Karen Sheffield, MBA

Having a Cars and Capital event tomorrow in Southern California with Oren Klaff. If you want to join message me. https://lnkd.in/gDQ4D39u Oren Klaff Bridger Pennington #InvestorEvent #FamilyOffice #InvestmentOpportunity #CarlsbadEvent #PrivateEquity #WealthManagement #InvestmentConference #CapitalRaising #NetworkingEvent #IndustryLeaders #FinancialGrowth #InvestorsMeetup #WealthBuilding #BusinessGrowth #InvestmentForum

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Check out the latest issue of my investor-focused newsletter Not From Concentrate!

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Los Angeles is buzzing with venture capital activity, ready to back the boldest entrepreneurs across industries like tech, fintech, and biotech. If you're aiming to elevate your startup in LA, here's where you might find your perfect investor match. Leading LA Venture Capital Firms: ✅ Mucker Capital - Big on software startups, investing in companies like AuditBoard and Honey. 🚀 ✅ Upfront Ventures - Specializes in ecommerce and healthcare, with investments in GOAT Group and Parachute Home. 🏪 ✅ Baroda Ventures - Eyes on consumer internet and SaaS markets, backing firms like Amplify. 💡 ✅ ScOp Venture Capital - Focus on SaaS, helping companies scale with investments in Cloverleaf. 🌐 ✅ Crosscut Ventures - Largest seed-stage VC in LA, invested in Boosted and Inspire. 🌱 ✅ Anthem Venture Partners - Biotech and fintech enthusiasts, with investments in TrueCar. 🔬💳 ✅ Arena Ventures - Backing consumer and fintech disruptors like CityMall and Aaptiv. 🚀 ✅ Canyon Creek Capital - Supports technology firms showing market traction like HoneyBook. 💻 ✅ Frontier Venture Capital - Investing in media and tech that enhance global well-being, like Syndio. 🌍 ✅ Karlin Ventures - Funds innovative solutions in software and ecommerce like StrikeAd and Wallaby. 🛒 🔗 Discover the full list here: https://lnkd.in/dtxqpiRy Explore opportunities, connect with industry leaders, and start your journey in LA’s thriving startup ecosystem today! 🚀 #VentureCapital #Startups #LosAngeles #Innovation #Entrepreneurship

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Earlier this year, we surveyed our fellow Los Angeles-based GPs to get a pulse check on the LA venture ecosystem. Here’s what we found: 💗 Deal flow is healthy, and most LA venture investors (68%) are seeing the same or more deal flow YoY. ✈ LA investors are spending time in a variety of markets, with NYC, Austin, and SF following closely on LA’s heels. 🔍 Innovation is concentrated in AI and machine learning, space, and commerce. 💸 Funding is happening, but it’s barbell-shaped, with deals concentrated at the early and late stages. Funding post-Series A has been challenging. 🚩 LA is differentiated, but not without its challenges. Key difficulties include not attracting enough AI talent (despite having the largest number of engineers graduating from our region over any other in the United States); talent relocated to more tax-friendly or less expensive locations; and the great SoCal / NoCal divide 🙏 Thank you to all our many respondents! I’m so glad to be part of a venture ecosystem that includes great minds like Anna Barber, Brent Murri, W. Christine Choi, Sarah Tomolonius, Rob Smith, Win Chevapravatdumrong, John Tabis, Jill Royster, Jesse Draper, Ashley Balla, Britt Danneman, Tram Lai, Carmen Palafox, Elaine Russell, Deborah Benton Amanda Schutzbank, Brian Lee, Petra Griffith, Minnie Ingersoll, Shamin Walsh, Gabe Greenbaum...wow, this list could go on forever...plus too many other exceptional humans to name. You know who you are! Explore our findings more deeply with our survey dashboard: https://bit.ly/3JsaLaB

