Videos

When you're a pioneer there is no map. Legenedary investor and NEA executive Scott Sandell (Salesforce, Robinhood, Tableau and 13 other Unicorn Companies) says the best person to lead a company is the founder IF they have these two things: 1. They can take it the whole way and 2.…

Scott Sandell, Executive Chairman and Chief Investment Officer at NEA is truly one of the great venture capitalists of our generation. With nearly three decades at NEA he leads the field with a track record of dozens of successful investments including unicorns like Salesforce, Plaid, Workday, Robinhood, Cloudflare and Tableau.…

The founders that do whatever it takes to get their first customers, those are the ones you need to back. Sheel Mohnot at Better Tomorrow Ventures even (temporarily) picked up smoking so he could get in front of a customer. Here's the story Full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puOkL6r8utc&t=1430s

A big die off is coming for fintech startups based solely off card payments. Why? Interchange is a wedge, not a foundation. @pitdesi at @btv_vc breaks down why fintech business models built solely on ever-shrinking fee pools are at risk. Full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puOkL6r8utc&t=2684s RT for Interchange learning https://x.com/matttbrown/status/1617601371796307968

What's the best way to support entrepreneurs in your portcos? Be there and be responsive. Jake Gibson and Sheel Mohnot from Better Tomorrow Ventures have landed deals because they have a reputation of reading the investor updates, picking up the phone, and having the tough conversations. One thing we liked…

When Jake Gibson was building NerdWallet, he knew the fastest way to grow was to rank high on Google. But credit card companies dominated the top spots. Their thesis (novel at the time) - write good content and you'll win with organic traffic. When Google changed their SEO algo to…

What's NerdWallet's Jake Gibson and Sheel Mohnot's fintech investing strategy at Better Tomorrow Ventures? Don't buy into the hype cycles. Why? A lot of these biz models are things the incumbents have largely already won. They tend to be games of marketing spend and cost of capital, not games you…

One thing to know about @pitdesi and @iamjakestream: they always respond. And it's become one of their differentiators as a VC at Better Tomorrow Ventures. Jake and Sheel tell us how this strategy is paying off with their founders and portcos on the latest episode. Full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puOkL6r8utc&t=154s

There may be no better pair of fintech investors than Better Tomorrow Ventures Jake Gibson and Sheel Mohnot. After successful exits in the industry -- Jake as the co-founder of NerdWallet, one of the OG consumer fintech companies, and Sheel with FeeFighter and Innovative Auctions, Jake and Sheel saw a…

If you're a customer of Mercury you know they've gone above and beyond on their product. CEO and co-founder Immad Akhund told us executing at that level of detail has helped them stand out in a crowded field and set them up for big growth when SVB went under. Full…

New hires at Mercury can expect to have their equity vest on a 6-year period, not 4. Why? Ownership mentality. CEO Immad Akhund says the job hopping mindset can be a cancer to company growth and rewarding those who buy in long term is a huge unlock. Full episode: https://youtu.be/U6qh3Mwdmzk

Want to be successful as a CEO? Make yourself less busy, not more. Mercury co-founder and CEO Immad Akhund's advice for founders has stuck with us. Focus deeply on the things that matter most and hire great people for everything else so you never become the bottleneck in the business.…

When SVB failed last year, Mercury's growth seemed to explode overnight. CEO Immad Akhund tells us how years spent building a quality product made it possible to capitalize on the opportunity and assure their customers Mercury was a safe option. Full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6qh3Mwdmzk&t=2453s

Is it always smart to take outside money from investors and VCs? Mercury CEO Immad Akhund would say no. While Immad did raise capital to start one of the most beloved neobank products for startups, he's seen too many businesses collapse because they didn't have 'real growth'. Hear more from…

Multi-millionaire founder Immad Akhund says he's skeptical of AI and the latest innovations. "It's a hype cycle and it's disappointing". Hear more on the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6qh3Mwdmzk&t=2450s

Immad Akhund had the idea for Mercury years before they started. In fact, he'd launched 3 other startups and been through YCombinator twice before even starting initial validation on what would become the beloved neobank of startups everywhere. And opinions were mixed. Immad himself recognized the need for a simpler…

How involved should you be as an investor? It depends on the stage of the company says a16z's Alex Rampell. As a rule, it's best to stay out of daily operating. The job of the board is to advise and consent. Full episode: https://youtu.be/zBfDMxuy108

a16z's Alex Rampell had a rule at TrialPay that all current customers, perspective clients and strategic partners had to hear from them once a month. He told us that this is something a lot of entrepreneurs get wrong -- they either follow up too much or get one rejection and…

How do you increase your odds of a successful exit? Get in front of the 3-4 people who would want to buy your company and do it repeatedly. Legendary investor and serial entrepreneur Alex Rampell breaks down how doing this consistently will dramatically increase the likelihood your company gets acquired.…

In 1998 TiVo was on top of the world. But years later the company died. Why? They didn't control the content their innovation worked on top of. When asked if product or distribution is more important, serial entrepreneur Alex Rampell says distribution for sure. Alex's advice: Go boring and build…

Good entrepreneurs are successful because they do three things and do them well: find labor, capital and customers. @a16@a16z's Alex Rampell breaks down why being motivated by 'revenge' is the edge to make a founder great. Full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBfDMxuy108&t=2s More learnings from @arampell https://www.arampell.org/category/strategy/

Andreessen Horowitz General Partner Alex Rampell may be the most true version of an investor-operator. Alex's first entrepreneurial endeavor started as a child when he built and sold shareware out of his parent's house. Eventually he added more businesses to his portfolio before launching the payment platform TrialPay after college…

What's one of the harder things about starting at venture capital firm? Getting caught up in all the little decisions. @GeoffLewisOrg at @bedrock explains why it's important to develop the skill of knowing when a choice is 'one-door' and which don't hold much weight at the end of the day.…

We sat down and asked Geoff Lewis from Bedrock Capital if there's an overlap between the characteristic of great founders and investors. Turns out the investors who have started something before, even if it's their own VC may have a leg up. Shoutout to Vinod at Khosla and Kirsten Green…