20VC: Semil Shah on Why The Most Important Thing An Investor Can Do Is Attract Follow On & The Fundamentals of VC Branding

Scott Dorsey is the Managing Partner @ High Alpa, the startup studio that both builds and invests in some of the most exciting SaaS companies today. Prior to HighAlpha, Scott was a successful entrepreneur who co-founded ExactTarget and led the company from start-up to global marketing software leader. ExactTarget went public on the New York Stock Exchange in March 2012 and sold to Salesforce.com in July 2013 for $2.7 billion. At Salesforce, Scott worked directly with Marc Benioff to execute the ExactTarget vision within Salesforce. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Scott made his way into the world of venture from founding ExactTarget? 2.) What was it like to work directly for Marc Benioff? What were the biggest learnings and takeaways? What were the biggest challenges? 3.) With a startup studio producing companies and a fund investing in them, how does Scott avoid the negative signalling that is inherent within these 2 structures? 4.) Having seen so many successful SaaS startups, what does product market fit look like to Scott? From the studio, what are the biggest challenges his startups face in hitting product market fit? 5.) What are the fundamentals that all startups should focus on in the quest for product market fit? What are the challenges? How should this be measured? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Scott's Fave Blog: SaaStr Scott's Fave Book: Good To Great by Jim Collins As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Scott on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Pearl believes the latest automotive technology should be available to every driver – whether it's time for you to buy a new car or not. RearVision is our first step in driving this commitment forward. Pearl RearVision is the only wireless backup camera and alert system that installs in minutes and updates throughout its lifetime. Pearl literally takes less than 10minutes to install and is completely wireless because it's solar powered. Since RearVision is software based, we're able to push updates and new features over the Pearl App in the exact same way you receive updates for other apps on your phone. Pearl RearVision is perfect for anyone who wants to upgrade their car in minutes. Pearl RearVision is $499.99 and available at PearlAuto.com. It's also available on Amazon and through Crutchfield. Xero is beautiful, easy-to- use online accounting software for small businesses. With Xero, you can easily manage your accounting anytime, anywhere from your computer or mobile device.When you add Xero to your small business you are able to: Send online invoices and get paid faster. Get an instant view of your cash flow. Track your payroll and keep tabs on your inventory. Partner with your accountant and bookkeeper in real time whenever you like. You can also customize your Xero experience with over five hundred business apps, including advanced solutions for point-of- sale, time tracking, ecommerce and more. Sign up for a free thirty-day trial at xero.com/20vc

5 Des 201632min

Ryan Petersen is the Founder and CEO of Flexport, the freight forwarder for the internet age. Flexport recently raised a phenomenal $65m Series B from the likes of Founders Fund, First Round, Felicis, Bloomberg Beta, Yuri Milner, Susa Ventures and more incredible investors. With none other than YC founder Paul Graham stating 'Ryan has the rare ability to not just satisfy the market but grow it'. Prior to Flexport, Ryan was Founder and CEO of ImportGenius.com, the largest provider of business intelligence to the import-export industry. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ryan came to found Flexport? What was the a-ha moment for him? 2.) Why does Ryan believe it is crap that MBA's do not make good entrepreneurs? How did Ryan design his life to be an entrepreneur without the opportunity to work for someone else? 3.) How has Ryan found the experience of being a single founder? What are the pros and cons? What was the investor reaction? What does Ryan advise other single founders? 4.) How did Ryan find the fundraising for the latest $65m raise? What did he do well? What would he like to improve upon for later rounds? How did he educate investors without being patronising? 5.) Why does Ryan want to see boards be rethought? What is so inefficient about boards? When did Ryan gain his board? What would Ryan advise fellow founders on building a board? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Ryan's Fave Blog: SaaStr As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ryan on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. So many problems start with your head: stress, depression, anxiety, fear of the future. What if there was some kind of exercise you could do, that would help you get your head in shape. That's where the Headspace app comes in. Headspace is meditation made simple. The Headspace app provides guided meditations you can use whenever you want, wherever you want, on your phone, computer or tablet. They have sessions focused on everything from dealing with stress and depression, to helping you eat more mindfully. So download the Headspace app and start your journey towards a happier, healthier life. Learn more at headspace.com/20vc. That's headspace.com/20vc. Xero is beautiful, easy-to- use online accounting software for small businesses. With Xero, you can easily manage your accounting anytime, anywhere from your computer or mobile device.When you add Xero to your small business you are able to: Send online invoices and get paid faster. Get an instant view of your cash flow. Track your payroll and keep tabs on your inventory. Partner with your accountant and bookkeeper in real time whenever you like. You can also customize your Xero experience with over five hundred business apps, including advanced solutions for point-of- sale, time tracking, ecommerce and more. Sign up for a free thirty-day trial at Xero.com/twentyVC

