Index's Martin Mignot on Sourcing Rocketship Companies, Evaluating Founders and His Attitude Towards Risk At The Early Stage
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 1 February 2016
⏱️ 26 minutes
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Summary
1.) Where did it all start for Martin? What is the Martin Mignot story?
2.) How does Martin view venture as a career vs coming into it later on? Why does Martin think venture is now a viable career from the offset?
3.) Does Martin agree with Sheryl Sandberg’s statement, it doesn’t matter where you sit, as long as you have a seat on the rocketship? How important is valuation for Martin when making the decision?
4.) How Martin goes about sourcing the latest and greatest startups from the European ecosystem?
5.) How does Martin evaluate founders and consider their ability to execute on their plan, prior to making the investment?
6.) Talking of difficulty for startups attaining funding, what are your thoughts on VC founder alignment? You have said to focus before on the business and not the team, unless exceptional cases prevail, this is very strange for me to hear. Why is it you have adopted this stance and why do you feel it is best?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to another phenomenal week on the 20 minute VC. I'm your host, Harry Stebbings, |
| 0:05.2 | and today I'm fulfilling a mission I've had for a while. Today's guest I've wanted to have on |
| 0:10.0 | the show for many, many months now, so I'm delighted that he's here. And joining us today is Martin |
| 0:15.5 | Migno, early stage investor at Index Ventures in London, where he focuses on SaaS, marketplaces and mobile. |
| 0:23.8 | Martin handles many of Index's investments, including the likes of Deliveroo, Algolia, Blah, |
| 0:30.1 | Blah, Car, Swift Key, and many more incredible companies. If that was enough, he has worked on over |
| 0:35.6 | 50 transactions to date, including SoundCloud, Just Eat, Code Academy, Flipboard, and many more. |
| 0:43.3 | And prior to joining Index, Martin was in the TMT team at UBS Investment Bank and also co-founded the beauty subscription business, Boudoirruve, which was acquired by Birchbox. |
| 0:54.0 | And I've also got two |
| 0:55.0 | thank you before we begin today's interview. One, a huge thank you to John Henderson at White Star. |
| 1:00.5 | This interview would not have happened without your intro, so we're very, very grateful for that. |
| 1:04.9 | And I'd also like to say a huge thank you to Mattermark for providing all the data for the show |
| 1:09.2 | today with Martin. And check out Mattermark's new search tool. |
| 1:13.4 | It allows you to find a massive data and stats on thousands of companies for absolutely nothing. |
| 1:19.1 | It's always the best with Mattermark. |
| 1:21.1 | And by the way, this actually isn't a sponsor. |
| 1:23.4 | I just love Mattermark so much. |
| 1:25.4 | Anyway, enough from me. |
| 1:26.7 | So without further ado, ladies and gents, I'm so delighted to welcome Martin Migno, early stage investor at Index Ventures. |
| 1:39.3 | You have now arrived at your destination. |
| 1:42.4 | Martin, a huge pleasure to have you on the show. |
| 1:44.9 | Massive fan of yours. |
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