The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding

Latest Episodes:

20VC: More $ Raised This Year Than The Past 15, War Chests Being Built & Decline In First Time Funds: So What The Heck Is Happening In Venture with Beezer Clarkson, Managing Director @ Sapphire Ventures Oct 24, 2016

Show notes

Beezer Clarkson is Managing Director @ Sapphire Ventures where she leads Sapphire's investments in venture funds domestically and internationally. Prior to joining Sapphire, Beezer managed day-to-day operations @ DFJ's Global Network, which had $7 billion under management across 16 venture funds worldwide. She has also spent time at Omidyar Network created by Ebay founder, Pierre Omdiyar, Hewlett Packard and Morgan Stanley. Beezer also runs the incredible openlp.com which is really opening up the world of LPs and if you have not checked that out, it really is a must!

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Beezer make her way into the world of limited partners?

2.) $27bn was raised by 137 funds in Q1 + Q2 of 2016, what does this mean for the theory that venture is a game of the have's and have nots? How does this compare to previous years?

3.) How is the constriction in capital affecting first-time funds? How many were raised so far this year? What were the common characteristics in those that were successful?

4.) How is the Series A market performing this year? Does the data agree with the common thesis of the rise of the late stage 'private IPO'? Does this lack of liquidity concern Beezer?

5.) Why is Beezer so bullish on the future ahead for tech? How does Beezer think Brexit will affect the wider market?

Items Mentioned In Today's Episode:

Beezer's Most Recent Investment: SaaStr Fund

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

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

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20VC: Why Adaptability Is Key To Fundraising, Why Supply Is Always The First Priority In Marketplaces & Why Sometimes You Have To Hire Fast & Fire Fast with Nav Athwal, Founder & CEO @ RealtyShares Oct 21, 2016

Show notes

Nav Athwal is the Founder & CEO @ RealtyShares, a curated marketplace connecting real estate developers and operators with investors across the country. Realtyshares recently announced an incredible $200m funded deals through the platform and have raised from some of the world's best investors including Union Square Ventures, General Catalyst and Menlo Ventures. Before starting RealtyShares, Nav was a real estate and land use attorney at San Francisco based law firm Farella Braun & Martel, LLP.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Nav made his way into startups and came to found RealtyShares?

2.) As a marketplace founder, where did Nav start: supply or demand? Why does Nav think marketplace founders should always focus on supply first?

3.)How did Nav look to relationship build and network with the mentors that he wanted to have help him? What would Nav suggest to those looking to gain great mentors?

4.)How was the fundraising process for Nav with USV, Menlo and General Catalyst? What have been his big lessons from his 3 rounds of fundraising??

5.) What should founders optimize for in the fundraising process? Should founders look to instil a sense of realism with regards to valuation or let it be largely inflated?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Nav' Fave Book: The Hard Thing About Hard Things

Nav' Fave Blog or Newsletter: Fred Wilson: AVC, Mark Suster: Both Sides of The Table

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

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

This episode was brought to you by DesignCrowd, the online marketplace for custom graphic, logo and web design that helps startups, entrepreneurs, web developers and agencies outsource design projects to designers from around the world.

20VC: Greenfield Opportunities For Machine Learning, Why Massive Corporates Finally See It's Potential & Why VC's Investment Decision Making Process Needs To Change with James Cham, Partner @ Bloomberg Beta Oct 19, 2016

Show notes

James Cham is a Partner @ Bloomberg Beta and one the pre-eminent thinkers in the machine learning space. Prior to Bloomberg, James was a Principal @ Trinity Ventures and before Trinity, James was a VP at Bessemer Venture Partners. At Bessemer, James was a Board Member of CrowdFlower and Open Candy. However, James has not always been a VC as he was originally a programmer receiving his degree in Computer Science from Harvard.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How James made his way into the wonderful world of VC from being a programmer?

2.) How are organisations and corporations thinking about machine learning? How are they looking to incorporate it into their current infrastructure?

3.) Kieran Snyder @ Textio said, 'the writing is on the wall for enterprise to embrace machine learning'. What are James' thoughts and how does the business model vary from licensed and SaaS?

4.) How is building machine learning models different from software development? On the topic of software development, how does James perceive the productivity differences between software developers?

