Embracing Contrarian Choices and the Importance of Optionality

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🧠 Think venture capital is just for tech bros and finance guys? Think again.

In this Tiger Sisters episode, we break down how venture capital really works — and how you can borrow the frameworks VCs use to make billion-dollar bets (and apply them to your own career, finances, and love life).

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲:

◦ What VCs actually do (explained in plain English)

◦ How investors evaluate startups — and how to evaluate yourself the same way

◦ Why venture capital is a power game, not just a money game

◦ The dark side of VC nobody talks about (and the pressure that comes with it)

◦ 3 frameworks you can steal from investors to level up your own life decisions

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⏰ Timestamps

00:00:00 What even is venture capital?

00:01:14 Case studies from HBS, GSB & real angel deals

00:03:35 Pre-seed to Series E: The VC funding ladder 🪜

00:05:53 Airbnb’s $600K seed round to $100B IPO

00:09:40 How VCs really evaluate startups (3-part framework)

00:13:06 TAM: Total Addressable Market vs. actual market

00:14:29 Why VC is a power game (not just a money game)

00:17:48 Burn book of venture capital 😈

00:19:10 The real pressure that comes with raising VC money

00:21:23 The biggest mistake founders make, according to Stanford

00:26:07 3 ways to apply VC thinking to your own life

00:29:56 “I turned down Harvard Business School” 🤯

00:30:46 Your mini-exercise: Make the bet you’re scared to make

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