20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap

Greg Bettinelli is a Partner at Upfront Ventures where he specialises in businesses at the juncture of retail and technology. Prior to Upfront, Greg was the CMO for HauteLook, a leading online flash-sale retailer that was acquired by Nordstrom for $270mm. Before HauteLook, Greg was Executive Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at Live Nation, responsible for strategic direction and key business partnerships for Live Nation’s ticketing and digital businesses. Before Live Nation, Greg held a number of leadership positions at eBay and StubHub and was the business leader who led eBay’s acquisition of StubHub in 2007.   In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Greg made his way into VC from the unconventional world of retail and consumer? 2.) How has Greg's unconventional background altered how he views investments and founders? How does Greg test for the 'grit' required to be a founder? 3.) With the rise of direct to consumer, will we see the end of the physical retail store? Why do big retailers still have such little e-commerce presence? 4.) To what extent does Greg view brand as a form of IP in a prospective investment? How have we seen changing brand loyalty in the last decade? 5.) What are the fundamentals for growing a consumer brand successfully? Who has exemplified this? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Greg’s Fave Blog and Newsletter: Dan Primack: Term Sheet Greg’s Fave Book: Michael Lewis Greg's Most Recent Investment: Happy Returns As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Greg on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. WeAreLATech is the number one resource uniting the LA startup community. Immediately integrate into the explosive LA tech scene by visiting WeAreLATech.com/VC. WeAreLATech offers a unique combination of curated offline experiences, the #1 LA Tech podcast called "WeAreLATech", and the only mobile app that keeps you in the know with a full calendar of events. Make sure go to WeAreLATech.com/VC to explore and learn all about everything LA tech and silicon beach. You'll also get access to a private LA tech immersion call exclusively for 20 Minute VC listeners. Eve make 1 perfect mattress – made with 3 layer technology and next generation memory foam. It comes packaged in a beautiful box and arrives the day after you order. You get 100 nights to try it with free return pick-up – it really is the perfect mattress for everyone. Just go online to evemattress.co.uk and enter the code 20VC for £50 off. Everybody deserves the perfect start with Eve.

22 Elo 201626min

Paul Berberian is the CEO of Orbotix, the company that created Sphero, the robotic ball controlled from your smartphone. They have investment from our friends in Boulder, Brad Feld and David Cohen. Prior to Sphero, Paul was the co-founder of Raindance Communications (NASDAQ: RNDC). Paul also founded Market Force Information, an emerging information company with a vision to provide retailers. As well as, LINK-VTC, a video teleconferencing company, which was sold in 1995 to Frontier Communications.  In Today’s Episode with Paul You Will Learn: 1.) How Paul came to be CEO @ Sphero? 2.) Paul has founded and run 7 businesses, How has Paul seen his style of leadership change over the past decade or so? 3.) Question from Brad Feld: When Paul disagrees with his board, how does he resolve it? What have been Paul's learnings in maintaining a happy board environment? 4.) Sphero have raised, at last count, $80m? How has Paul seen investor sentiment to hardware alter over the 5-6 years? How did he meet his investors? What did Paul do well and what would Paul like to improve upon for next time? 5.) Question from Brad Feld: ‘Sphero looks like a massive success but every startup has had failures, so what have Paul's failures been and what did he learn from them? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Paul’s Fave Blog and Newsletter: Quora Paul’s Fave Book: The Black Box As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Paul on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Eve make 1 perfect mattress – made with 3 layer technology and next generation memory foam. It comes packaged in a beautiful box and arrives the day after you order. You get 100 nights to try it with free return pick-up – it really is the perfect mattress for everyone. Just go online to evemattress.co.uk and enter the code 20VC for £50 off. Everybody deserves the perfect start with Eve.

