In this episode of "20 minutes VC," host Harry Stebbings interviews Kevin Rose, a venture partner at True Ventures and serial entrepreneur known for founding Digg and Revision3. Rose shares his journey from entrepreneur to angel investor and eventually to VC, discussing his investment philosophy, the evolution of his approach, and the importance of balance and health in the high-stress startup world. Rose also touches on the future of mobile and AR/VR technologies, and the role of niche markets in distribution. He emphasizes the value of essentialism, learning from failure, and the human side of entrepreneurship. Notably, he highlights his recent investments in Luigi's speaker platform, Leaders, and Laszlo Bock's new startup. Throughout the conversation, Stebbings also promotes Zoom and Viewdit as essential tools for business communication.
"But for the show today and this guest has been on my target list for guests for many months now, having been inspired by many of his episodes with the likes of Tim Ferriss. Therefore, I'm thrilled to welcome Kevin Rose to the hot seat today."
The quote explains Harry Stebbings's anticipation and excitement to have Kevin Rose as a guest on the podcast, highlighting Kevin's notable achievements and connections.
"My response Zoom, the number one video and web conferencing service providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to an array of activities including online meetings, video webinars, collaboration enabled conference rooms and business IM, just to name a few."
Harry Stebbings shares his preference for Zoom as a comprehensive tool for various online activities, emphasizing its enterprise-level consistency and versatility.
"So I ended up investing in some of their companies."
Kevin Rose describes his initial foray into investing, highlighting his engagement with other founders and his support for their companies.
"Having a, I think, two ways into that, it changed. One, I received exposure to a whole asset, a set of assets that are asset classes that I would never have thought of before."
Kevin Rose reflects on the broadening of his investment scope and the collaborative decision-making process at Google Ventures, which differed from his earlier angel investing experiences.
"So why not just do the entire fund?"
Kevin Rose explains the thought process behind Google Ventures' unconventional decision to invest an entire fund into Uber, highlighting the debate and considerations that led to this choice.
"And it's that you're not only a gifted private market investor, but also a very gifted public market investor."
Harry Stebbings introduces the topic of Kevin Rose's dual expertise in private and public market investing, setting the stage for a discussion on the overlap between the two.
"Yeah, I really don't distinguish between the two. Really, the only difference is how liquid they are and how accessible they are to the public."
This quote indicates Kevin's approach to investing, where the primary consideration is the liquidity and public access of the investment rather than the distinction between public and private markets.
"For me, I'm always just trying to look 5-10 years out and kind of seeing where the companies are set up and really figure out which ones are going to have that kind of lasting."
The quote highlights Kevin's long-term investment strategy, emphasizing the importance of a company's setup and leadership for sustained success over a decade.
"Well, in terms of public markets, it's just kind of dollar cost averaging in over time."
This quote reflects Kevin's methodical approach to investing in public markets, emphasizing the gradual investment strategy to mitigate risk.
"Yeah, it can. I mean, not everyone's going to want to give it to you, but we're talking small dollars here, so it's not like you're kind of taking up a large round, right?"
Kevin acknowledges that while not all founders are open to granting pro rata rights to angel investors, the small size of his investments often makes this a non-issue.
"I've always disliked virtual reality. I've never been a fan of it."
The quote expresses Kevin's personal stance on VR technology, indicating his lack of enthusiasm and skepticism about its future success.
"I certainly believe it's the center and will be for quite some time."
This quote affirms Kevin's conviction that mobile technology will continue to be the primary computing device for individuals for an extended period.
"I think they're getting better. I think distribution is getting easier with smart recommendations."
Kevin comments on the evolving landscape of distribution for startups, emphasizing the role of intelligent recommendation systems in connecting niche communities with relevant content.
"You go into the App Store and Apple and type in fasting, we're kind of the number one app there. And that turned into thousands of downloads per day. We've now had, gosh, over 700,000 fasts started since the beginning of this year. And it just shows you that if you can tap into and get recommended to the right people, there are still great channels for distribution, especially around very niche markets. And that's what we're seeing at Hodinki as well in terms of our app downloads for watch related content."
