YouSaid · the spoken record

Jon Staenberg

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26
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2015-05-07
most recent
2015-05-07
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1
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  1. “Well, we talked a little bit about it. Kitchen Bowl, although I also just did a deal called Kindara, which is a mobile app. Yeah, Kindara, which is a women's mobile fortune app. software and hardware. And for me, again, really compelling case, really solving a real need out there in a very elegant way. And around the table with me or a bunch of great investors who I know. And again, you had an entrepreneur who in varied passionate way and in a very dogged way came to me, fed me the information, kept me updated. And I'm super excited about the possibility of that actually having a profound impact on the world.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “Our Churchill said it never, never, ever, ever give up. And I just think this stuff's hard. The second tip, and I know you only asked for one. Surround yourself with the best and the brightest, surround yourself with people who give you energy, who create energy, you create positive”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “I've had been so fortunate, so blessed, so lucky. But, you know, working at Microsoft back in the day for me was just fabulous in terms of propelling me into being able to do many, many things and getting me excited about this industry. So that's certainly one of them. And now to be able to do a startup in the wine world and actually get to deploy a lot of the things I've learned over the years is super exciting. So there's not one, and I've been just super lucky.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “Well, the one thing about Hintu List is I'm getting a lot more inbound inquiries. And quite frankly, I'm one guy and trying to run a startup line business and do my into investing and do other things. I've had to say, I literally, you know, it was hard at first, but I've had to say, I'm sorry, I just can't do this right now. And I feel bad about it because I want to be helpful and supportive to the startup community. But I just can't do it all. So in answering your question, if someone doesn't come to me through someone I know or has an ecosystem of investors that I know, it's very hard for me to take a look at.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “No, I turn five syndicates now. And I'm learning a lot. It's a new tool. It's a new platform. And I'm trying to think about, you know, partly I'm doing it because I want to see how it works. For full disclosure, I am an investor in Angelist. And so for me, I'm not sure. I think there's some really great benefits. So if I put a deal up, then people at least take notice of what this company is and what they do. The other thing that was interesting in this last field, and I hadn't necessarily expected But refers to a point I made earlier, is that several DCs saw that we were doing the syndicate, contacted the company, and said, when you're doing your next round, we'd be interested in talking to you. So it actually put them on the radar screen for future rounds of funding, which I thought was a nice benefit too.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “And personally as an angel investor, for me the way I use it is I get to see what the deal flow looks like. I get to look at themes and competitive sets that I wouldn't otherwise get to look at. People have gotten so good about preventing their materials. It's very rarely the case when I look at those materials that I'm back 10 years ago where I was like, well, I've got to help these guys just put this presentation together. So I think the information gets transferred very quickly, efficiently. And startups, and that's pretty exciting. And crowdfunding is something to do with that as well.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “No question. I mean, again, the numbers for ALIST and R crowd two that I know better than others, but there's many others out there. I think in the last year, both of them had over $100 million raised through their vehicles. Well, that's the size of a good fund. That kind of money, I mean, that's a serious fund. There are very few funds that could say that, right?”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Often, in fact, I was just having this conversation yesterday, angel must raise money, right? And who were some of the most prominent investors in angelists? And why would they do that? Because they want the optionality. They want the look at this. They want to make sure they're not missing out. So these worlds are getting very interestingly intertwined and the options available for the companies and entrepreneurs and startups is much more interesting today than ever.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “Gosh, the world is changing so rapidly and so quickly, it absolutely is changing. You can see the numbers. I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but there used to be close to 3,000 major venture funds, and today that's in the hundreds, it's certainly below 1,000. And partly it's because sources of investment dollars have become much broader, whether it's international, whether it's angels, as Angelist is, whether it's hedge funds. So it's pretty exciting from that perspective, and it should be, I mean, the big bet is it should be a great boom to entrepreneurialism and startups. But it absolutely is changing the way the ventures folks are approaching these things.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “But I think the CAL is asking other companies they've invested in, and not just the ones that have worked out, but the ones that didn't work out. If you're bringing on a lead, then if you're not doing that, then you're not doing your work as a company.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “Well, you know, we live in such an interesting time of transparency, right? And you go into meetings and you've already got a dossier on anybody you're meeting with that literally comes up automatically on your phone. So, I think more than ever, if you don't do your homework, shame on you, but more importantly than that, you know, everybody has a good LinkedIn profile, right?”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “can provide is to be that person that they can call at any time, even if it's just like I'm just kind of struggling with this idea or this moment or this direction. Can you talk about it? And I hope I can do that for them. And then finally, I think living in Seattle, I live between Seattle and San Francisco. But living in Seattle, I think hopefully I can offer them a geography advantage knowing both what's happening competitively here, but also if they want to meet the companies up here or meet people up here.