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Max Gazor

General Partner, CRV · 1 appearance on the record.

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Max Gazor is a General Partner at CRV. He has led deals in companies including Airtable, SimpliVity, and Xamarin.

12statements → 3claims → 0claims resolved → 3.83/5average certainty → 2.17/5average debate potential → ≈4.0/5argument clarity, estimated → 3said about them ↓

3 not checkable as stated how the 3 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

1 prediction · 2 assertions · 1 opinion · 6 insights · 2 disclosures · every statement was checked. The prediction and assertions are the 3 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 0 are resolved, and 3 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 Max 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? →

260 words/min while actually speaking · 4.4 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Max Gazor: 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 24 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 3,881 words across 1 episode, but every recording we have of Max Gazor 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 ▾ 4/10
pushed back at the host ▾ 2/10
setup questions received 38%

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

Insight
Max Gazor notes corporate acquirers heavily prioritize co-located startup teams
“Geography is important, making sure that folks are kind of in the same room to the extent possible and, you know, working well and collaboratively. Those are the types of important things that buyers look for, and it's really not emphasized enough, I would say…”
Max Gazor Aug 2, 2017 ▶ 6:47 20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV
Opinion
Max Gazor prefers frugal founders over those raising lavish seed rounds
“So I prefer companies and founders that manage to keep burn low, to be resourceful, to kind of live a frugal and efficient lifestyle versus those that raise lots and lots of money in the seed round and kind of Live a little bit richer.”
Max Gazor Aug 2, 2017 ▶ 10:32 20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV
Insight
Max Gazor advises seed-stage startups to avoid formal boards and decks
“In the very, very early days, we advise against it, especially at the seed stage, because it just doesn't feel like a useful way to spend time for a CEO.”
Max Gazor Aug 2, 2017 ▶ 17:20 20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Max Gazor predicts 2017 AI will mirror 2007 cloud computing boom
“I think that we are in a time With AI today, where cloud was about 10 years ago, and we're going to see a tsunami of innovation associated with companies and entrepreneurs thinking about ways to apply AI towards more traditional software products.”
Max Gazor Aug 2, 2017 ▶ 22:16 20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV
Insight
CRV's early Airtable investment thesis was the unbundling of Microsoft Excel
“The investment thesis that we got excited about was this concept of the unbundling of Excel, and we felt like Airtable could become the all-in-one collaboration platform that could kind of redefine how consumers think about productivity software.”
Max Gazor Aug 2, 2017 ▶ 24:38 20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV
Insight
Max Gazor notes VC apprentice model time constraints limit firm hiring
“In general, I think because they are small teams and it's an apprentice model and you spend and invest a lot of time in people, you really want to make sure that the people that you bring on are strong fits internally. And I think that that's The key barrier i…”
Max Gazor Aug 2, 2017 ▶ 4:03 20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV
Insight
Max Gazor considers recruiting capability the most important founder trait
“And it kind of leads to the number one most important thing that I look for is an ability to recruit.”
Max Gazor Aug 2, 2017 ▶ 8:40 20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV
Disclosure
CRV sets follow-on reserves at initial check stage to support founders
“Generally speaking, we allocate reserves at a very early stage for companies and having been in the business for a long time, CRV kind of looks at this as a long-term game. So we try not to play around too much with reserves and we try to give founders a shot …”
Max Gazor Aug 2, 2017 ▶ 9:17 20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV
Assertion Not checkable as stated
CRV heavily fines partners who use phones during founder pitch meetings
“We have a no phone policy where we find ourselves internally and thankfully we've never had to use it. But if you find a CRV partner breaking out his phone during the meeting, there's a very, very hefty fine for that.”
Max Gazor Aug 2, 2017 ▶ 13:19 20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV
Insight
Max Gazor advises startups to formalize board governance around Series A
“I think that the time when you want to formalize a board, like an actual meeting where you're reviewing slide decks and kind of going through a cadence is somewhere around the series A.”
Max Gazor Aug 2, 2017 ▶ 16:57 20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Max Gazor notes independent board seats are rarely turned down
“Generally in the Valley, you'll find independent board seat is a very rare thing, and it's a very prized thing. So you know, if you offer it to someone, very rarely will they want to turn it down or decide it's not a good thing for them.”
Max Gazor Aug 2, 2017 ▶ 19:13 20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV
Disclosure
Max Gazor invested in Airtable when the company had three employees
“I invested in Airtable when it was three people and really going back to the conviction and how we build conviction. Yeah, I met Howie, I met the team and I just fell in love with them and immediately and knew that they're going to build a very, very big compa…”
Max Gazor Aug 2, 2017 ▶ 24:16 20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV

The other half of the tape: Max Gazor's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 3 times in 3 episodes on 20VC. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 3

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
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0122020202120222023202420252026episodes it came up in
000.51122020202120222023202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode
2020 1 mention in 1 episode

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What Aug 2, 2017 16m
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