20 VC 025: Finding the Right VC and The Evolution of Summly with John Henderson of White Star Capital

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

🗓️ 6 April 2015

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John Henderson is Principal at White Star Capital, a VC firm helping exceptional entrepreneurs build great technology companies, with a presence in Europe and North America. Prior to White Star, John was Head of Business Development and Operations at Summly, playing a crucial role in the build up to their acquisition by Yahoo in May 2013. John has also spent time at Facebook working in strategy and business development and was a strategy consultant at The Boston Consulting Group.

Items (and incredible people!) Mentioned in Today's Show:

Ben Horowitz: The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers (THE TWENTY MINUTE VC BOOK CLUB: WEEK ONE)

The Innovators by Walter Isaacson

Shakil Khan, Christian Hernandez, Nick D'Aloisio, Frank Meehan

What you will learn in today's episode:

How John got into the technology industry and later made his transition into the world of Venture Capital?
As Head of Business Development and Operations at Summly, what was it like for John working with Nick D'Aloisio? How did his role change in the buildup to the acquisition by Yahoo?
What does John think about Summary's evolution into Yahoo News Digest?
What has been the biggest difference between John's life as a entrepreneur compared to his life as a VC?
Does John believe it is crucial for startups to find a well-suited VC for their startup?
What does John advise startup founders to do or ask to ensure that a VC is the right match for them and their company?
Having made angel investments of his own, does John approach these personal investments in a different manner to his professional investments?
What advice John would give to anyone contemplating angel investing?

The episode then finishes with a quick fire round where we hear John's thoughts on the future of bitcoin, John's personal news reading preferences and his most recent investment and why he said yes?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to episode 25 of the 20 minute VC with Harry Stebbings. On today's show, I am so excited to welcome John Henderson.
0:09.1	John is currently principal at White Star Capital, and prior to White Star, John was head of business
0:15.2	development and operations at Sumley, which was acquired by Yahoo in May of 2013.
0:25.0	There, he oversaw everything from product management to business development and was a key figure in the acquisition.
0:26.7	Prior to Summley, John held roles in strategy and business development at Facebook, as well
0:31.4	as being a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and as a lawyer at Allen's
0:36.3	linklators.
0:37.4	Now, to celebrate hitting the 25 episode mark, we are starting the 20-minute VC book club.
0:43.0	And the first book is Ben Horowitz's The Hard Thing About Hard Things,
0:47.5	which is personally recommended by John later in this episode,
0:50.7	where we delve into the topics in more detail.
0:53.4	But without further ado, here is John Henderson.
0:56.4	Three, two, one, zero. You have now arrived at your destination.
1:04.2	John, welcome to the 20 minute VC. It's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show.
1:08.5	Hi, Harry. Thanks for having me. First, I'm really curious about how
1:12.2	you got into the technology industry and then later made your transition into the world of
1:17.3	venture capital. Could you tell us a little bit about that? Yeah, sure. In a sense, my career has been
1:24.7	a series of transitions, I suppose. I started out straight after university, not so much in the technology industry per se,
1:32.4	but definitely in the entrepreneurial space.
1:34.6	I, with a friend of mine from high school, actually, I co-founded a business called Bush Campus.
1:40.5	And that was a business that essentially provided an outdoor recreation experience for either a weekend or a week to high school students.
1:48.7	And we spent two years on that.
	...

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