Podcast appearances and mentions of jeff bussgang

The AI era is here – is your business ahead of the curve or playing catch-up? Willy sat down with Jeff Bussgang, Co-Founder of Flybridge Capital Partners, serial entrepreneur, and Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School. He and Willy explored key themes from Jeff's recent book The Experimentation Machine, including the importance of reinvention in the age of AI, why we need to have an abundance mindset when it comes to new technology, ethical leadership, rapid changes in tech-driven entrepreneurship, real-world startup insights, fraud detection, building a culture of experimentation, and advice for the next generation of professionals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeff Bussgang of Flybridge Capital joins Nick to discuss Calculating the Market Size for AI, Building an "Experimentation Machine," the Bull Case for Non-Technical Founders, and the Key to PMF in the AI Age. In this episode we cover: Exits and Liquidity in Venture Capital The Experimentation Machine and AI Opportunity Evaluating AI Businesses and Founders Challenges and Opportunities in AI Investing Entrepreneurship Education and Startup Ecosystems Product-Market Fit and Customer Discovery Future of AI and Venture Capital Guest Links: Jeff's LinkedIn Jeff's X Flybridge's LinkedIn Flybridge's Website The host of The Full Ratchet is Nick Moran of New Stack Ventures, a venture capital firm committed to investing in founders outside of the Bay Area. Want to keep up to date with The Full Ratchet? Follow us on social. You can learn more about New Stack Ventures by visiting our LinkedIn and Twitter.

Every business needs to find product-market fit — and AI can help. How? In this episode, Harvard Business School professor and entrepreneur Jeff Bussgang (author of The Experimental Machine: Finding Product-Market Fit in the Age of AI) walks us through the process. It's a free consulting session with everything included: step-by-step directions, real examples, and the names of the LLMs you need to know about. If you're ready to use AI in your business but don't know where to begin—start here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 373 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Jeff Bussgang, General Partner at Flybridge. Jeff has accomplished so much throughout his career. I'm sure lots of people probably know him best as a Venture Capitalist and Professor at Harvard Business School. But... you might not know the details about his startup career prior to Flybridge which I was really excited to dig into because he played a key role at two incredibly successful companies in the Boston tech scene. The first being OpenMarket, which pretty much invented eCommerce with its shopping cart technology that was licensed by companies like Amazon when they were just getting started. The company went public at a billion dollar valuation back in 1996 which was a very big deal. The second company is Upromise, where he was a Co-Founder along with Michael Bronner, who was also the Founder of Digitas and really helped establish the world of direct & loyalty marketing and David Fialkow, who you might also recognize as one of the founders of General Catalyst. Upromise allowed consumers, including myself, to save for their kids' college education through a loyalty rewards program. The company was very successful and it was later acquired by Sallie Mae. In addition to being an entrepreneur, investor, and professor, Jeff is also an author of three books and his latest book is called The Experimentation Machine - Finding Product-Market Fit in the Age of AI. Plus we talk about his Dad (Julian Bussgang), a scientist and entrepreneur who developed the Bussgang Theorem, Jeff educational background in AI, Flybridge's history of investments in AI, Hack.Diversity and so much more! Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:05 Jeff's New Book - The Experimentation Engine 04:47 Jeff's Background and Early Influences 08:47 The Story of OpenMarket & Shopping Cart Tech 17:21 The Creation of Upromise 25:06 Transition to Venture Capital & Flybridge 26:37 Flybridge's History & Focus on AI 32:50 Flybridge's Investment Process 34:13 Advice on Go-to-Market Strategy 35:36 Getting Pitched by Curt Schilling 38:03 Teaching at Harvard Business School 39:48 Career Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs 42:22 Must-Have Versus Nice-to-Have Products 44:00 Hack.Diversity 46:46 The Boston Tech Ecosystem & AI 52:55 Recommendations - Apps & Podcasts Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.

What are the ways founders are using AI to experiment and optimize their start-ups faster than ever before? How does this shift affect the various makeups of different companies and industries, and who will be the winners and losers in the new age of AI?Jeff Bussgang is the GP and Founder of Flybridge Capital, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, and also the author of the new book The Experimentation Machine: Finding Product-Market Fit in the Age of AI. Greg and Jeff discuss timeless methods and timely tools for startups. Jeff elaborates on the scientific approach to entrepreneurship and the importance of combining timeless principles with modern AI tools. He shares insights on how generative AI can enhance every aspect of a startup, from ideation to customer engagement, and discusses the evolving roles of founders, venture capitalists, and even employees in this new landscape. Their conversation includes practical advice for founders on prioritizing experiments, scaling, building customer value propositions, and leveraging AI to become more efficient and effective.*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*Show Links:Recommended Resources:Chris DixonThe Idea MazeScott BradyReid HoffmanEric RiesSam AltmanOpenAIAileen LeeSteve BallmerGuest Profile:Faculty Profile at Harvard Business SchoolLinkedIn ProfileWikipedia ProfileJeffBussgang.comFlybridge.com ProfileSocial Profile on InstagramSocial Profile on XHis Work:Amazon Author PageAdditional Amazon Author PageThe Experimentation Machine: Finding Product-Market Fit in the Age of AIMastering the VC Game: A Venture Capital Insider Reveals How to Get from Start-up to IPO on Your TermsEntering StartUpLand: An Essential Guide to Finding the Right JobHBS online | Launching Tech Ventures classEpisode Quotes:The startup path is unpredictable but patterns exist03:08: Startups are highly nondeterministic, and so there's really no single playbook or single formula. And yet, there are timeless methods that you can apply to improve your odds of success. Now, you're never going to guarantee success. It's not an engineering formula where certain inputs result in certain outputs. There's just too much randomness. And as I said, nondeterminism is out there, and every age, era, context, startup, and individual are so radically different. So it's highly unpredictable. Yet, as I said, timeless methods. And then, as you noted—and I write in the book—timely tools. I mean, the tools, they're not just getting better every year, every month, every week, every day. Strategy in startups is all about test selection10:36: This question of test selection being strategy is the essence of what founders need to think through because, anytime you have an organization with limited bandwidth and a limited envelope of resources and capital, you need to make prioritization decisions. You need to focus, and so what I advise founders, both that I teach and also through my Flybridge investment activities, is that they should select the tests that are going to uncover the most controversial part of their business model and have the highest likelihood of leading to a valuation inflection point if the test is successful.Why judgment, strategy, and creativity are timeless values for founders51:26: The notion that founders need to leverage their strategic thinking, creativity, and human judgment—and apply that again and again to prioritize these scarce resources—even if the resources can be stretched more fully—is still a competitive market, and everybody is stretching the resources and being more productive. I still think that that judgment is going to be very valuable.AI won't replace founders—but founders who don't use AI will be replaced47:41: AI is not going to replace founders anytime soon; but founders who don't use AI are going to replace founders who don't. I also believe that joiners who use AI are going to replace joiners who don't, that our portfolio companies are looking for AI-native employees, and that we may see a world where employees and candidates come to companies instead of with a team of engineers, marketers, or salespeople, as we have seen in the past—as the HubSpot mafia travels from company to company. [48:32] So I think there's going to be just a really rich set of opportunities for native joiners, and there's going to be a high bar that will be tested by employers about whether their individuals are native and facile with the AI tools.

Episode 353 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Giuseppe Stuto, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of 186 Ventures. Did you know that the venture capital industry originated in Boston back in 1946 with the founding of American Research and Development Corporation (ARDC) which backed Digital Equipment Corporation and saw a 1200X return when the company went public. Since then, Boston has been very fortunate to have a steady stream of VC investors at all stages to foster the local startup ecosystem and one of the newest firms is 186 Ventures. Co-Founded by Giuseppe and Julian Fialkow, 186 Ventures is a pre-seed & seed stage VC firm investing broadly across technology. I kept hearing about the firm, so I was excited to interview Giuseppe for the podcast as they have been out there hustling and have been earning the respect from entrepreneurs and their peers in the VC industry. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * A discussion around the importance of investor & founder alignment. * How a conference at Stanford changed the trajectory of his career into entrepreneurship. * The full background story of SmakHigh and how they evolved to Fam, the first live group video application for iMessage, including how Jeff Bussgang's book - Mastering the VC Game - helped them raise venture funding from Jeff. * The full story of how the acquisition by DraftKings came to fruition. * The details about 186 Ventures and what they are targeting for investments. * The 4 fundamental parts of a business that matter. * The importance of building a repeatable sales model for not only your go-to-market strategy but also how it factors into raising capital. * Why Boston is the best place to build an AI startup. * And so much more.

