20VC: Dave Morin on Why Building A Fund Is Like A Company, Why Venture Is A Craft & The Journey To Establish Slow Ventures

Yann LeCun is VP & Chief AI Scientist at Meta and Silver Professor at NYU affiliated with the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences & the Center for Data Science. He was the founding Director of FAIR and of the NYU Center for Data Science. After a postdoc in Toronto he joined AT&T Bell Labs in 1988, and AT&T Labs in 1996 as Head of Image Processing Research. He joined NYU as a professor in 2003 and Meta/Facebook in 2013. He is the recipient of the 2018 ACM Turing Award for "conceptual and engineering breakthroughs that have made deep neural networks a critical component of computing". Huge thanks to David Marcus for helping to make this happen. In Today's Episode with Yann LeCun: 1.) The Road to AI OG: How did Yann first hear about machine learning and make his foray into the world of AI? For 10 years plus, machine learning was in the shadows, how did Yan not get discouraged when the world did not appreciate the power of AI and ML? What does Yann know now that he wishes he had known when he started his career in machine learning? 2.) The Next Five Years of AI: Hope or Horror: Why does Yann believe it is nonsense that AI is dangerous? Why does Yann think it is crazy to assume that AI will even want to dominate humans? Why does Yann believe digital assistants will rule the world? If digital assistants do rule the world, what interface wins? Search? Chat? What happens to Google when digital assistants rule the world? 3.) Will Anyone Have Jobs in a World of AI: From speaking to many economists, why does Yann state "no economist thinks AI will replace jobs"? What jobs does Yann expect to be created in the next generation of the AI economy? What jobs does Yann believe are under more immediate threat/impact? Why does Yann expect the speed of transition to be much slower than people anticipate? Why does Yann believe Elon Musk is wrong to ask for the pausing of AI developments? 4.) Open or Closed: Who Wins: Why does Yann know that the open model will beat the closed model? Why is it superior for knowledge gathering and idea generation? What are some core historical precedents that have proved this to be true? What did Yann make of the leaked Google Memo last week? 5.) Startup vs Incumbent: Who Wins: Who does Yann believe will win the next 5 years of AI; startups or incumbents? How important are large models to winning in the next 12 months? In what ways does regulation and legal stop incumbents? How has he seen this at Meta? Has his role at Meta ever stopped him from being impartial? How does Yan deal with that?

15 Touko 202354min

Clem Delangue is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Hugging Face, the AI community building the future. To date, Clem has raised over $160M from the likes of Sequoia, Coatue, Addition and Lux Capital to name a few. Prior to Hugging Face, Clem was in product and marketing at two different startups both of which were acquired. In Today's Episode with Clem Delangue: 1. From Tamagotchi to Leading the World of AI: How did a Tamagotchi startup turn into one of the hottest AI startups in the world? What does Clem know now that he wishes he had known when he started? What are Clem's biggest pieces of advice to founders on pivoting? 2. AI: Trend or Transformation: To what extent does Clem believe the current hype in AI is justified? What is overblown? What have been some true and groundbreaking developments? How far away does Clem believe AGI is? What is a massive misconception the public has that Clem wishes he could change? 3. Open vs Closed: Which Model Wins: Why does Clem believe the future of AI will be won by open-source? What is his reasoning to suggest closed is fundamentally a weaker model? Does Clem acknowledge that in the short term, enterprises will buy from a closed model with greater ease? How does he plan to tackle this? 4. Regulation: What Happens Now: What regulatory changes need to be made in the world of AI most urgently? Is Elon Musk right to suggest the immediate pausing of developments in AI? What does Clem believe to be the most likely scenario to AI regulation in the next 12 months? 5. Fundraising: Lessons and Reflection on Raising $160M: Do AI startups fundamentally cost more money than normal startups to build? Why does Clem not meet investors in between rounds? What does Clem believe is the most helpful thing an investor can do? What are Clem's spiciest takes on venture as a financing model?

