Podcast Notes Playlist: Business

Guy Raz has interviewed 100 of the greatest entrepreneurs in the world for his podcast and now his book, "How I Built This". This book is a must for EVERY entrepreneur's library. In this episode, Guy tells me some of the lessons and stories he's learned from the likes of the founders of Airbnb, Spanx, Ben & Jerry's, and dozens of other companies. 

I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.

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My guest today is Eric Jorgenson, a Product Strategist at Zaarly and the author of the Almanack of Naval Ravikant: a guide to wealth and happiness. The book collects and curates Naval's wisdom from Twitter, podcasts, and essays over the past decade. Naval is the founder of Angel List, an angel investor who has invested in companies like Twitter and Uber, and the man behind one of the most popular Twitter accounts in the world.

Invest Like the Best

Podcast Notes Key Takeaways

• Founders are more concerned about making a positive impact today than in the past
• What Michael Seibel looks for in YC applicants
  • The team’s ability to build and launch the first version of the product
  • Evidence of forward-motion
  • Evidence of a strong relationship between co-founders
• “The beautiful thing about founders is their ability to lie to themselves, and the number one thing they lie about is whether they have product-market fit. The great founders, limit the amount they lie” – Michael Seibel
• YC’s secret sauce is the batch, not the advice
  • When you put a startup founder in a batch of people pushing really hard, he’s going to accomplish more than he ever thought
• In startups, it’s far more important to focus on customers’ interactions that investors’ relations. Proof that you are solving a real customer’s problem gives you enormous leverage with investors

Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org

My guest this week is Michael Seibel. Michael is a Partner at Y Combinator, and the CEO of YC's startup accelerator. He was the cofounder and CEO Justin.tv, which eventually became Twitch, and Socialcam. In this conversation, we discuss all Michael has learned reviewing thousands of applications to YC, interviewing countless new entrepreneurs, and watch young companies begin to grow and, occasionally, find product market fit. Listeners will also enjoy when Michael traps me big time in my thinking about AirBnb and his framework for great problems to solve. Enjoy this great conversation with Michael Seibel

 

This episode of Invest Like The Best is sponsored by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. 

If you’re a professional equity investor and haven’t talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick.  

 

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.

Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.

Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

 

Show Notes

(2:22) – (First question) – Emerging trends among founders

(6:00) – The long-term impact of Covid on business

(7:16) – What an application to YC looks like and what stands out for him

(11:46) – What he wants to learn in the interviews

(13:54) – Poise in the interviews

(15:40) – How the YC experience has evolved and improvements they’ve made

(18:38) – How he defines technology

            (18:50) – Every Company is Becoming a Software Company

(21:12) – His thoughts on non-software companies and how they play into what YC does

(23:48) – Why frequency and intensity of the problem matter to him

(28:32) – Serving the supplier and building the demand

(30:38) – Bravery in founders

(36:07) – Partnerships and collaboration in venture capital investing

(37:58) – Second time founders focus on distribution

(39:23) – Coaching the psychological component of being a founder

(44:16) – Learning as a founder vs the education system

(46:08) – Customer vs investor focus of founders’ mindset

(48:16) – How teams know they are really onto something

(52:38) – His being a founder trainable or innate

(54:08) – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

 

Learn More

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.

Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.

Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

Twenty Minute VC

Podcast Notes Key Takeaways

• “We see this SPAC phenomenon not as a flash in the pan, not as a quick up and down…but really an enduring vehicle to bring our innovation companies to market and we find that to be extremely exciting”– Troy Steckenrider 
• What is a SPAC?
  • A SPAC is a pool of capital that is used to invest in a private company and help them go public. 
  • The capital is raised on the public markets through a traditional IPO and goes into a bank where it is held for up to two years. 
  • During that 2-year time, the SPAC management team has an opportunity to go find a partner company, negotiate a deal with them, and take them public. 
• What are the benefits of a SPAC?
  • From the private company’s perspective, it’s an easier path to get into the public markets
  • From the SPAC’s perspective, it’s a way to invest in a company before it IPOs
• “A company with a strong management team with a clear competitive advantage in an unusual market will always find great investors and draw those great investors” – Kevin Hartz

Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org

Kevin Hartz is Co-Founder & Partner @ A*, a newly listed special acquisition company which raised $200M to acquire and take public a tech startup. Kevin is also the Co-Founder, former CEO, and Chairman Eventbrite (NYSE: EB). Before Eventbrite, Kevin was the Co-Founder & former CEO of online money transfer service, Xoom (acquired by PayPal for $1.1B). Kevin is also one of the most successful early-stage investors in the business with a portfolio including the likes of Airbnb (Seed, Series A), Uber (Series B), Pinterest (Seed, Series A), Trulia (first check) and PayPal (Seed).