5.) Moving to VC and how does James approach the investment decision making process as a VC? How does James relationship to religion intertwine with his investment career?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

James' Fave Book: Man Who Lied To His Laptop

James' Fave Blog or Newsletter: Rob May, Jack Clark, Tyler Cowan

James' Most Recent Investment: Netlify

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

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

20VC: Investing Lessons From Fred Wilson & Brad Feld and Why Fundraising Is An Art & Not Everyone Can Be An Artist with Howard Lindzon Founder @ Stocktwits & Managing Partner @ Social Leverage Oct 17, 2016

Show notes

Howard Lindzon is the Managing Partner @ Social Leverage, where he has made investments in the likes of Angellist, Datafox, previous guest Robinhood, Rent.com (acq by eBay for $415m) and many more incredible companies. Howard is also the Founder of StockTwits, a social network for traders and investors, named one of the ten most innovative companies on the web. He is also an author with multiple published titles that can be found here. If that was not enough, he also continues to manage the hedge fund he started in 1998. A man of many hats for sure!

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Howard made his way into the world of hedge funds, tech and now VC with Social Leverage?

2.) Why is trend following a good thing to do when starting investing? How can you trend follow and still invest with conviction?

3.) Why Howard believes people need to lose money to learn about the market and ecosystem What have been his learnings from missing Twitter and Zynga?

4.) Who Howard believes that fundraising is an art and not everyone can be taught it? What are the core elements that lead to a successful fundraise?

5.) What was Howard's biggest lesson from investing alongside Fred Wilson and Brad Feld? How did that alter his approach to price and ownership?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Howard's Fave Book: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

Howard's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Fred Wilson, Abnormal Returns, Josh Brown: The Reformed Broker

Howard's Most Recent Investment: Civic

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

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

20VC: How You Can Learn To Be A Great Business Leader & Why All Successful Business Must Be Loved or Needed with Moisey Uretsky, Founder @ Digital Ocean Oct 14, 2016

Show notes

Moisey Uretsky is the Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer @ Digital Ocean, the second largest and fastest growing cloud computing platform, with more than 700,000 developers having deployed more than 20 million cloud servers. The company has raised $123 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Access Industries, IA Ventures, CrunchFund, and Techstars. As for Moisey, before founding DigitalOcean, he studied Mathematics at NYU and launched CorreGroup, a big data startup that provided valuable analytics to billion-dollar hedge fund firms in New York City.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Moisey came to found the 2nd largest cloud computing platform with Digital Ocean?

2.) Moisey has previously said: 'we did everything wrong for a decade'. What were the biggest mistakes Moisey made and how did he look to rectify them and learn from them?

3.) Does Moisey believe that you can learn to be a great business leader? Is it inherent or if not, what are the steps required to increase your chances?

4.) Moisey has previously said: 'businesses that succeed are either needed or loved'. What does he mean by this? What category does Digital Ocean fall into? How does that affect his management style and thought process?

5.) Question From Ari @ Techstars: How do Moisey and Digital Ocean fundamentally scale love? What are the inherent challenges of building this type of culture? How does the theme of love play out in the hiring and the on boarding process?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Moisey's Fave Book: Innovator's Dilemma

Moisey's Fave Blog: Tom Tunguz

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

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

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20VC: Why Many VCs Fail To Raise, Why LP Compensation Is A Massive Problem & Why Fund of Funds Will Become More Prominent with Lindel Eakman, Managing Director @ Foundry Group Oct 12, 2016

Show notes

Lindel Eakman is a Managing Director @ Foundry Group and is a nationally recognized leader in the LP community having successfully managed the private investment program for the combined $35 billion pool of capital managed by the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO). There he was responsible for overseeing a portfolio of private equity fund managers which represented approximately 25 percent of endowment assets. Prior to UTIMCO, Lindel worked for KPMG in the mergers & acquisitions tax practice where he worked with many fund managers across due diligence processes and private investment partnership activities. Check out Lindel's Partner @ Foundry, Brad Feld, on the show here.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Lindel made his way into the weird and wonderful world of LPs and then Foundry? What is the origin story behind is first fund investment, Union Square Ventures?

2.) Question from Michael Kim @ Cendana: How is Lindel approaching portfolio construction for Foundry Next? What combination of GP portfolio & direct exposure diversifies the portfolio while retaining upside through individual deal performance?

3.) With the direct co-investment platform how does Lindel look to mitigate the negative signalling that can occur with opportunity funds? Does Lindel agree with Chris Douvos in stating this could lead to the 'hybridisation of GP and LP'?

4.) Where do most prospective fund managers fail when pitching to LPs? What does Lindel look for in a risk strategy for a potential fund investment?

