August 12, 2025 • 55 mins
Jessica Carr joins Joel Palathinkal to discuss her journey from Impossible Foods to founding Coyote Ventures. She shares her investment thesis in food tech and femtech, exploring the industry's landscape and resources. They delve into university partnerships, deal sourcing, and essential qualities for investment teams. The conversation also covers crossover funds, retail investing, and fund formation platforms. Jessica highlights building community with LPs and shares strategies for deal flow and productivity. Audience questions address investing in Impossible Foods, with Jessica offering insights from mentors and the role of intuition. The episode ends with closing remarks and gratitude.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
We know how to pick like who's gonna be thewinner.
(00:02):
We've seen, we've talked to a lot of them.
We know which one, like they're not gonna get apatent on it.
So they're like not gonna be as successful.
We have databases of like how many companiesthere are in each sector.
We have a database of exits, which is reallyimportant.
A lot of even other investors were saying like,they don't know how many exits there are.
(00:23):
Welcome
to The Investor, a podcast where I, JoelPalafinkel, your host, dives deep into the
minds of the world's most influentialinstitutional investors.
In each episode, we sit down with an investorto hear about their journeys and how global
markets are driving capital allocation.
(00:44):
So join us on this journey as we explore theseinsights.
Okay.
I think we're live, so we'll just jump into it.
So we've got Jessica here, Jessica Carr fromCoyote Ventures.
So thanks so much for popping in and awesome tomeet with you the last couple of weeks.
(01:07):
And it's great when we always have commonfriends.
I think we met through a few few friends.
I'm good friends with Ariana as well.
She's So
I think I think you guys built that.
Yeah.
I guess I think you guys did the dinnertogether.
Right?
The sort of gathering in LA.
Yeah.
The night before the LA bridge dinner.
So yeah.
(01:27):
Yeah, I'm still like a little bit of aforeigner from the West Coast, know, I don't go
there that often.
So I'm excited to kind of try to send some moretime over there.
Hopefully we can get together and then, youknow, if you, if you, are you from New York?
No.
I'm originally from West Texas.
I've been out here in SF for about ten years.
So definitely let me know when you're out here.
(01:49):
Yeah.
Same thing with with New York.
If you ever make it out here, to try to getsome other investors together and do something.
But, you know, tell me about you.
So excited to have you on the show.
You know, we just kind of keep you casual andhear everybody's story and everyone has broken
into VC and, came into this career from adifferent path.
(02:11):
So I'm just excited to hear your story growing.
I guess you grew up in Texas and what youstudied and then how you pivoted in your
career.
And started Coyote Ventures too, so we'd loveto know how that started.
I know you had a co founder too, so I wannahear it all and then I can try to guide you
(02:33):
know, maybe different topics around yourinvestment thesis.
I really like your thesis as well.
So would like to go deeper on that and learnyour insights on those trends.
Definitely.
Yeah, thank you.
I'm super excited to be here.
And yeah, I think a lot of venture capital is anon traditional path overall.
So definitely spent the first maybe fifteenyears of like, what am I doing?
(02:57):
What's the pattern?
Where am I heading?
So probably a lot of people out there thatcould relate to that.
So I was born and raised in Amarillo, Texas,didn't know much about like, you know, what
else is a successful career besides being adoctor or a lawyer.
So I started studying as a pre med.
(03:17):
My dad is a dentist and I grew up, you know,around that and my mom's an OBGYN nurse and I
started working when I was 14.
I worked in my dad's dentist office and I lovedit.
I loved like helping the patients and I lovedlike the administrative things as well, filing,
charge to making appointments.
(03:38):
It was a good time.
And so in college I was pre med, I studiedbiochem and I loved understanding sort of why,
like how bio worked because to me, bio couldn'treally memorize everything.
And I double majored in philosophy.
I really enjoyed, you know, like thinking aboutthe different topics in philosophy and reading
(04:02):
a lot as well.
And then I was really fortunate.
I spent a summer at Berkeley as a researchscientist as an undergrad, but I was working in
a lab doing research and I enjoyed it.
I said, okay, I think I'd rather go this pathrather than the med school path.
So I went to UC San Diego, entered in as a PhDstudent, but I left after I finished the
(04:29):
master's coursework.
Just like the lab itself was not, I didn't feellike my work was really like reaching an impact
like I would want it to.
Know, you'd publish papers and then it mightnot go anywhere.
So really fortunate that I kind of put it outthere that I was looking for something
(04:50):
impactful that I got connected to the founderof what became Impossible Foods when it was
less than a year old.
So that was the twelfth person.
It was really small and scrappy, tiny littleoffice in Menlo Park and it was a really good
experience.
(05:10):
Just, you know, everybody was verycollaborative and working on the initial like
prototypes and a lot of the basic research anddevelopment and went into the intellectual
properties.
So Impossible spent about the first five yearsof the company's life in research and
development, and then it launched, you know, ithad like a small launch to the public in 2016.
(05:33):
And so I had been there for four years at thattime and I missed the early days.
I really loved the idea stage.
The research had to go through like a scale upmode.
So it wasn't as focused on innovation like forthat period.
So I decided to go do an MBA and I stayed as aconsultant with Impossible for another two
(05:57):
years.
So I was still pretty involved in the companyand yeah, really great friends with a lot of
the folks there still.
And, you know, after my MBA, I startedconsulting a lot, like with lots of early stage
startups and after a while said like, okay, Iunderstand life science and product really well
and I had been working sort of in the financialaspect as well as like early stage modeling and
(06:21):
everything.
I wanted to get into VC, so I said like I thinkI have a different perspective here, especially
as I was in food tech, I kind of knew a lot ofthe players and was successful and I saw a lot
of things that I would never fund and I saidlike I think I could be really successful with
(06:42):
that thesis as well as like expanding it toother basically science based impactful
products.
So I started working at a fund that was ageneral impact fund.
There was a sole LP and started seeing women'shealth deals before I knew it was its own sort
of area, FinTech.
(07:02):
That term was only coined in like 2016, so Ihadn't been too familiar with it, but I had
seen a few things here and there over the lastfew years.
And then when I started working with the fund,I became completely obsessed and realized that
gender equality is really where I wanted tomake an impact and not work on sustainability
(07:24):
sort of in a silo.
So worked with that fund for a little while asa principal and then hopped off to start my
own.
And I had met my co founder Brittany onoriginally was a LinkedIn cold ad but we
started having regular phone calls.
(07:45):
I was working at the other fund so I would talkabout the deals that I was seeing and just kind
of general get to know each other, talk aboutthe space and just get to know what she was up
to.
She started the nonprofit FemTech Focus and shehad a podcast, she still has this, has a
podcast and virtual community and resources Andshe kept saying, I'm starting a fund.
(08:08):
And finally I was like, did you start the fund?
What's the deal?
And I had built sort of my ideal pitch deck andshe sent me hers and they were very similar.
So we said, okay, let's just take this.
We applied to the VC labs at the FounderInstitute and the application was due like that
(08:29):
night and we got in so we're super excited andthat program was about four months, started
raising towards the end of the four months andcompleted our first close and deployed a few of
our first investments.
That's so exciting.
Yeah, I love that that you guys jumped into it.
(08:51):
I always love origin stories.
You know, I also speak to a bunch of foundersand that's always something I'm curious about.
So backing up a second, know, your pivotbecause you're, you came, you're very similar
to me, like I had a tech science background.
I, you know, I was doing my PhD as well.
So what advice do you have for people that comefrom like a deep science or tech background
(09:16):
trying to work at a fund?
Guess any tips and some of these people in theaudience are looking to break in.
So any tips
or We professional have all the practicalexperience I would say, and it's really helpful
for due diligence.
So I would say it's really good to be able togo deep in a subject, but when you're in VC,
(09:39):
you need to go really broad as well, like howthey talked about the T.
So you've already kind of learned how to godeep and then work on like learning how to
broaden out.
If you're working on a deal by yourself and youcan really get at the science part, figure out
what else you need to learn right away.
So like when we're looking at deals, we lookat, I think everybody would share the same
(09:59):
thing and that diligence is like we're lookingat financial models, we're thinking about
marketing, evaluating team and operations.
And so maybe there's ways that you can learnfrom someone who knows a lot about marketing,
who wants to learn about what you know, so.
And tell me how you've evolved your investmentthesis, because it looks like you've done, have
(10:25):
some operational experience in FoodTech, soI've also invested in FoodTech, so we'd love to
go deep on that.
And then I have friends and I also have aninterest in FemTech as well, but tell me how
strategy and your thesis has evolved, kindafrom food tech to fem tech and are there any
(10:45):
other sectors or industries that you're excitedabout?
Yeah, I'd say food tech, I recognizedImpossible Foods ten years ago.
Food tech wasn't really a thing, not a lot ofVC money going into mainstream, it's kind of
(11:08):
down in the early adopter phase.
That was impossible ten years ago and that'swhere women's health is now.
So I think that was sort of a relevant learningthat I can take to a new industry.
And I would say a lot of the women's healthcompanies are very science focused as well,
very innovative and sometimes it can be sort oflike impossible where it's taking an existing
(11:31):
technology and applying it to something whereit can have a massive positive impact.
So I don't think, my thesis really changed, Ithink it just evolved and is being applied,
somewhere where it's really, really needed nowand, I think it has, even once I started in
women's health, I think definitely their thesishas changed a little bit where I got to see
(11:56):
more where there's a lot of innovation andlooking mostly at where there's not enough
innovation.
And so fertility I, is great, it has a positiveimpact, but there's more to women's lives than
having babies and that's like a lot of ourlives.
And so there's a lot of problems that womenface that are not being well addressed and so
(12:17):
I'm a little more interested in those.
One of our investments is endometriosis whichactually one in ten women suffer from.
There's not a good diagnostic right now and theNIH is barely even funding it.
So you can kind of see that there's a lot ofexamples of inequalities that need to be
addressed.
(12:38):
Yeah.
What are some trends that you're seeing in thefood tech space?
Because there's plant based and then there'slab grown and then there's, I think there's
like a hybrid now where there's companies thatare obviously doing both.
And I've been involved in both of those areas,but what's next?
You know, there's cell based, I think some ofthe challenges with cell based meat is just the
(13:04):
bioreactors, right?
If you want to scale, need the bioreactors, yougot to grow the cells, right?
So I guess what have you seen?
Any thoughts on that issue and mitigating that?
That's kind of like the latest insight I got.
And then any foresight into like where foodtech is heading?
(13:26):
I know there's vertical farming now, right?
People can grow plants.
There's a big startup in Brooklyn.
I forgot the name of the company, but they'repretty much growing crops on top of a building.
I think that's awesome.
Yeah, I love that one because it kind of bringsin the plant based movement and then like
solves a lot of supply chain issues of bringingfood into cities.
(13:48):
And also it's really healthy because there'sless pesticides or probably not pesticides and
everything.
So I love the vertical farming space.
