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

Morten Lund, best know for his seed investment in Skype, he has also founded and co-invested in more than 100 startups including the likes of Airhelp who you might recognize as we interviewed their CEO Nicolas Michaelsen in episode check 32, as well as Bullguard, Maxthon and many more. In today’s incredible interview we talk about the story behind his skype investment, how he went from $150m to bankruptcy moving to the present both with his work with Coders Trust helping coders in developing countries to improve their lives to his rocketship journey with one of the world’s most exciting fintech companies in Tradeshift, who have raised a total of over $200m. If you love today's episode, simply click here and share the love! A special thank you to Mattermark for providing all the data displayed in today's show and you can find out more about Mattermark here!    In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Morten got into the technology industry and the world of investing? 2.) How did Morten's investment in Skype come about? How did Morten deal with the bankruptcy and how it changed him as a person? 3.) How does Morten view the current state of European fintech? Where are the significant market opportunities that are yet to be exploited? 4.) Following Morten bankruptcy, he only works with "really cool people". So what makes Morten like someone and believe in them? 5.) How did TradeShift come about from Morten's basement? What was the a-ha moment? What has driven the immense success with over $200m invested? What is the future for the company and the future of money? 6.) Looking forward, what is Morten's main goal and aspiration and how does he plan on attaining it? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Morten's Fave Book: Shantaram Morten's Fave Blog or Newsletter: The Economist Morten's Most Recent Investment: Hippocorn   As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Morten 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 Instagram here!

4 Tammi 201623min

Richard Hanson is CEO and co-founder of HiringScreen, where rocket science meets recruitment. Founded in Jan 2015 in Hong Kong, HiringScreen has raised over $800,000 from a number of investors with plans to expand into the Philippines and Indonesia. Before founding HiringScreen, Richard was an award winning headhunter and recruitment consultancy owner. A special thank you to Mattermark for providing all the data displayed in today's show and you can find out more about Mattermark here!    In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) What were the origins of Hiring Screen? What was the a-ha moment for Richard? 2.) What advice would Richard give to founders contemplating entering accelerators? What should they look for and why should they be wary of? 3.) Why does Richard believe that a startup with multiple founders is more beneficial than single founder startups? What would he suggest someone looking to find a co-founder is to do? 4.) Why did Richard start Hiring Screen in Hong Kong? What are Richard's views on Asia's emerging tech scene? What advice would Richard give to a founder deciding where to start a startup? 5.) What has been the most challenging element of growing Hiring Screen? How did Richard overcome it and alter the company from there? 6.) If Richard were to found Hiring Screen again, what would he do differently? Is there anything he wishes he had known before the process?   Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Richard's Fave Book: The Alliance by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh Richard's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Calacanis, Feld Thoughts   As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Richard 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 Instagram here!    Free Ebook: How to boost your Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) by over 100% I would like to say a huge thank you to our sponsor for today's show: LoyaltyBay. Have you ever wished more of your website visitors would convert into a sale, signup or referral? If so, you need Loyalty Bay. With their saas conversion optimizer tool they increase any conversion metric by offering potential customers a choice of personalised rewards to get them to convert. They work with large enterprises like Virgin Media through to startups and have increased conversions on average by over 100%. Free 30 day trial at www.loyaltybay.co.uk

1 Tammi 201625min

Sitar Teli is Managing Partner at Connect Ventures and has been a venture capitalist for eight years, focusing on early-stage investments in both consumer and B2B companies. Previously with Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures, where she led their Series A round in SoundCloud, she has experience with content, gaming and ecommerce startups. Sitar has a dual degree in Mechanical Engineering and Economics from Duke University. A special thank you to Mattermark for providing all the data displayed in today's show and you can find out more about Mattermark here!     In Today's Episode You Will Learn:   1.) How did Sitar make her way into the wonderful world of VC?   2.) How does Sitar approach the difficult task of saying no to entrepreneurs? What is the framework she has adopted over her 8 years in venture? 3.) There are a large amount of sources of capital for business in the seed stage, why did Sitar believe this was the stage with the most opportunity? Is too much capital chasing too few deals? 4.) With the increasing prominence of crowdfunding, is it a viable alternative to VC? Is Sitar concerned that quality deal flow is being lost to Crowdfunding? 5.) What is driving the growth of the European tech startup scene? 6.) Prior to making investments such as that of Citymapper, one obviously has to look at the team and the product. So what do you look for in a founder and what to you makes a great product?    Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Sitar's Fave Book: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Sitar's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Benedict Evans Newsletter Sitar's Fave Apps: Outlook, Sunrise, Citymapper Sitar's Most Recent Investment: Knyttan   As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Sitar 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 Instagram here!      Free Ebook: How to boost your Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) by over 100%   Have you ever wished more of your website visitors would convert into a sale, signup or referral? If so, you need Loyalty Bay. With their saas conversion optimizer tool they increase any conversion metric by offering potential customers a choice of personalised rewards to get them to convert. They work with large enterprises like Virgin Media through to startups and have increased conversions on average by over 100%. Free 30 day trial at www.loyaltybay.co.uk

