20 VC 002: How to become a VC with Kris Jones
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 13 January 2015
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this session of The Twenty Minute VC, I'm so excited to have the opportunity to interview Kris Jones. Kris has enjoyed an amazing career in the technology industry, founding PepperJam, an internet marketing agency in 1999 and later selling it to Ebay in April of 2010. More recently, Kris has made his transition into the Venture Capital Industry through the founding of an early stage technology investment fund, KBJ Capital, which includes portfolio companies Highlighter.com, French Girls App, ReferLocal.com, LSEO.com and many more incredible companies.
In this session you'll learn:
- Why Kris decided to make the transition from the Startup ecosystem to the world of Venture Capital.
- How did it feel for Kris, selling his company to Ebay?
- What was the most important lesson Kris learnt in the journey from having the idea for PepperJam to being acquired by Ebay?
- What is the key characteristic a Founder must have?
- What can an individual do to get employed in the Venture Capital industry.
Kris is also a prolific writer here are some of his articles, you can check out!
Forbes: 15 Steps to Set Your Company Up for a Successful M&A
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the second episode of the 20 minute VC with Harry Stebbings. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm hugely excited to have Chris Jones on the show today. |
| 0:09.0 | Now Chris is the former president and CEO of Pepper Jam, an internet marketing agency. |
| 0:14.0 | He founded and later sold to eBay in April of 2010. |
| 0:19.0 | Having had this successful exit, Chris founded an early stage technology |
| 0:23.8 | investment fund, KBJ Capital, whose portfolio companies include highlicest.com, French girls app, |
| 0:32.7 | and referlocal.com. Chris is also a prolific writer on the technology industry and all of his articles will be |
| 0:40.0 | included in the show notes for you to read after the podcast. Don't forget about the competition, |
| 0:45.3 | a chance to win all the books mentioned in the first 10 episodes as well as a consultation with |
| 0:50.7 | one of the VCs where they will deep dive into your business plan, pitch and advise you on what you need to do to get funding and answer any questions you might have. |
| 1:01.5 | All you need to do is jump onto the iTunes store, go to the 20 minute VC and then leave a review and then email Harry at the minute vc.com with the name that you left the review under |
| 1:14.1 | and you'll be entered into the competition now it's time for me to shut up so here is the interview with |
| 1:19.7 | chris three two one zero you have now arrived at your destination. |
| 1:28.3 | Chris, welcome to the 20 minute VC. |
| 1:30.5 | It's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show. |
| 1:33.6 | First, let's start by hearing a bit about yourself and your background. |
| 1:37.7 | So what was the driving force for you entering into the venture capital world? |
| 1:43.0 | Well, first, you know, thank you, Harry, for the opportunity |
| 1:46.2 | to engage with your audience. It's really an honor and a pleasure. So, yeah, I've been, |
| 1:53.5 | what I call an accidental entrepreneur. I was a professional student for nine years after high school, |
| 2:00.6 | so I went to Penn State and got an undergraduate degree in I was a professional student for nine years after high school. |
| 2:12.6 | So I went to Penn State and got an undergraduate degree in psychology and then went on to graduate school where I studied experimental psychology and I got a master's degree. |
... |
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