Podcast appearances and mentions of brian singerman

After a brief hiatus, the Newcomer podcast is back! Madeline Renbarger has rejoined me as my co-host to help break down all of the news across venture capital and startups. This week, we're kicking off with a massive $693 million chip deal and Google's huge quantum computing breakthroughs, in news that feels like flashes of Silicon Valley returning to its “silicon” roots. Still, some of this tech feels a bit too early to be exciting for a venture-backable model. We also dig into the personnel shake-ups across the major multi-stage funds, including Brian Singerman's step back from Founders Fund last week. Lightspeed also saw partners exit as part of a consumer investing reshuffle. And just this morning after recording, Lux Capital's Bilal Zuberi announced on X that he was leaving to “embark on a new chapter.” We're excited for you to listen. Episode produced by Christopher GatesBrought to you by BrexBrex knows runway is everything for venture-backed startups, so they built a banking solution that helps them take every dollar further. Unlike traditional banking solutions, Brex has no minimums and gives startups access to 20x the standard FDIC protection via program banks.Plus, startups can earn industry-leading yield from their first dollar — while being able to access their funds anytime. If you want to make sure your portfolio companies have a place to save, spend, and grow their capital, check out Brex here.Chapters 00:00 - Intro 01:06 - Tenstorrent's $693 million Series D 04:44 - Google's Quantum Computing Breakthrough06:42 - Lightspeed's Consumer Investing Re-org09:24 - Brian Singerman Steps Back and Founders Fund's Roster14:08 - Mega-funds in Transition and Tech's Trump Positioning 20:19 - Conclusion and Future Discussions Get full access to Newcomer at www.newcomer.co/subscribe

After a brief hiatus, the Newcomer podcast is back! Madeline Renbarger has rejoined me as my co-host to help break down all of the news across venture capital and startups. This week, we're kicking off with a massive $693 million chip deal and Google's huge quantum computing breakthroughs, in news that feels like flashes of Silicon Valley returning to its “silicon” roots. Still, some of this tech feels a bit too early to be exciting for a venture-backable model. We also dig into the personnel shake-ups across the major multi-stage funds, including Brian Singerman's step back from Founders Fund last week. Lightspeed also saw partners exit as part of a consumer investing reshuffle. And just this morning after recording, Lux Capital's Bilal Zuberi announced on X that he was leaving to “embark on a new chapter.” We're excited for you to listen. Episode produced by Christopher GatesBrought to you by BrexBrex knows runway is everything for venture-backed startups, so they built a banking solution that helps them take every dollar further. Unlike traditional banking solutions, Brex has no minimums and gives startups access to 20x the standard FDIC protection via program banks.Plus, startups can earn industry-leading yield from their first dollar — while being able to access their funds anytime. If you want to make sure your portfolio companies have a place to save, spend, and grow their capital, check out Brex here.Chapters 00:00 - Intro 01:06 - Tenstorrent's $693 million Series D 04:44 - Google's Quantum Computing Breakthrough06:42 - Lightspeed's Consumer Investing Re-org09:24 - Brian Singerman Steps Back and Founders Fund's Roster14:08 - Mega-funds in Transition and Tech's Trump Positioning 20:19 - Conclusion and Future Discussions Get full access to Newcomer at www.newcomer.co/subscribe

AI agent startup /dev/agents announced a massive $56M seed round, putting the company's valuation at a whopping $500 million. The amount is impressive given the company won't have a first version of its product available until at least early next year. The reason behind investors' trust, however, becomes a bit clearer when you consider the founders' pedigree:  /dev/agents' co-founders were both on Google's Android team during the early days of the smartphone era. The round, as well as whether or not to include “slash” when pronouncing the company's name, was the first of many deals discussed on today's episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast.  Listen to the full episode to hear hosts Margaux MacColl, Devin Coldewey and Anthony Ha dig into: How Yurts plans to become the DoD's go-to AI integration platform and compete with AI chatbot the Pentagon is developing itself. Why ServiceTitan's IPO keeps getting weirder and if it's a sign of IPOs to come.  The latest wave of VC turnover, including Brian Singerman's choice to step back from Founders Fund and Sriram Krishnan's departure from a16z, and where they're going next. The crew was left wondering if we'll see other investors following in Krishnan's footsteps.  Strange AI. Who is David Mayer? And why does ChatGPT hate him so much? Equity will be back next week, so stay tuned! Equity is TechCrunch's flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.  Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Check out our full archive of episodes here. Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

