George Zachary of Charles River Ventures #237

Click here to stream the audio version of this episode.
Click here to stream the video version of this episode.

Join our new mailing list and be the first to learn about upcoming guests!

VC George Zachary of Charles River Ventures joined us on This Week in Startups to provide some insight from the other side of the deal table. George has been an investor for many years and has overseen investments in such notable companies as Twitter, Yammer and Cloudshare.

0:00-2:15 Welcome everyone, I’m here today with George Zachary of Charles River Ventures.
2:15-3:00 George is both an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. His investments include Twitter, Yammer, Cloudshare and Vignette.
3:00-4:45 How long did you spend as an entrepreneur and how long as a VC?
4:45-6:30 So you’ve been a VC for over a decade now? What is VC, at its core?
6:30-9:15 What’s the difference between the bubble today and the one in 1999?
9:15-9:30 Is a great feeling as an entrepreneur to have something that you built still going strong today?
9:30-11:30 What’s the closest you ever came to failure?
11:30-12:15 People in the Valley tend to compartmentalize bad behavior. Do you think that’s the norm there?
12:15-17:00 Thank you to Sourcebits for sponsoring the program. Everyone thank them @Sourcebits!
17:00-18:00 So, is it your perception that you have to be a little bit of a bad boy?
18:00-19:15 What do you think of the leadership at Apple now?
19:15-21:15 What do you think makes a great venture capitalist?
21:15-23:45 Every decade you put down 70 bets and of course your chance of hitting a Google or eBay are low.
23:45-27:00 Is the machine broken? Who is it working for?
27:00-31:00 What do you think of the mega-venture firms, like Andreessen Horowitz?
31:00-32:50 Why don’t limited partners put all their money into a venture fund?
32:50-38:00 Thank you to GoToMeeting for supporting the show! Everyone thank @GoToMeeting!
38:00-42:15 How many companies do you think you look at a week, do you think?
42:15-43:30 So what is the management role?
43:30-45:30 You’re basically investing in people who may be slightly dysfunctional and you enable them. How do you do that?
45:30-48:15 How does a VC handle this volatile personality?
48:15-51:00 When do you say enough is enough, this person needs to go?
51:00-55:00 What are your expectations today in terms of the market?
55:00-58:15 Mergers and acquisitions will be very active in the next few years, don’t you think?
58:15-1:00:30 Do you think there’s another Steve Jobs out there?
1:00:30-1:05:45 What do you think is going to happen in the US with regards to employment?
1:05:45-1:08:15 So Udacity, that’s where the hope is? And you backed it?
1:08:15-1:10:00 This has been such a great program, thank you George. Everyone take a look at Charles River Ventures at crv.com.
1:10:00-1:11:45 If people want to send their pitch, send it to george@crv.com.
1:11:45-1:12:15 Have you ever invested without a product?
1:12:15-1:12:45 Thank you to our sponsors and to our friends at CBS and CNET.
1:12:45-1:13:00 Stephen: If anyone wants to check out CNET.com/live we broadcast everyday.

Support This Week in Startups and independent media by joining the TWiST Producer Program at TwistList.co!

Multilingual? Translate this episode of TWiST into another language and email the transcript to translate@thisweekin.com

Keep up with the latest from our sister company, LAUNCH:

• LAUNCH Festival Hits $639k in Prize Money
• LAUNCH Hits $489K: A Slot at AngelPad and $100K Investment (If You Move to Vegas)
• The Two Most Important Startups in the World
• 10 International Startup Scholarships
• DOUBLE Boom! LAUNCH Hits $369k in Prizes Thanks to MailChimp's $100k!

FOLLOW ON TWITTER
Jason: @jason
George: @georgezachary
GoToMeeting: @gotomeeting
Sourcebits: @sourcebits

Special thanks to the members of the TWiST Backchannel Program!

Executive Producers

• Louis-Eric Simard
• Benjamin Gifford
• Jacek Artymiak
• Octavian Mihai
• Will Paoletto
• Geoffrey Clapp
• Jeff Hoffer
• Austin Miller
• Rashaun Sourles
• Robb Kunz
• Greg Berry
• Sean Lynch
• Mary Ann Halford
• Jim Joyce
• Morgan Howard
• Margaret Johns
• Kyle M. Brown
• Paul Cole
• Nick Duncan
• Magnus Ingvarsson
• Amir Ayalon
• Carlos Zaidenweber
• Avery Keitt
• Joshua Shipsey

Producers

• Eli Coler
• Ted Inoue
• Radek Rybicki
• Hunter Owens
• Ildar Khakimov
• Matti Hallanoro
• Rodrigo Dauster
• Rodrigo Fuentes
• Anthony Ortenzi
• Daniel de la Cruz
• Michael Hofmann
• John Meneses
• Mike Sunyich
• Sami Rageb
• Michael Lustig
• Alex Deli
• John Davies
• Mark Burcher
• Morgan Howard

Associate Producers

• Brad Pineau
• Kat Ganesan
• Nicholas Christian
• Mau Frontier
• Kyle Braatz
• Serena Ehrlich
• JD
• Alex Lotoczko
• James Kennedy
• Benoit Curdy
• Asher Nevins
• Mike Kaltschnee
• William Doom
• David Lee
• Jake Kerber
• Sarp Coskun
• Giuseppe Taibi
• Tyrone Rubin
• Keno Vigil
• Paul Peters
• Jamal Waring
• Nick Ostroff
• Alex Binkley
• John MP Knox
• Bryan McCormick
• Marcos Trinidad
• Allen Cordrey
• Daniel Mich
• Joshua Rosen
• Grant Carlile
• James Smith
• Christopher Rill
• Elliot Myhre
• Nihon Giga
• Nathan Gielis
• Greg Meadows
• Rick Cartwright

Supporters

• Ryan Hoover
• Michael Cranston
• Josiah Thomas
• João Fernandes
• Petrus Theron
• Michael Wild
• Dale Emmons
• Tim de Jardine
• Alejandro Vasquez
• Milan Babuskov
• Chris Rowe
• Nelson Melo
• James Dawson
• Toddy Mladenov
• Daniel Torres
• Chris Macke
• Piotr Zuralski
• Armand Konan
• Brian Vogel
• Paul D
• Jennifer Sun
• David Kolb
• Sue Marrone
• Eugene Granovksy
• Will Blackton
• Ryan Dodds
• Brett Arp
• Jason Cresswell
• Edwin Orange
• Daniel Bradley
• Shawn Daniel
• Priidu Kull
• Patrick Desroches
• Alex Lam
• Paul Secor
• Ryan Urabe
• Madhu R.
• Paul Ardeleanu
• Ian Thomas
• Edwin Orange
• Sarp Coskun
• Manny Alarcon
• Charlie Osmond
• Christopher Smitley
• Roshan H.
• Barcy Cordrey
• Brett Arp
• Hello24 Ltd.
• Ian Gerstel
• Taphon Maddison
• John Bradley
• Luigi Armogida
• Dave Ferrara
• Janus Lindau
• Chris Mancil
• TR Ludwig
• Giles Thomas
• Jason Cartwright
• Michael Del Borrello
• Joshua Rosen
• David Karlberg
• Marcus Schappi
• Justin Furniss
• Mike Hauck
• Jess Bachman
• Isaac Hill
• Robert Haydock
• Dan Sfera
• Flaviu Simihaian
• Kiko Cherman
• Chandra Siva