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8. Garry Tan on lessons from past startup failures, power of community funnels, Alexis Ohanian's departure & more | Angel S5 E8
59:42||Season 5, Ep. 8Check out Initialized: https://initialized.com FOLLOW Garry: https://twitter.com/garrytan FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis Show notes: 1:08 Jason intros Garry Tan & they talk about Garry's Posterous regrets & lessons from failure, going from seed-stage to growth-stage founder 8:33 Garry on life as an investor, Paul Graham's original YC content/community funnel 11:04 LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job free at https://www.linkedin.com/angel 12:39 Garry's YouTube experience, investing in Clubhouse & the social audio space & Jason's Clubhouse beef 20:27 Twitter spaces coexisting with Clubhouse, Twitter's recent product groove, Initialized's investment in Clubhouse 28:05 Assure - Get 20% off your first SPV at http://assure.co/angel 29:40 How accelerators get great value, Capital-as-a-Service, equity participation as newer generations' north star 36:37 Sweet spot age for founders, ISAs & community-driven learning 39:13 Odoo - Get your first app free & $1000 off your first implementation pack at https://odoo.com/twist 40:44 VCs moving downstream & missing the early-stage orchard, potential new models to provide value, avoiding sharp elbows as a seed investor 48:58 Garry explains Alexis Ohanian leaving Initialized & their continued bond as friends 53:55 Unicorn patterns, understanding important consumer metrics
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7. Matt Mullenweg on pioneering remote work, investing in open-source, crypto & more | Angel S5 E7
01:23:01||Season 5, Ep. 7Check out Automattic: https://automattic.com FOLLOW Matt: https://twitter.com/photomatt FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis Show notes: 1:07 Jason intros Matt Mullenweg & they discuss starting WordPress & getting into angel investing 5:47 Angel investing in the early 2000's as ecosystem building & charity, Automattic's SPAC potential, potential for individual properties to spin out 11:48 OurCrowd - Sign up for a free account at https://www.ourcrowd.com/twist 13:14 How WooCommerce compares to Shopify, open-source flexibility, thoughts on running a public company, difficulty of the media business 20:17 Audrey Hepburn's influence on Matt 21:30 LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job free at https://www.linkedin.com/angel 23:03 Matt's first big hits as an investor, holding on to winners 28:15 Practical uses for crypto, being bullish on the technology of crypto, impact of bad actors on decentralized systems 34:30 Odoo - Get your first app free & $1000 off your first implementation pack at https://odoo.com/twist 35:48 Policing speech on the Internet, Trump stress test, analyzing Trump's ban 48:17 Pioneering remote work, future in a post-COVID world, advantages in competing for top talent, middle management's disadvantages due to remote work 59:37 Future of San Francisco, managing hybrid in-person / remote, tips for new founders
6. Reid Hoffman on the Joby Aviation SPAC, lessons from early Airbnb & Facebook bets, passing on Stripe & SpaceX, investment thesis & more | Angel S5 E6
01:10:16||Season 5, Ep. 6Check out Greylock: https://greylock.com FOLLOW Reid: https://twitter.com/reidhoffman FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis Show notes: 1:07 Jason intros Reid Hoffman & they discuss the Joby Aviation VTOL SPAC, VTOLs vs. self-driving 11:53 Assure - Get 20% off your first SPV at http://assure.co/angel 13:26 Reid on setting up the meeting between Peter Thiel and Mark Zuckerberg, hitting a 20000x+ with Facebook, opportunities for sustained growth in the big tech reaches population limitations 18:02 When business leaders should speak up on certain issues 23:50 Reinstating Trump's accounts 25:15 LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job free at https://www.linkedin.com/angel 26:50 Anti-portfolio: Reid tells the story of missing on Stripe, is ownership % overrated? 36:12 Odoo - Get your first app free & $1000 off your first implementation pack at https://odoo.com/twist 37:31 Navigating potential portfolio conflicts 40:59 Lessons from hitting on Airbnb with his first investment at Greylock 49:15 Passing on SpaceX after an Elon pitch, returning billions to LPs in one investment 54:28 Reid's process for being a world-class investor, breaking down the Clubhouse investment 1:01:08 Investing over Zoom, future of Silicon Valley & San Francisco, Reid's next act
5. Mark Cuban on the resurgence of retail investors, NBA's potential entry into wagering & digital assets, DeFi & much more | Angel S5 E5
01:03:21||Season 5, Ep. 5FOLLOW Mark: https://twitter.com/mcuban FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis Thanks to our partners: Odoo - Get your first app free & $1000 off your first implementation pack at https://odoo.com/twist OurCrowd - Sign up for a free account at https://www.ourcrowd.com/twist LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job free at https://www.linkedin.com/angel Show notes: 1:04 Jason intros Mark Cuban & they discuss the circumstances of their first meeting, Mark's dot-com bubble hedge, resurgence of retail investors 9:30 Mark's prescient bets, origin of Blog Maverick 12:20 Odoo - Get your first app free & $1000 off your first implementation pack at https://odoo.com/twist 13:39 Understanding naked shorts, how shorts could be a companies best friend 17:15 Story behind Mark venturing into the movie business, producing the Enron documentary with a day-and-date release, thoughts on MoviePass & vertical integration in the film industry, risks of investing in AI 25:14 OurCrowd - Sign up for a free account at https://www.ourcrowd.com/twist 26:46 How AI is starting to impact the NBA, what's changed over the past 20 years since Mark bought the Dallas Mavericks 33:40 NBA getting into wagering 36:23 LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job free at https://www.linkedin.com/angel 37:55 Mark's relationship with the NBA, player-fan interaction, Porzingis trade & pairing him with Luka 44:59 Mark's original consulting business, diversity in tech, investing in Arlan 48:33 How Mark reviews cold emails, how crypto plays into the future of the NBA: smart contracts, digital assets, non-fungible tokens 57:32 How DeFi can change finance forever, Knicks talk, vaccine optimism
4. Howard Lindzon on public vs. private investing psychology, "great unbundling" of index funds, Robinhood & more | Angel S5 E4
01:13:49||Season 5, Ep. 4FOLLOW Howard: https://twitter.com/howardlindzon FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis Thanks to our partners: Odoo - Get your first app free & $1000 off your first implementation pack at https://odoo.com/twist LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job free at https://www.linkedin.com/angel Assure - Get 20% off your first SPV at http://assure.co/angel Show notes: 1:22 Jason intros Howard Lindzon & they talk about angel investing stories from the first dot-com bubble 5:50 Creating the $ cashtag on Twitter, psychology of public vs. private investing, why VCs fled the public markets after the dot-com bust & how this relates to the SPAC movement 12:51 Odoo - Get your first app free & $1000 off your first implementation pack at https://odoo.com/twist 14:23 Are recent public market returns sustainable? Why hedge fund VCs have an advantage, how the Tinder swipe relates to SPACs 23:27 LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job free at https://www.linkedin.com/angel 24:58 How SPACs are a hedge against paternal investing laws, why active investors should push back against "set and forget" investing, how index funds enable poor executive performance 29:51 The "Great unbundling" of index funds, how Howard invested in Robinhood 34:08 Assure - Get 20% off your first SPV at http://assure.co/angel 35:41 Howard tells a Robinhood term sheet story 39:26 Deconstructing the unprecedented Robinhood situation 48:22 Pandemic, vaccine news, optimism, how the party moved from private to public markets 55:21 Disney as a conglomerate, pure-play stocks, Apple's narrative issues, investing over Zoom, Uber's recent acquisition 1:05:50 Creating a digital wall with China, Trump's Twitter ban
3. Elad Gil on his product-market driven thesis, importance of market pull, entering the "go public sooner" decade | Angel S5 E3
01:16:28||Season 5, Ep. 3Check out Elad's Website: http://eladgil.com FOLLOW Elad: https://twitter.com/eladgil FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis Thanks to our partners: OurCrowd - Sign up for a free account at https://www.ourcrowd.com/twist LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job free at https://www.linkedin.com/angel Odoo - Get your first app free & $1000 off your first implementation pack at https://odoo.com/twist Show notes: 0:00 Start 1:05 Jason intros Elad Gil, Elad explains what he's learned since he started angel investing 10+ years ago, Internet market caps growing 10X-30X over the last decade, software's surface area 11:32 OurCrowd - Sign up for a free account at https://www.ourcrowd.com/twist 13:06 Understanding Clubhouse's valuation, a history of "overpriced" standout social apps, monetization options 19:01 Potential of paying it forward to black creators 25:01 LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job free at https://www.linkedin.com/angel 26:32 SPACs, startups going public earlier, theories on why "stay private longer" was popular in the 2010s and why 2020s looks like the "go public faster" decade 33:11 Thoughts on selling secondary shares & selling in public markets 36:04 Odoo - Get your first app free & $1000 off your first implementation pack at https://odoo.com/twist 37:36 How the pandemic endgame impacts his investment thesis, Israel's incredible vaccine distribution 47:07 Elad's thesis: product-market driven OVER team driven, importance of market pull in non-obvious markets, using growth rate to determine market size 54:34 Amazon's sustained growth rate, how consumer companies accelerate at scale, big tech's best acquisitions 1:00:49 Self-driving, VTOLs, future tech epicenters, work from home
2. Intercom's Des Traynor on the importance of pricing, product-market fit metrics & more
01:09:27||Season 5, Ep. 2Check out Intercom: https://www.intercom.com FOLLOW Des: https://twitter.com/destraynor FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis Thanks to our partners: LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job free at https://www.linkedin.com/angel Odoo - Get your first app free & $1000 off your first implementation pack at https://odoo.com/twist Assure - Get 20% off your first SPV at http://assure.co/angel Show notes: 0:00 Start 1:08 Importance of charging for enterprise products from the start 6:08 Explaining the phenomenon of startups that become great companies when the idea behind them is not logical or the market is unforeseen 10:18 LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job free at https://www.linkedin.com/angel 11:49 Investing in Notion - what he initially saw in the product, how UI helps Notion stand out, how angel investing & giving advice help hone his skills as an operator at Intercom 17:39 Common fundraising mistakes that founders make 21:48 Growth planning at a late-stage startup 24:26 Odoo - Get your first app free & $1000 off your first implementation pack at https://odoo.com/twist 25:57 How Intercom was initially pitched, the singularity of CRM platforms (Salesforce, HubSpot,Intercom, etc.), preparing for IPO & raising capital as a late-stage startup 30:52 Operating profitably, thoughts on acquisitions as a route to growth 35:02 Assure - Get 20% off your first SPV at http://assure.co/angel 36:32 Hopin's rapid rise in online events, dealing with the pandemic and being cooped up, keeping up company moral 44:13 Intercom's international offices, work from home, Slack's market penetration play, Microsoft vs. Salesforce in the 2020's 51:09 Acquisition offers, why hasn't Intercom sold yet? Pricing power in the enterprise, important product-market fit metrics 1:01:50 Thoughts on going public Subscribe to our YouTube to watch all full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkkhmBWfS7pILYIk0izkc3A?sub_confirmation=1 Subscribe to TWiST Clips for all the best moments: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS7tJlcUA6PzVHEMo-X7ddg?sub_confirmation=1