Startup Investing: Eva Ho, General Partner at Fika Ventures, on Building a Multi-Firm Franchise, the Shift from Operator to Investor, and Embracing Discomfort
Justin Gordon talks with Eva Ho, General Partner at Fika Ventures, an LA-based boutique seed fund that invests in founders solving meaningful, systemic problems through the use of data, related AI-enabled technologies, and automation.
Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Eva Ho (@eva_ho), General Partner at Fika Ventures, an LA-based boutique seed fund that invests in founders solving meaningful, systemic problems through the use of data, related AI-enabled technologies, and automation.
Prior to Fika, Eva was a founding GP at Susa Ventures. She is a serial entrepreneur and founder, most recently a founding executive at Factual, a leading location data provider in Los Angeles. Previously, she was a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Google and Youtube for 5 years. Prior to Google, she was the head of marketing for Applied Semantics, a company that sold to Google in 2003. She also co-founded Navigating Cancer, a health startup, in 2008 which is now based in Seattle. She is active in the non-profit sector, serving on the boards of California Community Foundation and First Descents. She is also a founding member of All Raise. She recently served as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence for the city of Los Angeles working with Mayor Eric Garcetti and his team.
In her spare time, you can find her wandering remote geo coordinates, with a special affinity for cold, inhospitable places. Almost always, she is accompanied by her trusty camera and a backpack too large for her frame. Eva holds an MBA from Cornell and a BA from Harvard.
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Website: Fika Ventures
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/evaho1
Twitter: @eva_ho
Eva's Email: eva@fika.vc
Show Notes
- Eva’s original vision for launching Fika Ventures with her partner TX Zhuo
- Eva’s time with Susa Ventures
- Eva’s personal background and the journey that has brought her to where she is today
- How she began angel investing in 2013 and her path to VC
- The importance of representation and diversity in VC
- Eva’s advice for improving and growing as an investor
- The mindset shift from operator to investor
- Finka Ventures' portfolio construction and the progression through their three funds
- Balancing discipline around a clearly focused thesis with knowing when to make exceptions and take risks
- Adapting to the quickly changing world of modern investing
- Eva’s thoughts on the Future of Work and embracing discomfort
- Eva’s experience with Screendoor
More About the Show
The VITALIZE Podcast, a show by VITALIZE Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.
Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at VITALIZE Venture Capital, The VITALIZE Podcast features interviews with a variety of VCs, angel investors, and founders, with a particular focus on the future of work.
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