20VC: Flexport's Ryan Petersen on Why Investor Relations Are Overrated, Why Boards Have To Be Rethought & Why MBAs Do Not Make Bad Entrepreneurs
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 2 December 2016
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
Ryan Petersen is the Founder and CEO of Flexport, the freight forwarder for the internet age. Flexport recently raised a phenomenal $65m Series B from the likes of Founders Fund, First Round, Felicis, Bloomberg Beta, Yuri Milner, Susa Ventures and more incredible investors. With none other than YC founder Paul Graham stating ‘Ryan has the rare ability to not just satisfy the market but grow it’. Prior to Flexport, Ryan was Founder and CEO of ImportGenius.com, the largest provider of business intelligence to the import-export industry.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Ryan came to found Flexport? What was the a-ha moment for him?
2.) Why does Ryan believe it is crap that MBA's do not make good entrepreneurs? How did Ryan design his life to be an entrepreneur without the opportunity to work for someone else?
3.) How has Ryan found the experience of being a single founder? What are the pros and cons? What was the investor reaction? What does Ryan advise other single founders?
4.) How did Ryan find the fundraising for the latest $65m raise? What did he do well? What would he like to improve upon for later rounds? How did he educate investors without being patronising?
5.) Why does Ryan want to see boards be rethought? What is so inefficient about boards? When did Ryan gain his board? What would Ryan advise fellow founders on building a board?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Ryan's Fave Blog: SaaStr
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the 20 minute VC with your host, Harry Stebbings, and for all things visual and behind the scenes, |
| 0:04.5 | you can follow me on Snapchat at H. Debbings with 2Bs, or for longer form content that I've been |
| 0:09.1 | describing as the birth child of Fred Wilson meets Freakonomics. Simply head over to our new blog, |
| 0:14.1 | mahitovc.com. I'd absolutely love to hear your thoughts and feedback. But for the show today, I had this guest on Saster a while back, and he was so much |
| 0:21.4 | fun and so awesome I felt I had to have him back for Founders Friday on the 20-minute VC. So |
| 0:26.1 | joining me today, I'm delighted to welcome Ryan Peterson. Now, Ryan is the founder and CEO of Flexport, |
| 0:31.5 | the Freight Forwarder for the Internet Age, and Flexport recently raised a phenomenal $65 million |
| 0:36.5 | series B from the likes of Founders Fund, |
| 0:39.1 | first round, Felisysius, Bloomberg Beta, Yuri Milner, Sousa Ventures, and many more incredible |
| 0:44.3 | investors, with none other than YC founder Paul Graham, stating Ryan has the rare ability to not |
| 0:49.2 | just satisfy the market, but grow it. And prior to Flexport, Ryan was founder and CEO of |
| 0:53.9 | ImportGenius.com, |
| 0:55.2 | the largest provider of business intelligent to the import export industry. But before we dive in, |
| 1:00.0 | accounting always seemed like a massive headache to me, but it doesn't have to be. Zero is beautiful, |
| 1:04.6 | easy to use online accounting software for small businesses. With Zero, you can easily manage your |
| 1:09.4 | accounting anytime, anywhere from your computer or mobile device. When you add zero to your small business, you can easily manage your accounting anytime, anywhere, |
| 1:11.1 | from your computer or mobile device. When you add Zero to your small business, you're able |
| 1:15.0 | to send online invoices and get paid faster. Get an instant view of your cash flow, track |
| 1:19.7 | your payroll and keep tabs on your inventory. You can even partner with your accountant |
| 1:23.4 | and bookkeeper in real time whenever you like. You can also customize your Zero experience |
| 1:27.9 | with over 500 business apps, including advanced solutions for point of sale, time tracking, |
| 1:33.2 | e-commerce and more. It's no wonder over 860,000 customers in more than 180 countries. Use Zero. |
... |
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