Venture Trailblazers, with Elizabeth Yin

The ninth Venture Trailblazers event took place on Thursday, August 14, 2025, and featured a Fireside Chat with Elizabeth Yin, Co-Founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund.

Keynote Speaker: Elizabeth Yin

Elizabeth Yin is Co-Founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund, a pre-seed fund backing software entrepreneurs. Previously, she was a partner at 500 Startups, where she led seed investments and ran the Mountain View accelerator. Earlier in her career, she co-founded and exited the adtech startup LaunchBit. Elizabeth holds a BSEE from Stanford and an MBA from MIT Sloan.  Elizabeth has reviewed over 20k startup pitches from around the world in the last few years and has helped numerous portfolio founders raise hundreds of millions of dollars. Her work and writing on startup fundraising have been featured in numerous publications, including TechCrunch, Forbes, Huffington Post, BetaKit, and more.

Watch the video replay of the event below:

Venture Trailblazers is an exclusive, invite-only event series that connects leading investors, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the globe to discuss the latest trends in startups and venture capital.

The goal of Venture Trailblazers is to educate and connect the founders, leaders, mentors, and investors across the global Founder Institute, VC Lab, and FI Venture Networks.

Venture Trailblazers, with Ilya Strebulaev

The eighth Venture Trailblazers event took place on Thursday, December 5, 2024, and featured a Fireside Chat with Ilya Strebulaev, director of Stanford's Venture Capital Initiative,

Keynote Speaker: Ilya Strebulaev

Ilya Strebulaev is an international expert in venture capital, private equity, financing innovation, and strategic financial decisions.

He is the David S. Lobel Professor of Private Equity and Professor of Finance at the Graduate School of Business (GSB), Stanford University, where he has been a faculty member since 2004.

Ilya is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the founder and faculty director of the Stanford GSB Venture Capital Initiative. He brings deep expertise in venture capital, private equity, and innovation financing.

Watch the video replay of the event below:

Venture Trailblazers is an exclusive, invite-only event series that connects leading investors, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the globe to discuss the latest trends in startups and venture capital.

The goal of Venture Trailblazers is to educate and connect the founders, leaders, mentors, and investors across the global Founder Institute, VC Lab, and FI Venture Networks.

Venture Trailblazers, with Warren Packard

The seventh Venture Trailblazers event took place on Wednesday, August 22, 2024, and featured a Fireside Chat with Warren Packard (Operating Partner at AI Fund).

Keynote Speaker: Warren Packard

Warren Packard is a seasoned entrepreneur and venture capitalist with over 30 successful exits. At AI Fund, he specializes in nurturing early-stage startups and leading a team of innovators. With a career spanning decades, Warren has been instrumental in the growth of iconic companies like Tesla, SpaceX, Skype, and Baidu during his 13 years at DFJ.

A founder at heart, Warren launched Angara Database Systems and Thuuz Sports, both of which were acquired. His passion for innovation is evident in his 18 patents, including breakthroughs in AI generative video.

Outside of work, he enjoys drumming, ultimate frisbee, and creating unique gadgets.

Warren holds an MBA and a dual degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. His philosophy: “There’s no better calling than to be a founder, to be a leader. Try something and give it your all.”

Watch the video replay of the event below:

Venture Trailblazers is an exclusive, invite-only event series that connects leading investors, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the globe to discuss the latest trends in startups and venture capital.

The goal of Venture Trailblazers is to educate and connect the founders, leaders, mentors, and investors across the global Founder Institute, VC Lab, and FI Venture Networks.

Venture Trailblazers, with Mike Maples Jr.

The sixth Venture Trailblazers event took place on Wednesday, June 27, 2024, and featured a Fireside Chat with Mike Maples Jr. (Co-founding Partner at Floodgate).

Keynote Speaker: Mike Maples Jr.

Mike Maples Jr. is a Co-founding Partner at Floodgate. He has been on the Forbes Midas List eight times in the last decade and was also named a “Rising Star” by FORTUNE and profiled by Harvard Business School for his lifetime contributions to entrepreneurship.

Before becoming a full-time investor, Mike was involved as a founder and operating executive at back-to-back startup IPOs, including Tivoli Systems (IPO TIVS, acquired by IBM) and Motive (IPO MOTV, acquired by Alcatel-Lucent.)

Some of Mike’s investments include Twitter, Twitch.tv, Clover Health, Okta, Outreach, ngmoco, Chegg, Bazaarvoice, and Demandforce.

Mike is known for coining the term “Thunder Lizards,” which is a metaphor derived from Godzilla that describes the tiny number of truly exceptional companies that are wildly disruptive capitalist mutations. Mike likes to think of himself as a hunter of the “atomic eggs” that beget these companies.

Mike is the host of the Starting Greatness podcast, which shares startup lessons from the super performers.

Watch the video replay of the event below:

Venture Trailblazers is an exclusive, invite-only event series that connects leading investors, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the globe to discuss the latest trends in startups and venture capital.

The goal of Venture Trailblazers is to educate and connect the founders, leaders, mentors, and investors across the global Founder Institute, VC Lab, and FI Venture Networks.

Venture Trailblazers, with James Currier

The fifth Venture Trailblazers event took place on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, and featured a Fireside Chat with James Currier (Founding Partner at NFX).

Keynote Speaker: James Currier

James Currier is one of Silicon Valley’s foremost experts in growth and network effects. With a remarkable track record as a five-time founder and angel investor in groundbreaking companies like DoorDash, Lyft, and Patreon, James brings unparalleled insights into scaling startups.

As a Founding Partner at NFX, a premier early-stage venture capital firm, James has spearheaded investments in companies that leverage network effects to drive exponential growth. Under his leadership, NFX has raised multiple funds, totaling over $425 million, focusing on seed-stage companies in the SF Bay Area and Israel.

James's entrepreneurial journey is nothing short of extraordinary. He co-founded Tickle, one of the internet’s first successful user-generated content platforms, growing it to 150 million users before its acquisition by Monster for $110 million. His subsequent ventures include Wonderhill (online gaming, merged with Kabam), IronPearl (growth analytics SaaS, acquired by PayPal), and Jiff (enterprise healthcare software, merged with Castlight).

Renowned for his pioneering work in viral marketing, A/B testing, and crowdsourcing, James has helped over 10 companies achieve more than 10 million users. His strategic acumen and innovative growth techniques have been featured in Forbes, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, TechCrunch, and Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Beyond his professional achievements, James is an adventure seeker, having sailed across the North Atlantic and South Pacific. He is a father of four, a musician, and deeply interested in psychology, language, and innovative learning models.

Watch the video replay of the event below:

Venture Trailblazers is an exclusive, invite-only event series that connects leading investors, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the globe to discuss the latest trends in startups and venture capital.

The goal of Venture Trailblazers is to educate and connect the founders, leaders, mentors, and investors across the global Founder Institute, VC Lab, and FI Venture Networks.

Venture Trailblazers, with Scott Belsky

The fourth Venture Trailblazers event took place on Tuesday, October 17 2023, and featured a Fireside Chat with iconic investor Scott Belsky

Keynote Speaker: Scott Belsky

Scott Belsky is an entrepreneur, author, investor, and currently serves as Adobe’s Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President, Creative Cloud. Scott oversees all of product and engineering for Creative Cloud, as well as design for Adobe.

In 2006, Scott founded Behance, the leading online platform for the creative industry to showcase and discover creative world, and served as CEO until Adobe acquired Behance in 2012. After the acquisition, Scott helped reboot Adobe's mobile products and services for Creative Cloud while leading Behance. Behance now has over 30M members.

Scott actively advises founders and invests in businesses that cross the intersection of technology, marketplaces/community, and design, and help empower people. He works closely with a number of venture capital firms, and is an early advisor and investor in Pinterest, Uber, sweetgreen, Carta, Cheddar, Flexport, Airtable, and Periscope as well as several others in the early stages.

Through his work as a founder and investor, Scott has become an advocate for technology and community initiatives that empower creative people and teams. He is the author of two national bestselling books - Making Ideas Happen and The Messy Middle, and founded 99U, a publication and annual conference devoted to productivity in the creative world.

On the event, Scott and Jonathan Greechan (CEO and Cofounder of Founder Institute) discussed entrepreneurial mindset and motivation. They also discussed the importance of hiring and team dynamics.

Watch the video replay of the event below:

Venture Trailblazers is an exclusive, invite-only event series that connects leading investors, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the globe to discuss the latest trends in startups and venture capital.

The goal of Venture Trailblazers is to educate and connect the founders, leaders, mentors, and investors across the global Founder Institute, VC Lab, and FI Venture Networks.

Venture Trailblazers, with Barry Eggers

The third Venture Trailblazers event took place on Tuesday, May 23 2023, and featured a Fireside Chat with iconic investor Barry Eggers.

Keynote Speaker: Barry Eggers

Barry is a Founding Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, a global VC firm whose vast portfolio includes Affirm, Bonobos, Calm, Carta, Docker, Epic Games, Goop, Grubhub, The Honest Company, Kiva, Mulesoft, Navan, Nest, Nutanix, Snap, Telegram, and many more. Of the 400+ companies they have partnered with, a third have either IPO’d or been acquired.

In addition to building out the firm, Barry specializes in information technology infrastructure with a focus on analytic platforms, cloud, IoT, networking, and emerging infrastructure.

Barry is also Chair of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) Board of Directors.

On the event, Barry and Adeo Ressi (Chairman of Founder Institute and CEO of VC Lab) discussed the changing dynamics of the VC industry, how Lightspeed Venture Partners has adapted over the years, and the need for continuity planning.

Watch the video replay of the event below:

Venture Trailblazers is an exclusive, invite-only event series that connects leading investors, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the globe to discuss the latest trends in startups and venture capital.

The goal of Venture Trailblazers is to educate and connect the founders, leaders, mentors, and investors across the global Founder Institute, VC Lab, and FI Venture Networks.

Venture Trailblazers, with Tim Draper

The second Venture Trailblazers event took place on Monday March 6, 2023, and featured a Fireside Chat with iconic investor Tim Draper.

Keynote Speaker: Tim Draper

Tim Draper is a prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist and founder of Draper Associates, DFJ, and the Draper Venture Network, a global network of venture capital funds. The firms’ investments include Baidu, Focus Media, YeePay, KongZhong, Skype, Hotmail, Tesla, SolarCity, Coinbase, Ledger, Robinhood, Athenahealth, Box, TwitchTV, SpaceX, Cruise Automation, Carta, Planet, PTC, and many others.

On the event, Tim and Adeo Ressi (Chairman of Founder Institute and CEO of VC Lab) discussed entrepreneurship survival skills, the need for investors to be obsessed with learning, why Tim is so bullish on Web3, and much more.

Watch the video replay of the event below:

Venture Trailblazers is an exclusive, invite-only event series that connects leading investors, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the globe to discuss the latest trends in startups and venture capital.

The goal of Venture Trailblazers is to educate and connect the founders, leaders, mentors, and investors across the global Founder Institute, VC Lab, and FI Venture Networks.

Inaugural Venture Trailblazers Event, with Roleof Botha of Sequoia Capital

The inaugural Venture Trailblazers event took place on Wednesday November 2nd, and featured a Fireside Chat with Roelof Botha (Managing Partner at Sequoia Capital).

Keynote Speaker: Roelof Botha (Managing Partner, Sequoia Capital)

Roelof Botha has spent over 20 years building companies in Silicon Valley. He began within the walls of nascent PayPal, where he joined in March 2000 while completing his MBA at Stanford. He became CFO in 2001 and led the company through both its IPO in early 2002 and the subsequent acquisition by eBay.

Roelof joined Sequoia Capital in 2003 to help founders build enduring businesses. He leads the US/Europe business as Managing Partner and serves as Senior Steward of the global Sequoia Partnership. Roelof is a Director of 23andMe, Bird, Ethos, Evernote, Inside.com, Landis, mmhmm, MongoDB, Natera, Pendulum Therapeutics, Square, and Unity Technologies. Previously, he was a Director of companies that include YouTube, Tumblr, Xoom, AssureX, and Eventbrite. He also led Sequoia's investment in Instagram.

On the event, Roelof and Adeo Ressi (Chairman of Founder Institute and CEO of VC Lab) discussed the history of Sequoia Capital, Roelof's career from a technology executive and operator to one of the world's leading Venture Capitalists, how VCs evaluate founders at the earliest stages of startup development, the state of VC today amidst historic macroeconomic shifts currently taking place, advice for entrepreneurs and new fund managers, and much more.

Watch the video replay of the event below:

Venture Trailblazers is an exclusive, invite-only event series that connects leading investors, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the globe to discuss the latest trends in startups and venture capital.

The goal of Venture Trailblazers is to educate and connect the founders, leaders, mentors, and investors across the global Founder Institute, VC Lab, and FI Venture Networks.