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May 18, 2015 · 19m · 20vc

20 VC 037: How To Get a Job at a Startup, Startup Lessons and Brad Feld's 'Open Office Hours' with Tak Lo, Director @ Techstars

Tak Lo · 13m spoken Harry Stebbings · 3m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, host Harry Stebbings interviews Tak Lo, Director at Techstars London, exploring his transition from military service to venture capital, practical tactics for landing startup jobs, and key resources for founder growth.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Harry holds 22.8% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Harry as informed peer 1.8 Guest teaching 2.4 Guest disagreement 1.0 Harry pushing back 2.0
05100:0010:000:52–5:48 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Tak Lo's Background from Military to Techstars Harry asks friendly background questions about Tak's career transition from the military to Techstars. Tak shares his journey and explains Techstars' core ethos, while Harry asks minor follow-up probes about solo founders.5:48–9:12 · Harry as informed peer 4/10 Developing Leadership and Recommended Venture Reading Harry demonstrates venture domain knowledge by correctly noting that blogger Thomas Tunguz is at Redpoint. He also pushes Tak to clarify if leadership reading should be specific rather than generic.9:13–13:40 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Hustling for Startup Jobs and Networking Serendipity Tak offers actionable advice on breaking into startups and networking serendipity. Harry asks clarifying questions on whether candidates should cold email or show up in person.13:41–15:55 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Agritech Disruption and Brad Feld's Open Office Hours Tak outlines Agritech trends and details how Brad Feld inspired open office hours. The exchange is fully agreeable as Harry notes questions for his upcoming interview with Feld.15:56–18:44 · Harry as informed peer 2/10 Lightning Round: Leadership, Books, and Investments In a rapid-fire lightning round, Tak touches on military leadership, Asian tech markets, and Techstars investment Knitten. Harry keeps the pace swift with quick follow-up questions.0:52–5:48 · Guest teaching 2/10 Tak Lo's Background from Military to Techstars Harry asks friendly background questions about Tak's career transition from the military to Techstars. Tak shares his journey and explains Techstars' core ethos, while Harry asks minor follow-up probes about solo founders.5:48–9:12 · Guest teaching 2/10 Developing Leadership and Recommended Venture Reading Harry demonstrates venture domain knowledge by correctly noting that blogger Thomas Tunguz is at Redpoint. He also pushes Tak to clarify if leadership reading should be specific rather than generic.9:13–13:40 · Guest teaching 2/10 Hustling for Startup Jobs and Networking Serendipity Tak offers actionable advice on breaking into startups and networking serendipity. Harry asks clarifying questions on whether candidates should cold email or show up in person.13:41–15:55 · Guest teaching 3/10 Agritech Disruption and Brad Feld's Open Office Hours Tak outlines Agritech trends and details how Brad Feld inspired open office hours. The exchange is fully agreeable as Harry notes questions for his upcoming interview with Feld.15:56–18:44 · Guest teaching 3/10 Lightning Round: Leadership, Books, and Investments In a rapid-fire lightning round, Tak touches on military leadership, Asian tech markets, and Techstars investment Knitten. Harry keeps the pace swift with quick follow-up questions.0:52–5:48 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Tak Lo's Background from Military to Techstars Harry asks friendly background questions about Tak's career transition from the military to Techstars. Tak shares his journey and explains Techstars' core ethos, while Harry asks minor follow-up probes about solo founders.5:48–9:12 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Developing Leadership and Recommended Venture Reading Harry demonstrates venture domain knowledge by correctly noting that blogger Thomas Tunguz is at Redpoint. He also pushes Tak to clarify if leadership reading should be specific rather than generic.9:13–13:40 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Hustling for Startup Jobs and Networking Serendipity Tak offers actionable advice on breaking into startups and networking serendipity. Harry asks clarifying questions on whether candidates should cold email or show up in person.13:41–15:55 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Agritech Disruption and Brad Feld's Open Office Hours Tak outlines Agritech trends and details how Brad Feld inspired open office hours. The exchange is fully agreeable as Harry notes questions for his upcoming interview with Feld.15:56–18:44 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Lightning Round: Leadership, Books, and Investments In a rapid-fire lightning round, Tak touches on military leadership, Asian tech markets, and Techstars investment Knitten. Harry keeps the pace swift with quick follow-up questions.0:52–5:48 · Harry pushing back 2/10 Tak Lo's Background from Military to Techstars Harry asks friendly background questions about Tak's career transition from the military to Techstars. Tak shares his journey and explains Techstars' core ethos, while Harry asks minor follow-up probes about solo founders.5:48–9:12 · Harry pushing back 3/10 Developing Leadership and Recommended Venture Reading Harry demonstrates venture domain knowledge by correctly noting that blogger Thomas Tunguz is at Redpoint. He also pushes Tak to clarify if leadership reading should be specific rather than generic.9:13–13:40 · Harry pushing back 2/10 Hustling for Startup Jobs and Networking Serendipity Tak offers actionable advice on breaking into startups and networking serendipity. Harry asks clarifying questions on whether candidates should cold email or show up in person.13:41–15:55 · Harry pushing back 1/10 Agritech Disruption and Brad Feld's Open Office Hours Tak outlines Agritech trends and details how Brad Feld inspired open office hours. The exchange is fully agreeable as Harry notes questions for his upcoming interview with Feld.15:56–18:44 · Harry pushing back 2/10 Lightning Round: Leadership, Books, and Investments In a rapid-fire lightning round, Tak touches on military leadership, Asian tech markets, and Techstars investment Knitten. Harry keeps the pace swift with quick follow-up questions.

