E26 Deciphering Super Founders with author and DCVC partner Ali Tamaseb

In this episode, Erasmus Elsner is talking to Ali Tamaseb, partner at DCVC, about his recently launched book "Super Founders: What Data Reveals About Billion-Dollar Startups".  

00:00​​ Intro 

01:00 Who is Ali? 

03:02 Spark of motivation for the Super Founders book 

05:49 Primary data collection 

08:13 Data set: timeframe and selection criteria 

10:28 The age of super founders 

13:04 Optimal number of co-founders 

16:12 Founder education 

17:45 Did all of them go to Stanford? 

19:38 Pre-founding work experience 

21:08 Definition of the "super founder" 

25:38 Painkiller vs. vitamin products 

27:14 Startup competition 

29:50 Defensibility factor 

31:44 Venture funding vs. bootstrapping 

34:41 Capital requirements 

35:46 Startup fundraising 

37:15 Time to hatch