Episode 101: Alex Iskold - Managing Partner at 2048 Ventures

Welcome to Episode 101 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast from the leading authority for jobs & careers in the tech industry. For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Alex Iskold, Managing Partner at 2048 Ventures. Alex is a serial entrepreneur with a proven track record of success. Recently, he was the Managing Director for Techstars New York, where he ran the program for five years. Alex is now onto the next chapter in his career. He has launched an early stage venture capital firm called 2048 Ventures with his Partner, Paul Sethi. The firm recently announced a $27M fund which will be used to invest in exceptional first-time entrepreneurs or repeat founders with a first-time founder mindset, which is a term that he explains during our interview. Another important strategy for this firm is the fact that they will be taking a location agnostic approach. In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like: -Alex’s background story going back to when he immigrated to the US when he was 19, and his early positions on Wall Street. -His experience as a serial entrepreneur and the companies he founded. -How he got involved in Techstars, and what that experience taught him after running the program, plus some practical advice for getting into this top accelerator. -All the details on 2048 Ventures and what they are targeting for investments. -The questions that entrepreneurs should ask investors. -What is the “magic moment” that a company should be looking for? -The current state of the NY tech scene. -Plus, a lot more. Brex, the corporate credit card for startups, is the sponsor for this week’s podcast. Brex founders Henrique and Pedro built a payments business in Brazil, but kept getting rejected for a corporate credit card when they were in Y Combinator. So they decided to build Brex, with instant online sign-up, no founder liability required and limits 10 to 20 times higher than standard cards. It is a must-have for entrepreneurs. Sign up for Brex at brex.com and get card fees waived by entering the code “fizz” during signup. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!