On this week's episode of Silicon Valley Impact we speak with Allison Paz, Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer at Nicklpass, and Partner at Reign Ventures; Arnaud Saint-Paul, founder and CEO of the Heart Leadership Institute Tapuat; and also on the show Jonathan Festejo, Co-Founder and CEO at Salesbricks.

Allison Paz is a Partner at Reign Ventures. With over 15 years of experience as an operator and investor, she has co-founded and scaled multiple companies, raised venture funding, and led go-to-market, product, and financial operations across SaaS, fintech, and emerging tech. Prior to Reign, she held leadership roles at Nicklpass, CredReady, and BNY. Allison also serves on the boards of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance and Ednology, Inc.

Arnaud Saint-Paul is a philanthropist and award-winning serial entrepreneur in software, finance, and social impact, with over 20 years of experience. Throughout his career, he has directly guided hundreds of individuals — and inspired over 50 million people — to reconnect with the intelligence of their heart. Arnaud is leading a global movement that empowers leaders to unlock their full potential by integrating heart intelligence into leadership.

At Tapuat, they believe true leadership arises when inner coherence and external impact converge, creating a profound ripple effect across teams, organizations, and society. Arnaud has spent over two decades guiding entrepreneurs, executives, and change agents to transform how they lead, live, and serve — by aligning their inner coherence with their outer impact. He believes true impact begins within. His upcoming book, The Heartful Method for Entrepreneurs, brings this journey to print.

Jonathan “Jon” Festejo is the Co-founder and CEO of Salesbricks. Prior to launching Salesbricks, Jon led RevOps for various a16z-backed companies, building the infrastructure and processes needed for SaaS businesses to generate and manage revenue. Today, he's building the first-ever "RevOps in a box," automating pricing and packaging management, quoting, billing, payments, and customer operations.

Jon is changing the way software is bought and sold — making B2B feel more like B2C. Since going to market two years ago, Salesbricks has processed over a quarter of a billion dollars in SaaS transactions, with platform revenue growing 90% quarter over quarter.

This and much more on Silicon Valley Impact! Follow and listen to all our episodes on: 🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/68L4RPfMizjxnKBsmcFb1J 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/silicon-valley-impact/id1776876823 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@siliconvalleyimpact

We’re grateful to our amazing partners — Withum (accounting and advisory professionals), Skidattl, and Salesbricks 🧱 — for their continued support and commitment to our shared vision. Your partnership helps fuel our growth and impact.

Silicon Valley Venture, LLC, the parent company of Silicon Valley Impact, is a proud global venture partner to great companies like Stak Ventures and 1900 Broadway Tower – Oakland. Check out https://stakspace.com/ to gain access to the world’s largest full-stack venture ecosystem — over 1.2 million square feet of Live, Work, Play, Go: everything innovators, investors, ecosystem influencers, institutional partners, and global talent need to gain a global advantage, access, alignment, and accelerate your venture.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the host and guests on Silicon Valley Impact are for entertainment purposes only and should not be considered financial advice or a solicitation. Listeners are encouraged to consult with a professional before making any financial or business decisions.

On this week's episode of Silicon Valley Impact we speak with Svetlana Kamyshanskaya, startup advisor, and Founding Partner at Primum Law Group PC; and LouAnn Conner, Founder & CEO of Sagacious Think LLC.

Svetlana is the powerhouse behind Primum Law Group, where she helps international startups land, launch, and scale in the U.S. With a sharp legal mind and a global business lens, she guides tech founders through venture deals, equity structuring, and market entry with clarity and confidence. Known for translating complex legal hurdles into practical strategy, Svetlana is the go-to advisor for startups ready to play big on the global stage.

LouAnn is the founder of Sagacious Think, an advisory firm helping growth companies with their transformation from global expansion to preparing for IPO/M&A or post-M&A integration. She works closely with company leadership and boards to ensure optimized engagement. A recognized expert in corporate governance, LouAnn is also a published author and global speaker.

This and much more on Silicon Valley Impact!

Follow us on and listen to all our episodes on:

🎙️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/68L4RPfMizjxnKBsmcFb1J

🍎Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/silicon-valley-impact/id1776876823

📺 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@siliconvalleyimpact

We’re grateful to our amazing partners — Withum (Accounting and Advisory professionals), Skidattl, and Salesbricks 🧱 — for their continued support and commitment to our shared vision. Your partnership helps fuel our growth and impact.”