In The Parlor Room's season one finale, host Chris Linnane shares his favorite questions and answers from his conversations with Harvard Business School faculty, including Mihir Desai, Mike Wheeler, Jill Avery, Nien-hê Hsieh, Jeff Bussgang, Joshua Margolis, Forest Reinhardt, and Linda Hill. Tune in for their insights into finance, conflict management, branding, ethics, sustainability, and leadership. Catch up on Season 1 of The Parlor Room: Mihir Desai on Apple's Powerful Financial Model: https://hbs.me/yd84j56n Mike Wheeler on the Jazz of Negotiation: https://hbs.me/2p8zna3m Jill Avery on Building a Winning Brand Portfolio: https://hbs.me/yckzfsur Nien-hê Hsieh on Ethical AI, Decision-Making, and Investing: https://hbs.me/36sw4frv Jeff Bussgang on the Rise of AI & Raising Venture Capital: https://hbs.me/2p8p9fcu Joshua Margolis on Elevating Your Leadership Style: https://hbs.me/59st27cn Forest Reinhardt on Climate Change and the Tragedy of the Commons: https://hbs.me/2p85nasj Linda Hill on Leading Change and the Paradoxes of Management: https://hbs.me/3hbsm25b Watch The Parlor Room on YouTube: https://hbs.me/4j99nbwc

In our second special episode featuring Season 1 bonus content, host Chris Linnane shares exclusive, unaired clips from his conversations with Harvard Business School faculty members. Tune in for insights from Linda Hill on leadership's imperatives and developing contextual intelligence, Mihir Desai on making finance more accessible, Forest Reinhardt on learning through the case method, and Joshua Margolis on using real-world examples to teach business concepts. Catch up on Season 1 of The Parlor Room: Season 1 Bonus Content (Mike Wheeler, Jill Avery, Jeff Bussgang, and Nien-hê Hsieh): https://hbs.me/yz22txwr Linda Hill on Leading Change and the Paradoxes of Management: https://hbs.me/3hbsm25b Mihir Desai on Apple's Powerful Financial Model: https://hbs.me/yd84j56n Forest Reinhardt on Climate Change and the Tragedy of the Commons: https://hbs.me/2p85nasj Joshua Margolis on Elevating Your Leadership Style: https://hbs.me/59st27cn Watch The Parlor Room on YouTube: https://hbs.me/4j99nbwc

In the first of two special episodes featuring Season 1 bonus content, host Chris Linnane shares exclusive, unaired clips from his conversations with Harvard Business School faculty members. Tune in to hear from Mike Wheeler on negotiation, Jill Avery on branding, Jeff Bussgang on entrepreneurship, and Nien-hê Hsieh on ethics and artificial intelligence. Catch up on Season 1 of The Parlor Room: Mike Wheeler on the Jazz of Negotiation: https://hbs.me/2p8khc9j Jill Avery on Building a Winning Brand Portfolio: https://hbs.me/yck3ytv6 Jeff Bussgang on the Rise of AI & Raising Venture Capital: https://hbs.me/y5t28vmw Nien-hê Hsieh on Ethical AI, Decision-Making, and Investing: https://hbs.me/yckvtvxn Watch The Parlor Room on YouTube: https://hbs.me/4j99nbwc

