20 VC 094: Kanyi Maqubela @ Collaborative Fund on Rocketships, Feedback Loops and Turning Lemons Into Lemonade!
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 ā¢ 637 Ratings
šļø 7 December 2015
ā±ļø 31 minutes
šļø Recording | iTunes | RSS
š§¾ļø Download transcript
Summary
Kanyi MaqubelaĀ is a Partner atĀ Collaborative Fund, who have made investments in AngelList, CodeAcademy, AltSchool, Reddit, Task Rabbit just to name a few. On a more personal note, and a little background on Kanyi, he is originally from Johannesburg South Africa, and was a founding employee atĀ Doostang, a venture-backed peer-to-peer career marketplace, he attended Stanford University and as Kanyi states his most meaningful and difficult work done so far is his work on the Obama Campaign in 2008. You can checkout Kanyi's blogĀ here! I would like to thank Mattermark for providing all the data and analysis for this interview andĀ you can check them out here!
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In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Kanyi made the move into VC and tech from South Africa?
2.) Was the decision to leave Stanford tough? Why would Kanyi advise others to say in school? What was so tough about the startup experience for Kanyi?
3.) What is the investing thesis atĀ Collaborative Fund? What stage do you prefer? Average cheque size? Sector preference? DoesĀ specializing in themes result in higher returns?
4.) How is it being such a young partner in the industry? What are the challenges Kanyi has face? Does Kanyi think his age acts as a disadvantage when it comes to attracting older founders?
5.) What are Kanyi's personal marketing strategies that he uses to establish his own personal brand? What platforms are most effective?
6.)Ā How effective does Kanyi find demo days and hackathons as source of deal flow? Are there any tips Kanyi would suggest to maximise their utility? What is Collaborative's most effective form of deal sourcing today?
Items Mentioned In Today's Episode:
Kanyi's Fave Book:Ā The Brothers Karamazov
Kanyi's Most Recent Investment:Ā CircleUp
As always you can followĀ Harry,Ā The Twenty Minute VCĀ andĀ KanyiĀ on Twitter here!
If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you canĀ follow him on Instagram here!
Ā
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We are back with the 20 minute VC. I'm your host, Harry Stebbings, and today I'm so thrilled to welcome |
| 0:05.3 | an incredible guest to the show in the form of Kanye Macu-Bela, partner at Collaborative Fund, |
| 0:11.1 | who have the most phenomenal portfolio. Literally, I do not know where to start. They've made |
| 0:16.1 | investments in the likes of Angel List, Code Academy, old school, Reddit, and TaskRabbit, just to name a few. |
| 0:23.4 | And on a more personal note and a little background on Kan Ye. He is originally from Johannesburg |
| 0:28.1 | in South Africa and was a founding employee at DuStang, a venture-backed peer-to-peer career |
| 0:34.2 | marketplace. He also attended Stanford University, and as Caney states, |
| 0:39.0 | his most meaningful and difficult work done so far is his work on the Obama campaign in 2008. |
| 0:45.6 | And today is a fantastic episode discussing all things from young partners in VC, |
| 0:51.0 | startup exits, and the intricacies of seed investing. I'd also like to thank Mattermark today, |
| 0:57.0 | who have provided all the data and analysis for the show. Always the best, and you can find them on |
| 1:02.1 | www.mattermark.com, and a little personal tip is to follow Nick Frost at Mattermark on Twitter, |
| 1:09.9 | at Thinker, for amazing startup advice and VC articles and posts. |
| 1:14.9 | But before we dive into the interview today with Can You, we have an exclusive for 20-minute VC listeners from the kind folks at Law Trades. |
| 1:23.1 | They are offering a free 20-minute strategy session with a a top rated attorney where you can get your |
| 1:29.1 | legal questions answered and receive free comprehensive legal advice for your business. This is |
| 1:35.2 | perfect for entrepreneurs and startup founders and they can help with anything from incorporating |
| 1:40.5 | your business to raising a round of funding. So head over to www.lawtrades.com to check them out or sign up to our newsletter on |
| 1:49.9 | www.2.the20 minutevc.com to receive the newsletter which will contain all the links back to |
| 1:57.2 | law trades. But back to today's show and it gives me great pleasure to welcome the man |
| 2:02.0 | himself, Kanye Macu-Bela, partner at Collaborative Fund. |
| 2:10.8 | You have now arrived at your destination. |
... |
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