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

Ryan Holmes is the founder and CEO of Hootsuite. He started the company in 2008 and has helped grow it into the world's most widely used social relationship platform, with 15-million-plus users, including more than 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies. As of 2014, HootSuite has raised over $250m in venture funding from some of the best in the world including Accel, Insight Venture Partners and Fidelity. Prior to Hootsuite, Ryan started a string of ventures from a pizza restaurant to a digital media agency. Ryan is also a prolific angel investor with investments in the likes of Gusto, Bench and previous guest Immediately, just to name a few. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Ryan transition from being a restauranteur to founding Hootsuite? 2.) What were the big lessons Ryan took from his hard journey as a restauranteur? How has he applied those lessons to his role with Hootsuite today? 3.) How does Ryan look to create an environment of employee ownership and internal entrepreneurs? What has been successful? What has not? 4.) Meetings suck. What does Ryan do to optimise the meeting for simple enjoyment and productivity? 5.) How was the fundraising process for Ryan? What does he think he did well and what would he like to improve on for the next rounds? How was fundraising in 200*? Is now a good time to be raising? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Ryan's Fave Blog: Media Redefined Ryan's Fave Book: The Long Walk As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Ryan on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Angelloop is the leading post funding management platform for private market investors and their portfolio companies. They help investors manage and track their portfolio companies on the cloud while providing them with access to their investments performance data. Angelloop helps founders of startups track their performance, manage their cap table and keep their investors in the loop. Investors get free access while their portfolio companies pay only $49/Month. Use or share the promo-code 20MinVC to get your portfolio companies online with a two month trial. 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.

Lyon Wong is the Founding General Partner @ Spectrum 28, a $170m Silicon Valley fund that invests in companies who leverage data and computation to create and transform large industries. Prior to Spectrum 28, Lyon was Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners, the $3bn VC fund with investments in the likes of Snapchat, Nest and Giphy, just to name a few. Before Lightspeed Lyon spent time with leading Silicon Valley seed fund, SV Angel, where he worked with the likes of Ron Conway and David Lee. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Lyon come to be GP of Spectrum 28 with their recent $170m fund? 2.) Why does Lyon believe that you do not have to have operational experience to be a good investor? What are the core components to beeing a good investor and value add investor? 3.) Why does Lyon believe that there is no optimal stage to invest? How does he evaluate the efficiency curve and positioning on it? How does this affect his thesis? 4.) Why does Lyon believe that funds must focus on reputation instead of cash on cash? What is the most effective and scalable way to build a reputation in today's venture ecosystem? 5.) How does Lyon evaluate team building at Spectrum 28? What did he look for in potential partners? How does he look to implement generational transition into the fund? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Lyon's Fave Blog: Medium, Quora Lyon's Fave Book: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius Lyon's Most Recent Investment: PatientBank As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Lyon on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Angelloop is the leading post funding management platform for private market investors and their portfolio companies. They help investors manage and track their portfolio companies on the cloud while providing them with access to their investments performance data. Angelloop helps founders of startups track their performance, manage their cap table and keep their investors in the loop. Investors get free access while their portfolio companies pay only $49/Month. Use or share the promo-code 20MinVC to get your portfolio companies online with a two month trial. 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.

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. Angelloop is the leading post funding management platform for private market investors and their portfolio companies. They help investors manage and track their portfolio companies on the cloud while providing them with access to their investments performance data. Angelloop helps founders of startups track their performance, manage their cap table and keep their investors in the loop. Investors get free access while their portfolio companies pay only $49/Month. Use or share the promo-code 20MinVC to get your portfolio companies online with a two month trial. 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.

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. Angelloop is the leading post funding management platform for private market investors and their portfolio companies. They help investors manage and track their portfolio companies on the cloud while providing them with access to their investments performance data. Angelloop helps founders of startups track their performance, manage their cap table and keep their investors in the loop. Investors get free access while their portfolio companies pay only $49/Month. Use or share the promo-code 20MinVC to get your portfolio companies online with a two month trial. 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.

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. Angelloop is the leading post funding management platform for private market investors and their portfolio companies. They help investors manage and track their portfolio companies on the cloud while providing them with access to their investments performance data. Angelloop helps founders of startups track their performance, manage their cap table and keep their investors in the loop. Investors get free access while their portfolio companies pay only $49/Month. Use or share the promo-code 20MinVC to get your portfolio companies online with a two month trial. 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.

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. Angelloop is the leading post funding management platform for private market investors and their portfolio companies. They help investors manage and track their portfolio companies on the cloud while providing them with access to their investments performance data. Angelloop helps founders of startups track their performance, manage their cap table and keep their investors in the loop. Investors get free access while their portfolio companies pay only $49/Month. Use or share the promo-code 20MinVC to get your portfolio companies online with a two month trial. 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.

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. Angelloop is the leading post funding management platform for private market investors and their portfolio companies. They help investors manage and track their portfolio companies on the cloud while providing them with access to their investments performance data. Angelloop helps founders of startups track their performance, manage their cap table and keep their investors in the loop. Investors get free access while their portfolio companies pay only $49/Month. Use or share the promo-code 20MinVC to get your portfolio companies online with a two month trial. I'd like to thank Wealthfront for sponsoring today's podcast. Wealthfront are financial advisors that can help you invest your hard-earned dollars. Wealthfront's modern financial services helps tailor plans specifically for you, making it easy to reach your financial goals. Wealthfront has low fees and no trading commissions… It's financial advice at a fraction of the cost of a traditional advisor, all online. And if you sign up using my URL, you'll get your first $15,000 managed for free. Go to Wealthfront.com/20vc.

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. Angelloop is the leading post funding management platform for private market investors and their portfolio companies. They help investors manage and track their portfolio companies on the cloud while providing them with access to their investments performance data. Angelloop helps founders of startups track their performance, manage their cap table and keep their investors in the loop. Investors get free access while their portfolio companies pay only $49/Month. Use or share the promo-code 20MinVC to get your portfolio companies online with a two month trial. I'd like to thank Wealthfront for sponsoring today's podcast. Wealthfront are financial advisors that can help you invest your hard-earned dollars. Wealthfront's modern financial services helps tailor plans specifically for you, making it easy to reach your financial goals. Wealthfront has low fees and no trading commissions… It's financial advice at a fraction of the cost of a traditional advisor, all online. And if you sign up using my URL, you'll get your first $15,000 managed for free. Go to Wealthfront.com/20vc.

