20VC: Uber's Journey to Becoming the Most Valuable Private Tech Company in History, Raising $3BN From Saudi in Just 60 Days, Uber's $30BN Mistake in Food Delivery, Why Recent Uber M&A Will be the Worst in Tech & Mastering Negotiations and Deal-Making with
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 24 October 2022
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Emil Michael is the Former Chief Business Officer at Uber and is commonly referred to as Travis Kalanick's right-hand man. At Uber, Emil was instrumental in raising nearly $15BN from some of the largest investors in the world, making Uber the most valuable private tech company ever. Emil was also core to Uber's China strategy and led deals with Didi and Baidu. Before Uber, Emil spent 9 years at TellMe Networks where he was central to Microsoft raising their acquisition price from $300M to $800M. Emil is also an advisor to some of the greats including Raf @ GoPuff, Zach @ Codeacademy, Jared @ Fundera and many more.
In Todays Episode with Emil Michael:
1.) From Politics to Travis's right-hand man at Uber:
- How did Emil make his way into the world of startups with TellMe networks?
- Harvard, Stanford, Goldman, Politics, which career shaped Emil the most?
- When Emil looks at his cohort of Ali and Hadi Partovi, Alfred Lin, and many others, what did they have that Emil believes is core to their success today?
2.) Negotiations 101: A Masterclass:
- What is Emil's framework for dealmaking? How has it changed over time?
- What are the single most important elements to remember when making deals?
- What are the biggest mistakes people make when negotiating?
- What is the right way to use leverage in negotiations?
- How can one handle an opponent that is emotional or irrational when negotiating?
- How did Emil make Steve Ballmer @ Microsoft increase his offer for TellMe from $300M to $800M?
- What is the single deal that Emil made that he regrets the most?
3.) Uber: The Journey to the Most Valuable Private Company:
- Why were Emil and Travis removed from Uber? Does Emil think it was fair?
- Is it true that Travis lost the support of the team? How did his removal take place?
- How did the Uber China deal go down with Didi? What got DiDi over the line on the deal?
- How did Emil raise $3BN from Saudi in just 60 days with Travis needing to attend only one meeting?
4.) Uber: The Review:
- How does Emil assess the management and performance of Uber CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi?
- If Travis and Emil were still in charge, what would Emil have done differently?
- Why does Emil think Dara and Uber have made a $30BN mistake in food delivery?
- Why does Emil think Postmates, Careem, and others have been the worst acquisitions in tech?
5.) The Venture Landscape:
- Emil entered the world of VC with Coatue, why did he decide that VC was not for him?
- How does Emil analyze the VC landscape today? Who are risers? Who are fallers?
- What are the single biggest points of misalignment between founder and VC?
- What are the core improvements that Emil would like to see made to the VC world?
Items Mentioned in Today's Episode:
Emil's Favourite Book: Sun Tzu: The Art of War
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is 20VC with me, Harry Stebbings. Now, the show today is one of the greatest storytelling |
| 0:04.0 | shows we've ever done. Some of the tales in this episode are just incredible, and so I'm thrilled |
| 0:08.4 | to welcome Emil Michael, former chief business officer at Uber, and commonly referred to as Travis |
| 0:13.4 | Kalonick's right-hand man. At Uber, Emil was instrumental in raising nearly $15 billion from some of |
| 0:19.2 | the largest investors in the world, making Uber |
| 0:21.5 | the most valuable private tech company ever. Emil was also core to Uber's China strategy and led |
| 0:26.9 | deals with D-D and Baidu. And before Uber, Emil spent nine years at Tell Me Networks, where he was |
| 0:32.2 | central to Microsoft and Steve Bulmer raising their acquisition price from $300 million to $800 million in one single |
| 0:39.4 | weekend. Emil is also an advisor to some of the best, including Raff at GoPuff, Zach at Code Academy, |
| 0:45.1 | and Jared at Fundera, to name a few. And I want to say huge thank you. This show was a team |
| 0:49.4 | effort, Shaq, Alfred Lynn, Ali and Haddy Partovey, huge thanks for the incredible questions |
| 0:54.7 | suggestions today and really did make such a difference. But before we dive into the show today, |
| 0:59.3 | if you are a venture capitalist or corporate strategist, I want to tell you about Teegas. |
| 1:03.5 | Teegas is the only company in the world that aggregates qualitative information on private |
| 1:08.2 | companies from Seed Stage to pre-IPO. With Teegas, you can access other VCs and founders' |
| 1:14.0 | expert call transcripts from previous rounds to help source fast-growing companies, create compelling |
| 1:19.7 | emails to really get a founder to respond and be excited to speak, and to diligence companies |
| 1:24.7 | when a round is moving fast. Teegis also provides the most flexible and highest quality way to run your own expert |
| 1:31.1 | calls. |
| 1:31.6 | With no upfront fees or call minimums, the ability to do a 30-minute call and simply pay |
| 1:36.3 | the expert rate in an average of $300. |
| 1:39.1 | Teegis makes expert calls easy. |
... |
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