YouSaid · the spoken record

Scott Raney

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24
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2017-05-17
most recent
2017-05-17
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1
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  1. “And you can check them out on full contact.com. As always, I so appreciate all your support and cannot wait to bring you Founders Friday with Jonathan Downey at AirWear.”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “This is perfect for people like me, people who want to be more productive during the day, who use or have used a fitness tracker and want to take care of their health and fitness and sleep. And if that is you, honestly, you have to check it out on eight sleep. com and if you use the promo code twenty vc that's 20 vc you'll get a whopping twenty percent discount and with eight keeping me productive with a home product full contact is keeping 20 vc team on top form with full contact they provide the ability to organize your contacts gain rich insights into them and therefore build deep relationships with features like automatically identifying and merging duplicate contacts to the ability to snap a photo of a business card and full contact will transcribe them for you so no more lost and loose business cards at events like i always suffer from it's with these features just being the tip of the iceberg that full contact really is the best all in one solution for contact management and it truly has changed the way i not only manage my contacts but engage with my contact”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “Such a huge thank you to Scott for giving up his time today to join us on the show. And again, a big hand to Ryan Sava and Tom Tungers for making the introduction, without which this episode would not have been possible. And if you enjoyed the show today and would like to see more from us, then you can follow me on Snapchat at H stebbings with 2Bs to see behind the scenes for all things 20-minute BC. But before we leave you today, I really want to talk to you about a company that's really changed the way I sleep and operate. Eight is a sleep innovation company with their latest product, the 8 Smart Mattress, being a bed that literally tells you how well you slept last night paired with an intelligent sensor cover that measures the quality of your sleep and delivers a daily sleep report in order to bring you the best product eight used anonymized sleep data and feedback from over 10,000 people to understand which materials and types of mattresses give customers the best sleep resulting in their unique blend of four responsive and high density foam layers plus one layer of proprietary technology that helps people track and improve”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “Scott, it's been such a pleasure to have you on the show today. I can't thank you enough for all you've done. I really appreciate it.”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “In this industry where I just tend to focus on the things that I think really matter, and that is traditionally the companies I've invested in and the investor and the entrepreneurs that I'm working with. And then what's your favorite blog or newsletter? What are the musteries when they come in for you? And to be fair, actually, it is really mine. And many guests before, I think he's up to about 38 mentions now. So I'm glad to hear that. What about favorite quote?”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “Fire around with you now. So I say a short statement and then you give me your immediate thoughts in 60 seconds. How does that sound? That sounds good. So let's start with your favorite book and why. Yeah, I don't know what my favorite book is. I just finished reading Border Run by Bruce Springsteen and I'm a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. I just think it's a fascinating story, a kind of rag to Rich's story and the story of teamwork and I really enjoyed that book. What's been the biggest inflection point in your venture career? I'd say it was my first failure, the first company that went out of business and it kind of released me from the idea that you're going to be perfect and allowed me to start to take more risk as an investor. What would you most like to change in VC and startups? I'd like to get rid of a lot of the noise and the fluff around the space where I just get back to substance. I think sometimes there's a lot of posturing positioning in this industry that I think is distasteful. Can I ask, how do you look to retain that kind of clarity of mind and vision in such a strong echo chamber that is the valley? Yeah, I think that's something I gained through experience.”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “Is that I'm using this purely as an education for myself now. Is there levels of MR growth that make it more appealing than others, be it 10%, 15%, 20%? Is there one way you have a kind of signpost in your mind for Series A Enterprise? No, and maybe that's the answer you're looking for, but it's not because honestly, I think that, as you said, every situation is different, but I think that there are all kinds of circumstances or situations that provide, or data points, frankly, to provide a lot more value than just MR growth. And again, it's back to that repeatability. If we're seeing repeatability, but maybe not kind of steady, consistent growth month over month, but we're starting to see the signs that this is really resonating with a certain set of buyers and a message that's beginning to resonate. That's far more interesting and far more valuable to me as an investor than a company that's growing 15% month over month, MRI. Absolutely. No, sorry, that was a very difficult question to answer. I'm sorry for that one. But I'd love to dive into a quick.”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “And we don't think that's an appropriate way of evaluating these things. But I do think we look at certainly for demonstration of product market fit, we're going to look at a couple things. We will look at MRR growth. We will look at whether or not there's been churn, and we also look at growth on existing accounts. But more importantly, what we'll try to do is draw some conclusions based on, for instance, the nature of the customers that you're getting. So are you able to demonstrate an ability to build up a diverse set of customers that span industries, perhaps? Another way of looking at this too, and probably the most important way is do we feel like there's some repeatability in the process? In other words, are we finding a common problem and a common way of positioning it and a common buyer across these organizations that feels like, hey, if we keep doing that, we can really scale this business. And that repeatability is absolutely essential in the early stages of these companies because it's really the path to profitable scalability. Talk to me, you said about the MR. So before we dive into the quick...”