YouSaid · the spoken record

Topher Conway

lines on the record
27
first
2017-02-13
most recent
2017-02-13
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. “Probably six or eight months old. Could even be older. But it's a company called Better Up. And what they do is Better up B E T R UP and what they do is they provide executive coaching but for everyone in the organization. And so that's something that we hadn't seen before and got very excited by because a lot of founders ask us for executive coaching. But everyone else in the org tends to be forgotten about. And we think that's just a massive oversight and also creates a great opportunity to build a much more sustainable and lasting organization. You know, if the people, middle managers or first time managers, they have access to great coaching that typically only CEOs and C-level execs had who predict that.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “Probably it's probably something that I try to implement every day, and our team lives by, which is just success isn't given to anyone. It's not by luck. Good old-fashioned hard work. And so day in and day out, I see he takes a team of us to keep up with him. And, you know, it really is all about hard work. Nothing can replace just good old-fashioned brute force and being a hard worker. And so we, you know, founders do it day in and day out and us on the venture side should be doing the exact same as well.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “Have to be my dad pretty obvious how it came about, but on top of being my dad and related, he's also probably one of the best in the business. And so what better mentor to have than be your dad and also the person that helped define what seed investing is. And so it's a lot of fun.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “My inbox tends to be what I read the most. Lots of people sending over articles and just interesting things that they're seeing, you know, probably like every other VC read Ben Thompson every morning. We do read a lot, but it tends to be in the form of email than anything else.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “No, we don't. So we actually, in our most recent fund, we actually reduced the size of it. And that was to better align ourselves with founders and what we were seeing in the ecosystem with these smaller fund, it gives us that flexibility that I was talking about to write a smaller check, to write a hundred to 200K check and still have it be meaningful both to the company, but then also on a returns basis, you know, 100 to 200k check in the right company can actually return a fund that's sized properly in seed.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “Continuing to scale. We're a small team of 11 people. We see, like I said, 8 to 15 new companies a day. We have a portfolio of a few hundred companies that we manage and continuing to revise and implement new processes so we can continue to scale at the pace that we are.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “Score takes care of itself as just a, it's a great, but I mean, Bill Walsh is arguably one of the best coaches ever in the NFL. It talks to his methodology and how he built one of the best dynasties in the National Football League, all about management coaching. And it's a fantastic read. So I encourage everyone to read it.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “I totally agree with Mike that it's a clear milestones, then a bridge round is absolutely okay. And sometimes we'll even participate in a bridge round. If we didn't see the company in the seed and now we're seeing it at the bridge, again, to us, it doesn't really matter if it's a great company. It doesn't matter which stage you get in at. And so yeah, as long as there are those clear milestones and it's very clear of why they're raising a bridge round, you just have to dig in and see what really happened here. Sometimes companies just need the extra runway, and that's completely fine. And we're happy to help there.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “Good question. I mean, we've seen, we've definitely seen the Series A crunch. There's just the number of seed funds and angel investors and the cost of starting a company has gone down so much. So there's just naturally a lot more companies being started and the amount of capital at the Series A relatively didn't change that much, especially compared to the growth, if you compare to the growth of the amount of capital going into seed and pre-seed. So we definitely saw that. And one of the byproducts was it really forced companies to focus on their core metrics. What really happened in the over the last couple years is, you know, Series A investors A and B started really focusing on, is this a good business? Just going back to really business fundamentals. So as a result, founders had to do the same thing, which was focus on, am I building a valuable product here? Do my users love it? And is there a path to building a big business? I think overall that was very healthy for the ecosystem. We also saw the rise of bridge rounds. We saw a lot more of those. And that's”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Sure. So we don't really think about it that much at all unless it's something totally out of whack or out of line with where the company is and the founder's background. That's probably the only time that it'll really play into our decision. Other than that, we're pretty much ownership and valuation insensitive. You know, if the companies, if it's going to be a big, successful company, if you're investing at a 6 million cap or an $8 million cap, it doesn't really matter. And there's no point in discussing it. If we spend more than, we've always had this kind of internal rule as if, you know, if we spend more than five minutes talking about valuation with a founder, then something's wrong, something's awry there. And so, yes, so valuation and ownership, are you not ownership ends up being pretty small, these companies, but like I said, if it becomes very successful, then it doesn't really matter what the ownership is. A very small percentage of Snapchat is still very valuable.