Venture with Grace

Kendrick Nguyen is the Co-founder and CEO of Republic. Republic empowers everyone to invest in the future they believe in by providing access to startups, real estate, crypto, video game financing and more. Focused on creating a diverse, sustainable, connected world, Republic has facilitated over $700 million in investments from over one million global community members, with $1B+ in managed assets. - Building a Scalable Business Model - Market Entry and Expansion Strategies - Building and Managing a High-Performing Team #VentureCapital #StartupLife #Investing #Entrepreneurship #Funding

Rishi Taparia is the Co-Founder and General Partner at Garuda Ventures. He is a seasoned tech executive and investor with over 15 years of experience in strategy, operations and finance. He was most recently the SVP of Strategy and Operations at Legion, an AI/ML powered HR tech company, where he helped launch a new product line, and raise $80M in capital across multiple rounds of funding. Prior to Legion, Rishi served as the VP of Business Operations at Poynt, a hardware and software company building a commerce and payments platform, acquired by GoDaddy for $365M in 2021. Rishi joined as the company’s first non-technical hire and helped scale the company’s business to serve over 130,000 merchants globally, and raise $150M in follow-on capital. He joined Poynt from Matrix Partners, an early stage-venture firm where he sourced the firm’s seed investment in Canva, most recently valued at $40B. Prior to Matrix, Rishi was an investor at Scale Venture Partners. Rishi began his career at Merrill Lynch in the Financial Institutions group. Rishi graduated with honors from Northwestern University. - Identifying Promising B2B Software Startups - Building a Venture Capital Fund - AI in B2B Software #VentureCapital #StartupInvesting #B2BSoftware #ArtificialIntelligence #TechStartups

Brent Murri is a Partner at M13 where he leads early-stage investments in software and marketplaces. Brent joined M13 from Battery Ventures where he focused on growth-stage enterprise software investments. Prior to Battery, he worked in strategy & business development for Samsung NEXT, where he developed and executed strategies around Samsung’s mobile software and services initiatives. Topics: - Investing in the Future of Commerce and AI - Founder Reference Check/Due Diligence - Mastering Portfolio Construction #VentureCapital #PortfolioConstruction #StartupInvesting #TechInnovation #VCStrategy

Fares Ksebati is Co-Founder and CEO of MySwimPro. MySwimPro helps people improve their performance and health through swimming. The company has over one million community members and works with some of the biggest brands in the world. MySwimPro was named by Apple as the Best App of the Year and has been featured in Sports Illustrated and numerous other global publications. He is the author of two books, and his work has been featured by Apple, Forbes, Men's Health, the New York Times, Crains, and Arab America. He is a YouTuber with three channels that have over 400 million views. He vlogs on swimming, travel, entrepreneurship, and early-stage investing. - Impact of Technology on Sports and Fitness - The Role of Content Creation in Building a Brand - The Future of Health and Wellness Tech #MySwimPro #Entrepreneurship #FitnessTech #EarlyStageInvesting #VCpodcast

Ed Suh is the Founder and Managing Partner of Alpine Ventures, a San Francisco based technology venture capital firm. Ed previously led seed, early stage, and growth stage investments in Silicon Valley for nearly a decade across two prominent multi-stage venture firms: Goodwater Capital, a spin-out of Kleiner Perkins and Maverick Capital with over $3B of AUM, and Redpoint Ventures, a leading Silicon Valley venture firm with a 20+ year track record of leading consumer and enterprise software investments. Ed has backed multiple unicorn startups including Monzo, Everlywell, Jasper, Greenlight, and Stash. Previously, Ed was Head of Business Operations at Stitcher, the leading independent podcasting app, acquired by SiriusXM for $325 million and backed by Benchmark, NEA, and New Atlantic Ventures, as well as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch focused on technology M&A. Ed was also a member of the original growth team at Facebook, and a software engineer at Plaxo and Citadel Investment Group. - Investment Philosophy and Approach - Artificial Intelligence and Investment Opportunities - Future of Venture Capital and Technology Trends #VentureCapital #StartupFunding #TechInnovation #Entrepreneurship #ArtificialIntelligence #UnicornStartups Ed earned MS and BS degrees in Computer Science from Stanford University, with a specialization in Artificial Intelligence.

