Josh Felser
Co-founder and Managing Partner, Climactic. On 1 show, 1 appearance. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
investorfounderexecutive@Joshmedia ↗LinkedIn ↗climactic.vc ↗
Josh Felser is an entrepreneur turned investor who co-founded early digital media platforms Spinner and Grouper. He later co-founded seed venture firm Freestyle Capital before launching Climactic to back climate technology startups.
1shows
1appearances
15statements
1resolved
0supported
0contradicted
0%fully supported
10said about them ↓ Everything Josh Felser said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Felser: Replacing seed founders performs so poorly it requires fraud to justify
“The history of replacing a founder at the siege stage with a new CEO, that historical performance of that experience is so poor that I can't imagine, it would have to be almost a fraud situation Situation for me to do that versus kind of replacing a founder wh…”
Felser: A VC secretly pitched founders against each other at Spinner
“We had a horrible situation, Dave and I did, when we started Spinner. We had a VC who was whispering, I think I wrote about this, whispering in Dave's ear bad things about me, and whispering in my ear that things were okay.”
Felser: Forcing a founder to stay damages long-term LP returns
“I can make a short-term decision that would actually maximize shareholder value for that company, but I could Destroy my reputation doing it, and so then that, so if I look at my ultimate duty is to my LPs, so short-sightedly I can say, well, you know, I'm gon…”
Felser: Venture capital is easier than entrepreneurship due to flexibility
“It's obviously easier than being an entrepreneur, but I can do it from anywhere. I'm flexible about my hours. I can work, you know, sometimes I work until one AM, sometimes I work until three PM and have a portfolio of companies to spread the stress across.”
Felser: Later-stage VCs are more transactional than early-stage investors
“Well, later, later stage VCs really are become more transactional, I think, than early stage VCs.”
Felser: Don't inform employees about acquisition talks until deal is finalized
“I wouldn't tell the team until you have a deal.”
Felser: Operating a startup is the most stressful job
“Being an operator is the most stressful thing you'll ever do, and so I think it can evolve you, but it can also make, make it hard to experience the other pleasures in life”
Felser: Freestyle is out of alignment with founders only 1% of time
“One percent of the time, I find myself out of alignment with an entrepreneur at some point in the process.”
Felser: Portfolio company sold low after founder rejected insider bridge round
“So last, last year we had a company go through the M&A process and we were surprised by it because we were on the page of this company being a billion dollar company. We really were. And all the investors were. And the founder had a rough experience raising ca…”
Felser pledges never to secretly discuss founders with other investors
“So I promise entrepreneurs that I will never have a conversation about them. That they don't know about with other investors.”
Felser: Spinner sold to AOL for $320M after initial $500M anchor
“So with the spinner, we were asked what our number was, and we, and I remember, I was sitting in the boardroom with AOL, and I said, five hundred million. Now, first, what was that based on? Nothing. It was just, I said it with conviction. I remember, I looked…”
Felser: Time and the board are a founder's top M&A leverage
“Your two greatest weapons are time and your board.”
Felser details $65M Crackle acquisition breakdown between cap table and management
“The breakdown of crackle was 60,000,005 million. So five million was just set aside for management and sixty million was for the cap table with a spinner. It was all cap table.”
Felser: Pursuing M&A offers makes returning to normal operations almost impossible
“Once they actually go down this path of, you know, enabling M&A and actually being promised an offer, it's almost impossible to go back to running the company”
Felser: Best way to recruit women in tech is asking for help
“So the best way to add more women in tech, though, is to ask for help. If you're recruiting, if you're either recruiting for your own venture capital firm, or you're trying to help your company, your portfolio company you recruit, ask women for help.”
The other half of the tape: Josh Felser's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 10 times in 4 episodes across the shows. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Jenny Lefcourt 6Harry Stebbings 3Charles Hudson 1
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
20VC 10
2018 2 mentions in 1 episode
2017 1 mention in 1 episode
2016 7 mentions in 2 episodes 4 per episode
- 20VC: How Startups Should React To Today's Funding Environment & Why Big Markets Are More Forgiving with Jenny Lefcourt, Partner @ Freestyle.vc
- 20VC: Raising A Solo GP Fund & Why They Are So Prominent Today with Charles Hudson, Managing Partner @ Precursor Ventures
- every mention in 2016, scene by scene →
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Josh's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20VCLEDGER | Co-founder and Managing Partner, Climactic | 1 | 15 | 0% 0/1 | full record on 20VC → |