Valley Nordic

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We evaluate the trends we have been tracking since 2019.

See the trends here. 

This is our final episode of 2021. We will be back on January 27th, 2022. 

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We discuss Netflix's entry into games and pontificate on why they would do that. 

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We discuss:

1. The traditional Venture Capital (VC) business model
2. Why the VC is changing and what changes Sequoia is making
3. Implications for entrepreneurs and for the business of managing money

Useful links

Sequoia announcement 

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We discuss:

1. Amplitude's products and business (what does the company do?)
2. Amplitude's history (started as Sonalight)
3. Direct listing vs. traditional IPO (why Amplitude chose direct listing)
4. Amplitude's valuation and future prospects

Useful links

1. Amplitude S1 

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We discuss the Ethereum blockchain and ETH, a cryptocurrency:

• Ethereum vs. Bitcoin 
• Proof of work vs. proof of stake consensus mechanism on blockchains
• Ethereum plan to migrate to a proof of stake consensus mechanism
• Ethereum's London update

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We are excited to have Mike Polacek as a guest of honor on this episode. Mike is one of the few business leaders who has run large tech businesses and has been a professional investor in public companies. 

We dig deeper into the how building semiconductor business is different than building a SaaS business, complexity, Moore's law, and many other interesting subjects related to tech businesses. 

I enjoyed my conversation with Mike and hope that you will enjoy it as well. 

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Quick Commerce and its history 
Venture Capital flowing to Quick Commerce in Europe 
How Quick Commerce might evolve 

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We discuss the emergence of new companies like Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna which are popularizing the idea of Point of Sale financing i.e. when you are buying something you can choose to pay later. We tried to have structured conversation today:) 

1. What is BNPL
2. History of BNPL
3. Why is it happening now
4. How does it work 
5. Who are the players 
6. Future of BNPL 

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We discuss the recent Chinese government investigations of Chinese tech companies like Alibaba, Didi, etc. Is it good governance and China is leading the world in regulating tech or is it a way to gain more control for the government?

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Three unique things about Robinhood IPO, growth numbers,  and a discussion on its business and financials.

Useful links:

1. Robinhood S1

2. Why Chander is not participating in the Robinhood IPO

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We discuss:

1. Space tech market and segments 
2. Why some space tech market segments are not suitable for venture investments 
3. What are the drivers of space tech

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We discuss: 

1. Why startups need boards
2. How the role of the board changes as the company evolves 
3. Types of board members 
4. Common mistakes CEOs and board members make when they work together 

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We discuss: 

1. What are CBDCs? 

2. State of CBDC in China

3. Benefits of CBDC 

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We discuss what is the current chip supply and demand situation, why it happened, and how the countries and companies are trying to solve the chip supply problem. 

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We discuss: 

1. What is Clubhouse?
2. Why Clubhouse it getting popular now?
3. Discussion on the future of Clubhouse. 

Let us know if you need an invite to join Clubhouse. 

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1. What are NFTs?

2. Why are they in the news?

3. What new opportunities become possible because of NFTs?

You can buy the NFT for our blockchain episode (S1E3)  here :)

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We discuss Roblox's history, business, and its upcoming IPO.

Useful links:

Roblox S1

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We discuss the latest phenomenon of retail investing that caused GameStop stock to go up more than 2,000% in a few weeks. 

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We discuss Tesla's origins (spoiler alert - Elon Musk is not the founder) and its evolution.  We also debate its current valuation of ~$800B. 

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Happy New Year! We are back with our new biweekly and shorter episodes schedule. We start the year with reviewing the history of Virtual Reality (VR) and discussing its barriers to mass adoption. 

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In our season 2 finale, we review the 2020 trends we had identified in Season 1 finale. See the trends here.

You can find the Morgan Stanley report on Private Equity here. 

We will be back on January 14th, 2021 on biweekly basis. 

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! 

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We have a guest on the podcast this week, David Krieger, who is back with us after a year.  David and I discuss fundamentals of embedded systems and his experience in designing them. 

Useful links:

1. David Krieger on LinkedIn

2. Embedded Systems

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We discuss the recent S1 (a required document to be filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a private company to raise money in the public markets like NYSE or Nasdaq) filing by Airbnb to public in the US.

Useful link:

Airbnb S1

S1 definition 

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This week, we are delighted to  have a guest on the podcast, Joanna Jones, Founder & CEO of InterQ Research. Joanna and Chander discuss User Research and why the qualitative methods are necessary to complement quantitative methods.

Useful links:

1. Joanna's LinkedIn profile

2. InterQ Research 

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We discuss how the US elections have caused the tech stocks to go up. We get deeper into California Prop 22 (a ballot measure by ridesharing and food delivery companies to change the law about classifying their drivers as employees and stopping them from forming a union).

Useful links:

1. Prop 22

2. Direct Democracy

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We discuss the unique nature of Ant Group IPO which is going to be the world's largest IPO ever. Ant Group which has 700M+ users is raising >$34B in the IPO at a valuation of >$300B. Ant Group is a spinoff of Alibaba and has a special relationship with the Chinese government.

Useful Links:

1. Ant Group

2. Ant Group IPO filing documents 

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This week, Depart of Justice (DOJ) and 11 State Attorney Generals in the US filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google. We discuss the intricacies and history of these type of lawsuits.

Useful Links:

1. DOJ Workshop at Stanford 

2. DOJ Google Lawsuit press release 

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We discuss a new IPO market in Norway and other innovative IPO strategies. 2020 has turned out to be the most innovative year for finance. 

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We discuss Google's launch of new smartphones - Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5,  new video streaming device - Chromecast, and new smart speaker - Nest Audio. 

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We experiment with a shorter episode ( < 30 minutes). Spotify co-founder, Daniel Ek, made an announcement last week that he will invest ~$1.2B in deep tech in Europe. This prompted us to discuss what deep tech investing is and how it is different between the US and Europe.

Useful links:

1. Daniel Ek announcement at Slush 

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How we develop products continues to evolve as new technologies get commercialized. Products that work with Machine Learning (ML) models require a new way of thinking to launch and improve products. The agile/lean approach does not work with ML. We discuss how product managers will have to develop products differently with ML.

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We discuss the recent Snowflake IPO and the possible reasons for its sky high valuation.

Useful links:

1. Snowflake website: https://www.snowflake.com/

2. Snowflake S1: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1640147/000162828020013010/snowflakes-1.htm

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We are honored to have Matt Papakipos as our guest of honor on this episode. Matt is an entrepreneur and an angel investor who has spent a lot of time with nVidia, Google, and Facebook in their early days in Silicon Valley. Chander and Matt talk about Matt's startup ecosystem experiences in Silicon Valley, Seoul, and Amsterdam. Matt is currently living in Amsterdam with his family. 

Useful links:

Matt on LinkedIn

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We discuss Unity Unity Software Inc. and their plan to go public. They filed S1 last week.

Useful link:

Unity S1

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This episode is a joint production of Valley Nordic and Bifrost Talks (a Nordic Innovation House initiative) and it was recorded with a live audience.

Our normal greetings were cut-off in the recording. Sorry. The episode begins with what we cover in the episode i.e.

1. GPT-3 (Generative Pre-Trained Transformer v3) and its applications

2. Epic Games and its fight with Apple regarding 30% revenue share on App Store

3. TikTok ban in the US

4. How the latest US immigration policy is affecting tech

Useful links

1. GPT-3

2. Apple App Store principles

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We are back after summer break. A lot has happened in the tech world in the last six weeks. We discuss the following highlights: 

1. Tech driven stock market 

2. Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple's CY 2020 second quarter earnings

3. Special Purpose Acquisition Companies or SPACs

4. Tech CEOs testimonies in congressional hearings 

5. California government battle with Uber and Lyft 

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We look at valuations of tech companies that went public in the first half of 2020 and highlight the companies that might go public in the second half of 2020.

The companies that might go public are Lemonade (filed S1), Robinhood, Airbnb, Snowflake, Palantir, Postmates, Doordash, Instacart, and McAfee. Startups that went public earlier this year are listed in the useful links section below.

We will be off for the summer. Next episode on August 20th, 2020.

Enjoy summer!

Useful links

1. Casper

2. Zoom Info

3. Vroom

4. Agora

5. Pexip 

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We review and analyze major announcements made at Apple's latest Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC).


Useful links

Apple's announcements at WWDC 2020 

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We discuss Apps that allow third party developers to publish mini apps within the App. These apps are called Super Apps. WeChat is the biggest Super App. Last week, Snap announced a program to become a Super App. Facebook has been trying to become a Super App for years.

Useful links:

1. Snap Minis announcement

2. WeChat 

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We discuss the difference between capital markets and money markets. Alliance Venture, an early stage venture firm based in Norway recently raised a new ~$60M fund. We get into nitty gritty of raising a venture fund and how raising money is different for entrepreneurs. Arne is a partner at Alliance Venture. 

Useful links

1. Alliance Venture

2. Capital Markets 

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We discuss the evolution of remote work and its pros and cons. Furthermore, we pontificate on potential changes in society if everyone works remotely. 

Useful link:

History of remote work

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We discuss the purpose of packaging in Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and how it might change with the direct-to-consumer (D2C) business model. The discussion is based on Chander's blogpost on the subject.

Useful link:

Changing P in CPG: Packaging In The Direct-To-Consumer World 

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We discuss the reasons why companies do M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) and review the recent acquisitions in the tech space. Also, we talk about the M&A scene in 2020 vs 2019 and themes of 2020 acquisitions. Following are the acquisitions we analyze: 

1. Facebook buying Giphy 

2. Microsoft buying Affirmed Networks, Softmotive, and Metaswitch Networks

3. Apple buying NextVR 

4. Zoom buying Keybase 

5. Intel buying Moovit 

6. Verizon buying BlueJeans 

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We discuss how to think about Fintech, what segments startups are targeting within Fintech, and how we see Fintech changing in future. Also, new business models in insurance and banking. 

Useful links:

1. Ayden - Most highly valued European startup

2. Credit card payments

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We share our views on Quibi, a new streaming service designed for people on the go to watch professionally produced original videos on mobile phones. The assumptions behind Quibi and what mistakes Quibi is making in execution.

Useful links:

1. Quibi

2. Differences between Silicon Valley and Hollywood

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We are very excited to have Kjell Håkan Närfelt, Chief Strategy Officer, at Vinnova, a Swedish government agency focused on building and funding nationwide innovation ecosystems. Chander and Kjell Häkan talk about incubators, science parks, exit focused venture capital vs dividend based capital. We also discuss the common mistakes early stage startups make.

Arne will be back next week.

Useful links:

1. Kjell Häkan on LinkedIn

2. Vinnova

3. United Nations 2030 agenda for sustainable development

4. Kjell Håkan's presentation on Vinnova and Swedish Innovation Ecosystem

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We discuss how technology is being used to end the coronavirus pandemic. We look at the tech in two categories 1) Cure - respirators, ventilators, and treatment 2) Prevention - vaccines, testing, and tracking. Furthemore, we explain how the new Apple/Google initiative works for contact tracing.


Useful Links

1. Open Source ventilator projects

2. Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)

3. Norwegian contact tracing app

4. Coronavirus growth rate tracking in the US by state.

5. Vaccines and treatments in development

6. Apple/Google contact tracing announcement

7. CRISPR Gene Editing for Coronavirus testing


 

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Arne is back on the podcast. We discuss analysis vs. synthesis, linear thinking vs. systems thinking, parts vs. systems and what are the types of complex systems. We explore a new way of looking at the world and how systems thinking can be applied to startups and investing. Chander tried to make it a box-free episode but Arne found a way to sneak in his boxes.

Useful links:

1. Systems Thinking

2. Complex Systems

3. New England Complex Systems Institute 

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We have a very special guest, Andrew Sherrard, on this episode. Andrew is a former Chief Marketing Officer at T-Mobile US where he managed $1B+ in marketing budget and drove $16B in annual revenue. His un-carrier marketing strategy changed how wireless services are sold in the US. Andrew shares his insights on concept testing, positioning, naming, branding, pricing, advertising agencies, and other marketing topics that are useful for startups.

Arne will be back next week.

Correction: Edgewell tried to buy Harry's Razor and not Unilever/P&G. Sorry.

Useful links:

1. Andrew on Twitter

2. Andrew on LinkedIn

3. Andrew's recommended marketing book

4. Un-Carrier strategy

5. Chander's blogposts on marketing 

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We discuss the education and EdTech segments. Why things have not changed in decades after multiple attempts in bringing technology to education? We also share some examples of successes and failures in education and EdTech.

Useful Links

1. Global learning landscape 

2. Microverse

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We discuss some of the temporary changes in businesses caused by the coronavirus and what permanent changes in society might occur due to the pandemic. We also talk about the current funding situation for startups and possible scenarios on when we will get to the post corona world. 

Our thanks to healthcare, delivery, and retail/grocery/pharmacy workers who are are going to work every day and making our work from home lives possible during a pandemic!

Useful links:

1. Hotel Corona - Shelter in Place (parody of Hotel California song)

2. JPMorgan GDP forecast

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We discuss segmentation of the healthcare market from a startup/investment perspective, why the US healthcare system is highly inefficient, and how product development is different in healthcare. Furthermore, we talk about opportunities for startups in the healthcare market.

Useful links:

1. Chander's keynote speech on digital health

2. Genesis of a wearable device 

3. Region Skåne (Sweden) pivot to mobile health (mHealth) 

4. Apple Research app

5. Apple Health Records

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In this episode, guest Per-Arne Lundberg, a Swedish game investor and CEO at Amplifier Game Invest AB, is discussing the game industry with Arne. Topics covered include: 

• The game industry
• What's going on in the Nordics
• Investing games

Thanks for visiting, Per-Arne. 

Check out: https://www.amplifiergameinvest.com/

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Arne and Chander discuss how the technology ecosystem works and how it might evolve. The discussion is based on Chander's blogpost on the subject. You can see the blogpost at 

https://cdoq.blogspot.com/2020/03/dynamics-of-technology-ecosystem.html

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We discuss the complexity of Go To Market (GTM) strategies and focus on how Business to Business (B2B) startups with Software as a Service (SaaS) products reach their customers. Common mistakes that founders make and the multiple channels that are used for getting customers to use new products. 

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We discuss a topic that is in the news and is on everybody's mind - Sustainability. What does it mean? How should startups think about it? Why now is the right time to do a startup focused on sustainability?

Useful Links:

1. United Nations sustainability goals (2030)

2. Larry Fink (BlackRock Chairman and CEO) letter to investors on sustainability 

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Arne and I discuss what marketplaces businesses are. What are the attributes of a good marketplace. And, what not to do when starting a marketplace business.

Useful Links

1. Friend in Cloud marketplace product requirements (2013)

2. GMV 

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We are lucky to have Howie Mandel as our guest of honor on this episode. Currently, Howie stars is America's Got Talent Champions which airs on NBC (in the US). He is an author, producer, comedian and many other things. Chander and Howie talk about business, compare Hollywood and Silicon Valley, and the role of technology.  What it takes to make a movie or a TV Show. And, Howie's philosophy on life. 

Useful Links:

1. Pitching Your Tech Startup To Hollywood

2. Howie on Facebook

3. Howie on Twitter 

4. Howie on Instagram

5. Howie on TikTok 

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We discuss a universal framework of why people people buy things. Chander came up with the framework after founding his first startup.

Useful Links:

Why do we buy things? 

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Happy New Year!

Welcome to Season 2 of Valley Nordic.

We start off the year with discussing the business highlights from the last six weeks, cover Consumer Electronics Show (CES) highlights, and discuss upcoming tech IPOs (Casper and One Medical) and 2020 tech trends.

Useful links:

1. 20 Trends to observe in 2020

2. Tink (Nordic equivalent of Plaid)

3. Visa's justification for buying Plaid

4. Kry (Nordic equivalent of one Medical)

5. Ztractor (autonomous electric tractor) 

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We discuss five tech business themes from 2019: 

1. IPO market
2. Crypto market 
3. Facebook - regulatory issues and Libra plan 
4. Big tech (mainly Google and Apple) going fintech 
5. Trade war roller coaster affecting tech (semiconductor, big tech, etc.)

In addition, we share 19 observations and trends from 2019 on how technology is affecting society. 

Happy Holidays! 

See you next year! 

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How does a company keep growing when it is big? There is a growth framework used by big corporations. The framework has seven growth strategies and most of them are pursued in parallel. We discuss pros and cons of each. Furthermore, we talk about he Magnet Strategy which is used by tech companies to get into non-tech businesses.

Useful links:

1. The Magnet Strategy 

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How do you put a dollar value on an idea? Venture Capitalists have to do that regularly. The startup valuation becomes relatively easier starting with Series A funding round when the idea has become a product and it is in the market. How do founders negotiate valuation and other terms with Venture Capitalists?

