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E1056 AMA: StartX & Nexus Events Founder Cameron Teitelman answers questions from founders: how universities with no entrepreneurial culture can mimic Stanford, building flexible & sustainable culture during COVID, scaling Nexus Events rapidly & more!
12 mei 2020 · 37 min
StartX & Nexus Events Founder Cameron Teitelman answers questions from founders: how universities with no entrepreneurial culture can mimic Stanford, building flexible & sustainable culture during COVID, scaling Nexus Events rapidly & more! Join the TWiST Slack: https://launchevents.typeform.com/to/kLq5Bi Mentioned during the AMA: Cameron's new startup: https://mixer.nexusevents.io/login_mixer Cameron's most recent TWiST appearance: https://youtu.be/zsNqOLs-NVI Questions: 0:37 Cameron intros his AMA and describes his new company: Nexus Events https://mixer.nexusevents.io/login_mixer 1:31 Kevin: Are seed investors investing right now? What have StartX companies been seeing lately from early-stage investors? 2:55 James: How can universities with no entrepreneurial culture mimic the success of Stanford in creating an environment that encourages building and innovation? 4:29 James: How does the accelerator structure change for current students? What are some of the common pitfalls you have seen people make starting their company whilst finishing their degree? 7:18 Presh: Could you share more about your new startup? What are you building and why? 10:15 Ashley: How are you looking at accepting companies to StartX through the COVID lense? Which companies (in your portfolio or not) do you think are particularly well-positioned for the post COVID environment? 12:43 Jean: Regarding mentorship, in what areas do solo founders need the most help with? 14:41 Annette: Will Stanford affiliated applicants get priority over referral applicants? Would consumer startup applicants that are non-COVID related be considered during this time? 17:35 Henry: What are your thoughts in terms of building a flexible but sustainable culture? 19:26 Matt: Do you take a different approach with health tech portfolio companies and educate/manage/support them separately from the rest of the portfolio? 21:21 Laura: Given that companies don't give up equity, and there is no structured program, how do you … Lees meer
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E1055: Hustle Fund Co-Founder & General Partner Elizabeth Yin on her unique portfolio strategy, attracting first-time LPs, optimism for post-COVID fundraising, dealing with pro rata as a smaller fund & more!
8 mei 2020 · 1 uur 4 min
0:50 Jason opens the show with some thoughts on livelihood, getting back to work as a lose-lose situation and approaching the situation with kindness and empathy 5:47 Jason intros Hustle Fund's Elizabeth Yin and they discuss the process of raising Hustle Fund I and targeting first-time LPs 10:25 Why high net worth individuals would look to become venture LPs 14:26 What's the deal with Elizabeth & hippos? Where can you find Jason as his alter-ego "CyberSurfer" 15:49 What is Hustle Fund's portfolio strategy? 18:55 When do you know if you have a 100x outlier? Why roll prior angel investments into the fund? 24:15 Thinking of venture funds from a gambling perspective 28:24 What is Hustle Fund's approach to pro-rata as a smaller fund? 34:49 Founders ability to "game" investors increasing in last 5 years 37:47 How does Elizabeth decide to make the follow-on second bet in a company? 42:01 How does Elizabeth advise her startups to raise from downstream Seed/Series A investors, importance of positive unit economics 47:41 Challenges of fundraising in today's climate 50:34 Reasons for optimism/pessimism, lockdown creating a necessity for innovation 56:55 What will COVID's permanent ramifications be on startups? Lees meer
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AMA 2: All Turtles CEO Phil Libin answers questions from founders: should early-stage founders prioritize data or instincts, building global products, ML risks, thoughts on remote work
8 mei 2020 · 56 min
All Turtles CEO Phil Libin answers questions from founders: should early-stage founders prioritize data or instincts, building global products, ML risks, thoughts on remote work Join the TWiST Slack: https://launchevents.typeform.com/to/kLq5Bi Mentioned during the AMA: Phil's First appearance on TWiST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSYdwNHCmJA Phil presents his state machine that answers all growth questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjyhDOb_j1I All Turtles Product Taxonomy podcast: https://www.all-turtles.com/podcast/episode-50-product-taxonomy-how-we-classify-product-pitches/ Questions: 1:03 Knyck: In your state machine model, how early should companies prioritize looking into resurrection, lines 5&9, of inactive users into low and high-value users? 2:36 David: Thoughts on Notion? I've been an Evernote user since '08 but Notion seems to be winning over some Evernote fans. 3:11 Tom: 1) As CEO, what brings you the most joy as a CEO, any examples? 2) As a Software Engineer, what was one of the most difficult things you had to overcome? 3) What's one thing early founders don't think is as important as it really is? (Besides culture) 9:54 Graham: During the early days (pre-product market fit), do you think that more metrics are always better for founders, or would you recommend focusing on those north star metrics that can keep founders focused on the most important business levers? 12:32 Craig: How have any setbacks or failures in the past changed the way you approached problems or roadblocks. What changes will you make after COVID? 17:04 Andrii: How would you compare Notion vs Roam research vs Evernote? What are some strong and weak features of each platform? 18:26 Jeff: Have you completed your goal yet of 1 pull up? 19:36 Sina: As you said: "Many companies focus on just one market and build up from there" but you guys invest in a global presence early on in the process and tried to have users from the Asia Pacific regions from the early days. How did you g… Lees meer
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UPCOMING: Register for Angel.University Online at Angel.University/Events
7 mei 2020 · 2 min
Hosted by Jason Calacanis & Michael Savino, Angel.University is a workshop for individuals interested in becoming professional angel investors. The curriculum is designed for angels who have done 0 to 100 angel investments and focuses on five key topics: sourcing deals, evaluating startups, negotiating deals, portfolio and bankroll management, and post-deal efforts. Register: https://www.angel.university/events Lees meer
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E1054: The Power of Accelerators E3 Siobhan Dullea, CEO of MassChallenge on running a non-profit accelerator, accepting hundreds of companies per year, what makes a great application, why East Coast investors are more conservative & more!
6 mei 2020 · 1 uur 5 min
0:42 Jason intros MassChallenge CEO Siobhan Dullea 3:09 What is MassChallenge & how is it different from a typical accelerator? 5:48 How many startups do they accept across their different programs? 11:33 How does their prize money situation work? How are the winners selected? 19:05 How is MassChallenge sustainable as a non-profit 22:55 How is MassChallenge funded & how do they track portfolio success, what government & corporate sponsors looking for out of MC? 29:22 MC's top accelerator companies 32:24 What makes for a great application? 39:00 Why are East Coast investors obsessed with intellectual property? Why are they more conservative? 44:10 Thoughts on virtual accelerators? 47:20 Red flags when accepting companies? 50:08 What will change post-COVID-19? Lees meer
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E1053: Ask Jason! Catching an investor's eye with a cold email, what founders/investors often overlook during pitches, COVID's impact on Jason's deal flow, domain name hacks & more!
5 mei 2020 · 51 min
0:01 Jason intros today's questions! 2:18 Kate asks what founders & investors often overlook while pitching/being pitched, and what they should focus more closely on 6:58 Daniel asks about Jason's next book 8:59 Avery asks for advice on performing customer research 14:27 Dan asks what common traits Jason sees in the best founders and tangible steps to gain these traits 19:55 Shahpar asks what kind of cold emails catch Jason's eyes 22:10 Amy asks for the top 5 books Jason would recommend to an aspiring founder 27:18 Andrew asks Jason how his deal flow has been impacted by COVID-19 30:27 Dharma asks about the importance of a startups name/domain name and any hacks getting a better domain name 34:54 Pedro asks how to improve customer retention when acquisition goes down 39:57 Ivan asks how Jason is "sizing up" founders without meeting them in person 42:10 Gerry asks whether to offer a freemium version of a product OR to offer the full product free for a limited window before looking to convert 46:51 Naiem asks whether to push new products searching for product-market fit OR focus on improving existing products Lees meer
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TEASER: Inside Transportation E3: Sandy Munro Talks Electric Vehicles, Tesla Model Y + More
2 mei 2020 · 21 min
Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/transportationpodcast Featuring Sandy Munro (CEO of Munro & Associates), Jason Calacanis (Angel investor, LAUNCH, Inside.com) and Johan Moreno (Inside.com). Subscribe to Inside Transportation newsletter: inside.com/transportation Subscribe to Inside Electric Vehicles newsletter: inside.com/evs Follow Inside Transportation: https://twitter.com/TranspoPod Lees meer
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E1052: Range CEO & Co-Founder Dan Pupius shares best practices on building culture as a remote team, insights from working on Google+, importance of asynchronous communication on distributed teams, Holacracy & more!
2 mei 2020 · 1 uur 12 min
0:56 Jason intros the show & talks about the impact the TWiST Slack has had on him 4:47 Jason intros Dan Pupius of Range 6:13 What is Range and why is it asynchronous & who types of companies is it made for? 10:48 What is the core feature of Range? 15:19 Dan's time at Google, working on Google+ & Google Buzz 21:16 Competing against Facebook's product velocity 24:28 Why did Google+ fail? 29:22 How adoption patterns & network effects played into Google+ not taking off like Facebook 36:57 How to use team communication tools & not come off as overbearing, dealing with unmotivated employees & creating environments that increase motivation 45:02 Burning Man, CyberPunk & more 47:47 Dan shares best practices on building culture as a remote team 52:15 Importance of maintaining "psychological safety" to optimize performance, holding colleagues accountable during high-pressure situations 58:37 Dan's experience developing Holacracy at Medium with Evan Williams 1:06:18 How experience & milestones affect leadership 1:09:21 Potential of "hybrid" remote/in-person offices after going back to work Lees meer
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AMA 1: freeCodeCamp's Quincy Larson answers founder and developer questions
1 mei 2020 · 41 min
freeCodeCamp Founder Quincy Larson answers questions from his exclusive AMA only on This Week in Startups' Slack! If you'd like to participate in exclusive AMAs, jam sessions, and discuss all aspects of startup life with Jason and our community of 20,000+ founders, join us at: https://launchevents.typeform.com/to/kLq5Bi Watch Quincy on E1049: https://youtu.be/OgxTDl2Z9II Follow Quincy: https://twitter.com/ossia Check out freeCodeCamp: https://www.freecodecamp.org/ Thanks to Klaviyo, Fiverr and Mint Mobile for keeping this AMA ad free! Questions: 0:33 Emin asks: What is the best tactic to build an award-winning dev team? Hire junior developers and incubate them or hire more senior people? 4:29 Rob asks: What does FCC moving to a project-based curriculum look like for someone with a moderate programming background, and where should they start approaching the freeCodeCamp curriculum? 5:41 Ilya asks: What are your thoughts on remote work for developers post COVID. What are the biggest challenges companies are facing? And how can candidates stand out in a remote job interview? 7:55 Swyx asks: What are your thoughts on SEO/building a media empire out of FCC? What about keeping FCC.org nonprofit, but making FreeCodeCamp's YouTube and Content presence for profit? 11:06 Farjad asks: What is your advice on contributing to open-source projects like FCC and when it is appropriate/how to begin? Do I have to become an expert first? How can a beginner contribute? 13:27 James asks: Many online courses and MOOCS have high drop off rates and struggle to retain users. Have you found this with freeCodeCamp and, if so, what measures have you found work best to keep people learning? 16:40 Brady asks: What are the plans for future courses? Will there be other languages or frameworks included? 20:40 Cpulido asks: I am new to coding. I have a vision of what I want to build but I am wondering if I am being too ambitious. How do I effectively learn and build at the same time? 23:24 Jean asks… Lees meer
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E1051: The Power of Accelerators E2 Cameron Teitelman, Founder & Chairman of StartX on optimizing Stanford's entrepreneurial landscape, thesis on peer-support groups' correlation to founder success, why growth-stage founders join StartX & more!
29 april 2020 · 59 min
1:00 Jason intros Power of Accelerators Episode 2! 3:07 Jason intros StartX Founder Cameron Teitelman: What is StartX, how do they invest, when and how was it started? 6:54 How does StartX exist? Are they profitable? 8:43 Why would a growth stage founder join StartX? 13:28 What is the process for selecting founders/companies for StartX? What is unique about Stanford students? 16:28 Difference between arrogance and confidence, StartX's "No A**hole" rule, Cohort size 20:47 What does StartX look for in founders, what questions are asked in interviews & what preferences do they have regarding co-founders 27:04 How do VCs look at StartX? What are their demo days like? 31:54 Thoughts on YC's demo day & how to run a demo day process 41:16 Cameron on hacking his way into VC, new StartX funds, thesis on successful founders & peer-support groups 45:58 Stories about getting cut out of a deal 48:09 What StartX's portfolio signaling tells them about successful founders, importance of time management 51:59 Steve Blank's theory of customer development, top portfolio companies Lees meer
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E1050: PlayVS CEO & Founder Delane Parnell shares his incredible journey from the projects to raising almost $100M to build the esports platform of the future, breaking through as an outsider in tech, using leverage & partnerships to create a moat, his to
28 april 2020 · 1 uur 43 min
0:42 Jason intros PlayVS CEO & Founder Delane Parnell 2:59 What is PlayVS, how do they make money & how fast are they growing? 5:37 Attracting investors, leveraging an exclusive contract to scale across US high schools & average hours spent on the platform by players 13:26 Delane shares his backstory, from flipping shoes to owning cell phone stores in high school to getting tickets to the LAUNCH Festival in SF 26:38 How Delane turned LAUNCH Festival networking to deal flow & a job in venture capital 32:52 Meeting Peter Pham at SXSW, moving to LA to start PlayVS 38:16 Delane on his relationship with Michael Ovitz 40:20 PlayVS' go-to-market strategy & relationship with game publishers 45:51 PlayVS being co-ed & giving female gamers a safe environment to play in 51:08 Race in tech & Delane's advice on breaking into the industry as an outsider 55:57 Not taking any checks from firms who hadn't previously backed black founders 59:05 Does Darnell's intentionality about diversity create a talent advantage for PlayVS? 1:06:06 Relief of hiring high-level operators 1:11:41 LA restaurant scene discussion 1:13:39 Bird vs. Lime vs. Uber, pricing model discussion, thought on Travis Kalanick 1:23:10 Top 5 Tech entrepreneurs of all-time 1:33:40 What's going on at Airbnb? Lees meer
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SNEAK PREVIEW! Inside Transportation E2: EV Companies Take PPP Loans, Virgin Australia collapses, Levandowski v. Uber
27 april 2020 · 14 min
2:42 — Electric vehicle startups receive PPP loansAs thousands of small business owners struggle to pay rent and keep their employees on staff, two high-profile electric vehicle startups have applied and received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans from the Small Business Administration (SBA). Lees meer
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E1049: freeCodeCamp Founder Quincy Larson shares insights on democratizing developer skills, which programs to learn to land a coding job, if anyone can learn to code, maximizing earning potential & more!
