Discover/Seed to Scale/Jenny Fielding, MD of Techstars & Founde...

Pretty much everyone said, you know, you're crazy. You're building a tech company. You gotta go out to San Francisco. And so I spent some time out in San Francisco and realized that that just wasn't the place I wanted to build my company. So, really doubled down on building it here, and it was quite hard, you know, in my apartment. Felt very isolating.

Seed to Scale · Jenny Fielding, MD of Techstars & Founder of The Fund, on...

“And as I was building this company, pretty much everyone said, you know, you're crazy.”

2:11 / 2:31

And as I was building this company, pretty much everyone said, you know, you're crazy. You're building a tech company. You gotta go out to San Francisco. And so I spent some time out in San Francisco and realized that that just wasn't the place I wanted to build my company. So, really doubled down on building it here, and it was quite hard, you know, in my apartment. Felt very isolating.

Why this clip

Perfect contrarian narrative - rejecting conventional wisdom about going to SF to build tech companies. The isolation and apartment-building detail makes it relatable and authentic. Classic David vs Goliath framing.

2:11 - 2:3120sBold/Contrarian

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What they said next

We call it community powered because we don't do really any outbound. All of our deal flow comes from those 50 founders in New York. And we run it all on a Slack channel where people submit deals and decks, and there's like, lively discussion about these deals. And we've become quite active. So in the eleven months that we've been around, we've done 28 deals.

9:48 - 25s · Business Mechanics

More from this episode

Seed to Scale

Business Mechanics

We call it community powered because we don't do really any outbound. All of our deal flow comes from those 50 founders in New York. And we run it all on a Slack channel where people submit deals and decks, and there's like, lively discussion about these deals. And we've become quite active. So in the eleven months that we've been around, we've done 28 deals.

Reveals the specific operational mechanics of how a successful fund actually works. The Slack channel detail and 28 deals in 11 months provides concrete proof points. Shows innovation in traditional VC processes.

9:48 - 10:1325s

Seed to Scale

Practical Framework

The truth is, it's too late by then. Like, there's there's some things we can do, but we need to start earlier. We need to start, you know, getting in front of students and really, you know, helping them at those earlier stages that we can inspire them to become founders, to start companies, and give them the resources. And that's really gonna help with, you know, diversity and inclusivity.

Strong urgency framing with 'it's too late by then' and specific actionable advice about timing interventions earlier. Connects to broader diversity outcomes, making it both practical and socially relevant.

13:36 - 13:5621s

Seed to Scale

Origin Story

In 2006, I started a startup, which was, definitely not part of my DNA. I don't think it was what what people thought I was gonna do. But I had an idea and I had passion, and I kinda went for it. And as I was building this company, pretty much everyone said, you know, you're crazy. You're building a tech company. You gotta go out to San Francisco.

Sets up the unexpected founder journey with 'not part of my DNA' and leads into the SF pressure. Good narrative setup but less punchy than the later versions of this story.

1:52 - 2:1826s

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