This Much I Know - The Seedcamp Podcast

In the newest Seedcamp Deep Dive, Sophie Adelman, co-founder of Multiverse and The Garden, and Siadhal Magos, co-founder of our portfolio company Metaview, join Carlos and our Talent Manager Alex Lewis to discuss all things talent in early-stage startups - from hiring to motivating and transitioning during market downturns. Tune in to learn best practices for interviewing and selecting candidates, why and when expertise is needed in startups, and why compassion is essential when letting employees go. Show notes: Sophie Adelman - twitter.com/Adelbadge Siadhal Magos - twitter.com/smagos Carlos Espinal - twitter.com/cee Alex Lewis - twitter.com/AlexLewisTalent The Garden - onegarden.com Metaview - metaview.ai Seedcamp - seedcamp.com Recommended resources: Who: The A Method for Hiring by Geoff Smart and Randy Street [https://whothebook.com] How to build an interviewer training process that raises the bar by Metaview [https://resources.metaview.ai/interviewer-training-playbook]

In the latest episode of 'This Much I Know,' Carlos is joined by David Singleton, the CTO of Stripe. David shares valuable insights and lessons from his decades-long career at global technology companies such as Symbian, Google, and Stripe. In a vivid conversation, he and Carlos explore: - the essential nature of timing in technological innovation; - the fast-paced changing financial world; - the importance of putting customers first; - the evolution and definition of the CTO role; - Stripe's mission and operating principles; - developer productivity; - attracting and growing talent; - building a learning organization; - and more. Show notes: Carlos Espinal - twitter.com/cee David Singleton - twitter.com/dps Seedcamp - seedcamp.com Stripe - stripe.com Seedcamp is Europe's seed fund, identifying and investing early in world-class founders attacking large, global markets and solving real problems using technology. The Seedcamp Nation includes over 440 startups building breakout businesses that change the way people live, interact and buy and includes publicly listed UiPath, Wise, and unicorns Revolut, Hopin, Sorare, Pleo, wefox, Grover, and viz.ai along with fast-growing businesses such as Primer, Peppy and Ezra. Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform for businesses. Millions of companies—from the world's largest enterprises to the most ambitious startups—use Stripe to accept payments, grow their revenue, and accelerate new business opportunities. Headquartered in San Francisco and Dublin, the company aims to increase the GDP of the internet. Contact their team to learn more: https://bit.ly/39TVMrT

In this Seedcamp Deep Dive, Carlos speaks with author and farmer Sarah Langford and Sward's Co-founder and CEO Reuben Saxon about the crucial role of regenerative farming in food supply and carbon capture. Carlos kicks the conversation off with an insightful review of Sarah's upcoming book "Rooted: Stories of Life, Land and a Farming Revolution." They also trace the evolution of farming in the UK from the post-war era to Brexit and the current generational shift in farming. They are later joined by Reuben Saxon, co-founder and CEO of Sward, a startup enabling farmers to take control over their natural capital assets alongside their stewardship and food production. Together they discuss the digitization of agriculture, harmonising financial and environmental incentives, and how young farmers embrace technology to increase productivity and connect with fellow farmers globally. Tune in to learn about the importance of natural capital and why regenerative farming plays a pivotal role in a more sustainable future. Show notes: Carlos Espinal - twitter.com/cee Sarah Langford - twitter.com/wigsandwords Reuben Saxon - linkedin.com/in/reuben-alexander-saxon-78273328 Seedcamp - seedcamp.com Sarah Langford's book "Rooted: Stories of Life, Land and a Farming Revolution" - amazon.co.uk/Rooted-Stories-Life-Farming-Revolution/dp/0241503744 Sward - sward.io

In this Seedcamp Deep Dive, Carlos is joined by Dan Bladen, Co-founder of Kadence, and Tushar Agarwal, Co-founder of HubbleHQ as they share their founder stories and experiences with pivoting their businesses during the Covid -19 pandemic. Listen in to learn more about the latest trends in hybrid workspaces and the commercial real estate market along with what it means to create employee-centered work environments. Show notes: Carlos Espinal - twitter.com/cee Dan Bladen - Co-Founder & CEO - Kadence - twitter.com/danbladen Tushar Agarwal - Co-founder & CEO - HubbleHQ -twitter.com/iamtoosh Seedcamp - seedcamp.com Kadence - kadence.co HubbleHq - hubblehq.com

In this episode of This Much I Know, Carlos Espinal is joined by Matt Miller, a Partner at Sequoia Capital. Matt started his entrepreneurial journey at a young age, first as an avocado seller and eventually when he took two years off university to work on a restaurant tech product. Today, he helps lead Sequoia’s initiative in Europe, where he works on finding great companies to partner with. Throughout this episode, Matt talks about his favourite sectors, shares some stories about working with companies like Tessian, and explains how the investment in Graphcore spurred on Sequoia’s decision to approach the European ecosystem. Show notes: Carlos Espinal - [twitter.com/cee](http://twitter.com/cee) Matt Miller - [twitter.com/mcmiller00](https://twitter.com/mcmiller00) Seedcamp - [seedcamp.com](https://seedcamp.com/) Sequoia Capital - [sequoiacap.com](https://www.sequoiacap.com/) A Fireside with Matt Miller & Luciana Lixandru - [youtube.com/watch?v=tnjPCtG87dU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnjPCtG87dU)

In this episode of This Much I Know, Managing Partner Carlos Espinal speaks with Emi Gal and Diego Cantor, co-founders of Ezra, about how digital healthcare will become. Every year, 20 million people are diagnosed with cancer, 10 million of which are detected late. Ezra's core mission aims to change this equation through their next-generation cancer screening technology that uses AI & MRIs. Carlos kicks the discussion off with an observation: healthcare solutions are now increasingly moving from reactive to proactive, as the ability to predict medical diagnoses ahead of time is growing. This statement translates well into some of Ezra's findings: while 13% of their scans suggest a potential cancer patient, a whopping 70% of their findings are clinical findings (ie. liver disease, aneurysms, etc.). The three also cover the balance between data privacy and medical progress within the field of medical imagery, as any kind of algorithm requires data to be trained on. Finally, Emi and Diego touch on their long-term aspirations for Ezra, and what it is going to take for the world to have equal access to such technologies. Tune in to this episode — it's a really good one.

“Consumers of today like to have a dialogue with their brands...consumers can now ask the harder questions.” Ingvar Helgason, Co-Founder of VitroLabs In this week’s TMIK, Managing Partner Carlos Espinal and Seedcamp team member Polina Stavrovski chat with two very exciting guests, Ingvar, and Joy Howard who are both building companies in the sustainable fashion space. Ingvar’s mission with VitroLabs is to decouple the leather industry from the meat industry by creating a new source of leather from animal cells. Their technology allows high-end fashion brands and creatives to have a new source of leather with all the same properties and no compromise on quality. Joy’s mission with Early Majority is to build a technical streetwear brand that makes outdoor gear for all eventualities, by operating in categories that have traditionally left out the woman’s point of view. The four delve into a discussion on the shifting nature of consumer behaviour and how they’re in turn empowering brands from a top-down approach, changing traditional notions of shareholders and stakeholders. Joy offers her take on greenwashing, explaining how she has two minds about companies that can seem ‘performative’ with their sustainability branding. “Over time, it *does* lead to a change in consumers' perceptions and their behaviour, but at the same time it’s tough for people who are building something radically different and true to the ideals of sustainability,” she comments. Ingvar nods to the importance of companies being transparent, and that “it’s really telling to see which companies are answering the questions and which companies are brushing them away.” He also mentions the importance of the role governments play in creating carbon emission taxes or at least levelling the playing field by removing subsidies from companies emitting a lot of carbon. “For everything we are consuming, we are not paying the real price,” Ingvar notes. Joy and Ingvar also discuss the transfer risks associated with migrating from the usual suppliers with decades of experience (but that are way more wasteful), to a more sustainable supply chain that has the same quality of timeline, delivery, and product. Although there has been an increase in demand for sustainable materials, this can also prove quite challenging for startups in competition with more established brands. Finally, Carlos asks Joy and Ingvar what science fiction book they recommend that will most likely represent our future. Tune in to hear their answers and the full discussion, it’s a good one! If you’re interested to learn more about Ingvar and Joy’s respective ventures, check out VitroLabs and Early Majority. Show Notes: Vitro Labs: vitrolabsinc.com Early Majority: earlymajority.com/ Ingvar Helgason: twitter.com/ihelgason Joy Howard: twitter.com/joyehoward Carlos Espinal: twitter.com/cee Polina Stavrovski: linkedin.com/in/postav/ Seedcamp - seedcamp.com

In this Seedcamp Deep Dive, Head of Brand Natasha Lytton speaks with Maria, Head of Product at Spill about the intersection of technology with mental health, and the growing opportunities that exist when offering accessible mental health services moving forward for both patients and clinicians. Spill’s mission is to “put high quality talk therapy in the pocket of every person on Earth” by not using a traditional finger-wagging approach. Maria and Natasha dive into discussing what it means to build trust across a product for users. Maria suggests that the most actionable way of viewing trust in a product is through ‘consistency over time.’ She advises that PMs need to stop thinking about users’ interactions with product as a snapshot in time, but rather expanding their outlook to a series of interactions. The two also discuss the shocking fact that the financial industry is more regulated than the mental health industry. The episode finishes off with Natasha and Maria hypothesising around how tech will evolve in its intersection with mental health in the years to come. Listen in, it’s a good one! This is a part of the Health series, stemming from our recent Deep Dive on Health within the Seedcamp portfolio. Show notes: Maria Boghiu - twitter.com/MariaBoghiu Natasha Lytton: twitter.com/Natashalytton Spill - spill.chat Finger-wagging: nytimes.com/2019/05/06/well/family/doctors-is-it-ok-if-we-talk-about-why-finger-wagging-isnt-working.html Health blog post: seedcamp.com/the-future-of-healthcare-and-the-tech-companies-out-to-improve-it/

Seedcamp EiR David Mytton and VP Devin Hunt have both been successful, technical founders (Server Density, Lyst). As they scaled respective internal teams, they gathered a plethora of experiences on the matter. On this week's TMIK, our Managing Partner Carlos Espinal chats with David and Devin about "Unpacking the Stack", and the various angles to consider across product, engineering and design teams. The three dig into a range of topics, starting with hiring, and whom to hire first for both technical and non-technical founding teams. Then, they break down the terminology and various responsibilities of the different functions. Taking the example of product, Devin explains that the Chief Product Officer (CPO) is there to set the product vision, whereas a Product Manager (PM) manages an aspect of that vision. Furthermore, he explains that product teams are responsible for delivery, as well as working hand in hand with engineering and design teams. On that, David points out the importance of building cohesiveness within teams to better the communication (and shares a couple cues, including the power of show & tell meetings) Finally, Carlos asks Devin and out different reasons for early start-up killers. Some answers covered the balance in technical know-how in founding teams, the bias in prioritising engineering problems (vs. actually helping the business) or the difficulty to fire wrong hires early-on. We've been lucky enough to have both David and Devin with us at Seedcamp. This episode (un)packs a lot, so definitely tune in - lots of valuable insights shared!

“Technology alone is not enough. Without the right governance, it may still lead us down the road of overconsumption and environmental catastrophe.” — Azeem Azhar, Author of Exponential: How Accelerating Technology Is Leaving Us Behind and What to Do About It Azeem Azhar knows a thing or two about what direction exponential technology is heading toward, and how it's challenging our well-established social, economic, and political systems. On this week’s TMIK, Managing Partner Carlos Espinal chats with Azeem on his newly published, must-read book, ‘Exponential: How Accelerating Technology Is Leaving Us Behind and What to Do About It.’ Neither the conversation nor the book is about a dystopian future, but the two definitely dive into some dystopian outcomes! The two discuss a range of themes that technology has transformed, particularly around the changing landscape of labour, increasing levels of local productions, and transport. In regards to the labour market, Azeem brings up the contradicting nature and impact that one single business model and economy can have in developed countries versus developing countries. The gig economy model is one interesting example. In developed countries where labour markets are formalised, the gig model creates flexibility, but more insecurity; however, in less established countries, the model provides *more* certainty to the labour force. The two also highlight the importance of not shying away from ML and robots. One fun tidbit: in 2020, the companies that had most heavily invested in robots and ML, also hired the most people (Amazon, Netflix, JD.com). Finally, Carlos asks what investment themes Azeem is currently looking at. “I rely on the founders to tell me,” Azeem states, but he does share a few he’s keeping an eye out for. Think smart car batteries, protein engineering, and bio-manufacturing. This episode packs in a lot, so definitely tune in; it’s a really good one. Shownotes Azeem Twitter: twitter.com/azeem Azeem Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/azhar/?originalSubdomain=uk Exponential book: amazon.co.uk/Exponential-accelerating-technology-transforming-business/dp/1847942903 How the Gig economy could drive growth: forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2017/03/23/how-the-gig-economy-could-drive-growth-in-developing-countries/?sh=1b1783104a49 Carlos Espinal - twitter.com/cee Seedcamp - seedcamp.com