Israel García Ballesteros

🔉 Arcanum Capital (a DraperU Ventures portco), invests early in Web3 startups. Their portfolio spans companies such as Arcana Network, Babylon Labs, Zircuit, Cross The Ages, Onomy Protocol, Bitget Wallet , Raiinmaker (etc) that involve notable co-investors such as Balaji Srinivasan, Polygon Ventures, KuCoin, Animoca Brands, Draper Dragon, Accel, etc. As the team of 4 founding partners move to Fund 2 in collaboration with Luganodes, I sat down with, Luchang ZHeng, (DU Alumni & Global Ambassador | Founding partner @ Arcanum Capital) to get all the scoops on: 🔸How 4 diverse strangers with very different backgrounds came to be the solid team that they are today. 🔸Originally a retirement plan, why Luchang decided to become a first time VC, like all partners in the fund. The challenges & doubts they faced & how they overcame those & landed their first checks ! 🔸 The genesis of Arcanum's Fund 1 & the role Tim Draper & Draper University played. 🔸 Key insights for anyone looking to break into VC or looking to start their own first fund. - This interview is part of Bridging the Gap - Women in Venture Capital Series: 👉For anyone aspiring to break into VC. 👉For entrepreneurs looking to gain valuable insights from investors. From evolving market trends to technology - These featured interviews bust preconceived notions, as we uncover important milestones & challenges faced in the journey to success & bring valuable insights from experts and influential individuals with a decade of experience. #InvestinginWeb3 #breakintoVC #venturecapital #womeninventurecapital #web3investments #emergingtechnology #heroesjourney

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Today's guest on Business Podcast by Roohi is the first repeat guest on the podcast Had a super interesting discussion with Juan Abundes: Solo GP at Aito Capital In this podcast we cover: 1. GP’s leaving to start their own funds 2. Creative ways of liquidity Thanks to Ana Maury Aguilar for making the intro to Juan! Link to listen to the episode- in the replies

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If you are curious to learn about angel funds, their difference to other angel investing models and how it reduces the risk of investing in startups, come listen to this episode of VC10X podcast. Here, Prashant Choubey and I talk about this and much more. Thank you Prashant for this conversation! #angelinvesting #startups #innovation #angels #angelfunds #coreangels

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Shhh…. We’re sharing the secrets s to startup longevity 🤫 Discover how building specialized teams, adding management structure, disciplined planning & forecasting, and sustaining your culture can make your startup thrive. Join ah! Ventures and dive into the action🤝🏻🔥 https://lnkd.in/dDafq24K . . . . . . . . #ahVentures #BusinessGrowth #StartupOwnership #StartupInvestment #VentureCapital #InvestmentOpportunity #StartupSupport #StartupEcosystem #VenturePartner #EntrepreneurialJourney #ProfessionalGrowth #StartupSuccess #startuplife #startuptips #startupbusiness

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After not being on a podcast for a few years, I’m happy to be back! It's also great that we discussed something I’m passionate about — venture capital. Breaking into VC is hard and people in the space (and those interested in the space) need to believe in the value of diverse experiences, networks, and skills to make better investment decisions and achieve better venture outcomes. So, check out my conversation with Sydney Wong, MBA, on her podcast about my journey, thoughts on the industry, and how to create opportunities as you grow professionally. Link in the comments and I would love to hear what was a highlight for you. #venturecapital #venturemindset #podcast

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Wing Venture Capital is excited to unveil today the "Angels' Share 100", an exclusive list of the most active angel investors in the most promising startups in B2B technology. This project's mission is to serve as an information and relationship platform for the founder and angel community. Building a successful B2B technology company is hard work, and as early-stage investors and long-term company builders ourselves, we know we need all the help we can get! An important source of help has been the individual investors we work with. Individuals investing alongside us have consistently made powerful contributions to ultimate success. So we set out to study these “angels” in our midst. Who are they? Where did they come from? What allows them to make a difference? https://lnkd.in/gfFs4-bu

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🚀 Exciting news! The #NachoTalks section on my website has just been updated. Dive into my conversations with leading single family office heads, VC fund managers, top startup founders, and exceptional service providers. From effective corporate structuring and wealth planning to innovative VC fund management and entrepreneurship, there's a wealth of insights to explore. 🌟 Visit and enjoy my #NachoTalks here: https://lnkd.in/eR76huiX Don't forget to subscribe to my monthly newsletter, like, and share to stay updated on the latest in #FamilyOffice, #VentureCapital, #Startups, and #OpenInnovation. Let's keep the conversation going! 💬 Let's continue to work and grow together!