2 Des 201626min

Chris Farmer is a General Partner @ SignalFire, as he describes, 'the most quantitative fund in the world.' Chris has also assembled 50 other on-demand advisors to aid portfolio companies including Slack CEO, Stewart Butterfield, AltSchool Founder, Max Ventilla and Pinterest President, Tim Kendall. SignalFire's portfolio includes the likes of Uber, ClassDojo and Rocksbox just to name a few. Prior to SignalFire, Chris was a Venture Partner @ General Catalyst where he aided the development of their seed program. Prior to General Catalyst, Chris spent 4 years as a VP @ Bessemer Venture Partners. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Chris made his way into the world of venture and came to be Founding Partner @ Signal Fire? 2.) Why does Chris believe the VC industry has not changed in the last 40 years? Why are the old guard of VCs worried for the evolution? 3.) Why does Chris believe data and tech will be centre to the revolution that is happening in VC? How will data be used to enhance the VC value add to startups in the coming years? 4.) From interviewing over 500 Founders, what was the most common challenges and problems founders face today? How should VCs be positioning themselves to provide additional value? 5.) What does Chris believe boards are so inherently inefficient? What would Chris like to see change in the world of boards? How does Chris position himself in terms of, board to partner ratio? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Chris' Fave Blog: Above The Crowd: Bill Gurley Chris' Fave Book: The Success Equation Chris' Most Recent Investment: Frame.io As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Chris on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. So many problems start with your head: stress, depression, anxiety, fear of the future. What if there was some kind of exercise you could do, that would help you get your head in shape. That's where the Headspace app comes in. Headspace is meditation made simple. The Headspace app provides guided meditations you can use whenever you want, wherever you want, on your phone, computer or tablet. They have sessions focused on everything from dealing with stress and depression, to helping you eat more mindfully. So download the Headspace app and start your journey towards a happier, healthier life. Learn more at headspace.com/20vc. That's headspace.com/20vc. Xero is beautiful, easy-to- use online accounting software for small businesses. With Xero, you can easily manage your accounting anytime, anywhere from your computer or mobile device.When you add Xero to your small business you are able to: Send online invoices and get paid faster. Get an instant view of your cash flow. Track your payroll and keep tabs on your inventory. Partner with your accountant and bookkeeper in real time whenever you like. You can also customize your Xero experience with over five hundred business apps, including advanced solutions for point-of- sale, time tracking, ecommerce and more. Sign up for a free thirty-day trial at Xero.com/20vc.

30 Nov 201626min

Rory O'Driscoll is a founding member and Partner at Scale Venture Partners. An active investor for the past 20 years, Rory is focused on early-in-revenue software companies benefiting from the move to Software as a Service and the wider transition of enterprise computing to the cloud. Rory currently sits on the boards of Axcient, Bill.com, Box, Chef Software, DataSift, DocuSign, DroneDeploy, Forter, Katch, OneLogin, Pantheon, WalkMe and Wrike. Prior investments include ExactTarget (ET; Acq: SFDC), Omniture (OMTR; Acq: ADBE), ScanSafe (Acq: Cisco), Frontbridge (Acq: MSFT), Placeware (Acq: MSFT) among others. Rory has been recognized by the Forbes Midas List and AlwaysOn Power Players in Venture Capital for his investments. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Rory made his way into the world of venture and came to be a Partner @ Scale. 2.) How does Rory address market size? Does he utilise the bottom up or top dpwn approach? What is his strategy? 3.) Why are markets more important to Rory than management? What do each element have a different role in achieving? 4.) How does Rory look to navigate board conflict? When conflict does arise, how does Rory look to resolve a CEO who does not listen? 5.) What are the 4 fundamental roles of a board member? Why is competence underrated? What should founders and CEOs look for in prospective board members? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Rory's Fave Blog: Term Sheet Rory's Fave Book: SuperForecasting: The Art & Science of Prediction Rory's Most Recent Investment: DroneDeploy As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Rory on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. So many problems start with your head: stress, depression, anxiety, fear of the future. What if there was some kind of exercise you could do, that would help you get your head in shape. That's where the Headspace app comes in. Headspace is meditation made simple. The Headspace app provides guided meditations you can use whenever you want, wherever you want, on your phone, computer or tablet. They have sessions focused on everything from dealing with stress and depression, to helping you eat more mindfully. So download the Headspace app and start your journey towards a happier, healthier life. Learn more at headspace.com/20vc. That's headspace.com/20vc. Xero is beautiful, easy-to- use online accounting software for small businesses. With Xero, you can easily manage your accounting anytime, anywhere from your computer or mobile device.When you add Xero to your small business you are able to: Send online invoices and get paid faster. Get an instant view of your cash flow. Track your payroll and keep tabs on your inventory. Partner with your accountant and bookkeeper in real time whenever you like. You can also customize your Xero experience with over five hundred business apps, including advanced solutions for point-of- sale, time tracking, ecommerce and more. Sign up for a free thirty-day trial at xero.com/20vc

28 Nov 201630min

Balaji Srinivasan is the Founder & CEO @ 21.co, the company that believes for bitcoin to succeed we need to build the full stack infrastructure for bitcoin, from silicon to hardware. 21.co have backing from some of the best in the world including a16z, Peter Thiel, Scott & Cyan Banister, Naval Ravikant and previous guest Data Collective's Matt Ocko. Balaji is also a Board Partner @ a16z, where he has served for the past 3 years. Prior to a16z and 21.co, Balaji was Co-Founder & CTO @ Counsyl, the genomics startup that now tests 4% of all US births and raised $65 in funding. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Balaji made the move from operations to a16z and the back to startups? How did his time in operations affect his investing mentality and vice versa. 2.) Why does Balaji believe that the number 1 barrier for most startups is regulation? Why does Balaji look to the unseen? 3.) With such value being held back by regulation, what is the FDA, FAA, SEC etc holding back? How can that value be unlocked? How can you carve out jurisdictions where you can have early adopters? 4.) How can new products look to gain customer validation through micro testing market segments? What are the requirement to do this successfully? What are the common mistakes 5.) How does Balaji view the future of regulation? How can tech help make regulation faster and more efficient? What are the barriers to it's widespread adoption and implementation? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Balaji's Fave Book: The Sovereign Individual, The Princeton Companion To Mathematics As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Balaji on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. The Twenty Minute VC is proudly sponsored by Luma, Luma is the world's first ever Surround WiFi system that brings speed, security and control to the home network. And Unlike traditional routers, Luma comes in a pack of two or three sleek devices to place in different rooms in your home. Luma then creates a mesh network that work together to create an outrageously-fast, ultra-secure Surround WiFi network. Lastly, Luma's app lets you easily see and control which devices, users and content are on your network. To buy your Luma, simply dead to getluma.com or amazon.com. So many problems start with your head: stress, depression, anxiety, fear of the future. What if there was some kind of exercise you could do, that would help you get your head in shape. That's where the Headspace app comes in. Headspace is meditation made simple. The Headspace app provides guided meditations you can use whenever you want, wherever you want, on your phone, computer or tablet. They have sessions focused on everything from dealing with stress and depression, to helping you eat more mindfully. So download the Headspace app and start your journey towards a happier, healthier life. Learn more at headspace.com/20vc. That's headspace.com/20vc.

25 Nov 201632min

Eric Paley is the Managing Partner at Founder Collective, one of the world's most successful seed funds with investments in the likes of Uber, Hunch, Makerbot and About.me. Prior to Founder Collective, Eric was the Co-Founder and CEO of Brontes Technologies, later acquired by 3M for $95m. Following it's acquisition Eric began making angel investments and it was not long before Eric and David, 'super angel' at the time, saw the potential for a Founder First seed fund and Founder Collective was born. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Eric made his move into the wonderful world of venture from founding Brontes Technologies? 2.) How does raising VC money affect the founders in both the long term and the short term? How does it alter exit expectations and time horizons? 3.) How does raising VC money affect startup management and burn rates? At what time is it too late to cut the burn? When should this moment of realisation be? What are Eric's rough expectations of valuation uptick based upon VC funding? How does Eric approach the bridge round? What metrics are required for Eric to think it is an acceptable round? Is it merely a case of failing to hit Series A metrics? 5.) Does Eric believe VCs really need $Bn exits to succeed? What is the math behind it? How should founders think of exits with the investors hat on? What does Eric make of the rise of mega funds? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Eric's Most Recent Investment: Crayon As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Eric on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. The Twenty Minute VC is proudly sponsored by Luma, Luma is the world's first ever Surround WiFi system that brings speed, security and control to the home network. And Unlike traditional routers, Luma comes in a pack of two or three sleek devices to place in different rooms in your home. Luma then creates a mesh network that work together to create an outrageously-fast, ultra-secure Surround WiFi network. Lastly, Luma's app lets you easily see and control which devices, users and content are on your network. To buy your Luma, simply dead to getluma.com or amazon.com. So many problems start with your head: stress, depression, anxiety, fear of the future. What if there was some kind of exercise you could do, that would help you get your head in shape. That's where the Headspace app comes in. Headspace is meditation made simple. The Headspace app provides guided meditations you can use whenever you want, wherever you want, on your phone, computer or tablet. They have sessions focused on everything from dealing with stress and depression, to helping you eat more mindfully. So download the Headspace app and start your journey towards a happier, healthier life. Learn more at headspace.com/20vc. That's headspace.com/20vc.