I think they have like engineering sort ofproblems to deal with, but, and a lot of times
they're growing like green, like leafy greensor herbs.
So they're, I think they're still figuring outlike how to efficiently grow other types of
(14:11):
crops as well.
And then lab grown, yeah, I think scaling isstill a long way out.
I think regulation, like they are passing it inSingapore, so I think you can launch there and
see if Singapore can be an example ofregulating it.
I definitely would want to make sure that it'sreally well evaluated for safety and making
(14:33):
sure there's not any kind of like harmfulchemicals that stay in the, basically in the
bioreactor and the meat.
So yeah, and I think plant based, there's lotsof like niches within plant based, whether it's
like, you know, towards the Asian market ortowards like certain types of flavors or
healthier, there's a lot of sort of niches, butI'm not sure any of the niches will grow to be
(14:57):
as large as, you know, Impossible and beyond.
So yeah, I think there's still like, the way Ilook at it isn't really like trends, I look at
it as like, there's still a lot of problems tobe solved.
So yeah, lots of opportunities there still.
And yeah, I mean, the last I read too, yourpoint, right, it was legalized in Singapore.
(15:20):
Do
you
see that happening in The States and the moredeveloped countries as well?
And if not, what do you think the holdup isfrom kind of seeing a lot of the lab grown
stuff become more mainstream?
I know they at least were last, I haven't beenup on this really.
(15:40):
Know last before defining like which, like ifit's FDA or USDA that's like going to regulate
it, and that was sort of the last I heard.
So they were talking about it and getting itorganized, but I didn't hear much what happened
after that.
Yeah, I've heard also sometimes the incumbents,it's not great for the incumbents, Because
(16:00):
instead of buying Tyson meat, know, can justkind of talk to a new startup and buy, you
know, that kind of meat in bulk.
And, you
know, another thing is the texture.
A lot of times the texture is like a slush,right?
So it's not necessarily like the look and feel.
You could probably create some chicken nuggetsor something like that, but it's not
(16:23):
think what you like a said is like the mixturesbecause it's like, to me a plant based, the
thing that's missing the most are some flavorsand some of the fat and so I think like a
mixture could be where it starts with like fatmade in like cell based fat, where you wouldn't
need a lot of it and then the muscle you needlike way more and you need to have it like
(16:47):
properly, structured for it to have the texturelike you said, so like something where it's
like fat or functional might be a good start.
Yeah, no, that's helpful.
Then going a little deeper on the femtech andfemale health sectors, Can you unpack that a
little bit?
(17:07):
So I'm assuming there's some digital softwarecomponents, then there's like hardware and
sensors.
So can you maybe just break out how thesoftware and devices get broken out into the
different areas of femtech or maybe just breakdown the industry.
The word itself can also be controversial andconfusing.
(17:29):
The word tech was only added to it to emphasizeinnovation and so it's not necessarily all tech
driven.
I would say, yeah, it's more just like where isthe innovation happening?
So I usually just say women's health andwellness.
It's a little easier to sort of picture like,okay, it could be a diagnostic or it could be
(17:51):
like something really, you know, like somethingthat's not really science based but still needs
innovation.
There's still innovation happening in likemarketing, for example.
So there's like kind of two different ways youcan break down the whole industry of women's
health.
So you could do it by sort of what type ofproduct is it?
There's like CPG, digital health, telemedicine,diagnostics.
(18:17):
So you kind of like think about industries liketherapeutics, med devices, they're all like
affecting women's health.
And then you could also say like what area ofwomen's health is it affecting, maternal
health, sexual wellness, menopause.
So there's all these different conditions thatare either solely or disproportionately or
(18:40):
differently affect women.
So even like we experience heart attacksdifferently than men and so there's like needs
to be like innovation around like understandingwomen's heart health and how to like treat when
there's something wrong.
That's helpful.
The FinTech, yeah, they coined that termbecause Clue, it's a tracking app for when
(19:01):
you're on your period basically and so theywere raising and they said like, we were just
gonna add the word tech to it so it sounds likesomething an investor would want to talk to.
That's really how that term came about and thenthere's a sex tech as well so it's kind of
similar thing where it's like doesn't have tobe like that tech forward sometimes it is
(19:22):
sometimes it's like a social network or yeah,things like that.
Yeah, I feel like there's also mental healthcomponents to that too, right?
Because sometimes, you know, wellness justcomes from just general mental health as well.
Then I think if there's, you know, specificapplications to women that are more relevant
(19:43):
than like for men, then I think that's a uniqueniche as well.
Yeah, we're definitely really interested inmental health and I would say we're really
interested in everything that's really tabooand makes people uncomfortable to talk about,
that's like where we're gonna flock to.
So it's the best and that's why there's a lotof opportunity and finding the right people
that you can really align with there.
(20:04):
Well, think there's also an opportunity whatI've been noticing too because I've, you know,
been speaking to a lot of LPs, and a lot of theLPs, the reason why they invest in these funds
is because they just don't have access to thefemtech deals.
And they don't know how, you know, they don'tknow where the events happen.
They don't know where the, who the acceleratorsare.
(20:24):
So being able to invest in a fund, it's almostlike being able to invest in an index of like
all the femtech opportunities instead of havingto do all the diligence and all the work of
like just doing one.
I look at it similar to like the S and P 500versus just buying Tesla.
You can kind of get access to like an index of,you know,
(20:45):
Yeah.
We know how to pick like who's gonna be thewinner.
We've seen, we've talked to a lot of them.
We know which one, like they're not gonna get apatent on it.
So they're like not gonna be as successful.
We have databases of like how many companiesthere are in each sector.
We have a database of exits, which is reallyimportant.
(21:05):
A lot of even other investors were saying like,they don't know how many exits there are.
There's actually over a 100.
Average exit value being around 400,000,000.
And so we put some of that info straight intoour memos as well of like thinking about what
kind of exit strategies some of the companiescould have.
And so it's not only about us having like waymore deal flow, it's also being like so
(21:29):
ingrained into the space and being able to makethose like corporate partnerships as well.
Yeah, and tell me about the femtech communitythat you guys have.
Guess what are the best communities to learnmore about femtech?
Are there accelerators now people can go to tokind of meet these kind of companies?
(21:49):
And then you guys have a community as well.
So is that community more of a consortium ofinvestors that have the same investment
mandate?
It's a lot of innovators from different sides.
So I would say very, probably the most activepeople are founders or some really talented
people who are looking for new careeropportunity in FinTech.
(22:12):
There's definitely investors.
So whether they're funds like us or someangels.
And so yeah, it's a virtual community,basically can go on and start a conversation or
ask something.
So that's one and then there's another women'swomen's health coalition on SpringBoard I
think.
(22:33):
That one's really active as well so I'd saythose are two really active communities.
There's also HIT Lab that gives awards towomen's health.
That's probably one of the biggest ones of likeHITLab and Women Who Tech.
Yeah, they've both done femtech competitions.
In terms of accelerators, I would say a lot ofthem like, I wouldn't say there's a top like
(22:57):
FinTech one specifically.
I know there's some in Europe that are kind ofstarting, but I don't know if they totally have
it down yet.
I would have to explore a little bit more.
We're super US focused.
But like plug and play has a, right now they'reworking with P and G.
So there's a cohort and it's not specificallyfrom tech, but there's like maybe four out of
(23:21):
12 are like women's health and plug and playhas some in general that have been and MD Bio's
had a lot, so Techstars, so they can be kind ofintermixed in some of the top accelerators and
incubators too.
Yeah, no, it's exciting.
Yeah, mean, it's growing and there's just a lotof cross pollination, right?
(23:42):
Because some of it, I mean, a lot of the deals,especially food tech, there's an impact focus
as well.
And then there's a hybrid between deep tech,because you're looking at a lot of the science
and the research.
Do you feel that sometimes universities aregood places to partner?
Like, you see any of, going back to your PhDdays, are you seeing some of the tech kind of
(24:05):
being created in the lab?
Yeah, there's one I haven't caught up with herin a while, but my grad advisor is an advisor
to that one.
And that's sort of microbiome center thatthey've created at UCSD, super excited about
the whole innovations coming out of there andI've seen like another couple other UCs that
(24:26):
have, yeah, some companies that are in women'shealth spinning out of there.
So definitely a good opportunity.
Yeah, no, it's exciting.
And what are some tips that you would give forsome of the people on the line here in terms of
sourcing deals?
(24:46):
It sounds like you're connecting inbound andoutbound, but any career advice for the people
on the line as far as just connecting withfounders, maybe sourcing and screening deals?
Definitely.
So if you're just starting out, one thing Ilike to say is do some equity crowdfunding,
especially if you're not accredited yet.
(25:08):
I'm part of Republic, really love theirplatform, it's high quality deals.
You can read the whole page and it tells you alot of like learning about due diligence.
And I think that's a good place to start if youhaven't done much at all.
You can invest like a minimum usually of a $100so you're not gambling a ton and you get
(25:29):
investor updates.
It's really fun.
So I check out some of those sites.
If you want to be a little more serious andyou're still starting out, you could do
something like Pipeline Angels.
One that I did is called Vectors Angel.
It is Impact Focus and you can sort of learnthe ropes on angel investing and how to
(25:49):
evaluate deals and then they have some,sometimes some of them have their own deal
flow.
So yeah, angel groups are really great.
Some of them are structured where you can learnand I think, yeah, if you're like start to
generate more and more of your own as an angel,you could even syndicate some of your own deals
and get some experience doing SPVs.
(26:13):
And then, yeah, I mean, like with our fund, wealso have a few fellows that we're teaching.
So if you start developing your own thesis andfigure out where you want to invest, you can
reach out to some of the funds and ask foropportunity offer.
A lot of us are early, so we're not paying.
So sort of have that in mind of like what youoffer and what you would like to learn in
(26:37):
exchange.
It's not necessarily while earning money whileyou're learning.
Yeah, I've done that too.
Like I've done a lot of free work, so you'renot above it probably.
Yeah, mean, there's a really good YouTube videoby Gary Tan and it's earn while you learn.
So you could, you know, you could keep your dayjob and try to learn on the side and try to
(27:00):
build that experience.
Think that's definitely a good way to learn andit's a win win, If you can get help and value
to your fund and then you're also able tomentor and coach somebody else then it's a win
win.
So I do have some people that are interested inwomen's health.
So happy to take that offline if there's anyonethat you need, if you need more help.
(27:23):
And I guess what you've chosen some people onyour team, this is for the audience again.
What do you look for in, and I'm also thinkingabout this too.
So I also want advice.
So what do you look for in a good analyst or anassociate?
What are some of the traits that you think areimportant to you?
Sorry, my dog's barking.
(27:43):
He wants
to
sometimes he helps.
Everybody's pretty different.
I would say one is that we're very sciencefocused.
So we have a scientist who's doing her PhD now.
And then we have another girl who's sort ofbeen around women's health for a while.
(28:05):
So having something that you know you canusually offer and some of the others are like
MBAs and they're really good with the financialanalysis but usually I have a conversation,
understand what they're motivated by, whythey're interested in helping and usually if I
(28:27):
get along with them, I'm like, well, they'lllearn.
If I think they can do a founder's call withoutmaking it really awkward or bad, I guess I
could set the high, yeah, I guess I just kindof know when I talk to someone that they would
Yeah, I think also it's kind of, you know, thatperson should also be really excited about the
(28:48):
sector too because I think part of what getsyou up in the morning is really just, the
excitement to learn and go deep and meet newpeople.
So I think that's a huge thing too, just thatenthusiasm to always be learning and get
feedback and get better and better every day.
Yeah, they definitely need to be like prettyindependent thinkers and also can sort of keep
(29:11):
them like, we can't answer a lot of questionsall the time, especially because we're remote.
So definitely like self starters andindependent thinkers and you know can solve a
problem if we're not all like together timebecause we're remote.
So I definitely think that's something where Ican see that they can like really pursue one of
(29:33):
their ideas and yeah, they've done a reallygood job so far.
So one thing that I've done last week is I'vereflected over the last four months from
launching this fund accelerator.
And I sat down and I wrote like and collectedand kind of organized all of my learnings.
(29:55):
So I'm going to try to get that out soon onceit looks like it makes sense.
But what I also want to hear learn from you iswhat did you learn?
Maybe some learnings from when you worked at afund and then just taking the plunge into
starting a fund, what are some of the biggesttakeaways, things that you didn't expect would
(30:17):
happen that you take away now is kind of a hugelife lesson or learning in your career?
It's a big one.
Think it just, my whole, like I said, my wholecareer made more sense to me.
Was like, even like the philosophy major for along time, was like, does that even tie in
(30:39):
anywhere?
But I feel like really now I can see it interms of like making arguments.
And so for me, it just like makes my life waymore holistic too and being like a big
proponent of like health and wellness as well.
Mean, I
feel like you're kind of, you feel like you'rekind of doing your life's purpose, you're kind
(31:02):
of in the sector where you think you should be.
And I'm kind of like saying this verballybecause that was kind
of the
same way I was, you know, like I came from atech background.
It was good.
I had a good job.
I was getting paid really well.
But it didn't for the longest time, it didn'tfeel like it was what I was supposed to be
doing.
I was like, is this it?
(31:22):
You know?
So I think that's kinda, it sounds like that'swhat you're saying too, but I don't wanna like
put words out.
Oh, yeah.
That is how I feel.
And it's a and it yeah.
I think some of the lessons of like how thingstie in together, like when it makes sense would
be like my philosophical lesson and not
that I didn't things that you did as anoperator though, like those come back, like
(31:45):
sometimes when I worked as an operator, likethose lessons I learned in like corporate
America, just email etiquette.
If I never learned that and I just jumped intoVC, I'd probably be a really horrible VC with
really bad etiquette.
Some of those corporate structured experiencesI think do help.
And I think that's why a lot of people do.
(32:08):
There's different VCs, right?
There's people that are right into VC rightafter college.
And then there's people that kind of have somereally good industry experience and then they
break in.
And I feel like they're both great in differentinstances.
But I think for me, some of that corporatelarger company experience kind of helped a
(32:28):
little bit as far as like making me a littlemore mature, but I feel the same way.
I'm like, man, I feel like I'm doing somethingthat's more aligned to my mission.
Yeah, and like for me working on Impossible,like I loved it and also sometimes I was just
like flipping and eating burgers all day, butalso I worked with some of the highest quality
(32:49):
people I've ever met there, some of thesmartest people.
And so definitely like raises the bar superhigh on my investment criteria now.
Yeah, you also saw the founder side and thenyou were there, were you there till the exit or
did you leave?
Impossible has not exited.
Oh, I'm thinking, sorry, I'm thinking about
beyond public.
(33:10):
Impossible is like raising another round.
I'm still waiting on my, you know, coming intowealth moment.
Yeah, no,
sorry.
Yeah, was just for some reason, I actuallybought a bunch of, I bought both and they're
both in my fridge.
So I got mixed up for a second.
But yeah, Impossible private.
The main point was that you got a lot of thatfounder experience being on the team early.
(33:36):
So it kind of had to wear a lot of hats andyou're a founder now, Starting a fund that's a
business, you're building a firm.
So it's also an entrepreneurial
That helps relate with a lot of the foundersbecause not all their investors are the
founders of the fund.
So definitely like some of the last deal I gotinto, it was a little later stage and so mostly
(34:00):
we're seed, but I was like, well, this oneseems interesting.
I'll check it out.
But it's later, she might not even beinterested in our small check size, but like
the fact that we are both founders and womenand passionate about a lot of the similar
things, she was just like, I'll take your smallcheck, it's okay.
And so it's like, okay, this is like, it'sreally cool.
(34:20):
Yeah, so that really aligns with the piece ofadvice that we got.
I got last night, we had our cohort last nightand one of the mentors came in and you know,
the earlier fund managers, fund one, fund two,they're gonna pick up the call because these
companies, these 100 ks checks, that's likemake or break, right?
(34:41):
You have to make those companies win to reallycount towards your performance and then get you
set up for fun too.
So I feel like the bigger checks, you don't getthat kind of love and probably don't resonate
in the same way that you do because you're alsoa founder.
So that was a really unique insight and I'mglad that kind of what you're saying is into
(35:05):
that same tone as well.
Definitely, yeah.
Some of ours are where like the first fundsthat's in.
So that's really exciting.
So yeah, I'm maybe naive right now where I'mlike, I don't imagine any of them failing
because they're all so amazing.
Yeah, mean, and then what are your thoughts onjust crossover funds now coming in earlier?
(35:29):
Are you seeing any crossover funds getting intowomen's health and then also in food tech
because that's also something that, you know, Iask every person that comes in, what are your
thoughts on that?
Because you know, just these bigger TigerGlobals and CO2s are getting in earlier and
earlier.
So don't don't think that's that's On anywomen's health deal for the record.
(35:52):
Not, yeah, I don't think they're I don't knowif it's because they're not seeing that deal
flow or they're not looking at women's healththat much yet or what, but most of the deals
I'm in, women's health is still a growing sortof area, especially So most of the deals I'm
in, I mean, I'm in like one that wasoversubscribed and like done in two weeks, but
(36:17):
a lot of them are like raising over severalmonths.
They need a lot of intros, at least on the seedstage, hopefully later stage it'll be all set
up for success, it's not a, most of the dealsare not very competitive right now.
Are you seeing, so I'm seeing more retailinvesting across different industries and
(36:40):
platforms, right?
So I'm seeing like space, I'm seeing likehealthcare, there's like the republic for
space, republic for health care.
So are you seeing that as well in any otherverticals like femtech or food tech where
smaller non accredited investors can now getin?
(37:00):
And do you see that just from a macrostandpoint, do you see that kind of unbundling?
Because right now we have Republic, we haveWefunder, but do you feel that there's gonna be
more niche kind of retail opportunities?
When I heard about what's involved in actuallycreating a platform like that, because I
actually, Brittany interviewed Cheryl fromRepublic on the podcast and Brittany
(37:23):
was like,
let's start a Republic for FinTech.
And Cheryl was like, you know what's involvedin starting this type of security.
So it sounds like to me that the ones that aredominant are able to add more industries more
easily than industry coming in and doing theirown thing.
(37:44):
Yeah.
I don't, I don't see, I don't see it happeningas much, but maybe there could be more, I mean,
are syndicates focused on, but yeah, I haven'tseen anybody say that they're going to start
their own republic for women's health or foodtech, but, and those are ones already have a
(38:04):
lot of those deals there too.
Yeah.
Speaking of republic, I've heard some reallygood stuff from founders and then obviously
there's been some funds that have been raisingfunds on Republic.
So I've heard just really good stuff as aplatform, which is kind of the support with
trying to achieve the goals you need toachieve.
That's really great to hear.
(38:26):
And I'm also excited about just where capitalis being formed, right?
So new investment managers, I feel like in thefuture, it's gonna be easier and easier
hopefully to start a fund.
Platforms like Republic, there's hopefullyeasier ways for people to spin up the formation
(38:48):
or do SPVs much faster.
Yeah, I'll say, yeah, I used Carta Fundformation, it was very affordable, great team.
I'm having great experience working with Cartaand I know there's a few others like AngelList
and there was another allocations.
I've heard good things.
So it's great that it's becoming moreaffordable.
(39:11):
We just need more LPs out there investing insmall funds.
A lot of LPs, yeah, they're, theinstitutionals, they cannot write small checks.
Yeah.
So some of these newer fund of funds that areraising from them are really good in between.
Yeah, no, I totally agree and you know, justfrom all the data I've been looking at, you
(39:34):
know, just people have been saying good thingsabout just tech operators, right?
So I mean, even angel checks, if you cobbletogether a couple of those angel checks, you've
got a couple million.
So I think that's an untapped market.
And again, because you have a unique accesspoint into a certain niche, that's very
attractive, I feel to a lot of LPs.
(39:57):
That's really, I feel like that's a really cooledge that you have.
And what's your advice on helping to build thatengaged community?
Are the dinners effective to kind of buildcommunity or is it webinars or content?
Any advice for like, I think there's one or twopeople that are looking to start a fund as
(40:19):
well.
So maybe building the brand and then justcommunity building or pipeline building with
LPs.
One thing like early on, like when we didn'thave our pitch deck and all, you know, we
hadn't funded formed any entities or anything.
We did talk to the people we thought would bemost interested that wouldn't need the
(40:40):
materials and gather, like, soft commits rightaway and figure out how much soft commits you
have.
And then maybe you could, you know, your firstclose with that is 10%, which ours was, then
you assume that that will lead, you know, oneperson can lead to another or you can kind of
10x what your first close was or a lot of thepeople that you've been talking to that are
(41:02):
kind of skeptical or they want to, you know,lot of them are like, come back when you're 50.
It's like, I'll come back if I still want youwhen I'm 50%.
But yeah, building community can be hard duringCOVID and SF, everybody's left.
I have barely been meeting anyone in person inSF so if you're in SF, please meet me.
(41:23):
I went to LA, had way more meetings than I hadin the last year than just a few days.
Dinner was really good.
That was just last week so I don't know ifanything, well you know, maybe it's like long
term relationship building or maybe y'all getthe commitment out of it, I'm not sure yet but
it was really nice.
I've the multiple touch points really help too.
(41:47):
So like you do an event, it's really awesome.
I feel like education really helps too.
So like, you have a couple of cool panels andthat's a really cool curated event and then
they wanna come back again, then there's likeanother touch point.
So I've heard some good results from just kindof like to your point, right?
It's a long game.
(42:07):
So there's like multiple touch points andfollow ups.
Yeah, people wanna do different things too.
Like some people might not wanna go to adinner, but they'll go to like a Zoom webinar
or maybe they're not doing that.
