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20VC: Why We Will Continue To See An Explosion In Deep Tech Financing, Why Much of Silicon Valley's Talent Is Going To Waste & How Fund Cycles Need To Be Adjusted To Work With Deep Tech with Seth Bannon, Founding Partner @ Fifty Years

7 augustus 2017 · 32 min
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Seth Bannon is a Founding Partner at Fifty Years, a San Francisco seed fund that backs entrepreneurs solving the world's biggest problems with technology. With a proclivity for deep tech, Seth has invested in a range of startups shaping the world for the better -- from a company culturing real meat to eat without animals, to a company building small satellites to cover the earth in internet. A graduate of Y Combinator, Seth was named twice to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Social Entrepreneurship. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Seth made his way from working on Obama's digital campaign to being a YC founder to now, founding Fifty Years?

2.) What is the Friedman Doctrine? Why does Seth think it is the most dangerous doctrine in the world? What leads Seth to believe in the potential for both purpose + profit? What is driving this change in millennial mindsets for the importance of purpose?

3.) Why does Seth believe we have seen a large increase in VC $ moving into deep tech as a space? What are the technical reasons for why seed stage deep tech investing is now such an attractive market segment? Do we have adequate deep tech growth financing?

4.) Why does Seth believe that much of Silicon Valley's talent is going to waste? How would Seth like to see talent redistributed to produce the greatest returns for society? What needs to be done for that to occur?

5.) Why is Seth so bullish in his belief for the need for fund cycles to be extended? How does Seth respond to suggestions that due to long development cycles in deep tech, investors have to carry companies for much longer? How has Seth seen the secondaries market open up over the last few years?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Seth's Fave Book: The Idea Factory

Seth's Fave Blog: Hacker News

Seth's Most Recent Investment: Athelas

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Seth on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20V…
20VC: Coinbase's Brian Armstrong on The Rise & Short Term Correction in ICOs, The Regulatory Framework Required For Blockchain To Succeed & How The Rise of Blockchain Disrupts The VC Industry

4 augustus 2017 · 29 min
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Brian Armstrong is the Founder & CEO @ Coinbase, the startup that provides the world's most popular way to buy and sell bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin. They have backing from some of the biggest and best in VC having raised over $100m from the likes of Andreesen Horowitz, USV, DFJ and many more incredible investors. As for Brian, prior to Coinbase he was a Software Engineer @ Airbnb and before that founded his own startup, Universitytutor.com Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Brian made his way from Airbnb to founding one of the early disruptors in the crypto space with Coinbase?

2.) Doing an 80/20 analysis, what are the 3 fundamental differences between Bitcoin and ethereum? What is Brian's opinion on the scaling path ahead for ethereum? How do the teams behind ethereum and Bitcoin differ and what effect do these differing approaches have?

3.) What is an ICO? Does Brian believe ICOs will be a sustainable method of company financing in the future? What needs to take place to ensure for the continued momentum of ICOs? What have been the biggest surprises of ICOs for Brian?

4.) How does Brian view the regulatory stance around both ICOs and blockchain more generally? What is he concerned will happen? What would be the optimal regulatory framework for the theme to thrive?

5.) How does the rise of blockchain disrupt the VC industry? Why does Brian agree with Naval in stating the future will involve the unbundling of money, control and advice from the realms of VC?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Brian's Fave Book: Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman

Brian's Fave Blog: Week In Ethereum

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Brian on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users – within their UX and without taking on fraud &…
20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV

2 augustus 2017 · 27 min
Afspelen

Max Gazor is a General Partner @ CRV, one of the nation's oldest and most successful VC firms now on their 16th fund and with a prior portfolio consisting of the likes of Twitter, Yammer, Zendesk and ClassPass just to name a few. As for Max, he has led deals in the likes of Airtable, Simplivity, Xamarin and many more incredible companies. Prior to CRV, Max led acquisitions and investments across enterprise and emerging technologies for Cisco's Corporate Development team. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Max made his entry into VC and came to be General Partner @ CRV?

2.) How does Max look to really build conviction around the 1% of companies that he invests in? CRV, now on Fund 16, what have been the major lessons as a firm about operating a VC fund successfully? How does CRV actively implement policies to place the entrepreneur first?

3.) How does Max consider capital allocation across stages and the efficient use of follow on funding? How does he stack rank the portfolio and determine which companies to double down on and which not to?

4.) Why does Max believe that AI is where the cloud was 10 years ago? Within the segment, where is Max most excited? Why does Max often advocate for his startups to remain in stealth mode following funding?

5.) When is the right time for startups to formalize their boards? What is the right size of board in the early days? What is the one feeling that the board should make the founder feel in meetings?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Max's Fave Book: Old Man and The Sea

Max's Fave Blog: The Twenty Minute VC

Max's Most Recent Investment: Airtable

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Max on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users – within their UX and without taking on fraud…
20VC: What Metrics LPs Really Use To Measure Manager Success, Why 10 Year Fund Structures Really Do Not Work & Why Venture Is So Similar To The Movie Business with Will Porteous, General Partner @ RRE Ventures

31 juli 2017 · 26 min
Afspelen

Will Porteous is the General Partner & COO @ RRE Ventures, one of New York's leading venture funds with investments in the likes of Buzzfeed, The Huffington Post, Giphy and Paperless Post just to name a few. As for Will, he works primarily with media and hardware companies, where he is a Director of BuzzFeed, Paperless Post, Spaceflight, and Spire. Prior to VC, Will held senior management positions with SupplyWorks and NetMarket, the e-commerce pioneer now owned by Cendant Corp. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Will made his entry into VC and came to be the hardware and media specialist as General Partner and COO @ RRE Ventures?

2.) Why does WIll believe VC is like the movie industry? How can VCs be prepared to movie producers? How does the talent required to make a great movie resemble that of making a great startup?

3.) Why does Will think the current venture model of 10-year life cycles is broken? How would he like to see LP liquidy opened with iterations on the current venture model? How can the secondary market be revolutionized to provide such liquidity?

4.) Why does Will believe that location awareness will drive a wave of value creation an order of magnitude greater than anything we have seen before? What is the thesis behind this? What are the barriers, both from a technology and cultural perspective?

5.) What were Will's biggest takeaways from being mentored by the legend, Bill Campbell, Former Chairman and CEO @ Intuit? What did he learn about leadership and incentivising a workforce from Bill? What example does Bill provide from seeing this at Google?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Will's Fave Book: Radical Candor; Be A Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

Will's Fave Blog: AVC by Fred Wilson

Will's Most Recent Investment: The Outline

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Will on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

WePay helps online platfo…
20VC: Construct Your Fundraising Process To Get 3 Term Sheets in 36 Hours, Why Slow and Steady Can Be Best For Startups & Why All Startups Must Know Their Zero Cash Day with Nathan Wenzel, Founder & CEO @ SimpleLegal

28 juli 2017 · 23 min
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Nathan Wenzel is the Founder & CEO @ SimpleLegal, the startup that helps legal operations reduce legal spend and improve operational efficiency. They recently raised their $10m Series A led by leading SaaS investors, Emergence Capital with participation from our favourites in the team at Susa Ventures and Rincon Venture Partners. As for Nathan, prior to founding SimpleLegal he spent time in consulting and as a Partner @ BI analytics firm, Edge Solutions. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Nathan made his way from consulting to BI analytics to founding one of SaaS's hottest "overnight successes" in SimpleLegal?

2.) Why does Nathan advocate for the slow and steady approach in startups? What type of business does this make sense for? Does this not go contra the traditional theory of move fast and break things?

3.) Nathan has said before that "most bay area millennials have not seen market corrections". How does Nathan's experience seeing these corrections affect his running of SimpleLegal? Why does Nathan think we have an impending market correction to come?

4.) Why must founders always know the day that they will become profitable? How does that change the way they operate and strategise the running of the business? Why is it also crucial for them to know their zero cash day?

5.) What did John really look for in his investors? What questions should founders ask potential investors pre-investment? How would John look to improve his fundraising process for the Series B?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Nathan's Fave Book: Only The Paranoid Survive by Andy Grove

Nathan's Fave Blog: SaaStr

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Nathan on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users – within their UX and without taking on f…
20VC: Why YC Is The Exact Opposite of Proprietary Deal Flow, Why Having No Follow On Dramatically Aligns Incentives & Why Founders Do Not Have To Be Passionate About Their Idea From The Start with Michael Ma, Founding Partner @ Liquid 2 Ventures

26 juli 2017 · 25 min
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Michael Ma is a Founding Partner @ Liquid 2 Ventures, one of San Francisco's younger and more exciting seed funds, also unique in having Hall of Fame quarter back, Joe Montana as another Founding Partner. Their portfolio includes the likes of previous guest, WorkRamp, NerdWallet, FanDuel and many more very exciting young companies. Prior to Liquid 2, Michael was the co-founder of TalkBin, a YC alum that later sold to Google and was an Investment Team Partner @ First Round's Dorm Room Fund. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How from Michael's parents arriving in the US with $300 Michael made his way into tech ended up in YC, selling his company to Google and ultimately being a VC with Liquid 2?

2.) Does Michael agree with the common suggestion that too much money is chasing too few deals at seed? How does Michael think raising now is different to when raising for Liquid 2? How did having Joe Montana as a founder affect the fundraise?

3.) How does Michael view the optimal decision making process? Does Michael believe in unanimity or conviction driven processes when investing with a partnership? How does this change for follow on? Why is it so important to have silver bullet deals in partnerships?

4.) Does Michael agree with the commonly stated assessment that with the scaling of YC the quality has reduced? How does Michael use his own YC experience to argue against this? How should investors be approaching YC today, in this structure?

5.) How does Michael view fund cycles when investing in such deep tech as he has? Are they too short? How does Michael look to scale the learning curve on new industries and transformational technology?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Michael's Fave Book: Count of Monte Cristo

Michael's Fave Blog: TermSheet

Michael's Most Recent Investment: Vivid Vision

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Michael on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC…
20VC: Investing $200m In Facebook, The 3 Stages of Founder Development & Why Creating A New User Behaviour Can Be Unit Economics Inefficient with Rahul Mehta, Managing Partner @ DST

24 juli 2017 · 23 min
Afspelen

Rahul Mehta is a Managing Partner @ DST, one of the world's leading late stage venture funds with a portfolio including the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb, Spotify and Alibaba just to name a few of the incredible companies they have backed. As for Rahul himself, he leads the firm's efforts in the US, Indonesia and India where he led deals in Snapchat, Slack, Ola Cabs, Houzz and Zalando. As a result of this incredible portfolio, Rahul was listed to the Forbes Midas List in 2016. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Rahul made the way from tech investment banking to one of the leading growth funds of all time with Yuri Milner investing in Facebook?

2.) Having invested in the likes of Facebook, Snap and Alibaba, how does Rahul assess the leadership teams of some of today's leading players? What makes them the great leaders they are? How can leaders look to make the transition from Founder to CEO?

3.) Why does Rahul argue that founder led businesses are always best? What are the fundamental benefits to this? What hurdles do they have to face to remain CEO for the duration? Where does Rahul see commonalities of CEO's struggling?

4.) How does Rahul look to assess unit economics? What does Rahul have to see in the market to see the long term sustainability of unit economics? Why do companies sometimes have to have poor unit economics in the beginning?

5.) How does Rahul assess the balance of building competitive barriers to entry or focussing on aggressive expansion and being first to market? How does this differ according to sector and funding? How will this change in the future?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Rahul's Fave Book: Open by Andre Agassi

Rahul's Most Recent Investment: Wish

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Rahul on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping plat…
20VC: The 2 Types of Sexism & How They Play Out In Tech, Why You Should Not Always Get Customers To Pay For Your Product Immediately & Why You Must Ask Operator VCs Different Questions To Non-Operator VCs with Jenna Brown, Founder & CEO, Shipamax

21 juli 2017 · 21 min
Afspelen

Jenna Brown is the Founder & CEO @ Shipamax, a data driven communications platform for brokers and operators. They recently raised their seed round from the likes of FF Angel, Y Combinator, Cherubic Ventures, and top angels including Lee Linden and my personal favorite, Andy Rankin. Prior to Shipamax, Jenna was Head of Global Expansion @ GoCardless, one of London's leading Fintech players and before that was herself a trader at RWE Trading. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Jenna made her way from ship broker to YC alum, changing the world of shipping with Shipamax?

2.) How does Jenna compare fundraising in the UK to Europe? Was it a challenge raising US funds, considering Jenna was operating outside of the valley? How did Jenna look to mitigate these concerns?

3.) How did Jenna experience both direct and indirect sexual discrimination throughout the fundraising process? Which form was harder to deal with? How did Jenna respond? In hindsight, would Jenna have done anything differently?

4.) What does Jenna advise founders in terms of taking operator VC money vs non-operator VC money? What differing questions must be asked? What should founders be wary of with both types of investors?

5.) Why does Jenna disagree with the commonly held suggestion that you must get people to pay for your product as soon as possible? Why is this not the case always? In what cases is it optimal to have a smoother and faster onboarding?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Jenna's Fave Book: Hard Thing About Hard Things

Jenna's Fave Blog: SaaStr

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Jenna on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users - within their UX and without taking on fraud & regulatory exposure. WePay also offers award-winning support…
20VC: Why It Is BS That You Never Regret Paying A High Price To Get Into A Good Company, Why There Are Only 2 Price Points That Work in SaaS and Why eSports Will Be Bigger Than Traditional Sports in 5 Years Time with Jason Pressman @ Shasta Ventures

19 juli 2017 · 26 min
Afspelen

Jason Pressman is a Managing Director @ Shasta Ventures who have made investments in the likes of Nest, Dollar Shave Club, Smule, Class Dojo and more. With 10 portfolio company investments under his belt, Jason invests in both enterprise and consumer, currently serving on the boards of Crittercism, subscription billing unicorn Zuora, as well as Nextdoor and mobile music platform Smule. Prior to joining Shasta, Jason was Vice President, Strategy and Operations at venture-backed Walmart.com, where he took the online retailer from zero to large scale revenue in five years. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Jason made his way into the world of venture from Walmart? What were the big takeaways from seeing Walmart enter their hyper-growth phase?

2.) Why does Jason believe it is bullshit to say, "you never regret paying a high price for getting into a good company"? How does Jason evaluate entry point? What makes one entry point attractive and another not?

3.) What does Jason see as the catalysts for the opening of public markets to tech companies? How long does he think this will continue? Is he concerned by the likes of Yext, IPOing with less than aggressive growth rates?

4.) Why does Jason believe there are only 2 price points that work in SaaS? What are they? How does this affect the structure and operations of your SaaS startup? What are the circumstances in which these price points do not apply?

5.) Why does Jason believe that eSports will be bigger than the NBA in 5 years? What are the catalysts driving this change? What needs to be formulated within eSports for this to happen?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Jason's Fave Book: First, Break All The Rules

Jason's Most Recent Investment: Plays.tv

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Jason on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing,…
20VC: VC of The Year: Forerunner's Kirsten Green on 2 $Bn+ Exits in 1 Year, Why We Are In The Very Early Innings For Commerce & How Brand Has Fundamentally Changed Over The Last Decade

17 juli 2017 · 28 min
Afspelen

Kirsten Green is the Founding General Partner @ Forerunner Ventures, where she has raised over $250M from leading investors and has invested in more than 40 early-stage companies. Forerunner Ventures is the only VC firm to invest in both Dollar Shave Club and Jet.com, two of the biggest and highest-profile e-commerce exits in recent years, and counts Birchbox, Bonobos, Glossier, Hotel Tonight, Warby Parker and Zola among its portfolio companies. She's been honored in Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2017, named VC of the Year at TechCrunch's 2017 Crunchies Awards, and is part of Forbes 2017 Midas List. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Kirsten came to found one of the most successful early stage funds of the past decade in Forerunner?

2.) Question from Michael Kim @ Cendana: How does Kirsten view the optimal portfolio construction theory for a thematically specialized consumer fund? What is the one question Kirsten asks herself pre-investing in a startup?

3.) Question from David Pakman @ Venrock: Given the scope of consumer as a space, is Forerunner large enough to attain the required ownership levels? What does this mean for the future of Forerunner in terms of further funds, opportunity funds and entry points?

4.) What are the 3 core principles to developing an exciting investment opportunity in the consumer space? What commonalities do they have? What do you look for in a consumer brand founder that might be different from a software founder?

5.) Why does Kirsten believe that Amazon has done more to make the market opportunity than they have to crush it? What makes Kirsten believe we really are in the early innings for commerce? How will we see the notion of brand evolve over the coming years?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Kirsten's Fave Book: Charlie and The Chocolate Factory

Kirsten's Fave Blog: TheSkimm

Kirsten's Most Recent Investment: Packagd

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Kirsten on Twitter here!

Likew…
20VC: Max Levchin on What Makes A Truly Great CEO, Why Self-Awareness Is The Most Important Trait For Entrepreneurs & Why When There Is Doubt There Is No Doubt

14 juli 2017 · 23 min
Afspelen

Max Levchin is the Founder & CEO @ Affirm, the company that aims to remake consumer finance from the ground up. They have backing from some of the best in the business with over $400m in VC funding from the likes of Founders Fund, Lightspeed, Andreesen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures and Spark Capital just to name a few. Prior to Affirm, Max held numerous exec positions including Chairman of Yelp for 11 years and sitting on the board of directors @ Yahoo. Before that, Max founded Slide, subsequently bought by Google and was the Co-Founder & CTO @ Paypal. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Max come to co-found Paypal and how did that serve as the foundations for his founding of Affirm today?

2.) Why does Max believe there is a crucial misalignment between service providers and consumers in financial services? Does Max agree with Bill Clerico that 'we are still in the very early days for Fintech?'

3.) Having co-founded Paypal, Slide and now Affirm, how has Max changed as a leader and CEO? What does Max believe makes the truly great CEOs? Are there commonalities in how they operate and their skills?

4.) What does Max look for in all new hires or when evaluating founders for potential investment? Why is self-awareness so important for entrepreneurs to have? Why does Max want to be slightly terrified by how smart an individual is?

5.) How has having Children changed Max's perception of what is important and what he chooses to spend his time on? How does that reflect in his actions and self-discipline?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Max's Fave Book: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Max on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

eShares is the No 1 Cap Table Management platform, allowing for equity management, 409A valuations, and liquidity, all in one place. eShares is made for companies of all sizes with over 5,000 trusted…
20VC: The Blurring of Early & Late Stage, Why Your Go To Market Strategy Is More Important Now Than Ever & Why Venture Is The Academia Of Tech with Roseanne Wincek @ IVP

12 juli 2017 · 30 min
Afspelen

Roseanne Wincek is an investor with IVP, one of the leaders in growth financing with a portfolio including the likes of Snap, AppDynamics, SuperCell and Slack. At IVP, Roseanne focuses on investing in later-stage, high-growth consumer and enterprise companies, currently serving as a Board Observer for MasterClass and actively working with IVP's investments in Compass, Glossier, and Qubole. Prior to IVP, Roseanne was a Principal with Canaan Partners where she completed transactions for Beckon, Metacloud, and Stayful, just to name a few. Prior to VC, Roseanne was a co-founder @ imthemusic working to built music apps on the early Facebook platform. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Roseanne made her way from science labs to startups and one of the valleys leading growth stage funds?

2.) Question from Maha Ibrahim @ Canaan Partners: How has the transition been from early to late stage? How do the industries differ in terms of startup visibility? Assessing the "what could be"? Allocation to reserve funding? Expected hold period?

3.)Why does Roseanne believe we are seeing a blurring of the lines between early and late stage? What is the effect for late stage of earlier stage funds having opportunity funds? What is the effect for early stage funds to see growth funds investing earlier??

4.) Why does Roseanne believe go to market strategy is now more important than ever? How serious does Roseanne believe the incumbency with regards to distribution channels is? Does this mean startups have to develop proprietary organic distribution channels?

5.) How does Roseanne view competition within the financing market? Question from Jenny Lefcourt @ Freestyle: How has Roseanne consistently gotten into some of the hottest most competitive deals?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Roseanne's Fave Book: Einstein's Refrigerator: Tales of Hot & Cold

Roseanne's Most Recent Investment: Masterclass

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Roseanne on Twitter …
20VC: Benchmark's Mitch Lasky on The Snapchat Journey From Series A to IPO, Why Small Is Beautiful In Venture Partnerships & Why Venture Is Very Much Like Hollywood

10 juli 2017 · 25 min
Afspelen

Mitch Lasky is a General Partner @ Benchmark, one of the world's leading VC funds with a portfolio including the likes of Twitter, Uber, Snapchat, eBay, WeWork, Yelp and many more revolutionary companies of the last decade. As for Mitch himself, Mitch has made investments or is on the boards of Snapchat, Riot Games, Discord, Outpost Games and Cyanogen, just to name a few. Prior to Benchmark, Mitch was CEO @ JAMDAT Mobile where he led the mobile gaming company from a 10 employee startup to a 700 employee global business leading their IPO on the NASDAQ in 2004 and later negotiating their sales to Electronic Arts for $680m. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Mitch made his way from leading a 700 person gaming company to IPO to being General Partner with Benchmark?

