Discover/Weekly

This Week in VC Podcasts

Nov 18 – Nov 24, 2024

7 top clips from 2 episodes across 2 shows

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behavioral psychologynew

Clip of the week

Riding Unicorns· Rory Sutherlandmarket insight

Direct marketers invented A/B testing 40 years before doctors used it

1:56 / 2:24

It's an interesting fact, by the way, that direct marketers actually pioneered the randomized control trial of the AB test about forty years before it made its way into medicine. So there you go. But, that made me, of necessity, very, very interested in what you might call counterintuitive aspects of human behavior and decision making.

1:56 - 2:2428sRead the episode →

Top clips

Riding Unicorns · Rory Sutherland

market insight

Why this energy company succeeded by understanding psychology, not just engineering

Rory Sutherland explains how Octopus Energy's success comes from understanding that solving the climate crisis requires changing human behavior, not just engineering excellence. He argues this psychological insight is what separates successful companies from those that fail despite having good products.

38:33 - 38:5523s
behavioral-psychologyclimate-techcustomer-acquisition

Seedcamp Podcast · Dominic Jacquesson

Origin Story

I always thinks that luck and privilege in life is way more important in our ways you personally do. Not to disempower yourself, but just as a way of shame, gratitude.

Vulnerable admission about career anxiety ('heart palpitations') combined with philosophical reflection on luck vs. merit. Humanizes the successful executive journey.

7:48 - 8:1628s

Seedcamp Podcast · Dominic Jacquesson

Origin Story

I ended up as their COO for their US side. So I was like in New York and whatever. So I had a sort of team of up to 200 people, sort of $80,000,000 business.

Specific scale markers ($80M business, 200 people) that establish credibility. Shows progression to significant operational responsibility early in career.

3:27 - 3:5023s

Riding Unicorns · Rory Sutherland

contrarian take

Steve Jobs was less charismatic, we'd still use BlackBerry keyboards

Rory Sutherland argues that Steve Jobs' charisma was crucial to the iPhone's success over objectively superior BlackBerry keyboards. He suggests that in a parallel universe where Jobs was 30% less charismatic, we'd still be using phones with physical keyboards, which he claims are actually better than touchscreens.

39:07 - 39:3426s
product-designsteve-jobsblackberry

Riding Unicorns · Rory Sutherland

market insight

We don't actually know why we do things - but that's where the money is

Rory Sutherland explains how humans construct stories to rationalize their decisions after the fact, rather than understanding their true motivations. He argues there's huge commercial value in better understanding this psychological reality, even if we can't fully decode human behavior.

6:57 - 7:3942s
consumer-psychologydecision-makingbehavioral-economics

Riding Unicorns · Rory Sutherland

contrarian take

Sometimes you have to tell clients their product is psychologically unsellable

Marketing expert Rory Sutherland explains how his team acts as 'psychological detectives' when clients bring them problems. He reveals that sometimes the harsh truth is that what a client is trying to sell simply cannot work from a psychological perspective, no matter how good the marketing.

3:40 - 3:5717s
psychological-marketingclient-consultingproduct-viability
Riding Unicorns(5)Seedcamp Podcast(2)
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