Ashton Kutcher

Co-Founder and General Partner, Sound Ventures · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

investorentertainerfounder@aplusk ↗soundventures.com ↗Wikipedia ↗Instagram ↗

He is a tech investor who co-founded A-Grade Investments and Sound Ventures, backing companies including Airbnb, Spotify, Uber, and GitLab. He is also an actor and co-founder of the child protection organization Thorn.

20statements → 4claims → 0claims resolved → 3.95/5average certainty → 2.05/5average debate potential → ≈4.0/5argument clarity, estimated → 19said about them ↓

4 not checkable as stated how the 4 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

2 predictions · 2 assertions · 3 opinions · 5 insights · 8 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 4 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 0 are resolved, and 4 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Ashton argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

How they sound: speaking style how? →

207 words/min while actually speaking · 0.4 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Ashton Kutcher: no usable question→answer exchanges on raw tape (a fair score needs 8+). We do not score a sample that small. Roundtable and news formats yield far fewer direct exchanges than interviews. Their coarse estimate from 16 exchanges on the produced feed is ≈4.0/5, shown at half point precision because the sample is small and produced tape scores higher.

Measured by listening to 4,767 words across 1 episode, but every recording we have of Ashton Kutcher is the aired feed, and an editor cleaned that audio before release. Some of the hesitation was cut before we ever heard it, so read these as floors: the true rates are at least this high. These are measurements of speaking style, not scores. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 1 rated episode:

host pushback ▾ 0/10

pushed back at the host 1/10

setup questions received 85%

host pushback: the hardest questions Harry asked, tap to play ▶ 26:15“How do you think about the transition from scaling angel checks to the institutional, much larger check, and any challenges associated there?” ▶ 33:35“What do you make of the rise of celebrity investing?” ▶ 18:18“How do you build strong intuition about products in areas where you're maybe not too familiar?”

What they said20 What others said19 Episodes1

Everything Ashton Kutcher said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Opinion

Kutcher: Traditional VC fund ownership demands are becoming increasingly egregious

“A lot of funds have these mandates about How much of a company they need to own to make the investment of value to them, and oftentimes I see those ownership percentages becoming, especially now, just becoming more and more egregious, where funds want to own a…”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 27:27 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Prediction Not checkable as stated

Kutcher predicts many celebrity investors entering venture capital will lose money

“I think a lot of people are going to lose money.”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 33:44 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Opinion

Kutcher: Future internet builders are perpetually young college graduates

“I believe that the people who are creating the future of the internet are perpetually young. They're coming out of college. They're seeing what's on the fringe of technology and capability.”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 8:02 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Disclosure

Kutcher sources deals by asking Twitter followers for home screen screenshots

“And I've actually like solicited my entire Twitter audience at times. Like, Hey, can you send me a snapshot of your home screen? I'd like to see what you're using, you know? And then I just run pattern recognition across thousands or hundreds of home screens. …”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 14:16 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Opinion

Kutcher: Sound Ventures faces no direct competition from other VC funds

“I don't think there are other competitive VC funds to us. And it's why other very big VC funds love to work with us and love having us on the cap table to help the companies that they're investing in.”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 25:36 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Disclosure

Kutcher: I do not personally track Sound Ventures' investment returns

“We have folks in our team that are, it's their job to track the returns. I've never been one to track returns.”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 30:54 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Insight

Kutcher: Fatherhood expands an investor's consumer understanding through empathy

“When you have children, you have more than one head because you have such Empathy for those individuals. You have their lens as well, which gives you a broader scope of interest, investigation, compassion, and a broader scope for consumers that you otherwise w…”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 9:33 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Insight

Kutcher: Distance traveled is a better founder metric than past hardship

“So if you look at where somebody came from and where they've gotten to, that is the more important metric than what's the hardest thing that you've persevered through.”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 16:01 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Insight

Kutcher: Showing vulnerability encourages founders to drop their public personas

“If you're willing to be vulnerable with someone, they then open up and realize they see your humanity as opposed to the image of who they think you are.”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 17:49 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Kutcher lived exclusively in Airbnbs for six months after investing