23 Nov 201623min

Matt Ocko is the Co-Managing Partner and Co-Founder @ Data Collective and has over 3 decades of experience as a tech entrepreneur and VC and has made investments in the likes of Facebook, Zynga, Uber and AngelList just to name a few. If that was not enough he is also an inventor on over 40 granted or in process patents. A truly deep thinker and one of my fave ever shows to record. In Today's Episode with Matt You Will Learn: How Matt made his way into VC and came to co-found Data Collective? What is the biggest challenge facing the rise of AI today? How does this evolve the further into the category we get? How does this affect the future of work? What will the 3-4m unemployed non-college educated do? What is the solution to this? Universal basic income? How does the rise of AI radically alter the structure of society? How does it affect national economies and global macroeconomics? Why is the Keynesian belief, that human wants and needs are infinite and we will simply adjust to AI life, not relevant? What does that say about the adoption and disruption rate? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Matt's Fave Blog and Newsletter: MIT Technology Review Matt's Fave Book: The Way Things Work Matt's Most Recent Investment: Tradeshift As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Matt on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. The Twenty Minute VC is proudly sponsored by Luma, Luma is the world's first ever Surround WiFi system that brings speed, security and control to the home network. And Unlike traditional routers, Luma comes in a pack of two or three sleek devices to place in different rooms in your home. Luma then creates a mesh network that work together to create an outrageously-fast, ultra-secure Surround WiFi network. Lastly, Luma's app lets you easily see and control which devices, users and content are on your network. To buy your Luma, simply dead to getluma.com or amazon.com. So many problems start with your head: stress, depression, anxiety, fear of the future. What if there was some kind of exercise you could do, that would help you get your head in shape. That's where the Headspace app comes in. Headspace is meditation made simple. The Headspace app provides guided meditations you can use whenever you want, wherever you want, on your phone, computer or tablet. They have sessions focused on everything from dealing with stress and depression, to helping you eat more mindfully. So download the Headspace app and start your journey towards a happier, healthier life. Learn more at headspace.com/20vc. That's headspace.com/20vc.

21 Nov 201622min

Ed Cooke is the Founder & CEO @ Memrise, the app that makes learning languages joyful and they have funding from some of the best including Lerer Hippeau, Balderton Capital and Wordpress founder Matt Mullenweg just to name a few. As for Ed, he must have the most diverse background of any guest as he is a former grandmaster of memory, is a prominent author and features heavily in the book, Moonwalking With Einstein, in which Ed was the memory coach for Josh Foer where he took Josh from beginner to US memory champion in just 1 year. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ed went from being a Grandmaster of Memory to a startup founder with Memrise? 2.) What is the essence of learning? How does Ed break down the process? Does the segmentation of these parts allow you to optimise certain elements? 3.) What are the prospect ahead for the world of Edtech? Was Tim Berners-Lee right to say that the web has some way from fulfilling it's potential? 4.) How important is gamification for the future of EdTech? How does this affect retention? How does this affect monetisation and conversion? 5.) How does Ed believe AI will integrate into the future of EdTech? What kinds of intelligence will be able to be created? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Ed's Fave Blog: Continuations by Albert Wenger Ed's Fave Book: From Dawn To Decadence As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Ed on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. The Twenty Minute VC is proudly sponsored by Luma, Luma is the world's first ever Surround WiFi system that brings speed, security and control to the home network. And Unlike traditional routers, Luma comes in a pack of two or three sleek devices to place in different rooms in your home. Luma then creates a mesh network that work together to create an outrageously-fast, ultra-secure Surround WiFi network. Lastly, Luma's app lets you easily see and control which devices, users and content are on your network. To buy your Luma, simply dead to getluma.com or amazon.com. So many problems start with your head: stress, depression, anxiety, fear of the future. What if there was some kind of exercise you could do, that would help you get your head in shape. That's where the Headspace app comes in. Headspace is meditation made simple. The Headspace app provides guided meditations you can use whenever you want, wherever you want, on your phone, computer or tablet. They have sessions focused on everything from dealing with stress and depression, to helping you eat more mindfully. So download the Headspace app and start your journey towards a happier, healthier life. Learn more at headspace.com/20vc. That's headspace.com/20vc.

18 Nov 201628min