exited founders have launched funds. NYC went from 50 VCs fifteen years ago to 1,200+; Silicon Valley has thousands. It’s now impossible to track managers and deals without serious AI and dedicated resources.• How 7BC Capital (FoF) invests: We often join final closes of top emerging managers after TVPI is already up, making our commitment worth appromimately 1.2x–2.5x on day one. For…

E122 Fireside Chat at Global VC Demo Day London June 2025 with Neil Foster & Scott Smedresman on Fireside with a VC. Discussing the changes and market dynamics of the VC startup ecosystems in London, New York, and Silicon Valley. What has changed and how should strategies adjust? 🚀 VCs: Pitch your fund to LPs forfree at the Global VC Demo Day: https://www.7bc.vc/events 📺 Watch the full episode on YouTube:https://youtu.be/J1wcOGGqZOc🎙 Find all episodes of Fireside with a VC: https://www.7bc.vc/podcast💡 Learn more about Neil Foster & Scott Smedresman and BrownRudnickhere: · https://brownrudnick.com/ · https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-foster-6b87405/ · https://linkedin.com/in/scottsmedresman 💰 Learn more about 7BC Venture Capital: https://7bc.vc 📩 Contact Andrew Romans: https://www.linkedin.com/in/romans/ 📚 Find Andrew's 4 books on VC & tech here: http://rb.gy/x1jrr2 Join us at our in-person events where we host a VIP dinner for 20 individuals and Global VC Demo Day events for roughly 100 approved VCs, LPs, and…

E121 Mark Terbeek, Partner at Greycroft, talking about founder-investor-fit on Fireside with a VC. One of the keys to success is carefully selecting your investors, building a well-functioning board of directors and managing these long-term relationships. How to evaluate VCs and create founder-investor fit and maintain this over time even if the board member from the venture firm changes and you bring on new board members as you go through your venture funding journey. Best practices on how VCs should approach being a board member. 🚀 VCs: Pitch your fund to LPs for free at the Global VC Demo Day: https://www.7bc.vc/events 📺 Watch the full episode on YouTube:https://youtu.be/Wdb6DF1oYLc 🎙 Find all episodes of Fireside with a VC: https://www.7bc.vc/podcast 💡 Learn more about Mark Terbeek and Greycroft here: https://www.greycroft.com/ 💰 Learn more about 7BC Venture Capital: https://7bc.vc 📩 Contact Andrew Romans: https://www.linkedin.com/in/romans/ 📚 Find Andrew's 4 books on VC & tech here: Amazonauthor page.…

Greg Kidd on Fireside with a VC. Greg recently acquired VastBank | Fintech Pioneer | Early Investor: Twitter, Square, Coinbase, Solana | Ex-Ripple (#10) | Built & Scaled First Company to IPO | Co-Founder, GlobaliD | CEO, USBC | Ex Federal Reserve | Former roommate with Jack Dorsey. Greg and I get into a few topics, including all things related to the future of finance, banking, payments, USDC vs USBC, identity being added to crypto payments and transactions, open banking and fair access, democratizing money, 10,000% markups banks take on ACH and wire transfers over the Fed charges, banking without borders, who needs Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Google or Apple to take rent on payments and how to stop this, importance of securitization and tokenization of real assets, risk management in a world of crypto and digitized centralized and decentralized banking and finance. 📺 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Hpf1mdePa0g 🎙 Find all episodes of Fireside with a VC: https://www.7bc.vc/podcast 💡 Learn more…

How can AI help enterprises unlock valuable insights hidden in tens of thousands of contracts, invoices, and financial documents? Terzo is using AI to revolutionize enterprise data mining, tackling the complex world of Fortune 500 sales. With 90% of global IT spend concentrated in the Fortune 100, is it possible to build a multi-billion-dollar company without selling into the Fortune 500? We break down the differences between servicing Fortune 500 giants versus the faster sales cycles of smaller enterprise customers. Other key topics include: The balance between acquiring new logos versus expanding within existing customers. Striking the right 30/70 revenue growth balance to align with VC investors. How AI SaaS sales cycles differ from classic SaaS sales models. Navigating complex enterprise sales processes, including the role of the “AI Czar” who can either block deals or demand bakeoff POCs, creating temporary inflated ARR for startups. The percentage of AI deployments actively in production versus those…

E118 Voice AI with Phonely.ai CEO Will Bodewes on Fireside with a VC discussing how the Voice AI space is evolving so quickly to integrate into existing systems and workflows of the HIPAA compliant front desk at a medical clinic or large call center delivering huge cost savings, rapidly increasing revenues, and providing a much better level of service with automated switching into most spoken languages and constantly improving and A/B testing what works best. Links and Resources: Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mp6zt5pqvzg. Find all episodes of Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC. Learn more about Phonely: https://www.phonely.ai/. Contact Phonely CEO Will Bodewes: will@phonely.ai. Learn more about 7BC Venture Capital here: https://7bc.vc/. Inviting VCs to pitch their VC fund to LPs for free at the Global VC Demo Day here: https://www.7bc.vc/events. Register for our VC-LP-founder events: Austin SXSW, March 11, 20225 -…

E117 How to develop business relationships on Fireside with a VC with Ablorde Ashigbi, CEO of 4Degrees and the host of the podcast The Relationship Edge. Links and Resources: Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5WN6hGo17XI. Find all episodes of Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC. Learn more about 4Degrees: https://www.4degrees.ai/. The Edge Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0gurTrpjX8bkwzK8gRPi4G?si=6fb1b59b0f0a4e3c. The Edge Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@4degrees879/videos. Contact Ablorde Ashigbi: ablorde@4degrees.ai. Learn more about 7BC Venture Capital here: https://7bc.vc/. Join our Newsletter to get our insights and curated content from the VC-startup ecosystem - Fireside with a VC: https://subscribe.7bc.vc. Get Andrew's new book here: Masters of Raising Venture Capital: https://www.amazon.com//dp/B0DHH5M4TM/. Get Andrew's book on Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) here: Masters of Corporate Venture…

E116 Nada CityFunds, a new way to own real estate, w/ CEO Tore Steen on Fireside with a VC. Tore is the CEO of Nada which operates CityFunds. Nada helps homeowners and individual investors solve the challenge of accessing and investing in home equity by providing a platform for home equity investment without additional debt or monthly payments. Homeowners sell a home share in exchange for cash and investors may invest in a CityFund that owns home shares in many homes in a specific high growth city or invest in the entire basket of home shares across multiple cities. Tore previously cofounded CrowdStreet, the largest online real estate investment platform in the U.S. having raised and invested over $4.4bn primarily from accredited and retail investors, where he raised over $50m of VC funding and additional venture debt funding. Tore joined Nada first as a board member and now as CEO. Links and Resources: Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uvDWJvJMuzI. Find all episodes of Fireside with a VC…

E115 Intel Capital, Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) putting the silicon back in Silicon Valley, Jennifer Ard, Managing Director, Head of Investment Operations at Intel Capital Links and Resources: Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/kzB5m6ViVzE. Find all episodes of Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC. Learn more about Intel Capital: https://www.intelcapital.com/. Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-ard-cfa-32a69b3/. Follow Andrew Romans on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/romans/. Join our Newsletter to get our insights and curated content from the VC-startup ecosystem - Fireside with a VC: https://subscribe.7bc.vc. Learn more about 7BC Venture Capital here: https://7bc.vc/. Get Andrew's new book here: Masters of Raising Venture Capital: https://www.amazon.com//dp/B0DHH5M4TM/. Get Andrew's book on Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) here: Masters of Corporate Venture Capital: http://rb.gy/u46e9r. Join the…

E114 How Antler became the most active VC globally so quickly – Anthony Millet, Partner & Co-Head Antler Capital, on Fireside with a VC Anthony Millet discusses how Antler quickly became the most active VC globally since founding in 2018 with a team of 300 investing in 500 startups per year out of offices in 30 cities on 6 continents. Pre-Seed to Series A and beyond. Meet Anthony Millet in person next week in Palo Alto at the 7BC Venture Capital event October 29, 2024 from 5 to 9 pm. Links and Resources: Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Y92-7ZscN2Y. Meet Anthony Millet in person and hear him on the VC panel: https://lu.ma/1o2zs7x8. Find all episodes of Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC. Learn more about Antler: https://www.antler.co/. Follow Anthony Millet on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-millet-9327713/ Follow Andrew Romans on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/romans/. Join our Newsletter to get our insights…

E113 Zive AI CEO Rajesh Gopi on Fireside with a VC explaining how his firm has applied AI to revolutionize venture capital admin, compliance, LP reporting, interacting with portfolio companies, LPs, portfolio construction, and, how to hit your IRR, DPI, and TVPI targets and so much more. The days of running a VC without AI are over. Links and Resources: Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wVYm7JKD2Io. Find all episodes of Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform: https://pocasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC. Learn more about Zive AI: https://www.zive.ai/. Follow Rajesh Gopi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajeshgopi/ Follow Andrew Romans on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/romans/. Join our Newsletter to get our insights and curated content from the VC-startup ecosystem - Fireside with a VC: https://subscribe.7bc.vc. Learn more about 7BC Venture Capital here: https://7bc.vc/. Join the conversation, leave comments, and tell us what you think about these topics and this…

E112 A walk through an NVCA VC Term Sheet for a Series A funding round with Jason Putnam Gordon, legendary Silicon Valley VC lawyer and Partner at K&L Gates, one of the premier VC-focused law firms. This episode literally walks through every term in a term sheet with a lawyer and VC discussing each term, explaining what they mean, and which ones are worth fighting for. Lawyers like Jason can be very expensive but worth every penny. Strap in for a free masterclass! Links and Resources: Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/F2MnHqWFBHA. Find all episodes of Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC. Learn more about the K&L Gates: https://www.klgates.com/firm-overview. Follow Jason Putnam Gordon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonputnamgordon/ Follow Andrew Romans on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/romans/. Join our Newsletter to get our insights and curated content from the VC-startup ecosystem - Fireside with a VC:…

E111 Breaking up big tech monopolies on Fireside with a VC speaking with Manish Patel, founder of Nava Ventures, a $175m VC fund in San Francisco, Teaching Faculty at Stanford University, early Googler, and former General Partner at Highland Capital Partners. Talking about his history at Google pre-IPO and the current state of monopolies with Google, Apple and Microsoft and what should regulators do as well as regulatory capture with Open AI and other tech titans. Manish also talks about Nava VC and their Series A concentrated strategy backing 15 startups per fund from a roughly $175m fund. Links and Resources: Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HSjpaXNrclE. Find all episodes of Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC. Learn more about the Nava Ventures: https://www.nava.vc/. Follow Manish Patel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manishpatelli/. Follow Andrew Romans on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/romans/. Join our…

E110 Austin, Texas Venture Capital on Fireside with a VC speaking with Chris Shonk, cofounder and Managing Director of ATX Venture Partners. Discussing the evolution of Austin as a tech corridor from early semiconductors to IBM, Tivoli, and a string of startup hits early days of VC here and how Austin founders had term sheets from Silicon Valley requiring relocation to California in the old days and now the reverse is happening. How Austin has become the fastest growing VC town with the highest density of VCs per capita in the United States. Links and Resources: Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HLO6VVARRM8. Find all episodes of Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC. Learn more about the ATX Ventures: https://www.atxventurepartners.com/. Follow Chris Shonk on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisshonk/. Follow Andrew Romans on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/romans/. Join our Newsletter to get our insights and curated…

E109 Pre-Seed venture capital on Fireside with a VC speaking with David Lambert, Cofounder, Right Side Capital Management (RSCM) one of the most active pre-seed or pre-VC investors in Silicon Valley and across the US and Canada. Links and Resources: Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cspNXaMmorI. Find all episodes of Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC. Learn more about the fund: https://rightsidecapital.com/. Follow Andrew Romans on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/romans/. Subscribe to our newsletter to get insights and favorite content from the VC startup ecosystem: subscribe.7bc.vc. Join the conversation, leave comments, and tell us what you think about these topics and this episode.

