20VC: The 3 Things LPs Want To See From VCs & Why The Table Stakes For VCs Is Higher Than Ever with Judith Elsea, Co-Founder @ Weathergage Capital
Judith Elsea is a Co-Founder @ Weathergage Capital, one of the world's leading fund of funds with over $950m AUM. Prior to Wealthergage, Judith was Chief Investment Officer of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation from 1993 to 2001. As CIO, she directed a $2 billion globally diversified investment portfolio, committing over $600 million to US early stage venture funds and other private equity partnerships. She was also instrumental in the creation and implementation of the Kauffman Fellows Program, a global apprenticeship program designed to train the next generation of venture capitalists. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Judith made her way into the world of LPs and what makes her think venture is such an attractive asset class? 2.) What gets Judith really excited when viewing prospective fund managers for potential investments? What differentiators does Judith look for? 3.) What are the most common reasons Judith finds for her rejecting fund managers for investment? What are they not doing and how can they optimise this? 4.) To what extent do LPs have a commitment to invest in further funds having invested in one fund? Are there any situations where this changes? 5.) What are the similarities and differences between fundraising for LPs vs fundraising for startups? How should the different elements be approached? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Judith's Fave Book: Patrick O'Brian Judith's Fave Blog: The Twenty Minute VC, a16z, Founder Collective Judith's Most Recent Investment: Felicis Ventures As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Judith 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 atcooleygo.com.
26 Sep 201631min
20VC: Intercom's Eoghan McCabe on What Makes A Truly Great CEO & What Founders Should Look For In Their Investors
Eoghan McCabe is the CEO and co-founder of Intercom. The customer communications platform that has taken the SaaS world by storm in the last few years with 116m in VC funding from truly some of the world's best including Bessemer, Social Capital and Index Ventures. Prior to Intercom, he founded Contrast, an award-winning software design consultancy, and co-founded Exceptional, a developer tool startup acquired in 2011 and now a part of Rackspace. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Eoghan came to found Intercom? 2.) Question From Andy McLoughlin: What were the biggest lessons from your previous startups? 3.) How did Eoghan find the early fundraising process? How did he come to meet his angel investors? How did he get them to look beyond the product and invest in him? 4.) Eoghan raised his Series B just 6 months after his Series A. Why was this so quick? How did he select his investors? 5.) What separates good from truly great CEOs? How has Eoghan seen his own management style changed over the Intercom journey? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Eoghan's Fave Blog: SaaStr, The Intercom Blog As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Eoghan 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.comand also atcooleygo.com.
23 Sep 201624min
20VC: Why Valuation Is A Stupid Concept, VC Is Ripe For Disruption & Not All LPs Are Made Equal with Michael Skok, Founding Partner @ Underscore VC
Michael Skok is a Founding Partner @ Underscore VC. Michael started his first software business as a teenager, spent 21 years as an entrepreneur where he founded and recruited teams that attracted over $100m in private equity for investments in multiple software companies. Over the last 13 years as a venture investor. Along the way, he also mentored and taught for 4 years at Harvard as an EIR at Harvard Business School, and spent a year interviewing entrepreneurs on a "listening tour" before founding _Underscore.VC. Michael also started the most incredible education series, 'Startup Secrets', in collaboration with Harvard iLab, check it out here. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Michael made his way into the wonderful world of VC with Underscore? 2.) From Michael's listening tour, what did he discover that entrepreneurs wanted in an investor? 3.) How did Michael present the innovative model of Underscore to prospective LPs? What was their response? What did Michael look for in the LPs he selected? 4.) What does Michael mean when he says you have to create minimum viable segments? 5.) How does Michael view market creation? What his framework for this? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Michael's Fave Book: Daemon Michael's Fave Blog: Mattermark Michael's Most Recent Investment: Mautic As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Michael 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 atcooleygo.com.
21 Sep 201633min
20VC: Index's Ilya Fushman on The Key Lessons From Scaling Dropbox To 400m Users, Is Excessive Amounts Of Capital Driving Valuations Too High In The Valley & Why Venture Is Like Being On A Swim Team Not A Soccer Team
Ilya Fushman is a Partner at Index Ventures where he has made investments in the likes of Slack, Intercom, Dropbox and Optimizely. Prior to joining Index, Ilya was the head of product at Dropbox. As one of Dropbox's first 75 employees, he helped build and run the company's business and corporate development functions, before taking on a product leadership role and building out Dropbox, Dropbox for Business and the developer platform. Before Dropbox, he was a principal at Khosla Ventures and the Director of Technology at the solar cell startup Solar Junction. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ilya made his transition from Dropbox to return to the world of VC with Index? 2.) Does Ilya agree that to scale successfully you have to reinvent yourself every 6 months? Why does Ilya believe you must infuse an element of delight into the people side of the business? How can this be done effectively? 3.) How did Ilya and the Dropbox team look to effectively manage and scale the employee on boarding process with the growth of the company? 4.) Question from Lars @ Balderton: Does Ilya believe his extensive operational background allows him to get into deals he would otherwise not have been able to win? 5.) Question from Lars: Does Ilya believe an excess of capital is driving prices in the valley excessively high? Will we continue to see this in the coming years? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Ilya's Fave Book: Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master & Margarita Ilya's Most Recent Investment: Slack, Culture Amp As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ilya 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 atcooleygo.com.
19 Sep 201626min
20VC: Eero's Nick Weaver on Why You Have To Grow One Stage Ahead of Where Your Business Is At and Why If You Want A Great Customer Experience, You Have To Own All The Parts
Nick Weaver is the Founder & CEO @ Eero. The company that makes your wifi hyper fast, super simple and brilliantly efficient. Prior to founding Eero, Nick was himself a VC at Menlo Ventures where he worked with companies like Uber, Betterment, Periscope and Dropcam. Before becoming a VC, Nick co-founded StartX, the community for the best Stanford entrepreneurs providing them with the required resources to build the next generation of leading companies. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Nick made the move from VC with Menlo to Founder and CEO @ Eero? 2.) How can founders identify nascent and attractive markets that are ripe for disruption? 3.) How did Nick approach the pricing mechanism with Eero? Why do hardware startups need to have a greater margin than software startups? 4.) Why did Nick raise 2 rounds of funding before the product launched? Why did Nick decide he wanted to own all the parts of the production chain with Eero? 5.) How does Nick view the competitive landscape for such products? How does he view large incumbents like Netgear, compared to smaller startups like Luma? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Nick's Fave Blog and Newsletter: Term Sheet: Dan Primack Nick's Fave Book: Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Nick 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.
16 Sep 201622min
20VC: Do VC's Really Hustle Enough? The Takeaways From Watching Twitter Scale From 30 to 2,500 & Why Chris Sacca Is Like Yoda with Ryan Sarver, Partner @ Redpoint
Ryan Sarver is a Partner @ Redpoint where he focuses on early stage consumer startups. He sits on the board at Luxe, where he led the seed and A rounds, and was an early investor in Memoir. Prior to joining Redpoint, Ryan was a director at Twitter, where he oversaw the Twitter Platform and its developer ecosystem. Before Twitter, Ryan was director of consumer products at Skyhook Wireless, which pioneered the Wi-Fi and cellular tower triangulation technology incorporated in the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, and MacBook. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ryan made his move into the world of VC? 2.) What were Ryan's biggest takeaways from seeing Twitter scale from 30 to 2,500? How does he apply those to his formative days learning the investing game? 3.) Coming from the hustle of operation, do VCs have enough hustle and grit in Ryan's opinion? 4.) What really is an EIR program? Why does Redpoint have it? What are the fundamental benefits? How do investors collaborate and work with EIR's? 5.) Ryan has said before that AI is the next transformational platform. What does AI as a platform look like to Ryan? How does hardware and sensors integrate with this thesis? Why is it easier than ever to build these smart devices? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Ryan's Fave Book: Sapiens Ryan's Most Recent Investment: Luxe 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.
14 Sep 201625min
20VC: Redpoint's Tom Tunguz on Winning with Data: How To Gain A Competitive Advantage & Dominate Markets with Data and 5 Steps To Create A Data Driven Company
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
20VC: Giphy's Adam Leibsohn on From Being Homeless To Founding a Multi Hundred Million Dollar Startup & The Challenges of Creating One of The World's Largest Search Engine
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
