Venture capitalist Harry Stebbings goes into venture capital

There were quite a few memorable scenes from The Social Network, the 2010 film that chronicles the creation of Facebook — and the lawsuits that followed. There's the initial whirlwind of a breakup that leads to the highly problematic Facemash.com, the moment Saverin confronts Zuckerberg for being cheated out of his actions, the perfectly delivered "drop the 'the'. Just Facebook."

But it wasn't any of those scenes that lingered in Harry Stebbings' mind. No. What the soon-to-be podcast host and venture capitalist conjures up in mind is a somewhat forgettable scene where Peter Thiel becomes Facebook's first major investor. It was Harry's first time meeting venture capitalists and, he tells us, he was immediately hooked. He read all he could about VCs and, at age 18, started The Twenty Minute VC, a podcast that for the past eight years has captured the brains of over 200 people worldwide. leading venture capitalists and startup founders and has been downloaded over 100 million times. Shortly after launching the podcast, Harry took to investing, and in 2020 he used the success of his show to launch his own venture capital fund, the 20VC Fund.

In July, Harry interviewed Des Traynor, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Intercom, about Intercom's origins, common startup myths, startup strategy and his approach to angel investing. Now we're going the other way.

In today's episode, we caught up with Harry Stebbings to discuss starting a new project, creating content, and the current venture capital landscape.

If you're short on time, here are some quick tips:

When starting out, attach a financial commitment to the first step. Once you're there, it's like hitting the gym - you'll be terrible at first, but you'll get better with time. Distribution is the key. Build a community of brand ambassadors to promote your content and leverage interviewee networks for wider reach. Channel specialization is more important than ever. Different channels have different audiences, goals, and specifics, and distribution strategies should reflect that. When it comes to podcasts, it's best to start very specific and build a real fan base, knowing that you can always grow later. We are going through tough times for venture capital – from price inflation to multi-stage players flocking to safer investments. There is no right way to venture. Lean into your strengths - whether it's an analytical eye or a love for building relationships - set up your network and get the job done.

If you like our discussion, check out other episodes of our podcast. You can follow on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube or grab the RSS feed in the reader of your choice. The following is a slightly edited transcript of the episode.

Fall in love with venture capital

Liam Geraghty: Harry, you are welcome to the show. Nice to have you.

Harry Stebbings: Yes, it's good to be here, Liam. Thank you for having me, my friend.

Liam: Okay, I want to start by saying that when I was 12 or 13, I was watching the Star Wars Special Edition re-release when it came out in theaters and pretending to have lightsaber battles on my way home. This film had a huge impact on me. For you, a very different genre of film was a great source of inspiration. I wonder what it was.

"I believe people are becoming more important than business and distribution is more important than ever. So why didn't I interview these people?"

Harry: I mean, that sounds a little fishy, ​​mate. I was 12 or 13 when I saw Social Network, the acclaimed film about Facebook's growth story. I saw Peter Thiel invest in Facebook from his hedge fund, Clarium Capital, which is a scene that everyone forgets, and it's completely forgotten in the movie. But it was the first time a little boy in London like me had seen venture capital. I went home, read everything I could about early writers' adventure - remember, that was when adventure wasn't cool, when there were very few writers, so Brad Feld, Roger Ehrenberg, David Hornick, Mark Suster - read all...