911 Julia Krieger:

Melinda Wittstock:

Coming up on Wings of Inspired Business:

Julia Krieger:

It’s not like a spray and pray approach for someone to personally write a 50k check on something like they care, you know, like they’re, they’re in it, so they want to be as helpful as possible. And so that’s been something that’s really exciting to see how the community is supporting the entrepreneurs they back. We have this incredible community of LPs, right, or operator angels They also are helping us source some of the best opportunities because they have an early pulse on what tech in their own stacks, you know, are making a huge impact. And so that’s something that I think is super powerful because if you have a diverse group of essentially everyone becomes a scout because they care about the community.

Melinda Wittstock:

More female founders are starting to step up as investors to help change the game for women entrepreneurs who now get less than 2% of the available venture capital money. Julia Krieger has created an innovative new funding model with Pari Passu that connects entrepreneurs and investors for funding and strategic business mentoring and the best deals. Today we talk about how Pari Passu works, why it’s vital more women invest in startups, and how best to get your company funded.

Melinda Wittstock:

Hi, I’m Melinda Wittstock, happy New Year, and welcome to Wings of Inspired Business, where we share the inspiring entrepreneurial journeys, epiphanies, and practical advice from successful female founders … so you have everything you need at your fingertips to build the business and life of your dreams. I’m all about paying it forward as a five-time serial entrepreneur, so I started this podcast to catalyze an ecosystem where women entrepreneurs mentor, promote, buy from, and invest in each other. Because together we’re stronger, and we all soar higher when we fly together and lift as we climb.

Melinda Wittstock:

Today we meet an inspiring venture investor and startup founder who recently co-founded PariPassu, a private investor app that gives fellow founders, operators, and accredited investors access to angel investment in the most highly competitive deals in the venture ecosystem and be a part of the village that helps these founders succeed. Julia Krieger is Managing Partner at Pari Passu Venture Partners (PPVP), a founder-led, founder-backed early-stage venture firm investing in the future of e-commerce, SaaS, and consumer tech, backing some 19 companies to date. Previously an investor at venture firm Insight Partners, Julia invested over $100M in SaaS and marketplace companies globally. Prior, Julia founded and ran VillageLuxe, a venture-backed peer-to-peer luxury rental marketplace, for which she was awarded the Forbes 30 Under 30 accolade.

Melinda Wittstock:

Julia will be here in a moment, and first: This year I’m taking my investment in women entrepreneurs to a whole new level as a venture partner of the new firm Zero Limits Capital, where we’re dedicated to investing in highly scalable seed stage startups founded by women. We’re looking for innovators with exciting new applications of AI, Blockchain and other emerging technologies that make a social and sustainable impact to change the world. Is this you? If it is, take a moment and tell us about your opportunity at bit.ly/ZLCintake – that’s bit.dot.ly/ZLCintake – capital ZLC lowercase intake.

Melinda Wittstock:

Not all investors are equal, and not all money is the same. Some venture money comes with expertise and deep connections to potential team members and customers. Other venture money… is just money. And investors who have actually built companies themselves always offer more value. As Pari Passu co-founder and managing director Julia Krieger puts it, so-called venture operators who have walked the entrepreneurial path can offer more than just capital—they bring empathy, experience, and a deeper understanding of founders’ challenges.

Melinda Wittstock:

Today we talk about the challenges of fundraising and how the venture capital model is changing to better support entrepreneurs, plus why humility and openness to feedback is essential to success. Julia also shares the unique hurdles female entrepreneurs face, from biased questioning during VC pitches to balancing motherhood with business leadership. You’ll hear practical advice for founders on navigating these challenges, crafting compelling pitches, and leveraging networks effectively. Plus, why it’s important for women to invest in startups, not only for the potential return on investment or the desire to support other women but because those making investments are the ones deciding the companies of the future.

Melinda Wittstock:

Let’s put on our wings with the inspiring Julia Krieger and be sure to download the podcast app Podopolo so we can keep the conversation going after the episode.

[INTERVIEW]

Melinda Wittstock:

Julia, welcome to Wings.

Julia Krieger:

Thank you, Melinda, for having me. Happy to be here.

Melinda Wittstock:

I am so intrigued by your journey as an entrepreneur moving into investing with your fund that you co-founded, Pari Passu. What was the impetus that led to that change from entrepreneur to investing?

Julia Krieger:

Yeah, so it’s actually been a bit of a longer journey. I started my career on the investment science. I was at Insight Partners from when I was like my junior year at Harvard, so 20, probably before I could legally have a glass of wine for the first five years of my career. Spent time there and then jumped to the entrepreneurial side because I had an itch to create something that I couldn’t sort of shake off. And so that was a really difficult decision to leave because I loved venture and I loved Insight, but most entrepreneurs know you kind of like, don’t have a choice. And yeah, now coming back to the, you know, investing side, three years ago, having been an operator, now I feel like I was blind and now I can see.

Julia Krieger:

You know, I feel like having had the entrepreneurial experience just changes your perspective so much. Not just on, you know, what makes a great company.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

But I think also just how you think about the founder journey. You know, the fact that, you know, there’s always a fire to put out. You know, the fact that you’ve probably experienced staying up all night worrying about payroll. You just can’t teach that experience to a career investor that hasn’t been in the trenches yourself. And so, coming back, you know, to the venture side has been so powerful, having had that operator background. You know, I think also the way you think about supporting companies is very different because, you know, just asking what numbers are every quarter, you know, isn’t as helpful as actually rolling up your sleeves and saying, okay, tell me the bad stuff. Tell me the things that I can actually help you with. And I think for founders, you know, a lot of the times, and maybe even like first time founders especially, they don’t let people in to help as much as they should because they kind of want to show they can do it themselves.

Julia Krieger:

And I do think having investors that founders know have had that entrepreneurial experience, I think kind of softens the ability to be able to sort of let someone in the fold on, you know, the more vulnerable things because, you know, they can relate. They’ve gone through it themselves as well.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, not all checks are the same. I mean, you could have money, or you could have money that actually has expertise and connections tied to it and very real help. I know as a founder myself what I prefer and having been through across five companies, pitched, God, more investors than I can count. You immediately know the difference of who you’re talking to, right? Whether it’s somebody who’s just come up through McKinsey or something, they have no idea. Like they can’t really evaluate, you know, what you’re, what you’re, you’re doing.

Melinda Wittstock:

There’s just no way they can provide that kind of support even if they say they’re going to. You’d rather have, you know, smart money?

