Mar 27, 2017 · 23m · 20vc
20VC: How Investors Can Build Relationships with Founders In Organic, Non-Transactional Ways & How VCs Should Handle Founder Disputes with Saar Gur, General Partner @ CRV
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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, Harry Stebbings interviews Saar Gur, General Partner at CRV, about his path from entrepreneur to investor and his founder-first venture philosophy. Saar shares valuable insights on building authentic founder relationships, scaling startup leadership, and mediating co-founder disputes.
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 31.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Harry as informed peer 1.7 Guest teaching 2.5 Guest disagreement 1.2 Harry pushing back 1.2
speaking balance: gold is Harry, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 19:48 Critique of VC Industry Saturation
Saar bluntly rejects the idea that the world needs more VCs, pointing out systemic industry biases that prevent great non-traditional founders from getting funded.
Hardest push from Harry ▶ 7:01 Challenging Endless Capital SupportHarry explicitly pushes back on the soft investor narrative by asking when a VC must stop throwing good money after bad and pull the plug on a struggling portfolio company.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 17:02 Navigating Co-Founder DisputesSaar educates Harry on how standard VC board heuristics often default prematurely to firing co-founders, demonstrating how intensive mediator effort can preserve crucial talent.
Harry holds his own ▶ 9:52 Highlighting Transactional RealitiesHarry demonstrates strong industry awareness by cutting through pleasantries to highlight that VC-founder relationships are fundamentally transactional at their core.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Harry as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Harry pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saar Gur's Path to Venture Capital | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Harry opens with a standard biographical question about Saar's path into venture capital. Saar provides an extensive overview of his background as an operator, angel investor, and partner at CRV while Harry listens attentively without pushing back. | |
| Supporting Struggling Founders and Continuous Capital Allocation | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Harry challenges the notion of continuous capital allocation by asking how to know when to pull the plug on a struggling founder. Saar explains CRV's approach of founder-first conviction, sharing an example where backing an existing team with an additional $3 million saved the company when all other VCs declined. | |
| Building Organic and Non-Transactional Relationships with Founders | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Harry asks how Saar builds authentic relationships when the venture dynamic is inherently transactional. Saar draws a parallel to communication in marriage, leading Harry to interject with a playful satirical remark before Saar details his philosophy of fearlessly backing founders. | |
| Mindset Shifts, CEO Evolution, and Building the Company as a Product | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Harry prompts Saar on how VCs get entrepreneurs to think differently. Saar outlines key mindset shifts, including treating the company itself as the product and adopting a growth mindset toward CEO leadership. | |
| Talent Acquisition Challenges and Resolving Co-Founder Conflicts | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Harry inquires about handling the human side of portfolio companies, specifically co-founder disputes. Saar educates Harry on board overreactions, describing how taking the time for 20+ deep conversations saved a founder partnership that other board members wanted to terminate. | |
| Quick-Fire Round with Saar Gur | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | In the quick-fire section, Harry asks rapid-fire questions regarding books, industry changes, politics, and success metrics. Saar offers direct, slightly contrarian views on VC industry saturation and political concerns in a friendly tone. |
Statements from this episode (10)
Gur: Entering venture capital is like deciding who to marry
“You can decide you want to do venture, but that's like deciding you want to get married. You know, these are like, you know, it does depend who the girl is or the guy”
Gur: Capital is the single biggest value VCs provide to founders
“Again, having, having worked in companies, I realized that, you know, some, we, I think we add value, but you know, 99% of the work is on the founders, but there's true, the biggest value that we add is the money.”
CRV frequently funds portfolio startups rejected by outside investors
“At CRV, we tend to come from believing in the founder's First at the time we invest, then that, you know, that investment is mostly a statement of belief in the team, and so if the team is making progress, I find time and time again, honestly, we throw good mo…”
Gur: Many early-stage VCs panic when portfolio companies face turbulence
“I find many investors, especially at the early stage, when things are not going well, it's like turbulence in a plane. They're like the, you know, the person freaking out and yelling, like, we're gonna die.”
Gur: VCs should support struggling founders because downside is capped at 1x
“When you truly just come at this from like, okay, we can only lose one times our money. Let's focus on just, you know, believing in this team to figure it out. I think magic can happen.”
Gur: Exceptional CEOs actively treat executive leadership as a learned skill
“It turns out, you know, no one is born a CEO and many young founders. I don't see them applying a growth mindset to sort of understanding what being a CEO means and how that role changes over time. And some of my best CEOs are just maniacal in, in their though…”
Gur: Founders must treat company building itself as their core product
“So one of the things I love in being a venture capitalist is once a The company actually becomes the product, in my mind, meaning a lot of the work that we do as VCs, and many VCs will tell their CEOs, you should be spending, you know, 90% of your time on hiri…”
Gur: 30% to 50% of startup executive hires fail
“30 to 50%, depending on the company of the executives we hire, are not going to work out, or they're going to work for some period of time, and then, you know, we need to find someone else”
Gur: VCs default to pushing out co-founders during disputes
“Most people choose to stay uninvolved, or they use juristics, like if two founders are fighting, you know, the obvious venture answer is like, kick this person out.”
Gur: Venture capital needs diversity to overcome male and white bias
“You know, I definitely don't think we need more VCs, but we definitely need a All the great businesses I know out there that aren't getting funded and could have a big impact in the world, and they just don't get funded because of the biases that we have as a …”