S01E09 Crown Castê: Blake Lindblad

Blake is a Business Administration student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a partner at Crescent Fund, a student-run venture fund, which invests in promising student-founded startups.

Crescent describes itself as ⁠SoCal’s first student-run venture fund⁠.

In this episode we discuss:
1. Venturing into the World of Venture Capital:
How did Blake's interest in startups lead him to venture capital?
What strategies did he employ to gain knowledge and establish his presence in the VC landscape?
How has his experience working with Crescent Fund and Ludlow Ventures helped shape his perspective on venture capital?
2. Student-run Venture Funds:
What is the concept of student-run venture funds? How common are they, and what makes Crescent unique in this realm?
How does Crescent's investment committee operate, and how is it composed?
Who serves as the core limited partner (LP) for Crescent?
3. Sourcing Deals and Dealing with Competition:
What is Crescent's approach to sourcing deals?
Why does Crescent focus on Southern California?
How does Blake see the campus entrepreneurial ecosystems and their contribution to the broader startup ecosystem?
4. Exciting Startups in Crescent's Portfolio:
How is Creatorland planning to revolutionize the influencer and digital creator space?
5. Value-add of Student-run Funds:
What value do student-run funds bring to their portfolio companies?
How does Crescent leverage its network to benefit its portfolio companies?