20VC: The Right Way For Founders To Think About Capital Efficiency, How To Create A Culture of Continuous Learning & The Secret To Talent Assessment and Optimisation with Mariam Naficy, Founder & CEO @ Minted
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 2 March 2018
⏱️ 27 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Mariam Naficy has pioneered consumer Internet models since 1998, when she co-founded the first online cosmetics retailer, Eve.com, which was sold for over $100 million. Today, Mariam is the Founder & CEO @ Minted, the startup that uses crowdsourcing and analytics to bring the best designs to market faster than anyone. To date, Mariam has raised &89m in VC funding with Minted from some of the best in the business including our favourites Floodgate, Benchmark, Menlo, Slow, Ridge Ventures and then prominent individuals such as Marissa Meyer and Jeremy Stoppelman. In addition, Mariam sits on the Board of Yelp and Every Mother Counts.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Mariam made her way into startups from investment banking and came to sell her first startup, Eve, for $100m in cash within a year before founding Minted?
2.) What were the biggest lessons Mariam learnt from Eve and applied to Minted? Why did Mariam not want to pursue VC funding in the beginning with Minted? What was the inflection point in not taking VC to taking VC funds?
3.) How did Mariam think about capital efficiency in the early days of Minted? How did Mariam see that change with the sudden injection of VC capital? In the heavily funded landscape today, would Mariam have raised VC money from the start, if starting today?
4.) Mariam is a master of internal upscaling, what is the secret to creating a culture of internal continuous learning? Why is rotation within the company roles such a core element? How has Mariam's assessment of people talent changed over the years?
5.) What would Mariam say is her greatest strength and he greatest weakness as a CEO? How has she seen this change with her 20 years of founding companies? How did having children change her outlook on managing people?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Mariam’s Fave Book: The Effective Executive
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Mariam on Twitter here!
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Cooley are the global law firm built around startups and venture capital.  Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley has formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50+ years working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad issues that arise through a fund’s lifetime. So to learn more about the #1 most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public. Head over to cooley.com and also at cooleygo.com.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the 20 minute VC and Founders Friday with me, Harry Stebbings. I would love to welcome you |
| 0:04.4 | behind the scenes here at the 20 minute VC and you can do that on Instagram at H. Stebbing's 1996, as you know |
| 0:10.3 | with two bees. It'd be fantastic to see you there. However, to the show today and a guest that I've |
| 0:14.6 | really wanted to have on for a very, very long time. So I'm thrilled to welcome Mariam Nefisi to the hot seat today. Since 1998, Mariam has pioneered |
| 0:22.2 | consumer internet models when she co-founded the first online cosmetics retailer, eve.com, which was |
| 0:27.5 | sold for over $100 million. Today, Marum is the founder and CEO at Minted, the startup that |
| 0:32.5 | uses crowdsourcing and analytics to bring the best designs to market faster than anyone. To date, |
| 0:37.9 | Mariam's also raised $89 million in VC funding with Minted from some of the very best in the |
| 0:42.8 | business, including our favourites, floodgate, benchmark, Menlo, Slow and Ridge Ventures, |
| 0:47.8 | and then prominent individuals such as Marissa Mayer and Jeremy Stoppulman. In addition, |
| 0:51.8 | Mariam also sits on the boards of Yelp and every mother counts, |
| 0:55.1 | and I have to say a huge thank you to Julia Hart's at Eventbrite for the intro to Mariam today, |
| 0:59.4 | without which this episode would not have been possible. However, before we move into the show today, |
| 1:03.7 | Cooley are the global law firm around startups and venture capital. Since forming the first venture |
| 1:08.1 | fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley's form more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world. |
| 1:12.8 | With over 50 years of experience, working with VCs, they help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad of issues that arise through a fund's lifetime. |
| 1:21.8 | So to learn more about the number one most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public, simply head over to coolly.com, |
| 1:28.6 | or you can check them out at coolly go.com. And do not forget to check out Zoom, the fastest-growing |
| 1:33.1 | video and web conferencing service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to |
| 1:37.9 | engage in an array of activities, including video meetings and webinars, collaboration-enabled |
| 1:42.7 | conference rooms, and persistent chat all-in-one easy platform. |
| 1:46.3 | Plus, it's the easiest solution to manage scale and use and has the most straightforward affordable pricing. |
... |
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