The startup world is going through yet another evolution. A few years ago, VCs were focused on growth over profitability. Now, making money is just as important, if not more, than sheer growth. And we’re in the midst of a global pandemic, which has brought the economy to a crawl and forced entrepreneurs to rethink both their short and long-term priorities.
Startups want to hear from the voices they trust for guidance on how to navigate this difficult situation. That’s why we’re excited to introduce Extra Crunch Live, a virtual speaker series complete with live Q&A for our Extra Crunch members. We’re also thrilled to announce that Aileen Lee and Ted Wang, partners at Cowboy Ventures, will be joining us for our very first Extra Crunch Live call on April 20 at 10:30am PT / 1:30pm ET. (Full details at the bottom of the post.)
Aileen Lee founded Cowboy Ventures, a well-known early-stage firm, after serving as a partner at KPCB from 1999 to 2012. She coined the term “unicorn” (in a TechCrunch article, no less) and has been named one of Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women, The Top Women Investors on Midas and The Times’ 100 Most Influential People.
She has worked hands-on with companies such as Bloom Energy, Blue Nile, One Kings Lane, Rent the Runway, Shopkick and Tellme (acquired by Microsoft) during her time at KPCB, and has investments in StyleSeat, Textio, August Home, Brit+Co, Crunchbase, Dollar Shave Club and Drop via Cowboy Ventures . Lee is also a co-founder of AllRaise, a nonprofit to accelerate the success of women in the tech ecosystem.
Ted Wang was one of the country’s leading tech startup lawyers, at Fenwick & West, before joining Cowboy Ventures. At the law firm, he served as outside counsel to some of the biggest tech companies in the world, including Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Square, Sonos, Spotify, Jet, Stripe and Wealthfront.
Wang’s specialty is helping early-stage startups understand the metrics they need to hit to go from seed to Series A and beyond, and he likes to say one of his investment focuses is “Unsexy Tech,” with an interest in both consumer and enterprise tech.
We’re excited to talk to Lee and Wang about how they’re advising their portfolio companies during COVID-19, if there are new and innovative ways for early-stage startups to secure capital beyond the traditional VC route, and whether startups should hunker down or lean in during these uncertain times.
We have plenty of questions of our own, and you’ll also be able to ask your own questions. Make sure you come prepared! But you’ll need to be an Extra Crunch member to participate in the call.
We’ll be announcing more speakers very soon! Sign up for Extra Crunch to be the first to hear about the upcoming schedule. Information to join Aileen Lee and Ted Wang can be found below:
Source: Tech Crunch