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. Angelloop is the leading post funding management platform for private market investors and their portfolio companies. They help investors manage and track their portfolio companies on the cloud while providing them with access to their investments performance data. Angelloop helps founders of startups track their performance, manage their cap table and keep their investors in the loop. Investors get free access while their portfolio companies pay only $49/Month. Use or share the promo-code 20MinVC to get your portfolio companies online with a two month trial. I'd like to thank Wealthfront for sponsoring today's podcast. Wealthfront are financial advisors that can help you invest your hard-earned dollars. Wealthfront's modern financial services helps tailor plans specifically for you, making it easy to reach your financial goals. Wealthfront has low fees and no trading commissions… It's financial advice at a fraction of the cost of a traditional advisor, all online. And if you sign up using my URL, you'll get your first $15,000 managed for free. Go to Wealthfront.com/20vc.

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. Angelloop is the leading post funding management platform for private market investors and their portfolio companies. They help investors manage and track their portfolio companies on the cloud while providing them with access to their investments performance data. Angelloop helps founders of startups track their performance, manage their cap table and keep their investors in the loop. Investors get free access while their portfolio companies pay only $49/Month. Use or share the promo-code 20MinVC to get your portfolio companies online with a two month trial. 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.

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. Angelloop is the leading post funding management platform for private market investors and their portfolio companies. They help investors manage and track their portfolio companies on the cloud while providing them with access to their investments performance data. Angelloop helps founders of startups track their performance, manage their cap table and keep their investors in the loop. Investors get free access while their portfolio companies pay only $49/Month. Use or share the promo-code 20MinVC to get your portfolio companies online with a two month trial. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ryan Sarver is a Partner @ Redpoint where he focuses on early stage consumer startups. He sits on the board at Luxe, where he led the seed and A rounds, and was an early investor in Memoir. Prior to joining Redpoint, Ryan was a director at Twitter, where he oversaw the Twitter Platform and its developer ecosystem. Before Twitter, Ryan was director of consumer products at Skyhook Wireless, which pioneered the Wi-Fi and cellular tower triangulation technology incorporated in the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, and MacBook. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ryan made his move into the world of VC? 2.) What were Ryan's biggest takeaways from seeing Twitter scale from 30 to 2,500? How does he apply those to his formative days learning the investing game? 3.) Coming from the hustle of operation, do VCs have enough hustle and grit in Ryan's opinion? 4.) What really is an EIR program? Why does Redpoint have it? What are the fundamental benefits? How do investors collaborate and work with EIR's? 5.) Ryan has said before that AI is the next transformational platform. What does AI as a platform look like to Ryan? How does hardware and sensors integrate with this thesis? Why is it easier than ever to build these smart devices? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Ryan's Fave Book: Sapiens Ryan's Most Recent Investment: Luxe As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ryan on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Tom Tunguz is a Partner @ Redpoint Ventures, where he has invested in the likes of Axial, Dremio, Expensify, Electric Imp, Looker, and ThredUP. Tomasz is also the co-author of Winning with Data: Transform Your Culture, Empower Your People, and Shape the Future, which explores the cultural changes big data brings to business, and shows you how to adapt your organization to leverage data to maximum effect. Before joining Redpoint, Tomasz was the product manager for Google's AdSense social-media products and AdSense internationalization. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) When did Tom perceive the true power of data for the first time? 2.) What is the biggest difference between a company that is data driven and one that is not? What are the inherent benefits and how can non data driven businesses become data driven? 3.) What are the best data driven teams doing to operationalise their data today? 4.) Adam Grant: 8% of job interviews are productive. So what structure can management use to ensure higher efficiency in the hiring process? 5.) What are the complexities and skills required for strong data analysis in today's environment? 6.) Data often leads to over confidence in decision making, how do you prevent illusion bias once data has been obtained? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Tom's Most Recent Investment: Dremio As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Tom 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.

Adam Leibsohn is the Founder and COO @ Giphy, the company that brings you joy and laughter through gifs. Earlier this year, Giphy raised a phenomenal $55m Series C financing from the likes of General Catalyst, Lerer Hippeau, Lightspeed and Betaworks. As for Adam he is one of the coolest and most genuine founders I have ever interviewed and is so committed to the startup cause that at one point he went without a home to pay for the startup dream! In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Adam went from being homeless to the Founder of Giphy? 2.) What were the biggest lessons Adam learnt from his failed startup? When should founders know when is the right time to stop? 3.) Why gifs and why now? What has allowed for the spectacular rise of gifs? 4.) How has Adam created such a unique culture at Giphy? What have been his key learnings? What has worked, what has not worked? 5.) Giphy is now a cultural icon but how does Adam look to turn that into a massive globally profit making business? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Adam's Fave Blog and Newsletter: The Information, Dealbook Adam's Fave Book: East of Eden As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Adam 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.

Brett DeMarrais is a Partner @ Ludlow Ventures, who have investments in the likes of ProductHunt, Sprig, AngelList and uBeam. Prior to joining Ludlow, Brett founded Wedit, a crowd sourced wedding video platform that reduced the cost of wedding videos and made them social. Within the first year of launching the company Wedit had won the top industry awards for customer satisfaction (Brides Choice 2012 and Best of The Knot 2012). Previously, Brett worked at Out of the Blue Entertainment. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Brett made his move into VC and came to be a partner @ Ludlow? 2.) What do most VCs mean they say 'founder friendly'? How does Brett and Ludlow approach the popularised saying? 3.) How does Brett balance between being an investor and advisor to a founder and then being their friend and confidante? 4.) How does Brett look to balance the fiduciary responsibilities to his LPs when appreciating that the needs of the founder come before the needs of the company? 5.) Brett has previously said, 'car ownership will be a thing of the past'. Why does Brett think this and what does this mean for the car industry as a whole? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Brett's Fave Blog and Newsletter: Both Sides Of The Table, Dan Primack: Term Sheet Brett's Fave Book: Ready Player One Brett's Most Recent Investment: Gather As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Brett 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.

Ben Lerer is a Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures and co-founder & CEO of Thrillist Media Group. Ben was among Ernst & Young's 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winners, Forbes list of "Most Powerful CEOs Under 40", " Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 5 Entrepreneurs of the Year," and Silicon Alley Insider's "100 Coolest People in Tech". Ben is also an active mentor for NYC Venture Fellows, TechStars and E[nstitute]. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Ben came to found Thrillist and then join the founding team at Lerer Hippeau? 2.) How did Ben's mentality shift from investing angel money to the fiduciary responsibility of a fund? 3.) How does Ben view FOMO? How does he look to negate and contol his emotions when investing? 4.) How has Ben seen his personal pattern recognition change over time? How does Ben use data to further improve his ability of pattern recognition? 5.) Why have we seen the rise of direct to consumer businesses? Is it easier to build a brand today than in previous years? Will we see continued M&A in the retail world with the likes of Jet.co and Dollar Shave Club? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Ben's Fave Book: The Goldfinch Ben's Most Recent Investment: Everytable As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ben 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 at cooleygo.com.

Kathryn Minshew is the Founder & CEO @ The Muse, named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Media and Inc.'s 15 Women to Watch in Tech. Before founding The Muse, Kathryn worked on vaccines in Rwanda and Malawi with the Clinton Health Access Initiative and was previously at McKinsey. Kathryn has spoken at MIT and Harvard, appeared on The TODAY Show and CNN, and contributes on career and entrepreneurship to the Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Kathryn came to be Founder of The Muse following charity work in Rwanda? 2.) Question from Adam Quinton (investor): What is it about Kathryn and Alex's relationship that works so well? How do they deal with founder disputes? 3.) Prior to The Muse, Alex and Kathryn founded another business with 2 other founders. What did they learn from the breakup and how have they applied to The Muse? 4.) How has Kathryn managed to maintain startup ownership culture as the team has grown to over 100 people ? 5.) The Muse has now raised large Series A & B rounds. What were the lessons Kathryn learnt along the way and what would she do differently for the C round? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Kathryn's Fave Blog and Newsletter: The Atlantic, The New York Times Kathryn's Fave Book: Arcadia by Tom Stoppard As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Kathryn 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. Did you know companies that regularly communicate with stakeholders regularly are 200% more likely to get follow on funding? Visible.vc is the leader in stakeholder communication & engagement powering updates & reports for over 1,600 companies including customers Amazon and Skyscanner. They integrate with apps you already use to run your business like Google Sheets, Quickbooks, Xero, Salesforce, Stripe and more. Listeners make sure to check out visible.vc/20 to get an exclusive deal just for you and schedule a call with your own data analyst.

Jesse Middleton is a General Partner @ Flybridge Capital Partners. Prior to joining Flybridge, Jesse was an early executive at WeWork, one of the fastest growing and most valuable startups in history. He co-founded WeWork Labs in 2011, and ran WeWork X, M&A, startup investments, business and digital product development as well as inside sales during his five-year tenure at the company. Prior to WeWork, Jesse was the co-founder and CEO of Backstory, a venture backed startup. Jesse also has experience as a prolific angel investor having invested in the like of Fitmob (acq by ClassPass) YourTrove acq by LiveNation and inDinero, who you might remember we had Jessica Mah, Founder @ inDinero on the show. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Jesse made the transition from operator with WeWork to General Partner @ Flybridge? 2.) At what stage does founder vision transition to become stubbornness? How does Jesse approach the situation of telling a founder when it is not working? 3.) How does Jesse's investment mindset shift from making the move from angel to VC with fiduciary responsibility? 4.) How does Jesse look to develop pattern recognition as a new entrant to VC? How important a role does mentorship play for Jesse? 5.) What are the characteristics Jesse looks for in a founder that suggest an innate problem solver? How does Jesse deal with problems when the 'shit hits the fan?' Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Jesse's Fave Blog and Newsletter: Purple, The Skimm Jesse's Fave Book: Leadership & The Challenge of Self Deception Jesse's Most Recent Investment: Squire As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Jesse 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.

Peter Pham is a Co-Founder at Science, the startup studio that helps incubate companies co-building them alongside CEO's, with recent companies like Dollar Shave Club (acquired by Unilever for $1B) and leading marketplace, DogVacay. More recently Science created created one of the top 100 iOS Apps called Wishbone. Peter has also helped his portfolio raise over $350M in that time. Previously as an operator, he led Photobucket to its $300M acquisition by Fox Interactive Media as well as CEO of BillShrink (acquired by MasterCard.) In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Peter made the transition from operator to company builder with Science? 2.) How does Peter approach the fundraising process itself? How does he instruct founders about the right ways to approach and enter the fundraising game? 3.) How can entrepreneurs determine whether a VC is saying not to them? What are the signs that an investor is genuinely interested? 4.) With 3,000 no's from investors, how does that affect Peter's mentality? How does he avoid the negativity surrounding a VC saying no? 5.) What are Peter's major learnings on how companies scale effectively today? How important are network effects to this scaling? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Peter's Fave Blog and Newsletter: Recode Peter's Fave Book: How To Win Friends & Influence People Peter's Most Recent Investment: Handstand App As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Peter 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.

Sean Brecker is the CEO @ Headspace where he is the driving force behind all financial and commercial matters including overseeing the company's growth of it's product line which now has over 8m downloads. Sean was also instrumental in attaining the first institutional round of financing which included investment from the likes of LinkedIn's Jeff Weiner, Jim Breyer, Jessica Alba and Jared Leto, just to name a few. Prior to Headspace, Sean spent 15 years in banking with the likes of JP Morgan, Lehmann Brothers and Citigroup. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Sean made the move from banking to CEO of meditation service, Headspace? 2.) Meditation can be viewed with some hippy stereotypes, how does Sean look to optimise the onboarding for new users and incorporate elements of education? 3.) How does Sean implement a strategy of habit forming within the users? In the words of Nir Eyal, how do we get them 'hooked'? How long on average does it take for an action to be completed before it becomes a habit? 4.) How does Sean try and optimise the transition from free to paid user with Headspace? How does Sean try and remove as much friction as possible in the process? 5.) How has Sean seen the growth of the health and wellness space over the last few years? We obviously have the likes of Calm, is this market a winner takes all and how does Sean approach market competition at Headspace? 6.) How was the fundraising process for Sean? How did he come to meet investors like Jeff Weiner, Jim Breyer, Jessica Alba and Jared Leto? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Sean's Fave Blog and Newsletter: The Information, Recode Sean's Fave Book: The Hard Thing About Hard Things, A Man In Full As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Sean on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. WeAreLATech is the number one resource uniting the LA startup community. Immediately integrate into the explosive LA tech scene by visiting WeAreLATech.com/VC. WeAreLATech offers a unique combination of curated offline experiences, the #1 LA Tech podcast called "WeAreLATech", and the only mobile app that keeps you in the know with a full calendar of events. Make sure go to WeAreLATech.com/VC to explore and learn all about everything LA tech and silicon beach. You'll also get access to a private LA tech immersion call exclusively for 20 Minute VC listeners. 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.