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “End of series A, you should have been able to demonstrate that you have a product that resonates that solves a big problem and that customers are buying it to a certain degree. At the end of a series B investment, what I generally like to see is, hey, you've hired and started to scale your go-to-market team and you need economics are working in a really compelling way. And you're at that point in time looking for additional capital just to essentially scale up that sales team to really go for it, right? Can I ask, at Series A, does that level of product market fit achievements? Does that actually translate to a kind of core metric in itself in terms of is it kind of MRR growth? Is it bookings growth? Is it kind of a certain level of negative churn? Is there elements that you particularly hone in on? Yeah, I mean, those are all things that we look at. We are not spreadsheet investors. We don't try to fit all these numbers into set of tech boxes and then determine whether or not they're achieving these things or they've met some minimum threshold because every opportunity is different.”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “And that doesn't mean that we're going to be unconditional in terms of just how much support we'll be able to provide, but we absolutely take the contract that we've signed with that entrepreneur and we value it. We believe in it. And we think it's super, super important that we're there and we have their backs. And so that certainly is a big consideration in those following decisions for us going forward. I'm really pleased you said about the milestones there because I'd love to hear your take on what are the meaningful milestones in today's environment. I completely understand that's massively varying for different elements of technology in terms of consumer, SaaS, fintech, whatever it may be. So if we apply it to say one of your kind of areas of expertise in terms of SaaS and enterprise, what are the meaningful milestones today in enterprise and where's the bar today? Yeah, well, it depends on the stage too. And so there's this so, you know, there's so many different ways of looking at this. But I think that, you know, the general rule of thumb I have is that for what you're looking for as a part of a Series A investment is demonstration of product market fit.”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “The vision, yeah. Well, part of that is just the communication you have with the team and how you approach the milestones that you're going to set for the company. And we try to establish and set a set of milestones that demonstrate that we're moving in the right direction, that will set the company up for success in terms of achieving their vision, but also will allow them to define external investors to finance the business. And if we're open and honest about what those milestones would be, we can agree with the entrepreneurs on what they should be, then these decisions become pretty straightforward going forward. The hard part is when the companies haven't hit the milestones. And I think there what we have to do is just kind of fall back to first principles and say, okay, well, things don't always go the way that we think they will or want them to. And we have to evaluate whether or not we think the company's still on a trajectory to being the business that we hope it can be. But there is one other thing that gets introduced at that point. And that point is that once we invest in the company, we've signed a moral contract with that entrepreneur that we are going to support them, that we're going to be there for them.”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “Then for follow on investments? It doesn't typically, those folks constitute the team that will be evaluating follow-on investments within the portfolio. And so it's incumbent upon us to make sure that our partners are up to speed on how the companies are doing and for us to lean on that partner to help make good decisions. But I do think there are times where it probably would make sense. And these things we've experimented with to have somebody independent, somebody that hasn't been involved with a company to come in every once in a while and take a look to make sure that we're making good financial decisions for our investors on these follow-ons, but that's not something that we put into practice. I do want to discuss, though, on the theme of follow-on investments, the balance between kind of stubbornness and then achieving the vision that the company set out. How do you look to really make that balance when acknowledging the follow-on investment opportunity that's in front of you and ensure that it's not a case of stubbornness maybe when it's not going so well and that it is a case of pursuing...”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “I do have to ask in terms of kind of the future fundraising element. I'd love to hear how you envision the kind of most efficient investment decision making process to you if you could sculpt it from start. How would that look to you? And then how does that investment decision making process change with follow-on and kind of maybe unanimity or not in terms of voting? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Well, in terms of our decision process, I think it ultimately comes down to we just want to be a part of companies that we think are going to be really, really big and important that have the opportunity to define and create industries and sectors. Is it a unanimous voting structure though? Is it a conviction driven on individuals? How does that one? We have found that unanimity is a bad thing. Inventor capital that a lot of the best ideas are the ones that are the most controversial. And so the way that we work is that you only need to convince one other partner at Redpoint that this is a good investment. And if you do, then it's an investment that we can do.”