Smart Venture Podcast

Craig Newmark - Founder of Craigslist
Jim McKelvey - Co-founder of Square 
Justin Osofsky - COO of Instagram 
Chris Slowe - CTO of Reddit
Todd Kaplan - CMO of Kraft Heinz, ex- CMO of Pepsi
Suzanne Kounkel - CMO of Deloitte
Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean - Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of DoorDash
Daniel Kan - Co-founder & CPO of Cruise 
Matt Madrigal - CTO of Pinterest
Ben Kus - CTO of Box
Berent Bellm - ex CEO of BigCommerce 
Henry Schuck - CEO of Zoominfo 
Tony Stubblebine - CEO of Medium 
Chris Koehler - CMO of Twilio 
Kevin Rose - Partner at True Ventures, ex-GP at Google Ventures
Robert Rosenberg - 35-Year CEO of Dunkin' Donuts, ex-Board Member @Domino's Pizza 
Monty Moran - ex-CO-CEO Chipotle Mexican Grill
Jeetu Patel - CPO of Cisco, ex-CPO & CSO @ Box
Paul Madera - Co-founder & General Partner at Meritech Capital. Portfolio: Facebook, Salesforce
Rob Chesnut - ex Chief Ethics Officer @Airbnb, SVP @eBay & Chegg
Olivia Nottebohm - CRO of Notion, ex COO of Dropbox, ex VP at Google 
Marvin Chow - VP of Google 
Erin Egan - VP & Chief Privacy Officer, Public Policy at Facebook / Meta
Ethan Evans - VP of Amazon
Howard Wright - VP of Nvidia 
David Cowan - Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners Portfolio: LinkedIn, Twitch
Kim Scott - NYT&WSJ Bestselling Author of Radical Candor, ex-CEO coach of Dropbox &Twitter  
Chris Voss - WSJ Bestselling Author 
Bob Muglia - ex CEO of Snowflake, ex President of Microsoft
Aparna Chennapragada CPO @ Microsoft AI for Work, ex CPO of Robinhood, ex VP of Google
Sumit Chauhan - CVP of Microsoft
Roman Chernin - Co-Founder of Nebius 
Gary Pinkus - Chairman of McKinsey North America 

+more

Ranked by Listen Notes as one of the top 1.5% most popular shows globally
Listenership 100 + countries 
Nominated by Asian American Podcasters Association for Golden Crane Awards

Apple:https://apple.co/3d6bGea
Spotify: http://bit.ly/gracegong
Website: https://www.smartventurepod.com
YouTube: https://bit.ly/gracegongyoutube

Founder, CEO & Host

Venture with Grace

I go LIVE with a VC/ LP/ founder daily here on LinkedIn. Past guests:

