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Feb 15, 2017 · 27m · 20vc

20VC: Why Founders Should Not Focus On Top Line Valuation, Why Capital Efficiency Is Key To Returns And Investment Success & Why Despite Popular Thought, $100m Is An Exciting Exit For VC with Micah Rosenbloom, Managing Partner @ Founder Collective

Micah Rosenbloom · 18m spoken Harry Stebbings · 7m 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, Founder Collective Managing Partner Micah Rosenbloom discusses non-consensus seed investing, capital efficiency, and why $100M exits offer powerful venture returns. Rosenbloom draws on his trajectory from Hollywood agent to serial entrepreneur to share actionable advice for founders avoiding consensus traps.

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 31% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Harry as informed peer 3.3 Guest teaching 3.0 Guest disagreement 1.0 Harry pushing back 2.5
05100:0010:0020:002:33–7:25 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Micah Rosenbloom's Journey from Hollywood Mailroom to VC Harry sets up a warm biographical interview, prompting Micah to recount his path from an Endeavor mailroom pouring coffee to starting Handshake.com and joining Founder Collective. The host takes a passive back-seat role, allowing the guest to deliver an extended narrative without interruption.7:25–12:00 · Harry as informed peer 4/10 Unconventional Deals and Avoiding the VC Herd Mentality Harry cites Marc Andreessen's concept of 'strong opinions loosely held' to query how Founder Collective stress-tests investment ideas. Micah details their non-consensus seed thesis and Winnipeg deals, emphasizing that staying outside the Silicon Valley echo chamber provides needed clarity.12:00–20:28 · Harry as informed peer 6/10 The Case for $100M Exits and Capital Efficiency Harry challenges Micah's defense of $100M exits by calculating that a 10% stake in a $100M exit yields only $10M for a $75M fund, and references Mark Suster's 'Always Be Raising' doctrine. Micah pushes back against VC orthodoxy, warning that optimizing for Series A benchmarks distorts real business building.20:28–25:49 · Harry as informed peer 2/10 Quick Fire Round and Recent Investments The conversation transitions to a rapid-fire format covering productivity, book recommendations, and recent portfolio deals like SkySafe. Harry playfully enforces the time rules while exchanging light banter about inbox overload and communication tools.2:33–7:25 · Guest teaching 2/10 Micah Rosenbloom's Journey from Hollywood Mailroom to VC Harry sets up a warm biographical interview, prompting Micah to recount his path from an Endeavor mailroom pouring coffee to starting Handshake.com and joining Founder Collective. The host takes a passive back-seat role, allowing the guest to deliver an extended narrative without interruption.7:25–12:00 · Guest teaching 3/10 Unconventional Deals and Avoiding the VC Herd Mentality Harry cites Marc Andreessen's concept of 'strong opinions loosely held' to query how Founder Collective stress-tests investment ideas. Micah details their non-consensus seed thesis and Winnipeg deals, emphasizing that staying outside the Silicon Valley echo chamber provides needed clarity.12:00–20:28 · Guest teaching 5/10 The Case for $100M Exits and Capital Efficiency Harry challenges Micah's defense of $100M exits by calculating that a 10% stake in a $100M exit yields only $10M for a $75M fund, and references Mark Suster's 'Always Be Raising' doctrine. Micah pushes back against VC orthodoxy, warning that optimizing for Series A benchmarks distorts real business building.20:28–25:49 · Guest teaching 2/10 Quick Fire Round and Recent Investments The conversation transitions to a rapid-fire format covering productivity, book recommendations, and recent portfolio deals like SkySafe. Harry playfully enforces the time rules while exchanging light banter about inbox overload and communication tools.2:33–7:25 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Micah Rosenbloom's Journey from Hollywood Mailroom to VC Harry sets up a warm biographical interview, prompting Micah to recount his path from an Endeavor mailroom pouring coffee to starting Handshake.com and joining Founder Collective. The host takes a passive back-seat role, allowing the guest to deliver an extended narrative without interruption.7:25–12:00 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Unconventional Deals and Avoiding the VC Herd Mentality Harry cites Marc Andreessen's concept of 'strong opinions loosely held' to query how Founder Collective stress-tests investment ideas. Micah details their non-consensus seed thesis and Winnipeg deals, emphasizing that staying outside the Silicon Valley echo chamber provides needed clarity.12:00–20:28 · Guest disagreement 3/10 The Case for $100M Exits and Capital Efficiency Harry challenges Micah's defense of $100M exits by calculating that a 10% stake in a $100M exit yields only $10M for a $75M fund, and references Mark Suster's 'Always Be Raising' doctrine. Micah pushes back against VC orthodoxy, warning that optimizing for Series A benchmarks distorts real business building.20:28–25:49 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Quick Fire Round and Recent Investments The conversation transitions to a rapid-fire format covering productivity, book recommendations, and recent portfolio deals like SkySafe. Harry playfully enforces the time rules while exchanging light banter about inbox overload and communication tools.2:33–7:25 · Harry pushing back 0/10 Micah Rosenbloom's Journey from Hollywood Mailroom to VC Harry sets up a warm biographical interview, prompting Micah to recount his path from an Endeavor mailroom pouring coffee to starting Handshake.com and joining Founder Collective. The host takes a passive back-seat role, allowing the guest to deliver an extended narrative without interruption.7:25–12:00 · Harry pushing back 3/10 Unconventional Deals and Avoiding the VC Herd Mentality Harry cites Marc Andreessen's concept of 'strong opinions loosely held' to query how Founder Collective stress-tests investment ideas. Micah details their non-consensus seed thesis and Winnipeg deals, emphasizing that staying outside the Silicon Valley echo chamber provides needed clarity.12:00–20:28 · Harry pushing back 6/10 The Case for $100M Exits and Capital Efficiency Harry challenges Micah's defense of $100M exits by calculating that a 10% stake in a $100M exit yields only $10M for a $75M fund, and references Mark Suster's 'Always Be Raising' doctrine. Micah pushes back against VC orthodoxy, warning that optimizing for Series A benchmarks distorts real business building.20:28–25:49 · Harry pushing back 1/10 Quick Fire Round and Recent Investments The conversation transitions to a rapid-fire format covering productivity, book recommendations, and recent portfolio deals like SkySafe. Harry playfully enforces the time rules while exchanging light banter about inbox overload and communication tools.

