ACQ2 by Acquired

Kevin Zhang, Partner at Upfront Ventures, shares insights on the evolution of the LA tech ecosystem and Upfront's emergence from its roots in retail. He discusses the importance of rebranding for transparency and alignment with values. The conversation dives into the growth of the LA venture community, highlighting the dynamic Upfront Summit. Kevin emphasizes gaming as a lucrative investment area and the crucial need for talent acquisition in that sector, along with the continuous evolution in game design to keep players engaged.

“80% of the worlds workforce doesn’t sit at a desk, and 95% of the world’s software is built for people who sit at a desk. Once people build software for the other 80%, the size of the addressable market that could be created could dwarf what we currently have, which is pretty humbling to think about.”Jake Saper, Emergence Capital (@jakesaper) We dive deep into the nitty gritty details of SaaS investing and company building with the best in the business, Jake Saper from Emergence Capital. Emergence has been around since the beginning of the SaaS industry and -uniquely for a venture firm- is entirely focused on early-stage investing within it. They were early investors in major successes like Salesforce, Veeva, SuccessFactors, Box and Yammer, and more recently, Gusto, Zoom, and many more. This episode is a must-listen for anyone investing in, operating in, or thinking about modern SaaS companies!Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfin Be sure to follow the Acquired Podcast:Acquired.fm@AcquiredFMLinks from the Show:Emergence CapitalEmergence Capital – “Series-A SaaS Metrics”Emergence Email Newsletter

We continue the conversation with Emily White, covering topics including her career path, what it was like working with Sheryl Sandberg for so many years, her time at Snap, her experience serving on public company boards, and how she operates as an investor now at Anthos Capital.Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfin

As promised in our holiday special, we dive into the past, present and future of clean energy funding, with the absolutely perfect guest: the former Obama administration Assistant Director for Entrepreneurship at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Doug Rand. This episode was totally eye-opening for us, and we hope inspires many of you to think about energy and climate through an entrepreneurial lens.  Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfin Links:ARPA-E: https://arpa-e.energy.govSteve Blank’s Secret History of Silicon Valley: https://steveblank.com/secret-history/NSF Innovation Corps: https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/i-corps/

Ben and David talk about some of their current investment theses at PSL and Wave, as well as how VCs think about themes and theses in general. Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfinLinks:Greg McAdoo “Wave” talk at Startup School 2008 https://youtu.be/fZ5F2KhMLiEThe Myth of the Job Hopping Millenial https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2018/7/11/17559484/gig-economy-jobs-rooted-rootless-moving-job-hopping-millennials

Ever wondered what's really going on during the Monday Meetings of your friendly neighborhood VC firm? Ben and David take you behind the scenes to discuss structure (especially how the management company works), staffing, LPs, and most importantly decision-making and motivations for VC firms and their partners. Whichever side of the table you're on, we hope you find this episode useful!Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfin

Ben and David continue the Acquired holiday tradition. Happy holidays to everyone! Note: we apologize for David’s sound quality... we’re still working out the kinks on our mobile recording setup.Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfin Extended carve-out links:Books: David: Broken Earth trilogy https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B01947LZ8ABen: eBoys  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC1HTG/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1Article: David: “My Dad's Friendship With Charles Barkley”  http://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/12/14/lin-wang-charles-barkleyBen: Birth of a New American Aristocracy  https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-birth-of-a-new-american-aristocracy/559130/Podcast: David: 996 Podcast https://996.ggvc.com/category/podcast/Ben: Dissect Season 2 https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/dissect/id1143845868?mt=2Music: David: Tiny Desk concerts https://www.npr.org/series/tiny-desk-concerts/Ben: Odesza’s A Moment Apart &  https://open.spotify.com/album/3VzsvmhnUb9OZ59bq2aoNZ?si=dHUDPR4tSW2u6yey0MWTFwTV / Movie: Both: Black Panther https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/App: David: Steady Health https://steady.healthBen:Moment https://www.shopmoment.comWeather Line: http://weatherlineapp.comAuto Sleep http://autosleep.tantsissa.com

Ben and David discuss “the art of the pitch” through the lens of fundraising for seed-stage companies, but the takeaways are also (hopefully) applicable far beyond!Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfin Links:Sequoia pitch deck template:  https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/writing-a-business-plan/#Don Valentine talk at GSB: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKN-abRJMEwJim Goetz talk at GSB: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnmYSze9M2g

Ben and David are back for episode #3, with special guest Dan Hill. Dan discusses:- How his startup, Crashpadder, got acquired by Airbnb- Why Airbnb succeeded, and why marketplace businesses in the US have an advantage in early growth- How they decided on growth metrics at Airbnb- How his new company, Alma, is making charitable giving simpleSponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfin

Ben and David are back for episode #2, diving into the most elusive early-stage investing and company-building topics: product-market fit.  Sponsors:Koyfin: https://bit.ly/acquiredkoyfin