20 VC 006: Google Glass & Founding Teams

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

The Twenty Minute VC

Finance, Venturecapital, Tech News, News, Siliconvalley, Technology, Investing, Startups, Business

4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 22 January 2015

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ifty Ahmed, General Partner at Oak Investment Partners. Ifty started his career with Goldman Sachs and Fidelity Ventures before joining Oak Investment Partners in 2003. He currently focuses on investing across the technology sector with an active interest in Consumer Internet companies.

*This episode was recorded before Google's anouncement to stop producing Google Glass prototypes, making Ifty's prediction even more impressive.

Items mentioned in today's show:

In this episode you will learn:

How Ifty got into the Venture Capital industry?
What does Ifty believe are the must haves for startups, in order for them to gain funding?
Why Ifty prefers to invest in a founding team rather than a single founder?
What Ifty would recommed to to an individual founder starting a company?
What are the uncomfortable questions companies should ask VCs before they accept VC funding?
What Ifty believes a startup should do before a pitch, in order to increase the chances of success?
What book would Ifty give to an aspiring entrepreneur?
What advice Ifty would give a graduate wanting to get into the VC industry?
What tips Ifty would give to about where to network with VCs?

We finish the episode with a quick fire round where we hear Ifty's views on the future of Google Glass, the valuation of Snapchat and the potential for Bitcoin.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the 20 minute VC. You're listening to episode six. What an amazing week it has been. Number two in the investing section of iTunes and number 10 in the business section and over 25 five star reviews. Thank you so much for all your continued support. Now moving on to today's show, I'm thrilled to welcome
0:22.1	Ifty Ahmed. Now, Ifty has had an incredible career in the technology industry, starting at
0:28.5	Goldman Sachs and Fidelity Ventures, before joining his current company, Oak Investment Partners,
0:34.4	where Ifty is now general partner. His current investments include the lights of wonga.com and Ativio Inc, and he's had numerous
0:42.0	successful exits, including Kayak and G Market.
0:45.8	But before we begin, would you like the chance to win all the books mentioned in the first
0:50.5	10 episodes and the opportunity to win the chance to pitch to one of the VCs interviewed.
0:55.7	Easy.
0:56.4	All you have to do is leave a review on iTunes and email Harry at the 20 minute VC.com with the name you left the review under.
1:05.0	Now it's time for me to be quiet.
1:06.8	I hope you enjoy the interview.
1:12.2	You have now arrived at your death. I hope you enjoy the interview. Three, two, one, zero.
1:15.5	You have now arrived at your destination.
1:18.3	Ifty, welcome to the 20 minute VC.
1:20.7	I'm absolutely delighted to have you on the show.
1:22.0	Thank you very much.
1:22.5	It's a pleasure.
1:24.2	Let's jump straight into it.
1:26.8	Can you tell us a little bit about your background and what was really the
1:28.0	driving force for you entering into the venture capital industry? Sure. I grew up in India and
1:34.7	studied engineering in college and worked operationally running businesses, mostly doing engineering
1:40.4	stuff for about four years before I came to the US to go to business school.
	...

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