This Week in Startups - Video

0:01 Jason intros today's topics
2:15 George calls in and asks Jason about social media interference in the 2020 election
11:13 Joey calls in and asks Jason for some tips on starting and growing a podcast
21:05 Dan asks Jason about which health-tech startup idea to pursue
26:49 Alex calls in and asks Jason about the types companies that will thrive in an economic downturn
34:35 Karen asks Jason about legendary founder & investor traits
44:11 Blaze calls in...

0:53 Jason intros Nicole Quinn
1:59 Nicole & Jason describe their separate Calm investments, will it be the first mental health IPO?
8:00 Calm's I.C.E...

0:40 Jason intros Jeff Housenbold
2:16 What did Jeff do before joining the Vision Fund? How did he help scale eBay & Shutterfly?
4:15 How did he wind up at SoftBank? What was it like being recruited by Masayoshi Son? How did Masa pitch the Vision Fund to Jeff?
13:28 What was the timeframe for deploying the $100B Vision Fund?
18:10 How does SoftBank size their bets and how do they counsel founders to handle massive amounts of capital?
20:07 Coaching founders on...

0:54 Jason intros Max Lobovsky
3:21 What is Max's business with Formlabs? What are people printing? Is it hitting scale with consumers yet?
10:52 Where does the majority of their business come from?
15:40 Is coronavirus impacting the supply-side of Formlabs?
20:16 Understanding the most lucrative use cases for 3D printing
21:58 What skill do you need to be a 3D modeler?
31:04 How did Max raise his first round of capital at Formlabs?
36:02 What was his...

0:51 Jason intros Bain Capital's Ajay Agarwal
3:17 Are we experiencing late-stage capitalism? Is capitalism broken?
8:22 Why is upward mobility stalling?
15:29 What is it about founders & startups that made him dedicate his life's work to?
18:46 What piece of knowledge got him in startups? Ajay describes gross margin & incremental costs
23:03 Two insights on why enterprise software is the best business
30:11 Mitt Romney at Bain Capital & issues with cultural...

0:54 Want to see what it's like to be an Angel Investor in Jason's Syndicate? DM @thesyndicate415 to read Jason's last 3 deal memos
1:37 Jason intros Austen Allred & gets his side of the recent Lambda School controversy
6:22 Jason intros Katherine Boyle & gets her take on how she would have advised Austen on PR
7:58 Explaining Lambda School in simple terms
13:10 Setting up Lambda School as a counter to predatory loans
14:31 Jason explains late-stage journalism,...

0:42 Jason intros Jack Kramer & Nick Martell of Robinhood Snacks
1:06 Starting Market Snacks as a side hustle after rooming together in college
13:24 What Series of Robinhood were they acquired at?
14:11 Jason's origin story meeting Vlad & investing in Robinhood
18:38 Coronavirus impact on the public market.....

0:50 Jason intros Benchmark's Sarah Tavel
1:20 Aside from Slack, what other companies grew like consumer-facing but charge like enterprise?
3:19 How was Sarah recruited to Benchmark? How is Benchmark different from other major VC firms?
12:04 Limited upside of talking to the press in 2020
17:30 Growing up in NYC and going to Harvard
21:30 Jason on becoming a "Don't touch the thermostat" dad
23:58 How did the offer from Peter Fenton go down? What drew Sarah to...

0:44 Jason shares some thoughts on hard work
1:52 Jason intros Anthemos Georgiades and they discuss how Zumper was launched at TechCrunch
4:02 How did Anthemos wind up as a founder after working in consulting
6:45 What is Zumper's origin story? How many iterations did they go through before coming up with an MVP?
15:34 How did Zumper monetize their marketplace?
18:30 Partnering with Facebook & diversifying revenue
27:12 Anthemos shares thoughts on growth vs...

0:36 Jason intros Monique & Wade
8:29 Tech Journalists vs. Founders/VCs
14:48 Is link-baiting press a systemic, societal issue?
19:21 Future of Founders/VCs controlling their own voice via podcasts, email newsletters, etc...