Going Solo
Going Solo is a podcast from Odin. Founder Paddy Ryan and Research Lead Dan Gray talk with emerging managers and solo GPs about their investing journeys and investment theses. The show focuses on people building the next generation of investment firms, often outside the traditional mould. Episodes include candid conversations about strategy, sourcing, decision-making, and what it takes to go solo in venture and private markets. Odin provides a platform for launching and running a private investment firm online.
Episodes
Unpolished Signals Matter More Now | Yohei Nakajima, Untapped Capital
Yohei Nakajima came to venture as a builder. He has made tools as a hobby since high school without ever holding an engineering job, and he began sharing them during COVID. A lot of no-code deal flow followed, then Web3 deal flow after he sold his own NFT art, and now he does it deliberately with AI tools.Yohei is General Partner and co-founder of Untapped Capital, a small firm on the frontier of
From OpenAI Employee to Venture Capitalist | Jenny Xiao, Leonis Capital
Jenny Xiao came to venture from research. Following a PhD at Columbia, she landed an early seat at OpenAI during the run-up to ChatGPT, and had a front-row view of a venture industry that, in her telling, was still funding NFTs while the actual technological shifts were happening in labs nobody was paying attention to.Jenny is now a Partner at Leonis Capital, a research-driven fund she co-founded
Only 21 in 20,000 funds can repeatedly pick winners | Saul Klein
This is part two of my conversation with Saul Klein, co-founder of Phoenix Court Group. Saul talked about his investment in Wise and why he’d back founder Taavet Hinrikus to chop lettuce. The story started eight years before Phoenix Court actually signed a term sheet. Saul had worked with Taavet at Skype, so by the time Wise turned up at a Seed Camp demo day, his conviction had nothing to do with
Why we made Phoenix Court a limited company | Saul Klein
A few weeks ago, the legendary investor and entrepreneur Saul Klein joined me in the Odin offices. Saul is co-founder of Phoenix Court Group, which runs Local Globe, Latitude and Solar, and has backed the likes of Wise, Monzo, Mistral and Figma. It was a long conversation, which we’re publishing in two parts.In part one, we dive into Saul’s unusual journey into venture: from co-founding DVD-by-pos
From Facebook's Early Days to a Solo $10M Pre-Seed Fund | Helen Min, Articulate Capital
Our latest episode is with Helen Min, founder of Articulate, the $10 million pre-seed fund she launched this year and runs solo, and venture partner at True Ventures.Helen has spent twenty years in San Francisco, most of it as an operator rather than an investor. She was an early product marketer at Facebook, ran marketing and communications at Plaid through the years it positioned itself as the i
How Chaotic Capital Bets on Founders, Pre-Idea | Alex Miller, Chaotic Capital
A few weeks ago I jumped on a call with Alex Miller, co-founder of Chaotic Capital, the early-stage fund he runs with Julie Fredrickson. Their thesis is that the world is too chaotic to predict, so the only thing worth betting on is a founder’s ability to adapt to it.Alex came to venture from outside the industry. Concert producer, conference producer for Jason Calacanis, eight and a half years at
The Anti-Fund: One Investor's Bet on SPVs | Enrico Mellis, Animal
Enrico Mellis spent a year at the startup that became Foodora, nearly five at Project A, and four and a half more at Lakestar. In November 2025 he launched Animal: no fund, no management fee, just his own check going in first on every deal, with a small group of angels invited in behind him.Here’s what stuck with me:* Venture is really three jobs wearing one trenchcoat: sourcing, selecting and sup
Investing in Products with Community at their Core | Sarah Drinkwater, Common Magic
A few weeks ago I sat down with Sarah Drinkwater, founder of Common Magic.Sarah came to venture from the outside. Journalist, club night runner, vintage clothing shop owner, operator, angel. Her journey looks nothing like a straight line. As you often find, that’s kind of the point.Her fund, Common Magic, backs products with community at their core, building on her experience creating products wit
From Banking Analyst to Three-Fund Solo GP | Adam Besvinick, Looking Glass Capital
Adam Besvinick of Looking Glass Capital has been investing at pre-seed for over a decade — solo, and on his own terms. In this episode, he joins Dan to talk about cold-emailing his way into a role at Lowercase Capital, what he learned from Chris Sacca that still guides him today, and what marks don't tell you about the companies that matter most. This is a public episode. If you would like to disc
The Myths Distorting Venture Capital Today | Arian Ghashghai, Earthling VC
Odin’s research lead Dan Gray takes the conversation online to meet emerging managers and solo GPs from around the world, unpacking their investing journey and thesis. In this episode, Dan sits down with Arian Ghashghai, who founded Earthling VC in 2023 to back weird, fringe, early-stage companies across future computing, robotics, AR/VR, AI, bio, and more. They discuss the challenges of raising i
Europe's First Semiconductor-Only VC | Lawrence Lundy-Bryan, Cloudberry VC
Lawrence Lundy-Bryan is the General Partner & Head of Research at Cloudberry VC, Europe’s first dedicated semiconductor VC, launched in 2025. In this episode, he joins Paddy Ryan to discuss chip investing, photonics, and why the next decade may be built in the physical world. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, vis