30 Joulu 201528min

Boris Wertz is one of the top tech early-stage investors in North America and the founding partner of Version One.  He is also a board partner with Andreessen Horowitz. Before becoming an investor, Boris was the COO of AbeBooks.com which sold to Amazon in 2008. He was responsible for marketing, business development, product, customer service and international operations – leading a team of 60 people. In 2005, he was named the Pacific Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year. A special thank you to Mattermark for providing all the data displayed in today's show and you can find out more about Mattermark here!      In Today's Episode You Will Learn:   1.) How did Boris make his way into the wonderful world of VC? 2.) Why have we seen a mass re-emergence of the marketplace model now? 3.) What was the objective in writing Version One’s book, A Guide To Marketplaces? What did Boris feel the public needed to know that was not already known? 4.) For an entrepreneur looking to move into the marketplace sector, how can they select the right market, are there any essential components they must consider? 5.) The book discusses the benefits of both direct and indirect network effects for marketplaces but in the early days what should startups focus on; demand or supply? How should they go about addressing this element? 6.) What are the core required elements of scaling a marketplace?   Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Boris's Fave Book: Hard Things About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz Boris's Fave Blog or Newsletter: AVC by Fred Wilson  Boris's Most Recent Investment: Headout   To check out The Two Minute Takeaway from today's show, click here!   As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Boris 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 Instagram here!    Free Ebook: How to boost your Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) by over 100%   Have you ever wished more of your website visitors would convert into a sale, signup or referral? If so, you need Loyalty Bay. With their saas conversion optimizer tool they increase any conversion metric by offering potential customers a choice of personalised rewards to get them to convert. They work with large enterprises like Virgin Media through to startups and have increased conversions on average by over 100%. Free 30 day trial at www.loyaltybay.co.uk

28 Joulu 201529min

Sumeet Shah is an investor @ Brand Foundry Ventures, who have investments in the likes of Warby Parker, Birchbox and Contently. Sumeet himself is pivotal in sourcing and managing new opportunities at Brand Foundry with over 6 years of experience across the startup and private equity industries, formerly running new business strategies at Gist Digital and handling business development and project work at Gotham Consulting Partners. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Sumeet made his way into the wonderful world of VC? 2.) What stage is Brand Foundry active in? Does Sarah Lacy’s analysis of a ‘Series A Crunch’ concern Sumeet? Has he seen a widening in the gap between the amount that raise seed to then go onto raise Series A? 3.) What does Sumeet believe are the key pieces to run a successful business? In the first 100 days, what are the most important elements to focus on? 4.) Sumeet recently tweeted ‘To All Startups, the most helpful investor is not always the largest’. How can startups determine who is the most helpful? What should startups expect from their investors? What does Sumeet believe makes the best investor? 5.) What would Sumeet say is his biggest strength as an investor and what would he most like to improve upon? As a seed investor, how does Sumeet respond to Aileen Lee’s suggestion that in investing you can only make really money when invested in unicorns? 6.) Is Sumeet bullish on the future of NYC tech? What are the strengths of NY? Where is it booming? Are there any elements of SF, Sumeet would like NY to have? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Sumeet's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Term Sheet by Dan Primack, Strictly VC Sumeet's Fave Book: Things A Little Birdy Told Me by Biz Stone Sumeet's Most Recent Investment: Lola: A Better Month Awaits You As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Sumeet 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 Instagram here! Free Ebook: How to boost your Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) by over 100%   Have you ever wanted to know who someone is simply from an email address?With Loyalty Bay's Super Users product now you can. Simply input an email address and it will go off and find publicly available profile information i.e. Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter etc for that email address. This is incredibly powerful in building a richer data profile on your users for marketers and business development people alike. Free 30 day Trial. Check out www.loyaltybay.co.uk