Chad Byers is a General Partner @ Susa Ventures and very exciting news, Susa last week announced the raise of Susa II, a new $50m fund, testament to the quality of fund 1 which included the likes of former guests Lyst, RobinHood, LendUp and many more incredible companies. As for Chad, he focuses on investments in enterprise software, fintech, and healthcare. Prior to Susa, Chad spent time in various marketing and product management roles. As well as being a prolific angel investor in over 30+ companies. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Chad made the transition from angel investor to General Partner @ Susa? 2.) How was the fundraise with Susa 1? How was the fundraise for Susa II? How did the funding rounds change for each fund? 3.) How does Chad assess LP fit? Is all LP money not equal? What does Chad look for in his LPs? 4.) Question from Michael Kim @ Cendana: How does Chad look to establish the mindshare with entrepreneurs and other VCs for Susa in today's competitive environment? 5.) How does Chad approach the reserve structure of Susa fund II? How did Chad come tot hat conclusion as the optimal amount for follow on? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Chad's Fave Blog and Newsletter: Coding VC, Bill Gurley: Above The Crowd Chad's Fave Book: When Breathe Becomes Air Chad's Most Recent Investment: Modsy As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Chad on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Greg Bettinelli is a Partner at Upfront Ventures where he specialises in businesses at the juncture of retail and technology. Prior to Upfront, Greg was the CMO for HauteLook, a leading online flash-sale retailer that was acquired by Nordstrom for $270mm. Before HauteLook, Greg was Executive Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at Live Nation, responsible for strategic direction and key business partnerships for Live Nation's ticketing and digital businesses. Before Live Nation, Greg held a number of leadership positions at eBay and StubHub and was the business leader who led eBay's acquisition of StubHub in 2007. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Greg made his way into VC from the unconventional world of retail and consumer? 2.) How has Greg's unconventional background altered how he views investments and founders? How does Greg test for the 'grit' required to be a founder? 3.) With the rise of direct to consumer, will we see the end of the physical retail store? Why do big retailers still have such little e-commerce presence? 4.) To what extent does Greg view brand as a form of IP in a prospective investment? How have we seen changing brand loyalty in the last decade? 5.) What are the fundamentals for growing a consumer brand successfully? Who has exemplified this? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Greg's Fave Blog and Newsletter: Dan Primack: Term Sheet Greg's Fave Book: Michael Lewis Greg's Most Recent Investment: Happy Returns As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Greg on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. WeAreLATech is the number one resource uniting the LA startup community. Immediately integrate into the explosive LA tech scene by visiting WeAreLATech.com/VC. WeAreLATech offers a unique combination of curated offline experiences, the #1 LA Tech podcast called "WeAreLATech", and the only mobile app that keeps you in the know with a full calendar of events. Make sure go to WeAreLATech.com/VC to explore and learn all about everything LA tech and silicon beach. You'll also get access to a private LA tech immersion call exclusively for 20 Minute VC listeners. 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.

Paul Berberian is the CEO of Orbotix, the company that created Sphero, the robotic ball controlled from your smartphone. They have investment from our friends in Boulder, Brad Feld and David Cohen. Prior to Sphero, Paul was the co-founder of Raindance Communications (NASDAQ: RNDC). Paul also founded Market Force Information, an emerging information company with a vision to provide retailers. As well as, LINK-VTC, a video teleconferencing company, which was sold in 1995 to Frontier Communications. In Today's Episode with Paul You Will Learn: 1.) How Paul came to be CEO @ Sphero? 2.) Paul has founded and run 7 businesses, How has Paul seen his style of leadership change over the past decade or so? 3.) Question from Brad Feld: When Paul disagrees with his board, how does he resolve it? What have been Paul's learnings in maintaining a happy board environment? 4.) Sphero have raised, at last count, $80m? How has Paul seen investor sentiment to hardware alter over the 5-6 years? How did he meet his investors? What did Paul do well and what would Paul like to improve upon for next time? 5.) Question from Brad Feld: 'Sphero looks like a massive success but every startup has had failures, so what have Paul's failures been and what did he learn from them? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Paul's Fave Blog and Newsletter: Quora Paul's Fave Book: The Black Box As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Paul 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.

Ben Einstein is Founder and General Partner @ Bolt, Bolt is a fund designed to address the unique needs of early-stage startups at the intersection of hardware and software, investing up to $500K in pre-seed, pre-product companies. They have created and backed some world class businesses that have received later funding from Khosla, Kleiner Perkins, NEA, and Softtech just to name a few. In Today's Episode with Ben You Will Learn: How Ben made his way into VC from such a product centric background? Why have we seen a rise in hardware investing over the last 5 years? How has this affected the hardware ecosystem? To what extent do hardware and software integrate today? Why have we seen the rise of software determining the hardware winners? Why is brand the most important thing in consumer hardware? Who has done it best? Who has not done it well? What is Ben's biggest advice to hardware founders today? Why is raising too much money extremely dangerous for hardware founders? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Ben's Fave Blog and Newsletter: Ben Evans Ben's Fave Book: The Box Ben's Most Recent Investment: Grow: Redesigning Gardening As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ben 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.

Dave McClure is the founding partner of 500 Startups, who have made over 1500 investments in the likes of Twilio, SendGrid, Intercom and Makerbot just to name a few. Prior to 500 Dave was on the investment team at Founders Fund, he also led the Facebook Fund Incubator and was Head of Marketing @ Paypal pre IPO. In Today's Episode with Dave You Will Learn: How Dave made his way into VC and came to found 500 Startups? Do you need unicorn exits to have significant venture returns? What is the 500 view with regards to the hit ratio of finding unicorns? How much ownership does 500 typically take? Does this allow Dave enough of a right to follow on in further rounds with such a small initial slice? How does Dave and 500 avoid the inherent signalling risk involved with their fund and accelerator? How prominent is signalling in today's market? What did Dave think of Sam Altman's statement on YC not accepting companies from other accelerators? How does Dave view YC companies? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Dave's Fave Blog and Newsletter: Brad Feld, AVC, Mark Suster Dave's Fave Book: Guns Germs and Steel, The Mystery of Capital Dave's Most Recent Investment: Markhor 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.uk and enter the code 20VC for £50 off. Everybody deserves the perfect start with Eve.

