#26 Jeff Clavier, Founder and Managing Partner of Uncork Capital | Making It Real Podcast with Jan Brinckmann

Jeff Clavier began investing into early stage ventures more than twenty years ago and have supported several teams that have reached successful outcomes, among others Eventbrite, Fitbit or Postmates. He has founded Uncork Capital in 2004, one of the most prominent seed funds based in Palo Alto with over $500m under management. In today's episode, he shares with us the current and hottest investment areas he focuses on and why he is passionate about B2B SaaS enterprises. Also, he gives us his take on the current state of the European start-up ecosystem and his advice on avoiding the three most common mistakes made by early stage founders both in the ideation as well as in the product building phase.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffclavier

https://uncorkcapital.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janbrinckmann

00:00 Introduction

0:50 Why and how Jeff joined the entrepreneurship world

02:35 Jeff's reasons for moving to the US & becoming a VC

05:45 The first investment in the time of the Web 2.0 & impressive returns

11:25 Investment hypothesis: Coming from seed investments to also having a growth fund

13:55 On which sectors Jeff focuses his investments

15:35 The opportunity for B2B SaaS companies

17:05 Jeff's view on the European start-up ecosystem

22:50 Advices for founders in the early stage

25:30 How to find the right idea for starting a start-up

27:10 Common mistakes made by founders

29:35 After having the idea - how to build the product

32:45 Jeff's personal advice for getting into the entrepreneurship space

34:28 Quick fire round: Thing Jeff is most proud of; most useful software tool; what would Jeff be if not a VC

38:15 Closing