Kent Goldman

Everything Kent Goldman said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.

20VC Prediction Held up

Upside Partnership will remain small because scaling breaks the seed fund model

“The vision is to continue to be a small fund. Somewhere where it is now, the second fund that we raise is forty four million. I think sort of if I get too far above that, the model we're seeking to work with begins to break down a little bit. There may be addi…”

Kent Goldman Dec 28, 2016 ▶ 20:52 20VC: Using Valuation As A Litmus Test, Why Valuation Does Not Matter At Seed Stage & How Seed Funds Can Serve Founders Better with Kent Goldman, Founder @ Upside Partnership

20VC Prediction Not checkable as stated

Upside Partnership expects to deploy 70% of its capital into follow-ons

“We expect about 70% of that will actually be deployed into follow-on investments.”

Kent Goldman Dec 28, 2016 ▶ 7:44 20VC: Using Valuation As A Litmus Test, Why Valuation Does Not Matter At Seed Stage & How Seed Funds Can Serve Founders Better with Kent Goldman, Founder @ Upside Partnership

20VC Insight

Seed valuation serves as a conviction litmus test, not a price filter

“So internally, when I think about valuation, I almost use it as a litmus test for my own enthusiasm, my own belief in whether or not a company can achieve its high aims. But I don't focus on it sort of that much at the seed stage.”

Kent Goldman Dec 28, 2016 ▶ 14:44 20VC: Using Valuation As A Litmus Test, Why Valuation Does Not Matter At Seed Stage & How Seed Funds Can Serve Founders Better with Kent Goldman, Founder @ Upside Partnership

20VC Disclosure

Upside Partnership stops writing follow-on checks at a $100 million valuation

“So before I mentioned, usually we Peter, you know, upside has been petering out as companies hit a hundred million dollars in valuation.”

Kent Goldman Dec 28, 2016 ▶ 15:12 20VC: Using Valuation As A Litmus Test, Why Valuation Does Not Matter At Seed Stage & How Seed Funds Can Serve Founders Better with Kent Goldman, Founder @ Upside Partnership

20VC Disclosure

Upside Partnership prefers not to take board seats in portfolio companies

“So I don't worry about whether or not we have a board seat. I, in fact, I almost prefer to sort of not have a board seat.”

Kent Goldman Dec 28, 2016 ▶ 15:51 20VC: Using Valuation As A Litmus Test, Why Valuation Does Not Matter At Seed Stage & How Seed Funds Can Serve Founders Better with Kent Goldman, Founder @ Upside Partnership

20VC Insight

Thematic investing fails at the seed stage because it happens too late

“I think it's very hard to be thematic at the seed stage. I think generally by the time you can identify a theme at the seed stage, it's probably too late.”

Kent Goldman Dec 28, 2016 ▶ 18:22 20VC: Using Valuation As A Litmus Test, Why Valuation Does Not Matter At Seed Stage & How Seed Funds Can Serve Founders Better with Kent Goldman, Founder @ Upside Partnership

20VC Insight

Early product is the least important evaluation factor in seed investing

“Product is probably the last thing I worry about when I think about product, especially at the seed stage or what the early vision of a product is. That helps you understand how the team thinks about the space as opposed to sort of being, you know, the thing y…”

Kent Goldman Dec 28, 2016 ▶ 18:44 20VC: Using Valuation As A Litmus Test, Why Valuation Does Not Matter At Seed Stage & How Seed Funds Can Serve Founders Better with Kent Goldman, Founder @ Upside Partnership

20VC Assertion Supported

Josh Koppelman ran Facebook ads targeting Yahoo employees during 2008 takeover

“Josh Koppelman, who had just started First Round Capital, had decided when he saw the news of the takeover attempt, he wanted to see if there's anyone at Yahoo who is sort of loose in the saddle and maybe thinking about joining a startup or starting a company.…”

Kent Goldman Dec 28, 2016 ▶ 3:51 20VC: Using Valuation As A Litmus Test, Why Valuation Does Not Matter At Seed Stage & How Seed Funds Can Serve Founders Better with Kent Goldman, Founder @ Upside Partnership

20VC Insight

Seed funds expanding to write lead checks creates direct competition

“As all these funds are trying to grow up and everyone was trying to be a lead investor, they're putting themselves in deeper and deeper competition with one another.”

Kent Goldman Dec 28, 2016 ▶ 6:41 20VC: Using Valuation As A Litmus Test, Why Valuation Does Not Matter At Seed Stage & How Seed Funds Can Serve Founders Better with Kent Goldman, Founder @ Upside Partnership

20VC Insight

Making portfolio founders fund partners increases mutual support

“If we could actually sort of make founders partners in the fund, they would be more supportive of one another.”

Kent Goldman Dec 28, 2016 ▶ 10:04 20VC: Using Valuation As A Litmus Test, Why Valuation Does Not Matter At Seed Stage & How Seed Funds Can Serve Founders Better with Kent Goldman, Founder @ Upside Partnership

20VC Assertion Not checkable as stated

Seed and friends-and-family rounds were virtually identical in 2008

“In 2008, there's very little difference between a seed round and a friends and family round”

Kent Goldman Dec 28, 2016 ▶ 6:23 20VC: Using Valuation As A Litmus Test, Why Valuation Does Not Matter At Seed Stage & How Seed Funds Can Serve Founders Better with Kent Goldman, Founder @ Upside Partnership

The other half of the tape: Kent Goldman's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 4 times in 4 episodes across the shows. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 4

Statements about Kent Goldman, by other people (1)

20VC Insight

Kent Goldman: Use valuation pricing as a litmus test for deal conviction

“Kent Goldman at Upside in stating to me that the best way to use pricing to your advantage is to use it as a litmus test. It's a leading indicator almost to determine your desire to do a deal. If you believe this is going to be a truly game-changing, transform…”

Harry Stebbings May 8, 2017 ▶ 8:57 20VC: Harry Stebbings on The Biggest Takeaways From Interviewing The World's Best Investors, What Makes A Truly Great Interview & Some Big News... with Mattias Ljungman, Co-Founder & General Partner @ Atomico

Every mention by year

One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Kent's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.

Show	Role there	Eps	Statements	Record
20VCLEDGER	Founder, Upside Partnership	1	11	100% 2/2	full record on 20VC →