Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

Sydecar Director of Revenue Halle Kaplan-Allen : why AngelList is the best crash course to venture

7 Oct 2022 · 1 min

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In this interview excerpt, Halle Kaplan-Allen explains her transition from AngelList to Sidecar, an early‑stage startup building an on‑ramp to venture capital through SPVs. At AngelList she worked on the back‑office operations team, executing and building workflows that support venture fund administration. Despite having no prior finance education or exposure to venture, she learned about financial statements, regulation, venture law, and fund administration on the job. She describes this experience as the best crash course in venture finance she could have received, highlighting how hands‑on operational work provided deep, practical knowledge that she now brings to her role at Sidecar.

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You recently joined Sidecar, which is an early-stage startup building an on-ramp to venture capital, starting with SPVs. So would you mind sharing more about how your role has shifted since leaving AngelList? Yeah, at AngelList, I worked on the back-office operations team where I was helping to execute and build a lot of the workflows that kind of like support the back office of venture capital. And that was my first exposure to venture ever. Like, I've written about this, but I didn't know anyone who worked in venture. I'd never taken a finance class. I didn't know any— like, I didn't know about financial statements before I started at AngelList. And so I learned more about, like, you know, I was actually executing these workflows. So I learned more about kind of regulation and venture law and fund admin than, like, I could ever possibly want to know. And at the same time, you know, and it was— I mean, it was amazing. It was the best crash course to venture you could ever get was working in that role.