In this new episode of Entrepreneur Talks, we sit down with Blaise Matuidi and Ilan Abehassera, Co-founders and General Partners of Origins, to learn more about building a VC fund that combines funding with influence. 

Origins is a Venture Capital fund investing across Paris, NYC and Miami in legendary consumer founders. In this episode of Entrepreneur Talks, we hear more about how Origins is funding early stage companies with the help of their limited partners (LPs) who have a combined social media following of 160,000,000.

Tune in to this new episode to learn about the founding story behind the fund, how Blaise, Ilan and their fund co-founders spotted an opportunity to combine early-stage funding with access to influence, and the many lessons to be shared between the sports and investing world.

This episode was recorded in French 🇫🇷

Topics

01:00 to 05:45 — Introduction to Blaise and Ilan 

05:45 to 11:00 — Presentation of Origins

11:00 to 19:30 — From Zoom call to VC fund co-founders

19:30 to 27:00 — US vs Europe, on the pitch and in the boardroom

27:00 to 29:00 — Raising the fund 

29:00 to 35:00 — Investment thesis and founder-market-fit 

35:00 to 41:00 — Making the move from Angel Investor to General Partner

41:00 to 43:30 — Dealflow realtalk 

43:30 to 54:00 — Learning resilience and dealing with failure

54:00 to 56:00 — The importance of emotional intelligence 

57:00 to the end — Outro questions: 1 word to describe entrepreneurship, a dream LP, unpopular opinion about tech or investment 

If you enjoyed this episode, please let us know by leaving a rating and a review!

This episode is hosted by Yacine Sqalli, and produced with STATION F.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this new episode of Entrepreneur Talks, we catch up with Nicolas Morin-Forest, co-founder & CEO of Gourmey, a company that creates culinary delights like foie gras, directly from cell cultivation.

Thanks to Gourmey, it’s now possible to eat foie gras that doesn’t come from an animal! In this new episode of Entrepreneur Talks, we have the pleasure of welcoming Nicolas Morin-Forest, CEO & cofounder of Gourmey.

Tune in to this new episode to learn about Nicolas’ entrepreneurial journey so far, how he built a deep tech startup with a non-technical background, and how he plans to revolutionize meat production.

Topics

01:00 to 04:00 — Introduction and presentation of Nicolas

04:00 to 10:00 — Presentation of Gourmey

10:00 to 20:00 — Why and how Nicolas became a deep tech founder

20:00 to 26:00 — The moment he decided he wanted to build a sustainable business

26:00 to 31:00 — Nicolas’ biggest failure during his entrepreneurial journey

31:00 to 36:00 — How to manage a deeptech company as a non-tech CEO

36:00 to 43:00 — Why foie gras as a first product and Gourmey’s next products?

43:00 to 47:00 — Outro questions: Best quality trait of an entrepreneur? A board member he wishes to have? The most underrated advice for an entrepreneur to succeed?

If you have enjoyed this episode, please let us know by leaving a rating and a review!

This episode is hosted by Yacine Sqalli, and produced with STATION F.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wade Foster is the co-founder and CEO of Zapier, the leading automation tool in the ever-growing no-code space.

Earlier this year, Zapier reached $5 billion in valuation and $140 million in recurring revenue — one might think of it as a standard Silicon Valley startup that has raised lots of money with VCs but, apart from having done YC, the company has in reality taken a very different path. Wade and his co-founder started Zapier in Columbia, Missouri. They have been running the company entirely remote before the pandemic made it commonplace. And, they have only raised a total of 1,4 million dollars in funding, which gives them a 100x ratio of ARR/funding.

In this episode, Wade tells us the story behind Zapier’s growth, shares some invaluable tips for startups looking to scale, speaks about the company's long-term vision for automation, and a lot more.

Topics

00:22 — Introduction with Cindy Yang

01:49 — Wade Foster's background and founder story

04:48 — Surprising use cases of Zapier

07:14 — Zapier's new product, Transfer

08:17 — Wade's approach to VC fundraising

09:31 — How Zapier reached 140M ARR in 10 years

12:31 — The importance of defining your go-to-market strategy early on

13:55 — Why Zapier does not have a Sales team

16:17 — Full remote work and "de-location" packages

23:28 — Technologies that Wade is excited about: Web3 and AI / Machine Learning

25:47 — Zapier's vision on the long term

27:48 — Wade's advice for early-stage founders

This episode is supported by TikTok, hosted and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emmanuel Straschnov is the founder of Bubble, a leading company in the no-code movement.

Founded in 2012, Bubble was launched before the term "no-code" had even been coined, with the ambition to help anyone build web applications without any knowledge of code. It has since helped many entrepreneurs launch their companies without a technical co-founder.

The company recently announced a $100 million Series A round and, in this episode, we discover that it's only the beginning for them. We dive into the early days of Bubble with Emmanuel, how he bootstrapped for 7 years, his vision for Bubble, and a lot more.

Topics:

00:23 — Introduction with Roxanne Varza

01:40 — Emmanuel Straschnov on the rise of No-Code

04:00 — Emmanuel's skepticism towards general code education

05:41 — What Bubble does

07:10 — How Bubble helps non-technical founders build businesses

09:31 — Bubble's fundraising strategy: from bootstrapping during 7 years to raising $100M

14:30 — Bubble's ambition as a company

15:40 — Going public vs. getting acquired?

17:18 — What's next on Bubble's roadmap for the next two years

20:12 — What Emmanuel finds exciting in the No-Code space

This episode is supported by TikTok, hosted by Roxanne Varza, produced by Cindy Yang, and edited by Grégoire Duhourcau. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the success of his first book AI Superpowers, a New York Times best-seller examining the role of the US and China in the future of artificial intelligence, Dr. Kai-Fu Lee is back with a new book! Co-authored with award-winning science-fiction writer Chen Quifan, his latest book is called AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future. AI2041 presents a roadmap to educate and explore the opportunities and challenges presented by AI over the coming decades. 

Kai-Fu has spent more than three decades at the cutting edge of artificial intelligence research, development, and investment in both the US and China. 

He is the chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures, a leading venture capital firm focused on developing the next generation of Chinese high-tech companies.

In this episode, we discover how Kai-Fu became a leading voice in AI around the world, discover his new book AI 2041, and learn about how he invests in AI and DeepTech companies.

Topics

00:22 — Introduction with Roxanne Varza

01:44 — How Kai-Fu Lee got into AI

02:54 — Milestones in Kai-Fu's career: from his studies at Columbia University; to his work at Microsoft, SGI, Apple, and Google; to launching Sinovation Ventures.

06:47 — His new book AI 2041: why this title, why 2041?

07:27 — The format of AI 2041

08:31 — How AI 2041 paints the future of AI-based technologies

09:40 — The possible dangers of AI

12:53 — Kai-Fu's favorite part of AI 2041 (includes quantum computers, bitcoin, and robot romance!)

