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

Harry Stebbings
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The Twenty Minute VC (20VC) interviews the world's greatest venture capitalists with prior guests including Sequoia's Doug Leone and Benchmark's Bill Gurley. Once per week, 20VC Host, Harry Stebbings is also joined by one of the great founders of our time with prior founder episodes from Spotify's Daniel Ek, Linkedin's Reid Hoffman, and Snowflake's Frank Slootman. If you would like to see more of The Twenty Minute VC (20VC), head to www.20vc.com for more information on the podcast, show notes, resources and more.

  1. 20VC: What I Learned from 100 of the Best CEOs in the World | What I Learned from Staying with Mr Beast for 3 Weeks | How We Will Spend More on Tokens than Salaries with Cliff Weitzman, Speechify

    13H AGO

    20VC: What I Learned from 100 of the Best CEOs in the World | What I Learned from Staying with Mr Beast for 3 Weeks | How We Will Spend More on Tokens than Salaries with Cliff Weitzman, Speechify

    Cliff Weitzman is the Founder & CEO of Speechify AI. He solved his dyslexia and ADHD in college by building a Voice AI agent that's now used by over 60 million people and has over 1 million five-star ratings. Over 200 software and AI engineers work on Speechify which won the Apple Design award last year. AGENDA:  00:00 — Until You Hit $100K Do Not Spend on any Channel Other than Meta  04:53 — How I hacked the college system by applying to 26 universities 06:33 — The "Great Guy" yearbook prank that accidentally outed me 08:35 — What I learned from hunting down the top 100 CEOs in the world 11:51 — The "Warrior" rule: Why I force my senior leaders to edit their own ads 13:52 — Why companies are like bodybuilders: The Bulking and Cutting cycle 17:34 — I test 1,000 AI-generated ads every single day 20:13 — How I built a custom AI ad platform in just four days 23:19 — The one $3,000,000 ad I filmed in a hot tub with red headphones 32:15 — Why we will soon spend more on AI tokens than employee salaries 34:55 — "I'm disappointed in you": The 1,000-credit daily AI requirement 36:31 — How LLMs helped me find my father's cancer when doctors couldn't 41:13 — Why 40% of billionaires are dyslexic—and why you should be too 45:41 — Why I refuse to hire anyone who has worked at Google 47:05 — I flew into a war zone in Ukraine just to keep one engineer 55:49 — Why performance reviews are a total waste of time 58:32 — QA is the most valuable skill in the world (and you're probably bad at it) 01:03:59 — Why we keep our valuation and funding a total secret 01:07:51 — The "Virus" Strategy: How Logan Paul hijacked the WWE 01:11:32 — What I learned from sleeping at Mr Beast's house for three weeks 01:14:15 — How we made a 36X return on Nvidia using high-leverage options 01:23:44 — I found the hacker who stole $200k—then I hired him 01:32:45 — Why I spent 11 days sleeping in a Walmart parking lot

    1h 45m
  2. 20VC: Mag7 Earnings: Google & Amazon Win - Meta and Microsoft Falter | Anthropic's $50BN Raise & What it Means for a Potential IPO | Atlassian, Twilio and Five9 Beat: The SaaS Apocalypse Over? | Sierra's $15B Valuation: Peak or Potential

    2D AGO

    20VC: Mag7 Earnings: Google & Amazon Win - Meta and Microsoft Falter | Anthropic's $50BN Raise & What it Means for a Potential IPO | Atlassian, Twilio and Five9 Beat: The SaaS Apocalypse Over? | Sierra's $15B Valuation: Peak or Potential

    AGENDA: 00:00 – Mag Seven Earnings: The "Super Bowl" of Tech Results 04:45 – Google's Cloud Explosion & The AI Search "Disruption" That Never Came 15:53 – Microsoft's $190B Bet: Is AI the Only Thing Keeping Growth Flat? 21:59 – Meta's $150B Future Bet vs. Wall Street's Need for Spreadsheets 28:50 – Palantir's Home Run: Why Big Companies Spend Big Money on AI 38:43 – Apple's Quiet Consistency & The Stealth Inflation of Memory Chips 41:11 – The SaaS Apocalypse Over? Atlassian and Twilio Lead the Re-acceleration 50:50 – Anthropic's $50B Raise & The Math Behind Token vs. Salary Spend 01:05:59 – Sierra's $15B Valuation: Replacing the $400B Customer Service Labor Market 01:13:39 – Musk vs. Altman Trial: Statute of Limitations, Standing, & Private Diaries 01:17:42 – The End of Managers? Brian Armstrong & The Rise of the "Individual Contributor"

