20VC: Tony Fadell "The Father of The iPod" on Mentors, Self-Doubt, Vulnerability, His Relationship To Money, Why Entrepreneurs Need to Be Coachable, Why VCs Need To Be More Direct & Why The First Trillionaire Will Innovate Around Climate Change
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch15 Mar 2021

20VC: Tony Fadell "The Father of The iPod" on Mentors, Self-Doubt, Vulnerability, His Relationship To Money, Why Entrepreneurs Need to Be Coachable, Why VCs Need To Be More Direct & Why The First Trillionaire Will Innovate Around Climate Change

Tony Fadell, often referred to as "the father of the iPod," is currently Principal @ Future Shape, a global investment and advisory firm coaching engineers and scientists working on foundational deep technology. Prior to Future Shape, Tony was the Founder & CEO @ Nest Labs, the company was ultimately acquired by Google for a reported $3.2Bn. Before Nest, Tony spent an incredible 9 years at Apple Inc, where, as SVP of Apple's iPod division, he led the team that created the first 18 generations of the iPod and the first three generations of the iPhone. Fun facts, Tony has filed more than 300 patents for his work and is also a prolific angel investor having invested in the likes of mmhmm and Nothing to name a few.

In Today's Episode With Tony Fadell You Will Learn:

I. The building blocks of an entrepreneur

What was the moment that Tony realised that he wanted to be an entrepreneur?

"I got my first money when I was in third grade, because I had an egg route. We'd go get eggs from the farmer, and I'd load them in my wagon. Then my younger brother and I would go door to door around the neighborhood, and we'd sell eggs. And that was an every week or every other week situation. And I got money in my hands. And I was like, Oh my God, I can do whatever I want with that money – I don't have to ask anybody, I can just do it. And so that was the level of freedom that, especially when you're young, feels really cool. And then as I got older, I started to buy Atari video game cartridges for my 2600 (yes, I'm that old!), and that was really, really fun too."

What was the biggest lesson that Tony learned from his father on sales and building trusted relationships?

"And he said, very clearly, Look, this is a relationship. If I make this person successful, he's gonna want to come back to me over, and over, and over. But if I sell him something and it doesn't sell, and he has to discount and he loses money, he's not going to come back. Even if I don't have the right product, I'll tell him where to go to get the right product they're looking for, or if they're picking the wrong one, I'll tell them, here's the right one, because my job is to make them successful. Because if they're successful, they'll come back to me year after year after year. And even when we have a down year, they're going to trust me, and they're going to come back."

II. Reflections on experience

How does Tony Fadell think about and assess his own relationship to money? How has it changed over the years?

"So my relationship to money now is that it's just a means to make change happen. And so literally, for me, I can just have a backpack, my computer, my phone, a couple of roller bags with my clothes. And that's enough to live life with my family. I don't need all this other stuff. COVID taught me that even further."

How does Tony determine true friendships vs transactional relationships?

"If it's not a reference – if it's not coming from somebody saying, Hey, you really need to meet this person – I take everything with a grain of salt. With anybody who comes to me cold, I think they probably want something. I try to find that out through the network, Do you know this person? What are they about?"

III. Tony Fadell on becoming a mentor

Why does Tony Fadell believe that founders have to be "coachable"?

"I think anybody who's trying to do something that the world has never seen before, or trying to work with people who are, they'd better be coachable. Because you're going to be so narrowly focused, you're going to be so heads down, you're going to be so on a mission, that sometimes you'll be blinded, and you'll need somebody to come from left field and go, Wait a second, dude, you're not thinking about this right."

What are the core signs that an individual is coachable?

  1. Trustworthiness

2. Willingness to listen

What does Tony believe is the right way to deliver advice without fluff?

"First, it's about trust. You have to be able to have a trusted relationship with somebody. And second, there are different ways of delivering a message. You can deliver a message the first time in an iron-fist-in-a-velvet-glove kind of way. But sometimes the velvet glove is going to come off."

How do people make mistakes when giving advice?

"I'm in too many board meetings; we have over 200 investments. I've seen all kinds of different CEOs and different boards, where the investors don't want to feel like they're going to get a bad rep because the CEO is going to say something if they say something negative."

What does Tony Fadell advise founders when it comes to finding mentors?

"Usually, a really great mentor is going to be highly selective. They're going to be like, I don't want to work with you. They only have so much time for people who are actually coachable."

What are the characteristics of the best mentors?

"You're gonna have tough love with them, you're gonna say things that they don't want to hear, you're not going to be liked all the time. Hopefully, one day, you'll be respected if not liked. And that's what it means to be a mentor."

IV. Changing perceptions

How does Tony assess his own relationship to self-doubt?

