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

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Jon Staenberg is the founder of Agate Hound Fund, a pioneering institutional fund-of-funds focused on search funds and entrepreneurship through acquisition. A 30-year venture investor, Stanford “trifecta” grad, and longtime small-business owner (from car washes to an Argentine winery), he lives at the intersection of Main Street and Silicon Valley. With decades of pattern recognition across hundreds of angel and VC deals plus deep immersion in ETA, he offers sharp, grounded insights into small business acquisition, operator selection, and what the “silver tsunami” means for ambitious operators and investors.

In this episode, they discuss why boring, profitable businesses might be the most exciting opportunity in the market, how to evaluate 30-something CEOs who’ve never run a company, and why AI plus mom-and-pop America could quietly outperform your favorite tech bets. They also get personal—covering risk tolerance, meditation, travel, and why legacy ultimately comes down to kindness, not cap tables.

Chapters:

00:01 Early Roots in Omaha & First Lessons in Entrepreneurship

04:12 The Stanford Journey and Discovering Venture Capital

07:45 What Search Funds Really Are: A Simple Breakdown

10:18 The “Silver Tsunami” Opportunity in Small Business Ownership

13:32 How Search Funds Differ From Traditional VC Models

17:05 Incentives, Alignment, and Why ETA Produces Steady Returns

20:41 Who Makes a Great Searcher? Traits, Backgrounds & Patterns

24:58 Jon’s 30-Year VC Career and the Shift Toward ETA

29:10 Building a Winery in Argentina: Lessons in Main Street Ops

33:27 Designing a Life With Curiosity, Adventure, and Work

37:14 Compounding Wisdom: Experience, Self-Awareness & Growth

41:52 Meditation as an Operating System for Better Decision-Making

45:36 The Story Behind Agate Hound & Finding “Investment Gems”

48:22 The Biggest Misconceptions About Young ETA Operators

51:03 ETA in a Tech-Driven Future: AI Meets Main Street

53:26 Closing Reflections on Legacy, Kindness & Long-Term Impact

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Max Sinclair is the founder and CEO of Azoma, an AI SaaS company helping global brands win in AI-powered search. A former Amazon product lead, he helped launch Amazon Business in the UK, led search and browse for Amazon Singapore, and headed EU Grocery before jumping into founder life. With deep experience across e-commerce search, item data quality, and now answer engine optimization (AEO), he offers sharp, battle-tested insights into how AI is reshaping product discovery, growth, and go-to-market for enterprise brands. In this episode, he discusses leaving a fast-track Amazon career to join Entrepreneur First, building one of the earliest AEO platforms before the market believed, scaling to seven-figure revenue on inbound alone, and why he thinks today’s bloated media agencies are squarely in AI’s crosshairs.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 Meet Max Sinclair & why AI search is breaking marketing rules

00:28 Max’s Amazon journey: Amazon Business UK, Singapore search, and EU Grocery

01:54 Leaving Amazon for Entrepreneur First and betting early on LLMs in search

03:28 Going contrarian: selling “answer engine optimization” before anyone cared

04:38 SEO vs AEO: how LLMs change the playbook for winning in search

05:04 What “answer engine optimization” actually means for brands

05:50 Taking the plunge: advice for operators thinking about quitting big tech

08:01 Inside Entrepreneur First: matching commercial and technical founders

10:08 Surviving the “too early” phase and riding the AI search inflection

12:14 Are we at product–market fit? How Max thinks about enterprise PMF

14:54 Scaling mostly on inbound: 40–50% monthly growth with no outbound

16:48 The content strategy behind Azoma’s pipeline (and getting over cringe)

18:11 Under the hood: how Azoma simulates ChatGPT-style queries and optimizes answers

20:03 What it looks like as a customer: winning recommendations in answer engines

20:31 The next 1–2 years: hiring spree, category creation, and owning “answer engines”

22:34 Hiring in Europe vs the US and why firing is much harder in the EU

24:42 Remote vs in-person: why Max wants hubs, not fully-remote everywhere

25:29 Long-term bet: AI agents eating legacy media agencies and services

27:21 Funding philosophy: profitable but still going for a big, signaling Series A

29:13 Bold product moves and the rise of “ChatGPT commerce” (Shopify, Walmart, etc.)

30:05 Hot takes on AI in e-commerce: no AI SDRs, human-led customer success

31:18 Hardest negotiation as a founder: convincing ex-founders to join the mission

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Leyla Kunimoto is the co-founder of Accredited Investor Insights, a platform demystifying private placements, venture funds, and commercial real estate for LPs and high-net-worth investors. She writes for a cross-section of the ecosystem—limited partners, fund managers, RIAs, and wealth advisors—focused on cutting through jargon to what actually drives outcomes.

With thousands of conversations across LPs and GPs and a personal investing journey that started at 19, Leyla distills the messy reality of private markets into practical signal. She launched Accredited Investor Insights in early 2024 to share hard-won lessons and patterns others can use.

