20VC Newsletter - 11th January 2026
Here are the transcripts and top takeaways from 20VC episodes released this last week.
Monday’s episode with Alan Chang, Found & CEO @ Fuse:
Download the full transcript:
My 8 key takeaways:
The Interview Process That Led to $150M Pay Packet
I found Revolut through a London startup Facebook group.
Nik replied within 5 minutes, we had a face-to-face interview the next day & he offered a role right after the interview.
It was the fastest interview process I’ve ever had.
The Moment I Knew Revolut Was Going to Be a Massive Company
Two moments:
We were in a startup coworking space back in the day & we were the only ones that worked past 7PM & weekends.
Nik, who was already wealthy, said his ambition was to beat JP Morgan
3. Biggest Lesson from Nik Storonsky @ Revolut
There are 3 types of employees in the world:
People who can self-identify targets & hit the goal.
People who need you to identify targets to hit the goal.
People who are neither.
You need to maximize the amount of people who are #1 and #2 in your team.
What Nik at Revolut Taught Me About Ownership and Excuses
Excuses do not matter if you are a leader.
If you succeed, you get all the praise.
If you fail, you get all the blame.
How Revolut Drive Speed and Urgency in Their Teams
Have small teams that operate as independent units.
Set clear goals, let them execute, and monitor performance.
If they do well, let them be. If they don’t, replace the team.
Why China Is the Shining Light for Regulatory to Follow
Three things:
Cost: Their energy cost is around $0.08/kWh vs. $0.20-0.30/kWh in Europe & $0.10-0.15 in the US.
Integration: They have truly vertically integrated energy companies from generation to distribution.
Deployment: While western economies are debating which is better, China has deployed more solar, gas, & coal than all of them combined.
If I Was in Charge of Energy Policy in the UK I Would Do These Two Things
Deregulate anything physical: It should be incredibly easy for anybody to build anything.
Remove all subsidies: Let the free market do its thing. If it is profitable, people will build it.
If You Want to Build a Generational Company, You Cannot Have Work Life Balance
If you want a 9-5 with work-life balance, you should not join Fuse.
The only way to build a generational company is to have an extremely strong work ethic.
There is no other way to do it.
Behind the scenes:
Thursday’s episode with Rory O’Driscoll, GP @ Scale, Jason Lemkin, Founder @ SaaStr:
Download the full transcript:
My 6 key takeaways:
Everyone Is Coming for Nvidia Now
Whether it’s buying from AMD, partnering with Broadcom, building your own chips…
NVIDIA’s numbers will still crush this year.
But we will likely see the competitive pressure start to build.
Why Did Nvidia Spend 20BN on Groq
NVIDIA has the world’s largest market cap, making a complex technical product, and charging a small number of customers 75% gross margins.
The last thing they need is someone who can make a vaguely comparable product – and that is Groq.
Buying up a competitor & eliminating that potential margin pressure for less than 1% of market cap & 20% annual free cash flow is worth it.
Can the World Support Ten New AGI Labs or Not?
We don’t know if we have enough new territory in AI that won’t be annexed by OpenAI, Anthropic, and other big labs.
New labs will need to meaningfully differentiate themselves to justify multi-billion dollar valuations.
It will be interesting to see if the world can support 10 research labs with 10 different variants of AI.
Why OpenAI Has the Largest Stock Based Comp of Any Company Ever?
If you are the CEO with zero shares, you do not worry about dilution.
Sam wants to build the greatest AI company.
If he needs to use equity for hiring & retention, it does not impact him as a shareholder.
You Can Identify a Top 0.1% Founder Without Ever Speaking to Them
I have had multiple billion-dollar exits from cold inbound deals.
I analyze the inbound & measure the quality of the founder.
It is not a leap of faith to imagine an AI could do a better job.
Why Navan Is a Screaming Buy Right Now!
27% growth
Trading 4x ARR
Cash-flow positive
Profitable on non-GAAP basis.
The IPO timing & CFO stepping down means it is discounted right now.
It is probably 30-40% undervalued.
Friday’s episode with Chad Peets, MP @ Riverpoint Capital:
Download the full transcript:
Let us know what your big takeaways from this week’s shows were in the comments below!
Thank you for reading, and don’t miss the great guests we have next week:
Monday episode: Alex Rampell, GP @ a16z
Thursday episode: Jason Lemkin & Rory O’Driscoll
Friday episode: Noam Lovinsky, Fmr CPO @ Grammarly
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Great insights! Can’t wait for Alex Rampell to discuss the a16z $15B raise!