28: with Leshika Samarasinghe, Founder and General Partner, Twine Ventures
Meet Leshika Samarasinghe:
Leshika Samarasinghe is the Founder and General Partner at Twine Ventures. She is an investor in a number of companies including Waymark, Stealth Fintech, Apella Technology, Teiko.bio, Rupa Health, and Alaffia Health. Previously, she was a Venture Partner at Future Positive and Managing Partner at The Production Board. Leshika received a B.A. in international Relations at Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Key Insights:
Leshika Samarasinghe works with mission-driven, early-stage founders.
- Founder Relationships. Leshika chooses founders that have a strong founder-market fit and who are excellent at communicating their company’s story. She also emphasizes the importance of the investor-founder relationship, which should be based on trust and shared vision. (6:48)
- Intentional Fundraising. Twine Ventures raises money from investment funds that are dedicated to investing in venture funds. These types of funds are nimble and have experience helping new companies ramp up. Additionally, Twine Ventures is intentional about seeking individual limited partners (LPs) that provide complimentary abilities or expertise. (9:21)
- Time is Scarce for Founders. It’s important to create time and space to learn, think, and voraciously read. Leshika anchors that time to her investments, diving deep into the industry or product. This way she is prepared for conversations with founders. (14:56)
This episode is hosted by Julie Yoo. She is a member of the Advisory Council for Day Zero and is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
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