Julia Krieger:

Yeah, I think so. I think it’s also, you know, someone said to me and, and, and I would feel like this stat probably is true, we need to check it. But founder investor relationships last longer than most marriages.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

You think of like 10-year cycles. And so, I think it’s so important to treat it that way, like a real partnership. And it’s like, who do you want in your bench of support not just for when things are going well.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

But when, you know, macro events happen. Right. Or there’s difficult things to navigate on a company level. I think it’s so important not just for investors to due diligence on founders, but for founders to also due diligence on the investors.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

Are these the people that you want, you know, in your court? And so that’s for us, you know, for Pari, pursue like so much of why, you know, our whole LP base are like founders and operators and you know, folks that can really add a ton of value because we see that as the means to sort of supercharge value, add on cap tables.

Melinda Wittstock:

100%. So how has it changed how you evaluate companies? You know, are you more likely to be able to elicit or understand what the pitfalls may be? Are you more likely to say, oh yeah, this company has real potential, they could do well with our expertise? Like how does that change the equation in terms of when you’re looking at deal flow?

Julia Krieger:

Having been an operator, you mean?

Melinda Wittstock:

Yes.

Julia Krieger:

You know what, I think it gives you a little bit more of a ability to read through the lines on the person. Right. I think having had an entrepreneurial experience, you can kind of see when a founder is, I don’t know, has like a death grip on like this needing to succeed, you know, no matter what. Or like, is operating more from a fear-based place or control, you know, type of place. Like it’s, it’s interesting. I feel like having been an operator and now coming on, you know, back onto the investing side, you, I think, have more of a sense of which founders are, I don’t know, more like flow versus force.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

Which ones are not trying to be the smartest person in the room? Which ones have the humility to not think they have to have, you know, the answers to every questions. Like, I remember my early days as a founder, I didn’t think it was even an option not to know, right?

Melinda Wittstock:

An answer.

Julia Krieger:

Like, I didn’t know that there was an option to answer a question, you know, to a prospective, you know, investor that was like, you know what? We don’t have that figured out. You know, here’s what we do know that will probably figure out more between like the Series A and after. Would love your help to navigate. How are you thinking about that?

Julia Krieger:

Like, I didn’t even think it was a possibility. And so, a lot of that comes with, you know, entrepreneurship kind of smacks you around and humbles you in a way. And so I think though, your pulse on the founder and where they are in that spectrum of journey, you know, from, I don’t know, ego to humility, you know, I think it takes a really important and powerful level of like humility to succeed as a founder because A, you’re, you know, probably facing rejection all the time, which you for sure have to have perseverance. But I think where perseverance dips into more ego of like not taking the feedback and the learnings right when things aren’t sort of going well to be like, wait, maybe there’s something we’re missing here, maybe the model needs to shift. Maybe like this person’s perspective is, you know, valid to look at or you know, at least being open to having those conversations. Like, I think that’s, that’s sort of one of the really interesting unlocks of being sort of post entrepreneurial journey myself that I think helps me both evaluate founders more but also, you know, be able to hopefully have the kind of relationships with them where, you know, you can again be led into the fold to help them, you know, maximize their chances of success. I think that’s one piece of it, I think for sure. Also, others, you know, on the more business side versus personal side are, you know, being able to ask certain questions that maybe founders aren’t thinking of.

Julia Krieger:

And so, a lot of times, you know, you’ll have investors sort of ask, you know, what’s the competitive landscape look like? And the way that I like asking that question is a bit more so nuanced of, okay, tomorrow you’re going to have a big, shiny, you know, press release who is not in the space or peripherally to it, that isn’t paying attention to it,

Julia Krieger:

…and has the resources or has the customer base and can sort of dip into it. So, as I think about sort of defensibility and mode, it’s a lot less literal because having been an entrepreneurial, you see just a lot more kind of curveballs and things are much less.

Melinda Wittstock:

You don’t know what’s coming at you. There are things that you cannot control. There’s what you can do yourself, you and your team. And then there’s all kinds of outside things that happen with the economy or just a competitor out of the blue, or just something that happens, you know, that you weren’t anticipating. So how you’re going to react to all of those is critical. And that comes back to what you were talking about, about the humility or perhaps curiosity or coachability and having enough of a trusted relationship with an investor or building the trust with a prospective investor that you can actually have those conversations and work together? Do you think there’s a difference between men and women in terms of how they handle this at the pitch meeting? Getting to your point, really about, gosh, you know, a lot of founders feel this pressure that they have to know everything and that they have to be right. Do, do women feel more like they have to prove that than men?

Julia Krieger:

It’s an interesting question. I mean, I, I think there’s a ton of data, historically, you know, that the way that sort of more stereotypical a lot of the, you know, VC community are, you know, our men, the way that they ask questions to female founders versus male founders is inherently, and there’s a study that the Boston Consulting Group maybe. Did they inherently ask more questions that are Kind of more with a negative spin of like, you know, like, explain to me how this is defensible. Right. Explain to me, you know, how you’re going to avoid, you know, these manufacturing problems or whatnot, versus a lot of the questions that they inherently statistically ask Men are more like, sell me the dream. And so, you know, the thing that women, you know, female entrepreneurs have to think about is not just answering the questions that are given to them.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

But taking on that extra step of, you know, making sure you’re also advocating for yourself and, you know, selling the dream and the bigger vision.

Julia Krieger:

This will impact, you know, how we think about scale and how we think about go to market. And again, all of those positive elements to it, then maybe from a bias standpoint, aren’t being asked, you know, and prompted as questions in a sort of VC pitch. But I can speak to myself. I know for sure. You know, as, as a female entrepreneur and, you know, starting also early in my career as a female VC, there were a lot less, you know, women in the room than there are now, which is a beautiful shift to see, but I always felt like I kind of had something extra to prove.

Julia Krieger:

And so, I think the more we have, you know, female check writers, which can impact more female, you know, founders getting backed.

Julia Krieger:

Because hopefully you’re able to shake off any subconscious bias more so.

Julia Krieger:

If you, if you are a woman yourself. I would hope so.

Melinda Wittstock:

Interesting. I’ve just noticed that over five companies now that I tend to be asked questions that are designed maybe subconsciously, to put you on the defensive. And it took me a while to really understand and figure out that dynamic. So, when that study came out, I was like, oh, right, how can I turn this around? I remember one particular pitch meeting where this guy was really focusing on our, you know, cost of user acquisition.

Melinda Wittstock:

This seems really high. And I was like, well, did you look at what the result of that is, though? Because we’re like 10xing that like, yeah.

Julia Krieger:

Here’s the lifetime value. Like stuff like, here’s what it’s relative towards.

Melinda Wittstock:

And so, learning just to flip it around, Because when you go and you talk to an investor and all their materials are like, we like big dreamers. So, you go with your big dream. And then they, like, they don’t actually want that. I don’t know if that’s just from women or whether, you know. Right. It can be really tricky for women to navigate.

Julia Krieger:

For sure. I think also motherhood is something that’s really interesting because I have very close friends that have raised rounds pregnant, raised funds pregnant. And that’s really where you see, I think, some of the difference of, you know, women who kind of get it and give them credit for, like, oh, my gosh, like, you’re going to be even more of a superhero, you know, to be able to balance all of these other things versus sort of the inherent bias of holding it against someone. I have, like, three kids that are 6 and under, so I’m in the thick of all of it.

Melinda Wittstock:

You’re right in the middle of it. Like, I once was. I remember raising money for my company, getting pregnant in the middle of the raise. And like, literally, we launched when my daughter was six weeks old, so.

Julia Krieger:

Oh. I mean, listen, I’m like the psycho that, like, probably sent emails between contractions.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right?

Julia Krieger:

But I think. But like, I did it to myself sort of in a way.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

But I feel like, you know, the more we can see examples of, like, you know, women, full belly, just crushing it.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

Like, the more I think we can shake off some of that, you know, bias because we deserve and want all the things. And, you know when I was growing up, kind of within early days adventure, I just didn’t see so many women that, I don’t know, like, didn’t sacrifice sort of a family life.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

For their career. I feel like it’s just so much more prominent, you know, where I just see so many incredible, like, boss women that, you know, are also mothers. And, you know, again, it’s hard to balance all of it. For sure, there’s no such thing as balance. But I’m just so happy to see more examples of that and more entrepreneurs that are posting about, you know, motherhood as well.

Julia Krieger:

Like, we need more role models, in a sense, you know, of that because I don’t want women to have to choose. And so that’s been, I think, a beautiful thing to see that people are being much more vulnerable about the experience.

Melinda Wittstock:

I came to the conclusion that actually motherhood made me a better leader. I had to work through a whole bunch of things in that whole balance.  I came up with the idea that it was really about integration and the quality of time and so not being guilty. So, when I was with my kids, I was 100% with them. When I was, you know, in the business, 100 per cent in the business. That’s not to say there wasn’t a constant macro in my mind about the business at all times because it’s just like it’s always, you know what I mean? But I had to get very smart about my time. And also, where did I have the most leverage in that time? Like, what could I do that only I could do, really doubling down on that and, and getting good at asking for and receiving help, which I think a lot of women struggle with. There’s this, this idea of even asking, let alone receiving it, right. It, it forces you, you to learn that lesson. For me anyway, it forced me to learn that lesson.

Julia Krieger:

Yeah. I think it forces you from like an efficiency standpoint to operate in a totally different sphere. Right. And I think to your point, around like time management, I think intention also and being able to, you know, we all struggle sometimes with this, right? But like just being able to really regulate yourself to operate more from a place of like flow versus force, you know, like you have to kind of be able to in those moments, like center yourself, right. If a kid’s like losing their minds, right. So, in the same way to apply to business, right. Of not just powering through, right. But like building out of necessity, like the habits that you need to be able to ground yourself so that you’re operating, you know, in your best capacity because you want, you know, all of the things you want family life and you want your kids to feel you’re present when you are there and you want, you know, a thriving business side and you know, all it’s, it’s like whole person existence, right? Versus I think a lot of the times historically, before mental health and all of these things and meditation became much more mainstream, it was just like a lot of people just powering through to survive and you didn’t know there was sort of a choice otherwise.

[PROMO CREDIT]

What if you had an app that magically surfaced your ideal podcast listens around what interests and inspires you – without having to lift a finger?  Podopolo is your perfect podcast matchmaker – AI powered recommendations and clip sharing make Podopolo different from all the other podcast apps out there. Podopolo is free in both app stores – and if you have a podcast, take advantage of time-saving ways to easily find new listeners and grow revenue. That’s Podopolo.

Melinda Wittstock:

And we’re back with Julia Krieger, co-founder of Pari Passu, a private investor app that gives fellow founders, operators, and accredited investors access to angel investments in the most highly competitive deals in the venture ecosystem.

[INTERVIEW CONTINUES]

Julia Krieger:

So, I feel like so much of my own, even personal journey is trying to rewire my association that like, it has to be super hard and super painful, you know, to succeed. Like, you almost have to earn it through pain. And it’s like it doesn’t have to be pain. I work very hard, right? And sometimes in order to be super present for my kids from, you know, 5:30 to 8, like I’ll work till midnight after, right? But that’s what gives me the freedom and allows me, you know, to, to do that and to be there and to be able to kind of, you know, unless there’s a fire, really, really kind of hold that time sacred. So, it’s been, it’s been, I think, beautiful to see the evolution of these conversations coming more to the forefront and just another layer. Women support each other, right? And same with founders, investors, and all the same.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, I love the concept of flow versus force. So practically speaking, I think we all can understand what force is, like you’re powering through, you know, It has to be hard, all these sorts of things, controlling. What does flow look like in practice when someone’s in flow.

Julia Krieger:

Yeah, I’m sure it’s different for everyone. For me, it’s really almost like an energetic state from which you’re operating, right? It’s taking the time to sort of ground yourself, to make sure your intuition sort of in the right place and you’re not kind of creating unnecessary blockages, right? It’s not just about kind of the hippie dippy stuff, right? But also, you know, if you’re operating from a place of sort of force versus flow, that could be, you know, pushing through on like friction on a project without pausing to be like, wait, why is this so hard? Why is the rock not like, rolling down the hill at some point? Like, what are we not thinking about? That should be different, right? Like, it’s. It’s. I think actually all comes back to kind of humility in a way, right? It’s like not trying to, like, force your way through to success, you know, out of sort of not listening to factors around you, people around you, you know, universe around you.

Julia Krieger:

It’s operating from much more of a state of kind of openness. And I think in that vein, you. I don’t know, everything that then comes out of you from a creative standpoint, from, you know, work, from conversations, from everything. Just like the energy with which you speak is very different when you’re not just kind of, I don’t know, like not taking time for yourself to make sure you’re feeling as centered as possible. I think it makes a tremendous difference of then, like, output.

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s true, because I think if you’re just powering through in that force thing, I mean, you’re going to miss opportunities, you’re going to miss signals not only from your team, but from the market from your customers. I mean, you’re inherently not open, right?

Julia Krieger:

I think so, yeah, absolutely. And sitting on your couch, right. And waiting for the world to say to you. But it’s also like paying attention to where there’s friction and. And not just ignoring the signs of why.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right, right. And so, we’ve all had those moments as entrepreneurs where it does feel like pushing a boulder up, up a mountain. And it can be hard to know, is it okay, is this because this is the wrong thing, like, like we’re going in the wrong direction, or is it just that this particular mountain is hard? And we’ll get to the top of it eventually. Like, sometimes it can be really difficult for people to know, like, when to pivot.

Julia Krieger:

I think some people just don’t ask the question right.

Melinda Wittstock:

When their startup just isn’t going to go, you know what I mean?

Julia Krieger:

100%. It’s even just like the realization to take the time to ask the question versus assume it’s, you know, of course it’s painful and you have to persevere.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

And, like, not ask, like. But can anything be changed that would flow more. It’s a lot of the times it’s pausing and it’s interesting because I feel like so much of, you know, what makes a good leader and a good founder and a good investor and, you know, sort of whatever category you want to think about is a lot of, like, the person just candidly working on themselves, like, as a human being. It trickles into all parts of, you know, life. And so, I think that’s super important. Again, coming back to humility and coming back to a place of, you know, wanting to evolve every day to, you know, a better operator, better investor, better founder, better, you know, friend and mother and wife and all the things.

Julia Krieger:

It’s been a big part of my own personal journey. And I think, again, like, going back to sort of Pari Pasu, which, you know, would obviously love to share more about. That’s, I think, one of the reasons community is so impactful.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

And having like, a bench of support and, you know, again, thinking about who you’re bringing on as investors and partners for that journey ahead, because it does take a village.

Melinda Wittstock:

The longer I’ve been, you know, my entrepreneur, my entrepreneurial journey, in essence, became a spiritual journey because this podcast all the time, that if you want therapy, just become an entrepreneur, because it is going to bring to the surface any subconscious issues you have, like any traumas, anything like that. So as those things come to the surface, it’s just this kind of continual journey into being in the present, being aware and like you said, being in flow. This resonates very deeply with me. And I think it’s one of the things just with Zero Limits Capital, where I have this new role as a venture partner, which I’m very excited about. We’re supporting a lot of amazing companies, and 80% of them are women-founded. One of our key parts of the evaluation of a deal is the founder from that perspective that you describe, right? Because at the end of the day, all kinds of stuff is going to happen. The company may look completely different than, you know, the original opportunity, or there’s a bigger opportunity or there’s this pivot, but it comes down to the person, right?

Julia Krieger:

You know, you’re backing people. At the end of the day, no matter what stage you’re investing in, you’re backing in people.

Melinda Wittstock:

Exactly.

Julia Krieger:

Number one, then it’s short market size, defensibility, you know, all margins, all those other things. But at the end of the day, it’s people.

Melinda Wittstock:

It really is. And I think it’s interesting as an investor when you’re evaluating a person, because I think a lot of pitch meetings don’t really necessarily get into that. Like, we’re taking kind of clues from people. But how best to elicit that? Like when you’re evaluating a founder and really looking for those things, how much of your diligence process, for instance, Perry Passu, really gets into that? How do you elicit that? How do you know?

Julia Krieger:

You can never know, right? But hopefully you hone in more of your intuition, right, of like, feeling people’s responses. So, if, for example, you know, you’re asking a founder, like, what keeps you up at night, right? Assuming you have, you know, money can’t be the bottleneck. You get the check that you’re, you know, looking for, for this raise can hire the bodies. Like, what is, what is the biggest concern between, like, where you are now and where you need to get to for, like the Series A, right? And if they say, like, no, nothing bothers me, we just need the money, you know, like, it’s, you know, I’m like, okay, friend. Like, you know, maybe you do think that, but now life’s probably going to smack you around a little bit. You know, I think like, the people being like, listen like, this is the. You know, this is what really concerns me.

Julia Krieger:

We really have to think about how to optimize the right channel. That’s something that I’m not totally sure of. You want to see someone. I don’t mean to keep going back to humility, but I do think it actually ties there. You want to see someone that knows there’s going to be challenges and is not blinded by the possibility that things do go wrong. And so, they’re thinking of ways to mitigate that. They’re thinking of ways to hedge against that. Like, that’s a much more thoughtful answer than, you know, again, just sort of like blind perseverance or powering through or, you know, we have no competitors ever.

Julia Krieger:

Like, it’s like, okay, well, maybe there’s not a market here or there. Like, you know what I mean? There’s questions you can ask that can kind of help you see through a little bit more to the person behind the scenes and who’s sort of just like putting on a show. Because I think people being more deeply sort of, you know, authentic and comfortable to be vulnerable, you know, will help them succeed and be adaptive as you need to be as a founder. Because to your point, you might have to pivot. You might have to, you know, entirely change your business model. You might have to, you know, make some big changes on hires or some painful changes on hires.

Julia Krieger:

It’s just super important to try to get as much of a pulse on who the person is, and it’s not always possible to do so. But hopefully you can kind of hone a bit more of your intuition and see how people respond, you know, to some of the more kind of vulnerable prompts, I guess.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. Well, let’s get into Pari Passu, because you have a very different approach. You have this private investor app. It’s giving founders, operators, accredited investors, access to angel investment across a lot of deals. So, tell me about that structure and how that works.

Julia Krieger:

Yeah, so, you know, the seed thought of Harry Potter, you know, is really, it takes a village to succeed in all parts of life, but definitely within business. And I think the more people you have on your cap table, you know, that have actually, again, like, rolled up their sleeves and built something and been smacked around and humbled by entrepreneurship a bit as well. Right. To know, you know, what value add is and isn’t. I think those are the people that, as a Founder, you know, previously myself, like that’s who you want in your bench of support. And so when we looked at the venture landscape for a lot of the really like top brass deals that are, you know, led by Sequoia and Andreessen and Upfront and you know, tier one funds and oversubscribe rounds, like those aren’t the ones that you typically would see on crowd equity platforms, right, or the angel lists of the world. To be able to put small kind of palatable checks in you typically to get access to those kind of deals would have to be an LP in one of those funds. And so that’s you know, a 500k, million-dollar check.

Julia Krieger:

Even if you did have, you know, the relationship that gives you access. And for a lot of founders and operators, right, and accredited investors, like unless you’ve had a crazy exit, that’s not, that’s not really like a palatable entry point, right, to be able to throw 500k or million into, you know, one of these funds. I think also for a lot of folks that you know, are operators, they have a real perspective on a lot of these like tech companies. And so, the ability to not just give money to a fund and get more money back ten years later, but to actually like pick and choose what deals you’re backing in that sort of top brass adventure deals, that was something that was very interesting to us as well. And so, Pari Passu Venture Partners, you know, and the app Pari Passu, it’s a venture firm with a very different kind of structure where it’s not a fund, it’s all individual, you know, SPVs. So, it’s, you know, deal by deal. We give folks in our community access to, you know, pick and choose which companies within really so the top deals and venture they want to angel invest in and the check size, you know, minimum for almost all of our deals, you know, is 10K. So meant to be super approachable, you know, and allow folks to co invest with, you know, really like the leading VCs within the space.

Julia Krieger:

And we back, you know, seed and Series A companies as well as kind of some of the later high profile growth deals. So, we put like 5 million to SpaceX recently, you know, but also have a very early pulse on B2B SaaS, on consumer tech, you know, on defense tech, you know, and we’ve written checks into amazing companies and amazing founders within that space. And so that’s really the thesis behind it, you know, this investment platform that we’ve built in this app, Pari Passu. Was really meant to be a much better UI and tech home for this community. And so, for us, you know, when people join Pari Passu and we’re very thoughtful on not creating friction, like there’s not a membership fee and there’s not an amount you’re committing to invest a year. When you do decide to invest in a deal, then it’s kind of similar fees to venture. But the whole concept again is really cultivating this incredible community of, you know, everyone’s an accredited investor, but most are, you know, founders, C Suite, you know, operators and other roles that can add a lot more value than just the capital they can put behind. And I would argue that, you know, the CMO at some incredible company that maybe can personally only write a 25k check behind the scenes because a lot of her net worth is sitting in the form of equity, can probably add a lot more value than, you know, some, I don’t know, institutional investor potentially, you know, or like some other founder that exited 15 years ago.

Julia Krieger:

Right. That isn’t as plugged into, you know, who were the strategic partners?

Melinda Wittstock:

It might help you land a major strategic deal. Like you’re a B2B company and you know, and you’re trying to do a land and expand somewhere, whatever. Having an investor like that, you know, is huge or someone who’s got their finger on the pulse of what the latest, you know, you know how to, how to navigate, you know, how to best navigate your, you know, marketing strategy or whatever it is. And so.

Julia Krieger:

And they care because that’s their own money.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

Like that’s the difference.

Julia Krieger:

Like our average check, so we’ve backed 30 companies. Our average check’s about a million. Although have written like $5 million checks and could write, you know, 250k checks if I had to get my foot in the door. But behind the scenes of that, you know, it’s probably, you know, 20 to 30 investors in each deal that are like major heavy hitters.

Julia Krieger:

And also, like super incredible, you know, operators that then can really help these companies.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, they do they become sort of officially advisors to the company when they invest. How does that all work?

Julia Krieger:

No, not officially advisors, but if you think about a founder then sending, you know, an email update or an ask, you know, of who knows, you know, the CMO of Skims and who knows the best way to think through X, Y and Z, like, you know, it’s, it’s a group of people that if they don’t know, they’re one degree away from it.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

And so, it’s like, who are you putting on your cap table? A lot of the, again, like other opportunities to write small checks in startups and crowd platforms are great, right. But if you allow sort of like everyone to participate, it just becomes inherently a bit less focused on value add.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

Versus for us, you know, really quick approval process. People are putting their LinkedIn, they’re saying they’re accredited, and we’re kind of deciding behind the scenes who’s a fit for the community. So not a ton of friction there, but inherently by choosing people that can add a lot more value, whether it’s operational, whether it’s network, whether it’s incredible family offices, right, that are family offices because they’ve exited X, Y and Z companies and have an expertise in, you know, this certain space, it just ends up inherently being much more valuable for the founders to know that, you know, in these oversubscribed rounds where everyone’s trying to give them money, like they will figure out a way to carve out 500k for us because they know that the people behind the scenes that are writing checks, like, are way more than cash, both on the partner level. Right. And also, who the money is from behind the scenes.

Julia Krieger:

It’s not like a spray and pray approach for someone to personally write a 50k check on something like they care, you know, like they’re, they’re in it, so they want to be as helpful as possible. And so that’s been something that’s really exciting to see both in how the community is supporting the entrepreneurs they back. But I think what’s also interesting is the fact that we have this incredible community of, you know, are, you know, essentially LPs, right. Or operator angels. You would say they also are helping us source some of the best opportunities because they have an early pulse on what tech in their own stacks, you know, are making a huge impact. And so that’s something that I think is super powerful because if you have a diverse group of essentially everyone default, kind of becomes a scout because they care about the community, you hopefully then make sure the top of the funnel of, you know, what kind of founders you’re investing in can be diverse as well because you’re correcting ideally for as much bias as you can be by having just a much more broader pool of folks that are flagging, you know, incredible early opportunities.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, that is really, really interesting. I mean that, that goes some way to really solving the problem of access to capital, where you have a scenario where a lot of women just aren’t necessarily, don’t necessarily have the relationships in the Valley or wherever. Much of raising money is about developing those relationships. And, and so women generally are not as plugged into that whole world. I think that’s changing. And so, one of the things I’m really curious about is how you actually source these deals. Are they coming from your existing relationships with other VCs? You mentioned that some of the operators, some of the folks are saying, hey, there’s this really cool deal. I want to bring this to the table. Like, how does a company end up in your or on your app?

Julia Krieger:

Yeah, I would say it varies. I would say most of the companies are coming through, you know, our personal relationships with other partners at venture funds. I started my career at Insight Partners, you know, what, six, 16 years ago at this point.

Julia Krieger:

And so, if you think about my class, plus or minus two years, like, candidly, everyone’s like partners at other funds.

Julia Krieger:

And we like all grew up together.

Julia Krieger:

And at the end of the day, you want to back companies that you think are great businesses, but you want to back founders that you think are good humans. And the same way you want to also, like, pull in investors on the cap table that, you know, you know, are decent people and decent investors and, you know, can help in the good times and in bad.

Julia Krieger:

And so, a lot of the beauty of the kind of deals we have access to is because we’ve built relationships over, you know, a couple plus decades, you know, that you can’t just network your way to…

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

Like, it’s different kind of relationships over that kind of time of these really formidable years. And that’s what gives us a lot of access to really incredible companies because we don’t lead, but we have conviction in our own perspective and diligence. So, we’re often a yes before there’s a lead and pull in tier one folks. And so, we play real nice with others. And again, we’re seen as super strategic, not like, like competing, you know, for the same sort of, kind of easy spot. And so, a lot of deals come just through really like, you know, my and my partner’s personal network. And then, you know, to your point too, this community of amazing operators, right, are very aligned to, you know, flag incredible deals to us. And we’ve had, this was like a couple of months ago, but one actually is a female CEO that’s an angel investor with us.

