Podcasts about general catalyst partners

Raj Gokal is the co-founder of Solana and president of Solana Labs. He also serves on the board of the Solana Foundation. He was previously focused on startups in behavioral health. He was Director of Product at Omada Health; EIR at Rock Health; Co-Founder of Sano, building consumer glucose sensors; and an investor at General Catalyst Partners. He started his career in hedge funds at companies like Meridian Capital Partners. Raj studied Finance at the Wharton School of UPenn.

In the ever-evolving landscape of technology and entrepreneurship, few stories are as multifaceted and inspiring as that of Othman Laraki. This interview dives into Othman's story, offering a deep exploration of the world of building, scaling, and transforming companies. Othman relates his experiences working in healthcare and artificial intelligence and eventually building Color Health. This venture has attracted funding from top-tier investors like General Catalyst Partners, Viking Global Investors, Emerson Collective, and T. Rowe Price.

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.We're excited to be joined by Chris Farmer, Founder and CEO of SignalFire, a firm that was founded nearly a decade ago with the goal of disrupting the way Venture Capital is done.Unlike traditional VC firms, SignalFire has been built more like a company than a traditional asset manager, as it leverages a robust purpose-built data platform to augment its unique service model to entrepreneurs.During our conversation, we spent a lot of the time talking about his views on building a next-generation venture capital fund and the organizational design that goes behind it.About Chris Farmer:Chris Farmer is the Founder and CEO of SignalFire. He was previously a Venture Partner at General Catalyst Partners, supporting notable companies such as Alation, Coinbase, Stripe, and Venmo. Prior to this, Chris served as a Vice President at Bessemer Venture Partners specializing in digital media and mobile investments.In addition to his venture capital experience, Chris has demonstrated his entrepreneurial prowess by spearheading the turnaround of Skybitz, a wireless-enabled SaaS company.His career began on Wall Street in the private equity group of Cowen & Company, and he holds a B.A. from Tufts University.In this episode, we discuss:(02:13) The inspiration to start SignalFire after stints at iconic firms like General Catalyst and Bessemer(04:42) Being a tech company that happens to also invest in other tech companies?(07:21) How Chris uses data to source and evaluate new deals(16:53) Balancing a founder's past performance and their future potential(22:13) Thinking about OKRs and KPIs when starting a different sort of firm(26:28) Why hasn't venture itself seen more innovation as an industry(30:00) How he recruited and found the right team for this new model(33:30) Why data was able to help the firm to avoid the pitfalls of the recent bullrun market(38:58) Balancing data and FOMO as a firm(43:30) What the market will look like over the next 12-18 monthsI'd love to know what you took away from this conversation with Chris. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you'd like to be considered as a guest or have someone you'd like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

John Simon is the co-founder of General Catalyst Partners, one of America's leading venture capital firms. John is also a managing director at Sigma Prime Ventures and the co-founder of the nonprofit GreenLight Fund. John joins Adam to share his journey and his best lessons and advice. John and Adam discuss entrepreneurship, leadership, career development, building winning teams and cultures, applying business lessons to nonprofit management, and much more.

Andy Golden is the President of Princeton University's Investment Management Company (PRINCO).  Having grown from $3B at the time of his arrival in 1995 to $22.5B today, PRINCO has been among the highest performing endowments in the world. Andy came to PRINCO from Duke Management Company, where he was an Investment Director, and received his formative training in the business working for David Swensen at the Yale University Investments Office. Andy currently serves on the fund Advisory Boards of several well-known private equity and venture capital managers, including Bain Capital, General Catalyst Partners, and Greylock Partners. He was a founding member of the Investors' Committee of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets and serves as a Trustee of the Princeton Area Community Foundation and Rutgers Preparatory School. Andy holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Duke University and an M.P.P.M. from the Yale School of Management. Our conversation discusses Princeton's endowment two decades ago and today, including its strategic advantages as an institution, shifts in thinking about asset allocation, decision making, team development, and partnership with managers. Andy's long tenure in his seat, insight, and wisdom provides a treasure trove of information about how a top endowment manager practices his craft, and his subtle wit always keeps things light.   For full show notes, visit the episode webpage here. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Andy Golden is the President of Princeton University's Investment Management Company (PRINCO). Having grown from $3B at the time of his arrival in 1995 to $22.5B today, PRINCO has been among the highest performing endowments in the world. Andy came to PRINCO from Duke Management Company, where he was an Investment Director, and received his formative training in the business working for David Swensen at the Yale University Investments Office. Andy currently serves on the fund Advisory Boards of several well-known private equity and venture capital managers, including Bain Capital, General Catalyst Partners, and Greylock Partners. He was a founding member of the Investors' Committee of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets and serves as a Trustee of the Princeton Area Community Foundation and Rutgers Preparatory School. Andy holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Duke University and an M.P.P.M. from the Yale School of Management. Our conversation discusses Princeton's endowment two decades ago and today, including its strategic advantages as an institution, shifts in thinking about asset allocation, decision making, team development, and partnership with managers. Andy's long tenure in his seat, insight, and wisdom provides a treasure trove of information about how a top endowment manager practices his craft, and his subtle wit always keeps things light. Learn More Follow Capital Allocators at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access transcript with Premium Membership

