Webinar
Blue Ivy Ventures' Perspectives on Tech Investing in VC

Watch our on-demand, 30-minute presentation about Blue Ivy Venture’s perspective on secular trends in technology and venture capital.
Venture investing is an opaque asset class and having a framework to assess investment opportunities and identify long-term value creation is key. Our discussion will be led by Blue Ivy Ventures’ Managing Partner David Shapiro, Senior Principal Jess Liu-Brown, Alumni Ventures’ Senior Partner and is open to all alumni and friends of Yale.
During the session, we will discuss:
- HomeEmerging secular trends in technology and venture capital
- HomeBlue Ivy Ventures’ framework for evaluating early stage companies
- HomeSome examples of current portfolio companies
Note: You must be accredited to invest in venture capital. Important disclosure information can be found at av-funds.com/disclosures.
The webinar recording does not feature our live Q&A, please make sure to join webinars live to participate in the discussion.
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About your presenters
David has over 25 years of experience as an investor, adviser, and board member, with expertise across early- and late-stage venture capital. Before joining Blue Ivy, David was Senior VP of Corporate Development and Business Development for DataXu, a marketer-aligned data and analytics company. Prior to his time at DataXu, he was a Director with the global venture and private equity firm 3i, including board directorships with ten companies. He also worked in the private equity group at GE Asset Management, where he specialized in late-stage venture and growth capital opportunities. David received his BA in History from Yale in 1991 and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in 2000.

Senior Principal, Blue Ivy Ventures
Jess Liu-Brown brings to Blue Ivy Ventures investing experience across various sectors and stages. She was previously Vice President at Cathay Capital Group, a private equity firm providing growth equity to private companies. She also helped Foodshed Investors New York select pre-seed round investments, as well as invested in seed-stage companies in China. Before Cathay Capital, she helped build the Strategy Department for Women’s World Banking in Ghana, and worked in investment banking at JPMorgan in New York. Jess has an international perspective on investing, having lived or worked in four countries and invested in the US, China, and other emerging markets. She has an MBA from Yale School of Management and a BA from Mount Holyoke College.

Jim has over 20 years of experience in capital market sales and business development on Wall Street. He worked for a handful of large banks, including Lehman Brothers, Barclays Capital, UBS, and RBC, covering institutional investors. His client base ranged from HNW individuals to the largest money managers and hedge funds. He focused on the highly quantitative sector of securitized credit, backed by commercial real estate, leveraged loans, mortgages, and derivatives. He earned a BA in Business Economics from Brown University, where he was a member of the varsity swimming team.