Investing in Startups

Joe Magyer
  • 5.0 (22)
  • INVESTING
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Investing In Startups explores the strategies and stories of leading early-stage venture capitalists. The show is for VCs, angels, founders, operators, and the startup-curious. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just dipping your toes into startups, this podcast is your guide to navigating this dynamic ecosystem. The show is hosted by Joe Magyer, Founder and Managing Partner of Seaplane Ventures.

  1. 4D AGO

    B2B in the Age of AI and Services as Software with Ariel Winton-Jones

    Ariel Winton-Jones is the founder of The Aligned Fund, where she invests in B2B software companies at the earliest signs of product-market fit. We talked about services as software, what B2B looks like in the age of AI, and why intentional investing can be a real edge. Ariel explains how her thinking evolved from traditional B2B SaaS into what she calls “services as software.” In a world where AI is changing what software can do, she’s most excited by businesses that don’t just give users tools, but actually deliver outcomes that once required human labor. Instead of software as a DIY layer, she argues that the next wave of great B2B companies will solve the problem itself. We also talk about Ariel’s investing style and why she operates with unusual intention in a market that often rewards speed. She shares why she likes to meet founders early, spend real time understanding how they think, and build conviction through deep diligence rather than just pattern matching from a deck. A big part of the conversation is her focus on early product-market fit and why she believes that stage is more knowable than many investors assume. Ariel also breaks down why she remains so committed to B2B software. We discuss why B2B has proven resilient, how AI is expanding the kinds of markets that can support venture-scale outcomes, and why there is no single right way to price or sell software. What matters most, she argues, is fit between the product, the customer, and the value being delivered. Finally, we discuss concentration, reserves, and what venture often gets wrong. Ariel explains why she prefers a low-velocity, high-conviction approach, why she keeps reserves low, and why the best early-stage investing often comes from going much deeper on fewer opportunities. It’s a conversation about software, judgment, and how to invest thoughtfully when both technology and venture are changing fast. Investing in Startups is produced by Seaplane Ventures and hosted by Joe Magyer.

  2. APR 15

    Future Titans, Authenticity, and Systems Thinking with Daniel Dart

    Daniel Dart is the Founder and General Partner of Rock Yard Ventures. He is also the founder of the Future Titans summit, an amazing event he recently hosted in Austin for emerging managers and the LPs who back them. Daniel is a collaborative, Seed-focused investor focused on backing founders who are refunding core industries. We talked about Future Titans, ambition, authenticity, and the pursuit of Tier One status. We also explored:   Why Future Titans exists: Daniel built the Emerging Manager Summit as the room he wished existed—relationship-first, practical, and designed for funds I–III (not a conference-business play). He’s focused on creating the right environment vs. chasing early vanity metrics.   Anti-status design (no name tags / no pitch decks): He argues most events incentivize social stack-ranking and transactional behavior; removing those cues forces human-first conversations and lowers the “pitch” energy.   Core philosophy: “find believers, don’t convince skeptics.” Trust is his upstream variable for everything—LP relationships, founder support, community building. His “patron/believer” framing is about compounding a small set of true supporters over time.   Founder support system (real operator cadence): He shares a concrete post-check rhythm—every-other-week check-ins early, then monthly—aimed at building trust and creating a safe place for founders to think clearly when things get messy.   Building “tier-one” access via a “Voltron” network: Rather than pretending he can see everything, he wants a trusted brain-trust where high-signal peers effectively extend his coverage; Future Titans is partly a compounding mechanism for that.   Investing in Startups is hosted by Joe Magyer, founder and managing partner of Seaplane Ventures.

  3. APR 1

    Momentum, Moats, and the New Rules of Pre-Seed with Gaurav Jain

    Gaurav Jain is the Cofounder and Managing Partner of Afore Capital. Afore is one of the OGs of institutional pre-seed investing and runs the largest dedicated pre-seed venture fund in the world. We talked about momentum as a moat, how vibe-coding effects pre-seed investing, and the importance of great product and distribution. Here's a longer breakdown…   Gaurav explains why momentum has become more durable than traditional moats, especially in a world where AI is making it easier to build products quickly. Instead of relying on old ideas of defensibility, he argues that the best startups create constant forward motion through product improvement, user pull, and rapid execution.   We talk about what Afore Capital looks for at the pre-seed stage, when there may be very little company built and not much data to evaluate. Gaurav shares how he thinks about backing founders early, what signals matter most before traction exists, and why team quality often matters more than a polished market narrative.   Gaurav also breaks down how AI is changing startup formation, from reducing the amount of capital needed to build a company to speeding up the path from idea to product and customer feedback. The conversation explores what this means for founders, investors, and the pace of competition in the earliest stages.   A big theme in the episode is distribution and founder-led selling. Gaurav talks about why distribution can’t be treated as an afterthought, why technical founders still need to learn how to get in front of customers, and how the best early companies pair strong product instincts with a clear path to demand.   Finally, we discuss how pre-seed investing has evolved over the last decade and what Gaurav has learned from helping define the category. He shares lessons on market size, founder selection, and why early-stage investing is often less about predicting categories and more about recognizing the people most capable of creating momentum from nothing.   Investing in Startups is produced by Seaplane Ventures and hosted by Joe Magyer.

    30 min

  4. MAR 18

    AI, Hot Deals, & Ownership: Joe Magyer Reflects on 50 Episodes

    We're celebrating our recent 50th episode with a special conversation between host Joe Magyer and guest host Chris Hill of Money Unplugged. Chris interviews Joe about his lessons learned from the first 50 episodes, how AI is impacting startups and venture capital, what Joe has changed his mind about, and investing in startups, both the craft and the show. Joe and Chris also unpack how AI has reshaped venture in just two years—changing what it costs to start a company, how many people startups need to hire, how quickly they can build product, and why investors are again leaning into the category after a brutal post-2021 reset.   They revisit one of venture’s oldest debates: concentrated vs. diversified portfolios. Joe explains why some investors want as many shots on goal as possible, while others prefer to place fewer, higher-conviction bets so they can spend more time with founders and have a better chance of meaningful ownership in the winners. Another core tension in the episode is consensus vs. non-consensus investing. Joe talks through why the hottest deals often get hot for good reasons—great founders, fast growth, strong co-investors—but also why crowded rounds can compress returns and leave investors paying up for certainty that may already be priced in.   Finally, Joe also shares how hosting the podcast has changed his own investing style. Hearing other managers explain their frameworks pushed him to rethink rigid reserve strategies, become more flexible about follow-on investing, and focus more on doubling down when real conviction builds through direct founder relationships.   Investing in Startups is produced by Seaplane Ventures and (usually) hosted by Joe Magyer.