They'll read your newsletter and they'll sitdown and like, you know, evaluate something you
sent them and, or some of them might just loveBritney's podcast or we might do, you know, my
(42:28):
preference is to just do one on one meetings inperson rather than like dinner with 50 people
for me is very intimidating.
Yeah, it's
tough too because it's, you know, when you havedinner, you can't really meet like maybe the LP
that you wanna meet is like at the other end ofthe table.
And they did design it well though.
Everybody got up and said a few words which didtake a very long time and there was like a wine
(42:52):
hour before we sat down, had a first course,moved for the main course, moved again like
more wine, dessert, more wine.
The wine was risky.
Yeah, because you don't wanna make it like anobvious, like meat market where it's just
drinks and then you just have a badge that sayslike your LP and LP versus GP.
(43:15):
The LPs didn't really wanna talk shop.
It was more just FaceTime, say hi, who we are.
Yeah, it's a fine balance too, of them.
Yeah, and I mean, some of them also, you know,I think what are your thoughts and we've
through this a lot, know, just the finessing ofsharing deal flow, right?
(43:38):
You don't want to get, you know, this is littlebit mentioned last night, like, don't wanna get
into the trap where you just kinda like someonethat just shares deal flow and then that person
never
That's the first.
I had one other GP who was like, Yeah, ifsomebody says that, I tell them the pecking
order.
And they're like, At the end of the peckingorder of who I share deals with, because it's
(43:59):
like, yeah, first I share deals with my littlegroup of other investors who I know are amazing
and then I do this and this and this and thatlike family, sorry, family offices, they're
kind of down low because I don't know.
Yeah.
I've seen Oh, so they do it based on the typeof LP or they do it based on like, if you
are
little circles.
(44:19):
Like I have a little circle of my first, youknow, filmmakers or like people if I pass, but
I'm like, oh, I think, you know, so and sowould be super interested.
Yeah.
There's not a good way.
There's not a, like, platform that I know ofwhere it's just it's, like, all manual, like,
decks in an email.
Mhmm.
Maybe that should No.
I agree that this should be a cool platformwhere, like, you can see deals, but there's,
(44:43):
like, a teaser of a really hot deal orsomething, but you can't see it unless you
Unless you invest in the fund.
I send it to first?
Yeah.
That's similar feedback that I got.
So I think what you're trying to say is, look,there are some deals that maybe you can talk
about so that they can understand your abilityto source deals, but you want to gate it in
(45:06):
some way where the people who are LPs do getfirst more exclusive access.
And then if those people want to get upgraded,it's like a SaaS platform, right?
You gotta upgrade to the premium to be able toget access, right?
Yeah.
And I know it's a thing now where a lot ofpeople who were investing in funds are trying
(45:28):
to do more directs, that's but why I like,yeah, we're so thesis driven and we know the
market so well that like when some of thepeople who we share deals with send us
something, we just like sometimes laugh like,oh my gosh, this is their deal flow.
Need us more than we need their deal flow, butwe need other things.
(45:50):
Sure.
Yeah.
No, I agree.
I think there's different profiles.
Right?
So I think you you mentioned it not to harpanymore, but there's some people that just
wanna be information gatherers, right?
They just wanna learn and then it's kind of awaste of your time.
So I think I'm like trying to, and I think ithelps too when you have a community, right?
(46:10):
So you and I right now are having a therapysession, but when you have a community of
people where you're doing this together, likeyou can kind of get intel on who's an awesome
LP and who's not.
And what's been really great about ourcommunity too is people have been kind enough
to refer like mentors that are LPs to kind ofcome in as well.
(46:31):
So that's been really amazing.
Just part of the community, right?
It's like, hey, is this person like a waste oftime?
And a lot of times you can just save a meetingjust from pinging a few people to get some of
that intel.
Yeah.
There's a new app for like email intros, it'scalled the bridge and you can actually give
(46:51):
feedback at the end.
And so I think that could be a good way to likeput like, yeah, the new community too, but this
way you could sort of like see, like, Iintroduced them to like three GPs and they all
said that that was a waste of time and that wayyou don't have to always ask them directly too.
I would check that out.
That's really cool.
So it's for GPs and LPs?
(47:11):
No, it's for anybody.
So you get reviewed based on how your
It's not like an Airbnb review.
It's not like public, but it's sort of likeprivate.
Like, Anna was the one who told me about this.
She introduced me to Taryn.
And then first it's like, Taryn, do you wannameet Jessica?
And we both like opt in so she doesn't have tomanually do that part.
(47:34):
And you'll do the email opt in, right?
Yeah, and then afterwards it's like, was thisintroduction useful?
And you can like write a note or something.
So I think Do
they know that you do they know it's from youor is it anonymous?
I don't think I see any of my reviews.
It's just the the person who introduced us.
(47:54):
The person so let's say okay.
So we both know Ariana.
Right?
So like Mhmm.
So who gets reviewed?
Does Ariana get reviewed for the quality of herintro or do I get reviewed in terms of like how
I interact with with you?
You get it.
I don't wanna be a horrible, you know, getreviewed.
I think it's more for like if somebody ghostsyou or something like that.
(48:17):
Oh, that's good.
Yeah.
That's Yeah.
Not like a it's not like a star system or Yeah.
It's like, was this a good connection or wasthis useful?
Yes or no?
Any notes?
It's not, yeah, it's not gonna be like, don'tworry.
Like VC It might be guide like for VSTAR publiclike.
Yeah, it's like VC guide for warm intros.
(48:38):
That's cool.
Yeah, I mean, it helps just that's kinda it'sjust it goes back to like corporate experience,
right?
Being professional, right?
So if you're gonna set up a meeting and youcan't make it, just cancel it and let them
know.
So I think that, I think for me some of thosethings I kind of maybe take it for granted but
I think some of that more mature experience washelpful but that's cool.
(49:03):
What are some other cool tools that that's aninteresting one.
Any other tools that you're sharing in thecommunity that I should also share with
everyone?
I mean, the other tool that I love isSuperhuman for email.
I get Really?
What do you like about Superhuman?
What's, what's, unique about it?
(49:24):
I mean, I know they're crushing it.
I can get to inbox zero by just setting, like,this one come back.
I gotta do this one at this time.
I
can Mhmm.
It's just super easy.
It kinda helps you manage your inbox as like todos.
Mhmm.
Okay.
So you're like superhuman.
Look at it and just like, remind me of allthese at like 5PM and that's my email hour.
(49:46):
I think that's really helpful.
And when I look at Gmail again, I'm like, howdid I ever use this clunky old technology?
Man, check it out.
And then I'm assuming obviously that thedefault tech stack is Calendly, Zoom, and
there's probably there's one more.
There's definitely There are
deals on monday.com, which is maybe not themost go to one,
(50:09):
but Monday?
I use Trello.
I mean, you kinda use like the Kanban board?
I don't know.
I think just like the list view and all theselike tags we can use and we can sort of analyze
how many deals we looked at Yeah.
Vector there and I think it's useful for kindof that analysis.
Mhmm.
Yeah, a good one.
(50:30):
Yeah, monday.com's good.
Obviously people use Notion as well.
Yeah, Airtable.
I'm thinking back.
I like it better CRM, but I'm using Airtable.
Mhmm.
I don't know.
So oh, so you use Airtable as your so thatplugs into, like, your
(50:51):
Like, Airtable's for LTs and monday.com is forthe deals.
Deals.
Does Airtable connect to your your inbox?
So it pulls in,
like, every time manual.
You do a manual.
Okay.
Yeah.
Something, sometimes the manual, like, helpsme, like, process my thoughts about, like Yeah.
Person, the conversation, the status.
(51:13):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's much better than Google Docs.
I mean, I know, you know, there's a lot ofpeople do use HubSpot.
I think HubSpot has a free free version.
I have HubSpot.
I just don't use it like I should because I'veheard some good stuff, but, you know, Airtable
seems like a good one too.
I mean, all of them seem better than Google,Google spreadsheet, but, you know, sometimes
(51:33):
I've used a lot of these fancy tools, and thenI end up still going back to Google spreadsheet
because you can kinda like sort and, you know,play around with the spreadsheet and stuff like
that.
So it's kinda kinda helpful.
So
Yeah.
I also use Evernote.
That's not a standard one either, but just likeevery time I'm getting on a meeting, I have a
new, like, a note and it's very searchable.
(51:55):
You can use it offline and like Yeah.
Google Docs.
So those are my main ones.
Slack always Yeah.
I haven't used Evernote in a while because Istarted using the just like the Apple Notepad.
But, yeah, I used to use Evernote a lot.
Like I would use it a lot also when I would goto events, like just typing the notes on my
(52:15):
phone and then I knew that it would sync.
So that was really, really helpful.
So, well, cool.
We got like four minutes.
So, you know, any, I'll let anybody chime in ifthey have any questions, they've been pretty
quiet, really good listeners.
So, you know, with the four minutes, if anybodywants to chime in with questions, that's fine.
(52:36):
But I always ask every guest to just maybeshare a piece of wisdom from like a mentor, you
know, if there's like a family member orsomeone you look up to that gave you some
advice or tips for life or your career, wouldlove to hear
I think, basically, it has to do with sort oflike tuning into intuition, sort of knowing,
(53:05):
you know, what I, how I feel about things andhow I can use that as, as my guide.
And so I've like had mentors who have helped,like guide with, how to do that.
And I think, yeah, it's great.
I get advice, I have mentors, I talk to peopleabout everything that's going on.
And in the end, sort of like, after I talk alot, I'm like, I think I know the answer myself
(53:28):
and I can get some validation or pushback tochallenge it.
But I think that's something that's reallyvaluable to learn.
The thing is get a lot of feedback, but thentry to internalize it yourself and maybe come
up with your own internal view.
That?
It's like learning how to use intuition to makedecisions.
(53:51):
They're also very informed by advice andfeedback.
Yeah, no, that's really good advice.
There was like a fireside chat with Jeff Bezosand he also said something that resonates with
what you just said.
He just said, he said some of his mostimportant decisions were done with his
(54:13):
intuition.
So I totally agree with that.
I mean, Jeff Bezos does, so.
Good to know.
I guess
you're good.
You're right up there with them.
Well, hey, if anybody, if no one else has anyquestions, thanks for your time.
Really appreciate you being generous with, youknow, your time and kind of chatting with me
(54:35):
for a little bit and, you know, I hope to seeyou in New York or on the West Coast soon.
If you're along with everything.
Oh, someone's off mute.
Oh, Philippe.
Yeah, yeah.
If you don't mind, I have a very quick questionas usual.
I just recently joined, but hi Jessica, yourbackground is very similar to mine.
I was a pre med student, then I got a BA ineconomics and then landed in technology.
(54:58):
But what I wanted to ask you, Impossible Food,at what level did you invest?
Were you part of the first round and how muchwas put in?
I was an employee when it was less than a yearold.
