Mark Phillips’ Post

Join us for another Fund Friday episode featuring Taylor Oliver, Principal at Cervin. Taylor shares his journey to Cervin, emphasizing internships and connections. Cervin is an early-stage venture capital firm that focuses on building lasting enterprise-technology companies. The firm's partners actively collaborate with founders and product visionaries to create and launch disruptive technologies that aim to change the world. Taylor discusses his approach to finding and evaluating companies, emphasizing content creation, data-driven methods, networking, and creative strategies. He highlights Cervin's emphasis on trust and value in a competitive field. He also shares insights on AI and automation's impact on venture capital and business, noting rapid adoption and the need for companies to embrace innovation to stay competitive. Interested in learning more? Click the link in the comments to watch our full conversation. #fundfriday #realestateinvesting #lonestarcapital

Huge thanks to David Sassower for having us on Mentorpod, super fun getting to chat and share our story about Ponte! Check out the episode below!

VC is a unique industry in that you can participate without being full-time. "Test it out" before choosing it as a career path. Take advantage of this perk. Part-Time VC Opportunities: 1) Angel investing 2) Scouting 3) Internships 4) Advising Firms with angel programs: - First Round - Hustle Fund - RBL1 - Pipeline Angels Firms with scout programs: - Lightspeed - Index - Village Global - Contrary Capital - Upfront - Atomico - Sequoia - Indie VC - VamosVentures - Female Founders Fund Many firms have internship programs including Harlem Capital that has 3 cohorts per year of 6 interns each. #venturecapital #vc #startups #investing

Great opportunity to learn more about accessing motivated talent to help move your venture forward! Founders, if you’ve ever felt less sure how to unlock this asset at UCalgary, here are some fantastic folks who will outline concrete next steps for getting student support and building your talent pipeline

⭐ I'm excited to be part of the 2024 PledgeLA Venture Capital Fellowship Cohort. This opportunity has been transformative, and huge thank you to the instructors and organizers who made it possible: Shane Kelly, Lisha Bell, Calvin, Trivia, Marcia, Lilia, Lesly, PledgeLA, Cinematica Labs.     Not long ago, I chose to attend USC Marshall School of Business for my MBA, pivoting from a medical scientist path to use business skills to effect positive and sustainable change for both people and the planet, focusing on health equity through entrepreneurship and venture capital.    Systemic discrimination and environmental destruction continue to harm our communities. Here are some stark statistics that drive my motivation:    ❌ Black infants in the U.S. have more than 2x the mortality rate of white infants. Black women are 3x to 4x more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes (CDC).    ❌ LGBTQ+ youth are almost five times as likely to attempt suicide compared to their peers. 40% of transgender adults have attempted suicide (Trevor Project, UCLA).    ❌ White families have a median household wealth of $188,200, while Black and Latinx families have $24,100 and $36,000 respectively (Federal Reserve).    ❌ Since 2018, Black and Latinx women have received only 0.64% of VC funding. Women of color represent just 1% of C-Suite executives in the U.S. (Fast Company)   ❌ ~26% of People with Disabilities in the U.S. live in poverty, compared to ~11.5% without disabilities. (Statista)   ❌ Since 1970, biodiversity has declined by nearly 60% due to human activities, with 18.7 million acres of forests lost annually (WWF, WHO).    PledgeLA has equipped me with the skills to discover disruptive entrepreneurial ideas and empower voices that can change these statistics. I am committed to fostering a better future through innovative solutions.    A few gems from PledgeLA Fellowship Trainings:    💡 Democratizing access to venture capital is improving, but more work is needed.   ✋ Developing a clear, evidence-based point of view is crucial.   🦄 Unique business models can generate favorable returns beyond the unicorn model.   👽 "Have Delusional Vision and Pragmatic Execution."   💰 A VC's strategy is heavily influenced by its fund size.   🌟 Your investment thesis guides investment criteria and decisions.   🤔 Ask questions and challenge assumptions with genuine curiosity.   🚀 The movement for a more equitable world is gaining momentum.   🔎 Knowing customer needs and motivations is key.   🏆 The strength and dynamics of the founding and managing team are vital.  🧘♀️ Great founders acknowledge what they don't know and learn and evolve from their experiences.    With these lessons and more, I am excited join New Media Ventures (NMV) this summer. NMV invests in activists and entrepreneurs tackling the biggest challenges facing our democracy, supporting diverse leaders leveraging digital media to drive social change.    #PledgeLA #VentureCapital

Buss tables in college? Same. I bussed tables at a cowboy steakhouse during Cal. I even rang a cowbell during birthday parties. Yeehaw. 🐮 🤠 Yet most of my friends had fancy internships at the MBBs or Big Four. “Embarrassed” doesn’t begin to describe how I felt. But you know what? Interviewers always perked up when I shared my busboy experience. Why? Because I learned how to be a team player, deliver under pressure and manage thousands of simultaneous demands. My interviewers saw it too. I still remember my shock when I received offers from top consulting firms based on my steakhouse stories. The point of my tale is this: As first gens, we won’t necessarily have the fancy backgrounds our peers will have. That’s okay. Lean in HARD to your background and make it your edge. There’s only one like it. Because if a small town Latino like myself can go from bussing tables to advising Fortune 500 CEOs within the timespan of a year, there’s no telling what you can do. ~~~ If you liked my steakhouse story, consider resharing and follow me for more content focused on #startups, #firstgens and #entrepreneurship. Yeehaw.

