Future of Venture Capital with AV8 Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners, and more insights

"As an investor, early on, I don't know the market as well as the customers themselves, so having the customer's voice is so important"

- Baris Aksoy, General Partner at AV8 Ventures

Other valuable insights from the session:

• "Talent in the bay area is just unparalleled because they come in with the mindset that anything is possible, and they come in with the mindset to solve the world's largest problems knowing that they can do it... as opposed to having been convinced over a two or three year journey that of course you can do it"

• "The Series A was almost like a step function where we had to go out and get 15 million bucks to get started. Now, it is sort of elastic and it is like a utility where you can raise on a more linear curve."

• "There are a lot of banker type investors outside of Silicon Valley. The banker type does not mean they are better at diligence or intelligence... There is an element of a transactional relationship instead of a long term game of making multiple shots on the goal along with the founder."

Watch the full session here.

More Snippets of Tactical Entrepreneurial Wisdom

• When asking questions for feedback, start with “How would you rate ____ on a scale of 1 to 10?” Oftentimes, people will give ratings of 6, 7, 8, or if you’re lucky 9. And the follow up question then becomes, “What would get it to a 10?” And that’s where meaty parts are.

• If your fundraising deck is not ready, do not send it out. Loads of good founders are accidentally rejected due to poor first-draft decks.

• Framework for monetization:

• If it drives virality, give it away.

• If it drives activation, give it away until activated and then charge.

• If it doesn't drive retention but people value it, charge extra for it.

• If it drives lifetime value, compare to willingness to pay to decide whether to charge or give it away.