20VC: Brad Feld, Jerry Colonna and Tracy Lawrence on Depression and Mental Health, The Dangers of Tying Happiness To Milestones & Why Fear, Anxiety and Guilt Are Useless Emotions
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 27 July 2020
⏱️ 47 minutes
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Summary
Brad Feld is a Co-Founder and Managing Director @ Foundry Group, one of the most successful venture firms of the last decade with a portfolio including the likes of Zynga, Fitbit and Sendgrid to name a few. Brad is also a co-founder @ Techstars and prior to Foundry, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital.
Tracy Lawrence spent the last 8 years as Founder & CEO @ Chewse, the startup that it effortless for office managers to order delicious food for their teams. Tracy grew the team to 300 people across 4 markets, raised millions in venture capital, and ultimately sold the business to Foodee.
Jerry Colonna is the CEO of Reboot.io where he is now the professional coach to some of the world's leading founders. Prior to his work with Reboot, Jerry was an early-stage VC co-founding Flatiron alongside Fred Wilson in 1996.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How did Brad, Jerry and Tracy all experience their first forms of depression? At what stage did it become a more prominent part of their life? Why do they think then was the catalyst?
2.) Why does Jerry believe that despite what people say, no one is crushing it? How can founders present their vulnerability as a strength? At what point did Tracy realise this? How did she convey her vulnerability to her team? Who is to blame for the lack of vulnerability and fear of opening up?
3.) How does Brad think about tying happiness to milestones? What are the biggest dangers of doing so? Does this mean one does not have goals? How does one balance between ambition and appreciating the present? How did Brad learn this when Amy asked for a divorce? How did he respond?
4.) Why does Brad believe fear, guilt and anxiety are useless emotions? What was the result of Tracy tying her mental state to her revenue line? How does Tracy think about the loneliness of being a founder? What does Brad believe is some of the biggest BS in the industry?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So I'm always very proud of the shows we do here at 20VC, but I don't think we necessarily |
| 0:03.8 | always touch on some of the most important and meaningful topics. |
| 0:06.9 | And I was very pleased to do the episode on alcohol and drinking last month. |
| 0:10.5 | Instead, I have an incredible group of people to discuss depression and mental well-being, |
| 0:14.9 | such a core part of the founder journey that I don't think maybe gets enough airtime and |
| 0:18.9 | spotlight. |
| 0:19.6 | And so I'm thrilled to welcome to incredible people, starting with Bradfeld, |
| 0:23.0 | co-founder and managing director at Foundry Group, |
| 0:25.6 | one of the leading venture firms of the last decade, |
| 0:27.9 | with a portfolio including the lights of Zinger, Fitbit and Sangrid, to name a few. |
| 0:32.3 | Next, we have Tracy Lawrence. |
| 0:33.8 | Tracy spent the last eight years as founder and CEO at Chews, |
| 0:37.2 | the startup that |
| 0:37.8 | makes it effortless for office managers to order delicious food for their teams. Tracy grew the team |
| 0:42.5 | to over 300 people across four markets and raised millions of dollars in venture capital |
| 0:46.9 | before ultimately selling the business to food eat. And last but by no means least, we have |
| 0:51.1 | Jerry Colonna, CEO of Reboot.io, where he's now the professional coach |
| 0:55.3 | to some of the world's leading founders. Before reboot, Jerry was the co-founder of Flatiron, |
| 1:00.2 | an early stage venture fund alongside Fred Wilson. But before we move into the show today, |
| 1:04.4 | I want to take a moment to mention HelloSign, a great example of a company that found success |
| 1:08.6 | in building a product focused on user experience. |
| 1:11.5 | HelloSign is an effortless e-signature solution used by millions to securely send and request |
... |
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