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “Know that can come probably post seed closer to series A. When the company is just getting off the ground, really all that matters is the team's execution, right? Their ability to build and ship product listen to their users and continue to iterate. And, you know, but when it comes time to really start building the business, that's when I think the board really becomes helpful. The founders should really focus on where they think they need the most help and then offset that with the board with particular board members that can help fill them.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “The board won't agree on something. And so we never want to put ourselves in that position. We always want to be on the founder's side and the founder's advocate. And so by helping on those inflection points, not taking board seats and just always being the advocate for the founder, that's really given us a great reputation and helps build that relationship with the founders.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “You can have a very healthy relationship as both. One of the things that we have the joy of doing is helping founders at inflection points. So we help a lot around financings, BizDev, and Corp Dev. So those are the three main areas that we really focus on when it comes to helping founders in our portfolio. And so those three areas are areas where they're very challenging to navigate. And really, a lot of that relies on relationships. So we have a pretty vast relationship network, both with founders, but then also with other investors, you know, most VCs and then corporate partners if you think about Apple and Google and Facebook and companies like that. And so helping on those points really helps build that relationship with the founders. And that's where we also don't take board seats. We think that we always want to align ourselves with founders and be the advocate for them. We think that at some point in the business boardroom will get contentious and founder will in the”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “That's something that I've been focused on since day one of being an investor, which is just working to build a great reputation in this ecosystem. That's really started just doing the small things and doing them well. Being responsive, a founder emails respond right away, be helpful, be there, be a voice in someone that they can depend on while they're going through the ups and downs of starting a company. And so that's the reputation that Ron's had forever. And that's just something that everyone at SV Angel focuses on every day and continues to build upon. So we really try to let our reputation kind of do a lot of the work for us and let founders tell their friends, hey, you know, the guys at SV Angel really helps me when I was in a bind. They helped on X, Y, and Z. Let that spread naturally. That's something that we really value is not marketing the firm a lot, but letting the founders really just, if our product is great, everything else will fall into line and our product is, you know, are we helpful to founders?”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “And so we work very closely with. I mean, I think we're probably co investors with almost every seed fund in the valley, every venture fund, most angel investors as well.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “Absolutely. I mean, the environment really has changed a lot. And we think for the better, you know, we love the fact that there are so many more seed funds and angel investors out there that are focused on seed pre-seed. And really, at the end of the day, they're focused on giving entrepreneurs a chance to have their dreams come true and build a company and build have a lasting impact. So we love it that there are a lot more investors focused on the seed stage. And it really hasn't affected us too much on the competition side. Like I said, our checks are smaller. They're 100 to 200K checks. So we rely on all the other investors to participate in the round. We never lead rounds ourselves. Every investor brings a different skill set to the table as well. And so for founders, it's great that they can bring together a group of investors that can help them at different phases and different times of their business. We think that's a great advantage for founders.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “So I joined SV when it was just a few months old. So the firm was actually founded in July 2009. And I joined in August 2009.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “I think we probably lean towards first time founders, but that's often just dictated by the stage that we invest in, being seed investors or pre-seed investors playing in the seed world and being very focused there. We see a lot of very young founders where they're just coming out of college, sometimes dropping out of college to start their company.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “It is. We're pretty proud of that. But a lot of that is our founders' work just doesn't work. That doesn't mean that it's a founder flaw. There's so many factors that go into whether or not a company works. And we back founders all the time that where their first company wasn't successful, that adds to that grit and determination.