Hello Reader, Every founder has a vision. The challenge is convincing others to believe in it before the results are obvious. Investors rarely back ambition alone. They look for evidence for commitment, resilience, and the ability to execute. This week on The Sure Shot Entrepreneur, Sudarshan Sridharan shares why founders should demonstrate ambition before asking investors to believe in them. We discuss how building communities, helping others, and thinking boldly can create opportunities...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, One of the most exciting things about artificial intelligence is how quickly it allows founders to build new products. One of the biggest challenges is that it allows everyone else to build quickly, too. That raises an important question: if building is becoming easier, where does lasting advantage come from? This week on The Sure Shot Entrepreneur, Amir Kabir shares why the answer isn't artificial intelligence itself. It's insight. We discuss why founders should focus on...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, One of the challenges in venture capital is that the best decisions must be made before there is enough information to be certain. Founders make decisions without knowing exactly how a market will evolve. Investors make decisions before a company has proven itself. Limited partners make decisions before a fund has produced results. This week on The Sure Shot Entrepreneur, Justin Smith-Lorenzetti shares how he thinks about conviction, founder quality, and long-term relationships...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, In venture capital, we’re witnessing 10x expansion in both startups and investors in the past decade, a velocity of growth that has fundamentally reshaped the Limited Partner landscape. With this flood of capital comes a heightened challenge: discerning 'signal' from pervasive 'noise.' To decode the attributes of an elite LP, I sat down with David Zhou, co-founder of The Side Letter. David, a fellow podcaster and deep-thinking observer of the asset class, offers a masterclass on...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, One of a venture capitalist’s greatest superpowers is their network, and not just for the obvious reasons. A strong network helps with candid diligence, finding the right experts for advice at critical moments, and recruiting leaders who can help a startup scale. But most importantly, it drives great deal-flow. Ask a VC to explain their sourcing strategy, and the answer is often fuzzy. That is because it rarely comes down to a single playbook. At Sure Ventures, I rely heavily on...
4 months ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, What if the future of leadership looks less like command-and-control and more like empathy, curiosity, and human connection? In Episode 188 of The Sure Shot Entrepreneur, Ian Sandler shares lessons from a career spent building organizations at scale while also helping lead Riley’s Way Foundation, a nonprofit focused on developing kind leaders. His perspective is simple but powerful: long-term success comes from understanding people, building trust, and creating environments...
5 months ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, Remember when everyone thought InsurTech would revolutionize the insurance industry overnight? Well, Gilad Shai just dropped some brutal truth bombs that every founder needs to hear. After running InsurTech LA for nearly a decade and watching the sector's boom-bust cycle up close, he's seen it all: the IPOs that lost 90% of their value, the startups stuck in permanent purgatory, and why insurance companies still won't buy your software. But here's the kicker: he still thinks...
5 months ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, My career journey is rooted in the exhilarating world of deep-tech—think semiconductors, algorithms, and those fundamental breakthroughs that literally built Silicon Valley! For years, deep-tech was venture capital, defining the industry and my path alongside it. While the startup scene has since exploded into everything from consumer apps to finance, deep-tech is back in the spotlight, driving the next wave of disruptive ideas. Want the inside scoop? I'm excited to feature...
6 months ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, "Go to school, work hard, follow the rules." That was the path to success for many immigrant and middle-class families. But sometimes, an idea is so big, so timely, that you just have to drop everything and chase it, even college. This idea challenges the core values I grew up with and still hold as a faculty teaching at INSEAD, but I get it: sometimes you have to break the rules. That's where 1517 Fund comes in. It is a VC firm that exclusively backs entrepreneurs as early as...
6 months ago • 3 min read