20VC: Arielle Zuckerberg @ Kleiner Perkins: A Review Of My First 6 Months in Venture

Arielle Zuckerberg, Partner @ Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers. Arielle Zuckerberg joined KPCB in 2015 and focuses on early-stage investments in the firm’s digital practice as part of the venture team. Arielle joined Kleiner from Humin, where she led product for the company’s mobile apps. She started her career as a product manager by day and Hackathon host by night at Wildfire Interactive, Inc., which was acquired by Google in 2012. After the acquisition, Arielle worked as a product manager on social ads at Google. Outside of KPCB, Arielle has made several angel investments across the food tech and health sectors in the likes of Partender, Bitty Foods and The Ticket Fairy, just to name a few. We would like to say a special thank you to Mattermark for providing all the data used in the show today and you can check out Mattermark Search here! In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Arielle made it into startups and the investing industry? 2.) What has the move been like from angel to VC? What theories and investment theses are adjustable? How doe the fiduciary responsibility to your LP's adjust your risk profile when investing? 3.) Questions from Tyler Willis: How does Arielle evaluate new products? How does Arielle learn and how does Ariele come down on the learning curve on new things so quickly (new investor to KPCB in ~2 years, for example). 4.) Arielle has now spent her first few months in venture, what have been the biggest surprises? Biggest challenges? What is Arielle's fave part and what is her least fave part? 5.) How does Arielle see the AI space now? Where does she see room for innovation? Is there anything Arielle is concerned about? 6.) Now when doing research for this interview I came across Arielle's New Years Resolution list from 2012! So what are your new years resolutions for 2016? What are the goals you are aiming for? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Arielle's Fave Book: The Symposium by Plato As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Arielle on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here!

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Harry Stebbings?

  Hello and welcome to the 20 Minute VC with your host Harry Stebbings calling from San Francisco today. And joining me is Ariel Zuckerberg, partner at Kleiner Perkins, Caufield and Byers. Now Ariel joined Kleiner in 2015 and focuses on early-stage investments in the firm's digital practice as part of the venture team. Ariel joined Kleiner from Herman, where she led product for the company's mobile apps. And she started her career as a product manager by day and Hackathon host by night at WorldFire Interactive Inc., which was acquired by Google in 2012. And following the acquisition Ariel worked as a product manager on social ads at Google. Outside of KPCB Ariel has made several angel investments across the food tech and health

• 0:44Harry Stebbings?

  sectors in the likes of par tenders, Bitty Foods and the ticket fairy, just to name a few. And I'd like to say a huge personal thank you to Ariel, not only for giving up her time to appear on the show, but for being so supportive and generous of her time and advice towards me with my own career, and for putting up with me while I've been in San Francisco. She very kindly has hosted me and put up with my anglicisms in very strange English ways, and I'm extremely appreciative. And I'd also like to say a huge thank you to Matamark for providing all the data for the show today. And check out Mattermark Search if you've not had a chance. Absolutely the best way to get all the data and information on startups and investors across the industry. However, back to the show, and without further ado, I'm delighted to welcome Ariel Zuckerberg,

• 1:29Harry Stebbings?

  partner at Kleiner Perkins, Caufield and Byers.

• 1:38Speaker 01

  You have now arrived at your destination.

• 1:41Harry Stebbings?

  Ariel, welcome to the 20 Minute VC. It's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show today. Thank you so much for joining us. We were so pleased when we saw on Twitter that you were a fan.

• 1:51Speaker 02

  Thank you so much for having me.

• 1:53Harry Stebbings?

  Now, I'd love to kick off the show today by hearing how you made your way into venture and made the transition from product manager to VC.

• 2:01Speaker 02

  A loyal listener to the show, and a lot of people come on and say that their path to VC was kind of random, but... Uh. When they say that there is random compared to the normal path, the normal path is probably my path. So I started as a product manager. I studied at Claremont McKenna, computer science and philosophy, became a product manager right out of college at Wildfire Interactive, which was acquired by Google, and worked at Google for about a year and a half, then went to a small startup called Human and started angel investing about a year and a half ago after reconnecting with Tyler Willis, uh, who taught me everything I know about investing. And then about two years after working at Human, a friend of mine at Kleiner Perkins recruited me,

• 2:46Speaker 02

  told me that he thought I was a good fit for the venture fund, based on my product experience, my angel investing experience and my network.