Adam Nash is the President and CEO of Wealthfront, where he is on a mission to put the client first and change the bad practices of the financial services industry. Adam joined Wealthfront from Greylock Partners, where he was an Executive-in-Residence. Prior to Greylock, he was VP of Product Management at LinkedIn, where he built the teams responsible for core product, user experience, platform and mobile. Adam also held a number of roles at Ebay, Atlas Venture Preview Systems and Apple. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Adam came to be President and CEO @ Wealthfront? 2.) What makes a great product person and how does that compare to Adam's role now as CEO and the skills required to be a great CEO? 3.) Is it fair to suggest that PMs are the CEO of a mini product? How transferrable are the skills of product managers to the skills required of CEOs? 4.) How was the transition for Andy in making the move from PM to COO to CEO? What were the biggest challenges and surprises? 5.) Why does Andy believe that building software through hierarchy does not work? How can leaders empower their team with a sense of ownership? 6.) Why do humans suck at investing? Will we see the domination of full scale financial robo advisors in the next 10 years? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Adam's Fave Book: Foundation by Isaac Asimov Adam's Fave Blog and Newsletter: Nuzzel As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Adam on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here! 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.

David Pakman is a Partner at Venrock and the man behind Venrock's leading of the Series A and B rounds for Dollar Shave Club. Prior to Venrock David spent 12 years as an internet entrepreneur. Including being CEO of eMusic, the world's leading digital retailer of independent music, second only to iTunes. Prior to eMusic, David co-founded Myplay in 1999, which he later sold, in 2001, to Bertelsmann's ecommerce Group. If that wasn't enough David is also the co-creator of Apple Computer's Music Group. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: How did David make his way into the world of VC with Venrock? David invested in Dollar Shave when subscription ecommerce funding was largely out of favour. What was it that excited Dave about Dollar Shave and why did he choose to invest? To what extent do we see the existence of party rounds in today's funding environment? Venrock took the rather unusual position to lead both the A and B rounds for Dollar Shave. What was the internal conversations like within Venrock towards this decision? Dollar Shave was growing at phenomenal rates with impressive growth, what was behind the decision to sell at this time? What were the incentives behind selling to Unilever? Will we see other large e-commerce exits in the future? What does the future M&A environment look like for consumer businesses? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Matt's Fave Book: Mindset by Carole Dweck Matt's Most Recent Investment: Pearl As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and David 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.

Matt Ocko is the Co-Managing Partner and Co-Founder @ Data Collective and has over 3 decades of experience as a tech entrepreneur and VC and has made investments in the likes of Facebook, Zynga, Uber and AngelList just to name a few. If that was not enough he is also an inventor on over 40 granted or in process patents. A truly deep thinker and one of my fave ever shows to record. In Today's Episode with Matt You Will Learn: How Matt made his way into VC and came to co-found Data Collective? Why does Matt believe "All Fund Size Models are Wrong". Does the current bifurcation of VC into angels/micro-VCs, small seed/A funds, big bruisers, and post-C/pre-IPO make for sub-optimal returns both on a societal and monetary perspective? What does the opportunity fund allow Data Collective? How do they use the initial fund to invest for insight in into companies at the earliest stages? How do they avoid the negative signalling risk that is normally ensued with an opportunity fund? How important is thesis driven venture firms? Does specialisation aid or hinder venture returns and why? How does Matt view the lifecycle of current venture? Matt has previously said it is inherently inefficient, why? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Matt's Fave Blog and Newsletter: MIT Technology Review Matt's Fave Book: The Way Things Work Matt's Most Recent Investment: Tradeshift As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Matt 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.