Silicon Valley Venture, LLC, the parent company of Silicon Valley Impact, is a proud global venture partner to great companies, like Stak Ventures, and 1900 Broadway Tower - Oakland. Check out https://stakspace.com/ to gain access to the world largest full stack venture ecosystem. It's over 1.2 million square feet of Live, Work, Play, Go; everything innovators, investors, ecosystem influencers, institutional partners, and global talent needs to gain a global advantage, access, alignment, and accelerate your venture.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the host and guests on Silicon Valley Impact are for entertainment purposes only and should not be considered financial advice or a solicitation. Listeners are encouraged to consult with a professional before making any financial or business decisions.

On this weeks episode of Silicon Valley Impact we speak with Jean-Philippe "JP" Persico, co-founder at shuckerVC.

JP has over 20 years of experience in business transformation, corporate growth development, and digitalization across various industries including SaaS, e-commerce, and automotive. He is currently a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at shuckerVC, a Bay Area seed fund investing in AI-powered B2B software companies.

Before co-founding shuckerVC, JP was an operator and served as the Head of Strategy and Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) for a major industrial conglomerate. There, he led investments, formed startups, and managed joint ventures. His investments have shown impressive growth, achieving a 25x MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital) and attracting major VC firms to lead future rounds.

JP's operational experience includes a role as VP of Platform and Business Development at a software platform. In this position, he contributed to a 20x growth in corporate business and optimized operating margins through platform migration.

At shuckerVC, JP leverages his extensive experience in corporate strategy, venture capital, and startup operations to create real value add for their portfolio.

This and much more on Silicon Valley Impact!

Follow us on and listen to all our episodes on:

🎙️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/68L4RPfMizjxnKBsmcFb1J

🍎Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/silicon-valley-impact/id1776876823

📺 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@siliconvalleyimpact

We’re grateful to our amazing partners — Withum (Accounting and Advisory professionals), Skidattl, and Salesbricks 🧱 — for their continued support and commitment to our shared vision. Your partnership helps fuel our growth and impact."

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the host and guests on Silicon Valley Impact are for entertainment purposes only and should not be considered financial advice or a solicitation. Listeners are encouraged to consult with a professional before making any financial or business decisions.

On this week's episode of Silicon Valley Impact, we speak with Jeremiah Owyang, General Partner at Blitzscaling Ventures and Founder of Llama Lounge, and Nathan Beckord, CEO of Foundersuite.com (for startups) and Fundingstack.com (for VCs and i-bankers).

Jeremiah is the General Partner leading AI investments in early-stage startups at Blitzscaling Ventures. He’s also the founder of the Llama Lounge AI startup event series and a well-known conference speaker. A longtime Silicon Valley veteran dating back to the Dotcom era, Jeremiah has co-founded multiple technology research firms.

Nathan Beckord, CFA, is the Founder and CEO of Foundersuite.com and Fundingstack.com. These are end-to-end platforms for raising capital—designed for startups, VCs, and investment bankers. The platforms offer a database of over 210,000 global investors to build your target list, a “Get Intro” feature to secure warm introductions, a CRM to manage the raise, pitch deck hosting, investor update tools, email marketing capabilities, and a Virtual Data Room to close the deal.

Collectively, Foundersuite and Fundingstack have helped users raise over $21 billion in capital worldwide.

Previously, Nathan worked at VentureArchetypes in San Francisco and in J.P. Morgan’s private placement group in New York, where he supported startups and VCs in raising capital. He holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship, a B.S.C. in Finance, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). In his free time, he enjoys sailing, traveling, and riding motorcycles.

All this and more on Silicon Valley Impact!

🎙️ Follow and listen to all our episodes on:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/68L4RPfMizjxnKBsmcFb1J
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/silicon-valley-impact/id1776876823
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@siliconvalleyimpact

We’re grateful to our amazing partners — Withum (Accounting and Advisory Professionals), Skidattl, and Salesbricks 🧱 — for their continued support and commitment to our shared vision. Your partnership helps fuel our growth and impact.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the host and guests on Silicon Valley Impact are for entertainment purposes only and should not be considered financial advice or a solicitation. Listeners are encouraged to consult with a professional before making any financial or business decisions.

🎙️ On this week’s episode of Silicon Valley Impact:

The show features Vineet Jain, Managing Partner at Wild Tree Venture. A seasoned entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Vineet is passionate about helping early-stage founders bring their visions to life. Having experienced the ups and downs of launching and growing companies, he understands the challenges of early-stage fundraising.

