This Week in Startups • E984: Vice Ventures Founding Partner Catharine Dockery raised $25M to invest in vices: marijuana, sextech, gambling, alcohol, vaping; shares insights on hacking her way into VC through cold emails & a strong investment thesis, capitalizing on early markets hungry for investment • Listen on Fountain
E984: Vice Ventures Founding Partner Catharine Dockery raised $25M to invest in vices: marijuana, sextech, gambling, alcohol, vaping; shares insights on hacking her way into VC through cold emails & a strong investment thesis, capitalizing on early markets hungry for investment
E984: Vice Ventures Founding Partner Catharine Dockery raised $25M to invest in vices: marijuana, sextech, gambling, alcohol, vaping; shares insights on hacking her way into VC through cold emails & a strong investment thesis, capitalizing on early markets hungry for investment
0:47 Jason intros Catharine Dockery
4:29 How Catharine came up with Vice Ventures
7:00 What was the response when Catharine began raising her first fund?
7:19 What does harm-reduction mean for Vice Ventures?
9:21 Getting Marc Andreessen to invest in her fund
13:32 Strangest emails Catharine has received since starting Vice Ventures
16:01 Investing in cannabis
20:15 Investing in psychedelics
26:33 Investing in gambling
31:16 Who are Catharine's typical LPs?
32:15 Investing in alcohol
39:33 Investing in sextech
44:06 Vice Ventures strong thesis against harming others
47:22 Is Vice Ventures hiring?
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Jason Calacanis covers startups, tech, markets, media, and all the hottest topics in business and technology. He also interviews the world’s greatest founders, operators, investors, and innovators.