Origins S2-E4: Lindel Eakman — Managing Director, Foundry Group Next
On this week of Origins, we sit down with Lindel Eakman of Foundry Group, as well as the newest Foundry hire — Jaclyn Hester.
For those that know the Limited Partner community well, Lindel hardly needs an introduction. He spent thirteen years running the private investments group at the University of Texas (UTIMCO), so he’s one of the most experienced LPs we’ve had on the show to date. He’s a huge personality, incredibly insightful, and the only MD that Foundry Group has added since the original partners started the firm in 2007.
In this episode, we discuss how Lindel approached building out the venture capital practice at a large endowment like UTIMCO, and what led him to back (as first institutional money) what are now iconic firms like USV, Foundry Group, Spark Capital, and True Ventures. We also dig into his decision to leave UTIMCO after thirteen years in order to lead a new Foundry strategy and fund called Foundry Group Next, which is dedicated to making investments into other early-stage venture firms as well as directly into later-stage growth companies.
Finally, Lindel gives us some tricks of the trade, particularly his views on fundraising strategy for VCs, how to think about and maintain healthy partnerships, and how to connect with him and Foundry Group.
Subscribe to this episode and past episodes HERE.
As always, you can give us a shout and let us know how we’re doing by following us on twitter! And if you feel so inclined, please share this episode and use #openlp. See ya out there.
— Nick + Alex
