Founder Collective

The Devil Wears Prada 2 is a cultural event 20 years in the making — and it doesn’t disappoint. Kara invites screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna and director David Frankel to discuss the film, its making, and the state of media and Hollywood today.  Aline and David talk about why they waited so long to revisit the world of The Devil Wears Prada, how the media business has changed in the interim,  and how the films have shaped the public’s understanding of women, ambition, and power. The trio also discuss Kara’s fashion sense (she has a cameo, as herself, of course), AI’s effect on filmmakers, and why bad behavior is so fun to watch.  Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aline Brosh McKenna

Screenwriter

David Frankel

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Founder Collective

SaaStr 793: The 10-Point Checklist For When You Sell Your Company with David Frankel Managing Partner at Founder Collective and SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin David Frankel is Managing Partner at Founder Collective, a successful seed fund with investments in companies like The Trade Desk, Olo, and Coupang. With decades of experience as both a founder and investor, David brings a unique perspective to the often-misunderstood process of selling a company. He openly admits that many of his past exits were mistakes, which makes his advice on the topic particularly valuable. He joined SaaStr Workshop Wednesday LIVE to do a deep dive with Jason Lemkin on his 10 Point Checklist when you sell your startup. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alright everybody in SaaS, this is it. The biggest, best, most action-packed SaaS + AI event of the year—SaaStr Annual 2025—is coming this May. Three full days. 10,000+ SaaS and AI leaders and more tactical, no-fluff content than you'll find anywhere else. If you want to scale faster—$10M, $50M, $100M ARR and beyond—you need the right playbooks, the right connections and the right people in your corner. And SaaStr Annual is where it all happens. We'll have 100's of Legendary speakers from companies like Snowflake, HubSpot, OpenAI, Canva, and more. More networking than you can handle—meet your next investor, co-founder, or biggest deal. A New AI Demo & Pitch Stage— with your chance to win up to $5M in funding! So don't wait—grab your tickets now at SaaStrAnnual.com with my code jason100 to save $100 on tickets before prices go up. That's jason 100 at saastrannual.com See you in May! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you know what would make your customer service helpdesk dramatically better? Dumping it and switching to Intercom. But, youʼre not quite ready to make that change. We get it! Thatʼs why Fin, the worldʼs leading AI customer service agent, is now available on every helpdesk. Fin can instantly resolve up to 80% of your tickets, Which makes your customers happier. And you can get off the customer service rep hiring treadmill. Fin by Intercom. Named the #1 AI Agent in G2ʼs Winter Report. Learn more at : inter.com/saastr --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

David Frankel

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Founder Collective

David Frankel is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Founder Collective, one of the best seed firms of the last decade. David has led rounds in companies such as Suno, Coupang, SeatGeek and PillPack (sold to Amazon for ~$1B). Previously, David was Co-Founder and CEO of Internet Solutions (IS), the largest ISP in Africa, ultimately acquired by NTT Japan. David has been named to the Midas List six times. In 2023, he was #11 and in 2024, he appeared at #15 on the Midas List of the world's best venture capital investors and at #2 on the Midas list of seed investors. 10 Questions With One of the World's Best Seed Investors: 1. Reserves: Why are reserves the hardest part of venture? What have been David's biggest lessons in how to do them well? 2. Why does David believe that pro-rata is the original sin of VC? 3. Has DPI died in 2024? Is PE the salvation for the VC exit market and liquidity? 4. Why does David believe LPs are so pissed of with VCs right now? What will change that? 5. When will IPO markets open? Are M&A markets shut? What would cause them to open? 6. How does David reflect on price today? When will he pay up and break his rules? 7. Biggest lessons for David on knowing when is the right time to sell? Why does David believe you should never sell your winners? What has David sold that he regrets most? 8. What companies returned the most to Founder Collective Funds? Uber? Coupang? Airtable? The Trade Desk? What did he learn from those mega hits? 9. What have been David's biggest losses? How did losing the company change his mindset and approach to investing? 10. What does David believe is the future of venture capital? How can seed funds play in a world of mega multi-stage funds? Who wins? Who loses?