    1h 31m
  3. 20VC: Shopify's Tobi Lütke on How AI is a Scapegoat for Mass Layoffs & What Will Labour Markets Be in the Future | Why We Need More Scrutiny on Charitable Giving, Governments are Bad at What They Do and Trump Derangement Syndrome in Canada

    5D AGO

    20VC: Shopify's Tobi Lütke on How AI is a Scapegoat for Mass Layoffs & What Will Labour Markets Be in the Future | Why We Need More Scrutiny on Charitable Giving, Governments are Bad at What They Do and Trump Derangement Syndrome in Canada

    Tobi Lütke is the co-founder and CEO of Shopify, the global e-commerce titan with a $160 billion market cap. Under his leadership, the company generates over $7 billion in annual revenue and has seen its valuation grow nearly 100x since its 2015 IPO. Today, Shopify has over 8,000 employees and AI now generates over 50% of the Shopify's code.  AGENDA: 00:10:36 - The $160 billion CEO who did not want to be CEO. 00:11:51 - Why don't companies become public? Because it is much worse to be an untrusted public company. 00:16:53 - Why we are about to enter a golden age of entrepreneurship. 00:17:54 - Why AI is being used as a scapegoat for mass layoffs. 00:17:41 - How will labor markets change in a world of AI? 00:24:43 - Why we should praise Elon Musk so much more than we do. 00:27:59 - Why we need to place more, not less, scrutiny on charitable giving. 00:31:56 - Why we have too many charity dollars and why they are inefficient. 00:34:57 - Why governments are so bad at what they do. 00:37:27 - The Trump derangement syndrome in Canada. 00:39:51 - Why will governments regulating technology push us into the hands of the Chinese? 00:41:59 - Europe has to get rid of the b******t green parties and go back to Prussian economics. 00:48:29 - Why is looking at the ticker such b******t? 00:50:48 - Why young coders are not as advantaged in AI as I thought they would be. 00:53:56 - The best engineers in Shopify are not writing code anymore and the AI does it for them. 00:56:40 - The cheat code for any career from the billionaire founder of Shopify.

    1h 14m
  4. 20VC: Inside Clay's Sales Playbook Scaling to $100M ARR | How to Set Sales Comp Plans | How to Read Sales Talent Linkedin Profiles | What Profiles to Hire & Fire | How to Increase Performance and Speed in Sales Teams with Becca Lindquist

    MAY 2

    20VC: Inside Clay's Sales Playbook Scaling to $100M ARR | How to Set Sales Comp Plans | How to Read Sales Talent Linkedin Profiles | What Profiles to Hire & Fire | How to Increase Performance and Speed in Sales Teams with Becca Lindquist

    Becca Lindquist is Head of Sales at Clay, one of the fastest-growing AI companies to reach $100M+ ARR. She previously helped scale dbt Labs into a category-defining data platform, building and leading high-performing sales teams. Before that, she was an early sales leader at Heap, where she played a key role in scaling the GTM motion. AGENDA: 00:00 Why most sales reps plateau—and when you should leave your company 02:45 Should you jump from SaaS to a hot AI startup right now? 05:30 How long is too long at one company—and what great tenure actually looks like 08:00 How to read a LinkedIn profile like a world-class sales leader 13:30 The biggest hiring mistake sales leaders make (and how to catch it fast) 16:00 Titles vs salary: what actually predicts a great hire 20:00 What early-stage founders must look for in their first sales hires 24:00 How to evaluate AI startups: PMF, retention, and real signals that matter 27:00 Sales comp decoded: quota, OTE, and how to design winning incentives 33:00 How to build a high-performance sales culture (and avoid a toxic one) 41:00 What makes a true champion—and why most reps get this wrong 45:00 Weekly forecasting: how elite sales teams run pipeline reviews 50:00 Are SDRs dead? How AI is really changing outbound sales 52:00 Why every rep owns pipeline—and how top teams generate it 54:30 The future of sales productivity: AI tools, workflows, and what actually works

