Why the VC Hype Cycle Always Gets It Wrong | VC Roundtable | E2307
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Today's show:
Forget the triple-triple-double-double-double; the new bar for startups hoping to raise venture capital has reached the stratosphere, though our venture panel is worried that startups are focusing too much on today's problems that may not become companies tomorrow. During a lively VC roundtable, Cowboy's Aileen Lee, Floodgate's Mike Maples, and Lerer Hippeau's Ben Lerer joined Alex to dig into exiting pre-AI startups, rising valuations, token spend, why they are keeping their funds small, and whether the government just tripped OpenAI and Anthropic!
Guest Links:
Aileen Lee https://x.com/aileenlee
Cowboy VC https://cowboy.vc
Mike Maples https://x.com/m2jr
Floodgate https://www.floodgate.com
Bene Lerer https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjlerer
Lere Hippeau https://www.lererhippeau.com
Timestamps:
0:00 Aileen Lee, Mike Maples, and Ben Lerer join the show
5:13 Venture liquidity returns: what SpaceX/Stripe distributions mean for LPs
9:13 Bending Spoons prices IPO at $29/share, roughly $18.4B valuation
10:31 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!
12:09 "Companies get bought, not sold" — Ben on taking first offers seriously
17:41 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!
19:34 Mutiny's burn-the-boats AI pivot with Jaleh Rezaei
20:19 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist
22:15 Mike's KeepSafe story: the "rule of 70" and profit-first companies
25:12 The new growth bar: 5x, 4x replaces triple-triple-double-double
28:55 Fund size is your strategy: why Floodgate and Lerer Hippeau stay small
30:11 CLA - Innovation takes balance. CLA's CPAs, consultants, and wealth advisors can help you get from startup to where you want to end up. Get started now at https://www.claconnect.com/withyou
37:39 The $100M Series A: Starcloud, General Intuition, Scale Cognition, Scout AI
40:35 King-making rounds and why mega-seeds destroy optionality
54:11 Open-weight models: the GLM-5.2 moment and going model-agnostic
55:30 Why fine-tuning open models is a treadmill, with Cursor/Kimi as an example
1:03:28 Grading the Trump administration on Mythos and Fable
1:06:33 Rising anti-AI sentiment, the wealth gap, and lessons from social media
1:11:43 Raising kids in the post-intelligence era
1:12:35 Where to find the panel and what each firm is investing in
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A DAO bids $40M on the Constitution, Startup Checklist: Operational best practices, Gen Z VCs | E1330
First, Jason covers ConstitutionDAO attempt to buy one of the remaining 13 copies of the constitution at Sotheby's (01:56). Then, he does 10 points from the Startup Checklist on operational excellence (34:54). To close out the show, Producer Rachel speaks with Meagan Loyst, a VC at Lerer Hippeau who leads a group called Gen Z VCs (01:04:00).
20VC: Lerer Hippeau's Ben Lerer on 'Investing With Imagination', Strategies To Avoid Fomo & Develop Pattern Recognition As An Investor and Why We Have Seen The Rise of Direct To Consumer Business & Will This Continue With Further M&A
Ben Lerer is a Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures and co-founder & CEO of Thrillist Media Group. Ben was among Ernst & Young's 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winners, Forbes list of "Most Powerful CEOs Under 40", " Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 5 Entrepreneurs of the Year," and Silicon Alley Insider's "100 Coolest People in Tech". Ben is also an active mentor for NYC Venture Fellows, TechStars and E[nstitute].
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Ben came to found Thrillist and then join the founding team at Lerer Hippeau?
2.) How did Ben's mentality shift from investing angel money to the fiduciary responsibility of a fund?
3.) How does Ben view FOMO? How does he look to negate and contol his emotions when investing?
4.) How has Ben seen his personal pattern recognition change over time? How does Ben use data to further improve his ability of pattern recognition?
5.) Why have we seen the rise of direct to consumer businesses? Is it easier to build a brand today than in previous years? Will we see continued M&A in the retail world with the likes of Jet.co and Dollar Shave Club?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Ben's Fave Book: The Goldfinch
Ben's Most Recent Investment: Everytable
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ben on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
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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.
20 VC: Running Lerer Hippeau Ventures Like A Startup with Eric Hippeau, Managing Partner @ Lerer Hippeau Ventures
Eric Hippeau is a Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures. He is the chairman of RebelMouse and co-founder of NowThis Media. Previously, Eric was the Chief Executive Officer of The Huffington Post and a Special Partner at Softbank Capital, where he served as Managing Partner. Prior to Softbank Capital, Eric was Chairman and CEO of Ziff-Davis, which was the largest media company serving the technology sector. He serves on the Board of various private and public companies, including Buzzed & Starwood Hotels and Resorts. A special thank you to Mattermark for providing all the data displayed in today's show and you can find out more about Mattermark here! In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Eric make his way into the world of tech and venture? 2.) Question from Eric Paley: How does Eric compare the role of VC to the role of operator and does Eric think each draws on the same skills and strengths? 3.) What does Eric think makes a great VC and what makes a great operator? Are there any commonalities in the individuals he has come across?
4.) Eric reveals the best pitches he has seen and what made them so effective and flips the coin to discuss the worst pitches and what not to do when pitching a VC?
5.) Eric has made many investments in adtech and content, an area most VCs are hesitant of. So why are VCs hesitant of this space and why does Eric think he and Ken have been able to master it and produce great returns?
6.) With Eric's experience as CEO at Huffington Post, how does Eric view the changes to the media landscape and what are his predictions and concerns for the next few years?
Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Eric's Fave Book: The Lord of The Rings Eric's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Strictly VC, Dan Primack: Termsheet Eric's Most Recent Investment: The Drone Racing League As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry 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! Free Ebook: How to boost your Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) by over 100% Have you ever wanted to know who someone is simply from an email address? With Loyalty Bay's Super Users product now you can. Simply input an email address and it will go off and find publicly available profile information i.e. Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter etc for that email address. This is incredibly powerful in building a richer data profile on your users for marketers and business development people alike. Free 30 day Trial. Check out www.loyaltybay.co.uk
