Investing in 10+ Unicorns: Kevin Hartz on Finding and Crafting Winning Founding Teams

Kevin Hartz is not only one of the most influential seed investors in Silicon Valley, but also a successful founder. In addition to early-stage investments in PayPal, Uber, AirBnB and SpaceX, he founded Xoom (exit to PayPal for approx. 1 billion dollars) and Eventbrite (IPO). With his current startup Sauron, Kevin is in the process of developing new technologies for the home security market.

Kevin talks about how he identifies outstanding founders and thinks about team building in young startups. Kevin also elaborates on how he adapts to new technologies, evaluates them and draws conclusions for new companies and investments.

Finally, he discusses his hypotheses on the future of value creation in AI startups and provides insights into the future of Sauron.

What you learn:

• How does Kevin identify successful founders?
• What is the importance of flexibility and adaptability in building a company?
• What makes a good early-stage investor?
• Where will the value creation in AI startups take place?
• Building a founding team

Further links:

ALL ABOUT UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez.am/unicornbakery

Kevin Hartz

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hartz/

A*: https://www.a-star.co/

Unicorn Bakery WhatsApp Broadcast: Find out everything you need to know as a founder: https://drp.li/jrq5S

Our WhatsApp Broadcast keeps you up to date with insights into the scene, news and top content.

Marker:

(00:00:00) Importance of having a flexible mindset

(00:02:31) Did the characteristics of great founding teams change over the last 20 years?

(00:04:57) Great team & market opportunity: is it always working hand in hand?

(00:07:14) Assessing potential in founder

(00:20:25) First hires in Kevin’s new venture Sauron

(00:23:10) Why incubations are often bad ventures?

(00:28:22) Kevin Hartz thoughts on Fundraising

(00:34:22) Inhouse creation vs. outsourcing?(00:37:19) Is the Go To Market Motion creating enough defensibility ?

(00:39:50) Evaluating new trends and opportunities

(00:43:38) Where will value creation happen in the future of AI?

(00:51:34) What do you think about the lifecycle of companies?

(00:56:51) The impact of AI on Startup Complexity: Will people focus on more complex problems or focus on building “easier” companies faster?

(00:59:32) What are your takes on other ecosystems compared to Silicon Valley?