Finding Engineers with Empathy with Lili Rogowsky

If you believed, they put a data center on the moon. No, for real, they did, and it’s partially thanks to Lili Rogowsky, partner at Atypical Ventures. Lili joins Corey to discuss her unconventional leap from law to venture capital. Although she made a sharp turn career-wise, Lili remains grounded in the often heartless world of venture capital—highlighting the importance of empathy and technical prowess in founding successful enterprises. Out of all resources, time carries the heftiest price tag, and this half-hour episode is a low-risk, high-yield investment. Show Highlights (0:00) Intro (1:12) The Duckbill Group sponsor read (1:46) How Corey (kinda) met Lili (3:38) What attracted Corey to Atypical Ventures (5:58) How Atypical helped put a data center on the moon (8:34) VC “done right” (9:59) What led Lili to run a VC firm (13:43) Quitting jobs until you find something you like (16:28) The Duckbill Group sponsor read (16:54) The value of sharing your time (21:44) Risk assessment, well-dressed horses, and punching up in comedy (24:44) The importance of humility in life and business (29:15) Where you can find more from Lili and Atypical Ventures About Lili Rogowsky Lili is a dynamic investor, attorney, advisor, and entrepreneur. She is a partner at Atypical Ventures, an early-stage fund that identifies and invests in “engineers with empathy” working on plausible science fiction. A voracious reader driven by her curiosity and love of type 2 fun, Lili’s experience includes (in no particular order) mountaineering, visual arts, marine science, founding a law firm, cave/ shark diving (not necessarily at the same time), data privacy/ security, gardening, recruiting, battling NYC rats that eat her car, and interplanetary internet. Links Atypical Ventures: atypical.com Email Lili: [email protected] Sponsor The Duckbill Group: duckbillgroup.com