With regard to finance leaders who are counted among the ranks of today's SaaS CFOs, it goes without saying that 20 years ago, most were somewhere other than at SaaS companies. In fact, many of them have no doubt arrived inside the SaaS realm only within the past 10 years or so as part of the software industry's great migration from the model of perpetually selling software to the SaaS subscription model. However, for CFO Bas Brukx, the SaaS world has been home for more than 20 years, a fact that allows him to take a seat alongside other CFOs who can boast of pioneer roots inside SaaS-dom. “We had the benefit of not knowing what we didn't know,” recalls Brukx, who notes that back in 2002, such a widely used metric as Customer Acquisition Cost was only then just being defined. At the time, Brukx was head of FP&A for Vocus, a SaaS software company specializing in solutions for the public relations and communication industries. “We did a lot of education with analysts and investors,” points out Brukx, who adds that Vocus went public in 2005. He would remain with the company for another 7 years before being appointed CFO of Clarabridge, a small software company aspiring to move to the SaaS subscription model.   According to Brukx, he didn't hesitate to swiftly leave the perpetual model in Clarabridge's rearview mirror. “We discontinued that perpetual business largely on my recommendation, so I was betting a lot on my reputation—but I felt comfortable about it,” comments Brukx, who says that the decisive move allowed him to position himself as a strategic finance leader at the very start of his CFO tenure with the firm. Subsequently, only 9 months after he joined it, the newly retooled SaaS company raised an $80 million equity investment led by Summit Partners and General Catalyst Partners. Reports Brukx: “That investment and some of their investor expertise gave us the backing that we needed to make the journey from $20 million in revenue to well over $100 million—at which point we were sold.” –Jack Sweeney

My special guest in today's episode of If Not Now Wen is Justin Siegel. Justin is an entrepreneur and investor, and he is the co-founder and CEO of two successful mobile entertainment companies. The first company, JSmart Technologies, was a pioneer in mobile games. It was acquired by the SK Group in 2004. The second company, JNJ Mobile, backed by General Catalyst Partners and Softbank Capital, built one of the first mobile social networks. Today it is one of Android's top-grossing social applications and a leading mobile platform for HTML5 games. Justin is the founder and Managing Partner of ATX Angel, LLC, which invests in early-stage companies. He is also a Techstars mentor and advisor to Boston Seed Capital. Justin has always known that he wanted to live a life of adventure, and he has chosen paths and ideas that he finds interesting and exciting. Justin has gone from being a French teacher and journalist to becoming an entrepreneur, investor, and mentor. He is such an inspiration, and I hope you enjoy his story as much as I do. We talk about:

Tune in for the latest updates in the digital health space.