Trae Stephens is a Partner at Founders Fund, one of the world's leading funds where he has worked with some of the best and backed the likes of Palmer Luckey with Oculus and Ryan Peterson @ Flexport since the very early days. Trae is also Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Anduril Industries, a defense technology company focused on autonomous systems, and Co-founder of Sol, a next-generation wearable e-reader. Previously, Trae was an early employee at Palantir Technologies, where he was also an integral part of the product team, leading the design and strategy for new product offerings. In Today's Episode with Trae Stephens We Discuss: 1. From Hustling into Georgetown to Peter Thiel Ushering You into VC: What is Trae's story of how he got into Georgetown University, despite being rejected the first time? How did Trae make his way into the world of VC? How did Peter Thiel recruit him to Founders Fund? What advice did Brian Singerman give Trae in his first week in VC? Why is it so important? 2. How the Best Venture Firm in the World Invests: Decision-Making Process: Why do Founders Fund not have partner meetings? What is the investment decision-making process? Why does more process lead to mediocre outcomes? Competitive Deals: Why does Trae believe the most competitive deals are always the worst? What do Founders Fund do to specifically avoid the "herd mentality"? Upside Maximisation: Why does no one at Founders Fund care about "downside protection"? How do the team approach scenario planning and upside maximisation? 3. Do VCs Really Add Value: Why does Trae think putting VCs on a board for "value add" is total BS? Are there any cases in which Trae believes the VC can really move the needle for a company? Why does Trae believe venture would be better if it were just operator investors? Why does Trae believe platform approaches to VC value add is BS? 4. The Future of VC: Who and How to Win: How did being an operator at the same time as investing, make Trae a better investor? Why does Trae believe that vertical investing is BS and generalised is better? How does Trae favour; market, product and people? Will Trae back a founder when he hates the idea? What have been Trae's biggest lessons from his biggest hits and biggest misses in 10 years?

This Week in Startups is brought to you by… Gusto is easy online payroll, benefits, and HR built for modern small businesses. Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://www.gusto.com/twist Northwest Registered Agent. When starting your business, it's important to use a service that will actually help you. Northwest Registered Agent is that service. They'll form your company fast, give you the documents you need to open a business bank account, and even provide you with mail scanning and a business address to keep your personal privacy intact. Visit http://www,northwestregisteredagent.com/twist to get a 60% discount on your next LLC. Uizard. Struggling to transform innovative ideas into concrete product designs? Uizard can help you turn your visions into polished UI designs in a fraction of the time, while enhancing collaboration across your entire team. Get 25% off Uizard Pro for an entire year at http://www.uizard.io/twist * Todays show: Jason joins David Clark of VenCap to discuss what distinguishes longevity and success in VC (5:25), the importance of strategy and timing when selling (25:47), preparing with founders for when things may go south (48:43), and more! * Timestamps: (0:00) David Clark joins Jason. (2:41) Looking at the data behind VenCap's approach to alpha vs beta, managers and their over 500 investments to date. (5:25) What distinguishes longevity and success in VC. (9:15) Analyzing the data from David's chart covering 12,000 companies and the power law. (10:34) Gusto - Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://www.gusto.com/twist (12:43) Portfolio strategy and finding that 1% of fund returners. (18:59) The value of investing in a company over a longer period of time. (21:23) Northwest Registered Agent - Get a 60% discount on your next LLC at http://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist (22:17) The challenges VenCap faces when looking at seed managers. (25:47) The importance of strategy and timing on selling. (29:18 ) Uizard - Get 25% off Uizard Pro for an entire year at http://www.uizard.io/twist (33:05) Managing successful GPs and having them ‘stay in the game'. (41:49) The misunderstandings of the J-Curve. (48:43) Preparing with founders for when things may go south. (58:36) Founder Fridays message from Jason. * LINKS: Check out VenCap: https://www.vencap.com/ Watch the Brian Singerman episode here: https://youtu.be/o5Z0-d5w18M Watch the Michael Kim episode here: https://youtu.be/a2FL_FvwoUA Check out Founder Fridays: http://thisweekinstartups.com/meetups * Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp * Follow David: X: https://twitter.com/daveclark85 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-clark-6678b6b/?originalSubdomain=uk * Follow Jason: X: ⁠https://twitter.com/jason⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jason⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis * Thank you to our partners: (10:34) Gusto - Get three months free when you run your first payroll at http://www.gusto.com/twist (21:23) Northwest Registered Agent - Get a 60% discount on your next LLC at http://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist (29:18 ) Uizard - Get 25% off Uizard Pro for an entire year at http://www.uizard.io/twist * Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland * Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis * 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 * Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast

This Week in Startups is brought to you by… Imagine AI LIVE is an AI conference where you'll learn how to apply AI in YOUR business directly from the people who build and use these tools. It's taking place March 27th and 28th in Las Vegas, and TWiST listeners can get 20% off tickets at http://www.imagineai.live/twist OpenPhone. Create business phone numbers for you and your team that work through an app on your smartphone or desktop. TWiST listeners can get an extra 20% off any plan for your first 6 months at http://www.openphone.com/twist Lemon.io - Hire pre-vetted remote developers, get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://www.Lemon.io/twist * Todays show: Jason speaks to Brian Singerman of Founders Fund about tips for emerging venture capitalists (6:40), a missed opportunity by an overconfident LP (15:49), self-awareness, strategy and the state of venture capital (40:47), and more! * Timestamps: (0:00) Jason speaks to Brian Singerman of Founders Fund. (2:31) “Adapt or die!” and the unique approach and strategy at Founders Fund. (6:40) Brian's tips for emerging venture capitalists on making investments. (10:09) Imagine AI LIVE - Get 20% off tickets at http://www.imagineai.live/twist (11:24) Brian reflects on his career's trials and triumphs (15:49) Brian shares an anecdote about a gloating LP who passed on one of the greatest venture funds in history. (21:36) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at http://www.openphone.com/twist (23:04) Brian's approach for securing a deal with founders. (28:03) The sharp mind of Sean Parker. (31:32) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://www.Lemon.io/twist (32:37) The character of founders who change the world and how to work with them. (37:30) Regulation and the anti-competitive landscape of large companies in the US. (40:47) Self-awareness, strategy and the state of venture capital. (44:00) Keith Rabois's transition from Founders Fund back to Khosla Ventures. (47:27) Reflecting on Ikigai and finding joy and value in one's passion. * Links: Check out Founders Fund: https://foundersfund.com/ Check out past TWiST episode #748 with Brian: https://youtu.be/O8emgaUsOZY?feature=shared * Follow Brian: X: https://twitter.com/briansin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-singerman-9333b52/ * Follow Jason: X: ⁠https://twitter.com/jason⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jason⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis * Thank you to our partners: (10:09) Imagine AI LIVE - Get 20% off tickets at http://www.imagineai.live/twist (21:36) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at http://www.openphone.com/twist (31:32) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://www.Lemon.io/twist * Check out the Launch Accelerator: https://launchaccelerator.co * Check out Founder University: https://www.founder.university * Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp * Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland * Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis * 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 * Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast

As the Morin household goes full Vision Pro, the gang reveals what everyone is missing about the device. Plus, the earthquake through digital media and (maybe) the end of AI everything. Takeaways The Apple Vision Pro offers a truly immersive and transformative experience, changing the way users think about computing. The Vision Pro represents a new computing paradigm and has the potential to expand into various devices and accessories. Developers will play a crucial role in exploring and innovating new use cases for the Vision Pro. The joint streaming service for sports by major networks reflects the significance of sports in the media industry and the growing demand for streaming sports content. Streaming services are disrupting the traditional cable industry, but the challenge lies in the fragmentation of content and the lack of a comprehensive aggregator. The demand for a comprehensive sports package remains high, as sports fans struggle to find a streaming service that offers all the games they want to watch. Esports has not yet reached its full potential in the United States, as it lacks the community engagement and water cooler conversations that traditional sports have. The venture capital industry is constantly evolving, but the key to success remains investing in the few companies that truly matter. AI is no longer a standalone category in venture capital, but rather a tool that is integrated into various industries and sectors. Show Notes 00:00 Introduction and Special Guest 03:01 Discussion on Apple Vision Pro 11:00 Impressions and Potential of Apple Vision Pro 17:26 Competition and Future of Apple Vision Pro 25:08 Developer Perspective on Apple Vision Pro 34:48 Discussion on Joint Streaming Service for Sports 35:44 Streaming and the Cable Industry 36:13 Challenges of Streaming Bundles 37:40 Need for a Sports Package 39:05 Competition and Market Share in Streaming 41:37 Future of TV News 43:24 Challenges of Esports 50:28 The Changing Landscape of Venture Capital 52:06 Evolution of AI in Venture Capital --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/moreorlesspod/message

