Shaan Puri
Age 0 · San Francisco, United States · founder of Shaan's All Access Fund
A podcast with a loyal niche audience let Shaan Puri spin up a $4M rolling fund and turn listeners into LPs, then into deal flow.
№ 070Exhibit AThe Setup
Shaan Puri did not start as a venture capitalist, he started as an operator who sold his gaming company to Twitch, then ran product there and later founded a venture backed MedTech startup. By the time he leaned into content he had a concrete track record of building and exiting real companies, which gave him credibility that most first time podcasters simply do not have.
When he launched the My First Million podcast he intentionally turned it into a magnet for ambitious founders and aspiring investors, not a generic business show. Every episode mixed teardown style idea generation, behind the scenes founder stories, and blunt discussion of money, which built an unusually high trust relationship with the audience that would later become the core of his investor base.
The Evidence
In his Sacra interview he explains that the podcast and newsletter audience was the core asset that let him raise a $4M rolling fund quickly, simply by inviting listeners who already trusted his judgment to invest alongside him. Instead of pitching cold institutions, he pointed the people who had been consuming hours of his thinking every week to a concrete vehicle, which compressed the usual multi month fundraise cycle into a content driven funnel.
Shaan's All Access Fund now writes $10K to $50K checks, with a sweet spot around $25K, into pre seed and seed companies across sectors like SaaS, consumer internet, AI, robotics, and health tech. According to Waveup and Startup Intros, his approach is network driven and operator first, which means he explicitly sells founders on getting a hands on investor with audience, not just money, and uses his media presence to give them a spotlight in return.
The Mechanism
1. Use content as the top of funnel for capital. Shaan treated My First Million as an ongoing investor memo in public, so by the time he introduced a rolling fund, his best prospective LPs had already binge listened to hundreds of hours of his decision making and felt like they knew his style and risk tolerance.
2. Convert listeners into a two sided network. Listeners who became LPs also became scouts and founders in his orbit, so every episode that broke down new ideas or interviewed operators acted as both sourcing and marketing, which tightened the loop between attention, capital, and deal flow.
3. Sell operator leverage, not just checks. In All Access Fund materials and public interviews he emphasizes his background as a builder and the distribution he can bring through his podcast and online following, so founders see him as a growth partner who can put them in front of a large business audience, not a passive small check that quietly sits on the cap table.
The Steal
- Treat every piece of content as a future LP or customer interview, so when you launch a fund or product, the right people already understand how you think.
- Design your media to attract the exact founders or customers you want, then give them a clear next step to work with you, like a rolling fund or a simple offer.
- Lead with operator proof and distribution, not just capital, so your pitch is that you can move the needle on users and narrative, not just wire money.
Case Questions
- How did Shaan Puri grow Shaan's All Access Fund?
- Shaan Puri grew Shaan's All Access Fund by turning his My First Million podcast audience into his core LP base, then layering on his personal network from years of operating and investing. Instead of raising quietly from institutions, he used content to showcase how he thinks about businesses, which made it easy for listeners to opt in when he opened a $4M rolling fund.
- What does Shaan's All Access Fund do?
- Shaan's All Access Fund is an early stage venture fund that writes roughly $10K to $50K checks, usually around $25K, into pre seed and seed startups. It focuses on sectors like SaaS, consumer internet, AI, health tech, robotics, and other technology driven categories, and it markets itself as an operator first, network driven partner that can help with both strategy and exposure.
- How does Shaan Puri use his podcast My First Million in his investing?
- Shaan uses the My First Million podcast as both a marketing channel and a sourcing engine for his investing. The show attracts ambitious founders and operators, surfaces interesting companies and ideas, and builds trust with listeners, which he then converts into LP commitments for his rolling fund and into warm introductions to startups raising capital.
- What is Shaan Puri known for besides his fund?
- Beyond Shaan's All Access Fund, Shaan Puri is known for selling his startup to Twitch and serving as a senior director of product there, and for co hosting the My First Million podcast. He later founded a venture backed MedTech company focused on healthcare data and has become a visible angel investor and commentator on building internet businesses.