Inside the Rooms Where the
Next Great Companies Are Born
A rare, invitation-only day behind the closed doors of Silicon Valley's most elite venture funds — built exclusively for AWM's most valued clients.
The Access Your Teammates Don't Have
The top 1% of venture capital firms rarely open their doors. Your relationship with AWM — and your commitment to being a value-added partner, not just a check — is exactly why you're in this room.
Championship-Level Access
These meetings are reserved for investors who bring more than capital. Like your approach to baseball, excellence and intentionality open doors money alone cannot buy.
Be a Value-Added Partner
The funds you've invested in don't just want passive LPs. They want athlete-investors who can build brands, open networks, and bring the kind of credibility no spreadsheet can capture.
Beyond the Game
From $100K seed checks into GitLab that returned $42M, to backing MrBeast before he had a billion fans — venture capital rewards those willing to be in the room early.
The Agenda
A curated, intimate half-day engineered around access. Every minute is designed with intent.
Liquid 2 Ventures Headquarters
San Francisco, CASit down with Joe Montana's partners at Liquid 2 Ventures — the firm that turned a $100K bet on GitLab into $42M. Get an exclusive look at the Winners Fund, hear how the portfolio of 800+ companies was built, and understand what championship-caliber venture investing looks like from the inside.
Lunch at Akkadian Ventures
Akkadian VC · San FranciscoAn intimate working lunch with Ben Black (Founder, Akkadian), Brian Sugar (Managing Partner, Sugar Capital), and Celestine "Cee Cee" Schnugg (General Partner, Boom Capital). This is where conversations go deep — strategy, portfolio, mindset, and why athlete-investors have an edge no one talks about.
Return to St. Regis or Oracle Park
San FranciscoConclude the experience and head back with your partners. The day's conversations are designed to be processed — and to last a career.
Meet the Investors
Four of Silicon Valley's most respected minds — each with a track record that speaks in billions, and a philosophy that resonates with elite athletes.
Liquid 2 Ventures
Founded by Joe Montana · San Francisco, CA Est. 2015 · Seed & Growth StageJoe Montana didn't retire from winning — he just changed the field. Co-founded in 2015 with tech entrepreneurs Michael Ma (TalkBin, acquired by Google) and Mike Miller (Cloudant, acquired by IBM), Liquid 2 Ventures has become one of the most successful seed-stage funds in Silicon Valley history. The same instincts that made Montana a 4x Super Bowl champion now guide investments into the earliest rounds of the next generation of great companies.
A $100,000 seed investment made in 2015 at a $12 million valuation. When GitLab went public, that bet returned $42 million — 168% more than Montana's entire NFL career earnings. It's the kind of return that only happens when a champion bets early on a champion.
Other notable portfolio companies: FanDuel, Anduril, Retool, Cloud9 (eSports), Rippling, Mercury, Applied Intuition, Astranis
"There are a lot of things you have to go with your instinct and your gut. A lot of people are afraid to ask for help — that's where the problems always arise."
— Joe Montana, Acquired Podcast, Aug 2024Acquired Podcast (ACQ2)
"Joe Montana Interview Live from Modern Treasury Transfer" — Joe discusses Super Bowl lessons applied to venture capital, Liquid 2's strategy, and finding unicorn companies at the seed stage. (August 2024)
A growth-stage fund operating alongside Liquid 2's seed strategy. Currently targeting $200M in its second vintage (Liquid 2 Winners Fund II LP). Designed to follow on the firm's most proven bets as they scale toward IPO.
Ben Black & Akkadian Ventures
Co-founder & Managing Director Cornell BA/JD · 15+ years VC/PE · Co-founder, RAISE Global SummitBen Black founded Akkadian in 2010 with a bold thesis: secondary venture investing as a service, not a transaction. Where others sell early, Akkadian stays — building long-term partnerships with the companies that define their categories. Mike Dinsdale, Akkadian's Managing Director, was CFO of DocuSign, DoorDash, and Gusto — three companies that generated $100B+ in enterprise value.
Uber, DoorDash, Gusto, TradingView, MasterClass — companies in your daily life. Akkadian backed these at growth stage before they became household names.
Puck News (March 2026): Ben Black's essay on the future of venture capital — a bold thesis on why the next era rewards conviction over consensus.
Brian Sugar
Managing Partner, Sugar Capital Co-founder PopSugar (acquired by Vox Media) · Consumer brand architect · Fund IIIBrian Sugar built PopSugar from a blog into a $300M media empire — then used that knowledge to launch Sugar Capital in 2020. He invests in consumer brands and the commerce infrastructure that powers them, with an eye for companies that build outsized loyalty. His portfolio reads like the brands athletes actually use and endorse.
Early investor in Feastables at a $50M valuation. The brand now generates nine-figure annual revenues — and is one of the fastest-growing consumer brands in the world. Sugar Capital saw MrBeast's athlete-caliber work ethic before the billion-dollar valuations.
"Brian Sugar — Co-Founder of PopSugar on Content & Commerce" (Due Diligence / businessclass.co, December 2024) — on building Sugar Capital Fund III and investing in the next generation of consumer brands.
Celestine "Cee Cee" Schnugg
General Partner, Boom Capital Formerly Apple · Innovation Endeavors (Eric Schmidt) · Top 100 Innovators 2015Cee Cee Schnugg is one of the most distinctive investors in venture capital — a solo GP who built Boom Capital on a conviction that the best founders are often the least connected ones. With 5 years at Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and a background at Apple, she hunts for the deeply technical breakthroughs that will define the next decade: machine intelligence, frontier genomics, robotics, new chemistries. She treats founders as scientist-protagonists — and she's been right.
Backed Diligent Robotics (creator of Moxi, the AI-powered hospital assistant robot) from its earliest days. Moxi is now deployed in dozens of hospitals across the U.S. — a company born from frontier science that is actively changing healthcare. The Diligent technology was recently acquired by Serve Robotics, a company valued in the billions.
"Think Like a Founder" with Maureen Taylor (SNP Communications) — Cee Cee on breaking rules, backing scientists, and why the most important companies come from the most overlooked founders.
WSJ "10 VCs Backing Game-Changing Startups of the Past, Present and Future" (2019) · Forbes "10 Women Investors Betting Big on Synthetic Biology" (2023)
There are a lot of things you have to go with your instinct and your gut. In a lot of cases, you're betting on people. Lean on your early investors as much as you can — they'll help you through it.
— Joe Montana, Acquired Podcast, August 2024
Compete in Everything
The same relentlessness that makes a .300 hitter is the same that makes a great investor. Excellence transfers.
Be Early. Stay Patient.
Montana bet $100K on GitLab and waited years for the IPO. The best returns require the same long game you've trained your whole life for.
Bring More Than Capital
Your platform, your credibility, your network — these are assets most LPs never have. Be the investor founders talk about in their funding announcements.
The Room Matters
You are being granted something your teammates will never have — a seat at the table. Show up as a partner, not a spectator.
Confirm Your Attendance
This experience is limited to AWM's active investor clients. Your spot is reserved — we just need your confirmation.
You're Confirmed.
We'll be in touch with final details shortly. See you in San Francisco on April 2nd.
By confirming, you acknowledge this is a private, non-transferable AWM client experience. Questions? Contact your AWM advisor directly.