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On May 2, 2024 REFASHIOND Ventures: The Industrial Transformation Fund convened people from around the world for Supply Chain & Industrial Transformation: The Next Generation (Silicon Valley 2024) at the JP Morgan Chase Palo Alto Technology Center in Palo Alto, CA. Lisa Morales-Hellebo and I want to extend our deep gratitude and appreciation to Melanie Hilton, Michelle Covey, Jess Urriola, Amy Reiter, and Vivian Tai from GS1 US for sponsoring that event, and our other event on May 3 in San Francisco. In this clip from Thursday, May 2, Melanie, Senior Vice President, Community Engagement at GS1 US tells our guests about GS1 US and welcomes them to the gathering. Our Investment Thesis: REFASHIOND Ventures: The Industrial Transformation Fund invests in early stage startups refashioning legacy industries through Data & AI, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing, & Next Generation Supply Chains; Defensible through economic moats. About GS1 US; GS1 US® helps companies power their supply chains to deliver safe, consistent, authentic, and trusted experiences. Best known as the recognized source for UPC barcodes, GS1 is a not-for-profit, global data standards organization that creates the common language that helps companies and their trading partners identify, capture, and share trusted data that links their physical and digital supply chains. Millions of businesses around the world power commerce with GS1 Standards. More than 300,000 members across 25 industries turn to GS1 US® for help with improving operations, addressing today’s industry challenges and changing market conditions, and positioning their businesses for tomorrow by leveraging GS1 Standards. #SCITSV2024

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In recent weeks, several friends have reached out to ask about the most exciting innovation and investment trends for this year. I discussed my perspective on a podcast with Miguel A. (in Spanish) a few months back. Here are the top 5 categories I'm most enthusiastic about: 1. Verticalized AI Applications: Especially those that offer full-stack solutions or are focused on healthcare/lifesciences. 2. Web3, including digital and physical (DePIN) infrastructure. 3. GLP1 Economy, not the drugs but everything around it. 4. Defense Tech: with a focus on technologies that are reaching to consumers and businesses but not the DoD yet, including autonomy (air, land, and maritime), cyber, and VR. 5. Chips for AI: Covering everything from compute and memory to networking, new architectures, edge vs DC, training vs inference, power components, and copilots/EDA tools. Additionally, robotics (for health, bio, warehouses, ...), cell and gene therapy (tools), cyber security, and fintech infrastructure/apps continue to attract investments. On the flip side, there are categories where I'm less optimistic, primarily due to market saturation in the last 4+ years and tech maturity with no significant paradigm shifts ("why now" was also valid 5 years ago), scalability challenges, and the fast pace at which incumbents are catching up. These include Employee Benefits (mental health, HSA/FSA cards, wellness, education, 401k, ...), Telemedicine and most types of mobile/online access to health providers, Carbon Markets, Agtech, Future of Food, Mobility, Physical gadgets in the hands of consumers, digital tools for femtech, insurtech, proptech, AI for drug discovery, consumer brands requiring physical locations (coffee, sneakers, ...), spacetech, travel tech, logistics, data providers, at home health tests, diagnostics, detect and health prevention. Lastly, some areas may be better positioned for 2025+, particularly as new AI-driven platforms emerge. These include: - spatial computing (VR/AR with Apple as a catalyst) - new consumer apps with different UX (e.g., multimodal GenAI), and - gaming. You can listen to the full podcast (in Spanish) on Youtube, Apple podcasts, and Spotify

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Third and last part of my post with some insights from the #fundraising of our latest fund. Some of the tools we used and how we managed to get the finish line successfully!