24 april 2020 · 58 min
0:50 Jason thanks the front-line workers & intros freeCodeCamp's Quincy Larson 7:45 Why & how did Quincy start freeCodeCamp? What is freeCodeCamp? 12:16 Jason & Quincy discuss starting & running large online communities, benefits of Discord & Slack 15:36 Can you jump right in on freeCodeCamp.org? What types of certifications do they offer? 17:38 COVID-19's impact on user growth & why Quincy is emulating Red Cross, YMCA & other non-profits 21:19 Do they track outcomes at freeCodeCamp, how do they compare to Lambda School? 26:05 Can anyone become a web developer? How many hours would it take for an average high school graduate to be able to build a 1.0 version of Twitter or Shopify? 35:09 Quincy shares some freeCodeCamp success stories 41:21 What's the quickest way to get a job through coding? What program should an aspirational developer start learning first? 45:57 Should new developers prioritize mobile development to maximize earning potential? 48:24 What % of freeCodeCamp users are non-US? Which country has shown the most potential? 50:44 What does the post-COVID world look like for developers? 53:21 freeCodeCamp's developer cards project Lees meer
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E1048: The Power of Accelerators E1 Steve Barsh, Managing Partner of Dreamit Ventures on top portfolio companies, focusing on specific verticals, tips for nailing accelerator interviews, follow-on philosophy & more
23 april 2020 · 1 uur 2 min
1:00 Jason thanks all frontline workers and intros Dreamit Ventures' Steve Barsh 3:33 How did Dreamit start, what is the goal and how is their program structured? 9:43 How often does Dreamit follow-on with their portfolio companies, how do they think about pricing, valuation & leading rounds? 15:15 Steve goes over some of Dreamit's top portfolio companies: SeatGeek, LevelUp & Houseparty and explains how SeatGeek pivoted while going through Dreamit's program 18:20 How early will Dreamit Ventures go? Pre-revenue? What verticals do they focus on how do they improve their program? 27:24 What is the most important thing Dreamit does for founders: advice, anointing or money? 30:07 At what point during the process does Dreamit turn on the criticism? What questions do they ask during Accelerator interviews? 42:58 How much of Dreamit's program focuses on the fundraising process? 48:59 Lightning round: How founders should judge accelerators, nailing interviews, multiple accelerators, follow-on philosophy, bridge rounds, top firms that Dreamit works with Lees meer
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E1047: Ask Jason Slack Special! Sourcing talent during a crisis, building strong culture & motivating remote teams, investing in distributed startups, importance of market timing & more!
22 april 2020 · 50 min
0:01 Jason intros today's #AskJason and talks about the This Week in Startups Slack! 4:04 Ethan asks where and how Jason gets his news for general industry knowledge 6:43 Sean asks Jason how to acquire talent during a crisis 9:54 Vik asks Jason about building strong corporate culture while working remotely 15:44 David asks about SF mayor London Breed capping fees for delivery companies 19:32 Craig asks for Jason's perspective on investing in fully distributed startups 23:52 Mayur asks which audience do you sell to first when starting a marketplace 28:23 Stuart asks about how to price when launching - Free trials or charge right away? 33:05 Rob asks what investors think when they hear a CEO has 1 or 2 other side hustles 33:18 David asks about the importance of market timing - Will a great business always succeed, and how much of it is due to timing? 39:40 Onyx asks for Jason's take on the future of growing & scaling emerging natural food (or food tech) brands in this environment 41:21 Paulo asks how CEOs should act to motivate a remote team 48:08 Allen asks about syndicates that don't contribute any money into a deal Lees meer
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E1046: News Roundtable! TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm & Slow Ventures' Sam Lessin on COVID's potential privacy risk, private/public investor outlooks, remote work challenges & at-risk early-stage investors
17 april 2020 · 1 uur 17 min
0:37 Jason intro Alex Wilhelm & Sam Lessin & checks in on how their quarantines are going 5:59 Are they all working more during quarantine then they were beforehand? 9:58 Will we see a birthrate drop due to the crisis? 15:45 Having & raising children in the digital age/COVID crisis 18:24 How are Apple & Google helping with tracking COVID-19, and when do their efforts become a privacy risk? 27:29 For how long would big-tech need personal health data? 31:54 Differences between Facebook & Twitter, Twitter usage for Jason, Alex & Sam 37:41 What is Sam working on with Fin? How has he transitioned his team to remote? 39:47 Who will be impacted by the move away from luxurious big-tech campuses? Will it lead to a competitive disadvantage for companies that are hesitant? 56:19 Disconnect between optimistic public investors & pessimistic private investors 1:00:38 Why early-stage investors are most at-risk in the private market? 1:05:33 Misaligned metrics in VC, understanding massive unemployment numbers 1:11:26 Is government-backed healthcare good for capitalism & entrepreneurship? Lees meer
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E1045: 15Five CEO & Co-Founder David Hassell shares insights on remote work: transitioning from in-person to remote, tips for keeping employees engaged, defining trust & more!
15 april 2020 · 1 uur 4 min
0:51 Jason intro 15Five's David Hassell & checks in on how his company is doing 4:23 What does a great leader need to do in a crisis? 8:26 How to share information with your team about potential layoffs 10:27 What is 15Five? What have they set out to accomplish? 15:22 Tips on transitioning an in-person team to fully remote 22:24 Defining trust in terms of business & how 15Five keeps their employees engaged 32:16 How increasing trust has resulted in hardly any employee turnover at 15Five 35:13 How remote work is revealing 42:24 How are employees feeling about getting back into the office? 47:43 What will COVID-19 change? 57:09 What is David hopeful about? Lees meer
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SNEAK PREVIEW: E2 All-In with Chamath Palihapitiya & Jason Calacanis: Rebooting the economy, understanding corporate debt, steps to avoid a depression & more with David Sacks
11 april 2020 · 30 min
0:01 Jason & Chamath catch us up on their quarantines 1:20 Chamath intros David Sacks 4:40 David explains what their poker group chat has been like since COVID-19 started, and how Jason, Chamath & himself fall on the optimistic/pessimistic spectrum 6:58 How have the past few months defined David's view on the world, and what is his reaction to the US government's response? 12:22 Did the US health apparatus do its job? How could it improve? Why aren't masks already mandated? 19:33 Culture clash between scientific experts & entrepreneurs, thoughts on Chloroquine as a treatment method 27:00 Are US bureaucrats taking the intelligence of US citizens for granted? How liable is Trump? Lees meer
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E1044: Ask Jason! Starting a company in an economic crisis, bringing on & compensating startup advisors, scaling diligence as an angel investor, Jason's thoughts on solving the unemployment surge & more!
10 april 2020 · 56 min
0:01 Jason previews today's Ask Jason & drops some hints about the Super Secret TWiST Slack room 2:29 Aaron asks how investors view no-code startups 6:33 Andrii asks if an economic crisis is a good time to start a company 9:52 Jesse asks if he should start trying to raise a round of funding now, or wait until this crisis passes 14:48 Juan asks how he can leverage his first committed angel investor to attract more 19:11 Marcel asks how he can use a "startup mentality" to effectively run his small private school 23:28 Matt asks how to bring on advisors and how he should compensate them 29:46 Mike asks what % of revenue a company should spend on brand & marketing 35:27 Peter asks how much diligence is appropriate for an Angel Investor writing small checks ($5K & under) 41:52 Talha asks what COVID's economic impact will be on Cloud Kitchens, UberEats, DoorDash, etc. 47:56 Ryan asks for Jason's thoughts on solving the unemployment issues due to COVID-19 Lees meer
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E41: "Angel" Podcast: Shawn Carolan, Managing Partner at Menlo Ventures shares insights on his early investments in Uber, Roku, Siri & JUMP Bikes, adjusting his approach in response to hundreds of new venture funds with billions in dry powder & more!
10 april 2020 · 1 uur 36 min
0:01 Jason thanks the sponsors, guests, listeners & the team for Angel Season 4! 4:38 Jason intros Menlo Ventures' Shawn Carolan 7:26 Thoughts on the market's reaction to COVID-19, when will it get back to normal? 11:51 What advice is Shawn giving to his portfolio founders? 19:07 How has the job of a VC changed with the influx of hundreds of new funds, and what impact has the large amount of dry powder done to the industry? How has Shawn adjusted his approach in response to this? 26:07 Why paying a high price on valuation for dialed in startups (like Shawn did for Uber's Series B) is still a great bet 34:13 Shawn on passing in investing on Mahalo & Jason 36:20 What was it like having a "Force of Nature" portfolio founder like Travis Kalanick, who would destroy any obstacle in his path? What are some great founder attributes? 51:24 Shawn takes us through his Siri investment 57:55 Shawn takes us through his Roku investment 1:02:25 With the influx of Seed & Series A startups, how has Shawn adjusted how he meets founders? 1:05:00 Shawn takes us through his JUMP Bikes investment, are micro-mobility unit economics broken? 1:07:43 What will the outcomes of COVID-19 be in the startup community? 1:28:05 Shawn asks Jason how to best utilize his domain expertise to create high-quality content for Menlo Ventures Lees meer
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E1043: News Roundtable! Bloomberg Beta's Roy Bahat & Coelius Capital's Zach Coelius on how tech is helping during the crisis, how startups should approach SMB loans, when VC funding will bounce back, Notion's $50M raise, Zoom's security issues, Lu
7 april 2020 · 1 uur 25 min
0:54 Jason intros Roy Bahat & Zach Coelius, and they discuss their current quarantine situations 6:04 What is the timeline looking like for going back to work? What needs to happen before we can get back to normal? 14:51 Has government & media failed the public? How is tech (both big tech & startups) helping during the crisis? 28:33 How should startups approach taking PPP, EIDL & other SMB loans? Should startups begin working more closely with the government? 37:14 When should companies plan on being able to raise capital again? 41:37 Why Jason believes the VC market will bounce back strong & how he is planning on deploying capital? 46:12 Are we going through a generational change & witnessing the creation of "Generation V"? 55:06 Jason's thoughts on what the crisis will actually change 1:04:36 What should permanently change after the crisis: government reliance, UBI, listening to experts 1:11:45 Notion's $50M raise & $2B valuation 1:15:29 Is Zoom trustworthy? Is any software trustworthy? 1:19:13 Luckin Coffee fabricates sales and loses $5B of value in 5 minutes Lees meer
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E1042: Balaji Srinivasan (@balajis) shares insights on Recode incident, need for decentralized citizen journalism, techlash through the years, potential COVID-19 endgames: bull, bear & base case scenarios
3 april 2020 · 1 uur 52 min
0:55 Jason intros Balaji Srinivasan and tees up his incident with Recode's piece: "No handshakes, please": The tech industry is terrified of the coronavirus 4:28 Balaji shares his experience with the story and his issues with corporate journalism 15:16 Balaji explains why he reacted the way he did to Shirin Ghaffary's request for an interview 19:52 History of techlash: 1995-2020, when things turned from positivity to overwhelming negativity 26:26 Balaji brings up a sentiment analysis chart published by Recode 31:25 Did both sides of the political spectrum fail in their coverage of the virus? Is citizen journalism the answer? 39:40 Balaji envisions for a new kind of journalism 41:43 Are corporate journalists too like-minded in their approach because of not being representative of the demographics of the US? 48:16 What is modern journalism's biggest blind spot? 51:22 Tips on how to start decentralizing media 54:34 Are modern journalists uncomfortable with subjects playing an active role in the reporting of the story? Did Recode & other outlets fail their readers? 1:01:55 Will the US "let it rip" strategy of dealing with COVID prove catastrophic? 1:05:53 Endgame scenarios: Bull, Bear & Base 1:10:08 Should we be experimenting with "Challenge Trials"? 1:18:52 How culpable is China for the spread of COVID-19? Should wet markets be shut down for good? 1:23:39 Why is the US still behind on mass testing? More on endgame scenarios 1:31:03 Possibility of COVID-19 being a biological weapon? 1:36:27 What should we learn from this crisis? What societal changes will happen? Lees meer
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E40: "Angel" Podcast: Jeff Richards, Managing Partner at GGV Capital shares lessons for founders & investors from 2008 recession & Dot-com bust, criteria for taking on venture debt, valuing companies in a down market & more
1 april 2020 · 1 uur 12 min
0:51 Jason gives some thoughts on quarantine & intros GGV's Jeff Richards 5:11 What will this crisis look like on the other side? Benefits of having a levelheaded approach 11:38 What has Jeff seen from his seasoned portfolio founders who went through the 2008 crisis? 16:21 What advice does Jeff give to first-time founders in his portfolio? 22:22 Investor panic & differences in opinion between independent & investor board members 25:50 What could inexperienced board advice be in a time like this? 30:45 What is GGV's typical check size, how many startups do they invest in per year, and how are their funds divvied up between early-stage & growth 33:26 Chances that current deals could be renegotiated? How can founders price themselves properly? 38:05 Jeff explains liquidation preferences 42:52 How should companies approach taking venture debt in a time like this? What is Jeff's criteria for taking venture debt? 51:11 If things are going poorly, what are some things founders can do to right the ship? Examples of great pivots that saved companies 57:58 What is Airbnb's roadmap from here on out? 1:02:12 Why Jeff doesn't get enamored with IPO valuations & why he is long tech 1:08:18 Thoughts on Zoom, anti-trust laws & more Lees meer
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E1041: The Lean Startup's Eric Ries gives tactical advice for founders during an economic downturn: obligations of leadership, extending runway, handling layoffs with grace, finding new revenue opportunities, capitalizing on silver-linings & more!
1 april 2020 · 1 uur 19 min
0:52 Jason intros Eric Ries and they discuss how things have been since shelter-in-place started 8:33 What good will come out of this? Will UBI proponents like Andrew Yang be proven right? 10:12 Eric's advice to today's founders after living through the 2008 recession & the dot-com bust 15:53 Eric describes the obligations of leaders during a crisis of this magnitude, what the test-and-trace method is and how it's effective 25:02 Do authoritarian countries have an advantage in handling outbreaks better than democratic countries? 28:45 Jason & Eric reminisce about 2011 in startup-land 30:38 Tactical advice for Founders in an economic downturn 39:52 Eric explains what he is doing to help at: https://schoolclosures.org/ 44:11 What is the Long-Term Stock Exchange? 48:57 Thoughts on private companies giving equity options to contractors 53:00 More tactical insights for founders: handling layoffs, figuring out new revenue opportunities, capitalizing on silver-linings, extending runway, etc. 1:01:01 Amazon & Lyft partnering to help each other, Bird's layoff approach, extending runway by trading cash for equity 1:12:21 Eric's thoughts on the future of capitalism Lees meer
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E1040: Figma CEO & Co-Founder Dylan Field shares insights on crucial moments in Figma's creation, overcoming SaaS burnout, active vs. passive user-pricing, getting Greylock & Sequoia to invest after they initially passed & more!
27 maart 2020 · 1 uur 22 min
1:00 Jason intros Figma's Dylan Field & Dylan explains why WebGL was crucial to Figma's creation 7:09 Why ChromeOS is flourishing in schools 11:28 Who are Figma's competitors & how do they compare 14:12 How does multiplayer mode work on Figma? 17:29 What does Figma charge, Dylan's thoughts on charging for SaaS: bottom-up or top-down? 30:26 Is SaaS burnout real? Active-user pricing vs. Passive-user pricing & the importance of increasing pricing transparency 34:41 Becoming a Thiel Fellow, meeting Jason at Foo Camp, what happened between Mahalo & Google? 44:52 Jason goes deeper on what happened at Mahalo 46:33 Why Figma releases new features so quickly, the open-design theory & how it makes Figma anti-fragile 48:42 How is Figma handling COVID-19 on an internal & external basis 1:02:39 Figma's funding history, why Index led the Seed, why Greylock initially passed & wound up investing 1:08:13 Why Kleiner Perkins invested & why Sequoia passed on the Series B & wound up investing, importance of getting to know your lead investors 1:11:05 How Dylan preps for & leads Figma's board meetings 1:12:05 How working from home has given bosses better insights into who is actually making major impacts Lees meer
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E39: "Angel" Podcast: Sarah Guo, General Partner at Greylock Partners shares insights on Greylock's "Zero to One" investment thesis, sharpening her decision-making skills, ranking team, market & product as investment criteria & the changing land
25 maart 2020 · 1 uur 20 min
0:52 Jason intros Greylock's Sarah Guo 3:37 How did Sarah wind up at Greylock? 5:45 Sarah explains Greylock's "Zero to One" thesis & typical term commitment of a VC 11:53 How does Sarah measure her personal performance and her portfolio's performance? What are her biggest strengths as an investor? 16:12 How does she sharpen her decision-making skills? 17:53 Ranking her investment criteria: People, Markets & Product 20:26 Balancing intensity & life outside of work, the commitment of early-stage startups 27:26 Work-life balance & how the venture landscape changed over time 35:36 Greylock's structured & what was Sarah's first investment & how did it play into her investment thesis? 43:38 Sarah's investments in work-enabling software 48:00 Sarah recommends Dylan Field of Figma join the show - episode dropping Friday! 49:22 Identifying subtle flashes of brilliance in early products 58:28 Female founders being held to a higher standard 1:02:35 Anti-portfolio: Zoom 1:10:06 Sarah turns off her virtual background and reveals her location Lees meer
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E1039: Independent Journalist Vincent Woo reflects on his piece, "Lambda School's Misleading Promises", shares insights on what drew him to the story, where Lambda School went wrong, how they can be better & more
24 maart 2020 · 1 uur 10 min
0:45 Jason intros Vincent Woo, who wrote "Lambda School's Misleading Promises" for New York Magazine 2:21 What drew Vincent to this story? What wrongdoings did he discover? 6:02 Vincent describes Lambda's ISAs and how they were sold 14:24 How Vincent approached Austen Allred as an investigative reporter & clip from Vincent's interview with Austen 16:19 What is Lambda's school actual placement rate? How does it compare with other coding bootcamps? 20:06 Getting Lambda's former Director of Student Placement on record to speak about the placement rates 23:43 Why ISA coding schools should exist 29:18 How Lambda's remote-only approach differentiates them & how opportunity cost plays into their issues 35:06 Where did Lambda School go wrong? 45:51 Does the business model work in broad strokes if opened up to everyone? 53:54 What does Lambda School need to do now? 58:21 Where is the blindspot in most entrepreneurs? 1:00:57 Vincent also writes about local political corruption in the Bay Area Lees meer
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E1038: News Roundtable! Index Ventures' Sarah Cannon & TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm on COVID-19's impact so far: lessons learned, Sarah's stimulus plan, endgame scenarios & more
21 maart 2020 · 1 uur 23 min
1:04 Jason intros Alex Wilhelm & Sarah Cannon 5:00 COVID-19: Where are we now? 10:12 Have would Obama have handled this situation? What are the proper next steps? 15:29 Sarah lays out her economic stimulus plan 20:29 How much has the political landscape changed over the last few months? 22:08 How would a stimulus plan work in practice? 24:36 What will change about the gig economy and healthcare coverage? 28:35 Will the average American citizen's perspective on the world change? 33:23 Alex shares his thoughts on the media's handling of COVID-19, and what Twitter's role has been during the crisis 45:09 Jason's theory on what we should do differently next time around, and it is applicable in America? 50:08 What is the endgame of COVID-19? How long will it last and how bad will it get? 1:00:42 Chances of civil unrest/chaos? Are testing incentives the best way to bend the curve? 1:10:14 Thoughts on WeWork/SoftBank news & why Sarah didn't invest 1:13:22 How Sarah is advising her portfolio companies during COVID-19, benefits of overcapitalization 1:18:42 Durability of SaaS revenue during a recession Lees meer
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E1 All-In with Chamath Palihapitiya & Jason Calacanis: US Response to COVID-19 & Impact on Startups, Venture Capital & Public Markets with David Friedberg
19 maart 2020 · 1 uur 31 min
0:01 Jason & Chamath intro David and check in on each other's quarantines 2:26 Has the US overreacted or underreacted so far? David & Chamath give their opinions on new directives & statistics 13:15 Thoughts on potential treatment options & policy changes 22:25 Chamath explains the circumstances of recording a podcast while the Stock Market tanks in real-time 25:03 Should the US adopt Chinese & South Korean quarantine strategies? 29:53 What do the current market conditions mean for startups & VC? 41:24 Chamath explains what is currently happening in the capital markets 45:05 How close is the US on being able to do mass-testing? 54:13 Thoughts on bailouts for companies that manipulated their earnings-per-share ratio by stock buybacks? Impact on the global economy 1:03:14 Impact on luxury goods? Should there be a monthly stipend for low-income citizens? 1:12:10 COVID-19 exposing holes in the US healthcare system 1:17:44 Should we ban wet markets globally? 1:24:12 Over/Under: when Americans will be allowed to go out to restaurants again 1:28:18 When will the weekly poker game resume? Lees meer
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E38: "Angel" Podcast: David Cowan, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners shares insights on owning up to his anti-portfolio, understanding sunk cost, top traits for becoming a VC & best Founders & CEOs he's ever worked with
19 maart 2020 · 1 uur 14 min
0:53 Jason intros Bessemer's David Cowan 1:54 David explains how he got his start in Venture capital in 1992 4:22 What does Bessemer look for in a potential investor today? How has VC hiring and demographics have changed over time? 8:10 David gives an anecdote about understanding "sunk cost" 14:12 David explains how and why Bessemer started owning their anti-portfolio 16:03 Stories on passing on Facebook, Tesla, Google, PayPal, Napster & Youtube 19:13 What made Youtube standout from Napster from a regulatory perspective 24:05 David describes hearing the Twitch pitch for the first time 26:00 Consumer vs. Enterprise investing 29:42 Sales-driven culture 33:31 When is the right time to sell a company? 41:15 Anti-tech backlash... is it justified? 47:38 Who is the best Founder & CEO David has ever worked with? 52:10 Meeting Wade Foster and investing in Zapier 55:29 Are growth & product people making the best VCs today? 58:53 Thoughts on Quantum Computing 1:02:19 How is David investing in Robotics? 1:09:58 Jason ends the show by showing the trailer to David's Silicon Valley mockumentary "Bubbleproof" Lees meer
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E1037: LAUNCH Accelerator Class 16 Founders of BasicBlock (payment solution for truckers), DaoCloud (lead-gen for health & wellness practitioners) & Lately (AI-powered social media writing software) reflect on their journeys through the program
17 maart 2020 · 1 uur 9 min
0:38 Jason explains the LAUNCH Accelerator 5:39 BasicBlock CEO Taylor Monks details his journey through the LAUNCH Accelerator 14:58 BasicBlock CEO Taylor Monks' biggest takeaways from the Accelerator 27:35 DaoCloud CEO Max Coleman describes his journey into the LAUNCH Accelerator 37:34 How did Max grow throughout the Accelerator? 48:36 Lately CEO Kate Bradley-Chernis describes her experience at the l LAUNCH Accelerator 55:08 What were Kate's biggest takeaways from the Accelerator? Lees meer
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EMERGENCY POD: E0 All-In with Chamath Palihapitiya & Jason Calacanis: COVID-19 Political, Economic & Social Ramifications featuring The Production Board's David Friedberg (frmly Founder/CEO, The Climate Corporation)
15 maart 2020 · 1 uur 29 min
0:01 Jason intros Chamath and Episode 0 of All-In and they discuss their current self-quarantine 0:55 Jason intros David Friedberg 1:35 Chamath gives the inaugural (& potentially final) All-In ad read 2:17 As a Warriors owner, Chamath gives his reaction to the NBA postponing & uncoordinated actions of government & private sectors 4:37 Why was the US so slow to react on both an individual & governmental level? What did the OpenTable data show? 9:03 David explains the actions he would take if he was president 12:37 Thoughts on Trump's private sector involvement 16:58 Has the press failed in its coverage, or are they just feeding people what they want? 23:52 What will the next few weeks in the US look like? Why has the virus spread severely in Italy, but not yet in India? 37:20 How the COVID-19 viral coefficient compares to the early days of Facebook's numbers 40:26 Chances of Trump testing positive for the virus? What effect would that have on markets? 48:53 What should we do differently next time? 53:13 Will there both more deaths due to second order effects of the virus than direct deaths? 1:01:06 Should there be a global stimulus package? Effect of low-volatility during recent bull run? 1:11:26 Chances of a quick resolution? 1:16:48 How are Jason & Chamath advising their portfolio companies? How are IPO's of companies like Airbnb & DoorDash being effected? 1:21:17 How to approach the next year in startups & VC? Lees meer
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E1036: #AskJason Special! When to join a startup to maximize equity & job security, types of companies that will thrive in an economic downturn, legendary founder & investor traits, tips for starting a podcast & more!
