Podcast appearances and mentions of Peter Fenton

Today on Honoring the Journey, Leslie interviews Peter Fenton, delving into his journey from their serendipitous meeting through his evolving identity and professional pursuits. Peter, a playwright, director and screenwriter shares his unique perspective shaped by a complex upbringing in a conservative evangelical environment. The conversation weaves through Peter's childhood loves, like Mario Party and Survivor, his transformative college years, and his eventual discovery and acceptance of his sexual orientation. It also touches upon broader themes of spirituality, rejection, and personal growth. Peter's mission to make people laugh and think stands out as a central motif throughout their heartwarming and thought-provoking conversation.Find out more about Peter and his work at www.bypeterfenton.com!  Honoring the Journey is hosted, produced and edited by Leslie Nease and the artwork for the show is also created by Leslie Nease.Want to get updates/announcements and a FREE Deconstruction Journaling Prompt PDF? Sign up for Leslie's Monthly Newsletter! You can do that HERE.Pick up Leslie's new book, Honoring the Journey: The Deconstruction of Sister Christian here.Interested in working with Leslie as your Life/Faith Transitions Coach? Check out her website and learn more about what she offers! https://www.leslieneasecoaching.comIf you'd like to be a part of the Honoring the Journey Team as a Patreon Supporter, please check it out at this link!Would you like to leave a voicemail for Leslie? Click here!If you are looking for community as you deconstruct or just a place to go and enjoy the company of people who are seekers, learners and who are looking to connect with the Divine without religious baggage, please join the Private Facebook Community! Leslie is very passionate about connection and community, so if that sounds like you, please come join us!

Dan Siroker is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Limitless, a personalized AI powered by what you've seen, said, or heard. For his latest funding round, Dan took an unusual approach resulting in 1,000 preliminary offers with valuations as high as $1BN — and resulted in a $350 million Series A valuation. Prior to founding Limitless, Dan was the Founder of Optimizely, scaling the company to $120M in ARR and raising from some of the best in the business including Peter Fenton @ Benchmark who led the Series A. In Today's Episode with Dan Siroker We Discuss: 1. Serial Entrepreneurs are More Investable: Why would Dan always prefer to invest in serial entrepreneurs than first time founders? How do serial entrepreneurs approach team building and size of team differently? How do serial entrepreneurs approach focus and prioritisation differently? How do serial entrepreneurs approach pivoting differently to first time founders? What is Dan's advice from Elad Gil and YC's Dalton Caldwell on when to pivot? 2. The Secret to Fundraising: How to Speak VC Should founders always be raising? What is the right thing to respond to investors when they reach out to you outside of a round? What question are investors really asking when they ask, how much are you raising? How should founders approach valuation, what should they say when they are asked for it? How can founders create urgency in a funding round? What works? What does not? 3. How to Raise the Best Funding Round: Should founders engage with associates or only worth it with decision-makers? Why should founders always choose the investor who is on the early arc of their career? Why was Dan's first meeting with Peter Fenton the best meeting he has ever had with a VC? Why does Dan believe that taking the highest price is never the right answer? To what extent does having a true Tier 1 VC lead your round, change the game for your company? 4. Dan Siroker: AMA: How did becoming a father change the way that Dan operates? Why is Dan scared we might see technological progress stall for the next 20 years? Why did Dan not do YC the second time around with Limitless? What is the story of how Optimizely nearly bought Amplitude?  

Sarah Tavel is a General Partner @ Benchmark, one of the most successful and renowned venture firms in the world. At Benchmark, Sarah has led rounds in Chainalysis, Hipcamp, Medely, Rekki, Glide, Cambly and more. Prior to Benchmark, Sarah was a Partner at Greylock Partners. Before Greylock, Sarah was the first 30 employees at Pinterest. Sarah joined Pinterest in 2012 after co-leading the Series A investment while at Bessemer Venture Partners. In Today's Episode with Sarah Tavel We Discuss: 1. Becoming a GP at The Most Renowned Firm in Venture: How did the process of Sarah joining Benchmark start? How did it progress? What was it that convinced her to leave Greylock and join Benchmark? What does Sarah believe makes Peter Fenton the world-class investor that he is? What does Sarah know now that she wishes she had known when she started in venture? 2. Foundation Models: Is it All Going to Zero: Will foundation models be commoditised? Will 99% of the funding going to foundation models go to 0? How does Sarah view the future of open vs closed source? Why does Sarah believe that all frontier models of the future will be closed-source? Why does the business model of foundation models remind Sarah of the food delivery business? 3. Application Layer: Where $BN Companies Will Be Built: Why does Sarah believe that sustainable value-creating companies will be in the application layer? How does Sarah determine between a wrapper on top of ChatGPT and true product value? Are enterprises opening real budgets for AI today or are we still in experimental budgets? How does Sarah think about how AI companies differentiate when there are so many in the same space of customer service, sales team support etc etc? Why does Sarah believe that it is rational to pay more for these companies when investing in them? What does Sarah mean when she says the future is "selling the work and not the tools"? 4. Inside Benchmark: How the Best Do Venture: What is the one rule that Benchmark is willing to break when doing a deal? Why do Benchmark aim to be the best recruitment firm in the world? Why do Benchmark not agree with the concept of reserves? In a case where Benchmark have lost, why did they lose? How did they change their approach?

Kevin Ryan is one of the leading serial entrepreneurs and investors in New York. Previously he co-founded MongoDB, Business Insider, Gilt Groupe, Zola, Nomad Health, Pearl Health, and was the CEO of DoubleClick (Acquired by Google for $3.1B). Today, Kevin is the founder and CEO of AlleyCorp, a venture capital firm that incubates and invests in transformative companies in healthcare, diversified tech, robotics, and impact. Just yesterday, Alleycorp announced their $250M fund, their first ever external capital.  In Today's Episode with Kevin Ryan We Discuss: Early Signs of Entrepreneurship How did Kevin's early life shape his career? How would his parents and teachers describe him? Does Kevin agree that successful entrepreneurs always show signs early? What does Kevin think about luck vs. skill? Why does Kevin think that most things are out of your control as an entrepreneur? Lessons from Founding 10+ Companies Worth $27BN Does Kevin agree the best CEOs are also the best fundraisers? What were Kevin's biggest lessons from scaling DoubleClick from 20 to 2000 employees? What was Kevin's a-ha moment behind Business Insider? What was the reason behind its success? Why does Kevin believe the best founders are always in unfamiliar fields? Incubating World's Best Companies How does Kevin allocate resources between incubations vs. investments? What are the biggest commonalities between successful companies at AlleyCorp? Is Kevin a market-led or people-led investor? What does Kevin think is the most important element in achieving product-market fit? What was Kevin's biggest miss on selecting founders? What were his takeaways? Current State of Venture Why does Kevin believe venture is more competitive now than ever before? What does Kevin know now that wish he'd known when he started investing? Does Kevin agree rich investors make better investors? Why does Kevin not care about ownership? Does Kevin agree with Doug Leone that venture has transitioned from a high boutique margin industry to a low margin commoditised industry? Does Kevin agree with Peter Fenton that price is a mental trap?  

"When a family's maid gets himself killed, they escape from prison." How does he get himself killed? Why are they all in prison? And why do they want a book? Our guest storyteller Peter Fenton is here to work it out -- and largely without Hannah's help, as her audio only half saved on the recording. But Jennie and Peter have the story in capable hands and we were able to cobble together a mostly-coherent story regardless. This one was too good to leave on the cutting room floor! Check out Peter's work @peterfent and on bypeterfenton.com.

My guests this week are Peter Fenton and Victor Lazarte. Peter and Victor are both General Partners at Benchmark. Of the six equal partners at the storied venture firm, Peter is the longest serving and Victor is the newest, having spent the past decade founding and building Wildlife Studios into one of the biggest independent mobile gaming companies in the world. Peter has been a board member at Wildlife for the past four years and has a remarkable track record of tech investing over his two decades at Benchmark. In our discussion, we talk about the core motivators behind great entrepreneurs, Benchmark's unique operating philosophy, and what it's like to transition from builder to investor. Please enjoy this conversation with Peter Fenton and Victor Lazarte. Listen to Founders Podcast: #326 Anna Wintour  For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus, the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don't want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won't find anywhere else. And they don't stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, Tegus helps you find the right experts you need at a quality and speed that can't be matched. For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:04:10) - (First question) - Victor's early expectations after being at the company for just three months (00:05:39) - What Victor misses from the operating life (00:06:59) - Peter's opinion on what makes Benchmark a fascinating company (00:15:00) - Peter and Victor's perspective on the significance of the phrase “life's work” (00:24:19) - The influence of market tailwinds on success in investing (00:29:42) - How to keep founders' generative drive at peak levels (00:32:39) - Balancing aggression, desire and generative drive when building and operating a business (00:34:22) - Victor's approach to dealing with pleasure seeking as a successful operator  (00:38:29) - Why Benchmark intentionally raises funds at half the suggested amount (00:43:13) - Lessons learned from navigating challenging scenarios in venture capital  (00:46:27) - What excites Victor as he starts a new venture at Benchmark (00:48:19) - Why AI is more akin to the internet than crypto (00:52:41) - The significance of platform-based businesses in the contemporary landscape (00:57:45) - The impact tech giants exert on new entrants in the industry  (00:61:00) - Victor's opinion on what makes great games and great gaming businesses (01:13:44) - Where Peter and Victor feel they have areas to grow (01:19:48) - Perspectives on human progress (01:21:14) - The kindest thing that anyone has done for both Peter and Victor

Scott Farquhar is the Co-Founder & Co-CEO @ Atlassian. Scott co-founded the company with his university friend, Mike Cannon-Brookes, in 2002 from Australia. Over an incredible 20-year journey they have grown to a market cap of $50BN today, over 11,000 staff globally and serving over 260,000 customers. Scott is also a co-founder of Skip Capital, a private investment fund with a portfolio including Figma, Snyk, Canva and more. In Today's Episode with Scott Farquhar We Discuss: 1. The 20-Year Journey to $50BN Market Cap: How did Scott first make his way into the world of tech and come to co-found Atlassian? What does Scott know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning? From 20 years with Mike, what is Scott's biggest advice on choosing your co-founder? 2. The Fundraising Masterclass with Atlassian: An emergency phone call, a honeymoon cut short; how did the first funding round for Atlassian come to be? Where was the business revenue-wise at the time? Why did Scott not like the traditional fundraising process? What did he do to add game theory and ensure that they got the best deal as a company? Why did Scott choose Accel with their offer? How did Peter Fenton lose a $3BN deal with Atlassian? 3. Lessons Scaling Atlassian to $4BN in Revenue: What does Scott believe are the 4 core roles of the CEO? Is resource allocation the most important? What are the single biggest acts of commission and omission that Scott regrets? What are the biggest lessons Scott has from shutting down Stride, their Slack competitor? 4. Scott: The Father, Husband and Philanthropist: What does great fatherhood mean to Scott today? What is the secret to a truly successful marriage? How does Scott assess his relationship to money today? How has it changed with time? How does Scott think about bringing children up in a world of affluence and abundance? Fun Fact: Every single 20VC episode is recorded with Riverside.FM. It is the one product that I could not live without. Try it today here (https://creators.riverside.fm/20VC) and use the code 20VC for 15% off.

Miles Grimshaw is a General Partner @ Benchmark, widely considered one of the best venture capital firms in history. Prior to joining the Benchmark Partnership, Miles was a General Partner @ Thrive Capital where he led investments in Airtable, Monzo, Lattice, Github, Segment, Slack and Benchling to name a few. In Today's Episode with Miles Grimshaw We Discuss: 1. Straight into VC From University: From Yale to Thrive How did Miles come to land a role with Josh Kushner and Thrive right out of Yale? What are 1-2 of his biggest lessons from working with Josh @ Thrive for 8 years? What does Miles know now that he wishes he had known when he started in venture? 2. The Pillars of Venture Capital: Sourcing, Selecting, Servicing: What does Miles believe are the 5 core pillars of successful venture capital? 1-5, what is his strongest and what is his weakest? Does Miles really believe that VCs add value today? What are the most clear ways that Miles have seen VCs destroy value in portfolio companies? 3. Investment Decision Making: From Github to Segment: What is the single most important question that Miles has to answer to say yes to an investment? How does Miles think about both market sizing risk and market timing risk? What have been Miles' biggest hits? What did he learn from making those investments? What have been Miles' biggest misses? What did he learn from missing Figma and Plaid? What have been 1-2 of Miles's biggest lessons so far from working with Bill Gurley and Peter Fenton? 4. AI: What Happens Next: Does Miles believe we are in an AI bubble today? How does he assess the landscape? Why does Miles believe that the "Co-Pilot" strategy is an incumbent strategy? Where does Miles believe the value will accrue; the application layer or the infrastructure layer? What does Miles mean when he says the future is in "selling the work and not the software"? What business model disruption and adoption disruption does Miles believe AI will enable? Why does Miles believe that the analogy of AI to the rise of mobile is wrong?