Introduction: Welcome to Five & Thrive: a weekly podcast highlighting the Southeast's most interesting news, entrepreneurs, and information of the week, all under 5 minutes.  My name is Jon Birdsong and I'm with Atlanta Ventures.  Welcome everyone to episode 31 of Five and Thrive and the last one of 2022. Outside of the Braves making major trade plays last week, there was some movement in the tech space as well which we'll cover shortly but before we get there, we did want to highlight some valuable and insightful pieces of content that spoke the most to us from the investment perspective. Also, if you're looking for a recap of all of Atlanta Ventures' investments in 2022, we'll link to the news portion of our website which goes through the year's investments and we'll also link to the sign up page to our newsletter which Jacey Cadet sends out monthly on all the specific investments, news, and more.  3 Pieces of Content We Really Like: I'm not putting out a listicle or Top 10 List. But since we started producing this podcast back in June, there are a few pieces of content that really resonated with us. We're only offering 3 to enhance the gravity of the recommendations.  The first one is TwentyVC where Martin Escobari of General Atlantic shares his wisdom and insight around why markets matter most, how to remain a disciplined investor, what they look for in due diligence and much more. I liked this interview because it was so normal. Martin makes his opinion clear on several topics and it all seems so cogent and well thought out.  The second is an article coming from Mark Suster of Upfront VC titled: What does the post crash VC market look like? Mark wrote this in July of this year and there are some timeless themes put into actions specifically discipline and focus. Suster argues in times like these, there are only two things a VC firm can do: either go very big or get very focused. Upfront is does the latter. He walks through, with metrics, how they've kept their strategy consistent of writing checks early at an amount and price point in a very specific ballpark regardless of all of shifting and shiny objects out there in the macroeconomy. A good one to read.    Our third is back to TwentyVC this time Harry Stebbings interviews Brian Singerman of Founders Fund. Brian is a pro's pro and goes into a significant amount of information here including FoundersFund investing style, the overall mismatch in public vs. private markets right now. By the way, this was recorded in October of 2022. Brian also talks about how venture capital is investing in the best entrepreneurs building the best companies at the best possible price. Pretty simple, yet so hard. Worth a listen for sure.  Market Opportunity To Watch:  As y'all know, we love sparking startups out of the Atlanta Ventures' Studio and markets are the biggest factor to success. One market opportunity we are excited about over the next 5-7 years is around solar panels and more specifically solar panel installations. As more and more consumers and businesses install solar panels due to either cost and energy savings, maybe with the help of government incentives as well, there will be an increased number of solar installers. Software will be needed to organize and streamline those services as demand increases. A market to watch for sure.   Raise a Glass: Lastly, as mentioned above, there were deals made into the final holiday hours of the year, maybe even one more between now and the new year but Qualytics out of Orlando went through the Engage program and just closed a $2.5M round led Tech Square Ventures, who've we've highlighted before on this podcast as well as Knoll Ventures — both firms out of Atlanta. Qualytics solves the massive problem of scattered and unorganized data within the organization. When this happens, even the smartest folks in the room are not informed enough to make meaningful, strategic decisions. Qualtyics helps companies manage data quality at scale. Imagine millions or billions of data points scattered across several applications, the opaqueness and confusion can compound quickly. Well done to Founder and CEO, Gorkem Sevinc on closing the round before the final bell of the year.   Annnnd, that's 5 minutes. Thank you for listening to Five and Thrive. We provide 5 minutes of quality information, so you can thrive in the upcoming week. Please subscribe to the show and spread the good word!  Resources discussed in this episode: Atlanta Ventures News from the Year:  https://www.atlantaventures.com/resources/news https://www.atlantaventures.com/newsletter  3 Pieces of Content We Really Like: Martin Escobari of General Atlantic on TwentyVC Mark Suster of Upfront VC - What does the post-crash VC market look like? Brian Singerman of FoundersFund on TwentyVC Market Opportunity to Watch: Solar Panel Installations and Installers Raise a Glass: Qualytics Raises $2.5M  

