alumni ventures

We’ve witnessed unprecedented levels of innovation in the AI world over the last couple of years. Though AI has existed at low levels for decades now, it has gone from being an underperforming pipe dream to an everyday tool already embedded in most of our software and apps within months. If you’re wondering how this happened, you can thank venture capitalists like Ray Wu, who have been funding the AI startups that brought us these rapid advancements. So, what’s next for artificial intelligence? If having your own AI powered personal assistant sounds amazing, then tune in as host Jack Russo asks Ray Wu about the journey artificial intelligence is taking.

https://www.av.vc/people/ray-wu

Sponsor Spotlight guest: Alumni Ventures’ CEO Mike Collins 

Welcome to the Smart Venture Podcast’s sponsor spotlight, where we take a moment to highlight the companies making our show possible. We're thrilled to feature Alumni Ventures.  Alumni Ventures, offers individual investors access to venture investing through its diversified, professional-grade venture portfolios. We're excited to share more about what they do and how they're making a difference. So sit back, relax, and let's dive into Alumni Venture’s sponsor spotlight. 

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How to invest in startups as individual investors?

I get this question, A LOT.

So I brought one of the experts to join me to talk about this.

Mike Collins is the CEO of Alumni Ventures, America's Largest Venture Capital Firm for Individual Investors.

Smart Venture Podcast’s sponsor, Alumni Ventures, offers individual investors access to venture investing through its diversified, professional-grade venture portfolios. The company’s funds have consistently outperformed public market equivalents, with over $1.1 billion raised and invested in over eleven hundred portfolio companies. They have a dedicated team of fifty full-time venture investors and were the #1 most active venture firm in the US in 2022 and #3 globally according to Pitchbook. Investing in venture capital can help reduce overall portfolio risk and increase the likelihood of stronger returns. To learn more, visit av.vc/grace and schedule a call. Investors must be accredited. Please note that all financial investments involve risk, past performance does not guarantee future results, and it is important to conduct your own research and seek professional advice before making any investment decisions.

Check out their service: av.vc/grace

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David Sobie is a Vice President at PayPal, and he is also a co-founder of Happy Returns. Happy Returns is a Los Angeles-based software and reverse logistics company that works with online merchants to handle product returns. Their clients include Gymshark, Everlane, Levi’s, and Revolve, among other popular e-commerce brands. Prior to that, David served as Chief Marketing Officer at REVOLVE Clothing. 

You can learn more about: 

1. How to build an e-commerce SaaS company
2. Raising funding, building industry partnerships, hiring and managing a team 
3. How to set milestones for your company 

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Larry Warnock is the Managing Partner of Ring Ventures, part of the family of funds run by Alumni Ventures.  He is a seasoned venture-backed tech executive with multiple exits via acquisition or IPO. He was most recently the President & CEO of Olono, an AI platform for sales effectiveness. Previously he was the CEO of Gazzang, a provider of big data security software (acquired by Cloudera), and Phurnace, a provider of DevOps software (acquired by BMC Software). After moving to Austin from Silicon Valley, Larry was a Venture Partner at AVLabs,