• 2:54Harry Stebbings?

  And in your session with Eric on, on the PH, uh, live, I think, Ask Me Anything, you stated that you went to Tyler Willis's teachings on angel investing. Uh, so what were the major takeaways of that experience for you? I mean, what theories and insights have you taken with you to Kleiner Perkins?

• 3:12Speaker 02

  The most important learnings for me from angel investing, which I didn't necessarily take to Kleiner Perkins, but um, you really have to do a lot of investments based on the power law, which is that uh, one company out of your portfolio will probably return your entire portfolio. And you have to think that every company you invest in is going to be that company that returns your entire portfolio. Uh, so you kind of have to do, do a lot, especially because you're taking on so much risk and most of them will probably not return anything, let alone have a good return. So that was like the key takeaway. Um, and how to evaluate companies for investment? You know, looking at the team, looking at the market, is the product differentiated?

• 3:55Speaker 02

  Are the terms good? Uh, which isn't as important in angel investing. Uh, the terms don't come into play as much.

• 4:01Harry Stebbings?

  And it's funny, it's funny you say there about evaluating the, the investment opportunity because Tyler, we spoke to before the show, uh, and Tyler wanted to know, how do you evaluate new products? Because you're world-class at it. This is his quote and I completely agree.

• 4:17Speaker 02

  Oh, thank you. So nice.

• 4:18Harry Stebbings?

  You're world-class at it. So how do you do it? Um, can you, can you give us the, the explanation on that one?

• 4:25Speaker 02

  Sure, the product should definitely be easy to articulate what it does and the value it offers to users. Does it solve a real problem? Is it forward-thinking? Is it solving this problem in a forward-thinking way? And does it impact a lot of people, a lot of different people? Appeal to a diverse user base and things like that.

• 4:45Harry Stebbings?

  Not just like SF hipsters style.

• 4:48Speaker 02

  Right, exactly. Exactly.

• 4:51Harry Stebbings?

  Um, okay. And, and I mean-

• 4:53Speaker 02

  So that is a growing demographic, no?

• 4:55Harry Stebbings?

  It is, there's a lot of startups catering just for that demographic. And, and then Tyler also wanted to know, how do you learn? And how do you come down on the whole learning curve on new things so quickly? I mean, new investor to Kleiner Perkins in, in two years? Pretty phenomenal.

• 5:12Speaker 02

  So five years of, of product management experience, but I guess investment experience for about a year and a half. Um, I don't know, that's also super nice of him to say, Tyler's the man.

• 5:23Harry Stebbings?

  Tyler is the man.

• 5:24Speaker 02

  Yeah. I'm, I'm a very curious person. Uh, well, some people say intellectually curious. Um, I heard someone the other day say intellectually promiscuous. I'm probably that as well.

• 5:35Harry Stebbings?

  Oh, right.

• 5:36Speaker 02

  And just asking a lot of questions and, uh, uh, being a detective in some ways to, uh, when you're learning about a, a new market or a new business model. I ask questions as if I'm like a detective in the area. I'm trying to uncover some mystery. And, uh, another way to evaluate a team or product is, uh, it kind of requires this obsession with the customer and understanding, a complete understanding of the industry. So when I'm, you know, questioning a founder, kind of like a detective and learning about the market, I, I love it when they can, you know, answer all my questions because they've clearly thought about it and have already talked to customers and know what they would say and things like that.

• 6:19Harry Stebbings?

  What do you love to see in founders? Is there any kind of characteristics or traits that you, that you love to see? Like, I love to see, um, kind of manic OCD and a complete perfectionism. Um, what, what are your traits?

• 6:32Speaker 02

  I love, uh, great listeners. Um, uh, we talked to a company recently and after every meeting with them, we would give them feedback and their pitch was better every single time. That really wowed me. I was super impressed and I think, uh- That that's a really good, important skill to have is being a great listener. Especially in series A investing and C investing even more so probably. The team is the most important thing.

• 6:59Harry Stebbings?

  And so you mentioned that two months in venture. So how how's that gone for you so far?

