Billion Dollar Moves™ with Sarah Chen-Spellings | Global Venture Capital

Erika Aquino is a next-generation family office allocator and angel investor building on a Filipino family business legacy.

In this episode of Billion Dollar Moves, Erika shares how her family moved beyond wealth preservation to deploy capital with purpose across wellness, education, sustainability, and the future of work.

We discuss how she allocates to venture, why she prefers pre-seed and seed-stage companies, what she looks for in founders, and why proximity to the problem matters.

Erika also speaks candidly about mental health, personal resilience, fiduciary responsibility, and the lessons she carries from supporting more than 25 early-stage companies around the world.

00:00 Introduction
01:00 Erika Aquino’s Family Legacy
03:00 Success as a Community Measure
04:10 From Wealth Preservation to Purpose
07:20 Allocating 25% to Venture
08:45 Building a Global Investment Mandate
09:35 Direct Investments vs. Funds
11:00 Why Erika Invests at Pre-Seed and Seed
11:35 Backing Scrappy Founders
13:00 Expanding Access to Angel Investing
14:00 Investing in Solutions Close to Home
15:15 What Erika Looks for in Founders
16:20 Building a Global Founder Ecosystem
17:30 Investing Across Different Markets
19:00 Fiduciary Duty and Venture Debt
20:20 Erika’s Mental Health Journey
23:10 How Personal Experience Shapes Her Investing
24:40 Supporting Underdog Founders
26:20 Advice for New Family Office Investors
28:20 The Role of Angel Investors
29:40 The Rise of the Modern Matriarch
31:00 Lessons on Money, Ambition, and Vulnerability
32:00 Own Your Confidence, Purpose, and NumbersAbout Erika Aquinohttps://www.erika-aquino.com/
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Billion Dollar Moves Podcast | The Top Global Venture & Business Podcast for Founders & Funders | Backed by HubSpot Podcast Network

Conversations with billionaires, unicorn founders, and the world’s leading funders.

Hosted by Sarah Chen-Spellings, Billion Dollar Moves examines how enduring companies — and the capital behind them — are built.

Through long-form conversations, the show explores decision-making under uncertainty, capital allocation, and the inflection points that shape category-defining businesses. From early platform backstories to allocator frameworks used across private markets, the focus is on judgment, incentives, and long-term value creation — beyond headlines and hype.

New episodes weekly.
Built for those who take the long view.

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://billiondollarmoves.com
Watch on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/sarahchenglobal
Join the community: https://sarah-chen.ck.page/billiondol...

FOLLOW SARAH:
https://linkedin.com/in/sarahchenglobal
https://instagram.com/sarahchenglobal

Latasha Gillespie, former global executive at Amazon, shares how culture, customers, and risk were evaluated inside one of the world’s most powerful companies.

We discuss Amazon’s six-page decision process, what Latasha learned from Jeff Bezos, why diversity is a growth strategy, and how greenlight decisions determine which stories, audiences, and ideas are able to scale.

For founders, investors, and leaders, this is a conversation about reducing blind spots, protecting brand trust, and building for the customers of tomorrow.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Introduction
01:35 From Caterpillar to Amazon
03:35 The Career Lesson That Changed Everything
06:15 Diversity as a Growth Strategy
10:10 Tying Leadership Incentives to Outcomes
13:00 Knowing When It Was Time to Leave
15:10 Building Amazon’s Global Strategy
17:00 Presenting a Six-Page Memo to Jeff Bezos
19:00 Why Jeff Bezos Spoke Last
20:40 Building for Tomorrow’s Customers
22:20 Moving Into Amazon Studios
24:20 Where Power Sits in the Greenlight Process
29:00 Turning Values Into Systems
30:20 The Three Greenlight Questions
33:00 Identifying Reputational Risk
35:00 Media’s Role in Shaping Culture
37:00 Building Better Decision Frameworks
41:00 Leadership Lessons and Closing Advice

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About Latasha Gillespie
As Founder and CEO of Logos Media Group Holdings LLC, Latasha Gillespie leads a purpose-driven media holding company dedicated to creating impactful brands, platforms, and experiences at the intersection of faith, culture, and commerce. Through thoughtful storytelling, meaningful engagement, and strategic partnerships, the company aims to elevate culture while fostering connection and leadership across both digital and physical spaces.

With more than a decade of leadership experience in diversity, equity, and inclusion, along with expertise in business analysis, financial analysis, and project management, Latasha has contributed to global organizations including Amazon and Caterpillar. Her commitment to transformational leadership also extends to her service as an Executive Board Member of the Getty House Foundation, where she supports initiatives designed to create meaningful community impact.

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Billion Dollar Moves Podcast | The Top Global Venture & Business Podcast for Founders & Funders | Backed by HubSpot Podcast Network

Conversations with billionaires, unicorn founders, and the world’s leading funders.

Hosted by Sarah Chen-Spellings, Billion Dollar Moves examines how enduring companies — and the capital behind them — are built.

Through long-form conversations, the show explores decision-making under uncertainty, capital allocation, and the inflection points that shape category-defining businesses. From early platform backstories to allocator frameworks used across private markets, the focus is on judgment, incentives, and long-term value creation — beyond headlines and hype.

New episodes weekly.
Built for those who take the long view.

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://billiondollarmoves.com
Watch on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/sarahchenglobal
Join the community: https://sarah-chen.ck.page/billiondol...

FOLLOW SARAH:
https://linkedin.com/in/sarahchenglobal https://instagram.com/sarahchenglobal

In this episode of Billion Dollar Moves, I sit down with David Berry, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Averin Capital, for a conversation about building billion-dollar breakthroughs in healthcare.

David has founded more than 30 companies, including seven valued over $1B, and has helped shape companies across biotech, AI drug discovery, microbiome therapeutics, agriculture, and health infrastructure.

From losing a childhood friend to brain cancer, to asking why the hardest problems are worth pursuing, David shares how mission, science, and capital come together to create venture-scale healthcare companies.

For founders, funders, and family offices investing in the future of health, this is a conversation about conviction, ethics, and building for impact at scale.

Watch the full conversation and subscribe for more discussions at the intersection of capital, governance, and long-term wealth.

00:00 - Intro: Why go after the biggest problems?

01:12 - Truth vs. belief in science

03:00 - The myth that humans only use 10% of their brains

04:28 - Rethinking cancer and inherited assumptions

05:38 - How big ideas emerge from questioning “truth”

06:30 - Entrepreneur vs. investor: The N of one

08:10 - Building Seres Therapeutics and the microbiome frontier

11:00 - Turning strange science into a venture-scale company

12:20 - Why drug development does not always have to take 10–15 years

14:10 - Valo Health and AI-powered drug discovery

17:15 - Product-investor fit in biotech

20:30 - Why companies fail: Teams, resilience, and near-death moments

22:15 - Averin Capital and the transformation of health through technology

23:20 - BioLink and the future of continuous health monitoring

26:00 - Ozempic, access, and ethics in healthcare

31:10 - Women’s health, clinical trials, and bias in medical data

35:00 - David’s vision for Averin Capital

39:00 - How family offices should think about investing in health

40:00 - The next billion-dollar moves in healthcare

40:35 - Rapid fire

About David Berry

David is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Averin. As an innovator and a company builder, he has been driven by the power of technology to transform industries. David has been a founder of over 30 companies, including 7 that have been valued at over $1B.

David was previously a General Partner at Flagship Pioneering. He was also founder and CEO of Valo Health, where he raised over $500M and executed a transformative partnership with Novo Nordisk.

David received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his Ph.D. from MIT through the biological engineering division, where he worked with Professors Robert Langer and Ram Sasisekharan. David works closely with Biolinq amongst other Averin companies.

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Billion Dollar Moves Podcast | The Top Global Venture & Business Podcast for Founders & Funders | Backed by HubSpot Podcast Network

Conversations with billionaires, unicorn founders, and the world’s leading funders.

Hosted by Sarah Chen-Spellings, Billion Dollar Moves examines how enduring companies — and the capital behind them — are built.

Through long-form conversations, the show explores decision-making under uncertainty, capital allocation, and the inflection points that shape category-defining businesses. From early platform backstories to allocator frameworks used across private markets, the focus is on judgment, incentives, and long-term value creation — beyond headlines and hype.

New episodes weekly.
Built for those who take the long view.

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://billiondollarmoves.com
Watch on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/sarahchenglobal
Join the community: https://sarah-chen.ck.page/billiondollarmoves

FOLLOW SARAH:
https://linkedin.com/in/sarahchenglobal
https://instagram.com/sarahchenglobal
https://x.com/sarahchenglobal

Jaclyn Johnson built Create & Cultivate into one of the most recognized platforms for women in business—scaling it to eight-figure revenue before exiting in a multi-million dollar deal.

But what happens after the exit is where the real story begins.

From navigating private equity, burnout, and the loss of control over the company she built… to making one of the rarest moves in business—buying it back.

In this episode, we unpack:

* Why selling isn’t always the win
* What private equity gets wrong in community-driven businesses
* The trade-offs between bootstrapping and raising capital
* How to think about ownership, control, and long-term value

This is a conversation about capital, consequence—and coming back with clarity.

About Jaclyn Johnson

With $25 million in successful exits to her name, Jaclyn has mastered the art of bootstrapping businesses, building thriving communities, and driving meaningful results. Recognized as one of Adweek's Disruptors, Forbes 30 under 30 and a WSJ Woman of note, she stands out as one of the industry's leading marketing minds. Her unwavering focus on value creation and community-first marketing has been imitated countless times, yet never truly matched.

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Billion Dollar Moves Podcast | The Top Global Venture & Business Podcast for Founders & Funders | Backed by HubSpot Podcast Network

Conversations with billionaires, unicorn founders, and the world’s leading funders.
Hosted by Sarah Chen-Spellings, Billion Dollar Moves examines how enduring companies — and the capital behind them — are built.
Through long-form conversations, the show explores decision-making under uncertainty, capital allocation, and the inflection points that shape category-defining businesses. From early platform backstories to allocator frameworks used across private markets, the focus is on judgment, incentives, and long-term value creation — beyond headlines and hype.
New episodes weekly.
Built for those who take the long view.

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://billiondollarmoves.com
Watch on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/sarahchenglobal
Join the community: https://sarah-chen.ck.page/billiondollarmoves

FOLLOW SARAH:
https://linkedin.com/in/sarahchenglobal
https://instagram.com/sarahchenglobal

In this rare conversation, Jim Sorenson breaks down what happens after liquidity—when building a company turns into building systems of capital.

We start with the moment everything nearly fell apart: losing $1M a month during the dot-com crash, and the unexpected pivot that transformed Sorenson Communications into a near $1B exit—by aligning technology with regulation and real, underserved demand.

From there, Jim unpacks how that experience reshaped his approach to investing.
From deploying early, risk-tolerant capital through Program-Related Investments (PRIs)…
to ultimately rethinking an entire foundation—aligning 100% of its assets toward both financial returns and long-term impact.

This isn’t a conversation about philanthropy.
It’s about how sophisticated capital actually works—where risk is priced, how systems scale, and why impact and alpha aren’t opposites.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Intro
01:30 – Sorenson Communications
05:30 – Pivoting Under Pressure
09:20 – An Overlooked Community
14:50 – Scale & Capital Design
21:30 – The Mechanics of PRI
27:05 – The 95% Transition
38:40 – ESG & Fiduciary Duty
45:30 – Stewardship After Liquidity

About Jim SorensonJames Lee Sorenson (Jim) serves as chairman of the Sorenson Impact Foundation, which funds sustainable, scalable endeavors that maximize positive impact on the lives and societies they touch. Sorenson endowed the Sorenson Impact Center at the University of Utah. Sorenson is also Chairman of the Board of Village Capital and a member of the National Advisory Board of Impact Investing. Sorenson was instrumental in developing several new industry categories, including digital compression software that helped usher in the online video revolution at Sorenson Media, where he serves as Chairman of the Board and video relay services which transformed opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing individuals through Sorenson Communications. Jim has served on many community boards, including Utah's David Eccles School of Business, University Venture Fund, Art Works for Kids, Gallaudet University, and the Utah Sports Commission.--Billion Dollar Moves Podcast | The Top Global Venture & Business Podcast for Founders & Funders | Backed by HubSpot Podcast Network

Conversations with billionaires, unicorn founders, and the world’s leading funders.Hosted by Sarah Chen-Spellings, Billion Dollar Moves examines how enduring companies — and the capital behind them — are built.Through long-form conversations, the show explores decision-making under uncertainty, capital allocation, and the inflection points that shape category-defining businesses. From early platform backstories to allocator frameworks used across private markets, the focus is on judgment, incentives, and long-term value creation — beyond headlines and hype.New episodes weekly.Built for those who take the long view.

PODCAST INFO:Podcast website: https://billiondollarmoves.comWatch on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/sarahchenglobalJoin the community: https://sarah-chen.ck.page/billiondollarmoves

FOLLOW SARAH:https://linkedin.com/in/sarahchenglobalhttps://instagram.com/sarahchenglobal