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This Week in Startups

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Mar 18, 2020 • 1h 14min

E38: “Angel” Podcast: David Cowan, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners shares insights on owning up to his anti-portfolio, understanding sunk cost, top traits for becoming a VC & best Founders & CEOs he’s ever worked with

0:53 Jason intros Bessemer's David Cowan 1:54 David explains how he got his start in Venture capital in 1992 4:22 What does Bessemer look for in a potential investor today? How has VC hiring and demographics have changed over time? 8:10 David gives an anecdote about understanding "sunk cost" 14:12 David explains how and why Bessemer started owning their anti-portfolio 16:03 Stories on passing on Facebook, Tesla, Google, PayPal, Napster & Youtube 19:13 What made Youtube standout from Napster from a regulatory perspective 24:05 David describes hearing the Twitch pitch for the first time 26:00 Consumer vs. Enterprise investing 29:42 Sales-driven culture 33:31 When is the right time to sell a company? 41:15 Anti-tech backlash... is it justified? 47:38 Who is the best Founder & CEO David has ever worked with? 52:10 Meeting Wade Foster and investing in Zapier 55:29 Are growth & product people making the best VCs today? 58:53 Thoughts on Quantum Computing 1:02:19 How is David investing in Robotics? 1:09:58 Jason ends the show by showing the trailer to David's Silicon Valley mockumentary "Bubbleproof"
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Mar 17, 2020 • 1h 9min

E1037: LAUNCH Accelerator Class 16 Founders of BasicBlock (payment solution for truckers), DaoCloud (lead-gen for health & wellness practitioners) & Lately (AI-powered social media writing software) reflect on their journeys through the program

0:38 Jason explains the LAUNCH Accelerator 5:39 BasicBlock CEO Taylor Monks details his journey through the LAUNCH Accelerator 14:58 BasicBlock CEO Taylor Monks' biggest takeaways from the Accelerator 27:35 DaoCloud CEO Max Coleman describes his journey into the LAUNCH Accelerator 37:34 How did Max grow throughout the Accelerator? 48:36 Lately CEO Kate Bradley-Chernis describes her experience at the l LAUNCH Accelerator 55:08 What were Kate's biggest takeaways from the Accelerator?
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Mar 15, 2020 • 1h 29min

EMERGENCY POD: E0 All-In with Chamath Palihapitiya & Jason Calacanis: COVID-19 Political, Economic & Social Ramifications featuring The Production Board’s David Friedberg (frmly Founder/CEO, The Climate Corporation)

0:01 Jason intros Chamath and Episode 0 of All-In and they discuss their current self-quarantine 0:55 Jason intros David Friedberg 1:35 Chamath gives the inaugural (& potentially final) All-In ad read 2:17 As a Warriors owner, Chamath gives his reaction to the NBA postponing & uncoordinated actions of government & private sectors 4:37 Why was the US so slow to react on both an individual & governmental level? What did the OpenTable data show? 9:03 David explains the actions he would take if he was president 12:37 Thoughts on Trump's private sector involvement 16:58 Has the press failed in its coverage, or are they just feeding people what they want? 23:52 What will the next few weeks in the US look like? Why has the virus spread severely in Italy, but not yet in India? 37:20 How the COVID-19 viral coefficient compares to the early days of Facebook's numbers 40:26 Chances of Trump testing positive for the virus? What effect would that have on markets? 48:53 What should we do differently next time? 53:13 Will there both more deaths due to second order effects of the virus than direct deaths? 1:01:06 Should there be a global stimulus package? Effect of low-volatility during recent bull run? 1:11:26 Chances of a quick resolution? 1:16:48 How are Jason & Chamath advising their portfolio companies? How are IPO's of companies like Airbnb & DoorDash being effected? 1:21:17 How to approach the next year in startups & VC?
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Mar 13, 2020 • 1h 3min

E1036: #AskJason Special! When to join a startup to maximize equity & job security, types of companies that will thrive in an economic downturn, legendary founder & investor traits, tips for starting a podcast & more!

