Episode Introduction:  Welcome back everyone.&nbsp; I am really excited about today´s program because we are going to do a deep-dive and explore DeFi – Decentralized Finance, a topic you hear much about but may have little insights into what this frontier technology is all about and what its true impact will be on the future of global finance. To help me do this I have the pleasure of welcoming to the show Jim Bianco who is the President and Founder of Bianco Research, LLC in Chicago.&nbsp; Jim is someone I consider a visionary thought leader on the DeFi sector. &nbsp; Jim, thank you so much for making the time to be on the podcast today… So, before we dig into the meat of what DeFi is really all about, I thought it would be useful if you could tell us a bit about your background and about your journey, more broadly, that ultimately led to take a bullish stance toward DeFi.&nbsp; Mainly because you have this traditional Wall Street, I-bank research background.&nbsp; Tell us how the long-time, traditional finance guy goes actively pro-DeFi…  Topic Areas to be covered After introduction and you provide your background, I´d like to get into the following…  In prior commentary, you stated you came to the realization that DeFi is a `brand new financial system.´&nbsp; Expand on this revelation and what drew you to this conclusion. You have previously stated, Existing financial system is slow, cumbersome, has way too many permissions required,&nbsp; ´I basically have to beg my broker to do stuff´, it´s a series of toll booths´ ´Current system is in trouble.&nbsp; Many in financial world don´t get it and they don´t want to get it.´ ´You are going to look like a bunch of taxi drivers in a ride-sharing world.´ I tell people about DeFi;&nbsp; ´It will come here and completely flatten you.´ &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jim:&nbsp; DeFi is also about fairness…You and I don´t get the Warren Buffet deals.&nbsp; With DeFi we get exactly the same deal Jim discusses ´qualified investors´ if you have over $1M net worth, `what an insult´ You´ve previously segmented your clientele in two broad categories, ´Young and Old´ discuss what you mean by this with respect to understanding the impact of DeFi. Why does Warrant Buffet call crypto rat poison squared? Regulatory issues:&nbsp; Impact of central bank´s own digital currencies…expand on what you see going on here and why it´s not really DeFi… Jim:&nbsp; ´A CBDC, if done correctly, presents a financial threat to the existing financial system´…and in the end, they won´t do that b/c it bypasses the current banking system all together Jim:&nbsp; ´It´s not about technology or whether we have the design right – it´s about policy – how much do we want to disrupt the current banking system?´ Regulation:&nbsp; Problems regulators have, they don´t understand what´s going on in the DeFi industry…´It´s a Cambrian explosion of ideas End of the day, I don´t know what regulators can do except regulate the ´On-and-Off Ramps´ (Uniswap, Kracken, etc.)&nbsp; i.e. – how do I get dollars to crypto and crypto back to dollars To the Regulators, ´what are you trying to do?´ &nbsp; I see where we are going and it´s exciting and an explosion of ideas…  Closing Remarks  James, what is a good way for those seeking additional information about Bianco Research to get in touch?&nbsp;   Website –     Thank you for joining me for this edition of DVC.&nbsp; I hope you found our discussion today with Jim Bianco interesting and it gave you better insights into what DeFi is really all about and what it means for the future of finance globally.&nbsp; I look forward to joining you on my next edition of DVC.&nbsp; Thank You…

Episode 022 - James Bianco, President & Founder; Bianco Research, Chicago; DeFi – Decentralized Finance

If you really want to understand a business figure out how it makes money. That’s true for every kind of business.  It’s especially true in venture capital.  In this episode we look at what Cem Sertoglu of Early Bird Venture Capital, Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures and Benedict Evans of A16Z have to say about the economics of a venture capital fund.

Distilling Venture Capital

How Venture Capitalist Really Make Money?

Satya Patel of Homebrew, Steve Blank of lean startup fame and Aaron Harris of Y-Combinator wrote three amazing posts about founders, co-founders, founding teams and founding CEOs. In this episode, Mark W King explores their best thinking and explains what you need to know.

