Slides from a lecture about Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship - what makes a great founder ? how great founders succeed ?

1. INSIDE VENTURE CAPITAL
February 2016
Christophe Raynaud – Managing Partner & Cofounder

2. WHO AM I TO SPEAK ?
 HEC graduate (last millenium)
 Entrepreneur…
- Chateauonline
- Netboussole
- Samaris
 …Turned VC (dark side of the force)
- Saeed Amidi (Amidzad partner / plug&play tech center)
- Paris Business Angels
- ISAI
CONTACT : r a y n a u d @ i s a i . Fr / @chraynaud

3. WHAT WILL I BE TALKING ABOUT ?
 What is Venture Capital History ?
 What is an investment thesis ? What’s ISAI’s ?
 How do VC/ISAI source/screen opportunities ?
What makes a great founder ? What’s the formula for
success ?

4. WHY ?
I HAVE FAILED A LOT : AND FAILURE SUCKS (TAKE MY WORD)
 I HAD THE CHANCE TO WORK WITH 130 FRENCH SUCCESSFUL
ENTREPRENEURS (SEE THE LIST)
I HAD THE CHANCE TO WITNESS SOME OF OUR PORTFOLIO
STARTUPS GROW FROM NOTHING TO HUGE GLOBAL SUCCESS
(BLABLACAR, EVANEOS, STICKYADS…)
> I’VE LEARNED A LOT AND I FEEL LIKE SHARING THIS EXPERIENCE SO OTHERS WON’T FAIL AS BAD AS I DID

5. GREAT
FOUNDERS

6. Venture capitalists spend a lot of time
talking about markets and
technology…. and we have lots of
opinions. …but the decision should be
around people…. about 90% of the
decision is people.
VC MARC ANDREESSEN @pmarca | Founder of NETSCAPE and A16Z

7. VENTURE CAPITAL IS
A PEOPLE BUSINESS

8. WHAT KIND OF
PEOPLE ARE WE
TALKING ABOUT ?

9. LET’S SEARCH THE
WEB…

10. BEST PREDICTOR OF SUCCESS FOR ENTREPRENEURS ?

11. BEST PREDICTOR OF SUCCESS FOR ENTREPRENEURS ?

12. BEST PREDICTOR OF SUCCESS FOR ENTREPRENEURS ?

13. BEST PREDICTOR OF SUCCESS FOR ENTREPRENEURS ?

14. BEST PREDICTOR OF SUCCESS FOR ENTREPRENEURS ?

15. BEST PREDICTOR OF SUCCESS FOR ENTREPRENEURS ?

16. LOADS OF DIFFERENT
THESIS …

17. HARD TO FIND
JUST ONE THING
REALLY…

18. SO, WHAT’S THE
FORMULA FOR
SUCCESS ?
(IF ANY…)

19. LET’S ASK THE
PROs…

20. We are looking for a
magic combination of
Courage and Genius “
VC MARC ANDREESSEN @pmarca | Founder of NETSCAPE and A16Z

21. And Courage is “not
giving up in the face of
adversity” “
VC MARC ANDREESSEN @pmarca | Founder of NETSCAPE and A16Z

22. SUCCESS
=
COURAGE x GENIUS

23. WHY IS THIS
FORMULA RIGHT?
(OR MAY BE NOT THAT WRONG)
(OR INTERESTING)
(OR NICE)

24. LET’S USE A MODEL
FIND A SIMPLE IMAGE
TO REPRESENT A COMPLEX REALITY

25. SUCCESS IS A BIT
LIKE HAPPINESS

26. AND WHAT’S BEEN
SAID ABOUT
HAPPINESS…

28. …HAS BEEN SAID
ABOUT SUCCESS :

30. WITH OUR
METAPHOR,
PUT IT SIMPLY

31. IF SUCCESS IS A
JOURNEY

32. THE LONGER THE
JOURNEY,
THE BIGGER THE
SUCCESS

33. AND JUST AS, FOR A
JOURNEY,
D = S x TDISTANCE SPEED TIME

34. FOR SUCCESS
S = G x CSUCCESS GENIUS COURAGE

35. FOR SUCCESS
S = G x CSUCCESS GENIUS COURAGE
HOW WELL YOU TRY X HOW LONG YOU TRYSUCCESS =

36. FOR SUCCESS
S = G x CSUCCESS GENIUS COURAGE
TALENT X PASSIONSUCCESS =

37. FOR SUCCESS
S = G x CSUCCESS GENIUS COURAGE
CREATIVITY X GRITSUCCESS =

38. SO, JUST AS DISTANCE
=
SPEED x TIME

39. SUCCESS
=
COURAGE x GENIUS

40. THAT’S WHAT MARC
SAID…

41. 2 THINGS VERY
IMPORTANT
TO KEEP IN MIND
ABOUT THIS FORMULA

42. 1- GENIUS (SPEED) IS
NOT FIXED

43.  YOU CAN LEARN
YOU CAN DEVELOP GENIUS
(SPEED/ACCELERATION)

44. 2- COURAGE (TIME) IS
NOT FIXED

45.  YOU CAN PERSIST
YOU CAN GAIN COURAGE
(TIME/DILATION)

46. LET’S DIG FURTHER
THIS LAST VARIABLE

47. WHAT IS
TIME DILATION ?

48. IT’S THE FACT THAT
GRAVITY
STRECHES
TIME

49. DID YOU KNOW THAT
GRAVITY MAKES
CLOCK RUN SLOWLY ?

50. One hour on this
planet is 7 years
on earth
FILM « INTERSTELLAR »

51. WELL LOVE DOES TO
COURAGE WHAT
GRAVITY DOES TO TIME
(IT MAKES IT BIGGER)

54. Funny to note that
Courage comes from
French word “coeur”
(= HEART)

55. LINK BETWEEN
LOVE/COURAGE<->WORK/SUCCESS
HAS BEEN
MENTIONNED BY THE GREATEST

57. SO, IF YOU LOVE
WHAT YOU DO AND
DO WHAT YOU LOVE

58. YOU’LL BE HEARTFULL
AND YOU’LL FIND
COURAGE

59. WITH COURAGE
YOU WON’T GIVE UP
EVER, NEVER

61. YOU LOVE => YOU PERSIST
YOU PERSIST => YOU SUCCEED

63. TO WRAP UP :
- SUCCESS = GENIUS x COURAGE
YOU CAN DEVELOP GENIUS BY LEARNING, AND YOU LEARN BY PRACTISING
YOU CAN GAIN COURAGE BY DOING WHAT YOU LOVE AND LOVING WHAT YOU DO
- NOTHING IS FIXED AND YOU CAN CHANGE IT
>> NOW, GO CHANGE THE WORLD AND MAKE IT A BETTER PLACE

64. Download more slides on @chraynaud