Fede Pirzio-Biroli is Founder @ Playfair Capital, a leading investor in seed level, technology based startups. Fede founded Playfair Capital from his first investment in December of 2010 and the portfolio quickly grew to 20 investments by the end of 2012, including the likes of Duedil, AppearHere and On Device Research. During this period, Fede was an angel in residence at White Bear Yard. After working closely with Passion Capital, he built the Playfair Capital team and moved into Warner Yard, Playfair's current home. Prior to Playfair, he spent several years in Africa working for the UN, Oxfam and PharmaSecure, after which he lobbied government and large aid organisations to increase the transparency of aid flows.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Fede made his move into angel investing and then transitioned to form his own fund?
2.) What is the mission at Playfair? What is the average ticket size? Does Playfair have any preferred sectors?
3.) What do startups need to have to get the Playfair stamp of approval? What are Playfair looking for?
4.) How has Fede seen the seed funding environment change in London?
5.) How does Fede and Playfair stave off competition for the 'hot' startups looking to raise VC money?
6.) What benefits do founders get for working in a co-working space? How important is it for VCs to offer this service?
7.) How does Fede create a united company culture in a co-working space with so many different companies?
Items Mentioned In Today's Episode:
Fede's Fave Book: The Circle by David Eggers
Fede Fave Newsletter or Blog: Dojo, AngelList
Fede's Most Recent Investment: Knytton (Techstars London W14)
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Fede on Twitter right here!
Roxanne Varza is currently the startup lead for Microsoft in France, running both Microsoft Ventures Paris and Bizspark. Prior to Microsoft, Roxanne was Editor of TechCrunch France and has been a guest author for the likes of The Telegraph and Business Insider. Roxanne is also the Co-Founder of Tech.eu, one of the few publications to cover the European tech industry as a whole, with the brilliant Robin Wauters. If that wasn't enough Roxanne is also the Co-Founder of Girls In Tech both in Paris and London, which aims to raise the visibility of women in technology,entrepreneurship and innovation though monthly events, leadership programmes and much more. Roxanne has won a range of accolade including Top 30 Women Under 30 In Tech, Coolest 25 Women in Tech and 10 Women Shaking Up Tech In Their 30s.
P.S. If you are looking for an amazing new podcast on the Tech Scene in Europe, check out Tech.eu's new show here: Tech.eu Podcast #4
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
Items Mentioned in Today's Show:
Roxanne's Fave Book: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Roxanne's Reading Material: News.me: Digg
Fred Wilson: Investing In Startups In Europe
Microsoft Ventures Alumni: Zocdoc: Find a Doctor, Xobni: Your Smarter Address Book Is Waiting
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Roxanne on Twitter right here!
Nick Bortot is the Founder & CEO at Bux, Europe's largest mobile trading platform with an incredible 175,000 active users. In his former life he was one of the driving forces behind the Dutch market leader in online brokerage, BinckBank. There he held several commercial positions before he was elected member of the executive board. After having spent five years in the boardroom, Nick started dreaming about a new company that would make the financial markets both fun and exciting. This dream turned into BUX. Bud has attained many incredible mentions and awards including being named on the Fintech50 2015. You can also check out their first TV add right here!
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
Items Mentioned in Today's Episode:
Nick's Fave Book: Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography
Nick's Fave Newsletter or Blog: VICE News
Nick's Fave App: BRAINTOSS: Toss your thoughts straight into your inbox
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC, Nick and Bux on Twitter right here!
Mike Jones is the Founder and CEO at Science Inc. a disruptive media, marketing and commerce company that creates, invests, acquires and scales successful digital businesses. Their incredible portfolio includes the likes of Medium, DollarShaveClub and DogVacay and their leadership is responsible for an astonishing 12 acquisitions and over $1bn in exits. Prior to Science Inc, Mike was the CEO at Myspace, where he was responsible for the relaunch, one of the most high-profile turn-around challenges in the industry, before selling MySpace to SpecificMedia on behalf of NewsCorp. Mike is also an active early stage investor having personally invested in over 30 startup businesses including Klout, Betterworks, Formspring, ShoeDazzle to name a few.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Mike began his entrepreneurial career, how MySpace came about then how Mike made the move to Science Inc?
