20VC: Duolingo's Luis von Ahn on How CEO's Can Scale With The Company, How VC Herd Mentality In The Valley Really Works and How Chatbots & AI Play A Role In The Future of EdTech

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: Why Anand chose not to take VC funding for CB Insights? Should all subscription based companies be revenue funded? What one key determinant has contributed to the success of CB Insights? How has Anand's hiring strategy changed over time? How strategies does Anand use to create this company culture? What is the biggest challenge facing Anand today? What tactics have not worked when trying to create a good working environment? Is CB Insights replacing VCs, potentially losing their core customers? What metrics Anand would most look for in a startup? 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.

26 Jun 201524min

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: Which value adds are most important for founders to look for? How can Founders determine whether VCs will carry out on their 'Value Add'? What are the signs of VC bulls***? Will we see all VCs transition to Andreesen Horowitz service based VC model? How have VCs offerings to startups changed over time? What advice would Christian provide to founders entering a round of funding? 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 Andreesen Horowitz As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

24 Jun 201522min

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: What characteristics make a great VC? How VCs assess incoming business plans and investment opportunities? The biggest problem facing Rob today, as Principal at Balderton? How the structure of VC firms is changing to a service based environment? Does Crowdfunding pose a threat to VC as a alternative method of finance? For individuals wanting to move into Venture, what can they do to optimise their employability in the VC world? Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Rob Moffat: Medium Rob's Favourite Book: The Circle: Dave Eggers Crowdcube Just Park Nutmeg: Online Investment Management As always you can follow Harry, Rob and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

22 Jun 201523min

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: What the checklist is for Alan when investing in startups? Why Stanford is the amazing place it is for startups? What is the most important value add that VCs can bring to a startup? When is the right time to pivot and how important is a product roadmap? As always you can follow Harry, Alan and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

18 Jun 201520min

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: What you should do when you have a great idea? How to validate a market? How to figure out if it is a viable business? What can non technical co-founders do to get their idea of the ground? What individuals can do to meet technical co-founders? What are the biggest tips for entrepreneurs when facing a pitch? Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Dan Ariely: Predictably Irrational Tzukuri: Bluetooth Wearable Technology TreeHouse Quora OtherLevels: Mobile Marketing Automation Platform

15 Jun 201525min

Doug Scott has one of the largest AngelList syndicates, now with an incredible £396,000 in his. Doug is one of first investors in Techstars, Ignite.io and Entrepreneurs First in Europe ( still an investor in all 3 ). Prior to angel investing Doug founded several internet companies based in the UK, carrentals.co.uk - over 1 million rentals, discountvouchers.co.uk - 6 million subscribers, timetobreak.com - over 5 milion page views per day. In today's discussion Harry and delves into what Doug really expects from founders, how Doug would like to be pitched by prospective startups, is AngelList challenging the VC model, what investors and startups can expect from Doug's syndicate, his biggest tip to an aspiring entrepreneur and much more... Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Doug's AngelList Syndicate, Gil Dibner's AngelList Syndicate, Tim Jackson AngelList Syndicate Oxygen Accelerator, Jon Bradford, Springboard Cashkaro, Meals, Lifebox, Chew You can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Doug on Twitter here!

11 Jun 201527min

Charlie O'Donnell is the Founder and Sole Partner @ Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, the first venture capital fund based in Brooklyn. Prior to founding Brooklyn Bridge, Charlie worked at the prestigious First Round Capital, with the likes of Josh Koppelman and Union Square Ventures with Fred Wilson. If that wasn't enough Charlie is one of only a dozen to be named to Business Insider's 100 Most Influential People in NY Tech five or more times and has served on the founding board of the New York Tech Meetup and is one of the group's first 100 members. His blog, This is Going to Be BIG!, is one of the ten most widely read VC blogs in the country with over 8,000 readers. Among the many discussions Harry and Charlie delve into how to enter the VC job industry, how the seed stage fund raising environment is behaving, what Charlie learnt from Union Square and First Round, tactics that individuals can do to increase their own branding, Charlie's views on investing in hardware, investing in Kickstarter backed companies, the next five years for Charlie, what has blown Charlie's mind in the last four weeks, the marketing possibilities of Instagram for startups and much more... Items Mentioned in Today's Show: How To Be A VC Analyst: Charlie's Post Charlie's Hardware Portfolio Companies: Ringly, GoTenna, Canary Home Security Hungryroot: Farm Fresh 7 Minute Meals Tinkergarten

8 Jun 201527min

James Altucher is a successful entrepreneur, investor, board member, and the writer of 11 books including the recent WSJ Bestseller, "Choose Yourself!" (foreword by Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter). He has started and sold several companies for eight figure exits. He's on the board of a billion $ revenue company, has written for The Financial Times, The New York Observer, he's run several hedge funds, venture capital funds, and is a successful angel investor, having invested in over 30 startups alongside Silicon Valley's Top VC's. In today's conversation Harry and James discuss how to continuously come up with great ideas, what tasks activate the 'idea muscle', what tactics have produced the greatest investing returns for James, what traits do great founders have, how has James' investing strategy developed, what is the future for Uber, the scam that is University and much more... Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Alternatives to College and Careers: Learn to Become an iOS Developer, Learn to Become a Web Developer James Altucher: Choose Yourself! Tim Ferriss: AngelList Syndicate Shyp: The Easiest Way To Ship Your Stuff

4 Jun 201528min