Thank You For Joining Us At Counter IV
A day to remember with almost 400 investors coming in from around the world. A recap with insights from established investors, community leaders and other thought leaders.
Thank you to all who joined us. A detailed summary will be shared in the coming days with all those who attended and members of the Counter Club.
Peter Hèbert on Differentiating a Fund
Lux Capital’s Peter Hèbert took the stage alongside LFX Venture Partners’ Janie Yu to chat about Lux Capital’s early bet on deep tech and life sciences and how to build a culture of resilience and resourcefulness. Janie and Peter spoke about Lux Capital’s humble days and how it transformed into an “overnight success”, two decades in the making.
Real Talk on Defense, National Security & Deep Tech Panel
Brian MacCarthy of Booz Allen Ventures led a panel picking apart the challenges and opportunities within the defense venture landscape. Sarah Hess of Silicon Valley Defense Group shared their initiatives to help start-ups engage with the American government, Chris Moran of Lockheed Martin Ventures on the opportunity of integrating autonomous systems into the defense system and Thorsten Claus of the NATO Innovation Fund on how they are helping equip the European Union with emerging technologies.
CVC Trailblazers take Center Stage
Amy Banse, fmr. Head of Comcast Ventures had a robust conversation with Michelle Gonzalez, CVP and Global Head of M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund. They covered everything from the inherent tension in corporate ventures in engaging with disruptive technologies to the shifting roles of a board member depending on the stage of a company.
Unveiling of the 2023 State of CVC Report
Counterpart’s Patrick Eggen took the stage alongside SVB’s Mark Gallagher and PitchBook’s Kyle Stanford to release the 2023 State of CVC Report. Available for download here.
World-renowned Professor on the Venture Mindset: How to Beat Competition
Ilya Strebulaev, Professor of Venture Capital & Private Equity at Stanford GSB shared an illuminating presentation on the mindset and toolkit needed for CVC survival including increasing allocation for failure, tracking an anti-portfolio and building a pyramid of bets playbook. Follow Prof. Strebulaev on Linkedin for more research on venture capital and start-ups. You can preorder his book, “The Venture Mindset,” coming out on May 21, 2024.
Sit down with the Creator of the Lean Start-up Movement
Steve Blank, Adjunct professor at Stanford and Co-founder of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, chatted with Aidan Madigan-Curtis of Eclipse Ventures about everything from what makes a successful founder to restrictions on AI and semiconductors.
A Look Back at the Origins of Google Ventures
Wesley Chan, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at FPV Ventures, sat down with Counterpart’s Mikey Kailis and talked through his early days at Google where Google Ventures started out as a side job and experiment.
Innovator and CVC Arms Battle it Out
Peter Pham, Co-Founder & Partner at Science moderated a panel dissecting the tension, differences and opportunities of innovation and corporate venture units. Monica Adractas shared her insights leading Canada’s Pension Plan Investments, Kira Makagon on RingCentral and Kevin McCarthy on the ins and outs of P&G after nearly 30 years spent working there.
Operator, Operator
SE Venture’s Grant Allen sat down with two experts leading top-tier platform teams. Sapphire Ventures’ Laura Padilla and Insight Partners’ Hilary Headlee talked through how their respective platform teams best assist startups with talent needs, mentorship to CEOs and customer introductions.
The Future of San Francisco
Counterpart’s Patrick Eggen moderated a one-of-a-kind discussion with Daniel Lurie, 2024 SF Mayoral Candidate, Kanishka Karunaratne Cheng, Founder & CEO, TogetherSF Action and Bloomberg Beta’s Roy Bahat. Topics included the structure of SF politics, the exodus and return of in-person work and the homelessness crisis.
More about TogetherSF Action
Are you tired of hearing San Francisco’s problems are just too complicated to solve? TogetherSF Action is the largest and most engaged group of voters who are demanding change from our elected leaders.
They are your partner if you want City Hall to address homelessness, the mental health and drug crisis, make the city safe for all, help businesses succeed, and make San Francisco’s government accountable to the people. They help people speak out, take action, and vote so the city can thrive. Sign up at tsfaction.org to receive their voter guide when it launches, and donate to support their work at tsfaction.org/donate.
Stoke Meets Corporate VC
LA-based comedian Chad Kroeger was a highlight of the after-party, delivering and explaining supreme stoke to corporate investors.
Counter Club members, keep an eye out on the Live Feed for a full summary packet in the coming days. Members can access here:
Thanks to everyone who joined us!
All photos from the conference are available for Counter Club members to download from the community. In the meantime here’s a few we like…
See you at the next Counter Club event,
Counterpart Ventures