2.) What is the mission at Science, what does Science provide and how do they differ from the likes of YC and Techstars?
3.) Science have a specific methodology to identify the best startups and the best sectors. What is involved in this methodology? Has it changed since the start of Science?
4.) What can a startup founder do or show you to impress you? Are there any real red flags for you when meeting startup founders? What are the commonalities of the great founders?
5.) What is Science's involvement with the companies, what are their key value adds at Science?
6.) On Twist Mike said ‘growth is the most important thing, without growth there is no money’? So what at Science how do they approach growth and what are the challenges posed by this need for growth?
Items Mentioned in Todays Episode:
Mike's Fave Book: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do by Chris Duhigg
Mike's Fave News Source: FlipBoard
Arteen Arabshahi is a VC at Karlin Ventures, where he specialises in enterprise software, commerce platforms, and marketplaces. Prior to Karlin Ventures, Arteen spearheaded the launch of Built In LA, an online community for digital entrepreneurs and innovators. However, his passion for startups flourished while helping run operations at Excelerate Labs, now Techstars Chicago. In today's incredible interview we delve into the best strategies for contacting any VC you want, how to make the approach, how to deal with the emotional and psychological pressure of starting a company and the rise of marketplaces. When not with startups, Arteen sits on the board of TEDxVenice Beach and is a supporter of TWLOHA, a non-profit raising awareness and support for those struggling with mental health.
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC, Arteen and Karlin Ventures on Twitter right here!
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
Items Mentioned in Today's Episode:
Matt Williams is Founder and CEO of Pro.com. Prior to Pro.com, Matt served as entrepreneur-in-residence at Andreessen Horowitz, following his time at Digg where he led the complete overhaul of Digg which he joined as CEO in 2010 to rebuild the site from the ground up and contributed to its successful acquisition by Betaworks in 2012. Before Digg, Matt spent 12 years at Amazon where he managed Amazon’s Auctions and Marketplace, Community and Cross Merchandising, Tech Alliances, Web Store, and Consumer Payments divisions. Prior to Amazon, Matt founded and was the CEO of Livebid, which was acquired by Amazon in 1999.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Matt made his way into entrepreneurship and then later the VC world?
2.) How did LiveBid come about when Matt was only 23 and how did he build the product and the initial user base?
3.) What was the hardest aspect of the entire LiveBid journey and how did Matt overcome it?
4.) How did Matt's life and work change moving from your own startup to working in a massive organization like amazon? What would Matt advise founders who have sold or are thinking of selling their companies to large corporations?
5.) Following a number of years at Amazon. How did you attempt to turn Digg around as CEO and was their anything you would have done differently?
6.) As EIR at Andreessen Horowitz what was it like, for Matt, working at a16z? Was there anything that surprised Matt about the move to venture?
7.) What would Matt say was the biggest lesson from working at these tech titans was? How has that affected how Matt runs Pro.com today?
David Wu is a General Partner at Maveron, which he joined in 2012 to help identify new investments in Web companies that have the potential to become leading consumer brands. He sourced and led Maveron's investment, Eargo and Darby Smart, also serving on their board. David is very much founder focussed and you’ll often find him coaching entrepreneurs at top Bay Area incubators such as Y Combinator, AngelPad, 500 Startups, and Stanford’s StartX and was previously EIR at Redpoint Ventures. His close ties to the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial community have led him to invest personally in over 30 start-ups, including Practice Fusion, Postmates, Tile, Jaunt VR, and SeatMe.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
As always you can follow Harry, David, The Twenty Minute VC and Maveron on Twitter right here!
Did you know: The name Point Nine Capital originates from the 0.9 version of a product that is early but has great potential.
Nicolas Wittenborn is a VC at Point Nine Capital, one of the leading seed funds in Europe. Prior to Point Nine, Nicolas worked for the Team Europe Seed Fund. You can follow Nicolas' incredible blog here, which include my favourite ever blog post, outlining the exemplar pitch deck that startups should follow!
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
Items Mentioned in Today's Episode:
As always you can follow Harry, Nicolas, The Twenty Minute VC and Point Nine Capital right here!
Similarly if you want to see Harry in a more colourful light, head over to Instagram for copious amount of mojitos!
