20VC: Stride's Fred Destin on The Acceptable vs Non-Acceptable Risks When Investing, How Startup Founders Can Improve The Quality of Their Decision-Making and Must Play for Batting Average & Why Plans Do Not Matter and No Board Member Should Bash An Entre

20VC: Stride's Fred Destin on The Acceptable vs Non-Acceptable Risks When Investing, How Startup Founders Can Improve The Quality of Their Decision-Making and Must Play for Batting Average & Why Plans Do Not Matter and No Board Member Should Bash An Entre

Fred Destin is a Founding Partner @ Stride.VC, one of Europe's newest seed funds with a portfolio including the likes of Cazoo and Forward Health. Over his 17 year career in venture, Fred has established himself as one of Europe's leading VCs with the exit value of 3 of his portfolio companies alone last year totalling more than $4.5Bn with PillPack's $1Bn sale to Amazon, Zoopla to Silverlake for $3Bn and Integral Ad Science to Vista for $850m. Fred has also led investments as a General Partner @ Accel in Deliveroo, the world leader of food on demand and Carwow, the number 1 for new car sales in the UK.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Fred made his way into the world of venture and early stage? What was behind his decision to leave Accel to found Stride with Harry?

2.) Why does Fred think many today misunderstand "risk" in venture? How does that apply across the portfolio? Does Fred agree with Brian Singerman, "venture is a game of upside maximisation"? What risks does Fred define as acceptable vs non-acceptable risks? How does Fred really look to strength test the quality and depth of a founder pre-investment? What are the benefits of going through conflict early?

3.) How does Fred think about price sensitivity? What are the core questions a VC can ask when considering the pricing of an opportunity? How does Fred think about reserve allocation? How does Fred analogize this to the best traders? To what extent does TAM play a dominant role in Fred's evaluation? What does Fred mean when he says "we have to remember, we are the ones that get picked also"?

4.) How does Fred think about and assess innovation within venture? How does Fred perceive the role of data to impact venture over the coming years? Why does Fred believe it is exaggerated that data will disrupt the early stage in the coming years? Where would Fred like to see further innovation in the mechanics of venture?

5.) What does Fred believes separates the good from the great when it comes to board members? How can board members create an environment where the entrepreneur feels they can say all that is wrong? Where do many board members go wrong? Why are board members so wrong to bash a founder for missing their numbers? Why does Fred believe that plans are fiction? WHy is the framework of the plan what really matters?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Fred's Fave Book: Man's Search for Meaning

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Fred on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

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20VC: 15 Term Sheets in 7 Days and Choosing Benchmark | Harvey vs Legora: Who Wins Legal and How to Play When You Have $600M Less Funding | Are AI Models Plateauing Today | Building a 9-9-6 Culture From Stockholm with Max Junestrand

20VC: 15 Term Sheets in 7 Days and Choosing Benchmark | Harvey vs Legora: Who Wins Legal and How to Play When You Have $600M Less Funding | Are AI Models Plateauing Today | Building a 9-9-6 Culture From Stockholm with Max Junestrand

Max Junestrand is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Legora, the collaborative AI powering the next generation of lawyers. Now this is an insane story for many reasons; first, Max turned down a multi-million dollar career in gaming to build Legora. Second, he has raised from the best of the best including Benchmark and IVP. Third, he has scaled the firm with 1/6th of the capital of his closest competitor, Harvey have raised a reported $800M while Legora have raised just $120M. Agenda: 00:03 – From Pro Gamer to AI Founder: How World of Warcraft Shaped Max's Mindset 04:58 – The $5–10M Gaming Career He Walked Away From 07:55 – Are AI Models Plateauing… or Just Getting Started? 10:02 – Swarms of LLMs: The 100x Cost Bet That Could Change Legal Forever 12:00 – Partnering With the Lawyers You're "Killing" 15:00 – How He Cracked Sweden's Hardest-to-Enter Law Firm 21:45 – The $500K Coffee That Saved the Company at YC 30:00 – Closing 15 Term Sheets in 7 Days – Why Benchmark Won 36:00 – Beating a $5BN Rival With a Fraction of the Funding 53:50 – Building a Cult Culture: The 9-9-6 Mentality in Europe

