20VC: Giphy's Adam Leibsohn on From Being Homeless To Founding a Multi Hundred Million Dollar Startup & The Challenges of Creating One of The World's Largest Search Engine

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

🗓️ 9 September 2016

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Adam Leibsohn is the Founder and COO @ Giphy, the company that brings you joy and laughter through gifs. Earlier this year, Giphy raised a phenomenal $55m Series C financing from the likes of General Catalyst, Lerer Hippeau, Lightspeed and Betaworks. As for Adam he is one of the coolest and most genuine founders I have ever interviewed and is so committed to the startup cause that at one point he went without a home to pay for the startup dream!

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Adam went from being homeless to the Founder of Giphy?

2.) What were the biggest lessons Adam learnt from his failed startup? When should founders know when is the right time to stop?

3.) Why gifs and why now? What has allowed for the spectacular rise of gifs?

4.) How has Adam created such a unique culture at Giphy? What have been his key learnings? What has worked, what has not worked?

5.) Giphy is now a cultural icon but how does Adam look to turn that into a massive globally profit making business?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Adam’s Fave Blog and Newsletter: The Information, Dealbook

Adam’s Fave Book: East of Eden

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Adam on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Eve make 1 perfect mattress – made with 3 layer technology and next generation memory foam. It comes packaged in a beautiful box and arrives the day after you order. You get 100 nights to try it with free return pick-up – it really is the perfect mattress for everyone. Just go online to evemattress.co.uk and enter the code 20VC for £50 off. Everybody deserves the perfect start with Eve.

Cooley are the global law firm built around startups and venture capital. Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley has formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50+ years working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad issues that arise through a fund’s lifetime. So to learn more about the #1 most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public. Head over to cooley.com and also at cooleygo.com.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome back to the 20 minute VC with your host Harry Stebbings at H. Stebbings on Snapchat.
0:05.0	Now for today's show, I'm not going to do the traditional boring intro, because that's just not in keeping with the guest today.
0:10.8	So this will be on the fly and chilled, just like our guest.
0:14.1	So joining me today is Adam Leibson, founder and C.O. Giffy is cut in the company that essentially brings you fun and laughter through GIFs,
0:22.7	and they raised a phenomenal 55 million series C from the lights of General Catalyst, RRE, light speed
0:28.6	and beta works earlier this year. As for Adam, where do I start? genuinely, he's probably one of the
0:33.9	coolest, most Zen founders I've ever interviewed, so committed to the cause
0:38.3	that at one point he didn't even have a permanent home in order to pay for his startup dreams.
0:43.3	And he came with the highest recommendation from Spencer Lazard at General Catalyst and Steve Schlafmanad RRI,
0:49.3	and I'd like to say a huge thank you to them for making this interview possible through their introductions. And in the spirit of it being founders Friday, for the past few days you've heard about
0:57.6	Kooley, the global law firm that formed the first venture fund in Silicon Valley.
1:01.9	Or they are also one of the market leaders in working with thousands of entrepreneurs and
1:05.5	newly formed companies to ensure that they are structured for growth and long-term success.
1:10.0	Kuli is a world leader in
1:11.3	financings, M&A and IPOs, and since 2005, Cooney has been ranked the number one most active law
1:17.5	firm representing VC-backed companies going public. So to learn more, head over to coolly.com and also
1:23.9	at cooley go.com. And with the weekend coming, it's also time for that Saturday morning line,
1:28.8	and so good to know that we have Eve to make sure it is the most enjoyable it can be.
1:33.2	Eve is the UK's number one direct consumer mattress company.
1:36.6	Because they don't sell through high street stores,
1:38.8	Eve cuts out 70% of traditional costs and pass those on to you, the consumer.
1:43.5	Developed over four years with
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Twenty Minute VC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Twenty Minute VC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.