    1h 13m

  5. APR 30

    20VC: Anthropic Raises $45BN but Falls Short on Compute | OpenAI Crushes with GPT5.5 and Codex: Back in the Game? | China Blocks Manus $2BN Deal to Meta | Thoma Bravo Hand Back Medallia Keys to Creditors | Why Google is a Bigger Buy Than Ever Before

    AGENDA: 00:00 $45B Floods into Anthropic from Google & Amazon 05:10 OpenAI Misses Growth Targets — Is This a Real Problem? 08:40 The Rise of AI Agents: Why Humans No Longer Pick Models 12:05 "Compute ≠ Revenue": The First Crack in the AI Business Model 20:30 China Blocks $2B Manus Deal — AI Cold War Escalates 34:10 Why Google May Be the Biggest Winner in AI Infrastructure 41:50 The Death of SaaS? Agents Replace Apps Like Jira & Canva 46:20 Thoma Bravo Hands Medallia to Creditors — $5B Wiped Out 52:10 The Collapse of Private Equity Exit Routes in VC

    1h 26m
  6. 20VC: Applovin: $160BN Market Cap, $5.48BN Revenue, $10M EBITDA Per Head | Why the Best Do Not Need Mentorship | Why Founders Should Not Angel Invest | Why Kindness in Business Will Slow You Down with Adam Foroughi

    APR 27

    20VC: Applovin: $160BN Market Cap, $5.48BN Revenue, $10M EBITDA Per Head | Why the Best Do Not Need Mentorship | Why Founders Should Not Angel Invest | Why Kindness in Business Will Slow You Down with Adam Foroughi

    Adam Foroughi is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Applovin, one of the most underdiscussed but incredible businesses. Applovin has a market cap of $160BN, the company does $5.48BN in revenue and has an astonishing $10M EBITDA per head. The margins; 80%+. There is almost no other business in the world like it.  AGENDA:  00:00 – Why Winning (Not Fear) Drives the Best Founders 04:30 – When Money Stops Mattering: The Real Founder Motivation 07:15 – $83M CEO Payday: The Truth Behind the Headlines 10:45 – The Hidden Cost of Being a CEO: What No One Tells You 13:00 – Down 92%: How Do You Not Lose Your Mind? 17:00 – Layoffs: AI Revolution or COVID Hangover? Will the Layoffs Work? 24:30 – Why Most Companies Can't Build a Culture of A-Players 29:30 – What % of Applovin Code is AI? What Will it Be in 5 Years Time? 33:30 – Building on OpenAI: Opportunity or Existential Risk? 40:00 – The Dark Side of Short Sellers & Market Manipulation 50:00 – Do Great Founders Doubt Themselves? 52:00 – TikTok, Meta & The Future of Recommendation Engines 53:30 – The Path to a $1 Trillion Company: What Needs to Happen? 56:00 – Stock Buybacks: How to Do Them and When They Go Wrong? 59:00 – Is the SaaS Model Breaking? What Happens Now?

    1h 21m
  7. 20Product: Replit CEO on Why Coding Models Are Plateauing | Why the SaaS Apocalypse is Justified: Will Incumbents Be Replaced? | Why IDEs Are Dead and Do PMs Survive the Next 3-5 Years with Amjad Masad

    APR 25

    20Product: Replit CEO on Why Coding Models Are Plateauing | Why the SaaS Apocalypse is Justified: Will Incumbents Be Replaced? | Why IDEs Are Dead and Do PMs Survive the Next 3-5 Years with Amjad Masad