Useful links:

1. Startup Tools (for Nordic Startups)

2. Startup document templates (for US startups) 

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Google [Nasdaq: GOOGL] announced its third quarter 2019 earnings a few days ago. We review the quarterly earnings. And, we discuss Google's R&D (Research and Development), its culture, and Google Cloud business. We debate the difference between a platform and a product. How Google is good at building platforms and not so good at building products.

Useful Links:

1. The Magnet Strategy

2. Google 3Q2019 earnings release

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Apple [Nasdaq: AAPL] announced its fourth quarter 2019 earnings last week. We review the FY 2019 earnings. And, we discuss what is Apple doing well to scale so fast. In FY 2019, Apple generated revenues of over $260B. Twenty years ago, Apple FY1999 revenue was $6.1B.  And, iPhone, which generates more than half of Apple's revenue today and is mainly responsible for ~47B in services revenue, did not exist until 2007.

Useful Links

1. Apple Watch: A giant leap for Apple and a small step for wearables

2. The phone we love

3. Apple 4Q2019 earnings press release

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Amazon [Nasdaq: AMZN] announced its third quarter 2019 earnings earlier this week. We review the earnings. And, we discuss what is Amazon doing well to scale so fast. In the trailing twelve months, Amazon generated revenues of over $265B and their revenues are still growing ~20% YoY. And, Amazon has successfully diversified from eCommerce to Cloud to advertising.

Useful Links

1. Nature of business

2. Amazon CTO on IT infrastructure

3. Amazon 3Q2019 earnings press release 

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Arne and Chander discuss an important and unpopular topic i.e. how do markets behave differently in an economic downturn, how do startups prepare for a downturn, and how do startups have to operate in a downturn. How the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) change from growth to cash. We also talk about how startup operations differ in early and late stage during downturn. Finally, we talk about downrounds (when the fundraising round values the company lower than the previous fundraising round valuation).

Useful links:

1. Zero-Based Budgeting 

2. State of the Cloud 

3. Pivot and its Challenges 

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We try something new in this episode i.e. look into a market where we don't have expertise. And, that market is Food Tech. How we think about it? Also, we analyze Beyond Meat's business and discuss what are the parallels and differences between a tech startup and Beyond Meat (and Impossible Foods).

Useful Links:

1. Environmental Impact of Meat Production

2. Beyond Meat S1

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We define the Direct To Consumer (D2C) category and discuss the value chain of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies and how D2C startups are disrupting that value chain. Also, how D2C category includes products beyond CPG. What made it possible for D2C companies to come to life and differences between US and European D2C markets.

Useful links:

1. D2C landscape (2017)

2. Analysis of 14 D2C Companies 

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In this episode we discuss market segmentation, business model innovation, and scaling. How and why Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) focus is the best way to build sustainable businesses. We also discuss, after a startup has achieved Product Market Fit (PMF), how you scale a business and  what do you do differently in the post PMF phase.  

Useful links:

1. Customer Facing Devices 

2. Why do we buy things?

3. Decision making for startups

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We are doing something new and different in this episode. Instead of the episode being a conversation between an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist, we have a conversation between a product/business person i.e Chander, your regular host, and a software developer/technologist i.e. David Krieger, Principal Software Engineer at Pivotal. You will still get two different perspectives. We cover how software development has changed in the last two decades, relationship between product managers and engineers, and how a software developer thinks about coding.

Arne sends his regards!

Useful links:

1. Book: The Mythical Man-Month

2. Why the tech products are mediocre? 

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Softbank has changed the late stage venture industry. After the recent delay of the WeWork IPO, Softbank's strategy of injecting a lot of capital in startups at high valuations is being questioned. In this episode, we discuss the structure of Softbank Vision Fund and how Softbank is influencing startup founders and smaller venture capitalists. 

Useful Links:

1. Softbank vision fund 

2. Softbank 

3. Masayoshi Son

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We get deeper into startup operations, specifically how to develop and market products. How do you prioritize things in pre product launch and post product launch stages of the startup? What are the boundaries between product and marketing? Furthermore, we discuss frameworks that can be applied to product development and marketing. 

This episode also touches upon the current state of WeWork IPO and Apple's product announcements this week.