15:00 — Possible solutions against AI's dangers

17:55 — The link between Kai-Fu's two books: AI Superpowers and AI 2041

19:10 — How Kai-Fu invests in AI and DeepTech at Sinovation Ventures

24:23 — Most exciting companies in Kai-Fu's portfolio

25:45 — The trends that Kai-Fu's most excited about on the global landscape

28:27 — Kai-Fu's vision for the future of AI

This episode is supported by TikTok, hosted by Roxanne Varza, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Co-founder of Masterclass. Founder and CEO of Outlier.org. Aaron Rasmussen is most known for founding these two phenomenal EdTech companies but he is a very prolific builder who has successfully started and sold companies in the gaming, robotics, and consumer packaged goods industries. With Outlier.org, a company that creates beautifully shot online college courses, Aaron has for mission to create the world's best online college courses. The GV-backed company has been named as one of TIME's Best Inventions of 2020 for its work in making education accessible. Students enrolled in Outlier.org courses earn real, transferable college credit for $400, which is approximately one-sixth the cost of a traditional college course in the USA.

Aaron is a fascinating entrepreneur, inventor, — and artist with a huge TikTok following. In this episode, we talk about how he started Masterclass and Outlier, discuss the future of education, and could not help but ask about what he is doing on the popular social media platform with over 130k followers!

Topics

00:22 — Introduction with Cindy Yang 

01:17 — Aaron Rasmussen’s background and beginnings into the entrepreneurial journey

03:34 — How Aaron ventured into the EdTech space

06:17 — The beginnings of Masterclass: How Masterclass managed to get access to high-level speakers as an early-stage company

10:23 — Fascinating things that Aaron has learned while building Masterclass 

14:19 — Why Aaron left Masterclass 

17:28 — How the idea of Outlier came about

19:30 — Outlier’s model for online education based on educational psychology

21:44 — Working with the University of Pittsburgh and their shared vision of making education more accessible

23:41 — How online classes work on Outlier

25:20 — Aaron on online vs. in-person education

29:58 — How Outlier finds the best teacher for each class

32:40 — Outlier’s long-term vision

36:67 — High-level thoughts on education: the university vs. the anti-university model, the purpose of education, and more.

42:29 — Aaron’s TikTok with 130k+ followers 👀

45:34 — Aaron’s advice for early-stage entrepreneurs

This episode is supported by TikTok, hosted and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mathilde Collin is the co-founder and CEO of Front. Since starting Front in 2013, Mathilde has raised over $138 million with an impressive roster of investors including Sequoia, Initialized, and the founders of Slack, Zoom, Atlassian, and more. She is known for her values-driven leadership style and for championing top-down radical transparency. From lessons in leadership to tips on fundraising, this episode is filled with invaluable tips for CEOs!

Topics:

00:22 — Introduction with Cindy Yang 

01:18 — Introduction of Mathilde Collin 

02:23 — Mathilde’s background and mission to make “work happier” 

04:48 — The importance of measuring what you want to improve in your company and how Front measures employee happiness 

06:36 — Use cases of Front: Shopify, Lydia, Sennder 

08:45 — Surprising use cases: political campaigns and #CovidListe, COVID vaccine lists! 

10:22 — Fundraising tips for CEOs: the importance of mindset, storytelling, and focus ⚠️ 

16:06 — Building between Paris and San Francisco at Y Combinator 

16:32 — The tech ecosystems in France vs. the US 

18:14 — On sharing her learnings on her blog and on writing to clarify thoughts 

20:28 — Mathilde’s most important lessons in leadership 

23:56 — Good transparency vs. bad transparency 

25:47 — On vulnerability

28:15 — Startup spaces that Mathilde is excited about: mental health and asynchronous communication

31:33 — Gender diversity in entrepreneurship

This episode is supported by TikTok, hosted and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Back in 2018, Alex Bouaziz and his co-founder Shuo Wang picked up on the trend of remote work and founded Deel, a startup that helps companies of all sizes compliantly hire and pay talent remotely all around the world. Over a year into COVID, it's clear that remote work is here to stay and has become a new norm, particularly for tech companies. With this shift in work behaviour, Deel has seen their business explode with 20X growth in the past year, reaching a $1.25 billion valuation after a $156 million Series C funding led by the YC Continuity Fund and existing backers Andreessen Horowitz and Spark Capital.

In this episode, we dive into the story of the newly-minted unicorn with its co-founder Alex and one of its first investors, Anish Acharya of Andreessen Horowitz. We discuss the future of work, learn about their VC-founder encounter, and —with Alex and Anish both having founded successful companies— pick up lots of founder wisdom along the way.

00:23 — Introduction with Cindy Yang

01:24 — Alex Bouaziz on the origin story of Deel

03:16 — Anish Acharya's macro-analysis of work and employment

04:14 — How Alex and Anish met through Ryan Hoover (Product Hunt, Weekend Fund)

06:34 — Growth and unicorn status

07:10 — Trends in remote work: contractor vs. full-time

09:13 — Best practice for cross-timezone collaboration

11:16 — How to find the best talent geographically

12:10 — Working in a physical office vs. in remote

14:01 — Anish and Alex on the future of work

20:04 — The relevance of starting a company in Silicon Valley today

23:15 — Anish's investment scope at a16z

23:58 — Alex on how VCs perceive remote teams

23:27 — Anish on FinTech and FinTech-adjacent companies

25:32 — Alex on how Deel falls into the FinTech spectrum

26:04 — How Deel helps companies compliantly employ and pay talent in so many countries

28:15 — What Anish looks for in founders at a16z and what struck him about Alex and Shuo

29:44 — Companies that Anish and Alex are excited about

32:09 — Advice for early-stage founders

This episode is supported by TikTok, hosted and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jamie Macfarlane is the founder & CEO of Creator Fund, an early-stage VC fund that invests in student-led companies with student investment partners.

Having studied both in the UK and in the USA, he started Creator Fund based on the observation that some of the world's most successful technology companies —like Facebook and Google— have been started in the dorm rooms and laboratories of American universities. Europe has universities of equal caliber but these have not yet managed to spin out as many tech champions. With the Creator Fund, Jamie hopes to support more student-led innovation and the creation of tech-driven companies across the continent. To do so, he has also designed a very unique student-focused model.

In this episode, we talk to Jamie to learn more about how their model works, what are some of the most exciting companies currently being built in universities across Europe, and what Europe can do to encourage more DeepTech companies.

Topics:

00:23 — Introduction with Cindy Yang

01:07 — How Jamie first started investing in students

02:29 — Creator Fund's investment model (and its secret sauce 🌶)

03:50 — How they recruit their student investment partners

05:02 — Why they're not called "ambassadors" or "scouts"

07:16 — The difference between investing in students in the US vs. in Europe

08:20 — What Creator Fund looks for in companies

12:16 — The advantage of getting investment from Creator Fund: talent network and follow-on investment

15:34 — The ideal founding team and the example of Touchlab

19:56 — Trends and companies that Jamie is excited about: Baseimmune and RecyclEye

23:44 — The technology behind vaccine company Baseimmune

28:10 — The limits to Creator Fund's investment model

31:44 — How IP works in universities

33:16 — What Europe can do to encourage more DeepTech companies

37:00 — Jamie's piece of advice for student entrepreneurs

This episode is hosted and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The tech entrepreneur who raised the largest seed round in Europe this year. The restaurateur behind Paris' favourite group of Italian restaurants.

