YouSaid · the spoken record

Maha Ibrahim

lines on the record: 120
first: 2017-09-18
most recent: 2017-09-18
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

“I look at the investments that I make today and I look at all of the, I mean, in early stage, we lose a lot of companies, right? 40% on average. Of our companies go to zero. We've been very fortunate to have a loss ratio that's less than that, but it is It's a lot of losses. And by and large, the reason that our companies fail is that we got the timing wrong. Okay.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's right. That's right. Amazon would argue that their competitors are Walmart and Target and they're just out executing, right?”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I've thought a lot about that. Again, I think about that as a public good. I believe that it needs to be a monopoly. So I believe that Uber and Lyft at some point in time need to be one company and they need to stop. Marketing into the ground because it's Uber.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But the absence of leadership and making those strategic moves is surprising in a very positive way, right? You are looking at whomever is running that company right now is making very hard decisions. And I think doing the right thing objectively from the outside. Yeah. Anyway, what was the question you asked?”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The fact that they are managing to make the strategic decisions and moves that they are with the absence of all of that is remarkable, right? They're raising money. They're making the strategic move to get out of certain countries. They are shutting down the car leasing program. And the list goes on, right? With a company that large.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Airbn Uber, by the way, let me actually do a side note on Uber. The fact that they don't have a CFO or functioning board right now.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, of these companies, which one of them does there have to be a public offering of any of these, an Uber, despite all their troubles, it looks like that's where they're headed. Yeah. Or Airbnb, what do you, or Pinterest, or any of them? There was a class of hot companies there that just suddenly the unicorns, I guess that's what they call them at the time.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We invested several years ago in a company called One Fine Stay, which is bought by Accor Hotels. And it was a concierge-based Airbnb. So they would take properties and very nice luxury properties and concierge it. So make it nice and put more bells and whistles and services around the Airbnb concept. I love the concept. Airbnb is a tremendous company. I wish we had invested in that company. That's one of the ones on the anti-portfolio.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's like the train, I'm guessing And sometimes it is the fast, fast follower. That makes all of the money. So, one lesson that I've learned is that timing is everything.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Everything Direction correct, but there's so much money being shoved. It's like the train, I'm guessing, railroad business, which had like hundred, or the car business originally, had hundreds and hundreds of car acres.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And that was my lesson where timing is everything in this business. And that's not to say that we can't innovate ahead of that, but in terms of making money, it is directly correct.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“A company called Turo Which is a car, it's a peer-to-peer car rental service. So actually using that asset and renting it out. My worry about the autonomous car thing is not that it won't happen. It's the timing they're in. I invested my first investment at Kane 17 years ago was in a card swipe reader for the mobile device. So remember when those rims were the Blackberry Pagers, those very small things? It was an attachment with software therein that allowed you to take mobile payments.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And they are getting priced from a valuation standpoint to the moon. To the moon. So we are looking, we have not invested in any, we are investors in. What's your word?”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“At this point as well. All right, let me talk about those. So they're the ones that are sort of, they have been the hot companies, cars. Are you guys in car sharing, car innovation? There's so many car companies right now, self-driving car companies. Like they're coming out of the woodwork. Everyone's moving into that”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Lil, not mine. May never make money, but he's doing it for the public good. There's a benefit to society for doing it irrespective of the P&L. Yeah. And that's frankly how I look at Uber and Arabnb at this point as well.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, the fact that they are a bookseller That they were 20 years ago, a bookseller, right? And are now the largest cloud provider.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We were in food delivery. We're not in food delivery. I'm not in, if you think food delivery is tough, think about food manufacturers. No, we are not in food manufacturing. We're going to stay away from that. Again, one of those areas that fall on the floor.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right. And that's what I love about. At the heart of it getting back to what you first started asking me today. That's what I love about what I do. It is constantly changing, it is never boring, and I am such a lucky person to be sitting in the seat.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Researched within large governmental organizations. So we've invested in a lightweight satellite company called Skybox, which Google bought, and that was our first investment in space. We have then subsequently invested in balloon companies that are Exactly. Lightweight rocket companies.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We think that the economics of space delivery from a communication standpoint. Can be a lot cheaper in a commercial application and using commercial technologies versus being”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Four or five investments. Yes, you're going to live on Mars. Four or five investments in space are first, and this is approach that we at Canaan have long taken when we look at new industrial, when we look at new franchises. Which is a crawl walk run approach. We'll say, gosh, this is an interesting area. We think it's big enough to house some multi-billion dollar companies. We're going to do one, see how it goes. And then we're going to expand our learning and expand our learning from there, et cetera.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Machine learning, and there are horizontal plays that are building platform plays around AI and ML. We are trying to take much more of a verticalized approach, which is using AI and ML to focus on a specific problem within a specific industrial sector.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Gosh, I think there's no VC that's going to say anything different than this. What is incredibly hyped right now, and this is, I'm sorry that I'm being boring here, is AIM We spend a lot of time in it, but we are taking a vertical approach towards it.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's exactly why we stayed away. Yeah, interesting. So, what about in the consumer space? Where do you think the biggest trends are? What do you think is the craziest overhyped trends and then overall, not just you guys?”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But cool for a while. I still like their speakers. I remember getting that, and it was so cool. I'm like, they're going to rip these up and China in 14 seconds. That's right. Or yesterday. That's what I thought too.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And your sales of version one go down. So it's the cycle that Venture backed company. Right. A venture back company has a really hard time with.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Sustain it. How else do you do it? Yeah. How else do you do a next? If you come out with version two of the product, you're announcing version two, no one's going to buy version one six months leading up to that. And you've seen that with Apple. Right. And then all of a sudden your costs go up because you're spending so much inventory on version two.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I am not bullish on, and this is on the tech side, I'm not bullish on consumer hardware investments. Not to say that some won't be successful because they will, and we've seen several. It's just that the innovation cycles and the cost of innovating is.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We think that the innovation cycles are so tight. That if you are in the hardware space, whether you're in a regulated hardware space, like in healthcare or in the consumer space, it just you only have a few year window and you've seen this with Fitbit, right? You only have a few year window where you can take advantage of that. And if we're a long-term player, who we are, though.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We do We don't do a lot of device. Yeah, we do some. Actually, this goes across the board, whether it's tech or healthcare. We tend to stay away from consumer devices.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Incredibly transformational things are happening in healthcare because of the blend of tech and healthcare. Because we are one of the few diversified funds, and I don't mean that from a gender perspective, I mean healthcare and tech out there right now.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I was at Google history and I was asking them about the. Remember they had the. The thing where they had the eye thing that did diabetes. And a bunch of other things. I was like, where's one of those? I like those.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes. Yes. And that's going to happen, I think, for. Decades to come It is a flywheel that just needs to keep going and going and going, and certainly the population is not getting any smaller. So disease states are getting more enhanced and more acute”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The healthcare space is, we talked about the acquisition market a couple of minutes ago, but the healthcare space is one where you've seen a ton of M&A because of the macro issue of Big pharma needing to enhance its pipeline. So I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. And they're not projecting innovative companies. Exactly, exactly because of their P&L. So these are expensive.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right, right. But they're very interesting areas, and we have some interesting Portfolio companies there, but we want to be very, very selective. Again, our Our premise of the fund and why we've lasted so long is that we aren't an index fund for venture. There are areas that we will simply not cover. Exceptions to every rule We won't cover them. Right. Which is one of the rationales for what you were, or one of the reasons for what you were saying, it is important for us as a fund to make sure that we are known within the areas that we care about and for everything else.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Diabetes is one that we have some interesting companies in, but we haven't gone long there because again, it's been an overfunded space. On the tech side,”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What's hot right now versus. So we are 40% as healthcare. And on the healthcare side, we are continuing to build franchises in areas like anti-infectives, immuno oncology, areas that are incredibly valuable, but where there is still an immense amount of innovation to take place. So clearly with the super bug issues, that's not getting better. It's getting worse. We need to be developing new drugs, new anti-infectives that can handle that particularly for a massively growing close population Immuno oncology for obvious reasons. There are massive innovations happening with cancer therapies, and we want to be on top of that. There are areas in healthcare that we liken the tech side that we won't touch because we feel like they're either overfunded or acquisition, so cardiology. We haven't been there. Whereas we will fund an ophthalmology.