20VC: a16z's Alex Rampell on The Struggle Between Innovation vs Distribution, When How To Determine Whether An Application is Optimised Through Centralised or Decentralised Networks & Why Most ICOs Today Are Ridiculous
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 13 November 2017
⏱️ 41 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Alex Rampell is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz where he leads the firms fintech investments and serves on the boards of Branch, PeerStreet, Point, and Quantopian. Prior to joining a16z, he was the CEO and co-founder of TrialPay, a leading transactional advertising and payments company with 100 employees and over $300M in revenue. TrialPay was acquired by Visa in 2015. Previously, Alex cofounded FraudEliminator, the first consumer anti-phishing company, which merged into SiteAdvisor and was acquired by McAfee for $75M in 2006. Prior to joining the firm, Alex had been an active angel investor with the likes of Pinterest, Bloomreach, SiftScience among many others in his portfolio and served as an advisor to the SV Angel fund. He also co-founded three other companies: TXN, Point, and Affirm, with Max Levchin.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How did Alex make the move from serial entrepreneur with numerous successful exits to General Partner @ a16z?
2.) Question from Chris Dixon: What were the key takeaways for Alex from his time in operations? Having been both entrepreneur and VC, how does Alex view the continuous struggle between innovation and distribution? Can you succeed with only one?
3.) How does Alex believe the new generation of large incumbents are acting in the market? Why does he believe that a counter-revolutionary strike from them would not be atypical?
4.) How does Alex really define "data network effects"? How does Alex look to analyse them effectively? How does Alex believe that startups can use inflection points in the sales process to enter an incumbent heavy market?
5.) How does Alex view the rise of ICOs? Does Alex share Charlie Lee's concerns that they are the most concerning element of the crypto world? What framework does Alex use to determine whether an applications is optimised through centralised or decentralised databases? Why does Alex believe that most ICOs are ridiculous?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Alex’s Fave Book: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Alex’s Fave Blog: Chris Dixon
Alex’s Most Recent Investment: Propel
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Alex on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
Available in carry-on and check-in sizes, Raden is the case for better, smarter travel. By pairing the lightest and most durable materials with technology, travelers can charge their devices on the go, weigh, and track their cases. Visit Raden.com to use code 20VC at checkout. With purchase, receive credit towards Tablet Hotels for the next year. If a UK listener, head over to Selfridge’s and shop Raden today.
The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it offers the perfect support for two people. A mattress that responds to you and your partner’s sleeping patterns. Delivered free, with a one hundred night sleep trial, free returns and a ten year guarantee. Start your free trial at simbasleep.com
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | It's Monday. It's the start of another week in the world of the 20-minute VC with me, Harry Stebbings, |
| 0:04.4 | and you can find me on Snapchat at H. Stebbings with two Bs. I really would love to see you there |
| 0:08.6 | and hear your thoughts and feedback on the show. It really does help so much. However, to our guest |
| 0:12.8 | today and a very exciting first for the show, our first ever guest from Andresen Horrors. And I'm very excited to welcome Alex Rampel to the hot seat. Now Alex is a general partner |
| 0:21.7 | at Andreson where he leads the firm's fintech investments and serves on the boards of branch, |
| 0:26.4 | Peer Street, Point and Quantopian. Prior to joining Andreson, he was the CEO and co-founder of |
| 0:31.5 | Trial Pay, a leading transactional advertising and payments company with 100 employees and over |
| 0:36.3 | $300 million in revenue. |
| 0:38.1 | Child pay was acquired by Visa in 2015. |
| 0:40.7 | Previously, Alex also co-founded Fraud Eliminator, the first consumer anti-fishing company, |
| 0:45.5 | which merged into Site Advisor and was then acquired by McCaffee for $75 million in 2006. |
| 0:51.4 | And prior to joining the firm, Alex also was a significant angel investor with the |
| 0:55.1 | lights of Pinterest, Bloom Reach, SIF science, among many others in his incredible angel portfolio. |
| 1:00.1 | If that wasn't enough, Alex also served as an advisor to the SV Angel Fund and co-founded three other |
| 1:05.6 | companies, TXN, Point and Affirm with Max Levchin. I'd also want to say a huge thank you to Max for the intro to |
| 1:11.3 | Alex today, without which this episode would not have been possible. But before we dive into the show |
| 1:15.8 | today, in this profession, we all do a lot of travel, and it was always a nightmare for me. My phone |
| 1:20.2 | would die, I'd worry about lost cases, the list goes on. And then I had Josh Udashkin from Raiden on the show. I bought one in the cases after the episode, and it's genuinely changed the game for me. |
| 1:29.9 | With a removable battery in two external USB ports, I never have to worry about a dead battery when traveling now. |
| 1:35.6 | It's also location aware with built-in Bluetooth, meaning you have this incredible digital passport from your Raiden. |
| 1:41.2 | It even has this self-waring ability, so you ensure you never go over your |
| 1:44.6 | allowance. So awesome, and I'm absolutely in love with mine. And if you're in the US, you can get yours |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Twenty Minute VC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Twenty Minute VC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.