Victor Lugger is the co-founder and CEO of Big Mamma Group and Sunday App. Being at the head of 26 very popular Italian restaurants across Europe, including La Felicità on our campus, Victor is embarking on a new FinTech adventure with his Big Mamma co-founder, Tigrane Seydoux, and their new partner, Christine de Wendel, to reinvent the way that people pay in restaurants. The trio recently announced a $24 million seed round for their new company Sunday App.

In this episode, we catch up with Victor to learn more about what it means to have raised the largest seed round in Europe this year and how Big Mamma Group keeps launching restaurants that people cannot stop raving about. We'll talk about company culture, logistics, trends in the restaurant space, and a lot more!

Topics:

00:22 — Introduction with Roxanne Varza and Cindy Yang

01:53 — Victor Lugger on raising the biggest seed round in Europe

02:17 — The origin story of Big Mamma Group

05:47 — The importance of company culture for Big Mamma's success

16:12 — On choosing a co-founder

19:44 — The beginnings of Sunday app

23:00 — How Sunday works

24:53 — Sunday's technology 🌍

26:17 — Innovations in the restaurant space

27:26 — On being a BCorp company

28:48 — Scaling logistics at Big Mamma Group 💡

31:03 — The importance of pursuing ideas that are not easy

32:35 — Victor's favourite Big Mamma restaurant 😉

This episode is hosted and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A few years ago, Sarah Guo became the first female and youngest General Partner at one of the leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Greylock. Sarah has led investments in companies like Figma, Clubhouse (not the social media 😉), and Sqreen. She is bullish on SaaS and openly shares on her website the types of companies for which she's keeping an eye out. In this episode, we discover the vast landscape of SaaS with Sarah, dive into the future of work, and learn more about being an investor in this space.

Topics:

00:23 — Introduction with Roxanne Varza

01:12 — Sarah’s background prior to joining Greylock and becoming their first female and youngest partner

02:58 — Greylock’s investment strategy

08:15 — The story behind Sarah’s investment in Sqreen (acquired by Datadog)

15:51 — Identifying areas of investment before finding the companies

16:18 — Post-mortems and learnings on missed deals: Twilio & Benchling

23:02 — Investing in a company called Clubhouse

26:35 — Companies that Sarah is excited about: deep dive into the SaaS landscape

30:21 — Service companies that are becoming SaaS companies: Rippling & Scale.ai

31:50 — The impact of COVID on the future of work: the rise of remote & hybrid

37:42 — Mistakes that companies are making about the future of work

40:57 — Sarah’s advice for early-stage entrepreneurs 

This episode is hosted by Roxanne Varza and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zach Sims is the co-founder and CEO of Codecademy, the leading online learning platform for technical skills.

Since its founding in 2011, Codecademy has helped over 50 million people from 190+ countries learn how to code. The company has raised over $82M from investors like Union Square Ventures, Naspers, Owl Ventures, Y Combinator, and Kleiner Perkins, supporting its vision to close the technical skills gap and transform people’s lives through engaging, flexible, and accessible online education.

Zach and Codecademy have been recognized by reputable thought leaders as technology pioneers, appeared on numerous 30 under 30 lists, and won many awards. Yet, behind all the hype, things were not always smooth sailing.

In this episode, we talk about the story of Codecademy with Zach and dive into some of his key learnings throughout the journey: the difference between building a movement vs. building a business, the industry's attitude towards VC fundraising, the future of education, and more.

Topics

00:22 — Introduction with Roxanne Varza

01:05 — The background and growth stories of Codecademy

05:08 — Key learnings around VC funding from the early days of Codecademy

06:50 — Codecademy in a few numbers

08:06 — The type of people that Codecademy addresses

08:51 — How Zach learned to code

09:46 — The evolution of coding since 2011

11:00 — The importance of coding education and no-code

12:08 — How Codecademy keeps up with the no-code trend

13:14 — Life-changing stories from Codecademy learners

15:16 — Code education for kids

16:11 — Countries that are leading the way in code education

17:17 — The future of education

19:18 — The user experience on Codecademy

21:00 — The importance of community on Codecademy

22:20 — Zach on what he finds exciting in the education space

24:46 — What to expect from Codecademy in the coming months: international markets and Codecademy for Business 

This episode is hosted by Roxanne Varza and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the latest episode of Entrepreneur Talks, STATION F's podcast. We had the chance to sit down with Frédéric Montagnon, Founder & Chairman of Arianee. He created 7 companies, exited 5 of them, killed one, and invested in more than 150 startups.

Arianee is on a mission to empower brands and owners to give digital life to products, experiences, or communities through NFTs. Last year, they issued more than 1M NFTs.

Tune in to this new episode to learn about his journey so far as an entrepreneur and investor, why he believes Web3 is the solution to data sovereignty, and why founders should now seek for the Environment-Market fit rather than Product-Market fit.

Topics

01:00 to 04:00 — Introduction and presentation of Fred by ChatGPt and himself

04:00 to 09:00 — His background and why Web3 with Arianee

09:00 to 12:00 — Why did he become an entrepreneur, only 2 years after graduation?

12:00 to 15:00 — His strength: at the intersection of Tech and Business

15:00 to 19:00 — His failures and learnings as an entrepreneur

19:00 to 24:30 — The "environment-market fit"

24:30 to 29:00 — How did you become an expert in Web3?

29:00 to 31:00 — The beauty of open source

31:00 to 35:00 — The pain: digital sovereignty

35:00 to 37:00 — His views on Twitter acquired by Elon Musk

37:00 to 42:00 — Arianee's solutions and the future of data ownership

43:00 to 45:00 — Arianee’s KPIs and its clients

45:00 to 47:00 — Business Angel: why and how to invest in 150 startups?

47:00 to 49:00 — Is he a philanthropist?

49:00 to 52:00 — Outro questions: his unpopular opinion about Web3? Best quality trait of an entrepreneur? The company he would build tomorrow?

If you have enjoyed this episode, please let us know by leaving a rating and a review!

This episode is hosted by Yacine Sqalli, and produced with STATION F.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fundraising has become a rite of passage for any startup that claims to be ambitious. It is perceived to be a must by many founders, especially those who are building SaaS products that need to grow fast and want to acquire a large market share.

However, fundraising is not always the only way for such a company to succeed.

In this episode, we catch up with Guillaume Moubeche, co-founder and CEO of Lemlist, who bootstrapped his company with $1000 to reach $5M ARR in less than 3 years. Guillaume recently turned down a $30 million offer from a private equity that included a $15 million cash-out for the three co-founders of Lemlist. That meant saying "no" to receiving $5 million straight into each of their bank accounts. What was the thinking behind this decision? Listen now to learn more.

Lemlist is STATION F alum, part of Zendesk program alum and our list of Future40 companies in 2019.

