ANGEL: FirstMark’s Rick Heitzmann on shaking off the bull run, “shock absorbers,” and more | E1670
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.2 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 2 February 2023
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jason is joined by FirstMark Capital’s Rick Heitzmann, who started his investment career in 1999. They discuss “sobering up” after the 14-year bull run (1:55), Airbnb’s response to the downturn (7:38), how senior leaders must act as shock absorbers for their founders (26:30), and more!
(0:00) Jason kicks off the show
(1:55) Rick’s experience of the “Speculative Asset Bubble”
(7:38) Airbnb’s reaction to the downturn
(11:33) LinkedIn Jobs - Go to https://linkedIn.com/angel and post your first job for free
(12:58) Rick’s memory of the Dot Com bubble
(19:39) Advice for founders in a downturn
(22:27) Embroker - Use code TWIST to get an extra 10% off insurance at https://Embroker.com/twist
(23:29) How CAC and LTV have changed
(26:30) The emotional state of Founders and keeping them focused
(35:09) Term sheets in the Dot Com era and today
(40:06) Letterhead - get 50% off their first year at tryletterhead.com/twist
(41:21) Different forms of exits + Key attributes in founders
FOLLOW Rick: https://twitter.com/rick
FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis
FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Okay, everybody, we're back with an amazing episode of angel season seven. |
| 0:03.8 | And by now, you probably know the theme for this season is three cycle investors. |
| 0:08.4 | That's the term I've dubbed VCs and angels who have been investing or operating through |
| 0:13.1 | the dot com bubble, through the rate recession, through the 14 year bull run, and they're still |
| 0:17.8 | going in 2023. |
| 0:19.8 | Today, we have a great interview with first marks Rick Heitzman. |
| 0:22.4 | He started investing back in 1999 right before the dot com bubble burst. |
| 0:27.3 | And he started first mark capital in 2008. |
| 0:30.1 | We go deep on shaking off the 14 year bull run and how startups can sober up and get |
| 0:35.0 | back to reality, plus Airbnb's brilliant reaction to the COVID downturn. |
| 0:39.0 | He's an investor and reminiscing on the problems from the dot com bubble and how they were |
| 0:43.5 | solved and eventually worked out. |
| 0:45.2 | Finally, we talk about how senior members of startup teams have to act as shock absorbers. |
| 0:49.4 | I love this term, investors, founders, how we act as shock absorbers during difficult |
| 0:54.5 | times, calm things down, create plans, and then help companies survive downturns. |
| 0:59.6 | It's a great episode. |
| 1:00.6 | Stick with us. |
| 1:01.6 | This week in startups is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. |
| 1:05.6 | A business is only as strong as its people and every higher matters. |
| 1:10.5 | Post your first job for free at LinkedIn dot com slash angel. |
| 1:15.6 | Embroker startup insurance program helps startups secure the most important types of insurance |
| 1:20.9 | at a lower cost. |
... |
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