Foundry Group Investor Jaclyn Hester on Capital Call Best Practices, Being An Investor Outside Typical Tech Hubs and Planting Seeds Through a “Give First” Mentality Inspired By Venture Deals Author Brad Feld | Seed To Harvest Ep40 Artwork

Seed to Harvest

🎙️ Seed to Harvest | Stories from Technical Storytellers

Welcome to Seed to Harvest, the podcast by Behind Genius Ventures.

We talk to early-stage founders, operators, and investors—people building with code and conviction. Each episode is a chapter in their story: from the messy beginnings to the quiet pivots, from planting ideas to growing companies that matter.

Expect:
🌱 Honest conversations on the earliest chapters of company-building
🧠 Tactical insights from technical minds with narrative soul
✨ Reflections on resilience, rituals, and reinventing what’s possible

This podcast is for the builders who think in frameworks and metaphors. The ones who whiteboard in wild places. The ones writing their own mythologies—one commit, pitch, or poem at a time.

From spark to story.
From seed to harvest. 🌾

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Seed to Harvest

Foundry Group Investor Jaclyn Hester on Capital Call Best Practices, Being An Investor Outside Typical Tech Hubs and Planting Seeds Through a “Give First” Mentality Inspired By Venture Deals Author Brad Feld | Seed To Harvest Ep40

November 21, 2022 • Paige Finn Doherty • Episode 40

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Seed to Harvest is a podcast focused on stories & tactics from a diverse array of investors, founders, and creators, hosted by Paige Finn Doherty, a founding partner at Behind Genius Ventures and author of Seed to Harvest, an illustrated children's book for adults.

Today, I’m joined by Jaclyn Hester, Partner at Foundry Group. At Foundry, Jaclyn leads direct investments in early-stage companies. She operates with a passion for supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs and investors. Since 2016, Jaclyn has focused on making direct investments as well as launching the partner fund strategy, building Foundry’s portfolio to over 45 managers. Jaclyn first fell in love with entrepreneurship while earning her JD/MBA at CU Boulder. There, she served as Executive Director of Startup Colorado and was a practicing attorney where she advised M&A transactions and early stage financing.

00:00 Welcome to Seed To Harvest: Jaclyn Hester

05:34 Where does networking bring an advantage?

10:11 How to manage challenging issues.

14:59 One of the standout annual meetings.

20:13 Jaclyn on liking the opposite of being transactional

24:55 What's going on in the Boulder startup ecosystem?

30:25 Jaclyn on having a different level of founder empathy.

Show notes:

Jaclyn Hester | https://twitter.com/jfreester?lang=en

Foundry | https://foundry.vc/

Lindel Eakman | https://twitter.com/LDEakman

USV | https://www.usv.com/