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Two stories. A Latino founder in our first Latino Entrepreneurship Access Program (LEAP) cohort changed his entire go-to-market strategy. The result… 25% year-over-year revenue growth. When I asked him about it, he said much of that growth was due to his access to LEAP’s experts in revenue and customer growth. And…he said the cultural connections and trust between him and his advisors made him more comfortable in learning how to build out his revenue and customer strategies. Second story. Through the LLI, two LEAP advisors and one LEAP entrepreneur found a strong connection based on their shared ancestry, language, and family ties in Spain. This deep, automatic bond accelerated trust and reciprocity, leading to a collaborative relationship. Just recently, one of the LEAP advisors flew from his home in Argentina to Denver to connect with his newfound colleagues. Together, they're forging a powerful alliance. By sharing networks, they're strengthening a vibrant ecosystem of CEOs, founders, and mentors. ...These two stories speak to the deep social capital building within our network. It's trusted reciprocity. It's shared values that all came together at the same time. Now, imagine these networks combined into a much larger network here at the Latino Leadership Institute. Today, our growing community of leaders and entrepreneurs recognizes the vast potential for collaboration, leveraging each other's expertise whenever assistance, help, or advice is needed. …This is social capital. If you are interested in learning more about the Latino Leadership Institute, drop me a comment or a message. Let’s connect.

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We are all getting too excited about 5% interest rate on our savings account but I think it's actually making us poor not richer. Let's say you have $100k in savings, and live in California and make a decent salary. Your $5k in interest will likely be taxed at 40%, so now you are left with $3k net, so far you are happy. But then you realize the inflation on things that matter (food, shelter, travel) is more than 5%, and your dollars have lost 5% purchasing power which ends up in negative $2k rather than positive $3k to your overall gains. Inflation is the real hidden tax no one talks about or really understands much.

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Team San Diego! I though you may find this as surprising as I did...we are not alone. Read this quick article from Jon Prentice's (Silicon Valley Bank) interview with with James Newell (Voyager Capital), published in GeekWire on Seattle's innovation ecosystem....they lament the SAME issues as we do in San Diego: * Lack of angel investors, (Especially, it calls out, given the local giant tech co's) * "We need low-conviction check writers." * Lack of "cachet associated with being an angel investor" - We have similar efforts (as described in the article) to drum up angel activity: NuFund Venture Group and, Interlock Capital (read the article and you'll see why the Interlock effort is tops as relates to "paying back into the ecosystem") Connect.org strives to 'connect' innovative companies with investors of all types (angel, VC, PE...) - just see "Innovation Day". Their Springboard program provides another great way for experienced entrepreneurs to give back through mentorship...as for the companies going through Springboard: "Ask for advice, and you often get $$" Your thoughts on the article or San Diego innovation ecosystem? https://lnkd.in/gfwq6mfq

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Today marks the 2-year anniversary of Hola Metaverso's first event in Los Angeles in 2022. It was a lot of hard work to pull that off, but we did it because it was important to create a space for Latin@s and other marginalized communities to learn, build, and connect. 10 Event Experiences in 17 Months 5 International Cities April 2022 - September 2023 April 2022 — Hola Metaverso, Los Angeles June 2022 — Web3 Workshop, Los Angeles August 2022 — Hola Metaverso, Bogotá September 2022 — Líderes y Creadores, Ciudad de México November 2022 — Líderes y Creadores, Medellín January 2023 — Wallet Workshop, Los Angeles March 2023 — Leaders & Builders at Razorfish, Los Angeles April 2023 — WebSh3, New York June 2023 — Developer DAO, Coinbase, and Razorfish, Los Angeles September 2023 — FUTURISTA, Medellín / Universidad de Medellín Thanks to Hola Metaverso Founder Oszie Tarula for his commitment to the mission and for inviting me along on this journey. Thanks to every person and organization that has supported our mission by supporting our experiences. We have a great opportunity to create the future we imagined. The iterations before this weren't built by us, and we were never taken into consideration. If you want to not just talk about but be about it and want to support bringing education, resources, and access to all, reach out so we can build. We've achieved a lot in the past two years, but there's still important work ahead. Let's continue building together towards a more inclusive future. Check out the short reel to see a sample of our experiences. Are you in it? Let us know. #HolaMetaverso #LatinxInTech #DiversityandInclusion #TechEvents #web3 #DiversityInTech #emergingtech

