Discover/Weekly

This Week in VC Podcasts

Jun 2 – Jun 8, 2025

8 top clips from 3 episodes across 3 shows

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Clip of the week

AcquiredAcquired· Steve BallmerOrigin Story

I had to blow the thing up and reorient to address that elephant in the room. Bill was not happy with the whole thing.

1:45:53 / 1:46:23

So I had this whole agenda to had to blow the thing up and reorient to to to to address that elephant in the room. It was not where I was going with this thing. Completely remap, change the breakout sessions, focus in on this issue. Bill was not happy with the whole thing. You know, Bill bore the weight of the antitrust thing very hard. Because for him, I think it also felt like a personal attack.

1:45:53 - 1:46:2330sRead the episode →

Top clips

Riding Unicorns · Carles Reina

personal lesson

From billions in funding to bootstrapping with seven people

Carles Reina reflects on the stark contrast between working at a well-funded ride-sharing company dealing with driver onboarding and regulatory battles, versus joining Tractable as employee number seven with no funding. He explains how resource constraints force teams to become more creative and collaborative, leading to stronger team dynamics and innovative problem-solving.

22:35 - 23:1338s
resource-constraintsstartup-scalingteam-dynamics

Venture Unlocked · Villi Iltchev

Origin Story

Salesforce was probably at the time when I joined in 2009 bigger than the entire SaaS ecosystem combined. I was at the right place at the right time.

Quantifies Salesforce's massive dominance with a striking comparison. The timing aspect creates a career inflection moment that's relatable and shows the importance of strategic positioning.

3:59 - 4:2930s

Venture Unlocked · Villi Iltchev

Origin Story

I couldn't really get into tech out of the gate because I was an international student, and there were very few tech companies at the time that were sponsoring international students.

Relatable immigrant experience that shows perseverance in breaking into tech. The constraints-led pathway to success resonates with many founders and investors.

2:47 - 3:1730s

Riding Unicorns · Carles Reina

Domain Expertise

Voice is the most natural and traditional form of communication. We all had an Alexa at home, but you would buy it, play with it for five minutes, and put it in a corner and never touch it again.

This observation about voice technology resonates universally - everyone can relate to the unused Alexa. It sets up a market opportunity through a relatable consumer experience and positions the speaker as someone who identified a key insight.

25:25 - 26:2358s

Riding Unicorns · Carles Reina

founder story

From angel investor to employee: How I became ElevenLabs' first investor then joined

Carles Reina shares how he became ElevenLabs' first investor in March 2022, before the company was even officially set up. He helped them raise their entire pre-seed round and build investor relationships, which eventually led to the founders recruiting him to join the company and build their go-to-market strategy from scratch.

5:16 - 5:4630s
angel-investingpre-seed-fundinginvestor-to-employee

Venture Unlocked · Villi Iltchev

Practical Framework

Kindness is free. It doesn't take any additional incremental effort for you to treat people with respect and give them meaningful, candid, authentic feedback.

Simple but powerful principle about relationship building in VC. The 'kindness is free' framing is memorable and actionable, applicable beyond venture capital.

26:25 - 26:4823s

Riding Unicorns · Carles Reina

tactical advice

Why angel investors should lead with value, not money

Carles Reina explains his angel investing approach of leading with operational help rather than capital. He emphasizes how offering specific go-to-market expertise - from contract negotiations to door-opening - creates more value for founders than just writing checks. The strategy allows him to build relationships and help companies succeed before any financial investment.

4:14 - 5:0854s
angel-investinggo-to-marketvalue-add-investing
Riding Unicorns(4)Venture Unlocked(3)AcquiredAcquired(1)
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