Venture F: The Podcast

In this week’s episode Erika Aquino, Global Angel Investor, LP and Strategic Advisor, discusses how she is continuing her father’s legacy with family office investing while putting her own stamp on it, focusing on diverse led companies that align with her values and interests. As more women step into leadership roles in family office via inheritance, marriage or other paths, navigating this new world and the intricacies of it is a learning process. Erika had to figure out a great many of the nuances of her international investing strategy herself while building relationships with other women running family offices. She has built an impressive portfolio of 26 companies to date including Create & Cultivate and Cherub, and is starting to invest in venture funds. (Note: this episode was recorded in early 2026 prior to SXSW).

In this week’s episode Dulari Amin, co-founder of Sidelines VC shares her entrepreneurship journey. She built her agency Phenomenon from the ground up with impressive clients like Vitamin Water, Home Depot, and Vera Wang, with $100M+ in revenue and over 120 employees before successfully exiting to private equity in 2016. After her exit she decided to use her decades of experience as an entrepreneur and advisor and launch Sidelines VC with partner, Marisa Hodgdon, where they invest in and advise women-led startups in consumer, technology, and healthcare at Series A and beyond including Stripes, Giadzy, and Repurpose.

In this episode Courtney McCrea discusses her path into venture capital and why she and partner Sara Zulkosky launched Recast Capital, a fund of funds and education program for diverse emerging fund managers. Courtney says that she has seen an exponential growth in the number of women launching venture funds and joining venture funds, but there is still the challenge of raising capital for these funds. These GPs bring diverse perspectives, networks, and investment opportunities to the table that may not otherwise come to market, playing a pivotal role in the ecosystem. Sara and Courtney (with backing from Pivotal Ventures) have helped more than 156 emerging fund managers across their platform.

Laura Nix Gerson explains why she launched the Venture:F podcast and why she thinks we are at a unique moment in time for women to take charge of the money.

In this week’s episode Anna Mason, Managing Partner of Ingeborg Investments a former Wall Street veteran turned venture capitalist shares her insights on the state of venture capital today, and why her fund is committed to investing in women.