2.) What does the investment decision-making process look like at Benchmark? Why does Mitch believe small is beautiful when it comes to VC teams? What is it that makes the Benchmark partnership the very special partnership it is?

3.) What makes Mitch say that "venture is very much like Hollywood? What does he mean by this? How does he apply this to talent evaluation? The hits-driven nature of the business?

4.) Why does Mitch struggle when analysing the future for VR? What is it about the current crop of innovation around VR that makes Mitch nervous? Where does Mitch see potential within the realms of VR & AR?

5.) How does Mitch view the continued rise of eSports? Does he believe that the industry will ever be as large as the traditional sports industry? What aspects of the industry does Mitch think is highly investable or not investable?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Mitch's Fave Book: The Genius of System

Mitch's Fave Blog: Above The Crowd

Mitch's Most Recent Investment: Outpost Games

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Mitch on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

eShares is the No 1 Cap Table Mana…
20VC: Why Radical Candor Is Crucial in Workplaces, Why 85% of Work Relationship Mistakes Happen and Why You Should Not Try and Be More Likeable with Kim Scott, Co-Founder @ Candor Inc

7 juli 2017 · 28 min
Afspelen

Kim Scott is the Co-Founder @ Candor, the startup that allows you to become a better leader. Prior to founding Candor, Kim was a CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, Twitter and several other Silicon Valley companies. She was a member of the faculty at Apple University, developing the course "Managing at Apple," and before that spent 5 years at Google on AdSense, YouTube, and Doubleclick Online Sales and Operations at Google. Previously, Kim was the co-founder and CEO of Juice Software, a collaboration start-up. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Kim came to founder Candor and be an advisor to Twitter, Qualtrics and Dropbox?

2.) How did Kim's interactions with Sheryl Sandberg while at Google shape how Kim views employee feedback? What is the most effective way for a superior to convey their feedback to their employee?

3.) What really is radical candor? How does it differ to more traditional "feedback"? What are the challenges of ruinous empathy? How does this play out in the work environment? How does this contrast to "obnoxious aggression"?

4.) Is this a gender issue? What makes it so difficult for people to be radically candid? Why is it a problem that people are told to 'be professional'? How does that act to de-humanize people?

5.) How do males go most wrong when conveying feedback to their female counterparts? Why is this a problem for both the males and the females involved? What can the female do to ensure that she is not disadvantaged by this?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Kim's Fave Book: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Kim's Fave Blog: Rands In Repose: Management

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Kim on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

eShares is the No 1 Cap Table Management platform, allowing for equity management, 409A valuations, and liquidity, all in one place. eShares is made for companies of all sizes with over 5,000 trusted customers includi…
20VC: How To Get Back To 200 Tech IPOs Per Year, Why We Are In A 'Bulge" Not A Bubble & The Impending Flat & Down Rounds To Come with Barry Schuler, Partner @ DFJ Growth

5 juli 2017 · 25 min
Afspelen

Barry Schuler is a Partner @ DFJ Growth, the team that seeks out companies that have gone through the early stages of funding and are category leaders or are poised to be. Their portfolio includes the likes of Tesla, Twitter, Box, Unity 3D and more fantastic companies. As for Barry, he is credited with being one of the pioneers of the modern Internet as chairman and CEO of America Online and an entrepreneur for over 30 years. Today he serves on the board of some truly game-changing companies in the likes of Coinbase, Unity and Foursquare just to name a few. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Barry make his way from Chairman of Americal Online to Partner @ DFJ Growth, one of the leading growth funds?

2.) Why does Barry believe we have seen a drought of tech IPOs in the last few years? What needs to be done to change this and generate the "200 IPOs a year that we need"?

3.) Why does Barry believe we are in a "bulge and not a bubble" in today's current startup ecosystem? What does Barry suggest will happen to the many highly priced tech startups with lacking exit options?

4.) Why does Barry believe that companies are 'bought and not sold'? How has Barry seen the growth and momentum patterns change for those in hypergrowth? How does that affect the IPO market and their price sensitivity?

5.) Why is Barry concerned that there is too much money chasing too few deals? What does that do to his funnel in producing 10m+ revenue scaling startups?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Barry's Fave Book: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Barry's Most Recent Investment: Unity 3D, Giphy

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Barry on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

eShares is the No 1 Cap Table Management platform, allowing for equity management, 409A valuations, and liquidity, all in one place. eShares is made for companies of all sizes with over 5,000 trusted customers…
20VC: Kleiner Perkins GP, Eric Feng on How The Best Funds Use Tech and Data To Find Companies, Why Entrepreneurs Start The Fire and VCs Add The Rocket Fuel & Why Consumer Is Harder Than Ever Today

3 juli 2017 · 26 min
Afspelen

Eric Feng is a Partner @ Kleiner Perkins, one of the world's leading venture capital firms with prior investments in the likes of Google, Amazon, Snapchat, Uber, Twitter and more. At Kleiner Eric focuses on consumer and incubation with his current being his co-founding role with Packagd, the startup building a family of apps offering a new mobile shopping experience. Packagd recently raised a $6m Series A led by Forerunner and GV. Prior to KPCB, Eric held the role of CTO at both Flipboard and Hulu. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Eric made his way into venture, all thanks to the help of Al Gore and Kleiner Perkins?

2.) What does Eric believe are the 2 opposing views of VCs? What side does it sit on? Has he always sat on that side? What was it that changed his mind?

3.) Why does Eric think consumer today is harder than ever before? How does the incumbency issue with regards to distribution affect Eric's thinking? Why does Eric believe we have never seen incumbents as strong as those of today?

4.) Why does Eric believe consumer companies are binary? How does this affect his attitude to price sensitivity? How does this influence his ownership requirements?

5.) How are VC funds building and using their own data platforms to find the best startups? Are we seeing the start of VC funds being disrupted by technology? What advantages does using this technology have?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Eric's Fave Book: Adventures in The Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood

Eric's Fave Blog: TechMeme

Eric's Most Recent Investment: Hollar

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Eric on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

eShares is the No 1 Cap Table Management platform, allowing for equity management, 409A valuations, and liquidity, all in one place. eShares is made for companies of all sizes with over 5,000 trusted customers including the likes of Squarespace, Kicks…
20VC: Why You Do Not Want Diversity Of Thought, Why You Have To Build A Sports Team and Not A Family & Why Extreme Cultures Are Easier For People To Understand with Ari Mir, Founder @ Clutter

30 juni 2017 · 22 min
Afspelen

Ari Mir is the Founder @ Clutter, the startup that provides simple, painless solutions to your storage problems. They have raised over $90m in VC funding with their recent Series C round being a $64m round led by Atomico with participation from Sequoia, GV and the fantastic Brendan Wallace @ Fifth Wall. Prior to Clutter, Ari founded Gumgum, the world's largest image ad network in the visual AI space and PocketChange, a startup backed by Google. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Ari made his way into the world of early stage startups and came to found Clutter?

2.) Why does Ari believe that you should build a sports team and not a family, with regards to your team? What does that really mean? How does that affect both hiring, training and objective attribution?

3.) Why does Ari say 'culture is not a happy hour'? How can one look to build a culture that is driven by humane performance management? Does this not instantly instill a culture of fear?

4.) Why does Ari believe that diversity of thought is so dangerous for early stage startups? How does this view change with the scaling of the team? What key inflection points has Ari noticed with the scaling of the Clutter team?

5.) Why did Ari only hire individuals with finance backgrounds in the early days of the company? What are the benefits of this, particularly for on-demand startups with a heavy focus on unit economics?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Ari's Fave Book: Sam Walton: Made In America

Ari's Fave Blog: AVC

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ari on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

eShares is the No 1 Cap Table Management platform, allowing for equity management, 409A valuations, and liquidity, all in one place. eShares is made for companies of all sizes with over 5,000 trusted customers including the likes of Squarespace, Kickstarter, and DoorDash just to name a few. To try out the must have servic…
20VC: Bessemer's Ethan Kurzweil on How To View Pattern Recognition and Deal With The Anti-Portfolio, The Next Frontier In Developer Focussed Businesses & Why eSports Is Interesting Again

28 juni 2017 · 28 min
Afspelen

Ethan Kurzweil is a Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners, one of the world leading venture funds with prior investments including the likes of Skype, LinkedIn, Yelp and Pinterest just to name a few. As for Ethan, he focuses on consumer facing technology and developer platforms having made investments in the likes of Twitch, Periscope and Dropcam on the consumer side and Twilio, Intercom and SendGrid on the developer platform side, just to name a few from his outstanding portfolio. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Ethan made his entrance into the world of venture and came to be a partner @ Bessemer?

2.) What was the developer roadmap that Ethan established a couple of years ago? Why was it controversial at the time? How have we seen this play out and come into fruition? What is the next frontier in developer focussed businesses?

3.) Ethan has previously said, 'history does not repeat itself but it does rhyme'. How does Ethan view pattern recognition? How does Ethan look to avoid biases and escape the echo chamber of Silicon Valley?

4.) How does Ethan see the world of eSports evolving? From an investment perspective, where does the equity value creation lie; the brands being built or the core underlying technology?

5.) Bessemer publishes their anti-portfolio, why is this? What does one need to take away when assessing the opportunities they have missed? How can one build a process of self-reflection around the anti-portfolio?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Ethan's Fave Book: The Namesake

Ethan's Fave Blog: Nuzzel

Ethan's Most Recent Investment: Periscope Data

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ethan on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

eShares is the No 1 Cap Table Management platform, allowing for equity management, 409A valuations, and liquidity, all in one place. eShares is made for companies of all sizes with over 5,000 trusted customers including the…
20VC: Bessemer's Jeremy Levine on Why We Are In A Fallow Period For Consumer, Why It Is Bogus That Operational VCs Can Add More Value & 2 Golden Rules To Always Tell Entrepreneurs Pre-Investment

26 juni 2017 · 29 min
Afspelen

Jeremy Levine is a Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners, one of the world's leading venture funds with prior investments in the likes of Skype, Shopify, LinkedIn and Twitch, just to name a few. As for Jeremy, 4 of the companies he has invested in with Bessemer have become $Bn companies with 2 of the above; LinkedIn and Shopify, in addition to Yelp and MindBody. If that was not enough, Jeremy is also on the boards of some phenomenal companies in the likes of Pinterest, Yelp and Shopify to name a few. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Jeremy made his entrance into the world of venture and came to be a partner @ Bessemer?

