20VC: Lessons Scaling Insight Partners to a $20BN Latest Fund, The Two Biggest Learnings on Price, How to Manage and Train Young People in Venture, Why Business Classrooms Do Not Work and How to Assess the Two Commodities in Life; Money and Time with Jeff
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 28 March 2022
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jeff Lieberman is the Managing Director @ Insight Partners, one of the leading investing franchises of the last 25 years with their most recent flagship fund announced earlier this year being a staggering $20BN. As for Jeff, over the last 24 years at Insight, he has led investments in leading companies such as Qualtrics, DeliveryHero, HelloFresh, Cvent, Mimecast, and Udemy. As a result of his many investing successes, he has been selected by AlwaysOn as a Venture Capital 100 winner and by Forbes as a member of the Midas List.
In Today’s Episode with Jeff Lieberman You Will Learn:
1.) Origins into Venture:
- How did Jeff's roommate at college open his eyes to the world of venture capital?
- What were Jeff's biggest lessons from seeing the work ethic of his parents?
- How does Jeff imbue the same level of ambition on his children that he had growing up with no money?
- Why is Jeff keen for his children not to go to college? How does he advise them?
2.) Jeff Lieberman: The Investor:
- What are Jeff's biggest observations on the current landscape given his seeing first hand the dot com bust and 2008? How is now different? How is it the same?
- Price Sensitivity: How does Jeff reflect on his own price sensitivity? How has it changed over time?
- Deployment Pace: How does Jeff analyse deployment pace today both for the industry and for Insight? Does Jeff agree with the notion of "playing the game on the field"?
- The Biggest Miss: What have been some of Jeff's biggest misses? How did those misses impact the process with which he invests?
3.) Insight: The Firm
- What are the most challenging elements of firm building today?
- Why do all juniors have control over the Partners calendars? How does this work in practice?
- How does Jeff create an environment of safety where very young, junior people feel like they can challenge anyone and have discussion?
- How do Insight train young people? What is the process? What works? What does not work?
4.) AMA:
- What does Jeff know now about venture that he wishes he had known when he started?
- What would Jeff most like to change about the world of venture capital?
- What advice does Jeff give to young people today entering the industry?
Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with Jeff Lieberman
Jeff’s Favourite Book: Man's Search For Meaning
Jeff’s Most Recent Investment: Choco
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We are back. Welcome back to another week in 20VC with me, Harry Stebbings, and today were joined by one of the leaders of one of the biggest institutions in venture today. |
| 0:07.9 | Their most recent fund announced early this year was a whopping $20 billion. |
| 0:12.3 | And so with that, I'm so thrilled to welcome Jeff Lieberman, managing director at Insight Partners. |
| 0:16.5 | Over the last 24 years at Insight, Jeff has led investments in leading companies like Qualtrix, |
| 0:21.7 | delivery hero, Hello Fresh, C-Vent, Mimecast and UDemmy, to name a few. |
| 0:26.4 | He also serves on numerous public and private boards. |
| 0:29.2 | I'd also want to say a huge thank you to Rebecca and Devon at Insight for some amazing |
| 0:33.5 | questions suggestions today. |
| 0:34.9 | They really did make the schedule so much more special. |
| 0:37.5 | But before we move into the episode today, Harvard Management Company is constantly seeking out |
| 0:41.8 | the next generation of great investors and entrepreneurs. HMC has managed Harvard University's |
| 0:47.0 | endowment for nearly 50 years and was one of the first institutional investors in venture capital. |
| 0:52.2 | Their experience and long-term investment horizon makes |
| 0:54.8 | them ideal partners to get world-changing ideas on a path to viability and success. They work as a true |
| 1:00.8 | partner providing insightful perspectives to help managers succeed. I personally have had the pleasure |
| 1:05.8 | of working with the HMC team and can say that they're truly exceptional partners, people, |
| 1:10.5 | and incredibly savvy investors. |
| 1:12.4 | Whether you are launching your first fund or your fifth, HMC welcomes the opportunity to partner |
| 1:17.1 | with both developing and established managers. Have an idea you want to share with the team? |
| 1:21.4 | Just send it to venture at HMC.harvard.edu. And speaking of amazing partners with HMC there, Mercury is building full-stack banking for |
| 1:30.9 | startups. |
| 1:31.6 | Applying under 10 minutes from anywhere for FDIC-insured bank accounts, physical and virtual debit |
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