Scott Sandell, Executive Chairman and Chief Investment Officer at NEA is truly one of the great venture capitalists of our generation. With nearly three decades at NEA he leads the field with a track record of dozens of successful investments including unicorns like Salesforce, Plaid, Workday, Robinhood, Cloudflare and Tableau.

How has he done it? Scott shares his investment philosophy influenced by other greats like Dick Kramlich and John Doerr: understand an individual's life story, decision-making process, and future goals as key in making successful investment choices.

Chapters:

00:02:17 What Are The Characteristics Of Unicorn Founders?

00:10:16 "I Look For Passion-Driven Missionaries"

00:16:05 Building Tableau's Success: Lessons in Slow, Purposeful Growth

00:27:13 Make Your Investors Your Partners. Navigating Board Relationships

00:40:55 The Era of Decreasing LP Commitments

00:52:39 Tyler and Sterlings Recap

Connect with Scott and NEA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottdsandell

YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTU3mQDqk3QyB4WeDQwZ1YQ

Connect with IO Pod

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IO__podcast

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@io_podcast

YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCayuY0VO95kQTUXJvh9T0oQ

Website: https://www.investoroperator.io/

This episode of the IO Podcast is brought to you by Pelion Venture Partners

https://pelionvp.com/

There may be no better pair of fintech investors than Better Tomorrow Ventures Jake Gibson and Sheel Mohnot. After successful exits in the industry -- Jake as the co-founder of NerdWallet, one of the OG consumer fintech companies, and Sheel with FeeFighter and Innovative Auctions, Jake and Sheel saw a gap in the market and started a fund to help fintech companies at the earliest stages. And they've already had some big wins, counting Ramp and Unit as Portcos.

Jake and Sheel joined us on the pod to tell us how they built their previous companies and talked to the future of fintech and the the trends they're seeing across the industry. We cover the pandemic-induced surge in fintech interest and how their big bet is on embeddable fintech, where financial services are seamlessly integrated into non-financial platforms.

Chapters:

00:00:35 Tyler & Sterling's Intro

00:07:05 Starting NerdWallet during the 2008 Financial Crisis

00:12:34 How Jake Gamed Google SEO To Grow NerdWallet

00:19:08 How Better Tomorrow Ventures Started

00:24:17 Early Support from Andreessen Horowitz for Fund

00:30:08 Fintech Investment Opportunities During The Pandemic

00:37:38 Embedded Fintech Is The Future

00:45:52 The Durbin Amendment & Changing Bank Profit Pools

00:55:47 Jake And Sheel's Nominees for Best Operators & Investors

Connect with Jake And Sheel

Twitter (Sheel): https://twitter.com/pitdesi

Twitter (Jake): https://twitter.com/iamjakestream

Website: https://www.btv.vc/

Learn More About The Mint

https://www.themint.vc/

Connect with IO Pod

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IO__podcast

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@io_podcast

YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCayuY0VO95kQTUXJvh9T0oQ

Website: https://www.investoroperator.io/

This episode of the IO Podcast is brought to you by Pelion Venture Partners

https://pelionvp.com/

#StartupLife #StartupMentality

Immad Akhund had the idea for Mercury years before they started. In fact, he'd launched 3 other startups and been through YCombinator twice before even starting initial validation on what would become the beloved neobank of startups everywhere. And opinions were mixed. Immad himself recognized the need for a simpler and more efficient banking service while while operating Heyzap his previous company. But when he shared the concept with other startups, not everyone grasped its potential.

Today, Mercury dominates in the neobank industry. Immad walks hosts Tyler Hogge and Sterling Snow through the early days of Mercury, shares advice on how to operate and his strategies on investing.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:56 Immad's Entrepreneurial Journey - Previous Companies & Learnings

00:08:27 What Does Mercury Do?

00:11:24 How He Launched Mercury

00:14:35 The Neo Bank Industry and Launch Timing

00:21:50 The SVB Fallout & How That Led To Big Growth For Mercury

00:32:50 Operating Advice: The Six-Year Vesting Plan

00:43:35 Immad's Hot Takes & Predictions: AI Is a Hype Cycle

00:57:17 Rapid Fire & Wrap-up

Things to Check Out:

Immad's Memo - How to Not Be A Bottleneck as a CEO

Immad's Podcast - Curiosity Podcast

Immad's Advice on Operating - @immad on X

___________________

This episode of the IO Podcast is brought to you by Pelion

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