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VC10X - 24 Year Old Partner Sourcing Deals on Tiktok - Sydney Landau, Partner, Shakti VC

· 50 min

Episode VC10X - 24 Year Old Partner Sourcing Deals on Tiktok - Sydney Landau, Partner, Shakti VC

0:00 50:23

Sydney Landau joined SHAKTI as an intern with no background in venture. Two years later, she became a Partner, at 24.

Sydney breaks down how she reads founders using the psychology training she picked up as a psych major, why her firm invests in what they call "reimagination of toothbrushes," and what SHAKTI's primary research with 42 next-gen members of wealthy families revealed about where the intergenerational wealth transfer is actually going.

Plus: how she sourced an investment off a TikTok her friends were forwarding around, what running an AI native firm on its own portfolio companies actually looks like day-to-day, and the one part of the job AI has not changed at all.

⭐ Sponsored by Podcast10x - Podcasting agency for VCs - https://podcast10x.com

What we cover

- Reading founder psychology, and why SHAKTI backs the founder and the problem rather than the solution

- How next gen allocators break from their parents, and what the 42-person study found

- The toothbrush test, and how SHAKTI sizes a market before anything else

- Sourcing a deal off a TikTok, and where founders are actually showing up now

- Running an AI native venture firm, and the one thing AI has not changed

About the guest

Sydney Landau is a Partner at SHAKTI, an inception-stage venture firm investing across AI, robotics, and consumer. She leads the firm's next gen research and its AI native operations.

Sydney on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydney-landau-740644236

Shakti VC on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/shakti-vc

Sydney on X - https://x.com/Sydney_landau

Book she mentioned: The Venture Mindset - https://www.amazon.com/Venture-Mindset-Smarter-Achieve-Extraordinary/dp/0593714237

About VC10X

VC10X is a podcast on venture capital, fund management, and institutional allocation, hosted by Prashant Choubey. Conversations with the GPs, LPs, and allocators shaping how capital gets deployed.

Connect with Prashant Choubey:

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/choubeysahab

Subscribe to VC10X newsletter - https://vc10x.beehiiv.com

Subscribe on YouTube - https://youtube.com/@VC10X

VC10X website - https://vc10x.com

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Preview

(01:01) - Introduction to the episode and guest, Sydney Landau.

(02:18) - Sydney’s journey into venture capital without a tech background.

(04:34) - Key learnings from intern to partner in two years.

(05:07) - The importance of founder psychology in early-stage investing.

(07:11) - Operator experience vs. starting a career directly in VC.

(08:10) - How Shakti VC's Titan Platform supports founders.

(10:07) - Understanding and investing in Gen Z founders.

(12:00) - The rise of IRL (in-real-life) events and personal branding in venture.

(14:05) - Study on next-gen wealth transfer and capital allocation.

(15:40) - Why next-gen investors are active generalist learners.

(18:16) - What drives the shift from specialist to generalist investing.

(20:40) - Surprising findings from the next-gen wealth study.

(23:04) - Motivation behind studying next-gen high-net-worth individuals.

(24:42) - How Gen Z evaluates AI opportunities differently.

(25:30) - The "toothbrush" investment thesis: investing in frequent and ubiquitous use cases.

(28:03) - Combining generational perspectives within a venture firm.

(31:45) - The story of sourcing and winning a deal from TikTok.

(36:08) - Transforming Shakti into an AI-native venture firm.

(40:17) - What the next-generation consumer wants.

(42:50) - How AI will lead to a new generation of entrepreneurs.

(43:55) - A trend obvious to Gen Z that isn't priced into markets yet: resale and autonomy.

(46:25) - Advice for a 22-year-old wanting a career in venture capital.

(48:51) - Rapid-fire round: Investment sectors, stage, and check size.

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