The Hard Part with Evan McCann

Vedant Suri from General Catalyst

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Vedant Suri is an Investor at General Catalyst.


General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage and growth-stage companies. The firm has offices in the United States and Europe and has been involved in funding and nurturing several high-profile companies. Some notable companies in their portfolio include Airbnb, Stripe, and Snap.


Vedant has a really interesting background working at startups, Goldman Sach's TMT team, BCG and CapitalG.


Takeaways

  • Invest in companies with ambitious founders who are domain experts in their respective fields.
  • Focus on both the infrastructure layer and the application layer of technology.
  • Explore spaces like observability, industrial software, vertical AI, and HR software.
  • Consider founder market fit and founder product market fit in investment decisions.
  • Transitioning from consulting to growth-stage investing.
  • Mentorship is valuable in learning the ropes and navigating VC.
  • Be character-consistent and run your own race as an investor.
  • Develop a mix of inbound and outbound deal flow by building sector expertise.
  • Have a prepared mind when evaluating opportunities and understand the market, product needs, and potential risks.
  • Tastemakers are influential individuals in the ecosystem who can provide valuable insights and connections.
  • Great board members are engaged, prepared, and provide steady guidance during crucial moments.
  • The Canadian tech ecosystem has exceptional founders but could benefit from dreaming bigger.


    • Chapters

    00:00 Working at Earlier Stage Tech Companies

    05:09 The Importance of Founder-Market Fit

    07:22 Skills Learned in Investment Banking and Consulting

    12:07 Qualities of a Great Board Member

    15:04 Dreaming Big in the Canadian Tech Ecosystem

    43:58 Journey of an Entrepreneur


    Keywords

    investing, ambitious founders, domain experts, infrastructure layer, application layer, observability, industrial software, vertical AI, HR software, founder market fit, founder product market fit, growth stage investing, mentorship, character consistency, deal flow, prepared mind, tastemakers, board work, Canadian tech ecosystem, standing out

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    The Hard Part with Evan McCannBy Evan McCann