"Everyone goes through imposter syndrome. Everyone does. We all have gone through it, I go through it. Because you know what, when you're doing stuff you've never done before, and you're changing the world, no one else has done it either. No one else has done it either. That means it's okay. And I always say, if you don't have butterflies in your stomach each day, you're either not paying attention, or you're not pushing hard enough and taking enough risk."

What are Tony's views on failure?

"Now, there's taking stupid risks versus risk mitigation and taking calculated risks. But you should always be living on the edge of pushing yourself because that's where the growth is, that's where the change is happening."

Does one learn more from success than from failure?

"How we do and change the world is through the same method. We go do, and then we fail, and then we learn from that, and then we do again."

What does Tony mean when he says, "do, fail, learn."

"Look, it's do, fail, learn; do, fail, learn. There's no such thing as learn and then you're able to do. No, no, no. When you really learn in life is after you've tried to do it."

What is the right way for entrepreneurs to present their boldest of ambitions?

"Look at Elon now. If he was pitching what he's doing now 15 years ago, people would go, No way! A few people, like Jurvetson and others, said, Yeah, sure, okay, great. But very few people would get behind that huge boldness."

"So what they do is – and this is what I've had to do – they start and just pitch that simple 'What's the next three to four years look like?' and never tell anybody about the big picture. Because you scare most people off."

How do investors need to change how they think about ambition and upside?

5.) Why does Tony believe the first trillionaire will originate from the climate change space? Why is the majority of plastics recycling total BS today? Why does Tony believe we need to fundamentally transform our economies? How do funding markets need to change to fund this structural reshaping of society?

Episoder(1390)

20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital

20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital

Ari Helgason is a VC at Dawn Capital in London and a former entrepreneur with operational experience in both London and New York. Prior to Dawn, Ari founded SaaS sales and workflow management system World on a Hanger and ecommerce clothing marketplace Fabricly.com. More recently, he launched ecommerce sites for fashion and luxury brands in London and New York. Ari is an alumnus of the Y Combinator startup accelerator and he regularly visits Silicon Valley where he has extensive relationships. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: How Ari made his move into the VC scene? Why Ari decided to bootstrap his first business? Does Ari believe that Founders should always be fundraising? Should Founders take more money than they need, 'a war chest'? What type of goals do VCs want to see from founders? What do investors expect from startups at Series A? How can founders learn what KPI's make sense for their business? How can founders know when is the right time to fundraise? How can startup founders get their foot in the VC door? Items Mentioned in Today's Episode: Predictable Revenue: Aaron Ross (Mandatory Reading for All SaaS CEO's) Elon Musk: How The Billionaire of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping Our Future Saastr by Jason Lemkin AVC.com As always you can follow Harry, Ari and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

8 Jul 201520min

20 VC 051: The New Silicon Valley Style VC in London with Alessandra Sollberger @ Mosaic Ventures

20 VC 051: The New Silicon Valley Style VC in London with Alessandra Sollberger @ Mosaic Ventures

Alessandra Sollberger is a VC at Mosaic Ventures, a new Silicon Valley style venture firm based in London, focussing on Series A rounds. Alessandra previously worked in private equity at Blackstone, covering sectors ranging from consumer brands to software. Prior to that, she worked in startups in the US and Europe and in M&A at Goldman Sachs. She is also the founder of Bright Mentors, an edtech non-profit teaching coding and science in secondary schools through a network of technology professionals. In todays episode you will learn: How Alessandra made her move into the VC world? What are you Mosaic looking for? What is their typical investment size? What Alessandra thinks of the different paths into venture? What advice would you give someone looking to enter venture? Why Alessandra believes there has been a resurgence in marketplaces? What is driving this growth? What startup marketplaces is Alessandra most excited about? Alessandra's thoughts on the next big sector to be disrupted and why? As always you can follow Harry, Alessandra, The Twenty Minute VC and Mosaic Ventures on Twitter here!

6 Jul 201518min

Founders Friday 002: Balderton's James Wise interviews 20VC Founder, Harry Stebbings

Founders Friday 002: Balderton's James Wise interviews 20VC Founder, Harry Stebbings

Today is a very special show as James Wise, Principal at Balderton Capital turns the tables on Host of The Twenty Minute VC, Harry Stebbings. In today's brilliant interview by James we delve into what has led to Harry's interest in the VC industry, why did Harry start The 20 Minute VC, how does Harry identify guests to interview, how does he approach those guests, how has Harry found his first experience in the venture industry, what has surpassed Harry about the VC industry, what traits has Harry spotted that are common among the great VCs interviewed, is Harry optimistic or not about the venture industry, what would Harry recommend for other people looking to go into venture. Items Mentioned in Todays Show: Harry's Favourite Books: Tim Ferris: 4 Hour Work Week, 4 Hour Body Shyp Crowdcube, 3DHubs, Tictail MMC Ventures, Founders Forum As always you can follow Harry, James and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

