This Week in Startups: ANGEL: Laurie Yoler on investing early in Tesla, strategic partnerships, and her VC career | E1701

Jason Calacanis Jason Calacanis 3/17/23 - Episode Page

Molly is joined by Laurie Yoler as they dive into her early experiences in VC before discussing how she became the first investor in Tesla (1:45). Next, Laurie talks about her time at Qualcomm and Playground then they wrap with a discussion about AI and how Laurie’s investments were impacted by the pandemic (30:31).

(0:00) Jason kicks off the show

(1:45) Arriving in Venture

(7:36) Laurie’s first investments

(13:39) LinkedIn Jobs - Go to https://linkedIn.com/angel and post your first job for free.

(14:49) Investing in Tesla

(21:21) Prenuvo - Get $300 off at

(22:51) Raising money for a car company

(26:22) Finding strategic partners

(30:31) Laurie’s time at Qualcomm and autonomous vehicles

(37:11) Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub - Apply in 5 minutes for six figures in discounts at

(38:42) Joining Playground

(41:29) Leaf Logistics

(45:44) Benefitting from the pandemic

(48:54) Investing in AI


FOLLOW Laurie:

FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood

FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis

FOUNDERS! Subscribe to the Founder University podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/founder-university/id1648407190