Redpoint Ventures and Stepstone Group on VC Deployment, M&A, and Google's AI Strategy | E1934
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.2 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 19 April 2024
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This Week in Startups is brought to you by…
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Mercury is the fintech startups use for banking* and all their financial workflows. Paying bills, staying in control of company spend, and closing the books doesn't need to be so complex — that's why Mercury powers it all from the one thing every business needs: the bank account. Join 200K startups who use Mercury to operate at their best at http://mercury.com *Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC.
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Todays show:
David Weisburd hosts Logan Bartlett, Hunter Somerville, and Jason Calacanis to discuss the fundraising market (3:07), M&A (26:45), Google’s huge investment in generative AI (58:15), and much more!
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Timestamps:
(0:00) David Weisburd intros Logan Bartlett, Hunter Somerville, and Jason Calacanis
(3:07) Tiger's recent fund and fundraising indicators
(11:55) HubSpot’s Chatbot Builder - https://clickhubspot.com/s0u https://clickhubspot.com/mfx
(13:26) The challenges and realities of venture capital
(25:14) DevSquad - Get an entire product team for the cost of one US developer plus 10% off at https://www.devsquad.com/twist
(26:45) Startup acquisitions, due diligence, and unethical behaviors in the industry
(31:27) Selling partial positions in startups and structuring the selling of shares
(37:18) Mercury - Join 200K startups who use Mercury to operate at their best at http://mercury.com
(38:20) Cendana and Kline Hill’s $105M fund to buy stakes in seed VC funds
(46:59) The correlation between capital consumption and equity value, and the dangers of excess capital
(54:28) The role of private equity in tech M&A and the future of tech IPOs
(58:15) Google's $100 billion investment in AI and competition in the AI ecosystem
(1:06:30) The challenge of capacity in seed stage investing and the value of a strong community in portfolio management
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Follow Logan:
X: https://twitter.com/loganbartlett
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loganbartlett
Check out: https://www.redpoint.com
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Follow Hunter:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunter-somerville-2a24117
Check out: https://www.stepstonegroup.com/
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Follow David:
X: https://twitter.com/DWeisburd
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dweisburd
Check out: https://10xcapital.com
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Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/jason
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
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Thank you to our partners:
(11:55) HubSpot’s Chatbot Builder - https://clickhubspot.com/s0u https://clickhubspot.com/mfx
(25:14) DevSquad - Get an entire product team for the cost of one US developer plus 10% off at https://www.devsquad.com/twist
(37:18) Mercury - Join 200K startups who use Mercury to operate at their best at http://mercury.com
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Check out the Launch Accelerator: https://launchaccelerator.co
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Check out Founder University: https://www.founder.university
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Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp
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Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland
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Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis
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Follow TWiST:
Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
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Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | And so Tiger is used as this kind of almost meme for this. |
| 0:03.4 | But what they were doing actually, |
| 0:04.8 | founders appreciated the lack of diligence and the high prices |
| 0:08.9 | and all that stuff. |
| 0:09.8 | Now, were they giving the vegetables or just giving dessert to the kids? |
| 0:13.0 | I think they might have just been giving dessert to the kids and they should have been better off giving vegetables. |
| 0:17.0 | It takes too long to wait to a full exit and sell nothing along the way. |
| 0:22.0 | If you're coming in at pre-Ceed even early Series A. |
| 0:26.0 | Taking some percentage of your position off of the table is the prudent thing to do. |
| 0:30.4 | Otherwise you're going to be sitting on funds four or five with zero |
| 0:33.6 | DPI coming back to market and asking your LPs to support you again on the |
| 0:37.9 | next fund. It's just not sustainable in this industry as hold periods continue |
| 0:42.2 | to elongate. People need to use that as a |
| 0:44.7 | mechanism for getting capital bank. This weekend startups is brought to you by |
| 0:51.0 | HubSpot YouTube Network |
| 0:53.0 | Whether you're a marketer, a sales rep, or an entrepreneur, |
| 0:57.0 | HubSpot has you covered with its tutorials and AI-powered tools. |
| 1:02.0 | Visit HubSpot's YouTube channel and activate your free Chatbot Builder today. |
| 1:08.0 | Check out the links in the episode description to learn more. |
| 1:12.0 | Dev Squad. Most Dev agencies only offer developers. Why? Because |
| 1:18.1 | product management is hard. Get an entire product team for the cost of one U.S. developer plus 10% off at Dev Squad.com slash |
| 1:28.3 | twist and Mercury. 90% of startups fail. |
... |
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