20VC: From Netscape To Friendster To Nuzzel: Jonathan Abrams on A Silicon Valley Adventure

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The Twenty Minute VC

Finance, Venturecapital, Tech News, News, Siliconvalley, Technology, Investing, Startups, Business

4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2016

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jonathan Abrams is the founder & CEO of the social news service Nuzzel. Jonathan is also co-founder and Managing Partner of Founders Den, a shared office space and private club for experienced entrepreneurs and their friends. Previously, Jonathan was the founder & CEO of Socializr, Friendster, and HotLinks, and a software engineer at companies such as Netscape and Nortel. Jonathan is a board member at Girls in Tech, an advisor to CodeNow, and has previously been a mentor in Steve Blank's entrepreneurship classes at Stanford and Berkeley, a top-rated mentor at The Founder Institute and a member of the advisory board of the Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs. Jonathan is also an angel investor in over 50 startups including AngelList, Docker, Front, HelloSign, Instacart, Sapho, Seed, Slideshare, Socialcam, and Vouch.

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In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How did Jonathan make his way into tech and come to found the likes of Friendster and Nuzzel? What were his biggest lessons from working at Netscape?

2.) How can founders determine the customer stickiness and value proposition in the early days of product testing with friends and family?

3.) How does Jonathan view the competitive landscape for news aggregation? Why is consumer app such a competitive space?

4.) Question From Matt Mazzeo: How does Jonathan compare this moment in time to previous points in the innovation curve?

5.) Having worked with both the old and the new guard of VC, how does working with Lowercase, Homebrew and Softtech compare with the old guard of Benchmark and Kleiner Perkins?

Items Mentioned In Today's Episode:

Jonathan's Fave Book:

Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure, Jerry Kaplan

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Founders Friday of the 20-minute VC with your host Harry Stebbings,
0:04.7	who you can also find on Snapchat at H. Stebbings, that's H. Stebbings with two Bs,
0:09.6	where you'll be taken inside the world of the best VC and startup offices, with a few
0:13.9	mehito sessions on the side. Now, for today's Founders Friday, we have a very special guest,
0:19.0	recommended by the main man himself, Matt Mazio. So I'm delighted to
0:22.8	welcome a true visionary of the tech industry. It's Jonathan Abrams, founder and CEO at Nuzzle,
0:28.7	the entirely awesome social news service, which you must try, by the way, if you haven't, it's an
0:33.2	absolute must. But previously, Jonathan was also the founder and CEO of Socializer, Friendster,
0:39.3	and Hot Links, and he was a software engineer at companies such as Netscape and Nortle.
0:44.0	Jonathan is also a board member at Girls in Tech, an advisor to Code Now, and has previously
0:49.1	been a mentor in Steve Blank's entrepreneurship classes at Stanford and Berkeley and a top-rated mentor at the
0:55.1	Founder Institute. If that wasn't enough, Jonathan also has an immense angel investment portfolio
1:00.4	with investments in over 50 startups, including the likes of Angel List, Docker, Instacart,
1:06.7	slide share, social cam, and many, many more incredible companies. But before we dive into the
1:11.7	episode of Jonathan's Day, it is Friday, and that means it's nearly the weekend. So Saturday's
1:16.6	line is coming closer and closer, and the world seems a better place when you're lying in in a
1:21.0	Lisa mattress. Trust me. Well, why? Because the Lisa mattress itself is engineered to perfection,
1:26.6	with a combination of memory foam and cool latex-like foam designed to keep the user cool.
1:32.3	However, the genius does not stop there as I did not even have to leave my house to buy the Lisa mattress.
1:38.0	As they offer an end-to-end online experience, meaning no more awkward mattress buying showroom nightmares.
1:44.2	And not only did I not have to leave my house, but the manufacturing did not even leave the
1:47.5	country, as all Lisa mattresses are produced in the US and UK.
	...

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