Bryan leads Craft's New York office and is a partner on the investment team. Prior to joining Craft, Bryan built Reddit's New York office and revenue team, growing revenue over 10x to $100m+ in annualized revenue while managing sales, customer success, and creative strategy for the East Coast. During his time at Reddit, Bryan built partnerships with brands including Google, Microsoft, Target, Coca-Cola, P&G, and HBO. Bryan was an early member of Twitter's New York team, where he worked on acquisition marketing with then-emerging startups such as Harry's, Bonobos, Peloton, Warby Parker, Casper, and Dollar Shave Club, while contributing to the build-out of their direct response ads offerings. Bryan has been an active investor both personally and via Riverside Ventures, which he founded in 2017. His investments include Carta, Citizen, Bonobos, Slack, Robinhood, DocuSign, and Dapper Labs. In 2018, Bryan was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Marketing & Advertising. He was also recognized by Ad Council for championing nonprofit advertising that builds awareness around mental health and diversity & inclusion. In 2021, Bryan was named to Business Insider's Top 100 Seed Investors and The 50 Most Important VCs in New York. Topics: - Building a Track Record in Tech and Venture Capital - Developing and Managing Deal Flow - Assessing Deals and Investment Process #VentureCapital #TechIndustry #StartupInvesting #Entrepreneurship #Innovation

Ashmeet is the Chief Engineer of Engineering Capital (www.engineeringcapital.com). His experience includes managing venture capital funds, serving on multiple Boards of Directors, and helping build the industry leading products VMware ESX Server and Silicon Graphics WebFORCE. Before this last decade as a venture capitalist Ashmeet was an operating executive with hands-on operating experience as a CEO and Entrepreneur. Current investments include Prismo Systems, Menlo Security, Kentik, YotaScale, Nexla and vFunction. Previous realized investments include Azure Power (IPO: AZRE), Netsil (acquired by Nutanix), Palerra (acquired by Oracle), Freewheel (acquired by Comcast), InQuira (acquired by Oracle), Altor (acquired by Juniper), Appurify (acquired by Google) and PrivateCore (acquired by Facebook). Ashmeet came to venture from VMware, where he ran product management for their flagship product - ESX Server. Before VMware, Ashmeet was the Founder and CEO of Sidana Systems, Inc. He started his career at Hewlett Packard and Silicon Graphics as an engineer. Ashmeet received an MBA from Wharton, MS in Computer Science from Stanford University and a BS in Computer Science from USC. In his spare time he can be found planning his second trip to Mt. Everest. Topics: - Transition from Engineering to Venture Capital - Finding technical insights - Approach to AI investing at the seed stage #EngineeringCapital #VentureCapital #TechInvestor #AI #VC

Sophia Amoruso is the founder and managing partner of Trust Fund, an early-stage venture fund focused exclusively (yet broadly) on investing in tech-enabled products that help people start and build businesses. Trust fund’s investors include Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, David Sacks, Jason Calacanis, Ev Williams, Naomi Gleit, Andrew Chen, Jeff Jordan, Jesse Draper, Rob Hayes, and Phil Hellmuth. Some of their portfolios include Public, Liquid Death, and MoonPay, among others. She is also the founder of Nasty Gal, Girlboss and a New York Times Bestselling author.  You can learn more about:  * How to Brand Your Business * How to Invest in Top Startups * Lessons from Being an Entrepreneur to Venture Capitalist #vc #investor #venturecapital #startup #investing

Youngrok Kim is the Partner and Head of Investment at GREE LP Fund. Investing in 60+ venture capital funds from Japan, they invest in select venture capital funds ranging from micro VC to established funds worldwide to accelerate innovation on a global scale. Topics: - Global Innovation Through Fund-of-Funds Investment - The Role of Micro VC in the Investment Landscape - The Future of Venture Capital: Trends and Predictions #VentureCapital #Innovation #Investment #GlobalScale #FutureTrends

🎙️ Tomorrow on Venture with Grace (LIVE), join me for an inspiring conversation with Fiona Co Chan, the visionary founder of Youthforia, a brand that's revolutionizing the beauty industry with its skin-friendly makeup. Since securing a $400,000 investment from Mark Cuban on Shark Tank, Fiona's journey has been a testament to innovation and sustainability. In this episode, we'll discuss: 1️⃣ Eco-Friendly Innovation: How Youthforia is setting new standards in beauty with sustainable, skin-friendly products. 2️⃣ Product Development: The science behind Youthforia's formulations and their impact on skin health. 3️⃣ Entrepreneurial Path: Fiona's insights from developing Youthforia from concept to a viral success story. 4️⃣ Brand Engagement: Strategies for resonating with Gen Z consumers and leveraging social media for brand growth. 5️⃣ Scaling and Funding: The journey of securing VC funding and scaling Youthforia in a competitive market. Don't miss this enlightening episode with Fiona Co Chan as we dive into how Youthforia is changing the face of beauty. Tune in tomorrow on LinkedIn Live for a session filled with valuable insights for VCs, founders, and emerging LPs. #VentureWithGrace #Youthforia #SustainableBeauty #Entrepreneurship #VC