Brian Singerman is a Partner @ Founders Fund, one of the best-performing funds of the last two decades. Among their portfolio, they have the likes of Airbnb, Facebook, Stripe, Anduril, and many more generational-defining companies. As for Brian, he has led investments in the likes of Affirm, Oscar Health, Wish, Asana, Oculus, and Postmates to name a few. Brian also sits on the board or is an observer to The Long Term Stock Exchange, Solugen, Cloud9, Modern Health, and of course, Anduril. Prior to Founders Fund, Brian spent a very successful 4 years as an engineer and executive at Google. In Today's Episode with Brian Singerman We Discuss: 1.) From Google to Befriending Sean Parker to Founders Fund: How Brian's friendship with Sean Parker led to his joining Founders Fund over 15 years ago? What does Brian believe makes Founders Fund such a unique fund? What does Brian know now that he wishes he had known when he started in venture? 2.) The Landscape Today: Where Are We Now? Why does Brian believe there is a huge price mismatch between private vs public companies? How does this impact the pace with which Founders Fund invest? Why does Brian not feel any pressure to invest in this environment? What are the 10 hypergrowth companies that Brian is looking to invest in today? What advice does Brian give to young investors today who are concerned at their first market correction and questioning if they are actually any good at this? 3.) Brian Singerman: The Investor: How does Brian reflect on his own investing style? What is he world-class at? What is he bad at? Why does Brian think boards are a waste of time? What is better than a board? Why does Brian not ever think about reserves? How does Brian answer LPs concerns when they cite them on the topic of cross-fund investing? What does Brian believe is the secret to venture capital? What elements make those at Founders Fund thrive? What characteristics make those that do not work out, fail? 4.) Founders Fund: The Firm: How does Founders Fund structure and optimize its decision-making process today? How does Founders Fund approach the hiring process for all new team members? What one question do they need to be able to clearly answer with all team members joining? How do Founders Fund approach the reference checking process for all new hires? What questions do they find most revealing of the true talent of the candidate? What are the single biggest hiring mistakes Brian has made? What did he learn from them? Items Mentioned in Today's Episode: Brian's Most Recent Investment: Anduril

Twenty Minute VC Podcast Notes Key Takeaways “You need just as good business people on your team as you do technology people in order to win” – Brian SingermanAnduril's team recipe is made for success by having elite technologists and pre-existing relationships with the governmentWe need to control our own destiny when it comes to national security – defense products need to be built on-shore, not outsourcedAnduril is creating software (Lattice Platform) and hardware for national defense and securityEvery founder needs to have ‘IT' = Know their unique strengths and effectively supplement their weaknesses with other peopleIn Brian's opinion, Palmer Luckey has ‘IT' and compares him to Elon Musk as a technologist visionaryRelationships with founders are the key to VC success in this valuation inflation marketRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.org Brian Singerman is a General Partner @ Founders Fund, one of the most prominent venture firms of the last decade with a portfolio including Anduril, SpaceX, Tesla, Palantir, Stripe, Affirm, Airbnb, Facebook, and many more. As for Brian, he has led investments in the likes of Affirm, Oscar Health, Wish, Asana, Oculus, and Postmates to name a few. Brian also sits on the board or is an observer to The Long Term Stock Exchange, Solugen, Cloud9, Modern Health, and of course, Anduril. Prior to Founders Fund, Brian spent a very successful 4 years as an engineer and executive at Google. In Today's Episode with Brian Singerman on Anduril, You Will Learn: 1.) How did Brian first come to meet Palmer and the Anduril team? Where did the meeting take place? How did the discussion go? Did Brian instantly feel that Palmer was special? What about the way Palmer presented, suggested this to Brian? 2.) The Market: What gave Brian the confidence Anduril would be successful where so many others had failed? How did the market change or evolve in a way Brian did expect? In what ways did the market surprise Brian? Does Brian think we will see the relationship between Silicon Valley and the DOD change over time? 3.) Anduril: The Business: Why is Anduril as a business, so hard to copy? How did Brian gain comfort around their defensibility? What does Brian think is the biggest misconception people have of Anduril as a business? How does Brian think about when is the right time to add secondary and ancillary products? 4.) Investing Today: Why is Brian no longer Zoom investing today? What does Brian mean when he says you have to, "play a different game to the hedge funds today"? In what way does he and Founders Fund look to do this? How does Brian think about the current levels of pricing? How does he determine when to pay up vs when to be disciplined?

Twenty Minute VC Podcast Notes Key Takeaways “You need just as good business people on your team as you do technology people in order to win” – Brian SingermanAnduril's team recipe is made for success by having elite technologists and pre-existing relationships with the governmentWe need to control our own destiny when it comes to national security – defense products need to be built on-shore, not outsourcedAnduril is creating software (Lattice Platform) and hardware for national defense and securityEvery founder needs to have ‘IT' = Know their unique strengths and effectively supplement their weaknesses with other peopleIn Brian's opinion, Palmer Luckey has ‘IT' and compares him to Elon Musk as a technologist visionaryRelationships with founders are the key to VC success in this valuation inflation marketRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.org Brian Singerman is a General Partner @ Founders Fund, one of the most prominent venture firms of the last decade with a portfolio including Anduril, SpaceX, Tesla, Palantir, Stripe, Affirm, Airbnb, Facebook, and many more. As for Brian, he has led investments in the likes of Affirm, Oscar Health, Wish, Asana, Oculus, and Postmates to name a few. Brian also sits on the board or is an observer to The Long Term Stock Exchange, Solugen, Cloud9, Modern Health, and of course, Anduril. Prior to Founders Fund, Brian spent a very successful 4 years as an engineer and executive at Google. In Today's Episode with Brian Singerman on Anduril, You Will Learn: 1.) How did Brian first come to meet Palmer and the Anduril team? Where did the meeting take place? How did the discussion go? Did Brian instantly feel that Palmer was special? What about the way Palmer presented, suggested this to Brian? 2.) The Market: What gave Brian the confidence Anduril would be successful where so many others had failed? How did the market change or evolve in a way Brian did expect? In what ways did the market surprise Brian? Does Brian think we will see the relationship between Silicon Valley and the DOD change over time? 3.) Anduril: The Business: Why is Anduril as a business, so hard to copy? How did Brian gain comfort around their defensibility? What does Brian think is the biggest misconception people have of Anduril as a business? How does Brian think about when is the right time to add secondary and ancillary products? 4.) Investing Today: Why is Brian no longer Zoom investing today? What does Brian mean when he says you have to, "play a different game to the hedge funds today"? In what way does he and Founders Fund look to do this? How does Brian think about the current levels of pricing? How does he determine when to pay up vs when to be disciplined?

Brian Singerman is a General Partner @ Founders Fund, one of the most prominent venture firms of the last decade with a portfolio including Anduril, SpaceX, Tesla, Palantir, Stripe, Affirm, Airbnb, Facebook, and many more. As for Brian, he has led investments in the likes of Affirm, Oscar Health, Wish, Asana, Oculus, and Postmates to name a few. Brian also sits on the board or is an observer to The Long Term Stock Exchange, Solugen, Cloud9, Modern Health, and of course, Anduril. Prior to Founders Fund, Brian spent a very successful 4 years as an engineer and executive at Google. In Today's Episode with Brian Singerman on Anduril, You Will Learn: 1.) How did Brian first come to meet Palmer and the Anduril team? Where did the meeting take place? How did the discussion go? Did Brian instantly feel that Palmer was special? What about the way Palmer presented, suggested this to Brian? 2.) The Market: What gave Brian the confidence Anduril would be successful where so many others had failed? How did the market change or evolve in a way Brian did expect? In what ways did the market surprise Brian? Does Brian think we will see the relationship between Silicon Valley and the DOD change over time? 3.) Anduril: The Business: Why is Anduril as a business, so hard to copy? How did Brian gain comfort around their defensibility? What does Brian think is the biggest misconception people have of Anduril as a business? How does Brian think about when is the right time to add secondary and ancillary products? 4.) Investing Today: Why is Brian no longer Zoom investing today? What does Brian mean when he says you have to, "play a different game to the hedge funds today"? In what way does he and Founders Fund look to do this? How does Brian think about the current levels of pricing? How does he determine when to pay up vs when to be disciplined?

Produced by Foundersuite (https://foundersuite.com/), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders who have raised capital. This episode is with John Fazio of Nerd Street Gamers (https://nerdstgamers.com/), a startup creating a national network of eSports facilities, events and content. Joining John is Wayne Kimmel of 76 Capital, an early financial backer of the Company. In this episode, John and Wayne talk about the dramatic growth of eSports, his previous attempts at building a digital video network and how that evolved into NSG, how a business with multiple physical locations pivoted to a digital platform, how he landed premier investor Founders Fund, and much more. The Company recently raised $11.5 million in funding led by Founders Fund, captained by Brian Singerman, bringing the company’s total funding to approximately $25 million. Previously, the Company raised a $12 million Series A from Five Below, Comcast Spectacor, SeventySix Capital, Elevate Capital and angel investor George Miller. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $2.5 Billion since 2016. Create a free account at https://foundersuite.com/

Trae Stephens (@traestephens) is a venture capitalist at Founders Fund with partners like Peter Thiel, Brian Singerman, Cyan Banister and Keith Rabois, where he invests across sectors with a particular interest in startups operating in the government space. He’s also Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Anduril Industries with Palmer Luckey, who founded Oculus, which was acquired by Facebook in 2014. Anduril is a defense technology company focused on developing autonomous systems for U.S. military and is by far one of the most interesting, and for some controversial, new startups in the last two years. In our conversation Trae described it as a real-life Stark Industries from Ironman. Previously, Trae was an early employee at Palantir Technologies, where he led teams focused on growth in the intelligence/defense space as well as international expansion, helping large organizations solve their hardest data analysis problems. Prior to Palantir, Trae worked as a computational linguist within the United States Intelligence community. He began his career working in the office of then Congressman Rob Portman and in the Political Affairs Office at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, D.C. Trae is a publishing a paper on Just War Theory In the Age of Technology later this month and you can follow him on Twitter @traestephens. Our conversation with Trae was a wide-ranging and illuminating. We hope you enjoy the episode. Read Trae's latest piece: The Ethics of Defense Technology Development: An Investor’s Perspective https://medium.com/@traestephens/the-ethics-of-defense-technology-development-an-investors-perspective-45c71bf6e6af

My guest this week is Brian Singerman, a partner at the venture capital firm Founders Fund. Founder’s Fund is widely considered one of the top VC firms and its partners are known to have diverse investment strategies. Brian invests across industries and focuses on backing exceptional founders. You’ll hear right off the bat that he cares about moat, market, and strong execution. I love his point that the only way to become a good investor is to do a lot of investing. He describes himself an investor who uses his gut a lot, which took me a while to get used to in our conversation. But I have to say that at the end of this episode I felt refreshed and generally excited to keep putting in reps in my own way, both in the podcast and the quant research settings. I hope you enjoy. For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Show Notesd 1:28 - (First Question) – What Brian looks for when evaluating companies 2:38 – What a moat looks like in investing 3:11 – Most memorable initial moat 4:17 – How he evaluates a potential market 5:28 – Attributes they look for in founders 6:24 – Most significant technological changes and how they have impacted his investment strategy 8:57 – The sourcing of his deals 13:00 – Qualities he likes at various stages of deal sourcing 13:46 – How he evaluates the teams he may fund 15:17 – His take on the pricing landscape for deals 16:13 – How he allocates his time as a board member 17:16 – Thoughts on long term stock exchange 18:26 – How much research does he do on an industry in order to stay on top of his investments 20:10 – Outside information he follows 21:20 -  Other investors he’s learned a lot from 23:12 – What values does Peter Thiel instill in the partners 24:05 – Process of StemCentrics 26:03 – Other places holding his interest today 26:57 – His interest in e-sports 31:44 – Interactions with LP’s 32:51 – What they look for in recruiting new partners 34:32 – How geography impacts the opportunity for new ideas 36:24 – Opportunities in public companies and other investment types 37:57 – Aspects of overseeing a startup venture 39:26 – Kindest thing anyone has done for him   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.  Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

Investing is an infinite game. In a game, a player can formulate a strategy based on the available resources, the apparent variance of the environment, and the metagame of the other actors involved. For an investor, the game board includes companies, currencies, and people. A successful game player can model their actions mathematically. They can The post Investment Games with Brian Singerman appeared first on Software Engineering Daily.

Investing is an infinite game. In a game, a player can formulate a strategy based on the available resources, the apparent variance of the environment, and the metagame of the other actors involved. For an investor, the game board includes companies, currencies, and people. A successful game player can model their actions mathematically. They can The post Investment Games with Brian Singerman appeared first on Software Engineering Daily.

In this interview, Brian Singerman explains why he doesn't have an investment thesis and why he’s agnostic to both sector and stage. We also discuss business strategy and the importance of finding a unique competitive advantage.

Mario Schlosser is the Founder & CEO @ Oscar, the startup that makes health insurance easy. They have raised over $700m in funding from some of the world's best investors including the likes of Founders Fund, Google Capital, Thrive Capital, Lakestar, Khosla Ventures and Jim Breyer just to name a few. Previously, Mario co-founded the largest social gaming company in Latin America and held roles with the likes of Bridgewater Associates and McKinsey. Fun fact, as a visiting scholar at Stanford University, Mario wrote 10 computer science publications, including one of the most-cited computer science papers published in the past decade. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Mario made his way into the world of healthcare and Oscar from founding Latin America's largest social gaming company? 2.) Why is insurance one of the most complex spaces in tech? Why is there a chance for companies, not governments, to cut costs and innovate on the current system? Does Mario agree with Brian Singerman, "once we go to a single player, innovation ends", thesis? 3.) Oscar has raised over $700m, to what extent does Mario believe that too high a valuation can be a liability? How did Mario look to select his investors? What are the challenges of raising funds for a category-defining opportunity? 4.) Oscar now has over 600 in the team, where have been the inflection points in the scaling of the company? Where have things broken? How does Mario look to rectify and observe these inflection points ahead of time? 5.) How does Mario look to optimise team composition? How does he look to balance athletes with heavy domain experts? Does Mario believe that too much domain expertise can prevent innovation due to a lack of naivety? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Mario’s Fave Book: Herr Lehmann Mario’s Fave Blog: Spiegel As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Mario on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. If you are an early stage startup, the right infrastructure and support systems are critical, that is where First Republic is so good. First Republic’s resources network and expertise allow entrepreneurs to customise a solid foundation for their business. Why First Republic, well you get to leverage their incredible network of VC firms to prepare you for future fundraising events, you get to count on a single point of contact that will be there for you and your employees, you get access to exclusive events and networking opportunities. Their clients include the likes of Instacart, eShares and Wish just to name a few. Check it out by heading over to innovation.firstrepublic.com Segment allows you to collect data from every platform (mobile, web, server, cloud apps) and load it into Segment. Segment then sends the customer data to your tools and destinations where it can be used most effectively, destinations include email, analytics, warehouses, helpdesks and more. With over 200 sources and destinations on the Segment platform that can empower your team, Segment really is the last integration you will ever do and that is why the world’s best companies use segment to drive growth and revenue including Atlassian, New Relic and Crate & Barrel. Simply head over to segment.com to find out more.

Brian Singerman is a Partner @ Founders Fund, one of the world’s most prestigious and successful VC funds with prior investments in the likes of Facebook, Airbnb, SpaceX, Spotify and many more incredible companies. Prior to Founders Fund, Brian spent 4 years at Google where, among other projects, Brian founded iGoogle. Whilst at Google, Brian also started his career as an investor, founding his own angel fund, XGYC Fund. Brian also currently sits on the board of Affirm, Oscar, AltSchool and Emerald Therapeutics. Due to Brian's immense success he was named No 5 on Forbes Midas List for America's Top VCs.   In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Brian made the way from Google, to his own angel fund to being General Partner @ Founders Fund? 2.) How has Brian seen his investment mindset shift over the years from angel investing to his angel fund, XGYC to now being a partner at Founders Fund? 3.) Why does Brian believe that success in VC is purely about upside maximization? What does Brian think downside minimisation is unimportant? 4.) What does the investment decision-making process look like at Founders Fund? How does this change with the scaling cheque size? What are Brian's views on conviction driven vs unanimous team voting structures? 5.) Why is Brian a staunch generalist when it comes to investing? For Brian, why does he believe that being a generalist will deliver outsized returns over being a specialist? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Brian’s Fave Book: Snow Crash Brian’s Fave Blog: Dan Primack Brian’s Most Recent Investment: Affirm As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Brian on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including online meetings, video webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms and business instant messaging. Plus, it is the easiest solution to use, buy and scale with the most straightforward pricing. Do not take our word for it, Zoom’s their partnership with Sequoia in their latest 100m funding round says it all. Zoom is a must for your business. ViewedIt is a free video-recording tool that makes it easy for organizations to embrace the power of video for personalized communications. ViewedIt enables sales professionals, executive leaders and customer support teams to easily record personalized videos and add them to their email conversations. Plus, with built-in tracking powered by the Vidyard platform, video creators will know who is watching what, and which video messages resonate with viewers. They’ll receive immediate playback notifications that will eliminate the wondering of whether the recipient received or watched their content. Find out more and download ViewedIt for free at vidyard.com/viewedit.