Building Startup ecosystems, the solo GP life, and lessons from the dotcom bubble with Kirby Winfield of Ascend.Vc

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DATE POSTED
October 20, 2022
WRITTEN BY
The road of a solo GP is full of highs and lows, and today’s guest Kirby Winfield has been through all of it. After working in the 90s tech and startup scene in Seattle, Kirby went on to found Ascend VC as a solo GP. We talk about his biggest lessons, the best advice he’s gotten, and dig into some of the stories from the trenches as an emerging manager. About Kirby Winfield: Kirby Winfield is currently the Founding General Partner at Ascend.vc, a pre-seed stage venture fund investing in marketplace, e-commerce/DTC, and B2B software startups in the Pacific Northwest. Early in his career, Kirby was a founding team member and operating executive at back-to-back tech IPOs, with Go2Net (GNET) and Marchex (MCHX). He is also a two-time venture capital-backed CEO, with AdXpose (DFJ, Ignition) acquired by comScore (SCOR), and Dwellable (Maveron, VersionOne) acquired by HomeAway (AWAY). A word from our sponsor: At Ripple, we manage all of our fund expenses and employee credit cards using Jeeves.  The team at Jeeves helped get me and my team setup with physical and virtual credit cards in days. I was able to allow my teammates to expense items in multiple currencies allowing them to pay for anything, anywhere at anytime. We weren’t asked for any personal guarantees or to pay any setup or monthly SaaS fees. Not only does Jeeves save us time, but they also give us cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook, or AWS every month. New users can earn up to 3% cashback for their first 90 days. The best part is Jeeves puts up the cash, and you settle up once every 30 days in any currency you want, unlike some other corporate card companies that make you pre-pay every month. Jeeves also recently launched its Jeeves Growth and Working Capital initiative for startups and fast-growing companies to enable more financial freedom for companies. The best thing of all is that Jeeves is live in  24 countries including Canada, US and many other countries around the world. Jeeves truly offers the best all-in-one expense management corporate card program for all startups especially the ones at Ripple and we at Tank Talks could not be more excited to officially partner with them. Listeners of Tank Talks can get set up with a demo of Jeeves today and take advantage of our Tank Talks special with a‍ $250 statement credit after the first $2,500 in spend or a $500 statement credit after the first $5000 in spend. Lastly, all Jeeves cardholders receive access to their Lounge Pass program and access to over 1300 airports globally. Visit tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to learn more. In this episode we discuss: 02:45 Kirby’s journey into tech 06:08 Lessons from the Dot Com bust 12:21 Why founders should get to know public market analysts 13:45 Kirby’s early experience as an Angel Investor 16:07 Early exits as an investor 18:11 Finding his first LPs as an emerging manager 21:36 Why he viewed his age as a first time manager as an advantage 26:37 Building a better startup ecosystem in the Pacific Northwest 31:37 Kirby’s original investment thesis and how is has evolved 38:19 Managing as a solo GP 45:03 Things to avoid that may be red flags to LPs 49:10 Navigating the seed and early stage markets in 2022 52:50 The best career advice he’s gotten as a GP Fast Favorites 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Chuck D - Narrates the Band the Clash , Invest like the best 📰 - Favorite Newsletter/Blog: Chad Sanderson substack - Data Products 📲 - Favorite Tech Gadget: Garmin 📈 -  Favorite New Trend: Lower valuation caps 📚 - Favorite Book: Led Zepplin, The Beatles 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Running Everyday Solves Problems Follow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here! Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.Agency
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Building Startup ecosystems, the solo GP life, and lessons from the dotcom bubble with Kirby Winfield of Ascend.Vc

No items found.
DATE POSTED
October 20, 2022
WRITTEN BY