20VC: Andy Rachleff, Founder @ Benchmark & Wealthfront on What Makes The Best CEO & Board Member & Why Ivy League Endowments Are The Best Managed Capital In The World

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

🗓️ 20 June 2016

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From 1995 until 2004 Andy Rachleff was a co-founder and General Partner of Benchmark Capital, who have backed the likes of Twitter, Snapchat, Dropbox, Uber and Instagram. Upon his retirement from Benchmark, Andy joined the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business to teach a variety of courses on entrepreneurship. In 2008 he co-founded Wealthfront Inc, the online financial advisor and investment management solution, where he now serves as Executive Chairman. In just 3 years, Wealthfront now have over $2bn AUM.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Andy made his way into the world of VC and what was the origin story behind the founding of Benchmark?

2.) Andy took the opposite route to most having been a VC and then founding Wealthfront. So what does Andy make of doing VC first and then becoming an operator?

3.) Why does Andy believe Ivy League endowments are the best managed pools of capital? What do they do well and what separates the good from the great?

4.) Andy has worked with some of the world's best CEO's and board members, so what makes the best board member and what makes the best CEO?

5.) How has Andy seen the VC industry evolve and develop over the last 20 years? How has Andy seen his own investment decision making process and patter recognition alter over that time?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode:

Andy’s Fave Book: The Innovator's Dilemma

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

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the 20-minute VC with your host Harry Stebbings at H. Stebbings on Snapchat. Now, when I started
0:06.1	the 20-minute VC, I wrote down the three names of VCs that out of all the ecosystem I most wanted to have on
0:11.8	the show, well, I'm delighted to say that today I can tick off one of those names, as I'm thrilled to
0:16.3	welcome, Andy Ratcliffe. Now, where do I start with Andy? Let's start with his time in VC. So from 1995 until 2004,
0:24.3	Andy was a co-founder and general partner of world famous Benchmark Castle who've backed the likes of
0:29.6	Twitter, Snapchat, Dropbox, Uber, and Instagram, just to name a few. And upon his retirement from
0:35.5	Benchmark, Andy joined the faculty of the Stanford Graduate
0:38.2	School of Business to teach a variety of courses on entrepreneurship. And in 2008, Andy co-founded Wealthfront,
0:45.0	the online financial advisor and investment management solution, where he now serves as the executive
0:49.9	chairman, and in just three years, Wellfront now have have over two billion under management. And actually
0:55.7	before I forget, you can get an extra $5,000 managed for free at Wellfront if you sign up with
1:00.9	www.welfront.com forward slash 20 minute VC. But before we jump into the show with Andy, if you are
1:07.4	starting out in the investing industry or looking to make your move in,
1:17.2	VC unlocked really is a must. It's a jointly run program by Stanford Center for Professional Development and 500 startups. And it's a two-week crash course on investing strategies,
1:23.1	tools and tactics for investors who want to learn how Silicon Valley really operates. And you'll hear from
1:28.8	some top investors, including Dave McClure, Jason Calacanis, Jason Lemkin, Mark Suster, all ex-guests
1:35.9	of the show, I hasten to add. So do not miss out on this incredible opportunity and check it out
1:40.6	at 500.vc forward slash apply. And if you're lucky enough to get a spot at VC unlocked, one thing for sure, after meeting
1:48.2	all those amazing investors, you'll be tired at the end of the day.
1:51.3	And no better way to end the day than by climbing into your Lisa mattress, made using only
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	...

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