• 7:07Harry Stebbings?

  I mean, obviously brilliantly well, but.

• 7:12Harry Stebbings?

  Don't worry, we can edit out the laughing.

• 7:15Harry Stebbings?

  So first few months in venture, how's that been for you? I mean, what has been the big challenges or surprises? Has it been as you thought it would be?

• 7:24Speaker 02

  I think the biggest challenge for me has been a personal one. I feel like this switch has gone off in my brain. Uh, where I start to think of people based on their intellectual capital way more so than I did before. Which is very challenging for me because I feel like I'm I'm losing myself a little in a weird way. But um.

• 7:47Harry Stebbings?

  So what you mean judging someone on intellectual capital, like purely measuring their academic ability?

• 7:54Speaker 02

  It's more thinking of like, how can I be helpful to this person? Who can this person be helpful to in our portfolio? Uh, will this person like potential founder one day? Or thinking of people in a context that I'm that kind of makes me a bit uncomfortable, to be honest, because that like authenticity and being genuine is super important to me. And becoming more transactional uh is starting. I have this cognitive dissonance about it.

• 8:23Harry Stebbings?

  It's slightly commodifying people, isn't it, really?

• 8:29Harry Stebbings?

  Is that really, is that really harsh?

• 8:33Harry Stebbings?

  X is great and that'd be great for, you know, this company. And you think of them as kind of a use tool, maybe.

• 8:41Speaker 02

  Maybe like uh like you talk to someone who's you know, knows I O T space super well and uh they become your like I O T person. And you ask them all these questions and they really give you a great landscape. And then you meet someone else and they're also a really good I O T person. But you're like, well, you know, I already have this like go to I O T person.

• 9:02Harry Stebbings?

  I didn't need you.

• 9:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's hard to explain. It's a but it's really kind of been a challenge for me, honestly. So that's the biggest, the biggest change, I would say, that I did not experience as an angel investor. And I did not experience as a product manager either.

• 9:19Harry Stebbings?

  And do you have any kind of go to thought leaders in the space? In terms of it could be I O T, it could be any sector, but do you have anyone where you come across an I O T company and think, I'd love to hear what Ariel has to think about it? Or what Harry has to think about it?

• 9:34Speaker 02

  So I recently talked to Rex Saint John from Intel a couple, a couple of days ago and regarding I O T. And his perspective was awesome. And also Clark, thank you for introducing me to him.

• 9:46Harry Stebbings?

  Scott Landry?

• 9:47Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 9:48Harry Stebbings?

  Awesome guy, isn't he?

• 9:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, he's great on ad tech and just hearing people's perspectives who have been both entrepreneurs and investors in a specific industry or vertical has been really cool and valuable. But those honestly, going back to your question about thought leadership. I get the most value in one on one conversations with people. With people who have been, you know, referred to me through a friend. I don't know, I have a kind of love hate relationship with thought, with thought leadership. Kind of because in a way I don't have the confidence to do it myself right now. So I, I'm a little jealous of people who like go out there and have like these incredible well articulated opinions.

• 10:34Speaker 02

  You know, at the same time, writing about outer space doesn't make you an astronaut.

• 10:41Speaker 02

  So I don't know.

• 10:42Harry Stebbings?

  No, it doesn't. It's interesting you said there about face to face interactions. Quite a lot of people said with the potential of me entering venture for the first three months, all I should do is throw myself into meetings with kind of anyone and everyone. Which which I thought was interesting, kind of different idea to the traditional kind of filtered approach, which you should very much try and hone. Um, what have you tried to adopt then in the first few months? Do you try and meet as many people as possible and have those one on one interactions? Or do you try and kind of uh ef- effectively uh plan your calendar to get the optimal meetings and?

• 11:19Speaker 02

  Oh, it's a combination of both for sure, um especially before, like while I was interviewing with some firms. I talked to as many people as I could and people offered to introduce me to a lot of people, which was really helpful. A lot of great friendships and advice has come out of that. So I I definitely think early on it is really good to talk to a lot of people. But through trusted introductions, trusted and warm introductions, I would say.

• 11:46Harry Stebbings?

