StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Scott Sandell

Executive Chairman & CIO, New Enterprise Associates · 2 appearances on the record.

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

investorexecutive@ScottDSandell ↗nea.com/team/scott-sandell ↗

Sandell joined NEA in 1996, previously serving as its Managing General Partner and CEO before stepping into the Executive Chairman and CIO role. He is best known for leading investments in tech companies including Salesforce, Tableau, Workday, Cloudflare, Bloom Energy, and Robinhood.

33statements → 20claims → 8claims resolved → 50%fully supported → 3.82/5average certainty → 1.88/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 15said about them ↓

4 supported 4 partly supported 0 contradicted 2 not yet assessed 10 not checkable as stated how the 20 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

3 predictions · 17 assertions · 1 opinion · 11 insights · 1 disclosure · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 20 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 8 are resolved, 2 are not yet assessed, and 10 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 Scott argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Sandell: LoanPal finances 40% of US residential solar loans
“They back about 40% of solar loans in the United States today.”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 35:14 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
75% certainty 3
75% certainty 4
none yet certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: speaking style how? →

265 words/min while actually speaking · 0.1 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Scott Sandell: 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 28 exchanges on the produced feed is ≈4.5/5, shown at half point precision because the sample is small and produced tape scores higher.

Measured by listening to 6,930 words across 2 episodes, but every recording we have of Scott Sandell 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 2 rated episodes:

host pushback ▾ 2.5/10
pushed back at the host ▾ 1/10
setup questions received 53%