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Early this year, in a conversation prompted by the announcement of Techstars’ departure from Seattle, Jesse R. Canedo asked me what are the biggest challenges for founders in Seattle. Where does our startup ecosystem need to focus resources to best support new ventures at the earliest stages? I realized I didn’t really know. Of course I could share the basic ingredients of any functioning entrepreneurial ecosystem, but my experience of the fundraising environment in this area has mostly been on the other side of the table. I decided to talk to some founders, and I discovered they had a lot to say (I was as surprised as you). I’ve summarized the conversations here, and if you’re at all interested in the state of early stage venture in our region I hope you’ll take a look. Some interesting points: -Money is a need, yes, but the #1 thing founders felt they lacked here was community across different levels of entrepreneurial success and between founders and investors -We have a lot of pre-seed VCs but not a lot of pre-seed checks -For the most part the founders I interviewed declined to name specific investors. However, there were two notable exceptions: by far the most frequent was First Row Partners. Despite several of the founders actually being rejected by the fund, literally every single mention (nearly 50% of my conversations) was highly positive and expressed gratitude for the help and support provided by Yoko Okano and Minda Brusse. The other VC mentioned by name, also positively, was Ascend VC, with founders expressing appreciation for the fund’s efforts to build community and connect networks. Finally, while they understandably requested anonymity, a huge thank you to the founders and others who took time to speak with me so frankly about their experiences and opinions. I appreciate you. **If you’re curious, the image I used was created with Microsoft Designer using the prompt “Cave painting style representation of a female startup founder in Seattle”. I was mostly just playing around with the tool but this image was so delightfully weird that I needed to share it. You’re welcome.** https://lnkd.in/g6hadENz

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What does access to capital mean to you? 💸 For me, it’s about leveling the playing field and creating opportunities for folks who have been historically marginalized. More financial literacy. More programs and grant funding to support female and underrepresented founders. Thank you to Derrick Tang at IBank California for the opportunity to share my experience and insights with the entire team at IBank for a half hour panel discussion with two other incredibly bright and successful leaders Lauren Faber O’Connor at Lowercarbon Capital and Sam Polk, CFA, CEO of Everytable. Special thanks to Shrina Kurani for recommending me!! We discussed where we have seen the impact/consequence of lack of access to capital and where there is need for greater access/investment. My biggest point of view that I emphatically communicated: More non-dilutive capital for early stage founders!! And within 20 years, I want to see a fully transformed energy grid. That’s not much to ask, is it?! #climate #founders #accesstocapital

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I'm excited to announce our newest product💥 💥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐝𝐚 𝐃𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 **You do not need to live in Nevada to use this trust. You just need a licensed Nevada trustee. This product works best for: ▶ Startup founders and execs ▶ VC and PE investors The benefits of this trust include: ---> ZERO state capital gains tax (Nevada is a 0 tax state) ---> Bulletproof asset protection (better than a prenup) ---> Unlimited QSBS potential (you can stack trusts to eliminate federal taxes) My cofounders and I started Dynasty 2 years ago specifically to bring this product to market 🤠 We were 1st employees at Carta and were fortunate enough to take some money off the table. But we paid enormous taxes (over 50%)! On the flip side we met a serial founder who leveraged Dynasty trusts and paid ZERO taxes on over $50m in capital gains 😮 The second we heard about this, we knew we needed to start Dynasty so this product could be available to everyone... So if you are a founder, investor, or anyone with high growth assets - check us out!

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Founder Mode vs. Manager Mode 🤜🏻🤛🏻 Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, recently discussed two ways to run a company: Founder Mode and Manager Mode. He suggests that founders should remain deeply involved in daily operations, rather than handing over control to managers—citing examples like Steve Jobs and Jensen Huang, who stayed hands-on and maintained their company’s vision. On the other hand, founders like Jeff Bezos and Reed Hastings scaled their businesses by trusting skilled managers and empowering them to lead. As a founder, I see the value in both. Staying connected to the core vision is crucial, but strategic delegation to capable managers can be the key to sustainable growth. The real challenge is striking the right balance. #LinkedIn #startups #funding #business #investment #finance

