Non-startup achievements predict success for first-time founders
David Wu · 20 VC 058: 10 Key Traits To Be A Successful Founder with David Wu, General Partner @ Maveron · Jul 29, 2015 · at 15:15
David Wu, General Partner at Maveron, explains how Maveron evaluates first-time founders without prior startup track records.
0:00 / 0:16exact quote · 16.6s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“Past success is often indicative of future success, and so even a first-time founder, you know, maybe a nineteen-year-old coming out of the UK has had some body of work of things they've accomplished in their life, whether it's winning awards in sports or scholastics”
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 David Wu
New York's rational financial mindset limits growth compared to Bay Area ambition
“One of the big differences between the financial mindset of New York is and in the Bay Area, New York starts off with, well, you know, this is as big as you possibly can get, and this is what's rational for, you know, what could happen in the Bay Area is still…”
Consumer startups offer minimal IP differentiation compared to founder execution
“There's less and less differentiation on the IP of consumer deals and much more around how well the team understands how to connect with end consumers.”
Revisionist history is one of the most common traits among successful CEOs
“I think on the entrepreneur side, I almost, I often tell people that one of the most common traits in successful CEOs and successful entrepreneurs is revisionist history.”
Maveron exclusively invests in direct-to-consumer startups
“Every investment we make is something that is direct to consumer, so no enterprise, infrastructure, and hardly even B to B to C.”