Host Ian Hathaway interviews Mitchell Green, founder and managing partner of Lead Edge Capital, about building one of growth equity's most unconventional firms by looking where others do not. Green traces his Grand Rapids upbringing, early paper routes, factory floor experience, ski racing path to Williams, failed college startup, and the lessons in persistence and networking that shaped his career. After starting at Bessemer as one of the firm's first cold callers, he learned outbound sourcing, pattern recognition, and the value of connecting people by speaking with thousands of companies. He describes buying investments out of a struggling hedge fund after the financial crisis, raising Lead Edge's first $52 million fund, the Alibaba investment that helped put the firm on the map, and the operator LP network that became one of Lead Edge's defining advantages. They cover the firm's eight investment criteria, its focus on profitable and capital-efficient companies, creative deal structures, investing outside Silicon Valley, the founder traits Green looks for, the AI productivity boom, mentorship, legacy, and the personal intensity behind his work.

Show Notes:

(04:40) Grand Rapids Roots And Factory Floor Lessons

(06:49) Failed Startup And The Power Of Networking

(09:33) Bessemer And The Cold Calling Apprenticeship

(11:45) Learning The Strike Zone

(15:22) Turning LPs Into An Operator Network

(18:24) Persistence As The Founder Edge

(20:48) Finding Builders Outside Silicon Valley

(21:46) The Lead Edge Eight

(23:26) Outbound Sourcing At Scale

(24:19) Creative Deal Structures And Risk Discipline

(29:32) AI, Productivity, And The Long Term

(32:57) Legacy, Mentorship, And Follow-Through

(35:15) Beyond The Bio with Mitchell Green

✅ Host: Ian Hathway - Co-Founder & Managing Partner, FOVC

✅ Guests: Mitchell Green - Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Lead Edge Capital

Produced by Spellbinder Media. Executive Produced by Bridge Five Ventures. Copyright ©️2026, Bridge Five Ventures, LLC, All rights reserved.

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