Courtney McCrea is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Recast Capital, a fund-of-funds and platform dedicated to backing the next generation of venture managers. With decades of experience investing in both blue-chip firms and first-time funds, Courtney brings a unique LP perspective on what truly drives outperformance and how emerging managers can build enduring franchises.

In this episode, Courtney and Jacob explore the art and science of standing out in a crowded market—from shaping a compelling story arc and demonstrating authentic access, to developing a strategy that feels differentiated yet credible. She shares common pitfalls GPs make when pitching LPs, why emotional intelligence and operational polish matter, and how to maintain grace and persistence through the long fundraising journey.

Finally, Courtney offers practical advice for navigating today’s challenging environment: how to right-size your fund, close capital efficiently, and find overlooked LP archetypes beyond the traditional endowment base. For any GP raising a fund or building toward institutional scale, this conversation delivers both high-level wisdom and tactical guidance straight from one of venture’s most respected LP voices.

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Dan Kimerling, Founder and Managing Partner of Deciens Capital, joins Jacob Mullins to share how he built one of the most concentrated and contrarian venture strategies in fintech. After founding and selling Standard Treasury to Silicon Valley Bank, Dan set out to lead early-stage financings in financial services — and has stayed relentlessly focused on that thesis for nearly a decade. With just under $300M AUM and a freshly closed $93M Fund III, Deciens has emerged as one of the most disciplined and differentiated managers in venture.

In this conversation, Dan breaks down why Deciens insists on leading nearly every deal, the importance of deep concentration in portfolio construction, and why “being in the room where it happens” matters for both entrepreneurs and LPs. He shares how Deciens has achieved single-digit loss ratios across its first two funds by rejecting industry orthodoxies — such as chasing external validation through markups — and instead focusing on sustainable, capital-efficient growth.

Dan also opens up about the realities of raising capital in today’s market, including the 6,000+ LP leads it took to secure his investors across funds. He explains his framework for true differentiation, how he navigates the broken equilibrium around liquidity and exits, and why venture needs fewer “undifferentiated VCs” and more courageous capitalists. This episode is essential listening for any GP fundraising today or rethinking how to build a lasting, differentiated franchise.

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Samara Hernandez, Founding Partner of Chingona Ventures, shares her journey from Goldman Sachs to launching her own venture firm in the Midwest. In this conversation, she reveals the spark that drove her to start Chingona: a belief that great founders come from anywhere, combined with the conviction that overlooked geographies and demographics represent massive untapped opportunities. From her first $6M proof-of-concept fund to scaling a $52.9M institutional Fund II, Samara has built a differentiated investment strategy rooted in going earlier, leading rounds, and backing founders with unique lived experiences.

She walks us through the realities of building as a solo GP, from finding her anchor investor almost by accident, to proving her thesis with small checks before scaling up her ownership strategy. Samara also shares tactical insights on working with institutional and non-traditional LPs, including corporates, family offices, and state treasurers, and how she positioned Chingona to align with both regional development goals and later-stage VCs seeking differentiated deal flow. For emerging managers, her candid perspective on “just getting into business” and proving even a slice of the thesis is an invaluable playbook for raising and scaling a fund.

Finally, Samara dives into timely topics that all GPs face today: liquidity and secondaries, the tradeoffs between following the LP “playbook” and pursuing true DPI, and why proactive relationship-building with bankers and PE funds matters even at pre-seed. Her reflections on staying in the game long enough to let fund-makers emerge, combined with her commitment to mentoring the next generation of investors, offer both practical and inspiring lessons. This episode is essential listening for GPs navigating fund strategy, LP alignment, and long-term firm building.

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Melissa Richlen, Director of Private Equity and Venture Capital at the $8B+ MacArthur Foundation, joins VC Mastermind to share how one of the most respected institutional LPs in the U.S. evaluates making investments in VC firms—both legacy firms and emerging managers. With over two decades of experience investing in top-tier funds and backing breakout first-time GPs, Melissa brings a candid and practical perspective on what it takes to earn institutional capital in today’s constrained fundraising environment.

In this episode, Melissa unpacks the key signals she looks for in Fund I–III managers, including how she evaluates unrealized portfolios, what makes a credible solo GP, and how she distinguishes between short-term momentum and long-term firm-building. She also highlights common red flags—like incomplete decks, partial track records, and strategy drift—that stop diligence before it starts. The conversation goes deep on what it means to build trust with LPs over time, from reporting cadence to AGM best practices to succession planning.

This episode is essential for all GPs preparing to raise institutional capital. Whether you're raising your first institutional fund or positioning a later fund for a long-term partnership, Melissa's insights offer a detailed roadmap on what high-conviction LPs are actually looking for—and how to avoid the missteps that quietly kill a raise.

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In this episode, Jacob Mullins sits down with Dan Miller, Managing Director at True Search and one of the top recruiters for venture capital firms globally. Dan shares a rare inside look at how VC hiring has shifted—from boom to bust and back again—and how top firms are navigating today’s highly competitive market for investor talent, especially around seed-stage AI. He breaks down what’s changed in candidate profiles, why some GPs are winning by avoiding the consensus strategy, and how to tailor your pitch when you’re competing with firms like Sequoia, OpenAI, and Meta for the same small pool of people.

The conversation also dives into recruiting strategy and execution—from scoping roles and structuring compensation, to deciding between hiring to “sustain” versus “extend” a firm’s strategy. Dan shares actionable benchmarks for comp and carry at every level, explains why sourcing is the biggest reason operator-hires often churn, and unpacks what the best GPs get right when working with search firms. Whether you’re a solo GP about to make your first hire or leading a multi-partner platform buildout, this episode is a blueprint for hiring intelligently in a rapidly evolving talent market.

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In this episode of VC Mastermind, host Jacob Mullins sits down with Vishal Harnal, Global Managing Partner at 500 Global, to explore the architecture and strategy behind one of the world’s largest venture capital firms. With over $2.3 billion in assets under management and a portfolio spanning 81 countries, Vishal shares his journey from entrepreneur to VC leader, offering insights into building a globally scaled firm while addressing local market dynamics.

Vishal discusses 500 Global’s unique approach to tailoring investment strategies for different regions, emphasizing the importance of understanding local ecosystems and collaborating with governments to foster entrepreneurship. He highlights how the firm balances autonomy for regional teams with global coordination, ensuring effective decision-making across time zones. Additionally, Vishal delves into topics like valuation resets in emerging markets, secondary transactions, and the critical role of liquidity in startup ecosystems.

The conversation also touches on succession planning, talent development, and the importance of building a firm that transcends individual personalities. Vishal’s reflections provide valuable lessons for fund managers worldwide on scaling operations, adapting to regional needs, and creating lasting impact through venture capital.

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In this episode of VC Mastermind, Jacob Mullins sits down with Dan Rosen, the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Commerce Ventures, to unpack the journey of building a top-tier sector-focused venture firm. With over 20 years of experience in VC, Dan shares lessons learned from spinning out of Highland Capital Partners to launching Commerce Ventures—now investing out of its fifth fund and 12 years old.

Dan discusses how he identified the commerce sector as a durable and flexible focus area, the importance of developing actionable investment themes, and how his team navigates emerging technologies. He also dives deep into the hard truths around firm-building, liquidity strategies, institutional LP dynamics, and the long, often ambiguous path to success as a solo-turned-institutional VC.

This conversation is a must-listen for emerging managers, sector-focused investors, and anyone navigating the transition from solo GP to scalable institutional fund.

Key Takeaways:

• Theme-Led Firm Building: Dan saw the opportunity to built Commerce Ventures around the thematic intersection of mobility, payments, and fintech—an expansive and enduring thesis rooted in the core infrastructure of modern online behavior and transactions.
• Sector Focus ≠ Narrow Focus: A broad sector like “commerce” allows flexibility across retail, fintech, and adjacencies like healthcare and AI—creating resilience and breadth across cycles.
• Solo GP → Institutional Firm: He shares how he scaled from a $16M first fund to a $150M+ institutional fund, and the real challenges involved in that evolution.
• Liquidity Lessons: Dan reflects on hard-earned lessons around secondaries and IPOs, emphasizing the need to prepare well in advance for liquidity events.
• Team Building: Junior hires are incredibly important. It starts with must mastering the mechanics first; long-term partner potential comes after reps and trust. Commerce’s team-building playbook reflects intentionality and humility at all levels.

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In this episode of VC Mastermind, Jacob Mullins sits down with Chirag Locham, former head of venture and private tech investments at Miras, one of the most prominent family offices in the Middle East. Chirag shares a decade’s worth of experience allocating capital across early-stage VC funds, late-stage co-investments, and global tech platforms—all while building the firm’s venture strategy from the ground up. As an LP based in Dubai with a U.S. tech lens, he offers a unique perspective on how allocators in the region evaluate managers and why relationship-building, not just pitching, is the key to securing capital.

Chirag goes deep on what actually moves the needle for Middle Eastern LPs: referrals from trusted insiders, a clear edge in sourcing and allocation access, and a thoughtful reserve strategy that drives DPI, not just TVPI. He explains how most GPs fail to articulate a basic portfolio construction model—and why he asks every manager, “How exactly do you get to 3x?” He also highlights the growing appetite for late-stage directs and “private IPOs,” a response to the broken traditional IPO pipeline and the increasing sophistication of regional capital looking for exposure to blue-chip AI and deep tech assets.

Whether you're raising a Fund I or stewarding a multi-vintage platform, this episode offers a masterclass in LP relationship dynamics in the Middle East. Chirag outlines how the best GPs show up long before a fundraise, how family offices differ from sovereigns in their speed and flexibility, and why fundraising through placement agents or banks can work—but only with realism and tact. For any venture investor looking to build durable LP partnerships in the GCC, this conversation delivers essential intel you won’t find anywhere else.

If you are a VC Managing Partner and interested in gaining access to our private podcasts please Apply for Membership. If you are already a Member please click here and make sure you are signed in.