Peter Fenton is a writer and producer of both theater and film whose dramedy play, Abandon All Hope, premiered Off-Broadway in June 2023. Mental health and personal development are at the heart of Peter's work. The psychological thriller film currently on the film festival circuit that he produced and co-wrote, Night Voices, explores themes of mental health and suicide. In his work, he: 1) -Personified characters with his insecurities 2) -raise suicide awareness Follow along for this week's spotlight story here: https://hbr.org/2021/07/writing-can-help-us-heal-from-traumaAreas of Discussion Growing up gay in a conservative Christian worldHaving the courage to be vulnerable Having a support groupThe power of creative outletsCheck out his website here: http://www.byPeterFenton.comLearn more about the show at www.VincentALanci.com.Adventure by MusicbyAden | https://soundcloud.com/musicbyadenHappy | https://soundcloud.com/morning-kuliBrought to you by Tampa Counseling and Wellness- Dedicated to helping individuals looking to positively transform their lives through compassionate counseling and wellness coaching. If you struggle with depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues, call now for a free consultation. 1 813 520 2807

(0:00) Intro(1:38) Growing up wanting to be a VC(16:33) Mentorship(20:25) Benchmark(30:56) Entrepreneurial mindset(40:53) Successful founder characteristic(45:42) Estimating timelines(54:41 Everyone gets worse in venture over time(1:05:22) VC websites(1:10:52) Inflation(1:18:29) Robert Sapolsky Mixed and edited: Justin HrabovskyProduced: Rashad AssirExecutive Producer: Josh MachizMusic: Griff Lawson 

Peter Fenton is a young man just 6 years out of college at Wheaton, and he is killing it. His creative output for this year alone is incredible, and his past life as an evangelical has served to fuel his creative energy. He's got a film he produced making the festival rounds, and his play, Abandon All Hope is set to premier at the Rougue Theater Festival Off-Broadway this Saturday night. A lot has happened in a short amount of time for Peter professionally and personally. His faith, his sexuality, and his career path have all been affected by his deconstruction, and a lot of it can be traced back to his time at Wheaton. The bonus segment this week is a minor rant from Scott about the Texas battle to mandate a 10 Commandments in every public school classroom. As someone who loves public schools and once taught in them, myself, I have some thoughts. Question: can you list all 10 Commandments? I didn't think so. UPDATE: thankfully Texas Bill 1515, which sailed through the Texas senate, stalled in the House and didn't get a vote before the deadline. You can read about it here. Chapel Probation is part of the Dauntless Media Collective Join the Dauntless Media Discord for more conversation with all the podcast communities. Asian-American-Apostate- Losing Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical University is available now! Music by Scott Okamoto, Jenyi, Azeem Kahn, and Shin Kawasaki and Wingo Shackleford Join the Chapel Probation Patreon  to support Scott and for bonus content.  Join the Chapel Probation Facebook group to continue the conversations. Follow Scott on Instagram and Twitter and Substack You can subscribe to Scott's newsletter and learn more about the book, the blog, and performances at rscottokamoto.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scott-okamoto/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scott-okamoto/support

It's been a sad state of affairs for consumer companies not named TikTok. Poparazzi just shut down. (At least some of the team went to Instagram.) Popshop is struggling. The venture capital firm Benchmark helped establish both companies as consumer startups to watch by leading their Series A rounds. Sarah Tavel, who led the investment in Poparazzi and has worked closely with Popshop, agreed to come on the Newcomer podcast to talk about the brutal state of consumer startups. “Our deep belief at Benchmark is that our job is not to predict the future, but to try as best we can to see the present clearly,” Tavel told me.Of course, it's not just Benchmark's once high-flying startups that are reeling. Andreessen Horowitz audio company Clubhouse laid off more than half of its employees. Hype for the photo company BeReal seems to be dying down. (Searches for the company's name on Google are at less than half their peak.) “It is a really tough environment right now to build that type of company,” Tavel said about startups building for consumers. “It's always been difficult, but the level of difficulty has been turned all the way on. Because right now, anybody building something in consumer has to compete with the most addictive consumer format that we've ever had — which is short video.”Tavel, who co-led an early investment in Pinterest and then became the company's first product manager, talked through some of the most promising opportunities in startups. Artificial intelligence seems poised to create new consumer startups. Tavel flagged the legal artificial intelligence company EvenUp, which just raised at a $350 million valuation from Bessemer, as one such promising startup. I marveled at the bootstrapped rise of Midjourney. But, of course, many generative AI startups, especially ones building foundation models, are raising such large rounds that it can be difficult for a firm like Benchmark to rationalize an investment. We also talked about one of Tavel's most successful investments at Benchmark, Chainalysis. The blockchain data company raised $170 million at $8.6 billion last year. The New York Times wrote a glowing profile of the company last month. Tavel, who doesn't like to announce her startup investments, revealed that she has secretly invested in an unannounced NFT company.“Crypto is a bad word now,” Tavel told me. “It's really hard to train consumers to trust something again — once a consumer has made a first impression. It's much easier to teach a user a first impression than to rewrite that first impression.”Finally, I asked Tavel to give us a peek behind the curtain at Benchmark. Fortune's Jessica Mathews recently interviewed Benchmark's Bill Gurley about his decision to step back.Mathews wrote:“The venture business, if you want to be at the top, requires insane, remarkable hustle… You have to live in fear that the next Google is going to get funded by a firm that's not yours,” he says. “Either you're in there rowing as hard as you can, because we're all a team, or you're not.”That said, he still has strong instincts about the future of tech. “If I were still active as a venture capitalist, I'd be looking at a lot of the vertical applications of A.I. I look at the coding stuff, and it's insane… If you're not using it, I think you're probably writing your own death certificate as a programmer, because people are going to be so much more efficient. And the question is: What are other applications that have that kind of productivity boost or lift, and I think people are trying to figure that out.”But in the end, it was a book by Steve Martin, Born Standing Up, that helped convince Gurley it was time to step back. “One day, [Martin] is in Vegas and he comes out, and the top row is empty, the first time he's ever seen the top row empty. He quits the next day—never does standup again. And then he goes off and he does his banjo and his theater and his acting.… Like I said, I don't think I ever played the stage, so I'd rather not say I'm the same. It influenced me. That notion influenced me.”Today, the Benchmark partnership is made up of Tavel, Peter Fenton, Eric Vishria, Chetan Puttagunta, and Miles Grimshaw. Tavel said about the firm, “We've always had a pretty simple idea, which is that there's this creative destruction.”“Once you start — there's no training wheels. So you're thrown into the deep end. You're an equal partner and you're expected to be 100% until the minute that you retire,” Tavel said. “And when you have an equal partnership, it kind of pushes you in the direction of just recognizing — as Bill said in that interview — the hustle may not be in you anymore. And if you feel that way, then the model — as was set up by the founders — is such that it's time to raise your hand and move on.”Of course, my understanding is that partners like Gurley, Matt Cohler, and Mitch Lasky remain fairly heavily involved at Benchmark even so. “It's like an affliction. The reason they're here in the first place was because the curiosity and competitiveness and the drive for learning and relevance, being in the mix, that never leaves you,” Tavel said. “They are a significant portion of our LP base, they're still there on Mondays, and I'm texting all of them all the time.”Find the Podcast Get full access to Newcomer at www.newcomer.co/subscribe

It's been a sad state of affairs for consumer companies not named TikTok. Poparazzi just shut down. (At least some of the team went to Instagram.) Popshop is struggling. The venture capital firm Benchmark helped establish both companies as consumer startups to watch by leading their Series A rounds. Sarah Tavel, who led the investment in Poparazzi and has worked closely with Popshop, agreed to come on the Newcomer podcast to talk about the brutal state of consumer startups. “Our deep belief at Benchmark is that our job is not to predict the future, but to try as best we can to see the present clearly,” Tavel told me.Of course, it's not just Benchmark's once high-flying startups that are reeling. Andreessen Horowitz audio company Clubhouse laid off more than half of its employees. Hype for the photo company BeReal seems to be dying down. (Searches for the company's name on Google are at less than half their peak.) “It is a really tough environment right now to build that type of company,” Tavel said about startups building for consumers. “It's always been difficult, but the level of difficulty has been turned all the way on. Because right now, anybody building something in consumer has to compete with the most addictive consumer format that we've ever had — which is short video.”Tavel, who co-led an early investment in Pinterest and then became the company's first product manager, talked through some of the most promising opportunities in startups. Artificial intelligence seems poised to create new consumer startups. Tavel flagged the legal artificial intelligence company EvenUp, which just raised at a $350 million valuation from Bessemer, as one such promising startup. I marveled at the bootstrapped rise of Midjourney. But, of course, many generative AI startups, especially ones building foundation models, are raising such large rounds that it can be difficult for a firm like Benchmark to rationalize an investment. We also talked about one of Tavel's most successful investments at Benchmark, Chainalysis. The blockchain data company raised $170 million at $8.6 billion last year. The New York Times wrote a glowing profile of the company last month. Tavel, who doesn't like to announce her startup investments, revealed that she has secretly invested in an unannounced NFT company.“Crypto is a bad word now,” Tavel told me. “It's really hard to train consumers to trust something again — once a consumer has made a first impression. It's much easier to teach a user a first impression than to rewrite that first impression.”Finally, I asked Tavel to give us a peek behind the curtain at Benchmark. Fortune's Jessica Mathews recently interviewed Benchmark's Bill Gurley about his decision to step back.Mathews wrote:“The venture business, if you want to be at the top, requires insane, remarkable hustle… You have to live in fear that the next Google is going to get funded by a firm that's not yours,” he says. “Either you're in there rowing as hard as you can, because we're all a team, or you're not.”That said, he still has strong instincts about the future of tech. “If I were still active as a venture capitalist, I'd be looking at a lot of the vertical applications of A.I. I look at the coding stuff, and it's insane… If you're not using it, I think you're probably writing your own death certificate as a programmer, because people are going to be so much more efficient. And the question is: What are other applications that have that kind of productivity boost or lift, and I think people are trying to figure that out.”But in the end, it was a book by Steve Martin, Born Standing Up, that helped convince Gurley it was time to step back. “One day, [Martin] is in Vegas and he comes out, and the top row is empty, the first time he's ever seen the top row empty. He quits the next day—never does standup again. And then he goes off and he does his banjo and his theater and his acting.… Like I said, I don't think I ever played the stage, so I'd rather not say I'm the same. It influenced me. That notion influenced me.”Today, the Benchmark partnership is made up of Tavel, Peter Fenton, Eric Vishria, Chetan Puttagunta, and Miles Grimshaw. Tavel said about the firm, “We've always had a pretty simple idea, which is that there's this creative destruction.”“Once you start — there's no training wheels. So you're thrown into the deep end. You're an equal partner and you're expected to be 100% until the minute that you retire,” Tavel said. “And when you have an equal partnership, it kind of pushes you in the direction of just recognizing — as Bill said in that interview — the hustle may not be in you anymore. And if you feel that way, then the model — as was set up by the founders — is such that it's time to raise your hand and move on.”Of course, my understanding is that partners like Gurley, Matt Cohler, and Mitch Lasky remain fairly heavily involved at Benchmark even so. “It's like an affliction. The reason they're here in the first place was because the curiosity and competitiveness and the drive for learning and relevance, being in the mix, that never leaves you,” Tavel said. “They are a significant portion of our LP base, they're still there on Mondays, and I'm texting all of them all the time.”Find the Podcast Get full access to Newcomer at www.newcomer.co/subscribe

In this episode, we have a conversation with freelance writer, film producer and playwright Peter Fenton! Peter talks about his experiences as a gay man in the evangelical church, including his time as a Christian camp counselor, and how he came to terms with accepting himself and how he has explored his evolving faith through his writing. We are so excited for Peter's play, Abandon All Hope, to make its Off Broadway debut in June!!!! You can follow Peter on Instagram and Twitter @peterfent. You can support the GoFundMe for Peter's show here.  We have merch! Get your Bible Dyke Energy Tee and more here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/rtgardenpodcast/shop  Our social media: @reclaimingthegarden on Insta, @RtGardenPodcast on Twitter, and Reclaiming the Garden on Facebook. Our personal accounts: @thatpunchabletheaternerd, @April_TheWriter (April is on Twitter and Insta). Also, our podcast account follows a bunch of awesome folks + podcasts in the exvangelical/deconstruction world and progressive Christian world, so if you're looking for more resources, that's a great place to start!

