20VC Newsletter - 29nd June 2025
Here are the transcripts and top takeaways from 20VC episodes released this last week.
Monday’s episode with Johannes Reck, Co-Founder & CEO @ Get Your Guide:
Download the full transcript:
My 6 key takeaways:
It Is BS That Europe Has Less Ambitious Founders
European founders work just as hard as US founders.
Founders here have a tougher time to raise capital.
It is simply harder to do business in Europe than the US.
We Do Not Have the Exec Talent in Europe
If I want to hire a CPO it is almost impossible to do that from Europe.
I have to go to Silicon Valley.
The density of people who have served tens of millions of people & scaled billion-dollar businesses is unmatched.
We Hired Netflix’s Head of Growth and It Was a Total Nightmare
We hired Gaurav Agarwal from Netflix as our CTO.
He was in the US, the visa application process took him over six months.
If you make it that hard it’s no wonder we do not have a tech ecosystem in Europe.
If I Was in Charge of Europe
I would pump up VC funding to match the US.
We spend $50BN a year on VC funding in Europe, the US spends $200BN.
Germany subsidizes its retirement system with $100BN/year.
It does not make sense.
Give Tax Benefits to People Relocating From the US to Europe
Anyone with a CS degree joining a tech company in Europe should have tax-free status for five years.
We cannot compete with less capital, less talent & more bureaucracy.
The US Has a Worse Wealth Inequality Problem but EU Does Not Know How to Invest
Almost every European country has a healthier Gini coefficient than the US.
The problem is we do not know how to reinvest our wealth.
We need to start investing more in the younger generation.
Behind the scenes:
Thursday’s episode with Rory O'Driscoll, GP @ Scale & Jason Lemkin, Founder @ SaaStr:
Download the full transcript:
My 6 key takeaways:
What Nobody Wants to Admit About AI Today
When LLMs finally work at something, the implementation will be boring as f**k.
Founders have 2 choices:
Wait until the LLM actually works then scramble to build a wrapper along with everybody else.
Start now while the tech is sh*t, lie about how good it is, burn money on marketing & claim the territory.
What Harvey Did Right
They started early and won the Silicon Valley presence & lawyer perception.
They claimed the space, followed up with engineering, and now they have a compelling product.
What All Acquired Founders Need to Know
Whenever we sell companies & the CEOs join a bigger company, I set a calendar reminder for 3 months from now to check in.
They will need therapy.
It is a completely different gig.
No Limit to the Demand for IPOs
The US investment banking business has perfected the machinery of taking companies public.
When investors’ Pavlovian brains see Circle trading 7x in 3 weeks, they will want more.
As long as this keeps working there will be no cash limit.
Price Is the Biggest Lever
Price is the lever for 90% of economic transactions.
If you can get a stupid price in the public market than the private markets, you should go public.
Why Larry Ellison Is a Genius
Larry grew his share in Oracle from ~23% at IPO to 41% from buybacks every year.
This is the first year he’s abandoned that strategy: He is putting all the excess cash into AI CapEx.
The stock has popped & he has been buying cheap for 10-15 years.
The smartest man in tech.
Friday’s episode with Kim Graves, GM @ Notion:
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: Miles Clements, Partner @ Accel
Thursday episode: Jason Lemkin & Rory O'Driscoll
Friday episode: 20Growth
Thank you for reading 20VC.
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