E108 Fireside with a VC speaking with Alice Vilma, Managing Director and Co-Head of The Next Level Fund at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Alice explains how the Next Level Fund looks to promote financial inclusion and provide founders of tech and tech-enabled startups with much-needed access to investors—along with the tools, resources and connections they need to grow and thrive. We discuss how the fund encourages underserved segments of the market to apply for funding and what that process entails. The economic case for funding diversity and making change happen. Links and Resources: Learn more about the fund: Morgan Stanley Next Level | Team Page Contact Alice: alice.vilma@morganstanley.com Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oojqABhTBZk. Find all episodes of Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC. Follow Andrew Romans on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/romans/. Subscribe to our newsletter to get insights and favorite…

E107 In this episode of Fireside with a VC, we discuss scenario planning for China & Asia and the relationship with Silicon Valley. We explore future opportunities with Francis Bassolino, Managing Director of Alaris Consulting, who has been helping companies of all sizes enter, succeed, and exit China over a span of 30+ years. Francis is also an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in Shanghai and Chicago. Having lived in Shanghai for over 21 years and in China since 1988, he brings extensive insights into the region. We delve into the history of what has happened and the opening of China up to today. We also look at different scenarios such as an invasion of Taiwan, a blockade of Taiwan, no invasion or blockade, China with no reforms, with reforms, and the potential for a return to high growth in China. We examine how these different scenarios will impact the greater Asia region and the West. Our discussion includes the relationship between China and Russia, particularly…

E106 Fireside with a VC speaking with Ken Goldman, former President of Eric & Wendy Schmidt’s family office, former CFO of Yahoo!, Fortinet, Siebel Systems (acquired by Oracle), Excite@Home, Sybase, and Cypress Semiconductor. Discussed the changes in VC, going public and the reasons companies should go public again, the problems secondaries for founders create, how to leave a company ethically, general advice on how to win in the big leagues, selling Siebel to Oracle, the dynamics of changing CEOs, lessons learned from board of directors dynamics at Yahoo!, working with activist shareholders, how enterprise software companies should or should not go international, running Eric and Wendy Schmidt’s family office, and now speaking at family office and other conferences. Find the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/krSWnl3eGco. Find this and all full episodes for Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC. https://www.7bc.vc/…

E105 Fireside with a VC speaking with Venktesh (Venk) Shukla founder of Monta Vista Capital and former President of TiE Silicon Valley, Chair of TiE Global. Venk explains the core values and magic of TiE. We discuss what Venk learned from making his first 20 investments and how he developed his framework for his Monta Vista Capital seed stage VC fund and how he invests in pre-revenue and very early stage startups. We also discuss investing in AI, the secondary and exit markets. Find the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/lrsNia672Eo. Find this and all full episodes for Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC. https://montavc.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/vnshukla/ https://tie.org/ https://www.7bc.vc/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/romans/ Join our Newsletter - Fireside with a VC: https://subscribe.7bc.vc. Join the conversation, leave comments, and tell us what you think about these topics and this episode.

E104 Fireside with a VC speaking with Bruce Barton, founder of Parkworth, Wealth Management for Tech Professionals in Silicon Valley and the author of Author of Personal Finance for Tech Professionals In Silicon Valley and Beyond. Discussing tax and personal finance issues specific to employees and founders of publicly traded and privately held tech startups and how equity compensation can get rather complicated and must be navigated to avoid being double taxed. 1) Double taxed on RSU share sales – How to avoid getting taxed twice. https://www.parkworth.com/blogs/dont-pay-tax-twice-on-rsu-sales 2) AMT on ISO exercise –people who exercised incentive stock options (ISOs) and then get a big AMT (alternative minimum tax) bill that can be challenging to pay. 3) ISO exercise and QSBS – What people need to know about starting the 5-year clock for QSBS tax treatment on ISOs. https://www.parkworth.com/blogs/6-rules-for-exercising-stock-options-to-qualify-for-qsbs?rq=qsbs 4) 83(b) elections –Why this is so important…

#103 Every CANADIAN startup or investor should listen to this episode! Fireside with a VC speaking with Kevin Kliman CEO of Humi discussing getting healthy lowering costs, maintaining growth, the tradeoffs to consider raising a growth VC funding round or not, and when to raise. Discussing Humi’s business which is processing $4.5bn CAD of payroll every 4.5 months. Humi is the payroll, benefits, & insurance platform for Canadian companies. Discussing Humi’s new product for the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax incentives where Canadian startups get 66% of tech employee salaries back in cash. Find the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ei1xRFoHIzY. Find this and all full episodes for Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC. https://www.humi.ca/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kkliman/ https://www.7bc.vc/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/romans/ Join our Newsletter - Fireside with a VC: https://subscribe.7bc.vc. Join…

Episode #102 Fireside with a VC speaking with Tige Savage who cofounded Revolution with Steve Case, founder of AOL – America Online, one of the biggest internet companies in history reaching a peak market cap of $200bn dominating email, internet connectivity, online news, and chat. Tige discusses all things venture capital with a wealth of multi-decade experience covering a wide area of topics on how to run a high-performing VC fund year over year and best practices on investing, governance, legals, portfolio construction, sectors, overall strategy, and today’s exit market. Discussing the organization of Revolution with 1) Revolution Rise of the Rest – their $150m pre-seed fund, 2) Revolution Ventures – the $150m VC fund Tige manages with a concentrated 15 portfolio companies per fund, and 3) Revolution Growth which continues to invest in Series B and beyond. Discussed the pioneering thesis of investing across the US rather than being concentrated in the Silicon Valley, New York, Boston or other highly…

Fireside with a VC episode #101, Andrew Romans on The American Dreams Show with Alan Olsen discussing the future of venture capital covering Seed to Late Seed & Series A and Late Stage Growth VC and what has changed over the past few decades. Alan Olsen is a fixture in Silicon Valley and cofounder of GROCO Family Office Advisors, Advisors to the Ultra Affluent and organizer of Legacy Builders. We Protect Our Clients’ Lifestyle & Resolve Complex Tax & Wealth Concerns https://groco.com/family-office-services/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanolsen1960/ Contact us if you want to join Alan and his group of 50 family offices in Silicon Valley on May 15th. Find the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MWoyTKUDskQ. Find this and all full episodes for Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC https://www.7bc.vc/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/romans/ Join our Newsletter - Fireside with a VC: https://subscribe.7bc.vc. Join the conversation, leave…

Fireside with a VC episode #100 speaking with Vibhor Rastogi, Global Head of AI investments at Citi Ventures, discussing how to determine startup valuations and how much capital a startup should raise. How much to raise should be driven by enough time runway to achieve the next key milestone to unlock the next funding round - be that product, revenue, users or other measurable business milestone KPIs. How the market is changing. Expect to need at least enough time 1) to reach the next business milestone and 2) to raise the next funding round. Expect at least 2 quarters to raise the next funding round in today’s market. How much dilution should a startup expect to take from each funding round ranging from pre-seed to late seed, Series A, B, C, D? How to tie expected exit valuations to today’s valuation? What can a realistic exit be in a good scenario and a bad scenario? What are expected exit multiples and discounted to today’s valuation with the consideration of dilution from future funding rounds? How to…

Fireside with a VC episode #99 speaking with Matthew Calhoun, director at Equity Trust, formerly Midland Trust Company, discussing the benefits of investing into alternative assets such as venture capital funds using your self-directed IRA dollars. What is a Self-Directed IRA and what is different from other retirement accounts? What are the requirements, terms, and cost for this, and how long does it take? Help boost your retirement with this wealth-building combination of tax-optimized retirement accounts maximizing the potential of higher returns with less volatility by adding private market venture capital investments to your tax-advantaged account. We are happy to introduce our listeners to Matt or contact him directly: mcalhoun@midlandtrust.com. Find the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/o9FslKnPrmU. Find this and all full episodes for Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC https://midlandtrust.com/…

Fireside with a VC episode #98 speaking with Eric Ver Ploeg, Founding Partner of Tunitas Ventures about key data and trends in the US tech Series A fundraising environment as well as specifics about how much cash funding a startup should raise at pre-Seed, Late-Stage Seed and Series A as well as the many other considerations with regards to terms and legal structures do’s and don’ts. Eric Ver Ploeg, is a VC veteran and runs Tunitas Ventures a focused seed stage investing firm that assists portfolio companies raise their Series A. Eric shares research and data on how the ratio of San Francisco Bay Area startups have a higher graduation rates of completing a Series A than startups in the rest of the country and how this multiple has been rising in recent years. Check out a link to a blogpost Eric released on this topic today: http://rb.gy/3fzl3p. https://tunitas.vc/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericvp/ https://www.7bc.vc/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/romans/ Find the full episode on YouTube:…

Fireside with a VC episode #97 speaking with Igor Jablokov, CEO of Pryon $159m VC funding and founder and CEO of Yap, which Igor sold to Amazon which became the nucleus of Amazon’s Alexa & Fire TV. Pryon was the code name for Alexa. Discussing the evolution of humanity with AI, risks of AI, what we need or should expect with regulations, where innovation is happening, what are the OSI layers of the AI world, how the Fortune 500 will adopt or fail to adopt true AI, other relevant key industries ranging from nuclear power plants to healthcare and the military. Find the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/N0H-zb5I72A. Find this and all full episodes for Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC https://pryon.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ijablokov/ https://www.7bc.vc/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/romans/ Join the conversation, leave comments, and tell us what you think about these topics and this episode.

Fireside with a VC episode #96 speaking with Kristine Di Bacco, Partner at law firm Fenwick, discussing tough terms for startups in the context of flat and down rounds as well as more punishing terms for startups. What is common and expected in today’s market for up, flat, down rounds as well as convertible notes and SAFEs? Planning today’s current round in a way to set a precedent for the next funding round balancing valuations and terms. A deep dive on the difference between pre- and post-money SAFEs vs convertible notes, QSBS, etc. What to expect for typical governance, board of directors construction, etc. across multiple financings for startups. Secondaries in the bull market leading up the peak in 2021 compared to today’s 2024 market and what to expect for funding and exits in 2024 and beyond. How she cofounded and built Fenwick’s New York City office and is now back in Silicon Valley. Understanding differences and similarities in the New York compared to Silicon Valley ecosystems. Find the full…

Episode #95, Peter Berg, one of two Managing Directors leading M12 Microsoft’s Venture Fund, discusses with Andrew Romans on Fireside with a VC how Microsoft is investing in early-stage startups in B2B SaaS, AI, web3/crypto, and gaming. How the $2.776 trillion dollar conglomerate can add value to startups in a way no other VC can match. Find this and all full episodes for Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC. Find this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qZ2MIYFHEvU. https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterberg/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/romans/ https://www.7bc.vc/ Join the conversation, leave comments, and tell us what you think about these topics and this episode.

Episode #94, Why is China the way it is, what’s happened, and how is China interacting with the rest of the world from a startup & VC perspective? Jonathan Bench, a China expert, practicing lawyer in the region, and active for over 20 years in the market, discusses with Andrew Romans on Fireside with a VC: • What led up to the decoupling with China and how North American, European and Japanese companies will continue to do business with China? • What led up to the current situation on a timeline of developments and ultimately Covid? • The 5x+ increase in shipping costs and the impact of factory shutdowns in China during Covid on western minds for the future relationship with China. • Supply chain establishment, management and support in China plus Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Mexico and western efforts to diversify and challenges to get out of China. • How China is buying land and establishing factories in Mexico and how China is everywhere globally? • How Chinese entrepreneurs are forced to…

Episode #93, VC Panel Part Questions from Audience @7BC San Francisco Event Nov. 14, 2023 VC Panel *Benjamin D. Black, Co-founder and Managing Director, Akkadian Ventures *Victoria Cheng, Partner, PruVen Capital *Carolin Funk, Partner, Blue Bear Capital *Vibhor Rastogi, Global Head of AI/ML/Data Investments, Citi Ventures *Ben Levy, Cofounder, BootstrapLabs *Andrew Romans, General Partner, 7BC Venture Capital, Moderator Confidential videos available for 7BC Portfolio Company 7-Minute Presentations Ryan Welsh, cofounder & CEO, Kyndi - generative AI answer engine for enterprises ($42.8m funding to date) Delivering immediate, accurate, and trusted answers to enterprise users with the power of large language models. John Green, cofounder & CEO, Nada - Unlocking wealth with real-estate. Real estate FinTech ($11.4m funding to date) Nada's platform makes it possible for investors to own a piece of a top city’s home equity market with as little as $100 ("Cityfunds") and for homeowners to cash out home equity without…

