The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

20VC: Ribbit Capital's Nick Shalek on How To Think Through Ownership and Price Sensitivity, When More Money and Pre-Emptive Rounds are Good vs Bad & Investing Lessons from Yale's David Swensen

Jul 26, 2021

Nick Shalek, a General Partner at Ribbit Capital, is a fintech guru with a history at Yale's Investments Office. He shares his journey into venture capital and lessons learned from David Swensen. Nick discusses the importance of ownership and the nuances of pricing in today's fintech landscape. He also emphasizes the need for strong relationships with founders and team culture in investing. Lastly, he explores reinvestment strategies and the evolution of Ribbit as they navigate the rapidly changing fintech environment.

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ANECDOTE

Path to Fintech

Nick Shalek initially planned to be an entrepreneur, influenced by his mother.
An unexpected introduction to Mickey Malka at Ribbit Capital led him to fintech.

INSIGHT

Initial Doubts

Nick initially disagreed with Ribbit Capital's sector-focused, international approach, believing sector funds don't work.
He viewed venture capital as a local business, contradicting Ribbit's strategy.

INSIGHT

Lessons from Swensen

Nick learned from David Swensen that great investing relies on aligning incentives and relationships.
Building rapport and trust is key to accessing the best investment opportunities.

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Nick Shalek is a General Partner @ Ribbit Capital, specializing in fintech they are one of the most successful venture firms of the last decade with a portfolio including Robinhood, Coinbase, Revolut, Nubank and more. As for Nick, he started his career as a Senior Analyst @ Yale Investments Office before moving to the world of operations as Director of Business Operations @ Verne Global, a provider of 100% carbon neutral data centers.

In Today’s Episode with Nick Shalek You Will Learn:

1.) How Nick made his way from Senior Analyst at Yale's Investment Office to be one of the leading fintech investors in the world with Ribbit? What were Nick's biggest lessons from his time working with David Swenson @ Yale? How would Nick summarise Yale's investment algorithm?

2.) Entering Venture and Advice: Why does Nick tell many friends entering venture, to not join a new fund? What does Nick believe is takes to build an enduring firm in venture? What were the core reasons and inflection points in the success of Ribbit? What have been some of the biggest challenges in the professionalisation of Ribbit over the years?

3.) Pricing and Ownership: Is Nick concerned by the levels of pricing we are seeing in fintech today? How does Nick analyze his own relationship to price? How does Nick view the importance of ownership? Is it possible to build ownership across rounds? How does Nick advise founders now receiving very fast offers to pre-empt their rounds?

4.) Investment Decision-Making: How does Ribbit structure its investment decision-making process for initial investments? In what way does this process change for re-investments? Why does Nick believe in the benefits of not having attribution within venture partnerships?

5.) AMA: What has been Nick's biggest miss? How did it change his investment decision-making process as a result? What does Nick know now that he wishes he had known when he started in venture? What have been Nick's biggest lessons from his working with Micky?

Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with Nick Shalek

Nick’s Favourite Book: A Piece of the Action: When the Middle Class Joined the Money Class

Nick’s Most Recent Investment: Kavak