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

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.

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.

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