Skin in the Game VC Podcast

Marshall Sandman: How Showing Up Built a Venture Fund

In this episode of Skin in the Game, Saxon Baum sits down with Marshall Sandman, Managing Partner of Animal Capital, for a conversation that covers everything from venture capital and founder relationships to content creation and the future of innovation. Marshall shares his journey from investment banking and WarnerMedia to launching Animal Capital, a venture firm that has backed companies like Whatnot, Underdog Fantasy Sports, and Colossal Biosciences. The discussion dives into why Marshall believes showing up in person still matters, how he thinks about building trust with founders and investors, and why Animal Capital has intentionally stayed away from many of the industry's biggest hype cycles. He also shares his perspective on what makes a great founder, the importance of storytelling when raising capital, and why some of the best opportunities can be found outside traditional startup hubs. Marshall also talks about his growing presence on social media, his commitment to publishing daily content for founders and investors, and how sharing practical lessons online has helped entrepreneurs connect with him directly. Whether you're a founder, investor, or simply interested in how venture capital really works behind the scenes, this episode offers an honest look at building relationships, making investment decisions, and creating long-term value. Tune in to this episode and let us know your thoughts.

Chad Bronstein: He Built a Sports League in Less Than a Year

In this episode of Skin in the Game, Saxon Baum sits down with entrepreneur Chad Bronstein to discuss the journey that took him from selling Beanie Babies as a kid to building one of the fastest-growing sports leagues in America. Chad shares how an early obsession with sales and entrepreneurship shaped his career, leading him through the adtech world, multiple successful ventures, and eventually the launch of Real American Beer alongside wrestling icon Hulk Hogan. Along the way, he reflects on the highs and lows of building businesses, raising capital, navigating market downturns, and the lessons that only come from failure. The conversation also dives into the creation of Real American Freestyle (RAF), the professional wrestling league Chad founded after recognizing a major gap in the sport he loved growing up. What started as an idea fueled by his son's involvement in wrestling has quickly grown into a nationally televised league, selling out arenas and creating new opportunities for athletes beyond college and Olympic competition. Beyond the business stories, Chad talks about the importance of surrounding yourself with great people, building strong teams, staying resilient through adversity, and why trust and loyalty are often more valuable than any business strategy. Whether you're an entrepreneur, investor, athlete, or someone pursuing a big vision, this episode is packed with honest lessons on persistence, leadership, and what it really takes to build something that lasts.

Steven Walchek: Why the Barrier to Building Tech is Gone

In this episode of Skin in the Game, Saxon Baum sits down with Steven Walchek, Founder & CEO of Liminal, to unpack one of the most unique founder journeys in tech. Steven shares how he went from launching his first company in college—faxing loan documents by hand to building and exiting a venture-backed fintech business alongside his father. But what makes his story different is what came next: solving a problem inside his own company by starting another one. The conversation explores why most founders solve problems in other companies, but rarely their own, and how AI has completely removed the barrier to building technology. Steven dives into the mindset of “I can figure this out” and why it matters more than ever, along with the reality of startup pivots, near failure, and rebuilding from scratch. He also breaks down what Liminal is building today in secure, enterprise-ready AI infrastructure, and why distribution, customer experience, and trust are becoming more important than the technology itself. Steven also shares a powerful perspective on today’s “golden age” for entrepreneurs, where domain expertise combined with AI is unlocking unprecedented opportunity. If you’re a founder, operator, or investor trying to understand where technology and entrepreneurship are heading next, this episode is a must-watch.

Eric Ries: The Dark Side of AI and Why Vibe Coding Could Be the Next Chernobyl

In this episode of Skin in the Game, hosts Saxon Baum and Tom Wallace sit down with Eric Ries, the founder and author of the Lean Startup Methodology, one of the most influential business frameworks in modern entrepreneurship. Eric shares his journey from coding in his parents' basement, to dropping out of Yale for a failed startup, to eventually developing the principles that would change how the world builds companies. Eric opens up about his early failures, including his time at there.com, a virtual world startup that had everything going for it except customers. That painful experience led him to co-found IMVU, where he began experimenting with rapid iteration, minimum viable products, and data driven decision making, the core principles that would eventually become the Lean Startup. The conversation takes a sharp turn into today's AI driven world, where Eric offers a refreshingly candid and cautionary perspective. While he acknowledges that AI tools like Claude Code have made it faster and cheaper than ever to build and launch products, he warns that founders are falling into a dangerous trap he calls "dark flow," mindlessly generating code and demos without actually learning, testing, or getting real customer feedback. He argues that the MVP is not the artifact itself, but the experiment and the learning that comes from it. Eric also raises serious concerns about vibe coding, the practice of using AI to generate software that even its creators don't fully understand. He believes this is a ticking time bomb that could lead to a Chernobyl style disaster when AI generated, unreviewable code finds its way into mission critical applications. The episode also covers the state of venture capital in the enterprise AI space, where Eric sees echoes of the dot com bubble, with enormous wealth being generated alongside questionable value creation. He shares his thoughts on OpenAI vs. Anthropic, the future of SaaS, the robotaxi wars, and why he still doesn't understand what Bitcoin is actually for. Eric closes with a preview of his new book, Incorruptible, available May 26th, which digs deeper into principled entrepreneurship and long term thinking in business. Whether you're a first time founder or a seasoned investor, this episode is packed with hard won wisdom from one of Silicon Valley's most thoughtful voices.

Abe Smith on Building Zoom to $4.1B, WebEx's Rise, and Why AI Is Bigger Than the Internet

What does it actually feel like to be inside a company growing faster than anything the world had ever seen? Abe Smith knows. As one of the key leaders at Zoom during the pandemic, he watched the company go from $600M to $4.1B in revenue in just 24 months and 10 million to 300 million active users in four months. Yeah. Four months. In this episode of the FLF Skin in the Game Podcast, Saxon sits down with Abe Smith, Silicon Valley veteran, LP at Florida Funders, and one of the most globally experienced operators in enterprise SaaS to unpack the wild ride of building some of the most iconic tech companies of the last 25 years. From joining WebEx before Cisco's record-breaking $3.2B acquisition, to looking Eric Yuan in the eye and promising $1B in international revenue at Zoom (and delivering it in 18 months thanks to a little thing called COVID), Abe's stories are the kind you don't usually hear from the inside. They also get into what made Zoom's culture so different, why Silicon Valley still matters, what it takes to spot a real founder, and the big one whether the next generational AI company can be built right here in Florida. If you're a founder, investor, or just someone who loves a great business story, this one's for you. 🎙️ Subscribe, like, and share and if you're building something special, you know who to call.