Thank you to David Ochi for speaking about creating an unfair competitive advantage through building trusted relationships at Entrepreneurship Club! We got 4 key lessons: 1. Nobody will say "I hate helping high schoolers", so every one of us aspiring entrepreneurs should use our connections with successful entrepreneurs to get help and internships 2. High school and college are an amazing time to make a startup---don't say, "I'll do this when___happens." Do it now! Subway was started by a high schooler. 3. Competitive advantages are created not by what you know, but who you know. So put yourself out there, think from the other person's perspective, and build relationships! 4. When "entrepreneur" comes into mind, we typically think of white males (Zuckerberg, Jobs, Trump, etc). But that's the last generation. There are over 10 million women owned businesses, and minority-owned businesses are growing at a faster rate than ever. Here are David's slides: https://lnkd.in/eQpTYcJ2 Have a great day everyone, and stay posted for our next speaker, A. Cathleen Greiner PHD!

I took a break from school and moved to Paris. Why? Seeing that I could graduate early, I decided to take a semester off. I joined Elyn as the CEO's Right Hand for 6 months. When I first saw the role on Headline & Sequoia Capital's job boards, I was intrigued. What did a 'CEO's Right Hand' entail? How could it help me become a VC? How would it teach me to work in a fast-paced, high-growth, high-expectations environment? I joined because the interview process showed me these were serious people with a clear vision. They aimed to make a massive impact in eCommerce. I knew I would be challenged and that the expectations were high. Elyn's goal is to be a global leader. Nothing less. Being in a team of 20 tackling a gigantic industry was invigorating. The day-to-day varied on the month and I was able to explore many different topics. The best part? The work I did at the start of my internship is still being used today. I can see the impact I made. With that, my top conceptual takeaways: 1. Lead by example. I witnessed this everyday. A straightforward principle that creates hunger and a desire to succeed among teams. 2. Benchmark. Benchmark. Benchmark. Why start from scratch if it has been done successfully before? Adapt an existing base and make it better. 3. Act fast, react faster. People will start to realize you're dependable. 4. Be a Swiss army knife. No task is too big with the tools we have today. No taks is too mundane. No task is 'useless'. This mindset allowed me to touch on so many projects. 5. Say 'YES' more often. If it's a great opportunity, say yes and solve obstacles as they come. You'll never know where you can go unless you try. I'm glad I took this risk. As my chapter in Paris nears its end and I prepare for my final year at Babson College, I want to thank those who have taught me so much over the last 6 months. El Mehdi Hachad, Hamza Sentissi, Nicolas Reese, Marie Fauchille, Nelson Casata, Isabel Gardocki, Charlotte Werba, and the whole Elyn team - you are all rockstars!

The summer is flying by! Our #GGVNextGen career advice series draws to a close with this AMA with GGV Managing Partner Jeff Richards, who shared his career story—and what he learned as a serial founder: 🎓 “When I came out of college, the general mindset was you had to go work somewhere that wasn't that much fun. You kind of had to go pay your dues. I think that's gone. Go work for an amazing company with amazing people. You'll be amazed how much you learn right in those first three to five years … I'm still friends with people who I worked with at my first and second company.” After joining GGV in 2008, Jeff now invests in founders who are building #SMBTech and enterprise tech companies. Jeff’s best advice for entrepreneurs? 💡 Be self-aware: “Are you self-aware enough to ask for help? Are you self-aware enough to listen? Try to surround yourself with people who are complementary to you and can help you get to the next level.” ⚠️ Take risks, work hard: “There's an amazingly high intersection of people who took risks, worked hard, and had big, successful outcomes. There are also people who took risks, worked hard, and didn’t have big outcomes. But very often those people will start something again. We've backed a lot of second- and third-time founders whose first and second companies weren't wildly successful. But their third one is … I'm a good example. Took risks, worked hard, [the startup] didn't work, got back up, did it again.” As this year’s NextGen Fellows wrap up their summer internships at a GGV portfolio company, we look forward to this group being part of the next generation of innovators and founders who can count on us (and each other) for help getting back up. As we’ve seen, relationships built early on in a career can be valuable over time. CC Hans Tung, Jen Holmstrom, Christina Pasanen #startups #DEI #getstarted #careeradvice #bestadvice #summerinternships #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship

We’ve now invested in 100+ founders, had 100+ interns and gotten 100+ LPs Which means we’ve looked at 12k+ companies, reviewed 14k+ intern applicants and pitched 1k+ LPs It’s led to a skill of screening and pitching Investing is truly about getting to know people