Episode Summary: Join us for episode 2 where we speak with Managing Director and Co-founder of General Catalyst Partners, David Fialkow.  In this episode, we learn more about David's journey from documentary filmmaker to venture capitalist and the common thread they share.   What is Uncovered: David's unique path to starting General Catalyst alongside his long time friend Joel CutlerThe importance of mentorship and following your passion The lessons that Joel and David learned while starting their own travel company (last-minute travel) The story behind David signing up and completing his first Ironman with only 90 days of training  Why David and Joel saw themselves as B entrepreneurs and how this realization was the impetus to starting GC Partners What makes a successful VC firm and GC's early wins The common thread between founding a venture capital firm, a start-up, and creating documentary films. Learn More About:David Fialkow is a co-founder and managing director of General Catalyst, a venture capital firm that partners with founders from seed to growth stage to build companies that withstand the test of time.  David's focus areas include financial services, digital health AI and data analytics, as well as leading General Catalyst's XIR program. His portfolio of investments includes Casana, Catalant, Crossfit, CLEAResult (acquired by General Atlantic), Datalogix (acquired by Oracle), Datto (acquired by Vista Equity Partners), Highwinds (acquired by StackPath), NotCo, OGSystems (acquired by Parsons Corporation), PathAI, TrueMotion, and Vitrue (acquired by Oracle).Before going into business, David studied film at Colgate University, earned a law degree from Boston College and made documentary films. David has raised millions in dollars in philanthropy to support kids' programs by biking, running, climbing, and rowing. He and his wife Nina produce documentary films focused on social justice. Their film Icarus won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2018. His non-profit boards include Facing History and Ourselves, The Pan-Mass Challenge (former chairman), the Dean's Advisory Council at the MIT School of Engineering, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He is chair of the Investment Advisory Committee of The Engine (launched by MIT).Select Current Investments: Casana, Catalant, CrossFit, Elysium, NotCo, Outdoor Voices, PathAI, and TrueMotionAlumni Investments: BBN Technologies (acquired by Raytheon), CLEAResult (acquired by General Atlantic), Datalogix (acquired by Oracle), Datto (acquired by Vista Equity Partners), Highwinds (acquired by StackPath), Index (acquired by Stripe), OGSystems (acquired by Parsons Corp.), Rue La La (acquired by GSI Commerce), Vitrue (acquired by Oracle)Education: BA Fine Arts from Colgate University; JD from Boston CollegeGeneral Catalyst: General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that provides early-stage and growth equity investments. They provide ongoing momentum that accelerates ideas, careers, and companies toward standout success. They create the ideal conditions for growth, surround clients with the right people, and offer mentorship based on deep experience.To date, General Catalyst has managed eight venture capital funds totaling approximately $3.75 billion in capital commitments.Quotes from David Fialkow: “Founders need empathy to drive their vision and dreams." “Great firms are defined by great funds and great funds are defined by great companies” “In order to win, you need people to win with, nobody is so good that they can do it on their own.” 

In this episode, we welcome Raj Jhaveri, an Investor, Visionary Technologist, and Strategist in the healthcare and biotech industry, as well as in the clean energy sector particularly in EV charging. Tune in to learn how Raj is making an impact, in more ways than one, in digital healthcare innovation and the future of telehealth.You'll learn how artificial intelligence is being implemented in healthcare management and delivery systems, how ingestible capsules and wearables can be integrated with AI to enhance healthcare, and how the integration of emerging technologies is causing disruptive innovation throughout the world.Raj shares his candid thoughts on the connection between AI, Theory of Mind, and the future of in-person healthcare, as well as potential opportunities to invest in healthcare and technology and even how he's hacking his Tesla to give back to the energy grid.Curious to hear Raj's 5 Pillars of Unconventional Thinking to Achieve Unconventional Success? Tune in to find out! To learn more about Raj and his work, visit his website: www.rajjhaveri.com About Our Guest:Raj Jhaveri has over 16 years of experience in technology development and integration, and strategic technical business development in both the healthcare and cleantech industry. He was a CTO and founder of multiple healthcare startups (Notch, Canopy, Face2Face Health, Manethryn, Opu Labs) where he earned multiple patents, which lead to being rated as one of the Top Tech Innovators by Entrepreneur Magazine in 2014. He was also a Director for The Knowledge Society, a global community and a human accelerator program of the world's most curious, driven, and ambitious people that want to make an impact.Raj has also played a role as an advisor or investor at multiple companies such as EV Connect, Zoom Video, Pinterest, Chewy.com, Slack, Impossible Foods, 23andMe, Simple Contacts, and many more. He was previously an in-house mentor at Techstars, an industry consultant for General Catalyst Partners in regard to their healthcare investments, and an advisor for IBM Watson Health's Oncology Project. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Biology and was in the MD/PhD program at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he eventually obtained a Master's Degree in Medical Sciences after leaving the program early to pursue his first startup.  Connect with Raj on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/rajpjhaveri Visit his website: www.rajjhaveri.com Follow him on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rajpjhaveri Follow him on Instagram: www.instagram.com/theurbannerd  About SmartTab: SmartTab is driving the future of digital medicine by developing a superior patient-centered personalized drug delivery platform in the form of a wireless ingestible capsule. The patient experience fuels SmartTab's commitment to create novel, effective therapies that improve patient outcomes and compliance. For more information visit: www.smarttab.co

