Investor Connect Podcast

In this episode, Hall T. Martin conducts an interview with Nathan McDonald of Keiretsu Capital. Nathan is is a Managing Partner and CEO of Keiretsu Capital. Nathan brings a unique entrepreneurial business and organizational development background developed during many years of hands-on, active leadership and operational experience. As one of the Northwest's leading organizers of entrepreneurial and investor relations-focused media and funding events, he has facilitated scores of engagements and successfully promoted hundreds of privately financed high-growth companies. Hall and Nathan jump in and discuss how Nathan got his start in the venture capital investing world. In this episode you'll learn about the key criteria Keiretsu Capital looks at before investing as well as the early exit process for entrepreneurs.

Direct download: 88_--_Nathan_McDonald_of_Keiretsu_Capital.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 11:34am CDT

In this episode, Hall T. Martin conducts an interview with Marius Ghenea of 3TS Capital Partners. Marius talks about he got into investing with his start as a serial entrepreneur. 3TS Capital Partners is one of the leading European technology focused private equity and venture capital firms. 3TS provides expansion capital and buyout funding for small and medium-sized businesses in growth sectors including Technology & Internet, Media & Communications and Technology-Enabled Services. Investors in the current and past 3TS funds totaling over 300 million include EIF, EBRD, Cisco, OTP, Sitra, 3i and KfW among others. They speak about 3TS Capital and what they seek when investing- sector, stage and revenue level before 3TS will engage. They also discuss sectors that Marius thinks have the most potential for growth. Marius speaks on blockchain and his thoughts on ICOs.  

Direct download: 87_--_Marius_Ghenea_of_3TSCapital_FINAL.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 10:36am CDT

In this episode, Hall T. Martin conducts an interview with Tamim Abdul Majid of OCA Ventures. Tamim has over seven years of experience in technology, finance and entrepreneurship. Prior to joining OCA Ventures, Tamim worked at a private strategic advisory firm helping companies secure international contracts with foreign national buyers. Tamim was also the financial lead for a payment start up called FreeBeePay. Before that, he was an investment banking analyst at BMO Capital Markets (focused on mergers and acquisitions), and a tax advisory associate at KPMG. Tamim got his initial exposure to entrepreneurship and venture capital when he was on the founding team of Stir Inc, which was an augmented reality gaming platform. Tamim was involved with product development and marketing. He also helped  secure angel investment for the company. Hall and Tamim speak about OCA Ventures investments and what they are seek when making decisions. They also discuss what sectors Tamim gets most excited about.

OCA Ventures is an early stage (Seed, Series A, and Series B) venture capital firm focused on equity investments in companies with dramatic growth potential, primarily in technology and highly-scalable services businesses. OCA invests in many industries, with a preference for technology, financial services, education and healthcare technology. Founded in 1999, the firm is investing out of its fourth fund in companies spread throughout the United States.

Direct download: 86_--_Tamim_Abdul_Majid_of_OCA_Ventures.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 10:19am CDT

In this episode, Hall T. Martin conducts an interview with Clint Korver of Ulu Ventures. Clint is a Managing Director and co-founder of Ulu Ventures, a $50m seed stage venture firm investing in enterprise IT companies from Stanford and Silicon Valley. An active supporter of entrepreneurship within the Stanford community, Clint taught entrepreneurship in the School of Engineering; mentors at StartX, Stanford’s accelerator; and co-founded Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs, an alumni group with over 1000 members. Over the last 9 years, Clint and his partner Miriam Rivera have invested in over 80 startups. 50 have come from the Stanford community including Palantir, SoFi, Krux (acquired by Salesforce), and Blue River Technology (acquired by John Deere). Prior to Ulu, Clint was a serial entrepreneur, co-founding four Silicon Valley startups which provided tools to help individuals or organizations make better decisions. He co-authored Ethics for the Real World (Harvard Business Press 2008), is a Kauffman Fellow, and holds a PhD and an MS in engineering from Stanford, and a BA in mathematics from Grinnell College where he served as Chair of the Board of Trustees. In this episode, they speak about Clints entrance into the startup world and how he became a venture capitalist. They speak about Ulu Ventures and what type of investments they make as well as the funding process.

