Brendan Wales, Fuse - "Being a Founder is the Hardest Thing on Earth"

From Tech Obsession to Venture Capital: Brendan Wales' Journey and Fuse's Vision

In this episode of Sound Investments, host Ed Barker interviews Brendan Wales, founding partner of Fuse, a venture capital firm in Seattle. Brendan shares his pathway from a tech-obsessed teenager to co-founding Fuse, including his early career and nine years at Headline. He details the founding of Fuse alongside partners Kellan and Cameron, highlighting their focus on early-stage companies in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in enterprise software, cloud, and space tech. The discussion covers key investments, differentiating in the VC landscape, and insights into the burgeoning space tech sector. Brendan also delves into the challenges and strategies of fundraising, the value of an extensive LP network, and the future of Fuse's investments.

00:00 Introduction to Sound Investments

00:16 Founding Fuse

01:53 Brendan's Career Journey

05:58 Building Fuse

09:21 Differentiating in the VC Landscape

11:45 Seattle vs. Bay Area

15:22 The Fuse Space Program

24:06 Highlighting Successful Investments

33:40 AI's Impact on Business

41:24 Conclusion

About Your Host

Ed Barker has enjoyed a weird and varied career. Ed is a Brit now resident in Seattle and has started three startups, enjoyed a long career in corporate strategy, and most recently was a VC. He's now building a podcast production company. Sound Investments is a small attempt to shine some light on the fantastic work being done in the Pac NW entrepreneurial community.

Brendan Wales, Founding Partner

Brendan is a founding General Partner of FUSE where he focuses on early-stage investments in vertical SaaS, B2B marketplaces, open-source software, and developer tools. At FUSE, Brendan has led the firm's investments in bttn., VisualPing.io, and Dendron. He serves as a Board Member at Oporto. He served as a Board Member at Layer. Before FUSE, Brendan spent nine years at e.ventures, where he partnered with companies such as Shopmonkey, Fetch Rewards, Shipt, Grin, BitWarden, Secured, Carewell, plus many others. Before joining e.ventures, Brendan was an early employee at ZOZI, a venture-backed marketplace in the tourism and local experiences market. His first role out of college was working in the Atlanta, GA office of Sun Life Financial, a $29B publicly traded financial services business. Brendan holds a BS degree in Finance from the University of Georgia. He served as a Board Member at Secured

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