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The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

20VC: Why You Should Think Twice Before Taking Multi-Stage Money at Seed, Why Venture Has Never Been Less Collaborative, How Becoming a Parent Made Me a Better Investor and Why We Should Be Optimistic About the Future of Diversity in Venture with Deena Sh

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

The Twenty Minute VC

Finance, Venturecapital, Tech News, News, Siliconvalley, Technology, Investing, Startups, Business

4.4637 Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2022

⏱️ 36 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Deena Shakir is a Partner at Lux Capital, one of the leading firms investing in emerging science and technology ventures at the outermost edges of what is possible. Deena has led a number of investments including in Maven Clinic, Mos, Ramp, Alife and SteadyMD to name a few. Before joining Lux, Deena was a Partner at GV and previously led product partnerships at Google for early-stage products in healthcare, AI/ML and search at Google. Before tech and venture, Deena was an aspiring anthropologist, journalist, diplomat, aid worker and was a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of State under Secretary Clinton. There Deena helped launch President Obama’s first Global Entrepreneurship Summit in 2010.

In Today’s Episode with Deena Shakir You Will Learn:

1.) Origins into Venture:

  • How Deena made her way from journalism and the world of politics to rockstar healthcare investor?
  • What were Deena's biggest takeaways from seeing her parents build a new life in the US?

2.) Competition in Venture:

  • Why should founders not take multi-stage fund money at seed?
  • What problems does it cause? How do VCs try and justify it? What red flags should founders look for?
  • How does Deena advise her companies when it comes to pre-emptive rounds? When should they take them? When should they not take them?

3.) Deena Shakir: The Person

  • How has becoming a parent changed Deena's operating mentality?
  • Why does Deena believe she has never been better as an investor post becoming a mother?
  • Why does Deena feel so many questions around parenting are wrong? In what ways would she like those questions of female operators and investors to change?

4.) Diversity and Inclusion: We Should Be Optimistic

  • Why is Deena optimistic about the future of diversity and inclusion in tech and venture?
  • What drives her optimism? What remains a cause for concern for Deena on this topic?
  • What more can both companies and venture funds do to improve the landscape?

Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with Deena Shakir

Deena's Favourite Book: The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Art of Disruption

Deena's Most Recent Investment: Mos: Banking for Students

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome back to another week in the world of 20 VC with me, Harry Stebbings, and I'm so excited for

0:04.2

our guest today, one of the most incredible stories coming into venture, smashing it from aspiring

0:08.4

journalist to civil servant to now rock star venture investor. And so with that, I'm thrilled to

0:12.9

welcome Dina Shakir, partner at Lux Capital. Now, at Lux, Dina has led a number of investments,

0:17.8

including in Maven Clinic, Moss, Ramp, A-Life and Steady MD, to name a few.

0:22.8

And before joining Lux, Dina was a partner at GV and previously led product partnerships at Google for early-stage products in healthcare, AIML, and search.

0:31.5

And finally, before Tech and Venture, as I mentioned, Dina was an aspiring journalist, diplomat, aid worker, anthropologist, and was a

0:38.6

presidential management fellow at the US Department of State Under Secretary Clinton.

0:42.7

Now, that is a very unique background for any 20 VC guest.

0:46.0

And I do also want to say a huge thank you.

0:47.7

This was such a team effort on the schedule.

0:49.5

Bill Al Zavain, Josh Shaheen at Lux, and then also Paxton at A-Life and Catherine at Maven Clinic.

0:55.4

So appreciate all you did with the question suggestions.

0:58.0

But before we dive into the show today, if you are a venture capitalist or corporate strategist, I want to tell you about Teegas.

1:03.7

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1:11.6

With Teegas, you can access other VCs and founders' expert call transcripts from previous rounds to help source fast-growing

1:17.9

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1:24.5

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1:28.8

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1:34.0

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1:40.1

majority of top venture funds are using Teegas on a daily basis, head over to teagas.co

1:45.3

forward slash growth for your free trial. And until 2020, automated investing strategies,

...

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