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The episode is supported by the international technology park Astana Hub:
astanahub.com
@AstanaHub
Our guest is Ihar Mahaniok, founder and managing partner at Geek Ventures, VC firm that focuses on supporting immigrant founders building US tech companies. As an angel investor at pre-seed/seed stage, he backed 5 unicorns including Instacart, PandaDoc, People.ai, Chainalysis, Airbyte, and Jeeves, among other 100+ companies.
Only some of the questions we discussed. How did opportunities to invest so early in the aforementioned unicorns come about? What process did he follow to raise $23m for his venture fund? How to become an LP in a fund? How to calculate the optimal fund size? How to optimally split the fund into first checks and follow-on investments? What mistakes do immigrant founders make when they start businesses in the US? I love going into the nitty-gritty and this episode was no exception!
Ihar shares his insights on building a venture fund, catching unicorns at the seed stage, crafting investing frameworks, and making sound investment decisions. Discover the secrets to winning the right to invest, supporting companies effectively, and learning from common mistakes made by both founders and investors. Don't miss out!
Timestamps:
00:00 Show must go on!
02:08 What is Geek Ventures?
04:04 His first check
04:51 Instacart investment
07:43 What's the story behind investing in four unicorns?
10:28 Approach to investment
11:46 Airbyte Investment
14:36 Collaboration with Chainalysis
15:48 The fundraising process
20:27 How to determine the fund's size?
23:46 Steps to become an LP
28:13 Strategy for achieving the target fund size?
34:00 Capital calls: how to schedule them?
36:02 Investing frequency. Why only 1 or 2 deals per month?
38:35 How do you find companies to invest in?
43:50 Advice for making sound investment decisions
48:44 Thoughts on AI startups
54:41 How to win the right to invest
59:54 How did you decide to have a co-founder for your fund?
01:02:26 How do you hire employees?
01:05:26 Any intriguing stories involving founders?
01:07:50 Liquidity in investments
01:10:04 Mediocre and outstanding investors
01:15:19 What's your anti-portfolio?
01:18:34 Immigrant founder's mistakes
01:20:51 Insights from Google and Facebook experience
01:23:05 Recommendations
01:25:37 What have you learned about yourself?
01:26:38 What is your dream?
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Ihar: / mahaniok
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