Newsletter | October 2020 Edition

The EVCA is a non-profit dedicated to supporting the emerging (pre-partner) venture capital community.

Oct 29, 2020

Welcome back to the new EVCA newsletter! For those of you who I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting, I’d like to start with a bit of self-introduction: My name is Samantha Huang, but you can call me Sam for short. By day, I’m a principal at BMW i Ventures. By night (and yes, by day as well), I’m the new Head of Content for the EVCA on the mission of spotlighting your voices across the EVCA community and beyond. In this role, I’m looking forward to bringing you the latest content relevant to the EVCA community through this newsletter and our newly launched blog.

So if you have something to share with the EVCA community, this is your platform! Be sure to submit your writings, announcements, events, and asks for future newsletter publications here.

EVCA Spotlight: A Conversation with Nikhil Trivedi

We had the chance to catch up with Nikhil Trivedi, who was formerly a Managing Director at Shasta Ventures and who is now off on his personal search for the "next big thing." Nikhil started his career in venture capital as an associate at Shasta Ventures back in 2012, progressing to the role of Managing Director within a span of eight years. In his interview with EVCA, Nikhil shares his venture capital journey and provides insights for personal growth and career development for fellow EVCA community members.

Click here to read the full interview.

Featured Investors

This issue we highlight two investors from the EVCA community: Emily Fritze of The Westly Group and Mikey Kailis of Counterpart Ventures.

Emily Fritze, Senior Associate at The Westly Group: Emily is an investor at The Westly Group, a venture fund in Menlo Park that invests in sustainable energy, buildings, transportation, and industry. Before joining her current firm, she helped run Powerhouse Ventures, a clean energy seed fund and incubator in Oakland, where she invested in pre-seed and seed stage startups. Emily started her career in politics, and served as Senior Director in the Obama White House, managing climate and energy initiatives, as well as in policy roles to Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz, at the U.S. Department of Energy and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Outside of work, Emily loves to read, play pick-up basketball, and backpack throughout California and beyond.

Mikey Kailis, Associate at Counterpart Ventures: Mikey joined Counterpart Ventures in 2018 as the first recruit to build the brand and positioning, with a focus on sourcing news deals and supporting the portfolio by making strategic customer introductions. As part of a new fund, Mikey has enjoyed being part of everything that this entails – helping the Partners on the fundraising trail, writing investment memos, forming a detailed industry thesis and more. Mikey grew up in Perth, Western Australia and spent 3-4 years consulting Tier 1 mining and resources companies. He worked with innovation and digital transformation teams, establishing PoCs with startups developing technologies that will solve some of the sector’s biggest challenges. He is also a die-hard Manchester United fan, self-proclaimed coffee snob, and enjoys long distance running.

Click here for the full download.

What We’re Reading

Transitions - Ryan Caldbeck, former CEO at CircleUp, reflects on his time leading CircleUp as CEO and ultimately stepping down from the role.
2020 Food Industry Changes - Kathryn Weinmann, Investor at Norwest Ventures, talks about the ongoing changes to the food industry.
A Primer for Going Public via SPAC - Baris Guzel, Principal at BMW i Ventures, talks about how to take a company public via SPAC.
5 Success Factors for Behavioral Health Startups - Courtney Chow and Justin Da Rosa, both investors at Battery Ventures, examine what it takes to make a successful behavior health startup.
Ten Insights That Helped Me Level Up as a Seed Stage VC: Parts 1 and 2 - Shawn Xu, Senior Associate at Floodgate Ventures, talks about leveling up as a seed investor.

Events

EVCA Fireside Chat w/ Cyan Banister, Long Journey Ventures | EVCA | October 29
EVCA Fireside Chat w/ Gregg Lemkau, Global Head of IB, Partner, and Management Committee Member at Goldman Sachs | EVCA | December 3
Mobility Innovators Forum | Hyundai Cradle | October 29-30
Mozilla Builders Fix the Internet Showcase | Mozilla Builders | October 29

Jobs

Investment Associate at Emerson Collective in Palo Alto, CA
Investor Role at Left Lane Capital in New York
Associate at S3 Ventures in Austin, Texas. Contact aaron@s3vc.com
Investment Analyst at Bullpen Capital in San Francisco, CA
Managing Director at Acceleprise in San Francisco, CA

Asks

Annual VC Competition Survey : We at EVCA are collecting submissions for our first Annual VC Compensation Survey. Please help this effort by filling out the survey by October 31 here. Note that answers are recorded anonymously and the results of the survey will only be shared in aggregate. The results of the study will be shared with the community in November.
Kapor Center Survey on Founders and GP’s: The Kapor Center is launching an anonymous survey to gather data on the experiences of founders and GPs of various backgrounds while raising capital. They are looking for partners willing to share the survey link with their portfolio companies, completing response collection by November 2. If you would like more information or are willing to share the survey with your portfolio, please follow up with eduardo@kaporcapital.com. Founders and GP’s can take the survey directly here.
Diversity Hiring: Is your portfolio looking to hire diverse talent? Getro.org from Monday.vc is a pro-bono initiative sending curated jobs to talent and curated talent to hiring managers. Ask your portfolio companies to sign up for Getro’s newsletter (all nonprofit, completely free).