20VC: a16z's Scott Kupor on The Biggest Learnings From Scaling a16z from $300m to $7Bn AUM, The Biggest Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Pitching VCs & Why VC Is Simply A Customer Service Business
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 10 June 2019
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Scott Kupor is Managing Partner @ Andreessen Horowitz, one of the world's most renowned venture funds with a portfolio including the likes of Facebook, Airbnb, Github, Lyft, Coinbase, Slack and many more. As for Scott, he has been with the firm since its inception in 2009 and has overseen its rapid growth, from three employees to 150+ and from $300 million in assets under management to more than $7 billion today. Before a16z, Scott was a VP @ HP where he managed a $1.5 billion (1,300 person) global support organization for HP Software product portfolio. Scott joined HP as a result of his prior company Opsware, being acquired, where he served as a Senior VP across numerous roles across an incredible 8-year journey.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Scott made his way from the world of law to startups to being Managing Partner at one of the world's most renowned venture firms in the form of a16z?
2.) How did seeing the boom and bust of the dot com bubble and 2008 impact Scott's operating mindset today? Why does he argue that those times are so drastically different to today? How do public markets fundamentally diffferent? How do teams approach to capital efficiency and scaling differ significantly?
3.) What does Scott believe entrepreneurs get most wrong when pitching VCs? Why does Scott argue that product is not the core when pitching VCs? Does Scott agree with Fred @ Okta in weighing it: 70% market, 20% team, 10% product? What is Scott's weighting? Why does Scott believe that the compression of fundraising timelines is a problem? What pitch sticks out to Scott above all others? What made it so memorable?
4.) How does Scott advise founders on determining the right amount to raise for? Does Scott believe that founders should ask for a specific number or a range? Why does Scott believe raising for "runway" is the wrong mindset? Does Scott believe that most bridges are bridges to nowhere? If so, what is the next step? How does one relay that information to the founders?
5.) What have been some of Scott's biggest learnings from building the firm with Marc and Ben? What does Scott believe have been the biggest inflexion points in the public status of a16z? What have been the biggest challenges for Scott in the scaling of the firm? How does he foresee that changing in the future?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Scott’s Fave Book: Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Scott on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We are back for another week in the world of the 20 minute BC with me, Harry Stebbings, |
| 0:03.5 | and if you'd like to see what goes on in the world of Harry, which is Paris this week, |
| 0:07.0 | you can find me on Instagram at H. Stebbings, 1996 with two Bs. |
| 0:10.7 | It would be great to see you there. |
| 0:12.1 | But to the show stay, and anyone that knows me will tell you, when it comes to VC books, |
| 0:15.9 | I've quite simply read them all, but there is a new great to add to the bookshelf, and it's called Secrets of Sand Hill Road by the one and only Scott Kupor, and I absolutely love the book, and so I couldn't |
| 0:24.8 | be more excited to have Scott in the hot seat today to dive deeper on some of the core themes. |
| 0:28.8 | As a little background on Scott, he's a managing partner at Andreessen Horrois, one of the |
| 0:32.7 | world's most renowned venture funds, with a portfolio including the lights of Facebook, Airbnb, GitHub, Lyft, |
| 0:38.6 | Coinbase, Slack, and many more incredible companies. And Scott's really seen it all when it |
| 0:42.8 | comes to the firm and its incredible growth. He's been there since its inception in 2009, |
| 0:47.2 | and has overseen the growth from just three employees to over 150 today, and from 300 million |
| 0:52.2 | in AUM to more than 7 billion today. Before Andreessen, Scott was a VP at |
| 0:56.6 | HP where he managed a $1.5 billion, 1300 person global support organization for HP. Scott joined |
| 1:03.4 | HP as a result of his prior company, Opswear, being acquired, where he served as a senior VP |
| 1:08.1 | across numerous roles across an incredible eight-year journey. |
| 1:11.4 | And I'd also want to say a huge thank you to Frank Chen at Andreessen for some fantastic |
| 1:15.3 | questions suggestions today. I really do so appreciate that. |
| 1:18.6 | But before we dive into the show today, at the end of the day, your customers have to be at the |
| 1:22.3 | centre of everything you do, and that's why M Particle is just so crucial being your real-time |
| 1:26.8 | customer data platform, or in other words, M Particle is just so crucial being your real-time customer data platform, |
| 1:28.1 | or in other words, M Particle is the fastest, most efficient way to keep customer in sync |
... |
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