Harry Stebbings interviews Kate Shillow, the director at Galvanize Ventures, on the 20 minutes VC podcast. Shillow's unconventional path to venture capital began with sports marketing and a surprising stint as Martha Stewart's executive assistant, where she gained experience in launching internal startups. Prior to Galvanize, she co-launched Lira Ventures (now Lira Hippo Ventures) with Ken Lira, investing in successes like Venmo and Paperless Post. Galvanize Ventures, distinct from the educational tech campuses of Galvanize, has made 48 investments in two years, focusing on early-stage companies and offering a blend of capital, educational programs, and coworking spaces to foster growth. Shillow discusses the challenges of consumer mobile investment, the excitement of hardware startups, and the long-term nature of venture capital. She envisions Galvanize becoming a brand name in tech and venture capital, with recent investments like message AI showcasing their focus on innovative tech solutions.
"And today's episode we feature an individual I have spotlighted as a rising star of the VC industry, an immense talent and one to watch."
This quote introduces Kate Shillo, emphasizing her significance in the venture capital industry and setting the stage for her insights during the episode.
"I started out working in sports marketing and I was an athlete in college, so that was sort of the thought process there."
This quote explains the initial direction of Kate's career, influenced by her personal experience as a college athlete.
"It was kind of an interesting segue into VC and startups is because she was basically doing small startups within her company."
Kate draws a parallel between her role with Martha Stewart and venture capital, showing how her early experiences were relevant to her VC career.
"So I quit and bought a surfboard and my parents were like, what are you doing?"
This quote captures the bold and unconventional decision Kate made to shift her career towards technology and venture capital.
"I don't know where he's going, but I'll totally follow him and this will be fun, whatever it is."
Kate expresses her trust in Ken Lira's leadership and her willingness to embrace the uncertainties of a new career path in VC.
"And they needed someone, a human to test bit ly links or whatever it was that they were working on."
Kate highlights her role in providing a non-technical perspective, which was crucial for product testing and development.
"We'll just take meetings and see who comes and hangs out, which was the most casual."
This quote reflects the open and exploratory approach that Ken Lira and Kate Shillo took, which allowed for diverse interactions and opportunities within the startup community.
"We all really started this together as novices, which was the cool part, is that any idea was a good idea so long as you had some analysis behind it at that point."
This quote emphasizes the team's lack of prior experience in venture capital and their openness to new ideas, as long as they were well-analyzed.
"I didn't go to business school. Neither did Ken or Ben. So all these documents that were coming at me, I mean, I was in the office till like two in the morning sometimes just reading some of the legal stuff, trying to make sense."
This quote highlights the struggle the founders faced due to their lack of formal business education and the intensive effort required to understand the legal aspects of starting a venture fund.
"The help of having the Huffington Post as a successful startup alongside. We sold that in 2011 among all this. So everything was sort of cooking at the same time."
This quote explains how the success and sale of the Huffington Post provided credibility and momentum for the fund during its formative years, coinciding with a favorable investment climate.
"Consumer technology really took off. And our fund, we understood things like Warby Parker and Birchbox and bobble bar and barkbox."
This quote reflects on the success of consumer technology investments and how personal experience with these products informed the fund's investment strategy.
"We're an organization focused on continuous learning. We try to help our business and other businesses grow by converging community, curriculum and capital."
This quote describes the mission of Galvanize, emphasizing its commitment to continuous learning and growth by integrating community, education, and financial resources.
"We have a huge advantage having all of these elements to a core business to provide to our startups."
This quote highlights the strategic advantage Galvanize Ventures has by offering comprehensive support to startups, which includes education, space, and capital.
"We're early stage. So the companies that are coming through our campuses that we like to invest inside and outside of galvanize."
This quote clarifies that Galvanize Ventures is focused on early-stage companies and is open to investing in startups associated with their campuses and beyond.
"It's a sign of validation, I guess, isn't it?"