23 Joulu 201527min

Eric Hippeau is a Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures. He is the chairman of RebelMouse and co-founder of NowThis Media. Previously, Eric was the Chief Executive Officer of The Huffington Post and a Special Partner at Softbank Capital, where he served as Managing Partner. Prior to Softbank Capital, Eric was Chairman and CEO of Ziff-Davis, which was the largest media company serving the technology sector. He serves on the Board of various private and public companies, including Buzzed & Starwood Hotels and Resorts. A special thank you to Mattermark for providing all the data displayed in today's show and you can find out more about Mattermark here!    In Today's Episode You Will Learn:   1.) How did Eric make his way into the world of tech and venture? 2.) Question from Eric Paley: How does Eric compare the role of VC to the role of operator and does Eric think each draws on the same skills and strengths?  3.) What does Eric think makes a great VC and what makes a great operator? Are there any commonalities in the individuals he has come across? 4.) Eric reveals the best pitches he has seen and what made them so effective and flips the coin to discuss the worst pitches and what not to do when pitching a VC? 5.) Eric has made many investments in adtech and content, an area most VCs are hesitant of. So why are VCs hesitant of this space and why does Eric think he and Ken have been able to master it and produce great returns? 6.) With Eric's experience as CEO at Huffington Post, how does Eric view the changes to the media landscape and what are his predictions and concerns for the next few years?   Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Eric's Fave Book: The Lord of The Rings Eric's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Strictly VC, Dan Primack: Termsheet Eric's Most Recent Investment: The Drone Racing League As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Eric 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 Instagram here!    Free Ebook: How to boost your Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) by over 100%   Have you ever wanted to know who someone is simply from an email address? With Loyalty Bay's Super Users product now you can. Simply input an email address and it will go off and find publicly available profile information i.e. Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter etc for that email address. This is incredibly powerful in building a richer data profile on your users for marketers and business development people alike. Free 30 day Trial. Check out www.loyaltybay.co.uk

21 Joulu 201527min

Daniel van Binsbergen is CEO and co-founder of Lexoo, an online marketplace that connects businesses with lawyers. Founded in 2014 in London, Lexoo has raised over $1.7M from a number of investors, including Forward Partners. Before founding Lexoo, Daniel was a senior associate at an international law firm, working in London and Amsterdam. A special thank you to Mattermark for providing all the data displayed in today's show and you can find out more about Mattermark here!    In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) What were the origins of Lexoo? What was the a-ha moment for Daniel? 2.) Was Daniel nervous about leaving the security of the legal profession to found a startup? What does Daniel advise people who want to make the leap but are not sure if it is worth risking everything? 3.) Why is there a divergence between the advancement of tech and the lacking progression of the legal space? 4.) Why did Daniel start Lexoo in a completely no tech, manual way? How was that? What would Daniel advise fellow founders who do not have the technical skills to build their idea? 5.) How did Daniel meet his investors? How did he find the fundraising experience? What was the challenging and surprising elements of the journey? 6.) If Daniel were to found Lexoo again, what would he do differently? Is there anything he wishes he had known before the process?   Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Daniel's Fave Book: The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick  Daniel's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Mattermark, Seth Godin, James Altucher Daniel's Must Have Software: Sunrise, Trello As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Daniel 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 Instagram here!

18 Joulu 201524min

Matthew is an Investor at Forward Partners: a super-early stage London VC. Forward Partners invests in solo-founders, idea stage and seed stage eCommerce, marketplace and related software businesses providing them with funding, office space and the support of an expert in-house engineering, product and growth team. Before becoming a VC, Matthew had varying degrees of success (!) with retail and security tech start-ups. He began his career in Sales, Structuring and Trading at investment banks. He holds a BA in Economics and Politics and an MBA from SDA Bocconi. A huge thank you to Mattermark for all the data discussed in today's show and you can find them here!  CLICK TO PLAY In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Matt make his way into the world of VC? What would he advise someone wanting to get into the industry? 2.) How does Forward Partners differentiate themselves in such a sea of seed funds? What is unique about their model? 3.) What are the key activities that entrepreneurs can do to build a successful business, ready for Series A? What would Matt advise someone who has an idea but no technical skills? 4.) What are the nuances and complexities of the early stage funding environment? How do Forward approach and overcome them? Are there any common misconceptions? 5.) What are the similarities and differences between the US and the UK with regards to start-up attractiveness? Where would Matt choose to found his startup if he were a founder? 6.) Considering YC’s recent intake, where does Matt see growth areas in consumer facing startups? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Matthew's Fave Book:  Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master & Margarita Matthew's Fave Newsletter: Mattermark Daily, The Equity Kicker, First Round Review Matthew's Most Recent Investment: Live Better With As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Matthew 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 Instagram here!

16 Joulu 201524min