Jason is the General Partner and Co-Founder of Highmount Capital, a unique investment firm focused on growth stage and middle market investments in transformative technology and other growth-related platforms. He is the former Managing Director and founding member of Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), the venture and growth arm of Koch Industries, the largest privately-held company in the US with over $130B in revenue. Jason was responsible for helping KDT grow to billions in AUM across 40+ companies.

We discuss:
- What makes a great venture partner
- What venture firms look for in late-stage companies
- The process of making a $100mm investment in DudePerfect

Links:
Dude Perfect: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRijo3ddMTht_IHyNSNXpNQ
Highmount Capital: https://www.highmountcap.com/team
Jason on X: https://x.com/jasonillian

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Topics:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:02:03 - Jason's Early career
00:06:45 - What makes a great venture partner
00:10:07 - Joining Koch Industries
00:12:06 - Building the venture framework for Koch
00:16:41 - What does a great late-stage company look like in the eyes of a venture firm?
00:23:31 - Founding Highmount Capital
00:27:02 - Building a great origination engine
00:32:25 - Investing in Dude Perfect
00:37:31 - The craving for family-friendly brands
00:41:18 - How do you think about your role post-investment?
00:44:02 - What are unique ways to make money in the creator economy?
00:51:40 - Are the Dudes a technology business or technology-enabled business?
00:54:59 - How do you find a CEO for a company like DudePerfect?
00:58:52 - How is Highmount structured?

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