The GoingVC Podcast

GoingVC

The GoingVC Podcast - uncovering new paths into VC, diving deeper into alternative models, and addressing areas of weakness with Asad Ali, and JJ MacLean (@jjmaclean) from the GoingVC team. GoingVC is a global community and career development program for venture capital. To learn more or to checkout our guides, content, models and VC research checkout https://www.goingvc.com/blog Feedback? We'd love to hear it: podcast@goingvc.com

  1. Sep 4

    Episode 48 - Infinite Curiosity: John Forbes on Deep Tech Diligence and Building Deep Checks

    👋 Hey Listener! We're really excited to be bringing to you today our conversation with John Forbes at Julian Capital and Deep Checks. As always, if you've got any questions, feedback, guest ideas, or just want to say hey, don't hesitate to shoot us a message at podcast@goingvc.com. John Forbes (@john___forbes) started two businesses before finishing high school, joined Dorm Room Fund as its youngest partner at Berkeley, and helped take a disaster-coordination startup from zero to product-market fit before landing at Julian Capital, a pre-seed and seed deep tech fund. He also runs Deep Checks, the largest deep tech funding platform. He joins JJ and Asad to talk about why deep tech is having its moment, the three risks investors get wrong, and how AI is rewiring diligence. Sections Origin story — T-shirts and wellness apps in high school, four years at Dorm Room Fund (including a 20-block sprint to the interview), and a climate tech wedge into deep techWhy deep tech, why now — Software's compressing multiples, falling defensibility, and the structural tailwinds pulling capital toward hardwareDeep Checks — Solving the matching problem in deep tech: one-minute applications, batches every three weeks, and vetting investors who are actively deploying, not just "deep tech curious"Life as a principal — Sourcing, diligence, LP updates, and building a startup for startupsInfinite curiosity — Why sitting at the frontier with founders chasing their magnum opus never gets oldThe biggest mistakes in deep tech diligence — Underwriting market pull, wrapping your head around the shape of technical risk, and stress-testing the competitive landscapeHow deep tech founders should pitch — Less metrics, more proof that you're the exceptional founder for this exact businessAI in deep tech — Core to the product, core to the workflows, or an extension of your own brainTrends and a shout-out — Surprisingly uniform submissions across subsectors, and Aalo's small modular reactors for data centersThe future of diligence — Expert-level context at your fingertips, and why asking the right questions now beats being the expertAdvice for emerging managers — Sourcing is the input that matters most; picking and winning don't matter if you're not seeing the best companiesBook — David McCullough's John Adams biography (and wanting to be Ben Franklin when he grows up)

    Episode 48 - Infinite Curiosity: John Forbes on Deep Tech Diligence and Building Deep Checks
  2. Jul 27

    Episode 47 - Talent Is Everywhere, Capital Isn't with Bedy Yang of 500 Global

    👋 Hey Listener! We're really excited to be bringing to you today our conversation with Bedy Yang at 500 Global. As always, if you've got any questions, feedback, guest ideas, or just want to say hey, don't hesitate to shoot us a message at podcast@goingvc.com. Bedy Yang has spent 15 years helping 500 Global grow from an accelerator running lots of little bets into a $2.2B multi-stage platform with 30+ unicorns. She joins JJ and Asad to talk about investing outside-in, what first-time managers get wrong about LPs, and where AI alpha actually concentrates. Sections Origin story — Growing up Chinese-Brazilian with roots in Taiwan, and how a global network became an accidental path into ventureThe seat at the table — The Startup to Startup dinner that crystallized her "talent is everywhere" conviction500's evolution — From one fund to regional funds with partners on the ground, and why local expertise was the unlockWhat she's had to unlearn — Over-modeling market outcomes (the Nubank lesson), and trusting founders to figure it outVC Unlocked — Why 500 built a training program, what they screen for in participants, and the "permission" effect on first-time managersWhat first-timers misunderstand about LPs — Institutional capital takes years; your first close is usually closer to home than you thinkFund two — Why the second raise is the hard one, and what makes LPs re-up before returns landEmerging markets misconceptions — Separating markets big enough to win alone from those that must go global on day oneUnderappreciated regions — Eastern Europe and Central Asia, sitting between East and WestSovereign and government capital — The Sanabil work with PIF, right-sizing a first fund, and doubling it halfway throughAI — Why infrastructure alpha stays concentrated in Silicon Valley, where the rest of the world can win, and the 18-month window for nationsClosing advice + book — There's no perfect time to raise, and The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

    Episode 47 - Talent Is Everywhere, Capital Isn't with Bedy Yang of 500 Global

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
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About

The GoingVC Podcast - uncovering new paths into VC, diving deeper into alternative models, and addressing areas of weakness with Asad Ali, and JJ MacLean (@jjmaclean) from the GoingVC team. GoingVC is a global community and career development program for venture capital. To learn more or to checkout our guides, content, models and VC research checkout https://www.goingvc.com/blog Feedback? We'd love to hear it: podcast@goingvc.com