➡️ Like The Show? Leave A Rating: https://ratethispodcast.com/successstory ➡️ About The Guest Terry Jones is the founder and former CEO of Travelocity, chairman of Kayak.com, CIO of Sabre Inc., and motivational speaker. A graduate of Denison University in Granville, Ohio, Jones entered the travel industry in 1971 as a travel agent with Vega Travel in Chicago. Terry Jones is a Digital Disruptor, an author and a venture capitalist. He has founded five startups, with two billion dollar IPOs - Kayak and Travelocity. He has served on 17 corporate boards. His success has established him as a thought leader on innovation and disruption. As a speaker, author, venture capitalist and board member, Terry has been helping companies use the tools and techniques he has developed to keep succeed in our fast-changing world. He lectures worldwide about innovation and building digital relationships in business and holds several patents. He serves on the board of directors of Luxury Link, Rearden Commerce and Smart Destinations. He is chairman of the board of Kayak.com, and is a special venture partner with General Catalyst Partners. ➡️ Talking Points 00:00 - Intro. 7:21 - From travel agent to 2x billion dollar IPO. 18:55 - Coming up with disruptive ideas as an entrepreneur. 21:33 - How Covid changed businesses forever. 26:03 - AI & IOT in business. 32:15 - The evolution of the customer experience. 37:00 - Companies that are changing the world. 40:15 - Real life applications of disruptive technologies. 53:46 - Advice for young entrepreneurs. ➡️ Show Links https://twitter.com/terrellbjones https://tbjones.com/ ➡️ Podcast Sponsors 1. Shopify— All-In-One eCommerce Tools https://shopify.com/successstory  — Free 14 Day Trial 2. LinkedIn Marketing —B2B Marketing Campaigns https://linkedin.com/successstory — $100 Ad Credit 3. Nutrafol —Increase Hair Thickness & Volume https://nutrafol.com/ (CODE: successstory) — $15 Off First Month 4. Hubspot Podcast Network https://hubspot.com/podcastnetwork

David Fialkow is co-founder and managing director of General Catalyst, a venture capital firm that partners with founders from seed to growth stage to build companies that withstand the test of time. He's also chairman of the Pan Mass Challenge, a Massachusetts-based bike-a-thon that raises more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event in the country. David is also producer of several documentaries, including the Oscar-winning Icarus. Listen as he describes how, when faced with unforeseen challenges, true leaders create opportunities.   Show Notes: David Fialkow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-fialkow-20085852/ General Catalyst Partners: https://www.generalcatalyst.com/ Pan Mass Challenge: https://www.pmc.org/ Icarus Official Trailer: https://youtu.be/qXoRdSTrR-4 The Vow Official Trailer: ​ https://youtu.be/PcL24s-S6ns Bending the Arc Official Trailer: https://youtu.be/OjJmWZrmpcE The Fourth Estate Official Trailer: https://youtu.be/Qxtfm-LIi7g  

This episode's Community Champion Sponsor is Catalyst. To virtually tour Catalyst and claim your space on campus, or host an upcoming event: https://www.catalysthealthtech.com/ (CLICK HERE) --- As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, it may seem that type 2 diabetes treatment has come a long way. However, therapeutics and treatment have evolved very little since 1921. Our next guest is a scientist turned entrepreneur who is determined to create innovative breakthroughs that address the root cause of type 2 diabetes. By leveraging his groundbreaking insights of the intestine's role in metabolic disease, his company is developing entirely new treatment approaches to type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases. Dr. Harith Rajagopalan, CEO of Fractyl Health, joins us to discuss his vision of a healthier society free from the burdens of metabolic diseases and how you can get involved.  Join us as Dr. Rajagopalan shares his journey towards changing the trajectory of metabolic disease risk that will move the health of our communities forward. Let's go! Episode Highlights: Dr. Rajagopalan's career change from physician to entrepreneur  Fractal Health's origin story and the company's passion of tackling the root cause of diabetes Why gut health is so important for overall health Fractal Health's long-term goal of reducing the risk of various metabolic diseases  About our Guest:  Harith Rajagopalan, M.D., Ph.D., is Co-founder and CEO of Fractyl, having started the company while serving as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at General Catalyst Partners. Prior to founding Fractyl, Harith was an academic cardiologist and physician-scientist. He received his B.S. in chemistry from Stanford University and went on to obtain M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. At Johns Hopkins, Harith did groundbreaking and award-winning research on intestinal cancers that was published in top medical journals including Nature and Science. After medical school, Harith trained in internal medicine and clinical cardiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and completed a research fellowship at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute at Harvard Medical School. Links Supporting This Episode: Fractyl Health website: https://www.fractyl.com/ (CLICK HERE) Dr. Harith Rajagopalan LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harith-rajagopalan-fractyl/ (CLICK HERE) Fractyl Health Twitter page: https://twitter.com/FractylHealth (CLICK HERE) Clubhouse handle: @mikebiselli Mike Biselli LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikebiselli (CLICK HERE) Mike Biselli Twitter page: https://twitter.com/mikebiselli (CLICK HERE) Visit our website: https://www.passionatepioneers.com/ (CLICK HERE) Subscribe to newsletter: https://forms.gle/PLdcj7ujAGEtunsj6 (CLICK HERE) Guest nomination form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScqk_H_a79gCRsBLynkGp7JbdtFRWynTvPVV9ntOdEpExjQIQ/viewform (CLICK HERE) Support this podcast