This week The Haunted Horrorstorian has a tale in store that is sure to have you second-guessing the next time things just don't seem right when you're late for the bus. Shout out to Peter Fenton for sharing their story with us this week! Do you have a story to tell? Send it to HauntedHorrorstorian@gmail.com, or search Haunted Horrorstorian Podcast on Facebook! If you like what you're hearing and want to help The Haunted Horrorstorian keep the candles lit and the stories coming, please consider supporting us. Thank you!! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/hauntedhorrorstorian/support

(0:05) Intro/Rahul Ligma(04:56) Rashad's new podcast “No Agenda”(9:28) Introducing Peter Fenton(17:06) Working at Excel(24:59) Mentorship(28:50) Benchmark(39:21) Entrepreneurial mindset(49:19) Successful founder characteristic(54:08) Estimating timelines(1:03:07) Everyone gets worse in venture over time(1:13:48) VC websites(1:19:18) Inflation(1:26:55) Robert Sapolsky(1:32:06) Outro Show Notes:Subscribe to No Agenda: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KHruq3qC0IKm5U9wOIjKZ?si=13bab75351d74c70https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBgv57GHyNgjhl3CBB3XtXp2JylaVKdNsRahul Ligma: https://twitter.com/Rezowan_/status/1586047782351441920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1586047782351441920%7Ctwgr%5Ef725476e02dc15cc5f19f20bc8c3527e61e44c4f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2022%2F10%2F28%2F23428775%2Ftwitter-fake-employee-layoff-rahul-ligma-elon-musk Mixed and edited: Justin HrabovskyProduced: Andrew Nadeau and Rashad AssirExecutive Producer: Josh MachizMusic: Griff Lawson 

In this episode, we're live at the Q Christian Fellowship and joined by Peter Fenton! We talk about a range of topics from summer camp culture, the Unchanged movement, and his book, "Abandon All Hope". We also get the chance to answer some audience questions.

Digits Co-Founders Wayne Chang & Jeff Seibert joins me. Digits is the world's first real-time financial engine that powers the next generation of business tools. The SaaS-based company offers entrepreneurs access to financial data and the ability to analyze their accounts at any time to help them see where their cash flow is going. To date, Digits has raised over $32M from Peter Fenton at Benchmark and Jess Verrilli at GV and a base of angel investors from Box, Github, Stitch Fix, Tinder, Gusto and more.Using state-of-the-art machine learning and advanced statistical analysis, Digits converts millions of data points into a living model of your business.Stop reconciling budgets-to-actuals.Say hello to the power of real-time finance.Digits leverages the latest in machine-learned algorithms to automatically identify patterns, intelligently classify incoming data, and detect anomalies.Technology that forms to the shape of your business.Introducing Digits PredictsArmed with a profound understanding of your financial history, Digits automatically maps every transaction to the appropriate vendor, expense category, and employee

This week, Rare Birds continues back-to-back episodes of conversations with host Peter Fenton's classmates from Wheaton College! Today, we are talking with Ciera McElroy (@cierahmcelroy), who is an author and a brand consultant, editor, and ghostwriter through her business, Clover and Bee. She believes every artist can make a career out of their work and is thrilled to help make it happen. Ciera Horton McElroy's work has appeared in AGNI, Iron Horse Literary Review, and Bridge Eight among others. Ciera is a shamelessly multi-passionate creative: she's worked as a collegiate writing instructor, a consultant for film campaigns, a journalist on Capitol Hill, and more. She served as the Communications Director on the faith campaign for the Academy Award-nominated A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD (2019) and also PAUL, APOSTLE OF CHRIST (2017). When she's not writing, Ciera can be found exploring St. Louis with her baby boy. As an up-and-coming novelist and short story writer, Ciera is represented by Folio Literary Management. For more information on her film and consulting work, visit www.cloverandbee.net. Ciera's Recommendations for Short Story Collections: The Heaven of Animals by David James Poissant Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout Awayland by Ramona Ausubel Get In Trouble by Kelly Link Birds of America by Lorrie Moore The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr Ciera's Instagram: www.instagram.com/cierahmcelroy/ Ciera's Author Website: www.cieramcelroy.com Clover and Bee Consulting: www.cloverandbee.net About The Host Peter Fenton's work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Dadley Productions, Heuer Publishing, BraveMaker Media, and Wheaton College Jukebox Theater among others. Peter is an adventurous multi-genre author and screenwriter who co-founded Ornithology Media in summer 2021 as an imprint to produce creative work that stimulates critical thought and laughter. www.byPeterFenton.com www.instagram.com/peterfent/ www.twitter.com/peterfent/ ornithologymedia@gmail.com Intro Theme: Music: Lauren Duski - Rollin Download: http://raboninco.com/10wTc Music promoted by Epic Free Sounds Video Link: https://youtu.be/peWMaIvfckM --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Wheaton College classmates—who didn't really know each other at the time of going to school—Matt Adams (@mbadms) and Peter Fenton (@peterfent) sit down for a chat about Black identity, photography, and brand storytelling in today's episode of the Rare Birds Podcast! Matt Adams is a cultural strategist, writer, speaker, and photographer who focuses on researching the impact of digital markets, social and faith movements, and technology. In regards to his cultural heritage, he is half Jamaican and African American, making the most out of what it means to be Black in the United States of America. In his time at Wheaton College, he focused on media ecology, social change, and entrepreneurship which led him to a career in entertainment, advertising, and consulting. Matt desires to utilize storytelling to share stories that promote the fullness and beauty of blackness, human culture, and our collective future. Matt's Website: www.mattadms.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mbadms/ Matt's "Defining Me" Photography Project: https://mattadms.com/defining-me-1 The creative process always takes some form of investment—usually a bunch of time, potentially some money, but always, a whole lot of effort in the beginning, middle, and end. To bring a project—any project—to life is a creative or otherwise entrepreneurial process, and for many of us who have brought one or more projects to life ("Rare Birds," if you will), bringing creative work into the world is second nature, and there are people out there who want to know how we did it. This is an opportunity to both promote your passion and to break down your creative process. The Rare Birds Podcast seeks to demystify this process of bringing projects to life one conversation at a time with a diverse set of creative and entrepreneurial types. The guests on this podcast are hand-picked by host Peter Fenton as interesting creatives with a sense of humor who create quality, thoughtful content and use their platform to make their circles of influence a better place. These casual, friendly conversations will ask, "What project are you most proud of? And how did you bring it to life?" of Authors, Filmmakers, YouTubers, Theatre Professionals, and more! About The Host Peter Fenton's work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Dadley Productions, Heuer Publishing, BraveMaker Media, and Wheaton College Jukebox Theater among others. Peter is an adventurous multi-genre author and screenwriter who co-founded Ornithology Media in summer 2021 as an imprint to produce creative work that stimulates critical thought and laughter. www.byPeterFenton.com www.instagram.com/peterfent/ www.twitter.com/peterfent/ ornithologymedia@gmail.com Intro Theme: Music: Lauren Duski - Rollin Download: http://raboninco.com/10wTc Music promoted by Epic Free Sounds Video Link: https://youtu.be/peWMaIvfckM --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

There's no motivating rage quite like Mario Party rage, and today we're talking all about Mario Party and the process of content creation on YouTube with ZoomZike (@zoomzike), the creator of the Identifying Luck series of videos on YouTube, which are a comprehensive dissection game-by-game of the Mario Party series. Host Peter Fenton (@peterfent) would like to point out that he and ZoomZike have very similar voices, which may or may not be confusing to the listener, but the conversation is delightful nonetheless. ZoomZike started on YouTube as early as 2011, where he spent his free time recording himself playing games using a webcam. When 2018 came around, he decided it was time for a reboot and started working towards making analytical content diving deep into the games he enjoys. His most popular videos are part of his series titled "Identifying Luck", which is a kind of long-form, comprehensive documentary series where he breaks down the infamously "luck-based" Mario Party series of video games to its core game by game, which reveals information that turns this series known for its chance events into something that can be a little more predicted and controlled. ZoomZike on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ZoomZike Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZoomZike The creative process always takes some form of investment—usually a bunch of time, potentially some money, but always, a whole lot of effort in the beginning, middle, and end. To bring a project—any project—to life is a creative or otherwise entrepreneurial process, and for many of us who have brought one or more projects to life ("Rare Birds," if you will), bringing creative work into the world is second nature, and there are people out there who want to know how we did it. This is an opportunity to both promote your passion and to break down your creative process. The Rare Birds Podcast seeks to demystify this process of bringing projects to life one conversation at a time with a diverse set of creative and entrepreneurial types. The guests on this podcast are hand-picked by host Peter Fenton as interesting creatives with a sense of humor who create quality, thoughtful content and use their platform to make their circles of influence a better place. These casual, friendly conversations will ask, "What project are you most proud of? And how did you bring it to life?" of Authors, Filmmakers, YouTubers, Theatre Professionals, and more! About The Host Peter Fenton's work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Dadley Productions, Heuer Publishing, BraveMaker Media, and Wheaton College Jukebox Theater among others. Peter is an adventurous multi-genre author and screenwriter who co-founded Ornithology Media in summer 2021 as an imprint to produce creative work that stimulates critical thought and laughter. www.byPeterFenton.com www.instagram.com/peterfent/ www.twitter.com/peterfent/ ornithologymedia@gmail.com Intro Theme: Music: Lauren Duski - Rollin Download: http://raboninco.com/10wTc Music promoted by Epic Free Sounds Video Link: https://youtu.be/peWMaIvfckM Various Mario Party 3 soundtrack songs are used in this episode. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

J.E. Kraft—truly—is a rare bird. She's a mom of two teenage boys and wife to an awesome husband, author of two novels that are basically polar opposites in topic and tone, and has built a massive following on TikTok (@gianusystem) where they discuss living with Dissociative Identity Disorder (which is often erroneously called "multiple personality disorder"). J.E. Kraft wrote her first book, Kittens, when she was seven, and despite struggling with bullying, ADHD, and dyslexia, she hasn't stopped writing since. She grew up into an awkward super geek; lover of animals, bugs, psychology, and science. They can be found in Tennessee with her husband, two kids, a cat, dog, lizard, frog, shrimp, and a variety of houseplants. When she's not busy writing, she advocates online for mental health awareness and crushes the hopes and dreams of their loved ones in board games. J.E. Kraft's Website: www.jekraft.com TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gianusystem Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jekraftbooks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/JE_Kraft The creative process always takes some form of investment—usually a bunch of time, potentially some money, but always, a whole lot of effort in the beginning, middle, and end. To bring a project—any project—to life is a creative or otherwise entrepreneurial process, and for many of us who have brought one or more projects to life ("Rare Birds," if you will), bringing creative work into the world is second nature, and there are people out there who want to know how we did it. This is an opportunity to both promote your passion and to break down your creative process. The Rare Birds Podcast seeks to demystify this process of bringing projects to life one conversation at a time with a diverse set of creative and entrepreneurial types. The guests on this podcast are hand-picked by host Peter Fenton as interesting creatives with a sense of humor who create quality, thoughtful content and use their platform to make their circles of influence a better place. These casual, friendly conversations will ask, "What project are you most proud of? And how did you bring it to life?" of Authors, Filmmakers, YouTubers, Theatre Professionals, and more! About The Host Peter Fenton's work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Dadley Productions, Heuer Publishing, BraveMaker Media, and Wheaton College Jukebox Theater among others. Peter is an adventurous multi-genre author and screenwriter who co-founded Ornithology Media in summer 2021 as an imprint to produce creative work that stimulates critical thought and laughter. www.byPeterFenton.com www.instagram.com/peterfent/ www.twitter.com/peterfent/ ornithologymedia@gmail.com Intro Theme: Music: Lauren Duski - Rollin Download: http://raboninco.com/10wTc Music promoted by Epic Free Sounds Video Link: https://youtu.be/peWMaIvfckM --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Filmmaker, actor, husband, father, and pastor Tony Gapastione (@tonygapastione) joins host Peter Fenton (@peterfent) for a very human chat about what it's like to juggle all the roles in a creative's life. Tony has just finished directing his debut feature film, LAST CHANCE CHARLENE, under his production company, BraveMaker Media. Tony Gapastione has worked on stage and in front of the camera acting, in print and film for over twenty-five years. He's originally from Chicago where he grew his love for acting through theatre and now lives in Northern California where he became a SAG-AFTRA actor and filmmaker. Tony loves creative collaboration on the other side of the camera writing, producing and directing. Tony loves telling stories, that's why he also started his non-profit film organization BRAVEMAKER. He wants to support, celebrate and equip filmmakers, actors, and brave storytellers of all kinds. Tony hosts monthly film screenings, panel discussions and an annual film fest in Redwood City, California as well as hosting a live Youtube show every Wednesday. Tony's Blog on Fundraising: http://www.tonygapastione.com/blog BraveMaker Media Official Website: https://bravemaker.com/ More About Last Chance Charlene: https://bravemaker.com/last-chance-charlene/ Follow BraveMaker on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/bravemakerorg BraveMaker's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravemakerorg/ The creative process always takes some form of investment—usually a bunch of time, potentially some money, but always, a whole lot of effort in the beginning, middle, and end. To bring a project—any project—to life is a creative or otherwise entrepreneurial process, and for many of us who have brought one or more projects to life ("Rare Birds," if you will), bringing creative work into the world is second nature, and there are people out there who want to know how we did it. This is an opportunity to both promote your passion and to break down your creative process. The Rare Birds Podcast seeks to demystify this process of bringing projects to life one conversation at a time with a diverse set of creative and entrepreneurial types. The guests on this podcast are hand-picked by host Peter Fenton as interesting creatives with a sense of humor who create quality, thoughtful content and use their platform to make their circles of influence a better place. These casual, friendly conversations will ask, "What project are you most proud of? And how did you bring it to life?" of Authors, Filmmakers, YouTubers, Theatre Professionals, and more! About The Host Peter Fenton's work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Dadley Productions, Heuer Publishing, BraveMaker Media, and Wheaton College Jukebox Theater among others. Peter is an adventurous multi-genre author and screenwriter who co-founded Ornithology Media in summer 2021 as an imprint to produce creative work that stimulates critical thought and laughter. www.byPeterFenton.com www.instagram.com/peterfent/ www.twitter.com/peterfent/ ornithologymedia@gmail.com Intro Theme: Music: Lauren Duski - Rollin Download: http://raboninco.com/10wTc Music promoted by Epic Free Sounds Video Link: https://youtu.be/peWMaIvfckM --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

CROSS-OVER PODCAST ALERT! The creative process always takes some form of investment—usually a bunch of time, potentially some money, but always, a whole lot of effort in the beginning, middle, and end. To bring a project—any project—to life is a creative or otherwise entrepreneurial process, and for many of us who have brought one or more projects to life ("Rare Birds," if you will), bringing creative work into the world is second nature, and there are people out there who want to know how we did it. This is an opportunity to both promote your passion and to break down your creative process. The Rare Birds Podcast seeks to demystify this process of bringing projects to life one conversation at a time with a diverse set of creative and entrepreneurial types. The guests on this podcast are hand-picked by host Peter Fenton as interesting creatives with a sense of humor who create quality, thoughtful content and use their platform to make their circles of influence a better place. These casual, friendly conversations will ask, "What project are you most proud of? And how did you bring it to life?" of Authors, Filmmakers, YouTubers, Theatre Professionals, and more! About The Host Peter Fenton's work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Dadley Productions, Heuer Publishing, BraveMaker Media, and Wheaton College Jukebox Theater among others. Peter is an adventurous multi-genre author and screenwriter who co-founded Ornithology Media in summer 2021 as an imprint to produce creative work that stimulates critical thought and laughter. www.byPeterFenton.com www.instagram.com/peterfent/ www.twitter.com/peterfent/ ornithologymedia@gmail.com Intro Theme: Music: Lauren Duski - Rollin Download: http://raboninco.com/10wTc Music promoted by Epic Free Sounds Video Link: https://youtu.be/peWMaIvfckM Rare Birds Episode 2: Filmmaker, actor, husband, father, and pastor Tony Gapastione (@tonygapastione) joins host Peter Fenton (@peterfent) for a very human chat about what it's like to juggle all the roles in a creative's life. Tony has just finished directing his debut feature film, LAST CHANCE CHARLENE, under his production company, BraveMaker Media. Tony Gapastione has worked on stage and in front of the camera acting, in print and film for over twenty-five years. He's originally from Chicago where he grew his love for acting through theatre and now lives in Northern California where he became a SAG-AFTRA actor and filmmaker. Tony loves creative collaboration on the other side of the camera writing, producing and directing. Tony loves telling stories, that's why he also started his non-profit film organization BRAVEMAKER. He wants to support, celebrate and equip filmmakers, actors, and brave storytellers of all kinds. Tony hosts monthly film screenings, panel discussions and an annual film fest in Redwood City, California as well as hosting a live Youtube show every Wednesday. Tony's Blog on Fundraising: http://www.tonygapastione.com/blog BraveMaker Media Official Website: https://bravemaker.com/ More About Last Chance Charlene: https://bravemaker.com/last-chance-charlene/ Follow BraveMaker on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/bravemakerorg BraveMaker's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bravemakerorg/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bravemaker/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bravemaker/support

Jen Lowry, author of thirty(!) books, joins host Peter Fenton for the very first episode of the Rare Birds podcast to talk all about her new book, THE SUNDAY KILLER, and how exactly she plays genre roulette with having written so many different titles for so many different audiences! Dr. Jennifer Lowry is from Maxton, North Carolina and loves the small-town life. She is a fan of all things horror, UFC, and binge-watches episodes of The Mentalist. When she isn't literacy coaching at a metropolitan high school, author coaching, or homeschooling her son, she can be found sharing out the author journey online or hiding behind the pages of a new book. She's a traditional and self-published author/poet with twenty-nine books in multiple genres. She's the owner of Monarch Educational Services, L.L.C., publishing MG and YA books that matter. The Sunday Killer is her first thriller, police procedural novel, releasing August 31, 2021! Grab a peppermint coffee, a Reese's cup, and check her out @jenlowrywrites. Order Your Copy of Jen's Book, THE SUNDAY KILLER: https://amzn.to/3mKRjvv Jen's Website: www.jenlowrywrites.com Jen's Podcast: https://anchor.fm/jen-lowry-writes Jen's Instagram: www.instagram.com/jenlowrywrites Jen's Twitter: www.twitter.com/jenlowrywrites The creative process always takes some form of investment—usually a bunch of time, potentially some money, but always, a whole lot of effort in the beginning, middle, and end. To bring a project—any project—to life is a creative or otherwise entrepreneurial process, and for many of us who have brought one or more projects to life ("Rare Birds," if you will), bringing creative work into the world is second nature, and there are people out there who want to know how we did it. This is an opportunity to both promote your passion and to break down your creative process. The Rare Birds Podcast seeks to demystify this process of bringing projects to life one conversation at a time with a diverse set of creative and entrepreneurial types. The guests on this podcast are hand-picked by host Peter Fenton as interesting creatives with a sense of humor who create quality, thoughtful content and use their platform to make their circles of influence a better place. These casual, friendly conversations will ask, "What project are you most proud of? And how did you bring it to life?" of Authors, Filmmakers, YouTubers, Theatre Professionals, and more! About The Host Peter Fenton's work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Dadley Productions, Heuer Publishing, BraveMaker Media, and Wheaton College Jukebox Theater among others. Peter is an adventurous multi-genre author and screenwriter who co-founded Ornithology Media in summer 2021 as an imprint to produce creative work that stimulates critical thought and laughter. Intro Music: Music: Lauren Duski - Rollin Download: http://raboninco.com/10wTc Music promoted by Epic Free Sounds Video Link: https://youtu.be/peWMaIvfckM --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Here's a very quick introduction from host Peter Fenton to talk about what is the Rare Birds Podcast all about. The creative process always takes some form of investment—usually a bunch of time, potentially some money, but always, a whole lot of effort in the beginning, middle, and end. To bring a project—any project—to life is a creative or otherwise entrepreneurial process, and for many of us who have brought one or more projects to life ("Rare Birds," if you will), bringing creative work into the world is second nature, and there are people out there who want to know how we did it. This is an opportunity to both promote your passion and to break down your creative process. The Rare Birds Podcast seeks to demystify this process of bringing projects to life one conversation at a time with a diverse set of creative and entrepreneurial types. The guests on this podcast are hand-picked by host Peter Fenton as interesting creatives with a sense of humor who create quality, thoughtful content and use their platform to make their circles of influence a better place. These casual, friendly conversations will ask, "What project are you most proud of? And how did you bring it to life?" of Authors, Filmmakers, YouTubers, Theatre Professionals, and more! About The Host Peter Fenton's work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Dadley Productions, Heuer Publishing, BraveMaker Media, and Wheaton College Jukebox Theater among others. Peter is an adventurous multi-genre author and screenwriter who co-founded Ornithology Media in summer 2021 as an imprint to produce creative work that stimulates critical thought and laughter. Introduction: Music: Lauren Duski - Rollin Download: http://raboninco.com/10wTc Music promoted by Epic Free Sounds Video Link: https://youtu.be/peWMaIvfckM

We are so excited to be sharing this episode with Peter Fenton! Peter Fenton's work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Dadley Productions, Heuer Publishing, OurBible App, and Q Christian Fellowship among others. Peter is an adventurous multi-genre author and screenwriter drawn to creating clever and self-aware works stimulating critical thought and laughter. He wrote and produced the profitable world premiere of his holiday satire SEE AMID THE WINTER SNOW (2019), as well as his dark spiritual comedy, ABANDON ALL HOPE (2020), a co-production with BraveMaker Media. Peter served as the President and Director of Jukebox Theatre at Wheaton College and is an alumnus of the postgraduate apprenticeship program at Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. As an up-and-coming screenwriter and playwright, Peter is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. Follow Peter on Twitter @PeterFent Follow Peter on Instagram @PeterFent Visit Peter's Website www.byPeterFenton.com Go buy his book! https://www.amazon.com/Abandon-All-Hope-Peter-Fenton/dp/1954403828

Middle grade historical fiction author Cheryl King's publication debut, SITTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD, releases on Tuesday! She joins Peter Fenton for a chat about children's literature and the value of writing contests! You can order a copy of SITTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD from Bookshop.org, Amazon.com or directly through City Limits Publishing at https://citylimitspublishing.com/collections/coming-soon/products/sitting-on-top-of-the-world-1

Welcome to the latest episode of QDN.Along with our regular features, this week we have Part 5 in Peter Fenton's ‘How to Trade' series. Pete talks about expanding your product lines to help turn Qoin into cash for your business. 

Researchers and college essay coaches Dr. Elizabeth Stone and Meredith Charlson join Peter Fenton for a discussion on perhaps the most unique offering from the City Limits Publishing library. THE BETTER COLLEGE ESSAY FROM START TO FINISH is a resource guide for mentors of high school students coaching them to write a BETTER (key word, better—not "best") version of their college essay. Stone and Charlson discuss some of their best practices of what they do to draw insightful stories out of a teenager's lived experience. You can pick up a copy of THE BETTER COLLEGE ESSAY on Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, or directly from City Limits Publishing at https://citylimitspublishing.com/collections/non-fiction/products/the-better-college-essay

Welcome to the latest episode of QDN.This week we have the latest in Peter Fenton's How To Trade Videos, which explains how to create your best spending strategies. We also have a wrap up on Qoin Alley and the Small Business Expo and highlight the inaugural Qoinferenece held this week.

