Notes on 4 Segments - back to late '15 and People in Work

*/ Note - I think I'll start including one of the logos/marks from one of the segments in my notes as features. Draw some more attention to these interesting companies/people!Sometimes, I lament the fact that I only catch some of the radio segments midway or further through. I always wish I have the time to go back and finish or research more of the information. However, my notes initially are simply what I catch and then remember once I'm in front of my laptop again. So, if they seem incomplete - they are! However, it does remind me to go back and check it out at a later point (or when I can catch other parts of the segment in repeats).With that said, here we go:

Week of October 1, 2018

• Sean Seton-Rogers, founding partner at PROfounders Capital (20min VC 068)
• VC fund for entrepreneurs
• Learned the most during 2000 after crash, workforce reduction and doing everything to survive Biggest lesson was that you need to have laser focus - doing too much is scary - must deliver one product amazingly well
• At time, influx of US capital in European markets - got very expensive to get into high growth companies Arbitrage play initially but now he thinks that there are lots of resources available for big companies ($1-10bn)
• He looks to invest $1-3mln pounds, 7-10 people and invests early - prove his value to founders (definitely higher capital engages founders)
• Bar is higher for proving your value for next rounds of financing
• Have to be good to get next rounds, belief that company can grow
• Early stage - he says that location does matter, meeting face to face in crucible - first proper employees, business dev deals, early stage Bounce and converse ideas with - top level CEO and key management - PROfounders tries to be there for them
• Europe was leaders in global music during 50s, 60s and still are - SoundCloud, Spotify, others
• Fashion is another leader as a vertical - Milan, Paris, etc… still providing global leading fashion companies (List, etc…)
• London is financial tech but Berlin is also up there
• Talked about immigration issues in London or Berlin for global talent acquisition for the big operations and scaling people Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc….
• Crowdfunding, as Harry's passion
• Can skip the many meetings and questions of VC, less equity that they have to give up, different type of investor though (cash only) Have to weigh if the different investor costs or if they want to raise more or price more
• Sean said it can be great for entrepreneurs and it's a challenge for investors (as competitors)
• Quality of companies on crowdfunding platforms are increasing
• Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson and Influence: Psychology of Persuasion (human body conditioned to respond)
• Mike Morris at Sequoia as most successful of old, Chris Sacca of new people
• Ben Nader, Founder CEO at Butterfleye (20min VC FF 011)
• Born in middle east, migrated to United States, studied electrical engineering / hardware and electrical Moved into product management, opened his eyes up to camera/videos while in college, though
• Personal frustration toward products in market when he wanted peace of mind for his bikes in his garage (2011-2013)
• Design decisions by the shortcomings of these products
• Wanted an industrial designer to look/feel good product
• In designing team, he lived in the Bay Area Networking and friends of friends, angelist, LinkedIn for most connections
• For the product, most cameras did 24/7 passive recording - decided to put a brain in camera for making sense of content (humans, pets, beings)
• Connected devices - 20-30 people to give feedback (but he noticed 3-5 people would be enough because the rest would respond similarly) Feedback on features being useful or not
• Kickstarter and Indiegogo (they used this) was a great way for him to go and get customers - early adopters and shaping the last 10% of product Can change software side, especially - had a chance in SF (indiegogo was closer to collab - both teams local)
• Good angel investors - business case scenarios vs bad (asking what-ifs)
• Jason C as first one (reached out on Angelist, initially) - talking about idea actively, what are you building, no stealth mode
• Featured on Angelist - generated traction via feature - friends rounds for first investing checks after he put his savings in
• Mentioned BeatsByDre and GoPro as good consumer brands (funny with GoPro tanking after public)
• Danny Leffel, CEO and Co-founder of Crew App (Wharton XM)
• Discussing how communication was crucial, end of the discussion
• Belief that there should be very limited time spent on pitch decks or setting meetings
• Said that he would spend capital trying to hire the right people - it's the VC firms job to seek out start-ups they want to found
• Startups become interesting because they have traction, interest and a place in people's minds
• He said that his role has been hiring the right people and getting the right metrics into place
• Sally Thornton, founder and CEO of Forshay (Work Wharton XM)
• Work/life blend and discussions with many people over past 7 years in work
• Knowing clients and how they prioritize people and work culture
• My question: is there a place that will publicly share team-by-team people metrics and match them with candidate metrics? Can this be done? Has it been done?
• They mentioned Apple is much more private team-wise than Google, for instance