Jonathan Hung on His Investing Platform, Trousdale Ventures

On this episode of the LA Venture podcast, Unicorn Ventures Managing Partner Jonathan Hung discusses his latest funds, manufacturing partners and investment mindset.

Hung first joined the business world through his father’s international clothing manufacturing business, and he took over the company in 2012. In 2016, he founded J Heart Ventures, which is his family office investing firm.

Two years later, Hung formed Unicorn Ventures with Dave Lin, who was CFO at Maker Studios, and Phillip Sarofim. Unicorn co-invests and leads funding rounds for early-stage startups. Hung views his role as an investor like that of a college counselor—he hopes for their success, but his focus is on helping them secure funding to get them to the next round.

“I hope you make it. I hope you graduate,” he said, adding that “my job is to get you that Series A. That’s all that matters.”

Unicorn now operates as a part of West Hollywood-based Trousdale Ventures, which has invested over $300 million in the last two years.

People are crucial to successful investments, Hung said. His own network—ranging from angel investor Howard Morgan to DJ and NFT investor Steve Aoki—informs his funding strategy. He’s also bullish on companies expanding into China.

“If you’re not selling to China, you’re doing something wrong,” he said. “About 350 million people in China are considered [in] the middle class. That’s the size of the U.S. population.”

Investors have to maintain a love for networking in order to keep taking risks and backing more funds, he said.

“It’s not just money,” Hung said. “The moment you don’t want to go networking, you don’t want to go do that, you have to stop.”

Hear the full episode by clicking on the playhead above, and listen to LA Venture on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

dot.LA Editorial Intern Kristin Snyder contributed to this post.