Venture Capitalists - One Lesson of 25 Years

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John MacIntosh: I joined Venrock right out of my PhD in chemistry. He says his mentor, Tony Evanen, invited him to join the firm for a year or two. MacIntosh's first investment was series A of Illumina, the DNA sequencing business. "Ein elbow grease counts for an enormous amount," he says.

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Jason sits down with Bryan Roberts of Venrock for another episode of Angel Season 7! They discuss Bryan’s first bets (2:22) and his perception of the dot com bubble. (14:38) The two also dive into topics like creating optionality as a startup (21:24), bad habits in VC (28:49) and Theranos. (36:18) To wrap the show, Bryan and Jason discuss disagreeing with founders (39:07) and the psychology of placing bets! (44:33)

(0:00) Jason kicks off the show
(2:22) Bryan’s first investment: Illumina
(8:52) LinkedIn Jobs - Go to http://linkedin.com/angel and post your first job for free
(10:16) Bryan’s second investment: Athena Health
(14:38) Bryan’s experience during the dot-com bubble
(19:54) Merge - Get started by integrating up to 5 linked accounts for free today at merge.dev/twist
(21:24) Creating optionality in a startup
(25:30) Understanding your leaders
(28:49) Bad habits in venture
(34:55) Velocity Growth - Get $500 off your first growth audit or monthly package now with promo code TWIST at velocitygrowth.com/twist
(36:18) Bryan’s thoughts on Theranos
(39:07) Diligence and disagreements with founders
(44:33) The psychology of placing bets + advice for founders

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