Tech Investing Outside of Silicon Valley

[00:02:16] – (First question) – Looking at David’s motivation and role in building up the venture capital tech investment scene in New York 

[00:06:14] – What David did to further the mission of fostering tech startups in New York, namely his work with TechStars 

[00:10:11] – What is Y Combinator and how does that differ from TechStars

[00:13:02] – What is the procedure for getting into a startup incubator

[00:17:08] – Most memorable applications

[00:19:12] – What is the boot camp/incubator experience like

[00:20:34] – What should future incubators be focused on to help develop the right ideas 

[00:23:46] – What aspects of the business should a startup be focused on in the beginning

[00:26:46] – What got David interested in investing

[00:28:47] – The challenges of launching new tech today and the colonization of identity

[00:32:04] – Exploring David’s investing strategy

[00:35:45] – Finding consumer facing companies that can scale and provide a return for venture capitalists

[00:38:03] – The problem of scaling up for startups

[00:39:20] – What business models does David prefer when making venture investments

[00:40:53] – What’s important to look at when investing in other sectors, starting with Fintech

[00:44:41] – Where does David think we are in the venture capital cycle

[00:49:37] – How much does the exit strategy play into the initial seed investment

[00:50:18] – David’s thinking on the portfolio of companies when picking an investment

[00:52:48] – David’s biggest sin of omission

[00:53:56] – Common personality traits among potential founders 

[00:55:24] – Is storytelling relevant for startups focused on the enterprise side of the business

[00:56:07] – David’s story to convince founders to work with him 

[00:57:51] – Biggest mistakes that David has seen

[01:01:47] – What does it mean for our health that our time has become completely consumed by technology

[01:03:58] – What trend is David most excited about

[01:06:44] – Kindest thing anyone has done for David