Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managers

Recent Episodes

1. Has venture capital lost the plot?

   Jul 28, 2026

   Micah Rosenbloom, Managing Partner at Founder Collective, discusses why his firm has deliberately kept fund sizes under $100 million despite remarkable success with early investments in Uber, The Trade Desk, and Coupang. He presents data from a 25-year study showing the median exit value of the top 500 companies is $2.7 billion, arguing this challenges the industry's obsession with mega-funds and mega-exits. Rosenbloom critiques venture capital's focus on strategy and differentiation over fundamentals, advocating instead for disciplined founder-focused investing and capital efficiency.

2. Deep Tech Gold Rush: Smart Boom or Future Bust?

   Jun 4, 2026

   Samir Kaji hosts a roundtable discussion with three deep tech venture investors—Nate Williams (Founder & Managing Partner, Union Labs), Sunil Nagaraj (Ubiquity VC), and Guy Perelmuter (Grids Capital)—exploring the current state of deep tech investing, the surge in capital flowing into the sector, and the structural shifts in venture capital. The conversation examines what's driving the deep tech boom (economic tailwinds, AI as a killer app, government support), the dangerous concentration of capital in a handful of hypercale winners, and the tension between consensus and non-consensus investing. The panelists debate whether this moment is transient or signals a durable shift, and discuss implications for emerging managers, LPs, and zero-to-one founders.

3. Betting on Founders Who Build the Real World

   Dec 3, 2025

   Lior Susan, founder and managing partner of Eclipse Ventures, discusses his 10-year journey building a venture firm focused on backing founders transforming physical industries. The episode covers Eclipse's evolution from a $125M fund to over $1B in AUM, the importance of high-conviction investing with deep operator involvement, assembling elite teams from non-VC backgrounds, and adapting strategy while maintaining core values. Lior shares lessons on discipline, honesty in portfolio assessment, and the structural challenges facing venture capital and public markets.

4. Unpacking "A Crisis Moment In Seed"

   Nov 12, 2025

   Rob Go, co-founder and partner at NextView Ventures, discusses the structural challenges facing seed-stage investors in 2024. The conversation centers on his three-part blog series examining industry maturation, competition from accelerators like Y Combinator and mega-funds, the market's consensus around power law investing, and the AI platform shift—all of which compress seed fund returns. Go argues seed managers must either compete in the "white hot center" at high valuations or pursue classic venture by investing in "weird" off-consensus opportunities, and he outlines NextView's operational adaptations including AI-driven sourcing and focus on everyday economy applications.

5. Platform Shifts, AI, and the Future of Consumer Investing

   Sep 24, 2025

   Mercedes Bent, co-founder of Premise, discusses her journey from a tech-immersed upbringing through roles at Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve, and Lightspeed Venture Partners to launching her own consumer-focused venture fund with partner Vanessa. The conversation covers her investment thesis centered on technical founders with behavioral insights, the dramatic decline in VC funding for consumer companies (from 34% to 6%), and how AI platform shifts are creating unprecedented opportunities for consumer technology. Bent emphasizes the importance of non-consensus thinking, intuition-driven decision-making, and underwriting product-market pull through early engagement metrics rather than pedigree.

6. The GP of 2030: AI, Automation, and the Future of Capital Formation

   Aug 20, 2025

   Alex Robinson, CEO and Co-Founder of Juniper Square, discusses the evolution of private markets technology and the transformative role of AI in fund administration. Founded in 2014 to solve the inefficiencies of paper-based private market processes, Juniper Square has grown to serve nearly 2,500 GPs across all asset classes with a platform enabling fundraising, investor onboarding, and reporting. Robinson shares insights on how AI will revolutionize knowledge work in fund operations, the future of LP-GP transparency, and the strategic bets Juniper Square is making on vertical AI applications for the GP of 2030.

7. Jack Altman on the transition going from building a Unicorn with Lattice to starting a venture firm

   Jul 30, 2025

   Jack Altman, founder and Managing Partner of Alt Capital, discusses his transition from CEO of Lattice (a unicorn HR software company founded in 2015) to venture investing. The conversation explores the differences between operating and investing, the importance of founder relationships and tough feedback in board dynamics, and Jack's philosophy on venture investing coherence, founder evaluation, and navigating the current AI boom. Jack emphasizes that successful VCs need strategic coherence, long-term founder relationships, and the discipline to reserve capital for follow-on investments in companies they truly believe in.

8. How to win in seed stage investing today

   Jul 16, 2025

   Nakul Mandan, founding partner of seed-stage venture firm Audacious Ventures, discusses his unconventional path from India to Silicon Valley, his tenure at Battery and Lightspeed, and the systematic approach he built to compete in today's crowded seed market. The conversation centers on Audacious's distinctive platform model—organizing the firm around four functional pillars (sourcing, picking, winning, helping) rather than the traditional artisanal partner model—and how this machine-like approach, particularly its talent recruitment focus, differentiates the firm in an increasingly competitive landscape.

9. What is happening in VC today and the role of wealth management in growing the private markets?

   Jul 13, 2025

   Samir Kaji, co-founder and CEO of Allocate, discusses the evolution of private markets and the structural challenges facing venture capital managers and investors today. The conversation covers the explosive growth in private markets (10x more private investment firms than public companies, 90% of $100M+ revenue businesses remaining private), the high failure rate of emerging venture funds, the role of secondaries in liquidity, and how AI is transforming diligence and fund analysis. Kaji shares insights from his 26-year career starting at Silicon Valley Bank through First Republic, and explains how Allocate's operating system helps wealth advisors and family offices access curated private market opportunities.

10. Navigating growth stage investing in today's AI driven market with Logan Bartlett of Redpoint

    Jun 18, 2025

    Logan Bartlett, Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures, discusses the evolving landscape of growth-stage venture investing in the post-2021 era. The conversation covers the challenges facing unicorn-valued companies, the impact of AI on portfolio companies, and how extended liquidity cycles are reshaping Redpoint's investment strategy. Bartlett shares insights on portfolio construction, founder evaluation criteria, and the skills required to succeed as a venture investor.