20VC: Biggest Challenge Facing Crypto Today & The Winners and Losers of the Next 10 Years | Why AI Will Lead to More Wealth Equality Than Inequality | Why The Current State of the US Feels Like the End of an Empire with David Marcus, CEO @ Lightspark

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

🗓️ 14 April 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

David Marcus is the co-founder and CEO of Lightspark, building infrastructure that extends the capabilities and utility of Bitcoin. Prior to Lightspark, David led all payment and crypto efforts at Facebook/Meta and scaled Messenger to 1.5BN users. David previously founded three other companies: Zong (acquired by eBay/PayPal for $240M), Echovox (acquired by MBO), and GTN (acquired by World Access).

In Today's Episode with David Marcus We Discuss:

1. From Losing Everything to Becoming Changing the World of Fintech:

How did seeing his family lose everything lead to David starting his first company, GTN?
Does David believe that great companies can be built in Europe?
What are the biggest mistakes David made with Zong? How did they impact his mindset?

2. The Secret to Building a Great Company from Mark Zuckerberg's ex-Right Hand Man:

Where does David think Paypal lost its way?
How did David "brutally" change PayPayl's company culture when he came in?
What worked and what didn't in scaling Messenger to 1.5BN users?
Why did Diem (formerly Libra) fail? How did David know when to give up that fight?
What is David's biggest lesson from working with Mark Zuckerberg?

3. Crypto & AI's Ripple Effect on The Rest of The World:

What will be the fallout from the de-banking of crypto?
How does David think the future of AI will impact income equality?
If David was in charge of the SEC, what would he do first?
What worries David most about the next 1-5 years in the crypto industry?
What are the most significant signs that the tea leaves not looking great for the US dollar?

4. How The Best Leaders Hire The Best Talent:

Why does David believe that naivety is good for entrepreneurs?
Does David believe we'll be in a worse macro position by the end of the year?
How has David changed most as a leader over time?
What is David's biggest piece of advice in regard to hiring across many different companies?

Transcript

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0:00.0	look at the tea leaves right now, it's really not looking great. It feels a little bit like we're
0:06.1	on the path of an end of an empire of sorts. And that's probably reversible if there's concerted
0:13.6	effort to actually really focus on what America's done the best at. This is 20 VC with me, Harry
0:19.6	Stebbings, and today I'm so thrilled to be joined by an OG
0:22.2	of the industry in the form of David Marcus.
0:24.2	Now, David is the co-founder and CEO of LightSpark.
0:26.9	Light Spark is building the infrastructure that extends the capabilities and utility of Bitcoin.
0:32.2	Prior to LightSpark, David led all payment and crypto efforts at Facebook and helped scale
0:36.5	messenger to 1.5 billion users.
0:39.3	Before Facebook, David founded three other companies, Zong, which was acquired by eBay, for $240 million,
0:44.3	and two other companies, which were both successfully acquired.
0:48.3	I'd also want to say a huge thank you. The schedule stay was a real team effort.
0:51.3	Shaq, Hugo Bauer, Daniel Eck, Dana and Matrix, Frederick
0:55.4	at Felix, some amazing questions suggestions, and I so appreciated that. But before we dive into
1:00.3	the show today, you've heard me talk about Coda. Coda is the doc that brings it all together and how it
1:04.9	can help your team run smoother and be more efficient. I know this because Coda helps me. At 20VC,
1:10.4	we use Coda for all of our research for every episode, so all team members essentially
1:15.6	can work on the schedule all in one dog, seamlessly built by Coda.
1:19.6	And here's how Coda can help your team run smoother and be more efficient.
1:22.6	Coda allows your team to operate on the same information and collaborate like my team does, all in one Coda place.
1:29.3	By putting data in one centralized location, regardless of format, it eliminates so many roadblocks that can just stop your team in their tracks.
1:36.3	This is really what slows down productivity and collaboration.
	...

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