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

0:00 · Harry 94.1% · guest 5.9%0:00 · Harry 94.1% · guest 5.9%3:00 · Harry 8.6% · guest 91.4%3:00 · Harry 8.6% · guest 91.4%6:00 · Harry 13.1% · guest 86.9%6:00 · Harry 13.1% · guest 86.9%9:00 · Harry 23.1% · guest 76.9%9:00 · Harry 23.1% · guest 76.9%12:00 · Harry 12.4% · guest 87.6%12:00 · Harry 12.4% · guest 87.6%15:00 · Harry 12.3% · guest 87.7%15:00 · Harry 12.3% · guest 87.7%18:00 · Harry 24.6% · guest 75.4%18:00 · Harry 24.6% · guest 75.4%21:00 · Harry 27.6% · guest 72.4%21:00 · Harry 27.6% · guest 72.4%24:00 · Harry 48.4% · guest 51.6%24:00 · Harry 48.4% · guest 51.6%27:00 · Harry 100% · guest 0%27:00 · Harry 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 16:15 Rejecting the Series A Benchmark Dogma

Micah explicitly takes issue with Jason Lemkin's logic, arguing that founders who build specifically for next-round investor benchmarks end up creating pitch decks rather than sound businesses.

 Hardest push from Harry ▶ 18:29 Fund Return Math Challenge

Harry performs fund math live on air, pressing Micah on whether a $10M return on a $75M fund from a $100M exit forces the firm to be overly ownership-centric.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 16:50 Venture Capital as an Addictive Drug

Micah reframes the fundraising treadmill by citing partner Eric Paley's essay on VC as a drug, explaining how moving Series A goalposts create dangerous distractions for early-stage founders.

 Harry holds his own ▶ 11:33 Introducing Andreessen's Stress-Test Framework

Harry demonstrates deep venture familiarity by invoking Marc Andreessen's framework on red-teaming conviction to probe Micah's partnership decision-making process.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicHarry as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementHarry pushing backWhy
Micah Rosenbloom's Journey from Hollywood Mailroom to VC 1200 Harry sets up a warm biographical interview, prompting Micah to recount his path from an Endeavor mailroom pouring coffee to starting Handshake.com and joining Founder Collective. The host takes a passive back-seat role, allowing the guest to deliver an extended narrative without interruption.
Unconventional Deals and Avoiding the VC Herd Mentality 4313 Harry cites Marc Andreessen's concept of 'strong opinions loosely held' to query how Founder Collective stress-tests investment ideas. Micah details their non-consensus seed thesis and Winnipeg deals, emphasizing that staying outside the Silicon Valley echo chamber provides needed clarity.
The Case for $100M Exits and Capital Efficiency 6536 Harry challenges Micah's defense of $100M exits by calculating that a 10% stake in a $100M exit yields only $10M for a $75M fund, and references Mark Suster's 'Always Be Raising' doctrine. Micah pushes back against VC orthodoxy, warning that optimizing for Series A benchmarks distorts real business building.
Quick Fire Round and Recent Investments 2201 The conversation transitions to a rapid-fire format covering productivity, book recommendations, and recent portfolio deals like SkySafe. Harry playfully enforces the time rules while exchanging light banter about inbox overload and communication tools.

Statements from this episode (10)

Assertion Partly supported
Idealab was the first startup accelerator, predating Y Combinator
“Ideal lab was the first accelerator pre YC pre, you know, all the, you know, the ones that we see today.”
Micah Rosenbloom Feb 15, 2017 ▶ 5:37
Disclosure
Rosenbloom's dot-com startup Handshake raised $25M and failed from overcapitalization
“We raised twenty-five million dollars. We had 40 or 50 people. And, you know, the business really just was overcapitalized.”
Micah Rosenbloom Feb 15, 2017 ▶ 6:13
Insight
The highest-returning venture investments are non-obvious deals that consensus rejects
“It's sort of a core belief that the best investments we've made and the best investments out there were not obvious, and they were the kind of wacky deal in the corner of the room that everybody else sort of passed on”
Micah Rosenbloom Feb 15, 2017 ▶ 7:49
Disclosure
Founder Collective co-led SkipTheDishes, which sold to Just Eat for $200M
“We ended up, you know, leading the round with golden golden ventures out of Toronto. So I think, you know, they recently sold to Just Eat for, you know, two hundred million Canadian, so we're excited about that.”
Micah Rosenbloom Feb 15, 2017 ▶ 9:01
Insight
East Coast VCs gain clarity by avoiding Silicon Valley's echo chamber
“I think starting our career on the East coast kept us a little outside the eco, you know, the echo chamber. And I think that did give us some perspective. We weren't around all the VCs every day.”
Micah Rosenbloom Feb 15, 2017 ▶ 10:52
Insight
Financial modeling for seed startups is a complete waste of time
“There's no model. We're not building discounted flat cash flows or weighted average cost models or black shoals. We're just not doing that stuff. There's not enough data to do it. You'd waste your time.”
Micah Rosenbloom Feb 15, 2017 ▶ 13:24
Disclosure
Founder Collective will keep its next fund size capped at $75M
“If you keep your fund small enough, which is something that we really believe in, we've kept the fund. The last fund was 75. This, the next fund is 75. We haven't grown it.”
Micah Rosenbloom Feb 15, 2017 ▶ 14:48
Insight
Managing for Series A metrics makes founders build decks, not companies
“You can become obsessed with what you need to achieve for the next round. And, you know, every board meeting then becomes, well, what are the series A guys want? And you're not really building the business. You're building the deck for the series A.”
Micah Rosenbloom Feb 15, 2017 ▶ 16:23
Opinion
Mark Suster's 'always be raising' advice distracts founders from execution
“There is a headset that has become the norm, which is always be raising. I don't know if that's always right. I think it's where we are, but I don't think that's necessarily the right thing for all founders. I think it's often very distracting and very, and ma…”
Micah Rosenbloom Feb 15, 2017 ▶ 18:00
Insight
Investing and founder support are the only top priorities in VC
“In venture, investing in helping companies is the only A activity. Everything else is a B activity.”
Micah Rosenbloom Feb 15, 2017 ▶ 21:15
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