YouSaid · the spoken record

Amol Deshpande

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17
first
2018-09-21
most recent
2018-09-21
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1
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podcast

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  1. “Non specific answer. I can tell you're a great experience fan, but when it comes to media. But it's been such a pleasure to have you on the show. Well, seriously, I heard so many great things. So thank you so much for joining me today. Yeah, thank you, Harry. I really appreciate you letting us come on. I appreciate it. Thanks.”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “Everything you're doing or being interfering with the operation of the business. My board is amazing at adding value, and they know exactly what their role is and what it is that the management is supposed to be doing. So those lines aren't blurred. So I think that's the key is making sure that build in some experience in that board and then also communicate, almost over communicate if you can, so that there's no rude surprises. And then I want to finish today with the next five years for you and for FBN. What's the exciting roadmap ahead of Mal? Well, we want to be the biggest company in the entire agriculture industry. And in order to do that, that's hundreds of billions of dollars of market cap that we have to build, either as a private or a public company. So I think in the next five years, I would expect that FBN makes progress towards those goals. I don't set any specific timeframe on when we achieve that goal, but that's where we're headed. I would like us in the next five years to have made the progress towards that, being the biggest and most impactful company in the agriculture sector. I love that.”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “Without a shadow of a doubt, it's communication. I think boards don't like or want to be surprised. I know when I was on a board, that was my pet peeve, showing up at a board meeting and it was like rude surprise after root surprise. I tried to do my best. And in startup companies, things are going to happen. You're going to have ups and downs. That is just natural. I think everybody knows that in growth companies, that's going to happen, even in public companies that's going to happen. But as best you can to prepare people for what you're doing, what you think the outcomes are going to be, so that you're not lurching from disaster to disaster versus setting up expectations with the board and making sure that they understand what's going well in the business, what's a challenge, what am I trying to accomplish this quarter, this year, whatever. That, I think, is the biggest thing. The second is, you know, having some experience at the board, I have a phenomenal board at FBN, like an incredibly experienced board. And a good board member is someone who adds tremendous value, but isn't in the weeds of”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “Or that people who have kids, or whatever is going to be harder to be an entrepreneur, I just got to manage yourself. You got to manage your day and you got to be committed to your trade. You can be committed to your family and your kids and everything else and also be committed to being a great entrepreneur. That's very possible. You don't have to be a 20-something single person to be an entrepreneur. You can be a mom, you can be a dad, you can be whatever, and be very successful. It's really about the commitment and are you willing to do what it takes? Really interesting one. What are the secrets”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “Yeah, I started FBN. I was 35. I'm 40 now. And I would tell you that I think back to when I first started a business in my early 20s. And then again, shortly thereafter, and it's kind of comical to me how inept I was. I mean, I didn't even know the most basic things. And I was flying blind. And of course, there are people who are brilliant enough or lucky enough to maybe make that work. And especially in Silicon Valley, which is a magnet for talent, you'll find those people. But by and large, you're better off having the benefit of experience. I mean, if I think about where I was in terms of the experience I'd had when I started FBN versus going back 12, 13, 14, 15 years to when I was first started a business, night and day in terms of my capabilities and my experience and my ability to deal with issues. So I think it's a huge benefit. And I think it's also misguided thinking to believe that people who are paying their 30s or 40s or whatever can't start a business.”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “In the news media a lot to be successful. I think that you can break the mold. I think I mentioned to you I'm a middle aged guy with two kids. One of my kids has autism. I'm an entrepreneur. Just like anybody in their 20s, I don't think you have to fit the mold of what say some people will say is the appropriate mold for an entrepreneur. I think you can be who you are and still do what you want to do from a career standpoint. And I'm not sure, especially in Silicon Valley, I'm not sure everybody believes that. I think they probably believe that there's a certain mold and that's the mold that they have to invest in. I don't think that's true.”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “There, but I do want to take a turn and dive into my favorite element of any interview being the quick firearound. So essentially I say a short statement and then you give me your immediate thoughts. How does that sound? Yeah, sure. Sounds good. So tell me Amol, what's the favorite book and why should I read it? The book that I read a couple years ago that I really liked was a team of rivals. This book about Abraham Lincoln and how he was able to work with people who are political adversaries of his and others for the betterment of the country in a time of war. And so it was extremely long book. But in terms of leadership and thinking about how would you navigate through things that are hard and how do you value and utilize the talents of other people appropriately, treat them properly, all that stuff. I kind of remember a lot of things from that book. So I would say it's probably that from six out of my head. What do you believe the most around you maybe disbelieve? Well, I believe that you don't have to be flashy or talk a lot or be.”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Ascribed financial metrics to that moment in time. They want to say when I get to a certain amount of revenue or a certain number of clients or it's really a, tends to be a financial analysis because a lot of the investors who write those kinds of checks are typically financially oriented. I think that's a little bit short-sighted. I actually think the time to pour the fuel on the fire is when there's unanimity or certainty into what it is you're trying to become and that you feel you're on the path to get there. And that may be when you have $2 million of revenue and an amazing technology built, but it's not fully commercial yet. Or it may be when you have $200 million of revenue in your scaling. It depends on the industry, the technology, the market, all of those things factor in to the right time. not to just ascribe a financial”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “Of people that you're going to hire? Are you going to settle for the next best candidate? I won't because I know that you're not going to build a great company that way. So I think that that definitely did influence me because before Kleiner, I probably thought of it maybe a little more like a small business person, you know, where equity is obviously very precious and everything, but you're more worried about dilution. You're worried some money and I take some dilution and all this stuff. And here I think about it more like, how am I going to build this enormous business and what does it take to get there? I'm going to do what's necessary to get that done. And that was definitely something that I saw that I learned at Kleiner because that's the way that I think a lot of the people there, the old school people there used to think. Can I ask, we've seen a record number of 100 million plus rounds over the last year. I'm really interested. When do you think about kind of the right time to pour fuel on the fire? What's the framework for deciding that that is the right time? And how do you think about that moving forward? Yeah, well, a lot of people want to.”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Differently if you hadn't had that experience, yeah, very good question. You know, the thinking big, going back to the topic of thinking big, when I think back to my time at Kleiner, especially early on, as I said, when all the older partners were there, some of whom have moved on and done other things now, it's a great idea, why short change it? So when you think about things like fundraising, I'm not willing to, as an entrepreneur, shortchange the idea of changing the entire agricultural market for farmers. So $194 million we've raised in the last three, four years, that to me is like a drop in the bucket of what it probably will ultimately take to become a huge company. I don't know what the exact amount's going to be or number someday, hopefully will go public, all of those things are unknowns, really. But at the end of the day, one thing that I learned in that shaped me from Kleiner is that if you're going to think big, you have to also scale that thinking across other elements of what you do, including things like raising money.”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “Of times your customer is working with you because they're excited about the prospect of what the business is going to be. And if that changes very quickly, then their sentiment could change as well. So I think that's one way. I think another way is not being present and not being accountable. So if you think about great people, you see these stories about entrepreneurs who are working 24 hours a day and everything like that. I don't think that's absolutely the most important thing. But I think what has to be there is you have to be present. You have to be the person that everyone can fall back on. You have to be prepared and ready to communicate on short notice. You have to be responsive. You can lose credibility really fast if you go dark, if you stop communicating, if you lack transparency in the way you're communicating, if you're not giving an honest message and people discover something that is happening that you hadn't disclosed to them, those are the ways that I think most commonly I've seen entrepreneurs lose credibility.”