13 maart 2020 · 1 uur 3 min
0:01 Jason intros today's topics 2:15 George calls in and asks Jason about social media interference in the 2020 election 11:13 Joey calls in and asks Jason for some tips on starting and growing a podcast 21:05 Dan asks Jason about which health-tech startup idea to pursue 26:49 Alex calls in and asks Jason about the types companies that will thrive in an economic downturn 34:35 Karen asks Jason about legendary founder & investor traits 44:11 Blaze calls in and asks Jason about when to join a startup to maximize equity & job security 52:14 Patrick asks Jason how to get on his radar in terms of getting an internship/job at LAUNCH 55:33 James asks how a young early-stage firm can differentiate itself from the pack and attract talented founders Lees meer
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E37: "Angel" Podcast: Nicole Quinn, Partner at Lightspeed shares benefits of celebrity founders like Lady Gaga & Gwyneth Paltrow, insights on investing in consumer & power of "Force of Nature" product people
11 maart 2020 · 1 uur
0:53 Jason intros Nicole Quinn 1:59 Nicole & Jason describe their separate Calm investments, will it be the first mental health IPO? 8:00 Calm's I.C.E. celebrity engagement method & how it got them LeBron James 8:54 Investing in Sophia Amoruso & Girlboss: what is it about "Force of Nature" product people that attracts Nicole to invest? 16:03 Investing in Gwyneth Paltrow & Goop: what is Goop's business? What are the most profitable parts of their business? 19:42 Investing in Rothy's, and the inverse correlation between the success of e-commerce companies and how much they've raised 24:34 The magic moment of having shares transfer from private to public when a company IPOs 26:53 Changing her risk-averse mindset going from Wall Street to Venture Capital 33:28 Nicole's current investment interests, why voice assistants are crucial for retention 38:16 Investing in Lady Gaga & HAUS Labs: driving business via new product "drops", understanding how engaged a celebrity is in their business, celebrities as an acquisition channel 45:03 Dealing with Goop product blowback, the Netflix series & understanding the science behind it 50:12 Investing in Cameo & CEO Steven Galanis: celebrity selfie videos as a platform 54:44 What types of Founders does Nicole invest in? 56:54 How is Nicole's portfolio split up by stage? Lees meer
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E1035: SoftBank Managing Partner Jeff Housenbold on deploying the $100B Vision Fund, getting recruited by Masayoshi Son, counseling founders to manage massive capital, creating moats, reasons for shift toward profits, lessons from WeWork & more
10 maart 2020 · 1 uur 33 min
0:40 Jason intros Jeff Housenbold 2:16 What did Jeff do before joining the Vision Fund? How did he help scale eBay & Shutterfly? 4:15 How did he wind up at SoftBank? What was it like being recruited by Masayoshi Son? How did Masa pitch the Vision Fund to Jeff? 13:28 What was the timeframe for deploying the $100B Vision Fund? 18:10 How does SoftBank size their bets and how do they counsel founders to handle massive amounts of capital? 20:07 Coaching founders on using capital to create talent moats & build brand partnerships 22:17 Scaling their diligence alongside their capital deployment, understanding core customers & focusing on positive unit economics 28:30 How did the Uber & Didi deals go down? How close was SoftBank to investing in Lyft instead of Uber? 33:23 How SoftBank looks at investing in adjacent companies and mergers 38:42 Jeff's background & the importance of education in changing your lot in life 46:07 Changing focus from Growth to Profits, the effect of short-term thinking and its impact on Dara and Uber since their 2019 IPO 57:23 Thoughts on VTOL? Will we see VTOL vehicles or self-driving first? 1:02:16 Jeff's take on Coronavirus and its impact on the markets & how founders and CEOs can combat market volatility 1:09:38 Portfolio Review: Zume Pizza 1:11:32 Portfolio Review: Katerra 1:14:03 Jason guesses the toughest 4 industries to penetrate 1:15:03 Portfolio Review: Plenty 1:19:29 Portfolio Review: Memphis Meats 1:23:05 What happened with the WeWork investment? What % does SoftBank now own, and can they turn it around? What are some lessons learned from the entire saga? 1:27:13 Jeff shares some "Jeff-ism's of Business" 1:27:52 How is the Vision Fund II raise coming along? 1:28:36 How the scale of the Vision Fund impacts people's ability to understand their investments 1:32:05 For founders: When is the right time to engage with SoftBank? Lees meer
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E1034: Formlabs CEO & Co-Founder Max Lobovsky shares insights on hitting $100M in revenue as a 3D printing platform, most lucrative use cases, growing organically, best 3D printing examples in science fiction
6 maart 2020 · 1 uur 9 min
0:54 Jason intros Max Lobovsky 3:21 What is Max's business with Formlabs? What are people printing? Is it hitting scale with consumers yet? 10:52 Where does the majority of their business come from? 15:40 Is coronavirus impacting the supply-side of Formlabs? 20:16 Understanding the most lucrative use cases for 3D printing 21:58 What skill do you need to be a 3D modeler? 31:04 How did Max raise his first round of capital at Formlabs? 36:02 What was his experience at MIT's Media Lab? 39:54 Why did Formlabs raise a $15M Series D at a $1bn valuation? Benefits of building Formlabs organically 50:00 How Formlabs helped a makeup artist win an Oscar & how many customers in Hollywood do they have? Other use cases for 3D printing? 58:08 What is the "Holy Grail" vertical for 3D printing? 1:00:15 Best examples of 3D printing in sci-fi media Lees meer
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E36: "Angel" Podcast: Ajay Agarwal, Partner at Bain Capital shares insights on culture evolving from sales-driven to product-driven, why enterprise software is the ideal business, best investments & anti-portfolio
4 maart 2020 · 1 uur 5 min
0:51 Jason intros Bain Capital's Ajay Agarwal 3:17 Are we experiencing late-stage capitalism? Is capitalism broken? 8:22 Why is upward mobility stalling? 15:29 What is it about founders & startups that made him dedicate his life's work to? 18:46 What piece of knowledge got him in startups? Ajay describes gross margin & incremental costs 23:03 Two insights on why enterprise software is the best business 30:11 Mitt Romney at Bain Capital & issues with cultural appropriation 36:44 Ajay's early days at Trilogy Software, how software sales were different in the 1990s 42:23 Companies going from sales-driven culture to product-driven 46:52 Ajay describes one of his best investments: FourKites 49:13 Ajay describes the biggest miss of his anti-portfolio: Pinterest, and why some firms care about stage and some are stage-agnostic 54:57 Has Bain ever participated in every round of a companies life-cycle? 58:15 Effects of the SoftBank Vision Fund on venture capital as a whole Lees meer
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E1033: News Roundtable! Lambda School CEO Austen Allred & General Catalyst Partner Katherine Boyle on Lambda School controversy, Techlash & late-stage journalism, Robinhood down as Dow jumps & more!
3 maart 2020 · 1 uur 7 min
0:54 Want to see what it's like to be an Angel Investor in Jason's Syndicate? DM @thesyndicate415 to read Jason's last 3 deal memos 1:37 Jason intros Austen Allred & gets his side of the recent Lambda School controversy 6:22 Jason intros Katherine Boyle & gets her take on how she would have advised Austen on PR 7:58 Explaining Lambda School in simple terms 13:10 Setting up Lambda School as a counter to predatory loans 14:31 Jason explains late-stage journalism, Austen describes his board's response 16:20 Techlash, issues with journalism today, how Balaji-coronavirus story sparked response 24:52 Fixing journalism 28:00 New Twitter investors Elliot Management want Jack out as CEO, is Twitter broken? 30:00 Misconceptions of Lambda School rolling up ISAs, how privatizing education in SV causes techlash 40:33 Katherine explains her investments in the defense space 46:00 DoorDash files for IPO, did they miss their window? 47:30 Analyzing coronavirus, wet markets, the "Wuhan shake" 58:51 Robinhood outage as Dow jumps 1000 points 1:01:03 What does Katherine invest in? 1:04:41 Jason introduces his new soundboard Lees meer
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E1032: News Roundtable! Robinhood Snacks' Duo Jack Kramer & Nick Martell on Coronavirus' impact on public markets, Iger out at Disney – Buy or Sell?, link-baiting Tesla crash, defining Cult Stocks & more!
