The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

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20VC: Why Young VCs Must Have Cheque Writing Ability & Why Corporate VC Is The Best Training Ground For New VCs with Nagraj Kashyap @ Microsoft Ventures

12 april 2017 · 26 min
Afspelen

Nagraj Kashyap is the Head of Microsoft Ventures, the early stage investment arm of Microsoft. They have made investments in the likes of Cahoot, CloudSimple and Outreach just to name a few from their fantastic portfolio. As for Nagraj, prior to Microsoft, he was a senior vice president and head of Qualcomm Ventures where he built Qualcomm Ventures from a US/China-focused team of three in 2003 to a global leader in corporate venture capital with 25 investment professionals and direct investments around the world. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Nagraj made his way into the world of corporate VC and came to be Head of Microsoft Ventures?

2.) Question from Matt Goldstein: What does it take to start a fund from scratch and build a team like Nagraj is doing with Microsoft Ventures? How does he look to establish mindshare for entrepreneurs with a new brand?

3.) Why does Nagraj feel that corporate VC is not viewed in the same regard as traditional VC? Why is this view wrong? What are the benefits of taking corporate VC money?

4.) Why does Nagraj feel it is imperative to let young VCs write cheques and learn from their mistakes? How does Nagraj structure the learning process for new and young VCs?

5.) What does the future hold for the world of corporate VC? Will we see an expansion of this capital source? Why is Nagraj so bullish?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Nagraj's Fave Book: The Omnivore's Dilemma

Nagraj's Most Recent Investment: Kahoot

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Nagraj 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, …
20VC: AngelList's Naval Ravikant on The Secrets To Success At Seed, Why Micro VC Is The Return of Traditional Series A & Why We Will See The Unbundling Of Traditional VC Brands

10 april 2017 · 28 min
Afspelen

Naval Ravikant is the CEO and a co-founder of AngelList, where the world meets startups either to find great jobs, invest in startups or raise funding. Before AngelList, he co-founded Epinions, which went public as part of Shopping.com, and Vast.com. He is an active angel investor and has invested in more than 100 companies, including more than a few "unicorn" mega-successes. His deals include Twitter, Uber, Yammer, Postmates, Wish, Thumbtack, and OpenDNS, which Cisco just bought for $635 million in cash. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Naval made his way into angel investing and came to found AngelList?

2.) Question from Parker Thompson: How does Naval internalize the power law math and how does that affect his ability to pick the best companies?

3.) Why does Naval believe venture to be a bundle of advice, control and money? How does that affect his thought process surrounding what makes a good investor?

4.) Why does Naval believe we will see the unbundling of VC firm brands and the rise of personal partner brands? How will this affect access to proprietory deal flow?

5.) Question from Jonathan Abrams @ Nuzzel: What is the vision for AngelList? How much further up the funding stack can AngelList go?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

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

Naval's Fave Blog: Farnham Street

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Naval 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 singl…
20VC: How To Create FOMO For Investors, How To Manage VC Conversations & A Repeatable Process For Learning New Things with Anna Shedletsky, Founder & CEO @ Instrumental.ai

7 april 2017 · 27 min
Afspelen

Anna Shedletsky is the Founder & CEO @ Instrumental, the startup that helps consumer electronics companies ship high-quality hardware, on time. They have funding from some of the best in the business including First Round Capital and a huge thanks to Phin Barnes @ First Round for the intro to Anna today. As for Anna, prior to Instrumental, Anna was a product design lead and manager for the Apple Watch and before that, a product design engineer for the Apple iPod. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Anna made the move from working on the Apple Watch to starting her own startup Instrumental?

2.) How does Anna approach the learning of new things? What is the methodology? What elements in particular has Anna found most challenging to grasp?

3.) Anna has experienced 2 very strange and different fundraising processes? What was strange about them? How did they differ? What did she learn from this experience?

4.) How can founders create a feeling of FOMO within their investors? What is core to this? What should founders be careful of when doing this? How should this be structured?

5.) Coming from Apple, Anna did not have a network among VCs and Founders. How did Anna build her network of VCs and founders? How can others founders do this? What is required for this to be done in a non-transactional organic way?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Anna's Fave Book: The Lord of The Rings

Anna's Fave Blog: First Round Review

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Anna 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 por…
20VC: Why Spray & Pray Investing Is Wrong, Why Data-Informed VC Beats Data Driven VC & What To Look For When Investing In A Marketplace with Josh Breinlinger, Managing Director @ Jackson Square Ventures

5 april 2017 · 27 min
Afspelen

Josh Breinlinger is a Managing Director @ Jackson Square Ventures where he has made investments in the likes of Contently, OfferUp and rented.com, just to name a few incredible companies. He is also the ultimate master of all things marketplaces, especially when early stage startups must deal with the inevitable chicken and egg problem. Prior to life as a VC with JSV, Josh was part of the founding team @ ODesk, a co-founder @ Rev and the Head of Product and Marketing @ Adroll. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Josh made the transition from the world of startups to investing with Jackson Square?

2.) Josh previously said, 'data informed VCs will always beat data-driven VCs'. What makes Josh say this? What does being data-driven lead to weak investment decision making?

3.) Josh also said, 'we will see the rise of the master marketplace'. What does he mean by this? How is this different from current marketplace startups today? With such specialization does this not make it an unattractive sector for VCs with a smaller TAM?

4.) Following from Josh's statement that 'not all GMV is equal', how does that affect how Josh views; transaction size and frequency, share of wallet, value post-match being made and disintermediation?

5.) Why does Josh think rewarding VC activity is fundamentally wrong? What does it show that is, in reality, a falsehood?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Josh's Fave Book: The Wright Brothers

Josh's Fave Blog: Bill Gurley: Above The Crowd

Josh's Most Recent Investment: ScriptDash

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 funnel includ…
20VC: Homebrew's Hunter Walk on Why There Is No Series A Crunch, How To Package Portfolio Companies For The Next Round & Why The Bridge Round Is Not Always A Negative Sign?

3 april 2017 · 33 min
Afspelen

Hunter Walk is a founding partner @ Homebrew, one of Silicon Valley's breakout seed funds of the last 5 years. They have investments in the likes of Shyp, the Skimm, Managed By Q just to name a few incredible companies. As for Hunter, prior to Homebrew, Hunter led consumer product management at YouTube, which he originally joined in 2003, managing product and sales efforts for Google Adsense. Hunter is also a thought leader in the industry and his excellent blog can be found here. Lees meer

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In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Hunter made the transition from Google to VC with the founding of Homebrew?

2.) How does Hunter view the bridge round? Does he agree with Mike Maples @ Floodgate in stating, 'it is often not a bridge but a pier to nowhere'?

3.) How does Hunter look to package his portfolio companies for the next round of investors? Does Hunter agree with Jason Lemkin in stating, 'the best investors are those that specifically know the metrics required to achieve the next round'?

4.) Why does Hunter not believe there is a Series A crunch? How can founders look to describe their story in a narrative that is attractive for VCs? What one trait does Hunter look for in founders more than any other?

5.) What is the biggest challenge in the coming year for Hunter with Homebrew? How does he measure his success as a VC?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Hunter's Fave Book: Harold and The Purple Crayon

Hunter's Fave Blog: Ben Thompson: Stratechery

Hunter's Most Recent Investment: JoyMode

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Hunter 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 be…
20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat

31 maart 2017 · 26 min
Afspelen

Melody McCloskey is the Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat, the largest and fastest growing marketplace in the $78b beauty and wellness industry. They have raised over $40m in challenging funding conditions from some of the true greats of the business including Alfred Lin @ Sequoia, Chris Sacca, Jeff Clavier, Aileen Lee, Lightspeed, the list goes on. As for Melody, as well as running StyleSeat she is also a mentor for the Thiel Fellowship working with some of the brightest and best next generation entrepreneurs. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) What was the origin story of StyleSeat for Melody and how did Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp come to be angel investors?

2.) Melody has previously stated that 'CEOs do not have all the answers'. What did Melody find most challenging that she struggled to answer? How has her approach to decision making and delegation changed over the last few years?

3.) Melody has been CEO for 6 years, a rarity in tech today, so what has been the core to her success long term as the leader of StyleSeat?

4.) With $40m in funding over 3 rounds, how did Melody find the fundraising experience? How did she feel the rounds differed? What does Melody believe she did well and what would she improve for further rounds?

5.) How does Melody approach transparency internally with fundraising? Should founders tell the team about fundraise opportunities? When is the right and wrong time to do so?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Melody's Fave Book: Hard Thing About Hard Things

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Melody 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…
20VC: How Investors Can Get Into The Best Y Combinator Startups & How YC Startups Should Choose The Right Investors with Jared Friedman, Partner @ YC

30 maart 2017 · 21 min
Afspelen

Jared Friedman is a Partner @ Y Combinator, the world's most successful accelerator with portfolio companies including the likes of AirBnB, Dropbox, Stripe, Zenefits, Twitch, the list goes on. Prior to YC, Jared was Co-Founder & CTO @ Scribd, the digital library and document sharing platform, which has over 80 million users and attained funding from the likes of Marc Andreessen, Redpoint and CRV. As well as his time in operations, Jared is also a prolific angel investor with investments in the likes of Instacart, FundersClub and Cruise Automation just to name a few. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Jared made his way from founding the immensely successful, Sribd, to being a YC partner?

2.) What is the process behind the invites for YC demo day? What does it take for one to get a hotly anticipated seat? Is there really a black list?

3.) A lot of investors suggest that if you are seeing the company at demo day it is too late, what is the thesis around letting friends and family in to view and invest in the companies before demo day?

4.) How can investors look to get into the best YC companies? What can the investors do to show their value to both the companies and the YC partnership? How do you look to advise companies with regards to selecting investors?

5.) Demo days have scaled massively so I have to ask, is there enough capital to go into the 120+ companies now being produced at YC demo days? What are the strategies for scaling YC effectively?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

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

Jared's Fave Blog: HackerNews

Jared Most Recent Angel Investment: Starcity

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Jared 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'…
20VC: How Investors Can Build Relationships with Founders In Organic, Non-Transactional Ways & How VCs Should Handle Founder Disputes with Saar Gur, General Partner @ CRV

27 maart 2017 · 23 min
Afspelen

Saar Gur is a General Partner @ CRV, one of the nation's oldest and most successful VC firms now on their 16th fund. At CRV, Saar has made investments in some incredible companies including DoorDash, Dropbox, Patreon and Ring to name a few. His brilliance in VC is not just acknowledged by us but Forbes and Venture Capital Journal who named Saar to the top 8 up and coming Venture Capitalists and a top 10 VC under the age of thirty-six. Prior to VC, Saar was the Founder of Brightroll, a leading video ad network that was acquired by Yahoo for a reported $640m. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Saar made his way into the world of VC and came to be a GP at CRV?

2.) When can VCs know when to pull the plug on an investment? How does Saar balance financial prudence with vision and belief in the startup and founder?

3.) What does Saar's relationship building process look like? How does Saar build relationships with founders in natural and organic ways?

4.) How can VCs handle founder disputes? How does Saar look to be as helpful and productive in this process as possible? What does Saar recommend to other VCs in this situation?

5.) How does Saar view the inflection points in the growth of startups? At what moments is their the potential for elements to break? How should this be mitigated?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Saar's Fave Book: The Wright Brothers

Saar's Fave Blog or Newsletter: TechCrunch

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Saar 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 in…
20VC: How To Raise $200m In Any Economic Climate, Scale From Garage To Global In Record Time & The Biggest Startup You Have Not Heard About with Christian Lanng, Founder & CEO @ Tradeshift

24 maart 2017 · 23 min
Afspelen

Christian Lanng is the Founder & CEO @ Tradeshift, the startup with the vision to transform the way businesses work together. With 250+ people, offices in 9 countries and over $200m in funding from some of the best including Data Collective, HSBC and Intuit, they are likely one of the biggest and best startups you might not have heard of. As for Christian, he is one of the most visionary European entrepreneurs of the last decade having grown from digitising invoices in Denmark when he was at Uni to working on digitizing the EU later. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Christian made his way from Denmark to founding one of the hottest startups in Silicon Valley?

2.) What does Christian mean when saying, "we should be discussing the globalization of technology"? How will we see the evolution of manufacturing over time? What is the bottleneck for automation?

3.) Christian has previously stated that his competitors have 'hostages not customers'. Why does he say this and how does that affect his view of competition and customer service?

4.) Christian has raised over $200m in varying fundraising climates, how did the rounds differ? What were Christian's keys to fundraising success? What does he know now that he wishes he had known in the beginning?

5.) How does Christian approach networking in a very unconventional style? What are the benefits of doing so? What does Christian advise startup founders looking to expand either their founder network or their investor network?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Christian's Fave Book: The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck

Christian's Fave Blog: SaaStr

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

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

But before we dive into the show today, there are some products that you simply cannot remember what life was like before them—for me that is x.ai. They bring you Amy and Andrew, the AI-powered …
20VC: How Every VC Firm Is A Marketplace, Why A Large Amount of Promise in AI Today Is Impossible & Entrepreneurs 3 Main Pain Points of Fundraising with Alex Mittal, Founder & CEO @ Funders Club

22 maart 2017 · 32 min
Afspelen

Alex Mittal is the Founder & CEO @ Funders Club, the company that uses software and networks to provide investors with access to the world's most promising startups. Their portfolio includes the likes of Slack, Greenhouse, Shippo and Flexport just to name a few. They are backed by some of the world's leading investors themselves with the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator, Felicis Ventures and First Round Capital. Prior to starting FundersClub, Alex was the founding CEO of Innova Dynamics, a VC-backed touchscreen hardware company, leading the company from university laboratory to securing design-in collaborations with today's major consumer electronics companies. Previously, he was the founding CTO of Crederity, a VC-backed identity and credential verification enterprise software company. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Alex made his way from YC founder to revolutionizing seed stage investing with Funders Club?

2.) Why is Alex still so bullish on the on-demand space? How does Alex evaluate on-demand startups? What metrics are attractive in the space? What do good unit economics look like for on-demand startups?

3.) Does Alex agree that we are experiencing a AI bubble? Where are the shortcomings in the current state of AI and machine learning? How does Alex expect the space to play out and what does Alex advise entrepreneurs in the space?

4.) What does Alex make of the rise of investing in hard science startups? Why does he get concerned to see traditional software VCs investing in the space? How should VCs view the rise of nontech businesses both in hard science and consumer?

5.) You have said before that 'the API is not in the past but is still to come'. Why are you so bullish on the continued expansion of APIs? Where do the inherent oportuities and use cases remain?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Alex's Fave Book: The Art of War by Sun Tsu

Alex's Fave Blog: Eric Newcomer, Mattermark Daily

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty M…
20VC: SaaStr's Jason Lemkin on The 3 Things You Want From Your LPs, Why Most VCs Do Not Add Value & Why The Best VCs Know How To Package Startups For The Next Round

20 maart 2017 · 34 min
Afspelen

Jason Lemkin is the Founder @ SaaStr, now with the $70m SaaStr Fund, Jason has paved the way for the new wave of VC in what I describe the 'platformification of VC'. Jason has led or sourced the first VC investment in some of the fastest growing SaaS companies of today with the likes of Algolia, TalkDesk, Rainforest QA and PipeDrive. Prior to being in VC, Jason was the Co-Founder @ Echosign, leading to the very successful acquisition by Adobe where he oversaw Jason oversaw the growth of Adobe Document Services ARR from $50m in 2012 to $100m in 2013. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Jason made his way into the world of VC from being a $100m+ exit founder to founding SaaStr and SaaStr Fund?

2.) What is it like for Jason having his own fund vs being part of a bigger fund? What does the investment cheque size say to founders about the fund? Should they be concerned if the investment represents less than 1% of the fund?

3.) What was the fundraising process and environment like for Jason with SaaStr? Is all LP money the same? What differentiated value-add elements can LPs provide fund managers?

4.) Does Jason agree that most VCs do not add value? How does Jason look to add value with his 3 pronged approach? Where does Jason believe that most startups need help and advice?

5.) How does Jason evaluate the micro-VC stage at present? Where does Jason see opportunity? Where does he believe the space is over-heated?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Jason's Most Recent Investment: Automile

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.

X.ai is AI-poweredered personal assistant for scheduling meetings bringing you Amy or Andrew. The assistant you interact with like you would to any other person and it allows you to avoid the tedious hours of email ping pong in order to schedule one meeting. Even better, there is no sign in, no password, no…
20VC: Why Success in Gaming is Like Success in VC, The Key To Building An Enduring Game & Why Few Metrics Matter in Gaming with Kevin Chou, Founder & CEO @ Kabam

17 maart 2017 · 29 min
Afspelen

Kevin Chou is co-founder and CEO of Kabam, a world leader in mobile free-to-play games. At Kabam, Kevin catapulted revenue to $400 million and a valuation of more than $1 billion in 2014. Under Kevin's leadership, Kabam has raised more than $240 million from venture and strategic investors, including some of the world's largest entertainment and internet companies such as Alibaba, Google, Intel and Warner Brothers. Before Kabam, Kevin worked at Canaan Partners, Kabam's initial investor and where he invested in 14 consumer technology and online media companies. In 2014 Kevin was named one Fortune magazine's prestigious "40 Under 40" and, in 2012, was identified by Fortune as one of the "Smartest People in Tech." Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Kevin came to found the wildly successful Kabam from a life in VC with Canaan Partners?

2.) How does Kevin respond to investors that say games is so challenging as it is so hits driven? What are the requirements to build an enduring and successful games company?

3.) What are the metrics that define success in gaming? Why does Kevin believe that gaming is unlike any other in terms of metrics?

4.) To what extent does Kevin believe it is right to monetise games from the beginning vs the free to play market? What are the features and challenges required for success in the premium end of the market?

5.) How does gaming alter both in terms of design and monetisation when comparing the East to the West? What feature sets are preferrable in both? Why doe the East want to pay for as much up front as possible?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

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

Kevin's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Dean Takahashi: VentureBeat

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.

X.ai is AI-poweredered personal assistant for scheduling meetings bringing you Amy or Andrew…
20VC: Sequoia Partner, Carl Eschenbach on Building and Scaling High Performace Teams and The Common Mistakes In Scaling A Go-To-Market Strategy

15 maart 2017 · 25 min
Afspelen

Carl Eschenbach is a Partner @ Sequoia Capital, one of the world's leading funds with investments in the likes of Google, Apple, Whatsapp, Paypal and Stripe just to name a few. As for Carl, prior to Sequoia, Carl was President and CEO @ VMWare where he grew the team from 200 to 20,000 people. If that was not enough Carl has also stepped in as CFO at a $5Bn company and transitioned 3 CEOs. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Carl made the move from President and CEO @ 20,000 person company, VMWare to Partner @ Sequoia?

2.) Question from Alfred Lin, Partner @ Sequoia: How did Carl look to build a culture of performance at VMWare?

3.) Question from Pat Grady, Partner @ Sequoia: What were Carl's biggest learnings with regards to high performance teams? What are the common mistakes in scaling a go to market strategy?

4.) How does Carl view the internal workings at Sequoia to the external perception? Was the move to Sequoia everything he expected? What was different or challenging?

5.) What does Carl believe are the core components that make a great board member? How has Carl's time in operations affected his view of boards and their working?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Carl's Fave Book: Half Time

Carl's Most Recent Investment: Zoom

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

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

X.ai is AI-poweredered personal assistant for scheduling meetings bringing you Amy or Andrew. The assistant you interact with like you would to any other person and it allows you to avoid the tedious hours of email ping pong in order to schedule one meeting. Even better, there is no sign in, no password, no download, all you do is cc amy@x.ai beautiful! And you can check it out now on x.ai it really is a must!

Workable is the all-in-one recruiting software for ambitious companies. From posting a job to tracking and managing candidates, Workable provides …
20VC: Sequoia Partner, Pat Grady on Why Data Is The New Oil, Why We Will See The Return of The Apprenticeship Model in VC & The Defining Characteristics of The Next Generation of Great Software

13 maart 2017 · 27 min
Afspelen

Pat Grady is a Partner @ Sequoia Capital, one of the world's leading funds with prior investments in the likes of Apple, Google, Whatsapp, Paypal, Stripe and many more. At Sequoia, Pat has made investments in many past guests of this show and the SaaStr podcast including Zoom, Namely and Qualtrics, just to name a few. Prior to Sequoia, Pat spent 3 years with the team at Summit Partners. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Pat made his way into the world of VC and one of the most famous funds in the world, Sequoia?

