20VC: Lessons From Working with Bill Gates, How To Lead Without Authority and The Difference Between Leadership and Management & How Fundraising Changes In A COVID World with Quentin Clark, Managing Director @ General Catalyst

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The Twenty Minute VC

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

4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 28 December 2020

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Quentin Clark is a Managing Director @ General Catalyst, one of the most prominent firms of the last decade with a portfolio including Stripe, Airbnb, Snap, Anduril, Deliveroo and Cazoo to name a few. As for Quentin, at GC he has led deals in the likes of Kernel, Coda, Commure just to name a few. Before entering the world of venture Quentin was the CTO @ Dropbox and before that he was the Chief Business Officer @ SAP. Finally, before SAP, Quentin spent an incredible 20 years at Microsoft in a variety of different roles play a key part in their hyper-growth.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Quentin made his way from CTO @ Dropbox and 20 years at Microsoft to being an MD with General Catalyst today?

2.) What were Quentin's biggest management takeaways from his 20 years at Microsoft? What is his favourite story about working with Bill Gates? How does Quentin think about the art of delegation? How does Quentin differentiate between leadership and management?

3.) How does Quentin believe the world of fundraising has changed with COVID? How does Quentin build relationships of trust in these compressed fundraising timelines? What works? What does not work? How can you really build that relationship off Zoom? How does this change the fundraising landscape moving forward?

4.) What does Quentin mean when he says he likes to "lead without authority"? How does that translate into his management style? How does Quentin evaluate his style of board membership? How does Quentin know whether to wear the investor vs the operator hat on the board?

5.) Does Quentin believe we are really moving the needle in terms of the projects that venture is funding today? What would Quentin like to see more of? What would Quentin like to change about the world of venture? How does Quentin evaluate market timing risk when investing?

Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode

Quentin’s Favourite Book: Stranger in a Strange Land

Quentin's Most Recent Investment: Sprout Therapy

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

Transcript

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0:00.0	We are back for the first episode post-Christmas and it is nice to be back and what a show we have
0:03.9	in store for you today with an incredible operator turn leading V-C and so with that I'm thrilled to
0:08.3	welcome Quentin Clark, managing director at General Catalyst, one of the most prominent firms
0:12.8	of the last decade with a portfolio including the lights of Stripe, Airbnb, Snap, Andrewil, Deliveroo and Cazoo. As for Quentin, at G.C., he's led deals in the lights of
0:22.2	Colonel, Thoughtspot, Coder, and Camus, just to name a few. But before entering the world of venture,
0:27.4	Quentin was actually on the other side of the table as CTO at Dropbox, and before that was the
0:31.5	chief business officer at SAP. Finally, before SAP, Quentin spent an incredible 20 years at Microsoft in a variety of different
0:38.7	roles, and I'd also want to say huge thank you to Hermant, Catherine Boyle, Brent at Camus,
0:43.2	and Ajit at Thoughtspot. Some amazing questions suggestions today really did make such a difference.
0:48.2	But before we move into the show today, I'm sure you've heard about it on the show before,
0:51.6	but my word, I love the product that is Carter. Carter simplifies how startups and investors manage equity, track cap tables, and get valuations.
0:59.5	Go to carter.com forward slash 20 VC to get 10% off. More than 800,000 employees and shareholders
1:06.2	use Carter to manage hundreds of billions of dollars in equity, and Carter now offers fund
1:10.5	administration. So you can see real-time data in the Carter platform and work with Carter's Carter to manage hundreds of billions of dollars in equity and Carter now offers fund administration
1:11.1	so you can see real-time data in the Carter platform and work with Carter's team of experienced fund
1:16.1	accountants. Go to carter.com forward slash 20 VC to get 10% off. And speaking of products like
1:22.4	Carter that fundamentally changed the game, you have to check out Letter. The beautifully designed
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1:32.7	Beyond just banking, though, you can get access to exclusive investment and financial
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1:40.9	expect. Their digital office, a modern and automated approach to the traditional family office,
	...

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