Archived copy: Zachary Goldstein - San Francisco, California, United States | Professional Profile | LinkedIn

Cecily Mak

Wisdom Ventures • 4K followers

Three years ago, we launched Wisdom Ventures with a clear intention to support founders building at the intersection of well-being, human connection, and transformative tech. Since then, we’ve made 37 investments from our oversubscribed "minimum viable" $10M Fund I, backing early-stage companies in physical and mental wellbeing, women’s health, ethical AI, and human connection-centered innovation. We’ve always known we are on to something—what we didn’t expect was how quickly the data would back it up. Recent industry benchmarks show that most 2022-vintage emerging funds are experiencing the usual J-curve dip. In contrast, Wisdom Ventures is showing strong early performance: 📈 Net IRR (internal rate of return): >10% 📊 MOIC (multiple on invested capital): ~2x* ⏰ Median investment age: 18 months 💥 ....and # of our companies have a diverse founder by gender, race, or sexual orientation: 75% As we get ready to make our 38th and final investment out of Fund I and start deploying out of our significantly larger Fund II (first close May 1st), we’re filled with gratitude—for our founders, our LPs, our early supporters, our early believers, and this growing movement toward a more conscious, connected future, fueled by innovation from the ❤️ *Based on most current reports **Not in photo: Our fantastic operating partner, Zoe Rogers #WisdomVentures #ImpactInvesting #ConsciousTech #Wellbeing #AIForGood #FutureOfWork #VentureCapital

Eric Seufert

Heracles Media • 23K followers

I often see marketing leaders respond with insufficient urgency to creative performance degradation. I view any meaningful drop in creative performance as an all-hands-on-deck emergency that needs to be addressed aggressively. A few years ago, in one of the most popular posts on Mobile Dev Memo, I proposed the idea of a "creative performance half-life": the point after which creative performance degrades precipitously because of saturation. That half-life is essentially a replacement timeline. If the creative production process requires two weeks from concept to deliverable into testing, then any significant decline in creative performance means that the creative production process either malfunctioned or became misaligned with market conditions *two weeks ago*. That's a catastrophe. The team should respond accordingly by dramatically increasing production output. This is why I advocate for working with a large number of agencies and freelancers, since their output can be flexibly scaled at a moment's notice. But the broader point is that a considerable drop in creative performance reveals a process problem in the past that will have accumulated over the half-life of the advertiser's creatives. Fixing it now requires a deliberate expansion of creative output and diversity.

Medha Agarwal

defy.vc • 16K followers

I’m thrilled to announce defy.vc’s investment in Birches Health as part of their $20M combined Seed and Series A funding round, alongside incredible partners like AlleyCorp, General Catalyst, Will Ventures, and others. As someone deeply passionate about backing companies that tackle important problems for our society, I couldn’t be more excited about what Birches is building—a national virtual clinic dedicated to treating gambling addiction and related behavioral disorders like gaming, sex, porn, and internet addictions. What excites me most is Birches’ innovative health assurance model: proactive, accessible, and affordable care that’s evidence-based and delivered right at home. With the explosion of legal sports betting—think nearly $1.5 billion wagered on this year’s Super Bowl alone—we’re staring down a looming public health emergency. Traditional options like hotlines or generic therapy fall short for this high-acuity issue, but Birches changes that by offering specialized therapy from trained clinicians, multimodal treatment, and peer support, all covered by major insurers like United Healthcare, Cigna, Aetna, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. It’s available in all 50 states, breaking down geographical and financial barriers that have left so many without help. The impact is already profound: 96% of patients report an improved quality of life, and 94% give Birches a 5/5 rating. By partnering with state governments, payors, and policymakers, Birches is pushing gambling addiction into the spotlight of behavioral health conversations, where it’s been neglected for too long—often leading to shame, worsened outcomes, and higher suicidality risks. This funding will supercharge their growth: expanding the provider network, boosting clinical excellence, scaling infrastructure, and deepening insurance and state partnerships to meet surging demand. Very excited to partner with Elliott Rapaport and the entire Birches team! See more about our POV in the blog post linked in the comments. #GamblingAddiction #BehavioralHealth #HealthTech #VentureCapital #Innovation

Ella Molony Cook

Anthropic • 15K followers

According to Crunchbase, women-only founding teams received less than 2% of global venture funding. Yet across sectors, women-led companies continue to outperform on ROI. At DFX, we meet hundreds of founders each month. Innovation scales faster when capital reaches diverse hands. Always tracking investors actually funding women-led innovation. I found a list from Ivelina Dineva, funds actively writing checks for female founders across AI, Fintech, Climate, Health, and beyond. Here are funds worth keeping on your radar: 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲: Operator Collective 🔆 ◾Mallun Yen- Founder & MP ◾Dana Marohn & Haley Brannan - Partner ◾𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: B2B / Enterprise (operator-LP model) ◾𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: SF, California 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲: Amplifyher Ventures ◾Tricia Black - Founder & GP ◾Meghan Cross - Partner ◾𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: Commerce, Care, Connectivity ◾𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: NY 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲: FreshTracks Capital ◾Lee Bouyea & George Whalen III- GP & Managing Director ◾Cairn Cross - Co-founder & Managing Director ◾𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: Tech, Consumer Products, Clean Energy, Advanced Manufacturing, Health/Wellness ◾𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: Shelburne, Vermont 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲: 1843 Capital ◾Tracy Chadwell - Founding Partner ◾Gwen Weiss - Partner & CFO ◾Sharon Rodriguez - VP ◾𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: AgeTech/Longevity (Health), plus selective tech/fin sectors ◾𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: Greenwich, Connecticut 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲: CapitalT ◾Janneke Niessen & Eva De Mol Ph.D - Founding Partner ◾Corinne Vigreux - Cornerstone Investor ◾𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: Climate Tech, Future of Work ◾𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: Amsterdam 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲: Precursor Ventures ◾Charles Hudson - MP ◾Ashtan Jordan & Marina Girgis- Principal ◾𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: Life Sciences, Healthcare ◾𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: SF, California 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲: Epic Angels ◾Maaike Doyer - Founder ◾Hester Spiegel-vdSteenhoven - Partner ◾Andrea Davidson - Investment Comittee ◾𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: All Sectors ◾𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: Singapore 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲: Capita3 ◾Pamela York & Sara Russick - Co-founder & MP ◾Kathy Tune - MP ◾𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: Healthtech, Deeptech, B2C, B2B ◾𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: MPLS 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲: Conscious Venture Partners ◾Jeff Cherry - CEO Managing GP ◾Joseph W. & John Key - GP ◾𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: Healthtech, Sustainability, Impact Investing ◾𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: Maryland(Baltimore) 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲: G9 Ventures ◾Amy Griffin - Founder & MP ◾Anna Doherty - Partner ◾Elena Rodriguez-Villa - Chief of Staff ◾𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: Healthtech ◾𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: NY The future doesn’t just need more female founders, it needs investors who bet on them early. Hosting an invite-only B2B AI & Fintech Pitch Session this month. Upload your deal or join the conversation at joindfx.com. Use code ELLA for one month free. If you’re a woman founder, don’t miss our Female Founder Circle (check comments). #PrivateCapital #VC #PE #Founders #Community #Startups