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Two weeks ago I spent 3 days with brilliant human beings discussing the state of AI investment with other angel syndicate leads, angel investors and VCs at Hustle Fund's #camphustle in Los Gatos. It was brilliant. Truly awesome to learn so much from insanely accomplished investors. But was so clear to me again is that the US and the UK are two countries divided by separate languages of ambition. Aspiration and ambition underlined by the cluster effect of successful exits, incredible talent and venture capital driven by operators and founders rather than accountants. But one reason why the US often trumps (pun not intended) the UK is they learn from failure. Run a startup that didn't reach the dizzying heights of venture-scale returns? Learn, reset and go again. What they certainly do not do is look at failure with glee and an "I told you so" attitude. Which is what I sense when I read most of the narrative around the failure of Cazoo. Alex Chesterman swung and missed. The business was flawed, unit economics didn't add up and in reality - there was very little innovation outside the vertical alignment of a well-understood business. But when we look down upon what he tried to do and 💩 💩 it all we're doing is making it harder for someone else to be equally as ambitious. Focus on what went wrong. Focus on the fundamental underlying business models that drive efficient use of capital and the push for profitability. But let's celebrate people shooting their shot and not celebrate the failures.

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Caught Flat-Footed! Back in 2018, Jon McNeill, former COO at Lyft, shared a pivotal moment from their capital-raising roadshow. Their pitch deck was dialed in—loaded with impressive growth numbers, market share stats, and the kind of forward momentum that gets investors excited. But there was a hitch: when investors started asking about Lyft’s path to profitability, they found themselves flat-footed. The focus had been entirely on growth; they weren’t prepared to answer the hard questions about sustainability and profitability. Interestingly, Uber was facing the same scrutiny. This isn’t just a story about two ride-sharing giants; it’s a wake-up call for anyone trying to make a case. When you’re up in front of people, it’s not enough to be armed with just the positives. You need to anticipate objections and address concerns. Enter Red Teaming. Red teaming, though it has military roots, is the practice of rigorously challenging your own assumptions and strategies before stepping into any high-stakes situation. It’s about asking the tough questions yourself—or having a trusted group of friends, colleagues, or peers do it for you—before your audience does. What are the potential weaknesses in your argument? What concerns might someone raise? How would you respond if someone challenged your numbers or questioned your strategy? The idea isn’t just to find answers but to build a mindset that embraces resistance and leans into tough questions. Here’s how to start red teaming to prepare for your next big moment: 1. Create a “Red Team” Document: Write down the questions you fear the most or haven’t even considered. This should be a living document where you continually add and refine questions as you gain new insights or face new challenges. 2. Seek Outside Perspectives: Don’t do this alone. Ask your friends, colleagues, and industry peers to poke holes in your argument. The tougher the questions, the better prepared you’ll be. 3. Build the Muscle: Just like any skill, getting comfortable with challenging questions takes practice. Treat every resistance as a chance to sharpen your thinking and refine your response. The goal isn’t always to have the perfect answer but to show you’ve thought critically about potential concerns. 4. Be Present in the Moment: When you’re prepared for resistance, you’re not scrambling for answers. You can stay calm, listen to what’s being asked, and respond with confidence—even if that means admitting you don’t know something but demonstrating how you’ll find the answer. If a company like Lyft can get caught flat-footed, anyone can. The real takeaway is this: you don’t need to fear the hard questions. Instead, use them as a tool to build your resilience and readiness. Don’t just prepare for the pitch—prepare for the pushback. That’s where real confidence is built. Get ahead of the curve. Try red teaming and see how your preparation translates into powerful, poised responses when it matters most.

