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

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC) interviews the world's greatest venture capitalists with prior guests including Sequoia's Doug Leone and Benchmark's Bill Gurley. Once per week, 20VC Host, Harry Stebbings is also joined by one of the great founders of our time with prior founder episodes from Spotify's Daniel Ek, Linkedin's Reid Hoffman, and Snowflake's Frank Slootman. If you would like to see more of The Twenty Minute VC (20VC), head to www.20vc.com for more information on the podcast, show notes, resources and more.
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Now displaying: Category: Investing
Aug 7, 2017

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

 

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Seth’s Fave Book: The Idea Factory

Seth’s Fave Blog: Hacker News

Seth’s Most Recent Investment: Athelas

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Seth on Twitter here!

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

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users – within their UX and without taking on fraud & regulatory exposure. WePay also offers award-winning support and can even work with your team thru Slack or Zendesk. Get the payments revenue you want, without getting bogged down every time a user has a payments question. Simply visit wepay.com/harry

PipeDrive is the Sales CRM and pipeline management software to use, with the primary view being the pipeline a clear visual interface that prompts you to take action, remain organized and stay in control of a complex sales process. This is why sales pros and deal makers love it (my words, not Pipedrive’s). Plus it easily lets you find the stats you need and is fully customizable. Even better, you can signup for free on here it really is a must.

Aug 4, 2017

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

 

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

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

Brian’s Fave Blog: Week In Ethereum

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Brian on Twitter here!

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

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users – within their UX and without taking on fraud & regulatory exposure. WePay also offers award-winning support and can even work with your team thru Slack or Zendesk. Get the payments revenue you want, without getting bogged down every time a user has a payments question. Simply visit wepay.com/harry

PipeDrive is the Sales CRM and pipeline management software to use, with the primary view being the pipeline a clear visual interface that prompts you to take action, remain organized and stay in control of a complex sales process. This is why sales pros and deal makers love it (my words, not Pipedrive’s). Plus it easily lets you find the stats you need and is fully customizable. Even better, you can signup for free on here it really is a must.

Aug 2, 2017

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

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Max’s Fave Book: Old Man and The Sea

Max’s Fave Blog: The Twenty Minute VC

Max’s Most Recent Investment: Airtable

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Max on Twitter here!

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

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users – within their UX and without taking on fraud & regulatory exposure. WePay also offers award-winning support and can even work with your team thru Slack or Zendesk. Get the payments revenue you want, without getting bogged down every time a user has a payments question. Simply visit wepay.com/harry

PipeDrive is the Sales CRM and pipeline management software to use, with the primary view being the pipeline a clear visual interface that prompts you to take action, remain organized and stay in control of a complex sales process. This is why sales pros and deal makers love it (my words, not Pipedrive’s). Plus it easily lets you find the stats you need and is fully customizable. Even better, you can signup for free on here it really is a must.

Jul 31, 2017

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

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

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

Will’s Fave Blog: AVC by Fred Wilson

Will’s Most Recent Investment: The Outline

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Will on Twitter here!

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

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users – within their UX and without taking on fraud & regulatory exposure. WePay also offers award-winning support and can even work with your team thru Slack or Zendesk. Get the payments revenue you want, without getting bogged down every time a user has a payments question. Simply visitwepay.com/harry

PipeDrive is the Sales CRM and pipeline management software to use, with the primary view being the pipeline a clear visual interface that prompts you to take action, remain organized and stay in control of a complex sales process. This is why sales pros and deal makers love it (my words, not Pipedrive’s). Plus it easily lets you find the stats you need and is fully customizable. Even better, you can signup for free on here it really is a must.

Jul 28, 2017

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

 

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

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

Nathan’s Fave Blog: SaaStr

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Nathan on Twitter here!

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

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users – within their UX and without taking on fraud & regulatory exposure. WePay also offers award-winning support and can even work with your team thru Slack or Zendesk. Get the payments revenue you want, without getting bogged down every time a user has a payments question. Simply visit wepay.com/harry

PipeDrive is the Sales CRM and pipeline management software to use, with the primary view being the pipeline a clear visual interface that prompts you to take action, remain organized and stay in control of a complex sales process. This is why sales pros and deal makers love it (my words, not Pipedrive’s). Plus it easily lets you find the stats you need and is fully customizable. Even better, you can signup for free on here it really is a must.

Jul 26, 2017

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

 

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Michael’s Fave Book: Count of Monte Cristo

Michael’s Fave Blog: TermSheet

Michael’s Most Recent Investment: Vivid Vision

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Michael on Twitter here!

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

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users – within their UX and without taking on fraud & regulatory exposure. WePay also offers award-winning support and can even work with your team thru Slack or Zendesk. Get the payments revenue you want, without getting bogged down every time a user has a payments question. Simply visitwepay.com/harry

PipeDrive is the Sales CRM and pipeline management software to use, with the primary view being the pipeline a clear visual interface that prompts you to take action, remain organized and stay in control of a complex sales process. This is why sales pros and deal makers love it (my words, not Pipedrive’s). Plus it easily lets you find the stats you need and is fully customizable. Even better, you can signup for free on here it really is a must.

Jul 24, 2017

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

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Rahul’s Fave Book: Open by Andre Agassi

Rahul's Most Recent Investment: Wish

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Rahul on Twitter here!

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

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users - within their UX and without taking on fraud & regulatory exposure. WePay also offers award-winning support and can even work with your team thru Slack or Zendesk. Get the payments revenue you want, without getting bogged down every time a user has a payments question. Simply visit wepay.com/harry

PipeDrive is the Sales CRM and pipeline management software to use, with the primary view being the pipeline a clear visual interface that prompts you to take action, remain organized and stay in control of a complex sales process. This is why sales pros and deal makers love it (my words, not Pipedrive’s). Plus it easily lets you find the stats you need and is fully customizable. Even better, you can signup for free on here it really is a must.

Jul 21, 2017

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

 

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Jenna’s Fave Book: Hard Thing About Hard Things

Jenna’s Fave Blog: SaaStr

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Jenna on Twitter here!

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

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users - within their UX and without taking on fraud & regulatory exposure. WePay also offers award-winning support and can even work with your team thru Slack or Zendesk. Get the payments revenue you want, without getting bogged down every time a user has a payments question. Simply visit wepay.com/harry

PipeDrive is the Sales CRM and pipeline management software to use, with the primary view being the pipeline a clear visual interface that prompts you to take action, remain organized and stay in control of a complex sales process. This is why sales pros and deal makers love it (my words, not Pipedrive’s). Plus it easily lets you find the stats you need and is fully customizable. Even better, you can signup for free on here it really is a must.

Jul 19, 2017

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

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

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

Jason’s Most Recent Investment: Plays.tv

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Jason on Twitter here!

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

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users - within their UX and without taking on fraud & regulatory exposure. WePay also offers award-winning support and can even work with your team thru Slack or Zendesk. Get the payments revenue you want, without getting bogged down every time a user has a payments question. Simply visit wepay.com/harry

PipeDrive is the Sales CRM and pipeline management software to use, with the primary view being the pipeline a clear visual interface that prompts you to take action, remain organized and stay in control of a complex sales process. This is why sales pros and deal makers love it (my words, not Pipedrive’s). Plus it easily lets you find the stats you need and is fully customizable. Even better, you can signup for free on here it really is a must.

Jul 17, 2017

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

 

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Kirsten’s Fave Book: Charlie and The Chocolate Factory

Kirsten’s Fave Blog: TheSkimm

Kirsten’s Most Recent Investment: Packagd 

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Kirsten on Twitter here!

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

WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users - within their UX and without taking on fraud & regulatory exposure. WePay also offers award-winning support and can even work with your team thru Slack or Zendesk. Get the payments revenue you want, without getting bogged down every time a user has a payments question. Simply visit wepay.com/harry

PipeDrive is the Sales CRM and pipeline management software to use, with the primary view being the pipeline a clear visual interface that prompts you to take action, remain organized and stay in control of a complex sales process. This is why sales pros and deal makers love it (my words, not Pipedrive’s). Plus it easily lets you find the stats you need and is fully customizable. Even better, you can signup for free on here it really is a must.

