Team Ignite Ventures

What happens when a fund loses over half its capital overnight… and still ends up a 2x DPI win? In this episode of the Ignite Podcast, we sit down with Ben Black @benjamindblack , co-founder and Managing Director at Akkadian Ventures and the visionary behind the Raise Global…

What does it take to build a civilization that spans planets? On the latest episode of The Ignite Podcast, we sit down with @AbdoJohnHajj , Managing Partner at @TypeOneVC , who’s invested over $1B+ into some of the most transformational companies in tech, AI, and space — think…

What if the biggest bottleneck in AI isn't the model… but the data behind it? In our latest episode of the Ignite Podcast, we sit down with Malcolm De Leo @InnovationMuse , Co-founder and Chief Business Officer at GraphIQ, whose career spans Clorox, Orbital Insight, and…

What happens when a former Google exec, investor, and boardroom veteran steps back into the operator seat to lead an AI-first company? We sat down with Chris O’Neill @croneill , CEO of GrowthLoop @growthloop and former leader at Google, Glean, and Xero, to unpack the next wave…

What if venture capital wasn’t just about money—but about mission? This week, we sit down with @OliverBLibby , Co-Founding Managing Partner of H/L Ventures and City Rock Venture Partners, and Co-Founder of the Resolution Project, which has helped launch over 1,000 social…

What if the secret to breakthrough marketing isn’t more performance ads—but building fans? We sat down with David Meerman Scott @dmscott , bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR and the mind behind the term newsjacking, to unpack what really works in today’s…

What happens when a 3x founder, Stanford-trained computer scientist, and ex-WhatsApp privacy head decides to reshape venture capital? In this episode, Mala @malatech shares how she’s building Progressive Ventures @founderscreate to fund the next generation of underrepresented…

What if the VC model is broken—and the best companies aren’t built for exits? In this week's episode of the Ignite Podcast, we sit down with Jim Curry @jimcurry , co-founder of Build Group and former Rackspace exec & OpenStack co-founder, to unpack why he believes venture…

What if you could query billions of rows in seconds—no data warehouse, no complex ETL, no waiting? On the latest episode of the Ignite Podcast, we sit down with Osama Elkady @oelkady , co-founder and CEO of @incorta , and a former Oracle executive who led major innovations in…

Do you really need more data to build better AI? In our latest episode, we talk with @MinhaHwang applied scientist, former professor, and dual PhD—about why the future of AI isn’t bigger models, but smarter systems that do more with less. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:40 Minha’s…

What if the biggest investment returns are hiding in the stocks no one talks about? In our latest episode of the Ignite Podcast, we sit down with Steve Kann @SteveKann , partner at Ocean Street Partners, serial entrepreneur, and author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Microcap…

What do Looney Tunes, hedge funds, and a $10M Kickstarter have in common? They’re all part of Benjamin Bryant’s @bhbryant wild journey from VFX engineer to quant trader to one of the most prolific investors in Y Combinator startups—backing 480+ companies through the AngelList…

What’s holding Canadian founders back from building global giants—and how do we fix it? In this episode, we sit down with Alex Norman @alexandernorman , co-founder of @N49PVC and Canadian partner at TechTO, to unpack what most early-stage founders get wrong, why “being nice”…

What do you learn from watching Lehman Brothers collapse from the inside? Chris Zaccarelli, CIO of Northlight Asset Management, Cornell-trained computer scientist, and former Goldman Sachs derivatives trader—joins us to unpack the future of investing in a world driven by AI,…

What do black spandex, biomarker sensors, and billion-dollar science have in common? Kristina Simmons. On this week’s Ignite Podcast, we sit down with Kristina @ksimm —founder of Overwater Ventures @OverwaterVC , ex-Andreessen Horowitz, ex-Khosla, and the former operator who…

What do War Dogs, crowdfunding, and eucalyptus sheets have in common? 💡 They’re all part of the origin story of @ColinDMcIntosh , the pun-loving founder of @SheetsGiggles , one of the most beloved (and funniest) brands in the DTC space. In this episode, Colin shares: ✅ How…

What if your Chief AI Officer wasn’t just deploying LLMs—but rethinking the nature of consciousness itself? In this mind-expanding conversation, we sit down with Daniel Hulme @TheSolveEngine , Chief AI Officer at WPP and founder of Satalia @SataliaSolves (acquired by WPP),…