INDIE AUDIO

Terminal NYC with Reggie James

Jan 23, 2025

Bryce Roberts, a leading venture capitalist from OATV known for his indie investment thesis, joins Reggie James, tech innovator and coiner of 'indie-pilled'. Together, they dive into the current dynamics of venture capital, highlighting the shift from rapid returns to sustainable growth. They discuss the importance of cash flow and customer needs, the evolution of seed funding, and the impact of AI and cryptocurrency. With humor and personal stories, they explore challenges in startup culture and the philosophy of ephemeral entrepreneurship, advocating for mindful, independent business practices.

01:03:40

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Episode guests

Reggie James

Bryce Roberts

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Bryce Roberts' journey into tech highlights the shift from traditional pathways, revealing how entrepreneurship can evolve through unexpected experiences.

The current state of seed investing emphasizes rapid growth and high returns, often overshadowing the sustainability of business models in the startup ecosystem.

Roberts advocates for the indie philosophy, promoting independence from venture capital while focusing on sustainable growth and cash flow over inflated valuations.

Deep dives

Bryce Roberts' Journey into Technology and Venture Capital

Bryce Roberts shares his unexpected journey into the tech world, starting with the Y2K scare which led him to work on an SAP implementation at a large company during his undergraduate studies. Initially aspiring to become a lawyer, he shifted gears after realizing his entrepreneurial interests and began his career by creating a custom ski-making company, which ultimately failed. His break into venture capital came when he joined a local fund in Utah, where he quickly grasped the industry before launching his own firm, O'Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures. This fund was notable for its focus on seed investing and reinvigorated interest in smaller acquisitions as the market shifted towards more accessible opportunities for early-stage investments.

Intro

5min

Navigating Career Decisions in a Small Market

5min

Evolving Seed Funding Dynamics

22min

Rethinking Venture Capital Strategies

11min

Navigating Startup Challenges

8min

The Philosophy of Ephemeral Entrepreneurship

2min

Evolving Funding Models for Startups

11min

On my flight to NYC last week, I casually asked if there were any events happening in the city while I was there.

Reggie, who you may remember from his New Hardware video, and as the person who coined the term “indie-pilled”, replied that we should do one of our own.

So we did.

Thankfully we had our cameras in tow and were able to record the conversation. It turned into a nearly 2hr Q&A on all things indie, the current state of venture, the evolution of seed, the role of secondaries in venture, and some funny untold indie lore.

In the video, Reggie mentions a piece he recently wrote titled “Lies My Teacher Told Me”, which set some timely context for this event.

From the essay:

"The point of this is short. The new thing has to look like the new thing, which makes it hard to pattern match to the previous new thing. But pattern matching is at the heart of de-risking. This creates a weird loop of advice.

The previous advice of zero interest rates and Snapchat as the last big thing for consumer software was to grow at all costs / monetize later / find novel behavior.

Nikita Bier showed all of this was wrong with Gas App. Monetize directly in the V1. De-risk through known behavior. Growth inputs must be advantageously proportional to the monetization in the V1.

There wouldn’t be a single VC that could share this advice. As a result, we’ve only had 1 US consumer internet win since Snapchat."

My sense is that that’s why indie is resonating so strongly this time around. As we wrote in our FACTS section:

"The game has changed. ZIRP-era playbooks of VC treadmills, pump and dump schemes, and growth at all costs have aged like milk. The future belongs to real builders, building real businesses.

There’s a time-tested playbook for building generational companies — less time fundraising, more time building, with a focus on the fundamentals. Most of the iconic companies of the past, think Amazon, Microsoft, and Google as well as emerging leaders like Midjourney, Vanta, and Zapier, have followed a similar playbook.

We’ve built our firm from the ground up with this playbook in mind."

This is the future we’re been building towards, and it seems to be hitting an inflection point.

Thanks to Reggie and the team at Earshot for hosting us and making this happen on short notice.

Hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed having this conversation.

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INDIE AUDIO

Terminal NYC with Reggie James

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Bryce Roberts' Journey into Technology and Venture Capital

The Evolution of Seed Investing

Cultural Shifts in Entrepreneurship and Fundraising

The Concept of Indie and Its Impact on Startups

Challenges and Opportunities for Future Entrepreneurs

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts