Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders

Fabrice Grinda, Super Angel // Marketplaces, Buying An Island & Hundreds of Millions In Exits

Apr 3, 2019

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Fabrice Grinda

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ANECDOTE

Radical Minimalism Reset

Fabrice sold most of his possessions, gave many to charity, and reduced to about 50 items to redesign his life.
He tried couch-surfing, failed, then found a month-on/month-off model that balanced New York intensity with Caribbean reflection.

INSIGHT

Why Big Scale Can Lose Its Thrill

Fabrice felt his role as CEO of a large, publicly traded group stopped being fun despite huge scale and impact.
He preferred zero-to-one startup creation over managing slow, process-driven incumbents.

ANECDOTE

Ramen, Couch, Then Cash Positive

During 2001–2003 Fabrice missed payroll 27 times, slept in the office, and lived mostly on ramen while building a mobile-content company.
Becoming cash-flow positive on August 15, 2003 changed everything and led to rapid revenue growth and profitability.

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Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/SGPMfHxFmgo

Fabrice Grinda has been called the most prolific angel investor in the world, even being ranked #1 in Forbes based on investment volume + number of exits.

He's exited hundreds of millions of dollars from 500+ investments in companies like Alibaba, Viagogo, Tencent, Airbnb, Betterment, Uber, Fanduel & Palantir.

Before setting up his "startup studio" & investment fund, he started and sold multiple companies including OLX, the leading "Craigslist" marketplace of countries like India, Brazil & Pakistan.

But things weren't always so rosy.

Fabrice shares stories of living on $2/day, living in his office because he couldn't afford an apartment & missing payroll 27 times!

We also discuss the future of marketplaces, how he'd think of business ideas if starting today, the science of happiness, minimalism, and why we're still at the very beginning of the tech revolution.

Here are five things to listen out for:

Reasons to be optimistic – why we're the luckiest people in the world to be alive at this time and why we're only at 1% of the tech revolution
Minimalism – from living on a 20-acre estate in Bedford, New York, to "island shopping" and then selling all his possessions – Fabrice has lived both extremes and shares his perspective on a healthy balance
The Science of Happiness – factors that make people happy and hacks to maximize your own "mean level of happiness"
The Future of Marketplaces – 3 trends in marketplace businesses and a framework for thinking about business ideas
How Venture Capital Works – the typical startup fundraising cycle, from initial investment to venture capital at series A, B, C etc.

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Full show notes: https://www.creatorlab.fm/fabrice-grinda-fj-labs-interview/

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