James Wise
General Partner, Balderton Capital. On 1 show, 3 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
investorauthorhost@jamespaulwise ↗LinkedIn ↗jameswise.com ↗
James Wise is a General Partner at Balderton Capital, focusing on AI, healthtech, and enterprise software investments. He is the author of the book Start-Up Century and serves as the inaugural chair of the UK's Sovereign AI Unit.
1shows
3appearances
31statements
9resolved
8supported
0contradicted
89%fully supported
7said about them ↓ Everything James Wise said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Wise: Hiring VCs strictly from banking or consulting is outdated
“Look, I think that's an outdated model, and I think the only people who are still following that model are people who haven't realized that the venture game has changed considerably.”
Wise: Europe's next $100B tech giants will focus on AI, fintech, fashion
“They're going to go and build the third wave, which is the 10, fifty, hundred billion dollar companies. And they're obviously not going to be competitive with the types of companies built in San Francisco in the same fields, not in sort of the information sear…”
Wise: Balderton will invest in narrow AI applications, not general AI platforms
“So once again, I don't think we're going to make investments in AI companies as a whole, right? I don't think that's the thing, but I think companies which have already thoughtfully found ways to apply what have been recently Some significant breakthroughs in …”
Wise: Core VC tasks do not require prior operational experience
“It's really not clear that you need to have huge amounts of entrepreneurial experience in order to do the two things which VCs should be able to do really well. One is insightfully source companies. So find interesting companies in areas which are fast growing…”
Wise: App store distribution makes European market fragmentation irrelevant
“So it doesn't matter about market entry into Germany versus the US. They launch on the App Store. They launch on the Play Store. They're global instantly.”
Wise: Talent is San Francisco's sole remaining advantage over global tech hubs
“And I think the one competitive point which San Francisco still leads on, and the one which only a few other hubs in the world can really charge them on, is talent.”
Wise: Capital shortages and regulatory barriers in European tech are a misnomer
“And I think that's the real challenge isn't about Can you get enough capital in, or is there regulatory barriers? I think all of that is a complete misnomer.”
Wise: Raising new micro-funds for quick capital is short-sighted
“There is a huge, there's quite a big rush, actually, I've noticed of people saying, hey, I'm going to go and raise my own fund now. There's, you know, there's some money on the table. And I think it's great, but it's quite short-term view for what is a very lo…”
Wise: Mobile gaming startups no longer require venture capital
“If you launch a mobile game today, there are rigorous data models, which basically mean you don't need venture capital anymore. You know that there'll be certain targets you need to hit, and some growth investor or someone else will buy you.”
Wise: Small, hyper-specialized VC funds will prove flawed in the long run
“And that's why just saying, hey, you know, I'm going to set up the best three-man team to do, you know, something really specific in venture is, is I think going to be flawed in the long run.”
Wise: Venture capital offers loose oversight compared to banking or startups
“If you don't love it is actually surprisingly easy for people to disappear for three or four hours a day and not really do anything, right? You get rumbled after six months, but it's not like a fight. It's not like being in a bank or being a consultancy or it'…”
Wise: Narrow AI is not a stepping stone to general intelligence
“I don't. I think that the breadth of general intelligence is, is far beyond.”
Wise: Venture capital struggles to scale in its traditional model
“It's really, really difficult to scale venture capitalists. The companies we invest in, they have to scale, but we personally, we're not very good at it. So VC really, you know, struggles to scale in its current model, at least”
Wise: Europe produced over 30 billion-dollar tech exits in 10 years
“Europe, if you look at the tops of billion-dollar tech exits, or unicorns, or whatever you want to call them in the last 20 years, there's been, or 10 years, rather, there's been over 30 coming out of Europe, and there's many more in the pipe.”
Wise: Top Silicon Valley VC returns dwarf best European fund returns
“The best returns of European venture funds are dwarfed by the very, very top funds in the Valley.”
Wise: UK has world's second-highest per-capita e-commerce purchasing rate
“Britain has got the highest purchase rate of e-commerce products per capita of anywhere in the world apart from South Korea, well ahead of the US.”
Wise: Breaking into venture capital is harder than ever
“I think it's now harder than ever to get into venture, despite the new funds being set up, because I think, so there's such broad awareness of it, and people find it interesting.”
Wise: London VC is more heavily weighted toward FinTech than San Francisco
“Certainly in London, we are probably slightly more heavily weighted towards FinTech, for example, than we might be if we have a San Francisco fund.”
Wise: Venture capital firms must react to the rise of equity crowdfunding
“And I think that there's no doubt it's already a real force to be reckoned with, and I think it's one which has got huge potential. And VCs need to react to it and be aware of it”
Wise: VC investment decisions ultimately depend on subjective belief over data
“You can use a lot of Data around emerging trends and around market and around looking at existing traction and public data points, but ultimately the decision comes down to that very core subjective belief.”
Wise: Series A investors back a team's problem-solving ability
“What makes a great Series A for me is someone who has also on top of that shown that they can learn and they can iterate to get to that. Because when you give Series A funding, it is still very, very high risk. And so what you're still backing is the ability o…”
Wise: Mini-bonds expand crowdfunding by offering immediate interest returns
“But the great thing about mini bonds is it attracts into the market people who have a different type, or they want a different type of asset, and they want a different type of risk, and it allows them to be involved in businesses which they really, really care…”
Wise: FOMO is a dangerous inclination venture investors must actively correct
“It's something we constantly have to check ourselves against. I think it's a natural human inclination. I think it's a really dangerous one, and it's something which we are aware of and trying to correct for all the time.”
The other half of the tape: James Wise's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 7 times in 3 episodes across the shows. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 4Luke Lang 3
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
20VC 7
2017 3 mentions in 1 episode
2016 1 mention in 1 episode
2015 3 mentions in 1 episode
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens James's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20VCLEDGER | General Partner, Balderton Capital | 3 | 31 | 89% 8/9 | full record on 20VC → |