This week on The Parlor Room, Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Jeff Bussgang, a former entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, joins host Chris Linnane to discuss the rise of generative AI, why experimentation is vital to finding product-market fit, and how to raise venture capital successfully. He also goes over how to come up with good business ideas and critiques some of Chris's in real time. GUEST Jeff Bussgang, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration RESOURCES Professor Bussgang's HBS Online course: Launching Tech Ventures Professor Bussgang's books: Entering StartUpLand: An Essential Guide to Finding the Right Job Mastering the VC Game: A Venture Capital Insider Reveals How to Get from Start-up to IPO on Your Terms Related HBS Online blog posts: How to Effectively Pitch a Business Idea How to Find Product-Market Fit in the Tech Industry 5 Skills Needed to Launch a Successful Tech Business How to Develop a Go-to-Market Strategy for Your Tech Venture 5 Strategies for Securing Tech Startup Funding  Watch this episode on YouTube: https://hbs.me/37s3c2sn

On today’s show I chat with Jeff Bussgang, Co-Founder and General Partner of Flybridge Capital Partners, a Boston based VC fund with 700M under management. As you know from previous episodes, I’ve been interviewing different VCs on the show with the goal to highlight different geographies. Jeff’s on to represent Boston. Along with being a VC, Jeff is the author of “Mastering The VC Game” and a professor at Harvard Business School, which has helped him become a true expert on VC. He’s also a bit of a mentor to the current generation of VCs. A lot of people in the industry look to him for guidance, so I’m honored to have him on the show. As if Jeff already doesn’t do enough, he also actively invests in Harvard grads through a vehicle called the Graduate Syndicate and is a Co-Founder of Hack Diversity - a non-profit focused on helping Black and Latinx/e/a/o technologists find their way into tech companies. During the chat we talk about how Flybridge Capital operates, what’s going on in the Boston VC game, some of his favorite lessons that he teaches in class, and much more.  Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/bussgang (@bussgang) / http://twitter.com/mpd (@mpd) Show Notes: https://www.flybridge.com/ (Flybridge Capital) https://www.thegraduatesyndicate.com/ (Graduate Syndicate) https://www.hackdiversity.com/ (Hack.Diversity) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7904927-mastering-the-vc-game?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=Gu6Z84vXv3&rank=1 (Jeff’s Book - Mastering the VC Game) Podcast Links: http://mpd.me (Website), https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCua7T3uyg6IQeSbYyNKT_Iw (YouTube), https://twitter.com/mpd (Twitter), https://www.facebook.com/innovationwithmpd (Facebook), https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovationwithmpd (LinkedIn)

Jeff Bussgang, General Partner at Flybridge, speaks about evaluating startups both as an investor and an employee.