Topics:

00:22 — Introduction with Roxanne Varza

01:13 — Guillaume on why he publicly turned down €30 million

02:22 — Investment offers that Lemlist received from VC and PE funds

03:34 — The background and growth story of Lemlist

04:15 — Guillaume’s approach to company building: focusing on customers rather than fundraising

05:40 — Why he recently went after fundraising

09:18 — When fundraising is relevant for a company

10:26 — The advantage of having constraints on building product

11:31 — The number of offers that Lemlist got

12:23 — Growth strategies: how Lemlist turned $1000 into $5M ARR in three years

15:27 — Things that went wrong and learnings

18:47 — On selling vs. not selling

23:05 — What can we expect to see from Lemlist in the coming months 

This episode is hosted by Roxanne Varza and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, according to an Ellen MacArthur Foundation report. Plastic pollution is a huge problem — but it's not one that is irreversible if we act quickly enough.

In this episode, we explore and address the issue of plastics with two founders that are striving to make a change: Samantha Anderson, CEO of DePoly, and Simon Hombersley, CEO of Xampla.

Both companies are looking to eliminate plastic pollution but tackling the problem from two different angles. DePoly (STATION F startup in the L'Oréal Program) has developed a cutting-edge technology to recycle PET plastic. Xampla (Cambridge University spin-out) has developed a plant-protein material that provides a natural alternative to single-use plastic.

Topics:

01:16 — What made Samantha and Simon want to go into plastic?

05:11 — The recycling technology behind DePoly

05:46 — How plastic recycling currently works

07:30 — Xampla’s plant-protein material

09:22 — How Xampla compares to existing plant-based solutions

10:37 — Can Xampla’s material be eaten?!

10:46 — Xampla targeting consumer markets

11:56 — Samantha on where we use plastics today and how to address the plastic problem

13:15 — Simon and Samantha on what’s necessary for large-scale change to happen

16:15 — Samantha on the role of startups in the new plastic economy

17:03 — Simon on the big companies’ change of attitude towards plastic

18:30 — Simon’s background: serial cleantech entrepreneur

19:54 — Samantha’s academic background and the DePoly team

22:10 — The importance of practicality in solutions

24:25 — Other exciting companies in the new plastics  

This episode is hosted by Roxanne Varza and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ivan Zhao is the co-founder and CEO of Notion, the all-in-one workspace for your notes, tasks, wikis, and databases. Entrepreneurs rave about it, VCs chase after it, and we simply cannot stop hearing about it.

Notion bundles multiple use cases into one tool and helps teams cut down on their number of applications used. For many users, Notion sparks inner joy — it appeals to the Marie Kondo in all of us, helping us clear out the clutter and organize efficient workflows.

On top of being a product that people love to use, Notion is also a company that entrepreneurs admire, especially in the SaaS space. At the beginning of COVID, it hit a $2 billion valuation after raising a $50 million round — with a relatively small team of 40 people. Notion’s approach to company-building has since been distinguished with two main elements: its lean team and its conscientious attitude towards VC funding.

In this episode, we learn more about the Notion journey — where it comes from and where it's going — with its founder, Ivan Zhao.

Topics:

00:22 — Introduction with Roxanne Varza

01:03 — Ivan Zhao on the market need for Notion

02:13 — Notion’s mission to empower people to create their own tools

03:16 — The 4 main use cases of Notion

03:58 — How Notion built a product that people love so much

05:48 — When Notion exploded in 2018

06:43 — Notion’s approach to building a company: fundraising and team size

09:20 — Raising $50 million at $2B valuation during COVID

11:08 — New offices in Europe and Japan

11:33 — Notion API launch in April

12:02 — New languages, including French!

13:06 — Interesting alternative use cases for Notion 🍳🐉🤓

15:08 — Tools that Notion can replace

16:18 — Ivan on tools that he finds exciting: Figma

16:55 — Bundling vs. unbundling strategy for building product

17:30 — Ivan’s advice for early-stage entrepreneurs 

This episode is hosted by Roxanne Varza and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new billion-dollar fund "crafting a fertile future". A new-generation VC backed by 15 top entrepreneurs to support the "new wave" of founders.

The VC ecosystem is blossoming in France and we interview three investors at the heart of this movement: Marie Ekeland (2050), Pia d'Iribarne (New Wave), and Jean de la Rochebrochard (New Wave and Kima Ventures). If you are familiar with the tech ecosystem in Europe, then you are certainly no stranger to these three names.

Marie, a pioneer in the French tech ecosystem, started her career in VC as a partner at Elaia and founded the VC fund Daphni as well as one of the biggest tech communities France Digitale. Her new fund 2050 is also breaking new ground with its new investment model that prioritizes sustainability and future well-being.

Pia and Jean, highly experienced investors respectively from Accel/Stride and Kima, have rounded up 15 high-level LPs — including Xavier Niel, Yuri Milner of DST, Peter Fenton from Benchmark, Philippe Laffont from Coatue, and Tony Fadell of Nest and Apple — to launch New Wave, a next-gen fund to back the even more ambitious founders in today's European tech landscape.

Topics:

[Part 1 with Marie Ekeland] 

01:03 — Introduction of 2050, Marie Ekeland’s new fund 

02:10 — The structure and incentives of 2050, an evergreen fund 

04:47 — Why 2050 gets away from a traditional VC partnership model 

05:40 — The power of finance on the economy 

06:25 — The kind of companies in which 2050 invests 

09:46 — What kind of investments does 2050 make: cheque size, company stage, etc. 

10:13 — Thoughts on “growth at all cost”: the example of Netflix 

12:35 — On raising $1 billion by 2030 and building sustainable companies 

15:03 — 2050’s investments: the story of Withings 

19:20 — Marie Ekeland’s evolution as an investor 

21:53 — Marie’s thoughts on the current funding situation in France 

23:02 — How 2050 stands out from the competitive VC landscape 

24:23 — France’s potential to lead in the sustainable transition

[Part 2 with Pia d’Iribarne & Jean de la Rochebrochard] 

27:08 — The impetus for starting New Wave

28:42 — How Jean and Pia met and why they wanted to start a fund together

30:45 — The incredible LPs at New Wave

33:37 — New Wave’s investment thesis

34:30 — The kind of founder profiles that New Wave backs

35:53 — The characteristics that Jean looks for in founders

38:28 — Investments at New Wave: cheque size, company stage, etc.

39:14 — Jean on New Wave and Kima Ventures

42:02 — Pia on her experience as a fund founder

44:24 — Pia on smart money

45:47 — Hopes and expectations for 2021 

This episode is supported by Euronext, the leading pan-European stock exchange; hosted by Roxanne Varza; and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

IPOs or acquisitions? When it comes to exit strategies, going public remains less celebrated in Europe. Most startups imagine huge barriers to listing...but is it really that complicated? In this episode, we learn more about the pros and cons of doing an IPO with Camille Leca, COO Listing at Euronext, and Odd Sverre Østlie, CEO at Pexip, a videoconferencing solution based in Oslo.

This episode is supported by Euronext, the leading pan-European stock exchange.