Correction: It was mentioned in the episode that the new Apple A13 chip has trillions of transistors. We meant to say billions (8.5B) of transistors. Sorry. 

Useful links:

1. Five stages of the sales process

2. How do people adopt new products?

3. Why do we buy things?

4. Capitalism and advertising 

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In our latest episode, Arne and I talk about the streaming video market. The history, the current state, and how we think the market will evolve. Streaming video is a very diverse and deep area so we could not include everything we wanted to discuss like the current value chain of cable tv channels. However, you will get a good idea about the current state of streaming. 

Correction: Netflix did lose customers in the US in 2Q19 but had net adds globally. See details at https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/18/netflix-loses-16-billion-in-market-value-following-earnings-miss.html

Useful Links 

1. Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley 

2. Netflix culture

3. Apple movie rental service 

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Peloton filed its S1 earlier this week. Arne and Chander discuss the complexity of the Peloton business which is a combination of technology (hardware and software), media (production and distribution), and fitness (managing instructors and retail sales). We also talk about their interesting business model and the challenges Peloton might face in continuing its growth.

We could not get to the second section of the podcast due to technical difficulties. So, enjoy our shortest episode till date.

Useful links

1. Peloton S1 

2. Genesis of a fitness device 

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Although one of the charms of our podcast is that Arne and Chander have different perspectives on almost everything, today both of us share the view that WeWork (officially, The We Company) is overvalued and its governance practices are questionable. Last week, WeWork filed its S1 with the SEC for its Initial Public Offering (IPO). In this podcast episode, we analyze WeWork's business model, valuation, and business practices. 

We also discuss why companies pivot, how to do it, and what are the challenges related to pivoting. 

Please join us for a friends of Valley Nordic gathering in Oslo on September 4th evening. Details and RSVP here. 

Useful Links

1. The We Company S1 

2. Buffett and Munger on investing and other things

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As a follow up to the last episode which was about how to think about moving your startup to Silicon Valley (SV), this episode is about how to raise capital in SV if you are a Nordic or a non SV startup. Arne and I discuss: 

1. Why an international startup should think about raising money in SV?

2. What rounds (Seed, Series A, Series B, and so on) are easier to raise in SV? 

3. How do SV venture capitalists decide to fund international startups? 

4. How to prepare for raising capital in SV?

5. What are the challenges after you have raised capital in SV?

Useful links:

1. Silicon Valley Evil or Redeemable? 

2. How does Silicon Valley work?

3. Lessons from first attempt at entrepreneurship

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This episode was recorded in response to audience feedback from Norway. Many startups outside the San Francisco Bay Area are attracted by Silicon Valley and wonder if they should move (or open an office) here. Arne and I discuss the following: 

1. Why a startup should move to Silicon Valley? When it makes sense and when it does not. 

2. Who from the startup should move?

3. When is the right time to move?

4. How to move i.e. what resources are available to help and the process?

5. What are the challenges after a startup has moved to Silicon Valley?

Useful links:

1. How does Silicon Valley work?

2. Decision making for startups

3. Silicon Valley vs. Hollywood

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In this episode, Arne and I discuss The RealReal [Nasdaq: REAL], its business model, IPO, and challenges. How the valuation of an eCommerce startup differs from a subscription-based B2B SaaS (Software as a Service) company. 

In our hot or not section, we discuss Edge Computing. We had a debate on what it is. Why is it important and how it works with AI, 5G, and IoT. 

Useful links:

The Real Real S1 

Edge Computing 

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In this episode, Arne and I discuss Medallia [NYSE: MDLA] IPO which went public last week. Their business model and how it compares with other SaaS IPOs. 

We discuss 5G and in our hot or not section. 

Useful links

1. Medallia S1

2. Direct Listing IPO

3. Applications and Bandwidth 

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In this episode, Arne and I discuss Internet of Things (IoT) market. What is the current state of the market, barriers to adoption, product development in, new opportunities for entrepreneurs in this market, and interconnectedness with Cloud, AI, Semiconductors. 

We briefly discuss common hiring mistakes at Startups. 

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In this episode, Arne and I discuss how technology-led and business-led startups evolve differently. Business-led startups target one market and develop technologies to solve problems in that market. And, technology-led startups can target many markets with the technology under development. In general, how to think about technology commercialization. In our hot or not section we cover drones. 

