20 VC 064: Finding Exceptional People with Big Ideas with Nick Beim, Partner @ Venrock

Nick Beim is a Partner @ Venrock where he focuses on internet, mobile, SaaS, big data and fintech investments. Nick blogs on the economics of innovation at www.nickbeim.com. Nick led the initial venture investments in a number of pioneering consumer internet companies including the Gilt Groupe, and Care.com (IPO). He also led the initial investments in a number of today’s leading big data innovators including Dataminr and Intent Media. Prior to joining Venrock, Nick was a General Partner at Matrix Partners and worked in the technology groups at McKinsey and Goldman Sachs. Nick’s primary passion outside of venture investing is international development, in particular accelerating international development through entrepreneurship. Nick serves on the board of Endeavor, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs in developing countries that Tom Friedman has called “the best anti-poverty program of all.”

In 2011, Forbes named Nick one of the “Elite 8″ to watch in Venture Capital.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

• How Nick made his move into venture and started a bidding contest between two funds a bank for him!
• How Nick got to be involved with DataMinr and how Nick believes society will use data in the future?
• How does Nick standout in the super competitive rounds? What is Nick's value add?
• Is it still harder for female founders to get VC funding? Why?
• What can be done to improve this imbalance in the tech ecosystem?
• What is impact investing? How do you balance LP returns with social impact improvements?
• Our friend @ August Capital, David Hornik asks Nick, what is the difference between investing in NY compared to SF?

Items Mentioned in Today's Show:

Nick's Fave Book: Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Nick's Fave Newsletter or Blog: Reid Hoffman, Essays on Entrepreneurship