20VC: Why Facebook Will Be The Company To Succeed in Crypto, Why Founders Should Be Actively Angel Investing & Commonalities of Great Leadership From Mark Zuckerberg to Mark Pincus with Darian Shirazi, Founder & CEO @ Radius
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 6 April 2018
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Darian Shirazi is the Founder & CEO @ Radius, the startup that provides you with not just data but truth allowing you to gain clarity to reach and convert your best B2B prospects. To date, Darian has raised over $105m in VC funding with Radius from some of the very best in the business including our friends at Founders Fund, 8VC, Salesforce Ventures and rockstars like Jared Leto and Charlie Songhurst. Prior to Radius, Darian has enjoyed roles such as first external engineering hire at Facebook and working on the "Sell Your Item" team at eBay. Darian has also made several angel investments in the likes of MessageMe, Sprig and Try.com just to name a few.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Darian made his way into the world of tech as Facebook's first ever intern at the age of 17 and how that led to the founding of Radius?
2.) According to Joe Lonsdale @ 8VC, "Darian is one of the most respected founders and CEOs in the valley". How does Darian define great CEOship? What have been the commonalities he has seen in the great leaders he has engaged with from Mark @ Facebook to Mark Pincus?
3.) How did Darian approach the fundraising strategy for the $85m he has raised with Radius? How does Darian believe that founders can test quickly whether an investor is truly interested? Why is it so important to be fundraise as fast as possible? If an investor could only provide Darian one thing, what would it be and wh?
4.) How does Darian respond to investors that suggest founders should not be actively angel investing, as Darian is? What operational benefits does Darian gain from angel investing? How does Darian think about angel portfolio construction and specialisation? How has Darian seen investor attitudes alter when it comes to capital efficiency?
5.) As an early Bitcoin miner, how does Darian evaluate the world of crypto today? Why does Darian believe BTC has reached escape velocity compared to other currencies? Why was Darian skeptical on Ethereum for so long? What are Ethereum's ongoing challenges? Why does Facebook have the chance to dominate the world of crypto?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Darian’s Fave Book: Sapiens
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Darian on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
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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. You can submit questions for future |
| 0:04.8 | guests on the show and be mentioned on the show with that by following us on Instagram at H. Debings |
| 0:09.8 | 1996 with two Bs. I would love to see you there. But to the show today, and a show which makes me wish |
| 0:15.1 | I spent more time on the West Coast, as I'd love to hang out with this guest more. We had so much fun doing the show, and so I'm very thrilled to welcome Daryan Shirazi, |
| 0:22.6 | found and CEO at Radius, the startup that provides you with not just data, but truth, |
| 0:27.4 | allowing you to gain clarity to reach and convert your best B2B prospects. |
| 0:31.9 | To date, Darian has raised over $105 million in VC funding with Radius |
| 0:36.4 | from some of the very best in the business, including |
| 0:38.5 | our friends at Founders Fund, 8VC, Salesforce ventures and rock stars like Jared Lato and Charlie |
| 0:44.1 | Songhurst. And prior to Radius, Darien has enjoyed roles such as first external engineering |
| 0:48.7 | hire at Facebook and working on the Sell Your Item Team at eBay. |
| 0:52.4 | Darian's also made several angel investments in the |
| 0:54.7 | likes of MessageMe, Sprig and Try.com, just to name a few. And I do also want to say a big thank |
| 1:00.0 | you to both Leor Avedar at Lobb and Matt Garrett at Salesports for the intro to Darian today. We |
| 1:04.9 | really do so appreciate that. But before we dive into the show today, our new sponsor Ring first |
| 1:10.1 | made a splash when they were on Shark Tank a few years ago. |
| 1:12.7 | The concept, genius. |
| 1:14.2 | If someone rings your doorbell and you aren't home or don't want to come to the door, you can respond to the person using just your smartphone, adding a level of both security and convenience. |
| 1:22.8 | Today, over a million people are using the Ring video doorbell to help protect their homes. |
| 1:27.1 | And now Ring has a great new product called Ring Floodlight Cam. |
| 1:30.5 | Just like Ring's amazing doorbell, floodlight cam is a motion-activated camera and floodlight with |
| 1:35.1 | HD video and two-way audio that lets you know the moment anyone steps onto your property. |
... |
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