Harith Rajagopalan, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Founder & CEO, Fractyl Dr. Harith Rajagopalan is co-founder and CEO of Fractyl, having started the company while serving as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at General Catalyst Partners. Prior to founding Fractyl, Harith was an academic cardiologist and physician-scientist. He received his B.S. in chemistry from Stanford University and went on to obtain M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. At Johns Hopkins, Harith did groundbreaking and award-winning research on intestinal cancers that was published in top medical journals, including Nature and Science. After medical school, Harith trained in internal medicine and clinical cardiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and completed a research fellowship at Harvard Medical School.   

After getting some great feedback from the replay of my conversation with Scott Malpass, I am going to repeat some gems from the past every few months. This week I picked out my conversation with Andy Golden, the venerable head of Princeton’s 24 billion dollar endowment. It’s another master class in endowment management from a seasoned veteran. Andy Golden is the President of Princeton University’s Investment Management Company (PRINCO). Having grown from $3B at the time of his arrival in 1995 to $22.5B today, PRINCO has been among the highest performing endowments in the world. Andy came to PRINCO from Duke Management Company, where he was an Investment Director, and received his formative training in the business working for David Swensen at the Yale University Investments Office. Andy currently serves on the fund Advisory Boards of several well-known private equity and venture capital managers, including Bain Capital, General Catalyst Partners, and Greylock Partners. He was a founding member of the Investors’ Committee of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets and serves as a Trustee of the Princeton Area Community Foundation and Rutgers Preparatory School. Andy holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Duke University and an M.P.P.M. from the Yale School of Management. Our conversation discusses Princeton’s endowment two decades ago and today, including its strategic advantages as an institution, shifts in thinking about asset allocation, decision making, team development, and partnership with managers. Andy’s long tenure in his seat, insight, and wisdom provides a treasure trove of information about how a top endowment manager practices his craft, and his subtle wit always keeps things light. CapSigLearn More Read the Transcript Subscribe to the Capital Allocators Blog or Monthly Mailing List Don't Subscribe, but Let Us Know Who You Are Write a review on iTunes Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides Review past episodes of the Podcast

Niko Bonatsos is the Managing Director at General Catalyst Partners an early stage venture capital fund specialising in Series A and B tech startups. In this episode we discuss: How Niko harnessed the power of serendipity as a student in multiple countries Why Niko wants the founder he invests in to be learning animals and how he identifies this The current state of the conversation in Silicon Valley We also discuss Niko’s investment in Snapchat which IPOd with a $28 billion valuation so this was a great episode packed full of useful insights about all things tech.

