logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2022
40m 24s

20VC: What Happens To Growth Rounds in t...

Harry Stebbings
About this episode

Eric Liaw is a General Partner @ IVP, one of the leading later-stage venture capital and growth equity firms of the last decade with $8.7 billion of committed capital and a 40-year IRR of 43.1%. At IVP eric has led investments in Datadog, Github, Klarna, Robinhood and UiPath to name a few. Prior to joining IVP, Eric was with Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) and was actively involved in originating, executing and managing investments, including Netflix, Zillow and eHarmony. As a result of his investing success, Eric was recognized by GrowthCap as one of the Top 25 Software Investors of 2021 and 2020.

In Today’s Episode with Eric Liaw You Will Learn:

1.) Origins into Venture:

  • How did Eric make his way into the world of venture way back over 20 years ago?
  • What were some of Eric's biggest lessons from his early years at TCV?
  • What are the most significant changes in venture over the last decade?

2.) Eric Liaw: The Investor:

  • How has Eric changed as an investor over the last decade? What caused those changes?
  • How does Eric reflect on his own relationship to price? How does he determine when to pay up vs when to remain disciplined?
  • What has been Eric's biggest miss? How did it alter his style of investing?
  • From UiPath to Supercell, what has been Eric's favourite story of travelling around the world to win a deal?

3.) The Market: Venture

  • How does Eric expect IPO markets to behave as we move further in 2022?
  • How does Eric expect large M&A to play out for the rest of the year?
  • With the public markets crashing; how does this impact the large growth rounds of 2021?
  • What does Eric expect to happen to early stage pricing with the crash at late stage?
  • How does Eric expect crossover funds to behave in this new environment?

4.) Eric Liaw: The Person

  • How does Eric think about being an awesome Dad and also not losing an inch on being a world class investor?
  • How does Eric reflect on his own ego when having such large investing wins? Where does he feel he is most insecure?
  • How did having children really impact his mindset towards investing and working with founders?

Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with Eric Liaw

Eric’s Favourite Book: No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention

Eric’s Most Recent Investment: Aiven

Up next
Today
20VC: Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman: Acquired by Meta | OpenAI’s SBC Bombshell: More Stock Comp Than Revenue | Privat Equity is Back: Olo Bought for $2BN | Microsoft Lays Off 9,000 People: Is This Just the Start | Will Sequoia Part with Shaun Maguire
Agenda: [00:00] The AI Talent Crisis No One’s Ready For [03:00] Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman: Why Two Legendary VCs Walked Away From $1B to Join Meta [12:00] Meta’s AI Talent Magnet: Will It Actually Work? [15:00] Cursor Is Breaking the Market: Can Anyone Compete? [18:30] OpenAI ... Show More
1h 7m
Jul 7
20VC: Scott Galloway on Are Billionaires Happy & The Impact of Money on Psychology and Self-Worth | Becoming a Better Father & Husband | Why We Should Drink More and Not Work From Home | The Tinder Effect & How it Makes Young Men Radical
Scott Galloway is a Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern, where he’s taught for over two decades. He’s the founder of several successful companies, including L2 (acquired by Gartner for over $150M), Red Envelope, and Prophet. He’s a New York Times bestselling author of four books ... Show More
1h 10m
Jul 3
20VC: Figma's IPO: The Full Breakdown | Index Returns $3.5BN on Two Deals | Why Melio's $2.5BN Acquisition is "Discouraging" | Asana's New CEO and the Great Founder Exodus | Oracle's $30BN AI Deal and What it Means for Incumbents
AGENDA: 00:00 – $400B in AI CapEx: Rational Investment or Madness? 05:00 – Figma's IPO: Rule of 80, $1.5B in cash, 40% margins. Unreal. 08:00 – Adobe Screwed the Deal—Should They Have Just Bought Canva? 16:00 – Pay-to-Play Deals: Heroic Hail Mary or Guaranteed Write-Off? 21:30 – ... Show More
1h 11m
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2022
Fall Preview for Investors
With four months left in 2022, what should investors be focusing on? (0:30) Emily Flippen and Jason Moser discuss: - Getting ready to "eat the volatility" - Why they're watching holiday shopping and the Fed's language - Meta Platforms and Lululemon need a strong end to the year - ... Show More
39m 26s
Apr 2020
E1041: The Lean Startup’s Eric Ries gives tactical advice for founders during an economic downturn: obligations of leadership, extending runway, handling layoffs with grace, finding new revenue opport
0:52 Jason intros Eric Ries and they discuss how things have been since shelter-in-place started 8:33 What good will come out of this? Will UBI proponents like Andrew Yang be proven right? 10:12 Eric's advice to today's founders after living through the 2008 recession & the dot-c ... Show More
1h 18m
Oct 2022
How Consumer Subscriptions May Perform in a Recession — Eric Crowley, GP Bullhound
On the podcast we talk with Eric about the largest consumer marketplace that’s ever existed, the growing exit opportunities for Consumer Subscription Software businesses, and why the CSS industry may be relatively recession-proof.Top Takeaways 👀 Simply occupying eyeballs isn’t t ... Show More
50m 34s
Jan 2024
Activist Investors are Acting Up
Twilio’s co-founder and CEO steps down due to activist pressure, and Elliot Management’s $1B stake in Match means changes might be coming. (00:21) Ron Gross and Emily Flippen discuss:- The latest inflation numbers and why we shouldn’t bank on rate cuts yet- Activist investor acti ... Show More
40m 31s
Jun 2023
Double Trouble: How the Dot-Com and Tech Bubbles Compare
In today’s episode, Jack Shannon, equities strategies senior analyst for Morningstar Research Services, talks about why active fund managers seemed to repeat the same mistakes.Why did you decide to analyze these two investing periods?Examples of the market chasing companies pursu ... Show More
16m 24s
Jan 2024
MI Rewind: Growth Investing Stock Analysis w/ Simon Erickson
Robert Leonard brings back Simon Erickson to review the growth investing strategy and how investors can start with this strategy. Robert and Simon discuss how to find the right investments, portfolio allocation, what are the biggest deal breakers after analyzing these companies, ... Show More
44m 3s
Sep 2021
Fall 2021: Investing Preview
The S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow Jones Industrial Average have each risen more than 15% so far this year. How should investors feel about the rest of 2021? Which stocks should be on a short leash? What capital allocation strategies should Berkshire-Hathaway and Chipotle be considerin ... Show More
39m 10s
Mar 2023
What's Your Investing Thesis?
It's always a good idea to know why you're about to invest in a business. (0:21) Jason Moser discusses: - Short-term catalysts, long-term trends, and why it's ok to invest in both - The importance of understanding how a business makes money - Reasons to sell a stock (10:17) Deidr ... Show More
22m 14s
Apr 2022
Retail Investing, Pt. 2: ESG and Fixed Income
As investors look to diversify their portfolios, there are two big stories to keep an eye on: the historic rise in bond yields and the increased adoption of ESG strategies. Chief Cross-Asset Strategist Andrew Sheets and Chief Investment Officer for Wealth Management Lisa Shalett ... Show More
9m 1s
Jun 2024
Amazon Joins the $2 Trillion Club
Welcome to the stock market in 2024. When we recorded today’s show, Chewy was up about 60% for the month. By the time we wrote the description, Roaring Kitty had posted a picture of a dog and the stock was briefly up more than 80% on the month. (00:21) Ricky Mulvey and Tim Beyers ... Show More
31m 29s