E1018: #AskJason! Avoiding first-time founder mistakes, causes of big-tech layoffs, participating in a Series A as an Angel, running a US-based startup as an international student, importance of having a strong lead investor & more!
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 14 January 2020
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
14:00 Sarah asks Jason why so many investors seek out a "lead"
17:30 Amrit calls in and asks Jason how to run a US-based startup as an international student
24:29 Jake asks Jason to identify some easily avoidable mistakes that first-time founders make
33:44 Spencer calls in and asks Jason about some of the recent layoffs in the tech space
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everybody, hey everybody, we've got a great ask Jason for you today. |
| 0:04.0 | I've got somebody who's coming into a series A as an angel investor and they want to know how to shape their |
| 0:09.0 | bet. Should they put in 5-10 or should they go jump the fence and put in 2550? |
| 0:13.4 | I answer that question and somebody is running a company as an international student and |
| 0:18.0 | they're trying to figure out how do they deal with their visa issues? |
| 0:20.4 | We solve that one. |
| 0:21.8 | A lot of commentary on these big tech layoffs has been going on |
| 0:24.8 | on the soft bank crises with all these companies like we work. Somebody asked me is this the |
| 0:29.3 | new normal and is this a trend beyond the soft Bank companies? I answer that and a really great question, |
| 0:36.0 | what are the first time mistakes that founders make over and over again that I can avoid as a founder? |
| 0:41.0 | I answer that question as well. And another angel investor asks me, why are |
| 0:46.4 | investors such lemmings and look for a high quality lead before they invest? There's three reasons |
| 0:50.9 | and I give them all on today's. |
| 0:52.6 | All ask Jason this weekend startups stick with us. |
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