Today we’re back with Sam Lessin for a round 2 focused on the changing landscape of venture. We dig into the viability of M&A as a strategy for startups, “its always been crypto”, media businesses, and the role of reputation systems. If you need an ecommerce platform, check out our sponsor Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period.

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RECOMMENDED PODCAST: History 102 with WhatifAltHist

Every week, creator of WhatifAltHist Rudyard Lynch and Erik Torenberg cover a major topic in history in depth -- in under an hour. This season will cover classical Greece, early America, the Vikings, medieval Islam, ancient China, the fall of the Roman Empire, and more.

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@History102-qg5oj

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We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com.

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Join our free newsletter to get Erik's top 3 insights from each episode: https://turpentinevc.substack.com/

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Episode Preview

(01:27) Round 2 with Sam, the VC Doomer

(06:24) The mechanism of how low interest rates leads to public markets valuing companies at super high multiples

(10:28) Disruption fundamentally changed who the winners and losers would be

(15:49) Sponsor - NetSuite

(16:50) What would a $100B company look like in 15-20 years

(23:20) The emergence of cultural changes after Covid-19

(28:27) The only way to make real money is to be betting differently

(36:36) Do franchises go public and the fundamental liquidity question

(42:01) What's the best business to build on top of media company?

(51:20) Sam's insights on reputation businesses

(55:00) Sam's take on advanced reputation system