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “trust within the relationship well i can tell you that i've experienced all sides of it i would say that one big way to lose credibility is to lose your nerve so pitch me sell me on a big idea and then tell me you're gonna sell the business or tell me you're gonna sell short of what the mission or vision could be of the business that kind of thing you can lose credibility fast because you know you come in and you say i'm going to build the the world's next great business in this sector you know our sector's agriculture and farming there's obviously many sectors out there and then you know a year or two later things are not exactly as you hoped they would be you're losing some patience and you say well you know there's somebody who may want to acquire the company and maybe we should sell i think you can lose credibility really fast by losing your nerve or changing your mind about what it is you believe about the business and its potential so that's one and that's true of if you're a ceo talking to an investor talking to an employee it's also true of just talking to your customer you know a lot”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “Starting small and iterating to a big vision is a strategy. The question is whether the, and it's a very viable strategy. I actually like that idea. But first and foremost, what is the prize that you're focused on? What are you trying to build as an entrepreneur? Are you trying to build a company that can be bought? You know, whenever I hear talking to other entrepreneurs, oh, I might sell the business or there'll be acquirers interested. I'm like, okay, well, you've largely given up before you start. If your vision is I want to build a gigantic independent business in the sector I'm in, I want to change the world for the consumers that I serve, the customers that I serve, then there's multiple...”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “Multiple people in and around it, but you really need to bet on if you're an investor or as an entrepreneur, you need to distinguish yourself as being that best company in the sector you're in. Because you'll attract the most capital, you'll attract the most attention, and ultimately your odds of winning are going to be the highest. So those were some of the things, the final thing I would say is that the people side of it, all of these things, thinking big, building a differentiated team or platform, really it boils down to the entrepreneur and is the person you're investing in or partnering with in the same frame of mind. Are they willing to think as big as you are? Because if they're not, they'll stop short, they'll go halfway, or they won't succeed at all. And so those are some of the things I learned. But the biggest takeaway I would say is you have to think big. Big ideas are worth funding, and that's what you should spend your time on.”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “Yeah, good question. Well, I remember I was hired there in the 2007-2008 timeframe, so it was a different era. So the most beneficial lessons were from really the first few years when I initially joined, when a lot of the old partners of Kleiner were there. I was hired by a fellow named Ray Lane and then Joe Lacob, who eventually went out of the Warriors. And I got an opportunity to work with all those people. And the number one thing that I took away is don't spend your time on small ideas. If you're going to take risk, then take real risk. Try to do something big, try to do something differentiated that'll change the world and go for it. There's not good reason to invest in or to spend your time on as an entrepreneur a smaller incremental ideas. Life's too short, your career's too short. So if there was one central lesson, it was at. The second was that there's a big gap between the best company in a sector and the best entrepreneur and the best team and really the next five. And any big business and any big idea is going to have multiple entrants, multiple...”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “This concept of information transparency because it's so lacking right now in the ag market, discovered that farmers would actually share information if they could believe that it would benefit them in return. So this concept of networked, anonymized information to create transparency, to create leverage in their business, that was a concept. That was the genesis of FBN. That's how we started four years ago.”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “My history is a long dated in agriculture. I got into agriculture really through my father when I was in graduate school 15 or 16 years ago. He introduced me to an entrepreneur who had actually invested in a fish farm, an indoor fish farm at Cornell University in New York. And I went to work at that startup. So I kind of fell in love with AG and agriculture and farming, went on and started a plant breeding business and vegetable seed. Went and worked at Cargill, the large agribusiness. And then about 11 years ago was recruited to Kleiner Perkins, a venture capital firm out here on the West Coast. And that was sort of my foray into the world of Silicon Valley venture capital, I would say. Learned a lot there and then about three and a half, four years ago really wanted to do something big in ag and specifically related to working with farmers. And that was the genesis of FBN. Myself, Charles, a bunch of other people actually were researching topics that could change the game in this industry.”

    2018-09-21 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How To Build Credibility with Investors, Employees and Customers, How To Determine When A Stretch VP is A Stretch Too Far and The Right Way For Founders To Think About Dilution with Amol Deshpande, Founder & CEO @ Farmers Business Network · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source