What Does A Co-founder Actually Do?

In this episode we look at advice from Hyde Park Angels and Rob Go of NextView Ventures about how to best pitch your startup to VCs or angel investors. We also look at what you can learn from a story Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures tells about an entrepreneur who successfully convinced Fred to invest without a pitch deck at all.

How To Pitch Startup Investors

VC decision making is one of the great mysteries of the business world. In this episode we look at the range of decision making models used by VC funds. &nbsp;Elizabeth Yin of 500 Startups wrote a great blog post on the topic. &nbsp;She was also generous enough to record some follow-up thoughts for this episode. The secret behind VC partnerships… The take home point is that venture capital funds fall on a spectrum with champion based decision making on one end and consensus models at the other. &nbsp;The key is doing your homework. Bonus Info On Elizabeth Yin Here's how Elizabeth describes herself: &nbsp;Partner at 500 Startups; Investor in seed stage companies and run the Mtn View accelerator. Formerly CEO / Co-founder of LaunchBit (acq '14) and marketer at Google. BSEE from Stanford, MBA from MIT Sloan.  Twitter LinkedIn Blog 500 Startups  I can't thank Elizabeth enough for calling and leaving some answers to follow-up questions. &nbsp;She has a great blog and is very active on Twitter.

How Do VCs Make Decisions?

For the detailed show notes and bonus information about Nic Brisbourn go to MarkWKing.com/5 &nbsp;  Startups Are Hard. Don't Go It Alone - Satay Patel, Homebrew Ventures  Building The Right Founding Team - Nic Brisbourne, Forward Partners  How Solo Founders Beat The Odds and Got Into Top Accelerators - Lora Kolodny for the Wall Street Journal &nbsp;

Is A Startup Co-founder Essential?

For detailed show notes and links go to MarkWKing.com/6 In this episode, I distill some positive and negative lessons about why a startup might need multiple attorneys. The short answer…lawyers are like doctors, they specialize. One size does not fit all situations. Equally important, entrepreneurs need to be careful about who an attorney has a duty of loyalty to. A lawyer that represents a company's best interest does not by default represent the founder. Also in this episode, I reintroduce the Venture Capital Coroner's Report. Previously, I did an entire podcast focused on lessons from failed, VC backed companies. The show failed (I know, ironic, right?). I just couldn't get enough interviews. However, there's more than enough material for an occasional segment of this show. The autopsy of VATLER provides an important lesson about disrupting entrenched players (and a resurrection story in the founding of SpotAngels).  Lawyers or Insurance Salesmen? Naval Ravikant - Angel List In a very short post Naval lays out six important lessons he learned about hiring lawyers. He learned these the  hard, expensive way.  A Startup Lawyer is Not a Founder's Lawyer Jose Ancer - &nbsp;Miller, Egan, Molter &amp; Nelson Often lawyers are like that coach in the corner of a boxing ring. They're an experienced, voice of reason in a life or death struggle. Jose Ancer points out, however, that you need to be sure the lawyer in your corner owes his highest allegiance to you. It's not always obvious. Jose does a great job explaining how attorney loyalty works.  Inside Story of VATLER's Shut Down Hamza Ouazzani Chahdi -&nbsp;Now at SpotAngels.com Founders ran head first into a wall called entrenched city government. Follow @HamzaOuazzaniC to track the story of SpotAngels, Hamza's new attempt to disrupt urban parking by helping you avoid parking tickets. Bonus Material – More About Naval Ravikant        Naval says this about himself: "I am the CEO and co-founder of AngelList. I previously co-founded Epinions (which went public as part of Shopping.com) and Vast.com. I'm an active Angel investor, and have invested in dozens of companies, including Twitter, Uber, Docverse and Jambool (both sold to Google), and Mixer Labs and Fluther (both sold to Twitter)." Background article from PE Hub on why Naval feels so strongly about lawyers:  His Brand Burnished, Naval Ravikant Plans New Fund with Babak Nivi    Blog StartUp Boy   Web Site Angel.co   Twitter @Naval   LinkedIn Naval Ravikant (little dated)    &nbsp;I'd love to connect at any of the following: Twitter: @TheMarkWKing LinkedIn: Mark W King Facebook: The Mark W King Old School Email: MarkWKing.com/social

