Wesley Chan Led Canva's Series A Without 20% Ownership or Board Seat
Wesley Chan · Wesley Chan: How I Created Google Analytics; The Founding Story of Gmail & Canva | 20VC #919 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Aug 22, 2022 · at 24:43
Wesley Chan describes bypassing traditional VC dogma on board seats and ownership percentages when leading Canva's early funding rounds.
0:00 / 0:10exact quote · 10.2s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“I did not have 20% ownership of Canva when I led the Series A. I did not have a board seat. In fact, so many people said no to them because they said, we're not giving you a board seat. Or they said, we're not giving you 20% ownership.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Wesley Chan
Wesley Chan: More Than 75% of the Crypto Industry Is Scammy
“I was one of the first to like boohoo crypto. You know, some of it's unwell, but like I said, like, I can't be involved in a bunch of stuff where like, I think more than three quarters of it is scammy.”
Wesley Chan Refuses to Invest Without a 100-Year Company Vision
“If the founder comes to me and doesn't have a hundred year plan, I don't want to, I don't care. I don't want to be involved. We don't just do wedges, right?”
Wesley Chan Ignores TAM and Market Size When Making Investments
“I don't do it. I don't actually, you know, look at the say, is the market big enough? I just say, does the founder have a unique insight on a market that hasn't been created yet or that, you know, they're about to expand into.”
Wesley Chan: Market Downturns Are Treacherous Times to Actually Invest Capital
“No, it's the best time to have a fund. It's not the best time to be investing, right? There's a lot of treacherous deals out there.”
Wesley Chan Avoids Taking Pitches in Domains Where He Has Expertise
“So I try not to take any pitches in the areas I know too much about because I have a natural bias to pass on it and say, say no. And I'd rather, you know, have one of my colleagues or partners who don't know enough about it, take the pitch and then like be rea…”
Democratizing expert software increases a company's total addressable market by 100x
“And by the way, it also increases your market by an order of a hundred extra more, right? You know, we're You know, Adobe's building Photoshop for probably hundreds of thousands of people who want to, who are skilled or want to make design their profession, an…”