2.) What are the 2 rules Jeremy has with every founder he invests in, prior to making the investment? Why does Jeremy have these rules? At what stage of the pre-investment process are they illustrated?

3.) What are the 2 main reasons that Jeremy believes we are entering a fallow period for the world of consumer? What elements of the incumbency advantages of Facebook, Apple and Google concern Jeremy most? Where does he also see great opportunity?

4.) How has Jeremy seen his style of board member change over the last 16 years? How does Jeremy believe founders can optimize their board through strategic positioning of the VCs they have and where they are placed?

5.) Why does Jeremy believe that it is bogus that operational VCs can provide more value than non-operational VCs? What is the thesis behind this? Where are the core strengths of operational VCs? Where founders must be wary of operational VCs?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Jeremy's Fave Book: The Outsiders

Jeremy's Fave Blog: Dan Primack

Jeremy's Most Recent Investment: Toss

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Jeremy on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

eShares is the No 1 Cap Table Management platform, allowing for equity management, 409A valuations, and liquidity, all in one place. e…
20VC: Why Every CEO's Goal Should Be To Be The Laziest CEO, The Benefits of Being Both Founder and Investor At The Same Time & Why Every CEO Should Try A CEO Coach with Bart Lorang, Founder & CEO @ Full Contact

23 juni 2017 · 23 min
Afspelen

Bart Lorang is the Founder & CEO @ FullContact, the leading contact platform for professionals, teams and businesses. They have raised over $45m in funding from some of the best in the business and dear friends of the show in the likes of Foundry Group with Brad Feld, David Cohen and Techstars and Howard Lindzen at Social Leverage just to name a few. As well as being the rockstar founder @ FullContact, Bart has a unique position as he is also Managing Director @ V1.vc, a seed stage VC fund based in Colorado and San Francisco, providing Bart unique insight into both founding and investing in companies at the same time. Lees meer

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In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Bart made his way into the world of early stage startups and came to found FullContact?

2.) Bart is also a VC with V1, how does being both a founder and a VC affect how Bart views startups and operates @ FullContact? What have been the key learnings for Bart with regards to capital allocation and portfolio construction?

3.) Bart has a CEO coach being the famous, Jerry Colonna, so what was the catalyst for Bart's desire to have a CEO coach? What have been the inflection points in Bart's journey with Jerry? Should every CEO have a CEO coach?

4.) What does Bart believe are the core tenets to successful negotiation? What can be done to ensure a win-win situation for both parties? From what mindset should this be approached? Does Bart agree that you should only monetise to 30% of your value?

5.) Why does Bart pay every employee $7,500 per year to go on holiday on top of their standard salary? Whare the the key rules to ensure this is successful? What are the key benefits that can be derived from this essential vacation?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Bart's Fave Book: Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Bart's Fave Blog: Abundance Insider by Peter Diamandis

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Bart on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on…
20VC: Elad Gil on Becoming One of Silicon Valleys Top Angels, Why Most People Get Market Sizing Wrong & Should VC Services Always Be Bundled Together?

21 juni 2017 · 31 min
Afspelen

Elad Gil is the Founder of Color Genomics, however, Elad is also one of the most prominent angel investors in the valley with a portfolio including the likes of Airbnb, Stripe, Square and Pinterest just to name a few. Prior to founding Color Genomics, Elad was VP of Corporate Strategy @ Twitter where he ran various product teams including geo and search. Before that, Elad spent 3 years at Google where he started Google's mobile team and was involved with 3 acquisitions including Android. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Elad made his way into the world of angel investing and came to invest in Airbnb, Square and Stripe?

2.) Why does Elad take a very market-driven approach to investing? Does this go against the very founder-first approach taken by many in the valley today?

3.) Why does Elad believe that people totally mislead themselves when sizing up potential markets? How should markets be addressed and evaluated? What are the core elements to look for?

4.) Should VC services always be bundled together? Is there a smarter way to decouple these services to make the best products for founders? How could this look in reality?

5.) How does Elad approach valuation? Does Elad agree with Peter Fenton that 'all best companies always seem expensive at the time and cheap in hindsight'?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Elad's Fave Book: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Elad's Most Recent Investment: Checkr

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Elad on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

eShares is the No 1 Cap Table Management platform, allowing for equity management, 409A valuations, and liquidity, all in one place. eShares is made for companies of all sizes with over 5,000 trusted customers including the likes of Squarespace, Kickstarter, and DoorDash just to name a few. To try out the must have service of the industry, simply head over to esharesinc.com it is a must.

Fond …
20VC: Benchmark's Peter Fenton on How To Differentiate Between Good & Great VCs, Why Ownership Is A Bigger Determinant Of Returns Than Valuation & What Makes A Truly Exceptional Board Member

19 juni 2017 · 33 min
Afspelen

Peter Fenton is a General Partner @ Benchmark, one of the world's leading VC funds with a portfolio including the likes of Twitter, Uber, Snapchat, eBay, WeWork, Yelp and many more revolutionary companies of the last decade. Peter himself sits or has sat on the board of Twitter, previous guest Cockroach, Optimizely, New Relic and ZenDesk just to name a few. Prior to Benchmark, Peter was a Managing Partner @ Accel. It is clearly not just me that has a man crush on Peter though as he has been named to Forbes Midas List for many consecutive years with the last list placing Peter as No 3 in the world. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Peter made his way into the world of VC with Accel and came to be a General Partner @ Benchmark?

2.) How does Peter differentiate between the good and the great VCs? How can VCs use hyper-curiosity and hyper-competitiveness to improve their investing ability? Why does Peter not believe that operational experience is a necessity pre-VC?

3.) How does Peter view the importance of valuation in the investment decision making process? How much of a role does it play for him and what is his psychology around valuation, especially with regards to ownership levels?

4.) Why is Peter amused when he hears other investors say they must 'invest in big markets'? What were his big takeaways from watching the investment and hyper-growth journey of Snapchat? How did that influence his view on markets?

5.) Peter has previously said that he is a 'student of great board members'. What are the commonalities among the truly great board members? How do they engage and interact with the entrepreneur? How do they get the most out of their fellow board members?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Peter's Most Recent Investment: Zen.ly

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Peter on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

eShares is the No 1 Cap Table Management platform…
20VC: Is Series B Really The Hardest To Raise? Should The Only Limiting Factor Post Series B Be Cash & When Is The Right Time To Move To The US with Nicolas Dessaigne, Founder & CEO @ Algolia

16 juni 2017 · 21 min
Afspelen

Nicolas Dessaigne is the Founder & CEO @ Algolia, the most reliable platform for building search into your business. Just last week they raised $53m in funding led by Accel with participation from Jason Lemkin @ SaaStr, Point Nine Capital, AppDynamic's Jyoti Bansal, Intercom's Des Traynor and InVision's Clark Valberg and more incredible investors. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Nicolas made his way from Paris to YC to founding one of the hottest SaaS startups of the day in Algolia?

2.) Tom Tunguz has said before that the Series B is the hardest to raise, having just raised his, does Nicolas agree with this? How did this round differ from others? How can founders know what is the right amount to raise? Is 18 months still the desired runway?

3.) Does Nicolas think he made the move to the US at the right time? Too early or too late? What advice would Nicolas give to founders making or thinking about making this move? What areas are Europe and vice versa the US better at hiring for?

4.) Which functional areas do both Europe and the US lead in their respective fields? Why does Nicolas think that it is harder to hire well in the US? Does Europe still have a fundamental lack of experienced sales and marketing professionals?

5.) How did Jason Lemkin train Nicolas to approach the fundraising process? What other than funds can founders gain from the process? How can these conversations be initiated?

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Nicolas on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including online meetings, video webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms and business instant messaging. Plus, it is the easiest solution to use, buy and scale with the most straightforward pricing. Do not take our word for it, Zoom's …
20VC: Tony Conrad on Straddling The Role Of Founder & Investor, What True Founder/Product Fit Looks Like & The Dangers of Party Rounds

14 juni 2017 · 26 min
Afspelen

Tony Conrad is a Partner @ True Ventures, one of the leading early stage funds on the West Coast with a portfolio including the likes of Automattic, Fitbit, Blue Bottle Coffee and recent unicorn, Peloton. Tony is also the Co-Founder & CEO @ About.me (acquired by AOL in 2010). They have since raised funding from some of our favorites in the industry including Brad @ Foundry, SoftTech and BullPen just to name a few. Prior to About.me, Tony founded Sphere (acquired by AOL) in 2008. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Tony made his way from founding About.me to moving into VC with True Ventures?

2.) How has Tony's investment mentality changed since being an incredibly successful angel to now writing institutional cheques with True? What has he learned about investing from the transition?

3.) Why does Tony look to straddle the divide between investor and founder? How does this help him to examine what true product/founder fit is? How does this affect his ability to source deals? Why should more investors look to do the same?

4.) How does Tony view party rounds/ why are they so dangerous? Why is it so wrong for founders to optimize for valuation? What are the later repercussions of doing so? What is a more effective way for founders to approach the raise?

5.) Having spent over 1,500 minutes in board meetings, what has Tony learned about what makes the beat board members? How can founders detect the board member that is truly aligned to them?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Tony's Fave Book: Endurance by Shackleton

Tony's Most Recent Investment: Teamable

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Tony on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including online meetings, video webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms and b…
20VC: Kevin Rose on Putting The Entire Fund Into Uber, The Future For Mobile & Whether Angels Should Have Super Pro-Rata Rights?

12 juni 2017 · 35 min
Afspelen

Kevin Rose is a Venture Partner @ True Ventures, one of the leading early stage funds on the West Coast with portfolio companies including the likes of Automattic, Blue Bottle Coffee, About.me and recent unicorn, Peloton. As for Kevin, he is a serial entrepreneur best known for founding Digg and Revision3. Following such success in the field of operations, Kevin made the move into VC becoming a General Partner and advisor @ Google Ventures. Kevin has also been a prolific angel investor with a portfolio including the likes of Twitter, Square, Facebook, Foursquare, and Zynga just to name a few incredible companies. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Kevin made his way from founding Digg to moving into VC with Google Ventures?

2.) How did Kevin alter his investment mindset when making the transition from angel to General Partner @ Google Ventures? How does the decision making process change? How does asset allocation change? How does portfolio theory change?

3.) Why is Kevin so bullish on the future of mobile? Why does Kevin believe that distribution channels are actually becoming more equal, allowing for greater startup access? Why does Kevin not believe in the future of VR?

