{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Uncork Capital's Andy McLoughlin: Silicon Valley's British Invasion and Building a Great Seed-Stage Venture Firm","description":"Andy McLoughlin is Managing Partner at Uncork Capital (formerly SoftTech VC). We discuss Andy\u2019s journey from co-founding Huddle -- racking servers in the Docklands and building their own payment system before Stripe -- to Silicon Valley. He was an early angel investor in companies like Postmates, eventually joining Jeff Clavier\u2019s venture firm SoftTech, now Uncork Capital. We dive into the golden era of \u201csuper angels,\u201d collaborative seed rounds, and famous near-misses like Uber and Twilio. Other topics include how seed funds like Uncork stay relevant in a world dominated by mega-funds, why specialized early-stage investors often serve founders better than big brand names, and how to find those non-obvious deals before they become consensus. Andy also shares what it felt like to step away from operating a company, the power of \u201cknowing thyself,\u201d and how he\u2019s helping build Uncork into a firm that stays sharp through founder empathy and relentless context-switching. We also cover: The story behind Founders Pledge and giving back The British \u201cGBx\u201d network in Silicon Valley San Francisco\u2019s turnaround, tech getting political, and why local government actually matters The AI revolution \u2014 why everything feels like an AI company right now, what\u2019s overhyped, and why we\u2019re still in the very earliest innings Uncork Capital Something Ventured ","author_name":"Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/somethingventured.us","html":"