“I think the real definition (of empathy) for me is just having a full understanding of the whole person.”

— Puneet Agarwal

Keeping it ‘@True’... 

Today's guest is Puneet Agarwal, General Partner at True Ventures, a seed and Series A stage venture fund in San Francisco that is empowering extraordinary founders from all walks of life. The True VC team has invested in iconic companies such as Peloton, Duo, Blue Bottle, and Fit Bit, to name a few.  

But logos hardly do justice to the depth of learning, coordination, and that community goes behind every single founder they partner with! 

In this interview, we get a comprehensive look into the psychology and experience behind one of True’s incredible General Partners, Puneet Agarwal. Puneet’s insights come from a place of deep humility while providing an incredibly lateral view of all things that matter to founders and people in tech— leadership, empathy, and company-building. 

“I think what I've said before, and I'll say, again, is that I think venture capital is a fundamentally human business.”

— Puneet Agarwal

Highlights

• Keeping it ‘True’ — VC as a human business. 
• Coming full circle on venture— starting a career in venture, leaving to be an operator, and returning.
• 360 vision on founders— a sophisticated use of empathy for evaluating, partnering, and investing in visionary founders. 
• Pushing the fold in early-stage VC— how can you successfully maximize risk at the earliest stages?
• Cross-functional innovation— product, go-to-market, and business model!

“So, we're really looking for, you know, is this person able to navigate from an entry point and then find a bigger vision down the road that they can, again, also navigate?”

— Puneet Agarwal