Episode #92, Part I of the VC Panel at the 7BC Venture Capital San Francisco event Nov 14, 2023 *Benjamin D. Black, Co-founder and Managing Director, Akkadian Ventures *Victoria Cheng, Partner, PruVen Capital *Carolin Funk, Partner, Blue Bear Capital *Vibhor Rastogi, Global Head of AI/ML/Data Investments, Citi Ventures *Ben Levy, Cofounder, BootstrapLabs *Andrew Romans, General Partner, 7BC Venture Capital, Moderator Confidential videos available for 7BC Portfolio Company 7-Minute Presentations Ryan Welsh, cofounder & CEO, Kyndi - generative AI answer engine for enterprises ($42.8m funding to date) Delivering immediate, accurate, and trusted answers to enterprise users with the power of large language models. John Green, cofounder & CEO, Nada - Unlocking wealth with real-estate. Real estate FinTech ($11.4m funding to date) Nada's platform makes it possible for investors to own a piece of a top city’s home equity market with as little as $100 ("Cityfunds") and for homeowners to cash out home equity without…

Episode #91, Part II of the VC Panel at the 7BC Venture Capital San Francisco event Nov 14, 2023 *Benjamin D. Black, Co-founder and Managing Director, Akkadian Ventures *Victoria Cheng, Partner, PruVen Capital *Carolin Funk, Partner, Blue Bear Capital *Vibhor Rastogi, Global Head of AI/ML/Data Investments, Citi Ventures *Ben Levy, Cofounder, BootstrapLabs *Andrew Romans, General Partner, 7BC Venture Capital, Moderator Confidential videos available for 7BC Portfolio Company 7-Minute Presentations Ryan Welsh, cofounder & CEO, Kyndi - generative AI answer engine for enterprises ($42.8m funding to date) Delivering immediate, accurate, and trusted answers to enterprise users with the power of large language models. John Green, cofounder & CEO, Nada - Unlocking wealth with real-estate. Real estate FinTech ($11.4m funding to date) Nada's platform makes it possible for investors to own a piece of a top city’s home equity market with as little as $100 ("Cityfunds") and for homeowners to cash out home equity without…

Episode #90, Down rounds & pay-to-pay provisions, raising at a lower valuation on Fireside with a VC Ben Kern, Partner at Winston & Strawn LLP, corporate securities veteran, discusses the details of how startups raise funding in down rounds at lower valuations than the last funding round as well as more punitive financings that cram down or wipe out existing investors that do not Pay-to-Play wiring capital into the new financing. We discuss the different tools in the tool kit of how these financings are legally structured and what it means to all parties and how to sail through these very choppy waters. Find the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0RqBNqLGckQ. Find this and all full episodes for Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamindkern/ bkern@winston.com https://www.7bc.vc/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/romans/ Join the conversation, leave comments, and tell us what you think about these topics…

Episode #89, Jarred Kessler, CEO, EasyKnock fintech, real-estate tech, 15th largest home owner in the US Discussing the dynamics of inflation, interest rates and the volatile US residential real-estate market; Running a New York fintech / real-estate startup before, during, and after Covid; Raising over $120m of equity funding and $600m of debt financing; How they became the 15th largest owner of single residential homes in the US in less than 7 years; The Operating Company/Property Company (Opco/Propco) company structure; Overseeing high-velocity growth in headcount, acquiring and integrating other companies successfully; Managing growth between funding rounds; continuing to innovate product development and service offerings; The interesting interplay between credit card debt, interest rates, inflation, the housing market; The changing percentage of Americans that qualify for a home mortgage; Advice on how to raise VC funding; The difference between raising VC vs debt financing; Managing growth vs…

Episode #88, Everything you need to know about Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS), the exemption that allows investors in startups or investors in VC funds that invest in startups to NOT pay capital gains tax on the greater of the first $10m of capital gains or 10x the cost basis (what you paid for the stock). A discussion of what qualifies and what does not, how this plays with the amount of funding, the value of the balance sheet at the time of the investment, holding period, how to tack or rollover, SAFEs compared to priced rounds and convertible notes to get the tax exemption, how it applies to founders and not only investors, how to document it and when it does not apply. Roger Royse is a Silicon Valley career corporate and tax partner at law firm Haynes and Boone. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogerroyse/ Find this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/j18ziU2fWg0. Find this and all episodes for Fireside with a VC here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC andrew@7bc.vc…