Dez Fleming
@DezFleming
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Investor @firstmarkcap. Helping founders and sharing stories. Subscribe to my weekly(ish) newsletter for insight on who and what's next in venture capital.
New York, NY
Joined April 2021
I run a newsletter called All Things Venture that's focused on highlighting a founder's journey at the earliest stage. I've interviewed +20 founders and in every interview I ask "What advice do you have for any aspiring entrepreneur?" . Here's what they shared🧵🧵.
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1st Job (Banking): I get to wear a tie to work?? SICK. 2nd Job (Consulting): No tie in office??SICK. 3rd Job (Startup): Hoodie in office?? This is AMAZING. 4th Job (VC): What do you mean wearing Birkenstocks to an external meeting is unprofessional?.
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Most first time founders don't realize how structured of a process fundraising from VCs is. Our industry gatekeeps a lot of valuable information which is stupid & counter to the optimistic visions we preach. I put together a fundraising strategy deck for first time founders. .
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Some stuff I’m indexing to as a new/younger VC:. - Monitoring public equities in my coverage area (I.e fintech) to understand rev multiples + biz models.- actively learning about history of innovation & tech .- prioritizing long term relationships over short term interactions.
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Was challenged tonight at a dinner w/ other founders, investors, and operators to share what the bar is for a Series A so here’s my take:. - $1M ARR at a minimum.- 3 - 5x YoY growth.- 2x burn multiple (or improving YoY toward that).- 70-80% gross margins.- Compelling story &.
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How much do you think this costs? (Parents of Twitter, do not participate)
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2% of VC dollars go to black founders. 3% of GPs identify as black. Never been a better time to affect change. Had the opportunity to host a dinner a few weeks ago for black founders, investors, and operators focused on improving those numbers. We are the change we seek!!
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that I hope provides some transparency into the process for anyone thinking of starting a company or fundraising soon. You can check it out here - .
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Had an incredible weekend out in Utah. First solo trip I’ve ever done. Comfortably hitting blacks, absolutely crushing blues. Very excited to keep getting better
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First day back in 2023. Fired up to help founders. Fired up to make connections. Fired up to make an impact.Don't think VC industry of the past 50 years will look like the VC we have in the next 5 years. Build while you climb, lift others up along the way. Let's get to WORK!!!!!.
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What's the current state of VC? What do we do when companies that are making ~$400M in revenue are valued the same as companies doing < $20M?. I wrote a quick essay articulating my view point. Per usual, open to thoughts, criticism, and feedback.
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Firmly believe that successful startups & VC are just like sports. - Everyday is an opportunity to get better.- High performing teams do the little things consistently & near perfection.- Mental toughness/mindset are important to navigate the ups n downs.
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Why why why why why why why don’t I get a calendly link from my doctors office. Like my guys and gals, I am at WORK everyday from 9-6. Ya receptionists doesn’t wanna hit my voicemail. I don’t wanna listen to my voicemail. Throw that thang on calendly and help me help YOU.
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NYC based Seed stage founders. I’m running an experiment here. If you’re looking to raise in < 6 months, & want zero judgement feedback on your pitch. I’m happy to meet with you no questions asked this Sunday. My only ask is we meet in person. Feel free to DM me if you’re down.
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I'm hosting a private, invite only event for Black & Hispanic Founders, Operators, and Investors on 10/12. 2x founder @Porter_Braswell & GP & Co-Founder of Equal Ventures @kerby are our guest speakers. Goal is to have some of the best up & coming people in NYC, all in one room. .
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Let's goooooooo!!! 🚀🚀 1st deal that I worked on here @FirstMarkCap beyond excited for this journey and to partner with the Sastrify team.
So excited to be partnering w/ @Sastrify. I've been a software procurement nerd since my first days building the GTM strategy at Dropbox. grateful to be able to partner with a team that clearly aligns with our vision for the future and has built amazing momentum.
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Some Monday Motivation!! Fun moment here at @FirstMarkCap seeing the Larry O’Brien trophy in person. As a lifelong NBA fan this is a real treat. Grateful to be working alongside & learning from some of the best in the biz @rick @amishjani @adamn @mattturck
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@justingordon212 đź‘‹hola squad!! my name is Dez I'm an active angel investor as well as spend my day job here at Firstmark!! Always happy to chat & be a sounding board, and more than happy to make time especially at those "waaay to early" stages.
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Tim Cook on the cover of Vogue.@facebook up 100% YoY.@browsercompany showing up everywhere.@DylanAbruscato making crypto fun.@scale_AI up 3x YoY to $750M ARR at least.Apple Vision Pro now out in the wild.Blackrock's bitcoin ETFs trading $200M+ daily. Tech is kinda hot rn.
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What does it mean to have a MOVEMENT not a moment?. In 2021, the largest year of VC deployment on record, < 2% of captial went to Black founders. I recently had the opportunity to host 40 Black Founders & Investors all focused on changing those numbers for good
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Keep pushing our industry to be better in all aspects: . 2% of funding going to black led companies is abysmal. 2% of funding going to latino led companies is abysmal. 2% of funding going to women only led companies is abysmal.
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One reflection after completing my 2nd year in VC. it's a long game w/ most things outside of your control. But your daily habits (which are incredibly powerful AND in your control) are controllable inputs for success
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Hosting our first, FirstMark Fintech Night w/ @CharleyMa @aunimh @elipoaquino @adamn . We’ve got an incredible group of founders, operators, and investors all sharing insights and tactical advice on how to raise $$$, angel invest, and going from 0 to 1. All right here in NYC!!
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I just heard Flowers by Miley Cyrus this weekend and god damn is it my JAM.
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Hosting a dinner tonight for a diverse group of senior executives (i.e GPs, founders, operators); we'll be discussing how to broaden access & on ramps for new angel investors, the current state of VC capital markets, and how to continue to support diverse founders in tech. I host.
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My personal opinion is that the modern (i.e digitally connected) VC network is a failure if we aren't helping.more founders, from more backgrounds, and making them more informed about the journey ahead.
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My partner @adamn are gearing up to host another Fintech Driven event to kickoff the year pretty soon. Will be another private, invite only event but always looking for great people to join. Would love to get more people outside of our networks involved. DMs open!.
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World needs more builders less bankers; telling every smart young person I meet in 2024 to go risk on & swing for the fences. No sense in climbing a corporate ladder at globocorpvampiresquidbankinginstitution unless you truly LOVE deals and finance. Tech & entrepreneurship is.
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Imagine this, it’s the year 2030. You’re 36 years old. You’ve got two kids under the age of three and a third one is on the way. You live in suburbia. New Jersey, in fact. You commute to the city four times a week (you kinda hate it, but hey someone’s gotta do it.) Life is busy.
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Passed the 1 year mark in VC & wrote about my reflections🎉🎉🎉. Thankful for the opp to learn from the entire team @FirstMarkCap & to be in the trenches every day w/ @adamn . Excited to keep meeting & supporting founders & growing the NYC ecoystem!!.
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Keys to creating a billion dollar company:. Step 1: Find a nice juicy vertical .Step 2: Build a killer software tool for said vertical.Step 3: Layer in payments, banking, or lending.Step 4: Tell me & @adamn about it.
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A quote from today's Startup Spotlight on @PartyRound . "The best way to change the world is by building a startup and the greatest time to do so is now.". Had a blast interviewing @jordihays & getting to learn about their focus, mission & journey!!.
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I don’t take the opportunity of working in VC for granted at all. It is a privilege to work with founders day in and day out & to hear their vision for the future. No one is perfect but the least our industry can do is bring effort, energy, and authenticity in every interaction.
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It's a high level summary, but. VC is a network and relationship based business so equipping more founders with the institutional knowledge of this network is critical. More informed founders = more billion $ opportunities.
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Working at a startup changed my life. Working at a startup helped me "break in" to VC. I think it's the single highest ROI activity you can make if you're in your twenties and looking to make an impact both personally and professionally.
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When the VC associates who all start at the same time together see each announce their first deal.
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In 2021 Visa processed ~357x more transactions than Ethereum. If you're wondering what that looks like -. Here's a visual representation with the total transaction volume on Ethereum expressed as Rick Ross's face
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This is @TheoWllms he is at Salesforce Ventures, he is part of the future of what it means to be/work in VC, he is a father, a husband, and works his ass off everyday to support founders. Show my man Theo some love!!!!!
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Friendly reminder for anyone recruiting for their 1st VC job. The best way to stand out, is to DO the job before you get THE job. You don't need anyone's permission to do the core components of being a new VC. Put founders first, develop relationships w/ them and. .
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The future may not be evenly distributed but information, opportunity, and access all can be. Be the change you seek and lets do the damn work!!!.
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One of my favorite things about tech & VC is the "pay it forward" mantra - many of the best leaders today are willing to share hard won insights with the next generation. Super pumped to be hosting a Fireside chat with @itaidamti of @unit_co_ on 8/12 here @FirstMarkCap.
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@Jad_AE It's a sport for highly competitive unathletic people of which finance has a bunch of.
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My ideal cold email.- written in 30 seconds.- responded to in 15 seconds.- no calendly back and forth.- from a series A founder w/ $10M ARR .- raising at a $20 post.- they tell me they love me.- building in fintech or vertical SaaS.- includes a ricky bobby reference.
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@HarryStebbings Agree strongly w/ @HarryStebbings Dropping this fundraising guide (which emphasizes storytelling) for any first time founders lurking in the comments.
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yeah NYC is expensive, crowded, and dirty but on my walk home I passed an artisanal soap store with a live folk band so take that.
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To all of my VC friends who I've met this past year. A) I love ya'll, ya'll are awesome.B) Take a look at the doc - if you see something you disagree w/, call me out. Let's all do the work to keep supporting founders in any way we can and. .
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Met 2 founder friends last wknd. Very beginning of their journey & very excited for them. Why? B/c they know the risks, have a plan to de-risk via structured experiments, & burned their ships (i.e no plan B). Literally moving to Alaska to solve a climate problem. Gotta love it.
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The NYT bought Wordle.Spotify bought Heardle. Bouta start Turtle and sell it to Animal Planet reaaaal quick.
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My current life mission is to alternate between aggressive rap music and fun house music, send 100 emails an hour, and try and find a Series A company growing 10-15% MoM with accelerating CMGR.
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VC markets are prioritizing efficiency. A tale of two cities is emerging. Last week the stark contrast between the news on Bilt & Brex is a great example of this dynamic playing out in real time
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Fired up right now bc I got off the phone w/ a fantastic operator thinking about her next role. All the right credentials, ready to take the leap at the earliest stages but said (paraphrasing), "I'm not 100% sure if I'm qualified for the opportunity. ".
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Very excited to host another Fintech Driven event with @zachperret from @Plaid - my favorite part about the tech/venture ecosystem is the open, collaborative, “glass half full” mindset & dedication to paying it forward this group has - can’t be beat!!!!!
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Absolutely zero substitute for hard work. You can’t skip levels. Lots of days will suck. But there’s also no reason why you can’t achieve the goals you aspire to. Foot on gas. Hit the extra gear. Go the extra mile - f around and find out how great YOU can be.
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Can’t wait till younger Gen Z discovers Polo, calls it vintage, and I make an absolute BAG reselling my 9th grade wardrobe on Depop.
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Millennials: One day I’d like to own my own home, have my kids go to college, and generally be debt free. The US Economy;.
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Put founders first, work as hard as they do, and good things will happen 🤝🏾
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Hosting our first Alternative Capital Demo Day, here @FirstMarkCap bringing together founders, investors, and operators rethinking the future state of alternative assets and how to capitalize, scale, and compound these businesses. @adamn kicking things off!!
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Starting a thread on the history of Founders that have demonstrated domain expertise and/or an unfair advantage/edge in their biz from day 1.
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All I want for Christmas is a recurring revenue stream as predictable and timeless as Mariah’s royalties from this damn song.
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Continuing on this journey to understand the founding moments for the top 25 largest VC backed public companies. Just finished reading up on Atlassian ($40Bn), Snowflake ($47Bn), Workday ($51Bn), Shopify ($56Bn), and Palo Alto Networks ($58Bn).
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S/O to all the strangers on the internet who respond to cold DMs and outreach, yall the real MVPs.
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Proximity matters, ambition matters, tolerance matters, luck matters, failure matters. There are so many variables to success and so much randomness in its achievement that my overriding belief and advice for anyone is - why not you?.
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My parents made me go to a magnet school for science & technology in high school . I had no interest bc I played sports competitively & the rival high school was 10x better sports wise. Today, I got a pitch deck from a magnet school classmate. Parents made the right choice lmao.
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Had an incredible day. Met w/ a founding team in Grand Central this AM. Had a zoom call spontaneously turn to a walk in talk in Union Square. Finished the night meeting emerging founders/operators in Dumbo. No other place in the world this density of opportunity. NYC is buzzing.
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A tip for pre-seed/seed founders on raising a Series A: . Systematically record & track your customer conversations . I was chatting with a forward thinking founder friend of mine who had just raised & was asking for advice on how to navigate Series A VC conversations . Series A.
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@levie I am basically nostradamus, a little EARLY but not wrong.
Calling it now - at least ONE candidate in 2024 is going to go full tilt on crypto and issue NFTs for something.
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Being at home in Texas is wild compared to New York b/c status symbols go from how many shades of black can you wear & how discreet but expensive is your jewelry to how blue are your wrangler jeans and how lifted is your F-150.
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Resharing a deck I put together on fundraising strategies for 1st time founders; hopefully this helps with the black box that is fundraising. At the end of the day, fundraising is a PROCESS and that process can be LEARNED and IMPROVED upon. Hopefully this helps.
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21 savage rhymed spizzin, twizzin, agaizzin, and frienzzinds - on a song with probably +100M streams, so you really can’t tell me anything in life just ain’t possible.
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I'm on pace to meet ~400 companies this year & have met with dozens of operators who have ambitions to start a VC backed company. People ask me all the time,. "What makes a company VC backable?". The simplest answer is, any company that can get to a minimum of $100M+ ARR.
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10 questions I asked myself a year ago on what matters most to VCs when assessing founders & their entrepreneurial ideas
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GF and I try to set intentions for every new year. Tried something new this year where we wanted to summarize those intentions in one word. Mine is “Focus”, hers is “Move”. Hope everyone has a fantastic time tonight, and carries the positive energy into 2023.
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I know that being in VC is the right career for me b/c I am 110% ENERGIZED after talking w/ founders. Default optimism is my love language & I respect anyone who is taking a swing at entrepreneurship, big or small. You do not need permission from the world to affect change.
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Content marketing is eating paid marketing’s lunch right now. Totally anecdotal but left and right you see brands like @Airbnb @brexHQ @capitalxyz and a whole host of all others looking to share stories w/ fixed costs of production vs marginal costs (i.e paid ads).
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What is Web 3's role be in the future of commerce? . How does luck play a role in a founder's career? . What "aha" moments lead to conviction in an idea?. I got into all of that & more in an interview with @anna_merzi one of the co-founders of @novel_commerce.
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If you laugh, if you cry, if you think. That’s a good day. Did all three so far this AM. I’m thankful for the opportunities I have in life. I recognize I am lucky. Life is random but I want to make the most of the hand I was dealt. Be kind, be positive, help others where you can.
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Addressing the structural lack of supply of single family homes is one of the most challenging & exciting problems today. Excited to be partnering with the @do_backflip team and @JoshErnstNYC & @romejake1.
Love that our investment in @do_backflip is finally live. The execution of @JoshErnstNYC @romejake1 and team to help arm the "little guy" RE investor and modernize America's housing supply has been really fantastic. More about our investment here:
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Firmly believe that marketing as a skill set is under appreciated. The ability to consistently, clearly, and succinctly communicate the value you provide and/or capture attention is so important esp. in a world where the barriers to entry for new products is increasingly zero.
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Run your own race. See where your limit is. Make an impact on others. Be positive and uplift the vibes. Don’t be afraid to be different, ask the dumb questions. Speak up, because your voice deserves to be heard. Play for fun. Play to win. Be authentic to who you are.
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Had a founder friend send the most thoughtful handwritten note as he gears up to launch his company. For me, this is what VC is all about. Help ppl make their VISION, a REALITY. Be an advocate, a friend, a support system and you’ll win and be in a position to HELP win!!
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Product Market Fit is kinda like sitting in an Adirondack chair with a loaf of bread being surrounded by ducks.
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Great opportunity to join & learn from some of the best @FirstMarkCap & further support the fantastic founders here in NYC. DM ya boy your resume/linkedin if interested!.
I'm recruiting a junior investor / associate to work directly with me at @FirstMarkCap. You'd think the role would be mostly about ghostwriting my tweets, and yeah maybe, but wait, there's more!. Here's the story:.
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Back at it again w/ another All Things Venture interview, this time with @cdurbinxyz 1 of the co-founders of @decentxyz. We talked about:. - Building a decentralized record label.- Combining NFTs and royalties.- His advice for founders in Web3.
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What backgrounds make someone a successful VC? How do founder's build an unfair advantage? What role does community play in businesses today?. I had the chance to chat about all of this w/ my colleague @lisamxu in my latest All Things Venture article.
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