Disrupting and Democratizing Venture Capital, an Inside Look at SEC Regulations, and How to Survive Fundraising, with Jesse Randall of Sweater Ventures

The VITALIZE Podcast: Venture Capital | Startups | Angel Investing

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Jesse Randall (@SweaterCEO), CEO and Co-Founder of Sweater Ventures, a VC fund that pools money from millions of regular people and invests it into emerging technology and product companies poised for growth—companies you’ll see in your daily life or at work. At Sweater Ventures, they believe that every founder should be able to build their vision, and every person should be able to support the startups that create the next generation of influence and wealth. Their mobile-first experience allows you direct access to the world's most exclusive asset class—Venture Capital.

Jesse Randall originally set out to raise a traditional venture fund, but immediately raised an eyebrow at the accredited investor requirement. Is that really still necessary? The Sweater Ventures team is hell-bent on leveling the playing field and reinventing venture capital to reach its maximum potential. That starts by creating a venture capital fund that anyone can invest in.

Website: Sweater Ventures

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/deviantstrat/

Twitter: @SweaterCEO

Show Notes:

• How Sweater Ventures is democratizing VC investing
• Jesse’s background and Sweater Ventures’ origin story in the history of accreditation laws
• The process that took 4 years from idea inception to launching Sweater Ventures
• Sweater Ventures’ fundraising inception and Jesse’s personal tip for surviving the raise
• How they pitched investors on the concept of disrupting the VC industry
• Sweater Ventures’ go-to-market strategy and how they leveraged the time waiting for SEC approval
• The marketing behind building Sweater Ventures’ waitlist
• Developing multi-channel legitimacy
• The model behind Sweater Ventures and how they’re different from a traditional venture fund
• Sweater Ventures’ unique redemption windows
• The Sweater Ventures app and why they're a mobile-first company
• Sweater Ventures’ investment thesis
• Building out a team for Sweater Venture’s unique structure
• The story behind the Sweater name
• Where to connect with Jesse and why he prefers LinkedIn as a platform

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series.

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors.

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital.

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/