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

Latest Episodes:

20VC: Zach Weinberg on Whether A Company is a Democracy, The Importance of Ownership, The Rise of Pre-Emptive Rounds, Multi-Stage Funds Entering Seed and How he Approaches Both Risk and Personal Capital Allocation Nov 06, 2020

Show notes

Zach Weinberg is a Co-Founder of Operator Partners, operators funding operators, with no outside LPs, just their own capital. Fun fact, 20VC Fund has actually invested with them in 3 companies from Alt, Dooly.ai and Boom Pay. Prior to founding Operator Partners, Zach was the Co-founder/COO of Flatiron Health (acq @Roche for $2b) and before Flatiron Zach co-founded Invite Media (acq @Google for $81m). If that was not enough, Zach has also been an incredibly successful angel in the past with a portfolio including RigUp, Ro, Color, BlueApron and Plaid to name a few.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Zach made his way into the world of startups, came to found Flatiron (acq for $2Bn) and how that led to Operator Partners?

2.) How does Zach analyse his own personal capital allocation? How much in funds? How much in cash, equities, direct, credit etc etc? How does Zach analyse his relationship to money? How has it changed over time? How does Zach evaluate his relationship to risk?

3.) What does Zach make of the rise of pre-empted rounds? When should founders takem them vs reject them? How does Zach feel about multi-stage funds re-entering seed aggressively? How does he advise founders? What are the pros and cons of having multi-stage money?

4.) How does Zach think about the importance of ownership? How does Zach analyse the re-investment decision? How does he approach reserve allocation? How does Zach reflect on his own price sensitivity? How has his relationship to price and ownership changed with time?

5.) How does Zach feel about Brian Armstrong's piece on employees bringing their own political and external beliefs into the workplace? Why does Zach believe that companies are not a democracy? Why does Zach believe that we do not live in a democracy any longer?

Item's Mentioned In Today's Episode

Zach's Favourite Book: Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World

Zach's Most Recent Investment: David Energy

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

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

20VC: The Implications of a Biden vs a Trump Administration on Venture and Startups, How The Rise of Rolling Funds, SPACs and Solo Capitalists Will Impact Venture & What We Can Do To Swing the Race Pendulum in VC with Barry Eggers, Founding Partner @ Ligh Nov 02, 2020

Show notes

Barry Eggers is a Founding Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners and currently Chair of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) Board of Directors. Lightspeed is one of the premier funds of the last decade with homeruns including Snapchat, Affirm, Mulesoft, Nutanix and Stitch Fix. Prior to LSVP, Barry spent close to 6 years as @ Cisco developing Cisco's initial M&A program and leading the company's first wave of acquisitions and integrations.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Barry made his way into the world of venture over 20 years ago and how he came to found one of today's leaders, Lightspeed?

2.) What are the implications of a Biden administration? How does this compare to a Trump administration? What can be done to mitigate the tax concerns around Biden's policies? How does Barry think about each candidate's stance on immigration? What are the challenges here?

3.) How will SPACs change the world of venture? What will it take for them to be viewed in the same class as IPOs? Why are they often better than direct listings? How does the rise of solo capitalists change the state of venture? What does Barry make of rolling funds being born?

4.) What does Barry believe we can do to swing the race pendulum in venture? What were Barry's biggest lessons in taking the Lightspeed partnership from 1 to 10 female partners? How can this be done with ethnic minorities also? What advice does Barry give to his counterpart GPs?

5.) How would Barry describe his own style of board membership? How has it changed over time? How does Barry keep his head in boards with many around him are losing theirs? What advice does Barry give to new board members adopting board seats for the first time?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Barry's Favourite Book: Channel Kindness: Stories of Kindness and Community

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

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

20VC: Unity Founder David Helgason on The Hypergrowth Early Days of Unity, Why Running A Company Is Like A Liberal Art, The Secret To A Successful CEO Transition and What Makes Roelof Botha Such A Special Board Member Oct 29, 2020

Show notes

David Helgason is the Founder @ Unity, the company that gives content creators the tools to create innovative RT3D experiences and deliver better processes for almost every industry. Prior to their IPO in 2020, Unity raised from the likes of Sequoia, Thrive, DFJ, SilverLake and then individuals including Max Levchin and VMWare's Diane Greene. If that was not enough, David is currently a Partner @ Nordic Makers, a group of ten top Nordic angels working together to be the best angel investors in the Nordics. David also serves on the board of Labster, Realm.io and Quizup.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How David made his way from founding Unity in a cafe in Denmark to the $10Bn+ public company it is today?

2.) How would David describe his leadership style? How has it changed over time? What were the biggest challenges David faced as the Founding CEO?

3.) What was the decision-making behind David's transition out of the CEO role? What was challenging? What was key to make the transition successful? How did David know John Riccitiello was the right person for the role? How does David advise other founders contemplating the same?

4.) How does David analyse his own board management style? What are the most important elements a board member can do to help the company and founder? What makes Roelof Botha such a special board member to have? How does David advise new board members today to be successful?

5.) Why does David believe running a company is like a liberal art? How does David think about the importance of vision? How does David assess the current state of the European tech landscape? What can be done to improve it? How can investor approach change for the better?

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

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

20VC: Sequoia's Roelof Botha on His Biggest Lessons Working Alongside Don Valentine, Mike Moritz and Doug Leone, Leading Sequoia's US Business and What Sequoia Do To Retain Their Edge at the Top & The Crucible Moments That Define Startup Success Oct 26, 2020

Show notes

Roleof Botha is a Partner @ Sequoia Capital, one of the world's leading venture firms with a portfolio including the likes of Airbnb, Instacart, Stripe, UiPath, Zoom, the list goes on. As for Roelof, at Sequoia he has led rounds into the likes of YouTube, Instagram, Eventbrite, Square, MongoDB, 23andMe and Unity Technologies to name a few. Before joining the world of venture, Roelof was the CFO @ Paypal playing a key role in their hyper-growth from 2000-2003.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Roelof go from actuary in South Africa to CFO @ Paypal? What were his biggest lessons from seeing Paypal burn $10M per month? How did Paypal lead to his joining Sequoia as a Partner?

2.) Market Evaluation: Does Roelof agree that the market is crazy today? How does today compare to prior vintages? How does Roelof assess the compression of fundraising timelines? With compressed timelines, how does he build relationships of trust with founders?

3.) Founder Evaluation: What were Roelof's lessons on founder assessment from Don Valentine? What matrix did Don teach Roelof to assess founders on? How does Roelof feel about the rise of competitive rounds? When should founders take them vs remain heads down on execution?

4.) Investment Mentality: How did Roelof prevent becoming too confident when early investments went well? How does Roelof prevent relying on past failures as a reason for turning down opportunities today? What can investors do to retain a very flexible mind? Why does Roelof believe you are only as good as your next investment?

5.) Sequoia's Edge: How does Roloef think about what it takes for Sequoia to retain it's edge at the top? How does Roloef measure the success of the Sequoia scout program? How did they structure it? How has the structure changed? What do they plan to do moving forward?

6.) Board Membership: How would Roloef evaluate his current style of board membership? How has that style changed over time? What elements did he find challenging? What advice would Roelof give to new board members adopting their first board seats?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Roelof's Favourite Book: Man's Search For Meaning

Roelof's Most Recent Investment: mmhmm

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

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

20VC: Intercom Founder, Eoghan McCabe on How To Deal with the Weight of Expectation, Having Your Identity Tied To Your Company, How To Be Your Authentic Self Even with Stakeholders & Why There Are No Rules Oct 22, 2020

Show notes

Eoghan McCabe is a technology entrepreneur. He's started a number of companies, the most notable of which is Intercom, the conversational relationship platform. He was CEO of Intercom for nearly 10 years, during which he grew the company to hundreds of millions in annual revenue, nearly 700 employees, and raised nearly $250M from the likes of Kleiner Perkins, Index, Bessemer, and ICONIQ. He's also invested in dozens of companies including Stripe, Figma, SuperHuman, and Coda. In the summer of 2020 he moved to the role of Chairman of Intercom.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Eoghan made his way into the world of startups from Ireland and came to build one of the Valley's greats with Intercom?

2.) How does Eoghan thinking about living and thriving with a chip on one's shoulder? What does Eoghan advise in terms of one's search for their true selves? What were his biggest learnings in his search? What does Eoghan advise people who maybe feel they have lost themselves?

3.) Having been CEO of a $Bn company for close to 10 years, how does Eoghan think about dealing with the weight of expectation placed on shoulders? How did he manage it? How does he think about his identity being so tied to his company?

4.) In terms of being one's authentic self, how can one achieve this while also respecting their stakeholders who may hold different views? How does Eoghan think about being an authentic leader vs bowing down to the demands of your team? What is the right balance?

5.) Why does Eoghan think that vision can actually be limiting? How does Eoghan think about stress testing one's vision and ambition? What adversity from early VCs did Eoghan have to fight against? How does Eoghan encourage dissent and debate within his teams?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Eoghan's Fave Book: Breathe: simple breathing techniques for a calmer, happier life

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

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

20VC: Cyan Banister on Her Relationship To Money, Risk, Her Investment Decision-Making Process, Why We Will See A Reckoning in the Early Stage Market, Her Biggest Takeaways from HQ Trivia & The Future of Silicon Valley Oct 19, 2020

Show notes

Cyan Banister is one of the most successful and renowned early-stage investors of the last decade. Her portfolio includes the likes of SpaceX, Uber, Affirm, Opendoor Postmates, Niantic and Thumbtack to name a few. Today Cyan is a Partner @ Long Journey Ventures, joining the team there following a 4-year stint @ Founders Fund where she led deals in both Niantic and HQ Trivia. Prior to Founders Fund, Cyan was a super successful operator and angel, co-founding Zivity and before that being an early employee at Ironport, leading to their acquisition by Oracle.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Cyan made her way into the world of startups? How SpaceX came to be her 1st angel investment? How that led to her joining the world of VC?

2.) How does Cyan think about and assess her relationship to money? Why does someone believe she had a fear or loathing of money? What made Cyan the capitalist she is today? How does Cyan analyse her relationship to risk? Has Cyan always trusted her own convictions?

3.) How does Cyan think about her own investment decision-making process? What were Cyan's biggest lessons from her experience with HQ Trivia? How did she change how she interacts with founders pre-investment? Why does Cyan never Google someone before meeting?

4.) How does Cyan think about price sensitivity today? Why does she believe there will be a reckoning? How will this shake out in terms of who succeeds and who fails? Why is Cyan in favour of party rounds? How does she think about VCs with sharp elbows?

5.) Why does Cyan believe SF is eating itself? What can be done to reinvigorate the city positively? What can be done to solve much of the homelessness problem? Why does Chesa Boudin never convict anyone? Why does Cyan believe her "BLM tweet is not spicy"? Why is Cyan fundamentally sad and worried for the current state of the world?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Cyan's Fave Book: Snow Crash

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

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

20VC: How To Determine The Risks To Take vs To Pass On, Should Founders Meet Investors When Not Raising & The Most Important Non-Obvious Role of the CEO with Spike Lipkin, Founder & CEO @ Newfront Insurance Oct 16, 2020

Show notes

Spike Lipkin is the Founder & CEO @ Newfront Insurance, the modern insurance brokerage empowering risk management experts with advanced technology to deliver innovative solutions to their clients'. To date, Spike has raised from some of the best in the business including Founders Fund, Meritech and 20VC Fund. Prior to founding Newfront, Spike was one of the first employees at Opendoor, where he helped grow the team from 5 people to an enterprise value of over $5Bn today. Prior to Opendoor, Spike was an investor at Blackstone, where he served on the startup team that built Invitation Homes into the largest owner of single-family real estate in the United States.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Spike made his way from banking to be one of the first operators at Opendoor to founding the next generation of insurance with Newfront?

2.) What were some of the biggest takeaways for Spike from his time at Opendoor as employee #5? How does Spike approach prioritisation? How does he determine what to delegate vs what to control?

3.) How would Spike describe his own style of leadership? How has Spike needed to change his style with the business? What does Spike believe is his biggest weakness as a leader? What is he doing to confront it and grow as a leader? What is the most important thing a leader can do?

4.) How does Spike think about what it takes to acquire the very best talent? What does his framework for hiring look like? Why did Spike decide to hire a COO? Why was then the right time? How does Spike think about the balance between hiring external vs promoting internal?

5.) Why did Spike believe it was important not to announce any of his prior fundraises? How did Spike approach investor selection with Newfront? Does Spike believe founders should meet with VCs between fundraises? Which angel has done the most to move the needle for the company? How?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Spike's Fave Book: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

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

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

20VC: CRV's George Zachary on His Relationship To Money and How it has Changed Over Time, Why The Best Founders Have Often Experienced Parental or Home Instability and The Stories Behind Investing in Unicorns; PillPack, Yammer and Udacity Oct 12, 2020

Show notes

George Zachary is a General Partner @ CRV, one of the nation's oldest and most successful early-stage venture capital firms with a portfolio including the likes of Airtable, DoorDash, Dropbox, Niantic and many more. As for George, today at the firm he focuses on advancing health through revolutionary computer science, centred around bio-engineering. During his incredible 16 year tenure at CRV, he has led deals in the likes of PillPack, Udacity, Scribd and HealthIQ. Before joining CRV, George was a General Partner @ Mohr Davidow Ventures for over 6 years.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How George made his way into the world of venture over 21 years ago and how he came to be a General Partner @ CRV 16 years ago?

2.) How did seeing the booms and busts of the dot com and 08 impacts George's investment mindset? What is the right way to voice concerns in an internal investment discussion? How does George now view capital intensity? How does it impact his conviction and check size?

3.) Why does George believe one should invest in founders who do not need their investors help? Why does George believe the best founders have experienced some form of parental instability? How does George detect the psychological need to win when he meets founders? What are the signs?

4.) How would George describe his own philosophy of board membership? How has it changed over time? What are the 2 control functions that a board member has? What advice does George give to new board members today? Where do many young board members make mistakes?

5.) How does George analyse his own personal relationship to money? How has it changed over the years? How did his relationship to money change his relationship with people? Was that challenging? How did he cope with it? How does he advise others who experience the same?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

George's Favourite Book: Foundation Trilogy

George's Most Recent Investment: Glympse Bio

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

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

20VC: CapitalG Founder David Lawee on Why People Overvalue Diversification in Venture, Why Investment Clubs Are More Successful Than Investment Partnerships & How Growth Funds Think About Portfolio Construction, Loss Ratio & Reserves Oct 08, 2020

Show notes

David Lawee founded CapitalG, Alphabet's independent growth fund, in 2013, drawing on his experience both at Google and as a serial entrepreneur. Since then, he has helped transform high-potential startups into some of the most highly valued businesses of our generation, including Airbnb, Lyft, Snap, Robinhood, Credit Karma, Oscar, Lending Club and Thumbtack. Prior to CapitalG, David played a pivotal role in Google's growth story--first as Google's Chief Marketing Officer and then as the instrumental VP of corporate development where his group spearheaded over 100 acquisitions for the company.

CLICK TO LISTEN ON ITUNES

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How David made his way into the world of startups, came to be the first CMO @ Google and how that led to his founding CapitalG?

2.) Having operated and invested through both the dot com and 08', how has seeing the booms and busts impacted David's investing mindset? How does David think about temporal diversification today with CapitalG? Why does David believe diversification is largely overrated?

3.) How does David think about portfolio construction today, given CapitalG is a growth fund? How does David compare early-stage to growth today? How does David think about loss ratios at growth? How does David benchmark good vs great from a multiple perspective at growth?

4.) How does CapitalG approach investment decision making today? How does David avoid consensus thinking/following the crowd when it comes to deals? Why does David believe investment clubs operate much more successfully than partnerships? How does that change the structure for CapitalG?

5.) How has David seen himself evolve and develop as a board member of the years? What type of board member would David say he is today? How does that change with the founder? Who is the most memorable board member David has sat on a board with?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

David's Fave Book: Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

David's Most Recent Investment: Albert

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

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

20VC: Arlan Hamilton: "We Have Come For Cake, Not The Crumbs", Arlan's Plan To Return $1Bn in 10 Years, Why Arlan Plans To Giveaway or Invest 90% of Her Wealth & What The LP Class Can Do To Ensure More Under-Represented Managers Get Funded Oct 05, 2020

Show notes

Arlan Hamilton is the Founder and Managing Partner @ Backstage Capital, the seed fund that has paved the way investing exclusively in startups that are led by underrepresented founders. Backstage Capital also expanded their model and now have Backstage Accelerator working with companies across 4 cities. Last month, Mark Cuban gave Arlan $6M to invest in underestimated founders (ArlanWasHere Investments Fund I). Arlan is also an Author of "It's About Damn Time". If you would like to invest with Arlan, you can, check out BackstageCrowd.com with over 2,000 accredited and non-accredited investors, they just completed their 6th deal and $1m raised within 3 months of launch.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Arlan made her way from the airport floor to founding her own venture firm, Backstage Capital and writing a book, "It's About Damn Time"?

2.) How does Arlan assess her own relationship to money and wealth? What is Arlan's thinking around her desire to give away 90% of her wealth? How does Arlan evaluate her own appetite for risk? How has that changed over time?

3.) From a strategic perspective, what are some core elements to Arlan's strategy that are not obvious? What are the main misconceptions that remain with regards to under-represented founders? What does Arlan believe are the leading indicators when assessing founders today?

4.) What does Arlan believe have been the biggest challenges in building the firm that is Backstage? What have been the core breaking points in the scaling of people and strategy? How does Arlan think about the relationship between brand vs reputation? What does Arlan believe are the main misconceptions people have about her?

5.) How would Arlan like to see the world of venture change over the next decade? What can LPs do to encourage more under-represented founders are backed? How can this be measured? Who should be held accountable?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Arlan's Fave Book: What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey

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

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

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