Topics:

01:04 — Why getting acquired is not the best exit strategy

02:36 — Why specifically an IPO: what IPOs can help you achieve, the advantages of doing an IPO: (liquidity for founders, shareholders, employees, etc.), credibility, financing, buildup

04:01 —The advantages of listing on Euronext (vs. on NASDAQ in the USA)

05:48 — Doing a dual listing in Europe and in the USA

06:30 — What is Euronext and where does it operate in Europe?

07:05 — Camille Leca’s role at Euronext

07:12 — Example of companies listed on Euronext

08:38 — When is a good time for a company to think about an IPO?

09:56 — On how Camille helps companies get listed

10:40 — On Euronext’s IPO program for startups: Techshare

12:52 — Common pitfalls or misconceptions of companies

14:08 — Camille’s advice for early-stage startups considering a future IPO

15:30 — Introduction of Odd Sverre Østlie, CEO at Pexip

16:02 — What Pexip is and how it compares to Zoom

17:31 — Example of Pexip customers

18:04 — How Pexip is used in healthcare

19:15 — Pexip’s “perfect” IPO mid-pandemic

21:54 — An outrageously successful virtual roadshow

24:10 — Why Pexip chose to do an IPO

26:06 — Why Pexip did not choose to list in the US

27:29 — The advantages of listing in Europe

28:15 — OS’ advice for early-stage company listing in Europe 

This episode is hosted by Roxanne Varza and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last April, the world's leading accelerator Y Combinator announced that it would be going virtual for its S20 batch. One batch later, we interview YC President Geoff Ralston to learn about the difference that going remote has made. It turns out that there are more pros than cons: YC partners were able to work with companies in over 15 time zones, complete 50% more individual and group office hours than in previous batches (3600 hours in total), and chat with all of the teams in realtime (over 250,000 Slack messages were sent during the batch). Its Virtual Demo Day was also incredibly successful and out performed many in person Demo Days from years past — with over 28,000 introductions made between investors and founders.

Note: this episode was recorded one week before the US Inauguration Day.

Topics:

00:22 — Introduction by Roxanne Varza

01:19 — What the remote program at YC looks like

05:08 — Examples of successful YC companies that started remote prior to the appearance of COVID: Zapier and Git Lab 

05:48 — What works well remotely and what doesn’t

07:16 — On YC’s virtual Demo Day

08:17 — YC adopting a hybrid mode after COVID

09:31 — On ecosystems

11:18 — Tech trends accelerated by COVID

12:50 — Some top companies at YC that benefited from the shift to digital: examples of Instacart and Stripe 

15:12 — How tech solutions have helped make COVID easier*

15:55 — How YC has evolved over its 16 years of existence

19:20 — What’s next for YC?

20:20 — Geoff’s background and how he got to YC

22:27 — Geoff on his role as President of YC

24:28 — The effect of COVID on investing

25:19 — Geoff’s perspective on the Bay Area exodus

27:06 — What the Biden presidency means for tech 

This episode is hosted by Roxanne Varza and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sequoia Capital has landed in Europe. Last September, Silicon Valley's premier venture capital firm set up shop in London with Luciana Lixandru at its head. With COVID aside, why make this move in 2020? Sequoia has previously invested in European companies like UiPath, Unity, and Klarna — why the need for a physical base? In this episode, we dive into all these questions with Luciana; learn more about how Sequoia finds, screens, and supports portfolio companies; talk about its scout program; and a lot more!

At Sequoia, Luciana focuses on enterprise and consumer technology companies across Europe. She is passionate about helping founders at all stages unlock their potential and think on a global scale. Prior to becoming Sequoia's first partner in Europe, Luciana (#12 on Forbes' Midas List Europe) worked at Accel for eight years, where she led investments in UiPath, Deliveroo, Hopin, Framer, Miro, and Tessian.

Topics:

00:23 — Introduction with Roxanne Varza & Gwen Salley

01:20 — Luciana on Sequoia’s move to London

03:28 — Why enter Europe in 2020

04:14 — Sequoia’s investment thesis and examples of European investments

04:46 — Establishing a physical presence in Europe to find talent earlier

06:12 — Sequoia’s Europe team

09:15 — Luciana on team building at Sequoia and recruitment for London

10:50 — How Sequoia invests and helps with company building

12:45 — The differences in the European ecosystem

14:56 — The impact of COVID on work habits

16:20 — Sequoia’s screening process (including one of Luciana’s tricks!)

22:00 — How Sequoia leverages its community to help its portfolio companies

26:22 — The origins of Sequoia’s scout program

28:43 — Roxanne (STATION F Director) on how she became a scout at Sequoia Capital

30:37 — How the scout program works 

32:30 — Tier-1 international funds setting up shop in Europe 

This episode is hosted by Roxanne Varza and Gwen Salley, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, agriculture is among the greatest contributors to global warming, emitting more greenhouse gases than the transportation industry, with methane released from cattle rearing largely responsible. Yet, by 2050, food production needs to increase by 70% to respond to population growth. This discrepancy means that we are in dire need of a new food system that will not overwhelm the planet despite our growing demand for food.

In this episode, we tackle the future of food with Antoine Hubert (co-founder & CEO of Ÿnsect), Ying Shao (co-founder & CEO of Plantik Biosciences), and Daan Luining (co-founder & CTO of Meatable). We discover the new breeding technologies for plants and meats that Ying and Daan are respectively developing. We learn about insects as an alternative source of protein with Antoine and dive into the most interesting innovations in food today.

Topics:

[00:22] — Introduction with Roxanne Varza

[01:22] — Ying on what cannabis has to do with the future of food

[02:53] — Ying on what Plantik does with cannabis

[03:54] — Daan on Meatable’s lab-grown meat

[05:02] — How does Meatable’s technology work

[05:56] — How does Meatable compare to other alternative meats on the market

[07:25] — Ying on the importance of producing crops differently today to respond to food scarcity

[08:45] — Daan on the environmental footprint of traditional cattle production

[10:47] — Company stage and product timeline for Meatable

[12:35] — Company stage for Plantik Biosciences

[13:35] — Ying on consumer attitudes around cannabis and gene editing

[16:25] — Daan on consumer attitudes towards cultured meat

[18:48] — The perspective from animal activists

[20:47] — On regulations: working with low THC vs. high THC plants, gene editing techniques, food in general

[25:09] — Meatable starting the first European trade association for cellular agriculture

[25:52] — Other innovations in the food space and other opportunities left to be addressed

[30:23] — Introduction of Antoine

[30:42] — Antoine on why Ÿnsect grows insects for animal feed rather than human consumption

[32:05] — Why what animals eat matters

[33:33] — Doing more with less: on vertical farming

[34:04] — Antoine’s background: from agricultural engineering to starting his own NGO to raise awareness around food waste before starting Ÿnsect

[35:35] — How the idea of Ÿnsect came about

[36:50] — On the research that goes into Ÿnsect

[39:44] — Going through food regulations

[41:05] — Ÿnsect’ product vs. traditional fishmeal

[41:53] — The commercial side of Ÿnsect

[42:48] — Production, company, and market evolutions since the beginning

[44:25] — On Ÿnsect's $372M Series C with Astanor Ventures, Upfront Ventures, Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition, and many more from around the world

[47:07] — Algae, biotech, and other technological developments in the food space

[47:42] — On the importance of fighting food waste and changing consumer behaviour

[51:41] — In 2050, how will we be eating? 