“Like when I invested in Airbnb, I went and lived in Airbnbs for six months.”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 18:36 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Kutcher demands to use a startup's product before investing

“Before I invest in a company, I usually demand to use the product unless it's a product that I can't fundamentally use.”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 18:40 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Insight

Kutcher: Good product design simplifies the path to user desires

“Fundamentally at the end of the day, being good at product, Is understanding what people want and then simplifying their path to get there.”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 19:55 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Insight

Kutcher: Narrative drives startup mission, sales organization, and crisis management

“Being able to tell the story of your company, that is the narrative of your company, which is also the mission statement of your company, which also will dictate the sales org within your company, which also will dictate how you behave when chaos happens aroun…”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 25:06 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Disclosure

Kutcher: Sound Ventures does not take board seats or demand high ownership

“One of the things that we just haven't historically done is we don't take board seats. We don't demand an egregious check size.”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 27:55 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Prediction Not checkable as stated

Kutcher mandates his team spends 40% of their time helping portfolio companies

“So the thing I'm constantly pressing on my team is let's make sure that we're proportionately spending enough time adding value to companies relative to looking for the next deal. And you should look at your day and really break down your day and go, am I at l…”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 29:56 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Disclosure

Kutcher's first angel investment was in A/B testing platform Optimizely

“I then made my first investment. It was in a company called Optimizely, and it was just small angel investment. And I thought this A-B testing platform could come in pretty valuable, could come in pretty handy.”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 6:53 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Disclosure

Kutcher's early angel portfolio included Skype, Alibaba, and Foursquare

“I invested in Skype and Alibaba and Foursquare and this platform called Brizly, which was like a Twitter client And just started putzing around and finding my way towards interesting companies and interesting people and had some early success, which then led m…”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 7:08 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Disclosure

Kutcher discovered and invested in Spotify before its US launch

“Spotify is actually one of the, it wasn't even in the United States yet when we found it.”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 13:26 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Disclosure

Kutcher: Sound Ventures' average check size is $1.5M to $5M

“Our check size has gone from, you know, when I was writing personal checks, it was like 25,000 dollars or 50,000 dollars. Then when we did our first fund, I think our average check size was, you know, a 100,000 to 200,000 dollars. And now our average check siz…”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 28:03 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

Disclosure

Kutcher names Ron Conway as his primary venture investing mentor

“I would say in investing, I would say it's been Ron Conway”

Ashton Kutcher Feb 17, 2020 ▶ 34:28 20VC: Ashton Kutcher on Early Lessons From Investing in Airbnb and Spotify, Why VC Ownership Requirements Are Becoming More and More Egregious & What Being Good At Product Truly Means

The other half of the tape: Ashton Kutcher's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 17 times in 11 episodes on 20VC. 2 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 14 Eddy Lu 1 Arlan Hamilton 1 Alex Pall 1

Statements about Ashton Kutcher, by other people (2)

Opinion

Braun: Ashton Kutcher Quickly Eases Founder Nervousness in Pitch Meetings

“So while they might come in nervous because they're in front of the superstar Ashton Kutcher, I argue that he is so down to earth and good at what he does that he can fix that very, very quickly and bring the best out of people because he brings the best out o…”

Scooter Braun Apr 17, 2023 ▶ 45:29 Scooter Braun on Being Enough, Insecurity, Wealth, Investing, Fame, Marriage and Much More | E1002 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Assertion Supported

Harry Stebbings: Calm has raised over $143 million from top investors

“To date, the company's raised over a hundred and forty three million dollars in financing from some of the best, including Lightspeed, Insight, TPG, and then some very cool names, including Ashton Kutcher, Harry Styles, Brad Feld, and Jason Calicanis.”

Harry Stebbings Sep 11, 2020 ▶ 0:23 20VC: Calm Founder Alex Tew on What It Takes To Build Viral Products Today, The Current State of Customer Acquisition Costs, What Makes The Best Brands