Venture Capital: Aaron Holiday on 645 ventures' data-driven approach to sourcing deals and bringing the invisible to life

Breaking Precedent

In this episode of Breaking Precedent, host Leah Solivan sits down with Aaron Holliday, Founder and Managing Director of 645 Ventures, a venture fund with an unprecedented model and a mission to bring the invisible to life. Aaron shares his inspiring journey from growing up in New Orleans to building a data-driven sourcing model that uncovers promising startups and founders at the earliest stages. With over half a billion dollars under management and a 10-year anniversary, 645 Ventures has truly broken the mold.

Guest Bio and Links:

Aaron is the co-founder and Managing Partner at 645 Ventures. He oversees the firm’s investing approach, strategy, investor relations, and governance. Since founding 645 Ventures in 2014, Aaron has worked closely with portfolio company founders to strengthen, grow, and scale businesses. Aaron led 645 Ventures early-stage investments in several breakout successes, including Goldbelly, Iterable, FiscalNote, Squire, Resident/Nectar Sleep, FLY Labs (acquired by Google), Source3 (acquired by Facebook), and several other category-defining companies. In 2021, Aaron made the Midas Brink List of VC investor up-and-comers to watch for his involvement and investments in startup companies that have scaled to hundreds of millions in revenues and unicorn status.

Listeners can learn more about Aaron Holiday on X @aholidayiii

Show Notes:

• (0:00) Intro
• (0:20) Leah introduces guest, Ryan Holiday, Founder of 645 Ventures to Breaking Precedent
• (3:30) Aaron's early life and inspirations
• (6:30) Early college days - math to computer science
• (12:00) The Hustleman - entrepreneurial spirit
• (14:15) Authorship: Award winning author of First Gen, Alejandra Campoverdi, on breaking generational cycles
• (17:00) Experience at Goldman Sachs
• (23:30) Discovering Venture Capital at business school
• (31:30) Internship at Blip.tv
• (35:30) Building Cornell Tech
• (40:00) The birth of 645 Ventures
• (46:00) Challenges and successes of 645 Ventures
• (55:30) “You bring the invisible to life.”
• (57:30) The physics of the entrepreneurial ecosystem
• (1:01:00) Reflections and difficulties on the Venture capital industry

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Leah Solivan is the host of Breaking Precedent, a podcast that explores the stories of innovators who are pushing societal boundaries and setting new precedents in their fields. Leah is General Partner at Fuel Capital, where she invests in early-stage companies across consumer technology, hardware, education, marketplaces, and retail. Leah has 15 years of experience building and creating technology products that have reached millions of people around the globe. She started her career at IBM as an engineer in the software group, working on Lotus Notes and Domino. In 2008, Leah founded TaskRabbit, the leading on-demand service marketplace in the world.

Connect with Leah:

Website: breakingprecedent.com/

Instagram: @labunleashed

X: @labunleashed