YouSaid · the spoken record

Brian Garrett

lines on the record
25
first
2018-02-05
most recent
2018-02-05
sittings or episodes
1
sources
podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

  1. “We've already made about five investments with our new $125 million fund, but the only announced deal is Fuzzy Pet Health. It's a San Francisco, Bay Area Company, $4.5 million around announced in December with our friends at ENIAC, precursor, and SV Angel. They are delivering advanced personalized pet care to the home and our investment thesis was, of course, the obvious things, great founding team. They provide a very affordable preventative care offering. But for us, I think the thing that really drove it was we talked to tons of pet owners and I haven't found anyone that thinks their primary vet relationship and the office visit experience is a great one. So this is trying to really transform the way pet health care is delivered to the pets and the pet owners.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “Yeah, so while chasing those spread crumbs, I ended up in Mallorca pitching a family office that owned one of the largest airlines in Spain and ended up in a 747 flight simulator. Needless to say, I crashed and burned.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “Let the game come to you. Can't force things, everything that is supposed to happen will happen when the time is right and every experience is part of that journey. That was wisdom that Teresa gave to me when she was at Excel, and it stuck with me very well because I was trying to do too much poorly in too quick of a time frame.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “Of capital. Fortunately, things changed early in the 15 and some of the institutional money started to take interest and crosscut and we ended up raising the rest of it from U.S. sources. But that four to five month period was easily the most difficult time I've ever faced in chasing down dollars for crosscut.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “Yeah, so crosscut four was absolutely not the most challenging. It was one of the nice smooth ones that I've been waiting for for 10 years. I think the most challenging for us was the first 30 million of crosscut three, what we were calling our first close. And it was late in 2014 and not so clear that Southern California was a quote real market to LPs yet. I'm thankful Mark Suster was creating a lot of awareness around LA, but I think we weren't quite there yet. And so I unfortunately was out on the road arguably chasing breadcrumbs all over the world and combine that with I had a heart ablation to stop an arrhythmia and it didn't go so well. So I ended up with a paralyzed stomach, couldn't get food down, lost 20 pounds, and I was literally on planes following leads to family offices throughout Europe trying to find the next chunk.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “This one's a tough one, Harry. I guess I believe in this concept of radical candor, and it gets me in trouble sometimes, but I truly believe that I wish we as an industry or at least everyone that I interact with could get to a place where the ego is removed, low self-esteem and doubt are not a factor, and all conversations can be truly authentic and honest. And unfortunately, I think society today is too scared to speak their mind for fear of being judged. And I just wish we could elevate it to a level of trust so that we could sit in a room and debate things and not be offended by alternative points of views.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “So my favorite book is The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. It was sort of one of the first books I read back in college that started my path on spirituality. And for me, it embodies many of my core life philosophies like living in the now, perseverance, truly experiencing life, and having confidence in your journey. And I come back to it every few years as just a reminder of the path and journey that I was on with Crosscut and how we got here and to take stock and appreciation for sort of the milestones that we've accomplished. But knowing that we have to keep our head down and continue on our own journey.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Yes, I think entrepreneurs are resonating with this concept of, I don't have all the answers, you don't have all the answers. Let's go figure it out together. I think entrepreneurs want to be challenged. They're looking for someone that has some insight and some pattern recognition that can help them, but they don't want to be embarrassed in front of their team, right? So again, there are lots of people out there with low self-esteem, low confidence. And so you need to help them grow and nurture their leadership skills and feel empowered to run the business as they see fit, not challenged and embarrassed and made to look stupid for things not going well or decisions they've made. And that's a tough place for a lot of VCs to come from because they're trying to make things work so that they can rise through their partnership.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “Most of the time, it's about ego getting in the way or an alternative agenda that's driving their behavior. I have found that the biggest issue I've seen is young VCs believing that they have to speak because they're tasked as a board member and they're supposed to say important things. And my philosophy is speak when you have something to say, not because you want to be heard. And so I find that there often quick to react to negative information and not capable of consuming and digesting and truly understanding what factors will help solve the problem. They're just a little bit reactive. And I think the best venture capitalists are ones that can stay calm and patient through all and realize that no one single deal is representative of your body of work. We're going to have failures and to think that you won't have a failure is foolish.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Absolutely changed over time. I came into the industry knowing nothing. I was very lucky to have some great mentors early in my career. But what I have seen as my own sort of, you know, spiritual journey in understanding who I am as a human and what makes me tick, I look for those qualities in entrepreneurs and I find that not only do the companies tend to have greater success, but I enjoy the process a lot more. And so it's been a new filter for me over the last four or five years as I stopped being a full-time operator while running crosscut and have been able to focus 100% of my attention to my craft. Again, it is a product that we put out there. Crosscut puts out a product. I put out a product and I'm always fine-tuning that, trying to figure out what resonates and what works.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “The beauty of Southern California right now, we don't have that speed and urgency. It's definitely changing. There's more capital coming into the ecosystem. But I prioritize it. I only try to do two or three deals a year. And so to rush myself to a decision makes it difficult for me to have conviction about what I'm putting capital behind and what sort of”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “Ultimately, that relationship's about trust. Does the founder believe that you are aligned and supportive of all the ups and downs that will surely come along? Are you their first call for both good and bad things? Can you keep your ego or your own personal agenda within your own partnership out of the equation and really be aligned with the objectives that you're trying to achieve and the problems that you're trying to solve? To me, that has to be established before the capital is invested. you have to spend a lot of time we always joke but it's real like is this someone that i want to go have a drink with and talk about things outside of business and how will they act when things do not go well both sides the entrepreneur needs to get clear on that from the venture firm and the partner within that firm and the firm has to understand what are your motivations what's driving you”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “Absolutely right. So think about it, don't you feel more invested in the success of something when you feel honestly connected to the good and the bad that's taking place? And don't you feel like if you can be part of the solution, let's say sales aren't working well and you're able to solve that because you feel that the whole group is focused on how to solve that problem, I think you're going to be indebted to the company and the entrepreneur and the opportunity that's being presented. And you're going to feel a greater sense of joy when you solve those problems and reach success.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “Yeah, I think you're right. I think that's why you see the commentary of, oh, my company's crushing it because nobody wants the reality to get out there. I don't have a great answer for that one. I honestly believe that the leadership sets the tone. And if they build a tone of trust with their employees and they build a culture of empowerment and servant leadership, you'll find less of that stuff leaking out because nobody wants to do wrong by the people that have treated them well.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “Honestly, look at me and say, These are my weaknesses and my holes, and if you can help me solve those or see those, I can be a better leader.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “Yeah, so I'm stealing this from her, but I believe it is the most important component of intimacy and deep human connection. Vulnerability is the ultimate sign of strength. It's hard to understand, but if you think about it, because you're willing to share your insecurities, doubts, and flaws is actually confidence in showing what she calls your true self. I believe that we are all incredibly flawed beings. And the embracing of these flaws is what enables real dialogue and ultimately authenticity. So for me, vulnerability is strength and most people are very uncomfortable putting out their ugly raw side because, again, the entrepreneur is supposed to show strength, knowledge, better than everybody else, and thus worthy of the dollars. And I am finding more and more now that I resonate with those that can”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “My partners look for that element in the entrepreneurs, but I honestly think that confidence is a combination of conviction and self-awareness, right? So arrogance is being tone deaf and believing you have all the answers, but confidence is a self-awareness combined with I know what's coming and I know how to get us there.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “I think that there are definitely numerous stories where that character trait seemed to be the defining trait that led to success. But I think this perception is starting to change given the current environment in Silicon Valley. As I said, there are certainly outliers, but I believe that great company cultures will be built around servant leaders hiring people smarter than you, building a collaborative culture. I think the joy in getting to this success will be as important as the success. And I hope to see more entrepreneurs focused on this dynamic. I've seen it already in Southern California. It's a part of the dialogue, the ability to recruit comes with an element of what are you doing on the culture side that is going to make this a more enjoyable environment for me to work? How are you going to empower me? Those are important questions that are starting to rise up in our conversations. That said, it is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. And we love confidence.