Troy Steckenrider is Kevin's co-founder and Partner @ A*. Prior to A*, Troy was COO @ ZeroDown changing the landscape for homeownership with $136M in funding. Before ZeroDown, Troy spent 5 years at Opendoor as Director of Capital Markets. Before that hyper-growth experience at Opendoor, Troy enjoyed roles at both Bain Private Equity and McKinsey.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Troy and Kevin came together to co-found A*? What is a SPAC? What are Kevin and Troy looking to achieve with the SPAC?

2.) What does Kevin believe are the primary drivers for the rise in SPAC's over the last few years? How will they change the structure of both the VC and startup industry? How will the SPAC landscape evolve over the next few years? What is the biggest challenge they face?

3.) Why does Kevin believe that the fee structure for SPACs is egregious? How would they like to change the incentive structure? How does the timeline for a SPAC transaction compare to that of an IPO? How does the fee structure compare when comparing SPACs to banks in IPOs?

4.) Why did Kevin and Troy choose $200M for the right size for their first SPAC? How does the size of the SPAC determine the type of company the SPAC will merge with? What are Kevin and Troy looking for in their partner company?

5.) What does the fundraising process look like for a SPAC? How do SPAC sponsors deal with the challenge that LPs call pull out if they do not like the proposed partner deal? When evaluating SPACs, what do investors look to invest because of? What makes A* special?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Troy’s Fave Book: Churchill: Walking with Destiny

As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Zuby, perhaps the nicest person on the planet, is a rapper, podcast host, author, and also, LET IT BE KNOWN, he has also broken the women's world heavy lifting record. Let him tell us the story. Meanwhile, he's also got advice about how to go viral on social media and why he might be the calmest person on the planet. 

I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.

Thanks so much for listening! If you like this episode, please subscribe to “The James Altucher Show” and rate and review wherever you get your podcasts:

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I am always into Self Publishing, so when The President and CEO of Scribe Media, Jevon "JT" McCormick has a book, I Got There, came out, I had to have him to talk about his life journey!

He was the son of a pimp, and now he's the president and CEO of Scribe Media! He sticks to his core principle, and not letting his past pulled him down! Make sure to get his book, I Got There, on Amazon or anywhere you get your new book!

I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.

Thanks so much for listening! If you like this episode, please subscribe to “The James Altucher Show” and rate and review wherever you get your podcasts:

Apple Podcasts

Stitcher

iHeart Radio

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Follow me on Social Media:

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Once again! We have our podcast favorite, Sam Parr back on again to talk about the top business trend right now! From non-alcoholic beverages to building lists, to newsletter to crate box and all! Enjoy, and build your own business!

I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.

Thanks so much for listening! If you like this episode, please subscribe to “The James Altucher Show” and rate and review wherever you get your podcasts:

Apple Podcasts

Stitcher

iHeart Radio

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Follow me on Social Media:

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author

Favorite product of 2020: Endel — code.endel.io (use the code “belowtheline” for the free trial they have given listeners)

This is another plog (podcast / blog post) about encouraging future entrepreneurs to continue creating, and why the impact of creating goes way beyond what you create. I also share why creation is like a science where you continue to experiment with the truth — instead of jobs and roles where you don’t actually have accountability or any confrontation with what the truth actually says about what you’re doing.

You can email James questions directly at [email protected] or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

This episode is a whirlwind through Balaji's interests. We started by talking about his production function. We talked about what holding all those degrees from Stanford taught him about learning, how he identifies talent, and what building and selling two companies for more than $100 million taught him about management. At the end, we built off the ideas I talk about in my online writing school called Write of Passage to talk about his plan to fund online writers with a project called MediaFund.

Knowledge Project

Podcast Notes Key Takeaways

•  The main problem in apparel: finding clothes that fit customers and that customers love
  • “Nobody was solving that core problem of how do I actually identify the clothes on this planet, out of the millions of things out there, that you specifically are going to love” – Katrina Lake
•  Price and speed of delivery are important in the apparel industry, but at the end of the day people want clothes that they like:
  • “Yes, price, speed, and delivery are important in apparel but actually more important is it right for you? Does it fit?” – Katrina Lake
• Stitch Fix is solving this problem by using data science to offer clothing recommendations that people will like
  • Stitch Fix wants to become your personalized styler:
    • “What we’re really trying to do is get to this personalized storefront for every person” – Katrina Lake
• Stitch Fix was cash-flow positive in 2014 and went from $0 to $1 billion in 5 years, and Katrina still had trouble raising money from VCs
  • “I was forced to be capital efficient. I had to make the most of our balance sheet in order to survive.” – Katrina Lake
• Two of Katrina’s superpowers as a founder was her ability to recruit amazing people to come work at Stitch Fix and her authentic leadership style:
  • “Absolutely recruiting, I never, ever, ever would have been able to do all of the things that we did without having the incredible people on the team” – Katrina Lake
  • “The only thing that I had was this ability to be authentic and connect with people and to bring people along”

Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org

8x Olympic medalist and short-track speed skating legend, Apolo Ohno chats about his origin story, recovering from multiple failures, mental training, confidence and leaving it all of the ice.

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