logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2020
1 h

E37: “Angel” Podcast: Nicole Quinn, Part...

Jason Calacanis
About this episode
0:53 Jason intros Nicole Quinn
1:59 Nicole & Jason describe their separate Calm investments, will it be the first mental health IPO?
8:00 Calm's I.C.E. celebrity engagement method & how it got them LeBron James
8:54 Investing in Sophia Amoruso & Girlboss: what is it about "Force of Nature" product people that attracts Nicole to invest?
16:03 Investing in Gwyneth Paltrow & Goop: what is Goop's business? What are the most profitable parts of their business?
19:42 Investing in Rothy's, and the inverse correlation between the success of e-commerce companies and how much they've raised
24:34 The magic moment of having shares transfer from private to public when a company IPOs
26:53 Changing her risk-averse mindset going from Wall Street to Venture Capital
33:28 Nicole's current investment interests, why voice assistants are crucial for retention
38:16 Investing in Lady Gaga & HAUS Labs: driving business via new product "drops", understanding how engaged a celebrity is in their business, celebrities as an acquisition channel
45:03 Dealing with Goop product blowback, the Netflix series & understanding the science behind it
50:12 Investing in Cameo & CEO Steven Galanis: celebrity selfie videos as a platform
54:44 What types of Founders does Nicole invest in?
56:54 How is Nicole's portfolio split up by stage?
Up next
Today
Grok 4 Beats OpenAI + The $300 AI Agent Era | E2150
Today’s show: Grok 4 just leapfrogged OpenAI to become the top AI model—and it’s not just hype. In this episode, @Jason and @alex break down Grok’s AGI-level performance, the massive drop in LLM pricing, and why some companies are raising prices anyway. They also dive into the Mi ... Show More
1h 11m
Jul 10
Orchestrating Smarter AI Systems with AI21 Labs’ Yoav Shoham | AI Basics with Google Cloud
In this episode of AI Basics, Jason sits down with Yoav Shoham — Stanford professor emeritus and co-founder of AI21 Labs, creators of Jurassic-2, Wordtune, and the new orchestration system Maestro.They unpack:Why enterprise AI struggles with reliabilityWhat orchestration really m ... Show More
22m 26s
Jul 9
Starlink + Tesla? $4T Nvidia? Perplexity Browser? Linda Yaccarino Steps Down? | E2149
On a brand new TWiST, Jason and Alex ponder… What if every Tesla doubled as a Starlink-powered Wi-Fi hotspot? Plus, Nvidia’s historic $4T valuation, Perplexity’s fancy new AI browser that literally books flights, Linda Yaccarino steps down as X CEO, Waymo launches teen accounts, ... Show More
1h 6m
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2022
Jess Lee - Designing Investment Products - [Invest Like the Best, EP.284]
My guest today is Jess Lee. Jess is a partner at Sequoia Capital as well as their Chief Product Officer. Before becoming an investor, Jess co-founded fashion app, Polyvore, and was an early product manager for Google Maps. Most recently, she founded All Raise, a non-profit that i ... Show More
59m 39s
Jul 2023
M&A, competition, pricing, and investing | Julia Schottenstein (dbt Labs)
Brought to you by Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security | Superhuman—The fastest email experience ever made | AssemblyAI—Production-ready AI models to transcribe and understand speech—Julia Schottenstein is a product lead at dbt Labs, a data transformation company, and an ... Show More
1 h
Aug 2019
#140 - Aaron Harris on Fundraising and Meeting with Investors
Aaron Harris is a Partner at YC and before that he cofounded Tutorspree. He’s on Twitter @harris. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon. Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year. Learn more about YC and app ... Show More
37m 44s
May 2020
#72 with Sophia Amoruso - GIRLBOSS
Today we hang out with Sophia Amoruso (@sophiaamoruso), founder of Nasty Gal & Girlboss. Her story is bananas. She is a community college dropout who created a company that at its peak was valued over $400M+. She has had highs (sold over 500k copies of her book) & lows (nasty gal ... Show More
47m 53s
Jul 2019
#134 - Sarah Nahm and Holly Liu
Sarah Nahm is the CEO and cofounder of Lever. Lever builds modern recruiting software for teams to source, interview, and hire top talent. They were in the Summer 2012 batch of YC. You can try Lever out at Lever.co. Holly Liu is a Visiting Partner at YC. Before that she cofounded ... Show More
58m 35s
Jun 2021
Investing For Life (Episode 118)
SUMMARY: Discover how the best investing strategies overlap with successful life strategies. William Green joins Andy to discuss his work studying the world’s top investors.   SHOW NOTES: 8:00: What Are The Similar Traits Top Traders Possess? 14:49: How Do Trading Skills Overlap ... Show More
49 m
Jan 2017
20VC: Why You Should Not Invest From Patterns, Why No Good Business Was Built As An Analogy Of Another & Why The Rise Of The 'Celebrity Investor' Is Concerning with Emily Melton, Partner @ DFJ
Emily Melton is partner at DFJ, where she focuses on consumer and mobile technology, as well as healthcare technologies and marketplaces. Emily has made investments in the likes of BetterUp, Elation Health, Livongo, Redfin, Shift, and Wellframe. Early in Emily's career, she sourc ... Show More
35 m
Feb 2024
Katie Koch - Be A Force Multiplier - [Art of Investing, EP.13]
Our teacher today is Katie Koch. Katie is the President and CEO of the TCW Group, a storied firm with over $200 billion in assets under management and a fascinating 50-year legacy as a pioneer in the investment industry. Katie just took the TCW reins in 2023 after more than 20 ye ... Show More
1h 32m
May 2024
#134 RobeCurls: From TikTok to Target
When women started curling their hair with bathrobes, Emily Kenison didn't see a silly TikTok trend. She saw the creation of a new market – heatless hair care. This lawyer-turned-inventor decided to capitalize on the craze by designing her own patented line of heatless curling he ... Show More
38m 15s