20VC Newsletter - 15th December 2024
Here are the transcripts and top takeaways from 20VC episodes released this last week.
Monday’s episode with Marc Benioff, CEO @ Salesforce:
Download the full transcript:
My 8 key takeaways:
Will Salesforce Replace Human Labour
We now have digital labor and human labor.
We will likely rebalance our headcount.
This is very exciting for business & I need to bring that to every single company.
Will Salesforce Be Bigger or Smaller in 5 Years People Wise
We will be bigger.
We’re not adding any more new software engineers in 2025.
We’ll need more salespeople to explain the value of AI to everyone.
Are We Seeing the Commoditisation of Models
We have some of the best people in the industry working on LLMs.
But the growth rate & maturation rate has slowed.
This is not unusual in AI.
The Mentality of a Winning CEO
You have to have a beginner’s mindset.
Too many CEOs are caught in a cycle & not present at the moment.
You need to know when to pivot & be ready for it.
How Do Agents Need to Change for Them to Become Really Valuable
They need to be multimodal.
They are mostly text-based today, because that’s the current generation’s capability.
This will be extremely important.
Why Benioff Is Excited for DOGE
It is important to have fiscal responsibility to your country.
We need to get back to a balanced budget, @elon will make this happen.
This should be a bipartisan issue.
How a Meeting With Steve Jobs Changed How Marc Benioff Leads
He only does one thing at a time.
If he’s working on the iPad, he’ll focus on that and bring the A team on.
I brought that mindset to Salesforce; now Agentforce is our full focus.
Open AI, X or Anthropic: Which Would Marc Invest In?
I wouldn’t invest in any of them at the moment.
Their products are becoming similar.
They need to pick their poison & become their own company.
Wednesday’s episode with Torsten Reil, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Helsing:
Download the full transcript:
My 7 key takeaways:
This Man Predicted Both Russia and China Invading
The West had little to no reaction when Crimea was annexed by Russia.
We had 2 galvanizing events in our pitch deck when we started Helsing: Russia invading Ukraine & China invading Taiwan.
We got Russia-Ukraine right but we thought they would invade in 2025.
Defence Has to Avoid the Tesla Moment
There is a wave of autonomy & AI coming to the defence sector.
We need to understand & adapt fast.
Or else the same thing will happen to the defence industry like what Tesla did to the car industry.
How Incentive Structures Should Be Realigned in Government Spending
Introduce a mandatory 20% spend on new defence companies for defence equipment.
This does not include maintenance costs & everything else.
That is a shortcut to realigning incentives.
Is the Future of War Contactless
We are already seeing the first signs in Ukraine.
There are no-go zones on the battlefield because there are too many drones.
This will likely be how conflict is going to evolve.
Founder Ambition Not Capital Is What Is Missing From Europe
We have enough capital in Europe.
We need founders with more ambition & aggression.
We do not need more $100M exits; we need to think bigger.
WTF Happens With China and Taiwan
China has stated clearly their goals to reunite Taiwan.
I don’t think it is 10 years away.
It will probably happen sooner than that.
WTF Happens With Russia
We do not know how things will pan out in the next few years.
We need to take the threat of the NATO eastern flank seriously.
Scandinavian & Baltic countries are taking it extremely seriously & we should listen to them.
Friday’s episode with Guillaume Moubeche, Founder & CEO @ Lempire:
Download the full transcript:
My 6 key takeaways:
Founders Biggest Mistake Is They Are Afraid to Sell
People are afraid of rejection, they like to hide behind processes & product roadmaps.
They need to find their unique selling point even if they think their product is not ready.
It will require a lot of trial & error.
You Do Not Have to Be First Mover to Win in a Market
If the market is crowded, that means product-market fit already exists.
It might not exist in your own product.
But if you succeed in being better than your competitors, you can win big.
The Power of Build in Public and Content Creation
I leveraged our customer’s stories & created a community.
I would create content on every successful campaign we did.
It was unique at the time because no one else was doing it.
Every Founder Needs to Know Who Is Their Magnet Persona
They need to find the persona that will attract everyone around them.
Apple focused on designers when computers were for geeks.
It completely changed how everyone thought of Apple computers.
The Ultimate Equation to Success in Sales
Sales is Timing x Trust and they are either 0 or 1.
It is all about relationships & solving someone’s problems.
You either have the right timing or you don’t.
Why You Should Overpay
If they don’t deliver, it is super easy for you to let them go.
Paying someone 20% more than they’re offered helps you find the 10x profile.
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:
Reid Hoffman, Partner @ Greylock
Daniel Dines, Founder & CEO @ UiPath
Matt Plank, CRO @ Rippling
Thank you for reading 20VC.
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