She offers insights into information asymmetry, accredited-investor access (and the likelihood of a knowledge test), how alternatives may creep into 401(k)s via target-date funds, the promise and potholes of secondaries and tokenization, the illiquidity tax LPs underestimate, and what the next decade holds as mega-managers court retail capital.

In this episode, she discusses why retail LPs struggle to do “real” diligence, when concentration beats diversification (and when it wrecks you), why secondary liquidity for $50k stakes remains broken, and how better GP reporting separates luck from skill.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 Welcome & what Accredited Investor Insights does

00:31 Leyla’s path: public to private markets

02:18 The “real estate gateway” to alternatives

04:24 Why accreditation limits exist

05:36 The likely future: a knowledge-based accreditation test

06:28 Alternatives inside retirement accounts (via target-date funds)

08:59 Why $50k secondaries rarely clear

10:17 Tokenizing LP interests: promise vs. verification

14:54 Misconceptions to unlearn about private markets

16:57 Illiquidity explained (vs. REITs)

21:03 The retail LP diligence gap

25:42 Concentration vs. diversification: earning the right to concentrate

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Jason Syversen is the founder & CEO of SportsVisio and a former DARPA program manager turned repeat entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. He went from hacking Wi-Fi cameras for Special Forces demos to running nine-figure government R&D portfolios—then into startups and sports, with a mission to democratize analytics for everyday athletes.

With deep roots in cyber/defense and a chip-on-the-shoulder upbringing, Jason brings a builder’s pragmatism to AI: recruit elite researchers, solve occlusion-heavy, real-world computer-vision problems, and ship products that work in messy gyms—not just pristine arenas. He’s hardware-agnostic (your phone is the camera), plays the long game on technical moats, and believes unit economics beat hype every time.

In this episode, he talks about the moment a rec-league stat dispute sparked SportsVisio, why leagues (not lone parents) are the right customer, how they turned thousands of labeled games into a compounding advantage, and where this all leads—AI scoreboards, “robo-ref” assist, and near-real-time highlights.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

00:01 From DARPA to the Driveway

03:10 Growing Up with Grit

06:45 Hacking for the Pentagon

11:36 The Spark: A Rec-League Argument

13:34 Building an AI Sports Platform

15:34 The Timing Advantage

18:40 Go-to-Market That Works

20:38 Cameras, Courts, and Chaos

22:20 Scaling Beyond Basketball

24:00 The A-Team Behind the Tech

26:18 The Hardest Problem in Vision

31:26 Learning from Thousands of Games

34:40 The Future: AI Scoreboards and Robo-Refs

37:10 Speed, Cost, and Scale

40:05 Lessons from Building Deep Tech Startups

45:15 What’s Next for SportsVisio

47:40 Closing Reflections

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What if the tools reshaping our cities still think it’s 1998? Amar Hanspal thinks that’s a bug, not a feature—and he’s building the patch.

Amar Hanspal is a veteran product leader and entrepreneur who helped steer Autodesk’s product org through a massive cloud shift before co-founding Bright Machines. Today he’s the co-founder of Motif, reimagining how architects and engineers design—collaborative, AI-native, and web-first. With decades spanning CAD’s early PC era to modern ML, he offers a rare front-row view of how platform shifts rewrite entire industries. In this episode, he shares why AEC tools froze in time, how to modernize the design stack without breaking workflows, and what “Figma + Cursor for buildings” actually looks like in practice.

In this episode, they discuss how to turn customer empathy into product judgment, the grind behind true distribution, and why the biggest AI wins in AEC won’t be flashy—they’ll quietly kill the drudgery.

In Today’s Episode We Discuss

00:01 — Early hustle: empathy learned through 100 customer calls a day

00:27 — Discovering CAD on a microVAX and joining Autodesk’s early wave

02:57 — From listening to choosing: the evolution of product judgment

04:50 — First startup lessons: timing, humility, and asking customers to pay

05:19 — Rejoining Autodesk and learning to scale leadership

07:00 — Dot-com detour: building, raising, and shutting down a venture

07:31 — Leading Autodesk’s cloud transformation and move into construction

08:45 — Why computer vision led to Bright Machines

10:46 — The birth of Motif: designing for carbon, complexity, and collaboration

12:49 — Tackling the hardest problems first: scale and real-time teamwork

15:00 — Starting with architects: where Motif begins

15:40 — Product #1: a collaborative 3D workspace for context sharing

16:44 — Embrace, then replace: winning users from legacy tools

18:07 — “Figma meets Cursor” — AI as a co-designer for buildings

19:26 — GTM strategy: human-in-the-loop now, product-led later

21:29 — Founder vs. executive mindset: execution, resilience, and team

24:57 — Real AI value: automating the boring, not the brilliant

27:46 — Why Motif starts from a clean sheet (not geometry-first)

30:40 — Measuring speed-ups and early user feedback

31:37 — Defining success: love from users before scale

32:50 — Lessons for AEC founders: problem-first, tech-second

33:19 — Mythbusting BIM: it doesn’t have to be painful

33:37 — Pride point: leading Autodesk’s cloud shift

34:27 — Adobe vs. Autodesk: two paths to reinvention

35:26 — Regrets and reflections: taking bigger swings sooner

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