20VC: Fred Destin @ Accel on Why Startups Fail & Founders Get Fired?
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 ā¢ 637 Ratings
šļø 18 January 2016
ā±ļø 40 minutes
šļø Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Fred DestinĀ is General Partner at Accel in London where heĀ focuses on consumer and software investments.Ā He is the lead investor and board member atĀ Deliveroo,Ā PillpackĀ (featured in ep: 89 with Eric Paley)Ā andĀ KNC. Prior to Accel, he was a partner at Atlas Venture where he worked with with companies like Zoopla (public), Secret Escapes,Ā Integral Ad Science, Dailymotion (acquired by Orange), PriceMinister (acquired by Rakuten) and others.
1.) How FredĀ made his way into the world of startups and investing?
2.) What is it like investing in rocketships like Deliveroo and PillPack?
3.) What are the reasons most startups fail at the seed stage? What are the most common reasons that founders get fired?
4.) Why does Fred believe raising a Series B so tough? Is it the embodiment of the funding barbell?
5.) What are Fred's thoughts on VC founder alignment? Why does Fred deliberately cause tension between a founder prior to making an investment? In what form does this take?
6.) When I asked Fred for topics he wasĀ interested in, heĀ gave me a list and one of them, I have never had suggested before and it is āWhy are VCās so schizoā? What does FredĀ mean?
Ā
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the 20 minute VC with your host Harry Stebbings and I'm so thrilled to be hosting a very special feature week for one of the world's most prestigious and successful funds. It is of course Excel Partners. And joining me today, I'm so delighted to welcome Fred Destin, general partner at Excel in London, where he focuses on consumer and software investments. He's the lead investor |
| 0:23.2 | and board member at the rocket ship that is Deliveroo, KNC Minor and Pilpac, which was previously |
| 0:29.7 | discussed on the show with Eric Paley on episode 89, and check that one out if you haven't had |
| 0:34.4 | to listen to that. And prior to Excel, Fred was a partner at |
| 0:37.8 | Atlas Venture, where he worked with the likes of Zupla, Secret Escapes, Daily Motion, Price Minister, |
| 0:44.6 | and many more incredible companies. And if that wasn't enough, Fred is also a founding investor |
| 0:49.5 | and board member of Seed Camp, the leading pan-European seed incubator, where he spent four years on the board |
| 0:56.1 | mentoring and advising. You will notice that today's show is a little bit different to the normal |
| 1:00.8 | 20-minute VC show in terms of audio quality, and that's because Fred and the team at Excel |
| 1:06.3 | were kind enough to welcome me into their office for this interview to happen face to face. |
| 1:11.4 | But before we dive into the show today with Fred, |
| 1:14.1 | I'd like to say a huge thank you to Mattermark for providing all the data and analysis for the show today. |
| 1:19.7 | And if you're swamped by all the VC and startup reading material out there, |
| 1:24.2 | sign up for Mattermark Daily and get the curated list of all the best startup and VC |
| 1:29.0 | articles from the legend that is Nick Frost or at Thinker on Twitter. However, it is now time to |
| 1:35.1 | welcome the main man himself, so without further ado, ladies and gents, may I introduce Fred Destin, |
| 1:41.2 | general partner at Excel. |
| 1:50.8 | You have now arrived at your destination. |
| 1:53.2 | Well, Fred, welcome to the 20 minute VC. |
| 1:57.3 | It's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show today, and it's a very special episode as we're sitting here in Axel's office in London. |
| 2:02.3 | So thank you so much for having us. |
| 2:07.7 | It's my pleasure. Now, I'd love to start off by thanking John at White Star for setting this up. |
... |
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