The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
00:00:00 · Adarsh Hiremath, Harry Stebbings
[00:00:00] S0: The round is a 100,000,000. [00:00:01] S1: And the price was? [00:00:02] S0: It was at 2,000,000,000. I think we'll live in a world with many, many models with different use cases. We're already seeing this with a lot of application layer companies where they all have these specialized use cases for how they wanna leverage the models. I think being a recruiter is the highest prestige position in any company. The recruiter is the one who controls the talent inflows and outflows of every company, and pretty much you can gather all you need to know about a company from seeing the talent inflows and outflows, The businesses that succeed in a world where software costs approach zero will be built on network effects.
00:00:35 · Harry Stebbings
[00:00:35] S1: This is 20 VC with me, Harry Stebbings. And today, we have an exclusive. One of the fastest growing companies in Silicon Valley right now, McCor, has closed a $100,000,000 round at a $2,000,000,000 valuation led by Felisys. They are exceptional for many reasons. They scaled to 70,000,000 in ARR in just twenty four months. They are famed for working six days per week, 9AM to 9PM. All of their founders are Thiel Fellows, and with this latest round, they are also the youngest unicorn founders ever. Today, I sit down with McCall's cofounder, Adarsh Haymath. But before we dive in today, here are two fun facts about our newest brand sponsor, Kajabi. First, their customers just crossed a collective $8,000,000,000 in total revenue. Wow. Second, Kajabi's users keep a 100% of their earnings with the average Kajabi creator bringing in over $30,000 per year. In case you didn't know, Kajabi is the leading creator commerce platform with an all in one suite of tools, including websites, email marketing, digital products, payment processing, and analytics for as low as $69 per month. Whether you are looking to build a private community, write a paid newsletter, or launch a course, Kajabi is the only platform that will enable you to build and grow your online business without taking a cut of your revenue. 20 VC listeners can try Kajabi for free for thirty days by going to kajabi.com/20vc. That's kajabi.com, kajabi.com/20vc. And after building your online empire with Kajabi, it's time to scale your global team with remote seamless hiring solutions. So every business is a global business in 2025. But how do you do payroll for your global business and team and comply with international labor laws? Well, remote handles payroll, benefits, taxes, stock options, and compliance to help companies of all sizes pay and manage full time and contract workers all over the world. No matter where your team lives or works, Remote's global employment solutions keep your team, your finances, and your intellectual property secure. Remote never charges hidden fees, just best in class global employment solutions for a low flat rate. The world's top remote companies love Remote. GitLab, the world's largest all remote organization, trusts Remote to run their global team.
00:02:49 · Harry Stebbings
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00:04:46 · Adarsh Hiremath, Harry Stebbings
[00:04:46] S0: Thank you for having me. Really, really a big fan of the pod. [00:04:50] S1: That is very, very kind of you, dude. But I did my stalking beforehand, and everyone told me about your mastery of debating, you and your cofounder, Saree. So you were debate champions. How did debate prepare you for founding a company? Let's start there.
00:04:50 · Harry Stebbings, Adarsh Hiremath
[00:04:50] S1: That is very, very kind of you, dude. But I did my stalking beforehand, and everyone told me about your mastery of debating, you and your cofounder, Saree. So you were debate champions. How did debate prepare you for founding a company? Let's start there. [00:05:06] S0: One thing about Brendan, Suri, and I is that we actually go quite a ways back. So I actually first met Suri when I was 10 years old. And the reason we got along so well is because we were pretty much the only elementary elementary schoolers who wanted to compete in a high school debate. And then we ended up at the same high school, which is also where I met Brendan. All three of us were on the debate team together. Suriya and I decided to do policy, so we ended up being debate partners together and then going on and competing in all of these international tournaments. But debate is a lot like founding in a lot of ways. Right? Like, I like to think of my debate partnership with Suria as sort of my first startup just because we had fifty fifty equity in each other's success. If one of us were to mess up, it would tank the odds for both of us. There's this constant feedback loop after every debate round about whether you won or lost. Picking the right debate partner is the most important decision you can make in policy debate. And similarly, picking the right founding team is the most important decision you can make while starting a company. So there's that parallel, and then there's just the immense amount of ownership. Right? You know, we both have a stake in each other's success.
00:05:06 · Adarsh Hiremath, Harry Stebbings
[00:05:06] S0: One thing about Brendan, Suri, and I is that we actually go quite a ways back. So I actually first met Suri when I was 10 years old. And the reason we got along so well is because we were pretty much the only elementary elementary schoolers who wanted to compete in a high school debate. And then we ended up at the same high school, which is also where I met Brendan. All three of us were on the debate team together. Suriya and I decided to do policy, so we ended up being debate partners together and then going on and competing in all of these international tournaments. But debate is a lot like founding in a lot of ways. Right? Like, I like to think of my debate partnership with Suria as sort of my first startup just because we had fifty fifty equity in each other's success. If one of us were to mess up, it would tank the odds for both of us. There's this constant feedback loop after every debate round about whether you won or lost. Picking the right debate partner is the most important decision you can make in policy debate. And similarly, picking the right founding team is the most important decision you can make while starting a company. So there's that parallel, and then there's just the immense amount of ownership. Right? You know, we both have a stake in each other's success. [00:06:05] S1: Yeah. At the time, you're, like, 18, 19, and you can correct me if I'm wrong there. But you, Brendan get interested in labor markets. How does that happen?