5.) What are the biggest problems with the LP community today? What would Lindel like to see change? What do the financial compensation plans look like for LPs?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Lindel's Fave Book: The Creature from Jekyll Island, Daemon

Lindel's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Reiley Brennan: Future of Transportation, Fred Wilson, Benedict Evans

Lindel's Most Recent Investment: Resolute Ventures

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

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

20VC: Floodgate's Mike Maples on What Makes Category Kings, What Most Venture Funds Do Wrong When Hiring & 'The Dance Of Product Market Fit' Oct 10, 2016

Show notes

Mike Maples is a Founding Partner @ Floodgate, one of the leading early-stage venture funds in the valley. Mike has made investments in the likes of Twitter, Twitch.tv, Weebly, Chegg, Bazaarvoice, Okta, and Demandforce. As a result, Mike has been on the Forbes Midas List since 2010 and was also named one of "8 Rising Stars" by FORTUNE Magazine. Before becoming a full-time investor, Mike was involved as a founder and operating executive at back-to-back startup IPOs, including Tivoli Systems (acquired by IBM) and Motive (acquired by Alcatel-Lucent.)

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Mike made his way into VC and came to found Floodgate?

2.) How did the investment decision-making process change for Mike with the institutionalisation and fiduciary responsibility of an LP backed fund?

3.) How does Mike approach team building with Floodgate? What does he look for in his partners? What do most funds do wrong when hiring and expanding their team?

4.) Mike has a very different way of reading product and the associated market. What does Mike mean by saying the 'dance of product market fit'? Who leads what? How do they work together? What are the reasons startups do not achieve PMF?

5.) How does Mike assess the aspect of category creation? What are the fundamentals required to be a category king? What characteristics do category kings have?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Mike's Fave Book: The Top 5 Regrets of The Dying

Mike's Most Recent Investment: Dispatcher

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

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

20VC: What Makes A Great marketplace Founder, The Key Metrics Marketplace Success Is Centred On & 3 Ways To Prove To Investors You Are A Domain Expert with Karthik Sridharan, Founder & CEO @ Kinnek Oct 07, 2016

Show notes

Karthik Sridharan is the Founder & CEO @ Kinnek, the platform which empowers small business owners to take control of their purchasing operations. Kinnek have been crushing it lately and have raised funding from some of today's leading investors including Matrix, Thrive, Version One, Naval Ravikant and many more incredible names. As for Karthik, prior to Kinnek he was the lead architect of research systems at the hedge fund, AQR and before that spent time at the likes of JP Morgan and Merril Lynch.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Karthik made the transition from hedge funds to founding Kinnek?

2.) How does Karthik view market networks as opposed to marketplaces? What are the differences and where would he position Kinnek?

3.) Is GMV the sole metric that marketplace founders should focus on? How does GMV affect Karthik's few on take rate, transaction size and frequency? What other metrics should marketplace founders be measuring themselves against?

4.) How does Karthik view the competitive landscape with the likes of Alibaba in the space? Is expansion into Asia part of upcoming plans for Kinnek? How will Karthik approach that?

5.) Kinnek has raised funding from the likes of Thrive, Matrix and Version One. How did Karthik find the fundraising process? What did he do well and what would he improve on for the C round?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Karthik's Fave Book: The Code Book by Simon Singh

Karthik's Fave Blog: On Startups, Tom Tunguz

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

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

20VC: The Secret To Building Pattern Recognition, Why MBA Does Not Always Equal Great Founder & What Are The Right Reasons To Start A Company With Hardi Meybaum, General Partner @ Matrix Partners Oct 05, 2016

Show notes

Hardi Meybaum is a General Partner @ Matrix Partners and similar to Josh Hardi is a natural born entrepreneur. Prior to becoming a VC Hardi was a Founder of GrabCAD where he built the company into the world's leading cloud-based collaboration platform for engineering teams to manage, share, and view CAD files. He sold GrabCAD to Stratasys in 2014 for a reported 100m dollars, and continued to lead GrabCAD for the next year.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Hardi made the transition from founding GrabCAD to becoming a General Partner @ Matrix?

2.) When times were really hard for Hardi in making the move to the US, what were the big elements that drive him to continue? What stopped him from giving up?

3.) What does Hardi's time allocation split look like? How does he look to optimise this?

4.) How much of a role has David Skok played in Hardi's progression? What are the key takeaways from the mentorship?

5.) What are the right reasons to start a company? How does Hardi assess founder product fit?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Hardi's Fave Book: Deep Work: Rules For Focussed Success

Hardi's Fave Blog: David Skok: For Entrepreneurs

Hardi's Most Recent Investment: SketchDeck

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

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

20VC: Why The Best CEO's Are The Best Capital Allocators, How You Can Build A Business In A Space You Are Not Passionate About & When Is The Right Time To Put The Pedal To The Metal with Josh Hannah, General Partner @ Matrix Ventures Oct 03, 2016

Show notes

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.