20VC: The Memo: Chris Sacca on Why We Are Breeding a Generation of Entitled Assholes, Harley Finkelstein on What Great Fatherhood Really Means, Deena Shakir on How Kids Make You a Better Investor and Anne Wojcicki on How Children Change Your Approach to R
Chris Sacca is the Founder and Chairman @ Lowercase Capital, one of the best performing funds in the history of venture capital with a portfolio including Uber, Stripe, Twitter, Instagram, Twilio, Docker and many more. Why does Chris believe we have bred a generation of asshole kids?
What is the right way to negotiate with children? How has that impacted how he manages his team?
Anne Wojcicki is the Founder & CEO @ 23andMe, offering DNA testing with the most comprehensive ancestry breakdown, personalized health insights, and more.
How did having kids change Anne's approach to time allocation and risk?
Harley Finkelstein is the President of Shopify. Over the last 12 years, Harley has partnered with Tobi to the tune of building Shopify's revenue to over $4.6BN in 2021 and the team to over 10,000 employees.
Does Harley believe he has always been a good father?
What changes has Harley made to be more present and there for his children?
Why does Harley advise couples therapy as early in a relationship as possible?
Deena Shakir is a Partner at Lux Capital, one of the leading firms investing in emerging science and technology ventures at the outermost edges of what is possible.
What specific negotiation tactics from parenting can be applied to business?
How can a parent show their children they listen, they understand and are there for them?
Why does Deena believe children make you more productive and more efficient?
Eric Liaw is a General Partner @ IVP, one of the leading later-stage venture capital and growth equity firms of the last decade with $8.7 billion of committed capital and a 40-year IRR of 43.1%.
What have been the biggest challenges for Eric of managing family and work?
What have been some of Eric's biggest lessons in terms of how he communicates about his work to his family?
Scott Dietzen is Vice Chairman of the Board of Pure Storage and served as the Company's CEO from 2010 to 2017. Under his leadership, Pure grew to thousands of employees and completed an IPO in 2015.
What can parents learn from nature programs?
What core elements of parenting are directly transferrable to management?
20VC: Why You Should Think Twice Before Taking Multi-Stage Money at Seed, Why Venture Has Never Been Less Collaborative, How Becoming a Parent Made Me a Better Investor and Why We Should Be Optimistic About the Future of Diversity in Venture with Deena Sh
Deena Shakir is a Partner at Lux Capital, one of the leading firms investing in emerging science and technology ventures at the outermost edges of what is possible. Deena has led a number of investments including in Maven Clinic, Mos, Ramp, Alife and SteadyMD to name a few. Before joining Lux, Deena was a Partner at GV and previously led product partnerships at Google for early-stage products in healthcare, AI/ML and search at Google. Before tech and venture, Deena was an aspiring anthropologist, journalist, diplomat, aid worker and was a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of State under Secretary Clinton. There Deena helped launch President Obama's first Global Entrepreneurship Summit in 2010.
In Today's Episode with Deena Shakir You Will Learn:
1.) Origins into Venture:
How Deena made her way from journalism and the world of politics to rockstar healthcare investor?
What were Deena's biggest takeaways from seeing her parents build a new life in the US?
2.) Competition in Venture:
Why should founders not take multi-stage fund money at seed?
What problems does it cause? How do VCs try and justify it? What red flags should founders look for?
How does Deena advise her companies when it comes to pre-emptive rounds? When should they take them? When should they not take them?
3.) Deena Shakir: The Person
How has becoming a parent changed Deena's operating mentality?
Why does Deena believe she has never been better as an investor post becoming a mother?
Why does Deena feel so many questions around parenting are wrong? In what ways would she like those questions of female operators and investors to change?
4.) Diversity and Inclusion: We Should Be Optimistic
Why is Deena optimistic about the future of diversity and inclusion in tech and venture?
What drives her optimism? What remains a cause for concern for Deena on this topic?
What more can both companies and venture funds do to improve the landscape?
Item's Mentioned In Today's Episode with Deena Shakir
Deena's Favourite Book: The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Art of Disruption
Deena's Most Recent Investment: Mos: Banking for Students
The bar for behavioral health startups just got higher
After news broke that meditation app Headspace and on-demand mental health care platform Ginger were merging, we couldn't resist hopping on the mics to do a bonus episode. And, because we were in the mood for hot takes, Natasha and Alex held the conversation on Twitter Spaces. The special guests we had on, who we'll get to down below, did not disappoint.
It's a quick show, but the tl;dr is that you want to listen if you're curious why a meditation app would get into therapy, the precedent by Lyra Health and Calm, and how consolidation looks for the sector going forward.
Here's who helped us understand and contextualize the news:
Lux Capital partner Deena Shakir (who is also coming to Disrupt, incidentally)
Chrissy Farr of OMERS Ventures (who you may also know as a former CNBC reporter in the healthech space)
7WireVentures' Alyssa Jaffee (who needs her own podcast because she was shining during the Spaces)
And, special shout out to Ginger CEO Russell Glass, who joined the Space but wasn't able to come up on stage due to technical difficulties. Twitter Spaces are fun, but the platform is still a bit nascent so goofs can bedevil live production.
However, we managed to get some notes from him via email, so let's take a quick look at those:
Glass said that he agreed with "what Chrissy Farr and others said about there simply not being enough therapists in the market today to meet the overwhelming demand," adding that there's "real global need today for what Headspace Health can offer - a scaled, comprehensive platform that can truly democratize mental healthcare."
He also doubleclicked on the discussing regarding future "meaningful market consolidation," noting that he expects to see it "especially" happen in "areas that address higher acuity care for severe mental illness.”
Make sure you are following the podcast on Twitter so that you catch us when we go live. These are meant to be spontaneous pop up shows, so your best bet is to turn on notifications to never miss our Spaces. Ok that's all. Thanks everyone!
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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