20 VC 003: Bob Ghoorah on Startups, The Pitch and Uber
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 13 January 2015
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On today's episode I am thrilled to welcome Bob Ghoorah, Managing Director at Columubus Nova Technology Partners. Bob has experienced both sides of the table having been an early employee at three technology companies in Silicon Valley; LoudCloud (Nasdaq: LDCL), Opsware (Nasdaq: OPSW) and Ning, a privately-held software platform (sold to Glam Media in 2011).
In this episode we find out:
- The benefits of having a legal knowledge in the Startup community.
- What characteristics make the best entrepreneurs?
- Who does Bob think of, when the word 'success' is mentioned and why?
- Where Bob sees the future of Uber?
- What aspects of a Startup are essential in order to obtain VC funding?
- Is it important for Startups to be located in Silicon Valley?
- What books Bob woulg give to an aspring entrepreneur and startup founder?
- What advice Bob would give to anyone looking to get into the Venture Capital Industry?
Finally, we head to the quick fire round. Here, we get Bob's immediate reactions to the latests tech topics including tech bubble, company valuations and the first trillion dollar company.
For all the resources mentioned in todays show head over to The Twenty Minute VC.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the 20-minute VC with Harry Stebbing session number three. |
| 0:05.0 | On today's show, we've got Bob Gura. |
| 0:07.9 | Bob is currently managing director at Columbus Nova Technology Partners, |
| 0:12.6 | and over the past 15 years, Bob has really helped build some of the world's best technology companies. |
| 0:18.5 | He was an early employee and investor, three technology companies based in the |
| 0:23.0 | valley area, including LoudCloud, Opsware and Ning. Some of Bob's other investments include |
| 0:30.0 | Rockmelt, Live Loop, Kizing, Rhapsody, Rabbit, Opsmatic and 42 floors. |
| 0:38.7 | But before we jump into the interview, |
| 0:40.6 | if you haven't yet entered into the competition |
| 0:42.7 | to win all the books mentioned in the first 10 episodes of the podcast |
| 0:47.1 | and a consultation with one of the VCs that we interview, |
| 0:52.0 | then please jump over to iTunes and leave a review at the 20-minute VC |
| 0:56.4 | and then email Harry at the 20-minute VC.com with the name of the review that you placed on iTunes. |
| 1:04.8 | Thank you so much, and I can't wait to hear what you think of the episode. Here's Bob. |
| 1:12.0 | You have now arrived at your destination. to the episode. Here's Bob. Three, two, one, zero. |
| 1:14.9 | You have now arrived at your destination. |
| 1:20.5 | Welcome, Bob, to the 20 minute VC. I'm so excited to have you here today. |
| 1:23.8 | Let's start a bit with you and your background. |
| 1:29.2 | Obviously, you started your career in the legal profession. And what really was the driving force for you entering into the venture capital world? Sure. Yeah, well, thank you for having me, |
| 1:36.6 | Harry. It's a pleasure to be with you. It's an absolute honor to have you, Bob. So, yeah, I started out |
| 1:44.0 | my career originally as a corporate lawyer and worked at |
| 1:48.4 | a couple different law firms in the mid-90s. And in the late 90s, I teamed up with a group of |
... |
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