#13 | Leib Bolel: From Rabbinical School to Venture Capital

Northern England, then Israel, then an MBA, then rabbinical school, then recruited to Des Moines. Leib Bolel now runs a venture fund in Arizona.More on Leib Bolel and this episode: thedealtablepodcast.com/episodes/leib-bolelHe also has six children and five Ironman finishes, which turns out to be relevant: the discipline argument he makes about triathlon is the same one he makes about holding a venture position for a decade.The substance is data-driven venture capital, and what that phrase actually means once you strip the marketing off it. Why most venture tech stacks are still siloed and simplistic, how sourcing from data rather than from your network changes which companies you ever see at all, and what the Moneyball comparison gets right and wrong.He is equally specific on the debt side, where founders quietly get hurt: how capital structures end up misaligned, what predatory venture debt looks like from the inside, when flexible capital beats a priced round, and why a founder should have an ideal investor profile the way a company has an ideal customer profile. Plus Israel's role in dual-use technology and what it takes to scale an Israeli startup into the US.Leib Bolel is the founder of Lioncrest Ventures, which provides flexible multi-product financing to early growth-stage technology companies, and a partner at Grayhawk Capital, where he has spent nearly seven years investing in B2B software. He previously founded the Arizona Israel Technology Alliance.KEY MOMENTS00:00 England, Israel, Iowa, Arizona05:20 Five Ironmans and staying in the race11:44 Data-driven venture capital explained14:52 The Moneyball comparison18:34 The edge outside the coasts20:04 Debt against equity for founders22:37 What predatory venture debt looks like30:35 Israel, innovation, and security tech43:06 Sourcing from data, not the network57:45 Return targets across equity and debtNewsletter: thedealtablepodcast.com/connectThe Power Law: amzn.to/3RJfzfNLane Carrick on selling a business, The Optima Advantage: amzn.to/48nLElWInstagram: instagram.com/thedealtablepodcast/LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/the-deal-table/The Deal Table is hosted by Ryan Harper and Lane Carrick, filmed in Dallas, and produced by Harper Belmont Media.