The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
01:05:25 · Harry Stebbings, Luke Harries
[01:05:25] S0: You also don't have to be fake polite. You know what I mean? You're like, I know that you don't have feelings. It's like, what's this? What's that? Yeah. Yeah. I totally percent. When does the infrastructure layer become the application layer? And what I mean by that specifically is, like, you could be Synthesia. Mhmm. You could be, hey, HeyGen. Yes. Why does the infrastructure layer not become the application? [01:05:44] S1: I think it does, but you as the infrastructure player really need to partner with companies and be very explicit around which areas you want to go deep on. We want to build the best platform to make these end to end conversational AI agents, but we explicitly don't want to be building full digital avatar platform. So that way, we're able to be trusted partners to companies like HeyGen, Synthesia, Captions, who rule customers, but we're able to build these fantastic infrastructure layers on top. [01:06:14] S0: You know, I invested in Captions. Really? Yeah. They're doing great. So I I invested in Captions. This is... It shows how theory driven I am as an investor. And... Invested when it was basically a BeReal competitor. [01:06:26] S1: Wow.
01:06:26 · Luke Harries, Harry Stebbings
[01:06:26] S1: Wow. [01:06:27] S0: And then a year later, a friend of mine texted me saying, like, we've got to invest in this company, Captions. And so I found the founder on LinkedIn. I messaged him. Like, oh my god. We'd love to find a way to invest. We love Captions. And he's like, dude, you already invested. And I'm like, say what? And he's like, we're a pivot. You remember me? You remember me? I'm Gaurav. Wow. And I was like, oh, shit. [01:06:51] S1: Anyway... But I'm sure you really helped him through that pivot, and it was very useful having your advice. [01:06:57] S0: Listen, I didn't wanna say I'm like a cofounder, but Yeah. I was it was up there. Why is inbound SDR as a role dead?
01:06:57 · Harry Stebbings, Luke Harries
[01:06:57] S0: Listen, I didn't wanna say I'm like a cofounder, but Yeah. I was it was up there. Why is inbound SDR as a role dead? [01:07:06] S1: If you think about the actual function of most inbound SDRs... So with an enterprise sales cycle, someone fills in a form, they then need to speak to an inbound SDR who basically goes through band screening. So they work out, do you have the budget? Do you have the authority? Do you have the need? Do you have the timing? If yes, they then book you into another call with the AE, which actually closes the deal. And so the function of an inbound SDR, I'm sure the best ones are persuasive and they're friendly, but, really, the function is data collection. And so instead, one, why don't you just add that to the form in the first place? But the reason is people don't really want to go through this back and forth and go into more detailed questions and, you know, trying to design these complex flowcharts or forms. And so instead, you can switch out to a conversational AI agent, which can completely replace that role and then get the people who should be booked in with AEs much quicker. You could even clone the voice of the AEs, so it's like them almost prescreening for their own deal flow. [01:08:04] S0: I love that as an idea. That'd be very funny to do. You could do a lot of very funny things with your promotional videos, by the way. [01:08:11] S1: Yes. What should we do? [01:08:12] S0: Well, I I think you might also get in the realm of, like, copyrighted problems. [01:08:16] S1: Oh,
01:08:16 · Luke Harries, Harry Stebbings
[01:08:16] S1: Oh, [01:08:16] S0: yes. But, like, I I don't know if you're allowed to, like, use, like, Trump's voice and Obama's voice and, like, just rip. [01:08:22] S1: We're not. And, actually, we do a whole bunch of different safety work to make sure, like, it's explicitly used where people give permission for their voice on the platform. [01:08:30] S0: Don't do that, kids. Yeah. I remember when I met Victor from Synthesia the first time, like, five, six years ago. He was like, imagine, we could have, like, Trump declaring this and doing this. And I remember being like, no no no. That's a bad idea. And I didn't invest in the seed. [01:08:44] S1: Oh, I know. No. Well, he's done great, and I know they've... They take safety very seriously as well. [01:08:51] S0: No. They do. Absolutely. Sorry. That sounds terrible. He's so good. I like him and Stefan a lot. Final one. What's the best growth strategy that you've just been really impressed by in the last, like, twelve to eighteen months?
01:08:51 · Harry Stebbings, Luke Harries
[01:08:51] S0: No. They do. Absolutely. Sorry. That sounds terrible. He's so good. I like him and Stefan a lot. Final one. What's the best growth strategy that you've just been really impressed by in the last, like, twelve to eighteen months? [01:09:04] S1: Yeah. The best growth strategy I've seen is what Bryan Johnson is doing. His marketing is so good that they made a Netflix show about his marketing. And I do think Bryan Johnson's actually being authentic. Like, he really does care about longevity, about creating great products, but he's put himself... One is, like, it's just super controversial what he's doing. If you look at the way he dresses, it's, like, definitely not normal clothes. And if the things he's doing, he's doing, like, bloodletting and blood transfers with his son. One, he's just generating a lot of controversy such that, you know, we're speaking about him now on this podcast. Two is they've really dialed in the messaging. So, like, the don't die is super catchy, and they've built a brand around it. They built a community. Like, their brand building is just fantastic. And then their distribution, he's constantly on Twitter. Like, anytime someone talks about doing a late night or eating junk food or pulling an all nighter to ship a feature. He's there, like, telling them off. He's there kissing
01:09:04 · Luke Harries, Harry Stebbings
[01:09:04] S1: Yeah. The best growth strategy I've seen is what Bryan Johnson is doing. His marketing is so good that they made a Netflix show about his marketing. And I do think Bryan Johnson's actually being authentic. Like, he really does care about longevity, about creating great products, but he's put himself... One is, like, it's just super controversial what he's doing. If you look at the way he dresses, it's, like, definitely not normal clothes. And if the things he's doing, he's doing, like, bloodletting and blood transfers with his son. One, he's just generating a lot of controversy such that, you know, we're speaking about him now on this podcast. Two is they've really dialed in the messaging. So, like, the don't die is super catchy, and they've built a brand around it. They built a community. Like, their brand building is just fantastic. And then their distribution, he's constantly on Twitter. Like, anytime someone talks about doing a late night or eating junk food or pulling an all nighter to ship a feature. He's there, like, telling them off. He's there kissing [01:10:04] S0: comments, I wouldn't have done that if I mute. Yeah. I saw that. Or he's quite sarcastically funny. Jason Calacanis sweated like a bitch of donuts. Yes. And he was like, sign me up. I'll take the box. Box. Yeah. And it's just really funny to see him engaging in that way. [01:10:17] S1: Yeah. 100%. And you feel it is really authentic. Like, he genuinely does care. I think he's genuinely doing it in a good way. [01:10:24] S0: I have that longevity shake in [01:10:26] S1: a moment.