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The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

20VC: The Core Lessons From Building a 150 Startup Angel Portfolio, Why Founders Who Angel Invest Have Such Strong Advantages and Why The Lean Startup Makes Less and Less Sense Today with Adrian Aoun, Founder & CEO @ Forward

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

4.4637 Ratings

🗓️ 25 May 2018

⏱️ 38 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Adrian Aoun is the Founder & CEO @ Forward, a health care system combining world-class doctors with advanced technology to empower patients to take control of their health. To date Adrian has raised funding from some of the true greats of the business including Marc Benioff, Eric Schmidt, Joe Lonsdale, Aaron Levie and Josh Kushner, to name a few. As a result of the incredible work at Forward, they were named to TIME’s Best Inventions of 2017. Before Forward, Adrian was the head of special projects for the CEO of Google/Alphabet and Adrian arrived at Google following the acquisition of his artificial intelligence (AI) company, Wavii. Adrian is also a prolific angel with the likes of WorkRamp, Atrium, Convoy and more in his incredible portfolio.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Adrian made his way from selling Wavii to running special projects for the CEO @ Google, to now changing the world of healthcare with Forward?

2.) Why does Adrian believe that ideas don't have to be inspiration based and you can follow a process to come to a startup idea? What is the framework for that process? What is it fundamental that one focuses on the problem not the solution? Post problem identification, what is the next step?

3.) Why does Adrian believe that today, the Lean Startup Methodology makes less and less sense? What leads Adrian to suggest that "regulation is not nearly as scary as people think? How does Adrian break regulation up into 3 different categories? How should investors assess and evaluate opportunities that do face regulation?

4.) What does Adrian believe are the core benefits he has received from investing in over 150 startups? What has Jason recognised with regards to the power law effect when investing? How does Adrian approach pro-rata? What has being on the other side of the table taught Adrian about good and bad actors in the world of VC?

5.) How can angels act as a check/balance on the behaviour of VCs? How does Adrian think about investor behavior in both the good and the bad times? How do the best in the business react in both situations?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Adrian's Fave Book: Sapiens

As always you can follow HarryThe Twenty Minute VC and Adrian on Twitter here!

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

We also speak about Movidiam – as brands turn to smarter ways of creating video and digital content, the Movidiam platform offers faster turnarounds whilst maintaining or improving quality. They’re already working with some of the biggest, most innovative companies to help compare teams and freelancers across the global curated network of creative talent. Producers and marketers looking for the best creatives can get a shortlist from Movidiam’s account managers in hours – tailored to their project’s needs. Submit a brief or check out the platform at Movidiam.com.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

So I named the show the 20 minute VC, but episodes like this one today make me rue that decision.

0:04.9

So this is the 20 minute VC with me, Harry Stebbings, at H. Stebbings 1996 on Instagram.

0:10.5

It would be great to see you there.

0:11.9

But today's episode is not 20 minutes because it was simply too good to constrain to that time.

0:16.4

With that in mind, I'm thrilled to welcome Adrian Aune, founder and CEO at Ford,

0:20.7

a healthcare system

0:21.7

combining world-class doctors with advanced technology to empower patients to take control of their

0:26.9

health. To date, Adrian has raised funding from some of the true greats of the business, including

0:31.2

Mark Benioff, Eric Schmidt, Joe Lonsdale, Aaron Levy, and Josh Kushner, just to name a few. As a

0:36.6

result of the incredible work at Ford,

0:38.3

they were named to Times Best Inventions of 2017. And before Ford, Adrian was the head of special

0:43.5

projects for the CEO of Google slash alphabet, and Adrian arrived at Google, following the acquisition of his

0:49.0

artificial intelligence company, Wavy. Adrian's also a prolific angel investor with the likes of work ramp,

0:54.6

atrium, convoy, and many more in his incredible portfolio. And I do also have to say

0:58.8

huge thank you to Daniel Gross at YC and Daniel Lewis at Convoy. For the intro to Adrian

1:03.6

today, I really do so appreciate that. But before our episode today, brands are now turning

1:08.6

to smarter ways of creating video and digital content

1:11.4

to fit new distribution channels, looking for faster turnarounds while maintaining or improving

1:16.1

the quality. The Mavidium platform addresses that directly. It's now simple for brands and

1:20.9

agencies to connect with the very best creatives for their projects. Mavidium is already working

1:25.6

with some of the biggest forward-thinking companies to save time and cost by allowing comparison of the global network of curated

1:31.7

creative talent with a global network.

...

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