The mmhmm story and how it plans to spend its $100M
For our Wednesday show this week, Natasha and Alex Chris had prior Equity guest Phil Libin back for a chat. Libin was first on our show a while back to chat about his startup studio. But since then, he's been a little busy.
You may recall that mmhmm, Libin's project to build a better video communication service, raised $100 million the other week. And we here on the Equity pod made a little bit of fun at the number. It was just so very much money for a roughly one year old company. What was the company going to use it for?
Well, Libin's folks got in touch and so we decided to just have him on to chat. And we wanted him back because he was one of the most memorable guests on the show, frankly, thanks to his candor the last time around.
So, what did we get into? A refresh on the mmhmm story, and notes from Libin about what's ahead for his company. It certainly has the cash to pursue its vision. But as we learned, building software for a variety of platforms comes with challenges. Challenges that are ameliorated by having lots of smart staff. So, that's where the money is going.
Regardless, it was good sporting of Libin to come back for another chat. Equity is back Friday morning with our news roundup. Make sure to follow the show on Twitter, as we're doing the odd Twitter space that you won't want to miss.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.
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20VC: Evernote & mmhmm Founder Phil Libin on Why We are Beginning a Multi-Trillion Dollar Restructuring of the World, Why Shortcuts are the Biggest Mistakes Startups Make & The Future of Video and The Unbundling of Zoom
Phil Libin is the Founder and CEO @ mmhmm, the app that allows you to level up your remote presentations, making high-quality video content in minutes. To date, Phil has raised over $30M for the company from an incredible investor base including Sequoia, Kevin & Julia Hartz, Tony Fadell, Instagram's Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and Brianne Kimmel. Prior to mmhmm, Phil was a Managing Director @ General Catalyst and prior to his time in venture, Phil most famously founded Evernote, where he led the business with phenomenal success, as CEO for over 8 years.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Phil made his way into the world of startups, came to found Evernote and how that led to his founding of mmhmm, most recently?
2.) How would Phil describe his management style today? How has it changed over time? Why does Phil believe shortcuts are the greatest mistakes startups make? What does Phil believe you can vs cannot take shortcuts on? What have been some real world lessons there?
3.) What were Phil's biggest takeaways from his time in venture? How did it change his operating mindset? Does Phil believe there is an incentive misalignment between founder and VC? Why is Roelof Botha the best board member Phil has worked with? What makes him so special?
4.) How does Phil think about the unbundling/verticalisation of Zoom? How does he predict the market evolving? How does Phil see the differing usage patterns between consumer and business? Why does Phil believe more can be learned from looking at similarities and not differences?
5.) What does Phil believe are the two classes of mistakes when scaling startups? What have been Phil's biggest lessons on acquiring and retaining the best talent? How does Phil create an environment of dissent where anyone can bring their entire self and beliefs to the table?
Item's Mentioned In Today's Episode
Phil's Favourite Book: Kafka on the Shore
As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
AMA 2: All Turtles CEO Phil Libin answers questions from founders: should early-stage founders prioritize data or instincts, building global products, ML risks, thoughts on remote work
All Turtles CEO Phil Libin answers questions from founders: should early-stage founders prioritize data or instincts, building global products, ML risks, thoughts on remote work
Join the TWiST Slack: https://launchevents.typeform.com/to/kLq5Bi
Mentioned during the AMA:
Phil's First appearance on TWiST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSYdwNHCmJA
Phil presents his state machine that answers all growth questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjyhDOb_j1I
All Turtles Product Taxonomy podcast: https://www.all-turtles.com/podcast/episode-50-product-taxonomy-how-we-classify-product-pitches/
Questions:
1:03 Knyck: In your state machine model, how early should companies prioritize looking into resurrection, lines 5&9, of inactive users into low and high-value users?
2:36 David: Thoughts on Notion? I’ve been an Evernote user since ’08 but Notion seems to be winning over some Evernote fans.
3:11 Tom: 1) As CEO, what brings you the most joy as a CEO, any examples? 2) As a Software Engineer, what was one of the most difficult things you had to overcome?
3) What’s one thing early founders don’t think is as important as it really is? (Besides culture)
9:54 Graham: During the early days (pre-product market fit), do you think that more metrics are always better for founders, or would you recommend focusing on those north star metrics that can keep founders focused on the most important business levers?
12:32 Craig: How have any setbacks or failures in the past changed the way you approached problems or roadblocks. What changes will you make after COVID?
17:04 Andrii: How would you compare Notion vs Roam research vs Evernote? What are some strong and weak features of each platform?
18:26 Jeff: Have you completed your goal yet of 1 pull up?
19:36 Sina: As you said: “Many companies focus on just one market and build up from there” but you guys invest in a global presence early on in the process and tried to have users from the Asia Pacific regions from the early days. How did you guys manage to do that? Was it only marketing campaigns or did you guys have strategic partners in that region?
23:31 Tatiana: Do you consider in this matter taking some mentoring as a real addressed help? If so, I would like to take this opportunity to apply for your mentoring, if possible. What will be the best way to contact you and introduce myself?
24:39 Luke: Which products being developed at All Turtles are you most excited about?
27:59 Presh: What’s your framework for deciding which products/problems you’d like to focus on/solve at All Turtles?
30:47 Catharine: Aside from changing how you eat, what are the other two things you’ve done that have transformed your life?
32:53 Jason: Can you talk about your massive weight loss and how that did/didn’t impact you as a founder/leader? Do you think you were perceived differently based on your weight as a founder/leader?
38:02 Alex: We’re building a real-time platform called answerable and we’re wondering at what critical tipping point a platform has enough data to really derive good insights?
40:49 Alex: What would you suggest for a very regulated company (SEC) where user testimonials + referrals are either straight up not allowed or require super fine inspection to avoid being sued?
42:12 Juan Juan: I remember your story when you were planning to close down Evernote then an Angel came to your rescue writing a check that gave you the runway to success. How did that happen and what were you feeling at that time?
44:04 Vitaly: How do you estimate tech risks while investing/building a ML product?
47:08 Tammy: Will remote work actually be permanent?
48:51 Vince: After scaling Evernote and then working as a VC, I’d assume you’d advise many companies not to go the VC funding route,
20VC: Evernote's Phil Libin on The Pros and Cons Of Moving To VC, The Future For Bots & Having Marc Benioff & Reid Hoffman As Mentors
Phil Libin is Managing Director @ General Catalyst and Founder and Executive Chairman @ Evernote. At Evernote, Phil took the company from idea generation to productivity powerhouse allowing millions of users around the world to remember everything and in the meantime, providing Evernote with over $160m in VC funding from some of the very best including Sequoia Capital. Now in the world of VC, Phil has a particularly fondness towards all things bots, a theme we discuss heavily today. Phil has also made several angel investments in the likes of Gusto, TellApart and Binary Thumb just to name a few.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Phil made his way from Founder @ Evernote to Managing Director @ General Catalyst?
2.) Niko Bonatsos, Managing Director @ General Catalyst asks: What were your biggest takeaways from your time with Evernote that lend to you being a better investor? What are the biggest surprises about the move into VC?
3.) Why have we seen an explosion of hype and excitement around the bot space over the past year? What was the catalyst for the rise of the bot?
4.) Why are we not there yet with bots? Should all be conversational? How does the infancy of messaging platforms affect the rise of bots? What unsolved technical challenges remain?
5.) Will the transition to bots and conversational interfaces represent a major point of disruption or more of an evolution in the interface paradigm?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Phil's Fave Blog: The Economist
Phil's Fave Book: The Three Body Problem
Phil's Most Recent Investment: Sunflower Labs
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Phil on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
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#95: Lessons Learned from Jeff Bezos, Reid Hoffman, and More
Phil Libin (@plibin) is the co-founder and executive chairman of Evernote. Evernote has roughly 150 million users, and I personally use it at least 10 times a day. It is my external brain for capturing all the information, documents, online articles, lists, etc. in my life. In this episode, Phil and I cover a ton. Here are just a few examples: - Philosophical and performance systems: Stoicism, electrical brain stimulation, and more - Phil's favorite lessons learned from Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), and Hiroshi Mikitani (Rakuten) - Creating tech "for yourself" and Evernote's genesis story, leading to approximately 150 million users - The best toast in Singapore, the best hamburger in Tokyo, and why "Goat Simulator" is amazing. - Long-term (10,000-year) thinking and real versus imagined threats More importantly, he digs into his "a-ha" moments, and what you need to do bring your next big idea to life. Links, resources, and show notes from this episode can be found at http://fourhourworkweek.com/podcast This episode is sponsored by 99Designs, the world’s largest marketplace of graphic designers. Did you know I used 99Designs to rapid prototype the cover for The 4-Hour Body? Here are some of the impressive results. Click this link and get a free $99 upgrade. Give it a test run... This podcast is also brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could only use one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is, inevitably, Athletic Greens. It is my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body and did not get paid to do so. Get 50% off your order at Athletic Greens.com/Tim Enjoy!
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