And so I vested, you know, my equity as anemployee and I purchased my shares in that way
(55:20):
but I didn't invest, I didn't invest in one ofthe rounds.
Got it.
Okay.
Well, thanks very much.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Cool.
Awesome.
Well, have a good evening and hope to catch upsoon.
Thank you, John.
Thanks, everyone.
We know how to pick like who's gonna be thewinner.
(00:02):
We've seen, we've talked to a lot of them.
We know which one, like they're not gonna get apatent on it.
So they're like not gonna be as successful.
We have databases of like how many companiesthere are in each sector.
We have a database of exits, which is reallyimportant.
A lot of even other investors were saying like,they don't know how many exits there are.
(00:23):
Welcome
to The Investor, a podcast where I, JoelPalafinkel, your host, dives deep into the
minds of the world's most influentialinstitutional investors.
In each episode, we sit down with an investorto hear about their journeys and how global
markets are driving capital allocation.
(00:44):
So join us on this journey as we explore theseinsights.
Okay.
I think we're live, so we'll just jump into it.
So we've got Jessica here, Jessica Carr fromCoyote Ventures.
So thanks so much for popping in and awesome tomeet with you the last couple of weeks.
(01:07):
And it's great when we always have commonfriends.
I think we met through a few few friends.
I'm good friends with Ariana as well.
She's So
I think I think you guys built that.
Yeah.
I guess I think you guys did the dinnertogether.
Right?
The sort of gathering in LA.
Yeah.
The night before the LA bridge dinner.
So yeah.
(01:27):
Yeah, I'm still like a little bit of aforeigner from the West Coast, know, I don't go
there that often.
So I'm excited to kind of try to send some moretime over there.
Hopefully we can get together and then, youknow, if you, if you, are you from New York?
No.
I'm originally from West Texas.
I've been out here in SF for about ten years.
So definitely let me know when you're out here.
(01:49):
Yeah.
Same thing with with New York.
If you ever make it out here, to try to getsome other investors together and do something.
But, you know, tell me about you.
So excited to have you on the show.
You know, we just kind of keep you casual andhear everybody's story and everyone has broken
into VC and, came into this career from adifferent path.
(02:11):
So I'm just excited to hear your story growing.
I guess you grew up in Texas and what youstudied and then how you pivoted in your
career.
And started Coyote Ventures too, so we'd loveto know how that started.
I know you had a co founder too, so I wannahear it all and then I can try to guide you
(02:33):
know, maybe different topics around yourinvestment thesis.
I really like your thesis as well.
So would like to go deeper on that and learnyour insights on those trends.
Definitely.
Yeah, thank you.
I'm super excited to be here.
And yeah, I think a lot of venture capital is anon traditional path overall.
So definitely spent the first maybe fifteenyears of like, what am I doing?
(02:57):
What's the pattern?
Where am I heading?
So probably a lot of people out there thatcould relate to that.
So I was born and raised in Amarillo, Texas,didn't know much about like, you know, what
else is a successful career besides being adoctor or a lawyer.
So I started studying as a pre med.
(03:17):
My dad is a dentist and I grew up, you know,around that and my mom's an OBGYN nurse and I
started working when I was 14.
I worked in my dad's dentist office and I lovedit.
I loved like helping the patients and I lovedlike the administrative things as well, filing,
charge to making appointments.
(03:38):
It was a good time.
And so in college I was pre med, I studiedbiochem and I loved understanding sort of why,
like how bio worked because to me, bio couldn'treally memorize everything.
And I double majored in philosophy.
I really enjoyed, you know, like thinking aboutthe different topics in philosophy and reading
(04:02):
a lot as well.
And then I was really fortunate.
I spent a summer at Berkeley as a researchscientist as an undergrad, but I was working in
a lab doing research and I enjoyed it.
I said, okay, I think I'd rather go this pathrather than the med school path.
So I went to UC San Diego, entered in as a PhDstudent, but I left after I finished the
(04:29):
master's coursework.
Just like the lab itself was not, I didn't feellike my work was really like reaching an impact
like I would want it to.
Know, you'd publish papers and then it mightnot go anywhere.
So really fortunate that I kind of put it outthere that I was looking for something
(04:50):
impactful that I got connected to the founderof what became Impossible Foods when it was
less than a year old.
So that was the twelfth person.
It was really small and scrappy, tiny littleoffice in Menlo Park and it was a really good
experience.
(05:10):
Just, you know, everybody was verycollaborative and working on the initial like
prototypes and a lot of the basic research anddevelopment and went into the intellectual
properties.
So Impossible spent about the first five yearsof the company's life in research and
development, and then it launched, you know, ithad like a small launch to the public in 2016.
(05:33):
And so I had been there for four years at thattime and I missed the early days.
I really loved the idea stage.
The research had to go through like a scale upmode.
So it wasn't as focused on innovation like forthat period.
So I decided to go do an MBA and I stayed as aconsultant with Impossible for another two
(05:57):
years.
So I was still pretty involved in the companyand yeah, really great friends with a lot of
the folks there still.
And, you know, after my MBA, I startedconsulting a lot, like with lots of early stage
startups and after a while said like, okay, Iunderstand life science and product really well
and I had been working sort of in the financialaspect as well as like early stage modeling and
(06:21):
everything.
I wanted to get into VC, so I said like I thinkI have a different perspective here, especially
as I was in food tech, I kind of knew a lot ofthe players and was successful and I saw a lot
of things that I would never fund and I saidlike I think I could be really successful with
(06:42):
that thesis as well as like expanding it toother basically science based impactful
products.
So I started working at a fund that was ageneral impact fund.
There was a sole LP and started seeing women'shealth deals before I knew it was its own sort
of area, FinTech.
(07:02):
That term was only coined in like 2016, so Ihadn't been too familiar with it, but I had
seen a few things here and there over the lastfew years.
And then when I started working with the fund,I became completely obsessed and realized that
gender equality is really where I wanted tomake an impact and not work on sustainability
(07:24):
sort of in a silo.
So worked with that fund for a little while asa principal and then hopped off to start my
own.
And I had met my co founder Brittany onoriginally was a LinkedIn cold ad but we
started having regular phone calls.
(07:45):
I was working at the other fund so I would talkabout the deals that I was seeing and just kind
of general get to know each other, talk aboutthe space and just get to know what she was up
to.
She started the nonprofit FemTech Focus and shehad a podcast, she still has this, has a
podcast and virtual community and resources Andshe kept saying, I'm starting a fund.
(08:08):
And finally I was like, did you start the fund?
What's the deal?
And I had built sort of my ideal pitch deck andshe sent me hers and they were very similar.
So we said, okay, let's just take this.
We applied to the VC labs at the FounderInstitute and the application was due like that
(08:29):
night and we got in so we're super excited andthat program was about four months, started
raising towards the end of the four months andcompleted our first close and deployed a few of
our first investments.
That's so exciting.
Yeah, I love that that you guys jumped into it.
(08:51):
I always love origin stories.
You know, I also speak to a bunch of foundersand that's always something I'm curious about.
So backing up a second, know, your pivotbecause you're, you came, you're very similar
to me, like I had a tech science background.
I, you know, I was doing my PhD as well.
So what advice do you have for people that comefrom like a deep science or tech background
(09:16):
trying to work at a fund?
Guess any tips and some of these people in theaudience are looking to break in.
So any tips
or We professional have all the practicalexperience I would say, and it's really helpful
for due diligence.
So I would say it's really good to be able togo deep in a subject, but when you're in VC,
(09:39):
you need to go really broad as well, like howthey talked about the T.
So you've already kind of learned how to godeep and then work on like learning how to
broaden out.
If you're working on a deal by yourself and youcan really get at the science part, figure out
what else you need to learn right away.
So like when we're looking at deals, we lookat, I think everybody would share the same
(09:59):
thing and that diligence is like we're lookingat financial models, we're thinking about
marketing, evaluating team and operations.
And so maybe there's ways that you can learnfrom someone who knows a lot about marketing,
who wants to learn about what you know, so.
And tell me how you've evolved your investmentthesis, because it looks like you've done, have
(10:25):
some operational experience in FoodTech, soI've also invested in FoodTech, so we'd love to
go deep on that.
And then I have friends and I also have aninterest in FemTech as well, but tell me how
strategy and your thesis has evolved, kindafrom food tech to fem tech and are there any
(10:45):
other sectors or industries that you're excitedabout?
Yeah, I'd say food tech, I recognizedImpossible Foods ten years ago.
Food tech wasn't really a thing, not a lot ofVC money going into mainstream, it's kind of
(11:08):
down in the early adopter phase.
That was impossible ten years ago and that'swhere women's health is now.
So I think that was sort of a relevant learningthat I can take to a new industry.
And I would say a lot of the women's healthcompanies are very science focused as well,
very innovative and sometimes it can be sort oflike impossible where it's taking an existing
(11:31):
technology and applying it to something whereit can have a massive positive impact.
So I don't think, my thesis really changed, Ithink it just evolved and is being applied,
somewhere where it's really, really needed nowand, I think it has, even once I started in
women's health, I think definitely their thesishas changed a little bit where I got to see
(11:56):
more where there's a lot of innovation andlooking mostly at where there's not enough
innovation.
And so fertility I, is great, it has a positiveimpact, but there's more to women's lives than
having babies and that's like a lot of ourlives.
And so there's a lot of problems that womenface that are not being well addressed and so
(12:17):
I'm a little more interested in those.
One of our investments is endometriosis whichactually one in ten women suffer from.
There's not a good diagnostic right now and theNIH is barely even funding it.
So you can kind of see that there's a lot ofexamples of inequalities that need to be
addressed.
(12:38):
Yeah.
What are some trends that you're seeing in thefood tech space?
Because there's plant based and then there'slab grown and then there's, I think there's
like a hybrid now where there's companies thatare obviously doing both.
And I've been involved in both of those areas,but what's next?
You know, there's cell based, I think some ofthe challenges with cell based meat is just the
(13:04):
bioreactors, right?
If you want to scale, need the bioreactors, yougot to grow the cells, right?
So I guess what have you seen?
Any thoughts on that issue and mitigating that?
That's kind of like the latest insight I got.
And then any foresight into like where foodtech is heading?
(13:26):
I know there's vertical farming now, right?
People can grow plants.
There's a big startup in Brooklyn.
I forgot the name of the company, but they'repretty much growing crops on top of a building.
I think that's awesome.
Yeah, I love that one because it kind of bringsin the plant based movement and then like
solves a lot of supply chain issues of bringingfood into cities.
(13:48):
And also it's really healthy because there'sless pesticides or probably not pesticides and
everything.
So I love the vertical farming space.
I think they have like engineering sort ofproblems to deal with, but, and a lot of times
they're growing like green, like leafy greensor herbs.
So they're, I think they're still figuring outlike how to efficiently grow other types of
(14:11):
crops as well.
And then lab grown, yeah, I think scaling isstill a long way out.