3 Jul 201521min

20 VC 050: Starting, Building and Selling in SaaS with the King of SaaS, Jason Lemkin, Managing Director @ Storm Ventures

20 VC 050: Starting, Building and Selling in SaaS with the King of SaaS, Jason Lemkin, Managing Director @ Storm Ventures

Jason Lemkin is Managing Director at Storm Ventures focussing on early stage SaaS and enterprise startups. Jason is an acknowledged thought leader in SaaS through his creation of the SaaStr community, connecting thousands of SaaS entrepreneurs and generating upwards of 1,000,000 views a month around core SaaS topics, with a particular focus on accelerating revenue and early-stage SaaS sales and marketing. Prior to Storm, Jason served as CEO and co-founder of Storm Ventures-backed EchoSign, the web’s most popular electronic signature service. Jason led EchoSign from inception through its acquisition by Adobe Systems Inc. in 2011. He then served as Vice President, Web Services at Adobe, where he oversaw the growth of EchoSign and Adobe Document Services to $100,000,000+ ARR in 2013. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: How Jason made his way into the SaaS and VC industry? What actions did Jason do to get his blog to 1m+ page views per month? What advice would Jason give to founders thinking of selling to large companies? What type of entrepreneur does Jason like to invest in? How does Jason see SaaS valuations, with recent enormous rounds from Zenefits? What areas of the SaaS industries are neglected or undervalued? Is the 40% growth rule broadly correct and can this be applied to early stage tech companies? What is Jason's pre-investment meeting approach like? What makes a founder insane in a good way, rather than a bad way? How are SaaS companies innovating to acquire new customers? Quick Fire Round: Apple: Hit or Miss Most exciting SaaS companies and sectors Jason's favourite book and why? Items Mentioned in Today's Episode: SaaStr: Jason's Blog Jason's Favourite Book: The Lion Who Shot Back Mark Suster: Both Sides Follow: @saleshacker (amazing content from VPs of Sales @ Top Tech Startups) Emergence Capital: Joe Floyd David Saks: Yammer Slack: Stewart Butterfield, Zenefits: Parker Conrad

1 Jul 201523min

20 VC 049: VC is Getting Younger with Spencer Lazar @ General Catalyst Partners

20 VC 049: VC is Getting Younger with Spencer Lazar @ General Catalyst Partners

Spencer Lazar is a Principal at General Catalyst Partners, based in New York City. He focuses on early stage software & internet investments, with a particular interest in online marketplaces, mobile applications, web services, and enterprise IT. Spencer was previously the cofounder of Spontaneously, Inc - an iOS development studio. Prior to that he was an early stage software & internet investor at Accel in London, where he sourced and worked with companies including Hailo, Birchbox, Bonobos, ForgeRock, and Qriously. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: How is the roads into the venture industry changing? What young people can do to make themselves more attractive to VCs? What would make Spencer's perfect founder? How important is geography when investing in startups? How does Spencer feel the education technology space is developing? What metrics Spencer examines when investing in a startup? What sectors is Spencer most interested in? Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Spencer's Favourite Book: The Everything Store on Jeff Bezos Spencer's Latest Investment: CampusJob Insight Venture Partners How Lightspeed's Jeremy Liew invested in Snapchat? Hot EdTech Startups: Lynda.com, PluralSight, General Assembly, Grovo, ClimbCredit Oscar, Sensio As always you can follow Harry, Spencer and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

29 Jun 201526min

Founder's Friday 001: How to Create Great Company Culture with Anand Sanwal, Founder @ CB Insights

Founder's Friday 001: How to Create Great Company Culture with Anand Sanwal, Founder @ CB Insights

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

20 VC 048: What Do VC's Really Add To Startups with Christian Claussen, Managing Partner @ Ventech

20 VC 048: What Do VC's Really Add To Startups with Christian Claussen, Managing Partner @ Ventech

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

20 VC 047: 4 Ways Investors Find Great Startups with Rob Moffat, Principal @ Balderton Capital

20 VC 047: 4 Ways Investors Find Great Startups with Rob Moffat, Principal @ Balderton Capital

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

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
rss-vass-knepp-show
finansredaksjonen
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
utbytte
pengepodden-2
okonomiamatorene
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
aksjepodden
lederpodden
rss-markedspuls-2
rss-fri-kontantstrom
rss-impressions-2
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen