The Sure Shot Entrepreneur
Episodes
Investing in Product-Led Growth
01 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Paige Doherty, a founding partner at Behind Genius Ventures, shares her lessons from setting up her VC firm and writing her book ‘Seed to Venture’...
Choose Investors Who Solve Problems
22 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jonathan Heiliger, General Partner at Vertex Ventures, talks about how the startup ecosystem has changed, and explains why founders DO/DON’T need to...
Form Relationships with Investors Before Raising Capital
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Suster, General Partner at Upfront Ventures, talks about how he transitioned from being an entrepreneur to investing in startups. Mark elaborates...
Founders With Long-term Vision Are Not Distracted by Public Market Volatility
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Cardamone, CEO and managing partner at Forum Ventures (formerly Acceleprise), demystifies the effects of public market volatility on startups....
Competition is Irrelevant
01 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Matt Harris, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures, talks of how he wanted to become a big fish in a small pond when he started investing in fintech. How h...
Entrepreneurship is a Viable Career Path
25 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Vikrant Shaurya, the CEO and founder of bestsellingbook.com, shares his unusual entrepreneurial journey. Vikrant narrates how he got early believers t...
Sell to Investors Authentically
18 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nuno Gonçalves Pedro, founder and managing partner at Chamaeleon, talks about founding his new VC firm and how they’re using technology to manage...
Bring Fresh Ideas to Improve Healthcare
11 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sam Toole, Principal at Primary Venture Partners, talks about opportunities for building healthcare solutions, and how building a healthcare business ...
Create Net New Value from Nothing
04 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Wake, Founder of Atypical Ventures, talks about investing in engineers with empathy. Chris shares his unconventional ways of finding technical f...
Do You Have Unlimited Ambition?
28 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Zain Jaffer, Partner at Blue Field Capital, shares his journey through entrepreneurship and how he switched to investments. Zain talks about how being...
Avoid ‘Me-too’ Startup Ideas
14 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Rosen, Founder and General Partner at Commerce Ventures, talks about the evolution of fintech over the last two decades. Dan shares real-life exam...
Do Business with Gratitude
07 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Heather Hartnett, General Partner and CEO of Human Ventures, shares how she identifies ‘futurists’ to back them until the market sees their value....
Investing in Pre-revenue Startups
30 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Charles Hudson, Managing Partner and Founder of Precursor Ventures, talks about how he founded Precursor Ventures and why he is unafraid to back unpro...
Construction Technology Will Solve the Global Housing Crisis
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Julieta Moradei, Partner at Hometeam Ventures, talks about their vision "to close the housing gap" through investing in ambitious founders developing ...
Beware of Regulations in Fintech
16 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Lucas Timberlake, a Partner at Fintech Ventures Fund, talks about investing in game-changing fintech and insurtech startups. Lucas explains why he loo...
Good Corporate VCs Think Strategically
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Patrick Eggen, Founding General Partner at Counterpart Ventures, talks about the different facets of corporate venture capital (CVC), where it has a r...
Put On Your Risk Hat With Debt Investors
02 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob Haar, Founder and Managing Partner at Community Investment Management, talks about debt capital and its social impact on financial inclusion. Ja...
Always Be Learning
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Alexa von Tobel, founder and managing partner at Inspired Capital, shares how she built her first startup LearnVest at 23 and later co-founded Inspire...
Appetite for Disruption: Alternative Proteins
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gautam Godhwani, Managing Partner at Good Startup, talks about the shift in consumer demand from animal protein to alternative protein. Gautam gives e...
Keep the Deck Clear and Concise
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
David Forsberg, Founder and Managing Partner at Ascent Energy Ventures, talks about automation trends in the energy sector. David shares his perspecti...
Balance Commitment to the Vision with Attention to Customers' Needs
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode, Nick Moran, the Founder and General Partner at New Stack Ventures, shares his insights into his firm’s focus: investing in o...
Ambitious Midwest U.S. Founders are Underrated
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Victor Gutwein, an investor and Managing Partner at M25, shares insightful stories and authentic examples of how startups evolve in the Midwest. He al...
Show your assumptions
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Galym Imanbayev is a partner at Lightspeed - a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm focused on the consumer, enterprise, and health sectors. Galy...
Technology redefining the future of work
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Allison Baum Gates is a General Partner at SemperVirens - a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm investing in workforce technology, health tech, ...
Just be yourself
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ben Metcalfe is the founder of Monochrome Capital - a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage software and AI-driven sta...
Prioritize cash, team and momentum in that order
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Fernandes is a managing partner at Sierra ventures - a Silicon Valley based venture capital firm focused on early-stage emerging technology compa...
It’s about people not spreadsheets
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Matthew Jones is a managing director at Anthemis, a London-based venture capital firm focused on insurance and risk related technologies. Matthew shar...
Don’t wait for the perfect time
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Katie Shea is the co-founder and managing partner at Divergent Capital - a venture capital firm that invests in cutting-edge technologies and scientif...