    Amjad Masad is the Co-Founder and CEO of Replit, one of the leading "vibe-coding" platforms. Under his leadership, Replit has raised a total of $922 million in funding, recently raising at a whopping $9 billion valuation. Replit has over 50 million registered users and is used by employees at 85% of Fortune 500 companies. Replit's revenue jumped from $10 million to $100 million in nine months, and the company is on track to reach $1BN in ARR by the end of 2026. AGENDA:  00:00 — Why Coding Models are Hitting a Performance Plateau 07:21 — Is Most of the Value of Replit Not Anthropic Model Quality? 10:04 — Why Did Replit Decide to Not Build Their Own Model, Like Cursor Did? 11:58 — Why Product Quality Must Always Beat Cost Optimization 14:51 — How Do Replit Choose Which Model To Route To For Different Tasks? 24:43 — The SaaS Apocalypse: Why it is Fair and Just? 29:55 — What Will the Cost of Tokens Be in 5 Years? 31:09 — Is Cursor Dead? Debunking the Twitter Narrative 33:36 — Are IDEs Dead? 35:54 — Should Students Still Study Computer Science? 42:47 — Are US Companies Using CCP Subsidised Open-Source Chinese Models 56:59 — What Do No Founders Know About True Product-Market Fit

    47 min
  8. 20VC: Cursor Acquired for $60BN by xAI | Anthropic Hits $1TRN in Secondary Markets | Did Anthropic Just Kill Figma, Adobe and Canva | Rippling Hits $1BN in ARR | Salesforce Goes Headless: Smart or Stupid | Cerebras IPO 2.0

    APR 23

    20VC: Cursor Acquired for $60BN by xAI | Anthropic Hits $1TRN in Secondary Markets | Did Anthropic Just Kill Figma, Adobe and Canva | Rippling Hits $1BN in ARR | Salesforce Goes Headless: Smart or Stupid | Cerebras IPO 2.0

    AGENDA:  04:00 — 🤯 Cursor Acquired for $60B?! Breaking down the mind-blowing deal with xAI/SpaceX. 07:00 — 🤝 A Marriage Made in Heaven: Why Cursor and Elon Musk actually make perfect sense. 11:00 — 🏆 Who Won the Deal? The $60B question and why SpaceX public shareholders might be the secret losers. 15:00 — 💰 Venture Payday: What this means for the investors and the "lock-up" reality for the founders. 19:30 — 🚀 SpaceX as an AI Lab: Is Elon using $2 trillion in market cap to buy his way into the AI race?. 20:30 — ⚠️ The AI Advantage: Why high-price stocks are the ultimate weapon for massive acquisitions. 23:30 — 🏛️ The $100 Billion Prediction: Jason explains why we'll see an even bigger startup acquisition within 12 months. 33:30 — 🍎 End of an Era: Tim Cook steps down at Apple—was it a home run exit or "AI Terror"?. 37:30 — 📉 The Stealth Churn: Why Netflix, Canva, and Adobe should be terrified of YouTube and AI. 39:30 — 🦄 Anthropic Hits $1 Trillion: The "white heat" of secondary markets and the race to go public. 48:30 — 🎨 Claude Design vs. Figma: Is Anthropic's new app an existential threat to the design world?. 01:03:30 — 🔥 Rippling's God-Mode Growth: How they hit $1B in revenue while accelerating past the "SaaS is Dead" meme. 01:09:30 — 🧠 Salesforce Goes Headless: Marc Benioff's genius move to survive the AI agent revolution. 01:13:00 — 🕸️ The "Agent Fabric": The next trillion-dollar battleground for the enterprise. 01:23:30 — ⚡ Cerebras IPO 2.0: Can the "wafer-scale" chip challenger actually take on Nvidia?. 01:29:30 — 🥊 Jensen Huang vs. The Podcasters: Reacting to the legendary (and cagey) Nvidia interview. 01:34:30 — 🇬🇧 London vs. The Valley: Why 91% of AI unicorns are in the Bay Area and Harry's thoughts from the UK.

    1h 41m
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The Twenty Minute VC (20VC) interviews the world's greatest venture capitalists with prior guests including Sequoia's Doug Leone and Benchmark's Bill Gurley. Once per week, 20VC Host, Harry Stebbings is also joined by one of the great founders of our time with prior founder episodes from Spotify's Daniel Ek, Linkedin's Reid Hoffman, and Snowflake's Frank Slootman. If you would like to see more of The Twenty Minute VC (20VC), head to www.20vc.com for more information on the podcast, show notes, resources and more.

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