20VC: Why The Current Crop Of VC Does Not Understand Design, Why Product Market Fit Is A Liquid Not A Solid & How Graduates Can Optimise Their Career for Personal Development with Steve Vassallo, General Partner @ Foundation Capital
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 26 February 2018
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Steve Vassallo is a General Partner @ Foundation Capital where he sits or has sat on the boards of Pocket (acquired by Mozilla), PrivateCore (acquired by Facebook), Sunrun [RUN], Sentient Energy and many more. Prior to Foundation, Steve was Senior Vice President of Product and Engineering @ Ning, the social platform he helped launch in 2004. Before that, Steve was a project leader at IDEO, where he developed more than a dozen successful products for companies including Cisco, Nike, BMW and McDonalds. In addition, this year, Steve published The Way to Design, a guidebook for becoming a designer founder and building a design-centric company.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Steve made his way into the world of VC with Foundation from the land of product management?
2.) Why does Steve believe we have seen design move from a styling exercise to the main stage and a foundation of product? How does Steve feel the current crop of VC's analyse and appreciate design? What are they getting wrong? What can be done to engender a new sense of appreciation for good design?
3.) What advice would Steve give to a young person entering the workforce considering founding a startup, joining one or joining an incumbent? Where do they make their biggest mistakes? What is the optimal choice for learning and personal growth?
4.) Why does Steve have a problem with the term "product-market fit"? Where do people misunderstand about PMF? What is one looking to achieve with product market fit? How does Joe Gebbia @ Airbnb best present this idea?
5.)Steve has worked with dozens of 1st time founders over the last decade, what are the commonalities in the mistakes they make? What advice does Steve hear most commonly given that he disagrees with?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Steve’s Fave Book: Poor Charlie's Almanack
Steve’s Most Recent Investment: forusall
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Steve on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
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 | We are back for another week on the 20 minute VC with me, Harry Stebbings, and you can find me and see |
| 0:04.3 | all things behind the scenes on the 20 minute VC on Instagram at H. Stebbing's 1996, as you all know, |
| 0:10.6 | with two Bs. It would be great to see you there. However, to the show today, and there are some |
| 0:14.5 | guests where very quickly you can just tell there's this really special rapport and engagement |
| 0:18.8 | that will not only make for a special show, but a great relationship going forward. And that was definitely the case with our guest today. |
| 0:24.4 | So joining us in the hot seat, I'm thrilled to welcome Steve Vassallo, general partner at Foundation |
| 0:28.8 | Capital, where he sits or has sat on the boards of the likes of Pocket, acquired by Mozilla, |
| 0:33.7 | private court, acquired by Facebook, sun run, sentient Energy, and many more. Prior to Foundation, |
| 0:39.2 | Steve was a senior vice president of product and engineering at Ning, the social platform he helped |
| 0:43.7 | launch in 2004. Before that, Steve was a project leader at IDO, where he developed more than a dozen |
| 0:48.7 | successful products for companies including Cisco, Nike, BMW and McDonald's. In addition, this year, Steve published |
| 0:55.5 | The Way to Design, a Guidebook for becoming a designer founder and building a design-centric company. |
| 1:00.9 | It really is a fantastic read, and if you haven't read that out, do check it out in the show notes. |
| 1:04.9 | I do also have to say a big thank you to Steve's partner Ashugog for the intro to Steve today, |
| 1:09.2 | without which this episode would not have been |
| 1:11.0 | possible. However, before we move into the show today, Cooley are the global law firm around |
| 1:15.2 | startups and venture capital. Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley's |
| 1:19.5 | form more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with over 50 years |
| 1:23.6 | of experience working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and |
| 1:28.4 | handle the myriad of issues that arise through a fund's lifetime. So to learn more about the number |
| 1:32.9 | one most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public, simply head over to coolly.com, |
| 1:38.5 | or you can check them out at coolly go.com. And do not forget to check out Zoom, the fastest-growing |
... |
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