David Frankel

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Founder Collective

Eric Paley is the Managing Partner at Founder Collective, one of the world's most successful seed funds with investments in the likes of Uber, The Trade Desk, Coupang and Airtable. Mike Maples is one of the OGs of seed investing. As the Co-Founder of Floodgate, he has backed the likes of Twitch, Okta, Lyft, Twitter and more. Jason Lemkin is the Founder @ SaaStr one of the best-performing early-stage venture funds with a portfolio including Algolia, Pipedrive, Salesloft, TalkDesk, and RevenueCat to name a few. In Today's Episode on Is the Venture Model Broken? : Is the classic seed model dead? Can seed funds play in a world of $25M valuations? Why is having a firm grasp of the present the best thing an early-stage investor can have? Why does Mike Maples believe no company with true product-market-fit has ever failed? Why does Eric Paley believe "go faster" is the worst startup advice? Why does Mike Maples believe there is a direct relationship between price and risk? Why does Mike Maples believe that outliers by their very nature are lower priced? Why does Eric Paley not focus on ownership? Why can it be dangerous? What are the biggest risks for founders raising at valuations that are too high? Why does Eric Paley believe we will have the biggest chasm between TVPI and DPI in the prior vintage of venture capital returns? Why does Eric believe the majority of SPACs were BS and great companies can always go public? Why does Jason believe that if multiples do not reflate, the venture model is broken? Why does Jason believe we will see the biggest hiring spree in tech next year? How has illiquidity allowed Eric Paley to make some of the best investment decisions? What is Mike Maples biggest lesson from selling Twitter stock early at $1BN?

Eric Paley

Managing Partner

Founder Collective

Mike Maples

Co-Founding Partner

Floodgate

Jason Lemkin

Founder

SaaStrStorm Ventures

David Frankel is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner @ Founder Collective, one of the great seed firms of the last decade with a portfolio including Uber, Coupang, Airtable, Whoop and many more incredible companies. Previously, David was Co-Founder and CEO of Internet Solutions (IS), the largest ISP in Africa, ultimately acquired by NTT. David is also a founding board member of Endeavor SA and in the past has been selected by the World Economic Forum for the Global Leader of Tomorrow (GLT) program. In Today's Episode with David Frankel You Will Learn: 1.) How David made his way into the world of angel investing? How his mindset changed when making the transition from angel to an institutional investor with the founding of Founder Collective? 2.) Building the Firm: Founder Collective What are the biggest challenges in venture firm building today? Why is "deploy" and "the game" banned as words within Founder Collective? What terms are promoted as an alternative? How does David construct investment decision-making in the partnership? How does David create a safe space where all team members can share their thoughts in a non-judgemental, safe environment? What are the biggest mistakes or challenges that David sees firms make when building? 3.) David Frankel: Investor Mindset How does David analyse the current seed market today? What does he like? What worries him? Does David agree that early stage investing has never been less collaborative? How does David reflect on his own relationship to price today? How does he determine when to pay up vs when not to? How does David think about the compression on fund deployment timelines? Will this change? How does David keep a fresh and clean mind when viewing new opportunities, having seen many work and not work? How does one retain that mental purity when investing? What have been some of David's biggest misses? How did it impact his style of investing? 4.) The Partnership: What was the most recent disagreement David had with the partnership? How was it resolved? How does David approach self-doubt and insecurity within the partnership? How can this be managed successfully? What have been some of David's biggest lessons on how to give effective feedback without being judgemental? In a world of Zoom, how did the partnership retain the same level and quality of connection that they had in person? What works? What does not work? Item's Mentioned In Today's Episode with David Frankel David's Favourite Book: The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race David's Most Recent Investment: PairTree

