The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch Harry Stebbings

Michael Eisenberg is a Co-Founder and General Partner @ Aleph, one of Israel's leading venture firms with a portfolio including the likes of Wix, Lemonade, Empathy, Honeybook and more. Before leading Aleph, Michael was a General Partner @ Benchmark.

In Today's Show with Michael Eisenberg We Discuss:
1. The State of AI Investing:

Why does Michael believe that "foundation models are the fastest depreciating asset in history"? Are we in an AI bubble today? As an investor, what is the right way to approach this market? Who will be the biggest losers in this AI investing phase? Where will the biggest value accrual be? What lessons does Michael have from the dot com for this?
2. Where Is the Liquidity Coming From?

Why does Michael believe that it is BS that private equity will come in and buy a load of software companies and be the primary exit destination? Why does Michael believe that IPO windows are always open? Should founders go out now? What is good enough revenue numbers to go out into the public markets? Why does Michael believe that Lina Kahn is a threat to capitalism? How does Michael predict the next 12-24 months for the M&A market?
3. AI as a Weapon: Who Wins: China or the US:

Does Michael agree with the notion that China is 2 years behind the US in AI development? Does Michael agree that AI could be a more dangerous weapon in wars than nuclear weapons? Why does Michael suggest that for all founders in Europe, they should leave? US, China, Israel, Europe, how do they rank for innovating around data regulation for AI?
4. Venture 101: Reserves, Selling Positions and Fund Dying:

Why does Michael only want to do reserves into his middle-performing companies? What framework does Michael use to determine whether he should sell a position? Which funds will be the first to die in this next wave of venture? Why does Michael not do sourcing anymore? Where is he weakest in venture? Why does Michael believe that no board meeting needs to be over 45 mins?  
 

Danny Rimer is a Partner @ Index Ventures and one of the most prominent VCs of the last two decades. Danny has led Index to be one of the top global firms on both sides of the Atlantic. Among Danny's incredible portfolio, he has led or been involved with Figma, Discord, Dream Games, Etsy, Glossier and Patreon.

In Today's Discussion with Danny Rimer We Cover:
1. The Biggest Lessons from Missing Snap, Airbnb, Spotify and Facebook:

How did Danny miss investing in Brian Chesky and Airbnb when Brian says "Index is the best investor that Airbnb never had"? What was Danny's biggest takeaway from turning down Daniel Ek and Spotify multiple times? Why did Danny turn down the chance to invest in Facebook at $10BN? What did he learn from this? Why did Index not lead Snapchat's Series B? How did that decision change Danny's mindset towards the concentration of positions in a fund?
2. The Biggest BS Rules in Venture: Market Sizing, Valuations and Signalling

Why does Danny believe that "valuation is a mental trap"? Why does Danny believe that TAM is "noise" and should not be used to assess an investment? Why does Danny believe that stage, sector and geo-specific funds are BS? Why does Danny believe there are no IPO windows? Are IPO markets always open to the best? Why does Danny believe that signalling is BS and does not exist today?
3. Lessons from the Biggest Wins and Losses:

What are Danny's biggest lessons from Index's $BN win in King (Candy Crush)? How did the Discord deal come to be? What are Danny's biggest takeaways from it? What are Danny's biggest reflections from losing 10s of millions on Nasty Gal? What is Danny's biggest advice to a new investor today?
4. Lessons from Two Decades Building Index into a Premier Firm:

What specifically has Index done to enable them to do what no one else has done and win on both sides of the Atlantic? How did the Benchmark partnership shape much of how Danny has constructed Index today? Who does Danny view as Index's biggest competition? How has it changed with time? Why is Danny more bullish than ever on the UK despite Brexit?  

Janie Lee is the Head of Product and the owner of the Self-Serve business at Loom. Janie previously worked at Rippling, leading the Identity Management and Hardware teams. Prior to that, she worked at Opendoor launching markets and developing pricing algorithms. During this time, Opendoor scaled from 2 to 20+ markets, $5B+ revenue, and 1500+ employees.

In Today's Episode with Janie Lee We Discuss:
1. Inside the Product Building Machine of Rippling and Opendoor:

What are Janie's single biggest product lessons from Rippling? How do they build so much product so fast? Can you have breadth and high quality? What are Janie's biggest lessons from Opendoor on talent and pricing? What does Janie know now that she wishes she had known when she started her product career?
2. What Makes a Truly Great PM:

What core skills do the best PMs have? What is the difference between good vs great? Writing: What are Janie's biggest pieces of advice to PMs who want to write better? Communicate: How do the best PMs and product leaders communicate with their teams? Question Asking: How do the best PMs ask questions of their team and other orgs?
3. How to Find and Pick the Best PMs:

How does Janie structure the interview process when hiring new PMs? What questions should one ask in every interview with a PM? Does Janie do a case study? What is she looking to achieve from it? How do the best do? What are Janie's biggest mistakes in hiring PMs? How did she change from it?
4. Onboarding PMs and Crushing Product Reviews:

What do the first 30 days look like for new PMs? What are the biggest signs that a new PM is not going to work out? How does the product review process work at Loom? How does Janie prioritise when there is so much volume and data? How has AI changed the way Loom builds products today?  

Alex Wang is the Founder and CEO @ Scale.ai, the company that allows you to make the best models with the best data. To date, Alex has raised $1.6BN for the company with a last reported valuation of $14BN earlier this year. Scale tripled their ARR in 2023 and is expected to hit $1.4BN in ARR by the end of 2024. Their investors include Accel, Index, Thrive, Founders Fund, Meta and Nvidia to name a few.