Dhananja Jayalath is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Athos, creating the new standard for fitness by changing the way we train the human body. Athos have funding from our friends at Social Capital, Felix Capital and DCM Ventures just to name a few of their investors. Prior to Athos, DJ turned down a job with Apple straight from University to pursue his vision of creating the next generation of consumer fitness wearables with Athos. In Today's Episode with DJ You Will Learn: How DJ went from University to turning down Apple to founding Athos? How did DJ come to meet Chamath @ Social? How was the fundraising experience? What did Athos do well and what would DJ like to improve for the next round? How does DJ approach iteration and testing within product testing at Athos? What are the lessons DJ has learned in the manufacturing and iteration process with Athos? How does DJ approach business models for Athos today? Does DJ agree that the winners of hardware will be determined by software? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: DJ's Fave Book: Velocity: The 7 New Laws For A World Gone Digital As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and DJ on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Steve Schlafman is an early stage investor @ RRE Ventures, where he specialises on marketplaces, mobile services, and hardware. Steve is responsible for RRE's investments in theSkimm, Hightower, TinyBop, Breather, and Managed by Q. Prior to joining RRE as a Principal, Steve was a Principal and rockstar seed investor at Lerer Ventures. Before becoming a venture capitalist, Steve worked at Stickybits Inc. and Turntable.fm, and served as Director of Venture Investments at The Kraft Group. Steve also worked at Massive Inc. and at Microsoft, where he focused on Biz Dev Strategy and Corporate Finance. In Today's Episode with Steve You Will Learn: How Steve made his way into VC from Microsoft, to Kraft to startup to VC? Why does Steve think Seed to Series A is such a different ball game? What are the different characteristics encompassed within each? With such little data at seed, what does Steve's DD process look like? How does that affect his investment decision making process @ RRE? What is the valuation comparison between Seed and Series A? How is this determined and how has this changed since Steve's time at Lerer? Why do the best markets often appear small and become meaningful? How does Steve look to detect these small markets? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Steve's Fave Book: Who (Hiring Process), Work (Hiring @ Google), Leading (Michael Moritz) Steve's Fave Blog or Newsletter: AVC, Stratechery, The Skimm Steve's Most Recent Investment: Brightwheel As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Steve on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Justin Kan is a Partner @ world renowned, Y Combinator. The birthplace of the likes of Airbnb, Reddit, Dropbox, Stripe, Zenefits and many more incredible companies. Prior to YC, Justin co-founded SocialCam, acquired by Autodesk for $60m and Twitch.tv, the world's leading video platform and community for gamers, acquired by Amazon for $970m in 2014. In Today's Episode with Justin You Will Learn: How Justin came to found Twitch.tv and then later made the transition into VC with YC? Having been a YC alum, how has Justin seen YC as an institution change over time? How have the interviews, demo days, mentoring arrangements altered? How can YC keep the same quality of startup treatment with the mass scaling taking place? YC always positions itself as an accompaniment to the VC industry, does the new $700m YC growth fund not directly compete against VCs? What 3 qualities does Justin believes all good investors must have? How has Justin looked to establish his own personal brand? What has worked and what has not? Justin is very bullish on Snapchat, why so? What makes Justin so excited for the platform? How does Justin use it to such success? What would Justin like to see change in the platform? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Justin's Fave Book: Shogun Justin's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Nuzzel & The Information As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Justin on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Amir Elaguizy is the Founder & CEO @ YC backed, Cratejoy, the website builder and backend for subscription e-commerce stores. Cratejoy have funding from the likes of General Catalyst, Andreesen Horowitz, Y Combinator and Charles River Ventures With regards to Amir, he previously founded Market Zero, a poker software company which was acquired by Zynga, where he then spent time as a game CTO. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Amir came to be an entrepreneur, got acquired by Zynga and then started Cratejoy? 2.) With the recent acquisition of Dollar Shave Club, the subscription e-commerce business is hot, why does Amir think most people misunderstand the space? 3.) Amir previously said, 'owning recruiting is the single most important thing you can do', why does he believe this? Does Amir believe that the early team might not necessarily be the team to evolve from a $1m business to a $20m business? 4.) What is the difference between foundational team members and mercenary team members? What are the signs an individual is worth spending time to grow with? 5.) Amir previously said, 'most people have never received true direct feedback on performance', how does Amir look to differentiate himself? Is it suitable for the leadership to be the bad guy? 6.) How can the firing process be approached with respect and dignity? Should it ever be a surprise? If it is a surprise what does that suggest about your leadership previously? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Amir's Fave Book: Hard Thing About Hard Things Amir's Fave Podcasts: The Twenty Minute VC, SaaStr As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Amir on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here! 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. How Does It Work? Once you have launched your brief, designers will begin submitting quality designs for you to review. With some constructive feedback, you can quickly generate a large gallery of designs that really do fit your needs. You can have exactly what you need within just three days. Once you have selected your favourite design, you will be sent all the files you require to update your branding. If you don't like any of the submitted designs, then DesignCrowd offers a money back guarantee. So checkout designcrowd.com/VC and enter the promo code VC100 to get an astonishing $100 off your next project.

Sean Flynn is a Managing Partner @ Shasta Ventures where he invests in mobile-enabled consumer Internet and enterprise software companies. Sean has led Shasta's investments in Dollar Shave Club, Whisper and serves on the board of directors for the likes of TimeHop, Zefr, Swipely, Bloc and TigerText. Before joining Shasta, Sean worked at Yahoo, where he focused on growing the company's communication and messaging products such as Yahoo! Mail, Messenger, Groups and Flickr. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Sean made his way into VC from the titan that is Yahoo? Now today I want to do something slightly different and do a myth busting episode, take a couple of sectors and discuss whether they are truths and complexities to the core statement. 2.) Starting with the most common assumption in VC that it is all about team, to what extent does Sean place team ahead of product and is this a slight misconception? 3.) Many are saying mobile is a dying space. Sean previously said, 'it is not dead yet'. Why is there promise for mobile? What will be the catalyst of it's death? How does this affect Sean's investment decision making? 4.) Another much hyped topic is AR/VR, is the excitement surround AR and VR justified? Where does Sean stand on investing in the installation phase of cycles? 5.) Similar to AR/VR is the hype surround bots justified? What will be the sustainable business model for bots? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Sean's Fave Book: What Do You Do With An Idea Sean's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Nuzzel, 538 Blog Sean's Most Recent Investment: Tally As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Sean on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here! 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. How Does It Work? Once you have launched your brief, designers will begin submitting quality designs for you to review. With some constructive feedback, you can quickly generate a large gallery of designs that really do fit your needs. You can have exactly what you need within just three days. Once you have selected your favourite design, you will be sent all the files you require to update your branding. If you don't like any of the submitted designs, then DesignCrowd offers a money back guarantee. So checkout designcrowd.com/VC and enter the promo code VC100 to get an astonishing $100 off your next project.

Semil Shah is the founder of Haystack, an early stage investment firm now investing out of it's third fund, with previous investments being Instacart, DoorDash, Managed by Q. In the past he has also been a consultant to some of the leading funds in the valley including the likes of Kleiner Perkins, DFJ, General Catalyst and more. If that was not enough, Shah also has an extensive career in media having been a contributor for both TechCrunch and the Harvard Business Review in the past. Due to all of this Shah was listed by Marc Andreesen as one of his '55 Unknown Rockstars in Tech'. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Semil made his way into VC? How did he come to create Haystack? 2.) What were the challenges and concerns for Semil in raising and establishing his own fund? 3.) Question from Michelle Tandler: How does Semil send deals through to Series A? What is his 'cool' process? What are the commonalities of those that make it to Series A and those that do not? 4.) How has Semil approached the aspect of personal VC branding? How does he evaluate the rise of the personal VC brand in the last few years? 5.) Why does Semil believe he is not 'founder friendly' in the conventional sense? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Semil's Fave Book: Burmese Days by George Orwell Semil's Most Recent Investment: AquaCloud As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Semil on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here! 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. How Does It Work? Once you have launched your brief, designers will begin submitting quality designs for you to review. With some constructive feedback, you can quickly generate a large gallery of designs that really do fit your needs. You can have exactly what you need within just three days. Once you have selected your favourite design, you will be sent all the files you require to update your branding. If you don't like any of the submitted designs, then DesignCrowd offers a money back guarantee. So checkout designcrowd.com/VC and enter the promo code VC100 to get an astonishing $100 off your next project.