Mutaz Qubbaj is Founder @ Squirrel, a financial wellbeing platform that allows employees to regain control of their financial lives. Mutual has celebrated much recent success with Squirrel having been named winner of WIRED 2014 and Pitch @ The Palace. Mutaz is also an expert on all things accelerator having been an alum at Barclays Techstars London with Squirrel, which you may remember from our interview with Greg Rogers, where Greg named Squirrel the next company to disrupt an industry. Prior to Squirrel, Mutaz has had a financial career that includes an LBS Masters in Finance and more than a decade at Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and PIMCO as a trader, strategist and marketer.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
Items Mentioned in Todays Show:
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Squirrel on Twitter here!
Quote of the Day: 'Invest in people who do what they say they are going to do and have done what they said they would do'. Guy Turner, 20VC
Guy Turner is a Partner at Hyde Park Venture Partners where he focuses on fast growing companies run by ambitious entrepreneurs with disruptive ideas. All of his incredible findings can be found through his blog at vcwithme.co. Guy joined Hyde Park Venture Partners in 2011 from Boston Consulting Group where he focused on corporate strategy across a variety of industries; he started his investing career as an Associate and then actively investing Member of Hyde Park Angels in 2009. Guy has led investments in numerous B2B software companies and is a Director at Geofeedia, InContext Solutions and Iris Mobile. Guy is also a Siebel Scholar, Kauffman Fellow and a co-inventor on two US Patents.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
Items Mentioned in Today's Show:
Quote of the Day: 'Advisors are the most crucial element to success for the young generation'. Jonathon Triest, 20 Min VC
Jonathon Triest is the Founder and Managing Partner of Ludlow Ventures and Sandwich Fund. Prior to launching Ludlow, Jonathon worked as creative director for New York’s Discovery Productions. He founded and operated Triest Group, a design firm with a deep UI/UX focus. In addition to his role at Ludlow, Jonathon is a Kauffman Fellow and a mentor at numerous technology accelerators including Silicon Valley’s Up West Labs, Cincinnati’s The Brandery, and San Francisco’s Highway 1. He is board member of The Trico Foundation and Venture for America.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
Items Mentioned In Todays Show
Jonathon's Fave Book: The Thief of Always by Clive Barker
Jonathon's Most Recent Investment: Rapify
Will Sacks is Co-Founder and CEO at Kindara, the fertility awareness app that provides tools to understand fertility and be in control of their own body. Kindara has achieved phenomenal success having significant press in the likes of Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, New York Times and Forbes. Their first product Kindara Fertility for iPhone has been ranked #1 on the App Store Medical Charts. In this incredibly diverse conversation our talk ranges from wire framing and programming to vasectomies and uterus', it's a must listen!
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
Items Mentioned in Today's Show:
Quote of the Day: 'A great entrepreneur has the ability to bend the world to their will'. David Pakman, 20VC
David Pakman is a Partner at Venrock, having spent the past 12 years as an internet entrepreneur. This includes David's appointment as CEO of eMusic, the world’s leading digital retailer of independent music, second only to iTunes. Prior to joining eMusic, David co-founded Myplay in 1999, which he later sold, in 2001, to Bertelsmann’s ecommerce Group. Before Myplay, he was Vice President at N2K Entertainment, which created the first digital music download service. If that wasn't enough David is also the co-creator of Apple Computer’s Music Group.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
Items Mentioned in Today's Episode:
As always you can follow Harry, David, The Twenty Minute VC and Venrock on Twitter here!
Quote of the Day: 'Keep an open mind from an early age'. Jonathan Libov, 20VC
Jonathan Libov joined the investment team at Union Square Ventures in September of 2014. Jonathan hails from New York but has lived for the last few years in Tel Aviv, where he most recently worked as a Product Manager at Appsfire. He's a graduate of Vassar College with a degree in Cognitive Science and began his career in neuroscience research. He designs and codes, with Fifty among his side projects.
In Today's Show You Will Learn:
Items Mentioned in Today's Show:
Favourite Book: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
OB1: Making Trade free for everyone, everywhere
Phil Jacobson is Co-Founder At PumpUp, a community for healthy and active living, with over 2m users. Phil leads the operations, finance, marketing, business development and external relations for PumpUp, with great success having accumulated over 220,000 Instagram followers! Prior to PumpUp, Phil held brand management positions at Unilever and PepsiCo.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
As always you can follow Harry, Phil, The Twenty Minute VC and PumpUp on Twitter here!
A new one recommended by Phil, click here to follow the awesome Instagram pages of Harry and PumpUp!
Ari Helgason is a VC at Dawn Capital in London and a former entrepreneur with operational experience in both London and New York. Prior to Dawn, Ari founded SaaS sales and workflow management system World on a Hanger and ecommerce clothing marketplace Fabricly.com. More recently, he launched ecommerce sites for fashion and luxury brands in London and New York. Ari is an alumnus of the Y Combinator startup accelerator and he regularly visits Silicon Valley where he has extensive relationships.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
Items Mentioned in Today's Episode:
As always you can follow Harry, Ari and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!
Alessandra Sollberger is a VC at Mosaic Ventures, a new Silicon Valley style venture firm based in London, focussing on Series A rounds. Alessandra previously worked in private equity at Blackstone, covering sectors ranging from consumer brands to software. Prior to that, she worked in startups in the US and Europe and in M&A at Goldman Sachs. She is also the founder of Bright Mentors, an edtech non-profit teaching coding and science in secondary schools through a network of technology professionals.
In todays episode you will learn:
What are you Mosaic looking for? What is their typical investment size?
What Alessandra thinks of the different paths into venture?
What advice would you give someone looking to enter venture?
Why Alessandra believes there has been a resurgence in marketplaces? What is driving this growth?
What startup marketplaces is Alessandra most excited about?
Alessandra's thoughts on the next big sector to be disrupted and why?
As always you can follow Harry, Alessandra, The Twenty Minute VC and Mosaic Ventures on Twitter here!
Today is a very special show as James Wise, Principal at Balderton Capital turns the tables on Host of The Twenty Minute VC, Harry Stebbings. In today's brilliant interview by James we delve into what has led to Harry's interest in the VC industry, why did Harry start The 20 Minute VC, how does Harry identify guests to interview, how does he approach those guests, how has Harry found his first experience in the venture industry, what has surpassed Harry about the VC industry, what traits has Harry spotted that are common among the great VCs interviewed, is Harry optimistic or not about the venture industry, what would Harry recommend for other people looking to go into venture.
Items Mentioned in Todays Show:
Harry's Favourite Books: Tim Ferris: 4 Hour Work Week, 4 Hour Body
As always you can follow Harry, James and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!
Jason Lemkin is Managing Director at Storm Ventures focussing on early stage SaaS and enterprise startups. Jason is an acknowledged thought leader in SaaS through his creation of the SaaStr community, connecting thousands of SaaS entrepreneurs and generating upwards of 1,000,000 views a month around core SaaS topics, with a particular focus on accelerating revenue and early-stage SaaS sales and marketing. Prior to Storm, Jason served as CEO and co-founder of Storm Ventures-backed EchoSign, the web’s most popular electronic signature service. Jason led EchoSign from inception through its acquisition by Adobe Systems Inc. in 2011. He then served as Vice President, Web Services at Adobe, where he oversaw the growth of EchoSign and Adobe Document Services to $100,000,000+ ARR in 2013.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
How Jason made his way into the SaaS and VC industry?
What actions did Jason do to get his blog to 1m+ page views per month?
What advice would Jason give to founders thinking of selling to large companies?
What type of entrepreneur does Jason like to invest in?
How does Jason see SaaS valuations, with recent enormous rounds from Zenefits?
What areas of the SaaS industries are neglected or undervalued?
Is the 40% growth rule broadly correct and can this be applied to early stage tech companies?
What is Jason's pre-investment meeting approach like?
What makes a founder insane in a good way, rather than a bad way?
How are SaaS companies innovating to acquire new customers?
Quick Fire Round:
Items Mentioned in Today's Episode:
Jason's Favourite Book: The Lion Who Shot Back
Follow: @saleshacker (amazing content from VPs of Sales @ Top Tech Startups)
Slack: Stewart Butterfield, Zenefits: Parker Conrad
Spencer Lazar is a Principal at General Catalyst Partners, based in New York City. He focuses on early stage software & internet investments, with a particular interest in online marketplaces, mobile applications, web services, and enterprise IT. Spencer was previously the cofounder of Spontaneously, Inc - an iOS development studio. Prior to that he was an early stage software & internet investor at Accel in London, where he sourced and worked with companies including Hailo, Birchbox, Bonobos, ForgeRock, and Qriously.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
How is the roads into the venture industry changing?
