20VC: From $6.2BN Market Cap to $2.8BN: What Is Not Translating About Navan's Public Story | Are Any Public Company...
In this episode, Ariel Cohen, co‑founder and CEO of Navan (formerly TripActions), discusses the company’s recent IPO, the sharp drop in market cap, and the strategic decisions driving its next phase. He explains why Navan rushed to go public, how they’re tackling giants like Amex and Concur, and the early adoption of ChatGPT‑style AI that led them to build their own customer‑service AI. Cohen also shares insights on rapid product development (the "Vibe Coding" sprint), the over‑emphasis on infrastructure, and the personal pressures of leading a public company, including reflections on CEO happiness and lessons from Robinhood’s turmoil.
20VC: 50% of Funds Will Go Out of Business | Why Growth Expectations Today Are BS and Will Not Last...
In this episode, Oren Zeev discusses why many venture investments look wrong initially, the overhyped AI boom, and the dangers of chasing hyper‑growth. He predicts a major shakeout with roughly half of VC funds failing, explains his radical alignment model...
20VC: Raising $400M for 20VC: Fundraising Lessons | Getting Marc Benioff Through 53 Cold Emails: How to Master Cold Outbound...
In this episode Harry Stebbings shares his rapid early success, details how he secured a cold‑email interview with Marc Benioff after 53 attempts, and reveals unconventional fundraising tactics like raising $70 M via WhatsApp. He introduces a decision‑making framework inspired by Pat Grady...
20Growth: The $6.6B Growth Engine Behind ElevenLabs | Why ElevenLabs Do Not Have PMs | The 7 Part Launch Playbook...
In this episode, Luke Harries, Head of Growth at ElevenLabs, breaks down the company’s $6.6 billion growth engine, detailing how a horizontal product strategy and sharded growth teams drive massive scale. He shares a 7‑part launch playbook that routinely generates 700K+...
20VC: $0-$260M in Revenue in Three Years: How We Did It | You Need to Work Weekends to Win —...
Alan Chang, co‑founder and CEO of Fuse Energy, shares how he scaled the company from $2M to $400M in three years by applying the same high‑speed, extreme‑ownership culture he helped build at Revolut. He emphasizes that building a generational business...
20Growth: How Wiz Built a $30BN Brand in Enterprise | What Worked vs What Was a Mega Failure: Lessons Learned...
In this episode, Raaz Herzberg, CMO and VP of Product Strategy at Wiz, recounts the company's rapid rise from a ten‑person startup to a $30 billion enterprise brand, highlighting the unconventional marketing tactics and product‑led growth strategies that fueled its success....
20VC OGs: SpaceX Valued at $800BN & Harvey Raises $160M at an $8BN Price | Airwallex Raises $330M and The...
The episode explores SpaceX’s $800 billion valuation and its implications, followed by forward‑looking IPO market forecasts for 2026, including potential listings for Anthropic, Stripe, Databricks, and SpaceX. It examines Netflix’s strategic acquisition of Warner Brothers, highlights major fundraising rounds such as Harvey’s...
20VC: Inside Bending Spoons Acquisition Machine: Evernote, Eventbrite, Vimeo | How Evernote Evaluates Acquisitions and New Product Ideas | How...
In this episode, Federico Simionato, a product lead at Bending Spoons, walks through the company’s rapid growth from a small game studio to an $11 billion acquisition powerhouse, sharing how they evaluate and test new product ideas and build a coveted...
20VC: Base44's Maor Shlomo on How Vibe Coding Will Kill SaaS and Salesforce | Why It Is BS that Vibe...
Maor Shlomo, founder of Base44, argues that AI‑driven "vibe coding" platforms will disrupt traditional SaaS and CRM tools like Salesforce by offering faster, low‑code development with superior user experience. He challenges the notion that these platforms lack defensibility or margins,...
20VC: Max Altman on The New Seed War: Can Anyone Compete with Sequoia and A16z | Leaving $2BN on the...
Max Altman discusses the intensifying "seed war" where only giants like Sequoia and a16z can dominate early rounds, highlighting how many founders leave billions on the table by undervaluing deals such as Reddit's. He shares behind‑the‑scenes stories from backing Rippling...
20VC: Andrew NG on The Biggest Bottlenecks in AI | How LLMs Can Be Used as a Geopolitical Weapon |...
In this episode, Andrew Ng identifies the biggest bottlenecks slowing AI progress—data quality, compute costs, and talent scarcity—while arguing that large language models can become geopolitical tools for influence and misinformation. He debates whether traditional profit margins still matter and...
20VC: Sequoia's Leadership Transition | Michael Burry Shorts NVIDIA and Palantir | Gamma Raises $100M at $2BN | Has Defensibility...
The episode walks through Sequoia’s leadership transition and its strategic implications, then examines Michael Burry’s contrarian short on Nvidia and Palantir, highlighting his view that AI‑related valuations are overheated. It covers Gamma’s $100 million raise at a $2 billion valuation as a...
20VC: Benchmark's Newest General Partner Ev Randle on Why Margins Matter Less in AI | Why Mega Funds Will Not...
In this episode, Benchmark GP Ev Randle argues that traditional profit margins matter less for AI startups, emphasizing growth, data advantage, and network effects over short‑term profitability. He warns that mega‑funds will struggle to deliver strong returns because capital scarcity...
20Sales: Why You Need a CRO Pre-Product | Why Remote Sales Teams Do Not Work | How Snowflake Built a...
In this episode, host Harry Stebbings and sales veteran Chad Peets explore why SaaS startups should appoint a Chief Revenue Officer before product launch, argue that fully remote sales teams often fail without strong structure, and dissect how Snowflake engineered...
20VC: Tim Ferriss: Why I Walked Away From Angel Investing After Uber | How I Accidentally Lost $150 Million |...
In this episode, Tim Ferriss reflects on why he stepped away from angel investing after his early involvement with Uber, recounting a costly $150 million mistake and how money both solved and later complicated his personal challenges. He shares insights on...
20VC: A16z Raises $10BN in New Funds | Mercor Raises $350M at a $10BN Valuation | OpenAI Restructuring: Who Wins...
The episode breaks down four major topics: OpenAI's restructuring and its impact on stakeholders; Andreessen Horowitz's $10 billion fundraise; Mercor's $350 million raise at a $10 billion valuation; and a critique of IRR as a VC metric, followed by three actionable strategies to...
20VC: Sequoia's David Cahn on The Winners and Losers in AI | The $0-$100M Revenue Club: Is Triple, Triple, Double,...
In this episode, Sequoia partner David Cahn argues we’re in an AI bubble but sees lasting moats in physical data‑center infrastructure, while mapping out which companies will thrive or falter as AI reshapes markets. He discusses the impact of big‑tech...
20Growth: How to Build a Paid Marketing Machine: ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) 101 | The Rise of User Generated...
In this episode, growth veteran Sandy Diao shares the biggest lessons she learned scaling products at Pinterest, Meta, and Descript, emphasizing how to craft strong growth hypotheses and avoid common strategic pitfalls. She breaks down the fundamentals of Return on...
20VC: Why VC Today Is Worse Than 2021 | Why Vertical SaaS Is a Bad Investment Today | Why We...
The episode critiques the current venture‑capital climate, arguing it’s as over‑hyped as the 2021 COVID boom and warning that vertical SaaS and legal‑SaaS investments are now unattractive. Host Harry Stebbings and guests discuss Revolut’s $3 bn raise at a $75 bn valuation...
20VC: The Startup Adding $1M ARR Every Week | Competing Against OpenAI's Codex and Claude Code: Who Wins | Why...
In this episode, host Harry Stebbings talks with Zach Lloyd, founder and CEO of Warp, about the startup’s rapid growth—adding $1M ARR each week—and its battle against AI coding assistants like OpenAI's Codex, Anthropic's Claude, and Google's Gemini. Lloyd explains...
20VC: $3.5BN - The Price Zuck Paid for Thinking Machines Co-Founder | Goldman Sachs Acquires Industry Ventures for $665M |...
The episode dissects three headline‑making deals: Goldman Sachs’ $665 million acquisition of Industry Ventures, the former Thinking Machines co‑founder’s $2 billion raise and subsequent move to Meta, and SoftBank’s $5 billion ARM‑backed loan to double‑down on OpenAI. Harry and guests analyze what these...
20VC: Atlassian CEO on Why Everything Is Overvalued & Are We in an AI Bubble | Do Margins Matter &...
In this episode, Atlassian co‑CEO Mike Cannon‑Brookes argues that tech valuations are broadly inflated and questions whether we are in an AI bubble, while also examining how AI impacts margins, defensibility, and pricing models such as per‑seat licensing. He highlights...
20Sales: Scaling Snowflake From $0-$3BN in ARR | Snowflake vs Databricks: My Biggest Lessons | Why Customer Success Is BS...
In this episode, former Snowflake CRO Chris Degnan walks through how he built the company’s sales organization from the ground up, detailing hiring strategies for sales leaders and the rapid scaling of a global team to over 6,000 reps. He...
20VC: OpenAI's Multi $BN Deal with AMD | Polymarket, Vercel and Supabase Raise Mega Rounds | Does King Making Really...
The episode opens with a deep dive into OpenAI’s multi‑billion‑dollar partnership with AMD, a critique of Microsoft’s handling of the OpenAI relationship, and the headline announcements from OpenAI’s Developer Day. Harry then broadens the conversation, arguing that venture capital remains...