Eva Ho of Fika Ventures Building a VC Firm, and Breaking down Deal Flow into Sourcing, Picking, and Winning

The Capital Stack

I love me some Eva Ho. This remarkable individual embodies greatness. In this week's discussion, we delve into the transformative journey from investor to operating a venture capital firm. She emphasizes the significance of building a strong community, embracing risk, and embracing unwavering conviction.

What does it take to build community and relationships in the business of supporting others? Community in the founder industry is about creating opportunities that benefit more people than just those in the tech ecosystem.

In this episode of The Capital Stack, we have Eva Ho, a General Partner at Fika Ventures, an LA-based seed fund that invests in founders solving meaningful, systemic problems through data, related AI-enabled technologies, and automation. She is also a serial entrepreneur, founder, and active in the non-profit sector.

Listen in to learn how Fika nurtures community and builds trustworthy investor relationships within the industry. You will also learn the importance of building a good LP relationship and taking into considering all fundraising stages of to have a good fund.

What You Will Discover:

· [01:50] Eva shares her journey with Fika, what they deal with, and how they’ve expanded.

· [04:47] How Fika works to service founders and build a community that benefits others.

· [09:23] She explains how Fika builds trustworthy investor relationships within the industry.

· [15:42] Some of the lessons she’s learned running a venture capital firm, plus how she has evolved.

· [20:15] Why she believes repeat founders should show up with something when asking for funding.

· [24:03] Why she’s involved with a lot of non-profit work to keep herself grounded, coming from the world of high finance.

· [28:02] The importance of considering all the fundraising stages to have a good fund.

· [33:47] Understanding the challenges of an LP’s work and the importance of respecting the position.

· [37:48] The deal sourcing, picking, and winning process, plus what makes a good picker.

· [40:50] How Fika works as a team to decide on deals by actively agreeing and disagreeing.

Memorable Quote:

· “Picking is very critical, and most firms are still figuring it out and evolving.”- Eva [44:25]

Connect with Benji:

· Website: https://fika.vc/

· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evaho1/