Don’t have it all buttoned up
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tim McLoughlin is a partner at Cofounders Capital - an early stage venture capital firm investing in B2B software startups in and around North Carolin...
No is not a no. You can convert to a yes.
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Kush Shrivastava is an active angel investor who has been in Silicon Valley for more than a decade. He's worked at large companies, built several comp...
Look where others are not looking
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ramneek Gupta is the founder of PruVen Capital, a Palo Alto-based multi-stage venture capital firm that supports leading entrepreneurs from garage to ...
Focus on one user, one use case, and one solution
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Satya Patel is the founder and partner at Homebrew - a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in startups with big-impact. Satya has a...
Say what your company does in 30 seconds
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sunil Nagaraj is the founder and managing partner at Ubiquity ventures, a Silicon Valley-based seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in smart h...
Convert investors from non-believers to believers
06 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mika Salmi is a managing partner at the European venture capital firm Lakestar. He has been a serial entrepreneur, a successful angel investor, and no...
Be persuasive to convince investors, customers and employees
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hans Morris is the founder and managing partner at NYCA Partners, a fintech focused venture capital firm in New York and Silicon Valley. As one of the...
Start with your childhood story not your resume
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Arjan Schutte is the founder and managing partner at Core Innovation Capital, a venture capital firm that helps entrepreneurs build disruptive, high-g...
Great entrepreneurs are students of venture capital
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Kate Beardsley is a founding partner at Hannah Grey, a Denver-based venture capital firm that focuses on the intersection of technology and human beha...
Get everyone on the investment team excited about your business
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ashley Paston is a Principal at New York-based Bain Capital Ventures and focuses on FinTech. She looks for founders who can zoom in and out of a pain ...
Show empathy for your customers
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jocelyn Goldfein is a managing director at Zetta Venture Partners, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in AI-first startups. Joce...
Foresee future opportunities from today’s innovations
25 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Aashay Sanghvi is an investor at Haystack, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that focuses on pre-seed and seed software and technology inves...
Succeed from your unique starting point
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ali Tamaseb is a partner at Data Collective Venture Capital (DCVC), a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that backs entrepreneurs using deep te...
Say “Yes” more often
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jason Best is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Vectr Fintech Partners (VFP), a globally-focused early stage fintech venture capital firm. He sha...
Reflect, learn and grow
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Julian Teicke is the founder and CEO of Berlin-based Wefox, the first 100% digital European insurance company. He shares insightful experiences about ...
Don’t be shy. Good investors like to get their hands dirty.
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Andrew Gluck is a General Partner at irrvrntVC, a New York-based venture capital firm focused on direct-to-customer, AdTech, and NextGen Commerce. And...
Win big in niche markets
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Phil Boyer is a Partner at Crosslink Capital, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm focused on enterprise applications, infrastructure, vertical...
Care for your neighbors
13 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ken Singleton is a professor at Stanford University - Graduate School of Business. Through a glamorous 30-year career in academia, he has contributed ...
Turn venture blueprints into tangible, thriving futures
06 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Eugene Zhang is a founding partner at TSVC, a Silicon Valley based early stage venture capital firm that focuses on emerging deep tech and FinTech sta...
Everything is fintech
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob Gibson is the Founding Partner at Better Tomorrow Ventures, a Silicon Valley based venture capital firm investing in the future of Fintech. Befo...
Every day is recruiting day at a startup
23 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Steven Lurie is the founder of Team Builder Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that helps founders build world-class teams. Drawing...
Play the long-game to win in Silicon Valley
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Homan Yuen is a partner at Fusion Fund, an early-stage VC firm focused on investing in innovative companies with a technology barrier to their busines...
Be efficient. Don't be macho.
09 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Swati Chaturvedi is the co-founder and CEO of Propel(x) - a marketplace that connects investors and experts with science & technology startups. Swati ...
Build agile solutions for traditional problems
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Vivek Krishnamurthy is a venture capital investor at Commerce Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based VC capital firm focusing on investments in the e-commer...
No place in the world is like Silicon Valley
23 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Geoff Ralston, President of Y Combinator, shares insightful experiences and lessons learned over three decades in Silicon Valley. He talks passionatel...
Innovate continuously to remain competitive
16 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cindy Padnos, founder and Managing Partner at Illuminate Ventures, invests in B2B SaaS, enterprise cloud and mobile computing startups. She shares her...
Lower your shield and openly communicate with investors
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Farooq Abbasi, founder and general partner at Preface Ventures, invests in early stage enterprise software startups. An optimist by nature, he entered...
Convert frustration into desire to create a new business
02 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sandeep Bhadra is a partner at Vertex Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC firm that invests in B2B software and services. He candidly talks about his...
Startup ecosystem in Austin, Texas is booming
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Andrea Kalmans, founding partner at Lontra Ventures, launched an investment firm with her husband and invests in 2 to 4 startups every year. She gives...
