LA Venture Podcast: Product Launch Guru Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt and Weekend Fund

Minnie Ingersoll
Minnie Ingersoll is a partner at TenOneTen and host of the LA Venture podcast. Prior to TenOneTen, Minnie was the COO and co-founder of $100M+ Shift.com, an online marketplace for used cars. Minnie started her career as an early product manager at Google. Minnie studied Computer Science at Stanford and has an MBA from HBS. She recently moved back to L.A. after 20+ years in the Bay Area and is excited to be a part of the growing tech ecosystem of Southern California. In her space time, Minnie surfs baby waves and raises baby people.
Ryan Hoover

On this week's episode of the L.A. Venture podcast, hear from Ryan Hoover, founder of Product Hunt and investor at Weekend Fund.

Product Hunt began as a passion project email list and grew into a website. A self-described "nerd," Ryan says he "loves to discover new technologies, new products and, you know, play with new apps, not to use them, but just out of curiosity." The response was big. Product Hunt now is a place where users can discover the latest mobile apps, websites and technology products made by everyone from indie coders to giant companies.


Ryan sees product launches as similar to startups. At Weekend Fund, he and his co-founder, Vedika Jain, invest broadly with a focus on business-to-business (B2B) and consumer-focused companies. He says they view their investments through two different lenses: "companies that are capitalizing on a consumer behavior shift..." and technology shifts, new tech that's allowing founders to build something that was previously impossible to do.

They're keeping the fund small at $10 million and invest $100,000 to $200,000 per company. They prefer to partner in rounds, as opposed to leading them.

Weekend Fund has some luminary LPs including Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon and... me. ;)

Hear Ryan reveal specific priorities for a successful product launch, fascinating and detailed insight into building community and how he decides what companies to invest in. Plus, he shares his take on emerging trends.

Ryan Hoover is the founder of Product Hunt and investor at The Weekend Fund.

dot.LA Sr. Podcast Producer & Editor Laurel Moglen contributed to this post.

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LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

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This Week in ‘Raises’: GITAI Lands $30M, Steno Gains $15M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local space robotics startup raised fresh funding to expand the flight model manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. and increase employment, while a remote litigation platform raised more funding to continue growing its footprint in new markets across the country, develop service channels for its clients and continue expanding its tech team.

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Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Gitai Secures $30 Million in Funding to Continue Space Robotics Developments
\u200bPhoto: Gitai

Space robotics company Gitai raised a $30 million Series B extension this week, bringing the total value of the round to roughly $47 million.

The funding will be used to further develop Gitai’s suite of space robots as well as build out its manufacturing footprint in Torrance. Previously Gitai announced it raised a $17.1 million Series B in March 2021; this additional raise is still part of that round.

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