#13 - Dan Scheinman (Board Member of Zoom, SentinelOne, Arista Networks) - Finding Outlier Founders & Angel Investing from Day One, Demystifying Public Boards, Winning in Competitive Markets

Dan Scheinman is a full-time Angel Investor and Board Member of Zoom, SentinelOne, and Arista Networks. He joins us today to share learnings about M&A from his time running Corp Dev at Cisco, backing multiple public companies from day one, and how public boards differ from private ones. There’s numerous anecdotes that Dan shares about how he finds outlier founders, how founders are able to succeed even when they’re building in already competitive markets, and tons of actionable advice for founders today on everything from focus to capital allocation to M&A decisions.

Where to Find Dan:

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danscheinman/

* Twitter: https://twitter.com/dscheinm

Where to Find Shomik:

* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shomikghosh21

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shomik-ghosh-a5a71319/

* Software Snack Bites Newsletter: https://www.shomik.substack.com

* Software Snack Bites Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google.

In this episode, we cover:

(00:56) - Dan’s Background & Stories About Cisco

(07:28) - How Cisco Was Able to Effectively Execute M&A (59,000% return since IPO)

(11:40) - Tips for When Founders Should Approach and Leverage M&A as an Acquiror

(13:45) - Finding Outlier Founders from Day One

(17:18) - SentinelOne, Zoom, Arista Founders Navigating and Succeeding in Already Crowded Markets

(24:58) - Premature Scaling as the Biggest Risk in Early Startups

(27:52) - Founder Transitions from Private to Public Markets

(31:19) - Balancing Internal & External Comms and Where All Hands Fall Short

(33:25) - Capital Allocation

(38:30) - Being an Effective Board Member

(42:51) - Why Focus is So Essential at the Pre/Early in Product Market Fit Stage

(51:41) - Being a Value Investor in Startups

How to Subscribe:

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shomik.substack.com