20VC: Why There Is A Revolution In VC, Why Boards Are Inherently Inefficient & Why Data Will Be Central To VC In The Future with Chris Farmer, General Partner @ SignalFire
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 30 November 2016
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Chris Farmer is a General Partner @ SignalFire, as he describes, 'the most quantitative fund in the world.' Chris has also assembled 50 other on-demand advisors to aid portfolio companies including Slack CEO, Stewart Butterfield, AltSchool Founder, Max Ventilla and Pinterest President, Tim Kendall. SignalFire's portfolio includes the likes of Uber, ClassDojo and Rocksbox just to name a few. Prior to SignalFire, Chris was a Venture Partner @ General Catalyst where he aided the development of their seed program. Prior to General Catalyst, Chris spent 4 years as a VP @ Bessemer Venture Partners.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Chris made his way into the world of venture and came to be Founding Partner @ Signal Fire?
2.) Why does Chris believe the VC industry has not changed in the last 40 years? Why are the old guard of VCs worried for the evolution?
3.) Why does Chris believe data and tech will be centre to the revolution that is happening in VC? How will data be used to enhance the VC value add to startups in the coming years?
4.) From interviewing over 500 Founders, what was the most common challenges and problems founders face today? How should VCs be positioning themselves to provide additional value?
5.) What does Chris believe boards are so inherently inefficient? What would Chris like to see change in the world of boards? How does Chris position himself in terms of, board to partner ratio?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Chris' Fave Blog: Above The Crowd: Bill Gurley
Chris' Fave Book: The Success Equation
Chris' Most Recent Investment: Frame.io
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the 20 minute VC with your host Harry Stebbings and you can add me on Snapchat |
| 0:04.0 | at H. Stebbing's with 2Bs and every ad gets a personal selfie response from me I might add. Or you can head |
| 0:10.2 | over to my favourite new thing are blog MahitoVC.com where you can hear my ramblings about the world of VC |
| 0:15.8 | and start-ups. Essentially, if Fred Wilson and Freakonomics would have a love child, this blog would be the product. |
| 0:21.9 | However, to the show's day, and I'm thrilled to welcome Chris Farmer to the hot seat today, |
| 0:25.6 | now Chris is a general partner at Signal Fire, which, as he describes, is the most quantitative fund in the world. |
| 0:31.3 | Chris has also assembled 50 other on-demand advisors to aid portfolio companies, |
| 0:35.5 | including Slack CEO Stuart Butterfield, alt-school |
| 0:38.3 | founder Max Ventilla, and Pinterest President Tim Kendall. Signal Fires portfolio includes the likes of |
| 0:43.8 | Uber, Class Dojo and Rocksbox, just to name a few. And prior to Signal Fire, Chris was a venture |
| 0:48.9 | partner at General Catalyst, where he aided the development of their seed program, and before |
| 0:53.3 | General Catalyst, Chris spent |
| 0:55.0 | four years as a VP at Bessemer Venturentch Partners. I'd also like to say a huge thanks to |
| 0:59.0 | Misha Cella at Tradecroft for the intro to Chris today. But before we meet Chris, accounting |
| 1:04.0 | always seemed like a massive headache to me, but it doesn't have to be. Zero is beautiful, |
| 1:08.0 | easy to use online accounting software for small businesses. With |
| 1:11.4 | zero, you can easily manage your accounting anytime, anywhere from your computer or mobile |
| 1:16.1 | device. When you add zero to your small business, you're able to send online invoices and |
| 1:20.5 | get paid faster. You get instant access to view your cash flow, track your payroll and |
| 1:25.7 | keep tabs on your inventory, you can partner with |
| 1:28.2 | your accountant and bookkeeper in real time whenever you like. You can also customize your |
| 1:32.3 | Zero experience with over 500 business apps, including advanced solutions for point of sale, |
... |
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