David Frankel

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Founder Collective

David Frankel is Managing Partner @ Founder Collective, one of the leading seed funds of the last decade with a portfolio including the likes of Uber, PillPack, Coupang, Hotel Tonight, Venmo, Buzzfeed and many more incredible companies. David himself sits on the board of PillPack, Olo, Adhawk and SeatGeek. Prior to founding Founder Collective, David was the Co-Founder and CEO of Internet Solutions, one of the largest ISP providers in Africa. This led to his entrance into angel investing where he enjoyed immense success investing in the likes of Chris Dixon's Hunch and Alex Rampell's TrialPay, just to name a few. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How David made his way into the world of startups and angel investing from founding Africa's largest ISP provider and how that led to his founding of Founder Collective? 2.) Does David agree with Andy McLoughlin on the inherent mindset shift required when moving from angel to institutional investor? What does David believe is the key to making a new venture partnership work well in the early days? How was the process between him and Eric Paley? What were some of the core challenges/ highlights and breakthroughs? 3.) What does founder-market fit truly mean to David? Why does David believe it is one of the most crucial elements to look for in all investment opportunities? How was this so perfectly evident in the case of Elliot and TJ @ PillPack? How does David navigate the balance between the perfectness of the fit and the investability of the market? 4.) From watching TJ and Elliot at PillPack, what does David believe the truly special founders do to continuously attract the best talent? When does David believe is the right time to really build out the exec team? How did Elliot and TJ align their scaling of the org chart with the growth of the business so well? 5.) How does David think about the lack of free and open distribution in acquiring new customer in a capital efficient manner today? Why does David believe the companies of the future will be advantaged in distribution? In what shape and form can this advantage take? How does David think about the right time to put the pedal to the metal and aggressively grow? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: David's Fave Book: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind David's Most Recent Investment: Adhawk As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and David on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. The reality is that hiring amazing developers is hard. Terminal.io is your dedicated partner in rapidly standing up world-class remote technical teams. How do they deliver both speed and quality? Terminal does this by focusing on everything necessary to successfully source, setup, and support these teams – from physical elements like beautiful workspaces and equipment to ongoing resources like HR, payroll, legal, professional learning and development. But don't take my word for this, take the word of Eventbrite, former 20VC guest Hims, and Dialpad – all customers and lovers of Terminal. You can find out more today at Terminal.io.

David Frankel

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Founder Collective

Micah Rosenbloom is Managing Partner @ Founder Collective, one of the leading seed funds in the world with investments in Uber, Buzzfeed, Makerbot, PillPack, Coupang and Cruise, just to name a few. As for Micah, prior to VC with Founder Collective, his career was varied starting as a Hollywood agent before becoming a serial entrepreneur founding 3 companies with the last, a successful exit alongside his now Partner Eric Paley with Brontes Technology. Micah also is a Board Member with Sequoia Funded Dia and Co and board observer with both MoveWith and Sense360. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Micah made the move from Hollywood agent to leading seed stage VC? 2.) Why does Micah believe it is wrong to have themes to invest against? Why does he believe that the most interesting businesses can be found in weird and wonderful places? 3.) Why does Micah believe it is a problem for founders to focus exclusively on top line valuation? Why does Micah disagree with the common notion that a $100m exit is not exciting for VC? 4.) Why does Micah believe it is wrong for founders to build their company for the next round? Why does Micah disagree with Jason Lemkin in stating, 'the best investors know the benchmarks clearly for the next round'. 5.) How does Micah deal with the fire hose of activities inherent within venture? How does he prioritise those activities? What thesis does he base all his decisions around? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Micah's Fave Book: Thinking Fast and Slow Micah's Most Recent Investment: Skysafe As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Micah on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for marketing and customer support together on one integrated platform. With Intercom, businesses can chat directly with prospective customers on their website, engage current users with targeted messages based on their behavior, and provide personal support at scale with an integrated help desk and knowledge base. This is perfect for Businesses that want to help people visiting their website become customers. Marketing and growth teams that want to onboard and retain users by sending the right messages at the right time and Support teams that want to move beyond email to provide personalized, scalable support so simply head over to Intercom.com/20MVC Cooley are the global law firm built around startups and venture capital. Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley has formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50+ years working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad issues that arise through a fund's lifetime. So to learn more about the #1 most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public. Head over to cooley.com and also at cooleygo.com.

Micah Rosenbloom

Managing Partner

Founder Collective

Eric Paley is the Managing Partner at Founder Collective, one of the world's most successful seed funds with investments in the likes of Uber, Hunch, Makerbot and About.me. Prior to Founder Collective, Eric was the Co-Founder and CEO of Brontes Technologies, later acquired by 3M for $95m. Following it's acquisition Eric began making angel investments and it was not long before Eric and David, 'super angel' at the time, saw the potential for a Founder First seed fund and Founder Collective was born. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Eric made his move into the wonderful world of venture from founding Brontes Technologies? 2.) How does raising VC money affect the founders in both the long term and the short term? How does it alter exit expectations and time horizons? 3.) How does raising VC money affect startup management and burn rates? At what time is it too late to cut the burn? When should this moment of realisation be? What are Eric's rough expectations of valuation uptick based upon VC funding? How does Eric approach the bridge round? What metrics are required for Eric to think it is an acceptable round? Is it merely a case of failing to hit Series A metrics? 5.) Does Eric believe VCs really need $Bn exits to succeed? What is the math behind it? How should founders think of exits with the investors hat on? What does Eric make of the rise of mega funds? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Eric's Most Recent Investment: Crayon As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Eric on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. The Twenty Minute VC is proudly sponsored by Luma, Luma is the world's first ever Surround WiFi system that brings speed, security and control to the home network. And Unlike traditional routers, Luma comes in a pack of two or three sleek devices to place in different rooms in your home. Luma then creates a mesh network that work together to create an outrageously-fast, ultra-secure Surround WiFi network. Lastly, Luma's app lets you easily see and control which devices, users and content are on your network. To buy your Luma, simply dead to getluma.com or amazon.com. So many problems start with your head: stress, depression, anxiety, fear of the future. What if there was some kind of exercise you could do, that would help you get your head in shape. That's where the Headspace app comes in. Headspace is meditation made simple. The Headspace app provides guided meditations you can use whenever you want, wherever you want, on your phone, computer or tablet. They have sessions focused on everything from dealing with stress and depression, to helping you eat more mindfully. So download the Headspace app and start your journey towards a happier, healthier life. Learn more at headspace.com/20vc. That's headspace.com/20vc.

Eric Paley

Managing Partner

Founder Collective

Eric Paley is the Managing Partner at Founder Collective, one of the world's most successful seed funds with investments in the likes of Uber, Hunch, Makerbot and About.me. Prior to Founder Collective, Eric was the Co-Founder and CEO of Brontes Technologies, later acquired by 3M for $95m. Following it’s acquisition Eric began making angel investments and it was not long before Eric and David, 'super angel' at the time, saw the potential for a Founder First seed fund and Founder Collective was born. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Eric made his move into the wonderful world of venture from founding Brontes Technologies? 2.) What does Eric make of early stage valuations? When creating a venture fund why did Eric believe the seed stage was the stage with the most opportunity? 3.) Question from the legend, David Hornik @ August: At such an early stage where Founder Collective traditionally put in $0.1m-$0.3m, does Eric feel they put in enough money to make it matter? 4.) Does Eric believe that by not doing follow on rounds they are missing out? Does this resistance to seed funds set Founder Collective apart? David did mention that you have begun to follow on now, so what makes you follow on with one portfolio company and not another? 5.) The Founder journey is testing both physically and emotionally, what elements of support do Founder Collective provide outside of the business relationship? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Eric's Fave Book: Fooled By Randomness As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Eric on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session you can follow him on Instagram here!

Eric Paley

Managing Partner

Founder Collective

David Frankel is the Managing Partner at Founder Collective, one of the world's most successful seed funds with investments in the likes of Uber, Hunch, Makerbot and About.me. Prior to Founder Collective, David was the Founder and CEO of Internet Solutions, one of the largest ISP providers in Africa. Following it’s acquisition David made his move into the investing game becoming one of the very first ‘super angels’, following exceptional success in this field, David along with Eric Paley (coming on the show on Wednesday) and Micah Rosenbloom founded Founder Collective, a seed stage venture fund whereby everyone at Founder Collective has started a technology company, they have lived and breathed the founder experience, a true founder friendly venture fund. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did David make his move into the wonderful world of venture from being a founder and 'super angel'? 2.) Question from Spencer Lazar @ General Catalyst: How has David evolved as an investor over time? Has his strategy and approach altered? 3.) David has experienced some immense cycles both up and down, how has he seen the seed funding environment evolve? 4.) What was it like working with Chris Dixon from a16z? What advice would David give to someone looking to maintain or create a network around them? What other sources of deal flow do you utilize? How do you most like to be approached? 5.) How did FC's investment in Uber come about? What does David make of the regulatory hurdles Uber face with regards to employees or contractors? What is the future for Uber? 6.) What can we expect from Founder Collective? What is David excited about and why? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: David's Fave Book: Eating Well For Optimum Health, Playing The Enemy David's Fave Blog: Dan Primack, Term Sheet David's Most Recent Investment: Pillpack As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and David on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session you can follow him on Instagram here!

David Frankel

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Founder Collective