Lunch & Learn

All current and alumni VC University participants have access to the monthly Lunch & Learn webinars. Past topics and speakers have included (as of June 2025):

Fundraising & Fund Management 

  • LP Insights – Beezer Clarkson (Sapphire Ventures) & Lisa Edgar (Top Tier)
  • Portfolio Construction – Charles Hudson (Precursor) & Renata Quintini (Lux Capital)
  • Emerging VC Fundraising & Fund Management Best Practices During a Downturn – Will Price (Next Frontier Capital) & Seyonne Kang (Greenspring Associates)
  • Navigating VC as a New Fund Manager – Winter Mead (Oper8r) and Sara Zulkosky (Recast Capital)
  • Assessing VC Fund Structures – Miles Millard (Assure) and Mac Conwell (Rarebreed Ventures)
  • LP Perspective – Top Tier Capital Partners
  • Fund Management Best Practices – Stephen Eberle (Scale Venture Partners), Marc Galletti (Longitude Capital), and Quinn Rotchford (AngelList)
  • Investor Relations, Marc Galletti (Longitude), Robin Li (GGV Capital), Jennifer Griffin (Mission BioCapital) 
  • Tax Considerations for GPs, Fiona Wu (Sensiba), Joshua Barnosky (Carta) 

Investing Verticals

  • Healthcare Trends in VC – Jim Healy (Sofinnova Investments)
  • State of Healthcare VC – Jon Norris (Silicon Valley Bank) and Magdalena Tyrpien (Forge Biologics)
  • Web3 – Cheryl Campos (Republic)
  • Impact Investing & Venture Philanthropy – Christy Chin and Joanna Lichter (Emerson Collective)
  • SaaS Metrics & Investing – Jessica Bartos (Salesforce Ventures)

Career Development

  • How to Build a Successful Career in VC – Kate Mitchell (Scale Venture Partners)
  • Breaking into VC – Mahendra Ramisinghani (Secure Octane & author of The Business of Venture Capital); Cack Wilhem (IVP); Adrian Fortino (Mercury Fund); Andrew Schoen (NEA); & Joe Molinelli (True Search)
  • Building a Career in VC – Robin Li (GGV Capital) and Otello Stampacchia (Omega Funds)
  • VC University Alumni: Where Are They Now? – Sidney Nakahodo (Seldor Capital) and Himalaya Rao-Potlapally (Black Founders Matter)
  • Building Your Brand – Kate Barrett (NEA), Rebecca Buckman (Battery Ventures), and Sue Kwon (General Catalyst)
  • VC University Alumni: Where Are They Now? – Mandy Howard (Foundry) and Aya Spencer (Kapor Capital)
  • Lessons learned and advice from rising stars in VC – Vanessa Larco (NEA) and Faith Voinovich (Ohio Innovation Fund)
  • VC University Alumni: Where Are They Now? – Ashtan Jordan, Jenni Le, Patrick Driscoll 
  • VC University Alumni: Where Are They Now? – Erika Nash (Next Frontier Capital), Jonathan King (Coinbase Ventures) 
  • VC University Alumni: Where Are They Now? – Alison Murdock, Brian Gibbs, Daniel Dart 
  • VC Career Growth, Rebecca Price (Primary VC) 
  • Building Your Brand – Kate Barrett (NEA), Rebecca Buckman (Battery Ventures), and Sue Kwon (General Catalyst) 
  • Building Your Brand –Kate Barrett (NEA), Rebecca Buckman (Battery Ventures) 

Hot Topics

  • The 411 on SPACs – Sandi Knox (Sidley Austin LLP) and Steve Murray (Revolution Growth)
  • Secondary Markets/Transactions & Alternative Liquidity Options – Kelsey Chase (Aumni), Erik Pena (Silicon Valley Bank), and Andy Trujillo (Carta)
  • Family Offices – Shailesh Sachdeva (SVB Capital)
  • How to Diligence, Value, and Protect Intellectual Property at Startups – Mira Chaurushiya (5AM Ventures); Shahin Farshchi (Lux Capital); Paul Parker (Perkins Coie)
  • Navigating banking sector turbulence and its impact on the VC market – Iris Choi (Floodgate)
  • Special Session on VC deal contracts with Tome, Ariana Shaffer (Tome) 
  • Tome Special Session, Ariana Shaffer  
  • Tome Special Session, Nadia Dugal 
  • Tome Special Session, Nadia Dugal, Christina Vernali 

Macro Trends

  • The Traction Gap – Bruce Cleveland (Wildcat Ventures)
  • Industry Perspectives on VC-Backed Exits and Liquidity – Guru Chahal (Lightspeed); Tim de Kay (Deloitte); Brian Patterson (Gunderson Dettmer)
  • The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of VC – Joe Horowitz (Icon Ventures)
  • VC Perspectives on the Current Environment & Ecosystem Building – Brentt Baltimore (Greycroft), Mike Fernandez (B Capital), and Carmen Palafox (MiLA Capital)
  • Navigating a VC Downturn – Fazeela Abdul Rashid (Revolution Growth) and Misha Kelly (Sensiba San Filippo)
  • SVB State of the Market, Sunita Patel & Josh Pherigo (SVB) 
  • SVB State of the Market, Renuka Kumar (SVB) 
  • VC Trends & Outlook, Aziz Gilani (Mercury Fund), Kyle Stanford (Pitchbook), Dan Gebremedhin (Flare Capital Partners) 

Fireside Chats with Industry Leaders

  • Scott Kupor (Andreessen Horowitz)
  • Jeff Clavier (Uncork Capital)
  • Arlan Hamilton (Backstage Capital)
  • Barry Eggers (Lightspeed Venture Partners) 
  • Greg Sands (Costanoa Ventures)
  • Sarah Bhagat (Sofinnova Investments)
  • Matt Goldstein and Priyanka Mitra (M12 | Microsoft’s Venture Fund)
  • Scott Dorsey (High Alpha)
  • Paul Asel (NGP Capital)
  • Samara Hernandez (Chingona Ventures)

Intersection of VC and Public Policy

  • Important Public Policy Issues Impacting VCs and Startups – NVCA Policy Team
  • SSBCI + VC Opportunities – Ray Leach (JumpStart) and Jonas Murphy (NVCA)
  • SBA – SBIC Program, Bailey DeVries 
  • NVCA, Bobby Franklin 
  • NVCA, Bobby Franklin, Ashlyn Roberts, Jonas Murphy 
  • NVCA Policy Update, Bobby Franklin, Christina Martin