Tom Britton is Co-Founder and CTO of Syndicate Room, an equity crowdfunding platform that allows it's members to co-invest alongside professional investors. To date Syndicate Room have raised an incredible £20m for 30 companies. Prior to Co-Founding Syndicate Room, Tom was a professional football player playing in a number of countries including the US and UK.
Items Mentioned in Today's Show:
Nesta Report: Crowdfunding Page 52
In today's episode you will learn:
1.) How Tom got into the technology industry and then moved into the very early concept at the time of, equity crowdfunding?
2.)How does SynidcateRoom operate and does their process differs from the likes of Crowdcube?
3.) How much of the £19m was invested by people on the Syndicate Room network rather than the anchor angels?
4.) Does Tom believe with the rise of crowdfunding in recent years, the crowd are a competing finance model to the traditional VC model?
5.) Having witnessed numerous successful campaigns to date, what does Tom believe are the recipes for a successful crowdfunding campaign?
6.) For startups contemplating raising funds for their business, what are the largest benefits of raising seed capital through SyndicateRoom?
7.) CrowdCube is the No 1 equity crowdfunding site in the UK, how does SyndicateRoom treat this competitive threat?
The episode will then finish with a quick fire round where we hear Tom's plans for the next 5 years, the hardest obstacles Tom has faced in building Syndicate Room and the 3 companies that Syndicate Room has funded that Tom is most excited about?
Matthew McCall is a Partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital and was previously a Partner with DFJ Portage. He has been involved with investments with Feedburner (acquired by Google), Playdom (acquired by Disney) and EverDream (acquired by Dell), just to name a few. Matt has been named in Chicago's '40 under 40' and their Top Tech 25 list. He has been named as one of the Top 100 VCs in the US, a Media 100 and a Hollywood 100 Power Player.
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In todays show, you will learn:
The episode will then finish with a quick fire round where we hear the resource that Matt would most recommend to an aspiring Founder and Matt's recent investment and why he said yes?
*Shortly after the interview Matt strongly recommended to me Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
Sharon Wienbar invests in Mobile and Internet companies at Scale Venture Partners, where she sits on the board of Actiance, Applause, BeachMint, Everyday Health, PlayPhone, Reply.com and uTest. Prior to working at Scale Venture Partners, Sharon was VP of Marketing for Amplitude Software and Critical Path.
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We then move on to a quick fire round where we hear Sharon's thoughts on what Sharon likes and dislikes about being a VC? The most recent investment Sharon has made and why she said yes?
Luke Lang is Co-Founder and CMO of Crowdcube, the world's leading investment Crowdfunding platform. Crowdcube enables anyone the opportunity to invest alongside professional investors in start-up, early-stage and growth businesses. They have raised over £67m for an incredible 207 companies and have an amazing 150,000 registered investors
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As the interview comes to a close we engage in a quick fire round where we hear Luke's views on the hardest obstacle Luke has faced in building Crowdcube? Where Luke sees Crowdcube in 5 years time? 3 companies funded by Crowdcube that Luke is most excited about?
James Wise is Principal at Balderton Capital, one of Europe's most successful venture funds. At Balderton, James invests and advises early-stage technology start-ups, holding board member positions at Crowdcube.com, Surnrise.am, 3Dhubs.com and many more... Prior to Balderton, James helped build one of the UK's first social venture funds and was a consultant at McKinsey & Company, working with entrepreneurs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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We then move into a rapid fire round where we hear James' thoughts on his latest investment and why he said yes? Does James experience a fear of missing out (FOMO) when passing on investments? Finally, James' favourite book and why?
Stefan Glaenzer is Founding Partner at Passion Capital an early stage VC fund who have invested in the likes of DueDil, GoCardless and CarThrottle. He is also Co-Founder of White Bear Yard, a co-working space in London's East End. Prior to Passion, Stefan was Chairman of Last.fm, an early investor in Wahanda and remains an active member of their board and founder of Ricardo, which went public in 1999.
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As the interview concludes we ask Stefan some quick fire questions where we hear his thoughts on the hardest decision of his life? The best piece of advice Stefan has been given and his most recent investment and why he said yes?
For all the resources mentioned in today's show head on over to www.thetwentyminutevc.com
Likewise, if you have a suggestion for a VC that you would like us to interview please do let me know by emailing harry@thetwentyminutevc.com
Nektarios Liolios is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Startupbootcamp Fintech, the leading innovation program in the financial industry providing access to a global network of investors and VCs for up to 10 lucky startups selected. Nektarios himself has more than 15 years in business, having spent the last three with InnoTribe, running the Innotribe Startup Challenge.
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We then complete todays interview by having a quicker round where we hear Nektarios' thoughts on his favourite entrepreneur? The happiest moment Nektarios has enjoyed in his career? A day in the life of a Managing Director of a Startupbootcamp? What was Nektarios' most recent investment and why he said yes?
For all the resources mentioned in today's show, head on over to www.thetwentyminutevc.com
For any suggestions about future guests or questions you would like to hear, we would love to hear from you. If so email harry@thetwentyminutevc.com
Mike Seibel has enjoyed the most incredible career in the technology industry on both the Founder and the VC side of the table. He was Co-Founder and CEO of Justin.TV which was part of the Y Combinator Winter Class of 2007, and was later acquired as Twitch.TV by Amazon for $970 million. In that time Mike also created a spin off from Justin.TV, SocialCam, where he was Co-Founder and CEO, culminating in their acquisition in 2012 for $60 million by Autodesk.
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What you will learn in this episode?
We then finish todays episode with a rapid fire round where we hear Mike's thoughts on the best piece of advice Mike has received, the hardest decision Mike has had to make in his career, how can an individual start a company with no technical skills or experience?
For all the resources mentioned in today's show, check out www.thetwentyminutevc.com
Likewise, we would love to hear from you, so if you have any questions you would like asked or VCs you would like to have on the show, send an email to harry@thetwentyminutevc.com
Lisa is Vice President at Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), where she focuses on early to late stage investments with emphasis on consumer internet. Before joining NVP, Lisa worked in Amazon's Worldwide Corporate Development Team, in which she evaluated acquisition targets and identified strategies for potential expansion. Prior to Amazon, Lisa was at Bessemer Venture Partners. If that wasn't enough Lisa also founded her own startup, Banzaa! Fresh, providing high quality nutritious foods to schools and hospitals in Northern California.
Items Mentioned in Todays show:
Etsy
Lending Club
SkyBox
FireEye
Jet
DoubleClick
What you will learn in today's show:
We then move into a quick fire round where we hear Lisa's thoughts on the best advice she has ever been given, the number 1 reason Lisa says no to startups and what Lisa would do if all she had was a laptop and $100!
Kyle Lui is Principal at DCM Ventures where he helps entrepreneurs scale their companies and advise on product development across IOT, consumer internet and mobile and enterperise Saas. Prior to DCM, Kyle was Co-Founder at ChoicePass, a enterprise perks and rewards Saas company backed by prominent angel investors, later acquired by Salesforce.com and Rypple. At Salesforce, Kyle served as Director of Product Management on the founding product team for Work.com, growing the business to over 1,000 enterprise customers.
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We conclude today's show with a quick fire round where we hear Kyle's thoughts on what Kyle would do if all he had was a laptop and $100, what advice Kyle would give to entrepreneurs starting a company?
For all the resources and items mentioned in todays show, head on over to www.thetwentyminutevc.com
If there are any VCs you would like us to interview, send an email to harry@thetwentyminutevc.com and we will arrange it!
Frank is Co-Founder and General Partner at Spark Labs Global seed fund where he has invested in 40 companies in the US, UK and Asia. Previously, Frank was part of Horizon Ventures where he represented them on the boards of Siri, Summly and Spotify, just to name a few.
Items mentioned in today's show:
SparkLabsGlobal
Horizon Venture
Brent Hoberman
Smartup
Youth Digital
Castle.io
Clinkle
In today's episode you will learn:
We then finish today's episode with a quick fire round where we hear Frank's thoughts on the future of the Asian tech market and the hardest decision of Frank's career.
For all the resources mentioned in today's show, head over to www.thetwentyminutevc.com
Likewise we would love to hear from you, if you have any questions you would like us to ask, send us an email harry@thetwentyminutevc.com
Clark Landry is Founder and Chairman at Shift, the leading social advertising network for brands. He is also Executive Chairman of GraphEffect, a prominent social media marketing firm. In recent years Clark has made his foray into the investing industry with investments in the likes of AngelList and Lettuce. In his short time investing in startups, Clark has achieved an incredible 10 exits.
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In today's episode you will learn:
We then finish the interview by hearing Clark's thoughts the effectiveness of tech accelerators, his most recent investment and his favourite book.
For all the reasons mentioned in today's show, head on over to www.thetwentyminutevc.com
If you have a question you want answered, send it in to harry@thetwentyminutevc.com and we will ask it on an upcoming show.
A very exciting day on the 11th episode of The Twenty Minute VC as we welcome our 1st London based guest on the show, Thomas Jones. Thomas is Founder and Partner at Charlotte Street Capital, who invest up to £200,000 in early stage UK technology companies. Their impressive portfolio includes the likes of Chilango, GoSquared and SeedCamp, just to name a few. Prior to Charlotte Street Capital, Thomas was Founder and Executive Director of SMARTS Group International, offering a real time market surveillance platform, now used in dozens of stock exchanges around the world.
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In today's session you will learn:
We finish today's episode with a quick fire round, where we hear Thomas' immediate thoughts on the future of disruption and the all time best business book!
For all the resources mentioned in today's show head over to www.thetwentyminutevc.com where you can sign up for you free 7 DAY BUSINESS PLAN COURSE
We would love to hear from you, so if you have a VC you would like to hear from, send us an email: harry@thetwentyminutevc.com and we will see what we can do!
It is a great pleasure to have Niko Bonatsos on today's episode of The Twenty Minute VC. Niko is Principal at General Catalyst Partners where he specialises in mobile, consumer and healthcare technology. At General Catalyst Partner, Niko has been involved in the investments in the likes of Snapchat, TuneIn and SpoonRocket, just to name a few. Niko is also reknowned for being the 1st Angel Investor in Yik Yak, recently valued between $300-400 million.
In today's episode you will learn:
We then move onto a quick fire round where Niko tells us his thoughts on the future of education technology and the primary reason Niko says no to startups.
For all the resources mentioned in today's show, check out www.thetwentyminutevc.com
We would love to hear from you. If you have any questions you would like to ask the VCs, drop us an email at harry@thetwentyminutevc.com
Likewise if you have a VC you would like us to interview, send us an email and we will arrange it.
On today's show I am hugely excited to welcome Joe Floyd to the hotseat. Joe is Principal at Emergence Capital Partners. His expertise in building cloud startups has evolved over 10 years of advising and investing in startups. Prior to Emergence, Joe worked in American Capital's technology group where he focused on fast growing internet companies. At American Capital Joe was involved in their investments with the likes of PeopleMedia and HomeAway.
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What you will learn in today's show:
We then delve into a quick fire round where Joe gives his immediate thoughts on the future of Amazon and Tesla and whether we really are in a tech bubble or not?
As always thank you so much for listening to today's show, for furthr details and resources, head on over to www.thetwentyminutevc.com. Likewise we would love to hear who you would like to have on the show, if you have any suggestions please do email harry@thetwentyminutevc.com with your suggestions.
Mark Peter Davis is a serial founder and investor. He is the founder of Interplay Ventures with investments in the likes of Venwise and Warby Parker, just to name a few. Mark is also author of 'The Fundraising Rules', which clearly outlines the funding process of startups. If that wasn't enough Mark is Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Singularity University. Business Insider has listed Mark as one of the most influential Digital NYers and is included in a list of the 30 most interesting members of the Columbia University Startup Community by CVC30.
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We end todays show with The Ultimate Quick Fire Round. Here Marks explains his views on startup valuations and how much equity the traditional VC looks for when investing.
Thank you so much for listening, if you are loving the show please do subscribe on iTunes and I would be so grateful if you would leave a review. If you do, you will be entered into the competition to win a meeting with one of the VCs and all the books mentioned in the first 10 episodes.
I am hugely excited to welcome Peter Csathy for Session 7 of The Twenty Minute VC. Peter has had an astonishing career in the media industry with an unbroken track record of success in startups and emerging growth companies. Peter is currently CEO of Manatt Digital Media, which not only offers Venture Capital but is unique in also providing legal services and business consulting. Prior to Manatt, Peter was CEO of Sorensen Media, which serves 70 of the Fortune 100 and CEO of SightSpeed, Inc in which Peter oversaw their acquisition by Logitech.
