Jul 12, 2017 · 29m · 20vc

20VC: The Blurring of Early & Late Stage, Why Your Go To Market Strategy Is More Important Now Than Ever & Why Venture Is The Academia Of Tech with Roseanne Wincek @ IVP

Roseanne Wincek · 20m spoken Harry Stebbings · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of The 20 Minute VC, host Harry Stebbings interviews Roseanne Wincek of IVP to explore her path from academia to venture capital, the blurring boundaries between early and late-stage investing, go-to-market strategies, and winning competitive growth rounds.

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 27.8% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Harry as informed peer 3.8 Guest teaching 3.6 Guest disagreement 0.8 Harry pushing back 2.2
05100:0010:0020:002:20–6:03 · Harry as informed peer 2/10 Roseanne Wincek's Path from Academia to Venture Capital Harry asks a broad opening question about Roseanne's path into venture capital, prompting a long monologue about her journey from biophysics academia to early-stage founder and growth investor. Harry mostly listens attentively, offering a brief summarizing phrase midway through.6:03–9:15 · Harry as informed peer 3/10 Comparing Early-Stage and Late-Stage Venture Dynamics Harry tries to synthesize the differences between early and late stage by asking if early-stage is an art and late-stage is a science. Roseanne gently reframes his question, explaining that both stages involve a mix of art and science.9:16–14:05 · Harry as informed peer 4/10 Follow-On Strategy and the Blurring of VC Stages Harry demonstrates strong industry knowledge by bringing up fund size shifts, LP co-investments, and mega-funds like NEA. Roseanne details how prorata calculations and fund mechanics differ between early and late-stage investors.14:06–20:36 · Harry as informed peer 7/10 Go-To-Market Execution, Product-Market Fit, and Distribution Channels Harry displays extensive preparation by introducing quotes and frameworks from Tom Tunguz, Jason Lemkin, Peter Fenton, and Jeremy Levine. Roseanne engages deeply with these prompts, elaborating on metrics, organic channels, and platform incumbency.20:38–27:52 · Harry as informed peer 3/10 Winning Competitive Deals Pre-Process The conversation shifts to deal dynamics and quickfire topics, including questions crowdsourced from Jenny Lefcourt and Layla Sturdy. Roseanne shares her strategy for winning competitive deals before a formal process begins and discusses her investment in Masterclass.2:20–6:03 · Guest teaching 4/10 Roseanne Wincek's Path from Academia to Venture Capital Harry asks a broad opening question about Roseanne's path into venture capital, prompting a long monologue about her journey from biophysics academia to early-stage founder and growth investor. Harry mostly listens attentively, offering a brief summarizing phrase midway through.6:03–9:15 · Guest teaching 5/10 Comparing Early-Stage and Late-Stage Venture Dynamics Harry tries to synthesize the differences between early and late stage by asking if early-stage is an art and late-stage is a science. Roseanne gently reframes his question, explaining that both stages involve a mix of art and science.9:16–14:05 · Guest teaching 4/10 Follow-On Strategy and the Blurring of VC Stages Harry demonstrates strong industry knowledge by bringing up fund size shifts, LP co-investments, and mega-funds like NEA. Roseanne details how prorata calculations and fund mechanics differ between early and late-stage investors.14:06–20:36 · Guest teaching 3/10 Go-To-Market Execution, Product-Market Fit, and Distribution Channels Harry displays extensive preparation by introducing quotes and frameworks from Tom Tunguz, Jason Lemkin, Peter Fenton, and Jeremy Levine. Roseanne engages deeply with these prompts, elaborating on metrics, organic channels, and platform incumbency.20:38–27:52 · Guest teaching 2/10 Winning Competitive Deals Pre-Process The conversation shifts to deal dynamics and quickfire topics, including questions crowdsourced from Jenny Lefcourt and Layla Sturdy. Roseanne shares her strategy for winning competitive deals before a formal process begins and discusses her investment in Masterclass.2:20–6:03 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Roseanne Wincek's Path from Academia to Venture Capital Harry asks a broad opening question about Roseanne's path into venture capital, prompting a long monologue about her journey from biophysics academia to early-stage founder and growth investor. Harry mostly listens attentively, offering a brief summarizing phrase midway through.6:03–9:15 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Comparing Early-Stage and Late-Stage Venture Dynamics Harry tries to synthesize the differences between early and late stage by asking if early-stage is an art and late-stage is a science. Roseanne gently reframes his question, explaining that both stages involve a mix of art and science.9:16–14:05 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Follow-On Strategy and the Blurring of VC Stages Harry demonstrates strong industry knowledge by bringing up fund size shifts, LP co-investments, and mega-funds like NEA. Roseanne details how prorata calculations and fund mechanics differ between early and late-stage investors.14:06–20:36 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Go-To-Market Execution, Product-Market Fit, and Distribution Channels Harry displays extensive preparation by introducing quotes and frameworks from Tom Tunguz, Jason Lemkin, Peter Fenton, and Jeremy Levine. Roseanne engages deeply with these prompts, elaborating on metrics, organic channels, and platform incumbency.20:38–27:52 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Winning Competitive Deals Pre-Process The conversation shifts to deal dynamics and quickfire topics, including questions crowdsourced from Jenny Lefcourt and Layla Sturdy. Roseanne shares her strategy for winning competitive deals before a formal process begins and discusses her investment in Masterclass.2:20–6:03 · Harry pushing back 1/10 Roseanne Wincek's Path from Academia to Venture Capital Harry asks a broad opening question about Roseanne's path into venture capital, prompting a long monologue about her journey from biophysics academia to early-stage founder and growth investor. Harry mostly listens attentively, offering a brief summarizing phrase midway through.6:03–9:15 · Harry pushing back 4/10 Comparing Early-Stage and Late-Stage Venture Dynamics Harry tries to synthesize the differences between early and late stage by asking if early-stage is an art and late-stage is a science. Roseanne gently reframes his question, explaining that both stages involve a mix of art and science.9:16–14:05 · Harry pushing back 2/10 Follow-On Strategy and the Blurring of VC Stages Harry demonstrates strong industry knowledge by bringing up fund size shifts, LP co-investments, and mega-funds like NEA. Roseanne details how prorata calculations and fund mechanics differ between early and late-stage investors.14:06–20:36 · Harry pushing back 3/10 Go-To-Market Execution, Product-Market Fit, and Distribution Channels Harry displays extensive preparation by introducing quotes and frameworks from Tom Tunguz, Jason Lemkin, Peter Fenton, and Jeremy Levine. Roseanne engages deeply with these prompts, elaborating on metrics, organic channels, and platform incumbency.20:38–27:52 · Harry pushing back 1/10 Winning Competitive Deals Pre-Process The conversation shifts to deal dynamics and quickfire topics, including questions crowdsourced from Jenny Lefcourt and Layla Sturdy. Roseanne shares her strategy for winning competitive deals before a formal process begins and discusses her investment in Masterclass.

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

0:00 · Harry 85.1% · guest 14.9%0:00 · Harry 85.1% · guest 14.9%3:00 · Harry 0.6% · guest 99.4%3:00 · Harry 0.6% · guest 99.4%6:00 · Harry 13.5% · guest 86.5%6:00 · Harry 13.5% · guest 86.5%9:00 · Harry 19.9% · guest 80.1%9:00 · Harry 19.9% · guest 80.1%12:00 · Harry 24.6% · guest 75.4%12:00 · Harry 24.6% · guest 75.4%15:00 · Harry 16.9% · guest 83.1%15:00 · Harry 16.9% · guest 83.1%18:00 · Harry 26.5% · guest 73.5%18:00 · Harry 26.5% · guest 73.5%21:00 · Harry 18.8% · guest 81.2%21:00 · Harry 18.8% · guest 81.2%24:00 · Harry 15.2% · guest 84.8%24:00 · Harry 15.2% · guest 84.8%27:00 · Harry 63.8% · guest 36.2%27:00 · Harry 63.8% · guest 36.2%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 8:44 Roseanne reframes art versus science binary

Roseanne gently pushes back on Harry's binary framing of early stage as art and late stage as science, pointing out that both require significant elements of both.

Hardest push from Harry ▶ 8:37 Harry proposes strict binary segregation

Harry pushes Roseanne with a sharp thesis asking whether early-stage investing is an art while late-stage investing is purely a science.

Biggest teaching moment ▶ 7:50 Roseanne explains late-stage investor risk profiles

Roseanne educates Harry on how late-stage VCs evaluate risk and asset pricing differently than early-stage VCs who build models around expecting one-third of companies to go to zero.

Harry holds his own ▶ 18:10 Harry synthesizes Jeremy Levine's distribution thesis

Harry demonstrates deep domain preparation by invoking Jeremy Levine's thesis on platform incumbency and distribution control to test Roseanne's perspective on consumer investing.

the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicHarry as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementHarry pushing backWhy
Roseanne Wincek's Path from Academia to Venture Capital 2401 Harry asks a broad opening question about Roseanne's path into venture capital, prompting a long monologue about her journey from biophysics academia to early-stage founder and growth investor. Harry mostly listens attentively, offering a brief summarizing phrase midway through.
Comparing Early-Stage and Late-Stage Venture Dynamics 3524 Harry tries to synthesize the differences between early and late stage by asking if early-stage is an art and late-stage is a science. Roseanne gently reframes his question, explaining that both stages involve a mix of art and science.
Follow-On Strategy and the Blurring of VC Stages 4412 Harry demonstrates strong industry knowledge by bringing up fund size shifts, LP co-investments, and mega-funds like NEA. Roseanne details how prorata calculations and fund mechanics differ between early and late-stage investors.
Go-To-Market Execution, Product-Market Fit, and Distribution Channels 7313 Harry displays extensive preparation by introducing quotes and frameworks from Tom Tunguz, Jason Lemkin, Peter Fenton, and Jeremy Levine. Roseanne engages deeply with these prompts, elaborating on metrics, organic channels, and platform incumbency.
Winning Competitive Deals Pre-Process 3201 The conversation shifts to deal dynamics and quickfire topics, including questions crowdsourced from Jenny Lefcourt and Layla Sturdy. Roseanne shares her strategy for winning competitive deals before a formal process begins and discusses her investment in Masterclass.

Statements from this episode (11)

Insight
Roseanne Wincek: Venture capital is the academia of technology
“I really feel like venture is kind of the academia of tech, right? We kind of create all these mental models for how we think the world works, and we go, we do experiments to test whether or not they're real”
Roseanne Wincek Jul 12, 2017 ▶ 4:11
Opinion
Wincek: Late-stage VCs are bad at pricing future vision
“Late stage investors, frankly, are kind of bad at giving entrepreneurs credit for what could be. They see that as upside, but really they're very good at understanding what is working and how additional capital or how additional executives or how slight change…”
Roseanne Wincek Jul 12, 2017 ▶ 7:18
Insight
Wincek: Early-stage VC returns rely on a one-third fund-returner rule
“Early-stage investors, at the early stage, you really think, like, about a third of your companies are going to go to zero, a third of your companies are going to return their capital, and a third of your companies are going to return your fund.”
Roseanne Wincek Jul 12, 2017 ▶ 7:51
Insight
Wincek: Early-stage investors without complete failures aren't taking enough risk
“If you're not, if things are going to zero, and you're a seed or an early-stage investor, you're not taking enough risk, right?”
Roseanne Wincek Jul 12, 2017 ▶ 8:03
Opinion
Wincek: Venture capital now has more capital than good companies
“Today I think we have more capital than there are good companies.”
Roseanne Wincek Jul 12, 2017 ▶ 13:42
Insight
Wincek: Top enterprise and consumer startups share fundamental growth dynamics
“The best enterprise companies and the best consumer companies, they really look quite similar underneath the covers.”
Roseanne Wincek Jul 12, 2017 ▶ 16:43
Insight
Wincek: Proprietary distribution channels enable startups to scale unfairly
“Get your product into the hands of consumers that you own, that's proprietary to you, and that's relatively inexpensive to kind of the market rate is how you can actually scale unfairly against your competitors.”
Roseanne Wincek Jul 12, 2017 ▶ 17:10
Assertion Contradicted
Wincek: Almost every venture-backed startup uses Looker for analytics
“I don't know a venture-backed startup that doesn't use Looker for analytics because everybody knows that, like, that's one of the first things that you buy.”
Roseanne Wincek Jul 12, 2017 ▶ 17:34
Assertion Supported
Wincek: Snap broke out without ever buying Facebook app install ads
“They never bought Facebook ads or, like, Facebook app installs to get there, but instead, they had this really viral product and a proprietary channel, which was actually a pretty old-school channel, right? Word of mouth.”
Roseanne Wincek Jul 12, 2017 ▶ 20:22
Disclosure
Roseanne Wincek engages startups 18 months before investing
“Honestly, like for the most part, I'm spending time with companies. 18 months before we want to invest in them.”
Roseanne Wincek Jul 12, 2017 ▶ 21:20
Insight
Wincek: Online Education Should Return to Direct Master-to-Apprentice Learning
“I think a lot of early attempts at online education are taking, you know, universities and schools and academia and putting them online. But really the beauty of the internet is that we can actually go back to first principles and think about how does learning…”
Roseanne Wincek Jul 12, 2017 ▶ 26:58
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