Co-Founder & Managing Partner @ Greycroft - Ian Saginaw
Partner @ Sequoia - James Flynn
Partner @ Sapphire Ventures - Rajeev Dham
Partner @ NEA - Aaron Jacobson
General Partner @ IVP - Somesh Dash
Partner @ Lightspeed - Hemant Mohapatra
Partner @ Bessemer - Mike Droesch
Managing Director @ Insight Partners - Nikhil Sachdev
Partner @ a16z - Emily Bennett 
Partner @ Pear VC - Vivien Ho
General Partner @ Gradient Ventures - Darian Shirazi 
General Partner @ Lux Capital - Shahin Farshchi 
Partner @ Upfront Ventures - Aditi Maliwal
Partner @ Primary Ventures - Emily Man 
Partner @ Menlo Ventures - Steve Sloane
Partner @ M13 - Brent Murri 
Partner @ Madrona - Vivek Ramaswami 
Partner @ Craft Ventures - Bryan Rosenblatt  
Partner @ Bain Capital Ventures - Saanya Ojha
Partner @ True Ventures - Tony Conrad 
Co-Founder and Partner @ Tribe Capital - Arjun Sethi
Managing Partner @ Eclipes Venture - Lior Susan 
Managing Partner @ Left Lane Capital - Jason Fiedler 
Founder & Managing Partner @Ahoy Capital - Chris Douvos 
Partner @ Vintage Investment Partners - Shira Eting
Founder & General Partner @ Boldstart - Ed Sim
Founder & Partner @ Defy VC - Neil Sequeira
Partner @ Cendana Capital - Kelli Fontaine 
Founder & CEO @Techstars - David Cohen
Partner @ Redpoint Ventures - Jordan Segall 
Partner @ Wing Venture Capital - Chris Zeoli 
Founding Partner @ NewView Capital - Ravi Viswanathan 
General Partner @ DCVC - Alan Cohen 
Managing Partner & Co-Founder at 645 Ventures - Nnamdi Okike
General Partner @ Foundation Capital - Ashu Garg 
Managing Partner @ Base 10 - Adeyemi Ajao 
Partner @ Lead Edge Capital - Emila Damjanovic 
General Partner @ Headline - Jett Fein
General Partner @ AlleyCorp - Abe Murray 
Partner @ 500 Global - Clayton Bryan
General Partner @ Polaris Partners - Gary Swart
Founding Partner @Acrew Capital - Mark Kraynak
Chief Investment Strategist @ Ark Invest - Charlie Roberts 

And more …

Founder, CEO, Host 

Grace Gong

Investor in AI startups, portolios including Generative Alpha, Emancro Robotics, LD Talent, Vantager, Hyperspell (YC F25), Hyperbolic, AgentHub (YC S25) among others. Advisor to Quill.

Angel Investor

Smart Venture Media

​My first conference: https://www.smartventuremedia.com

Speakers include: 

​Grace Gong (Founder & CEO of Smart Venture Media) 
​Shravan Narayen (Partner of IVP)
​Dave Zilberman (General Partner of Norwest Venture Partners)
​Shomik Ghosh (Partner of Boldstart Ventures)
​Casber Wang (Partner of Sapphire Ventures)
​Bala Sathiamurthy (former CISO of Atlassian & Nerdwallet)
​Anna Sarnek (Cyber BD at AWS)
​Jake Flomenberg (Partner of Wing VC)
​Nikhil Sachdev (Managing Director of Insight Partners)
​Eugene Lee (Partner of OMERS Ventures)
​James da Costa (Partner of Andreessen Horowitz)
​Anna Patterson (Founder of Ceramic. ai, Formerly VP of Google & Managing Partner of Gradient Ventures)
​Miloni Madan Presler (Partner at IVP)
​Timur Yarnall (Head of AI/ML Startups Business at Amazon Web Services)
​Anna Barber (Partner of M13)
​Brandon Yahn (Partner of Convivialite Ventures)
​Aditi Maliwal (Partner of Upfront Ventures)
​Henry Yin (Co-Founder of AGI House)
​Eylul Kayin (Partner of Gradient Ventures)
​Tejas Manohar (Co-CEO of Hightouch)
​Sydney Sykes (NVIDIA VC Partnerships)
​Kevin Novak (Managing Partner of Rackhouse Ventures)
​Phil Boyer (Partner of Crosslink Capital)
​Alan Cohen (General Partner of DCVC)
​Aidan Madigan-Curtis (Partner of Eclipse)
​Megh Gautam (Chief Product Officer of Crunchbase)
​Meagen Eisenberg (Chief Marketing Officer of Samsara)
​Tim Shi (Co-Founder of Cresta)
​David Yarbrough (Business Consultant at Sequoia)
​Cris Cafiero (Business Consultant at Sequoia)
​John Benetti (Managing Director of Silicon Valley Bank)
​Andrei Meganov (Head of GTM at Nebius AI)
​Simon Lee (Business Development at VESSL AI)
​Ben Bergman (Senior Correspondent at Business Insider)
​Vanessa Larco (Formerly Partner at NEA)
​Samantha Wu (Chief Marketing Officer of Eventbrite)
​Simon Wu (Partner at Cathay Innovation)
​Many thanks to our amazing sponsors:

​AWS
​SVB
​Sequoia
​Nebius
​VESSL AI
​Rackhouse Ventures
​Wayo

Founder & CEO

Alumni Ventures

America’s Largest Venture Firm for Individual Investors
Top 20 Venture Firm (CB Insights ’24)
#1 Most Active Venture Firm in the US (PitchBook ’22 & ’23)
World’s Most Innovative Companies (Fast Company ’22)

Alumni Ventures collaborates with elite angel investors — a select group of co-investors chosen for their track record, sector expertise, and community connections.

The AV Venture Scout Program is an extensive network of independent angels, entrepreneurs, and connectors. Venture Scouts share attractive investment opportunities with AV.

Super Angel + Venture Scout

Berkeley SkyDeck

Honored to have joined Berkeley SkyDeck as an advisor, alongside an incredible group of tech leaders—like the co-founders of YouTube, Tesla and Synopsys Inc, the VP of Robinhood, Box and others from top tech companies.

Advisor

Intro

Book me: https://intro.co/gracegong

Need startup advice? 👉  Book a 1:1
Let’s chat all things AI 👉  Book a 1:1
Let’s chat fundraising from VCs 👉  Book a 1:1

Expert on Intro | Book a 1:1 Session Now ⬇️

Floodgate

Building Breakthroughs Cohort Member 

Sigma Delta Partners Investment

Capital Markets Analyst

Summit Investment Management Consulting Co., Ltd

Investment Manager

Grace Gong is the founder of Smart Venture Media and the host of two well-known VC podcasts: Smart Venture Podcast (SVPpro.com) and Venture with Grace, a daily show. She is an angel investor in the AI sector, a super angel & venture scout for Alumni Ventures, Advisor at Berkeley SkyDeck. 

Her podcasts have featured high-profile guests such as C-level executives and VPs from companies like Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Sephora, Dunkin' Donuts, Chipotle, Adidas, Pepsi, Instagram, Deloitte, Reddit, DoorDash, Pinterest, Cisco, NVIDIA, Snowflake and more. Additionally, she has interviewed Managing Partners from top funds, many of whom have appeared on the Forbes Midas List, as well as unicorn founders from companies like Craigslist, Square, Loom, and Glean. Grace regularly posts about technology, venture capital, and entrepreneurship and has been recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Finance. She is also a #1 Bestselling author in the VC category on Amazon New Release. Before founding Smart Venture Media, she worked in venture capital and private equity. If you share her interests, feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn @GraceGong.


2025: Spoke at AWS, Seattle Startup Summit, event collab w/ various funds. Hosted Smart AI Leadership Summit, Hosting Smart AI 100 Summit SmartVentureMedia.com (10M+ impressions/ yr)
2024: Venture with Grace daily live podcast (top 10%) features top GPs, LPs, execs, and founders. Angel investing in the AI space. Companies/ funds we have worked with including LG, Microsoft, Convivialité Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Amazon AWS, among others. 1.5M+ impressions in 7 days end of 2024.
2023: Spoke at LinkedIn HQ, ads clients: VC funds, startups, big tech.
2022: LinkedIn Top Voice in Finance, LinkedIn's creator accelerator fellow; clients including big tech & unicorn startups, speaking engagements: Dell, Microsoft
2021: CEO of Smart Venture Media (monetized, joined VC fellowship)
2020: Podcast - Smart Venture Podcast (top 1.5% among 3.4M podcasts globally, listeners in 100+ countries)
2019: PE 
2018: VC  
2017: Book 2 - How To Be A VC (No.1 new release on Amazon VC category; ft. 22 investors on the Forbes Midas List - investors who invested in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Apple, etc) 
2016: Book 1 - The Last Key To Success (ft. 21 founders on Forbes 30 under 30)
2014: Master's + PE
2013: UIUC

🤓 svppro.com
🚀 Stay connected: https://linktr.ee/gracegong115
💼 Book an ad on my podcast | Book me to speak at your conference/ events: 
grace@smartventurepod.com
💰Book to chat with me: https://intro.co/gracegong

People ask how I ship so fast. Here's my AI stack:

I'm constantly testing AI tools to see what actually moves the needle.

My current stack:

→ Make + Clay: Automate the repetitive stuff running in the background 
→ Notion AI: Draft ideas in seconds, not hours 
→ Gamma: Build decks without the design headache 
→ Lovable: Prototype new concepts fast 
→ HubSpot Breeze: Understand customer activity across everything

This stack takes me from idea → automation → output at speed.

For early-stage founders, your AI stack IS your competitive advantage. The right tools let you punch above your weight.

HubSpot for Startups put together a free playbook breaking down how to use these tools step-by-step.


Get the AI Tech Stack + Free Playbook at https://lnkd.in/gwct_HTM

Build at AI speed.

#Ad #Startups #Founder #TechStack #HubSpot #ProductivityHacks

Hosted another Venture with Grace dinner Wednesday night.

Founders backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator, OpenAI Startup Fund, Amazon Alexa Fund, Greycroft, Pear VC + top partners from leading funds showed up.

Here's what actually happens at these dinners:

- You meet people who make you think differently. Every founder at the table has figured out something you haven't. You pick up their playbook in real time.

- WhatsApp groups form before dessert. People vibe, numbers get swapped, and suddenly there's a new group chat planning the next move.

- You hear what's really happening, not the polished version. The trends discussed at dinner become the moves everyone's making 6 months later.

- Sharing a meal just hits different. You can't fake chemistry over food. Trust gets built here in ways a coffee chat never will.

Real moves happen. Investments close. Co-founders meet. Friendships form that change trajectories.

Playing the long game matters.

Huge thanks to Rho and Turing for the amazing partnership!

Comment "dinner" if you wanna come to future dinners. 

#founders #venturecapital #startups #networking #sanfrancisco

Last night I hosted our Friendsgiving Founder x VC dinner in partnership with the amazing HubSpot For Startups and Lightyear.

40+ founders and VCs showed up. We kept expanding the table. Adding chairs. Moving things around. Way more people came than expected.

I think back to when I started—just me in my bedroom launching the podcast. The first event I ever hosted. To now, 17 dinners and 2 conferences in one year.

But you're only as good as your last episode. Your last event. That day one mentality never leaves because it can't. Every time I'm fighting to make it count.

In a world obsessed with pedigree and pattern recognition, hustle and grind still beat 50% of the game. The rest is luck and timing—being able to move with the trend when it hits.

Life isn't perfect. Every day you live and learn. Answers aren't handed to you—it's on you to figure out the next steps and follow your gut.

I couldn't be more thankful for every founder and investor I've met along the way. You all inspire me to keep pushing.

Somewhere in the chaos, you start to see the lights.

#FounderLife #VentureCapital #StartupCommunity #BuildInPublic #Entrepreneurship

Last night I was honored at the ETHIS AI and Sustainability Global Awards at Amazon Web Services (AWS) Loft alongside incredible founders, builders and investors in the AI community.

During my panel, I shared something personal: when I started my podcast a few years ago, I had one mission—impact how 1 million people make better business decisions.

This year on LinkedIn alone? 10M+ impressions in 365 days, reaching over 4M+ members. And that's not counting the podcast and other channels.

People kept reaching out for advice, wanting to connect with others in the community. 

So I started hosting dinners. 18 dinners later, we've sold out 2 conferences featuring the President of Cisco, VP of Microsoft, SVP of Vercel, partners from Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue Management, Insight Partners, and founders of the hottest AI startups in Silicon Valley like Cresta, Higgsfield AI and Genspark—90+ top speakers.

Everyone asks: "How do you build an engaging community?"
My #1 tip? Listen.

Building anything meaningful—whether it's a community or a business—comes down to creating value for others. The fastest way to grow something isn't asking what you can get out of it, but what you can provide to others. Whether that's inspiration, connection, or information.

Next year's goal? Help 1 billion people make better business decisions.
One million was just the beginning.

Many thanks to Ann (Xiaoran) C. for hosting this amazing event! :) 

#AIcommunity #VentureCapital #CommunityBuilding #SiliconValley #Entrepreneurship

Just spoke in front of 1,000+ people at the AI Investment Summit 2025@ UC Berkeley. 

The line wrapped around the building. The room was packed with influential VCs, founders, and world-class ML researchers from top tech companies 🤯

What we actually discussed on stage:
- AI investing trends shaping 2025 and beyond
- The skills and talent needed to dominate in AI
- Agent-to-agent orchestration and why it matters
- The context layer everyone's building toward
- Open vs. closed source models 
- The unthinkable question: Does the future of AI sit in consumer or enterprise? (Hot take: Silicon Valley loves enterprise … yet OpenAI and Anthropic are consumer plays 👀)

The lineup was absolutely stacked:
- Chancellor of University of California, Berkeley Rich Lyons - Opening
- Partners from Sequoia Capital
- Leaders from OpenAI and Anthropic
- Top-tier VCs shaping the future of AI

I closed out the summit on a panel with some absolute legends (many of them past podcast/conference guests!):

🔹 Aaron Jacobson, Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA)
🔹 Chon Tang, Founding Partner of Berkeley SkyDeck Fund
🔹 Matt Vail, VC Partnerships at OpenAI
🔹 David Hefter, Director at BlackRock

Huge shoutout to the incredible student organizers at UC Berkeley—Hongbo Li, Jiaru LIU, Young Ji, Junyao-Estelle Zhang, Daniel (Yihao) Y., Leo Chng, Cindy(Mingxi) Tang, David (Xinyang) Han, Yufu Chen, Eason Xu and more—for making this happen 🙏

The best is yet to come 🚀

#ai #VC #ucberkeley

It was such a blast to attend The Wall Street Journal Tech Live during my birthday week! 🎂

I got a front-row seat in an intimate room with some of the most influential leaders shaping the future of AI: 

Sarah Friar (CFO, OpenAI), Assaf Rappaport (Co-founder & CEO, Wiz), Michael Intrator (Co-founder & CEO, CoreWeave), my good friend Wen S. (COO, Genspark), Laela Sturdy (Managing Partner, CapitalG), Jai Das (Co-Founder & President, Sapphire Ventures), Enrique Salem (Partner, Bain Capital Ventures (BCV), Jennifer Tejada (Chairperson & CEO, PagerDuty), Alan Murray (President, WSJ Leadership Institute), and more.

The real talk nobody's saying out loud:

→ Most AI innovation today? Impressive demos. But the path to scalable, repeatable solutions isn't clear yet.
→ Enterprise buyers are hedging their bets—buying multiple AI solutions while simultaneously building their own. Everyone's still figuring out what actually works.
→ Vertical AI companies are charging significant premiums for what's essentially an AI wrapper. The question is whether that premium is justified.

But here's what matters:
Every single company—from Fortune 500 to scrappy startups—has AI on their roadmap. Not because it's trendy. Because efficiency and productivity gains are non-negotiable in 2025.

The companies that will win aren't the ones with the fanciest models. They're the ones solving real problems with solutions that actually scale.

The AI wave is real. The question isn't whether AI will transform business—it's who will build the solutions that last.

Are we building something people will still pay for in 3 years?

Super grateful to Wen S. for the invite—your friendship means the world to me, and I can't wait to keep watching you win.

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #EnterpriseAI #VentureCapital #TechLeadership

was gonna keep this a secret but...