STATION F: The Podcast is hosted by Roxanne Varza, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bailey Richardson grew the early community at Instagram, where she was one of the first employees. She interviewed hundreds of extraordinary community leaders and co-authored a book on how to build communities today (called "Get Together"). Currently a partner at People & Company, she coaches organizations on how to get their people together. Bailey has become the go-to expert for anything related to communities and, in this episode, she shares some of her best tips and lessons with us.

Topics:

00:22 — Introduction with Roxanne Varza

01:19 — Definition of a community: a group of people that keep coming together over something they care about

05:15 — Examples of communities: Cloud Appreciation Society, Men's Support Club, Star Wars Club

07:28 — Bailey’s experience as one of the first employees of Instagram

09:13 — On community at Instagram

11:56 — How Bailey started People & Company

12:46 — On why community building is good for business

13:55 — Example of Substack

19:02 — Does community apply to all types of businesses?

25:36 — Bailey’s favourite communities

30:38 — What people get wrong about communities

32:48 — The importance of consistency for a community to work

38:40 — Bailey’s tips for early-stage startups on building community (examples from Paul Graham and IndieHackers)

48:02 — On the growing pains of communities

53:28 — Examples of the positive impact that communities can have: Instagram, YouTube, GirlTrek

STATION F: The Podcast is hosted by Roxanne Varza, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With teams spread across the planet and international expansion on every startup's roadmap, understanding and working with cultural differences has never been so relevant as in today's business world.

In this episode, we learn how to navigate cultural differences with Erin Meyer, author of "The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business" and co-author with Netflix founder and CEO, Reed Hastings, of "No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention".

Erin is also a professor at INSEAD, one of our partners at STATION F. Her work focuses on how the world's most successful leaders navigate the complexities of cultural differences in a multicultural environment.

STATION F: The Podcast is hosted by Roxanne Varza, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Having a deep impact on pollution with a breakthrough technology! That's one bet Neoplants is about to win in the next few months. After 4 years of R&D, the Neo P1, an indoor plant to purify the air, is coming to home.

This is what we discuss with Lionel Mora, CEO & co-founder of Neoplants, amongst other topics, in this new episode of Entrepreneur Talks, STATION F podcast. Tune in to learn about Lionel's entrepreneurial journey, why he decided to build a deeptech company, the learnings so far, and what's coming next at Neoplants.

Topics

01:00 — Introduction and presentation of Neoplants

04:00 — The genesis of the company

08:00 — Breakthrough technology vulgarization

12:00 — 4 years of R&D before launching the market

17:00 — Product iteration: trying to kill the idea fast

24:00 — When tech meets bioengineering

27:00 — The risks they face

33:30 — Raising funds as a deeptech startup in the US vs Europe 

35:00 — The vision: from indoor to outdoor plants

37:30 — The market launch

40:00 — Where to order?

42:00 — Outro: Best quality of an entrepreneur? Unpopular opinion about tech or entrepreneurship? A dream board member?

If you have enjoyed this episode, please let us know by leaving a rating and a review!

This episode is hosted by Yacine Sqalli, and produced with STATION F.

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Patty McCord is the former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix, from its beginnings in 1997 until 2012, post-IPO.

Her 126-page Netflix Culture Deck has amassed over 5 million views on the web and been called “one of the most important documents ever to come out of Silicon Valley” by Sheryl Sandberg. But when Patty wrote the PowerPoint deck with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and some colleagues, she had no idea that the document would go viral and serve as a bible for company culture in many startups today.

In this episode, we’ve invited Patty to tell us about how to build a thriving company culture that empowers your talent.

STATION F: The Podcast is hosted by Roxanne Varza, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What makes a good founder? How do you build a strong co-founding team?

In this episode, we catch up with Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck from Entrepreneur First (EF), who have been backing talented individuals pre-team and pre-idea. They've pioneered a new model of company creation, which involves bringing together extremely talented people from academia and industry to build the next generation of globally ambitious technology startups from scratch. EF has been producing incredible DeepTech companies around the world, including at STATION F in Paris. Their program at STATION F is currently recruiting for talents to join them in April 2021.

Topics:

00:22 — Introduction with Roxanne Varza

01:38 — How the idea of Entrepreneur First first came up

03:22 — What Entrepreneur First looks for in potential founders

07:15 — How EF assesses candidates

10:50 — How EF helps two individuals go from strangers to co-founders

16:18 — What people should pay attention to when they go into a co-founder relationship

18:46 — On founder culture: are there cultural differences worldwide?

21:39 — On diversity within EF and the types of entrepreneurs in the program

26:17 — How EF identifies high-performing individuals

29:12 — Matt on what successful teams look like

32:58 — Alice on which kind of teams work well together and which don’t

35:07 — Alice on what is most exciting about being a founder

36:07 — Conclusion

STATION F: The Podcast is hosted by Roxanne Varza, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the development of investment vehicles and financial instruments like syndicates and rolling funds, investing has become more accessible in recent years to a wider non-VC and non-finance audience, especially in early-stage. This leads us to two questions. First, is investment something that can be taught? Second, how is it actually taught?

In this week's episode, we dive into the topic with three ecosystem friends that run angel investing, VC, and scout programs:

- Nikita Thakrar, Co-Founder and Director of Included VC, a one-year VC fellowship program for individuals from diverse communities

- Andy Ayim, Creator of Angel Investing School, a London-based training school for people who want to learn how to get started with investing in startups.

- Jeff Morris Jr., formerly VP Product at Tinder and now Founder and Managing Partner at Chapter One VC, launching a VC scout program.

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Howie Liu is the co-founder and CEO of Airtable, a low-code platform for building collaborative apps. The company has taken the world by storm since its creation and has recently raised $185 million in a Series D round, reaching a valuation of $2.585 billion. However, even as the company’s valuation soars, Howie has clearly expressed no interest in exiting. In this episode, Howie walks us through his entrepreneurial journey – from building his first company Etacts (acquired by Salesforce) to launching Airtable. We talk about Airtable’s beginnings, ambition to take on some of the biggest industry players, and its long term vision to democratize software creation.

Topics:

[0:22] Intro

[1:12] Why getting acquired is not an end goal for Airtable

[2:40] Howie’s background: Etacts (first company acquired by Salesforce) and launching Airtable

[4:03] How the idea of Airtable came about

[5:20] Building a product that goes up against big players: Salesforce, Excel, Google Sheets

[8:02] Building Airtable: what did the V1 of Airtable look like, how did they iterate subsequently, the importance of changing how did they get people to use the product, etc.