19 Elo 201625min

Ben Einstein is Founder and General Partner @ Bolt, Bolt is a fund designed to address the unique needs of early-stage startups at the intersection of hardware and software, investing up to $500K in pre-seed, pre-product companies. They have created and backed some world class businesses that have received later funding from Khosla, Kleiner Perkins, NEA, and Softtech just to name a few. In Today’s Episode with Ben You Will Learn: How Ben made his way into VC from such a product centric background? Why have we seen a rise in hardware investing over the last 5 years? How has this affected the hardware ecosystem? To what extent do hardware and software integrate today? Why have we seen the rise of software determining the hardware winners? Why is brand the most important thing in consumer hardware? Who has done it best? Who has not done it well? What is Ben’s biggest advice to hardware founders today? Why is raising too much money extremely dangerous for hardware founders? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Ben’s Fave Blog and Newsletter: Ben Evans Ben’s Fave Book: The Box Ben’s Most Recent Investment: Grow: Redesigning Gardening As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ben on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Eve make 1 perfect mattress – made with 3 layer technology and next generation memory foam. It comes packaged in a beautiful box and arrives the day after you order. You get 100 nights to try it with free return pick-up – it really is the perfect mattress for everyone. Just go online to evemattress.co.uk and enter the code 20VC for £50 off. Everybody deserves the perfect start with Eve.

17 Elo 201627min

Dave McClure is the founding partner of 500 Startups, who have made over 1500 investments in the likes of Twilio, SendGrid, Intercom and Makerbot just to name a few. Prior to 500 Dave was on the investment team at Founders Fund, he also led the Facebook Fund Incubator and was Head of Marketing @ Paypal pre IPO. In Today’s Episode with Dave You Will Learn: How Dave made his way into VC and came to found 500 Startups? Do you need unicorn exits to have significant venture returns? What is the 500 view with regards to the hit ratio of finding unicorns? How much ownership does 500 typically take? Does this allow Dave enough of a right to follow on in further rounds with such a small initial slice? How does Dave and 500 avoid the inherent signalling risk involved with their fund and accelerator? How prominent is signalling in today’s market? What did Dave think of Sam Altman’s statement on YC not accepting companies from other accelerators? How does Dave view YC companies? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Dave’s Fave Blog and Newsletter: Brad Feld, AVC, Mark Suster Dave’s Fave Book: Guns Germs and Steel, The Mystery of Capital Dave’s Most Recent Investment: Markhor As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Dave on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Eve make 1 perfect mattress - made with 3 layer technology and next generation memory foam. It comes packaged in a beautiful box and arrives the day after you order. You get 100 nights to try it with free return pick-up - it really is the perfect mattress for everyone. Just go online to evemattress.co.uk and enter the code 20VC for £50 off. Everybody deserves the perfect start with Eve.

15 Elo 201627min

Adam Nash is the President and CEO of Wealthfront, where he is on a mission to put the client first and change the bad practices of the financial services industry. Adam joined Wealthfront from Greylock Partners, where he was an Executive-in-Residence. Prior to Greylock, he was VP of Product Management at LinkedIn, where he built the teams responsible for core product, user experience, platform and mobile. Adam also held a number of roles at Ebay, Atlas Venture Preview Systems and Apple. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Adam came to be President and CEO @ Wealthfront? 2.) What makes a great product person and how does that compare to Adam's role now as CEO and the skills required to be a great CEO? 3.) Is it fair to suggest that PMs are the CEO of a mini product? How transferrable are the skills of product managers to the skills required of CEOs? 4.) How was the transition for Andy in making the move from PM to COO to CEO? What were the biggest challenges and surprises? 5.) Why does Andy believe that building software through hierarchy does not work? How can leaders empower their team with a sense of ownership? 6.) Why do humans suck at investing? Will we see the domination of full scale financial robo advisors in the next 10 years? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Adam’s Fave Book: Foundation by Isaac Asimov Adam’s Fave Blog and Newsletter: Nuzzel As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Adam on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here!   Eve make 1 perfect mattress – made with 3 layer technology and next generation memory foam. It comes packaged in a beautiful box and arrives the day after you order. You get 100 nights to try it with free return pick-up – it really is the perfect mattress for everyone. Just go online to evemattress.co.uk and enter the code 20VC for £50 off. Everybody deserves the perfect start with Eve.

