Companies don’t stay small on purpose. So how can you scale faster? Anu Hariharan (Gusto, Instacart) discusses the growing pains of going from start-up to success, how to grow as a builder and a manager, the importance of ruthless prioritization, and shares new technologies to help SMBs unlock their operations, and customer support.    LINKS & MENTIONS FROM THIS EPISODE Tech to help SMBs: Brex https://www.brex.com Stripe Atlas https://stripe.com/atlas  Gusto https://gusto.com/product Amplitude https://amplitude.com Mix Panel https://mixpanel.com Live Flow https://www.liveflow.io Keeper https://www.keeper.app Plan Grid https://construction.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-plangrid-build/ Mutiny https://www.mutinyhq.com Canva https://www.canva.com/ Other Mentions by Anu: DoorDash https://www.doordash.com  Faire https://www.faire.com  NVIDIA https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/ Boom https://boomsupersonic.com Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System by Satoshi Nakamoto https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf   CONNECT Learn more about Anu’s role as Managing Director of YC Continuity Fund https://www.ycombinator.com/continuity Anu on twitter https://twitter.com/anuhariharan Anu on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/anuhariharan/ Brent on twitter https:/https://twitter.com/BrentBeshore Brent on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentbeshore  David on twitter https://twitter.com/DavidACover David on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-cover-318752230/  Visit https://www.permanentequity.com/ for more Sign up for our weekly newsletter for operators, Permanent Playbook: https://www.permanentequity.com/newsletter  Sign up for a new daily newsletter from our very own Tim Hanson, Unqualified Opinions: https://www.permanentequity.com/unqualified-opinions    TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Who Is Anu? 5:00 This One Time at Capital Camp 6:19 Characteristics of a Successful Founder 11:01 The Two Stages of Scaling 13:02 Biggest Mistakes Founders Make 17:12 Hiring From the Outside vs Internal Development 20:37 Learning How to Deal with People 20:04 Builders vs Managers 27:16 How to Hire a Builder 30:39 Why Do Companies Fail? 32:35 What Silicon Valley Has Lost 34:51 Dealing With Stress 37:22 What it Takes to Succeed  40:47 Helpful Tech for SMB 46:54 Emerging Technology 48:33 Lightning Round Hariharan Hot Takes 60:43 How to Win in 2023 and Beyond 64:24 What Drives You 66:36 Where We're Going 68:01 Legal Disclaimer   EPISODE CREDITS Produced by David Cover Intro music by David Cover, Andy Freeman, Rhett Johnson, & Andrew Luley Outro music by Jees Guy   LEGAL DISCLAIMER This podcast is made available solely for educational purposes, and the information presented here does not constitute investment, legal, tax or other professional advice, and should not be construed as an offering of advisory services, or as a solicitation to buy, an offer to sell, or a recommendation of any securities or other financial instruments. The thoughts and opinions expressed by or through this podcast are those of the individual guests and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Permanent Equity. The discussion on this podcast of any entity, product or service does not imply an endorsement thereof, and the guests may have a financial interest, whether through investment or otherwise, in one or more of any such entities, products or services. This podcast is presented by Permanent Equity and may not be copied, reproduced, republished or posted, in any form, without its express written consent.  

Anu Hariharan from YCombinator's Continuity fund is one of Silicon Valley's top experts on network effects and how they can be applied to all types of different businesses. In this interview, Mike Maples of Floodgate talks to Anu about how a raw startup can design network effects into its business as a core strategy from the very beginning.Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.   Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy books.

We did an Arena Show!! This evening was so big and so special, we had to split it into two episodes for the podcast feed. First up is the Idea Dinner with our best internet buddies, Packy McCormick and Mario Gabriele (and special guest judge Shu Nyatta), followed by the story of YC Continuity with managing partner Anu Hariharan. Huge, huge thank you to PitchBook for making this night possible. Stay tuned for Part II!Sponsors:WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25Huntress: https://bit.ly/acqhuntressStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24More Acquired!:Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

