20VC: How to Build Anti-Fragile Venture Portfolios Today | Why Diversification is Overrated in Portfolio Construction | How to Think Through Sizing Investments, Market Sizing and Pricing in Today's Environment with Mike Chalfen @ Chalfen Ventures

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

🗓️ 8 July 2022

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mike Chalfen is a solo GP with Chalfen Ventures and one of the most respected and successful early-stage investors in Europe over the last two decades. Among Mike's incredible portfolio includes the likes of King.com (makers of Candy Crush), Houzz, Tipalti, Snyk, and Tray.io, to name a few. Some incredible facts on Mike, he has a 15x career track record, he has a portfolio value of over $40BN+ and he joined the venture industry, the year of my birth!

In Today's Episode with Mike Chalfen You Will Learn:

1.) Entry Into Venture and The Broken Customer Experience of VC:

How did Mike make his original entry into venture way back in 1996?
What does Mike mean when he speaks of the difference between "managing your career vs the money you invest"?
What does Mike believe are some of the greatest challenges of venture partnerships today?
What does Mike believe that the customer experience in venture partnerships for founders is broken today?
How did seeing the prior booms and busts impact Mike's investing mentality today?

3.) Portfolio Construction 101:

How does Mike think about portfolio construction today?
With 9-10 core positions, why does Mike disagree with the traditional notion of "diversification"?
How does the decision-making framework for Mike change when considering new investments vs re-investments?
Does Mike believe that pro-rata is a lazy notion? What does Mike need to see on the upside to re-invest?
How does Mike feel about the importance of temporal diversification? Why did Mike increase the cadence of his investing in 2021? Does he regret the increased speed?

3.) The Market 101:

How does Mike think about the importance of market sizing? If we always underestimate the size of our winners, is this market sizing exercise not destined for failure?
Why does Mike believe so many over the last few years have poorly sized markets they invested in?
How does Mike assess market timing risk? What market risk is he willing vs not willing to take?
What have been some of Mike's biggest mistakes when analyzing markets in the past? How did it change his perspective?

4.) Boards 101:

How would Mike describe his style of board membership today? How has it changed over time?
Why does Mike believe that boards at seed are not valuable? When do they become valuable?
What is the single biggest mistake Mike sees so many young board members make today? What is his biggest advice to young board members?
How does Mike advise founders on preparing for boards? What does he want to see?
What are the biggest mistakes founders make when conducting board meetings?

Items Mentioned in Today's Episode with Mike Chalfen:

Mike's Favourite Books: Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood, Days Without End

Mike's Most Recent Investment: Opply

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is 20 VC with me, Harry Stebbings, and I couldn't be more excited for the show today.
0:03.8	I have to admit, shows are always much more special when they're with close friends, advisors,
0:08.5	and this person today has been one of the most wise mentors and brilliant friends to me and my journey.
0:13.1	And so with that, I'm so thrilled to welcome Mike Chalfan, solo GP with Chalfan Ventures,
0:17.7	and one of the most respected and successful early stage investors in Europe
0:21.4	over the last two decades. Among Mike's incredible portfolio includes the likes of king.com,
0:26.5	makers of candy crush, Tipalty, sneak, and tray.io, to name a few. Some incredible facts on Mike.
0:32.5	He has a 15x career track record. He has a portfolio value of over $40 billion. And fun fact, and he's going to
0:39.3	kill me for this one, he joined the venture industry on the year of my birth. This is an absolute
0:43.9	gem of a discussion. Two great friends having an awesome chat on an industry we both love so much. I
0:49.3	really hope you enjoy it. But before we dive into the show today, I want to talk about an incredible
0:53.4	tool that I use every single day, Notion. Now, I am the worst for having 50 tabs open and constantly hopping
0:59.7	between an endless array of tools. Do you feel me? Are you with me? Well, then Notion came
1:04.0	into my life, providing one tool to do it all with everything from seamless project management
1:08.6	to easily organizing 20 VC's company information,
1:11.6	a fascinating stand on Notion usage, more than 70% of companies who start using Notion,
1:16.6	stop using two plus other tools.
1:19.1	And so Notion can even save you money, given how many other tools it can displace.
1:23.1	Notion has a worldwide network of millions of users, creating templates, tutorials, and new inspiration.
1:29.2	The product's getting better and better every single day, and you always have the support you need.
1:33.5	Learn more and get started for free at notion.so.
1:36.2	Take the first step toward an organized happy team today, again at notion.
	...

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.