The Value-Add Mash Chowdhury

I spend the legendary episode number 10, with none other than Richard Hughes who is the Operating Partner at Gutter Capital, a fund I deeply admire because of how they treat their founders and the depth of the care they provide for their success.
Richard helps his founders find and retain the most talented candidates at every level from entry-level to the C-suite. It's not everyday that I come across someone who is this passionate and great at their work, and I deeply recommend you listen to this full episode!
Here are the topics we discussed in great detail:
- What makes Richard love the talent/hiring space so much, and how he got into it.- How his career evolved over the years and how he entered the world of Venture Capital.- Richard's 3 biggest learnings after helping so many startups hire top-tier talent.- How his role at Gutter Capital (Operating Partner) is different from a Platform Head or Lead.- How exactly Gutter Capital supports their portfolio founders today and how they anticipate their startups' needs.- How his team "markets" their Platform capabilities to LPs (Limited Partners) and portfolio founders.- How emerging managers should think about budgeting for their Platform functions.- Most useful and the worst (haha) advice Richard's heard.- What the future of Platform looks like for the next 3-5 years at Gutter Capital.- Richard's advice for newcomers to VC Platform
This podcast is presented by HireCMO.io/vc, where VCs bring in hands-on marketers to grow their startups' revenue. All of our marketers are vetted, and have 23+ years of experience growing startups to millions in revenue! :)

Finally, I sit down with Dani from Forum Ventures where she leads Platform for 380 startups, with a 6-person Platform team! We went into extreme detail to learn how they've built a community of founders/investors/mentors so well, and how they continue delivering tiptop value to their startups even at this scale. We left no stone unturned, and we'd love for you to listen to the full episode!
Here are the topics we discussed:- How the venture capital scene differs in Canada versus US.- What type of startups Forum Ventures invests in, and if they prefer first-time versus repeat founders.- Forum Ventures' unique structure where they have an (1) AI Studio (2) Accelerator fund and a (3) Pre-seed fund!- The difference between "Community" and "Platform" in the VC world (since I keep confusing the two lol)- Dani's top learnings while building out their community at Forum (hint: it's really well thought out!)- What exactly Platform means to Dani and her team, and precisely how they support their founders. This is the meat of the episode!- What Dani envisions for the future of Platform at Forum- And finally, her advice for newcomers wanting to join the VC Platform space
This podcast is presented by HireCMO.io/vc, where VCs bring in hands-on marketers to grow their startups' revenue. All of our marketers are vetted, and have 23+ years of experience growing startups to millions in revenue! :)

What a unique episode. My admiration for Divya went up tenfold when I learned why she does what she does, and how she entered the world of venture capital. Often times we forget the weight of our own "why" and this episode reminded me about how our whys truly drive our behaviors.
Divya is a VC Partner at Graham & Walker. Here are the topics we cover:
- Divya's career path, as she went from leading Marketing in India to now being a VC Partner in Seattle!- How and why Graham & Walker is so committed to help female founders.- How their VC fund actually started as a community! - What drives Divya as person to do what she does everyday.- Some alarming statistics around how less women are funded compared to men.- How Divya's team does VC Platform at Graham & Walker.- How she sees the VC Platform space changing over time.- Divya's advice for newcomers trying to get into VC Platform.
This podcast was hosted on HireCMO.io/vc, where VCs bring in hands-on marketers to grow their startups' revenue. All of our marketers are vetted, and have 23+ years of experience growing startups to millions in revenue! :)

It's my first time hosting someone with such a unique background, who obsesses about communications and everything that surrounds it. Her perspective is truly one of a kind, and there's so much I learned in such a short amount of time talking to her. I'm so proud to be sharing this with you.
Galina is the Head of Communications at Vibranium VC. Here are the topics we cover:
- How Galina landed in venture capital, coming from an innovations and communications background.- How she uses her communications background specifically to support her fund and the founders they back. Niche gems here. Loved it.- How founders need to be persistent when trying to get media exposure from publications like TechCrunch.- What her fund does to support newcomer founders to the US. This was heart-warming, seeing how much they actually care.
This podcast was hosted on HireCMO.io/vc, where VCs bring in hands-on marketers to grow their startups' revenue. All of our marketers are vetted, and have 23+ years of experience growing startups to millions in revenue. Okay, that was a mouthful.

What a detailed interview. One of a kind. Julian and I went into specifics of how their fund (Maze) operates and how exactly they support their portfolio founders through a unique blend of VC Platform services. Great talk!
Julian is the Product Analyst at MAZE. Here are the topics we cover:
- How she landed her VC Platform role, despite being from a non-finance background originally. She was a teacher, a graphics design, and much more before getting into Venture Capital! I personally love Julian's grit through her career. Amazing.- Her fund is very big on the word "impact". Lots of VC funds have different meanings for that word, and so I asked her how her team defines and measures impact for their founders.- We (obviously) talked in depth about MAZE's VC Platform capabilities. Julian eloquently explains this. And I suggest you take notes when you listen!- How community is so, so important in the VC platform world because you get to learn so much rapidly from others who're doing the same things as you! This was an interesting one.
This podcast was hosted on HireCMO.io/vc, where VCs bring in our senior marketers to grow their startups' revenue. All of our marketers are vetted, and have 23+ years of experience growing startups to millions in revenue. Okay, that was a mouthful.

What a power-packed episode. I remember feeling electric after we finished recording this. 
Oliver has to be one of the smartest and most confident individuals I've met from the VC Platform industry this week. He had strong conviction behind his words, and I personally loved the story behind how him and his team think about their fund's brand, identity and support system (i.e., VC Platform) for founders. Incredible episode, took me hours to edit but that's because it's that good! Haha.
Oliver is the Platform Lead at inMotion Ventures. Here are the topics we covered on this episode:
- Fundraising trends in the UK/Europe for startups and VC funds- How inMotion Ventures thinks about strategic investing, and how them having just one LP affects their VC Platform function- How Oliver's background in marketing/branding supercharges his own role today at the fund as their Platform Lead- How Oliver thinks the VC Platform role will evolve in the coming years- How VC funds typically market their platform capabilities to founders- How Oliver and his team keeps tabs on what their portfolio founders need, so they can support them in the best way possible i.e., the role of the "VC Platform" function- Oliver's advice for newcomers who want to apply for VC Platform roles
This podcast was hosted on HireCMO.io/vc, where VCs bring in senior marketers (with rockstar reputations) to grow their portfolio startups' revenue. Spoiler: it works.