In Today's Show with Alex Wang We Discuss:
1. Foundation Models: Diminishing Returns:

What are the three core pillars that can meaningfully improve foundation models performance? Why is data the single largest bottleneck to the performance of models today? What data do we need to capture that we do not currently, that will have the biggest impact on model performance moving forward? Will we see the largest companies in the world revert back to on-prem with the increasing security challenges of migrating all customer data to foundation models?
2. AI: A Military Asset in Global Conflict: China + Russia

Why does Alex believe that AI has the potential to be an even more powerful military asset than nuclear weapons? If this is the case, should we have open systems? Do we not have to have closed systems? Why does Alex believe that the CCP's approach to industrial policy is better than anyone else's? How does Alex evaluate the rise of Chinese EV car manufacturers in the last few years? Does Alex really believe that China is two years behind the US in the AI race?
3. "I Get Fairer Treatment in Congress than in the Press":

Why does Alex believe that the best PR is no PR? Why does Alex believe that he got fairer treatment in congress than he does in the media? Why does Alex believe that all founders should look to own their own distribution channels today?
4. Alex Wang: AMA:

What are some of Alex's biggest lessons from Patrick Collison on the impact that a hot company brand has on the ability for that company to hire the best? Does Alex think Trump is going to win? What would be the impact if he were to? Why does Alex believe that enterprise software will be changed forever in the next few years? What question is Alex never asked that he thinks he should be asked?  

Reid Hoffman has been one of the most impactful people in technology over the last two decades. He is the Co-Founder of Linkedin (acq by Microsoft for $26BN) and Co-Founder of Inflection.ai. As an investor, Reid has backed the likes of Facebook, Airbnb, Zynga and more. Reid is also a Board Member @ Microsoft and was on the board of OpenAI.

In Today's Show with Reid Hoffman We Discuss:
1. Foundation Models: Commoditisation, Business Models, Incumbents:

Does Reid believe we are seeing the commoditization of foundation models? Is it too late for new foundation models to be born today? Are they VC backable? How will foundation models eventually make money? What will be the sustainable business model? Does Reid believe that foundation models will be acquired by large cloud providers? Who goes first?
2. Inflection & Microsoft: What Went Down:

How did the Microsoft and Inflection deal go down? Did Satya call up one day and make it happen? With the decay rate of models, Microsoft did not do it for the models, so why did they do it? Was Inflection a sustainable business in it's own right? Does this not prove that to win at this game, you have to be an incumbent with incumbent cash?
3. OpenAI: Board, Lessons and Management:

What are 1-2 of Reid's biggest lessons from being on the OpenAI board with Sam? Why did Sam ask Reid in front of the whole company if Reid would fire him if he did not perform? Scarlett Johannsen, super alignment team quitting, NDAs tied to equity, this is a lot in a short amount of time, how does Reid analyse this?
4. Trump is the Biggest Threat to Democracy: What Lies Ahead?

Why does Reid believe that Trump is a threat to democracy and evil? What were Reid's biggest takeaways from a two hour lunch with Joe Biden? How does a Trump administration change the world of AI, technology and startups?
5. The Future of TikTok:

Is TikTok a threat to US democracy? Should it be banned? What will be the outcome of the current judicial process? Will they sell to a US entity? How could Trump impact the future of TikTok in the US?
6. Reid Hoffman: AMA:

What are Peter Thiel's biggest strengths and weaknesses? I believe Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most unappreciated public market CEOs, what are the core components that Reid believes makes Mark so special? How did Reid miss out on investing in SpaceX's first round? What did he not see that he should have seen? What do we think is crazy today but will be a no brainer and very normal in 10 years?  

Ashley Kelly is the VP of Global Sales Development at Rippling, the all-in-one platform for HR, IT, and finance. Before Rippling, Ashley played a crucial role in scaling Brex’s outbound sales from $2M to over $300M in ARR, and has hired over 800 SDRs during her time in some of the best tech companies in Silicon Valley, including Lever and Zenefits. 
In Today’s Episode with Ashley Kelly We Discuss:
From NASCAR to Silicon Valley SDR
How did Ashley make her way into the world of sales?
Why does Ashley think the best AEs and leaders start off as SDRs?
What is Ashley’s advice to new SDRs starting their jobs today?
Age of AI: Is SDR Outbound Dead?
Does Ashley agree that outbound is dead today? Is SDR dead?
How will AI change SDR? Why is Ashley hesitant to adopt AI?
Why does Ashley think founders should always build the first sales playbook?
What did Ashley mean by SDR is the 3rd pillar between sales and marketing? 
What does Ashley think most companies get wrong about outbound?
SDR Hiring: Who, What, When & How
When does Ashley think founders should hire their first SDR?
How does Ashley structure the hiring process? What questions does she ask?
What profile does Ashley look for when hiring for an SDR?
How does Ashley structure the finance package? How is it different for each team?
Why did Ashley avoid hiring SDRs with SDR experience? Why has she changed her mind?
What was Ashley’s biggest hiring mistake? What were her takeaways?
Onboarding New SDR Hires
How does Ashley onboard new SDR hires? What is her onboarding timeline?
How does Ashley set targets for new hires? When should they be fully productive? 
When does Ashley know if a new hire isn’t working?
What are common traits among Ashley’s most successful hires?