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Sep 21, 2015 · 23m · 20vc

20 VC 073: Life Inside Accel Partners with Michael Treskow @ Accel

Michael Treskow · 15m spoken Harry Stebbings · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The 20 Minute VC, host Harry Stebbings interviews Michael Treskow, an investor at Accel Partners, discussing Accel's investment philosophy, founder evaluation, enterprise software trends, and the growth of the European tech ecosystem.

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 28.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Harry as informed peer 3.3 Guest teaching 3.3 Guest disagreement 1.5 Harry pushing back 2.3
05100:0010:0020:001:57–6:53 · Harry as informed peer 2/10 Michael Treskow's Career Path and Silicon Valley vs. European Tech The host asks standard biographical questions regarding the guest's career trajectory and the differences between London and San Francisco tech ecosystems. The guest provides polite, structured answers and gently reframes the host's question about whether VCs must be former founders by distinguishing between operational and investment skill sets.6:54–11:20 · Harry as informed peer 3/10 Accel's Stage-Agnostic Philosophy and Market Evaluation Strategy The host pushes the guest to state a specific addressable market size target required for Accel to invest. The guest politely dodges giving a exact number and educates the host on how market size constraints function as addressable conditions rather than simple numeric thresholds.11:20–15:23 · Harry as informed peer 3/10 Identifying Exceptional Founders and Venture Capital Value Add The host demonstrates prior preparation by citing past statements made by the guest regarding value-add capabilities. The discussion remains completely collaborative as the guest outlines founder traits and VC advisory roles without friction.15:23–20:30 · Harry as informed peer 5/10 Startup Messaging Simplification and Enterprise Software Trends The host offers notable pushback by citing Emergence Capital's strategic pivot away from enterprise SaaS as a counter-example to the guest's optimistic outlook. The guest counters by arguing that Emergence's focus on mobile and distributed workforces actually supports his thesis on consumerization.1:57–6:53 · Guest teaching 3/10 Michael Treskow's Career Path and Silicon Valley vs. European Tech The host asks standard biographical questions regarding the guest's career trajectory and the differences between London and San Francisco tech ecosystems. The guest provides polite, structured answers and gently reframes the host's question about whether VCs must be former founders by distinguishing between operational and investment skill sets.6:54–11:20 · Guest teaching 4/10 Accel's Stage-Agnostic Philosophy and Market Evaluation Strategy The host pushes the guest to state a specific addressable market size target required for Accel to invest. The guest politely dodges giving a exact number and educates the host on how market size constraints function as addressable conditions rather than simple numeric thresholds.11:20–15:23 · Guest teaching 2/10 Identifying Exceptional Founders and Venture Capital Value Add The host demonstrates prior preparation by citing past statements made by the guest regarding value-add capabilities. The discussion remains completely collaborative as the guest outlines founder traits and VC advisory roles without friction.15:23–20:30 · Guest teaching 4/10 Startup Messaging Simplification and Enterprise Software Trends The host offers notable pushback by citing Emergence Capital's strategic pivot away from enterprise SaaS as a counter-example to the guest's optimistic outlook. The guest counters by arguing that Emergence's focus on mobile and distributed workforces actually supports his thesis on consumerization.1:57–6:53 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Michael Treskow's Career Path and Silicon Valley vs. European Tech The host asks standard biographical questions regarding the guest's career trajectory and the differences between London and San Francisco tech ecosystems. The guest provides polite, structured answers and gently reframes the host's question about whether VCs must be former founders by distinguishing between operational and investment skill sets.6:54–11:20 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Accel's Stage-Agnostic Philosophy and Market Evaluation Strategy The host pushes the guest to state a specific addressable market size target required for Accel to invest. The guest politely dodges giving a exact number and educates the host on how market size constraints function as addressable conditions rather than simple numeric thresholds.11:20–15:23 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Identifying Exceptional Founders and Venture Capital Value Add The host demonstrates prior preparation by citing past statements made by the guest regarding value-add capabilities. The discussion remains completely collaborative as the guest outlines founder traits and VC advisory roles without friction.15:23–20:30 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Startup Messaging Simplification and Enterprise Software Trends The host offers notable pushback by citing Emergence Capital's strategic pivot away from enterprise SaaS as a counter-example to the guest's optimistic outlook. The guest counters by arguing that Emergence's focus on mobile and distributed workforces actually supports his thesis on consumerization.1:57–6:53 · Harry pushing back 1/10 Michael Treskow's Career Path and Silicon Valley vs. European Tech The host asks standard biographical questions regarding the guest's career trajectory and the differences between London and San Francisco tech ecosystems. The guest provides polite, structured answers and gently reframes the host's question about whether VCs must be former founders by distinguishing between operational and investment skill sets.6:54–11:20 · Harry pushing back 3/10 Accel's Stage-Agnostic Philosophy and Market Evaluation Strategy The host pushes the guest to state a specific addressable market size target required for Accel to invest. The guest politely dodges giving a exact number and educates the host on how market size constraints function as addressable conditions rather than simple numeric thresholds.11:20–15:23 · Harry pushing back 1/10 Identifying Exceptional Founders and Venture Capital Value Add The host demonstrates prior preparation by citing past statements made by the guest regarding value-add capabilities. The discussion remains completely collaborative as the guest outlines founder traits and VC advisory roles without friction.15:23–20:30 · Harry pushing back 4/10 Startup Messaging Simplification and Enterprise Software Trends The host offers notable pushback by citing Emergence Capital's strategic pivot away from enterprise SaaS as a counter-example to the guest's optimistic outlook. The guest counters by arguing that Emergence's focus on mobile and distributed workforces actually supports his thesis on consumerization.

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

0:00 · Harry 70% · guest 30%0:00 · Harry 70% · guest 30%3:00 · Harry 15.4% · guest 84.6%3:00 · Harry 15.4% · guest 84.6%6:00 · Harry 17.1% · guest 82.9%6:00 · Harry 17.1% · guest 82.9%9:00 · Harry 11.3% · guest 88.7%9:00 · Harry 11.3% · guest 88.7%12:00 · Harry 10.6% · guest 89.4%12:00 · Harry 10.6% · guest 89.4%15:00 · Harry 38% · guest 62%15:00 · Harry 38% · guest 62%18:00 · Harry 21.7% · guest 78.3%18:00 · Harry 21.7% · guest 78.3%21:00 · Harry 43.9% · guest 56.1%21:00 · Harry 43.9% · guest 56.1%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 20:01 Guest rejects host's premise on Emergence Capital

The guest directly disagrees with the host's implication that Emergence Capital's pivot signals a downturn in enterprise SaaS, reframing the pivot as supportive of mobile consumerization.

 Hardest push from Harry ▶ 19:46 Host challenges guest on enterprise software trends

The host uses specific industry knowledge regarding Emergence Capital's portfolio shift to challenge the guest's thesis on enterprise software growth.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:55 Guest reframes VC founder prerequisite

The guest articulately explains why prior founding experience is not a strict requirement for VCs, separating operational execution from investment pattern recognition.

 Harry holds his own ▶ 19:46 Host demonstrates market awareness with Emergence Capital example

The host shows deep market insight by introducing a concrete counter-example about a prominent firm's strategic pivot to test the guest's market narrative.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicHarry as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementHarry pushing backWhy
Michael Treskow's Career Path and Silicon Valley vs. European Tech 2311 The host asks standard biographical questions regarding the guest's career trajectory and the differences between London and San Francisco tech ecosystems. The guest provides polite, structured answers and gently reframes the host's question about whether VCs must be former founders by distinguishing between operational and investment skill sets.
Accel's Stage-Agnostic Philosophy and Market Evaluation Strategy 3423 The host pushes the guest to state a specific addressable market size target required for Accel to invest. The guest politely dodges giving a exact number and educates the host on how market size constraints function as addressable conditions rather than simple numeric thresholds.
Identifying Exceptional Founders and Venture Capital Value Add 3201 The host demonstrates prior preparation by citing past statements made by the guest regarding value-add capabilities. The discussion remains completely collaborative as the guest outlines founder traits and VC advisory roles without friction.
Startup Messaging Simplification and Enterprise Software Trends 5434 The host offers notable pushback by citing Emergence Capital's strategic pivot away from enterprise SaaS as a counter-example to the guest's optimistic outlook. The guest counters by arguing that Emergence's focus on mobile and distributed workforces actually supports his thesis on consumerization.

Statements from this episode (7)

Insight
Treskow: Founder experience is helpful for VCs but not essential
“All else being equal, all incremental experience helps. And so if you can have somebody who has had prior entrepreneurial experience, all else being equal you'd like that, right? And the question is, is more around to what extent that's necessary, right? Becau…”
Michael Treskow Sep 21, 2015 ▶ 4:05
Disclosure
Treskow: Accel invested early in Facebook despite an unquantifiable market size
“So, so Facebook is, is a great example. You know, when we invested early on, you know, what's, what's the size of Facebook's market, right?”
Michael Treskow Sep 21, 2015 ▶ 11:01
Disclosure
Treskow: Accel avoids cleantech and biotech due to lack of expertise
“So, so we do not look, for example, at cleantech or biotech because, you know, I know nothing about that space.”
Michael Treskow Sep 21, 2015 ▶ 13:39
Insight
Treskow: Enterprise software is increasingly adopting consumer-grade user experiences
“There is no reason to believe that the way that they would like to interact with information and technology changes dramatically when they enter the office environment, right? And so you know, as I would like to consume information on my mobile phone outside t…”
Michael Treskow Sep 21, 2015 ▶ 18:53
Opinion
Treskow: Emergence Capital is expanding into mobile enterprise, not leaving SaaS
“From what I saw is that they are embracing the role of mobile and distributed workforces. In, in the enterprise, which to me is actually supporting what I was just talking about in, in the sense that, you know, you're introducing more and more consumer-like el…”
Michael Treskow Sep 21, 2015 ▶ 20:02
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Treskow: Europe will maintain a multi-hub tech ecosystem rather than consolidating
“You know, I'm not sure there's going to be one or I, I'm not sure it's, there's necessarily for one to emerge. I think London is, is doing well. Berlin is showing a lot of energy, but you also have you know, Tel Aviv and you have Madrid and Barcelona and you h…”
Michael Treskow Sep 21, 2015 ▶ 21:04
Disclosure
Treskow: Accel announces investment in Spanish mapping startup CartoDB
“Yeah, so, so we just announced an investment in CartuDB, which is a Spanish mapping data processing and visualization engine that we're super excited about.”
Michael Treskow Sep 21, 2015 ▶ 22:20
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