A Special Episode of First Funders: The Journey to VC with Shaherose and Mel Strong

A Special Episode of First Funders: The Journey to VC with Shaherose and Mel Strong

This episode of First Funders is a little different… It's a conversation between two friends who made the leap from to VC from two shared and unique paths. Shaherose is joined by Mel Strong, an operator-turned investor, whom she met while working at Nike. Today, Mel is a founder of NEXT VENTURES, a fund dedicated to supporting early stage companies in the health and wellness space. In this episode, Mel and Shaherose discuss their shared journeys, why they decided to leave the corporate world, and what they're looking forward to investing in next.  Highlights:  * Shaherose and Mel met at the same company, but both had very different paths to get there. * The pair gives a behind-the-scenes look at creating Valiant Labs inside Nike and applying venture-style experimentation within a global corporation.  * Shaherose leapt first, and then Mel followed after in leaving Nike and going into VC.  * Mel has often felt like an outsider, but she's turned that into a strength as a VC.  * Both investors appreciate backing founders who have immigrant or athlete backgrounds, as they've each seen excellent results from people with these profiles.  00:00:00 – Introduction & Why This Conversation Is Different 00:02:30 – Mel Strong's Journey: Teacher, Journalist, Nike Executive, VC 00:08:15 – Shaherose's Origin Story: Entrepreneurship, Sports & Silicon Valley 00:14:15 – Building Women 2.0, Founder Labs & Early Startup Successes 00:20:00 – Bringing Venture Thinking to Nike & Building Valiant Labs 00:24:15 – From Operators to Investors: Angel Investing, Risk & Reinvention 00:39:45 – Leaving Nike, Finding Conviction & Becoming Fund Managers 00:47:00 – What We Invest In: Venture-Scale Founders, AI, Healthcare & The Future

S3E02: A modern take on biotech investing: Diagnostics, AI, and longevity - Shahram Seyedin-Noor, Civilization Ventures

Shahram Seyedin-Noor isn’t a physician. Nor is he a chemist. And he’s not a software engineer, either. But you wouldn’t know by the way he commands all of these spaces to invest in some truly cutting edge bio technology like genomics, therapeutics, and diagnostics just to name a few.  He’s been at this for almost 20 years, with almost half of that time spent as the founder and managing partner of Civilization Ventures, where he writes $100k – $5m checks into pre-seed and seed biotech companies. He focuses on the spaces in healthcare that don’t always get their due, such as diagnostics and longevity. In this episode, Shahram takes us through how he’s been able to break down barriers as an outsider, why diagnostics needs a rebrand, and what he looks for in AI-native founders.  Check size: $100k - $5m Highlights:  * Shahram’s winding path to his current role has established him as an outsider who’s able to quickly and easily obtain insider knowledge for almost any domain. * Civilization Ventures started with just $1 million, but to date its had 17 exits and 3 IPOs including Rocket Pharma [https://rocketpharma.com/], Omada Health [https://www.omadahealth.com/], and BillionToOne [https://www.billiontoone.com/], with an ever-growing portfolio of companies in the biotech space including companies like Aspect Biosystems [https://www.aspectbiosystems.com/], Curai Health [https://curaihealth.com/], and Foresight Diagnostics [https://foresight-dx.com/]. * Diagnostics has been unfairly maligned, but it shouldn’t be considered a dirty word within the industry. * Incremental medicine has its place, but it’s curative treatments that get Shahram most excited.  * These days, Shahram isn’t just looking for AI companies, he’s looking for AI-native founders.  Chapters:  00:00 – From Immigrant Kid to Venture Capitalist 08:30 – Building a VC Fund Like a Startup 15:30 – The Contrarian Thesis: Betting on First-Time Founders 20:00 – Why Diagnostics Became the Opportunity Everyone Else Ignored 24:45 – The Three Investment Pillars 30:30 – AI’s Impact on Biotech Investing 38:30 – Contrarian Investing vs Following Hype 41:00 – Beyond Returns: Building Civilization

S3E01: Monique Woodard, Cake Ventures, Trust Was Always the Moat

What could you do with a free weekend and a few subscriptions to some AI tools? Probably start a billion dollar company.  This is the reality for so many startups and tech companies that can suddenly ship projects that previously would’ve taken a couple of months (and a couple of developers) to deploy. So in a world where everyone can build, what’s the differentiator?  Monique Woodard has a few ideas. She’s the founding partner of Cake Ventures, a fund writing checks into pre-seed and seed-stage companies at the intersection of technology and demographic shifts.  She’s interested in how companies can stand out in a crowded, AI-driven environment, the way soft skills have transformed, and what AI means for the humans still in the loop.  Check size: $250k – $750k Highlights:  • Trust is key for any company, and it’s not something that’s going to be replaced by technology any time soon.   • Monique is thinking more about the desk-less future of work and what AI means for the white collar workforce.   • The skills once labeled as “soft” are now getting rebranded into the “hard” skills that everyone needs to survive and thrive.  * (00:00) - Monique x Shaherose * (05:08) - AI at the Application Layer * (08:44) - Distribution and defensibility are key * (12:22) - Trust at the center * (15:15) - Investing in post-domain name companies * (23:44) - The state of revenue today