David Helgason is the Founder and Board Member @ Unity 3D. The company that recently announced a new $181m Series C, valuing the company at $1.5bn. Unity's platform has revolutionized the game industry by allowing any size studio from Indie to Triple-A to create beautiful and compelling games and experiences and monetize them with their advertising and analytics services. As for David, he served as CEO of Unity from its founding in 2003 right up until 2014 taking the company through numerous funding rounds including from the one and only Sequoia Capital. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How David came to found Unity 3D? 2.) How pivotal was the rise of the App stores to the rise of Unity 3D? What does David make of Apple's recent announcement to add paid search and subscription pricing? 3.) How does David evaluate the current gaming landscape? What does he not like abou the industry and how the major players are operating? 4.) What are David's thoughts on the emerging platforms like AR and VR? How does he incorporate them into Unity's future product roadmap? 5.) How was the fundraising process for David with Unity? How did the Sequoia investment happen and what has it been like to work with them and Roelof Botha? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: David's Fave Book: Guns, Germs & Steel As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and David on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here! 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. How Does It Work? Once you have launched your brief, designers will begin submitting quality designs for you to review. With some constructive feedback, you can quickly generate a large gallery of designs that really do fit your needs. You can have exactly what you need within just three days. Once you have selected your favourite design, you will be sent all the files you require to update your branding. If you don't like any of the submitted designs, then DesignCrowd offers a money back guarantee. So checkout designcrowd.com/VC and enter the promo code VC100 to get an astonishing $100 off your next project.

Alex Bangash is a Managing Director @ Rumson Group where he helps his clients invest in some of the best performing funds around the world. Alex has done just that having made over 50 investments into funds across the globe. If that was not enough he is also the founder of Trusted Insight, the worlds largest platform for institutional investors and backing from the first investors or founder @ Facebook, LinkedIn, Mint and Match.com. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Alex made his way into the world of investing in VC funds? 2.) Why does Alex believe the whole finance industry is backward looking? Is this why he thinks there is so much VC churn? 3.) Why does Alex believe VC is always about access? Is this why Alex has such a strong preference for funds that are also platforms? 4.) Why does Alex believe true early stage is getting smaller and smaller? How does his return expectations differ according to the size of the fund? 5.) What happens when funds do not go to plan or do not have notable exits to raise fund II? What happens then? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Alex's Fave Book: Ben Horowitz: Hard Thing About Hard Things, Peter Thiel: Zero To One Alex's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Paul Graham As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Alex on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here! 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. How Does It Work? Once you have launched your brief, designers will begin submitting quality designs for you to review. With some constructive feedback, you can quickly generate a large gallery of designs that really do fit your needs. You can have exactly what you need within just three days. Once you have selected your favourite design, you will be sent all the files you require to update your branding. If you don't like any of the submitted designs, then DesignCrowd offers a money back guarantee. So checkout designcrowd.com/VC and enter the promo code VC100 to get an astonishing $100 off your next project.

Jeff Bussgang is a Co-Founder and General partner @ Flybridge Capital, where has made investments in numerous incredible companies including 2 former guests of the show, Jeff Seibert @ Crashlytics (sold to Twitter) and Josh Udashkin @ Raden. Jeff is also a Senior Lecturer @ Harvard Business School where he has co-authored no less than 15 cases. He is also an author having written the renowned, Mastering The VC Game to the acclaim of The Financial Times, TechCrunch, BusinessWeek and more. Jeff also has an incredible blog, Seeing Both Sides, which you can find here. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Jeff made his way into VC? How did he come to co-found Flybridge? 2.) To what extent does Jeff believe there is a glass ceiling for people without operations experience to progress up the VC ladder? 3.) How can companies establish cultures and processes when they have to change and reinvent every 6-12 months? 4.) What are venture returns? What metrics does Jeff use to determine his success? 5.) Is a focus on unit economics now one of the only ways to achieve equity value creation? How can consumer adoption drive equity value creation? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Jeff's Fave Book: Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl Jeff's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Mattermark Daily Jeff's Most Recent Investment: Sentenai As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Jeff on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here! 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. How Does It Work? Once you have launched your brief, designers will begin submitting quality designs for you to review. With some constructive feedback, you can quickly generate a large gallery of designs that really do fit your needs. You can have exactly what you need within just three days. Once you have selected your favourite design, you will be sent all the files you require to update your branding. If you don't like any of the submitted designs, then DesignCrowd offers a money back guarantee. So checkout designcrowd.com/VC and enter the promo code VC100 to get an astonishing $100 off your next project.

Kyle Hill is the Co-Founder & CEO @ HomeHero, one of the largest providers of non-medical home care in California. HomeHero has provided over 1 million hours of care to thousands of families and won "Best Employment Website of 2014". Due to this immense success Kyle has been on CNN, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and many more. HomeHero has raised funds from some of the world's best investors including Chamath & Mamoon @ Social Capital, Jason Calacanis @ TWIST and Peter & Michael @ Science Inc. Click To Play UPVOTE ON PRODUCTHUNT In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Kyle came to found HomeHero? What was the a-ha moment for him? 2.) Question from Mamoon @ Social Capital: Considering that this is not your typical software business; being largely people centric, how does Kyle think about the profitability of such a business? 3.) How much of a role does unit economics lay in the mind of Kyle? How does Kyle look to balance growth with profitability? 4.) How was the fundraising process for Kyle with Chamath & Mamoon @ Social Capital? What did Kyle do to prepare for the pitch? What did Kyle do well? What would Kyle look to improve upon? How would Kyle like VCs to treat him as a Founder? 5.) ? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Kyle's's Fave Book: Black Swan Kyle's Fave Blog: The Best Designs.com As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Kyle on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here! 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. How Does It Work? Once you have launched your brief, designers will begin submitting quality designs for you to review. With some constructive feedback, you can quickly generate a large gallery of designs that really do fit your needs. You can have exactly what you need within just three days. Once you have selected your favourite design, you will be sent all the files you require to update your branding. If you don't like any of the submitted designs, then DesignCrowd offers a money back guarantee. So checkout designcrowd.com/VC and enter the promo code VC100 to get an astonishing $100 off your next project.

Brad Burnham is the Co-Founder & Managing Partner @ Union Square Ventures. I feel Brad is far better described by his partner Fred Wilson, than I ever could so this is Fred's words on Brad. "Brad and I founded USV together in 2003. We had both been in the venture business for more than a decade, had made a fair bit of money, but were still hungry to prove ourselves. Brad is the strategist and the most principled investor in our firm. It was Brad's idea to write a treatise on venture capital and the internet before we set off to raise our first fund and that exercise we did together continues to be our guiding light. Brad is the person behind phrases like "the application layer of the technology stack" and "large networks of engaged users" that I use all the time. He gives me most of my good stuff which I often get credit for." In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Brad made his way into VC? How did he come to co-found USV with Fred in 2003? 2.) How did Brad approach team building with USV? What does he look for in his partners? 3.) Brad has previously stated his belief that 'history does not repeat itself but it does rhyme. How does this affect Brad's view toward market cycles, the way tech is adopted and ultimately replaced? 4.) What does Brad make of the extension of the private market? Are we entering a period of consolidation? What makes Brad believe this? 5.) Looking back at the history of USV, what have been the inflection points in both the stature of the firm and then Brad's learnings as a VC? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Brad's Fave Book: The Irrational Optimist Brad's Most Recent Investment: OB1 As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Brad on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here! 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. How Does It Work? Once you have launched your brief, designers will begin submitting quality designs for you to review. With some constructive feedback, you can quickly generate a large gallery of designs that really do fit your needs. You can have exactly what you need within just three days. Once you have selected your favourite design, you will be sent all the files you require to update your branding. If you don't like any of the submitted designs, then DesignCrowd offers a money back guarantee. So checkout designcrowd.com/VC and enter the promo code VC100 to get an astonishing $100 off your next project.

Albert Wenger is a partner at Union Square Ventures, one of the world's leading VC firms with investments in Twitter, Twilio, Zynga, Soundcloud, Tumblr, Lending Club and many more. Before joining USV, Albert was the president of del.icio.us through the company's sale to Yahoo and an angel investor (Etsy, Tumblr). He previously founded or co-founded several companies, including a management consulting firm and an early hosted data analytics company. Albert also writes a fantastic blog at Continuations.com and did a brilliant Ted X Talk here! In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Albert made his way into the wonderful world of VC? 2.) Albert breaks down the differences between the instalment and the deployment phases of technology? At what stage USV choose to invest and why? 3.) How much of a role does valuation play in Albert's investment decision making process? At what level does speculation become irrational exuberance? 4.) Why does Albert want to limit network effects that are provided to winning companies? What does Albert think makes a contestable market? What are the characteristics? 5.) Why is Albert such a protagonist for the basic income guarantee? What are the challenges? How will this affect human's relationship to automation? What will mankind do with this increased abundance of time? 6.) Why does Albert believe that every individual has the right to be presented by a personal bot? What are the prominent use cases? How does it invert the power relationships between networks and their participants? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Albert's Fave Book: Beginning of Infinity Albert's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Azeem Azhar: The Exponential View Albert's Most Recent Investment: Clue: Period and Ovulation Tracker As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Albert on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here! 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. How Does It Work? Once you have launched your brief, designers will begin submitting quality designs for you to review. With some constructive feedback, you can quickly generate a large gallery of designs that really do fit your needs. You can have exactly what you need within just three days. Once you have selected your favourite design, you will be sent all the files you require to update your branding. If you don't like any of the submitted designs, then DesignCrowd offers a money back guarantee. So checkout designcrowd.com/VC and enter the promo code VC100 to get an astonishing $100 off your next project.

Frank Mycroft is the Founder & CEO @ Booster Fuels, the on-demand fuel delivery service backed by the likes of our friends at Maveron and Version One. As for Frank himself, he is literally a former rocket scientist with Nasa and has more degrees that I have done podcast episodes, making him one of the smartest guests we have ever had on the show. Directly prior to Booster Fuels, Frank was the VP of Strategy @ Planetary Resources, the Redmond based, asteroid mining company. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Frank came to Found Booster Fuels from his days with Nasa? 2.) How important a role does naivety play for founders starting building their company? 3.) With Fuel being such a low margin business, how does Frank balance growth vs profitability with Booster Fuels? What are the tips for doing so in the on-demand economy? 4.) When is the transition point between growth at all costs to focusing on profitability and unit economics? 5.) To what extent is regulation a limiting factor for the growth of Booster fuels? 6.) Question from Dave Wu @ Maveron: What did Frank look for in his Series A investors? Question from Angela @ Version One: What is Frank's wider vision for the future of on demand and Booster Fuels? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Frank's Fave Book: Oh The Places You'll Go As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Frank on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here! 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. How Does It Work? Once you have launched your brief, designers will begin submitting quality designs for you to review. With some constructive feedback, you can quickly generate a large gallery of designs that really do fit your needs. You can have exactly what you need within just three days. Once you have selected your favourite design, you will be sent all the files you require to update your branding. If you don't like any of the submitted designs, then DesignCrowd offers a money back guarantee. So checkout designcrowd.com/VC and enter the promo code VC100 to get an astonishing $100 off your next project.

Michael Kim is the founder and Managing Partner of Cendana Capital, a fund of funds which invests in seed VC funds. Michael has many of our previous guests in his portfolio including the likes of SoftTech, Freestyle, Founder Collective, Collaborative Fund and many more, clearly great minds think alike! Prior to Cendana, Michael was one of the original partners of Rustic Canyon Partners a VC firm with $1bn AUM. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Michael made his way into VC and then made the transition into the world of LP? 2.) Why have we seen the proliferation of seed funding? Is this a good thing for the economy? Is dumb money good or bad for the early stage environment? 3.) Chris Douvos states we will begin to see the hybridisation of LPs and GPs, does Michael agree? What are the inherent problems with this happening? 4.) What is Michael's blackbox for assessing emerging fund managers? What does he look for? How can they present their edge? 4.) How does Michael respond to Dave McClure's portfolio construction theory of allocating capital to many startups with the realisation that 0.5% become unicorns? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Michael's Fave Book: Catcher & The Rye Michael's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Techcrunch, The Twenty Minute VC As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Michael on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here! 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. How Does It Work? Once you have launched your brief, designers will begin submitting quality designs for you to review. With some constructive feedback, you can quickly generate a large gallery of designs that really do fit your needs. You can have exactly what you need within just three days. Once you have selected your favourite design, you will be sent all the files you require to update your branding. If you don't like any of the submitted designs, then DesignCrowd offers a money back guarantee. So checkout designcrowd.com/VC and enter the promo code VC100 to get an astonishing $100 off your next project.