20VC: Index's Danny Rimer on Investing Lessons from Hits like Figma, Discord and Etsy to Missing Snapchat, Airbnb, Facebook & Spotify | Why Valuation is a Trap and Market Sizing, Signalling and Sector/Geo-Specific Funds are all Noise
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?
Recode Decode: Index Ventures' Mike Volpi and Danny Rimer
Mike Volpi and Danny Rimer, the co-founders of the San Francisco office of Index Ventures, talk with Recode's Kara Swisher.
In this episode:
Volpi and Rimer's backgrounds and the early days of the internet; applying a global perspective to venture capital; being a smaller firm when capital is abundant; why the rise of other regions does not mean Silicon Valley is "over"; open-source culture in Europe; Latin America, Israel, and China; scooters, autonomous driving, and the future of urban mobility; disrupting the beauty and fashion industries; disrupting venture capital itself; over-empowered founders and the WeWork CEO's $700 million cash-out; diversity in tech; techlash and antitrust regulation; and the most overhyped and most underhyped categories in tech.
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Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), host
Mike Volpi (@mavolpi), guest
Danny Rimer (@dannyrimer), guest
Erica Anderson (@EricaAmerica), executive producer
Eric Johnson (@HeyHeyESJ), producer
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If you haven't already, subscribe to Recode Decode
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Watch Kara's 2008 interview with Volpi about his video startup, Joost
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20VC: Index's Danny Rimer on His Biggest Lessons On Price, Ownership, Board Dynamics & Building Consumer Businesses from Backing The Likes of King, Skype, Farfetch, Glossier and more...
Danny Rimer is a Partner @ Index Ventures, one of the world's leading venture funds with a portfolio including the likes of Dropbox, Skype, King, Bird, Slack and many more incredible companies. As for Danny, he is known for his investments in Dropbox, leading the company's Series B, Etsy, King (makers of world famous, Candy Crush), Skype and more recently many retail and fashion businesses such as Farfetch, Glossier and GOAT. He's been on the coveted Forbes Midas List for more than a decade and in 2017 was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to business and charity and the New York Times included him in its list of the top 20 venture capitalists worldwide.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Danny made his way into the world of venture and came to be a Partner @ Index Ventures?
2.) Having backed the likes of King, Skype, Glossier, how does Danny respond to Peter Fenton and Jeremy Levine's suggestions of a "consumer downturn"? Does Danny believe there is a lack of free and open distribution today? Can startups compete with such inflated CACs? Henry Davis @ Glossier asks: how have you seen acquisition models change over time? How do you envision acquisition models of the future?
3.) Peter Fenton said on the show previously, he always laughs when he hears VCs say they like big markets, how does Danny assess market sizing today? What have been Danny's biggest lessons on assessing market size when looking at his portfolio? How does Danny think about niche markets today in such an Amazon dominant world? How does Danny assess price today? How does Danny determine when to stretch vs stay firm?
4.) Having helped many companies scale to global success, what does Danny believe to be the core considerations in getting your startup ready for global expansion? How did Danny find Index's expansion when opening up their first US office in 2011 in SF? What were some of the biggest challenges? How does Danny think about and assess generational transition within venture and Index more specifically today?
5.) Danny has spent over 3,000 hours on boards to date, how has Danny seen himself evolve as a board member over that time? What were some inflection moments in those hours that fundamentally changed the way Danny thinks? What advice would Danny give me, having just gained my first institutional board seat?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Danny's Fave Book: Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami
Danny's Most Recent Investment: Goodeggs
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