Episode 7: the fox and the hedgehog: my talk with Amol Sarva

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A fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one important thing

In a recent episode of my show, Venture Studio, I spoke with one of the most fascinating people in the New York technology/entreprenurial community, Amol Sarva, on a wide range of topics. We spoke about his life not just as a company builder, (for which he is widely known), but also about his approach to angel investing. He's in 38+ companies already and it was fascinating to learn of his philosophy and approach.

At one juncture Amol, (who has a Phd in philosophy from Stanford), refers to an ancient parable attributed to Archilocus, which philosopher Isaiah Berlin wrote an essay about in 1953. The fragment read, "a fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one important thing". Amol realized close to a decade ago that he identified with the fox, even though everything in his upbringing and education had trained him to be a hedgehog.

This realization has led to an immense creative and productive period in his life in which he's co-founded several startups such as Halo Neuroscience (backed by Andreessen Horowitz and others), Knotable, BEMAVEN and Knotel, constructed a building in Long Island City known as East of East and invested in 38+ companies. Of course this is alongside his family life as a husband and father.

Prior to all this he co-founded Virgin Mobile USA which went public on the NASDAQ and Peek (which pioneered the mass-market smartphone), which he sold to a large Indian conglomerate. He studied cognitive science for his Ph.D. at Stanford with an undergraduate degree from Columbia University.

Amol blogs regularly at amol.sarva.co and you can see a list of his investments at sarva.co. His personal website is amolsarva.com. Follow him here on: twitter

Enjoy our conversation just below and please share via twitter if you enjoy

Episode 6: John Frankel, ff Venture Capital

John Frankel is the head of ff Venture Capital, an early-stage New York venture capital firm that includes some of the web’s hottest startups in its portfolio.

Check out our Venture Studio Vault interview with Frankel to learn what motivates him as an investor, why he’s so attracted to early stage companies and his thoughts on where the next tech bubble will manifest.

Episode 5: Bo Peabody, Village Ventures

Another edition of the Venture Studio Vault. In this interview from May 2011, Dave chats with the multi-talented Bo Peabody, co-founder of Village Ventures. Prior to Village Ventures, Bo co-founded and sold Tripod, the original social network.

Bo was one of very few venture investors who was bullish on media and content in 2009/2010/2011, with founding experience or investments in Everyday Health (which is now public), Babble, VoodooVox and HealthGuru Media.

Bo wrote a great book called “Lucky or Smart” in 2005, which is based on his experience at Tripod. To answer the “Lucky or smart” question for himself, Bo often says that he was “smart enough to realize he was getting lucky.”

Today, Bo is a Venture Partner at Greycroft Partners, based in New York City.

Episode 4: Jeff Clavier, SoftTech VC

Today we have another classic episode from the Venture Studio Vault. Originally recorded in May 2011, Dave interviewed Jeff Clavier, an angel investor who helped build the microVC ecosystem. Jeff is the founder of SoftTech VC, one of the pioneers in the recent boom of high-volume sub $100MM seed funds.

SoftTechVC is based in the Bay Area but Jeff and his team spend a lot of time in NYC with their portfolio companies.

At the time of this recording, SoftTechVC III had just launched, with a target of $35MM, but ultimately closed at $55MM. Today, SoftTechVC is investing out of its $85MM forth fund.

One of SoftTechVC’s most notable investments to date is Fitbit, which went public in June 2015 with a market cap of $4.1BN billion. Today, Fitbit has a market cap north of $7.5BN.

Episode 3: Matt Harris, Venture Capitalist

In this episode, originally from May 2011, Dave interviewed Matt Harris, the co-founder of Village Ventures. Two companies that Dave and Matt discuss in this interview are BankSimple and On Deck Capital.

Village Ventures lead Simple’s $2.9MM Series A Round in September 2010. In 2014, BBVA acquired Simple for $117MM.

As for OnDeck Capital, Village Ventures participated in the Series A round in January 2006. OnDeck went public in December 2014 with a valuation of about $1.3BN. At the time of this recording, OnDeck had originated $130MM in loans. At IPO, it’s origination volume was up to $1.7BN.

In 2012, Matt Harris joined Bain Capital Ventures, where he leads the New York office and focuses primarily on financial services investments.

Episode 2: Ben Lerer, Thrillist and Lerer Ventures

Originally recorded in April 2011, in this episode Dave interviewed the CEO and co-founder of Thrillist, Ben Lerer.

Dave and Ben talk about the founding story of Thrillist and its 2011 acquisition of JackThreads. Ben also discusses Lerer Ventures, a seed fund that he and his father started 2010. Now Lerer Hippeau Ventures, the fund has become one of the most active seed funds in New York. Some notable portfolio companies include MakerBot, Warby Parker, Refinery29, Plated, SailThru, Birchbox, Brit+Co, RebelMouse and Casper Mattresses.

Episode 1: Dave Tisch - Techstars NYC & Box Group

Originally recorded in April 2011, in this episode, Dave interviewed David Tisch. At the time of the recording, David and his team had just completed Techstars New York’s first cycle - this interview took place two days after Techstars’ first demo day in New York at Webster Hall.

Dave and David talk about the origins of Techstars New York, how to build a great accelerator class, and some of the most exciting companies from that first Techstars NYC class.

David also discusses angel investing through his investment firm Box Group. At the time of the interview, Box Group had invested in 27 companies. Now, Box Group has become one of the most prolific New York-based seed investing firms, having backed over 150 companies including Warby Parker, Blue Apron, Class Pass, Harry’s, Handy, and Spring, which David co-founded. Box Group has some notable exits including Sunrise, Vine and Behance.

Sign-up for my podcast: Venture Studio

Friends- if you're interested in the venture capital and angel investing scene in NYC, subscribe to my podcast via iTunes: https://itun.es/i6S78vQ  and/or listen to us on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/venture-studio . For regular updates, follow us via twitter: @venturestudio My show has been around since 2011 but is now available in podcast format so you can listen while you walk, jog, drive, train, or rest on a couch. It will also come with a short summary of the venture deals in NYC so you can stay abreast of everything easily.

There are a few vintage episodes up already with the likes of Matt Harris from Bain Capital Ventures, Jeff Clavier of Softtech Ventures, Bo Peabody of Greycroft Ventures, Dave Tisch of Box Group and Ben Lerer of Lerer Hippeau Ventures.

Enjoy and please email me some feedback once you've signed up!

Dave

Welcome to Venture Studio, the Podcast

Welcome to Venture Studio!

Dave interviews the angel investors, venture capitalists and other great personalities who comprise the NYC tech ecosystem and beyond.

Learn insights from some of the best and subscribe on itunes.