Sicilian photographer and author Daniele S. Longo joins Peter Fenton to discuss his adoption and travel novel, ANGELS, LOVE, AND LOST SOULS, on a brand-new episode of Read, Write, and Wrong! In this conversation, Daniele and Peter discuss old books, wine, and briefly—rice! ANGELS, LOVE, AND LOST SOULS will release on Tuesday, May 11! You can order your copy through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or directly through City Limits Publishing at https://citylimitspublishing.com/books/angels-love-and-lost-souls/

In this week's episode of QDN, it's episode 11... Almost 3 months of QDN!This week we have a great video sent in by two of the Qoin Master Agents on the Sunshine Coast from an event they recently held. Andrew Barker is on the show with Qoin & Answer and Peter Fenton is also making an appearance with the first video in his 'How to Trade' series.How to back up your wallet: https://vimeo.com/383659598

A podcast host herself, author Jen Lowry joins Peter Fenton to discuss her upcoming crime thriller, THE SUNDAY KILLER, on a brand-new episode of Read, Write, and Wrong! In this conversation, Jen and Peter discuss their shared Christian faith, all the ways Jen is social media savvy, and the books Jen reads to her homeschool son! Pre-orders for The Sunday Killer will go live in the next few weeks. Check out all of our upcoming offerings at https://citylimitspublishing.com/coming-soon. You can check out Jen Lowry's podcast (which recently interviewed Read, Write, and Wrong host Peter Fenton) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP36LO19ZEI

In this week's episode of QDN, meet Catarina and her passion project, the 'Qoinby'. Catarina is planning to restore this classic vehicle to its former glory, using Qoin Merchants. We'll also hear from Peter Fenton who explains the importance of using Qoin to its maximum potential and about trading responsibly.Small Business Expos: https://smallbusinessexpos.com.au/How To Backup Your Wallet: https://vimeo.com/383659598

Two-time City Limits Publishing author J.E. Kraft (@jekraftbooks) joins Peter Fenton (@peterfent) to discuss her recently released books in total opposite genres, middle grade pet story LIKE KATS AND DAWGS and urban fantasy THE SURVIVORS, on a brand-new episode of Read, Write, and Wrong! In this conversation, Kraft and Fenton discuss the benefits of therapy, neurodivergence, and the purpose of anger.You can order a copy of The Survivors from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org or directly from City Limits Publishing at https://citylimitspublishing.com/books/survivors/

Debut author and illustrator Jamie Hitt joins Peter Fenton to discuss her just-released children's book, THE THINGS FRIENDSHIP BRINGS, on a brand-new episode of Read, Write, and Wrong! In this bicoastal conversation, Jamie and Peter discuss The Chronicles of Narnia, the weird rules the publishing industry has for children's books, and imposter syndrome! You can order a copy of The Things Friendship Brings from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org or directly from City Limits Publishing at https://citylimitspublishing.com/books/the-things-friendship-brings/

British crime and young adult novelist Rhiannon D'Averc joins Peter Fenton to discuss her brand-new dystopian young adult novel, MIRA'S WAR, on a brand-new episode of Read, Write, and Wrong! In this cross-continental conversation, Rhiannon and Peter discuss Dorian Gray, gay detectives, and what it's like to be a ghostwriter! You can order a copy of Mira's War from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or directly from City Limits Publishing at https://citylimitspublishing.com/books/miras-war/

It was a blessing to have Peter Fenton, playwright/screenwriter, on the show today to celebrate his latest release - Abandon All Hope. You can get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3dpEErv​ Or at City Limits Publishing: https://citylimitspublishing.com/book...​ Follow Peter on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peterfent/​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/peterfent​ SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER: https://forms.gle/1m6tSmfeCcDWhpWa7​ . CHECK OUT ALL of Jen’s novels on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=jen+lowry&...​ Join my Writing Warriors for Jesus Patreon Group: https://www.patreon.com/JenLowry​ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jen-lowry-writes/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jen-lowry-writes/support

Peter Fenton is a General Partner @ Benchmark, one of the great venture firms of the last 3 decades with a portfolio including the likes of SNAP, Twitter, eBay, New Relic, Stitchfix and many more. As for Peter, he has led deals, sits or has sat on the boards of Elastic, New Relic, Digits, Docker, Optimizely, Yelp and Zuora to name a few. Prior to Benchmark, Peter was a General Partner @ Accel Partners in San Francisco. As a result of his incredible track, Peter has been on the Forbes Midas List more times than I have done podcast episodes! In Today’s Episode with Peter Fenton You Will Learn: 1.) How a round of golf led to Peter Fenton leading the New Relic Series A? What did the deal look like both in check size and valuation? What does Peter think that round would be in today's market? 2.) How does Peter create an environment of safety with entrepreneurs where they feel they can be vulnerable with him? How does Peter approach building relationships of trust in compressed fundraising timelines? In what way has Peter seen relationships go bad? What can been done to mitigate that and optimise the Founder VC relationship? 3.) How does Peter assess market timing when making investments today? What does Peter mean when he says, "you have to understand whether you are unlocking consumption"? What does unlocking consumption look like in reality? How does Peter think about positive or negative externalities that could impact the business? 4.) Does Peter agree with Bill Gurley that the biggest challenge today is the "oversupply of capital"? Where does the oversupply of capital become a real challenge? What does Peter advise growth-stage founders do to prevent this from damaging them? How does Peter think about capital efficiency in the companies where he is on the board? 5.) What were Peter's biggest lessons on what it takes to be a great board member from his 12 years at New Relic? How did he see his style of board membership change? On the founder side, how do the very best founders manage and navigate their board? What do most boards misunderstand or mismanage? Item's Mentioned In Today's Episode with Peter Fenton Peter's Favourite Book: Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Peter Fenton sits down with author Scott Ferguson to discuss his new release, The Life and Times of Maggie O'Toole, on a brand-new episode of Read, Write, and Wrong! They discuss movies that couldn't be made today and Scott's career as a Secret Service agent. You can order a copy of The Life and Times of Maggie O'Toole from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or directly from City Limits Publishing at https://citylimitspublishing.com/book...​

A new billion-dollar fund "crafting a fertile future". A new-generation VC backed by 15 top entrepreneurs to support the "new wave" of founders.The VC ecosystem is blossoming in France and we interview three investors at the heart of this movement: Marie Ekeland (2050), Pia d'Iribarne (New Wave), and Jean de la Rochebrochard (New Wave and Kima Ventures). If you are familiar with the tech ecosystem in Europe, then you are certainly no stranger to these three names.Marie, a pioneer in the French tech ecosystem, started her career in VC as a partner at Elaia and founded the VC fund Daphni as well as one of the biggest tech communities France Digitale. Her new fund 2050 is also breaking new ground with its new investment model that prioritizes sustainability and future well-being.Pia and Jean, highly experienced investors respectively from Accel/Stride and Kima, have rounded up 15 high-level LPs — including Xavier Niel, Yuri Milner of DST, Peter Fenton from Benchmark, Philippe Laffont from Coatue, and Tony Fadell of Nest and Apple — to launch New Wave, a next-gen fund to back the even more ambitious founders in today's European tech landscape.Topics:[Part 1 with Marie Ekeland] 01:03 — Introduction of 2050, Marie Ekeland’s new fund 02:10 — The structure and incentives of 2050, an evergreen fund 04:47 — Why 2050 gets away from a traditional VC partnership model 05:40 — The power of finance on the economy 06:25 — The kind of companies in which 2050 invests 09:46 — What kind of investments does 2050 make: cheque size, company stage, etc. 10:13 — Thoughts on “growth at all cost”: the example of Netflix 12:35 — On raising $1 billion by 2030 and building sustainable companies 15:03 — 2050’s investments: the story of Withings 19:20 — Marie Ekeland’s evolution as an investor 21:53 — Marie’s thoughts on the current funding situation in France 23:02 — How 2050 stands out from the competitive VC landscape 24:23 — France’s potential to lead in the sustainable transition[Part 2 with Pia d’Iribarne & Jean de la Rochebrochard] 27:08 — The impetus for starting New Wave28:42 — How Jean and Pia met and why they wanted to start a fund together30:45 — The incredible LPs at New Wave33:37 — New Wave’s investment thesis34:30 — The kind of founder profiles that New Wave backs35:53 — The characteristics that Jean looks for in founders38:28 — Investments at New Wave: cheque size, company stage, etc.39:14 — Jean on New Wave and Kima Ventures42:02 — Pia on her experience as a fund founder44:24 — Pia on smart money45:47 — Hopes and expectations for 2021 This episode is supported by Euronext, the leading pan-European stock exchange; hosted by Roxanne Varza; and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we're joined by Pennsylvania playwright Peter Fenton discussing the release of his new play, See Amid the Winter Snow! During a global pandemic where theaters across the country are dark, it was nice to have a discussion about the good old days of sitting in an audience watching a live performance!About See Amid the Winter Snow:“YULETIDE PANDEMONIUM!" On the outskirts of the North Pole, a bustling little city home to a world-famous toy factory, a spunky Snowman narrates the love story of an ambitious schoolteacher and the Claus family publicist, whose simple romance is threatened when they find themselves living the Christmastime nightmare of a blackmail scandal in Santa’s Workshop during Mrs. Claus’ bid for Mayor of the North Pole. Follow Peter Fenton’s satirical romp through holiday lore and United States politics in a hilarious blizzard laced with the piercing wit of the 21st Century and the timeless heart of the season. Bet you an ice cream sundae you can’t find these homages to all-time holiday favorites in this play:-It’s a Wonderful Life-A Christmas Story-How the Grinch Stole Christmas-Miracle on 34th Street-Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer-“Baby, it’s Cold Outside”-“The Twelve Days of Christmas”-“We Wish You a Merry Christmas”-“Up On the Housetop”-“Walking in a Winter Wonderland”..and SO MANY MORE!”About Peter Fenton:Peter Fenton (he/him) is a Philadelphia area comedian, playwright, and screenwriter specializing in writing works to make you both laugh and drive you to be a better person in a variety of genres spanning family-friendly fairy tale adventures to mature-humored dark comedic commentaries on religion. An alum of Wheaton College in Illinois and the postgraduate theatre apprenticeship program at Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, Fenton has seen other bylines with Heuer Publishing, OurBible App, Dadley Productions, and Q Christian Fellowship. In addition to writing, Fenton has worked a number of interesting jobs, including summer camp counselor, traveling band videographer, international boarding school advisor, and a stunt double in an action movie. Fenton is the youngest child of Jim and Beth Fenton of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and brother to sports information director Matthew Fenton and chemist Dr. Julie Fenton Hodges. He enjoys a nice, long walk alone or with a friend and likes a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. You can connect with Peter Fenton on his website at www.byPeterFenton.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @peterfent!

This week our guest is Peter Fenton, who just finished writing his fourth play during the pandemic. He talks about what inspired the first play he wrote when he was 14, the exvangelical past he confronted in this play, and why video games are some of his best writing inspirations. Follow Peter's work at his website, www.bypeterfenton.com, and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @peterfent. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Alex Tew is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO @ Calm, the #1 App for Meditation and Sleep allowing you to find your calm, sleep more, stress less and live better. To date, the company has raised over $143M in funding from some of the best including Lightspeed, Insight, TPG and then some very cool names such as Ashton Kutcher, Harry Styles, Brad Feld and Jason Calacanis. Prior to Calm Alex founded numerous other startups including PopJam, Pixelotto and most famously rose to internet fame with his founding of The Million Dollar Homepage. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Alex went from playing Fifa with Michael Acton Smith in Berwick St, London to founding one of the hottest startups in the valley, Calm? 2.) What does Alex believe the very best brands do today? How do they message? How do they present? How do they divide opinion? How did Alex think about the early Calm brand? How has it changed? How does Alex advise others looking to build a company brand? 3.) Does Alex agree with Peter Fenton, "there is a lack of free and open distribution"? How does Alex analyse the economics for customer acquisition costs today? What is a good paid vs organic ratio? How do CACS change over time in Alex's experience? 4.) What have been Alex's biggest learnings on what it takes to build a viral product? Where do many people go wrong? Why does Alex believe pressure is the enemy of creativity? Does Alex believe people should create time for creative thought? What does Alex do to stimulate idea creation? 5.) How has Alex seen himself evolve and develop as a leader over the last 5 years? What have been the hardest elements to scale? How does Alex think about effective delegation? What have been Alex's biggest lessons on what it takes to hire A* people consistently? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Alex’s Fave Book: Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

David Sacks is the Co-Founder @ Craft Ventures, one of Silicon Valley's leading early-stage funds with David's portfolio including the likes of Facebook, Tesla, SpaceX, Palantir, Affirm, Airbnb, Slack and Bird to name a few. David started his career in tech as the first product leader and COO @ Paypal, growing payment volume from $0-$500M per month, leading to their $1.5Bn acquisition by eBay. David then founded Geni.com, creating a family tree for the whole world, the company was acquired 3 years later by MyHeritage. David then founded Yammer, the secure solution for internal corporate communication and collaboration, acquired by Microsoft for $1.2Bn. Finally, David then became COO and Interim CEO @ Zenefits before starting Craft. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How David made his way from founding Yammer to creating one of the valley's newest and most prestigious firms in Craft Ventures? Given David's operating success he could have angel invested continuously, why decide to start a fund? What does he ultimately want to achieve with Craft? 2.) How did experiencing the Dot Com Bubble with Paypal and then 2008 impact David's investing and operating mindset? Does David believe VCs really are "open for business" today? How is VC behaviour shifting when comparing early to later stage? How is Craft responding? 3.) Unit Economics: How does David assess unit economics in early-stage opportunities he is looking to invest in? What does proper attribution look like? Where do many go wrong with unit economics? Is it too early to try and assess unit econ at seed? How does David think about having mental plasticity towards unit economics, recognising how they change over time? 4.) Customer Acquisition: Does David agree with Peter Fenton, "there is a complete lack of free and open distribution"? What are the rules of thumb on CAC that David does and then does not agree with? How does David feel about blended CAC? What separates good from great when it comes to CAC/LTV? 5.) Churn: How does assess net negative churn in the businesses he works with? What is great, good, decent and poor? How does avid think about logo vs dollar retention? How does David advise founders who feel COVID has not impacted churn for them? What should they expect? 6.) Burn + Capital Efficiency: How does David analyse burn and capital efficiency today? What does he mean when he discusses "the burn multiple"? How should the burn multiple change with the stage of the business? How does David advise founders on how aggressively to cut burn today? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: David's Fave Book: Thucydides’ Trap David's Most Recently Announced Investment: Sourcegraph As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.  

The post E35: “Angel” Podcast: Sarah Tavel, Partner at Benchmark shares insights on getting recruited by Peter Fenton, disrupting VC gender norms from the inside, transitioning from operator to investor & more appeared first on This Week In Startups.

The post E35: “Angel” Podcast: Sarah Tavel, Partner at Benchmark shares insights on getting recruited by Peter Fenton, disrupting VC gender norms from the inside, transitioning from operator to investor & more appeared first on This Week In Startups.

0:50 Jason intros Benchmark's Sarah Tavel 1:20 Aside from Slack, what other companies grew like consumer-facing but charge like enterprise? 3:19 How was Sarah recruited to Benchmark? How is Benchmark different from other major VC firms? 12:04 Limited upside of talking to the press in 2020 17:30 Growing up in NYC and going to Harvard 21:30 Jason on becoming a "Don't touch the thermostat" dad 23:58 How did the offer from Peter Fenton go down? What drew Sarah to Benchmark? 28:36 Sarah's thoughts on disrupting VC as a woman from the inside & from the outside 37:30 How going from operating to investing is trading stress for anxiety 40:51 Jason and Sarah discuss their most personal & significant investments: Calm & Pinterest 47:26 How Pinterest's business model was a mold of Facebook and Google 49:45 Jason tells regulators how to stop Google 58:14 Investing in Chainalysis & Crypto infrastructure 1:12:44 Are the best companies polarizing? 1:16:30 Investing in Hipcamp 1:29:43 Marc Andreessen asks Sarah a question

Bill Gurley is a General Partner @ Benchmark Capital, one of the most successful funds of the last decade with a portfolio including the likes of Uber, Twitter, Dropbox, WeWork, Snapchat, StitchFix, eBay and many many more. As for Bill, widely recognised as one of the greats of our time having worked with the likes of GrubHub, NextDoor, Uber, OpenTable, Stitch Fix and Zillow. Prior to Benchmark, Bill was a partner with Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Before entering venture, Bill spent four years on Wall Street as a top-ranked research analyst, including three years at CS First Boston where his research coverage included such companies as Dell, Compaq, and Microsoft, and he was the lead analyst on the Amazon IPO. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Bill make his way into the world of VC from Credit Suisse and come to be GP at one of the world’s leading funds in the form of Benchmark? What were Bill’s biggest takeaways from seeing the boom and bust of the dot com? How did that impact Bill’s investment mentality today? 2.) Why does Bill believe that one of the biggest challenges today is the abundance of capital? Subsequently, does Bill agree with Peter Fenton statement, “never turn down a deal based on the valuation it is a mental trap”? How does Bill assess his own price sensitivity? What was his learning here in meeting Larry and Serge early on with Google? 3.) How does Bill think about and approach market sizing today? How important is it to him when analysing an investment? Where does Bill believe a lot of managers make mistakes when assessing market sizing today? What was his big lesson here with Uber? How does Bill think about and evaluate market creation and market expansion plays? 4.) Bill has spent over 3,000 hours on some of the most famed boards of the last decade, how has Bill seen his style of board membership change over the last 10 years? What advice would you give to someone who has just joined their first board? How does Bill think about time allocation across the portfolio? What is the right ratio? 5.) How does Bill and Benchmark approach the element of partner selection today? What are the 5 core things that Bill looks for when adding to the partnership? What have Benchmark done that have allowed them to be so successful in generational transition? Why is an equal partnership so transformative when it comes to generational transition? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Bill’s Fave Book: Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos Bill’s Most Recent Investment: Good Eggs As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Bill on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Bill Gurley is a General Partner @ Benchmark Capital, one of the most successful funds of the last decade with a portfolio including the likes of Uber, Twitter, Dropbox, WeWork, Snapchat, StitchFix, eBay and many many more. As for Bill, widely recognised as one of the greats of our time having worked with the likes of GrubHub, NextDoor, Uber, OpenTable, Stitch Fix and Zillow. Prior to Benchmark, Bill was a partner with Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Before entering venture, Bill spent four years on Wall Street as a top-ranked research analyst, including three years at CS First Boston where his research coverage included such companies as Dell, Compaq, and Microsoft, and he was the lead analyst on the Amazon IPO. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Bill make his way into the world of VC from Credit Suisse and come to be GP at one of the world's leading funds in the form of Benchmark? What were Bill's biggest takeaways from seeing the boom and bust of the dot com? How did that impact Bill's investment mentality today? 2.) Why does Bill believe that one of the biggest challenges today is the abundance of capital? Subsequently, does Bill agree with Peter Fenton statement, "never turn down a deal based on the valuation it is a mental trap"? How does Bill assess his own price sensitivity? What was his learning here in meeting Larry and Serge early on with Google? 3.) How does Bill think about and approach market sizing today? How important is it to him when analysing an investment? Where does Bill believe a lot of managers make mistakes when assessing market sizing today? What was his big lesson here with Uber? How does Bill think about and evaluate market creation and market expansion plays? 4.) Bill has spent over 3,000 hours on some of the most famed boards of the last decade, how has Bill seen his style of board membership change over the last 10 years? What advice would you give to someone who has just joined their first board? How does Bill think about time allocation across the portfolio? What is the right ratio? 5.) How does Bill and Benchmark approach the element of partner selection today? What are the 5 core things that Bill looks for when adding to the partnership? What have Benchmark done that have allowed them to be so successful in generational transition? Why is an equal partnership so transformative when it comes to generational transition? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Bill’s Fave Book: Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos Bill’s Most Recent Investment: Good Eggs As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Bill on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Sarah Smith is a Partner @ Bain Capital Ventures, a leading US venture fund with a portfolio that includes the likes of LinkedIn, Lime, SendGrid, Jet.com and more incredible companies. As for Sarah, what a start she has had to her time at Bain leading investments in the likes Perksy and the unicorn that is Lime. Prior to joining Bain, Sarah spent 5 years at Quora both as VP of Advertising Sales and Operations and then also from 2012-2016 as VP of HR, Recruiting, and Operations scaling the company from 40 to 200 employees. Before Quora, Sarah spent 4 years at Facebook as Director of Online Operations where her team scaled revenue to $1 billion ARR while reducing churn and increasing customer satisfaction. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Sarah made her way into the world of venture having seen the hyper-growth of both Facebook and Quora over 9 years in operations? What were the biggest takeaways from her time with Facebook and Quora? What lessons did Sarah learn as an elementary school music teacher that she has applied to her role in VC? 2.) Sarah and Bain led the Series D in Lime, so how does Sarah think about: Market Size: How did Sarah think about and assess market size when evaluating Lime? How does Sarah respond to Peter Fenton's statement, "I always laugh when I hear investors say they look for big markets"? Competition: How did Sarah look to get comfortable entering such a fiercely competitive space? Is capital itself a defensible moat? Dilution: With such huge future funding requirements for these companies, how did Sarah get comfortable with the level of dilution that will surely occur? Hardware & Unit economics: How does Sarah think about and respond to the current level of break rates? How does Sarah believe Lime can have positive unit economics within 18 months? 3.) Why does Sarah believe that engineers are fundamentally underpaid? How does this tie into their mindset and attitude to equity? Why does Sarah believe the 4-year vesting schedule is fundamentally outdated? What would Sarah advise founders in terms of comp package to put in it's place? Does Sarah believe the high attrition rate in the valley is a feature or a bug? 4.) Why does Sarah believe it is glib to say the lack of equality is merely the problem of VC being an old boy club? What are the more foundational and systemic problems that have caused this inequality? Why does GP commit fundamentally inhibit diversity? For firms looking to add a female partner, what is their literal next step? What does that process look like? What can they do to ensure their success in the first year? Where does Sarah see many firms going wrong here? What must firms avoid? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Sarah’s Fave Book: Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley, The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You Sarah’s Most Recent Investment: Perksy As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Sarah on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

David Barr was joined by Peter Fenton of Aussie Rock Band, Crow to discuss the upcoming benefit for concert for Australian Music Icon, Kate Stewart. If you’ve barely even scratched the surface of the Australian Music scene, you’ve still undoubtedly come across something touched by Kate Stewart. She is responsible for the creation of Aussie […]

Danny Rimer is a Partner @ Index Ventures, one of the world's leading venture funds with a portfolio including the likes of Dropbox, Skype, King, Bird, Slack and many more incredible companies. As for Danny, he is known for his investments in Dropbox, leading the company's Series B, Etsy, King (makers of world famous, Candy Crush), Skype and more recently many retail and fashion businesses such as Farfetch, Glossier and GOAT. He's been on the coveted Forbes Midas List for more than a decade and in 2017 was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to business and charity and the New York Times included him in its list of the top 20 venture capitalists worldwide. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Danny made his way into the world of venture and came to be a Partner @ Index Ventures? 2.) Having backed the likes of King, Skype, Glossier, how does Danny respond to Peter Fenton and Jeremy Levine's suggestions of a "consumer downturn"? Does Danny believe there is a lack of free and open distribution today? Can startups compete with such inflated CACs? Henry Davis @ Glossier asks: how have you seen acquisition models change over time? How do you envision acquisition models of the future? 3.) Peter Fenton said on the show previously, he always laughs when he hears VCs say they like big markets, how does Danny assess market sizing today? What have been Danny's biggest lessons on assessing market size when looking at his portfolio? How does Danny think about niche markets today in such an Amazon dominant world? How does Danny assess price today? How does Danny determine when to stretch vs stay firm? 4.) Having helped many companies scale to global success, what does Danny believe to be the core considerations in getting your startup ready for global expansion? How did Danny find Index's expansion when opening up their first US office in 2011 in SF? What were some of the biggest challenges? How does Danny think about and assess generational transition within venture and Index more specifically today? 5.) Danny has spent over 3,000 hours on boards to date, how has Danny seen himself evolve as a board member over that time? What were some inflection moments in those hours that fundamentally changed the way Danny thinks? What advice would Danny give me, having just gained my first institutional board seat? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Danny’s Fave Book: Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami Danny’s Most Recent Investment: Goodeggs As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Danny on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Rebecca Kaden is a General Partner @ Union Square Ventures, one of the most successful funds of the last decade with a portfolio including the likes of Twitter, Twilio, Zynga, Soundcloud, Tumblr, Lending Club and many more. As for Rebecca, prior to USV, Sarah was a General Partner @ Maveron, a consumer-only seed and series A fund where she invested in the likes of Allbirds, Dia & Co, Periscope, Earnest and Eargo just to name a few. Before Maveron, Rebecca took the route of many great VCs and was a journalist, working as Special Projects Editor @ Narrative Magazine. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Rebecca made her way into the world of VC from journalism? How her journey with Maveron led to her becoming a General Partner with the prestigious USV? 2.) Having mastered the craft of VC in the world of consumer, how does Rebecca respond to Peter Fenton and Jeremy Levine's statement, "we are in a consumer downturn"? How does Rebecca think about the lack of free and open distribution today? How can startups compete with incumbents for cost-efficient customer acquisition? 3.) How does Rebecca evaluate the role of Amazon today? How does Rebecca look to get comfortable that Amazon is not moving into the space of a portfolio company? Does Rebecca agree, "if you are not a top 3 priority", you have a couple of years on them? How can startups learn from the execution advantage shown by Amazon over the last decade? 4.) With several recent consumer acquisitions under $200m, does Rebecca still believe that venture returns can be made at scale in consumer? How does Rebecca analyse how to think about multiple on revenue when evaluating consumer companies? Why Does Rebecca believe we are in a moment of fragmentation, not consolidation? 5.) How does Rebecca compare the partnerships of US and Maveron having been a GP now at both firms? What are the similarities? What are the differences? What does Rebecca believe are the core advantages of small partnerships and controlled fund sizes? How does the addition of the thesis-driven investing style effect Rebecca's thinking? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Rebecca’s Fave Book: Pale Fire  Rebecca’s Most Recent Investment: Modern Fertility As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Rebecca on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Sarah Tavel is a General Partner at Benchmark, one of the world’s leading VC funds with a portfolio including the likes of Twitter, Uber, Snapchat, eBay, WeWork, Yelp and many more revolutionary companies of the last decade. As for Sarah, Sarah has led Benchmark's investments in and currently sits on the boards of Chainalysis and Hipcamp. Prior to Benchmark, Sarah was a Partner at Greylock Partners, where she led Greylock's investment in Sonder and another (unannounced) company. Before Greylock, Sarah was one of the first 35 employees at Pinterest where she led the company's international expansion and aided in the closing of the Series C financing. Sarah was also the product lead for search, recommendations, machine vision, and pin quality and led three acquisitions as she helped the company scale through a period of hyper-growth. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Sarah made her first foray into the world of venture with Bessemer over 10 years ago? How that led to Pinterest and how she came to be a GP at Benchmark today? 2.) Speaking of Sarah's operating career with Pinterest, Pat Grady said on the show "never has the rate of decay on operating experience been greater". How does Sarah think about and respond to this? How has operating made Sarah a strong investor? What are the drawbacks that this operating experience can present for investors? 3.) Moving to evaluation, Andy Rachleff, Founder @ Benchmark said on the show, "good team poor market, market wins; good market, poor team, market wins. How does Sarah think about the balance between founder vs market? Why is going after big markets so hard? What should investors look for in a market with that in mind? How does Sarah determine the right time to open up adjacent markets? 4.) There has never been a greater supply of capital in the market than today, does Sarah believe we have an excess supply today? Does Sarah agree with her Partner, Peter Fenton, "no good deal is too expensive in hindsight"? How does Sarah assess her own price sensitivity? How does it depend on the opportunity? How has it changed over time? 5.) Having 2,5000 hours on boards, how has Sarah seen herself develop and change as a board member? What have been some of the biggest learning curves? What are the commonalities in the very best board members Sarah works with? how doe the best entrepreneurs manage and use their boards effectively? 6.) Why does Sarah think that crypto today is very much like the world of adtech in the early days? How does Sarah think about the requirement for specialisation in the space? WIll this be a game for the specialised crypto funds or can generalist VC funds compete? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Sarah’s Fave Book: Creating the Kingdom of Ends Sarah’s Most Recent Investment: Hipcamp As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Sarah on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Jason Stoffer is Managing Partner @ Maveron, the consumer-only venture fund backing a new breed of brands. Their stellar portfolio includes the likes of eBay, Zulily, General Assembly, Allbirds and Dia&Co, just to name a few. As for Jason, Jason is the master of all things consumer education, e-commerce and marketplace businesses. He has been a Board Member of a number of category-leading consumer businesses, such as zulily (Nasdaq: ZU), General Assembly (acquired by Adecco), Common and more. Prior to Maveron, Jason was Senior Director of Strategic Operations at Career Education Corp where he saw the business scale to a market cap of over $4.5Bn. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Jason made his way into the world of VC from the world of journalism? What were his biggest takeaways from seeing the boom and bust cycle of 2001 and 2008? 2.) Why does Jason believe that moats matter as much, if not more than brand today? How can founders look to create the strongest form of defensibility? How does Jason analyze the 2 paths for consumer businesses today; raise large amounts of capital and buy growth or raise little, grow slowly, understand unit economics and channels over time? Does Jason think we will see a graveyard of immensely funded consumer businesses? 3.) How does Jason view paid acquisition today? Does Jason agree with Peter Fenton. "there is a lack of free and open distribution in consumer today"? When does Jason believe that consumer founders should really focus on CAC/LTV? What metrics really matter in the early days for consumer? How does Jason analyse acquisition channel mortality? When does he mean when he says, "CAC works, until it does not"? 4.) Jason has said before that "VC is a struggle". What elements does Jason find most challenging? How does Jason deal witht he shit hit the fan moments as a VC? Can VCs in this hyper-competitive world be openly vulnerable in Jason's eyes? How has Jason seen his approach to hard and challenging situations in VC develop over time? 5.) Does Jason believe we are in a consolidatory environment today or will we see the next generation of mega consumer brands being built? When investing, does Jason ask, who is the potential acquirer? Why? What multiple is achievable? Would Jason agree with Kirsten Green that "Amazon does more to make the market than destroy it"? How does Amazon affect Jason's investment philosophy and approach? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Jason’s Fave Book: 100 Years of Solitude Jason's Most Recent Investment: Imperfect Produce As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Jason on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Are you told your standards are too high, well The League is the app that tells you to keep them that way, they know your time is valuable so simply tell them your preferences and they will handle the scouting and vetting for you. Plus even better, your profile will only ever be seen by people who match your preferences, matches expire after 21 days and so there are no drawn-out games and they even require LinkedIn to protect your privacy and block you from matching with co-workers and business connections. You can apply now by downloading The League on the app store or heading to The League.com Zoom is the fastest-growing video and web conferencing service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an a variety of activities including video meetings and webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms, and persistent chat all in one platform. Plus, it is the easiest solution to manage, scale, and use, and has the most straightforward, affordable pricing. And you can see for yourself! Sign up for a free account (not a trial!). Just visit Zoom.us. Culture Amp is the platform that makes it easy to collect, understand and act on employee feedback. From onboarding surveys to company-wide engagement, individual effectiveness and more, the platform manages multiple sources of feedback and connects the dots for you and that is why companies like Slack, Nike, Oracle and Lyft all trust Culture Amp. It enables leaders to make better decisions, demonstrate impact and turn your company culture into a competitive edge.  Find out more on cultureamp.com.

Jeremy Liew is a Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners, one of the leading firms of the last decade with a portfolio including the likes of Snapchat, Mulesoft, Max Levchin's Affirm, The Honest Company and many more incredible companies. As for Jeremy, he is best known for being the 1st investor in Snapchat and has also led investments in StitchFix, Affirm, Ripple, Giphy and Bonobos just to name a few. Previously, Jeremy was with AOL, first as SVP of corporate development and chief of staff to the CEO, and then as general manager of Netscape. Due to his incredible investing success, Jeremy has been featured on the Forbes Midas List multiple times. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Jeremy made his way from AOL and Netscape to one of the most successful consumer investors of the last decade? 2.) How did the Snapchat deal come about? What did Jeremy see in the early Evan Spiegel that made him so excited? How has Jeremy seen him alter and grow with the company? What did the economics of the deal look like? 3.)Why does Jeremy disagree with much of the pessimism over consumer? How does Jeremy think about the lack of distribution channel availability with Google, Amazon, Apple owning them? How can this also present an opportunity in consumer? 4.) How does Jeremy think about price and price sensitivity? Would he agree with Peter Fenton on, "never turn down a deal based on valuation, it's a mental trap"? How does Lightspeed think about reserve utilization? What does the conviction building process look like for reserve deployment? 5.) Jeremy has sat on the boards of Snapchat, Giphy, Bonobos and had 1,500 hours of board experience, so what makes the truly special board members? Who does Jeremy most like to work with on boards? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Jeremy’s Fave Book: World War Z Jeremy's Fave Blog: The Information Jeremy’s Most Recent Investment: Rothy's As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Jeremy on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Cooley are the global law firm built around startups and venture capital.  Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley has formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50+ years working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad issues that arise through a fund’s lifetime. So to learn more about the #1 most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public. Head over to cooley.com and also at cooleygo.com. Zoom, fastest growing video and web conferencing service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including video meetings and webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms, and persistent chat all in one easy platform. Plus, it is the easiest solution to manage, scale, and use, and has the most straightforward, affordable pricing. Don’t take our word for it. Zoom is the top rated conferencing app across various user review sites including G2Crowd and Trust Radius. And you can sign up for a free account (not a trial!). Just visit Zoom.us.

Neil Young is the Founder & CEO @ N3twork, the next generation mobile games maker and publisher with their services already touching millions of customers. They have raised over $17m in VC funding from some of the very best in the business including Mike Maples @ Floodgate, Bing Gordon @ KPCB and the team at Google Ventures. Prior to N3TWORK, Neil founded ngmoco, a leading social mobile games company, acquired by DeNA for a reported up to $400m. Before ngmoco, Neil spent many years at Electronic Arts where he was responsible for producing some of EA's most successful game franchises including: The Lord of the Rings, The Sims, Medal of Honor and Command and Conquer, among others. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Neil made his way from telling his mother in the UK he was not going to university to producing world-leading games, to selling a company for a reported $400m? 2.) What are the 2 questions Neil believes everyone should ask when evaluating the potential of a new platform? How does Neil think about the platform shifts at present given his publishing to mobile? Where do most people make mistakes when assessing platform shifts? 3.) Peter Fenton stated on the show: "startups are starved of free and open distribution". How does Neil think about incumbency advantages with regards to distribution? Would an open platform yield greater potential distribution? How does Neil view the world of paid and performance marketing today? How has his views changed on the space? 4.) What are the 3 things that Neil believes all founders must do in order to assemble and manage a board successfully? Why is it important to listen to board members on their own and as a group and compare? Where do most founders go wrong in board management? 5.) Neil sold ngmoco for a reported $400m, what does Neil believe are the 2 big questions that all founders must ask themselves when contemplating a potential sale? What are the 2 different types of acquisitions that exist today? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Neil’s Fave Book: The Second World War Neil’s Fave Blog: Gaming Insiders As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Neil on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. NatureBox Unlimited snack plans offer all you can eat snacks for one fixed price per employee. Naturebox use simple ingredients you can trust to create bold flavors you can’t find anywhere else. All NatureBox snacks are free from artificial junk and variety is endless with options from sweet or savory to vegan or gluten-free. Simply choose the plan that fits your team’s unique snacking habits and select any of NatureBox’s time-saving add-on’s. And beyond Unlimited snacks, you’ll receive perks such as free kitchen setup, no contracts, a dedicated account manager and more. Simply click here to and use the offer code VC20 to get 20% of your first Naturebox month. Leesa is the Warby Parker or TOMS shoes of the mattress industry. Leesa have done away with the terrible mattress showroom buying experience by creating a luxury premium foam mattress that is ordered completely online and ships for free to your doorstep. The 10-inch mattress comes in all sizes and is engineered with 3 unique foam layers for a universal, adaptive feel, including 2 inches of memory foam and 2 inches of a really cool latex foam called Avena, design to keep you cool. All Leesa mattresses are 100% US or UK made and for every 10 mattresses they sell, they donate one to a shelter. Go to Leesa.com to start the New Year with better nights sleep!

