20 VC 066: FOUNDRY GROUP WEEK 1: Seth Levine: 'VC Is Not A Scalable Business'
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2015
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
Seth Levine is one of the most successful VCs on the planet having Co-Founded Foundry Group, Seth has made investments in the likes of Fitbit (IPO), Admeld (acquired by Google), Zynga (IPO) and Gnip (acquired by Twitter). The Foundry Group now has 5 funds, 4 early stage and 1 growth fund, totalling over $1bn in assets. Prior to Foundry Group, Seth started his career in venture with Mobius Venture Capital and lead the IPO of FirstWorld in 2000. Seth writes an awesome blog on technology, venture capital and colorado at www.sethlevine.com.
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In Today's Show You Will Learn:
1.) Where it all started for Seth and how he made his move into the technology and venture industry?
2.) Question from James Altucher: Do you have to be in Silicon Valley to get the best access to deal flow?
3.) How has Foundry group developed since 2006 as VC firm?
4.) Why are all funds raised by Foundry the same, $225m? How is VC fundraising the same as startup fundraising?
5.) Question from Elizabeth Kraus: How does Seth stay motivated having enjoyed so much financial success with Foundry Group?
6.) What areas of tech is Seth most excited about?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Most Used Apps: Slack, Voxer, DarkSky
Seth's Fave Book: The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Seth's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Hidden Brain
Seth Most Recent Investment: Sourcepoint
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC, Seth and Foundry Group on Twitter here!
For a more colourful view of Harry's world and maybe a few mojito sessions, check out Harry's Instagram here!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the 20-minute VC with your host, Harry Stebbings. Wow, what an incredible week it has been so far, and it just gets better and better as part of our feature of Foundry Group. First, we have Brad Feld on the show, and now today I'm delighted to welcome his co-founder of Foundry Group, Seth Levine. Seth is one of the world's most successful VCs. |
| 0:22.7 | Having co-founded the Foundry Group, he has made investments in the likes of Fitbit, AdMeld, which |
| 0:28.1 | was acquired by Google, Zinger, and Nip, which was acquired by Twitter. The Foundry Group now has |
| 0:34.3 | five funds, four early stage and one growth fund, totaling over one billion in assets. Prior to Foundry Group now has five funds, four early stage and one growth fund, totaling over |
| 0:38.6 | $1 billion in assets. Prior to Foundry Group, Seth started his career in venture with Mobius |
| 0:44.6 | venture capital and led the IPO of First World in 2000. And Seth writes an awesome blog on technology, |
| 0:52.5 | all things VC and Colorado at www.sethlevine.com. But before we jump into |
| 0:59.5 | today's amazing interview with Seth, does your company's job page look identical to every other |
| 1:05.0 | jobs page? Check out hiring screen who allow you to seamlessly integrate your existing careers page with their |
| 1:11.9 | cutting-edge technology allowing your logo and job descriptions to be powered by the smartest algorithms |
| 1:18.3 | in the business you can find them at www.hiringscreen.com but ladies and gentlemen without |
| 1:25.4 | further ado may I introduce to you Seth Lev, co-founder and partner at Foundry Group. |
| 1:35.3 | You have now arrived at your destination. |
| 1:39.8 | Seth, welcome to the 20-minute VC. It's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show. |
| 1:44.4 | Thank you for having me, Harry. Now, this is part of the 20-minute VC. It's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you for having me, Harry. |
| 1:45.8 | Now, this is part of the Incredible Foundry Feature Week, |
| 1:49.0 | and we'd love to start off by you taking us back to your younger years |
| 1:52.8 | and where it all started for you. |
| 1:55.9 | Yeah, so, well, going way back, I grew up in Boston |
| 1:59.7 | and needed to get some time away from the East Coast. |
| 2:03.2 | So I went to college in the middle of the states in Minnesota, a small liberal arts college called McAllister. |
| 2:11.2 | Always planned to be a psychologist and professor. |
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