My guests today are Bill Gurley and Chetan Puttagunta, both partners at benchmark capital. We review the early stage investing world in the face of coronavirus in a very timely conversation, which is one that will remain valuable once this crisis is done. We discuss enterprise and consumer, funding and growth, and the entrepreneurial spirit in the face of a crisis. Please enjoy.

This episode is brought to by Koyfin.

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.

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Show Notes

1:44 – (First question) – Landscape for venture capital ecosystem

6:47 – The experience in 2009 and the entrepreneurs that tend to rise to the top

8:24 – The relationship between early stage companies and public investors

10:45 – How this crisis impacts enterprise businesses vs the broader corporate sector

14:46 – Advice for early stage companies in a period like this

18:23 – What Chetan was doing during the last downturn and what he learned during it

20:27 – Early stage vs late stage companies in this environment

            22:57 – On the Road to Recap

23:00 – Benefits of being small in a period like this

25:22 – How portfolio companies are responding and pivoting during this period

29:33 – Best practices for remote companies

31:39 – Themes that stand out during this period

34:51 – Closing thoughts 

Learn More

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub

Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag