20VC: "How Being a Founder Almost Killed Me"; We Have Lied to a Generation of Founders | The Hardest Truths About Being a Founder Revealed | Why AI Co-Pilot is BS, Seat Pricing is Over & User Interfaces are Stupid with Christian Lanng

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

🗓️ 27 September 2023

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Christian Lanng is the Founder and Former CEO @ Tradeshift, a company he took from garage to unicorn raising over $900M for with a latest price of $2.7BN in 2021. Just last month, Christian stepped away from the company and is now Chairman @ Beyond Work, building a better work experience through AI native software.

In Today's Episode with Christian Lanng We Discuss:

1. Burnout: When it Hits:

How did Christian know when something was really seriously wrong? What were the signs?
How did being a founder literally almost kill Christian? How was that not a wakeup moment?
How does being a founder make you so out of touch with reality?

2. The Things We Are Never Told:

Why does Christian think one of the biggest crimes is the myth that everyone can be a founder?
What are the single biggest things about VCs that founders are not told?
Why does Christian believe fundraising is absolutely a game? What are the rules to win it?
What makes the best VCs? What makes the worst VCs?
Why does Christian not like to take a discount for a brand name VC?

3. The Chaos That Happens Inside a Company:

Why does Christian believe politics should not be discussed within companies?
What are Christian's biggest lessons on working with friends? Why after 14 years does Christian only have 3 friends that still talk to him?
How did Christian fire 50% of his leadership team and productivity not change at all?
Why does Christian believe US startups are inherently better than European ones?

4. Parenting and Relationship to Money:

Does Christian regret not being a present father for his child when building Tradeshift?
What are the two options as a founder you have when bringing up kids?
Was Christian scared to leave Tradeshift? How does he reflect on his relationship to money?

5. AI: Co-Pilot is BS, The Future Business Model and more...

Why does Christian believe co-pilot is the last dying breathe attempt from incumbents?
Why does Christian believe that per-seat pricing will die? What will replace it?
Why does Christian believe that AI will negate the importance of consumer-facing brands?
In what way does Christian believe that UI is total BS? How does it change over time?

Transcript

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0:00.0	There's something really, really wrong when the thing you're supposed to love is actually
0:03.6	the thing that you can't bear thinking about it.
0:06.4	I almost died of anemia.
0:08.3	Grid alone don't make you happy.
0:10.2	Just get the job done, right?
0:11.4	But the cost for me was very high of getting to that other side.
0:14.5	This was not just a marathon, it was an ultramarathon times 10.
0:17.4	So I honestly think a big problem over the last six to seven years is we started telling
0:21.0	everyone they should become a founder. At the same time, we didn't tell them what that means.
0:24.7	Simply put, this is one of the best shows that I've ever done. It's an incredibly raw and honest
0:29.5	discussion on burnout, identity and self-worth, combined with the discussion on the future of AI.
0:35.2	What more could you want from a show? And joining me for this
0:37.8	incredible conversation is Christian Lang, former CEO at TradeShift, a company he took from garage to
0:44.1	unicorn, raising over $900 million for with the latest price of $2.7 billion in 2021. Just last month,
0:52.2	Christian announced that he was stepping back from the company and is now
0:55.2	chairman at Beyond Work, building a better work experience through AI native software. But before we
1:00.6	dive into the show today, you know all those mind-numbing tedious tasks that seemingly
1:05.2	take up half your day. Well, Coda is here with their new AI-powered work assistant that helps
1:10.1	you and your team
1:10.9	not just finish tasks, but make progress.
1:13.4	So your product team can bring a feature to market faster by using Coda AI to tag customer
1:18.7	feedback, draft PRDs, suggest target audiences, summarizing product discussions and more.
	...

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