20 VC 034: 250 Investments, AngelList Syndicates and Microsoft with Jon Staenberg

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

🗓️ 7 May 2015

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jon Staenberg is one of the most experienced venture capitalists in the Pacific Northwest, having made over 250 startup investments and having raised two funds totaling over $100 million. Jon's investments include the likes of AngelList, StubHub, SAPHO, KitchenBowl (through AngelList syndicates) and many more. If that wasn't enough Jon sits on the boards of Class.com, Micropath and even owns his own vineyard! Previously, Jon worked in the marketing area at Microsoft for six years and is a Stanford alum!

Items Mentioned in Today's Episode:

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Jon started off in the tech industry and then made his move into venture?

2.) Having established 5 companies, what was the hardest element of the process and how did Jon overcome it?

3.) Having invested in over 250 startups what is Jon's investment strategy? What is Jon looking for in startups?

4.) Once invested in a startup, what is Jon's role and what services can VCs bring to a startup?

5.) Whether Jon feels AngelList syndicates are going to change the funding environment? Does it present a challenge to the more traditional VC model?

We then finish with a quick fire round where we hear Jon describe the highlight of his glittering career, the biggest tip Jon would give to an aspiring entrepreneur and his most recent investment and why he said yes?

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to episode 34 of the 20-minute VC with your host, Harry Stebbings.
0:05.8	Now, on today's show, I'm so excited to welcome a titan to the tech and venture capital industry,
0:12.3	John Steinberg. John has made an incredible 250 investments in startups, including the likes of
0:20.5	the amazing Matt Mullenwig's Automatic,
0:23.7	Stubhub, and DocuSign, just to name a few. If that wasn't enough, John has also established
0:30.1	five of his own companies and also serves on the board at class.com and Micropath. It's an amazing episode and we delve into what it takes
0:40.8	to get funded by John, the power of angel list syndicates and much more.
0:50.9	You have now arrived at your destination.
0:55.2	John, welcome to the 20-minute VC.
0:57.3	It's an absolute pleasure having you on the show.
0:59.7	So happy to be here as well.
1:01.9	Can we start by hearing a little about yourself and your background
1:05.5	and how you really made your move into the venture capital industry?
1:09.6	Absolutely.
1:10.9	So I went to Stanford as an undergrad and knew way back then that I was interested in what was
1:21.7	happening around me.
1:22.8	Even back then, I was paying attention to venture and Santill and startups and technology.
1:29.9	And I ended up spending time living in Asia, actually living in Taiwan after undergraduate,
1:37.6	where I worked for a company called ACER computers, if you remember way, way, way back then.
1:43.3	Absolutely. And so, yeah, way back then. Absolutely.
1:47.2	And so, yeah, and worked directly for the CEO.
1:55.5	And so definitely got a toll in the water around technology, came back to Stanford again for my MBA, and knew that really the reason I was going was because I wanted to get
	...

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