I think regulation, like they are passing it inSingapore, so I think you can launch there and
see if Singapore can be an example ofregulating it.
I definitely would want to make sure that it'sreally well evaluated for safety and making
(14:33):
sure there's not any kind of like harmfulchemicals that stay in the, basically in the
bioreactor and the meat.
So yeah, and I think plant based, there's lotsof like niches within plant based, whether it's
like, you know, towards the Asian market ortowards like certain types of flavors or
healthier, there's a lot of sort of niches, butI'm not sure any of the niches will grow to be
(14:57):
as large as, you know, Impossible and beyond.
So yeah, I think there's still like, the way Ilook at it isn't really like trends, I look at
it as like, there's still a lot of problems tobe solved.
So yeah, lots of opportunities there still.
And yeah, I mean, the last I read too, yourpoint, right, it was legalized in Singapore.
(15:20):
Do
you
see that happening in The States and the moredeveloped countries as well?
And if not, what do you think the holdup isfrom kind of seeing a lot of the lab grown
stuff become more mainstream?
I know they at least were last, I haven't beenup on this really.
(15:40):
Know last before defining like which, like ifit's FDA or USDA that's like going to regulate
it, and that was sort of the last I heard.
So they were talking about it and getting itorganized, but I didn't hear much what happened
after that.
Yeah, I've heard also sometimes the incumbents,it's not great for the incumbents, Because
(16:00):
instead of buying Tyson meat, know, can justkind of talk to a new startup and buy, you
know, that kind of meat in bulk.
And, you
know, another thing is the texture.
A lot of times the texture is like a slush,right?
So it's not necessarily like the look and feel.
You could probably create some chicken nuggetsor something like that, but it's not
(16:23):
think what you like a said is like the mixturesbecause it's like, to me a plant based, the
thing that's missing the most are some flavorsand some of the fat and so I think like a
mixture could be where it starts with like fatmade in like cell based fat, where you wouldn't
need a lot of it and then the muscle you needlike way more and you need to have it like
(16:47):
properly, structured for it to have the texturelike you said, so like something where it's
like fat or functional might be a good start.
Yeah, no, that's helpful.
Then going a little deeper on the femtech andfemale health sectors, Can you unpack that a
little bit?
(17:07):
So I'm assuming there's some digital softwarecomponents, then there's like hardware and
sensors.
So can you maybe just break out how thesoftware and devices get broken out into the
different areas of femtech or maybe just breakdown the industry.
The word itself can also be controversial andconfusing.
(17:29):
The word tech was only added to it to emphasizeinnovation and so it's not necessarily all tech
driven.
I would say, yeah, it's more just like where isthe innovation happening?
So I usually just say women's health andwellness.
It's a little easier to sort of picture like,okay, it could be a diagnostic or it could be
(17:51):
like something really, you know, like somethingthat's not really science based but still needs
innovation.
There's still innovation happening in likemarketing, for example.
So there's like kind of two different ways youcan break down the whole industry of women's
health.
So you could do it by sort of what type ofproduct is it?
There's like CPG, digital health, telemedicine,diagnostics.
(18:17):
So you kind of like think about industries liketherapeutics, med devices, they're all like
affecting women's health.
And then you could also say like what area ofwomen's health is it affecting, maternal
health, sexual wellness, menopause.
So there's all these different conditions thatare either solely or disproportionately or
(18:40):
differently affect women.
So even like we experience heart attacksdifferently than men and so there's like needs
to be like innovation around like understandingwomen's heart health and how to like treat when
there's something wrong.
That's helpful.
The FinTech, yeah, they coined that termbecause Clue, it's a tracking app for when
(19:01):
you're on your period basically and so theywere raising and they said like, we were just
gonna add the word tech to it so it sounds likesomething an investor would want to talk to.
That's really how that term came about and thenthere's a sex tech as well so it's kind of
similar thing where it's like doesn't have tobe like that tech forward sometimes it is
(19:22):
sometimes it's like a social network or yeah,things like that.
Yeah, I feel like there's also mental healthcomponents to that too, right?
Because sometimes, you know, wellness justcomes from just general mental health as well.
Then I think if there's, you know, specificapplications to women that are more relevant
(19:43):
than like for men, then I think that's a uniqueniche as well.
Yeah, we're definitely really interested inmental health and I would say we're really
interested in everything that's really tabooand makes people uncomfortable to talk about,
that's like where we're gonna flock to.
So it's the best and that's why there's a lotof opportunity and finding the right people
that you can really align with there.
(20:04):
Well, think there's also an opportunity whatI've been noticing too because I've, you know,
been speaking to a lot of LPs, and a lot of theLPs, the reason why they invest in these funds
is because they just don't have access to thefemtech deals.
And they don't know how, you know, they don'tknow where the events happen.
They don't know where the, who the acceleratorsare.
(20:24):
So being able to invest in a fund, it's almostlike being able to invest in an index of like
all the femtech opportunities instead of havingto do all the diligence and all the work of
like just doing one.
I look at it similar to like the S and P 500versus just buying Tesla.
You can kind of get access to like an index of,you know,
(20:45):
Yeah.
We know how to pick like who's gonna be thewinner.
We've seen, we've talked to a lot of them.
We know which one, like they're not gonna get apatent on it.
So they're like not gonna be as successful.
We have databases of like how many companiesthere are in each sector.
We have a database of exits, which is reallyimportant.
(21:05):
A lot of even other investors were saying like,they don't know how many exits there are.
There's actually over a 100.
Average exit value being around 400,000,000.
And so we put some of that info straight intoour memos as well of like thinking about what
kind of exit strategies some of the companiescould have.
And so it's not only about us having like waymore deal flow, it's also being like so
(21:29):
ingrained into the space and being able to makethose like corporate partnerships as well.
Yeah, and tell me about the femtech communitythat you guys have.
Guess what are the best communities to learnmore about femtech?
Are there accelerators now people can go to tokind of meet these kind of companies?
(21:49):
And then you guys have a community as well.
So is that community more of a consortium ofinvestors that have the same investment
mandate?
It's a lot of innovators from different sides.
So I would say very, probably the most activepeople are founders or some really talented
people who are looking for new careeropportunity in FinTech.
(22:12):
There's definitely investors.
So whether they're funds like us or someangels.
And so yeah, it's a virtual community,basically can go on and start a conversation or
ask something.
So that's one and then there's another women'swomen's health coalition on SpringBoard I
think.
(22:33):
That one's really active as well so I'd saythose are two really active communities.
There's also HIT Lab that gives awards towomen's health.
That's probably one of the biggest ones of likeHITLab and Women Who Tech.
Yeah, they've both done femtech competitions.
In terms of accelerators, I would say a lot ofthem like, I wouldn't say there's a top like
(22:57):
FinTech one specifically.
I know there's some in Europe that are kind ofstarting, but I don't know if they totally have
it down yet.
I would have to explore a little bit more.
We're super US focused.
But like plug and play has a, right now they'reworking with P and G.
So there's a cohort and it's not specificallyfrom tech, but there's like maybe four out of
(23:21):
12 are like women's health and plug and playhas some in general that have been and MD Bio's
had a lot, so Techstars, so they can be kind ofintermixed in some of the top accelerators and
incubators too.
Yeah, no, it's exciting.
Yeah, mean, it's growing and there's just a lotof cross pollination, right?
(23:42):
Because some of it, I mean, a lot of the deals,especially food tech, there's an impact focus
as well.
And then there's a hybrid between deep tech,because you're looking at a lot of the science
and the research.
Do you feel that sometimes universities aregood places to partner?
Like, you see any of, going back to your PhDdays, are you seeing some of the tech kind of
(24:05):
being created in the lab?
Yeah, there's one I haven't caught up with herin a while, but my grad advisor is an advisor
to that one.
And that's sort of microbiome center thatthey've created at UCSD, super excited about
the whole innovations coming out of there andI've seen like another couple other UCs that
(24:26):
have, yeah, some companies that are in women'shealth spinning out of there.
So definitely a good opportunity.
Yeah, no, it's exciting.
And what are some tips that you would give forsome of the people on the line here in terms of
sourcing deals?
(24:46):
It sounds like you're connecting inbound andoutbound, but any career advice for the people
on the line as far as just connecting withfounders, maybe sourcing and screening deals?
Definitely.
So if you're just starting out, one thing Ilike to say is do some equity crowdfunding,
especially if you're not accredited yet.
(25:08):
I'm part of Republic, really love theirplatform, it's high quality deals.
You can read the whole page and it tells you alot of like learning about due diligence.
And I think that's a good place to start if youhaven't done much at all.
You can invest like a minimum usually of a $100so you're not gambling a ton and you get
(25:29):
investor updates.
It's really fun.
So I check out some of those sites.
If you want to be a little more serious andyou're still starting out, you could do
something like Pipeline Angels.
One that I did is called Vectors Angel.
It is Impact Focus and you can sort of learnthe ropes on angel investing and how to
(25:49):
evaluate deals and then they have some,sometimes some of them have their own deal
flow.
So yeah, angel groups are really great.
Some of them are structured where you can learnand I think, yeah, if you're like start to
generate more and more of your own as an angel,you could even syndicate some of your own deals
and get some experience doing SPVs.
(26:13):
And then, yeah, I mean, like with our fund, wealso have a few fellows that we're teaching.
So if you start developing your own thesis andfigure out where you want to invest, you can
reach out to some of the funds and ask foropportunity offer.
A lot of us are early, so we're not paying.
So sort of have that in mind of like what youoffer and what you would like to learn in
(26:37):
exchange.
It's not necessarily while earning money whileyou're learning.
Yeah, I've done that too.
Like I've done a lot of free work, so you'renot above it probably.
Yeah, mean, there's a really good YouTube videoby Gary Tan and it's earn while you learn.
So you could, you know, you could keep your dayjob and try to learn on the side and try to
(27:00):
build that experience.
Think that's definitely a good way to learn andit's a win win, If you can get help and value
to your fund and then you're also able tomentor and coach somebody else then it's a win
win.
So I do have some people that are interested inwomen's health.
So happy to take that offline if there's anyonethat you need, if you need more help.
(27:23):
And I guess what you've chosen some people onyour team, this is for the audience again.
What do you look for in, and I'm also thinkingabout this too.
So I also want advice.
So what do you look for in a good analyst or anassociate?
What are some of the traits that you think areimportant to you?
Sorry, my dog's barking.
(27:43):
He wants
to
sometimes he helps.
Everybody's pretty different.
I would say one is that we're very sciencefocused.
So we have a scientist who's doing her PhD now.
And then we have another girl who's sort ofbeen around women's health for a while.
(28:05):
So having something that you know you canusually offer and some of the others are like
MBAs and they're really good with the financialanalysis but usually I have a conversation,
understand what they're motivated by, whythey're interested in helping and usually if I
(28:27):
get along with them, I'm like, well, they'lllearn.