  And how was the interview process then? Was it was it a long, uh kind of uh not strenuous, but was it a long intellectually challenging process? Did it differ from firm to firm in terms of length? What was it like for you?

• 11:59Speaker 02

  It definitely differed from firm to firm. I mean, I didn't talk to that many firms. I I talked to a very, you know, small handful of firms. But it the interviews are very conversational. I was very surprised. Um. I mean, especially with my angel investing background, uh they wanted to hear how, you know, why I did the investments I did. And that was pretty easy for me to talk about, walk them through how I uh from start to finish, why and how I did the deal. So those are very conversational. A lot of them ask questions about uh my my background, even like high school sports that I played. Uh I think just trying to really get at um what motivates me and whether or not I'd be a good fit for the firm.

• 12:44Harry Stebbings?

  Did you start the angel investing with the view to doing VC in a few years' time?

• 12:48Speaker 02

  I think I was just doing it uh to learn and then I I I loved it. After I wrote the first check, I was like, this is awesome. It's like, it it was very energizing. The whole learning experience at taking Tyler's class was extremely energizing. And this job is, has continued to be very energizing. So had more and more exposure to it. I I knew I wanted to do V C eventually.

• 13:13Harry Stebbings?

  Absolutely, and I'd love to discuss now a particular sector where where you and I actually have a common interest, and that's A I.

• 13:19Speaker 02

  Awesome, yes.

• 13:20Harry Stebbings?

  How do you see the space now? I mean, where do you see room for innovation? And is there anything you're concerned about within the space itself?

• 13:28Speaker 02

  I think it's really cool that there are a lot of open source libraries have come out and like machine learning as well and computer vision. Like, Google has contributed a lot to the to the community. Uh, so we started to see a lot of companies that offer A I as a service, basically, or. Um, the product was artificial intelligence that you integrated into your product. But, uh, I don't know, I think that in the future, it'll kind of be like, um, like storing things in the cloud. Like, it will be assumed and expected that you have integrated artificial intelligence into your into your product.

• 14:07Harry Stebbings?

  How long do you think it will take for that mass market recognition of A I? Cause at the moment, it's still very much, uh, well, particularly in the U K, I may be speaking out of term for the U S. But in the U K, it's very much kind of inner circles, deep technical knowledge, uh, and V C community restricted. How long do you think it's mass market?

• 14:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's true. I mean, a lot of, uh, antiquated industries are are being productized for the first time right now. And, uh, I mean, I still think there's a a bit way to go. I don't know, maybe like three years, two or three years. That's kind of arbitrary, to be honest.

• 14:41Harry Stebbings?

  It's a tough one. It's a really hard one. I I always get asked how long till Bitcoin comes into effect? And that's like, uh.

• 14:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:48Harry Stebbings?

  Good luck.

• 14:48Speaker 02

  Well, the banks just, uh, just released their own technology, uh, using the blockchain that's separate from Bitcoin. So I think that's pretty interesting.

• 14:56Harry Stebbings?

  Are you are you like me? Are you bullish on blockchain, not Bitcoin?

• 14:59Speaker 02

  Yes, uh, uh, I I really like smart contracts.

• 15:03Harry Stebbings?

  Okay.

• 15:04Speaker 02

  I think those, uh, based on the blockchain or using the blockchain, I think that that's really promising.

• 15:09Harry Stebbings?

  Mm hmm. And. This this next one is is slightly a weird one and I felt like it's

• 15:17Harry Stebbings?

  I felt like such a stalker when I was doing this interview uh research because I always do research and I was researching your blog.

• 15:24Speaker 02

  Gosh, I need to write more on that.

• 15:26Harry Stebbings?

  Yeah, you do. It's shocking, Ariel.

• 15:29Harry Stebbings?

  But no, so and I was reading your New Year's resolutions from a few years ago and I think it was two two thousand and twelve. And it made me think, what are your New Year's resolutions for two thousand and sixteen? And in your chat with Eric, you said you don't think long term about career, but like to be more goal driven. So do you have any goals that you're aiming for then in the more immediate effect? Are you aiming for a certain milestone or a target KP or just in general?

• 15:57Speaker 02

  So uh goals, I'll I'll talk about the goals first and then the New Year's resolutions. Uh so for concrete goals, I would love to source a deal at Kleiner within a year. To source a deal that we end up doing that uh if everything goes right and it becomes a huge company, that the world is a better place for it. Uh that I feel like I've, you know, invested in something truly impactful uh in a positive way. So that's definitely a goal of mine and also that I've inspired uh more women to be in venture capital. In addition to that, inspire more female founders to start companies because they know that venture capital is a friendlier friendlier place.

• 16:39Harry Stebbings?

  How you how you found VC coming in as it's it's probably the most arbitrary uh question. I'm sure you probably get it a lot, so I'm sorry for that. But how how have you found it coming into? Uh I presume quite a male dominated industry with a lot of um inequality.

• 16:57Speaker 02

  So Kleiner Perkins is probably one of the best firms out there in terms of diversity.

• 17:02Harry Stebbings?

  Yeah, John John's done amazingly well in advocating uh diversity, hasn't he?

• 17:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, he's phenomenal and uh even though it's, I mean, definitely still skewed heavily male. But uh among our peers, we definitely have a lot more diversity. But um so it's interesting you ask that. A lot of. People, when they, when I meet them or they, they see me after they've heard that I've joined Kleiner Perkins are like, oh yay, like, thank God, there's another woman in VC, like, this is so awesome. But I've actually seen a lot of awesome women. I think because people are more likely to introduce me, they're like, oh, you should meet like Annie at Charles River Ventures, or you should meet Rebecca at Mavron.

• 17:47Speaker 02

  Or Morgan at A sixteen Z and like I'm meeting all these amazing females, probably just because I'm a female, but I don't know, it's pretty sweet nonetheless. Like I'm actually meeting tons and tons of female VCs that are awesome. It's great. I don't know. I feel like there's, there's this camaraderie. I guess because there are kind of a few of us, but we're finding each other.

• 18:12Harry Stebbings?

  And, and then back to the new year's resolutions. What, what are the new year's resolutions for twenty sixteen? I, I'm, I'm intrigued to hear these. Have you ever made any yet?

• 18:21Speaker 02

  Um, so I've been thinking about them. Uh, okay. Well, I can start by saying the ones this year, which was to learn how to moonwalk. Which I did actually at the Kleiner Perkins, uh, all hands meeting in early December. When they were introducing me, I had the option to sing, dance, or do a quick fire round of questions. And I did the moonwalk in front of the entire firm.

• 18:43Harry Stebbings?

  Oh, wow. Welcome to Kleiner Perkins.

• 18:47Speaker 02

  Kind of set the tone for the rest of the meeting. Then.

• 18:50Harry Stebbings?

  Well, that's a massive, uh, congratulations for that one. Did you have music on in the background? Was there a bit of Billie Jean?

• 18:56Speaker 02

  No, I did it. I did a cappella moonwalking.

• 18:59Harry Stebbings?

  How that is a talented VC.

• 19:02Speaker 02

  Thank you. So that one I, I did and I succeeded, which I'm very proud of. Uh, and I, to be able to do one pull up. I used to be able to do them as a kid, then I got super weak after going into tech. And I was able to do that too. Uh, so that's, I could do three in a row now, which is, which is awesome.

• 19:21Harry Stebbings?

  So you've nailed your new year's resolutions for last year.

• 19:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, they're, they're very concrete. I find that the more concrete you make them and, uh, the easier it is to actually do them because you have a quantifiable goal to work up to.

• 19:34Harry Stebbings?

  So any plans for this year?

• 19:35Speaker 02

  You know, I'm blanking. I've totally thought about this too. Why am I blanking so much?

• 19:41Harry Stebbings?

  My, mine's to read more classical literature. Apparently I'm one dimensional.

• 19:46Speaker 02

  You're definitely not. You're very multi-dimensional.

• 19:51Harry Stebbings?

  Uh yeah, no, that's because we only talk about VC.

• 19:55Speaker 02

  What kind of classical literature? What are you gonna read first?

• 19:58Harry Stebbings?

  Well, I haven't got that far.

• 20:02Harry Stebbings?

  No, I was thinking some maybe Oscar Wilde. Yeah, that's as far as I got. Maybe some Jane Eyre. Just trying to expand, expand a little from Brad Feld and Ben Horowitz, which is my current favorites.

