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

Spencer Lazar is a Principal at General Catalyst Partners, based in New York City. He focuses on early stage software & internet investments, with a particular interest in online marketplaces, mobile applications, web services, and enterprise IT. Spencer was previously the cofounder of Spontaneously, Inc - an iOS development studio. Prior to that he was an early stage software & internet investor at Accel in London, where he sourced and worked with companies including Hailo, Birchbox, Bonobos, ForgeRock, and Qriously. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: How is the roads into the venture industry changing? What young people can do to make themselves more attractive to VCs? What would make Spencer's perfect founder? How important is geography when investing in startups? How does Spencer feel the education technology space is developing? What metrics Spencer examines when investing in a startup? What sectors is Spencer most interested in? Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Spencer's Favourite Book: The Everything Store on Jeff Bezos Spencer's Latest Investment: CampusJob Insight Venture Partners How Lightspeed's Jeremy Liew invested in Snapchat? Hot EdTech Startups: Lynda.com, PluralSight, General Assembly, Grovo, ClimbCredit Oscar, Sensio As always you can follow Harry, Spencer and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

Anand Sanwal, CEO and Co-founder of CB Insights, shares his journey in tracking financing trends across various industries. He discusses why he opted out of venture capital funding and advocates for customer-focused funding strategies. Anand also reveals his innovative hiring tactics and the essential metrics for consumer tech success. He addresses challenges in company culture and the evolving role of CB Insights in the funding landscape, all while reflecting on the importance of patience in growth.

Quote of the Day: "Capital is a crappy differentiator". Dustin Dolginow Christian Claussen is a Managing Partner with Ventech, a VC firm with offices in Munich and Paris. He has 16 years of experience investing in innovation and he leads Ventech investment activities in the German-speaking regions of Europe. He serves as a board member for Picanova and TV Smiles. In today's amazing episode with Christian we learn: Which value adds are most important for founders to look for? How can Founders determine whether VCs will carry out on their 'Value Add'? What are the signs of VC bulls***? Will we see all VCs transition to Andreesen Horowitz service based VC model? How have VCs offerings to startups changed over time? What advice would Christian provide to founders entering a round of funding? Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Christian's Favourite Book: Phillip Roth: Everyman Christian's Article on VC Value Add Speex: Online Language Training That Really Works Andreesen Horowitz As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

Rob Moffat is Principal at Balderton Capital, one of London's leading VC firms. At Balderton Rob specialises in Fintech, Martech, Gaming and Marketplaces. Rob is currently a board director or observer with six portfolio companies: Qubit, Wooga, Housetrip, Carwow, Rentify and Nutmeg. Other investments Rob has been involved with at Balderton include Citymapper, Top10, Scoot and Archify. Prior to joining Balderton Rob worked for Google in London, as a Manager in the European Strategy and Operations team. He started his career with five years in strategy consulting with Bain, working mostly with financial services clients. In today's amazing discussion with Rob we discover: What characteristics make a great VC? How VCs assess incoming business plans and investment opportunities? The biggest problem facing Rob today, as Principal at Balderton? How the structure of VC firms is changing to a service based environment? Does Crowdfunding pose a threat to VC as a alternative method of finance? For individuals wanting to move into Venture, what can they do to optimise their employability in the VC world? Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Rob Moffat: Medium Rob's Favourite Book: The Circle: Dave Eggers Crowdcube Just Park Nutmeg: Online Investment Management As always you can follow Harry, Rob and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

Alan Chiu is a Partner at XSeed Capital, with a strong background in enterprise software and data storage. Alan is currently Vice President for Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs, an alumni association that seeks to strengthen Stanford’s startup community by fostering relationships among entrepreneurs and alumni investors. Prior to XSeed, Alan was previously Director of Product Management at Bycast (acquired by NetApp), and was engineering manager at Creo, which was acquired by Kodak for $1B in cash. In todays amazing discussion with Alan we discover: What the checklist is for Alan when investing in startups? Why Stanford is the amazing place it is for startups? What is the most important value add that VCs can bring to a startup? When is the right time to pivot and how important is a product roadmap? As always you can follow Harry, Alan and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

Alan Jones is Chief Growth Hacker at Bluechilli, who have set the incredible goal of building 100 startups by 2016! Alan is also Founding Investor and Mentor at Startmate, an Australian Y Combinator style accelerator. If that wasn't enough Alan also invests and advises through Blackbird Ventures, Pollenizer and Startmate. In Today's Amazing Discussion with Alan We Discover: What you should do when you have a great idea? How to validate a market? How to figure out if it is a viable business? What can non technical co-founders do to get their idea of the ground? What individuals can do to meet technical co-founders? What are the biggest tips for entrepreneurs when facing a pitch? Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Dan Ariely: Predictably Irrational Tzukuri: Bluetooth Wearable Technology TreeHouse Quora OtherLevels: Mobile Marketing Automation Platform

Doug Scott has one of the largest AngelList syndicates, now with an incredible £396,000 in his. Doug is one of first investors in Techstars, Ignite.io and Entrepreneurs First in Europe ( still an investor in all 3 ). Prior to angel investing Doug founded several internet companies based in the UK, carrentals.co.uk - over 1 million rentals, discountvouchers.co.uk - 6 million subscribers, timetobreak.com - over 5 milion page views per day. In today's discussion Harry and delves into what Doug really expects from founders, how Doug would like to be pitched by prospective startups, is AngelList challenging the VC model, what investors and startups can expect from Doug's syndicate, his biggest tip to an aspiring entrepreneur and much more... Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Doug's AngelList Syndicate, Gil Dibner's AngelList Syndicate, Tim Jackson AngelList Syndicate Oxygen Accelerator, Jon Bradford, Springboard Cashkaro, Meals, Lifebox, Chew You can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Doug on Twitter here!

Charlie O'Donnell, founder of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, shares his experiences in the VC industry, including his time at Union Square Ventures and First Round Capital. The conversation explores the New York tech scene, investing in hardware, and highlights Canary Home Security's successful series B funding. The chapter also discusses the importance of building a personal brand in the venture capital industry, the role of Kickstarter as a financing method, the simplicity of ideas with profound impact, and the perks of using Instagram as a marketing tool for startups. Additionally, the episode explores Hunger Root, a consumer packaged goods company, and their recent investment in Tinker Garden, a distributed network of kids' classes.

James Altucher, a successful entrepreneur, investor, and writer, discusses ideas generation, investing strategies, traits of great founders, the future of Uber, and the scam of university education in this entertaining podcast.

Jason Calacanis is arguably the world's greatest angel investor with over 60 investments including the likes of Uber (1st round), ThumbTack and Calm, just to name a few. Jason is also the Host of This Week In Startups, the world's biggest startup podcast and Founder of Launch and Launch Festival, the world's biggest startup festival. In this interview we discuss, how Jason invested in Uber's 1st round, what Jason looks for in startups, how Jason can tell whether a founder has got what it takes, which VC's Jason most likes to work with, which entrepreneurs Jason most likes to invest in, what pisses Jason off more than anything, what inspires him more than anything, what industries will see the most disruption in the coming years, what makes a great entrepreneur and how startups can position themselves best for entering a round of funding. Enjoy! All show notes, links and resources from this episode can be found at http://www.thetwentyminutevc.com and you can follow Harry, Jason and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter. Mentioned in Today's Show: Bill Gurley, Jonathan Triest, Chamath Palihapitiya Bento: Delicious Asian Food Delivered in Minutes Butterfleye: Google's Nest Meets Dropcam Birdi: Better Than A Smoke Detector