2.) How does Pat view the apprenticeship model in VC? How can VCs attempt to develop and convey the founder empathy when they have not been a founder? Do 'career VCs' get the same respect from founders?

3.) What does Pat believe to be the defining characteristics of the next generation of great software? What are the commonalities?

4.) Pat has said before that 'data is the new oil', what makes Pat think this? How does this affect his investment thesis going forward? Are there elements of being 'data long' that make Pat nervous?

5.) How does Pat think the data incumbency advantage can be mitigated? What can startups do to build a moat?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Pat's Fave Book: The Boys In The Boat

Pat's Fave Blog: CB Insights

Pat's Most Recent Investment: Namely

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

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

X.ai is AI-poweredered personal assistant for scheduling meetings bringing you Amy or Andrew. The assistant you interact with like you would to any other person and it allows you to avoid the tedious hours of email ping pong in order to schedule one meeting. Even better, there is no sign in, no password, no download, all you do is cc amy@x.ai beautiful! And you can check it out now on x.ai it really is a must!

Workable is the all-in-one recruiting software for ambitious companies. From posting a job to trac…
20VC: Wealthfront and Benchmark's Andy Rachleff on Why Delight Is The Greatest Form Of Virality, Why Competition Does Not Matter & What The Future Holds For Automated Personal Finance

10 maart 2017 · 21 min
Afspelen

From 1995 until 2004 Andy Rachleff was a co-founder and General Partner of Benchmark Capital, who have backed the likes of Twitter, Snapchat, Dropbox, Uber and Instagram. Upon his retirement from Benchmark, Andy joined the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business to teach a variety of courses on entrepreneurship. In 2008 he co-founded Wealthfront Inc, the online financial advisor and investment management solution, where he now serves as Executive Chairman. In just 3 years, Wealthfront now have over $2bn AUM. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Andy made his way into the world of VC, became the Co-Founder @ Benchmark and what was the origin story behind the founding of Wealthfront?

2.) On rejoining Wealthfront as CEO Andy stated, 'I am an investor, not a CEO but what I did not realize was that I am a founder'. At what point did Andy realize this? Would Andy say that this is a strategic inflection point for Wealthfront with his return?

3.) What are the few elements that will make or break Wealthfront in the coming years? It it the best CEOs that are able to both balance the challenges with the opportunities?

4.) What does the future hold for Wealthfront? What is the exciting news? What does this mean for the road ahead and the world of automated personal finance?

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

X.ai is AI-poweredered personal assistant for scheduling meetings bringing you Amy or Andrew. The assistant you interact with like you would to any other person and it allows you to avoid the tedious hours of email ping pong in order to schedule one meeting. Even better, there is no sign in, no password, no download, all you do is cc amy@x.ai beautiful! And you can check it out now on x.ai it really is a must!

Workable is the all-in-one recruiting software for ambitious companies. From posting a job to tracking and managing candidates, Workable provides everything you need to hire better. Transparent com…
20VC: Why Valuation Is Of Critical Importance At Seed, How To Understand Innovation Cycles & Having 3 CEOs and Burning $10m a Month with Lee Hower, Co-Founder @ NextView Ventures

8 maart 2017 · 26 min
Afspelen

Lee Hower is a co-founder and Partner at NextView Ventures, one of the East coast's leading early stage funds with investments in the likes of Dia & Co, Sunrise, TaskRabbit and GrabCad just to name a few. As for Lee, prior to being a VC with NextView, Lee started his career as an early employee of PayPal in product and business development roles, through the company's 2002 IPO and sale to eBay. After PayPal, Lee was a co-founder of LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) and served as head of corporate development. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Lee made his way from the early days of PayPal with Elon Musk to the founding team of LinkedIn with Reid Hoffman to founding NextView and being a VC?

2.) What were Lee's biggest takeaways from his time working with Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman in the early days of PayPal? How has that experience affected how he invests today?

3.) Unlike other Paypal mafia members, Lee decided not to pursue the multi-stage investing strategy. Why was this? How does Lee evaluate the current seed environment?

4.) Why does Lee believe it is fundamental to study the history of VC and innovation? How does this affect his mindset when investing?

5.) What would Lee advice to a junior VC or someone looking to move into the industry in terms of differentiation and personal branding? What is key? How should this be approached?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Lee's Fave Book: The Globalisation Paradox

Lee's Most Recent Investment: Optimus Ride

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

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

X.ai is AI-poweredered personal assistant for scheduling meetings bringing you Amy or Andrew. The assistant you interact with like you would to any other person and it allows you to avoid the tedious hours of email ping pong in order to schedule one meeting. Even better, there is no sign in, no password, no download, all you do is cc a…
20VC: Betaworks' John Borthwick on Why The VC Model Is So Inefficient, Why Venture Fund Cycles Are Too Short & Why Frontier Tech Could Only Have Been Disappointing Over The Last Year

6 maart 2017 · 35 min
Afspelen

John Borthwick is the Founder & CEO @ Betaworks, the New York-based startup platform combining 3 areas of expertise. They have a studio where they have built products including Giphy, Dots, Bitly and more. They have a fund with prior investments including Tumblr, Medium and Kickstarter. Finally they have a camp, a thematic accelerator program for companies in frontier technology sectors. As for John, Prior to Betaworks, John was an SVP at Time Warner Inc following John's previous company, WP-Studio, being acquired by AOLTW. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How John made his way from AOL and Time Warner to founder of Betaworks?

2.) Why is John skeptical of the traditional VC model? Why does John believe that the market has adapted but the VC model has not?

3.) Why does John believe fund cycles are simply too short, in the same school of thought as Matt Ocko @ Data Collective? What are the problems with this?

4.) How does John evaluate Fred Wilson's post on the consumer downturn? Why does John think we are addicted to short term rapid fire hits?

5.) Why is John not surprised that AI, Bots, VR and AR are being 'labeled a disappointment for the last year? What does he think will be the catalyst for their rise?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

John's Fave Book: King Lear

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

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

X.ai is AI-poweredered personal assistant for scheduling meetings bringing you Amy or Andrew. The assistant you interact with like you would to any other person and it allows you to avoid the tedious hours of email ping pong in order to schedule one meeting. Even better, there is no sign in, no password, no download, all you do is cc amy@x.ai beautiful! And you can check it out now on x.ai it really is a must!

Workable is the all-in-one recruiting software for ambitious companies. From posting a job to tracking and managi…
20VC: Why Product Market Fit Is Like Porn, How The Entrance of Facebook and Google Into Enterprise Software Effects Traditional Enterprise Companies & The Future Pricing Model For The Enterprise with Dennis Mortensen, Founder @ X.ai

3 maart 2017 · 25 min
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Dennis Mortensen is the CEO and Founder of X.ai, the artificial intelligence driven personal assistant that lets people schedule meetings using plain English and nothing more than a CC to amy@x.ai. Their female persona Amy is so lifelike that users have asked her on a date at a rate of one request per month! X.ai is now one of the best funded AI startups having raised over $30m from our friends at FirstMark and DCM and a big thanks to Matt Turck for making the intro and from DCM, who also helped us with some of the questions for Dennis! Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Dennis came to found one of the leading AI startups today with X.ai?

2.) Why is product market fit like porn? How does this analogy affect Dennis' evaluation of product market fit?

3.) What are the fundamental features required to turn a single user consumer product into an enterprise product? How should that transition be managed?

4.) Is Dennis concerned by large incumbents making their entrance into the world of more traditional enterprise companies with the likes of GSuite and Facebook for Work?

5.) How did Dennis evaluate the right pricing method for X.ai? What pricing mechanisms did he consider? What does Dennis believe is the future of enterprise pricing?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Dennis' Fave Book: Shoe Dog

Dennis' Fave Blog or Newsletter: Azeem Azhar: The Exponential View

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

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

X.ai is AI-poweredered personal assistant for scheduling meetings bringing you Amy or Andrew. The assistant you interact with like you would to any other person and it allows you to avoid the tedious hours of email ping pong in order to schedule one meeting. Even better, there is no sign in, no password, no download, all you do is cc amy@x.ai beautiful! And you can check it out now on x.ai it really is a must!

Workable is the all…
20VC: The Power Of A Concentrated Seed Portfolio, Why Operational Value Add Models At Seed Do Not Make Sense & Why We Will See A Shakeout Of Growth Stage Investors with Roger Ehrenberg, Founder & Managing Partner @ IA Ventures

1 maart 2017 · 28 min
Afspelen

Roger Ehrenberg is the Founder and Managing Partner @ IA Ventures, one of New York's leading early stage funds with investments in the likes of TransferWise and The Trade Desk. Prior to IA, Roger was a prolific angel investor making investments in over 40 companies including BuddyMedia and previous guest, Howard Lindzon's StockTwits. Before that, Roger served as President and CEO @ DB Advisors, Deutsche Bank's internal hedge fund trading platform which managed $6Bn in capital across multiple geographies. Lees meer

In Today's Episode with Roger You Will Learn:

How Roger made his way into VC from the world of Wall St?

How does Roger view the diversification model of 50+ in a portfolio in micro VC? What levels of ownership does that require?

With regards to small and honed portfolios Roger has previously said that 'small is beautiful'. How does Roger approach this with IA and what capital pools does this allow his partners?

Roger has also said that 'VC platforms are not a panacea'. What does he mean by this? What do founders really want from an investment partner today?

