In this solo episode of Seed to Harvest, host Paige Finn Doherty announces a shift in the podcast’s publishing cadence—from a weekly schedule to selective, interview‑focused episodes released on Mondays when ready. She explains the change stems from a renewed desire to write, noting she has authored a children’s book about venture capital and is developing a memoir‑style book with guidance from established memoir writers. Paige provides an update on Behind Genius Ventures, revealing seven investments from Fund II and recapping the firm’s first annual summit held at the historic Athenaeum in La Jolla. At the summit, three portfolio founders presented: Dr. Deepak Sikhar (ProfGym, an AI‑driven platform that converts textbook text into interactive video lessons), Shail Mehta (The Last Gameboard, a digital tabletop gaming platform now in GameStop stores), and Kristen (Statusphere, an AI‑powered marketplace that matches brands with influencers). She shares insights from an anonymous founder survey, noting that 13 of 16 respondents would rate her a perfect 10 as an early‑stage partner, praising her openness and empathy. Throughout, Paige emphasizes her mission to build venture‑backed communities that prioritize people, planet, and profit, and she invites early‑stage founders, publishing agents, and anyone interested in her work to connect via email, Twitter, or LinkedIn. The episode concludes with acknowledgments to producer Riley Jennings and editor Tate Doherty, and reminders to follow Seed to Harvest on YouTube, TikTok, and podcast platforms.
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Oh, what's up everyone? Welcome back to Seed to Harvest. I wanted to share a bit of context on where I'm at with building Behind Genius Ventures and also the direction that I want to take Seed to Harvest in the future because I have an exciting announcement to make. So first things first, I'm going to be adjusting the schedule of Seed to Harvest. I've been doing this show weekly for the past 62, 63 weeks. And it's been incredible to have consistency in the creative process. But one thing I've really missed is having the time to write. So I started writing on Twitter and I wrote a children's book about venture. And I've been thinking a lot about what my next book is going to be about. I think I was going through a period of like, oh my God, I'm never going to write again. And I like, no, no, no, no. Anyways. Inspiration hit. I came back from Lightning in a Bottle, which is one of my favorite music festivals. And the last time I was there was 5 years ago. I was 19 and I remember going there, having so much fun. I love house music. I love dancing. And I remember coming back and sitting in my cube. I was working at Northrop Grumman at the time. I was placed in a cube. I was literally the only person in a room of 40 cubes. All of them were empty. And I was just sitting there like bobbing my head to music. And I remember coming back and just being like, Oh, this is just not what I want to do for the rest of my life. And shortly after that, I went to the Hive Global Leaders Summit and really clarified my purpose. I just framed it in my new apartment, but basically it was to invest in companies and build communities that really impacted the triple bottom line, which is people, planet, profit. And then additionally, to increase transparency and compassion in venture investing. And I think it's pretty crazy to have thought that I wrote that 4 years ago. I feel like I'm very in alignment with that goal now. But I was just thinking about all of this and how much my life has changed since I went to Lightning in a Bottle 5 years ago. And I started writing about it, and then I ended up writing like 5,000 words in a day. And then I sent it to a bunch of my friends, and I was like getting feedback, and I'm adding to it. I'm— by the time this comes out, I will have gone to a writer's workshop with Liz Wheel. And Dan Duante, who are 2 of my favorite memoir writers. And so I'll be working on my next book. And so I'm going to be changing the cadence of Seed to Harvest. I'm going to be doing episodes when I want to and with the people that I would really like to have on the show. So if you're interested, please let me know. I'm going to just start being more selective about the episodes. I want to record them with people who I have like deep context for, deep admiration for. And I'll be publishing them on Mondays, but probably not every Monday. And then the second aspect of this is where I'm at in building Behind Genius Ventures. So I've made 7 investments out of our second fund now, which is pretty exciting. And I recently hosted our annual summit in San Diego. A bunch of our founders were in this office, and I think one of the things that I was Reflecting on was I was just having this. I don't know if this ever happens to you, but I had a dream that I was in an ocean view office, and there was someone next to me, and they were like really encouraging me. And I remember being like, oh, I'm like kind of nervous for a big event. And I remember I was sitting there, and my one of my investors Jasper, they had flown from Paris to be to be at my annual summit. I had met them through I think it was through Twitter actually, and. And I was, you know, preparing my presentation for our annual summit. And I just remember having this like insane sense of déjà vu, but I never imagined that the office would be mine. And I never imagined that the big event would have been my first annual summit for Behind Genius Ventures. That was a really special moment. The purpose of why I hosted our first annual summit is because community and content have really been like the melody of Behind Genius Ventures and they are at the core of how I want to operate this firm, build this community. And so I thought it was really important to have an annual summit, even though On the Scale Venture Funds were smaller and we have like around like 36 portfolio companies total, but we do have like over 150 investors. So I wanted to bring people together and I