Why A Startup Needs 16 Lawyers

Introduction  Welcome to Distilling Venture Capital.&nbsp; I am your host, Bill Griesinger Distilling VC is a visionary podcast that provides an insightful and informed view of the key trends affecting the VC and tech startup world.&nbsp; My mission is to cut through and go beyond the hype and Silicon Valley pop-jargon that tends to dominate the tech landscape.&nbsp; I seek to provide transparency and&nbsp;  &nbsp; Opening Observations:  Given that this is my inaugural episode under the Distilling VC label, I thought it would be appropriate and useful to provide you with some brief background regarding the podcast and the type of content you can expect in the future and a little about me… First, the podcast; &nbsp; The vast majority of episodes I will bring will take you inside the insights, challenges, successes and the journeys revealed and shared directly through the words and experiences of tech company entrepreneurs, sometimes from the VCs who back them and others in the tech and VC community…So, I’ll usually have very interesting guests.  &nbsp;  Some brief background on me, your host:&nbsp; I have spent a large part of my professional life (last 20 years) working in the Venture Finance business assisting VC-backed tech companies in procuring the capital they need to grow Over the years, I have had the opportunity and good fortune to meet and work with incredible, visionary management teams, many savvy investors and have had the privilege of underwriting and financing ground-breaking technology companies, many of which continue to have an impact on the technology landscape today (like Google; a $10M deal in 2001, for example).&nbsp;  &nbsp;  With that as backdrop, today I want to focus on a topic that I believe signals something has gone awry in tech startup and VC land over the last 4-5 years.&nbsp; And it concerns me greatly. &nbsp; Have you noticed, Everyone seems to be fascinated with “unicorns?”&nbsp; Venture capitalists, tech company founders and management teams, the tech press and the financial press and many others, &nbsp; So, today’s episode will delve into and distill down, “Unicorn-mania” so we can make sense of what’s really going on. Let me state for the record, It Is a big distraction from what’s really important in evaluating and valuing venture-backed tech companies.&nbsp; Furthermore, it really touches upon the issues of transparency and accuracy, and ultimately the credibility of the industry itself, in my view&nbsp; The longer this mania continues, I believe it presents dangerous consequences for multiple players inside and outside the VC industry. &nbsp;  &nbsp;  So, what am I talking about? &nbsp; Let’s unpack this…&nbsp; First, some definitional context:&nbsp; What is a Unicorn company that we hear so much hype about today?&nbsp; In tech and VC parlance, it is a private startup tech company that is valued at $1B or more, in theory, referred to as its “Post-money Valuation.” &nbsp; Great, what does that mean?&nbsp; Not what you may think it does, as I will explain… And for historical context, The term unicorn, in VC, originated…in late 2013 when Cowboy Ventures Partner, Aileen Lee, coined the term for what she described as a tech company with a $1B valuation – and noted it was a pretty rare thing, as she pointed out then – which was correct.&nbsp; There were 39 companies identified then in the ‘Unicorn Club.’&nbsp; 27 of those were in the Bay Area! &nbsp; So, it really was just a Silicon Valley phenomenon in the beginning…  &nbsp;  Lee admitted the term probably wasn’t the best or most well-thought-out description but went with it nonetheless. &nbsp;  “Yes we know the term “unicorn” is not perfect – unicorns apparently don’t exist, and these companies do – but we like the term because to us, it means something extremely rare, and magical” Aileen Lee, Cowboy Ventures, Nov. 2013 &nbsp;  The term was reinforced further in a 2015 interview...

UNICORN-MANIA: The Valuation Follie

Podcast host Mark W King gathers the success, failure, wisdom and insanity of the venture capital sector and distills it down into wisdom and know-how that accelerates your entrepreneurial success

Distilling Venture Capital

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