Opening Venture Capital Investing To Everyone

Описание: Mike Collins, CEO of Alumni Ventures, joins Amir to unpack how venture capital can move from a closed club to something that more accredited investors can actually take part in. This is a look inside a model built for tech professionals who want exposure to startups without turning investing into a second job.

The big question
Most of the value in today’s iconic tech companies is created while they are still private. By the time a company hits the public markets, a huge amount of upside is already gone. So how can an individual investor who cares about innovation, AI, energy, and health get meaningful exposure before that point, and do it in a way that still fits a normal life and career

Inside the Alumni Ventures model
Mike explains how Alumni Ventures works as a large scale co investor, sitting alongside well known lead funds across roughly 300 deals a year. Instead of betting on a single startup, their accredited investors build diversified portfolios across stages, sectors, and years, with themes like AI, health tech, and women founders.

He also shares how the firm uses its alumni driven network and global footprint to help founders with customers, partners, and follow on capital, which makes it easier to win allocation in competitive rounds.

What you will hear in this episode
• A clear, simple explanation of how venture capital actually works and why it is different from public stock picking
• Why diversification and time matter more than finding one perfect startup and how that shapes the Alumni Ventures strategy
• How the team sources deals, co invests with top firms, and builds portfolios across 25 to 30 or more companies for each fund
• Why the next decade of venture will be global, with breakout companies coming from places like Scandinavia, Mexico City, Vancouver, and Singapore
• How Alumni Ventures is building its own tech platform to support both investors and founders at scale

Timestamps
[00:38] Mike shares his path into venture and the origin story of Alumni Ventures
[03:01] Venture capital in plain language and why one off startup bets miss the point
[07:40] The shift to private value creation and why individual investors need earlier exposure
[17:48] Competing for allocation as a co investor and the power of an alumni network for founders
[21:48] Three hundred deals a year, thematic funds, and options for different investor profiles
[25:31] Going global and the goal to become one of the most valuable venture firms in the world

If you are a builder, engineer, or tech leader who wants to understand how the venture game is changing and what that means for your own investing, this conversation will give you a clear and grounded view.

If you enjoy the episode, like the video, subscribe to the channel, and drop a comment with your main takeaway or question for a future conversation.

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