{"podcast":{"title":"Tacos and Tech Podcast","slug":"tacos-and-tech-podcast-534768","podcast_index_feed_id":534768,"rss_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1995075.rss","website_url":"https://risingtidepartners.substack.com/podcast","image_url":"https://substackcdn.com/feed/podcast/1995075/64f2885d3a990179fa48dc2951daae6a.jpg","author":"Neal Bloom","episode_count":202,"summary":"Curating signal beyond the noise. Backing exceptional founders.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-10T06:19:03.251942+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/tacos-and-tech-podcast-534768"},"episode":{"title":"From Operator to Fund Manager","slug":"from-operator-to-fund-manager","published_at":"2026-05-19T15:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/tacos-and-tech-podcast-534768/from-operator-to-fund-manager","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/tacos-and-tech-podcast-534768","url":"https://risingtidepartners.substack.com/p/from-operator-to-fund-manager","audio_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/194551639/488dce833164e1736f48023829ecc77e.mp3","summary":"Episode Summary Neal sits down with Will Alaynick, managing partner at Phase Two Ventures, for a fireside chat on what it actually looks like to go from building a company to running a venture fund. Will walks through his journey from operating a life science instrumentation startup - backed by a strategic investor who gave him governance, talent, and manufacturing access - to raising a fund focused on the tools and infrastructure layer of biotech. They dig into how fund managers evaluate deals differently than angels, why SBIR funding can be a double-edged sword, and what it takes to say no for a living. Key Topics * How a strategic investor provided governance, talent, and manufacturing - not just capital * Building Phase Two Ventures from operator pattern recognition * Evaluating life science deals through the lens of an ex-founder * SBIR funding as a signal - and when it becomes a distraction * The difference between angel deal evaluation and fund-level portfolio construction * Why most of the venture job is saying no - and how to do it humanely * AI's emerging role in life science - and why wet labs still matter * What angels should know before making the leap to managing a fund Links & Resources * Phase Two Ventures * San Diego Angel Conference * Rising Tide Partners Connect on LinkedIn * Will Alaynick * Neal Bloom This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit risingtidepartners.substack.com/subscribe","meta_description":"Episode Summary Neal sits down with Will Alaynick, managing partner at Phase Two Ventures, for a fireside chat on what it actually looks like to go from b…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2816,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/tacos-and-tech-podcast-534768/episodes/from-operator-to-fund-manager/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/tacos-and-tech-podcast-534768/from-operator-to-fund-manager.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}