Drew Taggart
Co-Founder & General Partner, Mantis VC. On 2 shows, 2 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
entertainerinvestorfounder@drewtaggart ↗mantisvc.com ↗
Drew Taggart is a Grammy Award-winning producer and vocalist in the DJ duo The Chainsmokers, known for massive global hits such as "Closer" and "Don't Let Me Down". In technology, he co-founded the early-stage venture capital firm Mantis VC alongside bandmate Alex Pall, backing companies such as MoonPay, FitOn, and LoanSnap.
2shows
2appearances
20statements
2resolved
0supported
1contradicted
0%fully supported
1said about them ↓ Everything Drew Taggart said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Drew Taggart: Mantis VC is bearish on investing in music tech startups
“We actually are pretty bearish on investing in music tech companies, which I feel like we see probably most of them that are out there as of our profile, but we haven't made an investment in the music space yet.”
Taggart: Forward-thinking record labels could have built Spotify themselves
“If they had been forward-thinking and accepted that they would have created Spotify, we wouldn't be paying an extra 30% to a DSP.”
Taggart: AI tools expand access rather than entrenching incumbent musicians
“I think what it does is actually kind of the opposite, is like, it just allows more people to be able to make music, and perform music, and create an experience that other people connect to. Like, I think music is just, you know, is my personal favorite form o…”
Taggart: Product visionaries should hire a CEO rather than be CEO
“Like you don't have to be the CEO of your business. You know, hire someone that's great at that. That's going to deal with that. If you're the best product person, you're the best visionary at the company, don't be the CEO.”
Taggart: There is no formula for writing pop or dance hits
“You'd think that we'd have a formula now on how to, like, write a dance song at least, or write a pop song. Forget about trying to write, like, the truest song for you at that moment, but, like, it's still, it can come from anywhere, and it's so difficult, and…”
Taggart: New dance artists sell out arenas despite modest Spotify numbers
“The stars of, the new stars of dance right now, that are doing like, blowing out Madison Square Gardens, or doing the basically festival sized crowds for their own shows, If you looked at them on their Spotify monthly listeners, like we were talking about earl…”
Drew Taggart: World-building will become increasingly important for musical artists
“The world building of the whole thing is something that, you know, doesn't come naturally to every artist, which I think will be just be more and more important.”
Taggart: The Grateful Dead are the best at building long-term fandom
“You look at like, someone like the Grateful Dead, and you look like, what's that become? Like, they're maybe the best people at making fans over time, and incredible musicians, but they've created this experience that's like, replicable, that people can tell, …”
Taggart: Artist-label relationships mirror founder-investor dynamics
“The relationship between an artist and a record label is It's basically the same as a founder and their investor.”
Taggart: Every successful CEO must periodically return to unglamorous hustling
“You know, I'm sure if you talk to any, like, long-lasting, successful CEO, like, or founder, they've, like, there's been moments where, like, they're like, fuck, like, my strategy is not working anymore, and I have to go back to, like, eating shit, making phon…”
Taggart: Our investment in beverage brand Poppi returned 30x
“I don't know if we would have invested in Poppy again, you know, because we just don't, we do, we try not to stay away from CPG, but like, you know, that was like a 30 X”
Drew Taggart: Making Mantis VC succeed is live-or-die for The Chainsmokers
“This is a new space and there's a lot riding on this and it's very live or die for us to make this work.”
Drew Taggart: Alex Pall relentlessly hassles founders until they explicitly reject him
“Alex's superpower, too, is he's the world's greatest haggler, and he'll just hassle people. Like, if you say you're like, yeah, we're interested in having you in this round, you're not gonna not hear from Alex once or twice a day until you, like, officially pa…”
Taggart: We hit 30 number ones on Hype Machine in our first year
“And I think within the first year of our career, you know, we went from zero to 30 number ones on Hype Machine.”
Drew Taggart: Mantis VC will not lead investment rounds
“Due to the size of our fund and the check size that we write, we're not leading rounds. Typically, we're not taking up the lion's share of a lot of these rounds.”
Taggart: Resume achievements do not protect against depression and anxiety
“The thing about depression and anxiety is it doesn't matter what is on your resume. It's about how you feel about yourself”
Taggart: Mantis VC will narrow its thesis around synergistic investments
“Just narrowing our thesis to the point where like the investments we make, the businesses that we have access to, We'll have great synergy with all of the other things that we do and who we are as people.”
Taggart: We only used outside writers for top lines on 5% of songs
“Jungle actually is one of the only songs recently that we did not write. I don't think I wrote anything on that, on the top line of that song. Which is like, that's maybe like, full five percent of Chainsmokers songs.”
The other half of the tape: Drew Taggart's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 1 time in 1 episode across the shows. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 1
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
20VC 1
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Drew's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 INVEST LIKE THE BESTLEDGER | Co-Founder & General Partner, Mantis VC | 1 | 14 | 0% 0/1 | full record on Invest Like the Best → |
| 20VCLEDGER | Co-Founder & General Partner, Mantis VC | 1 | 6 | 0% 0/1 | full record on 20VC → |