Sergei & Vadim Revzin - What Venture Funds Look For In Businesses

Today we are talking to Sergei & Vadim Revzin, identical twins that also have a podcast together, called The Mentors. They are doing a lot of cool things and you’ll hear how  Vadim is teaching as NYU and how he hacked his way into becoming a professor there, without going through the usual process of slugging through a masters degree. We also talk about how Sergei runs a venture capital fund at NYU and helps businesses with investing and start up mentoring. 

They shine a lot of light on brand new startups and how people should approach this issue, what to have in place before you start creating a partnership and key components to look for to determine whether you have a sustainable idea. 

After you’re done, be sure to check out our shows with Abdo Riani on unique strategies for bootstrapping new business ideas and Brad Spencer as we discuss a three step process to maximize results with any project.

“Owning private property and being an owner of your own destiny is human nature.” - Sergei Revzin

“In America, even though there’s still a lot of rules and regulations you have to follow, it’s actually relatively easy to start a business. You can be a sole proprietor and you never even have to go to college.” - Vadim Revzin

Some Topics We Discussed Include:

• Some common pitfalls when people are creating a startup
• How the brothers started at a young age helping their father run a pillow pet kiosk at the mall
• Why everyone should join a Meetup community
• What are some of the criteria companies are looking for when researching  venture capital firms
• How to test ideas to make sure you are validating problems in your market
• What companies want to see when investing in other companies
• The number one reason most start-ups fail
• Our shout out section to folks who have supported us - we love reviews and hearing from you!!
• You can now text “Comp” to “38470” to get our show notes!
• And much, much more!

Contact Sergei & Vadim Revzin:

• TheMentors.co 
• As contributors for articles on Forbes 
• And on Linkedin: Sergei Revzin & Vadim Revzin

References and Links Mentioned:

• Are you ready to be EPIC with us?! Then grab our EGP Letter here where you’ll get not only all of the notes for everything episode we’ve done and will do in the mail, a private forum community, plus new training videos all the time with us and our guests. 
• Today’s show is co-sponsored by Easy Webinar and Casey Zeman.  He has put together a 20% off deal for our listeners. Be sure to check them out as they have live webinars, hybrid webinars, automated webinars and social media functionality, everything you need for webinars in a single platform. 
• We are also sponsored by Steve Olsher and his podcast Beyond 8 Figures, where he and his hosts, Mary Goulet and Richard Otey chat with amazing entrepreneurs who have either run or have exited a business that has produced over eight figures. 
• Check out our show we did on The Mentors
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
• The Lean Startup by Eric Reis
• The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank
• Losing my Virginity by Richard Branson
• Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
• Derek Sivers’ Ted Talk on why to stop sharing your goals
• Kolbe assessment test
• Unique Strategies To Bootstrap New Business Concepts - Abdo Riani
• 3 Steps to Maximize Success on any Project – Brad Spencer