The quote highlights the speaker's app's success in the App Store and the importance of targeting niche markets for distribution. It also notes the role of recommendation engines in highlighting niche content.
"For you to do the know around foundation, it was really to hopefully inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs, to let them know that when they hear someone like an Evan Williams or a cystrum or Elon Musk on the show, that I really wanted to take. You're the standard Bloomberg interview, and it's all about talking about finer details of the actual business and things at scale and these big intimidating questions that these ceos are quite good at navigating. But one of the things that they really don't tap into is just like the human aspect of the entrepreneur lifestyle."
This quote explains the purpose behind the Foundation podcast: to inspire entrepreneurs by showcasing the human side of successful figures like Elon Musk, beyond their business acumen.
"Not really. I think a lot of that is really. We typically see the business side. So there's a lot of great business advice that come out of some of the learnings that vcs write medium posts about and do podcasts about."
Kevin Rose expresses that the human side of VCs is not often portrayed, with the focus usually being on business advice rather than personal stories or struggles.
"I think that I want my founders not thinking about how they can win over the next three 6912 months, but how they can really dominate over the next decade. And I think that we have to realize that it's okay to jog sometimes. It's okay to sprint sometimes, but you really have to be playing the long game here."
The quote reflects Kevin's belief that entrepreneurs should prioritize long-term success over short-term gains and the importance of pacing oneself to avoid burnout.
"Well, I think it's really sitting down with the founders and encouraging them to find their own personal balance. And that can be different for everyone."
This quote highlights the necessity of founders finding a personal balance between work and life to prevent burnout and maintain their overall well-being.
"What would you advise as far as health and diet advice and fasting for founders, it's very easy to get caught up in the lunch lifecycle of a startup and that it can oftentimes be just taken, ordered into the office."
Kevin Rose advises founders to be mindful of their eating habits despite the busy lifestyle of startup culture and emphasizes the importance of incorporating healthy choices into their daily routine.
"So I always try to eat typically pretty low carb diet. Not in the sense that I'm a carbophobe and I avoid carbohydrates, but I try to eat slow digesting carbs, so carbs that don't spike your glucose levels."
This quote explains Kevin's dietary approach, focusing on low carb intake and prioritizing slow-digesting carbs to maintain stable glucose levels.
"And certainly when you take that a step further and you go into a full on ketogenic diet where your body is burning and using ketones for energy versus carbohydrates, that's a lot fat, heavier diet, that was just insane energy, really tangible difference."
Here, Kevin discusses the benefits of a ketogenic diet, including increased energy and better cognitive function, while also noting it requires strict adherence and monitoring.
"Because it really takes the time to teach you to really just to say no."
Kevin emphasizes the book's central lesson on the power of refusal to maintain focus on essential tasks.
"So taking the 20 to 30 things that you could do every single day and narrowing it down to the five, I must do these things every day, just gives you clarity."
This quote highlights the book's strategy for achieving clarity by reducing daily tasks to only the most essential ones.
"Certainly Bill Meris over Google Ventures and Tony Conrad has been another one and helped me think through some of the issues around how to deal with certain issues around management of employees."
Kevin shares his experience with mentors who helped him navigate management challenges.
"I think that the hardest thing for anyone is really to admit that you don't know something."
This quote reflects on the difficulty of acknowledging one's limitations and the importance of seeking advice from others.
"Well, I'm addicted to tech meme, obviously, and product hunt."
Kevin shares his favorite platforms for tech news, suggesting their importance in his daily information consumption.
"And he recently came out with a new platform for speakers called leaders, and he's just the perfect entrepreneur for a broken system like this."
Kevin explains his rationale for investing in Leaders, highlighting the entrepreneur's suitability for innovating in the speaker booking industry.
"And again, a huge thank you to Kevin for giving up his time today to come on the show."
Harry thanks Kevin for participating in the podcast and sharing his experiences.
"Zoom really is a must check out for your business. I cannot emphasize that enough."
Harry advocates for Zoom as an essential service for businesses, emphasizing its ease of use and scalability.