I'm hosting another private founder + investor dinner TONIGHT

yes I just did one last week but the demand was insane

oh and this one's at a mansion 👀

the RSVPs? founders backed by Y Combinator, Berkeley SkyDeck, and top VCs

when you get this caliber of people saying yes within 24 hours, you know something's working

shoutout to HubSpot For Startups and Lightyear for making this happen
the energy at these dinners >>> any other networking

real conversations. no pitch decks. just founders who get it connecting with people who can actually help them scale

comment "fries" if you want to be considered for the next one 👇

#startups #founders #venturecapital #networking #YCombinator

Another month, another absolutely insane dinner lineup.

The Venture with Grace Dinner Series keeps leveling up — and honestly, I’ve stopped being surprised.

Tonight’s RSVP list:

• Founders who’ve raised $100M+ (we somehow have these every month now)
• The breakout AI tool creators won’t shut up about
• YC’s current batch — the ones flooding your feed with launch videos
• Top + up-and-coming investors actually backing the real AI winners

Huge thanks to Rho and Turing for powering this month’s dinner.

Want a shot at joining the next Venture With Grace Dinner Series event —
we’re hosting it at a mansion —drop “invite” in the comments.

I’ll add you to the exclusive waitlist.

#VentureWithGrace #FounderCommunity #AIDinners #StartupEcosystem #AIFounders

so flattered to be interviewed by Zachary Chang from Conduit AI on a Y Combinator yacht party! Is this the peak? Do I retire now?

#askingforafriend #yc #ai #linkedin

Just spoke at ReasonOS's event with the legendary Henry Shi (founder of Super.com) and Brad Garsten (Managing Principal at Quanta) about something that's been keeping me up:

Your AI moat? Gone in 6 months.

When AI talks to AI, your clever UI doesn't matter. Your "unique" features become table stakes. Every AI startup starts looking identical.

I'm watching enterprise buyers hedge their bets—buying YOUR solution, your COMPETITOR'S solution, while building in-house. Your recurring revenue isn't as recurring as you think.

Here's the tension: There's real power in building lean. But Fortune 500 buyers?
They want three people on-site, white-glove service, someone picking up at 2am.

The real moat isn't your algorithm.

It's distribution. Relationships. Trust. The things that don't scale are the only things competitors can't copy.

In a world where technology is abundant, human reliability becomes the scarcest asset.

The startups winning in 2025 won't have the best models. They'll have customers who trust them enough to bet their careers on them.

Build relationships like your revenue depends on it. Because it does.

Thanks to the amazing Jordan Lyndsay M. for moderating and Vamsi Pandari and Shannon Miller, MSOD (she/her) for the invite and great presentation.

What are you building that can't be replicated?

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Startups #VentureCapital #EnterpriseSales

Every week I talk to founders who’ve sent their deck to 200 investors…

and can’t figure out why no one replies.

Here’s the truth:
Fundraising isn’t about volume. It’s about fit.

So before you hit send, do this:

Month 1 – Research
Find 20 investors who actually fund your stage and your space.
Use Crunchbase, NFX Signal, or look up who funded companies like yours.

Month 2 – Warm up
Comment on their posts.
Reply to their newsletter.
Show up where they are.
They should recognize your name before you ever pitch.

Month 3 – Meet
Now reach out.
You’re not cold anymore.
You’re familiar.
You’re not pitching. You’re catching up.

I get a ton of DMs from founders who only need a few small tweaks like this to unlock their first investor meetings, and it’s totally doable.

I’m offering 20% off 1:1 advisor sessions on @Intro until December 15 to help founders build their investor outreach plan.

Comment “Interested Intro” and the team will DM you a private code to book.

The link to book is in the first comment.

#intro

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Week 91 of Venture with Grace (two weeks ago) 🚀

Two weeks ago was another loaded week — founders and investors breaking down how AI is transforming sales, analytics, decision-making, and early-stage investing.

Highlights from Week 91:

Connor Heggie, CTO of Unify — AI-powered Sales & GTM Automation
Jamie Davidson, Founder of Omni — BI, AI Analytics & Data Freedom
Moritz Sudhof, CEO of Bigspin AI — Coaching AI behavior with human feedback
Soham Mazumdar, CEO of WisdomAI — Turning raw data into instant insights
Adam D'Augelli, Partner at True Ventures — Backing founders from Day One
Vivek Krishnamurthy, Partner at Commerce Ventures — Fintech, insurtech & new AI wedges
Tony Conrad, Partner at True Ventures — Community, AI & founder ecosystems that scale

Week 91 captured how fast AI workflows are evolving across GTM, analytics, and early-stage company building.

Catch all replays on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts — just search “Venture with Grace.”

#VentureWithGrace #AI #Startups #VC #Founders #GTM

Week 93 of Venture with Grace 🚀

A week packed with leaders shaping the future of AI, cybersecurity, GTM, and early-stage investing — from seed fund strategy to AI video creation, CVC, and enterprise agents.

Ross Fubini, Managing Partner at XYZ Venture Capital — Anduril, seed bets & what it takes to scale a venture fund

Jon Callaghan, Managing Partner at True Ventures — Early-stage VC, founder relationships & AI innovation

Laura Burkhauser, CEO of Descript — AI video creation, storytelling & the next era of content tools

Ernie B., Managing Director at Forgepoint Capital — Cybersecurity, defense tech & where AI strengthens national security

Anish Srivastava, Venture Partner at Swisscom Ventures — CVC strategy, corporate innovation & supporting startup growth

Kourosh Zamani, Co-Founder of Laurel — Scaling AI products, sales motion & critical early partnerships

Karen Ng, EVP of Product at HubSpot — AI agents, AEO & the future of GTM for modern companies

Week 93 brought together operators and investors building across defense, AI tools, enterprise GTM, cybersecurity, and venture — a full snapshot of where AI is pushing industries forward.

Catch all replays on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts — just search “Venture with Grace.”

#VentureWithGrace #AI #Startups #VC #Cybersecurity #GTM #AIagents

Week 92 of Venture with Grace (two weeks ago) 🚀

Two weeks ago, we covered everything from generative media to AI agents, Gen Z consumer behavior, cloud security, and enterprise AI strategy.

Highlights from Week 92:

Mahi de Silva, Co-Founder & CSO, Higgsfield AI — Generative Media, Creator AI & the future of personalized content (smart ai 100)

Allen Wang, CEO of Ditto — Gen Z dating, virality & how products spread across campuses (smart ai 100)

Lari Hamalainen, Sr Partner at McKinsey & Company — GenAI, agentic workflows & enterprise tech strategy

Conor Brennan-Burke, Founder of Hyperspell (YC F25) — AI agent memory & building reliable agent systems (smart ai 100)

Manmeet Singh Bhasin, CEO of WMC Global — AI, data intelligence & the evolving cloud security landscape

Natalie Dillon, Partner at Maveron — Consumer trends, modern brands & what today’s founders should pay attention to

Week 92 touched consumer, AI infra, enterprise, and security — a real snapshot of where tech is moving right now.

Catch all replays on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts — just search “Venture with Grace.”

#VentureWithGrace #AI #Startups #VC #GenAI #Consumer #Security

Honored to be judging the Scoop AI Hackathon this weekend 

- hosted by University of California, Berkeley & Stanford University, backed by SpoonOS, Google Cloud, ElevenLabs, OpenRouter & more 🚀

$60K+ prize pool.

We're looking at the next generation of agentic AI infrastructure and fintech innovation - the kind of builds that actually push the industry forward.

Can't wait to see what these hackers create.