wanted to create a surprising container for it. And so I hosted our annual summit at the Athenaeum, which is a music and arts library. In La Jolla. It was founded in 1889. Don't quote me on that. But it's really cool. It's a music and arts library. I thought it spoke a lot to the roots of Behind Genius Ventures being grounded in creativity and my love for art. If you're watching this on YouTube, my mom's art is behind me. She's been a really big influence in my life. And yeah, I thought it was like the perfect venue in addition to it being behind our office. So it was really easy to Walk back and forth. So I gave a presentation on the state of both funds, where things are at, where I see taking them, and kind of like what the magic sauce behind Genius Ventures is. And then I had 3 founders present. So Dr. Deepak Sikhar from ProfGym, which is a generative AI tool that turns textbook text into interactive videos, which is really cool. They're, it's basically like using textbook text, you could Put that in, he did a live demo, you put it in and you can get out a class generated by like Aristotle's teaching you, you know, like whatever class that you want, or like Sacagawea is teaching you history, but really cool technology. The second founder who presented was Shail Mehta from The Last Gameboard, which is a digital tabletop gaming platform, which was a massive hit. They've rolled out nationwide in GameStops. And were one of our early investments in Fund 1. It was really cool because when we had invested, I think they had, they were working on the beta, so they didn't even have like a live product in market. So it was really cool to have Shail fly out from Denver, get to meet her for the first time in person, have her bring the game board. We had like our investors and our founders playing together on the game board, which was really special. And then also Kristen from Statusphere, which is basically like AdSense for consumer-to-consumer marketing. So if you think about the creator economy and how brands are leveraging influencer campaigns, basically Statusphere allows brands to build these campaigns at scale and uses a combination of machine learning and AI to best match influencers based on their profiles, like 250 data points that they fill out when they join the platform. To brands so that there is the most authentic fit, which I think is like the most important. So it was really cool to have founders present on what they're building. And so our investors and other founders that attended could really see the magic behind the wonderful people that I get to back. Like, it's so crazy. I don't know. I just feel so grateful that this is, is my job and I get to do it on my own terms. It was pretty funny, actually. I got turned down for a full-time position from a local growth equity firm that works in like software. And they just moved in next door and I went, the silence. I hope they don't listen to this. The silence was so loud. Like the desks are all in a perfect line. You know, it's like per— just like, just, you know, it just, it's totally expected. And then you come back into my office. I'm like blasting house music. I'm doing my emails. I'm writing. Taking founder calls, that like it's set up like an extended living room. I want people to come out and like hang and tell me about what's hard, you know, what, and, and like have that really raw experience with me. And I actually, which brings me to the next update that I wanted to share is I completed an anonymous founder survey across our portfolio, which was really cool. I think out of everyone who responded, I think there was only like 3 founders out of 16 that have responded so far that didn't recommend me as a 10, as an early stage partner, which is pretty cool. And I really loved reading the responses to what made me stand out from their other investors. And across the board, it was that their conversations with me feel like they can be more open and honest and talk about, you know, things and get vulnerable. And I think that that was one thing that when I started venture, I really wanted to Provide, you know, and I'm building a business as well. Like, I know that there are really challenging times and also really exciting times, and then it can be super lonely as a founder. So yeah, those are some of the updates that I wanted to share in this mini episode. So to summarize, going forward, I'll have more periodic episodes of Seed to Harvest that are interviews. I'll keep you all updated on the book. Honestly, Not to brag, but I'm pretty excited about it. It's gonna be good. It's like the most personal stuff I've been writing. I feel like there was this like big gap between what I was writing about in venture and what was happening in, in my life separate. So it'll be a cool combination of things. Also, if you know any like agents or have any experience publishing a book, let me know. And then, yeah, I just wanted to update you on the annual summit and the founder survey because I thought those were pretty Cool. And if you're an early-stage founder building in the future of work and play, please shoot me an email. I would love to meet you, and I hope you have a wonderful day. This is Paige signing off. Bye-bye.
Special thank you to producer Riley Jennings and podcast editor Tate Doherty for your help on this episode. If you're listening and you'd like to connect with me, follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Paige Finn with 3 N's. Thanks again for listening. I really appreciate it. You can look out for new episodes every Monday at 5 PM PST. And if you'd like to learn more about the strategies and tactics of seasoned institutional investors and rising venture stars, check out our YouTube channel at Seed to Harvest. Also, my TikTok channel is Seed to Harvest, where I post a lot of behind the scenes. Um, and if you like this episode, please rate and review the this podcast wherever you get your podcasts, if that's on Apple or Spotify. Anyways, thank you so much for listening. I hope you have an awesome rest of your day.
