Seed To Scale

Hadley Harris continues the conversation from last week with Brad Feld, Founder and Managing Director of Foundry Group. In this episode, Brad talks about the changing model of VC firms and how partners should be investing in each other in order to make the partnership and the firm stronger. He also answers fellow VC Jeff Clavier from Uncork Capital’s question on what makes an excellent board member, as well as the biggest reasons startups fail and the three machines that must work together in order for a company to scale. If you haven’t heard Part 1, make sure to subscribe and listen to last week’s show. It’s too good to miss: He discusses why it’s important to build long-term fund strategies, and gives his perspective on team size and geography. He also gives advice to himself looking back early in his career.

Hadley Harris speaks with Brad Feld, Founder and Managing Director of Foundry Group. Brad has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987 and has authored several books on VC and entrepreneurship that are must-reads for everyone in the industry. In this episode, Brad shares his perspective on why it is important to build long-term fund strategies with conviction and consistency. Brad talks about one of his heroic figures, Warren Buffett, and how his thesis that everything runs in cycles applies to the cycles of venture capital. Brad gives advice to himself back in the early days and compares Foundry’s strategy now against how he was investing in the late 80’s and 90’s. He also shares how team size and geography play a role at Foundry, and how he has configured his work and life in Boulder to enable him to work with startups through the country. Send comments to seedtoscale@eniac.vc and tweet us @seedtoscale.

Vic Singh speaks with startup triple threat Alex Iskold. As a three-time founder, investor in 90+ startups and engineer, Alex is passionate about helping early-stage founders build the next generation of companies and connecting entrepreneurs through a global network. In this episode, Alex discusses the evolution of the semantic web, why he is bullish on blockchain for the enterprise and the new crop of personalized health startups focused on breakthrough technologies for health and longevity. Alex also shares his perspective on how founders should approach fundraising, why he believes startups should stay scrappy and his advice for the Best Startup Hack. Note: Just days after they spoke, Alex announced he is leaving his post at Techstars NYC after 5 years at the helm. The Eniac Team is excited to support him in his next venture. Send comments to seedtoscale@eniac.vc or @seedtoscale.

Vic Singh speaks with Lior Susan, Founder and Partner of Eclipse Ventures, a leading investor in full stack companies, combining hardware and software with the data layer. Lior’s journey as a founder of a venture backed hardtech Israeli startup with an outsized exit to Cisco, his time starting Lab IX at Flex to ultimately creating Eclipse offers a unique perspective as an investor in Silicon Valley. In this episode, Lior talks about the “Broken Market” and why he believes the excess of capital is affecting the ecosystem and venture capital as a business. He gives advice to founders on how to think of fundraising like climbing mountains and what they should be doing the second they close their seed round to make sure they are on the right path to an A. Lior also addresses his thoughts on what makes a winning company, what he thinks is the best and worst part about being a VC and some exciting news on the growth of Eclipse VC. Send comments to seedtoscale@eniac.vc or @seedtoscale.

Tim Young speaks with Heather Hartnett, the CEO at Human Ventures. She was NYC’s first female-led start-up studio founder and her philanthropic background brings a unique approach to investing, helping set the firm apart with their Human Network approach. In this episode, Heather speaks on the “Myth of the Big Idea” and how Human proactively looks at the zeitgeist to see what types of patterns and opportunities are starting to form. She gives the scoop on how this method redefines their thesis to focus on “Reinventing Life Stages,” looking at how each generation experiences life’s stages with unique lenses and what market opportunities each brings. Heather also talks about Human’s new strategy, Beyond the Resume, born to evaluate founding teams beyond just experience and take into account dynamics and the multidimensional factors that are critical for success, yet so often overlooked at the early stage. Send comments or suggestions to seedtoscale@eniac.vc or @seedtoscale.

Hadley Harris speaks with Chieh Huang, the co-founder & CEO of BOXED, an early Eniac company and one of Bloomberg’s Top 50 people to watch in 2018. Chieh is a charismatic, natural born leader, and his passion and dedication have grown BOXED from his parent's garage to raising over $130M with hundreds of employees. In this episode, he digs into his journey to BOXED, from his start as a lawyer to co-founding Astro Ape which sold to Zynga in a few short years. He speaks candidly about how his role as CEO changes every 6 months, the most important qualities when working with co-founders and how to recalibrate as the company grows. BOXED sets itself apart with a vibrant culture and Chieh speaks to why it's critical to keep employees motivated and how they adapted benefits to fit the distinct needs of employees, such as tuition and wedding costs. Send comments or suggestions to seedtoscale@eniac.vc or @seedtoscale.

Nihal Mehta kicks off Seed to Scale’s opening episode with one of VC’s most prominent investors Mike Maples, the founding partner of Floodgate. Mike has backed some of the most well-known tech companies today, including Twitter, Twitch.tv, Lyft, Okta, Chegg, Demandforce, among many others. In this episode, Mike talks about his journey from being an entrepreneur in junior high writing video games to being a founder of two IPO companies, Tivoli and Motiv, and how his pivot to investor was his way to remain close to startups in order to “stay forever young.” He gives advice to investors on the importance of making randomness your friend and to remember you don’t have a monopoly on truth. Mike also digs into his role of spotting the Thunder Lizards before they hatch, what he believes makes a good founder: “They want to start a movement, not just a company,” and his biggest red flag. Let us know what you thought: Send comments or suggestions to seedtoscale@eniac.vc or @seedtoscale.