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “I said, we only invest in the founders. So we are in it with them from beginning to end, no matter what the end looks like. So if a founder wants to pivot the business and do something totally different, we completely support them. And we know they work on their company 24-7. We interact with them throughout that period, but they know 10 times or 100 times more than we know about their business. So if they say that it's not working and they want to try something else, absolutely go for it. We're in this until the very end. If it's a win or the company goes out of business, you know, we're in it for the founders and to support them on their journey. You know, we have about 40% of our portfolio goes out of business, and that's fine. That's the cost of doing business.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Yeah, you know, like I said, for us, it doesn't really matter when we meet the company. And for us, that's our latest fund. We actually reduced the size of it so that we have the flexibility to invest, whether it's preseed or seed. So we can make that $100,000 investment where it's really just the founders that we're investing in. To go back to being truly a seed fund where you can make those bets where you just sit across the table from a founder and you say, you know, I really want to invest.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “We do. We love creating new investment categories here or new investment stages. And we'll look at seed pre-seed. In our eyes, it doesn't really matter, right? We're investing in the person and the founder, not necessarily the idea. The idea will be we're looking for something that's in a sector that we're investing in. That's pretty much the criteria around the idea. And it really goes back to the founder and the person is what we're picking. So if it's pre-seed, it's early on, it's just a couple of founders, maybe some initial drawings or wireframes and deck, we'll look at that just as we'll look at a seed deal that might be a little further along and have a beta or actually have something launched that's a little bit more tangible.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Start to build a profile of the founders that we try to look for. And so that's where the grit really comes from. It's very hard to say exactly what it is, but it comes out in various conversations with the founders. And just how determined they are. Why are they starting this company? That's where you really get the passion. You can see it in a founder when they light up and you ask, you know, why are you starting this company, you can really feel the passion come out when a founder is describing what they're working on.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “There's a saying it's never been easier to start a company, it's never been harder to build a business. And I think that's very true in today's world. And so that grit and determination is what's going to set apart one founder versus another that might be working on similar ideas. So that's one of the things that we really look for when we're making an investment. On top of a whole list of other traits that we look for, but it is very hard to assess, but what we do is in every meeting, we start with the founder's background. How did they come to start this company? Where did they go to school? What was it like growing up? Any challenges that they faced over that throughout their development? And like I said, what brought them to be sitting across the table from us pitching their idea? And in there, you really look for, it's really about pattern recognition. We see on average eight to 15 companies per day referred to us, all from within our network. So throughout reviewing that many founders' backgrounds and teams and meetings and calls,”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “Wanted to get back into technology, and so I was interviewing at Twitter and Facebook and companies like that. And that's when SV Angel was getting off the ground itself. And the team, they had an open spot on the team, and they offered it to me. So I graciously accept it. And from there, it's been pretty quickly, I realized, I think this is the end of the road for me in terms of I'll be an investor probably for the rest of my life after this.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “I was still looking at companies helping on diligence that I never stopped doing. But when I was working at equal, I was full-time”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “Absolutely. So I started my first investment was when I was in eighth grade. It was in a company called Napster. And my dad would ask my brothers and I for diligence sometimes on companies. And so he sent over Napster and said, can you guys play with this product? Let me know what you think. And it was one of those products the first time you use it, you could just tell that this was going to turn the music world upside down. And so that was the point where I said, I want to invest my own money in this as well. And so from that point forward, I always knew I wanted to be in venture and be an investor. And from there, I actually started going to meetings with my dad. I would just sit in the corner and listen, see how the meetings went, the types of questions asked, all that good stuff. What I never knew was how, you know, which point in my career I would actually move over to the venture side. And in this case, it actually was a little earlier. I was working at a then portfolio company in LA called Equal. We made shows for YouTube. It was the first real episodic content on YouTube. And in 2009, I wanted to move back to the Bay Area.”

    2017-02-13 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source