Our guest today is Han Shen. Han is the Founding Partner of iFly.vc, an early-stage seed/VC fund based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The fund follows a sector-thesis driven process and aims to build a concentrated portfolio with meaningful value add to entrepreneurs. We discuss the different sectors he's focused in, how he became a VC and how he thinks about uncovered opportunities.
And there you have it. Han, thank you again for your time. You can follow Han on Twitter at @*Han_Shen*
A few books that inspired Han professionally is David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell and The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling.
Some of the questions I ask Han -
- What attracted you initially to venture capital?
- Tell me how iFly.VC came together?
- At iFly.VC, I know you take a very thematic, sector driven approach. We’ve had quite a few VCs that are more generalists, if a founder has a choice in taking capital from a fund that is more sector driven vs. generalist, what are some of the advantages when choosing an investor that is thematic?
- What sectors or trends are you particularly interested in?
- When it comes to food deliver and specialty food, what do you think is most overlooked?
- Walk me through your due diligence process.
- Has it been tough finding conviction within founders during COVID?
- What’s one thing you would change when it came to venture capital?
- What’s your most recent investment and what makes you excited about it?
- What’s one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?
- Harry Potter Series - friendship
- Malcolm Gladwell - David and Goliath
- What’s one piece of advice you have for founders?