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20VC: CB Insights' Anand Sanwal on The Most Dangerous Myth Some Investors Have Promoted, Why Most B2B Content Is Crap and How To Make It Successful & Why Predigree Is Overrated and The Right Way To Scale Teams

Dec 7, 2018

Anand Sanwal, Founder and CEO of CB Insights, talks about the advantages of revenue funding, common mistakes in scaling teams, and the importance of serving clients. He also discusses building an operating system for enterprise growth and reflects on CB Insights' success.

34:41

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Episode guests

Anand Sanwal

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Quick takeaways

Revenue funding is the best kind of funding as it is the cheapest, provides validation, and helps achieve product-market fit quickly.

Scaling teams requires recognizing the need for different types of leaders, improving communication, and keeping the team updated on progress and game plan.

Deep dives

Revenue funding as the best source of capital

According to Anand Sanwal, founder and CEO at CB Insights, revenue funding is the best source of funding for several reasons. First, it is the cheapest form of capital and provides validation for what you are building. Second, it gives clarity on where to focus as an organization. And third, it helps achieve product-market fit quickly by gathering insights from customers. Sanwal emphasizes the importance of being data-driven and how revenue funding can lead to sustainable growth without relying on constant rounds of financing.

Early career - cosmo

01:36

Growth with positive unit economics

01:00

Introduction

2min

Introduction to Start Engine and Interview with the Founder and CEO of CB Insights

3min

Benefits of Revenue Funding

19min

Mistakes and Challenges in Scaling Teams

6min

Building an Operating System for Enterprise Growth and Sponsor Messages

4min

Anand Sanwal is the Founder & CEO @ CB Insights, the tech market intelligence platform that ingests massive datasets, to answer complex questions and predict future trends. CB is the 9th best place to work in the US according to GlassDoor and one of the fastest growing SaaS companies in the US. To date, CB Insights has raised over $11m in VC funding, a topic Anand discusses at length in our episode today! Prior to founding CB, Anand held numerous roles at American Express including running a $50m Innovation Fund and managing the company's discretionary investment spend ($4-5Bn p.a.). Before American Express, Anand was one of the early team @ Kozmo.com, one of the most well-funded and infamous startups in NYC history.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Anand came to found CB Insights from running American Express' $50m Innovation fund and the a-ha moment there?

2.) Why does Anand believe that revenue funding is the best kind of funding? What 3 elements does Anand believe it fundamentally allows? What does Anand mean when he says "most have 3 masters, you can only serve two of them at once"? Does Anand believe that founders today are treating their investors as customers?

3.) How does Anand distinguish between business that can be funded from revenue vs those that cannot? How does Anand think about the relationship between growth and margin? Why does it make sense for VCs today to push for the suggestion that startups need to raise big to grow? How can founders think about and respond to this?

4.) Why does Anand believe that most B2B content today is crap? What are the core pillars that make great B2B content today? How does Anand think about potentially going too far when it comes to the risque nature of the content? What advice would Anand give to B2B founders wanting to ramp up their game in content? Where do many go wrong?

5.) What does Anand mean when he says that "pedigree is often overrated"? How has that led Anand's thinking when building out the team at CB? Where does Anand see most founders make mistakes when it comes to both team and company scaling? What interview question does Anand find most revealing of an individuals' character?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Anand’s Fave Book: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

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