After getting some great feedback from the replay of my conversation with Scott Malpass, I am going to repeat some gems from the past every few months. This week I picked out my conversation with Andy Golden, the venerable head of Princeton’s 24 billion dollar endowment. It’s another master class in endowment management from a seasoned veteran. Andy Golden is the President of Princeton University’s Investment Management Company (PRINCO). Having grown from $3B at the time of his arrival in 1995 to $22.5B today, PRINCO has been among the highest performing endowments in the world. Andy came to PRINCO from Duke Management Company, where he was an Investment Director, and received his formative training in the business working for David Swensen at the Yale University Investments Office. Andy currently serves on the fund Advisory Boards of several well-known private equity and venture capital managers, including Bain Capital, General Catalyst Partners, and Greylock Partners. He was a founding member of the Investors’ Committee of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets and serves as a Trustee of the Princeton Area Community Foundation and Rutgers Preparatory School. Andy holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Duke University and an M.P.P.M. from the Yale School of Management. Our conversation discusses Princeton’s endowment two decades ago and today, including its strategic advantages as an institution, shifts in thinking about asset allocation, decision making, team development, and partnership with managers. Andy’s long tenure in his seat, insight, and wisdom provides a treasure trove of information about how a top endowment manager practices his craft, and his subtle wit always keeps things light. Learn more at www.PeterAttiaMD.com Connect with Peter on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

A great podcast with Spencer Lazar, Partner at General Catalyst Partners.

Snap. Warby Parker. Airbnb. Stripe. Kayak. That list of companies has a two clear things in common: (1) they are all generational companies that have contributed to significant value creation and (2) General Catalyst invested in all of them. This week, we dug deep into what’s going on in the world of venture with David Fialkow, Co-Founder and Managing Director at General Catalyst. David had an interesting journey to venture — successfully founding and exiting four companies — and ultimately created an early-stage fund to give the type of support to entrepreneurs he sought as a founder. My favorite moments in this conversation included David’s reflections on: (1) how to think about aligning founder and VC interest, (2) why going public is overblown and (3) why at the end of the day, nothing matters more than people .

Ben is a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience launching and building successful companies, including Rue La La, one of the earliest players in the digital private sale space, and SmartBargains.com, the off-price e-commerce marketplace. Ben founded his first venture, LIDS Corporation, in 1993 as a junior at Boston University. He eventually sold the company in 2001. Ben was also the first entrepreneur-in-residence at General Catalyst Partners, a premier venture capital firm that invests in innovative, technology-based companies. In this illuminating discussion, Ben reveals the entrepreneurial tools necessary to pioneer revolutionary concepts across diverse industries and build companies that change the way people shop, think, and live. Please enjoy our conversation, with Ben Fischman. -- This episode of the IVY Podcast is brought to you by Instasleep.  Attaining quality sleep is key to a healthy lifestyle and vital in achieving success. Plenty of research has shown the indisputable benefits of getting a good night's rest. InstaSleep is a drug-free quick melt sleep aid that is gluten-free, kosher and non-habit forming. They taste great, and help you fall asleep faster without “morning grogginess”. An indispensable travel essential for busy professionals, frequent travelers and jet-setters alike, InstaSleep helps counter jet lag and sleep deprivation caused by time zone changes. IVY Podcast listeners get 18% off by using promo code IVYsleep at checkout on Amazon. Learn more on their website www.upgradeyoursleep.com. Upgrade your sleep and take on the day!  

Andy Golden is the President of Princeton University’s Investment Management Company (PRINCO).  Having grown from $3B at the time of his arrival in 1995 to $22.5B today, PRINCO has been among the highest performing endowments in the world. Andy came to PRINCO from Duke Management Company, where he was an Investment Director, and received his formative training in the business working for David Swensen at the Yale University Investments Office. Andy currently serves on the fund Advisory Boards of several well-known private equity and venture capital managers, including Bain Capital, General Catalyst Partners, and Greylock Partners. He was a founding member of the Investors’ Committee of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets and serves as a Trustee of the Princeton Area Community Foundation and Rutgers Preparatory School. Andy holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Duke University and an M.P.P.M. from the Yale School of Management. Our conversation discusses Princeton’s endowment two decades ago and today, including its strategic advantages as an institution, shifts in thinking about asset allocation, decision making, team development, and partnership with managers. Andy’s long tenure in his seat, insight, and wisdom provides a treasure trove of information about how a top endowment manager practices his craft, and his subtle wit always keeps things light. For more episodes, go to capitalallocatorspodcast.com/podcast Follow Ted on twitter at @tseides

Recognized as one of Inc. Magazine’s 2015 ‘30 Under 30 Best and Brightest Entrepreneurs’ — Gautam Gupta is the Co-Founder and CEO of NatureBox — a direct-to-consumer snack company that makes smart, delicious snacking easy. Launched in 2012, NatureBox has quickly become one of America’s fastest- growing food brands with no signs of slowing down. Today NatureBox ships over 100 NatureBox brand snacks to fans across the US and in Canada. The Bay Area company leverages real-time consumer data to drive innovation and bring new products to market every month. Prior to starting NatureBox, Gautam worked at General Catalyst Partners where he focused on early-stage consumer investing and saw firsthand the tremendous potential to bring an e-commerce model to the food industry. Gautam resides in San Carlos, CA, a short walk from NatureBox’s headquarters.