If I think they can do a founder's call withoutmaking it really awkward or bad, I guess I
could set the high, yeah, I guess I just kindof know when I talk to someone that they would
Yeah, I think also it's kind of, you know, thatperson should also be really excited about the
(28:48):
sector too because I think part of what getsyou up in the morning is really just, the
excitement to learn and go deep and meet newpeople.
So I think that's a huge thing too, just thatenthusiasm to always be learning and get
feedback and get better and better every day.
Yeah, they definitely need to be like prettyindependent thinkers and also can sort of keep
(29:11):
them like, we can't answer a lot of questionsall the time, especially because we're remote.
So definitely like self starters andindependent thinkers and you know can solve a
problem if we're not all like together timebecause we're remote.
So I definitely think that's something where Ican see that they can like really pursue one of
(29:33):
their ideas and yeah, they've done a reallygood job so far.
So one thing that I've done last week is I'vereflected over the last four months from
launching this fund accelerator.
And I sat down and I wrote like and collectedand kind of organized all of my learnings.
(29:55):
So I'm going to try to get that out soon onceit looks like it makes sense.
But what I also want to hear learn from you iswhat did you learn?
Maybe some learnings from when you worked at afund and then just taking the plunge into
starting a fund, what are some of the biggesttakeaways, things that you didn't expect would
(30:17):
happen that you take away now is kind of a hugelife lesson or learning in your career?
It's a big one.
Think it just, my whole, like I said, my wholecareer made more sense to me.
Was like, even like the philosophy major for along time, was like, does that even tie in
(30:39):
anywhere?
But I feel like really now I can see it interms of like making arguments.
And so for me, it just like makes my life waymore holistic too and being like a big
proponent of like health and wellness as well.
Mean, I
feel like you're kind of, you feel like you'rekind of doing your life's purpose, you're kind
(31:02):
of in the sector where you think you should be.
And I'm kind of like saying this verballybecause that was kind
of the
same way I was, you know, like I came from atech background.
It was good.
I had a good job.
I was getting paid really well.
But it didn't for the longest time, it didn'tfeel like it was what I was supposed to be
doing.
I was like, is this it?
(31:22):
You know?
So I think that's kinda, it sounds like that'swhat you're saying too, but I don't wanna like
put words out.
Oh, yeah.
That is how I feel.
And it's a and it yeah.
I think some of the lessons of like how thingstie in together, like when it makes sense would
be like my philosophical lesson and not
that I didn't things that you did as anoperator though, like those come back, like
(31:45):
sometimes when I worked as an operator, likethose lessons I learned in like corporate
America, just email etiquette.
If I never learned that and I just jumped intoVC, I'd probably be a really horrible VC with
really bad etiquette.
Some of those corporate structured experiencesI think do help.
And I think that's why a lot of people do.
(32:08):
There's different VCs, right?
There's people that are right into VC rightafter college.
And then there's people that kind of have somereally good industry experience and then they
break in.
And I feel like they're both great in differentinstances.
But I think for me, some of that corporatelarger company experience kind of helped a
(32:28):
little bit as far as like making me a littlemore mature, but I feel the same way.
I'm like, man, I feel like I'm doing somethingthat's more aligned to my mission.
Yeah, and like for me working on Impossible,like I loved it and also sometimes I was just
like flipping and eating burgers all day, butalso I worked with some of the highest quality
(32:49):
people I've ever met there, some of thesmartest people.
And so definitely like raises the bar superhigh on my investment criteria now.
Yeah, you also saw the founder side and thenyou were there, were you there till the exit or
did you leave?
Impossible has not exited.
Oh, I'm thinking, sorry, I'm thinking about
beyond public.
(33:10):
Impossible is like raising another round.
I'm still waiting on my, you know, coming intowealth moment.
Yeah, no,
sorry.
Yeah, was just for some reason, I actuallybought a bunch of, I bought both and they're
both in my fridge.
So I got mixed up for a second.
But yeah, Impossible private.
The main point was that you got a lot of thatfounder experience being on the team early.
(33:36):
So it kind of had to wear a lot of hats andyou're a founder now, Starting a fund that's a
business, you're building a firm.
So it's also an entrepreneurial
That helps relate with a lot of the foundersbecause not all their investors are the
founders of the fund.
So definitely like some of the last deal I gotinto, it was a little later stage and so mostly
(34:00):
we're seed, but I was like, well, this oneseems interesting.
I'll check it out.
But it's later, she might not even beinterested in our small check size, but like
the fact that we are both founders and womenand passionate about a lot of the similar
things, she was just like, I'll take your smallcheck, it's okay.
And so it's like, okay, this is like, it'sreally cool.
(34:20):
Yeah, so that really aligns with the piece ofadvice that we got.
I got last night, we had our cohort last nightand one of the mentors came in and you know,
the earlier fund managers, fund one, fund two,they're gonna pick up the call because these
companies, these 100 ks checks, that's likemake or break, right?
(34:41):
You have to make those companies win to reallycount towards your performance and then get you
set up for fun too.
So I feel like the bigger checks, you don't getthat kind of love and probably don't resonate
in the same way that you do because you're alsoa founder.
So that was a really unique insight and I'mglad that kind of what you're saying is into
(35:05):
that same tone as well.
Definitely, yeah.
Some of ours are where like the first fundsthat's in.
So that's really exciting.
So yeah, I'm maybe naive right now where I'mlike, I don't imagine any of them failing
because they're all so amazing.
Yeah, mean, and then what are your thoughts onjust crossover funds now coming in earlier?
(35:29):
Are you seeing any crossover funds getting intowomen's health and then also in food tech
because that's also something that, you know, Iask every person that comes in, what are your
thoughts on that?
Because you know, just these bigger TigerGlobals and CO2s are getting in earlier and
earlier.
So don't don't think that's that's On anywomen's health deal for the record.
(35:52):
Not, yeah, I don't think they're I don't knowif it's because they're not seeing that deal
flow or they're not looking at women's healththat much yet or what, but most of the deals
I'm in, women's health is still a growing sortof area, especially So most of the deals I'm
in, I mean, I'm in like one that wasoversubscribed and like done in two weeks, but
(36:17):
a lot of them are like raising over severalmonths.
They need a lot of intros, at least on the seedstage, hopefully later stage it'll be all set
up for success, it's not a, most of the dealsare not very competitive right now.
Are you seeing, so I'm seeing more retailinvesting across different industries and
(36:40):
platforms, right?
So I'm seeing like space, I'm seeing likehealthcare, there's like the republic for
space, republic for health care.
So are you seeing that as well in any otherverticals like femtech or food tech where
smaller non accredited investors can now getin?
(37:00):
And do you see that just from a macrostandpoint, do you see that kind of unbundling?
Because right now we have Republic, we haveWefunder, but do you feel that there's gonna be
more niche kind of retail opportunities?
When I heard about what's involved in actuallycreating a platform like that, because I
actually, Brittany interviewed Cheryl fromRepublic on the podcast and Brittany
(37:23):
was like,
let's start a Republic for FinTech.
And Cheryl was like, you know what's involvedin starting this type of security.
So it sounds like to me that the ones that aredominant are able to add more industries more
easily than industry coming in and doing theirown thing.
(37:44):
Yeah.
I don't, I don't see, I don't see it happeningas much, but maybe there could be more, I mean,
are syndicates focused on, but yeah, I haven'tseen anybody say that they're going to start
their own republic for women's health or foodtech, but, and those are ones already have a
(38:04):
lot of those deals there too.
Yeah.
Speaking of republic, I've heard some reallygood stuff from founders and then obviously
there's been some funds that have been raisingfunds on Republic.
So I've heard just really good stuff as aplatform, which is kind of the support with
trying to achieve the goals you need toachieve.
That's really great to hear.
(38:26):
And I'm also excited about just where capitalis being formed, right?
So new investment managers, I feel like in thefuture, it's gonna be easier and easier
hopefully to start a fund.
Platforms like Republic, there's hopefullyeasier ways for people to spin up the formation
(38:48):
or do SPVs much faster.
Yeah, I'll say, yeah, I used Carta Fundformation, it was very affordable, great team.
I'm having great experience working with Cartaand I know there's a few others like AngelList
and there was another allocations.
I've heard good things.
So it's great that it's becoming moreaffordable.
(39:11):
We just need more LPs out there investing insmall funds.
A lot of LPs, yeah, they're, theinstitutionals, they cannot write small checks.
Yeah.
So some of these newer fund of funds that areraising from them are really good in between.
Yeah, no, I totally agree and you know, justfrom all the data I've been looking at, you
(39:34):
know, just people have been saying good thingsabout just tech operators, right?
So I mean, even angel checks, if you cobbletogether a couple of those angel checks, you've
got a couple million.
So I think that's an untapped market.
And again, because you have a unique accesspoint into a certain niche, that's very
attractive, I feel to a lot of LPs.
(39:57):
That's really, I feel like that's a really cooledge that you have.
And what's your advice on helping to build thatengaged community?
Are the dinners effective to kind of buildcommunity or is it webinars or content?
Any advice for like, I think there's one or twopeople that are looking to start a fund as
(40:19):
well.
So maybe building the brand and then justcommunity building or pipeline building with
LPs.
One thing like early on, like when we didn'thave our pitch deck and all, you know, we
hadn't funded formed any entities or anything.
We did talk to the people we thought would bemost interested that wouldn't need the
(40:40):
materials and gather, like, soft commits rightaway and figure out how much soft commits you
have.
And then maybe you could, you know, your firstclose with that is 10%, which ours was, then
you assume that that will lead, you know, oneperson can lead to another or you can kind of
10x what your first close was or a lot of thepeople that you've been talking to that are
(41:02):
kind of skeptical or they want to, you know,lot of them are like, come back when you're 50.
It's like, I'll come back if I still want youwhen I'm 50%.
But yeah, building community can be hard duringCOVID and SF, everybody's left.
I have barely been meeting anyone in person inSF so if you're in SF, please meet me.
(41:23):
I went to LA, had way more meetings than I hadin the last year than just a few days.
Dinner was really good.
That was just last week so I don't know ifanything, well you know, maybe it's like long
term relationship building or maybe y'all getthe commitment out of it, I'm not sure yet but
it was really nice.
I've the multiple touch points really help too.
(41:47):
So like you do an event, it's really awesome.
I feel like education really helps too.
So like, you have a couple of cool panels andthat's a really cool curated event and then
they wanna come back again, then there's likeanother touch point.
So I've heard some good results from just kindof like to your point, right?
It's a long game.
(42:07):
So there's like multiple touch points andfollow ups.
Yeah, people wanna do different things too.
Like some people might not wanna go to adinner, but they'll go to like a Zoom webinar
or maybe they're not doing that.
They'll read your newsletter and they'll sitdown and like, you know, evaluate something you
sent them and, or some of them might just loveBritney's podcast or we might do, you know, my
(42:28):
preference is to just do one on one meetings inperson rather than like dinner with 50 people
for me is very intimidating.