0:01 Jason intros today's topics 2:15 George calls in and asks Jason about social media interference in the 2020 election 11:13 Joey calls in and asks Jason for some tips on starting and growing a podcast 21:05 Dan asks Jason about which health-tech startup idea to pursue 26:49 Alex calls in and asks Jason about the types companies that will thrive in an economic downturn 34:35 Karen asks Jason about legendary founder & investor traits 44:11 Blaze calls in and asks Jason about when to join a startup to maximize equity & job security 52:14 Patrick asks Jason how to get on his radar in terms of getting an internship/job at LAUNCH 55:33 James asks how a young early-stage firm can differentiate itself from the pack and attract talented founders
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Mar 11, 2020 • 1h

E37: “Angel” Podcast: Nicole Quinn, Partner at Lightspeed shares benefits of celebrity founders like Lady Gaga & Gwyneth Paltrow, insights on investing in consumer & power of “Force of Nature” product people

0:53 Jason intros Nicole Quinn 1:59 Nicole & Jason describe their separate Calm investments, will it be the first mental health IPO? 8:00 Calm's I.C.E. celebrity engagement method & how it got them LeBron James 8:54 Investing in Sophia Amoruso & Girlboss: what is it about "Force of Nature" product people that attracts Nicole to invest? 16:03 Investing in Gwyneth Paltrow & Goop: what is Goop's business? What are the most profitable parts of their business? 19:42 Investing in Rothy's, and the inverse correlation between the success of e-commerce companies and how much they've raised 24:34 The magic moment of having shares transfer from private to public when a company IPOs 26:53 Changing her risk-averse mindset going from Wall Street to Venture Capital 33:28 Nicole's current investment interests, why voice assistants are crucial for retention 38:16 Investing in Lady Gaga & HAUS Labs: driving business via new product "drops", understanding how engaged a celebrity is in their business, celebrities as an acquisition channel 45:03 Dealing with Goop product blowback, the Netflix series & understanding the science behind it 50:12 Investing in Cameo & CEO Steven Galanis: celebrity selfie videos as a platform 54:44 What types of Founders does Nicole invest in? 56:54 How is Nicole's portfolio split up by stage?
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Mar 10, 2020 • 1h 33min

E1035: SoftBank Managing Partner Jeff Housenbold on deploying the $100B Vision Fund, getting recruited by Masayoshi Son, counseling founders to manage massive capital, creating moats, reasons for shift toward profits, lessons from WeWork & more

0:40 Jason intros Jeff Housenbold 2:16 What did Jeff do before joining the Vision Fund? How did he help scale eBay & Shutterfly? 4:15 How did he wind up at SoftBank? What was it like being recruited by Masayoshi Son? How did Masa pitch the Vision Fund to Jeff? 13:28 What was the timeframe for deploying the $100B Vision Fund? 18:10 How does SoftBank size their bets and how do they counsel founders to handle massive amounts of capital? 20:07 Coaching founders on using capital to create talent moats & build brand partnerships 22:17 Scaling their diligence alongside their capital deployment, understanding core customers & focusing on positive unit economics 28:30 How did the Uber & Didi deals go down? How close was SoftBank to investing in Lyft instead of Uber? 33:23 How SoftBank looks at investing in adjacent companies and mergers 38:42 Jeff's background & the importance of education in changing your lot in life 46:07 Changing focus from Growth to Profits, the effect of short-term thinking and its impact on Dara and Uber since their 2019 IPO 57:23 Thoughts on VTOL? Will we see VTOL vehicles or self-driving first? 1:02:16 Jeff's take on Coronavirus and its impact on the markets & how founders and CEOs can combat market volatility 1:09:38 Portfolio Review: Zume Pizza 1:11:32 Portfolio Review: Katerra 1:14:03 Jason guesses the toughest 4 industries to penetrate 1:15:03 Portfolio Review: Plenty 1:19:29 Portfolio Review: Memphis Meats 1:23:05 What happened with the WeWork investment? What % does SoftBank now own, and can they turn it around? What are some lessons learned from the entire saga? 1:27:13 Jeff shares some "Jeff-ism's of Business" 1:27:52 How is the Vision Fund II raise coming along? 1:28:36 How the scale of the Vision Fund impacts people's ability to understand their investments 1:32:05 For founders: When is the right time to engage with SoftBank?
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Mar 6, 2020 • 1h 9min

E1034: Formlabs CEO & Co-Founder Max Lobovsky shares insights on hitting $100M in revenue as a 3D printing platform, most lucrative use cases, growing organically, best 3D printing examples in science fiction

0:54 Jason intros Max Lobovsky 3:21 What is Max's business with Formlabs? What are people printing? Is it hitting scale with consumers yet? 10:52 Where does the majority of their business come from? 15:40 Is coronavirus impacting the supply-side of Formlabs? 20:16 Understanding the most lucrative use cases for 3D printing 21:58 What skill do you need to be a 3D modeler? 31:04 How did Max raise his first round of capital at Formlabs? 36:02 What was his experience at MIT's Media Lab? 39:54 Why did Formlabs raise a $15M Series D at a $1bn valuation? Benefits of building Formlabs organically 50:00 How Formlabs helped a makeup artist win an Oscar & how many customers in Hollywood do they have? Other use cases for 3D printing? 58:08 What is the "Holy Grail" vertical for 3D printing? 1:00:15 Best examples of 3D printing in sci-fi media
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Mar 4, 2020 • 1h 5min

E36: “Angel” Podcast: Ajay Agarwal, Partner at Bain Capital shares insights on culture evolving from sales-driven to product-driven, why enterprise software is the ideal business, best investments & anti-portfolio

0:51 Jason intros Bain Capital's Ajay Agarwal 3:17 Are we experiencing late-stage capitalism? Is capitalism broken? 8:22 Why is upward mobility stalling? 15:29 What is it about founders & startups that made him dedicate his life's work to? 18:46 What piece of knowledge got him in startups? Ajay describes gross margin & incremental costs 23:03 Two insights on why enterprise software is the best business 30:11 Mitt Romney at Bain Capital & issues with cultural appropriation 36:44 Ajay's early days at Trilogy Software, how software sales were different in the 1990s 42:23 Companies going from sales-driven culture to product-driven 46:52 Ajay describes one of his best investments: FourKites 49:13 Ajay describes the biggest miss of his anti-portfolio: Pinterest, and why some firms care about stage and some are stage-agnostic 54:57 Has Bain ever participated in every round of a companies life-cycle? 58:15 Effects of the SoftBank Vision Fund on venture capital as a whole
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Mar 3, 2020 • 1h 7min

E1033: News Roundtable! Lambda School CEO Austen Allred & General Catalyst Partner Katherine Boyle on Lambda School controversy, Techlash & late-stage journalism, Robinhood down as Dow jumps & more!

0:54 Want to see what it's like to be an Angel Investor in Jason's Syndicate? DM @thesyndicate415 to read Jason's last 3 deal memos 1:37 Jason intros Austen Allred & gets his side of the recent Lambda School controversy 6:22 Jason intros Katherine Boyle & gets her take on how she would have advised Austen on PR 7:58 Explaining Lambda School in simple terms 13:10 Setting up Lambda School as a counter to predatory loans 14:31 Jason explains late-stage journalism, Austen describes his board's response 16:20 Techlash, issues with journalism today, how Balaji-coronavirus story sparked response 24:52 Fixing journalism 28:00 New Twitter investors Elliot Management want Jack out as CEO, is Twitter broken? 30:00 Misconceptions of Lambda School rolling up ISAs, how privatizing education in SV causes techlash 40:33 Katherine explains her investments in the defense space 46:00 DoorDash files for IPO, did they miss their window? 47:30 Analyzing coronavirus, wet markets, the "Wuhan shake" 58:51 Robinhood outage as Dow jumps 1000 points 1:01:03 What does Katherine invest in? 1:04:41 Jason introduces his new soundboard
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Feb 27, 2020 • 1h 30min

E1032: News Roundtable! Robinhood Snacks’ Duo Jack Kramer & Nick Martell on Coronavirus’ impact on public markets, Iger out at Disney – Buy or Sell?, link-baiting Tesla crash, defining Cult Stocks & more!

0:42 Jason intros Jack Kramer & Nick Martell of Robinhood Snacks 1:06 Starting Market Snacks as a side hustle after rooming together in college 13:24 What Series of Robinhood were they acquired at? 14:11 Jason's origin story meeting Vlad & investing in Robinhood 18:38 Coronavirus impact on the public market... worrisome or no big deal? 30:16 Iger steps down as Disney CEO, will this hurt them long-term? 35:40 Star Wars movie rankings 37:00 Is $DIS a buy or sell? What about the next CEO? 42:11 Bloomberg or Bernie? 46:56 Tech-lash: Link-baiting Tesla crash 53:02 Growth vs. Profitability in the Private & Public markets 54:34 How are Uber, Lyft, etc. combatting this? 1:01:55 How will Airbnb handle the shift? 1:04:10 VTOL vs. self-driving 1:07:58 What are "Cult Stocks"? How are they defined? 1:11:09 Millennials & Gen-Z are voting with their wallets 1:23:46 What are Jack & Nick's favorite stocks right now?

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