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The Information just broke news that Anthropic has floated a $30B - $40B valuation for a new funding round right now. Anyone not in the know should clearly see than a huge discount to OpenAI at $150B round shows how far ahead OpenAI is perceived to be. What do you think? #management #Venturecapital #PrivateEquity #CapitalMarkets #AIFinancing https://lnkd.in/gR8cZg6Q

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The 4 California's Circular Economy Champions of this week! #climatetechquartet #20. As a Californian, I'm always excited to spotlight the #sustainability startups that call the #GoldenState home. This week, we've got a Climatetechquartet of innovative companies crushing it in the circular economy game. Let's take a look at the four #startups of this week: Brimstone https://www.brimstone.com/ HQ: California, USA, Founders: Cody Finke, Ph.D. and Hugo Leandri Brimstone is revolutionizing the cement industry by producing industry-standard cement using carbon-free calcium silicate rock instead of traditional limestone. This innovative approach significantly reduces the carbon footprint of cement production, addressing one of the largest sources of industrial CO2 emissions and providing a more sustainable solution for the construction industry. Novoloop https://www.novoloop.com/ HQ: California, USA, Founders: Miranda Wang and Jeanny Yao Novoloop transforms post-consumer plastic waste into high-performance materials, including their proprietary XIRC® thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). By creating a closed-loop system for plastics, they're tackling plastic pollution head-on and promoting resource conservation. Vericool Inc. https://lnkd.in/gD2XHcg9 HQ: California, USA, Founder: Darrell Jobe Vericool Packaging is at the forefront of sustainable packaging solutions. They offer eco-friendly alternatives to traditional materials like styrofoam, helping businesses reduce their environmental footprint without compromising performance. unspun™ https://www.unspun.io/ HQ: California, USA, Founders: Walden Lam, Kevin Martin, and Beth Esponnette Unspun is reimagining the fashion industry with its on-demand, custom-fit jeans. Using 3D body scanning technology and automated manufacturing, they create perfectly fitted jeans while eliminating overproduction and reducing waste in the notoriously resource-intensive fashion sector. Curious about more early-stage company updates in the climate tech sector? Stay in the loop on the latest innovations. #circulareconomy #climatetech #GreenStartups #california #Innovation #cement #fashion #plasticwaste #packaging #growthinflection

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Agriculture is at the crux of both risk from and remediation for anthropogenic climate change. There's nothing more scalable than leveraging what nature does best to mitigate climate change. Applied Carbon is a win-win: great for the farm, great for permanently fixing carbon and keeping it out of the atmosphere, and even good at restoring spent land.

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🚀 It’s a big day at Hoop! We’re excited to share we’ve raised $5m led by Index Ventures with participation from Origin Ventures, Chingona Ventures, Divergent Capital, and an inspiring group of angel investors. Two years ago, Justin, Brian, and I got together and started brainstorming. We had worked together as early executives at Trello for 7.5 years! We wanted to recreate the magic of the early days of Trello and respond to the epidemic of distraction we were seeing in the workplace. When I left Atlassian, I was in back-to-back meetings most days. Slack was constantly buzzing. My whole day was spent going between apps and praying I wouldn’t miss something important. I would wake up in the middle of the night remembering that DM I forgot to respond to. In an age of AI, this kind of mental fatigue across tools drains humans of our energy to do the work that really matters: the focused and creative work that comes when we can feel secure that we’re on top of all important work. Hoop is the product I wish I had. It connects to Zoom, Google Meet, Slack and email and automatically captures tasks for me using AI. It then centralizes everything in one spot so I never miss a task. Our vision is to rethink task management with an AI first principles mindset. There’s so much we can do now that we couldn’t have imagined back when we were building Trello. It’s an exciting time to be building in the space, and we’ve got a world class team taking on this challenge. Now’s the time to try Hoop out and let us know what you think! We couldn’t be more grateful for all the amazing support from our community, investors, and friends. Let’s go team! 👏🏼 Special thanks to our investors for all their belief and support - Damir Becirovic Neil Rimer Katie Shea Samara Mejia Hernandez Jason Heltzer Andy Dunn Wade Foster Linda Lian Michael Pryor Kristen Habacht Elizabeth Hall Barry Clark Nikita Miller Mihika Kapoor Jiaona Zhang (JZ) Maggie Adhami-Boynton Sonia Sahney Nagar Sean Harper Darren Murph Mike Arauz Job van der Voort Annie Duke Jay Simons Maria Christopoulos Katris Ezra Galston Sheel Mohnot Ilya Fushman #futureofwork #ai #startups #fundraising

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