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

20VC: Elad Gil on Becoming One of Silicon Valleys Top Angels, Why Most People Get Market Sizing Wrong & Should VC Services Always Be Bundled Together?

Jun 21, 2017

Elad Gil, a prominent angel investor and founder of Color Genomics, shares insights from his impressive career supporting names like Airbnb and Stripe. He discusses his market-driven approach to investing, emphasizing how misjudging market sizes can lead to poor decisions. Elad also explores whether VC services should be bundled, advocating for a more effective separation of services. Finally, he reflects on the perception of company valuations, agreeing that the best companies often feel pricey at first but prove their worth in hindsight.

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ANECDOTE

How Elad Entered Angel Investing

Elad started angel investing organically by advising friends and being invited to invest in their rounds.
Word of mouth from being helpful expanded his deal flow and built his portfolio.

INSIGHT

Stage-Agnostic, Market-Driven Investing

Elad is stage-agnostic and invests when he sees 10x potential regardless of stage.
He combines a market-driven approach with deep operating experience to add value across stages.

ADVICE

Use Regular Updates To Activate Investors

Send monthly updates to your investor base so they stay informed and can help immediately.
Build an investor email list, map investors' strengths, and ping them selectively for specific help.

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Elad Gil is the Founder of Color Genomics, however, Elad is also one of the most prominent angel investors in the valley with a portfolio including the likes of Airbnb, Stripe, Square and Pinterest just to name a few. Prior to founding Color Genomics, Elad was VP of Corporate Strategy @ Twitter where he ran various product teams including geo and search. Before that, Elad spent 3 years at Google where he started Google's mobile team and was involved with 3 acquisitions including Android.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Elad made his way into the world of angel investing and came to invest in Airbnb, Square and Stripe?

2.) Why does Elad take a very market-driven approach to investing? Does this go against the very founder-first approach taken by many in the valley today?

3.) Why does Elad believe that people totally mislead themselves when sizing up potential markets? How should markets be addressed and evaluated? What are the core elements to look for?

4.) Should VC services always be bundled together? Is there a smarter way to decouple these services to make the best products for founders? How could this look in reality?

5.) How does Elad approach valuation? Does Elad agree with Peter Fenton that 'all best companies always seem expensive at the time and cheap in hindsight'?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Elad’s Fave Book: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Elad’s Most Recent Investment: Checkr

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Elad on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

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