From The Apprentice to Unicorn Investor: Kelly Perdew's Journey

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Hosts: * Yuri Rabinovich linkedin.com/byuric * Niko Leon linkedin.com/nikoleon

In this episode, we speak to Kelly Perdew, co-founder and Managing General Partner at Moonshots Capital, who invested in 116 startups, 13 Unicorns, 27 exits, and 28 Veteran led companies.

We discuss Kelly’s military background and its influence on his investment strategy, evident in his success with Unicorn deals like LinkedIn, Slack, Scopely, ID.me, Pandora, and X.ai. The conversation also covers his TV career, winning Season 2 of The Apprentice, and how that experience impacted his investing. Additionally, we talk about Kelly's move to Portugal with his family.

Episode Breakdown * 0:00 Intro * 1:32 Kelly’s background * 07:43 Investing in VC * 17:21 Experience in the Military * 22:27 Sourcing deals * 38:20 Fundraising for funds * 46:58 Kelly’s move to Portugal

Follow Kelly: * X: https://x.com/kperdew * Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyperdew * Company: http://www.kellyperdew.com

Kelly's Bio: Kelly is the Managing General Partner of Moonshots Capital https://www.moonshotscapital.com, a Seed stage VC firm that invests in technology companies founded by extraordinary leaders. He has been investing in and advising leading U.S. start-ups since 2004, including LinkedIn (LNKD), Pandora (P), TrueCar (TRUE), Gretel, and ID.me. He has invested in 114 companies, amassing 27 exits and 12 unicorns.

Kelly is a serial founder and has served in operating roles at 10 early-stage companies. Kelly shares his leadership and operational expertise with the founders he backs, helping them achieve successful exits. Some of the companies he held board and advisory roles at include Ustream (acquired by IBM), Bitium (acquired by GOOG), eteamz (acquired by ACTV), Harvest.ai (acquired by AMZN), and Scopely (acquired by Savvy Games Group).

Kelly is an honor graduate (top 5% of his class and #1 in Field of Study) of the US Military Academy at West Point and served as an Army Intelligence Officer before earning joint MBA and JD graduate degrees from UCLA. He completed Army elite training programs – Ranger School and Airborne Training. He is the winner of Season 2 of NBC’s hit show The Apprentice with Donald Trump. Kelly is also a published author, and nationally recognized speaker on leadership, technology, and entrepreneurship.