Michelangelo Valtancoli is an early stage VC investor at Stride.VC and previously the podcast host of Almost Founders, where he provided high quality, straight to the point information on being a founder, raising, and building. He placed top 10 in Bayes Business School and was an avid actor in Italy and Michigan, USA during his year abroad. In this 1hr+ session, we discuss acting entrepreneurship, venture capital, AI in the entertainment industry and approaches to acting. Tune in for a great session!

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelangelovaltancoli

Are you raising pre-seed to series A? Send me your Pitch Deck: michelangelo@stride.vc

VC and Founders

1:15 Early stage VC as a first job

https://stride.vc/

5:29 How would you describe VC (Venture Capital)?

8:04 Building vs VC - the contagious enthusiasm of founders

13:14 Working with and learning from big names in VC

19:31 Why go to VC after talking about entrepreneurship on Almost Founders?

25:15 Almost Founders podcast

https://open.spotify.com/show/6EMNZGQ0jbyMJdAQRyFn40

30:44 Getting information - using twitter and finding ecosystems

34:41 Team interactions in EF and VC - how is VC and the startups ecosystem changing?

https://www.joinef.com/

42:49 Keeping on top of new changes and information + generalist vs specialist fund

52:52 Starting another podcast?

1:00:25 Gen Z vs previous generations

1:03:50 What motivates you to help out and work with students?

1:09:25 London vs Europe VC ecosystem

1:11:45 I am a VC t-shirt! Loving VC!

Acting and the Entertainment Industry

1:12:46 Acting experience - does it make it easier to do podcasting?

1:16:58 Stepping into a character, body language, and most difficult character to play

1:27:35 Dissertation on AI affecting the entertainment industry

1:31:48 AI in collaborative storytelling, comedy and non-standard patterns of thinking (Deepmind)

https://computationalcreativity.net/iccc21/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/ICCC_2021_paper_118.pdf

1:40:31 Getting back into the entertainment industry... but as a VC!

Impact and motivations

1:42:48 Curiosity as motivation for creating impact

1:45:23 Michelangelo’s inspirations: Dad >> Matthew McConaughey (What is a son without his father? - Dune)

1:47:54 What are the next steps?

1:49:12 Where can people find your work?