Advice for Entrepreneurs from a Leading Venture Capitalist

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Communication, Marketing, Business, Business/management, Management, Business/marketing, Business/entrepreneurship, Innovation, Hbr, Strategy, Economics, Finance, Teams, Harvard

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2019

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Scott Kupor, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, says there's a lot about navigating the venture capital world that entrepreneurs don't understand. Some can't figure out how to get in the door. Others fail to deliver persuasive pitches. Many don't know how the deals and relationships really work. Kupor outlines what he and his partners look for in founding teams and business ideas and explains how start-ups work with VCs to become successful companies. He also discusses how Silicon Valley can do a better job of finding more diverse talent and funding new types of ventures. Kupor is the author of the book "Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It."

Transcript

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0:00.0	When leadership advice feels like buzzwords and platitudes, it's time to get real.
0:05.9	HPR's podcast Coaching Real Leaders brings you behind closed doors as Muriel Wilkins coaches anonymous
0:11.9	leaders through raw honest career questions
0:14.6	that we all face.
0:15.9	Listen and follow coaching real leaders for free
0:18.3	wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. I'm Allison Beard. Everyone loves a Cinderella story. A passionate entrepreneur toils for months to get his or her company off the ground,
0:52.0	painstakingly networks around Silicon Valley,
0:55.6	and finally, finally, lands a meeting with a big venture capital firm.
0:59.7	The founder works all night to prepare the pitch, walks into the room, wows the investors and
1:04.2	walks out with millions to fund a growth plan and fulfill a dream. Needless to say,
1:09.5	it's pretty rare to get that fairy tale ending.
1:12.8	Today's guest says that's partly because company founders don't fully understand
1:16.8	the venture capital world.
1:18.8	Some don't know how funds are created or investment decisions made. Others fail to make their case because they focus on the wrong things.
1:25.0	Lots of them find term sheets, future financing, and exit plans hard to figure out.
1:30.0	There's a big disconnect, and it might be preventing good companies from getting launched.
1:34.6	Scott Cooper is a managing partner at the VC firm Andresen Horowitz.
1:38.8	He's also the author of the book, Secrets of Sand Hill Road, Venture Capital, and How to Get It.
1:45.0	Scott, thanks so much for being on the show.
1:46.7	Thanks for having me, glad to be here.
1:48.1	So to start off with, what are some of the biggest misconceptions that entrepreneurs have about how VC really works?
2:01.0	Yeah, I think you hinted at one in the intro here which is how to
	...

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