Jillian Manus
Managing Partner, Structure Capital · 105 appearances on the record.
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investorfounderhostacademic@ManusJillian ↗LinkedIn ↗structure.vc ↗
She leads Structure Capital, an early-stage venture fund that invests in startups leveraging underutilized assets and excess capacity. In addition to serving as a panel investor on The Pitch, she advises the European Innovation Council Fund and teaches at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
138statements → 26claims → 11claims resolved → 18%fully supported → 3.95/5average certainty → 2.05/5average debate potential → 35said about them ↓
2 supported 4 partly supported 5 contradicted 1 not yet assessed 14 not checkable as stated how the 26 claims stand · each chip opens the sources
9 predictions · 17 assertions · 29 opinions · 28 insights · 52 disclosures · 3 what ifs · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 26 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 11 are resolved, 1 is not yet assessed, and 14 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.
The record, in short
What the tape says about how Jillian argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.
Their most notable supported claim
Expressed certainty vs assessment result
weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet
How they sound: not measured why? →
We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Jillian Manus on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.
Everything Jillian Manus said on the Pitch that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →
Jillian Manus sees no ethical conflict in profiting from homelessness solutions
“I don't see any ethical questions in this case. I see this as investing in hopefully a sustainable business That will provide paths to self-sufficiency and to salvation in many cases for people who've been marginalized and literally passed over, you know, ever…”
Jillian Manus: Female founders face a double standard regarding pitch assertiveness
“When a woman has to pitch, especially to a majority of men, alright, you have to come off tough. Yeah, that's fair. You have to, and it's, unfortunately, it's a catch-twenty-two for women. Either you're cocky or me. Yeah, if that was a man standing up here and…”
Manus: Data shows female founders consistently ask for less venture funding
“But I also, it's very interesting, and this is data, this is not me, this is not my opinion, But interestingly enough, women always ask for less. Women founders always ask for less. It's not a lack of confidence. It is something else, and we're all trying to d…”
Jillian Manus: Courtney Caldwell should be CEO instead of Ty
“I would prefer, Courtney, if you were, had the title of CEO because I think that represents the high tech piece, and because of your background with Oracle, and your ability to understand and be able to communicate the technical pieces of the product I think t…”
Manus: Software and Data Drive Value in Connected Health Devices
“The big revenue generator is the software. Okay. It's not the device. The device is purchased or licensed, but it's really the software and the data. Okay. That is the true value.”
Jillian Manus: Outlines is overly complicated across manufacturing, recovery, and recycling
“I think that this is overly complicated. You are designing, you're manufacturing, you're recovering, you're replenishing, you're recycling. It's a lot. And I would love to see you focus on one thing, or even build almost a SaaS product that's logistics for rep…”
Manus says five of her six African startup investments failed
“I've actually invested in six companies in Africa. Ok? Five went belly up.”
Jillian Manus: Ginger, Hurdle, and Kaiser already have mental health video libraries
“I invest a lot in this space and I know that there are a lot of companies like Ginger and Hurdle and a number of other ones that have this content. Just Kaiser, even the healthcare systems, has a whole library of these exactly looking like this.”
Jillian Manus: Stigma is a feature, not a company
“That's not a company. That's a feature. Like, that company could put it into Slack.”
Jillian Manus: Stigma's $9 million pre-money valuation is very frothy
“I think that nine pre is very, very frothy.”
Jillian Manus: Founders should stay silent if they don't know an answer
“Every founder should know, don't say anything. If you don't know something, don't say anything.”
Dotcal's absolutely ridiculous valuation is going to get even more ridiculous
“And by the way, the valuation is ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous, but it's going to be even more ridiculous.”
Manus: Platforms must either be completely free or charge a considerable fee
“Sometimes that middle point is the worst point. One dollar, maybe, I mean, one dollar seems ridiculous. It's just not right. You either do free, or you do something considerable.”
Manus offers $25,000 of personal capital to Who's Your Landlord
“So I'm going to put 25,000 in. Ok, awesome. Ok, of my own.”
Manus: Startups building alongside an anchor partner often get acquired by them
“A lot of these companies, I have two right now, they have an anchor, they're building it out, and that anchor's going to buy them.”
Manus: Who's Your Landlord still lacks clarity on its core product
“I think that the business is yet to understand what it wants to be. I think that Ofo is trying to serve both sides here, and I don't feel that we understand the big product yet.”
Jillian Manus says nonprofits fail to scale because constant fundraising derails missions
“A non-profit, many of them have difficulty scaling, obviously sustainability issues, I know so many organizations that I give money to, they don't have the metrics, they're unable to sustain themselves, and they'll get halfway through their mission, and then t…”
Manus questions if competitor Albert could replicate Cushion's fee negotiation
“Then why couldn't Albert do this? They probably could.”
Manus: Bandwagon provides little value to sports teams
“They like to control their tickets, they like to know what's going on, but I don't see this as a big value to the teams, to tell you the truth.”
Manus: Playven's revenue does not justify an $8M valuation
“No, you shouldn't have because your revenue and this does not, ah, represent an eight million dollar valuation.”
Manus: Topias Soininen lacks capacity to build a cross-sport platform
“But also, I don't think he has the capacity to build out a platform for all sports across, right, all venues.”
The other half of the tape: Jillian Manus's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 6 times in 1 episode on the Pitch. 29 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Josh Muccio 6
Statements about Jillian Manus, by other people (29)
Meghan Carreau: Childhood obesity has nothing to do with socioeconomic status
“That's actually a common misconception, though, because there are lots of kids, you know, one out of three kids and one out of five developing OPC-related disease actually has nothing to do with socioeconomic.”
Bokoff: Jillian Manus Dominated the Room and Led Investor Pushback
“I'm not sure that it was five people telling me the same thing aggressively as much as I did feel there was a stronger voice in the room and she and I may not have hit it off directly, so.”
Ben Walters says frequent price changes increase app engagement without hurting conversion
“What's been so cool is, so what we've seen is in our app, the more times we actually change prices, the more people check into the app to see what prices are. And so it actually increases engagement, and we see conversion rates stay pretty flat, and so when yo…”
Soininen expects to raise at a valuation above $4M in the fall
“I think you know, we, I believe we can raise money at a bigger valuation than four at this point. We just, you know, need to clarify that focus a little bit and that's what we're doing. So I think, you know, once we show that we'll be able to raise at a bigger…”
Altucher Offers to Fill $150k Bridge Round for a Board Seat
“I'd be willing to fill up your round, which I think you said is about, there's about a hundred or a 150 left. So I'd be willing to fill up that round or work with Jillian on filling up that round. And I would require a board seat with some significant voting r…”
Muccio: Investors stalled and Phil Nadel passed on Earbuds
“Charles, Michael, and Jillian, they still haven't actually given Jason any money. And Phil, well, he already told Jason he's out.”
Candee: Airbnb's General Counsel joins Bounce's funding round
“And, ah, one note there that I'm really excited about actually is Jillian put me in touch with
The general counsel of Airbnb.
he's actually joining our round, and he put me in touch with the head of insurance.”
Amado Galoi says Jillian Manus dropped out of the Rex deal
“What was surprising was just a few weeks ago, you know, near the start of the year after, as I was kind of working on closing things with Charles and Phil. I'm like, Hey Jillian, you know, happy new year, blah, blah, blah. Like, you know, are you still interes…”
Slagh: Structure VC Increased Their Shift Investment to $350,000 After Diligence
“So much so that, that they came up to 350,000 dollars.”
Segura: Babyscripts held off Jillian Manus's check chasing higher valuation
“On our end, we decided to not take her money, because we were talking to two other investors that had been signaling that they would give us better terms.”
Rose: Jillian Manus passed on FranShares after the show over valuation
“And at the end, she said she was out because of the valuation.”
The Pitch raised $110K from Jillian Manus, Rob Chesnut, and Elizabeth Yin
“And we raised a 110,000 dollars almost immediately from Jillian Maness, her husband Rob Chestnut, and Elizabeth Yin.”
Manus Dropped $25K Investment Over Legal Conflict of Interest
“She said, I'm going to invest. I want to put in 25,000. So everything was all set. I was just waiting for her to sign the documents. She said she was sending it to her legal team so they can review it really quick. We were all thinking, yay, it's a green light…”
Ezeugwu: Jillian Manus reaffirmed $25,000 commitment after Berkadia meeting
“Post that meeting with Bercadia,
We were in the green, right? Like she was reaffirming that she was committing the 25 K.”
Jillian Manus Ultimately Passes on Snapshift After Due Diligence
“After the pitch, Jillian and Thor went through due diligence, and she ultimately decided to pass on the deal.”
Jillian Manus passes on User Interviews due to the $15M valuation
“Jillian ended up getting back to me and saying that the price was a little too high for them to participate.”
Samaritan raised $500,000 of its $1M goal, including $25,000 from Jillian Manus
“He ended up raising 500,000 dollars of the one million he was seeking on our show. 25 K of which came from Jillian.”
Structure Capital ultimately invested $350K in Shift alongside Phil Nadel's $100K
“Her 100,000 dollar commitment turned into a 350,000 dollar check from Structure Capital, and Phil put in a hundred K as well.”
Structure Capital invested nearly $1M into Shift's subsequent $4M seed round
“In fact, her fund, Structure Capital, put in almost a million dollars in that four million dollar seed round, and that's on top of the 350 K they'd already put in.”
Candee: Jillian Manus committed $100K on air but wired $75K
“Jillian said she was in for a 100,000.
We did a close on Friday, and The Wire with her name came in for 75 K.”
Stefan Lobel Reveals That Pitch Investors Dropped Out After Due Diligence
“Michael, Nicole, and Jillian are out, and Charles, I had, we had a difficult time connecting.”
Nadel, Hudson, and Manus finalize $125K investment in Lunar Wireless
“All of the investors have come through. They did their diligence and all of them have written checks. I'm so happy that they were able to do that. Really excited to be able to work with them. Yeah. Yeah. So, 25 from Phil, 50 from Charles, and 50 from Jillian.”
Smith: Structure Capital Evaluates Sandbox Commerce's Bridge or Priced Round
“The discussion we're actively having with a structure is You know, do we come in in this round, potentially, or do we come in in your price round in in the first quarter of 2018? And so that's and it's, so that's a, and they've been incredibly responsive. We'v…”
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
2025 6 mentions in 1 episode
Appearances (105)
Played on the show (1)
Episodes where a recording of Jillian Manus was played rather than Jillian taking part, or where the tape carries an address with nobody putting questions to them. Listed because the words are on the record, kept out of every score on this page because they were not said on this show. We read this off the tape: who was spoken to, who was asked something, who answered whom.
| Episode | Date | On tape | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| #94 The Breaking Point | Mar 4, 2025 | 9s | clip played |