The Art of Investing and Building in Silicon Valley - S3 E18

On this week's episode of Silicon Valley Impact we are talking with Kirby Harris, Co-Founder at Base Ventures; and Scott Swanson, Founder & CEO of Bonder about The Art of Investing and Building in Silicon Valley.   Kirby is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Base Ventures, a Berkeley, CA based  early-stage venture firm investing in 120+ companies including unicorns 6sense, Gecko Robotics, and Genies, with a portfolio valued over $11 billion. A Morehouse College graduate and Kauffman Fellow, Kirby brings over two decades of venture capital and private equity experience, including leadership roles in Community aligned investing and project finance.  Kirby excels at identifying and supporting founders to scale transformative ideas into enduring companies.    Scott is the Founder and CEO of Bonder, the world’s first patented connection engine for the physical world. Bonder is a connective layer for everywhere you go. A store, a venue, a social space. It links the people, staff, departments, offers, and commerce within, in real time, with precision and purpose. Venues reach their guests directly. People get VIP treatment everywhere they go, with instant access to the right people, the right offers, the right moment. What Google built for searching, Bonder is building for connection. Scott spent two decades immersed in Global Infrastructure and Technology within Silicon Valley before founding Bonder. He also trained for over 20 years under Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi, the same teacher who guided and was a mentor to Steve Jobs. Bonder’s mission is to build the most advanced and accurate connection engine in the world, and restore the human experience to healthy interaction beyond data collection, ads or intrusive behavior.    This and much more on Silicon Valley Impact!   Follow us on and listen to all our episodes on: 🎙️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/68L4RPfMizjxnKBsmcFb1J 🍎Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/silicon-valley-impact/id1776876823 📺 Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/@siliconvalleyimpact   Silicon Valley Venture, LLC, the parent company of Silicon Valley Impact, is a proud global venture partner to great companies, MoralesHR and STAK Ventures, and 1900 Broadway Tower - Oakland. Check out https://moraleshr.com/ and https://stakspace.com/ to gain access to the worlds largest full stack venture ecosystem. It's over 1.2 million square feet of Live, Work, Play, Go; everything innovators, investors, ecosystem influencers, institutional partners, and global talent needs to gain a global advantage, access, alignment, and accelerate your venture.   Event Partnerships:   Join us in San Francisco on August 27th, 2026 for Step. Use promo code SVV20 and get your tickets here: https://lnkd.in/gTuYJPeA