20VC: The Chainsmokers on Raising Their First $35M Fund and Entering The World of Venture, Dealing with Vulnerability and Insecurity Today & How Music and Venture Compare; The Similarities and Differences

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

🗓️ 21 September 2020

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Alex Pall and Drew Taggart are the Founders of The Chainsmokers and Mantis. The Chainsmokers are one of the most sought after musical acts of our time. As for Mantis, just last week they announced their first $35M venture fund and have backing from Ron Conway, Mark Cuban and Keith Rabois. They have already invested in hotly contested rounds for Fiton and Loansnap. Drew and Alex also own a production studio, are stakeholders in the spirit brand JaJa Tequila and last year co-founded the anti-scalper ticketing platform Yellowheart.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Drew and Alex made their way into the world of tech and startups and how they came to found a venture firm with Mantis?

2.) Why did Alex and Drew decide now was the right time for the fund? What did they look for in their LPs? How do they use their LPs to strategically help their companies? What is their preferred stage, sector? Do they have ownership requirements?

3.) Are Alex and Drew nervous about making the move into venture? If everyone has a chip on their shoulder, where does the chip on their shoulder come from? How do they think about their own vulnerabilities? How do they manage them? What works? What does not?

4.) What ways do Alex and Drew most like to work with their founders? Where do they provide outsized value? What are some examples of this? How do they think about working with VCs to get into the best rounds? How do they want to position Mantis in the ecosystem?

5.) With the tequila brand, the film production company and now the venture fund, how do they think about the expansion of "The Chainsmokers Empire"? What does this look like in 10 years? How would they like it to expand and grow?

Items Mentioned In Todays Episode

Drew's Favourite Book: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

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

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the 20 minute VC with me, Harry Stebbings, and to the show state, and we have a first,
0:04.1	our first Grammy award-winning guest. Their music's fueled many a Peloton ride for me, and just last
0:08.9	week, they announced their new venture, Mantis. Now, Mantis is their first $35 million venture fund,
0:14.4	and so if you haven't guessed it already, I'm thrilled to welcome Alex, Paul and Drew Taggart, founders of the chain smokers and now Mantis, with the new
0:21.5	vehicle they have backing from some of the best in the business, including Ron Conway, Mark Cuban,
0:26.0	Keithra Boy, and they're off to the races in terms of building the portfolio, getting into some
0:30.1	really hotly contested rounds for fit on and loan snap. The vehicle is also managed by Milan
0:35.0	Koch and Jeffrey Evans, and if being the most sought-after DJs in the world and having their own fund wasn't enough,
0:40.3	Drew and Alex also owned a production studio, a stakeholders in the spirit brand, Yaya, Tequila,
0:45.1	and last year co-founded the ticketing platform Yellow Heart.
0:48.2	I have to say this episode was just so much fun to do,
0:50.5	and I want to say a huge thank you to Christian Goward at 137 Ventures for the introduction
0:54.3	and for some fantastic questions suggestions. Christian, I really do so appreciate that.
0:58.6	But before we move into the show today, I want to take a moment to mention HelloSign,
1:02.1	a great example of a company that found success in building a product focused on user experience.
1:07.2	HelloSign is an effortless e-signature solution used by millions to securely send and
1:11.9	request legally valid digital signatures and agreements. They raised a total of $16 million in funding
1:17.2	and recently got acquired by Dropbox for an impressive $230 million. Check out HelloSign.com
1:23.1	forward slash 20VC to join the thousands of companies and founders who value fast, secure and simple
1:29.3	e-signatures. And I do have to mention another incredible product-centric business, Digis.
1:34.4	Digits have spent the last two years building this incredibly powerful financial engine for
1:38.8	businesses. Now they're ready to show you what they can do with it. Back in April, they announced
	...

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