Venture Lab Speaker Session: Welcoming Russ Hall & Farshid Tafazzoli
We’re excited to invite you to this week’s session of the Venture Lab Speaker Series!
The public-facing speaker program of USC Venture Capital’s (USCVC) graduate-level Venture Lab course, the series brings leading venture capital investors, operators, and industry experts to campus for moderated conversations exploring the ideas, strategies, and dynamics shaping the venture capital ecosystem.
This Thursday, we’re thrilled to welcome Russ Hall and Farshid Tafazzoli, two distinguished investors whose careers span nearly every corner of the venture ecosystem. From founding and scaling companies to investing in startups and allocating capital to venture funds, our guests have sat on multiple sides of the venture capital table, bringing unique perspectives on what it takes to build, evaluate, and back successful ventures.
Russ Hall is Co-Founder of Legacy Venture, a pioneering venture capital fund-of-funds that merged with Next Play Capital to form Next Legacy Partners in 2023; today, the combined investment platform manages over $4 billion in assets across venture funds and direct startup investments, with a distinctive philanthropic model that has helped direct over $3 billion to charitable causes. Joining him is Farshid Tafazzoli, a serial entrepreneur, family-office investor, and Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of Material Bank, a unicorn that reached a $1.9 billion valuation in its 2022 funding round.
Space is limited, and registration is first come, first served. We encourage you to arrive promptly to secure your spot and invite others in the USC community who may be interested.
We hope to see you all there!
P.S. Want more direct access to speakers like these while gaining hands-on experience making real investment decisions? Applications are now open for the Spring 2027 cohort of BAEP 565: Venture Lab, USC Venture Capital’s advanced investment practicum. Graduate students from all USC schools and backgrounds are encouraged to apply—no prior VC experience required! Apply here!