YouSaid · the spoken record

Mitch Kapor

lines on the record: 28
first: 2023-06-27
most recent: 2023-06-27
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

“Brian and Uli planned to deploy this fund to push the boundaries of human-centered investing because your successors should be able to uphold your metrics for good culture and advance them farther down the field. While, Mitchin Frida have handed over the reins of Cape Or Capital. They have not stepped back from sharing their theory with the world.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We've provided the data That this is not concessionary and turn conventional wisdom on its head. Cape Or Capital followed up on the twenty nineteen report with another in twenty two that continued the success stories of the portfolio companies through the turmoil of twenty twenty and beyond. twenty twenty two was also the year Mitch and Frida stepped back from day-to-day leadership of Capor Capital, putting the firm in the hands of Brian Dixon and his co-managing partner Ulily, Onovak Pori. It was a thoughtful succession in contrast to when Mitch stepped down from Lotus in nineteen eighty six.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The comparison against all comparable firms and not just other social impact firms captured the attention of some influential voices on Wall Street. Carla Harris, who was vice chair, I think, at the time of Morgan Stanley, was just beside herself with joy that we had made an unequivocal case for things that she had been arguing for years.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Even using those rigorous criteria, the 2019 K-Bor Capital Impact Report bore a shocking news. Well, maybe it wasn't shocking to Mitchinfrieda, but it did stun the venture world a bit.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's right. They excluded two blockbuster investments that would have made K-por capitals returns look even stronger, but there was a good reason.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In 2019, K-Por Capital released a powerful set of metrics that kicked off a wave of conversation in the business community. It was a comprehensive impact report looking at the financial performance of their portfolio since committing their social impact criteria. There were a couple companies they surprisingly left out.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Founder's commitment helped KPOR Capital Companies set their benchmarks and meet them. And not meeting those benchmarks had consequences. If a founder kept putting it off and then they were raising another round, we would not participate in follow-on. This was not performative nonsense. This was not check the box. This was we're going to help you build a team that looks like your customers And if you think about it, that is simply good business. However, you set them, metrics matter, and when you can show those metrics to others, they can be very persuasive.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“These solutions help the company change the makeup of their engineering team, which in turn changed their culture for the better.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They needed a path forward to meet the metrics they had set. So KPOR Capital helped them formulate a strategy. Listen to their solutions because it may remind you of the Bitwi story from earlier in the show.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This company's founder recognized they were falling short of their diversity and culture benchmarks on the engineering side.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Not only do these diversity goals need to be specific, the founder needs a strategy to achieve them, but that's something Cape Or capital helps with too. Brian has an example.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Founder's commitment wasn't retroactive, which explains why Uber never signed it, but many other companies already in the portfolio did, because the desire to build diverse cultures didn't just come from the investor side.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“As you've already heard, scaling companies are on a clear mission is good business. But that success sometimes comes on a longer timeline. And if you can't stay competitive on talent in the short term, your chances of hitting those long term goals go down. What these startup founders needed was some kind of competitive differentiation that set them apart. In twenty sixteen, they found their answer that Founders Commitment.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Started as one of the firm's first summer associates. And today, he's co-managing partner of K-Or Capital. He'll help tell the next part of the story.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The experience with Uber was a major lesson, and why building around human-centered metrics is sound business advice. When you build, with only short-term shareholder gain in mind, you may be setting your company up for a major fall down the road. But culture problems aren't always as glaring as the Uber example. Cultural corrosion can happen at any organization if you're not measuring for it, which is why, even before the Uber scandal broke, other K-Or Capital companies were looking for more uplifting benchmarks for success.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, exactly. They have principles we don't. Don't you want our money? No, thank you. Yeah, no, I thought your letter was super important because it shows that above everything it's doing the right thing and being right for humanity and for who we aspire to be. And that's where everything targets to. It's not like you just have to be whatever the equity value of the business is. Like, well, no. It's like that's tobacco company thinking. It's terrible.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So they didn't. Instead they wrote an open letter to Uber's board and other investors calling out Uber's behavior and arguing for change.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Then, in twenty seventeen An Uber engineer named Susan Fowler wrote on her blog about her terrible year with the company. Her post blazed a fiery path across the internet as she detailed instances of sexual harassment Uber's HR department ignored. It was exactly the kind of abusive behavior Frida had fought against for decades. Kipors were at an uncomfortable crossroads.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“These are all ways that Uber accomplished what Mitch and Frida hope for all their portfolio companies, but as the company scaled, it did so aggressively, often fighting with cities for their right to exist alongside the taxi medallion system. This combative spirit stoked by Travis Kalinick and others spilled into the culture, and the employees felt it.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That round was in 2010, a year before Mitchin Frida went all in on social impact investing. But as Frida points out, they did believe Uber could close equity gaps in people's lives, starting with the passengers.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Before the break, we heard how Cape Or Capital used human-centered metrics to find founders worth investing in. Their theory that founders who spent their lives running on the outside track are ready to outrun the competition. These founders can spot market gaps where others fail to look, and they tend to scale with inclusivity at the heart of their cultures. But ironically, one of the Caport's most famous investments scaled with the opposite approach to culture, and it led to an implosion that rocked the company and all of Silicon Valley. That's right, they were one of the very first investors in Uber.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Listeners, Bob, here, if you listen to rapid response on Masters of Scale, you may be missing half the show, because every Friday we release a second rapid response exclusively in the rapid response feed. The guess and topics are just as compelling and timely from Ford CEO to NASA's administrator to the lessons from the Devilware's Prada. It takes about 10 seconds to find just search rapid response wherever you listen to podcasts and hit follow to make sure you never miss an episode. I hope to see you there. back. With Mitch Kapor and Dr. Frida Kapor Klein. If you're enjoying this episode, share it with friends by clicking the share button on your podcast player.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exactly. When you build using human-centered metrics, you get more human-centered companies. But as you'll hear when we return, the opposite is also true.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In February 2023, the Capors led an $80 million round for bitwise that will help fuel an expansion into Chicago's south side, telling the Bitwise journey has become something of its own mission from Mitch and Frida, not just because it's a great story, but because the culture of Bitwise is what helped them make their decision to invest. And hopefully, this thinking will spread throughout the VC world.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Lifting people out of poverty and jump starting a city's ecosystem all while making profits sounds almost too idealistic to be possible. But these goals are actually connected. You provide jobs and training to underserve communities, the buying power of those communities goes up. That kickstarts the local economy and sets a flywheel spinning that leads to improved outcomes for all As evidence this works, Bitwise's success can be seen in one surprising metric.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Jacob and Irma's mission didn't stop at uplifting the workforce. They also wanted to revitalize what they call underestimated cities, starting with their own hometown.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Offer paid apprenticeships to those traditionally shut out of tech, like veterans, the Poran unhoused, undocumented people, and the formerly incarcerated. Scouting benchmarks actually look a lot like the ones Mitch and Frida used to find founders. Bitwise was also looking for candidates who traveled a long way, metaphorically speaking”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Irma Ogen junior came from generations of migrant farm workers. Through scholarships and study, she became the first in her family to go to college. Becoming an engineer transformed her future path. Jake Soberall also knew how a tech education Can change lives. His father had emigrated from Mexico to California and was an overnight security guard until he saw a commercial for a computer learning center. He enrolled and had put him on a high wage, high growth career track. Rerman Jake wanted others to experience that same life-changing transformation, so they founded Bitwise Industries, Provide tech solutions for clients that now include the state of California. Bitwise's major innovation is in how it trains its engineering workforce.”
2023-06-27 · Masters of Scale · Better metrics for better culture, part 2, with Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT