Simon Thorpe from U.K.-based Delta2020 uses a basic model when vetting potential investments and it boils down to four things: the right team, the right technology, intellectual property that is defensible, and a very big market.
Mar 2020
The Simplest, Yet Most Powerful Trait: Trust
Data practically runs through the veins of Steven Mih, CEO of opensource data orchestration startup Alluxio. He's a serial startup CEO with more than two decades in the distributed data world. At Alluxio, Mih was brought in as CEO to take an opensource project that came out of U. ... Show More
12m 48s
Jan 2020
Inside Angel Investing: Should You Join an Accelerator?
Eamonn Carey from TechStars London walks us through the reasons you might want to apply to an accelerator. Beyond the network, beyond the technical and business help, Carey says, there is the forcing function of just getting an MVP ready for demo day.
45m 50s
Mar 2020
#85 Will Coronavirus Kill This Deal?
There’s a tried and true playbook in tech: get a ton of users, then figure out how to monetize them. Today’s founder, Ofo Ezeugwu, has plenty of users on his site, but the investors press Ofo about his plans to monetize. And then, complications arise when coronavirus enters the s ... Show More
35m 12s
Oct 2025
The 7 Most Powerful Moats For AI Startups
In the early days, the only moat that startups have is speed. Once you make something people want, the question becomes what deeper moats can you build on to defend against the competition?Garry, Harj, Diana, and Jared dive into Hamilton Helmer’s Seven Powers framework to find ou ... Show More
45m 5s
Oct 2024
#371 - Hall of Fame: Shelby Ferson
FOUR ACTIONABLE TAKEAWAYS To learn about what’s going on in other parts of your organization, get on the email alias distribution lists. Build out your go team of people that you can rely on in legal, product, marketing, deal desk, etc. so that you’re never stuck trying to figure ... Show More
35m 34s
Feb 2020
#83 Can Small Bras Be a Big Market?
In VC, investors want to win big — that’s why they love highly scalable tech companies so much. But today’s founder, Jaclyn Fu, is selling actual things. Her startup, Pepper, makes real bras in a very real factory. There’s no tech except that you can buy her company’s stuff on th ... Show More
29m 32s
Oct 2023
#219 - Close Your First $1M ARR With Your Laptop CLOSED (Joe Caprio, Partner @ Glasswing Ventures)
FOUR ACTIONABLE LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS The best product doesn’t always win — the team that has the most conversations with customers, investors, and partners does. Every week — test an industry, persona, and problem in your early-stage outbound. Over 12 weeks, you need to rip throu ... Show More
38m 18s
Sep 2020
#97 Secret Sauce or Snake Oil?
Today's founder had everything going for him: a huge market, loads of experience, and $70k in monthly revenue. But then, everything went wrong. Christopher Hussain's startup, RealKey, is supposed to make the complicated mortgage lending process simpler, but his pitch left our inv ... Show More
25m 55s