ANGEL: Surviving a down market, early VC stories & more with four-cycle investor Geoff Yang | E1676
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.2 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 11 February 2023
⏱️ 67 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Four-cycle investor and Redpoint Ventures Co-Founder Geoff Yang joins to discuss his early years in VC (1:45), what it takes for a founder to survive in a down market (11:47), what makes CEOs like Frank Slootman and David Zaslav stand out, and more! (43:35)
(0:00) Jason kicks off the show
(1:45) Geoff Yang’s experience cracking into VC
(10:26) LinkedIn Jobs - Go to https://linkedIn.com/angel and post your first job for free.
(11:47) Surviving and thriving in a down market
(22:35) First Republic Bank - Discover what a long-term financial relationship can do for you. Visit https://firstrepublic.com today to learn more.
(23:29) Being flexible and understanding risk as an entrepreneur
(30:00) Accomplishing the most with the least
(34:05) ProsperStack - Take 10% off your subscription by mentioning TWIST at https://prosperstack.com/twist
(35:17) Geoff’s favorite investments
(43:35) Working with David Zaslav
(50:57) What’s next for Geoff + Generative AI
FOLLOW Geoff: https://twitter.com/geoff_yang
FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis
FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Okay, everybody got an amazing angel interview for you today. |
| 0:02.6 | Not only do we have a three cycle investor today, our first four cycle investor. |
| 0:07.7 | That's right, Jeff Yang is the co-founder of red point and he started venture |
| 0:12.5 | capital back in 1985 right out of school. |
| 0:15.4 | We cover his entire career, everything he's learned. |
| 0:18.0 | We talk about the different downturns and their impact on startups at that time, |
| 0:22.7 | from black Monday in 1987 to the dot comb bus, |
| 0:25.9 | then the GFC, the great financial crisis, as well as now our 2022, |
| 0:31.8 | a speculative asset bubble bursting, the downturn that we're in right now. |
| 0:35.1 | We discuss the characteristics of the companies and founders that make it |
| 0:38.7 | through these rough economic times and so much more. |
| 0:42.4 | He was an investor. |
| 0:43.4 | It's no flake. |
| 0:44.4 | Uber, the list that goes on. |
| 0:46.6 | Tivo, exciting. |
| 0:47.8 | If you're going from the dot com era, it's an amazing episode. |
| 0:50.7 | Please stick with us, bring a pen and paper. |
| 0:53.2 | You're going to need to take some notes on this one. |
| 0:55.2 | This week and startups is brought to you by LinkedIn jobs. |
| 0:59.4 | A business is only as strong as its people and every higher matters. |
| 1:03.2 | Post your first job for free at LinkedIn dot com slash angel. |
| 1:09.0 | First, Republic Bank. |
... |
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