Rob Hodgkinson is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of SignalRank, a data-driven venture platform identifying and investing in the world’s top 5% of Series B rounds through pro-rata financing. With a career spanning investment banking, growth equity, and operator roles at TVPlayer, Antenna Group, and more, he brings a rare blend of quant-driven rigor and on-the-ground startup experience. His background—from Cambridge history major to INSEAD MBA to venture quant—shapes a worldview that bridges human judgment with systematic investing.

With deep experience raising and deploying capital across continents, Rob offers insights into venture persistence, pro-rata dynamics, market access, and why Series B is the “Goldilocks” stage for risk-adjusted returns. In this episode, he breaks down the origins of SignalRank, how a quant lens uncovers hidden patterns in venture, and why democratizing access to elite Silicon Valley rounds could reshape the broader asset class.

In this episode, he discusses the structural gaps in Series B funding, the limitations of traditional VC models, the rise of passive strategies in private markets, and how SignalRank moves faster than traditional funds—all while reducing adverse selection through its unique “horse-trainer” investor-based algorithm.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 Meet Rob Hodgkinson & SignalRank

00:47 From History Major to Venture Capital

01:26 Early Exposure to African VC

02:30 The Banking Detour

03:28 Lessons in Risk and People

04:08 The Series B Pain Point

05:09 Europe-to-US Founder Migration

06:20 The Pro Rata Gap

07:45 Meeting His Co-Founder

08:26 Building Global Access

09:03 Legal vs. Relationship Pro Rata

10:15 The Series B Landscape

11:17 More Participants, More Access

12:15 Ranking Investors, Not Companies

13:10 Persistence and Pattern Recognition

14:44 Eliminating Zeros

16:40 People Readers vs. Scale Readers

17:34 Lessons from Fraud Patterns

18:02 Why a Delaware C-Corp

18:59 Could Seed Funds Do This?

20:33 Operational Leverage

21:10 One of the Most Active B Investors

22:12 Expense Ratios & Incentives

23:59 Liquidity Before Listing

24:48 Raising at NAV

25:37 Why LPs Avoid C-Corps

26:44 Selling Access, Not Exposure

27:21 Rise of Liquid Alternatives

27:46 Speed as an Edge

29:17 Term Sheet Red Flags

30:14 The Top 5% Sectors

31:18 Partnering With SignalRank

32:46 Just Text the Term Sheet

33:10 Check Sizes Today

34:06 Is VC Breaking or Evolving?

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Shaun Gold is an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and investor known for blending sharp wit with real startup insight. After nearly two decades as Miami’s “Nightlife Ninja,” he reinvented himself as a storyteller for founders, the voice behind OpenVC’s content engine, and now a GP at Improv Ventures. With a background that spans books, screenwriting, and venture, he distills lessons from chaos—whether on the dance floor or in a boardroom.

With years navigating high-stakes personalities, building massive networks, and creating viral venture comedy, Shaun offers a candid look into storytelling, credibility, secondaries, personal brand building, and why founders keep making the same avoidable mistakes. In this episode, he breaks down the psychology of influence, what nightlife taught him about business, and how humor exposes truths the data usually hides.

In this episode, he discusses his evolution from party promoter to VC, the rise of “AI slop,” the traps founders fall into, the real state of the secondary market, and the habits that keep him sane in a world that never stops talking.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 Shaun Gold Intro

00:34 Origin Story & Early Entrepreneurship

01:22 Rejecting the 9–5 Life

02:19 Freedom, Structure & Self-Direction

03:59 Lessons From Miami Nightlife

04:57 Psychology, Clients & High-Pressure Environments

06:02 Staying “On Point” as an Entrepreneur

06:52 Building Massive Nightlife Crowds

07:40 Networking, Relationships & Avoiding the AI Crutch

09:59 Strategic Helpfulness vs. Noise

11:04 Storytelling as a Career Thread

12:40 Why Business Books Fail & What to Read Instead

13:31 The Rise of AI Slop in Founder Content

15:24 LinkedIn vs. X: Where to Build a Brand

17:58 Why Most Founder Content Doesn’t Work

18:06 Fake Expertise & Credibility Gaps

20:00 Stealth, Building in Public & Startup Delusions

22:49 Pitch Deck Sins & Founder Blind Spots

25:10 Creating “Venture Comedy”

26:31 Humor as a Tool for Revealing Startup Truths

28:55 Becoming a GP at Improv Ventures

29:12 Relationship-Driven Path Into Venture

31:26 Breaking Into VC vs. Starting a Fund

32:31 Knowing Your Weaknesses & Partnering Around Them

34:39 Improv Ventures’ Thesis Shift to Secondaries

35:13 How Secondary Deals Work

36:57 The Power-Law Problem in VC Portfolios

39:22 The Surge in Secondary Demand

40:00 Founders Raising Too Much, Too Soon

41:40 Trend Chasing vs. Real Founder Focus

43:45 Staying Current & Avoiding Outdated Playbooks

44:01 Shaun’s Daily Digital Detox Superpower

46:08 What’s Next for Shaun Gold

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Teresa Torres is a product discovery coach, bestselling author of Continuous Discovery Habits, and founder of Product Talk Academy. After years helping teams at companies like Spotify and Capital One rethink how they make product decisions, she’s become one of the clearest voices on modern product discovery.

With decades of hands-on experience across scrappy startups and global product orgs, Teresa brings sharp insights on customer interviews, continuous learning, decision-making, and the messy psychology behind why teams still ship the wrong things. In this episode, she breaks down why conviction makes founders great—and also gets them into trouble—how AI is reshaping product work, and why the best PMs operate with agency, curiosity, and a builder’s mindset.

In this episode, she discusses how she stumbled into human-centered design, why product cultures go sideways, what great discovery feels like in practice, and how AI is quietly rewriting the rules for PMs, designers, and engineers.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 Meet Teresa Torres

00:59 Origin Story

02:13 Early Startup Chaos

03:52 Continuous Customer Conversations

06:33 Scaling & Slowing Discovery

07:13 Founder Conviction vs. Flexibility

09:55 Scaling Product Beyond the Founder

11:21 Return to Command-and-Control

13:06 What Makes a Great PM

15:23 AI’s Impact on Product

18:19 Tech Losing Its Spark

21:39 Why Product Culture Fails

23:36 Lessons From Early Startups

26:47 Ingredients of Great Product Culture

29:39 Most Ideas Are Wrong

31:34 The Steve Jobs Misconception

32:10 Core Continuous Discovery Habits

34:18 Customer vs. Business Value

36:30 Better Customer Interviewing

39:20 Evaluating Founders on Discovery

41:30 Product Talk Academy Origin

45:01 Scaling Discovery With AI

48:45 Rebuilding With AI After Injury

51:00 The Future of PM Roles

52:20 Closing

Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6Ga6v0YUsHotLhjap67uu5

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Visit Our Website: https://www.teamignite.ventures

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