15 Aug 1h 20min

20VC: GPT5: Sam Altman's Masterplan or a Gift To Anthropic | Palantir & Shopify Crush Earnings | Monday & Datadog Perform But Hit Hard by Wall St | Should Perplexity Buy Chrome for $34.5BN |

20VC: GPT5: Sam Altman's Masterplan or a Gift To Anthropic | Palantir & Shopify Crush Earnings | Monday & Datadog Perform But Hit Hard by Wall St | Should Perplexity Buy Chrome for $34.5BN |

AGENDA: 00:04 – Was GPT-5 the Biggest AI Letdown Yet? 00:17 – Is OpenAI's Real Target Anthropic's $6B Revenue? 00:22 – Why Anthropic Might Secretly Be Worried 00:28 – The Hidden Business Strategy Behind OpenAI's "Underwhelming" Launch 00:32 – Should Perplexity Really Try to Buy Chrome for $34.5B? 00:35 – The $3B N8N Deal: Genius Bet or Bubble FOMO? 00:38 – Why Datadog's Best Quarter Ever Still Tanked the Stock 00:44 – Palantir's 50% Growth at Scale – Can It Last? Is Palantir Overpriced? 00:53 – Shopify's Ruthless Path to 91% Revenue Growth With 30% Fewer Staff 01:01 – Are Seed and Series A Valuations Now at Dangerous Highs? 01:06 – What Does The Highest Levels of Capital Concentration Mean For Early Stage Founders? 01:15 – Could Palantir Hit a $2 Trillion Market Cap by 2030?

14 Aug 1h 22min

20VC: Figma, Scale, Wiz: Inside Index's Decacorn Factory | Decision-Making, Investment Process, Biggest Lessons, Biggest Misses | Why Gross Margin is a Fallacy at Seed | Never Turn Down a Deal on Price with Martin Mignot, Partner @ Index Ventures

20VC: Figma, Scale, Wiz: Inside Index's Decacorn Factory | Decision-Making, Investment Process, Biggest Lessons, Biggest Misses | Why Gross Margin is a Fallacy at Seed | Never Turn Down a Deal on Price with Martin Mignot, Partner @ Index Ventures

Martin Mignot is a Partner at Index Ventures, the best-performing fund in the world right now. In the last three months, they have sold Wiz for $ 32 billion, sold Scale for $14.9 billion, and IPO'd Figma as the largest investor. In addition to this, they are the largest or second-largest shareholders in Roblox, Revolut, Adyen and Datadog. Agenda for Today: 00:00 – Why Gross Margin is the Biggest Sin in the Early Days 04:50 – Why Most People Shouldn't Become VCs 07:40 – Why it is BS to Suggest the Future of VC is Boutique vs Mega Fund 09:10 – Do Multi-Stage Funds Really Give a S*** About Seed 13:50 – The Founder Trait That Trumps Market Size Every Time 18:45 – How Spotify Still Haunts Index Ventures & What They Learn From It? 28:50 – The Brutal Truth About European vs. U.S. Founders 34:20 – The Case for a European AI Giant (and Who Might Build It) 40:50 – The Return of the 7-Day Founder Work Week 52:10 – Biggest Lessons from Leading Revolut's Series A 56:40 – Betting Against Nick Storonsky? Don't. 1:03:10 – The One Competitor Index Ventures Admires

11 Aug 1h 19min

20VC: The $BN Greenoaks Backed Protein Bar | Hitting $100M Revenues in David's First Year: Lessons & Mistakes | $0 to $600M: The Untold RXBAR Story | Product-Market-Fit, Pricing, Branding: What Every Founder Gets Wrong Today with Peter Rahal

20VC: The $BN Greenoaks Backed Protein Bar | Hitting $100M Revenues in David's First Year: Lessons & Mistakes | $0 to $600M: The Untold RXBAR Story | Product-Market-Fit, Pricing, Branding: What Every Founder Gets Wrong Today with Peter Rahal

Peter Rahal is the Co‑Founder & CEO of David Protein, the highest protein‑to‑calorie ratio for any protein bar on the market. Peter has raised over $85M from Greenoaks, Dr. Peter Attia and Dr. Andrew Huberman with the latest round valuing the company at $725 million. The company is poised for over $100 million in first‑year revenue. Formerly, Peter co‑founded RXBAR in his mom's basement with a $10k start, growing it into a household brand and selling it to Kellogg for $600 million. poised for over $100 million first‑year revenue Agenda for Today: 00:04 – The One Piece of Advice from My Father That Made $600M 00:07 – Selling Protein Bars from a CrossFit Gym to $2M in Year One 00:12 – Why Raising Money Early Would Have Killed RXBAR's Success 00:15 – Product vs Brand: What Every Brand Gets Wrong Today 00:17 – Why Red Bull is the Best Brand in the World? What Can We Learn From It? 00:20 – Are Brands the New Religion? How Status and Community Really Work 00:27 – The Boiled Cod Stunt: Brilliant Marketing or Massive Waste of Time? 00:35 – Selling RXBAR for $600M: Inside the Decision and the TAM Ceiling 00:40 – $100M Overnight: What Really Changes When You Get Rich 00:44 – The Hidden Costs of Success: Health, Relationships and Obsession 00:47 – Why Peter Doesn't Care What People Think… and Actually Likes Upsetting Them 00:53 – The $10B Plan for David: From Protein Bars to a Portfolio of Brands

8 Aug 1h 6min

20VC: Figma's 250% Pop - The Greatest IPO Mispricing Ever | Meta and Microsoft Blowout Quarters: Broken Down | Cognition Raises at $15BN and Ramp at $22BN | CRV Downsizing and What It Means for LPs and GPs

20VC: Figma's 250% Pop - The Greatest IPO Mispricing Ever | Meta and Microsoft Blowout Quarters: Broken Down | Cognition Raises at $15BN and Ramp at $22BN | CRV Downsizing and What It Means for LPs and GPs

Agenda: 00:00 – The Worst IPO Mis-Pricing Ever: What Really Happened at Figma 02:30 – Fidelity vs Founders: How Important is Fidelity When Going Public 07:00 – Why Founders Secretly Want a Pop, Even If It Makes Them Look Stupid 10:15 – The Truth Behind the $3B Figma "Left on the Table" 14:00 – Direct Listings vs IPOs: Should Figma Have Gone Direct 23:00 – CEO Compensation is Broken, Brian Halligan Doesn't Hold Back 29:00 – The New Normal: Growth Rounds with Elon-Style Moonshot Packages 33:00 – Is Canva Next? Why Founders Should "Run, Forrest, Run" to the NASDAQ 36:00 – The Case for Going Public: VCs Are a Bigger Pain Than Public Markets 44:00 – Can AI Even Work for SMBs? Why No One's Cracked the Code (Yet) 51:00 – Meta's Monster Quarter: Growth, Cash Burn, and the Real AI Strategy 56:00 – CEO of the Year? Why Jensen Huang Leaves Zuck & Satya in the Dust 1:00:00 – Cognition's $15B Deal & Mass Layoffs: The Most Savage M&A Move of 2025 1:07:00 – Ramp's $22B Raise: Genius Move or Suicide Round? 1:09:00 – CRV Shrinks, Benchmark's Bet, and the Future of Venture Strategy

7 Aug 1h 20min

20Sales: $0-$3.7BN: The Databricks CRO's Playbook to Build the Fastest GTM Engine in SaaS History | How Databricks Beat Snowflake | How To Build a Sales Org of 5,000 and Close $190M Deals with Ron Gabrisko

20Sales: $0-$3.7BN: The Databricks CRO's Playbook to Build the Fastest GTM Engine in SaaS History | How Databricks Beat Snowflake | How To Build a Sales Org of 5,000 and Close $190M Deals with Ron Gabrisko

