A lot of the companies that face it, they didn't have a path to profitability. In a way, they were similar to crypto companies where they were experimenting and building products. There was no revenue or customer base for them to fall back to whereas Uber or Postmates or Airbnb had real business here. It's hard to right size your business in 1999 or 2000 eyeballs.
Jason is joined by FirstMark Capital’s Rick Heitzmann, who started his investment career in 1999. They discuss “sobering up” after the 14-year bull run (1:55), Airbnb’s response to the downturn (7:38), how senior leaders must act as shock absorbers for their founders (26:30), and more!
(0:00) Jason kicks off the show
(1:55) Rick’s experience of the “Speculative Asset Bubble”
(7:38) Airbnb’s reaction to the downturn
(11:33) LinkedIn Jobs - Go to https://linkedIn.com/angel and post your first job for free
(12:58) Rick’s memory of the Dot Com bubble
(19:39) Advice for founders in a downturn
(22:27) Embroker - Use code TWIST to get an extra 10% off insurance at https://Embroker.com/twist
(23:29) How CAC and LTV have changed
(26:30) The emotional state of Founders and keeping them focused
(35:09) Term sheets in the Dot Com era and today
(40:06) Letterhead - get 50% off their first year at tryletterhead.com/twist
(41:21) Different forms of exits + Key attributes in founders
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FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis
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