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In this episode you will learn:
In the final few minutes, we delve into a quick fire round where we hear Peter's thoughts on: The importance of location for a startup, future of online video and the company Peter is most excited about.
As always we absolutely love to hear from you. If you would like to get in contact email harry@thetwentyminutevc.com or visit www.thetwentyminutevc.com
Ifty Ahmed, General Partner at Oak Investment Partners. Ifty started his career with Goldman Sachs and Fidelity Ventures before joining Oak Investment Partners in 2003. He currently focuses on investing across the technology sector with an active interest in Consumer Internet companies.
*This episode was recorded before Google's anouncement to stop producing Google Glass prototypes, making Ifty's prediction even more impressive.
Items mentioned in today's show:
In this episode you will learn:
We finish the episode with a quick fire round where we hear Ifty's views on the future of Google Glass, the valuation of Snapchat and the potential for Bitcoin.
In episode 5 of The Twenty Minute VC, we are joined by Kent Godfrey, General Partner at Pond Ventures. Prior to entering into the VC industry Kent was Chairman and CEO of Andromedia before merging it with MacroMedia. Kent was also CEO of Frictionless Commerce concluding with the sale of the company to SAP in 2006.
Kent has previously served on the board of numerous companies including LiveRail (acquired by Facebook), TRM Corporation (Nasdaq:TRMM), HipBone Communications (acquired by Kana) and Vocal Point Inc (acquired by Telecom Italia).
In this session you will learn:
We end the episode with a quick fire round where Ken describes the future of the Internet Of Things (IOT). Why Founders are better than a Founder? Plus, what the biggest misunderstanding of the Venture Capital industry is?
For all the resources mentioned in today's show heav on over to www.thetwentyminutevc.com
Welcome to Session 4 of The Twenty Minute VC, on today's incredible show, I am hugely excited to present David Hornik. David started his career as legal attorney to some of the hottest startups in Silicon Valley before making his foray into the Venture Capital Industry with August Capital in 2000. If that wasn't enough, David created the 1st Venture Capital blog, VentureBlog and is also the presenter of VentureCast.
In today's episode you will learn:
We then progress into a quick fire round where we hear David's views on Peter Thiel's 20 Under 20 and the 1st $Trillion business.
On today's episode I am thrilled to welcome Bob Ghoorah, Managing Director at Columubus Nova Technology Partners. Bob has experienced both sides of the table having been an early employee at three technology companies in Silicon Valley; LoudCloud (Nasdaq: LDCL), Opsware (Nasdaq: OPSW) and Ning, a privately-held software platform (sold to Glam Media in 2011).
In this episode we find out:
Finally, we head to the quick fire round. Here, we get Bob's immediate reactions to the latests tech topics including tech bubble, company valuations and the first trillion dollar company.
For all the resources mentioned in todays show head over to The Twenty Minute VC.
In this session of The Twenty Minute VC, I'm so excited to have the opportunity to interview Kris Jones. Kris has enjoyed an amazing career in the technology industry, founding PepperJam, an internet marketing agency in 1999 and later selling it to Ebay in April of 2010. More recently, Kris has made his transition into the Venture Capital Industry through the founding of an early stage technology investment fund, KBJ Capital, which includes portfolio companies Highlighter.com, French Girls App, ReferLocal.com, LSEO.com and many more incredible companies.
In this session you'll learn:
Kris is also a prolific writer here are some of his articles, you can check out!
Forbes: 15 Steps to Set Your Company Up for a Successful M&A
Welcome to the 1st episode of The Twenty Minute VC, on today's show we have Guy Kawasaki, Guy is the Founding Partner of Garage Technology Ventures, a seed & early stage venture capital fund investing in extraordinary entrepreneurs with unique technologies. Previously, he was Chief Evangelist of Apple Inc and an advisor to the Motorala Business Unit of Google. Guy is also the author of many best selling books including the recent best seller, The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users.
In this episode we delve into:
We then finish on a quick fire round where we discover Guy's thoughts on the future of Amazon, Tesla and whether we really are in the midst of a tech bubble.
All of the products mentioned in todays show can be found at www.thetwentyminutevc.com
If you love the show, please do leave a review on the iTunes store and don't forget to subscribe!