12 Elo 201627min

David Pakman is a Partner at Venrock and the man behind Venrock’s leading of the Series A and B rounds for Dollar Shave Club. Prior to Venrock David spent 12 years as an internet entrepreneur. Including being CEO of eMusic, the world’s leading digital retailer of independent music, second only to iTunes. Prior to eMusic, David co-founded Myplay in 1999, which he later sold, in 2001, to Bertelsmann’s ecommerce Group. If that wasn’t enough David is also the co-creator of Apple Computer’s Music Group. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:  How did David make his way into the world of VC with Venrock? David invested in Dollar Shave when subscription ecommerce funding was largely out of favour. What was it that excited Dave about Dollar Shave and why did he choose to invest? To what extent do we see the existence of party rounds in today’s funding environment? Venrock took the rather unusual position to lead both the A and B rounds for Dollar Shave. What was the internal conversations like within Venrock towards this decision? Dollar Shave was growing at phenomenal rates with impressive growth, what was behind the decision to sell at this time? What were the incentives behind selling to Unilever? Will we see other large e-commerce exits in the future? What does the future M&A environment look like for consumer businesses? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Matt’s Fave Book: Mindset by Carole Dweck Matt’s Most Recent Investment: Pearl As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and David on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Eve make 1 perfect mattress – made with 3 layer technology and next generation memory foam. It comes packaged in a beautiful box and arrives the day after you order. You get 100 nights to try it with free return pick-up – it really is the perfect mattress for everyone. Just go online to evemattress.co.uk and enter the code 20VC for £50 off. Everybody deserves the perfect start with Eve.

10 Elo 201626min

Matt Ocko is the Co-Managing Partner and Co-Founder @ Data Collective and has over 3 decades of experience as a tech entrepreneur and VC and has made investments in the likes of Facebook, Zynga, Uber and AngelList just to name a few. If that was not enough he is also an inventor on over 40 granted or in process patents. A truly deep thinker and one of my fave ever shows to record. In Today’s Episode with Matt You Will Learn: How Matt made his way into VC and came to co-found Data Collective? Why does Matt believe “All Fund Size Models are Wrong”. Does the current bifurcation of VC into angels/micro-VCs, small seed/A funds, big bruisers, and post-C/pre-IPO make for sub-optimal returns both on a societal and monetary perspective? What does the opportunity fund allow Data Collective? How do they use the initial fund to invest for insight in into companies at the earliest stages? How do they avoid the negative signalling risk that is normally ensued with an opportunity fund? How important is thesis driven venture firms? Does specialisation aid or hinder venture returns and why? How does Matt view the lifecycle of current venture? Matt has previously said it is inherently inefficient, why? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Matt’s Fave Blog and Newsletter: MIT Technology Review Matt’s Fave Book: The Way Things Work Matt’s Most Recent Investment: Tradeshift As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Matt on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Eve make 1 perfect mattress - made with 3 layer technology and next generation memory foam. It comes packaged in a beautiful box and arrives the day after you order. You get 100 nights to try it with free return pick-up - it really is the perfect mattress for everyone. Just go online to evemattress.co.uk and enter the code 20VC for £50 off. Everybody deserves the perfect start with Eve.

8 Elo 201628min

Dhananja Jayalath is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Athos, creating the new standard for fitness by changing the way we train the human body. Athos have funding from our friends at Social Capital, Felix Capital and DCM Ventures just to name a few of their investors. Prior to Athos, DJ turned down a job with Apple straight from University to pursue his vision of creating the next generation of consumer fitness wearables with Athos. In Today’s Episode with DJ You Will Learn: How DJ went from University to turning down Apple to founding Athos? How did DJ come to meet Chamath @ Social? How was the fundraising experience? What did Athos do well and what would DJ like to improve for the next round? How does DJ approach iteration and testing within product testing at Athos? What are the lessons DJ has learned in the manufacturing and iteration process with Athos? How does DJ approach business models for Athos today? Does DJ agree that the winners of hardware will be determined by software? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: DJ’s Fave Book: Velocity: The 7 New Laws For A World Gone Digital As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and DJ on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

5 Elo 201620min