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “Sure. Yeah, I think that criticism is a fair one that it's not really a transparent industry. The perception is that these VCs sit in their glass offices and shoot down concepts and ideas. The criticism is that they don't really know what's going on in the market or vertical that they're saying no to. So I think there's great room for improvement. Lack of responsiveness. All those criticisms are fair and ones that we as an industry can try to improve on. I think it's time, right? I think we owe that level of transparency to the entrepreneurs that are busting their butts to build these companies.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “Absolutely. I think humility is an acknowledgement that we are part of something bigger and that the big exits and the success that drive this industry are really just a combination of luck, timing, hard work, pattern recognition, and ultimately from the VC side, it's really about selecting the right entrepreneur. The entrepreneurs deserve all the credit. We are a very minor piece.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Sure. It's my favorite aspect of the business. I'm now 17 years into this. And I think I'm finding that transparency and vulnerability and humility are core components of human connectivity. And these attributes seem to be a bit scarce or they don't seem to be a topic that is put front and center. Industry generally is driven by ego and greed. And I think it brings out some of the bad side of humanity.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “I think it happens in cycles just like the tech cycles that we've seen. And Rick and I have been fortunate enough to have been through three of those together. And I think it's part of the experience base that keeps us level-headed across all dynamics. But I think right now we're in a similar framework where it's uber competitive. There's lots of capital. Entrepreneurs or talent within those markets seem to jump from opportunity to opportunity. For me, back in 01, it was simply that there was one conversation. It was how much equity you had in startup XYZ. And I just wanted something broader. I wanted more diverse conversations in my life. And I was lucky that I had friends down here from high school that were teachers and I have the greatest respect for teachers. But the other beauty of teachers is they do not give a that I am a venture capitalist.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “That had no enterprise IT. And yeah, it was a problem for us. And Rick and I were kind of the hustling partners in the partnership and out on the street and had a lot of deal flow in LA that we could not get through the partnership because of their mandate. And so inherently we were chasing deals all over Silicon Valley and Texas and Colorado. And there's a problem there when you're the 50th fund to see something in Silicon Valley, you have to really think you're smarter than everyone else to step up and try to lead those deals. And so I think that's where I saw that venture is really about proprietary deal flow and a personal brand and how you represent yourself out in a local ecosystem is what allows you to see things that maybe others don't. And so that was the genesis of our belief in starting crosscut. And so in 2008, we grabbed Brett Brewer, who was my next door neighbor and the co-founder of Intermix Media. And Rick and I and Brett decided to start Crosscut.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Upside from a portfolio of opportunities, and that's something that I didn't have in the first phase of my career before business school. So I thought VC made sense. And I went to my professor at the GSB, Professor Wendell. He was a former partner at Sierra, and he kind of, I said, I wanted to do venture in SoCal, and he laughed at me. He sort of laughed me out of the room and said, there's no such thing as venture in Southern California. But was very kind to introduce me to a couple firms, and that's where I met my now partner Rick. Rick Smith was a partner at Palomar. And it was at that time, call it $300 million under management fund. They were looking for an associate. It was sort of a two-year and out program. They gave me a job offer. So I moved back down here in 2001, got married, bought a house, and started working in venture. And the path there rapidly iterated to, I did a bunch of deals at Palomar that worked and that were helpful to the partnership. But it was an enterprise IT fund in a market.”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “Yeah, well, that's a long, perilous tale, but it really started back in 2001. I had finished my MBA, had been in Silicon Valley for roughly 10 years, was engaged in my now wife of sixteen, and the internet bubble had burst. We were both sitting there unemployed and kind of thinking about the life we wanted to have together. Honestly, I was a bit tired of kind of everything that Silicon Valley had come to represent at that time. It was sort of very much a one-track mindset. And I really had the freedom to go start our life together anywhere we wanted. So our move to LA was a lifestyle move. It was very much about where do we want to raise our kids and what do we want to do and we're not working. And I knew that all I really learned in business school was that I was really interested in the balance of strategy and working with entrepreneurs and looking at business models and strategies, but liking the idea of having some”

    2018-02-05 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Vulnerability Is A Strength In VC, 3 Core Components That Make The Most Successful VCs & How VCs and Entrepreneurs Can Build Meaningful Relationships Pre-Investment with Brian Garrett, Founding Partner @ Crosscut Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source