27 februari 2020 · 1 uur 30 min
0:42 Jason intros Jack Kramer & Nick Martell of Robinhood Snacks 1:06 Starting Market Snacks as a side hustle after rooming together in college 13:24 What Series of Robinhood were they acquired at? 14:11 Jason's origin story meeting Vlad & investing in Robinhood 18:38 Coronavirus impact on the public market... worrisome or no big deal? 30:16 Iger steps down as Disney CEO, will this hurt them long-term? 35:40 Star Wars movie rankings 37:00 Is $DIS a buy or sell? What about the next CEO? 42:11 Bloomberg or Bernie? 46:56 Tech-lash: Link-baiting Tesla crash 53:02 Growth vs. Profitability in the Private & Public markets 54:34 How are Uber, Lyft, etc. combatting this? 1:01:55 How will Airbnb handle the shift? 1:04:10 VTOL vs. self-driving 1:07:58 What are "Cult Stocks"? How are they defined? 1:11:09 Millennials & Gen-Z are voting with their wallets 1:23:46 What are Jack & Nick's favorite stocks right now? Lees meer
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E35: "Angel" Podcast: Sarah Tavel, Partner at Benchmark shares insights on getting recruited by Peter Fenton, disrupting VC gender norms from the inside, transitioning from operator to investor & more
26 februari 2020 · 1 uur 34 min
0:50 Jason intros Benchmark's Sarah Tavel 1:20 Aside from Slack, what other companies grew like consumer-facing but charge like enterprise? 3:19 How was Sarah recruited to Benchmark? How is Benchmark different from other major VC firms? 12:04 Limited upside of talking to the press in 2020 17:30 Growing up in NYC and going to Harvard 21:30 Jason on becoming a "Don't touch the thermostat" dad 23:58 How did the offer from Peter Fenton go down? What drew Sarah to Benchmark? 28:36 Sarah's thoughts on disrupting VC as a woman from the inside & from the outside 37:30 How going from operating to investing is trading stress for anxiety 40:51 Jason and Sarah discuss their most personal & significant investments: Calm & Pinterest 47:26 How Pinterest's business model was a mold of Facebook and Google 49:45 Jason tells regulators how to stop Google 58:14 Investing in Chainalysis & Crypto infrastructure 1:12:44 Are the best companies polarizing? 1:16:30 Investing in Hipcamp 1:29:43 Marc Andreessen asks Sarah a question Lees meer
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E1031: Zumper CEO & Co-Founder Anthemos Georgiades makes renting an apartment as easy as booking a hotel, shares insights on monetizing marketplaces, diversifying revenue streams to limit downside, Airbnb's effect on the rental market & more!
25 februari 2020 · 1 uur 9 min
0:44 Jason shares some thoughts on hard work 1:52 Jason intros Anthemos Georgiades and they discuss how Zumper was launched at TechCrunch 4:02 How did Anthemos wind up as a founder after working in consulting 6:45 What is Zumper's origin story? How many iterations did they go through before coming up with an MVP? 15:34 How did Zumper monetize their marketplace? 18:30 Partnering with Facebook & diversifying revenue 27:12 Anthemos shares thoughts on growth vs. profitability, should Brandless exist? 31:03 Uber vs. Airbnb in terms of EBITDA, thoughts on current state of Airbnb with IPO pending 37:56 Differences between Airbnb and VRBO customers according to Jason 41:00 Airbnb's effect on the rental market 46:15 Thoughts on co-living spaces 48:35 Reactions to Zumper's monthly rent report 51:20 Co-living as a business from a VC perspective 53:02 Jason gives Anthemos some NYC hotel suggestions 54:01 Jason's Hertz car rental story 59:04 Increasing difficulty of building a major team in San Francisco 1:07:38 Jason calls Ben Horowitz & answers a question from a fan Lees meer
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E1030: News Roundtable! Zapier CEO Wade Foster & Early-Stage Investor Monique Woodard on Tech Journalists vs. Founders/VCs, Twitter's fake news detection, Kickstarter union, Blue Apron plummeting, Lambda School controversy & more!
22 februari 2020 · 1 uur 26 min
0:36 Jason intros Monique & Wade 8:29 Tech Journalists vs. Founders/VCs 14:48 Is link-baiting press a systemic, societal issue? 19:21 Future of Founders/VCs controlling their own voice via podcasts, email newsletters, etc. 23:59 SpaceX sending passengers into space in late 2021, early 2022 28:02 Kickstarter employees vote to Unionize 41:28 Gray New World - how lucrative is the growing elderly demographic? 49:37 Twitter combatting fake/misleading news with potential new features 58:01 Blue Apron continues to plummet 1:04:13 Lambda School controversy 1:12:42 What is the path for Zapier? What is No-Code's impact on the startup industry? Lees meer
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E34: "Angel" Podcast: George Zachary, General Partner at CRV shares insights on cancer scare shifting his focus to investing in health-tech, passing on Google at MDV, CRISPR & "designer babies", coronavirus threat, origins of Sand Hill Road & more
19 februari 2020 · 2 uur 4 min
0:50 Jason intros CRV's George Zachary 2:20 Passing on Google at MDV and coming to peace with the anti-portfolio 5:51 Differences between leadership & management, where Steve Jobs, Larry & Sergey fell on that scale 10:27 Why 1990's VC was sales & marketing-driven instead of product-driven as it is now 12:52 What shifted the philosophy to product-driven businesses? 18:00 Meeting Elon Musk in the 1990's and backing Zip2 21:59 What were Seed investors like in the '90s? Origins of Sand Hill Road 25:48 Elon pitching Zip2 to a conglomerate of venture firms & selling Zip2 for cash 28:07 How VCs can be conceptually right and wrong in the outcome, how X.com merged with Confinity and became PayPal 33:27 Why is it harder to 3x the massive venture funds? How is age a limiting factor in VC? 40:28 "It doesn't make a difference what you pass on. It only takes 1 company to make your career." Positive & negative feedback cycles in VC. 42:54 Battling through multiple portfolio companies dying at once 44:15 What was George's biggest investment hit, both economically & personal fulfillment? 52:37 George describes his recent health scares and how they shifted his investment focus 1:04:06 Reasons the life-expectancy in the US has gone sideways in recent years 1:07:39 Potential health-tech advancements in the near future 1:21:58 Thoughts on CRISPR & "designer babies" 1:30:27 Cell-based fish & meat 1:37:32 Potential coronavirus repercussions - what's real and what's not? 1:55:13 Jason calls for eliminating handshakes Lees meer
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E1029: Basecamp Co-Founder & Author David Heinemeier Hansson (@DHH) debates Jason on reining in capitalism, benefits of state-run education & healthcare, big-tech disappointments, work-from-home paradigm shift, wealth tax & more!
