John Fein and Chris Marks are the managing partners of Firebrand Ventures.
John started Firebrand Ventures in 2016, and we interviewed him in 2018.
Prior to founding Firebrand, John served as Managing Director for Techstars, a leading startup accelerator with over 40 programs around the world. While at Techstars he ran three accelerator programs in Kansas City and invested in 30 startups. Companies that have gone through Techstars programs have raised a total of over $9 billion in funding and have a collective market cap of over $25 billion.
Prior to Firebrand, Chris was the Founder and Managing Partner of Blue Note Ventures, an early-stage venture fund investing in great technology companies and serving entrepreneurs committed to authentic leadership.
After co-investing in several companies together out of their respective funds, it became obvious that Chris and John not only shared a similar investment strategy, but also an underlying set of values around how they partnered with entrepreneurs. In late 2019 they decided to join forces and merged Firebrand and Blue Note.
Learn more about Firebrand
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This episode of upside is sponsored by SPMB.
SPMB is one of the fastest-growing retained executive search firms in the country, closing hundreds of C-level searches every year.
For over 40 years, SPMB has specialized in recruiting upper management and board members to VC-funded startups everywhere from early-stage to growth stage.
They can do the same for you.
Visit upside.fm/spmb to learn more.
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This episode of upside is sponsored by Ethos Wealth Management.
Managing wealth with an eye toward the future demands vigilance and skill in today’s global economy. Over the years, Ethos Wealth Management has worked with clients and their other professional advisors – including attorneys and accountants – to create comprehensive wealth management plans designed to make the best use of their wealth today and help ensure its endurance for future generations.
They can do the same for you.
Visit upside.fm/ethos to learn more.
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This episode is sponsored by SavvyCal.
SavvyCal is the most intuitive and powerful scheduling tool on the market. In fact, we just started SavvyCal to book interviews with our guests!
You can create personalized links in seconds and even allow recipients to overlay their calendar on top of yours.
You really gotta see how this works, and you’ll wonder why it wasn’t always this easy.
Sign up to create a free account at savvycal.com/upside and when you're ready to test out a paid plan, use the code UPSIDE to get your first month free.
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