Yeah, it's
tough too because it's, you know, when you havedinner, you can't really meet like maybe the LP
that you wanna meet is like at the other end ofthe table.
And they did design it well though.
Everybody got up and said a few words which didtake a very long time and there was like a wine
(42:52):
hour before we sat down, had a first course,moved for the main course, moved again like
more wine, dessert, more wine.
The wine was risky.
Yeah, because you don't wanna make it like anobvious, like meat market where it's just
drinks and then you just have a badge that sayslike your LP and LP versus GP.
(43:15):
The LPs didn't really wanna talk shop.
It was more just FaceTime, say hi, who we are.
Yeah, it's a fine balance too, of them.
Yeah, and I mean, some of them also, you know,I think what are your thoughts and we've
through this a lot, know, just the finessing ofsharing deal flow, right?
(43:38):
You don't want to get, you know, this is littlebit mentioned last night, like, don't wanna get
into the trap where you just kinda like someonethat just shares deal flow and then that person
never
That's the first.
I had one other GP who was like, Yeah, ifsomebody says that, I tell them the pecking
order.
And they're like, At the end of the peckingorder of who I share deals with, because it's
(43:59):
like, yeah, first I share deals with my littlegroup of other investors who I know are amazing
and then I do this and this and this and thatlike family, sorry, family offices, they're
kind of down low because I don't know.
Yeah.
I've seen Oh, so they do it based on the typeof LP or they do it based on like, if you
are
little circles.
(44:19):
Like I have a little circle of my first, youknow, filmmakers or like people if I pass, but
I'm like, oh, I think, you know, so and sowould be super interested.
Yeah.
There's not a good way.
There's not a, like, platform that I know ofwhere it's just it's, like, all manual, like,
decks in an email.
Mhmm.
Maybe that should No.
I agree that this should be a cool platformwhere, like, you can see deals, but there's,
(44:43):
like, a teaser of a really hot deal orsomething, but you can't see it unless you
Unless you invest in the fund.
I send it to first?
Yeah.
That's similar feedback that I got.
So I think what you're trying to say is, look,there are some deals that maybe you can talk
about so that they can understand your abilityto source deals, but you want to gate it in
(45:06):
some way where the people who are LPs do getfirst more exclusive access.
And then if those people want to get upgraded,it's like a SaaS platform, right?
You gotta upgrade to the premium to be able toget access, right?
Yeah.
And I know it's a thing now where a lot ofpeople who were investing in funds are trying
(45:28):
to do more directs, that's but why I like,yeah, we're so thesis driven and we know the
market so well that like when some of thepeople who we share deals with send us
something, we just like sometimes laugh like,oh my gosh, this is their deal flow.
Need us more than we need their deal flow, butwe need other things.
(45:50):
Sure.
Yeah.
No, I agree.
I think there's different profiles.
Right?
So I think you you mentioned it not to harpanymore, but there's some people that just
wanna be information gatherers, right?
They just wanna learn and then it's kind of awaste of your time.
So I think I'm like trying to, and I think ithelps too when you have a community, right?
(46:10):
So you and I right now are having a therapysession, but when you have a community of
people where you're doing this together, likeyou can kind of get intel on who's an awesome
LP and who's not.
And what's been really great about ourcommunity too is people have been kind enough
to refer like mentors that are LPs to kind ofcome in as well.
(46:31):
So that's been really amazing.
Just part of the community, right?
It's like, hey, is this person like a waste oftime?
And a lot of times you can just save a meetingjust from pinging a few people to get some of
that intel.
Yeah.
There's a new app for like email intros, it'scalled the bridge and you can actually give
(46:51):
feedback at the end.
And so I think that could be a good way to likeput like, yeah, the new community too, but this
way you could sort of like see, like, Iintroduced them to like three GPs and they all
said that that was a waste of time and that wayyou don't have to always ask them directly too.
I would check that out.
That's really cool.
So it's for GPs and LPs?
(47:11):
No, it's for anybody.
So you get reviewed based on how your
It's not like an Airbnb review.
It's not like public, but it's sort of likeprivate.
Like, Anna was the one who told me about this.
She introduced me to Taryn.
And then first it's like, Taryn, do you wannameet Jessica?
And we both like opt in so she doesn't have tomanually do that part.
(47:34):
And you'll do the email opt in, right?
Yeah, and then afterwards it's like, was thisintroduction useful?
And you can like write a note or something.
So I think Do
they know that you do they know it's from youor is it anonymous?
I don't think I see any of my reviews.
It's just the the person who introduced us.
(47:54):
The person so let's say okay.
So we both know Ariana.
Right?
So like Mhmm.
So who gets reviewed?
Does Ariana get reviewed for the quality of herintro or do I get reviewed in terms of like how
I interact with with you?
You get it.
I don't wanna be a horrible, you know, getreviewed.
I think it's more for like if somebody ghostsyou or something like that.
(48:17):
Oh, that's good.
Yeah.
That's Yeah.
Not like a it's not like a star system or Yeah.
It's like, was this a good connection or wasthis useful?
Yes or no?
Any notes?
It's not, yeah, it's not gonna be like, don'tworry.
Like VC It might be guide like for VSTAR publiclike.
Yeah, it's like VC guide for warm intros.
(48:38):
That's cool.
Yeah, I mean, it helps just that's kinda it'sjust it goes back to like corporate experience,
right?
Being professional, right?
So if you're gonna set up a meeting and youcan't make it, just cancel it and let them
know.
So I think that, I think for me some of thosethings I kind of maybe take it for granted but
I think some of that more mature experience washelpful but that's cool.
(49:03):
What are some other cool tools that that's aninteresting one.
Any other tools that you're sharing in thecommunity that I should also share with
everyone?
I mean, the other tool that I love isSuperhuman for email.
I get Really?
What do you like about Superhuman?
What's, what's, unique about it?
(49:24):
I mean, I know they're crushing it.
I can get to inbox zero by just setting, like,this one come back.
I gotta do this one at this time.
I
can Mhmm.
It's just super easy.
It kinda helps you manage your inbox as like todos.
Mhmm.
Okay.
So you're like superhuman.
Look at it and just like, remind me of allthese at like 5PM and that's my email hour.
(49:46):
I think that's really helpful.
And when I look at Gmail again, I'm like, howdid I ever use this clunky old technology?
Man, check it out.
And then I'm assuming obviously that thedefault tech stack is Calendly, Zoom, and
there's probably there's one more.
There's definitely There are
deals on monday.com, which is maybe not themost go to one,
(50:09):
but Monday?
I use Trello.
I mean, you kinda use like the Kanban board?
I don't know.
I think just like the list view and all theselike tags we can use and we can sort of analyze
how many deals we looked at Yeah.
Vector there and I think it's useful for kindof that analysis.
Mhmm.
Yeah, a good one.
(50:30):
Yeah, monday.com's good.
Obviously people use Notion as well.
Yeah, Airtable.
I'm thinking back.
I like it better CRM, but I'm using Airtable.
Mhmm.
I don't know.
So oh, so you use Airtable as your so thatplugs into, like, your
(50:51):
Like, Airtable's for LTs and monday.com is forthe deals.
Deals.
Does Airtable connect to your your inbox?
So it pulls in,
like, every time manual.
You do a manual.
Okay.
Yeah.
Something, sometimes the manual, like, helpsme, like, process my thoughts about, like Yeah.
Person, the conversation, the status.
(51:13):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's much better than Google Docs.
I mean, I know, you know, there's a lot ofpeople do use HubSpot.
I think HubSpot has a free free version.
I have HubSpot.
I just don't use it like I should because I'veheard some good stuff, but, you know, Airtable
seems like a good one too.
I mean, all of them seem better than Google,Google spreadsheet, but, you know, sometimes
(51:33):
I've used a lot of these fancy tools, and thenI end up still going back to Google spreadsheet
because you can kinda like sort and, you know,play around with the spreadsheet and stuff like
that.
So it's kinda kinda helpful.
So
Yeah.
I also use Evernote.
That's not a standard one either, but just likeevery time I'm getting on a meeting, I have a
new, like, a note and it's very searchable.
(51:55):
You can use it offline and like Yeah.
Google Docs.
So those are my main ones.
Slack always Yeah.
I haven't used Evernote in a while because Istarted using the just like the Apple Notepad.
But, yeah, I used to use Evernote a lot.
Like I would use it a lot also when I would goto events, like just typing the notes on my
(52:15):
phone and then I knew that it would sync.
So that was really, really helpful.
So, well, cool.
We got like four minutes.
So, you know, any, I'll let anybody chime in ifthey have any questions, they've been pretty
quiet, really good listeners.
So, you know, with the four minutes, if anybodywants to chime in with questions, that's fine.
(52:36):
But I always ask every guest to just maybeshare a piece of wisdom from like a mentor, you
know, if there's like a family member orsomeone you look up to that gave you some
advice or tips for life or your career, wouldlove to hear
I think, basically, it has to do with sort oflike tuning into intuition, sort of knowing,
(53:05):
you know, what I, how I feel about things andhow I can use that as, as my guide.
And so I've like had mentors who have helped,like guide with, how to do that.
And I think, yeah, it's great.
I get advice, I have mentors, I talk to peopleabout everything that's going on.
And in the end, sort of like, after I talk alot, I'm like, I think I know the answer myself
(53:28):
and I can get some validation or pushback tochallenge it.
But I think that's something that's reallyvaluable to learn.
The thing is get a lot of feedback, but thentry to internalize it yourself and maybe come
up with your own internal view.
That?
It's like learning how to use intuition to makedecisions.
(53:51):
They're also very informed by advice andfeedback.
Yeah, no, that's really good advice.
There was like a fireside chat with Jeff Bezosand he also said something that resonates with
what you just said.
He just said, he said some of his mostimportant decisions were done with his
(54:13):
intuition.
So I totally agree with that.
I mean, Jeff Bezos does, so.
Good to know.
I guess
you're good.
You're right up there with them.
Well, hey, if anybody, if no one else has anyquestions, thanks for your time.
Really appreciate you being generous with, youknow, your time and kind of chatting with me
(54:35):
for a little bit and, you know, I hope to seeyou in New York or on the West Coast soon.
If you're along with everything.
Oh, someone's off mute.
Oh, Philippe.
Yeah, yeah.
If you don't mind, I have a very quick questionas usual.
I just recently joined, but hi Jessica, yourbackground is very similar to mine.
I was a pre med student, then I got a BA ineconomics and then landed in technology.
(54:58):
But what I wanted to ask you, Impossible Food,at what level did you invest?
Were you part of the first round and how muchwas put in?
I was an employee when it was less than a yearold.
And so I vested, you know, my equity as anemployee and I purchased my shares in that way
(55:20):
but I didn't invest, I didn't invest in one ofthe rounds.
Got it.
Okay.
Well, thanks very much.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Cool.
Awesome.
Well, have a good evening and hope to catch upsoon.
Thank you, John.
Thanks, everyone.
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