18 februari 2020 · 2 uur 17 min
0:56 Jason intros David Heinemeier Hansson (@DHH) and asks about the work-from-home paradigm shift 5:28 Measuring programming success via budgets instead of estimates, quantifying creativity 9:57 Are incentive systems inherently bad? 13:01 How terrible commutes turned the tides for remote work in Silicon Valley, why do executives subject themselves to horrible working conditions? 17:59 What is the optimal amount of work hours per week? 19:58 Benefits of higher minimum wage 23:28 How can America "get to Denmark"? Should we rein in capitalism? 27:19 How do educational stipends work in Denmark? Benefits of state-sponsored education & healthcare 32:27 Is American bureaucracy able to change quickly? 35:52 Are gig workers being exploited? Why or why not? 45:57 Flexibility vs. Security in the gig-economy 51:20 Has the American Dream become false in America? 1:00:26 Are ISA schools (like Lambda School) an innovation or a bandaid on the failing capitalist system? 1:06:30 What do successful numbers look like for ISAs? 1:12:28 Starting Basecamp & raising from Jeff Bezos in the early days 1:19:43 Roasting Jeff Bezos on Twitter, socialism, progressivism in America 1:28:13 Amazon disappointments & how can Bezos save face? 1:36:31 Wealth tax debate 1:43:23 Which major tech companies should be broken up? 1:52:04 Will GDPR-like policies work in America? 1:55:59 What is David doing with Hey.com? Should there be two-sided consent in email read-receipt tracking? 2:03:29 Could there ever be an open-source Twitter or messaging app? Was WhatsApp it before being bought by Facebook? 2:09:34 Thoughts on tech journalism vs. big-tech 2:12:22 Can big-tech regulation fix the competitive landscape? Lees meer
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E1028: Laura Huang, author of "Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage" shares insights on overcoming disadvantages to create an edge, being bitter vs. getting better, structural bias in tech & more
14 februari 2020 · 1 uur 15 min
0:41 Jason intros "Edge" Author Laura Huang 3:00 How do Harvard MBA students compare with Stanford MBA students? 7:17 Why did Laura write "Edge" at this time? 8:55 Overcoming disadvantages based on race, ethnicity & gender 14:56 Laura's experience reading her own audiobook 17:23 What does her research show about structural bias against Female entrepreneurs? 23:33 How can a founder turn adversity into an advantage when asked a question with a negative bias? 28:01 How being underestimated inhibits the opportunity to enrich & provide value? What is an example of delight in p2p interaction? 36:39 How should we look at intent when discussing bias & privilege? 44:35 How to deal with being bitter vs. getting better and controlling emotions while still allowing ourselves to feel? 1:00:17 Laura & Jason share personal stories about bitter vs. better & explain how she converted her energy 1:05:09 What is Laura's hope for the lasting impact "Edge" has on its readers? Lees meer
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E33: "Angel" Podcast: Dan Rose, Chairman at Coatue Management is leading a $700M early-stage fund, shares insights on working with Bezos & Zuckerberg during pivotal years at Amazon & Facebook, 100+ angel investments, standout founder traits & more
12 februari 2020 · 1 uur 30 min
0:50 Jason intros Coatue Management's Dan Rose 1:52 Dan takes Jason through getting his internship at Amazon in 1999 and meeting Jeff Bezos 6:55 What was Amazon's core business in 1999? What was it like incubating the Kindle in the mid-2000s? 10:04 How did Bezos grow as a leader and businessman during Dan's tenure at Amazon? 18:21 How does Bezos' ability to turn Amazon around in the eyes of public investors relate to Uber, Lyft and other large & unprofitable companies? How does Bezos inspire so much loyalty? 23:27 What was Amazon's company culture during Dan's tenure? How was AWS developed? 26:08 How did Dan wind up at Facebook as employee ~130? What did he see in a young Mark Zuckerberg? 32:13 Who created the original Facebook News Feed? 35:34 How did they get the ad-network to work at scale? 42:50 Where do Elon, Bezos & Zuckerberg rank in the Pantheon of Entrepreneurs? 44:06 How did the billion-dollar acquisition offer from Yahoo! fall apart? 46:42 Why launching open registration led to the billion-dollar investment by Microsoft 48:30 Insights on the Instagram deal 51:00 How Facebook bounced back from the stock dropping from $31 to $17 shortly after IPO & how Dan's experience at Amazon helped him rally the troops? 58:44 Zuckerberg's response to mistakes 1:03:01 How did Dan wind up at Coatue Management leading a $700M early-stage fund? 1:08:01 What is Coatue's strategy around data science? 1:11:20 Dan had over 100 Angel investments before joining Coatue 1:13:18 What is Coatue's new fund strategy? 1:16:09 How does Dan think of diligence in regards to early-stage companies? 1:20:25 What does Dan want to see in an ideal founder? Lees meer
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E1027: Orreco CEO & Founder Dr. Brian Moore built a platform that optimizes performance of elite athletes, shares cutting-edge benefits of blood sampling, biomarkers, inflammation reduction, glucose monitoring & more!
11 februari 2020 · 1 uur 17 min
0:46 Jason intros Dr. Brian Moore 3:39 What does Orreco do and how do they help elite athletes? 4:46 Do they sample blood? 6:33 What teams do they work with? 7:50 What is a bio-marker? 9:05 Why has inflammation monitoring become so popular? 15:01 Brian demos the Orreco app 22:56 What are the top reasons for elite athletes to use Orreco? 28:06 How did Brian get into this business? 30:34 How does blood differ in elite athletes? Is it regional? 36:25 What does Orreco have the biggest impact on? 43:40 What kinds of performance optimization should or shouldn't be legal in pro sports 51:12 How have they monitored machine learning? 56:47 Importance of glucose monitoring 59:15 Correlation in NBA between minutes per game and years played? 1:01:29 Taking a personal loan out to fund Orreco in the early days 1:15:39 Marc Andreessen asks Jason a question Lees meer
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E1026: Cocoon Co-Founders Sachin Monga & Alex Cornell are building an intimate app to connect close circles, share insights on key standout features, raising money as a messaging app, breeding trust via strong domain names, ideal customers & more
7 februari 2020 · 56 min
0:57 Jason intros Alex & Sachin 4:46 When and why did they start Cocoon? 6:40 Why did Facebook keep changing their developer tools platform? 9:22 What is the vision for Cocoon and who is it made for? 14:58 How did they get the cocoon.com domain name and why do strong domain names breed trust? 16:57 What are they doing with customer data and how will they monetize? 20:20 Cocoon demo and Alex takes us through some key features 29:45 How difficult was raising money going up against Facebook, iMessage, etc.? 33:04 Who is their ideal customer? 38:35 Building a company in San Francisco vs. outside of it 41:57 Jason tries to invest in Cocoon live on air 47:45 Growing Cocoon in the crowded app store 51:51 Why do Cocoon founders use Notion? 54:37 Jason calls Ben Horowitz Lees meer
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E32: "Angel" podcast: Season 4 Premiere! Sarah Cannon, Partner at Index Ventures, shares insights on investing in the future of work, underrated emerging startup markets, going from the Obama Administration to Venture Capital, increasing upward mobili
5 februari 2020 · 1 uur 30 min
0:01 Jason intros Season 4 of Angel & Index Ventures' Sarah Cannon 3:22 How did working for the Obama administration lead Sarah into Venture Capital? 4:56 Picking a fight with Larry Summers as an intern 15:42 Choosing Harvard's MBA program over Stanford's 18:26 Getting into VC 20:27 Working at CapitalG 24:09 How was the foundation of Index built by Danny Rimer and what is Sarah's role? 31:42 What does Index focus on during a Series A and what is a partner meeting like at Index? 36:31 Thoughts on gig economy work and is there a better way to categorize freelancers and full-time workers in the gig economy? 44:54 Sarah's proposed solution for categorizing gig economy workers 46:36 Jason's thoughts on politicians evolving their views over time 50:15 Ideas to increase upward mobility in America 1:00:35 What was Sarah's first investment? How did it work out? 1:08:42 Founders getting distracted after raising large rounds of funding 1:11:05 Thoughts on emerging international startup markets like India & Australia 1:13:19 Is France an underrated startup market? 1:17:42 What is Sarah most passionate about investing in? Lees meer
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E1025: #StartupTuneup @ Founder.University Part 2!: 6 founders pitch to Jason & Dave Samuel of Freestyle Capital on AI driving assistance, sleep-aid wearables, marijuana, B2B food analytics & more!
4 februari 2020 · 1 uur 1 min
1:07 Megan pitches Moment AI (facial recognition software that helps drivers) 3:19 Juan pitches DreamOn (wearable and app that help you fall asleep and sleep better) 5:38 Elissa pitches Fumé (marijuana products) 7:46 Feedback & questions for Cohort 3 19:54 Rankings for Cohort 3 23:38 Stewart pitches EVOLUTIONS (marketplace for financial fitness) 25:34 Nadia pitches Keybee (marketplace for short-term rental support services) 29:21 Riana pitches Journey Foods (service that brings metrics and nutrition tools to improve product development) 31:45 Feedback & questions for Cohort 4 42:49 Rankings for Cohort 4 47:43 Jason & Dave rank the best companies from cohorts 1-4 Lees meer