What is the effect of Roger and IA being outside the traditional echo chambers of Silicon Valley? How does this affect Roger's dealflow? Hiring ability? Partnership opportunities?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Roger's Fave Blog and Newsletter: Maria Popova: BrainPickings

Roger's Fave Book: Out Of The Crisis

Roger's Most Recent Investment: Octane Lending

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

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

X.ai is AI-powered personal assistant for scheduling meetings bringing you Amy or Andrew. The assistant you interact with like you would to any other person and it allows you to avoid the tedious hours of email ping pong in order to schedule one meeting. Even better, there is no sign in, no password, no download, all you do is cc amy@x.ai beautiful! And you can check it out now on x…
20VC: Benchmark's Scott Belsky on What Makes Truly The Best VCs? Why Entrepreneurs Must Focus on 'The First Mile' & The Key Ingredients To The Perfect Onboarding Process

27 februari 2017 · 29 min
Afspelen

Scott Belsky is a Venture Partner @ Benchmark, one of the world's leading VC funds. As an early-stage investor himself he has made investments in the likes of Uber, Warby Parker, Pinterest and Flexport just to name a few. Prior to Benchmark, Scott co-founded Behance in 2006, and served as CEO until Adobe acquired Behance in 2012. After Behance's acquisition, Scott served as Adobe's Vice President of Products, rebooting Adobe's mobile product strategy and leading Behance until 2016. If that was not enough Scott is also, the co-founder and Chairman of a new marketplace product under development. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Scott made his move into VC with Benchmark having founded Behance and been a VP @ Adobe?

2.) How did Scott see his investment decision making process change when comparing being an angel to a VC? What was it about VC that made Scott realise that he would not be a traditional VC?

3.) Why does Scott believe that when momentum is growing too fast it is generally likely to fade out? At what point is the transition point between large momentum that is and is not sustainable?

4.) Why is Scott fascinated by 'the journey in between'? What gives Scott hope when reviewing a company in this stage? What does he always look for?

5.) Why does Scott think that autonomous vehicles in cities will be a public utility? Will the data sets produced be publicly or privately owned? Who will operate mass transit systems?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Scott's Fave Book: Tribe: On Homecoming & Belonging

Scott's Fave Blog or Newsletter: The Information

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.

X.ai is AI-poweredered personal assistant for scheduling meetings bringing you Amy or Andrew. The assistant you interact with like you would to any other person and it allows you to avoid the tedious hours of email ping pong in orde…
20VC: Raising $24m From The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Why EdTech Is So Misunderstood & Why The Future Of Work Is Decentralised with Andela's Jeremy Johnson

24 februari 2017 · 23 min
Afspelen

Jeremy Johnson is the Founder & CEO @ Andela, the startup that aims to bring a scientific approach to building engineering teams. They have backing from some of the best investors in the world with the likes of the Zuckerberg-Chan Initiative, Spark Capital, Google Ventures and our friends at Susa Ventures just to name a few. As for Jeremy, prior to founding Andela, Jeremy co-founded 2U, one of the fastest-growing education technology startups in history. 2U went public in 2014 (NASDAQ:TWOU) and continues to transform higher education. Jeremy has spoken on education and entrepreneurship at meetings hosted by the White house and Congress and was named "30 Under 30" by Inc. Magazine in 2012 and Forbes in 2013 and 2014. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Jeremy made his entry into startups and came to found Andela?

2.) Question from Paige Craig: How did the Zuckerberg-Chan Initiative deal come about? What has been the effect of taking that round for the company and for you as the founder?

3.) How does Jeremy view the contrast between being CEO and being founder? What does he believe makes a truly great CEO?

4.) Andela is an intensely operational and logistics based business, how did Jeremy learn to handle this? What were the fundamental challenges?

5.) How does Jeremy view the future wof work? Why does Jeremy believe the future can only be in decentralised work forces?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Jeremy's Fave Book: The Power of One

Jeremy's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Social Snippets, Charles Hudson @ Precursor

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.

Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support together on one integrated platform. With Intercom, businesses can chat directly with prospective customers on their website, engage current users with targeted messages based on their beha…
20VC: Why Venture Is A Service Product? Why There Is No Such Thing As Product Market Fit & Why Startups Need To Be More Design Orientated with Ben Blumenfeld, Co-Founder & General Partner @ Designer Fund

22 februari 2017 · 28 min
Afspelen

Ben Blumenfeld is the Co-Founder & General Partner @ Designer Fund, they invest in startups co-founded by designers and build and educate design teams through their program, Bridge. Designer Fund's portfolio includes the likes of Gusto, Stripe, Shyp, Operator and many more incredible companies. As for Ben, previously Ben was a design lead at Facebook for over 5 years where he helped build products for nearly a billion people and grow Facebook's world-class design team. He was also the design director at Varien which he helped build into one of the world's leading e-commerce firms. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Ben made the move from designer to General Partner @ Designer Fund?

2.) How does Ben's design background inform how he invests in companies and then supports them post-investment? How does he evaluate design opportunities from the design perspective?

3.) Why now has design become such a competitive advantage in tech? What has changed? What are the fundamentals of beautifully designed products today?

4.) How does Ben believe the current crop of VCs view design? What do they not understand? What should they look to understand? Will we see a new class of design-centric VCs?

5.) From seeing the likes of Facebook, Medium and Asana scale deign teams, what have been the takeaways to effectively scaling design teams with the growth of an organisation? What is required for this to be successful?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Ben's Fave Book: The Power of One

Ben's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Social Snippets, Charles Hudson @ Precursor

Ben's Most Recent Investment: Hustle

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

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

Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support together on one integrated platform. With Intercom, businesses can chat directly with prospective customers on their website, e…
20VC: Pejman Nozad: Tech's Most Unlikely VC: From Yoghurt Shop To Investing In Startups Now Worth $20Bn+

20 februari 2017 · 30 min
Afspelen

Pejman Nozad is the Founding Managing Partner @ Pear.vc, one of the leading seed stage funds in the valley. However, Pejman did not enter the tech industry like most venture capitalists. Having immigrated from Iran, he lived in an attic above a yogurt shop and took a job at a rug store in the Valley. But he immersed himself in what was happening in technology. Slowly, with a few small investments, he developed a reputation for identifying talent and helping take promising ideas to the next level. From next to nothing, he built a $20B portfolio, investing in over 100 startups and seeding several multi-billion dollar companies such as Dropbox, Lending Club, SoundHound and Gusto. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Pejman made his way from football in Iran to rug dealer in Palo Alto to leading seed stage VC?

2.) Mike Moritz has previously said that 'a call from Pejman is a call he will always take'. What led Mike to say this? What makes Pejman the brilliant networker and community builder that he is?

3.) How does Pejman assess early stage founders and teams? From seeing an early Andy Rubin, what did Pejman take from that as to what makes the best founders?

4.) Pejman invested $400K in Andy Rubin's Danger which exited 8 years later for $500m yet Pejman only 2x his money. What did he take from this? What have been the other major learning inflection points for Pejman in the journey?

5.) From working alongside some of the best investors of our generation, what does Pejman perceive to be the commonalities of the best investors? How do they operate? How do they evaluate early stage opportunities?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Pejman's Fave Book: Power of Now

Pejman's Most Recent Investment: Gfycat

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

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

Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support toge…
20VC: Why Founders Should Not Focus On Top Line Valuation, Why Capital Efficiency Is Key To Returns And Investment Success & Why Despite Popular Thought, $100m Is An Exciting Exit For VC with Micah Rosenbloom, Managing Partner @ Founder Collective

15 februari 2017 · 28 min
Afspelen

Micah Rosenbloom is Managing Partner @ Founder Collective, one of the leading seed funds in the world with investments in Uber, Buzzfeed, Makerbot, PillPack, Coupang and Cruise, just to name a few. As for Micah, prior to VC with Founder Collective, his career was varied starting as a Hollywood agent before becoming a serial entrepreneur founding 3 companies with the last, a successful exit alongside his now Partner Eric Paley with Brontes Technology. Micah also is a Board Member with Sequoia Funded Dia and Co and board observer with both MoveWith and Sense360. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Micah made the move from Hollywood agent to leading seed stage VC?

2.) Why does Micah believe it is wrong to have themes to invest against? Why does he believe that the most interesting businesses can be found in weird and wonderful places?

3.) Why does Micah believe it is a problem for founders to focus exclusively on top line valuation? Why does Micah disagree with the common notion that a $100m exit is not exciting for VC?

4.) Why does Micah believe it is wrong for founders to build their company for the next round? Why does Micah disagree with Jason Lemkin in stating, 'the best investors know the benchmarks clearly for the next round'.

5.) How does Micah deal with the fire hose of activities inherent within venture? How does he prioritise those activities? What thesis does he base all his decisions around?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Micah's Fave Book: Thinking Fast and Slow

Micah's Most Recent Investment: Skysafe

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

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

Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support together on one integrated platform. With Intercom, businesses can chat directly with prospective customers on their website, engage current users with targeted messages based on their be…
20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel

13 februari 2017 · 25 min
Afspelen

Topher Conway is a Co-Managing Partner of SV Angel, one of Silicon Valley's leading seed funds with investments in the likes of Facebook, AirBnB, Twitter, Dropbox and many more. At SV Angel, Topher works particularly close with Gusto, Github, Lookout and many more incredible companies. He was included in Forbes Magazine's 30 Under 30 in 2015. Prior to SV Angel, he worked at EQAL, Inc. At EQAL, he worked with the Business Development and Sales teams and lead efforts in creating new business opportunities. Prior to EQAL, he held positions at eCost and a 2004 summer internship in Google's Direct Sales Organization. He is also a member of the UCLA VC Fund, helping foster entrepreneurship at the University. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Topher made his way into the wonderful world of VC and came to be Managing Partner @ SV Angel?

2.) How has the rise of the pre-seed market affected Topher's access to deals? How has Topher reacted to the creation of this new market segment with their new fund size?

3.) How does Topher evaluate grit within founders? Do Topher and SV prefer serial or first-time founders? How does Topher and SV approach startup pivots? Where is the line between stubbornness and vision?

4.) To what extent does Topher focus on valuation and ownership? Why does he believe that it is not important at this stage? What is his determinant to see whether it will be a problem?

