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Brad Feld: Startup Boards and Lessons from Four Decades in VC

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Manage episode 509496850 series 2910083
Content provided by Pacifica Global, LLC. and Evan Epstein. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Pacifica Global, LLC. and Evan Epstein or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

(0:00) Intro

(1:36) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel

(2:23) Start of interview

(3:11) Brad's origin story

(4:54) Venture Capital Beginnings

(5:39) The Rise of the Internet

(8:10) His role in Softbank Technology Ventures and later Mobius Venture Capital. Reference to Heidi Roizen E6, E108 and E116

(12:26) Transition to Techstars and Foundry

(13:36) Origin and focus of his book Startup Boards. Reference to his blog post: Feld Thoughts. "Boards (and board members) for private companies operate on a bell curve" (some are excellent, some are horrific, and most are average).

(15:31) The Evolution of Founder-Friendly Terms

(30:06) Effective Board Composition

(35:00) Defining a Great Board: the Board as a Team. Reference to Matt Blumberg's Rule of 1s: see E52 (2022)

(38:05) "The goal of the board is to get different skill sets around the table" "I think a founder should fight against investors having additional observer seats."

(41:13) Why he considers it a red flag when a director claims they're acting out of "fiduciary duty." *Reference to the Startup Litigation Digest

(44:50) Governance concerns in the AI Boom

(47:37) Books that have greatly influenced his life:

  1. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig (1974)
  2. The entire pantheon of Neal Stephenson and William Gibson
  3. Science fiction written by female writers (as a category)
  4. Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons

(50:05) His mentors: Len Fassler and his uncle, Charlie Feld.

(51:55) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives his life by: from his Dad: "If you're not standing on the edge, you're taking up too much space.", from Len: "Brad, they can't kill you and they can't eat you. Suit up."

(53:00) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that he loves. "I love philanthropically funding bathrooms." Also, the Banana Lounge at MIT.

(55:38) The living person he most admires: his wife Amy Batchelor.

Brad Feld has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. He co-founded two venture capital firms, Foundry Group and Mobius Venture Capital, and multiple companies, including Techstars.

You can follow Evan on social media at:

X: @evanepstein

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/

Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/

__

To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/

__

Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

  continue reading

188 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 509496850 series 2910083
Content provided by Pacifica Global, LLC. and Evan Epstein. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Pacifica Global, LLC. and Evan Epstein or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

(0:00) Intro

(1:36) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel

(2:23) Start of interview

(3:11) Brad's origin story

(4:54) Venture Capital Beginnings

(5:39) The Rise of the Internet

(8:10) His role in Softbank Technology Ventures and later Mobius Venture Capital. Reference to Heidi Roizen E6, E108 and E116

(12:26) Transition to Techstars and Foundry

(13:36) Origin and focus of his book Startup Boards. Reference to his blog post: Feld Thoughts. "Boards (and board members) for private companies operate on a bell curve" (some are excellent, some are horrific, and most are average).

(15:31) The Evolution of Founder-Friendly Terms

(30:06) Effective Board Composition

(35:00) Defining a Great Board: the Board as a Team. Reference to Matt Blumberg's Rule of 1s: see E52 (2022)

(38:05) "The goal of the board is to get different skill sets around the table" "I think a founder should fight against investors having additional observer seats."

(41:13) Why he considers it a red flag when a director claims they're acting out of "fiduciary duty." *Reference to the Startup Litigation Digest

(44:50) Governance concerns in the AI Boom

(47:37) Books that have greatly influenced his life:

  1. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig (1974)
  2. The entire pantheon of Neal Stephenson and William Gibson
  3. Science fiction written by female writers (as a category)
  4. Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons

(50:05) His mentors: Len Fassler and his uncle, Charlie Feld.

(51:55) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives his life by: from his Dad: "If you're not standing on the edge, you're taking up too much space.", from Len: "Brad, they can't kill you and they can't eat you. Suit up."

(53:00) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that he loves. "I love philanthropically funding bathrooms." Also, the Banana Lounge at MIT.

(55:38) The living person he most admires: his wife Amy Batchelor.

Brad Feld has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. He co-founded two venture capital firms, Foundry Group and Mobius Venture Capital, and multiple companies, including Techstars.

You can follow Evan on social media at:

X: @evanepstein

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/

Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/

__

To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/

__

Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

  continue reading

188 episodes

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