20VC: Rob Go @ NextView on WTF Is Seed Investing Today and Why Raising Too Much Money Can Harm Your Startup

Tom Tunguz is a Partner @ Redpoint Ventures, where he has invested in the likes of Axial, Dremio, Expensify, Electric Imp, Looker, and ThredUP. Tomasz is also the co-author of Winning with Data: Transform Your Culture, Empower Your People, and Shape the Future, which explores the cultural changes big data brings to business, and shows you how to adapt your organization to leverage data to maximum effect. Before joining Redpoint, Tomasz was the product manager for Google's AdSense social-media products and AdSense internationalization. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) When did Tom perceive the true power of data for the first time? 2.) What is the biggest difference between a company that is data driven and one that is not? What are the inherent benefits and how can non data driven businesses become data driven? 3.) What are the best data driven teams doing to operationalise their data today? 4.) Adam Grant: 8% of job interviews are productive. So what structure can management use to ensure higher efficiency in the hiring process? 5.) What are the complexities and skills required for strong data analysis in today's environment? 6.) Data often leads to over confidence in decision making, how do you prevent illusion bias once data has been obtained? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Tom's Most Recent Investment: Dremio As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Tom 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. Cooley are the global law firm built around startups and venture capital. Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley has formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50+ years working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad issues that arise through a fund's lifetime. So to learn more about the #1 most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public. Head over to cooley.com and also at cooleygo.com.

12 Sep 201626min

Adam Leibsohn is the Founder and COO @ Giphy, the company that brings you joy and laughter through gifs. Earlier this year, Giphy raised a phenomenal $55m Series C financing from the likes of General Catalyst, Lerer Hippeau, Lightspeed and Betaworks. As for Adam he is one of the coolest and most genuine founders I have ever interviewed and is so committed to the startup cause that at one point he went without a home to pay for the startup dream! In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Adam went from being homeless to the Founder of Giphy? 2.) What were the biggest lessons Adam learnt from his failed startup? When should founders know when is the right time to stop? 3.) Why gifs and why now? What has allowed for the spectacular rise of gifs? 4.) How has Adam created such a unique culture at Giphy? What have been his key learnings? What has worked, what has not worked? 5.) Giphy is now a cultural icon but how does Adam look to turn that into a massive globally profit making business? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Adam's Fave Blog and Newsletter: The Information, Dealbook Adam's Fave Book: East of Eden As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Adam 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. Cooley are the global law firm built around startups and venture capital. Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley has formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50+ years working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad issues that arise through a fund's lifetime. So to learn more about the #1 most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public. Head over to cooley.com and also at cooleygo.com.

9 Sep 201627min

Brett DeMarrais is a Partner @ Ludlow Ventures, who have investments in the likes of ProductHunt, Sprig, AngelList and uBeam. Prior to joining Ludlow, Brett founded Wedit, a crowd sourced wedding video platform that reduced the cost of wedding videos and made them social. Within the first year of launching the company Wedit had won the top industry awards for customer satisfaction (Brides Choice 2012 and Best of The Knot 2012). Previously, Brett worked at Out of the Blue Entertainment. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Brett made his move into VC and came to be a partner @ Ludlow? 2.) What do most VCs mean they say 'founder friendly'? How does Brett and Ludlow approach the popularised saying? 3.) How does Brett balance between being an investor and advisor to a founder and then being their friend and confidante? 4.) How does Brett look to balance the fiduciary responsibilities to his LPs when appreciating that the needs of the founder come before the needs of the company? 5.) Brett has previously said, 'car ownership will be a thing of the past'. Why does Brett think this and what does this mean for the car industry as a whole? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Brett's Fave Blog and Newsletter: Both Sides Of The Table, Dan Primack: Term Sheet Brett's Fave Book: Ready Player One Brett's Most Recent Investment: Gather As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Brett 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.ukand enter the code 20VC for £50 off. Everybody deserves the perfect start with Eve.

7 Sep 201628min

Ben Lerer is a Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures and co-founder & CEO of Thrillist Media Group. Ben was among Ernst & Young's 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winners, Forbes list of "Most Powerful CEOs Under 40", " Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 5 Entrepreneurs of the Year," and Silicon Alley Insider's "100 Coolest People in Tech". Ben is also an active mentor for NYC Venture Fellows, TechStars and E[nstitute]. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ben came to found Thrillist and then join the founding team at Lerer Hippeau? 2.) How did Ben's mentality shift from investing angel money to the fiduciary responsibility of a fund? 3.) How does Ben view FOMO? How does he look to negate and contol his emotions when investing? 4.) How has Ben seen his personal pattern recognition change over time? How does Ben use data to further improve his ability of pattern recognition? 5.) Why have we seen the rise of direct to consumer businesses? Is it easier to build a brand today than in previous years? Will we see continued M&A in the retail world with the likes of Jet.co and Dollar Shave Club? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Ben's Fave Book: The Goldfinch Ben's Most Recent Investment: Everytable 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.ukand enter the code 20VC for £50 off. Everybody deserves the perfect start with Eve. Cooley are the global law firm built around startups and venture capital. Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley has formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50+ years working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad issues that arise through a fund's lifetime. So to learn more about the #1 most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public. Head over to cooley.com and also at cooleygo.com.

5 Sep 201631min

Kathryn Minshew is the Founder & CEO @ The Muse, named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Media and Inc.'s 15 Women to Watch in Tech. Before founding The Muse, Kathryn worked on vaccines in Rwanda and Malawi with the Clinton Health Access Initiative and was previously at McKinsey. Kathryn has spoken at MIT and Harvard, appeared on The TODAY Show and CNN, and contributes on career and entrepreneurship to the Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Kathryn came to be Founder of The Muse following charity work in Rwanda? 2.) Question from Adam Quinton (investor): What is it about Kathryn and Alex's relationship that works so well? How do they deal with founder disputes? 3.) Prior to The Muse, Alex and Kathryn founded another business with 2 other founders. What did they learn from the breakup and how have they applied to The Muse? 4.) How has Kathryn managed to maintain startup ownership culture as the team has grown to over 100 people ? 5.) The Muse has now raised large Series A & B rounds. What were the lessons Kathryn learnt along the way and what would she do differently for the C round? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Kathryn's Fave Blog and Newsletter: The Atlantic, The New York Times Kathryn's Fave Book: Arcadia by Tom Stoppard As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Kathryn 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. Did you know companies that regularly communicate with stakeholders regularly are 200% more likely to get follow on funding? Visible.vc is the leader in stakeholder communication & engagement powering updates & reports for over 1,600 companies including customers Amazon and Skyscanner. They integrate with apps you already use to run your business like Google Sheets, Quickbooks, Xero, Salesforce, Stripe and more. Listeners make sure to check out visible.vc/20 to get an exclusive deal just for you and schedule a call with your own data analyst.

2 Sep 201630min

Jesse Middleton is a General Partner @ Flybridge Capital Partners. Prior to joining Flybridge, Jesse was an early executive at WeWork, one of the fastest growing and most valuable startups in history. He co-founded WeWork Labs in 2011, and ran WeWork X, M&A, startup investments, business and digital product development as well as inside sales during his five-year tenure at the company. Prior to WeWork, Jesse was the co-founder and CEO of Backstory, a venture backed startup. Jesse also has experience as a prolific angel investor having invested in the like of Fitmob (acq by ClassPass) YourTrove acq by LiveNation and inDinero, who you might remember we had Jessica Mah, Founder @ inDinero on the show. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Jesse made the transition from operator with WeWork to General Partner @ Flybridge? 2.) At what stage does founder vision transition to become stubbornness? How does Jesse approach the situation of telling a founder when it is not working? 3.) How does Jesse's investment mindset shift from making the move from angel to VC with fiduciary responsibility? 4.) How does Jesse look to develop pattern recognition as a new entrant to VC? How important a role does mentorship play for Jesse? 5.) What are the characteristics Jesse looks for in a founder that suggest an innate problem solver? How does Jesse deal with problems when the 'shit hits the fan?' Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Jesse's Fave Blog and Newsletter: Purple, The Skimm Jesse's Fave Book: Leadership & The Challenge of Self Deception Jesse's Most Recent Investment: Squire As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Jesse 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.ukand enter the code 20VC for £50 off. Everybody deserves the perfect start with Eve.

31 Aug 201630min

Peter Pham is a Co-Founder at Science, the startup studio that helps incubate companies co-building them alongside CEO's, with recent companies like Dollar Shave Club (acquired by Unilever for $1B) and leading marketplace, DogVacay. More recently Science created created one of the top 100 iOS Apps called Wishbone. Peter has also helped his portfolio raise over $350M in that time. Previously as an operator, he led Photobucket to its $300M acquisition by Fox Interactive Media as well as CEO of BillShrink (acquired by MasterCard.) In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Peter made the transition from operator to company builder with Science? 2.) How does Peter approach the fundraising process itself? How does he instruct founders about the right ways to approach and enter the fundraising game? 3.) How can entrepreneurs determine whether a VC is saying not to them? What are the signs that an investor is genuinely interested? 4.) With 3,000 no's from investors, how does that affect Peter's mentality? How does he avoid the negativity surrounding a VC saying no? 5.) What are Peter's major learnings on how companies scale effectively today? How important are network effects to this scaling? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Peter's Fave Blog and Newsletter: Recode Peter's Fave Book: How To Win Friends & Influence People Peter's Most Recent Investment: Handstand App As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Peter 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.

29 Aug 201631min

Sean Brecker is the CEO @ Headspace where he is the driving force behind all financial and commercial matters including overseeing the company's growth of it's product line which now has over 8m downloads. Sean was also instrumental in attaining the first institutional round of financing which included investment from the likes of LinkedIn's Jeff Weiner, Jim Breyer, Jessica Alba and Jared Leto, just to name a few. Prior to Headspace, Sean spent 15 years in banking with the likes of JP Morgan, Lehmann Brothers and Citigroup. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Sean made the move from banking to CEO of meditation service, Headspace? 2.) Meditation can be viewed with some hippy stereotypes, how does Sean look to optimise the onboarding for new users and incorporate elements of education? 3.) How does Sean implement a strategy of habit forming within the users? In the words of Nir Eyal, how do we get them 'hooked'? How long on average does it take for an action to be completed before it becomes a habit? 4.) How does Sean try and optimise the transition from free to paid user with Headspace? How does Sean try and remove as much friction as possible in the process? 5.) How has Sean seen the growth of the health and wellness space over the last few years? We obviously have the likes of Calm, is this market a winner takes all and how does Sean approach market competition at Headspace? 6.) How was the fundraising process for Sean? How did he come to meet investors like Jeff Weiner, Jim Breyer, Jessica Alba and Jared Leto? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Sean's Fave Blog and Newsletter: The Information, Recode Sean's Fave Book: The Hard Thing About Hard Things, A Man In Full As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Sean 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.

26 Aug 201627min