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Understanding Ethics, Developments, and Outlooks on Artificial Intelligence
Dr. John Behrens is the Director of the Technology and Digital Studies Program as well as the Idzik Computing and Digital Technologies Program at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to joining Notre Dame, Dr. Behrens spent 20 years in industry where he held several executive positions at large tech firms like Cisco and Pearson, where he was most recently the Vice President of AI Product Development. Before working at these firms, John was a tenured professor at Arizona State where he taught educational data science. Dr. Behren now focuses on preparing current and future leaders to successfully transition through the technology, AI, and data revolutions. In this podcast, we discuss the ethical implications of the AI revolution and anticipated impacts of AI on society, as well as some suggestions for prompt engineering.
Exploring the Evolving Nature of Consumer Tech Investing
Mary Miller is the Head of Business Development within Growth Equity Investing at Norwest Venture Partners. Prior to joining Norwest in 2023, Mary was a Director at SoftBank’s Vision Fund and has held a number of other positions focused on investments in consumer technology companies. First, we explore some of the administrative and investing roles that Mary has worked in as she explains how she ended up in her current role. Next, we talk about some of the advantages and opportunities that working for SoftBank’s Vision Fund gave Mary as well as some of the lessons learned while working at such a large fund during the downturn of the market in 2022. After that, Mary explains a case study of the company Fanatics and explains the tremendous growth and evolution of the company over the past few years, focusing on her role in creating value for the company. Then, Mary breaks down what consumer technology is and how the industry has evolved over the recent past. Finally, we open the floor to members of the Notre Dame Venture Capital club (students who are actively trying to or already have broken into venture capital careers) to ask their insightful questions.
Developing a Marketable AI Solution
Ryan Welsh is the co-founder and CEO of Kyndi, a natural language technology platform that utilizes artificial intelligence to assist enterprises. First, we discuss how the processing, storing, and transfer of information has advanced via technology while the ability of humans to read and consume information has not. This pivots into a discussion of how AI, specifically Kyndi, will allow us to bridge this gap. Next, we discuss some nuances within the AI industry, including barriers to widespread adoption and some possible solutions. We conclude by looking into some of the realities of running a business and the direction Ryan hopes to take Kyndi.
Revolutionizing the Telecom Space
Dennis Thankachan is the Co-Founder and CEO of Lightyear, a telecom company that allows businesses to buy and manage all telecom services through a single platform. Additionally, Dennis is an angel investor in numerous tech start-ups. First, we take a look at the lessons Dennis learned through his career in banking and at a hedge fund. Next, we dive into the telecom space, where Dennis elaborates on some of the issues he is working to solve. We also look into how he came up with the idea for Lightyear and how he has successfully taken his product to market. Finally, we wrap up with a discussion about being a founder, including some of the perks and challenges involved.
A Wall Street Veteran’s Perspectives on Fixed Income, DeFi, and the Blockchain
Gary Chan is a Managing Director at JP Morgan with a long history in the financial services industry. We cover his experience in fixed income and his perspective on the role of the blockchain in driving innovation in the space. We also dive into how DeFi is disrupting the entire world of traditional finance, discuss the talent wars between Wall Street and Silicon Valley, and the importance of crypto regulation.
Building a Unicorn Tech Startup
Jason Boehmig, CEO of Ironclad, joins the podcast to discuss his journey launching a revolutionary software company disrupting the legal industry. Jason and his team have raised capital from some of the best VCs in the world, including Accel and Sequoia, and we dive into the process of successfully fundraising in Silicon Valley. Jason also talks about the insights he learned from his time on Wall Street, how he went about early product development, and the importance of avoiding feature creep as a software company scales. Other topics include the evolving role of the CEO, goal setting and change management, strategies for hiring, and relationship building.
Product Development and Design at Snap & Shef
We are joined by Mike Murray, Head of Product at Shef, which is a homemade meal delivery marketplace bringing the sharing economy to your table. Prior to Shef, Mike was an early employee and Product & Design Lead at Snapchat, where he helped grow daily active users and introduce new features to the app, including Stories, Chat, and Discover. During our conversation, we talk about some of the early design decisions made at Snap, how to make ‘what to build’ decisions as a product manager, and the importance of iteration in product development. In the context of his work at Shef, we also dive into the cold start problem and the development and scaling of marketplaces.
Corporate Development & Strategy
Alex Huang, Director of Strategy & Business Development at LiveRamp, joins the show to discuss what it means to work in corporate strategy and business development. We discuss the M&A process from the perspective of a strategic acquirer, including due diligence, the mechanics of getting a deal done, and post acquisition integration plans. We also dive into his operational role as Chief of Staff and advice for young professionals seeking a career in corporate development.
Partner in Operational Excellence in Software Growth Equity
We are joined by Vinny Prajka, Partner in the Operational Excellence Group, at the software growth equity firm JMI Equity. In our conversation, Vinny gives his take on what makes software attractive from an investment perspective, the role of a member of a private equity operating team, and the main ways in which he helps portfolio companies. We also dive into the major challenges software companies often face and the key metrics SaaS businesses should track to measure their success.