5.) To what extent has Topher witnessed the Series A Crunch? Where does he see gaps in the investment landscape? Why does Topher not have a problem with bridge rounds?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Topher's Fave Book: The Score Takes Care Of Itself

Topher's Most Recent Investment: BetterUp

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

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

Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support together on one integrated …
20VC: How Startups & VCs Can Build Relationships with Potential Corporate Acquirers? The Challenge Of Operating Both A B2B & B2C Business Model & Why Fundraising Is The One Element Founders Cannot Control with Gautam Gupta, Founder & CEO @ NatureBox

10 februari 2017 · 31 min
Afspelen

Gautam Gupta is the Founder & CEO at NatureBox, the startup that allows consumers to discover new & healthy foods through a monthly subscription service. They have raised over $50m in VC funding from the likes of General Catalyst, Redpoint, SoftBank and many more. Prior to launching NatureBox, Gautam was a Principal at General Catalyst Partners. While at General Catalyst, he sourced and was actively involved with the firm's investments in GoodData, Bigcommerce, Honest Company and many more. Gautam joined General Catalyst from Procter and Gamble, where he analyzed brand strategy and consumer preferences in the Consumer Market Knowledge group. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Gautam made his way into VC straight from college and then came to found NatureBox?

2.) What did Gautam take with him from his time in VC to founding NatureBox? How did the experience change the way he handled fundraising? How does Gautam view the 'career VC'?

3.) Why does Gautam look to operate both a B2B and B2C model with NatureBox? Does that not go against the startup advice of 'focus'? What are the inherent benefits and challenges of both models?

4.) Why does Gautam believe we have seen such an increase in VC interest in the food space? Does it concern Gautam that VCs are beginning to invest where they have little domain knowledge?

5.) Why is Gautam so bullish on the exit opportunities for food startups in the coming years? What is the liquidity event and how is that changing with time?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Gautam's Fave Book: Shoe Dog

Gautam's Fave Blog: The Twenty Minute VC

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

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

Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support together on one integrated platform. With Intercom, businesses can chat directly with prospective customers on their website, engage current user…
20VC: The Radical Changes In Public Market Expectations, The Right Way To Assess Valuation & What It Means To Be A Disciplined & Diligent Investor with Randy Glein, Partner @ DFJ Growth

8 februari 2017 · 34 min
Afspelen

Randy Glein is a Co-Founder & Partner @ DFJ Growth where he looks to partner with entrepreneurs that have achieved market validation and are looking to scale rapidly. Randy's investments include the likes of Twitter, Tumblr, SpaceX and Tesla just to name a few. Prior to DFJ, Randy was CFO @ Feedburner (acq by Google), a business development executive at DIRECTV. Randy was also named to the Forbes Midas List in 2013, 2014, and 2015 as one of the world's top tech investors and to the New York Times / CB Insights list of top 100 venture capital investors in 2016. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Randy made his way into VC and came to found DFJ growth?

2.) What does it mean to be a diligent and disciplined investor? How can a futuristic mindset be balanced with an analytical and academic approach to evaluation and due diligence?

3.) How does Randy evaluate invest time horizons? How important is it to push for liquidity events as soon as possible? What is it that LPs really want to see?

4.) How have we seen public market expectations of tech companies change over the last 10 years? What are public market investors willing to give up in exchange for predictability? What are the benefits of tech companies staying private longer?

5.) What are the metrics that suggest a company with market validation and ready to scale into hyper-growth? What are the required levels of revenue and ARR?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Randy's Fave Book: Being Digital

Randy's Fave Blog: Brad Feld, Fred Wilson

Randy's Most Recent Investment: Unity 3D

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

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

Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support together on one integrated platform. With Intercom, businesses can chat directly with prospective customers on their website, engage current users with targeted messages base…
20VC: What Does It Take To Gain A Late Stage Cheque Today? The Fundamental Mistakes CEOs Make In The Scaling Process & The Importance Of Building The Next S Curve For Founders with Jules Maltz, General Partner @ IVP

6 februari 2017 · 30 min
Afspelen

Jules Maltz, is a General Partner @ Insight Venture Partners (IVP) where he has made investments in the likes of Slack, Zendesk, Twitter, Zenefits and many more incredible companies. Prior to IVP, Jules held roles at the likes of 3i, Admob and Bank of America. Jules has also been named to The Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors and been featured in the likes of Inc and Fast Company. I also want to say a huge thank you to Rebecca Lynn @ Canvas and Clark Landry for the intros to Jules today. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Jules made his way into growth stage investing with IVP?

2.) What are the major trends that Jules has observed in the later stages over the last few years? Where is there funding gaps and room for opportunity?

3.) What does it take for companies to attain later stage cheques today? What are the benchmarks required? How have we seen these benchmarks change?

4.) What are the fundamental mistakes that CEO's make in these scaling stages? When is the right time to scale rapidly? How does Jules view product market fit?

5.) Jules has previously stated the importance of building the next S curve. What does he mean by this and how should founders adopt this mentality?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Jules' Fave Book: All The Light We Cannot See

Jules' Fave Blog or Newsletter: Nir and Far

Jules' Most Recent Investment: Checkr

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.

Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support together on one integrated platform. With Intercom, businesses can chat directly with prospective customers on their website, engage current users with targeted messages based on their behavior, and provide personal support at scale with an integrated help desk and knowledge base. This is perfect for Businesses that want to help people visiting their website become customer…
20VC: Why I Do Not Regret Taking 'Peter Thiel Money', What Is The Difference Between Leadership & Management & What Conversations Are For The Founding Team Only with Tim Junio, Founder & CEO @ Qadium

3 februari 2017 · 28 min
Afspelen

Tim Junio is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Qadium, the startup that creates and organizes knowledge about the world's devices. They are backed by some of the best in the business including the likes of Founders Fund (Peter Thiel), NEA (Scott Sandell) and our good friends at Susa Ventures. Prior to Qadium, Tim started his career at the Central Intelligence Agency, and also worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the RAND Corporation, and DARPA. Tim remains a research affiliate at Stanford, where he lectures and advises students on cybersecurity research topics. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Tim made his way from the world of the CIA to founding venture backed, Qadium?

2.) How does Tim view his role as CEO? Why does he view leadership and management as 2 different things?

3.) How does Tim view transparency as a leader? What are the conversations that must only be for the founding team? How are those decisions managed and discussed?

4.) Considering Peter Thiel's recent press coverage how does Tim feel about taking 'Thiel Money'? Why does he think Thiel is one of the most interesting and brilliant minds? What are the challenges for Silicon Valley in eschewing the world of politics for the next 4 years?

5.) What does Tim see as the worst of Silicon Valley? What are the benefits to many 'shallow apps' not getting funded? How does this affect startup economics and hiring programmes?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Tim's Fave Book: Snowcrash

Tim's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Bruce Schneier

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.

Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support together on one integrated platform. With Intercom, businesses can chat directly with prospective customers on their website, engage current users with targeted messages based on their behavior, and provide personal su…
20VC: The Fundamentals To Creating A Successful Venture Partnership & The Optimal Investment Decision Making Process with Ryan McIntyre, Co-Founder @ Foundry Group

1 februari 2017 · 31 min
Afspelen

Ryan McIntyre is a Co-Founder @ Foundry Group, one of the leading VC funds of the last decade with investments in the likes of Fitbit, SendGrid and Makerbot. Prior to Foundry, Ryan started his career in VC at Mobius Venture Capital in January 2000. While at Mobius Venture Capital, Ryan led the firm's investments in Postini (acq. GOOG) and Sling Media (acq. DISH). Prior to Mobius, Ryan co-founded Excite in 1993, which went public in 1996 and later became Excite@Home following the $6.7 billion merger of Excite and @Home in 1999. At the time this acquisition was the largest internet transaction to date and created a company that achieved peak revenues of $616 million in 2000. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Ryan made his way into the wonderful world of VC and came to co-found Foundry?

2.) At what moment did Ryan realise that he wanted to be a VC rather than his previous life of an entrepreneur? What was the catalyst moment for Ryan?

3.) What does the investment decision making process look like @ Foundry Group? What are the benefits and challenges of implementing such a model?

4.) What are the fundamentals to creating a successful venture partnership? How important is differing skill sets and contrarian thinking?

5.) What makes the great board members to Ryan? How has Ryan seen his style of being a board member alter over the time he has been on boards?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Ryan's Fave Book: Dune by Frank Herbert

Investment Ryan Is Most Excited By: Sendgrid

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

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

Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support together on one integrated platform. With Intercom, businesses can chat directly with prospective customers on their website, engage current users with targeted messages based on their behavior, and provide personal support at scale …
20VC: How 50% Of VCs Hurt Entrepreneurs, How To Build A Relationship Of Trust With Your VC and How Entrepreneurs Can Detect VC BS with Jason Mendelson, Co-Founder @ Foundry Group

30 januari 2017 · 25 min
Afspelen

Jason Mendelson is Co-Founder @ Foundry Group, one of the leading VC funds of the past decade with investments in the likes of Fitbit, SendGrid and Makerbot just to name a few. Prior to Foundry Jason co-founded SRS Acquiom, the largest merger and acquisition closing platform that completed over $200Bn in merger transactions. Prior to co-founding SRS, Jason was a Managing Director and General Counsel for Mobius Venture Capital, where he also acted as its chief administrative partner overseeing all operations of the firm. If this was not enough Jason is also the Co-Author, alongside Brad Feld, of the best-selling book, Venture Deals: How To Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer, a must read for all. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Jason made his way into the wonderful world of VC having been a lawyer?

2.) Why does Jason believe there is too much BS in VC? What does Jason think causes this opaqueness? How does he look to build a relationship of trust and clarity with his entrepreneurs?

3.) How has the rise of social media affected the transparency and BS element in VC and startups? How can entrepreneurs know when a VC is lying to them? What are the tells?

4.) Jason has previously said that some VC behaviour is 'rather narcissistic'. What does he mean by this? How would he like to see this change in the future?

5.) How does Jason look to optimise board meetings? What are the expectations of both founders and VCs prior to board meetings when it comes to preparation?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Jason's Fave Book: Atlas Shrugged

Jason's Most Recent Investment: Borrowed and Blue

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.

Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support together on one integrated platform. With Intercom, businesses can chat directly with prospective customers on their website, enga…
20VC: Why You Should Build Your Investor Team Like A Sports Team & How To Leverage The Abilities Of Your Investors Effectively with Ted Blosser, Founder & CEO @ WorkRamp

27 januari 2017 · 26 min
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Ted Blosser is the founder and CEO of WorkRamp, the startup that is transforming how the best companies like PayPal, Twilio, and Optimizely train and develop their employees. They are backed by top investors like Initialized Capital, Susa Ventures, Liquid2, and Slack, in addition to prominent angels like Elad Gil, Adrian Aoun, Semil Shah, and Charlie Songhurst. As for Ted, he is a Y Combinator Alumni and was an early employee at the enterprise powerhouse, Box. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Ted made the move from early employee at Box to founding WorkRamp?