Jul 14, 2017

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

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

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

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Max on Twitter here!

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

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

Fond is the employee engagement suite with 3 core products, rewards: a recognition platform for rewarding achievements and milestones, perks: a premium corporate discounts program to show employees you care about them and then finally engagement IQ, a free employee engagement survey that allows you to measure the health of your organization. To check it out head over to fond.co

Jul 12, 2017

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

 

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

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

Roseanne’s Most Recent Investment: Masterclass

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Roseanne on Twitter here!

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

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

Fond is the employee engagement suite with 3 core products, rewards: a recognition platform for rewarding achievements and milestones, perks: a premium corporate discounts program to show employees you care about them and then finally engagement IQ, a free employee engagement survey that allows you to measure the health of your organization. To check it out head over to fond.co

Jul 10, 2017

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

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Mitch’s Fave Book: The Genius of System

Mitch’s Fave Blog: Above The Crowd

Mitch’s Most Recent Investment: Outpost Games

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Mitch on Twitter here!

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

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

Fond is the employee engagement suite with 3 core products, rewards: a recognition platform for rewarding achievements and milestones, perks: a premium corporate discounts program to show employees you care about them and then finally engagement IQ, a free employee engagement survey that allows you to measure the health of your organization. To check it out head over to fond.co

Jul 7, 2017

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

 

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Kim’s Fave Book: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Kim’s Fave Blog: Rands In Repose: Management

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Kim on Twitter here!

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

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

Fond is the employee engagement suite with 3 core products, rewards: a recognition platform for rewarding achievements and milestones, perks: a premium corporate discounts program to show employees you care about them and then finally engagement IQ, a free employee engagement survey that allows you to measure the health of your organization. To check it out head over to fond.co

Jul 5, 2017

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

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

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

Barry’s Most Recent Investment: Unity 3DGiphy

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Barry on Twitter here!

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

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

Fond is the employee engagement suite with 3 core products, rewards: a recognition platform for rewarding achievements and milestones, perks: a premium corporate discounts program to show employees you care about them and then finally engagement IQ, a free employee engagement survey that allows you to measure the health of your organization. To check it out head over to fond.co

Jul 3, 2017

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

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

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

Eric’s Fave Blog: TechMeme

Eric’s Most Recent Investment: Hollar

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Eric on Twitter here!

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

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

Fond is the employee engagement suite with 3 core products, rewards: a recognition platform for rewarding achievements and milestones, perks: a premium corporate discounts program to show employees you care about them and then finally engagement IQ, a free employee engagement survey that allows you to measure the health of your organization. To check it out head over to fond.co

Jun 30, 2017

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

 

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

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

Ari’s Fave Blog: AVC

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Ari on Twitter here!

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

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

Fond is the employee engagement suite with 3 core products, rewards: a recognition platform for rewarding achievements and milestones, perks: a premium corporate discounts program to show employees you care about them and then finally engagement IQ, a free employee engagement survey that allows you to measure the health of your organization. To check it out head over to fond.co

Jun 28, 2017

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

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Ethan’s Fave Book: The Namesake

Ethan’s Fave Blog: Nuzzel

Ethan's Most Recent Investment: Periscope Data

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Ethan on Twitter here!

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

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

Fond is the employee engagement suite with 3 core products, rewards: a recognition platform for rewarding achievements and milestones, perks: a premium corporate discounts program to show employees you care about them and then finally engagement IQ, a free employee engagement survey that allows you to measure the health of your organization. To check it out head over to fond.co

Jun 26, 2017

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

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Jeremy’s Fave Book: The Outsiders

Jeremy’s Fave Blog: Dan Primack

Jeremy's Most Recent Investment: Toss

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Jeremy on Twitter here!