[12:40] The importance of picking a smaller sub-problem rather than taking on big players head on

[13:16] Why did Airtable take 3 years to build: focus on the technology

[15:18] Investors

[16:22] Number of businesses that use Airtable

[16:40] Airtable’s growth story

[18:47] Airtable vs. a productivity tool: a distinction in product depth

[21:20] The low-code movement

[25:19] What can we expect to see from Airtable in the coming months and on the long term

[27:13] The most surprising use case of Airtable (spoiler: 🤠 included)

STATION F: The Podcast is hosted by Roxanne Varza, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

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Hi, STATION F podcast listeners! We are back on campus and, despite COVID-19, things have been picking up. We just introduced a Beta Bar (a bar for beta-testing) at STATION F and we'll be dedicating this week's episode to some of the featured startup products in a new 2-min pitch format. You'll be hearing from:

Joséphine Thébault, co-founder & CEO of Urban Cuisine (Founders Program): indoor hydroponic gardens for cultivating fruits, vegetables, and aromatic herbs;

Thibaut Jarousse, co-founder & CEO of D-Vine: a wine tasting machine that aerates and brings wine to the ideal serving temperature;

Timothée Cabane, co-founder & CEO of Healthy Mind (ICM Program): a VR headset that helps patients alleviate pain and anxiety through 3D experiences;

Lucas di Franco, co-founder & CEO of OneFlash (Founders Program, formerly Fighters): network of powerbank stations to charge your device on-the-go;

Clara Lizier, co-founder & CEO of Beautigloo (LVMH program): refrigerated beauty box for skincare and cosmetics.

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Growth capital deals in the USA and in China tend to get the most attention, but the volume of later-stage VC capital has seen a significant rise in Europe since the last five to ten years. In this episode, we talk to Omri Benayoun, General Partner at Partech, to learn more about the state of growth capital in Europe. We'll also dive into the differences between preparing for an early-stage vs. a later-stage fundraising; the importance of attracting international talent in startups; the accessibility of local funds vs. international funds; and much more.

STATION F: The Podcast is hosted by Roxanne Varza, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first segment [1:15-8:20], we explore intergenerational living with Justine Renaudet, Co-Founder of Colette; which is a new startup in the coliving space that matches students and seniors.

In the second segment [8:35-31:30], we discover new housing solutions and experiences with Barbara Belvisi of Interstellar Lab (Founders Program) and Tuomas Autio of Majamaja (HEC Program). We'll get a chance to learn more about building self-sufficient habitats just about everywhere – starting with off-grid areas on Earth, all the way to Mars.

STATION F: The Podcast is hosted by Roxanne Varza, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What makes startup communities thrive? How can we improve collaboration amongst ecosystem actors to create success in these complex systems? These are two questions that Brad Feld (Founder at Foundry Group & Techstars) and Ian Hathaway (Executive Director for Ecosystems at Techstars) answer in the new book that they just released together, The Startup Community Way.

Now, you might feel the urge to run to the bookstore (or on Amazon) by the end of this episode -- consider yourself warned.

STATION F: The Podcast is hosted by Roxanne Varza, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A focus on diversity in the investment space - especially in light of the recent racial injustices in America, which have gotten much less coverage on this side of the ocean in Europe with Daisy Onubogu, Head of Network and Communities at Backed VC and Joshua Olusanya, Off-Cycle Analyst at Notion Capital.

STATION F: The Podcast is hosted by Roxanne Varza, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dylan Field is the co-founder and CEO of Figma, a design and prototyping platform for teams who build products together. With the support of the Thiel Fellowship, Dylan dropped out of Brown University to start Figma with his TA Evan Wallace (who became Figma’s CTO). They built Figma on the web in the hopes of tearing down the walls around the siloed design process. Dylan champions open, accessible design and believes such tooling must evolve for a cloud-based, collaborative world. 

The 8-year-old company has raised over $130 million to date with Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Greylock, Index - and the most recent investors being Andreessen Horowitz who contributed to the $50m Series D-round closed at the end of April in the middle of Covid.

Topics

00:00 – Intro

02:28 – Dylan’s background and experiences before Figma (internships at Flipboard, Microsoft and LinkedIn, computer science and math at Brown)

03:40 – Beginnings of Figma, Thiel Fellowship

05:14 – WebGL

05:55 – Figma’s premise and early development: “making design accessible to everyone”

09:00 – What technologies are changing the world vs. what technologies are we interested in

09:49 – Opportunities vs. meaning in business

13:15 – Trends on Figma during COVID, new use cases

17:15 – Fundraising for the first time (seed round with Index Ventures)

21:52 – Most recent fundraising (series D with Andreessen) during COVID

22:17 – Series D vs. earlier stage

23:27 – Remote fundraising vs. “regular” fundraising

26:35 – Thoughts on remote work and Silicon Valley

29:24 – Figma offices around the world

29:41 – The importance of learning about the basics of management as a first-time CEO

31:07 – Mentorship

32:40 – Personal note: “Your team is there for you, just like you’re there for them. It’s important to be vulnerable as a leader. It’s important to share your struggles. Because people are looking to help and you’re all together.”

33:00 – Conclusion

STATION F: The Podcast is hosted by Roxanne Varza, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Creating a platform and a community to help launch 250,000+ products. That's what Ryan Hoover has accomplished with Product Hunt. Now he is investing in early-stage startups from all around the world with Weekend Fund, a VC fund he cofounded with Vedika Jain.

Tune in to this new episode to learn more about Ryan's entrepreneurial journey, his learnings and tips to succeed, his willingness to help and support other founders, and his expectations about investments.

Product Hunt is the place to curate new products every day. Product enthusiasts can share and geek out about the latest mobile apps, websites, hardware projects, and tech creations. Among 250,000+ products launched on the platform since 2013, we find great successes like Notion, Houseparty, Robinhood, or Front. Product Hunt was acquired by AngelList in 2016 (Ryan talks about it here).

Weekend Fund is the VC fund he created in 2017, to back early-stage founders from all around the world. Together with Vedika and a team of 2 analysts, they write checks from $100k to $300k, and offer an LP collective of 350+ exceptional founders and operators. They already invested in Intercom, Deel, and just raised their 3rd fund of $21M.

Topics

01:00 — Introduction and Proust survey

06:00 — The work-life balance

08:00 — The beginning of his entrepreneurial journey

10:00 — His vision of entrepreneurship: a creator or a manager?

17:00 —  Scaling pace of PH before selling to Angelist

20:00 — Products that launched on his platform (Meerkat, Notion)

23:00 — Did u think of monetizing your database?

25:00 — The selling to AngelList

28:30 — The impostor syndrome

31:30 — Creation of Weekend Fund

38:00 — Convincing Limited Partners: a sales job

40:00 — Sourcing opportunities from Product Hunt?

42:00 — His thoughts on Angel investing in the next few years

46:00 — Outro (Definition of entrepreneurship? His biggest failure? One sector to be more digitized? Unpopular opinion about tech or entrepreneurship? Most underrated advice?)

If you enjoyed this episode, please let us know by leaving a rating and a review!

This episode is hosted by Yacine Sqalli.

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On June 4th, STATION F and 120 partner VC funds released a comprehensive study on the impact and opportunities of COVID-19 on startups. We knew from the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis that there would be a huge impact on startups. Some businesses have come to a standstill while others have taken off. Many talk about new trends like remote fundraising or remote work. For startups, the impact has not been uniform and it was important for us to dig deeper.