2.) What were the big takeaways for Ted from seeing the rocketship growth of Box? How has he applied them to starting WorkRamp?

3.) Ted has previously said, 'you should build your investor team like a sports team'. What does Ted mean by this? How did this affect what he looked for in his investors? What does Ted advise other founders when it comes to VC selection?

4.) How does Ted view the short term and the long term value add of investors? How does Ted look to leverage their abilities and connections and get the most out of having them on board?

5.) Taking a step back, many VCs want product market fit, how does Ted assess product market fit? What have been his learnings from YC that shape his attitude to PMF?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Ted's Fave Book: The Last Lecture

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

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

The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it offers the perfect support for two people. A mattress that responds to you and your partner's sleeping patterns. Delivered free, with a one hundred night sleep trial, free returns and a ten year guarantee. Start your free trial at simbasleep.com

Cirrus Insight is a plugin for sales pros who u…
20VC: Preparing For The Next Big Trend, Why Conversational Will Be The Next Big Thing & How Entrepreneurs Should View Market Size with Sarah Guo @ Greylock Partners

25 januari 2017 · 27 min
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Sarah Guo is an investor @ Greylock Partners, which she joined in 2013. Prior to Greylock, Sarah was at Goldman Sachs, where she invested in Dropbox and helped take Workday public. She advised pre-IPO private technology companies (as well as public clients including Zynga, Netflix and Nvidia) on strategic and financial issues. Previously, Sarah worked with Casa Systems, a venture-funded startup that enables cable operators to meet growing demand for broadband services. She is an advocate for STEM education for women and the underserved, as well as education more generally. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Sarah made her way into VC with Greylock Partners?

2.) Question from Josh Elman: What were Sarah's biggest learnings from taking key companies public with GS in 2011? Why is narrative so important? Who has done it well?

3.) How does Sarah view market size and market creation? What is a big enough market size to be attractive? How does this change with time and product?

4.) How does Sarah view the next fundamental platform shift? Where does conversational fit into this thesis? Will we see 'machine learning as a service'?

5.) What does the future of VC look like? What does the next generation of VC need to do to stay on top and ensure pattern matching algorithms do not outperform them?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Sarah's Fave Book: The Most Human Human

Sarah's Most Recent Investment: Rhumbix

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

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

The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it offers the perfect support for two people. A mattress that responds to you and your partner's sleeping patterns. Delivered free, with a one hundred night sleep trial, free returns and a ten year guarantee. Start your free …
20VC: Greylock's John Lilly on How Greylock Continues To Invest In The Next Big Markets, The Importance Of Building Tribes & Why There will Be Another Boom In Mobile

23 januari 2017 · 22 min
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John Lilly is a Partner at Greylock Partners, one of the world's leading venture funds of the past decade. At Greylock John has led investments in the likes of Instagram (acq by Facebook), Tumblr (acq by Yahoo) and Dropbox. John also sits on the board for Quip, Figma and ClearSlide just to name a few. Prior to Greylock, John was CEO of Mozilla, the organization behind Firefox, used by more than 450 million people. John also co-founded Reactivity, an enterprise security infrastructure company acquired by Cisco in 2007, where he served as founding CEO and later CTO. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How John made his way into the wonderful world of VC following his time as CEO @ Mozilla?

2.) John has invested in the likes of Quip, Figma and Dropbox, so why are we seeing such a rise in productivity tools beyond Office and Google Apps? Will it always be a market of consolidation like we have seen with the likes of Quip?

3.) Does John believe the first boom of mobile is over? What about sensors makes John excited for the future of the phone? Does John agree with Ben Evans in viewing the phone as the sun of the solar system?

4.) Question from Sarah Guo: How does Greylock to continue to invest in the next big markets, rather than in what has made them successful before? What does the brainstorming sessions and meta-thinking look like internally?

5.) Question from Josh Elman: How does John view growing one's tribe and then growing together through all of your careers? What are the challenges and what is required in order to be successful?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

John's Fave Book: Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

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

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

The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it o…
20VC: Biggest Takeaways From Working With Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston, Why You Should Put Off Hiring For As Long As Possible & Why Seed Stage Investing Is All About Optimising The Top Of The Funnel with Harj Taggar, Founder & CEO @ Triplebyte

20 januari 2017 · 28 min
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Harj Taggar is the Founder & CEO @ Triplebyte, the startup that is changing the world of engineering recruitment by building a new kind of interview that evaluates tech skills, not credentials. They have raised from some of our favourite seed investors and all past guests on the show including Felicis Ventures, SV Angel and Initialized Capital. As for Harj, prior to Triplebyte, he was the first partner brought in at Y Combinator since its founding, where he remained as a Partner for 4 years. Before that he was a YC founder, co-founding Auctomatic which was acquired by Livecurrent Media. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Harj made his way from the UK to YC's first Partner to now founding Triplebyte?

2.) Question from Garry Tan: What was the most surprising thing when Harj first became a Partner @ YC? What were Harj's biggest learnings from working with Paul Graham and Jessica Livingstone in the early days?

3.) Remaining in those very early stages, from Harj's experience seeing so many companies pass through YC, what do startups look like at those very early stages? How does Harj recommend finding co-founders? Test and iterate on ideas? Work towards product market fit? What does product market fit look like to Harj?

4.) How should we approach hiring as an early stage startup? What are the signs of great hires? What does the optimal interview process look like? How can we optimize the on boarding process?

5.) What should founders look for in VCs and vice versa? What were Harj's learnings on how to be a great seed stage investor from his time with Garry & Alexis @ Initialized??

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Harj's Fave Book: Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman

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

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

The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket sp…
20VC: How To Test The Strength Of Co-Founder Relations, The Dangers Of Raising A Large Series A & Why The Biggest Challenge For Consumer Companies Is Finding The Second Big Hit with Rishi Garg, Partner @ Mayfield Fund

18 januari 2017 · 31 min
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Rishi Garg is a General Partner @ Mayfield Fund, where he focuses on new media platforms, disruptive financial services and new marketplaces. Prior to joining Mayfield, Rishi was as Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy at Twitter where he led the company's most active M&A program, including the acquisitions of Periscope, TellApart, TapCommerce, and many others. Prior to Twitter, Rishi was the first Head of Corporate Development at Square. Rishi was also the Founder of a leading venture-backed startup, FanSnap and has also held roles at Google, Highland Capital Partners and Morgan Stanley. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Rishi made his way into VC following time at Twitter and Square?

2.) How does Rishi look to analyse the state of co-founder relationships? What questions get to the core issues? What are the signs that encourage and worry Rishi?

3.) To what extent does a co-founder leaving the company concern Rishi? In what circumstance is this understandable? How should this process be played out?

4.) How much of a role should VCs play post-investment in the relationship of the founders? What are the dangers of this? How should VCs balance helpful and over involved?

5.) Why is Rishi anti the rise of the very large Series? What are the inherent dangers of this? How does he convey this concern to founders?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Rishi's Fave Book: The Tibetan Book of Living & Dying, Malcolm X

Rishi's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Wait But Why

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

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

The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it offers the perfect support for two people. A mattress that responds to you and your partner's sleeping patterns. Delivered free, with a one hundred night sle…
20VC: Why We Will See A Big Series B Crunch? Why Proprietary Data Pools & AI Talent Will Be The New Limited Natural Resources? Why Now Is The Closest Thing To A New Normal with Tim Chang, Managing Director @ Mayfield Fund

16 januari 2017 · 26 min
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Tim Chang is a Managing Director @ Mayfield Fund and Tim was referred to me by many other VCs as 'the fittest man in silicon Valley', notable tech publications even write it. His eclecticness does not stop there as he is also a musician in 3 bands and a serious body hacker. As for his investments, he has had AdChina (acquired by Alibaba), Playdom (acquired by Disney) and Basis (acquired by Intel) just to name a few. Prior to Mayfield, he spent time at notable institutions including General Motors and Norwest Venture Partners. It is not only us that appreciate Tim's skills though as he has also been named to 'Top 100 Innovators' on Forbes Midas List for 2 years running. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Tim made his way into the wonderful world of VC following Stanford Business School?

2.) How did Tim's perspective of starting VC around 9/11 shape his perspective coming into the industry? Why does Tim believe you need to see multiple cycles to be a good VC?

3.) Where are theWhy does Tim believe that startups need to be better capitalised than they currently are in the early days? Why does Tim argue for the existence of the Series B Crunch?

4.) How does Tim view the creation of a business model for machine learning? What are the 2 elements that founders need to consider before deciding in a pricing mechanism?

5.) How does Tim evaluate machine learning startups today in the plethora that have been created over the last few years? How does Tim determine true machine learning talent?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Tim's Fave Book: Nexus

Tim's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Wait But Why

Tim's Most Recent Investment: Next Entertainment

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

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

The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory fo…
20VC: Building An AI Company For The Long Term? How Humans & Machine Learning Can Work Together? What Applications Are The Conversational Interface Best Suited To with Maran Nelson, Founder & CEO @ Clara Labs

13 januari 2017 · 31 min
Afspelen

Maran Nelson is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Clara Labs, the truly human interface that uses conversational intelligence trained on high-quality data to schedule your meetings. They have secured funding from some of the best in the business including previous guest Kent Goldman @ Upside Partnership and Greg Brockman, Founder of the prestigious OpenAI. As for Maran, she is also the Founder of Interact, a community of 100 young makers and technologists coming together for an annual retreat in Tahoe. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Maran come to found one of the hottest AI startups of the day in Clara Labs?

2.) What is the right way to think about a digital assistant? How does Maran think consumer expectations and behaviours will change towards them in the coming years?

3.) Question from Shivon @ Bloomberg Beta: How does Maran think about building an AI company for the long term? How does Clara look to build scalable and transparent feedback loops?

4.) Why is Maran so bullish on the conversational interface? To what situation does this interface lend best? What other verticals and applications could this have in the future?

