20VC: Accel's Brian O'Malley On The Prioritisation Of Growth, The Metrics That Show True Customer Retention & Why The Most Interesting Companies Create A Market

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

🗓️ 4 May 2016

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Brian O’Malley is a Partner @ Accel Partners, where he spearheads Accel's work with next-generation marketplaces and consumer-focused companies. He led the firm’s investments in Amino, Gametime, HotelTonight and Luma, as well as disruptive software-as-a-services businesses Duetto and Narvar. Brian joined Accel from Battery Ventures, where as a general partner he led investments in companies like Dollar Shave Club, BazaarVoice (public), Coupa, Skullcandy (public) and TradeKing (acquired by Ally). Prior to Battery, Brian led sales efforts and built some of the first web service-based API integrations for Bowstreet, Inc. (acquired by IBM).

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Brian make his way into one of the world's leading VC firms? What were Brian's biggest takeaways from being in the trenches during the bust of the dot com bubble?

2.) What is the macro economic view to value compression? How should startups being approaching and dealing with this?

3.) How can startups maintain growth as the priority whilst maintaining investor expectations on burn rates? What is Brian's approach to the growth vs retention theory?

4.) What retention metrics would Accel look for indifferent products? How does this vary from category to category? What are the commonalities Brian has seen in products that have insane retentive ability??

5.) Where does Brian stand on market size and the potential for market transition down the line? Does the market even need to be there today for it to be investable today?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode:

Brian’s Fave Book: Zero To One By Peter Thiel

Brian’s Most Recent Investment: Luma: Fast, Reliable Wifi

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

If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here!

The Twenty Minute VC is brought to you by Leesa, the Warby Parker or TOMS shoes of the mattress industry. Lees have done away with the terrible mattress showroom buying experience by creating a luxury premium foam mattress that is order completely online and ships for free to your doorstep. The 10 inch mattress comes in all sizes and is engineered with 3 unique foam layers for a universal, adaptive feel, including 2 inches of memory foam and 2 inches of a really cool latex foam called Avena, design to keep you cool. All Leesa mattresses are 100% US or UK made and for every 10 mattresses they sell, they donate one to a shelter. Go to Leesa.com/VC and enter the promo code VC75 to get $75 off!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome back to the 20-minute VC with your host, Harry Stebbing, so you can also find on Snapchat at H. Stebbings.
0:06.4	That's Stebbings with two Bs.
0:08.3	Now, I always say we interview the best VCs in the world across all spectrums and spheres here at the 20-minute VC.
0:14.5	And we're now moving from the King of Cloud with Barondita's show on Monday to the King of Consumer with today's episode.
0:21.9	Therefore, I'm delighted to welcome Brian O'Malley, partner at the world famous Excel partners. And at Excel, Brian
0:27.5	spearhead's next generation marketplaces and consumer focus companies. He led the firm's investments
0:33.2	in Amino, Game Time, Hotel Tonight and Luma, as well as disruptive SaaS businesses, Duetto and
0:40.0	Nava. He joined Excel from Battery Ventures, whereas a general partner, he led investments in some
0:45.6	incredible companies, including Dollar Shave Club, Skull Candy, Trade King, Bazaar Voice, Cooper,
0:53.0	and prior to Battery, Brian led sales efforts and built some of the first web service-based API integrations for Bow Street, which was acquired by IBM.
1:02.0	But before we meet Brian, staying fresh is the key to success, and there is no better way to stay fresh than with a Lisa mattress.
1:09.0	Why? Well, because these mattresses are not just any mattresses.
1:12.2	They're crafted to perfection with a combination of memory foam and cool latex-like foam, designed to keep
1:18.1	you the user cool. However, the genius does not stop there, as I did not even have to leave my house
1:23.2	to buy the mattress, as Lisa offer an end-to-end online experience meaning no more mattress buying
1:28.7	showroom nightmares and why run down those batteries by having to collect it Lisa offer free shipping
1:34.3	to the UK, US and Canada and all their mattresses are made in the UK and the US. So join me in a
1:40.8	Lisa mattress again that sounds really rogue but you know what I mean join me in a Lisa mattress by Again, that sounds really rogue. But you know what I mean?
1:44.8	Join me in a Lisa mattress by heading over to Lisa.com forward slash VC and enter the promo code
1:50.5	VC75 to get $75 off your order. Amazing, I know. How could we also forget the kind folk at
1:57.6	Matamark for providing all the data and analysis for the show state? And I have to thank At Thinker as always for doing the top job he does with the Matamark for providing all the data and analysis for the show today.
2:05.3	And I have to thank At Thinker, as always, for doing the top job he does with the Matamark daily.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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.