12 Touko 202347min

Today's 20Sales is a special Mother's Day edition where we are joined by 6 of the best sales leaders who also happen to be rockstar mothers. The Profiles Maggie Hott is on the GTM Team (Go-To-Market) at OpenAI. Before OpenAI, Maggie was Director of Sales @ Webflow and before Webflow spent an incredible 6 years at Slack. Stevie Case is the CRO @ Vanta. Prior to Vanta, Stevie spent an immensely successful 6 years at Twilio as VP of Mid-Market Sales. Renu Gupta is an advisor and sales consultant to some of the fastest-growing SaaS companies today. Previously she has held sales leadership roles at Slack, Thrive and Dropbox. Lauren Schwartz is the VP Enterprise Sales @ Fivetran. Before Fivetran, Lauren spent 4 years at Segment as Senior Director of Enterprise Sales leading to their acquisition by Twilio. Julie Maresca is the Head of Global Accounts at Atlassian. Prior to Atlassian, Julie spent an immensely successful 6 years at Slack in numerous roles including Head of Enterprise Sales for North America. Jessica Arnold is the VP of Global Sales Development @ Amplitude. Before Amplitude, Jessica was the Senior Director for Inside Sales North America at Dropbox for close to 6 years. In Today's 20Sales Mothers Day Episode We Discuss: 1.) How have you navigated growing in your career at the same time, growing your family? 2.) How do you balance your career and being a mother - when do you lean in and out? 3.) What are some specific strategies or tools that have helped you maintain a work-life balance? 4.) How do you prioritize your mental health and wellbeing while juggling your responsibilities at work and at home? 5.) How do you handle the guilt that many working mothers experience when they have to focus on their career? 6.) What are the unique challenges and advantages of being a mother in a sales leadership role? 7.) How has your experience as a mother influenced your leadership style and decision-making? 8.) How have you navigated going out on maternity leave without it having an impact on your career? 9.) America has one of the worst parental leaves of any country in the world. How can you advocate for parental leave if the existing policy isn't up to par? 10.) What are some ways that companies can create a more inclusive and supportive environment for working mothers in sales leadership roles?

10 Touko 20231h 5min

Chris Paik is a General Partner @ Pace Capital, an early-stage venture firm in NYC. Pace's first fund was $150M and their second was $250M. Before co-founding Pace, Chris was a General Partner at Thrive Capital where he spent an incredible 8 years having joined the firm when they were on their first $10M Fund. In Today's Episode with Chris Paik We Discuss: 1. From Hipster to One of NYC's Best VCs: How Chris made his way from not knowing about venture capital to being one of the most prominent in NYC? What are 1-2 of his biggest takeaways from his 8 years at Thrive? How did they impact how he thinks about building Pace today? What are Chris' biggest lessons from working with Josh Kushner? What did Josh do to spot young talent in a way like no one else did? 2. The Core Pillars of Successful Venture Investing: "Invest in companies that can be described in a single sentence". What does Chris mean by this? How does that impact the type of companies he looks to invest in? "Business Model Fit is as important as PMF". What does Chris mean by this? How does he determine where a company has business model fit? How does Chris analyze his relationship to market sizing? How does Chris think about how willing he is to take a bet on market timing? Why does Chris believe that the more "virtuous" a company is, the less enterprise value it will have? 3. What is Wrong with Venture Capital: The Misalignments: What does Chris believe are the single biggest misalignments between VCs and Founders? What does Chris see as the biggest misalignments between VCs and LPs? Why does Chris believe we should scrap capital gains tax and all be taxed as an income tax? Why do acquisitions allow investors to be screwed over by the acquiring company? 4. The Future of Social and User Generated Content Platforms: How does Chris analyze consumer businesses according to "The Seven Deadly Sins"? Why does he call them, "The Seven Deadly Motivators"? What does Chris believe is the future for Substack? Why does it not have Business Model Fit? What are 1-2 of his biggest lessons from being on the Twitch board? How did that experience impact his mindset and approach to what good is in UGC and social? What does Chris believe is the number one thing to look for in a potential consumer social investment? What do so many miss?

8 Touko 20231h 9min

Alex Rodriguez is a businessman and the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of A-Rod Corp, a broad-based investment firm that bets on world-class startups and partners with leading global companies across the real estate, health and wellness, technology, and sports & entertainment industries. While best known as one of the world's greatest athletes (a 14x MLB All-Star and a 2009 World Series Champion with the New York Yankees), for more than 25 years, Alex leads a team of experts building high-growth businesses and is co-owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves. In Today's Episode with Alex Rodriguez 1.) From MLB to Business MVP: How Alex made his transition from one of the world's greatest athletes to the world of business? What does Alex know now that he wishes he had known at the start of his business career? What is Alex running away from? How do his insecurities drive him? 2.) Lessons from Magic Johnson and Warren Buffet: What are some of the single biggest lessons Alex has learned from his time with Warren Buffet? How did Magic Johnson impact Alex's approach to business? What is Magic Johnson's framework? How can others use it as a blueprint for their career? 3.) Alex Rodriguez: The Business Builder and Investor: What has been Alex's single biggest investing hit? What did he learn from it? What has been Alex's single worst investment decision? How did that change his approach? Why is Alex not buying real estate currently? How does he view the future of real estate buying? 4.) Alex Rodriguez: The Father and Son: How did having two daughters impact Alex's approach to business and life? What have been Alex's single biggest lessons from seeing his single mother operate? How does Alex reflect on his own relationship to money? How has it changed?