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

Opinion
Sandell: Benchmark would be in trouble without abundant downstream capital
“A firm like Benchmark would be frankly in real trouble if there wasn't enormous amounts of capital because they only do series A and series B deals and they hope other people are going to come along and carry their companies after them.”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 13:51 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Insight
Scott Sandell: Free is the most powerful business model in the world
“This fit into our overarching theme, you know, that the most powerful model in the world is free, and they were going to be disruptive because they were offering something of real value, you know, stock trading where commissions were seven or eight dollars a t…”
Scott Sandell Jan 28, 2022 ▶ 8:34 20VC: The Robinhood Memo: The Early Metrics That Showed Robinhood was a Breakout Company, The Cost Structure of Robinhood in the Early Days and Why it is a More Efficient Business than eTrade & How Vlad Has Developed as a Leader Over Time with Rick Yang a
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Robinhood's early operating cost structure was 1/35th of E-Trade's
“And they came back and said, yeah, pretty much our cost structure is about one 35th of E-Trade.”
Scott Sandell Jan 28, 2022 ▶ 16:58 20VC: The Robinhood Memo: The Early Metrics That Showed Robinhood was a Breakout Company, The Cost Structure of Robinhood in the Early Days and Why it is a More Efficient Business than eTrade & How Vlad Has Developed as a Leader Over Time with Rick Yang a
Assertion Partly supported
E-Trade spent $800 to acquire a customer while Robinhood spent zero
“E-Trade was spending, like, 800 dollars for a new customer. Robinhood was spending zero.”
Scott Sandell Jan 28, 2022 ▶ 17:37 20VC: The Robinhood Memo: The Early Metrics That Showed Robinhood was a Breakout Company, The Cost Structure of Robinhood in the Early Days and Why it is a More Efficient Business than eTrade & How Vlad Has Developed as a Leader Over Time with Rick Yang a
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sandell: Robinhood poached executives from Facebook more often than losing to them
“And when we would talk about how hiring was going for this position or that position, it was more likely that they were poaching some senior executive from Facebook rather than losing a competition to get somebody from Facebook.”
Scott Sandell Jan 28, 2022 ▶ 20:15 20VC: The Robinhood Memo: The Early Metrics That Showed Robinhood was a Breakout Company, The Cost Structure of Robinhood in the Early Days and Why it is a More Efficient Business than eTrade & How Vlad Has Developed as a Leader Over Time with Rick Yang a
Disclosure
Sandell: Robinhood's market potential exceeds Charles Schwab
“Well, I looked at it from the beginning, and I said it should be at least as big as Charles Schwab. That was my reference point in terms of a business, but as we got into it, I realized it could be much bigger.”
Scott Sandell Jan 28, 2022 ▶ 26:36 20VC: The Robinhood Memo: The Early Metrics That Showed Robinhood was a Breakout Company, The Cost Structure of Robinhood in the Early Days and Why it is a More Efficient Business than eTrade & How Vlad Has Developed as a Leader Over Time with Rick Yang a
Assertion Supported
Robinhood raised $3.5 billion in five days
“You know, they had to raise a ton of money in a short period of time, and without missing a beat, I think they raised 3.5 billion dollars in five days start to finish.”
Scott Sandell Jan 28, 2022 ▶ 28:31 20VC: The Robinhood Memo: The Early Metrics That Showed Robinhood was a Breakout Company, The Cost Structure of Robinhood in the Early Days and Why it is a More Efficient Business than eTrade & How Vlad Has Developed as a Leader Over Time with Rick Yang a
Insight
Sandell: VC differentiation is harder as competitors push absurd valuations
“At the simplest level, it's harder and harder to differentiate yourself as a venture capitalist when people will come along and offer valuations that might be, in your mind, sort of absurd, and so we've been facing this challenge now for a number of years, but…”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 7:05 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Sandell: Software post-IPO growth accelerated from 18% to 50% over two decades
“But interestingly enough, in the seven quarters after the IPO, the average company grew 18%. And that was considered fantastic. You couldn't get funded today if all you were doing was growing 18%. In the decade that followed, they grew 28%, and the decade just…”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 11:56 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Insight
Sandell: 100%+ software growth justifies paying premium entry valuations
“If it's a software company growing over a hundred percent a year, and I really believe that that's going to continue to happen for some period of time. Then I can justify paying a price that not too far down the road, maybe 18 or 24 months, or maybe even a yea…”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 17:12 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Insight
Sandell: Small funds should rely on deep-pocketed follow-on investors over pro-rata
“If you have a small fund, I think you want to be super sensitive about getting people who can carry the freight for a long time and not look for you to do your pro rata along the way.”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 18:21 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sandell: NEA makes all firm decisions in a weekly three-hour meeting
“The only reason NEA could have scaled to the size it is, is because of the trust that we have in the partnership, which enables us to meet for three hours a week, make all the decisions necessary, and then have the confidence that they would be executed well.”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 25:34 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Assertion Supported
Sandell: LoanPal finances 40% of US residential solar loans
“They back about 40% of solar loans in the United States today.”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 35:14 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Assertion Not checkable as stated
At 100 employees, Robinhood had 85 engineers and one marketer
“They had, you know, 85 software engineers, and 15 customer support people, and probably one person in marketing.”
Scott Sandell Jan 28, 2022 ▶ 17:59 20VC: The Robinhood Memo: The Early Metrics That Showed Robinhood was a Breakout Company, The Cost Structure of Robinhood in the Early Days and Why it is a More Efficient Business than eTrade & How Vlad Has Developed as a Leader Over Time with Rick Yang a
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sandell: Robinhood's board pushed management to start spending on paid marketing
“In the board meetings, the board actually impressed upon the team that we should probably figure out How to spend some money on customer acquisition, because we could grow faster, and the payback on these customers was so high that you could afford to spend a …”
Scott Sandell Jan 28, 2022 ▶ 18:37 20VC: The Robinhood Memo: The Early Metrics That Showed Robinhood was a Breakout Company, The Cost Structure of Robinhood in the Early Days and Why it is a More Efficient Business than eTrade & How Vlad Has Developed as a Leader Over Time with Rick Yang a
Insight
Sandell: Startups must maintain reserves because capital vanishes during market busts
“Not only do valuations come down, but in the busts, usually there just isn't capital at any price. So you have to make sure you always have a reserve on your balance sheet, and I think you also have to have a business plan that allows you to make rapid adjustm…”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 8:41 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Sandell: Tech startups founded today will rival ExxonMobil and GM
“The result will be that some very iconic companies are being built today that will be the Exxon's and General Motors of tomorrow, or the IBMs, and we've already seen a handful of examples. The FANG companies have already shown us what kind of upside is availab…”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 10:14 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sandell: Software development productivity has increased fivefold due to open source
“Just the development of software is now about five times more productive than it used to be.”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 12:25 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Insight
Sandell: 'Free' is the most powerful business model in the world
“And that business model of free, which I think is the most powerful business model in the world, is transforming one business after another.”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 13:08 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Insight
Sandell: Longer private holding periods drive higher returns for VC funds
“Those longer holding periods are precisely why venture capital firms like ours are able to generate much larger returns because we're not giving those away to public market investors.”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 14:44 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Sandell: Secondary markets will become vital for managing early-stage funds
“Well, I do think that the secondary markets Are really at an inflection point, and there's more and more capital flowing into the secondary markets. You know, we've seen it, of course, first for entrepreneurs. There's been a pretty robust secondary market avai…”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 15:26 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sandell: NEA's top growth basket returned 36% annually over a decade
“This particular collection of companies has raised thirty-two billion dollars in total, and we've only been responsible for three billion of it. So that's kind of great. Our companies have had access to all this company. The problem is that that particular bas…”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 20:06 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Insight
Sandell: The best venture investment decisions are made in small groups
“We are firm believers that the best decisions are made in relatively small groups.”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 22:01 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Sandell: Cultural mismatch is the main reason people leave NEA early
“Once we've hired people, we're watching very carefully to see whether their behavior matches our values and our culture, and really that's the one thing that causes people to leave NEA on a relatively premature schedule.”
Scott Sandell Mar 11, 2021 ▶ 25:05 20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Why We Are At An Inflection Point For Secondaries & Why There Is Nothing To Suggest The Boom Will Not Continue

Show 9statements(9 left)

The other half of the tape: Scott Sandell's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 14 times in 7 episodes on 20VC. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Sujay Jaswa 7Harry Stebbings 3Dayna Grayson 3Jules Maltz 1

Statements about Scott Sandell, by other people (1)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
NEA's Scott Sandell decides on investments within 15 minutes
“I've seen some of the greatest investors Do just that. Meet with an entrepreneur. Within the 1:15 minutes, they're either excited or they're not. If they're excited, they're investing. Scott Sandell at NEA is a great example of that. It's very much his style.”
Dayna Grayson Apr 8, 2019 ▶ 14:31 20VC: NEA Partner, Dayna Grayson on Sourcing, Picking, Winning, Gut vs Data in Investment Decision-Making & The Evolution of Entrepreneurial Expectations of Venture

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
004182201720182019202020212022202320242025episodesmentions
012201720182019202020212022202320242025episodes it came up in
002142201720182019202020212022202320242025episodesmentions per episode
2025 1 mention in 1 episode
2022 7 mentions in 2 episodes 4 per episode
2021 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode
2019 3 mentions in 1 episode
2017 1 mention in 1 episode

Appearances (2)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
20VC: The Robinhood Memo: The Early Metrics That Showed Robinhood was a Breakout Company, Jan 28, 2022 6m
20VC: NEA's Scott Sandell on SPACS and Why Liquidity is One of the Challenges of our Time, Mar 11, 2021 22m
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 1,200 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more