  On this week's episode, Mark's guest is Steve Dickman, CEO of CBT Advisors, a strategic consultancy supporting the biotech industry.  Topics discussed during the episode include: How Steve made the transition from working at Science and at  Nature - where he founded and ran the first Nature news bureau in Germany, among other responsibilities - to thriving in the ecosystem of VCs, Private Equity, and startups The obstacles Steve faced as he shifted his professional focus and how he overcame them How Steve develops and delivers persuasive, impactful stories for his clients, with examples from the startup environment of stories he felt were particularly compelling Steve's advice for listeners thinking about trying to break into the startup ecosystem, and, for those already working within it, what qualities and approach Steve has found to be hallmarks or similarities of successful entrepreneurs Common blindspots or areas for further development that Steve and his team frequently see in the field How Steve and his firm provide feedback, particularly when a business plan, for example, may be way off the mark During this period of historic uncertainty and flux, what challenges and opportunities Steve sees on the horizon, and his career advice for scientists and engineers looking to start or shift careers Useful resources The works of statistician, data visualizer, and artist Edward Tufte on communicating data using graphics. Described by The New York Times as the 'Leonardo da Vinci of data,' and Bloomberg as the 'Galileo of graphics', Tufte taught data analysis and policy making at Princeton and Yale for 32 years and authored five books Michael Gilman’s blog post on choosing your VCs https://lifescivc.com/2015/04/five-questions-to-ask-your-investors-before-you-take-their-money/  Gilman's blog post on risk reduction in biotech startups: https://lifescivc.com/2014/05/risk-a-users-guide-for-drug-developers/ and why it’s good to be virtual https://lifescivc.com/2016/01/the-virtues-of-virtual-and-why-were-devirtualizing/.  Jeff Bussgang's book on how VCs operate reviewed by Steve Dickman: https://bostonbiotechwatch.com/2010/04/26/vc-from-both-sides-mastering-the-vc-game-by-jeffrey-bussgang/ How data science is influencing life science VC investing,  https://a16z.com/2020/01/13/bio-newsletter-january-next-decade/ and https://a16z.com/2020/01/08/komodo-health/ Steve Dickman's post on Vijay Pande https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedickman/2016/02/02/can-biology-even-drug-discovery-be-clouded-its-early-but-andreesen-horowitz-vc-thinks-so/#4c16d6955a16 and his portfolio company Benchling https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedickman/2017/11/08/lab-notebook-software-bypassed-by-biologists-poses-tough-challenge-for-software-developers/#55c1c5ed1804 Steve Dickman's post describing Baillie Gifford: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedickman/2017/04/12/the-long-game-in-life-sciences-181-billion-fund-baillie-gifford-invests-big-in-private-companies/#1907f7334d89 Books recommended for listeners interested in biotech and the startup ecosystem:  Invisible Frontiers by Stephen Hall  Making PCR by Paul Rabinow  Hackers by Steven Levy (re the original hackers at MIT, one of whom, Tom Knight, is a co-founder and executive at Ginkgo, a synthetic biology unicorn) Bad Blood Lake Success by Gary Shteyngart (recent novel, topical for those interested in the money business) Market Wizards by Jack Schwager (how individuals make money in all sorts of markets – a classic – deeply relevant)

In episode two, host Chris Fenwick and Nash co-founder Fabio talk with co-founder of Flybridge Capital and Harvard Business School faculty member Jeff Bussgang about product/market fit and the importance of community in startups. Flybridge Capital provides seed-stage venture capital for founders by leveraging the power of community. A few of their recent success stories come from MongoDB, Codecademy and Chief.

Recently, Brigham and Women’s Hospital received a shipment of 3,000 face shields and goggles through an unusual channel — a Harvard Business School student from China, Sophie Bai, and a team of classmates and medical advisers working pro bono around the clock.Dr. Mark Davis, vice president of Brigham Health International, said he has seen his own procurement office tirelessly search for supplies as their normal distributors have run dry. They, too, have created innovative solutions, such as sterilizing disposable equipment for reuse. But, with an endless demand, Davis and his colleagues welcomed the additional gear.Related: Kids in Spain venture outside for the first time in weeks as lockdown gradually eases up“Through this donation, we are able to prove the reliability of this really new sourcing mechanism. It’s something that’s new, it's critically important and I think it will be instrumental to giving us the sort of PPE that we need here and around the country.”Dr. Mark Davis, Brigham Health International, vice president“Through this donation, we are able to prove the reliability of this really new sourcing mechanism,” Davis said. “It’s something that’s new, it's critically important and I think it will be instrumental to giving us the sort of PPE that we need here and around the country.”The coronavirus pandemic is creating an insatiable demand for medical and personal protective equipment (PPE) that has overwhelmed the world market. China has ramped up the production of needed supplies by bringing new manufacturers online. In an international marketplace where companies, federal and state agencies are fighting for equipment, Bai and her colleagues are creating a new supply chain.Bai first came from China to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 10 years ago to pursue an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering. After stints as a private consultant, she decided to get a degree from the Harvard Business School. When Harvard's campus shut down in mid-March, she said she had time on her hands and saw a way to help protect Boston’s front-line workers in hospitals, some of whom were her friends.Bai said she has a family friend back home in China who is an established distributor of medical equipment, which provides Bai with direct access to supplies and reliable export infrastructure. So many new factories are now producing supplies that Bai said it’s hard to know which ones can be trusted to deliver quality goods efficiently.Related: Shutdowns have led to cleaner air quality. Is it sustainable?“Because my friends have direct access with the factories, they would actually fly there, do the sample testing themselves and be there to get the PPE out when goods are available. This is really important in terms of quality control.”Sophie Bai, Harvard University, business school student“Because my friends have direct access with the factories, they would actually fly there, do the sample testing themselves and be there to get the PPE out when goods are available,” Bai said. “This is really important in terms of quality control.”Bai said she has also worked to interpret the complex dual standards of medical goods between China and the US. She said she has scoured FDA databases to verify a factory’s claim to be certified for a given product and reviewed pages of testing data to reconcile the different standards used in each country. She also researched the comparison between the FDA-approved N95 masks and the KN95 surgical masks from China.“So, what you really have to look into is the bacterial filtration, particle filtration, fluid resistance, the differential pressure, the flammability,” Bai said. “You have to look into those specs to understand what are the differences. What do those mean.”In addition to working with the Brigham, WGBH News has confirmed that Bai procured supplies for Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Lahey Health, Boston Medical Center and Hebrew SeniorLife, a large provider of senior health care and living communities. In total, the team has secured 1.4 million pieces of critically needed medical and PPE. Some 300,000 pieces have already arrived, and Bai said she expects to receive another 400,000 pieces soon, with the rest to follow shortly.Related: Corona Diaries: Open-source project chronicles pandemic life via voice notesBai and her team have procured 1.7 million pieces of PPE so far for 12 area hospitals, community health centers and senior living facilities in the state. Bai and a team of 11 volunteers in Boston and Los Angeles, mainly her other classmates from Harvard, communicate in Mandarin with Chinese companies and in English with institutions in the US. Having a friend on the West Coast allows Bai to operate nearly around the clock. Even so, though, Bai said she has lost out on opportunities to grab critical goods due to her lack of immediate access to cash to pay for the goods.Bai’s Harvard Business School professor, Jeff Bussgang, said the international market for PPE is chaotic.“It feels more like the [New York] Stock Exchange trading floor. People are aggressively pursuing supply, bidding and paying upfront on the spot.” Jeff Bussgang, Harvard Business School, professor“It feels more like the [New York] Stock Exchange trading floor,” Bussgang said. “People are aggressively pursuing supply, bidding and paying upfront on the spot.”Harvard Business School has no official involvement in the operation, but to connect Bai with quicker access to the funds needed to secure the PPE, Bussgang introduced Bai to The Boston Foundation, which usually funds community programs, including WGBH. The foundation’s Tim Smith said they set up a new funding mechanism specifically to buy medical supplies through Bai’s operation — something they've never done before. They partnered with Flywire, a Boston-based financial technology company that wires money between countries faster than traditional banks.“It’s nontraditional to use a charitable fund to essentially purchase goods and deliver them to local hospitals,” said Smith, the Foundation's senior director of philanthropy. “It’s definitely a new thing for us and I think it can make a significant impact.”Related: COVID-19 interrupts fertility plans for hopeful couples in the United KingdomThe fund currently has over $3 million from at least 29 donors. Bai said she’s seen an outpouring of support both in China and from Chinese communities around the U.S. eager to help Boston. And she knows why. Boston is a mecca for Chinese students, she said, and they want to give back to a place they see as their second home.“There is really an emotional tie between the Chinese community to Boston in general because so many of us had a transformative experience growing up from our late teens to our early 20s,” Bai said.This story was originally published by WGBH. 

It gets my goat that these days, the history of ecommerce begins and ends with Amazon. There were so many companies and big ideas that got us where we are today, and one of the most important companies was Open Market. Jeff Bussgang is here to tell us the (today) often overlooked story of the earliest days of trying to sell stuff on the web. Today, Jeff is a General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeff Bussgang, Venture Capitalist, Entrepreneur, Professor and Author of Entering StartUpLand joins the podcast to discuss his new book on how to find the right job in the innovative, hectic, and fun place known as StartUpLand.

Jeff Bussgang, a venture capitalist who teaches entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School, knows from personal experience and having funded many startups that there’s more than one way into that world. You don’t have to have a technical background. Excellent communication skills and a high emotional IQ are startup skills, too. Bussgang, the author of “Entering StartUpLand,” walks through the process of finding your dream job in a new company.

Jeff Bussgang is a lecturer at Harvard Business School and General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners.Michael Seibel is CEO of YC.

The venture capital world is growing by leaps and bounds and companies like Flybridge Capital Partners are fueling the tech and innovation behind many of the things that are transforming the world. In this conversation, I talk with Jeff Bussgang, general partner at Flybridge Capital Partners about a variety of things surrounding the venture capital space, including how he got started, what his company looks for in a startup company, and how they assess the leadership and team to make a wise early stage investment. What IS an early stage investment company? Early stage investments are nothing more than the money provided to promising companies that are not yet producing their products or services but have made significant headway toward the development or distribution of it. The money they receive is often referred to as “seed money” - the money used to enable the development, marketing, and progress of the company to move it toward profitability and sustainability. On this episode, Jeff Bussgang shares how his interest in the entrepreneurial world led him to become general partner of an early stage venture capital firm, and why startup funding is so exciting. What is a venture capital investment firm looking for in a startup? When I asked Jeff Bussgang what the team at Flybridge Capital Partners is looking for in an early stage company he gave me a number of criteria they look at to show them there is promise in the company: Innovative potential, leadership and team, the Pied Piper effect, and more. If those sound a bit vague, don’t worry. As you listen to this episode you’ll get a very clear understanding of what each of those things is and why Jeff and his team consider them vital to discerning a good investment from a bad one. It’s all on this episode of the Capital Gains podcast. The Pied Piper effect is something startup founders need - at least in this case. If the team at Flybridge Capital Partners is going to get behind a startup financially they want to see that the primary leader of the startup company possesses what they call a “pied piper” quality. That means he/she is a person who is a natural leader and attracts the interest of people to the projects they are working on. Jeff Bussgang points to the fact that we all know people whose ventures and projects are naturally of interest to us - and it’s because of who the person is and how they are wired that we are attracted. You can almost smell the excitement and potential because they are a person who tends to make things happen. Find out more about this elusive but tangible leadership quality, on this episode. If you can’t connect with me through a mutual connection, I’m not that interested. Jeff Bussgang understands that networking and connections are a huge advantage when it comes to making a company or cause successful. So much so that he’s generally unwilling to have serious conversations about funding a startup if their team did not approach him through some kind of mutual connection. He’s convinced that people who know how to make and utilize connections are also the people who will be able to build the relationships that will equip their company for future success. You can hear Jeff make the case himself on this episode. Outline of This Episode [1:04] Introduction of this week’s guest, Jeff Buskin. [1:54] The types of companies Jeff’s group invests in and what they look for in a winner. [6:50] The “winnowing” process Flybridge uses when evaluating potential companies. [10:50] Signals that a founder or leader is a “Pied Piper” who can build the company. [13:18] What does it mean to be an “early stage” investor? [18:54] Niches Flybridge tends to invest in. [21:58] Sectors on the horizon that Jeff and his team are watching carefully. [24:00] Why Flybridge has a geographic bias toward Boston and New York. [25:23] Why relationships matter so much to Flybridge. [31:23] Jeff’s path to Flybridge. [36:58] The tendency toward entrepreneurism: Is it innate? [39:03] Successes the company has had and what they have learned. Resources Mentioned Flybridge Capital Partners - Jeff’s investment company. On LinkedIn On Facebook On Twitter On Pinterest Code Academy Bitsight DataXu MongoDB Jibo Robotics Zest Finance Omni Physical Storage Upromise http://TwoBridgesMgmt.com www.TheMortarBlog.com   Connect With Capitalism.com Website: http://capitalism.com/ On Youtube On Facebook On Twitter On LinkedIn

Jeff Bussgang is a Co-Founder and General partner @ Flybridge Capital, where has made investments in numerous incredible companies including 2 former guests of the show, Jeff Seibert @ Crashlytics (sold to Twitter) and Josh Udashkin @ Raden. Jeff is also a Senior Lecturer @ Harvard Business School where he has co-authored no less than 15 cases. He is also an author having written the renowned, Mastering The VC Game to the acclaim of The Financial Times, TechCrunch, BusinessWeek and more. Jeff also has an incredible blog, Seeing Both Sides, which you can find here. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Jeff made his way into VC? How did he come to co-found Flybridge? 2.) To what extent does Jeff believe there is a glass ceiling for people without operations experience to progress up the VC ladder? 3.) How can companies establish cultures and processes when they have to change and reinvent every 6-12 months? 4.) What are venture returns? What metrics does Jeff use to determine his success? 5.) Is a focus on unit economics now one of the only ways to achieve equity value creation? How can consumer adoption drive equity value creation? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Jeff’s Fave Book: Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl Jeff's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Mattermark Daily Jeff’s Most Recent Investment: Sentenai As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Jeff on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here!   This episode was brought to you by DesignCrowd, the online marketplace for custom graphic, logo and web design that helps startups, entrepreneurs, web developers and agencies outsource design projects to designers from around the world.   How Does It Work? Once you have launched your brief, designers will begin submitting quality designs for you to review. With some constructive feedback, you can quickly generate a large gallery of designs that really do fit your needs. You can have exactly what you need within just three days. Once you have selected your favourite design, you will be sent all the files you require to update your branding. If you don’t like any of the submitted designs, then DesignCrowd offers a money back guarantee. So checkout designcrowd.com/VC and enter the promo code VC100 to get an astonishing $100 off your next project.  

Episode Summary Andrew Ackerman is the Managing Director for DreamIt Ventures. He was the COO of Bunk1.com and shares some insight on how he pitched people within 30 seconds or less. Andrew also talks about how Meerkat got started and what it takes to get the attention of a potential investor. Key Takeaways 02:40 – Andrew talks about Bunk1.com 09:20 – Don't pitch everything, just pitch enough so your customer asks you more. 17:15 – The one skill that's critical for an entrepreneur is empathy. Put yourself in the investor's shoes. 18:35 – Andrew breaks down the different viral levels a company can fall under. 24:05 – Andrew talks about Meerkat. 27:10 – Help an investor understand what makes your company special right off the bat. 31:10 – Reach out to Andrew via email with a warm introduction and a clear subject line. Tweetables "Don't pitch everything, just enough to get them to lean forward." "It's important for people to realize that just 'cause you're in love with something doesn't mean it's the right thing to pursue." "Meerkat is an overnight sensation two years in the making." Links Mentioned Mastering the VC Game by Jeff Bussgang [book] Andrew Ackerman runs DreamIt's startup accelerator program in New York. Serial entrepreneur, former investment manager at a family office, and recovering management consultant. Follow at @AndrewAckerman and @DreamItVentures. DreamIt is one of the top accelerators in the world, having helped launch 178 companies since 2008 including SeatGeek, Meerkat, LevelUp, Adaptly, Parsely, Elevate, Cloudmine, Biomeme, et. al., who have collectively gone on to raise $270M and who are worth over $810M. DreamIt is currently accepting applications for the DreamIt Health Philly program starting in July. Application deadline May 1: http://dreamit.com/apply/ Want the Transcription? TBD Share The Show Did you enjoy the show? I'd love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link Click on the 'Subscribe' button below the artwork Go to the 'Ratings and Reviews' section Click on 'Write a Review'

We had a chance to sit down with Jeff, author of Mastering the VC Game to get his insights on company development and what he looks for in a founder. Jeff is a former entrepreneur (Upromise, Open Market) who joined Flybridge in 2002 and focuses on the consumer, marketing services, e-commerce, software and mobile start-up markets. On the side, he serves as a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School where he teaches a class on entrepreneurship and lean start-ups called Launching Technology Ventures and has co-authored ten HBS cases. Jeff also currently sits on the board of MITX, the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange and is a Founding Executive Committee Member of First Growth Venture Network, a network of venture and angel investors supporting entrepreneurs building companies in the New York area. Jeff holds a BA in Computer Science from Harvard University where he graduated magna cum laude and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar and a Ford Scholar.