151 episodes

The best information diet for future CEOs.
Subscribe to our video podcast on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/c/GraceGongSmartVenturePodcast

Host Grace Gong talks to the most influential people in business, venture capital, and tech. From executives to billionaire founders, Grace helps you get smarter one episode at the time.

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LinkedIn: @GraceGong
IG/Tw: @GraceGongGG
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Smart Venture Podcast Grace Gong

    • Business
    • 5.0 • 111 Ratings

The best information diet for future CEOs.
Subscribe to our video podcast on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/c/GraceGongSmartVenturePodcast

Host Grace Gong talks to the most influential people in business, venture capital, and tech. From executives to billionaire founders, Grace helps you get smarter one episode at the time.

SVPpro.com
LinkedIn: @GraceGong
IG/Tw: @GraceGongGG
FB: @SmartVenturePodcast

    #152 Trust Fund's Managing Partner, Nasty Gal's founder, Sophia Amoruso

    #152 Trust Fund's Managing Partner, Nasty Gal's founder, Sophia Amoruso

    Sophia Amoruso is the founder and managing partner of Trust Fund, an early-stage venture fund focused exclusively (yet broadly) on investing in tech-enabled products that help people start and build businesses. Trust fund’s investors include Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, David Sacks, Jason Calacanis, Ev Williams, Naomi Gleit, Andrew Chen, Jeff Jordan, Jesse Draper, Rob Hayes, and Phil Hellmuth. Some of their portfolios include Public, Liquid Death, and MoonPay, among others. She is also the founder of Nasty Gal, Girlboss and a New York Times Bestselling author. 
     
    You can learn more about: 
    How to Brand Your Business How to Invest in Top Startups Lessons from Being an Entrepreneur to Venture Capitalist =====================
    YouTube: @GraceGongCEO Newsletter: @SmartVenture LinkedIn: @GraceGong TikTok: @GraceGongCEO IG: @GraceGongCEO Twitter: @GraceGongGG =====================
    Join the SVP fam with your host Grace Gong. In each episode, we are going to have conversations with some of the top investors, superstar founders, as well as well-known tech executives in silicon valley. We will have a coffee chat with them to learn their ways of thinking and actionable tips on how to build or invest in a successful company.

    • 45 min
    #151 Orangetheory Fitness CEO and Co-Founder Dave Long

    #151 Orangetheory Fitness CEO and Co-Founder Dave Long

    Dave Long is the CEO of Orangetheory Fitness. He leads the company's franchise model, regional development, and product development strategy. After founding the company in 2010 with two partners, Dave has led the brand through countless pivotal achievements, including launching two apps, creating a proprietary heart rate monitor with strategically chosen partners, and signing celebrity brand ambassadors. In addition, Dave facilitated Orangetheory Fitness's exponential growth and expanded the brand worldwide, with studios now open in several countries. The scientifically backed fitness franchise continues its rapid expansion with no end in sight under Dave's leadership. Before that, Dave helped grow Massage Envy from 25 to 800 locations. Dave also helped European Wax Center expand the concept from 4 to over 550 locations in less than nine years.

    You can learn more about:

    1. How to build an iconic fitness brand
    2. How to build an effective system to scale your business
    3. How to stay on top of the tech trends and apply them to your businesses
     
    =====================
    YouTube: @GraceGongCEO Newsletter: @SmartVenture LinkedIn: @GraceGong TikTok: @GraceGongCEO IG: @GraceGongCEO Twitter: @GraceGongGG =====================
    Join the SVP fam with your host Grace Gong. In each episode, we are going to have conversations with some of the top investors, superstar founders, as well as well-known tech executives in silicon valley. We will have a coffee chat with them to learn their ways of thinking and actionable tips on how to build or invest in a successful company.

    • 57 min
    #150 Ballistic Ventures’ General Partner, former Managing Director at Lightspeed, Jake Seid

    #150 Ballistic Ventures’ General Partner, former Managing Director at Lightspeed, Jake Seid

    Jake Seid is the Co-Founder and General Partner at Ballistic Ventures, a VC firm focused on early-stage cybersecurity and security-related venture investments, with a debut fund of $300M. Before working at Ballistic, Jake was a Managing Director at Lightspeed Venture Partners and founder and Managing Director at Stone Bridge Ventures—his portfolio includes Blend, Brex, Bolt, Abnormal Security, Carta, Cresta.ai, Drata, and more. 
     
    You can learn more about: 
    Investing trends in the cybersecurity space Starting and building a successful fund  How to attract the best founders  =====================
    YouTube: @GraceGongCEO Newsletter: @SmartVenture LinkedIn: @GraceGong TikTok: @GraceGongCEO IG: @GraceGongCEO Twitter: @GraceGongGG =====================
    Join the SVP fam with your host Grace Gong. In each episode, we are going to have conversations with some of the top investors, superstar founders, as well as well-known tech executives in silicon valley. We will have a coffee chat with them to learn their ways of thinking and actionable tips on how to build or invest in a successful company.

    • 1 hr 4 min
    #149 Roble Ventures’ Founding Partner, Sergio Monsalve

    #149 Roble Ventures’ Founding Partner, Sergio Monsalve

    Sergio Monsalve is the Founding Partner of Roble Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs building human enablement technologies. Before founding Roble Ventures, Sergio was a Partner at Norwest Venture Partners and the Board Member and Investor of Udemy. He also invested in other billion-dollar companies such as Kahoot! and Adaptive Insights. 
    You can learn more about: 
    From working at a top fund to starting a fund. Insights into founding Roble Ventures and key strategies for success in venture capital. A look into future trends in work, learning, and AI, and what makes a successful ed-tech company. =====================
    Our sponsor, LD Talent, will transform how you hire, manage, and upskill your tech team. Visit https://www.ldtalentwork.com to get 100 dollars in free credit, and build your product and distributed team quickly, efficiently, and creatively. Disclosure: I am an investor in the company.
    Disclosure: I am an investor in the company. 
    =====================
    YouTube: @GraceGongCEO Newsletter: @SmartVenture LinkedIn: @GraceGong TikTok: @GraceGongCEO IG: @GraceGongCEO Twitter: @GraceGongGG =====================
    Join the SVP fam with your host Grace Gong. In each episode, we are going to have conversations with some of the top investors, superstar founders, as well as well-known tech executives in silicon valley. We will have a coffee chat with them to learn their ways of thinking and actionable tips on how to build or invest in a successful company.

    • 53 min
    #148 Maverick Ventures’ Managing Director, Ambar Bhattacharyya

    #148 Maverick Ventures’ Managing Director, Ambar Bhattacharyya

    Ambar Bhattacharyya is the Managing Director at Maverick Ventures. During his venture capital career at Maverick Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Bain Capital Ventures, Ambar has led or been actively involved in investments resulting in 16 IPOs & acquisitions, with six companies achieving valuations of over $1B in the public markets.
    Ambar has received broad recognition for his leadership, including Fortune Magazine's "40 under 40", Business Insider’s “30 leaders under 40 transforming healthcare”, San Francisco Business Time’s "40 under 40" list, and as a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum. He was also selected to be an Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellow in 2022. Ambar has been cited by publications including Business Insider, CNBC, Fast Company, Forbes, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal for his thoughts on the startup ecosystem and innovation. 
    You can learn more about: 
    How to invest in the top healthcare companies?  How to accelerate your career growth in venture capital?  The healthcare AI landscape deep dive.  =====================
    YouTube: @GraceGongCEO Newsletter: @SmartVenture LinkedIn: @GraceGong TikTok: @GraceGongCEO IG: @GraceGongCEO Twitter: @GraceGongGG =====================
    Join the SVP fam with your host Grace Gong. In each episode, we are going to have conversations with some of the top investors, superstar founders, as well as well-known tech executives in silicon valley. We will have a coffee chat with them to learn their ways of thinking and actionable tips on how to build or invest in a successful company.

    • 53 min
    #147 Afore Capital's Managing Partner Gaurav Jain

    #147 Afore Capital's Managing Partner Gaurav Jain

    Gaurav Jain is the Co-founder of Afore Capital, one of the top venture funds ($300M AUM) dedicated to pre-seed investments. Some of the investments Gaurav and/or Afore have been involved in include Modern Health (leading mental health platform), Hightouch (leader in data infra), Cruise Automation (acq by GM for $1B+) and Firebase (acq by Google). You can find Gaurav at https://twitter.com/gjain
    You can learn more about: 
    How to identify talents in the early stage  How to build a top pre-seed VC fund  How to add value to top founders  =====================
    YouTube: @GraceGongCEO Newsletter: @SmartVenture LinkedIn: @GraceGong TikTok: @GraceGongCEO IG: @GraceGongCEO Twitter: @GraceGongGG =====================
     
    Join the SVP fam with your host Grace Gong. In each episode, we are going to have conversations with some of the top investors, superstar founders, as well as well-known tech executives in silicon valley. We will have a coffee chat with them to learn their ways of thinking and actionable tips on how to build or invest in a successful company.

    • 50 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
111 Ratings

111 Ratings

kjb0514 ,

Great guests, great advice!

The engaging hosting style of Grace, quality of the guests she has on, and the strategies and tactics that are covered, all make Smart Venture a true standout. Thanks so much for putting out such a valuable resource, Grace - keep up the great work!

melbeth127 ,

Wonderful Podcast

Grace is a fantastic host who consistently gets top notch guests on her podcast. Every episode has been educational and insightful. A must listen!

Sam Blond ,

Grace is an amazing host

She does a ton of research about each guest to make the most of the time - must listen podcast!

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