Kevin Thau is a General Partner at Spark Capital. He discusses market timing and product strategy based on his experience at OpenWave, Twitter, and observing companies like Sonos and BlackBerry.
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“The companies that do a vertically integrated product when the market's early seem to have a better chance, in my opinion, than trying to be one piece of technology in the stack of a market before the market is there.”
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More from Kevin Thau
Opinion
Thau: Amazon accelerates sales but does not build brands
“I don't know that I believe that Amazon does a great job of helping build brands. Like, I don't see brands getting built on top of Amazon. I think it's a great accelerator.”
Kevin ThauJan 3, 2018▶ 19:0920VC: Why VC Is A Game of Maximising Serendipity, How VCs Can Characterise Their Approach To Working & Product Lessons from Jack Dorsey & Sonos' John MacFarlane with Kevin Thau, General Partner @ Spark Capital
Opinion
Thau: No competitor has come close to disrupting Twitter's core use case
“And it's amazing to me that over all these years, they still own that use case. No one's even come close to disrupting them for the Twitter use case.”
Kevin ThauJan 3, 2018▶ 5:0120VC: Why VC Is A Game of Maximising Serendipity, How VCs Can Characterise Their Approach To Working & Product Lessons from Jack Dorsey & Sonos' John MacFarlane with Kevin Thau, General Partner @ Spark Capital
Opinion
Thau: Facebook lacks Twitter's strong brand persona
“Even a product like Facebook is one of the most impressive companies and products of all time. It doesn't really have as much of a brand persona as a Twitter does, and I think it's because of all those little, little things.”
Kevin ThauJan 3, 2018▶ 15:5020VC: Why VC Is A Game of Maximising Serendipity, How VCs Can Characterise Their Approach To Working & Product Lessons from Jack Dorsey & Sonos' John MacFarlane with Kevin Thau, General Partner @ Spark Capital
Insight
Thau: Consumer investing is harder than B2B due to adoption risk
“Anything in consumer is very, very hard because you're betting on a big market adoption versus, say, a B to B company with recurring revenue and enterprise clients.”
Kevin ThauJan 3, 2018▶ 17:5620VC: Why VC Is A Game of Maximising Serendipity, How VCs Can Characterise Their Approach To Working & Product Lessons from Jack Dorsey & Sonos' John MacFarlane with Kevin Thau, General Partner @ Spark Capital
Opinion
Thau: College brand association and academic pedigree do not matter much
“I don't believe in the over obsession of where someone goes to school, that this, like, brand association of where people go to college or in education is that important. I think people get too wrapped up and obsessed with that, parents, kids, and I just don't…”
Kevin ThauJan 3, 2018▶ 22:2020VC: Why VC Is A Game of Maximising Serendipity, How VCs Can Characterise Their Approach To Working & Product Lessons from Jack Dorsey & Sonos' John MacFarlane with Kevin Thau, General Partner @ Spark Capital
PredictionNot checkable as stated
Thau: Computing is shifting to ambient interfaces beyond phones and PCs
“I do believe that computing is moving from trapped in these little boxes, either a phone or a computer, and computing's moving to everywhere. It's everywhere around us, whether it's your Amazon Echo or different displays around your home, and who knows what's …”
Kevin ThauJan 3, 2018▶ 25:4420VC: Why VC Is A Game of Maximising Serendipity, How VCs Can Characterise Their Approach To Working & Product Lessons from Jack Dorsey & Sonos' John MacFarlane with Kevin Thau, General Partner @ Spark Capital
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