We surveyed over 950 startups from various industries, at various stages of development, and across 5 primary geographies - the US, the UK, France, Germany, and Israel - to get a comprehensive overview.

Dive into the results on data.stationf.co and take a listen to our latest podcast episode to make sense of the data that we found with three partner VCs:

• Pierre Entremont, Co-Founder and Partner at FRST
• Marguerite de Tavernost, Investor at Cherry Ventures
• Chris Smith, Managing Partner at Playfair Capital

STATION F: The Podcast is hosted by Roxanne Varza, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

VCs say they’re open for business during COVID but what does that mean? In this episode, we get an overview of the impact of coronavirus on VC activity with some investors in the STATION F community: Caye Hurtado (Principal at Balderton), Fred Destin (Founding Partner at Stride.VC), and Hussein Kanji (Partner at Hoxton Ventures). We dive into key questions around: investing during confinement, updates on deal flow, new investment opportunities, and tactics for remote investing.

STATION F: The Podcast is hosted by Roxanne Varza, and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Blockchain has been one of the most talked-about new technologies in the last decade. Since it was first introduced in 2008, we have seen a huge hype around the technology with high expectations for its disruptive potential to contribute to a more “democratic internet”. Over the years, we’ve seen interest wane as some experiments have failed to pick up. However, as the technology becomes more widely understood, the ways in which it can benefit individuals and companies start to crystallize.

Many people naturally associate blockchain to cryptocurrency but many interesting use cases of the technology exist beyond crypto and that’s what we set out to explore in this week’s podcast episode with:

• Jagoda Hebda, founder of Venezvit (Chain Accelerator), a startup using blockchain to reduce medication fraud in humanitarian aid efforts;
• Harry Halpin, co-founder of Nym Technologies (Founders Program), a startup that is building decentralized privacy infrastructure to end surveillance;
• and Michael Amar, co-founder of Chain Accelerator, the startup program for blockchain at STATION F, and also the organizer of Paris Blockchain Week, one of the major European conferences on the subject.

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• Feels (Naver program), a new dating app based on creating authentic interactions;
• Navee (Zendesk program), a cybersecurity solution based on image recognition technology;
• Cupido (Founders program, formerly Fighters), a AI dating coach and API for dating apps.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Startups often ask us the question: is it really worth it to attend big tech events like CES, Web Summit, and VivaTech? In this episode, we set out to answer this question with three STATION F entrepreneurs: Aymeric Wuidart (founder of Artiris), Khaled Sehly (co-founder of AirWayBill), and Clémence Demerliac (founder of Adalong). This episode is also packed with plenty of tips on how to make the most out of big tech events!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you know that Jeff Lawson, the co-founder and CEO of Twilio, sold his wedding gifts to kick the company off? Back in the summer of 2008, this strategy may seem risky but looking at what Twilio achieved since, it clearly was a winning choice. Twilio is now the leading cloud communications platform and became an international company.

Despite its international growth, Twilio managed to keep its very strong company culture, focused on the well-being of its employees, and that’s something that Jeff is very proud of. He explains the concept of “Twilio Magic”, the company’s core values, and defines what is “blameless post-mortem”, an important mindset in the big Twilio family.

This episode is hosted by Roxanne Varza, STATION F’s Director, and Laurence Benamran, co-founder and CEO of Pinpo, a STATION F company selected to be part of Future 40 in 2019. Pinpo is a leading tech platform specializing in lead qualification and a happy user of Twilio.

Topics

00:10 — Introduction with Roxanne Varza (STATION F) and Laurence Benamran (Pinpo)

02:58 — The story behind Twilio’s funding. Spoiler: it involves Jeff Lawson’s wedding gifts!

12:35 — Jeff about Twilio going international and its launch in France

17:51 — How to implement a strong company culture, like Twilio does, on a large scale?

22:30 — Jeff describes Twilio’s core values as “Twilio Magic”

24:18 — The difference between a company culture and its values

26:16 — Jeff explains the concept of “blameless post-mortem”

32:30 — Jeff’s biggest advice for entrepreneurs

This episode is supported by TikTok, hosted by Roxanne Varza, produced by Cindy Yang, and edited by Grégoire Duhourcau. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

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Meet Trae Stephens, partner a Founders Fund, a one with other high-profile partners like Peter Thiel and an all-star portfolio including Facebook, SpaceX, Airbnb, Palantir - and even the odd European company, like Spotify. Also in this episode, Jonathan Parisot, founder and CEO of ActionDesk, a startup from STATION F's Founders Program that just finished Y Combinator.

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Can you remember back when you were at school? Whether it was 5 years or 20 years ago a lot of things had changed since, partly due to innovation and new technologies.Today, we’re seeing new ways to learn and new topics to learn. So what will the future of education will look like, that’s what we will try to understand to discover today. Discover some of them with Hadi Partovi (Code.org), Aurélie Truchet, Founder and CEO of Uptale

and Chloé Hermary, Founder and CEO of Ada Tech School. Also in this week episode, Bertrand Stéphann, co-founder of Alcméon (LVMH Program at STATION F) that just raised 2M€.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2018, only a few people knew what an NFT was and the term Web3 was far from being a buzzword. However, Nicolas Julia was convinced that it would be the next revolution in the tech space so he co-founded Sorare, global fantasy football game (or soccer game, for our American audience) that you play with NFTs. 

Sorare became a unicorn in less than four years, reaching a $4.3 billion valuation. It is the French startup that has reached the unicorn status the fastest. How did Nicolas know that NFTs would become the new hype? How did he convince famous business angels such as Antoine Griezmann or Gerard Piqué to join the project early on? How did he get Serena Williams on board? And, what are the next steps for Sorare? Tune in to this week’s podcast to hear Nicolas’ answers to all of these questions and more.

This episode is hosted by Roxanne Varza, STATION F’s Director, and Clarisse Hagège, co-founder and CEO of Dfns (Founders Program, Future 40 in 2021). Dfns provides crypto custody as a service, enabling developers to deploy bank-grade custody infrastructure and turn their apps into safe zones for crypto. The company recently announced a 13,5M$ raise.

Topics

00:10 — Introduction with Roxanne Varza (STATION F) and Clarisse Hagège (Dfns)

03:30 — How Nicolas Julia got into NFTs ahead of the hype in 2018

06:44 — How Sorare avoided the scalability problems that NFT platforms encounter on Ethereum

09:07 — What Sorare is and how does it work

12:22 — How Nicolas convinced their very first partner, the Belgian League, to join Sorare (the story includes an intern)

15:28 — Sorare’s fundraising strategy (730M$ in total amount raised)

17:05 — What’s next after soccer for Sorare? Sorare recently announced Serena Williams as a board member

20:06 — How Nicolas convinced so many investors and notable business angels like Antoine Griezmann to join the project

23:19 — The possible evolutions of Sorare within the metaverse

26:58 — Nicolas’ career path

28:06 — Nicolas’ biggest learnings from his entrepreneurial experiences

37:04 — Nicolas on regulations in the crypto space

This episode is supported by TikTok, hosted by Roxanne Varza, produced by Cindy Yang, and edited by Grégoire Duhourcau. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.