What young people can do to make themselves more attractive to VCs?
What would make Spencer's perfect founder?
How important is geography when investing in startups?
How does Spencer feel the education technology space is developing?
What metrics Spencer examines when investing in a startup?
What sectors is Spencer most interested in?
Items Mentioned in Today's Show:
Spencer's Favourite Book: The Everything Store on Jeff Bezos
Spencer's Latest Investment: CampusJob
How Lightspeed's Jeremy Liew invested in Snapchat?
Hot EdTech Startups: Lynda.com, PluralSight, General Assembly, Grovo, ClimbCredit
Oscar, Sensio
As always you can follow Harry, Spencer and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!
Anand Sanwal is the CEO and Co-Founder of CB Insights. Specifically, CB Insights tracks financing trends and private companies in the healthcare, industrial, technology, software, energy & utilities, renewable, internet and mobile industries. CB Insights works primarily with venture capital, private equity, angel investors, corporate development, corporate strategy and family offices. Formerly, Sanwal was the Vice President at American Express. Sanwal was responsible for managing three primary functions which included the (1) Chairman’s $50 Million Innovation Fund, (2) CFO’s strategic planning function and (3) Enterprise Investment Optimization group. He is the author of “Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Management” which features a forward by former American Express and Citigroup CFO, Gary Crittenden.
In Todays Episode You Will Learn:
We then delve into a quick fire round and discover what is Anand's favourite business book, what gets Anand excited, what advice Anand would give to himself 10 years ago starting out in the industry and finally the next 5 years for Anand and CB Insights.
Quote of the Day: "Capital is a crappy differentiator". Dustin Dolginow
Christian Claussen is a Managing Partner with Ventech, a VC firm with offices in Munich and Paris. He has 16 years of experience investing in innovation and he leads Ventech investment activities in the German-speaking regions of Europe. He serves as a board member for Picanova and TV Smiles.
In today's amazing episode with Christian we learn:
Items Mentioned in Today's Show:
Christian's Favourite Book: Phillip Roth: Everyman
Christian's Article on VC Value Add
Speex: Online Language Training That Really Works
As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!
Rob Moffat is Principal at Balderton Capital, one of London's leading VC firms. At Balderton Rob specialises in Fintech, Martech, Gaming and Marketplaces. Rob is currently a board director or observer with six portfolio companies: Qubit, Wooga, Housetrip, Carwow, Rentify and Nutmeg. Other investments Rob has been involved with at Balderton include Citymapper, Top10, Scoot and Archify. Prior to joining Balderton Rob worked for Google in London, as a Manager in the European Strategy and Operations team. He started his career with five years in strategy consulting with Bain, working mostly with financial services clients.
In today's amazing discussion with Rob we discover:
Items Mentioned in Today's Show:
As always you can follow Harry, Rob and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!
Alan Chiu is a Partner at XSeed Capital, with a strong background in enterprise software and data storage. Alan is currently Vice President for Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs, an alumni association that seeks to strengthen Stanford’s startup community by fostering relationships among entrepreneurs and alumni investors. Prior to XSeed, Alan was previously Director of Product Management at Bycast (acquired by NetApp), and was engineering manager at Creo, which was acquired by Kodak for $1B in cash.
In todays amazing discussion with Alan we discover:
As always you can follow Harry, Alan and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!
Alan Jones is Chief Growth Hacker at Bluechilli, who have set the incredible goal of building 100 startups by 2016! Alan is also Founding Investor and Mentor at Startmate, an Australian Y Combinator style accelerator. If that wasn't enough Alan also invests and advises through Blackbird Ventures, Pollenizer and Startmate.
In Today's Amazing Discussion with Alan We Discover:
Items Mentioned in Today's Show:
Dan Ariely: Predictably Irrational
Tzukuri: Bluetooth Wearable Technology
OtherLevels: Mobile Marketing Automation Platform