 

Direct download: 85_--_Clint_Korver_of_Uluventures.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 10:22am CDT

In this episode, Hall T. Martin conducts an interview with Kari Sulenes of Project Atlas. Project Atlas is an expression of Kari’s passion and doctoral work in holistic wellness and authentic leadership.  She contributes 10 years of experience working with organizations and program development and a doctorate in clinical psychology and organizational behavior. Kari is known as a warm presence and a great listener.  She is constantly seeking opportunities to catalyze people into their most productive and authentic selves at home and at work. In this episode they talk about how emotional intelligence skills affect founders. They also touch on how Project Atlas works and how they came to form and how they help founders to be effective leaders and emotionally developed individuals.  

Direct download: 84_--_Kari_Sulenese_of_Project_Atlas.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 10:03am CDT

In this episode, Hall T. Martin conducts an interview with David Gold of Access Venture Partners. David is a Managing Director at Access Venture Partners. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering with Special Honors from the University of Colorado and was a National Science Foundation Fellow while earning Masters Degrees in both Aerospace Engineering and Technology Policy from M.I.T. He has experience in cryptocurrencies, blockchain, healthcare IT, software, web and internet. Davis also has diverse experience as an venture capitalist, entrepreneur, executive, engineer and in public policy. Access Venture Partners invests in early stage technology companies with a passion for helping entrepreneurs build phenomenal fast growing businesses. They have invested in over 65 companies that have collectively raised over $1 billion in equity capital and employ nearly 4,000 people and growing. Access is an entrepreneur-focused fund. They pride themselves on the value they add to  portfolio companies beyond the capital they invest including involvement in business strategy, recruiting, fundraising and ultimate exit of the business. In this episode Hall and Graham talk about Graham's thoughts on the blockchain world and what specific verticals and applications he looks for. They also talk about ICOs and what Graham looks for inside before investing.

 

 

Direct download: 83_--_David_Gold_of_Access_Venture_Partners_FINAL.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 10:12am CDT

In this episode, Hall T. Martin conducts an interview with Graham Forman of Edovate Capital. Edovate Capital is a seed and early stage venture capital company whose leadership invests in companies that lead innovation in the education market. They know firsthand the pains and gains of growing early-stage companies into successful firms and have passion and experience in the education market. They look for outstanding people to partner with for the long term who have products or services that will transform education. Graham is the founder and managing director of Edovate Capital and has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur since 2001. For the last decade and a half he led sales, marketing, and business development for three early-stage, high-growth SaaS businesses selling to the education market.

Most recently he served as Vice President of Business Development for Netchemia, LLC, a venture-backed cloud-based software company serving the K-12 marketplace where he led new business development and strategic partnerships. During his eight-year tenure the company grew to more than 2,000 school district customers throughout the United States. Netchemia was acquired by Vista Equity Partners and merged with PeopleAdmin in February 2015. He also served in leadership roles with high-growth tech startups Yearmovie and eCivis, LLC. In this episode Hall and Graham talk about what he looks for when making investments. They also speak about on for profit coding schools and investing as well as opportunities in the education field and challenges he sees.

Direct download: 82_--_Graham_Foreman_of_Edovate_capital.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:53am CDT

In this episode, Hall T. Martin conducts an interview with Greg Beaufait of Dundee VC. Greg joined Dundee VC in 2013 and now leads their investment efforts in Minneapolis. Greg started out as an intern at Dundee VC , before graduating from the Heider College of Business at Creighton University with degrees in Finance and Economics. Throughout his time at Dundee VC, Greg has touched every aspect of the work they do, from investor reporting to raising capital to testing out an AngelList syndicate for two investments in 2015. Greg primarily focuses on deal sourcing, investments, and portfolio company management. Hall and Greg speak about what type of seed deals they look at and how they get considered at Dundee VC. Greg speaks on his views about what he feels is the next big thing with investing as they discuss ICO’s, Blockchain and tokenomics. 

Direct download: 81_--_Greg_Beaufait_of_Dundee_VC_FINAL.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 7:29pm CDT

In this episode, Hall T. Martin conducts an interview with Sarah Millar of City Light Capital. Sarah is an Investment Associate at City Light Capital, where she focuses on early stage investments in education, energy, environment, and safety and security. Sarah joined City Light after completing her MBA and a short Fellowship with Endeavor, a nonprofit organization that supports entrepreneurship in emerging and frontier markets. During her two years at Wharton, she held internships with two impact investors based in Mexico City (IGNIA and Adobe Capital), and another internship in business development for an e-commerce startup in the city. She also served as a consultant for multiple impact organizations, including local and global impact funds and nonprofits. City Light is an early stage venture fund, specifically an impact investing fund focused on backing experienced entrepreneurs with businesses that matter. They focus on companies in the education, environment and safety sector. Hall and Sarah speak about the social and financial impact of both the entrepreneur and investor as well as factors they look at when determining who is in or out on their fund.

 

 

 

Direct download: 80_--_Sarah_Millar_of_City_Light_Capital_FINAL.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 7:23pm CDT

In this episode, Hall T. Martin conducts an interview with Adam Draper of Boost VC. Adam is the founder and managing director of Boost VC. Adam is a 2x entrepreneur and a 4th generation venture capitalist. Boost VC invests primarily in sci-fi related technology with a focus on crypto and VR. Adam talks about what they are looking for when bringing a company into their accelerator and funding and deciding factors. Hall and Adam also discuss crypto and blockchain and what Adam is looking for in successful companies and most promising sectors in the space. 

Direct download: 79_--_Adam_Draper_of_Boost_VC_FINAL.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 7:18pm CDT

In this episode, Hall T. Martin conducts an interview with Nate Nead of Investmentbank.com. Nate Nead is an experienced M&A advisor and investment banker who has successfully managed numerous middle-market deals in real estate, software, hardware, digital marketing, agribusiness, consumer products, professional services and oil & gas. An experienced entrepreneur, Nate has founded, operated and exited several digital media, SaaS and software companies, growing them from startup to multi-million dollar market leaders. He brings a wealth of both operational and transactional understanding to the InvestmentBank.com team. In this episode, you’ll learn about they type of deals that Nate really likes and a little about what red flags he looks for. They also speak a little about token offerings and the direction they are going.

Direct download: 78_--_Nate_Nead_of_Investmentbanking.com_FINAL.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 7:12pm CDT

In this episode, Hall T. Martin conducts an interview with Allison Baum of Fresco Capital. Allison Baum is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Fresco Capital.  Prior to Fresco, Allison was an early member of the team at General Assembly, a global network for education and career transformation specializing in today’s most in-demand skills, where she developed and launched the company’s first part-time and full-time programs for technology, business, and design in New York.  In 2012, she relocated to Hong Kong to launch their first business in Asia.  Previously, she was a member of the Equity Derivatives team and Cross Asset Sales teams at Goldman Sachs in New York City. Fresco Capital is a global early stage venture fund. Fresco invests in companies at the seed stage and helps them grow by planning strategy to expand globally.

Direct download: 77_--_Allison_Baum_of_Fresco_Capital_FINAL.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 6:49pm CDT

In this episode, Hall T. Martin conducts an interview with Brian Parks of Bigfoot Capital. Hall and Brian speak a little bit about Brian's entry into venture funding and how Bigfoot Capital started. Bigfoot Capital provides seed-stage debt capital solutions for SaaS Stallions. Brian's background is a hybrid of Finance Services and SaaS. He has founded two companies, led both operations and finance, led data and analytics as well as contributing to sales and marketing. His background has led him to where he is today, leading Bigfoot Capital. Their purpose is to support the efficient growth of SaaS companies that are providing their product to U.S-based small businesses. In this episode, they also discuss the criteria for Bigfoot Capitals range of funding, some common mistakes seen in startups and how they handle challenges along the way.

Direct download: 76_--_Brian_Parks_of_Big_Foot_Capital_FINAL.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 6:39pm CDT

Hall Martin welcomes Paul O’Brien of media tech ventures. In this episode you’ll get to learn all about Paul’s vision of media tech and how he feels the groundwork should be laid for a viable community.

Direct download: 75_--_Paul_OBrien_of_MediaTech_FINAL.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 6:10pm CDT

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