20VC: CapitalG's Laela Sturdy on The Current State of Growth with Crossover, PE and Hedge Funds All Entering, How To Think Through Upside and Downside Scenario Planning at Growth & The Biggest Challenges Startups Face Post Product-Market-Fit but Pre-Scale

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

🗓️ 8 July 2021

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Laela Sturdy is a General Partner @ CapitalG, Alphabet's independent growth fund with investments in the likes of Stripe, UiPath, Looker, Robinhood and Lyft to name a few. As for Laela, she joined CapitalG shortly after inception in 2013 and has led investments in Stripe, Duolingo, Gusto, UiPath and Unqork, to name a few. Prior to CapitalG, Laela was at Google as Managing Director of Emerging Businesses and held leadership roles within YouTube and search.

In Today’s Episode with Laela Sturdy You Will Learn:

1.) How Laela made her way into the world of venture and came to be a General Partner at Alphabet's independent growth fund, CapitalG?

2.) The Market: With the rise of crossover funds, hedge funds, private equity, all entering growth stage venture, how does Laela analyse the current state of the market? How has the increase in capital supply impacted pricing at growth? How do CapitalG compete in a world where competitors pay 2x the valuation and have different outcome expectations?

3.) Portfolio Construction: Given CapitalG's single LP and evergreen structure, how do CapitalG think about portfolio construction? What is the right level of diversification? How doe CapitalG structure internal investment decision-making? How does this change for re-investments? How do CapitalG think about attribution internally?

4.) Upside and Downside: Given prices being so high, when outcome scenario planning, how does Laela think about good vs great when it comes to multiple expectations? How has this changed over time? On the flip side, how does Laela think about loss ratio at growth today? Has this changed with rounds becoming more and more pre-emptive?

5.) Scaling Unicorns: What are the commonalities in the biggest challenges founders face post-product-market fit but prescaling? What are the clear signs to Laela that a founder is uniquely skilled at hiring? Does Laela agree that the best founders do not need help on hiring? How does Laela feel about the future of venture being services platforms?

Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with Laela Sturdy

Laela’s Favourite Book: The Great Gatsby

Laela’s Most Recent Investment: Webflow

Transcript

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0:00.0	We are back. This is 20VC and I'm so excited for the show today. Our guest is one of the most
0:04.1	kind, genuine, brilliant people in this business and so I'm thrilled to have them back
0:08.2	for a very special round two. So with that, I'm excited to welcome back Layla Sturdy,
0:12.7	general partner at Capital G, Alphabet's Independent Growth Fund with investments in the likes of
0:17.1	Stripe, UiPath, Looker, Robin Hood and Lyft, to name a few. As for Leila, she joined Capital
0:22.4	G shortly after Inception in 2013 and has led investments in Stripe, Duolingo, Gusto, UiPath and
0:29.3	Uncourt, to name a few. And prior to Capital G, Leila was at Google as a managing director
0:33.7	of emerging businesses and held leadership roles within YouTube and search.
0:37.6	And this schedule was such a team effort, a big hand to Louie at Duolingo, Gary at Uncork,
0:42.6	Derek, Jesse and Gene at Capital G. I really do so appreciate it and it made such a difference.
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1:41.2	big history fan, and so I want to talk about Coouli, the global law firm built around startups and venture capital.
1:46.9	Since forming the very first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Kooleys formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50 plus years working with VCs.
1:55.5	They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad of issues that arise throughout a fund's
	...

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