Launching Your First Fund from Scratch
There’s a common belief that launching a venture capital fund requires deep institutional experience and established networks. But that is changing.
Today, more founders and operators are launching funds from scratch by building credibility, strong networks, and a clear investment perspective, especially in areas like AI.
Jorden Woods and Radhika Iyengar represent this new path.
Jorden has raised over $50M and helped startups raise $900M+, generating $4B+ in value. Radhika, Managing Partner at StarChain Ventures, focuses on AI and healthcare and has advised startups reaching similar scale, with expertise in safe AI, data intelligence, and enterprise technologies.
In this session, we will break down what it actually takes to launch your first fund from scratch, what works, what fails, and how first-time managers position themselves today.
We will also explore what kind of people investors want to collaborate with, how to build credibility early, and how to become valuable before formally entering venture.
If you are considering launching a fund or transitioning into venture capital, this session will give you a clear and practical starting point.
Venue: Online Via Zoom
Agenda
Welcome
Host and Speaker Introduction
Panel Discussion
Audience Q&A
Networking Session
Speaker
Jorden Woods – Managing partner at StarChain Ventures
Jorden Woods is a Caltech-trained astrophysicist and a three-time Silicon Valley entrepreneur. He is now Managing partner at StarChain Ventures. He has raised over $50M for his own companies and advised startups that have collectively raised more than $900M and generated over $4B in value.
He is a recognized expert in AI, data intelligence, and enterprise blockchain, and has worked with Fortune 500 companies including Apple, Cisco, HP, and GE. He is also a global keynote speaker, best-selling author, and advisor to governments and accelerators on emerging technologies and responsible AI.
Radhika Iyengar- Managing partner at StarChain Ventures
She is a Silicon Valley VC and Managing Partner at StarChain Ventures, where she focuses on AI and healthcare investments. She has advised startups that have collectively raised over $900M and reached $4B+ in value. Her expertise spans data intelligence, safe AI, enterprise blockchain, and fintech, and she is recognized as a Top 100 Women of the Future, as well as a TEDx speaker and author.
Moderator
- Erdinc Ekinci - Founder, Investment Lead of Co-capital.vc, Co-Founder, CEO of Openfor.co, Managing Director of Founder Institute Japan/Korea/Taiwan
- Yu Li Shein- Co-Founder & COO of Openfor.co, and Co-Director of Founder Institute Japan/Korea/Taiwan.
What You Will Learn
What it actually takes to launch your first VC fund
What works and what does not for first-time fund managers
How to position yourself to raise capital from LPs
How AI is changing venture capital strategy and decision making
What kind of partners, team, and network you need to succeed
How to build credibility before formally becoming a VC
Who Should Attend
Aspiring venture capital professionals exploring how to launch a fund
Angel investors looking to formalize into a structured fund
Startup founders and operators considering a transition into venture
Ecosystem builders, accelerator managers, and community leaders
Professionals interested in AI and its impact on investing
Anyone looking to understand how venture capital is evolving and how to enter it
About the Co-Host Organizations:
- StarChain Ventures: StarChain Ventures is a Silicon Valley seed stage venture capital fund focused on the transformative potential of AI Data Intelligence & web3/blockchain technologies in legacy industries such as finance, healthcarelife sciences, and supply chain. We operate by a profit with purpose mantra with a focus on ethics, safety, and responsible development. We partner with stellar founders who are tackling significant global challenges with real advanced technology solutions.
- Openfor.co: It is an entrepreneurial talent development company and non-equity venture/ecosystem builder supporting individuals and organizations starting from individual-level; detects high-potential people with our proprietary system, developing and featuring personal stories to launching a digitally productized personal brands, content creation and visibility with our 700K audience reach, to turning it into a business, and monetization to all the way up to launching a company.
- Founder Institute: Founder Institute, which originated in Silicon Valley, is a founder and idea stage accelerator, and with its Founder Capital, backs the best performing FI alumni as early as the angel stage. FI has over 8K+ startup portfolio (Including leading e-learning platform Udemy, IPO in Nasdaq $3,8B) across 200 cities in 100 countries around the world.) We are also the largest mentor network in the world, with over 35,000 mentors, and our alumni have already raised over $2 billion in US dollars and have recently exceeded the 10K mark of investors in the FI-Venture-Network.
-Founder Capital: The Founder Institute VC fund that invests and supports top accelerated companies from the world's largest startup network.
-Co-Capital: Focusing on preseed startups in AI-native, B2B founders emerging from APAC, building globally structured companies from inception.