Julia Krieger:

I was like, please speak to this one company. It’s marketing tech. It’s what it’s doing to our conversion is like bonkers. I would love to put a small check in. They would never take like you know, a 10k check personally on their cap table. But maybe you like it and if you like it, you’re going to write a bigger check. And you know, all of a sudden you can create sort of a five-million-dollar round and that one person that you know themselves can only put in a small check, you know, is the difference between this company like being funded or not and existing for the next three years and getting to the A.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

Like that’s the power of kind of democratizing access to venture. And again, this like super strategic, you know, money behind us.

Julia Krieger:

That comes from individuals. That’s super powerful.

Julia Krieger:

And so, I would say it varies across sort of those two buckets.

Melinda Wittstock:

I love that. So, you don’t lead, but so say a company has their lead, but they haven’t like completed their whole round. So, in that kind of scenario are you generally like the company already has their lead or you sort of mentioned that perhaps you’re a lead?

Julia Krieger:

Yeah, I would say if I look at like the deals that we’ve done, they kind of fall into two buckets, which is kind of interesting to like analyze. But a lot of the deals are these super, super oversubscribed rounds that everyone’s sort of trying to get into and we have a relationship with the founder where they’re like, look, I’m going to figure out some way to give you $1 million because I know that like the capital from you guys is much more strategic than, you know, all these other folks that are giving us, you know, allocation requests. And so, a lot of the times, whether it pushes another fund down a little bit or they end up stretching their round, or we kind of get a little creative with secondary if we have to, although almost everything we do is primary, they will find a way to get us on the cap table. And the leads will usually be really excited about that too, if we don’t already kind of know them. Because you know, it’s not just someone taking Their, you know, allocation or taking someone else’s allocation, you know, apples to apples. It’s like super, super strategic folks that can then, you know, help amplify the success of the business.

Melinda Wittstock:

Their investment. More effective. Right?

Julia Krieger:

Yeah, it’s, it’s again, it’s seen as much more strategic.

Julia Krieger:

And so, I would say one bucket is these oversubscribed rounds that the founder figures out a way to get us in. Right. And same with the leads. I think the other bucket is usually companies that we see before there’s a round. And there, you know, the difference of leading or not leading is often like whether someone also like has conviction sometimes in their own perspective.

Julia Krieger:

A lot of the times if you don’t have a lead locked up, the folks that don’t lead will just be like, call me when you have a lead.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s happened to me so many times.

Julia Krieger:

I’ve heard that. I know, I’ve experienced it too. And like it’s, you know, it’s, it’s a super frustrating part of the process. Depending on obviously the space and the vertical that it’s in. If we feel we’re, we’re confident in that space and have a real perspective, we’re often a yes before there’s a lead and we pull in the lead.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

And so, I think that confidence, you know, in being able to say like, oh, I’m definitely in for 500k, like that’s really empowering for a founder to then be able to get warm interest from someone that’s actually investing versus hey, take a look at this. I don’t know. I’m considering it. Do you like it? Do you like it? You know, like one ends up, you know, making a decision and you know, it’s a lot of time away from the founder. So, we end up then creating rounds. We end up finding, you know, leads and opportunities for a lot of our portfolio companies for follow ons, you know, that we participate in too. But I would say those are kind of the two buckets that we’ve experienced.

Melinda Wittstock:

So creative, Julia. Like I’m really impressed. I think this is interesting model. So, so this all works with SPVs. So Special Purpose Vehicles and, and the structure and how it all works. A cap table of these companies.

Julia Krieger:

Absolutely. So, you know, SPVs or special purpose vehicles, to your point, you know, just means like it’s an entity that we create per each investment opportunity.

Julia Krieger:

That’s for pooling capital. So, for the founder, it’s one line on their cap table that’s, you know, Pari Passu 87 or whatnot. Right. It’s not, you know, here’s 15, you know, 30 checks from, you know, Bob and Sue and Sally. Yeah. And so, you know, for us, you know, the difference for our community is rather than investing in a fund, which I’m sure obviously you have listeners that know about venture, but to take a step back, right, a fund you’re giving money to, hopefully some super Sharp people for 10 years, they’re then making decisions, you know, where to invest that money generally in a specific thesis.

Julia Krieger:

And then hopefully over the course of 10 years, you get more money back than you gave. Right. Typically, like we talked about before, much higher minimum check. Because from a regulatory standpoint, everything else, like funds have a certain cap on how many investors they can have. And so, it very rarely works for the math for a fund to take less than a 500k check, right. Or million-dollar check, depending on how big of a fund they want to write. I think also then for a fund, right, you’re not having any control over what companies they’re investing in, which has pros and has cons.

Julia Krieger:

As well, for us, for SPVs, I would think of it as, again, a deal-by-deal basis. So, each deal is siloed separately and you’re able to look at the companies that we’re backing. We’re probably on average backing like two a month. So really, really thoughtful on what we’re investing in. And you’re deciding, right, like if you want to put money into this deal or, or not. What’s really powerful there is, you know, again, so many folks in our community have real perspectives on these spaces. And so, to be able to say, you know, pass, pass. I want to put 10k in, I want to put 250k in because I know the problem they’re solving.

Julia Krieger:

I’ve tried the competitors, I know the market like to have that, that freedom to decide what you want to lean into is pretty impactful. But then again, also to be able to do it with, you know, much more palatable check sizes is really freeing. And so that’s the different structure. It’s, it’s super curated angel investing, and you know, again, a community of mostly founders and operators backing other founders and operators. But also.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, go ahead.

Julia Krieger:

No, I was going to say just one thing to note and even this is how we’re thinking about building this community because we haven’t spent a dollar on marketing. Everything has been very organic. I’m less even focused on the transactional side of growing this community because, of course, it’d be great for everyone in our community.

Julia Krieger:

But there’s so many, like, partnerships and strategic things that come out of it. So, I’m more thinking of, like, who are the smart people that just should be sitting around the table and the deals that we’re backing. Because we’ll see so many emails come out that, you know, someone will say, we’re investing in this really, really cool wellness tech company. And, you know, the head of partnerships for Equinox reaches out to me and she’s like, can you please connect me? And then the head of, you know, someone putting together the wellness program for Davos is like, wait, can you connect me? Like, there’s so many beautiful things that come out of this ecosystem, well beyond just founders getting capital.

Julia Krieger:

And so, you know, would just love any great smart folks, you know, that want to consider angel investing, but also just want to have an early pulse on what we’re very excited about, you know, to join Pari Passu.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. I would regard it as an abundance model, right, for the entire ecosystem where everybody wins. I tend to see women more likely to create things like this.

Melinda Wittstock:

I think just think differently about ecosystems and such and how everybody can win.

Julia Krieger:

I want everyone to win. I really do. Absolutely. You know, like, if founders win by getting, you know, not just capital, but really smart people that can help, and then folks win because they’re able to actually, like, access some of the best deals, but with palatable checks and also feel like they’re part of the journey.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right?

Julia Krieger:

Not just, like, again, like, money for 10 years and getting more back, which should be fair. Also, like, not. Not to knock it. Like, funds are wonderful, too. It’s just not accessible for everybody. And then again, you know, for us to just really be able to enjoy building and backing, you know, great founders and great companies. So, it’s been a really beautiful sort of win, win, win. And we’re really just getting started.

Melinda Wittstock:

So how do your fees work? I mean, is this classic 2 and 20 or, like, how does this work? Across all these SPVs, like for you.

Julia Krieger:

Guys, it’s pretty similar to venture. Yeah, I would say mostly our fees are compared to venture funds because I think a lot of syndicates are more like side hustles for people. Like, we’re putting like real venture firm kind of resources behind it on the partner level and everything else. It’s similar to 2 and 20, except our 2% isn’t for 10 years, it’s capped at five years and it’s held back off the top of the investment. And then if we exit something in less than five years, we kind of give back the difference. So, think about it. If you’re like investing 100k into something like 90k will go in, 10k will be held back towards 5 years of fees. It’s more of the logistics of like not chasing people down for small amounts of money, like on the SPV side.

Julia Krieger:

And then carry is similar to venture. So, 20%.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. One of the things that I really like about your model is that it’s a way to remove the friction from a lot of women who have high net worth but aren’t necessarily investing in startups. The sort of women who have no problem writing text to charity, but for whatever reason are just a little venture curious, but there’s something that holds them back from just being investors in startups. It’s a passion of mine to get more women to invest.

Julia Krieger:

Oh, I’m with you. I think it’s so important because I think like the check writers are who decide the companies of tomorrow.

Julia Krieger:

And so, it’s not just the financial upside, it’s like the power of that decision of who you’re supporting.

Julia Krieger:

And then what companies exist and what founders get funded.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

In point of everything that comes alongside it. I think it’s super, super impactful. And that’s something that gets me just very excited about this community approach.

Melinda Wittstock:

And so, what proportion of the investors that are now on the platform are women at this stage?

Julia Krieger:

You know, I don’t know that number. I. I can get back to you on that. Yeah, we’re definitely conscious of, you know, building relationships with pockets of communities that, you know, there’s amazing, like, female Networking groups and there’s amazing, you know, folks like, you know, a lot of our people are from like YPO, which I sit on the board of like YPO Metro and sort of my partner. That’s kind of how we met. You know, there’s pockets of communities that already have brought together amazing female entrepreneurs. And I want to make sure, like those are the folks that we’re, you know, starting to build relationships with because it’s just such a natural unlock. And I want to make sure that we’re, you know, super diverse in who our community is because that’s inherently going to make sure you’re again, hopefully seeing the most diverse kind of companies.

Julia Krieger:

Right. That’s a really exciting piece of this.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. So, you know, making it sort of safe, I guess, for them. There’s a lot of education that has to happen, right, for women to get more comfortable in investing, you know, in startups, in venture and such. What do you think some of the blocks are like, I, I look at someone like, I don’t know, Mackenzie Scott, like, no problem writing these massive, massive checks to charity. It’s like, okay, come on.

Julia Krieger:

Yeah, I think, you know, I think some of it is also like the noise, like there’s a lot of noise in venture. It’s hard to know like, what to invest in. There’s a reason why we’re not backing like 20 companies a month.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Julia Krieger:

Like, this isn’t a tech platform where people can just like list their companies for, for equity.

Julia Krieger:

Like this is a venture firm that’s just set up in a different model for SPVs. But we’re making the investment decisions and so obviously you have to, you know, do your diligence whether you, you know, believe in our perspective.

Julia Krieger:

On certain, you know, companies. And obviously we have memos and, you know, founder pitches and questionnaires and all these other things. Right. That kind of give you as much behind the scenes as possible to make your own investment decision whether to join us or not. But on the partner level, you know, we’re being very thoughtful in the companies that we’re backing. We want to make sure all the companies have a, you know, a prospective path to a 10x, you know, and how we again, think about team and mode and defensibility and, you know, sectors that we invest in. So I would say probably 70% of the deals that we’ve done are like B2B. SaaS have also done consumer tech and defense tech and AI and most are seen Series A.

Julia Krieger:

But also like a lot of the higher profile growth deals, right. So, I mentioned, you know, SpaceX and some of the other ones that we’ve kind of invested in as well. I think to an individual, you know, that can be intimidating. And so, to find, whether it’s us or, you know, if you’re an LP and a fund, right, like, who are the people that you, I think, have a really, you know, strong perspective on, on. On their ability to pick, you know, people and winners. Like, at the end of the day, right, you’re betting on people, but you’re also like giving money to people to bet on people.

Julia Krieger:

And so, you know, however, however you can approach finding, you know, who those. Who those partners are, whose perspective you trust, whose access you trust. You know, I think that’s, it’s just. There’s a lot of noise, right. Like, there’s a reason why on a lot of these crowded platforms, it’s like there’s like 500 deals to choose from, right? In a given moment, so many, like, how can you. It’s hard, right? So, we’re just very, very thoughtful. Yeah, I think it helps us, right? It’s less. More approachable.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, so say someone listening to this podcast right now has, you know, some money lying around, they want to get into this space. What’s the best way to start with you? What’s the kind of journey for them? How do they join Pari Passu and like start the process?

Julia Krieger:

They can download Pari Passu, P A R I P A S S U. It’s a really quick application process. You’re putting your LinkedIn, you know, you’re saying you’re accredited, you know, and we generally, within 24 hours, you know, can. Can give you a, a response on, you know, whether you’re a fit for the community now or, you know, you kind of have to wait a bit for the future. So super approachable there. And, you know, I would say just be curious, right? It doesn’t mean you have to invest in everything that we’re doing right. Right away. But like, if you’re investing for the first time, like, read the memos, like, listen to the pitches, like, find your own sort of thesis of what kind of companies get you excited, you know, whether that’s, you know, some of the leading, like, wellness tech companies that you can try personally or, you know, B2B SaaS, you know, that sometimes is like, less sexy but as much stronger, like growth curves than some of like, you know, consumer hype deals sometimes.

Julia Krieger:

But figure out sort of your own appetite you know, and I think for so many folks that haven’t invested, you know, in venture before, for whatever reasons, whether there’s too much noise or they don’t know, like a group that they really trust, right? Or a lot of these other sort of groups, you kind of have like a membership fee to commit or you’re. It’s. There’s a lot of friction, you know, on sort of the go, you know, I would try to find sort of your people and then, you know, play. It’s kind of, it’s almost like an adult playground in a way or sandbox, right? Of like to be able to really back incredible companies before they’re public, you know, before even, like some folks know about them. And then on the flip side also, right, like we backed Sidecar. We backed, you know, some really amazing companies that are kind of, you know, later stage and, you know, that folks already know. Like, it’s so exciting to be able to, you know, be part of their journeys. And again, maybe behind the scenes you’re only putting 10k into something, but.

Julia Krieger:

And for us, I would say our average check is more like 50 to 100k. To be fair, we’ve had people write like $2 million checks too. But I think I’m very conscious to make sure almost all of our ideals have like a 10k minimum check because, like, I want it to be approachable for folks that haven’t, you know, dipped as much into venture. We have people very often say, like, oh, I have a lot of real estate investments, right. Or I have stuff in the public stock where, like, I haven’t really invested in venture. Like, this is super interesting. Like, how are you guys getting into these companies? Explain yourselves.

Julia Krieger:

It’s a very powerful asset class that has performed really well historically and continues to do so. And there’s a reason why when companies, you know, go public, like a lot of the folks that make the most money are the ones that invested privately before, right? And so how do you give access to folks in a much more palatable, you know, way to choose deal by deal to do smaller check sizes, but then also not just to benefit them, to benefit the founders by these people being super sharp, you know, value add, you know, operators that can help, whether it’s expertise in certain industries.

Julia Krieger:

Or just network. It’s just really powerful, the network effects of that. So, I would say download Pari Passu. And if you have any questions, our website is PPVP.com that’s a bit more of just like our portfolio, that’s more on the venture side, but the app, I think is the best approach.

Melinda Wittstock:

And if you’re a startup, I mean, you’re raising right. Like, say you’re a seed stage company, you’re in year. I get the impression you need to be referred; someone needs to refer you. Is that how that works?

Julia Krieger:

Well, so we have a lot of folks refer deals to us, but I actually always tell founders, like, any like, panel or anything like that that I’ve spoken on, like, my biggest piece of advice is like, don’t be afraid. Afraid of a cold email. You know, I think that so many times founders are so focused on like a warm introduction, which obviously is nice because it maybe breaks the noise a little bit.

Melinda Wittstock:

You get told all the time, like, there’s a lot of people who say, I don’t even bother. Right? Like, unless you have a…

Julia Krieger:

But like you, I, I personally don’t think you need a warm introduction. Like, if any founders are listening and it’s stopping you from like firing off a bunch of emails to VCs, like, just pull the trigger. I think my biggest piece of advice there is use the real estate of your subject line very, very, very, very thoughtfully. Don’t write, catch up, coffee, interested in learning. You know, like, it’s a waste of space. Literally. Have your subject line be 2 million ARR SAS seed stage upfront. Like, I’m telling you, I’ll open the email.

Julia Krieger:

I will. You know what I mean? Like, it’s, it’s, it’s the difference of breaking through the noise.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s such important advice. Thank you for that. Right? Because I think so many things get just lost in people’s inboxes, right? Like, and people who actually care. But it’s just everybody’s busy. We live in times of infobesity.

Julia Krieger:

100%. And I’m, and I’m, you know, I’m guilty of that too. There’s for sure folks that I’m like, oh, my gosh. I, like, didn’t answer that email, you know, but I’m really trying. I’m trying really, really hard. But I will say that those subject lines make, make a big difference.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, that’s, that’s great. Julia. There were so many more questions that I wanted to ask you just about your entrepreneurial journey. We’re like, out of time. You’ll have to come back.

Julia Krieger:

This was so just really authentic and easy and enjoyable. So, thank you for creating that community and, you know, environment. This was such an enjoyable conversation.

Melinda Wittstock:

Well, you know, all my money was tied up in my own startups. But I wanted to be the change that I wanted to see in the world, like encouraging women really buy from each other, mentor each other, invest in each other and such. So, I thought, okay, well I can do this podcast. I just started eight years ago. I’ve probably driven more than $10 million worth of business to female founded companies I just show up and I talk to people. It’s been my way of investing.

Melinda Wittstock:

And I keep mangling the pronunciation of Pari Passu. Is that, is that.

Julia Krieger:

Yeah, Pari Passu. Yeah, it means…

Melinda Wittstock:

I know I mangled it all the way through the conversation. I’m so sorry.

Julia Krieger:

Not at all. It’s, it’s an interesting term. It’s more of a legal term, but it actually means on equal footing. And so that’s you kind of founders and operators supporting each other and this really community-based approach. But yeah, Pari Passu.

Melinda Wittstock:

Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for putting on your wings and flying today with us.

Julia Krieger:

Thank you so much for having me and very excited to do some stuff together in the future.

[INTERVIEW ENDS]

Melinda Wittstock:

Julia Krieger is the co-founder and managing partner of Pari Passu, a private investor app that gives fellow founders, operators, and accredited investors access to angel investments in the most highly competitive deals in the venture ecosystem. If you’re interested in investing, download the PariPassu app or check out the show notes of this episode for details.

Melinda Wittstock:

If you like this and other episodes, please share your thoughts with a rating and review on Apple podcasts. You can also create and share your favorite moments of this or any other podcast episode on Podopolo with our shareable episode clip feature.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s it for today’s episode. Head on over to WingsPodcast.com – and subscribe to the show. When you subscribe, you’ll instantly get my special gift, the WINGS Success Formula. Women … Innovating … Networking … Growing …Scaling … IS the WINGS of Inspired Business Formula …for daily success in your business and life. Miss a Wings episode? We’ve got hundreds in the vault, all with actionable advice and epiphanies. Check them out at MelindaWittstock.com or wingspodcast.com. You can also catch me on LinkedIn or Instagram @MelindaAnneWittstock. We also love it when you share your feedback with a 5-star rating and review on Apple, Spotify or wherever else you listen, including Podopolo where you can interact with me and share your favorite clips.