Venture Europe: Entrepreneurship | Technology | Venture Capital | Eu/Acc
00:11:32 · James Cadwallader, Calin Fabri
[00:11:32] S0: When I was like, yeah. Basically, with Kyra, the business I was telling you about, I was in America standing up a sales org. And then I met a girl, and we fell in love in November 2019. And then 2020 happened, and I was, oh, this will be a couple of weeks. I'll just stay at her place. Yeah. So I stayed at her place for about a year and a half, two years through COVID and ended up staying there. And we're married now, and, yeah, the rest is history. Yeah. I know questions. Thank you. Yeah. I know the the the... It's kind of brutal, the America thing, but, like, I don't know. It's like if you was, like... I won't say... You know, if there was someone standing in front of you and, like, you know, they had a really bad haircut, you're commenting. Like, the the the point I'm making is that the most obvious thing is move to America. Yeah. And it's... I I hate to say that, but America is a country that's that's built on immigrants. Yep. Risk takers. Like my my wife's grandfather's father was in the cohort of people that just, like, YOLO'd it and just came over to America. Yeah. And... Or grandfather's grandfather. And, yeah, that's in their blood. They're very they're very risk on. And I think if you're a red blooded capitalist and you're trying to start something, you want... It's not just it's not just capital. You want people who are, like, risk on. [00:13:05] S1: Yeah. I just... I was to the All In Summit in LA three weeks ago. Okay. So on stage, was, like, Jensen Huang, Satya Nadella, Elon Musk. [00:13:14] S0: All immigrants as well. Right?
00:13:14 · James Cadwallader, Calin Fabri
[00:13:14] S0: All immigrants as well. Right? [00:13:15] S1: Yes. And and... But I'm sorry. [00:13:17] S0: The conference immigrant? Did Jensen... Was Jensen born in Taiwan, or was he born in America? [00:13:21] S1: I don't know. I don't know. But but I think, like like, there are two things that I think America does very well that I see like a problem in Europe. Europe, like, has a legacy of aristocracy, so you need to prove yourself first. Whereas, like, in America, everyone kinda feels like an immigrant, and they actually appreciate underdogs. [00:13:41] S0: Yeah. [00:13:41] S1: Whereas, like, in Europe, where I'm more like, no. No. You need to prove yourself until you get, you know, like, your first real talk. Like, I was talking, like, with billionaires in America, like, easy. You know, it's easy to talk to them. Like, here, they just get, you know, very, very much protected. And then, like... So one is the the the easiness to talk with someone and how much they cheer on you. And then the second one would be just bureaucracy. Is... Are those the same friction points that you're seeing, or why do you think America is a better place to build in Europe? [00:14:12] S0: I mean, do you know the company, the startup, Klay? [00:14:15] S1: No. Oh, Klay. Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:15 · Calin Fabri, James Cadwallader
[00:14:15] S1: No. Oh, Klay. Yeah. Yeah. [00:14:16] S0: Yeah. Yeah. So, Kareem, who's the CEO of Klay. Klay, for anyone who's not familiar, they're like a pretty successful New York based startup. And Kareem did a podcast quite recently that I was watching, probably on a Sunday, relaxing. And he... I thought we had a he had a really, really amazing take about entrepreneurship and risk that I've repeated a few times and really stuck with me. He said, it's only... You can only consider it risk if there's a healthy amount of shame if you fail. [00:14:50] S1: Right. [00:14:50] S0: And, like, you know, I think, like, you know, see, if if I if I, like, imploded this company now, you know, I've been on this... I'm sitting up here in front of these people on this podcast, and I'm gonna be on stage later. Like, the shame that it carries is, like, pretty severe. So I think... But I just think maybe the the difference between America and Europe is, like, they just have a different relationship with that shame. Like, I think the shame is carried so heavy in Europe. Yes. But, yeah, we don't have to over... I think, you know, like, you have Matty, Antoine. Like, you have some amazing founders in Europe coming out of Europe, and I think you don't... You can defy the odds. I mean, technically, we we we created this company in New New York City Yeah. Which is, you know, slightly less extreme than Europe, but, like, is probably suboptimal in comparison to San Francisco. Right. So we had to... You know, you can you can defy the odds here.
00:14:50 · James Cadwallader, Calin Fabri
[00:14:50] S0: And, like, you know, I think, like, you know, see, if if I if I, like, imploded this company now, you know, I've been on this... I'm sitting up here in front of these people on this podcast, and I'm gonna be on stage later. Like, the shame that it carries is, like, pretty severe. So I think... But I just think maybe the the difference between America and Europe is, like, they just have a different relationship with that shame. Like, I think the shame is carried so heavy in Europe. Yes. But, yeah, we don't have to over... I think, you know, like, you have Matty, Antoine. Like, you have some amazing founders in Europe coming out of Europe, and I think you don't... You can defy the odds. I mean, technically, we we we created this company in New New York City Yeah. Which is, you know, slightly less extreme than Europe, but, like, is probably suboptimal in comparison to San Francisco. Right. So we had to... You know, you can you can defy the odds here. [00:15:46] S1: So you're only saying that when you start a business, there are a couple of variables that you can keep in mind. And indeed, if you wanna optimize, let's say, for location, US is the best, but that doesn't mean that you will not succeed if you start in Europe.
00:15:46 · Calin Fabri, James Cadwallader
[00:15:46] S1: So you're only saying that when you start a business, there are a couple of variables that you can keep in mind. And indeed, if you wanna optimize, let's say, for location, US is the best, but that doesn't mean that you will not succeed if you start in Europe. [00:15:58] S0: Yeah. I think... Yeah. There's exceptions to every rule. But, like, if I were optimizing, I'd probably move to America. I'll give you another zinger, but, like, I think it's very... The... A debate that I've had with founder friends a lot. Like, me and my founder friends, I've had for years. We would debate, you know, do you need a tier one VC? Like, do you need a Sequoia, a Kleiner, a Thrive, a benchmark? Like, does it matter if these companies back you or, like Yeah. You know, is that... Is it like a causation or correlation? Right. I think it's probably a little bit of both, but I would say a US based company backed by a tier one investor or an s tier investor probably makes a very big difference to... Like, if you compare... Yes. Me and you start the same business. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I'm based in The USA. I'm backed by Sequoia. Yeah. You're you're based in London, and you're backed by a VC that no one's heard of. Yeah. I'd probably put the money on the former, [00:16:58] S1: if I'm honest. Absolutely. And also, like, there's a lot of talk about, king making right now. So, like, the top tier top tier VCs, they invest in a company, and, also, they have the capital to follow-up with. [00:17:09] S0: Yeah.
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.