Tech Talks: Exploring new models of seed-stage portfolio construction

James Ulan is the director of industry and technology research at PitchBook. Prior to joining PitchBook, he worked as an equity research analyst at Credit Suisse on the number-one-ranked Institutional Investor consumer finance team, where he analyzed consumer lenders, digital banking and fintech.

Ulan holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business, magna cum laude, and attended the University of Maryland College Park, where he majored in Economics and Criminal Justice.

Kyle Stanford is the director of US venture capital research at PitchBook, where he oversees a team of analysts covering the US venture market. He has developed PitchBook’s coverage areas within nontraditional VC investment, venture debt and VC ecosystem development, as well as our breakout of the venture growth stage of the VC market. He also contributes to quarterly core reports, produces thematic analyst notes on various topics and speaks at industry conferences such as SXSW and Collision. He is regularly cited in top-tier publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and Axios, and has been featured in segments on CNBC, Bloomberg, and Yahoo Finance. Prior to this role, he worked on PitchBook’s publishing team, building custom reports across all asset classes and managing the development of analyst core research reports. 

Stanford received a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Washington and is a CAIA charterholder. He is based in PitchBook’s Seattle office. 

Jamie Rhode is a Partner at Screendoor, an investment platform that supports new and developing managers raising early stage institutional venture funds. Before Screendoor, Jamie spent over eight years at Verdis Investment Management focusing on emerging venture managers, private equity and hedge fund sourcing, and due diligence. Before Verdis Investment Management, she was both an equity analyst and credit analyst at Bloomberg.

Tim Suzman is a General Partner at Pioneer Fund, a fund of 400+ Y Combinator alumni investing in the top Y Combinator startups. He is a YC alum from 2011 and has been successfully investing in YC startups for the past 13 years.