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “Yeah, I think in general VC is overvalued their role. Their value add. But having said that, I think the entrepreneur often makes the mistake of assuming all VCs are the same. Very clearly, Rolodex is important in making introductions, whether it's for sales, whether it's for hiring, whether it's for M&A, whether it's for mentoring, whether it's for advisory boards, what have you is important. Opening doors is important. And so I hope the value added”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “I tend to think of myself as an early stage investor, but having said that, I'm in DocuSign, which I did later in Avalara. Those are two Seattle companies later. Again, I would say I'm somewhat round agnostic, but I get way more thrill around working with entrepreneurs in the earlier stage, where hopefully I can add some value.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “Having said that, just one other thought on that, which is we now live in an era of incredibly rapid change. And so guessing markets now being around the corners is much harder than it used to be, right? And so I think it's a fascinating time to be investing because how much of the market has to be here already and how much of it's going to be here, virtual reality being a perfect example. I just spent yesterday looking at a company in Seattle in virtual reality. And, you know, if you think about what's going to happen this Christmas around virtual reality, it's pretty exciting. So that's the interesting question.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “It tends not to be, you know, I can't say how many people get to the third or fourth slide in their presentation and then have the hockey stick market slide. And, you know, either you believe intuitively, I don't need to see those numbers because they're made up numbers anyway. They're guesses in many ways. And so, you know, it's pretty clear to me at this point through just having done so many deals if there's a market segment here that's big enough, interesting enough, has enough M&A, has enough non-barriers to entry so you can actually come in and make a difference. That at this point, I feel pretty comfortable that I can assess without that four-slide telling me it's a huge market.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “As much as throwing things against the wall and seeing what was stiff, not as good at that. In the last few years, thankfully, you've seen a return to some cloud enterprise things that makes much more sense to me. So I actually try and just get my head around. I realize I'm not the best proxy to figuring out if it's going to be used or if it's the right answer or if it's something that I get excited about. But at least want to see that there's some data that suggests this is something that needs a better solution.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “Often and most often, to answer your question finally, most often is how is this company making an experience for the end user better, faster, cheaper, in some way, in some definable way, in some way that's better, in a marked way than what you have today? That's why I quite frankly have probably missed most of what's happened in the”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “Everybody feels some sort of entitlement. Everyone feels like, oh, it's just easy to raise money. It's easy to connect with people. This guy didn't take anything for granted. And that meant a lot to me. And in that case, what was I looking for? I wasn't. But I kind of was won over by his intelligence and his passion, his vision, his tenacity, and a business plan that was very well thought out. Sometimes, you know, I'll be completely honest with you and say, sometimes there's a group of investors around the table who I respect the heck out of and who I want to be in a deal with, and I'll do that. That doesn't say much for me and my investing. I get that. But that's the honest truth. That happens a lot.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “I don't know if it's good or bad, it just is. Some people would say I should go to startups Anonymous or something. But it's funny. And I don't, I can't sit here and tell you that there is a theme or a focus on thematic investing. You know, my most recent, and I'll come back to your question, my most recent investment Was a young man 26 years old who I just happened to see a little article on in a space that's super crowded that I never expected to lead around in and invest in. But he won the oath. And it's in the recipe space. It's called Kitchen Bowl. And he just absolutely was a guy. And I don't see this very often. You know, that we live in a world today where”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “So it's probably over 250 startups at this point, just to update you. And I don't know that such records are kept. I'm sure Ron Conn, what is... Have done many, many more than that, but in Seattle about 250.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “vision and that vision has to be sellable and that vision has to be clear and that vision has to be something others can buy into that's what it is and that vision has to be something that as a leader you have to be living you have to be leading you have to be every day consuming showing engaging with and if people see that then they'll be part of the team”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Gosh, starting company is just playing hard, you know? I would hope that I'm better at it today, but some days I wonder. And at the end of the day, you as a leader have to sell the vision and you have to bring people on. And that's again you asked what Microsoft taught me. You've got to bring people on who are willing to climb the mountains with you because it's never easy.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “I mean, it was such a special time. I loved back then. It really taught me about hiring people that are way smarter than yourself, taught me about tenacity. It taught me about the possibilities. We believe, we drink the cooler. It was such a great time. We truly thought we're changing the world. And that was our mission. And he's such an unbelievable leader, truly one of the smartest people I've ever been around. For me, it was getting up every day, so super psyched about what we were working on, feeling that we were working on something bigger than ourselves. fine.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “And work to address him for the CEO and so definitely got a toll in the water around technology, came back to Stanford again for my MBA and knew that really the reason I was going was because I wanted to get into venture after business school. And there was a gentleman in Seattle who was a bit of a mentor and had one of the very first venture funds in Seattle. advice I went to Microsoft and almost five years to the day left what called him up and said okay I did my tour I'm ready to be a VC and he didn't have an opening at the time but I ended up joining a small outfit in Seattle at the time for a year and after that I actually raised a fund a second fund and then a third fund and so that kind of got me started on it”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “Absolutely. So I went to Stanford as an undergrad and knew way back then that I was interested in what was happening around me. Even back then, I was paying attention to Venture and Sandhill and startups and technology. And I ended up spending time living in Asia, actually, living in Taiwan after undergraduate, if you remember way, way, way, way back then.”

    2015-05-07 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source