How to win in the AI hype, is Growth Financing back? & European venture ecosystem with Matt Turck, FirstMark Capital
In this episode, I talk with Matt Turck General Partner at the New York based Venture firm Firstmark Capital about succeeding as a VC. Firstmark invests in a very focused way, primarily in Series A rounds. Matt himself has been focused on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Data for more than 10 years. AI Hype: What do companies and founders need to survive the hype? Growth Fundraising: Matt's portfolio companies Pigment and Synthesia just raised large growth roungs. Are growth financing rounds back? European Startup Ecosystem: As a French living in New York for 20 years, how does Matt perceive the European ecosystem? ALL ABOUT UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez.am/unicornbakery What you learn: What makes a good VC? How should startups choose their investors? What founder qualities are most important to Matt? Matt's take on the European ecosystem comapred to the US Matt Turck LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turck/ FirstMark: https://firstmark.com WHATSAPP NEWSLETTER: 1-2x weekly get a personalized voice note or content from me that will make you a better founder, sign up now with one click: https://bit.ly/ub-whatsapp-newsletter (00:00:00) What makes a successful venture investor? (00:06:36) How do you personally manage FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)? (00:12:58) What should founders look for when fundraising and choosing investors? (00:20:51) Why did your opinion change from looking for technical founder to accepting business founders, too? (00:24:52) What are your thoughts on the AI hype? (00:30:24) How do I survive the hype cycle as an AI startup? (00:38:07) How important is defensibility for startups in the (pre-)seed phase? (00:42:39) How is the growth financing dynamic changing at the moment? (00:46:14) How would you compare the European startup ecosystem to the U.S. ecosystem?