20VC: Why Founders Should Take as Many VC Meetings as Possible, Should Founders Meet Associates, How to Get Intros to the Best VCs, How To Extract the Most Value From Your Investors, Why Post IPO Operators Are the Best Angels with Sam Corcos @ Levels
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2023
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sam Corcos is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Levels, the company helping you see how food affects your health with data from biosensors like continuous glucose monitors (CGMs). To date, Sam has raised over $89M for Levels from the likes of a16z (Jeff Jordan sits on his board), Founder Collective, Breyer Capital and Shrug Capital to name a few. Prior to Levels, Sam founded two prior companies, CarDash; a Y Combinator company that makes automotive repair and maintenance convenient. Before Cardash, Sam founded, Sightline Maps, an intuitive platform for 3D printing and visualizing topographical maps, marketed primarily towards the U.S. military.
In Today's Episode with Sam Corcos:
1. The Founding Moment:
- What was the a-ha moment for Sam with the founding Levels?
- What were the big mistakes Sam made with prior companies that he did not take with him to Levels?
- What does Sam know now that he wishes he had known when he started Levels?
2. How to Fundraise Like a Pro:
- Why does Sam believe that founders should take as many meetings with VCs as possible?
- What are the biggest mistakes founders make when meeting investors?
- Should founders meet with associates in the fundraising process?
- What does Sam mean when he says, "you have to create theater" when pitching?
3. How to Extract the Most Value from Your Investors:
- What have been Sam's biggest lessons on how to put your investors to work?
- What is the right and most strategic way to ask investors for specific help?
- How can founders create a competitive environment where VCs are competing to help?
- Which investors have been the most helpful?
- Why are post-IPO operators the best angels to have as investors?
- How has the a16z platform team been such a needle mover?
4. How to Find Your Partner and Master Parenting:
- What does Sam mean when he says he had a "one pager" in what he wanted in a partner?
- What was in the one-pager? How did dates respond?
- What are the biggest mistakes people make when dating?
- What is Sam most nervous about on becoming a parent?
- How does Sam think having a child will impact his marriage?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | When you're fundraising, you're a profit, not a missionary. |
| 0:03.5 | You have the vision and you're trying to get people who already get it and are already bought in. |
| 0:08.3 | One of the major mistakes that people make early on is they treat investor contacts like precious gems. |
| 0:14.9 | You should take as many meetings and do as many pitches as you can. |
| 0:18.3 | When we did some analysis on who our most ROI positive investors were, one of the biggest categories was early employees at post-IPO companies. Welcome back to 20 VC with me, Harry Stebbings. Now, today's guest I heard on Tim Ferriss's show, and I loved it, but I thought, wow, there's so much more focused startup content that I really want to unpack here. So I'm delighted to be joined today by Sam Corkos, co-founder and CEO at Levels, the company helping you see how food affects your health, with data from biosensors like continuous glucose monitors. |
| 0:48.3 | To date, Sam has raised over $89 million for levels from the likes of Andreessen Horrors, where Jeff Jordan's |
| 0:54.9 | on his board, found a collective Breyer Capital and Shrug Capital, to name a few. |
| 0:59.9 | And prior to Levels, Sam founded two prior companies, Kardashian and Sightline Maps. |
| 1:05.1 | But before we dive into the show today, I love any innovative approach to venture and |
| 1:09.6 | startups, and that's why I love Arising Ventures. |
| 1:12.1 | They're a holding company that acquires tech startups facing difficulties, and they help them reach their true potential. |
| 1:18.2 | The Arising Ventures team are tech founders, they're not bankers, so they know what other founders really care about. |
| 1:24.1 | They've given many great businesses a second chance at success. |
| 1:27.4 | Like Jive, a business |
| 1:28.9 | arising ventures relaunched after it shut down in 2021. Arising Ventures bought them out of liquidation, |
| 1:35.3 | brought back key team members and took them from naught to 1 million ARR in just five months. Thanks |
| 1:41.2 | to Arising Ventures, Jive now served some of the largest brands in the |
| 1:44.8 | world. So if your tech startup is facing hard times, arising ventures could be just what it needs |
| 1:49.9 | to find new life. And you can learn more and connect with the team at arisingventures.com |
| 1:54.6 | forward slash 20VC. After submitting your information, you'll hear directly from the founding team |
| 2:00.1 | within 24 hours. |
| 2:01.6 | Go to arising ventures.com forward slash 20VC. |
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