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“There's a lot of money in the system. We want to make sure that our partners that are giving us money are there for the long run. We believe that the money that's coming in the system right now May ebb and flow as the venture industry ebbs and flows. And right now we're at the peak. I don't know how long it's going to last. And we want to make sure that our partners understand that we're committed to long-term returns, but there will be variability”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, it is. The most recent fund that we raised is Canan 10. It's a $675 million fund. And we just announced Canan 11. Which is an 800 million dollar fund”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exactly. And they're using that as an example of gosh, there is no female marked Zuckerberg. Don't have to be. Right. Right. There are plenty of other companies that can be very, very successful. And I and we have just got to be, we're striving for a post-gender world. And that may be too idealistic. I recognize that. But it's the best thing that I can do.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I believe that that's one of the reasons, not the only. But that is one of the reasons why we don't see females getting funded. The numbers that we see men, I've heard stories, I've been in panels where male investors have said we think we feel like women shoot for the moon, not the stars, right? We feel like women are not as ambitious as men. And they are using that as an example.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“First of all, we've got as females as minorities in this community, et cetera, the first thing is that we've got to be successful. And once we are successful, we've got to make sure that others are successful, right? There can be no ceiling, whether it's glass ceiling or plastic ceiling or brown. It cannot be a ceiling. We've got to make sure that others are given the shot that we were given. and not take this as individual success as representative of everything else. The problem is that in the entrepreneurial pool, this is specific to women. No icon, right? There's no Steve Jobs, there's no Mark Zuckerberg, there's no one that we can point to right now. Use them, highlight them as an example of building a truly world-class company from the ground up.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh, wow. Right, exactly. Don't grope me today. Please, I promise not to grope you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. No.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, there isn't. So, what's the solution to if you were to take one step, like you had a magic one, to start off this gender problem of everything, the whole diversity problem, this decency pledge seems the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I love Reid Hoffman, but honestly, come on.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That isn't California or New York It was just interesting. I was like, there's so much. Even they didn't even fit in their version of white guys there, these white guys didn't look like the white guys they're used to. You know what I mean? Like it was, it was, I was just sitting there. I was thinking there is really someone here that is probably very special of all these people and we'll never get the chance, which was interesting. In one place, which is interesting”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In Silicon Valley or in other innovative places, we have not tapped into those resources. And the government has not done enough to educate those folks in those areas and bring industry to those areas. That's certainly not the job of venture capital or entrepreneurs to do that. But certainly as we look towards other areas for outsourcing, I believe given the cost basis in whatever state you're talking about that isn't California or New York, that they will be competitive.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I politically am very left. And when Trump came into power, it was a huge blow to me because I just didn't see it. I didn't see Many reasons why they were voting for him. And as I reflected back and I talked with a lot of people, it became very clear that the people in those regions have been left behind.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Go to Stanford CS degree, kind of thing. And I'm like, who here has probably got the next billion dollar idea? There's someone here, maybe not this crowd, but somewhere here. And it was an interesting, it was like they'll never be found, essentially, unless they leave.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But how do you, not just that, just not with genders changes, it's age, it's, you know, I just was recently, I was in Kentucky in West Virginia trying to figure out tech jobs there and how to hear sources, the new term they use. And I was like, one thing I was struck by is how many talented people are there stuck there. But they're not stuck. And I was like, why are people finding people here? That's the issue is there's talent all over the world. And in this country, too, just socked away in different places. And it was sort of a real problem that they're all here because they're not all here. You know what I mean? I was thinking, who among this audience? And it was all these people who were not traditionally.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, I want to hire somebody that has a shared experience and a likeness, et cetera, pattern matching. And it just so happens that as I look back, I'm guilty of it as well. I'm hiring people that a lot of the people I've hired are first generation. They're immigrants. They're people who I have a shared experience with. It's just that I don't think there's anything wrong with that.”
2017-09-18 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: Maha Ibrahim, general partner, Canaan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT