ANGEL: Upfront’s Mark Suster on the power of alignment, setting reality, and raising capital | E1683
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.2 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 22 February 2023
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jason is joined by Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures to cover raising capital in the early 2000s (1:22), aligning board members (21:19), the three variables VCs need to bet on (40:51), and so much more!
(0:00) Molly kicks off the show
(1:22) A recap of the previous 3 market cycles
(5:23) The hurdles founders will face starting a company in 2023
(6:55) Raising capital in the early 2000s
(9:15) LinkedIn Jobs - Go to https://linkedIn.com/angel and post your first job for free.
(10:37) Upfront’s strategy and changes to the market
(15:35) Misalignment of investors
(19:48) Prenuvo - Get $300 off a full-body MRI scan at https://prenuvo.com/twist
(21:19) Aligning of board members
(29:13) Setting reality as an investor/board member
(33:40) Cutting Burn & Mark’s decision framework
(39:23) Orgspace - Get $2000 of credits on pro plans with a 30-day free trial at https://orgspace.io/twist
(40:51) The 3 variables VCs need to bet on
(48:28) The power law and mission-aligned founders
(52:13) Feed the family money
(58:33) Company killers + Investing in lines not dots
FOLLOW Mark: https://twitter.com/msuster
FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis
FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey, everybody. We're back with another awesome episode of Angel. Today, we have Mark |
| 0:04.2 | Suster of Upfront Ventures, kind of a friend of Twist. He was the founder of two companies |
| 0:09.6 | build online and Coral before becoming a VC 16 years ago. That's right. Three cycles. |
| 0:17.3 | Jason and Mark have a great conversation with an overall theme of alignment, aligning |
| 0:22.0 | founders with board members, aligning board members with other board members, and finding |
| 0:26.6 | founders who align with a mission. It's a jam-packed episode. It always is. Every time Jason |
| 0:32.2 | and Mark talk, you will want to get your pen and paper and slow down to probably single |
| 0:36.9 | speed for this one. It's going to be a great show. Stick with us. |
| 0:40.6 | This weekend's start-ups is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. A business is only as strong |
| 0:45.3 | as its people and every higher matters. Go to LinkedIn.com slash angel and post your |
| 0:50.3 | first job for free, terms and conditions apply. |
| 0:53.8 | Prinuvo. Catch health conditions before they become crises with Prinuvo's full-body |
| 0:59.3 | MRI scan. Get $300 off at prinuvo.com slash twist. And by org space, if you're a startup |
| 1:07.6 | and not building a performance culture, your competitors are going to eat your lunch. Get |
| 1:12.8 | $2,000 worth of credits on pro plans with a 30-day free trial at orgspace.io slash twist. |
| 1:20.0 | All right, everybody. Thanks for joining us. I'm here with Mark Suster, my friend from |
| 1:27.8 | Upfront Ventures. Thanks for coming on the pod. So much to discuss. In this series, I've |
| 1:32.9 | been trying to talk to folks, Mark, who have lived through three cycles. Now, you've been |
| 1:39.2 | doing venture since this is my 16th year, 16th year, and we're sitting here in 2023. |
| 1:49.8 | And so you got started 2007, so right before the great financial crisis, but the market |
| 1:58.1 | right before the great financial crisis, correct me if I'm wrong, it wasn't out of control |
| 2:02.4 | like it got in 2020, 2021 in this cycle, correct? Let me say it this way, because I have |
... |
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