S2E04: Resilience as a Thesis: Tahira Dosani on Building for Underserved Markets and AI in Fintech

Some investors are motivated by the thought of multiplying their fund, securing a bigger slice of the cap table, or, of course, successfully filing for a coveted IPO. But for Tahira Dosani, all she has to do is remember the economic instability of her childhood and she’s immediately re-anchored to her why behind it all. First came the career, starting as a Bain Capital [https://www.baincapital.com/] consultant and moving on to launching cellular service and mobile payment solutions in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Then came the first fund, Accion [https://www.accion.org/], a non-for-profit where Tahira cut her teeth in early stage impact investing in emerging markets.  After Accion, Tahira didn’t set out to start her own fund, but the immigrant-to-entrepreneur pipeline was just too strong and it pulled in this Pakistani native. She co-founded ResilienceVC [https://www.resilience.vc/], a human-centric, early stage fund focused on creating fintech solutions and solving persistent financial challenges for everyday Americans.  She writes $1 million checks out of ResilienceVC to fintech companies at the seed stage.  Highlights:  * Tahira’s why dates back to when she was a child who immigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan. Her family’s financial challenges stuck with her, and ever since, she’s remained focused on helping others boost their economic status through technology.  * It might be hard to recall a time before cellphone service was ubiquitous, but Tahira was on the ground in Kabul, Afghanistan when the first towers were raised, signalling a new day for citizens’ economic opportunities. She soon after helped launch the first mobile payment solution, bringing even more power to the region.  * Much of investing in the post-2010s is focused on iterating and refining existing products, but Tahira’s backing OS Benefits [https://osbenefits.co/], a fintech company with a new answer to an old problem: lack of health insurance coverage for restaurant workers.   * We often say that AI is changing the game. And now, it’s changing the way we behave. Tahira is exploring how AI can alter people’s financial habits and ultimately, make better choices on their behalf.  * (00:00) - Resilience as a Thesis- Tahira Dosani on Building for Underserved Markets and AI in Fintech * (01:21) - Tahira’s path to investing * (11:52) - How Accion shaped Tahira’s career * (17:35) - What makes a resilient founder? * (23:35) - ResilienceVC in the U.S. and beyond * (28:24) - How Tahira qualifies opportunity markets * (30:05) - OS Benefits: Solving the under-insurance crisis * (35:24) - The fintech and AI crossroads * (43:29) - Common mistakes from fintech founders * (49:40) - Curiosity as the anchor * (51:51) - Speed round

S2E03: Atoms over bits: Investing in hardware and innovative founders to solve climate challenges - Sundeep Ahuja, Climate Capital

We’ve welcomed investors with unique backgrounds to First Funders before, but Sundeep Ahuja is our first operator-turned-actor-turned-investor.  Sundeep is all in on all things climate tech. He’s backing founders leading the way in cleaning up our water, purifying our air, and keeping our planet the way it should be: livable. Today, his micro fund and syndicate platform Climate Capital, has over 400 climate-focused companies in its portfolio.  Sundeep shares why he thinks real-world, physical tech has the edge over software, how the words we use matter when it comes to addressing climate challenges, and why he’s still optimistic about the future despite current social and political challenges to climate initiatives.  He writes ~$150k checks out of Climate Capital into pre-seed and seed-stage startups addressing emission reductions and climate adaptation.  Highlights: * Sundeep had a winding path to investing, but his passion for the climate has always been there. He talks about how his time at Kiva shaped and expanded his worldview. * We’re heard a lot about software, but Sundeep is firmly in the hardware camp. He’s seeing startups like Copper [https://copperhome.com/] and Avalo [https://www.avalo.ai/] make incredible strides working with physical products – or focusing on atoms over bits, as he says.  * The way we talk about issues matters, and Sundeep is seeing the impact of language play out in the climate space. His solution is simple: No vague, moralizing language. Just plainly state what you’re doing to help the environment.  * Sundeep has a careful eye on what’s going on regarding the climate and the current administration, but he’s not feeling deterred. He believes there’s still plenty of capital – and plenty of people who believe in the mission – to sustain the headwinds.  * Like a true investor, Sundeep has a story about his worst investment and what he learned from it. Mainly, that the importance of due diligence can’t be overstated.  * (00:00) - Atoms over bits: Investing in hardware and innovative founders to solve climate challenges - Sundeep Ahuja, Climate Capital * (01:39) - Sundeep’s journey from eBay to Acting to Impact * (02:44) - Finding his purpose at Kiva and focusing on climate * (03:52) - Establishing Silicon Climate and writing his first book * (09:17) - Sundeep’s work founding and scaling up Climate Capital to an 400-company portfolio * (13:45) - Why technical founders and defensible IP are now at the heart of their seed investments. * (30:34) - Rethinking the language we use to talk about the climate * (34:58) - Lessons from the worst investment Sundeep has made * (37:34) - Reasons why Sundeep is hopeful for the future of climate tech