Constance Freedman is the Founder and Managing Partner of Moderne Ventures, an early stage venture fund and accelerator investing in technology companies in real estate, mortgage, finance, insurance, and home services. These are multi-trillion dollar industries that make up well over 20% of the US GDP and are ripe for innovation.  Prior to launching Moderne Ventures, Constance was the head of Strategic Investments at the National Association of Realtors where she launched and managed its investment arm, Second Century Ventures (SCV), and founded its accelerator program, Reach. 

In 2014, Constance was recognized by Crain’s Business in its prestigious 40 under 40 award and was also named on Crain’s Chicago Top Tech 50.  In both 2014 and 2015, Constance was recognized on Swanepoel’s Power 200 Most Powerful Individuals in Residential Real Estate and in 2015, named in Inman’s Top 101 in Real Estate.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

• The most exciting tech developments for Moderne Ventures
• Why venture capital firms start accelerators
• How important an accelerator is for the deal flow
• What the decision making process looks like for the accelerator and investments
• Where they find the best companies for their accelerator
• How to break into venture capital
• How to find the right limited partners (LPs)

Selected Links From The Episode:

• Docusign
• Notary Cam
• Better Mortage
• TaskEASY

Nick Moran is a co-founder and Managing Director of New Stack Ventures and Moran Capital Partners. He also started the very popular The Full Ratchet podcast, where he interviews venture capital and angel investing experts on successful startup fundraising and investing strategy. Nick asked me to interview him for his 100th episode and I thought the content was so good that I decided to repost it here. 

In This Episode You Will Learn:

• How Nick got into venture capital
• Why he started The Full Ratchet
• His key takeaways after 100 episodes
• Where he finds his deals
• What an ideal startup looks like to him
• What resources he recommends to investors and entrepreneurs
• Nick's investment thesis and how he evaluates startups for investment
• The best and worst things about the startup ecosystem in Chicago

Selected Links From The Episode:

• David Rabie, Founder of Tovala
• Jeff Heitzman, Nick's Partner at New Stack Ventures
• Jason Heltzer, Origin Ventures
• Max Levchin, Founder of Paypal and Affirm

Favorite Books: 

• Lord of The Flies by William Golding
• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
• Ready Player One by Ernst Cline

Philip Tadros is a true serial entrepreneur and restauranteur. He is the founder of Doejo, a digital agency, Dollop Coffee, a cafe and bakery, Bow Truss Coffee, a coffee roastery and cafe, The Budlong, a hot chicken restaurant chain, SPACE, a co-working space, and Aquanaut Brewing, a craft brewery. He opened his first coffee shop at 19 after dropping out of college and now runs the largest network of independently owned coffee shops in Chicago. 

Crain's recently ran a special report questioning some of Phil's business practices titled "One of Chicago's most connected entrepreneurs has made more than a few enemies". We dive into what really happened in the second half of this episode and what he's learned from the experience.

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In This Episode You Will Learn:

• How Phil got his start as an entrepreneur after dropping out of college
• The differences between the beer and coffee community
• How he differentiates himself in the competitive food industry 
• Phil's side of the story on the Crain's special report
• What he’s learned from the experience
• How he and his team handled the bad press

Selected Links From The Episode:

• IDEO
• 37signals
• 3 Floyds Brewing Co. 
• Intelligentsia Coffee
• Funded Foods

Favorite Books: 

• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien