Antler VC Cast

Antler VC Cast

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Antler VC Cast episodes

  • AVC17: Working Backwards with Colin Bryar

    For episode 17, we speak to Colin Bryar, an early employee at Amazon and co-author of the book Working Backwards: Stories and Secrets from Inside Amazon. Colin joined Amazon’s leadership team in 1998 - only four years after its inception. He worked side-by-side with Jeff Bezos as his Chief of Staff (and “Shadow”) for 2 years. Colin was instrumental in bringing several Amazon businesses to life, including Kindle, Amazon Prime and Amazon Web Services. After Amazon, Colin relocated to Singapore and served as Chief Operating Officer of e-commerce giant RedMart, which was subsequently sold to Alibaba.


    In this episode, Colin discusses the importance of always having a customer-first mindset, the benefits of Amazon’s unique narrative meeting culture, his key lessons for early-stage founders, and lots more. 



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    41 min
  • Trailer for AVC17: Working Backwards with Colin Bryar

    For the next episode, episode 17, we speak to Colin Bryar, an early employee at Amazon and co-author of the book Working Backwards: Stories and Secrets from Inside Amazon. Colin joined Amazon’s leadership team in 1998 - only four years after its inception. He worked side-by-side with Jeff Bezos as his Chief of Staff (and “Shadow”) for 2 years. Colin was instrumental in bringing several Amazon businesses to life, including Kindle, Amazon Prime and Amazon Web Services. After Amazon, Colin relocated to Singapore and served as Chief Operating Officer of e-commerce giant RedMart, which was subsequently sold to Alibaba.


    "Just always be curious. I love learning new things. I made a lot of mistakes but I’ve also learnt a lot. So just be curious. It's what makes life fun." - Colin Bryar


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    2 min
  • AVC16: Creating a Culture of Transparency with Kevin Lin

    In episode 16, we speak to Kevin Lin, co-founder of Twitch, the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers. Kevin led the Twitch team as COO for a decade before serving as Culture, Strategy, and Innovation Officer, following the company’s staggering $970 million all-cash acquisition by Amazon. 


    In this episode, he shares his origin story as an entrepreneur, tips for early-stage founders and advice on how to create a culture of transparency in your startup from the early days. 


    How do you stay true to your identity and culture as your company scales rapidly? What’s the secret to success when building remotely and gathering customer feedback? Tune in to find out.


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    36 min
  • Trailer for AVC16: Creating a Culture of Transparency with Kevin Lin

    In the next episode, episode 16, we speak to Kevin Lin, co-founder of Twitch, the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers. Kevin led the Twitch team as COO for a decade before serving as Culture, Strategy, and Innovation Officer, following the company’s staggering $970 million all-cash acquisition by Amazon.


    "Build, build, build and break. Experiment to decide is how we described it at Twitch. Just try to give it a whirl and don't overthink things in the early days." - Kevin Lin


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    1 min
  • AVC15: The future of distributed work with Sten Tamkivi

    In this episode, we talk about the future of remote and distributed work, the product-building models, and the importance of maintaining your core values as your company grows.To discuss this and more, we are joined by Sten Tamkivi, the Chief Product Officer at Topia, where he builds products to break down the barriers between people and places. Prior to co-founding Teleport (acquired by Topia in 2017) he served at Skype as an early executive and played a key role in its transformation from a startup to a leading telecom player with 300 million active users and a whopping $8.5 billion exit to Microsoft. A native Estonian, Sten has entrepreneurship in his blood. He started his journey when he was just 18 by founding Estonia's first digital media agency.

    [18:56] Sten discusses the role of a physical office in an increasingly hybrid work environment [20:31] Sten highlights the principles you need to build a successful distributed working team [39:33] Sten shares his decision-making process when it comes to investing in early-stage companies Listen to the podcast to discover stories of exceptional people who are playing a key role in building and shaping the next wave of tech.


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    46 min
  • AVC14: The evolution of the VC ecosystem with Anurag Srivastava
    In this episode, we talk about the evolution of the venture capital ecosystem over the last decade, new business opportunities emerging from the pandemic, and how Covid-19 has made companies go back to their core.To discuss this, we speak to Anurag Srivastava, serial entrepreneur and founding partner of Jungle Ventures, Southeast Asia's largest independent venture capital firm. Over the last two decades, Anurag has played a crucial role in building and scaling companies in the tech and startup ecosystem globally. Some of the companies in Jungle's portfolio include hotel booking platform, RedDoorz; cloud-based software provider, Deskera; interior home design platform, Livspace, and Thai fashion e-commerce startup, Pomelo Fashion. [4:30] Anurag explains how the Southeast Asian VC ecosystem will benefit from the global capital flow and interest in the region.[14:05] Anurag highlights how Covid-19 has impacted his investment approach and paved the way for new innovation to thrive.[18:22] Anurag explains Jungle Venture’s unique approach to concentrated investing.Listen to the podcast to discover stories of exceptional people who are playing a key role in building and shaping the next wave of tech.

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    35 min
  • AVC13: Mastering your product & productivity with Nir Eyal
    In this episode, we talk about the “Hook Model” to increase customer engagement, the internal trigger required to make your product a habitual one, and how to plan your time to get the most of it without getting distracted.To discuss this and more, we are joined by Nir Eyal, a lecturer, consultant, and best-selling author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches Behavioral Design, which is an intersection of psychology, technology, and business. He is also an active investor in habit-forming technology companies. Some of his recent investments include Kahoot!, Eventbrite, Anchor.fm, and Product Hunt.[2:03] Nir explains why the “Hook model” is effective for both consumer business and in the enterprise space. [7:44] Nir explains how a company like Kahoot! exemplifies using the hook model to build habit-forming EdTech for good.[11:47] Nir shares his own advice for raising Indistractable children with healthy habits in a world full of distracting technology. Listen to the podcast to discover stories of exceptional people who are playing a key role in building and shaping the next wave of tech.Relevant Links: NirAndFar.com/Indistractablehttps://nirandfar.com/schedule-maker/Summary article: https://www.nirandfar.com/skill-of-the-future/Distraction Guide: https://www.nirandfar.com/distractions/Habits vs routines article here: https://www.nirandfar.com/habits/

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    42 min
  • AVC12: Different founder mindsets with Qiming’s Helen Wong
    In this episode, we talk about investing during uncertain times, different cultural mindsets of founders, and the differences in China and Southeast Asia’s tech ecosystems.To discuss more, we speak to Helen Wong, a partner at Qiming Venture Partners. Helen is a veteran in the VC industry, ranked among the top 100 VCs and top 25 female VCs in China in 2018 by Forbes. She has led investments into Akulaku, a new Southeast Asia finance platform, and Jingling Group, a Chinese social eCommerce platform, and was also involved in the investment into Alibaba.[14:33] Helen shares her view on the top characteristics of successful founders and explains why founders experience isn’t equally valued in all industries [21:23] Helen explains differences in founders’ mentalities, based on their cultural background [28:39] Helen shares her view on the rising popularity of social commerce in Southeast Asia, and whether it has the potential to grow in this ecosystemListen to the podcast to discover stories of exceptional people who are playing a key role in building and shaping the next wave of tech.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    39 min
  • AVC11: Providing a pain killer e-commerce product with Hande Cilingir
    In this episode, we talk about creating a global product for e-commerce companies, identifying the right verticals, expanding globally vs Asia, and building and scaling with five co-founders.To discuss more, we speak to Hande Cilingir, co-founder and CEO of Insider, an integrated growth management platform that is changing the game for e-commerce businesses globally. Backed by investors such as Riverwood Capital, Sequoia, Wamda, and Endeavor Catalyst, Insider is helping over 800 global brands drive their digital growth through highly individualized multichannel experiences powered by AI. [4:25] Hande shares about Insider’s mission to become a pain killer for the current pains and challenges that online businesses face.[5:59] Hande shares her goal of proving to the world that breakthrough product companies can be created and thrive outside of Silicon Valley.[19:04] Hande explains her leadership philosophy and journey with personal development as a young female CEO that has built a global company. Listen to the podcast to discover stories of exceptional people who are playing a key role in building and shaping the next wave of tech.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    50 min
  • AVC10: The Kahoot way of learning with Eilert Hanoa
    In this episode, we talk about creating a platform that reframes the way people learn by making knowledge more interesting, personalising content for local markets, and building and scaling without any rules. To discuss more, we speak to Eilert Hanoa, the CEO of Kahoot!, the game-based learning platform that has taken the world by storm. As Norway’s first and only unicorn, the company aims to make education more effective and accessible globally. With the current remote learning and working situation, Kahoot!'s user base has been boosted to more than one billion active players annually. [2:39] Eilert shares Kahoot's origin story and their vision of making learning awesome.[15:40] Eilert shares his views on creating the only Norwegian unicorn so far and the evolving tech business ecosystem in Norway.[20:14] Eilert explains the importance of personalisation and localisation of content while creating a global platform that makes knowledge more interesting.Listen to the podcast to discover stories of exceptional people who are playing a key role in building and shaping the next wave of tech.

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    40 min

About Antler VC Cast

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The Antler VC Cast takes a look at the transformation that is taking place in an increasingly global and digital world. We speak to exceptional individuals who are playing a key role in building,…