Peter Fenton is a General Partner @ Benchmark, one of the world’s leading VC funds with a portfolio including the likes of Twitter, Uber, Snapchat, eBay, WeWork, Yelp and many more revolutionary companies of the last decade. Peter himself sits or has sat on the board of Twitter, previous guest Cockroach, Optimizely, New Relic and ZenDesk just to name a few. Prior to Benchmark, Peter was a Managing Partner @ Accel. It is clearly not just me that has a man crush on Peter though as he has been named to Forbes Midas List for many consecutive years with the last list placing Peter as No 3 in the world. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Peter made his way into the world of VC with Accel and came to be a General Partner @ Benchmark? 2.) How does Peter differentiate between the good and the great VCs? How can VCs use hyper-curiosity and hyper-competitiveness to improve their investing ability? Why does Peter not believe that operational experience is a necessity pre-VC? 3.) How does Peter view the importance of valuation in the investment decision making process? How much of a role does it play for him and what is his psychology around valuation, especially with regards to ownership levels? 4.) Why is Peter amused when he hears other investors say they must ‘invest in big markets’? What were his big takeaways from watching the investment and hyper-growth journey of Snapchat? How did that influence his view on markets? 5.) Peter has previously said that he is a ‘student of great board members’. What are the commonalities among the truly great board members? How do they engage and interact with the entrepreneur? How do they get the most out of their fellow board members? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Peter’s Most Recent Investment: Zen.ly As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Peter on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Namely is the all-in-one HR, payroll, and benefits platform your employees will love to use. It’s as intuitive as social media, but powerful enough to support the complexity of today’s workforce. Namely’s mission is to help mid-sized companies build a better workplace. See how Namely can transform your workplace at www.Namely.com. Eero is the world’s best-reviewed wifi. A system of eero and eero Beacons wirelessly connects to blanket your home in fast, reliable WiFi, so despite the increased number of devices with Christmas coming, you’ll still be able to get powerful mesh WiFi in every nook and cranny of your home, backyard included. No more dead spots, slow spots, drop-offs, or buffering — right out of the box. Eero is only available in the US and Canada and you can check it out here!

Andy Weissman is a Partner @ Union Square Ventures, one of the world’s leading VC firms with investments in Twitter, Twilio, Zynga, Soundcloud, Tumblr, Lending Club and many more. At USV, Andy sits on the boards of YouNow, ScienceExchange, Figure 1 and previous guest, CircleUp. Prior to joining USV, in 2007 he co-founded betaworks, which both created and invested in social, real-time applications and services. You can also check out Andy's fantastic blog here. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Andy made his way into the world of startups and investing, came to found Betaworks and then made the move to USV? 2.) Andy has previously said the business "is more about luck than skill and process rather than foresight". Why does Andy place so much emphasis on process? How has Andy seen his process evolve over the years? How does the process of an individual balance with the process of the firm? 3.) Why does USV not agree with voting as a method of investment decision making? How do Andy and USV approach reserve allocation? What model and simulators do they use to determine which companies receive follow on funding? 4.) Why does Andy believe that recycling cash from early exits is good for everyone? How has Andy found that LPs respond to this? What is the balance? What is the right amount for recycling, 110%, 120% or 130%? 5.) How does Andy view price sensitivity? To what extent does Andy agree with Peter Fenton that "valuation is a mental trap"? Has there been a time when Andy has lost a deal due to price? How has that changed his psyche and approach to the topic? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Andy’s Fave Book: On The Road by Jack Kerouac Andy’s Fave Blog: Phish.net, Continuations, Radio Free Mobile Andy's Most Recent Investment: Flip As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Andy 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.

Elad Gil is the Founder of Color Genomics, however, Elad is also one of the most prominent angel investors in the valley with a portfolio including the likes of Airbnb, Stripe, Square and Pinterest just to name a few. Prior to founding Color Genomics, Elad was VP of Corporate Strategy @ Twitter where he ran various product teams including geo and search. Before that, Elad spent 3 years at Google where he started Google's mobile team and was involved with 3 acquisitions including Android.   In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Elad made his way into the world of angel investing and came to invest in Airbnb, Square and Stripe? 2.) Why does Elad take a very market-driven approach to investing? Does this go against the very founder-first approach taken by many in the valley today? 3.) Why does Elad believe that people totally mislead themselves when sizing up potential markets? How should markets be addressed and evaluated? What are the core elements to look for? 4.) Should VC services always be bundled together? Is there a smarter way to decouple these services to make the best products for founders? How could this look in reality? 5.) How does Elad approach valuation? Does Elad agree with Peter Fenton that 'all best companies always seem expensive at the time and cheap in hindsight'?  Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Elad’s Fave Book: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Elad’s Most Recent Investment: Checkr As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Elad on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. eShares is the No 1 Cap Table Management platform, allowing for equity management, 409A valuations, and liquidity, all in one place. eShares is made for companies of all sizes with over 5,000 trusted customers including the likes of Squarespace, Kickstarter, and DoorDash just to name a few. To try out the must have service of the industry, simply head over to esharesinc.com it is a must. Fond is the employee engagement suite with 3 core products, rewards: a recognition platform for rewarding achievements and milestones, perks: a premium corporate discounts program to show employees you care about them and then finally engagement IQ, a free employee engagement survey that allows you to measure the health of your organization. To check it out head over to fond.co

Peter Fenton is a General Partner @ Benchmark, one of the world's leading VC funds with a portfolio including the likes of Twitter, Uber, Snapchat, eBay, WeWork, Yelp and many more revolutionary companies of the last decade. Peter himself sits or has sat on the board of Twitter, previous guest Cockroach, Optimizely, New Relic and ZenDesk just to name a few. Prior to Benchmark, Peter was a Managing Partner @ Accel. It is clearly not just me that has a man crush on Peter though as he has been named to Forbes Midas List for many consecutive years with the last list placing Peter as No 3 in the world. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Peter made his way into the world of VC with Accel and came to be a General Partner @ Benchmark? 2.) How does Peter differentiate between the good and the great VCs? How can VCs use hyper-curiosity and hyper-competitiveness to improve their investing ability? Why does Peter not believe that operational experience is a necessity pre-VC? 3.) How does Peter view the importance of valuation in the investment decision making process? How much of a role does it play for him and what is his psychology around valuation, especially with regards to ownership levels? 4.) Why is Peter amused when he hears other investors say they must 'invest in big markets'? What were his big takeaways from watching the investment and hyper-growth journey of Snapchat? How did that influence his view on markets? 5.) Peter has previously said that he is a 'student of great board members'. What are the commonalities among the truly great board members? How do they engage and interact with the entrepreneur? How do they get the most out of their fellow board members? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Peter's Most Recent Investment: Zen.ly As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Peter on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. eShares is the No 1 Cap Table Management platform, allowing for equity management, 409A valuations, and liquidity, all in one place. eShares is made for companies of all sizes with over 5,000 trusted customers including the likes of Squarespace, Kickstarter, and DoorDash just to name a few. To try out the must have service of the industry, simply head over to esharesinc.com it is a must. Fond is the employee engagement suite with 3 core products, rewards: a recognition platform for rewarding achievements and milestones, perks: a premium corporate discounts program to show employees you care about them and then finally engagement IQ, a free employee engagement survey that allows you to measure the health of your organization. To check it out head over to fond.co

Peter Fenton made a career out of crafting that con we've all fallen for: the con of fantasy, of alternative realities that are much more pleasant than the existing one. This week, we go inside the world of carnival game scams, why we fall for them even when we know the odds are against us. Later, Peter recounts his career as a tabloid fabulist. Peter Fenton is the essential grifter – he sells us the stories we most want to believe.

Mattias Ljungman is a Co-Founder and General Partner @ Atomico, one of Europe's leading VC funds which Mattias launched in 2006 alongside Niklas Zennstrom. Whilst at Atomico Mattias has been involved in significant exits and transcations including SUpercell (acquired by Softbank), Climate Corporation (acquired by Monsanto and 6Wunderkinder (acquired by Microsoft), just to name a few. As for Harry, Harry Stebbings is the founder of The Twenty Minute VC, the world's largest independent VC podcast with guests including Brad Feld, Andy Rachleff, Peter Fenton and many more. Harry also works very closely with Jason Lemkin @ SaaStr where they work to produce The Official SaaStr Podcast. More recently, Harry joined the fantastic team at Atomico as an EIR on the investment team.   In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Harry made his first foray into the world of entrepreneurship and then made the move into VC? 2.) From interviewing over 800 of the world's best investors, what have been the biggest takeaways for Harry, both in the realms of investing and interacting with entrepreneurs? 3.) What does Harry believes makes a truly great interview? Is it sheer intellectual rigour or does charisma and energy play a large role? Does Harry release all the episodes he records? 4.) What have been Harry's major takeaways since joining the team at Atomico? What have been the best moments both in terms of intellectual learning and then sentimental memories? 5.) How has Harry's perception and analysis of the VC market changed over the 800 interviews? What does Harry see as the fundamental emerging trends within the VC model itself? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Harry’s Fave Book: Madame Bovary, What I Learned Losing A Million Dollars Harry’s Fave Blog: Mattermark Daily As always you can follow Harry, Mattias and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Eight is a sleep innovation company. With their latest product, the Eight Smart Mattress, being a bed that literally tells you how well you slept last night, paired with an intelligent sensor cover that measures the quality of your sleep and delivers a daily sleep report. In order to bring you the best product, Eight used anonymized sleep data and feedback from over 10,000 people, to understand which materials and types of mattresses give customers the best sleep resulting in their unique blend of four responsive and high-density foam layers plus one layer of proprietary technology that helps people track and improve their sleep. You can check it out on Eightsleep.com – and if you use the code 20VC you will get a whopping 20% discount! FullContact provides the ability to organize your contacts, gain rich insights into them and therefore build deep relationships. With features like automatically identifying and merging duplicate contacts to the ability to snap a photo of a business card and FullContact will transcribe them for you, so no more lost and loose business cards at events. It is with these features just being the tip of the iceberg, FullContact really is the best all in one solution for contact management and you can check them out on fullcontact.com.  

Peter Fenton, General Partner at Benchmark, spoke at FirstMark's Data Driven NYC on March 16, 2016. In a fireside chat with FirstMark's Matt Turck, Fenton discussed the attributes he looks for in entrepreneurs and the current funding landscape for startups. Benchmark focuses on early-stage venture investing in mobile, marketplaces, social, and infrastructure and enterprise software. Data Driven NYC is a monthly event covering Big Data and data-driven products and startups, hosted by Matt Turck, partner at FirstMark. FirstMark is an early stage venture capital firm based in New York City. Find out more about Data Driven NYC at http://datadrivennyc.com and FirstMark Capital at http://firstmarkcap.com.

Peter Fenton and Jess Lee have an insightful conversation about startups in their early phase and examine the priorities of the CEO role, founder and investor relations, and creating the right team to build the product. (November 7, 2012)

In this insightful conversation with investor Peter Fenton of Benchmark Capital, Polyvore CEO and co-founder Jess Lee talks about her personal and professional transition from working at a large organization to a becoming an entrepreneurial, first-time CEO. Fenton and Lee also examine the priorities of the CEO role, founder and investor relations, and creating the right team to build the product.

In this insightful conversation with investor Peter Fenton of Benchmark Capital, Polyvore CEO and co-founder Jess Lee talks about her personal and professional transition from working at a large organization to a becoming an entrepreneurial, first-time CEO. Fenton and Lee also examine the priorities of the CEO role, founder and investor relations, and creating the right team to build the product.

In this insightful conversation with investor Peter Fenton of Benchmark Capital, Polyvore CEO and co-founder Jess Lee talks about her personal and professional transition from working at a large organization to a becoming an entrepreneurial, first-time CEO. Fenton and Lee also examine the priorities of the CEO role, founder and investor relations, and creating the right team to build the product.

June 19, 2010: Our tongues are planted firmly in our cheeks the entire night as we speak with Peter Fenton, the "representative" for Ask Doc Paranormal. We discuss Peter's days writing for the National Enquirer as well as the state of the paranormal field today, through Doc Paranormal's skewed view.