20VC: How Startup Valuations, Fund Deployment Cycles, M&A and IPO Markets Will All Change in This New Market, Where Will The Biggest Crunch Be, When Is The Right Time To Be Aggressive vs Conservative with Roger Ehrenberg, Founding Partner @ IA Ventures
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 31 January 2022
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Roger Ehrenberg is a Founding Partner @ IA Ventures, one of the most successful seed funds of the last decade with $475 million across their four funds. Previous investments include The Trade Desk, Datadog, Digital Ocean, Wise and Recorded Future. Most recently, Roger took a step away from the day-to-day running of the firm, since he started IA Sports Partners, investing in sports franchises and other sports-related assets. Last month, Roger, alongside his two sons, started Eberg Capital, an investment vehicle focused on web3, crypto, NFTs and next-gen infrastructure.
In Today’s Episode with Roger Ehrenberg You Will Learn:
1.) How Roger made his way into the world of angel investing and venture having had a successful career on Wall St? How did seeing the booms and busts of the dot com and 2008 impact his investing mindset today? How does today compare to those times?
2.) The Investor Mindset:
- What is Roger's #1 rule when it comes to managing investor psychology in volatile times?
- What does Roger do to calm his mind and prevent worry and fear when markets crash? What works? What does not work?
- How does one assess how close we are to the bottom? Why does Roger believe there is more "blood on the streets to come"?
- When does Roger believe is the right time to pullback vs when to be aggressive in deployment?
- What company profiles will do well vs poorly moving into this new cycle?
3.) Investing Strategy:
- How does this new market impact the three different investing categories; early, Series A & B and growth?
- Why does Roger believe deployment timelines will be extended? How will pricing be impacted?
- Why does Roger believe that the Series A & B crunch is the most worrisome? How will their bar for what makes a great company change?
- Should early stage managers alter their reserves strategy in the face of more stringent Series A rounds? Why does it not make sense to invest in "pay to play" rounds?
- How does Roger adivse the companies that he works with today on burn vs growth?
4.) AMA:
- How does Roger evaluate his own relationship to money today? How has it changed over time?
- What does Roger believes makes a truly successful marriage? What can one do to foster extreme trust and safety in a marriage?
- What does Roger believe have been some of the biggest insecurities he has had to overcome over the last decade? How did he overcome them?
Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with Roger Ehrenberg
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back. This is 20 VC with me, Harry Stebbings, and like everyone, I've been watching the |
| 0:03.7 | markets crash over the last few weeks and thinking what is going on and how does this impact |
| 0:08.4 | venture and startups. So I turn to one of my favorite co-investors, friends and wise mentors, |
| 0:13.0 | Roger Aaronberg. And today, we're diving into this. So for those that do not know, |
| 0:17.0 | Roger is a founding partner at IA Ventures, one of the most successful seed funds of the last |
| 0:21.1 | decade, with $475 million across their four funds. Previous investments include the trade desk, |
| 0:26.9 | Datadog, DigitalOcean, Wise and Recorded Future. Most recently, Roger took a step away from the |
| 0:32.0 | day-to-day running of the firm, and since he started IA sports partners, investing in sports |
| 0:36.5 | franchises and other sports-related assets. |
| 0:39.0 | And just last month, Roger, alongside his two sons, started Eberg Capital, an investment vehicle |
| 0:44.0 | focused on Web 3, crypto, NFTs, and next-gen infrastructure. This is such a special discussion, |
| 0:49.8 | and I cannot wait to hear your thoughts. But before we dive into the show today, if you're a venture |
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