Venture with Grace

Grace Gong
  • 4.8 (22)
  • Investing
  • Updated Daily

I host a top VC podcast called Smart Venture Podcast (SVPpro.com). Past guests include C-level/VPs of Google, Meta, Amazon, Sephora, Dunkin' Donuts, Chipotle, Pepsi, Instagram, Deloitte, Reddit, Lyft, etc. Managing Partners of top funds (many were featured on the Forbes Midas List) and unicorn founders (founders of Craigslist, Square, Loom, Cruise, etc.) Venture with Grace is my new spin-off series that features top LPs, GPs, solo GPs, Angel Investors, top AI founders, and other experts in tech and business to cover specific domain expertise. Watch this Live on LinkedIn/ YouTube: Grace Gong

  1. 12h ago

    Akshaya Srivatsa, Maxima CPO on Agentic AI and the Future of Accounting

    Akshaya Srivatsa is Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Maxima, an agentic accounting platform built to automate the month-end close, reduce errors and audit risk, and give accounting teams more time for strategic work. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~At Maxima, he leads product, design, security, and post-sales while working directly with every signed customer. Previously, he was an Engineering Leader at WhatsApp, where he led teams responsible for messaging integrity across 50M businesses and 2B+ users, including machine learning systems for anti-spam, fraud, and messaging quality and WhatsApp’s large-scale OTP authentication system. Before WhatsApp, he spent more than three years as VP of Engineering at Bolt, where he helped build checkout, payments, and fraud prevention products from an early stage and led a team of 30+ engineers. Earlier in his career, he worked on large-scale distributed systems at Twitter and systems engineering at Marvell, and conducted research in inexact computing at Rice University.Topics Can agentic AI finally transform an accounting industry that has barely changed in two decades?What does it take to build AI agents that can handle complex, company-specific financial workflows reliably?What can product leaders learn from building high-scale systems at WhatsApp and Bolt?#Maxima #AgenticAI #AccountingAI #AI #Fintech

  2. 1d ago

    Apoorv Bhargava, WeaveGrid CEO on EVs, Energy and the Future Grid

    Apoorv Bhargava is the CEO and co-founder of WeaveGrid, a software company integrating electric vehicles into the grid to accelerate the energy transition. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Since co-founding WeaveGrid in 2018, Apoorv has helped build the company to nearly 90 employees serving more than 15 utilities across the U.S. Previously, he worked at Opower, NRG Energy, Joby Aviation, and Capricorn Investment Group, where he focused on energy, transportation, and climate technology. He holds an MBA and MS from Stanford and dual degrees from Rice University in Chemical Engineering and Energy Economics.Topics How software can coordinate millions of electric vehicles with utilities, turning EV charging from a growing grid challenge into a flexible energy resource.The infrastructure, utility partnerships, economics, and technology needed to connect EV adoption with renewable power grid.Lessons from climate-tech ecosystem about turning complex infrastructure problems into scalable businesses.#ClimateTech #ElectricVehicles #EnergyTransition #CleanEnergy #GridTech

  3. 2d ago

    Scott Beechuk, Norwest Partner on Agentic AI, Enterprise Software & CX

    Scott Beechuk is a Partner at Norwest, where he invests in early-stage enterprise software companies, with a focus on agentic systems, CX, customer support, sales enablement, e-commerce infrastructure, and marketing.~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~ His active investments include Connect The Dots, Coval, Fabric, Generalist AI, Harness, Kustomer, and You.com. Before Norwest, Scott spent seven years at Salesforce, where he led the Service Cloud and Desk.com product organizations. He previously co-founded three startups, including eMassive, an enterprise e-commerce platform. Scott holds 13 U.S. patents and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan.TopicsInvesting in the next generation of agentic enterprise software and AI systemsHow AI agents are transforming customer experience, support, and salesLessons from building startups and leading products at Salesforce#ArtificialIntelligence #AgenticAI #EnterpriseAI #VentureCapital #SaaS

  4. 2d ago

    Walter Kortschak, Firestreak Ventures Founder on AI Investing

    Walter Kortschak is the Founder of Kortschak Investments and a Senior Advisor at Summit Partners, where he spent 26 years and helped establish the firm’s West Coast investment presence, growing assets under management from $100 million to more than $20 billion. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~Across more than three decades of investing, he has worked with entrepreneurs as an advisor, board member, and lead investor. His portfolio includes 23 companies that completed successful IPOs and 29 that were acquired, returning more than $7.8 billion of value to investors. Walter also helped launch SignalFire in 2013 as its founding investor, serving as Executive Chairman and CIO before becoming Chairman Emeritus and Founding Investor. He has been named to the Forbes Midas List and serves as a trustee at Caltech.Topics Building enduring companies through long-term venture investing and close work with foundersWhat decades of investing reveal about identifying exceptional entrepreneurs and emerging technologyThe evolution of data-driven venture capital, AI, and how technology is reshaping investing#VentureCapital #ArtificialIntelligence #Startups #Investing #Entrepreneurship