4.) How does Kevin view the optimal relationship between VC and founder? Can a VC be a friend as well as an advisor and board member? What can the VC do to ensure their positioning alongside not above the founder?

5.) How does Kevin view the age old debate of work like balance? How does Kevin approach it? What does Kevin recommend to anyone looking to improve their worl life balance?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Kevin's Fave Book: Essentialism

Kevin's Most Recent Investment: Lead.rs

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Kevin on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in…
20VC: Evernote CEO on Why You Play For The Front of Your Jersey Not The Back, Why Success Is A Team Sport & Why Leadership Should Accept The Negative Consequences In All Situations

9 juni 2017 · 26 min
Afspelen

Chris O'Neill is the CEO @ Evernote, the productivity powerhouse allowing millions of users around the world to remember everything. They have raised over $160m in VC funding from some of the best in the business including the likes of Sequoia Capital. As for Chris, prior to Evernote, he spent over 10 years at Google including roles as Managing Director of Google Canada and global business operations at Google X. Whilst at Google Chris saw the hyper growth of the company from startup t a global behemoth. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Chris made his way into startups and came to be CEO @ Evernote?

2.) Chris has previously said 'the team you build is the culture you build'. How does Chris look to build high-performance teams that can scale differing stages of company growth? Are individuals destined to fit one stage of company growth?

3.) How does Chris look to balance the immediacy of short terms actions and events with the grander vision and longer term in mind? What are the challenges? What strategies can be done to ensure both short and long term goals are addressed?

4.) How does Chris approach product line expansion? When is the right time and reason to expand the product line? How can this be communicated and executed across the broader team?

5.) Chris has previously said he 'learned more from sport than he did from school'. What were Chris major takeaways from sport? How can they be applied to business and his role @ Evernote today?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Chris' Fave Book: A Prayer For Owen Meaney, Zone to Win

Chris' Fave Blog: Benedict Evans

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Chris on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including online meetings, video webinars, collaboration-enabled confer…
20VC: Why Cheque Size & Follow On Decision-Making Does Not Matter, Why Intelligence Is Overrated & Why You Should Do Everything You Can To Make Other People Successful with Anthony Pompliano, Founding Partner @ Full Tilt Capital

7 juni 2017 · 27 min
Afspelen

Anthony Pompliano is the General Partner @ Full Tilt Capital, the firm that wants to reinvent friends and family investingby democratizing access to opportunity for the thousands of founders who are underserved. They have done 22 deals in just 90 days and shows no signs of pulling back. Prior to VC, Anthony lead the growth team at Snapchat and before that ran product and growth teams @ Facebook. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Anthony made his way from leading startup exec with Facebook and Snapchat to being General Partner @ Full Tilt Capital?

2.) Anthony has previously said that he likes to 'prioritize the founder over the company', is this any different to the traditional 'founder-friendly VC'? How does Anthony like to stress test the founder's ability to withstand stress *& establish comfort with unpopular decisions?

3.) How does Anthony respond to suggestions that 39 investments in 9 months is 'spray and pray'? Why does Anthony believe that cheque size and follow on allocation does not matter?

4.) How does Anthony differentiate between 'picking' and 'building' investments? Why do most VCs go wrong with their thesis around this and the belief in the 'J Curve'? Is it possible that the traditional J curve does not correspond to outsized returns?

5.) How does Anthony respond to Hunter Walk's thesis around the presence of 'dark deal flow'? With such a growing portfolio, how does Anthony scale his ability to add value with the ever scaling portfolio number?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Anthony's Fave Book: Rich Dad Poor Dad

Anthony's Fave Blog/Podcast: Polina Marinova: The Profile

Anthony's Most Recent Investment: Everly Well

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Anthony on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activiti…
20VC: Founders Fund's Brian Singerman on Why VC Is About Upside Maximisation Not Downside Minimisation, Why There Is No Right Way To Do Venture and Why They Do Not Have Monday Morning Partner Meetings At Founders Fund

5 juni 2017 · 24 min
Afspelen

Brian Singerman is a Partner @ Founders Fund, one of the world's most prestigious and successful VC funds with prior investments in the likes of Facebook, Airbnb, SpaceX, Spotify and many more incredible companies. Prior to Founders Fund, Brian spent 4 years at Google where, among other projects, Brian founded iGoogle. Whilst at Google, Brian also started his career as an investor, founding his own angel fund, XGYC Fund. Brian also currently sits on the board of Affirm, Oscar, AltSchool and Emerald Therapeutics. Due to Brian's immense success he was named No 5 on Forbes Midas List for America's Top VCs. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Brian made the way from Google, to his own angel fund to being General Partner @ Founders Fund?

2.) How has Brian seen his investment mindset shift over the years from angel investing to his angel fund, XGYC to now being a partner at Founders Fund?

3.) Why does Brian believe that success in VC is purely about upside maximization? What does Brian think downside minimisation is unimportant?

4.) What does the investment decision-making process look like at Founders Fund? How does this change with the scaling cheque size? What are Brian's views on conviction driven vs unanimous team voting structures?

5.) Why is Brian a staunch generalist when it comes to investing? For Brian, why does he believe that being a generalist will deliver outsized returns over being a specialist?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Brian's Fave Book: Snow Crash

Brian's Fave Blog: Dan Primack

Brian's Most Recent Investment: Affirm

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Brian on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including online meetings, video webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms and business inst…
20VC: Trivago Founder on Why Incumbents Have Lost Their Main Business Model, Why You Have To Destroy Everything Ego Related & Why Transparency Is The Key To Capital Flow

2 juni 2017 · 25 min
Afspelen

Rolf Schrömgens is the Co-Founder and Managing Director @ Trivago, the world's top hotel price comparison site. In 2012, Expedia acquired 62% of Trivago for $531m and in Dec 2016, Trivago raised $287m through their IPO on the NASDAQ. As for Rolf, he has been a serial entrepreneur since 1999 when he founded Amiro.de, later merged with Ciao.com. At Ciao, Rolf successfully led the product launch of the company in his role as Director of Strategy and Product Development. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Rolf made his way into the world of startups and came to found Trivago?

2.) Having had one of Europe's best-funded startups with Ciao, what is Rolf's take on the number of startups taking large amounts of VC money today? What advice would Rolf give to those contemplating a more lean approach vs attaining large amounts of VC money?

3.) Why does Rolf believe transparency is so key for the flow of capital within a market? What can founders do to engender this basis of trust between the capital sources and them?

4.) Why does Rolf think it is unthinkable that the incumbents of today will survive the wave of disruption? Why does Rolf question their ability to a consolidator market environment?

5.) Why does Rolf think it is so important to destroy everything that is ego related? What are the dangers of ego in the company building process? How does Rolf look to stamp this out without damaging culture and internal morale?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Rolf's Fave Book: How To Create A Mind by Ray Kurzweil

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Rolf on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including online meetings, video webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms and business instant messaging. Plus, it is the easiest so…
20VC: How Both Founders & GPs Should Construct Their Pitch, Why VCs Are Eternal Optimists & What Makes The Best Post-Investment VC/Founder Relationship with Brian Ascher, Partner @ Venrock

31 mei 2017 · 25 min
Afspelen

Brian Ascher is a Partner @ Venrock, a leading fund with prior investments including Nest, Dollar Shave Club, AppNexus and many more. At Venrock, Brian invests broadly across enterprise and consumer markets and has enjoyed no less than 10 of his investments exit successfully. Due to this exit rate,Brian has been named to the Forbes Midas List multiple times, for the VCs who have backed the most profitable winners in the last four years. Prior to Venrock, Brian was a Senior Product Manager at Intuit responsible for Quicken and Quicken.com. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Brian made his way into the world of VC and came to be a partner at Venrock?

2.) Does Brian believe that in today's world of 'ask for advice and get money', that slide decks are necessary anymore?

3.) How does Brian like pitches to be structured? How should the deck start? Why should the deck not start with the team or the origin story? Should the deck include the amount being raised?

4.) What are the most common mistakes that entrepreneurs make in pitches? How can they turn these into an advantage and show the VC their unparalleled insight?

5.) How does Brian view the post-investment relationship with founders? What makes for the optimal relationship? Is it possible for VC to be both friend and board member? How does Brian look to scale the relationship curve when getting to know a founder?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Brian's Fave Book: Extreme Ownership

Brian's Most Recent Investment: Socrates

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Brian on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including online meetings, video webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms and business instant messaging. Plus, it is the easiest solution to use, buy and sca…
20VC: Kleiner Perkins' MZ Zaveri on Why Success In Venture Is About The 3 F's, How VCs Can Manage Deal Heat & Is There Too Much Venture Dollars At Seed

29 mei 2017 · 26 min
Afspelen

MZ Zaveri is a Partner @ Kleiner Perkins, one of the world's most prestigious venture funds with prior investments in the likes of Google, Amazon, Twitter, Square and Airbnb just to name a few. Prior to KPCB, MZ was with Tencent, where he was part of the investment team in Palo Alto, working on investments in companies such as Vurb, Tile, Satellogic, and Weebly to name a few. Prior to Tencent, Muzzammil co-founded Proxino, a Y Combinator (S11) backed startup in the JavaScript error detection space. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How MZ made his way into the world of VC and came to be a partner at Kleiner Perkins?

2.) What were MZ's biggest takeaways from his time with Tencent? How does that inform how he evaluates and analyses startups today with KPCB?

3.) MZ has said before, 'success in venture is all about the 3 F's'. What does he mean by this? Question from Niko Bonatsos @ General Catalyst: How does MZ look ensure the best opportunities are in the pipeline? How does MZ then look to manage and optimise that pipeline?

4.) What are MZ's thoughts on deal heat? How does MZ look to avoid being sucked into echo chambers of Silicon Valley of what is "hot or not"? What does MZ mean when he says "deal heat can be a false positive when there are more seed funds than ever"?

5.) How does MZ evaluate the seed market today? Does he believe it is over financed with the 10x increase in funds we have seen over the last 10 years? What fund model innovations is MZ most excited by and why?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

MZ's Fave Book: Neverwhere by Neil Gaimon

MZ's Fave Blog/Podcast: The Twenty Minute VC

MZ's Most Recent Investment: UJet

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and MZ on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including o…
20VC: Tinder's Sean Rad on Why Humility Is The Key Trait For Founders To Have, Why Today's Incumbents Are Stronger Than Any Before Them & How Leaders Need To Scale With The Scaling Of Their Company

26 mei 2017 · 25 min
Afspelen

Sean Rad is the Founder & Chairman @ Tinder, the world's most popular app for connecting with new and interesting people around you. Every single day there are 26m matches made on Tinder. Alongside his role with Tinder, Sean is the Chairman of Swipe Ventures, the investment vehicle that will continue to grow Tinder's reach through acquisitions, investment opportunities and development of new business. Prior to Tinder, Sean was the Founder and President of both Adly and Orgoo. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Sean made his way into the world of startups and changed the way people connect with Tinder?