    38 min

  5. MAR 4

    Live Episode! A Future Titans Collab and Solo GP Life with Zal Bilimoria

    We're excited to share this interview with Zal Bilimoria, founding partner at Refactor Capital, recorded live at the recent Future Titans emerging manager summit. Zal is a high-conviction, hard-tech investor and solo capitalist who manages more than $225 million. He has a fascinating career, from building products at Netflix and LinkedIn to being an early employee at a16z to later forming Refactor. We talked about why Zal is solo, what he learned from a16z, why he invests with conviction, how he built a robust firm without any employees supporting him, and how he managed to lead a Series D round despite his firm being a Seed expert. We also discussed:   Why Zal chose the solo GP path (on purpose): after seeing large-firm partnership dynamics at Andreessen Horowitz, he optimized for speed, autonomy, and founder time—especially important at seed where decision velocity matters. Refactor started as a two-GP fund with David Lee (ex–SV Angel), then David retired earlier than expected—forcing Zal to rebuild the LP base and prove the strategy could work with a single decision-maker.   A “right-sized” fund strategy as an operating system: Zal explains why he’s stayed around ~$50M per fund, targets ~20 companies per fund, and focuses on ~8–10% ownership at entry to keep the model manageable and return-capable. He actively tracks how many portfolio companies “graduate” (to Series A and beyond) each year so his board/support load stays sustainable without adding headcount.   Robustness for LPs (the “hit-by-a-bus” plan): Zal shares a concrete solo-GP risk mitigation tactic—he carries a life insurance policy payable to the management company so LPs have resources to recruit a successor or wind down assets without crushing fund performance.   Hard tech example that feels sci-fi (with real traction): Solugen. Zal recounts leading Solugen’s seed ~9 years ago and watching it scale into a large revenue business—then pivoting into a high-demand defense chemistry product with major government pull.   How a seed lead ends up leading a Series D: during the 2022 market reset, Zal had an SPV ready (~$20M) to secure pro rata; when no one wanted to “stick their neck out” as lead, he wrote the first term sheet—unlocking the round and attracting co-leads/followers.   Reserve strategy shift: he describes moving from ~50% reserves to ~20% reserves—preferring more “shots on goal” at pre-seed/seed, and noting how hard it is to consistently pick Series A winners even when top firms lead the round.   Investing in Startups is hosted by Joe Magyer, founder and managing partner of Seaplane Ventures.

  6. FEB 18

    Episode 50! Venture Strategy, Real Work, & The Myth of Overnight Success with Seth Levine

    Seth Levine is a Partner at Foundry Group, a longtime early-stage firm investing in both startups and emerging fund managers. We talked about the art of working with founders, short-term-ism, knowing your own competitive advantage, why AI will create more jobs than it disrupts, and the myth of overnight success. Here's the longer of what we covered:   Doing the real work with founders and GPs – Seth explains why his favorite part of Foundry is deep, collaborative problem-solving with CEOs and emerging managers, not formal board meetings, and why he sees himself as “in the influence game,” working for founders rather than controlling them.   Fund size is fund strategy – He walks through why Foundry chose not to become a perpetual, multi-generational platform, and how everything from check size to reserves, board work, and follow-on strategy has to flow from the true size and intent of the fund—not from chasing a bigger AUM number.   What LPs miss about emerging managers – Drawing on Foundry’s long history backing funds, Seth argues most LPs behave like asset allocators who over-weight pedigree, underwrite theses too superficially, and don’t dig hard enough into a GP’s real edge, philosophy, and personal “why” for running a firm.   Under-explored fund models he loves – Seth highlights niche yet powerful strategies: Arthur Ventures’ “under-the-radar” B2B SaaS approach, roll-ups of orphaned 2019–2020 vintage funds, and hybrid revenue-based vehicles that blend debt-style payback with equity upside for founders.   If he were starting fresh today – From a pure performance standpoint, he’d run a much more diversified early-stage book with lots of initial positions and minimal follow-ons—Taleb-inspired barbell thinking—and, in a wilder alternate life, maybe build a Series A or growth platform in Saudi Arabia to ride frontier-market upside.   Capital Evolution & fixing capitalism, not ditching it – Seth shares the origin story of his new book, his evolving view on when companies should (and shouldn’t) wade into politics, the shift from shareholder primacy toward broader stakeholders, and why medium- to long-term thinking and greater economic dynamism are essential.   AI, entrepreneurship, and why venture’s glamor is BS – He’s long-term bullish and short-term cautious on AI, seeing it as a huge unlock for productivity and entrepreneurship far beyond tech—but also a source of disruption that needs thoughtful retraining and policy.    Investing in Startups is hosted by Joe Magyer and produced by Seaplane Ventures.