Globalizing the Crypto Economy
Amy Flanagan, an International Strategy and Operations Lead at Coinbase, discusses her experiences working within the crypto economy. Coming from her background in consulting at Bain & Co., Amy was not extraordinarily familiar with cryptocurrencies prior to joining Coinbase. She discusses how she found herself working in crypto, how crypto coins work, why they have value in society, and how she came to trust them. Amy also speaks to what it means to be an “International Strategy and Operations Lead” at Coinbase and the evolution of crypto adoption in different regions of the world.
The Power of Inflection Points
TCV is one of the largest growth equity firms in the world and has invested over $16B in public and private technology companies. We had the pleasure of speaking with David Zhang, a Partner at TCV, to discuss his career in technology investing. David has over a decade of experience in the global tech industry and he focuses on investments in fintech, digital media, and e-commerce, including investments in Airbnb, Brex, and Klarna. During our conversation, we cover the rationale for TCV’s crossover investing approach as well as the power of investing at pivotal moments and inflection points in a company’s journey. We also dive into why David made the jump into growth equity, what he looks for when making an investment, and advice for young professionals pursuing a career in technology investing.
Investing in Automation & AI
In this episode, we are joined by Jason Schoettler, co-founder and managing partner of Calibrate Ventures. Jason and his investing partner have funded companies like Dollar Shave Club (acquired by Unilever), Soft Robotics, Ring, SolarCity, and Chegg. In our conversation, we discuss his decision to start his own venture firm, synthetic data, the challenges robotics companies face over SaaS businesses, and what startups need to achieve to secure a Series A investment after seed capital.
Private Investing - From the Top
In this episode we speak with Peter Bell. Peter is the Chairman at Amity Ventures, a VC and PE firm investing in "category defining" technology companies, and the CEO of Epiphany Technology Acquisition Corporation, a SPAC targeting technology companies. Peter's career began in entrepreneurship and has led him to private investing. Peter has a unique view on making private investments and his firm invests across various stages from early stage VC to late stage SPAC investments and buyouts. We discuss Peter's decision-making process, fund strategy and investment strategy, and SPAC deal structure and management. Listen to learn from his stories.
EdTech & Micro-Internships
We chat with Jeff Moss, Founder and CEO of Parker Dewey, an education technology marketplace focused on connecting students to micro-internships with reputable companies. We discuss the value of micro-internships, how Jeff transitioned from being a director at Susquehanna Growth Equity, and how Parker Dewey overcame the challenges of building out a two-sided marketplace. Jeff has amazing wisdom on how to develop your career, don't miss this one!
Exploring the Blockchain
Conor and Alex chat with Joel Neidig, CEO and co-founder of Simba Chain, a blockchain-as-a-service platform that makes it easy to deploy this exciting new technology across multiple blockchains and data platforms. This conversation defines the blockchain, evaluates potential use cases, and breaks down where Simba Chain fits into the current ecosystem. We specifically dive into smart contracts and NFTs as well as how to selling a product and educate customers in a new industry.
The Bank Behind the Innovation Economy
We are joined by Brian Plamondon, a member of the Healthcare Corporate Venture Relationships team at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). With over 50% of venture-backed life sciences and tech companies in the US banking with them, SVB is engrained within the Silicon Valley ecosystem. During our conversation with Brian, we cover how SVB helped its clients during the pandemic and COVID’s impact on the venture and M&A space. Additionally, we discuss growing verticals within the healthcare industry, increased capital allocation to megafunds and solo GPs, and the state of the venture capital industry abroad.
Accelerating Solar Energy with Software
Johannes Burgard, MD and Founder at the solar energy software company Solytic, joins us for this episode discussing his path as a founder. Johannes explains Solytic’s product and go-to-market strategy that has allowed the company to raise millions in capital and operate in over 60 countries in just 4 years after its founding, and shares his advice from founding his company. As a trained engineer, Johannes is able to provide insight into what it’s like founding a company from a non-business background, and tells the hardships of starting his company.
Intro to Venture Studios
Mike Fitzgerald, co-founder and partner at High Alpha, a venture studio in Indianapolis, comes on the show to discuss the strategy and operations of venture studios. Mike’s background in software, sales, and entrepreneurship guides our conversation on starting companies at venture studios, the attractiveness of B2B SaaS, and guiding exits and innovation through large corporations. This episode also provides insight into Mike’s experience founding a venture studio and his advice from that process.
Corporate Culture & Leadership
Tom Mendoza, former President and SVP of Sales at NetApp and benefactor of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, joins the show to discuss his philosophy behind goal setting and establishing a clear vision for an organization. Drawing on his experience at NetApp, Tom also outlines how he developed a strong corporate culture at NetApp and how others can do the same at fast-growing tech companies.
Navigating Y Combinator
Conor McCarter is the co-founder of Prequel, which helps companies set up and manage their data stacks so they can focus on what matters: getting insights to drive their businesses. We talk about with Conor about pursuing a dual engineering masters degree and MBA at Harvard and subsequently deciding to jump in full time to work on his startup. We also focus on Conor’s experience with Y Combinator, which is the premier American seed money startup accelerator. Topics include applying and interviewing for YC, maximizing time given the unstructured nature of the program, the infamous Demo Day, and the state of Prequel after going through the accelerator.