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

David Frankel is the Managing Partner at Founder Collective, one of the world's most successful seed funds with investments in the likes of Uber, Hunch, Makerbot and About.me. Prior to Founder Collective, David was the Founder and CEO of Internet Solutions, one of the largest ISP providers in Africa. Following it’s acquisition David made his move into the investing game becoming one of the very first ‘super angels’, following exceptional success in this field, David along with Eric Paley (coming on the show on Wednesday) and Micah Rosenbloom founded Founder Collective, a seed stage venture fund whereby everyone at Founder Collective has started a technology company, they have lived and breathed the founder experience, a true founder friendly venture fund. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did David make his move into the wonderful world of venture from being a founder and 'super angel'? 2.) Question from Spencer Lazar @ General Catalyst: How has David evolved as an investor over time? Has his strategy and approach altered? 3.) David has experienced some immense cycles both up and down, how has he seen the seed funding environment evolve? 4.) What was it like working with Chris Dixon from a16z? What advice would David give to someone looking to maintain or create a network around them? What other sources of deal flow do you utilize? How do you most like to be approached? 5.) How did FC's investment in Uber come about? What does David make of the regulatory hurdles Uber face with regards to employees or contractors? What is the future for Uber? 6.) What can we expect from Founder Collective? What is David excited about and why? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: David's Fave Book: Eating Well For Optimum Health, Playing The Enemy David's Fave Blog: Dan Primack, Term Sheet David's Most Recent Investment: Pillpack As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC 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 Instagram here!

Steve O’Hear is best known as a technology journalist, currently at TechCrunch where he focuses on European startups, companies and products. He first joined TechCrunch in November 2009 as Contributing Editor for TechCrunch Europe, where he worked alongside Editor Mike Butcher to help build TechCrunch’s European coverage. However, in June 2011 having caught the startup bug, Steve took a break from journalism to co-found the London and Prague-based startup Beepl. In November 2012, Beepl was acquired by Brand Embassy. Steve is also the writer and director of the critically acclaimed Silicon Valley documentary ‘In Search of the Valley’. Before we delve into the show today, our dear friend and kind donator, Brad Feld has agreed to do a competition giveaway featuring signed copies of his amazing book, Venture Deals, all you have to do to be in with a chance is headover to the website at www.thetwentyminutevc.com and sign up for our newsletter. It’s that simple. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) Where did it all start for Steve, how did you make he make his entrance into the tech industry, journalism and then founding Beepl? 2.) How did Steve find the transition from journalist to entrepreneur? What were the hardest aspects of the journey? What surprised Steve about the fundraising process for Beepl? 3.) In such a crowded space such as news generation, what is it about TechCrunch that makes it The Bible to the tech community? 4.) Obviously articles and news brings comments from the community. How do TechCrunch try and engage and unite the community? Have there been any difficulties with the commenting process etc? 5.) How does a platform like TechCrunch plan to monetize content with the ever disappearing ad dollar? Is it something that concerns TechCrunch? 6.) Where does Steve think we are going in both wider media and journalism? Is journalism heading to the short form with the increasing prominence of platforms such as Buzzfeed? How does the industry Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Steve's Fave Book: The Big Sleep Steve's Fave Blog: Tech.eu As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Steve 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 Instagram here!