• 20:14Speaker 02

  Well, actually, I have thought about a little bit about this, and it has to do with your thought leadership question. And I would like to blog more or, you know, tweet or post on Facebook more.

• 20:25Harry Stebbings?

  I'd love it. I'd love it if you blogged more. It means I could read more articles, don't they, back to two thousand and twelve?

• 20:31Speaker 02

  Oh, gosh, yeah, I'm so sorry. Uh, I have to come up with a concrete goal for that, though.

• 20:37Harry Stebbings?

  Yeah, you should, you should blog more. I mean, blogging is an interesting one. Do you have a personal branding strategy as a VC going into the industry to kind of differentiate yourself?

• 20:47Speaker 02

  It's a very interesting you should ask that because it's something I I think about fairly often. Because whether or not I've done anything to deserve it, I kind of already have a personal brand with my last name. So.

• 20:58Harry Stebbings?

  What, Sugar Mountain?

• 20:59Speaker 02

  Yes, Sugar Mountain. Exactly. Uh, so people, I haven't had to do as much brand building as my peers have, to be totally honest. And I know that I have done very little personally to deserve that, but it's kind of just the truth. And I mean, I don't really have a choice, but it's been very helpful. Whereas when I was a product manager, it was totally not helpful. But so that's been really interesting for me to finally have this thing that I have no control over to actually have a positive impact on my career and set me apart from my peers.

• 21:36Harry Stebbings?

  What's the weirdest response you've had to your last name? It's gonna be, it's gonna be an interesting one.

• 21:41Speaker 02

  Oh, the weirdest response, probably, are you proud? Like, of course I'm proud.

• 21:50Speaker 02

  I don't know, maybe that's not that weird of a question, but I think my brother is one of the greatest founders of all time. And has changed the industry.

• 21:58Harry Stebbings?

  Well, don't spoil my quickfire question. My quickfire question is which founder do you admire? Don't ruin this one.

• 22:04Speaker 02

  Sorry, sorry.

• 22:06Harry Stebbings?

  Uh, no, absolutely. No, obviously phenomenal. Um, I think there's not much more you can say, is there?

• 22:12Speaker 02

  Exactly, exactly. That's why it's a kind of weird question. It's kind of a yes or no question.

• 22:17Harry Stebbings?

  Right, well, we're gonna dive into a quickfire round now.

• 22:20Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 22:20Harry Stebbings?

  This is it. Are you ready?

• 22:22Speaker 02

  I think so. Oh, alright.

• 22:23Harry Stebbings?

  So, your favorite book and why? And this is other than Fifty Shades, because I know you read that from your blog. Uh, I told you I stalked your blog.

• 22:33Speaker 02

  Oh, man. Um, you know, just trying to understand what the general population is reading, Harry.

• 22:40Harry Stebbings?

  Obviously, I mean, this is what VCs have to do. You're right. I'm sorry. It was homework.

• 22:45Speaker 02

  Research, exactly. Uh, so I think my favorite book, The Symposium by Plato, is my favorite work of all time. It's a dialogue between an aristocrat, a tradition, a comedian, a physician. Uh, you know, a bunch of people across various fields, all talking about, uh, the nature and meaning of love. And it's just amazing. It's an amazing book, and I recommend everyone read it because it's.

• 23:12Harry Stebbings?

  See, that is deep. I'm sitting here jaw open, impressed at the multi-dimensional character that is I'm talking to. This is unbelievable. This is what I need to be reading.

• 23:21Speaker 02

  It's amazing, yes, because like not only is it a very interesting commentary on love, but the perspectives that, you know, the comedian brings, for example, versus a tradition. And how these different facets of humanity can be used to, you know, explain the meaning of love is, it's wonderful.

• 23:39Harry Stebbings?

  Awesome. No, no, that was perfect. And then tips for individuals wishing to enter VC.

• 23:44Speaker 02

  Uh, I was talking to you a little bit about this before. Um, so most, most VCs are in their forties and fifties and, uh. You know, a lot of young founders are understandably more comfortable talking to people like you and me, like who are our age, uh, because they can, it's easier to relate to us. And firms know this, uh, firms know that they need to hire people who are in the up and coming founder cohort. So I guess people who are trying to enter the industry, I guess this advice is only really applicable to people our age. But, uh, you know, proving that you're in that cohort and, and well-liked by your peers. I'd also say developing an opinion about where the world is going.

