The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

20VC: The Ultimate Guide to Scaling Marketplaces, Why Rule of 40 and EBITDA Optimisation is BS, How Founders & VCs Should Approach Market Sizing and Outcome Scenario Planning and Why Europe is Failing with Vinted CEO, Thomas Plantenga & Alex Taussig

Listen Later

Thomas Plantenga is the CEO @ Vinted, one of the fastest-growing marketplaces in the world with a valuation of $4.5BN. Prior to becoming CEO, Thomas worked with a range of organisations including Bookaboat, OLX, Sellit/Wallapop and FJLabs.

Alex Taussig is a General Partner @ Lightspeed and co-leads the fund's Consumer investment team. Alex's portfolio includes the likes of All Day Kitchens, Archive Resale, Daily Harvest, Faire, Found, Frubana, Keychain, Kikoff, Vinted, YaySay, and Zola.

In Today's Episode with Thomas Plantenga and Alex Taussig We Discuss:

1. The CEO Who Did Not Want to be CEO:

  • How did Thomas come to be CEO @ Vinted? Why did he not want the job at first?
  • What does Thomas know now that he wishes he had known when he started?

2. The Mechanics of the Fastest Growing Marketplace:

  • What is the single most important metric for Vinted?
  • How does Vinted determine what market to open next? What do they look for?
  • How does Vinted think about depth vs breadth in each country?
  • What is the AOV today? How does it vary by country?
  • How long does it take for each country to be cash flow positive?

3. The Biggest BS in Startups: Rule of 40 and EBITDA:

  • Why does Thomas think VC's obsession with "Rule of 40" is BS?
  • Why does Thomas believe EBITDA optimization is BS and useless?
  • What are the hardest elements of scaling a marketplace that no one knows?

4. The Bull, Bear and Investor Approach to Vinted:

  • Alex, what was Lightspeed's pre and post-mortem when investing in Vinted?
  • How does Lightspeed analyze TAM and market sizing when investing?
  • What was Lightspeed's single biggest concern when investing in Vinted?

5. Europe: A Hub of Innovation or a Retirement Home:

  • Does Thomas believe that European young people have a worse work ethic than those in the US?
  • Is Thomas concerned by the state of regulation hampering innovation in Europe?
  • What can be done to improve work ethic and the state of regulation today?
  • Why is Alex and Lightspeed more bullish than ever on Europe today?

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The PitchBy Harry Stebbings
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4

4.4

470 ratings

More shows like The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

View all
This Week in Startups by Jason Calacanis

This Week in Startups

1,269 Listeners

a16z Podcast by Andreessen Horowitz

a16z Podcast

1,010 Listeners

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors by SaaStr

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

173 Listeners

Founders by David Senra

Founders

1,856 Listeners

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy by Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

2,288 Listeners

Equity by TechCrunch, Mary Ann Azevedo, Kell, Theresa Loconsolo, Rebecca Bellan, Kirsten Korosec, Devin Coldewey, Margaux MacColl

Equity

344 Listeners

Masters of Scale by WaitWhat

Masters of Scale

3,967 Listeners

Y Combinator Startup Podcast by Y Combinator

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

210 Listeners

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg by All-In Podcast, LLC

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg

8,776 Listeners

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups by Conviction

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

126 Listeners

The Ben & Marc Show by Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz

The Ben & Marc Show

125 Listeners

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley by BG2Pod

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley

441 Listeners

AI + a16z by a16z

AI + a16z

32 Listeners

Lightcone Podcast by Y Combinator

Lightcone Podcast

22 Listeners

Training Data by Sequoia Capital

Training Data

37 Listeners