Simon Menashy

Partner, MMC Ventures · 1 appearance on the record.

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

investor@simonmenashy ↗LinkedIn ↗mmc.vc ↗

Simon Menashy co-leads the investment team at London-based early-stage venture capital firm MMC Ventures, focusing on artificial intelligence, data infrastructure, and enterprise SaaS. Over more than a decade at the firm, he has backed technology companies including Signal AI, Ably, Senseye, and Masabi.

11statements → 3claims → 0claims resolved → 3.73/5average certainty → 2/5average debate potential → 4.5/5argument clarity · the sources →

1 not yet assessed 2 not checkable as stated how the 3 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

1 prediction · 2 assertions · 2 opinions · 4 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, 1 is not yet assessed, and 2 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 Simon argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Argument clarity: do they answer the question? how? →

4.5 / 5 directness 4.9 · coherence 4.8 · precision 4.3 · compression 4

answered every one of 23 assessed questions directly

This is a score against a rubric. It is not a rank. Every host question → answer exchange is scored with names hidden on directness, coherence, precision and compression, 1–5 each, on meaning alone: disfluencies are ignored, and only raw unedited episodes count. This is the score that measures thought. Every scored exchange, scores shown → · The rubric and its checks →

How they sound: speaking style how? →

263 words/min while actually speaking · 40.9 um and uh per 1k words

Measured by listening to the audio itself: 3,468 words across 1 episode of raw-level tape, transcribed verbatim with every um and uh kept, each one attributed only where the alignment onto our timed stream is unambiguous. These are measurements of speaking style. We do not rank them: across this corpus, fluency and argument quality are nearly uncorrelated (ρ≈0.2), and smooth talking does not signal clear thinking. How it's measured →

What they said11 Episodes1

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

Assertion Not publicly verifiable

Menashy: Only 10 VCs in London write active Series A checks

“I could probably name you 10 VCs in London who can write a good Series A check and will do more than a couple of those a year, and that's a problem for the community, I think.”

Simon Menashy May 25, 2015 ▶ 15:32 How to Pitch a Top VC with Simon Menashy @ MMC Ventures

Opinion

Menashy: Uber expands the transport market rather than replacing black cabs

“I don't think it's replacing black cabs. I mean, there may be a little bit of replacement in the short term, but I think it's enabling totally new journeys.”

Simon Menashy May 25, 2015 ▶ 9:19 How to Pitch a Top VC with Simon Menashy @ MMC Ventures

Prediction Not checkable as stated

Menashy: Apple Watch v1 will be rubbish but sell well

“My personal view, I would say version one is going to be rubbish, but still sell a lot. And version two will be much better and a big success.”

Simon Menashy May 25, 2015 ▶ 19:02 How to Pitch a Top VC with Simon Menashy @ MMC Ventures

Disclosure

Menashy: MMC Ventures primarily invests in familiar founders or warm referrals

“Most of our investments are people that we've known for a few years by the time we invest, or they're people that have come through a really a person that we trust and it makes us pay more attention and get that person in front of us quicker.”

Simon Menashy May 25, 2015 ▶ 4:09 How to Pitch a Top VC with Simon Menashy @ MMC Ventures

Insight

Menashy: Founders over-prepare pitch decks and under-prepare for VC Q&A

“I mean, honestly, I think a lot of founders make the mistake of thinking that they need to come up with a really big formal pitch. They need to fill an hour. They produce a big IM you know, and they kind of over prepare on the documentation and the format and …”

Simon Menashy May 25, 2015 ▶ 5:09 How to Pitch a Top VC with Simon Menashy @ MMC Ventures

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Menashy: EIS tax scheme made the UK a top European VC hub

“EIS is a fantastic example that has made London one of the best places, and the UK generally, one of the best places to raise venture capital funding in Europe, and it's brought a lot more capital into the market from sources that might otherwise not be lookin…”

Simon Menashy May 25, 2015 ▶ 12:27 How to Pitch a Top VC with Simon Menashy @ MMC Ventures

Insight

Menashy: Startups commonly need multiple Series A or bridge rounds

“Normally we see companies, frankly, they do a couple of series A rounds, or they do you know, a bridge, something like that, because it's taking longer for those companies then to get to series B.”

Simon Menashy May 25, 2015 ▶ 16:23 How to Pitch a Top VC with Simon Menashy @ MMC Ventures

Opinion

Menashy: Startups execute in a week what takes corporations six months

“You can suggest something to them and they've implemented it a week later rather than, You know, you've got to go through some six month political process at a big company.”

Simon Menashy May 25, 2015 ▶ 2:07 How to Pitch a Top VC with Simon Menashy @ MMC Ventures

Insight

Menashy: VCs use pitch questions to test founder thinking and data

“I think the reality is that a VC is testing you. They're testing your thinking. They're testing you know, really is the business model going to work? Really is the market as big as we all think it is? And is that really addressable? And you need to know the an…”

Simon Menashy May 25, 2015 ▶ 6:09 How to Pitch a Top VC with Simon Menashy @ MMC Ventures

Insight

Menashy: Founders should prepare 15-minute pitches for hour-long VC meetings

“I would much rather that a founder comes in with 15, 20 minute presentation prepared, which probably takes half an hour because, you know, I'll ask some questions and we'll, we'll have a nice chat around a few things. And then we have lots of time to delve int…”

Simon Menashy May 25, 2015 ▶ 6:54 How to Pitch a Top VC with Simon Menashy @ MMC Ventures

Disclosure

Menashy: MMC Ventures typically invests £1M to £5M in Series A

“So at NMC, we're typically investing in the Series A round. So for us, that means a company that's got some initial traction, it's got customers, customers that are willing to pay, and that are demonstrably getting some kind of value or ROI out of the product,…”

Simon Menashy May 25, 2015 ▶ 7:28 How to Pitch a Top VC with Simon Menashy @ MMC Ventures

Appearances (1)

Episode	Date	Speaking time
How to Pitch a Top VC with Simon Menashy @ MMC Ventures	May 25, 2015	16m

Simon Menashy

The record, in short

Argument clarity: do they answer the question? how? →

How they sound: speaking style how? →

Appearances (1)

Turn any episode into a week of clips.