  5. 6d ago

    Jenny Xiao, Leonis Capital Partner on AI Investing and Emerging Talent

    Jenny Xiao is a Partner at Leonis Capital, a research-driven venture capital firm backing technical founders and emerging talent at the earliest stages of AI. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~She brings a rare combination of AI research, economics, and investing experience, having previously worked as an early researcher at OpenAI and as a researcher at Epoch AI. Jenny holds a Ph.D. in AI and economics from Columbia University, where her research explored the intersection of technology, economics, and artificial intelligence. Before joining Leonis, she was an early employee at OpenAI and left shortly after ChatGPT’s rapid rise to build a research-driven investment platform with her partner, Jay Zhao. At Leonis, she focuses on identifying and supporting AI-native companies at the seed and pre-seed stages, including investments in companies such as Viktor AI, MaintainX, Motion, Spline, and Bud. Her research has been featured in Nature, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg, and she has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree. She also serves as an independent trustee of the Corgi ETF Trust.Topics How Jenny’s experience at OpenAI and in AI research shapes the way she evaluates technical founders and emerging AI companiesWhat the next generation of AI-native companies is building at the seed and pre-seed stages.Lessons from building a research-driven venture firm focused on identifying exceptional technical talent#ArtificialIntelligence #VentureCapital #AIInvesting #Startups #FutureOfAI

  6. Oct 1

    Paul Tatum, Salesforce EVP on Agentic AI, Government and Innovation

    Paul Tatum is Executive Vice President of Solution Engineering for Global Public Sector at Salesforce, where he leads teams helping governments around the world modernize their missions and operations with Salesforce’s PaaS and SaaS offerings. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~He has spent more than 12 years at Salesforce, previously serving as SVP and VP of Solution Engineering across public sector and broader markets. Before Salesforce, Paul held more than four years of leadership roles at Oracle and more than 14 years at Sun Microsystems, where he served as Director of Sun Federal Systems Engineering. His work focuses on helping governments, nonprofits, and educational institutions become more responsive and efficient through cloud technology, data, and agentic AI.Topics How governments are adopting agentic AI to modernize services and improve operational efficiencyBuilding trusted AI systems for citizens, employees, and public-sector organizationsThe evolution of enterprise technology from cloud platforms to AI-powered government#ArtificialIntelligence #AgenticAI #GovTech #EnterpriseAI #Salesforce

  7. Sep 30

    Ashley Kramer, ElevenLabs CRO on AI, Enterprise Growth and Voice

    Ashley Kramer is the Chief Revenue Officer at ElevenLabs, where she leads the company’s global revenue function and partnership ecosystem as it expands AI-powered voice and agent technology across the enterprise.~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~She previously served as Vice President of Enterprise at OpenAI from 2025 to 2026, leading enterprise sales during a period when enterprise revenue surpassed consumer revenue and OpenAI’s technology saw broad adoption among Fortune 100 companies. Before OpenAI, Ashley spent more than three years at GitLab in executive leadership roles spanning revenue, strategy, marketing, technology, and product. She also held senior roles at Alteryx and Tableau. At ElevenLabs, AI agents now handle more than 15 million conversations each week, while enterprise customers account for 55% of the company’s revenue.Topics Scaling enterprise AI adoption from early experimentation to business-critical use casesBuilding AI agents for natural, personalized interactions across customers, languages, and industriesLessons from leading enterprise growth at OpenAI, GitLab, and ElevenLabs#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #EnterpriseAI #AIAgents #VoiceAI

  8. Sep 28

    Ryan Gibson, Eclipse Partner on Physical AI, Robotics and Industry

    Ryan Gibson is a Partner and VP of Finance at Eclipse Capital, where he invests at the formation, Seed, and Series A stages in companies reinventing physical industries through hardware, software, and AI. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode is brought to you by Nebius — the ultimate cloud for AI innovators.Nebius provides AI infrastructure you can count on, combining reliability and speed with flexibility and engineering support unmatched by hyperscalers.AI leaders like Meta, Shopify, and Higgsfield already partner with Nebius to run their AI workloads. Plus, venture-backed startups can save up to $150,000 on compute costs when they apply for access. Visit nebius.com or nebius.com/startups to learn more~~~~~~~~~~~~~He previously co-founded Kojo, a construction supply chain SaaS company that has served more than $4 billion in construction material volume and raised more than $90 million. As CTO, he built products used by hundreds of contractors across the U.S. Earlier, he worked as an investor at 8VC and built hardware at world-class organizations. At Eclipse, he has helped launch companies including Bedrock Robotics, focused on autonomous systems for heavy construction machinery.Topics How AI, robotics, and automation are reshaping construction and other physical industriesBuilding and investing in physical technology companies from formation through early-stage growthLessons from scaling Kojo and applying an operator’s perspective to venture investing#ArtificialIntelligence #PhysicalAI #Robotics #ConstructionTech #VentureCapital

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4.8
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

I host a top VC podcast called Smart Venture Podcast (SVPpro.com). Past guests include C-level/VPs of Google, Meta, Amazon, Sephora, Dunkin' Donuts, Chipotle, Pepsi, Instagram, Deloitte, Reddit, Lyft, etc. Managing Partners of top funds (many were featured on the Forbes Midas List) and unicorn founders (founders of Craigslist, Square, Loom, Cruise, etc.) Venture with Grace is my new spin-off series that features top LPs, GPs, solo GPs, Angel Investors, top AI founders, and other experts in tech and business to cover specific domain expertise. Watch this Live on LinkedIn/ YouTube: Grace Gong

Information

  • Creator
    Grace Gong
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    664
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Grace Gong
  • Show Website
    Venture with Grace

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