speaking balance: gold is Harry, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Harry 49.3% · guest 50.7%0:00 · Harry 49.3% · guest 50.7%3:00 · Harry 15.2% · guest 84.8%3:00 · Harry 15.2% · guest 84.8%6:00 · Harry 16.2% · guest 83.8%6:00 · Harry 16.2% · guest 83.8%9:00 · Harry 17.4% · guest 82.6%9:00 · Harry 17.4% · guest 82.6%12:00 · Harry 18.2% · guest 81.8%12:00 · Harry 18.2% · guest 81.8%15:00 · Harry 15.8% · guest 84.2%15:00 · Harry 15.8% · guest 84.2%18:00 · Harry 34.9% · guest 65.1%18:00 · Harry 34.9% · guest 65.1%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 10:50 Eagerness Over Startup Experience

Tak gently pushes against the assumption that prior startup experience is necessary, explaining why he would choose an eager, creative candidate over an experienced one.

 Hardest push from Harry ▶ 6:09 Clarifying Reading Content

Harry stops Tak's generalized advice to read a ton by pressing him on whether the reading content needs to be specific.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 14:47 Techstars Creation Context

Tak educates Harry on the historical origin of Techstars, revealing that the entire organization was birthed out of David Cohen and Brad Feld's open office hours.

 Harry holds his own ▶ 7:47 Recognizing Thomas Tunguz's Firm

Harry demonstrates his VC landscape knowledge by immediately chiming in to confirm that Thomas Tunguz writes his blog from Redpoint.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicHarry as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementHarry pushing backWhy
Tak Lo's Background from Military to Techstars 1212 Harry asks friendly background questions about Tak's career transition from the military to Techstars. Tak shares his journey and explains Techstars' core ethos, while Harry asks minor follow-up probes about solo founders.
Developing Leadership and Recommended Venture Reading 4213 Harry demonstrates venture domain knowledge by correctly noting that blogger Thomas Tunguz is at Redpoint. He also pushes Tak to clarify if leadership reading should be specific rather than generic.
Hustling for Startup Jobs and Networking Serendipity 1212 Tak offers actionable advice on breaking into startups and networking serendipity. Harry asks clarifying questions on whether candidates should cold email or show up in person.
Agritech Disruption and Brad Feld's Open Office Hours 1311 Tak outlines Agritech trends and details how Brad Feld inspired open office hours. The exchange is fully agreeable as Harry notes questions for his upcoming interview with Feld.
Lightning Round: Leadership, Books, and Investments 2312 In a rapid-fire lightning round, Tak touches on military leadership, Asian tech markets, and Techstars investment Knitten. Harry keeps the pace swift with quick follow-up questions.

Statements from this episode (9)

Insight
Tak Lo: Every entrepreneur needs a co-founder in life or business
“I have a co-founder in life, and that's, she helped me go through it, and I think everyone needs a co-founder, both either in life or in a startup to be able to talk through some of the things, both in the business, but some of the things that are outside of t…”
Tak Lo May 18, 2015 ▶ 5:04
Disclosure
Techstars London backs solo founders including Listable and Osper's Alec Farmer
“I mean, there are some spectacular single founders that, that can do a ton, right? So for example, we backed listable from our last class. They, he was a single founder. Alec Farmer from Osper was also a single founder as well. But they were incredible.”
Tak Lo May 18, 2015 ▶ 5:26
Opinion
Tak Lo: Christoph Janz of Point Nine Capital is a top must-read VC blogger
“Chris, Christopher Jans from .9 Capital out in Berlin, I think. Awesome, really great early stage founder, understands the B to B space, but just a really good, again, very insightful investor. Those are the four that I read a lot.”
Tak Lo May 18, 2015 ▶ 8:25
Insight
Startup applicants should build launch pages to prove user acquisition skills
“Try to do a launch page and try to get as many people signed up in over a week that you can, and if you can prove traction with the launch page, you can use that as part of your process and say, look, This is what I could do just with any old launch page. This…”
Tak Lo May 18, 2015 ▶ 10:14
Opinion
Tak Lo: Creative, eager hustlers beat experienced candidates when hiring for startups
“From my perspective if I'm hiring somebody and I see someone who's Who's super eager, hustling and especially very, very creative. I think I would take that over the one, someone who actually has a lot of experience.”
Tak Lo May 18, 2015 ▶ 11:10
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Tak Lo: Food supply chain will fundamentally change within 20 to 30 years
“I think the food supply chain is, is going to fundamentally change in the next 2030 years.”
Tak Lo May 18, 2015 ▶ 14:00
Assertion Partly supported
Tak Lo: Techstars originated from David Cohen and Brad Feld's open office hours
“Techstars was created actually between David Cohen and Brad Feld's open office hours.”
Tak Lo May 18, 2015 ▶ 15:09
Assertion Partly supported
Tak Lo: Knitwear represents 50% to 60% of the apparel market
“Knitting, knitwear is about 60, 50 or 60% of the entire apparel market”
Tak Lo May 18, 2015 ▶ 18:19
Assertion Supported
Techstars startup Knitten took on contracts with Will.i.am to survive
“They took on contracts to try to survive with Will.i.am.”
Tak Lo May 18, 2015 ▶ 18:33
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