SummaryPaul Sagan has had a long and illustrious career, which includes: 1) stints working on the Full Service Network, that interactive tv initiative in Orlando Florida that we've mentioned several times in the past, as well as 2) being a key member of the team that developed Pathfinder, one of the very first professionally produced content sites on the world wide web. He was also heavily involved in the development of another company we've mentioned previously, Akamai Technologies, where he served as Chief Operating Officer, CEO and Director. Today, Paul is Executive in Residence at General Catalyst Partners. A couple of times, we mention another oral history project that Paul is a part of, and that is Digital Riptide, which collects interviews about how journalism and digital technology have evolved over the past 25 years. You can find out more about that project at DigitalRiptide.org. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Phil Libin, Co-Founder and Chairman of Evernote and Managing Partner of General Catalyst Partners, joined Carlos Espinal for a chat at Web Summit in Dublin. Phil and Carlos discuss everything from his long-standing career as a CEO, looking at his key advice for managers making the transition from early-stage leader to the CEO of a growth company, to the origins of Evernote and, in Phil’s new role in Venture Capital, what the future of apps looks like. Phil gives insight into the thoughts that led to him stepping down as CEO of Evernote as the company scaled. Debating when to recognise that someone skilled in running larger organisations makes sense for your business and that you can hire the best talent.

Hemant is the Managing Director, General Catalyst Partners. We interviewed him at the Oliver Wyman Health Innovation Summit, held in October, 2015.

Spencer Lazar is a Principal at General Catalyst Partners, based in New York City. He focuses on early stage software & internet investments, with a particular interest in online marketplaces, mobile applications, web services, and enterprise IT. Spencer was previously the cofounder of Spontaneously, Inc - an iOS development studio. Prior to that he was an early stage software & internet investor at Accel in London, where he sourced and worked with companies including Hailo, Birchbox, Bonobos, ForgeRock, and Qriously. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: How is the roads into the venture industry changing? What young people can do to make themselves more attractive to VCs? What would make Spencer's perfect founder? How important is geography when investing in startups? How does Spencer feel the education technology space is developing? What metrics Spencer examines when investing in a startup? What sectors is Spencer most interested in? Items Mentioned in Today's Show: Spencer's Favourite Book: The Everything Store on Jeff Bezos Spencer's Latest Investment: CampusJob Insight Venture Partners How Lightspeed's Jeremy Liew invested in Snapchat? Hot EdTech Startups: Lynda.com, PluralSight, General Assembly, Grovo, ClimbCredit Oscar, Sensio As always you can follow Harry, Spencer and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

It is a great pleasure to have Niko Bonatsos on today's episode of The Twenty Minute VC. Niko is Principal at General Catalyst Partners where he specialises in mobile, consumer and healthcare technology. At General Catalyst Partner, Niko has been involved in the investments in the likes of Snapchat, TuneIn and SpoonRocket, just to name a few. Niko is also reknowned for being the 1st Angel Investor in Yik Yak, recently valued between $300-400 million. In today's episode you will learn: How Niko made the jump into the world of Venture Capital? What were the fundamental lessons Niko learned when his startup failed? Why Niko prefers to invest in founding teams instead of individual founders? How Niko determines whether a startup will be successful or not? What Niko looks for in startups? Does Niko ever experience FOMO (fear of missing out) on an investment? How do you value a company, in particular a startup with no revenue? Does Niko think Silicon Valley will continue to be the dominant hub for innovation and investment? What parts of the world have seen large growth in both funding and innovation? What Niko would advise graduates looking to make the entry into the Venture Capital industry? What is the best piece of business advice Niko has ever received? We then move onto a quick fire round where Niko tells us his thoughts on the future of education technology and the primary reason Niko says no to startups.   For all the resources mentioned in today's show, check out www.thetwentyminutevc.com We would love to hear from you. If you have any questions you would like to ask the VCs, drop us an email at harry@thetwentyminutevc.com Likewise if you have a VC you would like us to interview, send us an email and we will arrange it.