20VC: Benchmark's Victor Lazarte on Why Portfolio Construction is BS| Why SaaS Spreadsheet Investing is Dead | Why China is a Stabilising Force for the US | Three Traits All the Best Founders Have & The Lie All Big Tech Companies Have Been Telling
Victor Lazarte is a General Partner @ Benchmark, one of the mot renowned venture firms in the world. At Benchmark, Victor has led deals into the likes of HeyGen and Mercor. As an angel, he was the first investor and board member of Brex, and as a Founder he scaled Wildlife Studios, bootstrapping into the largest gaming company in LatAm, with about 4 billion downloads.
In Today's Episode We Discuss:
04:10 Lessons Scaling Wildlife Studios to 4BN Downloads
04:49 Why Predicting the Future is Wrong When Starting a Company
07:11 Three Different Categories of Company in an AI World: Who Wins & Loses?
09:25 Why You Should Always Ask What a Founder Does in Their Free Time?
17:30 Two Traits That All the Best Founders Have?
23:17 Why If You Start a Company in SF You are 1,000x More Likely to be Successful?
35:30 Why Spreadsheet SaaS Investing is Dead
36:10 Why Replacing Humans is the Most Exciting Opportunity in AI
37:02 Why Knowledge Work Will Be Destroyed and What Happens Then?
37:30 Why China is a Stabilising Force for the US
38:59 China vs. US: The AI Race
42:33 Why All Students Today Should Study Computer Science
44:38 Why Portfolio Construction is BS
47:04 What Makes Peter Fenton One of the Best Ever
51:31 Why Duolingo Will Be One of the Most Valuable Companies in the World
01:00:17 Quick Fire Round: Insights and Predictions
AI Avatars & the Future of Video, with HeyGen CEO Joshua Xu and Benchmark's Victor Lazarte
Nathan explores the future of AI-generated video with Joshua Xu, founder of HeyGen, and Victor Lazarte from Benchmark. In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, we discuss HeyGen's success in practical AI video creation, serving over 40,000 businesses. Learn about the transformative potential of AI in video production, from content translation to personalized experiences, and HeyGen's industry-leading approach to trust and safety.
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CHAPTERS:
(00:00:00) About the Show
(00:00:22) Sponsor: WorkOS
(00:01:22) About the Episode
(00:05:25) Introduction
(00:06:15) Joshua's Background
(00:09:47) Video Consumption Trends
(00:10:49) Creating with HeyGen
(00:12:46) Localization Benefits
(00:14:02) Cost of Localization (Part 1)
(00:16:19) Sponsors: Oracle | Brave
(00:18:24) Content Creation
(00:26:33) Engagement vs. Realism
(00:31:44) Future of Content
(00:37:43) Personalization Challenges
(00:42:57) Future of HeyGen
(00:49:13) Creator Experience
(00:59:35) Celebrity Restrictions
(01:03:03) Outro
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SOCIAL LINKS:
Website : https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai
Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast
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Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/show/6yHyok3M3BjqzR0VB5MSyk
Peter Fenton & Victor Lazarte - Purpose and Partnership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.354]
My guests this week are Peter Fenton and Victor Lazarte. Peter and Victor are both General Partners at Benchmark. Of the six equal partners at the storied venture firm, Peter is the longest serving and Victor is the newest, having spent the past decade founding and building Wildlife Studios into one of the biggest independent mobile gaming companies in the world.
Peter has been a board member at Wildlife for the past four years and has a remarkable track record of tech investing over his two decades at Benchmark. In our discussion, we talk about the core motivators behind great entrepreneurs, Benchmark's unique operating philosophy, and what it's like to transition from builder to investor. Please enjoy this conversation with Peter Fenton and Victor Lazarte.
Listen to Founders Podcast: #326 Anna Wintour
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.
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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.
Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.
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Show Notes
(00:04:10) - (First question) - Victor’s early expectations after being at the company for just three months
(00:05:39) - What Victor misses from the operating life
(00:06:59) - Peter’s opinion on what makes Benchmark a fascinating company
(00:15:00) - Peter and Victor’s perspective on the significance of the phrase “life’s work”
(00:24:19) - The influence of market tailwinds on success in investing
(00:29:42) - How to keep founders’ generative drive at peak levels
(00:32:39) - Balancing aggression, desire and generative drive when building and operating a business
(00:34:22) - Victor’s approach to dealing with pleasure seeking as a successful operator
(00:38:29) - Why Benchmark intentionally raises funds at half the suggested amount
(00:43:13) - Lessons learned from navigating challenging scenarios in venture capital
(00:46:27) - What excites Victor as he starts a new venture at Benchmark
(00:48:19) - Why AI is more akin to the internet than crypto
(00:52:41) - The significance of platform-based businesses in the contemporary landscape
(00:57:45) - The impact tech giants exert on new entrants in the industry
(00:61:00) - Victor’s opinion on what makes great games and great gaming businesses
(01:13:44) - Where Peter and Victor feel they have areas to grow
(01:19:48) - Perspectives on human progress
(01:21:14) - The kindest thing that anyone has done for both Peter and Victor
