20VC: 500 Startups' Dave McClure on Whether Unicorns Are Necessary For Venture Returns & Why Ownership Is Not The Math To Think About When Investing

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

🗓️ 15 August 2016

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dave McClure is the founding partner of 500 Startups, who have made over 1500 investments in the likes of Twilio, SendGrid, Intercom and Makerbot just to name a few. Prior to 500 Dave was on the investment team at Founders Fund, he also led the Facebook Fund Incubator and was Head of Marketing @ Paypal pre IPO.

In Today’s Episode with Dave You Will Learn:

How Dave made his way into VC and came to found 500 Startups?
Do you need unicorn exits to have significant venture returns? What is the 500 view with regards to the hit ratio of finding unicorns?
How much ownership does 500 typically take? Does this allow Dave enough of a right to follow on in further rounds with such a small initial slice?
How does Dave and 500 avoid the inherent signalling risk involved with their fund and accelerator? How prominent is signalling in today’s market?
What did Dave think of Sam Altman’s statement on YC not accepting companies from other accelerators? How does Dave view YC companies?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Dave’s Fave Blog and Newsletter: Brad Feld, AVC, Mark Suster

Dave’s Fave Book: Guns Germs and Steel, The Mystery of Capital

Dave’s Most Recent Investment: Markhor

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Dave on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to the 20-minute VC with your host Harry Stebbings at H. Stebbings on Snapchat.
0:05.4	Now today's guests I really have wanted to have on the show for a very long time,
0:09.0	so I'm very excited to welcome Dave McClure to the show today.
0:12.1	Now, Dave really needs no introduction, but for those of you that have been living under a rock,
0:16.8	Dave is the founding partner of 500 startups who've made over 1,500 investments in the likes of
0:22.8	Twilio, SendGrid, Intercom and MakerBot, just to name a few. And prior to 500, Dave was on the
0:28.7	investment team at Founders Fund. He also led the Facebook Fund Incubator and was head of marketing
0:33.8	at PayPal pre-IPO. But before we meet the man himself, do I sound refreshed and ready to
0:38.7	go for the week? That's because I have Eve. Now, Eve only make one mattress and they stop at one
0:43.6	because they know they have made it perfectly with three-layer technology and next-generation memory foam.
0:49.1	It comes packaged in a beautiful box and arrives the day after you order. You get 100 nights to try it with free return pickup.
0:55.8	It really is the perfect mattress for everyone.
0:57.8	Just go online to eavematress.co.uk and enter 20VC for 50 pounds off.
1:05.5	However, enough from me and I'm thrilled to welcome Dave McClure, founding partner at 500 startups.
1:11.3	Three, two, one, zero.
1:16.6	You have now arrived at your destination.
1:19.7	Dave, absolutely fantastic to have you on the 20-minute VC stay.
1:23.4	Having met the other day, it really is such a pleasure to have you on the show.
1:26.6	Thank you for joining me today.
1:28.0	Thanks for having me.
1:28.9	It's like to be here.
1:29.8	Now, I'd love to start with a brief synopsis on you and how you came to Found 500.
	...

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