My guest today is Doug Colkitt. Doug has spent his career searching for and trading inefficient markets, first at Citadel’s high-frequency trading group, then for himself, and then as an operator building CrocSwap - a decentralized exchange or DEX designed to bring modern functionality to crypto markets, which is closer to what large traders have come to expect from a modern electronic market like the NASDAQ.  My interest in market infrastructure has continued to grow since my great conversation with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. So my conversation with Doug covers the evolution of market and trading infrastructure. We unpack the trading stack as it exists today, dive into DeFi’s innovations, and explore the new category of single contract DEXs that Doug is creating. After learning so much from Doug about how markets function and how crypto markets should function, I became an investor in his new business via my venture capital firm Positive Sum. Please enjoy this great conversation with Doug Colkitt. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. -----Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes[00:03:31] - [First question] - Doug’s career and history working with markets[00:08:55] - Defining what a trading stack is [00:13:41] - How HFT firms are such reliable money-making models[00:16:27] - What’s at the cutting edge of traditional markets that provides an edge[00:18:45] - The mechanical parts of infrastructure involved in building an exchange[00:21:00] - Classes of data that matter for operating an exchange[00:22:11] - Capacity and what good returns are as an HFT firm[00:28:45] - Overview of the mechanics of an AMM[00:31:53] - Earning a yield as a liquidity provider[00:33:59] - Other ways to think about AMMs and liquidity providers[00:36:42] - Key players in the AMM space and the evolution of them[00:41:20] - How asset holders can approach DEX tools and be liquidity providers[00:42:55] - The function of an exchange’s native token[00:45:25] - Token distribution and how to earn them without buying them[00:48:31] - How you receive payment for providing liquidity[00:51:31] - What CrocSwap will do and what a single contract DEX unlocks[00:57:36] - How CrocSwap is able to do this when other exchanges can’t[00:59:27] - What single contracts will improve for users [01:00:43] - The impact CrocSwap will have for all participants writ large[01:02:28] - Whether or not CrocSwap will cultivate an ecosystem[01:03:30] - What’s next for CrocSwap in the near future[01:04:58] - The promise of DeFi and the future of blockchain technology[01:07:04] - Whether or not DeFi is a threat to centralized exchanges[01:09:52] - Defining what MEV is and why it’s important for DeFi[01:13:04] - Missing pieces in the DeFi world and how we can address them[01:15:24] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

My guest this week is Anu Hariharan. Anu is a partner at Y-Combinator's Continuity Fund where she focuses on growth investing. Before YC, Anu was an Investment Partner at Andreesen Horowitz where she worked with portfolio companies Airbnb, Instacart, Medium and Udacity. In this conversation, we discuss growth stage businesses and their business models, how her background as an engineer impacts her investing style, the most interesting international markets for tech start-ups, and how much opportunity there still is for investing in tech and e-commerce startups. This conversation left me thinking about how much digital transformation there still is in front us and the exciting opportunities ahead. Enjoy this great conversation with Anu Hariharan.    This episode is brought to you by Koyfin, one of the fastest growing fintech startups. I discovered Koyfin earlier this year when I asked twitter for the best Bloomberg alternative, and the overwhelming winner was an intriguing new product called Koyfin.  Koyfin has tons of high-quality data, powerful functionality, and a nice clean interface. If you’re an individual investor, research analyst, portfolio manager, or financial advisor, you should definitely check them out. Sign up for free at koyfin.com    This episode of Invest Like The Best is also sponsored by Assure. Assure is changing the way investors manage private transactions.  With Assure, investors can eliminate nearly all the admin cost of private investment. On top of that, they handle all the backend, legal, taxes, accounting, and compliance. All of it, with a straightforward one-time fee. Learn more and try Assure for yourself at https://www.assure.co/patrick.   For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Show Notes (2:45) – (First question) – How she thinks about growth stage businesses through their business models (5:00) – Her views on the winner-take-all business goal (9:53) – How to prioritize the stakeholders when building a network business (12:19) – Priorities in growth stage businesses vs those seeking Series A funding (18:25) – Most interesting international markets (21:44) – Risks in investing in international tech startups (24:54) – Assessing a hardware-based tech company vs software business (30:22) – How her background as an engineer impacts her investing style (36:11) – Lessons from the various growth strategies she’s observed (40:05) – How valuation impacts the company and her decision to invest (45:45) – How far along are we into the global digital transformation and what opportunity is left (48:15) – Sectors that are still primed for more digital transformation (52:50) – How the tech investing landscape has changed during her career (57:45) – Kindest thing anyone has done for her   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag  

Former YC Continuity lead and co-founder of Avra, Anu Hariharan, discusses growth and cash conservation strategies for startups. They also explore the future of venture as an asset class, the importance of product-market fit and capital, and the changing dynamics of the venture and startup community.

This week, Mary Ann is taking the reins with another favorite from the TechCrunch Disrupt stage. She sat down with Brex CEO and co-founder, Henrique Dubugras, and Anu Hariharan, YC’s managing director for continuity and an early Brex investor, to expose the context around this whirlwind of a year.The conversation candidly uncovers details behind the fintech's pandemic pivot, layoffs, and going remote. If you love the conversation, share it with a friend. And if you want more on Brex, Mary Ann dove deeper into the conversation last month.Equity drops every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7 a.m. PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders, a show that details how our stories come together and more! Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

Join Tomer London, Co-founder and CPO of Gusto, dedicated to empowering small businesses, and Anu Hariharan, Co-founder of Avra and former Y Combinator partner, as they explore fintech's evolution. They discuss the complexities of payroll systems, the impact of AI on finance, and the transformative potential of startups. Personal insights reveal their inspirations—from historical icons to morning routines—while sharing lessons from setbacks that shaped their resilient journeys in the ever-changing fintech landscape.

Anu Hariharan, former a16z employee and investor in later-stage companies at Y Combinator, discusses growth and cash conservation for startups, the future of venture as an asset class, and the health of the unicorn herd.

Max Rhodes, CEO of Faire, and Anu Hariharan from YC discuss Faire's journey, from idea inception to product/market fit. Topics include changes in SMBs, try before you buy model, scaling challenges, calming stress, and strategic hiring for growth.