2.) How has Sean seen his startup evaluation process evolve since his time angel investing to now, investing institutionally with Swipe Ventures?

3.) What are the character traits that Sean most looks for when evaluating startup founders? Why is humility key to success as a founder? How can this be balanced with passion and vision?

4.) How has Sean seen his leadership and mentality evolve with the growth of Tinder?What have been the major inflection points in his learning as CEO?

5.) Why does Sean believe that today's incumbents are different than any we have seen before? How does their mentality to startup competition differ from incumbents before them?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Sean's Fave Book: The Nurture Assumption

Sean's Fave Blog: TechCrunch

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Sean on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including online meetings, video webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms and business instant messaging. Plus, it is the easiest solution to use, buy and scale with the most straightforward pricing. Do not take our word for it, Zoom's their partnership with Sequoia in their la…
20VC: The Biggest Indicators Of Success In Founding Teams, How To Balance Both Vision and Operations & Taking Money From "The Man At The Rug Store" with Mar Hershenson, Founding Managing Partner @ Pear.vc

24 mei 2017 · 26 min
Afspelen

Mar Hershenson is a Founding Managing Partner @ Pear.vc alongside Pejman Nozad. After earning a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1999, Mar had developed a ground-breaking technique for optimizing the design of analog semiconductors. Having combined a hardware/software focus during her studies, she spent the next 13 years co-founding three startups in the mobile/e-commerce, enterprise software, and semiconductor industries, work that led eventually to her registering 14 separate patents. Mar has been recognized by MIT Technology Review as a Top Innovator Under 35 and named a Champion of Innovation by Fast Company. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Mar make her way from professor @ Stanford to startup founder to founding Pear.vc?

2.) Question from Matin @ Heap: How does Mar decide which founders have the highest potential? What are the seeds that suggest huge potential growth on initial screening?

3.) Question from Nicky @ Nova Credit: How does one look to balance the inherent challenge of vision and operations? What do the best founders do?

4.) How important is it for there to be role segmentation in a VC partnership? Why does it not matter at certain stages of the funding lifecycle?

5.) Why does Mar believe venture is an intensely service based industry? How does Mar look to maintain her scaling board roles with a scaling portfolio?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Mar's Fave Book: The Four Steps To The Epiphany

Mar's Fave Blog: Elad Gil, Dan Primack

Mar's Most Recent Investment: Nova Credit

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Mar on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including online meetings, video webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms and business instant messaging. …
20VC: Founders Fund's Kevin Hartz on Why Investing In Silicon Valley Is Broken & Why Fearlessness Is What Makes The Truly Great Investors

22 mei 2017 · 22 min
Afspelen

Kevin Hartz is a Partner @ Founders Fund, one of the world's most prestigious and successful VC funds with prior investments in the likes of Facebook, Airbnb, SpaceX, Spotify and many more incredible companies. Prior to Founders Fund, Kevin was Founder & CEO @ Eventbrite, the company that powers thousands of millions of events around the world with backing from the likes of Sequoia and SV Angel. Before that Kevin was the Founder of Xoom Corporation, the international money transfer company that went public in 2012 and was acquired by Paypal in 2015. Kevin has also been a prolific angel with a personal portfolio including Airbnb, Uber, Paypal, Pinterest and Yammer. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) Question from Brian Singerman: How did Kevin come to be the world famous Kevin Hartz? What was Kevin's entry into the world of VC?

2.) How has Kevin seen his investment decision making and evaluation process change when comparing his angel deals in Uber, Paypal and Airbnb to today, investing institutionally with Founders Fund?

3.) How does Kevin see believe his time in operations lends to him being a better investor today? Does Kevin agree with Pat Grady @ Sequoia in stating, 'the rate of decay on operating experience has never been greater'?

4.) With no Monday morning Partner meetings, if a Partner wants to push a deal through, how do you do it at Founders Fund? How do you structure those conversations internally?

5.) What have been Kevin's biggest learnings since joining Founders Fund? How did Kevin look to scale the VC learning curve as fast as possible? What elements did Kevin find most challenging?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Kevin's Fave Book: Peter Thiel: Zero To One

Kevin's Most Recent Investment: HyperTrack

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Kevin on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one cons…
20VC: The Future Business Model For Drones & Why Enterprise Drones Need To Be As Boring As Possible with Jonathan Downey, Founder & CEO @ Airware

19 mei 2017 · 26 min
Afspelen

Jonathan Downey is the Founder & CEO @ Airware, the startup that allows you to make better-informed decisions with aerial date, captured by drones. They have raised over $65m in VC funding from some of the very best in the industry including a16z, Kleiner Perkins and Google Ventures just to name a few. Jonathan is also the General Partner @ Commerical Drone Fund, making $250K-$1m investments in early stage companies in the commercial drone space. Prior to Airware, Jonathan was a commercial pilot and a flight controls engineer @ Boeing. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Jonathan made the move from commercial pilot to startup founder with one of the hottest drone startups, Airware?

2.) What has been the catalyst for the rising belief in the potential for drones? What has changed about the landscape to make them now not only a commercially viable opportunity but also consumer viable?

3.) How does Jonathan view the commercial landscape today? Where does Jonathan see the highest potential for the commercial application of drones? How does one approach go to market strategy and business model in a completely undefined landscape?

4.) What are the current barriers to adoption for corporations with drones? What does it mean and entail for an organization to adopt drones in terms of new workflows and training? What are the key transformative technologies that will enable new applications and market expansion?

5.) With incumbents now heavily investing in the space, does Jonathan believe this will be a market of disruption or consolidation and acquisition by the exisiting incumbents?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Jonathan's Fave Book: Elon Musk by Ashley Vance

Jonathan's Fave Blog: Chris Dixon

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Jonathan on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Eight is a sleep innovation company. With their latest product, the Eight Smart Mattress, bei…
20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures

17 mei 2017 · 26 min
Afspelen

Scott Raney is a Partner @ Redpoint Ventures, one of the valley's leading multi-stage funds with over 434 investments, close to $4bn in assets under management and 136 IPOs and M&A. At Redpoint Scott has made investments in the likes of Twilio, Stripe and Heroku, just to name a few. Prior to Redpoint, Scott was responsible for new products at NorthPoint Communications, and before that Scott worked at Bain & Company helping clients in the private equity and technology industries. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Scott made his first forays into the world of VC and came to be a Partner @ Redpoint Ventures?

2.) Why does Scott think it is a good thing that we have seen company funding down 6 quarters in a row? What does this mean for startups trying to raise?

3.) What 2 types of companies will continue to find it easy to raise in these markets? What types of companies will struggle to raise? Is there market cyclicality or a return to normal more sustainable times?

4.) Why are investors a lot less willing to take future fundraising risk? How does Scott view the optimal investment decision-making process for a VC partnership? Why does unanimity not work?

5.) Why does Scott believe it is dangerous to be a spreadsheet investor? With the bar being higher today, what are the milestones that startups need to reach in order to be attractive from an investment perspective?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Scott's Fave Book: Born To Run By Bruce Springsteen

Scott's Fave Blog: Tom Tunguz

Scott's Most Recent Investment: Hashicorp

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Scott on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Eight is a sleep innovation company. With their latest product, the Eight Smart Mattress, being a bed that literally tells you how well you slept last night, paired with an intelligent sensor cover that measures the quality of your sleep and delivers a daily sleep rep…
20VC: Khosla's Keith Rabois on How To Create Sustainability Behind Growth, How To Assess The Potential Of Individuals & Teams & The Biggest Takeaways from LinkedIn, Paypal & Square

15 mei 2017 · 32 min
Afspelen

Keith Rabois is an investment partner at Khosla Ventures where he has led investments in Stripe, Thoughtspot, HealthTap and Teespring among many others. He also started OpenDoor, which aims to transform the process of selling a home through technology. Keith's unparalleled operational track record does not stop there as he has forged several of the most important new social and commerce platforms over the last decade holding key roles at LinkedIn, Paypal and being COO at Square. As a board member, Keith guided Yelp [NYSE: YELP] and Xoom [NASDAQ: XOOM] from inception to successful IPOs. Simultaneously, he also invested in other like-minded entrepreneurs with early stakes in YouTube [acquired by GOOG], Yammer [acquired by MSFT], Palantir, Lyft, AirBnB, Eventbrite and Quora. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Keith made the move from key executive at LinkedIn, Paypal and Square to being a VC with Khosla?

2.) Question from Lee Hower: What were the biggest learnings from playing a key role at LinkedIn, Paypal and Square? How do they compare to learning from Slide, a not so successful project? Does one learn more from success or failure?

3.) Question from Jason Lemkin: How can founders assess the potential of their teams? How long is it possible to allow individuals to stretch to their roles? What are the signs that people are either exceeding or falling below expectations?

4.) Eric Yuan @ Zoom has previously illustrated the importance to me of sustainable growth. What is Keith's view of this? Why does he not like this term? What are his thoughts on the key constraints on growth for most startups?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Keith's Fave Book: The Upside of Stress

Keith's Fave Blog: Stratechery

Keith's Most Recent Investment: Forward

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Keith on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Eight is a sleep innovation company. With their …
20VC: Building Shopify From $5m To IPO, Why The Future Of Retail Is Not Online vs Offline & Why Law School Is Like Finishing School For Entrepreneurs with Harley Finkelstein, COO @ Shopify

12 mei 2017 · 30 min
Afspelen

Harley Finkelstein is the COO @ Shopify, the e-commerce platform that has allowed a generation of people to become entrepreneurs and business owners. Harley joined the business with revenues of $5m, today the company has targeted this year for over $600m with over 400,000 merchants on the platform. They have raised over $120m in VC funding from very good friends of the show including Aydin @ Felicis, Jeremy @ Bessemer and Amish @ Firstmark. In May 2015, Shopify went public with a valuation north of $1bn. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Harley make the move from laywer to COO @ Shopify?

2.) Question from Aydin @ Felicis: What have been some strategic inflection points that at the time did not seem like a big deal? How have Harley and Shopify produced and maintained such consistent revenue growth? What is the secret?

3.) Why does Harley believe that the future of retail is not online vs offline? How does Harley react to the suggestion that retail stores need to transition from transaction based, to experience based?

4.) How does Harley view the rise of personal brand in today's technological world? How has this allowed previously non-monetized channels to be monetized? What are some good examples of this?

5.) Why did Harley and Shopify choose to IPO in 2015? How was the roadshow? What was the key learnings for Harley both pre and post-IPO? What does Harley believe it means to be a trusted public company?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Harley's Fave Book: High Output Management

Harley's Fave Blog: Wait But Why

Harley's Fave Shopify Store: Boosted Boards

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Harley on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Eight is a sleep innovation company. With their latest product, the Eight Smart Mattress, being a bed that literally tells you how well you slept last night, paired with an intelligent sensor cover that measures the quality…
20VC: The 3 Forms Of Edge A Founder Can Have, Lessons From Being on A Board With Bill Gates & Why There Are A Lot Of Tourist VCs Who Are Going To Lose A Lot Of Money, with Josh Wolfe, Co-Founder @ Lux Capital

10 mei 2017 · 29 min
Afspelen

Josh Wolfe is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner @ Lux Capital, the fund that supports scientists and entrepreneurs who pursue counter-conventional solutions to the most vexing puzzles of our time, the more ambitious the project, the better. Josh is a founding investor and board member with Bill Gates in Kymeta, making cutting-edge antennas for high-speed global satellite and space communications. In 2008 Josh co-founded and funded Kurion, the company was among the first responders to the Fukushima disaster. In February 2016, Veolia acquired Kurion for nearly $400 million—more than 40 times Lux's total investment. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Josh make his way into VC from the science lab? What was it about venture that got Josh hooked?

2.) How does Josh view the rise of thematic investing? Why does Josh believe there are a lot of tourist VCs who are going to lose a lot of money?

3.) Investing in such frontier technologies, how does Josh view market creation? How does Josh look to build a thesis and a methodology when investing in a company without an existing market?

4.) What is the inflection point for Josh for when heavy science and R&D becomes investable? What is that tipping point where science becomes commercialized?

5.) Does Josh get concerned that with such heavy IP and corporations not investing in R&D that this is a market for acquihires? What are the pros and cons of this shortened liquidity cycles?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Josh's Fave Book: Sapiens

Josh's Fave Blog: Media Redefined

Josh's Most Recent Investment: Recursion Pharmaceuticals

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Josh on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Eight is a sleep innovation company. With their latest product, the Eight Smart Mattress, being a bed that literally tells you how well you slept last night, paired with an intelligent sensor cover that measures the …
20VC: Harry Stebbings on The Biggest Takeaways From Interviewing The World's Best Investors, What Makes A Truly Great Interview & Some Big News... with Mattias Ljungman, Co-Founder & General Partner @ Atomico

8 mei 2017 · 24 min
Afspelen

Mattias Ljungman is a Co-Founder and General Partner @ Atomico, one of Europe's leading VC funds which Mattias launched in 2006 alongside Niklas Zennstrom. Whilst at Atomico Mattias has been involved in significant exits and transcations including SUpercell (acquired by Softbank), Climate Corporation (acquired by Monsanto and 6Wunderkinder (acquired by Microsoft), just to name a few. As for Harry, Harry Stebbings is the founder of The Twenty Minute VC, the world's largest independent VC podcast with guests including Brad Feld, Andy Rachleff, Peter Fenton and many more. Harry also works very closely with Jason Lemkin @ SaaStr where they work to produce The Official SaaStr Podcast. More recently, Harry joined the fantastic team at Atomico as an EIR on the investment team. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Harry made his first foray into the world of entrepreneurship and then made the move into VC?

2.) From interviewing over 800 of the world's best investors, what have been the biggest takeaways for Harry, both in the realms of investing and interacting with entrepreneurs?

3.) What does Harry believes makes a truly great interview? Is it sheer intellectual rigour or does charisma and energy play a large role? Does Harry release all the episodes he records?

4.) What have been Harry's major takeaways since joining the team at Atomico? What have been the best moments both in terms of intellectual learning and then sentimental memories?

5.) How has Harry's perception and analysis of the VC market changed over the 800 interviews? What does Harry see as the fundamental emerging trends within the VC model itself?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Harry's Fave Book: Madame Bovary, What I Learned Losing A Million Dollars

Harry's Fave Blog: Mattermark Daily

As always you can follow Harry, Mattias and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Eight is a sleep innovation compan…
20VC: Why We Are Still In The Very Early Days For Fintech, Why Your Company Has To Have An Opinionated Culture & Why The CEO Should Not Be The Sole Point Of Contact With The Board with Bill Clerico, Founder & CEO @ WePay

5 mei 2017 · 24 min
Afspelen

Bill Clerico is the Co-Founder & CEO @ WePay, the most complete payments solution for platforms. To date, they have raised close to $75m in VC funding from some of the best in the business including Max Levchin, Dave McClure and August Capital just to name a few. As for Bill, alongside his role with WePay, Bill is a part-time partner @ Y Combinator and an angel investor. Prior to startups, Bill cut his teeth in the industry at Jefferies in investment banking. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Bill made his way into the world of startups from investment banking?

2.) How does Bill assess the pivot? What is required to pivot successfully? How can this be communicated to both your board and your team?

3.) How does Bill look to relationship build with investors? What are the fundamentals to a healthy and sustainable investor relationship?

4.) Why should founders ensure they are not the only company representative with the board? What are the benefits of the board having many touchpoints within the family? How can this be done effectively?

5.) What does Bill mean he says you must have an 'opinionated culture'? How can this be conveyed to the team and across the organisation?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Bill's Fave Book: Failure Is Not An Option

Bill's Fave Blog: The Information

As always you can follow Harry, Bill and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Eight is a sleep innovation company. With their latest product, the Eight Smart Mattress, being a bed that literally tells you how well you slept last night, paired with an intelligent sensor cover that measures the quality of your sleep and delivers a daily sleep report. In order to bring you the best product, Eight used anonymized sleep data and feedback from over 10,000 people, to understand which materials and types of mattresses give customers the best sleep resulting in their unique blend of four respo…
20VC: How LPs Can Add Strategic Value To Portfolio Companies & Why Real Estate Is On Every Whiteboard In Silicon Valley with Brendan Wallace, Co-Founder @ Fifth Wall

3 mei 2017 · 32 min
Afspelen

Brendan Wallace is a Co-Founder of Fifth Wall, the fund that specializes in technology for the built world and real estate tech. Prior to Fifth Wall, Brendan was Co-founder & CEO of Identified, a data & analytics company that raised $33 million of venture capital and was acquired by Workday (WDAY) in 2014. Brendan also co-founded Cabify, the largest ridesharing service in Latin America, which has raised $143 million and operates in 14 countries and 50 cities. If that was not enough, Brendan has been an active angel investor and manages one of the largest syndicates on Angellist, having led over 50 angel investments including Bonobos, Dollar Shave Club, Earnest, Philz Coffee and Zenefits. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Brendan made the transition from the world of startup founding to investing with Fifth Wall?

2.) How does Brendan feel fund managers can approach LP composition in order to provide strategic value add to portfolio companies? How did he approach this?

3.) How do the differing sources of LP money differ when comparing corporate LPs to more traditional fund of funds and endowment funds? Why did Brendan decide it was optimal to have both in Fifth Wall?

4.) Brendan has previously said 'autonomous cars are the next meteor to hit the real estate industry'. What are the 3 differing types of risk that could prevent this rise? What timeline does Brendan believe we are looking at for self-driving?

5.) How does Brendan see the urban landscape evolving and developing over time? Will we see a renewed period of urbanisation or urban spread? How do the macro levers affect this?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Brendan's Fave Book: The Accidental Superpower

Brendan's Fave Blog: CB Insights

Brendan's Most Recent Investment: VTS: The Leading Asset and Asset Management Platform

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Brendan on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

E…
20VC: Explosion of First Time Funds, Only 1 Mega Fund Raised: What The Heck Happened in Q1 Venture Markets with Beezer Clarkson, Managing Director @ Sapphire Ventures

1 mei 2017 · 28 min
Afspelen

Beezer Clarkson is Managing Director @ Sapphire Ventures where she leads Sapphire's investments in venture funds domestically and internationally. Prior to joining Sapphire, Beezer managed day-to-day operations @ DFJ's Global Network, which had $7 billion under management across 16 venture funds worldwide. She has also spent time at Omidyar Network created by Ebay founder, Pierre Omdiyar, Hewlett Packard and Morgan Stanley. Beezer also founded OpenLP.com, an effort to help foster greater understanding in the entrepreneur-to-LP tech ecosystem. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Beezer make her way into the world of limited partners?

2.) How has the venture industry performed as a whole for Q1 2017 both in funds raised and $ invested? How does this compare to previous years?

3.) How is the 1st time fund manager ecosystem developing? Is it fair to say that first-time funds and micro funds are now an established part of LP portfolios? To what extent does shortening fund cycles concern Beezer?

4.) What other areas of the market have we seen explosive growth in? Why was the # of $100-$250m down last year? Why is it different this year?

5.) How does Beezer analyze the recent activity in the public markets? How does this liquidity affect the fundraising market for both startups and GPs? Will we see a return to bubble like times?

As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Beezer on Twitter here!

The thoughts, comments and opinions in this podcast do not represent investment advice and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sapphire Ventures.

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Eight is a sleep innovation company. With their latest product, the Eight Smart Mattress, being a bed that literally tells you how well you slept last night, paired with an intelligent sensor cover that measures the quality of your sleep and delivers a daily sleep report. In order to bring you the best product, Ei…
20VC: Why Move Fast and Break Things Is Not Right, How To Instil Radical Candor In Your Organisation & What Founders Must Ask For From Their Investors with Jason Brown, Founder & CEO @ Tally

28 april 2017 · 28 min
Afspelen

Jason Brown is the Founder & CEO @ Tally, the startup that is building a better credit card experience giving power to the consumer. They have investment from some of the leading names in early stage finance including Shasta Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Ludlow Ventures and Blake Byers @ GV just to name a few. As for Jason, prior to Tally, he founded 3 further startups including most recently Gen110 where helped to bring a new consumer debt product market that finances residential solar installs. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Jason come to found Tally following his 3 prior startup founding experiences?

2.) Why does Jason think you should never settle with candidate hires? What shall startups do when they are growing fast and need someone now? Why does Jason believe you should never use external recruiters?

3.) As this is Jason's 4th startup and he has raised from the likes of Kleiner Perkins in the past, what has Jason learned in terms of fundraising through his past entrepreneurial experiences? What does Jason believe founders should look for from their VCs?

4.) Why does Jason believe that in the majority of cases 'move fast and break things is completely wrong'? What industries does Jason believe you have to lean into the regulators?

5.) How does Jason look to instill radical candor within Tally as a fast scaling startup? What does Jason think this is important for all startups to have engrained in them?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Jason's Fave Book: Science of Interstellar

Jason's Fave Blog: First Round Review

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Jason on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Eight is a sleep innovation company. With their latest product, the Eight Smart Mattress, being a bed that literally tells you how well you slept last night, paired with an intelligent sensor cover that measures the quality of your sleep and delivers a daily sl…
20VC: 2 Signs That A Company Is Ready For IPO, Why Fund Cycles Are Too Short & Why Management Teams Do Not Want To Go Public with Gene Frantz, General Partner @ CapitalG

26 april 2017 · 21 min
Afspelen

Gene Frantz is a Partner of CapitalG, Alphabet's growth investment fund which has investments in the likes of Airbnb, Snap Inc and Stripe. As for Gene, before joining CapitalG, Gene was a partner at TPG Capital, a global private equity fund. During his 13 years at TPG, Gene was responsible for multiple technology and telecom investments and represented TPG on multiple public and private company boards of directors. Prior to TPG Capital, Gene worked at Oracle Corporation leading its venture capital effort and previous to that in corporate development. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Gene made his way from the world of traditional private equity to investing with Google?

2.) Gene has seen many investment cycles, how has Gene experience of both the ups and the downs of the market affected how he invests today?

3.) What does a company need to show or provide today in order to get a large late-stage cheque or IPO? How has this changed over the years?

4.) Why does Gene think that late stage financing has been massively commoditized? How can late stage funds looks to differentiate themselves in today's market?

5.) How does Gene view the extension of private markets and the delayed IPO? Why does he think management teams are less willing to IPO today? Does it concern him?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Gene's Fave Book: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Religion & Politics

Gene's Fave Blog: The Information

Gene's Most Recent Investment: Stripe

As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Eight is a sleep innovation company. With their latest product, the Eight Smart Mattress, being a bed that literally tells you how well you slept last night, paired with an intelligent sensor cover that measures the quality of your sleep and delivers a daily sleep report. In order to bring you the best product, Eight used anonymized …
20VC: Inside Google's Growth Fund & The 3 Criteria They Look For With Potential Investments with Laela Sturdy, General Partner @ CapitalG

24 april 2017 · 28 min
Afspelen

Laela Sturdy is a Partner @ CapitalG, Alphabet's growth investment fund that have invested in the likes of Stripe, Snap Inc, Airbnb and many more incredible companies. As for Laela, she has made investment in category leaders such as language learning platform, Duolingo, payroll and benefits provider, Gusto and jobs site, Glassdoor. Prior to investing with CapitalG, Laela was a Director of Sales & Business Operations at Google where she helped start, scale, and lead teams in several emerging product areas including video and display advertising, local and SMB services, and mobile commerce. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Laela made the transition from an operator at Google to one of the industry's rising star investors with CapitalG?

2.) Market size is fundamental to CapitalG decision-making process so; what is a large enough market? How does Laela look to evaluate market size; bottoms up or top down?

3.) How does Laela look to assess product differentiation? Is brand significant enough IP to be classed as product differentiation?

4.) Why does ownership not play such a pivotal role in investment decision-making process? How crucial is unit economics to Laela at this stage of investment?

5.) With Google's obvious operational value add, does Laela believe we will see the further rise of operational value add within VC? What does this mean for entrepreneurs?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Laela's Fave Book: Americanah

Laela's Fave Blog: Dan Primack: Axios

Laela's Most Recent Investment: Care.com

As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Eight is a sleep innovation company. With their latest product, the Eight Smart Mattress, being a bed that literally tells you how well you slept last night, paired with an intelligent sensor cover that measures the quality of your sleep and delivers a daily sleep report. In order to bring you…
20VC: Back To Back Female Led IPOs & Why It's Harder To Be A Female CEO Than A Male CEO with Leura Fine, Founder & CEO @ Laurel & Wolf

21 april 2017 · 23 min
Afspelen

Leura Fine is the founder and CEO of leading online interior design service Laurel & Wolf. Driven by the desire to connect clients and designers through a digital platform, Leura launched Laurel & Wolf from her home dining room in 2014. Two years later, she has a rapidly growing team of more than 60 employees and a marketplace of more than 1,000 interior designers. They have raised over $30m in VC funding from some of the best in the business including Benchmark, CRV and former guest, Kent Goldman @ Upside Partnership. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Leura made her way from interior designer to founder of one of today's hottest marketplace startups, Laurel & Wolf?

2.) Why does Leura feel it is harder to be a female CEO than a male CEO? How are her actions compared and judged differently than those of her male counterparts?

3.) How does Leura approach the selection element of choosing her investors? What should matter to founders that their investors can bring? How does Leura look to select the best board member?

4.) How did Leura approach the chicken and egg problem of marketplaces in the beginning with Laurel & Wolf? What is her big advice to other founders building out their marketplaces?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Leura's Fave Book: Pride & Prejudice

Leura's Fave Blog: Oh Joy

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Leura on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Foundersuite makes the leading CRM for raising startup capital. Since March of 2016, Foundersuite customers have raised over $130M in seed and venture capital. Foundersuite's CRM sits on a database of over 50,000 investors, which will help you quickly populate your fundraising funnel including a beautiful and easy-to-use investor update tool, and the recently launched a new portal that helps investors and accelerators track their portfolio companies on a single dashboard. For a whopping 40% off a M…
20VC: Investing; A Game Of Access Or Picking, Why Technical DD At Seed Is Irrelevant & Why A Contrarian Mindset Does Not Always Lead To Optimal Returns with Leo Polovets, Co-Founder & General Partner @ Susa Ventures

19 april 2017 · 25 min
Afspelen

Leo Polovets is a Co-Founder and General Partner @ Susa Ventures, one of the west coast's most exciting new seed funds. They have investments in the likes of previous guests RobinHood, Flexport, Andela, LendUp, and Qadium, just to name a few from their stellar portfolio. As for Leo, Prior to Susa, Leo was one of the first engineers at LinkedIn in 2003, then worked on payment fraud detection at Google, then designed and built the data cleaning and deduping engines at Factual. He is an angel investor in over a dozen companies, including DataFox, Boomtrain, Lumoid, and Momentum Machines. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Leo made the transition from the world of operations with LinkedIn to co-founding Susa Ventures?

2.) How does Leo evaluate the supposed success that comes from investing with a contrarian mindset? This that the only way? Is investing merely a game of access without picking?

3.) If one is to follow the crowd, there is often a high price? What is Leo's approach to valuation sensitivity? At what stage does price become unreasonable? How does Leo instill a sense of disciple and rigor in maintaining this mindset?

4.) How does Leo react to founders who raise large sums of capital on slowly increasing caps? How central should dilution be to the mindset of founders when raising?

5.) Why does Leo think there is very little valuable to be gained from enaging in technical due diligence at seed? What else does need to be examined pre-investment?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Leo's Fave Book: Traction: A Startup Guide To Getting Customers

Leo's Fave Blog: Mattermark Daily, 25IQ

Leo's Most Recent Investment: TalentIQ

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Leo on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Foundersuite makes the leading CRM for raising startup capital. Since March of 2016, Foundersuite customers have raised over $130M in seed and venture capital. Fou…
20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc

17 april 2017 · 27 min
Afspelen

Josh Felser is a Co-Founder and General Partner at Freestyle, one of SF's leading early stage seed funds with investments in the likes of About.me, Airtable, Intercom and Patreon just to name a few. As for Josh, prior to being in VC with Freestyle, Josh started two successful Internet companies, Spinner and Grouper/Crackle, which were acquired by AOL Time Warner and Sony for $320 million and $65 million, respectively. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Josh made the transition from the world of startups to founding Freestyle?

2.) Can founders really trust their VC? What is the sign that you can and then cannot trust your VC? How does this depend on the differing stages?

3.) When is the right time for founders to throw in the towel and sell? What are the signs? Is it the role of the board member to encourage and push the founder forward?

4.) Josh has said before that 'companies are sold and not bought'. What does he mean by this? How can founders optimize the acquisition process in terms of the dialogue with the acquirer? How should they approach the topic of valuation? How can they create a sense of urgency? Who are the certain stakeholders they must be talking to?

5.) How has Josh seen himself develop as a board member? What have been the inflection points in his learnings? What are the core components that make up a great board member?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Josh's Fave Book: Snowcrash

Josh's Fave Blog: Five Best Ideas of The Day: The Aspen Institute

Josh's Most Recent Investment: Carbon Robotics

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Josh on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Foundersuite makes the leading CRM for raising startup capital. Since March of 2016, Foundersuite customers have raised over $130M in seed and venture capital. Foundersuite's CRM sits on a database of over 50,000 investors, which will help you quickly populate your fundraising…
20VC: How Investors Can Get Into The Best Deals & Why Founders First Point Of Contact Should Be With The Investment Decision-Maker with Spencer Kimball, Founder & CEO @ Cockroach Labs

14 april 2017 · 30 min
Afspelen

Spencer Kimball is the Founder & CEO @ Cockroach Labs, the open-source database for building global, scalable cloud services that survive disasters. They have backing from some of the greats of the world of VC having raised from the likes of Sequoia, Benchmark, Google Ventures and Index. As for Spencer, prior to Cockroach he spent 10 years at Google where he oversaw their hyper growth transition from startup to global behemoth. He also spent two years at unicorn payments company, Square as well as co-founding 2 prior startups. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Spencer made his move from a decade @ Google to starting Cockroach Labs?

2.) Why does Spencer enjoy speaking to VCs? What has Spencer taken away from the best of VC conversations? What are the best ways Spencer feels investors can make initial contact? What are the signs of bad investor interactions?

3.) How does Spencer want his VCs and board members to interact with him? How do the best board members provide constructive advice and feedback?

4.) How can investors get into the best deals? If they fail the first time, what can be done on their behalf to show continued interest?

5.) How does Spencer implement a 4 day work week at Cockroach and remain so highly productive? What are the benefits of this for the team and culture?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Spencer's Fave Book: The History of The Decline & Fall of The Roman Empire

Spencer's Fave Blog: Ben Bernanke, Paul Krugman

As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Foundersuite makes the leading CRM for raising startup capital. Since March of 2016, Foundersuite customers have raised over $130M in seed and venture capital. Foundersuite's CRM sits on a database of over 50,000 investors, which will help you quickly populate your fundraising funnel including a beautiful and easy-to-use investor update tool, and the recen…

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