Through Wild Tree Venture and his platform vineet.vc, Vineet shares insights and strategies that have helped over 100 startups raise more than $30 million in seed funding. His mission is to support founders as they tackle big problems with creative solutions and chart bold paths toward a better future.

Also featured is Sara Zare, founder and CEO of PodYar, a platform designed to document, structure, and preserve first-hand human knowledge in a world increasingly dominated by AI-generated content. A former global product leader at Google and a multidisciplinary engineer, Sara coined the term “Knowledge Integrity Crisis” to describe the growing erosion of human-authored insight. Her work focuses on preserving lived experiences and expert wisdom by reimagining podcasting as a digital vault for authentic knowledge and storytelling.

The episode also highlights Cynthia Abbott Kerr, founder and CEO of WellPay.ai, an AI-powered platform transforming how companies manage compensation. With over 20 years of leadership experience in HR, people analytics, and executive strategy—across both Fortune 500 companies and high-growth startups—Cynthia is a respected voice shaping the future of work. WellPay.ai offers organizations a “compensation team in their pocket,” providing real-time insights, simplifying complex processes, and empowering HR teams to make smart, data-driven decisions. Under Cynthia’s leadership, the platform is quickly becoming the go-to solution for forward-thinking companies striving to build fairer, more effective compensation systems.

All this and more on Silicon Valley Impact—where business insight meets startup innovation.

🎧 Listen and subscribe:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/68L4RPfMizjxnKBsmcFb1J
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/silicon-valley-impact/id1776876823
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@siliconvalleyimpact

🙏 A special thanks to our partners — Withum (Accounting & Advisory), Skidattl, and Salesbricks — for their continued support and commitment to our shared mission. Your partnership fuels our growth and amplifies our impact.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the host and guests on Silicon Valley Impact are for entertainment purposes only and should not be considered financial advice or solicitation. Listeners are encouraged to consult a professional before making any financial or business decisions.

On this week's episode of Silicon Valley Impact, we explore how tech founders can future-proof their finances with a strategic lens on tax, growth, and planning.

Now, I’ll be honest—I’ve never loved accounting. But as a founder building Silicon Valley Venture, I’ve realized how critical it is to understand the numbers. That’s why I brought in the tax guys—to learn what I didn’t know I needed to know.

Today we sit down with the team from Withum, a forward-thinking advisory and accounting firm known for its deep expertise in technology and emerging growth sectors. As innovation accelerates, founders and tech executives face complex tax, planning, and compliance challenges—both personally and professionally. Withum’s dynamic approach goes far beyond traditional accounting, offering strategic insight, personalized tax planning, and a powerful network to help tech leaders stay ahead of the curve.

The truth is, growth, fundability, and successful exits all depend on financial clarity. Whether you're raising your first round or planning your next move, knowing your numbers isn’t just helpful—it’s non-negotiable.

Joining us are:

• Tanner Ellis, Business Development Manager, who brings 15 years of leadership to help clients navigate today’s business complexity with confidence.
• Daniel Krolikowski, CPA and specialist in founder stock, equity compensation, and private client services, offering tailored income tax strategies for high-growth tech leaders.
• Tony Panico, Partner and leader of Withum’s Founder's Group, with 27+ years of experience in tax compliance and planning for founders, closely held businesses, and high-net-worth individuals.

We also dive into timely wealth and tax strategies tech leaders should be thinking about right now:

• Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS): How to unlock tax-free upside and protect founder gains
• New tax proposals + TCJA sunset: What founders and execs need to prepare for now
• Financial planning in volatile times: Why a strong plan—with stress testing—can keep you calm and on track
• Roth conversions & contributions: Down markets can be opportunity-rich—timing matters
• Tax return reviews: Using 2024 filings to uncover planning opportunities
• Wealth transfer strategies: GRATs, asset substitution, and gifting while values are low
• Refinancing insights: Rates hit lows recently—there could be real savings
• Equity comp planning: Why now might be a smart time to exercise options

📊 Whether you’re a founder navigating your first exit or a seasoned exec managing complex compensation, this episode is full of insights to help you anticipate what’s next—and act with clarity.

This and much more on Silicon Valley Impact!

Follow us on and listen to all our episodes on:

🎙️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/68L4RPfMizjxnKBsmcFb1J

🍎Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/silicon-valley-impact/id1776876823

📺 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@siliconvalleyimpact

We’re grateful to our amazing partners — Withum (Accounting and Advisory professionals), Skidattl, and Salesbricks 🧱 — for their continued support and commitment to our shared vision. Your partnership helps fuel our growth and impact."

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the host and guests on Silicon Valley Impact are for entertainment purposes only and should not be considered financial advice or a solicitation. Listeners are encouraged to consult with a professional before making any financial or business decisions.

On this week's episode of Silicon Valley Impact, we speak with Lu Zhang, Founder and Managing Partner of Fusion Fund, and Ben Kromnick, investor, ecosystem builder, venture partner, and Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences at Mercury.

Lu is a renowned Silicon Valley-based investor, serial entrepreneur, and Stanford Engineering alumna. With a strong technical background, she has extensive experience bringing a broad range of technologies to commercialization, with deep domain expertise in AI in healthcare, enterprise AI/networks, edge computing, and data privacy. Founded by Lu in 2015, Fusion Fund is dedicated to supporting early-stage entrepreneurs innovating in healthcare, enterprise AI, and industrial automation. With investments in over 90 companies across the U.S. and Canada, Fusion Fund has generated substantial exits over the years.

Prior to founding Fusion Fund, Lu was a serial entrepreneur and materials science researcher. Following the successful exit of her startup, she began investing in and supporting early-stage entrepreneurs, which eventually led her to create Fusion Fund. Since then, Lu has built a distinguished ecosystem and established her reputation in the venture capital industry. She has been honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (Davos), named one of Silicon Valley’s Women of Influence, recognized as a Top 25 Female Early-Stage Investor by Business Insider, featured as a VC honoree in Forbes 30 Under 30, and selected as a Town & Country 50 Modern Swans - Entrepreneurship Influencer.

Ben is a product and strategy leader with experience building at major organizations and scaling startups across the life sciences, healthtech, fintech, wearables, and AI industries. He loves working at the intersection of major social change and the application of big data and AI to positively impact our world.

At Mercury, Ben is building one of the most rich and diverse ecosystems and financial platforms focused on healthcare and life sciences, aiming to accelerate innovation, improve the efficacy of care, and enhance the efficiency of the U.S. healthcare market. He invites you: Tell me about your biggest challenge in healthcare—and let’s get to work!

Nothing is more exciting or fulfilling to Ben than enabling a founder with a mission to bring that mission to life and make a lasting impact on the world.

This and much more on Silicon Valley Impact!

Follow us on and listen to all our episodes on:

🎙️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/68L4RPfMizjxnKBsmcFb1J

🍎Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/silicon-valley-impact/id1776876823

📺 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@siliconvalleyimpact

"Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the host and guests on Silicon Valley Impact are for entertainment purposes only and should not be considered financial advice or a solicitation. Listeners are encouraged to consult with a professional before making any financial or business decisions."

On this week's episode of Silicon Valley Impact we speak with Carl Hinrichsen, Managing Partner, Executive Functions LLC; and Hans Sandhu, Chief Business Officer at TheAgentic. Today we’re talking about Go To Market Strategy from all over the world.

Carl is a global sales and partnerships leader with a track record of scaling businesses at Meta, Amazon, and Bertelsmann. He built Meta’s global reseller program from scratch, expanding its footprint to 40 new countries and creating a scalable playbook for international growth. As the founder of Exec Functions LLC, Carl advises high-growth companies on go-to-market strategy, sales execution, and international partnerships. He also scouts investment opportunities for VCs, acts as an operator and leads sales training programs, including at TechCrunch Disrupt. Carl holds an MBA from NYU Stern and ESADE and is based in San Francisco.

Hans is a true Silicon Valley insider, Hans is a startup veteran with a passion for scaling companies and driving record-breaking sales. Having led multiple startups to acquisition, he holds the highest ARR records at three different venture-backed companies. Now, as an LP in a VC fund, he guides founders through market entry, GTM strategy, and hyper-growth execution.

This and much more on Silicon Valley Impact!

Follow us on and listen to all our episodes on:

🎙️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/68L4RPfMizjxnKBsmcFb1J

🍎Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/silicon-valley-impact/id1776876823

📺 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@siliconvalleyimpact

"Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the host and guests on Silicon Valley Impact are for entertainment purposes only and should not be considered financial advice or a solicitation. Listeners are encouraged to consult with a professional before making any financial or business decisions.”