This quote suggests that the speaker views investment activities as a form of validation for the companies involved.
"And so Galvanize has made 48 investments in two years." "We wanted to keep a diverse fund initially, and I think that's still working for us."
These quotes outline Galvanize's aggressive investment pace and their strategy of maintaining a diverse portfolio, which has been effective for them.
"But I will say just one thing I've noticed between when I started doing this six or seven years ago till now is that I'm seeing female VCs start to collaborate quite a bit on deals with each other, which is rad."
The quote highlights the speaker's observation of a positive trend in the venture capital industry where female VCs are collaborating more frequently.
"Consumer mobile is very difficult. Consumers are fickle." "We all stare at our phones now more than ever, so that's not going to change anytime soon."
These quotes reflect the speaker's agreement with the industry's view on the challenges of the mobile sector but also acknowledge the ongoing opportunities due to the prevalence of mobile device usage.
"I don't think I have a single market that I feel most passionate about." "Hardware still really excites me."
The first quote indicates a broad interest in various markets, while the second quote shows a specific excitement about hardware, reflecting the speaker's diverse investment interests.
"Hardware is hard. It's hard to go through the beginning stages of gestation where, look, we're raising money and we promise you that we're going to be able to build this product once we go through tooling and make sure we have the right manufacturer, and then everything gets delivered and then it works."
This quote outlines the challenges of investing in hardware but also hints at the rewarding nature of the process once the product is successfully delivered and operational.
"I don't think we think of it in terms of crowdfunding. I often think of crowdfunding as a bit of advertising."
The quote indicates that for the speaker, crowdfunding is secondary to other factors and is primarily viewed as a marketing tool rather than a necessary funding step.
That's like a stage, and even later. So there's a lot of companies that I've seen just teed up with these crazy valuations at the a stage because they've done all this work preemptively.
The quote emphasizes the tendency for companies to reach high valuations at the "a stage" due to extensive preparatory work, which makes it a common point for investors to commit.
I'm pretty used to that gestation know this is a long game. There's a lot of ups and downs, and sometimes you see these companies completely turn it around and I think that's exciting.
Kate Shillo acknowledges the lengthy process of investment and company growth in VC, indicating that the long-term nature of the industry is familiar and the potential for dramatic turnarounds is a source of excitement.
Being a seed investor, we sort of get priced out after the a. So then we're just kind of monitoring and helping where we can.
Kate Shillo describes the limitations faced by seed investors in terms of participating in later funding rounds and their role in supporting companies as they grow beyond the early stages.
Yeah, for sure. This is working. It's working out better than I think any of us expected.
The quote expresses confidence in the current business model and the positive outcomes that have exceeded expectations, suggesting a bright future for Galvanize.
And now, as things get larger, the attention to the portfolio is certainly where I'm needed probably most.
Kate Shillo explains how her role shifts towards portfolio management as the fund and its needs grow, highlighting the importance of supporting existing investments.
Favorite book is something I read in college called God of small things. It was just so beautifully written. I mean, it reads like poetry.
This quote reveals Kate Shillo's appreciation for literature and highlights a particular book that has made a lasting impression on her.
Your phone currently slash because I'm still playing with it. I love it. Sunrise calendar moment app, which is for photos. Two dots.
The quote provides insight into the personal technology preferences of Kate Shillo, showcasing the apps she finds most useful or enjoyable in her daily life.
Kenny Lear. Yeah, he's the best. I feel like everything he touches turns to gold.
This quote expresses Kate Shillo's admiration for Kenny Lear's track record and personal qualities that contribute to his success in venture capital.
We recently invested in message AI. It's a conversational commerce and AI messaging software that empowers brands to hold a personal conversation with consumers on demand and at scale across the most popular messaging platforms.
Kate Shillo explains the rationale behind the recent investment in Message AI, emphasizing the innovative approach to customer engagement through AI and messaging platforms.