Sheel Mohnot: How I Got Married in the Metaverse; Founder vs Product vs Market | E1035

Sheel Mohnot is a Co-Founder and General Partner @ Better Tomorrow Ventures, a $225M fund that leads rounds in pre-seed and seed-stage fintech companies globally. Sheel and Jake (his co-founder) invested for many years together before founding BTV and wrote checks into Mercury, Flexport, Ramp, and Hippo Insurance to name a few. As for Sheel, before BTV he ran 500 Fintech for close to 7 years, and before that was a founder, founding two companies, both of which were acquired. ---------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (2:07) Advice for Young VCs (4:07) Why Fund Sizes Are Too Big (11:09) Investing in Emerging Markets (15:46) Investing in Europe (16:54) Investing in Fintech (19:44) Which VC firms will win over the next 10 years? (24:50) The Biggest Misconceptions About Venture (25:52) How Sheel Raised His First VC Fund (37:16) Why Sheel Launched an Accelerator (41:49) When You Should Take Money Off the Table (44:53) The Biggest Mistake VCs Made in the Past 2 Years (46:13) Founder vs Product vs Market (48:30) The Story of Warren Buffett and Mrs. B (51:32) The Biggest Reason Why Great Founders Fail (53:59) Will multi-stage VC firms quit investing in seed stage startups? (57:40) The Biggest Source of Tension Between VCs and Founders (1:00:23) The Biggest Source of Tension Between GPs and LPs (1:03:44) Thoughts on Founders Who Run VC Funds on the Side (1:06:00) How Sheel Got Married in the Metaverse (1:10:01) Quick-Fire Round ----------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Sheel Mohnot We Discuss: 1. VC Needs to Change: Why does Sheel believe that VCs should have smaller funds? What are the biggest misalignments between founders and VCs today? What are the biggest points of friction between VCs and their LPs today? 2. VC in 10 Years Time: Who are going to be the winners in venture in 10 years time? Who are going to be the losers? Will micro-funds be bigger or smaller as a segment of the ecosystem? Will solo-GPs be bigger or smaller? Were they a zero-interest rate phenomenon? 3. The Errors of a Bull Market: What does Sheel believe are the single biggest mistakes made by VCs between 2020-2022? Did Sheel take liquidity off the table in the last few years? What have been some of his biggest lessons on when to sell? How does Sheel evaluate the flood of capital into emerging markets in the bull market? What happens now? Fintech is also experiencing the same challenging time, how does Sheel assess what is happening in the fintech financing market today? 4. Building a Fund: Lessons, Mistakes and Advice Scaling to $225M: What are the single biggest mistakes Sheel and Jake have made in the fun scaling? How has it impacted their mindset? What does Sheel know now about fund management that he wishes he had known at the beginning? What advice does Sheel give to emerging managers today, raising their first and second funds? ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Sheel Mohnot on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pitdesi Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vc_reels Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact --------------------------------------- #SheelMohnot #BetterTomorrowVentures #HarryStebbings #20vc #venturecapital

Sheel MohnotguestHarry Stebbingshost

Jul 17, 20231h 15mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: July 17, 2023
Duration: 1h 15m
Channel: The Twenty Minute VC
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Sheel Mohnot is a Co-Founder and General Partner @ Better Tomorrow Ventures, a $225M fund that leads rounds in pre-seed and seed-stage fintech companies globally. Sheel and Jake (his co-founder) invested for many years together before founding BTV and wrote checks into Mercury, Flexport, Ramp, and Hippo Insurance to name a few. As for Sheel, before BTV he ran 500 Fintech for close to 7 years, and before that was a founder, founding two companies, both of which were acquired. ---------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (2:07) Advice for Young VCs (4:07) Why Fund Sizes Are Too Big (11:09) Investing in Emerging Markets (15:46) Investing in Europe (16:54) Investing in Fintech (19:44) Which VC firms will win over the next 10 years? (24:50) The Biggest Misconceptions About Venture (25:52) How Sheel Raised His First VC Fund (37:16) Why Sheel Launched an Accelerator (41:49) When You Should Take Money Off the Table (44:53) The Biggest Mistake VCs Made in the Past 2 Years (46:13) Founder vs Product vs Market (48:30) The Story of Warren Buffett and Mrs. B (51:32) The Biggest Reason Why Great Founders Fail (53:59) Will multi-stage VC firms quit investing in seed stage startups? (57:40) The Biggest Source of Tension Between VCs and Founders (1:00:23) The Biggest Source of Tension Between GPs and LPs (1:03:44) Thoughts on Founders Who Run VC Funds on the Side (1:06:00) How Sheel Got Married in the Metaverse (1:10:01) Quick-Fire Round ----------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Sheel Mohnot We Discuss:
1. VC Needs to Change: Why does Sheel believe that VCs should have smaller funds? What are the biggest misalignments between founders and VCs today? What are the biggest points of friction between VCs and their LPs today?
1. VC in 10 Years Time: Who are going to be the winners in venture in 10 years time? Who are going to be the losers? Will micro-funds be bigger or smaller as a segment of the ecosystem? Will solo-GPs be bigger or smaller? Were they a zero-interest rate phenomenon?
1. The Errors of a Bull Market: What does Sheel believe are the single biggest mistakes made by VCs between 2020-2022? Did Sheel take liquidity off the table in the last few years? What have been some of his biggest lessons on when to sell? How does Sheel evaluate the flood of capital into emerging markets in the bull market? What happens now? Fintech is also experiencing the same challenging time, how does Sheel assess what is happening in the fintech financing market today?
1. Building a Fund: Lessons, Mistakes and Advice Scaling to $225M: What are the single biggest mistakes Sheel and Jake have made in the fun scaling? How has it impacted their mindset? What does Sheel know now about fund management that he wishes he had known at the beginning? What advice does Sheel give to emerging managers today, raising their first and second funds? ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Sheel Mohnot on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pitdesi Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vc_reels Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact --------------------------------------- #SheelMohnot #BetterTomorrowVentures #HarryStebbings #20vc #venturecapital

SPEAKERS

Narrator
other
Sheel Mohnot
guest
Harry Stebbings
host

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Narrator and Sheel Mohnot, Sheel Mohnot: How I Got Married in the Metaverse; Founder vs Product vs Market | E1035 explores fintech VC Sheel Mohnot On Fund Sizes, Pivots, And Metaverse Weddings Fintech investor Sheel Mohnot discusses his path into venture, why he believes early-stage investing should stay founder-driven, and how bloated fund sizes and misaligned incentives have distorted the VC industry.

RELATED EPISODES

Inside Legora: Jude Law Generated $50M Pipeline | Are They Undervalued at $5.5BN? | Patrick Forquer

Cliff Weitzman: What I Learned from 100 of the World’s Top CEOs & Why Tokens Will Outspend Salaries

Shopify CEO on How AI is a Scapegoat for Mass Layoffs & Trump Derangement Syndrome in Canada

Inside Clay's Sales Playbook | Becca Lindquist

Jackie Reses: The Most Powerful Woman in Finance; Making $50BN for Yahoo on Alibaba | E996

Tom Hulme & Stan Boland: Lessons from Jensen Huang & How to Fix the UK Tech Ecosystem

Get more out of YouTube videos.

High quality summaries for YouTube videos. Accurate transcripts to search & find moments. Powered by ChatGPT & Claude AI.

Add to Chrome

Episode Details