Jack Altman on the transition going from building a Unicorn with Lattice to starting a venture firm

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.

Welcome back to another episode of Venture Unlocked, the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of the business of venture capital.

In this episode, I sit down with Jack Altman, Managing Partner at Alt Capital. We unpack Jack’s journey from Lattice CEO to venture capitalist. We dive deep into the nuances of venture investing, exploring how operators transition into investors, the importance of founder relationships, and the critical elements of successful early-stage investing. Jack shares candid insights about evaluating talent, providing tough feedback, and navigating the current AI technology landscape. His most compelling advice centers on the importance of backing founders you truly believe in, regardless of market fluctuations. As we discuss everything from fund strategies to valuation challenges, the conversation reveals the complex art of venture capital – a world where relationships, intuition, and long-term vision matter more than short-term metrics.

Thanks for listening to another episode of Venture Unlocked. We hope you enjoyed our conversation with Jack. If you’d like to get Venture Unlocked content straight to your inbox, go to ventureunlocked.substack.com and sign up, or go to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and subscribe. Thanks again for listening

About Jack:

Jack Altman is the founder and Managing Partner of Alt Capital, a $150 million early-stage venture fund he launched in February 2024 that has invested in Antares, David AI, Legora, and Owner, among others. Jack is also an investor in companies like Figma, Rippling, Writer, and Vanta. Prior to his career in investing, Jack co‑founded and led Lattice, an HR and people-performance platform that grew to serve thousands of global companies and reached a $3 billion valuation before he transitioned into his role as Executive Chairman. With a background that includes roles in corporate finance and business development, Jack honed his startup expertise at Teespring and Hydrazine Capital before building Lattice from the ground up. Now at Alt Capital, Jack combines his founder-to-investor experience to back innovators in B2B software and hard tech. He's launched initiatives like the Generate accelerator, offering expert mentorship and resources to AI-driven startups—underscoring his commitment to pragmatic, conviction-led investing.

Alt Capital is an early-stage venture firm focus