20VC
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Why Growth Investors Ruined the Venture Market, Why Marketing in Venture Has No Substance, Why Follow-On Investing Can Damage Returns and The Mistakes VCs Made in the Last 18 Months with Ophelia Brown, Founder @ Blossom Capital
0:00
-52:21

20VC: Why Growth Investors Ruined the Venture Market, Why Marketing in Venture Has No Substance, Why Follow-On Investing Can Damage Returns and The Mistakes VCs Made in the Last 18 Months with Ophelia Brown, Founder @ Blossom Capital

Ophelia Brown is the Founder of Blossom Capital, one of Europe's newest but leading early-stage venture firms. Ophelia and the Blossom team have invested in stand-outs including Checkout, Duffel, Tines, and Moonpay. Prior to Blossom, Ophelia was a GP at LocalGlobe and a Principal at Index Ventures where her investments included Robinhood and Typeform.

In Today's Episode with Ophelia Brown We Discuss:

1.) From Restaurant-Owning DJ to Leading European VC:

  • How Ophelia made her way into the world of venture and came to found Blossom?

  • What does Ophelia know now that she wishes she had known when she entered venture?

  • What does Ophelia feel she is running away from?

2.) Venture Capital: The Market:

  • Why does Ophelia believe the best venture firms focus either by stage/theme/geography?

  • Why does Ophelia believe that marketing in venture has no substance? How can founders determine between what is real and what is false?

  • Why does Ophelia believe that growth investors have ruined the venture market?

  • When does Ophelia believe VCs will realise that FOMO investing is not a good strategy?

3.) Ophelia Brown: The Investor and Fund Manager:

  • What has been Ophelia's biggest investing mistake? How did it change her mindset and approach?

  • In a world where everyone does seed investing, why does Ophelia not?

  • How was raising the first Blossom fund? What were some of her biggest lessons?

  • Why does Ophelia believe that follow-on investing can damage returns?

  • How does Ophelia reflect on her own relationship to price? When has she paid up and it worked? When has she paid up and it not worked?

  • Does Ophelia think it is fair that many find her curt and abrasive to work with?

4.) Europe: Is Now Really The Right Time?

  • What would Ophelia like to see change in the way European VCs act?

  • If Ophelia could invest in one seed firm, one Series A firm and one growth firm in Europe, what would they be? Why?

  • What are 1-2 of the biggest barriers Europe must overcome in the next 5 years?

Discussion about this podcast

20VC
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC) interviews the world's greatest venture capitalists with prior guests including Sequoia's Doug Leone and Benchmark's Bill Gurley. Once per week, 20VC Host, Harry Stebbings is also joined by one of the great founders of our time with prior founder episodes from Spotify's Daniel Ek, Linkedin's Reid Hoffman, and Snowflake's Frank Slootman.
If you would like to see more of The Twenty Minute VC (20VC), head to www.20vc.com for more information on the podcast, show notes, resources and more.