Useful links: 

1. Innovation and its challenges 

2. DJI (Consumer Robotics company) 

3. The founding of Audience 

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In this episode, Arne and Chander go deeper into the business of venture investing. How do venture firms raise money, how do the venture capitalists make money, how do they make investment decisions? We also talk about how the venture investing business has changed over the last three decades and what are the differences between Nordic and Silicon Valley approach to venture investing.

Useful links:
Norwegian VC in Silicon Valley 
How does Silicon Valley work?

Subscribe to the podcast here. And, see the notes from the previous episode here. 

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In this episode, Arne and Chander talk about the new Facebook cryptocurrency, Libra. Answer an audience question on what are the barriers to entry for WeWork, Zoom, Airbnb, Uber, and Lyft. We end with discussing SLACK- direct IPO, business model, valuation, future prospects. 

Useful links:

Facebook Libra 

Slack S1 

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In this episode, Arne and Chander talk about decision making under uncertainty and ambiguity. How it requires a different way of thinking which is different than the linear thinking we grow up with. Startups and innovation are prime examples of working with uncertainty. Our conversation discusses an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist perspectives on seven heuristics that I have learned on decision making. The talk is based on a Forbes article Chander wrote.

Useful links:
1. Forbes article on decision making for startups 
2. Forbes article on how silicon valley works
3. New England Complex Systems Institute 

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In this episode, Arne and Chander talk about StitchFix - business model, valuation, and challenges. Then we move on to marketing - basics, common mistakes startups make, and a debate on branding. We end with hot or not i.e. tech trends in silicon valley. Today, we discuss Blockchain and Autonomous Systems. 

Useful links: 

1. Advertising 

2. Why do we buy things?

Subscribe to the podcast here. And, see the notes from the previous episode here. 

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In this episode, Arne & Chander talk about Zoom Video Communications, Inc. [Nasdaq: ZM], one the latest tech unicorn IPOs. What is Zoom's competitive advantage? Is it sustainable? Is the stock fairly priced? Then, we discuss two very different perspectives on Product Market Fit. How the Europeans might see it differently than the Americans. Finally, we discuss two mega trends in Silicon Valley - Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR).

Arne explains a new term, "Technology Market Fit" he came up with.

Subscribe to the podcast here. And, see the notes from the previous episode here. 

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In this episode, Arne and I, talk about how to think about Business to Business (B2B) vs. Business to Consumer (B2C) startups. Why Arne's venture capital firm, Alliance Venture, prefers to invest in B2B startups. Then, we move to talk about hardware and software startups. Why hardware startups are hard. Nordic advantage in creating hardware startups. Finally, we discuss the capital markets for startups in silicon valley and Nordic countries. How the Nordic capital markets are different. 

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In this episode, Arne and I talk about Facebook's plan for a cryptocurrency, how do startups start, how to scale a startup, the skills needed at different stages for startups. We also discussed a method to find a product-market fit and growth vs profit mindsets.  

A few useful links that we discussed in the podcast: 

1. Blockchain fundamentals 

2. Net Promoter Score (NPS) WSJ Article 

3. Decision Making at Startups 

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Enjoy! 

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In this episode, Arne and I talk about UBER (valuation, how will they make money) which is going public tomorrow,  LYFT (valuation, operations) which announced 1Q 2019 earnings earlier this week. How Uber and LYFT are different, how capital markets have changed and have led to going IPO with losses and unpredictability about their business, And, we touch on my favorite shareholder meeting which was held last week i.e. Berkshire Hathaway. 

See the previous episode notes at https://cdoq.blogspot.com/2019/05/valley-nordic-new-podcast.html

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Arne Tonning, a Norwegian Venture Capitalist and I, Chander Chawla, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, started a podcast today called Valley Nordic. The podcast is a free-flowing conversation about culture, technology, and startup life. You will get four different perspectives from the podcast i.e. entrepreneur and venture capitalist; Silicon Valley and Nordic Countries. 

Today we touched on various topics ranging from Unicorn valuations, how silicon valley works, founder friendliness in Silicon Valley, labor markets, Warren Buffett, pitching to a Norwegian VC, etc. 

Please send me your thoughts and topics you would like covered to [email protected] 

Enjoy!