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The Uncovered PodcastAuthor: PJC
Have you ever wanted to know the real secrets to starting, building, and scaling a company? How do you learn to fail and fail fast? How should you be thinking about financing and exit strategies? The entrepreneurs journey is a long one full of unknowns, risks, and opportunities at every turn. At PJC we have your back. With our Uncovered podcast, we aim to expose some of these unknowns so you can better understand what to expect and how to prepare. Each season youll hear from first time founders to repeat founders, to low and high profile companies, taking you behind the scenes to reveal the secrets and stories previously untold. We hope youll join us! Uncovered is presented by PJC, an early-stage venture capital firm committed to empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs. Language: en-us Genres: Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Phil Bronner of Ardent Venture Partners: Longtime venture capitalist to first-time VC founder
Episode 8
Tuesday, 5 April, 2022
Episode Summary:Phil Bronner is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of D.C. based Ardent Venture Partners, which was co- founded in 2020 with fellow veteran investor Phil Herget. Phil has had an impressive 15-year career in venture prior to starting Ardent, leading 16 investments (was actively involved in 20) totaling over $100 million. He has also been on the entrepreneurial side, founding Quad Learning, a venture-backed startup acquired by Wellspring Higher Education. In this episode you’ll learn more about Phil’s background and experience working in venture, the challenges and humbling process of starting your own venture fund, and the key strategies and lessons he has learned thus far starting Ardent Ventures. What is Uncovered: Phil’s experience in venture and what has surprised him the most starting Ardent Venture Partners The key strategies to think about when starting your first fund The importance of team vs finding the next big deal The changes in venture over the last 10-15 years The sheer number of accomplished VCs out there looking for funding The state of valuations today & predictions of what is to come within VCLearn More About:Phil Bronner:Phil Bronner is the co-founder of Ardent Venture Partners, a venture fund investing in companies that transform the way we work. He is currently on the board of Reserve Trust, Verituity, ExecOnline, OneMain Financial (OMF) and an investor in Method Financial and Collective. Before co-founding Ardent Venture Partners, Phil was Founder/Managing Member of Summer League Ventures (SLV). Active SLV deals include Morning consult, ExecOnline, Ordway Labs, Gather.ai, Anno.ai, and AirSide Mobile.Prior to SLV, Phil was a General Partner with Novak Biddle Venture Partners. Over the course of his 15-year career, he led 16 investments (was actively involved in 20) with investments totaling over $100 million. Three of Phil’s series A investments went on to be worth $880 million or more. Investments include: 2U (TWOU), Infoblox (BLOX), SolidFire (Acquired by NetApp), AddThis (acquired by Oracle), Webs (Acquired by Vistaprint), Approva (Acquired by Infor), LifeShield Security (acquired by DirectTV), ClearStandards (Acquired by SAP), Social Gaming Network, and Logic Library (Acquired by SOA Software). In addition, Phil’s past board observer seats include N.E.W. Customer Service Companies (acquired by Asurion), AnswerLogic, a natural language search engine (acquired by Primus Knowledge Systems), and Spectrum K12 (acquired by Power Schools). Phil was the founder of Quad Learning, a venture-backed startup acquired by Wellspring Higher Education, served as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. and worked as a software engineer at IBM. Phil earned a B.S. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University; a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Law; and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Phil and Brooke live in Washington DC with their 3 kids: Dylan, Sophia, and Mason. Connect with Phil on LinkedIn. Ardent Venture Partners: With over 50 years combined of experience Ardent Venture Partners has proven time and again that the right combination of capital and active strategic support during the seed stage can create significant value and outsized returns for both Founders and investors. To learn more visit their website at https://ardent.vc/.