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The current staff augmentation model is broken. Why? “Show me the incentives, and I’ll show you the outcome.” From the great Charlie Munger, RIP. A software development agency might charge a company $10k for an engineer, but pay the engineer $3k since they’re in LatAm. Which means…the agency/Staff Aug is earning 2.4x what the developer is making. Why is it happening? Talent is the hardest resource to find. Companies are willing to pay for great talent. And right now, near shore agencies are pocketing the difference. Is that fair? We don’t think so. This is why we switched to a transparent cost-plus pricing model. Developer comp is negotiated between the dev and the company, and we take a flat fee. Yes, we make less money. But now, incentives are correctly aligned.

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Less then 3 weeks remain before the #GlobalStartupSymposium live virtual event begins. The 4-day conference, Dec 9, 10, 11, & 12 is Pismo Ventures' 12th consecutive event for startups at the stages of Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A - Life Science (Day 1), AI/ML (Day 2), DeepTech (Day 3), etc. (Day 4). The symposium offers a unique opportunity to connect startup founders with investors worldwide. 170+ investors have already registered to meet 150+ founders. Register today and take advantage of a 50% discount code: SPO50GSS24 https://lnkd.in/g6nZegSz Thank you to all of our sponsors and partners for making this event happen. Quan Nguyen | NGUYEN TARBET IP Law | TCA Venture Group Orange County | Startup Steroid - Deal Flow | SPVs | Demo Day Platform | TechCon SoCal | PeopleConnect Staffing | Orange County OC Startup Council | Keiretsu Forum | Berkeley Angel Network | New Mexico Angels, Inc. | Gao Family Office LLC | Ashton Capital | LabX Ventures®| Cross Ocean USSS Fund I (A) Del Feeder LP | Pasadena Angels | StrongHer - by Arise Ventures | CarbonN Venture Partners | The Healthcare Syndicate | Medina Ventures | Rhapsody Venture Partners | MAKR Venture Fund | Indigenous VC | 7BC Venture Capital | Kamay Ventures | FUJI Innovation Lab | Breakform Ventures | VU Venture Partners | E12 Ventures | Venture Diplomat | Fundie Ventures | BDev Ventures | Techstars | myeloma investment fund | Innopower | Anza Capital | q fund | Allstate Strategic Ventures | Binary Crypto | Breakform Ventures #Entrepreneurship #Startups #Founders #Angels #Investors #VentureCapital #TechLeadership #CommunityBuilder #FamilyOffices #PitchEvent #InvestorConference #StartupConference #PitchCompetition #Connect #Partners #Disrupt #Innovate #LifeScience #AI #ML #DeepTech #ClimateTech #Cybersecurity #Web3 #Blockchain #InnovativeLeadership #Networking #BusinessGrowth #Partner #BookAppointment #BookMeetings #Chat #Opportunities #DealFlow

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✨ Breaking: Next Tier Ventures Announces New Fund.- Next Tier Ventures Next Tier GVC Gaesco S.C.R.S.A.: Launched in December 2024, this €50 million fund aims to invest in B2B AI startups across Europe, the United States, and Latin America. The fund plans to engage in 30–35 operations, focusing on enhancing industries through AI technology applications. https://nexttier.vc/ Please share to let other #Founders know For the ❤️ of Startups #Fusion42 #Startups #Venturecapital

