Venture Europe: Entrepreneurship | Technology | Venture Capital | Eu/Acc
00:17:09 · James Cadwallader, Calin Fabri
[00:17:09] S0: Yeah. [00:17:09] S1: Meaning that... And the talent. Once you're kinda backed by a tier one, you can attract some of the best talent in the world because you're backed by a tier one. You have the capital to do whatever it takes to win. So, I mean, it's almost like at Olympics and maybe, you know, to your rowing example. Actually, my cousin is an Olympic medalist in rowing. But but I guess gold, silver, bronze Silver. [00:17:33] S0: Nice. Alright. [00:17:34] S1: Cool. In LA. But I guess, like like, to your point, you know, like, the investor maybe, like, in the in the boat and the team and the river, like, probably there is, you know, like, some waste that your investors actually bring because it's a flywheel then that gets created. [00:17:50] S0: Yeah. Think the flywheel is very real. Like, I mean, it's very hard to raise from these funds. Like, I started a business before ProFound. I won't go into it. It's like a stupid consumer thing. And I burned, like, a $250,000 of my own money on this thing just to try and get it off the ground. Yeah. And I went and met, like, every VC, and I just got destroyed, like, pummeled. It was, like, the biggest practice of humility in my career. Yep. And, yeah, licking my wounds off the back of that, I went and joined South Park Commons. Yep. And I was like, fuck, consumer. Yes. I'm not doing consumer anymore. That's too hard. [00:18:33] S1: All the founders of truckers, you were saying that.
00:18:33 · Calin Fabri, James Cadwallader
[00:18:33] S1: All the founders of truckers, you were saying that. [00:18:35] S0: Yeah. Like, trying to start a big business is like climbing Mount Everest. Yeah. And I start trying to do that with a consumer business. It's like, I'm gonna do Mount Everest with no oxygen masks in high heels. Right. [00:18:48] S1: And and let's talk a little bit about shame, and then we go to how... Like, the day you started ProFound. What would you recommend to founders, or what do you think was specifically different with you that you felt maybe less shame? Was it because you just started so many businesses, and you've tried and you fell, and you sold the sandwiches, and, you know, you traded gold and that you had, like, a less emotional attachment to the business, and you're just a little bit more practical. What would be your advice for someone that is 20 and they just kinda hear, like, oh, look. You know, in Europe, there's a huge association that if you fail, then you're not good enough, you're not worthy of love, or something like that. Whereas, like, if you're in in The US, actually, you get some pat on the back, like, done that you've prepped. [00:19:37] S0: I mean, I I I tried. Yeah. When I was at South Park Commons, which is the accelerator, it's like a very interesting environment because you're like, basically, you show up every day, and it's like a room kinda like this size, maybe twice the size of, like, this area. And it's just filled with... The the the the only prerequisite is that you have to be all in. So you can't be, like, holding down a job at the same time.
00:19:37 · James Cadwallader, Calin Fabri
[00:19:37] S0: I mean, I I I tried. Yeah. When I was at South Park Commons, which is the accelerator, it's like a very interesting environment because you're like, basically, you show up every day, and it's like a room kinda like this size, maybe twice the size of, like, this area. And it's just filled with... The the the the only prerequisite is that you have to be all in. So you can't be, like, holding down a job at the same time. [00:20:02] S1: Right.
00:20:02 · James Cadwallader
[00:20:02] S0: So you have to basically be unemployed Yeah. Like, figuring out what you wanna do next. Yeah. So... And that usually be about 40 or 50 people, like, prospective founders, all trying to work on something. And these are people from, like, very good backgrounds, like fancy schools. Maybe, like, they worked at SpaceX or Stripe or, like... You know, they've come from, like, good places. So there's lots of very smart people. Everyone's kind of wandering around, working on something, tinkering, trying to figure out what they're gonna do next. And at lunch, like, everyone would sit down and you just chat with people. And I remember sitting down with a bunch of them, and they were like... I can't remember what the prompt was exactly, but it was something to the tune of, like, what will you do if it doesn't work out? And I'm like, I don't have an... Like, I'm genuinely... My resume, if you look at my LinkedIn, it's just the weirdest, most unattractive LinkedIn. It sucks. I don't think I'm employable. Right. No. I I I mean, you could argue whether I'm employable from my personality. Like, I would like to think I am. My cofounder says you're not employable. But irrespective of that, even if I wanted a job, say, OpenAI Yep. Or Anthropic or one of these play... I don't think they would employ me because I don't have... There's no... I don't have... I didn't go to school. I've got, like, nothing on my resume. I started this company, Kyra, where I wore, like, loads of different hats. I didn't really even have a... You know, I say, I managed growth and new business, but, like, I was just running around like a madman. So I don't even know what my skill set is at this point.
00:21:31 · Calin Fabri, James Cadwallader
[00:21:31] S1: They don't fit in a box. Like, they come from the box. I'm not saying that. Could do well, like, maybe with this. [00:21:36] S0: Yeah. I'm not saying that in a kind of, like, a, you know, I'm so I'm so random way. Like, I'm saying it more just like that when I was asked that question, it was like... It was a weird question because I like, there's no... If I... If this one doesn't work, I'll just start again. Yeah. Yeah. That's the good... That's the thing. If ProFound didn't... If ProFound failed, and frankly, even now, if ProFound fails Yeah. I'll just start another one. [00:21:58] S1: Yeah. I I I like the way you say it. And also, think, like, a lot of people were kinda taken aback when Dario Amodei said, look, we either reach $1,000,000,000,000 in revenue or we go bankrupt. And a lot of people are like, no. No. No. But you're doing well now. You're doing well now. I was wondering if you can walk us back to South Park Commons and how you met Dylan and all the ideas that you guys went through until you kinda landed on ProFound?
00:22:27 · James Cadwallader, Calin Fabri
[00:22:27] S0: Yeah. So I think, you know, having started businesses in the past, one thing, it was, like, very obvious to me early, early on. And also the interesting thing, do know the thing that sucked that I did before where I lost all my money? I was doing that solo. And I... I'm also... You know, I I could... You could say I'm, like, pseudo technical. Like, I've worked with engineers most of my career, so I can definitely interface with engineers, but I don't I don't write code. And I was trying to start a tech company as a solo founder that doesn't write code. And I just came out of that, like, I need a cofounder. Yep. And it's so obvious. I mean, Paul Graham has, like, a bunch of very good essays on on, like, you know, the necessity of a cofounder. And I think it's very, important. So... Yeah. It's weird at South Park Commons, like, you kick off in a cohort, and everyone goes and starts building things. Whereas I was just, like, looking around, like, dating. Like, I like, who am I gonna date here? And, yeah, I circled in on Dylan, my cofounder, who was previously a software engineer at Uber, very product focused, like very... A true product talent. And, yeah, we we, you know, I I kind of... I... We shook hands and decided to go into business before we knew what we would build. And I think that's better. Like, I think, you know, if I come in and I'm like, hey. I really wanna build, I don't know, AI for [00:24:04] S1: Gentic payments, which is one thing.