Ron Gabrisko is the Chief Revenue Officer at Databricks, where he joined in 2016. Under his leadership, Databricks has scaled from $0 to $3.7BN annualized revenue. He has grown the sales team from 0 to over 1,000 globally, leading expansion into enterprise, government, and international markets. Ron previously held senior sales roles at Cloudera and IBM, bringing deep experience in data and AI infrastructure. His tenure at Databricks has been defined by hypergrowth, multi-product adoption, and world-class GTM execution. Agenda for Today: 00:04 – The Databricks Origin Story: Ali, Ben Horowitz & 7 PhDs 00:08 – Ali vs JPMorgan: Turning Down $10M to Stay Cloud-First 00:13 – Prospecting Day: How Ron Scaled the GTM Culture 00:16 – Why Databricks' Pricing Model Was Its Secret Weapon 00:19 – Enterprise vs SMB: The Risky Bet That Paid Off 00:23 – From $2M to $13M ARR: How Ron Built the First Sales Engine 00:29 – Can AI Replace Salespeople? Ron's Brutally Honest Take 00:36 – How to Get Your First Million-Dollar Rep (and Keep Them) 00:42 – The Culture Secret Behind Scaling to 5,000 Sales Reps 00:45 – Why Databricks Waited Until $500M ARR to Go International 00:52 – What Makes a Great Sales Meeting? Ron's Gold Standard 00:58 – The Snowflake Wars: Why Ron Says Databricks Is 5 Years Ahead

4 Aug 1h 15min

20VC: Inside Carnegie Mellon's $4BN Endowment | Why 90% of LPs Shouldn't Invest in VC | The $140BN Problem with Multi-Stage Funds | The Hidden Math Behind DPI, TVPI, and Illiquidity with Miles Dieffenbach

20VC: Inside Carnegie Mellon's $4BN Endowment | Why 90% of LPs Shouldn't Invest in VC | The $140BN Problem with Multi-Stage Funds | The Hidden Math Behind DPI, TVPI, and Illiquidity with Miles Dieffenbach

Miles Dieffenbach is Managing Director of Investments at Carnegie Mellon University, where he helps oversee a $4 billion endowment with a focus on venture capital, private equity, and alternative investments. Under his leadership, CMU's private book has remained self-funding during some of the toughest years for liquidity. Agenda for Today: 00:04 – "I Had Cancer at 26 – It Changed Everything" 07:00 – Inside the $4BN Carnegie Mellon Endowment: The Investment Blueprint 10:45 – Are LPs Getting Screwed in Venture? 13:30 – 90% of LPs Shouldn't Be in Venture – Here's Why 16:00 – Seed Funds Are a Trap (And No One Wants to Admit It) 20:00 – The $140BN Problem with Multi-Stage Funds 24:00 – "Index Is the Best in the Game – Here's Why They Win" 29:30 – "The Dirty Secret of LPs: Brand Over Performance" 34:30 – "When Founder-Friendly Goes Too Far" 38:00 – "The OpenAI Bubble – Will It All Go to Zero?" 44:00 – "Ping Pong Diligence & Wildest Fundraising Stories"

4 Aug 1h 27min

20VC: Benchmark Loses Another Partner | Elad Gil Raises a Monster $1.5BN Solo GP Fund | Why Apple Need a Management Overhaul | Why Google is the Best Performing Hyperscaler | Will Cursor Hit $4BN ARR & Lovable $400M ARR by EOY 2026?

20VC: Benchmark Loses Another Partner | Elad Gil Raises a Monster $1.5BN Solo GP Fund | Why Apple Need a Management Overhaul | Why Google is the Best Performing Hyperscaler | Will Cursor Hit $4BN ARR & Lovable $400M ARR by EOY 2026?

Agenda: 00:00 - Why Benchmark Is Bleeding Partners (and Why That's the New Normal) 04:57 - "I Wouldn't Leave Benchmark… Unless I Had THIS" — Jason on Brand vs Autonomy 09:01 - The Rise of the Solo GP & The Death of LP Conventional Wisdom 13:50 - The Unstoppable Force of Elad Gil & The Myth of LP Discipline 18:45 - Is Vibe Coding the New SaaS? Jason's $10K/Month Spend Reveal 26:57 - Cursor's Growth Is Insane—But Is It Sustainable? 31:44 - Will Microsoft, Google, or Amazon Win the AI Infra War? 37:42 - Is GitHub Copilot the Biggest Miss in Microsoft's History? 44:15 - Are Big Tech Incumbents Now Too Powerful to Fail? 48:00 - Apple's AI Problem: Is It Time for a Management Overhaul? 52:30 - Figma's IPO: $30B Return, Zero Hype. What Happened? 1:06:00 - Final Bets: Cursor to $4B ARR, Lovable to $400M ARR, OpenAI to $800BN?

31 Juli 1h 21min

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