5.) Does Maran think that humans will always be needed in this process? At what stage will they become obsolete?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Maran's Fave Book: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

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

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

The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it offers the perfect support for two people. A mattress that responds to you and your partner's sleeping patterns. Delivered free, with a one hundred night sleep trial, free returns and a ten year guarantee. Start your free trial at simbasleep.com

Cirrus Insight is a plugin for sales pros who use Gmail and O…
20VC: Why You Should Not Invest From Patterns, Why No Good Business Was Built As An Analogy Of Another & Why The Rise Of The 'Celebrity Investor' Is Concerning with Emily Melton, Partner @ DFJ

11 januari 2017 · 35 min
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Emily Melton is partner at DFJ, where she focuses on consumer and mobile technology, as well as healthcare technologies and marketplaces. Emily has made investments in the likes of BetterUp, Elation Health, Livongo, Redfin, Shift, and Wellframe. Early in Emily's career, she sourced investments in Box (NYSE: BOX), Meebo (Google), Kudo (Google), RichRelevance, and Flux (MTV Networks). She was also an advisor to Pulse Network (LinkedIn), Healthtap, and Poshmark. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Emily made her way into the wonderful world of VC following her meeting with Tim Draper?

2.) How does Emily view the importance of pattern recognition? Why does Emily believe that you should not invest from patterns? What is the difference between a pattern and an investing fad?

3.) Why does Emily hate analogies? Why does she believe it is simplistic thinking? How can this be mitigated for startup founders in describing their company?

4.) How does Emily view the portfolio approach to risk in venture? What questions need to be asked to determine the potential outcome of the business?

5.) Why does Emily get concerned by the rise of the 'celebrity investor'? How can investors build their brand in the proliferated world of early stage startup investing?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Emily's Fave Book: Mindset by Carol Dweck, A Theory of Justice by John Rawls

Emily's Most Recent Investment: BetterUp

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

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

The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it offers the perfect support for two people. A mattress that responds to you and your partner's sleeping patterns. Delivered free, with a one hundred night sleep trial, free returns and a ten year guarantee. Start your free trial at simbasleep.c…
20VC: DFJ's Josh Stein on Why VCs Must Adapt To Their Founders, The Major Transition Points For Aaron Levie @ Box & Why SaaS Startups Are Growing At A Rate Never Seen Before

9 januari 2017 · 25 min
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Josh Stein is Partner @ DFJ where his current board responsibilities include Box (NYSE: BOX), Chartbeat, LaunchDarkly, LendKey, SugarCRM, and previous guests with me on SaaStr in Periscope and Talkdesk. He is also actively involved with the firm's investments in AngelList, Doximity and Twilio (NYSE: TWLO) just to name a few. Prior to joining DFJ, Josh was a VP at Telephia, where he managed a group providing strategic analysis and information to the nation's largest wireless carrier. Previously, Josh was a co-founder for ViaFone (NYSE: SY), a DFJ portfolio company and a leading provider of wireless enterprise applications. Josh met the DFJ team when the firm co-led ViaFone's Series A investment. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Josh made his way from the world of operations to Partner @ DFJ?

2.) How does Josh analyze the VC/ Founder fit? How does Josh look to build trust and transparency in that relationship? What is an example of how Josh has changed his style to fit the character of an entrepreneur?

3.) Question from Greg Sands: What did Josh see in the early days of Box with a young Aaron Levie, what was it that made him so excited?

4.) Question from Mamoon Hamid @ Social Capital: Looking at Box today, what will it take for Box to 10x their value? What needs to happen in the market? What needs to happen to the product roadmap?

5.) Question from Jason Lemkin @ SaaStr: How is it that we are seeing companies like TalkDesk and Twilio grow at a rate never seen before in today's SaaS environment?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Josh's Fave Blog: TermSheet

Josh's Fave Book: Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success

Josh's Most Recent Investment: LaunchDarkly

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.

The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hun…
20VC: eShares' Henry Ward on Why Portfolio Theory Is Wrong? Why Investors Will Never Take Market Risk & Why You have To Have A Line of Sight To A $Bn Outcome

6 januari 2017 · 25 min
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Henry Ward is the Founder & CEO @ eShares, the No 1 cap table management platform providing equity management, 409A valuations and liquidity all in one place. They are backed by leading investors and past guests including USV, SV Angel, Spark Capital, Semil Shah, Manu Kumar, Tim Draper and Kamal Ravikant, just to name a few. Prior to eShares, Henry was Founder @ SecondSight, the first registered investment advisor to go direct to your brokerage and improve your portfolio. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

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

2.) How does Henry challenge the notion that investors should have such high fail rates? How does Henry believe investors can build a strong and sustainable portfolio without home runs?

3.) Why does Henry believe that investors will never accept market risk? How much of a role does Henry believe herd mentality plays in the VC ecosystem?

4.) How does Henry view the increasing exit horizons for startups? Is this a problem? How can we create liquidity options pre large exits?

5.) How does Henry view the role of regulation in private markets? How does this differ to public markets? What would Henry like to see change in the VC ecosystem?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Henry's Fave Blog: Hacker News

Henry's Fave Book: The Essays Of Warren Buffett

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

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

The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it offers the perfect support for two people. A mattress that responds to you and your partner's sleeping patterns. Delivered free, with a one hundred night sleep trial, free returns and a ten year guarantee. Start your free trial at simbasleep.com

Cirrus Insight is a plugin for sales pros who use Gmail a…
20VC: Evernote's Phil Libin on The Pros and Cons Of Moving To VC, The Future For Bots & Having Marc Benioff & Reid Hoffman As Mentors

4 januari 2017 · 22 min
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Phil Libin is Managing Director @ General Catalyst and Founder and Executive Chairman @ Evernote. At Evernote, Phil took the company from idea generation to productivity powerhouse allowing millions of users around the world to remember everything and in the meantime, providing Evernote with over $160m in VC funding from some of the very best including Sequoia Capital. Now in the world of VC, Phil has a particularly fondness towards all things bots, a theme we discuss heavily today. Phil has also made several angel investments in the likes of Gusto, TellApart and Binary Thumb just to name a few. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Phil made his way from Founder @ Evernote to Managing Director @ General Catalyst?

2.) Niko Bonatsos, Managing Director @ General Catalyst asks: What were your biggest takeaways from your time with Evernote that lend to you being a better investor? What are the biggest surprises about the move into VC?

3.) Why have we seen an explosion of hype and excitement around the bot space over the past year? What was the catalyst for the rise of the bot?

4.) Why are we not there yet with bots? Should all be conversational? How does the infancy of messaging platforms affect the rise of bots? What unsolved technical challenges remain?

5.) Will the transition to bots and conversational interfaces represent a major point of disruption or more of an evolution in the interface paradigm?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Phil's Fave Blog: The Economist

Phil's Fave Book: The Three Body Problem

Phil's Most Recent Investment: Sunflower Labs

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

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

The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it offers the perfect support for two people. A mattress that responds to …
20VC: Why Companies Going Bust Is Part Of The Plan, Why Most VCs Are Later Stage Than They Think & Why Venture Capital Is Humbling with Charlie O'Donnell, Founder @ Brooklyn Bridge Ventures

2 januari 2017 · 28 min
Afspelen

Charlie O'Donnell is the Founder and Sole Partner @ Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, the first venture capital fund based in Brooklyn, who manage $23m across 2 funds. Prior to founding Brooklyn Bridge, Charlie worked at the prestigious First Round Capital, with the likes of Josh Koppelman and Union Square Ventures with Fred Wilson. If that wasn't enough Charlie is one of only a dozen to be named to Business Insider's 100 Most Influential People in NY Tech five or more times and has served on the founding board of the New York Tech Meetup and is one of the group's first 100 members. His blog, This is Going to Be BIG!, is one of the ten most widely read VC blogs in the country with over 8,000 readers. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Charlie made his move from college to venture and then struck out on his own from USV?

2.) Charlie has previously said that 'venture capital is humbling'. How does Charlie look to construct his portfolio with Brooklyn Bridge? How does he come to terms with the fact he will be wrong most of the time?

3.) What are Charlie's views towards follow-on funding and allocating reserves of the fund? How important is this from a return multiple perspective? How much of a difference does it make for founders to raise a next round with 100% of seed investors committed?

4.) Charlie has previously suggested the importance of being helpful and hard working. Is that really enough to build a brand in today's competitive VC environment? Is brand a form of defensible IP?

5.) How does Charlie react to Ben Lerer's suggestion that Jet.com and Dollar Shave Club are the first dominoes of an incoming wave of e-commerce M&A?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Charlie's Fave Blog: Wait But Why

Charlie's Most Recent Investment: Industrial Organic

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

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

The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced matt…
20VC: How AI Can Enhance Not Replace Humans? What Will Differentiate Between The Winners & The Losers In AI? Why AGI Is Further Away Than We Think with Nitesh Banta, Founder & CEO @ B12

30 december 2016 · 29 min
Afspelen

Nitesh Banta is the Founder and CEO @ B12, the startup that uses AI to superpower their team of world class creatives to create even more intelligent websites. They have backing from the likes of Jim Breyer, General Catalyst and our friends at Founder Collective. As for Nitesh, prior to B12, he was on the dark side as a VC with General Catalyst for 5 years before Co-Founding Rough Draft Ventures, the General Catalyst program designed to develop the next generation of student founders. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Nitesh made the move from VC with General Catalyst to AI Startup founder with B12?

2.) How difficult was it for Nitesh to leave the security of venture to start B12 as Founder? What does Nitesh suggest to those that are unsure of whether to make the jump?

3.) Why does Nitesh believe that AGI (artificial general intelligence) is not as close as people predict? What are the implications of this towards humans relationship with technology?

4.) Is Nitesh bullish on humans creating new and unique machine learning algorithms or the rise of 'machine learning as a service as a sector? Where does the real value lie, the data or the machine learning algorithms?

5.) Why is Nitesh contra the common pessimism surrounding AI and the future of work? How does Nitesh believe AI will impact human work processes in a positive way?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Nitesh's Fave Blog: Bill Gurley: Above The Crowd, Nuzzel

Nitesh's Fave Book: Oh The Places You'll Go

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

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

Pearl believes the latest automotive technology should be available to every driver – whether it's time for you to buy a new car or not. RearVision is our first step in driving this commitment forward. Pearl RearVision is the only wireless backup camera and alert system that installs in minutes and updates throughout its life…
20VC: Using Valuation As A Litmus Test, Why Valuation Does Not Matter At Seed Stage & How Seed Funds Can Serve Founders Better with Kent Goldman, Founder @ Upside Partnership

28 december 2016 · 24 min
Afspelen

Kent Goldman is the Founder of Upside Partnership, one of the leading seed-stage investment firms in SF with investments in the likes of Laurel and Wolf, Digit and Lily. In 2015, he was named to the Midas Brink List. Prior to forming Upside Partnership in 2014, Kent was a Partner at seed investment pioneer First Round Capital. While there he led investments in companies including Airware, Hotel Tonight, and MemSQL. He also served on the board of Mashery (acquired by Intel). Earlier in his career, Kent was a member of Yahoo!'s corporate development team and also led business strategy for Yahoo! products generating $1 billion in annual revenue. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Kent made his way into the world of early stage investing and came to found Upside?

2.) What were the big takeaways from First Round for Kent? How has he applied those learnings to his formation of Upside?

3.) What does Kent look for in the LPs that invest in his fund? Why should founders look to learn which LPs are invested in the fund investing in them?

4.) How has Kent seen his investment decision-making process alter with time? What have been the big changes?

5.) Why does Kent believe valuation does not matter so much at the seed stage? What does really matter to him at the seed stage? How does this progress with rounds?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Kent's Fave Blog: Howards Marks: Oaktree Capital

Kent's Fave Book: A River Runs Through It And Other Stories

Kent's Most Recent Investment: Live Neighborly

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

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

Pearl believes the latest automotive technology should be available to every driver – whether it's time for you to buy a new car or not. RearVision is our first step in driving this commitment forward. Pearl RearVision is the only wireless backup camera and alert system that installs in minutes and upd…
20VC: What VCs Really Mean They Say 'Stay In Touch', Why Incentivisation Through Perks Is Lazy & Why Founders Should Always Under-Promise & Over-Deliver with David Politis, Founder @ CEO @ Bettercloud

23 december 2016 · 30 min
Afspelen

David Politis is the Founder & CEO @ Bettercloud, the first ever unified SaaS management platform. Bettercloud have raised over $40m in funding from some of today's best investors including past guests from Accel, Greycroft Partners and Flybridge Partners, just to name a few. Before founding BetterCloud, David was an early employee of Cloud Sherpas (acquired by Accenture [NYSE: ACN]) where David led Cloud Sherpas to become the leading Google Apps services provider and reseller to SMBs worldwide. Prior to Cloud Sherpas, David was the founding employee and General Manager of Vocalocity (acquired by Vonage [NYSE: VG]), which he grew into one of the top providers of cloud PBX technology. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Dave came to found Bettercloud? What was the a-ha moment for him?

2.) Why does David like to invest in everything but perks? What are the challenges of incentivising a team with Perks? What are the alternatives?

3.) What are the limits to transparency? Can there ever be too much transparency? How do you engender a culture of radical transparency within the workforce?

4.) How was the fundraising process for David? how did it alter and develop with every round? What did he do well and what would he improve upon?

5.) How can founders optimise the on boarding process for new hires? What is fundamental? What are the common mistakes and how can this be hacked for success?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

David's Fave Blog: Recode

David's Fave Book: Banker To The Poor

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

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

Pearl believes the latest automotive technology should be available to every driver – whether it's time for you to buy a new car or not. RearVision is our first step in driving this commitment forward. Pearl RearVision is the only wireless backup camera and alert system that installs in minutes and updates thr…
20VC: AngelList's Parker Thompson on How He Evaluates Startup Founders & Why The Move To Series A Is Harder Than Ever?

21 december 2016 · 33 min
Afspelen

Parker Thompson is a Partner @ AngelList and creator of popular parody Twitter Account, Startup L Jackson. At AngelList Parker has made investments in the likes of former guests, Algolia, Realty Shares and Keen IO. Prior to joining AngelList, Parker was a Partner at 500 Startups in SF and his illustrious path prior to investing includes Pivotal Labs, co-founding PlaceSite, preserving the interwebs at the Internet Archive, and working on digital copyright at UC Berkeley's iSchool. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Parker made his way into the world of early stage investing from the world of operations?

2.) How does Parker look to evaluate startup founders? What questions does he like to ask? What traits does he like to see in the core exec?

3.) Why does Parker think "not enough traction" is a BS VC excuse? How should VC's approach saying no to founders? What are the real reasons a VC is saying no in this case?

4.) Why does Parker believe the jump to Series A is bigger than ever? What has caused this? What metrics do startups have to achieve to make this move successfully?

5.) How should founders determine how much money to raise? If they can should they raise a 'warchest'? Why should founders not be concerned with dilution in the early days?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Parker's Fave Blog: Stratechery, Nuzzel

Parker's Fave Book: The Modernist Cuisine

Parker's Most Recent Investment: Common Networks

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

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

Pearl believes the latest automotive technology should be available to every driver – whether it's time for you to buy a new car or not. RearVision is our first step in driving this commitment forward. Pearl RearVision is the only wireless backup camera and alert system that installs in minutes and updates throughout its lifetime. Pearl literally takes less than 10minutes to insta…
20VC: Learnings From Mary Meeker & Larry Summers, Missing Out On Uber & The Changing World of VC with Canvas Partner, Rebecca Lynn

19 december 2016 · 35 min
Afspelen

Rebecca Lynn is a Partner @ Canvas, where she focusses on Fintech, Digital Health, SaaS and mobile. Rebecca led an early stage investment in Lending Club, which was the largest US technology IPO of 2014 and the 4th largest Internet IPO since 2001. She has also led investments in the likes of Check (acquired by Intuit), RelateIQ (acquired by Salesforce), Proximity, Practice Fusion and more incredible companies. Prior to being in VC, Rebecca held operational roles at NextCard where she rose to become VP of Marketing and Head of Customer Acquisition and saw the company going public with a $1.3bn market cap. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Rebecca made her way into the wonderful world of VC?

2.) How does Rebecca view the importance of brand and thematic focus in the world of VC today? How can a VC be focussed thematically without missing moonshots?

3.) What were Rebecca's biggest lessons from sitting on boards with the likes of Mary Meeker and Larry Summers? How did that change how Rebecca viewed being a board member?

4.) "Fintech is all about distribution and acquisition". What does Rebecca make of this statement? How have we seen evolution in both distribution and acquisition in the rising tide of new fintech startups?

5.) How does Rebecca analyse fund economics? What does she make of the mega $1Bn funds raised over the last year? What is the optimal size fund for Rebecca?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Rebecca's Fave Blog: The Daily Shot

Rebecca's Fave Book: Influence by Robert Cialdini

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

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

Pearl believes the latest automotive technology should be available to every driver – whether it's time for you to buy a new car or not. RearVision is our first step in driving this commitment forward. Pearl RearVision is the only wireless backup camera and alert system that installs in minut…
20VC: Qualtrics' Ryan Smith on Building A $Bn Company & Raising The Largest Series A Since 2008 From Sequoia & Accel

16 december 2016 · 30 min
Afspelen

Ryan Smith is the Founder & CEO @ Qualtrics, an online survey company with 1,200 employees and a valuation of more than $1bn. They have backing from some of the world's best investors including the likes of Sequoia, Accel and Insight Venture Partners having raised a $150m Series B in 2014. As for Ryan, there are many awesome things, first, he has built Qualtrics from Utah allowing him to gain perspective outside of the traditional tech bubbles, second, he held off on attain VC funding for many years despite the common belief that it is necessary for unicorn growth and finally he has the most incredible work life balance I have seen and if you have not already you must check out this piece on him in Forbes, it really is a must. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Ryan made his way into startups and came to found Qualtrics?

2.) Sequoia's Bryan Schreier states that Ryan's success is due to running the company on 'first business principles'. What does he mean by this? How does this affect the way Ryan runs Qualtrics?

3.) Why did Ryan decide to bootstrap the company for such a long time with the likes of Accel and Sequoia looking to invest? What are the benefits of retaining such control? What are the financial requirements to do so?

4.) What makes the best CEO's? How do they view the internal structure of the company? How do they perceive their role? How do they manage their day and optimise their time?

5.) How does Ryan look to instill 'radical transparency' in the organisation? What are the benefits of doing so? Can an organisation ever be too transparent? What are the challenges of such transparency?

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

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

Pearl believes the latest automotive technology should be available to every driver – whether it's time for you to buy a new car or not. RearVision is our first step in driving this commitm…
20VC: Garry Tan on The Biggest Takeaways From Advising 700 Companies @ Y Combinator & Why Now Is The Golden Age For The Early Stage?

14 december 2016 · 30 min
Afspelen

Garry Tan is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner @ Initialized Capital, one of Silicon Valleys leading early stage seed funds. Prior to founding Initialized, Garry was a Partner at Y Combinator where he invested in and directly worked with over 700 companies in 5 years from the earliest possible stage, often just an idea. Garry's portfolio includes the likes of previous guests Tilt, Eero, Flexport, LendUp and many more incredible companies.
Before being at YC, Garry Co-Founded Posterous and helped build it to a world-class website used by millions, ultimately acquired by Twitter. Garry also co-founded the engineering team for Palantir Technology's quant finance analysis platform. Lees meer

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Garry made the transition from Founder @ PostHaven to YC Partner to Initialized GP?

2.) What were Garry's biggest takeaways from advising 700 startups at YC that he has taken with him to Initialized?

3.) Why does Garry believe now is the golden age for early stage investing? What opportunity does the mass of late stage capital provide the early stage?

4.) How does Garry approach desired ownership? What level of ownership provides incentive for a VC to work whilst also allowing collaboration with other VCs in a round?

5.) What are Garry's thoughts on the rise of thematic investing? Why does he not believe it to be optimal at the seed stage?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Garry's Fave Blog: SaaStr

Garry's Fave Book: Chaos Monkeys

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

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

Pearl believes the latest automotive technology should be available to every driver – whether it's time for you to buy a new car or not. RearVision is our first step in driving this commitment forward. Pearl RearVision is the only wireless backup camera and alert system that installs in minutes and updates throughout its lifetime. Pearl literally …

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