Catch the attention of investors with non-obvious insights
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gaurav Jain, co-founder and managing partner at Afore Capital, describes the process of leading pre-seed and seed stage investments. He gives exampl...
Show your personality on video calls
12 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Steph Khoo, a venture capital investor at NYCA Partners, shares examples of innovative fintech startups changing the global financial systems. She t...
Create unfair advantage with novel technical insights
05 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ashmeet Sidana, chief engineer and founder of Engineering Capital, invests in startups with technical insights. He gives authentic examples success an...
Visionary entrepreneurs have the x-factor
29 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ullas Naik, Founder and General Partner at Streamlined Ventures, shares his journey as investor on Wall Street and later starting a venture capital fi...
Clarity of thought combined with empathy is a winning combo
15 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Vinay Iyengar is a venture capital investor at Two Sigma Ventures based. His describes his investment thesis focused on the infrastructure for creativ...
Growth with negative margins is dangerous
08 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mar Hershenson, founding managing partner at Pear Ventures, shares her journey starting as a successful entrepreneur to launching a VC firm with Pejma...
Build products to serve the middle class
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sydney Thomas at Precursor Ventures talks about founders who truly care. She describes how she wants to work with inspiring entrepreneurs. She invests...
Decision analysis is a high-quality conversation leading to clarity of action
17 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Clint Korver, co-founder and managing director of Ulu Ventures, talks about managing uncertainties in venture capital investments. He describes his Vu...
How does an investor form gut feel?
10 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sheel Mohnot, co-founder and general partner at Better Tomorrow Ventures, has a gut feel about the founders. He gives an insider view using examples o...
Latin America is a huge market
03 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Consuelo Valverde, founder and managing partner at SV Latam Capital, supports startups focusing on Latin America. She describes using real-life exampl...
Seek honest feedback from investors
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ankur Jain, Founding Partner at Emergent Ventures, describes how transformation through self-reflection shaped his investment philosophy. He empathize...
Limited partners influence change from the top
20 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Lo Toney, founder and managing partner at Plexo Capital, takes us behind the scenes of a venture fund to show a limited partner's perspective. He shar...
Immigrant entrepreneurs must overcome unique hurdles
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Manan Mehta, founding partner at Unshackled Ventures, shares his personal journey as the son of immigrants and how he built a venture capital firm wit...
Prepare your investor for the conversation
06 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Arnold, founder of Switch Ventures, explains data driven investing in venture capital. He gives real-life examples of founders sharing informatio...
Tell the story of "why" to excite investors
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Shruti Gandhi, founder of Array Ventures, describes her investment process in detail. Using specific examples of first meetings with founders, she exp...
Meet a rare black VC
25 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Fred Groce, Principal at Storm Ventures and founder of Blck VC, shares authentic stories of startup investments that succeeded and failed. He describe...
Ethos to keep pushing things forward is a rare quality
16 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ravi Belani, founder of Alchemist Accelerator, talks about entrepreneurship for all. He gives examples of technical founders building software busines...
Startups in underdog cities are looking for good investors
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Pat Matthews, founder & CEO at Active Capital, walks through his investment decisions with three startup stories. Learn from his career as a pioneer i...
Design a process to avoid investment biases
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Kamal Hassan, founding partner at Loyal.vc, explains how the power of his network helps avoid negative effects of biases in investing. The 2 year old ...
Build solutions for a large future market
26 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ian Rountree, founder of Cantos Ventures, shares an insider view on his 40+ investments focused on frontier technology. He talks about the experienc...
Entrepreneurship liberates you to solve impactful problems
19 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Naeem Zafar shares his experience as a CEO and mentor to founders. He talks about recruiting early employees, motivation of A-players, and the liberat...
Increase diversity in entrepreneurship, now
12 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Miriam Rivera talks about the lack of diversity in the industry, and her investments with a mission to promote entrepreneurship among women and people...
Devotion to your business will convince skeptics
05 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rajeev Madhavan, founding partner at Clear Ventures, shares his career as a 3x successful entrepreneur. He shows how an entrepreneur changes his skept...
Be bold, compete against incumbents
05 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rick Zullo talks about bridging the digital divide in legacy industries by supporting founders with experience. Authentic relationships with industry ...
Modernize financial infrastructure to democratize prosperity
30 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Kat Utecht, partner at Core VC, shares her adventurous journey of starting a VC firm on the east coast and expanding to the west coast. She describes ...
Future of healthcare needs more empathy and technology
30 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Scott Barclay shares insights on when to play an active role as a venture capital investor. He explains with examples how engagement with an entrepren...
Lessons from >100 angel investments
30 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gokul Rajaram shares specific characteristics he looks for in entrepreneurs who range from former coworkers to founders he never met in-person. He des...
Welcome and quick intro
18 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Listen to the podcast for entrepreneurs with ambitious ideas. Post reviews and ratings on Apple Podcast to help entrepreneurs find this podcast. Come...