    55 min

  7. FEB 6

    E49: AI Agents, Unlocking Human Potential, and Not Giving Up with Hyperspell

    Conor Brennan-Burke and Manu Ebert are the co-founders of Hyperspell. Hyperspell provides a memory and context layer to AI agents is one of our portfolio companies at Seaplane Ventures. I (Joe here) was trying to explain to some friends at a BBQ recently Hyperspell what did and learned pretty quickly that most people aren’t familiar yet with AI agents. Given that and the sudden explosion in interest in AI agents, I thought it would be great for listeners to have Conor and Manu to come on to talk about AI agents, the evolution of AI, context, Y Combinator, and how Manu once bought a .AI domain name via fax machine.    From chatbots to true agents – Conor breaks down where tools like ChatGPT stop and AI agents begin, and why the key shift is agents taking actions autonomously across your tools, not just answering questions.   Why context is the real bottleneck – Manu and Conor share how building their own “chief of staff” agent led them to Hyperspell, a memory and context layer that plugs into tools like Slack, Gmail, and Notion so agents can actually understand your customers, org chart, and tech stack.   The three bottlenecks to agent adoption – Manu explains why verification, capability, and context each limit what agents can do today, and why decoupling these layers (rather than relying on a single big lab) gives companies more flexibility and avoids platform lock-in.   Why workers aren’t using AI (yet) – Conor reacts to studies showing most desk workers rarely touch AI, and argues that fear, bad framing (“AI will replace you”), and lack of personalized context are holding back adoption despite models already outperforming humans on many benchmarks.   AI as global leapfrog, not just US office automation – Manu highlights under-discussed upside: primary care in Africa, McKinsey-grade advice for small businesses, tailored guidance for farmers, and always-on tutors that could reshape opportunity in developing markets.   Let machines be the cogs, not people – The pair paint a future where AI agents handle status updates, follow-ups, and information shuffling inside big orgs, freeing humans to do creative, high-leverage work instead of feeling like dehumanized “TPS report” machines.   Building SuperMe and all-star AI teams – Conor shares a favorite customer use case: cloning experts (or even yourself) as agents using your own docs, email, and notes, so a solo founder can effectively “hire” an AI team of world-class operators and advisors.   YC, rejection, and founder stubbornness – Conor and Manu talk about finally getting into Y Combinator after nine applications between them, why persistence is a superpower for founders, and how YC has shaped Hyperspell’s trajectory.   Investing in Startups is hosted by Joe Magyer and produced by Seaplane Ventures.

    31 min

  8. JAN 28

    E48: Backing Emerging Managers Before They're Brand Names with Courtney McCrea

    Courtney McCrea is the Cofounder and Managing Partner of Recast Capital. Courtney and I dove into the intricacies of investing in emerging managers and building those firms. We talked about why Courtney is so enthusiastic about emerging managers, the challenges emerging managers face and how to overcome them, how LPs can better evaluate emerging managers, and why LPs aren’t racing to adopt AI as fast as their VCs.   We also discussed:   How LPs really evaluate first-time fund managers: beyond pedigree, what creates conviction in sourcing, selection, and portfolio construction.   Fund I fundraising strategy: why “spray-and-pray” outreach fails—and how to identify the right-fit LPs instead of chasing every allocator.   Where to start if you’re raising your first venture fund: go “off the beaten path” rather than leading with mega-institutions and public pensions.   LP diligence that actually matters: Courtney’s framework for reference calls, risk lists, and finding the “fatal flaw” early.   Solo GP vs partnership risk: why “GP divorce” can be a bigger underwriting risk than the classic “hit-by-a-bus” concern.   AI in the LP workflow: what Courtney is seeing (and experimenting with) in diligence and decision-making as venture processes modernize.   Joe Magyer is the host of Investing in Startups, which is a Seaplane Ventures production.

See All (55)

5
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

Investing In Startups explores the strategies and stories of leading early-stage venture capitalists. The show is for VCs, angels, founders, operators, and the startup-curious. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just dipping your toes into startups, this podcast is your guide to navigating this dynamic ecosystem. The show is hosted by Joe Magyer, Founder and Managing Partner of Seaplane Ventures.

Information

  • Creator
    Joe Magyer
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    55
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Investing in Startups Joe Magyer
  • Show Website
    Investing in Startups

You Might Also Like