5 Touko 202336min

Vince Hankes is a Partner @ Thrive Capital where he has led the firm's investments in OpenAI, Melio, and Airplane.dev. He currently sits on the board of Airtable, Benchling, Lattice, and Melio. Prior to joining Thrive, Vince was an investor at Tiger Global where he learned the craft of venture from the legend that is Lee Fixel. In Today's Episode with Vince Hankes We Discuss: 1. From Tiger Global to Partner @ Thrive Capital: How Vince made his way into the world of investing with Tiger Global? What are 1-2 of his biggest takeaways from working alongside the legendary Lee Fixel? Why did Vince make the move from Tiger to Thrive? How do the two firms differ? 2. The OpenAI Investment: The Memo: How did the OpenAI deal come to be? What were the round dynamics? Market Evaluation: How did Vince and the team analyze the market top down? Competition: Who did Vince identify as the core competitors to OpenAI? Defensibility: How did Vince think through the long-term defensibility of OpenAI's model? Does Vince believe these models will become commoditised? Price: How did Vince and the team get comfortable with the $29BN price? 3. AI: Hype or Generational Defining Transformation: Trend or Transformation: Why does Vince believe AI will be the defining technology of our generation? Startup vs Incumbent: Does Vince think the value will accrue to the incumbent or the startup? Open or Closed: Does Vince think we will operate in a closed (one model rules them all) environment or an open-source environment with many models? AI Talent: Where does Vince think the majority of the best AI talent will concentrate? Speed: Why would Vince be scared if he were a startup today looking at the incumbents? 4. The Changing Investor: Lessons from Good and Bad: How has Vince changed most significantly as an investor over time? What has been his single biggest investing mistake? How did he learn from it? What has been his biggest investing success? How did that change his mindset? What has Thrive done in their org structure to allow them to make bets very few other firms can do?

3 Touko 202350min

Mark Carney is the Vice Chair and Head of Transition Investing @ Brookfield Asset Management, one of the world's leading asset managers with over $800BN in AUM. Mark is also United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance. He has also served as Finance Advisor to the British Prime Minister. In addition to this, Mark is on the board of Stripe, PIMCO and The World Economic Forum. In a previous life, Mark spent over a decade as a Central Banker, most recently as Governor of The Bank of England and before that as Governor of The Bank of Canada. In Today's Episode with Mark Carney We Discuss: 1. Is The Banking Crisis Over? What Happened? Why does Mark not believe we are in a banking crisis? Why does he not believe the banking turmoil is over? Was SVB the fault of regulatory mistakes or management mistakes? Is FRB a damaged asset in it's own right or the result of contagion within the banking ecosystem? 2. The Impact of the Banking Turmoil: What Happens Now? What does Mark believe is the future of regional banks? Why does Mark believe we will see massive consolidation in banks coming soon? Should the Fed be guaranteeing all deposits automatically? 3. What Happens To The Macro Now? How does the banking turmoil impact growth rates? Will we definitely go into a recession now? What is the impact on monetary policy? Can the Fed raise rates even higher? What does this mean for the future of money? Why is it a silver bullet for stablecoins? If Mark could bet on China or the US for the next 10 years, who would it be? Does Mark believe the UK is in a weaker situation than ever? What about Europe? 4. The Future of Climate and Net Zero: Where are we at with Net Zero? Are we ever going to make progress? Is it possible to make progress without the cooperation of China? Why does Mark disagree and suggest China has done more than most to help the climate? Who is talking more than they are acting in the fight to save the climate? On the flip side, who is acting more than they are talking?

1 Touko 202349min

Sarah Guo is the Founding Partner @ Conviction Capital, a $100M first fund purpose-built to serve "Software 3.0" companies. Prior to founding Conviction, Sarah was a General Partner at Greylock where she made investments in the likes of Figma, Coda, Neeva and many more incredible companies. Sarah also hosts her own podcast, No Priors with the wonderful Elad Gil. In Today's Episode with Sarah Guo We Discuss: 1. From Large Multi-Stage Firm to Founding Conviction: Why did Sarah decide to leave Greylock? What are 1-2 of her biggest lessons from her time at Greylock? How did they impact her mindset when building Conviction today? What does Sarah believe are the most surprising or hardest elements of firm building? 2. The Future for AI: The Opportunities and the Challenges: Why does Sarah believe AI is the most foundational technology of our lifetime? Why did Sarah decide to centre the entire fund around AI? Is AI not an enabling technology that will power all sectors in technology? Is Sarah concerned by the further wealth inequality that AI and billion dollar companies created by 10 people, will inevitably bring? How does Sarah think about the potential for malicious AI use? What can be done to prevent this? 3. Startup and VC Principles That Are BS: Why does Sarah believe that defensibility is BS? Why do Sarah and Harry both believe that reserves in venture funds are a suboptimal use of funds? "Great founder, bad market, market wins". Does Sarah agree? How does Sarah prioritize the centrality of founder vs market? 4. Sarah Guo: The Investor How has Sarah changed most significantly as an investor over the last 5 years? What is Sarah's biggest miss? How did it impact her mindset today? What is Sarah's biggest win? How did that alter her risk appetite? How does Sarah see the future of venture? If Sarah could invest in one multi-stage firm and one seed-stage firm, which would it be?

28 Huhti 202344min