• 24:22Harry Stebbings?

  Through something like a podcast.

• 24:24Speaker 02

  Yes, exactly. You're, you're, you're nailing it, Harry.

• 24:28Harry Stebbings?

  Thank you very much. Yeah, no, I didn't pay Ariel to say that.

• 24:33Harry Stebbings?

  And then, okay, which found, which founder do you most admire?

• 24:39Speaker 02

  Oh, you've kind of backed me into this one, man.

• 24:42Harry Stebbings?

  I told you, you ruined my quickfire question. I'm still gonna ask it.

• 24:46Speaker 02

  So I think, uh, respect founders who have this, a view of the world or have a belief that, uh, that other people don't necessarily have. And, uh, Mary Meeker told me the story about Evan Spiegel, uh, from Snapchat about how he just sees the iPhone as a camera. He doesn't even look at it as a phone. He's like, you're holding a camera. You know, that really carries through in the product vision for Snapchat. And, uh, you know, his perspective of, of the device being more of a camera than, than anything else is, you know, an insight that uniquely had.

• 25:20Harry Stebbings?

  And, and thinking of Mary, which investor do you most admire? I mean, Mary is an absolute god, obviously, to the industry.

• 25:25Speaker 02

  Oh, my gosh. Yeah, she's awesome.

• 25:28Harry Stebbings?

  I, I, I went through her like a hundred and fifty page, uh, deck the other day, evaluating kind of the whole industry and was just in awe. But so which investor do you most admire?

• 25:38Speaker 02

  Oh, man, that's a really tough question. There are so many amazing people out there. This probably, you probably get this answer a lot, but I'd probably say John Doerr. Honored to work with him. Uh, he's really legendary and has such an amazing and special perspective.

• 25:57Harry Stebbings?

  And then what's you, the, what's the best part about being a VC for you?

• 26:01Speaker 02

  I could just talk to awesome people all day. It's amazing.

• 26:06Speaker 02

  Really, and um, I mean, I derive meaning in my life from like hearing other people's opinions. I I'm a total extrovert and I I I'm the youngest of of four kids and I almost get uncomfortable when I'm alone.

• 26:21Speaker 02

  I think if, you know, my own opinions in a vacuum are uh pretty boring and I don't derive meaning from that. It's like the introduction of like creative conflict that I love. And talking to really smart people who have different perspectives and, you know, this vision of where the future is going is really amazing. It's the most fun job in the world.

• 26:44Harry Stebbings?

  And then finally, your most recent investment and why you said yes.

• 26:48Speaker 02

  It hasn't been announced yet, our firm's most recent investment, but uh I'll tell, I can tell you why we invested.

• 26:53Harry Stebbings?

  Okay.

• 26:54Speaker 02

  So the team execute like monsters, it's crazy, uh they're so good execution. They spent tons of time with their customers, which we uncover like proved out in due diligence, especially in their early days of development with their product. It sounds like they've spent hours every week with their customers, uh so that was very impressive. And they're great listeners, like I said before, um actually, I was talking about this team. They improved their deck by at least twenty percent every single, you know, consecutive meeting with them. Uh we also thought the opportunity was great, the market's big, you know, yada, yada, yada.

• 27:34Harry Stebbings?

  Well, Ariel, uh it's been an absolute pleasure having you on the show. Very few interviews are as fun or as entertaining as this, so thank you so much for giving up your time today, it's been such a pleasure.

• 27:46Speaker 02

  Oh, thank you so much for having me.

• 27:48Harry Stebbings?

  And I think we have a new award for the most fun and entertaining interview. And a huge thank you to Ariel for giving up her time today to be on the show, it was such a pleasure to have her. And if you're loving the Twenty Minute VC, then you can sign up for our newsletter on thetwentyminutvec.com. So you never have to miss an episode or an update. Stay tuned for Wednesday's episode with Tyler Willis, mentioned in today's show, who taught Ariel all she has to know about angel investing. And as always, we so appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you in Wednesday's episode.