20 VC 079: BETAWORKS WEEK: East vs West Coast Investing with Peter Rojas, EIR @ Betaworks, Co-Founder @ Weblogs & Engadget
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 14 October 2015
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Peter Rojas is an entrepreneur-in-residence at betaworks focusing on early stage investments. Prior to joining betaworks he was VP of Strategy at AOL. He also co-founded several startups, including Weblogs Inc (with previous guest Jason Calacanis) (acquired by AOL in 2005), where he created tech sites Engadget and Joystiq; he also created gdgt, a social commerce platform (acquired by AOL in 2013); and gadget blog Gizmodo (now part of Gawker Media). Previously Rojas worked as an editor at the original Red Herring, a columnist on emerging technology for The Guardian, a contributor to Wired, The New York Times, Fortune, Money, and many more.
One of Betaworks investments on the west coast is the amazing ProductHunt, and you must check out ProductHunt’s new podcast section, which is the best discovery platform for finding new and amazing podcast episodes!
Also, would you like the chance to win a signed copy of Venture Deals by Brad Feld? All you have to do is leave a review on iTunes and then email [email protected] with the name that you left the review under!
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) From tech blogger and entrepreneur to founding Engadget, and then a product person and now at Betaworks. Peter gives a snapshot of his career so far?
2.) What is Peter doing on the West Coast when Betaworks is based in NYC? How do you compare the two technology environments and ecosystems?
3.) What is involved in being EIR at Betaworks? Why has this position become so popular over the last few years?
4.) How does Peter and Betaworks approach the changing world of seed and as I have seen recently, pre seed investments? Do you have any set metrics that you stick to? What KPIs are always the first ones you look at?
5.) What VCs does Peter admire and look to emulate?
6.) What has Peter learnt from his 1st month in venture? What has been the biggest surprises and challenges about the industry?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Productivity Tools: Reeder
Peter's Fave Blogs or Newsletter: Jason Hirschhorn: REDEF, ProductHunt
Peter's Fave Book: Antifragile
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Peter on Twitter here!
If you would like to see a more colourful side of Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome back to the 20 minute VC and this very special week with the wonderful |
| 0:05.2 | Beteworks, one of the world's most successful startup studios with investments in the lights of |
| 0:10.7 | Tumblr, Twitter and Airbnb. And following from our interview with Matt in New York City, |
| 0:16.7 | we are heading over to a new Beatworks branch on the Coast, and I'm delighted to welcome Peter Rojas. |
| 0:23.6 | Peter is an entrepreneur in residence at BetaWorks, focusing on early stage investments. |
| 0:29.5 | Prior to joining Beatowworks, he was VP of Strategy at AOL, |
| 0:33.5 | and he was also the co-founder of several startups, including Web Blogs Inc with previous guest Jason Calacanis, |
| 0:40.4 | which was acquired by AOL in 2005. |
| 0:43.7 | He also created tech sites Engadget and Joystick and Gadget, a social commerce platform acquired by AOL in 2013. |
| 0:53.1 | If that wasn't enough, he is also the founder of Gizmodo, now part of |
| 0:57.6 | Gorka Media. And previously, Peter has worked as an editor at the original Red Herring, |
| 1:03.5 | a columnist on emerging technology for The Guardian. He was also a contributor to Wired, |
| 1:08.7 | The New York Times, fortune, money and many, many more publications. |
| 1:13.9 | And one of Beatleworks' investments on the West Coast is the amazing product hunt. |
| 1:18.2 | So you must check out Product Hunt's new podcast section, which is the best discovery platform |
| 1:23.6 | for finding new and amazing podcast episodes. |
| 1:26.4 | I personally use it myself for all discovery |
| 1:28.7 | of new podcasts and I just can't get enough of it. But would you like the chance to win a signed |
| 1:33.8 | copy of venture deals by the legend that is Bradfeld? Well, all you have to do is leave a review |
| 1:39.6 | on iTunes for the 20 minute VC and then email Harry at the 20 minute VC.com with the name that you left a review under on iTunes. |
| 1:48.9 | But before we delve into today's interview with Peter, in recent years online contests have proved a fantastic way to grow your business, |
| 1:56.5 | very much like our contest with Bradfeld's venture deals. |
... |
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