Podcast Notes Playlist: Startup

If you cut fair deals, you will get paid in the long run.

Matt MacInnis is a founder and investor in Silicon Valley, and he’s widely seen as one of the best personal angel investors out there — combining his experience as a founder (and knowing what made his investors actually helpful and others unhelpful) with the insight into what spaces and products are on the rise.

That’s his day job though. He is a profoundly deep thinker, an articulate leader, but most importantly, he’s honest. He’s seen all the ups and all the downs a founder can see, so you throw experience into that equation, and you’ve got a hell of a conversation.

Some of our favorite quotes from the episode:

"It is perfectly acceptable to go start a company with insane odds against you. If you understand the outcome will be beautiful, no matter what, thats the mindset you need to approach it with and it will be beautiful."

"I could not be where I am today without the hard experiences I had to go through, and it sucked… but they were necessary."

"That was the last time I put another person in the slot of alpha, on a pedestal, someone to emulate…" on his experience with Steve Jobs

"You look around and think that everyone else has it figured it out — and they don't…and I am the first to admit that I’m faking it too."

“I knew where I was strong and I knew where I wasn't, and I was fighting that instead of accepting it.”

“When I sit down across from an entrepreneur…and they really want me to invest, and its not one I can invest in…They’re not answering “should Matt be an investor” while they're trying to answer “can I get Matt to invest in this?” — and these are vastly different questions.”

“Don't win job offers. Go see if you test positive for that particular company or role and let “no” be as beautiful as yes because its the right thing. We are not as interested in truth as we are desire...”

"Angel" podcast: Part 2. Dave Morin of Slow Ventures (250+ investments inc. Slack, Pinterest, Twitter), shares insights on favorite business models & products, backing founders with a tangible sense of inevitability, the rise of two internets, democratization of passion, & an optimistic future with the advancement of self-care tech

The goal is that we are eventually wealthy and working for ourselves.

Misunderstanding accountability, and other mistakes on the path to creating wealth.

The world-changing promise of synthetic biology and gene editing has a dark side. In this interview, author and entrepreneur Rob Reid reviews the risks of a world where more and more people have access to the tools and tech needed to create a doomsday bug that could wipe out humanity -- and suggests that it's time to take this danger seriously.

Want actionable advice from a founder who has built multiple tech companies and has invested the time to be open, introspective, and transparent about lessons learned?

In this episode (which originally aired as a YouTube video), a16z General Partner Andrew Chen (@@andrewchen) talks with Justin Kan (@justinkan). Justin is a repeat entrepreneur who co-founded Kiko Software (a Web 2.0 calendar that pre-dated Google Calendar by 4 years); Justin.tv (a lifecasting platform); Twitch.tv (a live streaming platform for esports, music, and other creatives now part of Amazon); Socialcam; and now Atrium, a software-powered law firm for startups.

Justin reflects on his journey and shares 10 + 1 lessons he’s learned:

- The paradox of choice: choosing a focus

- Tradeoffs between B2B versus B2C companies

- Market risk vs execution risk

- Fundraising strategy: go big or stay lean?

- Managing the stress of being a startup CEO (again!)

- Seeking out mentors, coaches, and peers for help

- Intentionally designing a culture to avoid the pitfalls of “culture eating strategy”

- Things he’s still doing in his latest startup—and things he’s doing very differently

- Managing higher expectations

- What he’s reading and listening to

- Bonus: advice he’d give his 20-year old self

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Georgetown University science professor and author, Cal Newport, on the intersection of technology and culture.

Roland calls Kamal Ravikant one of his dearest friends and “probably the best human being he knows”. He is the author of the bestselling books, Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It and Live Your Truth. He's been a US Army Infantry soldier, held the hands of dying patients, been the ‘can do guy’ in Silicon Valley and spoken to audiences around the globe. But in this episode, Roland and Kamal dig into his success and experience in Venture Capital, investing, and more…