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AI Adoption Beats in Latam companies | Volume #2 The Age of AI is about 18 months old. Hundreds of $ billions have been invested in laying down the infrastructure needed to support this AI revolution – from Data Centers (GPUs) to more capable LLMs to Enterprise applications (AI Agents). And now businesses are beginning to bring these tools – such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Co-Pilot – to their workforce. From the media hype and the number of times CEOs mention AI in their earnings calls and investor days, you would think the average knowledge worker is using AI every day of an efficient and productive way. The truth: A very small group of knowledge workers is using AI every day. An even smaller group is using it effectively. And that means very few organizations are seeing ROI on their workforce AI investments. According to recent “AI Proficiency Report” by Section, only 7% of employees are in the “AI Leaders” class. These are people who have experimented with various LLMs, learned how to prompt, and integrated AI into their operations and workflows. In comparison, nearly 60% are “AI Newcomers” – people who have played around with ChatGPT a few times, but haven’t committed to it or learned to use it well. If your company is 60% of “AI Newcomers”, you have no idea (yet) what AI can do to transform your workforce. Pharma Moderna boasts an 80% AI employee adoption rate – suggesting that they are seeing significant productivity gains across their 6,000 person workforce. But they are the exception in 2024. Most companies won’t see the efficiencies they hope for with a small AI working group of superusers. So where should you start? The 82% of employees who are “AI Newcomers” or “AI Experimenters” are open-minded, but they need help. 60% of the “AI Leaders” are saving between 10% and 30% of their time each week with AI because they’re using it as more than a content creator. That’s 12+ hours (per week) ripe for more creative, strategic, and analytical thinking. So what’s stopping the 93% of other employees from doing the same?. What AI Leaders’ companies do differently? 1. Their company approves of AI (and says so publicly) AI Leaders members are more likely to be working in companies that have a clear AI policy that is in favor of AI use. 2. Their company has deployed AI training and paid for it The AI Leaders Class is the most likely to be receiving company support, largely in the form of AI training, from their employer. 3. Their company has deployed an LLM 77% of companies have not deployed company- or team-wide LLMs — but the largest segment of people who have access to one are in the AI Leaders Class (39%). Your turn: I hope it is useful… if you think it deserves a like, comment, repost, it will be welcome. On your side… if you want to share how you are going to design, plan and lead the AI Proficiency, Strategy and Roadmap Planning 2025… I’m just a DM or Free Discovery Call away (link on first comment). #AI #Adoption #Latam

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>>> How can SaaS companies future-proof their fundraising <<< I had the pleasure to speak with Adina Davis from BoxGroup, Nancy Chou from Asymmetric, Camila Key Saruhashi from Construct Capital and Philip Edmondson-Jones from Oxx during our panel on fundraising last Tuesday. A ton of great insights from the panelists after having been many years in the SaaS industry as investors, operators and advisors! We’ll be sharing some insights in the coming days, starting with: 🔷 Current Industry Trends 🔷 🔹In the US, SaaS companies are finally coming out of a two-year dip in funding and growth. Startups in the top quartile are still getting high valuations, but for growing companies, especially companies looking to secure series B funding, the bar is higher. Both equity and debt funding avenues look for stand-out efficiency, excellent product-market fit, and scalability. 🔹In Europe, upcoming funding rounds indicate a slightly more positive fundraising environment for growing SaaS companies. 🌏 Globally, many company metrics have taken a hit due to the macroeconomic environment, which can make it more difficult to meet the VC standards required to secure funding. 🔹That said, some of today’s most exciting and innovative startups received game-changing funding over the last couple years, and with more funding options entering the mainstream, companies have an opportunity to complement their capital stack through alternative means. #growthcapital #saasgrowth #venturecapital

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Every dream deserves a chance to breathe. That's why I'm beyond thrilled to share Colektia's latest funding round. In the U.S., $1.14T in credit card debt isn't just a number - it's millions of stories of dreams put on hold. Old debts shouldn't define your future or stop you from creating generational wealth. They shouldn't keep you awake at night or stop you from building wealth for your children's children. Colektia is changing this narrative. Their breakthrough solution isn't just about debt resolution - it's about restoring hope, dignity, and the fundamental belief that everyone deserves a real shot at financial freedom. To those feeling trapped by past financial struggles, your story isn't over. It's just beginning. This isn't just an investment. It's a movement toward a world where financial liberation isn't a privilege but a right. #FinancialFreedom #ImpactInvesting #NoDebt

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Had an incredible conversation with Igor Marinelli TRACTIAN’s founder and CEO last week. His journey is beyond inspiring, but it’s his problem-solving mindset and scaling strategies that will really resonate with founders looking to crush it in complex markets. Seven big ideas from that conversation 👇🏻 1. Building from First Principles Igor’s approach to creating Traction was rooted in his deep technical background and focus on solving real-world problems in manufacturing. Instead of chasing flashy consumer ideas, Igor went all-in on solving a fundamental issue: reducing maintenance costs for industrial machinery. His shift from solution-first thinking to a problem-solving mindset was a major turning point. Successful products start with clear, validated customer needs. 2. The Importance of Talking to Customers Early and Often Traction’s success was born from talking to over 88 facilities across the U.S. and Latin America before finalizing its product. Igor emphasized the importance of spending time in the trenches with potential customers to discover their biggest pain points. This relentless focus on customer conversations helped refine their product to meet real market needs. 3. Focus on Retention and Revenue For Igor, two metrics mattered the most: revenue and retention. He highlighted that retention is the true indicator of a product’s value. A customer staying year after year, and even expanding their usage, is a stronger testament to the product than any sales pitch. 4. Avoid the Trap of MBA-Style Leadership Igor expressed a strong preference for hands-on leadership, criticizing the traditional MBA approach of hiring a high-level executive to figure things out without getting their hands dirty. In his view, the best leaders are those willing to get involved in the day-to-day operations, understanding challenges from the ground up before delegating. 5. Say No to Non-Core Opportunities Igor also shared his approach to avoiding distractions by not expanding into non-core areas like fleet management. By focusing solely on solving problems for maintenance managers in industries he was familiar with, Traction could refine its offering without diluting resources on less relevant markets. 6. The Investor Partnership Approach Igor focused on selecting investors who understood Traction’s long-term mission, emphasizing honesty and transparency in the process. Igor’s belief in fair, straightforward negotiations ensured that investors were aligned with the company’s goals. 7. Enterprise Sales is relationships Igor highlighted the importance of building trust and credibility through face-to-face meetings. He noted that while this may increase customer acquisition costs by 10-20%, it boosts conversion rates and leads to high-value, long-term clients. 🔗 to the full The J Curve episode with Igor in comment #thejcurvepodcast #leadership #entrepreneurship

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For every startup, profitability is important—especially if you are fully bootstrapped. Building MRR with great traction from zero is one of the most rewarding feelings a founder can experience. We track and analyze our MRR and revenue graphs daily and monthly, witnessing how this “baby” grows bit by bit. I have always dreamed of creating something big. Alhamdulillah, that dream is becoming a reality. Once, a million-dollar revenue was just a dream. Now, Alhamdulillah, multi-million-dollar revenue feels achievable, in sha Allah.

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There is a lot in common between growing an early stage startup, and endurance sports. 1. The self-talk. During an ultra you always talk yourself into pushing one more mile, one more step, one more summit. You don’t know what’s after it, and how much more you are able to endure. But this is what startups and sports about - not knowing if you can make it, but still pushing, because fuck it, I can. 2. A guaranteed fuck-up. You will absolutely positively fuck something up. Will eat something wrong and stick with nausea for couple of hours. Will forget to change socks and end up with huge blisters. Forget the food you need. Will run out of water in the middle of nowhere. Startups are the same. You will fuck up a lot of things, and there’s no need to try not to. You will, and the idea is to solve problems on the go, to fix the plane in the middle of a flight. 3. Readiness to DNF. Did Not Finish — a fear of every runner. Startups are the same — you can DNF at some point, and odds are against you, so just be prepared. 4. Multitasking. You think about different things at the same time: route, water, food, your energy, physical feed, emotional state, weather, time. If you loose track of something — chances are you will have a problem with that in the future. The same goes with startups: product updates, testing, feedbacks, new leads, retention, fundraising, cashflow, support — everything is a priority, you don't have enough cash to delegate, but still have to do everything. So just stick to it as long as possible. I can add a lot more, but you got the point. Every time I run 50-60-70K trails, I think about this stuff, and it helps me figure out how to approach startup problems. Will see what it takes to run 100 miles. Maybe it's like growing to Series A.

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