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

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

Fond is the employee engagement suite with 3 core products, rewards: a recognition platform for rewarding achievements and milestones, perks: a premium corporate discounts program to show employees you care about them and then finally engagement IQ, a free employee engagement survey that allows you to measure the health of your organization. To check it out head over to fond.co

Jun 23, 2017

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

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In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Bart’s Fave Book: Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Bart’s Fave Blog: Abundance Insider by Peter Diamandis

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Bart on Twitter here!

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

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

Fond is the employee engagement suite with 3 core products, rewards: a recognition platform for rewarding achievements and milestones, perks: a premium corporate discounts program to show employees you care about them and then finally engagement IQ, a free employee engagement survey that allows you to measure the health of your organization. To check it out head over to fond.co

Jun 21, 2017

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

 

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

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

Elad’s Most Recent Investment: Checkr

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Elad on Twitter here!

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

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

Fond is the employee engagement suite with 3 core products, rewards: a recognition platform for rewarding achievements and milestones, perks: a premium corporate discounts program to show employees you care about them and then finally engagement IQ, a free employee engagement survey that allows you to measure the health of your organization. To check it out head over to fond.co

Jun 19, 2017

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

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Peter's Most Recent Investment: Zen.ly

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Peter on Twitter here!

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

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

Fond is the employee engagement suite with 3 core products, rewards: a recognition platform for rewarding achievements and milestones, perks: a premium corporate discounts program to show employees you care about them and then finally engagement IQ, a free employee engagement survey that allows you to measure the health of your organization. To check it out head over to fond.co

Jun 16, 2017

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

 

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Nicolas on Twitter here!

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

Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including online meetings, video webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms and business instant messaging. Plus, it is the easiest solution to use, buy and scale with the most straightforward pricing. Do not take our word for it, Zoom’s their partnership with Sequoia in their latest 100m funding round says it all. Zoom is a must for your business.

ViewedIt is a free video-recording tool that makes it easy for organizations to embrace the power of video for personalized communications. ViewedIt enables sales professionals, executive leaders and customer support teams to easily record personalized videos and add them to their email conversations. Plus, with built-in tracking powered by the Vidyard platform, video creators will know who is watching what, and which video messages resonate with viewers. They’ll receive immediate playback notifications that will eliminate the wondering of whether the recipient received or watched their content. Find out more and download ViewedIt for free at vidyard.com/viewedit.

Jun 14, 2017

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

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Tony’s Fave Book: Endurance by Shackleton

Tony’s Most Recent Investment: Teamable 

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Tony on Twitter here!

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

Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including online meetings, video webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms and business instant messaging. Plus, it is the easiest solution to use, buy and scale with the most straightforward pricing. Do not take our word for it, Zoom’s their partnership with Sequoia in their latest 100m funding round says it all. Zoom is a must for your business.

ViewedIt is a free video-recording tool that makes it easy for organizations to embrace the power of video for personalized communications. ViewedIt enables sales professionals, executive leaders and customer support teams to easily record personalized videos and add them to their email conversations. Plus, with built-in tracking powered by the Vidyard platform, video creators will know who is watching what, and which video messages resonate with viewers. They’ll receive immediate playback notifications that will eliminate the wondering of whether the recipient received or watched their content. Find out more and download ViewedIt for free at vidyard.com/viewedit.

Jun 12, 2017

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

 

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

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

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

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

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

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

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Kevin’s Fave Book: Essentialism 

Kevin’s Most Recent Investment: Lead.rs

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Kevin on Twitter here!

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

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ViewedIt is a free video-recording tool that makes it easy for organizations to embrace the power of video for personalized communications. ViewedIt enables sales professionals, executive leaders and customer support teams to easily record personalized videos and add them to their email conversations. Plus, with built-in tracking powered by the Vidyard platform, video creators will know who is watching what, and which video messages resonate with viewers. They’ll receive immediate playback notifications that will eliminate the wondering of whether the recipient received or watched their content. Find out more and download ViewedIt for free at vidyard.com/viewedit.

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