Jeppe Zink is the General Partner at Northzone, who have investments in the likes of Spotify, Bloglovin and TrustPilot, just to name a few. Jeppe himself established the London office of Northzone and his primary areas of focus are fintech, SaaS, marketplaces and mobile and has made investments in Wallapop, SpaceApe Games and many more. Before we delve into the show today, our dear friend and kind donator, Brad Feld has agreed to do a competition giveaway featuring signed copies of his amazing book, Venture Deals, all you have to do to be in with a chance is headover to the website at www.thetwentyminutevc.com and sign up for our newsletter. It’s that simple. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Hussein mad his way into the wonderful world of venture? 2.) What was it like to start a new fund with Hoxton and why did Hussein leave the security of Accel to start his own? 3.) Why did Hussein believe this was the stage with the most opportunity? Does he think there is too much capital chasing too few deals? 4.) With DarkTrace (portfolio company), Hoxton were the only VC money in at the early stage? How did that come about and what was it about Hoxton that made Mike take your money? 5.) Why did Hussein choose to setup the fund in London? What does he think is driving the surge in European tech with the rise of the Nordics etc? 6.) With Steve O’Hear Hussein stated he looks for brand new markets that are going to be formed (Playfish)? What does he think those are? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Jeppe's Fave Book: Zero To One, Startup Growth Engines Jeppe's Fave Blog: Strictly VC Jeppe's Productivity Tools: CityMapper, Genius Jeppe's Most Recent Investment: CrossLend As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Jeppe 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 Instagram here!

Hussein Kanji really is a pedigree in the industry having started off his career with Microsoft, he made the leap into venture with Accel Partners where he was a board observer with the likes of Playfish, acquired by Electronic Arts and made seed investments in the likes of OpenGamma and Dapper acquired by Yahoo. Following such success, Hussein raised his own fund and is now the founder of Hoxton Ventures, a 2013 fund with $40m under management. Despite, Hoxton’s age their portfolio is immense with the likes of Deliveroo, DarkTrace by the famous Mike Lynch from Autonomy and Campanja, recently acquired by 24/7 customer. Before we delve into the show today, our dear friend and kind donator, Brad Feld has agreed to do a competition giveaway featuring signed copies of his amazing book, Venture Deals, all you have to do to be in with a chance is headover to the website at www.thetwentyminutevc.com and sign up for our newsletter. It’s that simple. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Hussein mad his way into the wonderful world of venture? 2.) What was it like to start a new fund with Hoxton and why did Hussein leave the security of Accel to start his own? 3.) Why did Hussein believe this was the stage with the most opportunity? Does he think there is too much capital chasing too few deals? 4.) With DarkTrace (portfolio company), Hoxton were the only VC money in at the early stage? How did that come about and what was it about Hoxton that made Mike take your money? 5.) Why did Hussein choose to setup the fund in London? What does he think is driving the surge in European tech with the rise of the Nordics etc? 6.) With Steve O’Hear Hussein stated he looks for brand new markets that are going to be formed (Playfish)? What does he think those are? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Hussein's Fave Book: The Second Bounce Of The Ball: Ronald Cohen, Flowers from Algernon Hussein's Fave Blog: Josh Koppelman: Redeye VC, Abnormal Returns As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Hussein 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 Instagram here!

Willie Biggart is the Chairman @ Spoonfed, a startup on the cusp of 2 extremely hot sectors, SaaS and food. Spoonfed offers a new way for catering companies and restaurants to take advantage of the growing corporate food drop off market. They are currently raising a £500,000 round on SyndicateRoom, which you can check out here! With regards to Willie himself, Willie founded his own business, BD Network in 1990 and exited in 2002 and BD Ntwk is now one of Europe’s largest marketing agencies. Since 1990 Willie has started, developed and sold 3 businesses. CLICK TO PLAY In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Willie make his move into the entrepreneurial path and come to be Chairman of Spoonfed? 2.) Why does Willie believe it is more beneficial to have SaaS based businesses rather than people based businesses? 3.) Often the hardest problem for SaaS businesses is finding their first customers, how did Willie go about getting Spoonfed's initial user base? 4.) What strategies did Willie undertake to try and understand what features his customers wanted and then how to attract them? 5.) Why does Willie believe the food tech space has seen explosive growth, both in the UK and the US? 5.) Having invested and raised money in the seed round of the funding cycle, both as investor and operator, what advice would Willie give for founders entering a seed round. Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: SpoonFed's Current Fundraising Campaign on SyndicateRoom Willie's Fave Book: Eric Ries: The Lean Startup, The E-Myth Revisited Willie's Blog or Newsletter: Kenny Fraser, Sunstone Communications As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC, Ashish and LawTrades 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 Instagram here!

Mark Suster is Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures which he joined in 2007, having previously worked with Upfront for nearly 8 years as a two-time entrepreneur. Before joining Upfront Mark was Vice President, Product Management at Salesforce.com following its acquisition of Koral, where Mark was Founder and CEO. Prior to Koral, Mark was Founder and CEO of BuildOnline, a European SaaS company that was acquired by SWORD Group. Mark is also the writer of one of my favourite VC blogs, Both Sides Of The Table which is a centre piece to the whole VC community and is a must read for all interested in entrepreneurship and VC. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Mark make his way into the world of tech and later make the transition to VC? 2.) How have Mark's entrepreneurial origins influenced his investment style and approach to startups? 3.) What really gets Mark excited in terms of the founders and the companies they have built? 4.) How does Mark recommend that startup founders can meet investors and get those initial meetings? 5.) What sector is Mark most excited by and why? 6.) Mark has said in the past 'too much money too early often fucks companies up'. Why is that and how should founders determine what is the right amount to raise? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: My Fave of Mark's Posts: Entrepreneur DNA, I Invest In Lines Not Dots Mark's Fave Book: The Accidental Superpower Mark's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Stratechery, Ben Evans, Chris Dixon, Tom Tunguz Mark's Most Recent Investment: Mitu Networks As always you can follow Harry, Mark, The Twenty Minute VC and Upfront Ventures 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 Instagram here!

Antoine Nussenbaum, founding principal at Felix Capital who backs creative digital lifestyle startups. He discusses Felix’s creative-and-tech investment thesis, why Europe (and London) matters for consumer tech, their advisor-heavy model and Series A/B focus. Topics include brand-building for millennials, marketplaces like The Food Assembly, and how Felix differentiates through creative operators.

Ashish Walia is the Co-Founder & COO at 500 Startups portfolio company, LawTrades. LawTrades aims to decentralise the traditional legal hiring process through providing an amazing marketplace of attorneys with domain experience in the startup world having worked with companies from the likes of YC, Techstars and 500. Ashish is also the Host of The Ashish Walia Show, a podcast dedicated to interviewing the latest and greatest world changing entrepreneurs, you can listen to Harry's interview on The Ashish Walia Show here! In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) I would love to kick off today’s show by hearing a little about your background and the origins of LawTrades? What was the a-ha moment for you? 2.) Was Ashish nervous leaving the security of the legal profession for the life of a tech founder? What would Ashish advise people who want to make the leap but are not sure if it is worth risking everything? 3.) The legal space is about a century behind the rest of the consumerised world of tech, why is there this divergence between the advancement of tech and the lacking progression of the legal space? 4.) How did Ashish come to raise funds from 500? What was the process and interview like? Why did Ashish choose 500 out of all the accelerators? What were the challenging and surprising elements of the fundraising journey? 6.) What would Ashish do differently if he was founding LawTrades again? What does Ashish wish he had been told before he became an entrepreneur? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Ashish's Fave Book: Peter Thiel: Zero To One Ashish's Fave Entrepreneurial Resources: Gary Vaynerchuk, This Week In Startups, How To Start A Startup Ashish's Fave Blog: James Altucher, Tim Ferriss, As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC, Ashish and LawTrades 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 Instagram here! We would like to say a special thank you to our partner for this very special 500 Startups Feature Week, LawTrades, the go to place for startups and VCs to get their legal work done. For all 20VC listeners LawTrades are offering a special $150 off your first piece of legal work when you mention ‘The Twenty Minute VC’. You can follow them on Twitter here!

Marvin is a Partner at 500 Startups, running the SF based accelerator program as well as investing in Seed stage start ups. Prior to 500 Marvin is a 10.5 year veteran of Yahoo! Inc., having held roles in various departments from Sales, Business Development, Ad Operations and Marketing and presently serves on the boards/advisory boards of several internet advertising and ad technology companies across the globe. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Marvin make his move into technology and the investing game? 2.) How was Marvin's time at Yahoo? How did Marvin see the company change over the 10 years he was there? How do you feel your position at Yahoo equipped you for 500 Startups? 3.) So coming from 10 years at Yahoo you could have had your pick of VCs to join. What was it about 500 that attracted you and why do you believe this very early stage is the biggest opportunity to exploit? 4.) 500 has now ironically invested in 1000+ startups, leading me to ask, what is the admissions process like and what Marvin's criteria at 500 for investment decisions? What are the key metrics you look at? 5.) How does Marvin respond to the notion that investing with 500 Startups removes the talent of investing through the spray and pray method? 6.) Now 500 Startups has recently raises an new $85m fund, alongside a new fund of $30m for Japan, $10m for South East Asia and a $10m fund for Thailand. So firstly, does this prove that the 500 model is successfully scaling? What does the future hold for 500? Where do you see the most innovation and progress? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Marvin's Fave Book:The Art of Worldly Wisdom, The 4 Hour Work Week Marvin's Fave Productivity Tool: Evernote, Calendly.com Marvin's Fave Blog: James Clear, James Altucher, Tim Ferriss, Fred Wilson, Mark Suster Marvin's Most Interesting Investments: Neighborly, Agfunder As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC, Marvin and 500 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 Instagram here! We would like to say a special thank you to our partner for this very special 500 Startups Feature Week, LawTrades, the go to place for startups and VCs to get their legal work done. For all 20VC listeners LawTrades are offering a special $150 off your first piece of legal work when you mention ‘The Twenty Minute VC’. You can follow them on Twitter here!

Matt Lerner is a Distro Partner with 500 Startups, and runs their London office. He specializes in conversion optimization, analytics, engagement and retention. As a member of the in-house growth (AKA “Distro”) team, he partners with 500 portfolio companies to help them build growth engines and scale. Previously, as a 500 Startups Mentor, Matt helped over 40 companies develop and execute growth strategies. Prior to joining 500 Startups, he worked as a Marketing Director at PayPal, where he built and managed three growth teams that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue across the funnel. Here are some of Matt's amazing growth hacking slide decks: 10 Growth Hacking Tools To Disrupt Your Competitors Growth Hacking 101 For your chance to win a signed copy of Brad Feld's amazing Venture Deals, all you have to do is click the click to tweet link here: http://ctt.ec/C61w6 and you will be entered into the competition. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Matt made his move from Paypal to VC with 500Startups? 2.) What is the mission at 500 in London with the Distro? What is the investment thesis? Preferred round? Sector? What process do you take the companies through when they are with you in the Dojo? 3.) What does growth hacking really mean? Is it not another BS new techie term? 4.) What has Matt found to be some of the most effective growth hacks and why? What are the biggest mistakes companies make with regards to growth? How can they avoid them? 5.) When does Matt think a company should start to focus on growth? 6.) Who does Matt personally admire and think has been extremely effective and why? What campaigns or pieces of work have led him to this conclusion? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Matt's Recent Investments: Tom Beverly: Fy, Tamatem Matt's Fave Book: Do You Talk Funny: The Guide To Public Speaking, The One Thing You Need To Know Matt's Fave Newsletter: Doug Scott, Susan Su: Distro Snack, Tim Ferriss Podcast Matt's Growth Hacking Idols: Dave McClure: Pirate Metrics Talk, Sean Ellis: Inventor of Growth Hacking Term, Andy Johns @ WealthFront, As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC, Matt and 500 Startups 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 Instagram here! We would like to say a special thank you to our partner for this very special 500 Startups Feature Week, LawTrades, the go to place for startups and VCs to get their legal work done. For all 20VC listeners LawTrades are offering a special $150 off your first piece of legal work when you mention 'The Twenty Minute VC'. You can follow them on Twitter here!