#AI #SiliconValley #AgenticAI #FinTech #Startups

Samantha McKenna

Founder @ #samsales l Sales + Cadences + Executive Branding on LinkedIn l Ex-LinkedIn l Keynote Speaker l 13 Sales Records l Early Stage Investor l Overly Enthusiastic l Swiss Dual Citizen l Creator, Show Me You Know Me®

I had my first exposure to competitive "sales" in sixth grade when my school raised money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.  Knocking door to door and delivering a pitch was the start of my education; I still have the portable TV that I won for second place, which fuels my competitive spirit.

I’ve spent my career in sales doing a few things – breaking records, putting others first, creating global sales programs, educating through peer interaction, and going to great lengths to make people feel valued.  I’ve launched new verticals, overseen the GTM strategy for some of the most successful initiatives in company history, and put in processes across businesses that redefine how each company works and succeeds.

As the founder of #samsales, I oversee an all-women team of 14 who believe in a manners-first and buyer-first approach. We:

•	Run sales trainings that cover prospecting via your likely under-utilized LI Sales Nav licenses, how to write great email copy, Show Me You Know Me™, perfect discovery calls, etc. all while being sales methodology agnostic

•	Speak at 100+ annual events - keynoting for SKOs, international conferences, and podcasts alike re: sales, social selling, and women in tech/sales/leadership

•	Write the content you have in Outreach.io, etc using our proprietary techniques + the most up-to-date data on what works to drive opens + replies

•	Teach social selling - as an LI influencer, ambassador of Sales Navigator, and former LI leader, I understand how to use the ecosystem to truly SELL. I've personally trained tens of thousands on the platform, ranging from 10-person teams to Fortune 500 brands. 

•	Build brands for C-Suites on LinkedIn.  If you want to build a brand on LI but don't know what to write, don't understand the algorithm, and don't have the time to manage, our full-service strategy will manage it exclusively like we do for some of the most prominent/highly visible execs you see on LI.

As a founder, I have one goal - to make as much positive impact as we can.  Since our inception, we’ve raised over 120K via personal donations + our annual charity events for incredible causes, and have given away hundreds of our trainings to the military and transitioning teachers, free of charge.

When you hire us, you're not just hiring a team, but rather investing in one who constantly puts good into the world.

Who am I, otherwise - 

Philanthropist, investor, dog lover, die hard competitor, writer, former Nickelodeon game show contestant, extrovert, expert in self-deprecating humor, and willing to walk through fire to make you laugh.

Limited Partner

Sign up for our newsletters, webinars, and all our content here www.samsalesconsulting.com 

There are a bunch of standard lines we use in sales that I think we need to ditch in our modern day, but there's one that seems innocent enough and almost always makes me want to say "nope." and another that needs a little refining.

1. "Would you be open to...?"

We use this line when we're being direct that we're making a pitch, or when we're asking for something we know the person might not want to do.

"Would you be open to seeing how we can do this for you?" Nope.
"Would you be open to helping me move this weekend?" Nope. Jk, I'm a sucker for helping, will there be pizza and beer?

And buyers hear this so often. 

Think instead of this quick change: "If you're up for hearing a bit more about how we can help here, I'd be grateful for the time and happy to send a calendar invite over."

2. "Feel free to..."

I see this misused so often, and I think it secretly damages our brand. It's used when we want something from someone, when it should be used when we're offering to do someone a favor.

"Feel free to book time on my calendar..." <-cold email from a seller 🚫 
"Feel free to send an invite." <--to a mentor who agreed to give us time 🚫
"Feel free to look at my network and see if there's anyone I can introduce you to!" <--offering to do a favor 👌 

Success is hinged on the boulders of our sales process, but I think most often exponentially accelerated by these tiny nuances, semantics, and manners that build our brands in unexpected ways.

#samsales #semanticsmatter

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Grace Gong

Samantha McKenna

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taplio

The Battle

Grace Gong

Samantha McKenna

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Engagements

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Grace Gong's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreGrace Gong's LinkedIn Performance