20VC: Why Seed is for Suckers | a16z's $20BN Fund & Founders Fund's $4.6BN: What Makes Them So Good | Why Josh Kushner Is the Master of Venture Capital Strategy | Why Extended Private Markets Screw US Citizens with Jason Lemkin and Rory O'Driscoll
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Release Date: 04/17/2025
20VC: ElevenLabs Head of Growth on Why You Do Not Need PMs | The 7-Part Launch Playbook That Gets 700K+ Views Per Product | The Truth About CAC, Payback & Performance Marketing in AI with Luke Harries
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Luke Harries is Head of Growth at ElevenLabs, where he leads marketing, product, engineering, and developer experience. ElevenLabs has raised $281M with the latest round pricing the company at $3.3B valuation. Previously, Luke held roles at PostHog and Microsoft, and is also an angel investor supporting startups like Lovable and Runna. In Today’s Episode We Discuss: 00:00 – The $3.3B Growth Engine Behind ElevenLabs 04:55 – Why Luke Said “No” to Investing in ElevenLabs (and Why He Was Wrong) 15:40 – How ElevenLabs Makes a Horizontal Product Strategy Work 20:15 – How to Build...
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20VC: Chime IPO: The Breakdown | Why Fund Returners Are Not Enough & Seed is for Suckers | Are IPOs Dead & The Future of the Late Stage Private Market | Rippling vs. Deel Lawsuit: WTF Happens Now?
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Agenda: 04:34 Chime's IPO Announcement: Who Wins & Who Loses 06:28 The Lopphole That Means Chime Has a Better Business than JP Morgan 10:51 Why Investors Who Invested at $25BN Will Make Money When it IPOs at $12BN 18:59 Are IPOs Dead & The Future of the Late Stage Private Market 27:32 Exits are Larger Than Ever: So What? What Happens? Who Wins? Who Loses? 40:51 Is Europe Totally F******* 43:48 Challenges of Going Public & What Needs to Change? 46:12 OpenAI's Future and Predictions 49:45 Rippling vs. Deel Lawsuit: Is Deel Screwed? 59:28 Why So Many Companies Are About To Become...
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20VC: Duolingo Co-Founder on Why $3M is Harder than $100M to Raise | Why You Should Always Take Tier 1 VCs Even at Worse Terms | Why Europe Can't Win Unless the US Screws Up | How AI Impacts the Future of Work and Education with Severin Hacker
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Severin Hacker is the Co-Founder and CTO of Duolingo, the world’s most downloaded education app with over 100 million monthly users. Since its 2021 IPO, Duolingo has reached a market cap of $20BN. The company has raised over $183M from top-tier investors including CapitalG, Kleiner Perkins, Union Square Ventures, NEA, Ashton Kutcher, and Tim Ferriss. Severin is also an active angel investor, with standout bets including Decagon, one of the fastest-growing AI-native dev shops globally. Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode: 00:00 – Why It's Harder to Raise $3M Than $100M 02:10 – The...
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20Product: Figma CPO on How Figma Builds Products: What Works, What Does Not | How Figma Does Testing and Product Reviews | The Future of Design, Engineering and Product with Yuhki Yamashita
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Yuhki Yamashita is the Chief Product Officer at Figma, where he leads the development of one of the world’s most beloved design platforms. Previously, he was Head of Product at Uber, overseeing the core rider experience used by millions globally. A master of product storytelling and team-building, Yuhki has redefined how world-class digital products are built and scaled. Items Mentioned in Today’s Episode: 04:30 – "Simple is Lazy?" — Yuhki Challenges Product Dogma 07:45 – The Secret Behind Figma’s New Product Ideas (Hint: Users Hack It First) 09:00 – From Hack Week to...
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20VC: Tiger Global Saved by OpenAI | Coatue's New Fund: Hype or Substance | Why SBF is the Greatest Investor of the Last 5 Years | Why Big Funds are Investing in Perplexity
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Items Mentioned in Today’s Episode: 04:11 Owner’s New $120M Round at $1BN 06:05 Why Series A is F****** Today 14:55 Could Tiger Global Be Saved by OpenAI and Scale 22:43 Why SBF is the Greatest Investor of the Last Decade 31:34 Why No Individuals Should Invest in Venture Funds 36:27 Why Microsoft Laying 3% of Their Workforce Off is not Enough 41:38 OpenAI’s New CEO: Non-Technical CEOs Running OpenAI 44:48 Why Big Funds are Investing in Perplexity 54:43 Why Clay Should Raise a Warchest and Go to War 01:00:05 The Impact of AI on Marketing and Sales
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20VC Exclusive: Mercury Founder Launches First $26M Fund | Why Founders Should Take the Highest Price | Why Serial Entrepreneurs are Better | Why AI Is So Overhyped | The Future of Venture Capital with Immad Akhund
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Immad Akhund is the CEO of Mercury. Launched in 2019, Mercury has raised $500M in funding from Sequoia, Coatue, CRV, Andreessen Horowitz and others. He is a former part-time partner at Y Combinator and is an active angel investor, with more than 350 investments in startups including Rippling, AirTable, Rappi, Applied Intuition, and Substack. In Today’s Episode We Discuss: 04:38 Exclusive News: New Fund Announcement 05:15 Lessons from 350 Angel Investments 12:27 Why Founders Should Always Push for the Highest Price 14:40 Biggest Wins and Misses in Angel Investing 22:56 How Sequoia Came to...
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20VC: Four Traits of the Most Successful Founders | How to Hunt and Close Talent Like a Pro and Where All Founders Go Wrong | Lessons Raising $397M From the Best Investors in the World with Eléonore Crespo @ Pigment
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Eléonore Crespo is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Pigment, one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies. With Pigment, Eleonore has raised over $397M from the best in the world including ICONIQ, Greenoaks and IVP to name a few. Prior to Pigment, Eléonore was on the other side of the table as an investor with Index Ventures. In Today's Episode We Discuss: [04:10] “I had 3 surgeries. That’s when I knew I had to become a founder.” [06:50] Why Index Ventures isn’t on her cap table [08:40] Eleonore’s CIA-style co-founder hunt (she literally made a target list) [11:50] Co-CEOs: “We talk...
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20VC: Benchmark vs a16z: Why Stage Specific Firms Win | Windsurf Sells For $3BN | Decagon Raises at 100x ARR | Do Mega Funds Win the Future of VC | What Does Harvard's Losing Their For-Profit Status Mean for VC
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Today’s Topics: 04:44 Analysis of $3 Billion Windsurf Acquisition 12:39 Will Mega Funds Win the Future of Venture Capital 18:39 Does Every Fund Have to do Pre-Seed to Win Series A and B Today 27:53 Why AI Will Create Massive Unemployment 31:06 The $100,000 Bet on the Future of Work 35:52 Why Venture Has Become a Bundled Good 37:52 Why Stage Specific Firms Will Win: a16z vs Benchmark 40:16 What Does Harvard Losing It’s For Profit Status Mean for Venture 42:57 Why AI is Maiming and Not Killing Growth Companies on the Path to IPO 45:41 Decagon Raises 100x ARR: The Breakdown 52:50 Why...
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20VC Exclusive: Why Mega Platforms Will Win in VC | Why You Cannot Do VC If You Do Not Do Pre-Seed | Why Market Sizing is BS | Where Will Foundation Models Build/Buy Apps vs Where Will They Not with Bucky Moore
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Bucky Moore is a Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners, announced exclusively in the show today on 20VC. Prior to Lightspeed, Bucky spent an incredibly successful 7 years at Kleiner Perkins working with Mamoon Hamid to build one of the most successful early stage firms of the last decade. Bucky has made investments in the likes of Prisma, Netlify, Browserbase and more. In Today’s Episode We Discuss: 03:07 Big News: Joining Lightspeed Venture Partners 04:09 Why Mega Platforms Will Win the Next 10 Years of VC 09:33 Are Foundation Model Companies Good Venture Investments 16:04 What...
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20Sales: Sierra: Inside Silicon Valley's Fastest Growing Sales Machine & How to Prospect, Outbound and Close Enterprise Deals in AI
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Reggie Marable is the Head of Global Sales at Sierra, a conversational AI platform for businesses. Sierra enables companies like ADT, Sonos, SiriusXM, and WeightWatchers to build AI agents that transform customer experiences. The company has rapidly become a hypergrowth leader in Silicon Valley, recently securing a funding round that values it at $4.5 billion. Before joining Sierra, Reggie was the Head of Sales in North America at Slack and the Area Vice President of Enterprise Sales at Salesforce. In Today’s Episode We Discuss: 02:50 “What I Learned from Failing Early as a...
info_outlineJason Lemkin is one of the leading SaaS investors of the last decade with a portfolio including the likes of Algolia, Talkdesk, Owner, RevenueCat, Saleloft and more.
Rory O’Driscoll is a General Partner @ Scale where he has led investments in category leaders such as Bill.com (BILL), Box (BOX), DocuSign (DOCU), and WalkMe (WKME), among others.
In Today’s Episode We Discuss:
04:23 What is Wrong with Billionaires on Twitter: Are They Depressed?
08:49 Why Does product Market Fit Mean Less Than Ever
11:50 Why is Venture Capital More Risky Than Ever and No One is Discussing It
16:17 Will Private Equity Save a Generation of SaaS Companies and VCs
23:53 a16z’s $20BN Fund: Seriously?
31:29 Why Josh Kushner and Thrive Capital are Masters of the World
38:21 Why is Seed Investing for Suckers
45:49 Why Are $50 Million Seed Funds Useless
46:21 Founders Fund Raises $4.6BN: Analysis
52:00 How WIll LPs Change Their Approach to Venture in the Next Five Years
59:53 When Will IPOs Comeback?
01:09:15 Why Does it Not Make Sense for the Best Companies to IPO
01:09:51 Lost Ethics and Morals in Founder Secondaries and Term Sheets
01:22:58 Quickfire: OpenAI, Cursor, Deel vs Rippling