DeWahl: Operating and investing complement each other through distinct operational views
Julia DeWahl · 20VC: Biggest Lessons From Opendoor's Scaling Journey, How To Implement Systems for Growth & The Right Way To Structure Customer Discovery Processes with Julia DeWahl, Angel Investor · Jul 3, 2020 · at 30:26
Julia DeWahl, former Opendoor executive and angel investor, discusses how maintaining both operator and investor perspectives enhances strategic thinking on 20VC.
0:00 / 0:30exact quote · 30.3s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“Operating and investing are incredibly complimentary. Investing encourages you to be up there at that 30,000 foot view, seeing patterns across industries, comparing business models, looking at macro trends to see where those next pockets of opportunity might be. But operating is much lower altitude. I would call it more bird's eye because you don't also want to be sort of like in the weeds for the whole time. But it allows you sort of observe what's going on within your business to see, hey, over there, product isn't working out. And then I think those two things can be very complimentary.”
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 Julia DeWahl
DeWahl: Startups must own the full vertical customer experience for operational control
“Oh, I'm a big believer in owning the vertical solution, the end-to-end customer experience, because ultimately you have control that way.”
DeWahl: Frontline staff, not managers, must create and own operational checklists
“The person doing the checking should be responsible for the creation and the ownership of the checklist. Nobody wants a checklist if it's not actually useful. This is not one of those things where the manager writes it and hands it down to the team. In fact, I…”
DeWahl: Skeptical of founders claiming complete automation of operational tasks
“It kind of reminds me of Flexport or something. It's the people who are telling you they're going to automate everything they do. I also am quite Skeptical.”
DeWahl: Founding teams must possess core competencies required by their business model
“One that stands out and that I find myself thinking about frequently as an investor is people solve problems with the tools that they have. That means that a founding team and their first hires there need to be matched to the core competencies required for tha…”
DeWahl: Founders should use broad open-ended questions in customer discovery
“I think I always advise that people start with broad open-ended questions. You really can't go wrong there. This allows the customer to actually more proactively Bring up areas of concern or frustration that they have just to share what matters to them. And if…”
DeWahl: Customers express pain points; product builders must craft the vision
“The customer is not meant to be the one coming up with a vision for your product. So they're there to share their feelings, share their concerns, share their frustrations. And then it's the responsibility of the product builders to synthesize what they've hear…”