20VC: Sequoia's Leadership Transition | Michael Burry Shorts NVIDIA and Palantir | Gamma Raises $100M at $2BN | Has Defensibility Died in a World of AI | Datadog Surges as Duolingo Plummets: What is Happening

Josh Hannah is a General Partner @ Matrix Partners where he has led investments in the likes of Canva, Quora and Huddle just to name a few. However, Josh really is an innate entrepreneur himself having co-founded Betfair in 1999, the worlds first online sports marketplace which is now publicly traded on London Stock Exchange and processes more than $50bn in transactions per year. Following Betfair, Josh bought and turned around eHow where he increased traffic and revenue 30 x before selling the company to Demand Media. Josh has also made some stellar angel investments in the likes of Angellist, HotelTonight and Minted.com. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Josh made the transition from founding Betfair and turning around eHow to becoming a General Partner @ Matrix? 2.) Josh took large amounts of VC funding with Betfair and entirely bootstrapped his 2nd business, eHow. How did the two experiences differ and how can founders determine whether to raise VC funding or bootstrap it themselves? 3.) Why does Josh believe capital allocation has gotten worse from founders over time? How does this affect the role of VCs as board members? 4.) Why does Josh believe that people are wrong to say ideas are worthless and it is all about execution? How does Josh approach the process of idea generation? How can this be optimised? 5.) Why does Josh believe, contra to conventional wisdom, that one can build a strong business in a space that you are not passionate about? What are the potential pitfalls that can be avoided? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Josh's Fave Book: Shoe Dog: A Memoir By The Creator of Nike, The Rise Of The Robots Josh's Fave Blog: Benedict Evans Josh's Most Recent Investment: Kinnek (On The Show On Friday! As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Josh on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. This episode was supported by Wunder Capital, the leading online investment platform that allows individuals to invest in large scale solar projects across the U.S. Wunder's solar investment funds allow you to earn up to 11% annually, while diversifying your portfolio, curbing pollution and combating global climate change. Do well by doing good and sign up for a free account here and join the thousands of people that are already achieving their investment targets.

3 Okt 201632min

Brit Morin is the Founder & CEO @ Brit + Co the online media and e-commerce platform that provides tools to teach, inspire, and enable creativity among women and girls. They have raised funding from some of the world's best investors including Index, General Catalyst, Intel Capital, Founders Fund and Lerer Hippeau just to name a few. As for Brit, prior to Brit + Co, Brit worked at Google in product management and before that with Apple on iTunes. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Brit came to found Brit + Co? 2.) How have we seen the traditional media landscape change over the last few years with the rise of digital? Does Brit agree with Marc Andreesen's assertion that print journalism is converging in quality and technique with blogs and Wikipedia? 3.) How does Brit view the competitive landscape for digital media? Is this an M&A by larger traditional media companies, will smaller startup media companies merge to form modern media powerhouses? 4.) How does Brit view the importance of niche communities? What does it take to foster and grow an organic niche community? 5.) Brit + Co is backed by some of the best funds in the world so what was Brit's approach to fundraising? How did Brit see it alter and evolve with the differing funding rounds? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Brit's Fave Blog: The Information Brit's Fave Book: The Giver As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Brit 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.

30 Sep 201632min

Dave Morin is Founder & Partner at Slow Ventures, the leading valley venture fund with investments in the likes of Slack, Pinterest, Evernote, NextDoor, Postmates just to name a few. Prior to Slow, Dave was the Co-Founder and CEO of Path, the social network that serves tens of millions of people every day. Path was acquired by Kakao in 2015. If that was not enough, he also spent several years at Facebook where he led Facebook Platform and Connect during periods of rapid innovation and growth. Today, he serves on the Board of Directors of Eventbrite, Dwell, and Hinge. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Dave made the transition from Facebook and Path to founding Slow Ventures? 2.) As a new entrant to VC, how does Dave look to develop pattern recognition with founders and ideas? What is the most challenging element? 3.) Why did Dave, Sam and Kevin decide to institutionalise Slow for the 'club' to the structured fund that it is today? How did that change their investment decision making process? 4.) What role does network play in the value and operations of Slow? How do they look to increase the network effect to further provide value to their companies? 5.) What role does valuation and ownership play for Dave when investing? How does that change with the larger cheques? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Dave's Fave Book: The Alchemist Dave's Fave Blog: The Information Dave's Most Recent Investment: Perlstein Lab As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Dave 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.

28 Sep 201627min

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

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

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

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

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