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “Absolutely no. I do agree. Probably better to have a deeper due diligence process than a blog post or 20-minute VC episodes. But in terms of the raises themselves, it appeared that investors are also much less willing to take future fundraising risk. Why do you think this is in particular now?”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “I think another big area that's gained a lot more prominence in the industry is also kind of the alternative investment themes that we've seen recently with kind of the lights of genomics and some elements of decentralization and then even the lights of the honest company kind of almost pure consumer place. I'm intrigued do you get concerned when you see VCs enter into these previously unknown markets where kind of software knowledge and domain knowledge on all the traditional software skills isn't maybe so applicable to supply chain logistics in Taiwan for the honest company do you get concerned by this?”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “I do want to touch though on another element, and it was he said about the series A companies or all companies that maybe haven't proven out their business model or their traction points. I'd love to hear your thoughts with that in mind on the bridge round. It's often a point of contention. I'd love to hear your thoughts on whether you believe it is simply because a company hasn't hit product market fit and it often leads kind of as Floodgate have told me before. It often appear going to nowhere. Or do you think it is a perfectly feasible funding method?”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “Talking about those companies that have been funded, I venture, as you will tell me, absolutely, I'm sure, has always been an industry of the haves and have-nots. So with that in mind, I'd love to discuss then in particular for some companies in terms of struggling to raise and why it is so easy for some and so difficult for others and what really makes that the case.”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “Absolutely. No, no, I do agree. You said about the market today, though. And that's kind of perfect segue into what I'd love to discuss right now, which is the current climate that we're in. I heard you say the other day that VC funding is down six quarters in a row, and that's a good thing. So talk to me about why you think this is happening first in terms of VC funding being down for six quarters in a row, and then why is it a good thing?”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “Can I ask, what have you gained in terms of perspective from seeing the many cycles? I'm often told as a young investor today that the true greats have really seen the market cycles and how it affects the startups. What's been your perspectives from seeing the cyclical nature of the industry?”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “I'd love to get started though by discussing a little bit about you and how you made your initial entry into the wonderful world of VC.”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Scott, it's such a pleasure to have you on the show today. Having heard such great things from both Tom, Ryan and Mahesh. So I really appreciate you taking the time out to join me today, Scott.”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “20 VC team on top form. With full contact, they provide the ability to organize your contacts, gain rich insights into them, and therefore build deep relationships with features like automatically identifying and merging duplicate contacts to the ability to snap a photo of a business card and full contact will transcribe them for you so no more lost and loose business cards at events like I always suffer from. It's with these features, just being the tip of the iceberg, that full contact really is the best all-in-one solution for contact management, and it truly has changed the way I not only manage my contacts, but engage with my contacts. And you can check them out on full contact.com. But it's now time for me to shut up, and I'm delighted to hand over to Scott Rainey, partner at Redpoint Ventures.”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Eight is a sleep innovation company with their latest product, the 8 smart mattress, being a bed that literally tells you how well you slept last night, paired with an intelligent sensor cover that measures the quality of your sleep and delivers a daily sleep report. In order to bring you the best product, eight used anonymized sleep data and feedback from over 10,000 people to understand which materials and types of mattresses give customers the best sleep, resulting in their unique blend of four responsive and high density foam layers plus one layer of proprietary technology that helps people track and improve their sleep. This is perfect for people like me, people who want to be more productive during the day who use or have used a fitness tracker and want to take care of their health and fitness and sleep. And if that is you, honestly, you have to check it out on eight sleep.com. And with aid keeping me productive with the home product, full contact is keeping”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “This is the 20 minute VC with your host Harry Stebbings, and I'd love to see your favourite platform Snapchat, and you can find me there on at hstebbings. All ads get a personal message from me. However, to the show today, and I'm thrilled to welcome Scott Rainey to the show. Now Scott is a partner at Redpoint Ventures, one of the valley's leading multi-stage funds with over $434 investments, close to $4 billion in assets under management and $136 IPOs and M&A. At red point, Scott's made investments in some incredible companies, including the likes of Twilio, Stripe and Heroku, just to name a few. Prior to Redpoint, Scott was responsible for new products at North Point Communications, and before that, Scott worked at Bain& Company, helping clients in the private equity and technology industries. I do also want to say a huge thank you to both Tom Tungers and Ryan Sava, both previous guests on the show, for the intro to Scott today, without which this episode would not have been possible. But before we dive into the show, State, I really want to talk to you about a company that's really changed the way I sleep and operate.”

    2017-05-17 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why It Is Good Company Funding Has Been Down 6 Quarters In A Row, Why Unanimity Does Not Work In VC Decision-Making & Why It Is Dangerous To Be A Spreadsheet Investor with Scott Raney, Partner @ Redpoint Ventures · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source