What happens when a Bay Area-born VC operator turns a solo consulting practice into a scaled firm and a thriving community for venture's back office? Kristen Ostro shares how she built Strut Consulting, why she rebranded Let's Talk Ops to VIA, and what she's learned about choosing clients, scaling thoughtfully, and creating leverage without losing quality.

In this episode, Kristen breaks down:

• How she moved from NEA and emerging funds into consulting, and why the pandemic and a major life reset pushed her to scale.
• Why consulting can be a powerful path for VC operators who want more choice, more autonomy, and more breadth of experience.
• How she thinks about seeding a consulting business through referrals, alliances, and community.
  What changes when you scale from solo to team, including people management, systems, and the real costs of growth.
• The tech stack she uses to keep Strut running, from Front and Slack to Ramp, Airtable, Notion, and ChatGPT.
  How she stays grounded through mentorship, workouts, long walks, birds, travel, volleyball, and a life outside work.

Plus, Kristen shares why the best consultants know how to build trust, stay visible, and make it easy for the right people to say yes.

Kristen Ostro on LinkedIn

Mentioned in this episode:

Strut Consulting
VIA
NEA
Homebrew
ChatGPT
Grammarly
Scale or Fail
Tanya Geisler

What happens when a higher ed PR professional becomes the sole marketer for a venture studio with 40 portfolio companies? Dan Landau shares how he landed at AI Fund through an unexpected connection in a Seth Godin marketing course, built a viral app in 30 minutes using Claude Code, and developed a framework for triaging work between human hands and AI assistance.

In this episode, Dan breaks down:

• His three-tier system for deciding what to automate and what to keep hands-on
• How he uses Orbit for event matchmaking, OnePitch for finding reporters, and Opus Clip for video repurposing
• Why Claude has become "the rest of his team" as a team of one
• The BuildOn hackathon where developers created five functional apps in a single day
• His non-negotiable morning routine (movement + spiritual connection) and why being a curious generalist is the biggest career hack for VC platform roles

Plus: Dan talks about his upcoming book featuring portraits of remarkable women drawn on maps, and why remembering that 90% of startups fail helps him maintain perspective.

Find Dan:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/danlandau

AI Fund: https://aifund.ai/team-member/dan-landau/

What happens when a former journalist, film sales agent, and startup operator becomes the platform partner helping shape a venture firm's visibility, messaging, and community presence? Stephanie Rich shares how she built a nonlinear career in venture by leaning into curiosity, creativity, and a deep love of connecting people, ideas, and resources.

In this episode, Stephanie breaks down

• How Bread and Butter Ventures uses personal LinkedIn accounts, community presence, and a small-team mindset to prioritize quality over vanity metrics.

• Why clear ICP and core messaging matter more than ever in the age of AI, and how brand sprints can help teams get there faster.

• The tools she uses day to day, including Ordinal for social approvals and Anything for building practical internal workflows with vibe coding.

• How a designer made a full demo of what he could do with Brett's Brain, showed exactly how he'd contribute, and turned that creative pitch into a job.

Plus, Stephanie shares the habits, reading, and creative experiments that help her stay energized, and explains why connecting the dots may be the most valuable platform skill of all.

Get Out There in your inbox and connect with me on LinkedIn.

Mentioned in this episode:

Stephanie Rich on LinkedIn
Anything
Ordinal
Bread and Butter Ventures
Brett's Brain
VC Platform
Via
Beck Bamberger
Northwestern University
People Magazine
Techstars
Tanya Geisler
Fourth Wing